A/N: So just a quick note. Even with how awful I think canon-Bella is, this isn't meant to be a Bella bashing fic. But everything Leah knows about Edward and Bella is through Jacob's eyes, so she's not the most impartial of observers, hence her attitude here. I kinda sorta maybe plan to have Bella grow up some and open her eyes throughout the course of the story.

This chapter is entirely in Leah's perspective, but we go back to a general third-person next chapter.

Thanks for reading and reviewing:)

Gravitational Shifts

Leah Clearwater was almost certain she'd been a demon of some kind in a past life. Or maybe just a murderer. An unkind person and a stingy tipper, at the very least. Whatever she was, karma was paying her back this time around in a big way.

As she ran through the forest with some of her pack to meet up with the Cullens so they could learn how to fight vampires, she wondered if her life could actually get any worse.

Paul Lahote, Leah's best friend and fellow wolf, heard her thoughts through their weird telepathic mind-link and snarked a reply.

Of course it can get worse, we're minutes away from spending a few hours in the company of Jacob, Bella, and Edward.

Leah fought back a groan. Getting some training on how to fight vampires sounded like a good time, and she was even a little bit grateful that one of the local vamps was offering to teach them, but being around Jacob and Bella Swan was never going to be at the top of Leah's list of favorite things. Or at the bottom. It would never make an appearance anywhere on that list.

She and Paul were both at the end of their rope with Jacob's lovesick mooning over Bella. After seeing 'the Leah, Sam, Emily pain-fest' - as Jacob so thoughtfully summed up one of the worst experiences of Leah's life - neither wolf could understand why Jacob was so obsessively caught up in a girl who wasn't his imprint. And for a girl who claimed to be so in love with her vampire boyfriend, Bella sure did seem to love stringing Jacob along.

Let's just hope the awkward tension doesn't kill each and every one of us. I'd be more than happy for it to kill some of us, but I'm sorta attached to you and my brother.

Leah smiled at hearing Seth's mental laughter at her thought. Her life might be one giant clusterfuck wrapped up in misery, but at least she had her little brother by her side.

As they got closer to the clearing where they were meeting the vamps and started catching some of their scents, Leah was distracted enough that all the other voices in her head faded away almost completely.

She hadn't been a wolf all that long, and had never actually been in the presence of a vampire, but through their pack telepathy, she'd gotten the general idea that the wolves found the vamp scent to be… very unpleasant. So Leah was prepared for the unpleasantness, but there was a scent mingling with the others that was far from unpleasant. It reminded her of her mom's cold remedy of choice that she made with warm whiskey, honey, and lemons. It was a scent she associated with comfort.

As Leah stepped out of the cover of the trees, she briefly felt something like relief or happiness fill her chest, which made absolutely no sense, and she swept her gaze across the line of vamps waiting for them. When she locked eyes with the tall blond in the middle of the group, who had a small smile on his face as he looked at her, her world came to a stuttering halt. Everything except him fell away.

The complete and utter shock of the moment had her unintentionally phasing back to human.

So apparently yes, Leah's life could get worse, because there she was, standing in front of half her pack, her brand new imprint, and almost his entire family, wide-eyed and completely fucking naked.

"Oh for the love of all that is holy, are you fucking kidding me with this?" she muttered to the sky as she closed her eyes and her head fell back.

Feeling fur brush against her, Leah figured Seth or Paul had moved to partially block her from view, and based on the height alone, she assumed it was Paul. When she heard his low growl, she took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and focused back on the scene in front of her.

Her new and entirely fucking unlikely imprint was walking towards her, his eyes firmly trained on the ground as he held out the sweatshirt he'd clearly just taken off, and the other Cullens either had their eyes covered or had turned around so their backs were to her. So that was something at least - they were polite enough to give her some privacy during the most embarrassing moment of her life. As for the pack, it looked like Seth might actually be rolling his big wolfie eyes at her, and Jacob and Sam seemed to be stunned silent. A small mercy Leah was grateful for.

At Paul's growl, Leah's imprint - Jason? Jasper? She should probably find out his name as soon as she wasn't choking on her humiliation - immediately stopped in his tracks.

"I'm happy to stay here, Paul," he said softly, keeping his eyes down. "Would you be more comfortable coming to me instead? Or having Seth come?"

Leah smiled a little that her imprint was polite and considerate, and seeing Seth cheerfully bound forward like this was a normal occurrence in their lives, she actually laughed. Maybe she'd survive this nightmare after all. While some people saw Seth's cheerfulness and optimism as naïveté, he was a keen observer and read people better than anyone Leah knew. So the fact that Seth walked right up to the vamp whose name started with a J - Jackson? - told Leah just about everything she needed to know about his character.

The man stood perfectly still while Seth carefully took the sweatshirt in his mouth and carried it back to Leah. She wasted no time pulling it over her head, glad that he was half a foot taller than her so it covered the crucial bits, and sneakily took a sniff or two of the fabric as she did. It was definitely the source of the scent she'd caught. Leah steeled her nerves and lifted her eyes to look at…

"Damn it," she growled in frustration, making the vamp's eyes go a little wide as they met hers. "Sorry," she said with an apologetic smile. "That was directed at myself, not you. What's your name?" she asked. "I know it starts with a J, but I can't remember if it's Jason or Jasper or Jackson or something else entirely that I haven't even thought of and I'd like to have a name to put with the face because that will make the inner monologue a lot easier and… shit, I'm sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous," she said, then covered her mouth with her hands to keep any other words from escaping.

The vamp just gave her a kind and gentle smile. "Jasper. My name is Jasper Whitlock."

Not taking her eyes from his, Leah completely ignored the wolf-guard in front of her, sidestepping him to walk over to her imprint. Jasper. Jasper Whitlock. When Paul growled a little, she rolled her eyes and uncovered her mouth. "Oh hush, I'm fine and you know it."

When Sam growled, she ignored him also. When he moved to block her path, she held up a hand to stop him in his tracks. "Don't even think about it, Sam Uley. You get in my way and I tell everyone in this clearing how small your dick is."

Paul and Seth both made a quiet sort of huffy barking sound that Leah figured was the wolf version of expressing amusement, and two of the vamps snorted a laugh, but Leah ignored them as she came to a stop in front of her grinning imprint. "Hi, Jasper Whitlock. I'm Leah Clearwater," she said, holding her hand out.

Jasper took her hand in his. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Leah Clearwater."

"Oh my goodness!" someone gasped.

Leah tore her eyes away from Jasper to see that one of the vampires, a woman with hair in soft caramel waves who looked like a film star from a century ago - which was entirely possible with this crowd - had a beaming smile on her face as she looked at them, and her eyes looked a little shimmery. Glancing at the rest of the Cullens, she saw that the teeny tiny one and the blond bombshell had equally wide smiles.

Jasper laughed as he gently squeezed her hand. "Can I introduce you to my family before one of them scares you by running over to hug you prematurely?"

"Uh, sure?" Leah answered, a little confused. "Why are they looking at us like that? Are they always this happy?"

"No," Jasper smiled. "Well, Esme and Alice are nearly always happy, though perhaps not quite this happy, and Rosalie is only this happy when she's rebuilding an engine block—"

The absolutely giant dude clearing his throat interrupted Jasper. "And?" he asked, somehow managing to both glare and grin at Jasper. The grin actually reminded her of Seth's, with the two adorable dimples. It hadn't occurred to her that dimples might be a thing vamps possessed. Was that just another tool in their arsenal to go with the looks, speed, strength, and brains? Killer dimples now, too?

"And spending some quality time with her husband," Jasper laughed, snapping Leah out of her thoughts. "But they're this happy now because I've been waiting a very, very long time to meet you, and they're happy for me."

Now it was the film star who cleared her throat. When Jasper looked at her, she gave him an expectant look with a raised eyebrow. She definitely had to be the mom of the family, because Sue gave her and Seth that exact same look all the time.

"For both of us," Jasper corrected himself with a smile. "Esme's happy for both of us."

"Oh. Okay then. I have questions, but I can wait," Leah said. "How—"

Leah was cut off by the teeny tiny vamp - like seriously tiny, Leah had to be a whole foot taller than her - carefully but enthusiastically hugging her with an excited squeal. Having a vampire engulf her in their arms was slightly uncomfortable for Leah, though not completely awful, but it appeared to be a step too far for Sam.

Multiple things happened almost simultaneously. Jasper's head snapped up to glare at Sam and he took a half-step in front of Leah, and the tiny pixie vamp let go of her and went to stand at Jasper's side in a move so fast she was nothing but a blur. Sam let loose a feral sounding growl and took a single step forward. Seth and Paul moved to stand between them, both letting out some fearsome growls of their own. And the rest of Jasper's vamp family moved in front of Leah. Not to block her from her brother and her best friend, but to act as an additional barrier should Sam get past her two wolf-guards.

Feeling a sense of calm that wasn't her own brush over her, Leah looked up at her imprint in surprise. She'd completely forgotten about Bella spilling the beans to Jacob that some of the vamps had extra tricks, including one who could affect your emotions. She wasn't sure if that would annoy her in the future or not, but in that particular moment, she was grateful for it.

Jasper gently squeezed her hand again as if he knew what she was thinking, which made Leah wonder if he couldn't just affect someone's mood but read it also. That… definitely would annoy her in the future. Or at the very least, embarrass her.

Pushing it from her mind, Leah looked at her ex-boyfriend with an exasperated sigh. "Sam, if you can't act civilly, you're more than welcome to leave. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and because you're so quick to doubt me on that, I'll remind you that there are three other wolves here who are also more than capable of protecting me. Well two, anyway. Jacob's a wild card, to be honest, he could go either way. Regardless, I'm perfectly safe, so maybe you should head back to the Res. We all know you didn't want to be here to begin with."

With a frustrated growl, Sam stalked into the trees and came walking out as a human a few moments later. "I'm not just going to leave you in the clutches of that leech, Leah," he snapped. "You can come back to La Push with me."

"What is it with the wolves and this racist terminology they're so fond of?" the pixie vamp muttered under her breath.

"Wouldn't specist be more accurate?" Leah asked her. "I mean, it's a species thing, not a race thing, right? Is specist even a word? Although I guess you could probably argue that we're different races of supernatural beings. Like, there's vampires and shapeshifters and… uh, I don't actually know what else is out there."

"Werewolves," Jasper helpfully offered. "Emmett has also repeatedly made the case that witches are simply beings that have magical powers and because some vampires have gifts - or extra powers - we are, by definition, witches."

"Warlock, Jas," the pixie huffed in exasperation. "I feel like we've had this conversation too many times for you to forget that male practitioners of witchcraft are called warlocks."

"Especially because Emmett called you Jasper Warlock for about two weeks in 1977 until you filled his car with balled-up newspaper," the blond bombshell said over her shoulder.

Leah's imprint waved a dismissive hand. "Too close to 'warlord' for my taste. And I feel like we've had this conversation too many times for you to forget that, Ali," he snarked.

"A car filled with newspaper?" Leah asked with a frown. "That's not a very effective means of revenge. That's way too easy to clean up. You should have used those packing peanuts. Those are a real pain in the ass because the static makes them impossible to round up. Plus they break, so you end up finding little pieces in the weirdest places for weeks."

"That's what I said!" the pixie laughed. "Although I told him he should've used glitter instead."

Leah winced a little. "That might be a step too far."

"Would you all shut up?" Sam snarled. "This is nothing to joke about!"

"What, glitter?" the pixie asked with a completely straight face.

Sam growled and took a step towards her, and Jasper stepped in front of her, his eyes hard as he held a hand up to stop him. "You take one more step in her direction with that kind of rage and aggression in you and you'll find out just how seriously I take the safety and security of every member of my family and my mate."

"Mate?" Leah asked in hopeful surprise.

"Mate?" Sam growled in outrage.

Jasper looked at Leah with a smile, his eyes immediately softening. "Do the wolves have a different word for it?"

Leah nodded. "Imprint."

"Like baby ducks?" the pixie asked, looking adorably confused.

"A little bit," Leah laughed. "But the connection is less parental and more center of gravity."

"So Jasper is your imprint?" the film star asked with a delighted smile.

Leah looked up at Jasper a little uncertainly. "He is. I hope that's okay?"

"It's fucking perfect," Jasper laughed. "Mate, imprint, you can call me anything you want, as long as you eventually call me yours."

The giant let out a groan. "Okay, first of all, that was awful, like some lame human pick-up line in a bar, but also, can you please not do the swoony romantic shit? I'm not sure I have the capacity to up my game to Jasper-level charm and it would be highly annoying if I had to kick your ass because my wife started looking at me in disappointment all the time."

"Please," the pixie scoffed. "Like you could kick his ass."

The blond bombshell gave the giant a smile and a wink. "Emmett-level charm is the exact level of charm I love."

Okay, so the giant was Emmett and the blond bombshell was his wife. The pixie was Ali? Alice? Which meant the film star and the bombshell were Rosalie and Esme, though she wasn't entirely certain which was which.

When Sam snapped Leah's name in frustration, Seth let out a low growl and then phased back to human. "Just—"

"Goddamn it, Seth, we've talked about this!" Leah shouted as she slammed her hands over her eyes, ignoring the surprised gasps from her imprint's family.

"Sorry," her brother laughed, completely unbothered that he was naked in a field with strangers. "All that's left is our mom and then you'll have seen the whole Clearwater family naked."

Leah felt a pang of sadness that their family of four was now a family of only three, but she couldn't help smiling a little, grateful for her brother's sense of humor in the midst of all the embarrassment.

After a few seconds, Jasper squeezed her hand again. "It's safe to open your eyes," he whispered.

"Okay, sure," Leah scoffed. "I've fallen for that trick once before and it's not happening again. Once was bad enough."

"He really is decent, Leah," the pixie giggled, so Leah carefully peeked out of one eye, sighing in relief when she saw her brother was wearing his sweatpants.

"Just go home, Sam," Seth said in frustration. "You only came because you didn't trust the vamps, but not only is Jasper Leah's imprint, but she's his mate or whatever. Considering your history, and the fact that you and the rest of the pack constantly tell Leah to get over it, don't you dare act like a hypocrite and try to get between my sister and her imprint."

Sam glared at Seth and then looked at Leah, his expression indecipherable. "There's a treaty line for a reason," he said, then turned and ran into the trees, phasing as he went.

"That's going to be awkward when he gets back to the Res," Leah muttered as she watched the tattered remains of his shorts drift to the ground, ignoring his words for the moment. There wasn't any extra space in her brain right then to try and solve every hurdle in front of her and her unlikely imprint.

"It's probably for the best, really. Jean shorts are never a good look," the pixie said with a disapproving shake of her head.

Leah snorted a laugh. "Before we get thrown off on another weird tangent, can I just make sure I have all of your names right? I know I've got the giant's, and I think I have the pixie's, but I'm not sure about the film star and the bombshell," she said. When everyone in her imprint's family looked at her in amusement, and Seth just straight out laughed at her, she crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "What? I had to call you all something in my head."

Paul seemed to roll his big wolfie eyes at her before he loped into the trees and walked out a few moments later tying the string on the waist of his sweatpants. "It's too painful not being able to speak while I watch you awkwardly flounder your way through this whole weird situation," he said as he came to stand beside her.

Leah bit back a laugh, not wanting to encourage him, and tried to punch him in the stomach but he easily blocked her before her fist could land. She looked up at her new imprint with a hopeful smile. "Introductions first, then I believe I was promised some fight training."

"So you can beat up your friend?" Jasper asked with an amused smile.

Leah nodded. "Yes," she answered completely seriously.

"Of course. That is why we're here, after all," Jasper laughed. "Okay. The giant is Emmett, the blond bombshell is his mate and wife Rosalie, the pixie is Alice, and the film star is Esme," he said, pointing at each vamp as he went. "Did I get those right? The bombshell and film star could've gone either way, but since bombshell is typically used for blonds, I went with that."

"Yeah, that was right," Leah laughed. "It's nice to meet all of you," she said with a wave. "And this rude boy beside me is Paul Lahote, and you've no doubt connected the dots that Seth is my brother."

Paul nudged her with his elbow and tipped his head to the side, and when Leah looked around him she rolled her eyes at herself. She'd completely forgotten he was even there.

"And the wolf who somehow looks both bored and disgusted is Jacob Black," she added.

Seeing the film star - Esme - looking at her with a huge smile and a kind of hopeful expression, Leah quickly glanced at Seth and darted her eyes to Esme. The two of them didn't need the pack telepathy to communicate silently, they'd been doing it for fifteen years. When Seth smiled and nodded, Leah took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Esme lifted her arms slightly, and when Leah nodded her permission, she wasted no time getting her arms around her in a gentle hug. It was a strange experience for Leah, because the woman obviously felt nothing like her own mother in a physical sense, but it was the exact same kind of mom-hug Sue gave her. Esme had the same warm eyes her mom had, too.

If Sue could look past the whole vamp thing, Leah had a feeling those two could be good friends.

"Thank you," Esme whispered as she pulled back.

"For hugging you?" Leah asked with a smile.

Esme let out a lighthearted laugh. "Well, yes, there is that. But there's also that," she said, pointing over Leah's shoulder.

Leah turned around to see Jasper watching her with a soft and warm smile, his eyes twinkling with happiness. Leah felt a smile break across her own face. It was a huge relief to know he wasn't completely grossed out by having a wolf as his mate. She had no doubt there were going to be some difficult roads ahead of them, but she was beyond grateful that none of those roads included Jasper trying to deny the imprint.

Completely forgetting that she'd been talking to Esme, Leah drifted back to Jasper's side. "Hi."

"Hi," he smiled, taking her hand in his again. "So you're okay with this? That I'm… you know, a vampire?"

"I am," Leah nodded. "I mean, it's weird and unexpected for sure, but I don't think that means it's bad or wrong."

"There's—" Jasper cut himself off with a frustrated sigh just before Leah heard a car approaching the clearing they were in. When she looked at him curiously, he rolled his eyes. "Edward and Bella."

Leah nodded, doing her best not to scowl. She had no idea what Jasper thought of Edward and Bella - or the toxic dysfunction that was Edward, Bella, and Jacob - and she didn't want to offend him if he was close to them.

"Great. Here comes the human," the bombshell snarked in annoyance, and Leah smiled to herself. Good, someone else who wasn't enamored with Bella Swan. "Why exactly is a human coming to fight training for supernatural beings?"

"Rose," Esme warned in that mom voice Leah knew so well.

"What? It's a fair question. Is she planning to learn to fight? I'd be happy to spar with her," Rosalie offered with a faux-innocent smile.

Leah snorted a laugh, then broke into full laughter when Jacob growled at the blond and she just rolled her eyes and ignored him.

"Oh, shut up, Jacob," Paul sighed. "No one cares what you think."

When Jacob growled at Paul, Leah's smile fell away. "Watch it, Black. We both know Paul can kick your ass and if you think Seth or I will fight at your side to even the odds, think again," she snapped.

Jasper gently squeezed her hand again and she felt… reassurance maybe? Comfort? Damn, she was going to need an emotional dictionary. Did those exist? Maybe she could just ask him to make a list of the emotions he sent out the most often and study it.

At least he hadn't altered her emotions. He hadn't tamped down her irritation at all, so at least he respected boundaries where his gift or power was concerned. So maybe the reassurance or comfort was his way of silently communicating with her? That would be pretty fucking cool. Did it work both ways? How does one 'send' an emotion, though? Just think it at him?

Leah thought about her curiosity at how his witchery worked and then just mentally pictured herself shoving it at Jasper.

Who immediately flinched a little.

Oops. "Too much?"

"A little," Jasper laughed. "I'll feel it regardless, so you don't really have to throw it at me."

Leah thought about her curiosity again but didn't shove it at him. "Better?"

"Better," Jasper nodded. "What are you curious about?"

"How your witchery works," she answered, then startled a little at the booming laugh from behind her. "Jeez, even his laugh is big."

Emmett appeared beside Jasper with a huge smile on his face. Those dimples really were too stinking cute. "You'll get the hang of his 'witchery' in no time. You should've seen him the first few weeks after joining us. He was already an edgy and suspicious motherfucker who had no clue how to let his guard down, and then you add in a bunch of vamps who keep mentally shoving emotions at him and he was just about ready to drag Alice out of there without a backwards glance. She eventually called a family meeting to explain that a little goes a long way when it comes to our empath and asked us to please stop 'shouting' emotions at him. Everyone thinks Jasper's the protective one but that tiny little pixie can be fierce as hell in her defense of him," he laughed.

Leah had soooo many questions just from those few sentences, but figured she only had time for one before Edward and Bella made it to the clearing. "When did you join the Cullens?" she asked Jasper curiously.

"1950."

Leah's jaw dropped. "1950?" she squeaked. "Like the 1950 that was seventy years ago?"

Jasper gave her an amused smile. "Yep, that 1950."

"Uh, just how old are you, Jasper?" she asked, then figured she should phrase it differently. "When were you born as a human?"

He looked at her for a moment like he was worried how she would react, which meant he was probably old enough that it would break her brain to think about.

"1844."

"18…" Leah trailed off as she got a little lightheaded. Holy shit. That made him… Oh damn, she'd always been terrible at math.

"One-hundred and seventy-six," Jasper helpfully supplied as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to steady her. The chill of it felt good on her too-hot skin and she leaned against his side.

Well, now she knew what she wasn't leading with when she told her mom she imprinted.

"That's…" Leah trailed off again as Edward Cullen walked out of the trees holding Bella Swan's hand.

Leah wasn't all that thrilled with Jacob lately, but the smug look Edward gave her fellow wolf made her want to punch the arrogant smirk right off his face. Jacob was a sixteen-year old kid who thought he was in love for the first time, regardless of how mistaken he was about what being in love actually meant. His immaturity and stupidity could partially be blamed on his age. Wasn't Edward Cullen old enough to know better? He might look like an adolescent but surely he'd been around long enough to know that a partner wasn't some trophy you paraded around in front of those who didn't win, gloating at their loss.

Up until that moment, Leah had thought the whole imprinting thing was going pretty fucking great. She'd sort of expected that karma wouldn't let her have a polite, respectful, gorgeous imprint with a fun and welcoming family, who seemed genuinely pleased he got shackled to her, without putting at least a little something gross in the mix just to really fuck up her day.

She just hadn't anticipated that the something gross would be having to tolerate Edward fucking Cullen for an eternity.