Wow... over 300 reviews! Thank you so much you guys! I appreciate your patience with this chapter. I've been going through some rough patches, but don't worry: they won't stop me from writing; I love writing this story! Enjoy!

Leah's POV

Chapter 18

I woke up to light streaming through –not the trees, as originally planned –but the Cullen's spare bedroom window.

How I came to be sleeping in the leeches' home in the first place is a long, drawn out story, so I'll get the gist of it:

Following my break down with Jacob in front of the Cullen's house, he insisted that I come in.

"You don't have to say anything about what happened," he said as he saw my eyes grow wide at the thought of going in there.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like I'd have to. The mind reader will hear something, then tell everyone once I leave the room."

Jacob grinned. I swear, he thinks it's so funny how much I really don't like bloodsuckers, and yet, he spends a majority of the day with them. "Well, at least they have the decency to wait until you leave to talk about you behind your back."

"It's just like high school," I muttered, and it was in too many ways. For one, I was again having some issues in the Guy Department, and everyone felt pity towards my situation. It was a little hard senior year, seeing your long time boyfriend move in with your cousin while you tried to finish high school. And I did –just barely; I was pretty smart, but I hardly bothered doing my work or even coming sometimes –but it hardly seemed worth anything. I had a high school degree. Yippee.

Somehow, Jacob managed to push me through the Cullen's front door. The bleach smell had become a little less potent to my senses since the first time I came through the doors –voluntarily, that time, unlike now –and gave Mrs. Bella Cullen AKA Mrs. Whore Who Used and Abused Jacob a piece of my mind. I nearly suffocated when I was in there, though my anger towards her more or less consumed me to the point that I didn't care.

I saw the blond boy –Jasper, I think –walking by the door with the short girl, Alice. They both turned towards me, and Alice had a small smile on her face. "Hello, Leah. What brings you here?"

"Um…" Great, I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to say anything. How was I going to explain?

"Alice, Leah needs a place to stay. Do you think Esme and Carlisle would mind if she crashed here?"

I whipped my head to stare at my Alpha. "What do you mean stay here? I thought I was just coming in to tell them that I would be staying in the woods."

At that moment, the mother figure of the household, Esme, entered via the elaborate staircase that only made the mansion more sophisticated.

She smiled as she saw me. "Leah, how nice of you to come by. What brings you here?"

"She needs a place to stay," Jacob said before I could mutter something completely different, like 'Oh, I was just strolling through, I'll just be on my way' as I exit out the door I entered. "Do you think she could-"

"Oh yes!" Before Jacob could even finish, Esme had already used her vampire speed to come up to me. "We would love if you stayed with us. You and your pack are welcome here anytime, Leah." I hated to admit it, but her heartwarming words and smile actually comforted me, and for a second, her words were believable.

That was up until the blonde girl came in the room.

She looked at me quizzically. "Why the hell are you here?"she said with disdain.

Well, nice to meet you, too.

"She's staying here, Rosalie," Esme said. "Please show her some manners."

"Manners? As if she has any. Is this dog even housetrained?" she chuckled at her own joke.

Oh, well that was enough. Before Jacob could stop me, I spoke in my most uppity voice, "I may be the dog here, but at least I'm not the b-"

"And this is where I lead you to your room," Jacob interrupted quickly. "Don't you agree, Esme?"

She nodded, wanting to get out of the fighting situation. "Of course." She took my bag from me and started up the stairs.

I could feel Rosalie staring daggers into my back as I walked up the stairs, and all I could do was give her a very meaningful gesture with my finger over my shoulder with my back turned to her.

I heard a deep chuckle from not just Jacob who was following me, but also Alice's mate Jasper. Rosalie growled.

"That's what you get, Rose," I heard Alice's high voice say amusingly before I was at the top of the staircase.

Esme led us down a hallway, and I entered a pale blue painted room, a queen size bed with its elegant headboard to the wall.

I hope this will be suitable for you, Leah," Esme smiled.

"Yeah, it's great, Esme." I could hear Jacob exhale as if he was relieved at my reaction and expecting a different kind out of me.

"There are drawers and a closet with hangers over here for your clothes," she pointed out. "The bathroom is attached, and there should be towels in the cabinets in there. If you need anything else, just ask. Regardless of what the rest of the family may say, you are my guest."

I smiled for the first time at her. Even if she was a bloodsucker, I couldn't imagine ripping her to shreds. She seemed so… kind; like she wanted nothing to do in this world but to take care of others. I had met few people like that, regardless of their species. "Thank you so much, Esme. I really appreciate this."

"It's no problem." With that, she exited out the room.

"Wow," I heard Jacob say as I set my suitcase on my bed and opened it.

"What?"

"You just accepted a room from a bloodsucker. Are you really Leah Clearwater?"

"Haha," I said sarcastically. "I know its hard to believe, but I actually have a heart."

He chuckled. "I know, Leah. It's your heart that's gotten you into all this trouble."

I sighed. He was right about that. "Out of all the guys on this planet, why is it always the impossible ones that seem to attract me?"

"Stop being so self deprecating, or I'll have you and Blondie locked in a room together," he chuckled to himself. "I wonder who would win: the vampire bitch or the shape shifter harpy."

"People might pay good money to see that fight," I muttered as I stuffed the drawer with my clothes.

"Are you going back down there?" he asked curiously.

I shook my head. "I think I'll just take a shower and crash in the bed. Do you think there's any booze in this joint?"

He sighed. "Leah-"

"I'm only joking. From what you say, the doctor is all about morals, anyways. I doubt that he would serve a minor."

"You do realize that it would take more that a Vodka bottle to actually get a buzz, right?"

I chuckled dryly. "You think I haven't already figure that out the hard way?"

Once upon a time, soon after finding Emily and Sam together making out on his couch –the same couch just a week or so before I had been the one making out with him on –I admit to going into my parents stash and getting drunk. It didn't really solve anything, and actually made things worse; I was reminded that Sam could no longer hold my hair back as I puked after some party we went to.

After I changed and Emily asked me to be her bridesmaid, I tried the same route to no avail. No matter how many Miller's I went through –which were a lot, believe me –I couldn't get free from the pain.

"You're not hungry or anything?" Jacob asked me worriedly.

"Alpha, I'm fine. Go play with your Nessie or something." I knew he was worried, but I needed to be by myself.

"Beta," he said mockingly, "I just want to make sure you're alright."

I shrugged. "I'll get there. I always do, right? I'm a fighter."

"That's very true." He backed up to the door, but hesitated leaving. Suddenly, he turned back to me. "If you need anything, just ask Esme or Carlisle. They won't care. Or just come find me."

"I'm okay, Jake. Stop being an annoying big brother and get out."

He grinned. I think he secretly likes when I call him that. He was always the baby of his family with his sisters, and even though he was older, I know that he's given me as much guidance as a brother who I looked up to would. He left out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Soon after, I laid out clothes to wear after I took my shower: some tee shirt and ratty sweatpants I had since high school, the La Push High decal falling off the pant leg.

I grabbed a towel from the cabinet and took a long, drawn out shower, my body seeming to melt in the scalding hot water as my eyes shut.

A part of me just wanted to forget: to forget what I found out today, to forget what happened, to forget him. It was weird, seeing as how just hours a go, I was convinced he was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Now, I doubted everything.

He was a wolf; he was a shape shifter. He could phase, just as I could. He had the senses and instincts to kill vampires and protect people, just as I did.

He would imprint, just as I wouldn't, but everyone else could.

I wished that night that I could have a love that was mundane and normal. One where there were no secrets and everything was out in the open. But that's not who I was. I was not normal. I was Leah Clearwater, the only she-wolf. There was nothing normal about that.

Maybe…

I let the thought leave my head before it could embed itself there. I was not going to stop being a wolf anytime soon, not when I was the beta of Jake's pack. No way was I going to disappoint one of the people who had been there for me.

After washing my hair with some shampoo I had brought with me, I turned off the shower and brushed my teeth, getting ready for the night. The sun had already gone behind the trees, and it was just about twilight from the looks of the sky.

Surprisingly, sleep overcame me quicker than I expected.

So now, I had just woken up, a soft knock coming to my door.

I groaned, rolling out of the bed and nearly tripping on the comforter as I opened the door.

At first, I saw no one, but looking down, I quickly recognized the mature toddler holding a plate out at me. Well, more like a platter, filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, and a glass of orange juice.

"Hello, Leah," she smiled at me.

"Hey, Nessie," I spoke to her, my voice still a little cloudy from sleeping.

"Jacob made you this for breakfast."

I eyed her curiously. She and I both knew that her wolf was no chef in the kitchen, and had the potential to burn water if the recipe called for it.

"Well," she commented sheepishly, "Jake and I made it. He wouldn't let me go next to the stove, and I couldn't reach everything without my chair. I made sure nothing burned though, including the house."

I smiled down at her, taking the food and juice. The picture I had in my head of the girl standing on a chair and trying to maintain everything as the giant of a man tried his best to cook and make sure she was safe was amusing. "Thank you, Nessie."

She smiled proudly, her eyes seeming to sparkle.

"Do you and Jake always make breakfast?" I asked as I made my way to my bed to put down the plate.

"Not always. It's usually when he's here in the morning after I spend the night here instead of staying with Momma and Daddy in the cottage."

I didn't even want to begin to picture what "Momma and Daddy" were up to in that cottage all night.

"Well, if you need anything, just tell me," Nessie said softly.

All of a sudden, I realized something as she spoke. "You're not usually so talkative," I said bluntly.

She shrugged, the gesture seeming more mature and natural than her looks allowed. "Jake said you didn't like me… sending messages."

"Oh." I thought it kind of nice of her to do that for me. I knew that she hardly spoke a word around Jacob or her family, including Charlie.

"I'll see you later, right, Leah?"

I nodded my head. I wasn't heading out of the leeches layer anytime soon.

So that's that. I'm eager to get the plot going quicker in the coming chapter with Vinnie.

I am putting this chapter in honor of Daddy's Little Cannibal. She was a teenager who was an amazing writer who I've enjoyed stories from for years on this site and died tragically in a drunk driving accident. After a classmate of mine died under the same circumstances back in March, I think that this issue should be addressed somewhere.

Cocoa