Disclaimer: Twilight and all canon characters are owned by S. Meyer. Original characters and plot are mine.

Leah's POV

I heard my cell phone buzzing while struggling with my shopping bags. As I made it into the kitchen of my tiny little apartment one the bags broke and sent fruit all over the floor. Grabbing the cell phone from my purse, I prepared to give the other person on the line a piece of my mind.

"WHAT!" "Leah? Why are you screaming? Are you OK?" I took a deep breath at hearing my Mother's voice. Since I left La Push eight months ago, she's the only person I've kept in touch with. In the beginning, I purchased a prepaid cell phone with the sole purpose of letting my folks know that I was still alive while still being able to screen their calls. I didn't expect Sue to take a week off of work and sit by the phone. After some screaming and tears on both of our parts, I promised not to dump my phone. She promised not to smother me. This meant limiting her calls to once every other week and not giving my number to anyone outside of emergencies.

I moved to Hanover, NH to attend Dartmouth College. Well, that wasn't the only reason. I was trying to escape heartbreak at the hands of my family and oldest friends. I had just graduated high school and was planning my wedding to my high school sweetheart Sam Uley. I came home and found him in my bed with my cousin and Maid of Honor Emily Young. I was destroyed. This was made worse by the acceptance of their actions by my family and friends. Mom, Dad and Seth all had excuses that meant absolutely nothing in the grander scheme of things. In the end, home was no longer in Washington. I left to find my own place where I belonged. I believe I've made a good start. Mom, unfortunately had other ideas.

"Leah? Are you there?" Why does she always sound like I'm a Dateline episode waiting to happen?

"Yes. How is everyone?" She goes into a rant about the struggles of keeping my Dad on his diet and Seth on the honor roll. I tune out what she staying and focus on her tone of voice. There's an edge to it. Before this conversation is over, she's going to discuss something that's upsetting to me. I know this because I know Sue Clearwater. She doesn't disappoint me.

"When's your last day of school for this semester, Dear?" 'Dear?'

"Sue, what is it?" I asked.

She hesitates. "I know you didn't want to come back so soon but we all miss you and would love to see you."

"And we all know I'm only here to please everyone else. I mean it doesn't matter if I'm still trying to recover from all of your actions as long as ALL of you feel better, right?!" I yelled.

"Sweetie," "No, Sue! You tell me what you really want!" I screamed.

"Its about Emily." I started to count to ten. "Her family refused to come to the wedding unless you were there."

I started to laugh. It had a creepy hysterical edge to it. My Mother's voice all of a sudden had a echo like she was talking to me from the opposite end of a tunnel. I started to feel overheated all of a sudden. Its a weird thing that's been happening for the past few months. I went to the clinic the first time it happened. Outside of an elevated temperature, the nurse could find nothing wrong. Usually, I drink a tea that my neighbor Anna makes or put my head in the freezer. Damn it! I'm out of tea. The freezer it is.

After a full minute with my head in the freezer, I started to focus on my Mother's babbling. Time to enlighten her and end this conversation.

"Sue, stop talking for a minute please. The reason that they want me there is because they saw through the lies that Princess Emily has probably told them. When you, Harry and Seth went to the dark side, who do you think I called and confided in? All of those months and Aunt Diane was the only person who told me that I was entitled to my anger. She was the person in my corner when all of you were Team Sam and Emily."

"Oh, Leah. I don't think you'll ever know how much we wish we could take all of it back. But we can't. All we could do is try to move on. If you could forgive us maybe you could start to heal as well." I could hear tears in her voice.

"The way I can heal, is if you stop trying to put everyone's happiness on my shoulders. If Emily wants her parents there, she should do it herself. If she's woman enough to make shitty choices, then she's woman enough to deal with the consequences. I'm not responsible for her and Uley's nuptials." I said. My voice isn't shaking anymore. Yay for me.

"You're right, baby. It was wrong of me to even bring it up. One day hopefully I'll stop hurting you. I know that you think that I favor her, but its not true Lee. You were so happy when you and her were close. I just wanted my happy Lee Lee again," she tearfully said.

"You do realize that I will never trust her again, right? I could never let my guard down. There are some things that you can't overlook or excuse. Anyway, I got a job on campus this summer. I won't be coming home anytime soon." I stated. "I have to go. I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye, sweetheart," she said. It came out like a whisper. Great. Now she's upset and I feel guilty. Always a pleasure, Sue.