Chapter 4: Something Beautiful

Jake walks me home, with a kiss goodbye I walk into my house. My mom greets me with a hug. "You're finally home." She says cheerfully.

"I could say the same to you." I smile.

"Seth didn't know where you were. We were worried." Mom tells me as she leads me to the couch and sits down. I sit down beside her.

"Sorry, I was with Jake on the beach and lost track of time." I tell her. "Why are you so cheerful this morning? What's going on?"

Seth walks in with his arm around Maggie's shoulder. "Hey big sis." He smiles. "I have to say I was expecting you back a little bit sooner." I smile.

"To answer your question Leah, Charlie proposed to me last night." My mother says and I turn my attention back to her. "And I said yes. And we are moving in with Charlie. All of us. It's going to be wonderful!" My mother smiles, but her smile fades quickly when she sees I'm less than excited about her announcement.

"What? We're moving?" I say, stunned by this new development.

"Yes! Isn't it exciting?" My mom says but then her smile fades. "What's wrong?"

"Why doesn't Charlie just move in with us? We have plenty of room and everything." I ask.

"Charlie and I both talked about it. We think it's best if we live in Charlie's house." My mom explains. "And I miss you guys. I know I haven't been around that much, it would just be nice for all of us to live together don't you think?"

I look down. She was so happy, so excited and I've ruined that. I haven't seen her like that in a while. "It would be nice to live together again. I… I just don't want to live in Forks, Mom. What if I stay here? I mean Dad left the house to us in the will, it's already paid for. I was going to start working for Joy in a week at the diner. It would make sense to just stay here." I tell her and she nods understandingly.

"I can live with you Leah." Seth says.

I shake my head. "Don't be silly. It would be amazing for you to live in Forks. You'd be so close to Maggie and you'd be with mom and Charlie. You'd love living there. I can make it on my own Seth."

"It makes sense for you to stay. I wish it didn't. I do miss you Leah."

"I miss you too Mom. But it's not like we are never going to see each other. Forks isn't across the country." I tell her.

"Sometimes it feels like it." My mom says. "But I have faith in you. We're moving tomorrow night after Charlie's shift. I hope it's not too quick."

I shake my head. "I'm just glad you are happy again, Mom."

My mom smiles as she stands. "Me too. I should finish packing. I love you both."

My mom leaves the room and Seth sits down on the couch quietly. He's been so quiet this whole time except for that one comment he made. Maggie sits on the chair across from us.

"You're really going to be okay here by yourself?" Seth asks.

I laugh. "I think it will be really good for me to be on my own. I've thought about moving out lately… I could never leave you though Seth." I tell him, he looks down and then to Maggie. "Please don't worry about me Seth."

He nods. "I know you can take care of yourself. You've taken care of me since I could remember. It's going to be weird not living with you."

I smile. "I know. But we are still going to see each other. We're still in the pack. Stop getting so weird little brother. This isn't goodbye."

Seth smiles to me. "Speaking of pack… Am I to assume Jake will be over here more often?"

I smile, "Maybe." I laugh when he raises his eyebrow to me. "You should start packing. Is Maggie staying over tonight?" Maggie nods. "Good."

"You're right I should pack. Mags, wanna help?" Seth asks.

"I'll be there in a minute. I want talk to Leah for a minute." Maggie says.

"Okay." Seth nods and then walks to his room.

"Let's go outside." Maggie says. I nod and she grabs her coat. When we get outside we both sit on the porch steps.

"What's up Maggie?" I ask her.

"I was wondering how your night went. I noticed how happy you were when you came in. I understand if you don't want to tell me. I just figured it would be nice to talk to someone. I know when I went on my first date with Seth I rushed to call my close friend at the time. I know you are close to Jasper and Alice but I figured it would be nice to have someone to talk to now. If not… that's fine too." She smiles to me.

"You're always so thoughtful, Maggie." I smile to her. "Well, he said all of the right things and did all of the right things. It was… well pretty perfect."

"But…" Maggie says.

"But I'm so scared of getting hurt. I mean he has an imprint. It's insane for me to believe that we could ever be happy together forever. Isn't it? I mean I see people like you and Seth and Kim and Jared, how can I argue how strong the imprint bond is? I mean, I don't think Jake would intentionally hurt me, but one day, he might just see Nessie an entirely different way and want to marry her. Then I'll be left again; just like with Sam but this time will be worse." I sigh against the railing post, it's so relieving to talk about my fears with someone.

Maggie nods. "You're right, the imprint bond is strong. I mean even though I'm not the wolf, I still feel the need to be around Seth. My thoughts still wander to him. But I think that a lot of times an imprint is someone's true love, so the feeling to be with them is strong anyways. But maybe, sometimes an imprint isn't someone's true love. Jake talked to Billy didn't he? Billy must think it's possible for Jake to love you and not Nessie."

"But what if I get hurt again Mags? I don't know what that will do to me. It wasn't good the last time; it will probably be worse this time." I tell her.

She looks down, then to the sky, and then back to me. "You're right again. This could turn out to be terrible in the end. I mean sometimes you argue like an old married couple constantly. This could run its course and leave you completely shattered. But in the middle, it could be beautiful Leah. I've seen you two together. I've watched both of you. You both look at each other like the other is the most amazing person in the world, like you'd do anything to have a moment alone with each other. You both listen to each other because you are so genuinely interested in what the other has to say. From what I can see, it's beautiful, so very, very beautiful."

"But something that is beautiful can turn into something that is ugly in a moment." I tell her.

"But isn't it amazing to experience that beauty if only for a moment?" She smiles. "My mother told me once, 'You're going to get your heartbroken a million times in life. It's going to be hard and you are going to wonder why you're still trying and then something will happen, something that starts to heal your heart and doesn't break it, and that's going to remind you why you have to keep trying. Because we have to fight through the hard times to get to and enjoy the good times'. This could be the beautiful that starts to heal your heart Leah. I'd hate for you to push it away because of fear and what might happen." Maggie starts to smile. "I mean I can see you and Jake getting married one day and having a big family someday."

I smile, I could see it too. But I had never wanted to admit it, to myself or anyone else. My smile falls. "I just don't want to get my heart broken."

Maggie smiles sympathetically, "I know, no one wants heartbreak."

"I told him we'd take it slow. So we'll see how it works out." I tell her.

"Well at least you are giving it a shot. I was so worried you wouldn't." Maggie says.

"Thanks for listening." I smile to her.

"Any time." Maggie says. "I hope I helped."

"You did. It's good to talk to someone about it. I don't think I could talk to my mom about any of this." I tell Maggie. "She worries so much about me. And things have been so weird between us. I know she can't really be in this house, not since my dad passed. I think it's hard for her. I just wish she could come around more. I'm just glad Seth will finally be with Mom. He needs her, more than he'd ever admit to anyone."

Maggie nods. She has an amazing gift to sympathize with everyone. I think she can do it so well because she truly cares about everyone. She doesn't just act like she cares like some people.

"You can talk to me anytime." Maggie smiles. "Oh look a snowflake!" Maggie cheers.

"Oh yeah." I look up to the sky to see several snowflakes dancing down. "It's beautiful."

Maggie nods. "Do you have anything else to talk about?"

I shake my head. "But this isn't a one way thing Mags. If you ever need to talk, I'm always here."

Maggie smiles and hugs me. "Thanks Leah."

Maggie pulls away and jumps up. "I'm going to go get Seth. He's been waiting for the snow all day!"

I jump down from the porch and walk out into the yard where the snow can hit me. Two snowfalls already. Maybe this time, the snow will stick to the ground.

"Hey Lee!" Jake's familiar voice calls. I spin to face him and I smile. "I came to see if you saw the snow. I guess you have." I nod. He walks closer to me. "It's pretty awesome right?"

"Yeah, it's pretty spectacular. I think this one is going to be better than the other one. Hopefully it sticks to the ground this time." I tell him.

Maggie squeals and laughs from the backyard. I guess that's where Seth and Maggie went to enjoy the snow.

Jake is close to me again. "Hope I didn't get you in trouble for bringing you back home this morning."

I shake my head. "My mom was in too much bliss for anything to ruin her mood. Charlie proposed to her last night. She started talking about moving into Charlie's as soon as I walked in the door."

"You're moving to Charlie's?" He asks his face full of worry and disappointment.

I smile, "Nope. Just Mom and Seth. I'm staying here."

Jake sighs in relief and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me close. The combination of his warmth and the cold snow is sensational. "You could have started with that." He smiles.

"But it was so much more fun seeing your reaction to the thought of me moving. Would you really be so sad if I decided to move?" I ask him, smiling.

"Is that even a question? Of course I'd be upset. I wouldn't be able to make up stupid reasons to stop by and see you if you lived with Charlie." Jake says.

"So the snow reason was just a stupid excuse to come see me?" I smile to him. My eyes meeting his warm dark brown ones.

Jake nods. "Pretty stupid huh? Of course you saw that it was snowing. I just really wanted to see you again."

"You don't need an excuse to stop by." I tell him. "I really like seeing you, if you can't tell."

"You should remind me how much you like seeing me." Jake winks.

"You're a dork." I tell him. "If you want to kiss me you should-"

Before I can finish that statement his lips are on mine, my arms wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to me. We kiss for a few moments, the snow landing on us and quickly melting away. His lips are still so perfect.

Jake breaks away from me. "You were saying?" Jake smirks.

I smile and then lean my head against his chest. I can hear his heart beat pounding against his chest. It's beating faster than normal. I press my lips to his chest over his heart then look up to him.

"Your heart is beating incredibly fast Jake. Are you okay?" I ask him, concerned.

Jake looks down to me and laughs. "This is going to sound so stupid."

"I doubt that." I tell him.

"It speeds up when I'm around you. Especially when I'm kissing you." Jake tells me. "That's an effect you have on me."

"Are you making that up?" I ask him.

"Truth?" Jake asks. I nod. "No. I'm being entirely serious."

I pull his face close to mine. "You really shouldn't say things like that Jake."

"Why not?" Jake asks.

"This is going to sound really stupid." I warn him and Jake smiles. "Because it just makes me fall for you harder." I tell him.

"Good." He whispers with a smile.

His lips are beautiful. He's beautiful. This moment is beautiful. I kiss him and he kisses me back, pulling my body against his with the kiss.