Chapter Info

Title: Some pain lingers.

Number: 20/?

Warnings: Language, angst.

Author's Note: I'm so glad you all enjoyed the friendship between Leah and Noelle. I wanted to highlight the fact that yes they are friends, and not have them just 'background'. So expect more fun things from Leah and Noelle - and of course, teasing the guys.

- ʚɞ - ʚɞ - ʚɞ -

- La Push, Washington -

- Leah -

Paws hit rhythmically against the foliage, her lithe form ducking and jumping over fallen trees with ease, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth as her breath escapes her in heated clouds of smoke. She was perfectly at ease here under the canopy of trees, relishing in the feeling of pure power exuded from her bones. Around her the sounds of the impending midnight cry around her, singing in her ears and letting her know just what was happening.

Her mind reaches out, the familiar taste of Paul's thoughts flooding her brain and she watches - as though his sight was hers - as Noelle moves around the hospital room. Her steps steady and commanding, completely at ease with what she was doing. A gentle voice crooning next to her and Leah can't help the internal smile as she watches Noelle with the little girl - the one hurt by the supernatural.

" She's good at that. " Leah thinks idly, not even caring if Paul hears her or not. " The whole comforting thing. "

" Yeah– " she hears Paul agree, his eyes set firmly on his imprint.

Unbidden Leah's mind recalls the hug Noelle had given her earlier - the comfort she offered - as well as the quiet strength that only Noelle could exude. Leah had first noted that about her when they were younger, she would always work to make everyone happy. It was just everyone else that broke her instead.

" Thanks for the reminder. "

Leah snorts as her body changes directions with ease, her mind pulling up images of the day Noelle left. Leah had seen her that morning, slipping out in the early hours. Not long after she phased, Leah would use that memory constantly as ammo against Paul and Sam, wanting them to see the damage they'd done. It always worked and Leah got what she wanted most, the physical exertion that came from a good fight with another who had the same strength.

Paul was always the best one for that.

His growl reverberates in her mind and she chortles - which in wolf form wasn't easy - as she continues to run the perimeter for her patrol. Her nose picking up scents and organizing between what was familiar and which were foreign and what was a threat.

" You broke her buddy. You should feel fucking blessed that she even gave you a chance. " her own words were clipped and showed the anger underneath. But also the loyalty, the loyalty Leah had to her friend.

" I'm not going to hurt her again Lee, I can't. "

Her humor runs rampant as she drags up the memory of how Noelle had mentioned Leah would be her baseball bat in hitting Paul. She watches as his steps falter as he drinks in her memory and a wolfish chortle falls off her lips. Yeah, she purposefully brought it up, she had said she would. But mostly it was to show Paul that Leah was on Noelle's side in this fight. Pack loyalty or not.

" God could you be any more annoying. " Paul growls in annoyance.

" Hey, those are your imprints words. Not mine. " Leah smirks mentally, her words wrapped in saccharine joy.

Leah had always found it amusing the changes in Noelle, how strong she had become after her six years away. To most, they were drastic, different than the girl she had been before. But Leah and most of the pack knew the changes were the best - whilst born of pain - they gave her the strength to handle Paul. He was ornery on the best of days, and most couldn't him, yet Noelle had disarmed him far more times since her return than Leah could count.

Her own scent drifts into her senses and she starts her patrol once more, the circle having previously coming to an end and here she was starting once more. Sometimes patrols were highly boring, born of Sam's paranoia but even Leah couldn't deny that this time it was warranted. A child had been hurt, as had other innocents and it was up to the wolves to protect them.

Choosing to ignore that Paul was in her head, her thoughts open and willing for him to hear, just as his own were to her - not that they were too hard to handle - after all his thoughts were constantly focused around Noelle. The Noelle show as Seth had taken to calling it, but after years of the Bella Swan show - they'd all learned how to shut out the thoughts they didn't want.

So with that way of thinking, she allows her mind to drift to the unexpected conversation in her kitchen. She hadn't expected Noelle to turn up, if Leah was quite honest she'd wanted to avoid the brunette at least for a little longer. But she'd forgotten the tenacity of the Uley family, and not to mention Noelle's own deep-rooted stubbornness. And the whole conversation had taken a turn Leah wasn't ready for.

She had been overjoyed hearing that Noelle and Daryl weren't together anymore, she wasn't sure if she was ready for another Sam and Emily situation - this time making someone else live through it. But it had been the way Noelle had spoken, disarming every retort and challenge Leah had sitting on the end of her tongue before she'd even been able to speak them.

Jealousy had flared like a violent storm as she heard the relationship between the two of them, had hated hearing how the two had met and the connection they'd shared. But she understood what Noelle was doing, she was helping, in her own way, she was showing Leah that Daryl was different. She was scared to admit it worked.

Fate.

A world Noelle had spoken about and something Leah herself had never believed in. She had been damaged by fate once before and she'd shut it out as nothing more than hearsay and total bullshit. But even now she could feel the chains wanting to wrap around her heart and force her to give in, to let it wrap around her and cocoon her in the promise of forever.

Yet nothing was that easy as she was damaged - just like Noelle - and that was something that was easily repaired. Words would never heal the gaping wounds left behind, only actions could. But sometimes even actions could do more damage. Sometimes time didn't heal all wounds.

Lost in the memories, Leah lets slip the words Noelle had spoken - Daryl is a fucking monster in the sack. I wasn't lying when I said he outdid Paul - and her own steps falter as she feels the telltale signature of Paul's anger drifting through her mind. Her huge form coming to a screeching half as she focuses back on her fellow wolf. It had been a total accident, despite how she had threatened to show them.

" Paul. " Leah mutters slowly. " She'd said it as a joke. She was helping me feel better. "

She tries to soothe the devilish taint of her packmate's anger, his mind flashing with the brutality of his temper. It scares her for a moment, her every instinct telling her to run straight to Forks and grab Noelle and keep running. But she fights it, keeps her paws plated firmly in the foliage as even she wasn't stupid enough to think that Paul would let her close.

He was the pack's best fighter for a reason, she was quick but he was better. His mind, when singularly focused, made him focused in a way that no one else could even begin to comprehend. Leah had first gotten a taste of it during the newborn fight, she had tried everything to stray away from his mind, and the pure rage that been wrapped around every thought.

" Not now Leah. "

Her whole frame shakes from the deep bass he spoke to her in, the words deep and menacing and she sighs as her mind whirls. She instead allows it to stray, stray to when Noelle had fallen asleep. Leah had leaned in the doorway watching her pseudo sister and making sure she actually got the rest she needed. The youngest Uley passing out with an ease Leah was almost jealous of, but it had been the uttered words that had drawn her attention.

She replays them for Paul, the whispered words settling between them and it was almost screwy how those simple words, soothed the raging beast that was Paul. The agitation that had him pacing dissipating until it was nothing more than restlessness. His large silver form shuffling from one side to the other, eyes cutting to the hospital where Noelle was now out of sight but still within hearing distance. His thoughts once more focusing on his imprint as he uses what he hears to picture what she's doing. Leah chuckles internally as she hears Noelle arguing with Carlisle. Of everyone, Noelle had never truly liked the vampires, Leah had to admire that.

" Under all her pain Paul, she still loves you. She's just burdened by the secrets and lies, the choices you stole from her. " Leah sighs as she shakes out her own lupine head, once more resuming her patrols. She can feel Brady in the pack mind but he gives the two elder wolves space.

" One thing I always enjoyed about Noelle was she always knew what she wanted, she wanted to help people, she wanted to give back to the reservation that had accepted her as family. And you chose for her, yes for a good reason, but that was only a good reason for you. " Her voice soft despite the hidden anger. " Right now she's torn between letting you in and between the memories. "

" I know that Lee, but I'd make the same choice again. " His sigh was like a knife to her heart.

Even now Leah can still taste the familiar flavor of his anger, but she doesn't comment on it. Her snout lowered to the forest floor as she thinks on how to word her next statement without riling the other wolf up. She'd made a deal with Noelle after all - they'd help each other with their imprints - and well Leah was determined to hold up her end. She owed it to her friend.

" That's your problem, Paul. Us wolves have to be whatever our imprint needs, but we have to fucking trust in our imprints too. Trust that they can make their own choices. Yes, we all know Noelle would have stayed for you, but she's as stubborn as a mule so she'd have still done her nursing. So don't take her choices away again, let her have a say. Otherwise, next time she runs, she might not return. "

Leah is almost positive she can hear Paul's growl all the way from Forks, because that was the true root of his troubles. He was scared she'd run once more, Leah understood that as she knew it was a fear Sam had and why he was letting his sister guide their reunion. He was giving her a choice in whether or not to forgive him. And her distance was hurting the elder male, but he was giving his sister back what he took away.

And despite how much it pissed Paul off, he needed to do the same.

" What do I do ? "

For a moment Leah isn't sure she hears the words right, the true vulnerability that Paul had wrapped around those four words. The shock of it causing her to stumble and for Brady to run headfirst into the nearest tree. Out of all the wolves they had never seen Paul vulnerable. But that was the power of the imprint, it gave someone the power to destroy you.

" Be her friend. No more kissing or telling her that you love her. Start from the beginning. " Leah sighs, twisting what Noelle had said.

" She's changed in six years so get to know the new her, bring her coffee in the morning, ask how her day has been. The stuff a friend would do, the shit Jared and I do. She's bringing Daryl to the bonfire next week, so use that to get to know her and get to know him. He means a lot to her, a hell of a lot. And now he's my imprint he's never going to be out of her life, so show her you're trying, by getting to know the man who repaired the damage you caused. "

Whilst Leah could still feel the sting of jealousy settling in her heart that her imprint was still close with his ex-fiancee, Leah wasn't going to take it away from them. Because without Daryl, then Noelle would never have come home. Leah wouldn't have her friend back and Paul wouldn't have his soulmate.

She still had her broken edges, the damage from Sam wouldn't ever fully go away but Noelle was right. She needed to take a chance and she was willing too. She would do baby steps and if she felt like she was about to drown then she'd find her friend. And together the two would sew themselves back together.

" Lover boy is here. " Paul drawls catching her attention.

She pulls his thoughts into her mind and watches as Noelle and Daryl talk with one of the patients, even from where Paul was standing you could hear the raging of the patient. As Paul looks between the two imprints, Leah can see that Noelle was biting her lip - no doubt constricting a retort - and yet Daryl looked patient and calm.

" He's going to need it with you. " Paul comments and Leah growls.

She tries to ignore him as she instead watches the two of them, it was annoying that she was so drawn to the male. But now she could finally understand the whole business of the imprint. Yes, she was still hurting from Sam, still hurting from the damage, but she understood the sheer need that came with one. Ever since she had seen Daryl, he filled her every thought. Every shred of information Noelle had offered, she'd filed away like a starving woman as though her wolf was desperate to know. It was, it was something she was struggling to understand.

" It's hell. " Paul whispers and she doesn't comment.

Even now she had to give her pack brother props for ignoring it for six years. She had only been an imprinted wolf for less than twenty-four hours and already she would lose her mind if Daryl was to leave. She had no idea what she'd do if he chose to reject the imprint. She remembers the visions from Jared's head of the times Noelle had commented he was smart, and she knew she wouldn't be able to lie to him.

Not for long.

" How are you going to tell him ? " Paul asks as he settles down on his haunches, still watching Noelle. " Better than me I hope ? "

" Anything is better than how you told Noelle. " Brady interjects and Leah snorts.

Leah had to agree with that, but if she was honest, it did fit who Paul was as a person. But when it came to her own imprint she wasn't sure how she was going to go about telling Daryl. Especially telling him in a way that worked and made him understand.

" I'm probably going to need Elle there, and Sam. "

Yeah, that would be interesting, explain to her imprint the whole Sam debacle without resorting to the raging bitch she normally was when Sam was close. Or break down in tears because the pain was still raw. Yeah, this was going to probably be the worst conversation she ever had.

" Take a chance Lee, he's a doctor. He might believe it more than you think. "

She wanted to trust in Brady's optimism, but it was hard. After the shitty hand, she had been dealt. How could she believe that? Shutting the two men out she continues on with her patrol, wanting nothing but silence as she thinks over the revelations of the last few days. Just a few months ago she hadn't even known she could imprint, she had hoped in some small corner of her mind, but she had thought she couldn't.

But more than that, she still wasn't sure if she could have children. Her whole body had messed up since she phased and what was once normal was no longer such. She didn't have her periods, so who was to say she could have children. And Leah had always seen that was the one way a woman could fail her lover - by not giving him a child. And here she was, an imprinted wolf with no hope for children.

She stops in the middle of a clearing, her large lupine head tilted towards the sky as she drags in the scents of the forest, her mind whirling as tears make a silent track down the soft curve of her fur. This wasn't the first time she had cried at the prospect of not having children, it had been the one thing she was most angry over, but now, now it felt like the worst thing in the world.

Dropping to her haunches, she settles her head down as she brings Daryl's face to the forefront of her mind, watching the way the light had danced off his features. It wasn't hard for her to picture what a child with him would look like - and she knew that was the imprint - many times she had caught Paul doing the same thing, Jared and Sam were just as guilty.

But they could have children. She was the genetic dead end.

- ʚɞ - ʚɞ - ʚɞ -

A / N : Reviews are love and highly appreciated. Please and thank you- so did you enjoy this ?. Did I do Leah justice in this chapter? Or should I just leave her pov alone in the future?...also sorry its short. I got lost on what to write for Leah.

Anyways don't forget to check out Wild Hearts, the fun just started over there. And safe to say, Sam is the 'bad guy' right now. Also, Leah appears in the newest chap over there too.