A/N: Lei Sun and Hono no tenshi insisted on an update so you have this chapter.

I still don't own the Twilight franchise or I would be reeling from the Rob and Kristen scandal right about now.

Thanks Ashtwi for continuing to read for me.

Chapter 15 Roomies

"What the hell?"

We heard the shout less than a second before hearing the gunshot.

Nate's body jerked with the impact to his shoulder but he was still fast enough to catch the ricocheting bullet before it could possibly harm the man firing the weapon.

Refusing to acknowledge defeat, I swept a foot out and slammed it into Nate's instep causing him to lose his balance while leaping to my feet only to bring my full weight down on him, slamming the air from his lungs. The imprint pain reverberated in my being but I didn't let it stop me; I held him pinned beneath me. He coughed before saying, "Excellent focus, Leah. Good work."

"What the hell is going on here?" Charlie shouted again, gun still drawn.

Both Nate and I looked up at Charlie as I wondered how to explain.

"You shot me," Nate started first, speaking from under my arm. "Charlie, you really shouldn't do that. A bullet's trajectory can be unpredictable on the ricochet, you could have been killed." Nate opened his closed fist to reveal the slug. "Fortunately, I caught it. Please be more careful in the future."

Charlie slowly lowered his gun, "What the hell are you two doing? Why'd you hit her like that?"

I climbed off of Nate, pretty sure Charlie wouldn't shoot him again. "We were sparring Charlie. We do it almost every day. I'm sure it's been mentioned." I heard Charlie approaching and even entering the backyard. I simply didn't expect him to shoot first and ask questions later.

Charlie holstered his weapon, "Surely you don't have to hit her so hard when you're just practicing son?" He raked his hair back from his receding hairline, "I'm sorry about, you know um, shooting you. You okay?" Charlie asked sheepishly.

"Yes, I'm fine and it is the only way." Nate explained simply, then accepted my hand in assistance getting to his feet. He didn't need it but I figured it would help Charlie see there were no hard feelings between us.

"But a backhanded slap? I don't understand?" Charlie questioned before throwing his hands up. "Maybe I don't need to."

He had that stricken look in his eye. I have never known anyone so afraid of information as Charlie. I shrugged, if he didn't want to know, it was fine by me. I occupied myself brushing grass off Nate's back. I couldn't be sure he was going to change for dinner with... I tried to remember which elderly woman Nate had made plans with for the evening. Ms. Cranston was the night before last, she constantly harped that I was going to get fat it I continued eating like that. Mrs. Spencer was before that, she was a former teacher who always wanted a blow by blow account of my day in the classroom so she could give her unsolicited opinion on what Ms. Crisp and I had done wrong. Could it be the Smiths tonight? They were nice enough. It was definitely the Smiths. The lady prattled a lot, she must have 16,000 grand-kids to talk about and the old guy hardly spoke but he seemed pleased enough to have us. I figured he was glad his wife had someone else to talk at even if it was only for a couple hours.

"Our enemies tend to be dramatic rather than efficient in their attacks. It is more likely she will encounter an over the top backhanded slap instead of a direct, more forceful punch. Today we were working on how to roll with a blow." Nate continued on conversationally about his reasons for beating me down in the backyard. "Opponents leave themselves open immediately after landing a hit, it gives them confidence," Nate swung through a fake punch to show how open his body was. "It is the easiest way to create a hole in a defense and if you know how to roll with the blow it is an effective tool to determine their power." Nate wasn't into sheltering Charlie as much as Charlie was into sheltering Charlie.

He switched his tone up, "I must say, I was impressed by how quickly you came to her defense. You are fast on the draw," he chuckled before cutting himself off, wincing, and rubbing his shoulder. This was my cue to actually react like his loving girlfriend and not the nagging one who was more concerned with grass than his health. Unbuttoning his shirt quickly, I pushed it back from his shoulder.

"Does it hurt, babe?" I inspected his flawless skin, searching for the invisible impact spot.

"It stings. Are you going to ice it for me?" He smiled at me charmingly. "You did really well taking advantage of my distraction, not letting it stop you from going for the take down."

"Thanks." I beamed under his praise. Nate wasn't one to give praise lightly, consequently when he said well done, I knew he was impressed. I kissed him lightly on the lips.

With less volume Charlie muttered under his breath as headed into the house, "What the hell?"

Nate and I looked at each other and laughed. "Dude! I didn't even know you were bulletproof."

"Neither did I. This is my first time getting shot." Nate rotated his shoulder a couple times. "I can't say I recommend it but I'm glad to know I can protect you from this threat too." He reached for me, holding me tightly around the waist while touching his forehead to mine. "Does this make me more appealing as a husband?" I didn't get a chance to answer as his lips touched mine, teasing them open before his tongue tangled with mine deepening the kiss.

I could hear Charlie mutter inside the house. "Nothing more romantic than a gunshot." The refrigerator opened and I knew without a doubt a beer came out. "Ah Harry, your daughter's boyfriend takes a bullet well. I mean literally takes it out of the air. Mind you, she can take care of herself but, if I see him hit her like that again, I'll probably shoot him again. Yep." I heard the tab of the beer open before Charlie spoke again. "I wish you were here to see it all buddy," Charlie swallowed and sighed, " 'cept you'd shoot me about Sue and I'm not bulletproof."

February was at an end and Charlie was still in residence. Today was just one of those days that he saw too much. It was hard to shelter Charlie from everything when we lived together. Nate slept one hour a night, two max. I usually slept between two and three. We came home most patrol nights at 4 a.m. That wasn't so bad since we didn't make any noise. I think it disturbed Charlie's 'cop senses' that we came and went undetected though. Nate asked Charlie if he could build a deck, a nice outdoor space that he could feel at home in. Charlie agreed immediately, not even questioning the emphasis on outdoor and at home. Nate and I purchased the materials and Paul came over to help. Charlie ran to the grocery store to get deck-building beer. Deck building beer, like house painting beer, car fixing beer and fishing beer, is a vital lubricant to Saturday projects. Nate and Paul had it finished before Charlie returned from the store. Charlie had to down a couple nerve-settling beers on his new deck to cope. Between vampires, vampire-hybrids and werewolves we were going to turn Charlie into an alcoholic.

We strolled in the house arm in arm. Nate and I rarely ever trained in the backyard, we preferred to train with the packs in the clearing. It was a good neutral spot and Jasper lead the training like a general. The wild concept of training against actual vampires for both packs was Nahuel's idea. He had mentioned it before to only have it dismissed by Jacob in the light of the natural animosity, which a watchful Nate called bullshit on. When he mentioned the idea to Sam after his pack sustained an injury Sam jumped all over it. Besides, everybody saw how kick ass I was after training with Nate, they wanted some of that.

The Cullens agreed to it, wanting to hone their skills, and after seeing Bella develop her natural talent they wondered if they had been lazy. Their defiance of the Volturi also meant they needed to be ever at the ready for an attack, covert or otherwise. So yeah, every day we trained, we had good valid reasons but lets be clear - it was because we all liked to brawl, wolf and vampire alike. It was just as well Jasper was on hand flexing and increasing his natural talents which allowed us mix it up without getting mixed up about who the real enemy was.

Good times, and did I mention that Jasper ran it like a general? The kind that overthrows the democratic government and installs himself as the sole dictator with an iron fist. Jasper was in his element. I didn't know that dude had a personality until he fucking took over. We did as we were told and appreciated his tactical know how, but that shit gets tired quick. When was the last time you saw a general on tv and said I gotta have that man round to dinner, he looks like fun? Some days I took my daily beating in privacy. Nah, the beating days were over unless it was a day like today where getting hit was the point. I was faster, calmer and more battle ready than ever.

Charlie was still in the kitchen when we came in. "Charlie, what are you doing home so early?" I asked, going to the freezer to get ice to put in the washcloth I had grabbed from the laundry area on the way in.

"No reason in particular but I am gonna talk to your Mom again about giving up working at the hospital. She's on her feet too much. You know she went home early today? She wasn't feeling too well and Carlisle insisted she leave." Charlie took a pensive swallow of his beer. Worry was etched around his eyes.

Nate reached out to take the ice pack from me. I gave him an annoyed look before pressing it against his shoulder. "No, I didn't know. Carlisle was probably being over cautious." I kinda felt bad for the Cullens, stuck caring about all these fragile humans. Bella worried about my Mom more than I did. I had the advantage of sleeping and stuff like work. Bella fretted herself into insisting Mom take possession of her loaner car for the sake of safety. Mom resisted at first but that's a sweet ass Mercedes that Mom's twelve year old Taurus couldn't compete with. It did mean I now had a twelve year old Taurus to tool around in. "You know, if there was any reason she shouldn't be working he would have insisted she give it up."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Charlie agreed. "I'm heading over to the reservation. Are you kids staying in tonight?"

"We have dinner plans, with the Smiths, right?" I looked to Nate.

He gave me that look of pity about my poor human memory. "No, that is tomorrow. Today is Thursday." He prompted.

I didn't get it and arched an eyebrow in reply.

"I have no idea how you functioned before me. Your friends down in Olympia invited us to something called Dollar Bud Light Night. They seemed very happy that you would join them."

"Before you I remembered stuff, now I don't have to. I have someone for that." I looked at him meaningfully.

Charlie interrupted, "Hey, kids, you're both too young to drink so don't. Since that probably went in one ear and came out the other, listen good to this. No drinking and driving. If I hear an engine and you come in drunk, I won't hesitate to bust your ass. It ain't worth it."

"We won't drink and drive." Nate rushed to assure Charlie. "It is too far to drive and get back in time for patrol so we're going on foot. Its a quick run. We will not be on the roads at all." Did I mention Nate doesn't shelter Charlie?

I put my head on Nate's shoulder, the one I wasn't icing, and shook it just a little bit. First gunshots and now let's reveal that cars slow us down. I lifted my head and looked Nate in the eye before speaking, "We won't be drinking. Honestly Charlie, we can't stand the taste of beer. Nasty stuff." See, that's a proper lie. I liked beer fairly well, it's an acquired taste and my Daddy helped me acquire it. Don't judge him, beer appreciation is a life skill in our family. It was bitter like coffee so Nate could tolerate it. When we hung out with my friends it helped us fit in.

"Thank you Leah." Charlie said with some relief. I told you Charlie was into sheltering Charlie. Then he asked, curiosity piqued, "It's about three hours by car, how long does it take you?"

"When you take the roads out of it the distance is quite short. It will take us forty-five minutes or so to get there. Could be less but Leah hates arriving sweaty." Nate shrugged then went on, "Now if we dance all night, that sweat she does not mind at all. I do not understand how she can have such preferences. Coming back will be fifteen, perhaps twenty minutes."

"It's about making an entrance. I want everything to look just right." Nate looked at me perplexed as though he really couldn't tell the difference between 'funky fresh dressed to impress ready to party' and just plain ole funky. "You are never less than beautiful. I do not understand."

Charlie looked from me to Nate impatiently "Son you never will, but ..." he hesitated before giving in to curiosity again, "how do you pull off not having a vehicle?"

I rolled my eyes at Nate but told Charlie, "One, we don't arrive early, two we meet my buddies at the club or bar or wherever, three we cite the drive home to dip way before they ever want to leave, fourth and most important, we wear the leather and biker gear to imply motorcycle so no one ever asks us for a ride."

"Makes sense, I suppose." Charlie stood from the table pushing his chair under. "You kids have fun. If you wanna join me and your mom for dinner you're welcome to. I'm going to cook to let her rest."

God, Charlie Swan offered to cook to save me from myself. That was sad. I'd once seen him make meatloaf by pulling a frozen packet of beef from the deep freezer, unwrapping it and putting it straight into a baking dish. He let it cook for two hours then poured ketchup over the whole thing before offering to share. It resembled meatloaf sorta, if you ignored the squiggly gray brown stuff oozing from it and the perfectly raw pink core and this man pitied my skills.

I didn't worry about cooking anymore. At least three times a week we were engaged to go hang out with some of Anthony's elderly customers. One dinner invitation leads to another and one lady tells another lady ...check it, Nate had gone viral in Forks. I didn't mind, Nate and I understood lonely. It doesn't seem like a big deal until it's you aching inside from lack of companionship. The food was good too, which was a huge bonus for me. Nate on the other hand liked Charlie's raw in the middle meatloaf just fine so I wasn't too insulted when I served something that made Nate say, "What is it supposed to be Beautiful?"

"No Charlie, we will be fine for dinner." Nate volunteered. "We're dropping in on the Cullen's on the way out of town tonight."

I groaned with pained exaggeration. "Did you tell Alice about tonight?"

"Yes." Nate's show of innocence didn't fool me.

"Really, just happened to mention it huh?"

"Leah, please be kind. Alice, Esme, and even Rose seem to need this. Think of them. It makes them happy."

Think if you will of how Alice dressed me to go on patrol, black cocktail dresses and tennis skirts. I wore shoes to dinner that were worth more than the car I drove to work. That chick got positively spastic when she dressed me for a night out. She couldn't be reigned in. The first night we went out with my friends I let her dress me and spent a good deal of time convincing my girlfriends that my gear was knock-off internet crap.

"I'm not trying to be that 'way'. This is not about my attitude. It's about discretion." I tossed the ice pack into the sink. My back stiffened and I shifted my weight onto my back foot and put a hand on my hip.

"Esme loves when we come over for dinner. I believe she's jealous of having to share us with my lady friends." Nate relaxed his stance, leaning back on the counter, feet crossed, arms folded across his middle. I was not fooled.

Charlie balked at lady friends but he knew about our dinners out. I guess the term 'lady friends' just sounded weird as hell. He did have to remind us that the elderly often had fixed incomes, hint hint. Coming fresh from my mama's house and Esme's I kinda forgot that other people had food expenses too. We never arrived empty-handed after that. Charlie put his beer on the table, his jaw was set, his eyes alert. We were collectively in our fight stances.

"She's surrounded by people all the time!" I returned. I don't know why I was upset since having dinner with Esme didn't bother me at all. Nate, planning this behind my back bothered me. Assuming he knew what was best for me pissed me off.

"Yes she is, but she enjoys your company too. In your push for independence you must consider her feelings." Nate didn't stir, if anything he became more relaxed. I hated, hated, hated when got all cool like that. My temper boiled in reaction to his calm which was starting to touch my nerves.

It's not like Nate and I planned to get into fights, but sometimes we did. The odd thing was whereas I had grown up in a stable and loving family with two parents who, although they loved each other dearly, occasionally fought about stuff like Dad's poor eating habits and Mom's tightwad ways, Charlie had not. Maybe his folks didn't fight and he hadn't been married long enough to that ditzy broad who ran away from the rain. I mean talk about fighting for love, that chick couldn't be bothered to get a raincoat and get over it. When Mom and Dad fought Seth and I quietly and quickly left the room or the house when we were older. We didn't worry too much because we were secure. Charlie on the other hand stayed in the room, took sides and didn't mind giving his opinions.

That's how we ended up adding these nights out with my old running buddies from high school that had gone off to college. One night seemingly out the blue Nate burst out with, "Its just one more thing I cannot give you. I cannot be normal, nor can I give you a normal life and a sure as hell can't give you a baby!" He leapt up from the sofa and I had trouble remembering how we got to this point. I swear we had only been watching television, a commercial came on and I said, "Aren't they precious?" Oh yeah, dancing babies, not even real babies, computer generated breakdancing babies...hell I was being sarcastic.

My response was the ill thought out, slack jawed, "What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? It is always with the babies you cannot have. The children I am unable to give you. Because of me you will not stop phasing like your brethren. You will not age, you will not resume the life of a normal woman. You are doomed to live the abnormal life I lead."

I sat there shocked as shit. I didn't know what to say. I deemed it might be best to keep my mouth shut. Nate was angry; he didn't look particularly pissed off but I felt his anger bubbling inside me. I dared not to react to it and inadvertently escalate the situation. In my silence it finally dawned on me that there was another side to his supportive steadfast attitude about my barrenness. See, up until then it was all about me, at least it was in my mind. Mom had been telling me to think about it from his side but when I did that I focused on poor Nate, can't have kids because he's with me. For the first time it occurred to me that he might feel it was his own personal shortcoming.

"Son," Charlie had straightened up from the recliner. "It's way too early in your relationship to contemplate..."

That was as far as he got before Nate cut him off, "Our relationship is forever, early has no bearing".

Had it been one of my pack members or even a Cullen, they would have backed off. If you see a man behead a sentient being a time or two, you tend to tread lightly. No one had ever mentioned this to Charlie so he went on, "Early has every bearing. You don't know each other well enough yet to bring another person into your relationship. You need some time just establish who you are as a couple. There is no substitute for time. None."

Charlie went on to say, "Leah I understand you have a duty to your pack and your reservation but you need to reconnect with the life you enjoyed before all this weird stuff. Call up your old friends, go out and enjoy yourself. Your Daddy was always worried you would flunk out of school from partying, certainly not from getting in the family way." Then and there he insisted I call at least two of my girlfriends from high school that he remembered hanging out at my house. Girls I dissed because it wasn't safe for me to be around them and cause I kinda hated everything and everybody for a while there.

I think the word is 'cathartic' to explain picking up the phone and calling people whom my last conversations with involved the words either 'fuck you' or 'eat shit and die'. I balked, claiming I didn't know their numbers anymore but Charlie stood right there while I called their parents for their numbers. It went fairly well, there were some tears and crap. No big deal, anyhow, I now had running buddies who weren't pregnant and settled down. Abby and Jamie were silly as hell but they were fun and their friends were too.

I had lost that fight but I'd be damned if I was going to lose this one. "I enjoy her company too, but maybe I want to wear a pair of comfortable jeans and a decent pair of boots instead of whatever Alice has planned. It's a Thursday night college beer karaoke thing, not the freaking Oscars. You know I'm perfectly capable of dressing myself and styling my own hair." I was trying to keep my temper in check but not real hard.

"We have been out several times with your friends and each time the first thing you do is check out every woman in the room to see how you rate. So to use your words, I'm going to call bullshit on jeans and boots." Nate looked me in the eye and called me a liar.

Charlie weighed in, "Leah, I'm gonna have to agree with Nate on this one." Sure, my first instinct was to say what's new with that. But honestly, if you live with a peacekeeper, Charlie was pretty fair. In our remote control squabbles, he simply took the remote and watched fishing. We learned to settle our own viewing preference differences rather than watch largemouth bass fishing. In the 'cut back on the fucking coffee or I'll slit your goddamned throat' fights, Charlie told Nate, "You have got to calm her down." So he cut back on the coffee. In the 'You shall not wear that out the house Beautiful' fights Charlie tended to side with modesty and when the fight was 'Dude you have to wear a shirt every time you leave the house, I don't care what Paul does, every single time' Charlie tended to side with me, saying, "What the hell is wrong with you man, put a shirt on. You can take it off when you get to the reservation."

Charlie went on, "My own daughter never gave a flip about such things like clothes, shoes, makeup and what have you, so I know that attitude. You are different and keep in mind I've been around you your whole life so I know all about times you tried to wear your princess costumes to school after Halloween or how you blew your Daddy's credit card up shopping with your girlfriends down in Portland. Be nice and go play girly stuff with the Cullens, you know you want to."

He was right I did want to. I had no real problem with eating at Esme's, I liked being dolled up by Alice and Rose but I hated being taunted by the other pack. My real problem was the calls of 'pet pack' but I'd be damned if I was going to stand the ground that didn't want Paul, Jared, Colin and Brady to pick on me calling me and overgrown lapdog. I didn't want it to bother me but it did. It sounded weak to my mental ears so I didn't try to defend it. Instead I went with Nate to Esme's as I had been told to. I let Rose and Alice loose on me and ate a delicious meal as instructed. We took an hour on our trek down to Olympia. I killed them with my shoe game and ate up the envy like candy. I got a couple looks about my gear but a one or two 'old Leah' glares forestalled questions. Rumors swirled. Behind my back they whispered Nate was raised by a wealthy Columbian drug dealer who never knew Nate wasn't his real son until Sam showed up in South America looking for his brother. They linked Nate's appearance to Sam's disappearance. They decided Nate still had a stash of funds from his former life and that I, an utterly spoiled Daddy's girl, insisted he spend it on me. It was a strange story but since truth was much stranger than fiction I let it ride.

Charlie was a bossy, interfering roommate but he gave sound advice. Go forth, party, and look good while you do it. Gotta love him.