IMPORTANT! I went back and introduced Steve and Natasha with fake names to fix some issues.
As ro781727 pointed out, there are a few continuity issues, as I started this story thinking is should be set before The Winter Solider, then, as I wrote it, realised it would be much better set after, and, therefore, after Natasha has dumped all SHIELD's info on the net. So the 'hacker' mentioned in chapter nine should easily have found out who Nat and Steve were with their names alone.
To fix this, I introduced them with false IDs, Steve Phillips, and Natalie (no last name), and this fic is set between the battle with HYDRA and Natasha's senate hearing (I don't know how long the gap was, so lets just pretend). It's also my personal head cannon that SHIELD and now Stark Industries do their best to blur the facial features of any Avengers caught in photographs. So that, combined with only old photographs of Steve at the moment, makes identification difficult unless you're looking for it. Ooookay, I think that's it!
The reason I haven't been updating is because my computer had a hissy fit, and it took a while to get it fixed. Sorry:(
Thank you 4everfictional, Ninazu, birdy, Kate Haswari, ro78172, Elaine Weasley, Narutoske, Ali-Kun, Amy Hanekom, grizzlybear2000, War Charger, aliciasellers75, BlueRubyBeat, ameliemallette1, Ash, Leena2695, srooone, Cestrenes97, dog1056, Tsuki no Yasha, tlyxor1, ANGEL FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, Elia the Huntress, PrewalShadeX, Apocalypse owner, DevilishlyBipolar, RocketKat123, MariMart, Minacarlyle, Ksave, BetahimeTsukiko, Quyiken, InazumaNina, I Just Won A Free Toaster Oven, Guests, and everyone who faved/followed this story. You guys are so wonderful, and you truly light up my world. Sorry if I forgot anyone!
birdy: Thank you! Your reviews are always something I really look forward to when I post. I am sorry for the long wait, my laptop was busted for a while, and I only had my phone- which is useless when the story is on your laptop!
Amy Hanekom: Yes, Sam, could easily pull it off, however, as always, sh*t happens :) I really hope that you enjoy it anyway! And thank you so much for your support. You're an angel.
Ash: Hi! *turns into a pink beach ball with delight* thank you! I am so sorry about the long wait, but I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway.
Minacarlyle: I LOVE CLINT! He's just brilliant. Of course, my Clint isn't totaly movie cannon, but hey, he makes me laugh!
I Just Won A Free Toaster Oven: Thank you! I'm glad you think so! I thought it was pretty awesome myself, not to toot my own horn or anything... Sam totally needs to buzz off and mind his own beehive. Wether he will do so is another question entirely! Love you username, by the way. It just makes me grin!
As for the ending... um, I am genuinely sorry?
"I still can't get over those princes," Steve seemed amusedly stunned as he frowned at his spoonful of ice cream, "Should I be laughing at how idiotic they were, or crying at how brutally honest the satire was?"
Leah snorted into her ice cream. Steve shook his head bewilderingly at her.
"And that song where the two prices ripped off their shirts. What was it called? 'Agony'?" he asked.
"If you want to copy them and rip your shirt off, I'm not gonna complain," Leah grinned through a mouthful of ice cream. They sat in Steve's car, hidden between the trees, just off the road. They could hear the waves crashing, and the wind howling outside, but they were cozy inside Steve's car. She had forgotten all her problems for the night, and she was the happiest she'd been in years.
Steve ducked his head and laughed, Leah watching as his ears turned red. Usually she'd roll her eyes at such a display, but now she found it adorable.
"This reminds me of when I was little. Emily used to come and stay during the holidays. We'd go exploring. Drove our parents nuts," she laughed, and Steve smiled softly.
"This one year, we were up on the cliffs, and found this little cave hidden by this massive rock pile, kind of shaped like a tooth. And when we were in there- we could hear the waves and the wind outside, but we were safe and warm. It was so..." Leah trailed off, searching for the right word.
"Perfect?" Steve offered.
"Yeah," Leah grinned at him. Somehow, this, together, was just as magical.
"We fell asleep there. God, our parents were not happy," Leah laughed to herself, "Sent Emily home the next day. But we went back, every time she visited," Leah spoke softly. Her smile had turned sad at the thought of Emily, but she shook it off. Sam wasn't here to ruin this.
She took a swipe of Steve's purple and pink swirled ice cream.
"Hey!" Steve exclaimed, grinning.
"I swear, you can not eat that much ice cream by yourself. Consider me a helping hand," Leah laughed, downing the ice cream. Her eyes widened at the taste, and she swallowed uncomfortably.
Steve's smile immediately straightened, "Are you okay?"
"That," Leah said, "is way too much sugar. Did you dump a whole jar in it?" Her mouth was still screwed up like she'd swallowed a lemon. Steve relaxed.
"No. It's the fairy floss ice cream. And it is delicious," he said defensively, shielding his cup from her frown.
"It tastes like a fairy threw up on it," Leah told him flatly.
"That's the idea!" Steve said cheerfully, wiggling his eyebrows.
"How have you not had a heart attack?" Leah asked bewilderingly.
"I've gotta a sweet tooth," he admitted with a shrug.
"I thought I did too till about twenty seconds ago," Leah said deadpan, though her eyes laughed.
Steve smiled back, and for a while the two sat in comfortable silence. Or so Leah thought. Steve must not have agreed, or else his mind had time to stew on his guilt.
"Is Seth and that other kid okay?" he asked eventually. Leah waved her spoon.
"Fine. They're not exactly fond of you, but fine," Leah assured him. The wrinkles in his brow did not go away, and she wanted to reach up to smooth them out, them quickly clamped down hard on the feeling. The lightheartedness of before was gone, and Leah wondered exactly what she had been doing.
"Are you sure? I can pay for their medical fees," Steve said.
"They don't have any," Leah said, "and they're fine."
Steve frowned, "Is there anything I can do to get into their good graces?" Leah's mouth quirked at his phrasing. She shrugged.
"Wish I knew," she admitted, staring at the condensation on the table. Noticing the change in her mood, Steve stood up, offering her his arm like a man out of an old film. Leah stared at it.
"I heard there's a beautiful park in Forks with fairly lights in the trees. Care to join me?" he asked, smiling. Leah continued to stare. She swallowed, forcing herself to answer.
"I'm kind of screwed up," she said, raising her chin to stare into his eyes. Steve's smile grew softer.
"So am I. All the people worth knowing are." He pulled her up by her hand, and she bumped into his chest. Neither moved. Leah watched Steve's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.
"And you're definitely someone I want to get to know," he said huskily.
Seth was breathing heavily as he followed his pack mates deep into the forest. The sound was low and deep under the sharp noise of the howling wind.
Shut up Seth, Brady and Embry thought in sync. The three boys were prowling behind Paul and Sam towards the abandoned shack in the middle of the woods. They could smell the dead deer carcass rotting away in the nearby dirt. It only added to the eerie feeling of the dark night.
The shack had always creeped the boys out. It wasn't a picturesque hideaway out of an Enid Blyton. Instead of being set in a small clearing between the trees, the untamed growth grew through it, branches and vines erupting through cracked wooden boards. Seth wasn't sure if the thick trunk of a still living tree had originally been used as a corner post, or if it had simply grown through the wall. The roof had collected dirt over the years, enough that small clusters of weeds grew between the old tiles. It's natural camouflage hid the shack so well, they found it difficult to spot, even with their advanced eyes.
Sam sent a message for the boys to stop just behind a bunch of bushes. They were not particularly thick bushes, and would be no good for concealing. But the wolves dark fur melded in with the plants, disguising them as one large bushy growth.
Quil eyed the little house concealed far in front of them. This place gives me the creeps, he thought.
Join the club, Seth grumbled.
Whoever's using this place at night is one messed up guy, Embry agreed. Even Paul was emanating a queasy feeling.
Trees rustled meters in front of them, and Quil jumped.
It's just the win- Sam froze. The smell reached the rest of the group immediately. A very subtle collection of smells. Leather, metal and plastic. Something sharp, tangy. Metallic. Smells that did not belong. The tense group spotted the black pipe sliding out of a rocky outcrop at the same time.
Even Paul had the common sense to duck.
Bangs ricochet through the trees like a deadly hail storm. Hidden shooters had surrounded the shack, and seemed intent on ripping it to the ground with their bullets.
A squawk, and a gun fell out of the rocks. A hand rolled out from behind. Though their canine eyes could not make out the colour, a dark liquid quickly pooled on the dirt next to the twitching fingers. Nine more thuds, and the shooting stopped.
A hooded figure climbed down from the upper leafy branches of the tree supporting the shack. He had something long slung over his shoulder, and his feet did not make a sound as he walked over to the first shooter. After a cursory glance at the body, the man hauled the fresh corpse up, giving the frozen wolves their first look.
The dead shooter's face was covered with some kind of helmet, but there was no mistaking how her body hung limply from the arms of the man in the hooded jacket. He carried the body into the house. The wolves watched as he dragged the rest inside, one by one.
Except for the last two. Those, the man picked up by the collars, hauling the limp bodies into the air, like they were small children. Soon after the hooded man entered the house, the wolves heard the sound of damp earth being dug into. And again. And again. Again.
Seth was the first one to form a comprehensive thought. I think I'm gonna throw up.
Leah had her hand resting close enough to Steve's during the drive back home that they would brush against each other when Steve adjusted the radio. Given that Steve apparently really hated country, heated skin touched warm fingers every few minutes.
Leah rested her head against the window, watching the street lights flash by. She felt peaceful, like when you eat your favourite food, or curl up in your bed just after you took your sheets out of the drier. Both she and Steve were so relaxed in the comforting atmosphere each provided the other.
"What made you want to come to Forks in the first place?" she asked quietly.
"I lost a friend. Nat was helping me track him down. We thought he might be in Forks, but when we got here," he shrugged.
"Though he definitely wasn't the reason I stayed," Steve admitted, so quiet even he wondered if he meant to say the words aloud. He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut tight, but settled for letting out a long breath.
"Leah, I... I have something I'm not telling you. It's kind of a big thing, and it means that if this," he gestured awkwardly between them, "were to continue, I'd be hiding something from you. It's about my job. Sometimes I get called away in the middle of the night, and I wouldn't be able to tell you were I was going."
Leah stared at him. Steve refused to meet her eye, staring out onto the road. This was it. He admitted he hadn't been truthful. And that he couldn't tell her why. For the first time since Sam, Leah let go of her inhibitions, and simply trusted.
"Okay," she said. She smiled, watching Steve grin to himself.
"I have things that I can't tell you either just yet. Doesn't mean I don't want to."
Steve looked at her with warm eyes, "Then I guess we'll just have to trust each other," he said softly.
"A new experience for us both," Leah said dryly, though not without humour.
"But this leaving in the middle of the night business. Does that mean you plan to stay the night?" she asked teasingly. Steve blushed bright red, but did not stumble on his words.
"Darlin', if you let me, I'd hold you all night long."
Steve parker in the driveway of Leah's house, and they sat there talking till Leah's mother called her in. Steve had hesitated as he walked up the path with her. She examined him with a playfully critical eye.
"You want a kiss?" she asked sharply. Steve's mouth opened, then he shut it, nodding furiously.
"So do I," Leah whispered, and she pulled him in.
Kissing Steve was like biting into a chocolate covered cherry. The outside was covered in comforting warmth, till you reached the inside, and the tart taste of the fruit exploded. The combination was intoxicating.
Then their teeth clinked, and both winced, pulling back. Steve smiled lopsidedly at Leah's breathless gasps, his lips raw after their first kiss.
"Guess a perfect first kiss after a perfect first date would be too much to ask," Leah said, smiling.
"You mean it wasn't perfect?" Steve mocked, wide eyed.
Leah grinned, leant forward, and quickly kissed him on the tip of his nose. Then she turned and walked back into the house. She could feel Steve watching her the whole way.
Leah couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she brushed her teeth. She wasn't sure she wanted to.
The scent of blood was so strong inside the shack, Embry threw up, and Sam sent the younger men outside. Paul shivered at the smell of death seeping up from the dirt floor.
The man with the gun and the shovel was long gone. The bodies he left buried in the ground were not.
Bullets had created holes in the wooden walls, and moonlight dimly highlighted the freshly shoveled dirt. None of the wolves were sure who the victims had been in this brutal attack.
Sam, ever the strong leader, remained stone faced as he surveyed what was left of the scene. He frowned, spotting something out of the corner of his eye. There was something in the shadows of the corner, hidden between the roots of the old tree, almost like it had been discarded. A ripped piece of paper.
Picking it up, Sam realised it was a drawing, and by the look of it, ripped right down the middle. A young man with brown hair, sprawling on a large log. He had a split lip and a ripped old shirt to match. Dog tags on a chain round his neck identified him as a soldier.
The man was grinning directly at where the drawing had been ripped, as if smiling at a friend that had been ripped away.
"Does this drawing look familiar to you?" Sam asked Paul quietly. Paul frowned, and slowly nodded.
"A mammoth-sized, intelligent wolf tried to steal my shield?" Steve asked, bewildered. Hill nodded tightly. Clint bobbed his head furiously.
"Are we thinking government experiments, or... ?" Natasha let her question trail off.
"Hate to be the one to say it, but alien werewolves just moved to the top of my list," Hill admitted. The group stared at the now tightly closed window.
"Can I talk to Steve please?" Natasha interrupted, leaving little room to argue. Maria nodded, leaving the tiny motel room, dragging an annoyed Clint after her. Curiously, Steve turned to face her.
"I learnt something at the bonfire that I should have told you," Natasha said, and though her posture was still, Steve could swear he saw guilt in her eyes. And Natasha told Steve about Sam and Leah and Emily.
"You okay?" Natasha asked quietly. Steve ground his teeth, and she almost warned him that she was pretty sure that was the one part of his body that would not grow back.
"Why does she still live here?" Steve asked, "why doesn't she just leave these awful people?"
"Families can be poisonous," Natasha said softly.
"They don't deserve her," he hissed.
The knock of the door woke Leah up. It was still dark, but her mother was at the door, whispering for her to come out. She heard voices in the kitchen.
"Why's Sam here?" Leah asked her mother hoarsely. Sue shrugged one shoulder, though the worry in the lines of her face spoke for her. Leah jumped out of bed, racing to the kitchen in her pajamas, her mother following close behind.
The pack was gathered around the kitchen table, like they did at Emily's nearly ever day, the boys moving to make space when they spotted her. Leah slowed down, taking in the scene curiously. Holding her breath, she moved to the open space at the table.
The pack avoided eye contact, but she didn't miss the fading bruise on Jared's face, and the small amount of blood dripping out his nose.
Sam looked at her, straight in the eye. He slid a piece of paper across the table. It sat there, a sense of foreboding surrounding the scrap.
Slowly, grudgingly, Leah picked it up. A flash of recognition on her face informed the men that she knew.
"Where's it from?" Sam asked gruffly.
"Where'd you get this?" Leah snapped back, refusing to answer.
"Answer the question, Leah," he snarled, Alpha tone edging into his voice, compelling her to speak.
"Steve's sketch pad," she said grudgingly, "It's of a guy and Steve hanging out together. I think they're friends. Where did you get this?" she demanded.
Sam told her about the bloodbath she had missed out on tonight, every other person in the kitchen silent.
"But, what was Steve's drawi..." Leah whispered breathlessly, searching every corner of her brain for something that would make sense.
"I told you he was bad!" Seth yelled at Leah, shocking her. He was usually so sweet. Surprise quickly turned to anger.
"He's not!" she yelled, "I don't know what's going on, but I know Steve is innocent in this," she said, surprising herself with how firm she sounded.
"You still trust him?" Sam asked disbelievingly. Leah glared at him, wishing that he would just leave her alone.
"He's brought in reinforcements while you were on your date, Leah. Jared was patrolling and Rogers' friend hammered his face in," Sam's voice rose steadily as he talked.
"How'd you know he's Steve's friend? Screaming out baseless accusations was never your style, Sam," Leah snarled.
"Because he was in Rogers' room!" Sam roared back at her. The room went quiet as Leah paused.
"You ordered Jared to check out Steve's motel room while we were on a date?" Leah said, her voice low, but no less angry.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she demanded.
"I'm trying to protect you!" Sam bellowed, "one of his friends killed ten people tonight, while we watched. Another beat up my beta. He's a threat to the pack," he said. He snarled when Leah rolled her eyes angrily.
"You are not to see Steve again," he order in his Alpha voice.
"You will not tell him anything about this, or us. Do you understand?"
Leah snarled. The order closed in on her head like an ice cold cage.
"Do you understand?" roared Sam, anger turning his face to cold stone.
Mutely, she nodded. Her head shook as she did, like a puppet who could not escape her strings.
Sam surveyed her, then gave a sharp nod, exiting the house. Slowly, meekly, without a word of dispute, the pack followed suit. Seth stared at his sister, mouth opening slightly. Then he turned and followed his family out the door.
Leah felt numb. The usual anger of a werewolf was no were to be seen. She was empty. Like something had been ripped from her. But it didn't hurt. There's no room for pain when you're dead inside.
"Leah..." Sue whispered softly. Leah winced when her mother gently stroked her shoulder. Like she was on autopilot, Leah pulled herself to her full height.
"Excuse me," she politely told Sue. In a dream state, she walked out of the house, arms stiff. She made sure to close the front behind her, walking carefully down the steps so they wouldn't creak. Steadily, in only her pajama pants and singlet, she walked into the woods.
Please review. A second of your time makes my day.
