Author's Note: Okay, so I'm still digging around for my old Twilight series. When I left the site, I backed them up to an external hard drive and put them in a box. I have decided that I will definitely be putting them back up. I just have to the find them first. When deciding what to write first and where to start, I decided to go with another Leah story. The wolves in the Twilight series were, to me, extremely unexplored. Leah's story especially, being the only girl, was one that I felt like could have some more to it. So, with that being said, I am excited (and extremely nervous) to present you all with Ice Cream & Lemonade. I hope you all enjoy!

Time heals all wounds.

Four words had never been so radically wrong, except when talking about her life. Nothing was healing. The man that she loved was married to her cousin, to the one person that she had trusted most in this world. Her body had betrayed her, turning her into a monster when anger flashed in her stomach. Her father had left her. Her mother was trapped in grief. More than a year had passed and yet none of these wounds were being healed. It was the same pain, the same anger, the same loss coursing through her veins. And she didn't get the sense that time was going to heal any of it.

She paced back in forth in the trees, nervously nipping at her cuticles. How much more of this was she expected to take? Living on the Reservation, watching her former fiancé canoodling with her cousin had been rough. When she'd left his Pack, she'd thought that it would fix things. She wouldn't have to hear his thoughts about his beloved. She wouldn't have to shoulder his guilt for her heartbreak. She could be alone, more or less.

But being in a Pack with Seth and Jacob Black meant being trapped around filthy, undead vampires all day every day. Sure the action had been exciting in the beginning. Trying to stop the war between parasites had meant that she had the opportunity to fight, to let off some of the anger that was constantly eating at her. Then Jacob had imprinted on the little hybrid. Any chance that she had of leaving the area, of getting a clean start was gone. She was tied to this Pack, tied to the vampires, tied down once again.

"Did you want to talk about it?" She started at the sound of her brother's voice, so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't even heard him approach. "Leah? You doing okay?"

Her brother was always so happy go lucky. The kid was fearless, stupidly so. He jumped into anything with reckless abandon, unafraid of the consequences. How she wished she could have that kind of freedom. "Leah, what's going on?" Seth's usually chipper voice dropped, concern coloring his tone. "You didn't even hear me come up. You hear everything. You should, too; all that time you spend in your wolf form. I'm surprised you even remember how to walk like a human."

"I need to go," Leah Clearwater blurted. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face her brother, squaring her shoulders and straightening her spine. The phasing had meant a huge growth spurt for her kid brother. He had gone from being marginally taller than her, to sprouting to several inches over six feet. His shoulders had broadened, his chest had muscled up. It was essentially an overnight puberty for the fifteen-old-kid.

Phasing hadn't been so kind to Leah. She had never been excessively feminine, but shape shifting had taken what little curves she'd had. Her body had become more lean and muscled. Her wardrobe had shifted to almost entirely workout attire. Her hair had been cut off so that she wasn't such a shaggy wolf. Everything had changed, in the blink of an eye; and it hadn't stopped changing since.

"What are you talking about?"

Seth's confused voice pulled her out of her reverie, forcefully yanking her back to the present. "I need to go, Seth. I can't be here anymore," she said, trying to soften her voice this time. "Things were supposed to change when I joined this Pack. You weren't supposed to even be here. But now...now what? I'm just supposed to go against all of my instincts and live with parasites for the rest of my life?" She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "I can't keep doing it, Seth. And I can't go back to Sam and that Pack."

"So where exactly do you think you're going to go?" Seth asked, innocence furrowing his brow. "You're a wolf, Leah. You have to have a Pack?"

"Says who? Huh?" She screamed, a growl bubbling in her throat. "Are these the same people who say that only men can be Wolves? Because they broke the rule on that one!" She gestured to herself, her limbs beginning to shake as anger started to build. "There's all these rules, Seth. Only men can be wolves. Nope, not for me. True love conquers all. Nope, not for me. You must submit to your Alpha. Unless you break away and completely disobey, like I did. The rules don't seem to apply to me, Seth. So why should this be any different? Who says that I need an Alpha?"

"Literally everything that we know about ourselves," Jacob chimed in. He marched into the forest with his arms folded over his chest, biceps pressing against black fabric. "If you want to go, then go Leah. No one is holding you here."

"Except for the fact that you're an Alpha. You're my Alpha," she snarled in return.

"Not by choice; either of ours. I never asked to be an Alpha and I definitely didn't ask for a Pack. You didn't want any of what happened to you, Leah. So if you want to go, go. What's the worst that happens?" Jake asked. He made it all sound so simple. "Being here, being stuck because of tradition, it's only going to make you more miserable. Worse, It'll make you resentful."

"He's right, Leah," Seth chimed.

"I only have one question: what is it that you want? Do you even know?"

She paused, nervously picking at her cuticles again. The vulnerability made her feel weak, like they could see all her insecurities. She stopped, abruptly turning and squaring her shoulders again. Her arms folded across chest, caging her feelings in, lest they escape. What did she want? What would make her happy? What would stop this pain? If time heals all wounds, what would expedite that process? "I want to be free."