Hey. New story. Leah/you-know-who-already-'cause-of-that-characters-thing-above (and the summary~ the only reason I decided to put it there, 'cause of the characters thing. Actually, it was supposed to be revealed who Leah imprinted on in this chapter, but… -shrug- Too lazy to hide it again, like with LNAFT :P). Yeah. So, if you don't want to watch me trying to make an impossible pairing seem almost probable, then don't read this. I got the idea for this about a month ago; before LNAFT (Life's Not a Fairy Tale, the Embry/Lauren story), even. I had a hard time deciding between Leah/Felix and Leah/Demetri, but I decided on Felix in the end because it seemed like they would have more… chemistry, you could say.
If you're interested in the idea of Leah/Felix, check out "Stars Are Fire" by Hope Shalott; it's the only other Leah/Felix I've seen around on ffnet, and it's just a short oneshot/drabble, but it's really good. ^_^; … um, yeah. /promotion
This is part of the Imprint series by me and -xAndromedaBlackx-. Yup. And it's rated T for language and sexual insinuations. And stuff. Yeah. There will be no M-rated scenes. The sexual kind, anyway. I'd suck at writing that.
Leah had never played baseball before.
When she was a little girl, around six or eight or so, she loved to play "soccer" (which basically consisted of kicking a ball around the backyard). When she was ten, she found out she wasn't half-bad at serving a volleyball over a net. At the age of thirteen, she discovered an aptitude for dribbling a basketball, and when sixteen, she realized she could handle a tennis racket quite nicely.
However, baseball had never been one of the sports that Leah had tried. Baseball was just too… clichédly American or something. When Leah thought "baseball," she thought of major league players in striped uniforms cracking bats against home plate. She thought of umpires and people in those weird helmets and the thwack of small white balls stitched with red hitting brown leather gloves hard. She thought of blue New York Yankees baseball caps.
When Leah thought "baseball," she did not think of pale, unnaturally beautiful people with golden eyes, standing huge distances apart, complete with a creepy soundtrack of thunder rumbling in the sky above.
But that was what her eyes were telling her right now, and apparently, the Cullens were playing baseball.
She was in her wolf form, lying flat on the ground at the far end of the open field where the game was going on. She didn't exactly want to be there, but Jacob and Seth were, and she didn't really have anywhere else to be. It was either watch the bloodsuckers play baseball, shop with Emily for baby things (she was pregnant, something Leah didn't want to dwell on), or stay home and watch her mother and Charlie Swan, Bella Cullen's father, be all lovey-dovey. (They'd recently gotten married last year, and Charlie had moved to the rez; Sue wasn't allowed to leave due to her status as an Elder.) Leah had chosen to watch the bloodsuckers play baseball; at least she wasn't going to be reminded of Sam that way, or be reminded of the fact that her mother had more luck in the romance department than she did.
Her life sucked.
Leah was seriously beginning to regret her decision, though. Bloodsuckers were bloodsuckers, but they were still sentient beings who had… relationships. Mates. Loves. And Leah did not to think about such things, but people like the psychic leech and her emotion-screwing husband/boyfriend/whatever were making it hard for her, if the looks they shot each other every so often were anything to go by.
Not to mention Jacob and his devil spawn imprint; the little girl—who was almost three but looked about eight or nine—had been deemed too young to play baseball seriously, and she certainly didn't seem to mind. She was sprawled across Jacob's back, hugging his shoulders, her face in his neck. He certainly didn't seem to mind, either.
It was just a reminder of what Leah would never have.
Seth was closer to the bloodsuckers than she was; in fact, he was only a few feet away from where some of the leeches clustered, by the "home plate" they'd designated.
Getting a close-up view of the game, Sethy? Leah mocked.
Don't call me Sethy, was his prompt, cheerful response. And heck yes.
Nobody says 'heck yes,' Leah snorted. Everybody says 'hell yeah.' Except you, apparently.
Except me, Seth agreed.
A picture flashed through Leah's mind—ugh. It was the devil spawn, reading a book. Jacob, I don't need to see that shit. I don't care, okay?
It's not shit, Jacob, the oh-so-fearsome alpha, protested from his spot on the ground some yards away from the bloodsuckers at the home plate (one of them, the blonde female, was going up to bat). And Nessie's showing it to me.
Well, tell her for me that guys don't dig chicks who read, Leah snapped.
Ew, Leah, Nessie's not even three yet. I'm not going to… I dunno, come onto her or something!
I wouldn't be surprised if you did, Seth said. Quil's already dreaming about buying a ring from Claire.
This statement was met with silence for a moment, and then… Ew, Jacob said. I really didn't need to know that, Seth.
Not like that! Seth corrected. Just, y'know—
CRACK. Leah started in surprise as the loud sound reverberated throughout the field, ringing in her eardrums for a moment before fading away. She turned her face towards the baseball field and saw the blonde female bloodsucker blurring through the bases. Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled.
That surprises me every time, too, Seth said; he sounded as if he were trying to be reassuring. But isn't that so cool?!
Another picture flashed through the pack mind; this one was of the devil spawn and her mind-rapist daddy playing the piano. Your enthusiasm knows no bounds, Leah intoned at her little brother, trying to hide her annoyance at the constant stream of TV commercials playing in her mind. (She thought of the "pictures" as TV commercials; they advertised Renesmee and were every bit as annoying.)
Hey, don't call Nessie a devil spawn, Jacob snapped. And she is not annoying.
You just keep telling yourself that, Jacob Black, if it lets you sleep at night.
Yeah, thanks, I will, 'cause what helps me sleep at night is the truth.
Real mature, Jake, real mature.
Well, if you weren't such a—
Seth's mental voice interrupted their bickering, and a likely insult from Jacob. Hey, guys, he said, sharply, something's wrong.
Huh?
With the Cullens, I mean. Look.
Leah swiveled her head around to look at the aforementioned leeches; her brother was right, something was wrong. The baseball game had been forgotten; all the bloodsuckers were crowded around home plate now. The psychic bore a worried, frustrated, and slightly horrified expression, as did the mind-rapist. The other leeches' faces were identical masks of confusion. It would have been comedic, if it weren't for the fact that Leah knew, if it shocked the Cullens (or at least the psychic and the mind-rapist), then something was seriously wrong.
A small, slim figure went bounding up towards them from close by. Renesmee. The large, rusty brown wolf, Jacob, was quick to follow, loping behind, tongue lolling.
Through Jacob's (and Seth's, who was also nearby) ears, Leah caught the Cullens' conversation perfectly.
"I don't know why I didn't see this before!" Alice whispered, still looking horrified/frustrated/worried. And slightly angry. Probably with herself, if her words were anything to go by. "They couldn't have just been dropping by, could they have? But then… did they just make the decision? I don't understand… and the vision cuts off; they're there and then—"
"It must be the wolves," Edward suddenly said, realization lighting up his face like Christmas tree lights. And he sparkled in the sunlight, too. Ha, Leah thought.
"So they're involved in this?" Alice mused, a rhetorical question.
"What is this about?" Dr. McFang asked, the very epitome of fatherly concern.
"I just don't know why I didn't see this before," Alice repeated. Frustration was taking over the other expressions on her pale, perfect face. "And Jazz, I'm okay. You don't have to try to calm me down."
The blonde leech, the male one, looked slightly sheepish.
"What's this about?" Bella Cullen reiterated Carlisle's words. "Edward?" He stared straight ahead, seemingly still too focused on his adoptive sister's vision in her mind. "Come here, Renesmee," Bella said, holding out her arms, and the devil spawn ran into them.
Jacob whined low in his throat.
Guess having eternity makes it easy to waste time, Leah groused. Why don't they just spit it out already?
Jacob whined again, pawing at the mind-rapist's pants leg a little. Ew, Leah thought. He ignored her.
Edward's eyes flashed, then focused again. He turned to the rest of his family, and told them, voice bleak, "The Volturi are coming, to check on Renesmee."
Once again, Leah thought it would have been funny how all the vampires' faces looked exactly the same,—only this time the expression was horror, not confusion—except it was too serious to be funny.
"Who's coming?" the big one—Emmett—demanded, his expression suddenly turning to a milder one, a sort of glee. It was actually quite frightening. "I bet we could take them on. It'll be easy."
"No, Emmett," Dr. Fang spoke up, sharply. "We will not attack them, if they are only here to check on Renesmee."
"Who's coming?" the emotion-screwing leech—Jasper—repeated his brother's words. His eyes seemed to grow darker as he spoke, a rather unholy light entering them. Leah saw this through her pack brothers' closer eyes, and shivered slightly. That particular parasite freaked her out, even though she would never admit it. It was probably just his scars—they screamed danger, even more so than a regular bloodsucker.
"Part of the guard," Alice said, answering the question her mate had posed. Her eyes were screwed shut tight in concentration. "Corin, Chelsea, Felix… Demetri, and Jane."
The blonde Barbie hissed in distaste.
"Jane's used to heading these operations, even if her powers will be rendered useless by Bella here," Edward said, probably answering an unspoken question, and then he stared at his wife in such a nauseatingly lovesick way, it made Leah want to hurl. All over his shiny designer shoes, preferably.
His golden eyes flashed past his wife in her direction, and she snorted. I don't care what you think, bloodsucker, she snarled at him, defiantly. He looked away, seemingly amused.
"When are they coming?" the mama leech asked, speaking up for the first time since they'd all convened by the home plate, baseball game forgotten. Edward's face sobered, and it was Alice who answered.
"Twenty minutes," she said.
The Barbie wasn't the only one to hiss this time. "Twenty minutes!" Bella echoed, in disbelief. "Just twenty minutes?"
What are you, deaf? Leah sneered, even though the person she intended the thought for would never hear it. Her husband did, though, and he looked annoyed again.
"Yes," Alice said, miserably. "I'm so sorry, Carlisle, Esme, everyone," she added, speaking louder, and her tinkly voice carried across the open field and reached Leah's ears. "I don't know why I didn't see this beforehand."
"It's alright, Alice; it isn't your fault," Dr. Fang said gently, placing a hand on one fragile shoulder. "We must prepare now."
The Volturi, Leah thought, frowning, or performing the wolf equivalent of it. That's the Nazi leeches, right? From Italy?
Yeah, Jacob bit out. The ones who wanted Nessie dead before. Edward, should we stick around?
"I'm not sure it's a wise idea to stick around, Jacob," the mind-rapist said, reiterating the original question for the others' benefit. "But Alice saw—"
"The vision cut off," the aforementioned psychic murmured. "And it wasn't because of Nessie"—Bella Cullen grimaced at the still-hated nickname—"because I saw a flash of her in the vision, before it cut off. It must be the wolves…"
"Where are we meeting them? Here?" Rosalie demanded, voice terse.
"Yes. Here."
"And it's inevitable?"
"Of course."
The little vampire "meeting" adjourned, but the mood was too grim to continue the baseball game. The vampires cleaned up silently, gathering gloves, balls, and bats, removing markers from the ground, the ones that indicated where each plate of the baseball diamond was. Leah's thoughts swirled.
Maybe the meeting with the Nazi leeches is inevitable, but it's not inevitable that we have to be there, she insisted. It's none of our business, this whole thing. If we just left now, the psychic's visions would clear, and we'd be helping. Aren't these vision things subjective or something? We don't have to stick around.
Nessie's my imprint, Leah, Jacob said shortly. Leave if you want, but I'm staying.
Me too! Seth chimed in.
Well, she couldn't very well leave after that.
Why were the Cullens playing baseball in the beginning, you ask? Isn't that totally random and unimportant to the plot? The answer is because, in the books, I remember reading about them doing just that—playing baseball, I mean—only once, that time in Twilight when the nomads came. Maybe they did play baseball some more times after that once, but I don't remember reading about them. Clearly, it was just 1. entertainment value (picturing pale, perfect people blurring around or whatever, the American pastime—go team, whoo…) and 2. a way to get Bella out in the open for James to come and be obsessed with her (because really, who important in the book isn't?!) and stuff. I decided to expand on that; I hate it when something new is introduced just for a sole plot purpose and then is forgotten. Can't have SMeyer embarrassing herself (with that sort of stuff)—oh wait, she already did: she created Edward and Bella. :)
… anyways… I shall shut up about the loveleeches. Reviews are extremely appreciated. I'll be editing this chapter later; I don't like it much right now, but it's screaming for me to post it. So…
Review, please?