I don't own Twilight. woot...

1. Lost in Translation

Mom was straightening the house; Charlie was coming over, again. He'd been coming over a lot and I wasn't sure why. I guess it took me a while to finally figure out. But now it was pretty obvious. He and my mom were going to be together. My thoughts were confirmed when I heard Jake thinking the whole through after a little talk with Bella. She'd said "vampire's dad with the Werewolf's mom." It had been funny. I didn't realize why. The whole mind reading thing could really be a bitch.

Sure, I was happy for mom but...it seemed too soon. Then again I knew how lonely a person could become. Why did I have to empathize with everyone?! I just want to live my own life and be a part of something. That something did not have to be a supernatural pack of wolves on steroids. And it just had to take the one thing that I always wanted to be; a mom.

"Leah! LEAH!"

"What mom?" I was really sick of her yelling, but ever since dad died...there I go with empathizing again.

"I need you to go over to Billy's and bring him over for dinner." She called from the kitchen.

"Wait, I thought only Charlie was coming over?" I never liked being crowded. The mind-reading thing took me a lot to get used to. And our house was so small; it would feel like I was reading minds with normal humans.

"No, I decided Charlie needed something more familiar to be here too." Uhg... I hated her reasoning.

"What? You've been with him every time he went to see the half-leech and her parents. You're the only human there with him!" In truth I had started to warm up to the vampires, but they were still creepy statues of diamond flesh. At least we werewolves were still human, most of the time.

"Hey, they've done their part to get rid of those other leeches..." She didn't get to finish her sentence; the door bell sent a strident scream into the confines of our home. I sniffed the air. A rustic smell of rust and wet wood filled my nostrils,

"Don't worry, it's Billy." Why was he here? Wasn't I supposed to pick him up?

My mom sighed, deeply, trying to send all the negative thoughts in her head outside her body with a simple expulsion of air. Her breath was almost visible it seethed so badly. When she let Billy there was a slight odor of sweet perfume on him. Probably residue from Jacob. Nothing I couldn't handle. But unfortunately my hands were already trembling from my most recent thoughts about the leeches. I could feel shivers take over my arms and travel down my back to the back of my thighs. This was not going to be a good day.

No, you can't take me now. However much you want to get away from this situation. The corners of my mouth tightened, trying to hang on.

Ah, come on brain, work WITH me now. The tremors murmured and twitched my body and almost jumped in anticipation. My hands dug into the counter.

Ahhhh... They stopped. I opened my eyes and noticed mom and Billy were both staring at me. Not with fear but with compassion and a longing to help. There's nothing they can save me from now. I was a female werewolf, a freak. I'd die, later, and nothing would be left of me besides some forgotten flesh and a legend about a barren she-wolf. I was screaming and crying in my head. I couldn't force Jake or any one else to listen to this nonsensical ramble about something that wouldn't happen for a long, long time. I felt the vampire's pain then. Not aging was a huge bell ringer for anything not human.

I could blame not aging on a growth spurt and "traditional herbal moisturizers". But after...ten? That might be pushing it, maybe eight years... I'd have to move. So would Jake, but he was so in love, he wouldn't care. I had nothing. My mom, my brother, Billy, my pack would have to pass away. My dad was already in...wherever the hell he was; I didn't know what to believe anymore. Did Jesus say anything about vampires? Or werewolves? Or strange combinations between them and humans?

Great, now I'm fucking depressed. I guess it's better than being about to turn into a horse-sized carnivore on some of the only family I had. Luckily Billy started talking; a good distraction in a shook-up world of insanity.

"Sorry Sue, but I just had to try some of your fish fry before Charlie got a chance to work on it." His smile was infectious. Unfortunately I don't get sick anymore. I forced the corners of my mouth to drag themselves up under the weight of my tired eyes. Runs, also, could be a bitch. No one else was suffering because they weren't doing the runs as religiously as I was. But I wasn't running for vampires, I was running from, I hate to admit, my life. Seriously, the "I'm a werewolf, here me roar" gets really boring. But throw in some vampire action, a demon child-my smile became genuine as I thought of my private nickname for Nessie-and THEN some werewolves and you got yourself a pretty insane home life.

What did I have to do to make my chaotic life just a bit less stressful?

Maybe I should take up some feng shui...I laughed pitifully. The mere thought of something so mundane in a time like this caused that choked laugh to escape my throat. Of course no one else found this a time to be referred as "a time like this". But then again. Their lives had fallen so perfectly into place. Most of the other werewolves had imprinted and were just happy to wait for their imprints to grow up, or get married and live with them until they died. Jacob and Bella were also ecstatic to be with their loved ones for forever. Literally, FOREVER.

Anger pulsed through me as bile surged into my mouth. I looked like I had Parkinson's, fumbling for a glass and trying, futile, to fill it and bring it to my lips. The first round of water half spilled onto my shirt and the other half did little to flush the taste of acid off my tongue.

Billy wheeled over to me, sympathetic, and said, "Hey kid, if this isn't a great time I could tell Charlie Sue's not felling good, and we could watch the game." He was so gentle with his hate. I was puking in my mouth, but he didn't say MUCH when Jake imprinted on Nessie. I should have been more empathetic! I was inside in his head for God's Sake! And apparently I was empathizing with everyone now!

In truth I was jealous of what everyone else had. Even my mom was going to be hooking up with Charlie soon. It seemed everyone the Cullens touched was filled with happiness. Except me. How ironic. The cold, pale, lifeless ones finally brought life to the dreariness that was Forks/La Push. But I closed my eyes, waiting for the tremors to die. Waiting for me to wake up from this nightmare.

When I opened my eyes, I was calmer. I had had my hate for the day. Besides, no vampires in La Push. And I couldn't stop mom from being with Charlie. I didn't want to do that to her. So I turned to her and speaking softly I enunciated every word, "No, I'm fine." I tried to look sincere, but my eyes were glazed over. "It'll be alright."

I could do this. There was no question of that. Charlie didn't bother me at all. But whenever I looked at him I saw Bella, her happiness, the incredible irony of that coming with being a vampire, and me. Someone who would give themselves to the birth of something greater then them. Not that I would ever have anything like that. Not that I could. Nope, bring Charlie on.

I could hear the cruiser approaching at least a mile away. I could be three miles away by the time he got here if I started running now. But I was frozen in place, too scared to move. The tremors were gone but I did not want to risk anything. My hands were about to break the glass still in my hand. God knows mom didn't need to replace anything more than she already had. Having two teenage werewolves bursting out of their skin all the time did not have a positive impression on the dishware. Or anything else delicate, or sturdy for that matter.

I calmly went to the sink, got another glass of water, and felt the burn as the acid flowed down my throat. I wasn't even calm anymore, just, animated. Like a puppet. I laughed bitterly to myself.

Here's your life, some strings attached. Ha.

The cruiser was pulling into our driveway. There were no more tremors; I really didn't have any idea of why I was being so irascible. Maybe a hot flash was coming on. God this was so awkward, having two menopausal women in on house. And one of those was a teenager. Another surge of acid forced its way up into my mouth. It wasn't so bad now, being diluted with the water I just drunk. It was almost sweet. I wonder if vampire venom would be sweet if it was diluted.

I shuddered at the thought of getting anywhere near a situation like that. I really needed to work on my filter for my thoughts. Not just for Jacob and the pack, but for me as well.

Charlie rang the doorbell merely for courtesy, he knew we could hear his cruiser as he pulled up to the house, his boots crunch the soggy gravel and I could even smell him. Uhg, straight from the Cullen's. I wrinkled my nose when the smell of THEM invaded my abused nasal cavities. My burned out temper smoldered once again when I saw Billy and Mom staring at me, waiting for my reaction to the smell. They could smell the vampires on them too, but they cringed only after their brain made the connection from the sweet, sweet odor to vampire. Did they think that I was going to burst- no pun intended- every time I came in contact with anything vampire?

I should be more grateful but it's hard when you're already drowning in self-pity just for your family pour some more of theirs on.

Another strident scream from the doorbell pierced through my train of thought. It was for the best. Mom walked over to the door, trying not to be too excited, but the way she opened the door showed she wished she could walk straight through it. I probably could. Straight into Charlie's arms. It was a sweet reunion. I call it that because Mom acted like she hadn't seen Charlie for months. Charlie was more discrete about his affection, but you could tell it was there.

They hugged sweetly, with Charlie putting his chin on Mom's forehead and both of them swaying to the other's movements. A lump rose in my throat. It was so, human. I wasn't sure if I was going to smile or cry. I wasn't sure what I was going to cry about. God damn hormones. I would personally find Mother Nature and kill her for giving the female sex such mood swings. Or at least make sure she got her share of PMS in the near future.

As Mom broke the hug, Charlie kissed her on the forehead and moved over to Billy with a smirk on his face, "Hey old man, trying to beat me to the fish fry?"

I was surprised when Billy laughed - Billy was still refusing to go to the hospital, and now that Charlie and Carlisle were family, Charlie took it personally - and retorted, "I tried, but apparently I can't pull anything over Ol' Gramps." Billy's smile grew so large even I couldn't resist breaking into one of my own.

Charlie's face turned into a jocose fighting pose. "Hey, this Grandpa can whip you." He raised his hands up to his face in a guard position and bounced back and forth. All four of us laughed and then Charlie mock punched Billy's shoulder. It felt good to laugh. Like a burden dissipated off my back and was replaced by wings. But no one could lift this grounded angel back to heaven.

Again I was released from my morbidity by Charlie's beautiful ignorance. "Hey, where's Seth?"

With Jake and the pack and Sam and his pack, dueling. Despite the events in the past few months, Jake and Sam were determined to stay friends. And apparently there was no better way to do that then to wrestle in the woods. I didn't feel like unleashing my anger on my friends. They might be larger and stronger than me, but I was faster, smaller and more agile. While they would hurdle themselves at me, I would run under them and jump at their throat. I was afraid I might not be able to control myself and end up ripping Collin or Jared's throat out. Leave them bleeding, hopefully they would be able to heal from that.

But some small, miniscule part of my embers of hate cried to me that I didn't want them to heal. That I should keep tearing out their bellies. Feel the blood slide down my tongue, on the ground, over my teeth, down my own throat.

I shuddered at the thought of killing my brothers. But that voice rejoiced in the dreams that I kept even from myself.

My own little monster.

"He's out with the guys." I noticed the words coming out of my mouth even while I was plotting the deaths of my family. I was disgusted with myself. All of the sudden the wolf in me was a force of sheer power. There was no grace in its movements. Just pure power. A conduit for all this rage in me that had no reason to exist at all.

"Oh..." The words hung in the air, begging to be shattered by anything. Charlie had a sheepish look on his face. I swear it reddened for a moment and then snapped back to his normal color. I don't think I'd ever seen him blush. Not like his daughter, who would never feel the blood rush to her face, or anywhere else for that matter, again. Maybe she'd made up for it in her past life. He muttered an embarrased, "Need to know?"

I thought for a moment and then responded a little tenitivly, not sure of my answer, "Ya, a little." Guys still wrestled when they were human, right? But these were huge, horse sized wolves we were talking about. So ya, a little.

Charlie's face reddened for a second longer and then walked back to mom. A curiosity I had had for a long time finally became too much for me to hold onto any longer,

"Hey, are you two guys going to get married or something like that?" Instead of freezing up, like I thought they would have, Mom just looked at me and then at Charlie,

"Huh, do you want to get married?" Charlie looked a surprised, I thought because he wasn't really thinking about marriage, but nothing was very predicable in this town.

"Did you just propose to ME?" A gentle banter was sparkling in his eyes. "No, I can't have that," Mom's smile dropped off her face and dripped onto the floor. Charlie was suddenly very serious and his body language was strained and awkward. I nearly passed out when he descended to one knee and looked deeply into Mom's eyes.

Mom's smile ran back up her leg and became a beautiful expression of surprise and joy. Heart breaking joy. Mine cracked. Billy must have heard because he was staring at me with the oddest expression.

"Sue Clearwater," He paused, fumbling through his pockets, and regaining his courage. I could smell his fear. Of rejection? Of public speaking? Billy and I were hardly and audience. But maybe I was. He saw how horribly I reacted to Nessie and Bella. How would I react to him becoming family? How would I react to Bella and Nessie becoming family?

Pretty well actually. The tremors were not from anger. Or even from the wolf inside me. That would not go well.

Oh, how did Sue take your proposal?

Excellent. She even said yes.

Oh, well why are you in a body cast now?

Well it turns out that Leah is actually a werewolf and the fact that being family with some vampires was just too much to handle.

Oh, Wait...What?

Oh, nothing.

I was trembling because I was almost about to pass out. Of course my werewolf enhanced body would have nothing of the sorts and now I was literally battling myself for control. To pass out or not to pass out. That was the battle but the war was so much more. I was ecstatic for my mom. She would be happy and that would warm my overheated heart.

When Charlie was finished fumbling through his coat pocket, he produced a silver ring with a modest sized diamond attached. The band was made of two intractably woven coils of silver. It was beautiful in its simplicity. A tear escaped the confines of my eye, leaving a trail of moisture on my cheek.

I looked over at Billy; a similar trail of moisture was on his cheek too. But with all of his wrinkles, most of the tear was lost in the ridges of his face. It was an odd sight, I always thought of Billy as the wise old chief who never lost his sense of humor. To see him in this...human moment was not necessarily unnerving but rather, just odd.

Charlie cleared his throat. A new wave of fear met my nose. It was almost enough to ignore the offending scent of his more direct family. He was past the point of no return, but his resolve was wavering.

"Sue Clearwater, will you marry me?" Relief spread across both his and mom's face once he'd said those six words.

Mom was nearly crying as well, but she was always good at controlling her emotions. Or at least not letting them get in the way. So I at least, for one of the occasions tonight, was not surprised when her voice rang clear as she said,

"Yes," The look on Charlie's was one of relief and happiness. The look on Billy's was one of humor. I knew he was also thinking of the irony of "werewolf's mom with vampire's dad".

I could hardly take it anymore. I hugged mom and...future dad, I guess, gave Billy a light kiss on the forehead - he would also always be a father figure to me - and started taking off my shirt even before I was out of Charlie's view and ripped off my pants before leaving the house. I was pretty sure Charlie was still staring at me, wondering what the hell I was doing, but then I jumped out the back door, into the air and phased in the middle of my jump. I heard Charlie gasp as he realized what I was, but right now I couldn't care less.

My legs moved mechanically of their own accord. I didn't feel much. Except a burning desire to belong to something besides a group of supernatural wolves. I wanted to belong with someone.

Self pity started to saturate the cracks of my heart. I would never feel like mom did, or Jacob, or Bella, or anyone in my direct family. Their lives were too fucking perfect. All meshed into place. I was the outsider. A desecration upon their perfect tapestry of life. I was too empty to love like they did.

Bella had belonged to someone, they left. Then Jake filled that gap. I had belonged to someone, but I had no one to fill my gaping wound. All that was in me drained out. Leaving me broken, devoid of life. I had to fix myself. I was working on it. Bella was ripped into two, the other half leaving with Edward. I had been gouged out. Like a spoon, scooping my insides out. But they were still there, and I had to scoop them back up. I had done that. Now all that was left were my stitches.