Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Twilight.

Authors note: sorry for such a long wait but I had a lot going on. Anyway, I made this chapter longer than I had planned because I felt guilty. :D I also have a poll on my profile and I would really appreciate it if you vote!

Close call

David's POV

I didn't know what to think anymore. I had done this tons of times; met a girl, slept with her and left her. But Leah; she was different. Leaving her there on the beach with that heart-broken look on her face was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I had wanted to stay with her, to comfort her, but why the hell would I want to do that? I didn't feel anything for her...or at least I tried to convince myself that.

After I had left First beach I had gone to my new house, with the unpacked boxes strewn everywhere, and just wandered around, looking at all the empty rooms. I realised, it depicted my life in a way; empty. Sure, I had my job, my things, and my friends but there was always a lonely feeling too; like I was missing something.

A little voice at the back of my head kept trying to tell me that that lonely feeling had disappeared when I met Leah but I blocked that out. It was complete and utter nonsense. How could I feel so strongly for her when I had only just met her?

It wasn't even dark outside when I decided to go out and get a drink. I rarely let myself get drunk because I hated the way I was when I drank too much.

I'm sitting in a busy bar in Seattle with no idea how long I've been here and, frankly, I don't give a shit. I just need to forget; about Leah and the confusing feelings meeting her brought me. I sat on a bar stool at the bar and downed another shot. My mind was getting hazier but it wasn't enough. The look of pure anguish on Leah's face still haunted my mind, as if burned into my brain. I needed another drink.

Leah's POV

I lay in bed all day, completely ignoring my idiot of a brother and his attempts to talk to my. Why couldn't he just leave me alone? I didn't want to fucking talk about it. It must have been around midday when he left to go out on patrol but my curtains remained shut and I didn't have the energy to raise my head to look at the clock so I couldn't be sure.

The house phone rang, the sound echoing through the house, and I ignored it. I didn't want to talk to anyone so I lay motionless in my bed, face down and exactly as I had been since I came in this morning. As soon as the phone stopped ringing it started up again. It did it again and again…and again. I was seriously considering smashing it.

Finally, it stopped. My cell phone on the bedside table began ringing. I scowled at it before picking it up and pressing it to my ear, not bothering to sit up.

"Hello?" I growled, my voice muffled by the pillow.

"Leah, its Jake." Fucking brilliant. "Seth said something was bothering you. Are you ok?"

"If that's all you called for them I'm hanging up." I stated as tears prickled my eyes, the ache in my chest intensifying. No, I wasn't all right. I was far from it.

"Actually, there is something else." He admitted.

"Well, hurry up about it. I'm busy." I said, trying to sound irritating but my voice sounded thick with the tears that were currently falling from my eyes.

"Are you crying?" He asked gently and slightly hesitantly.

"No." I said stubbornly and he seemed to know to drop the subject unlike my pain-in-the-ass brother.

"I was at the Cullen's' earlier—"

"Surprise, surprise." I muttered under my breath but he heard me. I was honestly unbelievably jealous of Jake right now. Not about the fact his imprint was a leach but that it was so simple for him...well, apart from his imprint being a hybrid and his future in-laws hating him...but at least he could see Nessie whenever he wanted. David had left me. The chances were, I might not see him again. That thought alone brought on another round of tears that silently streaked down my face.

"Alice said she had a vision of a vampire in the area; a human drinker." He said and I felt hatred and fear swell in my heart. I had no idea where David was and there was a human drinker nearby. "Seth and I are out on patrol right now and I've told Sam's pack about it."

"What?!" I chocked out and shot up in bed, my hair sticking in all directions but I didn't care about that right now. "Where's the vampire? When did the leach have the vision?" I demanded as I stood up and began changing my clothes, struggling to pull on a pair of jeans and balance the phone between my ear and shoulder.

"Alice isn't sure. She just said she saw him walking through the woods, most likely on their side of the border. She said it looked like he was waiting for something or someone. She had the vision earlier today just before I got to their house this morning."

"Has she had any more visions? Have you spoken to her recently?" I asked as I pulled my dress up over my head and tugged on a t-shirt.

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen her for a couple of hours. I did try to get hold of you earlier but you weren't answering the phone." He spoke as I grabbed a length of string shoving it into my pocket and quickly left my room.

"Where are you? How long do you think it would take you to get to the bloodsuckers?" I asked as I shut the front door of my house behind me. I really didn't want to go anywhere near the Cullen's right now but I would if I had to.

"It would probably take an hour or more. I'm searching for any trace of the vampire near the mountains."

I groaned and jogged into the forest near my house. "Brilliant." I muttered sarcastically under my breath. "I'm going to go check if the leach has had another vision." I said as I began stripping down, pulling my top over my head.

"Really?" He seemed surprised that I would go anywhere near them. But I had to find out if she had seen David in her vision with the vampire. I needed to know if he was alright, no matter what happened between us.

I snapped my phone shut before responding to him and shoved it in my pocket before pulling the rest of my clothes off and tying them with the string to my ankle. In a matter of seconds I had phased and was running as fast as I could towards the border and then, to the Cullen's.

I arrived at the edge of their giant lawn, still hidden by trees and phased back, quickly changing back into my clothes. I sprinted up to the front door, not giving a damn what they thought about my bedraggled appearance, and knocked on the door, probably harder than necessary as the door shook on its hinges. The stench lingering around the house stung my nostrils. I waited for about a second before raping my knuckles on the door again. What was taking them so long; they were vampires for God's sake!

The door creaked open and I dropped my gaze to see Nessie (trust a leach to give their daughter with such a weird name) standing in front of me with a small smile on her face. Weirdo. "Is Alice in?" I asked impatiently. I was desperate to know it she had anymore visions and I couldn't be bothered to convey my disgust towards them.

"Yes." Nessie said, looking the picture of innocence.

"Listen, slug, I don't like you as it is and I really need to see the psychic leach so would you quick stalling and get her down here or I swear you'll regret it." I hissed, leaning closer to her so I towering a few inches just above her face. Right now, in my mind, she was the only thing standing in the way between me and finding out if David was alright. I didn't give a shit if she was my alpha's imprint, or if she had a family of leaches protecting her. I didn't have time to worry about niceties. Not that I did anyway...

She shrugged and skipped off into the house, the smile still in place. "Alice will be down in just a moment." My head snapped up towards the voice and saw the mind-reader, Edward, standing in the door way to what I assumed was the living room. Talk about irony.

My eyes narrowed at him and I wrinkled my nose in disgust, standing in the doorway of the house. There was no way I was going to willingly walk into that stinking house. I looked up and saw Alice skipping down the stairs, at a human pace with a small smile on her lips. Why is it they are insisting on acting more human in front of a werewolf? Especially when I'm in a hurry. That's another thing to add to the ever growing list on what I hate about blood-suckers.

Edward chuckled, most likely at my thoughts and I shot him a glare before turning back impatiently to Alice. "Jake told me you had a vision about a leach. I wanted to know if you've had any that are more useful than what you saw earlier."

"Nope. I've not had another vision about the vampire but I did have one about a human. Edward tells me it was your imprint." She said as she reached the bottom of the stair case with a curious smile on her lips.

My expression immediately hardened and I tried to block out my memories of what happened earlier today which was extremely difficult if my whole world revolved around him. I shot Edward an accusing glare. How did he know about David?

"Nessie saw you and him when you first met. I just matched the face from her mind and Alice's vision." Edward said, answering my unspoken question. I've no idea how the other residents in the house managed to put with him answering their thoughts. What a pain in the ass.

"What did you see? Where is he?" I asked, unable to keep the anxiety out of my voice.

"He was in a bar in Seattle." Alice answered, looking at me curiously before her eyes glazed over and her expression became vacant. I looked towards Edward and saw his eyes widen slightly before turning to me, sympathy clear on his features.

"What? What is it?" I asked glancing between the two of them as Alice came out of her vision.

"It's your imprint." Alice stated. "He's in trouble" she ran past me out the door. "Leah, get in." She said as she opened the driver's side door of her Porsche.

"What?" I frowned, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

"Get in the car and I'll explain on the way. We need to leave now or he might not be alive by the time we get there." She said as she slipped into the car and I ran around to the passenger side. If I wanted to save David I would have to go with her. If we would barely make it on time driving at her insane speeds then I would never make it on foot, werewolf or not.

Her sickly sweet scent burned my nose and it turned up in disgust as I opened the window, letting the fresh, leach-free air in. "What the fuck is going on?" I attempted to ask angrily but my worry leaked into my voice.

She sped out of the drive way and along the track to the main road. "I had a vision of your imprint. It was an alley near by the bar he was at and there were three other humans, to put it frankly, kicking the shit out of him."

A shudder of rage rippled through my body and it had nothing to do with the leach sitting beside me, much closer than I would have liked. I knew I was supposed to be a 'protector' but those humans were going to die tonight. No one could hurt David without me going after them.

"Leah, calm down—"

"Calm down?!" I screeched. "I will not fucking calm down!" I said angrily but managed to repress my shaking to only a slight trembling. "Would you drive faster?!"

"Leah, it won't happen for about another half hour."

"Shit." I muttered dropping my head in my hands. "We won't make it. Will he be ok?" I glanced up at her and she glanced at me before returning her gaze to the road.

"I don't know. I can't see because you're involved." She said sympathetically. I didn't want her sympathy. I didn't want anything to do with her. In fact, the only reason I'm here right now is because it's the faster possible way to get to David in time.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked suddenly. Why the hell would a leach want to help a werewolf, especially me? I mean, I wasn't exactly nice to them...ok, that was an understatement but you get what I mean.

"It would destroy you and the pack, including my future nephew in-law. The emotional upheaval would not only affect you but, because your mind is connected with Jake and Seth when you're a wolf, it would affect them too." She clarified. That made more sense, I guess. She was doing it for them, not me.

"Do you know why those humans are doing this? Are they just that sick that they get enjoyment out of killing other people?" I muttered angrily. They were no better than the leaches if they were. The only difference was that the humans wouldn't drink the blood.

"Well, from what I gathered from my earlier vision; your imprint, David, is it? Anyway, he was at the bar and it looked like he had been drinking a heck of a lot. A girl walked up to him, kissed him--" My heart clenched at those words. "—but he pushed her away. There was a guy in the background watching that and he looked furious. I'm not entirely sure why but in the second vision he was there, beating David. So I think the two things are connected."

The drive to Seattle felt a lot longer than it actually was and being stuck with the leach didn't make the journey any better. When we got there Alice drove around for a bit, not entirely sure where her vision took place. Fan-fucking-tastic.

The streets were dark, only lit by the dim street lamps. Alice suddenly stopped the car, the tires screeching slightly. "It's just down there. You'd better hurry. I'll be there in a few moments. I just need to park the car." She said but I was out the car before she had finished.

I raced down the side streets and alleyways, urging my legs to go faster before I heard the sounds of voices just around the corner. I turned sharply into a small alley way and another shudder rippled through my body at what I saw; David had his back up against the wall of the alley, lying on the ground and curled in a small ball, clutching his stomach. Two of the men – all three were tall and muscular – were standing a little to the side, laughing as the other kicked David hard in his stomach and he cried out in pain.

"Get away from him." I hissed at them, my face twisting in fury. No matter what David did earlier to me, or the fact that he didn't love me; I loved him and I would do anything to protect him.

"Well, what do we have here?" The man who was closest to me asked and stepped towards me, vicious smile twisting at the corners of his lips. He stepped closer to me and his hand wound around my upper arm in a grip that would have hurt your average human. But, of course, I wasn't human. "Come to save your little boyfriend?" He asked mockingly and stepped closer so his chest was only inches from mine, his eyes level with my own.

"Get your hands off me." I growled out through clenched teeth.

"Or what?" He asked with a smirk, cocking his eyebrow. Without answering him I brought my knee up, hard, and he immediately crumpled, howling in pain. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't a bit...defective from now on. The strength was certainly an advantage to being a werewolf. I stepped past him and towards the second man who seemed a bit more reluctant to approach me, probably after what I had just done to his friend.

"Hit me." I demanded. "Hit me! Hit me, dammit!" I yelled and his fist connected with my face with a satisfying crunch as more than one bone in his hand broke. He cried out, clutching his hand to his chest and I kicked his legs out from under him, his body falling to the ground with a thud.

I moved towards the last man, who was slightly smaller than me in height but much more muscled than the other two. "Don't hurt him." I spoke, the anger clear in my voice.

He kicked David again, who groaned as the man's foot connected with his stomach. "Too late." The man grinned at me. A full blown animalistic growl erupted from my chest and the shock registered on his face a split second before my fist collided with his face and he stumbled backwards as I aimed another punch at his chest, knocking him over backwards.

I stood over him, my body shaking violently. "I said; don't" Kick. "Hurt" kick. "Him." I yelled and punctuated each word with a hard kick to the guy's middle as his body curled into the foetal position. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you!" I screeched, kicking him again. He had tried to kill my David and I wasn't going to let him live much longer.

I felt two strong arms wind around my waist from behind me and lift me up in the air, carrying me backwards and away from the humans. I shook more violently when the sickly sweet scent filled my nostrils as I struggled to free myself from the leach.

"Leah, calm down." Stupid psychic bitch; trying to stop me from hurting the humans any more. "What about David? He's hurt. He needs your help." She said from behind me and I immediately stopped shaking. She released me from her hold and I ran over to where David was lying, curled up on the ground.

I knelt down beside him, placing my hand on his shoulder and he flinched away from me, thinking I would hurt him. "David?" I asked softly and he lifted his head from his hands, looking up at me with wide, tear-filled eyes. "Are you ok?" I swept some of his brown locks from his forehead.

"Leah?" He asked his voice in a revered whisper. "Leah!" A smile spread across his face as he tried to sit up, wincing in pain as he moved.

"Here." I held out my hands towards him. "Let me help you up." I said as I wound my arm around his back and helped him to his feet as he draped one arm over my shoulders. I glanced around and saw that Alice was nowhere to be seen; hopefully she was just getting her car and had not left completely. I needed to get David home as soon as possible and that did not include phasing into a wolf and giving him a doggy-back ride home.

"Lee-Lee, you smell nice." David said as he nuzzled the side of my face with his nose.

"Lee-Lee?" I asked with my brow furrowed and he nodded. He was drunk. Either that or he was high, but I'm guessing drunk was more likely. "Come on, this way." I said as I walked with him out of the alley and through the maze of streets back to where I had first climbed out of the leach's car. She had better still be there.

"You know what, Lee-Lee?" He asked as he lifted his head from my shoulder and I noticed he was limping slightly.

"What?"

"I love you." He said seriously as a grin appeared on his face. "I love Leah!" He yelled loudly and I felt a smile spreading across my face.

"Really?"

"Yes. I was trying to forget about you earlier but it didn't work. I can't forget about you. You're too perfect." He said as he leaned his head against mine. I'm sure I had a huge shit-eating grin on my face by now. He loved me. He loved me!

I tightened my grip around his waist and we soon emerged from the maze of alleys and side-streets. I immediately saw the bright yellow Porsche and tensed as the leach's scent hit my nose. Now that I had David beside me and I knew he was safe I was pretty much back to my old self – no longer too worried to be disgusted at the stench and the fact that I had to rely on a blood-sucker.

I pulled open the back door of the Porsche and helped David so he was sitting on the seat with his legs outside the car. I definitely didn't miss the fact that his face crumpled in pain when he tried to sit or his short rasping breaths. If I wasn't so determined not to leave his side ever again I would have gone back and killed those bastards that had done this to him.

"I want a kiss." David pouted at as he stared up at me. He seemed a lot more childlike when he was I this drunken stupor. I smiled and peck his lips quickly before standing up again. He grinned at me and pulled his legs into the car, hissing in pain at the movement.

I took a deep breath to calm me as a shudder rippled through my body. That definitely wasn't the best idea. The vampire stench hit my nose, again, and I almost phased right there and then. How the hell did I managed not to phase on the way over here?

I closed the door and ran around to the passenger seat, not wanting to leave David alone for a second with the leach. I climbed in the car, shutting the door behind me and I made sure the window was wide open. The leach started the car and sped off down the street, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye.

"You make one move towards him and I'll fucking kill you." I said in a harsh, warning whisper that only the leach could hear. I hated the fact that there was a vampire this close to David.

"Leah?" I felt David's warm breath on the side of my face and turned my head to see his face inches from mine, leaning forward in his seat as he looked curiously at the psychic vamp. "Who's that? She looks funny." He spoke in a loud whisper as his eyes turned towards me.

I looked over at Alice and saw a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. "She smells funny too." I said in the same hushed voice as David. "She's Alice Cullen; Doctor Cullen's daughter." I stated. Well, I couldn't exactly say she was Doctor Leach's daughter, could I?

David frowned in thought for a few moments before realisation lit up his face. "Oh, Doc. Vamp's daughter." He nodded and spoke again before I could ask him about that. What did that mean? "They live in Forks, right? I always thought that was a strange name for a town. Why call it Forks? Why not Spoons? Did you know 'spoons' is a card game? It's fun. I like cards. Pokers a card game too. Oh, I know! Lee-lee, maybe we should play strip poker but without the poker part. I'm not very good at poker." He said with a grin of delight on his face and I heard the leach laughing quietly beside me.

"Maybe later. I think you should go to sleep now, ok?"

He sighed and nodded his head sullenly. "Ok." He said dejectedly, like a little boy who had just been told off. He shifted until he was lying curled up on the back seat, grunting in pain as he moved. "Night, Lee-Lee. I love you." He whispered as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. I sat, turned in my chair, watching him for the rest of the drive back, my attention only focusing on the wonderful man in front of me and the fact that he loved me.

A/N: yay! I'm not entirely sure how well this chapter went but I just want to say this is definitely not the end of all the trouble. Please vote on my profile!

Thanks to my reviewers: sailor alpha tomboy, iloveboyswhoSpARkle.17, Angel of the Moon22, Lecia, Dilidilzz86, wynea76 and truecurrency1989!

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