Hi, so this is my first story for this pairing and I have to admit I am liking it so far so let's see where it goes! I hope you all enjoy this story and this chapter.

Leah is criminally underused and criminally treated. She's the Rosalie of the Wolf Pack. Seriously the shit that she goes through because she's not skipping at the idea of being Emily's maid of honour (and seriously what the fuck possessed Emily to ask that? Like seriously Stephanie). So this story is a love letter to Leah.

I also have a huge amount of respect for Embry's Mom. Not sorry. Also I know she has a different name in the books to here but here she is Layla and she was seventeen when she got pregnant.

Also on Embry's father...I know a lot people assume it is Joshua Uley but somehow that seems to nice and neat, I also think it's pretty ironic, that both Jacob and Quill end up being friends with a kid who might be their half brother. So my views on Embry's Dad is that is has to be one of them and I do tend to lead towards Billy just for reasons I can't name. The council bit deciding whose parents should know and who doesn't is my own and I know it does not correlate with the books but then again this whole story is AU so (shrugs), I just think it's a fun angle to explore that everyone is terrified with who Embry's father could be.

Again, all of this is my own design, the characters belong to someone else, I am just playing in my writers box.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Please Read and Review.

And on a side note, I like so many other Fanfiction Authors no longer receive notifications via email about reviews/PMs etc. So if you do send any it might be a while, if ever before I get back to you. Please keep that in mind for it is not intentional-If anyone has a fix please let me know.

Also I do not do Private Messaging anymore, any questions stick them in a review and I will get back to you next chapter note.

A First Time For Everything

Chapter 4-Sounds Of Silence

Embry and Leah cross the border and meet Jacob. Jacob is not impressed to say the least. Seth is overjoyed.

She wasn't even aware that she had done it until Embry skidded to a stop tilted his head to the side and then showed her a grin with all his teeth.

"What?"

"Hear that?"

Leah tilted her head to the side and listened.

She heard nothing. Now was not the right time for Embry to be having a stroke or a breakdown or whatever this was and maybe her thoughts had taken on that distinct…flavour because Embry was now laughing and she was watching him silently waiting for the joke to drop and then he spoke down the mental channel.

"Leah. Can you hear them? I guarantee Sam must have had one of them out in forest patrolling and yet…yet we can't hear them. And were still within hearing range. But now we can't hear them and it's not cause we are over the tribe lines"

Leah titled her muzzle to the side to listen and then…

He was right. He was so right and the more she listened the more jubilation she felt. It was giddy, it was tempting, it was a beautiful thing she thought like some romantic teenager who was falling in love for the first time. She had thought that she was surviving and surviving alone, trying to keep everything under control so that she could manage the day to day life that she had been forced to endure and now everything was gone. The constant muttering under the breath of the wolves that she was making life difficult, the constant pity that came from her ex-boyfriend mingled with the pressure that came when she did something that made Emily upset (like breathing) and the constant undercurrent of bitch was gone.

It was gone. All of it. Her mind was totally and wholly her own again and she knew it.

It was heady and intoxicating and dangerous and lovely and she was so happy that she could roll in the ground in the dirt and shove her legs—

"There's an image"

"Fuck off Embry"

But for once there was no heat to the words, no danger to them, no anger. She was just so happy.

She was free.

It was no small thing for a woman Leah thought. Freedom.

"You need another minute or do you want to press forwards and find Jacob and Seth?"

Ideally she would have liked another minute and maybe a glass of champagne but he was right there was work to do. If Sam had figured out that they had deflected he would soon be after them or worse…send her mother after them. At some point Leah and Sue were going to have to have a confrontation and it was not going to be pretty and half naked on the road was not where Leah wanted to do this thing.

And the more distance that she could put between her and Sam the better.

"How far off do you think that we are?"

"Don't know, I've only been to the Cullen House once and that was in human form. We drove. Jacob wanted to show Bella his car and we only stayed for two minutes or so before the entire thing with the Newborns went up in smoke. I don't know exact directions but my guess is Jacob will be running a pretty tight perimeter alongside Seth and the Cullen's. Pray we find either Seth, Jacob or Edward because I don't think with any of the others were gonna have the luxury of explaining ourselves."

That…that was a point come to think of it.

They didn't have to wait long though. While they were tuned out of the other Pack's headspaces they were not tuned out of Jacob and Seth's and it didn't take long before Leah heard the tones of her brother humming in his head what sounded like a Lana Del Rey song (and that kid needed help he really, really did) only for him to stop and—

"Oh fuck me"

"Ugh?"

"Embry you too?"

"Looks like it bro, you think you might want to let Jacob know that we are here and—"

"OH COME ON! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD—"

"Don't think that's gonna be a problem" Seth mumbled as the four of them came into view. Jacob continued his rant in his head and Leah sat down belly to the ground and thought that for the end of August it was going to be a rather cold day.

And maybe Sam knew she had gone…

Oh if she could be in two places at once…just to see the look on his face when he realised that she had stuck two fingers up at him and chosen her own path…

"Leah?"

"Yes Seth?"

"Not that I'm not thrilled for you and all but we kinda have more pressing matters and we should get back to them"

"Look at you being the voice of reason—"

"CAN WE PLEASE GET TO THE POINT" Jacob roared and it knocked all three of them back.

"What point?"

"WHA—WHAT POINT?! Why are both of you here?"

"I would have thought that was obvious" Leah said. "We left Sam's pack. We wanted to join yours"

"Well I don't want you to join mine! I didn't sign up for this. I don't need a pack"

"You became the alpha, that gives you a pack. Besides I wasn't about to let my little brother become a chew toy"

"And what's Embry's excuse?"

"Jake I am right here! And I couldn't follow Sam either. Not for this"

"Why? Since when did you care about Bella and her choices?"

Embry paused and then…

"I just do Jake. Look let's not complicate matters unnecessarily. Were here, for better or for worse…"

Here Jacob snorted.

"We are in this together. So do you want to figure out what Sam's plan is or not?"

Jacob dug his paws into the ground and then he sighed.

"Go on?"

Leah turned her head and realised that Embry was giving her the room to talk. She wasn't sure why, if it was because he thought that she might better articulate the story or that he didn't want to get into his own reasons for leaving but he was letting her speak and so she spoke.

"I left pretty much after you did, said I was going home to tell Mom—"

"Oh crap you told Mom?"

"Seth lay off the sibling bit for a sec will ya? Go on Leah?"

"He wasn't very pleased…in fact he was…" she trailed off and instead decided to show them the state that they had both left Sam in, Jake and Seth both shuddered and Leah nodded. To be honest she was amazed he'd not exposed them himself. Anyone who had heard that amount of howling would have probably lost it on the spot weather or not they were protected from hunting or not.

"And then I made the decision to leave. Embry followed me. Last I checked he was going to speak to the Council as soon as he had calmed down. Assuming he's done that already he's going to listen to advice before he reformulates a plan. Even so he doesn't know about me or Embry yet which means when he does he's down four"

"And he'll worry about everyone else" Embry said into the silence. "Quill is gonna struggle to kill us both Jake, he'd have to order him into the field and I don't think that Sam wants to do that. Colin and Brady are way to young for him to put into the battlefield and assuming he hasn't hit the heights of paranoia and he still trust Paul and Jared that gives him two wolves to take on us. Quill would be here himself is my bet but he won't leave Claire so he has to stay but no way is Sam gonna use a wolf he can't guarantee loyalty for. So even if he is ordered to attack and kill three children from the council he's not gonna"

Jacob watched him shrewdly and then he transformed pulling on his pants that were tied around his leg. Seth did the same thing and then looked pointedly at them. Embry shrugged in wolf form and did the same thing and then three of them turned around in unison so Leah could transform and throw on her shorts and t-shirt and then the four of them in human form walked down the hill towards the Cullen house. Leah had no idea why they were doing this as humans but Jacob hadn't ordered them to leave yet and she was taking that gift horse in the mouth.

"Why are you here?" he asked turning to her. "You know I can't trust you with the Cullen's…you hate Bella—"

"Yeah I do"

"Leah"

"Embry don't, I do hate her, I think she's unspeakably cruel and I think she gets away with murder. I think a teary eye is her excuse nine times out of ten and I don't think she's understood for a second just how close she has come to pushing us to civil war. As a woman whose also been tossed aside like garbage without warning by the man who claimed to love her I think her whole attitude sets the clock back about fifty years. I wasn't allowed to wallow Jacob was I? In fact everytime I tried everyone, you included called me a sad bitch—" she took a breath to get herself under control and she noticed that they had all stopped walking. Seth was looking at her with wide eyes and Jacob and Embry couldn't look at her and for that reason and that reason alone she managed to continue. She was not going to be the first one to break here. She had done nothing wrong.

"I have never gone looking for an excuse for my behaviour Jacob and she has constantly gaslit you and others for her and Edward's actions. Like I am probably going to do you had to be the best man at her wedding and—so yeah I do hate her but weather or not I hate her or not, Sam, Edward, Dr Cullen…all of them…nobody has the right to tell her what to do with her body and her baby and nobody has the right to take that choice away from her just because they disagree with it or they think that they know what is best or that it's too dangerous. Bella is a human but maybe because she is a human she has the same rights as everyone else and that right includes the right to choose and if anyone wants to fight with me on that then say so now"

There was a pause following that admittedly rather raw and honest speech (certainly more raw and honest than she had intended to be) and she looked at all three of them. Seth was grinning and Jacob was looking very uncomfortable and Embry was watching her with…

A very strange look in his eyes.

If she didn't know any better then she would say that it was almost desire.

But then again it had been a long time and she had not slept in a while so Leah had to concede she could be reading the signs wrong.

God she hoped that she was. She really did hope that she was because if she wasn't…if she wasn't then…yeah…that was a question she was not sure she was going to be able to answer.

Besides…she was totally unlovable. Sam had made sure that she had known that and Jared and Paul had helped. Perhaps they had not grasped how cruel they had been when getting the message across but they had been and the message had gotten across.

"Alright" Jacob said finally looking at her and she could see the swath of dark shadows under his eyes and she could see the burden that this was costing him and something else…something else that she didn't understand but it was like he had nailed himself to a cross and something was going to happen that was all that he was living for. And she did not think it was the death of Bella Swan.

"Alright" he said again. "We need to go and let the Cullen's know that the treaty is dead and void. I'd go but…" he swallowed and then blinked and Seth winced before he put on a cheery smile and said in a voice that he had used at their father's funeral and when she had been unable to get out of bed after Sam had dumped her and then she had seen him kissing Emily in the middle of the street and her father had said nothing in his daughter's defence.

"I can go" Seth said cheerfully. "Edward already likes me and to be honest If Mom knows I suppose I should leave her a message and let her know I'm okay—"

"The Cullen's don't mind that?" Embry asked and Seth shook his head. "They don't mind us using their home like a hotel?"

"No" Seth said grinning. "We've been here two days and they've already been very accommodating. I can go and let Edward know what the plan is and the rest of the family"

"I'll come too" Embry said quietly and Leah turned to look at him her head snapping to the side so fast she was sure that she might have accidently given herself whiplash.

"What?" he said staring at her. "Someone's gotta help Seth and I don't think that you and Bella being in the same room right now is the best option. I can go and tell the Cullen's what's going on and you and Jacob can do a border check and see weather or not Sam knows that we have gone.

"How will you know?" Seth asked but this time before Leah could speak Jacob was laughing. It was a bitter laugh and one she had never heard from him before but it was enough to get them all to pay attention.

"Believe me Seth" Jacob said darkly, "Believe me we are going to know when Sam knows. Man can't shut up to save his life and I think Leah is right…when he finds out he's lost two more he and the council are going to have to come back and reformulate the plan."

"How long do you think we have before Bella gives…birth?" Embry asked pulling a face at the very thought of it. Jacob's face crumpled a little and before either one of them could say anything more Seth jumped in and his tone too was very sombre as if he was already preparing to go to the funeral and that out of everything that had happened to her and to them so far, was the one thing that made her feel scared for Bella Swan and what was happening to her right now.

"Days maybe a week" Seth said quietly. "But it changes everyday. The Doctor will know more"

Embry nodded and then he smiled and clapped Jacob on the arm.

"Come on alpha, let's go"

It was enough to get Jacob to move and as he did he looked a bit more like himself.

"That was a nice speech" Seth said as the two of them started walking.

"Shut up" Leah said but she smiled at him and she loved the fact that Seth was still able to smile back as if nothing had happened. He was her little brother and while he might be a pain up the ass she was still glad that he had retained his optimistic look on life regardless of the fact that she and everyone else had done their best to tear it down.

"Come on" she said and Seth followed her.

"You know I like this" he said softly. "You being like this"

"Like what?"

"Happy" he said and then he grinned and whooped loudly so that several birds in a tree flew off in fright.

And Leah couldn't help but laugh.

It felt good to laugh.

And yeah, Seth is a great big brother, I always did wonder how he managed to work under Sam and take orders from Sam knowing Sam had broken his sister's heart so more on that in the next few chapters.

Next Chapter-Embry sees Bella Swan as he and Seth report to the Cullen's. Sobering doesn't begin to cover it and Jacob wants answers about why Embry deflected.