Author's Notes: Would you believe (I stole that from Inspector Gadget, haha) that this story is coming to an end? Yeah…only about five chapters left…

Chapter Nineteen - Repair

"I just don't know what to say to them," Leah whispered, looking towards Sam and Emily's house with a distressed expression. "I mean, I have to say something…but what?"

I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a hard look. "Leah, you've already come this far. Don't back down now. Just…say whatever comes to mind. Okay? You can do this. I have faith in you." I gave her shoulder a pat and she took in a deep, shaky breath. For a moment, she looked as lost as I felt. But then she forced on a brave face and started to walk towards the house.

We'd spent the past hour doing something we'd never really done before: talking. I now knew the news about Sam and Emily, and it wasn't pleasant. Emily, just five months pregnant, had gone into premature labor for an unknown reason and the twin girls she'd been pregnant with had not made it. (I refused to call them "dead." Just "gone.") Leah, though she couldn't pinpoint why, had had the feeling something was wrong and had come back to La Push, only to find the mess they were stuck in now.

We'd painfully discussed Sam and Emily. I told her that I knew what had happened with Sam and herself and was genuinely sorry. Sniffling, Leah had thanked me and said that even though it was going to be tough, she wasn't about to turn her back on Sam and Emily and would do whatever it took to make them happy again. I personally thought this was very brave of her and, while she sat there and cried, reminiscing about Sam, I put my arm around her and told her that I was proud of her.

And I was. As strange as it might sound, I was.

Now, Leah knocked on the door with authority. With confidence. You can do this, I'd said. And it was true. Leah was tougher than she seemed. I didn't know where she'd gone after running away, but I did not need to. Sometimes we all needed to escape for a little while, whether it was to the next town over or a neighbor's house, another state or city. I understood if she didn't want to talk about it. After all, I'd ran away from home several times, and the thing about it that I hated most was talking about it after Ciara dragged me back and hounded me for details.

Emily opened the door. Considering the problems with the babies the previous night, I thought she'd still be at the hospital, so I was surprised to see her. She looked awful, poor Emily; her eyes were red and puffy, and a snotty tissue was balled up in her left hand. She walked with a limp and winced with every step, in obvious pain. The second she saw Leah, she froze in her tracks, already wide eyes growing larger, and there was a sudden, deafening silence.

And then Leah did a very un-Leah-like thing and threw her arms around Emily, burying her face in her shoulder. Emily hesitated for a moment, but then returned the embrace and bowed her head against Leah. It took me a minute, but I eventually heard Leah's voice breaking as she said, over and over again, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…"

She was crying. Leah Clearwater, one of the strongest people I'd ever met, was shaking with sobs, tears running down her cheeks. It was unnerving but so beautiful and natural at the same time. I'd always known there was something beyond the frigid bitch Leah presented herself to be, the drop of remorse in there somewhere, and standing in front of me was solid proof of this hypothesis. It felt strange to watch as Emily started to cry as well, like this was something private, and in a way, it was. But I had a story to tell now, a story that, I realized, was yet to be told to Seth, who was still sound asleep in my bed and oblivious to the fact that his sister was back.

I took a step backwards, then started to run.

The front door banged closed behind me as I darted into the house. For a second, I was thinking that the sound might have woken up everyone, but then I saw that there was no need for my worry: Seth and Heather were already up. Seth was sitting on the floor with the phone in his hand and Heather was sprawled over the couch with a hand over her stomach, grimacing as a whine escaped from her lips. I immediately knew that something was wrong and stopped dead in my tracks.

"I told you, Seth, it's not the real deal," said Heather. "Put up the phone."

Seth bit down on his lip but stood up anyway. As he turned to face me, I asked, pretty sure all of the blood had drained out of my face, "What's going on? Heather? Is the baby coming?" My voice was high-pitched and shaky, and Seth's already concerned expression intensified.

"No. It's just Braxton Hicks."

I gave her a confused look.

"They're kind of like fake contractions, preparing the body for labor," Heather explained as Seth put the phone back in the cradle.

"Oh. Well, are you okay?"

"Yep, fine. Never been better," said Heather cheerfully, wincing.

"How do you know it's not the real delivery, though?"

"Because I can tell when an infant is trying to claw its way out of my body and when it's not. Besides, the book said I might get these this week and it's too early, anyway. I still have two months to go."

"But that doesn't mean anything. Emily had the babies four months early."

Heather's eyes widened. "She did? When?"

"Last night."

"But she's - she was - only five months --"

"I know, Heather, I know. They didn't make it."

"Oh." Heather tried to sit up. "Oh, well, shit! That's no good."

"I know."

We didn't say anything, absorbing in Emily's fruitless birth. Seth came back in the room and I seized the chance to tell him about Leah, wanting to break the sudden disrupt in the atmosphere. So I said with a grin,

"Leah's back."

Seth stared at me for a moment, his jaw slackening. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

Seth grinned and swept me up in a bone-crushing hug, saying the whole time, "I knew she'd come back. I knew it."

"That's what I've been telling you ever since she left, Seth."

It was another one of those times again.

How Seth and I had ended up making out in the backseat of his car, I had no idea, but now his hand was creeping towards my skirt and I had to stop it.

"Seth," I said, and took his hand in my own.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "I'm sorry. I just - I forgot - I think I overstepped my boundaries there…"

"No, it's okay." I personally didn't think he overstepped any boundaries and secretly wanted more…but I wasn't about to say that to him, really. 'Oh, hey, Seth, I think you're really hot, so you wanna bang?' No. Just no. Talk about awkward.

"I'm sorry," Seth said for the third time.

"Shut up."

"But I'm sorry. And I mean it."

"Stop apologizing, Seth. It's not like you really did anything bad." I smiled at him and pressed my lips to his. After I broke away, I said with a wide grin, "Anyway, I can't hold it against you because I know what it's called - 'puberty.'"

Seth blushed. Actually blushed. Damn, I didn't see that one coming. "Yeah, well--" he began.

"Dude. It's okay."

"Are you sure? Because--"

"Positive."

"Alright, then."

We sat up at the same time and I looked out of the window. The sun was setting, its rays casting orange and red hues across the sky. I nearly jumped out of my shoes when there was a sudden tapping on the window.

"Hey, you lovebirds," said Jared, opening the car door. "Sue wants you for dinner. Stop fooling around and come on."

I crawled out of the car with Seth right behind me. "We were not fooling around," I said indignantly as the three of us started to walk towards the Clearwater's house.

"Looked like it to me. And, Willow, I'd say you'd better fix your clothes before everyone thinks the same thing."

I looked down, and sure enough, my skirt was put on sideways. I could feel my cheeks getting red as I readjusted it. Crap. Jared was the last person I wanted to notice this sort of thing.

"He doesn't even know what fooling around is," Seth muttered under his breath. I snickered.

"I heard that," said Jared without turning around. "I do know what it is, I just prefer to not see it being done in front of my eyes."

"It?" questioned Seth, raising an eyebrow. "Are you in third grade? Because, man, there's no shame in calling it by its name."

I laughed, and so did Seth. It occurred to me, in that moment, that this was what I loved about him.

Wait.

I stopped mid-thought.

Loved? Loved about him?

Honestly, love? Since when did that come into my part of the equation?

"Willow?" asked Seth, pausing and turning around to face me. I only realized then that I had stopped walking. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

I hesitated to answer. But after a minute, I started walking again, and smiled cheerfully at him. "Nope. Nothing."