Landslide; Chapter Three

Leah's point of view

"You ready, Leah?" Seth asked, coming into my bedroom.

I had on a moveable, casual dress that hugged my frame loosely. It had thick shoulder straps and a deep U-neck with a tribal pattern decorating it all around. It stopped just above my knee and it was easy to shift in and out of, which was my main concern as well as staying cool. My hair hung straight in it's usual style without any needed help and make-up had become a useless gesture for me. So, yes, I was ready.

"Yeah, I'll be down in a second, 'kay Seth?"

He leaned in the doorway of my bedroom, though. "You look really pretty, Lee."

I smiled at him, fiddling with my chap stick. My lips had been chapping like crazy these days due to the weathered nature our wolf forms demanded from us. I hadn't been called pretty in so long, and even though it was only from my brother, it was nice to hear. "Thanks."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I said, sitting down on my bed.

"Is it for Jacob?"

I didn't know how to answer that, but I shook my head. "No, it's for me."

"Good. Uh... Can I ask you something else?"

I just laughed in response. "Go for it."

"Why did you kiss him?"

I paused and bit down on my lower lip. "I'm not sure," I admitted, studying the small pink tube between my fingers. I opened the cap and glazed my lips with the moisturizer before setting it on my nightstand.

He walked over and sat next to me. "If you don't want to talk about it it's cool, it was just a shock when Embry said you kissed him. I mean, we all thought you still loved Sam and..." He trailed off, fearing he said too much.

I placed a hand on his knee, where his shorts cut off and was silent for a few long moments. "He makes me feel lighter," I told him, as though those short words made all the difference in the world. But to me, they did.

"I don't want to see you hurt again," Seth said softly, reaching over and giving me a hug that I returned immediately. "It's nice being in your head since we came to Jacob's pack. It's a much happier place to be and I don't want you to go back to being sad all the time."

I smiled down at him, his concern humbling and child-like, although through the shifting process, he had become a man.

"I think you just have a thing for Alpha's," Seth joked, trying to lighten the mood.

I laughed softly, although really, it wasn't all that funny. "Yeah I think you're right," I teased.

He chuckled, "I'll meet you downstairs. I know tonight won't be easy for you, regardless, but I'm glad you're my sister."

He left before I could respond, but my heart warmed at his words. I was glad to have him as a brother and I knew dad would have been proud of the way he turned out.

I looked in the mirror one last time before going downstairs, pushing my hair behind my ear.

"All ready to go," Embry called when I came down and Quil and Jacob came through the door.

"We running?" Seth asked.

Jake shrugged. "May as well, the car will be a tight fit."

Embry chuckled. "Running's faster anyways."

Jacob looked at me as the other boys piled out the door, getting ready to phase and although no words were said, I knew we weren't done our talk from earlier. "Ready?"

I nodded, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Jacob's perspective

Before I phased I had to remind myself to keep the little incident with Leah from earlier out of my thoughts. The guys may know what happened, but they didn't need to see it. – Well, besides Embry. I didn't want to make Leah feel awkward, either, by seeing it through my eyes, so instead, I focused on the night ahead of us. Although it was an engagement party, we all just needed a reason to get loose and have a few drinks, too.

Getting trashed tonight, huh, Jake?" Embry teased as we ran, jumping over the small river by the Cullen's.

Not likely, bro. Just excited to have some fun for once.

In only a few minutes we arrived on the beach. Night had fallen over La Push and it was nice being able to cross the boarder into La Push again without any worries. Everyone phased back, into their human form, and got dressed before we stepped out from the woods, onto the torch-lit beach. Sam's pack was all in attendance, including imprints, and my dad and Sue were there as well, talking and laughing down by the fire pit. Everyone was laughing and congratulating the happy couple, and despite my own imprint, I scoffed.

We all followed the laughter down to the beach, around the fire pit where the majority was sat, including my sister and Paul with their arms around each other, my dad and Sue and Sam and Emily. Brady and Collin were half way down the beach with all the new pack members, fooling around, Jared and Kim were cuddled up down by the water and Quil ran straight to Claire as soon as he got there, who was sat next to Emily. Sam always allowed us visitation, especially considering Quil's imprint was in La Push. Embry, Leah, Seth and I sat beside my dad and their mom and Sue hugged her two children warmly.

"I miss you guys," she whispered, unable to let either of them go for a long moment.

"Miss you, too, mom," Seth squeaked, seeming squished by his mothers arms.

I laughed. Billy was on my right, Leah on my left, and Sue and Seth on the opposite side of her. I looked to her, wanting to make sure she was okay considering the real reason we were here was to celebrate Emily and Sam's engagement and it had to be hard on her, regardless. She just gave me a small smile before turning her attention away from me, looking out at the waves rolling in to the shore.

"Who's up for some music?!" Collin cried, his stereo system sitting by the fire. It was only a small CD player/MP3 hook up, however he attached a couple, bigger speakers to it and I had no doubts that it would make a nice sound. He plugged his I-pod into the attachment and turned it on, up on bust and as soon as it started playing, there was no need for words because there was no way you could hear anyone over it. The wolf hearing made it that much more dramatic and Sue cringed.

"Whoops," Collin yelled over the music before turning it down. It was still loud and could be heard all over the beach, but we could hear one another over it now.

Nicki Minaj was playing through the speakers and Sam looked over to me. "So Jake, how's the pack going?"

"Good, good. It's different not being in La Push all the time, honestly. But I think it's a lot easier this way."

Sam nodded. "I think with the little ones having phased that it's a good idea to have two separate packs. It's not like we're not on speaking terms and if we have to, we can pull our resources together sometime, but too many minds thrown into one... It's not a very pleasant thing."

Jared chuckled, "God knows it gets us in more trouble than anything else."

Seth smirked. "Considering controlling our thoughts it's pretty much non-existent."

The guys continued to talk amongst themselves and I stared at the small music player by the fire as the last of Super Bass played through. I wondered how Nessie was. Was she warm? Happy? She should be asleep shortly and I knew I should be there to read her her bedtime story so she wasn't worried. The imprint consumed my thoughts and a brief flash of my old self shone though, telling me not to worry.

None of them belong to themselves anymore. And the sickest part? Their genes tell them they're happy about it.

I remembered my own words so vividly, and I remembered the pain I was in when I said them. I had wanted to imprint just to get over Bella, but the idea of everyone else having an imprint made me sick. I thought back to that time and realized how much easier it was not to have any constant worries over someone you loved. Of course, I worried about Bella but this was a much more intense kind of worry. It was a huge... Burden. I loved Nessie as a little sister, obviously. Hell, I payed more attention to Ness than I ever did either of my real sisters, but I missed being... Well, carefree. I was happy... Really, I was, but I was starting to see why Sam hated the Cullen's so much – the passion behind it. The Cullen's returning to Forks took Leah away from him and as happy as he was with Emily, he would never forgive them for taking away his free will.

I wondered if my thoughts were the only ones to wander like this; to question the imprint.

The music changed, and a slow song came on: I'll Be by Edwin McCain. The imprints all got up, all though it was an automatic thing, and wrapped up in one another, swaying slowly. I reached down into the beer cooler and popped the top off of one, taking a mouthful.

I looked over to see Seth, if he had the same disgusted expression, however he had ran off with the younger members, staying close, but far enough to frolic. Then I saw Leah, and her mom had her hand in her own. I placed my beer down on the log beside me and stood up, holding my hand out to her. I wasn't about to let her watch Sam and Emily dance around the beach and sit there and mope. "Come on."

Sue looked at me, confused, but watched her daughters face. Leah looked at me, equally as confused, but reached up and took my hand. Sue looked relieved.

I placed my hands on the small of her back, her small arms hesitating before she placed them on my neck. "I'm not letting you sit there and mope while you watch them dance," I told her gently, swaying her around. It was a lot like when I had danced with Bella, but there was no hurt. It was nice with Leah; easy and I swayed her around gently, keeping my arms on the small of her back. I wanted her to trust me entirely and realize she wasn't alone anymore. She didn't have to hide things from me. Whatever she was feeling right now, I wanted to try and help. Obviously she hadn't been in her right mind earlier when she kissed me and I wanted to give her the opportunity to explain to me what was going on through her head. It was what an Alpha was supposed to do; listen and protect his charges.

She looked up at me, her hair like a curtain around her face and in the moonlight the small gems on her dress lit up, and her eyes sparkled. I was pretty sure she was trying to keep her emotions off of her face, but she was hurt, even after all this time, by Sam's disregard of her. She looked so vulnerable. "Thanks."

I just nodded to her, and I felt some of the others eyes on us. I shrugged them off, though. Leah wasn't as bad as some of the other guys thought. I pitied Jared and Paul for not being able to see the new Leah since she left Sam's pack. She really wasn't as horrible as she had been.

Leah's point of view

It was funny how I could hate Jacob for being nice, but the nice gesture got my heart rate up and as I wrapped my arms around his neck, our bodies touching, I felt things churn in me that I knew I shouldn't feel. My whole body was on fire and I looked up to him, seeing his full lips, big arms and yet still boyish grin. He had changed into a man since Bella, and I couldn't help but to notice. It was funny how things turned out, but my body ached for him to kiss me and I felt myself losing control. Damn it, woman. Eventually he was going to find out how I felt about him and that scared me. I liked Jacob, but was it possible that I loved him? Or maybe I was just lusting after something I knew was unattainable like most girls do.

The song made me want to cry, though. There was no way I would ever have that kind of love; unconditional... Perfect. Sam had Emily and now Jacob had Renesmee. There was no more talking for the rest of the song, and when it came to an end, all the imprints kissed and I watched as Sam leaned down, kissing Emily softly. Considering I had kissed Jacob earlier, it was a little awkward when I looked back up to his face but the ache for a love like Sam and Emily's filled my chest.

"Thanks," I said again before taking my arms back, the loss of contact feeling as though I was incomplete again.
"No problem. Want a drink?"

I nodded, "Do you even have to ask?"

Jacob chuckled and reached down in the cooler. He picked up a beer, but then hesitated. "Beer or cooler?"

"Cooler."

He handed me an orange cooler and picked up his open beer resting on the log. Sometimes I think he forgot I wasn't one of the guys.

"Jake? Come on, play ball with us!" Embry called, all the non-imprint members running along the beach, ignoring the love-fest.

Jacob chuckled and took a couple mouthfuls of his drink before he joined them, and Rachel left Paul's side, taking Jacob's seat beside me as we all sat back down.

"What was that all about?" She whispered, eying me.

"What?" I asked, taking a sip of the cooler.

"You guys dancing."

I shrugged, but she pried on. Rachel had always been nice to me, and when we were little, before her mom died, we used to play together a lot. Dad and Billy always liked to hang out, so he usually brought Seth and I along to play with Jacob and the twins, giving mom a break while he had fun with Billy. It was nice to have some girl talk. My mom had left, going to take Billy home, and it was only me and Rachel on our log.

"Promise to keep this to yourself?" I whispered. "Not even Paul. God, especially not him."

Rachel smiled softly, and nodded. I made sure to keep my voice low enough for the guys not to hear. "I, uh, kissed Jacob."

"When!?" Rachel squealed, drawing the guys attention over.

I gave her a look. "Shhh."

"Sorry," she giggled. "When? Why?"

Once everyone went back to their own business, I turned back to her. "Earlier today... Rach, I think I like him. I mean.. really like him."

"Awe!"

"That's the problem," I pointed out.

She got it, "Oh... The imprint. Sometimes it's hard to picture Jake having imprinted on Renesmee. I think of them as close friends, usually. Same with Quil and Claire. What are you going to do?"

"There's not much I can do," I told her softly.

She frowned, "Sorry, Lee."

"It's cool."

"What did he say when you kissed him?"

"Nothing, really. He was shocked but I just played it off y'know. I don't know if he bought it, though."

"You should tell him," Rachel said gently. "Even though he's imprinted, I know my little brother and he's really grown up the past year or so. I think he'll surprise you."

I shook my head, "He's supposed to be with Renesmee. There's no sense, and I don't want to make things awkward. I finally feel like I fit in with him and his pack and I don't want to jeopardize that."

"Jacob won't intentionally hurt you."

"Doesn't matter if it's intentional or not," I said meekly.

Rachel sighed and put a hand on my knee. "Lee, I know it's a tricky situation but don't keep anything bottled up. You know he'll find out sooner or later, and you should be the one to tell him, regardless. He won't judge you for it."

I gave her a small smile and nodded, "I guess you're right. Considering I used to hate him, it's funny how things work out."

She laughed, "You guys were too much alike." She picked up my cooler beside me and gave it to me, clinking hers with mine. "To new possibilities."

Although I was far from her optimism I smiled and nodded, "To new possibilities."

Authors Note: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I know not too too much happened but just wait until the next chapter! If you guys review I should have it up in the next couple days! Maybe even tonight! (:

-Dramaticfield