His Mate's Sister

Chapter 15-Christmas Eve

You can smell our house from a mile away, gingerbread, pumpkin spice, apple and pecan pie. Banana-nut bread and of course my mom's snicker doodles, the smells alone are enough to make your stomach feel full. The kitchen doesn't even look like our kitchen right now, it looks like Santa's bake shop with all the tasty treats we're making. We're making gingerbread houses and people for the kids at church, cookies and banana bread fro the treats swap after Christmas eve service and enough pies for both the restaurant and here.

"Wow, did a flour volcano explode or what?" my dad chuckled as he entered the kitchen.

"Ha ha, very funny" my mom threw a dish towel at him.

"Is everything going to be ready on time?" he asks eyeing everything.

"Yes, everything will be ready" Lori told him.

"Do you want some help?" he asks.

"NO" we all say in unison, he raises his hands in surrender then leaves the kitchen. Mom finishes the batter for the last batch of banana bread, Amy sits at the table working on the gingerbread houses. Lori  and I are working on the pies while cookies are baking.

"Are Frank and Johnny coming over for Christmas dinner?" my mom asks me and Lori without looking away from her bowl of batter, Lori and I look at each other not sure what to say. We both shrug our shoulders, before either of us can say a word Amy speaks up.

"They don't do Christmas dinner, they go around town handing out clothes, blankets, tents and stuff like that to the homeless and they set up a soup kitchen to feed them as well" Amy said putting gumdrops on a roof.

"Oh yeah, I forgot" I slap my forehead with the palm of my hand. "The whole pack does it every year" I told my mom.

"Oh" mom says. "When did they start doing that?" she asks.

"Three years ago" Amy says, "when Brain Fletcher was found almost frozen to death under one of the viaducts downtown" Amy explains.

"I remember that" mom says with tears, "poor boy lost everything when he came back from Afghanistan" mom wipes a tear away.

"Yeah when he got out of the hospital Frank's dad gave him a job as a security consultant at his firm" I said pouring the apples into the crust.

"Since then Mr. Marcello has made it a point to make sure something like that doesn't happen again" Amy said as she starts building another house.

"How about we skip dinner this year and go help the pack with the soup kitchen" I suggested.

"Are you serious?" Amy asked looking at me like I grew a second head.

"Why not?" I looked at her.

"Because it's cold outside and I can't be getting sick in my condition" she pouted.

"Well then you can go to the restaurant and help Tony" I told her.

"Tony's not going with the pack?" Lori asked.

"No" I said, "he's running the restaurant for me" I told her. 

"why is the restaurant even open?" mom asked me.

"I decided to have it open today and tomorrow in case someone needed a place to go to eat" I told her. "And as I do with leftover food through out the year everything that is left over goes to the shelters" I explained to her. 

She walked over to me wrapping her arms around me, "How did I get so lucky to have such a kindhearted daughter" she kisses my head.

"Lori does the same thing with leftover treats" I said.

"I'm the luckiest mother in the world" she kissed Lori's cheek. "And you" she walks over to Amy wrapping her arms around her, "you are a gift among gifts" she kissed Amy's head.

"You get way to mushy around this time of year mom, it's disgusting" Amy chuckles.

"I love all my babies and I will always get mushy no matter how old you all get" she chuckles then walks back to the counter she was working at.

"I think it's a good idea, I'm in" Lori says as she brushes eggwash around the edges of the pie crust.

"Okay fine, I'm in too" Amy gives in, I pull out my phone and call Frank to tell him. He's super excited about it, I put my phone away and get back to work on the pies.

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 I feel like I'm on cloud 9, Emily and her family are joining the pack for our Christmas volunteer work. She already does so much for our community through out the year, but this giving up Christmas dinner with her parents just to help the homeless, this is proof that she is the right one for me and my pack.

"What's got you so chipper?" Fred asks me as I walk into the dinning room for breakfast.

"Emily just called me" I said as I took my seat.

"No wonder he's happy, his mate called him" Steven said sarcastically then made kissing noises.

"Leave your brother alone" my father told him. "what did she call about?" he asked me.

"The Williams are joining us tomorrow for the Christmas volunteer services" I told them with a smile.

"Wonderful" my dad smiles. "But she doesn't have to, she and Lori already do so much for the shelters year round" he said, "she should really use this time to be with her parents" he exclaimed.

"I agree, but they really want to help" I explained.

"Alright" he said with a smile.

"Alright who's hungry?" my mom, Stephanie and Sheila said walking into the dinning room with bowls and platters of food then setting them down on the table.

"What did we miss?" Stephanie asks sitting down next to me.

"Nothing much" Steven says with a smirk.

"I wasn't asking you" she hissed at him.

"Emily and her family are joining us tomorrow" my dad said as he gestures us to hold hands.

"Wonderful" my mom smiles as we all hold hands, we bow our heads and my father says grace. 

"Amen" we all say in unison.

"You guys should mate already" Steven says taking a spoon full of eggs and putting it on his plate, we all glare at him. "What?" he looks at our glares. 

"That is not appropriate to talk about at the table" my mom scolds him.

"Oh come on, everyone is thinking it" he defends himself.

"No one is thinking it" I told him as I grab some bacon.

"Dude a lot of the pack is questioning why you haven't claimed her yet" he states matter of factly.

"He's not claiming her until he graduates medical school" my father says. "He's only got a few years left and then he'll be our new pack doctor" he states.

"It must be killing you to be near her knowing you can't be with her yet" Steven says to me.

"You have no idea" I say then take a bite of egg.

After breakfast us guys cleaned up while my mom , Sheila and Stephanie went to get dressed to go last minute shopping. When we were done in the kitchen my dad went to do some work in his office, Fred, Steven and I went down to the gym to work out. Steven lifted weights while Fred and I boxed, Fred and I circled each other for a few seconds then Fred lunged at me but I dodged him and used my foot to trip him. Fred was face down on the mat, he pushed himself up onto his knees then punched the mat with his fists, "Not cool" he said getting up.

"I saw an opportunity so I took it" I shrugged my shoulders as I bounced in place.

"You're going to pay for that" he told me as he adjusted himself. We circled each other again, I threw a punch that he blocked. He then swung at me but I blocked it, he took his leg and swung it under my right foot while I blocked his punch and tripped me. I landed on my back, he stood over me with his hand stretched out to me, I took his hand and he helped me up. "Paybacks a b***h" he smirked.

We went back at it , he got a few good hits and so did I. We were at it for at least 2 hours when Sheila came down. "You know Frank you would be a great warrior if you wanted to give up on the whole doctor thing" she said walking over to the boxing ring.

"Oh please, this little princess wouldn't last 5 minutes in battle" Fred squeezed my cheeks together and chuckled. 

"f**k off" I pushed him away, "I could last a lot longer than you if it came down to it" I hissed at him.

"Oh really" he furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"Let's go" I jumped back and gestured him to come at me.

"No, I'm done" he said getting out of the ring.

"What's wrong? Afraid I'm right" I called at him.

"Look, I know you've got all this pent-up energy that you need to get rid of" he glared at me, "but this is not the way to do it" he said.

"What ever" I turned my back to him.

"I know that you're a great fighter, hell you've been a better fighter than me since we were kids" he stated. "you don't have to prove it" he said then walked away with Sheila.

"Dude, what's up with you?" Steven approached the ring.

"Nothing" I almost growled.

"Nothing my ass" he shot back at me making me turn and glare at him. "Something is up so tell me" he demanded.

"I don't know if I want to be a doctor anymore" I looked at him with guilt in my eyes.

"Whoa" he looked shock at my declaration. "What do you mean you don't want to be a doctor anymore?" he asked as I stepped out of the ring.

"My hearts not in it anymore" I told him. "It hit me when I was taking midterm finals a couple weeks ago" I told him.

"What are you going to do?" he asked me.

"I don't know" I shook my head.

"I think you should talk to mom before you even think about discussing it with dad" he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Okay" I agreed.

Steven went upstairs to shower and change, I stayed in the gym and decided to take some of my frustration out on the punching bag for a while. I don't know why I was feeling the way I was feeling and I don't know why I didn't want to be a doctor anymore. Did I ever really want to be a doctor in the first place? If not a doctor than what am I going to do? What do I really want for my life? 

Not sure how long I was down in the gym punching away at the bag, I was finally getting tired so I went upstairs to my room. I took a long hot shower then got ready for Christmas eve service, I headed downstairs and walked into the living room. Fred and Sheila were watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, I walked over to the couch and took a seat next to Fred.

I nudged his shoulder with mine, "I'm sorry I went off on you earlier" I apologized.

"Don't worry about it" he nudged me back and smiled. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked me.

I shook my head, "This is something I need to talk to mom and dad about" I told him. "Have you seen mom?" I asked him.

"I think she's in the library" Sheila said.

"Thanks" I said to them then got up and made my to the library. The library was on the second floor in the south wing of the house, I reach the chocolate colored double doors and walked in finding my mom sitting in her favorite armchair reading Hamlet. "Aren't you tired of reading that one?" I chuckled at her.

"It's one of my favorites" she replied.

I shook my head and chuckled again then took a seat in the chair across from her, "Can I talk to you about something?" I ask her.

"You can talk to me about anything you know that" she said setting the book down on the side table next to her. "What's going on?" she looked at me with concern.

"I've been struggling with something for a while" I told her. "At first I just blew it off as nervousness, but lately it's gotten more intense" I said nervously.

"It's not about Emily is it?" she asked.

"What? No" I exclaimed.

"Oh thank the Goddess" she said in relief. "Then what's this about?" she asked me more forcibly.

"School" I confessed.

"What about school?" she asked.

"I don't think I want to be a doctor anymore" I confessed, "I don't think I ever really wanted to be one in the first place" I told her.

She looked at me confused, she was speechless, she got off her chair and paced in front of me. I watched her have a quiet conversation with her wolf as she paced. I was starting to worry, she's been pacing for 3 minutes and she hasn't said anything to me.

"Mom" I call to her, she turns to look at me. She has a worried look on her face.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" she asks me calmly.

"I shook it off as nerves and plus I didn't want to disappoint you and dad" I told her.

"You could never disappoint us" she said putting her hand on my shoulder. "You need to tell your father so we can find a replacement for Rebecca" she told me. "I'll help you" she said.

"Thanks mom" I sighed, "but I think I should do this alone" I told her, I gave her a hug then left the library and headed to my dad's office. I got to the office and knocked on the door and waited to be called in.

"Come in" I heard my father's voice from the other side of the door, I opened the door and walked in closing the door behind me. I see my dad at his desk going through some paperwork so I just sit down on the couch and wait for him to finish. He finished with the files he was working on and gestures for me to sit in front of his desk and I go sit in one of the chairs. "So what brings you to my office?" he asks me as I sit down.

I took a deep breath and sighed, "I need to speak to you about school" I said looking down at my feet.

"What about school?" he furrows his brow.

"I don't want to be a doctor" I choked out, "I've never really wanted to be one" I said still not looking at him.

"What do you mean? he asked seemingly calm.

I took another deep breath and told him what I told my mother, he sat there calmly as I explained it to him. Once I finished I sat there with my head partially down and waited for my dad to react, we sat there in silence for what felt like hours before he finally decided to say something.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" he asked me leaning back in his chair.

"I didn't want to disappoint you and mom" I told him. "The first couple years I was able to push the doubts back cause Emily was near by" I explained, "but when she graduated and came back here it became harder to ignore but I did my best" I said now looking at him.

"What made you decide to start listening to your doubts?" he leaned forward and placed his hands on his desk.

"Lukas" I said flat out, "only the best warrior can take him down" I told him. "And you and I know that there is only one wolf in this pack that is stronger than any other member even Fred" I stared at him.

"What if you decide you want to go back to school once Lukas has been taken care of?" he asked me.

"My place is here protecting my pack, protecting my town and home" I told him.

"Is that your final decision?" he asked me.

"Yes" I replied.

"Alright" he sat back in his chair. "First thing Monday morning you report to Beta Hartman, you haven't trained in a while so you'll have to be tested to see what you have to be retrained on" he told me.

"Yes sir" I agreed.

"Good" he said. "Is there anything else?" he looked at me.

"What's going to happen when Rebecca retires?" I ask him.

"We'll find a replacement before that happens" he told me.

"I'm sorry if I've disappointed you father" I said to him.

"The only thing I'm disappointed about is that you didn't come to me sooner about this" he told me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to let you down" I apologized.

"Next time you have doubt about something please tell me" he told me.

"Yes father" I replied, I stood up from my seat. "I'm going to go help Emily and her family with the treats for the bake exchange" I said then bowed to him.

"Are you giving her the new car tonight?' he asked me.

"No, I'm going to surprise her in the morning" I said then headed to the door.

"You know she's going to be mad that you went behind her back and bought her a new car" he warned me.

"She'll get over it..........eventually" I chuckled then left the office.