AN: Hi guys!

First of all, a huge thank you to everybody who reviewed Chapter 27! I got some of the best feedback I've ever received from you guys over the whole imprinting incident… I'm really happy, because that scene was one of my favorites, and I was hoping you all would like it as much as I do. So thanks for the reinforcement… you guys are the best :)

The next several chapters will feature Leah as a fairly prominent character, but we'll still have lots of Jake and Nessie, and the others as well. For those of you missing the rest of the Cullen, don't worry… we're taking some time away from them, but they WILL be back later on! I promise.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading!

~Crit.

Chapter 28: Girl Talk

After Leah left the apartment, Renesmee turned to the room at large and crossed her arms over her chest. Jacob and Seth were just coming down the staircase, the former frowning thoughtfully, and the latter wearing a goofy grin. Embry was regarding her a bit guiltily.

"Okay," she said in a warning tone, "What just happened?"

Jacob started towards her, but Seth beat him. He grabbed her arm forcefully and dragged her over towards the couches in his enthusiasm.

"You're gonna want to sit down for this, Nessie," He said, practically bubbling over. Renesmee was somewhere between irritated and amused by Seth's oddball behavior; she didn't know any other thirty-two year old men who acted the way he did when he was excited about something. She gave him a return shove as he pushed her into her seat, and he laughed as he went flying backwards. He had to leap over the coffee table to avoid crashing into it.

"You two, quit horsing around," Jacob said in his serious-Alpha voice. Renesmee raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

"You're not the boss of me," She replied. Jacob pulled a face at her.

"No, but I'm the boss of him." He jerked his thumb at Seth, who just continued to laugh.

"Lighten up, Jake, we're just messing around. This is a time for celebration!" Renesmee remembered the reason for their scrapping in the first place.

"And that brings me to my next question, which is remarkably the same as my first, still unanswered, question: What the hell is going on?"

Jacob sighed as he dropped onto the couch beside her. "First thing's first… how's Rideau?"

Renesmee looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. "This is something you care about?"

Jacob grimaced. "Yeah. We'll get into why in a minute. Did you guys make up? How's his hand?"

"Yes, we did. And it turns out it was just a hairline fracture… they took the cast off on Saturday. He's managed to convince himself that he must have hurt it beforehand, and I just exacerbated it… he wanted to be sure I knew it wasn't my fault." She sighed heavily, then remembered the topic at hand and fixed Jacob with a searching look. "What's happening, Jake?"

"You're not going to believe it," he warned.

"Try me."

"Try to keep an open mind," he said, and then, "Leah's found her imprint."

Everything fell into place, and Renesmee felt her jaw drop as her worst suspicions were confirmed. "You have got to be kidding," she said. Jacob shook his head.

"Serious."

"As a greek tragedy," Seth added with a grin. Renesmee groaned.

"It never ends!" She buried her face in her hands. "It's just non-stop crazy with you wolves, isn't it? I mean, hell, Jacob… Rideau and Leah?" She looked up again. "I've never heard anything more preposterous or less likely in my entire life."

Embry put up one finger to indicate that he had something to add. "Unless, of course, you count the teenaged leader of a pack of shapeshifting wolves bonding with the infant offspring of a human and a vampire," he said, deadpan. Seth cackled with laughter. Renesmee took a deep breath to steady herself. She had to admit, Embry had a very valid point.

"Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating… but really, you guys? Are you sure?"

All three men nodded. "Positive," Seth said.

"Well, I mean, how do you know?"

"Nessie," Jacob put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye very seriously, "Trust us… it's pretty unmistakable. Once you've seen it happen, you know when it happens again." Renesmee figured that pretty much settled it: Jacob was sure, he was the alpha, he'd been through it before. It had to be true.

"Wow," She said quietly. "That's big news."

"Quite," Embry replied. He gave her a small, sympathetic smile, which she tried to return. "Don't worry… we're all taken a bit off guard."

Renesmee's head was whirring at a thousand miles a minute. "What does this mean?" She asked, automatically turning to Jacob. "They can't just go from zero to soulmates in a day, can they? I mean, what if he doesn't want to… does he have a choice?" She hated this; she and Jacob had just gotten over their own imprinting drama, and now she had to deal with someone else's. It would undoubtedly bring up more questions about her own relationship, and she didn't know if she was ready for that.

"Of course he has a choice," Jacob said firmly. "It's entirely his decision. And… I'm not exactly sure what we do about it. Obviously, Rideau knows nothing about our world, so we can't just tell him. When we imprint within the tribe, the imprints have usually grown up hearing the wolf legends, so there's a sort of frame of reference, at least. And you obviously knew half the situation before you figured the rest of it out. Rideau has none of that. I'm not sure how we're supposed to proceed in a situation like this."

"We were hoping you could help us out with that," Embry added. "You're his friend, right? Maybe you know what he'd respond best to."

Renesmee furrowed her brow and tried her best to think logically about the situation. It was far, far beyond her problem-solving capabilities. Unbidden, her father's voice came into her head: "Things won't always come to you just because you want them to, Renesmee. If you need something that lies beyond your reach, sometimes you just have to find a way to make your arms longer."

"Any ideas?" Seth looked hopeful. Renesmee shook her head slowly.

"No. But that doesn't mean there isn't an appropriate way to approach this… just that we need to think of it still." She frowned. "Shouldn't Leah be in on this discussion? It seems to me she has a vested interest…"

"We have no idea what's going to happen when Leah gets back," Jacob said with a worried look. "It could go either way… and personally, I'm sort of concerned about how she's going to deal with this whole thing once it sinks in."

Seth nodded vehemently. "Yeah, I don't know if you've noticed, Nessie, but she's kind of scary sometimes."

Renesmee had to chuckle at that, but she accompanied wit with an admonition of, "Be nice."

"I don't know, you guys." Embry shrugged. "I think you're underestimating Leah. Maybe it'll be good for her… maybe she'll do just fine on her own. After all, she's dealt with worse… this is a good thing, remember?"

"It's only a good thing if the guy doesn't run screaming from the giant slobbering canine," Seth said, for once not looking like he was joking. Renesmee had to agree.

"Okay, Seth's right… but Embry's right too. This is workable. We just need to proceed with caution, and make sure we have a really solid plan. Which we will work out, with Leah, when she gets back. For now, we need to stop discussing something that is entirely her business without her… something tells me she wouldn't really appreciate us doing that." Renesmee raised an eyebrow and looked at each one of them in turn. Seth even had the decency to look somewhat abashed.

Jacob nodded. "That sounds like a plan. You're absolutely right."

Renesmee fixed him with a cheeky grin. "Of course I am."

"Okay, this drama has gone on long enough. Can we please play Wii now?" Jacob lobbed a pillow at Seth.

"I'm sure your sister really appreciates your concern," he retorted, but Renesmee noticed he got up immediately and started to pull out the gaming system anyway. Seth practically jumped up to grab his controller.

"Amazing. I love this retro shit," He said, turning the white plastic rectangle over in his hands. "Leave it to Alice to think of buying this for you guys."

After that, it became a showdown between Jacob and Seth. Renesmee watched them mess around with the game and each other for a few minutes before she got bored and decided to catch up on some readings. Jacob and Seth were completely absorbed, and Embry was observing and giving commentary… they'd never miss her. She snuck upstairs unnoticed.

She tried to do some reading, but she was too antsy to work on school things. It only made her think about Rideau, which then made her think about the whole Leah situation, which put her right on edge. She picked out an outfit for the following day, which had pretty much the same effect. She knew she'd be seeing Rideau on the campus. They had made a tentative plan to meet up for coffee and talk about things a bit further. It made her nervous, and now it wasn't just due to the fact that they'd fought terribly and she'd practically maimed him… there was Leah to think about. Would she be upset? Jealous? Did Rideau still have feelings for her, and if so, how would she ever explain to Leah that she wasn't trying to encourage it? She purposely picked out a very modest sweater and pants combination. She wouldn't go so far as to make herself purposely unattractive, but she could at least look as unexceptional as possible.

She knew when Leah came in because Seth began to whistle suggestively. The sound was followed closely by a yelp of pain, and she figured Leah had given him a good smack. Good for her. Renesmee spent along moment trying to decide whether she should go downstairs and see what was going on or simply stay out of it before steeling herself and heading for the stairs.

When the living room came into view, she saw that Leah had, indeed, gone for Chinese food, and the boys were already into it. She couldn't suppress her grin at that. They were wrists deep in Lo Mein, while Leah munched on an Egg Roll and staunchly ignored their barrage of questions. Quietly, she slipped into the room and tried to sneak by to get a glass of juice from the kitchen. She was almost past them when Leah called out, stopping her.

"Nessie," she said in a loud, clear voice. Renesmee looked over, trying not to flinch as she anticipated some sort of angry tirade (she had broken the woman's soulmate's wrist, after all). Leah chucked something at her head; Renesmee's hand shot up and caught it deftly. She looked at the brown paper bag in her hand, and then after a moment's confusion, tore it open and looked inside. It was full of fortune cookies, at least twenty. "You said you wanted extra," Leah said by way of explanation. Renesmee blinked a couple times.

"That's… a lot of cookies," she said. Leah smirked.

"Yeah, well… hopefully all the fortunes are good. Don't shoot the messenger if they're not, okay?" Renesmee just stared dumbly.

"Sure… I'll try not to."

"Try the Kung Pow Chicken," Seth said around a mouthful of the same. "It's unreal." Renesmee made a face.

"I think I'll pass, thanks," she said, settling onto the couch with her bag of cookies. She pulled one out and tore through the cellophane wrapper, cracking it in half delicately and pulling out the narrow strip of paper. She turned it over and looked at it, then burst out laughing.

"What does it say, Nessie?" Embry asked, leaning in to try and get a look.

She laughed again, cleared her throat, and read, "An unexpected meeting brings changes to your family circle." The boys howled with laughter, and Leah groaned loudly. Renesmee couldn't resist; with a sneaky smile, she shrugged and said, "Hey, don't shoot the messenger, remember?"

"Can I shoot myself?" Leah muttered under her breath. "Is that an option?"

oooOOOoo

After they were finished eating, Leah retreated up to her room. Seth and Embry wanted to explore the city some more, and Jacob decided he'd go with them. Renesmee politely declined the invitation to join up. It had been an emotionally exhausting day, and she just wanted to relax and recline for a bit. She called her parents to let them know she was back safe and sound, flipped on the television, watched a couple Seinfeld reruns on the retro channel, and then did some of her readings for school. Just as before, nothing held her interest for very long. Plus, she had an intense craving for coffee. She toyed with the idea of calling the guys and asking them to bring home Starbucks, and then decided to just leave them alone and brew a pot herself. As she was padding down the hallways towards the stairs, she heard the soft click of a bedroom door opening, and she turned to see Leah's head peering around the doorframe.

"Nessie?" She called after her. Renesmee stopped and went towards the spare room.

"What's up? I was just about to put on a pot of coffee… you want some?"

Leah shook her head. "No thanks. But, uh… when you come back up, do you think I could talk to you?"

Renesmee raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then nodded. "Okay. Just give me a minute."

"Sure." Leah disappeared back into the room, leaving the door open. Renesmee puzzled over the other woman's odd behavior as she went down the stairs. Leah actually wanted to talk. That was headline-worthy news. She rushed her way through putting the coffee on, set it to brew, and went back upstairs.

"Hey," she said, poking her head around the doorway. "Can I come in?"

Leah was seated cross-legged on the bed, her laptop open and resting between her knees. Her fingers were flying over the keys, and at the sound of Renesmee's voice she stopped typing and looked up. "Sure," she said, shutting her computer.

"I just put on a pot and left it… I'm going to have to go back down in a couple minutes," Renesmee said awkwardly. Leah just shrugged.

"Fine." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "Listen, I wanted to say something now, while it's still relevant. I guess the boys told you what happened." Renesmee nodded. "Well, Embry came up and talked to me for a bit before they headed out, and he said that you offered to help, but that you wouldn't talk about it unless I was there." She raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting a response. Again, Renesmee nodded. She felt a little bit like she was on trial.

"That's right… that's pretty much how it went."

Leah took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Okay," she said when she was finished. She looked Renesmee in the eye. "Thanks. I appreciate you doing that. Jacob and Seth can sometimes get a little carried away with thinking my business is theirs to get involved in." Renesmee snorted involuntarily.

"Tell me about it!" When Leah gave her a funny look, she clarified, "I mean, you know I love Jake, but sometimes he can be a bit… domineering." Leah actually cracked a smile at that.

"I didn't think he got like that with you," she said thoughtfully. Renesmee just rolled her eyes.

"Are you kidding? All the time! You wouldn't believe the number of fights we've had because he's tried to make my decisions for me."

Leah looked moderately surprised. "You guys fight a lot?"

Renesmee nodded vehemently. "All the time. We always make up pretty much right away, though. But yeah, we scrap it out pretty often."

"He must really try hard not to think about that when he's in the pack mind. I never knew." She had that thoughtful look again. "I always just figured he couldn't ever go against what you wanted. You know, because of the…" She let her sentence peter off. Renesmee smirked.

"The imprint, yeah. Well, I still don't know that much about it, to tell the truth… but one thing I know is it definitely doesn't work that way. And to tell you the truth, I'm sort of glad… I wouldn't want him to just be captive like that, to not be able to speak his mind or fight back. That would probably make me as miserable as it would make him."

Leah nodded slowly. "So… you're not miserable, then. Even though you still fight, and he can be… difficult… sometimes, you're still pretty happy, right? You're okay with being tied to this person, even though you really had no say?" Renesmee fixed Leah with a searching look.

"Are we still talking about me and Jacob?" She asked quietly. Leah brought one hand up and raked it through her short hair, frowning.

"Look, I'm just… I don't know what I'm doing, okay?" She said it loudly, defensively, and Renesmee shrank back. "Sorry," Leah said, her voice loaded with frustration, "Sorry. Damn it!" She turned away and put a couple paces between them before turning back. "Look, forget it. Just… go back to whatever it was you were doing, forget I even brought it up. I'll work it out. It'll be fine." Renesmee felt a surge of pity for the other woman. If it had been anyone else there in the room with her—her mother, her aunts, Clara—she would have gathered them into a hug and whispered soothing things until they were calm. But she got the feeling Leah didn't do hugs. She'd have to try a different tactic.

"I'm going to go out there now and get my coffee. You can take a minute to get things laid out in your head, and then when I come back up we'll talk it over, and we'll figure out exactly what you need to do to be okay with all of this. All right?"

Leah looked a bit stunned. Renesmee had a moment of panic, thinking she'd insulted her beyond measure, before the other woman nodded and said. "Okay. Okay, that sounds good." Renesmee broke into a smile.

"You sure I can't get you a coffee too?" Leah sighed.

"Yeah, gimme one. Why not… it's not like I'm sleeping tonight anyway, right? So, black with sugar, if you've got it." Renesmee laughed a little as she headed out the door.

When she came back in, two steaming mugs in her hands, Leah was seated on the bed again, and she reached one long arm out to pat the mattress in front of her, indicating for her to sit. Renesmee handed Leah her coffee and then sat on the end of the bed, curling her legs under her. She thought to herself that this was akin to the most bizarre slumber party in the history of the world. Who would have ever thought she'd be having girl chat over coffee with Leah Clearwater?

Leah took a long sip of her coffee and made an appreciative noise. "You make a good cup," she said.

"Thanks." Renesmee drank some of her own coffee and then set the cup down, balancing it carefully on the mattress against her legs. "So," she said seriously, "Lay it on me. What's going on?"

Leah chuckled a little and shook her head. "You're funny, you know?" She said with a look that could have been admiration or pity. With Leah, it was sometimes hard to tell. "What makes you think you're going to be able to help at all?"

Renesmee's first impulse was to be polite, but she knew how Leah valued honesty over lip-service. "Look, Leah, I think you might be under the impression that I'm stupid just because I'm young. I'd really like to cure you of that misconception. The fact of the matter is, I have a little bit of experience with this. I haven't ever imprinted… but I've been imprinted upon, and I think that gives me a perspective that might be helpful, especially since I can tell you what not to do if you want things to work out. So what you need to do, if you want any help from me at all, is get over any preconceived notions you might have about me and listen up. Okay?"

Leah's eyebrows were raised so high that they were almost in her hairline. "Yeah, I gotcha." She smirked and took another sip of coffee. "So, fine then, Oh Wise One… tell me all you know."

Renesmee gave her a wry smile. "Since you asked so nicely," she said sarcastically. She was starting to realize that Leah's prickly communication style was actually pretty fun once you got used to it. "First thing's first: You can not keep this from him. He has to know, if you ever intend to act on it, and he has to know as soon as is possible without scaring him off. When I found out that Jacob and my family had been hiding our imprint from me for seventeen years, I was furious. Not at first; I was just so happy that Jacob and I were going to be together… but after, when I thought it through, I was really upset. And I took that out on my dad, because I knew it was mostly his fault that Jacob hadn't told me earlier. Nobody's holding you back from telling Rideau except for yourself… which means that if you hide it and he finds out, he'll take it out on you."

"But I can't just tell him," Leah argued. "I mean, come on, what would I even say: 'I know we just met and all, and I'm the friend of some guy you can't stand, but I'm pretty sure I'm your soulmate. P.S., I turn into a giant dog at will'?" She shook her head. "I'm sure that'd go over well."

"That's not what I'm suggesting, and I'm pretty sure you know it." Leah's mouth snapped shut at that back-handed reprimand. "Obviously you'll have to ease him into it. Gain his trust, be his friend. I can help with that. He likes me a lot."

"Yeah, I got that." And now Leah was glowering again. Great. Renesmee sighed.

"Look, Leah… I can't help how Rideau feels about me. I never did anything to encourage it, and I don't return his feelings at all. I know you're already aware and probably don't need to hear it, but I love Jacob. When Rideau refused to accept that and decided to pursue me in spite of that knowledge, it put a huge rift between us. And the only reason we were able to make up earlier is because he came to me and swore up and down that he'd thought it over and was content to just be my friend. I don't want him as anything more than that. What I do want is for him to be happy." She looked Leah straight in the eyes. "I'm on your side. Get used to it."

Leah was still and quiet. She picked up her mug and drummed her fingers against the side of it, but didn't drink. "I'm making this really difficult, aren't I?" She said, sounding almost apologetic. Renesmee arched an eyebrow.

"Well, you're not exactly making it easy." Leah chuckled.

"You know, Nessie, I think I could actually stand being around you, eventually." Renesmee was, once again, confounded.

"Um, thanks, I think?"

"I mean, you're not at all the way Jacob thinks you are."

And now she was worried. "How is that?"

"Perfect." The way Leah said the word, it sounded like pretty much the opposite of how most people would have meant it. "Believe me, I get tired of hearing about it. But I guess that's not your fault."

Renesmee supposed she should be relieved. "Jake knows I'm not perfect," she argued. "Like I said, we fight all the time."

"Well, all I know is, I've never seen a bad thought about you in his head. And when you're someone like me, it's hard to cozy up to someone so flawless." She shrugged. "I'm just glad to know you're actually more of a real person than all that."

There were all kinds of things Renesmee could take the wrong way about that speech, so she decided to focus on the one that didn't center on herself. "What do you mean, someone like you?" Leah rolled her eyes.

"Don't pretend like you don't know. I'm sort of a disaster, Nessie. Everybody can see that. I'm mean, and I'm cranky, and I don't handle being around people very well. And it's not easy for me to be around people who have such an easy time socializing and making friends." She paused. "Did I say all that out loud?"

Renesmee just stared at her, stunned. "You think it's easy for me?" She said softly. "Leah, I know you've had it rough, but just because your life's been harder than mine doesn't mean I've had it easy. At least you know what you are."

"What do you mean?" Leah asked, looking like she genuinely had no idea. Renesmee sighed.

"You're a wolf. You have a pack, a whole set of people who are just the same as you. Who do I have that's like me? Not my parents… Not the pack. I've only met one other person like me: some stranger from another continent who kills people for their blood. And I suppose I can count his equally murderous sisters, even though I've never met them. Is that where I belong, is that what I am?" She stopped suddenly, running completely out of steam.

"Wow," was all Leah could say. Renesmee laughed humourlessly.

"Gee, you really have a way of bringing out the buried stuff, don't you?" She felt exposed, and embarrassed. But there was a part of her, a small, rebellious part, that was thrilled at the freedom of saying exactly what she felt.

Leah groaned and closed her eyes. "I'm a bad influence. You should probably not be around me too much… the gloom is catching."

"I can handle it." They looked at each other for a long moment. "I meant what I said about being on your side, Leah," Renesmee said finally. "I want to help. Nobody's perfect… if you wait until you've reached perfection to let yourself be happy, you never will be."

Leah smirked. "How'd you get so smart, kid? Last I checked, I was more than twice your age… shouldn't I be schooling you in this stuff?"

"When you've got eternity, age is just a number, right? It doesn't really matter."

"Ha," said Leah, "That's sort of true."

"So," Renesmee said, clapping her hands together to shake off the seriousness, "Back to business: what do we do about your boy troubles?"

In the Next Chapter:

"No," she muttered, "Please… Jacob, no."

He started. What did that mean? Was he the subject of her bad dream? Jacob looked down the length of her body to where her hands lay, balled tightly in the blankets, and made a split second decision. He took her hand and twisted the sheet out of its grasp. Renesmee didn't wake up as he spread her fingers and bent his head, pressing her over-heated palm to his cheek.

(This is your conscience, speaking to you through your computer screen. Critiquelle will be SO happy if you review her story. Don't you want to make somebody happy? Always let your conscience be your guide.)