Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing own the Twilight Saga, I'm just having some fun with them.
A/N: Thank you everyone who's read, reviewed, favorite, and following this story I appreciated it very much. This chapter does contain a brief fight scene and mentioning of musicals from the 70's, enjoy.
Bella and Leah had become almost inseparable since the funeral; either Bella was over at Leah's house or vice versa. Jacob and Sam were happy about it not only was Bella with at least one wolf almost all the time, but Leah had become a lot most easy to deal with. Leah stopped complaining as much about the vampire tracking and she was smiling more. Her relationship with Emily and Sam was never going to be perfect but she was more tolerant of them now. All she wanted to do now was make sure Seth and Bella stayed out of trouble and make sure her mom was alright. Leah loved having someone she could talk to about everything, her mom just wouldn't really understand and Emily and Kim was defiantly not an option, they just wouldn't understand having their heart ripped out like Bella did.
It was a Saturday and Bella was over at Leah's house helping her make dinner for everyone. The meatloaf was just about done; it was one of Leah's grandmother's recipes. Cooking was something that she enjoyed doing, it was something she and Bella had in common. All they needed to do now was check on the macaroni and cheese and the Brussel sprouts. Within minutes the house was filled with a delicious aroma, the two women were surprised the wolves out in the garage couldn't smell it yet and come running to eat. Sue, Charlie, and Billy were in the living room talking while the girls made dinner. When everything was done Bella poked her head in to the room and told them that they could get seated at the table. As she walked by Sue told Bella that she and Leah could get the boys, with that both women left and walked toward the garage.
Bella and Leah found Seth and Jacob hunched over the raised hood of Seth's car, tinkering with the engine. "Hey you two T-birds done, working on that car because dinner is ready." Both boys looked up at the sound of Leah's voice. Before Jacob could ask what a T-bird was, he noticed that Seth was rolling his eyes. "So what does that make you, a Pink lady?" he snickered at his sister. "Oh yeah just call me Rizzo", she joked right back at him. Bella giggled at the two of them, Jacob smiled at the siblings. "Come on guys the food's getting cold", Bella said after one final giggle escaped her mouth. Jacob and Seth put their tools away and shut the garage door, and then the four of them walked back to the house.
When everyone was back in the house and after the boys washed their hands, they all sat at the table with full plates. "Seth how's the Mustang coming along," Charlie asked as he took a drink of his ice tea. Seth swallowed his bite of meatloaf, "great all it needs is a new muffler, new spark plugs, and I need to get it repainted." Charlie nodded in understanding, "so what color are you getting?" "I was thinking of having it done in dark blue." Seth had a big smile on his face, both Charlie and Billy smiled remembering their own first cars and Jacob smiled thinking of when he first got his Rabbit. The three women also smiled at his enthusiasm and happiness. Sue was happy for both of her children, Seth had something that he enjoyed doing, that kept him busy and it allowed him to spend time with Jacob and Leah had a friend so she wasn't so alone anymore.
Jacob had remembered his question from earlier, "hey Leah what's a T-bird, you called Seth and I that in the garage. It wasn't an insult was it?" he wouldn't put it passed her to make some sort of slight against him or her brother but he had to know. She barked out a laugh, "what, no not unless you want it to be. It's from a movie, so was that whole back and forth I had with Seth." Jacob was still confused so Bella helped him out. "The movie's called Grease it was a musical first then they made a movie of it. It starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John; it was great, great songs and costumes. It takes place in high school, with the leads as star-crossed lovers from different social groups. There's a car that the T-birds are fixing up and towards the end of the movie there's this big car race that they win. So that's why Leah called you guys that." Jacob nodded in understanding.
Charlie smirked, "oh Bella, I remember your mom telling me when you were younger that you would watch that movie all the time. You watched it so much that you wore out the video tape and your mom had to buy you a new one. Somewhere she even has a home movie of you, watching it and just belting out the songs, not caring if you got all the words right." Bella's face turned bright red with embarrassment. She had completely forgotten that she did that, and everyone knew about it. At least Charlie, Billy, Sue, and Leah were trying not to laugh but Seth and Jacob were laughing up a storm. They suppressed their laughter and apologized to her, which she accepted.
"It's not as bad as when Leah tried to do that Hand Jive thing, she never got it right because they did it too fast in the movie so she'd always got mad." Seth said which got another round of laughter from himself and Jacob. Leah, who was sitting next to her brother, took her own embarrassment out by punching him in the arm. "Mom, Leah hit me," Seth whined at Sue, who scolded Leah and made her apologize. She did but Seth knew she wasn't the least bit sorry, she'd probably be mad at him for something else later anyway. After that it had quieted down and everyone enjoyed the rest of their meal and evening together.
The next day, Leah had taken Bella to a pond that she found while on patrol once. It was nice, there was green grass and little white and yellow wildflowers dotted the area. It was quiet there expect for a slight breeze that blew through the trees and made the leaves rustle and Bella was enjoying watching the fish make ripples in the water as they tried to catch the bugs that flew too close to the surface. They let out a sigh of contentment as they sat, they didn't know how long it would last though, and the boys had picked up the scent of Victoria early that morning. The rest of the wolves including Quil who had just joined the previous week, were after her. Leah had volunteered to guard Bella.
Leah had decided to turn their thoughts to something else, "Well I found out another reason that being a werewolf sucks." Bella turned to look at her and Leah continued, "Female werewolves go through menopause very early." Bella's eyes widen in surprise, she tried to come up with a response but Leah wasn't finished yet. "I'm going through it right now, at first I was afraid I was pregnant but it was this instead. I cried when I found out, kids aren't even on my mind but I thought at least I could have them at some point down the road." Leah's eyes grew misty with tears, a single one fell before she wiped them away. Bella pulled her in for a hug and patted her back in comfort.
"Maybe…Maybe at some point you can adopt if you really want kids, that way this whole mess will bypass them." Bella herself never really wanted kids, she never thought she'd make a good mother; it was a fear of turning out like her own flighty mother. But she was only 18 and life had a way of changing in ways she could never guess at. Leah moved from her embrace, "you're right that's always an option when I'm older and no longer chasing vampires." She briefly smiled as she wiped another tear away.
There was suddenly thundering crashing coming toward them, they both stood up and Leah put Bella behind her. Within an instant Victoria stood before them, with deadly smirk directed at Bella on her lips. "I'm sick of playing this game; I think you're terrified enough your blood will taste so good with that fear coursing through you." Out of everything in that moment it was her voice that struck Bella as odd. It was too girlish and sweet to be coming out of the feline like redhead. Her voice made Bella break out in to a cold sweat. With those coal black eyes staring back at her, Bella's heart was racing as she felt adrenalin rush in to her system telling her to run as fast as she could, because even her own body knew she couldn't win in this fight.
Leah let loose a growl that had Bella shaking, "back away from me, I'm going to phase." Bella scrambled to get out of the way, as Leah burst through her blue jeans and green t-shirt and settled on to the ground as a horse size grey wolf. Bella watched with wide eyes as Leah leaped toward the succubus snapping her jaws. Victoria dodged the attack and slashed at Leah's muzzle with her hard nails. Leah yelped, snarled at the bloodsucker and latched her fangs on the hand that cut her. With a powerful jerk of her head, she tore the offending appendage off the redhead.
Victoria wailed like a banshee in pain as Leah dropped the foul tasting thing to the ground. The rock like inside was black but gleamed with yellowish venom. The sounds of battle drew in the rest of the pack. Jacob tackled her as she screeched and failed around; he took a hold of the back of her neck and pulled. He ripped her head off as the others tore in to her, tearing her to shreds.
Bella watched the wolves use their snouts as they moved the pieces in to pile, they each had pained looks on their faces and whined because of the smell. Bella was numb as she watched Paul phase back to human, she didn't even notice his nudity. He grabbed a Zippo from his cutoffs pocket and set the pile of dead flesh on fire. Feeling safer in wolf form Paul phased back, he crept over to the others as they crowded around Bella. The adrenalin had left her body along with her strength. Her legs gave out causing her to fall on her butt.
Jacob was the first, he lay down and stretched his forelegs across Bella's own and rested his head gently on her thigh. Leah lay down and rested her healing muzzle on Bella's other thigh close to her hip. Seth laid his head on Jacob's shoulders, Embry and Quil laid their heads on Leah's back, one on each side. Paul and Jared curled up next to Bella's feet; Paul had put the tip of his snout on Bella's right ankle. Sam himself had curled up behind Bella's back, offering support for her to lean in to. Bella's senses came back to her as she watched the fire snap and pop, the realization hitting her like a ton of brick that her nightmare was over. She leaned in to Sam and gently patted both Jacob and Leah on the head offering her thanks. But she knew simple gestures or even words could never be enough, to show them all the gratitude that she would always feel toward them. Bella breathed a sigh of relief as she wrapped herself in the cocoon of warmth, friendship, and protection that she was always going to be in.
To be continued…
A/N: Please tell me what you think, reviews are appreciated and welcome, thank you .