Misery Loves Company

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Twilight characters. Hmpf, if I did there wouldn't have been a pointless waste-of-time book about Bree. Stupid Bree. She had the fangs to kill innocent people but the moment giant wolves come out the forest she's too scared to fight. *sniffles fake tears* Oh! Oh, me, oh my. Poor defenseless Bree. *voice drips with sarcasm* GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER SM!

Emily walks in through the doors, her arms laden with bags full of groceries and as she kicks the door closed with her foot a deep groan escapes her lips as an orange falls out the bag and lands on the floor with a dull thud. Narrowing her eyes at the fruit she debates over whether or not to bend down now and pick it up or to drop the rest of the bags off in the kitchen. With a huff, she decides upon the latter option and walks into the kitchen and places the bags on the counter.

Walking back into the living room to pick up the rogue orange, Emily can't help but wonder where Sam could've gotten off to. He was supposed to be off today – no patrolling. She certainly could've used his help with the bags. She lets out another sigh probably figuring that one of the Cullens had gotten too close to the border again; Bella was doing it more and more – dancing into the La Push territory which has made things even more difficult between Jacob and Sam.

Things were becoming increasingly difficult for the both of them. Emily sniffs back a bout of tears as she thinks back on yesterday's events. Sam's mother, Sheila, had stopped by for a visit; it was unheard of for her to stop by out of the blue and it made Sam and Emily both excited and anxious. Emily has known that Sheila has been not been a fan of hers since Sam called off his engagement with Leah and instead hooked up with her. It was plain to see that Emily reminded Sheila of the kind of woman, and Emily is certain that she has used the term loosely, that stole her husband away from her and her son.

"So I take it things are going well?" Sheila asks as she sips her cup of tea. Sam and Emily both sit across from her, side-by-side. The air is thick with tension despite Sam's attempts to lift the cloud that has fallen on his home.

"Yes, very well." Emily answers squeezing Sam's hand and giving him a confident smile. Sam smiles weakly back at her for a second before turning his attention back to his mother.

"Samuel?" Sheila asks, an eyebrow raising to further prompt her son to speak.

"It's going great, Mom." Sam answers quickly before looking down at the table.

"Well that's good, dear, that's good." Sheila answers back with forced politeness. "I figured I'd just stop by and see how things were going. It's not often that I can see my son without the rest of the boys hanging around him." Sam bites his bottom lip and his brow creases with worry. "So, Emily, how do you feel about so many young men being in your home at all hours of the day?"

Emily's eyes widen and Sam feels his stomach freeze at the implication in his mother's voice. Rumors have been going around about the half-naked young men hanging out at Sam and Emily's. How only a select few girls are allowed inside of the house and no one ever discusses what they do; not even just 'hanging out' is given as an explanation. And with Leah's sudden change since joining the group it seems only logical that the group of so-called 'protectors' just participate in an orgy. Sam, obviously, never getting over Leah and deciding to keep both Leah and Emily; along with the Elders catering to the needs, desires and request of La Push's Golden Boy.

"The boys aren't," Emily begins but stops trying to think of a way to talk about everything without feeding into the rumors. "The boys don't hang out here much anymore. They are all out doing their own thing now." Emily adds.

"Oh…so I guess they don't need you doing every little thing for them?" Sheila asks calmly as she pinches at the muffin before her. Emily swallows the insult down as her fist clenches tightly. She's not sure why that particular comment has stabbed at her so but she bites the inside of her cheek to not speak disrespectfully to Sam's mother, her mother-in-law. "But continuing on that point, I ran into Leah a few days ago." Sheila states, her eyes lighting up and a genuine smile gracing her lips.

Sam and Emily both quickly exchange looks with one another; neither sure where this turn of events will lead them. Since the pack split, Leah has been MIA in their lives and has been successfully avoiding both of them. Sue was no longer able to convince Leah to participate in any of their events and the wedding was a complete disaster as Emily was short a bridesmaid.

"She is looking lovely." Sheila adds with a sigh. "She always did have such beautiful skin." Emily and Sam both flinch at the stab at Emily's face. "But I saw her in the grocery store and we had such a wonderful talk." Sheila continues on ignoring her son and daughter-in-law's discomfort. "But she's doing well; she's smiling, happy and even taking some online classes. She's thinking about applying for the position with the tribal police force. I agreed that she should do it since she has to help Sue out with the bills. She's always been so helpful, loyal and dedicated." Again both Sam and Emily again flinch at Sheila's words.

Each word is a low jab against their character and a clear reminder that what the wolves, imprints and Elders may think about them and their relationship is not the same sentiment held with the rest of the tribe. Sheila was reminding them both that Sam was now nothing more than a heartbreaking bastard so reminiscent of his father except only bolder in that he publicly flaunted his 'whore' in front of the woman he claimed to love. Emily was nothing more than just another 'whore' who came from Makah simply pretending to be the quiet, kind and loving young woman; when in fact, she was exactly the opposite having no love or any familial respect for a woman who treated her as if they were blood sisters.

"But what I've done is hooked Leah up with William and I am certain that those two will hit it off."

Emily gives a short cry of pain as she snatches her hand away from Sam's; his grip had suddenly tightened painfully so. Looking over at the man beside her, Emily sees the dark brown eyes of her husband now a deep black. The eyes that held embarrassment are now filled with surprise and outrage.

"You did what?" Sam demands as his fists clench tightly.

"You heard me Sammie; I've hooked Leah and William up." Sheila answers back with a smug smirk.

"Why would you do that?" Sam asks as his anger disappears and is replaced with confusion. Emily knows that Sam cannot stay mad at his mother for long as she is one of the few women that have always been a constant in his life.

"I did it for her, Sam." Sheila answers sincerely. "Leah has been hurting for a long time over what you two did to her." Sheila's eyes narrow at both of them darkly. "I'm not sure why she hung around you two for so long but I know that she didn't do it willingly. Now, Sam, I've let you do a lot of things without me butting in but I tried to raise to be a man so unlike your father." Sheila states with a deep frown. "But it's obvious that I've failed in that department." Emily looks away as Sheila's face falls looking at the other woman sitting across from her.

She closes her eyes and lets out a deep sigh. She's grown old waiting for her Joshua to return to her, to hear back from him with an explanation for his absence; something, anything. She always hated the 'never knowing' part but over the last few years, Sheila has realized that she was lucky to not have known. To stand in the background and witness Leah's pain; to see the wound be re-opened time and time again as Sam has walked around with Emily on his arm rubbing it in her face. The time that Joshua was gone gave Sheila time to forget, focus on her and her son and let go of the pain. Leah has not had that opportunity as it has been something else her son and his floozy of a wife has taken away from her.

"Look, I'm giving Leah something that no one else seems to have the heart to do. I'm giving her a chance to start anew. People kept telling me day-after-day that your father would come back." Sam's eyes widen at his mother's words. "He didn't come back and I held onto the belief that he truly loved me." Emily looks down at her hands at the sadness in Sheila's voice; it echoing Leah's pain. "Your father never loved me,"

"Mom, please don't say that." Sam whispers and Emily can hear the hurt in his voice.

"Well, Sam, it's true. Your father didn't love anymore than you loved Leah." Sam's breathe hitches at the accusation thrown at him by his mother. The words hitting him like a slap in the face.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Mom." Sam grumbles, turning his head and looking at the floor.

"I know more than you think I do, Samuel." Sheila snaps back. "I know that the way you've been stringing Leah along has been completely selfish, cold-hearted and cruel of you. And as for you," Sheila adds turning her attention onto Emily. "You should be completely ashamed of yourself. Leah always spoke so highly of you and this is how you thank her love and kindness? You take away the man," Sheila rolls her eyes at 'man', "she loves and still have the gall to smile in her face as if everything is perfectly fine? Leah deserves to have someone in her life that will love and care for her – not use her."

"I know that Mom." Sam interjects. "I still love Leah but,"

"Save it, Sam." Sheila stops him holding up her hand. "Look, William has always had a thing for Leah and he's never made a move out of respect for you. At least someone in the family has some." Emily frowns at the remark and can see why Sheila and Leah have always gotten along so well; they both share the same wit and tact.

"That's not the point." Sam growls leaning forward over the table. "Lee-Lee can't be with him."

"And why not?"

"It's not safe; he might – she might hurt him." Sam answers quickly trying to correct his slip; but both women have heard it. Emily knows that part of it is imprinting; Sam is always afraid that one of the wolves will imprint and that will only spread more pain around.

"Sometimes that's the way love goes, apparently." Sheila answers sitting back and crossing her arms. "I just thought you'd like to know what was going in Leah's life; since you're always going around asking everyone else about her." Sam stiffens as Emily slowly turns her head to look at her husband with a deep frown on her face. "Well…that's all. Wish I could say it was nice talking to you two but then I'd be lying and I don't want to give you any false hope. Take care." Sheila states coldly as she gets up and leaves.

Once Sheila walks out the door, the tension remains and neither Sam nor Emily can find the words to remove the cloud of darkness that has fallen upon them. The cold, hard truth has crossed over their threshold but both are so wrapped up into focusing on their own pain and reality that the idea of sharing in the others is too much.

This morning they both woke up in much better spirits, obviously an upside to the glorious imprint, and decided to spend the day together. Sam went to go ensure that Paul and Jared could handle things while he was busy and Emily ran to the store preparing to cook a huge lunch and dinner. Emily's warm thoughts are interrupted as she suddenly becomes aware of the angry voices outside in her backyard. Carefully she walks towards the half-opened window and is surprised to see Leah outside glaring at Sam; it's more so her presence that is the surprise.

"You've got some fucking nerve, Samuel Levi Uley." Leah snarls at Sam as he stands, head held high and arms crossed. "How dare you come in and try to tell me who I can and cannot see."

"It's for your own good, Lee-Lee." Sam states with a deep frown. "Seeing William will only hurt you in the end."

"Oh please," Leah says rolling her eyes and placing her hands on her hips. "Will isn't a wolf so him imprinting right now is pretty slim to nil."

"You know the rules, Lee-Lee. No dating!" Sam barks.

"NO! Those were your rules back when I was in your pack." Leah states with a dark smirk. "I'm in Jake's now and that's not one of his rules." Sam's face falls at the news. "Jake seems to disagree with you on that point and so many others. If everyone followed your rules then none of us would even be here. Ephraim and the others would still be alive just waiting for their imprints to be born. Some of us still believe that love can be found in the natural way; not handed to us on a fucking platter."

"I didn't want this." Sam roars at Leah taking a menacing step forward. Emily gasps at his words but covers her mouth to muffle the sound. The two wolves are too wrapped up in their anger, rage and argument to pay any attention.

"Well that's just too bad. Maybe you should've told your sweet Emily that." Leah snarls. "You think that she's so fucking perfect and loving and kind but she's not. You told me that I wouldn't understand what happened between you and Emily." Leah growls out poking Sam in the chest. "Well guess what? I did learn and you know what? I still don't understand. What I have learned is that Emily is a selfish bitch."

"Don't call her that." Sam growls.

"Oh, but it's true. Wolves are supposed to be whatever the imprint wants. Meaning that Emily had a choice and…guess what Sam? You ready for this? She chose herself! She didn't choose you or even me. She only thought of herself and wound up with you in the process." Leah's words at like a punch in the gut to Emily as she slides down to the kitchen floor trying to fight back the hot tears.

"Lee-Lee," Sam pleads but is silenced with a swift slap across the face. Emily shuts her eyes at the sound.

"I know that if I've told you once, I've told you a million times. DON'T. CALL. ME. LEE-LEE!" Leah yells at Sam as he stands looking at her hurt and surprised while rubbing his reddened cheek. "You lost the right to call me that the moment you kissed her. I'm sick of these fucking games you keep playing Sam. You can't have us both. So don't think you've achieved something by getting me here! I came here to finally end this shit! WE'RE OVER, SAM! I'm done with you and her. I don't want to have anything to do with either one of you."

Leah words cut Emily in the heart to hear the stern and strong conviction in Leah's voice. Leah was really going to stop loving her? The thought had never crossed her mind of that being possible. Leah was always such a loving person when they were growing up and even those that hurt her feelings back in school, Leah still found the heart to forgive them. But, confusion and fear washes over Emily as she tries to comprehend how Leah could forgive them and not her?

"Lee-Lee, please," Sam pleads again and is once again silenced as Leah's hand slices through the air and connects with his cheek. The tears begin to fall as Emily can almost feel the sting of Leah's hand against her own cheek.

"Save it, Sam. This is how things work out; you both betrayed me and I'm over it. I'm not going to keep going over and over in my head where I went wrong and what I could've done differently. I'm not apart of the problem; you are and I'm separating myself from it." There is a long pause and Emily hugs her knees to her chest unsure of whether or not Leah is gone; if it's safe to let out the pain that is struggling to get out.

"I'm serious, Sam." Leah's voice rings out shattering the silence. "If you come near me one more time trying to control me – I won't stop Jacob from intervening. I'll welcome it." And with that Leah walks away, disappearing into the forest, the air thick with the lasting threat that has been thrown at Sam's feet.

Emily isn't sure how long she sits on the cold kitchen crying but when she looks up, she finds Sam sitting down in a chair across from her. Sam's elbows resting on his knees and his huge hands just dangling while his head hangs. Sniffling, Emily gets up and moves towards him but stops short as Sam sits up and shakes his head at her. Her face crumbles at the rejection and Sam sighs heavily looking at her.

"She's right, you know?" Sam states looking down at the small, scarred and crying woman before him. "I have tried to keep her. I want her to be happy but not with someone else. I loved her first and…and I know that I've loved her more than anyone will ever believe because despite this," Sam says pointing between him and Emily. "I can't find it in me to stop trying to keep her for myself. I don't want her dating the wolves or any other man. And it's too late for me to prevent it now. I've lost the one thing in my life that I've always wanted and prayed for."

Emily looks on as Sam's shoulders slump as if there is a huge, invisible weight on them. Bending over, he picks Emily up and places her in his lap.

"But…I've got you now." Sam whispers hugging Emily tightly.

She wants his words to be comforting and reassuring but they're not. There's a hollow, empty and haunting undertone to them that leaves her questioning whether or not it's a fact that Sam is stating or a pleasant truth. Wrapping her arms around his chest, burying her face into the crook of his neck, Emily sobs uncontrollably at the harsh reality of their situation. And for the first time since the 'incident' she questions whether or not Sam truly loves her or if he's sticking around because he has to. The sole comfort she finds is that no matter what she'll never be alone for as long as they both shall live; after all, misery loves company.

A/N: Okay, so this idea just suddenly hit me as I was sitting at my desk trying to clean up some data that I had really fucked up. -_-; Don't you hate it when you're working on a project/assignment and you know that you got that good rhythm going but then…someone or something comes up and snatches it away from you. And you're left standing, or in my case sitting, going 'what the fuck?'

That's where I was at when the idea hit me. If I'm going to suffer over this stupid project then I'm going to spread it around and who better then TWO of my least favorite Twilight characters, Sam and Emily. ^-^ Hehehehe.

Plus, I have been pretty hard on my main WILF Jacob Black. *turns and pats Jacob's back* Don't worry. It's just that you let SM ruin the end of Breaking Dawn for me and so you have to suffer. *smiles sweetly at him*

Jacob: Bullshit! I didn't ASK to imprint.

Leah: Well…*drawls out* technically you did. When you took the car and went to the park staring at all those girls hoping to imprint.

Readers: GASP! *whispers amongst themselves* That's right. He did…the bastard. But he's so hot still. He brought this on himself. Wish he'd take those pants off.

Leah: O.O Really? Take his pants off?

Jacob: *smiles really big* Alright, if you insist!

Kei: ALRIGHT! TAKE IT…*looks at co-worker and desperately covers screen* Email…I'm – I'm emailing. NO I'M NOT BLUSHING! Oh…how'd that five dollars wind up on the floor? *smiles nervously* Hehe…ahem.

But…uh, yea, *turns around* NOBODY TOLD YOU PUT THOSE PANTS BACK ON! *turns back to readers* So there you go. A little bit of Sam/Emily angst AND a naked Jacob. Oh, Jacob if only you did this more often to pick up my mood and there'd never be any angst among my growing list of stories and chapters. A naked Jacob can end WAR! BRING ABOUT PEACE!

Leah: End marriages.

Kei: Details, details, details. BUT it's why they need to hurry up and start cloning people. First thing on my list: TayTay…but he'll be taller like 6'7" and he'll keep those toned abs from New Moon. *melts*

Leah: You're not going to finish that project today are ya?

Kei: Uh…nah. Don't get me lying. LOL.

But you've all read and I'd really appreciate a review. Hugs and kisses to you all!