Word Count: 4252

Harper was drifting the moment her head hit the pillow, she couldn't remember ever being this exhausted in her life, and she'd taken double course loads and attended school through summers to get through college and medical school, then she did back-to-back shifts during residency. In those days she'd been lucky to get three hours of sleep a night, her werewolf genes, stamina, and Celie's support were the only things keeping her going.

Sometimes she wished she hadn't been taking so many classes and been in such a hurry to become a doctor because it had taken her time away from Matt. The first year they dated, she was lucky to see him for a few hours a week, and during those times he was usually just watching her study or nap. He hadn't seemed to mind though, he'd just been happy to be with her, and he understood her drive to accomplish her dream. Still, she thought about the year it had taken, and how they could have been together more during that time. This war brought that thought back to her mind, all night her mind went back to it, if anything happened to him, she would always regret not spending every second of that year with him instead of killing herself with school and residency.

Then there was Celie, her rock, her biggest cheerleader, her most avid fan, her one and only true family. Celie was the person who loved and believed in Harper more than anyone else ever had. The one person who never doubted, never faltered, and never failed. This war had done a number on her friend, so many times in the past few weeks, Harper had almost had heart attacks because of her. Watching her get yanked off the boat, then seeing her covered in blood, clawed nearly to death, and tonight, Harper had spent all night worrying that Cel was out there getting herself killed trying to protect everyone else and never thinking about her own safety. Because that's what Celie did, she loved, cared for, and protected everyone before herself.

Matt's voice whispered into her mind, making her smile.

Harper replied.

Matt chuckled.

Harper said.

Matt replied as he opened the bedroom door.

Harper smiled as Matt leaned over and kissed her.

"I'm going to take a five-minute shower, then I'm snuggling in," Matt told her, drawing back.

"That's all I needed to hear, I'll be asleep before you're finished," Harper said, and promptly dropped off.

*

Eden carefully opened the door and was greeted by the sound of Celie's soft, even breathing and he knew she was fast asleep. He took a moment to look down on her as he stood at the edge of the bed before taking a quick rinse. He'd seen her face in his dreams for years, but he'd always believed her to be some image created by his loneliness, some ideal mate he would never find. He would never forget the moment he stepped onto the patio and saw her the first time. His heart had nearly stopped in his chest, and he could not take his eyes off her, his living dream. She said he never showed insecurity around Adam or other males, but just because he didn't show it, didn't mean he didn't feel it. A part of him had been terrified every time Adam approached her, but he'd held on to his dream, not allowing himself to doubt she was his. Though he often doubted himself, he never doubted her, and he knew in his heart she knew the way to him, so he had waited, knowing she'd never let him down.

Eden glanced down at the hand resting on top of the sheet and could see that the scrapes on her knuckles were already showing new skin and would likely be completely healed in the morning. He wished werewolves healed as fast as sirens, but he was grateful she healed faster than a human, if she didn't, she'd still be in terrible shape from fighting the triton that killed Sana. The thought of that day was still almost enough to bring him to his knees, hearing her scream for help, running to the pool to find her limping, and covered in blood, surrounded by dead bodies, his heart had nearly stopped. The only thing that had kept it beating was the knowledge that she needed him, she was hurt, and she needed him to help her, to be strong for her, to protect her. That was one thing he could never fail in doing.

As if sensing him Celie slowly opened her eyes and gave a sleepy smile.

"Finally home?" Celie asked.

"Finally," Eden answered, reaching out to gently smooth hair away from her forehead. "I need to shower, then I'll be to bed."

"Good," Celie smiled as her eyes closed and she immediately drifted back to sleep.

*

"Cel," Harper whispered, poking her head through the door. When she saw that Celie was still nestled cozily in Eden's arms fast asleep, she was tempted to turn around and leave, but Jenny was up, and she needed Celie and Eden to help deal with her.

"Hey Cel, Eden," Harper said again, a little louder, causing them both to stir.

"I'm so sorry guys, I'd love to let you sleep longer, but Jenny's awake and I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do," Harper said, apologetically.

"It's ok," Celie said, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. "What time is it?"

"8:20," Harper said.

"Time we got up anyway, we have a lot to do," Celie yawned, throwing back the covers and standing up. "I swear I'm going to sleep for three days straight when mating season is over."

"God, me too," Harper agreed, she started to turn away to go back downstairs when she saw Celie stretch and wince in pain. "Are you alright? Let me look!"

"I'm fine, Harp, seriously just..." But Celie just stopped and sighed, raising her arm so Harper could yank her shirt up and slowly peel back the bandage.

"I should have put a few stitches in," Harper muttered, her eyebrows drawn together as she saw the blood soaked into the bandages.

"How is it?" Eden said, now hovering over Harper's shoulder worriedly.

"It's fine!" Celie tried. "Harper is overreacting, as usual when something happens to me."

"Ok," Harper sighed. "I might be overreacting a little. I just wasn't expecting to see that much blood on the bandages, but the scratches look fine, healing pretty good, probably completely healed by tonight or tomorrow."

"See?" Celie said, looking up at Eden. "I'm not in any pain, it was just sore when I stretched. You guys can stop acting like I'm a delicate little flower any time now. I've kicked ass this whole time, yeah, I got scratched all to hell, but I held my own, stop hovering and mothering me. I'm a big girl, and it's starting to get on my nerves."

"We just worry," Eden soothed, pushing her hair back over her ear, which softened her stern look.

"Yeah, I get it," Celie sighed. "Let's just go deal with Jenny and eat some breakfast."

"I'm starving," Harper said, rubbing her stomach. "I wouldn't be so hungry right now if someone had brought me some tacos last night."

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Celie huffed. "Listen, there were over twenty people here last night, I couldn't get enough tacos to feed everyone, so I just grabbed a couple because Jenny was starving."

"Whatever, you could have stashed them in the car, and I could have snuck out and ate them and no one would have been the wiser," Harper argued as they walked down the stairs together.

"Ok, so now I know," Celie rolled her eyes. "Next time, hide the tacos, gotcha."

Celie gasped when she walked into the kitchen and got a look at Jenny's face, the entire left side was bruised, and her eye was completely black.

"Oh my god! Jenny, are you feeling ok?" Celie asked, rushing over to hug her.

"Sore, but ok," Jenny gave a small smile. "I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my parents, they're going to freak out."

"I'm sure we'll come up with something, have you eaten?" Celie asked, opening the fridge door to rummage around.

"No, not yet, Harper said she was going to get you so you could cook," Jenny snickered.

"Yeah, I owe her some cooking time, since she was handling it all when my arm was out of commission," Celie smiled. "But that's ok, I'm a better cook than her anyway. How does some spinach and mushroom omelets sound? With some bacon, home fries, and sourdough toast?"

"That sounds like heaven!" Jenny grinned, her mood lifting at the idea of such food.

They joked and laughed and soon Porter and Lorelai joined them, the smell of bacon was all it took to get Porter out of bed. That boy never turned down food or missed a meal, he was especially glad to eat since Celie had started cooking again. All the while though they were carrying on conversations through the mind link to determine the best way to clean up Jenny's memories of last night's events.

They decided the best cover story they could come up with would contain some truth and some fiction. The truth she would remember was that Cole had gotten aggressive with her when he realized she hadn't brought Levi with her to the meeting, he'd grabbed her roughly and shaken her, causing many of her bruises. Then Cole's girlfriend had come out of the water and slapped Jenny in a fit of jealousy. Celie had beat up Cole's girlfriend, and Lorelai had fought Cole to get her out of there and they ran back home, stopping at taco bell on the way. They were going to convince her that the other tritons she saw, and all the wolves were just a dream she had after she fell asleep when they got home.

This story did a couple of things, it contained enough truth that it would feel genuine to her and telling her the female who attacked her was Cole's mate would help her get over their romantic relationship. They didn't want Jenny going to school pining over Cole and thinking of how she wanted to come back to FL to reunite with him. If she believed he had a mate, which he did, then she would be able to get over him more quickly.

As Harper and Celie were finishing the dishes, Matt, Winter, and Eden sat in the living room with Jenny, carefully speaking to her about the events of the night before, little by little altering her memory to match the sequence of events they planned out. She was young, so her mind was very malleable, and she took to the commands very easily, she did not reject or try to hang onto the old memories of the actual events. Eden suspected that she wanted to forget them, forgetting them was much easier than living with them.

They decided Jenny would tell her parents that she had come upon someone being mugged and she had run to their aide and that's why she had the bruises on her face. She'd admit to being down at the beach, where she was not supposed to go at night, to distract them a little from the bruising. She'd rather be scolded for going to the beach at night and putting herself in harm's way than be questioned about the details of the evening. Then she would tell them she had to get packed and ready to leave for college, which again would distract them from questioning her about the evening.

"I'm going to be so glad when she's out of danger," Harper said, after Jenny left to return home and they were all hanging out in the kitchen talking things over.

"I know," Celie said. "I almost had a heart attack when he grabbed her last night, and then I almost lost my fucking mind when that triton bitch hit her. Seriously, I thought Sira was going to go berserker rage on them, I was only able to keep her in because we knew we had to get Jenny out of there."

"You did good, Celie," Reese commented from the doorway. "Your technique was good, your form was perfect, you did everything right. Everything that we teach our warriors when fighting a bigger, stronger, opponent, you did. She didn't stand a chance against you. And you didn't even have to think about it, you didn't hesitate, it was instinct, which means you've worked hard and taken it seriously. A lot of warriors do the work, but they don't pay attention, they lose focus, then, in a life-or-death situation, they forget their training."

"Thanks," Celie said, blushing a bit. Reese complimenting her on her fighting skills was not something she would have ever expected, it was almost like being in the twilight zone.

"Don't try to give me the credit," Harper said before Celie could say anything else. "You always do that, say it was me, but it wasn't. I could have shown you what to do all day, but if you didn't work hard and pay attention, it wouldn't have meant anything."

"Your dad will be proud," Reese said with a smile.

"I hope so," Celie said.

"He will be, how could he not?" Reese shook his head. "I'm not just talking about beating up a triton either. You survived as a runner, became a successful artist, built a business, found your mate, and you're happy. His dreams for you have all come true."

"I can't wait to see him," Celie said, then frowned. "I don't know if I want him to come here though, with all the fighting and uncertainty, just because mating season is over, we don't know what will happen next. Cole could change for three months past mating season last year, we don't know if he can still do that, or if he taught the others to. If we assume they can't change and they can, they'll attack us when we've got our guard down."

"You can always come home to visit him," Reese said, gently. "Things have changed at the pack, it's not the same as you remember. I know you don't want to go, but I want you to know you can, nothing bad will happen. I give you my word as alpha."

"A lot has changed," Callum said. "We changed, the pack changed, you changed. It's a whole new world."

"Plus, you can bring your giant mate and I guarantee no one will say anything to you other than 'yes ma'am'." Reese chuckled.

That made Celie and Harper laugh.

"Ok, that almost makes me want to go visit the pack, just to see that," Harper said.

"Really?" Callum said, surprised.

"No," Harper rolled her eyes.

"You walked right into that one," Celie giggled, just as her cell rang.

"Hi Jenny, is everything..." Celie began but stopped and listened for a moment. "Really? Huh, wow. Do you want her to go? That's actually normal, Jen... I'll drop some money into your account, just tell her you saved it from your babysitting and get the tickets. She doesn't have access to it, does she? Great, then she has no idea how much you've saved. I'll come out in a few weeks and get you setup with anything you still need...Perfect. Let me know if anything comes up...I will...Just be careful...Do not go back down to the beach for any reason. Call if you need anything."

"Ok, so, Jenny's mom wants to go with her to get settled in for school," Celie told everyone.

"Really?" Harper asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I guess now that it's actually time for her to get ready and go to college her mom is getting all sentimental," Celie shrugged. "Which is awesome, Jenny needs a mom, maybe this is the motivation she needs to get better."

"It's hard though, being a parent to several kids without enough money to give them all what they need," Harper sighed. "I see it all the time, parents who have sick kids but have jobs and other kids too, and it's like, what a choice, you know? How do you navigate that as a parent? You have to parent the others, you have to work and put food on the table, it's just an impossible situation sometimes. I feel so bad for those parents."

"Which is why Harper's clinic doesn't make as much money as it could," Matt said, slipping an arm around Harper's shoulders. "Because those parents end up with a 'Harper's Discount' which generally covers nearly all the cost of their kids' surgeries."

"I make plenty of money," Harper brushed him off. "I'm paid by the hospital, and the charities usually reimburse me for a lot of the 'discounts' so it's fine. I didn't become a doctor to make money, if I had, I'd be a plastic surgeon."

"So, I guess I can let Luna Penny know to cancel the flight since we don't need to borrow the jet after all," Celie laughed, and Porter's mouth dropped open.

"Mom was letting you use the jet?" Porter asked, and Harper started laughing.

"Celie asked for a favor while we were waiting for you guys to make it back from the beach," Harper said between giggles.

"You did not," Porter stared at a smirking Celie.

"Sure did!" Celie grinned. "She said yes too! But now that Jenny's mom is going to take her, we don't need to go, at least not right now. I was honestly dreading going, as much as I'd love to go to Colorado and see the mountains, now is not the best time. We have a captive triton to question and tons of other shit going on right now, and it just doesn't seem like the right time to be taking vacations."

"She had a whole plan," Harper told Porter. "She even volunteered you and Lorelai to go with her and visit the local pack and have a mountain 'honeymoon'."

"We were getting a honeymoon?" Lorelai asked, perking up.

"Well, long weekend," Celie muttered. "Way to ruin the surprise Harp."

"It's not happening now, so there's no surprise to ruin," Harper chuckled.

"It was still totally going to happen!" Celie argued, pointing at Harper. "I was working on another idea! Now it's completely ruined."

"I'm sure if anyone can come up with a way to talk my mom into giving up the jet, it's you Cel," Porter laughed and put his arm around Celie, kissing her hair. "I'll let you work it out and you can let me in on it when you need my help or advice."

"I might be able to help with that," Reese said, smiling.

"Huh?" Everyone turned to Reese, confused.

"Well, two of your pack members are joining my pack soon, we'll all be going back together, I'm sure if another alpha asked politely, and offered to cover the costs, she'd be willing to allow me to use it for our return home," Reese said.

Porter had started grinning halfway through Reese's suggestion.

"I'm pretty damn sure she wouldn't turn that offer down, especially if Celie was going to need to go to Colorado to check on Jenny," Porter said.

"Everyone wins!" Celie said, excitedly clapping her hands.

"I think it might be about time for another trank for our friend in the pool," Harper said, glancing at the stove clock. "She should be waking up anytime now, so I'll go ahead and dose her again, then check her wounds, and when it gets dark, we'll be ready to move her."

"I can't wait to get her into to the tank and hear what she has to say," Eden said.

"If she says anything," Celie said.

"Oh, she will," Lorelai said, "one way or another."

**

"I'm bored out of my fucking mind," Celie complained with a sigh, staring at her fingernails as they all sat on folding chairs around the rusty water tank with the captive triton in it.

"Isn't that what you said at the beach literally three seconds before Cole came out of the water?" Lorelai asked with a chuckle.

"Which is why I'm complaining now," Celie said. "I'm hoping it will trigger this bitch to wake up."