Clash of the Broken Hearts

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Twilight characters nor do I own John's last name as that was the brain child of laurazuleta18.
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Leah lets out a heavy sigh as she sits watching her own reflection in the car window, the green scenery speeding by. There is a mild relief from the pain that she was dealing with earlier; after howling she had phased and cried with John simply holding her. He hadn't shushed her or told her it was going to be alright or to even stop. He sat with her as she let out as much as she could in that moment and afterwards it felt as if there had been a weight lifted off of her shoulders.

Jacob hated seeing her cry and did everything he could to get her stop from cracking jokes to yelling at her and instigating an argument. He never allowed her to just get it all out and she frowns thinking about why that has been the case. Why was it not alright for her to cry when she was in pain? Were her tears a sign of weakness that an alpha couldn't have coming from his beta? Why was she required to keep so much bottled in while he, everyone else, could vent whenever they felt like?

She suppresses a growl and straightens up in her seat as the trees are replaced with small buildings full of businesses. After calming down, she caught a ride with John's father into town so that she can stop by the phone store and get her number changed. Sadly, Sue still has the primary main lines to the heads of the family but she hopes that her mother will give her the needed time and space to sort through all the crap.

"You sure you're up to working this afternoon?" George, John's father asks. Leah looks over at him with a big smile.

"Yea, I'll be there and ready for the afternoon rush." George chuckles deeply as he shakes his head.

"Cute." George says throwing Leah a quick glance before turning his attention back to the road. The diner, that Leah has been working at since joining John's pack, is a the family owned business of the Anaktokons, located just on the fringe of the reservation to get just enough business from the rez and the local town surrounding; tourists were always good for stopping in to see real live Indians. The so-called 'afternoon rush' consisted of about 10 regulars who trickled in from their jobs.

Leah waves at George as she walks up to the door of the local wireless store. She's hit with a mixture of pain and happiness that he refuses to drive off until she's safely inside the store. It's reminiscent of something Harry always did regardless of wherever he dropped his little girl off – he always had to make sure she made it inside.

The bell above the door rings as she opens it announcing her entrance. She smiles as she sees Ted standing behind the counter, a smart phone in his hand and a frown on his face. Leah always finds herself looking at Ted closely, studying his facial expressions, his eyes, his stance because he seems to forever have a frown on his face. She can't help but wonder if this is how she looked to others before joining Jacob's pack? And even afterwards, she still frowned some but not as much.

"Hey Teddy bear." Leah calls walking up the counter with a huge smile on her face. The smile doesn't fall as Leah walks closer and finds Ted glaring at her, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment and his frown deepening. For a moment she's confused about his reaction; she's promised to never call him that around anyone else but the store is empty – right?

To Leah's surprise, a head pops up followed by a tall, lean body of one of Ted's co-workers, Jeremy. Ted's eyes narrow as Jeremy looks at him with a huge smile on his face before turning back to Leah.

"Well, well, well…I was wondering when I'd see you again, Leah." Jeremy greets as Ted silently curses under his breath while shaking his head. Jeremy is just a few inches taller than Leah, with dark brown hair and light blue eyes. "So…Teddy-bear," Jeremy says sweetly turning to give Ted a look.

"Just go in the back and finish unpacking the new cases." Ted orders through clenched teeth.

"Leah, if you would be a doll and convince your, uh, Teddy bear here to lighten up; the rest of us would greatly appreciate it." Jeremy says before bursting out into peals of laughter and heading into the back of the store. Leah sucks in her lips trying to fight back her own laughter; it would be a mixture of embarrassment and amusement.

"I-I'm sorry." Leah apologizes shaking her head as Ted growls at her. "I didn't know anyone else was in the store."

"Whatever it's fine." Ted grumbles out with a roll of his eyes. "What you got for me?" Ted asks holding out his hand and nodding his head at Leah's bag. Leah begins rummaging around in her bag searching for her phone. Ted, despite his sour mood, was actually good with electronics and worked in the local wireless store selling, repairing and upgrading phones. Being in a pack of shape-shifters meant that sometimes phones were lost or damaged and to keep down on the expense of the necessity; someone with the skills and know-how to fix them were necessary.

"I just want my number changed." Leah says pulling out her phone and handing it to him. Putting her bag up on the counter, Leah turns her attention to the new phones in the display case just in time to miss the hard look thrown at her.

"No." Ted tells her flatly as he tosses the phone back on the counter. Leah's head shoots up as she looks at him wide-eyed and skeptical. "I'm not changing your fucking phone number again, Leah." Ted states looking down at the phone as he plants his hands down on the countertop. He cocks his head to the side taking in her surprised and bewildered facial expression, her eyes changing from a light hazel to a dark brown showing a clear sign of the internal turmoil that is going on in her head over his blatant refusal.

"Why the hell not?" Leah asks narrowing her eyes, placing a hand on the counter and the other on her hip. The two glare at one another; they are mirror copies of the other in personality, attitude and mood swings. If the two weren't wolves and within the same pack neither would be able to stand the other.

"I've changed your number four times already." Ted says with a sigh as he looks away. There's a time and a place for everything; he sees now that he's definitely chosen the wrong place and the wrong time to tell Leah 'no'.

"Yea, and…so what's the big deal? You know why I keep having it changed. It's not like I'm trying to pull some crazy dodging telemarketers bullshit." Leah states her eyes narrowing.

"I'm still not changing the number." Ted says simply shaking his head.

"Look, I don't want them calling me." Leah hisses as she leans across the counter and pushes the phone towards Ted. Her eyes are a dark brown almost black, her muscles tense and Ted can feel the heated anger rolling off of her. If he wasn't a wolf, as well, he'd be seriously freaked out and intimidated by the woman before him.

"That sounds like a personal issue to me." Ted says with a bored look upon his face.

His nonchalant attitude towards her simple request stuns Leah; her brow furrowing, her mouth hanging open slightly and her eyes narrowing slightly as if with a slight twitch. Ted and Leah have always seemed to get along fairly well considering his track record with new people. Despite his sometimes crass remarks and cold attitude towards her, not specifically, she's never held it against him; she has, in fact, been the first girl that didn't look at him with pity when she found out about his past. She had only given him a look of 'oh, I get it now' and didn't pressure him into noticing her; not that it was necessary.

Now Ted is starting to see another side of Leah that he's kind of assumed was there but really hasn't seen. Her truly 'bitchy' side; she's never been told 'no' before and if she has there was at least some clear explanation as to why she couldn't have her way. Through some of her memories, Ted has learned that Leah hates being told what to do when it goes against her own thought process which is why she rarely went along with the Sam guy. Jacob seemed to stay on the same page as her; whether intentionally or coincidence he's not sure of yet but Leah…she wasn't told 'no' often.

He debates over how to handle the situation and, most importantly, her. Ever since last night, when the pack interrupted her make-out session with their alpha, Leah has inadvertently moved herself up the pack's hierarchy. It has been a subtle change, one that he's not even sure that anyone else has noticed or maybe it's partly because he's been the Omega for the longest and he's not ready to be at the very bottom again. If he went about it in his usual manner, it'd lead to them arguing, yelling, snarling, growling and possibly phasing in the middle of store; never good for business. Or worse she'd go and tell John; John was still pissed off with Ted for his comment after the alpha conversation and especially after he ran and 'tattled' on him to Leah once she was feeling better.

The problem was that Leah didn't always wear her true feelings on her sleeve. What was on the outside wasn't a direct reflection of what she was feeling on the inside. While Ted had abandonment issues, Leah dealt with abandonment, guilt, ostracism and who knew whatever else. For some reason, he couldn't find himself to be blunt and harsh with her. He wanted to tear into her calling her a whore, manipulator, spoilt brat and a coward. But…she wasn't any of those things except maybe the latter two but he doesn't really hold her responsible for his first two insults. She's a female and she's surrounded by all of these males; three of his pack mates have been openly flirting with her and trying to get more out of her. Also, Paul, Leo and Gio were all so easily manipulated by any female with a pretty face.

"I don't recall asking you your opinion about the personal matters of my life." Leah snarls through her teeth interrupting Ted's thoughts. Her hands are clenched tightly into a fist causing her knuckles to begin to turn white. First, Sue then Rachel and now Ted. The drama that had ensued from earlier in the morning and seemed to have finally petered out was beginning again. Her mind debates over her options and it frustrates her that she doesn't see many. Either she convinces Ted to change her number again or she just leaves her phone forever on vibrate. She could tell John and the others about Ted's attitude and that would put an end to it but…she already knows things are tense between Ted and John, she doesn't want to aggravate the matter.

"You need to stop running away from your problems." Ted states with a sigh as he leans forward resting his arms on the counter. He can't help but chuckle at the irony of his statement and her surprised expression at his statement. After all, Ted has been the master of running away from his problems, putting the blame on others, avoiding anything that could possibly remind him of his lonely existence and the simple fact that his own mother couldn't even love him. "I know I'm the least likely of people to tell you anything of facing your past," Ted begins but is cut off by Leah.

"You're absolutely right, you're not." Leah hisses venomously. "You also don't know what you're talking about."

"You changed your number because some phone conversation or another didn't go as you planned. What did your brother run a trace? Your alpha said something you didn't like?" Ted asks as his voice grows more and more condescending. "You feel that they don't love you anymore?" Ted watches as Leah lets a low growl rip from her throat. Her silence makes his wolf feel ill at ease but Ted pushes on.

"I don't need to explain myself to you." Leah hisses as her a growl erupts from her throat. Ted's eyes narrow as the anxiety he initially felt disappears as Leah's wolf makes her appearance; a wolf he can handle better than a possibly emotional Leah Clearwater.

"Obviously because I'm right." Ted gloats as he smirks darkly at her. Leah opens her mouth to speak but shuts it tight, her lips puckered together as she thinks about her next move. Ted watches as Leah walks around behind the counter and for a moment his body tenses ready for her to attack him.

"Jeremy!" Leah yells as she grabs hold of Ted's wrist and leads him into the back room. "Watch the front." Leah orders and Jeremy quickly nods his head and does as he's told but not before giving Ted a weak and apologetic smile.

Ted isn't sure exactly why he's allowing himself to be led around by Leah but he finds himself unable to argue with her. Something about the physical contact making it hard to disobey her commands, to resist her direction; she leads him out in the back, away from customers.

"Listen to me and listen to me good," Leah says her voice becoming low, even and authoritative. Ted finds himself taken aback by this sudden change in Leah. Her stance is no longer of intimidation with balled fists, clenched muscles and teeth. Instead she stands perfectly straight, her eyes focused on his, hands on her hips and the energy coming from her is of Leah Clearwater, beta of the La Push pack. "I have reasons for wanting to change my number; I do nothave to go into details about them with you. As far as a conversation not going well then let's just say I don't want to spend my time being yelled at and blamed for shit I have no control over. Secondly, my brother has his own life to live and running a trace on me is the furthest thing from his mind. My alpha, in fact, hasn't said anything I didn't like but instead promised to make me lasagna tonight for dinner." The more and more Leah talks, her tone commanding his attention the more Ted finds a reason to fight against Leah's request.

Leah is strong, beautiful and determined; he knows that his pack is lucky to have her but the point is that she wasn't meant to be with their pack. Ted has tried to deal with his feelings towards Leah and balance everything out. He was hesitant about trusting her, same as John, but once he got to know her a little it was hard not to like her. When Leah was in a good mood, it was hard to not share the same positive energy that she carried. When she was in a dark mood, all the guys wanted to do was bring her up out of it.

The days following the attack Ted was worried, just like everyone else, about Leah's well-being; was she going to heal, would she scar and worst of all had any venom gotten into her wounds. The fear ate away at Ted but was only softened by the realization that he actually cared about what happened to her. Ted hadn't cared for anyone else besides himself, especially a female, in a very long time. His mother has instilled in him a feeling of mistrust for all females; they were selfish, vain, conniving, manipulative, weak and petty. Leah, for some reason, didn't fit into this category and maybe it was because she had a hard life; her father died, her fiancé dumped her for her cousin, her family turned on her, she lost her friends and her right to choose her path in life.

Ted started wondering about all of the other people in Leah's life and how they were all sitting up worrying about day-after-day while those who knew her best had no idea. Ted had been relieved John mentioned calling Leah's mother and letting her know what was going on with her. Maybe it's because, secretly, Ted does worry about his mother, he thinks about her daily, although he keeps those thoughts secret from the rest of his pack. But those worries soon became frustration and anger when John lashed out at Leah's 'true' alpha when he showed signs of being worried about her. Leah had never given the impression that no one didn't care for her; it sucked that imprinting made the wolves seem to only focus on their own world instead of those around them.

But the truth of the matter is that she phased for a reason, Leah has some purpose; same as they all did and she was phased to aid her pack.

"Jacob is your alpha, not John." Ted growls out in frustration. This is what has been eating up at him, Leah's ability to so quickly drop her alpha, a man that has looked out for her, risked his life to save her and had become a friend to her. There is a part of Leah that reminds him of his mother and it's the worst part; her ability to just pick up and leave – abandon her family.

"I left him, all of them." Leah growls at Ted.

"All because you're a fucking coward!" Ted snarls as he pins Leah up against the side of the building. Leah's eyes widen in surprise but are soon replaced with a fiery challenge that has Ted's wolf snarling at her. "You're just like her." Ted states as he seeks remorse or regret in Leah's eyes.

"What? Like your mother?" Leah asks her eyes narrowing for a second. "I'm nothing like her,"

Leah whispers as she shakes her head.

"She left me when she felt like she'd lived out her usefulness. She didn't once stop to think about me." Ted mumbles. "Oh, she mentioned it; leaving the rez and going back home, making a home elsewhere. I didn't think that she'd do it without me." Leah's eyes soften as Ted's begin to glisten with unshed tears.

Neither is sure exactly what has led them to this point, Ted comparing Leah to his mother and, now, both of them on the brink of tears. Leah wraps her arm around Ted, holding him tightly as he stands hesitating in extending the same gesture. Slowly Ted wraps his arms around Leah, her warmth surrounding him and even though he knows better, he's expecting her to mock him, make fun of his weakness and threaten to tell his brothers about his weakness; that 'Teddy bear misses his mummy'.

"Don't you love them, Lee?" Ted whispers as he hugs Leah tightly. Both can hear the real question in his voice, 'didn't she love me?'

The question catches Leah off guard on both levels and she finds herself hugging Ted tighter. She wishes that she could make him understand that she had to leave; it was her time to move on and live her life.

"She loved you, Ted; she just wasn't strong enough to keep it up." Leah breathes out in a ragged breathe.

"Was I not strong enough either?" Ted asks.

A/N: Alright…so this chapter SO did not come out the way I expected it and well…I was tearing up at the end. I wanted there to be more anger, angst, hateful words but what I had originally typed was just so beneath Leah and the growth that she has gone through since BD and even since joining John's pack.

I'm sorry if the full impact of emotions was lost but I've been getting SO MANY requests to update and I just had to force something out. Truth is I don't like forcing emotions out in a story. I much prefer them to flow and yet still stick with my original plan. Problem with me and my writing is that I pull so much inspiration from what I experience in my life; whether its movies, television, books, life, work, family and friends. Everything I come across has wound up in my stories at one point or another. I'm, honestly, kinda glad that the angst part of this year is over for now and it has lasted for quite a while.

But after becoming a scapegoat for my mother in a family discussion I believe that it will be back full blast. I've been pretty easy on Sue in my stories, in general, but I think the cuffs are about to come off.

So believe when I say that I would love to update more regularly but sometimes my mind needs a break from this world that I've created. Sometimes I want to think about something us, something that doesn't make me feel bad, sad, hurt or even alone and rejected. O_o? Wow…didn't mean for that to come out but 'life happens' and all you can do is just hope and pray that your fastened in tight enough to survive it to the end.

I'm going to try and finish up some of my other stories; First Come Love is about to be wrapped up and Leah Clearwater: Through Our Eyes is about to be wrapped up. I happened to find a long ago written chapter for Carlisle and instead of just writing something for every character I'm just going to do a few more and get into who Leah's love interest is. I'm hoping that by wrapping up some of those I'll be able to focus more on this story. I think part of it is that I really like John and his pack and…well, I'm not really ready to say good bye to them yet. T-T

Oh! But the real reason why this story suddenly took such a turn is that on my way home from work I was PO'd! I mean like 'could get outta my car and bitch slap a…a…person', ahem, there was another word I wanted to use but I won't go there. And then, THEN there's this radio station I don't often listen to but sometimes and there's this FUCKING SONG that I HATE SO MUCH! It's just this weird melody that they keep playing over and over again. I used to think that it was a lyrical song but the opening beat was just too damn long and annoying for me to bother even listening to it; so I switched off listened to another song and came back…TO THE SAME DAMN THING! I don't know what it is about the song, by who you ask, someone who doesn't give a shit but was willing to shell out some cash to get airtime. And I felt ready to use that anger to finish up this chapter on a high, angry note but then…if I didn't find a station that was playing some Steely Dan 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number'. That's an awesome song! That's an awesome band!

Well that and then when I got home…there was no one here. It was quiet, peaceful, calm, serene even! I actually went to the bathroom and didn't have someone opening the door wanting to ask me a question or tell me something. I just sat in the house enjoying the peace…and quiet. ^_^ That's a rare, rare thing in my life. Lol.

Alright since this A/N has gotten pretty long and this has been a fairly short chapter I'll wrap this up but MAN do I have some crazy/silly/scary stories to tell y'all. So do that wonderful thing that you and tell me what you thought. Be honest!