"Make sure that you dress warmly." Paul stood beside his bedroom door, watching as Skylar scanned the room one last time. 

"Seriously, Paul. I think that three coats is enough." When he didn't respond, Skylar tilted her head up to look at him, noticing the stony expression on his face. "Hey. I'm going to be okay. I promise."

He shook his head. "What if something happens. Edward is going to be focused on Bella, not you."

"Hey, hey, hey. Even though I'm worried sick, I still know that you're going to be okay during the fight. Now, you need to trust me." Skylar walked towards him, cupping his face with her hand. 

He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes for a moment before allowing them to refocus back on his imprint. "But how can you protect yourself."

"I don't know... I'll bring a baseball bat or something."

He rolled his eyes but let up on her. Wrapping his arms around her, he tightly encased her smaller frame. "I love you."

Since last night, Paul had told her those three words countless times. Still, it brought butterflies to her stomach. Butterflies that Skylar hoped would never go away. 

"I have to go with Jake now to meet Bella." Glancing up, she quickly pecked his lips. "I will see you again." She attempted to pull away, only to have the air rush around her as he yanked her back within his touch. "Paauuullll." He simply captured her lips with his own again. Before he could deepen it any more, Skylar pulled away again. "I really need to get going. Besides, you have to meet up with Sam before the fight."

He gave her a good, long stare and nodded. "I love you."

At least an hour later (Skylar lost the time hearing Jacob drone on about Bella), Skylar and Jake walked down the hill, only to see Edward and Bella already talking. Jacob's face fell as he heard them with his super hearing. "Whose head is unclear?"

Edward shook his head. "Alice says there's a storm coming." 

"Yeah, I can feel it... We should get going."

His answer made Edward shift uncomfortably, and he made his way towards Bella. "I'll see you in a couple of hours." He planted a kiss on her forehead, making both Jacob and Skylar turn away, before motioning for Skylar to follow him into the trees. Skylar gave a final wave to her twin, following Edward's footsteps.

They walked in silence for a good ten minutes before the vampire broke it. "I know that you don't like me very much. In fact, I would be surprised if you liked me at all by this time. But I do love Bella more than I thought was ever possible... and the fact that she loves me back is something I will never understand.

What I do understand is that the bond between the two of you will maybe never be as strong as it was, and the reason is me. I will never forgive myself for making her pick between the two of us, but I do feel as if you two are slowly building it up again. Which is why I wanted to ask for your understanding of why... Of why I asked Bella to marry me."

Skylar choked on air as Edward finished his monologue. She had to physically stop to try and regain her breath, pushing away his attempt to help. "You want to what?"

"I wanted your understanding-"

"Yeah, I heard that! You asked her to marry you?"

He nodded, suddenly looking sheepish. "I had actually asked early this year, but she rejected me. It came up again last night, but this time she accepted."

"But we just graduated high school." Skylar, still not fully compreheding his words. "Besides, she probably was just nervous."

"If Paul had asked you to marry him, would you have said yes?" The vampire asked. 

Skylar scoffed. "Don't ask about our relationship, or assume anything. And no, I wouldn't have. He just told me that he loved me yesterday!"

Her last sentence made Edward shake his head. "No, I've read his thoughts before. He's loved you for a while."

"Really," Skylar cooed, her thoughts back on Paul before snapping out of it. "That's besides the point! What is Charlie gonna say?"

"I don't care what anyone else thinks, Skylar. I want your approval for our marriage but I will not wait for it. What you and Paul have is rare, is special. Imprinting in wolves in not common, but neither is finding a mate for a vampire. Much less a human mate. I've feel things for Bella that I have never felt for anyone else, and I wouldn't want to. I love her, and in my time, people would show that through marriage."

Skylar stayed silent while the two resumed walking, processing his words. 

"I get that this is hard for you to accept. I know that you don't like me very much, if at all. And I know that I've been the cause of Bella's pain countless times, so I understand why you have that hatred for me. But I would do anything for Bella. If she asked to me to leave, if she wanted to be with Jacob... I would. If it was her choice to love someone else, I would let her go. It would kill me but I would do anything for her happiness. But she's chosen me. I would never pressure her into marriage but she said yes. She's chosen to be happy with me, and I will love and treasure her forever."

"What about after the marriage?" Skylar asked. "She wants to change into one of you. I just don't know if I can let her go like that. Things will never be the same between us. There will always be that barrier, that restraint on her part."

"I've tried everything to persuade her not to change. I want her to, yes, so that we can always be together. But at the same time, I want her to experience human life. Like the marriage, I would never pressure her into doing anything, changing anything about herself. If she wants to become one, I'm tired of fighting with her. I love her."

Staying silent for a minute or so more, Skylar nodded. "It's hard for to fully comprehend. I might never understand your relationship with my sister, but I do want her to be happy. She's had enough pain in her life to last a lifetime. So I... I do support your marriage. But I swear to God, Edward, if you ever do anything to ever hurt her again, I will do everything in my power to make sure she leaves you."

"And I know that your looking after her, so I thank you for that." Edward finally glanced at Skylar. "I appreciate your approval towards the marriage more than anything." Looking up at the sky, he stopped and bent down. "We need to get to the campsite early to set everything up. By the time Jacob and Bella get there it will be freezing." He looked at his back, motioning for Skylar to climb on it. 

Sighing comfortably, she thought of the conversation they had just shared. Pushing her thoughts away, she carefully climbed on his back, wrapping her arms and legs around him tightly. 

"I'm going to go slower than I normally do but it will still be faster than you're used to. Just look down and hold on tight."

♦♦♦

Edward was right. By the time Bella and Jacob arrived, the weather had turned frigid. Skylar stood by Edward's side, watching as Bella immediately fell towards Edward, engulfing him in a tight hug. Walking towards the younger boy's side, Skylar nudged him. "Get some good moves in."

"Tried to."

They watched as Edward released Bella and nodded towards Jake. "Thank you."

"You should get back before the storm hits," Bella advised, making Jacob shake his head. "No, I'm staying. You'll need my connection to the pack to keep tabs on what's going on."

"You're not gonna fight?"

Jake shook his head in disagreement once more. "Seth will spell me in the morning. He's not happy about missing the action but it'll keep him out of trouble."

"Let's get you inside," Edward muttered to the girl shivering beside him. Wrapping an arm around her, he led her to the tent. 

Hour after hour, the wind would slowly begin picking up. Being the smart one in her family, Skylar cuddled next to Jake as the temperature started to drop, thankful that she had asked him to come in. She sighed as the heat radiated off his body onto hers. Glancing at her paler-than-normal twin whimpering on the floor, she felt bad as Bella tried to stay warm. 

Edward kept his gaze on her, looking regretful. "I should have chosen a site lower down."

"No, it's fine. I'm okay," Bella tried to convince him, though it sounded weak. The vampire looked even more down after she finished. "What can I do?"

After a moment of silence from Bella, Jake sighed. "I can't sleep with all that teeth chattering going on." A thought ran through his mind, a thought that triggered Edward "Forget it."

"She may need her toes someday. And let's face it, I am hotter than you." As he moved forward, Edward latched his hand onto his shoulder, preventing him from going any further. "Keep you hand off me."

"Keep your hands off her."

"Don't fight," Bella argued. 

Edward sighed before nodding to Jacob. The boy looked at Skylar, asking for approval. "It's fine," Skylar said. "Go get her warm. I'm good for now." 

Jacob jumped at the opportunity and got under the sleeping bag with Bella, snuggling her closer to his chest. "Wow, you're freezing Bella... Relax. You'll warm up soon. Faster if you took your clothes off."

"Jake."

"Survival 101," he argued. 

With Jake eventually putting Bella to sleep, with her drunk on his warmness, Skylar slowly fell in behind her, only to be woken up by Jake. "He's worried about you, you know. Paul. When I was outside I could hear his thoughts about you. He doesn't trust you to be up with me, much less Edward." Chuckling to himself, he glanced at Skylar over Bella's shoulder. "I wonder what he would do if I sent him an image of you curled up next to me."

"Don't," Skylar whispered, too tired to argue with him. 

Jake shook his head. "I won't. Besides, I don't want to hear him thinking about you. You don't even know how relieved we all were to hear that he finally told you that he loved you. It's all he's been thinking about for months."

"Months?"

He shrugged. "The wolf almost immediately feels something towards the imprint. I wouldn't doubt if he really found out his feelings towards the beginning."

"Can I... Can I ask you something?" When Jacob nodded, she continued. "Was he really as bad as everyone said. Like, I don't know. Sleeping around wise. Bella tried to warn me about him before I really became serious with him, but I never really have had a problem so far. I'm just worried that something's going to come up about the whole situation, but I'm scared to ask him about it."

"I didn't really know him that well before the wolf stuff. I mean, I went to school with him and everything, but we didn't really ever talk. Plus, he was a few grades above me. But I really think that most of the stuff you and Bella have heard are just rumors. Don't get me wrong, he used to be a major hothead, and still is to a point, but he has calmed down a lot since he met you. I used to be able to pick a fight with him about anything, but now he hardly ever fights. He's changed, Skylar. For you."

Kind of an awkward place to end a chapter, but I'm too exicted to get the fight to write anything else. This chapter is kinda ehh, but I like it enough to keep it. I skipped the whole deep converstaion with Edward and Jacob because I want the story to mostly revolve around Skylar, not Bella. Might go back and change up this later, but imma write the next chapter first before I do anything. 

Lil warning - I think the chapter next is gonna be a looongg one, so be prepared.