Jacob stood in the living room, watching her go and feeling like he had just spun in a doze different directions for a thousand years, and now was in a nauseous, dizzy state.

In that moemnt that she was staring at him, and he at her, the bitch facade just melted away. Jacob knew how hard she tried to shield herself by acting cruelly; but for a second, he had seen the old Leah. Before werewolves or vampires or Jacob imprinting or her dad dying or Sam imprinting--before Bella. There was a different Leah, who flirted with boys who knew she was way out of their league, practically causing them to erupt when she bent over to pick something up. The old Leah who teased Sam by telling him he was just a fling, but they could all see that was bullshit in the way she smiled at him and brushed the hair affectionately from his eyes. And they could see that Sam was deathly in love with her by the way he would pick her up while she laughed and squealed for him to put her down--but he just swung her around with a dopey grin on his face for the whole world to see that she was his and they'd damn well better not try to steal her away.

And it wasn't just her boobs and her hips and her butt that made Jacob, Quil, Embry and all the other boys want her. They wanted her to tease them, to smile that mischievous smile at them, to brush the hair from their forehead with her eyes glowing. They hadn't wanted lips and tits and hips. They had wanted Leah. Jacob had wanted Leah. And now suddenly, in one big, falling, clumsy moment, he wanted her again. He was falling for her again, all with that old smile.

But it wasn't just the old Leah he was falling for. Jacob knew she would never be that Old Leah again--she was too guarded to let herself go like that. Jacob was falling for the new Leah, the one who was so bipolar she kept him on the edge of his seat, unable to predict what would happen next. She was like a soap opera; you hate it but you can't stop watching. He was falling for the new Leah, who could keep his brain scrambling for an insult; they were forever getting into arguments that they hadn't wanted to be fun but it turned out that way anyway. The new Leah, with so much sadness in her eyes, buried deep, hidden by forced anger and resentment. It hurt to look at her eyes, for only he could see the brokenness that lay beneath. Sometimes he wished she would just close her eyes forever.

Jacob was falling--had fallen--for the new Leah. His Beta. His friend (sometimes).

"Well, thank goodness she's gone," he heard a voice say, and he turned to see Bella with a truly bitchy look on her face. He snapped out of a haze right then, meeting the eyes of each of the people there. They were all relieved, happy, to see Leah go.

What bitches.

Suddenly an overwhelming smell reached his nostrils, a disgustingly sweet scent that burned inside his nose. He was aware, all of the sudden, of how much he hated each of this individuals. Partly because they were vampires--and Jacob remembered that he hated vampires--and partly because they were just weird and twisted beings in and of themselves.

All but Renesmee.

He looked at her and his heart melted. He still loved her. You couldn't break an imprint. And just as he was about to walk toward her--everything would be all right, then, wouldn't it?--he stopped.

Anyone else would have just let her go, accepted the imprint, went back to Renesmee and embraced her and ignored the repulsing smell her family members emitted. Anyone else. Especially Sam.

But Jacob was not like anyone else. He was not one to leave things unfinished.

"I have to go," Jacob said deeply, out of the blue. Everyone stared at him incredulously. Edward could read his thoughts; Edward knew what he was going to do. He took a step towards Jacob, and was that anger flashing in his eyes? He grabbed Jacob's arm.

"Don't," he said menacingly.

Jacob just stared at Edward's arm until he shrank back sheepishly. It was then that Jacob realized he never even liked Edward all that much.

"I'll see you later," he said coldly, and met everyone's gaze, slowly, one at a time, his eyes cutting daggers into all of theirs'.

Then he ran from the living room, calling Leah's name before he was even out the door.

What's that song?, he thought as he ran, his blood racing and his thoughts taking on a positive, even cocky attitude. That song that describes Leah perfectly? Rachel dances around the house to Christina Aguilera all the time. What is it? Oh, yeah; "Keeps Gettin' Better." How does it go again?

Oh, yeah, Jacob thought as he ran.

Somedays I'm a super bitch

Up to my own tricks

But it won't last forever

Next day I'm your Supergirl

Out to save the world

And it keeps gettin' better...

Leah fled the house, the tears now flowing rapidly and uncontrollably. She tried to phase, to find the anger and resentment that would change her, that was so readily at her fingertips for the past six years. But she couldn't. She reached inside herself, trying to find fury, but could only find a hopeless, bottomless lake of sadness.

There was no going back now. They could not be friends anymore after what had happened. The situation felt familiar. Leah spit out a bitter laugh, stumbling into the forest and nearly running into a tree because of her blurry vision.

And the universe must think I slept with its boyfriend or something, thought Leah, hearing her name called out behind her, because it just keeps going out of its way to screw me over.

"Leah! Leah, wait!" Jacob yelled, and Leah tried to run faster, but it was hard seeing as she was sobbing and her brain just couldn't focus.

He grabbed her arm forcefully, causing her to lurch to a stop. He yanked her body to face him, but she turned her head away, pulling her torso so that if he let go she would topple over. She didn't care.

"Leah," he said, softer, "What is going on?"

"I don't know," she snapped. "Maybe you should ask your penis." She kept her head away, her teary eyes dotting the leaves on the ground at their bare feet.

"C'mon," he pleaded. "Don't be like that."

"Be like what?" she said emotionlessly. "This is me, Jacob. I'm not pretending to be a bitch; I am one."

"No, you're not," he answered. "Just tell me what's going on in your head."

Sighing, she turned to face him. "I'll tell you what's running through my mind. I think I fucking just fell for you, that's what. And you don't even fucking care; you just want to fuck me and leave me." She turned her back to him and crossed her arms over her chest rather childishly.

"Leah," he said, tugging at her arm, but this time Leah was ready, and she held her ground. He sighed and then spoke to the back of her head. "It's not like that. It's not all sexual." He paused. "I mean, you gotta admit, it's got something to do with sex, 'cause just look at you, Leah--"

Leah stomped on his toes backward. She silently thanked God for good hand-foot coordination.

"But anyway," Jacob said when he was done yelping in pain. "There's a slight possibility of a definite maybe...that I...have just...fallen for you, too," he finished awkwardly.

Leah just Hmph'd! Still she kept her back to him.

But even without looking at him, she could feel the mood changing, becoming heavier. She could tell from the way he sighed a lot, and she could hear leaves moving under shuffling feet. When he spoke again his voice was somber, with a twinge of sadness, of wistfulness.

"But we can't," he said, "be together." Like she hadn't already figured that out. "Because of Renesmee," he added. Duh! Leah thought. "I wish I could, but I have no choice."

That was when Leah whirled on him, anger flashing in her eyes.

She turned around suddenly then, startling Jacob so he nearly toppled over. But something was wrong. Her eyes were filled with an utter loathing, of pure, unadulterated rage.

"Don't you dare," she said hotly, "tell me that you had no choice. There is always a choice. You think Bella didn't have to make a decision? Wrong! She chose all right, and she chose him." A pang rose in Jacob's chest. It wasn't fair of her to bring up Bella. "You think Sam didn't have a choice? He damn well had a choice, and we both know it." Hurt was evident in her eyes, laced around the fury. "You must always choose," Leah screamed at him, advancing on him so he backed away from her, "between love and a greater force, between what is good for you and what is so perfect it blinds you, blotting out the sun." Leah stopped them, her face settling into something Jacob couldn't place.

"Sam chose," she whispered. "Bella chose," she said. "And you chose."

It was the way she said it, past-tense, like something dark and smoky in the wind, some horrible event in history that could not be fixed, that bothered him.

"I'm..." Jacob said, but he didn't know what to follow up with, other than sorry, sorry, sorry for a thousand years, crying tears that would never cease as he knelt at Leah's feet.

"This situation is familiar, isn't it, Jake?" Leah said, softer now, the madness starting to fade from her lips. "It seems like years ago, doesn't it; when I was you and you were Bella?" Jacob was speechless, his mind racing so fast he had no coherent thoughts.

Leah's eyes were soft, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, as if they were in a silent slowdance. She was so bipolar--on emoment she was screaming her head off at him, and the next she was so close it was like a fire burning between them.

"It happened to you once," Leah said. "But it keeps happening to me, over and over and over again." She said it casually, almost like they were having an everyday conversation. As if she were talking about the weather. "And even though you love Renesmee now...you know that Bella made a choice." Jacob's stomach churned, because he knew what was coming next. "And you know that she chose," Leah said, "wrong."

That was when she met his eyes, and hers glazed over, as cold as a vampire's. Jacob wanted to warm her, even when she was already 108 degrees. It wasn't fair for everyone he knew to have eyes like that.

"So give me any excuse," Leah said blankly. "Tell me I'm ugly or I'm too bipolar or you have erectile dysfunction. But don't you dare," she told him icily, "tell me that you don't have a choice."

And that's when the words just came tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Leah, I love you."

She narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing his entirely sincere face. And for one second, Jacob swoere he saw a flicker of hope there. Then she frowned and her face clouded over. "You're an asshole," she said. "Goodbye forever, Black." And with that she turned on her heel and began to walk swiftly away.

And that was when it was Jacob's turn to get angry.

"You're the world's biggest bitch!" he shouted after her.

She stopped. Turned. A bitter smile was on her lips as she said,

"As if I didn't already know that."

And then she was gone forever.