Other things may change us, but we begin and end with the family.

Anthony Brandt

It was early Saturday morning, when Daphne padded down the staircase, already dressed for the day.

Luke hadn't stayed the night and while by now she could sleep without nightmares when she didn't have him near her, she still slept better if he was near her. By now preferably in his human and wrapped around her as tightly as they could manage.

There were the times that she felt like his hold on her was the only thing firmly anchoring her in the present and she was thankful that it was there. She never needed to tell him that she needed it, it was enough to slip herself underneath his arm, pull his hand around her and he adjusted to suit her need to just be held for a little while. He indulged her with that but Daphne knew very well that his wolf was very pleased by it as well.

Walking downstairs, Daphne wondered if Luke was already awake and if she could go over to the Schuyler's to sneak a few minutes with her boyfriend. She loved early morning runs with him by now, the two of them even sneaking out to do it during the school week, just the two of them running through the forest. Something especially lovely when it was still dark outside and there had been new snow during the night.

She was startled to find Caroline sitting at the dining table methodically going through the two plastic bags that Daphne knew held her mother's belongings. She stood frozen in place for a moment her eyes jumping over the clothes, over the few pieces of jewellery that her mother had always hung onto and that had not managed to end up being sold for food or to pay the water bill.

She needed to swallow back against the sudden feelings that welled up inside her, messy and too many to name.

"Daphne...I thought I would take it from the plastic bags and put it in actual boxes. Do you..." Caroline started but she shook her head before her aunt could finish that thought. She couldn't even begin to stomach the idea of going through these boxes herself. Maybe she never would.

"No, it's fine, Caroline. I'll just... Thank you for doing it," she thanked her aunt with a pasted smile.

She looked over the things again, unable not to reach out for the thick blue winter coat from her mother, the wool already thin in places. She remembered that coat from better days when her mother hadn't yet been nothing more than an empty shell of a human being that needed alcohol and drugs to function.

Michelle hadn't always been as bad as near the end.

There was a handful of good memories that Daphne had off her, not more than that but they did exist.

She wondered if it made her a bad person that she didn't want to drag them to the surface.

It made her a bad daughter, that was for sure.

"I am going to go over to Luke's," Daphne said finally. Luke was always good for helping her clear her mind...and she just needed something that wouldn't remind her of this anymore.

"Of course, Honey. Have fun," her aunt told her with a smile and Daphne pulled her thick parka from the hook near the front door as she slipped outside.

She didn't bother writing Luke a text message, knowing that if he was outside running, then she would be unable to reach him regardless of what she did.

He wasn't.

She found him inside of his house/barn, whatever she should call it, doing math homework and Daphne snuck inside to curl up next to him.

"What's wrong?" He asked her softly, looking up from his homework. It was Saturday morning, still early, and Daphne was thankful that she had stayed up longer on Friday to finish all her homework in the evening.

She didn't answer, unable to find the words, just hiding against his shoulder.

He never pushed her and she appreciated that. Instead, he picked her up and brought her to the couch, sitting them both on there and wrapping her in a warm blanket, before he pulled her against his chest, pressing a warm kiss against her hair.

She loved him.

"Caroline...she was going through my mother's things," Daphne finally brought the words over her lips, grasping hold of his hand and holding it tightly, her nails biting in his skin probably. She caught herself before she drew blood but he didn't let her let go of his hand instead just pulling her tighter in his arms.

"And that bothered you?" He asked her softly and she was unable not to shiver when she remembered .

"No. Yes," her voice was shaking, wavering as she didn't even know what she wanted to tell him. "...I don't know," she finally admitted.

It hadn't...she hadn't wanted to make Caroline stop, she had just wanted to stop watching herself. Daphne hadn't wanted to be reminded of her mother at all. She hadn't wanted to deal with some memories, to need to think about them any more. She was quite content with never thinking about her mother again, to be honest.

"Does it make me a terrible person that I don't want to think about her anymore?" She finally asked Luke. Did it make a terrible person?

What if he thought that she was a terrible person?

"No, Daphne," he whispered. "It makes you human. It's okay...none of us can tell you how to feel, but if you don't want to go through her things...that's okay."

She couldn't help the tears that fell over her cheeks at his quiet assurance when she nodded and breathed harshly. This was calming her far more than she thought it would, a weight being lifted off her shoulder.

She twisted her hands in the heather grey shirt he wore, burying her face against his neck and listening to both his heartbeat and the strength of his pulse underneath his skin. Strong and steady it was there, thrumming underneath his skin and Daphne couldn't help but relax against him, trying to order her thought while he just held her quietly.

He wouldn't push her, he never did. He would give her all the times she needed to come to terms with things, always a steady and reassuring presence at her side.

"I just...I just want..." she brought out, her voice shaking as she started to admit to him what she wanted. "I want a house with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. I want peace and quiet and I just want to forget anything else ever happened to me," it burst out of her. "I want that life, Luke. I want nothing more than that."

She felt his breath catch more than she heard it as she admitted that to him, the dream future that she had built for the two of them. She wanted that white picked fence more than Daphne had ever wanted anything else.

"Werewolves don't fit into that version of your future," he said. There was something in his voice that she couldn't place and she knew what it was. Making Luke choose between her and his brithright...that was something that Daphne wasn't prepared to do.

She wanted her house and her white picket fence. But she only wanted it with Luke. She wanted Luke and she wanted their pack, their family around them while they built that future. She wouldn't take that from both of them. They were werewolves. By now Daphne had done her best to accept that. She couldn't# change it. And she wouldn't be at odds with that part of herself for the rest of her life. So she would learn how to build her life around that.

"They do," Daphne told him, shaking her head as she met his green eyes. "I wouldn't want that white picket fence without you, Luke."

"And you wouldn't be...you wouldn't be you if it wasn't for your wolf." You wouldn't be the boy I loved without your wolf. The words were there, on the tip of her tongue, but she was unable to bring them over her lips.

"You always fit into my future, I change that vision before I do anything that could come between us." It was as much of a love declaration as Daphne could manage but he understood. A smile bloomed on his face, making him look even more beautiful than he had been before.

He pulled her down to kiss him, pressing his lips against her slowly, savouring every minute of there kiss as his thumb slid over her cheek, gently wiping away tears that she hadn't notice falling.

"In that case...We'll get you that white picket fence, sweetheart," he promised her fiercely. "That white picket fence and a family that we'll build together."

It was the first promise anybody ever gave her that Daphne believed without faltering. They would figure it out. A house with a white picket fence and children once they were old enough for that. Normalcy. Their normalcy.

He kissed her again and she indulged into it, slowly exploring without any hurry. Finally, he looked at her face, an incredible white smile on his face.

"Have you thought about college yet?" He wondered and she couldn't help but smile as she recognised him making plans for their future. together.

"Have you?" She answered, knowing that Luke's plan was more set in stone than her own. Hers were more fluid, she didn't have any decision made.

"The goal was always Dartmouth. If I don't get in there...Harvard is my second choice...Maine University is another option," Luke said softly. "I have the grades for Maine University, if I get into Ivy League that would be a plus. But I would prefer not to leave our territory, not even for studying."

She could understand that.

"When I still lived in New York...I thought the only thing I would ever be able to be was a waitress," she admitted softly. "My grades weren't good enough for a scholarship, so I figured I would try to find a job for which I don't need a university degree..."

"And now?" Luke asked her and she shrugged.

"Now...I got the book finished and Leda talked about me maybe doing a sequel if it gets good reviews...I want to do something with art. I considered getting maybe some social media accounts...you know so that somebody gets to see my art...and try to do freelance work," she admitted softly. He hummed his agreement.

"Your art is amazing," he said with a smile. "I think you should get the opportunity to share it with the world, so yes to social media accounts."

"The problem is...trying to get into freelance work, would give me exactly zero financial security," Daphne said with a sigh. "And...And I am not sure if I am willing to take that risk." Not really to be honest. She had lived too long in poverty that she didn't want to have that regular paycheck.

"Money isn't...It's not a hurdle we need to clear, Daphne," Luke finally said seriously and she stared at him. "You know how rich my family is. My trust fund alone...we could comfortably live on that and never work a day in our lives."

"That's your money," she protested but he shook his head.

"No. It's our money if we decide we want to build a family," he answered seriously.

A family. Their family.

She liked that idea. She loved that idea even. They would graduate from high school the following year and the idea of coming to Dartmouth with Luke...to work on her books for a few years and then settle down and have babies was something she adored.

"Freelance work would give you all the freedom you could want," Luke continued. "All the freedom to come with me to Dartmouth."

"You could work from home, Daphne. We are fortunate enough to have the money to make the choice easy." "

"I think we both deserve to be happy." He finally told her softly and she nodded her agreement.

***

There was a part of him...a part that was deeply soothed by hearing Daphne make plans for their future together.

He liked to think about it. Liked to think about the idea of having children with Daphne one day, about marrying her...not particularly in that order.

He would want to marry her first. He would want to give her his name to make her a Schuyler in every way he could manage before he would think about having cubs with her.

He knew that their wants were also in parts shaped by the needs of their wolves, of the biological imperative to mate and to breed and to make sure that there would be the next generation.

It was something that he was aware of and had made his peace with a long time ago.

He was a werewolf. His decision would always be coloured by that, regardless of what they were about. Their future...that was something that would need to be moulded around his eventual role as alpha and their wants and desires. And if Daphne and he wanted to do this...then they could.

He would move heaven and earth so that the two of them would be able to do exactly what they wanted.

"Let's go somewhere," he suggested suddenly, wanting the two of them to have a real date for once.

It was Saturday, they had the first school week behind them and really...they deserved some fun.

Daphne looked at him surprising but intrigued at the same time, the same look whenever he suggested the two of them to try out something or other.

"Where?" She asked him curiously and he shrugged.

"Augusta?" He asked her with a grin. "We could ask Ollie and Grace...I am sure we could find some movie to watch... and have lunch at Maggie's!" He was maybe a bit too excited about that when Daphne's startled expression was anything to go by.

"They have the best Strawberry Milkshakes," he promised her and Daphne lit up at that.

"I never had that," she said with one of her smiles that was so soft that it nearly broke his heart. That look of wonder...regardless of how normal a thing he suggested that she had when it was something she had never had before.

He had joked that first time they had been in the hardware store about her childhood being deprived.

Now he knew how true that had been.

"I'll think you'll like it," he told her instead, swallowing down that bile that wanted to rise in his throat when he thought back about all the normal stuff that she had never experienced.

It was added to the long, long list of things that he hated Michelle Emerson for.

"That sounds perfect," she agreed with him, and he shot off a text to Grace to see if she was up to go to Augusta.

With Ollie and Grace tagging along, the four of them did their version of a double date. Namely watch a terrible zombie movie, that resulted in Daphne hiding her face in the crook of his neck.

That was something that he would never grow tired off.

She wasn't really scary, her scent only shifted slightly, but she preferred to be close to him and that was something that he just happily indulged her.

He liked being close to her and play with the strands that had escaped the braid she had urged her hair into, the blonde waves never doing what Daphne wanted them to do.

He preferred it when her hair was open, not braided back into some complicated undo that made him wonder how she even did that while just having two hands and not eight like an octopus. It just made her seem...more real.

Luke had always wanted a mate, that wish something that he had carried around with himself since he could think. And now he had her.

And that was something that sometimes, he still couldn't believe.

They did go to Maggie's for dinner afterwards, a dinner that served every cliche one could think off, from red seats to skating waitresses in uniform.

There were far too many burgers involved and curly fries that Daphne ate with an absolutely ridiculous amount of ketchup, but seeing her happy and relaxed like that was the best gift anybody could ever give him.

Afterwards, Daphne was fascinated with her strawberry shake, trying to take a sip but surprised when the straw was blocked. He watched amused how she stared wide-eyed at the fresh strawberry that the straw had been stuck in.

"They use real fruit?" Daphne asked him in surprise and he was unable not to laugh at her incredulous expression.

"Otherwise it would just be a pink shake, wouldn't it?" He told her with a grin, watching how she happily munched on the strawberry. "Good, sweetheart?"

"Perfect," she answered as she swallowed down the strawberry, smiling at him and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He loved seeing her like this.

"I love their burgers," Ollie sighed with an amount of pleasure that was kinda weird for a cheeseburger and Daphne laughed next to him.

"I kind of noticed that you ate three of them after all," she gave back drily.

"I am a growing boy, I need the energy," he defended himself, something that resulted in even more laughing.

"Of course you do," Grace gave back with a roll of her eyes. "I think we should start planning our Junior Prom," Luke's sister suggested with an evil glint of her eyes just seconds later, something that resulted in both Ollie and Luke groaned.

"Do we need to?" Luke sighed. "What's there to plan?" He could imagine a whole lot of more pleasant conversation topics.

Everything would be better than that. Everything.

"No, don't ask her that question, Luke," Ollie exclaimed in warning, "Or we are never going to hear the end of it!" That was probably the truth as well.

Oh dear god, Luke was going to regret asking that question, wasn't he?

"I'll just go wear the dress from New Year's Eve." Daphne shrugged next to him. "Maybe do my hair differently. What do I need to plan?"

Well, Daphne actually needed to get a new dress. So that was something to plan. She was poking at her strawberry shake again, happily picking out more of the strawberries to eat and he watched that with some amusement.

"You can't wear the same dress!" Grace exclaimed scandalised and Luke needed to hold back the laughter when Daphne just stared at his sister like she shouldn't understand the world anymore.

"Why?" She asked Grace curiously. "It's pretty. Why should I pay money for another dress that I'll just wear for a few hours?"

He could just sigh at that.

Daphne would probably be content to wear the same dress to junior prom and then the next new year's ball, but Luke knew exactly what kind of gossip and rumours that would result in.

"Optics," Luke answered Daphne's question with a sigh. "People expect a new dress from you. Otherwise, you can probably expect people thinking that Caroline and Matthew have lost their money gambling or something."

She looked at him like he had lost his mind and he shrugged at her questioning glance. "Fairbury is a tiny town..and the rumours can get around really quickly," he answered.

"That's ridiculous. I like my dress!" Pouting now, Daphne poked after another strawberry, finding one and chomping down at it when suddenly that face expression showed up that told Luke that she had just an idea.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her curiously.

"If I could actually paint on a dress," Daphne answered absentmindedly.

Paint? On a dress?

Well, if anybody could figure that out it would be Daphne. He would just shut up because that was faaaaar outside his comfort zone.

"Oh my god, that would be awesome," his sister exclaimed and then she and Daphne were off chatting about dresses and what kind Daphne could paint on and what she would paint on it and he could just watch it with a grin.

"They lost me there," Ollie said drily and he could just nod his agreement.