Author's Note: This is a one shot based on a story I'm currently writing, The Miseducation of Leah Uley, but from Jacob's perspective. Definitely can be read alone, but please feel free to check out the main story :D.

Enjoy!

Ride and Die

It wasn't fair. It was December. This was supposed to be the slowest month of the year. Nothing much administrative-wise should happen until the New Year. What was he supposed to do during the last month of 2017? Just restart his entire detective-partner clock again?

Unfortunately, that was exactly what his captain, generally a reasonable man, wanted him to do.

"You can't be serious."

"You wanted a new partner, Black, well, I'm giving you one: Detective Leah Uley."

Jacob blinked. "From up north?"

"Yes," His captain said, bored and completely, perhaps purposely, oblivious to the look on his detective's face. "That one."

Jacob did his best not to convey any emotion. He wasn't entirely upset, but... he had heard about Leah. Everyone in this damn police department had.

She was one of the brightest detectives on the force, married to another star detective, with an attitude like none other. It wasn't condescending; it was just strong. Perhaps, too strong. And she didn't play around, not at home and certainly not at work. "I don't blame Sam for messing with another chick," he had overheard a cop say in the locker room. "She's a stone-cold bitch."

(Months later, Jacob would vow to hunt that man down and give him a piece of his mind. Or a punch to the face, if he could get away with it.)

"Is that going to be a problem?"

Jacob straightened his stance. "No, sir, it won't be."

The night after receiving the news, Jacob, during a guy's-night-out at Quill's bar, made a bet with Embry and Paul. "Two months," he declared, slapping a twenty on to the bar table. "That's how long it's gonna last."

Embry chuckled.

"Your lack of confidence wounds me," Paul said partly joking, partly serious. He might have been a captain of a covert gangster squad, but he knew most of the homicide detectives. "Leah's a hard-ass, but she's fucking good at her job."

Jacob snorted. "That's what they said about my last partner."

"Yeah, he was just an asshole."

An asshole, he was indeed.

Paul's words didn't change Jacob's mind. But deep inside, he and his friends were right. He had to give Leah a chance; he didn't want to have the reputation she had, changing partners every five seconds.

He should make an effort into making this partnership last.

He would learn that he wouldn't have to make much of an effort.

He didn't know what it was about her, but her, being by his side, it just felt right from the get-go.

The first time he met Detective Leah Uley as his new partner, during the second week in December, he didn't know what to say. Or what to do. He had been through this process before—two other times. But this time, standing in front of a woman who looked into his eyes with unwavering confidence, was different. She was different.

Leah held her hand out, steady. "Detective Uley."

"Detective Black."

"Pleasure you meet you."

"Likewise," Jacob replied, and then smiled, making every effort into making it as genuine as possible. Even if there was some apprehension simmering inside.

She had this air around her as she walked around with him as if, even with her hands tied behind her back, she could kick and save his ass. And he was a shape-shifter, and she was not. And it still wouldn't have made a difference—And as if, when the time arrived, would defend him to the end. "Ride and Die" was the prevalent thought in his mind. Reliable.

That was something that had been missing during his last partnership.

He suddenly couldn't fully comprehend the rumors surrounding Leah. The rumors about her being difficult, being bitter (though in retrospect, he really couldn't blame her for that). It was truly the naysayer's life.

"Let's get to work," Leah said, handing him a fresh cup of coffee.

Jacob grinned and saluted his new partner with his cup. "Let's."

"I'm a shape-shifter."

In retrospect, he didn't know what he had come over him, saying those words. He had barely known her for two weeks and suddenly, he had revealed a secret only a few knew about during a car ride from the precinct.

It was Christmas Eve.

Leah swallowed, not fully comprehending her partner's words. "You... can change form?"

"Into a wolf."

Short. Succinct and Honest. This wasn't the time for games.

"Oh."

Oh. That one syllable, made up of only two letters made all the different in the world. It wasn't a judgement "Oh." It wasn't a fearful "Oh." It wasn't an I'm-five-seconds-away- from-reporting-you "Oh."

It was an "Oh" full of curiosity, sincerely and honor. She must have known he wouldn't reveal a secret to anyone just like that.

Leah's eyes were glued to the glove-compartment in front her, pensive, shocked but relieved. She blinked a couple of times before glancing up at her partner. A small smile played on her lips while her deep brown eyes conveyed so many emotions that he couldn't accurately defined them. "I won't tell a soul."

It was a promise, something Jacob knew Leah would never break. "Thank you."

"Still haven't asked that coroner out?"

Jacob gave Quill a look before downing his beer. The question, that infuriating question, had been delivered to him by his friends for the past year. Ever since Paul, and his big mouth, had discovered that Jake might have had an insignificant, small crush on Dr. Bella Swan.

"Don't plan on it."

Jacob liked her. She was pretty. Nice and freakishly smart. There had been a time, albeit a brief one, when he would think about what it would be like to have her in his arms. To spend the rest of his life with her.

But then, he would realize if he would be living a lie. He would be lying to her for eternity because he couldn't possibly see himself revealing to her about the true him.

The him Leah knew.

And seen.

It hadn't been his intentional to be in wolf-form on that fateful winter day. He had been simply recovering from a gunshot wound inflicted by one of Victoria's newest recruit. A newborn with a mouth named Riley.

In the back of his mind, he should have known Leah would visit the following day. She had been there when he was shot with a pure silver bullet. She had been the one who drove him to his place, gracefully foregoing a trip to the emergency room. It was the weekend. He supposed she would have time.

And she reacted well to the sight of him, slowly roaming around his apartment, all ten-foot long of him. He considered shifting back, but then Leah approached him, curiously with a small side of apprehension. All thought of changing went out the window when she ran her soft hands through his fur, seemingly enamored by the sight before her.

He was so distracted that he didn't notice his sister, Rebecca, standing at the edge of the living, staring in stunned silence at them

Rebecca cornered him when Leah finally left. She asked about the fact that he would let such a sacred secret out a couple of weeks after working with Leah. "Do you trust her?"

"Until my dying breath."

"Why?"

He honestly hadn't been able give her an answer.

He was afraid of what he'd say.

"Imagine her as a wolf," Paul mused one day in February as the cops watched an interrogation from the other side of the one-way mirror. Leah was inside the room, grilling a would-be informant. He was confident she would get the stubborn man to talk.

Jacob had, plenty of times, imagined Leah as a wolf. And each time, it was an impressive sight. She was always agile, with her movements with her police work. And fierce. And fearless. He'd imagine her being the fastest one in the pack. Leaving Jacob and the rest in the dust.

"She may kick your ass," Jacob joked. He had to smile to himself at the sight of Leah finally breaking the perp's resolve. He was officially on the law's side.

"And yours."

Jacob chuckled.

He was looking forward to it.