All Twilight characters and storyline belong to Stephanie Meyers

Leah Clearwater: Fire, Redemption and Salvation

Part 2 Chapter 7: Washing clothes and baseball

The next morning dawned bright and clear again with a dry crisp winter air. I snuggled into the blanket that someone had thrown over me and thought about getting up. I was lethargic, not wanting to face the reality of the day after the night before and with the stirrings of a migraine from an overdose of vampire smells. In the end my body's need for the bathroom got me up and I decided that I had better stay up and make the most of the good weather to spend as much time as possible outside in the fresh air.

I walked through to the kitchen and peeked out the window, Carlisle and Esme were sunning themselves on the same bench as yesterday. I didn't want to disturb them and I didn't want to be given a list of Cullen family tasks to do either, so I quietly made breakfast and wondered what I could do instead. I fancied the idea of chopping more firewood, out in the open air, nothing but me, my axe and some wood to work out my frustrations on.

Esme came into the kitchen with a breezy 'Good morning Leah, how are you this morning ?'

I thought about being all bright and breezy in return but just muttered 'OK thanks, how are you ?'

She looked at me intently with a slight frown. 'I'm good thank you but you look rough. How about some fresh air to get you going ?'

This time my smile was brighter, 'I could chop some more firewood ? that would wake me up.'

She nodded in agreement, 'sounds good but we had better get the fire going in the range so that you can have a shower after your work out and Carlisle says to remind you about the coal delivery this morning so just put on work clothes.'

I cleared out the ash from yesterday and rebuilt the fire while Esme brought in more wood and coal. 'Esme, I still need to wash some clothes, how about I look for a laundromat after the coal delivery, I could take Jacob's washing as well if he has any.'

Esme pulled out a chair and sat down with a cautious expression on her face. 'I spoke to Alice last night about clothes for you.' I winced. 'She seemed reluctant.' I breathed out in relief. 'So I suggested that she talks to you about clothes when they have their next session with you.' I cringed with embarrassment and she laughed, 'Bella used to be reluctant as well and I think she still is although she seems to humour Alice more these days. In the mean time you will still need to wash bedding and towels so finding a laundromat would be a good idea.'

Carlisle was gone by the time I went outside to chop wood and I heard sounds coming from the garage which sounded like he was doing some interior remodelling. The smooth rhythm of the wood chopping cleared my head and relaxed my muscles. I was also making good progress in building up the wood pile but the next job would be to go and fetch wood from the forest.

I went back to the kitchen for a second breakfast and found Esme working on a pile of paperwork.

'Ah Leah,' she said, 'ready for work ?' and she laid out the paperwork across the kitchen table.

Reluctantly I went to sit next to her and scanned the papers, a timetable for a week and separate sheets for the different members of the family. I groaned as I read what had been written but Esme chuckled and ruffled my hair.

'Don't be like that, it will be fun.' I tried hard not to groan again as Esme went through the papers systematically. Edward and Bella had papers due to be handed in after the Easter holidays so they wanted to hold off working with me until after the hand in deadline. Alice and Jasper wanted to work with me outdoors, which would be weather dependent as it would need to be cloudy but not snowing or stormy so that would have to be flexible. Carlisle was going to give me basic medical training and Esme wanted me to go with her to the adult learning courses at Lebanon library. Rosalie wanted me to work on the Jeep they had bought for me and Emmett wanted to take me on field trips, perhaps overlapping with Alice and Jasper. However, in the middle of the table was the No1 priority – The Thomas's.

By my reckoning there needed to be 5 of me to even attempt what was laid out but Esme seemed relaxed, 'this is just a starting point Leah, we will see how we get on and modify your schedule accordingly. I have emphasised to everyone, including Carlisle, that you will need time to yourself as well and the opportunity to make your own friends.' I nodded with a bit more enthusiasm.

'By the way', continued Esme, ' your mum phoned last night and I brought the phone to your room but you were sound asleep. I let you mum hear your snoring.' She chuckled, 'I said you were just worn out and that I would make sure you phoned her today, so before you go to the Thomas's, OK ?'

I felt awful, how could I have forgotten to call my mum !

We both heard a truck pull onto our service road and I got up to supervise the coal delivery. Esme gave me Carlisle's notes to make sure they unloaded what he had agreed with them. By the time they were finished I was covered in coal dust and our yard seemed full of sacks of coal, there was far too much for us. As the truck roared out onto the highway Esme and Carlisle joined me in the yard. I noticed that Carlisle was covered in dust and wood shavings and wondered what he had been up to in the barn.

'Right,' said Carlisle, 'Can you help me sort this lot out please Leah, we will fill the coal store and then the rest will have to go into the barn for now.' Esme interjected, 'perhaps Edward will take some for their house.' and Carlisle nodded.

'Could I take some round to the Thomas's later ?' I asked. Esme smiled, 'that's a good idea,' and picked up a couple of bags to take to the barn.

'Esme, you will get all dirty carrying those bags,' observed Carlisle.

She grinned at him, 'and your problem with that is ?'

He laughed and picking up a couple of bags he followed her to the barn. I rolled my eyes and started stacking bags in the coal store by the house. I heard Esme run out of the barn squealing and turned in time to see Carlisle chasing her round the barn holding out coal streaked hands.

'Don't you dare Carlisle Cullen,' she screamed as she ran past me and hid behind the wood store.

Carlisle walked past me quietly with a finger to his lips and tip toed round the other side of the wood store.

I heard squealing and laughing and they both reappeared, Esme covered in coal dust and hugging Carlisle. I shook my head in disbelief and mused on the strange behaviour of vampires, larking around in the sun like innocent teenagers. Turning back to the coal store I wiped a tear from my eye, must be the coal dust.

Jacob and Renesmee appeared as we were finishing off, Renesmee giggling at the state her grandparents were in. I made lunch and argued with Renesmee about wanting blood instead of a sandwich while Esme and Carlisle went to clean up.

I asked Jacob about washing, 'Hey sounds good, beats washing clothes in the sink ! I could go with you and leave Renesmee here with Esme ?'

We heard Esme's voice floating up the corridor from the bathroom agreeing with Jacob's suggestion.

Renesmee smiled happily and slurped her blood, while making a face at me 'Aunty Leah, you will need to get cleaned up before you go out.'

Jacob laughed, 'I could just put her in one of the washing machines at the laundromat,' and they both laughed. The look they gave each other stirred more emotional pain inside me and I turned to the sink and pretended to wash dishes while blinking back the tears that welled up inside me. Of all my worries last night I had not considered that it would be living among happy loving people that would make me cry.

'Aunty Leah,' Renesmee asked, 'when are we going to see the horsey ?' It was strange hearing her talk, she normally used her weird mind link but with me she had always been more formal and I appreciated the gesture.

'We could maybe go round together later, after Jacob and I get back from the Laundromat.'

'Will it be safe ?' worried Jacob.

'For Renesmee or the horse ?' I retorted and Renesmee giggled.

Carlisle and Esme came into the kitchen and started tickling Renesmee so I quietly added more coal to the range to boost the hot water and went to get a shower.

After I was cleaned up Carlisle walked with Jacob and I to the barn and opened the door with a flourish. Wow, he had been busy. The barn had been cleared out, cleaned, the floor sealed and the space divided into a workshop for the cars and what looked like living accommodation.

'I've still got a lot more to do,' he said, 'I want to get the living space habitable before Easter so that we can live here while the house is being remodelled. I need to get water and drainage installed and I was hoping Jacob that you would help me.'

Jacob agreed, 'I don't know anything about water or drainage but I would be happy to help and it would be useful to learn about these things for when Edward and Bella remodel their house.'

Carlisle smiled, 'Thank you Jacob and I will have a word with Edward about making their barn more comfortable for you. I am talking to the utility company about uprating our power supply and I am thinking of bringing in a generator set in case we lose power in a storm. Once we have the basics in Esme can get started on the decorating, would you mind helping her on that as well Jacob ?'

Jacob nodded and I grinned, the Cullen's had clearly decided that Jacob's future was in building and decorating.

We walked over to my Jeep, it was a bit rusty in places but seemed in reasonable condition.

'Start her up Leah, let's hear how she sounds,' suggested Jacob. The engine started first time and sounded OK to me but Jacob pulled a face, 'needs tuning and the fan belt is squeaking but doesn't sound like anything serious.'

I turned off the engine and climbed out. 'Carlisle, why does Rosalie want me to take it apart ? Seems such a waste of time !'

'Well, I guess she wants you to know how it all works so that you can fix anything that goes wrong yourself and you can also customise it to suit your specific needs.'

'I have needs ?' I asked in an irritated tone.

He chuckled and glanced at Jacob who grinned back,

'If you are going to go travelling around the country then this,' he gestured to the Jeep, 'will become your home from home and now is your chance to fit it out for going up a mountain or through an inner city neighbourhood. Anyway you had better get going.'

Jacob and I climbed in and I carefully reversed out. Esme was waiting at the front door with bags of washing and I blushed at the thought of her going through all my dirty clothes but she just grinned and threw them in the back. I drove round to Jacob's barn and waited while he gathered up his washing, then carefully drove into town. Only when we got to town did I realise that I did not know where the Laundromat was and I did not have any cash on me. Esme bringing out the washing had stopped me going to my bedroom, where I had left my purse ready to take with me. I cursed under my breath 'Jake, I'm sorry I have left my purse back at the house, we will have to go back.'

He laughed, 'no worries, I have it covered,' and pulled out a stack of notes from his back pocket. 'Pull over at that drugstore and I will ask where the nearest Laundromat is.'

'Thanks Jake, you think of everything,' and pulled over carefully.

He patted me on my shoulder, 'Relax sis, anyway, do you need anything from the store ?'

I shook my head and he jumped out. I played with the radio while he was gone and managed to find a country and western station. When he came back he had a bag of snacks and directions.

The Laundromat was in a relatively run down part of town, looked like rented townhouse apartments, student accommodation perhaps ? Fortunately it was quiet so we could load all our washing into a couple of machines. The supervisor was a large cheerful black woman who eyed us suspiciously, 'Can I help you ?' Jacob smiled and held out his hand 'Hi, I'm Jacob and this is my sister Leah, we are new in town and need to get some washing done.' She looked at his hand, looked at his big confident smile and grinned, shaking his hand, 'Welcome Jacob to my Laundromat, I'm Delores, do you know how these machines work ?' and with that she chatted happily away with us, selling us laundry detergent, asking where we were staying and what we were doing. Once we had the machines going I asked Jacob if we could maybe take a walk around, explore the town. Delores said she would be happy to look after our washing for us and gave us directions to the centre of town.

Lebanon was way bigger than La Push and bigger than Forks and possibly bigger even than Port Angeles. As I looked around I noticed that people were stopping and staring at us, 'Jacob, what's with all these people ?'

His voice was tight, 'They have not seen people like us before, back home we were the majority but here we are the minority. Edward and Bella warned me about this and we are going to have to be careful to stay out of trouble.'

I stopped in surprise, 'Trouble ?'

His expression was serious, 'Leah, we are a long way from home and we do not want to attract any attention to the Cullen's, so yes, we have to think about where we are going, when and with whom. Daylight during the week should be OK, but we need to be careful about any other time.'

'This is ridiculous.' I said in astonishment, 'We have as much right to go where we please as anyone else !'

He shook his head, 'Rights don't always mean the same thing to different people.' Then he cheered up, 'but if you had some local friends you could probably go with them without any problems. They would know the places to avoid and you would be much less likely to get into trouble with locals with you.'

I paused to consider this and he continued 'Ironically, we would be attracting less attention if we were on our own.' He saw my surprise and continued 'we would be less visible. And if we wore the same clothes as everyone else then we would be even less visible.'

'Should we go back ?' I asked

He shook his head slowly, 'I think we will be OK for now, we need to get a feel for this place and check out what everyone else is wearing.'

We walked carefully around town, staying out of people's way, taking care not to accidentally jay walk or attract attention and trying to ignore the stares. We found a park and sat on a bench in the winter sunshine to eat the snacks Jacob had bought at the drugstore. I phoned my mum for a chat and reassured her that everything was going OK and Jacob spoke with her as well assuring her that we were looking out for each other. I told my mum about the card I had received, from MJ thanking me for my help with Shola and how it would be nice to meet up with them again sometime.

After promising to call again soon I hung up and chatted with Jacob about life with the Cullen's and joked about his new career as a builder / decorator. He chuckled, 'Well it makes sense and it does not sound as hard as what you agreed to last night,' and he glanced sideways at me in concern, 'Edward and Bella mentioned it briefly to me last night. Edward was amused at your being "ironic" but he did not elaborate.'

I sighed and recounted my promises from the night before and explained why I had committed myself.

'I'm worried Leah, worried that you have taken too much on.'

'I'm worried too Jacob but I trust Carlisle and Esme to help me make this work and perhaps it will all turn out for the best.'

'You've come a long way Leah, I'm proud of you.'

'Thanks Jake, but someone has to keep an eye on you,' I said teasingly.

That seemed to cheer him up, 'Thanks Leah, it would have been lonely without you around. That shawl my dad gave you, sounds like the one my grandmother had, I'm glad you have it now.'

I thought of the way the animals had seemed to dance in the firelight last night, 'It's very special Jacob, I will always treasure it.'

What looked like a group of students were playing baseball on the other side of the park and one of them hit a long ball in our direction, way over the head of the out fielders. Casually Jacob got up, waved to the fielder who was running towards us, walked over to the ball and threw it back, right over to the catcher. Jacob sat back down and stretched out his legs as the fielder ran up panting, 'Hey man, that was some throw, would you like to play ? We could do with some help.' Jacob laughed and declined saying that we needed to get back to the Laundromat but I interrupted, remembering Esme's suggestion that we should make some local friends,

'Maybe next time, you guys play here often ?' He grinned, his face lighting up as he looked down at me. 'Whenever we can, it's nice to get out when the weather is good. If you guys give me your cell phone number I could text you ?'

Jacob shifted uneasily but I grinned and raised my eyebrows in a question, 'Can I play as well ?'

He looked surprised and glanced at Jacob who must have been glaring at me as he looked back at me and I swear I could see the wheels moving in his head. We want this guy on our team, but do we have to take her as well ? What would the other guys say ? Then he laughed, 'Sure, why not ?' as he must have decided that it didn't matter.

I looked past him at his friends, who were all looking at us, waiting to carry on with the game. 'and your friends.' I asked, 'Will they let me play ?'

He turned and waved at his friends to carry on, then glanced back at me, his shoulders slumped, 'I guess that depends on how well you can hit the ball.' He admitted.

I pressed, 'How well would I have to hit the ball ?'

He seemed uncomfortable now and glanced at Jacob, who must still have been glaring at me.

'I don't know,' he sighed, 'like one of us I guess.'

I grinned, 'and do you think I could do that ?'

He laughed, 'I don't know, you look fit and I know a few girls who can swing a bat but I just don't know.'

I laughed as well, 'then I don't know if I should give you my number !' Jacob chuckled.

He focused on me then, searching my eyes, I don't know what he saw there but he grinned and held out his hand. 'I'm John Mortimer, and I believe you can hit a ball just as good as any of us.'

I shook his hand, 'Thank you John, I'm Leah and this is my brother Jacob.'

While John and Jacob shook hands I punched my number into John's cell phone.

'I will call you later Leah, I had better get back to our game.'

'Look forward to hearing from you,' I replied and with that he was off running across the park to rejoin his team.

'What was that all about ?' demanded Jacob as we walked away.

'Esme wants me to make friends.' I said defensively.

'But why him ? why them ?'

'It seemed like a good idea !'

'Did you imprint on him ?'

'Enough Jacob,' I was annoyed now, ' I did not imprint on him but that does not mean that I can't make friends, OK. You may be my Alpha but you need to trust my instincts, I'm supposed to be your Shaman, remember ?'

We bickered all the way back to the Laundromat. Our machines were just finishing and Delores came over to ask us about our walk. I said that I had been uncomfortable with all the stares and she looked sympathetic.

'Lebanon is OK honey, we have a big student population so around here so there is mix of peoples, white, black, Hispanic, Chinese, all sorts but you two are different. Not many Native Indian Americans around here and bless me you two are big ! You are going to stand out anywhere you go around here, but that is nothing compared to where I grew up. If you had been in my neighbourhood there would have been a gang of kids following you wanting to know where you were from.'

I sighed, this was going to take some getting used to.

'So you be careful and get yourself a good lawyer in case trouble comes looking for you.' I must have looked worried because she patted me lightly. 'Now don't worry yourself, I am sure your brother can look after you,' and she smiled at Jacob who smiled back.

Ha, as if I would need looking after but I thanked her politely and started sorting through the washing, arranging it in neat piles. Jacob was asking where the nearest large Wal-Mart was, which was curious.

After saying goodbye to Delores we loaded our clean washing into my Jeep and I asked Jake about Wal-Mart. 'We need a disguise, I was thinking student clothes; jeans, boots and college top and Wal-Mart will be the easiest place to pick them up.' I was impressed and grinned at him, sounds like a plan but we had better be quick if I am to get to the Thomas's before dark.

Wal-Mart's are the same everywhere, big soulless warehouses with identical aisles and layout. We went straight to the rack with our sizes, rummaged through what was there and loaded the trolley. In and out in 15 minutes with our disguises for the next time we went to town.

Once we were back home we showed Esme and Renesmee what we had bought and explained why. Esme looked pensive but nodded 'You can try them on later but you had better go on round to the Thomas's. Nessie and I baked muffins for you to take over.'