Chapter Info

Title: Nothing is easy.

Number: 22/?

Warnings: Language, mentions of violence, and my usual doses of angst here and there.

Author's Note: Found at the end!

- ʚɞ -

- Colorado Springs, Colorado -

- Skylar -

- October -

If there was one thing Skylar was learning, was that since becoming alpha, there was a huge ass list of things she needed to do. It almost seemed like the moment she finished one task, one would creep out of the woodwork to bite her in the ass. Between guiding the members of her pack on what to do, arguing with the council in La Push and helping Leiah deal with the aftermath of her dad's death. Skylar quite honestly felt like she was at her wit's end.

She was also learning her father was a hidden packrat. Something she hadn't known ten years ago when she moved in with him, nor the few times she visited. Yet now, as she helped Leiah organise his estate, Skylar was learning there wasn't anything her father didn't keep. If he deemed it important, or a memory of some kind, it could be found in a box in his attic.

It was why in a way she was thankful for her pack, and the routine her father had gotten them into that even now with her in charge didn't seem to dissipate. It was a routine that Sonny had filtered into with ease and even Paul was finding a way to help them hunt down the other shifters. The Quileute shifter having realised his connection as alpha's mate meant he too had access to the pack mind. But even with all the wolves out looking for them, he assholes in question making themselves scarce after no doubt realising they'd screwed up. Which left Skylar to sort through her father's mess.

What a joy.

Even now Skylar was currently sitting on the hardwood floor of her father's living room looking through boxes which detailed her military career. Some of it was replicas of the medal's she'd gotten for her service or letters she'd written from some of her deployments. But there were other things hidden inside the cardboard packages that caused her heart to clench and tears to build within her whiskey eyes.

One such thing that caused an open wound across her heart was a picture of Skylar's unit, the smiling faces of the teammates she'd lost bringing forth a multitude of memories she wasn't ready to experience. From the many nights drinking and getting to know each other, the life and death situations they all went through that made them more then friends. They were a family.

There were also other pictures which documented the various people Skylar had met and befriended in her ten-year career. Some she met only once, other's she'd been stationed with for a good few months. And one, in particular, garners most of Skylar's attention. The jade green eyes pulling her in and leaving her breathless as she looked over his face. Drinking in his features as though she was a starving woman. Joseph Leone. Or if she wanted to get technical - Emmie-Jo's father.

Skylar could easily picture the day this photo had been taken, it was nearly three years ago and exactly ten minutes after she'd announced she was pregnant. It had been a surprise to them both, given at the time they were not a couple in any shape or form. They had simply slept together as a way to feel something, to let go of the grief that had shrouded them from the failed mission the two had undertaken. She loved him, in a way she hadn't loved anyone since Paul, but she carefully kept them at the friends. She wasn't ready to hand her heart over, so friends it was.

And given they were friends and had both foolishly believed that they could raise their child to know them both without any strings attached. She and Joseph had believed their friendship was strong enough to survive such a thing and maybe she had just been blind, wanting to cling to something that didn't leave her feeling dead inside, but she had believed him. She had allowed his soft words to soothe the ragged edges of her doubt and allow her to believe they had a chance.

She was a god damn fucking idiot.

Not even two days after this picture was taken, Joseph had been deployed for an overseas mission that would take no more than five months. Just enough time for him to be home and help her in the final stages of her pregnancy. But instead of coming home, overjoyed at the prospect of being a father. He had come home in a wooden box, and she went through the pregnancy alone.

And the day she'd seen Joseph's eyes staring back at her from the face of their daughter had quite literally killed the last shred of love in her heart. From that moment on, she'd sworn that she wouldn't get close to anyone else. Skylar knew she wouldn't be able to handle anyone else leaving. It was why she made out that she couldn't remember just who Emmie-Jo's father was, to stop everyone asking questions.

But more, she couldn't handle the fact she'd have to revisit that gaping wound and explain their relationship or the reason why he wasn't there helping her raise their daughter. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that one day she'd have to tell Emmie-Jo about her dad. That would be the only time she'd be willing to open that wound. But for anyone else, she just couldn't do it.

And in typical fashion for her, she'd been unable to keep her promise, given that over two and a half years after vowing she wouldn't let anyone else close. She'd gone and sunk her teeth into Paul's neck and solidified their mating in a way that was even tighter than a marriage. And now, she was opening up her lacerated and weeping heart to the male she had been trying to forget for as long as she'd been running.

Yeah, she really didn't make shit easy on herself.

Smiling a sad tear-filled smile she sets the picture aside, knowing as much as she wanted to bury it once more. It didn't belong to her anymore. It was her daughter's only link to her father - both the picture and the dog tags Skylar had hidden away that had once graced Joseph's neck. A gift from his mother for their child. And given that Skylar herself had just lost her father, she knew, she couldn't take this way from her daughter. She couldn't be selfish. So instead she'd place the picture with the dog tags and wait till Emmie-Jo was older, before telling her of the amazing man her father was.

Whilst pretending she couldn't remember in the meantime. Because well, Skylar was a masochist and didn't like making anything easier on herself. Plus, Joseph in a way was just another scar that Skylar carried. And like the others she buried down deep, this was one she kept to herself. Who knows maybe one day she'd tell Paul about him, if just to talk about him, or maybe she wouldn't.

Things with him were still up in the air - as whilst to the outside world they were settling into their mating with an ease that came with every mated pair. To them alone, there was still the gaping wounds that came from their anger. Paul didn't trust her and was waiting for the moment that she'd run again, she could see it shining in his eyes every time he looked at her. And Skylar, she was wondering when he'd leave her too. Just like everyone else had left her in some form.

It wasn't productive for a cohesive relationship - she knew that - yet she didn't know exactly how they were supposed to move past it all. They could talk till they were blue in the face about the things that were settling between them. Yet it would be actions that proved the truth. And all Skylar could do was show Paul she wasn't going anywhere, just as he had to show her.

It was a precarious delicacy that was settling between them and yet nothing but time would fix it. It also didn't help they were fighting a war right in the middle of it all. That really put a fucking kink into the major working of things but Skylar had never had anything be easy so why did she expect it to be easy now.

Shaking her head softly she repacks the boxes containing her military belongings and sets them off to the side, she would need to find somewhere for them. Giving her whole living arrangements were up in the air too. She wasn't completely sure if she was heading back to La Push or she would be staying in Colorado. She was just thankful that the Blackwater Pack was flexible with that issue. They were nomadic by nature, they weren't bound to their land like the Quileute's and as long as they came when called, the pack ran cohesively.

It was one of the reasons Skylar could go in the military, why some of the others had jobs in various states. They didn't believe in locking people in once place, and given the sheer size of the pack, it meant there weren't any true issues involving someone not being around - a good few somebody's was. Add onto that fact, the knowledge that she had mastered how to run from La Push to Colorado in just under an hour, meant as Alpha, she would never be too far away.

But that was just another check on the long-ass list that was building in her head.

Pushing away from the boxes she congeals back to her full-frame, stretching her arms above her head she takes pleasure from the way her bones crack into place and the tension that had previously bled into her frame disappears. Sitting on the floor wasn't productive, not even when one was a shifter. Easing out all of her taut muscles, her head snapping towards the front door as it almost flies off its frame. The wooden panel soon revealing the panting form of Paul and Mitchell.

Skylar tilts her head as she waits for the two of them to catch their breath, a smirk building on her lips as she looks over the way the two of them were leant on each other for balance as they work to drag much-needed oxygen into their complaining lungs. The way the two of them stood, hands clasped on each others shoulders as sweat slowly drips down their chests spoke of the closeness they'd formed in the time her and Paul had been in Colorado.

One would be forgiven for thinking they were blood brothers.

"Now, is there a reason you both nearly broke the door?." her words are gentle and yet filled with the alpha bass the seemed to drip into her tone every time she talked to a member of her pack.

Skylar had found since becoming one herself, she could understand why Sam's words had always seemed so authoritative. It was hard to squander down that part of yourself, it was always there, always ready to react at the smallest instance. Even Skylar found herself making each sentence a compelling statement - even without trying.

Though she was working her ass off to prevent it.

A brow hitches high on her face as both males take their time in answering but she waits it out with a practised patience as she watches Mitchell work through his words. Paul himself looked as though he was finding the right way to voice whatever it is they really needed to tell her. So she'd wait them out if only to know why the house nearly lost a damn door.

"We found 'em, boss. But there's a small issue." Mitchell starts, his eyes soon snapping from hers to a rather interesting point on the floor.

"And that is?." she asks softly.

"They seem to be co-ordinating a new attack. We could see them planning something. And well, there is also the small thing of ..." Mitchell trails off, his eyes cutting to Paul.

"It seems as though at least three of them followed your scent trail to Forks." Paul mutters but she hears every word.

There couldn't have been anything worse Paul could have spoken in that moment, the moment his sentence falls off those decadent lips she felt the blood freeze in her veins. Every maternal gene in her body willing to propel her forward and into the woods heading towards La Push and her daughter. It was only the knowledge that her daughter was safe with her mother that kept her footed in place. Staring down her pack member and mate as she fought to contain her beast.

Instead she calls on her military training and starts to plan a cause of action, taking everything the two males had spoken and sorting it into plans of action. Her feet starting a paced pattern as she works it all over. Finding the scenarios that made sense but also forming a plan B should everything go tits up like it was no doubt prone to do.

"Mitchell, I want you, Jacoby and Cole to monitor the feline fuckers. Keep a track of their movements, how many move at one time and also see if you can get a count of their numbers." she recites turning to look at him. "I'll send three to relieve in you a few hours."

Her team mate nods and heads back out the door - luckily shutting it quieter than he opened it - as she returns to her pacing motions. Her lips forming quiet mutters as she talks herself through everything. She knew the scenario that would work best and yet she was scared to reach out and grab it. Mostly because of the last shred of fear that clung to her emotions. Yet, what other option did she really have.

"Paul." she says turning to look at him with a soft sigh. "I need you to reach out to Sam, inform him of the threat that could potentiall come his way. And see if he can extend his patrols to the Forks border, But tell him not to attack if he doesn't need too. We don't need two packs at war with these fuckers."

Paul nods and yet she could see a thousand words swimming inside those obsidian eyes. She didn't blame him, she wasn't exactly being forthcoming with her thoughts, nor was she doing well with the news that the felines had even gotten near her daughter. And yet, words right now were not what she wanted to speak. Rather she wanted to be out there, dealing with them.

Instead, she reaches for her phone, her fingers clipping away steadily as she opens up a new message, yet before she can even type a sentence she receives one in return. The simple sentence of 'We're on our way' allowing a tendril of stress to bleed away.

Skylar hadn't wanted to involve Peter. Not even after the fact he was the one who had warned her war was coming, this was a shifter war and getting a vampire involved was just asking for trouble. But right now she was struggling on how she was supposed to keep everyone together. And she would - rather begrudgingly admit - that she needed someone who had fought in supernatural wars. She needed the vampires' guidance.

Mentally she puts money on just which member of her pack would attempt to take a chunk out of Peter's sparkly ass, she was torn between it being Cole and herself. Though Paul would definitely be someone to be considered as she knew his stance on vampires was firmly in the 'hell no' category.

And whilst she wanted to soothe that maelstrom before it became a full-fledged storm - she also had to think of her pack. They couldn't afford to lose anyone else. And if Peter helped her make that a truth and a proven fact. Then she'd take it.

"We're going to have some visitors. Vampires."

She offers the words in a clipped tone that was reminiscent of her military stance, the hauntings of 'yes sir' ringing loudly and for a moment she allows nostalgia to fill her lungs. She missed the ease that came with following other orders. Of allowing them to think of all the scenarios and plans and her only job being a part of the puzzle that made sure it all came true.

It was easy, and she missed that. But nothing in life was easy. Rather it was a pain in the ass.

"Are you sure about this?."

There was nothing condescending in his tone, rather he was just making sure she knew what she was doing. Something she's thankful for, yet still, his words pull a chuckle from her lips as she shakes her head.

"I'm never sure about Peter. The ass tap dances across my every last nerve. But he is the one who warned me about the war, and right now I need all the fighters I can get to make sure we all come out of this alive."

- ʚɞ -

A / N: Reviews are love and highly appreciated- So I was writing the third chapter to the full-length version of Internal Reflections when this decided to hammer away in my head and I decided to be nice and power it out for you. And on the same day I updated Twin Hearts - aren't I nice.

Anyway, I hope this answered a few unanswered questions about who Emmie-Jo's father is, and why Skylar has been so shut off to love. She was in love with Emmie-Jo's dad and he left her - so she's scared Paul is going to do the same. And well, given everything with the betrayal, Sam, her family and other things. It created a whole clusterfuck of problems.

Anyways….back to writing Bella/Jasper. But I hope you all enjoyed this quickly written chapter.