Hello! I know it's been a while but I'm still alive!! I apologize that it has been a while since the last time I posted but I have to admit only wonderful things have kept me away. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. So here is the next chapter…enjoy!

About 25 years ago…

"Leah, one day I'm going to marry you."

I kept my eyes closed, feeling the sun on my face. A smile danced on my face, as it always did when he said that. My boyfriend, Sam, told me every day that we had dated that he was going to marry me, starting on our first date.

"Don't believe me?" he asked.

I turned my head and opened one eye, keeping the other closed off from the sun. His face was close as he turned towards me. He grinned as he shielded his eyes with his hands. This was how we always spent our Sunday afternoons, sitting on top of his car parked towards the edge of the cliff off La Push beach, just watching the sun go down. Unfortunately the ritual had been broken a month ago, but I was happy now that things were getting back to normal. His unexpected absence still stung but I promised myself I would get over it, just glad to see he was back safe and thankfully still in love with me. I had to keep trying to forgive and forget.

"I'd believe you more if you told me where you were last month," I said in an effort to sound casual but it came out as interrogation. Let it go, Leah, just let it go, I chanted in my head. But I couldn't…I just couldn't.

Immediately he sighed and his smile completely disappeared.

"Please Leah, not this again. I've apologized a million times. If I could tell you…you know I would," Sam said.

I snorted and turned my face back to the sun. I didn't want to have another fight about this again but it was eating away at me. I couldn't understand. Normal people don't just take off and disappear for a month and then come back to never wanting to discuss what happened. I needed to know why he left and if he never told me I would always assume that it was because of me. I'll always wonder if it was something that I did. The once solid relationship that I had felt with him was now a shaky one. We had to take it one day at a time.

"I just don't understand what you're hiding…why you can't tell me. I thought we didn't have secrets between us."

"We don't…"

"Obviously we do," I countered right back.

I heard him sigh and shift himself back down on his car. A moment of silence passed and I refused to be the first one to break.

"I just…had to get a way," he finally started. "It had nothing to do with you. I just needed to…find myself."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Well did you? Find yourself?" I said as sarcastically as I could, "Or are you still lost?"

He turned again towards me as he reached over to trace the side of my face with his finger. I looked up at him to find myself without reason of why I wanted to continue being upset or angry. It was easy to do when he flashed me that favorite smile of mine.

"Yes, I found that I couldn't live without you. That I'm going to need you forever," he said.

My hand reached out to his hand that was tracing my face and held it closer to my cheek. His skin always ran hotter than I remembered. I had asked him about it a few times, worried that he was getting sick but he always shrugged it off as if it was nothing. Now I just relished at the warmth.

"You promise?" I said softly.

"I promise that I will always love you, I promise that we will always be together…and I promise I will never let you go."

~*~*~*~*

Present Day…

My hair was damp from the sprinkle of rain that was cast down on the city. The once beautiful gown was now ruined and clung to my skin. I made it to my home and didn't say a word to Annabel who had silently walked beside me all the way home. A nod of my head was all I could do to say goodbye. My feet were heavy as I took the steps slowly to my door. I held my tears for the most part, only cursing the few that escaped during my walk. I just needed to get home. I refused to have a break down on the streets of New York. I wanted the privacy of my bed and the sanctuary of my blankets to cover me up, where I could lose myself emotionally to what just happened.

The lock clicked easily and I pushed opened my door. I heard Annabel's steps move away when she saw that I had made it inside safely. As I relocked my door, a sudden choke of a cry escaped my mouth. I quickly covered it up with my hand trying with everything I had to hold it in. I just had to make it to my bed. Very quickly I dropped my handbag on the table of my entrance way and made my way to my bedroom. I sniffled as I wiped the tears away from my eyes that were making it difficult to see. I flipped the light switch and my heart stammered harder when I found him sitting on the edge of my bed waiting for me. We stared at each other for a moment. I waited for him to speak first.

"How could you not tell me?" Lucas finally spat out.

I remained silent, staring at him as he dropped his head in his hands. His hands frustratingly ran through his hair. He wasn't looking at me, his eyes focus on the floor.

I didn't speak. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to yell at him for lying to me…for never mentioning he promised himself to someone else. My feelings were confused and conflicting. As much as I wanted to push him out of my bedroom window and tell him I never wanted to see him, I wanted to hold him close and beg him to never leave me even more. I hated feeling this way. I despised this control he had on me. I closed my eyes and leant my body against the wall, praying that somehow everything would turn out okay in the end.

I felt a gush of wind and a sudden warm breath near my face. My eyes shot open to find him towering above me, his arms stretched out on either side of me. His eyes glared furiously down at me. His anger so strong, that my heart started to beat faster with fear.

"I told my father he was wrong…I didn't believe him. I told him that there was no way you could be on the side of those bloodsuckers," his voice so low and frightening. He dipped his head closer to my face and I cowered in front of him turning my face to the side. I couldn't look at him and the words seemed to be caught in my throat when I tried to open my mouth to defend myself.

"I can't believe I was so stupid to fall for your games," he spat once more. He grabbed my face roughly.

"Look at me," he demanded. I reluctantly looked up at him, to find his eyes boaring into mine. "Was making me the fool your plan all along? Was it your mission to get close to me to learn all our secrets so you could expose us to your friends?"

I didn't answer, my heart beating harder in my chest. My tears started to stream down my face. I was at a complete loss for words.

"Dammit, Leah! Answer me!" he yelled at me. His body was tense, almost shaking with fury. He leaned his head down and I could feel his breath on the side of my face.

"Answer me," he growled low in my ear.

"Do you love her?" I choked out. I had to know.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes," I said as shoved him away from me so he could no longer tower over me. He stumbled, surprised by my strength. I looked him straight in the eye as he looked back at me as if he was trying to search for something inside me.

"Why Leah? Why would it matter? Is this some game to you?" he growled at me. "Is this some victory you want to claim?! I bet you and your bloodsucker friends think it's hilarious that I was tricked into falling for you!"

"I'm not the only guilty one here Lucas. You lied too. In all of the time we had spent together you never mentioned you were engaged! What were your intentions all along? What was I to you?! Was I just one last fling before your wedding?!"

We glared angrily in silence to one another. Now it was just a contest to see who would break first and speak. The tension in the air was so thick I could choke on it.

"Tonight was the first time I met her," he whispered sounding defeated. "It was arranged. I was trying everything I could do to stop it."

I didn't know what to say. I felt relieved that this marriage wasn't his choice and that he had been trying to stop it. Everything was slowly starting to make sense. The moment was becoming uncomfortable with deafening silence.

"Why…why didn't you tell me?" I finally asked him.

"What would that have achieved?"

"I don't know."

"Why didn't you tell me, Leah? What is that you want from me?"

"Nothing…I just wanted you."

He snorted and took a step back.

"So did you get all the secrets you needed to tell your vampire friends?" he seethed.

"No…no Lucas," I stepped towards him trying desperately to figure out how to make him understand that my feelings were real. "Everything…all of it… was real to me."

I took a step towards him and reached out to touch his chest but he flinched away from me. His shoulders hunched over, his whole body language screamed defeat. I watched as he shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way out of my room.

Instinctively I reached out again, not willing to let him go.

"Please Lucas," I choked out. "Please. I love you."

My eyes became wide as I realized what had just left my mouth. I stared at him and watched as I could have sworn I saw his face soften. But as quick as I saw it, it was gone – replaced with even more fury.

"Don't…Do-"

"Lucas…" I cut him off before he could finish. In a shaky voice, I continued, "…please listen to me. I know you don't believe me, but I do. I've waited for you for so long and I can't let this go…not now."

He held his shaky hand up as if he couldn't say the words to tell me to stop. His fury seemed to grow as I kept talking and couldn't stop.

"I know I should be wishing what I feel for you to go away or wish that I never met you. But I just can't. Lucas, please…I know you feel it too…I love y-"

Before I could finish I felt his hands grip my shoulders and I felt my back slam into the wall. I gasped, not of the pain but the absolute shock. Scared to look up at the man who was hovering over me again, I stared down at the floor. My tears flowed heavily now down my face and I watched them make marks on my floor. I felt him bend down, his warm breath on my ear.

"Do not ever say that to me!" he growled. "I forbid you to ever say those words to me."

A sob escaped my lips and I squeezed my eyes tight so that the tears would stop coming. I quickly bit my bottom lip trying to hold what ever I could in, terrified that the most important person was starting to slip away from me and I couldn't do anything about it again.

"Listen to me very closely Leah. I should kill you right now for what you have done…for what I allowed you to know…" I could hear the strain in his voice come through. "Stay away from me. You don't exist anymore to me."

As soon as I felt the pressure of my arms being released and I had the courage to open my eyes, I found myself alone in my room, without a trace that he had even been here. Only a faint scent lingered on, but it was quickly evading me out the open window. Quickly, I ran to close it, wanting to keep in whatever I could of him.

~*~*~*~*~

Monday

"Leah?" I heard Nessie whisper.

I closed my eyes tighter, hidden safely underneath my covers, just praying that she would just go away. My room was still dark and I was thankful for the heavy curtain Claire had insisted on buying. My bed shifted as I felt someone, probably Nessie climb in. I felt a finger poke at my nose. I scowled and continued to refuse to open my eyes.

"Leah, you haven't gotten out of bed for two days," she said. "You should at the very least get out of bed to take a bath."

I opened my eyes, to find Nessie lying in my bed with me. I felt dead, weak and all I wanted was to just disappear. Nessie's overly concerned face would have made me instantly angry. I hated when people felt sorry for me. But at this point, I just didn't care.

"You want me to start the bath?" she asked.

I took a deep breath and exhaled before I nodded slowly. She was right, I could use a bath. My head was hurting from either sleeping to much or maybe not enough. I must have sat in the tub for hours. I could faintly hear people talking in my family room. It seemed like I had a full house. Claire, Quil, Jacob, Nessie, Seth and Annabel were all in my home. I slipped out of the bath, quickly dried off and put back my pajamas before slipping back into bed right after I shut my bedroom door. I kept my phone right on my nightstand and my window open…just in case.

~*~*~*~*~

Past…

I watched my boyfriend tremble in fury. He stood there very still, focusing only on the floor with his tight fists shaking at his sides. Instinct told me to get out of the house, but I stood my ground refusing to be scared of him. His temper had never risen so quickly before…he also had never been this big. He claimed he was spending more at the time in the gym, but the speed of his growth was not normal.

"Are you on steroids?" I asked.

His eyes shot up at me.

"No," Sam said obviously annoyed that I even asked. "Why would you even think that?"

"I dunno… maybe this new temper. You're so quick to get upset. Or maybe it's your sudden weird growth spurt."

I heard him grumble something as he went to walk to the kitchen.

"What was that?" I followed behind him.

"Nothing, Leah. I told you – I've been hitting up the gym a lot lately."

I cocked my eyebrow at him.

"I can't believe you are this upset about something so small," I started again.

"It's not something small."

"Yes it is."

"Leah, I specifically told you to stay away from the Cullens. I just don't understand why you can't just do one thing that I ask you to do."

"Sam, I fell in the parking lot. If I could have avoided it, I would have. It's not my fault that Dr. Cullen was there when it happened. He just wanted to make sure I didn't hurt myself. What would have like me to do? Yell at him to stay away? If I knew you would react this way, I would have never of mentioned it."

"Was any of his family members there?"

"No. What is the big deal? I thought you didn't believe those old legends. You used to make fun of all of them."

"Leah, just stay away from them."

"Why?"

"Leah, please!" he shouted at me.

I stood there, silent. He had never yelled at me before. I looked at the man in front of me wondering where the boy I loved had gone. The Sam who was gentle, funny and light-hearted. I was supposed to be the one with the temper and he was supposed to always be the one to calm me down…make me feel better.

"What's happening to us?" I said softly.

I felt Sam's warm arms wrapped around me as he tucked my head underneath his chin.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose it," he said as he rubbed my back. "I'm just going through a difficult time right now."

"Maybe you just need to get out of the reservation. You could go away to school next semester. We can go together," I said, with hope and desperation radiating in my voice.

"I can't," he said simply. "You know Leah, you could still go. We could do the long distance relationship thing."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and shook my head in his chest.

"No, I just want to be where you are."

I heard him take a deep breath as if to say something else but instead tilted his head down to kiss me on the cheek.

"Alright."

I stood there for a moment but then remembered why I made the trip to his house to begin with. A smile formed on my face when I remembered the party tonight. Today could only get better, right? I thought.

"So are you ready to go?" I asked him.

"Yeah, just let me get my jacket."

I grabbed my keys out of my purse and we made our way out the door.

"I can't wait for you to meet my cousin Emily. You are going to love her!"

Tuesday

I walked out of my classroom 20 minutes after it began. I waited those 20 minutes hoping that he would show. Maybe he was just late, I told myself after 10 minutes. I never pulled out my notebook to take notes and had no interest in what the professor was saying. I just sat and waited. Before the tears came down and I realized he wouldn't come, I simply got up and left in the middle of the lecture. I made it out to the steps outside, where I found my brother Seth alone sitting on the steps. He turned to look back at me and gave me a sympathetic smile.

"I figured you'd be here," he started as he got up to greet me, "to see if he would come."

It was obvious that Lucas hadn't come. I just looked back at Seth with a composed blank face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

I shook my head.

I was annoyed that he had come here. I just wanted to be left alone. But when I looked up at him, I couldn't help but see the little brother I had babysat so often. The little boy who would want to go where I did and I'd do my best to fiercely protect. I could see he was worried for me and wanted to make things better but didn't see how.

"Will you take a walk with me?"

I nodded my head, knowing it would hurt him if I said no. We walked around in silence till we made it to Central Park. I watched as people walked by and observed them interacted with one another. I began to feel the need to look away. I was envious of their ignorance of the world around them. They would never know of a world that exists in their same world.

I heard Seth clear his throat.

"Remember when Dad used to take us fishing?" he asked.

I smiled for the very first time in the past few days.

"Yeah, I hated it," I recalled. "He would sing all the time."

"He said it would help catch the fish."

"Maybe…if he had a better singing voice."

I remembered sitting with Seth on the boat with our father. Dad singing holding his fish pole, while I sat there with my Teen Beat magazine in hand and Seth with his game boy, clearly disinterested in the activity. It was nice to remember my childhood. Sometimes I wonder if maybe my childhood was too good and maybe that my life right now was punishment for never realizing how good I had it.

I looked up at my brother.

"I miss him a lot," I said softly.

"Me too."

It was silent for a moment as we made are way around the park. Seth paused before turning to me. I waited till he formulated what he wanted to say to me in his head.

"Some things happened when you left that night at the party," he said.

My curiosity peaked. I hadn't really thought of what happened after…only what had happened to me.

"Dr. Cullen tried to talk with the…uhm…king….Lucas's father after everything calmed down. According to Edward, those vampires knew of Lucas's family. They were targeted."

"How would they of even known of them? We didn't even know who they were till recently."

"That's the thing. I guess there was another werewolf family there. They tipped the vampires off."

I immediately stopped and turned to him.

"What other werewolf family?"

"The one that Lucas's….fiancé…belongs to."

My eyes got wide and I stared at him wanting him to go on. I knew I had to find Lucas. I had to protect him. I felt Seth grab my arm before I realized that I had been shaking.

"Leah, you need to calm down," he said very quietly as he lead me to an area that not a lot of people were around. "This is why I came to see you. We need to go to the Cullen's house."

"I-" I started. I really wasn't in the mood to be anywhere near the Cullens. Though I knew it wasn't directly their fault, I couldn't help but feel resentment towards them again. If it wasn't for them, Sam and I still would have been perfectly happy but I guess I could argue that I never would have met Lucas. But also, it was because of them that he was keeping away from me.

"Look Leah," he cut me off. "I know they are not your favorite people, especially now, but you need to come to the meeting tonight. There are things that happened that night…things that only Edward could hear and apparently only Bella could see. You're the only one who knows anything about their kind. We need your help."

"Seth, I'm not about to unleash all their secrets just so that we can win this war. I know Lucas is pretty much done with me, but I'm not about to turn on him. You of all people should know that."

"That's not what I'm asking. There are things that his pack doesn't know. It's obvious they are not going to listen to us but they may listen to you. Or rather, Lucas will listen."

I shook my head.

"No…he's not going to. Not anymore."

I tried to walk away but I felt him grab my arm. I turned back to look at him.

"You need to fight for him. It's the only thing that is going to save all of us."

~*~*~*~*~

Past

"This isn't…" Sam started but apparently couldn't finish. He paused for a moment before trying again.

"I'm not…." He started again but then didn't finish.

I knew what was coming. I knew what he had been trying to say.

Defeated, I said, "You're breaking up with me."

He didn't say anything, only staring cautiously back at me. His silence told me that I was right. I felt as though I could feel my world crashing all around me. He was my sure thing, my constant and now I had no idea where the direction of my life was headed. Everything had been planned. And now I was just watching it all fall apart.

"I'm so sorry, Leah," he said so quietly I could barely hear him.

"So everything…all of your promises…was lies?" I choked out.

"No, they weren't. Not at the time. Things have just changed."

"What happened? What did I do?"

"Nothing. You did nothing."

I could feel the tears running down my face. The faster they came down the more upset I became.

"Then what is it?" my voice rising a little louder. "Sam, I didn't go away to school to be with you. Everything up till now has revolved around you and our plans to be together. We were supposed to get married next year. None of it matters anymore?"

He didn't say anything.

"What happened? What changed?" I asked him again, slightly hysterically.

He said nothing again. I took a deep breath and asked the one question I had been dreading.

"Is there someone else?"

I looked up at him and I could tell with the look in his eyes that there was. His silence said even more. My eyes went wide.

"Who?" I demanded.

"Leah…" Sam said as he took a step closer to me but I took a step back away from him.

"Who?!" I screamed. My hands were started to shake violently. I began to feel like I was out of control.

"Emily," he whispered.

I started to feel sick, absolutely nauseous. My world was spinning and there wasn't anything I could do to stop it.

"Emily?" I choked out. "My cousin Emily?"

He simply nodded his head.

"For how long?"

"Since I met her."

He reached out for me but I shrugged him away.

"She doesn't know how I feel about her. I haven't told her yet."

"So is that why you came over today? To break up with me and then get my blessing?"

"Leah…" I felt his warm hand touch my arm.

"Don't touch me," I growled.

"I didn't plan for this to happen."

"Just get out."

"Please, Leah…"

"Get the fuck out!" I screamed at him.

I shut my eyes tight, trying to will the world away and keep my tears in. It wasn't till I heard the door close, I fell to my knees and broke down.

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