Leah POV

The next morning I found myself walking around the kitchen in a daze. The store was closed for a long weekend so Emily and Sam could honeymoon. So I had a little vacation myself.

So far I was spending it cooking up breakfast, and sighing whenever I looked down at my finger.

I was engaged.

I was twenty three, and getting married. I would be Leah Waye.

Wow.

I looked up from my hand to see Seth sitting at one of the stools, eyebrow raised at me. "Morning," he said and I felt a blush rise on my cheeks.

"What are you looking at?" I grumbled and went back to cooking.

"You. Here I thought you've been at your happiest the past couple of years, but now I'm seeing you've been holding out on us."

"Oh shut up. I was just indulging in a few moments of being girly." I looked back at him. "Seth I was saving this ring for you."

"Diamond's from the twenties aren't really my style, and it doesn't fit." He said with a grin and I threw a piece of egg at him.

"You know what I meant. It's been in our family a long time. I don't know what their plans were for it, but I knew I was saving it for you to give to whatever girl decides to put up with you."

"It wasn't supposed to be mine, it was always yours Leah. I remember when we were kids you'd get in trouble for playing with it. Mom used to say that ring had seen more loves than most rings. Even if I get a love like that one day, that ring still belongs to you."

"Well shit." I said and felt a few tears well up. I held them back and shook my head at him. "Are you buttering me up for something?"

"No not really. I do want to talk to you about something though. Where are the others?"

"Paul is taking Renesmee to the beach and Athan is up in his studio writing."

In the past few years Athan had moved into my room, and we turned the guest room back to normal, but he used it when he wrote. So far he had one manuscript sent out to a publisher, and was knee deep in a new book. He had scratched the idea of writing a piece about La Push and how mythical the legends really were. Instead he changed it into a more fantasy oriented story. Now he was working on a collection he'd sell only in stores in La Push, of our legends and folk lore. He was becoming everything he always wanted to be.

"Good." Seth said. "Then we should have enough time. I wanted to ask you about my phasing."

It was a conversation I knew was coming. I had warned Seth over the years about the possibility of him phasing one day. Especially with threats from the Volturi becoming more present.

He never seemed afraid of that possibility. In fact, he seemed eager for it to happen. I on the other hand, wished a more normal life for him.

"What about it?"

"I feel like it's going to happen. I haven't had problems with my temper like you all did, but I feel like something's working inside of me. My temperature is off all of the time. Smells are getting to me, especially when I'm around the Cullen's, I feel like something in me wants to burst. I'm either pregnant or about to become a werewolf."

"Well technically both of those should be impossible, but we know one of them isn't. And I don't think I'm about to be an aunt."

"What do I do? I mean have you ever heard of someone phasing without losing control?"

"No. That's how it happened to all of us, we reached our limit, and we changed. But I don't know maybe since you're so happy all the time it'll be different for you."

"I feel like I just want it to happen already." He put his head on one of his hands.

"Seth, you're fifteen. You're going to be a sophomore in high school next fall. You should be concentrating on that, not on werewolf stuff."

"We're Clearwater's, not everything is how it should be with us."

I laughed. "You and your philosophy. I just want you to be a normal kid."

"Why? You weren't, and you turned out fine."

"I know, but I want different and better things for you. I want you to go off to college and travel and do whatever you want. If you phase, I'm afraid you'll just drop out and patrol until things calm down. You'll have to pause your life."

"You didn't have to. Sam, Paul, and Jared started their business, so they didn't have to. I wouldn't either. I don't want to go far away anyways. I figured I'd go to Seattle for school. I can still do that and be a part of the pack. I can still do all of that and be as close to normal as possible. And I won't drop out of high school, you wouldn't let me." He grinned at me and then for once turned serious, a rare occurrence for Seth. "I know it'll be hard, and it'll be different. And there are parts of me that's scared of it. But I also want to be a part of it. I know you guys say I am anyways, but I really want to. I want to be able to understand everything you do. And I'm not worried about how hard it is, because you'll get me through it. You've gotten me through everything. I want you to be able to count on me too. I want to be able to help you." He shrugged.

For the second time that morning, the kid was making me want to cry. "Seth you do help me. The reason I've gotten through everything has been for you. If there wasn't a Seth running around I probably would have curled up in a ball and died with Mom and Dad. But I had to keep going, because of you. I understand what you mean though. Maybe there's a way we can speed up the process, if you really think you're ready."

"I am."

"Ok."

After we ate breakfast I checked in on Athan, who didn't even hear me, so I knew he was deep into the book. I left him a note, and went back to our room to grab a different shirt. It was one I had borrowed from Rosalie a few days before. I hadn't washed it yet to wear it, and sure enough it still reeked of vampire. Though the scent made me twinge, knowing it was hers still kept my control in check. Seth however, wouldn't be able to do that.

I told him where to meet me in the woods, and he was already there when I went out. I had spare set of his clothes with me, and one of Paul's ankle bags. I set them aside and tugged on Rosalie's shirt over mine as I reached Seth. He immediately reacted.

"What do you feel?" I asked.

"Defensive."

"Ok. Now I want you to come at me."

"What?"

"Like you are going to fight me. This is as good a time as any to get some training in. You won't hurt me, even if you phase I'm older and stronger."

"I don't know Leah."

I deliberately took a step forward and swayed a little, wafting the scent to him. It made him tense, and shake a little. Yea, he was definitely close. "Pretend the scent that's on me isn't a scent, it's an actual vampire, and it's killing me. What do you do?"

"Tear it to pieces, and then burn them."

"That's after. You have to get it off of me first before I get crushed, how do you do that?"

"I don't know."

"You have to think quickly. With vampires everything happens in flashes."

He looked back up at me and took a step forward but hesitated. I nodded at him, meaning for him to go for it, and he did. His first lunge was rookie, but anticipated. I let him push me a few feet, but swerved so he couldn't grab. He had momentum now and made a few more swipes. On the third one, his shaking made him go out of focus. I knew it was close so I made sure on his last grab he came into contact with the scent, and then I backed up.

"It's ok Seth just breathe through it." I said as I could barely see him from the shaking.

A moment later, a copper and black wolf stood where Seth had. I let out a shaky breath and walked behind a tree. I worked off my clothes and phased with more finesse than Seth, but then again, I had been doing this for longer. My mind was instantly flooded with his thoughts.

"Wow." He thought. "That was, wow."

"Yea that's pretty much how I felt my first go around. Of course you are still taking it better than I did. How do you feel?"

"Right. Whole."

I felt myself smile even in wolf form. Maybe, like it had been for me, this was ultimately the best thing for Seth.

"Ok phase back and grab your clothes, I'll go over there and do the same."

As I phased back I realized things would be different now, but probably in a good way. And since Seth's control was probably best out of all of us, he wouldn't have to miss school. I tugged on my clothes and went back to Seth, who had a proud look on his face. I ruffled his hair.

"We're going to have to cut this so it won't get in your way when you phase again."

"When are you going to teach me how to fight?"

I sighed. "Sadly, we'll have to do it quickly and soon. I don't know how much longer we'll have until the Volturi try something. In a few days. I'll teach you things here and there, but we'll have a big session when Sam gets back."

"Cool." He looked excited as we walked back home. He didn't hesitate in running into the house and looking for Athan, who was just coming down the stairs. "I'm a werewolf." He said in an excited voice, sounding like he had when he was little.

"I figured as much since your sister left me a note saying 'Going to try and get Seth to phase. Be back for dinner.'" Athan glared at me. "He's a brand new werewolf; he coulda hurt you, why didn't you call Paul or Jared."

"Because he's my brother, and I wanted to be there for his first phasing. And I'm not fragile Waye, you better start believing that."

"Yea yea." He crossed the room after patting Seth's shoulder like he had for years. He took my hand and stared at my ring. "Look at that. Guess we better set a date."

"I was thinking about that actually."

He raised a brow. "Really?"

"I can be a girl sometimes and fantasize. I was thinking November. It's enough time to plan, and it's significant. It's when I first phased and saw everything clearly. I think it's when we should start our next chapter as you writers say."

He smiled at me, and I leaned in to kiss him as Paul and Jared burst in.

"Guys, c'mon you're ruining a moment." Athan said as he looked up at them. I saw his expression tense which made me turn to look at them. Paul was shaking as he lowered himself to the floor, and Jared looked similar.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I felt my mind race. Emily and Sam were out celebrating their marriage. Just like my parents were. Did I lose them too? I felt myself sway as Athan held me steady. "Sam?" I whispered and Jared shook his head as he reached to touch my shoulder.

"No, Leah it's not that. I'm sorry we're just in shock still. No one's hurt. But while we were at the Cullen's Alice had a vision."

"What of?" Seth asked.

"All of us." Paul whispered. "The Cullen's dead, some of us too. And Renesmee was taken by them." He started shaking again. I knew by the look on his face that in the vision he was probably one of the dead, but that wouldn't stop his worrying over Renesmee's fate.

"Do they have any idea of when it's going to happen?" I asked numbly.

"Within the next few days." Jared answered as he played with his wedding band. "We have to plan." Jared and Paul looked to me as if I had the answers. I pulled out my phone. "What are you doing?"

"Calling our alpha back." I said as I dialed. Sam picked up on three rings, sounding annoyed.

"What is it sister I'm busy here." I heard Emily giggle in the background.

"Sam you have to come back. They're coming." I said, and looking down at my ring, wondered what would happen.

Athan POV

The next couple of days were the most stressful of my life. I had never felt so useless, even when Leah and Sam had been taken. There was nothing I could do for them this time, I couldn't even see to Seth. He was truly one of them now.

I knew I was too, but this was all up to them. Emily, Kim, and I didn't know what to do. We sat in on their strategy sessions and watched them practice fighting.

Alice tried to reassure us by saying she hadn't seen any of us humans in the vision. Though that made my mind at ease for not having to worry about Emily and Kim, that didn't help for the rest of them.

Every time I watched them practice I looked out at my family wondering who I'd lose. I knew life wouldn't be the same without any of them.

At the end of the second day I mustered up the courage to ask the question I had been dreading.

Alice was sitting in the corner, looking into the future like she had been the past few days, and paused when she saw me. She sighed. "They'll be here tomorrow night."

I nodded, the realization that this could be my last night with my family hitting me. "Alice I think you know what I need to ask."

"It won't help you to know. I know how hard it'll be to lose any of us. It's the same to me. What good is it for you to know?"

"To mentally prepare as much as possible." Was the only answer I could give, though I already felt the pain of it. As she looked up at me, I saw the answer on her face before she told me. Leah would be one of them.

"Jared goes first. Then Seth see's that he goes to avenge him, but he doesn't see the vampires coming at him while he fights. Leah does and saves him, but loses in the process. Sam can't handle seeing that and gets distracted while trying to kill too many at once. He's next. All that's left is Paul and Seth. Then we start going down."

So Leah had been wrong. Paul wasn't just shaken by the fact that Renesmee gets taken. It's the fact that he and Seth would be the only ones left. Making him the next alpha.

I wouldn't be able to stop her now. If she had to die, she would want it to be keeping Seth safe. There would be no convincing her to run from that. Not like I had a chance of convincing her anyways.

"It can change though." I said with the small amount of hope I clung to.

"Yes it can. We'll do everything we can to change it. We aren't accepting this."

"Does she know?"

Alice sighed. "Yes. She's seen it in Paul and Jared's minds. They all know and they're still here fighting. It's remarkable."

"That's how this family works." I said and walked back to the others. As always my glance reflexively went to Seth to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong. Sometimes it amazed me how quickly a parental instinct kicked in with me. Which brought a stab of pain.

Would I ever have children with Leah?

It was seeming unlikely now, hope or not. My glance then went to where it always happily resided. On her.

Even though she was the one that imprinted, I still felt a tug whenever I couldn't see her. It was like she was my compass. Always guiding where I wanted to be. She was bent over the table looking at maps for where they would be for the fight. I knew she could tell I was looking at her, because her usually tense form relaxed and her lips tugged into a smile. She looked up from the maps, right to my direction, and stared back.

Something flickered over her face and I realized she could tell that I knew. She looked regretful, but not scared. She was more determined. She broke away from the table, whispered something to Sam who nodded.

She walked over to me and grabbed my hand. Without saying anything, she led me away, and I let her. With my hand still in hers she started running. I realized we were headed towards the beach and I kept running with her. By the time we hit the sand; she slowed and looked out to the sea. She finally looked back to me and smiled a little.

"It's funny how things work. The first time things fell apart in my life, four years ago, I ran here. I've always run here whenever anything has gone wrong. I never brought anyone with me though."

"Where you go, I go." I said, realizing now it meant something different. What would I do if she died? Seth was older now, he had the others. He'd have what was left. What did that leave for me? Would I follow Leah again? She seemed to be thinking the same.

"I don't know what will happen tomorrow. I know what's been seen. I know what's possible. I won't lie to you and say it's not. But I have no intention of going without a fight. Or letting what's been seen come true. I'm certainly not satisfied with it. For now though, I just want time with you. I can plan all I want but at the end of the day, none of us know what's going to happen. I know I should be with them, but what pains me the most about all of this is that I barely got to do it. I've barely had a chance to live. I'm not downplaying the life I've had, it's been amazing, but I want more. I want more with you. Do you realize we've barely had any time at all just to ourselves?"

"I do, yes."

"We even got engaged with everyone else watching." She smiled and I looked down at the glint of her ring. "I just want tonight to be about us. Nothing else."

"I'm ok with that."

"So stop thinking everything you are. Just think about us. There's nothing else, but you and me."

I brought her closer to me and felt her sigh as she lowered her head to my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and for once she felt cold. I wished there was a way I could really take her away from this, but I settled for a night where there was only us.

We laid in the sand and talked about anything and everything with the exception of tomorrow. We found a way to laugh and enjoy the time we had. I knew I should urge her to rest, but I couldn't.

Around dawn I felt her grow limp. Her body sagged into mine and I looked down at her face, happy to see it look soothed and relaxed. I brushed her hair out of her face and watched her smile in her sleep. There was so much I wanted to do with her. A whole life I had planned out in my writers mind. I felt it was slipping away.

"I never used to think about love before. My parents weren't a good example for that either. When I came back to the reservation for work though I was surprised how easily love became a part of my life. First I loved the area. I felt some recognition with it, like I was where I was supposed to be. I felt the same about the store. Then my feelings for you started. Respect first. I couldn't believe how much life you created out of death. I was amazed by you. Then I loved your family. I wanted to be part of one myself. I didn't realize then that I was becoming part of yours. Now I can't imagine losing it. I can't even picture losing you. I'm a writer, I've been picturing a myriad of things all my life. But losing you…." I trailed off as the coldness of that thought spread through me. I held her closer to me as if I could keep her there. "I can't survive that, Leah. You've become my whole world." I heard my voice catch and laid my cheek on the top of her head. "I love you so much."

I sat there holding her for a few more hours. I heard someone walking down the beach and turned to see Sam. He hesitated but I nodded, and he sat down next to me. "Gave you as long as we could, I'm sorry."He whispered.

"No problem. Just didn't have it in me to wake her up. She hasn't had much sleep the past couple of days." I knew she'd wake up soon though. Even with our low voices, she was never a heavy sleeper. "Are you guys heading out soon?"

"Yea. Emily and Kim are at our place. They weren't sure if you'd want to be with them, or on your own."

"I'm not sure if it matters where I am, knowing what the rest of you will be doing. I'd rather be around them though. That way maybe I can do something of use."

Sam nodded and put a hand on my shoulder. "I don't know what it's like to be the one left waiting behind, but I'm sorry you have to go through it. I appreciate that you'll be with them though."

At that Leah moved and I saw her eyes flutter, but she wasn't awake yet. Knowing her, we probably had a few minutes left.

"I know what Alice saw."

Sam tensed but nodded. "I figured as much. We aren't concentrating on that part of what Alice has seen."

"It doesn't bother you?"

"It does. Mostly that there might not be anything we can do to stop it. But we aren't giving up. Neither should you."

"I'm not. Not until it happens." I looked back down at her and shifted as she started to stretch. She opened her eyes and looked around and glared at Sam.

"Back off you, what are you doing here?" She said and snuggled closer to me.

"Hey me. We are shipping out soon."

"How military of us." She smiled slightly and pushed up and looked at me. "I'm going to walk this one back, and then I'll meet you there."

"No, I'll walk with you guys. I'm the safe one; I'm capable of walking back to the house on my own."

I could tell she wanted to argue, but my expression must have stopped her. "Alright. Let's go."

I walked with them to the edge of the mountain trail. The others were there, and it looked like Emily and Kim had walked with them with the same thought I had. Every moment counted.

I looked at everyone, wishing there was something I could say. I looked at Renesmee, wishing I could run her away from this. I looked at Seth and wished he was still eleven asking me to help with his homework. I wished so many things. Instead I hugged everyone I could, and turned to the girl who made me the man I was today.

"Hi." She said and I smiled at her.

"Fight well." I said and tugged on the ends of her hair. Her smile spread and she went up on her toes to wind her arms around my neck as she kissed my jaw. I felt her whisper at my ear.

"I heard everything you said this morning. I love you more than anything. That's what will get me through this, and I'll come back to you."

"Please." I held her tightly and kissed her until I heard the others start moving. "You come back with the rest of them." I finished when we broke apart.

She nodded and touched my face once more, before turning to run with the rest of them.

Watching her go, I felt a numbness fall over me. I knew I wouldn't have feeling until she came back. Until they all came back.

So until that happened I took my fellow imprints, and we waited. It was all we could do.

We sat in Emily and Sam's house, straining as if to hear what was happening.

Emily cooked. It was the best way she could keep her mind busy. Kim was sewing, but not very well. Every so often she'd stop to curse, from screwing up a stitch.

"What are you doing?" I asked finally. "You don't sew."

"I do now." She sighed and looked up at me. "I'm pregnant."

I felt the joy of it first, and then the fear for her as I remembered the vision. She saw this and half smiled. "Yea. That's why I haven't said anything."

"Jared doesn't know?"

"I found out before the wedding. I didn't want to take attention away from that or your proposal. And then all this happened. I didn't want him distracted." She looked down at the yellow yarn. "I don't even know what I'm making."

"How far along are you?"

"Two months."

"Two months what?" Emily said as she came back into the room. "Cookies will be ready in a half hour."

"The kid's having a baby." I said and grinned at my coworkers whom I considered sisters.

Emily screamed as I covered my ears. "Oh that's wonderful. Oh a baby. Now we'll have a vampire baby and a cub baby. This is good."

Kim smiled, and for the first time it didn't look forced. "Yea it is."

The conversation morphed into talk about the new baby. We ate, we watched T.V. We talked about possibilities for expanding the store. We did everything we could to not think.

But we thought just the same.

Hours went by. The numbness I felt was accompanied by spasms of dread. I knew the others were feeling similar.

Around four I went out to smoke. I usually only smoked when writing was stressing me, but this time, it was just emotion in general. I stood breathing in the air and looking down the lawn and at the winding trees.

I heard a rustling and looked closer. As I did, I simultaneously knocked on the door to get Emily and Kim's attention.

I didn't think I just rushed forward as I saw Seth walk out of the trees. When I saw Jared not far behind him, I felt the first tremor of hope. I heard Kim scream and saw Jared run forward as I grabbed Seth in a hug. My hope leaped more as I saw Sam rush to meet Emily. And my heart soared as I saw Leah step from the trees, one of her hand's in Paul's and the other in Renesmee's.

"We're all ok. We won." Seth said clapped me on the back. "Quit worrying imprint." He said with a wink and went forward to hug his cousin.

I felt the numbness disappear and all of the emotions flood through me. She had blood on her face and arm. She was walking with a limp. But she was alive.

She dropped their hands and mine replaced them. She starred at me and smiled. "Did you miss me?"

"You have no idea." I said and gently held her to me.

"Get a decent grip will you? I'm not made of glass I just fought a hoard of vampires."

"And we won!" Emmett yelled as he high fived Paul.

I laughed and picked her up swinging her around. "We can have it now. The just you and me time."

"You bet. In fact I demand it." She said and lowered her lips to mine.

And in the place where my family began, we continued to thrive, after proving we are not easily silenced.

**Hey guys, so I was originally going to put the Volturi fight scene in this, but instead I decided to do something most other writers don't. I wanted to concentrate on the imprints and how helpless they must feel and what its like to be the ones left behind. Sort of like an army spouse situation. So I made sure it was more about them, then the action of the fight in this particular scene. One more chapter left, and this will be completed! Read, Review, and Enjoy. 3 JB**