CHAPTER 6

Disclaimer: See previous chapters

A/N: As always thanks for the Reviews. I hope this chapter will satisfy you for the time being. Please continue to Read and Review.

The next morning, Seth woke with a foot in his face. "Ugh." With little force, he tossed the foot off causing the owner to be thrown off the bed as well.

"Ow! What the hel..Oh... morning. Sorry." Colin said smugly.

"Dude, man. Can you keep your feet to yourself?" Seth got up, stretching off his sleepiness, he took in the room. Brady was on the other side of the bed with an arm dangling off the side. Looking around he couldn't seem to focus on Leah. He noticed the couch had pile of what seems to be a blanket. She must have gotten up sometime in the night. Though the bed was huge enough to allow them sleep comfortably, the size doesn't account for restless bed hoggers.

The bathroom door opened grabbing Seth's attention. Leah steps out and smiles at her disheveled brother before directing her intrigue towards the lump on the floor. Seth followed her line of sight only to see that Colin has fallen back asleep. Grabbing a pillow, he tossed it at Colin.

"Ugh...I'm up. There's no need for violence. Morning Leah. What time is it?"

"Time for breakfast." she smiles.

"Breakfast?" a muffled voice questioned from the bed. "Good I'm hungry." Brady says as he stretches.

"When are you not hungry?" Colin throws the pillow smacking Brady in the face mid yawn.

"You want us to bring you up something, Sis?" Seth asks. Normally Leah doesn't leave the room, with the exception of yesterday. Usually someone would bring something up. When she first got here, Seth had to beg her to eat something. Thankfully that's not the case anymore.

"No, we can eat downstairs. We need some real food. We only had junk food yesterday and I'm feeling a small stomach ache." The three pups glanced at one another without Leah's notice. This would normally be a good sign that Leah is becoming more of herself. However, they weren't sure what downstairs looked like after yesterday's "sparring session."

When Leah went to fold her blanket neatly, the boys followed suit and made the bed. They knew better than to have her remind them of the task. When they were done, they went on downstairs towards the kitchen. As they reached the bottom step, they went met by Rosalie.

"Morning. Good to see you will be joining us."

"Yeah well it was stuffy in there."

"Of course. You have four mutts in the same room. It's bound to reek." Rosalie smirks as she rustles Brady's short hair as he passes by.

"Yeah like Emmett smells any better." Leah retorts.

"I never said he did." A whining boom coming from the kitchen interrupted their laughter.

"Esme! They're picking on me. And I haven't even done anything yet." Emmett cries out.

As they walk towards the kitchen, Leah catches the edge of the living room. She pulls away as they were trying to steer her away back towards the kitchen. She finally was able to assess the full damage to the room. She couldn't help but feel this was partly her fault. Well it was her fault. She was the reason two natural enemies were forced to be in the same vicinity. Though everything was spotless clean, you can tell the room was under repairs. It didn't seem welcoming with boarded walls and windows, plus the furniture was none existent leaving the room empty. It looked cold. It was sickening.

Edward came out of his bedroom when he heard the others were downstairs. He watched as Leah was examining the damage in the living room. He knew something else was on her mind but she wasn't divulging much. The only stable thought he established was that she felt sick. He figured her thoughts were revolving the damage, but decides to remark on a lighter matter.

"You wouldn't be so sick if you didn't gorge yourself solely on junk food all night." Leah went to answer the voice only to find her self in close proximity to the cold one. She smiled.

"Totally worth it."

"Then don't complain." She scoffed with the roll of her eyes before becoming solemn again as she looked back at the room.

"Don't worry about it Leah. Alice is thrilled she has an excuse to redecorate. Jasper, maybe not so much. They're out right now doing some shopping." He tells her to put her at ease. He can see that she feels guilty, though there's no reason she should. "Come on let's see if Esme can brew you some tea to settle your stomach before breakfast." He directed her back towards the kitchen.

She looked up to him. "Is Carlisle here?"

"Yes. He's in his study."

"Do you think he would mind if I went up to see him?" She thought hesitantly.

"Of course not. It's the second door on the right up the stairs." She nodded a thanks. Edward wanted to walk her up, but she had this determined look on her.
Edward went to join the others in the kitchen.

"Leah's tea is almost ready." Esme said as her son walked in. She asked the boys what they wanted to eat. There wasn't a concise decision so as usual she making them an array of assortments.

"Where's Leah?" Seth asked

"She wanted to speak with Carlisle. She'll be right down." Seth smiled before going back to help Rosalie with the pancakes.

Rosalie gave her brother a look but no thoughts followed. She tried to focus upstairs just as Edward was but there were no voices. What can be heard is an innate amount of scribbling leading them to believe that they were writing notes to each other. What ever they were discussing, they want it to be as private as possible. Though Edward wanted to respect that, he couldn't help but be curious. He knew he couldn't get anything from Leah but surprised as all he could get was Carlisle mentally reciting the American Association for the Advancement of Science's first published journal "Science." But underneath that he hears Carlisle concern.

Not long after Leah and Carlisle came down but not before advanced ears heard Carlisle tell her she, and her brothers, are always welcomed here as their home.

As they reached the kitchen to join the others, Leah notices through the sliding door, Quil coming out of a bush to join Jacob in the backyard. They started talking, not bothering to keep their voices down.

Quil mentioned to Jacob that he wanted to bring over his imprint Claire, to visit Leah. Jacob didn't think it was a good idea and is even surprised Quil would even consider bringing Claire over the Leeches. To the point where Jacob was being a jerk, he insults Quil not wanting to protect his imprint. Quil states back Jacob doesn't know about the weight of the imprint. Apparently Claire has been begging Quil to see Leah all week. Quil has held out not to give in. Jacob admired Quil for his strength. He never would had have guess Quil would be capable of imprinters to deny their imprintees. Jared had the same problem with Kim. She was wondering what had happened asked an abundant of questions. The first time Jared was being vague, she threatens not to talk to him and she admitted she would have problems following through. Jared quickly gave in but it was easier because he could fully explain to her. Quil wasn't so lucky, there's a difference between explaining something to a 17 year old and a 3 year old.

Leah decides now is a good time to talk Jacob about what she had discuss with Carlisle.

"Hey Guys."

"Hey Leah." They said in unison.

"Sorry to interrupt but you have a minute Jacob?" she asks stepping off the porch to meet him on the lawn.

"Sure."

Quil steps towards the house. "You're looking good Leah. I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Yeah, Claire's get-well cards were the best medicine. I can't wait to see her."

"She'll be happy to hear that. She really misses you." Quil took a glance at an annoyed impatient Jacob. "Well I'm going to grab a snack before breakfast." He grinned before disappearing into the house.

Leah shakes her head still amazed at how much these boys eat. Jacob takes a step closer.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"So how are you feeling?" She wasn't sure why but she ignored the question.

"Is that your handy work in there?" Leah nodded behind her towards the house.

"Yeah, it kind of got out of hand. We just wanted to test each other's strengths. " He rubs the back of his neck not realizing it's his tell when he's uncomfortable. So they're sticking to the
"sparring," Leah had thought to herself. And it's because of me.

"So I was thinking about going back home today." She started but was interrupted by an enthusiastic Jacob.

"That's great, Leah!" Jacob without pause closed the distance between them and embraced Leah in a tight hug. Leah tensed at connection. Jacob didn't notice Leah's uncomfortable state until he pulled back and saw her blank stare. He panicked and grabs hold of her wrists. "Leah what's wrong?" His hold tightens as he tries to shake her out of her frozen state.

"Leah." a melodic voice called out. "He's not Sam."

Jacob looked to Edward who stood on the porch, furious that he was being compared to his predecessor. He was ready with a slur of insults only to realize the position he was in. He quickly let go of Leah.

"Lee, I'm sorry. I didn't rea..."

"It's alright Jacob." She tells him as she rubs her wrists.

"I'm sorry..."

"I know." She meant to be comforting but she stepped away to give them some distance.

She looked back at Edward as a distraction, "Is that for me?" He handed her the cup of tea before walking back to the porch. He had no intention of going inside without Leah.

Leah took a sip and let of a sigh of relief. It was the perfect thing to calm her down.

"Anyways. I'm going home tonight but I'm not ready to deal with Sam. Since you're Alpha now I was hoping you could have him keep his distance, even if that means using a command."

"Anything Leah. I'm just happy you're coming home. So when do you want to go?" He

"Well, I want to wait for Alice and Jasper so we could all go at once and..." Jacob hissed causing Leah to take a step back.

"What?! No Leah. They can't come. They're not allowed on the Res."

"But Jake..."

"I said no! They're dangerous; we can't trust them on our land." He said instinctively.

Leah looks incredulous. After everything they have done for her - for him! She wanted to yell at him, knock him down but she knew that wouldn't help. And, well, she didn't have too.

"Are you kidding me?!" Brady yells out as comes out to the porch followed by Seth and Emmett.

"Brady..." Seth was angry too but he knew him yelling at his Alpha wasn't going to change anything.

"After everything. Everything! You're here every day. We all have! I can understand yours and the rest of the pack prejudices before. But now there's no excuse. They have not given us one reason to not trust them. For fuck sake's your own great grandfather trusted them." Emmett was holding his shoulders so the pup wouldn't actually go face-to-face confrontation with his Alpha.

Seth stood beside his friend, arms crossed. He was glad Emmett was holding back Brady, because he's not sure if he would. Not many of the pack realize but Brady has as bad of temper like Paul, if not more. With Leah though, she never would put up with it. She kept him in check. Seth remembers she even went as far as being cliché – "My roof, my rules." They had a kick out of that.

"Instincts aside." Seth directed towards his Alpha. Everyone understood the quiet tone Seth spoke. There was no need to elaborate. Instincts aside, they all knew Jacob's personal grudges against the Cullens, specifically against Edward.

Leah walked over to her brother to help calm Brady. "Stay in control Brady." She tells him as she sees his shaking form. "You don't want to phase causing any damage. I already heard you break something just now. Go clean it up and apologize for breaking whatever it was before we eat."

She was completely ignoring Jacob behind her. It was worse than being yelled out, Jacob thought. As he watched their retreating forms, he called out.

"I'm Sorry!" They all turned around to see a remorse Jacob. "I'm sorry. Okay. I'm still getting use to this whole alpha thing." He conceded. "We will work it out. It's just I'm responsible not only for the pack but the Rez. I have to take precautions."

"Of course." Leah said followed by a pregnant pause. "Well I'm hungry." She turns back to the others who were grinning agreedly.

"My Rosalie let me add chocolate chips to the pancakes." Seth said wholeheartedly as they were seated. Jacob followed behind but held himself back at the edge of the kitchen which led back outside.

As they continued on eating, Esme asked if she should set aside some food for the others. Emmett commented there wouldn't even be any crumbs left after Quil, Seth, Brady and Colin had their fill. Laughter filled the room, dissipating the tension from moments before.

Soon after Colin's second serving, he asked a question that was on the rest of their minds.

"So we are going back home?" There was an underlying somber expression.

Leah responded with a hesitant smile. It's wasn't long ago she hated the leeches. It could be blamed on her wolf instincts but Leah is honest with herself and knows it was beyond that. With the given time she had, Leah had seen the Cullens human nature. They owed her nothing. Still they have opened their home and given the space she needed to heal herself. All the good intention had been reward with the destruction of their home.

Though she didn't really want to leave just yet, she felt the confidence instilled by their friendship.

"Yeah. I can only imagine the pile of mail we have. Besides I don't want to feel as if I'm hiding from my own home."

"No one thinks you're hiding Leah." Quil was the first to say. "We understand. We know what you have been through." He naively continued.

Other than Rosalie and Alice, no one has really talked to Leah about her experience, not as if they actually had the opportunity to. However, they've heard snippets but that's all.

"No. No you don't. How could you when I don't even understand." Leah choked her words out. "I'm really not ready to get into this with any of you but that's why I need to go home. How can I be comfortable with any justification if I myself am not willing to move on? A person justification is their own." she looked to Rosalie with a twitch of a smile. "Part of mine is an explanation. I deserve an explanation. But I can't accept anything until I can live with it besides moving on. Things with Sam will never be the same, my trust with anybody will never be the same and I need to know why."

Absentmindedly Emmett said. "Well at least by the time Sam comes back you'll be ready to face him. I for one have your back." As he crossed his arms across his chest, he looked around room only to notice all disapproving stares were on him.

"What are you talking about? Where's Sam?" Leah looked to everyone before lastly landing her questioning stare towards Jacob, who was inched himself farther away. "Jacob?"

"We haven't...uh...We don't know."

"Well what do you know?" Seth asked. He was still upset the pack has done nothing about Sam. Angry that Jacob has pretty much let it go. Well now he wanted answers or at least that Jacob admits he has done nothing and not even bothered.

Jacob and Leah locked eyes. He couldn't form the words. He couldn't tell her that he failed her.

She rushed out of the kitchen, and with force closed her bedroom door. Both Jacob and Seth went follow but are stopped by Carlisle and Edward. "She needs time to herself."

A/N: How is Leah going to react to this bit of information. We'll see...