Disclaimer: All of the characters, concepts, and anything affiliated with the Twilight saga belong to (their rightful owner) Stephanie Meyer. The rest of the work belongs to me and should not be copied in any way, including translations, without my explicit consent.

Major thanks to Flyaway Dove for Beta-ing this.

Set: Sometime after BD.

Seth POV.

You

It's been about forty-three minutes since our battle with the newborns. They were sent by one of the guards of the Volturi, (we're thinking the mean little one, Jane), and went after Nessie. So, naturally, we fought. It went well: the Cullens and our pack split up the newborns. Luckily none of the newborns had any special powers, so the fight went by quickly.

Now, when we should be celebrating, we're anticipating another fight.

This time, no vamps are involved. It's much worse; it's between Leah and Jacob.

My Beta and my Alpha.

My sister and my idol.

I'm definitely staying out of this one.

She's expecting him to thank her for protecting Nessie during the fight, and he's expecting her to thank him for, quote, "saving her sorry ass again." It looks like Jake never got tired of bringing up the newborn fight a couple years back. Yes, so the whole right side of his body was crushed when he protected Leah, but I still think she could've handled it. It wasn't her fault anyway; she was worried about me, although I didn't need protecting. Edward and I made a kick-ass team destroying that leech Riley.

However, let's get back to the fight at hand.

When Nessie was supposed to stay by her mother's side, she came running into the clearing to help Jake and almost got herself killed. She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and didn't see the two leeches coming up behind her. Leah, being the closest wolf there, intervened. She jumped and knocked Nessie down just before the leeches sprang up to grab her. Leah then totally kicked the leeches' asses while protecting Nessie. While she was busy with dismembering the two leeches and protecting Nessie she didn't notice another leech coming at her from her right. Jake saw it, though, and took him out before he had the chance to get at Nessie and Leah.

Just like before, Leah didn't think she needed help getting that vamp. She feels like she could've handled it. Considering how she took two leeches at once while protecting Nessie, I think she has a valid point. Then again, if Jake didn't go to help her, I probably would've been pissed that he didn't try to help Leah. Older or not, she's still my sister and I love her. I don't want to see her get hurt, and if that means that she has to suck up her pride and get some help from Jake then so be it.

Neither of them sees it my way, though: they've both helped each other. Leah protected his imprint, and Jake protected her.

Fair enough, right?

Not according to them.

Right now they're glaring at each other from across the clearing. Neither of them is willing to make the first move. He's waiting for her to come and thank him, and she's waiting for him to thank her and apologize for interfering. Clearly, both parties are unwilling to acknowledge the other's demands.

Oh boy.

"Seth, Quil, Embry," Jacob addresses us, never breaking his gaze with Leah. "Leave. Now."

"What do you want us to do?" Quil asks.

"I don't care. Go home. Go do patrol. I don't care, just leave. Now," he snaps at us impatiently.

Not wanting to have to deal with an angry Alpha, we head to the forest and phase.

'Oh man, did you see how pissed Jake was? I've never seen him this mad before,' Quil thought to us.

'Yeah, Jake has always gotten pissed off, but right now he's furious. Leah looks worse though,' Embry thought.

'I really don't know what's going to happen. I know my sister and she won't stand down until she gets her way,' I tell them, and then show them memories of when I was younger with Leah. Halloween just wasn't the same after my fight with Leah, which I lost. I was five, she was eight, and I had this cool Power Rangers costume and she had some princess costume. She yelled that she didn't want to be a princess but wanted to be a Power Ranger. I refused, as best as any five year old could, and said that it was my costume. Needless to say, by the time that we got out to trick or treat, it was near 10 o'clock and my costume was not a Power Ranger. Nope, my parents caved and put her in the Power Ranger costume, while I was a fair princess. People still think I'm a cross-dresser. Stupid stubborn sister.

Embry snickers, 'Leah is one tough bitch, literally. She can take care of herself. I'm betting she gets a few good licks in when those two stubborn asses duke it out.'

'Man, did you see Jake? He's beyond pissed. Stubborn or not, when Jake's pissed and he wants something, he gets it. Remember that time we were playing Playstation? Who won the argument Embry? Oh right, Jacob. Not you,' Quil says.

'Are you guys seriously going to bet on who's going to win the fight?' I ask incredulously.

'Yeah!' they say at the same time.

I shouldn't be surprised; it's Embry and Quil.

'Ten on Leah,' Embry bets.

'Team Jacob right here!' Quil retorts enthusiastically.

'You guys are so wrong that you'd bet when your mother would die on her deathbed. It's disgusting,' I inform them.

'You're just upset that you can't choose a side because both would kick your ass if you chose the other,' Quil reasons.

'True,' I mumble regrettably.

We watched the clearing from the bushes. We were far enough that they couldn't see us—not like they were concentrating on anything else other than trying to kill one another through glares—but close enough to hear their argument.

'In this corner we have the seething Alpha himself, Jacob Black. Standing at 6'8" and weighing 285 pounds,' Quil says in the cheesy voice that announcers use in wresting stadiums.

Embry snickers before playing along. 'And defending her title as the most badass chick in La Push, we have the royally pissed off, the infamous, the bitchy Beta, Leah Clearwater. The lovely Miss Clearwater is standing at 6' and weighing 200 pounds. Although she's slight, she's spry.'

Quil nods. 'Looks like these two are going to have one hell of a fight Embry.'

I groan. I don't know what's worse, hearing these two pretend to be announcing a fight at a stadium, or actually watching two people I care about tear each other to shreds.

'Right you are Quil, let's watch.'

I think it's a tie.

Leah keeps her arms folded across her chest, as she scowls at Jake. Jake matches her scowl with an eyebrow raise as if saying, 'I'm waiting.'

Leah sighs and drops her head, as if admitting defeat.

'Huh?' I think. This isn't her normal behavior.

'YES! Ha ha! You owe me ten Embry!' Quil shouts.

Leah looks up at Jacob shaking her head, "No need to thank me."

'BURN!' Embry shouts.

I knew she wasn't giving up.

Quil whimpers, and pictures a ten dollar bill in his mind, 'So close.'

Embry laughs, 'You didn't think she'd go down without a fight did ya?'

"Thank you? Thank you? Are you insane? You jeopardized the pack! You went running into danger, again." He yells, "Dammit Leah, this is just like the other newborn attack. It's not just about you!" He rounds on her.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" she screeches sarcastically. "I just thought that the all-mighty Alpha might want everyone to be alive after this attack, including his imprint. Silly me for thinking that," she sneers.

"This isn't about Nessie," he grinds out.

"Really? Not about Nessie? So it's not about the fact that you weren't the one to save Nessie today? It's not about how I was the one to defend the stupid Spawn that decided to run into a battle zone? Are you sure, all-mighty Alpha?" she asks with a mocking edge.

"Yes," he spits out.

"Bull shit! It's always about Nessie! Nessie this, Nessie that. For the love of God, I made sure the Spawn was alive! The least I deserve is a fucking 'Thank you, Leah.' Is it too much to ask for? I think after facing two leeches on my own to protect the Spawn means that I fucking earned it," she yells at him, shaking.

'Oh snap, looks like Leah's going to phase,' Embry says.

'If she hears that we're watching them, we're so screwed,' I tell them.

'Nah, look at Jake. He's shaking so much he's practically blurry around the edges. If she phases, he will too. They'll both be too preoccupied with killing each other that they won't notice what we're doing,' Quil thinks.

"DAMN IT Leah I'm not going to thank you!" Jake shouts at her.

"Why the fuck not?" Leah asks, folding her arms across her chest again.

'Oh pissed off position. Damn, Embry, you could get my ten,' Quil says.

'Knew I would,' Embry replies smugly.

"Because the pack could have gotten hurt with you going out on your own like that," Jake chastises.

"The pack was fine! Quil and Embry teamed up, and Seth and Edward were handling everything. The pack was fine! No one got hurt!" Leah retorts.

"You almost did," Jake points out darkly.

'I thought he would milk that. Perfect opportunity to…' Quil trails off.

'Why is he looking like that? Is he…' Embry wonders.

"I can handle myself. Your imprint, on the other hand, needed protection. I was there protecting your precious imprint. I was protecting Nessie," Leah growls at him.

At this point, both Leah and Jake are now only a foot apart in the center of the clearing, having stomped closer to be able to really yell in each other's faces.

"God DAMN IT Leah, I don't care about Nessie!" Jacob shouts at her.

'What?!' Quil shouts.

'I don't get it,' I admit.

'Oh. My. God. He doesn't mean…' Embry trails off.

"Excuse me?" Leah whispers.

Jake runs a hand down his face and mumbles something we can't hear. Whatever he said has Leah speechless.

Leah just looks at him dumbly for a long time. Jake shifts from one foot to the other. "Why?" Leah asks in a small voice.

Without hesitation, Jake grabs Leah's face in his hands and kisses her. Leah responds eagerly and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

'Crap, who won the bet now?' Quil complains.

'Took them long enough,' Embry rolls his eyes playfully.

'Damn, that's getting pretty heated,' Quil jokes.

'Aw gross. Guys, that's my sister! Hey! THAT'S MY SISTER!' I shout.

Quil and Embry laugh.

'Jerks.'

Finally, while I'm contemplating between killing Jake or scratching my eyes out, they separate, panting. Ew.

Jake rests his forehead on Leah's and breaths, "That's why."

"But, Nessie—" Leah starts.

"No," Jake shakes his head, "You, Leah." He smiles and she beams back at him.

I haven't seen her smile like that, ever. Not even with Sam.

He looks at her with questioning eyes and she nods at him, smiling.

"You, Jacob," she tells him.

Whatever she said put a goofy grin on his face. He kissed her on the lips again before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the clearing.

'What do you think he said?' Quil asks.

'I have no idea. Must have been something really, really, really nice to get her to smile like that,' I tell him.

'I think I have an idea,' Embry tells us.

'Yeah?' I ask.

He nods his head and proceeds to show us the times, post Nessie imprint, between Jake and Leah. In all of them, they're both looking at each other with this look. When the other doesn't notice, when they're having their little Alpha/Beta meetings, when they're hanging out at our house. It's the same look that Jared and Kim, Paul and Rachel, and Sam and Emily share. Finally he goes to show us the time when he phased for patrol early. Jake was the only wolf so his thoughts weren't exactly guarded.

'I guess he didn't sense me phase because he was still agonizing over his thoughts,' Embry tells us before he shows us what happened.

Flashback Embry's POV

'How do I tell her? God she's not going to believe me. No, she'll just kill me before I can explain. God why is she so difficult.'

Oh God, he's fussing over something to do with Nessie. Well, she is his imprint… Guess he's not handling the 'aging at the speed of light' thing too well… or the fact that she's half vamp.

I could always use the Alpha command… No, not on her. Never on her. Not for this.'

Huh? Alpha command? Is he talking about…

'Leah.'

'Oh God how am I going to tell her? Edward knows, which means Bella knows, and Jasper knows, which means Alice knows, which means that everyone else in the house knows…'

What does he mean knows? What the hell do they know?

'Jasper says that she feels it too… But she's so stubborn. Arg, how hard can this be? C'mon Jacob, you did this with Bella; you can sure as hell do it with Leah Clearwater. Just look at her in the eye and tell her. Leah Clearwater, I'm in love you. Imprint or not, I love you.'