Curiosity Killed the Wolf - Chapter 1
...
Strangely, Leah was the one to run into her mother's arms. She missed Sue dearly and she couldn't help but feel safe in her embrace.
"My, my! Look at you, kid! You're so grown-up right now!" Sue joked while looking at her daughter.
"Come on, Mom! I haven't changed that much!"
"You have! Last time I saw you, you were skinny and -"
"And way taller than me!" Seth added jokingly as he hugged his sister.
She flinched a little before hugging him back awkwardly. His high temperature, his tattoo… even his voice reminded her of Sam. It brought back memories of his and Emily's betrayal and the loneliness she felt. She was in the only place in the reservation she thought she would be safe and with someone whom she thought would always be on her side, but Seth had to go and idolize Sam again to the point of becoming one of his official doubles. She didn't know if she should call an exorcist to get her brother back, or run back to Seattle quickly, but she had to say something.
"Which demon are you and what have you done to my little brother? He was kind of nice, once you got past his smelly feet!" she finally asked.
"Hey! Don't be mean just because you're jealous of the awesomeness I've become!" he replied, puffing out his chest which caused her to roll her eyes.
"Don't start you two!" Sue scolded. "Seth, grab your sister's bags and put them in her room, will you?"
He grumbled something about annoying big sisters who underestimated him, but complied nonetheless. While he did that she let her mother lead her into the house; pausing to look at the photos in the main room. Smiling softly, her eyes paused over a picture of herself when she was around 8. She was lifting a big fish proudly while her brother stood next to her looking like he was about to pass out. Fishing with her father was the great highlights of her holidays. She loved that she shared his passion and the memory of his pride in her was bittersweet; it had always been their special thing.
"Seth still wants me to get rid of it!" her mom laughed, startling her. "He doesn't like when I tell the story behind it!"
"He's probably afraid that the myth of his awesomeness could be taken down by his fear of trout!"
"I am not afraid of trout!" he protested loudly, making Sue laugh harder and Leah slightly confused that he could hear them from her bedroom.
"If I remember clearly, he screamed like a scared animal when you tried to make him hold it!" her mom added.
"The only thing I remember was you threatening him that he would have to sleep with it if he didn't shut up, and he did, but then you had to make him sleep with you because he had nightmares about trout trying to kill him!" Leah said.
"Oh well, sometimes I wish I could go back in time and shield him from everything that could go wrong in his world," her mom sighed sadly. "But I can't. He's an adult, now…" her mom's words trailed off.
"He's only 14, Mom! Except from his abnormal growth spurt, he's far from being an adult! Besides, what could go wrong for him at his age?"
Curiously, she noticed her mom sigh again before shaking her head.
"You're right. Well, I need to finish dinner before your father comes back! You know how he is when he's hungry!"
Her mom's voice was a little too loud and her smile too bright; it seemed forced. She frowned, realizing the subject was being changed. Oddly, it added to her sadness as the realization hit home that her father wasn't present to welcome her back.
"Yeah, I know. Do you need any help?"
"Oh, no! Don't worry, I got it covered! Go take a nap, you must be tired with the ride and all."
"I live in Seattle Mom. Not on the East Coast!" she whined, already irritated by her mother's attentions.
"Well, if you're not tired, I don't mind some help."
…
She was baffled when she saw the amount of food her mom was making and questioned her about it. "Are you expecting someone? Wait, let me rephrase it. Are you hosting a welcome party or something?"
"No, it's just for the four of us. Nobody else is coming," her mother answered calmly.
"Are you kidding me? You've cooked for an army!"
"When you see how much your brother can wolf down, you'll understand." her mom chuckled, adding, "I don't want to have to make some more, so I allow myself a good margin. Maybe there will be enough for lunch tomorrow!"
"I can't believe it…" she breathed in astonishment. "Since when have you become a slave to the kitchen?"
"I'm not! Usually, he eats at Emily's. But today was a special occasion and –"
Sue stopped herself and looked at her daughter when she heard the sound of glass shattering. Her heart clenched as she noticed the agonizing hurt plastered on Leah's face.
The latter was absolutely crushed to know that her suspicions had been exact. The way Seth walked around, talked, and looked at her reminded her too much of the stranger Sam had become to her when he came back, and she was devastated to see that he managed to corrupt her little brother. Even more, she was convinced that her father was responsible for Seth's change.
"Oh, Leah, I'm sorry. I –"
"It's okay, Mom. I… I was just surprised," she lied. "I guess I shouldn't be, after two years away from here, everybody must have lived like I never existed!"
"It's not like that, kid. Sam has really been helpful with Seth when he… Needed help."
"I bet he was," she snorted.
"Leah –"
"Look, can we just stop talking about Sam and Emily and whatever you've done with them? I just got back and I really don't want to think about them."
"If you're still hurt over what Sam did, you shouldn't have come back."
She gasped at her brother's words, staring at him in disbelief. Meeting his eyes, she shuddered as his eyes were black and the cool, hard stare that accompanied it. All her instincts were telling her that the man in front of her wasn't her Sethy-chan anymore.
"Seth, don't start anything you'll regret later!" her mom warned.
"Sorry, Leah. I just don't get it. I thought you were finally over it since you're back home and now you're freaking out because I'm eating at Emily's."
"Being over something doesn't make what happened less painful," was all she said before picking up the broken pieces of glass.
He stood awkwardly in the kitchen before leaving when he realized that his sister wasn't ready to talk to him.
"He misses you, Leah," her mom confessed softly.
"Well, he has a funny way to show it. I mean… I know I wasn't there and I don't know what happened, but are you the only one in this house happy to see me again?"
"No! Of course not, kid! Seth was ecstatic when you said you were coming!"
"Excuse me but I find it hard to believe."
"He's just afraid that you'll hate him because of his… Circle of friends."
"You mean because he feels comfortable around Sam after he broke my heart and tried to regulate my life as if I was still with him?"
"Exactly what I said!" her mom replied with a sigh.
"What a moron! As long as he doesn't go all Sam Uley on me, I don't think I'll ever hate him!"
"Exactly what I said, once again!"
She couldn't help but chuckle at her mother's antics and they finished the dinner in a relatively calm atmosphere.
Harry Clearwater arrived just as his daughter was finishing to set the table. Their last discussion had been filled with hurtful words and though she was forgiven; the anxiety was still there. She was still afraid of his reaction towards her.
"Leah," he said, his expression neutral making his daughter's heart beating faster.
"Hi, Father," she replied curtly.
"You've cut your hair."
"I do. Looks more professional than a braid."
"I see. How long are you staying?"
She felt disappointed in how he was treating her, but it was no less than what she had expected. They were already drifting apart from each other before she left without his permission and the gap between them didn't stop growing when she was in Seattle.
"I don't know yet. I'm here for work, so I'll be gone as soon as I finish."
"Oh, right. Charlie told me you were going to work together. May I ask what you're working on?"
"Nothing related to La Push. Don't worry, I won't stay long."
"You can stay as long as you want, and as long as you respect our rules. It's your home."
"My home..." she snorted. "Yeah, I feel the love here..."
"Leah -"
"I have to wash my hands before dinner," she said before running upstairs.
Her conversation with her father - if she could call it a conversation - opened all her wounds and made her feel more of a stranger in her own family. She hadn't recognized her mom nor her brother anymore and his father was acting as if she was a mere acquaintance. She knew she was also to blame for that, because of her refusal to come back for Christmas or the family reunion, but she couldn't stand the fact that she would have to face the two people she hated the most during those events.
When she came back to eat, Seth was already gone. Her mom said he had something important to do and when she tried to know where he was going, her father answered that she shouldn't worry about her brother because Sam and his other friends were with him. She tried to have a civil conversation with her parents, but the more they were talking to her, the more she shut herself to their words.
They were trying to update her with all she missed when she was away : Bella Swan's return in Forks, the new rules established by the council... But she didn't care about that. She isolated herself from the life in the Reservation, severing her links with all her friends who were already starting to admire Sam wonderful involvement in the tribe's development, and with those who couldn't understand what she was going through.
She had a pleasant life outside of the rez; a job, a sex interest - who proclaimed he was her boyfriend even though she didn't feel the same way - and she was enjoying herself, but she couldn't say that she didn't miss her family. Now that she was with them, she was thinking that maybe, just maybe, she shouldn't have left. Maybe she could have helped Seth instead of leaving him at Sam's mercy. Maybe her mother could have relied on her instead of Emily.
Maybe she would have saved her family, instead of losing it completely to them.