- 5 years later….

It was 8:30 in the am on February 17th when Mr. & Mrs. Cassidy came home to their little New York apartment after spending a trifling night at a hospital in Bayside.

Though they were both sleep deprived and exhausted, Neal worried for his wife.

This was the third time they had tried and failed to have a child. And it seemed with each baby they'd lost, Leah grew more disheartened and withdrawn. It was no secret that she blamed herself.

But really? It was no wonder after all her body had been through. Constantly changing back and forth from Human to horse-sized wolf on a daily basis.

(Yes, he knew all about that stuff now. Even the imprint, of course coming from a world of magic made it easier for him to grasp what she said and in fact showed him on a private hike during one of their dates.)

"The land without magic" HA!

Still,

with the way everything else had turned out, he couldn't really complain. He just wished to whoever was up there controlling the universe.

They would finally give Leah a break and let her be happy.

They had seen and visited Leah's homeland of La Push in WA. many times where Neal was introduced to the tribe and the packs respectfully as her imprint and husband. But he could tell that she was never truly comfortable being back at her roots. Especially when that other alpha "Sam" or his wife (her cousin) Emily came around her Mother (Sue) and Stepfather (Charlie Swan's )house on the reservation where they stayed.

So, one day Neal had politely pulled her alpha "Jacob" aside and asked if he would give Leah permission to either stop phasing or become a long-distance member of the pack. Giving her the option to change at free will because he could tell she was better when away from this scene.

Jacob, seeing the situation for what it was and wanting his beta to be happy agreed.

On the condition that if an emergency happened like the "Volturi" returning to Forks or something. She would have to return and fight.

That had been two years ago, and now they were trying to start a family since her womanly cycle was reinstated. All this time Neal had told her to be patient and let it happen if it did…

"Come on my Wolf, let's get you to bed" he suggested as he guided her over to the mattress.

Leah sat on the soft cushion in her teal colored robe as Neal removed her slippers from her feet. Finally coaxing her to lie down before gently covering up with the quilts and the blankets. She said nothing as a long quiet tear dropped from her right eye but her husband caught it with his sleeve.

"This isn't it, we will try again. Our hope for a family is not gone yet…even if we adopt or it's just us…"

He hesitated before lightly brushing back a dark lock from her face and kissed her cheek whispering "I love you…" just as she fell asleep.

A few hours went by and the buzzing of the intercom in their apartment awoke both Leah and Neal, who'd slept in the chair beside her and an unknown female voice was heard saying,

"U.P.S. package for 407?"

Neal immediately bolted from his chair, still in his coat and put his hood up. "Honey, I have to run out for a while but I'll be back later." He said as he headed for the open window and the fire escape.

"Neal what is it?" asked his wife, getting up out of bed. Replacing her slippers with a pair of boots.

"-Remember when I told you that years ago, I was a thief and made some wrong decisions but then I straighten up and got a clean record?"

"Yeah," she answered raising an eyebrow.

"-Well I think that someone I wronged has just caught up with me."

"Oh? What are you going to do?"

"-Hopefully lead them away from you, stay here"

"-What?! No way! We'll face them together!"

"No, I can lose you too. Not today- Please Leah" Reluctantly the shape shifter nodded, "Alright, but come back to me" It wasn't a question.

Neal barely got out the window and down to the street before she saw a blond woman in black running after him. She crossed her fingers and hoped that he'd come back safe…

For the next forty-five minutes, Leah remained very much alert as she listened and paced around her domain for any signs of intruders. Every minute that Neal wasn't back yet she counted.

If she hadn't just gotten through last night and was at full strength.

She would have without a doubt, phased and either gone to protect her imprint like every bone in her body was urging her to do. Or continue to guard their home, when and if those people did turn up. They'd be in for a surprise!

As it was she had to stay human but that didn't mean she wasn't defenseless.

Then at last, she heard voices in the hallway and felt the door echo as a man's voice and weight leaned heavily against it.

Unfortunately, being human at the moment, Leah's ears weren't as good as a wolf's but she did make out the end of the man's sentence:

"There might be information in here, Who he is, What he does? Who he loves?"

That last word made her snarl in anger as she lightly sprinted into the bathroom where something to help her was hidden. No sooner than she had locked the door, the man and two others broke in. Leah stayed quiet as she listened to their conversation.

They were indeed looking for her husband but the question was "Why?"

The other people were mother and her son. The more intently she listened she heard the man growing angry at the woman. Quickly the mother tried to protect her child.

"Henry, go wait in the bathroom"

"-But I can help"

"-HENRY GO!"

Leah heard the footsteps of the boy growing closer to the door. Quickly she unlatched the lock and snatched him inside. Covering his mouth with her hand before he could make a sound going "Shh!"

The boy, Henry started to struggle as Leah whispered "If you bite me, I will bite you back and I promise mine hurts a lot worse than yours." Henry froze, "Good boy,"

Just then the intruding adults argument started to escalate to shouting:

"Don't push me !"

" – DON'T PUSH ME!"

Quickly and quietly Leah began to sneak out of the bathroom with Henry in toe and her weapon in the other hand. This time, the boy was wise enough to keep his mouth shut as Leah came behind a forty-something, skinny, sandy-brown shoulder length haired furious man with a cane.

"WE HAD A DEAL!" he shouted at the woman in front of him. (the same blond who had been chasing Neal)

"A DE-!" but he was cut off when a gunshot rang out from behind and knocked him to the floor flat on his stomach. Leah then stomped her big heavy black leather boot on the middle of his back.

Pointing the rifle toward Henry's mother, she asked "WHO ARE YOU? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOME?"

The man under her boot started to squirm and she shot him again to which he stopped moving and just groaned. Both the Henry and his mother's eyes were on the man before trailing their eyes up to look at her.

"Please," his mother started to beg, holding her hands up in surrender. "Please let my son go. He has nothing to do with this"

Leah looked at the woman before making a gesture with her head to the boy. Who immediately ran to his mother and locked arms around her thin waist scared.

"That still doesn't answer who you are and what you're doing here? Especially with this-?"

Then call it luck if you will… but Neal came bursting through the door out of breath. "Hey!.."

Taking a quick look around, he observed his findings.

"Leah, put the rifle down. It's alright, they mean us no harm" he said slowly edging closer to his armed wife, trying to reassure her.

She lowered the gun from the Henry and his mother but still kept it on the scumbag beneath her feet.

"Maybe those two are alright, but this one was threatening them"

Neal's eyes widened as he saw who Leah had pinned. Shaking his head and trying to hold back a laugh he said "Let him up, Honey"

She raised an incredulous eyebrow, "You know him?"

"Yeah," he sighed "He's my father…"

"-You have GOT to be KIDDING?!"

He shook his head, "Nope"

Leah huffed,

"-Listen here you…" she growled to the man underneath. "I don't care if you claim to be "family" or not. You will not treat or threaten anyone (man, woman or child) like you just did while under my roof. If you disagree, that's fine but should you act? I will have you arrested for breaking and entering and attempted assaulted battery of a woman, Am I clear?"

The man groaned in pain,

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes," he rasped out, "Good" she said getting off of him.

The man found his footing after he crawled over to the couch and used it to pull himself up shakily.

"Mr. Gold?" said Henry "you're alright,"

Leah snorted,

"Of Course he is, this is a BB rifle. He's just going to be smarting for a little bit and hopefully learn something in the process…" She said giving her new "father-in-law" a dark look.

Little did she know that on this day she had met her match in a fierce and loyal friend…just not right away.