Author's Note: Oh, how I love my readers! I got more reviews last chapter than any other. I guess you really liked the idea of Edward leaving. I hope that those of you, who celebrate Christmas, had a good one. And now on with the story.

DISCLAIMER: Stephenie Meyer, along with Little, Brown and Company, owns all the rights to the Twilight Saga. I own nothing and profit nothing from this story.

I woke up sore, tired and confused. Too much had happened. I knew I couldn't avoid the drama that was my life, but it sounded so tempting. My emotions were wearing on me, plus my arm was killing me. I thought about skipping school, but decided that staying at home lost in my thoughts would not be good for my mental health. Sluggishly, I took three ibuprofen pills, got ready and drove to school.

Once I arrived I made my way to class, avoiding Jessica and the rest of the gang. I was sitting at my desk, doodling on the notebook in front of me. I looked down to see that I had doodled a wolf. Sam. I needed to speak with him. I needed to know everything, the whole story. I was getting lost in my thoughts, while staring at the doodle. It didn't hit me until I saw Edward walk through the door, that we shared this class together. I shut the folder quickly, not wanting him to see my wolf sketch. After he sat I remember that we had every class together. And not just that, but we sat next to each other in each class. Great, there goes avoiding thoughts about what to do about Edward.

"Bella, how are you?" he said politely.

"Fine, Edward," I answered simply.

"How are you feeling? Is your arm okay today?"

"It's fine, Dr. Gerandy did a good job. I see yours is fine as well."

"Well, that's nice to hear. And yes, Carlisle…reattached it. Lucky that's possible. It might have been hard to explain one arm missing to the other students," he said with a small, nervous chuckle. I looked him dead in the eyes.

"Yeah, it might have been," I said blandly, just before the bell rang. I turned away from him and focused on the board. For the rest of our classes, I tried to focus on my text books or the board, or talk small talk with whoever was near my seat. At lunch time, I decided to avoid the awkward meal, and head to the library. I spent the hour reading through Romeo and Juliet again. Reading it I realized that it wasn't a romance, but a tragedy. The only way I could have ended up with Edward was to live my own tragedy. And I had already decided that I wanted to live, I wanted to embrace what life had to offer. I wouldn't find that with Edward. With him I would only find death and heartbreak.

The school day ended and was grateful that it was Friday. I drove home and sat in the drive before deciding what needed to be done. The sooner the better, the truth needed to be said. I couldn't go into my house and be a coward, too afraid to say what I felt. I put the car in gear and drove down the familiar road. I thought about the things I needed to say to him. When I arrived, he was already waiting outside for me on the porch. I climbed out and walked toward him.

"Can we take a walk and talk a bit?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied. We walked a little ways into the woods. I stumbled on a tree root and he caught me before I could fall to the ground.

"Thanks. This is far enough, I guess, before I injury myself."

"Alright, Bella," he solemnly.

"Look, Edward, you know that I love you..."

"But that's not enough for you any longer. I'm not enough for you anymore," he said emotionless.

"Edward, I want a normal life. I want to have children maybe and grow old with the one I love. I don't want to lose Charlie and Renee. I don't want to feel out of place in your family. I love you all, but I don't really fit in properly. I want to belong. I want to be an equal to my husband, I don't want to feel as if I don't deserve what I have. I've always felt like you had all the power, because you're perfect, and I am far from it. You once said that I was like a drug for you, but really it's the other way around. I feel addicted to you, Edward. That's not healthy. I don't want to lose you out of my life, but you shouldn't be the focus of it either. I should come first in my own life. I really hope that you and the rest of the family will continue to stay in my life regardless of our relationship status."

"I wouldn't take them from you. Not that they would let me. They love you, Bella, just as much as I do."

"Thank you," I said quietly. He was being almost too calm about this all. I was afraid he might randomly explode in anger. It would have been easier to take the yelling right on, the calmness frightened me.

"Does this mean that you'll be with Sam now?" I was surprised at his forwardness. If I was in the same position as him, I don't think I would have wanted to know.

"No, I don't know what's going on there. He's my friend. Like I hope that you'll be."

"We'll see. I may need a bit of time to myself. But I will try, Bella. Being friends is better than nothing. I'm not sure how I could live without you knowing that you're out there."

"I can understand that. Thank you for being so understanding of everything, Edward."

"I've told you before that I am in your life as long as you want me. If it's friends that you want to be, I'll do my best."

"Good, because I don't think I could live without you either. I never wanted to hurt you, Edward. I want you to be happy. I think you can find that with someone else, maybe someone more like yourself."

"Perhaps. I should be going. I might be gone for a week or so to think about things. But I'll see you soon, Bella."

"Bye, Edward." I felt sad seeing him leave, but I knew it was the right decision. My path in life had changed, and Edward was not able to go down my new path with me. Perhaps the only person that could was Sam.

I drove into the small res, passing by the Black's home, and onto Sam's. I wasn't sure if he would be home, but it was where I would start my search. I wasn't sure where exactly to look for a werewolf, though I wasn't going to let that stop me. I pulled up to his house, and saw that his truck was in the drive. I sighed in relief, hoping that meant he was home. I got out of the truck and walked up to the door. I knocked on the door and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I sighed in disappointment and turned to leave when the door opened. I looked back and saw my Sam looking awful.

"Sam? What happened?" I asked taking in his appearance. His hair looked disheveled, his eyes were red and swollen, and his face unshaved.

"Bella," he breathed out unbelieving.

"Are you okay, Sam?"

"I am now."

"What?"

"I didn't think I would see you again. I assumed you would hate me."

"Why would I hate you, Sam?"

"Well, I lied to you for the past couple of months first off."

"You had a personal secret that you didn't feel I deserved to know, that's your business and your decision. I have no right to be made at you for that. Look, can I come in so we can talk?"

He shook his head, "Of course, sorry. I didn't mean to make you stand in the drizzle."

"It's okay," I said walking through the door. I stepped into the familiar living room to see a pyramid of beer cans.

"Oh, I'm sorry, again. I was trying to drown my sorrows in beer, and well, it takes an awful lot to get me drunk."

"You really thought I would push you out of my life," I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I did," he said picking up the cans and taking them to the kitchen. I followed him in there.

"Sam, I already told you that I don't care about what mythical creatures people are. It doesn't matter to me. You are all people to me based on who you are, rather than what you are."

"You're too understanding, Bella. Did you not see me rip his arm off? I wanted him dead." That reminded me of Sam's own injuries. I walked over to him quickly.

"I did see, and I've seen it reattached, so no harm done. But what about you? Are you okay? There was a lot of blood yesterday." I looked over him, checking for any injuries or cuts, but I found none.

"I'm fine, I heal fast."

"Part of the werewolf thing?" He nodded. "Okay, so now that you know that I know, can you explain it to me a little better? I'm a little fuzzy on the details."

"Sure, I'll tell you anything. Where do you want me to begin?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about the beginning?" I said lightly. He gave me a small smile.

"Okay, but from the beginning is a long story."

"Well, it's a good thing it's Friday night and I don't have a curfew any longer, what with being eighteen and all."

We sat down on the couch. I pulled my feet under me and got comfortable. I could see Sam trying to collect his thoughts before he began.

"I guess it really started in February, a couple of weeks after I turned eighteen. I started to notice that I was growing taller and more muscles. At first I thought I was letting it get to my head, that I wasn't really growing that much. But then Leah started to take notice too. Then I knew I wasn't crazy. I mean what eighteen year old hits a growth spurt of four inches in three months. It was unreal. I thought nothing of it, just went on with my life. I wanted to make something of myself, move past the bad rep that was my father. I got a full ride to Washington State and I was pretty excited about it. I thought life was just as it should be. Scholarship to college, a great girlfriend that would wait for me to finish school, and then we would get married after I returned."

"So why did you break up with her then?"

"During the summer, we spent a lot of time together knowing that me going across the state wouldn't allow us that luxury anymore. Half way through the summer, I grew some more, I started getting hotter in temperature." He stopped for a second before continuing. "One day, I got mad, it was stupid. Leah and I were hanging out on First Beach. All was good until she started talking about quitting school and coming with me to Pullman. She had a year to go in high school and she hated that I was leaving her behind. I think she was scared that I would find someone new. Being on the res, your choices are limited, but in college, the possibilities would have been endless. I wouldn't have done that to her, but it worried her nonetheless. We went back and forth for a few minutes, but it just infuriated me that she would give up her education, her future just to ensure I didn't leave her. Leah is strong than that, more independent. That was one reason I loved her so much. It killed me that she would give everything up for me, for a guy. I knew she was better than that. I didn't want to take her dreams."

"That doesn't sound like a stupid fight at all, Sam."

"Maybe not, but I overreacted. Perhaps it wasn't all me, maybe the wolf inside was just ready to come out. Anyway, a wolf's first phase or change is triggered by a strong dose of anger or emotion. I started to shake and I knew in my gut that I was going to explode. Though, I didn't know that it would happen physically. I thought that I would explode in anger and say or do something I would later regret. So I ran. I ran from Leah into the woods just past the beach. I didn't get far before the pain crippled me and I exploded, literally. I looked down and saw black fur covering paws that seemed to being coming out of me where my arms used to be. I freaked out completely. I did a few spins, getting a better view of myself. Then I ran some more, only this time in wolf form and ultra fast. If I wasn't so freaked out, it would have been cool. I stayed like that for a month. At first I just ran and ran until I was so worn out that I collapsed from exhaustion. After a few weeks away, I made my way back to La Push. I didn't know why, I just really didn't have anywhere else to go. So I went back and just sort of hung out in the woods of La Push. Eventually Harry found me. He was yelling my name out and telling me to be a good little wolf and come to him. I guess that was his way of letting me know he knew what I was, and that it was okay. Long story shorter, he explained things to me, while I was in wolf form, and he helped me phase back. After a long talk with all the Elders I started to understand. No, WSU was in my future. I needed to stay here in La Push."

"But why? Why couldn't they let you have college?"

"Bella, I am what I am to protect my tribe. I couldn't run away from that, even if it would have been the easier thing to do. Anyway, I learned to patrol and protect the tribe. It was about eight months later when the next wolf phased, Paul. A week later it was Jared."

"James," I muttered. That would have been right when James, Victoria, and Laurent came through Forks.

"Who?" he asked confused.

"A different story for another time, I suppose. Today is about your little secrets. I'll tell you mine another day." He narrowed his eyes a little at me, but then relaxed them.

"Alright, I guess that at least means you plan to see me past today." I rolled my eyes.

"Of course I do, Sam. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Good. Where was I? Oh yeah, Paul and Jared. So throughout this time I continued to date Leah. I wasn't allowed to tell her anything, which in the beginning produced some major fights, but we moved past them. Things were a little tense but fine." I was getting confused, so I interrupted him.

"I don't see how this relates to Paul and Jared joining the pack."

"I'm getting there little miss impatient," he chuckled lightly. "After missing spring break and a week of school, Jared and Paul both returned to the Tribal school. Jared sat down in one of his classes and looked over to the seat next to him and locked eyes with Kim Connweller. One look was all it took for his life to be completely altered. I guess you could call it love at first sight, sort of. Complete love and devotion at first sight after the first phasing is a little more correct. It's called imprinting, and it's finding your soul mate," he said gulping. "It's all encompassing, all ties are made to this one girl and the rest of the world no longer matters. At least not in comparison to the girl. The wolf can't see another woman after seeing his imprint. She makes up every thought, hope, and dream. He can't live without her. He'd do anything for her, be anything she needed."

"That sounds pretty powerful. I'm still not seeing the connection to Leah, though."

"I didn't have that with Leah. Imprinting was thought to be a legend, something not real. Which is pretty stupid of us, I mean, we thought our ancestors turning into giant wolves was unreal, too. Getting back to the point, I didn't want to risk hurting Leah like that. It was thought to be rare after we finally accepted it to be true, but I didn't want to take that chance. I cared about Lee-Lee too much to hurt her like that. What if we got married or even had kids and one day I looked into the eyes of another woman and found my soul mate? I couldn't even imagine doing that to her. So I did the only thing I thought I could do, I broke up with her before it could all happen."

"You were protecting her, even though it hurt you both." He nodded. "And she doesn't have a clue why?"

"None, I just told her that I wasn't ready for a commitment. I was too young to settle down, that wasn't one hundred percent about us having a future. I left it vague, never really picking out just one reason, but throwing out many, hoping she would latch onto one of them. She was pissed, of course. I would expect her to after us dating for almost four years." Sam took a deep breath. I could tell he hated that he had to hurt her, even if it was for her own good. "So what next? Being a wolf was a little easier in some ways after the boys phased. I didn't have to be alone in this fucked up life. Also I didn't have to patrol as much, as I had help. But then again it got harder. I didn't have Leah anymore to go to at the end of the day. I had two boys younger than me to look after. More responsibility. Then I went over to Billy's house for a bar-b-que. And my life forever changed." I couldn't help thinking that it was that day that my life forever changed, too.

Author's Note: I hoped you all enjoyed the chapter. I was thinking of doing the next chapter in Sam's POV. It would be of him recapping everything that happened over the last few months since first imprinting on Bella. Depending on the length, it may actually take up two chapters; it is a lot that happened. So let me know if you would like to read Sam's POV or Bella's POV of him telling her like in this chapter.