Only For A While Chapter 1, a twilight fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.

Bang

Leah climbed out of bed slowly, reluctantly throwing her full sized, blue and white patch quilt off of her body. She took a moment to rub her eyes sleepily before grabbing her iphone off of the oak table next to her bed. She winced as the bright light hit her face.

"Who in the world knocks on someone's door at 1 in the morning?" She grumbled after glancing at the time and then placing the phone back on the table. "Better be good."

Leah left her bedroom and made her way through the dark apartment (save for the dim hue of the stove light) towards the front door. When she opened the door she was met with a hard bang to the knee and a high pitched squeal.

"And who are you?"

Kneeling before Leah, was a boy. He was little thing, no more than 2 feet tall, with a head full of dark, curly hair and tan skin. His little body was covered by a blue coat that looked to be two sizes too big for him. Leah also noticed that the coat (as well as the boy's worn looking blue jeans) were smudged with a brown substance.

Currently, the boy was sporting a big mischievous grin and he had a Thomas the train toy gripped tightly in one of his chubby hands.

"Hi!" The little boy chirped happily as he stared up at Leah.

Leah smiled instantly. His big dimpled cheeks, wide happy smile, and friendly light brown eyes reminded her of Claire.

"Hi." She answered back softly.

"Luca!"

Leah stretched away from her apartment door and took a glance down the open, poorly lit hallway. There was a woman with a black bag strapped around her shoulders running up toward them. When she reached them, she swooped the boy, Luca, up into her arms immediately.

Luca gave the woman's face several pats as he chanted, "Mama" over and over again.

"Hey." Leah stated, eyeing the woman. She was like a taller, more feminine version of the boy, or really the boy was a tinier, more masculine version of her. Both had the same dark, curly hair, tan skin, and big, chubby cheeks. The only thing that differed between the two were their eyes. While the boy had bright, brown eyes, his mother's eyes were very dark, almost black. Leah couldn't help but stare into them.

The woman's dark eyes widened when she saw Leah. If she wasn't already frantic about losing the boy then she was downright losing her mind at the realization that someone else had gotten to him before she did. "Oh God! I'm so sorry!"

Leah wasn't quite sure if the woman was apologizing to her because Luca had waken her up at 3 a.m. or to Luca because she had lost the boy and possibly put in him in danger. In the end, Leah figured it was both.

Even though Leah was a slightly irritated about being woken up, she waved the other woman off. "It's alright. He's tiny, whatcha gonna do about it?" Leah gave her best smile in an attempt to reassure the woman.

"Watch him better." The woman stated flatly.

"Touché."

For a moment they just stood there awkwardly; Leah a little chilly in her thin, purple and yellow Tweety Bird pajamas and the woman barely keeping warm in her torn blue jeans and thin black jacket. Luca seemed not to notice and babbled happily as he alternating between twisting his tiny fingers in his mother's hair and throwing kisses in Leah's direction.

"So, uh, again I'm sorry about this. Him waking you up this late and all." The woman said breaking their few seconds of silence. She seemed very antsy, like she was going to take off run any minute now.

"Like I said, it's alright." Leah smiled when Luca gave his fingers a wet kiss and then waved them in her direction. "Besides, he's adorable."

"Thank you."

Leah eyed the woman again, this time focusing on the black bag strapped around her shoulder. There was a purple shirt sleeve hanging out of the side of the bag and it was bulky like it had been stuffed full with a ton of stuff. It was also stained with a brown substance (the same substance Leah had noticed on Luca's jeans and now the woman's as well).

Leah gave the air a subtle sniff and her eyes narrowed slightly when the most prominent smells she could catch on the two were of grass and dirt.

"Say, do you mind me asking why you two are out here? I mean, it's pretty damn late." Leah's stance shifted, she now had a hand on her hip and her eyes were narrowed suspiciously at the woman.

The woman's face went hard as she gripped Luca tighter to her arms. "What's it to you?"

"Gee, it's late and you have a small child with you. I guess I shouldn't be worried about the two of you being out here at all." Leah's sarcasm was met with a glare. "No, look, I'm sorry." Leah closed her eyes and sighed before she opened them again. She stared directly into the other woman's dark eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm just…who wouldn't be worried? It's cold out here and I'm pretty sure you've got no place to go."

"W-well we were just about to hop the subway. I decided to take a little rest." The woman seemed a taken aback by Leah's frankness then subsequent gentleness.

Leah arched a brow, her arms crossed over her chest. She immediately went back into hard ass Leah mode. She'd beat herself up about it later.

"Oh really? Because the metro station closed. At 12 am. It's 1 o'clock now."

The woman huffed in defeat. "Well fuck, I wasn't taking the subway."

Luca poked his mother's cheeks. "No, no mama!"

The woman smiled down at her son. "I know, I know."

"You guys want to come in?" Leah can't believe that those words just fell out of her mouth. She's spent a long time not letting strangers in and today's really not the day to start.

The woman's eyes were wide again as she stared at Leah. "What?"

"I don't know. It just seemed like…" She trails off, not really wanting to discuss the obvious reality of Luca and his mother's situation. The dirt stained clothes and the resting in the open hallway of an apartment building say it all.

The woman stares at Leah for a long moment and Leah looks down at her feet, at Luca, around them. Anywhere that's not the dark, probing eyes before her.

"You serious?" She finally asks.

Leah nods. "Yeah. It's chilly out and a bed's better than a sidewalk."

"Okay but if anything happens to my son or myself you're a dead woman. Understand?"

Leah nods frantically. She doesn't bother to mention that she's a werewolf and that she could easily take the petite woman down. And really there's no need. Her job isn't to take the woman down.

"Right this way." Leah moved from in front of the doorway and gestured inside.

The woman entered the dark apartment slowly.

"Don't worry. I'm the only one who lives here and the apartment sure as heck won't bite."

The woman gave a small chuckle. "I know, I'm just…"

"Being cautious. I get it."

Leah flicked the light switch, revealing her tiny living room. In the area was a small, cream two seat couch, a short, black coffee table covered in magazines, bills and Kleenex tissues and a flat screen TV on a tall black table.

As Luca and his mother looked around the room, Leah walked passed them and through an opening leading to her kitchen. She flipped the switch in there as well. She almost wished she hadn't since the place was a mess. There were plates and cups in the sink and a leftover frying pan from that night's dinner on the stove. The granite counters, like the coffee table in the living room, were covered in random objects. Bills, flyers, keys, even a chocolate turtle neck (discarded that evening when she got home from work) hung from one her open cabinet doors.

"My room's back that a way." Leah stated as she gestured behind herself carelessly when the woman finally joined her in the kitchen. The woman of course gave her a look when she saw the state of the kitchen.

Leah gave a guilty smile. "I suck at keeping this place clean."

"No judgment here."

"Good. Oh and the only bathroom is in my room as well. You can shower if you want."

"We're not dirty." The woman's face held a grimace. Leah knew that if Luca weren't in her arms she would have had her arms crossed as well.

"I didn't mean to offend you. I was just offering. Take it or don't take it. Doesn't matter to me."

The grimace fell from the woman's face as her features softened. "Sorry. I don't mean to be an ass. People just aren't…" She looked down at her tiny, sleepy son. "People fucking suck."

Leah smiled. "I know what you mean." She didn't feel the need to elaborate. No way in hell did this stranger need to be burdened with a long sad tale about lost boyfriends, backstabbing cousins, and immature teenage boys. Especially when Leah didn't consider her probably as nearly as serious.

"Senalda."

"What?"

"That's my name. Senalda."

"Leah."

After their little introduction Senalda headed into the shower with Luca and Leah busied herself with setting out pajamas for the two. Leah left a pair of plain, light blue pajamas out for Senalda and an Eyore t-shirt for Luca.

As Leah left the room she grabbed her green throw blanket and a pillow off the bed and called out, "Pajamas are on the bed, I'll be on the couch if you need me."

Leah did not fall asleep until about an hour after Senalda and Luca got out of the shower. She listened to them for a long time. First she heard the shower stop. Then the sound of Senalda softly singing a lullaby in Spanish to the boy as she dried, lotioned and dressed him. She heard her tuck him into the bed, whispering to him "Mi corazon." The boy's breathing was deep and even.

Leah heard when Senalda climbed into the bed beside the boy but she did not hear the other woman fall sleep until long after. When she finally did hear her deep breathing, Leah's eyes shut almost instantly she was so tired.

BEEP!

A barely awake Senalda (her eyes were still closed), reached a hand onto the bedside table, clumsily slapping it around until her fingers finally hit the snooze button on Leah's iphone. After the irritating thing was finally silenced, Senalda snuggled Luca, who was laying against her chest, closer to her body and then relaxed further into the bed.

Suddenly, Senalda popped up again. Her eyes were wide and her face held a confused expression.

Where they hell was she?

It took a moment for the events of the previous night (technically morning) to come back to her. Her face fell into her hands.

"No, no, no." Senalda groaned in her hands. "So fucking stupid!"

Senalda took Luca in her arms and carefully crawled out of the bed, doing her best not to wake the boy. She slipped on her gray New Balances sitting by the bed and then grabbed her black bag off of the floor before she quietly made her way out of the room and down the hall toward the front door.

When she got to the living room and spotted a sleeping Leah, Senalda stopped in tracks.

Leah was sprawled out across the couch. One of her arms was hanging off of the couch and touching the floor and her feet were tangled in the cream blanket that had been previous wrapped around her body. Leah looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Senalda couldn't help but remember that Leah was uncomfortable because of her.

"Mama?"

Senalda's eyes instantly looked down at her sleepy son, who was dressed in a large Eyore shirt. She almost groaned when she realized that that was another thing that Leah had done for them and here she was about to leave the house without even a goodbye or thank you.

"Hungry." The little boy whined.

Then suddenly an idea occurred to Senalda. Maybe there was a way should could pay Leah back.

"Okay baby."

Senalda turned around and walked into the kitchen, her shoulder's sunk when she noticed the mess from the night before. Her eyes settled on the turtleneck hanging off of the cabinet door.

"You're going to have to wait on that breakfast, Luc." Senalda stated as she put the little boy down. "Mama's gotta clean up a bit first."

The next morning Leah woke with a start.

"Shit!" She yelped as she jumped off the couch. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"Regret letting us stay already?" Senalda leaned against the archway leading to the kitchen. She was smirking and her dark eyes were glowing with amusement at Leah's previous outburst.

"N-no." Leah half-stuttered, half-groaned as she looked into the other woman's eyes, almost getting lost in them. "It's just that I'm probably late for work is all."

"Oh, well it's only 7."

Leah groaned again. "I haven't slept less than six hours since I was a young teenager."

Senalda laughed. "I never slept less than 10!"

"Lucky you." Leah's head cocked as she caught a whiff of something in the air. "Is that pancakes."

Senalda smirked again. "Yup." Then her smirked dropped and it was replaced by a more apologetic look. "I mean…sorry about going through your cabinets without permission."

Leah snorted. "Are you kidding me? You made pancakes, that's pretty fucking awesome."

"Good," Senalda was smiling again. "There's two in the kitchen with your name on them."

Leah groans again. "I can't I have to be to work by 8."

"That sucks."

"But we could meet for lunch."

"Lunch?"

"Yeah. I work at Johns Hopkins. They have some of the best food in the café. Or we could go to Lexington Market and pick up something to eat." Leah began to get excited. It had been a long time since she got to spend time with other people. So long that she didn't even notice that Senalda seemed a little bewildered by the idea. "I could leave some cash for you guys to take the metro down and I could meet you outside of the station."

Leah almost couldn't believe what she was doing. She was asking a stranger and her child to come meet her at her job, leaving said strangers alone in her home for several hours at first as well. Was she crazy? Maybe.

Although she seemed very reluctant, Senalda nodded. "Okay."

"I'm going to go run and take a shower. You guys continue to make yourselves at home."

Senalda barely had to time get out a thank you before Leah took off toward the bedroom.

At 12:30 pm, Leah sat outside of the Johns Hopkins metro stop looking up and down the sidewalk. She and Senalda were supposed to meet 30 minutes ago and so far she hadn't seen a sign of the other woman.

"Damn it," Leah cursed. "Should have known better!" After waiting so long Leah had finally accepted the reality of the situation. As she turned to head back towards the hospital, she heard someone call her name.

"LEAH! LEAH, WAIT!"

Running down the sidewalk with a toddler bouncing on her hip, was Senalda.

Leah froze in place, watching as the other woman ran towards her. When Senalda reached her, Leah just stared.

The other woman was very sweaty, her dark curls were damp and stuck to her forehead, and she was breathing heavily. Luca, who was being gripped tightly to Senalda's hip, was patting his mother's cheek and chanting, "Fast mama, fast mama!"

Leah couldn't help but smile at the two.

Senalda's dark eyes focused on Leah's. Even though she was hot, sweaty and completely out of breath, she smiled back at Leah and breathed out a, "Hey."

"Hey."

A/N: So this is revised chapter 1. It's pretty similar to the original but it has a little more detail. Anyway I hope everyone enjoyed reading and any feedback would be greatly appreciated :)