Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. She messed up the story when she made Jake imprint on Nessie. Fortunately for us there's always the world of fanfictions.

Author/Note: This is a Leah/Jacob story with all the normal pairings and the events in Breaking Dawn never happened, because just like my cousin said, Breaking Dawn shouldn't even be considered a book.

Translation to English of O Nosso Amanhecer 2. This version was subjected to a few changes from the original in Portuguese.

This translation was a request by FantasyLover74.

I'm not a native English speaker so I'm sorry for my grammar and spelling. Thank you for reading and thanks the people who reviewed, FantasyLover74, She-Wolf Heiress, brankel1, Chick, Piper9004, Jo Harv, JacobLeah, CallyGreen, Mariaxxx, RobertForLife, Darkmaster of the arts, BenitaxoxoCastiel, mehr03, AllieBlack16, ItsCuzOfTheFame.

Alert: the characters in this story curse a lot.

Our Dawn

Part II

Leah Clearwater

10. Uley and Young

I picked up my phone and recognised Jacob's voice immediately. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table; it marked eight o'clock in the morning. Why the hell was he calling me at that hour?

"Emergency meeting." His voice sounded quite disturbed. "Bring Seth too. We're at the Cullen's border."

Great. That was exactly what I needed. A damn emergency meeting. Nevertheless I felt somehow worried about what had happened. I mean there was a crazy leech after us and someone could be hurt.

Seth and I didn't even have breakfast. Martin and Denis joined us half way and we phased back together behind some trees before joining the others. The border with the Cullen's territory consisted in a small stream. The eight vampires were on their side looking quite serious.

Emmett was sitting down on a rock and his wife was on his lap. Alice and Jasper were holding hands. Carlisle was holding Esme's waist in a very protective way, although the way she had fought against the newborns showed clearly she didn't need protection. Bella and Edward were side by side looking paler than usual.

On our side there was no one missing which meant that it was indeed an emergency meeting.

"Alice had a vision early this morning." Carlisle announced.

"About Irina?" Jacob asked.

"Yes." Alice confirmed. "She didn't find support from other vampires to her cause."

The younger members of the pack sounded excited with the news but Alice wasn't happy or calm.

"She moved on to Plan B." The pixie announced making everyone shut up.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked impatiently.

"She decided to go to the Volturi."

"The Italians again?" Paul questioned with disdain.

"Yes. They act like a security force of our society…and the last time they were here Jane left visibly disturbed." Edward replied.

"Why?" Jacob asked.

"The newborns were created to kill Bella but we're sure the Volturi were hoping that a few of us would die too. They don't like big families like ours." Carlisle explained. "Aro is not a bad guy but he thinks that we're a threat."

"But none of you died." Seth mentioned.

"Exactly. We were seven and they were about twenty and yet we all survived." Carlisle said with a smile.

"Thanks to us." Paul highlighted.

"But they don't know that and they'll probably listen to Irina's story carefully." Edward explained.

"So the Vampire's Mafia is coming here, right?" Jacob inquired.

"I don't know yet because Irina hasn't decided when to leave to Italy, but as soon as she does I'll be able to see if Aro will buy her story and what he'll decide after that." Alice declared.

"Let them come. We can handle them." Paul said with a smirk.

"No." Bella's voice reached us.

Bella sure liked all eyes on her.

"The Volturi are powerful and lethal. They can't be compared to an army of untrained newborns. You were lucky that time…"

"Lucky?" Paul snorted. "We fought bravely to save your ass."

I had to agree with him.

"I'm not saying you didn't…I'm actually very thankful for that but you all could've died. Jacob was badly wounded and this time it will be worse." Bella pointed out.

"Jacob was hurt because one of us was reckless." Sam said glaring at me.

"Sam, just leave it." Jacob said sensing that I was about to reply to Sam's comment.

"When I came back from Volterra I spent weeks having nightmares about the Volturi. They have powerful vampires like Alice and Edward…and they know how to fight…" Bella continued.

"What are you suggesting then? Should we give up? Run away?" I asked.

"No. What we need is a good plan." Edward stated. "We have an advantage over them since Alice will be able to see when they'll come and how many they'll be. If we show them that Irina overreacted and that she's just being paranoid, we have a chance."

"What do we have to do then?" Jacob asked.

"First we need to secure our perimeter." Edward started.

"But you said she's leaving the country." Sam said.

"She didn't set a date yet and she can come here one last time to test us." Alice referred.

"We should patrol everyday and from now on we should make teams with two wolves and one vampire." Edward proposed.

Jacob agreed.

"We also think that Sam's wedding should be postponed." He continued.

"For how long?" Sam asked.

"A few months." He suggested.

"No. I can't do that to Emily."

How sweet. The great and responsible Sam Uley was actually putting his imprint's happiness before our safety.

"In that case you should get married tomorrow." Alice stated with a smile. "I can make it happen."

"Tomorrow? That's too soon…" He hesitated. I couldn't believe he was actually contemplating that suggestion.

"Three days?" Alice tried.

"I'll talk to Emily." He promised.

"Ok." She smiled happily. "We're going to have a wedding soon."

"I'm not going to lie to you." Edward said before we could leave. "By involving the Volturi Irina is going to put us all in danger. The Volturi are not vegetarian and they can bring an army too. If that happens…and if they don't accept to listen to us…we'll be at war. Innocent people may even die."

I liked the way the mind rapist placed the scenario. He could've tried to lie to us and say everything would be alright but he was being honest. So now we knew we could die soon and somehow I wasn't scared. I felt like it was normal to be in danger but knowing that innocent people could die was frightening and the vampires were worried too which actually made me think that maybe they weren't so bad.

xxxxxxxxxx

I don't really know why men complain about women taking time to dress up. Of course they're always much more interested when women take their clothes off and usually they'd tend to offer a hand or two.

But this time I was the one being desperate. I was waiting for over ten minutes in my backyard for a guy to put on a damn pair of pants, a white shirt, a tie and shoes. What the hell was the problem?

"I can't put this on…" he whined. What a fucking baby.

"What's wrong?" I asked impatiently.

"The stupid tie…"

"Let me see."

Brady walked over to me and looked a bit scared of my sudden will to help him. I wasn't particularly interested in making him look presentable for my cousin and ex-boyfriend's wedding but since I was lying to the kid I felt the least I could do was helping him with his tie.

"I thought you were Emily's maid of honour." He said.

"Nope. I wasn't invited."

It was half true. Emily wanted me to be her maid of honour but Sam had uninvited me two days ago.

"Did Jacob really send you to cover for me?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes. If you don't believe me go and ask him yourself."

By the time Brady would join Jacob and the others at the wedding I'd be long gone.

"Fine. Just try not piss off the others." Brady said leaving.

I was on patrol with three more wolves. Since the last time we celebrated a wedding a leech decided to come over to La Push, we weren't taking chances. The Cullens had the day off because they'd be at the wedding with their wonderful dresses and suits and we had to guarantee our people's protection. So Caleb, Rick and Justin were patrolling too. I would be going north which meant that my patrolling area would be far away from La Push and I was thankful for that.

As soon as I phased, Justin and the others protested. They were expecting Brady not me. I used my best resources to make them stay away from my thoughts: blackmail and threats. It worked like a charm. I kept running north and on my way I passed by the Cullen's territory. They were leaving the house and Bella waved at me. Stupid sparkling leech.

The day was quite enjoyable. The sun was shinning and I was thinking about phasing back and rest in a clearing since I didn't believe Irina would be stupid enough to come to La Push today.

I was almost by the north coast's cliffs when a russet wolf came into my view.

'Phase back now.'

What the hell was this idiot doing here? Couldn't he just leave me alone for one day? One fucking single day, that was all I wanted.

'Why? What's going on?' I was trying to play dumb and he snarled at me making me stop on my tracks and face him directly. 'Do you honestly think I'm scared of you?' I groaned.

'I said phase back now!'

I always knew Jacob was an idiot but I didn't know he was also suicidal. Right now I was tempted to rip his head off and bury him in the forest so no one could find him.

'Only if you say the magic words.' I mocked.

'I never thought you were such a coward. How can you run away like this?'

I phased back only because I didn't want the others to listen to this conversation. When I finished dressing up Jacob was already waiting for me. I faced him trying to sound as angry as possible but he didn't care.

"What the fuck do you mean Black? I'm not a coward." I spat furiously. People could call me names, could even accuse me of being a bitter bitch, selfish and mean but no one would call me a coward and live to tell the story. Not even Jacob fucking Black.

"What are you doing here? Brady told me everything. You lied to skip the wedding…Emily is really sad and your mother…"

"I don't care what they think." I cut him off. "Look, Claire and Kim are Emily's bride maids and she doesn't need me there. I'm helping to secure the perimeter. This is for the best, alright?"

"Sam's engaged for a while and you knew this would happen. I don't understand why you can't accept it."

Was he joking? Ok, maybe I had been secretly hoping that Sam would realise that his imprint wasn't as strong as his love for me, maybe I'd been secretly expecting him to come back to me before the wedding…but I wasn't the one pinning over my pseudo ex-girlfriend who had left me for a dead man and was turned into an ice cube herself.

"What are you so afraid of Leah?'" He asked.

"I'm not afraid of anything. I just need some time."

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but I can't go back alone. You have to come too."

"The fuck I will."

"Sam asked me to be his best man. It's my job to walk in with the maid of honour."

"Fuck off Black. That's just a stupid protocol."

"It's tradition."

"Go to hell. Go with Kim or Claire."

"They're going with Jared and Quil."

"Pick someone else."

"My dad wants me to go with Vanessa." He sighed.

"There you go. Problem solved, now I really need to go back to patrol."

Jacob grabbed my arms so I couldn't leave.

"I felt this pain too, you know? Seeing Bella after she was turned changed a few things but my feelings were still the same. To watch her getting married with him was hard but I survived and after a while the pain went away…slowly. I just needed to understand that she's meant to be with him…not me. She's happy and that's all that matters."

"I'm glad for you but Sam's not a vampire and he didn't even fight the imprint."

"You need to close this chapter of your life Leah. I did it too."

He was right. I needed closure. I had to see with my own eyes the moment Sam and Emily would exchange their vows. But Sam had begged me not to go.

"I need to patrol…"

"Leah!"

"Don't do this Jacob. You have no idea how hard this is for me."

"I know. I felt the same…"

"No, you didn't!" I yelled at him. "You know why? Because Bella wanted you there. She actually wanted to share that moment with her friends and family and she never stopped being your friend even after becoming a bloodsucker. Sam doesn't want me there! He begged me not to go."

"He did what?"

"He wants to have his happily ever after and I don't have a place in it. He wants to share this moment with Emily and he wants me to stay away from them…so I will."

Jacob let me go and his face changed. Was it anger? Rage? I didn't know.

"He's an asshole." He said clenching his fists. "You know what? I don't even know how the hell you fell in love with him! He's a total idiot! He doesn't deserve you…"

I looked at Jacob surprised. Was he really standing up for me? Why?

"I think you should go and show him that you're better than all of them. You should show everyone that you're stronger than this." He continued.

"Are you listening to yourself?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Why are you trying to help me?"

"Because we're friends? I mean, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes but I know what you feel and I think you should get your closure today. Come on…Leah Clearwater never followed orders from anyone, much less from Sam idiot Uley, right?"

"He doesn't want me there."

"He doesn't own you anymore. You're free to do whatever you want to."

"But…"

"Your family wants you there."

"What if he kicks me out?"

"I won't allow it. I'm the alpha, remember?"

I hesitated. Somehow I knew Jacob was right but I didn't know what to do. If something went wrong Sam would accuse me of it and I didn't want to ruin my cousin's wedding even knowing she was having my happy ending.

"Come on…" Jacob grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me with him. We ran across the forest and we reached my house in less than ten minutes. He pushed me inside and Brady was waiting for us in my living room.

"Was about time…" He said.

"You should've kept your mouth shut little shit." I glared at him.

"Jacob's the alpha, I couldn't lie to him."

"Here. Take this and go upstairs."

Jacob gave me the same purple box I had put on the garbage.

"Where did you get this?" I asked surprised.

"Seth took it out of the garbage." He told me.

I guess I should thank my brother later otherwise I would have nothing to dress.

"How can you take this?" I heard Brady ask Jacob while I was having a quick shower.

"She's not so bad…" Jacob answered.

"She's always complaining and yelling at us." Brady whined. I would have a little chat with him later. Stupid kid.

"Leah! Come on, we're late." Jacob yelled.

I didn't have time to put on some make up but quite frankly I didn't care. I put my shoes on and went downstairs. Jacob had changed clothes too and was pacing near the stairs waiting for me. When he saw me I felt really awkward because they were both staring at me. I felt like an alien.

"Is that really her?" Brady asked.

Jacob nodded never taking his eyes off of me.

"How is that possible? I mean she looks…"

"Don't finish that sentence if you want to live." I threatened Brady.

"If you weren't so hostile…" Brady muttered.

"Maybe this is a bad idea. I shouldn't go." I said.

"No!" Jacob half yelled. "We have to go now."

Again he pulled me by the hand and told Brady to patrol with the others.

"Times like these I'd like to be the alpha." Brady said before leaving.

"What the hell did he mean?" I asked Jacob who was opening the car's door for me.

He shrugged.

We arrived at Sam's place in five minutes and Seth joined us immediately.

"Sam's asking for you." He told Jacob.

"I know."

Everyone was gathered at the back of the house where a huge white tent decorated with pink and red roses was. The guests were all sitting down waiting for the bride. I saw the leeches in the last row, away from the few sun rays that were perking through the tent.

When Sam spotted me he didn't look pleased and I took a step back only to hit Jacob's massive body standing behind me.

"Don't even think about it." He warned me.

"Kim and Claire are waiting for you." Seth said before leaving us. He crossed the red carpet and joined our mother and Charlie.

Jacob grabbed my right wrist and placed a red ribbon around it.

"What the hell?" I complained when I watched the ribbon on his wrist matching mine.

"No way in hell I'm dancing with Vanessa." he explained.

The girl wasn't standing too far from us and her eyes were shinning brightly watching Jacob. Quil and Embry used to make fun of Jacob because Vanessa was like a stalker. I mean that was three years ago and I always thought she'd come around and move on. Obviously she didn't and the look in her eyes made it clear: she still had hopes that Jacob would invite her out some day.

"Give her a break." I said. "She's not that bad."

Vanessa was cute for a seventeen year-old. She was a bit annoying but that was probably because people never paid her too much attention.

"I'd rather have you whining all day."

"Thanks a lot Black." I poked him. "You didn't imprint on her, did you?"

"Hell no! Why?"

"Your names kind of match. Jacob Black and Vanessa White. You'd make a cute couple."

He was shocked with my sudden outburst about imprinting but he knew I was only trying to buy some time and don't pay attention to what was about to happen.

Kim called me and Jacob and I walked over to her quickly. My mum waved at me and then Claire grabbed my dress wanting my attention. Sam was frowning and Jacob noticed.

"I'll take care of him. You just stay here." He said joining Sam a couple of feet away.

"Where's aunt Emily?" Claire asked.

"She'll be here, don't worry." I answered.

In that precise moment Emily and her father came into view. My cousin was beautiful. Her scar was practically gone. You could still see a few marks because the skin colour was slightly lighter but her eye was completely perfect and her lips too. Her dress was long and white and although Emily had never meant to get married in a white dress (that was probably Alice's idea), I could look into her eyes and see she was happy to live that dream. My dream.

I took my eyes off of her and uncle Ben, and tried to focus on something else. Claire was already throwing the petals away and Kim was trying to make her stop. She only did so when Quil gave her a "don't-do-that" look.

As an elder Old Quil could perform a wedding and, since he was actually old, I knew it would take a while. I took my time watching the leeches. Their dresses were beautiful and the men were absolutely handsome. Even Bella looked great in that black and white gown. When I realised I'd been praising the damn leeches I focused on my family and immediately regretted it. My mother was crying a river in her seat and Charlie didn't know what to tell her to calm her down.

Emily had always been a second daughter to my mother and let's face it, my mum wouldn't have the chance to see me getting married since we all knew I wasn't marriage material. I guess she had the right to feel emotional about the occasion.

Old Quil's monochord tone was making me really sleepy. Kim elbowed me and shook her head in disapproval and then my eyes met Jacob's.

A weird feeling assaulted me. Again it wasn't a teenager I was looking at, it was a man. The suit he was wearing made him look like the Native American version of Agent 007. I had never thought about him that way. To me Jacob was just…well Jacob, a childhood friend and my brother's idol. I guess my inexistent romantic life was making me hallucinate. No way, in my normal state of mind, I'd find Jacob handsome or attractive. That was unacceptable. I mean who the hell was I becoming? Vanessa White? Bella Swan? No way!

Looking at the others, who were also properly dressed, I realised they were quite handsome too. Even Paul looked like a gentleman although he was the biggest ass in the world. So what was so special about Jacob Black? Probably nothing…I was just feeling funny because of the way he was staring at me. His warm eyes and his charming smile were hard to ignore, even if he was just watching me to make sure I wouldn't start crying my eyes out when Sam and Emily were kissing and everyone was clapping happily.

I guess the worst part of it was facing all of this pain alone. I felt misplaced and if I could just run away I would. No second thoughts…I would leave and restart my life somewhere else, but the truth was I couldn't do it. My family and the pack needed me. If the Volturi came to Forks I'd want to be there to fight. I wasn't a coward.

"You need to move Leah." Jacob's voice woke me up. "We are supposed to be dancing."

"What?"

Only then I realised the ceremony was over and everyone was going to the dance floor. I didn't have time to protest while Jacob's arms dragged me along with him. Dancing wasn't my favourite hobby. Dancing at my ex-boyfriend's wedding wasn't definitely on my plans but somehow feeling so close to someone else made me allow Jacob's hands to rest on my waist.

"You know, you don't have to keep me company just because you feel sorry for me." I told him.

"I don't feel sorry for you." He assured me.

I didn't believe him.

"I did once. When Sam left you, when Harry died, when you realised you'd never be a mother I did feel sorry for you but now I don't anymore." He continued.

I looked at him surprised.

"Your life is miserable only if you want it to be. After today you know Sam's not coming back to you and you can either accept it or deny it. You have a chance to move on."

His eyes were honest and even if Jacob had prepared his speech to cheer me up I didn't care because he was actually making sense. To live a miserable life focusing only on the past was wrong and painful. I wouldn't be able to take it for much longer.

It was strange to see a different Jacob standing there with me holding my body closely to his and making me feel somewhat calm and relaxed. Tired of being alone I allowed Jacob to guide me and I placed my head against his shoulder. The music was calm and I ignored Vanessa's glares for a while. It was given me the opportunity to let go all of my worries for that brief moment while Jacob was guiding me through the dance floor and I wasn't going to waste it. I didn't care what was happening and who was watching us. I only knew that my heart was lighter and I didn't feel so bad.

But all the good things must come to an end and my moment eclipsed when the music stopped and everyone started to gather around the tables. The food would be served soon.

Reluctantly Jacob let me go and I smiled at him. I would never admit he had made me feel different for a few minutes. I would never accept that Jacob Black was somehow responsible for making me feel connected to another person even if it was kind of weird that I felt like this about him of all people. But I smiled anyways to thank him for being there and he returned the smile back.

"I need to go now." I said.

"Why?" He asked.

"I need to clear my mind."

"You're coming back, right?"

I shrugged.

"I need to be away from everyone right now."

"Promise me you'll come back soon."

"Why?"

"I know how it feels but believe me that going down that road can take you to the darkest places ever. I really don't want you to walk that road…on your own."

I understood his metaphors and on the inside I smiled thinking that he really was worried about me.

"Promise me you'll come back Leah.'" He insisted.

"I promise."

And then I left. The most painful chapter of my life was finished.