MS: Ladies and gentlemen. Here we are. The story we've all been waiting for! After months of delayed writing, the worst writer's block I've ever suffered and so many other things in between ATS is finally seeing the light of (sunny) day. Be thankful; once or twice, I was scared maybe I couldn't get back into my groove. But never fear; ATS is here! Now a few notes... This story has alot going on. Even though the majority of it's chapters will make you smile or cry and nothing more. This installment, for one, has no timeline; chapters will be before BTS, after BTS, not in the timeline for BTS and years in the future from the end of BTS. Hence; After The Storm. Though it dabbles in everything. Be prepared for not a rollercoaster, but a boatride through time and time again. Enjoy. And always review.

It was pretty outside, most of the time now. A few days it rained.. The wind blew hard.

To Sam though, every day he was walking on cloud nine where the sun was bright and the stars shone at night and even though it was overcast down on Earth in dreary La Push, he was in heaven where things couldn't have been better.

Leah was recovering.

It was slow... It was hard and it was painful and tiring and the damndest most depressing sort of shit Sam could've ever watched in his wildest dreams (nightmares) but she was making it. Leah was still sick... It wouldn't be a fast healing either. It would take time and lots of work on everyone's part.

But knowing his LeeLee was going to be okay... Made the sun shine for Sam in each and every way.

There were only... A few minor 'problems' standing in Sam's way. He held Leah close every night... Slept with her in the forgotten hospital bed at the Cullens'. But every morning, as he thanked god his baby was okay, the other woman would come knocking at the hardwood door.

'Emily we've been through this... I can't come home. Not now. Not yet. I don't want to talk.'

'Sam you're being ridiculous! You've spent way too much time here, Leah's going to be fine so please just come home..! I miss you, Sam... God you don't even understand...!'

'I do... For now I just don't give a damn. I'll come home when I'm ready.'

The door would slam, Sam would come and Leah would be pushing herself up on her aching ribs and back and stomach to look up at him before he even made it to the edge of the mattress.

He hated those eyes... Leah looked at him then like... Like she was doubting everything he had changed and done for her. Like it wasn't enough, that she couldn't be confidant that he was over Emily.

He was proven correct.

"Sam... You're still so unsure..." Her quiet words chased with a cough. Leah noticed... Hell, she noticed everything. Emily came every day... Wanting to see Sam, wanting to talk to her. Sam would send her away, each and every time. Yet he had not once told her that it was the end.

She hated the way his eyes seemed so accused, so withering under what he probably thought was scrutiny.

"Leah... Just because I haven't told her yet, it doesn't mean-"

"It's okay... Y'know, it's okay." Her dry lips morphed into something resembling a small, knowing smile. A reflection of her confidence and trust in Sam's decisions. (Though it was a recently regained trust, none the less.)

"Leah...," Sam spoke again. Hot bile gathered in his throat, and he flushed it down. That same smile that same vacant look in her shining eyes... In the cave, in his arms. When she'd given up. "...I am not, going to leave you again." 'That's it Sammy, sound the words out loud and clear.'

"...I've made my choice." Sam hoped the words came out as strong as he'd intended.

Leah's blue eyes shone no hope.

"Just know-" Her hand rested over her heart, her chest, another soft cough and Sam inched closer out of reflex. "..Just know that," Leah breathed in deeply, more air for her battered lungs still on the mend. "...I would never blame you if you left again."

XXXXX

The gravel seemed like pavement under his coarse feet. Well it had never really bothered him since becoming a wolf, but he used to be able to tell it was ground up rocks instead of smooth black asphault.

Maybe he didn't notice because Sam's mind was too lost in the previous hour's conversation.

"What...? Leah... No, I don't like it when you say shit like that!" He didn't want to sound angry, he wasn't... He was hurt. Because, he had made a mistake. And now here she sat proclaiming his righteousness.

Yeah, King of La Push Uley.

Leah's head dipped downward. God, she still looked so fragile... It was as if Sam's harsh words just now had gone and cracked another bone.

"Leah," Sam breathed out, kneeling by his love's bedside. "Why do you think like that...?"

"She's prettier than me... Y'know she always was, especially before the scars... You deserve someone pretty, Sam."

His stomach twisted like he'd been kicked in the guts.

"You're fucking beautiful." His hand brushed back her soft hair. He loved it long. "She doesn't friggen compare, she never will and I hate myself for thinking once that she did."

Leah was silent for a second.

"I know you love homemade things... Like cake, and bread and muffins."

'Oh, jesus.'

"I can't bake that good Sam..."

"I loved when you cooked for me! I didn't care what it was, Leah I loved it because you cooked it!" Sam spoke at her softly. He wanted her to get the point... He just didn't want her to be reprimanded. No. Never again.

"An'... And you used to complain sometimes because I couldn't make beds right... Emily can, Emily can do anything..." What was miraculous to Leah herself was how her voice did not shake. Yes, she could hear the pain it wrung from her in her own ears but her voice didn't quiver. Her eyes didn't water. "Emily can get the stain out of... Out of any piece of clothing... And she doesn't mind bein' home all the time..."

Now he hated Emily Good; Leah Bad.

"Leah why can't you see that none of that matters to me...? You are so... You're so amazing. Better than her no matter how many goddamn flaws you think you have."

He was going to make her see this.

Leah's soft blue eyes flitted across the room, to the window where the morning rain was still wet on the glass and dew shone in the leaves of the trees.

"And she's nicer than me... Sam, she's perfect." So many times, Leah had wondered. If it had been Emily in her place, would Emily have been as mean and bitter to the boys...? Probably, most certainly not.

Sam gulped again. "No..."

He walked up his steps; the second one still creaked. Leave it to her to never be able to do a goddamned thing on her own.

His hand was on the doorknob.

He pulled it open.

As soon as Emily saw him, her eyes lit up and right away it seemed like she wanted to hug him. Then as quick as lightning they began to burn; blister into a fire so hell-bent and ugly that it matched the scars on her face. And she made damn sure the side she turned towards him was that one.

Just.. Fuck. It wasn't like Sam needed to be reminded of another mistake. His fists clenched at his sides.

Sam had hated himself for scarring up Emily... Jesus, he'd wanted to die when she was at the hospital, all bandaged up and crying. But now... Seeing how she was so used to willingly using the scars to get her way around and with him, he hated her.

Briefly, he thought,

'The scars are appropriate.'

"So you finally come home!" Her hands waved at her sides, one bradishing a wooden spoon like she was going to hit him with it. "You don't know how long I've waited-"

"Just as many days as I spent in the cold, out in the wild watching your cousin die?"

Emily's face hardened.

"I know what happened to Leah was horrible... But Sam, I'm your wife! I should come before all others! You promised me...!"

Sam's lip quirked. 'Guess I really do suck at keeping promises.'

"You are not my wife."

Emily stepped further, copper cheeks staining a blistering red that intensified her already angry hazel eyes. Inside, though, it was another story. The fires of hell burnt within her tanned body, a flickering flame that was licking at her heart and any and all sympathy she could've had or ever felt for her cousin. How could she...? How could Leah do this to her!

And Sam... Well fuck, if Emily had the claws perhaps she would've made them match.

"Of course I'm your wife...!" 'Don't you dare try to tell me different, Samuel Uley not after everything you've put me through...' "And I know for a fact I haven't deserved any of the treatment you've shown me the last few months!"

Her voice was rising in decibel now. Sam stood fast. He wouldn't move. His eyes wouldn't leave her's, but not because they couldn't.

For now, there was no aching, stinging throb that tied their hearts together.

Now she was the homewrecking slut who'd helped fate snatch away his happily ever after.

"Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. But I still treated you that way, didn't I?"

You know, he'd been hoping to get through the conversation without being a total dick. Honestly even when Sam had broken Leah's heart he hadn't went about it with a single cruel word. Hell he'd cried and begged her forgiveness when she walked in on him and Emily. But Emily was making it very very difficult.

The more he talked back, the louder she got.

"Sam! Why are you being like this!"

(Inside, honestly Emily knew... Emily could see it in his eyes. She just didn't wanna believe it.)

"If you'd stop screeching, I would explain-"

The wooden spoon hit the floor, causing a rattle that seemed deafening in the tense household. Sam refused to flinch; she didn't deserve that much. The crack of wood on wood was a lot louder than he thought it would be.

(Actually, he didn't think Emily had the strength in her flabby arm.)

"Don't you dare tell me to stop screaming Sam!" She was practically shaking now, Sam could almost feel the heat of her anger ricocheting forward in large ripples. He'd never thanked fuck before like now that Emily was Makah instead of Quileute, and didn't have the ability to phase. If she did, one side of his face might've very well ended up like her's.

Non-accidentally.

But he couldn't worry about himself right now... Or her, really. His mind still rested on Leah. Not because it had to. Because he wanted it to.

Running over his lines, his carefully thought-out words in his head one more time, Sam made another attempt to speak.

"Emily, I know you're angry. Please, just give me the chance to-"

"SHUT UP SAM! You give me a chance to explain things! I'm your fiancee, and I've been sitting home alone for a month now wondering where the hell my husband went..!"

There she goes again... That 'husband and wife' thing.

But drawing out the patience he'd harbored away for this event the same way he'd kept his feelings for Leah hidden, Sam managed to let Emily say her piece. 'Hurry the fuck up.'

"Sam I know Leah's still important to you... Jesus she's so, so important to me...!" Sam wanted to scoff; but he didn't. "And you spending all sorts of your time helping the boys find her I completely understand! It's just... She's been home and safe now Sam for almost a week and you still haven't been by the house even twice...!"

Ahhh... There was the break he was looking for. Emily's criss-crossed chin was starting to quiver and that meant she wouldn't be able to raise her voice anymore. He could get a damn word in finally.

"I know I haven't come by. Because, I was where I was needed more. Leah's side. It's where I intend to stay, for quite a while longer Emily. I'm sorry. Truth be told, I came home the two times I did only because I needed some fresh clothing."

Emily's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. No, this couldn't be happening...

Sam kept going.

"I had a lot of time to think, Em, up in the mountains. A lot of things happened, that really made me wonder why I ever gave into this imprinting bullshit in the first place. I'd told you before, that if you hadn't come to La Push I would still be with Leah and now I've got that choice back. And I'm taking it. You know I'll always feel something for you..."

'No...! This can't be how Leah felt when he said this shit to her!...'

"Sam... Sam please..."

He sighed.

"I'm sorry. I want to call off our engagement. I'm not happy anymore. ...Not sure if I ever was."

Inside the copper-skinned woman something shattered and fell to the ground. Everything she had worked for, all the stops she'd pulled to ensure Sam was making the right choice...! Everything she'd done for him...

No. It wouldn't end like this...!

"No, but Sam you... You can't... You don't know everything that you're giving up Sam you can't do this!" Here comes the volume again.

Along with the tears. Sam still, somewhere deep down, couldn't help but feel a stab of pity as he saw the salty drips pour down the remains of Emily's tattered face, hand that had been previously holding the spoon clutching at her other like she would rather lose the entire appendage instead of the ring he had begifted her.

Then she turned side on, by purpose absolutely and made very well he could see naught but the scars. And the pain he had inflicted.

Sam's teeth clenched (like he possibly needed to lose anymore enamel; jesus he didn't think he had any left as it was.)

'Let her talk, Sam... She's trying to make you feel sorry for her.'

"Leah's just... She's so... Sam!" Emily whimpered, stepping even closer to his bare chest like if she held onto him she actually had the power to make him stay. "Leah can't cook for you like I can, or-or fold perfect laundry and keep your house clean...!"

'Yes she can. Leah can do all that. And if she can't...'

'Who gives a fuck?'

Sam let out a heavy sigh, irritation blossoming in his chest. Like she truly expected him to stand there while she came up with reasons why Leah was so much less of a woman than she was.

"A clean house is a small price to pay, Emily for spending eternity with the one you love."

Emily bit her bottom lip.

"Sam... I've given up so much for you..." One of her hands raised to her wet, scarred cheek.

Jesus.

Sam wasn't heartless. Knowing he was breaking another woman's heart and soul was painstakingly brutal but he knew now more than ever where he belonged and who he belonged with. He had made a mistake that nearly killed them all; and it took that somber, frightening ordeal to sober up his clouded mind so that he could see really how beautiful and amazing he'd had it before.

Before the imprint.

Before, when he could breathe still after leaving his girlfriend's house. Where he wasn't a mutant canine. When it was sunny, almost all the time...;

Sam forced his steely chocolate eyes to soften; but not to show any give.

"I'm sorry I hurt you. You know I could apologize 'till the end of time, Emily, but that won't make those scars go away. If I knew what to do to make them disappear, believe me I would do it. You're important to me, perhaps you always will be. Imprint or not."

Her chin quivered once again, more tears pouring out of her hazel eyes.

"..But I don't love you."

The look in those big brown pools made Sam's heart clench; his will waver. But he knew he had to be strong. Hell, he'd made himself finally believe that yes, he was greedy. He knew that. While he had been with Emily, he'd desired Leah. (Yes he'd finally faced that truth too.)

And while he had been with the one true love of his life, he had desired fate's replacement and cheated behind Leah's back.

('fucking idiot.')

"Sam you can't do this! Please! I'm begging you!.."

He looked away from her torn up face.

Sam Uley had spent too long living in the confines of rules and his own guilt. It was time to step out into the sun, face his hard truths and do everything he possibly could to make things right again. Starting with this, and fixing his LeeLee.

"I'm sorry." 'Not really.' "Emily, please get your things together... I want you out of my home by tonight or at the latest, tomorrow. We're no longer engaged or romantically involved in any way. Like fuck I would love to see fate try to tell me different." He leant back against the counter as Emily let out a guttural sob of pain and humiliation.

"Oh and another thing, Emily; stop trying to intimidate me with your scars... It's in the past for me now and I know I'm not an animal for hurting you. Leah helped me see that."

She slapped him across the face quicker than he could blink. He sighed, again.

Then Sam focused on the small lilac purple bowl he and his now-ex fiancee kept on the counter for their odds and ends, sitting beside him on the granite slab.

He tilted his head and pursed his lips.

"Is that your housekey?" He didn't wait for an answer; he picked it out of the bowl and shoved it into the pocket of his deep green cutoffs.

Then Sam Uley walked out.

And left Emily Young crying and sobbing on the kitchen floor.

XXXXX

It was a little after supper time, when Sam returned to the Cullens and retired to Leah's hospital room. As much as it needed to be done, breaking off everything he and Emily had accomplished together was hard and tiring.

Would he miss it? Maybe.

Was it worth it? Not in the least.

Not when he had Leah.

He just wished he'd realized that truth earlier on, under less harsh circumstances... But hey, you take what you can get and Sam would still spend every night of the rest of he and Leah's life together thanking god and every other deity he could think of for, exactly them having a life to spend with one another.

As he neared the door down the long thin hallway, Sam heard the dull playing of the radio. Perhaps he wasn't going to get much sleep after all.

He pushed open the door, and walked inside. Leah looked up at him from the bed, sitting up slowly with her still somewhat-frail appearance.

I don't know, what I've done;
Or if I like, what I've begun..
But something told, me to run
And honey; You know me, it's all..;
Or none.

"Hey..." Her voice was still so soft, like she was fresh off the battlefield.

Maybe she was.

"Hey." He kept his strong. She needed strength.

Sam ran his hand over the cushion of the mattress, and then climbed in beside his LeeLee as carefully as he could. He watched every movement of her face, watching for anything like pain as the bed dipped but thank god there was none. He bent his knees a little, and with a firm arm he beckoned his sweetheart closer to his chest.

Sam always loved that about her... The way she always melted in his hands, fell into his arms with a sort of eagerness that was disguised but oh so obvious to him.

"How are you feeling? Do you need anything LeeLee?" Her forehead met the hot space against his left collar bone, and Sam treaded his right hand carefully through her silky hair, pushing it back from her beautiful face.

Those lips, no longer chapped and plump again with a semblance of health turned upwards a little into a smile.

"No... Where did you go?"

"I went home."

Her face immediately dropped.

"No, baby, I went home to kick Emily out."

There was a small amount of shock visibly clear on her face as those ocean blue eyes widened and her lips drifted apart.

"It was time, LeeLee."

There were sounds, in my head..
A little voice; is whispering...
That I should go, and this should end;
Oh and I found myself, listening.

Then those pretty eyes sloped down to the white bedsheets. Leah looked sad... Sam was confused to no end. Was she regretting this...? Did she not want him...?

(Needless to say, he was expecting something closer to a huge hug and a kiss.)

But Leah would not give him that just yet. Inside the confines of her mind, Leah ran over everything they had been through once again. She and Sam, even before this whole mess. Her cooking skills. How clean she was. Leah knew she tried her hardest, she did... But at the end of the night, was she going to be exhausted and bitchy because she couldn't get a fucking grease stain out of one of Sam's (very few) nice shirts? ...Is that the kind of wife, the kind of lover, Sam Uley deserved...?

Leah knew Emily would find a way.

Fuck it, Leah wanted Sam with her all the time...! She wanted him back with everything she had and more and now she was really beginning to believe that was what he wanted too. Only... Was it for the best...? Is it, for the best?

God, she didn't want him to go back to Emily even if she was a better woman...!

'Cause I don't know, who I am; Who I am, without you.
All I know, is that I should.
And I don't know if I could stand, another hand upon you;
All I know, is that I should...
'Cause she will love you, more than I could;
She who dares to stand where I stood.

All Leah ever wanted... All the reasons why she never fought back when he'd left her, why she had never raised a violent hand to her backstabbing cousin or even to Sam.

She wanted him to be happy.

Even if that meant, removing herself from the picture.

See I thought love was black and white...;
That it was wrong, or it was right.
But you ain't leaving, without a fight and I think,
I am just as torn, inside...

"Leah... What's wrong? Are you alright?" He finally spoke after what seemed like a decade spent inside her own head (though that time could never compare to being chained in that dirty fucking basement), and she wanted the interruption.

Sometimes, maybe, Leah overthought.

About nothing at all.

Sam was oblivious to that fact though of course and as she looked back up at him, he was honestly scared.

He knew there was nothing wrong... If Leah was in pain Leah wouldn't of shown it. That was his LeeLee, the headstrong girl he'd fallen in love with and clearly never stopped. She would hide whatever it was until it was necessary to reveal; and then maybe just bury it down some more.

So this silence unnerved him completely. He was really and truly frightened of her next words.

His Leah probably finally saw the reality of this whole fucked up shit of a situation and decided that he would never deserve to have her back as his own.

'Cause I don't know, who I am; Who I am, without you.
All I know, is that I should.
And I don't know if I can stand, another hand upon you;
All I know, is that I should...
'Cause she will love you, more than I could;
She who dares to, stand where I stood.

"No... I'm okay." Leah's hand rested on his own as it kept stroking the black waterfall of her hair.

Jesus, what now...? 'Please, don't leave me...'

Sam was petrified.

"Then...?"

"Sam." Her held a little more strength than it had these last few days. Sam had to swallow, to keep his heart in his chest instead of his throat. "Sam... I... Are you sure, this is what you want...?"

Her voice was focused. Dimly, Leah remembered her thoughts holding the same disparity in the cave as she counted the days to be able to transform and steal Karl's attention from her hurt packmates.

Concentration and validity.

Sam was taken aback.

"I... Leah, of course, I-"

"Because if it's not then that's okay."

And I won't, be far from where you are if ever you should call.
You meant more to be than anyone I, I ever loved at all;
But you taught me how to trust myself; and so I say to you...
This is what I have to do...;

Why did she keep saying everything was okay...? No. No it really wasn't!

"No. Leah, you are what I want. Forever and a day and I screwed that up before but now I can finally think clearly, I know what's best for you and for myself...!" 'Don't yell Sam, volume won't make her understand.'

Leah's stormy blue eyes softened. Jesus, Sam loved her eyes. Leah looked so... So wise, so all-knowing that he had to wonder when his lover had become so observant.

(He knew when; he didn't wanna think about it.)

'Cause I don't know, who I am; Who I am, without you.
All I know, is that I should.
And I don't know if I can stand, another hand upon you.
All I know is that I should...!
'Cause she will love you, more than I could!
She who dares to stand where I stood...

That was all she needed, really. Maybe. Sorta.

...Leah would just take his word for it. It wasn't like she wouldn't try her damndest to be the best woman of Sam Uley's life; the best wife, the best friend, maybe even the best mother he could've dreamt of. Her hardest, she hoped, would be good enough.

Sam pulled her a little closer, and the girl in his arms still felt that he should know.

"...If you ever feel, like maybe she's what you really want, instead of me..." Her angel-like voice got real slow, real quiet again and Sam leant in closer to her face just to hear. "...It's okay. I would let you go."

Sam's eyes creased as so many thoughts whirred by in his head, and he stuttered for words to say.

Leah yawned silent and slow.

"Love you Sammy..." She shut her blue eyes and was out like a light.

Oh, she who dares to stand where I stood...

Sam lay awake in the room with the radio that played something sounding suspiciously alike his LeeLee's voice, before falling asleep with a remote sense of contentment and the warm sunlight on his face.

MS: BY THE WAY GUYS; Review please :) They give me the urge to write faster. Not only that; but I'm always looking for people who are interesting in online roleplaying :) There's a notice on my profile, so you should go read that; it's only short and right at the top. I'd do it through msn messenger, since it's a ton easier than some crappy forum and this would only be between 2 people. I wanna do a wolfpack one of course :) Give Leah the ending she deserves; Sam or Jake. HAHA. Hit me up with a PM if you're interested :) Or even say in your review.