I hope that you guys liked the last chapter. This one continues on for that one. Oh, and I hoped that you liked the insight that I gave on my new character, Teasha. Pretty mysterious, isn't she?
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
~SashaFierce12.0
Chapter 34
Leah's P.o.V.
Syanne held her son, Kyle, close as he cried.
"Shhh...It's o-okay, Honey. I'm h-here now," she soothed. She bounced him up and down on her lap, and soon he stopped crying. Syanne kissed his cheek and hugged him again. "They're not going to hurt you a-anymore." She rubbed the part on his arm that had a big black and blue circle on it and started to shake. Embry put a calming hand on her shoulder, and she instantly stopped.
"Syanne," I started, and took Jake's hand in mine. "Jake and I want you to stay with us until we get everything figured out. There is no way we're letting you bounce around through foster care again."
"B-but I really don't want to be a-a burden," she said quietly.
"You won't. I mean, everyone else is around every single day, anyway," Jacob said.
"Thank you. Oh, my gosh. Thank you, so much!" she kissed the top of Kyle's head.
"Can I hold him?" Jazmyn asked. Syanne nodded and handed Kyle to her. "Oh, he is so cute! Now Jayah has a little friend! How old is he?"
"Six months," Syanne answered. Kyle laughed while Jazmyn played with him. "How old is Jayah?"
"Four months," Jacob answered. I looked down at Jayah napping in his arms.
"But she's so big! Six, for sure! T-that's what I thought," Syanne gave a short laugh. Embry smiled wide at her laugh.
"Dinner! Let's have our new Pack member go first," Mom said, carrying out a glass container of lasagna. Esme followed her with another container full. Rosalie set a salad on the table.
"N-no. You don't have to," Syanne blushed.
"But we want you to!" Kim said. Syanne stood up and put a small helping on her plate.
"You might want to get more than that..." Sam chuckled.
"When the guys get to it, I doubt there's going to be any left," Jazmyn said. Everyone laughed in agreement.
"Okay," Syanne put some more onto her plate and then moved so us girls could get ours.
"I want a big lasagna on my plate!" Claire squealed. When she got her plate she immediately stuck a forkful in her mouth. "Cheese! Hot! Hot! Hot!" she bounced around waving her hand in front of her mouth.
"Here, Claire," I laughed, handing her a juice box. She downed the whole thing in ten seconds and set the empty container on the table. "Thirsty, aren't we?"
"Yeah. I thirsty. Cheese is hot! An' str'burry juice is good!" she put her fork into the lasagna again, this time blowing on it before she put it in her mouth. I laughed and shook my head before walking back into the living room to sit next to Jacob. He touched my hair and smiled.
"I'm kind of going to miss that long hair of yours," he said.
"Me, too. But at least now it'll be more manageable," I replied. He stuck a forkful of lasagna into his mouth before talking again.
"How'd it feel?" he asked.
"How'd what feel? Getting my hair cut? Okay, I guess."
"No. How'd it feel to run again? As a wolf." I looked up, thinking about how it felt to feel the dirt between my paws and the wind against my fur. How fast I was and how it was like everything in the world had disappeared and it was just me. I smiled dreamily and Jacob laughed. "That good, huh?" I nodded.
"You try not phasing for ten months. Tell me how it 'feels.'" I turned when I heard Jayah babbling and a big smile erupted on my face. "Hi, Sweetie!" I handed my plate to Jacob and reached down to pick her up. I kept her blanket with her; it was her favorite. Whenever she cried, I'd give her the blanket and she would stop instantly. Her sobs turning into laughs.
When I set her on my lap, I immediately smelled something terrible. I held her out to Jacob.
"Ha, ha. No," he said in a monotone voice.
"Rock, paper, scissors for it," I negotiated.
"Let me think about it...No." I puppy-dog pouted.
"Pwease? For me?" I asked in a baby voice.
"...Fine," he rolled his eyes and took her.
"Ha! Leah, one! Jake, zero! ¡El vigente campeón!"
"Hey, that's mine!" Jazmyn laughed. I stuck my tongue out at her.
"I just stole it! Do you really think I want to change Jay's diaper after I just ate? Uh, no!"
"Perfect. So you make Jake do the things that you don't want to?" Rachael asked. I nodded and she looked at Paul, smiling slyly. "Possibilities..."
"The eyes. It's all about the eyes," I giggled.
"Don't give her ideas!" Paul growled.
"Yes! Ideas! Give me ideas!" Rachael exclaimed, and we broke out into a fit of laughter. Paul just grumbled under his breath. We were still laughing when the door opened and Charlie came in, pushing Billy.
"Hi, guys! You made it just in time, or else those things that call themselves the Pack would have eaten all the food!" Alice said, skipping in to meet them.
"Hi, Daddy!" Rachael waved. Billy smiled and wheeled himself in more.
"Hey, Honey. Where's Jake?"
"Right here," Jacob said, and handed him Jayah. Jayah smiled and kicked her legs when she was in her Grandpa's lap. "Say 'hi, grandpa!'" Jayah just put her hands over her eyes and then pulled them away, starting a game of 'peek-a-boo.' Billy laughed and started playing with her, causing Jayah to burst into a fit of excited screams.
I turned back towards Syanne after that. She was still holding Kyle close to her, as if scared that something else would happen to him. He had fallen asleep in her arms, sucking his fingers. Syanne kissed his head lightly and rubbed his hair. She looked up and saw me staring, then blushed slightly.
"You love him a lot," I said, sitting down next to her.
"What's there not t-to love?" she replied, stroking his hair again.
"True." We were silent for a few seconds. "He's gonna' be a handsome little man when he gets older."
"Y-yeah. He is, isn't he?" Syanne gave me a small, tentative smile. I turned and noticed Embry staring at her with a loving grin on his face. I grinned at Syanne again.
"I can take him for you. Go talk to Embry," I said with my hands extended out. Syanne blushed again, then turned to look at Embry. He only smiled wider...
If that was even possible.
Quickly, she turned back around and looked at me.
"I-I don't know," she whispered.
"But I do. He won't hurt you...If he does, I hurt him. And that's not a threat, that's a promise," I said, raising my voice and my eyebrows at Embry. Then I turned back to the younger girl. She was silent for a few minutes before letting out a big breath.
"Okay." She handed Kyle to me and stood up, brushing her hair out of her face. She walked to Embry, and soon they were talking like old friends.
Looking back down at Kyle, I couldn't help but giggle a little. He was so cute! He had chestnut brown hair, just like his mom. It fell into his eyes a little bit and I brushed it away. Doing that made him open his eyes. I noticed that they were hazel, and he had pretty long lashes.
Kyle yawned, and I laughed. "Sorry I woke you up, Kyle," I said.
"Ooh, let me hold him!" Kim said from next to me. I laughed and handed the baby to her. "Hello, little Kyle!" Said baby stared at her, studying her features. Kim made faces and giggled, while I talked to my own baby brother.
"Does it hurt?" I asked.
"Like a bitch," Seth answered.
"Language, young Seth! Since when do we use such words?" I snickered.
"Leah, I'm practically fifteen. What'd you expect?" Seth answered. I rolled my eyes.
"But I still see you as that cute little kid running around the house in diapers," I said in a baby voice. Seth chuckled, then grimaced a little. "Oh, my gosh. You scare me to death when you do that!"
"Well...You're not dead. And it really hurts," he replied, touching his stomach a little.
"Can't be worse than child labor," I said flatly, looking at Jayah in Billy's lap. "The head, eh...But those shoulders...! Oh, Lordy, squeezing those things through my v-"
"OH-kay!" Seth said loudly. Everyone stopped talking to look at us. We grinned sheepishly.
"Hi!" we said together. Everyone shook their heads and continued with what they were doing.
"There's only so much girl talk a guy can take," Seth said quieter. I laughed. "Really. You're talking about me and my language? What about you? There's plenty of people who don't want to hear about that." I shrugged.
"You're the only available person here. Everyone else is preoccupied." We were silent for a few moments. But it wasn't awkward, it was actually quite comfortable.
"Hey, you remember when I threw that rock through the Hayes' window?" Seth asked suddenly. I laughed. Duh, I remembered! Our family and the Hayes were out to get each other back then. We hated everything about each other. And being neighbors just made everything worse.
"And then you hightailed it back here," I added, still laughing. "And-"
"And I thought I was gonna' get it, for sure," Seth added.
"Mom almost died laughing! Seeing the Hayes run out of the house calling the police made it better. I was laughing pretty hard, too. I was practically crying," I said.
"And Dad was so proud," Seth finished. We laughed together.
"Only our parents..." I said, mostly to myself. I looked back at Seth to see him with a grim smile on his face.
"I miss him sometimes, Lee," he whispered finally. My face mirrored his.
"I know. I do, too. I try to go by and see him every free moment I have...Which, really, isn't much," I laughed half-heartedly, looking at Jayah again. We were quiet again. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, suddenly.
Crap. Sometimes my mouth had a mind of its own.
"What?"
"About...Y'know..." I bit my lip.
"Oh. That." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I...I didn't want you to worry."
"But I was worrying last week when we ended up rushing you to the hospital! I would've found out sometime, Seth."
"You don't understand, though. I mean, I would've told you eventually...I dunno...You were busy with Jayah...And Jacob...And your Bella problems..."
"How'd you know about that?"
"News travels fast, Lee." I raised my eyebrows. "Emily."
"Ah..." I nodded. "But that's beside the point. You don't know how scared I was..."
"What about me?" Seth asked. "Does it always have to be about you?" he asked, his voice raising. "Do you know how scared I was? Do you know what I lived through these past few months?"
"No! You never open your mouth and TALK, half the time!" I screeched. The room got quiet again. I pulled Seth's hand and dragged him upstairs to my old room, ignoring his growls of pain. I sat down on my bed, yanking him down with me. Pulling my legs up, I moved them so I was sitting cross-legged against my pillows. He laid down so his legs were dangling off the side.
It was how we used to sit when we were kids. Before bed, we'd always have a little 'heart to heart' powwow in my room. It's why we were so close. We shared everything in here; secrets, stuff about school, people we liked...
I shook my head and got back to the subject before I blanked out in a reminiscing moment.
"Talk," I said flatly.
"Fine...After Jazz came, I thought I was back to how I was. I was better. She made everything better. But...I think it was when she left for those couple of days. I dunno...I...I was getting that feeling again."
"What feeling?"
Silence.
"The feeling to kill myself," he answered quietly. I pursed my lips, remembering the cliff fiasco last year. "So...The first person that I talked to was Mom. And, well, you pretty much know what happened after that." I nodded, knowing that he'd most likely gotten the pills after that. "And things were back to normal. The medicine made me back to my old self. I started singing again. With Jazz, of course. And I loved life.
"But...Maybe about a month ago, I started to feel like they weren't working. It seemed like it was only making things worse. Uhh..." he had been looking at the ceiling the whole time, but now he looked at me. "I was trying to get to sleep one night. And...I put the pillow over my head. Then...Then I held it there. And pushed harder and harder on it until I felt lightheaded and had to pull it away because I couldn't breathe. I thought nothing of it, but then I started to do it more and more. And I...I actually started looking forward to doing that every night. It scared me. But I couldn't stop. So...So I started taking more pills. And on that day," he continued, referring to last week. "The depression was really bad. I remember walking by the lockers and wanting to..." He bit his lip.
"'Wanting to' what?" I asked slowly.
"...I wanted to...I felt like bashing my head into the lockers. I felt like watching my blood pool onto the floor," he whispered quietly. I bit my lip, trying not to start crying. "I took four pills after that. And then...I don't know what happened then. It's black after that." We were quiet. He looked back up at the ceiling and his eyes stayed there for a while.
"I didn't know," was all I could muster up.
"Of course you didn't. I don't open my mouth and talk half the time," he laughed half-heartedly, mimicking what I'd said before.
"But what about now?"
"What about now?"
"Now that you're all, y'know, 'better?'"
Silence.
"To be honest, I really don't know," he whispered. "I don't ever want to look at another bottle of pills again."
"What if you go back to the way you were?"
Again, silence.
"I'm just gonna' have to 'grin and bear it,' like Dad used to say."
"But I don't want to lose you, Seth. Dad's already gone; I don't want to lose you, too. You're my baby brother...My only brother." Seth turned back towards me and smiled. "I love you too much for that to happen."
"Love you, too, Sis," he said quietly. He sat up, grimacing again.
"Still scary," I sighed. I stood up off the bed and then helped him stand up. Without a second thought, I hugged him tightly. I loved my little bro so much...
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow," Seth repeated. I jumped away with a giggle.
"Sorry," I shrugged. He smiled and rolled his eyes, then I dragged him back downstairs. Everyone was into their usual playful banter, and I rushed down faster when I heard Jayah's cries.
"She's Leah's, right?" Charlie was asking.
"Yeah," Sam answered. "How'd you know? You never met her."
"Sounds just like her mother," Charlie laughed. I scoffed and picked up my daughter. Then I shot Charlie a death glare. "...But she looks like you, too," he added quickly. I smiled smugly and nodded.
"Actually she looks more like her daddy," I said, still bouncing Jayah up and down.
"Someone turn her off! I'm DYING!" Brady yelled over Jayah's cries. She stopped long enough to suck in another breath and let out an ear-splitting shriek. A chorus of 'thanks, Brady's' and 'way to go's' sounded from all over the house.
"Let me take her," Jacob said, and I handed him the baby. His eyes softened almost instantly and he placed her in the crook of his arm and started rocking her. "Where's her blanket?" he asked. I turned to Billy, who tossed me Jayah's blanket. I threw it to Jacob and he caught it swiftly.
"Nice catch!" Rosalie congratulated him, walking in. She closed the door behind her. Jacob sent her a quick grin and then went back to calming Jayah down. He wrapped the blanket around Jayah and her cries turned into little whimpers.
"Are you okay, now?" Jacob laughed. Jayah's fist found her mouth and she studied Jacob's face. He kissed her forehead tenderly then handed her to Charlie. "She's cuter when she's not crying." He made a face at Jayah and she smiled.
"You're right, Leah. She does look more like Jacob. Has your nose, though," Charlie said, grinning at Jayah. When his cell phone started to ring, he handed the baby back to Jake and fished it out of his pocket. "It's Charlie...Hey, I'm at Sue's...Uh, huh...Okay, I'll have it ready for you...Love you, too. Bye." He hung up.
"Bella?" Esme asked, holding a stack of dishes. It took all of my power not to shudder.
At least not visibly.
"Yeah. She's stopping by to get the key to the house. I locked it and didn't remember that we only have one key for the place." He rolled his eyes.
"Oh..." Esme nodded slowly and walked into the kitchen. It was a little awkward for a few seconds after that.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Claire said, dancing around. It looked kind of like the dance she did whenever she needed to go.
Y'know...Go.
I leaned down to her level, ready to grab her and rush to the bathroom if I need to.
"I gotta' joke!" she giggled. Jacob put Jayah on the floor and she sat there babbling happily. Claire raised her hand and waved it in the air. "Raise up your hans if ya' wanna' hear it!" I laughed.
"Sure, Claire-Bear. Shoot," I said, picking her up and standing.
"How d'ya' make a tissue dance?" she asked, bouncing up and down in my arms.
"I don't know. How?" Quil laughed.
"Ya' gotta' put a boogie in it!"
"Ooh, that's a gross one," I laughed, and tweaked her nose.
"I funny, huh?" Claire asked once I set her back down. The little girl was perfect for ruining awkwardness. It was one of her...Many talents.
"Very funny, Claire," Sam chuckled. The two year old ran to Quil, starting to climb all over him. Then Mom came out with a plate wrapped in aluminum foil. A little container with something green in it rested on top, and a smaller container on top of that.
"Here, Charlie. This is for you. Some lasagna, garlic bread," Mom gestured to the two containers on the plate. "And this is a little salad, along with my homemade blue-cheese dressing."
"Cheese!" Claire said from her place on top of Quil's head. Her foot was in his eye, but he was still grinning a mile a minute.
Mom laughed and handed the food to Charlie.
"Thanks. Your cooking's delicious. Esme's is pretty up there, too," he added. Mom laughed and walked back into the kitchen, Charlie's eyes following her the whole way. I frowned.
Since when was Charlie in to my mom?
A knock on the door made him jump, and the rest of us tried our best to hide our laughter.
"I'll get it! I'm already up, anyway," Rachael said, and walked-more like waddled-to the door. She didn't even have a chance to say a proper greeting before Bella walked in, dragging some boy in with her. She was dressed in a short black dress, and her face was heavily made up. I turned to Rosalie, and she rolled her eyes, her lip coming up in a grimace. I glanced back at the boy she was with.
Poor guy. What deep, dark, devious trick did Bella pull to get his poor, defenseless soul to hang out with her?
Jacob leaned down and picked up Jayah, then walked to go sit down on the couch. I didn't miss the little growl that he let out before he sat down, though. Bella's eyes stayed trained to her dad, who dug in his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. He unhooked one of them and tossed it to her.
"I gotta' go back in, so I'll be a little late," Charlie said.
"Yeah, fine," Bella replied, and glanced at the boy next to her. "We'll probably be home a little late, too. We're heading into Port Angeles." Charlie nodded, and Bella and the boy stood by the door. Why wouldn't they just leave? They got what they came for, right? I bet everyone in the room was thinking the same thing. But then I came up with an answer.
The bitch just wanted to start stuff.
Finally, Charlie picked up the plate and containers.
"I should probably be heading out, too. I'll see you all later. Need a ride home, Billy?"
"Sure. Let me say 'bye' to my granddaughter, first," he replied. Jacob smiled and handed him Jayah. Billy laughed and kissed both of Jayah's cheeks. "Don't give Jake and Leah too much trouble, Little One. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Jayah giggled. Bella coughed loudly. Billy didn't seem to notice, and continued smiling at Jayah. But, and I could tell he was reluctant to, he handed her back to Jake. I took the chance to give Billy a hug.
"See you later, Billy," I said, and kissed his cheek.
"Bye, Dad," Jake said.
"Big kisses, Daddy!" Rachael exclaimed, rubbing her belly. The rest of the room followed with more 'bye, Billy's' and 'see you later, Charlie's.' The two men waved and were soon going through the door. Bella and her boy toy stood to the side to let them pass.
"Later, guys," she said real nasally.
"Just leave my house," Seth groaned from the couch. "You being here is worse than any pain that surgery brings." Bella's eyes turned to slits, but she left anyway; slamming the door behind her. Everyone cheered and clapped when she left. Jazmyn leaned down and kissed Seth.
"He got her to leave!" Paul laughed.
"And I didn't even have to show her my fangs," Rosalie added. "You did good, kid."
"You know what this calls for?" Ashley waggled her eyebrows.
"Dance party!" Amanda finished. She reached into her duffle and pulled out a hot pink iPod dock.
"That was so random," Brady said, turning to Jared. "Do they always do stuff like this?" Jared nodded, a tortured look on his face. Kim smiled and kissed him.
"You guys just carry random iPod docks in your bag?" Syanne asked, looking over at them. Amanda nodded and selected a song. Low started to play and the twins immediately broke into a fit of dancing.
"Woohoo!" Jazmyn said, and started dancing with them.
"Jazz, sit down," Sam shook his head. Jazmyn turned around and shook her butt in his face.
"You're just jelly 'cause I got more moves in my butt than you've got in your whole entire body, Sammy." I laughed and bumped Sam with my hip.
"She's right, 'ya know," I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Leah...!" Seth sat up, he looked worried.
"I may not be able to sing, Bro-Bro, but dance, yes!" I laughed. To make my point, I got 'low' like the song said, swaying my hips the whole time. Then I got back up with a body roll. Wolf whistles sounded throughout the house. Seth groaned.
"Who knew?" Sam laughed.
"Don't encourage her," Seth groaned.
"Aww, poor Seth. Born with a voice, but not the hips," I poked out my bottom lip and shook my head mockingly. I grinned again and looked at Jacob, holding my arms out for Jayah. "Time for a dance lesson, Jay-Jay!"
"Uh, no. I don't want my daughter to become an aspiring go-go dancer," Jacob said seriously. I shrugged my shoulders. I mentally rolled my eyes. Jake was, of course, pretending like he didn't love my dancing.
Because he and I both knew he did.
"More fun for me, then!" I continued dancing, knowing that all eyes were on me.
I LOVE being the center of attention!
Suddenly the music cut off, and I turned towards the twins' iPod dock with a frown.
"Aww...I liked that song."
"Sorry to ruin your Anti-Bella party, but it's a school night," Mom said.
"Uh, not for me," I pointed at myself.
"Or me. I don't have to go to school tomorrow, do I?" Seth asked.
"No. But Carlisle's gonna' be here soon. So you need to get upstairs," Mom answered.
"Moooom..." Seth whined.
"Move it, young man."
"Ooh, she pulled out the Mommy Card! You better move, Seth," Brandon snorted a laugh. Jazmyn helped Seth off the couch then gave him a kiss. They stood there kissing for a few seconds, and I knew that Seth was stalling. I rolled my eyes, knowing what was gonna' come next.
"And-" I pointed towards Mom.
"One. Two..." she started counting. Seth quickly pulled away, then hurried as quickly as he could upstairs. Jazmyn blew him a kiss then grabbed her backpack.
"See you guys, later," she waved and walked out the door. A few of the others followed after her.
"Bye-" Ashley started.
"Mrs. Clearwater," Amanda finished. They gave her a hug, and Jared had to literally pry them off of her afterwards. Kim walked with Amanda out to Jared's car. Ashley stayed and hugged Brandon.
"See ya' later, Bran," she whispered. Jared stood and waited. When Ashley finally left out the door, Jared stared at Brandon.
"Hurt her, and I'll personally castrate you with my own two hands." Jared left. I laughed, and Jacob slapped Brandon's back.
"I think he's cool with it now." Brandon looked like he was ready to pee his pants, but then, slowly, he smiled.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow, then," he nodded at us and left.
I walked over and hugged Mom. Then moved so she could see Jayah quickly.
"You'll be over tomorrow, right?" I asked. She shrugged.
"I'm doing some cleaning all day tomorrow. Maybe a little later. But it should go by pretty fast," she replied. I nodded and gave her a hug one last time. "Oh, before I forget..." she turned around and flicked her hand. Out from the kitchen floated a container filled with food.
"That is so creepy," Jacob thought aloud. I laughed and caught it when it fell into my hands.
"Lasagna? Yes!" I cheered.
"I knew you'd want some," Mom laughed. "And I gave you plenty," she eyed Jacob, and he smiled sheepishly. "It should last you a few days."
"You're the best, Mommy," I giggled.
"Love you, Leah," she said, and disappeared into the kitchen. I turned to Syanne. She stood up, Kyle sleeping in her arms. "Let's go home." Syanne smiled.
A real, true, genuine smile.
I didn't know how else to end it! If I didn't stop there, I'd have about three other chapters in just this one! Anyway...Review!
~SasahFierce12.0