This chapter sort of got away from me. Please enjoy, thank you to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and/or favorited last chapter. And leave me a comment if you can.
Thanks for reading, and I still don't own 'em.
Bye!
Talking with Emily really didn't help Leah. In fact, it left her feeling more miserable than before, and it all stemmed from Emily's comment about Rosalie. Leah didn't particularly care for the blonde leech, in fact she might actually hate her, but she was still married to Emmett. Leah knew firsthand what it felt like to lose someone she loved to this stupid imprinting thing, and as much as she despised Rosalie Cullen, she didn't want to rip apart hers and Emmett's relationship.
A month ago, if anyone were to have told Leah she'd be worried about breaking up two vampires, she would have laughed in their face and most likely punched them for being an idiot. It truly astounded her how much someone could change in such a short period of time.
With a small sigh, she stood up, intending to go inside, possibly make something to eat, but froze when she caught the familiar scent of vampire. Watching the road warily, wondering if Rosalie was on her way to continue their 'conversation,' Leah readied herself for a fight only to retract her claws when she spotted Jacob leading a jeep towards her.
Jacob gave her a two-fingered wave before continuing on his way, leaving the jeep to park in front of her house. Leah spotted who was behind the wheel, her eyes narrowing slightly, but she still stepped off her porch and headed towards the vehicle.
"You're not hiding your wife in the back are you?" Leah asked carefully, speaking through the open passenger window. Mutely, Emmett shook his head. "Does Rosalie know you're here?"
"Would you like to go for a ride with me?" Emmett completely ignored Leah's question, virtually answering it, and reached over to open the door. Leah stepped back, giving Emmett a small glare, and he sighed. "Please."
She glanced back at her house, chewing on her lip thoughtfully, but finally nodded and turned back, slipping into the jeep. She shut the door, putting her seatbelt on, and Emmett peeled out of her driveway, kicking up gravel as he headed back towards the reservation's entrance.
"So, where are we going?" Leah asked slowly, after a brief silence.
"Wherever you want to go," Emmett replied glancing over at her. "We could just drive, or we can stop. Are you hungry? I can't exactly eat, but…"
"I'm fine," Leah answered softly. "Let's just drive."
"I can do that." Emmett pressed the pedal down, nearly touching the floor, a heavy silence descending over the jeep.
It was a good fifteen minutes before Emmett said, "Tell me more about this imprinting thing."
"What do you want to know?" Leah asked carefully, elbow resting on the windowsill, palm holding her hand up, her eyes watching the scenery fly by.
"You said that it would cause you pain if we weren't together," Emmett stated slowly, letting the gas up just long enough to take a right turn before pushing the pedal to the floor again.
"So the legend says, but no one has ever been rejected by their imprintee," Leah muttered turning to look at Emmett, noting something akin to worry in his eyes. A sudden, overwhelming need to reassure him rolled through her, and Leah quickly said, "It doesn't mean we have to be together. You have Rosalie to think about, and as much as I don't like her, no offense to you, I'm not going to come between you two. I know what it feels like, and I never…" she trailed off, looking away from him, her dark eyes glaring at the scenery.
Emmett nodded, but stayed silent, his golden eyes watching the road. Another tense silence filled the car, and Emmett once again broke it. "Can we…?" he trailed off, obviously trying to reword the question, and finally said, "We can be friends."
"Friends?" Leah shot him an incredulous look.
"You'll pretty much feel pain if I'm not in your life, right? That's what Jacob told us. So, why can't we be friends?"
"Friends?" Leah repeated the word, testing it. Being friends with a vampire was very low on her list of priorities, hell it didn't even make the list, but she figured friends had to be better than nothing. "What makes you think I want to be friends with a vampire?"
"What makes you think I want to be friends with a she-wolf?" Emmett retorted easily, barely holding a smile at bay. "We can try it at the very least. See how well it works out."
"Trial basis?"
"Why not."
Leah crossed her arms, thinking it over, but she finally nodded and said, "I don't want to be friends with a vampire…" he opened his mouth to protest, but she pressed on, cutting him off. "…but I want to try being friends with you."
"Okay," Emmett agreed holding his hand out. "Friends?"
"Friends." Leah stared at the hand, barely masked disgust on her face, but still shook the icy appendage. She let it go just as quickly, leaning back in her seat. She didn't know why, but a part of her felt like she had just made a deal with the devil.
Twilight
"Friends?" Rosalie hovered over Emmett, giving him an incredulous look, one eyebrow raised. "Friends? You decided to become friends with her?"
"Rose, listen…"
"Why are you even seeing her? She's going to bring us nothing but trouble, Em. You have to see that."
"Rosie, I can't stop what happened," Emmett said quickly, standing from the couch, irritation flaring up in his gut. He pushed it down, calmly continuing, "I just don't want to be the reason she lives with this constant pain, and being friends with her ensures I don't lose you. I love you, Rose. You know I do."
She sighed, her eyes going heavenward, but finally Rosalie's eyes met his and she whispered, "I love you, too." She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. "I don't want to lose you either."
"And you won't, babe. I'm yours for eternity." He gently grabbed her chin, tilting her head up so he could softly kiss her, and for a split second everything seemed normal. Then he wondered what it would feel like to kiss Leah and he broke away from Rosalie, taking a step away from her.
"Are you alright?" she asked slowly, worriedly.
"Yeah," he answered with a short nod. "I'm fine."
"Okay," Rosalie replied skeptically, turning her head when Alice softly called her name from upstairs. "I don't like this 'friends' thing, but I trust you." He nodded again, watching as she walked past him, disappearing up the steps.
He felt a hand slip into his, a small voice asking if he was okay. He smiled, glancing down at Renesme, and softly said, "I'm alright."
'Are you sure?' Renesme projected, her face and eyes openly worried.
"I'm sure," Emmett reassured her, squeezing her hand. "Now, I was going to attempt to make cookies, but I'm not quite sure where Esme keeps everything." Renesme smiled, projecting how much of a liar he was, but still proceeded to drag him into the kitchen, giggling when he grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder.
"Okay, where's that cookbook your mom put together for you," Emmett said placing Renesme on the floor, opening the nearest drawer. It had been Bella's attempt to help Renesme and Charlie grow even closer (like they really needed to bond anymore than they already had), putting every recipe she knew in an old scrapbook. Renesme liked to try different recipes, despite being the only one who actually ate in the house, convincing Jacob and Charlie to eat her cooking.
"In my room," Renesme said and skipped out the door, running towards the forest. Emmett watched her go for a moment, but the scent of dog distracted him, followed by a knock at the door. Emmett headed towards the living room, grinning when he spotted Jacob and Seth standing outside.
"You're in luck," Emmett said opening the door, "Renesme is dragging out her cookbook."
"Renesme can cook?" Seth asked curiously looking between his alpha and Emmett.
"Not exactly," Jacob and Emmett said fondly, "but she's getting better," Jacob added heading inside, automatically going towards the kitchen, leaving Seth and Emmett standing in the foyer.
"So, how's things?' Seth asked curiously, glancing up at Emmett.
"Could be worse," Emmett answered with a shrug, closing the door.
"Ah." Seth nodded, rocking back on his heels. "So, Jacob told me about you and my sister. I'm sorry."
"For?"
"I'm not exactly sure," Seth mumbled running a hand through his hair. "I know you and Rose are, like, together and married and stuff, so that's got to suck."
"Leah and I have decided to be friends."
"That's better than nothing, I suppose."
The two fell silent, neither one looking at each other, and Emmett could not remember the last time Seth had been this quiet. With a huffed laugh, the taller of the two nodded towards the TV and said, "Mario Kart is still in the Wii. Wanna play a few rounds?"
"Yes," Seth replied without hesitation, already moving towards the couch. "I have to warn you, though. I've been practicing, and I've gotten pretty fricking good."
"You wish, wolf boy," Emmett teased with a small smile, ruffling the kid's hair. For the moment, life was feeling pretty good. His problems weren't magically fixed, but they had a temporary solution. One Emmett had a feeling probably wouldn't last, but it felt nice to live in denial for just a little while longer.
Twilight
Leah leaned against her car, arms crossed, watching the sunset, when she sensed more than saw him walking towards her. With a small sigh, she straightened up, turning to see Emmett.
"What are you doing here?" she asked slowly, curiously, maybe even a little warily.
"Well, we're friends, so let's do friends stuff," Emmett responded with a vague hand motion.
"Friends stuff?" Leah raised her eyebrows incredulously, crossing her arms again. "What did you have in mind, 'friend?'"
"I would suggest fetch, but I figured that's in bad taste," Emmett retorted with a smirk on his face.
"We could always visit the butcher shop. I hear pigs' blood is all the rage," Leah countered smoothly, unable to fight her own smile.
"Yeah," Emmett started wrapping an arm around Leah's shoulders, pretending not to notice the way she tensed at the sudden contact with the cold, "I can see us being great friends."
Twilight
It was unseasonably warm, so Emmett and Renesme decided to go on a hike. Leah wasn't certain whose idea it was to invite her along, but she had been picked up at an ungodly hour, dragged out of bed by cold hands and warm giggles, and now sat on the ground, right next to a river, watching as Emmett drew the worst wolf she had ever seen.
"That's a terrible wolf," Leah said glancing over at Emmett's stick drawing. "It looks more like a pig than an actual wolf."
"Yeah Uncle Em," Renesme agreed swinging upside down from a nearby tree, "it doesn't even have ears."
"I'm working on it," Emmett grumbled playfully, moving the stick a bit, fixing the ears. "You two are just a couple of nags."
"I wouldn't nag you if you'd learn to draw," Leah teased coming up behind Emmett, holding her own stick. "First off, you gave your wolf a snout." She fixed the wolf's nose, her chest pressed against Emmett's back. The fact that the cold hardly registered was not lost on her, but she chose to ignore that. "Second, you need to fix your ears."
Renesme dropped down from the tree, walking over to her uncle and Leah, crouching down to watch the drawing. She grabbed her own stick, trying to copy Leah, but she caught sight of Emmett's second attempt at a wolf and dissolved into giggles.
"I should throw you both in the river," Emmett said his voice gruff, but a wicked smile slowly spread across his face. He stood up, Leah quickly back away from him, readying herself to run if she had to, watching as Renesme retreated to her tree again, yelling, "No, Uncle Em, no!"
"Emmett no," Leah said quickly, taking a step away from the vampire. He playfully snarled, stalking towards her. He jumped at her, and she jumped up, landing on a tree branch about ten feet above her, smirking down at him.
He moved fast, shaking the tree violently, Leah's smirk quickly leaving her face. She attempted to jump out of the tree, trying to avoid falling off the branch, but before she could hit the ground, Emmett caught her, both landing in the water with a great splash.
Leah resurfaced first, coughing, dunking Emmett the moment he popped out of the water. Renesme giggled from the tree. With a shriek, she launched herself in the water, landing a few inches from Leah and Emmett. When she resurfaced she was laughing hard, already swimming towards shore so she could try it again.
"You still want to be friends with me?" Emmett asked from behind Leah, a laugh in his voice. With an impish smile, Leah turned and dunked Emmett a second time, quickly swimming back to shore, calling over her shoulder, "Are you sure you want to be mine?"
He was laughing when he resurfaced, catching Renesme when she launched herself at him. Leah lowered herself to the ground, wringing out her hair, watching as Emmett threw his niece into the water. It was such a simple moment, something Leah remembered her uncle doing with her and Seth when they were kids, but something seemed to click while she was watching Emmett with Renesme. Something she had been trying to avoid for the past two weeks, since she and Emmett decided to be friends.
She might be falling in love with Emmett Cullen.