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, brezzybrez, teamtorettosupporter, running with wolves, Blackwater Crazziii, DressageQueen14, Krizglass, akira m, bvc17, blackwater-forever, cyrusnjonas.

Alert: the characters in this story curse a lot.

Our Dawn

Part II

Leah Clearwater

21. Countdown

Vampires were weird creatures. At first I always thought vampires were just filthy bloodsuckers whose only purpose was to screw me over. Maybe I was wrong about them after all; because now I actually knew there were many kinds of vampires. Some of them were just plain weird and bizarre, such as Alistair and the two Draculas, Vladimir and Stefan; others were kind and maybe even naïve such as Mary, Maggie and Charlotte.

Some were evil such as the Volturi; others were kind of idiots like Garrett and Randall. The Cullens weren't labelled yet but "a few screws loose" in my opinion, defined them quite well.

They actually believed that twenty one wolves and eight vampires could convince the Volturi to go home without a fight. Oh yeah...it would be a piece of cake! For fuck sake!

Come on, they had powerful vampires: Renata, Chelsea, Afton, Corin, Demetri, Heidi and last but not least the witch twins, Jane and Alec.

What about us? We had a mind rapist, an emotion's controller, a seer and a fucking good for nothing whiner called Bella, whose only power seemed to be to block mental attacks which meant she would just watch us being tortured without moving an inch. Fucking awesome.

Edward told us that Alistair, Charles, Siobhan and Maggie also had powers but they were also useless. Alistair was some sort of a tracker, Charles and Maggie could detect lies and Siobhan could control someone's decisions. Not so much offensive.

Actually Siobhan could help us but she refused to fight and she didn't believe she had a special ability. She was only there to witness. So, yes, we were screwed and I didn't believe we would make it alive.

Carlisle and Edward described the Volturi to us so we would be able to recognise them once they arrived and then they decided to tell us the whole plan.

"They will be here tomorrow morning. Aro knows we'll be waiting." Alice said.

"Make no mistake…Aro's plan is to recruit us. He never wanted anything else. He desires Alice's powers almost as much as he desired Alec and Jane's." Edward continued.

"But because he is a gentleman and an old friend of mine he will listen to our version of the story." Carlisle said. "They're going to ask for explanations and we will give it to them."

"What about Irina?" Jacob asked.

"She's among them but she won't attack until Aro decides what to do." Alice said. "If she actually thinks that Aro will help her to get revenge, she's sadly mistaken."

"Aro isn't going to approve our alliance. He will accuse us of having a plot against them by using you as pets or something like that." Edward stated.

"As if we need giant fur balls with fleas as pets." Rosalie mocked.

"As if we want to be your pets, filthy leech." I retorted. The blonde glared at me and I did the same. She couldn't possibly think I was scared of her, right?

"Calm down." Jasper's voice had an instant effect on us.

"There is something we think we can do to avoid a battle." Edward informed us. "We know Aro wants to separate our family and if he accepts to leave Forks and your pack alone, we will accept to be a part of the Volturi Guard one day."

"What?" Jacob asked surprised. "I thought you wanted to be together."

"And we do." Bella said softly. "But he might accuse Carlisle of high treason and kill him. Just like we said before they won't harm me, Edward, Jasper or Alice but the others…Aro doesn't need them."

"So he's going to blackmail you?" Seth asked.

"Yes. Aro knows we care about you and about the lives of innocent people. He will take advantage of that for sure." Edward assured.

"Either way…they win." I said.

"It may sound that way but if you stay alive and our family too we can still spend a few years together. We won't lose that much." Bella stated.

"Except for your freedom." Seth muttered.

"If Aro does ask you to go, will you be there forever?" Jacob asked.

"I don't think so." Alice confessed. "He knows he won't gain anything by forcing us to be there but if we accept to stay with the Volturi to save you he will make sure we keep our promise."

"We really don't know what Aro will decide but I believe it's Caius we need to fear the most." Carlisle warned us. "He was attacked by a werewolf and hates your kind."

"Let's just hope for the best, shall we?" Esme said.

We all remained in silence for a while. Actually to hope for the best was to hope for a miracle and I wasn't such a religious person those days.

We were worried. The good news was that the Volturi wouldn't help Irina getting her revenge. The bad news was that the Cullens would probably have to sacrifice themselves and go to Italy in order to save us.

After a second thought I realised that wouldn't be so bad after all. It would definitely be wrong, I mean everyone had to right to choose their own lives, but at least Bella would be far away from us and we could stop phasing.

We went back to La Push for a few hours to tell everything to Billy and Old Quil. Then we went home to say goodbye to our families. Seth and I called our mother.

She was even more nervous than us. We weren't able to calm her down over the phone and we cried with her for a couple of minutes when she started to tell us how much she loved us and how proud she was to be our mother. Charlie wished us good luck and told us to protect each other.

Since we wouldn't be able to sleep, Seth and I decided to go to Jacob's place. When we got there we realised everyone had thought about the same. We said goodbye to Billy and Old Quil and we went to the forest and up to the clearing where we were going to fight. It was now a matter of time.

The silence was disturbing and I realised the animals were probably aware of the danger we were facing. We stayed in the clearing, talking quietly while the time went by. A few hours later the Cullens joined us. I watched their clothes and noticed Alice had probably made them dress what they were wearing. All the women had a red corset and dark tight jeans. The men were wearing a brown t-shirt and black jeans. Practical clothes to fight with. I wasn't wearing jeans like Jacob asked me to. He wasn't my father or my boyfriend. Shorts and a tank top would do just fine.

It was really weird to spend all those hours talking to the Cullens. Edward and Bella were totally at ease among us. Esme was talking to some of the pups, probably about food, and Carlisle was speaking to Sam and Jared.

Alice had found out about Paul's plan to propose to Rachel and was giving him some advices, while her husband looked at her with devotion. Emmett was talking about sports with Embry and some of the others.

Even Rosalie was engaged in a quiet conversation with Quil about little Claire. That was really scary. The blonde vampire had some sort of obsession about the child. Poor Claire not only she would have to deal with the retarted wolf who had imprinted on her but also an obsessive and heartless leech.

We talked about everything. It looked like those annoying talk-shows where we had to share everything about us to work on our friendship. It was kind of creepy actually.

"I spoke to Charlie a few hours ago. Sue is really worried." Bella's voice reached me. I turned to face her and I realised I didn't want to argue with her right now, so I just talked to her calmly.

"I know. Charlie seemed worried about you too even though you're a lee…vampire with a useful power." I said.

"If it depends on us, you're all going to live through this. I won't let the Volturi kill you."

"I believe you." I said sincerely. I did believe she was worried about the pack. Bella had showed before she still had feelings.

"You're worried about Seth, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'm sure he'll be fine."

I gave her a small smile. I guess she was really trying to be nice to me. I had to give her some credit.

"Why did you choose this life?" I suddenly asked.

Bella took a few seconds to answer.

"Because I love Edward. I believe you know how it is to love someone so madly that we would do anything for him."

Yes, I knew. For a few years I thought that person was Sam Uley, but now I wasn't so sure.

"Do you realise what you lost?" I asked her again.

"Yes. I lost my mother…and in a way I lost my father too although he accepts the way I am now. I lost my friends…the human ones. I lost my chance to become a mother and to be a part of the so called normal world but I did it all for love."

"One day you will want all of that back."

She shrugged.

"I've got Edward by my side. It's enough."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded yes.

"Leah…if we go to Volterra can you take care of Charlie for me?"

I looked at her surprised. I guess Jacob was right about one thing. Bella hadn't changed that much. She still had human emotions in her heart and her love for Charlie was real.

"I will."

"Thanks."

It was a good thing that Jacob came to join us or I would end up having to hug Bella.

"Bella, can we talk?" He asked.

"Sure Jake."

Bella and Jacob waited for me to leave and then he told her that he was happy that they were still friends and that even if the Volturi killed us, she shouldn't blame herself. She wasn't too happy when he told her that.

"This sounds just like that day Jake." She said.

"What day?"

"The day you went to fight with the newborns. Are you hiding something from me?"

I was surprised to see that Bella wasn't that stupid after all.

"No." He lied. "I just want you to promise me that you won't let anything happen to innocent people."

"Of course I promise."

Jacob gave her a quick hug and then Edward met them.

"You're such a moron…" Edward said. "An alpha command, are you serious?"

Jacob glared at him because he knew Edward had read in his mind about his plan of sacrificing himself to let us escape alive.

"What alpha command?" Bella inquired.

"Look just shut your mouth, alright?" Jacob said.

As soon as Edward would spill the beans, Bella was going to have a fit. That was going to be nice to watch and maybe Bella could convince Jacob to accept our help and undo the alpha command.

When Edward was about to talk, Carlisle called his family. We tried to give them some privacy but we would be able to listen to everything anyway.

"I never wanted things to turn out like this." Carlisle said. "All of these years I've been trying to repent for my sins and I'm really glad to have met you all."

Carlisle was without a doubt the most "human" of the Cullens. We could actually feel his pain while he was trying to say goodbye to his family.

"What are you saying honey?" Esme asked.

"Carlisle wants to go to a trial if Aro promises to let us be together." Edward announced.

"No!" Esme opposed.

His plan was the same as Jacob's. Sacrifice. What a bunch of idiots!

"I'm responsible for this." Carlisle said.

"So am I." Edward retorted. "But do you honestly think that Aro will leave us alone if you go to a trial?"

"He wants our powers." Alice stated. "He won't stop at this."

"If they think you're dangerous to them, they'll kill you." Rosalie added. "I know you think you can trust them…but you can't."

"Rose is right. We need each other and you're our leader." Emmett stated.

"Actually…I think you and Rosalie should leave." Edward announced.

I really wasn't seeing that one coming. I mean I had always noticed that Edward and Rosalie weren't too close, but this was actually unexpected.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Emmett asked angrily.

"They don't want you. They want us and the pack. We wouldn't be mad if you and Rose left." Edward explained. "It might save you."

"You really think very highly of us, don't you?" Rosalie said coldly and with a hint of sarcasm. "I know you don't particularly enjoy me but I never thought you would refuse our help in a time like this."

"That's not what I meant. I want you two to be safe." Edward tried to fix things.

"Whether you like it or not, this is my family too. I might be shallow, superficial, vain and self-centred but I'm not a coward. I don't abandon my family because I want to live." Rosalie spat.

"Edward is just worried about…" Bella started.

"I've always managed to have what I wanted because of my beauty and I'm not afraid to say it but that doesn't mean I don't have a mind of my own. I guess I'm not so perfect after all…" Rosalie cut Bella off.

"I'm sorry." Edward finally said. "I guess your beauty doesn't make you justice."

"You should never judge a book by its cover." Emmett declared. "My Rosalie isn't just a beautiful face, Edward."

"I know and I apologise." Edward said. Rosalie turned her face the other way and pulled Emmett with her.

"I'll calm her down and then you can apologise properly." Emmett grinned.

"Thanks Emmett." Edward said.

"Who told you I'm going to forgive you Edward?" Rosalie stopped walking.

"You are my sister, aren't you?"

"Back in the 40's I was…Now I'm Jasper's sister."

Jasper smirked.

"She's definitely a Hale…" He said playfully.

"We do have a nice family, don't we?" Esme asked kissing Carlisle.

"Absolutely. I love them to pieces." The doctor replied. They all laughed.

"Maybe we should call our reinforcements so they can take their positions." Edward announced looking to his watch. "Jasper, take Bella and Alice with you."

We watched them leaving and then Edward came to talk to Jacob. They started arguing and everyone ignored them. It wasn't that strange to hear Edward and Jacob fighting about the most stupid things, they did it constantly. This time I was sure Edward was lecturing Jacob about his suicidal plan.

"Fine! Don't blame me when they kill you!" Edward finished.

"I won't, asshole!" Jacob retorted.

I was actually putting my hopes on Edward this time but Jacob's stubbornness won.

After that the silence returned until Bella, Jasper and Alice came back. They informed us that Alistair was gone but the other vampires were holding their positions as planned. A few more hours later some of us were trying to sleep but it wasn't easybecause we were too nervous to close our eyes and relax.

While the Cullens remained near the trees talking quietly, we were all lying down on the grass side by side. We watch the moon and the stars and some of us whispered prayers and hopes for the future. It was only two and a half in the morning.

"Alright people, who wants to be the first?" Paul asked.

"First to what? Kill you? Oh wait Jacob already tried that…" Quil replied. We all laughed.

"Fine Ateara…you start. Say something you regretted doing or something you shouldn't have done in the past." Paul said.

"Why?"

"Because we can die tomorrow and you shouldn't take secrets to the grave."

Quil started to think hard.

"I once stole my grandpa's money to buy porn magazines." He stated.

"That's my boy!" Paul cheered. "Wait…what? You mean like six years ago?"

"Yeah."

"That was you?"

"Yep."

"Fucking asshole! The old man blamed me!" Paul half yelled.

"I know…I put the magazines in your backpack."

"That's my boy!" Embry high-fived Quil.

We all laughed for a while except for Paul, who pouted.

"My turn now…" Jared said. "I was the one who videotaped Mr. Owen and Miss Lena kissing and then put it on youtube."

Everyone applauded and Jared smiled proudly.

"I stole all of my sister's underwear to win a bet." My brother confessed. "Sorry…" He added turning to me.

"What? I thought that was Quil and Embry…I told their mums…" I was really shocked to listen to Seth's confession.

"My mother almost killed me." Quil stated.

"Liar. You blamed me and bailed out on the last minute." Embry glared at him.

"How can you remember that? It was four years ago." Quil said.

"I remember because Sam wanted to beat the crap out of me and put me inside that damn basement with spiders and shit…"

"I'm sorry about that, Embry." Sam said.

We all laughed again.

"It's ok…actually I should warn you…I was the one who pissed on your tennis shoes at School the day you had that basketball game." Embry confessed.

"You little prick." Sam groaned.

"Come on Sam…I was thirteen…"

"Well Sam you were actually lucky because he wanted to take a shit on them." Jacob said and we cracked down laughing hysterically.

"Tell them what you've done Brady…" Collin said suddenly.

"No way."

"Spill the beans kid." Paul ordered.

"Fine. When I was a kid my mother would leave with Aunt Marge whenever she needed a babysitter. Aunt Marge was really…nasty."

"How nasty?" Seth asked.

"She liked to drink two bottles of whisky each night and she farted all the time."

Again we laughed really hard.

"So…one night I replaced the whisky with perfume and water."

"You thought her farts would smell good?" Embry questioned between laughs.

"Come on guys. I was eight…"

"Fuck…Did you kill your Aunt with perfume and water?" Paul asked. "That would be fucking awesome."

"No, she didn't die. She just had to go to the Hospital because she started crapping something green for over a week."

"Awesome man!" Everyone pointed out. Brady was definitely a hero now.

One by one all the pups started to tell stories and secrets they had kept for a long time. We learned a lot of weird, interesting and funny things about them.

"What about you Leah?" Brady asked. "You didn't tell us anything yet."

"Well…" I started.

"Can we join in?" Bella asked coming over with the rest of the Cullens. "I actually remember one thing Leah did years ago."

I looked at her suspiciously.

"Do you remember the day we met for the second time? Charlie, Harry and Billy took us fishing." She started.

"Vaguely." I answered.

"You ditched Jacob, Rachel, Rebecca and Seth and took me to the boat while our parents weren't looking…You wanted to see if I was worth being your friend."

"Yeah…I remember. I told you I didn't know how to swim and jumped into the water to see your reaction."

"I panicked and ended up turning the boat over and you had to save me instead."

"I wouldn't call it saving you…The water only reached us by the waist."

I was surprised she remembered that. I was eleven years old back then.

"You also kicked Jacob's ass that day because he told our parents what you had done."

"That I remember." I laughed and Jacob frowned.

"And do you remember you were grounded for two weeks?" He retorted.

"Details…" I kept laughing.

"You also told me we would never be friends again." He stated. I remembered that too. It was a childish thing to say. Thinking about it...back then Jacob and I weren't best friends at all. He was younger than me and we didn't have the same friends at School. I was four years ahead. Of course we had to hang out from time to time because our parents were best friends and every once and a while Jacob would go to our place to play with Seth and Rachel and Becca would play with me but he had never been my best friend and I have never seen him the way I was seeing now. That day I also told a seven year-old Jacob Black I would never need him. I guess I was wrong.

The Cullens proceed with the funny stories. It was actually interesting to know they weren't all that perfect.

"When Emmett joined the family he had this…urge to become famous and started to study science books and he convinced himself he would invent something really special." Edward said.

"Did he?" Collin asked.

"Of course I did." Emmett reassured us.

"What?"

"I discovered that you should never put coal, salt and mineral wax together and then light a match." He smiled.

"It literally blows you off, doesn't it honey?" Rosalie inquired laughing.

"Oh yeah…It was great." He stated sarcastically.

"Well, Edward can't say the same…you destroyed the garage and half of his things…" Esme said.

"He should've known! He's the fucking genius in the family and he reads minds!" Emmett complained.

"I kind of wanted to see how far you would go…"

"Well, he did fly almost a mile." Carlisle informed. "I won the bet that time."

That was priceless. All in all, it was a good night. We could all die in a few hours but I guess now, after hanging around with a bunch of vampires, we could handle everything.

It was almost six in the morning when I felt someone touch my arm and call my name. I saw Jacob standing beside me.

"I need to talk to you Leah." He said. I looked around and saw that we had all fallen asleep a while ago. Seth was holding my hand and I slowly got up leaving him.

"What?" I asked when we were far enough from the pack.

"The Cullens are patrolling, they want to check if there's nothing unusual." He started.

"You want me to join them?"

"No, I want to tell you that you and I are going to remain on our human forms."

"Why?"

"Edward thinks it's a good idea to show them we're not monsters."

"Ok…" I said turning around to go back to my brother. To be in my wolf form right now was a bit dangerous because I could let some of my feelings about him slip unintentionally.

"Leah?"

"What?"

"If the Volturi threaten to kill us…I want you to leave immediately."

"What?"

"Take Seth and leave…don't turn back."

"I can't do that Jacob."

"I already gave you an alpha command Leah. I'm just asking you to take your brother with you and leave first."

"I'm going to fight against your stupid alpha command, Jacob. I'm not going to leave your side. You can't die!"

"Do you actually think you're life is worthless?" He asked me.

I nodded.

"You're wrong. You're stronger than you think Leah and you're important to us."

Jacob closed the space between us and embraced me. I felt the time stop and as my body melted into his I let myself relax in his arms. He then kissed my forehead and left, going into the forest, probably to help the Cullens.

I remained frozen watching the trees until the first sun beams started to hit me. A few months ago I would see this battle as an opportunity to die at the hands of my enemies and thus freeing my family and the pack from my vicious and bitter personality. Now, I was starting to enjoy being alive again because something inside of me was telling that it had never been Sam…it had always been Jacob.