A/N: I suddenly got a review on this story the other day. I hadn't thought of this story in over a year, yet suddenly, my mind was flooded with it. I decided to give the rewrite I'd talked about a stab. Keep in mind, I was only 14 the when I first began writing this, so some things are going to be different. The general story, however, will stay pretty much similar. Enjoy!

As ever, I do not own any rights to Twilight - nor would I want to - and I take no credit for the creation of any of the characters from that series - only my OC's.

Chapter 1: New Beginnings and Other Cheese

"The pack? Is that the name of your gang or something?"

I've always found flying to be very relaxing.

Maybe it's because I went on countless flights as a child. Until I hit school age, my pilot father's solution to not having family around to help care for me and not wanting to leave me with a baby sitter or nanny for long periods of time was to just bring me on flights with him. I guess it also jist helps me remember him. He died when I was 10, so there were things I'd forgotten about him, but his passion for flying wasn't one of them.

Me and my parents - adoptive, though they didn't always feel like it - flew a lot. Dad traveled from one Native American reservation to another, garnering information for his books and seminars and mom did interior design and was popular among celebrities, so she flew out to LA and New York a lot for her job.

Dad had recently gotten an itch to go to the reservation mom had grown up on - they were both Native American, but dad hadn't grown up on a res, which is what he attributes having a more profound fascination with his culture, as well as other Native American cultues, to. It was because of this that we were now on our way to La Push, Washington to stay on the Quileute Reservation for an indefinite time period while Dad wrote.

I looked over at my father and found he still looked rather green. As often as we flew, you'd think he'd have more of a stomach for it. He was slouched in his chair, a faint sheen of sweat glistening on his brow and one hand on the barf bag in his lap. Jedidiah LeHaye was nothing if not prepared.

I was sandwiched between my parents on the flight. Dad needed the aisle seat and mom needed to not be next to him if he heaved. She was sleeping soundly on my other side, a satin pink sleep mask with "sweet dreams" embroidered on it resting over her eyes.

I could see the visible relief on my father's face when our descent was announced. "Oh, thank god," he breathed. And then he turned to me with a weak smile. "Are you excited, Syd?"

I smiled back. "Of course I am, dad."

It was true. I'd gotten to have some cool experiences since they'd begun fostering me, and subsequently adopted me. I'd been to Broadway shows with mom, I'd gone to some really interesting seminars with dad, and I'd gotten to live in a lot of different environments and experience different things. I was always ready for our next family journey.

I'd also heard a ton about my mom's cousin, Sarah, and her family and I was super excited to meet them for the first time.

We disembarked from the plane, dad half supporting mom as she was only awake enough to move her feet and give answers to very basic questions.

Dad had driven up his the car the previous week so it was already waiting in airport parking for us. He'd be going back to Oklahoma 2 more times before the end of the month to drive mom's car up, followed by mine. Since I wasn't enrolling in classes - I wanted an idea of how long we'd be here before I committed to college courses and I hadn't decided on a major yet anyway - and you could walk everywhere on the reservation, I wasn't anticipating needing my car too much right away.

The drive was a couple hours so dad and I caffed up, put mom in the back to sleep some more - she was fully unconscious again within 2 minutes - and began playing the alphabet game to pass the time.

I won a round, followed by dad whipping me in the next 2. I think I got to F in the fourth round before I passed out myself.

Next I knew, we were stopped and dad was shaking me awake. "Sydney, wake up," he cooed, "we're here."

I groggily peered out the windshield to see that were were parked in front of a modest two story grey brick house with a powder blue door. There was already a flowery wreath on it - mom's handiwork I was sure - and a 'SOLD' sign stood proudly in the yard. I leaned down to grab my bag of essentials and exited the car. The bigger stuff had been sent ahead a couple weeks ago before they closed on the house, so I knew my nice comfy bed would be waiting for me upstairs and I would gladly fall into it after almost two weeks on an inflatable mattress.

"Your bedroom is up the stairs and on the left, Sydney," Dad called out to me from where he was trying to ease mom into an upright position so that he could extract her from the car. She wasn't making it easy for him, that was for sure.

"Thanks, Dad!"

I strode up to the front door and pulled out my keys, taking the newest shiniest one in my hand and easing it into the keyhole, unlocking the door to my new home for the very first time. It was very clear that mom hadn't gotten to work her magic on the place yet. If she had, there'd be pictures everywhere, but the walls were bare and obscuring our beautiful, plush sectional was a mountain of boxes that had yet to be unpacked. Mom would fix that soon enough.

I went up the stairs and turned left and found my room. My dresser was there and my bed had already been made up, which was good, because I really doubt I could have found the energy to do it before I crashed. The rest of my room was just boxes and bags. A task for tomorrow.

I think I got about as far as sitting down to pull off my shoes before I knocked out.

~Forever and Always~

The next morning, I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and bacon wafting into my room. I imagine that's what the perfume of a siren smells like. However, the sound that actually caused me to wake up was a lot less pleasant. It was like the bell tower of Notre Dam was located in my room and had just started to chime. It was loud.

I walked down the stairs, still clad in yesterdays jeans and tee, only to see that my mom had gone into hyper drive when she woke up this morning. The entryway was already covered with framed photos of me and my parents over the last 9 years, plus my school photos that mom tracked down after my adoption became official. I could faintly here her humming in the kitchen as she cooked, the popping and sizzling of the bacon louder than she was. She must be wearing her headphones, I thought to myself. The doorbell sounded again, and even though it was a lot quieter down here, I still wondered how she couldn't hear it. "I guess I'll get the door," I said to myself. Dad wouldn't rise from the dead for another hour, I was sure, so it really was up to me.

Turning the latch, I swung the door open to reveal a woman who looked very similar to my mom, just a little shorter and plumper, and two very tall young men. Very tall. Like, each was well over 6'0". The woman beamed so hard I thought the smile might split her face. "Oh, my God! You're Sydney!" Before I could respond, I was enveloped in a tight hug. "Missy has told me so much about you! I've been wanting to meet you forever!"

Still trapped in the hug, I felt awkward and only managed to say, "You must be Sarah."

Sarah stepped back from the hug, still grinning. "Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I am Sarah and this is my son, Collin." Collin maneuvered the tin foil dishes in his hand to wave a little bit. "And these are his friends, Brady and - oh..." she trailed off, taking a quick glance behind the other two, "I thought I had another one with me."

Brady, who was shorter and brawnier than Collin was, spoke up, "Oh you did. Seth ran off though. Jake gave him a call - said he needed him and it was urgent, so he left us with his mountain of food to cart around and went off to be Jake's hero." He then turned from Sarah to me. "Welcome to the Res, Sydney. Don't worry about being the new girl. Me and the guys will show you the ropes, and you know, keep an eye on you." He might as well have thrown in a wink for how suggestive his tone was, but I suspect that would have earned him a smack from Sarah. He looked older than me, but I sincerely doubted he was over 18 with the way he was speaking.

Collin guffawed next to him, obviously incredulous, and shoved him with his shoulder. "Oh, please. You couldn't look after a pet rock. We all know I'll be protecting Syd. You just wish you had my skills, bro."

I wanted to ask who in this world said I'd need protecting, but just then, my mom noticed the congregation in the front room. "Sarah!" she squealed, rushing towards her cousin and crushing her in a hug. "It's been so long!"

"I know!" Sarah yelped, matching her squeal with her own. "Almost ten years, right?"

"Near enough," Mom replied, then targeting the two boys behind her. "Collin, you've gotten so tall! Last time I saw you, you were only, like, half your height. Quite a growth spurt. You know, Sarah," she said, changing gears at lightning speed," he looks exactly like Grandpa did at his age." Mom smiled and pinched his cheek, something that looked really awkward from a very vibrant woman in her mid-thirties, along with the fact that she had to reach up quite a bit to achieve it. "Very handsome." Mom then turned her sights on Brady. "I take it that this is Brady, part of the infamous pack."

Pack? I thought to myself confused at the weird name for a group of people. Wasn't pack usually used to describe wolves and other canines? "The pack? Is that the name of your gang or something?" I asked sarcastically.

Collin and Brady shared a knowing look. "Something like that," Collin said, with a smirk. "I see your mom has made a shrine to your family too." I noticed that he was obviously changing the subject, but I honestly wasn't quite awake enough yet to try to steer it back... or to even really care that it had been steered away from their weird gang name in the first place.

I needed coffee.

"Yeah, mom does love her pictures," I agreed, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. "I'm going to go get some coffee if you want to come in and put all that food down."

Mom must have realized that she hadn't actually invited them in since she said, "Oh, yes, please come in. I made enough breakfast for everyone. Sarah told me you boys eat a lot so I really piled up the eggs and bacon. Plus, there's fresh fruit and English muffins."

We all filed into the kitchen. I glossed right over the food and went straight for the coffee pot, filling my mug half way with what might as well be the nectar of life and then filling the other half with the white chocolate mocha creamer my mom had left on the counter for me. I took a sip of the warm beige liquid filling my cup and sighed contentedly as I felt it descend, warming my tummy with it's familiar caffeine-y goodness. When I looked up, I saw Collin and Brady staring at me with amused looks on their faces. Mom and Sarah paid the rest of us no mind as they filled up plates and mom took her to see the rest of the house.

"You really like coffee, huh?" said Brady, chuckling a little.

I then noticed that I'd even grabbed my, "Give me coffee and no one gets hurt mug," further solidifying the coffee addict vibe. I grinned, laughing a little myself. "Figure that out on your own, Sherlock?" I quipped. "I'll have you know that coffee sustains my life force and the vivacious person who you have not yet met but I will become later in the day when my caffeine hits."

Both of them laughed, and we all filled our plates with the absolute smorgasbord that mom had prepared. I decided to make two little English muffin sandwiches with the eggs and bacon, pulling some cheese slices from the fridge to complete them. Collin copied me, stealing some of my cheese, for which I bump him with my shoulder. I already felt rather comfortable with the boys and I was excited to meet the rest of the guys in "the pack." The three of us sat down at the breakfast table together, chatting comfortably. "So, Sydney, how old are you?" Brady asked.

I looked at Brady and cocked an eyebrow. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to ask a lady how old she is?"

"I don't see any lady."

I threw a grape at the smirking Brady, but he just leaned and caught it with his mouth. I pout a little at my fun being spoiled. "I'm 20."

Brady groans. "Damn, I was hoping you were still in high school... I'd have loved to walk in tomorrow with a hot chick."

Collin laughs mockingly. "Like she would have walked in with you anyway. I'm her cousin... sort of. I would have shown her the ropes."

I rolled my eyes, super glad that I was done with high school. While hanging out with these guys wouldn't have been terrible, going back to high school would not have been worth it. I took another gulp of my coffee while they bickered a little bit about how my first theoretical day at the res high school would have gone. I thought about my last day in a normal high school. My family was moving to Oklahoma and I was going to be doing online schooling for the remainder of my junior year as well as my senior year. I thought about all the friends I said good bye to and the boyfriend I'd had to break up with. Yeah, I definitely never wanted to go back to high school.

"Hey, Syd," Collin said, breaking me from my thoughts. "Do you want to come with us to meet the pack after school tomorrow? Sam and Emily are doing burgers tomorrow night for everyone. I'm sure they wouldn't mind throwing a couple extra patties on the grill."

I smiled, delighted by the invitation. "Sure! I'd love to meet everyone."

"Maybe I'll feed you a french fry," Brady said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows comically. I made a face and a gagging noise, causing his face to drop and Collin to laugh heartily. Brady pouted and crossed his arms, slouching in his chair. "Oh yeah, she's definitely going to get along with the other girls," he grumbled.

We spent the rest of the morning talking like old friends. The boys put away more food that morning apiece than I would for the rest of the day. At some point, mom and Sarah came back to the kitchen after mom had finished showing her the house. All and all, my first morning in La Push was the best morning I'd had in a long time. It looked like everyone was going to be very welcoming and I was already making friends. Eventually, though, Sarah said something about needing to get home and having errands to run before too much of the day. Mom and I saw them off at the door.

She turned to me and said, "It seems like those boys were really nice." Mom nudged me. "Look at you, already making friends." She then disappeared off into the house to do more unpacking, I was sure. I smiled, and headed upstairs to listen to some music and get my room in order. I was inexplicably happy for the rest of the day, even though I was just unpacking, but I'd already started making new friends and I was invited to a party (sort of) the day after I'd moved.

All in all, it seemed like this was going to be a good new beginning, no matter how cheesy that sounded.

A/N: It took me, like, no time (relatively) to write this. Hopefully the words keep flowing smoothly for me as I continue this rewrite. I said I might do it years ago, and I'm sorry to any of my old readers who might still be following me and happen to find this reboot.

Just to clarify, Jake, Quil and Embry are the same age as Sydney, but I will be aging up Sam, Paul, Jared and Leah, as well as Kim, Emily and Claire (because the whole Claire being 2 thing freaked me out. At least it was a little better if she was 13 to his 16.)

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Lass of the Lake