A/N: Chapter one of my newest story in the Twilight universe! Huge thanks to my amazing beta Faerie0975, you should definitely check out her stuff!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, all familiar characters are property of Stephenie Meyer.

Preceding Note: This story takes place three years after Breaking Dawn. Seth lives with Leah in his parent's house. Sue lives with Charlie— they're married. Seth is eighteen, Leah, Emily, and Sam are twenty-four.

Chapter 1

Elysa's POV

"Sam?" I called, upon entering the cozy front hallway of Sam and Emily Uley's place. I didn't knock, there had never seemed to be a reason to. My mom used to babysit for Sam when he was younger, and so he'd grown up alongside my family and myself. Actually, he had mostly grown up around my older brother, Spencer, and my older sister, Lyra. Sam is six years older than me. When I was 12, we moved away from La Push and all the way out to New Jersey. Which was alright, but really different. And then halfway through my senior year of High School, my mom decided she missed La Push, and she moved my dad, herself, and me back out west. Spence is in Med School at NYU, he's 24, and Lyra, who's 21, is about to start her 4th year of college. She's working on a five year program for her Master's degree in teaching at The College of New Jersey. In January, just after I started High School on the Rez, I started going out with Seth, who was the reason for this visit…

"Kitchen," Sam's gruff voice called out. I walked the familiar path into the kitchen and found Sam sitting on the counter next to a myriad of ingredients and putting them together to form a sandwich. "Hey, Elysa," Sam said, as he slathered mayonnaise onto the bottom slice of a hamburger roll.

"Hi, Sam," I said, pulling out a chair from the table and sitting down.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, putting a small stack of tomatoes onto the roll.

"I wanted to ask you something, if I could?"

He nodded, "Sure."

"Thanks," I said, smiling tentatively. "Do you know if Seth is alright? He's been acting a little… off… lately."

Sam laughed, "How would I know? You're the one he spends all of his time with."

I shook my head, "Not recently. He's been working all the time. And he won't tell me what he does for a living, just that he works for Jacob Black."

Sam furrowed his brow in confusion, "If he works for Jacob, then why are you talking to me about this?"

"I don't know… I guess, I know you, and I don't know Jacob. And I thought you spent time with the Clearwaters since Emily's related to them and I thought you'd maybe know what was up…"

Shaking his head, Sam looked up from his sandwich (which was growing to be a dangerous size) and glanced at me. "Elysa, what do you know about Seth?"

"I know that I love him— but he doesn't know that, so keep your mouth shut. And we've been going out for months. I know that he has a nice family and I know that I like his in-laws. I know he never fails to make me smile, and he's always optimistic."

"And isn't that enough?" Sam asked. He was staring into my eyes, and I got the impression that he was looking for something in them, that, or he was trying to convey a message to me.

I shook my head, "It should be. I wish it was. But he's keeping something from me and I know it's something I need to know."

"Elle," Sam said as he started putting away his sandwich ingredients, "he really cares about you."

"First." I retorted, "Don't. Call. Me. Elle. Second, how can you be sure?"

"I'm sure," Sam stated with a tone of finality. "Just talk to him."

"I would love to," I said, crossing my arms, "but it seems that every time I call he's either working, asleep, or nobody answers."

"Stay here," Sam said, stuffing part of his sandwich into his mouth. He left the kitchen and came back into the room with a phone in his hands. "I'll call and see if he's there. And then I want him to speak with you."

I rolled my eyes. I'd been trying to reach Seth on the phone for the past week. Everytime I called, Leah or his mom answered. What were the chances Sam would have better luck than I?

"Hi, Leah," Sam said, licking mustard off the tips of his fingers. "Is Seth there? He's sleeping? It's eleven AM, wake him up. Oh, really? What time was he on his shift until? That's enough sleep, just wake him up. Thank you." To me, he added, "She's waking him up."

"How did you get her to do that?" I exclaimed, "She won't wake him up when I call, no matter how hard I try."

"I suspect she didn't really want to speak on the phone with me."

I nodded and then Sam put the phone back to his ear. "Morning, Seth. Hold on one second."

"Here—" Sam said, handing me the phone, "talk to him."

"Hello?" I said, more nervously than I would have a typical occasion.
"Elysa?" Seth said, puzzled and groggy.

"Yeah," I said, "it's me. Listen, Seth, we really need to talk."

"Sure," he said, "sure… What's up?"

"What's up," I said, "is you're avoiding me. Big time. And I'm not okay with it. There's something you're not telling me."

"What has Sam told you?" asked Seth.

"Nothing. No one tells me anything! Why? What does he know?"

"Nothing," Seth said quickly. "Absolutely nothing."

"Seth!" I cried, "Stop lying! Please, please stop lying…"

"You're at the Uley's place now?" he asked.

I nodded. Then, remembering Seth couldn't see me, I said, "Yeah, why?"

"Stay there." Seth said, "I'll be over soon."

"Okay…" I said uncertainly. Before I could say anything else, Seth had clicked off the line and I was left holding the phone, dumbfounded. "Sam?" I said, turning to him as I put the phone down. "What do you know?"

"Nothing," Sam said, eating the last of his sandwich. "I've got to go to work. Emily should be back from the store in about an hour. Just hang out here until Seth comes. Help yourself to any food."

"Wait— Sam? Where do you work?" I asked as he headed for the door.

"Talk to Seth, then me," replied Sam, and with that, he left the house, and I was standing alone in the kitchen.

"Great. Just great," I muttered to myself unhappily.

Leah's POV

"Seth?" I called into his bedroom.

"Come in," he replied softly.

"What did Sam want?" I asked tentatively upon opening the door. Seth was sitting on his bed, lacing up a pair of boots.

"Sam didn't want anything. I didn't even talk to Sam," whined Seth.

"Then who did you talk to?" I asked, puzzled.

"Elysa," Seth said simply.

"Why are you complaining, kid? She's your imprint, for crying out loud!"

"She's mad at me. Really mad. I'm losing her trust," Seth explained.

I rolled my eyes, "Well, stop being an idiot and fix whatever it is you did!"

"I didn't do anything!" Seth exclaimed.

"Then why is she so mad?" I asked Seth as he rose from his bed and proceeded to leave the room. I followed him into the kitchen.

"She's mad because she doesn't think I'm being honest about something."

"Well," I said, "you aren't. Are you? Have you told her anything about your being werewolf?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Seth shook his head as he took a glass out of the cabinet. "I've been avoiding her. I'm not ready to tell her yet, and I don't think she's ready to hear it."

"I think you're underestimating her," I said as he filled his glass with water from the tap. "Besides, isn't it better to tell her now and give her some time to get used to it?"

"Leah, I honestly don't think it's the right time," Seth told me, taking a sip of water.

"Seth, you've got the girl of your dreams. Don't ruin it. You're going to have to trust Elysa to be strong enough eventually. When are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know!" Seth exclaimed.

"You're headed over to see her now?" I asked.

Seth nodded, and I nodded back. "Alright," I said, "I'll go with you and help explain the werewolf thing. You can tell her about the imprinting part when you're ready. But don't wait too long."

"Thanks, Leah," Seth said, sincerely.

"Anytime, kid," I replied. "You ready to go?"

"Sure."

I nodded and then changed the subject, "So…" I said, treading carefully but curiously, "you didn't talk to Sam at all?"

"Well…" he replied, "He asked me to hang on and then passed the phone to Elysa. That's it. Sorry. Were you hoping to hear from him?"

I shook my head, "No, I was just curious. I haven't really talked to him or Em since the wedding…"

Seth nodded as we made our way outside. "Well, you better brace yourself. We're headed over to his place."

I nodded, "Yeah, I figured that out…" Then, after a pause, I asked, "Are we still running 12 hour shifts?"

"Yeah, we're on at noon," Seth responded. "Now… your car or mine?"

"Mine," I said, jumping into the driver's seat of my 2009 Jeep Wrangler.

I saw Seth roll his eyes as he jumped into the seat next to mine. "Hey," I said, "remember when we were younger and we used to fight over who got shot gun?"

"Mhmm," Seth replied. "Things have really changed."

I nodded, "Yeah. Yeah they have," I shook my head and took a deep breath. "You ready?" I asked.

"Not at all." He replied, and with that, we were off.

A/N: That's all for chapter one! Please, let me know what you think! I'll update next week! Until next time; Cheers!
~BeverlyAnna