a/n- ok, i wanna thank gillie, natsumi456, and immy for reviewing this. thankyouthankyouthankyou, new best friends! 3 oh, and just so y'all know, a lot of Giana's character is based on me. like the sleeping thing, for instance. and the gimp leg, but i'm out of my brace now(: anyway, on with the chapter. r&r por favor, s'il vous plaît, per favore. please? _Jess

"I recall driving home, this ain't gonna hit me till God knows when/You know I feel it in my bones and I wear it on my skin/But there ain't no use in right or wrong/A heart must go where it belongs"

—Twilight, Thriving Ivory

Chapter 4

In Most Situations, There Is Only Bad News…Well, Depending On The Perspective

Sam's POV

We were at First Beach at around seven at night, and Jared was hiding from Kim again. A lot of people from Forks were going to First Beach that night, as well, so we used the opportunity to keep an eye out on things. Not to mention that none of us minded having to skip patrol; there were no leeches out there, anyway. My Angel left her house at around six o'clock. Let me get things straight: I was not stalking her, or watching her, or any perverted, weird thing like that. I was running past her house when she left. Alright, I wasn't really just running past. I needed to make sure My Angel was safe.

Anyway, Kim was sitting with a few other girls at First Beach, and Paul and I were trying to convince Jared to grow a pair and talk to her.

"Talk to her!" I urged Jared, slightly pushing him to where Kim was standing.

"Yeah, Jared, stop being a wuss and go talk to her," Paul said. "I mean, the worst she can do is turn you down." His words turned into laughter at the end.

Jared glared at him. "That's it; I'm not doing it," he decided, crossing his arms.

"Oh, come on, man," Paul whined.

I chuckled. Paul was having too much fun with this.

"No, you guys are being jackasses," Jared complained.

"Jared, stop wussing out and go talk to her," I told him.

He sighed. "Fine."

He reluctantly walked over to Kim. He cleared his throat awkwardly when he stood behind her. She looked up at him, and her cheeks instantly burned bright red.

"Hi," she murmured quietly.

"Hi," Jared said awkwardly. He reminded me of one of those dorks in movies who finally talks to the head cheerleader. It was hilarious. "I'm Jared," he added.

"I know. I'm Kim." She smiled up at him sheepishly.

"I know."

They both just stared at each other for a while.

"Talk to her!" Paul and I yelled at the same time two of Kim's friends yelled, "Talk to him!"

The four of us laughed, causing Jared's and Kim's faces to flame red under their dark Native skin.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Jared asked, only look at Kim.

She nodded her head furiously and let Jared help her stand up. The two of them walked down towards Third Beach, and I couldn't help but notice how Jared's hand lingered so closely to hers.

I wondered if I would be like that when I saw My Angel (I'd grown to calling her that since I didn't know her name). I wondered if I would act like the love sick puppy Jared was acting like, if I would turn into an awkward, pathetic excuse for a twenty-three-year-old man.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Paul asked, waving a hand in front of my face which I swatted away.

"I'm thinking," I snapped.

"About the Meraz girl?"

"She has a name."

"Yeah, but you don't know it. Oh, wait, she's Your Angel."

I glared at him, smacking him upside the head as I walked passed him.

"Hey!" he called. "Where are you going?"

"Away from your smart ass!" I called back.

"Was ťaxaḳʷàsi!" (quileute for: "not so hot!")

I just scoffed and kept walking. I ended up walking down to Third Beach and back six times before Paul ran up to me.

"Come on, Sam," he whined, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward First Beach.

"What?" I growled. I liked just walking around aimlessly. Sure, it was pretty pointless if you thought about it, but it cleared my mind.

"You're girl's here!"

Those three words caused me to run down to First Beach. Paul had to remind me to keep a somewhat human pace, something I'd forgotten about the second those three words passed his lips. When we got to the beach, Jared was waiting there with a smart little smirk on his face.

"Look who's here," he teased in a sing-song voice.

"Does Kim know you're gay?" I snapped.

He glared. "We have a date next weekend, just so you know."

Paul nudged my arm and nodded to a group of teenagers from Forks. Sitting down, head resting on a log, was My Angel. Her long hair was twisted into two braids, wiped away from her gorgeous face completely. And she was staring at Jared, Paul, and I.

"She's totally checking you out, dude," Paul snickered.

I didn't really care, though; I was too busy looking at her. She looked away to respond to something one of those teenage boys said. Laughter erupted from the group, and I saw her roll her eyes. I chuckled.

"You look like a stalker, Sam," Paul told me. "Stop staring at her."

"Why don't you go talk to her, Sam?" Jared mocked.

I glared at him. "Stop acting so macho because you finally grew a pair and talked to Kim," I snapped.

"What—did you forget our deal already? I talked to Kim, even got a date. You saw it. Now go talk to Your Angel."

"My joke," Paul said, raising his hand.

"Stop acting immature, you two," I snapped.

"We're acting immature?" Jared asked. "Go talk to her."

Bella Swan walked over to her, Jacob Black trailing behind her.

"Hey, Giana, I'm going on a walk with Jacob," Bella explained.

Giana. That was her name! Giana. A beautiful name, which matched her so perfectly.

Why was the Swan girl telling Giana where she was going? Was Giana watching her, or something?

Swan and Jacob walked away, and by then, Jared and Paul were getting annoyed with me.

"Go on," they urged, shoving me towards her.

I glared at them before walked over to her.

"Hey, Giana Meraz, right?" I asked, gazing down at her.

"That's me," she replied as she looked up at me. "You are?"

"Sam Uley. I—"

"Sam? Like, the same Sam Uley I grew up with—sort of grew up with?"

"That's me."

She chuckled, and I swear my heart skipped a beat. I know I sound like a chick, but this woman's laugh tinkled like bells.

She attempted to stand up, but it looked more like she was setting up for herself to fall down again. She put her arms out like a tightrope walker to steady herself, but I wrapped my arm around her waist and steadied her posture. She instantly wrapped her tiny little arms around me in a hug. I froze, not knowing what to do. I was more shocked that she was actually hugging me, really, though.

"Why didn't I think of calling you?" she whispered. I didn't know if I was meant to hear her outspoken thoughts, but my oversensitive werewolf hearing made me.

She pulled back from her hug all too soon, but I wasn't ready to complain; at least she'd hugged me. She looked up at me, taking me in, I assumed. She stared at me for a while, pausing at my eyes in particular.

"You just moved in last night, right?" I asked as I was smiling from pride on the inside.

"Oh, yeah. Did you see what Lydia did to my father's house? She's insane!"

"Yeah, yeah, I saw that. We tried to talk her out of it, even."

"Crazy bitch never listens. She just doesn't know that she'll be paying for it to be redone again."

"And how does that work?"

"Well, she's probably at bar down in Hawaii, so if she's drunk enough, she'll agree to anything."

I laughed, and she seemed enthralled by the sound of it, which just caused me to laugh more. The thought then came to my mind of why she was at the beach only the second day she was back home. I thought she would at least be at home resting from that leg of hers.

"So, what brings you out here? I'd think you would be unpacking," I asked, giving voice to my thoughts, "Or, at least lying down. What happened to your leg?"

"Oh, I fractured my tibia," she answered with a shrug.

I felt my eyes get wide. I may not have been a doctor, but as far as I knew, a fractured tibia wasn't something to just shrug off. I'd fractured mine when I was fourteen from jumping a fence and missing. I was stuck in one of those leg braces and a pair of crutches for a month, and I had been in a hell of a lot of pain. Honestly, I spent more time cursing out that damn fence than I did just shrugging about it.

I was about to ask her how she'd done it when a stuck-up-looking girl sneered, "And she's watching Bella tonight."

"What's that supposed to mean, kid?" Giana demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked beyond pissed, and some tiny, deeply-hidden part of memory told me that Giana's temper could be set off like a match.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Just, everyone loves Bella. She's the shiny new toy in Forks."

The girl turned her eyes to me. I instantly felt uncomfortable as her eyes looked me up and then back down, like I was a piece of meat to her. She sauntered over to me before wrapping her arms around my waist. I wanted to push her away from me, especially because My Angel was standing right there.

Just as I was going to do so, Giana snapped at her, "I'm sorry, who are you again?"

She grabbed the hood of the girl's jacket and pulled her off of me. I visibly relaxed, but my glare remained on this annoying, stuck-up teenage girl.

"Who are you again?" the girl sneered, "Because to me, you just look like some annoying little New Yorker who has a horrible tan and shouldn't be here."

My glare hardened, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Giana doing the same. I couldn't believe what this girl was saying. Did she not know Native skin? My Giana was beautiful in every way; she didn't have a fake tan, and she was no way in hell a New Yorker. She had flawless golden Native skin, and she was a pure blooded Quileute, not some pale-faced New York girl. This…this bitchy teenager had no right to tell My Angel any of this.

"Look, kid—"Giana began.

"Don't talk to her like that," I growled out at the girl, "And get out of here, kid. You don't know what you're doing."

"Kíka." (quileute for: "go away, get away from me, get outta here")

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, despite how badly my body was shaking from rage. I deepened my glare at the girl before she all but ran away in fear. I was proud that Giana knew Quileute, though, even as I let my glare scare the girl away.

Good, I thought, You should run away from me. I'm a monster; you should keep running before I turn on you.

"I hate kids," she groaned. "Horrible tan? The dumbass doesn't know what Native skin looks like, does she?"

I just let myself nod, not really paying attention to her words. I was still far too pissed off at how that girl just treated My Angel.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked as she gazed up at me.

I didn't want to lie to her, but what was I supposed to say? "No, I just wanted to kill that girl for treating you like that, and I'm a monster. Oh, and you're my soul mate"? So instead, I lied, "I'm fine."

Jared and Paul must have sensed my anger, because they walked over to us then. I took my arm from around Giana's shoulders, instantly feeling empty without her. Paul introduced himself the same time Jared did.

A smile spread across Giana's face. She gave them her name, and Jared snickered, "So, that's your name."

I smacked the back of his head, so he mumbled a quiet, "Sorry." Giana laughed at him, just making Jared even more annoyed with the two of us. I didn't care, though, as long as he didn't piss off My Angel.

We began telling Giana about how the rez had changed in the thirteen years since she'd left. I still didn't know where she had left to, aside from the fact that she came from New York when she moved back. Not ten minutes had passed before the Swan girl came back, looking nervous and uneasy.

"Um, Giana?" she murmured.

Giana looked up at her and instantly knew that something wasn't right. "What happened?" she asked, acting like the girl's mother.

"Nothing. I just, um, can we go home?"

She let out a long, sad sigh. "Yeah, go get in the truck. I'll be there in a minute."

Bella slowly slumped off towards Giana's black pickup, and as she did, Giana turned back to me with a melancholy expression on her gorgeous face.

"It was great seeing you again, but I have to drive Bella home," she told me, a grimace on her face.

How was she able to drive with her leg locked in place? Surely it couldn't have been easy.

"With your leg like that? I'll drive her," I offered. Sure, I didn't really want to spend forty-five minutes in a car with Bella Swan, but I would do anything to keep Giana out of pain.

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Sam. I just drove across country, I can—Scratch that, I just drove across the fucking country; I don't need to drive forty-five minutes to Forks. Would you mind?"

I smiled at her sense of humor. "Not at all. Let's go."

We began the walk back to her truck. Well, I walked, and Giana just sort of hobbled next to me. I had to fix my pace to a dreadfully slow walk so that I wouldn't be too far ahead of her. Halfway to her truck, I realized that it must be paining her to walk, even if she was limping. I leaned down to her height so I could lift her arm around my shoulder before wrapping mine around her waist. It just felt so right, the way my arm snaked perfectly around her tiny little frame.

She gave me a slightly confused look, to which I answered, "You shouldn't walk on that leg."

"Well, I can't just sit at home all day," she stated simply after we started sort of walking again.

"How much longer do you need to wear that?" I didn't want her to be in pain any longer.

"I have to schedule a doctor's appointment for two weeks from now, and they'll tell me if it's better. So, I'm not sure."

Just then, she froze and grabbed her injured leg. A pained expression was etched across her face, and it hurt me to see her like that. I waited a minute before she almost attempted walking again. By almost, I mean that I grabbed her up in my arms before she could attempt again. She let out her adorable laugh and wrapped her arms around my neck. I couldn't help but notice that she cuddled up to my chest. I was filled with warmth when she did that.

"Sam!" she cried out in laughter.

"You can't walk like that, so I'm carrying you," I told her simply, but with a smile still on my lips.

This simply made Giana laugh even harder, and I joined in. The way her laugh rang in my ears made me want to just listen to her laughter forever. When we got to her truck, I opened the passenger side door and slid her into the seat as soon as Bella crawled into the back.

"Why thank you, Mr. Uley," Giana joked, smirking up at me.

I smiled. "My pleasure, Miss Meraz," I said, playing along with her little joke.

She laughed that beautiful laugh again. Suddenly, an expression hit her face as if she'd just remembered something extremely important. "Oh, do you want to help when I redo the house?"

"Yeah, sure thing. No problem."

"Thanks. I want to at least honor my father, you know? Lydia never should've done that to his house."

I wondered if I should take the risk at bringing up her father. I didn't know if he was a touchy topic to speak to her about. I decided on simply saying, "Chaske was a good man, Giana. You should take pride in being his daughter."

"I do every day, Sam, every day. … Not a day goes by that I don't think about what would have happened if he hadn't died."

Her voice was solemn when she spoke this, and I instantly knew that I'd struck some long-hidden memories and thoughts.

Alright, he father isn't a good topic for discussion. Remember that.

I started worrying about her when she didn't speak for twenty minutes. I pulled over to make sure she was alright.

"Giana?" I asked.

She did nothing, gave no sign that she'd even heard me. I didn't know if she had, though. I looked at her face, and in her eyes I knew that she was in another world, lost in her thoughts. I cursed at myself for speaking about her father. I should've known better than to bring Chaske up with her. Her face gave no expressions of sadness or remorse, but it showed a blank expression instead. She looked like a zombie, in the best way to put it. Her eyes were her only facial feature that showed emotion, and in them I saw all of her sadness. There were no tears in them, though. Just raw emotion.

"I should've known better," I muttered to myself.

"It's not your fault," Bella murmured from the back seat. "None of us know what to do when she gets like that. It's been years since I've seen her, but she visited Rene and me three years ago down in Phoenix. Rene just brought up her dad's name briefly, but Giana just shut herself out from the rest of us after that. Rene didn't even know what she'd done. Giana isn't exactly…at terms with Chaske's death, I guess. I mean, he was her father."

"She's done this before?"

"She does it a lot, whenever someone just brings up her dad in random conversation. It isn't your fault. Lydia wasn't really supportive of Giana after Chaske died."

"What do you mean? It wasn't a week after Chaske's death when they moved. None of us knew what happened."

"Lydia became a drunk. She would damn Chaske to hell day after day, night after night. It was really hard for Giana."

I looked deep into Giana's cold, hard eyes. "I'm so sorry, My Angel," I whispered. "I'll make sure nothing hurts you again."

I continued driving towards Forks again. Bella gave me the directions to her house, but aside from that, the ride was suffered in silence. I spent the time engrossed in my thoughts and worrying about Giana.

"Oh, it's this one," Bella said, pointing to what I assumed to be her house.

I knew that Giana wouldn't move to let Bella out, so I did so. Bella hugged Giana tight and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, Gi-Gi," Bella murmured to her. "It'll be okay."

Bella continued walking to her house as I got back in the truck. I rolled down my window.

"Bella!" I called. She looked back at me. "Call me if anything ever happens with Giana when I'm not there. You can get my number from Billy."

She just nodded, but I knew she was going to keep to her word. Well, keep to her nod. I turned my attention back to My Angel.

"Giana?" I whispered, leaning close to her.

This seemed to snap her out of wherever her thoughts had taken her, and her head jerked up so that he eyes met mine. We simply stared into each other's eyes for minutes, for Giana seemed to not know what to say. Finally, I looked away, embarrassed for staring at her like some sort of freak.

I knew that she spoke Quileute, so I murmured the question, "Aɫilàchid?" (quileute for: "what are you doing?")

She just shook her head. "Tsaɫili." (quileute for: i'm not doing anything")

She shivered then, and I realized that the wind from the rolled down window must be freezing her. My freakish werewolf body temperature didn't detect the cold. A look of realization struck Giana's features, and she groaned.

"Fuck," she let out in a sigh.

"What's wrong, honey?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

"I completely just fucked that up."

She was upset about Bella. "You didn't, Gi. She was off in her own little world, too."

I wasn't exactly lying, though. Aside from Bella's and my conversation, she had been lost in her own thoughts, as Giana and I had been doing.

"You know, I'm pretty warm over here," I offered, chuckling, since Giana looked beyond freezing.

She scooted over till she was now sitting next to me, her legs curled under her and her head almost resting on my chest. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to me.

I had to ask, though. "So, are you alright?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm fine. I was just…thinking," she answered quietly.

"You sure?"

"No, not really, but I'll be fine."

Instinctively, my arm tightened around her. I didn't know what this sweet angel had been through, but I was going to make up for it all. I was going to make sure that she was never sad, that she always had the best for her.

But before I could do any of this, I had to break it off with Leah.

~o0o~

"Who is she?" Leah demanded the moment I stepped into her room.

"What?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. Maybe it would be best to play stupid for a while.

"Don't act stupid, Samuel! Who the hell was that cripple girl at the beach?"

Okay, playing stupid wasn't the best idea. "Excuse me?"

"Samuel Levi Uley! Tell me what is going on with you. You didn't call me at all yesterday, you didn't stop by like you always do every night, and now today you're prancing around the beach with some crippled new girl. What the fuck is going on?"

"Look, Leah, don't talk about her like that—"

"Oh, so, what—you're in love with her now, or something?"

Yes. I let out a sigh. "Leah, this just…this can't work anymore."

She knew the words were going to come, yet the second they passed my lips, her face fell. She looked as shattered as I knew her heart now was.

"Sam," she whispered, "Please, don't do this."

"I don't have a choice, Le-Le…"

"But you do! Please, Sam—"

"This is killing me right now, can't you see that? I can't be with you anymore. I'm sorry."

"It's killing you? It's killing me! Why, Sammy? Why do you have to do this to me?"

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around her in one final hug. "I'll always love you, Le-Le."

"Then don't do this—"

"Shh. I'll love you tomorrow as much as I do today, it just won't be the same kind of love. But I will love you, and I do love you. Never forget that, Leah."

I kissed her forehead and tried not to notice the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

"Please, Sammy…" she sobbed.

"Goodbye, Leah. I love you."

I left her room and then her house before she could say anymore to me. I could still hear her crying from her room.

"I'll always love you, too, Sammy," I heard her cry.

Damn these werewolf senses.

I ran the rest of the way home, trying to get as far away from the Clearwater house as possible. You know, people lie. There never is no good news and bad news, at least not to one person. To Leah, she only received bad news. I guess I got both, though. My good news: I'd met the love of my life, my imprint, my soul mate. My bad news: I'd just broken my first love's heart.