LEAH'S POV

"I know Avery, I miss you, too," I sighed, pressing the phone closer to my ear.

"Then come home!" he pleaded, "Please baby!"

"I just can't right now," I told him sadly, "Something came up in La Push."

"Does it have to do with Sam," Avery asked lowly.

"No of course not! How could you even think that?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, love," he sighed, "I just miss you. We miss you."

"I know. But I'll see you soon okay? I love you, Avery," I said.

"Love you, too," he said softly.

"Tell the kids I love them," I said, my throat going thick. This was the longest I'd been away from them.

"Will do," Avery said.

I giggled, "Goodbye, Avery."

"Love you."

I hit end and took a deep breath. It was hard to keep promising Avery that I'd see him soon. Keeping him in the dark was proving to be difficult, especially when he had so many questions. He couldn't be in La Push. I had too much of a past here, and he was bound to find something out. He didn't need to know any more than he already did.

"Who was that?" I looked up to see my mom standing in the doorway of my bedroom.

"Avery," I told her, putting my phone away.

"Oh… how is he?" mom asked.

"Good," I said, offering her a smile that she didn't return.

"Good," she said, turning around and leaving.

Mom and I weren't on good terms. I didn't called as much as I should have and hadn't stepped foot in La Push since I left. It really hurt her when she found out I had two kids she never even knew about. I appreciated her letting me stay in her house, even though she was mad at me. I wanted to fix up my relationship with my mother, but Samantha and Nathan came first. Sam was surprised that I made some progress with Samantha. I was happy she took my advice to move out of Sam's house and in with Seth. Sam of course wasn't, but who the hell cares what Sam thinks. Unfortunately, Nathan and I hadn't talked at all. He was busy being the new alpha.

Seth was the only one who seemed forgiving towards me. At first he seemed a little pissed at my lack of visitation and calls, but he understood and quickly got over it. He was happy to have someone to talk to about the pack that wasn't actually in the pack. I just really hope that boy imprints because he spends way too much time alone for someone as chatty as him.

I hopped off my bed and went downstairs. Grabbing a jacket from the closet (because I actually got cold now) I made my way to the front door.

"I'm going to visit Seth!" I called to my mom.

"That's a first," she snorted from upstairs five seconds later. I rolled my eyes, hoping she would stop being mad at me before I had to leave again.

0o0o0o0o0

"Leah!" Seth said happily when he opened the door.

"Hey bro," I said, entering his small apartment. I threw my jacket on the floor and looked around.

"You cleaned," I mused.

"Er… yeah I have um… company," he said.

I smiled, "I heard. How do you like living with Samantha?"

"She's pretty cool," he said honestly, "I can only handle so much Brady, though. And you know he always finds some excuse to be around her."

I nodded, understanding.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Shower."

"And Brady?"

"Who knows," Seth shrugged. I laughed and sat down on his couch, making myself comfortable.

"Sam dropped off a brochure for Quileute High School this morning," Seth laughed, sitting next to me.

"Oh gosh," I muttered, "He is such a control freak."

"I agree," a voice says, "Maybe I am your kid."

I turned towards Samantha as she came walking out of the bathroom, her hair wet. She half smiled at me.

"Hey," I said.

"I'm not going to school," she said.

"I never said you had to," I said, putting my hands up in defense.

"Good," she said, "Just making sure."

She turned and started walking towards the kitchen. I quickly got up to follow her.

"Hey wait!" I called. She didn't wait. She just walked into the kitchen and took out a cereal box.

"I was thinking we could do something together," I said. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised. I couldn't get over how much that made her look like Sam.

"Do something together?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah so we can like… bond as mother and daughter," I shrugged.

"Uh… no thanks," she said, grabbing a handful of cereal and putting the box away.

"Come on," I pressed, "We could go out to lunch or something. You can't just live off of cereal you know."

Just to make a point, she shoved the entire handful of cereal into her mouth. I rolled my eyes. That was totally something I would have done when I was her age.

"What?" she asked, her mouth still full of cereal.

"Nothing," I smiled, shaking my head, "You just remind me of someone."

"Who?"

"Myself," I shrugged.

"Great," she muttered.

"Hey would you stop pretending that you hate me? You said I was cool, remember?"

She sighed, "Yeah I guess. I'm starting to regret it."

"I'm cool and you know it," I said smugly.

"I don't see it."

"That's alright. A daughter will never admit her mother's cool," I laughed.

"Ha ha," she laughed dryly. There was a moment of silence where I tried to figure out what to say next.

"So… how about lunch?" I offered.

0o0o0o0o0o0

I had been wanting to revisit this place for a while. It was the place I first imprinted on Avery. There were so many happy memories here and I hoped maybe I could share them with my daughter.

"I can't believe I agreed to this," Samantha groaned, trudging along behind me.

"Oh shush, you'll have fun."

"Doubt it," she muttered under her breath, "So why don't you live in La Push with the rest of your brethren?"

"Sam," I said simply. She would understand.

"Ah. Yeah I would leave the state, too, just to get away from him," she agreed. I snorted.

"My husband and I live in Oregon," I said, smiling at the thought of Avery. Oh Avery, how I miss you.

"Sounds delightful," she muttered. Even from behind me, I could tell she was rolling her eyes. I ignored it and opened the door to the café. She walked inside and I followed. The place had changed over the years. It was more modern, with TV's hanging on the walls and pop music playing. But it was still the same place it had been before.

"You can go sit down, I'll get us some food," I told her, "What do you want?"

"Whatever," she shrugged, going over to an unoccupied table. I made my way towards the counter, trying to decide what in the world this kid wanted to eat.

I decided on peanut butter and jelly. Everybody likes peanut butter and jelly right?

"Thanks," Samantha said when I set the plate in front of her. I sat across and began eating my salad.

"So, what's new?" I asked casually.

"Nothing."

"Fascinating," I said sarcastically. She laughed a little.

"I-"

"Leah?" a voice said. I instantly turned towards it.

"Mr. Swan!" I exclaimed, getting up to hug him. It had been so long since I last saw him. I knew my mom had some weird thing going on with him, but she never talked about it.

"How have you been Leah?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Good, good!" I smiled, sitting down. He pulled up a chair to our table and took a seat. I noticed Samantha turning slightly away from him and I wondered what shit she'd gotten into before I came to La Push.

"Samantha Uley?" Charlie asked, "I thought it was you!"

"Hi," she muttered, not making eye contact. Since when did she use Sam's last name?

Charlie chuckled, "I caught this one sneaking candy from the drug store. Then I find out that she's one of Sam's!"

"Yup, she's my daughter," I smiled. Charlie almost chocked on his own breath.

"Y-your daughter?" he asked. I nodded.

"Well… I didn't know you and Sam h-had a daughter," he said, looking confused.

"And a son. It's a long story," I explained.

"Seems like it," he said awkwardly.

"Shit," I head Samantha say under her breath. I glanced towards the TV she was looking at in horror.

"The search for the missing boy and girl is still going on. Apparently, they were last seen at an airport in Seattle. Here are the pictures of Nathan and Samantha…"

I looked back at Samantha in shock.

"Samantha… what the hell…" I whispered to her as Charlie began yapping away about the weather or something.

"Er… I gotta go to the um… bathroom," she said, standing up quickly. She ran straight into a bus boy, causing him to drop all the plates in his hands. The entire restaurant went quiet and started at the commotion.

"Er… Charlie we have to go," I said quickly, standing up. Samantha put the hood of her sweatshirt up and we got out of the café as fast as we could. I waited until we were five blocks away to stop her.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

She put her hood down, looking sheepish. I crossed my arms as I waited for an explanation.

"Alright. Me and Nathan sort of… ran away from our foster home," she said, kicking her foot out.

"You ran away?" I asked, to make sure I heard her right.

She nodded slowly, "Yeah and I guess nobody's found us because nobody watches the news in La Push."

"Samantha! You understand that if you get caught, you'll be sent back right?"

"Well that's why we were hoping we wouldn't get caught," she mumbled.

"And you thought that if you just 'hoped' you wouldn't get caught, that it magically wouldn't happen?" I asked.

"Er… maybe."

"Samantha!" I said in disbelief.

"Well… we didn't really think our plan through okay? And then we started getting stalked by the other v-vampires and suddenly, getting caught by the police wasn't such a concern anymore!"

"And Sam didn't do anything when he found out you were runaways?"

"Nope," she said, popping the p.

I smacked my hand against my forehead. Sam was such an idiot.


Sorry about the ending, the chapter was getting a little long. Hope you liked it!

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