Dead Poets And Pretty Girls

by xPaige Turnerx

Bella leaves poems hanging from trees for Leah. [oneshot. complete.]

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Rated: T.

Author: xPaige Turnerx

Summary: Bella leaves poems hanging from trees for Leah.

Dead Poets and Pretty Girls

The first time they meet isn't really a proper meeting but it counts, it's the first time their eyes meet, so it has to count. As much as either one wishes it didn't. Neither remember it particularly fondly, though Bella has managed to weave it into something beautiful when she recalls it to Leah late at night, as the wolf drifts in and out of slumber. Leah's convinced Bella can see the beauty in just about anything, though...

It's Bella's first time meeting any of the wolves and she's already heading into it with a tainted perception. She wasn't around the first time the Cullens came to Forks; Alice wasn't yet in the family and therefore hadn't found her. Rosalie fills her in on their way, however. Warns against breathing in the "stench of rotting dog" and how temperamental they can be. Bella decides now's not the time to point out the irony of that statement, she rather likes her head atop her shoulders, thanks.

So she follows her family. Watches Emmett roll his shoulders and crack his neck; loosening up for a fight. She's seen him do it many times before. Her golden eyes slide across to her other brother, Jasper flexing his fingers and clenching them into fists at his side. She can't tell if he's being affected by everyone's anxiety or if he also expects a physical confrontation. Finally, she looks to Alice who offers a tense smile and a shrug of her shoulders, because she can't see the wolves.

Bella shuffles closer to Esme as she examines each different path for a quick but complex exit that they can lose the wolves in. Her mind is already racing with defensive strategies; who to support, who to protect. Her fingers tap against her thighs in a 4 Point pattern and it isn't until Esme touches her wrist that she stops. That her searching eyes flick down to Esme's concerned ones, and she forces herself to still.

Her mother smiles softly and Bella feels the Fight or Flight instinct fade. "It will be okay, Bella. There will be no fight today."

"Promise?" Bella asks distractedly because the trees are rustling and Edward's bracing himself very slightly off to the side. Besides her and Esme, the family is scattered and spaced out in strategic positions that Jasper requested. Her mind had jumped to fish in a barrel and she's maybe been in a skittish mood ever since, but that's not something new. Everyone knows Bella doesn't do well with the prospect of a fight.

Esme nods and squeezes Bella's wrist once. "Promise. Don't let your siblings scare you, Carlisle is a very difficult man to dislike. Even for the wolves."

"The old pack," Rosalie scoffs from the other end of the clearing. Her arms are crossed but her fingers dig into her skin. Her entire body is taught like a bow, ready to be fired off at the first hint of trouble.

The wolves make their entrance then and Bella curses under her breath quietly, flicks her coat tail back and readies herself despite Esme's reassurances she need not worry. They're bigger than any of the Cullens were expecting (physically, for Bella, Alice, and Jasper), larger in number than they were last time. Easily twice as many and cold hearts sink at the realization. Only three remain in their human forms; the rest are immense and looming, hidden in the treeline on their side of the border.

"Good evening!" Carlisle calls jovially. He's waiting right at the edge of the border and offers his hand to shake. The three wolves in their human forms stand a good two yards away and stare at him with varying levels of anger, disgust, and mistrust. "My name is Carlisle Cullen, and I'm honoured that you've agreed to meet with us to re-establish the treaty between our families."

"Family," the tallest one scoffs. "Your coven is larger than last time."

"And how would you know that?" Rosalie snaps from her position down the border.

The wolves in the trees shuffle in their spots and a rumbling engulfs the clearing until the tallest boy holds up his hand. Clearly the Alpha, then. He regards Rosalie with interest that barely masks his disgust and her lip curls back over her fangs. He shakes his head and looks back to Carlisle as he dismisses her. "Records and tales passed down through generations. Your kind will always remain a threat to us, and we will never forget."

"I assure you, we are no threat," Carlisle promises sincerely. The shorter boy's face softens, the Cullens note, but the Alpha and the girl's do not. "We want only peace."

"And your fighters? What do they want?" the Alpha jerks his chin at Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Bella. "What do you want, leech?" he calls to her.

Esme steps sideways towards Bella, shielding her very slightly from view. "Peace," Bella repeats Carlisle truthfully. Over Esme's shoulder, Bella's golden eyes travel from each unshifted wolf. From the Alpha's arrogant face, to the younger boy's open curiosity, to the girl's guarded intensity.

Black and gold lock, each one lingering in the gaze of the other. Bella feels something in her chest click so softly she might have missed it in any other situation. The girl blinks and the spell is broken, Bella is free, and ducks her head. Ink stained fingers brush against her coat over her heart absently while her mind whirls, her eyes fading to black and staring blankly at the ground.

"My name is Sam," the Alpha declares after a moment of deliberation. He motions to the other two at his sides. "This is Jacob and... Leah." The boy, Jacob, makes to grab for Leah's arm with a concerned face, but she roughly jerks away from him and glares at the forest floor instead. "Did you bite the new ones?"

Again, Rosalie sighs and rolls her eyes so severely that she has to tilt her head back. "What does that matter, either way? We didn't do it here."

More growling fills the clearing. Sam, Leah, and Jacob's faces darken, they shuffle on their feet as their arms being to tremble very slightly. Carlisle kind of hops in place a little, holding one hand to Rosalie and the other to Sam. "We didn't! They were turned by other means outside the family. We took them in, but we did not bite them. We do no harm to humans. Even outside of this agreement."

"So they have claims over us forevermore?" Rosalie challenges. Her voice is rough, her eyes darkening shade by shade as she glares at Carlisle. "Through generations? Across the nation? What of other continents? Have you doomed us to an existence with the axe hanging over our heads, Carlisle? Just waiting for an excuse to be dropped?"

He turns fully to her and it's enough to surprise the wolves. That he trusts them enough to turn his back, to leave himself so defenseless. It speaks volumes about him and some of the wolves settle down while others itch to pounce. "We agreed to terms that we already live by, Rose. It makes no difference, here or there. We will not harm humans."

"How were they changed?" Sam demands with his hands on his hips.

Carlisle glances at his three children and back to Sam, a sheepish and beseeching smile on his face. "That is their own story to tell. You'll have to take my word, Sam."

One of the trees cracks and groans, the leaves shaking and falling to the floor around a particularly large looking wolf. His bark is abrupt and loud, cracking across the clearing like a whip as he snaps his powerful jaw. Heavy paws slap at the ground, claws digging up dirt, and the Cullens all tense again.

"You must tell us," Sam says evenly. "We don't trust you."

Carlisle sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sorry, but I won't. A vampire's Turning is a deeply personal matter."

The girl, Leah, sighs roughly and jabs Sam in the ribs. "He said he didn't bite them. So we believe them and walk away, or we don't and we end this right here. But I'm not about to stand around while we go back and forth like this."

The three of them stare at each other and it isn't until Edward relaxes that all the others do, too. Carlisle's already smiling - a beaming, happy little thing on his face while he tries not to bounce and the wolves try not to find this literal grown man endearing. Esme clicks her tongue softly and shakes her head while she stares at her husband.

Sam finally reaches out and shakes Carlisle's hand. "We'll be watching closely."

"It was a pleasure to meet you three. Sam. Jacob. Leah. Do have a good night," Carlisle replies with a wave to the other two.

The wolves disappear as quickly as they came until it's just the other three walking back towards the trees. Esme, Alice, Edward, and Carlisle head back to the manor to begin getting ready for the next day, while the others linger... just to be safe. They say nothing, but wait with stormy black eyes, watching the wolves like silent statues in the pale moonlight.

At the very edge of the trees, Leah hesitates and looks back. Looks back at the stone angels, at the vampires she had grown up hearing stories about. Cold, dead, ancient beings that left death and blood in their wake. These ones, perhaps, but not the others. The man in the bowtie who was so giddy about peace that he didn't think twice about shaking their hand. The woman with the kind eyes. The boy with the open curiosity. The girl with a mischievous twinkle.

These ones are different, she takes time to store away.

These ones are killers.

She's certain of it.

And then Bella waves.

.

.

.

There's a soft knock on the door that startles Edward out of his thoughts. It's something he's still getting used to; being startled and surprised by the others. So used to hearing their thoughts, it was a... difficult transition to the silence that fills the house now. Mentally, that is. Emmett is just as rowdy, but now Edward only has to listen to the string of profanities and nonsense the boy says aloud.

All thanks to their newest member of the family; Bella Swan. Bella Cullen. Swan Cullen. She still hadn't decided if she was taking their name and dropping her own, or not. Not that Edward minds either way. Rosalie was much the same though the only difference this time is that he doesn't know the reasons behind Bella's inability to decide. Perhaps he will ask her someday.

He could have guessed it was her on the other side of his door - one of three people who ever venture up to his room to seek him out. His brows furrow, instinct having him reach out to her mind to seek her motivations. As always, he is met with a solid wall of silence. It might be eery from anyone else. "Bella," he greets and steps aside to let her into his room. "Come in."

"Thanks!" Bella smiles and dashes into the room. In the blink of an eye, she's perched in his window to look out at the backyard. Another habit she's having trouble breaking; letting go of her vampiric nature to try and dig up her old human one. "Oh," seemingly realizing this, Bella's face falls and she waves her hand at the path she zipped through, "sorry. Slow down, I know. I won't do it at school tomorrow, I promise."

"It's fine," Edward shakes his head and sits down on the arm of the leather couch in his room, "you're doing well with your training."

"Training to be human," Bella scoffs and shakes her head. "You know, I didn't even realize I'd forgotten how until I met you all."

"Life is very distracting."

"So is death, it would seem."

"Perhaps even more."

"Edward," Bella sighs with a soft smile. "Have I mentioned how grateful I am that Alice found me?"

"Many times." He frowns in thought, eyes glazing over as he dredges up memories. "I believe you hand-wrote her seven different poems expressing your gratitude."

"Four were expressing my gratitude, three were... well. Different." Bella clears her throat and shifts on the windowsill. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

He looks up with interest then, curiosity swirling across his face. "Oh? Please share."

"What do you know of the wolves?"

"What do you want to know about the wolves?"

She shrugs and leans back against the glass of the window. Golden eyes trace the largest tree in the backyard. "Whatever you feel like telling me."

Edward hums thoughtfully and runs a hand through his hair. "Well, let's see. They're human, for the most part. The only time they shift into wolves is if there are vampires nearby, and therein lies the root of our conflict. The transformation into wolf is all around unpleasant, both physically and emotionally. Their emotional fuse is cut short, and completely gone when it comes to their anger. Their lives are uprooted as they're 'forced' into the role of guardian to their people."

"Forced to be guardians?" Bella echoes with a confused look.

He nods sympathetically. "This particular tribe developed the Shifter ability through necessity after a vampire attacked their village long ago. They're naturally distrustful of all vampires they encounter now, and only tolerate us after extensive goodwill on Carlisle's part."

"I see," Bella murmurs quietly. Her eyes shift around the room, slowly meeting Edward's as he waits patiently. "Do they have mates, like vampires?"

An eyebrow raises but Edward doesn't comment on the reasoning for this question. Instead, he shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders. "There was some tale of Imprints in their history, but it's quite obscure and I'm led to believe it's a myth. As far as I know, they love as deeply, fleetingly, simply, and intrinsically as humans."

"Interesting. Hm. Yes, that's pretty cool," Bella says and finally hops off the windowsill. She offers Edward a beaming grin and makes for the door. "Thanks, Ed!"

"Bella," he calls just as her hand rests on the doorknob. She hesitates but doesn't look back, doesn't want to see the face that goes with that tone of voice. Hesitance and pity. "The wolves... hate us. Our very existence causes them excruciating pain. We've tried friendship before, and they... they tolerate us. Nothing more."

"Good to know," Bella says softly as she stares through the door.

His voice is small and concerned. "There are many nice humans out there, Bella. I'm certain you'll meet many tomorrow at school. Times have changed, people are more open-minded about relationships. I - I think you could find your mate among them."

"Okay. Thank you, Edward."

She lingers only a moment before disappearing to her own room and the rest of the family doesn't see her until morning rises.

.

.

.

Her knee bounces almost too quickly for a human but she can't stop it, she can't slow it down more than she already has. The rest of her body remains motionless, she's not even breathing at this point. She's not comfortable enough to breathe but she stays. She stays because that's what people do, that's what families do, and Esme came all the way down here so the least Bella can do is stay and endure it with her. Even if she feels like crawling out of her own skin.

Esme's nodding along to what the principal is saying, her face open and concerned, but there's a protective glint in her eye that has the older man fixing his tie a little too often. Her hand remains on Bella's forearm, squeezing reassuringly every time the arm of the chair creaks under her stone-grip.

The principal pulls out the easel sheet from the long, top drawer of his desk and lays it across the surface. Bella's dark eyes flick down to it, scan the surface; all the black, the harsh red and bold gold, angry streaks that paint a picture of the hunger that lurks within. She squeezes her eyes shut tight.

"This is simply inappropriate!" the man huffs out and dabs at his sweaty forehead with his handkerchief. He motions to the picture again, lip curling in disgust and Bella wonders if he even sees it or if he's let the teacher's influence colour his perception. Does he understand what it means? Does he just see colour? What does it mean to him? Why does it repel him? Why did it repel the others? "Why would you do this?" he demands of her.

Her eyes fall open again and Esme's taps the top of her arm, a comforting presence at her side. Bella tilts her head to the side, drags her eyes up to the principal and watches him flinch ever so slightly, listens to the tick in his heartbeat. He's scared. She can smell it. She can feel it in her fangs. His fear burns her and she wants to make it stop, wants to rip it right out of his throat but-

Esme leans closer to her and Bella blinks. Looks away to the window. "The teacher told us to paint what we feel."

"This is sociopathic levels of a deeply disturbed individual. Mrs Cullen, your husband is a doctor, surely he can-"

"Excuse me, Mr Parchel," Esme interrupts softly with a sharp smile. "As a doctor myself, I simply don't see what the issue here is. She was instructed to draw what she feels, and this is the result. Art is subjective. What you see may not be what she sees, what I see. To presume to know the inner workings of a person's mind, based solely on a single abstract portrait is... deeply disturbing."

His face goes a little purple and Bella's not sure if he's trying not to scream or if he's embarrassed. Judging emotion has never been her strong suit and people watching with Jasper is fascinating. She'll have to ask him what a purple face means, later. Mr Parchel clears his throat. Once. Twice. A third time as he aggressively rolls up the sheet. "She makes the other students uncomfortable."

Now she does. Since the beginning of the week, she's had to all but beat them off of her. They were obsessed and, yes, Rosalie warned her about this too, but nothing could have prepared her.

Now they stare at her uneasily, they whisper behind her back because they think she can't hear them. What once was "hot intensity and a kind of, like, bad-girl vibe, ya know?" is now weird and scary and "freaky, like, what's her problem?" and, oh, she wishes they knew. That they could understand her struggle. That they had any ounce of compassion in their young, hormone riddled bodies. That they might show her mercy and understanding, and not ostracize her. Not make her feel worse than she already does.

"That is their problem." Esme's voice is sharp like a whip and leaves a wake of tingling silence. "My daughter has done nothing wrong here, she is being penalized because, what, she doesn't fit in? Is this the type of school you run? Where the unique are belittled and persecuted?"

"Of course not! We-"

"Excellent. I'm to understand that means you owe my daughter an apology, as does her teacher, and that these students who harassed her will be punished accordingly?"

He swallows roughly and dabs at his forehead again. "Mrs Cullen, the kids were simply-"

"Simply simple," Esme finishes with a grumble. "Of that, I have no doubt. They're young, they can be forgiven. You, however, cannot." She gets to her feet and Bella quickly shoots up, awkwardly knocking her chair back. Esme grabs Bella's art from the desk, from Mr Parchel's hands before he can take it back, and tucks it under her arm. "Mr Parchel, apologize to my daughter and then please leave her alone. It's in everyone's best interest."

"I - she - Mrs," he stutters out. At Esme's unrelenting look he shuffles back and meekly looks to Bella. "I'm sorry, Miss Swan. This school values unique creativity, and it's with great shame that I admit we had a poor misunderstanding. Please feel free to express yourself."

Bella shrugs and... and that's the end of that. Where once she would have been forced to take his life, now she's allowed to spare it. The freedom in choice is overwhelming and so she leaves it to Esme, looks to her new mother for guidance. She follows Esme out of the office and into the hall, her hands in her pockets while she stares down at her sneakers. She taps the tips of her thumb and middle finger together four times and looks over at Esme. "I'm sorry-"

"You did nothing wrong, honey," Esme says gently. Her gaze lingers on Bella's tapping fingers. "Are you okay? Do you need to leave?"

"No - I - no, nope." Bella shakes her head. Her dark eyes slowly meet Esme's compassionate ones, the deep understanding in them unravelling the tightly wound ribbon of anxiety in Bella's stomach. "He's terrified. He's so scared. I can still smell it. It's saturating his office, it's clinging to my coat, lacing my throat. How does it not affect you?"

Esme hooks her arm with Bella's and starts leading her down the quiet hallway, the only sound is their shoes squeaking or clacking against the tiled floor. A calm tranquility seeps out of Esme more naturally than when Jasper tries to force it on others to make them relax. It's natural and Bella's shield does nothing to block it out. Her shoulders relax.

Finally, Esme takes a large breath. "It does, but not the way it used to. I was once in your shoes, believe it or not. I know you and Jasper are having a harder time breaking free of that stage, but we were all there once." She hugs Bella's arm closer to her, looks up at her daughter with a tender smile. "I smell the fear but I know that's what it is. It's what clicks in my mind first, that it's fear. That he was afraid. For you, it's the smell that clicks first. The hunger that clicks second. And eventually your mind registers that it's his fear."

"How do I skip the first couple of clicks? How do I jump straight to fear?" Bella asks earnestly.

Her mother hums softly. "Just keep reminding yourself that it is fear. Think about why someone has fear. Why does he want to live? What could he have to lose? Are you willing to take those things from him? Can you live with yourself if you do?"

"And..." Bella stops walking. She stares down at her feet for a long moment as she forces her mouth to form the words, even as her mind screams at her not to. Esme loves her - she's said so. That Bella is part of the family. That nothing will ever change it. But... these people are so good. Bella looks up at the kind woman, the good woman. "What if I can?"

Esme blinks. "Then you can. Then we have a different conversation. We form a different plan. Bella," she sighs and tugs Bella along, towards the doors that will lead them outside. In the chilly air, with the wind whistling around them, both vampires feel more comfortable. "I know a family dynamic is new to you. From what you've shared with me about your human life, you never had something resembling this either. So I know you're hesitant to understand that you're one of us. No matter what. You belong with us and we belong with you, that's just how it is. That's what the Universe had in store for us, all along. Try to trust in that, for me."

"But you're all so... you would never... Edward think that's he's - he's a monster and I," Bella shakes her head, her thoughts moving faster than she can get them out, "I'm not even close to his level of - but I'm - if he's a monster, what does that make me?"

Stoney fingers grab Bella's shoulders, turn her to face Esme's fiercely concerned face. "Bella, you stop that right now. You are not a monster. I've met real, true monsters, the likes of which still haunt me to this day. Such a kind, gentle soul like yours could never, ever belong to a monster. Edward's inner conflict has nothing to do with vampirism and everything to do with his own personal beliefs, okay? If you asked him this very minute if he saw you the way he sees himself, he would... I'm certain he would weep and beg your forgiveness for ever making you feel like he might.

"You are learning and you are struggling, Bella, and there is nothing wrong with that. There's no shame to that. Some people have an easier time, some people are quicker at it. Others are slower. But that doesn't make them worse." She let's go of Bella's shoulders and steps back, nodding with a determined look on her face. "You're not a monster, Bella. Let go of the notion that you are, ignore the voices that tell you differently, and repeat after me. I am not a monster."

"I know, I just-"

"Repeat it, Bella. Say it. Out loud."

Bella sighs and hangs her head. "I'm... not a monster..."

"Again."

"I am not a monster," Bella repeats a little stronger this time. She meets Esme's eye and rolls her own, her lips quirking up in a smirk. "I'm not a monster."

"Good." Esme nods. "Good. Okay. You run back to class and I'm going to go buy a nice frame for this, okay? I'll see you later tonight after school. Love you, honey."

"Ditto," Bella mutters with an awkward smile and watches Esme unlock her rover. She stands there, waving to her new mother, and watches long after the red truck disappears down the road. Her fingertips are stained with red and black ink and she stares at them intently. "I am not a monster."

.

.

.

The woods are disturbed.

She's been sitting in the tree for a couple of hours now. True, she cannot see the sky through the clouds, she knows the sun set a little while ago as the forest is bathed in the pale light of night. It does nothing to deter her from writing in the small leather bound book she always keeps in her pocket.

So serene was she, so still in the moment, that she startles at the sudden burst of noise. Her fingers dig into the bark of the larger branch she's on, her sneakers hanging high above the ground. She blinks a few times, golden eyes flicking up to a smaller branch in her tree and the plump crow perched there.

He's a newer companion and she knows he just hangs around because she gives him shiny little trinkets now and then, but it's nice to have a living friend. Something with a heartbeat that doesn't threaten to send her into a bloodhaze.

One of the closer, thin trees shakes and Bella doesn't have time to do anything other than lay against the branch to try and get a better look before someone's stepping around the tree. Her eyes widen and follow the surprisingly graceful movements of the girl from the meeting a week ago. Leah, she remembers fondly. The grumpy looking girl.

A soft smile curls Bella's lips and she rests her chin atop her hands on the branch.

"Fuck you, Paul, you fucking prick," Leah snarls to herself and kicks the closest bush angrily. "And fuck you, Sam, with your holier than thou attitude. Who died and made you king of the fucking tribe? Ignorant assholes, I hope you choke and die, you-"

With hearts in her eyes, Bella rolls sideways and hooks her hands around the branch at the last minute to silence her drop to the next largest one down. Ever closer to her foul-mouthed angel.

"Like those leeches want to cross the border anyway," Leah grumbles and drops to the ground. She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back against the tree, glaring forward towards the border.

Uh oh, Bella chews her lip and glances back towards where she knows the house is. She'd actually forgotten about the border in the first place and found it maybe just a tad ridiculous.

She's about to sneak away, back to the house so she can ask just where the border is and if there are any markings she can maybe keep an eye out for, or if she can put up flags because, god, for a vampire her memory is just the worst.

But then Leah roughly fishes around in her pocket and pulls out a little bottle of nail polish. It's black but sparkles, likes stars against the night sky, and Bella's enraptured. She also searches her pocket for her notebook and sits down on the new branch, pen untucked from her ear.

dark eyes

dark skin

broken smile

full of sin

all of the cosmos at her fingertips

visceral anger spills from her lips

stagnant in my chest

my happy heart sings

With her shield up and actively blocking her from both sight and smell, Bella hooks her legs and drops sideways again. Her coat hangs below (above?) her head and she reaches out for the tip of the smaller branch coming off of the one she's on, puncturing her freshly ripped page. The second her fingers leave it, the little white page flicks into sight where Bella hopes and fears Leah will see it when she looks up.

Until then, Bella takes one last moment to store this moment away in her memories, before tearing off through the trees back home.

.

.

.

with grace and poise she comes unbound

no apologies do ever make a sound

unabashed and bold is she

she shows the world what it is to be free

The small piece of paper burns in Leah's pocket, the only thing she can think of in this moment, the only thing anchoring her to the planet. She traces over each swirl and loop of ink in her mind while her father and mother argue in the kitchen loudly. Seth pokes his head into her room every now and then, she hears the door crack and maybe even sees him once out the corner of her eye, but she makes no show of it.

The world is loud and dark and painful, and she is loud and dark and pained, she's used to it, she's made her peace with it even as she wants to fight it, but what's the point?

This, she thinks. This is the point. This piece of paper in her pocket. The second in two weeks. This paper and the person who wrote on it, the person who sees her, who sees her. Finally. And she wonders who it is because all her life, nobody has ever seen her. Even her family, it's still all new to them.

They had to look, the had to search, and her father still refuses.

Her heart aches as her father refuses and yells at her mother in the kitchen.

But not this one, she whispers to herself. Her fingers rest over her pocket on her thigh but she won't bring it out again. She doesn't want anyone else to see it - which is dumb, she admits, because the next time she shifts the pack will see it. They'll see everything. Again. And it will hurt just as much as the first time. The second time. The third time.

Yet part of her is grateful because through this she knows none of them have written this note. Poem? And her mind breathes a sigh of relief because these boys... these boys are at their best when they're only ignorant, and she couldn't bear it, she couldn't bear the author (poet?) of such beautiful words to be one of these hurtful, ignorant boys.

How could it? her mind laughs. No. This person sees her and ignorance could never be as beautiful as the words scrawled with care against the page.

Then who?

The question haunts her, but...

But not as much as she suspects the answer will.

.

.

.

Her new brothers and sisters stand across from her and she feels small for the first time in a long time (especially considering she's nearer the six foot mark than the five) but this is new. The concerned faces, the worried looks, the group meeting. Intervention, perhaps? Bella sits anxious but also eagerly, her coat tail hanging over the back of the bar on the fence she's perched on.

A distant memory -blurry, faded, fuzzy, and all too human- tries to surface; an older woman that looks much like her, a soft smile, an endeared "My little songbird."

"Okay, before we kick her ass for wooing a dog, let's make sure she's actually wooing a dog?" Emmett suggests with a playful grin. Edward gives him a hard look as Jasper hides his snicker and Emmett rolls his eyes with a huff. He turns to Bella, lazy smile in place. "Come on, Boo. Just tell them you're not interested in a wolf so we can go home and play Speed Runners."

Brows furrowed, Bella looks off to the side. "Which one is that? The running one or the car one?"

"The running - Bells. Really?" He breaks away from the group to crouch down in front of her, meeting her big golden eyes. She grins and he mirrors it and the others smother their affection. The two really could have been twins separated at birth. "You into one of the wolves?"

"Would you be upset if I was?"

"Yes."

Alice elbows Rosalie and zips over to Bella's side. She slides her arms around the girl's waist, leaning into her to rest her head against Bella's shoulder. "No, Bella. We're just concerned. Getting involved with the wolves is not only dangerous but complicated. We're worried about your safety."

"And your heart," Jasper comments quietly. He reluctantly meets Bella's gaze, sympathy seeping from him in waves. "I don't know if a wolf is capable of lovin' a vampire, Bella."

Her head tilts thoughtfully. A full silence stretches between them all while they watch Bella consider their words, their warnings, hoping she will come to the same conclusion as they do. Bella struggles enough as it is, they see it every day, and this will only make things harder for her, and that is the last thing they want.

But Bella smiles.

Softly at first until it grows and stretches across her face. She shrugs her shoulders, ink-stained palms raised up to the sky. "I didn't think I was capable of loving. Spend enough time in the dark, you might find yourself afraid of the light." Her eyes sweep across them all; bright and warm. "Turns out I was wrong. You might be, too. I think it's worth finding out."

"Damn it," Rosalie curses and storms through her siblings towards Bella. Alice looks mildly alarmed, ready to jump between the two at a moment's notice, until the blonde stops just in front of the them. Hard eyes glare down into Bella's open face. They shift and flicker but never soften, not in the way one might expect. "Then be more careful," she mutters eventually and straightens the high collar of Bella's coat. "Stop crossing the border, you can leave your little poems on the edge."

"How do you know-"

Rosalie rolls her eyes with a smirk. "Even with that shield, you can't hide from me."

"Noted," Bella hums with intrigue.

Edward groans and runs his hands through his hair. "Esme isn't going to like this!" he warns them. "She's worried enough about us, and now you're trying to date a wolf."

"Am I?" Bella asks with wide eyes.

He glances sideways at her, curious. "Aren't you?"

"I..." Her head tilts again and Rosalie turns to leave before she says something dumb and embarrassing, like admitting Bella can be cute. The brunette snaps her fingers. "I am. I guess I'll have to introduce myself, then."

Edward jolts in place the second Bella rolls backwards off the railing and surges towards the trees. He's just as quick, hopping the railing she'd been sitting on, waving his fist in the air as he chases her into the woods. "Not this very second! Bella! Come back!"

.

.

.

Another week has gone by and Leah's tin under her bed is almost overflowing with poems and sketches. About her, of her, about birds, of birds, trees, cliffs, clouds. Anything and everything one might find in the forest and she has to wonder just how much time they spend in the woods.

She also has to wonder how she still hasn't managed to track down a scent.

Granted, Leah isn't one for wandering around in her wolf form like the others. She doesn't like opening that bridge to her mind for them, or being forced into theirs. To see firsthand what they think of her, how they think of her. Another dagger in the heart that she is slowly but surely learning how to deflect.

Her mother begs her to be better than them, to protect her heart but not harden it. That the world is still worth being soft to, that life's greatest gifts will bounce off right along with the daggers if she isn't careful...

But her mother doesn't have to endure what she does. Her mother isn't vulnerable in the ways Leah is. Her mother doesn't understand, none of them understand, and she doesn't know what to do. She wants to scream and run, maybe never stop running, just go until nobody knows who she is, who she was.

The urge is more and more tempting as the days pass. Sue and Seth Clearwater cling desperately to her and, frankly, they're the only things that keep her around these days. Her father is all but driving her away, or he would be if he ever stayed in the room long enough to have a conversation with her. Jake's a nice enough guy, she thinks with time he might turn out to be her best friend, but right now he keeps forgetting her name and it's like a boot to the gut each time.

It's all a little too much, everything all at once, and she can't breathe.

So she comes out here, to the farthest parts of the woods. Exiled to the worst patrol route by a moronic Alpha who thinks he's clever. Jokes on him, she grumbles to herself while she plugs her headphones into her phone.

The peaceful solitude of the border is a nice place to take a moment. To shut down and recharge. It's quickly becoming one of her favourite parts of the day, actually.

So fuck Sam.

.

.

.

Bella's bright red converse do really nothing to grip the branches she walks along but she's gotten particularly skilled at climbing trees and she really likes these shoes. She caved in and lets Alice dress her up (the pixie was all but obsessed and Bella owes her more than she could ever repay, so the favour was an easy one) as long as she gets to keep her shoes and coat.

She crouches on the branch, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands while she gazes down at the wolf. More and more troubled, her angry angel appears these days. Bella wonders what's wrong, what has Leah so upset, what could be happening in her personal life to cause such distress.

Of course, the solution is simple.

Ask her.

Bella puffs out a breath of air between her lips, eyes rolling to the cloudy sky. Ask her, she mocks herself internally. Asking requires speaking and speaking requires introductions and introductions require not making a fool of yourself.

Leaves rustle and her crow friend lands on a smaller branch closer to the trunk of the tree. Bella eyes him wearily, his beady black eyes regarding her briefly. "I have no trinkets for you today, Nazir," she grumbles as loudly as she dares. Leah's listening to music but who knows how good those wolf ears are.

His head tilts to the side and she huffs again, going back to her silent contemplation of the girl below.

How does one go about introducing themselves under these circumstances? Does she lead with an explanation of her being the one leaving all the poems? Admit to stalking Leah all these weeks? Watching. Simply watching. We don't follow. Fine, following Leah all these weeks?

The crow chirps at her and she blinks, broken from her reverie. He's staring intently at her and she pats her coat, at the brass buckles along the front. "I have nothing shiny to give!" she hisses quietly and inches down the branch indignantly.

How would Leah even react? Would Bella get the chance to greet her or would the wolf attack on sight? The others warn her of the wolves' aversion to them often. Constantly, actually. Esme all but begs her not to go to the border every time she leaves the house. But Leah is different. Bella saw it that first day, and she sees it now.

Yes, there is a deep-seated anger there, always simmering below the surface, but it's not blind. It's pain. Well and true pain, and Bella can't possibly be the cause, it can't possibly be just because there are vampires nearby. This is personal. This is passionate.

This is heartbreaking and Bella needs to try and help her.

She just needs an in. Some way to introduce herself in a relaxed, neutral environment that won't have either of them feeling on edge. Maybe even give her the opportunity to be suave, be charming. Sweet. She can be those things. She just needs a window.

Bella sees motion out of the corner of her eye and only has time to turn her head and suck in a flabbergasted breath before the crow is in her face and she's falling backwards off the branch.

.

.

.

The ground shakes.

Just a little, almost unperceivable, but Leah feels it because she likes sitting right on the ground, no blanket between her. She likes the feel of the grass on her skin, it's usually cool and she's usually hot, and it's all kinds of delightful.

So she feels this little tremble, this little thud, unaware of the leaves drifting to the ground behind her. She sits up in mild alarm and yanks one of the earbuds out, looking around the clearing with narrowed eyes.

The border is always quiet. Animals don't even venture around here and she's not sure if it's because of her or the vampires, but she knows they're wildly uncommon these days. And whatever animal it was, it had to be big.

If it was an animal at all.

Hell, it could have just been her. She's constantly trembling. Frustration turns to anger in the blink of an eye, and her anger is a burning furnace just waiting to be set off. The thought makes more sense than anything else in the moment because she's out here everyday and has been for weeks. There's nothing around. She would have smelled it long before she heard it.

So she sighs and leans back against the tree, scrolling through her phone mindlessly.

.

.

.

Bella waits for Leah's heartbeat to settle in her chest again before blowing the leaves off her face and sitting up. She straightens her bowtie while she glares at the crow up in the tree, at her silver pen in his beak, and hopes he chokes on it.

She slowly gets to her feet and brushes off her coat, stepping over the bush and-

Hands grab her roughly and she's yanked off her feet. Flipped over Leah's shoulder and dropped to the ground painfully, pinned beneath a knee and hands still on her shoulders. She doesn't dare make a peep or move and Leah glares right through her, canines elongated and-

Bella swallows.

"I knew it!" Leah snarls with a sort of victorious glint in her eye. It melts away to confusion a moment later, dark eyes flickering around the ground. "What the hell? You're invisible? How?!" There's no response quick enough but she suspects there won't be one at all anyway. Her hands are pulling the person up closer to her and slamming them back against the ground again. "Show yourself!"

In one of her less thought out moments, Bella weakens her shield until her image blinks into sight. She stares up at Leah with wide golden eyes and the wolf falters in mild surprise. Bella's mouth opens before she can think twice about it.

"Passion flows freely from a snarling face

Crashing over me with startling grace

Anger and beauty woven with inspiring taste

Hello, my name is - Bella."

The two stare at each other for long, silent moments. Eventually Leah eases back off of Bella, shuffles back a few steps while she stares at the vampire with a guarded face. "It's you."

Bella does a backwards summersault to her feet, flipping her coat quickly, and effectively startling Leah back into her defensive stance. She plucks a twig from her hair and lets it drop to the ground with a wiggle of her fingers, golden eyes that almost glow in the dark slowly sliding back up to meet Leah's darker ones.

"What, all you have are your poems?" Leah grumbles into the silence. Her hands are on her hips, fingers digging in painfully while she tries to suppress the tremor in her arms. "Regular words aren't good enough for you?"

The stone angel's face remains ever impassive, she doesn't even blink. Leah shakes her head, tries not to let the old tales of the Cold Ones taint her perception now. Sure, she's quiet - utterly silent, but that doesn't make her some eternal agent of death. Of course, her clothes don't help. The dark leather and high collar are a little cliche for a vampire, but the bowtie and vest make her look like she stepped right out of the 20's. Leah briefly wonders if she did, if that's when she's from because-

Vampires are ageless, they're immortal and, okay, she knows that's not what immortal means but they come pretty damn close. Close enough to claim the title, and that's equal parts impressive and frightening.

"Say something!" she snarls quickly, stomping her foot.

The silence is too unnerving, would be too much in and of itself, but coupled with the fact that this is very clearly the one who has been leaving those pages for her... it's overwhelming. Especially for it being the second time in her entire life she's ever seen a vampire in person.

The vampire moves, finally, and Leah is loathe to admit that she flinches. The stone angel crosses her arms over her chest and jerks her chin to the bushes she came from. "How did you know I was there?"

Not frazzled from nerves and the immediate threat of danger, Leah has time to take in and appreciate the vampire's voice. Strong but smooth, like velvet against her ears. The council's warnings ring in her head, everything about them is designed to lure in their prey. She reminds herself of that and stands firm. "I felt you." She eyes the area curiously. "Did you fall out of a tree?"

And just like that, the spell is broken. The stone angel is replaced by a girl that shifts awkwardly, one hand flailing towards the trees and the other on her hip. "What?" Her face scrunches up in an overdramatic way that's mildly endearing. "No, I didn't - fall? Um? No. Of course not. I'm graceful, I'm - I'm a vampire. We're all very graceful. Did you fall?"

"No..." Leah replies slowly and feels herself relax. Embarrassment is more humanizing than she would have thought and her curiosity replaces her suspicion. "You are the one that's been leaving these, right?" She crouches down to grab the tin from her bag and pops the lid open. It's stuffed full of little pages covered in ink-

The same ink that she can see stains the vampire's fingertips now. She watches the vampire's hand blur up to her ear, as if to grab a phantom pen, but instead tuck her dark hair behind it. It's a very telling answer that takes an admittedly long time to click for Leah - too distracted by the speed with which the vampire moves.

When it's clear that the vampire isn't going to answer, Leah sighs and tosses the tin back down onto her bag. Golden eyes that glow in the dark flick down to stare at it, unblinking. "You use grace a lot," Leah mutters angrily.

It's something that she's noticed.

Something that's kept her up a certain amount of nights.

She wants to know why.

"Yes," the vampire says softly. And that's that. Nothing else.

The growl tries to rip free of Leah's chest but she swallows it down and jerks backwards a step. The vampire is watching her again (what was her name? Bella?) and she feels naked in that gaze. More naked than when she has a dozen boys traipsing through her mind, picking apart every thought she's ever had. "Why?"

"You're-" Bella slams to a halt from taking another step when Leah flinches. Her thumb and middle finger tap together four times at her side before she clenches her hands and keeps them there. Scared. She's scared. She's scared because she wants to live. "Do you have family?"

It's the first time in her vampiric life that the scent doesn't click first. It doesn't click at all, actually, not for a few minutes. Leah smells like the woods after a fresh rainfall; clean and crisp. She smells like the wind rolling off mountains; light and spicy. She smells like rich earth; bold and comforting.

But none of these smells are chased by the burn.

"I might," Leah answers unhelpfully. Bella huffs and her shoulders sag in a pout that the wolf is surprised to find she thinks is cute. "What's it to you?"

"You're scared."

"Am not, you fucking leech. Try me."

Bella only raises an eyebrow and waits for the trembling to subside. Only when Leah takes a deep breath and rolls her shoulders, does she speak. "Was that necessary?"

"Yes," Leah snaps. She glares at the vampire. "No. Maybe."

Bella smiles. It's small and soft and directed at the forest floor but it's there and Leah sees it. Sees it and stores it away, burns it into her memory. She's not sure why, exactly. She knows she should hate this vampire. Possibly be fighting her, as she's now officially across the border, but she finds herself incapable. "You're graceful," Bella says. Leah blinks at her and Bella motions her way again. "I've... seen you? The way you move, the way you act, how you present yourself, even the way you speak. It's all certain and fluid and - and carries grace like I've never seen. I'm not... like that.

"My kind is. Vampires are, but it's... Carlisle explains it better. It's because we're vampires. It's fake. Yours is - is real, like Alice's, but it's," Bella makes a show of trying to grab the air in front of her with an animated face while Leah's mind reels, "like you... you grabbed it. Took it. Your grace is your own, that you've earned and fought for, and you wear it like a badge of pride, and I'm enthralled." She shakes her head as if to come back to the present and glances up. "I'm entranced when I look at you."

Leah steps back again, hand raising to her heart in shock. "What? You - what?" She shakes her head. "Why did you say that?"

No one's ever called her graceful.

No one's ever called her anything close to graceful. They call her strong - and she is, she likes this about herself, she does, but it's not the only thing she wants people to see. She knows it's the safest compliment they can think of to give her, and they've tainted it, somehow. Or they're trying.

Strong is beautiful, she reminds herself.

"It's how I feel," Bella responds meekly. She taps her fingers again and Leah looks down. Bella shakes her hand loose and shoves them into her pockets. "It's a nervous tick," she explains dismissively.

Leah nods. "Why four?"

"Patterns are reliable and bring the comfort of stability," Bella says absently as another piece in her chest clicks into place. Her ticks and habits make people uncomfortable, she's noticed, or they think it's funny. Leah only nods. Leah only understands. "I suffered severe trauma during an unstable and chaotic time of my life, and it's kind of stayed with me... forever."

Brows furrowed, Leah tries to smother the concern she feels for a vampire of all people. "What happened?"

Bella shrugs. "I died."

"Yeah, that'll do it," Leah laughs breathlessly. "I've never thought about that. Shit." She runs her hand through her hair and paces her side of the little space they're in, if only to shake loose her stiff muscles. "You were all people once."

"We still are, I've been told."

"And you were killed."

"Some of us just died."

"And forced into this unnatural state of damned existence."

"Are you doing something different with your hair, Edward?"

Morbid curiosity has Leah a mere two feet from the vampire, studying her features intently. "How did you die?"

"Stray bullet," Bella answers helpfully. She reaches up to unbutton a few of the buttons just under her bowtie, pulling the shirt aside to reveal a... mostly round scar that's even more pale than the rest of her skin. "Knicked my heart and collapsed my lung. Wasn't walking away from that." Her fingers blur up the middle of her shirt and it's buttoned again before she's tapping her chin. "I did drag myself away from it, though. That's how he found me."

"Who?" Leah murmurs with interest. She stares hard at the shirt, as if she'll see right through it if she looks enough.

"My sire."

Dark eyes glance up to meet golden ones. "The blonde one?"

"Hm? Carlisle? No," Bella shakes her head with a laugh. "This was long before I met any of the Cullens. I-" She pauses as her phone buzzes in her pocket, holding up a finger with a sheepish smile to answer. "Hello? Yes, I'm fine. Why? No." Her eyes widen and she shuffles back from Leah a few steps while the wolf studies her again. "Nooo... I'm just strolling on our side. Nope. That's my heartbeat. Yes, it could. Alice! It could have started again, you don't know! No, don't! I'm not-" she hisses and looks off to the side abruptly. "Hi, momma C. Maybe? I know - yes, I know. I know. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I will. Sorry."

The phone is slid back into her pocket and Leah has a million questions for the pouting vampire. A chuckle shakes her shoulders and she sighs lightly. "What... what?"

"I have to go." Bella kicks the dirt petulantly and looks up at Leah from under her lashes. "They're mad that I crossed the border."

"Yeah, how do you do that? Mask your scent and go invisible? I thought I was going crazy, feeling you behind me."

Bella grins wickedly. "Magic," she purrs and blinks out of sight.

Leah is left speechless and frustrated and doesn't leave the little clearing until well after her patrol shift.

Bella doesn't return all night.

.

.

.

Another week goes by and the two find themselves sitting on their own sides of the border. Leah's at the bottom of a tree, leaning back against the trunk with her headphones around her neck and her bag on her lap. Bella is up on the lowest hanging branch, her feet swinging back and forth.

"So how come the wolves have not come storming down to our house, demanding my life?" Bella asks suddenly, that night. She gestures vaguely towards the res. "The others made it seem like they're just looking for an excuse to kill us."

"They're not wrong," Leah mutters. She shakes her head and meets Bella's eye again. "They don't know you crossed. I haven't shifted in weeks and that's the only time they're in my head. The next time I shift, they'll know."

This doesn't seem to faze the vampire and Leah really wants to know why because it fazes her. It concerns her, and that's something else she wants to know the why of, but it can wait for another time. Frankly, she's just happy to experience any emotion other than anger for once. "Noted," Bella grins. It falls to a look of curiosity. "Why haven't you shifted in so long?"

"I hate it."

"Is it painful?"

"Yeah," Leah scoffs and bumps her head back against the tree. "Feels like my skeleton is being ripped out of my skin. But that's not why."

Bella's voice is quiet and thoughtful when she speaks and it touches Leah's heart, the sensitivity of it. Of this vampire that she's supposed to be mortal enemies with. "Is it about the invasion of privacy?"

"Maybe."

"Shocking, as you're so big on sharing. I feel like I can't get you to shut up most days," Bella huffs with another grin. It has a smile cracking across Leah's face and Bella forces herself not to drag out her notebook.

Leah sighs deeply. She digs the toe of her shoe into the dirt and avoids looking at Bella. "It's... fucked. It makes it easier and harder for them to see me. They get confused and... and become fucking assholes, okay? I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, okay." Bella holds up her hands in the universal surrender motion. "What do you want to talk about?"

"How did you die?"

The question is shot out so quickly that Bella knows Leah's been thinking about it for a while. Jumping at the chance to ask. "Told you," she grins but it feels off. Wrong. There are secrets hidden behind it. "Stray bullet."

"Whose bullet?" Leah pushes.

Bella swallows roughly and she bumps her palm against her knee four times. "Didn't see his face, I was looking down at my friend."

"What were you doing with your friend?"

Golden eyes blink as they darken. "Dragging him to the medic tent while pinching off the bleeding." Leah's eyes widen and her next question is on the tip of her tongue, but Bella shakes out of her reverie. "I can help with the privacy."

"Uh... what?"

That smile is back and Bella hops down from the tree, walking to the very edge of the border. She taps the side of her head and points at Leah. "I can keep them out. Vampires have certain gifts, and I happen to be a shield. The res should be close enough for me to keep the shield over you."

Leah is up on her feet, storming over to the edge of her own side. She stops abruptly, glaring into Bella's bright eyes. Scrutinizing them. Looking for hidden agendas. Malicious motivations. Anything but the genuine concern looking back at her. "Why?" she demands.

Why are things in Leah's life never the way they're supposed to be?

"You deserve to be seen," Bella says softly. Her hand reaches out, slowly and hesitantly, giving Leah plenty of time to back away. Or, as Bella suspects is more accurate, rip her hand off her arm and beat her with it. Pale fingers brush Leah's bangs back out of her face, behind her ear, and trace down her jaw. Smooth and warm and Bella's eyes flutter. Her gaze rests on firm lips and she licks her own absently.

Her pocket vibrates and they both flinch back.

"Are you kidding me?!" Bella snarls into the little device when she answers it. "Did Alice see this? Did you hear it and plan this? No! My lord, Edward, I'm busy! Ask Jasper to play. Yeah. I am. No. You're rude, you're interrupting me and I think I have every right to snap. I'm not apologizing so forget about that right - wait! No! Ed-... Hi, momma C. Yes. Yes..." Bella sighs heavily and Leah walks back to her side of their clearing, letting her smile linger until she faces the vampire again. "Okay. Hey, Edward. I'm sorry for snapping at you when all you wanted to do was spend time with... is she gone? I'm going to get you, you little tattletale! You won't even see it coming, Edward, I swear to god."

The phone is shoved back into her pocket so roughly that Leah is surprised it doesn't come shooting out the bottom. She raises a questioning eyebrow.

Bella scowls and crosses her arms. "Siblings," she huffs. "Do you have any?"

"A brother," Leah replies gruffly. Her hackles raise whenever anyone wants anything to do with her brother, her protective instinct flaring like someone's lit it on fire. A vampire asking about him doesn't sit right in her stomach, but also doesn't feel as bad as she thought. She suspects if it were any vampire but Bella, she might have ripped their face off.

A tremor rolls down her back and she shivers.

Noticing this, the shift in atmosphere, Bella eases back towards her side of the border. She hooks her thumbs in her suspenders and grins wide at the wolf who stares back. "Well, I should go."

"Wait!" The Shifter jerks forward and she's not entire sure why. Her mind latches onto something quickly and she's running a hand through her hair. "What about the shield thing?"

"Already done," Bella replies cheekily. "You have very soft skin." She watches in delight as Leah's cheeks darken, and sighs wistfully. "A dust of rose across her face, leaves soft elegance in its wake." Leah's eyes feel heavy as she struggles to lift them and meet Bella's, surprised at the warm intent she receives as gold traces her features like they might a precious portrait.

Hands clench into fists at Leah's sides. Years of people telling her who she should be, what she should be, all the things she never wanted, all crammed down her throat... they rise to the surface with her anger. Her anger and confusion because why. Why does Bella say these things? Why is she not like the others? Why did she have to be a vampire?

The soft glow of hope scares her, the little thought that gets louder with each of Bella's poems, each stroke of Bella's gaze, maybe I am. I am. "Stop calling me that!" she snarls instead and takes a shaky step back. Her arms wrap around herself, hot angry tears in her eyes.

And Bella's confused. Confused and alarmed. "I'm sorry - I - what?"

"Elegant and soft and graceful and pretty and - just fucking stop." Chest heaving, she surges to the edge of the border and reaches out towards Bella, as if she can snatch the words right out of the air. "Why - why do you keep saying it?"

Bella's shoulders hook up as she gazes on with wide eyes. "I'm sorry! It's just how I see you, I-"

"No," the snarl is animalistic and impatient and Leah roughly turns away from Bella, "no, that's not true. You don't."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not!" she snaps and angrily wipes a stray tear from her cheek. She's in Bella's face in a second again, hand shoving Bella's shoulder back. "I can't be, so you can't see me that way!" She shakes her head and holds up her arms. "Look at me!"

"I am-"

"Look! I'm not soft or elegant, I'm hard and rough and angry, look-"

"I am!" Bella shouts and blurs back up towards Leah. Unflinching in Leah's unrelenting glare. "Your rage is breathtaking, Leah, but it doesn't change the fact that you're beautiful. You are. Hey!" She grabs Leah's wrist when the girl makes to turn away - hot and cold melding together. Leah looks back with a small gasp of surprise. "Leah, you are. You are. They're wrong. You're beautiful."

"Stop," Leah whimpers and loosely pulls at her hand.

Bella tugs her closer, stone fingers at her jaw and cheek, feather light while remaining strong and reassuring. A cold forehead is pressed against hers and her eyes flutter shut, the fight sizzling out. "I see you," Bella murmurs gently. Sincerity seeps from her voice and Leah's heart constricts. "I see you, Leah, and you're beautiful. You are soft, and elegant, and graceful, and strong, and angry," Bella chuckles lowly. "And a bit of a drama queen."

"Shut up," Leah snorts with a watery laugh of her own. She sighs deeply and leans into Bella. "You just had to be a vampire."

"I was waiting in line for werewolf but they ran out, so I got vampire at a discount."

Leah huffs. "You also had to be a dork. Stick to the poetry."

"You smiled, it worked," Bella defends herself with a grumble. "Is my being a vampire an issue?"

Finally, Leah steps back until there's a space between them. "A little," she admits reluctantly and with regret. She scratches the back of her neck. "You don't seem to hurt me, not like the others, but I'm not thrilled about it. I'm not as obsessed with all the old tales like some of the other wolves, but there are biases I'm trying to... work past."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Bella asks earnestly.

It garners another soft smile from Leah. "Keep being a dork."

"I'm - ugh. Am I really a dork? Rosalie's gone after my bowtie on several occasions now. Aren't bowties cool?"

There's a tenderness in the way Leah pushes at Bella's shoulder this time. A smile hidden in the corner of her lips, a subtle playful swish of her hips as she retreats back to her own side of the border.

.

.

.

Rosalie plops down on the couch next to Bella - as much as Rosalie can plop, that is. Really, it's more of a graceful lowering to the couch so smoothly Bella hadn't even really realized she sat down until now, too immersed in her game with Emmett.

Scrabble is, surprisingly, their go-to game of choice. Of course, this was the Klingon version.

"How goes wooing the dog?" Rosalie asks casually.

Esme blinks and looks away from the television, her eyebrows lowering over her eyes in a reprimanding look. "Rose!" she scolds quietly. "Be nice."

Bella turns her head enough to stick her tongue out at Rosalie but not enough to break her concentration from the game. Emmett has the most serious look of his life on his face and she's certain he'd be sweating if he could.

They're neck and neck, at this point.

However, Esme's curiosity gets the better of her and her attention wanders from the television to her daughter. "Is it going well, Bella?"

"Mostly - Emmett! You can't play that there." She snatches up his piece and scowls at his pout, dropping it into his open palm. "I expected better from you, I expected a little honour, brother."

"Tch," he clicks his tongue, "Boo, just last week I caught you pocketing extra tiles. Take your honour out back and put it to rest."

"It's just a game," Rosalie mutters under her breath. Two sets of big golden eyes turn on her, equally scandalized, and her brows raise slightly. "You heard me."

"Rosie!"

"Come on, Gus-"

She flicks Bella in the ear hard enough that the girl hisses in pain and rolls down the couch away from her. Esme sighs across the room. "I told you not to call me that, Swan."

"But-"

"Do it again and I'll feed you your own elbow."

Esme drops down onto the couch between them. She aims Rosalie a look that the blonde can't ignore, and Rosalie huffs. She gives in and leans against the arm of the couch, eyes lazily dragging over to the television. Satisfied her other daughter won't be distracted anymore, Esme turns to Bella and gives her a hand straightening back up on the couch. "You know that Leah is always welcome in this house, right? If you want to bring her home and introduce her to the family, maybe show her more of your life?"

"I don't know." Bella stares down at her shoes, taps the side of her thumb on her knee, and looks back up at Esme uncertainly. "She's still... it's different for her, I think. I have this Mate Instinct and she... feels the other side of that? But it's not like my side. And they might notice if she disappears for the day. She hasn't told anyone about me, she's anxious about the reactions."

"You mean the bloodbath," Emmett snorts to himself. Esme tosses one of the tiles at him and he winces. "Sorry, Boo."

Concern clutches at Esme's heart again as she watches her daughter shrug and focus on the game. When Edward told her that he suspected Bella found her mate, she was over the moon with excitement. After everything Bella had been through, this was honestly some of the best news the family had gotten in awhile. Each time one of her kids found their mate, it was a great moment for her, for the family.

And then Edward explained Bella's ever growing fascination with the wolves.

Sure, things have thus far seemed to be going better than she dared hope. This Leah girl seemed more focussed on Bella than the fact that Bella was a vampire, but how long could that last? Eventually their natures would play a part in their relationship, and what would happen then?

Leah was born to kill Bella and the thought haunts Esme every time she watches her daughter take off towards the border.

"Well." Esme tucks a lock of Bella's hair behind her ear affectionately before patting her shoulder. "I look forward to meeting the young woman."

"More like you look forward to threatening her," Rosalie mutters with a smirk that has Emmett snickering.

Esme groans. "Are you two a professional peanut gallery now? Do you charge or is there a family discount?"

.

.

.

They walk along the border, together but separated by the invisible line of their treaty. Both are graceful in their own way, despite Bella's claims that she's anything but (though it's true that you might never meet a clumsier vampire). Leah's is fueled by her confidence and certainty of every step, the trust she has in her own capabilities that shines through even in the simple act of walking through the woods. Bella's isn't as obvious, Leah doubts anyone would notice unless they were looking as close as she is - and she is. Looking closely. Very closely. She likens Bella's grace with that of a deer; skittish and utterly aware of each foot-placement, cautious of hunters that lurk nearby, even if she isn't consciously aware she's doing it.

Leah wonders if it's because of her, if this is a natural reaction to the wolf. Or is it because she fears the other wolves on the reservation? That they might come charging through the trees any second? Despite all this, she suspects that Bella walks like this even in her own home.

"Do you ever struggle with what you are?"

Bella has her hands hooked on the strap of her bag across her chest, golden eyes staring through the trees intently. A peaceful look rests on her face, as it often does, and Leah wonders what she thinks about. What her artist's eyes see. Bella hums and quirks a brow up, glancing sideways at Leah. "A vampire?" The wolf nods and so does Bella, but it's more thoughtful than an outright answer. "That depends on what you mean. To be quite frank, I think I was born to be a vampire. It came more naturally than being a human ever did. It was like... settling into the comfiest chair you could ever dream of. Like - ah, yes, this is it. This is the one."

"That's so weird," Leah murmurs. She catches Bella's curious gaze and shrugs. "Just... to think you used to be something completely different to what you are now. An entirely different species."

Bella shrugs. "More similar than you'd expect." She scoffs and turns to grin at Leah, flicking the girl's braid. "Besides, it's not like I explode into a giant wolf. Talk about an entirely different species."

"Yeah, but you died."

There's an abrupt pause, a sort of startled chunk of silence that both girls feel. As open as Bella is about, well, most things, Leah's noticed that she deflects well and is actually really good at hiding stuff. "Got me there," Bella says quietly. "Still, I never had to deal with fleas."

"Shut the fuck up," Leah laughs and shoves Bella sideways again. She watches the vampire topple into the bushes to the side, darting back out as little more than a blur a second later. "What's blood like?"

"Red and warm, for the most part," Bella replies without skipping a beat. Her gaze slowly slides up to Leah's and she sighs with a self-deprecating smile. "You mean the hunger. That is - decidedly less pleasant."

Dark eyes study Bella's face. "Do you really have to consciously tell yourself not to rip someone's throat out?"

"Often," Bella whispers with a nod. "I'm not as good at it as the others."

"Ripping people's throats out?!"

"Not ripping throats out," she corrects around a wince.

Hands clench into fists and Leah's heart is screaming at her not to ask, she doesn't want to know, she doesn't want to think about it. But she has to. She has to know, she has to ask, because as much as she hates it, she has a duty to protect her people. Even if her people are a bunch of assholes who might not deserve it, who certainly don't deserve her, that doesn't change anything in the end.

She's still a guardian.

"How many people have you killed?"

Bella laughs and Leah's heart sinks into her stomach. The vampire darts up a fallen log, holding her arms out for balance that probably comes naturally (but then Leah remembers their meeting, remembers hearing her fall out of a tree). "What a brave thing to ask!" Bella declares. Her grin is different, it doesn't fit, it's not her usual. Leah blinks and sees the pain it reflects, shrinks back from golden eyes that are sharp and almost accusatory. "I heard your heart stutter before you got the words out, did you know that?"

"That's not an answer."

"Do you want the answer?" Bella counters.

Leah's face falls into a glare. "More and more each passing moment."

"Liar." Bella hoists herself up onto a lower hanging branch, black eyes staring down at her friend. "I think every second that passes, you regret it more than the last."

"You're stalling."

"Words cannot be unspoken."

A growl builds up in Leah's chest, a subtle tremble working its way down her arms. "I'm trying to be understanding here-"

"Of my condition?" Bella asks mockingly. "You're preparing to judge me."

"I'm not-"

"You are!" Bella stares down at her disbelievingly, pointing at the glare on Leah's face. "Do you think I'm blind? I know what you are, I know your biases. Everything will change - you - you - why would you ask? You know you're going to hate me after. If I say even one person, this? This is ruined. You shouldn't have asked."

"I have the right to know, I can't." Leah stops herself and takes a steadying breath that does nothing to help. She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to block out the anger. "Bella, I'm just trying to understand you. To know you."

Up another branch, Bella shakes her head. "Why do you need to know that?"

"Why won't you tell me?"

"What does it matter?! Will your reaction to one be any different than your reaction to fifty?" Black eyes glare through the leaves she hides in, fingers digging into the bark of the branch beneath her feet. "The righteous wolves ready to pass their judgement on any a poor soul unlucky enough to stumble onto their radar."

The wolf runs her hands through her hair, tugging at one of the braids. "For killing people, yeah, I think we're in the right here!" Leah snaps. "For someone who's supposed to be ancient, you're acting like a petulant child, Bella! You can't blame me for being wary of a killer!"

A drop of rain falls through the air, lands on the leaf before Bella's face. She can hear the rain off in the distance, coming this way. Smell it on the breeze. She can hear Leah's heart pounding in her chest the like the beat of a war drum. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply. "I'm not just a killer," she says softly and quietly. Leah huffs to herself down below, desperately trying to stop the jittery energy in her gut. She can feel the shift coming on, like a train bearing down on her. "I'm a murderer too."

Something pops in Leah's mind, some little release of pressure, and she doesn't even notice the vampire gasp in surprise. Bella's black eyes are the last thing Leah sees before the rage and pain are too much, too overwhelming, and she can feel her insides being ripped out in an explosion of fur.

.

.

.

Bella doesn't leave her room for the next two weeks, except once.

And that's only to stop Rosalie from marching down to the res to drag Leah back to the manor by her ear.

.

.

.

More yelling, surprise surprise.

Leah sighs, letting her head hang down with her hands locked behind her neck.

Nobody has said a word to her in just over two weeks. Nobody but her mom. Even Seth has been absent and her heart - oh god, her heart is broken. Does he hate her? Is he disgusted too? Or is he simply being kept from her? Would it make things worse for him if she hunted him down? How can they keep her brother from her?

The lamp cracks in her hand and smashes into pieces against the wall on the other side of her room. Her jaw clenches tight enough that she swears she hears her teeth crack, her throat aches from swallowing down her scream.

Why did I shift? Why did I have to shift? Why didn't her shield work?

Her door cracks open and Leah looks up quickly. Her wide eyes narrow into a confused glare at Sam's neutral face. She wipes at her eyes roughly, scooting to the headboard of the bed as he closes the door behind him. "What are you doing here?" she demands.

"Your dad wanted me to come talk to you, and the rest of the council thought it was a good idea," Sam says gently. He eases down onto the end of the bed and offers a patient smile. "Leah," he says as his way of waving a white flag.

She closes her eyes and presses her palms against her forehead. How startling the difference is. Between Sam having to decide to call her that, like it's some kind of favour to her, while Bella speaks it without a second thought. She writes it in her books, she traces it over again and again, like it's her most favourite name in the world.

Why did I ask?

"What do you want, Sam?" Leah growls and opens her eyes to glare at him.

His patience is vexing, his understanding flimsy and conditional. She wants to wipe the smug look right off his face. "Enough is enough," he tells her. "You want our attention? You have it."

"You know that's not what this is about," Leah says quietly. Dangerously. Her heartbeat spikes. "You saw it, you all felt it when I shifted. Don't sit there and pretend this is something it's not."

"I think the only one pretending here is you." Sam gets up and walks across the room. "You get these thoughts in your head and you obsess, Leah, you always have. It was funny when we were kids, you were so unique and different from everyone else. But eventually you have to grow up."

Leah hugs her knees to her chest. "I don't understand what you think is happening here."

"Then let me spell it out for you." Sam puts down the picture frame of Leah and Seth when they were little. "You want to be a girl? Fine. We let you-"

"You didn't let me do anything, you piece of sh-"

Sam is all at once overbearing and unrelenting, his Alpha command making Leah feel small and weak. "I'm not finished yet," he declares and she shrinks in on herself. He breathes deeply once and settles back. "I get that you're upset you're a wolf. You can't see it as the gift it is, the sacred right. That's okay. You were always weird, you never saw things as we did. But that doesn't excuse you trying to - to, what? I don't even know what your end goal is here, Leah. Playing with the Pale Face. You're trying to rebel? Stick it to the council?"

"I'm not playing," she says. Her fists shake and she's up on her feet, on the other side of the bed. "You should leave, Sam."

"You can't actually love that corpse-"

"Don't call her that." Leah rubs at her forehead. "You don't... fuck. You still don't get it. We turn into wolves, Sam, how do you not understand that people are fucking complicated!?"

"There's complicated and then there's fucked up," Sam snarls, the first sign of him losing his cool. "We're complicated. Those leeches are fucked up. They're dead and they kill. Everything about them is drenched in death, and you think it's okay to befriend them? You think you love her? She's a killer."

"I know-"

"I don't think you do!" he roars at the edge of her bed. She shuffles back. "Your precious vampire has killed people before. She's ripped into their necks and drained them of their fucking blood! Do you understand how disgusting that is? How messed up it is? And you think you love her?"

Leah jerks forward with a growl. "I know exactly what she is and yes, Sam, yes, I do. I do fucking love her, okay? If it's one person or a million that she's killed, it doesn't matter because I know her."

"You-"

"Good people do bad things and bad people do good things." Leah shakes her head and Sam is enraged to see the disgust in her eye is directed at him, of all people. "The world is not black and white. That was always your problem, Sam. You could never see people." She smiles. Real and true and genuine because finally, finally, she knows. It all falls into place and she can't believe it took this long. "But she does, and I do. I see you, Sam, and you are a bad person. You're a bad person that does good things, but it doesn't change who you are."

It doesn't change who she is.

"Fuck you, Liam-"

"That's not my name!"

The dresser on the other side of the room explodes into a dozen pieces when the wolves collide with it. They're a flurry of teeth and claws and snarling, enough that it shakes the walls of the room. Sam desperately tries to block. "Stop - stop! Halt! Fucking - urg - stop, you can't - fuck-"

Leah's elbow connects with his jaw hard enough that he sees stars. She pushes herself up, one hand on his shoulder, pinning him down in the mess that used to be her bedroom furniture. She wipes at her bloody lip with her free hand. "You are not my Alpha."

Her bedroom door swings open with a bang and she's readying for another fight, for another wolf. Paul, probably, the psychotic kiss-ass. Instead she's surprised to see Seth, his shirt torn and barely hanging together. It's stained with blood and her entire body trembles with rage.

But there's no time - his eyes are desperate and his sneakers skid across the floor. He's at her side, pulling her up and dragging her to the hall. "Leah, Leah! We have to go, you have to go!"

"Seth. Where have you been?"

He's yanking her down the hallway after him and she blinks against the blood dripping into her eyes. Seth stops in the kitchen where their parents are. "They're on their way. They heard Sam, from all the way across the res! They're coming here now, I just managed to break away ahead of them. Leah, Paul is so pissed. They're all so angry."

"What happened?" Sue asks and rushes to her children's aid. She's tugging at what once was Seth's shirt with one hand, the other holding a dishrag against Leah's forehead. "Honey, was that you and Sam fighting?!"

Seth is looking out windows, ducking around their silent father. "We don't have time! Jake's trying to slow them down, but it won't last long."

"Let them come, I'll tear them all to pieces!" Leah seethes. "Did they do that to you?" Her eyes are sharp and dark, tracing the long gashes along her brother's back and ribs. She swallows down her snarl and slams her fists against the table to try and stop the shaking. "I'll kill them. Every last one of them."

Harry shoves past the three of them, knocking the chair aside roughly. "You attacked your Alpha?!" he bellows down the hallway.

Sue turns back to her kids, shaking her head. "The border. They can't cross the border, or it will stall things at least until Sam speaks with the coven leader. It will buy you time to run."

"I'm not running-"

Seth punches Leah in the arm and she hisses in pain, rubbing furiously. He glares at her. "It's three against nine at best, Leah. At worst, it's one against eleven, and I'm forced to fight my sister, okay? I can't do that, you can't do that to me. You have to run."

"What about you?" she asks desperately. She looks between her brother and mother. "What will happen to you guys? Seth, look at you."

He shakes his head with a reassuring smile that does very little to reassure her. "I didn't attack an Alpha. So I get a whooping, but I'll walk it off. Leah, I don't know what they'll do to you."

"We'll be okay," Sue urges and starts shuffling her kids to the back door. "I promise, Leah. Hey, look at me. I promise, okay? Your father is on the council, I'm human, and Seth was worried about his sister. They can't touch us."

The chilly night bites against her heated skin. Leah wipes at her eyes again and looks around the yard, half expecting the pack to be waiting for her. She briefly wonders where Sam is, if she really hit him that hard. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Bella," Seth says quickly. His eyes are wide and he nods, grabbing her shoulders. "Your vampire. Bella. She will help you."

"She hates me, Seth." Leah shakes her head and fuck, how is she still crying?! "You don't know what I - Seth, I said - I shouldn't have. She hates me."

"Impossible," he grins. "Not my sister, no way. I don't know a more lovable person."

Sue looks over her shoulder, back towards the kitchen. "What was - Leah, you have to go!"

Down the hall and through the window above the kitchen sink, she can see Paul leading the fastest wolves of the pack. They leap over the road and are in the ditch at the front yard. She trips backwards and shuffles down the steps of the back porch. "I'll call you, I'll... it'll be okay. I'll think of something. I'll fix this!" she promises.

For the first time since her first shift, Leah willingly drags up the familiar jittery energy, the white hot pain of her body changing.

Her paws hit the ground and she tears off through the trees like a bullet from the barrel of a gun.

.

.

.

The house is quiet other than the soft pitter-patter of rain against glass windows. Each Cullen is perfectly content to enjoy the soft, silent night in, refusing to disturb any of the others. Emmett and Jasper sit over a game of chess where Jasper has Emmett backed into a corner, Edward plucks at his piano with a gentle tune that mellows the night out. Esme and Carlisle are curled up on the loveseat, while Alice paints Rosalie's nails and the blonde pretends she doesn't notice as she reads her book. Bella has yet to leave her room and Alice is debating how many more days she's going to give the brunette or if she will march up to the attic this very moment.

A familiar static interrupts her before she can decide and she's on her feet, blindly zipping off to the kitchen. Shaking away the static, Alice looks outside and gasps, her eyes widening in surprise. "A wolf! One of the wolves crossed!" she shouts needlessly.

Rosalie and Jasper are the first two out the window while the others go for the doors, the blondes landing silently in the yard below and tear across the grass to meet the wolf halfway. Everyone skids to a stop a few yards away from each other, the vampires crouched and hissing threateningly.

The wolf takes an uneasy step back when Emmett and Edward join their siblings, Carlisle and Esme behind but prepared. "What do you want?" Edward demands with black eyes and-

And he's spun out of the way, literally, when the tornado that is Bella comes ripping through the yard. She stops abruptly in front of the wolf, a little too quick for Leah's eyes to adjust. "Leah!" Bella gasps out, her hands running through fur softer than she ever expected. She gazes up into brown eyes that are watery and impossibly sad, but also frantic. "What is it? What's wrong? What happened? You can't - ugh-" she turns back to her brother, "wolves can't speak. Edward, what happened?"

He's very obviously listening to something nobody else can, nodding now and then as he keeps eye contact with the wolf. His eyebrows pinch together in concern and he nods again. "I'm sorry, Leah. I - yes, okay." He steps closer and the others relax from their fighting positions. "She got into a fight with Sam and things got a little out of hand. She attacked him and was chased from the res by the rest of the pack."

"Chased from her home?" Rosalie scoffs. "Just for fighting with an asshole?"

Edward frowns again and nods. "That asshole, as you put it, happens to be the Alpha of her pack with more power at his command than a boy that young should have."

"Speaking of," Carlisle hums curiously. "How were you able to hit him, never mind leave altogether?"

"She says that somewhere during their conversation she just... snapped. She couldn't feel the Alpha command, or his Alpha status." His head tilts and he taps his chin thoughtfully. "That explains why you can't hear the other wolves, too. I think you're no longer part of the pack, that you... broke free, for lack of a better term."

"Leah," Bella murmurs softly but urgently. She hugs the wolf the best she can, resting her head against Leah's shoulder. "What did he do to you? I can hear the cracks of sorrow within your heart."

Esme clicks her tongue and tugs on Alice's shoulder, her closest child. "Everyone back in the house. Now. Give these two some privacy. Carlisle, we have to stop the wolves at the border."

"I doubt they would cross without permission-"

"Even so," she continues. "We can't risk it, we need to meet them there and make sure they understand that they need permission to cross, even in extreme circumstances like these. Oh! But not," Esme shakes her head and holds up her hand to Leah sheepishly. "Not you, dear. You're free to come and go as you please, don't worry about that. And you're more than welcome in the house, too. I could even make-"

"Not really the time, mom!" Emmett guffaws with disbelief, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead. "She just battled her Alpha, we gotta go smack the others on the nose with a newspaper, Bella's getting all weird and poetic again - look at that girl, she's trying to hug a horse, we need to let the wolf shift!"

Unexpectedly, a shoe hits him in the back of the head and Emmett hisses. He rubs the back of his head and looks back to see Bella standing there with only one shoe and sticks his tongue out. Esme sighs and starts gathering her children again. "Yes, yes, come on. Let's go. If you need anything, Bella..."

"Thank you," Bella calls after them. She's shrugging out of her coat by the time they're gone, throwing it over Leah's shoulders and back the best she can, before turning around. "I won't peek, don't worry. I'm... I'm so sorry, Leah. It's because of me, isn't it? They saw when you shifted. I felt our connection drop but I... I ran, I wasn't sure if you wanted me to re-establish it or... I panicked and ran and I'm so, so sorry. I did this."

"You didn't hit Sam." Leah's voice is rough and gravelling, from having just been a wolf or from crying, Bella's not sure. A warm hand rests on her elbow and she turns to look at Leah's dark, watery eyes. "I did."

She doesn't hesitate dragging Leah into her arms, holding her close while the wolf hugs her as tight as she dares. It's almost painful but Bella doesn't mind. She's been through worse, and Leah needs this. She tucks her face into Leah's neck and swallows her snarl. "I would have," she says instead. "Tell me what you need."

"A shower," Leah's voice is muffled and shaky. She grips at Bella even tighter. "And just... you. Around. Close."

"I can do that. Here, let's go inside."

.

.

.

Bella waits at the bottom of the pulldown stairs while Leah changes in her room above, pacing back and forth in the hallway. She listens to the erratic heart that seems to desperately be trying to calm down, and does her best to relax herself. Easier said than done when half the family is at the border dealing with the rest of the wolves.

Appearing at her side, Alice looks up at Bella reassuringly. "It's gonna be okay," she says as she reaches up to straighten Bella's dishevelled hair at her sudden arrival.

"Did you see it?" Bella asks with more snark than she's known for. Alice only raises a curious eyebrow and the taller girl sighs, falling down to sit on the last step of the stairs to the attic. She holds her chin in her hands, elbows on her knees. "I thought she hated me, that she... I'm a vampire and you guys were right. It was - an important factor. That day in the woods. I thought that was it. She came here. Why?"

Alice considers this and taps her chin while she takes up Bella's pacing for her, back and forth with the grace of a ballerina. Bella's too unsettled to appreciate the fluid movements like she normally might, she doesn't even reach for a sketchbook. Just stares down at her feet. "Fight of Flight instinct?" Alice suggests helpfully. "Reason has very little to do with it. She was in danger and she ran towards safety. You are her safety, which means she feels safe around you. Which means she can't hate you."

"I hated William," Bella mutters darkly. "I was always safe with him."

"Good point. So not a safety thing. A comfort, you are her comfort?" Alice drops down onto the step next to Bella, rests her head against the taller vampire's shoulder. "Amidst chaos, chased out of her home, not knowing which way is up and which is down, she sought you out. She is certain of you, even when she's certain of nothing else?"

"Maybe."

"You won't know until you ask," Alice laughs softly. She lifts her head to gaze thoughtfully at the brunette. "Rosalie is going to kill you for giving her clothes to Leah."

It does the trick and finally a smile is pulled from Bella - pale lips tick upwards and she looks down at Alice with a mischievous smile. "I know!" she chuckles and shakes her head. "Speaking of which, I can hear them in the woods. Things must have gone well enough."

"You should disappear before she finds out," Alice warns and springs to her feet. She ushers Bella up the steps. "It'll be okay, Bella. We'll figure it out."

"Thank you!" The stairs swing up behind her and she reminds herself to thank Alice properly later when things calm down. Of everyone in the family, Alice has been the most... open-minded and supportive of it all. Not to say that the others haven't, but they've all had their reservations or concerns about the wolf. Alice was the only one to choose optimism and believe things would turn out for the best, and it's done wonders in steadying Bella.

Bella, who wasn't sure of much on the best of days.

The attic is warm and quiet, as it usually is, but something feels... right, having Leah up there. Like she belongs, like she's the missing puzzle piece that finally completes the scene. Bella feels warmth flood her chest again when she sees the wolf leaning against the wall to look out the window. The sky is dark and the only light comes from Bella's lantern in the corner of the room on one of her bookshelves. Esme still has to hook up electricity to the attic, but Bella doesn't mind. It reminds her of her human years.

She sees her coat hanging on a hook at the end of the bed and blinks, staring at Rosalie's shirt over the wolf's lean muscles, and suddenly wishes she'd offered something of her own instead. Then she hears the muffled sounds of a door slamming and decides it was worth it, her lips curling up in another smirk. Bella shuffles around the sides of the room, not wanting to disturb the already distraught girl.

"Don't let me chase you from your own room," Leah says suddenly and no, Bella doesn't jump. You jump. Dark eyes look over her shoulder and Leah turns to Bella, sitting on the edge of the cushion in the window seat. "You're acting like a timid guest."

"I don't want to upset you."

Leah scoffs and shakes her head, running a hand through her hair. She watches Bella watch her do it, still a little skeptical and disbelieving of the awe and intent always found in those golden eyes. "I'm always upset so don't bother."

Pale hands slide into pockets, Bella nodding uselessly. "I suppose it would be pointless to ask how you're doing then?"

"Yup."

"Then I won't."

"Good." Leah keeps staring at her while she flounders, tracing a pattern on the wooden floor with her toes. "You were right."

Bella looks up curiously. "Hm?"

"That day." The wolf scrubs a hand down her face and sighs, suddenly exhausted. The past two weeks catch up to her, that day catches up to her, the emotional trauma catches up to her, but... but she's relieved. She's relieved and she doesn't know why. Why she suddenly feels at ease enough to be relieved, to be sad and angry and scared. Well, she does know why, but she doesn't know how to tell Bella, doesn't know if she wants to tell Bella. "My reaction to one isn't different than my reaction to fifty."

The vampire awkwardly clears her throat and rubs her hands together, jolting to movement. "Okay." She's not certain she wants to hear the reaction, not ready to have her heart ripped out of her chest again. "You look tired, very tired. You can use my bed tonight and we can talk more tomorrow, if you like." She blurs to the bed and straightens the blankets out, yanking a boot from the sheets. "It's clean, we don't sweat or anything. The worst you'll find is dirt from the woods."

"Thanks." Leah's hand covers Bella's, warmth seeping into her marble skin from their contact. Bella glances up in surprise and reels at how close the two are, closer than... well, they've ever been. Leah stares at her with amusement and confusion, and honestly, it's nice to see something other than the stormy look she's had since Bella ran from the woods. "Why do you have a bed if vampires don't sleep?"

"Oh." Bella shuffles back and wipes her palms on her pants, looking around aimlessly. "It's comfy?"

"All the girls you bring up here say that?" Leah asks and falls backwards onto the mattress. She sinks into the duvet and yeah, okay, that's super fucking comfy.

Bella's shaking her head and laughing anxiously. "What? I - no, I don't. I don't bring girls up here. I don't really... talk to people. Besides the Cullens, that is. And you."

"I thought you are a Cullen?" Leah asks in confusion. She scoots back to tuck a pillow under her head and watch Bella thoughtfully.

The vampire tries not to think of the contrast between impossibly white sheets and blankets against Leah's dark skin. "Wh... I am. It's new. I'm still getting used to it."

"How long have you been with them?"

"Twelve years now."

The wolf whistles and nods, looking around the room again. She'd spotted pictures in frames and hanging from walls, old black and whites, and different memorabilia from Bella's life. Manners kept her from going through it all, digging deeper into it. Manners and her own shitty problems, that is. "Seems like a long time, but I guess it's a drop in the bucket for you." She eyes Bella suddenly, eyes narrowed in thought. "Who did you talk to before the Cullens?"

"Nobody. I was a solitary nomad for fifty years before Alice found me," Bella replies simply.

Leah jolts up into a sitting position, her dark eyes wide with disbelief. "Wait, wait, wait." She scoots up and pats the edge of the bed in front of her, watching Bella cautiously sit down. "Okay, so first off; you're over fifty years old?! Holy shit. And you mean to tell me you didn't talk to anybody for those fifty years?!"

"Much older than fifty," Bella agrees with furrowed brows. "I thought you knew I was quite old. You keep calling me ancient."

"Well, I mean, suspecting is one thing, but knowing is another. Ho-ly shit."

Bella shrugs. "I'm fairly young compared to most." She stares down at the bed beside Leah's hand. "I spoke to some people, here and there during my nomadic travels. It's rather inescapable. The last conversation I had before Alice, it had been... twenty two years, I think. If brief greetings, and a word or two, don't count."

"Damn," Leah breathes. Without considering it too deeply (or perhaps it's been the only thing she's thought of since their meeting), she reaches out to brush her thumb over Bella's smooth cheekbone. Golden eyes widen in surprise. "You're so old and so young at the same time. No wonder the tribe loses its shit when it comes to vampires. You're impossible." Dark eyes study the vampire closely, who's seemingly unaware she's leaning into the wolf. "How old are you?"

"Two hundred and fifty-nine."

Leah's hand drops from Bella's face and her jaw drops in awe. "You're joking."

"I was born in seventeen fifty-eight," Bella tells her seriously. "I died in seventeen seventy-eight, four months after my twentieth birthday, from a gunshot wound through the chest. Well, that's not quite accurate." She blinks and looks to the side. "I would have died drowning in my own blood from the gunshot wound but that's rather morbid - and then as fate would have it, William found me before that could happen."

"How did you get shot?"

"There was a medic tent set up just over the ridge of the field we were in. I was trying to drag my friend there before he bled out. I say it was a stray bullet, without seeing the face of the man who shot me, because my back was turned to the Americans who were shooting at the British. I was not a redcoat, so I must assume that bullet wasn't meant for me."

"What... you... you were-"

"I was killed during the American Revolutionary War."

Leah hooks her arms around her knees and rests her chin on one, glaring over at Bella who refuses to look at her. "Why are you telling me this?"

"You asked."

"I asked weeks ago."

"Things have... changed."

"Keep your pity answers, I don't want them," she snarls.

Bella blinks and looks up quickly. She reaches out but lets her hand fall down when Leah flinches. "It's not pity, it's..." She presses her lips together firmly at Leah's scoff. "It's comfort. It's me sharing something personal, letting myself be vulnerable, as you are now. It's sharing part of me with you to... to show you that I care."

"You're only telling me because I was chased off, right?" Leah demands.

The vampire slowly nods. "It plays a factor, yes."

"Then it's pity."

Bella watches Leah roughly throw herself back into the mattress and cross her arms over her chest, glaring up at the ceiling. She reminds herself of Rosalie's warning about the temper of the wolves and rolls her eyes. "If that's what pity is to you, then fine." Leah harrumphs but doesn't look away from the ceiling. "What's so wrong with pity?" She leans forward to try and catch those dark eyes. "What's so wrong with knowing I care? What's so wrong with knowing me better?"

"It's why I know you better," Leah snaps. "Because you feel sorry for me."

"I do-"

"Well don't!"

Frowning, Bella climbs up onto her knees to lean over Leah. "Should I not feel regret for the way you've been treated? Should I not feel the echoes of your own pain, and wish you were never subjected to it?"

"I'm fine."

A pale hand presses against the mattress next to Leah's pillow, a dark curtain of hair tickling the side of her face. She desperately tries to keep the scowl on her face. Golden eyes search her own, compassion shining down at her. "You're not and it's okay. You don't have to be fine, Leah. You've been through a lot of horrible circumstances."

"I'm fine."

"I don't believe you-"

"I said I'm fine, Bella, so drop it! Fucks' sake!"

"That doesn't work on me. I'm not like the others, Leah." Honey-gold traces Leah's face with soft reverence and the wolf can feel it, she can feel everything, it's all rushing to the surface, and she's about to break, she knows it. "I see you-mmf!"

Hot and cold, night and day, life and death, all those cliches come to mind when their lips crash together. Bella hums against Leah's lips in delighted surprise and - and the wolf just about melts because, damn, that's cute. Leah's mind reels while their tongues clash and glide together, not only because she's kissing a vampire but she's kissing Bella.

Sweet, sweet Bella who was too kind, too good for... fuck, for the world, maybe. Too good to be killed at only twenty years old. Too good to have died by a stray bullet that wasn't even meant for her, as she tried to save a life. Too good to be turned into a vampire, doomed to roam the earth forever more, a slave to her thirst. Too good to get dragged into Leah's drama, risking her life yet again in the face of the pack. Too good for Leah to keep treating her like shit.

Too good for me.

The thought feels like acid in her mind; sharp and painful and burning away the pleasure she so desperately wants to get lost in. Leah's fingers dig into Bella's back through her shirt before she can stop herself and she pauses in alarm, her worry about hurting Bella cutting through everything else in this moment.

The vampire only hums again, or maybe moans - it's hard to tell past all the blood rushing in Leah's ears, and her comprehensive skills grind to a halt before she can identify it anyway, because it's definitely a pleased noise, an expression of pleasure. Fuck.

The wolf's chest is about to explode because - hey, remember me? I'm your lungs. I need air. But she refuses, she absolutely refuses - fuck you, lungs, you bastards, do you not see the beautiful, kind girl on top of us? We'll breathe when she's done and not a second before, you fucks, get your shit together.

Thankfully, Bella seems to remember that other people still need oxygen. Her concern for Leah outweighs her want to continue (it's close, she's ashamed to admit it's really close), but she pulls back from eager lips and listens to Leah gasp for air. Her lips quirk up into a smirk, black eyes hooded and hungrily gazing down at the wolf below her with interest.

Leah's chest is heaving and her face is flushed, her whole body is flushed, and she wonders if Bella knows. She must know, being a vampire, she must be sensitive to those kinds of things. Can she hear it? Smell it? Leah's not sure, and she's not really sure why she's wondering about that while Bella watches her closely. She's also not sure why Bella's hasn't said anything. She isn't struggling for breath. Perfectly capable to say something. Anything. Any comment about what just happened would be nice.

"S-Sorry?" Leah rasps out kind of loudly. So she doesn't have control over the volume of her voice after making out with literally the most beautiful person on the planet. Sue her.

Bella only tilts her head in the frustratingly cute way of hers, and yeah, the whole quiet thing is part of the intrigue that is Bella Swan, but come on. Is now really the time?

As she catches her breath more and more, Leah's eyebrows furrow. "I didn't mean to..." she gestures with her hand. Bella keeps staring. "Okay, I did mean to. I was, I was upset and you were pushing, and there, and so kind, and fuck, Bella! Are you mad that I kissed you?!"

"Do I seem mad?"

Leah closes her eyes and breathes deeply, feels Bella chuckling above her. "I'm gonna pinch you so bad, B, you have no idea. Why are you so quiet?"

"Not used to talking," Bella says with a shrug. "Alice is helping me."

"The little one, right?" Leah asks and Bella nods. "Yeah, I like her. She seems cool. It's, uh, it's really nice of them to let me stay here. Of you. To let me stay here, up in your room like this."

Leah's eyes are at each corner of the room, the ceiling, everywhere but Bella and the vampire can feel the distance growing. She shifts on her hands, leaning down to press her lips against Leah's in a simple, sweet kiss, before pulling back again. Those brown eyes are wide and locked onto hers and Bella grins. "You kissed me and you must have been worrying that you kissed me. So I wanted to clear up any confusion. So you'd know that I also kissed you."

"You're intuitive as shit, man."

"You cuss a lot," Bella counters or maybe just notes with interest.

Leah blinks and then nods, watching Bella drop to the mattress next to her. Golden eyes trace over her face reverently and - and it's not something she's used to. She can't really believe that Bella just... just accepts her as she is, utterly and completely without conditions or second thoughts. But to think, to know, to see that she not only accepts but likes, but values it all? It takes Leah's breath away. "You like this about me," she says quietly, voicing her thoughts aloud.

"I do," Bella agrees with a grin that crinkles her eyes.

"Why?"

"Why is the sky blue?" Bella asks as her answer and Leah huffs.

The wolf turns onto her back, hands behind her head, and stares up at the ceiling of the attic. There are ticks carved into the wood that she can see, hundreds of them, and she wants to ask what they are, what they mean. She wants to know everything about Bella, but the vampire might be even cagier than she is, and patience is a virtue. It's a virtue Bella deserves from her, so she bites her tongue and files the question away in the back of her mind with all the others.

"Something things just are," Bella tells her softly. There's shuffling and out the corner of Leah's eye, she can see that Bella's staring up at the ceiling too. "Reasons are powerful things and good to have, but sometimes they're not enough." Bella hums and turns her head, gazes at Leah fondly. "I like you. Does there have to be a reason?"

"Yes," Leah bites out and then winces. She takes a breath and tries to remember that she's here, with Bella. That Bella isn't like the boys in the pack. Every conversation isn't a duel ready to bloom into a full out fight. "No." But that's a lie. She thinks there has to be a reason, and lying to Bella is... probably not healthy for whatever this is. "Maybe?"

Again, Bella hums and considers this. "Why do you like me?" she challenges.

Leah wants to be coy and respond I just do, but it's late and she's emotionally exhausted, who knows how long before she conks out. "You're kind," she says truthfully. Dark eyes drag over to meet golden ones. "Some people, the braver ones, wear their hearts on their sleeves. You carry yours in your eyes and I can see it when you look at me."

"That's beautiful," Bella murmurs. "Where do you carry yours?"

"In my fist," Leah laughs sharply and squeezes in hand into a fist before them. "Ready to deck the first fucker to offend me."

Her bravado is cut short by the yawn that overtakes her and Bella tries very hard not to coo. "You should sleep, Leah. You're safe tonight, and tomorrow we'll figure things out."

"I'm not-" another yawn fights her, "-tired. Fuck. That's just because I'm thinking about yawning."

"Okay, champ. I'm just gonna get the light and we can keep talking, if you like." Bella's across the room before Leah can protest, and the room goes dark. She feels the vampire lay back down beside her, and her eyes droop. "Did you know that I was around when we switched from whale oil to kerosene, in the eighteen forties? What was his name? Abraham something. Gesner? Oh, yes, Abraham Pineo Gesner, and then in the fifties, the kerosene lamp was invented by Ignacy Lukasiewicz."

"That's quite the mouthful," Leah murmurs drowsily.

There's a hum of agreement as blankets are pulled over the wolf, Bella's voice soft and gentle, lulling Leah to a peaceful slumber. "Yes, he was Polish. I actually met him, once. Or a man claiming to be him, maybe. Seems like an obscure, random identity to falsely claim, so I have to assume it was him. He wanted to get tea, and I was debating leaving William. I spoke at length with Ignacy and he convinced me that I would be better off on my own, than with William. That's why I keep the lamp, you know. To remind myself that no matter how dark it gets, you can always find the light."

Bella pauses her little tale, listening to the steady rhythm of Leah's heart. She leans up on her elbow, studying breathing patterns. "Leah?" she whispers and waits for a response. Her lips curl up in a soft smile that she presses against the wolf's cheek before rolling out of the bed.

.

.

.

"Smoooocher!" Emmett sings the moment she enters the dining room where all the others sit around the big table, waiting for her. He's wiggling his eyebrows, making kissy faces at her, and Bella's across the table in an instant, tackling him backwards out of the chair. "Ow - ouch! Bella! No pinching! Esme! Esme, help!"

The matriarch of the family sighs deeply and it's enough exhaustion to fuel the planet at least another rotation around the sun. "What do you expect when you torment your sister so, Emmett?"

"P-protection!" Emmett squeals as his flesh is pinched between Bella's fingers and damn, it's a painful reminder of his human life. He tries to wrestle her hands away from him, squirming on the ground while he's somehow pinned beneath her knee and foot. "Edward! Brother!" he gasps and claws at the boy's thigh up in the chair. "Save me!"

Edward jostles his leg until Emmett's hand slips, a smirk playing at his lips. "Yes, I agree, Emmett. Bella's pinches are a physical manifestation of primal evil, and I would hate to be on the receiving end."

"Cowards!"

Finally, Bella relents and stands up. She straightens her clothes, grinning wickedly down at the giant, and offers her hand. "I win!"

"That wasn't fair! I didn't know!" he cries indignantly. She watches the set of his brows, the clench of his jaw, but doesn't have time to do anything else before he shoots up and she's over his shoulder. "I demand a rematch!"

"Emmett!" she laughs, trying to keep her feet up as she's spinned around, watching Edward duck out of the way of her shoes.

A wooden cup is smacked down against the surface of the table with a crack that cuts through the air, stilling Emmett and Bella's foolish antics. All eyes are dragged over to the end of the table where Rosalie sits in her chair and it might as well be a throne for all her elegance and the way she reigns power from it. Nails tap the top of the cup, golden eyes staring at it blankly. And then she blinks, regards the room. "As much as your tomfoolery warms my heart," she begins much too emphatically, gingerly brushing her fingers over the organ. "And believe me, it does."

"Rose..." Edward chastises softly but refuses to meet her eye.

She only raises a golden brow. "I'm sorry, am I the only one that came here to discuss what we're doing about the mutt?"

Bella slides down from Emmett's shoulder while he takes his seat again. Bella stands at the side of the table, staring down the blonde. "What is there to discuss? She needs our help."

"So we simply help her?"

"Yes."

Gold clashes against gold, both unwavering, unyielding. The rest of the table watches on silently. Bella squeezes her hands into fists at her sides to keep from tapping, keep from advertising her anxieties and doubts, her weakness. Rosalie scoffs and lifts her chin. "You want us to risk our lives for a stranger? Not just a stranger, but a dog that was all too happy to threaten us at the border when we first got here? A dog that was born to kill us?"

An argument could be made but Bella has none, she has very few words and a lot of emotions she hasn't felt in a long time, hasn't yet learned how to deal with. But she's pretty sure tackling Rosalie out of her chair would be much less playful than when she did it to Emmett. "Yes," she grits out instead.

"I've always appreciated your honesty, Bella," Rosalie tells her somewhat softly. Not actually softly, but it's not as... hard as Rosalie's words usually are. "So tell me why. Give me one good reason to risk my life, to risk our family, other than you like her."

Bella licks her lips and a million different reason jump to the surface. The primary one being because I don't like her. I love her. And while she suspects that might just be enough, even for Rosalie, it's not the most important reason. "I don't know how Shifter packs work, what the deal is with Alphas." She shakes her head, blinking ebony eyes. "But this man thinks he has rights over her. He thinks she belongs to him."

The vampires around the room shift in their seats and the energy buzzes. Changes, evolves, and even Rosalie has a fire in her eye that burns indignantly. She hums softly, holding her chin in her palm as she sits back in her chair lazily. "Then it looks like we have an Alpha to correct." With a flick of her wrist, she slides the wooden cup down across the table to the opposite end where Esme lays her hand on it. "For."

Bella turns to the matriarch eagerly. "For."

"For!" Emmett declares boisterously when he catches Esme's eye.

Alice is nodding while Jasper raises his hand. "For," she says for them both.

"For, of course," Edward agrees.

Carlisle smiles softly, that calming, reassuring smile of his that makes the family believe things will always turn out for the better in the end. "Seems as though we haven't a single against, my love. For."

"Indeed." Esme claps the cup down onto the surface of the table, much like Rosalie had. "For. The wolves are coming again tomorrow morning. We told them that we wouldn't speak with them tonight while they're worked up, for everyone's safety, and Sam agreed after some persuasion. That gives us roughly six hours until we go meet them. Six hours to determine what we want."

"Leah," the words are spilling from Bella's lips before she can stop them and it earns her a few snickers and soft looks from around the table. "Safe. We want Leah to be safe."

"Here or there?" Esme asks.

"Here. Preferably. But. But also there? She probably wants to be able to go home." Bella's chin drops to her chest and she stares down at the table, running her fingers over the smooth surface. "She'll leave again if we make it safe for her there."

"Do you want her to stay here?" The question is ventured softly, gentle like a whisper in the night. Edward's fingers ghost over Bella's arm, anchoring her here, knowing how tactile his sister is and how easily she is lost to her own thoughts.

But she only shrugs. "Doesn't matter. She should be able to go home if she wants. We need to make it safe for her to leave if that's what she wants."

"If it's not," Alice starts hesitantly. She reaches forward to tap the table in Bella's direction when the taller vampire gets fidgety. "I'm not saying it is or isn't, we shouldn't presume to know what Leah wants... but if she wants to stay with you. With us. Is that something everyone else is okay with?"

"She is welcome, Bella," Esme says earnestly. "Always."

"I think we have more important issue to get hung up on," Jasper murmurs. He gestures towards the hallway that leads to the kitchen. "Options are great, but she doesn't have 'em yet. We still have to convince Sam, one way or another." Amber eyes flick back over to Esme. "So first and foremost, we make sure Leah is safe. They're not allowed to hurt her."

"Do you think they would?" Emmett asks. "How big of a fight was this? Do you really think they're so ready to turn on one of their own?"

"It's not just about the fight," Edward sighs deeply. "Leah is unique and it's never sat right with most of the council, which means it can't sit right with the pack. Then she met Bella and f..." His face twists up like he sucked on a sour lemon, eyes wide in alarm. "F...riggin' went and met Bella. Yes. Right. And they're upset about whatever varying levels of affection she may or may not have for Bella. Ahem. And then, yes, she got into a fight with Sam and broke free from his Alpha rule. I think he may be most upset about that, about being able to lose a wolf, than any of the others, but they're important too. Strike three, if you will."

"Add to that the fact that their emotions are a blazing fire that the Shifter Gene tosses fuel onto, and you've got emotionally fried children that explode into giant dogs throwing tantrums because someone doesn't agree with them."

Emmett leans over to hold up his hand to his wife, eagerly awaiting a high five. She humours him with a roll of her eyes. "So, what," he drums his fingers against the table and looks around at the others and then to Esme, "we tell him that if he wants to keep the peace between us, they can't lay a finger on Leah?"

"Simply put, yes," she agrees thoughtfully. "First we must try to reason with him, get him to see that a rash reaction like this will serve no one. Determine that he doesn't truly want to hurt Leah, that he would never let someone hurt one of his wolves. If that fails-"

"When that fails," Rose mutters.

Esme taps the cup purposefully with a huff. "If that fails, then we make it clear that we will not allow him to hurt Leah. Harm coming to her, from one of her own, will be a breach of the treaty."

"And if he doesn't care? If his rage wins out against reason?" Alice asks.

The air around the table grows heavy, no one willing to voice their suspicions that the best possible outcome is not the most likely outcome in this scenario. Esme frowns, stares down at the cup, and shakes her head lightly. "Then Leah must stay here. No matter what, the wolves are still not allowed to cross the border. The council will ensure this, even if Sam doesn't like it. She will be safe here."

The others more or less silently agree, and eventually Edward ventures a question all the others are hesitant to ask. He shifts in his seat, trying to think of a way to ask that won't offend Bella. Not that he felt it was an offensive question, but- "Do we bring Leah to the meeting?"

"Duh!" Bella gasps out immediately. "Why wouldn't we? This involves her."

"Yes, but her presence may distract from-"

"From what? She's not a child, she deserves to be a part of decisions that affect her!"

"Okay, I'm not saying she doesn't, Bella. I just think that if we have wolves on both sides of the issues, things are likely to get out of hand quickly-"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Again, Emmett leans over towards his wife. "Can people catch Shifter moodiness?"

"You-!" Bella whirls on him, pointing an accusing finger. He blinks up at her with wide eyes and she huffs, forces her hands to her hips, and nods in a jerking motion. "May have a point, yes. I see what you're saying, Edward. She's probably too close to the whole thing and it would make things even harder."

"I think maybe you are too close-" Emmett flinches back, holding up his hands when Bella shuffles on her feet with blazing eyes. "-close to perfection, what an angel. Also, I, personally, think it's a super good idea for you to be there. Just putting that out there." Jasper can't smother his snicker and Emmett aims a pout his way. "She pinches really, really badly, dude."

Bella huffs and rolls her eyes, turning her back to her brother dismissively. "I will stay calm, but I feel like I should be there."

"I agree," Carlisle says from his end of the table. "I have faith in Bella's ability to control herself, and should things take a less favourable turn, we will need her."

"Carlisle," Esme murmurs with a worried brow.

He places his hand over hers and smiles softly. "I'm not saying it will, but I would feel better having all of our talented children there."

"Oh, so you're saying that I'm the one who stays back with Leah?"

"If you come with us, the wolves will know you're the matriarch," Rosalie says in a bored fashion.

"They saw her the first time," Emmett comments.

Esme smiles softly. "They saw a scripted reenactment. We would have to, hmm, wing it? This time."

Emmett's lips tug down at the corners. "I'm still a little fuzzy on why they're not allowed to know."

"Protect your queen until you're ready to use her," Bella mutters to him quietly while the others finalize the plan for the morning. She shuffles over, fixing the crooked collar of his shirt with soft affection. "Did I really pinch too hard?"

He waves her off with a boyish grin. "Nah, you're good, Boo. My pride was hurt, not me."

"Sore loser."

Another chuckle and he shoves her sideways, back towards the hall. "Yeah, yeah. Go leave a message for your girl and hope she's still sleeping by the time we get back. I have a feeling she's gonna be pissed we're not bringing her with us."

"Durn," Bella mutters as her shoulders droop. "She is, isn't she?"

"Mostly at you."

The rest of the family watches Bella throw her hands into the air with a whine as she ascends the stairs. "Double durn!"

.

.

.

She hates that they were right, she's hates that she knows they were right, but mostly she hates Sam. She hates him with a deep passion, hates his ability to stand there, perfectly kept, with that arrogant look on his face. Hates that she's can't keep her own cool. Hates that she's the raving, emotional, out of control one while he's rash and calm but fucking wrong anyway.

"Rot in hell!" she snarls from Rosalie's arms, wrenching her own arm free to point an accusing finger at him. "She's not yours!"

Sam stands there, arms crossed over his chest, muscles flexed, and a smirk playing at his lips. "I am her Alpha, leech. We are her people. She belongs to me."

"You don't own her, you-"

"Bella, if you elbow me in the face one more time, I swear to God, I'm going to throw you across this border."

The back of her knee is kicked and she falls to the ground, Rosalie's hands digging into her shoulders to keep her down. Rose's foot is pressed against the back of Bella's calf, and she's officially pinned. Bella taps her fingers together in a beat of four in quick succession, jaw clamped shut, and black eyes focussed in a death glare at the wolf.

Rosalie blows her bangs out of her face, looking up at Carlisle with a grimace of a smile and tosses her chin out to gesture towards the group. "Please. Continue."

The clearing is quiet and Carlisle blinks a few times before looking away, back to the wolves. "Right. As I was saying, Sam, Leah is perfectly safe and looked after under our care. She's welcome to stay with us as long as she likes, and you understand that we would... frown upon anyone trying to forcibly remove her against her wishes."

"I'm not here for a debate, Cullen. You have one of my wolves. This is a breach in the treaty," Sam declares.

The moment Bella jerks forward in Rosalie's grip, profanities on the tip of her tongue, the blonde slaps her hand over her sister's mouth. "Shut it," she hisses.

Instead, Edward steps forward, closer to Carlisle. "It was never determined in the original treaty, nor the one we re-established, that housing a wolf was in breach. We've broken no rules, and instead, have aided one of your packmates."

"Are you trying to tell me that you've been doing me a favour, boy?"

A smile ghosts across Edward's face that he has to duck and try to hide. "With respect, the only boys here are you gentlemen. I'm well beyond your elder, and I'm trying to tell you that you're making a rash decision."

"You think you know me?" Sam stalks forward to the very edge of the border, the wolves tense and growling on his side. He notes, with no small amount of alarm, that all the vampires get very, very still.

All of the golden eyes he was met with before are replaced with ink black pits boring into him.

Gone is the pale family of bloodsuckers that would bend to Sam's will, Sam's demand. Replaced, instead, with silent, enraged statues. Even the one that stole Leah, the one who was spitting acid, is motionless and quiet. Watching him closely, with a blank face and fire in her eyes.

The boy tilts his head very slightly and Sam has to consciously decide to stay put. "Quite well," his voice is smooth and controlled, but nothing about it is gentle. Just as cold and hard as his skin. "We have more patience than a boy as young as you could understand, but make no mistake, Sam Uley. You. Are. Testing. It."

"I want Leah back. Now." Sam clenches his fists at his sides, a rumble in his chest that makes the air around them tremble.

"Say please," Alice grins wickedly.

One of the wolves across the border snarls, slams its paws against the ground until the wolf beside it bumps their shoulders together.

A roar is swallowed down, and Sam turns to pace back on his side. His hands slide through his hair, locking behind his neck. "You want to talk about a test of patience, parasite? Try spending mine. I dare you. You will return my wolf to me."

"We will not," Jasper tells him evenly.

Sam stomps forward threateningly. "I will take her back!"

"You will not," Emmett reiterates.

Before Sam can spew anymore slurs or digs at them, Carlisle shifts his hands to his hips. "There's a reason you're here now, asking for Leah. Asking us to kick her out, drag her down here to you. A reason why you haven't stormed the house yourself. A reason why you haven't crossed the border."

"Because I am generous and reasonable, but you are cutting it close, Cullen. You are skating on thin ice, and I will only ask once more-"

"I don't think so," Carlisle murmurs. "If memory serves -and it always does- you cannot act without consent from the council. The council is concerned for your people. Your human people. The last thing they want is a fight, because a fight is an unnecessary risk when we've been so compliant all these years. They told you no already. You cannot start a fight over this issue."

"So you came begging instead," Rosalie scoffs.

Face red, arms trembling, Sam takes a deep breath through his nose. "That's not true," he grits out.

"Liar," Bella calls gentle. A teasing lilt to her voice that carries the faintest, but sharpest edge. "Go home, boy, you will not get her today."

He shakes his head and the rest of the clearing might as well have fallen off the face of the planet. It's just Sam and Bella, glaring each other down. "I will. I'll get her, she will be mine again, vampire. I swear it. I have her family. What do you have?"

"I have her heart."

.

.

.

The bowl is slammed down onto the kitchen island and honestly, everyone in the house is surprised it doesn't shatter. Leah glares up at Bella fiercely while the vampire fidgets in the entrance way. "So I can't go home?" Leah asks needlessly.

"You-" Bella pauses and considers her words, sucking her lip into her mouth quickly. "No, not exactly. Not. Not yet." Her eyes widen at Leah's silent fuming, watching the wolf push away from the island angrily. "But probably sometime, you know, maybe soonish."

"Probably sometime maybe soonish," Leah repeats with a gravelly undertone of a growl. "That's awesome, Bella. That's really something, coming from the poet." She whirls around on the vampire and jabs her finger into Bella's shoulder, swallowing her yelp and wince. She ignores Bella placating her by stumbling back, knowing she probably did nothing to the vampire at all. "You said you were going to fix this and, by all accounts, you made it worse!"

"I tried really, really hard!"

"And that counts for something, yeah?"

"Well it should," Bella pouts with furrowed brows.

Leah turns her back to the girl and storms towards the sink to dump her dish. "No, you don't get to be cute, Bella. I'm so fucking pissed right now." She sighs and hangs her head, hands braced on the counter. "You shouldn't have gone either. That blonde dude would have handled it better. He could have fixed this."

"Carlisle is freakishly good at this kinda stuff," Bella agrees thoughtfully. She slinks up to the wolf hesitantly, waiting for silent permission, before snaking her arms around a warm waist and resting her chin on Leah's shoulder. She melts against the wolf's back and hums softly. "He's a very rude boy."

"Duh," Leah scoffs but can't help her lips quirking up in a small smile. At least a fight didn't break out. "Why do you think I hit him?"

"I can only imagine." Bella blinks at the window above the sink, watches the trees in the back yard, and the wind that makes the branches dance. Leah's heartbeat is a steady rythm that's easy to get lost in, and most of Bella doesn't want to break this moment. But there's something she noticed... "He is really... fixated on you."

Leah nods and one hand falls down to cover Bella's over her stomach. "We were always close, growing up. Best friends and then. Well. I was his first kiss, his first big secret. We were both... different, and took comfort in each other. I was so scared of being alone, nobody understood me, understood what I was going through, but Sam was there despite it all. Then he Changed and got possessive. Animal instinct, I can't help it. You're mine and we both know it." She sighs and shakes her head. "I was flattered in the beginning, that he wanted me that much. Then I Changed."

She turns in Bella's arms and the two readjust to a more comfortable position with Bella's hands on her hips and hers locked behind Bella's neck. Leah quirks an eyebrow. "How much do you know about Shifting?"

"People to very large wolves and back to people again," Bella says, a little uncertainly.

Leah snorts and gives a nod. "Basically, yeah. It's a Shapeshifter gene that's passed down genetically, but the wolf is the variable. It's more about adapting to survive, and our first chief just happened to view wolves as the apex predators. And what's more safe than being the apex predator? We were told that we would Shift into wolves, so we Shift into wolves. I'm fairly certain if they told us we'd Shift into bears, we would be bears."

"Makes sense," Bella agrees.

"So it stands to reason that the reverse would be the same, no? A mere thought has me exploding into a giant dog. Could a thought not also have me shifting into what I am? What I know I am, with every fibre of my being? What I see myself as when I close my eyes? What I believe I was meant to be, with all my heart?"

A lightbulb goes off and Bella's face breaks out into understanding. "Wait, are you saying-"

"I started transitioning a year ago, much to the shame of my father, and the appalled confusion of the rest of the res," Leah tells her. She blinks and looks down at her feet, avoiding eye contact. "I took to it really, really well. Honestly," she laughs and shakes her head but it's weak, "I thought it was a sign that I was doing the right thing, that I was right all along, that I was always supposed to be a girl. I didn't even think of the Shifter gene being triggered or, or affecting it."

There's only a momentary lull before Bella's rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "So you're..."

Leah breaks from her grip before Bella can react, puts distance between them. She takes a shake breath and squares her shoulders. "A trans girl. Yes. I am."

"Well, yeah," Bella hums without looking at her. The vampire's brows are still furrowed and she still looks like she's wrestling with something but Leah's mind just exploded in her skull. "So you're... his ex?"

"I..." the wolf shakes her head in a disbelieving manner. "You're - Bella - you have an issue with me being his ex?!"

"A little," Bella admits sheepishly and ducks her head. "Sorry?"

"No, that's... reasonable," Leah breathes. She idly sits back on one of the stools at the kitchen island, propping her elbow up to hold her chin in her hand. "You're never what I think you are, Bella."

Finally, Bella breaks from her reverie and own mind, blinking rapidly. "Hm? Oh, sorry. Did I not consider something else?"

"I'm a trans girl."

Bella's in arms reach again, cool fingers tangling with Leah's free hand. "Yes, I know."

"You don't care?"

"I do," she counters with a huff. Another lightbulb goes off and Leah has to remind herself that this is still relatively new to Bella. Social cues are delayed or go right over the vampire's head. Her social stigmas aren't necessarily in tune with the rest of society's. Bella snaps her fingers. "Not in. Okay. I care because I value this about you, not because there is an issue. That's what that means, in this context, right?"

"Yes, Bella."

"Durn it." Leah watches Bella step back to fish a small notepad out of her pocket, fingers blurring across the page with a pen to make note of this. "I'll catch up," Bella tells her when Leah laughs softly. "Just you watch. I'll be hip with the word on the streets soon enough."

Leah reaches out to put her hand on Bella's, stopping the nervous tapping of pen against pad. She stares up at Bella's face, waits for anxious eyes to flick over and meet her own. "It would be okay if you did have an issue, Bella. I would understand." There's a moment of sincerity before she cracks and chuckles. "Okay, I probably wouldn't. I might punch you in the face. But it would still be okay. Sort of."

"Leah," Bella breathes the name out like a reverent prayer, like her voice is caressing every syllable. Her eyes flutter and Leah is entranced, she refuses to blink, refuses to breathe, refuses to do anything that might take her attention away from the angel in front of her that's struggling to voice words. Bella's fingers ghost down the side of Leah's face, feather light. "I'm not here 'despite it all.'"

Not like Sam.

Bella crouches down to rest her chin atop Leah's knee, staring up at her with a tenderness that Leah's only ever seen her father give her mother. "There are many things I adore about you," Bella whispers. "And this is one of them."

"Are," Leah clears her throat forcefully and rolls her eyes at herself, "are you sure?"

"When it comes to you?" Bella grins big enough to crinkle her eyes. "Always."

There's no time to do much of anything before commotion breaks into the room. "That was very sweet, Bella, but how long do you expect to keep the rest of us waiting?"

"Ali-" Bella snarls playfully as a pixie climbs over her to put herself between Bella and the wolf. "Alice!"

"That's me!" the pixie chirps and twirls before the wolf. She holds out her hand. "Alice Cullen. We haven't met yet because someone doesn't know how to share. She's still learning."

"Largely thanks to you, I hear?" Leah laughs.

Alice bats her eyes.

Bella is yanked farther away from Leah when Emmett comes barrelling in. He shoves Alice sideways and also holds out his hand. "I teach her stuff too, you know. I was also the one who told her to go for it with you."

"I did, too!" Alice cries from the other side of the island.

Bella pinches her nose and tries not to throw Leah over her shoulder and run up to her room. "Yes, yes, you all excel at butting into my life. Get out, damn it!"

"This is what you get for bringing your girlfriend home," Rosalie sighs as she breezes by. She grabs Emmett by the ear and tugs him away. "I don't want you smelling like dog on our date later. Go shower."

Leah blinks up at the statuesque blonde. "Holy shit, you're beautiful," she mutters, more to herself than anyone else.

Rosalie glances down at the wolf, lifts her lip in a sneer, and leaves the kitchen again.

"Bit of a bitch, too," Leah adds with a nod.

Finally, Bella breaks free and reaches the wolf again. She staggers to Leah's side with an exaggerated gasp for air. "For the love of the stars," she gasps out. "Where did they all come from?"

"We've been waitin' in the living room," Jasper tells her. He's leaning against the wall in the entrance to the kitchen and nods at Leah when she looks up. "Name's Jasper and it's a pleasure to meet you."

Leah only shakes her head with a chuckle, looking around the room that's filling up more and more with all the vampires waiting to meet her. "You guys are... not what we thought."

"We are so much more!" Alice agrees brightly. "Okay, come show Esme and I how to make lasagna. We get the gist of it, but I've never actually prepared something edible before! Not that I can remember, at least. Oh! And cookies! I've always wanted to bake someone cookies. Esme, where's that big bowl?"

Bella grins over top of the pixie's head at Leah. She bounces in place at the soft look on Leah's face, the warmth she can see in those dark eyes, and forgets how badly she messed up today.

Suddenly this family is feeling a lot more complete.

.

.

.

It's one of the hardest things she's ever done, but Bella manages to tear herself away from Leah as the wolf sleeps soundly. The second she's down out of the attic, she feels cold and empty, and wants nothing more than to climb back into that warm bed, cuddle back up to Leah's back, and drift into her thoughts until morning.

But she can't.

She has something to do. Something that has her dropping out of a window from the top floor, landing silently on the grass below.

The moon hangs high in the sky, illuminating the yard and woods beyond. Bella doesn't make it three feet before Carlisle is there, stepping out from around one of the trees. She briefly wonders if he was waiting for her or if his timing is just that spectacular.

He seems startled, surprised to see her, and she decides it's just weird timing. "Bella, my dear. What are you doing out here?"

"Nothing," she replies quietly. Quickly.

He frowns, eyes travelling up to the attic of the house. "I thought you would be spending the night with Leah again. You two have been inseparable this past week."

"I... yes. No. I have to do something," she tells him.

Carlisle nods and hums thoughtfully. His eyes are too understanding, he's too patient, and she knows he knows where she's going. What she's doing. "I see," he murmurs. "Are you quite certain?"

"Yes."

"I thought so." He rubs his hands together, as if he's cold, but it's probably habit or conscious thought. A human mannerism, one of many he has. So human, he's always been the best at pretending. Much better than she is, but in her defense, William spent many, many years trying to quash it in her. He sniffed out every last shred of her humanity and burned it away.

Relearning it all has been hell but she's catching up.

Carlisle seems to have been thinking along the same lines. He looks at her hands, waits for the tapping, and is surprised to find her so still. "Our choices determine who we are, Bella. Remember that you fought for your own. Please don't make them lightly."

"I won't. Don't." She shakes her head. "I can fix this. I can make it go away for her, for you. I can end it."

He steps forward, stopping when she jerks back a step and breaks eye contact. He eases back slowly. "We're not asking you to, Bella. We would never put that on you and I'm... I'm so sorry that he did."

"I can take it. I - I can - I'll do it. I'll take it."

"You didn't want it," Carlisle reminds her softly. "That's why you left. That's why you're here. Please remember that, Bella."

"I have to go-"

"Bella, I won't stop you. I can't stop you, not if this is what you're determined to do, but please, please think about it-"

"I'll be back in the morning."

She's gone in the blink of an eye, disappearing into the trees.

.

.

.

"You know, my dad's said maybe fives sentences to me since I've started transitioning? I bet he's loving this."

It's the only thing that pops into her head as she stalks the reservation, her shield strengthened enough to block out her image and scent from anyone's senses. She tried really hard to ignore everything else, ignore the uncertainty threatening to paralyze her. The doubt that tries to still her actions.

She's not really sure why it popped up in her head. Sure, it was a nice afternoon, one of her most fond of memories now. And sure, she's maybe been thinking about it since then. Thinking about her own father, trying to remember his face. Trying to remember the last thing she said to him. That he said to her. Trying to remember if they got along or if their relationship was just as rocky as Leah's and her dad's.

The sad truth is... Bella just can't remember. It's been too long. He's dead and gone and not even a memory anymore. Lost to her, with so much else.

It's not a feeling she particularly likes and the more she thinks about it, the more she feels the loss. The hollow ache in her chest.

She doesn't want Leah to feel this pain. Doesn't want Leah to know what it's like to have a void in her that's so big, so sharp, so deep that it steals your breath away.

And then Bella remembers that Leah's dad isn't gone. He isn't dead. He isn't lost to two hundred years. He's thirty seconds down this road, sitting at the kitchen table in that big brick house at the end of the street, sipping... coffee? Tea, maybe?

There is no doubt as she twists the doorknob. No uncertainty making her falter. Dealing with Sam might not have been completely wrong, but fixing this, right here, is right.

Sue and Harry almost jump out of their skin when Bella flickers into sight. Sue throws her hand over her chest with a startled gasp, and Harry's falling out of his seat to get to the phone on the wall.

He blinks and Bella's crushing the receiver in her hand like it's made of frail chalk. He shuffles backwards, bumping into the fridge, while Sue has managed to mostly recover and just gape at the vampire in her kitchen.

A vampire. An actual vampire in the flesh. Not stories from books and around the campfire. Rumours from the pack. Fuzzy pictures that some of the more bold people on the res try to take when they're in Forks.

A real life vampire. In her home. Standing on the other side of the kitchen. Glaring at her husband.

Something clicks and realization floods her. "Bella," she breathes without thinking.

The vampire's head tilts, amber eyes flicking over to Sue who flinches but doesn't look away. Harry grunts and kicks a chair out of his way, shouldering in front of Sue to shield her from the Pale Face. "Get the hell out of my house!" he booms.

Unblinking. Unmoving. The vampire gives no indication that she even heard him speak.

Not human. Not human, Sue's mind whispers to her. She knows, logically, that the vampires only sparkle in the sunlight, but there's no denying some kind of reaction to the moonlight spilling in front the windows. That pale, creamy skin doesn't glow, per say, but it's so close that she's enthralled. Amber eyes burn like coals in the night, an indignant fury smoldering within. The scars that litter her skin speak volumes to what's she's been through, and hint at who she might be.

Sue has to admit... she's having a hard time seeing the hopelessly romantic poet that stole her daughter's heart. And yet, there's something profound about this vampire, this young woman. That perhaps her softer side is just as passionate, that maybe her daughter brings out this girl's equal but opposite side of the intensity she sees before her now.

Her daughter...

Sue shakes her head and tries to peek over Harry's shoulder. "Is Leah okay?"

Amber coals slide over to meet her and the fire dies down, if only a little. Harry huffs, puffs up his shoulders, and smacks his hand down on the table. "You don't belong here. Leave, now, before I get the pack involved."

The vampire scoffs and - and there's motion. Motion that human eyes can't track, but suddenly she's on the table. Crouched on the table, a mere two feet away, eyes black as the night and fangs bared in a feral grin. "Are you confident you could get a scream out before I crush your neck between my fingers?"

Her voice is cold, sharp, like the chilly bite of the night air. It raises goosebumps along Sue's skin, and she see's a tremor in her husband's back.

"What do you want?" he spits out.

Bella breathes in deeply, easing back down off the table. Her boots thud against the floor and she starts pacing the kitchen, looking through drawers, touching the pictures pinned to the fridge. Her gaze lingers on a picture of Seth and Leah when they were just little, and Sue can spot the smile that hides in her mouth. "I want to discuss your daughter."

"I have no daughter," Harry grumbles.

The smile is gone, even its shadow, and Bella glares at him from the corner of her eye. "That's a shame. Leah's worth being proud of."

"I beg to differ."

Sue smacks him as hard as she can on the back of his shoulder and he stumbles forward onto the table with a groan of pain. "How dare you!" she roars and smacks him again. "Don't you ever say something like that about my daughter again. Your daughter."

"What are you talking about?" he bellows and pushes himself back up to his feet. "Attacking Sam? Spitting in the face of generations of tradition? Turning h... Turning their back on us? Our people? Abandoning Seth? Embarrassing me? Dragging our name through the dirt? Are you saying there is no shame in this?"

Shaking her head, Sue beseeches her husband. "Leah is struggling. Can't you see that? Can't you see how hard this is for her? She needs us. She needs you. Now, more than ever. The only one turning their back is you."

"No. No." He shoves away from Sue to storm across the room to the broken phone, picking it up and staring at it in his hands. "Everything was fine and now... we were all fine. A choice was made and now our family is broken and there's very clearly someone to blame."

"I agree," Bella says lowly. The humans remember they're not alone, that they have a silent, fuming statue watching them. Harry's heartbeat stutters at the look on her face. "Your choice has broken this family, and you're too stubborn to see that."

"You don't know anything-"

She surges forward and he presses back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut when she gets in his face. Hears her breathe in deeply through her nose, blinking open his eyes to see her black ones flutter shut, and the grimace on her face. "What are you afraid of losing?" she whispers.

He has an answer that surprises them both and he marvels at it, that she heard it without him having to speak it. Marvels at the surprise and hope that blooms on his wife's face because...

Nobody realized he lost something.

And he didn't realize that he hadn't.

She is just different now.

"I'll tell you what I do know of your daughter, Harry," Bella says and stands the fallen chair up. She drags it over to the table, waiting for Sue to sit, before looking up at Harry. "Come sit."

He does so hesitantly with jittery motions.

The vampire's face is open and kind, full of patience the likes of which neither human has ever seen. The kind that comes from an eternal life, years beyond measure, and they wonder how old she really is. "I was not around the first time my family formed the treaty with the original pack," she tells them calmly. "Carlisle told me about it, about them. The respect they commanded, the honour they held. Warriors with a code of integrity, the kind of men Carlisle aspired to be. Guardians of your people. I understand where your pride and blind trust stems from, I do.

"But this is not the same pack," Bella's voice degrades into something dangerous with a growly edge. "This is a boy who inherited too much power, and a group of adults who have held so tight to their tradition that they've let it poison their tribe. Sam thinks he owns your daughter, did you know that?" she asks them seriously. Sue closes her eyes because... she knew. She suspected, at least. Something was wrong but no one would talk to her. Everyone shut her out.

Harry only shakes his head and Bella's not certain if his disbelief is because he's surprised or if he truly doesn't believe her. His jaw clenches and she still doesn't know, but he seems to have settled on something.

"He thinks he owns all of those boys, including Seth," Bella says vehemently. "Does he hide his tyranny from you or are you all just truly blind to it?" How did no one notice? Who kept the pack in check? How could they let this happen? "Do you understand that he would pit Seth against Leah, have them tear each other apart, just because she told him no? Try to comprehend the hold he has over your children."

Tears streak down Sue's cheeks and she looks to Harry. Jerks forward to grab his hand on the table and yank it angrily. How could we not see? How could we let this happen to them? How could we let him hold this over our kids?

"And then realize that Leah said no." A small, proud smile tugs the corner of Bella's lips up. "That she broke free. That your daughter is free because she fought for it, that her very genetics demanded she obey, but because she is so unyielding, so unfaltering in the face of such injustice... she is free." Bella leans forward to catch Harry's eye. "That is how strong your daughter is. To stand where others kneel."

"I... I didn't..."

Bella ignores Harry and sits back again. "Know that when she was chased off from her home. That when your precious Alpha hunted her across the res, ran her off from her family, her friends, from everything she's ever known and loved... When she was alone with nothing and no one, her first concern was you. The only thing she wanted, from the moment she collapsed at our door, was to know you were safe." Bella shakes her head. "That is how loyal and selfless your daughter is. To put others before herself."

"Harry!" Sue whimpers.

"And then-" Bella jerks up to her feet, a rumble in her chest, and throws the chair down the hallway and into the wall. She whirls back around, clenching her fist in front of Harry, and slams it down hard enough to dent the table and make the dishes jump. "Then realize that she lives in a world where people try to tell her that she's wrong. That she's not valid, that she isn't a person, and people like you won't even treat her like one.

"That people try to rip her identity from her. They try to break her sense of self just so she'll fit into the convenient box they want to stuff her in." Hands trembling, Bella grabs the front of his shirt and hauls him up to his feet. Drags him across the kitchen to pin him against the wall while Sue yelps and jumps to her feet. Tries to pry Bella away from him but she might as well be tugging on a mountain. "Realize that you are doing this to her," Bella snarls in his face. She holds his gaze as he stands there, as he doesn't fight her back. As the words sink in. "Yet she is still here. She refuses to back down, refuses to give in, refuses to be ignored. In the face of a world screaming at her that she shouldn't be... she still tells them 'I am.' That is how brave your daughter is. Told hold onto who she is in a world so desperate to erase her."

Bella drops her hands from him and he slumps to the ground. Sue drops to her knees to check on him while Bella tries to reel in her rage and anger. Tries to remember that these are people. That she doesn't want to hurt anyone. That it would break Leah's heart if she hurt them.

She turns back and points an accusing finger at him, glares down into his dark, watery eyes. "And you have the audacity to stand there and try to tell me these are things to be ashamed of?! Your daughter is extraordinary and you should be proud."

The house stands silent in the wake of her declaration. It's quiet enough that Harry can almost hear his own heartbeat, he can hear the dial tone from the destroyed received scattered on the kitchen floor beside him. He can hear his wife's choppy breathing and looks over at her, needs the reassurance that always comes when he gazes upon Sue's face.

She's... upset. At him, at the world, at pretty much everything these days. He's noticed. Noticed but too stubborn to try and fix, even though he knows she deserves it. Deserves for him to fix this. It's his job, after all. It's the silent agreement of love, that every couple makes, that they made all those years ago.

I give you my heart for as long as you'll protect it.

He jerks his chin to the side, staring at the vampire's red shoes. A leech that holds more honour than he does. It's why she's here, it's the only reason that makes sense. She's doing this for Leah. Trying to fix this, for Leah. Because she was given Leah's heart and...

Damn it. This Pale Face risked hide and hair just to protect it.

From him.

Harry squeezes his eyes shut tight, feels the sting in them, holds his breath to keep from choking on the lump in his throat. He angrily bumps his head back against the wall he's sitting against. "Get out of my house."

There's movement and he's surprised she's relenting to his demand - until he opens his eyes and realizes she hasn't budged an inch.

Seth is skidding into the kitchen, hopping a fallen chair and landing in front of his father with a snarl. "Don't touch him! Get the hell - oh!" His fighting stance relaxes instantly and he straightens up, his face hopeful and eager. He's as sharp as his mother and just as quick. "Is Leah okay?"

The humans in the room are baffled and astonished to see the vampire's transformation right before them. From the enraged stone statue to a young girl that melts and loosens up. Bella's entire frame shifts, her shoulders relax and she hops forward. Her face is open and kind and reassuring, a smile on her lips more tender than anyone was expecting. "She's alright, I promise, Seth. She's safe with me, always."

"I didn't want to be at the border that day," he tells her earnestly, grabbing the lapels of her coat. "But, but I couldn't, I-"

"I know!" she nods and pats his shoulders. "I know, she told me. I shouldn't have been there either, truthfully. How are you doing? How's Sam been? Has he hurt you? Are you okay? What do you need from me?"

Sue's book, that she had been reading with her tea, is thrown at Harry with surprising force. He startles and looks up at her, while she gestures to the other two. Harry grudgingly watches on and tries not to humanize the bloodsucker that's so ready to help his family without thought of reciprocity.

Seth shakes his head. "I got a wholloping but they mostly leave me alone. Sam knows Leah would kill him if he let them hurt me, knows he'd really lose her that way. He still - it's weird, in my head. He thinks she's coming back. That she's just upset and if he apologizes, it'll go back to how it was. He thinks you're holding her hostage."

"That is horrendously untrue."

"I know. Most of us know, we see it clearly. When we Shift, he see's it clearly. But he's lying to himself. It's like he's trying to force himself to believe she still loves him."

There's a sharp pause, Bella's fingers twitching on his shoulders. She works her jaw once and stares at the corner of the room. "Did she once?"

"Bella..."

"Never mind, it doesn't matter." Bella shakes her head and steps back, straightens her coat. "I have a number, I couldn't give it to you at the border, but Leah really, really wants to speak with you all. She misses you."

Sue perks up. "Yes! Oh! Let me get some paper to write it down. Seth, program it into your cellphone. Here, Bella, let me just-"

The back door swings open with a bang that rattles the house. Seth's eyes widen a second before there's commotion, and two large wolves are pouncing into the kitchen. He ducks towards his mother first, shielding her from any danger and pinning her to the wall, while Harry skitters back out of the way.

Bella doesn't have time to move - she makes a dash for the front door but gets only two feet before a powerful jaw clamps down on her shoulder and forces her to her knees. She snarls in pain and reaches up for that mighty jaw, but both arms are grabbed by a tall boy on either side, wrenched out and pinned in their grip.

Sam's boots clack against the tiled floor and he crouches down to meet her dark gaze, an arrogant smirk on his lips. "Well, well. Seems we finally have our breach of treaty, hm? Part of me actually wants to thank you."

"Sam, don't-"

"Quiet!" he commands and Seth's parents watch in horror as the boy clamps his jaw shut, angry tears in his eyes.

Sue's fingers flit over her son's face before she whirls on the Alpha. "Sam, please! Stop this."

"This doesn't concern you. This is a pack matter. If you have issues, take it up with the council." He turns back to Bella and grins. "In the meantime, I have an example to make, and I'm sure your coven would love to see it. Be a doll, Sue, and give them a call." He reaches into her coat pocket, grabbing her phone, and tosses it onto the table. As he straightens her coat for her, he leans in close. "She'll love me again, when you're out of the picture."

Bella jolts in their grip, snaps her fangs in his face with a snarl. Sam jerks back and up to his feet with a bark of laughter, and Sue presses the phone to her ear with trembling hands. "H-Hello? You have to get down to the border, hur-"

The phone is yanked out of her grip and both Seth and Harry flinch forward. Sam wags his finger in Seth's face and turns to the rest of the room. "Good evening, Cullen. I have one of your covenmates here with me, and we're all about to learn what happens when you break my trust and cross my border. Yes, I thought you might feel that way. I invite you to protest at the border in, hmm... let's say, twenty minutes?"

Bella watches with stormy eyes as he tosses her phone into the sink and turns on the tap. "Don't do this, Sam!" Sue begs.

"It's already done. Come along, leech," he calls and heads for the front door.

She's dragged up to her feet and shoved forwards after him.

.

.

.

Nazir is perched on a branch nearby that Bella can see out the corner of her eye, the little crow the only thing keeping her calm while she waits for her family. Her hands are clasped before her, thumbs tapping together in beats of four, the cold wet grass staining her knees. A wolf stands behind her, head hanging over her, breath like steam rolling down her back, and waiting to pounce should she so much as twitch.

Her shoulder still feels like it's on fire, the venom pooling in it, trying to heal the damage of the Shifter's bite. She can barely move it, but she's more upset about the punctures in her coat. It takes all her strength not to tear across the clearing at the bigger grey wolf who ruined it.

Seth, Sue, and Harry are off to the side. Seth still can't speak, and Sue is torn between whispering reassurances to him and to Bella. Harry's been in his head since Sue hit him, and doesn't seem to be a part of the world right now.

And Sam? Sam's pacing back and forth, without a care in the world.

The sun is just starting to peek over the tops of the trees, cutting through the branches, spilling into the clearing in patches. It doesn't directly hit Bella, but the wolves are a little amazed to see a dusting of glitter in her skin, like something out of a dream. One of the wolves suddenly looks uneasy, uncertain, and Bella can see something like compassion in its eyes. Another hasn't looked up from its paws once, and a third whines now and then.

She suspects not all the wolves feel the same on the matter.

The vampires arrive much more suddenly than the wolves. One moment they're in an empty clearing alone, and the next the coven is simply there. Black eyes, bared fangs, and snarling beasts. Esme is at the very edge of the border, a handful of feet away from Sam. Her face is hard, more angry than Bella has ever seen, and eyes blacker than the night sky. "Release my daughter and you get to walk away from this, Sam Uley. I'm only warning you once."

He watches her curiously, eyes dragging over her shoulder to a stoic looking Carlisle, and back again. Realization dawns on his face, and his smirk curls up even more. "More deception, Pale Faces? So you are the leader of this coven?"

"I am."

"Right," he drawls and walks back over to Bella, laying his hand on her shoulder. She tries not to wince, especially when he digs his fingers into the bite mark the other wolf left. "Perhaps you can tell me why she broke our treaty? Tell me why she crossed my border, why she broke into one of my people's houses, and threatened the Clearwaters? Because, frankly, we simply cannot let that stand."

"I didn't threaten them," Bella mutters towards the dirt.

Sam scoffs. "We have witnesses claiming they heard yelling. How do you think we found you?"

"I didn't threaten them."

"You bloodsuckers were warned," Sam says in a rather dark voice, his face serious. He crosses his arms over his chest, flexing muscles, and stalks back towards Esme. "This one broke the rules. Broke the treaty. You know what that means, you know the penalty. She forfeits her life."

Leah elbows around Emmett and jerks forward. "No!" she yells, and is only stopped from crossing the border when Esme holds out her arm. She anxiously looks between the matriarch of the family, and to Bella.

Bella, who's straining to lift herself up as high as she can on her knees, wide eyes bright gold and eagerly trying to meet her own. A face full of wonder and such awe, like someone witnessing their very first sunrise, and Leah's heart gives a painful tug in her chest that steals her breath away.

Tears spill down over Leah's cheeks and she has to hold onto Esme to keep from collapsing to her own knees. "It's okay, Bella. You're going to be okay. Sam won't lay a finger on you," she snarls and glares defiantly at the Alpha. "How dare you!"

Harry flinches back and in that moment he can't see the different between Leah and Sue. Their righteous indignation in the face of unwarranted cruelty and bigotry.

"How dare I?" Sam bellows incredulously. "How dare I, Leah? Look towards yourself before you try shifting that blame somewhere. Who dragged this leech into this mess? Who was bored and decided to cause this drama to begin with? Who was perfectly happy and looked after, who was so loved and spoiled, they thought they deserved more and went seeking it in the arms of a corpse?! Who could not simply be thankful for what they had? Who is so selfish that they have to ruin all the lives they touch?"

"It's not selfish to want your life, to want basic human rights. It's not selfish to want to be treated like everyone else, Sam. It's not selfish to want to be loved!" Leah spits back at him furiously.

His hands are in his hair and he storms back towards the border. Esme sets her shoulders. "I do love you!" he roars. "I have always loved you, as you are! Who else can say that?"

"Bella is the only one who can!" Leah cries out with a shake of her fist, leaning forward to confront this imbecile. "You loved me only as you wanted me, to suit your ends, when it was convenient for you. You all wanted me to be something I'm not to make your lives easier. Who cares if it kills me, right? As long as you don't have to deal with it, as long as your lives are perfect."

"I protected you! From all of those close-minded ignorants! From your father!"

"And you've held that over me ever since. Like I owe you something for treating me like a person. Like I should be grateful you're not actively spitting in my face. Like it isn't some kind of default consideration, and it is some great burden to show basic compassion. So thank you, Sam, for seeing me as Leah, but fuck you for using my dead-name and knowing exactly what that would do to me, knowing exactly what it would mean to me. You absolute fuck."

Sam deflates a little at that while shame flutters around his side of the border. He shakes his head, his shoulders drooping. "I was... Leah, I was mad, I didn't mean it."

"You did. Rage eats logical reasoning, and we speak our minds when we're angry. You did mean it, on some level, Sam, and that's what hurts the most." She sighs deeply, chest heaving as she catches her breath. Her gaze drags over to Bella, whose heart looks like it's breaking for her, and she smiles faintly. "Do you know what Bella said to me when I stuck my foot in my mouth and made her mad?"

"I don't care-"

"She told me I was being an asshole and to come find her when I realized I was wrong."

"I have apologized!" Sam growls furiously.

Leah glares back at him. "No, you threatened my fucking girlfriend, Sam. That is not even close to an apology."

"I'm sorry!"

"Fuck you, you prick!"

He snarls again and whirls around to Bella. The Cullens all jerk forward, cries of outrage and threats of death should he lay a finger on her. His hand stills on her chin, head lifted and tilted to the side, neck straining and ready to be snapped. The contempt on her face is admirable and he gazes down at her thoughtfully. "If I'm to be punished for my actions, so will she, Leah. You choose. Either we're both forgiven, or we both pay. Come back to me, or she dies."

Emmett roars and pounds his chest with an echoing boom, snarling at the edge of the border with the rest of the family. "Touch her and you're dead!"

"I'll show you your rotten heart if you don't let go of her this very second," Rosalie warns in a deadly voice, her eyes black pits that threaten to devour entire worlds.

Leah stumbles forward quickly, onto the border, nearly crossing. "Sam, wait!"

Bella surges forward as much as she can in his grip. "Leah! Don't!" she gasps in alarm. The wolf looks at her and Bella shakes her head vehemently. "I can't! Leah, I can't be the reason you're not free. It'll kill me worse than he ever could."

"Dead is dead, you idiot," Leah coos softly, with tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks.

Bella smiles - large and bright and very, very her. "Then let me have a worthwhile reason. Please."

Despite the very bones in her body screaming at her not to, Leah steps back once. Bella sags in relief and Sam's fury grows. Leah beseeches him, pleads with him, her hands over her heart that is on the brink of shattering. "Sam, please. If I ever meant anything to you, if you ever truly cared about me, please don't do this. You can't do this!"

"But I can," he argues with a dark kind of satisfaction. Leah is gone. Stolen by this leech. He can see that now. His stomach churns and acid eats at his heart, but hips lips peel back in a feral grin. "She broke the treaty."

"No, she didn't." The words are soft but firm and Sam turns in surprise, staring at the determined, resolute face of Harry Clearwater. "The Cold Ones are allowed to cross if invited over by the council, and I invited her, Sam." His gaze drifts over to Leah. "I wanted to meet my daughter's girlfriend. If anyone should pay, it's me, and I'm certain the rest of the council will see to that. Let the vampire go."

"You're lying!" Sam snarls and shoves Bella to the ground so he can storm over to the human.

Leah jerks forward. "Get away from my dad!"

Harry only lifts his chin defiantly. "Prove it. You're lucky I don't press charges for you charging through my house uninvited."

"You little-" Sam clenches his jaw, entire frame trembling. "Do you have any idea who I am? What I am?! I'm the Alpha! These wolves are mine, Leah is mine. I refuse to - no! You will not defy me, none of you will defy me, this is my land. Paul, tear the bloodsuckers apart. They will bow or they will bleed."

All of the wolves crouch low, claws digging into the dirt whether they like it or not. Ears pinned back and jaws snapping. The big grey wolf bounds towards the border, aiming straight for Leah and Esme.

Sam makes for Bella while the smaller russet wolf at the end whines and shrinks in on himself. Seth furiously shakes his head, working his jaw once, twice. "J-Jake!" he stutters out, as if having to physically force the words from his mouth. "Do... it! You're...al...pha..!"

The grey wolf hunkers down, prepares to launch himself across the border while Leah readies herself as well.

A naked boy darts towards the border, "Heel!"

And the grey wolf slams to a halt, as if colliding with an invisible wall. The other wolves in the clearing drop to their haunches, whining in the back of their throats.

Bella twirls up to her feet the second the grip on her shoulders are slack, the boys shuffling back and dropping their chins to their chests in submission. Sam is there, still charging at her, and she grabs his arm, flips him over her injured shoulder, and slams him into the ground. Her knee pins him by the neck, hands grabbing his flailing fists.

"M-my pack!" he gasps out and squirms in her hold. "Kill her! Paul! Cole! I command you to kill her! Jacob Black, you had no right!"

"I have every right!" he shouts back.

The entire thing might be impressive, if not for the fact that he has a blush across his cheeks, and is covering himself with one hand.

Sam snarls and Bella presses harder on his neck until he chokes and whimpers. She sneers down at him, black eyes flickering between his own. "Well," he rasps. "What are you waiting for? You've taken everything else from me, why not my life too."

"And be anything like you? I think not," Bella replies airily.

He watches her study him and swirls his tongue around in his mouth, gathering the blood from where her elbow caught him in the face. He strains his eyes to try and look over at Leah, and then blinks up at the vampire and laughs. "I know what you're looking for. Trying to see which part she loved. Right? Some shred of compassion? Some decency? Because if she loved this, if she loved me, what does that say about you? What does she love about you? Hm? Maybe we're more alike than you think."

Bella covers his mouth with her hand, fingers digging in until his squeezes his eyes shut and a muffled whimper escapes his lips. When he opens them again, the arrogance is gone. "Hush, child," she whispers softly. "It's over now. Slow your mind. Let go of your problems. Let go of your fears. Feel the ache of lost love and let it heal. The weight of an Alpha is gone. Breathe. You are just Sam. You are just a boy."

"...What are you doing?"

She pulls her hand back and rests it over his heart. "They are not your concern. She is not your concern. There is no one else. There is only you. Feel the wind against your skin. Breathe."

"I-I'm not..."

His protests are weak and she can feel his breathing shift and change, deepen, relaxed and calm. In and out. His heart steadies beneath her palm. "You are not a killer, you don't need to carry that weight. You're just a boy."

"But you broke-"

"It's done," she soothes gently. "It's over and gone. The decision isn't yours, those burdens don't rest on your shoulders anymore. Look at me, Sam." Brown meets amber and he's surprised to see the understanding and patience reflected back at him. "You're so young. Too young for them to have put this on you. Don't let them do it again. Be free, Sam. Be free."

"My people. They." He shakes his head.

And Bella pats his cheek. "They're safe and you're just a kid. Don't let them turn you into something you're not."

"I can... I can carry it..."

She smiles sadly, albeit hopefully. "Those that love would never ask you to."

Bella gets up, hesitates long enough to see the wolf relax back into the grass and stare up at the sky. Her gaze shifts along each wolf until it gets to the one she's searching for. He nods seriously and looks out at the rest of the pack. His pack. His pack that he was always meant to protect, not rule.

The wind shifts and Bella braces herself just before Leah launches herself into the vampire's arms. "Bella!" she breathes into the vampire's neck, squeezing nearly to the point of pain. "I was so scared, Bella. I thought I was going to lose you."

"It was touch and go there, for a minute," Bella agrees with a sort of bewildered look on her face. Part of her can't actually believe she got out of this alive.

Leah pulls back enough to grab Bella's arms and shake her. "You idiot," shake, "you moron," shake, "you imbecile," shake, "you foolish, foolish, lovely, absolutely lovely girl. Don't you ever do that again!"

"You asked for my help!" Bella laughs and hisses in pain when Leah punches her in the arm. "Damn, woman!"

"I'm never asking you for help ever again, Bella!" Leah growls. "This is the equivalent of asking you to help open a thing of pickles and you lighting the jar on fire."

Bella gestures to Leah's family who hover nearby, anxiously waiting to talk to her. "You got your damn pickles, didn't you?!"

"You enormous bag of dicks," Leah mutters. Leah sighs and glances over her shoulder, briefly meets her father's eyes, and looks away quickly again. She shifts from foot to foot nervously. "Okay. I need to go talk to them. He called me his daughter, right? That happened? I feel like maybe I tripped on my way here and this is some fucked up coma dream. It can't really be happening, can it?"

"Not only can it, but it is, in real time. Everyone is literally waiting on us. Look. They're all watching. It's like nobody exists unless we interact with them. Like we're in a movie!"

She shakes her head and reaches up to cover Bella's mouth with her hand. "I can't - Bella, I can't do this, I don't have time for more of your existential theories, I need to talk to my family."

"Right. Sorry." Bella nods.

"Okay." Leah smoothes down her clothes. "How do I look?"

"Like you're in love with me."

"You fucking-" She huffs and turns to leave. Bella watches Leah shuffle closer to her family but pause right when she gets to them. She looks over her shoulder and Bella swears her heart beats in her chest. "You're not wrong, though."

Bella doesn't have to turn to know her family is there. She can feel them around her and basks in the safety of their presence, in the comfort of their support. Alice touches her elbow and she looks down into the bright face of the pixie. "We're so proud of you, Bella! You spared Sam, I think you got through to him, Harry is-"

Bella turns and throws herself at Alice, wraps her arms around her and hooks her chin over the pixie's shoulder. "I don't need a recap, Alice, I'm very stressed out. I need a bath. A really long, really hot bath. With music. Lots of loud music. And maybe Leah. In the bath with me."

"Okay. Let's get you home, champ."

"And a fuzzy bathrobe for after! But, like, really fuzzy."

"You got it."

"And Rosalie's pillow - the nice one, I want that to hug while I wait for my bath."

"Of course."

"Excuse me? You can have my pillow when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers, Bella. I don't care if you did save the day."

"Rose!"

.

.

.

baboom.

Okay. A couple quick things. First off, I just wanna say that I did some research into the kinds of issues trans folks face and deal with, and the subsequent emotional trauma. I hope I did it justice, and honestly I REALLY hope I don't offend anyone? That's always a possibility and I'd just, man, I'd kick myself if I did.

So if I did, please tell me, and I'll adjust whatever needs adjusting, or scrap it altogether.

Secondly. This badboy is just too long. And I've trimmed it down! But it's so long. I probably should have just made it a full length multi-chapter story, really, but I'm stubborn and was determined to make it a oneshot. That being said, I had to cut a lot. So I know there are parts where it feels like I should have gone into more detail, and I know there are even MORE parts where you want me to go into more detail. Like William. But honsetly, that's just too much for a oneshot. So we just get little glimpses into bigger things and honestly, it's good enough. It serves its purpose for this oneshot.

Thirdly. I don't know. I'm tired. It's late. I wanted to post this before I collapsed in bed. So the editing is probably shit, btw.

either way, I hope you enjoyed.

peace

paige.