"I'm taking you both. You and your girl."

That phrase became the highlight of my day. No, scratch that, of my whole life. I don't think I have ever been more happy. Just imagine - me! The cripple! Carrying a child without a father and out of marriage! Being haunted by a creepy stalker and the ghosts of my past. Me, the mentally scarred woman, who is secretly afraid of people touching her or getting too close. No, I'm not crazy, I don't show it, but I tremble inside, even for a tiny second, when someone male is touching me. But would you blame me? That's what I thought. But here I am, dreaming of knowing how would Nick's hand feel holding mine, knuckles brushing my cheek, arms wrapping around me, lips connecting with mine...

That's it for now, I don't think I'm ready to go further than that. But still, it's a huge progress for me. A week ago I didn't want a boyfriend, a husband, a lover, a mate. And now? It suddenly all changed. Maybe it's the mate bond, but I don't really know. No one knows, actually, since none from my surroundings has ever spoken to a healer, so they can't possibly imagine how it would feel for a non-were to recognize a mate or how to feel about it. And that's the confusing part. I've read a lot of novels, werewolf included, but they all describe the tingles, the smell, erratic heartbeat, but I had none of that.

I felt... Enchanted, that's how I felt looking in Nick's eyes. And yeah, I wanted to experience his touch, but I wasn't sure of the reasons, maybe it was the curiosity, after all except for a sloppy kiss in 5th grade, I'm completely innocent. My parents raised me that way and I never rebelled, because I was a nerd. That sounds surprising, right? Getting through college without even a kiss? But to be fair, the college I went to was in a neighbouring town, and a lot of my high school friends and classmates went there, so that kind of kept me in my usual environment. And I never regretted that, and I still don't. So that's why I'm confused. This whole thing is not how I imagined my life going, but if everything ends in my favour, I think I will be happy, I hope. And my girl will have a father, and there's a real chance that she will grow up being a part of a big and happy family, a real family, that sticks with it's own...

Our conversation after that fateful phrase was short. We exchanged a couple of shy smiles, but both of us were... unsure of what to do next. Our situation was pretty unusual. I have to give it to Nick, he was willing to go slow, even if he didn't say it out loud. I don't know whether it was because he knew how damaged I was, or because of me carrying another wolf's smell, or something else, but I decided to be grateful for that without actually finding out his true motivation. The awkwardness was cast away by doc Evans, who turned out to be hiding in the kitchen and listening to our whole conversation. Sneaky old man. After a few clumsy minutes of not talking to each other, he suddenly appeared in the doorway and with a huge grin suggested that for starters Nick should take me out on a date. Of course he did it in his own unique way by humiliating Nick a bit:

"Well, what are you waiting for, you slow poke! Ask the lady out already!"

I laughed out loud at that and Nick blushed. That big bad wolf actually blushed! That made my day even more, so I laughed again, and the sound of my own happiness wormed my insides. Nick looked at me still shyly and in a very polite voice asked me out:

"Would you go on a date with me, Emily?"

"With pleasure!" I answered without any hesitation and with a huge smile on my face. After that he stood up, awkwardly waved at me and left, not without elbowing doc Evans in the ribs. That night I slept like a baby, without any nightmares.

The next morning was hectic. Lena woke me up somewhere around 10am and hurriedly fed me breakfast. While I ate I noticed her tapping her foot impatiently.

"What's gotten your panties in a twist?" I asked her in a light tone.

"Are you kidding me?!" She instantly shot up from her seat. "Girl, you don't realise how awesome life is now!"

"It is? I don't?" I rose my eyebrows at her, but in truth, I had a slight idea of why she was so excited, my heart swelled. She was happy for me and Nick.

"Yeah! You've got a mate! And it's Nick! He's like a 10 out of 10!"

"Do you really have to evaluate men like that?" I asked scrunching my nose a bit. "It's a little shallow, no?"

"Oh, come oooon! You know I don't mean it like that..."

Lena actually looked a bit offended so I threw her a small 'I know' and patted her hand.

"Anyway, you have a mate! And you have a date! A DATE! You know what that means?" she started clapping her hands excitedly.

"Uhm... That I'm going out?"

"Captain obvious..." She actually rolled her eyes at me.

"Hardy har har" I grumbled. She just chuckled at me and dismissed my poor attempt of being mad at her.

"That means we have to dress you up! And that you are moving back home! Not in that order... First we're moving you back, and then I'm raiding through your closed and we make you look super pretty for Nick!"

I really wanted to argue with her, because I wasn't that into dressing up and all that stuff, but then I thought - hey, it's my first date ever, why the hell not? And there it was, the satisfaction on Lena's face when I agreed. So straight from the kitchen I went to pack my bag again and in no time we were in doc's truck on the way to Shirley's and Jonathan's house.

When we arrived only Shirley was home. She said that all men went to the pack house, to try figuring out all the dangerous stuff and that I had nothing to worry about. She also said that Nick would pick me up at about 5pm, so I had some free time. Actually, I had a lot of free time, seeing it was only midday. So me and Lena grabbed a jar of cold lemonade and settled on the porch, the spot in the house I came to love so much. Jax was sleeping at my feet with a bone in his mouth, while we chatted about meaningless stuff. At 2pm we ate a light lunch, and at 3pm the madhouse began. Both Shirley and Lena criticised my wardrobe like two freaking fashion experts and even suggested we take a quick trip to buy me a new dress, but I killed that idea instantly. Firstly there was no time for that and secondly - being my size it would be pretty hard to find something that would make me look more appealing and in the end I had only one month to go, I would have to throw away the dress.

So we settled on my favorite grey maxi dress with a pub print. Lena did my hair in a beach wave style, Shirley helped to apply a very modest layer of makeup, just a bit of blush, eyeliner and mascara. I said a strict no to lipstick, because the colors they had were too bright for me, when I preferred natural tones. At 5 minutes to 5 I was ready. And then at 5pm precisely there was a knock on the front door. Shirley went to open it, while Lena helped me to walk. I still had my cane, but at that point it wasn't enough already, I needed additional assistance to save my strength. By the time we reached the front door (it wasn't that long, but for me the time stretched, that nervous I was), Nick was already inside and was getting instructions from Shirley. I didn't hear what she was saying exactly, but by his exasperated expression and eyes that were looking solely to the ceiling, I figured it was more like scolding. I chuckled at the sight and his eyes momentarily shot my way.

"Here, your lady has arrived!" Lena said forging a British accent and both her and Shirley gave out small laughs and oo's and aaaw's.

"Emily..." Nick said quietly. "You look stunning." I blushed.

"Thanks..." I replied shyly. "You look handsome too..."

This time the Aaaaaw's got louder and Nick rolled his eyes slightly trying to hide a smile, but failing.

"Shall we?" he said and offered me his hand. Here it was, the thing I dreamt about last night, I am going to touch him! I took a deep breath and placed my palm in his much larger one. His skin was soft and warm, his fingers warm and steady. I liked it. My first touch of Nick...

He placed my palm on his elbow and slowly we walked out of the house. I had to lean on him, balancing between his elbow and my cane, but the support he was giving me was so nice, that I would agree to walk like this forever and ever. When we reached his truck he swiftly opened the passenger door and in a matter of seconds lifted me up th the seat. I didn't manage even to squeal, so fast it was. I turned my amazed gaze towards him.

"What?" He asked confused.

"You shouldn't have lifted me up, I must be heavy!" I managed to mutter. And he just laughed at that.

"You are light as a feather, don't worry!"

"Oh..." was the only thing I could utter. Well, I guess that's the perks of having a werewolf date, righ?

While I was still in awe from his strength, Nick quickly shut my door and rounded the car to get in the driver's seat. And then we drove away.