Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer. I do not own anything except the OCs.

[NAHTI]

"Okay, spill."

"What?" I looked at Leah with confusion. We were both sprawled out on the Clearwater's couch watching some nonsense reality show on Bravo, eating a very unhealthy amount of chips, when Leah suddenly turned the television off.

"There's something clearly rumbling around in that head of yours, so spill it." Leah repeated herself. I usually loved my cousin's no nonsense personality but I was still feeling upset about my interaction with Jacob and I wasn't sure I wanted to discuss my feelings. "Is it Nayla, did she turn up again?"

I shook my head. "It's not that. I just got into a stupid fight with Jacob before I came over here and it's bugging me. Sorry, I know I'm not being any fun right now."

"What'd you fight with Jacob about?" Leah rightfully looked surprised. I hardly ever even bickered with Jacob, let alone fought with him. "Oh… is it about him and Paul?"

My head snapped towards her. "How'd you know that? Did one of them say something to you about it?"

"No." Leah shook her head. "Sam mentioned that he thought something weird was going on between them. He said he saw them arguing a while back and Paul didn't look pleased with whatever Jake was saying. Sam said he looked so angry that he really thought Paul was going to hit Jake but he just walked away."

"Ugh. The last thing I need is for those two to go at it." I dropped my head back against the couch. "Without outright admitting it, but basically admitting it, Jake told me that he attempted to get Paul to stay away from me because stupid Michael Ute started some rumor about us going to The Cove. And then when I tried explaining that Paul and I had just been hanging out at First Beach, Jacob looked like he didn't really believe me and said that I was 'better' than that."

Leah was probably the only person in my life that knew how much I hated being judged and having the whole 'good girl' thing thrown in my face. "Wrong choice, Jake." Leah shook her head disapprovingly. "So I'm guessing you let him have it."

"I couldn't help it, Lee." I clenched my fists in frustration. "First of all, even if I had gone to The Cove, it's no one's business! Jacob can't tell me what to do and what not to do. Secondly. Paul doesn't deserve even half the shit people give him and for Jacob to make him feel like he couldn't even come to dinners on Sunday? I wasn't going to let it slide."

"I agree, Jacob was way out of line." Leah nodded. "But you have to acknowledge that he's only trying to look out for you. Any brother is going to defend his sister against rumors and he's going to give hell to any guy hanging around her."

I rolled my eyes. "I seriously doubt Seth has ever hassled Sam."

"You'd be surprised." Leah kept a straight face for only a moment before laughing. "Okay, well, Seth is too sweet for that. But Dad gave Sam a hard enough time for them both. It took a long time before he warmed up to Sam."

"That's different. That's your Dad and Sam is your boyfriend." I countered. "Jacob has known Paul since forever. He knows what he's like and he knows that we're just friends."

"Paul might not be the hoodlum that people assume he is, Nahti but he's still a guy and Jacob isn't stupid. He sees the way Paul looks at you."

"What?" I looked at my cousin in complete confusion. "What do you mean the way he looks at me?"

Leah raised her eyebrows. "Oh come on, Nahti. You're telling me you've never noticed?"

"I don't understand…"

"Paul wants you."

"Wants me to what?"

"Paul wants to fuck you." Leah said bluntly and then laughed at my shocked expression. "It's obvious to everyone. And when he's not looking at you like he wants to fuck you, he's looking at you like some sort of love struck brooding badboy in a teen drama. It's kind of fascinating."

My mouth dropped open.

"Oh my gosh, you seriously never noticed?" Leah started to laugh harder. "Wow, you're dense. Even Mom made some comment about getting you started on birth control."

"Aunt Sue would never!" I could feel my face flaming. "Leah, tell me you're kidding. Oh gosh! Was Uncle Harry there? Seth?"

"Okay, she didn't say that exactly." Leah clutched her sides from laughing so hard. "But she did say that you two needed to have 'the talk', which is code for 'get that girl some pills'. And don't worry; it was just me and her talking."

"I want to die." I groaned. "I want to crawl into a hole and die."

"Quit being so dramatic." Leah bopped me playfully with a pillow. "You're going to tell me that you've never thought about Paul in that way?"

My mind immediately flashed back to that morning and how good it felt to have Paul's arms around me. Of course, I'd thought, maybe once or twice, about what it would be like to be with him but, I'd truthfully never really entertained the idea. Losing Paul as a friend was too great a risk and besides that, I wasn't interested in dating. I needed to focus on getting a scholarship. "He's cute but…"

"Cute?" Leah shook her head. "Nahti, guys like Paul are not cute. They are hot in the most sinful of ways. They make you want to do very, very, bad things. But they are not cute. Embry is cute. Paul is sex. You seriously have never thought about what it would be like to fuck him?"

"Leah!"

"Alright." She held her hands up in surrender. "I'll quit it. I can tell that I've scandalized you enough for one day but don't think this is over. Now that I've burst your illusion of a platonic friendship, I guarantee you won't be a virgin for much longer."

"Leah, I swear to goodness." I held the pillow over my face and wondered if it was possible to suffocate yourself.

Leah and Sam had plans for the night and Jacob was still on my shit list so I resigned myself to a night alone at home. It wouldn't be so terrible though. I could do some of my summer reading and finally read through the armful of training pamphlets that I had from my internship. Yup, it was sure to be another fun night in La Push.

I parked Grams' truck on the side of the house and shuffled dejectedly into the house. I couldn't get Leah's comments out of my head. I think the next time that I saw Paul, I was going to die of embarrassment. How could Leah even think that Paul wanted to be with me in that way? We didn't talk about his sex life often but I knew for a fact that Paul could have his pick of girls. I seriously doubted that he lusted after me in any way. It wasn't a matter of selling myself short either, I know that I'm an appealing person. I look nice enough and I get along with most people but guys did not drool over me. I couldn't pull off sexy and alluring if my life depended on it.

"You look worried." Grams called out to me from her spot on the porch where she sat working on a quilt. I honestly hadn't even noticed her sitting there until she spoke.

"More confused than worried." I told her truthfully. Grams looked younger than her advanced years and was more active than most of my friend's parents but if you looked her in the eye, you could see the wisdom. She had eyes that never missed a single thing.

"Is this about the boys?"

For the second time that day, my mouth was hanging open in what I could only assume was an unflattering manner. "Does the whole Rez know?"

"Probably. Jacob hasn't been very subtle with his hostility and Paul hasn't been around nearly as much." Grams chuckled and motioned for me to join her. I flopped down onto the bench beside her. "But it helps that Billy called and said Jake was pretty upset about an argument that you two had. I figured there is only one thing that could get you angry at Jacob and that's Paul."

"Gosh." I covered my face with my hands. "Grams, I really let Jacob have it this afternoon. I can't believe he had the nerve to try to keep Paul away from me. And I can't believe Paul listened to him!"

"Jacob's is a born leader and there is something about the way he spoke to Paul that made him listen." Grams said knowingly. "Jake was trying to do what he thought was best for you. They both were really. You mean a lot to them."

"But Jake it's not Jacob's place!" I insisted. "And to add to the insult, he actually believed one of Ute's stupid rumors."

"He was." Grams agreed. "But you can't stay mad at him forever. You don't realize the impact that you have on people, Nahti. Your anger and disappointment will weigh heavily on Jacob's shoulders."

"Good." I huffed – even though I was starting to feel a little bad about storming off and leaving Jacob in the woods. If he felt crummy enough to tell Uncle Billy about it, he must have been really upset, which wasn't really what I wanted.

"Nahti!" Grams admonished. "When you have the power to impact people's emotions, you can't take it lightly. It's a serious responsibility."

Grams' comment confused me but I just nodded my head. I figured there was probably a hidden life lesson hidden in her words. "I know and I'm sorry. I'll call Jake in a bit and patch things up with him. Well, I'll tell him that I'm sorry about how I said things but not the actual sentiment. He was still wrong."

Grams looked like she had more to say but she just shook her head. "Paul was here early today. Did Paul have another fight with his father?"

I sighed, remembering that there was still another problem that needed some solving. "He wouldn't say but I'm pretty sure. Things have been getting worse between them, I know that much. I don't want to push Paul to talk about it but I'm worried."

Grams nodded her head and put her sewing down. "Maybe he should stay here again," Grams suggested - referring to when he was younger and Mama would have him stay with us until his Dad was functioning enough to take care of him.

I could only imagine starting that conversation with him. Paul would probably close up tighter than a clam and deny that anything was wrong. "How would we convince him?"

"Let me think on it." Grams gave my hand a squeeze. "Try not to worry too much, honey. I'm going to take care of it." I had no doubt that she would. When Grams spoke, everyone on the Rez shut up and listened. It came with the territory of being an Elder and the tribe's Spiritual Healer. It was almost like an honor to have her meddle in your business. I only hoped that Paul would see it that way.

[JACOB]

I knew right away that I was going to have to suck it up and make amends with Paul if I wanted Nahti to forgive me. The truth was that I didn't dislike him. Paul had a good sense of humor and he was fun to hang out with, I just didn't appreciate the way people were talking about Nahti. Her family dealt with enough shit talking because of Nayla – they didn't need anymore. And it was obvious to me that Paul and Nahti weren't going to be 'just friends' for much longer. That had been the whole point in my talk with Paul. I wanted to convince him that if he really cared about Nahti, he wouldn't act on his feelings. He'd stay away from her instead.

"What are you doing here, Jake?" Paul answered the door to his house looking surprised to see me. He looked as though he had just been running a marathon and I vaguely wondered if he had a girl in there.

"Can I come in? We need to talk." I asked feeling awkward talking to him in the doorway. Paul glanced over his shoulder before shaking his head quickly and stepping outside to join me. He walked to the driveway and stopped, waiting for me to explain why I was there. "Look, you know how I feel about you and Nahti. There's no point in acting like I approve. "

Paul folded his arms. "Yeah, we're definitely past that."

"Well, I don't know how much you told Nahti about our talk but-"

"I didn't tell her anything about it." Paul interrupted.

"Fine, whatever." I shrugged. I really didn't want to argue over the details. "It doesn't really matter, all I know is she's pissed with me and I don't like it. She wants you to come to dinner on Sunday. Can you make it?"

Paul shifted on his feet and stared me down for a long uncomfortable moment. I had to agree with the guys at school; Paul Lahote could be pretty scary when he wanted to be. "No."

Well, I hadn't been expecting that response. I thought he'd give me a hard time and try to make me eat crow, but I wasn't expecting a flat out shut down. "Why not?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you, Jake." Paul turned around and started back for the house. "Give Nahti a few hours and I'm sure she'll forgive you. That's what this is about, right?"

"I'm sorry, alright." I ran to catch up with him. "I shouldn't have told you to stay away from Nahti but I really just couldn't sit back and listen to people talk shit about her. You can understand that, right?"

"Yeah," Paul nodded. "I understand perfectly, Jacob."

"So, you'll come to dinner, right?"

"No." Paul was through the front door before I could say anything else to him. I stood outside for a couple of minutes wondering what my next move should be when my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of yelling inside. I couldn't make out the words perfectly but I was pretty sure I already knew what was up. Just like everyone else on the Rez, I'd heard plenty of stories about what a mean drunk Jack Lahote was.

AN: Thanks for the reviews! Just a note about the timeline: I'm not following the books very strictly. Instead of Bella arriving in January. She's going to arrive in August, in time for the start of the new school year,etc.