And I told you to be patient, and I told you to be fine

And I told you to be balanced, and I told you to be kind

And in the morning I'll be with you, but it will be a different kind

I'll be holding all the tickets, and you'll be owing all the fines

"Skinny Love"

-Bon Iver

Chapter 15:

This actually doesn't completely suck

When Jacob phased back, I immediately teased him about his close bro-moment with Quil.

I was waiting for you two jump each other's bones and go all "Brokeback Mountain" on me, I chuckled.

Whatever, he grumbled.

Well, at least we know they aren't planning an attack anymore, Seth nodded.

We still don't know that for sure. It could have been a diversion…though they failed to convince you guys to rejoin them. Jacob was more pleased than he let on. He glanced at me. What exactly did you say to Jared anyway? he asked curiously.

Nothing he didn't already know. I didn't feel like repeating myself. Besides, Seth would tell him everything eventually. He never could keep quiet about anything.

I felt a wave of doubt flowing through Jacob. He looked at me and then at Seth.

I hope I didn't say anything to piss you guys off. He paused, I mean, was that okay? I didn't mean to speak for you. I could tell he was still having doubts about this whole "Alpha" thing.

Seth was quick to praise him, It was awesome. It's like you were reading my thoughts exactly even though you were human. You did great, Jake.

Jacob then looked at me. He was looking for my approval? Wow, color me stunned. I thought about how he'd handled it. I would say he did pretty well. Although, I was hoping he would have shed some of Jared's blood.

I was hoping that you'd break his nose.

Jacob seemed pleased with our reactions and all his self-doubt quickly disappeared. I offered a little more positive criticism.

You actually did quite decently, Jake. But next time, kick Jared in the nuts.

Jacob howled out a laugh. We started trotting back towards the Cullen's. Jacob needed to update them on what was going on.

I'm sure they'll be so excited to know we're not dead, I shrugged.

Poor Quil, Seth thought of Quil's whimper as he had followed Jared away. He sighed, Guess we know why Embry couldn't come.

Jacob didn't seem to get it. What do you mean?

Sam wouldn't let him. I knew what my brother was getting at.

He wouldn't allow him? Jacob was still confused.

I held back the "don't be so dense, you idiot" that was on the tip of my tongue. Seth saved me from pissing Jacob off.

Come on, you saw how torn up Quil was, Seth explained.

He was pretty upset. I felt bad for him. Then I growled at myself for feeling bad for him. Quil and I didn't really like each other. He was a cocky little shit.

Seth continued, Sam knows that Quil won't leave La Push. That's where Claire is. No way he'd leave her behind. But Embry…he doesn't have anything to lose. Sam knows that. If Embry had the chance, he'd be right here with us.

I don't know. Jacob was skeptical.

Oh, come on, Jake, don't be an idiot! I lost the battle with my cynicism.

Jacob glared at me. I'm not that stupid. I just don't think that Embry would want to join our ranks. I mean, we're defending vampires here.

He's your best friend. He would rather side with you than fight against you, Seth said.

He hates vampires, Jacob reiterated.

You can hate them and protect them at the same time. I'm living proof of that, I shrugged.

Okay, okay. I'm too tired to fight. You win. It is a good thing that Sam didn't send Embry. I don't think I could take anymore annoying voices in my head, Jacob grumbled. Seth, you still up for running the perimeters?

No problem, Seth said enthusiastically.

Ugh, do you have to be happy all the time? His optimism was getting on my nerves. I loved my brother, I really did. But if he continued to be so damn cheerful, I was going to have to tear off one of his legs.

I can tell Edward what's going on, too, if you'd like. I'm sure they'd appreciate an update, Seth offered.

Yep, an enthusiastic, optimistic, leech-lover…that was my brother all right.

Jacob shook his head and an image of Bella drinking blood popped into his mind. Both Seth and I cringed away from the thought.

Geeze, give it a rest with that image, would you? It's nasty! I shuddered.

Ew, Seth agreed.

If I had any food in my stomach I would be hurling all over the place right now. The thought was starting to make me nauseous.

Wimp, Jacob teased me. He faced Seth. Just run the perimeters. I'll take care of the Cullens.

I perked up. And by "take care of," he meant what? I laughed. It was too much to hope that Jacob would hurt any of his new friends. The image of Bella drinking blood was still in his head. I think he was just thinking about that to annoy me.

Cut it out Jake. I felt a dry heave in my throat.

Seth wasn't as bothered now. He just shrugged happily, Well, it is what vampires do. He glanced at me, waiting for my reaction. I just stared at him like he was crazy. If it helps Bella, it's a good thing, right?

When was sucking blood ever a good thing? I think Seth had completely lost his mind. Jacob nodded in agreement.

Why are you looking at me like that? Seth cowered down.

Don't tell me - he fell down a lot as a child, Jacob chuckled.

Mom dropped him a lot when he was a baby. I couldn't help teasing my brother. And now that Jacob was in on it, this would be a blast.

On his head, apparently.

Come to think of it, he used to chew on the crib bars, too.

Lead paint?

Looks like it.

Oh, ha ha. You two are a real riot. Seth was failing to find the humor.

It was silent for a minute before I responded, I'm sorry.

He seemed surprised, You are? Really? He looked at me suspiciously, Why?

For smacking you in the head with sticks when we were younger. If I had known it was going to cause brain damage, I would've never done it.

Have I mentioned today how much I hate you, Leah? Seth questioned.

At this point, Jacob had completely lost it. He was laughing so hard that he had completely lost his breath. I joined him. I took a moment to think about what was funny in life. If someone had told me that I would one day be following Jacob Black's lead and sharing a laugh with him, I would have laughed at that.

Seth still wasn't amused. You're both delusional. Why don't you shut up and get some sleep? He ran off to patrol the borders.

I followed Jake back to the Cullen's place. There was no one around. Jacob found it odd that no one was there waiting on his report.

Get some rest, Leah. He jogged to the house. When he got to the porch, I saw him examining something curiously. I watched as he picked the object up in his teeth and then disappear into some surrounding woods. A few minutes later, he came back, fully clothed.

The vampires were dressing him now? He really was becoming their little puppet. I shrugged as I watched him waltz into the house. I wondered how long it would be before he completely fell over. He looked wobbly as he crossed the threshold.

I was tired too, but I wasn't ready to sleep yet. Yelling at Jared had really rejuvenated me. I figured I would run a little with Seth.

He mocked me, What happened to "sleep is important"?

I'm just looking for a good spot to crash, I shrugged.

It's not like it was a lie. I could probably find a nice little area to rest while running. I saw a couple of areas near the border that looked like they might be comfortable. I decided that was my best bet. That way, I could still hear someone coming if Sam decided to try a sneak attack.

I yawned. My eyes closed. Before too long, I was completely zonked out.

I was in a deep state of sleep, dreaming of running free as a wolf. No Sam. No Jacob. No voices in my head whatsoever. The leaves crunched below my feet as I sprinted happily through the forest. I was relaxed as I took in the sights and scents around me. This was great. I never wanted it to end.

I was jolted awake when I heard a twig snap. I could tell it wasn't part of my dream. Every hair on my body was on alert. I quickly leaped to my feet, unsteadily and uncoordinated.

It didn't take me long to get balanced. I growled as I heard someone coming through the trees.

Embry. Damn, he had almost given me a heart attack. He lowered his head and whimpered. I could tell he wasn't here to hurt me.

Everything okay, Leah? Seth asked uneasily. The kid was still running? Wow, he had more steam than I'd given him credit for.

What time is it? I questioned.

Midnight. You had a hard time getting to sleep. You were tossing around a lot.

Hell, I'd slept through an entire day. If that didn't refresh me, I don't know anything else that would.

I glanced at Embry. He was still staring at me. Even though we couldn't hear each other anymore, I could see the question written all over his face, Can we talk?

Hey Seth, you think you can handle it for a few minutes without me? I didn't see the harm in seeing what was going on with Embry.

I dunno. Seth was weary. What if it's a trap?

Oh, for Gods sake, it's Embry. If it was a trap, I'd be able to see it written all over his face. Embry didn't have the best poker face in the world. More than likely, if Sam was planning an attack, he would have sent Paul or Quil. They were both pretty good at hiding things. Just keep an eye open.

With pleasure. Seth still had energy left. He must have taken a nap at some point. No one in the world had that much energy.

I nodded at Embry and we walked a short distance before we found a spot to phase. I quickly threw on some clothes.

Embry met me back in the clearing.

"What's up?" I questioned.

"Just wanted to talk." Embry tapped his foot nervously.

I laughed, "You look terrified. Am I really that intimidating?"

He smiled weakly, "It's not you that I'm afraid of," Embry admitted. I automatically knew he was thinking of Sam. Would Embry get punished for this? I understood why Embry wouldn't be allowed to talk to Jacob. But it would be really shitty of Sam to ban him from talking to me and Seth.

After a moment of silence, Embry filled the air with a laugh. "Sam and Jacob are going to be pissed…"

"Let them be." I really didn't care. I wasn't under Sam's rule anymore, so I didn't give a rats ass what he did. And Jacob would get over it. "Are you breaking orders or something?"

Embry shook his head. "All Sam said was that we weren't allowed to see Jake. He didn't say anything about you or Seth." He paused. "What are your orders?"

"Jacob doesn't really make us do anything we don't want to do."

"Wow, that must be nice."

I smiled. It was. It really was. To be free of Sam was the most exhilarating feeling in the world. I was so...liberated. I was starting to see why Sam wouldn't want Embry talking to me. All it would take is for Embry to hear how much better of a leader that Jacob was, and then the pack would be down to six.

Embry sighed, "We miss you guys."

"Sure you do." I rolled my eyes. I could just see Sam, ranting about how we had abandoned the pack. But for some reason, I did believe that Embry missed us.

"Well, at least I do. It sucks without you guys. Paul is being more of an ass than usual. And Jared and Sam keep babbling on about how wrong it is to leave La Push." He paused. "At least Collin and Brady stay pretty quiet."

"And Quil?" I questioned about the one wolf that he had omitted.

I saw him look at his feet and frown. "He's spent most of the past twelve hours with Claire. And when he's not with her, he's really grumpy to be around." He scrunched up his face. "He misses Jacob." I saw him get frustrated. "I do too, but you don't see me being all snotty about it."

I nodded, "Sam's running you guys pretty hard, isn't he?"

"Unfortunately." He shrugged his shoulders. "But after the meeting with the Elders tonight, your mom helped Emily make the entire pack dinner. That was pretty cool."

I cowered down when I heard him mention my mother. Jared had tried to make Seth and I feel like crap for leaving her behind. He wasn't completely in the wrong. I really hoped she was doing okay. "Hey, how is my mom holding up?"

"Well, she didn't say anything regarding yours and Seth's most recent decisions. But we can tell she's worried about you two. And Billy about Jacob as well."

"I'm sure they're managing just fine." With Charlie in the state that he was in, I'm sure it kept Billy and mom plenty busy.

"Charlie's doing horribly." Embry didn't sugarcoat it. "He was there at dinner, too. Billy dragged him out. I think he was afraid to leave him alone."

I suddenly was angry at Bella again for doing this to her father. If she couldn't see how dangerous it was for her, she had to at least know how much she was tormenting her dad. She didn't know how lucky she was to have a dad who cared about her and was alive.

Embry softened his tone, "He was asking about Jacob. Wanted to know if he knew how Bella was doing."

"Why would he think Jacob knows anything?" I questioned. Charlie still didn't know about the paranormal. I couldn't figure out why he would think that Jacob knew anything more than he did.

"He knows that they talk from time to time," Embry shrugged. "Or they used to. He just wanted to know if Jacob had talked to Bella. He doesn't think that she's being very truthful with him, on account of he's her father and all."

I let out a tiny laugh. And then it turned into a loud string of endless chuckles. Charlie was good at reading people. He was absolutely correct that Bella wasn't telling him the whole truth. I just found the entire situation rather ironic. A cop who couldn't investigate his own daughter.

I heard a howl from somewhere in the west. It sounded like Sam. And he sounded angry. Embry cowered down.

"Guess he figured out my brilliant plan."

"Guess so," I nodded.

"I should be getting back. I'm sure I'm in for a hell of a lecture." He glanced towards where the angry howl had come from. "Tell Jake I miss him."

"I will," I shrugged. It was weird to have a conversation with Embry now that we weren't sharing thoughts as wolves. We hadn't really hung out all that much. I didn't think that he cared that much for me. Apparently, I was mistaken.

"You know, I'm sure that Jacob misses you, too." I smiled when I realized that Sam would probably see this conversation again in Embry's head. "So, if you get tired of Sam's bullshit, we'd love to have you around. To hell with Sam." I was taking pleasure in saying this, knowing he was going to hear every word.

Embry laughed as he jogged off into the woods.

"Take care of yourself, Leah."

I heard the slight shimmering when he phased back. It was weird not to be able to feel them phase anymore. I smiled smugly to myself, happy to have told Sam off again without ever having to talk to him. I quickly phased back.

Seth saw the conversation in my head.

Poor Embry, he whimpered.

I wondered what Jake would think of our little conversation. It took me a moment to realize that I didn't feel him.

Jacob hasn't phased back? I frowned. Okay, now I was getting worried that he had become a snack for the vampires. He shouldn't have been out this long.

He probably just crashed somewhere as human. Seth wasn't concerned. That didn't ease my mind, but I really didn't want to have to endure smelling the stench of the leeches again after smelling the fresh air. Seth huffed, I'll go get him if you take over patrol for a bit.

No problem. Anything to avoid those damn vampires.

Stop being so negative towards the Cullens, he begged.

I laughed, Like that's going to happen?

A few minutes later, Seth phased out. I was alone. It was just like my dream.