Disclaimer- I do not own Twilight

~~~~~X~~~~~

Day 2: Close, But No Cigar

~~~~~X~~~~~

The blaring of her alarm caused Leah's eyes to snap open. She noted five things: she was still alive, her dad was still dead, she was still a wolf, she was still in heat, and her life still sucked ass. She shifted slightly, which caused her panties to rub against her. They were stiff, and she realized that she must have had a wet dream. Her, a 20 year old woman, having wet dreams. That wasn't embarrassing at all.

She tried to ignore it, but the underwear caused a friction that was too interesting to not give her undivided attention. She closed her eyes and listened closely. She cold only hear the sound of one person breathing, Seth, so her mom must have went to Charlie Swan's house after she went to sleep. She liked to pretend that she only went over there to make him meals, but that was total bull, he had his daughter after all. Sue was just too proud, Leah must have gotten it from her, to admit that she was lonely. The kind of company she needed, her children couldn't provide.

Leah closed her eyes again and slowly slid her hand down into her panties. As her hand moved, she thought of her dream, what she could remember. It was a guy, definitely, his skin was the familiar reddish-brown of someone from La push. It was like a camera panning up slowly, starting with the guy's very impressive cock, up to the 'v' of his hips, stopping right at the perfect set of abs. Try as she might, she couldn't get anything else.

She continued, focusing on this mystery guy's awesome six pack. She moved her hand faster lost in feel of it. She couldn't believe it's been six whole months since she'd done this, just the thought of going another day without feeling this amazing made her whimper. Her mystery guy was sweating, Leah watched a bead of it as it trailed over the space between his abs, and the guy gave a low, deep, moan. That sight set her off, and Leah exploded, the feeling so intense she saw stars.

She laid there for a while, just basking in the afterglow. Her alarm sounded again, and as she turned it off, she noticed that only five minutes had past. It felt like hours. Hours and hours of pure bliss.

She kicked her covers off, suddenly feeling stifled, and threw her soiled panties in the hamper. She wrapped herself in her robe, and headed to the bathroom, banging on Seth's door on the way. "Mom's not here kid, so you're on you're own for breakfast. I'm going to work you up." She waited for his answering grunt, then headed for a nice, hot shower.


For the first time since her first day, Leah walked into work on time, and with a smile on her face. Mike and Bella looked like they'd seen a ghost. "Good morning, Leah," Bella said hesitantly.

"It is, actually," Leah replied as Bella sat down next to her. She noticed the tinge of red on the girl's usually pale lips. "You don't look nearly as dead as usual."

"Uh, thanks, I guess. It's not really my thing, but Alice insisted. You look good today too. I mean, not that you usually look bad or anything, just-"

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks. Was my mom still at your place when you left this morning?"

"Yeah, she was..." Bella paused for a second. Leah gave her a 'spit it out', look. "They've been spending a lot of... time, together lately."

"We're both adults here, you can say they've been fucking."

Disgust crossed her face. "Yeah, but I knew that would make me picture it, so thanks for that."

"No problem," Leah answered with a smirk. "Well, good for them, I say. As gross as old people sex is, I'm glad someone's helping her get over my dad a little." For a second, Leah was a little jealous. She had tried to comfort her mother, but she was always brushed off.

"Yeah, Dad's been happier too. It's nice that they have each other."

Conversation trailed off as Mike came up from the back room. He started to stock the shelves and shamelessly flirt with Bella while ignoring Leah completely. Fine by her, she was feeling nice enough to chit-chat with Bella for a bit, but Newton was a whole other level of annoying.

Time actually passed pretty quickly, and soon enough, it was time to go. She raised a hand over her shoulder as Bella said goodbye, then headed towards Embry's house. She had to tell him about last night, everything about last night. She hoped he wouldn't be too pissed, it would suck to lose the only friend she had left.

It didn't take her long to get there, and she was 'warmly' greeted by his mother.

"Oh... Leah. Embry's out. I'm not sure when he'll be back, but I'll tell him you stopped by."

Leah puled out her phone and texted him, as she said, "I'll wait for him."

Tiffany Call frowned, trying to decide if she should invite her in or not. Leah saved her the trouble, and went to sit on the porch steps.

Leah was used to that reaction from parents. The ironic part was that they all used to love her. She used to be a lot like Seth, all smiles and kindness all the time, old people ate that shit up. When Sam dumped her for her cousin, everyone knew about it. They would give her sad smiles on the street, and give their condolences like someone had died. They pitied her, and she fucking hated it.

She started bitching out anyone who told her they were sorry, and pretty soon, all she got on the street were frowns of disapproval. Leah's bad reputation followed her everywhere she went on the Rez, and sometimes in Forks, another reason she was eager to leave. She needed a fresh start, in a fresh place, with fresh people.

"Hey," Embry said as he sat down next to her, "so, did I develop x-ray vision over night, or is my mom pretending the window is a two way mirror?"

Leah looked over her shoulder, and sure enough, Embry's mom was glaring at her through the window. Leah waved. Ms. Call closed the blinds. "So, I talked to the elders. Apparently, I'm in heat."

"What, like a dog?"

"Like a wolf," she said with a sigh.

She filled him in on everything they discussed the night before, and exactly what it all meant for her. Embry placed a comforting hand on her thigh as she got a little more emotional than she wanted to. After she had finished, Embry was silent. He seemed like he was choosing his words very carefully.

"So, to be clear, you're in heat, which makes you and all the guys incredibly horny, and if you let them, they'd all bang you, even if they've already imprinted?"

"Yup," Leah sighed, "that about covers it. You and Seth won't be affected, though."

"Thank god!" Embry said with way to much enthusiasm for her taste. "No offense though, it's just that you're not really my type. But if I was into chicks it'd be my honor to bang you."

Leah snorted, then remembered the other reason she needed to talk to him. "Um, about your type, the topic actually came up last night."

Embry tensed, his voice tight. "Really? How so?"

"Well, I told them how you and Seth didn't go psycho on me like Jared did, And old Quil said that it was either because you're my half-brother," Leah noticed Embry got even tenser, "or because you didn't like girls."

"And what was the verdict?" It was a rhetorical question. He sounded so sad, Leah almost wanted to lie to him.

"Mom squashed the half- brother thing ass soon as it was brought up, and when I told them to butt out of other people's business, I kinda made it obvious."

"Oh. That's why people have been starring at me more than usual today. Old Quil works fast."

The silenced stretched on for at least twenty minutes, Leah felt guiltier and guiltier every second. Tension hung thick in the air as Leah waited for him to speak.

"Look, Em, I'm really sorry."

"Don't be." He gave her a sad smile. "I know you didn't mean to. I'm actually glad this happened."

Leah quirked an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm lost. Why is me inadvertently outing you a good thing?"

"Did you think I was gay before I told you?"

"No." Leah was a little shocked when Embry came out to her. Even with the pack mind, there was never any hints.

"No one else does... did, either. I'm not super effeminate or flamboyant, I could've kept having tea with Mr. Tumnus for the rest of my life if I wanted to, and I probably would have. I would've ended up one of those guys who only come out after their wives catch them fucking the pool boy. So, thanks for forcing me to man up, I guess."

"You're welcome, I guess. And you would've come out eventually, Em."

"Yeah, I'm glad one of us thinks that." He plastered a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes on his face. "So, let's talk about you now. You're smart enough to realize that you can't avoid the rest of the guys forever, so why do you insist on trying?"

"Pride mostly," Leah shrugged, "When it's all said and done, I want to be able to say I stayed strong through all this crap."

"Well, that's noble of you. Or stupid. I'll think about it and let you know which."

Leah smiled. "I'll be waiting by the phone."


Leah and Embry talked for a while longer, until his mom announced that dinner was ready. Leah wasn't invited to stay. She wasn't ready to go home yet, so she decided to walk to first beach instead.

As she laid back in the sand, Leah thought about a word old Quil had said last night that she had been somewhat repressing; breed.

Old Quil had said that Lea's inner wolf would seek out the best possible mate to breed with, which sounded a lot like imprinting to her. She'd have to remember to ask old Quil to explain a little more. The thought wasn't really all that bad, Leah had always wanted a family of her own. When she was a little girl she would play with her baby dolls and dream of how she wanted her life to be, the perfect husband (tall, dark, and handsome), the perfect kids (a girl and a boy like her and Seth), the perfect house (three floors, with a big yard for the kids to play), the perfect everything.

That was a long time ago though, and as she grew up, she realized that nothing is ever perfect, but she still wanted everything as close to it as she could. Most people would be surprised that Leah would want a life so domesticated, but it had always been a dream of hers.

The reason she didn't want to think about that word, was that she had given up those dreams four months ago. When Leah and Seth phased they were told that, as long as they kept phasing, their bodies would freeze in time. She didn't think it would apply to her menstrual cycle as well. They told her that she would be barren until she could control the urge to shift. Leah didn't ever think that would happen, she was self-aware enough to realize that until she got over the anger and resentment she had for Sam, Emily, and her wolf, she'd never be able to stop shifting.

The point is that she had given up on being a mother for the foreseeable future, so knowing that is was actually attainable scared the shit out of her. What if she wasn't as good a mother as she thought she'd be? What if Sam ended up being the kid's dad? What if she passed the wolf gene down to them? Both the kids parents would be wolves, she couldn't help but think that the kid would be one too. She didn't want her children to have to deal with this crap if they didn't want to, god knew if she had a choice she definitely would have turned it down.

Leah closed her eyes tight, it was all to much, too fast. She was completely overwhelmed and there was nothing she could do to stop it.


It was sometime after midnight when Leah woke up, realizing she had fallen asleep on the beach. She would do that when she was younger, whenever she got in trouble with her mom, or Seth annoyed her. Her dad would always come find her, and carry her home. She was walking now.

She made sure to avoid the pack's houses by going through the woods. It took longer, but it got the job done. She was just coming through the trees behind her house when she smelled Jake's scent. He was here, in her house.

She turned and ran back the way she came, feeling betrayed. She didn't know why Jake was there this time of morning, but it's not like he broke in, someone knew he was there, and they couldn't even send her a warning text. And here she thought she could count on her own family. It was stupid of her to trust them, the only person she could rely on was herself.

She ran deep into the forest, not stopping until she was forced to in order to catch her breath. She sank to the ground, her back against a large tree. Leah was proud of herself, she had a close call, but in the end she managed to come out on top. This gave her a much needed confidence boost, she could make it. As long as she kept her wits about her, trusted her instincts, and paid attention to her surroundings, she was confident that she'd be able to-

"Lee-Lee, you smell amazing."

Fuck.

Leah shook her head at the irony, just as she's telling herself to pay attention to her surroundings, she fails to notice the one scent she should be able to recognize anywhere.

She looked up slowly to see Sam Uley looming over her.

~~~~~X~~~~~