Sorry this is wordy.

I don't own Twilight.

When the Sun Breaks Free

He lifts up his glass and drains it in one gulp. The whiskey has lost its kick. The sweet taste is acrid on his tongue. He places the glass onto the tarnished wooden surface. He silently motions for another like the old pro he's not. He's channeling his father from a past life. When the old men used to sit around tables filled with playing cards, drinking moonshine from mason jars and smoking Phillies sweet vanilla blunts.

Seth had always been at Harry's feet. Hearing the manly laughter. The masculine banter. The cussing that melded like background music. Learning how to be forty at the age of eight. Seth had idolized Harry like any other son would their father. But when he abandoned the childhood wonderment for cynical adolescence, there was this slight of spiteful understanding that his father had flaws that ran deeper than the aging lines on the surface of his skin. But even then, to Seth, his father had never really lost the luster. On the contrary, Seth realized that real men had flaws. And his father had a weakness for whiskey.

He circled the glass with his hands. Liking the way the amber liquid turns tepid underneath his touch.

The night had its beginnings as a guy's night out. Promises of swearing and drinking. Rudy had put his arm around Seth and pushed up his glasses. "We can go to a bar," he'd said. Apparently Seth was too depressed for his sister's imprint.

The bar was in Port Angeles. "They don't check I.D.," Rudy informed, putting a black fedora on top his head, and adding something about how they made their own pretzels.

They listened to radio talk on the drive. Relationships was the topic. Seth turned it off after he realized he had begun to relate every caller's unfortunate situation to his own. So Seth listened to Rudy talk instead. He told Seth how he met Leah. Rudy said he was caught up in her web the moment he'd seen her. A sudden bout of humor had him bark out a laugh, thinking of the similarities between his sister and a black widow.

Seth told Rudy about Bella. How for the past couple of weeks she'd been splitting her time between Charlie and Jacob. How she seemed more settled. Sue had even gone with her to look at a few houses around Forks. His mother eyes lit up when she told him Bella's house would have a beautiful porch.

Seth didn't tell Rudy how odd it was seeing people play what he believes to be his role. How it feels like she's leaving him behind. Her taking a single step seems like miles away from him. She won't even stay in the same room alone with him. And it's a fist in the gut. Just like when she explained away the kiss.

It was nothing she'd said. They were just caught up in the heat of the moment. She wouldn't hold anything against him as long as he didn't. And he'd agreed stupidly.

Jacob knew something happened. He had been the one to leave Bella's window open that night. He'd seen Seth and Bella in bed together. But Seth didn't know how much Jacob or the pack knew. Brady was the only one Seth was allowed to phase with. And Jacob wouldn't phase with either Seth or Brady.

Honestly the elders didn't want Seth phasing around most of the wolves. The Council, afraid of the loose ideas and attractive imaginings running rampant. Fantasies about life outside of La Push that prolong phasing with Seth could bring about. Seth had never thought of his predicament as a prison. But it sort of was.

The only silver lining was Jacob didn't disallow Seth from seeing Bella. Seth was sure Jacob would've done something. Maybe alpha order him from seeing her.

But there wasn't any such alpha order in place, so Seth pushed boundaries. He noticed her heart beat differently around him now. More erratic, out of control. He had wondered what touching her would do. And it started like that. A brush here, a brush there. During dinner passing the potatoes. In the hallway to the bathroom. With his eyes on hers across a room. And always her heartbeat would go haywire. And Seth felt satisfied, 'cause then he knew it wasn't the heat of the moment. The truth lying in the drumming of her heartbeat.

He felt like she was always telling half-truths. He'd asked her once, why she'd tell parts of the truth sometimes. She didn't get defensive like he'd thought. She said she got it from her mother. She said it nonchalantly, as if he'd asked where her brown hair had come from. She said Renee had always given her the truth. And Bella understood at a very young age that if you cut it in half, it hurt significantly less.

XXXX

When they got to the bar Rudy announced he was buying for everyone. He headed straight for the jukebox. And Seth tried the pretzels in the plastic blue bowls atop the bar Rudy had raved about.

After forty-five minutes or so, Rudy was putting down shots like they were water. And then Leah showed up, coming to loom over Seth shoulder and snatching up his drink and drinking his entire refill.

When she looked at him they looked at each other like they did when they were younger. When he believed that he could zap her with laser beams and nothing in life was more complicated than simply wanting to wish his sister away.

When she took the seat next to his, she had problems. Her limbs protruded like the seat was too small for her, when it held him perfectly and he was bigger than her.

He thought it odd the wolf gave all of them grace except the only girl.

Leah had joined in on the pretzel fest, telling him about the pack meeting he'd already known about. And then they just watched her imprint.

When the song ended, another had begun. The music was Otis Redding's "Sitting On the Dock of the Bay" when a girl took one of Rudy's hands and moved him to the dance floor. He looked up over his glasses, and with his free hand he dipped his hat low towards Leah, just like a Texas cowboy. And his sister laughed.

It was a pity he wasn't wasted yet. He ought to be dancing shamelessly like Rudy. Jigging fast to slow tempo music. Wasting the night away, singing off key, a tune at a time.

He got up to leave a couple of hours after sitting down. He'd consumed more drinks than the average man and he still was too coherent.

He was not ready to admit that it was the second most fun he's had out drinking.

And it reminded him of the night Bella turned twenty-one. They went out to celebrate, and he learned that alcohol affected Bella at exponential rates. He had sipped leisurely on beer at the bar while she got increasingly lazy eyed from fruity drinks. She said the taste of beer was disdainful. But with a few rounds it hadn't mattered. Consequence tasted the same after a certain point.

She'd set at the bar with her arms folded over the counter. He watched her suck from the little black straw. Bobbing her head to the music and smacking her lips at the taste. Then she got up and headed towards the dance floor. It was her fucking song, she'd said.

He had been nervous to let her out of his sight in public. Because being free from running was still new. He'd told her as much. But Bella had an answer for everything. "Listen for me," she'd suggested like it was all too obvious. Doesn't her heartbeat quicker than most, she'd asked. That's what Edward and Jake had told her.

Seth looked at the bite on her wrist. It was true. So he told her it was okay. She had rolled her eyes and said she wasn't asking permission.

She crisscrossed through the people and danced aimlessly until she disappeared into the crowd, becoming a part of the fever. The bodies indistinguishable from the music. The sound. The people. The lights. The pulse. Utterly one.

And when she came back to him, her skin glistened. Her cheeks flushed rosy. Her breathing short. Eyes bare and wide with alcoholic merriment. Part of her ponytail was sticking to her neck. But those were the things he barely noticed. The things that had been most noticeable was that her chest heaved with her breaths. Her breasts were pert. Nipples pointy through her black tank top.

He had been powerless to look away, until her hand was around his and she was asking him to come and dance.

She was fun inebriated. Absurdly happy. Telling him how boneless she felt. Like gelatin, she said. And she turned clumsy, so he put her on his back for the walk home. She was light as a feather, clinging to him like a baby monkey as he walked through the warm night and soundless city streets. Giggling beautifully in his ear. Her warm laughter went straight to his belly. And the butterflies danced foolishly when she began to softly sing hum a drunken rendition of "Melissa" into his shoulder. Melissa had been their bartender's name. Bella had confessed her undying love to Melissa after she tasted the first drink. "It's so fucking delicious," she'd said, straw still resting on her tongue as she smiled. And then she was singing how sweet Melissa was.

Seth had listened at how the words sounded from her mouth. Singing like she owned them. Her eyes were probably closed. And knowing Bella they were definitely closed, like she was into it. Like singers did on television. And he had chuckled at the thought. And when he'd begun to spin them around, he had her squealing as she put her face into his shoulder. The weight of her lips through his shirt put his heart in his throat and lovely chills up his spine.

The closer home became the more her happiness turned sentimental. She called him pup with a pouty slur, with her fingers running through his hair. He closed his eyes, walking in a daze. Her breath sweet on his neck, she spoke softly, as if telling secrets to his skin. She always wanted to play fetch with his wolf, she said laughing tiredly. If she threw up later that night, please hold her hair. She couldn't shampoo it drunk. And she had never wanted Edward back. She wanted the parts of her he'd taken. The night home from Italy, she said she'd lost all her choices. She didn't take Edward back because it was the only decision of hers that she had left.

Seth didn't quite understand what she meant by that last one. She sounded so pitiful. But the next morning, when he held back her hair, what he would later remember was that it was the day he realized that he was falling for her.

XXXX

He traveled through trees, as a blur. Fast as the speed of sound that no human eyes could follow.

At first his fascination with being wolf was the fact that you could do something a lot of people wished they could do. You could make yourself become something else.

But the most exhilarating part was always the run. When you could go fast enough, the ground disappeared into nothing, and it almost felt like flying. So Seth ran and he forgot about things around him. And he reached the freedom that drinking had failed to give him.

Sam's house was in the distance of the cliff. He heard as voices came and went over the rushing of the ocean. It sounded as if the water was speaking.

It wasn't until he was on the porch did he make out the voices. Bella was there and they had started without him. "Charlie would never tell," she sounded disgusted. And the vehemence in her voice had him rushing into his pants.

"We don't know that Bella." Jacob said. Bella's talking to Jacob like that?

Seth rushed up the stairs. Footfalls heavy and muted on the wood, but only the wolves heard him. They all looked at him as he entered the door. But his eyes were immediately on Bella. She set in the middle of the sofa, looking too small between Brady and Paul.

She didn't spare Seth a glance. Instead she was focused on Jacob standing in the middle of the room. Then at Sam, she said, "He wouldn't."

"We can't take those chances." Jacob announced loudly.

"What chances? You're the ones who told him in the first place. You didn't see him as a liability then. What—."

"That was then Bella." Sam cut in angrily, voice sounding like slamming doors. Seth huffed lowly at his cousin's husband. Sam glanced at Seth as if he's an afterthought. But when he spoke again he was calmer. "That was before we had a camera and pictures of just the pack. And an unfamiliar human scent. Your father could have possibly destroyed an entire La Push."

"You're assuming he did it. Why would Charlie give away your secret? He's known most of you your entire lives." She looked around at the impressive men and imprints. No one met her eyes. "It could be Victoria for all you know," she said to Jacob.

"Bells we aren't ruling that out. But Charlie's the only likely possibility we have and we will have to deal with him accordingly." He sounded just like Billy Black. Jacob only used his father's voice when his own wouldn't be effective.

Bella let out a sigh of frustration. Seth knew she didn't like it like this. Sitting in a room divided into uneven parts. Sitting amongst them under a deceptive notion that they were all on the same side.

Seth watched as she got up and walked towards the kitchen, extracting herself from the number, drawing a line. There is a certain bravado you have to dress with when you decide to stand alone. Bella honed her conviction and wore it in her posture. She was prepared to stand alone. Only the bravest were.

"He didn't do it." She said before going into the kitchen. The door swayed back and forward behind her until it stopped and then it was as if she were never there.

Seth watched as Jacob dropped into a chair, covering his face with his hands. He looked defeated. Seth knew that he'd move heaven and earth for Bella. But so would Jacob. And to deny her anything, it must be serious.

Seth looked around at his pack mates. His confusion asking silent questions.

Embry answered by pointing to few Polaroid's resting on Emily's great grandmother's coffee table.

"Someone knows about the pack," Embry said quietly, looking at his hands. Seth picked up the pictures. And he saw the pack in several snapshots of their private lives. It was evident that someone was spying on them. All the pictures were taken from a distance. And they seemed to be just of the pack.

Seth looked around at the people in the room. Paul and Jared held their imprints close. Emily's hand was in Sam's. The rest of them folded in on themselves like fallen towers. Like statues in tragedy.

Some of them acted like there was another life out there that had to be had. Having there world potentially fall apart put things into prospective.

And it clicked into place. Seth looked at his alpha. "You believe it's Charlie?"

"Charlie Swan or another that he told. The scent on these prints are unfamiliar. The wind must've blown them in patrol areas. Embry found them on his trip back to the res."

"What does that mean for Charlie?"

"He's suspect until we find out what the hell is going on." Jacob looked at Seth dead in the eye. Daring him to protest. Probably knowing that Seth's weakness for Bella went somewhere deep as his own. Maybe even deeper.

Seth nodded slightly in acceptance and Jacob walked into the kitchen.

Seth listened at Jacob trying to reason with Bella. "You don't understand," he said softly. No, she said, you don't understand, didn't he get that it was her fucking father they were talking about.

"Charlie Swan wouldn't hurt a goddamn fly," she said. "He loves this tribe."

"So do I," Jacob said, "I'm a part of this tribe. I'm going to be Chief someday."

"But you know it's not Charlie," Bella insisted. Jacob said he didn't know anything.

Bella grew quiet. Jacob wasn't the fidgety type. But Seth heard his fit scuff the floor. And his clothes made slight noises as he shifted his weight. Creating noise when it was just too quiet. Seth knew she was probably staring him down. A fighter to the end.

Seth also knew the full concept of guilty and innocent of a tribe's standard would be lost on Bella. The tribe as a whole didn't work in favor of innocence until otherwise proven guilty. Tribal rule concerning the pack's secret was guilty until proven innocent. A secret this big reaching the surface of America would cause a cosmic sized clusterfuck. It had Seth imagining bible toting, cross bearing, crusaders. A little piece of Salem trials at the door front of their reservation. He saw his pack brothers as lab rats in mazes and acting in Pavlovian type experiments. And worst of all he saw no La Push.

"We're just going to talk with him and I'm sorry you have no say," he heard Jacob tell her after a minute. "I want you to stay here," And Bella didn't answer.

Jacob walked out of kitchen. Face set expressionless, head held high.

"Sam I want you to inform the chief." Sam nodded and after giving Emily a long look he headed out the door towards the Blacks'.

Jacob looked at Brady. "I want you to do your usual patrols tonight."

To Embry he said, "You and Seth will search the wooded area all over for more information." With his hand on the door, he looked at Seth, "I want a thorough search." And he left, on his way to question his girlfriend's father.

With no instructions given to them, the rest of the pack and imprints left. Brady and Embry were out the door already and Emily had gone to one of the backrooms to prepare it for Bella.

Seth walked into the kitchen finding Bella. He watched as she moved rearranging things. Her movements jerky and full of anger. He could always tell her mood just from what she was doing with her hands.

"Need something Seth?" she asked. She was putting away things into the cabinets. He cleared his throat and it sounded too loud inside the small kitchen. He was a little nervous around her.

She turned, eyes blazing. She could shoot fiery darts.

"Spit it out," she said crisply. Her glare hard at him. She was so angry. And he was sure that her anger was contagious 'cause he caught it. She turned back around and picked up a cup, as if to dismiss him.

He stalked towards her. Ready to spit words that could draw fist for hand to hand combat. He imagined things he would to say to her. But he lost his words and maybe the fight because of the bubble that took hold when they were inches from each other.

It's not like they've never hugged before. Or like he's never comforted her before. They touched all the time back then. But it is now different.

He removed a cup from her hand and discarded it onto the counter top. And he stood behind her. Her spine stiffened at his nearness. And being that close to her carries him away to that morning. And as if their thinking about the same thing, both began to breathe like there was a lack of oxygen inside the room.

"You don't believe me either, do you?" She breathed out. She searched his eyes through the kitchen window's reflection.

He can't say he does. Not with her same conviction, but he wanted to.

When he didn't answer, she laughed bitterly. His silence rich with words. She bowed her head finally breaking eye contact. And he hated it. The thought that she didn't like what she saw when she looked at him. And he hated that there was a possibility that Charlie had betrayed them.

He stepped closer to her and he brought his hands to either side of her, gripping the counter. And instinctively, she leaned into his touch. He watched her eyelashes flutter over her cheeks. And she sighed as her heartbeat quickened with his. Fluttering like a hummingbirds.

He was trying to remember if this undercurrent was always there. Trying to bring back to knowledge any signs she would have shown. But he was as blind to her as she was to him.

He looked down at the drumming of her pulse at the side of her neck. He remembered his lips there. How she tasted on him long after he left. And when he looked at the winter sky later that day, it resembled his feelings. The sun trying to push through the dank looking clouds. 'Cause even though she had pushed him away, she had kissed him back.

Bella moved her hands over his. He lifted his eyes to the window and caught her reflection. Underneath all the fear he saw the want.

"I was so blind," he sighed out. His forehead fell to her shoulder and she gripped his hands tighter. But she didn't say anything.

He wanted to ask her how long. But before he could, he let go of a breath. He moved away from her and took the cup from the counter and moved to fix water.

Bella's breathing was going crazy. Out running her heartbeat and Seth hand shook as he brought the cup to his lips, looking at Emily paused at the door. She looked at Bella and then at her cousin and then back to Bella.

"Um, Bella, I finished the guest room. Are you…did…." Emily stuttered watching Bella. And there was this incredibly long, never-ending silence in the room. Bella looked down at the floor. Emily looked at Seth. And Seth watched her back.

"Bella's just driving me crazy," he said hoarsely. And Emily cocked an eyebrow at him. "About Charlie's questioning, I mean. She wants to know about the tribal rulings for outsiders."

"Oh. Well, Bella I can tell you that. Actually I did some research when I came to live here," Emily prattled. Leading Bella out the door of the kitchen. Bella looked over her shoulder at him. And they stared at each other until she was completely out the door.

When Seth heard them sit on the couch sifting through papers, he decided to leave. Bella mmhmm'd and ah'd encouraging Emily on as he rinsed out his cup. He felt their eyes on him as he walked out the door.

XXXX

It had turned into one of those nights where lightning flashed silently, abandoned by thunder. He and Embry sniffed trees, the ground and air. Not phased they look like barbarians. Like wild men. Sifting through the smell of earth. Trying to find the traces of human that might have been left behind by the rain. But all they got was the scent of earth, the delicate smell of the meld of mud, rain, grass and the cold.

They walked the ground. The earth dipping easily underneath their feet.

As they walked Seth's thoughts were on Bella. Hoping that they'd find something that would clear Charlie's name. He wanted Jacob to be wrong. And a tiny part of him hoped that Bella won't forgive Jacob. He has fantastical thoughts about her breaking up with his alpha. But it scared him to think that she wouldn't consider him even without Jacob between them.

But Seth wondered if Jacob made her feel like he made her feel. Like she was losing breath, because she felt she could finally breathe. He knew Jacob didn't. Seth felt the only reason she was with Jacob was because she was hiding from him. He felt as if he had been the catalyst to push her into Jacob's direction in the first place.

His thoughts were selfish, though. If Bella had heard them she'd tell him to don't be like that Seth. Don't be like those gossipy women. Don't point out other people's successes as if they are flaws. You know what that means, she'd ask. It means that you either don't measure up or at least you don't believe you do.

He traveled the length of the stream bordering the Cullen territory. All the way until the water opened up to a mouth. He surveyed the land that they've covered. And then he walked back towards the wooded area. And an uneasiness settled into his stomach. Like something niggling at the back of his mind. Adrenalin rushed throughout his veins. The epinephrine turned his blood to blistering degrees. Literally boiling beneath his skin.

He smelled nothing. Heard nothing. But a sixth sense only known to his wolf had him looking around. He looked through the cluster of trees. Pass to the rushing stream. Cocking his ear to the sky.

Nothing. But he stood erect throughout his back. Soft, unwarranted quivers ran through him.

"What is it?" Embry asked. Seth shrugged and he was still walking when there was suddenly solidity underneath his feet. The ground pushed back up at him in resistance. He stumped his feet and the sound was hallow.

He knelt down, clearing leaves from what seemed to be a board.

"What the hell is that?" Embry asked coming to kneel and help Seth.

"I don't know."

They worked quietly, the only sound was the swishing of the leaves and there soft panting.

Embry found a brass handle and lifted effortlessly to reveal what Seth believed was a dugout.

The smell that hit them was of earth and the scent from the Polaroid's.

"Holy shit," Embry said. Seth stuck his head into the earth. It was dark, but he didn't need the light. It wasn't a very big place. Room only enough for one person. There were shelves carved into the earth. Bottles of waters scattered in the corner. There was a small end table off inside another corner. It was mahogany and carved beautiful. It didn't fit inside the space of mud. Like it was taken from someone's beautiful home.

On top of the table was rusted kerosene lantern and old yellowed papers with writings. Seth climbed in using the ladder. He picked up the papers. He brought them to his face prepared to read it. But the writings weren't in English.

"What's it say?" Embry was still kneeling outside, the space too small for the two of them together.

"I don't know. It's Quileute." Seth had never learned. He could understand the oral speech. But he'd never learned to officially speak it. And he doubted Embry knew it since there was no father in his home to make him. But Jacob and Quil knew the language well enough. Billy as Chief wouldn't allow any of his children not to know. And Old Quil drilled it into his grandson's head, picking up the slack for his son.

Seth handed the papers to Embry and looked around some more. There was nothing else to see, really. And Seth was about climb out, when he saw the handle on the end table. He pulled it opened and inside was a bounded notebook with more writing. It looked like a journal. He flipped through and saw some of it was English and some was Quileute. Beside the journal was an envelope with Warren's Photos on top. Seth carefully picked up both items and climbed the rickety ladder out.

He took the pictures out and handed half the stack to Embry. Together they went through and saw the faces of not only the pack, but also of the imprints and Bella. Embry cursed under his breath.

When Seth came to a picture of Jacob kissing Hannah against her car, Seth didn't even flinch. But Embry, who had stopped to look over Seth shoulder, did. He even let out a 'what the fuck'. And he looked at Seth in pity. But Seth had already known. Somewhat anyways.

"This could hurt Bella," Embry said.

"I know."

"Shouldn't we t—."

A gagging sound following a howl came through the trees. And Seth knew it wasn't good.

They placed the stuff they found underneath a large rock and leaves, and they ran towards the clearing where Brady had been patrolling.

They followed a trail, the smell of death. The wind whistled as the transformation took place. Their feet hit the earth, and they pushed with muddy paws. Sounding like galloping horses.

Seth reached the clearing a second before Embry. She had Brady pinned to the muddy earth. His head moved back and forward. Snarls and spittle flying through the air. His hind legs flailed aimlessly. Fruitlessly trying to make purchase on the lower half of the vampire just enough to kick it away.

Seth could feel as the vampire dug her fingers into the shoulders of Brady's wolf. Skin and fur, peeling and curling, as blood darkened the fur. The vampire hissed as the blood coated its fingers.

Brady's wolf's head flailed in agony. Teeth snapping at her neck sounded like a gunshots. Brady did it again and he made purchase at her shoulder. And the silvery clear liquid dribbled down her arm into her fingertips and into his wounds. Like quicksilver.

The wolves together let out a cry of agony. Seth and Embry became slight disoriented from the pain.

But with gained composure, Seth ran towards them at his fullest speed. The wet earth dipping where ever his paws made contact. Mud flying behind him. His lungs burned from the cold air. Tears peeled from the corners of his eyes from the knifing wind, drawing like fingers through his fur.

He was arrested by the greed to kill.

Focused.

So focused, he didn't register Embry's plea to wait. She swiped her arm out. Fingers coated with venom, scratching Seth above his eye. Blood trickled down over his fur and into his eye. And his paws dug into the soft earth as he was pushed backwards, slowing down his momentum. He didn't cry out. But hissed at the discomfort. And he and Embry both charged her together.

Embry dislodged it off of Brady, and Seth stood in front of his pack mate protectively. Guarding Brady as he watched Embry push her face first into the ground. Peeling back earth through the plunge. Steam rose from the warm earth beneath. Embry's teeth sunk through the non-injured shoulder. Dislodging skin and bone.

The vampire screamed into the ground. Gurgle sounded choking, mouth full of mud and earth. Embry threw the arm to the side. The wolves watched in a daze as it folded at the elbow and slowly curled in on itself like a spider.

And for a moment Embry was distracted. The vampire kicked the wolf from its back. She ran towards the meadow where Bella had nearly been killed. And Seth and Embry were after her.

They dodged trees through the woods. Going at blindingly uncomprehending speeds. The wolves not willing to be out run. And when they gained on her she stopped mid-run. Seth and Embry instinctively jumped over her. But her fingers took hold to Embry's fur. And Embry's half growl, half whine rang in Seth's ears. And Seth felt as if someone had tried to dig out his heart. When she ran back into the another direction, there was a trail of gray fur dark tinted with blood in her wake.

Seth was right behind it, chasing it further into the woods, between trees. Losing her by the second, until she was out of sight. But he followed her smell until he was gaining on her again. But when he set his eyes her she had stopped, looking at the unlikely image before her.

I apologize for the slow pacing and the delay. I had this written since last week, but I had to edit it. And the writing of another fic I'm currently working on kind of clashed with this one. They sound a bit different.

I do read the reviews and I appreciate them. And I probably like them more than I should. I never really know what to say except thank you. I'll try my best to answer through these author notes.

Thank you guys so much for reading!