AN: Here we go: another one-shot! I am 100% team Edward, but I think Jacob and Leah would make a good couple because they both have so much angsty baggage. Enjoy!

Jacob stared at Leah from across the field. He watched as she tried to attack a vampire and his mind instantly told him to help her.

Even as he felt his bones snap, even as he felt an immeasurable amount of pain, he was glad that Leah didn't have to feel it. He was relieved that he saved her from all of this crap he had to go through. At least he would have an excuse from how miserable he was feeling.

He had just told Bella that he would rather kill himself than be away from her; he lied. He was just becoming a broken record—he told her that he loved her and would do anything for her out of habit. When he kissed her, he felt nothing.

He was tired of looking after Bella when all she was going to do was turn away from him, running back to the perfect bloodsucker. He still felt sick when he thought about her turning into a bloodsucker, but he didn't feel any romantic feelings towards her anymore.

Quite frankly, she had been a bitch to him from the very beginning. She was never interested in him, even when he helped her through the worst time of her life. All she had ever wanted was the stupid leech.

At least he knew that Leah felt something towards him, even if it was only hate. He knew that Leah was too fragile to have a relationship with him. It was too soon after Sam broke her heart. He was actually willing to wait for her. With Bella, he was always rushing because he knew she'd change her mind.

Leah was yelling at him for being a moron, but he didn't care. He knew he did the right thing.

After the doctor fixed his bones up, Bella came in to tell him goodbye. He lied to her again, telling her that she still loved her, because he knew it was what she needed to hear. Secretly, he was happy when she left; he was hoping that he'd never have to hear from her again. He slept for a little while, but it was extremely uncomfortable, seeing as how he couldn't really move.

Leah came in and sat down beside him, glaring down. "Jacob, you idiot! How could you do that? You're lucky you're not dead!" Even as she spoke the words, they didn't sound condescending like they were supposed to; they came out thick with emotion.

He smiled kindly at her, understanding her dilemma: she really wanted to thank him, but that would mean letting her guard down for half a second. She jut couldn't do that.

He made it easier for her. "You're welcome." Ugh, his voice sounded terrible and groggy.

She glared. "For what? I didn't thank you."

Now he had a dilemma on his hands. "Uh, under normal circumstances, I would shrug, but, given my condition…"

He managed to get a snort out of her. "Well, we'll just have to make a code for shrugging, then. Whenever you would normally shrug, just raise one eyebrow."

He grinned. "Okay. Fair enough." He raised one eyebrow, and she nodded.

"Not bad. I'm sure you'll have time to improve your eyebrow-raising, given your predicament."

"Mmm. I'm afraid I'll be in here for quite some time…maybe even a week!"

She rolled her eyes. "Under normal circumstances, I would punch your arm. But, given your condition…"

"Hey! You can't quote me without permission."

"Do I have your permission?"

Jacob sighed dramatically. "Yes."

"Good."

They sat in silence for a while, neither one of them having anything to say. It was strange, how comfortable he felt with her. With Bella, he was always trying to come up with something to say, something to do that could make her change her mind. Obviously, it never worked.

With Leah, he didn't feel like he had to prove anything to her. She understood because she was like him. That was something that Bella could never do.

He realized how much he had been ragging on his old friend and mentally scolded himself. Regardless of how tired of life he made her, of how many times she rejected him, or how many times she was a jerk, she was still like family to him. He was just going to have to except that.

"What are you think about?" she finally asked.

"Nothing." He didn't need to get into the stupid love triangle issues with her.

"Well, it looks like 'something' to me. Come on, tell me."

Jacob sighed. "I guess I'm just tired of always being a third wheel."

She nodded. "Yeah, that Bella girl is a real bitch. Want me to beat her up for you?"

He glared at her. "No. She's still like family, Leah. I guess…I guess I just don't like her that much anymore."

"Yeah, well, being rejected time after time again becomes a real turn-off after a while."

He laughed humorlessly. "Gee, thanks, Leah. You make me feel so good about myself."

"Hey, it's not like it's never happened to me before."

He looked over at her, alarmed. She never talked about Sam and Emily. "Yeah. I guess not. Isn't it just great?"

"I can think of better things to do, admittedly. At least it's all in the past now. And that's what you need to do: move on."

"Move on? Like, get another girlfriend to flaunt off to the pack?"

She grinned in spite of herself. "Yeah. Exactly like that."

"How about you?" The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them, and yet he didn't regret saying them. After all, he was only teasing her.

She glared at him. "In your dreams, you freak." She looked down at her watch. "Oh, damn! I need to be home in ten minutes!"

He looked down at his smashed, crippled body. "I would offer to drive you home, but…"

"Goodbye, Jacob. I'll leave you to think about what an idiot you've been."

"I'll do that," he yelled sarcastically as she ran out the door, clearly worried about getting home on time.

Jacob knew that neither one of them were even near ready to have a relationship. Maybe that was the beauty of it—maybe they were supposed to help each other heal from their last heartache, and they were never meant to be more than friends. Who knew?

All Jacob knew that for once, he wasn't worried about coming up with sneaky, backhanded strategies to win someone's heart over. He felt at peace, for once in his life.

He groaned, realizing that he would have to find a way to say goodbye to Bella Swan for forever without hurting her too-fragile-to-be-dating-the-undead-feelings. Maybe the strategizing wasn't over with quite yet.

At least he had Leah to help him through it.

AN: 1. It kind of sounds like I hate Bella throughout this story. That's not exactly true—she annoys the hell out of me, because she has the supposedly most gorgeous boyfriend in the world (not R Pattz; he's butt ugly and I can't even fathom why they would pick him to play the most perfect man in the world), and she just sits around all day, complaining about how her life isn't perfect enough.

2. Another reason why I wrote this is because it freaks me out that Jacob falls in love with a baby in the book, no matter what kind of love it is. That's just…wrong.

3. If you want to see my opinion of what Edward Cullen really looks like, go to Google and type in 'Cody Sheldon'. He's this gorgeous boy that auditioned for American Idol a couple of years ago. With white vampire skin and black eyes, I think he could pass for Edward. What do you think? Is he too girly? I like guys that way…

Okay, I seriously need to shut the hell up, now. If I keep rambling on about stuff most people don't read anyway, this AN is going to be longer than my actual story. And that would be embarrassing.