one of my favourite chapters of this fic. Thanks for reading! A special shout out to sentinel10 - your reviews had me smiling all night. Glad you are enjoying it!

I do not own Twilight

NINE

The papers were signed.

Leah left Alice Cullen's office with her mind in a fog. She knew this would be the end but she still couldn't process everything. She was no longer Leah Uley in the way that mattered. She needed to change her name back to Clearwater. She wanted nothing of Sam's anymore, especially not his name, not when he had taken it back anyways. Plus, once he married Emily eventually, there was no way that Leah would want to share their last name. It would be pathetic.

She pulled out of the parking garage and turned onto the main street. She had taken the day off from work, knowing that she wouldn't have been in the frame of mind to work on her patients carefully. That would have been careless. But Leah didn't want to go home. She couldn't step foot in that house right now.

On her right she saw the Radisson hotel and made a quick turn into the lot. She had no clothes or anything but it made sense to just decompress there until tomorrow. She paid for a room and once inside, stripped off her suit and pulled on one of their fluffy robes. She looked at her rings, the day had finally come to take them off. She tugged til they slid off her finger and dumped them into her bag. The beautiful diamond bands had been her pride and joy and the envy of other women but now the glittering stones meant nothing.

Sam's face swam in her mind. He'd been so stiff, so cold at the signing. Once again he'd barely managed to look in her direction. He was such a fucking coward. Leah hoped Emily made him miserable for the rest of his life with her constant nagging and hovering. But it was what he'd wanted. How many times since he left had they had that argument?

"Emily isn't like you, she takes care of me, she puts me first. She knows what I need from her. When I get home there's dinner on the table, Leah. She understands how to treat a man like me. Goddammit."

Leah knew she wasn't the perfect wife, but she had a job too, and some days she was just too tired to cook. But she was always home waiting on her husband, whether it was with take-out or not. Sam could never doubt that she loved him. He just didn't want her type of love, or whatever he said about Emily had just been stupid excuses for the affair. Sometimes Leah believed that he resented that she had her own career and wasn't at home all day at his beck and call. All those nights he came in late forcing her to eat alone, and she had not known that he was with Emily? He was the heartless one. And Leah realized that maybe he had never inspired her to be so doting. Maybe his stand-offish ways had become hers too. Maybe she'd learned to give him his space. Maybe she'd felt like he didn't want to be coddled. Honestly, she wasn't sure where exactly she'd gone wrong. But they HAD drifted apart, and all Leah knew was that she wasn't the only one to blame. She'd never stopped loving Sam, but something between them had fallen apart. And Emily had made it easy for Sam not to try to fix it.

Leah decided that she needed to raid the mini bar. She emptied all the rum into a glass and added a splash of Coke and gulped the whole thing down, welcoming the burn. She didn't want to feel, she didn't want to think. She just wanted to be numb for the rest of the day and the night.

Her phone buzzed and buzzed until Leah finally woke up. The room was dark and she was flat on her stomach, drooling all over herself. She sloppily reached for her phone and answered.

"Hello?"

"Leah?"

"Hmm?"

"Leah it's Jake, where are you, are you okay?"

"I'm good."

"Lee, you don't sound okay, I can barely understand what you're saying."

"I'm fine, I'm drunk."

"Where are you? I'm coming to get you."

"Radisson."

"Which one?" Leah couldn't remember. "Forget it I'll find you. What room are you in?"

"210," she mumbled.

"Stay put I'm on my way."

Leah dropped the phone and let her head fall back onto the mattress.

JACOB

Jacob and Leah had been talking and texting since the park on Sunday and things were progressing really well between them. They'd even met up for lunch twice at the deli down the street from her office. She'd become a part of his life that Jacob found himself unable to be without. Knowing that she'd had the signing today he'd been tense waiting for her phone call. When it never came he panicked and called, realizing that she wasn't going to. Grasping that she was drunk and incoherent scared the crap out of him and Jacob had no idea how he'd really find her so he called Seth and explained the situation.

"I think there's one near the lawyer she goes to." Seth gave Jacob the area he knew the office was in and Jacob had a pretty good idea of where to go. He prayed that she'd be there.

It had been easier than he thought. She was in room 210 just like she'd said. He had been worried that in her drunken state that she hadn't been right about the number. Jacob paid the guy at the desk forty bucks just to give him a key to the room. He'd almost socked him in his face and stolen the key but money seemed to work just fine.

Jacob's heart was in his throat. He was so worried about her. She'd sounded totally messed up on the phone. That's why he'd called. He knew how bad it felt to actually sign the papers and realize that it's really over. He'd been there, and he knew that she'd need someone, whether or not she wanted to admit it.

Jacob slipped into the room and found her face down on the bed. Cold fear flowed through his body as he crawled onto the bed and tried to wake her. "Leah, wake up. Leah!" he shook her until she finally stirred. Jacob breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whaaaaaat?" Leah whined as she rolled over and slapped his hand away. Her robe fell open giving him an eye full of her black lacy bra and matching panty.

"Fuck," he swore, pulling the fabric closed and tying the knot. She'd be the death of him. He wouldn't allow himself to think for a moment about the perfect skin and curves that were just within reach.

"Go awaaaay," Leah moaned.

"I'm not leaving you. Wake up, I need you to eat or you'll end up in the hospital." Jacob pulled her up and carried her into the bathroom. He leaned her over the sink and splashed water on her face until she really woke up properly.

Leah moaned and looked up finally. "Jake?" she mumbled.

"Yes, it's me." Jacob held and massaged her shoulders as they made eye contact in the mirror. Leah sighed and closed her eyes, leaning back into his chest. Jacob wrapped his arms around her and held her there, kissing and smelling the top of her head. He'd been wanting a moment alone with her, but not like this.

"I can't believe this. How did you get here?" she croaked eventually.

"I called and you told me where you were, so I came to get you. You didn't sound good and I was worried that you would get hurt being alone."

Leah shook her head. "I was stupid and I feel awful. Rum is not my friend."

"I don't think rum is anyone's friend. But you just need to eat, drink some water and coffee. Maybe have a shower. You'll be okay, I promise."

Leah nodded but made no move. Jacob waited, knowing that what she needed right now was to be held. He slowly turned her around so that she was now facing his chest and pulled her to him once again. "I'm here," he whispered.

Leah's hands found their way around his back and she tightened her grip. Gentle sobs rattling her slender body prompted Jacob to hold her a little closer. He was glad she was crying. It was what she needed to do to get the pain out.

"It's okay, I'm here," he reassured her again. "It'll be alright, I promise."

An hour later they'd eaten burgers and fries and Leah had cleaned up in the bathroom. Jacob had hot coffee and aspirin waiting when she stepped out dressed in a brown pantsuit.

Leah wasted no time taking the pills and reached for the coffee. "Thanks."

"No problem. I'm just glad I could be here."

Leah searched his eyes before finally agreeing. "Me too, thank you Jacob."

"You should have called me Leah, you said you would. Just don't do this again okay? It's not safe."

She grimaced. "I can take care of myself."

"Not when you're shit-faced," Jacob argued.

"Well it's not like I do it often, and I didn't get that drunk. I think I can be excused this one time. He didn't even say 'good bye' or 'thanks for being my wife'! He didn't even fucking look at me! Do you know how that feels? 'She's perfect' he says! She's going to get pregnant too, just watch and see! You have no idea how useless and unimportant I feel right now!" she exploded.

"Yeah I do actually. I know a lot about that."

"You don't, you think you do but you don't," Leah spat angrily.

Jacob knew that she was not really angry with him, but that he was the only one here she could vent to. He wanted to hold her again and sooth her pain but she wouldn't accept it. She needed to lash out, she needed to be angry. She was going through the steps of grief.

"Well, do you know how it feels to marry someone thinking they were pregnant for you, only to find out that it was for someone else? Do you know what it feels like to raise another man's kid as your own? To have your wife divorce you to marry said man and just take off?" Jacob couldn't help himself. He was feeding off of her rage. Since she was venting he wanted to vent too. "Life isn't fucking fair Leah, all that matters is that we don't let them break us. Don't let him think he's broken you!"

Leah slumped against the small table in the room where they'd eaten, her anger seeming to evaporate instantly. "Jacob?" she whispered.

He nodded, knowing she was asking for confirmation. "It's true. Nessie isn't mine." He buried his face in his hands and ran them through his hair. He had just gotten it cut a couple days ago and still wasn't used to the absence of his long raven locks.

"What the hell happened?" Leah asked, coming to sit next to him, taking his hand in her own.

"I knew Bella for years, we were best friends. She got involved with this guy, Edward, and ran off with him. Then one day she just turned up professing her love for me, saying she'd made a mistake, that she realized that she loved me and not him and couldn't live without me." Jacob took a breath, that day replaying in his mind as if it had been yesterday. "I was so happy, it was like a dream come true. I slept with Bella that night and announced that we were a couple the next day. Within two months we were married. Then she started to show and told me that she was pregnant, that we'd conceived the night she came to the Reservation. I believed her, I stupidly believed everything she said."

"When Nessie was born it was strange that she looked nothing like me," Jacob continued. "But I ignored it, knowing genetics can be funny like that. I watched her grow and then one day, it all made sense to me. Bella was telling her that she looked just like her father, and I knew that she wasn't talking about me."

"Oh Jake," Leah whispered.

"I didn't say anything. I love Nessie, she was mine right from the start, I was the only father she'd ever known and I was scared that Bella would take her and leave if I confronted her about it. Then Dad got sick and we moved out here. And Bella found Edward again. She told me he was Nessie's real father and that they wanted to try to be a real family. He wanted her back apparently. So I gave her the divorce but I told her she couldn't take my daughter away from me. She threatened to take me to court, said I would never win against Nessie's real father and mother. So we struck a deal. I get one year with Nessie while they go on a honeymoon and set up house and all that newlywed shit, and then they will come back and take her." Leah gasped, covering her mouth as she stared at his face, eyes wide with disbelief. "I just didn't think she'd really leave for so long, or stop being in regular contact. I wanted the year with Ness living at home, but Bella didn't have to totally remove herself from the picture."

Jacob drew a ragged breath of his own, feeling the tightening of anxiety in his chest. The panic attacks acted up every time he thought about what was soon going to happen. He only had three months before his precious baby girl would be gone.

Leah sank to her knees in front of him, her face wiping the tears that Jacob hadn't even realized were falling. "They're going to take my baby away," he croaked, allowing Leah to pull him onto her shoulder while she shushed him.

"Nessie will always love you Jacob, no matter what Bella does. That little girl will never stop loving you, I promise. You will always be her father in the way that counts."

Jacob's cries broke then, and he pulled Leah tighter into his body. He just needed her to never let him go.