Chapter 1 of Twilight fan-fic

From behind the bar, I watched as the last few patrons staggered drunkenly through the door of the wood panelled pub.

Finally able to grab those last few glasses, I exulted that my shift was almost over. I'd been working here for a while now but, while I quite enjoyed the work, when customers loitered for over an hour after they'd ordered their last drink, I got antsy.

I made sure I had locked up, before washing the glasses by hand; I could go collapse on my bed upstairs as soon as I finished down here, and it was quicker washing them myself than waiting for the 20 minute cycle of the machine.

After drying and placing them on their respective shelves, I turned off the lights and trudged up to my apartment. The place was pretty small; just a bedroom, living room, a small kitchen and a bathroom; but it was free, so long as I paid the bills, which made it more than enough for me.

I decided to take a shower, letting the warm water helped to wash away my earlier irritation.

After shrugging into a t-shirt and shorts, I collapsed onto the sofa to see if there was anything to watch on the TV. After 10 rather fruitless minutes, I settled on a rerun of the British show Top Gear. I had never really been interested in cars when I was younger, but an old friend's enthusiasm for them had infected me. After half an hour of laughing at Jeremy Clarkson's constant ragging of Richard Hammond, I heard a buzzing emanating from the pile of clothes I had, unceremoniously, dumped in the corner of the room.

Crossing over to pile, I extracted my phone from the back pocket of my jeans; I read the name displayed on the screen before answering.

"Oh, my most high Alpha. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I settled into our familiar faux-antagonistic speech pattern.

"Hey Leah." Jacob Black replied. I could hear the smile he must have been wearing on his face, in his voice. "Long time no speak, how've you been?"

It really had been a long time, almost 5 years to be exact.

"I'm alright, how are Renesmee and the Leech Brigade?"

"The whole Cullen family are fine, myself included, thanks." Jake's voice was filled with barely concealed mirth.

"Jake," I said, turning serious, "I know you didn't call to catch up. Tell me what's wrong."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment before Jake spoke.

"Sam just got in contact with me. He said there's a problem down at La Push."

Sam's name brought bad memories to my mind, memories of 17 years ago; from before I left Sam's pack and could finally get away from the pity in his mind.

"What does he want?" I asked through gritted teeth. Jacob knew better than to bring up Sam's name to me, so the problem must be serious for him to do so.

"It seems like vampires have started crossing Quileute lands again..." his voice trailed off as I realised the implications of his words.

"They've started turning again... I know that isn't great but what does it have to do with me?" I asked.

"Yeah that's the thing. You haven't kept up with the news from the res have you?" Jacob skilfully avoided my question by asking one of his own.

"No I haven't. Now answer my question."

"Well," Jacob began, "it seems like no boys have been born into the stronger bloodlines; the first ones to react to the vamps' presence in area."

It took me a moment to work through the implication of what Jake had said.

"So the girls are starting to turn..." my voice trailed off.

"Yeah..." Jake started slowly, "I know you have been trying to distance yourself from all the wolf stuff but this, really, isn't easy on the girls involved."

I knew how they felt. When I had first started to turn, I'd been scared of what was happening to me. As if ripping through my clothes by morphing into a giant grey wolf wasn't already enough, suddenly every thought I had, no matter how personal or private, was suddenly conveyed down the link. A secret was impossible to keep to yourself; the more you didn't want anyone to hear it, the more you thought about it.

"I really feel for them, but what would you like me to do about it?" I asked.

"See, that's the thing. I was hoping that someone who had already gone through all this, as a girl, might be able to make this easier for them. I know you don't really want to go back but it could really help them deal with all this."

The call was silent for a long time as I processed what he had said. He wanted me to go back home, to immerse myself back into that world, a world I had fought so hard leave behind me... and I already knew that I wouldn't refuse.

"Okay..." I started haltingly, "let's say I agree... how is my being there going to help anyone? They will still be stuck with male minds despite my being there."

"I came up with a plan for that. At the moment, my pack consists of you, your brother, Quil and Embry. Sam has already agreed to take the other guys from my pack into his. If we then get the girls to join mine with you, and I avoid turning as much as possible, it will be like a pack for the girls. That way they won't have to worry about being linked to the guys."

I had to grudgingly admit the good points of his plan.

"But what about you?" I asked. "If you keep popping up, there's no point in separating the girls out."

"I've already thought about that. If I have to turn for some reason, I'll call you to give you some warning. That way you can, at best get the girls to turn back, at worst they will at least be prepared for my intrusion."

With that it had been decided. After talking a little longer, sorting out the necessary arrangements for how the new pack should be set up, I started to tell him goodbye.

"Leah, wait. Before I forget to tell you, my son is going to be going to Forks too to act as a guard for your pack."

I fought hard to keep the surprise from my tone.

"But isn't –" I struggled to remember the son's name, till I remembered that he was named after Jake's father, "– Billy only 7 years old?"

Jake laughed ruefully. "With Nessie's accelerated growth-rate and his Quileute heritage, from my side, reacting to the Cullens being around him? What chance did he really have at a normal childhood? He was fully grown by the time he hit 5."

Curious now, I asked, "So what is he like... supernaturally I mean?"

A hint of paternal pride crept into Jake's voice as he talked about his son.

"In his human form he's stronger than I am and his senses are better than mine. In our wolf forms he is weaker than I am, but not by much. He can't join a pack though, not in the traditional mixing of minds way; he can get around the restriction however. He is able to talk with other wolves in the same way me and Sam speak, like a mental conversation. The cool thing is he's able to do it regardless of which form he is in."

"But what about his diet?" Everything else about him seemed alright but this was the sticking point.

"Admittedly he drinks blood but for some reason finds human blood repulsive. He also enjoys human food and the meat from a kill. Is that a deal-breaker?" Jacob asked, worry in his tone.

I thought about it for a moment but didn't find anything to object to and told him so.

"Well I better get going. I've got a lot to pack and a very long way to run. Bye."

With that I clicked off the call.

An hour later I was stripping in the woods. I'd called my boss and told him that I had to go back home for family reasons... not strictly a lie, and he told me he understood. It took me 10 minutes to gather my clothes into a giant holdall; the strap would be long enough for me to have it over my neck while I was in wolf form, and the rest of the time to jog to the treeline on the other side of town.

After placing the clothes into my bag, I started my transformation. I felt the heat flood my body for the first time in years, then felt my body expand to size I had as a wolf. Slipping my neck through the bag's strap, I stood and turned. I could instinctively feel the right direction to run to get home; there was an elusive pull while in this form that I had never been able to explain.

Giving in to that feeling for the first time in years, I sprung into a mile-eating lope. As I felt my claws dig into the soft ground beneath paws, I wondered what I had gotten myself in to.

Resigning myself to whatever fate was going to bring me; I let out a long howl. A howl of exasperation at having to re-enter a world I had chosen to leave behind. A howl to challenge fate to mess with my life in any other ways.

A howl to mourn the life that I already knew, deep in my heart, I would never be able to return to.

A/N - So yeah. What did you think. I recently started to listen to the Twilight audio-books again (in an effort to help me write from a female's perspective for my other book) and the idea for this fic just popped, fully formed, into my head. I've not read the other fan fics for Twilight, so I don't even know if this is an original concept, but it wouldn't get out of my head until I wrote it down.

After I had written it I figured I might as well post it and see what people thought to the concept. If it is liked I may take it up in the future, either alongside or after I finish my Beelzebub fic.

After the books ended I always wanted to know more about Leah and where she went from there. This would eventually be a LeahxBilly love story with a lot of teenage bitches (as in female wolves) :P. And probably a big ol' fight at the end.

So yeah, if you liked it review it and let me know. If you didn't like it... please review it as well and let me know. That way I will know if I should bother thinking about how to develop the plot whenever I get round to it.

Edit - Since I've decided to write this alongside my other story, I went back and cleaned up some of the grammar in it.