A/N: Expect updates on Saturday and Sunday, but if there won't be any, then I'm sorry. Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows.


IV

A little over six months later, just the Monday before Thanksgiving, there's a knock on Leah's front door. Well, seven, actually. The same seven knocks of the man she loves; Ryder's never changed his knock—not even once. With a genuine, natural smile upon her face, she leaves her couch to answer the door, and of course, it's Ryder. Beautiful Ryder Castillo, donning a t-shirt and jeans. She's about to ask why he's not at work, but he speaks before she can.

"Leah, I just want you to know that you're still beautiful and all," he begins, "but this isn't going to work out. I'm sorry."

"4. He is going to break your heart but he's just another male human who finds it hard to deal with Mondays, too. So in a month you'll wake up and you won't even remember that little scar on his knuckle you kissed."

She tries to not let her face crumple so unattractively, a face that her mother always told her was ugly and not at all ladylike, but she succumbs to her emotions, and it shows on her face. The worse thing is that Ryder doesn't look sorry at all, despite what he said.

The thing is, his mother died a week ago, and he's been pushing Leah away since. She's tried to talk to him about it plenty of times, because, honestly, she should understand what he's going through. She, of all people, should understand him like nobody else, not because she's his girlfriend, but because she knows what it's like to lose a parent. Leah Clearwater should be the only person Ryder talks to in the nearly-nine-miles between Silverdale and Bremerton, all because she knows. She really, truly, deeply knows.

Maybe that's why he's breaking up with her.

Ryder tries to reason with her as he stands on her doorstep—her still in the apartment—like the sorry sack of shit he is, and it's not going through to Leah. It hasn't been going through since he started with, Leah, I just want you to know that you're still beautiful. It's like now that they're breaking up, she's not beautiful. What bullshit. She sneers at him as he tries to reason his with her. At least she knows an outside source (like that motherfucking magic trick called imprinting) isn't preventing him from being with her; it's just him.

It's not hard to understand: he's a bit of a coward. He doesn't know what he has in front of him, either. Leah knows that, for sure, but she can't help but acknowledge the fact that they were going to do something and be something. He hasn't popped any pretty questions, but they were even planning on living together in December. (That's big for Leah, but is it too big for him?) Ever since they hit it off on the first date, things have been beautiful. Absolutely lovely and blissful. Better than anything she had with Sam. Now it's gone, and Leah just now realizes that maybe Ryder's not the kind of guy for her at all. They don't have as much in common as she thought, and it's not even that she's not his kind of girl; it's that he's not her kind of guy. She's mentally breaking up with him as he does the verbal part, and that still kind of hurts, especially since this was her first relationship in years and she even thought of ending it, right as he is.

Ryder's words fill her head, but they don't translate to her brain. He's too much for her… No, he's not enough for her. She's too loud… no, she's too submissive. She listens too much and he can't take her advice… No, her advice is terrible. The only thing that convinces Leah why he's breaking up with her is because he is a coward. He can't take it. It's a gross Monday morning, his mother died just before the holidays began, and his girlfriend—as stagnant as she's trying to be—is too much right now. In a perfect world, Leah would like to believe that he'll come back for her once he gets his shit together, but the world is not perfect, and he definitely won't. That's just the way it is.

Ryder finally finishes with an, "Okay?" Leah nods, and before she can cuss him out for ruining everything they had over the past six months, he says he's sorry again, and that she'll still be beautiful without him. It's still unqualified bullshit, and it's also utterly obvious that he really isn't like her at all; she would never say something so mindless and objectifying to the opposite sex.

"You're full of shit," she replies. "I've been beautiful before you, and I'll be beautiful after you, too. Okay?" Then she slams the door in his face, but instead of feeling empowered and strong after just taking down that heartless man and his objectification, but she feels the opposite. She supposes her Mondays are better than others', since she still gets to stay home and wake up at the same time, but now that she's had a taste of a shitty Monday, she can't help but feel sorry for every other working human in the world.

*.*.*

An even worse part to the Fall of the Epic Love Story of Leah and Ryder is that in December, they were going to attend Seth's wedding together, and everybody would see them as a couple for the first time. Sue and Seth knew about Leah and Ryder being together, but they're the only ones. And nobody—not even Seth—knows they broke up. A single Leah attending Seth's wedding to his imprint will be a surprise to her family, but not to anyone else. Maybe this is for the better.

After spending a lonesome Thanksgiving being thankful for TV dinners, whiskey, and Netflix, Leah drives the near-three-hours from Silverdale to La Push to attend his brother's wedding on December fifth. As far as she knows, Seth's the first of the pack to be married—since Sam and Emily, as well as Paul and Rachel, are taking forever—and even as Leah thinks it's because his bride is pregnant, she won't say anything.

Leah has met Alaska, her soon-to-be sister-in-law, only a few times. Alaska is a somewhat smart girl with a name that doesn't fit. Leah thinks Alaska's name is stupid, but she won't say anything. Seth imprinted on her, though, for whatever reason. (Leah doesn't think Alaska's very pretty, either, but she won't say anything about that.) When Seth calls, all he can talk about is Alaska, Alaska, Alaska. At least they'll be together for a long time.

Leah arrives at the reservation community center just before the ceremony starts, and after taking a seat next to her mother, who doesn't even ask about Ryder, she awaits the wedding party. By the time they're done walking down the aisle, it is shown that literally every other person in the pack but her is in the party. Colin is Seth's best man, and the rest of the pack—Brady, Jared, Paul, Sam, Embry, Quil, and Jacob—are dressed in tuxedos as groomsmen. The female counterparts are also familiar; they must all know Alaska, which wouldn't be surprising. Colin's imprint, Laura, is the maid of honor, and the rest of the imprints—Brady's Michelle, Kim, Rachel, Emily, Embry's Angelina, and even Claire and Renesmee—are lined up in their dresses and pride. It's a pretty attractive party, but Leah can't help but think Alaska isn't prepared for all of this. This is a big thing she's entering, and it's too bad she can't run. Then again, she shouldn't want to; Seth loves Alaska and Alaska loves Seth and that's the end of it. It's a shame that Seth didn't think twice to ask his own sister if she wanted to be in the bridal party; it's like he knew Leah and Ryder broke up all along. And to think of Leah being up there with the rest of the imprints and Ryder as a groomsman…

She never thought she would miss Ryder that much, but she does. She still does. Leah doesn't know much about romantic relationships to assume when she should be over it, but Ryder is not Sam, and she is definitely not over it. She's not sure if she can still imprint (probably not, though), but, God, if she could, she probably would have on Ryder. If she were normal (ha, imagine that) and imprinted on him like any other wolf, she would have somebody by her side right now, other than her mother on her left and an older man who smells like death on her right. She and Ryder would certainly love each other more if she imprinted. Come to think of it, why hasn't she imprinted on anybody yet? Leah. Carries. Three. Lines. If anybody should be Miss Fertile Myrtle, it should be her. There should have been a line of guys waiting to be imprinted on by her. Her wolves would be the strongest. Her period has come back with the lack of phasing, but she wonders if the magic is still here… It makes her shiver.

Oh.

Well.

Seth and Alaska are kissing.

What a quick ceremony.

Everybody has stood up, and she's the last to do so—it's embarrassing. As she claps and cheers for her twenty-two-year-old brother and his most-likely-pregnant bride, she's happy for him. She'll have a little niece or nephew soon—she's sure of it. She just wishes she could be in the bridal party, too. They could have found a date for her… right? She sighs. She'll just have to be the crabby, twenty-seven-year-old big sister/aunt/sister-in-law/utter burden that doesn't come home for every holiday, but when she does, it's certainly interesting. Leah can live up to that.

In the crowd, on the way to the reception, Sue asks Leah where Ryder is. Is he working? How's he coping with what happened to his mom? How are things between him and Leah?

When Leah reveals that things are nonexistent between her and Ryder, Sue just tsk-tsks. "Silly girl," she says. "Won't you ever figure out how to not be lonely?"