AN: Would love a Beta or co-writer! Please pm me if you're interested! Please leave me a comment about what you like and what you'd like to hear more about.
Bella POV
After scanning the trees for a few minutes for the sound of the howl, I finished getting ready. I peeked out the bedroom window to make sure the police cruiser was gone before going downstairs. When I didn't see any cars out font, I figured the coast was clear. I found some eggs and bread and quickly put together some french toast. Humming along to a song in my head I quickly surveyed the kitchen so I knew where things are and where to put them back. I was halfway through making breakfast when a voice scared me, "Got enough for three more?"
I must have jumped a foot in the air with the way he chuckled at me. "Embry." I nodded at him. "Who's all coming over?" I flipped my french toast.
"No one, but I'm a growing boy." He smirked at me and sat at the small kitchen table against the wall.
I looked him up and down as I took out more eggs. "Growing? I think you're done growing."
He laughed with me and we talked about his friends as I finished cooking. When I sat down he asked me about my life back in Arizona, "I'm really not that interesting." I sighed, "I skipped a grade and took most of my classes at the university and two community colleges. I worked at the library and didn't really have any friends."
"No friends?"
"Not really." I sighed.
"None?"
I rolled my eyes, "Well, my mom has always kind of been my best friend. We moved a lot when I was younger, and I just stopped making friends after a while. Wasn't worth the pain of saying goodbye and promising to keep in touch, when you never get a letter or a phone call." I knew I was brushing it off at this point, but I really didn't want to stay on the subject. "Plus I had my books to keep me busy."
"Books?"
"Yeah, I published the Apache Legends with their permission, and I did two fiction books with them in mind, I made up a tribe and created legends from my imagination and brought their legends into life in the fictional modern times. The first one sold really well, and the second one should be released later this year or early next year."
"Wow. Charlie mentioned you were published, but three books."
I smiled quickly before it disappeared and I looked down at my half empty plate, "Does he talk about me? Like often?"
Embry rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, I mean, he's proud of you. He talks about how smart you are a lot. He kinda gets really sad every summer, around the time you used to visit. He had a wall in his house that looked like a shrine to you." He smiled at me, but his answer just made me sad.
"Do you know why he didn't tell me he moved? Or got engaged?" I looked at him in the eyes and he squirmed.
"Honestly I don't know about the moving, but I know he wanted to tell you about the engagement in person. He was actually scared that you'd be mad."
"Why would I be mad?" I was getting defensive, I could hear it in my voice even as I tried to hide it.
"I don't know, because he moved on from your mom?" He shrugged.
I wiped a hand down my face, "Sorry, I'm not angry at you. I'm just confused." I rested my hand on my palm, "I feel like I tell him everything and he's kept his new life from me. I've actually been really jealous about they way he talks about you. You're the son he's always wanted." I looked down at my still half empty plate, my appetite gone.
"I know it's none of my business but… why did you stop visiting?" I could hear it in his voice by he even looked cautious.
I sighed and looked right at him, "Looking back, I feel selfish about that decision, but- but I really got mad at him. I felt like he didn't fight for me. Like he didn't want me. I spent most of my childhood taking care of my mom: making sure the house was clean, there was food cooked properly on the table, and money to pay the bills. Whenever I came here, he made time for me, but I normally ended up at the Black's house. I wanted him to fight for me. The other half, well I didn't know if it was safe to leave my mom alone for two weeks." I laughed, but he didn't.
I looked at him and suddenly realized what I all said and who I was talking too. "You're scarily easy to talk to." I must have looked like a deer looking into the headlights of a car because he tried to calm me down. He promised not to talk to Charlie or his mom about what I shared, after much prompting and a promise of cookies.
He helped me clean up breakfast, after he finished my plate and offered to show me to Sue's house on his way over to Jake's. I jumped at the chance and quickly grabbed my camera and cell phone before leaving.
Embry was patient with me as I stopped every five feet to take a picture of a building or landform, and on a rare occasion person. It must have been after 10 am when we arrived at the Clearwater house. Jake had joined us at some point when I was stopping to take a few pictures. Embry reintroduced us after I stopped taking a few pictures of wood carved bench on a family's front porch.
Jake looked disappointed when I didn't have the best memories of him, but he still held the door open for me when we entered the Clearwater house. Embry was ahead of us, yelling out a hello when another tall guy waved us into the dining room.
"Hey Bella, this is Seth. Seth this is Bella, my sister" Embry introduced me. I waved at him from across the table and Seth looked at Embry and shook his head a little. My brow creased in confusion, that's the same disappointed look Jake got when I told him I couldn't remember him that well.
"Bella?" Sue entered the dining room.
"Hi, Council Member Clearwater." I walked over to shake her hand.
"Just call me Sue, Bella" Sue engulfed me in a hug. "Alright boys, go find a video game or something. We got work to do." Sue smiled at me as she ushered the boys out of the dining room.
Sue and I spent most of the day putting together my documents to become a member of the tribe. She asked me about my life back in Arizona and I ask her about her life here. She talked about her kids, Seth and Leah most of the time. We talked about her husband Harry who passed away earlier this year due to a heart attack. Then we talked about her work at the clinic. She brought me over to the clinic and showed me around the facility while I took notes. She introduced me to the nurse who helps her run it and we sat down and talk about my plans for the clinic. It was almost one by the time we left and Sue invited me over for a late lunch. She fussed over me and reminded me of myself with my mom.
I asked her what she was making and she let me help. She told me her directions from the top of her head. Looking at the amount of food she was making, anyone would think she is cooking for an army, but she explained that kids from all over the reservation stopped by and they all had huge appetites.
When kids started showing up claiming to have smelled the food from the beach I asked Sue if I should put some aside for Leah, "I mean, you said she doesn't like to cook."
"Ha!" one of the boys laughed, "Leah couldn't cook to save her life."
Seth slapped him upside the head as Sue turned to glare at him. "That would be lovely dear, thank you." Sue faced me.
While we were eating the boys kept trying to meet my gaze and it was starting to freak me out. I scooted closer to Seth's side as I ate and tried to pick-up the conversation I was having with Sue.
When the boys all left, save for Seth who retreated upstairs, I stayed and helped Sue with the dishes. "You know, that dish would go really well with some peach cobbler," I smiled as I dried a plate Sue had handed me.
"That does sound good. Do you cook often?" Sue smiled as she handed me another plate.
"I love to cook. Almost as much as I like to take pictures." Blushing I looked down, "My mom can't boil water, let alone make a meal. When she tries she gets experimental and our fire extinguisher would almost always be used."
"Ah, yes. Renee could never cook." Sue laughed, "One time she convinced Sarah that she could make mashed potatoes for a gettogether." Sue handed over a pan for me to dry as she laughed deep in her belly, "Dear, the potatoes where mashed and frozen!" She was laughing so hard tears started to form in her eyes.
"How did she manage that?" my eyes bulged.
"We don't know! Heck, she didn't know!" Sue laughed some more as she started to put away the dishes. "So, about that peach cobbler?" She turned towards me and threw a peach in the air.
An hour later the cobbler was in the oven and we were sitting at the table going through one of her family scrapbooks. Sue was kind and didn't push me for information whenever she brought up Charlie or Renee.
Sue stopped talking and turned her head to the back of the house. ERR. SLAM!
"Leah, honey is that you?" Sue smiled and stood up as someone, Leah, grunted an affirmative.
"Excuse me dear. I'll be right back. Make yourself at home." Sue when to check on her daughter. When I heard the footsteps on the stairs and Sue didn't return, I went to livingroom to check it out.
Leah was laying on the couch. She looked very different from the pictures Sue and I had been looking through. The scrapbook had been before Harry passed away and before Sam and Leah broke-up. Leah looked exhausted and something just didn't feel right. I heard Sue upstairs yelling on the phone and took the back of my hand to Leah's forehead. A jolt went through my hand and up my arm, straight to my heart, "Oh." I quickly pulled back my hand. After less than a second my hand was back on her forehead. Leah's burning up! I tried to shake her wake, "Leah. Leah!" I patted her face.
"Sue!" I shouted for Sue as I ran to the freezer to grab as much ice as I could carry. I grabbed a glass of water and grabbed a dry towel to wrap the ice up tight and rushed back to the couch, "Sue!" I yelled again. I could hear her getting off the phone. I put the towel on her forehead and tried to get her to wake up. "Leah? Leah, can you hear me?"
"What's wrong?" Sue called back, going to the stairs when Seth rushed past her.
"Leah?" Seth was by my side at an instant.
I angled myself so I could look at Leah's face, "Leah?," I looked to Sue, "She is burning up."
"Oh," Sue looked relieved.
"I can't wake her up." I looked between Seth and Sue, "We need to call an ambulance." I know I was starting to panic, "No. It would be quicker to drive. Sue?" I looked to Sue, but she was just standing there looking like a fish with her mouth opening and closing.
I started to shake my head, "Seth get a thermometer. We need to get her temp. Sue get more ice." I looked down at the unconscious girl. One hand holding the drenched towel to her forehead and the other hand patting Leah's cheeks again. "Leah honey, I need you to wake up okay?"
Seth came back with ice and replaced the towel for me and I heard Sue on the phone. "Mom's calling for help." Seth answered my unasked question.
"Thermometer?"
"We," He paused, sucking in his lips and taking a deep breath. He looked from me to his sister, and back to me, "We don't have one."
"What?" I was stunned. I thought for a second, "Fill the tub with freezing water. We need to get her temp down and fast."
Seth looked from me to Leah to his mom and then nodded at me. Sue got off the phone and calmly walked back into the room. "Bella, maybe you should go home. Just in case this is contagious." Sue looked from me to her daughter.
"No!" I shouted. "I- I- I can't. I can't leave her." My heart was racing, and my breath was shallow. "No. No."
"It's okay." Sue started to approach me with her hands out, "It's okay honey. I'm not going to make you leave."
I nodded and smoothed back Leah's hair again. I couldn't name what I was feeling. My emotions were all over the place. I held the drenched cloth to Leah's forehead as I heard Seth come stomping back down the stairs. I heard him pause, probably taking in the way Sue still had her arms stretched out towards me. They exchanged some words before Seth came closer to me and Leah slowly. "Anyone order a cold bath?" Seth joked.
I nodded vigorously and forced myself to let go of her hand, but I was only one step behind Seth the whole way up the stairs. I only tripped once, but I managed to keep up with him. He gently placed his sister in the cold tub and sprung backwards like he had been burned.
"Get ice." I commanded as I found a cup by the sink, quickly rinsed it out and scooped up some cold water and shielded her nose before pouring it on her head. I did that a few times before a tan hand caught my pale wrist.
"Hello." A gravelly voice said.
My eyes jumped to hers, "Leah? Oh thank the spirits." I started to ask her a lot of questions while I patted her forehead dry. I explained finding her and how high her temperature was. I asked if she knew the date and her full name. I looked at her eyes, "I don't know what I'm doing." I looked from one of her eyes to the other. "Your mom called for help. Do you think you can stand? We can get you changed before we take you to the hospital. And-"
"I'm fine."
"Leah, you're burning up."
"I run hot."
I about chooked on my tounge as she stood up and her clothes clung to her body. I blushed bright red and stood up quickly, my back connecting to with the sink's counter. Her eyes pursued my body as I took her in. "Hi." I squeaked.
"You must be Bella." My eyes widened and I nodded.
Then I heard a deep rumbled like growl from Leah as her head whipped to bathroom door. I followed her gaze to see Seth holding a bowl of ice and Sam standing behind him. Sam made a similar noise and Leah stepped out of the cold bath water and stood in front of me and made the growling sound again, but this time it sounded more like Mine. The back of Leah's body was pressed up against me when she growled and I felt a weird shiver from the warmth of her body and I suddenly felt light-headed. As if the blood drained from my head completely. I swayed slightly and felt Leah grip me with a hand behind her back. She pulled me closer to her as they continued to talk or growl back and forth. My chest bumped her back and I realized my body's reaction. My nipples were hard as they grazed her soaked back and my legs were wobbly, and I felt moisture between my legs as Leah let out another growl. My lips released a moan or mewling noise and my body pressed into her back on its own accord.
Sue's voice was coming from the hallway as Leah sprang away to slam the bathroom door shut. In less than a second she had me sitting on the bathroom counter in front of her with her body between my legs. All I could think was What just happened?
AN: Well… What did just happen? This chapter developed slightly different from how I had intended… but there it is. Let me know what you think. I'm posting as is, because I haven't posted in a while. Let me know if you think I should keep it, edit it, or maybe just rewrite it. (Again, I'd love a co-writer or an editor.)
