Disclaimer: See initial chapter.

A/N: Thanks go to the anonymous reviewers. Did I mention that this was a slow build? It takes them awhile to get together, but when they do...I think it's safe to say that there are some fireworks. Hopefully you'll stick it out until then.

Leah watched Jacob and Renesemee as they played together in the copse of trees that bordered the Cullen property. It was innocent, but there was no mistaking the love that burned brightly in Jacob's eyes, and though she'd done her best to close off her heart and the connection that she had with her pack, she could feel the love emanating from her pack mate and the object of his affection.

A freak of nature, much like herself and Jacob, Renesemee was pretty and loving – young. An innocent child born into a world filled with hatred and ugliness. Not quite vampire, but not quite human, Renesemee was a puzzle, or maybe the missing link that Leah had read about in her science class.

What was clear, though, was that Renesemee loved Jacob, and Jacob loved her even more than life itself. He'd die for her, and Leah wondered if that was reciprocal – if Renesemee would risk her life for Jacob. She doubted it, because imprinting was wholly unique to the Quileute shape-shifters. That they just so happened to shift into wolves led outsiders to believe that they were werewolves. It was a ridiculous misconception.

When Jacob had imprinted on Renesemee, it had forged a new treaty between the Quileute tribe and Cullen family, much to Leah's chagrin. Objects of an imprint couldn't be harmed by anyone in the pack. Apparently it didn't matter who the imprint was – bloodsucking monster or not. They had no say in the process; it was some kind of biological imperative.

A forced love, Leah thought with bitterness that she'd honed over the past several months. She turned away from the happy duo, and kept her senses focused on their surroundings. It was making her sick, watching the two of them, listening to Renesemee's cheerful laughter, and Jacob's thoughts which centered around the little girl.

"Hey, sis," Seth startled her and she growled at him. He laughed.

Though she knew that they were related by blood, Leah often wondered if one of them hadn't been adopted, or dropped onto the planet by a group of aliens. Surely in a world where bloodsuckers and her kind could exist, aliens were a plausible possibility as well.

Where Seth was lighthearted and kind, easily given to laughter, she was dark and bitter, easily given to anger. They rarely saw eye-to-eye, and he irked her with his easy approach to life and love. He loved everyone. She didn't.

People needed to earn love, not be graciously gifted with it by some innate impulse they were unable to control. Sam had earned her love, but it had come to nothing when he'd shifted and imprinted on Emily. The worst thing was that she couldn't hate either of them for it, even though she really, really wanted to.

"What's wrong?" Seth asked with an uncharacteristic frown. He sidled up next to her, sitting beside her with an easy, enviable grace.

"Nothing," she said, ignoring his playful shoulder bump.

Joy-filled laughter drifted over to them, and Leah clenched her jaw, something which did not go unnoticed by Seth. He gave her a knowing look. A look that she shouldn't be seeing on the face of her young, carefree baby brother.

Seth was supposed to be going to school, flirting with girls his age, and sneaking out late at night to party and experiment with drugs. He wasn't supposed to be guarding his people and worrying about the fate of his older sister. The weight of the world should not be on her little brother's shoulders, no matter if it was a shared burden.

"You've imprinted, haven't you?" Seth asked.

Leah stiffened, but turned away from her brother, refusing to answer, and knowing that it would be all the answer that he needed.

"Who is it?" Seth was unperturbed by her lack of answer, merely pulled her into a half-hug, and rested his head on her shoulder. "You can tell me."

She shook her head. Jacob imprinting on Renesemee had been scandalous enough. If the pack learned who it was that she'd imprinted on, it wouldn't be pretty.

"No, Seth, I really can't tell you," Leah said, sighing. She planted a kiss on the top of his head and ruffled his hair.

She stood, brushing off her jeans, and then turned and ran. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and Cullen land as possible. Somewhere along the way, she shed her clothing, along with her human form.

"Why must he be here?" Rosalie asked, not really expecting an answer.

She flicked her hair, and turned from the window where she'd been watching Jacob and Renesemee. She loved her niece, but hated Jacob Black, and the fact that he'd bonded with her. It was unnatural. Disgusting. Her stomach twisted, and she knew that she was being a hypocrite, but she didn't care.

Edward frowned at her. "If Bella and I can accept it, you should be able to as well."

Rosalie snorted, and gave her adopted brother an indulgent look. She raised an eyebrow, and then shook her head when he averted his gaze toward the window. She laughed, bitterly and laid a hand on Edward's shoulder.

"You haven't accepted it as readily as you'd like the rest of us to believe," Rosalie guessed. "Outward appearances aside, you want to rip Jacob's head off, even more than I do, but you know that Nessie would never forgive you if you did."

Edward chuckled, but didn't deny the truth of her words. His eyes narrowed as he watched his daughter – a daughter that should not have been possible for him, or any of them to have – and Jacob. The two were laughing – Renesemee's cheeks were pink, her eyes shining with mirth and love. Edward clenched his fists and his jaw when Jacob lifted the pre-teen and twirled her around and around, eliciting more giggles from her.

"He loves her," Rosalie said, unsure why she'd been prompted to say anything at all. Maybe it was the way that Renesemee was looking at Jacob. It was the same way that Emmett had once looked at her, and the way that Carlisle, even after all of these years, still looked at Esme, Edward at Bella, and Alice at Jasper.

She didn't like Jacob Black, didn't know that she ever would. Even though he and his dog pack had stood side-by-side with them against the Volturi, Rosalie couldn't reconcile the fact that he was, in essence, a grown man in love with her young niece. She didn't understand the whole imprinting thing, and didn't understand how Edward and Bella could accept it so easily.

"I know," Edward said. "That's what makes it so hard."

Rosalie frowned.

"It'd be easier to hate Jacob if I wasn't privy to his thoughts," Edward confessed. "I don't understand imprinting any better than you do. Not even they fully understand how it works," he said, gesturing toward Jacob and Seth who had joined the two.

Rosalie flashed on an image of Leah, and she immediately shook it from her mind. She hadn't seen the young woman recently, and thought it odd that Leah hadn't been around. She ignored the way her stomach seemed to do a little flip-flop when she thought about the different possibilities for Leah's absence.

Edward gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything to break the silence that had settled between them as they watched the three. She knew that, given Edward's unique abilities, her breakup with Emmett wasn't a secret. It probably wasn't a secret from Jasper either, but neither vampire had said anything to anyone else, and for that, she was grateful.

She and Emmett would tell the family, and soon, but not today. She fingered the locket around her neck, and tried not to think of Leah's recent absenteeism as she watched her niece play. She wished that she could be as carefree and innocent again.

Edward clasped her hand in his own, and together, they stood at the window and watched. Edward with a tight smile fixed firmly in place, and she with a stab of jealousy which she disguised with a look of haughty indifference.

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