(A/N: I mention this in the chapter, but in case anyone was wondering, Leah and Jacob are both still phasing and still look the same ages they looked in Breaking Dawn. Enjoy!)
Part Eight
"You're the song playing on the background
All alone but you're turning up now
And everyone is rising to meet you, to greet you
Turn around and you're walking toward me
I'm breaking down and you're breathing slowly
Say the word and I will be your man, your man"-The Fray, Say When
Leah walks into the family room, where Jacob is waiting for her.
"You don't want me in your life?" he asks.
"You heard what I said?" Leah snaps.
Jacob nods. "Every word. Look, Leah, I can leave if you don't want me here. I can go back to how I was living before I came back here."
"How was that?" Leah asks, genuinely curious.
Jacob shudders. "It was horrible. Just wandering in the woods, hunting when I was hungry, sleeping when I was tired. I almost forgot what it was like to be human." He runs a hand through his long, dirty hair. He can't remember the last time that he had gotten a haircut. "I don't want to live like that," he admits quietly.
"You don't have to," Leah says.
"If you don't want me here…" Jacob murmurs.
"I never said that," Leah insists. "I said it was too soon. I said that I wasn't sure if I was completely ready to let you back into my life yet."
"So when will you be ready?" Jacob demands. "Ten years from now? Twenty? Leah, I want to know what I should be doing with my life, not waiting for you to make a decision."
"Just…give me some time, okay?" Leah asks. "I wasn't expecting that you would come back. I need time to decide. Not ten years, but time."
Jacob nods, then after a long silence, asks, "Leah?"
"Yes, Jacob?"
"Is…Is Scarlett a werewolf?"
Leah shakes her head. "No. There's no vampires around here anymore. And girls can't phase anyways."
"But you did."
"Scarlett is not going to be a werewolf. She is not going to have to go through the same thing that I went through…that I'm still going through. I can't stop phasing, like Sam and some of the other wolves have. I just can't."
"I never heard you phase in those fifteen years…" Jacob mumbles.
"That's because I taught myself how to just…not think," Leah explains.
Jacob remembers how Leah always wished that she didn't have to think, especially when she was in wolf form. He wonders if his leaving was what finally enabled her to grant her own wish. Then, looking into her eyes, Jacob realizes something.
"Oh, Leah, I've missed you," he mumbles. Then, even though he knows he shouldn't, especially while Scarlett is around, he kisses her. He promises to himself to memorize the way she tastes, the way their mouths mold together, everything, so if Leah doesn't choose him, he'll still have the memory of her.
Leah leans her head back as Jacob's mouth moves to her neck. "I love you, Jacob," she whispers.
"I thought that you weren't sure," Jacob mocks, bringing their faces closer together. "I thought you needed time."
"I thought so, too," Leah says. Then she jumps. "Sh-shoot!" she exclaims, still in the habit of not swearing from when Scarlett was younger. "Scarlett! I can't do this, not right now."
Jacob steps back from Leah, nodding sadly. "I understand," he says softly.
"I-I'm sorry, Jacob," Leah says, even though she knows that she shouldn't be sorry at all. "I-I need to go to the bathroom," she says, excusing herself and leaving Jacob alone.
Jacob slowly removes the ring from his pocket, mad at himself for missing his chance.
This time, when he stares at the ring, he remembers when he first bought it for Leah.
*
Leah had called him to say that she had news. She sounded very nervous, so Jacob had raced over to her house. That was when Leah told him that she was pregnant. She told him about how she had gone to see Carlisle, and he confirmed that she was pregnant. She told him that they didn't know how it was possible, but she was. Jacob had kissed her and assured her that their child would be the best child that ever lived, and that he would be the best father ever. (At the time, he didn't know how wrong he was.)
The next day, he went to buy a ring so he could ask Leah to marry him. He would have wanted to marry her even if she wasn't pregnant. Leah being pregnant just gave him another reason to marry her.
After he bought the ring, it was stashed in his drawer for a few months. He was waiting for just the right time to ask Leah.
He didn't know that the right time would be when Leah would turn him down.
*
Jacob closes his hand around the ring and holds it so tightly that he can feel it pressing against his hand.
He missed his chance, and he doesn't know when or even if he'll get another one.
(A/N: If anyone was hoping to see more of Scarlett in this chapter, sorry, I decided to have a blackwatery chapter. Signed reviewers get a preview of the next chapter! Review!)
