A/N: Set during New Moon when Bella chases Edward through the woods in an attempt to find him after he leaves her.

Chapter 22

Sam's POV-

NO.

I growled out loud at the wolf, his demand in no way fulfillable. I wasn't doing it. Just wasn't. The wolf would simply have to accept it. I wasn't leaving Leah. She was my…life…my everything. I couldn't- wouldn't- leave her!

Mine.

The wolf growled in retaliation. She was his. He wanted her. He wasn't willing to listen to any of my desperate protests, unable to understand where the problem lay. She was his, and he was hers. End of discussion.

But it wasn't that simple for Sam Uley- the human.

I loved Leah. We had been together for close to eight years now- ever since I had first realized what liking someone meant. She had been my first crush, my first date, my first everything. How do you move past that?

We were supposed to be together- happy and in love- for the rest of our lives. Everyone expected that.

We were supposed to get married. It was a given.

I couldn't cancel my wedding!

No.

Leah would be devastated!

My parents…her parents…so much money had already been paid for- in anticipation of a beautiful ceremony. We would lose a major part of it, if not all.

The expectations, the hope, so many dreams lay attached to that one half day….

I could not do that to her.

I could not do that to her parents.

They loved me like I was one of their own. It would hurt them beyond repair.

Heck. I could not do that to my own parents!

Mom would kill me. And dad already did not think too highly of me; I would fall lower on his scale of being a decent and responsible human!

No.

I could not do this.

But…Bella….

Simply her name as it crossed my mind, was enough to bring me a lifetime of calmness and relief, she was so perfect…so warm…so beautiful…so mine.

How was I supposed to ignore her?

How was I supposed to continue with my life knowing that I was incomplete?

She was the missing part that was meant to give my life meaning.

I couldn't ignore her.

No.

I growled aloud at the guilty moon, forcing me to confront the turmoil boiling in me. This was the wolf talking. I wasn't falling into his trap. He may share a mind with me, but I wasn't coerced to agree to every ridiculous whim of his. He would simply have to accept it.

But what about the dreams then?

I shied away from the confrontational- and yet truthful- thought, refusing to acknowledge it. It need not be acknowledged!

But the truth could not be hidden, my mind protested.

Bella Swan.

I did not know her, and yet I knew everything about her.

She could be a mystery to all but wasn't to me.

It had started a few months ago…the first dream as vague as a mere snippet meant to keep me waiting for more. I had seen a girl laughing. That was all it had been. Not even her face visible. And yet, I was mesmerized. Her laugh was magical. I wanted to see more. I wanted to stare into those eyes meant to be pretty. I wanted to know the reason for her free laugh. I wanted…to know who she was.

My dreams had kept me waiting a while though. The next one appeared weeks later, this time the mystery girl had spoken. It hadn't been much. Just one word. Sam. But my name had never sounded sweeter.

I craved more.

I was desperate for more.

Of course, I could not tell Leah any of this. It wasn't cheating; I wasn't worried about that. But how do you confess to your fiancée that you are obsessed with someone you have never met or seen or ever spoken to. It was simply too absurd to be reality.

And so, I had continued living with my life, letting my dreams be parallel to reality. I would yet wait for them to appear, but I never let it hamper my awake moments. They were a separate- hidden- part of my existence.

I would see her dancing, singing, laughing- just being.

She was beautiful.

I couldn't look away.

I waited to see her. She was a puzzle I craved to solve.

Her name though, I had found out a month or so after the first dream appeared. Someone had called for her attention; I hadn't been able to see the face, but she had responded. And that is how my mystery girl had gotten her name.

I had attempted to connect both the worlds, curious to know whether a certain Bella Swan did exist or not. It hadn't been much of a struggle. I had been off to Billy's one day, needing a sign for some official documents pertaining to the tribe, one of his friends was over for dinner as he attended to me. I had seen the man briefly, he worked for the police, or so I had knowledge of. And his surname was Swan. That had been my starting point. Finding out that he had a teenage daughter named Bella had been my Eureka moment. Of course, I had later found out that she was unresponsive and heartbroken after a relationship gone sour. Further digging into the matter had updated me on who said boyfriend was. My enemy. She had been my enemy's lover. Had that not been enough to piss me off, her then state had easily been enough to do so. She was simply so weak! I detested it.

First, how could you fall in love with a leech?

And even if somehow you did, how weak were you to give up on living when it did not work out with him?

It was stupid.

And immature.

Leah was just so mature in comparison. She was a woman. And Bella was yet a girl. I no longer waited for my dreams to appear after that. I had no interest in consorting with someone who roamed around with my enemy. Even if they had left already, and she wasn't actually one of them.

Also, it wasn't like I could control my dreams. They just came to me.

But the curiosity had died out. And Bella Swan was no longer important to my existence. Not until this day at least. I hadn't expected to see her. Nor had I expected to witness the familiarity in her eyes. Had she dreamt about me, too?

I wished to know…and yet I was scared to find out.

What would it mean for us?

Why was any of this happening?

We were strangers…forced to know everything about the other!

"Sam."

I walked in through the open door of the house I shared with Leah, her frown telling me that I had kept her waiting a while. I smiled, my eyes trinkling with apology.

She smiled back; I was forgiven.

"One day soon you are going to tell me all about this mysterious- important- job that keeps you occupied at weird times of the day. I can wait for that day, though."

"Promise." I assured her.

I fought with the elders everyday to bring Leah into the knowing. Apart from Harry Clearwater, none of them was willing to budge on their 'outsiders cannot know' rule.

I was simply thankful that Leah was as understanding!

"Le-Le," I cuddled her close to me. "I was thinking let's prepone the wedding further by a few days."

She frowned; an eyebrow raised. "Where is that coming from?"

I shrugged. "Just impatient to make you mine."