Any minute now, my ship is coming in

I'll keep checking the horizon

I'll stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing

Come crashing down, down, down on me

"Waiting on my real life to begin"

-Colin Hay

Chapter 31:

Say it out loud: Change is good...

I was amazed at how quickly the weeks flew by. It was interesting to see how many things around me changed, yet stayed the same. It is incredible how much can change over the course of twelve weeks.

Since everyone I knew was hanging out with vampires, I had no choice but to get comfortable with them. It amazed me how much my views on the family of vampires had changed. I still didn't like them, but I didn't really view them as a threat anymore. These past few months, I had begrudgingly, and unwillingly gotten to know them all a little better. For the most part, it was just through everyone's thoughts. Seth and Jacob's in particular. But I had also spent quite a bit of time at the mansion, which is where everyone seemed to be hanging out these days.

I never would have thought that I would have gotten so familiar with them. Carlisle was by far the kindest. His concern for his family made me question whether or not he was really a vampire. He had saved more lives than any human that I had ever met. I still didn't understand how he was able to stand the smell of blood every day when he went to work. He just didn't act like a vampire. He cared so much about his gifted little family. Honestly, I found Carlisle's gift was the best. His gift was that he wasn't as annoying as the rest of them. And the love that he had for Esme was actually pretty incredible to witness.

Esme was very motherly and warm. When my mother was at the house, the two of them sat quietly in the corner together, trying to make sure Charlie was comfortable. Sometimes, Esme would strike up a friendly conversation with her. My mom once told me that Esme had complimented her on what beautiful children she had. I didn't believe it myself until I heard it in Seth's thoughts. When she offered Jake, Seth, and I food and shelter during the time we were protecting her family, I knew that I wouldn't be able to hate her. She reminded me too much of my own mother. I once made the mistake of telling my mom that. She smacked me on the back of the head for comparing her to a vampire.

Alice was just entertaining as hell. It was simple as that. Even if she wasn't a vampire, she probably still wouldn't need sleep. She would more than likely still be wired even without a good nights rest. She was always doing something. She was a little bit of a control freak, but I guess that comes with the territory of knowing the future. The only thing that annoyed me about her was her obsession with clothes. I'm a girl, and I still didn't understand why fashion was so damn important to her. But it was amusing to me the annoyed looks that Nessie would give her when she forced her to try on some new designer toddler clothes. Nessie had become Alice's little dress up doll. Amazingly enough, Bella allowed her to constantly use her daughter as a little manikin. She was probably just glad that Alice had found someone new to torture with clothes.

Jasper was the opposite of his hyperactive wife. His quiet and reserved ways had me extremely wary of him most of the time. He always had this odd look on his face. That look that he could snap at any minute. Kinda freaky. But, one day when Seth wasn't paying close enough attention, Jasper saved his ass from being mauled by some crazy stray vampire wandering through the woods. So, the mood-enhancing vampire was ok in my book.

Emmett was a dick. But a funny dick. The antagonistic relationship that Jake shared with Rosalie is the same kind of banter that Emmett and I sometimes would engage in. I wasn't around the vampires as a human very often, but when I was, he was the one that I swapped quips with. All the others were just much too sensitive. I still laughed about how touchy these leeches could be. Emmett was tough enough to make fun of himself, and not cry like a little bitch.

Rosalie hadn't changed much in my opinion. I could see that she hadn't been handed the easiest life, but that still didn't excuse some of her behavior. But I could sympathize with her, and that made me hate her a little less. Plus, she had been much more tolerant about Jacob and Nessie's relationship than I would have ever expected. But she still glared at all of us like she wanted to rip our heads off, especially Jacob.

I wasn't completely in love with Nessie like everyone else who met her. Sure, she was a cute kid. Big deal. Though, it did impress me how she seemed to have this natural ability to make other's fall in love with her. Some kids have all the luck. She was still growing up way too fast. Her mind far exceeded the mental capacity that most adults possess. It was kind of a hoot to watch her intelligence surpass her mother's. I laughed my ass off one day when I heard her correct Bella's grammar.

I'm sure after hearing my thoughts for several months, Edward hated my guts. But that didn't really bother me. He was actually so obsessed with finding out how to stop his daughter from turning into an old woman overnight that he had eased up on the whole "controlling" aspect in his life. Plus, now that Bella was stronger than he was, he didn't really fight against her so much. He was always cordial to Seth, Charlie, and my mom, and that's all I could really ask of him. Now that everyone had decided that the Cullen's mansion was the place to be, he was hearing a lot more voices in his head. It couldn't be easy having that many thoughts in one place. Believe me, I know. At least he could get away from it. No matter how far away I ran, I would still be able to hear my pack when we were wolves.

As for his wife, she still annoyed the tar out of me. Bella didn't like me. I didn't like her. I didn't ever see that changing. Even when she was human, I couldn't stand being around her. Our personalities clashed. Any time I was around her, I would automatically tense up. It amazed me that I could learn to tolerate her vampire cohorts, but I still liked her the very least of the bunch. It probably just had something to do with the fact that I still saw her as the girl who broke Jacob's heart. And even though that had mended, and he had forgiven her, I hadn't. I don't easily let go of something of that nature. I hadn't forgiven Sam for breaking my heart either, even though I was content with Embry.

Things with the two of us were interesting, to say the least. He definitely understood me more than Sam ever had. I still didn't feel a pull towards him, but our relationship was progressing along nicely. He was a lot more patient than I thought he would be. We were taking things massively slow. I wasn't a very physical person. I didn't really like to be touched. And Embry respected that. Pretty much the only thing we did physically was hold hands. Occasionally, his hand would brush my cheek, but our attachment to one another was more emotional than physical at this point in our lives.

My mom and Charlie were closer than ever. Unfortunately, that had driven a wedge between them and Billy. It wasn't that Billy was jealous of their newfound romance. He just didn't approve that my mother spent all of her free time hanging out with Charlie and a bunch of vampires. He wasn't too happy about Charlie's buddy-buddy relationship with the Cullens either. He came over pretty much all the time just to bitch about how irresponsible we were all being.

My mother, of course, stuck up for Charlie.

"Billy, you know Charlie is completely unaware of the vampires' existence. He knows that Bella isn't normal anymore, but beyond that, he doesn't have a clue, except his knowledge of werewolves…thanks to your son…"

"Yes, Jacob has a lot to attest for," Billy admitted. "I'm not exactly happy with the decisions he has been making lately."

"You can't hold your son accountable for imprinting on Renesmee," she disagreed. She was one of the few people that actually called Nessie by her birth name. Didn't matter what she was called, the kid was stuck with being teased for life. Then again, who in their right mind would tease a child whose parents are vampires, and whose boyfriend is a werewolf?

"I suppose it's not all Jake's fault. In theory, if you think about it, it's actually Bella's fault."

I didn't care if he was right or wrong about that, because any time I heard Bella getting blamed for something, I wasn't going to argue. But, I couldn't even begin to imagine how this was Bella's fault. His logic was complete crap.

Billy continued, "I warned her when she first moved back in with Charlie not to hang out with the Cullens. I told her to stay away from them. If she had just listened, then she would have never gotten involved, and that irritating abomination would have never been born." I knew that he was just venting. He missed his son, and his best friend was dating his other best friend. For lack of a better term, he thought he was the third wheel.

My mom was starting to lose her temper, something she hadn't done since my dad's death.

"Oh yeah, and then we would have all lived happily ever after?" She rolled her eyes. "Give me a break, Billy. That kind of crap only happens in unimaginative novels and bad romance movies."

Looks like I wasn't the only one in the family who doubted the future sometimes.

Billy started ranting on about the Elders and the treaty and blah, blah, blah. I lost interest, so I wandered out of the living room to let Billy and mom finish their argument without an audience. It's not like I hadn't heard the end of it twenty times before. They had the same fight every time Billy came over.

As I stepped out on to my front porch, I noticed a blur of movement out of the corner of my eye. It was probably Embry. He knew I liked my space, but it was hard for him to give it to me, so I settled for knowing that he sometimes came around my place as a wolf. It didn't really bother me. We had been spending a decent amount of time together.

We we're kind of "dating", but it was nothing serious. I knew that if I didn't have feelings for him now, I probably never would. But Embry kept insisting that he knew we were going to end up together. Yeah, but would it be because I settled? And was he settling with me? Could we really be happy living our lives like that?

I had to laugh at Embry's crappy attempt to try and stay hidden from my sight.

"You're going to have to do better than that," I said in no particular direction. He would hear me no matter where I was standing.

He still didn't come out of hiding. Okay, he wanted to play? I quickly threw my clothes on the porch and phased. I could see through his eyes that he was in my backyard.

Aw, come on, that's cheating, he frowned.

I loped into the backyard and saw him standing by the woods.

So, what are you doing? Spying on me? I questioned.

Just a little. Embry wasn't going to lie. Even if I hadn't caught him, he probably still would have told me what he was up to. So far, he had been nothing but honest with me.

You just wanted to see me take my clothes off. I rolled my eyes.

Yeah, because Lord knows I've never seen you naked before. A few images flashed in his head from when I had lost my temper and phased in front of him. Actually, I had phased in front of the whole pack…several times. I really didn't have good control over my temper.

Dude, uncool. Apparently Seth had seen the images in Embry's mind. I could see that he was running the Cullen's land. He pushed himself to think about something else other than his big sister running around in the nude. I laughed at how uncomfortable it made him. He could be so whiny sometimes. I didn't see what the big deal was. You're my sister, Leah. I don't want to think about you like that!

Don't be such a baby. It really shouldn't bother you. It's perfectly natural, I shrugged.

You mean to tell me that this… He flashed an image of his naked body through my mind, ...doesn't bother you?

I opted to be overly dramatic. Oh God, I just threw up in my mouth a little. Then I laughed. It's not that big of a deal. So, we see each other naked sometimes. Whatever.

But it's gross! Seth whimpered.

I looked at Embry with a grin on my face. Boys are such wussies.

Ah come on, kid, stop throwing a fit and grow up. Embry chuckled at my brother's unnecessary dramatics.

I'm not throwing a fit. I just think I should be able to run freely as a wolf and not have to see naked images of my sister floating through my mind. The more he spoke, the more it sounded like he was pitching a fit.

Just…go back to running your little perimeters, Seth. The adults are talking now. Embry busted into laughter.

Since when are the two of you adults? Quil finally spoke up. I was surprised he had taken this long to say something, given he was usually the first one to say something if someone thought about me naked. He usually quipped that he was totally hotter than me.

We aren't the ones spending all of our free time with toddlers, playing with Barbies, and having dress-up tea parties, I chuckled. That shut him up pretty quickly. He mumbled something about me being a harpie and then went back to being quiet.

Seth continued with talking about his feelings. I'm happy for you and all, but maybe you could keep the disturbing images to yourself?

If you think you're uncomfortable now, just wait until you see the images of our honeymoon, I joked.

I saw Embry perk up and cock his head to the side. I could hear from his thoughts that he was trying to figure out whether or not I was being serious about the "honeymoon" part. God, me and my big mouth. If it was possible for werewolves to blush, my entire body would have been bright red.

Thankfully, we were distracted by an angry shout coming from my house. It sounded like my mom. Looks like she had completely lost her temper with Billy.

Embry glanced inside the house. They arguing again?

I nodded, Yeah. I think it's just Billy's way of showing his concern for his friends.

He doesn't trust the Cullens. Embry shook his head.

And he misses his son. I stated the obvious.

Really? You think it has to do with Jake?

Part of it, I said. I mean, think about it. His only son, and heir to the entire Quileute pack just runs off and imprints on the first vampire halfling he comes across. That's gotta hurt. In his eyes, Jake abandoned the pack, and him.

I dunno, Sam doesn't seem that sore about it. Embry tensed up immediately after speaking my ex's name. I mean, a few days ago, he and Emily stopped by the Cullen's to nail down some specific's for the treaty, and he was actually pretty friendly towards them. Emily even played with Nessie.

Of course Sam doesn't care. He's still Alpha in La Push. Jacob leaving was probably one of the best things that ever happened to him. And I know he was glad to be rid of me.

Actually… Embry stopped himself. He looked unsure that he wanted to proceed with whatever it was that he was going to say. I waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

So I pried. You gonna finish that statement sometime today?

Never mind. Forget it.

Come on, what were you going to say?

Nothing. I forgot. He was a really crappy liar. Worse than me.

Embry, you promised. He had said there would be no lies between us.

He sighed, It's just that Sam wasn't as thrilled to be rid of you as you were to be rid of him.

What are you talking about?

Leah, when you left, when he couldn't hear you anymore, that was the most agonizing pain I had ever felt from him.

I was completely stunned. I figured that after I was so hateful to him, he would have grown to resent me.

Embry softly continued, Course, he tried to hide it from us, but we could tell. He knew that as long as you were part of the pack, you would still be a part of his life. I mean, you two grew up together. It's hard to let someone go when you've spent practically your entire lives with other another. He paused and a peculiar thought popped into his head. One I assumed that Sam had shared with him. By the way, why did you push him off of the monkey bars when you were five?

I laughed at the memory. He broke my blue crayon.

Ah, I'll be sure to stay away from your crayons in the future, he nodded, Anyway, back to the point; Sam struggled with letting you go. The day you left the pack, you left him. And he knew there was no reason for you to be in his life anymore. That was difficult for him to deal with.

He let out a whine. He looked around like he was supposed to be somewhere else. This conversation was making him uncomfortable.

No, it's not that. Embry noticed my attention to his feeling of uneasiness, Quil must've phased out. He's supposed to stay with Seth running the Cullen's land.

He probably just went to see Claire. I didn't see what the big deal was.

He said he'd be right back, Seth piped in.

Embry grumbled something about following order's and looked at me hopefully. You wanna patrol with me and Seth?

I heard my mother and Billy shouting from inside the house. Their fight had a good hour left. Then, they would make up, for Charlie's sake, and everyone would sit around the table, acting like everything was perfectly normal.

I shuddered, I'm in. I followed him out to the Cullen's property. I didn't ask him anymore about Sam. He had given me enough to think about. I laughed. I had broken my own rule about not talking about relationship stuff as a wolf. Eh, rules were meant to be broken.

When Embry slowed down, so did I.

So, what exactly are we patrolling for, anyway? I had been a little out of the loop lately. I laughed. Some second commander I was.

There's not much else to do, Embry shrugged his giant shoulders. Plus, Jake asked us earlier if we wouldn't mind keeping an eye on things while he and Bella hunted with Nessie.

Lovely. Watching a kid suck on an animal like it's a surrogate boob or something, I grimaced.

Embry laughed, I never thought of it like that.

I felt Quil phase back. Hey, everyone's here, we having a party?

Nope, we're covering for your sorry butt, Embry said. Where'd you go?

I remembered that Claire left her little me at my place this morning. She can't sleep without it, and it's almost her naptime.

Her "little you"? I was afraid to ask.

Embry cracked up, It was a gift from me. It's a little stuffed wolf. I gave it to her as a joke.

Quil obviously didn't see the humor. Yeah, laugh it up, chuckles. One of these days, I'm going to push you out in front of a moving car.

You gotta admit, it was pretty funny. Even Emily thought it was hilarious, Embry explained. Claire threw it at his head and called him a butthead one day when Quil wouldn't read her a story.

And queue me laughing my ass off at that memory.

I heard Bella and Jacob talking in the distance. I glanced through the trees and saw them. Nessie danced around like a nimble little…nimbly thing. She paid no attention to Bella and Jacob's conversation. They were arguing about whether or not Jake should go with Edward and Bella to Brazil to see about finding some supernatural help for Nessie.

I watched as he and Bella argued about him going. I don't know why she was arguing with him. She knew he wouldn't leave Nessie's side. She tried to use Seth, Embry, Quil, and I as an excuse. Something about your pack needs you here. He wasn't having any of that. He knew that we could handle it here.

The conversation steered back to Nessie. This hunting trip must be for her. I frowned. I didn't particularly like the fact that she was already craving so much blood at such a young age. It was actually hard to get her to eat anything. She was very picky. But she liked to hunt with Jake because he made it fun. The kid was competitive as all get out. She would make a hell of hockey player one day. I could see her knocking some big Canadian dude's teeth out of his head.

Jacob phased after Nessie disappeared through the trees without him. I watched as Bella stared after them. She had come to accept Jake's relationship with Nessie. She didn't like it, but she accepted it. Much like I didn't like his relationship with Bella, but there was nothing else for me to do but to accept it.

I saw through Jacob's eyes that Nessie had taken down her prey. Creepy. How could a three-month-old be strong enough to bowl over something forty times bigger than she was? She smirked at Jacob. Even though she didn't say anything out loud, the look on her face said it all, I win.

Aw, Nessie, geeze, you beat me again, Jacob laughed a howl. Nessie looked very pleased with herself. Smug little toddler.

I sighed and took in a breath of air. A breeze brought a scent my way. My nose burned as I inhaled. I felt the hackles on my back standing up as I realized that we weren't alone out here. I could smell a vampire, one that I did not recognize. In the past few months, I had gotten used to the Cullen's scents. This was not someone I knew. I glanced to where the scent was coming from just as Bella saw the blonde hair shimmering from the cliff.

For the first time ever, I'm pretty sure we had the same exact thought:

Oh. Shit.