AN:
Billy (groggily as he wheels himself into the kitchen): "Jake, what on earth are you doing up?! It's 7.00 am on a Saturday morning. Do you have patrol?"
Jacob (laughing): "No! Dad, the readers are here and I wanted to meet them. Besides how could I sleep in today?! It's going to be the most amazing day ever! I can feel it! I don't want to miss a second of it. .... Do you think I can go over and see Leah now? (looks hopeful)"
Billy (yawning): "Son, it's 7.00 am, besides we agreed you were to go there after lunch…"
Jake: "(very disappointed) I guess I'll have to wait… (Makes the saddest puppy eyes ever) Is it after lunch soon?"
Billy (sighs): "(mumbles to himself) Taha Aki give me strength! It's gonna be one loooong morning. (Loudly turning to Jake) You want scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast?"
Jacob: "Sure sure! (enthusiastic again) Can we call it brunch instead of breakfast, then it'll be after lunch-time sooner!"
Billy chuckles and shakes his head.
Jacob (starts eating): "(sighs longingly) Leah. She's amazing. We'll be friends again and then… (blushes and closes eyes breathing heavily mumbling something to himself.) It's gonna be magic! (tries to stifle a groan)! Uh…Gotta take a shower."
Billy (shakes his head, mumbles to himself): "Taha Aki, what did I wrong raising him?"
Jacob (to the reviewers when in shower): "You've been inspiring me, and don't ever tell Leah, but sometimes I think of you, yes YOU (points at his favorite reviewer) when I…uh…do my morning exercise. (groaning and growling while exercising.)"
Jacob comes out of the shower two hours later, only in a towel, water dripping on his broad chest, smiling and dancing and singing along with the radio.
Billy (muttering): "God, who told the boy that he should compensate the lack of talent with volume. I need earplugs."
Jacob, knocking over furniture as he "dances", grabs the handles of Billy's wheelchair and spins him around inhumanly fast, exclaims: "Dad! I'm so happy! I can't stop thinking of this being a perfect day and that I'm spending it with Leah."
Billy (looking nauseous after the insanely fast spinning): "Why don't you get over to the Clearwater's already?! I'm sure Harry won't mind if you to get there a couple of hours earlier than we agreed on especially since you're in such a happy mood, I'm sure he'll enjoy it. (grins evilly to himself as he says the last part)"
Jacob takes off in a mad dash almost forgetting to put his pants on.
Billy wheels back to his bedroom and decides to go back to sleep: "(mumbles pleased to himself) Let Harry handle him…It's his daughter who's making my son crazy after all.... Muhahhahhahhhaaa…."
A PERFECT DAY
Jacob manages to calm his fast sprint to a leisurely stroll mere seconds before the Clearwater's house becomes visible. There's no need to let everyone know exactly how much he's been looking forward to this and how he has been running the entire way, not getting there fast enough.
"JAKE! Hey Jake!" Seth hops off the fence he's been sitting on and rushes towards Jacob, waving and calling Jake's name eagerly.
What Jacob wouldn't give for it to be Leah running up to him like this, looking that excited.
"I think it's great you'll help us paint the tool shed. Dad hasn't been feeling well, and I've never painted before. Lee says we don't need any help, but that's just because she thinks she's the best at everything." Seth chatters frowning a little at mentioning his older sister. "She tried to make us start painting already but I told her that we should wait for you!"
Jacob laughs at how indignant Seth sounds when he tells about Leah's suggestion that they should've started painting without him, but even more so his laughter is inspired by the typical Leah-stance thinking she can do everything on her own. Maybe not because she's thinks she's better than everyone else like Seth claims, but because she always wants to be so damn independent. That's something he really likes about her. There might be other independent women and girls out there in the world, but none of them compares to Leah. Come to think of it he can only name a handful of women who have all the qualities he admires like self-reliance, strength, passion and fierceness, starting with Leah at the top of his list. Then there's Leah's mother of course, and his sisters, but after that he can't really think of anyone. And no one is like Leah. She's simply awesome. He doesn't know anyone like her. She's never afraid to speak her mind, always tries her best no matter what and never gives up just because things get a little rough. She truly has the spirit of a warrior.
The reason for his admiration of strong independent women has of course something to do with the fact that his sisters have been his female role models and they have always been headstrong and very capable of managing on their own all their lives, and from what he remembers and has heard of his mother she was a very independent woman too who always spoke her mind. His memories of her are faint, but from what remembers she was the bravest, funniest and kindest woman ever and he misses her terribly. Somehow he imagines that she was a lot like Leah and when he is with Leah he feels like his mother is with them in spirit as strange as that might sound. Maybe it's because he remembers how much his mother liked Leah and how, when he as a kid told her that he would marry Leah someday, his mother had told him that he couldn't chosen a better girl. He knows that his mother was right in that. There's no one better suited than Leah for him in the world.
All of his thoughts halt completely when he spots her sitting on the lawn with her back against the tool shed, eyes closed, face blissfully turned towards the rare sun shining. She's wearing sweatpants and an old red hoodie and to Jacob she looks absolutely gorgeous. Jacob, much similar to the way Seth acted earlier, wants to run to her, to bounce around her, jump up in her lap and kiss her. But he tries to keep his cool. Tries really hard, especially to control his canine desire of pressing his face against her neck and greedily sniff every inch of her skin and then lick her face and hands. She's like a wonderful mystery to him, and every time he smells her he feels he gets a little closer to revealing the secret of her until he one day will have her completely unlocked, until he knows everything about her, until she is his. He can never get enough of smelling, looking and listening to her, and the urge to soak in her scent and mark her with his own is so strong it's tangible in the air around him. To smell himself on her would be absolute heaven. Oh, he yearns for it to happen soon.
Considering the avalanche of desire that makes his entire body tingle, the crazy flipping in the pit of his stomach, how his chest swells and his groin achingly stiffens, he is doing pretty well by simply standing and staring at her longingly. He's getting better at controlling his behavior around her. To some degree at least. What Jacob can't stop is the sparkle in his eyes and the wide happy grin on his face that says more than words ever could. Would this be a poker game Jacob would've lost. He's sure he looks every part of the lovesick fool he feels like and quite honestly he does, but he couldn't care less right now when she's here right in front of him.
"And the expert arrives..." Leah greets dryly, squinting her eyes against the sun, looking at the boys. Slowly she gets up from the ground, brushing some of the dirt off her pants. He could do that for her! Would love to do that for her! It requires some serious self-control on Jacob's part to not to reach out and help her to get the dirt of her thighs and ass.
"I told dad that Seth and I could handle it by ourselves. How hard can it be to paint?" she questions sounding a little grumpy and also somewhat challenging. "But nooo, apparently your some kind of an expert according to dad and Sethy." Leah huffs.
"The paint's there" she points, strolling to the paint buckets and picking up a paint brush she throws his way and he casually catches it with one hand.
"We might have to do some prep work first before we can start painting." Jacob smiles at her, putting the paint brush back down.
"I'll told you Lee, it's good to have Jacob here. He knows what he's doing!" Seth exclaims and Jacob has to laugh. It's not like Jacob hasn't noticed how Seth admires him, although Jacob really doesn't understand why. It's kind of adorable albeit sometimes a little annoying, but Seth will probably grow out of it. Besides, Jacob will hopefully sort of become Seth's brother in the future, his brother-in-law, and little brothers look up to their older brothers, right?
Leah's eyes twinkle and she looks a little triumphant, "Ha! I've already prepared it. The surface is scrubbed and cleaned. I checked on the Internet what to do before painting!"
Jacob laughs even more. It's really cute how proud she is of herself. He inspects the shed anyway and comes to the same conclusion as she; there is no need for real prep work like scraping off old paint or even having to use a primer before painting.
"Told you so!" she gloats.
He laughs in return, bumping his shoulder gently against hers, "I guess you're as good at this as me." he tells her and she smirks at both him and Seth, catching Seth in a headlock and ruffling his hair, as Seth protests in vain and tries to struggle free shrieking for Jacob to help him, which Jacob has no intention of doing. In fact he decides to help Leah by grabbing Seth's kicking legs and together they start to carry Seth towards the tool shed, laughingly debating locking him in there, while Seth trashes around shouting about the unfairness of Leah and Jacob ganging up on him. Jacob would gang up on just about anyone as long as he can do it together with Leah.
The noises might be what draw Harry outside, having realized that Jacob has arrived long before the agreed lunch time, feeling the need to come out and keep and eye on him. Jacob doesn't really mind, since he isn't completely sure he really can be trusted alone with Leah at all times. Not yet at least, although he feels pretty confident he will be able to make it just fine today. He has already fought back very compelling temptations he badly has been wanting to give in to.
"Morning Harry!" Jacob calls dropping Seth's legs at the same time as Leah releases her hold on him, "How's it going?"
"Fine, fine! There's nothing better than to watch other people work!" Harry chuckles as he sits down on one of the lawn chairs.
"Are you alright dad?" Leah asks tentatively.
"Sure, sure. It's just a cold baby girl." Harry smiles, but Leah doesn't look convinced. Jacob remembers Seth telling him that Harry hasn't been feeling well, and it shows clearly on Harry's face. Harry had looked perfectly fine yesterday, but now he looks awfully tired, and a little pale. He must have a really bad cold. Jacob hopes Leah won't get sick too. He doesn't want Leah to be sick ever. Not that he likes Harry to be unwell either, but the thought of Leah being under the weather disturbs him much more, makes him worried. But if she was to become sick he would come over and take care of her. If she would let him of course.
"You want me to get you something?" Leah asks walking up to the lawn chair Harry is sitting on. "Dad!" she exclaims angrily when she sees what he has on the plate he has put on the table, two very greasy sandwiches and some peach pie from yesterday. "You know you aren't supposed to eat stuff like that. The doctor said… The cholesterol..."
Harry only laughs as he interrupts her. "I'm fine baby girl! A couple of sandwiches won't kill me. Seth! Could you run in and get me my coffee?"
Seth does as he is told and Leah glares at Harry's sandwiches, before she scowls and stomps back to the shed. "He's so stubborn!" she mumbles quietly to herself.
"Like father, like daughter!" Jacob grins when she comes back to the paint buckets by the shed where he's standing.
"Don't you just have the biggest ears ever?!" she calls back making a face at him.
Jacob laughs heartedly: "All the better to hear you with!"
Leah's rolling her eyes. "Geez, next you be telling me that the reason you have such a big mouth isn't to torture the world with your opinions on everything, but to better eat me with!"
Jacob's heart stops and then kick-starts pounding furiously and his face flushes. He can't resist it. It's impossible. She's dressed in a red hoodie after all and he is a wolf. And- and that story about little red riding hood and the big bad wolf… There is just something terribly arousing with it. Images, starring him and her in very different scenarios from the original story, floods his mind making him hazy with desire. Meeting her in the woods and then… oh...then having her follow him in to the woods, tearing off her red hoodie, her velvety smooth skin bare for him to lavish with his tongue, nipping at her skin with his dangerously sharp canine teeth, marking her as his by biting her neck, rolling around on the pine needles and moss...
Two swift strides and he is boxing her in against the walls of the shed. The longing and adoration that has been on his face ever since he laid eyes on her this morning is replaced with a look of pure hunger.
"You're the one dressed like the little red riding hood" he gives a very wolfish smile tugging on the strings of her hoodie with his long fingers. Then he leans even closer, "And I would love to get a taste of you!" Somewhere in the back of his mind Jacob registers with surprise how rough his voice sounds and is astonished by the words coming out of his mouth, but the wolf in him recognizes the truth of his tone of voice, words and actions. Long gone is the lovesick puppy, this is a hunter before it's prey, all predatory male wolf standing in front of the female he intends to win, to have as his. Make her his!
Everything has stilled around them, or at least that's what it feels like to Jacob. There is only him and her, and the rush of heat and lust making him tremble with desire, all egged on by the way her heart hammers, the hitch in her breath and the pink glow on her cheeks. And all of it for him, because of him!
She opens her mouth as if to say something, but no words come out.
"That-that was the-the lamest line ever..." she finally manages to stutter, her voice wavering. Jacob's past talking right now, only knowing how to growl and groan. He feels completely intoxicated by her presence, his breathing a labored and uneven pant. She tries to stand taller, tries to put on a show of being unaffected, of standing her ground but it's to no avail when his hand tangles in her hair fisting it and tilting her head so her neck is exposed to him. She loses balance, desperately trying to steady herself, but there's no room for her to move in his hold, his body pressing her against the wall of the shed. He buries his nose against her bare neck inhaling deeply. Divine!
Neither register the clearing of a throat coming from Harry.
"As I remember there was a woodsman who cut open the wolves stomach in that story!" Harry's voice calls loudly, slightly amused but laced with a hidden warning the wolf recognizes. The sound of Harry's voice seem to wake both from their trance. Leah violently jerks her head away from Jacob's grasp, trying to duck under his arm at the time pushing against his body in an effort to escape. The wolf doesn't want to let her go.
"Better not forget that this little red riding hood's father is pretty skilled with the ax. Got one in that shed right there, Jake! So better not try to get a taste my daughter!" Harry continues, the warning more clear now.
"DAD!" Leah cries out horrified and Jacob releases her taking two quick steps back as Leah storms off running inside slamming the door behind her with such force the windows rattle, knocking over the cup of coffee Seth is bringing outside.
"What's wrong with Leah?" Seth innocently asks.
"Uh..um...uh" Jacob only manages to stutter.
"Don't worry Jake! Lee's always acting weird. It will be much more fun when it's just you and me painting the shed." Seth consoles Jacob. But how could it ever be more fun without Leah? That's something Jacob can't even try to comprehend. It's only the warning look on Harry's face that stops Jacob from rushing after Leah.
Jacob and Seth have already finished painting one of the walls when Leah finally reemerges. Jacob has had a hard time concentrating on painting in her absence and he has only grunted in response to Seth's non-stop chatter, not that this has discouraged Seth the slightest. Leah pauses to look at Harry who has fallen asleep on the lawn-chair and is snoring loudly before she finally heads to the shed.
"Where did you go Lee?" Seth asks. "Look! We've already painted one wall. Doesn't it look great?" Seth tugs her by her hand and proudly shows off his and Jacob's work. Most of it done by Jacob and as everything Jacob does with his hands his touch is almost perfect. It's quite obvious which parts have been painted by Jacob and which by Seth.
"Here!" Seth gives her a paint brush and they all move on to the next wall, Leah carefully avoiding to meet Jacob's intense stare.
Seth's doing most of the talking as the continue painting, but after a while the awkwardness Jacob managed to create between himself and Leah by his earlier action is forgotten, and Leah's soon smiling and laughing at Seth's jokes and even at some of Jacob's too, although Jacob is unusually tongue-tied.
It's comfortable working next to the Clearwater siblings, they find a nice steady work rhythm together. It's obvious Leah likes to work hands, maybe just as much as Jacob himself. Maybe they could work on one of his cars next? Like when they fixed up her bike all those years ago, and he showed her how to change the tire and they had pimped it up and painted it green, because she had hated the fact that it was pink. He's already daydreaming of all the projects they could work on together in the future.
Seth's paint strokes are messy and he drips paint everywhere, but Leah never loses her patience in trying to show him over and over again how to hold the brush to not drip paint or how to make the strokes longer, leaving less paint running. She only frowns when Seth refuses her help and insists on having Jacob show him instead.
"That's right Seth, let the expert show how it's done." Jacob grins looking straight at Leah, who scowls at his words. It's fun teasing her like this, because she looks absolutely adorable when she gets peeved by Seth preferring Jacob's help over hers. She's competitive like that and also clearly finds her little brother's idolization of Jacob ridiculous.
It's early spring and not that warm yet despite the sun, but the work Jacob's doing matched with his inhuman body temperature makes him sweaty and soon enough he takes off his shirt. He can feel Leah's gaze on him, but when he turns around she pretends to be concentrating on painting. Ha! He knows she's looking, because the second he turns around he can feel her eyes on him again. This knowledge thrills him to no end. He'll catch her and then he'll… Well he doesn't know what he'll do then, but he wants to catch her looking at him.
As always he gets impatient when she expertly manages to not get caught gawking at him, so he has to make her look. "See this? I've sort of been working out. Like what you see Lee?" he asks and flexes his muscles a little.
Leah huffs, but she can't hide how her eyes travel over his body. "The paint is dripping." she criticizes Jacob's work instead adding a mischievous grin.
"Let's see how good your painting technique is then!" he's challenging her, jumping down from the ladder he's been standing on. "See if all those karate lessons paid off. Isn't that what they do at the beginners level your on; paint fences and wax cars. Wax on, wax off." He teases, knowing very well she's doing judo and not karate and has in fact a black belt. "That's why you're such an expert on painting!"
"Watch it or I'll show you some of my technique!" She threatens taking fast steps towards him holding her paint brush like a knife.
He stands his ground, eyes glittering, daring her to make a move. There is a slight deliberation, but then she goes for it, a bold stroke of paint landing on Jacob's bare chest. She stares at it completely mesmerized for a second. One heartbeat, two heartbeats...then...Jacob dives for her and she's running barely managing to duck under his arms.
Paint is flying and soon it's a strange mixture of tag and fencing that they are at. Leah expertly avoids his attacks, but his longer limbs make up for her ability's to dodge his advances and soon she has paint on her face, her clothes and Jacob's chest is blotched with red paint all over it.
"What are you doing?" Seth shouts sounding flustered and is rewarded with getting paint thrown on him by Leah as Jacob hoists Seth in front of him as a shield.
"Ugh" Seth sputters completely soaked in red paint, watching as his sister flies across the lawn with Jacob at her heals disappearing round the corner of the house.
She's fast and agile, dashing this way then that, trying to shake Jacob of her heels, her speed and agility only spurring the wolf on. He's dead set on his target now that the hunt has begun. As he gains on her she makes the mistake of turning her head to glance at him, making her falter a little in her step and that's all it takes for him to reach her.
He laughs happily when he throws his arms around her waist in a strong hold making both tumble down on the ground, the wolf making sure that his female doesn't get hurt as they roll around in a tangled mess of limbs. He really can't help the excited whining noises that escape him when he finally has captured her in his arms.
When they come to a full stop they're lying on their sides, facing each other, his arms wrapped around her, and one of his legs slung over her hip. He can roll her anyway he likes, could cradle her on top of him, or pin her down under him once he decides what way to move.
She is sweaty and he loves that because it makes her scent come out stronger, her cheeks are rosy and her skin glistens. She's out of breath and panting from the run and he imagines she will look this radiant after they have made love.
"I caught you" he whispers softly remembering the human way of communicating. The wolf has noticed that his female sometimes seems to not understand his wolfish signals all that well, even when playing animal games of running and catching and even when the wolf can read how she responds positively to his actions, but then she always does something contradictory that confuses the wolf. That's the only reason the wolf let's the human boy surface as he holds his female.
"You're such a dork Jake!" she tells him but there is tenderness in her voice and Jacob can't do anything but tighten his grip on her and stare deep into her eyes pressing his forehead against hers.
"So what are you gonna to do about it now that you've caught me?" she questions smiling teasingly, biting her lip. His calloused thumb softly touches her face brushing a strand of her hair from her face, his eyes falling to her lips and then traveling back to her eyes. A low growl rumbles deep in Jacob's chest. He knows what he wants to do, what the wolf wants him to do, but his father's and Harry's word ring in the back of his head. Friends… He messed up the last time, so maybe he should wait now? Maybe. But he doesn't want to! He wants to kiss her!
"What do you want me to do?" he whispers hoarsely. "Tell me!" he orders not waiting for her response before he rolls her onto her back, moving his body domineeringly over hers, but making sure not to pin her. She can escape if she wants to, but there is no way to misunderstand what he wants. But he wants her to want it, and wants her to say it!
Jacob doesn't know if it's the fact that he is cursed somehow, because once again someone ruins his moment before it reaches perfect bliss.
This time it's Sue's voice, "Why is there paint all over my lawn?!" as Jacob lifts his head he sees that all she lacks is war paint on her face. It's game over... for now at least, "And look at the state of you two! You're both covered in paint!" she admonishes. "Jacob Black, I would've thought you had grown out of your childish wrestling games and Leah, I've told you no judo outside the training center, last time you had Seth walking on crutches for over a week. This is not the WWE!"
Jacob knows better than to talk or move when Sue is on a war path, ready to strike, so he stays completely motionless, not even trying to give his signature smile. Right now he can't really manage one and he can't very well move either, because there is the slight risk that Sue will notice the bodily effects her daughter is inspiring in him.
"I'll expect you to clean this mess up!" Sue commands before she heads inside. "And don't think I'll serve you lunch before you have cleaned yourselves up!"
Jacob swallows hard before he rolls off of Leah, throwing himself on his back looking up at the sky, but bringing up one of his knees so his arousal won't be visible too clearly.
"Taha Aki! Why is my son covered in red paint from head to toe?" Sue's voice shrieks from inside the house. "Seth! You're dripping paint all over the floor. Oh my god, my kitchen cabinets. Outside! Now! Use the hose to clean yourself up!"
Leah starts laughing, still lying next to Jacob, her eyes fixed on the sky above them too, and Jacob joins her.
Seth comes outside, throwing himself down next to them, "Mom's on a warpath. I tried to wash off the paint by the kitchen sink and she went crazy just because I got paint on the kitchen cabinets." he sighs. "Are you looking at the clouds. Man, look at them fly. That one looks like a rabbit."
Leah chuckles and Jacob smiles, gently moving his hand to rest over Leah's. Ever so slowly she turns her hand around and curls her fingers around his until they're holding hands.
"I think it looks more like a wolf Sethy." Leah smiles giving Jacob's hand a slight squeeze. "I'll go help mom with lunch, why don't you finish off painting and clean up this before mom comes out yelling at us again?" she raises swiftly to her feet leaving the wolf lying on the ground staring at the sky where he clearly can make out at least three fluffy cloud-wolves running across the sky. The image warms his heart as his hand is missing the warmth of Leah's, it's odd how he with his perceptiveness to everything that is Leah manages to miss the fact that her hand wasn't that much colder than his own.
AN:
Jacob: "(whining) But I wanted to kiss Leah. That would've made the day perfect."
Jacob ponders. Gets a brilliant idea: "(to the reviewers) Hey, it's not too late for me to get my kiss for today. (Looks at his favorite reviewer). We can kiss! Yes, I'll kiss each and every one of you who review and especially YOU! (pointing at you, his favorite, and yes that's you!) But I'll only kiss my reviewers!"