Disclaimer- I do not own Twilight

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Day 4: Flight Risk

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As usual, when Leah's alarm went off, she wanted to just ignore it. Some people used work to avoid their problems, but Leah's job reminded her of her problems.

She'd be fine for the first few hours, until Bella came in for her shift. Bella made Leah think of Jacob, and Jacob made Leah think of putting her foot up his ass.

Oh, just admit it, Leah's wolf spoke. Leah sighed, it was way to early for this. Jacob standing you up last night hurt, you can say it. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone.

Leah could admit it, Jake blowing her off did hurt, but only because he was the one that was pissed about not being in the loop yesterday, she figured he'd want to work through this. It's not like it was a date or anything.

She got out of bed, and started her day as usual. Instead of taking her usual route, Leah felt her feet switching direction without her permission. Leah just sighed and Let her wolf lead her, she just did not have the energy to argue. She took in the smell of the trees surrounding her. Everything smelled sharper than usual, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the heat, or her wolf. She'd have to ask-

Where the hell are we going? Leah asked her wolf. She got no answer. Leah scented the air again, she smelled Jacob. She saw the little red house in the distance. She should have known.

What's the problem? You're the one who said you wanted to confront him, and that's exactly what we're going to do.

I wanted to confront him on my terms not yours! This is my body damn it!

Really? Her wolf snorted, it doesn't seem like it. I'll tell you what, if you can stop your feet from moving, I'll let you handle this one on your own.

It was a challenge, clear as day, and Leah had to much pride to back down from a challenge.

Even when she didn't think she would win.

Leah tried to focus on her feet, but it felt odd. You'd think it'd be easy to concentrate on something you did everyday, but walking was an after thought, like breathing, you don't think about doing it, you just do. She tried and tried but just could not stop moving. She flailed her arms around until she got a hold of a branch. It broke off the tree in her hands, her body still heading for the house uninterrupted.

Give up yet, dear?

Fuck you, bitch. Leah fought and flailed all the way to the front door, her wolf taunting her the whole way.

Now, just let me do the talking, Her wolf said, as it raised Leah's hand and knocked loudly on the door, not that you really have a choice in the matter.

"Leah, what brings you here so-"

"Where's Jacob," her wolf cut Billy off. She forced Leah's eyes over the mans head, scanning the house.

"He's not here. I think he said something about going for a walk-"

"Don't lie to me! He's here, I can smell him. AND I CAN HEAR HIS HEARTBEAT!" She was yelling, but there was no need., Jake could hear every word.

"I told you, he's not here. This is my house, little girl, and you will show me the proper res-"

"I am older than your pathetic, human body will ever grow to be, and you will show me the proper respect, William Black."

Billy's eyes widened, his pupils dilated. He looked like he shit himself. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know you were... please, forgive me!"

Leah's wolf smirked. "You are forgiven. Tell your son that when he's ready to start acting like a man, like an alpha, and like a direct descendant of Ephraim himself, come and find us."

She turned and walked back towards the forest, relinquishing control once they were safely hidden in the trees. Leah stumbled slightly before catching herself.

That was...

Awesome? Her wolf said, her words dipping with cockiness it was, huh?

Leah was impressed. Also scared. Very scared.

So, how old are you exactly? Leah sat behind the register at Newton's, idly flipping through the pages of a book she'd read twice, while Mr. Newton was in his office doing whatever it was business owners did.

Probably paperwork, Her wolf answered, but to answer your first question, technically I'm a little over four months old, as I was born the first time you phased, but I've been reincarnated many times.

So are you Taha Aki's reincarnation? If so, the bitch in her head was beyond ancient.

I'm not that old. Besides, you have to die to be reincarnated.

So you're saying tha-

Yes.

But wouldn't he be, like, really ol-

Yes.

So he's just been wondering around in the woods all this ti-

Yes.

Will you let me finish a fucking sent-

Well, what's the point if I already know what your going to say? You don't call me 'the bitch in your head' for no reason, dear.

Ugh,, you're so annoying! Just when I was starting to like-

The tinkling of bells let Leah know that someone was coming through the door. She started to put her book down, but stopped when she saw that it was just Bella and Mike coming in for their shifts.

"Hi, Leah," Bella said with a soft smile. Something about it felt... off. Whatever it was, Leah didn't like it. She ignored Mike's timid, 'hey', to raise an eyebrow at Bella.

"How are you today?" Swan said, as came behind the counter and sat on her stool.

"Fine..."

"I'm glad." She smiled again, before pulling a book of her own out of her bag and getting to work.

Leah eyed her suspiciously, before getting up and heading to the stock room. She ignored the bells tinkling on the front door; Bella can take care of it.

"Mike."

"Ah!" Newton jumped at her voice, fumbling with a pair of hiking boots. "uh, h-hey there, Leah, what up?"

"Swan. What's wrong with her?"

"Who Bella? Uh, I dunno, she seems fine to me."

Leah rolled her eyes. She should have figured Newton wouldn't be any help. "Whatever, I'm going on break."

Leah started out the back door, but paused when she heard a familiar voice.

"Thanks for listening last night, Bells. It helped."

"Don't worry about it. I can see how overwhelmed you are by all of this. Leah too, she seems..."

"Bitchy? That's a constant for her. I kept her off patrol so the guys wouldn't have to deal with her scent, but I'm glad I don't have to listen to her complain about how much everything and everyone sucks. I swear, she's so fucking annoying."

Leah felt like a fifty pound weight was dropped in the pit of her stomach. She knew the rest of the pack wasn't too fond of her, but to hear it laid out like that? It hurt.

The truth often does, dear.

Whenever Leah is hurting, she always compensates for it with anger. It it was that anger that caused her to dry the tears she didn't even know were falling, and head back to the front of the store.

Leah barged through the door and immediately sent Jake, who at least had the decency to look guilty, one of her most chilling glares. One of the ones she usually saved specifically for Sam.

"We need to talk. Now." She turned and went through the front door, not turning to see if he was following. He would, if he wanted to keep both his balls. She walked until she came around the side of the building before she turned.

"Where the hell were you last night, Black?"

"What's it to you, Clearwater?"

"You were supposed to be at my place."

"Well I was with a friend, maybe you've heard of them, and I lost track of time."

"What could you and her have been doing that it took you all night?" It better not have been what she thinks it was.

Jake had this shit-eating grin on his face as he answered, "You're a smart girl, figure it out."

Another weight dropped in Leah's stomach. "She has a boyfriend."

He shrugged. "Not my problem. Why do you care anyway? It's not like you like the leech. Or me." The 'or me', sounded almost like a question.

Why do you care? Her wolf asked. Why would you care if he sleeps with someone else?

She cared because Swan was supposed to be with the leech, and Leah hated cheaters. There was no other reason.

Leah Clearwater, queen of denial.

Fuck you. "I don't care. You can fuck whoever you want, it's nothing to me, but what I do care about is you blowing me off, and telling her my business!"

"It's my business too! If I wanna tell Bella about it, then I will."

Leah shook her head, she was done, so fucking done with all of this. "You know what? Fuck it. Fuck this, and fuck you."

"I thought you wanted to talk?"

"I don't want anything from you!" She stormed back into the store, pacing the length of the floor to keep from phasing. If Jake was smart he wouldn't dare set foot in that store right now.

Turns out Jacob wasn't very smart.

"So we can only talk when you want too? Why does everything have to go your way?"

"We can only talk when there aren't humans around!" Leah hissed under her breath.

"Bella knows everything already!"

"I think she's talking about Mike and Mr. Newton, Jake," Bella said timidly.

"Will you just mind your own fucking business, Swan? This has nothing to do with you!"

"DON'T TALK TO BELLA LIKE THAT!"

"FUCK BELLA!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?"

Leah looked up at Mr. Newton, and felt another weight settle in her stomach.

I wonder if they'll let you use them as a reference?

Leah was walking along first beach, trying to kill time. She didn't want to go home and see her mother's disappointment when she found out that Leah got fired.

Well, you should be used to that by now.

God, she was such a fuck up. She'd burned all her bridges in La Push, and Mr. Newton would be sure to let every business owner in Forks know about what had happened today. She'd have to get a job in Port Angles, if anyone was hiring anyway.

There's always the fast-food business. If you want, I could help you practice saying, 'you want fries with that?'

There's no way in hell I'm flipping burgers all day.

Her wolf snorted. Well, beggars can't be choosers, dear. But if push comes to shove, street corners are always hiring.

Leah plopped down in the sand with a heavy sigh. Luckily, her wolf had decided to put her witty commentary on mute for the moment, so Leah took the opportunity to contemplate her life.

She was really tired of this, all of it. She had tried to deal, but it was too hard, she was ready to admit that now. Leah just wanted it all to end. She felt her wolf start to panic at those words, but she wasn't talking about suicide. Killing yourself was a cowards way out, and though she may be becoming a quitter, she wouldn't be a coward too.

Besides, would it even work? If she felt anything at all from popping a couple of bottles of sleeping pills, it'd probably just feel like that one Halloween when she ate both her and Seth's bags of candy in one sitting. Slitting her wrists was out; she'd just heal before she got anywhere near bleeding out. Maybe jumping off the cliffs would work? The ones with the really big jagged rocks at the bottom.

I swear, if you try any of that I'll take control and I won't give it back. Now, please, stop thinking like this. You're scaring me.

Just then, Leah's phone vibrated. It was Jacob. She let it ring.

Thirty seconds later he called back again. Leah hit ignore.

After he called a third time, Leah accepted the call without looking. "What do you want? Don't you think you've wrecked enough shit for one day?"

"Um... Leah, it's Bella."

Bella? The fuck did she want? "How did you get my number?"

"Jake gave it to me. Is that okay?"

No, it wasn't. "What do you want, Swan."

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry you got fired."

"It wasn't your fault." It was that asshole, Black's.

"I know, but still, I feel bad. I'm going to miss working with you." She paused, as if she was waiting for Leah to say 'me too', when Leah didn't, she continued. "I also wanted to tell you that I know things have been tough for you, and I know that you must feel-

"Well you can stop right there," Leah cut her off, her anger re-building, "You don't know shit! You don't know what I've been through, you don't know what I'm going through, you don't know shit because you don't know me. You only know what you think you know because Jake told you, and he doesn't know me either!

"So, please, save me your fake condolences, and your fucking pity, 'cause I don't want it! Go do your good deed of the day somewhere else." Leah was about to hang up when she heard,

"See, I told you she was a bitch. Just forget about her, Bells, you just can't help some people."

"You know what?" Leah seethed, "You can help me. You can help by telling my Alpha that he can go fuck himself! Oh yeah, tell him I quit the pack, too."

Leah used all her strength to hurl her phone as far into the ocean as she could, before getting to her feet and taking off. She was getting the fuck out of this place for good.

What do you mean you quit the pack? It doesn't work like that.

I don't care how it works! I'm not staying here, I won't! But I've gotta do something first...

Leah ran as fast as she could, straight across the border. She ran through forks, knocking people out of the way until she made it to the Cullen's house. They heard her coming, of course, so Edward was waiting for her at the door.

"Leah, what's going-"

"She's cheating on you!" She got so much satisfaction in watching his eyebrows shoot up to his hair line. "That's right, your precious, innocent Isabella is fucking Jacob. They're probably going at it right now! You should have let that bitch die one of the many chances you had."

Leah phased, taking off into the forest. She ran until her paws were sore, then she ran some more. When she physically collapsed from exhaustion is when she stopped. She took a look around, nothing seemed familiar. Good.

There she was, laying in some random forest. She didn't have any clothes, she didn't have a cent of her savings, and she hadn't eaten in hours, but that was the one thing she could fix. As soon as she was rested enough she'd hunt something down.

She had done it, Leah Clearwater had finally left La push. She had always figured she'd have something with her, a bag, some money, a bus ticket, something. But that wasn't the point; she had finally escaped that horrible fucking place and she'd be damned if she ever went back. It's not like anyone would miss her anyway.

Well, her mom would. And Seth. And Embry. Thinking about it now, she wished she would have talked to them first, said goodbye. No, who was she kidding? If she had talked to them, there's no way she would have left. Still, she wished she would have had the time to at least write them a letter or something.

She wondered how long it'd take for them to realize she was gone? Her mom would probably be the one to notice, at least after not hearing from her for a whole day. Ugh, she had to stop thinking about them, it was depressing.

Leah forced herself to her feet, and slowly made her way into the cover of some trees before she laid down again. There were no voices in her head, and for the fist time in months she felt like her thoughts were her own. She felt normal. As normal as someone can feel when there laying in the woods transformed into a huge wolf, anyway. She realized that by running away, she had become a coward. Irony sucks.

Leah let the rare silence consume her, and drifted off to sleep.

She walked through the forest, glancing at the hundreds of trees surrounding her. It was impossibly dark, she could barely see what was in front of her. The only light was the stars above her head, she was able to see them clearly, here, away from the city.

She sighed heavily, he should have been here by now.

While she waited, she watched over her human. The girl was hazy here, like a ghost, but she could still make out how young the girl was, only twenty. Too young to have to make such life altering decisions. But that was what she was there for, to help.

Too bad getting the girl to listen to her guidance was akin to pulling teeth. She sighed again. Where was he?

"I'm here."

She turned and saw him, in all his glory. He was beautiful. But that wouldn't get him off the hook.

"What took so long? I've been here for hours!"

"Sorry," he said, nuzzling into her neck, "The boy is stubborn, he purposely stayed awake simply because I suggested he sleep."

"How is Jacob?" she struggled to keep the contempt out of her voice, she really wasn't happy with him right now.

"He's fine." The scene changed. The forest slowly melted away until an unfamiliar bedroom took its place. She saw Jacob, laying sound asleep, curled up next to Isabella.

"Have they been together all night?"

"Yes, but not in the way you think. The boy thinks he loves her, but Isabella's feelings are purely platonic."

"So they haven't slept together?" He shook his head. "Then why would he purposely mislead her?"

"To make her jealous, but of course he refuses to admit it. To me or to himself."

"Well, it worked." She growled in annoyance. "Why must they be so damn stubborn? He's been practically pulling her pigtails, and she's so hell bent on ignoring her attraction to him that she's deluded herself into thinking she can't tell who she's dreaming about every night! They're both so exhausting!"

He began to nuzzle her neck again. "I know, which is why I say we just take over and handle this ourselves."

"We can't do that."

"Why not? It'd be so much easier. These children have no idea what they're doing."

"But they deserve the chance to figure it out. These are their bodies, and their lives. It wouldn't be right to rob them of their choice."

He sighed. "You're right."

"Aren't I always?." She nipped at his neck before running off, knowing how much he loved to chase her. The bedroom shifted back into the forest with each step she took. Leah would be awake soon, and she would have to leave him for the morning, so she relished every second she got to spend with her mate.

She couldn't wait until the day she got to do it properly.

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