DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

"It's you." I took a long, deep breath and exhaled with a whistle. I bit my top lip and looked away.

-x-

Max's POV

I rounded on him as soon as Leah and Evan had disappeared upstairs.

"What on earth were you trying to do?" I yelped, crossing my arms and assuming the furious-mother-naughty-child argument situation. "Kill him?"

"Well… I-he…" Seth seemed to be at a loss for words. I wasn't going to take any old bullshit for an answer though. I think he had pushed it far enough.

"Out with it, Seth!" I hissed, for fear of disturbing Leah and Evan's little discussion upstairs, "Come on,"

"I don't know, Max." He ran a hand through his hair and tried to look cute. It didn't quite work this time - hell, he was still damn attractive, but I was furious.

"That was attempted murder. Bodily harm if nothing else, Seth-"

"But he hurt you-"

"That's no excuse. It wasn't him anyway. We were talking about Ben." I swallowed hard even as I thought about it. "And I got upset." He looked at me, trying to work out whether I was lying or not.

"So he never…"

"He said some stuff. But it wasn't supposed to hurt me. Maybe you should have thought about what he actually said, Seth-"

"I just walked in and saw you crying." He sounded so hurt that my anger dissipated immediately. It was only then that I realised. He was trying to screw with my emotions, if he was hurt, I would feel bad for him. And I'd be mad at Evan.

"But you could have waited." I said softly, knowing my resolve was sinking in my chest, crumbling the longer I stood before him, looking at him, staring into his eyes. "Seth, don't you understand? Jumping to conclusions…" I folded and unfolded my arms again. "Is wrong?" I finished pathetically.

"I get you, Max." He nodded, smiling slightly.

"No… you just don't." I was sure he was wrong. He didn't get it. He didn't understand. "This is wrong."

"What is?" He was frowning now, and I was pleased about it.

"You can't hate him." I gestured towards the ceiling.

"Hate who?"

"Don't play stupid, Seth Clearwater." And I put my hands on my hips, the best display of anger I could manage right now. "You can't hate Evan. I-he's a lovely bloke. You don't know him at all-"

"I think I know him better tha-"

"Oh shut up!" I nearly went and slapped him, but settled for shoving him in the chest. "You fucking moron!" His eyes went wide and he looked honestly hurt. "We've been best friends for fifteen years, Seth. Evan is as much a part of my life as breathing. I've loved him… like a brother... and more, for an absolute age, Seth. Feelings like that don't just turn off. He'll be a brother forever." He stared at me for a long minute. My fingers drummed on the table as I unfolded my arms and I sighed.

"You need to let him get used to everything, Seth. Life has just flipped inside out for him." Seth nodded slowly and went to put his hand on my shoulder. I dodged him easily - I assumed he hadn't been desperate to grab me, because he could have if he had tried. "Do you understand that?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"And anyway, he'll forget all about me as soon as Leah smiles at him." His face went white.

"What?"

"Leah." I said again. "Oh, shit." He looked at me for a long minute.

"You mean… she-" I cut him off with a nod. "On him?" I nodded again and swallowed nervously.

"Yes?" I offered hopefully. He did something I would never have expected.

He punched the air and whooped with delight.

Wolves.

Evan's POV

"So… explain the whole thing again." I asked softly, streaks of light flashing across my vision, confusing me even more. "You're saying that… I imprinted on your heart… and… now-" Our conversation was unfolding at an agonising pace - I'd asked her to repeat it about eight or nine times, still confused about the whole situation.

"And now… everything is for you." She breathed, looking up at me from her cross-legged position on the bed. I couldn't believe it, and I don't really know if I wanted to - I mean… who wants to be told that suddenly, somebody perfectly capable of looking after themselves is dependant on your existence.

It was terrifying, but fantastic. She was looking at me with her big, beautiful, eager eyes, and I knew I was mirroring her with a not-so-subtle stare.

"Leah… I don't understand." I brushed my hand through my hair again and sighed. "I want to understand, Leah, but it just makes no sense." Her face fell and she looked away. I had to fix that. "I'm just saying… you said you saw me in a photo… but… how does that work?" And she finally lost her sense of calm.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" She barked, "I didn't ask for this to happen, did I? It just… this is why I hate being a wolf. Because you can't control anything you do, and then when all this imprinting crap comes along, it screws up your life…" she closed her eyes and looked away. "Evan, I didn't mean that."

"Yes, Leah, you did." I strode around the room to crouch down in front of her and take her hand. "Leah… if I've screwed anything up for you-"

I don't know why, but there was an immense attraction burning in my stomach, putting the stomach ache of the past three days to shame. I leaned closer to her and rested my forehead against her shoulder, nudging her gently, trying to make her laugh, to make her grin.

She just seemed to get angrier.

"It's not you!" She threw my hand down furiously and hit the mattress with her own. "If anything, it's me! Evan, I'm the only female wolf in the pack." She was opening a whole new angle up on this problem. "When I first changed, I was different. I was in love with Sam - he's the Alpha in the other pack, we used to date…" A longer pause, "We used to be completely in love. Then he met Emily, and imprinted on her. And I lost everything."

She sniffed and I shifted to sit beside her. She leaned against me and I couldn't push her away.

"And this was when?" I was suddenly furious at this Sam bloke, for breaking Leah's heart.

"Five, six years ago now, I suppose." She shrugged, sniffed, breathed in heavily, "I've always been afraid that I'd do the same thing." She looked at me and blushed, hiccupping again. "I knew I'd break up a relationship - it's just how everything seems to go for me. And now that I find out Max and you-"

"Don't worry." I murmured, putting my arm around her. "You've not screwed anything up, Leah." I tried to keep her breathing even - she was crying and that had to stop. "None of this is your fault." she shook her head. "Seth imprinted on Mac…"

In that second, everything clicked into place. She didn't want to be the one to hurt the other half - she knew how it felt; she knew that… she knew that our situation was exactly the same. We'd been left behind by someone else, left to pick up the pieces. And now fate had shoved us together. She knew that nobody else could see it either. It was her personal hell.

And I had to bring her back.

"It's my fault-" She reiterated, and I had had enough of her self pity. It wasn't her problem. She needn't be worrying. I had to make her see… that weird attraction hit me again and I shook slightly.

"No." I said a little more forcefully. "Leah, listen to me," I raised my hand to touch her cheek, my hands visibly shaking, more than usual, to tilt her head so she had to look at me. "None of this is your fault."

"It…" She bit her bottom lip again and as she released it, I found my thumb brushed the curve of her lips, touched the corner of her mouth and I felt myself leaning forward, touching her lips to mine. Her lips moved against mine and she made a small noise in the back of her throat. I laughed and pulled away, she looked at me, blushing, but holding back giggles. "You just kissed me."

"Indeedy." I was suddenly running on a feeling of pure elation. She tasted like coffee and chocolate, her lips were soft but untreated. And I felt a little bit giddy as well. "I kissed you." I whispered, my voice laden with disbelief.

"You're regretting this already?" She sounded just as incredulous as I felt.

I closed my eyes and breathed slowly for a few minutes, wondering whether I did regret pressing my lips to hers, enjoying the sensation of elation that I got from the simple connection of our skin. The question was easily answered.

"No." I had made up my mind then. "I don't regret it." Her lips curved into a smile and she leaned forward to kiss me again. I gently pushed her away. "I don't regret it, but I want to pace myself."

"Oh." She blushed again, and looked away. I turned away too.

I slapped my forehead with my palm as soon as she wouldn't be able to see, running my hand down my cheek and trying to wipe away any trace of idiocy that might have been left by that last sentence that fell from my lips.

"Bugger." I breathed, and Leah looked at me.

"Evan?" I blushed but looked back up at her. "Do you understand now?"

Dear God. Thank you for changing the subject. Love Evan.

"I suppose so." I nodded for a long minute, feeling like Churchill. Ohh, yes. "I do understand, Leah." She smiled at me and leaned over for a hug.

I obliged, and welcomed her, someone new and beautiful, with open arms.

-x-

A/N: Please review and let me know how I did... :P

Inspired by "Not Alone," By McFly,

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