Author Note: Writen for Isisgodiva for the Blackpack Community on LiveJournal ficathon challenge.
Three things she wanted to see: Jacob, Leah & Baking.
Three things she DIDN'T want to see: Edward, Imprinting & Nessie.
Warnings: Sex Scene included. You've been warned.
Glass shattered against the wall, splintering into a thousand little pieces of crystal knives. Leah's mouth dropped open.
"THAT was my FAVORITE glass!" she yelled, hands on her hips, her brown eyes throwing daggers of their own in the direction of her brother as he stood armed, with yet another piece of crockery.
"You can't say I didn't warn you," he shrugged, "What about this? Wasn't this your senior year project?"
That was the final straw. Leah lunged across the kitchen and snatched the hand-painted plate from his grasp.
"You're impossibly cruel Seth Clearwater! I don't know what I did to deserve your attention, but I sure as hell wish you'd go and annoy someone else!" she growled, hiding the precious item behind her back. "Get out of my kitchen!"
"But I'm hungry!" he pouted, "And YOU refused to cook for me, remember? - 'Cook something yourself you big baby' – are the words I remember coming from your lips only two hours ago."
"That's because I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to TRY, but no, you've killed the microwave and now you've broken my glass. Go buy yourself take-out, or better yet, go bug Emily." She argued back as she fetched the dustpan from under the sink.
"Emily is busy with the baby, Sam said-…"
Leah stood up and pointed the dustpan broom at his chest, "Then go and get SAM to cook you something! Just because I'm a chick doesn't mean I'm gonna be at the beck and call of you boys. I have a life too you know, and I didn't sign up to be a little housewife."
Seth moaned in protest before dragging himself out of the kitchen begrudgingly and through the front door.
Leah struggled to hold back the sobs that threatened to break free. She was over this. She'd had enough and couldn't do it anymore.
It had been a year. A year since their mother had died in a horrible accident and four years, since their father had passed away. She and Seth were now alone in the world, well, as good as alone; at least they still had each other.
She still remembered that dreadful day she received a phone call from Chief Charlie Swan. She was in Boston, just stepped out of her Photography class when her cell phone rang and on the other end, news she'd never wanted to hear.
She never thought until recently, how hard it must have been for Charlie to make that call. He and her mother were best friends, they had been since her father had died and Bella had moved to Alaska. Charlie still called once every week, not as the Chief, but as the family friend, just to check up on them and see if there was anything he could help out with around the house. He was a good man.
Leah sat on the floor and leant against the wooden panelled walls of their home. Placing her head in her hands, she tried not to think about the sacrifices she'd made to move back home and take care of Seth. He was a pain, yeah, he was an idiot, yeah, but he was her little brother, and all that she had left. Her photography would have to wait.
She was just so exhausted, physically and mentally, and mostly emotionally. She's been struggling to hold it all together for so long; she needed to put on a brave face. She needed to be strong, but it was so hard and she knew that she couldn't wear the mask of "I'm fine" for much longer without snapping.
She closed her eyes and pictured the face of her mother, smiling, happy, as she was before she had died. Her mother was always a happy person, even after their dad had died, she was convinced he was in a better place, and never showed just how much she was hurting publically.
'Why can't I be more like her?' Leah groaned inwardly.
She wiped the tears that stung her cheeks and sighed, pulling the tea-towel from across her shoulder and rose to finish cleaning up Seth's mess. If she didn't do it, who was going to? The Tooth fairy?
The front porch squeaked under the weight of someone coming up the steps and the screen door opened gently. Leah hurried to clear her face of any evidence of tears,
"Seth, I told you, go and ask SAM to cook you something!"
"Sam's gone on patrol," came the reply.
"Oh!" exclaimed Leah in surprise, as Jake rounded the corner and stood in the doorway, she nearly dropped the dustpan.
"Jake! Hi! I didn't expect you, I thought it was Seth," she said.
"Nah, he's gone over to Quil's to have pizza or something."
"Oh."
An awkward silence settled across the room, and Jake just leant against the doorframe, studying her, his gaze slightly intense.
"I was just cleaning up after Seth's attempt to cook dinner, did you want something to drink?" she said finally, turning to continue to put away dishes. She motioned to a seat at the table. "Have a seat."
"I'm fine thanks," Jake said, but took a chair and turned it to sit across it backwards.
Leah gave half a smile. He had just used her favourite saying. She threw the tea towel on the bench, pulled a couple of shot glasses from the cabinet and the whisky from inside the Self-raising flour tin before kicking a chair out and joining him.
"Ok, so, what's up? I haven't seen you this quiet since you saw Emily pop out Sami Junior." She smiled and poured out both glasses evenly, then nudged the glass across the table to him.
Jake gave her a crooked smile, "Yeah that certainly made my brain fail."
She smiled back at him, remembering how he'd reacted when Emily went into labour. He'd clean passed out on the lounge room floor.
"Can I help you sort out whatever's bothering you? You know you can tell me anything right?" she said, suddenly concerned.
He nodded, "That's why I'm here, because I'm concerned about you."
"About me?"
He nodded again and suddenly dragged his chair closer to hers.
"How are you going? I mean, how are you really going?"
The walls around her heart suddenly took up their defences, "What did Seth say?"
"Seth hasn't said anything. I've just noticed you've been under a bit of pressure lately, especially with him. He isn't giving you too hard a time is he? Did you want one of us to talk to him?"
Leah's turn to lie.
"I'm fine."
She gave him a half hearted smile and reached out for her glass to pour herself another drink.
Jacob's hand landed firmly on her wrist.
"Don't. It won't help."
Leah fought back the tears. She refused to look up at him and for a moment, she was as terrified as a deer in headlights ready to flee.
Jake pulled her hand into his own, clasping it gently. His warmth made her belly fill with butterflies.
"Leah," he started, his eyes pleading with her to look at him, "You know I like you, and I've tried to be patient but I can't just sit here and watch you spiral down into a place where I'm not sure you'll come back from. Let me help you Leah."
Leah exhaled a sob, and then took a deep breath. She'd been holding it for the past two minutes, knowing where this conversation was going.
"Jake…" she started, "I like you too, but…"
"But, what? Leah? What's stopping us from being happy together?"
Oh! How could she explain how completely unworthy she felt? She was an emotional wreck! Not just because of relationship with Seth, or even her past relationship with Sam; she had tried to move on with that part of her life, and even far away in Boston, she'd managed to get herself hurt. The death of her parents, more recently her mother, was the final straw in her wretched heartache. She was damaged goods, and he was the nicest, most stubborn, genuine guy she knew.
"I'm not… good for you Jake."
"Bullshit."
"Really, I'm not. I'll only end up hurting you and being hurt. I can't offer you anything but myself and I'm so broken. I don't know if I'll ever get myself together…"
Jake stood in a violent rush, and pulled her up with him. He grasped her around her waist and pressed her body against his. She could feel every fibre of muscle melting into her.
"I don't want anything else, BUT you." He said roughly, and then with a little more tenderness he relaxed his hold on her, "We're both broken Leah, but I want you… just the way you are. Maybe we can fix each other."
He rested his forehead against hers, while she wept quietly.
Softly, he wiped away tears on her cheek with his thumb, "It's going to be ok. We'll be ok. We'll get through this honey."
She was crying openly now, and he pulled her to himself, embracing her body in a secure, yet loving hug. She let him hold her, and it felt completely safe as she cried onto his shoulder.
He ran one hand up and over her back, nestling it in the crook of her neck where he soothed her, his fingers playing softly with her dark hair, "We'll get through this together," he whispered, placing a tender kiss on the top of her head, "I promise."
It seemed strange, knowing that Jake was committed to her and that they had now decided to face things together. No one else had really clued in on what had happened yet, but Leah began to rise from bed each day, with a new sense of purpose.
Jake would come over in the mornings; once Seth had left for work and they'd just hang out. It wasn't even a romantic thing, it was like, they were connected through a more spiritual level, only it was their friendship that seemed to grow intensely. She couldn't imagine her life without him.
Holding Jake's hand, or being held in his arms, came as naturally as breathing to Leah and she felt herself falling for him deeper and deeper everyday.
When he finally kissed her, he sent her head swarming with emotions. It was a passionate embrace, one of pent up longing and desire; one of healing and need. He'd held her and she had embraced him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and surrendering herself to him like a moth to the flame. Her body pressed hard up against his, her pulse racing, her body trembling at his hungry kisses as they brushed across her skin like fire.
They'd stumbled upstairs to her bedroom, where he worshiped her body with his lips, whispering words of love and adoration across the breadth of her belly and thighs, and she clenched her hands across his back and placed soft butterfly kisses across his chest.
When he entered her, she cried out in pleasure, writhing and moaning as their bodies, sleeked with sweat, moved together, like the slow pounding of surf across the shore.
He lavished praise with his tongue across her breasts, nibbling, biting, teasing her to frenzy and she wrapped her legs around him and cried out not to be let go.
He pushed harder, further and deeper into her, until they were both moaning in pure bliss, like fireworks, he exploded inside of her, sending tremors of pleasure through their bodies like the side effects of an explicit drug.
In the aftermath of their passion, she had whispered softly in his ear, everything that made his world complete. Her gentle; "I love you" caused him to kiss her again, with a heartfelt longing and desire, that he felt his heart break, but this time, only to meld with hers and they knew that what they had discovered in each other, was theirs and no one could steal; that they would always have each other.
The night Seth had discovered their relationship, was when he'd come home from work to find them both asleep on the couch, Leah curled up in the crook of Jacob's arms, the credits of a movie rolling slowly across the TV screen.
He paused for a moment, slightly confused. He'd known about Jake's feelings for Leah. They all did, but no one ever suspected Leah had felt anything back.
He watched them for a few moments.
Leah's expression was one of peace, and Jake snored softly, his head thrown backwards on the arm of the couch. They looked comfortable enough.
Seth shrugged, pulled the doona from the other chair in the lounge and covered them with it before switching off the TV and the light and heading upstairs to his room.
The next morning, he found Leah in the kitchen cooking pancakes for breakfast. There was no sign of Jake.
"So, you and Jake eh?" he said, taking a seat at the table and pouring himself a cup of coffee.
Leah turned and looked at him hesitantly, "are you ok with that?"
He scoffed, "Why wouldn't I be?"
She smiled. He noted that it was the first real smile from her he'd seen in a long time. Her eyes even sparkled.
"Eat up," she said, putting some pancakes on his plate.
He gave her a lopsided smirk and dug in. If having Jake around meant Leah was cooking for him again then that was good enough for him.