All characters except for Annabelle Causley and Frederick Randal Laskaris and a few others belong to Stephenie Meyer…and, of course, the writer is not receiving any profit for this story whatsoever.
This story starts three years after Jacob heads to Italy to rescue Annabelle in the GoodAs Gone AU. Technically, this is not a sequel to Good As Gone but it does take place in that alternate storyline.
AN: Y'all should be happy now! Thanks to my need to please y'all, I am now behind! No worries though...I have the beginning for the next chapter already in my head...all it needs is to take shape. Oh! Teaser for the next few chapters...full moon is coming!
Chapter Forty-Four
"Did you know," Collin reached across the table for a yeasty roll, tearing it in half, "That in some cultures, after a woman gives birth, men will eat the placenta for increased virility?"
"Eww!"
"Gross!"
Collin laughed as he caught a roll in mid-air, which had been pelted at him by Paul, "What? I thought it was interesting!"
"Interesting?" Brady gave Collin a look of disgust, "It's disgusting. Are you still set on doing that gynecologist thing?"
"Yup," Collin bit into the roll with gusto, laughing as he noticed Embry pushing away his plate of coleslaw, "Two more years of high school then college in Seattle. After that, four years of med school."
"All that just so you can stare at women down there," Brady cocked an eyebrow, "Day after day, hour after hour?"
Collin gave Brady an evil grin, "You're just jealous because it will be years before you can look at a woman down there."
Collin howled as Sam smacked him hard over the head, "That's my baby girl you're talking about, you sick son of a bitch!"
Laughing, Collin turned to look at Brady, laughing harder at the look of utter shock and disbelief he was currently exhibiting.
"I don't think about…that's never…" turning to look at his Alpha, Brady's eyes were wide, "Sam, you know I don't think anything like that when it comes to Bailey. I never would –"
"Don't worry," Sam threw a disgruntled look at Collin, "I know you don't…you'd be dead otherwise."
"You're seriously disturbing, man," Paul shook his head, reaching out to grab a fried drumstick as soon as Emily placed the platter in the middle of the plate.
"I'm disturbing," Collin grabbed another drumstick along with a thigh, shoveling mashed potatoes onto his plate before Quil took them away, "I'm not the one who imprinted on a newborn. At least Quil had the decency to wait until Claire was two."
"That's because he met her when she was two," Brady passed the gravy across the table to Embry, knowing Collin was waiting for it.
"Hey," Collin stared in surprise as the gravy got passed around to his brothers, passing him over until the bowl was empty, "You jackasses know I like gravy!"
"That's what you get for being disgusting at the table," Jared laughed at Collin's disgruntled look before taking a bite of his fried chicken, "Emily, this is good!"
"When is Emily's food not good," Leah closed the front door behind her and Rick, watching with interested as all her brothers went silent, every single one turning to look at Rick with something akin to dislike.
Stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, Rick rocked backward on the ball of his feet, "Yeah…this isn't awkward at all."
The silence in the kitchen hung thick, the sound of playing children in the living room doing nothing to break the tension.
Leah gave Emily a look before she turned towards her brothers, her eyebrows lowering as she zeroed in on her little brother, "Are you eating my muffins?"
"I beg your pardon," Seth gave her disdainful look, holding his hand back as Leah moved towards him to reach it.
"I told you those were for your sister," Emily placed another bowl of gravy on the table, taking the empty platter from the middle away.
"Sorry," Seth gave Leah an evil grin, "I didn't hear the sister part. What I heard was 'those are yours.'"
"Give me my muffin," Leah held out her hand, waiting for Seth to obey.
"Okay," Seth smiled up at her before he shoved the whole thing into his mouth, his brothers around the table laughing as Leah punched him in the arm, "Fofes buffim fow?"
"Mama!" Leah was distracted by the hefty little body that rammed into her legs, his little arms tight around her knees.
"Hey munchkin," leaning down, she kissed his nose, buzzing his cheek before he turned and ran back into the living room to play with his cousins.
"Don't worry Lee," Emily smiled over at her cousin as she replaced the platter heaped with fried chicken, "I've got some hidden away for you."
"You hid muffins from me," Seth's mouth hung open, a laugh chocked out when Leah shoved a roll into it.
"There," Leah grinned down at him, "You do look better with your mouth stuffed."
The brothers around the table laughed, their hands moving over, around and into the food placed in the middle of the table.
"Lee. Lee. Lee!"
"What Paul," Leah turned to look at Paul, watching Sam coming from the back with two extra chairs, "What do you need to whine to me about now?"
"Your little monster of a kid bit me," Paul shoved out his hand, which Leah took and flipped around, finally pushing it back at him.
"I don't see anything."
"It healed," Paul scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck, "But the emotional trauma is still there."
"You're such a girl," Leah took the offered seat from Sam, pointing at the other chair as she looked over at Rick, "What did you do to my kid to make him bite you?"
"Why did I have to do anything?"
"Because you're you," Leah smiled thanks to Emily when she handed her two plates, handing one to Rick before she shoved at Seth to move over to make room for them.
"I may have tried to bribe him with a sausage link," Paul shrugged as he grabbed another chicken leg, "To try to get him to whisper."
"Whisper," Leah turned to stare at Paul, "Have you ever wondered why my kid only knows how to communicate with a loud voice? It's because of you loud morons!"
Quil and Embry laughed, Jared spitting out a piece of chicken to keep from chocking as laughter overtook him. Sam chuckled at the affronted look on Paul's face.
"Us? You're blaming your kid's inability to use his inside voice on us?"
"Yes," Leah ladled coleslaw and mashed potatoes on Rick's plate before serving herself without much thought, "All of you have two volumes…loud and louder. That's what Gabe is constantly exposed to so it's no surprise that he only knows how to be loud."
Handing Rick the bowl of gravy, she pulled the fried chicken platter closer to their reach.
"Hey," Collin snatched another drumstick from the heaping platter, "Aren't you going to introduce the guy?"
"Do we really need to know his name," Brady gave Rick a scowl, "I say we just keep calling him the –OW! Emily, I think you left mashed potatoes in my hair."
"You behave, Brady Kale," Emily gave him "the look" before she perused the rest of the pack, "He's my guest and I want you to treat him as such."
"Oh," Collin gave Emily a smile before turning to look at Leah, "Pardon us but would you do the honors of introducing the gentleman?"
The brothers laughed as Leah tossed a disgruntled look at Collin, "You're such an ass Collin."
"Just introduce the guy, Leah," Sam leaned back on his chair, wiping his fingers on his napkin.
"All right," Leah turned to look at Rick, noticing the gleam of amusement in his light blue eyes, "Rick, these are my pack brothers Collin, Brady, Jared, Paul, Quil, Embry, my little brother Seth and our Alpha, Sam Uley. Brothers, this is Frederick Laskaris."
"Call me Rick."
"We'd like to call you something else but," Paul lifted an arm in defense of Emily's raised wooden spoon, "Under threat of the wooden spoon, I suppose Rick would do."
Rick chuckled, thinking how similar these guys were to his own pack brothers, "I can respect that."
"Good," Jared nodded once, "As long as we're all understood."
"Enough," Emily placed two empty glasses before Leah and Rick, "What would you like? Tea or lemonade?"
Rick sat on the front porch step, watching the antics of Leah's pack brothers, choking back laughter as comments and snarky remarks flew back and forth with an amazing speed. Rick was surprised he was able to keep up.
Watching Leah interact with her brothers revealed a side of Leah he had never seen before, a side that he was enjoying immensely. He now understood why Emily wanted him to interact with the pack as a whole.
This Leah was nothing like the one he thought he was getting to know.
"Oh come on Lee," Seth whined as he ran across the front yard, his nephew high on his back, "Play football with us!"
"No," Leah swung Bailey around, her arms secure over her little body, "You know damn well I don't like playing football with you brutes."
"Why the hell not," Paul reached behind him to hold onto Bradley as he got up from his hands and knees, where he had been playing horsey with the kid, "Sam wants to sit out so he can hold Emily's hand and moon over her."
"Jackass," Sam called out from behind Rick, where he was sitting on the porch swing, Emily snuggled next to him.
Paul brayed, making Bradley laugh as he climbed over Paul's back until he clung around his neck with a chokehold, "Brad, buddy…you gotta loosen up…before you kill me."
"Squeeze harder Bradley," Leah called out, swinging a laughing Bailey up into her arms, "I'll give you my dad's harpoon if you succeed."
"You bitch," Paul called out good naturedly, sprawling on the dirt with a bouncing laughing Bradley on his back.
"You know it," Leah laughed at Bradley's triumphant look, placing Bailey on the ground, "Okay Bales, its' Monika's turn now."
Turning, she picked up two year old Monika, Jared and Kim's little girl, and swung her around, laughing along with the trilling laugh of the little girl that was a spitting image of Kim, "Hey, Jared! Is Kim coming?"
"She is," Jared tossed a football at Brady, laughing when it hit Brady over the head, "Brady, pay attention to the damn ball!"
"Sorry," Brady rubbed his head before crouching down to take something offered to him by Bailey.
"She went to the Makah reservation to pick up Claire," Jared turned to look at Leah, sticking his hands into the pockets of his cut-off jeans, "I believe Rachel went with her. That's why they weren't here for lunch. Besides, fried chicken makes Kim queasy."
"Bet she hates your guts at you having gotten her pregnant too soon after Nika," Leah hugged the little girl before letting her stand, walking over to the front porch to sit next to Rick.
"Nika's two years old," Jared bent down, grinning as his little girl ran to him, her arms flinging around his neck, "That's not too soon. Besides, Kim's the one that can't keep her hands off me."
The brothers laughed, all knowing that to some extent, Jared was telling the truth. It had taken years but they seemed to have gotten the hang of dealing with the intimate memories they were forced to share.
"We still need another player for football," Seth sat on the ground, panting in exhaustion, "Okay tornado, no more running for me."
"Football!" Gabe scrambled off Seth's back, coming around to pat his face, "Gabe football!"
"I know buddy," Seth ruffled his hair, grinning down at him, "We need another player."
An odd glint entering his dark eyes, he leaned in and whispered into his nephew's ear, watching as the little boy turned around and ran towards the front porch, heading straight for Rick.
"Play football!" Gabe grabbed one of Rick's hands tugging at him with all his might, "Rick play! Gabe football!"
"I suppose I could play," Rick stood up, watching with amazement as the little boy gave a jump of excitement, "Is it tackle or touch, Seth?"
"Touch," Seth laughed at the look of alarm on Leah's face, "Relax Lee. We won't hurt him."
"It's not that, it's just…" Leah bit her bottom lip before she looked up at Rick, "Are you sure you can handle it?"
"I think I can handle a game of touch football," Rick smiled down at her, not understanding the look of apprehension evident on her face.
"Maybe you should explain to him Lee," Sam laughed as Rick turned to glare at him, "It's not just touch football. It's Gabe football."
"The difference being," Rick tried to hold back his animosity, not to let it sound on his voice, but he wasn't entirely successful as the look of Sam's face changed from relaxed to slightly guarded.
"Being –"
"No, no," Leah held out a hand, stopping Sam, "I want to see if he can indeed handle Gabe football. One thing though, Rick…it's about trust."
"Alright," Rick said slowly before he turned to see that the teams had already divided. He moved towards the one with three members –Seth, Jared and Quil.
Turning, he watched as Brady tossed the football he had been holding aside before calling out, "Alright Gabe, let's play football!"
In what seemed like a slowly enfolding nightmare, Rick watched as his son, who had been standing in the middle of what was obviously the football field, ran towards Embry, his little arms spread out to his sides, laughing as Embry rushed towards him, picking him up in his arms before he tossed him towards Rick's team.
Standing there in frozen shock, he watched Seth easily catch his son, running towards the end zone, tossing the laughing boy towards Quil before getting tagged by Paul.
Before he knew it, his son was in the opposite end zone, held high in Jared's arms as the three –four with his son –celebrated the first touchdown.
They all turned to look at him, laughing as he tried to start breathing again. He knew he looked like a large mouth bass but he couldn't help the absolute shock show as he turned to stare at a grinning Leah.
"You let them use my son as a football," Rick's voice was low, a thin threat of anger behind it as Leah stood up, the look of mirth on her face melting easily into the blank look Rick was accustomed to.
"I don't let them use my son as a football," Leah crossed her arms over her chest, "My son does. Try to see if you can stop him. I've given up already."
"Aren't you –this is –damn it Leah! They could drop him! He could get seriously hurt," Rick stalked towards Leah, wanting to wring her neck.
"You think I don't think of that," Leah growled at him, fisting her shaking hands under her armpits, "He's my little boy but he's a strong kid who likes to play rough with his uncles. Besides, I trust every single one of my pack brothers. They would never let him get hurt."
"But sometimes things out of their control can happen," Rick racked his fingers through is shaggy dark blond hair, his blue eyes iced over with anger, "One of them can throw him too long or they might trip before catching him. Stuff happens Leah."
"Yes, stuff happens," Leah's face was tight with anger, her body shaking, "What do you want me to do, Rick? Wrap him up in bubble wrap?"
"No, but perhaps you can curb –"
"I'm not curbing anything," Leah yelled at him as she took a few steps away from him towards the forest, "My son is who he is and if you don't like it, you can get the hell off this reservation!"
Rick watched as Leah turned on her heel, erupting out of her clothes, running four legged into the forest, clothes and sneakers tattered on the ground where she had been standing.
Taking a few deep breaths, he turned to look at the pack, all of who was looking back at him.
"You're screwed," Paul held Gabe in his arms, the little boy's eyes wide in surprise, "Those were her favorite jeans."
