AN: THANKS A MILLION EVERYBODY! You would not believe how supportive everyone has been. I had SO many authors message and offer to be the beta, but finally, I've narrowed my selection down to 2; RenesmeeCarlieBlackxo and cjfed95. Without you 2 this chapter would not have been NEARLY as amazing as it is now :) GO MAKE THEM YOUR BETAS TOO. They will do awesome jobs, I can guarantee it. :) But anyway guys, this chapter's out already because all of my problems have been solved and I'm just in a good mood :) ENJOY CHAPTER 5!

It was raining outside when Leah finally got home. The darkness had finally consumed La Push and dragged the small town down in a tornado of depression and ominous foreshadowing. A superstitious person looking around on that particular night would've had a field day.

Leah saw a black cat run across the street. A bunch of kids with umbrellas already open ran straight out of a shop and right under a ladder. As soon as she'd walked through her own door the old mirror hanging in the bathroom fell down and shattered to a million pieces from the vibration of her slamming it shut.

'Stormy weather means a stormy attitude.' She thought bitterly as she wrung water out of her hair. Seth didn't seem to be home, so she wandered up to her bedroom. Her iPod was lying on her bed, still playing but not being paid attention to as its owner concentrated on getting herself out of her wet clothes. Her hair was nearly dry from the walk back to the neighbourhood from the cliffs, but it'd began to rain.

Leah groaned to herself as a chill shot up her spine from a window she must've left open before dashing out for a swim. As she laid hands on the sill to close it, her eyes concentrated on the far-off crashes of thunder, cracks of lightning in the distance that lit up the storm clouds like a strobe light. She let out a deep sigh to match her groan.

She hated storms.

After shutting the window Leah wandered over aimlessly to her closet and pulled out some clothes. She figured her shorts were dry enough to wear again, but she decided to choose a different tank top and opted for a light blue one instead of her drenched black one from earlier. Pulling it on and grabbing her cell phone from the dresser and her music from the bed, she headed for the kitchen.

Hunger pangs were finally starting to set in, and when Leah remembered how she looked in a bikini, all she could remember was how thin she'd looked. Looking anxiously around the kitchen at the boring whites of the cupboards and drawers, she wondered just how much food her brother and his stupid pack brothers had left in the house for her. Opening one cupboard... Cereal.

Success!

With a relaxed expression Leah fished out a spoon and bowl before pouring the cheerios in and adding the milk. Looking around once again and stirring, her mother was also nowhere to be seen. Charlie's again.

Leah had to fight back snarling. 'Dad wasn't dead nearly long enough before she started letting some other guy fuck her over.' With a mental growl she dug her spoon into the cereal bits and all but raised it to her lips before the loud vibration of her cell phone interrupted.

With an exasperated groan and a loud 'Ugh' Leah dropped the spoon back into the bowl and picked it up. (It was a blue phone, light-ish with small black stars. Totally her style.)

The noise was a text message. Actually, one of many. Apparently she'd missed about fifteen of them. With a sigh she flipped open her phone.

It was from Seth.

'Where are you Leah?? Like jesuz chrisst.' She could tell it was from her brother just from the lapses in spelling and punctuation alone. Skipping over it, she went to the next one. Seth again.

'EARRTH TO LEAHH!'

Rolling her eyes, she kept scrolling. Paul.

'For fuck's sake Clearwater hurry the hell up and answer my goddamn txt'

Jake.

'Really. Ignoring me isn't gonna make today go away. We're waitin' for yah Leah.'

She cocked an eyebrow. 'Waiting for her'? Shrugging it off she kept going. More from Paul.

'You were s'posed to meet me for patrol by the leeches' house like 2 friggin hours ago! Swear to fuck Leah next time i sees you im gonna beat your ass!'

There were two or three more like that too. Chewing her bottom lip she smirked. Paul was such an ogre. So what if she skipped out on patrol with him? He didn't want her there anyway...

Sliding down to one of the older messages she'd received, she felt her hand still on the scroll bar.

'Leah. Don't know where you are or what you're doin and I don't know why you're trying so hard to be a menace, but important pack meeting. We need to talk. About you. Come to Emily's and my place.

He just had to write her name, didn't he?.. Mentally wincing Leah went to the next message.

Sam again.

'And I mean NOW.'

Leah grumbled. So much for that then. With a glance at the sink (where the boys had been kind enough to leave her all the dishes to do), she dumped the full bowl of soggy cereal down the drain and headed out the door.

-

As expected, she could hear loud voices and shouts from the pack as soon as she neared the walkway of her Alpha and his fiancée's house. As expected, she felt a pang of agony from seeing the neat little cottage and knowing it should've been hers. It was meant to be hers.

Biting down on her lower lip, Leah pushed open the door and was thankful she didn't meet that scarred up smiling face first of all. That seemed to be tradition, every time Leah had been forced to come to the future house of the Uley's. She'd walk inside and the first thing she'd feel were her traitor cousin's arms around her, as if a hug was going to make all of Leah's pain go away. Like such a simple, stupid gesture was going to make things okay between them.

Never. In a million years.

Emily Young could kiss her furry ass.

Looking around the small house, and pulling her iPod earphones out, she raised an eyebrow as every head in the room turned towards her and they all wore the same disapproving scowl. Noise in the living room had ceased completely and Emily was still nowhere in sight. The soft rhythm of her music was audible in the tense atmosphere.

Swallowing the fear of a foreboding fight, she knew she had to maintain the shell. Now more than ever when the odds were so stacked against her because Leah wasn't naive; she knew exactly just how likely the odds were that every guy in the pack would back up his brothers. Support didn't seem to exist for the out-of-place sister.

Love hurts, Love scars.
Love wounds, and mars.
Any heart not tough, or strong enough
To take a lot of pain; take a lot of pain..

"What the hell was so important?" She mumbled, deep blues casting around the disgustingly orange room (she always hated Emily's color schemes). Every pack member was there; Sam, sitting in his favourite lounge chair that Leah went with him to buy (it was meant to be a part of their life.), elbows resting on his knees and fists clasped in front of him. His look was serious; like the look a person got when they'd been caught doing drugs or something.

But Leah, knowing her old Sam so very very well, could still detect the hint of concern in those dark brown eyes and it confused her.

Love is like a cloud;
It holds a lot of rain.

Jake was there also; sitting in another chair but he was more relaxed. His gaze at her was unwavering; it unnerved her but at the same time only served to drag up memories of their kiss earlier on in the day. And that seemed to give her a relinquished sense of confidence. His gentle eyes were roaming her stiff frame, starting at the gold chain of the necklace and working their way down to her clenched up fists.

The rest of the pack boys were scattered around the room like she'd seen them assume their positions a hundred times before. Raising an eyebrow, she was patiently waiting for one of the boys to bark the first comment.

"What the fuck were you doing?" Of course it would be him. The roughest member of the pack; her most volatile 'brother'. Paul. It was never any trouble to forget him; he'd hated her ever since and he hated her the most.

Love Hurts;
Ooh, Love Hurts.

"Stuff!" She spat back at him. If there was anyone she had trouble finding patience for it was Paul.

He growled loudly and stood up, all eyes rising up with him and awaiting a storm worse than the torrential downpour outside. "We've been tryin' to get a hold of you for hours! Holy fuck, where the hell were you!?"

"None of your goddamn business, that's for sure." Leah hissed back. Paul rolled his hazel eyes.

"You're such a bitch."

"And you're a fucking moron who's got no respect for other people at all. If you weren't so goddamn stupid you could probably guess where I went!"

"Oooh Leah; that hurt my feelings." He said, voice dripping with sarcasm, an angry sneer morphing his lips.

"Cry me a fucking river!"

I'm young; I know.
But even so;..
I learned a thing, or two;
I learned from you.
I really learned a lot; really learned alot..

His second growl was even more startling but Leah paid it no heed as her Alpha interrupted Paul's next words.

"Calm down, the both of you." Sam's voice was stoic like always and it could cut through tension like a knife through butter. "I don't want anyone to get hurt here."

Leah scoffed. 'Yeah, you say that now. Didn't save your precious Emily's face did it?'

Love is like a flame; it burns you when it's hot.
Love Hurts;
Ooh, Love Hurts.

Paul reluctantly took a step backward from her, but his unforgiving eyes stayed trained on her's like a dog looking at food. She fought back the urge to shiver. She'd seen Paul mad before; but maybe today was special. It could've been a combination of the weather, her more rebellious attitude, a shitty patrol, or maybe he was just on his rags, Leah didn't know. But his anger was different.

More focused.

"Why'd you miss patrol?" Jake's un-irritated voice was strange to hear in such a situation and Leah looked over expectantly.

"I went for a swim. I forgot."

"You forgot. Of fucking course, because Leah Clearwater always forgets. Why don't you forget about Sam and Emily and then maybe you'd do us all a big fucking favour!"

She was gonna fucking kill him. Leah stared hard at Paul with what she thought was the meanest look she could manage.

(Too bad most members of the pack saw it come out a little differently.)

But Paul didn't look sorry. Paul never looked sorry.

Some fools think, of happiness.
Blissfulness; togetherness.
Some fools fool themselves I guess.
They're not foolin' me.

"PAUL." Sam's voice boomed, snapping Leah out of her cut-Paul's-dick-off fantasy, and she looked over at her pack leader to see Sam's eyes shift almost nervously to hers, as if waiting for the 'I don't need you.' She felt his eyes focus on the necklace he'd given her and she found herself looking away from him and the pack.

She knew they expected her to say it; that was why she didn't.

Leah crossed her arms and turned, looking out at the disastrous weather. "Now why am I here? Can someone please enlighten me?" She hissed, arms crossed and hand digging so hard into her left arm that her fingernails began to cut.

"It's about you, sis..." Seth's quiet voice spoke. Leah turned to him.

"What about me?"

"Well-"

"It's about why you never fucking keep your pack duties anymore!" Paul quipped, his rash temperament taking him another few steps closer to where Leah was standing once again. He was so angry she could feel his body heat rippling around her; she could feel how he wanted to phase. Probably to rip her to pieces.

"Ignorant much!?" Leah cursed, staring him down just as harshly as he dared look at her. "You tell me something Paul. Why the fuck would I wanna keep my 'pack duties' when I have to deal with shitheads like you twenty-four seven?"

He growled again; they weren't dogs (at least not at the moment). The least he could've done was try to rein in the inner animal.

Sam looked at the two from his chair and cradled his heads in his hands. If only they would just stop. He hated seeing her hurt; he hated being reminded of the asshole that he surely was and he hated knowing both Paul and Leah were right. And knowing he had to choose Paul just because he couldn't dredge up suspicion.

I know it isn't true. I know it isn't true.
Love is just a lie;
Made to make you blue.
Love Hurts;
Ooh, Love Hurts.

"Leah. Whether you like it or not you're a part of this pack, a part of this family. And when something's assigned to you, you have to do it."

"See, wolf-girl? Tough shit." Embry smirked. His words didn't hold half as much irritation as Paul's did but the sight of the two of them high-fiving set her into a frenzy.

"Just fuck you Embry. Why don't you go hunt down a DNA test or some shit? And you, Paul? I really wish Jacob held through on his promise. I feel bad for Rachel; if I were him I'd have fucking killed you long ago."

Embry's face fell and Paul nearly barked a curse as he stepped right into Leah's personal space, so close she could feel his breath on her.

"Don't you dare talk about something you don't know shit about. Watch your goddamn mouth." Seth was on the edge of his seat and so were Jake and Sam as the two feuding comrades felt their bodies twitch with the want to phase.

"Oh yeah Paul?" Her voice held so much taunting. "Shut me up."

And holy fuck he looked like he was gonna do it before the door flew open with a loud crack and everyone in the room jumped. Emily walked inside, parka drenched with rain water and hair all mussed from the wind. She turned to look at them, that fucking smile creeping onto her face.

"Hey everyone!" Leah hated how Sam's face cracked a lop-sided little smile. It wasn't as bright as usual, but given the circumstances it probably wouldn't be.

The boys muttered hi, Sam smiled at her again and Leah did nothing; crossed her arms again and took the chance to walk a few paces away from her fuming pack mate.

"Uhh, Sam?" Emily's gentle voice held a shaking quality and of course Sam stood up and waded over to her. Surprisingly flashing a look at Leah beforehand.

"Yeah, Em?" He asked, placing large careful hands on her shoulders.

"..I have to tell you something."

"Go on. Tell me Emily, what's up..?" He spoke with such a soft voice. (Inside Sam's mind no one knew how much he was itching to tear at Paul instead of listening to his fiancée whine. It fucking sucked how he could never be mean. Not to her. It was unfair.)

"Okay. I.. Um.. I think I'm pregnant."

Ooh, Love Hurts.

Leah and Sam's worlds just froze; her's moreso. The betrayal was poignant when her brother was the first to offer congratulations. Her already fradmented heart tore more, ensuring her she was never meant to be happy but to live a life of suffering and pain. She looked away from Sam and Emily quickly and fought the tears that threatened to surface.

So this was it. This was the final tie that needed to be broken.

She could feel his gaze on her, maybe not only his, but at the moment nothing else mattered.

Sam was going to be a father. He had dreamed of this for so long, since he was fifteen, and yearned for the chance to start a family... With Leah. He had shared his secret desire with her when they were starting to grow a beautiful relationship, before it was marred by the goddamn imprint.

Now that Leah saw her and Sam's dream of starting a family play out without her, with Emily instead, the raw neglect and emotion ate at Leah's stomach; much worse than any hunger pain she had felt in the last few days.

Sam was forced to tear his eyes away from his ex-girlfriend and look back at his now-pregnant fiancée. He knew he had to. He'd never expected it to be that hard. It was fucking surprising, he had to admit; he'd wanted a bunch of rugrats for years and now here was the woman he... The woman he loved telling him she was pregnant but all he could think about were the feelings of his ex. He felt guilty. Sam felt worried. He felt somewhat excited once the news finally began to sink in...

He was so confused but he pulled Emily into a tight hug and spun her around the room in his arms anyway.

"Are you sure? How do you know?" His voice was rougher, less gentle but it held some new excitement. Emily laughed as Sam kissed down her ruined face.

"I'm not completely sure yet, but I'm about ninety percent positive!"

I know it isn't true; I know it isn't true.
Love is just a lie;
Made to make you blue.

The next few minutes were consumed with the pack giving Emily gigantic hugs and kisses on her scarred up cheek, showering her with the love they all thought she deserved as they offered her their congrats. Embry was laughing loudly and Jake had a hand on his shoulder. Leah thought he'd looked at her for awhile, but she could be wrong. Quil was practically hopping up and down with her like the kid-lover he was and Jared and her kid brother were doing nothing but spouting compliments and asking the most adoring questions.

Leah still felt a gaze on her.

It felt like it was waiting for her to do something. So, she did. She knew she had to; the ultimate brave face. If she could survive this one, Leah knew she could survive anything. As thunder rattled the house, encouraging her, Leah stepped over to her cousin.

Emily looked at Leah and her face dropped, like she'd been too overwhelmed in her own flattery to pay attention to her practically-broken family member across the room.

"Emily... I.. " Leah had to fight to get the words out, her eyes floating from Emily's still-flat stomach to her light brown eyes and back and forth as if doing that would make it easier to take. "I'm happy... Congrats..."

That was all Leah could say; all she could muster. The betrayal was still too strong in her mind; it always would be. But she'd found some strength, right? She'd accepted that she'd never be happy. While feeling broken and entirely alone, her exterior still conveyed a sense of strength and dignity.

Leah stepped back, determined to leave the beautiful cottage -with the horrible walls- that should've been her's. She was halted in her tracks however as Paul stepped forward, his massive frame dominating the area around her. Paul's breath was hot against her left ear, and he whispered;

"Yeah, suck up to your pregnant cousin. Cuz that's as close to pregnant as you'll ever be, isn't it?"

The silence was deadening in the overcrowded room as Leah turned her head towards Paul.

The vulnerability, like never before, and the sadness was evident as a single treacherous tear slid down the cheek of Leah's beautiful face. He didn't get the chance to whisper another word before Leah disappeared, walking fastly past her once favorite cousin and her former love, and into the dark, raging storm outside.

Love Hurts. Ooh, Love Hurts.
Ooh, Love Hurts.