Epilogue - Defense

Five years later

The auditorium was quickly filling up with people, the more people entered the large room the more butterflies sprung up in my stomach. Damn, I should have reserved a smaller room.

The worst part of this whole scenario was that the one person I really needed to be here was currently absent. Phil of course was nowhere to be seen, there had been a bad fire last night where several people go severely burned - Phil had been called in at two o'clock in the morning and I had not been able to sleep ever since then.

"You are going to do great Miss Clearwater," Dr. Gardner patted my hand in an attempt to reassure me. "You already have done all the hard work, now it is time to show it off."

"We are really proud of you, don't worry about it Leah. I know you will do great." My mother chimed in happily. Chief Swan was standing next to her trying to stay in the background, my mother had finally married him last year. She really did not have much of a choice, Seth and I would not stop harassing her about 'living in sin' and being a poor example to her children. We were actually joking, trying to mess with her but she had taken it to heart and had married Chief Swan in a small civil ceremony. So technically I now had a stepsister, Bella, who just happened to be a vampire. It was a good thing I had gotten over the 'leeches have ruined my life' thing a while back or things might have gotten ugly during family get-togethers.

I would like to say the years had been good to my mother but that was not the case, much to my dismay she was getting older. The lines in her face were multiplying as well as getting deeper, but I guess that is what happens to humans as time goes by. It was wrong of me to be happy that Chief Swan had a heart attack scare a few months back but it was better for everyone involved. My mother and Charlie had started to show more interest in their diets and were now eating much healthier.

Many a free weekend had been spent going up to the Rez to see my mother, but unfortunately being an adult came with a lot of responsibilities so I did not get to see her as often as I would like. It did not help that Phil would lure me away to the island as often as he could, I could not pinpoint the exact moment it had happened but sometime in the past five years Phil's house had become our home. Slowly but surely I was starting leave my mark on the place, and by mark I mean more than just leaving my bras hanging on the shower curtain rod. Our moonlight garden had flourished over the years, expanding out. It was my very favorite place in the world, especially when I could sit there in Phil's arms just looking at the stars in the sky while getting drunk on the intoxicating fragrance of roses and jasmine. Phil would wrap his arms around me while occasionally pointing out constellations. He would tell me stories about them, it took me a while to figure out that he was just pulling it out of his ass - he had the audacity to point to the same group of stars and call it the tiger as opposed to the bear he had named it the week before. Sometimes he would still tell me the stories, he did not need to know that I had written some of them down - something to tell our children on day?

I took a deep breath, coming back to Earth and wishing I was anywhere but here - hell at this point I was almost hoping another newborn army popped up in the middle of Seattle.

To distract myself from the stress I looked over the crowd that was gathering, waiting for me to speak. It had taken me three and a half years to get my bachelor's degree, double majoring in history and communication. The past two years had been spent finishing up my masters degree in History, and that is why I was here today. I had to defend my research in a public forum, it was not a controversial topic by any means since all I was doing was comparing the stories of various native american tribes. It would be nice to say that this was a great epiphany of mine, recording the stories of my people, but that would have been a lie.

I had stumbled upon this idea early on in my education when Doctor Gardner, my advisor, had taken me to see one of the tribes he was interviewing. He had thought that the people might be more willing to speak to someone of their own race, and he was right. People opened up to me about their history and traditions in a way they would never have to an old souther man - with all due respect to Doctor Gardner. That is where it had began and from there on out it got bigger and bigger until there was enough information to compare and contrast the different stories. Part of the reason I chose to continue on and get my masters was the people I had encountered, some of these stories had been handed down for countless generations and their willingness to share it with me was flattering but more than that it gave me a sense of responsibility. Most of the stories were handed down in the oral tradition, this was the first time that many of these stories had been put down on paper; it was disappointing when I only got fragments of stories, but the younger generation was not always interested in the old ways and some things had already been lost - had I not left my home to pursue other dreams?

A lot of the people I interviewed had been invited to my thesis defense, and this was making me extremely nervous. My problem was not the fact that I was speaking in front of all these people, one of my majors was in Communication, I could talk in front of a crowd - I was afraid that something I said would insult them. I could just see one of them stand up in the middle of my presentation and tell me that I got a story wrong.

Staring at the people in the crowd was not helping me get over my nervousness, so I looked for a familiar face. Seth caught my eye and gave me a huge smile, he was standing next to Sassy but that was not an unusual sight these days. They might be able to fool the rest of the world, but I knew there was some hanky panky going on. I did not dwell on the thought of what they did behind closed doors too long, but I was glad that my brother had found her.

My fear that Seth would be steamrolled by the force of Sassy's character was unfounded, my laid back little brother could give as good as he got when it came to dealing with Sassy - instead of being overshadowed by Sassy, Seth had began to shine with his own light. He had joined us three years ago at the University of Washington, having graduated a year early from high school. At first he had a hard time adjusting, but now he was quite the man on campus - he had recently been elected Junior Senator. It was kind of funny, Phil had teased him about the fact that he had the woman vote, and in a way Phil was right. The werewolf genes which gave him the muscular body combined with the fact that he did not date made him irresistible to the the ladies - at times I was tempted to tell them that he was already taken, but it was too much fun watching Seth blushing with embarrassment as he politely tried to tell a girl no he did not want to go out for coffee. He was always polite, that was one thing he had learned from Sassy - never lose your cool, and he did it almost as well as she did. It was strange to watch the blending of their personalities, as Sassy mellowed out a little and Seth became more goal oriented. He was planning on going to law school after this, followed by a possible career in politics. Five years ago I would have laughed at anyone suggested that my little brother was going to be a lawyer, but now that did not seem that much of a stretch.

The strangest part of it was how differently people treated Seth as opposed to Jake, Quil, and Embry. While the other three's size seemed to instill fear and caution into most people, Seth had a completely different effect. It was almost like people seemed to sense how freaking nice and understanding Seth really was, that was one thing that had not changed over the years.

Speaking of Jake, he was sitting in the very front row, his signature smile on his face. He had surprised everyone when he decided to do engineering, we all expected him to end up fixing up cars in some mechanic's shop. Jake was doing surprisingly well in his chosen field of study, Embry had actually lost a hundred dollars to Quil when he bet that Jake would flunk out the first semester. I think it helped that there were several family members that were more than willing to help him figure things out, but it was pretty amazing what he could accomplish when he actually put some effort into it. Though to be honest it could have been that he did not have to spend as much time worrying about Bella. Nessie was being raised on the island, it had been decided that would be the best course of action for her. Her accelerated growth rate combined with the ever present danger of the Volturi made it so that it would be best if she was not on this planet anymore. Only rarely would she be brought back to Earth in order to go to the mall so that she could learn to interact with her peers, the thought of Nessie hanging out in the mall would have made Edward break out in hives had it been possible.

Embry and Quil had finished their bachelors degrees last year, Embry had spent the past year being a bum and traveling with Stefi - yeah he finally figured out his mate was a girl, the expression on his face was priceless. Quil had used his brand new kinesiology degree and went back to the Rez where he was the PE instructor. He could not stand to be away from Claire too long. She was now a typical eight year old - pissed because she was not allowed to wear the tinted lip gloss and much to the dismay of Quil totally in love with some pre-pubescent singer that in my opinion looked more like a girl than a guy. Phil had reassured me that she would eventually grow up, that was when the family would offer to make her one of us. That way we could keep our small pack together.

Speaking of packs, I would probably not have been able to recognize Sam had he not been sitting next to Emily. I had not seen him in nearly a year and he had changed drastically. They were sitting close to the back of the place but that might be so that they could easily slip outside if Anne, their three year old was going to make a fuss. If Emily's belly size was any indication then their next child would be making its appearance sooner then later. According to Jake Sam had stopped shifting a few years back, he was the first one of the pack that was able to maintain enough control to do so - I know that Jared had considered it but someone older needed to stay in charge of the pack, and I don't think anyone wanted to leave Paul as the alpha. I looked back at Sam and could not help but smirk, apparently Emily's cooking had been very good to him. Maybe he should lay off the fried chicken now that he no longer had the werewolf metabolism, he had put on a few pounds. I would like to say that Emily resembled a bloated whale, but pregnancy became her - she was practically radiant with it.

I was no longer bothered by the whole other people pregnant thing, my periods came back about a year after I moved in with Phil. They were not regular by any means, but they did occur every once in a while. It was actually Phil who first figure out I was fertile again, it had been a very interesting way to find out too.

It had happened on a rainy Saturday morning, Phil of course was nowhere to be seen when I woke up. I was not worried, he would be back after he checked on his patients, that would mean I had plenty of time to take a nice long hot shower. It was pleasant to have some alone time, especially since I had to do some personal grooming. Werewolf hair tended to grow a little faster than humans, I was considering taking Phila's suggestion to just wax everything.

I waited until my skin was starting to get all wrinkled before I finally turned off the water, I could hear the others around the house as well as the boys from my pack running around outside sounding like they were playing rugby again.

"You are such a cheater, you Leech." I heard Embry complain followed by Emmett Cullen's easily recognizable laugh. I guess the vampires had joined in on the game - there was a lot less tension between the wolves and vampires these days, especially since the wolves of this pack no longer resented the vampires for making us what we were. Jake had let go of that when he imprinted on Nessie, and I had finally let go when I realized that I would probably not have Phil in my life if it was not for them. Though I should not underestimate Phil's tenacity, I would have ended up with him no matter what.

I headed to the bedroom, completely naked, it was not like anyone was going to come into Phil and my suite without knocking - Quil had learned the hard way how important it was to knock when he walked in on Phil bending me over the small couch in our sitting room. Needless to say from that day on my pack learned to knock and wait for an answer before entering.

"Hi honey," Phil said from the doorway as I sat on the bed applying lotion to all my freshly shaven bits. The same parts that Phil was eyeing with a great deal of interest.

"Morning Phil," I gave him my best seductive glance, but I did not have to work that hard considering I was sitting naked rubbing myself on a bed. Ok so I may have already applied enough lotion to that place but you could never be too moisturized.

"Do you need help with that?" Phil asked, his voice getting deeper and I could see his eyes dilating. He did not wait for an answer as he sauntered over to me, giving me a cocky grin. He was only a couple of feet from me when his nostrils flared like he smelled something and thendisappeared only to appear a second later on top of me. I was surprised for only a second before his mouth came crashing down on mine, and I lost my train of thought. Usually he was not this forceful but I quickly complied as he tried to pry my lips apart with his tongue.

"You smell so good,"it took him a while before he came up for breath, he spoke in a voice so deep I almost did not recognize it.

"Do you like my new lotion?"I asked a she kissed his way down my neck.

"No it is not lotion that I smell... it smells like you are..." he pulled away from me as if trying to figure something out. I was kind of annoyed that he had interrupted the make out session. I tried pulling his head a little closer to mine, but when he did not comply I attacked the buttons on his shirt instead. I was kissing my way down hischest as I slowly exposed it when I heard him gasp.

"What?"

That was when he went totally crazy and attacked me again with a great deal of zeal, it took me awhile to get a straight answer out of him - apparently when I ovulated I smelled really good to him. Good thing he was on some weird alien version of birth control because we sure as hell would have been getting pregnant that day. Phil really, really liked the way I smelled when I was ovulating.

Two weeks later I got my period, and we found out that the werewolf version of PMS was worse than the human version - I might have punched a hole in the kitchen wall when Phil annoyed me.

I smiled at the memory, I was no longer afraid not being able to get pregnant. It would happen eventually thought it might take a while, but I had plenty of time before I would worry about that. If I did not royally screw up today then according to the plan I would be graduating in a little over a month, then I had until December to plan a wedding. Technically I was probably not going to have that much input, considering Alice was totally beside herself with wanting to plan it - and it was freaking hard to say no to her when she said please like that. Aunt Katie was on board for the second ceremony, the one that would happen on the island in front of the entire family. As much as I hated the thought of having to get through not one but two wedding ceremonies there was one good thing that came of it, Alice and Aunt Katie could plan separate event. I was fairly certain violence would have ensued had they both been planning the same wedding. I don't know why I was letting a vampire plan my wedding, maybe it was because I did not care that much anymore. At one point I cared a great deal about that sort of crap but I had come to realize that while the actual wedding day was just one day, the marriage was the one that lasted an eternity - plus it was really hard to say no to Alice. At least she had asked for permission first, Aunt Katie just told me that she was planning my wedding and I would show up at the appropriate times and be happy about it.

After the wedding Phil and I would go on our extended honeymoon, aka I would go through the final round of genetic modifications, some of them had already been done - it did not have to be done all at once, so Stefi had started on some of them. After the final round of my alteration I would be expected to live on the island until I learned to control my new powers - I had been told that mind reading can be overwhelming and it would be in my best interest to be around people who could block me. I would also be taught the jumping technique, this was something to look forward to since I hated having to constantly rely on other people to take me places.

I looked at the time on my phone, it was five minutes until showtime and Phil was still not here. Grrrr while I appreciated the fact that he was a doctor that helped people I really wished he would not constantly be on call.

"Don't worry Leah, he will be here shortly, I know he would not miss this." Bella tried to reassure me. She and Edward were the only ones here today, the rest of the Cullen family had decided to stay away so that the smell would not bother me. Bella had come to support her "sister" as she now called me, I swear she did it just to annoy me - it did not bother me as much as it used to. She was a nice person, for a leech, and I could understand what she had done in order to stay with Edward. Hell I was doing nearly the same thing to stay with Phil.

I was ready to give up on him when he finally showed up smelling of disinfectants and my favorite citrus and sage scent - I smiled up into his face, which had a few wrinkles surrounding his pale green eyes. Phil had started to add a glamour to modify his appearance, he was supposed to be over forty now. I don't think he could look that old with clothes alone when his body was closer to twenty five in maturity.

"Hi Princess, sorry I am late, I brought you a present." He told me with a smile.

I looked at the styrofoam cup, there was a lid on it so I did not know what was inside. "Thanks?" I told him wondering what was wrong with him. I could not eat anything right now, unless I wanted to see it again in a few minutes - usually Phil was a little more in tune with my emotions.

He pulled the lid off to show me what was inside. "A strawberry milkshake?" I asked finally identifying the sweet concoction.

"With a cherry on top," there was an expectant tone to his voice. I had no idea what he was trying to tell me.

"I hate maraschino cherries," I told him completely confused now, but then something clicked. My memories took me back to a cold and rainy day in September nearly six years ago, the day when I first met Phil. The first words he spoke to me had been about the cherry I was trying to kill in my strawberry milkshake.

Doctor Gardner was signaling me trying to encourage me to join him at the front of the room. My father used to eat the cherries on top of my milkshakes, that was why I had asked for one that day in the diner, so that I could feel like my father was still with me. But there was no way that Phil would know about that unless the bastard had been reading my mind that day. I looked up into his innocent looking green eyes and glared.

"A toast to your daddy, I am sure he would have been very proud of you." So he had been invading my privacy that day.

I looked at the cherry sitting on a glob of whipped cream, at times like these I really missed my father. Phil was right, he would have been very proud of all that I had accomplished. My glare disappeared and I took a deep breath before I reached for the cherry and pulled it out by the stem before plopping it into my mouth.

I made a face, the cherry still tasted as nasty as I remembered them from when I was a kid but I quickly gulped down some of the milkshake to wash away the taste.

I smiled into those light green eyes, the butterflies in my stomach were starting to settle down. "We are all really proud of you today. Now go get them Princess." The jerk turned me around and pushed me towards the front of the room before he slapped my ass like I was headed for a football game or something. I looked over my shoulder at him as I walked down to the front, my eyes told him that there would be hell to pay for that little stunt.

Bring it on, he mouthed at me as he crossed his arms across his chest and tried to look tough. I turned back to the front so that he would not see the smile on my face, two could play this game. Best of all no matter what happened I would still win, because we would be together.

A/N: All right girls, that is it. Leah's happily ever after. The one that SM did not give to us. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and for putting up with my rewrite. From now on I promise that no matter what I will not take this story away from you again.

Smooches, in a completely heterosexual kind of way, to everyone. Thanks for all your reviews, it was always so exciting to open my email and see what you girls though about Phil and Leah. Sometimes I could not help but laugh out loud at the comments which made it kind of hard to explain when I was technically supposed to be reading scientific papers.

I am working on Phil's point of view, I should have something posted in a few days time. It will just be a few thousand words so I will just tack it onto this story. Though I have to limit myself and make sure I don't take it past that, especially since scenes from Phil's point of view keep popping up in my head. I really don't have time for that, Seth's story need to be finished first.

Thanks you Connect2jb for re-reading this :D and posting encouragement along the way.

Jada91 if you read my other story The Edge you might see if Sassy actually smooches Seth.

Jaime2772, yes finishing this should free me up for The Edge, but that might be slow going considering the holidays and other pesky real life stuff.

Ms Animegoddess thanks for the awesome reviews, it was always fun to read your comments.

Inosolan thanks for your funny reviews, it is always fun to open email and open those emails.

Twilighter: Good times, yes, yes you slavedriver I will get on Seth...umm I mean I will write his story.

A Barbie Story: Hope you are doing good, and thanks for the awesome reviews.