It wasn't an easy decision, for a lot of reasons. Yet, in some ways, it seemed like the most obvious, and even the bestdecision to make. Most would say that it would be running from her problems. Maybe, it kind of was. But what else was there to do? Did she not have the right to make her own decisions? After all, she was a young prosperous woman of twenty-one. Was it too much to ask that she have her turn?

Leah Clearwater could see that it was. It really was. Anything she wanted was too much to ask in the minds of just about everyone around her.

The life she had now, although far from terrible, was still not quite ideal.

After her mother, Sue, married Charlie and then later moved in with him, Leah and Seth did as well. With some renovating and redecorating, the house was well-suited for the family. Seth took the upstairs bedroom, while Leah took the newly renovated bedroom in the basement. That was fine by her, she liked the privacy. The life was okay, at least it had her spending some time in Forks and away from the reservation for a while.

It was almost a shame, she did love the place, from the gorgeous scenery, to the many stories behind it all. However, it was also connected to the one thing she was trying all she could to forget. Her past.

The past she tried her hardest to get away from. But not much worked. Moving away from the reservation? Helped a little bit. Having a father figure to talk to? A bonus, since Charlie was a great Dad. Living as a family again? It was nice. Nothing spectacular, but it was all right.

Leah was now attending classes in Port Angeles, but had been considering a transfer for the past year or so. Saving up money, deciding on a location, researching a good yet affordable school, making sure she had transportation, finding an apartment or on-campus flat and looking for a job in whatever area, were only scratching the surface of the process. All of that was fine, she had been ready and willing to put the work into that as a way to help in making her decisions in all of this.

On one hand, she did manage to succeed in buying a car. Charlie and Sue pitched in a little bit, but Leah managed to pay for it mostly herself. She had a job in Port Angeles, working at the post office. Having gone from sorting the mail, filing reports, to data entry. As she worked there for a couple of years, it brought in pretty good pay.

The car was a 1997 Toyota Carina ED, bought second-hand from a friend of Charlie's on the force. The car was originally white, but the original owner had since painted it black. The owner originally sold it for about $4,200. But due to the maintenance it needed (nothing major), Leah managed to negotiate buying it for $3,750.

For repairs; there wasn't any major damage, just some parts that needed to be tuned up or replaced. The underside was also quite rusty in some areas, since the car sat in the garage most of the time. Leah had gotten a quote from the mechanic in town, but the repairs were a little too costly.

It wasn't until Bella (with Edward in tow) was visiting one afternoon that she asked about the car, thinking it was Charlie's. When Leah, doing all she could to be civil to her, explained about the car, it was then that Bella suggested she have Emmett and Rosalie take a look at it and repair it for her. Leah wasn't too comfortable with that, thinking that they would mess it up for her or cause some kind of prank she wouldn't see coming.

But then again, she had gotten to know Emmett a little bit over the past year or so, and he was actually a very nice guy. It was surprising too, to know that Rosalie really actually was a grease monkey herself.

Edward of course, knowing what Leah was thinking, much to her chagrin, told her in a very condescending way that Emmett and Rosalie would never do such a thing. That they wouldn't subject themselves to doing a half-assed job on fixing a car.

Leah hesitated, but eventually agreed. She brought her car to the Cullen household, where Emmett took a second look at it. He amiably agreed to fix it for her, at no cost. Leah insisted on paying him for it, feeling that it wouldn't be fair of her to ask him to do this. On the whole though, she didn't feel comfortable not putting money into repairing her car. Just because Emmett happened to be a friend, she also didn't want to take advantage of his kind offer.

But Emmett insisted, and Leah gave in. As she thought about it, he didn't even need the money. Regardless, she did manage to talk him into at least letting her give him something in return. That of course, turned out to be a DVD set of The Best of WWE, which made Emmett pretty happy to take as payment.

Emmett had her car fixed in about three days, with some help with Rosalie, and it was good as new. They even restored the pain job, which had been why it took a little longer. Leah was pleased with the work, and even thanked Rosalie for having contributed her help to the repairs. Despite that both girls clearly didn't like each other all that much, she did mean it with sincerity, and Rosalie knew it.

It was the first moment where they had something of a civil understanding.

Now with a car, Leah had come steps closer to her goal.

Afterward, she discussed her plans with the family. Sue was hesitant, Seth disagreed, and Charlie was understanding. It did take some convincing on Sue's part, but eventually she came around and told Leah that she would support her decision. Charlie was supportive from the start, having been there to give her some advice and encouraged her to go through with it if that was what she really wanted.

Seth said that she was ruining everything and that Jacob, Sam, and the rest of the packs would not let her leave. This of course only made Leah want to leave even more.

Finally, she managed to narrow down her choices. She decided to re-locate to Hillsdale College out in Michigan, located in the town of the same name. It was a private college, but given her grades and GPA, she was accepted into one of the Liberal Arts programs.

The campus was lovely, with 82 buildings, and 200 acres of rural areas. She applied for residence, and was accepted. The tuition fees were substantially higher, so Leah applied for student loans, and was pre-approved for enough that she could keep herself on her feet during her studies when she would begin there.

Finding a job out in Hillsdale wasn't easy, but she had applied for a summer job as a lifeguard to a newly built community pool that was opening this coming summer. For the moment, at least it would be a good start to get things going and earn some summer money, and she was a very strong swimmer with some medals and certificates to back it up. She even called in, and was scheduled for an interview on the second weekend of June, followed by a training course.

It took a few months to get set up with everything, to pack her belongings, deciding what she would take in the car with her and what she would have shipped, and so forth. Her plan was to finish her semester in Port Angeles, then she would drive out to Hillsdale, spending the summer getting herself moved in, and starting on her new job.

The process of getting it all prepared was something that really came to help Leah in accepting the idea, and even looking forward to it. She would be out on her own, which was nerve-wracking, but she was ready. Ready to make a journey for herself, to finally take control of her own life, to move on from everything.

Of course, she knew that the hard part was yet to come. Telling her pack. Not just Jacob's pack, but also Sam's. She wasleaving the reservation, after all, and it was a big enough deal.

But it wasn't about getting permission. She didn't needpermission. She was going no matter what they said. Those days of letting them walk all over her were over. Regardless, in a way, she wanted them to know what's what under no uncertain terms. She was leaving, going out on the open road to a new location, and not looking back.

Leah Clearwater was ready to take the next, new step in her life, and was not going to let the pack hold her back.

As expected, even Jacob didn't take it well at all.

"You can't be leaving!" Jacob shouted at her, clearly not pleased.

Sam stepped up, looking down hard at Leah. "Leah, if this about what has happened between you, Emily and I, then all you are doing is making it harder for yourself, and for us. I cannot believe you could be this selfish. What has happened to you? You really have some nerve to-"

Leah cut him off with a glare, her tone sharp. "Sam, shut up!"

Everyone balked, not having expected such backtalk. But Leah didn't waver. She stood her ground, staring up at her ex-fiance with defiance and determination. She was notstepping down.

Sam was stunned, but it wasn't long before he regained himself. His glare hardened as he took another step toward her. He was threatening to phase, everyone could sense it.

Leah however, didn't give him a chance to answer. "You know something, Sam? You're a dick. I will let you know, I had the right to feel the way I did. We were engaged, then you imprinted on my cousin, and just dumped me like an old sock!"

"I've told you before, it's not as if I ASKED for that!" Sam shot back, clenching his teeth.

"Don't you think I know that?" Leah stepped toward him, her lips a hard, thin line. "But you crossed the line, pal. You hurther after she refused you. Just because you imprinted on her, does not automatically mean she was going to fall in love with you!"

Emily, having been in the crowd of the rest of the pack, came toward her cousin. "Leah...please. I know how I feel. Just please don't make this any harder."

Leah just sighed, holding a hand up toward her cousin to silence her. "Emily, not now," she turned back to Sam, her eyes narrowing dangerously. 'I don't know what gives you the right to hurt a woman who says no to you, but I can tell you that it does not work with me. So no, this is not about revenge. This is not about groveling to your feet to get you back. I don't even want you back. I have tried to move on, you know. But don't you think that's a little difficult for me right now? That's why I left your pack! I wanted to get away from you! But it's not enough. It never has been! I know you all don't like me, and that's fine. I don't give a shit. What I docare about, is the facts."

"The facts," Sam scoffed. "Leah, you have done nothing but treat everyone around us like dirt. You have become a bitter, desperate harpy since we ended our engagement. How do you think the rest of us feel? How I feel? How about Emily? Don't you care about how she feels? Don't you know what this does to her? It upsets her. You should know I don't take kindly to people upsetting her."

"It's always about you, isn't it? Always about everything else, but me," Leah rolled her eyes. "You never stopped to think about how I would feel. Of course I was mad! Why wouldn't I be? But ever since we did, you have all done nothing but rubbed it in my face! I wanted to move on, I accepted the fact you imprinted on her, but that didn't change the fact I loved you and I was hurt! I didn't even have anyone to talk to aside from my own mother! Don't you think you guys could have thrown me a bone? I don't ask for much out of ANYONE. But I'm not done yet, either. You know something else? Let's look at Jacob for a minute."

Jacob sighed heavily. "Leah, stop it. You're making a big scene out of nothing."

"Nothing? I'll tell you nothing, asshole," Leah spat in his direction. "HE goes through the same thing I did. Oh sure, let's pretend that six months, leading up to date rape TWICE, is somehow WORSE than having been engaged and together for a few years. Let's just pretend that, shall we? So, why is it that he has the right to be upset and mope about it, with everyone else holding his hand? I thought what we stood for as a pack was to be there for everyone, to have each other's backs."

"Don't you bring Bella into this-" Jacob began, but was cut off again.

"Then when it comes to me, you all turn your backs on me and tell me that I should 'get over it', as if I had no right to be upset and even bitter about it!" Leah went on, her voice rising. "That's hardly fair. Jacob gets coddled and told it's okay to angst. Yet when I've gone through worse, no one cares and you tell me to suck it up."

No one said a word. Only the shuffling of feet against the ground combined with sighs and grunts were heard. Leah continued to stand her ground, though she wanted to smirk in triumph, she didn't. But she knew she had them, and they knew it as well.

"How dare you?" Jacob stepped toward her, eyes narrowed. "Where was your support when I needed it?"

"I gave you PLENTY of damn support!" Leah near-shouted. "You couldn't even extend the same courtesy to me!"

"You wouldn't understand," he said bitterly.

"Wouldn't understand? Jacob, you were sixteen. Newsflash, a lot of guys are NOT that hung up over a girl! Especially one they weren't even dating! I know you and Bella are childhood friends, and I CAN understand that this may have disappointed you at first. Any guy would feel that way. But this just went on and on and on, even when you CLEARLY knew that she would always choose Edward." Leah pointed out.

"Leah, stop this-"

"No. I'm not finished here," Leah cut him off. "The one who needed to 'get over it' was YOU. You weren't even DATING Bella. You're all telling me to get over it. especially you, Jacob. Well, aren't you preaching to the choir here? But now that we have that out of the way, I am getting back to the topic at hand," Leah faced Sam again.

"You're not leaving." Sam spat.

"And why not?" Leah challenged.

"You're a part of the pack," Sam told her, approaching her again. "you have a responsibility to the pack, and the entire reservation. You can't just get up and leave."

"I live in Forks now. You didn't seem to have trouble with that," Leah groaned

"You're not leaving," Sam repeated.

Leah just stared at him with defiance. "I am, and I will. You all obviously don't even want me around."

"This isn't an issue of wanting," Jacob threw in. "it's about our responsibility to the pack. To destiny."

"Well, fuck destiny. I'm not letting that control my life! I have other plans. Don't you see? I'm doing all of you a favour. You're all so sick of me, you don't want to hear my oh-so angsty thoughts about Sam and Emily, and you don't even like to LOOK at me," Leah rolled her eyes at this. "But I will notbe your butt monkey. You don't want me around, but you also want someone to use as a punching bag and to put blame onto. So you can make things easier for yourselves and not take responsibility. Well, fuck it. You can't have your cake and eat it too. I don't even want to be here anymore. Not around the rest of you. I've had it. Just release me from the pack. Then you will never see me again. Unless of course I come to town to visit my family, but even then, I would stay out of your way."

Everyone stood by, unsure of what to say to all of that. Sam grunted and turned to Emily, who looked from him to Leah, concern etched on her marred features. Jacob meanwhile looked a mixture of angry and frustrated, as he clenched and unclenched his fist, breathing hard through his nose.

After Leah let that sink in for them, she continued. "Furthermore, think about it, Sam. You know what? You have my blessing. Go ahead. Marry Emily and make a Stepford wife out of her. It's what you wanted all along, isn't it? Go ahead. See if I care. But don't you DARE come trying to me when Emily grows her backbone and makes sure you're sorry."

Emily gasped, utterly horrified at such a thought.

"You take that back!" Sam snarled, advancing on Leah. "Take that back!"

"Or what? You're going to yell at me some more? Try to rip MY face off? Go ahead, asshole. Deal with the situation in violence. Just like everything else. Go ahead. I'm not afraid of you."

Sam raised his hand toward her, as if to slap her or paw at her, his teeth clenched. For a few seconds, he held it, and then lowered his hand begrudgingly. Emily came over to him, placing her hand on his arm.

"Not in front of Emily," he said curly.

"Fine," Leah said dismissively. "That being said, I am still leaving. I didn't come here to get your permission, you know. I'm simply telling you what's what. Whatever you guys choose to do in my absence, that's your choice. I don't care what you guys say or do. But I care about my life. I am taking control of my own destiny."

That was when her eyes fell on Embry. He looked uncertain, yet he also didn't speak up against her, either. She sighed, and then beckoned him forward.

"I need to get some things straight. I'm leaving, and I do not want any of you to come after me. If you do, just know that you will be out of your jurisdiction, and I willcall the police. Follow or make your own destinies, while I make my own."

No one said a word, but she could hear their thoughts clearly, as she led Embry away. Once they were at a fair distance, she turned to him.

"I'm sorry, Embry," she said in a softer tone. "But I have to go."

Embry sighed, nodding. "I know, Leah. I'll just...well, I'll miss you. So will Claire. Aren't you worried about her?"

"Of course I am. But I can't protect her like this," Leah sighed, shaking her head. "That's why I need you to keep an eye on her. Don't spy on her or anything, just make sure she's okay. Let her know that she can call me anytime, and come visit me. Maybe I'll even visit her. I just need to do this right now, to just get out of here and gain a new experience."

"Right," Embry responded, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just be careful out there, okay?"

Leah nodded, giving him a half smile. "I will. And you be careful, too. You are very strong, and I know you can take care of yourself. I have every confidence in you."

Flattered, Embry smiled back. "Thanks. Me too. I think you'll do great things, Leah. At least you'll finally escape this like you've needed to."

Leah smiled a little more, and then drew him into a hug. Embry returned it, patting her back. Eventually, they parted and looked to one another warmly. Leah then cupped his face in her hands, then leaned in, kissing him gently on the cheek. It took Embry by surprise, but he didn't flinch or pull away. Pulling back, Leah let go of him and stepped away.

"What was that for?" Embry queried, his smile growing a bit.

"Just because," Leah shrugged, chuckling a bit. She grew serious once more, turning to head off down the path. "I have to get back now. Just...make sure the pack knows I'm serious."

Embry nodded, giving her a thumbs-up. "You can count on me. Take care, Leah."

"You too," Leah smiled before she walked off.

On May 25th, a few days after her semester ended, Leah was finally ready to make her trip halfway across the country. Her car was packed with the belongings she would need on the trip, while the rest of her things would be shipped.

Charlie closed down the trunk, before turning to his daughter-in-law. "Well, you're all set. The open road is all yours, whenever you're ready. Good luck out there, kiddo."

Leah gave a little smile. "Thanks, Charlie,"

They hugged each other, with Charlie clearly trying to fight back tears. Sue looked on with a little smile, while Seth was just grouchy.

"Don't you dare shave that mustache while I'm gone. I better see it still there when I come visit for the Holidays," Leah grinned.

Charlie laughed, clapping her shoulder. "Not in a million years."

Leah gave Charlie one more hug, and then sauntered over to her mother. Sue looked at her with tears in her eyes before hugging her, kissing her cheeks.

"You be careful out there, sweetheart. Call us when you get to the motel," Sue managed, hugging her tighter. "I love you so much, Leah..."

"I love you too, Mom," Leah said softly, then pulled back. "Don't worry about a thing. Everything's going to be fine."

"Do you have everything?" Sue clarified.

"Yes."

"You took a shower?"

"Yes."

"You have the directions?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Did you have enough to eat?"

"I did, yes."

"Do you have enough gas?"

"I do, Mom. Filled it up yesterday."

"Do you have enough clothes on hand?"

"Yes, Mom, I have two bags of clothes."

"Did you remember your-"

"Mom."

Leah hugged her mother again, closing her eyes as she tried to fight back tears. She then let go, assuring her mother once more that she had everything. Turning to Seth, she could see he was still none too pleased about this.

"Leah, you're just...you're not..." Seth began, not quite sure how to put anything.

"I know, I know. I ruin everything, I'm an abomination, I suck, everyone else is awesome, Jacob is the best alpha, I get it," Leah said, rolling her eyes. "Just take care of yourself, Seth. I love you, you know."

Seth sighed, but looked at her before responding. "...Love you too...sis."

She gave him a one-armed hug, which he returned, and they parted back. With her car keys in hand, Leah got into the vehicle. When she started the engine, she looked out the windshield again at her family, who were standing back to allow her space to back out of the driveway. She waved to them, they waved back.

Leah pulled out of the driveway, keeping an eye on the road, was soon out onto the street. She looked at her family once more through the passenger window. A tear slid down her cheek, but she would remain strong. It wasn't goodbye forever. She would see them again for Thanksgiving, and for Christmas. Until then and after, she would keep in touch with them through e-mail and phone calls.

Without looking back, except once through the rearview mirror, Leah drove along the road. Departing from her past, heading to her future.