No need for me to make excuses as to why I dropped off the face of the earth…Just felt like writing, and I KNOW I owe this story some attention. I hope you still enjoy reading it. If not…I'm sorry. I'm still going to write anyways… (:

Chapter 10

"Are ya'll busy? If you need more time to unpack—" Joseph began, but I put my hands up to stop him.

"Oh no, no. It's okay. We're coming now." I shook my head, I smiled at him.

"Alrighty! Well dinner is ready." He smiled and turned away, right as Leah came up behind me.

"This is really good, Mrs. Martha." I said as I shoveled another helping of mashed potatoes in my mouth. Leah glared at me, before kicking me in the leg.

"Stop eating like a pig!" She hissed, too low for everyone to hear.

"Why thank you, hun!" Martha smiled politely, before looking at Joseph. "It's so nice to have some company besides my husband. He stopped complimentin' me on my cookin' years ago." She frowned at him.

"Well, if that aint the farthest thing from the truth I don't know what is!" Joseph huffed. "You know I loves your cookin' darlin'!"

Martha grimaced but said nothing.

"So," Leah cleared her throat, "How far away from Florida would you guys say you are?"

"Well, I reckon about…maybe about 1 day and a half drive or so, wouldn't you say so Martha?" Joseph asked, rubbing his chin.

Martha nodded. "Yea, I think. We're in Utah, and I think we're about 36 hours away from Florida."

I could almost see Leah calculating the time it would take us to get to Florida, which would be much faster on four legs. When she didn't answer, I spoke up.

"Alright, thank you so much. I guess we are closer than we thought."

"So, when ya'll planning to go into town?" Joseph asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked, confused.

"You know, going into town to get your car fixed?"

"Oh…" Leah and I exchanged a nervous glance. "Well, yea…we we're thinking, maybe tomorrow."

"Yes, yes." Martha nodded, "If you need, Joseph can tow your car…"

"Oh no, no, don't worry about it."

"Well, I reckon you can get Stewart to come out here and fix it fer ya. He drives to all his clients. But you gotta go get the parts for him to fix it, so I reckon ya'll will need to go into town anyways…" Joseph nodded, making the decision final.

"Jospeh will at least drop ya'll off in town, so you don't have to walk the 5 miles there and back." Martha chimed in.

Leah and I nodded and smiled politely but said nothing. We could see it would be pointless to argue with this kind people who would not accept no as an answer.

(Leah's POV)

"I still think this is pointless." I sighed. Joseph just dropped us off, and we were standing around town looking like idiots. When Jacob didn't answer me, I rolled my eyes and tapped his shoulder. "Um, hello? Earth to Jacob?"

He shook his head slightly and glanced up at me, looking dazed.

"What's wrong?" I frowned at his expression.

"Huh? oh. Sorry."

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Sorry." He said again, but I wasn't convinced.

"Why were you so spaced out just then?"

"…I…I think something is wrong, Leah." His eyes had worry etched in them as he glanced at me.

"With…" I couldn't bring myself to say the bloodsucker's name. "…them?"

"Yeah." He whispered, and nodded.

I hated seeing Jacob this stressed over the bloodsuckers. They weren't worth it. I glanced around us to make sure no one was listening. The people around us were so busy, I was sure we wouldn't have any eavesdroppers.

"Listen Jake, the bloodsuckers are just starting to realize how much of a mistake it was to keep that thing alive in the first place."

"I don't think it's them that think that…"

My eyebrows arched up in confusion. "I thought you said your feeling…it was about them?"

"It is. But…it's not them that I'm worried about…" He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to piece it together.

"Sam." It was a statement, not a question. I knew what Jacob was getting at: Sam would not hesitate to kill the monster the bloodsuckers had created. "Do you think he…?" I trailed off as I saw the expression on Jacob's face.

"I don't know…but…there's something that happened right before I left."

"What?" I asked.

"We can't talk here. Let's phase out really quick." He said as his eyes darted around us before he grabbed my hands and went to the nearest bushes. We walked farther into the dense trees until we were a good ways away from the town. We stripped and phased, and within seconds he was replaying his thoughts that he'd locked me out of before:

I get it Jacob. And…if you need to run off some steam, go. But you've got to come back. Things will still need to be sorted out. You can't run away from your problems Jacob. Even if you do, they'll still be here when you get back.

Jake, they have successfully produced offspring…that is a potential safety hazard to those around it. People, Jake. The people around them—like our people, our tribe, our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, are all at risk. We must—

I tried to kill it, Sam. But…I couldn't. I wish I had the strength to kill the damn thing, but I can't…she wouldn't have wanted that. She died trying to bring that thing into this world…and she'd probably kill me...

You couldn't kill it, which is understandable, but I can.

I was not prepared for what came next: Jacob's initial reaction. He had been upset that Sam wanted to do that. This was the thing that had been bothering him ever since we'd left Forks. The uncertainty of everything. He was cut off from Sam because he chose to be, and he could not take it.

So, you think it's dead? I asked.

I'm not sure…He shrugged his colossal wolf shoulders at me.

Why don't we go find out? Jacob we aren't even to Florida yet. There's always time to turn back and—

I CAN'T go back Leah! Don't you get it? He snapped, growling outloud.

Instead of backing down, I took a step forward and returned the growl. I do get it. I HATE to say this, but I agree with Sa, for once. You can't run away from your problems. You need to know what's going on. You refuse because of this pull you have…I think this urge you are feeling is probably the loyalty that you have for your people. Our people. You can't leave them. We don't have it in us. Our people need us Jacob. I've been feeling a bit bad about all of this. We shouldn't have left the way we did…Seth, your dad….there are people that care. That can be there for you.

You're here for me. You're all I need. He whispered this, and I felt my heart flutter slightly at his words.

Jake…

Leah, don't guilt trip me into going back. You can go, I'm not going to give you an alpha order to stay or anything.

Jake, you wouldn't make it a day without me.

Jake's barking laugh echoed around us as it bounced off the trees.

Um, okay Leah. If you think that…

Jacob, I'm serious. You don't need to be by yourself. I say you just think about it, okay? Consider what I said.

Sure, sure. Jacob said, and before I could say anything else, he phased back out.