The days dragged by slowly after Jacob left. I didn't know what to do with myself. I felt like a lame teenage girl, sitting by the phone and waiting for him to call. I could see people getting fed up with me. My mother being the first. Everyday she'd come downstairs and see me on the couch staring intently at the phone. She'd always shake her head in exasperation and disappointment.

"Any plans for the day?" she'd always ask, and I would always shake my head no, then go back to glaring at the phone, silently begging it to ring and for Jacob to be on the other line. No such luck. Not for days. Those days soon became a week, and I was starting to get restless. I barely set foot out of the house, afraid that if I was away too long I would miss Jacob's call. Every morning I'd call Embry, asking him if he was free to take care of Jayme for the day. He'd always accept willingly...so willingly that I could practically hear his smile through the phone. He'd pick her up and they'd go wherever for they day. Jayme would come back smiling happily, with a promise from Embry that they'd see each other tomorrow.

I knew I was driving myself crazy by not keeping busy while I waited for Jacob, but I couldn't help it. Each passing day gave me a reason that I was a terrible person. I deserved every single ounce of the pain that I was suffering. I should have told Jacob the truth the second I saw him at Emily's house. I should have done the right thing, and listened to my mother. I would've saved myself a whole lot of regret, tears, and pain. Mother always knows best. Well, every mother but me.

Ten days. It had been ten days since Jacob ran away. With every second of the ticking clock on the wall, I believed more and more that he wasn't coming back. It was just like any other evening. Jayme was with Embry, Mom was with Charlie, and Seth was...well, I didn't actually know where Seth had been disappearing to over the past two weeks, but he wasn't home. I sat on the couch, defeated. I was so close to giving up on the idea that Jacob was ever going to speak to me ever again, when the doorbell rang.

My breath hitched. I hoped it was Jake, but then again, I almost hoped it wasn't. If it was, we were going to have a long talk, and by the end of that talk, a huge number of things could change. I wasn't sure I wanted to have that discussion just yet, but I couldn't just leave the door unattended. I lifted myself off the couch, and walked toward the door. I grabbed the doorknob, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

"Leah." My whole world seemed to turn into the shape of a question mark. This was definitely not the voice I was expecting to hear. My eyes flew open, and I let the air in my lungs fly out.

"Sam?" I looked up at him, scowling. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," he said, looking at the ground.

"You couldn't have called?" I asked.

"It didn't feel right," he admitted.

"You wanna talk, so talk. I ain't got all night." That wasn't true, but he didn't need to know that. I wasn't about to let my ex-boyfriend know just how lame I really was.

"Leah, Emily's been telling me about how you've been over the past two weeks. She's worried about you. I'm worried about you. You haven't returned any of our calls, and we haven't seen you outside the house for weeks. We see Jayme almost everyday, but we never see you. We're all really concerned, Leah. We want to know what's going on."

"What's going on in my life is none of your business anymore," I spat at him. Why should I have to tell him anything? I didn't owe him a damn thing. He had given up the right to be concerned for me years ago, when he told me that he didn't want me anymore...when he told me he wanted Emily.

"Leah, I'm worried about you," he repeated.

"Don't be. I can take care of myself, Sam. I don't need you." The words hung in the air, seeming to echo in the silence. He looked at his shoes, unsure what to say. I was getting irritated. Why did he keep coming back? Why couldn't he just leave me alone?

"Leah, why can't you just let somebody help you? Why are you so guarded?" I waited for the punchline of his joke. It didn't come. He was serious? Did he think this was funny?

"You still don't understand? You still don't get it?" I hissed. He looked shocked. That just threw gasoline into the flames. "Sam, you did this! This is your fault! Do you not understand what you've done to me? Well, if you're not sure, let me explain. You ripped me apart. Tore me to shreds. Betrayed me in the worst way possible. I trusted you, Sam. I...I...I loved you. I had plans for us...I had dreams...I had a future, a future that had you in it! You could have told me that you didn't want me when you changed for the first time, but no. You left me hanging. You strung me along because you didn't have the strength to tell me that you didn't love me!"

"Leah, I don't think you quite understand, either," he paused, seeming to search for the right words to say. "I didn't end what we had right after I changed. I didn't tell you that I didn't love you, because I would have been lying. It would still be a lie. I love you, Leah. Just...differently. I wish you could understand that if this whole werewolf mess hadn't happened...if this imprinting thing we do didn't exist...maybe...maybe, you and I would be together. We'd be happy that way. But, unfortunately for everyone involved, it does. We can't control it. If we were meant to be together, Leah, I wouldn't have imprinted. Maybe that's just not what life has in store for us. We're probably better off this way."

"What way? You living happily ever after while I sit, watch, and cry...watching her steal what my life was supposed to be? You can't even imagine what I've been through. Don't say you can, because you just can't. After we ended, you had Emily. You loved her. I could see that. I can still see that. And she'll always be there, Sam. It's never going to change. You love her, she loves you. You're getting married in a few months. Things change, and they certainly have for us. But I can't be friends with you after what happened. I've been through too much pain on your behalf to forgive you."

He took a step closer to me, touching my arm. I flinched away from the contact, a searing memory of everything I once had, and everything I had lost.

"I wish I could have prevented this...I don't like seeing you hurting. It kills me, Leah. I hope you believe that."

"I honestly can't say that I do. Now, you have a fiancee and two kids waiting for you. Stop lingering in your past when you have a perfectly good future waiting for you. Go and live your picket-fence fairytale happily-ever-after. I shouldn't mean anything anymore."

"You do, Leah. You always have, and you always will. To me, and to Emily."

"Just go, Sam. Please."

"Goodbye, Leah. I lo-"

"Sam, please. Spare me. You're only making it worse." He nodded, and turned, running towards the forest. I watched after him until he disappeared into the shadows. I collapsed on the front porch, curling into a ball, and hugging my legs to my chest, just letting the tears fall.

I can't give an accurate time of how long I stayed on the porch, but eventually, I was all cried out. didn't move from the porch, but I jumped when someone spoke to me.

"You never fail to amaze me, Clearwater." I knew that voice. I just couldn't believe he was actually speaking to me.

"Jacob?" I asked, looking up at him. He sat down next to me on the porch, and threw his arm over my shoulders.

"I can't believe Sam said that to you. He's such an idiot..." I guess I should have been angry that he was listening to that conversation, but considering our situation, I decided it was best to choose which battles were worth fighting. If anyone, I would probably end up talking to him about it anyway.

"I think he has the best of intentions...he just needs to work on the execution." It was true. I didn't hate Sam, like I tried to make everyone believe. I honestly respected his ability to always try to do the right thing. I just hated the fact that his judgment on whatever he thought the right thing would be, was severely different from my own. There was a long silence where I couldn't even imagine what he was thinking about.

"You must hate me," he eventually said. I was shocked. That was definitely not what I was expecting to hear.

"What in the world would make you think that?" I asked.

"I ran off. I didn't even talk to you...I just disappeared for ten days with no explanations...no phone calls...nothing. I was so self-centered that I didn't even consider what you might be feeling. How nervous you must have been. I was freaking out, but so were you. I'm an idiot, Leah. I'm so sorry." wrapped my arms around Jacob's broad shoulders. He was a much better friend than I deserved. I had kept his fatherhood away from him for two years of his daughter's life, and he was blaming himself for running away when he was informed? That didn't make sense in my mind.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Jake. I, on the other hand..." Jacob cut me off before I could get into the whole speech I'd been preparing for the past few days.

"Look, we both have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, but I don't think right now is the best time. We can get the formalities out of the way whenever, but, I do have to ask one thing. Why did you not tell me, Leah?" I was expecting this question. To be honest, it was one of the easier ones to answer. My voice was weak, and the only thing that would escape my lips was a barely audible whisper.

"I didn't want to lose you."

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere," he said, and pulled me tighter into his body.

Ok, so before you tear me to shreads (for several reasons) I just want to say that I am so happy to be back!

So what do you think of Sam's little speech? Not too fond of him? Didn't think so. Me neither. And Jacob and Leah are avoiding the pain of admitting everything out loud. And no, it's not a good idea, but that's how life works, right? Nobody's perfect.