Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

"And then Pinocchio came out of his plastic bubble and touched the filthy little whore next door and died." - Mrs. Livingston, Bubble Boy

"And then the handsome prince kissed the beautiful princess and she awoke from her enchanted sleep. Then they lived happily ever after." Leah finished the story and closed the book.

Claire smiled happily. "That was a nice story."

"Yeah," Leah said, smiling, "I guess it was."

Claire eyed her. "How come you're prettier than the princess?" she looked troubled, as if this went against story book etiquette.

"I'm not." she laughed, Leah knew she was no fairy tale princess. She might have been one, long ago, but Claire and Seth were the only ones who saw her smile now.

"Do you have a handsome prince?" asked Claire excitedly, her little face aglow.

Leah considered saying no, that her handsome prince left her, or that he was in love with someone else. She knew this wasn't what Claire wanted to hear. "Yeah."

Claire's smile grew larger. "Tell me the story!"

Leah should have known Claire would sucker her into another story. "Well once upon a time there was a beautiful princess. She and her prince lived happily in the flowers and butterflies."

Claire nodded, apparently Leah was off to a good start.

"But then one day the prince saw the beautiful princess' sister and fell in love with her. He pulled the sister onto his horse and took her to his castle for a happily ever after."

Leah paused, knowing Claire wouldn't want to hear the rest. Claire noticed. "Keep going."

Leah sighed. "The beautiful princess was…" she hesitated. "very sad." That was safe for a little girl to hear. "She wandered the meadows until she found a tower, and she locked herself in it so her sister and her prince could live happily ever after."

Claire frowned. Apparently this went against fairy tale rules. Leah sighed. It was too bad the story got worse.

"It turned out that the tower actually belonged to the prince, and the beautiful princess could hear everything they said. They could hear when the beautiful princess cried."

Leah hesitated again, but not for Claire. This part of the story no one knew. Claire looked up at her, and put her small hand on Leah's. "What happened?"

"A handsome prince came to the prince's castle one day."

Claire's face grew excited again.

"The handsome prince found the beautiful princess' tower, and decided to stay with her. He made her happy, and she didn't cry so much anymore."

Claire relaxed into the bed, certain a happy ending was coming. Leah stopped there. No need for Claire to hear the rest.

"Night Claire."

"No!" frowned Claire, "Tell the rest!" her voice had a hard edge to it. Leah sat back down. Claire could throw a hissy fit like nobody's business.

"So," she said softly, "One day the handsome prince looked out the tower window."

Claire nodded.

Leah's voice cracked a bit as she continued. "And he saw a beautiful witch next door."

Claire looked horrified, but nodded, letting Leah know she wanted to know the rest.

"So the handsome prince left the tower and ran to the witch."

"What happened?" asked Claire sadly.

"When the handsome price touched the witch, he fell under a magic spell. He fell into a deep sleep."

Claire looked like she might cry. "And then?"

"The beautiful princess saw the whole thing. She knew she needed to save the handsome prince, and only true love's kiss would do it."

Claire gulped. "Did she kiss him?"

Leah paused. In all honesty, the beautiful princess was to afraid to try it, she didn't want to be hurt again. But Claire deserved a happy ending. She smiled and said, "Of course! She kissed him and they lived happily ever after."

Claire looked at her for a second, as if she was going to accuse Leah of lying, but then she closed her eyes. "That was a nice story."

"Yeah," said Leah, flipping off the light before Claire could see her cry. "Night Claire-bear."

"Nigh Leah." Claire said softly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Leah closed the door behind her and sunk to the floor. She buried her face in her hands and started to cry.

"Leah?" asked Quil softly, pulling her into a hug. "Shh, everything's going to be okay." She should have known Quil would be listening, to see if she was corrupting his little imprint.

Leah took a deep breath. "I hate lying to Claire."

"Well then," Quil looked at her seriously. "You know what you have to do."

"I don't." she said stubbornly.

"Okay." he said.

"Keep it a secret please." she begged quietly.

"Okay." he said kindly. "Jake's downstairs, so pull yourself together."

Leah took another deep breath and walked downstairs. Everyone looked up as she entered.

Embry noticed her tears. "What's wrong Leah?" he said jokingly. "Story-time to intense for you?"

Leah sighed. "Well you know," she said, "When the little mermaid dies…it get's me every time." It wasn't really a lie. She could empathize with the poor mermaid.

a/n: I watched Bubble Boy for the first time ever yesterday, and when Mrs. Ligingston said that line I could just imagine Leah telling a similair fairy tale. And after SM killed Blackwater in BD, I was still feeling the Blackwater love so I wrote this. It came out way angsty-er than I imagined... oh well. REVIEW! Tell me if I should stop writing angsty or continue. If I continue (I probably will) it's going to be Jacob/Leah. When I wrote this, in my mind, BD never happened so when Leah says a witch she's referring to Bella not that freak baby vampire thing.