Bella awoke slowly and laid curled up against Leah's side for awhile. She was appreciating the warmth that radiated off of her and the deep woodsy smell that always seemed to follow her. Bella couldn't tell how much time had passed since she had woken up but her stomach rumbled.
Very carefully Bella disentangled herself from Leah and stood in the bedroom naked. She looked around and found a laundry basket full of Leah's folded clothes. She didn't want the pajamas she had packed. So she pulled a large t-shirt from the pile and examined it. The t-shirt would be huge on her but she noted that it would be large on Leah as well. She made a mental note to ask Leah later as she pulled clean underwear from her own bag. The t-shirt fit her more like a mini dress, falling halfway down her thighs. As Bella made her way to the kitchen she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and snapped her head around to confront it, surprised. She held a hand to her chest and willed her breathing to calm down as she stared, wide-eyed, at herself in the bathroom mirror. She stepped into the bathroom and looked over at the shower smiling to herself at the memory of what had happened there last night. She touched her shoulder and felt the gauze pad taped into place. Curious she pulled the neck of the t-shirt aside to expose the gauze before timidly peeling it off. Once she got a small peek she realized the gauze was overkill and ripped it completely off. She threw the gauze out and then used the mirror to look at the bite mark better. She ran her finger over the line of blood that had formed a scab while absently wondering what the scar would look like. Bella's stomach growled again, pulling her out of her thoughts. She moved back towards the kitchen, righting the neck of the t-shirt which just fell part way down her shoulder anyways due to the size of it.
Bella opened the lower cabinets in the kitchen, seeing what kind of ingredients Leah had stocked so far. She found that all the cabinets were bare except for one or two odd things. She moved to the fridge and opened it to find it packed with food. Bella supposed that Leah might not have too much time to do much proper cooking. As she accessed the fridge she pulled out some eggs and bacon, wishing she had found flour to make pancakes. She started the bacon and was humming to herself when she heard Leah's groggy voice.
"What's cookin' good lookin'?"
"Bacon and eggs. Did you want some?" Bella turned around and saw that Leah was only wearing boxers. She was leaning against the kitchen table, rubbing her eye as she smiled innocently at Bella.
"I would love some" Leah replied, noticing Bella staring at her.
"I can go put a shirt on if I'm distracting you. I'm not a huge fan of burnt bacon" Leah smirked at her devilishly, as she pushed off the table and turned to go back to the bedroom.
"NO!" Bella snapped back to reality then blushed at her outburst. "I mean you don't have to, you know if you don't want to or whatever…" She mumbled, trailing off as she turned back to the bacon.
Bella heard Leah chuckling followed by Leah's arms wrapping around her waist and her head resting on Bella's shoulder.
"I rather not, I get too warm" Leah kissed the inside of Bella's neck.
"Wait, so is that why everyone in the pack is shirtless all the time?" Bella inquired as she removed bacon from the frying pan and replaced it with the eggs she had scrambled.
"Partially the other part would be the expense of buying so many clothes when you shred them. The less you wear the less you have to replace" Leah laughed lightly in Bella's ear. "That's why you're wearing this lovely Vancouver shirt from the second hand store"
"I was wondering about that" Bella smiled and leaned into Leah, enjoying the contact.
"You really make that ugly shirt look good though" Leah laughed lightly and kissed her neck again, having trouble keeping her hands off of Bella.
Leah kissed further down her neck until she reached the bite mark. Here Leah, gingerly, kissed a circle around the mark and then laid a final kiss, the gentlest, on top of the mark. This sent goosebumps down Bella's arms and she sighed happily. Leah broke away from Bella as she saw breakfast was almost done being made.
"Oh! I'll make toast" Leah stated as she started towards the toaster.
As if summoning the toast it popped out of the toaster, perfectly browned. Leah turned and looked at Bella who was smiling back at her with a wide grin.
"Geez, I'm a shitty host" Leah joked as she took the toast out of the toaster and began buttering it.
"I like cooking, I would have told you to get out of my way anyways, if you tried to help" Bella scraped the eggs onto the two plates beside the stove, piling one much higher than the other. She quickly placed the bacon on the plates and looked at Leah, expectantly, waiting for the toast.
"You must be hungry" Leah teased as she placed the toast on their plates and took the smaller of the two over to the small kitchen table.
"Very funny" Bella rolled her eyes as she brought the larger plate to the table and swapped it for Leah's.
Leah grinned and then kissed her quickly before sitting down.
"Thanks for making breakfast, I was starving"
"Any time, so long as you continue to follow the dress code" Bella grinned at her girlfriend before taking a large bite of bacon.
Leah laughed at her bluntness and began eating too. She wondered at Bella's personality. She seemed so shy and uncertain of herself when they had first met. And even around others Leah had noticed Bella typically kept to herself. But now she was blatantly telling Leah to keep her top off. Leah smiled to herself, wondering how she had been so lucky to get such an amazing imprint. She had made excuses in the beginning that there was some sort of mistake because Leah could never be with someone so quiet and shy. Now seeing Bella completely at ease she understood why they were meant for eachother.
Once they were both finished eating Leah moved quickly and cleared their plates. She then disappeared into the bedroom only to return seconds later with a shirt and sweatpants in her hands. Bella raised an eyebrow at her in question but Leah didn't answer as she placed the sweatpants on Bella's lap. Leah walked past Bella and straight out the backdoor without a word. Curious she slid the sweatpants on and followed Leah into the backyard. By the time Bella had made it to the backdoor Leah had already dropped the shirt and her boxers by the back stairs and phased. She stood at the foot of the stairs, waiting excitedly for Bella to come outside.
"I've missed you too!" Bella exclaimed once she saw Leah's light grey wolf waiting for her. She rushed down the stairs towards the wolf and engulfed it in a strange adaptation of a hug. The wolf sighed, content, as it lowered its head to reciprocate the strange hug. Bella broke from the embrace and took a step back, taking time to admire the wolf. They stared into each other's eyes time seeming to lose relevance.
'Jesus Leah, I thought Jared was nauseating with the lovey dovey stuff' Paul snorted through Leah's mind link. 'You know I never pegged you as the hopeless romantic type. I thought you were more the cynical bitch type'
Leah snorted in disgust 'Fuck off Paul, let me have some peace and quiet for once'
Bella didn't know what was happening but she saw the change in Leah's eyes and stance. She figured someone else was phased, they were probably talking. Bella moved further into the backyard, carefully stepping around twigs and pinecones with her bare feet. Leah followed close behind, making sure Bella was okay.
'Interesting scent coming off of Bella…smells a lot like arousal' Paul prodded 'What did you two get up to?' Leah could feel Paul's smirk.
Leah was very practiced at shielding her thoughts from the pack and had no trouble keeping her intimate night out of Paul's reach. What she couldn't help was her eyes wandering to the mark that was visible on Bella's shoulder, the neck of the t-shirt being so large. Leah quickly snapped her eyes to the forest beyond Bella, but the action was too late. Paul had seen the mark too.
'Well hot damn Leah, quit holding back. Show me everything' Paul pushed and she could feel him howl with excitement, somewhere far from where she and Bella were.
'Paul, next time I see you you're done' Leah threatened, low, her wolf growling out loud.
Bella stopped her careful hike across the backyard to turn and look at Leah, concern written across her face. Leah stopped growling and nuzzled her nose against Bella's cheek to reassure her everything was okay.
'Well what good is having a lesbian in the pack if she's not going to share her sexual exploits' Paul grumbled. 'C'mon Leah just a little sneak peek, I won't tell Bella' He pushed again.
Leah laid down on the edge of the forest and looked up at Bella, inviting her to join her on the ground. As Bella half sat half laid against the wolf Leah opened up some memories for Paul. She was remembering the times her and Sam had been intimate. Sam on top of her, his face sweaty, his groans with every thrust.
'NO! Leah stooooop' Paul cried out in agony.
Bella ran her hands through Leah's fur and Leah curled her tail around her, protectively. Leah remembered how it felt when Sam was inside of her, how it felt when he came inside her.
'Leah pleeeease!' Paul whined 'I don't want to feel the Alpha fucking me'
Leah made sure she was remembering every little detail of her and Sam together. It no longer hurt her to think about it. Now that she had Bella the memory of her almost husband could be used as ammunition against the others. She smirked, victoriously, to herself.
"Who's on patrol?" Bella asked as she watched Leah's face.
Leah snorted, shook her head and covered her eyes with one large paw.
"Hmm…" Bella mussed. "Paul?"
Leah nodded her head and removed the paw from her eyes giving Bella a small wolf smile.
"Does he know about?...us? Er…" Bella blushed furiously.
Leah shook her head, hating that she couldn't be in her wolf form without Bella worrying about thoughts or private moments slipping into the pack mind. Leah sighed and placed her large head in Bella's lap.
"Good" Bella stated firmly "If it's going to filter into the pack mind I want him to be the last one to know, just to mess with him"
'Yeah she's perfect for you' Paul grumbled 'You're both cynical'
Leah nuzzled tighter against Bella, trying to tell her how much she loved her. Bella laughed lightly and played with Leah's ear.
"I take it he didn't like that?" Bella asked, the smile present in her tone. "Hey Paul, you know you can find porn on this thing called the internet" Bella emphasized the internet like she was speaking to a toddler.
'Don't fuck with my imprint, Paul, you'll be in way over your head' Leah's heart swelled with pride.
'Yeah yeah whatever. You two are freaks anyways, hanging out in your wolf form all the time' Paul grumbled before making it obvious he was trying to ignore Leah.
Leah snorted, agitated feeling self conscious about Paul calling them out like that. It wasn't out of the ordinary for imprints and wolves to spend time together. However, most imprints would see their wolves for a few minutes maybe once a week. It had become a bit of a joke within the pack that Bella liked Leah as a wolf more than a woman, because of all the time the two spent together with Leah phased. Most days it didn't bother Leah because she knew Bella was happy. But Paul was getting to her more than usual today.
"What's got you all upset?" Bella asked as she stroked the fur on Leah's snout.
Leah sighed under Bella's touch and relaxed the musscles she hadn't realized she was flexing.
"You know they're all just immature boys" Bella comforted her, guessing that Paul was still teasing Leah.
Sometimes when they spent time together like this Bella felt a bit guilty. She knew the guys bugged Leah about their relationship and it was a lot easier to do with the pack mind. Or at least that's what she had gathered from her understanding of the mind link. But Bella enjoyed their peaceful time as imprint and wolf. She couldn't explain it if her life depended on it but there was something so soothing about running her hands through Leah's fur. She loved laying in the middle of the woods with her, just forgetting the outside world. They had laid in the woods as two women too but there was something about Leah's wolf that made Bella feel connected to the forest. Something ancient and magical that made her feel like she could almost feel her soul. Bella had yet to try and explain this to Leah due to lack of words for it but also because she knew it would make it to the pack over time and she wasn't sure she wanted them to know about it. Bella felt like their time together like this was only meant for the two of them.
Leah's head lifted and her ears twitched, Bella took note of it. She watched as Leah's eyes focused on the house. Bella wondered what she was hearing and strained her ears to see if she could hear it too. There was something faint but Bella wasn't sure if she was just imagining it. Leah turned her head to look at Bella apologetically and then right in front of Bella's eyes Leah shifted back to human. Bella could feel the body against hers quickly turn from fur to flesh. She sat on the forest floor now, shocked by the sensation. Then she was in Leah's arms, being carried bridal style back towards the house.
"What is it?" Bella whispered to Leah, her mind running wild with thoughts of rogue vampires.
"I'm not sure yet, sounds like dirt bikes. Could be the vandals that smashed the windows on this house before I bought it" Leah shrugged as she deposited Bella at the base of the back stairs.
"I just want you somewhere safe in case something doesn't go so…" Leah paused in thought as she pulled her boxers and t-shirt on "so friendly" She decided.
Both women walked through the house and Leah paused at the front door.
"Will you wait in here if I ask?" Leah sighed looking at her stubborn girlfriend.
As answer Bella walked out onto the porch followed, quickly by Leah. Leah's face turned to a scowl as the wind blew down the driveway, towards her, giving her the scent of the approaching people. Bella could hear the dirt bikes now and something in the back of her mind twitched. Something was familiar, an old memory was trying to surface. She turned and saw Leah's scowl, then she started to put hypothetical pieces together. Just as Bella started to make assumptions two dirt bikes turned the final bend on the driveway and her guessing was right. Jacob and Embry rode up to the house all smiles.
"Jake!" Bella cried out in excitement and forgetting her lack of shoes started down the porch steps.
The boys pulled up, close to the porch, and killed the engines. Both hopped off the bikes and Jacob caught Bella, as she flew at him, in a tight embrace. He laughed and picked her up off the ground.
"Man Bells, where are your shoes?"
"Oops" Bella blushed lightly at her obvious display of excitement for the boy.
Jacob laughed lightly and set Bella down on the bottom step of the porch. Leah walked down to stand beside her girlfriend, wrapping an arm around her waist. Jacob stepped back and was able to see Bella fully now. He noticed the neck of the large t-shirt sliding down her shoulder and very clearly saw Leah's mark on his best friend. He grimaced for half a heart beat and then his smile returned.
"I thought maybe we could go for a ride" Jacob smiled at Bella, paying little attention to Leah.
"Jesus Jacob, last time she rode that thing she split her head open" Leah protested, visions of Jacob's old memory flashing across her mind.
Bella stepped out of Leah's arm and looked up at her with a frown "Now I know what not to do" She had a stubborn look in her eyes as she crossed her arms.
"Well I was thinking about that too" Jacob frowned a little and moved towards Embry who handed him a large duffle bag.
"I uh, bought some riding gear for you" Jacob held the large duffle bag out to Bella.
Bella took the bag and held it out to Leah, which Leah took and held as her girlfriend opened it. Bella pulled out a dirt bike helmet and could see other pieces of hard plastic inside the bag, all of varying colours.
"That was a decent idea" Leah looked at Jacob, trying to find a reason to tell him off.
"Yeah this will be great!" Bella exclaimed as she pulled out a pair of dirt bike pants that had padding built into certain spots like the knees. She shoved everything back into the bag and took it from Leah. "I'll be right back!"
Bella disappeared into the house with the bag. Once she was gone Leah walked up to Jacob and narrowed her eyes at him.
"What are you playing at, Black?"
"Look, I've been thinking about what happened. I just want to be her friend again, I miss her. And I can tell she misses me." Jacob responded, having the decency to look ashamed of himself.
"You don't know that" Leah tried to be argumentative.
"No, but you do" Jacob responded looking her straight in the eye.
She did. Bella always reacted strangely when Jacob's name was mentioned. She even asked Leah how he was doing every once in awhile. Leah knew Bella missed hanging out with Jacob but she had refused to acknowledge this until just now.
"Well as much fun as this situation is" Embry stated sarcastically as he started backing towards the woods "I've got to relieve Paul" He turned and jogged into the woods until they could no longer see him "OH, nice place by the way!" he called from somewhere in the woods.
Leah and Jacob stood in an awkward silence for a few minutes before Bella had returned. She was wearing a bunch of missmatching dirt bike gear which seemed to be every colour of the rainbow. She was carrying the duffle bag which seemed to have more pieces in it still.
"I don't know how to put the rest of this on" She stated with a shrug, setting the bag down on the porch.
Jacob moved towards the bag and removed another piece of plastic, moved towards Bella and then stopped.
"Can I help you put the rest of this on?" He looked to Bella for permission and then gave Leah a shy smile.
He was making an effort on his end to be sure he was asking permission to interact physically with Bella. Jacob really did want his friend back, he felt lonely without her even when surrounded by his other friends. He couldn't explain it but his friendship with Bella was special.
By the time Jacob had finished helping Bella into all of the protective gear she looked like a plastic action figure. The only exposed skin on her was the gap in the helmet for her eyes and even then there were goggles resting on the top of the helmet.
"There now you look like a professional rider" Jacob stated as he stepped back to assess his work.
"Where did you get all of this?" Bella asked as she watched her hands as she flexed them in the padded gloves.
"Same place all us wolves get our stuff, the second hand store." Jacob replied a bit sheepishly. "It would have been too expensive to buy brand new" he rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.
"It looks fine, Jacob" Leah reassured him.
Bella and Jacob turned to look at her, wearing identical looks of disbelief. Leah shrugged and moved down the porch to look at the dirt bikes. She knew Jacob had fixed them up with Bella, well more for her than with her. Once Leah moved past the fact that Jacob had a crush on Bella she could appreciate everything he had done for her. She turned back and looked at the other two, who were still watching her, shock and disbelief stunning them into silence.
"Well, I would love for a nice girl to give me a ride on her dirt bike…" Leah smiled lightly at Bella "but I suppose no one plans on riding these today?"
Leah's comments snapped Jacob and Bella out of their shock instantly and both moved to their respective bikes. Leah helped Bella lower her goggles over her eyes and Jacob kicked his bike to life. Leah stood aside and watched Bella kick her own bike to life after a few failed attempts. Then Bella turned to Leah, her eyes dancing happily.
"Hop on" Bella yelled over the engines.
Leah did as she was told and then wrapped her arms around Bella's armoured stomach.
Jacob leaned close to Bella "you remember how to use this thing?"
To answer Bella put the bike into gear and let the clutch out slowly, remembering the first time she had let it out too fast. Bella led them up the driveway and was laughing loudly as Jacob rode beside them. Jacob laughed with her, and Leah realized she had never seen Jacob smile like this before. Sure he smiled but right now he looked like a kid, he reminded her of Seth in that moment. She shook her head willing herself to fill with hatred for Jacob again.
All of a sudden Bella started to howl like a wolf, as loud as she could and Jacob quickly joined her. Leah sat stunned at Bella's carefree excitement.
"Come on Leah I know you've got a loud one in there!" Jacob yelled across to her before taking a large breath in. On the exhale he let out a howl as loud as he could and Leah could feel Bella laughing against her body. Leah smiled to herself and let go of Bella, pushed up off the dirt bike so she was airborne. Before she hit the ground she had phased and jogged to catch up to the bikes. Bella hadn't noticed Leah had let go because of all the padding and plastic she was covered in so when Leah's wolf saddled up beside her she started slightly. Once Leah was in between them she let out the loudest howl she could muster.
"Yeah!" Jacob cheered as he revved his engine.
They rode/ran up and down the driveway for a half an hour before stopping. Bella went inside to change and fetch Leah some clothes.
"You know we don't have to be enemys" Jacob had turned to Leah once he knew Bella was out of earshot. "We both want her to be happy"
Leah narrowed her eyes at him, mentally cursing her inability to talk right now.
"Yeah I know I kissed her, it was stupid. I know" Jacob sighed running his hand through his hair.
"It was just so" he sighed again and looked Leah in the eyes "first the leach and then the imprint. I've loved her since we were kids, it was hard to handle. I mean it hurt you when Sam imprinted on Emily right?" Jacob asked, rhetorically.
Leah snarled at him, baring her teeth, and crouched into an attack stance.
"Okay, sorry wrong thing to say" he held his hands up in the air, defensively. "I just can't not have Bella in my life. So if that means we're just friends then so be it. I just want to make sure she's happy too" he lowered his hands with a shrug and shoved them into his pockets.
They both heard Bella coming back and Jacob knew his chance at a one-sided conversation was over. He looked down at his feet and kicked at the gravel driveway, being sure to make it obvious he couldn't see Leah. Leah phase back and took the clothing from Bella.
"Thank you" Leah placed a quick kiss on Bella's forehead.
Once dressed Leah looked over at Jacob who was looking away from her. Bella watched Leah, wondering what she had missed, Jacob looked pretty dejected. Leah walked over to him and slung her arm around his shoulders.
"When the hell did you smarten up, Black?" She poked him in the ribs with her other hand.
"I would say about two days ago when my dad gave me a good talking to" he responded grinning at her before moving out from under her arm and poking her back.
"You're dad is a smart man, you're lucky to have him" Leah praised as she started walking towards the house.
"Your mom is pretty wise too" Jacob nodded once and followed after her.
"Wait one fucking second!" Bella shouted.
Jacob and Leah paused and turned around to look at her, both with faces that reflected their question.
"What the hell happened out here? I was gone for like five minutes. Leah wasn't even human!" Bella stomped her foot to emphasize that she wanted an answer, now.
Jacob shrugged and looked at Leah.
"Don't look at me, you did all the talking" Leah shrugged back at Jacob.
"Just told Leah I was done being an ass is all" Jacob turned to Bella and shrugged again.
Bella looked between the two of them with narrowed eyes.
"You two are both asses" Bella stomped past both of them and into the house.
They looked at each other.
"Want to have a bonfire? I've got a lot of scrap wood that used to be cabinets that I need to get rid of" Leah asked Jacob as they followed behind Bella.
"Are you sure you don't want to build a dog house from it? Cuz it sounds like you'll need one to sleep in '' Jacob laughed loudly.
Bella turned around and he quickly stopped laughing.
"C'mon Bells, why so grumpy. Leah and I are playing nice now" he grinned down at her as they all gathered in Leah's kitchen.
"You two were so upset with each other you made me have to choose between you both. I hated it!" Bella crossed her arms but the corner of her mouth twitched upwards.
"But you still love us" Leah smiled and pulled Bella's back against her chest, hugging her from behind.
"Yeah, yeah" Bella grumbled.
Jacob looked at the disaster that was the kitchen and whistled low.
"You weren't kidding about all the cabinets, it looks like a tornado blew through here"
Leah laughed and kissed the top of Bella's head, affectionately.
"Leah told me she needed the cabinets taken down, she didn't specify how tidy I had to be" Bella stuck her lower lip out in a stubborn pout.
"Damn you did all this?" Jacob looked around, a bit more impressed at Bella's demo.
"Yes." She narrowed her eyes at him "I'm not as fragile as you think"
Jacob raised his hands defensively "I didn't mean anything by it"
Bella huffed, not completely convinced by Jacob.
"Well do you want some help moving it all outside?" Jacob asked while bending to pick pieces up.
"Yeah, actually that would be great" Leah smiled and released Bella, moving to pick up a few pieces herself.
The three of them had all the cabinets cleared out of the kitchen in an hour and had created a large pile in the backyard.
"Damn, there was more there than I thought" Jacob muttered as Bella threw the last pieces onto the pile, unceremoniously.
"Well I'm going to head to Emily's I'm starving" Jacob smiled at the two women.
"Oh man, I'm pretty hungry too" Bella groaned as she rubbed her stomach for dramatic effect.
"Yeah I'm starving too, we should head to Emily's as well. I don't have much in the fridge to make a nice lunch" Leah frowned a little making a note to stock her kitchen better.
Bella drove herself and Leah to the Uley house with Jacob following close behind on his dirt bike. They parked beside a couple other vehicles and walked as a group into the house. There had been idle conversation in the house but it died quite quickly when the occupants of the house noted who had just entered.
"Geez, don't everyone stop having fun on our account" Jacob grumbled looking around the living room.
"Welcome to my world" Leah laughed as she led Bella into the kitchen.
"When the hell did you two become best friends?" Quil questioned Jacob, in the living room.
"Shut it wise guy" Jacob retorted.
Leah walked over and gave Emily a tight hug, waves of remorse washing over her. She had missed her cousin.
"I missed you too" Emily stated, understanding the meaning behind their long embrace.
Leah had been avoiding the Uley household even after she had imprinted on Bella because she felt so guilty about how she had acted towards Sam and Emily. She wouldn't take back her actions or behaviours because she was upset about the whole situation. But after imprinting on Bella she understood what Sam had gone through and how Emily couldn't be blamed for any of it. Emily and Leah broke from their embrace and Emily moved to quickly hug Bella too.
"Lunch isn't quite ready yet, why don't you two go wait with the others?" Emily suggested.
"That's alright, I'd like to help" Bella smiled at Emily, feeling bad for all the cooking she had to do for the entire pack.
"Yeah I can help too" Leah chimed in.
"Oh no you don't!" Bella looked at Leah wide eyed "I still don't trust your culinary ability. Especially after seeing what you stock in your kitchen I think it's justifiable"
Leah pouted but knew it wasn't worth protesting because she wouldn't win the argument. She gave Bella a quick peck and went back into the living room.
As soon as Leah entered the living room all eyes snapped to her and the conversation instantly died again.
"Jesus, what?" Leah asked, irritated by the obvious attention.
"When did you mark her? It looked pretty fresh" Paul grinned, devilishly.
Leah growled at him and would have tackled him if he wasn't sitting on the couch beside Kim.
"You marked Bella?" Kim asked, sheepishly.
"Did you break the skin? Is it going to be a real mark?" Quil asked.
"If it did break the skin, she'll be the first one to actually mark" Jared stated to Quil.
"I told you it was okay to do it" Kim had turned back to Jared.
Leah stood there stuck between being furious and mortified. Jacob sat on the arm of the couch, looking out the window trying not to listen.
"So, did she like it?" Paul asked waggling his eyebrows "Is that the only mark you left? Or are there more we can't see?"
"Shut the fuck up, Paul" Leah and Jacob almost said in unison.
"Whoa no need to get all hormonal on me, ladies" Paul addressed Leah and Jacob.
Just then Sam walked in and Leah let out a relieved sigh. She hadn't been this happy to see him since he had broken off the engagement. He nodded once in the general direction of the living room, acknowledging his pack. He quickly moved into the kitchen, pulled Emily into a hug and kissed each scar on her face. Once he was satisfied he released her and smiled slightly at Bella.
"Hello Bella, it's good to see you again"
The last time Sam had seen Bella was when the newborn had broken Leah's ribs.
"You too" Bella mumbled shyly.
Leah was agitated by all the attention and made her way back into the kitchen, sitting herself up on one of the counters.
"Leah" Sam greeted her, cautiously.
Leah sighed and jumped down off the counter again. She opened her arms and raised an eyebrow at Sam.
"Come here" Her voice came out a little uneven.
Sam stood, shocked for a second just staring at Leah. Then he closed the space between them and they embraced for the first time since breaking up. They held onto each other for a long time, memories flooding back to both of them. Their hug was familiar and comforting. Emily watched with astonishment and Bella continued to chop vegetables, smiling to herself. When Leah and Sam broke from their embrace they both smiled at each other before moving back to their respective imprints.
"Why are you crying?" Sam asked Emily, his voice full of concern.
"We can finally be a complete family" Emily sniffled "I'm happy Sam" she looked up at him with watery eyes.
Sam chuckled and leaned down, kissing Emily passionately. And for the first time since phasing Leah didn't even notice their display of affection. She was too busy teasing Bella by trying to steal sliced carrot off the cutting board.