Bella and Leah were quickly put to work peeling and slicing potatoes. Leah, not wanting to waste her precious time with Bella, making french fries, used her wolf speed to be done faster. By the time Bella had three potatoes ready to be fried Leah had ten done. Bella looked over at Leah and gave an exasperated sigh.

"That's cheating, you know?"

"What?" Leah looked completely oblivious to what she was referring to.

"You can't be all supernatural when doing everyday tasks" Bella stuck her bottom lip out in a pout that had Leah melting.

"Why not?" Leah leaned closer to Bella, forgetting her potatoes.

"B-because…" Bella stammered, she had forgotten her train of thought in Leah's eyes. She leaned closer to Leah, their faces mere inches from each other. She could smell the saltwater and pine scent radiating off of Leah.

"Ahem" Sue cleared her throat from the stove, not too far from the two women.

Bella jumped back, startled. Leah stood her ground but her face changed from love sick puppy to mild annoyance as she grumbled.

"Are those fries almost ready for the oil?" Sue asked, conveniently disregarding the situation she had just interrupted.

"Yeah, just a few more left" Leah grumbled and made quick work of the few potatoes left.

"Good, the fryer just reached temperature" Sue turned and smiled at the two, noting Bella's light blush.

"Yeah, great" Leah grumbled under her breath. All she wanted to do is forget dinner and take Bella home so they could finally be alone. Her wolf bristled under the surface demanding to know why they must continue such trivial human tasks. Leah had a sudden primal urge to hunt a deer and bring it home for her imprint, allowing her the first pick at the animal for the choice parts. A small hand rested on Leah's back, rubbing small circles.

"You okay?" Bella asked, voice full of concern.

"Hm? Yeah" Leah hadn't noticed she was growling, quietly, until Bella had touched her.

Leah shook her head to clear it, wishing she could explain human things to her wolf. She thought about this for a minute. She understood wolf mentality and mannerisms but did her wolf understand her mentality and mannerisms? She made a mental note to herself to try and communicate with her wolf more. Even this thought had her scoffing out loud. They were the same person-or beast. She hadn't really thought this through too much. She never referred to the wolf as herself because she wasn't Leah. The powerful wolf was part of her, there was no doubt in her mind about that but they were two different souls. At this thought she felt her wolf, as if she were rubbing up against Leah's soul gently. Leah wasn't sure if she was just making this up or not, she felt ridiculous putting this much thought into something like this. She exploded into a wolf that was it, no further explanation or thought needed.

Leah focused her attention back on the kitchen and noticed Bella sitting up on the counter, watching her. Leah gave her a soft smile which Bella returned, with a hint of curiosity glinting in her eyes. Leah noticed Bella had already put the fries in the deep fryer and lightly shook herself, wondering at how deep in thought she must have been.

Leah and Bella set the table and hovered in the dinning room while Sue helped the boys fry the fish.

"What were you thinking about in there?" Bella asked as she snaked her arms around Leah's waist, looking up at her.

"Just wolf stuff" Leah repiled, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

"Hmm, you looked like you were miles away" Bella kissed Leah's chin.

"Yeah, I guess I was having a bit of an existential crisis" Leah chuckled lightly.

Bella only nodded in response, understanding that Leah would explain further when she was ready.

Dinner was uneventful, everyone fully enjoying the fresh fish fry. The Clearwater children thanked Charlie for taking them fishing and he blushed muttering that it was no big deal. They made plans to go again some time soon, if the weather held up for them.

Everyone gathered in the front hall, Charlie turned to look at Leah.

"If you're serious about joining the police force you should visit the Port Angeles website and look under jobs, there's a posting for Forks police"

Bella and Sue both looked at Leah, almost having the same expression of surprise and curiosity.

"I'll do that, Charlie," Leah nodded once.

"Alright Bells, let's get going" Charlie turned to his daughter but noticed she wasn't meeting his gaze.

"I er, I was thinking I'd stay at Leah's" Bella mumbled quietly, studying her shoes "If that's okay" She added quickly, looking up at Charlie, with a light blush.

"Oh" Charlie grunted, awkwardly "I guess that's okay, you're almost an adult" He looked at Leah who was smiling lightly.

He trusted his daughter with Leah but was uncertain if she was safe. Leah was some sort of mystical wolf after all. Charlie shook his head, he still couldn't believe that his friend's two children were some sort of magic beasts.

"Let's just not make a habit of it on school nights" Charlie grunted, eyeing Leah.

"Of course, Chief" Leah nodded once, wrapping an arm around Bella's waist.

"Well why don't I give you a lift home then?" Sue offered Charlie.

"That'd be great" Charlie smiled at Sue and Bella noticed the small excitement in his eyes.

Bella and Leah cuddled close to each other, both half naked, in Leah's bed.

"So you're going to be a cop?" Bella mused as she traced patterns on Leah's bare stomach.

"If I'm accepted, it seems like a job I could do pretty well" Leah nodded, rubbing small circles on Bella's back, over one of Leah's oversized t-shirts.

"It seems like it'd be a good fit for you" Bella agreed. "One of Dad's co-workers is retiring soon and he's been having trouble finding someone interested in applying"

"Ahh! So I'm the sucker he convinced to take the spot" Leah laughed.

"I'm sure it's more than that"

"I know, I'm playing around" Leah smiled reassuringly at her girlfriend.

Leah woke to a high pitched screeching noise. She blindly grabbed at her phone and silenced the noise. Ever since Bella had started sleeping over Leah had changed the alarm noise to one human ears couldn't pick up. She had felt fairly clever for thinking of this application but Bella liked to tease her calling it the dog whistle. Leah smirked to herself as she carefully squirmed out from under Bella. She always made a show of being hurt whenever Bella called it a dog whistle but she secretly loved the joke. She kissed her girlfriend's forehead before glancing at the time on her phone, 3:50am. Ten minutes until her patrol started. She grabbed a tank top and threw it over her shoulder as she made her way into the kitchen. Leah snacked on some left over fish fry before wandering out her back door. She took off her cotton shorts, stuffed them into the leather strap around her ankle with her tank top before phasing. She took off into the woods as a wolf and began the boring task of running patrol.

As it got closer to sunrise Leah deviated off her patrol route and made her way towards her secret spot. She sat on the edge of a cliff that looked out onto more forest. She loved this spot because she was able to watch the sunrise and no one knew about it. There were other spots near the beach that were nice too but it was contaminated by others knowing of it. She knew if Sam found out that she deviated from her patrol to watch the sunrise every morning she would be in serious trouble. Leah always made up for the time she spent admiring the sun by running the next circuit of the patrol in a sprint. Though she doubted Sam would accept this as validation she told herself this as reassurance for her small rebelion.

Leah sat back on her hind legs and took in a deep breath, enjoying the crisp air that can only be experienced in the early hours of the morning. The sky started to turn from dark blue into a beautiful violet. She started reflecting on her connection with her wolf and the strange feeling she experienced in the kitchen of soft fur ghosting against her. At this she felt the feeling again accompanied by slight contentment. Leah jolted slightly, she hadn't imagined it earlier. There was another being influencing her emotions and nerves. She knew her wolf influenced her anger but never in a million years did she think the creature was capable of other emotions.

She stared out at the sky as it shifted in spots from violet to pink. Leah wasn't sure what to do with this new information about her wolf and how well they might actually be able to communicate. As she thought about ways to understand her wolf more while also feeling a bit delusional her mind seemed to wander to memories of hanging out with Bella as a wolf. She was having such a hard time focusing on understanding her wolf because these memories kept intruding. She started to get frustrated and huffed her annoyance with herself. Then she felt her wolf bristle, almost mirroring her frustration. Leah paused and began to wonder why her wolf would be frustrated when the memories started interrupting her thoughts again. Then it hit her, she wasn't remembering this time with Bella, her wolf was. Leah physically jumped, now standing, she paced circles at the edge of her cliff. She was completely freaked out by having another thinking being in her head. Well she supposed she already did when she was in wolf form but those beings she could place a physical body to. This was something completely different, like having a split personality without knowing about it.

Again the memory of her as a wolf and Bella curled up in her fur hit her, more persistent than before. Sheer curiosity had Leah stop her pacing as she closed her eyes and focused on the memory. Her wolf was trying to tell her something with these memories. She was remembering the feeling of Bella's body weight against her, the sweet lavender scent that rolled off of her. Rather than feeling the strong content Leah had expected she felt something like gratitude. At first she thought this was her own gratitude that Bella wasn't scared of her in wolf form until she realized it was her wolf thankful for being able to spend time with Bella. Leah shuddered to herself. She was thoroughly freaked out by this, communicating with her split personality. Leah shook her head and opened her eyes, sun rise forgotten, she ran off to continue her patrol.

Leah ran the rest of her patrol in a bit of a haze. She had somehow opened the floodgates by acknowledging her wolf's emotions. Leah was hit with many of her own memories but they were all slightly off, they weren't remembered the right way. The memories seemed more like a stranger watching but through her own eyes and that's how Leah knew they were of her wolf watching her life. Leah shuddered again, slightly off put by the thought of her wolf assessing her life. It also brought a frightening question to the forefront of her mind. How many of her actions were her own and how many were controlled by the wolf?

When Leah's patrol was finished at 7am she phased in the woods on the edge of her backyard, pulling her clothes on as she walked towards the house. As she exited the woods she noticed Bella starting to stand from her sitting position on the back stairs.

"Morning, Sweetheart" Bella greeted as she walked towards Leah with a shy smile.

"Mmm Sweetheart, eh?" Leah wrapped her arms around Bella's shoulders as they met in the middle of the backyard.

"Well you can try and hide it all you want but Seth and I see you" Bella quickly pecked Leah before breaking away from their embrace.

"What?! You two know?" Leah slapped a hand over her heart, jokingly gasping at Bella.

"You're such a dork" Bella snorted as she walked back towards the house "I need coffee before I can fully appreciate such things."

"Yeah, what are you doing up so early?" Leah followed Bella's lead, taking hold of her hand.

"Well your mom came by maybe 15 minutes ago. She had found another box of your old stuff and wanted to drop it off before she got started on her day" Leah listened then gave Bella a very obvious up and down, noting she was still just wearing a large t-shirt and panties.

"The doorbell startled me, I didn't think to grab pants" Bella grumbled glaring at Leah a bit "it was plenty embarrassing and I'd like to forget it happened" even just the memory of the situation had a light blush playing across her face.

"Okay, so why were you outside?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't phase until you got the back door so I could say good morning to my wolf"

Leah grunted her understanding, ending the conversation without sarcastically teasing Bella about referring to her wolf as Bella's.

"Everything okay?" Bella tugged on their connected hands, forcing Leah to stop in the kitchen with her.

"Yeah" Leah nodded and kissed the top of Bella's head before releasing her hand.

Bella eyed Leah, unconvinced but decided Leah would tell her when she was ready.

"Oh no way!" Leah lit up when her eyes fell on the box on the kitchen table. "No fucking way!"

Bella poured Leah and herself some coffee. As she watched Leah pull items from the box excitedly. Leah suddenly started shoving wires and video game cases back into the box before taking a few steps towards the living room.

"C'mon, babe!"

"Babe, eh?" Bella grabbed the mug she had poured for Leah and followed her girlfriend.

"Well yeah, you're a knockout. A fuckin' babe" Leah explained from her spot on the floor, in front of the tiny tv.

Bella could feel the deep blush play across her face as she set Leah's coffee down on the coffee table. Bella sat on the couch, tucking her feet under her butt.

"I don't know about knockout…" Bella muttered, embarrassed and slightly uncomfortable by the obviously wrong classification.

Leah literally dropped what she was doing and spun to face Bella, with her full supernatural speed.

"Whoa! Hold up" Leah stood and quickly sat herself on the couch, facing Bella.

"Do you not know how drop dead gorgeous you are? You're like-"

"I'm so pale, and my hair is-" Bella interrupted before being interrupted herself.

"God, you're a fucking ten Bella! No you break the scale" Leah flailed her arms in the air, exasperated. "You make a whole new scale, you make the old scale look like dog shit" Bella opened her mouth to protest but Leah continued her rant, not noticing.

"I mean if I was a guy, damn things would get awkward" Leah chuckled a bit "I can't look at you without thinking about having my hands all over you. I can't believe you're actually my girlfriend, sometimes." Leah sighed, her eyes hungrily traveling up and down Bella again.

Bella's face was a bright red now, she didn't know how to handle all of this attention. She didn't feel as attractive as Leah was expressing but she could see that Leah believed what she was saying.

"You're joking right?" Bella set her coffee on the table, unsure how Leah could be so delusional.

"You have an actual six pack. You're tall, tanned, you've got the most beautiful face I've ever seen, and I've met vampires."

Leah made a face at this.

"Yeah okay, not the best example for you but it makes a lot of sense to me and any other human."

"God, and you're humble on top of it all" Leah groaned, wanting Bella to understand just what she did to her.

Bella opened her mouth to protest again but Leah lunged forward, firmly planting her lips against Bella's.

Bella let out a small surprised noise before wrapping her arms around Leah's neck. Leah wrapped an arm around Bella's waist as their kiss deepened. Leah cupped Bella's face with her free hand, caressing her cheek with her thumb. Bella mused, contentedly, playing with the hair at the back of Leah's neck. Their desperate kissing became slower and more meaningful. Slowly Bella pulled away with a soft smile playing across her face.

"It's hard to argue with you when you cheat like that"

Leah smirked lightly, pleased with herself, still incredibly close to Bella's face.

"I love you"

Bella jolted slightly, she wasn't expecting Leah to say that.

"Oh I'm sorry, is that too soon?" Leah backed away from Bella, rubbing the back of her neck.

"No-no, you just caught me off guard" Bella reassured as she placed her hand on Leah's thigh.

"I love you too"

Leah grinned at her and Bella gave her a shy smile, blushing lightly.

"So uh, what did you mom bring by?"

"Oh man!" Leah jumped up and resumed her spot in front of the tv.

"It's our old Gamecube"

"You seem pretty happy about it. Why'd you leave it when you moved?" Bella grabbed her coffee and sipped it while watching Leah.

"I didn't know we still had it" Leah laughed "Seth and I would fight all the time because of something that happened in a game. Mum was so fed up with it she told us she donated it to kids who were better behaved"

"You guys must have been really bad. I guess wolf temper is pretty hard to control."

"Oh, this was like three or four years ago" Leah pushed the tv back into place.

"What? Wait-what the hell are you two going to be like now?" Bella asked mortified.

"Dunno. Wanna play Mario Party?" Leah sat on the couch handing Bella a purple controller.

"Er, I'm not really good at video games. I only ever played when I visited Jake and it was raining…"

"That's okay, Mario Party is easy to pick up. I'm sure you'll do great." Leah grinned at her as she kicked her feet up onto the coffee table.

"Yeah okay…" Bella skeptically set her coffee down again as Leah began explaining rules and controls.

Bella was just starting to get the hang of the controls when Seth came barreling through the front door.

"MUM! She didn't donate it!" Seth was panting as he barged into the living room.

Bella and Leah both jumped in surprise. Leah was so into the game she hadn't heard Seth approaching. Leah quickly jumped up and put herself between Bella and Seth. Bella let out a squeak, pulling the bottom of the t-shirt trying to cover her lack of pants.

"She had it this whole time!" Seth exclaimed gleefully as he ignored Bella on the couch. Seth tried to take a step into the living room but Leah shoved him back, violently. Seth wasn't anticipating the shove and landed in the hallway on his butt. Leah stood over him, growling quietly. Seth finally took in the situation around him and looked a bit sheepish.

"Sorry Bella" he looked down at his feet as he stood. "I'm gonna go grab some coffee" Seth jerked his thumb over his shoulder before disappearing into the kitchen.

Leah stood her ground but hung her head. She was ashamed that she had shoved her brother even though she knew he probably hadn't seen her imprint. Even if he had, he had already seen her in her underwear. Leah even wondered how much more he had seen through their mind link. She had no trouble hiding from the others but she always let her guard slip around Seth. He was the only one she had fully confided in when she phased. They hadn't been on patrol with each other since Leah had marked Bella so he couldn't have seen too much.

"I'm going to go grab some pants" Bella placed a hand on Leah's cheek before moving towards the bedroom.

Leah watched Bella until the door closed. As soon as the door clicked Leah heard Seth coming back to the living room.

"Hey, I'm sorry I should have knocked" Seth said sheepishly as he clutched his coffee mug.

"You've never been good at knocking" Leah grumbled "I'm sorry for pushing you"

"Even, Steven?" Seth grinned his charming smile.

"Level, fellow." Leah smirked at her little brother.

"Can you believe it was in the house all those years?" Seth asked as he knelt, rifling through the games.

"No! I bet if we tried we could have found it" Leah sipped her now cold coffee and frowned at it.

"Seth, did you eat before you left?" Bella asked from the doorway of the living room.

"Oh no!" Leah made her way over to Bella and pecked her quickly. "You've done way too much of the cooking. I'm making breakfast today"

Bella made a face "you're a sweetheart but I don't mind at all"

"I insist, babe" Leah grinned as she wiggled past Bella in the doorframe.

"No, you play your gamebox with Seth!" Bella insisted as she tried to pull Leah back.

Leah and Seth laughed together while Leah gently pushed Bella back towards the living room. Before Bella could protest again Leah took off into the kitchen.

"What's so funny?" Bella sighed as she sat on the couch again.

"It's called Gamecube" Seth explained as he examined the game on the screen.

"Oh…"

"You're playing as Boo?" Seth inquired as he sat on the couch picking up Leah's controller.

"Oh yeah" Bella smiled, happy to move past her mistake "he looked super cute and spooky"

"Yeah, Boo is the best character" Seth agreed. "Leah always plays as Wario, who is by far the worst character." Seth pointed at the fat man wearing purple on the screen.

"Uhm, if he's the worst why does he have his own game and Boo doesn't?" Leah called from the kitchen.

"Just because he has his own game doesn't mean he isn't the worst!" Seth shook his head, turning his attention back to the game.

Bella was snickering as she watched Seth take his turn.

"God, if this is over characters I understand why your mom took this away from you two."

"Wait until you see us play mario kart" Seth grinned at Bella.

"How about we give me some time to get used to the controls before you two break out the donation worthy games"

Author's note; sorry this took so long to come out. Life has been chaos with modifications being made around COVID-19 restrictions. I do have a clear timeline for this story, so everything is happening for a reason. I need to lay some ground work for future chapters.