Thank you so much to everyone who took the time out to read, review, follow or favorite this story. It means a lot.

This is the last chapter of this short multi chapter story. I will be adding a few outtakes of their future (including one from Leah's POV) after this. As of now I am marking this complete.

X-X-X

It took me a short while, precisely four more months, to make my place in Leah's mind and possibly heart. Every day was a small progress for us. She was moving on, I could see it in her behavior and in her thoughts, but I was guilty to say that she was moving on much slower than what I could wish for, but still she was moving on, and that was enough for now. Of course it helped that she no longer lived in La Push and so had no need to see her ex fiancé or her cousin who had done her worse than what was expected from an enemy.

I didn't know the exact details of what had happened that had forced this decision to be taken, and that was despite my mind reading. In my defense, though, she just never thought about it when I was around. I did try to do some snooping, guilty again, but finally let go when I realized that she would tell me when she felt like it. I did not believe for a second in her lame explanation of how she wanted to be closer to school and so had shifted to a one bedroom apartment she found in town. She was already eighteen, her birthday was in June- mere days after my biological one, and so had the right to move out if she chose to, and she had chosen to. Another big change after that one came in the form of a new job. It wasn't anything special actually. It didn't even pay all that much but Leah found it interesting enough. Apparently Chief Swan, the police chief of this small little town of Forks, had been looking for a new receptionist for the station, and the fact that Chief Swan had known Leah all her life because of his friendship with Leah's family did help in securing her as the top candidate.

So, all in all life was good…. calm…. going on…..

Of course I was still craving for more but it would come at its own pace…..

"Edward," Leah threw a French fry at me to get my attention, juvenile definitely, but that was Leah once you got past the initial anger and sarcasm that pushed everyone away from her.

"Yeah," I mumbled, cringing as I bit into the turkey sandwich in front of me. I should have been used to the taste of human food by now. It had been months of eating this vile, disgusting smelling and even worse tasting thing what humans liked to call food, but still I just couldn't eat it without at least making a few faces first. The both of us were once again sitting on our table in the corner of the cafeteria to spend the short time allocated to us for lunch. It had been months of us accepting this as a normal routine. Leah always expected me to sit with her for lunch, except on the days when it was sunny outside and I was 'hiking' in her eyes, and similarly the pattern of my sitting with the other Cullen siblings was long forgotten. No one even batted an eyelid at us anymore when I always made my way across the room to Leah's corner table. No one ever joined us at it, though. It was our table- our privacy… something that in a very caveman-ish way just belonged to the both of us.

So, like I was saying, it had been months of us becoming friends, and yet Leah was kept in the dark from my secret, that would no doubt completely change our lives. Either she would accept it or she would run for the hills, the latter being much more probable than the former. So needless to say, I wasn't looking very forward to the day when I would have to tell her. I was part dreading it and part hoping that by some miracle she would come to love me despite it all. Somehow she had not suspected it till now. We had had a few close moments with her asking of why my skin was so cold or why we all had golden eyes, but in the end she always accepted or at least did her best to look convincing enough for me to believe that she had accepted it. Anyways, the deadline was coming closer. I would have to tell her someday and that too soon. I could not keep postponing this forever, no matter how much the idea of that looked inviting.

Leah rolled her eyes, possibly at the fact that I was clearly paying attention elsewhere, before she sighed and started to talk.

"Edward, you and your family often go hiking, right?"

I nodded my head "Yeah, I told you right, that Carlisle believes in family bonding and this is one of his ways."

She made an 'hmm' like sound in agreement "Actually, Mark from the station was telling me about this meadow he accidently found last week while hiking. The way for the trail is from the one-oh-one north. We have to take the one- ten till we reach a pavement and that is where the trail begins. The hike is not very difficult, just a little over five miles. The meadow is apparently worth visiting was what Mark said. Small, perfectly round and filled with wildflowers. A really picturesque visual and he said there is a stream nearby."

I had a vague idea of the meadow she was talking about. I had come across it once or twice while hunting.

"Wait," she said all of a sudden, removing her cell phone and searching for something on it "Here you go," she said finally handing me the phone "Have you come across this meadow on your hikes?"

I looked at the photo she was showing me. Yeah, it was the same meadow that I had seen once or twice. But why was she asking about it?

"Yeah," I nodded my head slightly "I have come across it."

She gave me a bright smile, one that directly made its way in my dead heart "Cool. I am going to be hiking there this weekend."

"No," I shrieked out loud before I could stop myself, once my vampire brain processed this information. Now, Leah was no danger magnet, but the woods were a dangerous place to be, and especially for an alone human. There were all kinds of animals and even supernatural creatures roaming in there. It was dangerous for Leah. I could not let her go in there, and especially not alone.

"Excuse me?" Leah muttered, her tone indicating that this was my one and only chance to change my statement before her wrath came falling down on me, and believe me her wrath was not something anybody wanted to be on the receiving end of.

Now, I had two options. Either I could tell her the half honest truth of why she should not go in the woods alone and hear her cursing at me for trying to baby her, or I could try to convince her of why she should not go without any company on such a long hike, the company obviously being me.

Hmm, so which one will it be?

Like I needed to think about it…

Obviously I would grab with both hands at an opportunity that gave me the chance to spend time with Leah, and secondly, Leah's anger rivaled Rosalie's. Till possible I planned to keep myself away from it. I liked my body parts where they were, thank you very much.

"I mean," I instantly corrected, a bit hesitantly "It is a nice long hike, and I have not been there in a while. So, if okay with you, I would like to come with you."

She shrugged nonchalantly "Okay. I could do with the company. But just so you know," she added amusement thick in her voice "I am used to hiking. I will not leave till I see the meadow, no matter how many times we get lost or get exhausted on the way. If you are not up for it then…."

I hid my laugh at that "I know the woods like the back of my hand, and I don't think I need to worry about not being able to climb five miles." I winked at her "If you have any doubts I can you show you bare chest body. I have a pretty good physique and even better stamina, you know." I teased.

She half blushed half laughed "Thanks, but I will have to pass."

"Great," I smiled wide in success "I will pick you up on Saturday at 8."

She just nodded her head in agreement, rolling her eyes in amusement, going back to eating her food. I grinned to myself- Saturday was our first unofficial (in my head) date, and I had a feeling that she would really like the meadow.

X-X-X

Time flew by for the next few days and before I knew it, it was Saturday. I had asked Alice to check for me in her visions if she came across any reason of worry, and despite the fact that she was still not completely in favor of me and Leah, she had warmed up to the idea and agreed to check for us- the result of which came out all clear. There was no reason for worry. Just it could be a slightly sunny day and so I had to stick to the shade. I could manage that much.

Esme had prepared and store bought a bunch of food that I could carry with me on the hike for Leah to eat. Now that Leah was no longer living at her parents, she survived on TV dinners and a few basic recipes that she could cook, which needless to say were not as healthy as she should be eating. Esme who had been once again getting into the practice of cooking, had made it a point to cook healthy for Leah whenever she came over, the visits of which had increased over the past months.

Leah and I studied together at times, or she would just come over to watch a movie or listen to the music that I had been talking about for days. More often than not she would end up bitching about my bad or old fashioned taste in music, not knowing that I was actually pretty old and so it wasn't music belonging to a different century that she claimed in her exaggeration. I would also at times play the piano for her, while she would sit beside me and read a magazine or just close her eyes and relax for a bit. Those were particularly my favorite moments when she would just let go of all her troubles.

I bid my family goodbye, hoping that the day would go well and Leah would enjoy, before sitting in my Volvo and driving to the main part of town where Leah's small apartment was located. I did not have any reason to believe that something had happened between her and her parents, she still visited them and her father had indeed paid the deposit and also neither had Seth mentioned anything as such to me, but still I felt it weird of how she would suddenly stop talking when something casually came up in our conversation regarding her parents or her family life, and even her thoughts would suddenly go blank or quickly change into something completely different. I had worried in the beginning that she had somehow found out about my secret and hence knew that I could read minds, but her actions never indicated anything in that direction and so my suspicion soon lay wavered in air.

Leah was ready by the time I arrived to pick her up and after sitting in the car on the passenger seat and rolling her eyes at the amount of food that I had carried with me; we left on our way to the meadow.

I drove, slower than usual making sure that she had worn her seatbelt, taking the one-oh-one north out of the town's limits. She sat beside me in silence as she stared outside the window, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. Thick underbrush and green- swathed trunks soon replaced the lawns and houses, and I turn right on the one-ten, knowing by heart the way to this meadow. My vampire memory made sure of the fact that once seen, once read and once followed instructions all laid memorized. I almost snorted when Leah took out a map from her pocket. Till I was with her she would not need the map.

After parking the car near a thin foot trail with a small wooden marker, I quickly got out of the car, taking the bagpack with me and led Leah towards the trail that we would be following. There was another shorter unmarked trail a short distance from here, but because Leah did not know of my capabilities, to put it lightly, we would have to follow the official trail.

She had removed her sweater and knotted it around her waist and I could not move my eyes from the perfectly curvaceous figure that lay below it. She had all the perfect curves. She smirked, making me realize that she had seen me admire her curves. I just shrugged in return. I had eyes, and I could hardly apologize for it.

The way was mostly flat. I walked slightly ahead of Leah, holding the ferns and webs of moss aside for her. She would sigh every time I did that, telling me that she had probably hiked much more than me in life, but now that I had got to know Leah better and she had started responding back to me, I could not help but feel protective towards her, much more than I did before. I just couldn't bear to lose her, and I was constantly worried that something would take her away from me. Love couldn't be that easy, could it? Her tribe, her parents, her own past- there was so much that lay between us, and a big part of me feared that she was only with me for these few short moments…

I pushed all these thoughts back for the moment, concentrating on the present instead. I would randomly ask her questions about her school back in La Push, her teachers, her past birthdays, her embarrassing moments, her best moments… I wanted to know everything about her.

She would answer some, rolling her eyes and laughing at the others, telling me that I asked stupid random questions.

We walked most of the morning, exchanging questions and talking about everything and nothing before we stopped by a stream for lunch. It was getting late, cue the protectiveness, and Leah should be eating. Leah unwrap the sandwiches, taking out the nuts and dried fruits that I had volunteered to carry with me, telling me to thank Esme for all the effort as we sat down by the stream.

"Don't you want to eat?" she asked when she saw that I was just staring at her instead of eating the food that lay in front of us.

I shrugged. I could have eaten if I wanted to, but I was just not in the mood to and also there was no place to regurgitate it around.

She gave out a small laugh "If I would not have known any better, I would have thought that you were anorexic. You eat much lesser than a normal human teenage boy would."

Again with the tone of her voice, there was a certain mild double meaning in her words. I shook it off. I was probably just being paranoid. Her thoughts stayed the same- she was thinking of seeing the meadow in reality.

I smiled, giving her some half excuse of eating a heavy breakfast, before we continued our trail once we were done with lunch.

We walked for some more time before the light that filtered through the canopy transformed; a lightening in the trees ahead was visible to my vampire eyes.

"We are almost there." I said with a grin as Leah picked up her pace. We walked side by side for another fifteen minutes or so before we reached our destination- the meadow lying in all its beauty in front of us.

"Wow," said Leah taking a step ahead "This is even better than what I had seen in the photo."

I watched in surprise and awe as Leah took in the sight of the wildflowers- violet, yellow and white and walked through the soft grass, letting her bare feet get the touch of it. I too imitated her and took off my shoes. The grass tickled underneath my feet and a smile unknowingly made its way on my face. In all the years that I had lived, I had never felt happiness and peace like this.

Leah soon sat down on the grass, running her fingers through the short strands beside her. I sat beside her, shutting my eyes and memorizing this moment in my mind for all of eternity. Fortunately it was not as sunny as I had dreaded it to be, and I could easily sit beside Leah, here out in the open.

"It is perfect, isn't it?" Leah whispered.

I nodded my head. Perfection had no other meaning for me other than this.

But just like every perfect moment ends at one time, a sudden gust of wind broke my daydream for me. I scented the air. A predator, a human drinking vampire was around. How had Alice not seen this? How had I been so clueless as to not realize this before that the woods were much more silent and eerie than usual?

I had been dumb enough to put it down to my presence, not even giving it a thought that a nomad could be around.

I took a sigh of mild relief. At least Leah had not been alone. I couldn't even think of what would have happened in such a scenario.

"Leah," I said sharply "We need to leave."

I had no other choice. I had to get her out of here. I would have to tell her the truth. With her on my back and me running we would be out of here in no time. We had no time to waste here. The human drinker could scent her anytime.

"Why," she protested, crossing her arms in disbelief.

I sighed "Look, I will tell you everything. Just trust me right now and don't ask any questions. You are safe; I promise I will make sure of that."

"Edward," her one word was enough to denote her sudden worry and fear. I opened my mouth to reassure her when I smelt it and simultaneously heard the thoughts that I had been ignoring as Leah's safety came first at the moment…..

"And, what do we have here?" said the filled with malice voice behind me. I quickly turned, pushing Leah slightly to stand behind me.

"Stay back." I whispered to her.

The human drinker laughed at that. I growled back at him. Leah was mine. I would not let him harm her.

'Her blood is so tempting.' His thoughts shouted at me 'Delicious,' he licked his lips in anticipation.

I growled louder at him. I would fight him if necessary, but I could not let lose in front of Leah. She would be terrified to see us fight in a way in which no humans could ever fight…. and now there was also no way to tell her of what I was.

I should have taken Carlisle's advice. He had warned me that I was delaying unnecessarily in telling her. Now it was too late for it.

I contemplated of telling Leah to run. It would not get her very far, in case I turned out to be the loser in the fight, but still it would give her a head start and she could call Emmett or Carlisle and tell them about what had happened.

"Psst! Edward," Leah called out from behind me. I shrugged at her. Now was not the time for whatever she had to say. You never took your eyes of the enemy, and the human drinker just looked amused and ready to attack at the moment.

She tried again, tapping me on the shoulder "Edward,"

"What?" I muttered angrily. If we weren't in such a serious situation, it would have been almost comical- such was the expression on Leah's face.

She rolled her eyes, looking as normal and unbothered as possible "You might want to kill him before he decides to make a meal out of me. I don't know the exact signs but his eyes do look hungry. Are they?"

Come again!

Did she just say that?

"You know?" I whispered out in shock. How could she know? For how long had she known?

She sighed "For a mind reader you are pretty slow, you know that?"

I gaped at her stupidly, my mind unable to process correctly.

She hit me in the chest, hard; to get my attention "Will you do what you are meant to do before he actually decides to take me up on the offer that I have not really offered?"

I nodded my head, slightly. The human drinker's thoughts were still revolving around Leah's warm blood, and I growled out loud in warning, crouching below indicating that he would have to fight me to get till her.

"Stay back." I told Leah.

She gave a soft nod. I once again turned to look at the human drinker. He had crouched down too. So, he wanted the fight. He was not a newborn; no newborn would fight another vampire for a human. They would search for another human to feed on. No, this was an experienced vampire who wanted the fight as much as the blood that could come with it.

Once I knew that Leah was at a far distance away from me, I quickly pushed onto my instincts, focusing on only one thing- kill. It was a blur of actions after that. I would read his mind and know his move before he attempted it and would defend or attack accordingly. I had not fought many vampires in my century old life, but mock fighting with Jasper and Emmett had given me enough of an insight to know how to win a fight.

In less than a few minutes the dismembered body of the vampire lay in front of me. Without wasting any time, I quickly took out my lighter and lit fire to the parts, killing the human drinker.

I then turned back to look at Leah, expecting to see an afraid, reluctant to come any closer to me version of hers, but was taken aback and pleasantly surprised when she ran up to me, hugging me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. I hid my face in her hair, breathing in her scent.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked, looking into her eyes.

She gave out a small laugh "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

I ran my hand over her arms in a soothing manner. I needed to be sure that she was safe.

"When did you find out?" I finally asked when I could not hold the question in any longer.

She snorted "A long time back, Mr. Cullen. If I had to put a date," she paused, making the thinking like action "it would be say two months back. I was an idiot for not putting the clues together. When I finally put them together the entire picture was in front of me."

"Sam and Emily…."I whispered unsurely.

She nodded her head "I know he imprinted on her. That was the only thing possible. He had loved me once, you know."

I nodded my head "Your father knew."

I did not want to keep any more secrets from her.

"Yeah," she whispered, looking at the ground "I was really angry at him. He also expected me to stop talking to you when he found out. I refused. We argued. I moved out. The deposit was an apology for how hurt I had been due to his actions, in a way."

I nodded my head, a question still in my head "But how come he didn't know for so long that we were friends, or that you often visited my house?"

She smirked widely "Seth. He was, unknown to me, covering up for me all this while, and making sure that the pack and tribe would not know of us. They would not and did not take it well when they found out."

"But are you fine with it?" I had to ask.

She gave me my favorite smile of hers "I know you, Cullen. A few minor changes hardly matter."

A heavy weight was suddenly lifted off my shoulders. She did not care that I was a vampire.

"Wait," I suddenly asked "If you knew what I was, why did you keep pretending?"

She laughed "It was so much fun to see you eat human food. I just could not let it stop."

"You," I tickled her in mock anger. She was extremely ticklish, something I just realized.

"Stop… stop," she finally pleaded, breathing heavily when I let go of her.

I pulled her back to me, wrapping her in my arms. She did not push me back. I took that as my cue to go ahead with it.

"Ms. Leah Clearwater," I asked with a small smile "Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

She laughed "Oh, Edward, only you." "Yes, I will be your girlfriend."

I took her in my arms again. I did not want to let her go, ever.

I had so many questions for her. When had she realized that she liked me too? How had she reacted to it? And so many more somewhat baseless questions...

But for now, I was sure of one thing- I had made her mine. I had won Leah Clearwater and her heart now belonged to me.

X-The end-X