Moonlight in Forks

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

A Revealing Talk

Two weeks had passed since the devastating news of Emily's miscarriage. During that time Sam stepped back from his duties to take care of his imprint, with Jared taking charge of the imprinted pack in his absence.

It was expected that once Sam had time to grieve and recover from his loss, he would once again take up his duty, with the possibility of the two packs merging once again. It was what the tribal elders wanted anyway. They expected an orderly transition, with Sam relinquishing the leadership role to Jacob in time, so that the wolf pack could be united under the true Alpha.

Except Jacob didn't want this to happen. Those in his pack had chosen to follow him. They believed and trusted in his leadership. The individuals that made up the imprinted pack did not. Jacob did not want to push his authority onto anyone. Any individual who ran with his pack must do so of their own free will. He would not force anyone to join him just for the sake of it.

Jacob knew that Quil was on the verge of breaking away to join him. Quil was unhappy without his friends, and was struggling under Jared's temporary leadership. Jacob expected to see his friend any day now, and when he did, he would welcome him with open arms.

The likes of Paul and Jared would never join his pack by choice. He wasn't especially close to either one of them. Lahote always rubbed him up the wrong way, made more difficult now that he was imprinted with his sister, and Jared would not be satisfied with stepping back from his role as second in command. Leah was the beta of Jacob's pack now, and there was no way those two would ever be comfortable taking orders from the she-wolf.

As for Sam himself, Jacob thought, even if he accepted stepping down from his role of Alpha, there was no way that he and Leah could run together in the same pack. It would be detrimental to both to have to share the same head space again with all the unresolved feelings still existing between them. For Sam had admitted to Jacob how upset he was when Leah deserted his pack to join Jacob's. He confessed he sent Jared in his place to beg her to come back, because beneath all the guilt he carried about how their relationship ended, he still loved her.

"It's tearing me apart." He had whispered brokenly. "I just want to be free of this pain."

So far Leah hadn't openly expressed how she felt about the situation. She had become adept at hiding her thoughts and feelings when they were all phased, just concentrating on her duties and nothing else. Jacob hoped she would open up in time. He had learned during their time together that it was better not to push the she-wolf, to give her the time and space she needed to work out her own feelings.

So, for the foreseeable future, the two packs remained separate, but with one compromise. Jared and Jacob put their heads together and worked out a patrol schedule between them that worked for both parties. It meant that the two packs would never cross paths, but the whole reservation and the surrounding areas would always be protected.

Jacob made sure to keep in contact with Sam. He dropped in every few days to check on him to make sure he was coping. Emily had gone to stay with her family on the Makah res for a few days. She was still very fragile, both mentally and physically. Sam had offered to go with her, but she had told him she needed some space just to get her head together.

And because it was what his imprint wanted; he had no choice but to obey.

Jacob called in on Sam one day to check on him. He used the excuse that he just needed to run through some details about the business. Sam saw through him straight away, but went along with it, glad to have company and something more proactive to focus on.

"Why don't we take a walk on the beach?" Jacob suggested.

"I could do with some air." Sam agreed.

The sun came out when the two of them reached First beach. They sat side by side on the sand in quiet contemplation. Sam's eyes moved from sand to stone, from rock pools to breaking waves. In the gentle Fall sunshine, he felt as if he were swimming in the briny aroma, as if the new rays of the day brought a frisson of energy to his fingertips. It was a day for letting his eyes stay open, as he were an old-fashioned camera, remaining still while the image developed. The gulls brought their high notes to the percussion of pebbles at the shoreline. It was a day for dreaming, for allowing time to move fast and slow. For the first time in a long while he felt a semblance of peace.

"Thanks for getting me out of the house." Sam said after a while.

"You're welcome." Jacob picked up one of the colored pebbles and made it skip across the water with one skillful throw. "I come here a lot myself when I need to think."

"Yeah, it's a good place to clear your head." Sam mused. "So, how's Bella? She got the cast off yet?"

"Yes." Jacob laughed, his whole face lighting up at the memory of Bella practically skipping out of the hospital in delight.

Jacob's happiness was infectious. It made Sam smile. He couldn't remember the last time he had done that. The muscles in his face ached with the effort, but it was a good kind of ache. It affected all the other muscles in his body. It started as a tingle in his fingers and toes, much like the feeling you get when you're anxious, but instead of worrisome it was warm. He felt it pass through him like a warm ocean wave, washing away the stress to leave him refreshed inside. As the wave faded, he savored the memory of its gentle touch, hoping he would get to feel it again someday soon.

"You love her very much."

"I do." Jacob said earnestly. "She completes me in a way I can't even begin to explain."

"I'm glad you've found happiness, Jacob. You deserve it." Sam sent his own pebble flying off toward the ocean. It skipped three or four times on the surface before sinking below the waves.

"Things will get better for you, Sam."

"Maybe." Sam sighed as he reached for another pebble. "I Just feel so lost. The way my relationships are shifting, are like aftershocks of an earthquake. It feels like the very foundations on which I stand have been removed. Life just feels unstable, unsupported."

It was one of the longest speeches Jacob had ever heard Sam make. He sounded so bleak, like all hope of resolution in his life with Emily was gone. Jacob wondered how long Emily was going to stay on the Makah res with her family. It had already been longer than the few days she had originally planned.

"You know, Jake." Sam continued in a low voice. "You really need to sit down with Bella and talk about the future. Talk about what it really means to be fully committed to you. And this is nothing to do with imprinting. Its to do with life here on the res."

Puzzled, Jacob waited for him to go on.

"You need to make sure she understands. She must know that you are bound to this place, to this land, and if she is bound to you, then this will always be her home. Can she always be happy here?"

Jacob frowned, not answering immediately.

"Living on the reservation isn't easy. Its not romantic. It doesn't have a lot of amenities. She's lived other places. Places that are not as isolated as we are here. What if she wants to return to that someday, like her mother did?"

"Bells is nothing like her mother."

"Maybe not." Sam conceded. "But if she's going to make this her life, she really needs to know that some ties can't be broken, and that means a certain way of life. She needs to know that a commitment to you is a commitment to this place. And to think about what that will mean for your children and grandchildren." He turned to look directly at Jacob. "I am only offering this advice because it was something I had to think a lot about when Emily got pregnant. It wasn't like we were trying. There was so much going on, I wanted the business to be on surer footing before we started a family, but it happened so we had to deal. But it brought up a lot of underlying issues we had never had to think about before. I just want you to be prepared…because I wasn't."

Jacob winced. He hadn't really thought about kids. At least not in specific terms. Neither had Bella.

He thought about how close he had come to hurting Billy when he first changed. How Sam had hurt Emily. What if their children changed? What kind of danger would that place Bella in? Would it scare her? She was so brave about everything else. He thought not. She would take it in her stride like she had with everything else to do with his crazy life. She had accepted his wolf side almost immediately, without question. She would accept this. She'd seen his monster and loved him anyway. She'd been in La Push Day after day. It didn't matter to her.

"I don't have anything to worry about, Sam. Bella knows." Jacob said, relaxing.

Sam emitted another weary sigh. "For your sake, I hope you're right, Jake." He said sadly. "Just give it more thought, okay. I don't want anyone else to go through what I did."

A/N-thanks for reading!