Much to Leah's dismay, her third date with Danny was at an Italian restaurant in Port Angeles and it happened to be at the same place and at the same time that Connie Littlesea was celebrating her birthday. And Connie was the biggest gossip in all of La Push, and within twenty-four hours everyone in La Push and half the people in Forks had heard the news. Leah Clearwater was dating again.

Because Leah couldn't do anything without her fellow wolves giving her their unsolicited opinion, they all had something to say on it. When Leah and Sam were the first ones to arrive at their weekly meeting with the Elders, Sam tried to say how he was glad to hear she was dating again and how he just wanted to see Leah be happy (she told him to shove it, but Jake appeared just before she was able to punch him). Jared suggested that she and Danny double with him and Kim some time (Leah just hmphed in a non-committal fashion; she liked Kim and Jared was okay but doubling made it seem serious somehow). Leah ran into Rachel and Paul at the store and when Rachel asked for the details Paul simply said, "he must be pretty stupid if he's willing to date Leah." (Rachel elbowed him and apologized but Leah hadn't expected anything else from Paul). Colin just apologized for his mom being "so massively uncool" (he had been at the restaurant with his mom and in typical middle school fashion, he was way more embarrassed to be seen with his parents than Leah could possibly be to be on a date). Only Brady didn't say anything at all but that wasn't surprising since Leah was pretty sure she could count all the times she'd spoken to Brady on two hands.

Seth had tried and failed to play the role of a protective brother. Ultimately his sweet demeanor made him incapable of being threatening; not that Leah was planning on bringing Danny anywhere near La Push or her family anyway. Sue simply said the same thing she'd said when Leah had started dating Sam all those years ago ("you better be being safe") and reminded Leah that if Leah got pregnant out of wedlock she'd be disowned. Not that Leah had to worry about that. It'd been almost a year since she phased and she still hadn't had a period.

But the three morons had remained suspiciously silent about Leah's dating life. She'd been prepared for never-ending teasing but they were so quiet about it she wondered if they'd even heard the news. La Push was a small place, she couldn't imagine that they hadn't heard and yet she also couldn't see Jake Alpha-ordering Embry and Quil into silence, which was the only other reasonable explanation for the lack of teasing. But despite the unusualness of it all, Leah decided that silence was preferable to endless questions and unsolicited opinions.

Leah had barely seen or talked to Jacob for several weeks. Inexplicably, he had changed his patrol schedule so that she always patrolled with Quil, Embry, or Seth. They still had the meetings with the Elders together, of course, but Jacob had taken to showing up moments before they started and disappearing immediately after they ended. Leah tried not to take it personally, but it stung a little bit; she had gotten accustomed to their walks afterward and the conversations that they would have while on patrol together. At first, she put it off as him studying for the dual-enrollment tests (he was much more nervous about them than he would ever admit, she could tell) but the three morons had taken their tests and were now waiting for their results. It was the first week of March and spring break in La Push and they weren't expecting them till mid-March, but Jacob had still avoided her.

All of this was on Leah's mind as painted her nails in the Connweller's kitchen on Saturday night. Kim had invited her over for a girls' night, as Kim put it. Leah tried to ignore the fact that Emily and Sam had gone up to Neah Bay to stay with Emily's parents for the weekend and Jared was on patrol, but maybe Kim hadn't known all that when she'd asked Leah to come over. Maybe she'd done it out of genuine friendship and not because the usual people she hung out with were busy.

"Kim! Did you steal my nail polish?" Amy's voice echoed from down the hall of the little ranch house that the Connwellers lived in.

"I didn't steal it!" Kim yelled, sounding more than a little indignant, "I borrowed it – and you do it all the time!"

"What? No, I don't," Amy marched into the kitchen, a grimace on her face, "Hi, Leah, I didn't know you were over here."

"I invited her over for a girls' night. So we're painting our nails. Like you do at a girls' night," Kim said.

"Hi Amy," Leah greeted Amy.

Amy sat down, earning an eye roll from Kim, "What are you guys doing?"

"I already told you. We're having a girls' night."

"Yeah, I know, but what are you doing at your girls' night?"

"We're going to paint our nails, order pizza, and watch a movie," Leah answered Amy, ignoring Kim's annoyed sigh. Their banter reminded her of the pack, though it was less violent and the boys of the pack wouldn't be caught dead fighting over nail polish.

"I like that color, Leah," Amy said, nodding at the light blue that Leah had selected.

"Thanks." Leah hadn't painted her nails in well over a year. She wasn't girly enough to do it with any type of regularity, and she definitely hadn't done it since phasing. A female wolf was bad enough, but a female wolf with painted nails? Laughable. But now it mattered less to her; the only people who were likely to see her in wolf form were members of her pack and the teasing that she'd endure would likely be friendlier in nature than antagonistic. And curiosity – what would happen when she phased with painted nails? Leah genuinely had no idea – made her want to paint them, too.

Without invitation, Amy picked up a bright pink nail polish from the box that had Kim had brought.

"Hey, that's mine!" Kim protested.

"Is not," Amy disagreed, "Besides, I'm joining your girls' night. I've decided."

"You can't just join our girls' night!"

"Why not?" Amy asked, "I'm a girl. It's night. And I'm friends with Leah, too."

"You two are coworkers, not friends." This was by far the cruelest Leah had ever heard Kim be. And all this time Leah had thought that Kim and Amy had a good relationship.

"We can be coworkers and friends!" Amy protested.

"She's fine, Kim, let her stay." Leah had never been a peacekeeper before, she'd always been the one instigating arguments. But she liked both Amy and Kim and it didn't bother her whether or not Amy joined.

"But we were going to talk about…" Kim trailed off and looked guiltily between Leah and her sister.

"What were you going to talk about?" Amy asked, "Leah's new guy?"

"Yes," Leah said quickly before Kim could say anything.

"Well then, give us the details," Amy urged.

So Leah spilled the beans, telling them in detail about her and Danny's first date and then the second and the third. Neither of the Connweller girls pressed for too many details, just asking if Danny was a good kisser (he was) and if Leah had any more plans to hang out with him (she did). But eventually, the attention turned to Amy, who had recently been asked out by some guy named Tyler who lived in Forks.

"I do not miss dating," Kim said as she examined her finished fingernails. Amy had just complained about dating a younger guy, something that both Leah and Kim didn't think was a big deal.

"Kim! Jared is your first boyfriend! You're going to have to date again at some point," Amy admonished.

"We'll see about that."

"You don't think you're going to marry him, do you?"

"I might." Kim winked at Leah when Amy wasn't looking. Leah tried to keep a knowing smirk off of her face but failed.

"You're eighteen! You're too young to be thinking about marriage."

"What can I say? When you know you know. Look at the Swan girl from Forks. She graduated the same year as me and she's already married."

"I would not use Bella as my role model, personally," Leah said, "It seems to me like she lives a cold, hard existence."

"Oh trust me, I'm not."

"Who's Bella? What are you two talking about?" Amy asked, visibly confused.

"Don't worry about it, Amy," Kim laughed.

Leah explained, "Bella Swan. You know the Chief of police in Forks? Charlie Swan? It's his daughter."

"You two aren't making any sense. How do you guys know Bella Swan? Why is her life cold and hard? Is that some type of joke?"

"Don't worry about it," Kim repeated, before quickly standing up, "Let's go watch movies! Amy, start the popcorn! I picked up three from the Forks Blockbuster. Have you guys seen Because of Winn Dixie or the 40 Year Old Virgin? What about Borat?"

The lights in the house were still on when Leah arrived home a few hours later, but the house itself was quiet. She could hear some light snoring from the living room, and as she made her way to the kitchen, Leah saw her mom passed out in a chair with the light on next to her. Using her wolf reflexes, Leah tiptoed to the kitchen, determined not to make a sound. She found the peanut butter and the bread and was in the process of making a peanut butter sandwich when she left the knife precariously balanced in the peanut butter, and it fell to the floor with a clang.

"Leah? Is that you?" Sue stirred from the chair that she had fallen asleep in. Her book was still wide open.

"I was trying to be quiet," Leah said sheepishly.

"It's okay," Sue yawned and stretched, "You should have woken me."

"Were you waiting up for me?" Leah asked between bites. Sue hadn't done that since Leah was in high school, and even then, she mostly did it when Leah was out with Sam, not when Leah was with friends.

"You and your brother," Sue admitted. Leah glanced at the clock. It was just past midnight. She'd never known Seth to stay so late at the vamps.

"Is he at the Cullens again?"

"No, he's with Brady and Colin tonight," Sue said, sounding relieved, "Just doing typical teenage things, I think. Did you have a nice time at Kim's?"

"I did." Leah made her way to the fridge where she pulled out a carton of yogurt, "Amy ended up joining us for most of the night. We watched movies and painted our nails. It was nice." It had felt normal. Like a normal night with friends, except for the fact that Leah never used to need to eat an entire extra meal after coming home.

"I'm glad," Sue yawned again, "It's nice that you have friends again."

Leah hadn't thought about how long it had been since she'd had real friends that she hung out regularly. Not since high school, and she'd graduated almost two years ago now.

"Yeah," Leah agreed, "It really is."

It was either a sign of Danny's sometimes disturbing lack of awareness or a testament to Leah's great luck that Danny had not yet noticed that Leah routinely showed up in Port Angeles without any type of vehicle. Leah just hadn't decided which yet. Either way, when Leah bid Danny goodbye with a quick kiss on Wednesday evening, he'd didn't seem to realize that Leah was walking in the direction of the forest, not towards the parking lot behind his small apartment building. But Leah doubted that Danny was the type of person to watch her as she left anyway.

It didn't take long for Leah to walk to the forest. Jacob still hadn't finished her damn car, though Quil and Embry both swore he was working on it in all his free time. She believed them; they had no reason to lie to her. And even if she did have her car, running was so much faster than driving. And so much more convenient. So she rarely tried to borrow the car, instead just phasing in the woods and running as a wolf. If Danny thought any of it suspicious, he didn't let her know.

As soon as she reached the forest, she started stripping. She'd come on one of her rare days off. Since it was spring break in La Push, the kids were taking the day patrols and she, Sam, Paul, and Jared had a glorious week without any patrols, although she still had work and classes. Night patrols, however, were a different story and she was scheduled to patrol tonight with Embry. She wondered if she couldn't convince Seth to take the shift instead, since it wasn't like he was doing anything tomorrow. Leah had two classes and she'd told Danny she might meet up with him to study.

After taking care to tie up her clothes around her ankle, she phased. It was effortless by now, as easy as walking. She picked up her book bag and held it in her mouth, careful to keep her oversized tongue away from it. It was destined to get a little gross, no matter what she did but she tried to minimize the damage all the same. And she reminded herself that this was so much better than calling her mom to pick her up from the apartment of the guy that she was dating (She wasn't ready to use the word boyfriend. Not yet).

She took only two steps before she realized she wasn't alone in the bond.

Jake? She asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure who else it would be.

What's up, Leah? Jacob's thoughts were guarded. He was focusing especially hard on the beautiful scene in front of him. Through his eyes, she could see a lush forest bathed in the sun. It looked like he'd found a clearing in the lush forest. It seemed empty, but he wasn't in Washington. This wasn't a place he knew like the back of his hand.

Should you be phased? Leah couldn't help but ask. It seemed risky. He hardly knew the terrain there; he'd only been there since Saturday.

It's fine, he promised her, Solomon showed me this place. Told me it's where he goes to think. And he's currently training right now, but I'm listening carefully. I'll hear if anyone comes.

He's not some creep then? Leah had always wondered. Meeting someone online and marrying them mere days after meeting in person… the whole thing had been weird to Leah.

Yeah, he's pretty cool, actually. And they have a nice little house. It's all good. Rebecca seems happy. An image of a smiling Rebecca – or who Leah thought must be Rebecca, she'd cut her hair and gained some weight – filled the bond. Jacob showed Leah a memory of the woman showing Rachel, Billy, and Jacob her house and picking them up from the airport. There was no denying what Jacob was saying; Leah couldn't remember Becca ever looking so happy, not even when Sarah was still alive.

That's nice, Jacob, Leah said sincerely. Jacob deserved a nice vacation, away from the responsibilities of being Alpha and school. Even Leah wouldn't deny that.

It is, Jacob agreed.

Where are they now?

Becca and Rachel went shopping, I think. Or on a walk on the beach. And Billy's napping. No one will miss me, I promise. How are things in La Push?

In La Push? They're good, Leah thought for a moment. Her job on the resort had been normal, a little busier now that spring break had arrived. Seth had managed to separate himself from the Cullens for long enough to go visit family in Neah Bay for a day and spend time with Colin and Brady. She hadn't seen much of Quil or Embry, although Embry, as third, did attend the weekly meeting with the Elders that Jacob had missed (Billy had missed it too, so it wasn't really much of a meeting).

No vampires?

Leah let out a laugh, Other than the coven down the road, no. Any there?

Haven't caught a whiff of one once.

Good. Wouldn't want you to have to take on any vampires without the help of the pack.

I could take them. If it wasn't a coven, I could take a single vampire. No help from the pack needed.

Sure, sure, Leah scoffed.

I could!

Whatever you say fearless Alpha.

It's probably better that we don't test that theory, Jacob admitted.

Probably, Leah agreed. She was over halfway home by now; the run passed quickly with Jake in the pack mind with her.

So what all is going on with you?

They talked about the meeting with the Elders and Leah's classes, though they skirted around the topic of where Leah was coming from. She told him about her girls' night with Kim and Amy and he told her about an awkward dinner with his whole family and Becca showing them around the island. Their conversation flowed easily, like one between friends. Because that's what they were, Leah realized, they were friends.

Leah hadn't done it consciously, but she had slowed down, not running as quickly as she usually did. She wondered what time it was; she was supposed to patrol at 9.

You're on patrol tonight? Jacob asked.

Yes. With Embry.

It was Embry's first night patrol in several weeks, as Jacob (and now Leah, since Jacob was out of town), had been taking his night patrols in an attempt to keep Embry out of trouble. It was endearing, really, how Jacob cared about his friends. But it had been several weeks, and Embry was insisting that they let him back on night patrols, Tiffany Call's wrath be damned.

Have fun, Jake said.

It's patrol.

Jacob laughed, Who knows? You don't know what's going to happen tonight.

I do know. I'm going to patrol and it's going to be boring.

You never know. Maybe this will be an interesting one.

And maybe pigs will fly.

Goodbye, Leah. Enjoy patrol.

Leah bid Jacob goodbye and told him, sincerely, that she hoped he enjoyed the rest of his trip, begging him to try to get some rest and spend some time with his family. Jake just told her to stop nagging him, but he was light-hearted about it.

Due to her slow return to La Push, Leah had just enough time to drop off her stuff, say hello to Sue and Seth, and wolf down four whole ham sandwiches before she ran back out to the forest for her night patrol.

By the time Leah had phased back for her patrol shift, Jacob had left the pack mind, and Embry had phased in. After brief greetings, Embry and Leah separated as Leah took the northern part of the border and Embry took the southern line. They were mostly silent as they patrolled; with nothing more than polite questions about how Embry's break was going and Leah's week at school filling the bond.

Within two hours, the routine boredom of the patrols started to set in. Night patrols were the worst. Ironically, most of the action had always been during the day patrols, although now there was really no action at all. The patrols were nothing more than a precautionary step against imaginary danger.

Leah's mind started to wander. She wondered what Jacob was doing in Hawaii. He'd mentioned that Becca wanted to take them to some type of luau tonight and Leah wondered if they were there. It was hard to imagine Jacob at a luau, although Leah had seen him in all manner of tribal events growing up.

When did you talk to Jake? Embry asked, clearly having seen her thoughts.

He was phased when I was running back from Port Angeles.

Really? In Hawaii?

Yep.

That doesn't seem smart.

Jacob knows what he's doing.

Is he having fun? I haven't talked to him at all since he left.

He seems to be. Leah remembered the tropical fauna that Jacob had seen in his secluded little area. It was pretty; she wished she were in Hawaii instead of rainy old Washington.

I wish I were in Hawaii, too. Embry saw her thoughts and imagined himself at the beach.

It's your fault that Jacob is in Hawaii in the first place, Leah reminded him.

My fault?! How is it my fault?!

Rebecca wanted to come here but Rachel and Jacob were worried that you or one of the infant wolves would imprint on her and ruin her marriage.

Yeah, that wouldn't have happened. Rachel just worries too much.

It could have. Better to be safe than sorry. And smart of Rachel to get a free trip to Hawaii while she could. Even without the imprinting thing, Leah thought that this was the better deal.

I'm not going to imprint, Embry insisted again.

You don't know that. It's not, like, voluntary. Look at Quil and Seth.

I'm not going to imprint, Embry repeated, At least not on Rebecca.

What? Why do you think that – oh, my god did you find out something about your dad!? Is Billy your father?! Is Rebecca your sister?! Out of respect for the new pack, Leah tried not to mention Embry's unknown parentage anymore. But that didn't mean she wasn't still immensely curious about it.

What – no! No! I don't know who my dad is. Leah could sense the shame that Embry was feeling about his unknown parentage, as well as an unusual panicky feeling, I just like to assume it was Sam's dad. It's easier that way.

Then how can you be so sure you're not going to imprint? Leah asked again.

I'm just not.

Embry, I don't know how you can be so confident about this. You could imprint tomorrow on some pale-face girl. You can't control it.

Embry let out an exasperated sigh, I'm not going to imprint because I'm gay, Leah. There's no girl on earth I could imprint on and be happily spend the rest of my life with.

Oh, oh, oh. That was not the reason that Leah would have guessed. And from Embry's worried thoughts, she could tell she pushed too far, I didn't – I didn't know.

You won't tell Jacob, will you? Embry's thoughts were a swirled mess as he desperately tried to figure out how to keep this a secret.

Jacob doesn't know? Leah didn't realize the three morons kept things from one another. She thought they were an open book.

No one knows. You won't tell anyone, will you?

No, of course not, Leah promised, But why haven't you told Jacob?

What if he's not cool with it? What if he hates me for it? He's my best friend, Leah, I can't risk losing him.

Embry, his only other two friends are basically pedophiles. If he's not cool with you having an age-appropriate relationship with another guy your age, that's a problem with him, not you. But I won't tell him. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to.

Thanks, Leah. Leah could tell that Embry was genuinely touched by her words.

Leah waited a second before continuing, You could still imprint, though, Embry. Just on a guy, not a girl.

No, I don't think so. Isn't the whole thing about imprinting that it's meant to pass on the wolf gene? I can't do that if I'm not with a woman.

That was just Sam's stupid theory. And I think it went out the window when Seth imprinted on Nessie.

What?

Aren't you supposed to be the smart one? Half-breeds are rarely fertile. Like mules. They're half-donkey, half-horse and they're infertile.

Oh, I mean, I guess, maybe. But we don't really know, maybe Nessie can have kids, Embry was still doubtful, I just mean that half of the wolves have imprinted by now and the two of us still haven't.

It took a second for Leah to realize what Embry meant. She hadn't imprinted and she also hadn't had a period in almost a year now. Embry hadn't imprinted and, apparently, he had no biological urge to pass on the wolf gene. He was right. The realization caused her to stop running.

I'm sorry, Leah, I didn't mean to upset you.

It's just Sam's stupid theory. We don't know anything for sure. She didn't want to believe Sam was right about anything, but especially this. She hated to think of her future nieces and nephews being quarter vampire – she preferred to pretend that Nessie definitely couldn't have kids. And she hated to think about her own infertility if that's really what it was. Leah was only twenty – she considered herself too young to have kids - but she didn't like the idea that the decision would be made for her. Leah liked freewill, she liked making her own decisions about things.

You're right. We don't know why people imprint. But I wouldn't imprint on Rebecca, Embry reiterated, that's for sure.

No, you wouldn't, Leah agreed, Even fate wouldn't be that cruel.

Leah started running again, picking up where she left off. She mulled over what Embry had just told her. She'd never heard of Embry going on a date or being with a girl, and the res was a small place where everyone gossiped about everything (the number of people who'd asked her about her new "boyfriend" was a testament to that).

You can ask, Leah. Embry sounded resigned.

Just give me the details! Have you ever had a boyfriend? Or even a crush?

I… yes. There's a white guy who lives just outside of the Makah reservation. Embry admitted.

So is he your boyfriend? It was nice to gossip about someone else's love life for a change.

I wouldn't call Tristan my boyfriend. He's just a guy that I make out with if we both happen to run into each other in Neah Bay. We spent New Year's Eve together but I haven't seen him since. Embry's thoughts made it clear that Embry went to a lot of trouble to run into Tristan each time Embry visited Neah Bay.

And nobody else knows about this?

No. And you better not tell them.

I won't. I can keep a secret, Leah promised, But Embry, how did you manage to keep Tristan a secret?

Everyone else had slipped up and thought of their significant others in ways that Leah never wanted to know about. She'd seen images of Emily naked and Kim on her knees. Paul had routinely fantasized about the random girls he'd been with before he imprinted on Rachel (who Leah had also seen naked images of in Paul's mind, back when the packs were still combined). Undoubtedly, the lack of naked women in the pack mind in the new pack was an unexpected, but very welcome, perk.

Well, I've only seen him a few times since phasing. And we're not like… yeah. We're not like the imprints. It's not like that. But mostly I just try to focus really hard on what I'm doing. Everything I smell and see. And I ask a lot of questions about other people's thoughts.

I'll have to try that, Leah mused.

Don't want people to know about your sex life? Embry teased.

There are certain things I'd like to be kept secret.

Well just keep your nose to the ground and focus on reading the other person's thoughts. You can do it, Leah. I'm counting on you.

I won't let you down. She wouldn't do that to Embry, not know that she knew the truth. And it was in her best interest to learn to keep her thoughts to herself.

Thanks, Leah. You're a good friend.

You're welcome, Embry. Maybe she had more friends than she thought.