TITLE: 50 Moments…
PROMPT: Alpha (from 1 sentence LJ comm.)
PAIRING: Various – Jacob/Leah, Jacob/Bella, implied Bella/Edward, minor Jacob/Renesmee
VERSE: Book
AUTHOR NOTES: Okay, so I was only supposed to do one sentence per prompt, which is why some of these are really long run-on sentences, lol. Yeah, grammar pretty much went to hell in a hand basket with this one. I think it's mostly Jacob/Leah, but there's quite a bit of Jacob/Bella, too. They don't go in chronological order mostly because I was following prompt by prompt. Anywho, it was fun. :)
1. Comfort
She came into his makeshift garage, damp with moisture and mud from the forest, and silently waited for the answer to her unspoken plea; within moments Jake acquiesced and had Leah wrapped in his arms.
2. Kiss
He decided that the difference between kissing Bella and kissing Leah was the feeling of stomping through the barren snow of winter and experiencing the first warmth of summer.
3. Soft
Leah had slept in her parents bed as a child, in her own as a young teen, in Sam's on the edge of adulthood, on the bed of the forest floor after her first shift – but none were as soft as sleeping in Jake's.
4. Pain
Leah had come to understand life as a series of varying degrees of pain, physical, emotional and mental – the pain of skinning her knee on the rocks, the pain of first love, the pain of her first time, the pain of hearing the disappointment in her mother's voice, the pain of her father's death – she was always ready for the next of life's little trials.
5. Potatoes
Never in all her nineteen and a half years had Leah ever once thought that peeling potatoes in any sort of way qualified as something she should be doing while the men went traipsing through the forest; Emily on the other hand seemed to quite enjoy it – it made Leah peel a little faster.
6. Rain
Leah shot up in her bed, eyes snapping open to stare in the darkness as the remnants of the dream stole her breath and left cold sweat on her skin; it was raining that night and she was soaking by the time she tapped on his window, but Jacob didn't seem to mind, merely opening it up for her and collapsing back onto his bed; he didn't even complain when she crawled in with him.
7. Chocolate
Her eyes reminded Jake of chocolate – not Bella's warm, melt-in-your-mouth, doe-eyed innocent chocolate, but the dark, rich chocolate that was heavy and addicting, hard and bitter-sweet.
8. Happiness
Jake asked her what she thought of happiness and Leah told him it was a relative thing; after that he took one moment of every day to ask her if today she was happy – she hadn't said "yes" yet, but she'd stopped saying "no".
9. Telephone
Jacob debated for a moment whether or not he ought to just ignore the ringing, but he remembered the notes she had made Charlie pass to Billy and from Billy to him; he decided it was better to answer, "Stop calling."
10. Ears
Leah scratched absently behind his ears and Jake gave a contented huff; they seemed to get along so much better when at least one of them didn't have the mouth to argue.
11. Name
There were roses and some corny lines about "smelling as sweet by any other name" but it was quickly forgotten as Jake and Leah tumbled together onto her bed with fevered kisses and rose petals falling scattered at their feet.
12. Sensual
Nudity had, for the most part, ceased to be associated solely with sex; it was simply a natural practicality when they were all shapeshifting werewolves, but there was something sensual about Leah dressed in nothing but his shirt.
13. Death
Maybe it was somehow wrong that they had bonded together over a shared grief – the loss of a parent would weigh heavy on them both for the rest of their lives – but some small, sneaky part of Leah was grateful for the excuse to lay in someone's arms again, even if they were Jake's.
14. Sex
Her first time had been with Sam and in that moment she had thought it meant forever; she was smarter now, more cynical in her views of the world, so when her heart told her that sleeping with Jake meant "love" and "eternal" she promptly ignored it as she got up, dressed and slipped out his window.
15. Touch
Jake never told her, but every time he took her hand in his he had the irrational urge to scoop her up and wrap her in his arms until her skin wasn't cold and no longer reminded him that she belonged – heart, body and soul – to the bloodsucker that was his natural enemy.
16. Weakness
If Sam was her weakness, then Bella was surely his, yet together Jake and Leah were nothing but strong.
17. Tears
Bella cried for her loss of Edward, for the loss of the Cullens, for the loss of the future that she had once believed would so assuredly come, but it wasn't until she realized that she would destroy Jacob completely to get it all back that she cried for herself and the monster she had become.
18. Speed
Leah had always been the fastest in the pack; as a wolf she was as the wind, but Sam's constant controlling voice in her head was like molasses slowing her down until she couldn't even breathe – Jacob never slowed her down and in some ways he was like the wind, too, the very air she breathed…
19. Wind
Catching her scent on the wind was easy and with the careful, patient stride of a hunter, Jacob pounced, tackling Leah to the ground – several jokes about smell and standing downwind flitted through his head, but none lasted long, because in the end he kind of liked the way her scent tickled his nose like dark forest, wolf and simply Leah; she growled in annoyance, nipping at him, but he heard her thoughts – You smell kinda good, too.
20. Freedom
Jacob and Leah both were certain that the definition of "freedom" would lie in the world waiting outside La Push; but it was only when they came home to visit family and found themselves reunited once again that they knew what it was to be "free".
21. Life
There had been a time when Jacob couldn't imagine his life without Bella, then he imprinted and couldn't imagine a time without Renesmee, but it wasn't until years later – when Bella had changed and he'd denied his own instinct to be with Nessie – that his life was without them both and with Leah in his arms he was maybe happy with that.
22. Jealousy
When Jake imprinted on Renesmee he had sort of been expecting the free-flowing anger that surged forth from the child's mother, Bella, if only for her warning of just such earlier on, but what he hadn't been expecting was the jealousy that flashed in Leah's eyes – or the hurt.
23. Hands
His hands were large and warm, so warm, and she took some sort of perverse pleasure in the fact that her skin was the first that they would truly caress – somewhere in the memory of his body, Jake's hands would know the form of Leah and compare every form thereafter to her.
24. Taste
Jake had returned to find her in his room, lounging on his bed as though she owned it – which recently she might as well have – he lay down beside her and could already taste the lingering tang of forest, wolf and Leah as she leaned in for a kiss.
25. Devotion
Imprinting was devotion, pure and simple – except that nothing was ever simple for Jacob; it didn't matter whether or not there was some biological imperative for him to love Renesmee until the end of their days – which was looking pretty close to forever if he were honest – because he didn't want to love Renesmee; so he made a choice and he simply didn't.
26. Forever
In college, Jacob attempted a relationship with a fairly nice, kind of cute girl from his school, but when she whispered "I'll love you forever," he abruptly broke up with her and dropped all classes he had with her; forever still left a bad taste in his mouth.
27. Blood
For a little while Jacob was able to convince himself that she was still Bella – a little different, a little strange, not adorable, not warm, not clumsy or endearing, but still Bella – but when he cut his palm open with a knife again, the fear and worry that had once been on her face was replaced with unmistakable hunger; now he knows the girl he loved was no more.
28. Sickness
Jacob had been to the hospital for himself only once, running a fever so high that his mother nearly had a panic attack, but since that day he'd been there a dozen times more – for every one of his dad's check-ups and every "Bella Moment"; for Harry Clearwater's death and for Emily's baby; for Ms. Call's cancer scare and Kim's car accident – but the only time he'd ever truly felt sickness wasn't in a hospital, but in an upstairs room in the Cullen house as Bella's baby ate its way out of her stomach; after that he told Leah he never wanted kids.
29. Melody
Jacob couldn't really carry a tune – it wasn't a skill of his – but he could belt out a song like the best of them and on certain occasions would do just that; for all Leah's teasing, she never seemed to mind.
30. Star
In the early years of her childhood – Jacob would suppose they were considered her first few months – Renesmee used to look at the stars; one night, she pointed up, picking an especially bright one and said, "That one's my favorite, but it's already dead."
31. Home
Jacob spent nearly ten years just traveling around the countryside – sometimes as wolf, sometimes as man; sometimes alone, sometimes with Leah – but he was both relieved and disappointed to find that when he returned home, things were still the same.
32. Confusion
He come up with at least a hundred ways to explain it to her, but no matter how much of a prodigy Nessie was there simply was no way to make her understand why he couldn't love her – and the confused look on her face confirmed it.
33. Fear
Once, he'd been afraid of so many things – Bella's lack of self-care, Bella's rejection, Bella's death and then Bella's new life – but after nearly a hundred years he'd grown tired of being scared and realized that everything he had been afraid of had already come and gone – nothing left to fear, but fear itself.
34. Lightning/thunder
Renesmee's first storm was as dark and heavy as any of Forks'; the lightening and following thunder hand her scrambling into Jacob's lap and hiding her face in his chest – he chuckled and reminded her that nothing would – could – hurt her.
35. Bonds
There are some bonds that are just impossible to break, ties that bind people together like tether ball to pole; Jacob had been sure that he and Bella shared that until the morning she awoke after the change and stared at him for several seconds before asking "Who are you?"
36. Market
Jacob took Renesmee shopping twice a week, not because he had a tendency to eat the Cullens out of house and home, but because he had half-convinced himself that if he could just get her to eat human food regularly she would be as good as human – Nessie just loved spending time in the market.
37. Technology
Cell phones, computers and cars that practically drive themselves – Jacob watched technology change over the years as he stayed so much the same with a sort of bored interest, "In a hundred years, who's going to care?" he muttered.
38. Gift
"He gave you everything damnit!" Leah spat with poorly concealed rage as Bella merely stared at her with unblinking crimson eyes, "and you just throw it back in his face like none of it even matters – well guess what, Jacob doesn't come with a receipt; stop trying to return him already."
39. Smile
It took Edward Cullen, a cannibalistic baby and becoming a vampire to get Bella to smile like she used to – those same things were what it took to turn Jacob's smile into the one Bella used to wear.
40. Innocence
"She's innocent," Edward had insisted for what was surely the thousandth time since the baby – a little girl who had the misfortune of being named by Bella, Renesmee – was born and every time Jacob looked at the adorable little bundle of pale skin, bronze hair and familiar doe eyes, he was inclined to agree… until he remembered that that little innocent had eaten its way free of Bella's stomach.
41. Completion
Fate, Jacob decided, had a pretty twisted sense of humor – Bella was Jake's soul mate, not even she denied that anymore, but Edward was her forever; Sam would always love Leah, but Emily would always mean more – Jake and Leah… well, they were just two lovers cut adrift with nowhere to go but to each other.
42. Clouds
"If you say that every cloud has a silver lining, I think I may have to kill you," Jacob said darkly; Leah only laughed and replied, "I was actually going to tell you that we should probably head inside, 'cause those clouds—" she motioned to the sky overhead, "—look like they're as pissed off as you and me."
43. Sky
The sky had darkened to near black with the clouds hanging overhead, the waves were crashing almost angrily against the beach and the storm was practically on top of them – but none of this stopped Jake and Leah from paddling out into the torrential water.
44. Heaven
"Do you still miss her?" Leah whispered quietly as they stared at his ceiling; just as quietly, Jake responded, "Every day. It helps knowing she's in heaven though," and he knew that she nodded her head, because silently she was crying.
45. Hell
If Bella was heaven, then Leah was surely hell – yet he couldn't seem to remember why he strived so hard to get to heaven if everything just felt so much better in hell.
46. Sun
Jacob had been – and in some ways, always would be – Bella's own personal sun, but she couldn't lie to herself and deny that he was a dying sun, growing fainter and cooler with each passing moment any more than she could deny that ultimately her choice – to begin the life she needed so desperately with Edward – was the cause.
47. Moon
The first couple of times had been a joke, the chorus of howls going up towards the full moon, but after a while it became a soulful tradition that reminded Bella he were still there.
48. Waves
Jacob had come to accept that the beach belonged to he and Bella; but the rolling waves, slow and rhythmic, were fair game and as they lapped at his feet, Leah waded in a little further – "Ready?"
49. Hair
Renesmee's hair flowed like bronze silk, cascading in gentle waves about her pretty, round face and it was undeniably beautiful – yet still… sometimes, in an errant thought that was often crushed before completion, Bella couldn't help but wonder what it would look like if it was ebony silk pouring over her shoulders…
50. Supernova
Imprinting on Renesmee was like a supernova in his universe, an explosion that burned so bright it eclipsed an entire galaxy and for the first year he was sure she was the only thing left in his universe.
A/N - I'll put the link to the LJ community that I got this from in my profile. There are several other prompt sets, I think. :) Cheers.