Disclaimer: I don't own Leah, God knows no one really does with a spirit like hers, but I did create this story based on Stephanie Meyer's wonderful world that she created. Sidenote, this is ten years after Breaking Dawn.
The man paused outside their bedroom, his breath caught in his throat. He could hear her quiet sobs from behind the door. His heart nearly stopped as he thought about the woman he loved being in pain. He almost turned around and headed back to the kitchen but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He raised his arm slowly, his hand bawled up in a fist. He knocked softly before he lost his nerve completely.
The woman made an attempt to stop her sobs and answered hesitantly, her voice full of grief, confusion, guilt, anger, and strongest of all pain. "Who is it?"
"Lee-Lee, it's just me." The man answered, using his special name for his wife. When she didn't respond, he tried again a little louder. "Leah, aren't you going to let me in? It's Gregory."
"I…I don't want to see you. Come back later. I just…I can't right now. Its too soon." Leah said panicky, on the verge of hysterias. Her breathing had quickened in fear, not of her husband but of the fact that he wanted to see her while she looked like this. Her heart wasn't up to being rejected just yet so she figured he should wait until she was healthy again. Not that she was going to tell him any of this. He'd think she was crazy.
"Leah please don't do this." Greg begged, his eyes filling with tears. "I just need to see that you are okay. Please I promise I will leave you alone, just please…"
The woman hesitated. On the one hand, she wanted her husband kneeling by her bed whispering sweet nothings in her ear. On the other hand, she wanted him to go as far away as humanly possible-to Pluto maybe?-so that she could deal with this on her own. Since imprinting, she never expected to feel anything but happiness and love like the guys did with their little imprintees. But Leah, of course, was the oddball out. Not that she didn't love Gregory. She did. She completely loved him with all of her soul and would do anything to make him happy...but she had lost a piece of her soul recently and not even Greg's love could make that come back.
"Please Lee. Everyone was just here and wanting to know that you are okay. I've gotten so many phone calls. People are worried about you. Just let me in and I'll tell them you're fine." Greg pleaded with his wife.
He could hear her mattress squeaking as she got off their bed and walked to the door. Leah wanted to open the door angrily to show that she didn't need to be coddled like a child but her attempts fell flat when she had to hold onto the wooden frame for support. She cursed under her breath, a habit she'd picked up from her younger brother, Seth and the Pack.
Greg stared at his wife as he helped her back to bed. Her long black hair was unnaturally frizzy and greasy from not being properly maintained in awhile. Her deep brown eyes had lost the sparkle that used to radiate out of them. He wrapped his arm around Leah and pulled her into a hug before she could protest.
"I'm fine, see?" Leah spat, removing Greg's arm from around her waist and sat down as far from him as possible. "Now go run along to the family like a good little spy." She said sarcastically, although it was an accurate assumption. The family she was referring to was hers, between the Pack, her mother, and Seth, she had been bombarded with concerned relatives.
Gregory shook his head. "You know its not like that, Lee. We're all worried about you. You didn't even go to the funeral…"
"Don't you dare bring that up!" Leah nearly shouted, although her voice was hoarse so it came out in a raspy, normal talking voice. "She was my baby!" Greg opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "She might have been our baby but I carried her for nine months. I breastfeed her when you were too busy sleeping. And I was the one who didn't notice that she was sick. So don't you judge blame me for not going to her funeral!"
"That wasn't your fault, Leah. None of us noticed. I didn't see the signs anymore than you didn't." Greg admitted quietly.
This was the first time the couple had actually talked about the death of their two month old daughter Hannah. It had started out as nothing more than a simple cold when all of a sudden Hannah's immune system quit fighting off the sickness. There really wasn't anything that anyone could have done; not even the doctors, although Leah seems to think to the otherwise. Even Dr. Cullen, who flew in all the way from New Hampshire where he and Esme relocated once Nessie was of age and moved in with Jacob on the Rez, couldn't save the infant. By the time they got to the hospital with Hannah, there was nothing left of their little girl but a still body.
The funeral was yesterday and although the baby had only been buried for a day it felt like the whole house had died along with her. Leah went into an immediate depression, blaming herself for the infant's death. She was a wolf for crying out loud! All of the magical mystic powers in the world didn't even seem to be on her side. That was just typical. Becoming a wolf was the worst thing for her: it cost her her father, her first love, her femininity, and twelve years of her life. And now it had cost her Hannah, the little baby that had finally made Leah feel complete. She locked herself into the bedroom, leaving Greg alone in the house by himself. This was the first time he'd been able to get her to speak to him in the four days since Hannah had died.
"Sweetie, I know you miss her, I do too, but you can't blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault." Gregory spoke softly, slowly putting his arm on Leah's shoulder. She flinched slightly but he refused to let go of her. "She was an unhealthy little baby that got sicker quickly. Even if we had noticed her cold, we wouldn't have been able to react fast enough to get her to a hospital anyways."
"…just…please just leave me alone Greg." Leah said stubbornly, her eyes showing that she hadn't listened to a word he had said.
Greg kissed her cheek, sensing that she wasn't ready for anything more intimate, and turned to leave. He paused at the door, looking back at his wife with sadness in his eyes. "I love you Lee-Lee." He said without skipping a beat. It had become a tradition in their house to say 'I love you' whenever they left a room or ended a conversation. It was the one thing that Leah and Greg had that other imprinted couples didn't have. Though every couple showed their love differently, Leah was proud that she and her husband were very verbal in their affection. Or, she used to be.
Leah turned her head away from him, barely whispering "love you, Greg" loud enough for him to hear.
Once down the hall and out of her hearing range, Greg punched the wall in the living room. His short fit of rage ended as quickly as it had taken over him and he slid to the floor in defeat. He reached for the phone on the table beside him and pulled it closer to him so he wouldn't have to get up.
Greg waited a moment before dialing the number. He honestly wasn't sure who he was calling until he heard the gentle, caring voice on the other end of the line. "Hello?" asked a child-like voice, although Greg knew she wasn't a child.
"Gina its me…your brother." He said reluctantly when she hadn't recognized his voice right away. That's what he deserves after not speaking to her in over eight months. But ever since Leah became pregnant, all he could focus on was his expecting wife. Besides, Gina was so busy with her own life that she probably hadn't even realized that much time had passed anyways.
"How are you Gregory? Not causing too much trouble are you?" She said with a twinkling laugh, one that had gotten her into too many relationships than either of them could keep track of. Even though they were twins, she seemed to get all of the charm, or so he claimed. Leah usually protested this: "You won me over, didn't you?"
"You know you've got a family now so you can't be doing all that stupid stuff you did when we were at Washington State." She chastised him lightly. She was talking a mile a minute, not leaving him a chance to get a word in. "I don't want my favorite sister-in-law to come complaining to me about how you are getting into fights or something stupid."
Gina paused to take a breath and Greg took the free moment to mention why he'd called. "Hannah's dead." He stated sullenly, on the verge of tears for who knows how many times that week.
"Hannah?" Gina asked, unsure of who her brother was talking about. Hearing his daughter's name said with such confusion in it nearly broke his heart all over again. He wanted everyone to be mourning for their precious little girl. He tried not to get angry about the fact that his own twin didn't share his pain like he would have if the roles were reversed.
"Your niece. I sent you a picture of the sonograms when Leah was a few months along. She was delivered two months ago and buried yesterday." Greg explained shockingly calm. He seemed to have finally moved out of the anger stage, his wife stuck somewhere between isolation and anger still. "Remember how excited I was? Leah and I had been trying for four years to get pregnant...and then Hannah was taken away from us as soon as we got her."
"Oh Greg…I had no idea." She said melancholy. "I…I would've come and seen you if you'd told me sooner. I could've made it to the funeral." Gina said unconvincingly. They both knew that her husband, Rob, would never have allowed it. Gina is a model and is constantly being flown from one city to the next to walk on a near identical ten foot catwalk. If it weren't for her insane beauty and thin frame, she would have been able to quit and eventually divorce Rob but that was far from likely. At twenty-nine, she was more talented than the eighteen year olds signed by her agency.
"How are you guys holding up?" Gina asked when Greg made no notice of wanting to comment on her lie. "How's Leah?"
"We're managing. Me better than she is. I don't know what to do anymore, Gin, I honestly don't." He admitted timidly. "She won't eat, hasn't slept at all in the past week, and I only got her to speak to me today because I tricked her into opening the door." Greg described the scene of the house as if he were talking about the latest sports game. His emotions had been changing so quickly that he was almost glad that he felt numb now.
"…is there anything I can do?" Gina asked truly concerned. "I know that I haven't always been there for you Greg, but you are still my twin. If there's anything you need of me, just ask." She seemed to be talking literally and Greg racked his brain to think of anything besides her by his side that he needed.
As if reading his mind, she commented. "I'd be more than happy to hop on a plane right now. Screw my career. I'm the best model the agency has." A plan was forming in her head as she spoke. "I think I'm due for some sick days. Twelve years as a model and not one day off, they owe me this." She said stubbornly.
It was times like this that Greg was grateful for their twin telepathy. Even though it would get her in trouble at work, he needed desperately for his sister to be with him. She was the only family besides Leah that he had left. His parents, both only children, had died when the twins were seventeen and legally old enough to get emancipated.
And although Leah's wolf family had extended their open arms, he knew that his wife didn't want their help. Because with their help came their pity. "Oh, poor Leah, first she turned into a wolf and killed her father...and now her imprint can't even produce a healthy child. Why, even Jacob and Nessie have a small litter of pups, and she's a half-vampire." Yeah, there was no way that Greg was going to put Leah through that unless she wanted to. Even though as a wolf she was supposed to be his protector, he always did his best to be that for her.
"Thank you, Gin." Gregory said gratefully. "You don't know how much this would mean to me. And I'm sure that having you around the house will cheer Leah up a bit. You always were one of her best friends."
"Listen Greg. I gotta go now, big shoot in a few minutes, but I'll fly out of Chicago as soon as I can." Gina commented. "Oh, and try to keep Leah's spirits up. Once she sets into the depression you probably won't be able to get her out of her mood for awhile and that's not healthy for either of you."
Long after Gina hit 'end' Greg made no motion that their conversation had ended. He stayed in his position on the floor, his hand pressing the receiver to his ear. Some time later-how long had it been? minutes? hours?-Greg seemed to snap out of his almost comatose state. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that it was near dinner time.
Greg headed to the kitchen, not bothering to flip the light switch on as he stumbled towards the fridge. The light from the refrigerator illuminated the whole room with a soft yellow glow. Greg paused and looked around the room, it almost felt happy in here or at least peaceful. He wondered how long it would be until Leah was able to get over this. Greg shook his head at himself. If he was being honest, he would admit that losing Hannah had changed everything. His once happy, loving wife was gone forever.