It still looked the same.

After being gone for ten years, the rez still looked the same as it always had. Green, and wet. And let's not forget about the trees, that's what she had missed the most, the trees. There weren't a lot of trees in New York City. There wasn't a whole lot of green there either. She didn't know if she was glad to be back, she didn't know what was waiting for her. All she knew was theat there she was, Leah Clearwater, standing on the doorstep of her childhood home, a place she hadn't seen in ten years. She stood there, hand stretched out in front of her, waiting, debating. Trying to work up the courage to knock. But she didn't have to. Because someone had come up behind her, someone who she had hoped she could avoid completely on her visit home.

"Leah?"

She spun around and looked into the eyes of the one person who she never wanted to see again.

"Leah is it really you?"

She wanted to run. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to hide. She wanted to hold him. She wanted to hit him. A wave of emotions flooded her, almost knocked her over. Because seh knew she could be undone again with one look into his eyes. She knew that everything she had worked so hard for, every feeling she had strived to bury, to lock away could come back and take over again. She didn't know how to react to him, to his voice, to his face. She wasn't prepared, she wasn't ready. So when she felt a burning hand turn her around and pull her into a hug, once she realized it wasn't him, she felt relieved. And when she realized she was in the arms of her little brother Seth, who hadn't aged a day since she left, she began to cry. It was the first time she had cried in a long time, she didn't cry when Sam left her, she didn't cry when her dad died, she didn't even cry when she read the obituary announcing her mother's death, the reason she had come home in the first place. But now, when she was finally home, she felt safe enough to cry. Because she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Leah, you came home."

Seth really always was one to state the obvious. But she couldn't bring herself to tease him about it now. She was just so happy to be home, she couldn't comprehend any other feeling. Seth put his arm around her waist and steered her into the house. He turned around and looked at Sam.

"You should probably go now."

"But couldn't I just.."

"No."

Seth shut the door on Sam. Leah walked into the house, it looked exactly the same as it always had. The same kitchen set: the big wood chairs with the handwoven seats, the big wooden table with the Quileute designs that Dad carved himself, a wedding present to Mom. I walked into the living room and saw the same old couch that had been there for years, the big trunk that had all of our photographs on it, from years and years back. It was good to be home. I went over and sat on the couch, leaning against the armrest. So much had happened today, I needed time to take it all in. Seth came and sat down next to me, pulling me into another hug. I had missed him, and he was the only family I had left.

"What happened to you Leah? Why did you leave? Why did you never call?"

I heard him, but not really. I was too comfortable, and too worn out from crying. And my eyes were too heavy to keep open. So I let myself get lost in sleep.

Like it, hate it? Let me know