Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Blue Moon

Chapter 6--Who Would've Thunk It?

Jacob's POV

When I was about five feet away, I saw Leah emerge from the crowd with an uncharacteristic smile on her face.

"Leah?" I asked, not believing my eyes. I knew she was here, I could smell her, but a different Leah stood before me. She was smiling despite the fact that she was surrounded by leeches, and she seemed so relaxed.

It was a different Leah.

Approaching me, Leah wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

Surprised, it took me a second to respond to the hug.

Pulling back after a minute, I furrowed my eyebrows down at her. "Who are you and what did you do to the real Leah?" I asked semi-jokingly. I really wanted to know.

Swatting me upside the head, she scowled at me and scathingly replied, "She's right here, you moron!"

I grinned despite myself. "There's my girl."

"I'm not your girl, fearless leader," she sarcastically remarked.

I raised my eyebrows. "Well…technically…"

She furiously looked up at me, before cracking a smile.

There was a loud whistle behind us.

"Why don't you two just get a room!" Emmett sounded loudly.

I heard a loud wrack as Leah and I both said, "Shut up!"

Emmett boomingly laughed.

Gazing around the bon fire, I saw Nessie eyeing us curiously, yet with jealousy and acknowledgement etched into her tiny features. I wondered what she could be possible thinking, but it could wait 'til later.

Old Quil wasn't here yet, so I motioned to Leah to follow me down the beach.

"Did you just get back?" I asked. "I haven't heard from you for a week."

She nodded. "Yeah. I wasn't planning on coming home this weekend, but I thought 'what the hell' and started running this morning. I figured I'd surprise mom." She shrugged.

"I have to admit," I said, eyeing her up, "You have changed. I didn't really believe it before."

Leah shrugged again. "I haven't changed, Jake. I'm finally me again." She paused and grinned wickedly. "Of course, I'm the old me but with a wicked personality upgrade." She frowned. "You know I used to be a nice person once upon a time."

"As I said before a long time ago, my memory doesn't go back that far." Turning serious at the look she gave me, I added, "I do remember. You were always nice before the 'incident'. Do you remember when we were actually friends as kids?"

Leah surprisingly burst out laughing.

"God, we used to get into so much trouble!" She exclaimed.

I chuckled. "What did you expect? We were two dumb ass kids with a little too much wit on both our parts."

We continued to walk along the beach in silence for a couple of minutes. "But seriously, Lee, you have changed."

Leah laughed lightly. "Well, being away from Sam has its perks."

"I bet."

"Like I said before, I'm doing really good in California. I'm getting good grades and I'm meditating. My temper is finally in check," she replied. Shaking her head, she changed the subject. "So you're really leaving aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You're not the only one who gets to leave."

She rolled her eyes. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know," I sighed. "But, yeah, I'm leaving after New Year's."

"God, it's still so weird that you imprinted on Bella's baby!" She exclaimed. "A year and a half ago you were ready to kill them all and now you're shacking up with the leeches." She shook her head as if she still couldn't believe it.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Things change. But at least I now understand my weird fascination with Bella."

Leah furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "How's that?" She inquired.

"Renesmee was always a part of her," I replied. "Doc explained it all to me. He actually found it fascinating." I snorted.

Silence followed as Leah appraised me. "What the hell are you wearing?" She demanded. "That's a far cry from your usual cut-off sweats."

I groaned. "So you haven't heard."

"Heard what?"

"The Cullen's have started to spoil me," I nearly growled.

"What?"

I sighed. "Since I'm leaving with them, I've become their adoptive ward since I'm finishing high school. So they think that now they can dress me up and buy me over with shiny objects. Apparently they do this a lot."

Leah laughed sardonically. "What have they've done so far?"

I groaned. "Alice is buying me a wardrobe, of course. Jasper keeps slipping money into my wallet, and Edward bought me a shiny new car."

She looked at my outfit again. "And you didn't throw it back in their faces?"

"I talked to Bella about it and she flat out told me that I'd have a lost cause. I could give it back, but expect even more the next day," I replied.

"Jesus, you've changed! The old Jacob would have given it back with a punch in the face!"

"You're not the only one who's changed."

Leah stopped in her tracks and faced me. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Jacob, I came back for another reason. I wanted to talk to you face to face."

"About what?"

Leah ran a hand through her short hair as a sign of discomfort. "I know I've acted rotten to you when it comes to Renesmee and I don't pretend to understand this. I mean, it's really weird to imprint on a half-vampire! But I want you to know that I'll try harder. I don't want to be a soulless bitch."

"Leah, you don't need to apologize for that," I replied. "I'm in your head constantly and I understand the reasons, though it pisses me off."

She held up a hand to keep me from talking. "Either way, I'd like to make an effort this weekend."

"You want to get to know Nessie?" I asked in disbelief, mouth gaping open.

She hung her head and sighed, hands on her hips. "I'm not promising anything, but I'd like to try." A darkness tinted her cheeks as she admitted, "I'd like to try for you, because you've been there for me this past year no matter what and I'd like to balance the field. You are my friend, you know." The last sentence was said with determination.

I shook my head in disbelief. "You're my friend, also, Leah," I replied, though I felt hokey saying it. "And thank you for giving Nessie a chance, she's really great."

To my utter astonishment, Leah caught me in another hug. When we released each other, I grinned down at her and mussed her hair. "Wow, I don't know what kind of college drugs you're doing, but I like it!" I joked.

She gave me a dirty look and punched me in the arm. "Let's head back, oh fearless leader."

We walked back to the campsite in silence. I was mostly marveling at this new Leah. I was pretty dazed.

Once we got back, I saw that Old Quil was there. Sitting next to Bella who had Nessie in her lap and Emmett, I waited for the stories to begin.

But before they could, I had Emmett in my ear, saying, "That must have been quite the hello, huh?" He chortled.

Growling at him, I smacked him upside the head at his stupidity.

Looking around the fire I suddenly realized that there were a lot of new comers. The Cullen's, Charlie, Claire, and Nessie had never heard these stories before. I wondered what they'd make of them.

Billy cleared his throat and we sat at rapt attention as he began in his rich, gravelly voice, the words that have always started the legends.

"The Quileutes have been a small people from the beginning," Billy began. "And we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. This is because there has always been magic in our blood. It wasn't always the magic of shape-shifting--that came later. First we were spirit warriors."

As Billy continued on with the story of the spirit warriors, Nessie crawled into my lap, and Bella laid her head on my shoulder, saying, "Mm…I love these stories."

I took her cold hand in mine in a friendly gesture.

Billy's story passed on to include Taha Aki.

I glanced around the circle to see that Sue's cheek was resting on Charlie's shoulder, but her hand was locked onto Leah's. Charlie looked bemused at the legends that he was hearing. I wondered lightly what he'd make out of the 'cold ones.' But I was sure Sue would placate him on that part of the legends.

The Cullen's looked utterly fascinated with the stories and I knew Carlisle would right this down verbatim in one of his many books. Even Blondie looked interested. Nessie's eyes looked about ready to pop out of her head.

Claire was already asleep in Quil's arms.

"…Though he had loved the others, this was something else. He decided to give up his spirit wolf so that he would die when she did.

"That is how the magic came to us, but it is not the end of the story…" Billy finished.

He looked over at Old Quil Ateara, who straightened in his chair and began in a frail voice. "That was the story of the spirit warriors. This is the story of the third wife's sacrifice…"

Bella straightened up as the new story began to be told. I frowned at this, but then suddenly realized that I didn't need to worry about her sacrificing herself anymore.

"…Taha Aki wore one bag around his neck, so he would be warned if the creature ever tried to put himself together again." Old Quil paused and looked at Billy who pulled out the leather thong around his neck that was filled with the cold ones ashes.

As it never failed a few people gasped at the little bag.

Emmett turned to me and said, "That's sick, man."

I smirked at him.

Suddenly I became very nervous as I looked over at Charlie, I knew what was coming to the story. They were going to move on to the story about the Cullen's. I felt Bella tense up too as she realized this.

But right before that story began, Sue muttered in Charlie's ear and they left. My only guess was that Sue had claimed that she was tired or that she reminded Charlie about the 'need to know' issue. I guessed it was the latter, because Charlie left with no complaint. I also guessed that Sue would make up her own ending to the story for him.

A few minutes later, the story came to an end with Old Quil's frail voice. "And so the sons of our tribe again carry the burden and share the sacrifice their fathers endured before them."

Silence rang out around the circle for a very long time. Glancing at the Cullen's I saw sadness etched into there faces, and I could only assume was there because of the words 'burden' and 'sacrifice'. I've been around the Cullen's long enough that I knew most of them hated what they were. I knew they were remorseful.

Carlisle finally cleared his throat and stood up. "I thank you for telling us your legends, your history. I knew it wasn't easy for you," he replied, speaking directly at Billy and Old Quil. "But I'd like to share with you all my history as well, if you would prefer?"

After a generalized agreement, I sat up straighter. I have never heard the good doctors story before. Actually, I've never heard of any of their stories. This interested me.

"I was born in London in the sixteen forties, though I'm not sure exactly when. Time wasn't documented very accurately back then. I was the only son of a Anglican pastor…" Carlisle began, and then went into his story.

It was utterly fascinating to think that Doc was over three hundred and sixty years old and the rest of the story was just as cool.

His father, the pastor, was also a hunter of vampires, werewolves, and witches and trained his son to be the same way, yet Carlisle held compassion where his father was just a cruel man. Carlisle tried to kill himself multiple times when he was changed and starved himself until he realized he could live on the blood of animals. He began to study by night and then he swam to France to continue his education and to perfect his self-control.

The most fascinating part of the story was when he retold his time at the Volturi. When the wolves heard this part there was a resonating growl as they remembered the red-eyed Italian leeches. But the sound only lasted a minute as Carlisle continued in detail about his time with the Volturi and how he left and went to America and began to practice medicine.

The story came full circle when he got to the part about changing Edward to save his life during the Spanish influenza epidemic in Chicago in nineteen eighteen. He also admitted that it was out of loneliness.

The story ended to a new kind of silence. The silence of respect for Carlisle and his family.

I looked at the Cullen's one by one.

Esme was looking upon her husband with adoration and love. Rosalie had a sadness and anger in her eyes. Emmett looked un-fazed as always. Edward's face held a deep bitterness. Jasper's acceptance. And Alice was looking as if she were trying to think back to another time, another world.

All there reactions, made me wonder what there lives were like before they were vampires. What had they seen and experience?

After a short while, we all called it a night and began packing up everything.

Back at the cottage, I was tucking Nessie to sleep while Bella and Edward were at The White House discussing plans for the move, when she finally shared her thoughts.

Pressing her hand to my cheek, she replayed the story of our legends and paused at the words burden and sacrifice. I'm sorry we're a burden to you Jacob. Her thoughts were laced with sadness.

I frowned, shaking my head. "But you and your family aren't a burden. Not anymore."

"Are you sure?" She asked in her high soprano.

"I'm very sure," I replied, kissing her forehead.

Nessie closed her eyes for a minute before they popped back open. Bringing her little hand back to my face, she showed me the reunion with Leah and how we disappeared together. Was she the other one you used to love? She asked to my utter shock.

Shaking my head vehemently, hair flying in my face, I said, "No, Ness. What gave you that idea?"

She showed me the look on my face when I realized Leah was back and the hug that followed. I could feel Nessie's grief.

"Oh, honey," I began, "I was just happy and surprised that she showed up is all. I haven't seen her in a while. She's my friend and my Second, that's all."

From the look on my face, she seemed reassured and she relaxed greatly.

"Nessie, you know you're the only girl for me," I replied. "You're my imprint and I'll never leave you, ever. I gave you my promise on that."

She smiled lightly at my serious tone, and said, "And I'll never leave you either. You're my Jacob. My best friend."

After she said this, her eyelids fluttered closed and her breathing evened. She slept with a smile on her face.

I watched her the whole night.

My Renesmee. My beautiful girl.

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Okay, so that's the end of that. I hoped you all enjoyed it!

I also hoped you liked the new Leah in my story. I know, I know, she's not how she used to be, but before you flame me, I'd like to explain. It's been over a year since she's joined Jacob's pack and that has got to be a big positive in Leah's life, since she doesn't have to hear Sam's thoughts. And also she's finally moved on to going to school and she's finally starting control her wolf. That has got to be a big plus for her, thus happiness. But she is still the same at the core of it all.

Also, I did take some parts out of Eclipse for the legends. I only did this because to me, this seemed to be a story that no one would ever forget and that it would be told in the same way each and every time it was told. So don't kill me, and I don't own anything, I swear! Please don't sue me! Lol.

And again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please Read and Review!