The Connector (#1)

37

As we ate, I caught him up on everything that had happened. Luckily there wasn't much that did happen, aside from the other wedding drama which he laughed at.

"So, she actually left the alive... well as alive as they get?"

"Unfortunately, yes... There were too many humans there and I didn't want to ruin their wedding."

"Then she got lucky..."

"That she did... Oh and before I forget, Emily's cousin Claire is coming for a visit before school kicks back in."

"Let me guess, remind the guys to cool it while she's here? How old is she again?"

"Please do... She just turned sixteen"

"Right... So, keep an eye on Quil then so Emily doesn't try to kill him for hitting on her?"

"Bingo! Now, let get on with the tour... Which floor do you want to start on?"

" I guess we can start up stairs and work back down to your office."

"Follow me!" As I we walked the halls I pointed out whose room was whose. On the right side of the hall, we had a laundry room then Quil, Embry, Leah, Jared and Kim, and then two guest rooms. The left side walking back to front was three additional guest rooms then Sam and Emily, Seth, Paul, and Jacob on the end closest to the stairs.

"Each room has been soundproofed for everyone's privacy and sanity..."

"Did you think of everything in the design process?"

"Just wait..." I led him back downstairs and around the staircase

"On your left is Billy's room and a half bath for visitors, while on the right is your office with another laundry room that leads to the garage.."

"I have an office?" Why is he honestly surprised by that?

"Yeah... I figured that you could use it for pack stuff or just when you needed a break from things..."

"It's perfect baby."

"Go take a look in the garage before you say that..." He actually ran there like a kid on Christmas...

"AWESOME!!! I LOVE YOU!"

"Glad you like it Jay... Can we continue with the rest of the tour? You can come back here afterwards..." He reluctantly came back in...

"As you have seen the living room, the kitchen is a little deceptive..." As he watches me, I walk to one of the tall cabinets and open it revealing a fully stocked walk in pantry.

"How often do you stock that thing?"

"Every two weeks or as needed... It depends on who is staying here during the week." With that, I point out the two walk-in fridges and the one walk-in freezer. Then I led him through to the dining room with my custom ordered table to fit our entire family.

"Emily helped with the finer details of the communal areas like the kitchen having the walk-ins and Kim helped pick out décor."

"It looks great Vicky, really."

"Thanks, Jay! Well let's finish this up so you can get back to your happy place."

"Lead on!" We continued on to the basement.

"On the wall with the stairs is a snack bar with that door leading to the home theater. After it is our home school room, then -"

"Wait, since when do we need a room for that?" Uh oh...

"Well, while you were gone Seth brought up some issues that he and the pack had been having... And I spoke with them individually about how they felt about me homeschooling them to help with the stress. All of them were on board with it and I even got the council and school board to agree to some things... Old Quil will be teaching the Quileute and Tribal History class here on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. The school board has agreed to you all being able to participate in all the normal afterschool stuff like sports and clubs as well as any of the dances. Hell, I even managed to convince Paul to finish his senior year... It's up to you if you still want to go to traditional school though..." I could tell that he was a little upset and I'm not sure if it's at me or just that I did this without talking to him about it...

"Jay?" I was proud of what I had accomplished but now I'm not so sure...

"Jacob?" He didn't say a word as he walked into the room and looked around.

"Did I do something wrong?" That made him stop and look at me. I looked down avoiding his gaze as tears started to well up again...

"Baby, I'm so proud of you... You have helped better this pack more in the time that I was gone than I could have even dreamed to think of. I would have never thought of homeschooling as a solution for all the school that we miss. I can't believe how much you have put into make this happen..."

"Well, Billy helped a lot with getting this to happen... We also thought that it might help with some of the gang rumors that people like to toss around... Plus I have been working some babysitting and nannying jobs to help build some sort credibility in the community, which seems like it's been working in my favor for now..."

"You really have this all thought out, don't you?"

"You haven't even seen the rest yet..."

"There's still more to this?"

"Of, course... This is me we're talking about..."

"So, keypad door is your office... What's left?"

"There are only three spaces left... I have a craft/girl space for bonding with the other girls, then there is weight room/gym and lastly a sparring area that I have been using to teach some things to the girls."

"Oh, is that all?" Him and that damn smirk...

"Well there was one other room, but the only ones that know about it besides me are the imprints for if something was to happen and they needed to get somewhere and hide..."

"Ok, you really did think of everything..."

"Well, I tried to... Oh, there is an intercom system set up as well that I have in the kitchen that feeds into all the bedrooms as well as our offices."

"Ok, so that was the speaker I saw..."

"Yep! Well I need to make a phone call, so if you want to, feel free to explore or tinker in the garage like I know that you want to..."

"See you later baby!" And with that he was off to his happy place...

I went back and called the one person that I knew I trust to get my stuff from Georgia...