Chapter 2

No matter what Leah did over the next week, she couldn't get him out of her head. The image of Jacob Black's retreating back seemed to be burned in the back of her consciousness.

She settled back into her old childhood home. Seth had turned it into his personalized bachelor pad after she left and their mother moved out to live with Charlie. Her little brother had turned into a young man, and it was strange to live with him after he'd grown up.

They might not have aged physically over the past five years, but there was certainly something different about them all.

Leah stared at her reflection, frowning at the hard lines that made up her visage. With her arms crossed over her chest, she examined her appearance with a critical eye. She wanted to make a good impression, but this was all wrong. Her dress was too tight, her hair too long, and the look in her eyes too soft. Even as she looked in the mirror, she knew she was getting too attached. Less than eight days back in La Push, and she already wanted to stay forever.

Her mother was happier now. After marrying Chief Swan, Sue Clearwater became more like her old self. She spoke more, she laughed more, and she smiled more. Watching her mother recover from her father's death had been a long and arduous journey. Finally seeing her happy was all she really needed.

Seth, though less lucky with the fairer sex than he wanted to admit, was doing well for himself. He had earned his own place among the pack, living up to his returned role of beta after Leah left. He'd landed his own normal job during the day and ran with the wolves in the night. It was strange to see him so grounded, while during all this time she seemed to be running from place to place without pause.

Tonight would be the first night everyone would be reunited again. It was the last day of winter on the native calendar, and there was to be a celebration near the shore. Old law deemed it mandatory that all tribe members attend the annual ceremony, and it was a tradition that stuck around.

Her mother, her brother, the pack, Sam, Emily, Jacob, everyone would be at the beach at sunset. All of them back together, go figure. A part of her wondered whether if the bloodsuckers would make an appearance.

The status of the treaty seemed to be a topic of tension nowadays. Before it was easy to communicate with the Cullens across the border, what with Jacob's obsession with the vampire chick.

Leah couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes as she thought of Bella. So young, so impulsive, so selfish. She had predicted things to move south after a while, it was only a matter of time. As much as Jake might have loved the girl, Bella was into her mindreading bloodsucker more. It was plain painful to see her string him along like that.

But more so than that, Leah herself had transformed as well. On the road for so many years, she learned to live with herself and her own thoughts. No longer was she tortured by thoughts of her teenage heartbreak or the world-shattering loss she suffered after her father's death. She was an adult now, a more rational version of her stubborn and hard headed self.

She'd long accepted that she never had any control over what happened. It wasn't Sam Uley who decided to stomp on her heart, or Emily who decided to stab her in the back. It happened to all of them, and no one could stop it. It just turned out that she was the only one who really suffered. There was no way to control the past, only ways to learn resilience and bounce back.

Leah didn't want to leave again, at least not for a while. She could see the aging process take its toll on her non-werewolf acquaintances, and it was jarring. Spending all this time traveling, looking the same, feeling the same, it skewed her perception or mortality entirely. It suddenly occurred to her that her mother wouldn't live forever, and it was worrisome.

She couldn't stop her mother from getting older, but she could stay at home to make the time count.

"Leah?"

Her eyes flicked up to see her brother in the reflection beside her. He towered over her now, and she wondered when he had grown so big. Damned werewolf hormones, made all the boys bigger than she remembered.

"Hey," she turned around and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, sighing, "You ready?"

Seth lowered his head sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. A nervous smile crept along his youthful features.

"What?" she glared, knowing the look on her brother's face.

"Nothing." He took a step back, his arms out as if to protect himself. After a moment, he paused, thinking about how he would break the news. "Well, I mean—"

She glared.

"Okay, well tonight I think you should be a little bit careful."

"What does that mean?" she inquired, narrowing her eyes, sizing him up.

"Things aren't exactly the way they were when you left. There is certain information you need to get caught up on before you re-debut into the pack," he tried to explain.

"Okay," she waited, "Fill me in,"

He opened his mouth, but no immediate words came out. "Well, for one, Sam and Emily are expecting. You know, like a kid,"

A short pang shot through her chest, but the pain subsided. She barely even winced, though she knew Seth would see it written all over her face. Just because she came to terms with her helplessness in the situation didn't mean she ever got over the hurt. "Okay, fine," she shrugged, pretending to be fine. "That's great," she managed to get out between clenched teeth.

"Quil's still getting used to his relationship with Claire, and he'd really appreciate it if you would lay off the cradle-robbing jokes,"

"Alright, I promise I won't make fun of him," she agreed easily, her eyebrows knitted together. Why was he so apprehensive? She glanced up at the clock, watching the time tick by as they were now going to be late. "Is that all, can we go now?"

She was getting anxious about going. If she didn't step out of the house soon, she might just change her mind about coming in the first place. "Seth!" she snapped after he didn't respond.

"Sorry, yeah." He apologized, nodding, "I guess you'll find everything else out on your own. Just one more thing,"

He stopped, "It's about Jacob,"

Of course it was. For whatever reason, her heart seemed to stop.

"He's a little bit more temperamental now, with the whole Alpha title. He's got some edge to him, and it's best not to mess with him. Especially after what happened with Bella, and now with Billy."

She inhaled sharply. She had seen the change in Jacob when she first saw him at the funeral, but she didn't want to dwell on it. What business was it of hers if he was a little different? Weren't they all?

But nonetheless, she couldn't help but worry. A dose of romantic heartbreak paired with the death of a love one, well it was a heavy load to bear. And Leah would know.

"Okay," she nodded slowly, "Okay, I'll watch myself around him. Don't worry Seth," she reached over and punched him hard on the arm, not that he felt it, "I'm sure Jacob's big enough to take care of himself,"

He laughed a bit, before wrapping his older sister in a warm hug. It was nice having another member of the family in their house again. Then she swore she heard him mutter something under his breath, but she couldn't be sure.

"It wouldn't be him I'd be worried about."

-p-

Jacob looked at the crowd that had gathered at the beach, letting out a sigh as he walked over. He spent a lot of his time in solitude now, but tonight had to be different.

He needed to bite the bullet and get things together. The elders were on his back, complaining about a border problem that he was already well aware of. There were vampires infringing on their territory; not quite passing the borderline, but coming dangerously close into Quillete land.

He was handling the situation, but the rest of the council needed some better form of assurance. People seemed to question his stability recently, and he needed to force a smile to make a show that he was alright.

The flickering flame of the bonfire warmed his russet skin as he made his way toward the crowd. The loud chatter seemed to die down into a low murmur as he approached, and it only made him more uncomfortable.

At this point, he was fed up with the sympathetic smiles and pats on the back. He was a grown man, he could look after himself. His father's death was no surprise, he knew it was coming. He had prepared himself as well as he could for this fate, and it was all he could do.

Jacob ignored the stares as he made his went to a cooler, picking a cool beer out of the ice. He spotted his pack members amongst the mob of townspeople, watching as they all tried to act as normally as they could in this situation. He'd been tough on all of them recently, and he knew they were only putting up with him because he was Alpha.

But Jake ignored their complaints, ones they couldn't hide from him. The security of their land was far more important, and forcing all of them to make a few more rounds a night wasn't going to kill them.

Deciding it was a bad decision to come here tonight, he almost turned around to leave. But as he swiveled on his heel, his eyes connected to a pair of dark charcoal orbs, ones that looked equally surprised to see him.

"Clearwater," he rasped out, his throat try, trying to maintain his composure.

"Jacob," she countered, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side.

It was disconcerting, how often she popped into his mind over the past week. It was difficult to keep his concentration, and even harder to hide his thoughts of her from the rest of the pack. No one would confront him on it, not when he was like this.

"Leah!" a voice called from a distance. Seth. The younger boy was jogging to catch up with his older sister, panting as he walked up to the couple. After spotting Jacob, he immediately straightened, his muscles tensing intuitively.

"Hey, Jake," he greeted nervously with a nod. Sensing the tension, Seth tried to pull his sister away. He wrapped one arm around her shoulders, leading her away to the crowd. "Come on Leah, let's go find mom."

Jacob swallowed, his jaw straining as he watched Seth pull Leah over to the rest of the crowd. Everyone was so careful around him, it was unbearable. He should have only guessed she would have done the same. He shook his head, running a hand through his hair as he turned around to leave.

But then he overheard the slight altercation between Clearwater siblings.

"What are you doing?" Leah hissed, shrugging Seth off.

"Leah, you've got to be kidding me. I just told you to watch out for Jacob before we came, and you're already looking for trouble,"

"And I promised to be perfectly civil. So what's the problem?"

Seth groaned loudly, whispering fervently. "Jake's been in a tough place. He's been toturing all of the guys for so much as breathing wrong. It's—wait. Where are you going? Leah!"

Jake's eyebrows furrowed together as he eavesdropped, trying to figure out what was happening when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned, stopping in his tracks as he looked down at her. The seconds seemed to pass slower, all of his senses amplified. His efforts to listen to her apparent rant fell flat. He watched her lips move, formulating speech he couldn't hear.

She'd grown out her hair. It suited her nicely, and he liked it.

The time had treated her well, she seemed more comfortable in her skin now. She was glowing, and he couldn't help but think about how smooth it would be under his fingertips.

Her lips were dark red. Makeup? The though of Leah sitting in front of vanity applying lipstick was ridiculous enough to pull the edges of his lips up.

The chilled wind blew past them, and he breathed in her scent. Clean, refreshing, like fresh air at a mountaintop.

And then her eyes. They were just as dark as his, only softer around the edges.

He felt a frown dominate his features now, recognizing the sadness that was hidden behind her eyes too. The agony, the pain, the hurt she carried with her for so long. It never occurred to him that she had been suffering so long in silence, not until he really looked at her now.

He was entranced.

He felt two hands push against his chest, as if to shove him backwards. His superior size worked against her, and he didn't budge. Then sound came reeling back into his ears.

"Jesus Christ, Jake! What are you made out of?" she cursed, shaking her wrist. Leah had known he was strong, but she had no idea he was strong enough to resist the impact of her assault. She had meant to knock him over, to snap out of his daydream.

She was talking at him, and he didn't even seem to be listening. Even though he didn't fall over, her plan worked and he was brought back to reality.

"Sorry," he apologized, his eyes never leaving her, "You okay?"

"Yeah," she lied, "I'm fine,"

He took a step closer, probably with the intention to examine her hand. But the close proximity made both of them stop, and all air seemed to knock out of her lungs.

"What about you?" she asked, her tone quieter than she meant it to be.

"What?"

"Are you okay?" she clarified.

He opened his mouth to respond, but she interrupted him before he could. Seth was standing a few yards away, his jaw slack in some shock.

Seth had noticed the change in Leah since she'd come back, but he never imagined that the change would manifest in a mission to relate to Jacob Black. Jake had turned dark and quiet since everything happened. No one could get to him, and anyone who tried was in for ride in hell.

Jacob was better than most of the other shape-shifters in hiding his emotions and inner-narratives from the pack, but not perfect. All of them could feel some of his pain, though none of them understood how to help.

But now, his stubborn and callous sister was standing closer to Jacob than he'd seen anyone come in months. And Jacob wasn't pulling away, not in the slightest.

"We need to talk," she said, giving him a knowing look.

Jacob didn't think a conversation with her would really benefit him, but a part of him just wanted to be near her more. He couldn't describe what was happening, all he knew that having her close felt good. He didn't want her to leave, so he agreed. "Sure."

He didn't resist, only following her lead as she took the first step in the direction opposite to the bonfire. The sun was just about to disappear over the horizon, transforming the orange-pink hue of the sky into a dark purple.

As the unlikely pair walked on the shore, the waves crashing onto the sand next to their shoes, something seemed to click.

For the first time in a long while, Jacob felt at ease. Finally he found someone to understand what he'd suffered, someone who knew what he was feeling without needing to ask or him needing to answer. His guard was still up, but she didn't need him to lower it to see.

He didn't know it, but Leah Clearwater was going to be his salvation.

End Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! If you want me to continue, please leave a review!