I had gotten a few comments about Leah and what was up with her so I hope this chapter helps explain some. Thanks to my beta, Kate Pedroso. Hope you enjoy. Please review if you have a moment.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series...the rest are my own. Stephenie, I hope I did Jacob justice.

I'd normally consider myself a patient man, but waiting in a hospital would be enough to drive anyone nuts. That's all I've done the past few days…wait. Wait to find out if Billy was going to wake up. Wait to see if the antibiotics would do some good. Wait to see if the surgery would be successful. I am so sick of waiting.

Once again I was pacing, this time in Billy's room, when Emily and Sam walked in. "How is he doing today?" Emily asked. She came over and gave me a quick hug before placing the plant she had in her hands on a shelf.

"Better; he's off the breathing machine obviously, but he still hasn't completely woken up." I watched her go to the windows and open the shades, letting whatever light there was outside in.

"We need some more light in here. It's too gloomy." She turned around and smiled at me. Her smile was infectious, and these days I was grateful for her presence.

"All we need is your smile," I joked with her. That made her blush as she sat down in a chair next to Billy.

"Quit flirting with my fiancé," Sam said with a grin. "You ready to go?"

We had an appointment in Port Angeles to get fitted for our suits for the wedding. We couldn't put it off. The suits were going to be difficult enough to find with the wedding less than two months off.

"Sure, sure. Thanks for sitting with him while I'm gone."

"No problem at all Jake." She settled back with a book in her hands.

Sam and I went downstairs and outside. I closed my eyes and held my face to the sun. The fresh air felt great.

"It's been too long since you've been outside. When was the last time you left the hospital?"

"The first night Dad was here. I had to go home to grab a few things." I hadn't left his side since except to visit the cafeteria. We climbed into Emily's car; Quil and Embry were in the backseat. "Hey guys." They greeted me with a few slaps on the back and Sam started the car.

"You need to get out more. I think you should spend tonight at home, in your own bed." I went to protest but the outright concern on Sam's face stopped me. "One of us can stay with him. You look like hell, Jake."

"I don't know if that's a new thing," Quil joked. Count on Quil to lighten the mood.

I laughed. "This is what happens when you live for days on cafeteria food and sleep on a cot that is two feet too short. At least I showered. Rachel took some of my stuff home and brought me clean clothes. Sue sent some food with her yesterday afternoon."

My sister Rachel had come home after hearing Billy was in the hospital. I hadn't seen much of her in the past year or so, and she didn't know anything about what was going on in my life these days. She almost seemed like a stranger, but it was still good to see her.

"How long will Rachel be in town?" Embry asked. Ever since we were little he had had a crush on her. He had been very glad to hear she was coming home, even under the present circumstances, but he kept missing her when he visited the hospital.

"She has a couple exams for her summer classes coming up early next week, so she'll leave this weekend. She isn't sure she can come back right after…we'll see I guess."

Embry looked disappointed. "Heard anything more from Becca?" My sister Rebecca had been trying to get home since she got Sue's phone call. She couldn't afford the plane ticket from Hawaii, so she was trying to work it out with the airline for an emergency flight.

"The doctor faxed the paperwork, so she's waiting to see what the airline comes up with. She should know something by tonight or tomorrow morning."

The car was silent for awhile before Quil cleared his throat. "Mhmmmm. Jake, there was something I wanted to ask you, but with the meeting with the leeches and now Billy…but since we're doing wedding stuff today…"

When he didn't finish I turned around in my seat. To my surprise, Quil was looking down at his hands, his fingers fidgeting. I almost didn't want to ask, but did it anyway. "What is it?"

"Umm…well…are you planning on throwing Sam a bachelor party?"

It was such an unexpected question that it took me a moment to react. Before I knew it everyone in the car was laughing hysterically. Leave it to Quil….

Paul, Jared, and Seth met us at the shop. Leah and I were the only two standing up with Sam and Emily, but she had wanted all the wolves in suits for pictures. Collin and Brady had already had their measurements taken, so they wouldn't be meeting us.

When all of us crowded into the shop we could see the amazement and intimidation in the eyes of the female staff members. I could practically read their minds…'How the hell are we going to dress these guys?!' It made me smile. I loved people's reaction to our size.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. What can we do for you today?" asked a tall, slender red-head.

"I'm Sam Uley. We have an appointment to be fitted for my wedding."

"Ah, yes," she said. Her worst fears were confirmed; they had to fit us for suits. "I'm Kate. Follow me on back towards the dressing rooms." She led us towards the back of the shop. There was a big square area with dressing rooms lining the walls and a clear area in the middle. "Your fiancé has already given us the suit style, so all we need to do is take your measurements. Mr. Uley, if you'll just step up here we'll start with you."

She had him stand on a small carpeted box before moving over to the wall to grab a measuring tape. "Jill, can you come back here and help me please?" A young woman with dark blonde hair came back, pen and paper in hand. "Mark down their measurements for me as I go."

Jill looked up at all of us shyly. She was so tiny that she barely came up to the middle of my chest. She kept looking up at all of us as Kate called out numbers to her. We had her so distracted that she must have been writing the numbers down wrong, because she kept erasing and rewriting. Her face turned beet red each and every time.

I went after Sam. It felt weird having a strange woman kneel in front of me, running a measuring tape up the inside of my leg, being that close to me. I had to bend forward so Kate could measure around my neck. My face was right into hers and when I looked at her she had a small grin on her face. The look in her eyes told me she was interested…but I was not. I cleared my throat and when she told me she was done I stepped down.

When everyone had their turn Sam followed Kate to the front to fill out some paperwork. Seth had caught Jill's attention and they were obviously flirting. Embry, Quil, and I stood by and watched the interaction.

Quil said that while we were being measured Seth had mentioned asking the girl out. "Ten bucks she says yes."

"I don't know," Embry said skeptically. "I don't know if little brother has game yet…I'll take that bet. Jake?"

"I'm with Quil on this one," I said. The way the girl had been watching us earlier with awe, I was pretty sure she'd say yes to any of us asking her out.

Seth was working himself up to it and we could tell when he finally asked. By the expression on his face we knew she'd said yes.

"Score," Quil whispered, punching both fists in the air and turning towards Embry. "I think you owe me ten, bro." Embry just groaned.

The girl wrote down something on a piece of paper for Seth and then went back to work. Seth came over to us and Quil patted him on the back. "Atta boy."

Sam and the guys dropped me back off at the hospital with promises to be back in a few hours. Sam had errands to run and the other two were going to get some more work done on the arch for the wedding. Neither had as much skill as myself with the carving, but they could do some minor things.

I returned to Billy's room and stopped short. Someone was sitting next to the window, but it wasn't Emily. I quickly considered going to the cafeteria or the waiting room, but that would be pretty immature. There was no point in avoiding her.

"Hey, Leah. How's it going?"

She turned around with a small smile on her face. "I'm good. Billy looks better."

"Yeah, he's getting better slowly but surely. Where's Emily?"

"Mom and I came to visit while Emily was here. She said she wasn't feeling well, so Mom took her home. What have the doctors said?"

"His first surgery went well, so they're just keeping an eye on the wound to see if the tissue stays healthy. The IV antibiotics are doing their job. It's just going to take time." I sat down in the comfy recliner.

"Any idea how long he might have to be here?"

"At least a week, but it could end up being longer." As long as he got better I didn't care how long he had to be here.

Leah became silent as she looked back out the window. "Sorry I haven't stopped by to visit since that first day."

"Its ok; you were upset. It was definitely understandable."

"I'm not just sorry about that, Jake." She turned to look at me again. "You and I didn't know each other well before I turned, and I haven't been the most respectable person since then either." She looked so miserable, but so thoughtful.

"Is there something wrong?" She looked at me and gave me a sad smile. "Something has been wrong for awhile, hasn't it?"

She smirked and shrugged. "Yeah, but not always the same thing."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Eh, why whine about it to you? You've got enough going on."

"Come on Leah, I'm willing to listen." I wasn't sure what she was going to say, but if it made her feel better it might make things more pleasant with the pack.

She looked as if she was thinking it over. "I guess you'd make the most sense to talk to. You've been through a lot of the same stuff I have, haven't you?"

I just sat there quietly waiting. "Ok, ok," she said. "But you have to promise not to mock me, or laugh at me when I'm done."

"I promise." I crossed my heart and gave her the boy scout honor hand signal.

She stuck out her tongue at me, but at least she was still smiling. "All this stuff with my dad and now yours…I guess it's made me realize that life is too short to be so miserable." She looked back out the window, her face becoming thoughtful again. "I've let myself be like this for way too long. Worse than that, I've said and done some very spiteful things to the rest of you guys. I've been very selfish, especially with you and Sam."

She looked at me to see if I was going to say anything, but I just stayed silent. She was going somewhere with this, and I didn't want to distract her from it. Plus, I wasn't going to deny that she had been a wench to us since her transformation.

"I am so sorry, Jake. I could have been more understanding with the Bella situation. I guess it reminded me a lot of my own situation. In the end it made me hate her. That day out on the cliff, after the fight, I figured you couldn't possibly feel as bad as I did after the ordeal with Sam." She stopped, choking up a bit. "I've been so bitter about it. Even after my transformation, even after I understood how it worked, I couldn't let it go. I figured it was easier and safer to be angry than to admit how heartbroken I was. Not that it fooled you guys after I turned, I'm sure."

I nodded slowly. I understood this part of where she was coming from. "We definitely knew you were angry," I laughed. "I know what you mean about the anger; it helps wall up your feelings. If you can be angry it doesn't hurt as much. But…something has been different with you lately. You haven't seemed as angry."

"No, lately I've been jealous," she said. She ducked her head, but I could see the blush. "Jealous and scared."

"Jealous?" I stared at her, shocked. "What are you jealous about?"

She looked everywhere but at me. "It's so stupid."

"What you say here stays here, Leah. Well, as much as it can with us anyway."

"At first I'd only been jealous of Emily because of Sam, that part is obvious. After I turned I was jealous of her for a completely different reason. All of you loved Emily and all of you thought I was a spiteful bitch. So of course that just made things worse, and I got even angrier. For as long as I've been a wolf I've been the outsider in the group. I…how do I explain so that it makes sense?" Now she was talking more to herself. "I've always been raised to think that a woman should be protected, especially amongst a group of her own. I figured that as the only female in a group of wolves you guys would be more protective of me. Yeah, you were protective of me physically, but emotionally… I've been an outcast. Then later with Bella it was the same way. You guys even changed our whole way of functioning, the whole purpose of us being wolves, for her. Everybody, you in particular, would do anything for her. You said it yourself, for no one but her. You see how that would give me a complex? How that might make me jealous?"

I sighed; it helped to understand Leah, of where she was coming from. It also made me feel a bit guilty. I'd been mean to her for a long time, because of how she would lash out, instead of trying to see where she was coming from. "I'm sorry you've felt that way," I said. "What have you been scared about?"

She shocked me again. "That one is a little easier. I'm scared of the whole imprinting thing."

"Why are you scared of it?"

"Aren't you?"

I had to think for a second so I could put into words what I thought about it. "I'm not scared; more wary of it than anything else."

She chuckled and brought her knees up in front of her on the chair. "Well, that would be a good way to put it too. It's good and bad. It's a great thing because you know if you imprint that you've found your soul mate. Not many people out there can say that they know beyond any doubt that they've found the perfect person for them. I mean, they might 'know' in the moment, but they wouldn't know for sure that person would be perfect for them ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road. Once we've imprinted, there are no doubts, so that is amazing. It should be something to look forward to."

"Should?"

She held up a finger. "My mom thinks that we'll all find our imprint eventually. From how Emily and Kim explained it to her, she thinks that the people we are to imprint on will definitely cross our paths eventually. They'll be drawn to where we are without even knowing it."

"And you doubt it." I frowned. I was confused about what she was trying to say.

She shrugged. "I hope she's right. I definitely want what Sam and Emily have, though I wish it had been with Sam in the first place. All I know is that I want that in my life."

I didn't completely buy into the theory, but I was humoring her. "Shouldn't you be happy then, if you believe what your mom is saying?"

She smiled. "You know me better than that. I'm an impatient person, Jake." We both laughed at that. "Think of Quil and Claire. She is two years old! He has to wait sixteen years before he can even be with her, to love her like he will want to. I look forward to actually imprinting, but what if my imprint hasn't even been born yet?"

"Good point. But if you've got that hope inside you, you shouldn't give it up yet. Both Sam and Jared imprinted on someone closer to their age."

"True. But I want that love in my life now. It's something little girls dream about while the boys play war. And while I'm waiting to imprint, I have to be careful not to develop feelings for anyone else, so that if I imprint they won't have to go through what I have. That means I have to make sure to keep a wall up in my life. I just don't want to hurt anyone. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it makes perfect sense." I stopped and smiled. "Have you said any of this stuff about imprinting and keeping a distance and all that to Seth?"

"No, not yet. Mom thinks it'll be a bit before she has to worry about it."

I laughed. "You might want to rethink that one."

She looked at me, confused. "Why?"

"He has a date Friday night," I said and laughed. Leah looked shell shocked. "Come on, I'll buy you some ice cream and you can tell me all of the ways you'll tie him down to beat this all into him."

I think Leah could be a very nice character if given the chance to be happy. What do you think? Please take a moment to review!

Sorry it is taking me a little longer to reply to people's reviews but I like to put a quote for the next chapter in them and lately I haven't had a surplus of chapters, I've been writing as I'm going.

Happy Veteran's day to everyone this weekend. My husband and I are going to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball tomorrow so I hope to have a bunch of reviews by Sunday night when we get home. The most I've gotten in one chapter was 8 reviews so top that for me please!