Chapter 5 5

Lily followed James into the small diner. She had been in there a few times but not too many since it was own, run, and frequented by werewolves. As a human, she had avoided all werewolves that weren't her adopted family and now it was just an old habit hard to break. Plus she knew none of them liked having her around either. "Hey James," an older waitress called out with a warm smile.

"Hey Cat, how's the day going for you?" James replied.

"You know how it is," the waitress replied back with a chuckle.

"That bad huh," he joked and she waved him off with another chuckle. Lily was a little surprised by the exchange. These people had feared and hated him at one time. Lily shook her head slowly as they sat down in a booth. "What?" James asked with a curious expression.

"You're just one more of the pack now huh?" Lily asked back with an amused but also a little irritated. She didn't miss how they looked at her as they went to their booth. They must have put her in James's old place as the dangerous element of the pack.

"I wouldn't go that far but yeah, they no longer mind having me around," James replied with a smile and Lily couldn't help but consider the pack like a bunch of wishy-washy hypocrites. It's not that she wanted them to hate James, but he was still the same person they feared and hated years ago so why the sudden change of heart? Obviously because they saw how he could be used to their benefit and that irritated her.

"That's good to hear, I am glad for you James," she finally said with a forced smile. She knew that deep down all werewolves felt the need to belong to a pack, James was no different. Thank God, she still had her human mentality and didn't need that sense of belonging.

"Everything okay?" James asked and she shrugged, flashing him her forced smile once more.

"Absolutely, why wouldn't it be," she answered and looked out the window as the waitress came over to them. She took their orders and went as quickly as she came.

"Right...so what made your whole mood change all of the sudden if everything is okay," James asked and before she got a chance to answer a high pitched voice called out his name. She looked over and saw a brunette woman walking over to them, her eyes trained on James. "Hello Ginger," James said in a flat tone.

"Where have you been mister? I've been trying to reach you all day yesterday and today," she demanded in a nauseating fake pout. Lily watched as James seemed to almost cringe for a moment before his face turned stoic.

"I've been busy," he replied dryly and finally the brunette seemed to notice Lily and A.J. sitting there.

"Who are they?" She asked with an almost accusing tone as she shot an icy glare towards Lily. Looked like James had moved on after all. Though she refused to acknowledge how much that idea bothered her.

"This is Lily," James replied once more, putting and extra emphasis on her name for some reason. "Lily this is a...friend of mine," he said looking at her with an unreadable expression.

"I'm Ginger," the brunette said, putting emphasis on her name as she flipped her hair. Lily bit the inside of her cheek as a remind herself to keep her temper in check. This woman meant nothing to her even if she was something for James, or at least that's what she was trying to tell herself.

"Aww and who's the little boy," Ginger cooed and tried to tickle A.J., who turned away from her.

"That's A.J. our son," James said, smiling with an almost proud look on his face that made Lily want to smile as well but Ginger looked at him in complete shock.

"You're son? I didn't know you had a son James," She said with a flirty smile and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder and Lily suddenly had the urge to gag.

"They haven't been living in town so no one really knew," James told her.

"He looks just like you, perfectly handsome," Ginger flirted once more and Lily sighed as she pulled out her cell to look at the time. She really hoped James didn't expect her to sit through this. He shot her a look of apology. Lily gave a small shrug and noticed how the werewolf kept trying to tickle A.J. but he didn't want to have any of it and what's worse, he was getting mad. Uh oh, Lily thought then slapped the persistent woman's hand away from him just before A.J. got too angry as she silently cursed the damn woman's idiocy.

She really didn't want to do this but it was her or A.J. and she'd gotten used to the bad guy image by now. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Ginger demanded loudly, holding her hand to her chest, and several people turned.

"I could ask you the same," Lily hissed at her, allowing her fangs to show. "That's my son and I don't want you to touch him again, got it!"

"He's James son too and James doesn't mind," She said with a smug expression. James started to speak, but Lily cut him off.

"Do you know who I am," Lily demanded. "I'm that nasty foul hybrid you've heard talk about. If you touch my son again, I'll sink my fangs into that nasty chicken neck of yours and drain you...I bet you taste like shit too," Lily snarled at her. Ginger took a step back then lifted her chin with a superior look in her eye.

"I see what they say about you is true," she sneered then gave James a sympathetic look. "I'll talk to you later James when...that isn't around," She added and once more James opened his mouth to speak, but she walked out of the diner. Lily could see the disapproving looks of the others in the diner and she leaned back in her chair. Not going to be winning any fans today, she thought with a defeated sigh.

"What was that all about?" James asked, with a slightly disapproving look of his own and Lily flinched inwardly, she didn't expect his disapproval. Maybe he really did have a thing for that idiot woman.

"It was either him or me," Lily said glancing at A.J. and James looked confused. "A.J. does have one...issue," she started and he looked at his son with slight concern on his face. "A.J. is a bitter and he does it well. When he gets angry, or doesn't like someone A.J. will bite them...he nearly took off a person's finger once. I've learned to recognize the signs of when he's getting really pissed," Lily explained.

"Still don't get why you acted that way towards Ginger," James stated, sounding simply confused now.

Lily leaned forward and in a whisper told him. "Look around, James. You notice how these people look at me? None of them are happy that I'm here. I don't care what they think honestly, but it not only affects me. A.J. is marked because of me and if he bit into your girlfriend," Lily explained, like she damn well deserved, she added silently. "Then he'd have become blacklisted by the pack, just like me. A.J. deserves to have a chance to belong," she finished.

"So you slapped her and threatened her so A.J. wouldn't look bad?" James asked and Lily nodded as she leaned back into her chair. Suddenly James got a large smile on his face.

"First she's not my girlfriend and second I was going to say...it almost sounded like you were jealous," he teased and she rolled her eyes.

"Please, James jealous of that? I don't think so! But I am disappointed. I would hope you'd have better taste than that," she replied with a sarcastic grin. James kept the smile but didn't say anymore or maybe his silence was due to the waitress had arrived with their food. She didn't eat much and preferred to make sure A.J. got his fill.

"Despite running into your girlfriend, this hasn't been too bad James," Lily admitted as she picked up A.J. and slide out of the booth when he was finished. "I need to get this little guy home for his nap," she added as she stood.

"She's not my girlfriend," He said, as he stood up as well. "And I get the whole day remember Lily. We'll take him to my place," James offered and Lily shrugged with a nod of agreement. "He's going to eventually spend some nights at my place so he'll have to start getting used to it," James suggested with a tone that made her feel like he was trying to goad her into fighting with him and it wasn't the first time she had felt that way either. Well, he wasn't going to get one.

"You're right and that sounds like a good idea. Like I keep saying James, your day, your way," she told him. Hopefully, he'd get the idea in his head that she wasn't going to try and steal A.J. away from him. In fact, there was a good chance that when this was all over James would be the one to take care of him. The familiar pang in her chest struck through her as she thought about leaving A.J.

Lily tried to dispel the dark brooding feelings and walked out of the diner to James truck. She strapped A.J. in his car seat and sat in the truck, waiting for James to come out. He glanced in her direction when he got out but didn't make any comments. By the time they had gotten to the brick apartment complex, A.J. was almost half asleep. Lily watched James with morbid pleasure as he tried to get A.J. out of the car seat but was failing miserably. Lily started to laugh at him shaking her head and deciding to put the man out of his misery.

"Here, let me show you," she told him grabbing the straps. "You press here and then pull," she explained feeling satisfied by the look of embarrassment on his face but knew those things were a lot more complicated than they looked. She held the half asleep boy and followed James into the building. Lily glanced around the house, surprised at how neat and homey it was. She had expected the typical bachelor pad. They really didn't know each other very well, she realized. "He can sleep in my bed. It's pretty big so I don't think he'll fall and get hurt," James said walking out of the living room and into a hallway, sounding as if he's explaining it more to himself than to Lily.

She followed him to where his bedroom was, feeling a little uncomfortable being in that particular room. "Alright A.J. time for a nap but first I want to tell you something important," Lily told A.J. and he nodded sleepily. "This is your daddy A.J. and you're going to sleep in his room okay," she explained, noticing James look of surprise.

"Okay," A.J. said half yawning then held up his arms towards James. "Daddy!" The look of surprise and awe on James's face was priceless as he held A.J. It was all Lily needed to see to know that this was the right decision. He'd be a good father to her son, she didn't have any doubts.

"Does he sleep like this?" James asked as they sat on his bed and Lily leaned against the door jamb nodding yes. She watched as he took off A.J.'s shoes and lay down with A.J. on his large bed. "Did you have fun today?" He asked the yawning toddler.

"Uh-huh," A.J. replied sweetly moving his head up and down with another large yawn.

"That's good, would you like to have your own room here with your own bed and toys too, the next time you come over," James asked once more with a soft fatherly tone that made Lily smile. A.J. was going to have a good life there, she thought with a hint of sadness.

"Uh-huh," A.J. mumbled already half asleep.

"Alright A.J. but now it's time to sleep okay," he told the little boy.

"Okay daddy," A.J. mumbled again patting James on the face with another enormous yawn and snuggled up against him. A.J. was asleep in a matter of minutes, he must have really exhausted himself while playing at the park. She watched as James gave A.J. a light kiss on the top of his head then eventually getting up.

"You did good James," she willingly admitted to him then pat him on the shoulder, but as soon as her hand touched his shoulder a strange warm tingling sensation ran through her hand and arm. The look on James' face told her that he felt it too. Lily quickly removed her hand with a slight sense of panic. What the hell was that? She hurriedly went to the living room.

"So you really think I did good?" James asked and Lily was thankful that he was ignoring that...whatever it was. It was just static electricity Lily, she told herself. You work with too many electronic gadgets and it's got you supercharged that's all!

"Yeah," she replied, her voice sounding a little tight so she cleared her throat. "Yeah James, you did good. A.J. has really taken to you....You have a nice apartment," she added, trying to not appear as awkward as she felt. She sat down on the couch, checking out the room some more.

"Thanks, it's not much but it's much better than moving from here to there, hotel room after hotel room," he said sitting down in a chair next to her.

"I can imagine," Lily replied with a small smile, not sure what more to say.

"You really have changed haven't you," James suddenly stated, giving her an intense look. The statement made her laugh a little and she nodded. "I'm curious though what did you find in Montana that caused it?"

"Well, I really didn't find anything there. It was more like of what I found in myself," she explained and glanced at James then back to her hands. "I didn't like what I saw so I decided to change."

"Just like that?" James asked with a hint of surprise and Lily smiled a small smile.

"No, it wasn't that easy. I got a sort of rude awakening," She replied and flashes of screams, blood, and power started running through her mind. She shook her head with a shudder. James looked like he wanted to push the topic but thankfully he didn't.

"So what do you do now," James asked.

"Well since I couldn't be a guardian and it didn't exactly fit with the changes I've been making I went lab geek again," she added with a smile, forcing herself to focus on the good.

"A lab geek? They have lab geeks?" James asked with a smirk and she narrowed her eyes at him in a playful glare. "But how is being a guardian not fit in whatever changes you are made?" She sighed, but that was something she wasn't ready to talk about yet. She really didn't even like talking to her shrink about it.

"That's a subject I really don't want to talk about right now okay," she stated and he gave her a small smile with a nod.

"Alright, we don't have to talk about it. I do have another question though how come we never met sooner? I was Tony's best friend and you were Lacy's. I went over to their house all the time but yet we never met." James asked and Lily laughed, at his choice of change of subject. This one, she didn't mind talking about.

"First because, besides the Roberts, I avoided all werewolves and Sandy knew this. I would always call her house before I came over to make sure that neither Tony nor Lacy had other friends over or if I were at their house she'd warn me if friends were coming over. Secondly, you all go to that werewolf exclusive private school while I had to go to the public school," she explained.

"Still find it kind of curious that we never crossed paths," James said, sounding amused.

"One of life's little mysteries," Lily explained with a smile and he returned it.

"Wonder if we met as kids if we would have been friends," James mused out loud.

"I doubt it," Lily said with an evil smile.

"Why?" he asked, looking almost offended.

"I didn't like werewolves first and I didn't like cocky boys second," she teased and he actually laughed.

"Yeah your probably right...I was a bit too cocky for my own good at that age," James stated and Lily nodded, her smile growing. This was nice. Maybe they could actually make good friends. She honestly hoped so, Lily really could use some more names on her friends list. They talked about little non-important things but made her realize just how little she knew about James and how little he knew her too, of course.

A.J. slept for an hour and a half until he finally woke up and James prepared everyone a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She hoped that it was just a quick fix and not the demonstration of the extent of his culinary skills. A.J. would need to eat balanced meals not just quick fixes. Maybe she should teach him a few things before leaving. "What do you say," Lily told A.J. when James handed him his sandwich.

With his mouth impossibly full A.J. muffled a messy thank you. Lily scowled and James bursting out laughing. "James it's not funny! That is very rude A.J. and you could end up choking. Don't ever talk with your mouth full!" She scolded him, but the little boy was too busy imitating James laughter. Thankfully James was adult enough to realize his mistake and stopped laughing.

"Sorry Lily," James said. "Listen to your mom A.J.," he told his son with a bad attempt at a "dad" voice. It took all she had to keep from laughing herself. The toddler nodded exaggeratedly his head once more and went to chewing his food much to her surprise.

"Oh, so now you listen to him?" Lily playfully scolded A.J. and the boy smiled up at her looking like a mirror image of James. "Traitor," she mumbled with a hint of a smile.

"It's only natural, everyone likes me...except you," James told her and she smiled.

"That's all in the past," she told him with a wave. "I actually think your kind of tolerable," she teased him and he laughed.

"I'm kind of tolerable?" He repeated with a grin. "I think I can live with that," he teased back and handed her a sandwich. When their little snack was finished, James surprised her, by putting on some movies for them to watch. He actually had some kid stuff, including her favorite the Rescuers.

It was nearly eight by the time they had gone back to the Roberts's house. Lily had to admit, she enjoyed herself. Oddly it was probably the most fun she had in a long time. She stood out on the porch as James got ready to leave. "Thanks, for today, A.J. really enjoyed himself," she told him, feeling it was important to let him know that he'd done a good thing today.

"No problem Lily. I enjoyed spending time with him," he told her giving her a smile. "I would definitely like to do this again." Only with A.J. or with me too? The question suddenly popped into her head unasked for. Oh do stop that Lily, she scolded herself.

"I think A.J. would like that too," Lily replied back. James just stood there for a moment, looking at her and it made her a little nervous.

"Well I'll be around tomorrow," he said finally, turning to walk to his truck. Lily shook her head, still feeling a little awkward and walked back into the house to put A.J. to bed and try to get some sleep herself but as she laid on the bed next to her already asleep son sleep refused to come. The events of the day kept running through her head. It had felt so good to do something so normal. She felt normal and that hadn't happened since she had been changed.

The next day Lily got up with a yawn, only after about five hours of sleep and not surprised to see that A.J. was missing from her room. He was probably spoiled rotten by Sandy, she thought with a smile. She scratched her head as she plopped down the stairs. "Good morning!" a girl said cheerfully, appearing from nowhere and startling Lily half to death.

"Good morning," Lily said slowly, trying to calm her racing heart. Not too many people could sneak up on her like that! She walked into the kitchen with the girl following behind her. She opened the fridge and hesitantly grabbed a small black thermos.

"What's that?" the girl asked, looking at Lily intently with a pencil and a pad of paper in her hand.

"Um breakfast...who are you and what are you doing here...at ten in the morning," Lily asked, glancing at the clock on the wall, trying not to sound rude then started to drink the warm blood. It had been nearly a month since she had last drank blood and she could start to feel her vamp a little edgy.

"I'm Eliza, my dad's the new enforcer," Eliza said with a matter of fact tone bringing Lily's attention back to her. "And well, there's this assignment for school where we have to do a report on somebody. It can be family, or our hero or something like that," the girl explained. "I had done the report on my dad, but that was before you came. I decided to trash that one and do a new one on you," She finished and Lily choked a little.

"On me? What? Why?" She asked surprised.

"Cause you're cool....is that blood your drinking?" Eliza asked the pencil poised and ready for action.

"Uh...yeah," Lily admitted feeling a little awkward.

"Awesome," she exclaimed and wrote something down.

"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to keep the one you did on your dad. It's a lot more work to have to go and write a whole other report," Lily argued, really not wanting to be the subject of some school assignment. What's next they'll be asking to dissect her for the biology class?

"Totally sure! My report's going to be the coolest by far," Eliza said with a look of total determination that Lily had seen on her uncle's face a few times and that look never meant any good for her. God help me, she silently pleaded.

It wasn't until the evening that Lily managed to give Eliza the slip. The whole day that girl had been hammering her with questions. The girl was tenacious and hungry for information. Some things she didn't mind answering but others, like how she had become a hybrid, Lily refused to really give a solid answer. She almost swore that Eliza was writing her biography instead of a two-page school report. What was it with the Lacrosse family and dogging her heels? Lily sat on the picnic table and sighed in contentment at the silence of the night, finally feeling at peace, but it didn't last long till she heard someone walk up to her. Lily cringed and waited for the bombardment of fresh questions.

"Hey Lily," she heard James say.

"Oh, it's you, James...thank God," she said with a sigh of relief as she turned to look at him.

"Whoa wait a minute...did you just said "It's you, James, thank God?" He asked with a look of shock on his face and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah that's what I said...you have a very persistent niece," she told him.

"Ah, Eliza...I heard she's decided to do her assignment about you. I think she's quite enamored by you Lily," he teased and Lily shook her head.

"Oh, I bet your sister just loves that," Lily said flatly.

"Actually Harley and Keon both think it's kind of cute," he said, sitting on the picnic bench with her. "How are you not freezing? It's like ten degrees out here," he demanded, with a shiver.

"I don't get cold when I'm in vamp mode or as I like to call it committing temporary suicide," Lily replied with a smile.

"Committing temporary suicide?" James repeated.

"Well, it's technically true. I die every time I go full vamp or really close to it, so I am killing myself which is suicide but only until I go back to the balance which makes it temporary," Lily explained and James started to laugh.

"The fact that you have that all thought out is freaky," he stated and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're freaky," she snapped, giving him a little push and noticed that as soon as her shoulder touched him, the tingling started again but she ignored it.

"Wow, mature come back," he told her with a smirk. "What next you're going to call me a butthead?" James asked and butted her back with his own shoulder.

"Well, you are a butthead," Lily demanded, her smile growing, butting him again.

"You know what, it takes one to know one," he replied.

"Whatever...jerk face," Lily shot with a light laugh.

"I know you are but what am I," was his response.

"God I haven't heard that since I was like six," Lily said, surprised at how much fun this silly childish game was.

"Yeah...the keystone to all arguments for the age of ten or younger," James stated and Lily glanced at him under her lashes. He really was cute, she thought and her pulse started to quicken. Suddenly she felt the air around them change and become charged, along with it, she felt as if something was pulling her towards him. Lily swallowed nervously as she realized that she felt the urge to kiss him.

Ignoring the charged atmosphere and the unwanted urges, Lily looked down at her hands. What was going on? She did not like James like that! She never did, she tried to tell herself but some reason the conviction wasn't there.