The Wedding Crashers

Chapter One

Sometimes Leah thought she wasted too much time playing with her cell phone.

It was just that the novelty hadn't quite worn off yet; back home, money was tight and the only cell phone she'd had was a ratty, out-of-date model that only carried the most basic of functions. By the time she'd set out on her own, she was so sick of everyone on or around the reservation that she'd seen no need to update, having neither the time nor the money to waste on stuff like that between vamp hunts.

But now that she was no longer always on her own (and that her new comrades-in-arms were quite experienced con men and a charmer), she was getting used to the finer things in life-and one of those was a new, reliable cell phone so she could keep in touch with them when on the hunt. However, there was still quite a lot of time between said hunts, and now that she was no longer spending it foraging for food and sleeping in caves, she had time to burn-and she burned a lot of it messing with her new phone.

Oh, there were definitely moments when it paid off-like when they were packing up to leave one afternoon and she couldn't find her phone, so Sam had called her so she could locate it by the ring. The expression on his face when the chorus of "Sympathy for the Devil" started blaring out from the pile of used towels on the floor was totally worth all the time she'd spent choosing and programming it in. Just as it had been totally worth it when Dean had not paid attention when scrolling through his phonebook and called her accidentally over dinner and had been treated to a tinny little rendition of "Dude Looks Like a Lady" in his honor. Really, though, probably the best had been their faces that time they'd both been dunked during a fight with a water wraith, rendering their phones out of commission, and so Castiel had called her, as heralded by "I'm Too Sexy," much to her companions' indignation.

Really, though, those had just been relatively few instances of payoff after who knew how many hours she'd spent customizing and personalizing her phone, and more than once she'd thought that since her jokes were now spent, she should just say "screw it" and set everyone to her default "Hungry Like the Wolf" and leave it be.

But then, there would be a moment like this one, when her phone suddenly burst into buzzing life with the chorus of "Don't Bring Me Down," and even as her stomach dropped into her feet, she was grateful enough for the warning that she considered every wasted second as time well-spent.

She groaned and dropped her forehead onto the table, feeling the phone vibrating through the wood and into her skull. She looked up to find Layla, Sam and Dean staring inquiringly at her from their lunch; she just shook her head at them before wearily picking up the phone and, after briefly contemplating hitting "ignore," took the call.

"Hello?" she said resignedly.

"Hey, Leah."

It was Jacob. Only he could manage that perfect mix of smugness and belligerence; what she wouldn't give to get fully out from under his Alpha thumb. "Nice of you to answer on the first call this time," he said derisively.

"I only answer when I have opposable thumbs," Leah answered testily, and before he could start up again, added, "What is it?"

There was a slight pause, and Leah could practically hear that patronizing eyeroll of his that he seemed to reserve especially for her, like he was some kind of wise old graybeard dealing with a wayward child. "I called to tell you that I asked Nessie to marry me six months ago."

There was yet another reason Leah loved her cell phone-her striking out on her own had provided the added advantage of discovering that yes, if she did put enough distance between her and them, telepathy was eventually rendered impossible, and so now telephone was the only way she could talk to her pack. And this way, she could have all the nauseated thoughts and pull all the disgusted expressions she wanted, and no one would be the wiser. "Well, I admit, that is a bit of surprise," she said after a moment, keeping her voice light. "I thought you had probably married her already, and that I'd just been out of the loop."