Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or the characters, Meyers does. I haven't written this for profit or financial gain. I've created a plot, universe, and characters of my own for fun.
David Johanson shouldered his pack and trudged through the rain soaked forest with his camera slung around his neck. He had been backpacking through Washington and Oregon for six weeks straight. He was a freelance photographer and was trying to catch as much of the environment as possible. He had been roughing it, but then again in his line of work he was used to it.
Shaking himself from his thoughts he turned in what he believed was the West. He could hear the crashing of waves in the distance and turned in that direction. As he was walking along the sky opened up again and he sighed in resignation. Shaking his shaggy black locks from his eyes he walked along the path before him.
The past weeks had been freeing, liberating in a way he hadn't felt in a very long time. Three months prior he had ended his long-time, long-distance relationship. He and Mel, just weren't working out. He had tried for a long time to take fewer assignments away from their New York studio apartment, but he felt stifled. She wanted to settle down and have bigger and better things. He wanted a simple life and loved what he did. That didn't mean that he didn't want to settle down.
The startling realization had crept up on him that it wasn't perhaps that he didn't want to settle down. He just didn't want to settle for Mel. It was a bitter pill to swallow, especially for Mel who had thrown him out in a fit of rage when he tried to break it to her gently that he was leaving on assignment and would be relocating to the West Coast.
To be fair she had just come home from a business trip to find all of his things packed in boxes ready for shipping. It hurt, sure, but he knew that they weren't working. On some level he knew that he had stayed out of some twisted sense of loyalty and because he was comfortable. Call him an asshole, but he couldn't really find it in him to care. They had just been going through the motions for years now, and enough was enough.
Moving had been something that he had been thinking about for almost six months before he made the decision to do so. When the offer came, he jumped at it and began packing up his life. The apartment was more of a home base for both of them. Sure they had some good times there, but it just didn't feel right.
For months he'd felt this urgency to move, to get to Washington. At odd times during the day he felt an ache in his chest. After being checked by the doctor who had confirmed that he was a prime example of a male in his prime, he shrugged it off. Or at least he had tried to.
His things were dropped off at the furnished apartment that he was renting and he hit the road. All of which led him to his current soggy state in the middle of the La Push reservation. Breaking through the tree line, David stopped and looked out on the water in front of him. The angry waves churned with the fury of the coming storm. Even now in the distance he could hear the thunder rumbling.
Taking his camera, he raised it and took a series of shots of the churning seas. Turning, he took some shots of the bluffs and cliffs as the waves crashed against the rocks. Turning the other direction, a lone figure sitting on a piece of driftwood caught his eye. Shoulders slumped in defeat, the figure was the epitome of misery. David silently raised his camera and took a series of shots with the water churning in the background. He was startled to find the person looking right at him through the lens.
Dropping his camera back on his chest, David walked swiftly to the woman on the driftwood. It was freezing outside! His feet were moving before his brain caught up with him. As he approached he was transfixed by her, the solitary figure lost in her misery. She was beautiful!
Leah raced out of the Blacks' home and took off towards the beach. Her heart ached and misery bloomed in her chest. Did the spirits hate her? What could she have possibly done to deserve this? Did she deserve to be alone? Her anguish consumed her as she ran blindly out into the oncoming storm.
Her mind raced as she ignored the calls of the Pack. None of them understood. She was alone, completely and utterly alone. Today was a day that she couldn't stand to bear. Today, the youngest of the Pack imprinted. The last of the males had imprinted and she was alone, the last. Tears poured down her face and she collapsed onto the large piece of driftwood.
The skies opened, masking her tears as she was soaked completely. Staring blindly out at the waves, Leah wrapped her arms around her legs. It had been two years since the Volturi had come. In those two years the Pack gained imprints left and right. Couples married and went on to have children. But Leah remained alone. She wept for the emptiness and pain that she carried and lived with. She wept for the future that she could no longer see for herself.
She almost didn't hear it, but the rapid clicking noise startled her from her thoughts. Whipping her head around, she turned in the direction she heard it and found a man standing on the embankment with a camera pointed right at her. Wiping angrily at her tears, Leah turned away even as she felt a tingling of anticipation run down her spine. She heard him approach and fought down the snarl that was rising from within. Why couldn't he have just kept walking?
"Hey!" a deep voice called out in concern. "Are you alright, Miss?"
Leah rolled her eyes and sighed. She didn't need this today. How the Hell did this guy get on the rez anyways? Snorting, she thought of Jake's reaction when he found out this guy had gotten past their patrols.
"Hey!" the man called out, rapidly coming up beside her. "Jesus, sweetheart, it's freezing out here. Do you need help?"
Leah turned to face him and froze. He had crouched down beside her, coming eye level with her. All she could see were his gray eyes. Then she saw her future and the life she could have with him. Everything in her shifted. She felt as if a balloon was filling her from the inside out and she was floating. Leah was dizzy from it, the world around her shifted and she closed her eyes bracing against the spin.
"Hey now," David said cradling her. "I've got you, honey. I'm David, what's your name?"
Shrugging off his jacket, he bundled her in it. He sat beside her on the wet sand, holding her to his chest and tried to dig into his pocket for his cell phone. Her hot hand stilled his actions. Glancing down he found that he couldn't look away from her deep brown eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked in a murmur.
"I'm fine," Leah said somewhat shyly back. "I'm Leah."
"Sweetheart, it's freezing out here," David said in exasperation. "We should get you home and into dry clothes before you get sick."
Leah turned to him with wide eyes and noticed that he was soaked through and that she was wearing his thick, warm jacket. She felt panic rise up in her. He was here. Her imprint was here, sitting in the freezing rain in the middle of a storm. She struggled to stand, but it was difficult with his strong arms wrapped around her.
Leah stood and David followed. She knew that she wasn't short by any means, she was five foot ten inches tall, but David towered over her. He was easily six foot four inches tall. She felt his corded muscles flex in his arms as he wrapped an arm protectively around her waist and shouldered his pack.
"Leah!" "Where the Hell are you?" "Leah!" voices shouted and called in the distance.
"Looks like people are looking for you," David said walking with her along the beach. "Jeez, where are your shoes?"
Leah laughed softly. "I'm fine, I promise." she said with a smile. "Come on, you're right. Let's get out of the rain."
They rounded the corner and Leah saw most of the Pack headed their way. She saw that some of the guys bristled seeing David's arm around her waist. She shivered as she felt his warm breath on her neck and ear.
"Looks like they sent a search party out," David murmured watching the large group of large males rapidly approaching, shifting his body protectively near her.
"Everything alright, Leah?" asked who David guessed was the leader of the group.
Leah grinned at them and nodded. The group collectively paused, looked between the pair. Their looks of astonishment were comical at first, but Leah began to get concerned that they would give it away before she had a chance to get to know him and explain things. She shook her head at them subtly, letting them know not to say anything.
"So who's this?" Jake asked Leah with a grin.
"This is David," Leah said shyly, surprising the Pack. "He found me on First Beach."
"Nice to meet you David," Jake said holding out his hand. "I'm Jake. Why don't we head back to my house and get out of this weather."
David shook his hand with a wary smile, but followed the group. Leah smiled up at him and not for the first time since he had seen her something just sort of clicked in him. His gut clenched and he felt a thrill run down his spine. He held her close to his side and followed the rowdy group ahead of them.
He watched the group interact curiously. There was something about them that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but let it slide. He held Leah against his side and felt the absence of the strange tugging and ache in his chest for the first time in months. Furrowing his brow he absentmindedly rubbed his chest and glanced down at the woman beside him.
"Everything alright?" Leah asked him softly.
"Yeah, I'm fine," David replied.
"You're rubbing your chest," she pointed out. "Are you sure that you're alright?"
"Easy, sweetheart. I'm fine," he assured her. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
"Try me." She laughed softly in challenge.
"I have been having these odd aches and this pull in my chest for months," he explained, not noticing that everyone around him had become silent. "The doctors couldn't explain it. I felt the need to come out West. It got to be too much so I broke it off with my ex, packed up and moved out here at the first opportunity."
"Oh," Leah replied weakly. "Are you alright? Do you miss her?"
"Not particularly," he snorted in amusement. "She wasn't thrilled that I was breaking it off and leaving here, but it just didn't feel right anymore. We had both been going through the motions for the last year or so."
No one said anything as they reached Jake's house where his pregnant wife greeted them at the door. Her eyes lit up as Jake murmured something to her and she grinned at David and winked at Leah.
Once everyone was dry and warm, it was aloud and happy dinner. Leah's mother Sue stopped in and pulled her aside with tears in her eyes. David hung out with the guys chatting and explaining that he was a freelance photographer. They joked with him and treated him like one of their own.
It wasn't until later as he lay in the warm bed of the guest room he was staying in that he realized it felt like he had come home. His gut was telling him that something big was happening and if he was being honest with himself, he was perfectly alright with that. Opening his phone he blocked Mel's number.
He rolled over with a sigh and stretched out on the bed. Closing his eyes with a smile, David knew that whatever happened next, he couldn't wait for it, especially if it meant Leah would be part of his life. Call him crazy, but he was certain that he would marry that woman. Meeting her on the beach it was like something clicked, like it was meant to happen.
Meanwhile in a room down the hall, Leah lay wide awake. The smile hadn't left her face since she had looked in David's eyes. No one in the Pack made fun of her for it either. They had welcomed David with open arms. Tears stung her eyes as she thought of everything that she had been through that led up to him, her soul mate and other half.
All of the bitterness and pain had washed away and her broken heart and soul healed. Giggling softly, she rolled over and clutched her pillow to her chest. Closing her eyes, she thanked God, her ancestors, and the spirits that he had finally arrived. It wasn't long before she fell asleep with a gentle smile on her face. Leah had finally found her balance and peace in the world. She wasn't alone anymore.