Jake's POV

"Missing someone feels like the earth crumbles beneath you - you are falling with nothing to grab, and it comes when you don't expect it, and it never stops coming."

Out on Sick Leave?

The Thoughts of a Worried Boyfriend

I have no idea what is going on with my girlfriend.

She hasn't been talking to me, looking at me, hell, she hasn't even emailed me, (Yes, I have been sitting at the computer hitting the 'Refresh' button every ten minutes, convinced that she would at least email me if she was upset about something), for a week. But, I let it go, thinking that if I just give her some space that she'll come back and that everything will be fine.

It's been a week since then.

Apparently, I was wrong.

"Jake, what the hell happened?" Seth asks me.

I shake my head and let out a bitter laugh. "If I had any idea, do you really think I'd be here with you right now?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Right," he nods.

"I just don't understand," I sigh exasperatedly. "We were happy! God, we were happy and then she went to the Cullens' last week and it's like she flipped a switch!"

I look at a confused Seth and continue, "A couple days after she went to the Bat Cave and found out that you spilled the beans, she went back because Blondie wanted another 'girl talk.' She was there for an hour, just one hour, and she came back a completely different person."

I look at Seth dead in the eye and try to tell him how changed she was. "She wouldn't talk to me for a couple days, until I came over. When I was there, she couldn't look at me. She looked so anxious and scared. I tried to hug her but that just made it worse."

Shaking my head, I tell Seth to phase and I replay what happened that day.

Flashback

It's been about a month since Leah and I have exchanged our 'I love yous' and things have been great. We've fought a lot; she bitched, I pissed her off, she bitched some more, then to shut her up, we made out. But that's the thing with our relationship- it's real. There isn't some supernatural pull telling me to love her, telling me to protect her. I do that because I love her, because I choose to, because I want to.

For the past week Leah has been blowing me off and skipping her patrol duties claiming them as "sick days." Sick days, really? C'mon, we're werewolves, our temperatures run so high that any infection that gets close to us would be toast. She's avoiding me, I know it. The only question is: why?

Which brings me here, the front porch of the Clearwater home, ready to kick my girlfriend's ass. Enough is enough, time for her to face the music. Whatever has been bothering her, she needs to tell me about it. Now.

Knowing Leah, there's going to be a fight. The girl doesn't like anybody to see her as weak, so she never talks about her problems or asks for help. Needless to say, she'll kick my ass when I ask her if she's okay and needs any help. Luckily, I invested in first-aid kits all around La Push. One in a bush here, an underbrush there, just in case. Leah's anger is unpredictable, just about anything can set her off, so we have to be prepared.

I knock on the door and take a couple steps back. Sure, I'm the Alpha, have the capability to morph into a giant wolf, and I'm her boyfriend, but this isn't a normal girl and we're not in a normal relationship. This is an emotionally unstable, angry, strong, stubborn, hot as hell woman we're talking about here. But, I'm not scared of her. Psh no, all these precautions are for Billy. The man wants grandkids one day, (Paul's kids don't count), and who am I to deny him that?

I hear quick and light footsteps come to the door: Leah. She should be here in five, four, three, two—"Yeah?" Leah snaps in an anxious tone as she's opening the door. Ah, my loving girlfriend.

"You missed your shift," I tell her, folding my arms. Two can play at this game.

She steps away from the door and rolls her eyes. "I told you I couldn't make it."

I look at her. Nothing wrong with her legs (lean, long, and tan. Oh no, nothing wrong at all!), arms look fine (Nice and smooth…so soft), head is attached along with her scowl (I thought I got rid of that scowl… But, still, her lips. So plump, and warm, and kissable…). She looks fine, more than fine, Leah looks hot! She looks good enough for patrol. Well, I'd like to see if she's up for more than patrol…

"Yeah, you're 'sick.' Listen, just take your little blue pill like the doctor told you and get your furry ass out on patrol," I tell her.

She smirks, although it seems off somehow, as she pulls something out of her pocket. "Ah, ah, ah, I don't think so," she says in a singsong voice.

She hands me the paper. What is this? I read it quickly and shake my head. Leah got a doctors note. She actually got Carlisle to give her a doctor's note to excuse her from patrols! What the hell is wrong with her anyways? I re-read the note to see if it said anything specific.

"Jacob,

Please excuse Leah from running patrols. Due to the condition that she is in, she will be unable to phase for the time being. It would be in her best interest if she would relax and try not to do anything to aggravate the state she's in. Thank you for your co-operation.

Sincerely,

Doctor Carlisle Cullen."

Condition, what 'condition'? Is she okay? Is it bad? It must be bad if it affects a werewolf.

I look at her, waving the note. "What does he mean by 'condition'?" I ask. "Will you be able to get back to patrolling soon?" If she can run patrols then her 'condition' must not be that bad. Right?

Sighing, Leah takes the note back and walks inside. I follow, eager for an answer. She's not dying? I mean, this is Leah Clearwater we're talking about; she can't die. It's simply not an option. She needs to stay and be here to bitch and moan until we're old and gray.

"Lee, are you okay?" I move closer, going to hug her.

"Don't touch me!" She jumps away from me.

I stare at her, dumbstruck. Don't touch her? I want to touch her, to hold her. She looks so lost and scared. I want to help her, protect her. Why won't she let me?

I raise my hands in surrender and take a couple steps back and try to cover up the hurt and shock on my face. As I'm walking back, she seems to relax, if only slightly.

She lets out a shaky sigh. "We don't know what's going on."

We?

"The Cullens think it's some sort of parasite," she says, waving her hand in the air as if brushing off the idea like it was something you hear everyday.

The Cullens? She went to the Cullens instead of me with a problem? A problem I didn't even know she had. What isn't she telling me? And what does she mean 'parasite'? Like a tapeworm? Can werewolves even get tapeworms? Considering how much we eat it's possible.

She starts to pace. "Alice and Edward said that it will eventually be removed." A worried look comes across her face before she shakes her head. "They just don't know when."

Removed? As in surgery? Can a tapeworm really do that much damage?

I furrow my brow and ask in a rush, "How do they know all this? Do they know if you're going to be okay? Why hasn't anyone else got this 'parasite'? How did you get this? Where did you get this thing?"

Leah glares at me. "Where did I get this thing from?" she asks in a cold tone.

I nod. If my Leah got a tapeworm, I want to know from where or from whom she got it. When I get my hands on them…

Leah stands up and makes her way over to me. "I. Got. This. Thing. From. You." She says each word with such venom as she punctuates each word with a poke to my chest.

Me? When the hell did I give her this thing?

"Me?" I ask, very confused.

"Yes, you! Now I have to go through this! Because you, Mr. Alpha I-can-make-a-new-pack-to-protect-mutant-baby-then-imprint-on-mutant-baby-only-to-later-break-imprint-with-freaky-Spawn had to come along fuck me up! Like I wasn't already a freak among freaks, but now I have something inside me and we have no idea what it is. Alice is freaked out and the fact that she can see me is freaking me out. I have no idea what's going on and neither do they, and you coming over to my house and asking me questions that I have no answers to is not helping!" she shrieks.

I'm so confused. Can a tapeworm give you emotional instability? I think I saw something like that on an episode of 'House.' I should ask the guys if they saw that episode, or read my biology textbook. On second thought, I'll watch the 'House' seasons. If it's not a tapeworm, maybe Dr. Greg House can tell me what the hell is wrong with Leah.

"Lee." I slowly make my way over to her to comfort her. To tell her that everything will be all right, that I'm here for her…but she backs away.

"Just go. Please, go," she whispers, hugging herself.

I kiss her on the forehead, (which she stiffly accepts), and do as she asked.

End Flashback

'So I've been running back and forth for the past week,' I tell Seth.

'Going to the Cullens and demanding answers, answers that they still won't give me, trying to talk to find out what's going on. When I'm not there, I'm here with you hoping that Leah will come home,' I tell him with a whine.

'What do you want to do?' he asks.

I start to pace. What do I want to do?

There are a lot of things that I want to do in regards to Leah.

I want to lie down on the couch with Leah and watch re-runs of some comedy we both hate, and relax. I want to hold her and make her laugh. I want to see her smile, to see her eyes dance when we banter. I want to share a house, a life, my name, with Leah. I want to do everything with her.

But I can't have any of that right now. Not until we talk.

So what do I want? I want to talk to Leah. I want to find out what's scaring her and just hug her and tell her it will be all right. I want to be able to be there for her, I want her to trust me and tell me what's going on.

'I want to get answers.'

'And how are you going to get those?' Seth asks with sarcastic undertones as he pictures me waltzing up to the Cullen manor in a suit and tie asking if they have a minute to fill out a short questionnaire on 'What the hell is going on with Leah.'

Rolling my eyes at his thought, I give him a wolfy smirk before I tell him, 'I'm not.'

'You're not?'

I shake my head. 'You're going to have a little chat with Alice.'

'Alice?' Seth asks.

'Yeah, Alice. The little Pixie knows something.' I replay Leah's rant in my head: "Alice is freaked out, and the fact that she can see me is freaking me out."

'You think that has something to do with what's happening to Leah?' Seth asks.

'Well, you're going to go and figure that out, aren't ya?'

'I guess I am,' he says before he runs to the Cullens'.

I phase back and throw on my cutoffs before heading back inside. Plopping myself onto the couch I wait, (again), for answers. I start to bounce my leg up and down, letting what happened run through my mind.

Alice can see Leah. She can see Leah. Why can she see Leah?

We're wolves; she isn't supposed to be able to see us. It has something that has to do with the fact our phasing is unpredictable, an emotional trigger, something that the little Pixie can't predict. The fact that she can see Leah is scaring the crap out of me.

Is she okay? Does something happen to her? How is it my fault? Will she be alright?

Shaking my head, I try to clear all of the questions from my mind. Agonizing over questions that I don't have answers to won't help me.

I look at the clock and count the minutes until Seth can come back with answers.

One minute until I know what's going on with Leah.

Two minutes until I know she's okay.

Three minutes until she's here with me again.

Disclaimer: All of the characters, concepts, and anything affiliated with the Twilight saga belong to (their rightful owner) Stephanie Meyer. The rest of the work belongs to me and should not be copied in any way, including translations, without my explicit consent.

Major thanks to Flyaway Dove for Beta-ing this.