JPOV
"Hello Jacob," I was greeted with a smile.
My eyes widened and my thoughts went wild, skipping to things I didn't want to think of at the moment. But at the same time, I figured that the knowing smile that greeted me on Edward's face, made hiding my memories of Leah slightly redundant. He looked as if he already knew what was going on and I wondered how much he actually knew.
"I know enough," he chuckled, "and you should stop worrying."
"What?"
"I haven't told Nessie," Edward said, his face a bit more serious, "I thought it wasn't my secret to share."
"Does anyone else know?"
"You know Alice can't see you."
"Bella?"
"No, I haven't told her either."
"Why?"
"It's not my place to tell her either," I sighed, "and Nessie wouldn't want her to know yet."
Then I wondered how much he knew about the photo, about Nahuel and about Nessie having fallen for someone else. And immediately my thoughts skipped to wondering whether he understood how she and I could have landed in this situation despite the imprinting. I looked at him and knew he was politely waiting for me to voice my questions, rather than answering them from my thoughts.
"Very considerate," I rolled my eyes.
"I know you hate me being in your head," he chuckled again, "and I just thought I'd try and calm you down a little."
"Thank you," I took a deep breath, "is Nessie around?"
"She's actually waiting to talk to you."
My face must have betrayed my surprise, as much as I tried to hide it, because Edward's face showed his hidden laughter for a moment. But I knew immediately that Nessie wasn't waiting for me because he'd have told her anything about Leah and me but because she wanted to talk to me and she knew from Edward that I was on my way here.
"She's gone to the cottage," he turned his head that direction; "you'll have a bit of privacy there."
"Thank you."
"I expect to see both of you later. Unless," the grin showed up again, "you have more pressing matters to attend to."
The moment he said that I was aware of my face turning a bright shade of red as realization dawned on me that Edward knew more than I expected him to. He probably knew exactly as much as I did, considering he was very finely attuned to my thoughts by now. The fact that he tried to ignore my mind didn't necessarily filter everything and I remembered that I wasn't particularly careful about my thoughts that first day. He would have heard that.
"Jacob," Edward's voice shook me out of my thoughts, "go talk to my daughter, get this over and done with."
At those words, I headed into the woods.
NPOV
Of course I heard him run towards the house. I had heard him talking to Dad, though I couldn't make out what they were saying. They were close enough, but their conversation was so quiet that specific words escaped me. But I had a feeling that it had something to do with the pictures that were now in my hand. Seth had dropped me the copies earlier and I was quite sure that he'd seen them by now and would have shown them to Jake.
Not that I had wanted him to find out this way, from someone else and from a photo. I had plans to talk to him at the party, but then he walked out, mumbling something about checking on Leah. It was almost like he knew already and didn't want to talk about it. But he couldn't have known. I only realized what was going on at that party. It was only then that I talked to Nahuel and we both admitted we had feelings for each other.
And for so long all I'd seen was Nahuel's fascination with my Mom. The guilt-ridden looks he directed her way as he dwelt on the fact that his own mother hadn't survived his birth. We talked it through and through until he finally understood that the only reason Mom survived was Dad. If it wasn't for him, I would have been just like him, raised by whoever happened to be around at the time. Maybe it would have been Jacob, maybe Granddad. I didn't know and I didn't want to.
I briefly thought of what would have happened if it was just Jake and me, without my family and without Dad. It hurt to think of that, because I immediately had to think of how Dad would have felt if he'd lost Mom. He told me a little about their history, but I had a feeling there was more to it, that there were things he wouldn't want me to know. And from that I figured he would've gone to Italy if she hadn't made it through when I was born.
There was a knock on the door that brought me back to reality and I was opening it in a flash. Jacob was flushed from the run and I wondered why he hadn't phased. But I figured he wasn't ready to face the rest of the pack and their thoughts. In a way I was glad, though I knew we'd both have to try and explain everything sooner or later. They'd all want to know how this could have happened and why imprinting wasn't final. And they'd all be beyond angry at me for hurting Jacob.
"Hey," I let him in the house, trying to calm myself down.
"Hi Ness," his eyes didn't leave the floor.
We walked over to the sitting room and for a few moments, there was no sound in the room except our breathing and heartbeats. I took a deep breath and shrunk back a little at the noisiness of it and the tense atmosphere that was between Jacob and me.
"Jake, I-" my voice cracked as I heard him say my name at the same time.
"Ladies first," he smiled, but his eyes stayed glued to the ground and I knew the smile didn't reach them.
"I can explain," I muttered, referring to the photos I was sure he'd seen.
"You?" he finally looked up at me, "I was going to explain…"
I looked into his eyes and saw the confusion that must have mirrored my own. My gaze drifted to the pictures on the coffee table and not knowing what else to do, I picked them up. Nahuel's face was on the one right on top of the small pile and I sighed, turning to Jake again.
"I have this to explain," my voice was shaky.
"Ness, I know."
"Seth showed you the photos," a statement, not a question, "I expected that much."
"You don't have to explain," Jacob reached for my hand, "because I don't think either of us really can."
"But…"
"Look, let me say something, OK?"
I nodded, the heat of his hand calming me down as it always did.
"I saw the pictures," his voice got quieter, "but that wasn't why I needed to talk to you. Not completely. There's something that you don't know. Ness, I'm so sorry, I never thought this could happen. The imprinting is meant to be unshakeable; there wasn't anything like this before."
"You're sorry?"
"No, let me finish. Even before I saw these, but…" Jake laughed quietly, "now that I think of it, at the time these were taken, something else happened. You know how I left the party for a while?"
"Yeah, that was when…"
"I know, but…"
JPOV
How could I explain this to her without hurting her? Yeah, so she was in love with someone else, but what happened between Leah and me was different… something actually happened.
My memory went to that afternoon and to Leah lying on the meadow, her head thrown back as she shook in ecstasy. The little composure I had went flying out of the window and I felt myself getting aroused. I wanted to be back there, touching her, kissing her, getting lost in our little bubble. All the things I whispered into her ear before I left the beach echoed in my mind and I imagined Leah waiting on me in her room, as impatient as I was.
"Jake?"
"Sorry," I shook my head to clear it, "I got lost in thought… I don't know exactly how to say this..." I felt my throat getting drier than it already was, "I went to check on Leah, I don't even know why I wanted to, she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but I felt a pull to go…"
Nessie was patiently looking at me, not rushing me into talking or getting to the point, like she knew how difficult it was for me. I decided to just blurt out exactly what I was feeling.
"I phased and Leah was alone and I could see into her mind clearly," my knees shook as the memories came flooding back, "she blocks us quite effectively lately, but this time she didn't expect company. There were thoughts and images in her head that… I don't want to go into too much detail, but… she was thinking about me… and I wanted to do what she was imagining… so when I heard Seth and Quil went to phase, I made sure she didn't get caught… I went to find her and…" I didn't know how to continue, so I stopped and looked at Ness.
"Leah?" a small smile, vaguely reminiscent of Edward was on her lips, "so you two are now…"
"I love her, Ness," I replied earnestly, "I'm not sure what we are, but I know how I feel."
"Jake," she took my hand, "don't feel guilty, please. Look…"
Her soft palm reached out for my cheek and my mind was flooded with her thoughts and memories. I saw her talking to Nahuel, saw the way he was looking at her and the feelings she had for him coloured the memory. They were a mirror of what I felt for Leah. The memory continued past the moment the party finished and I saw them out here at the cottage, just looking at each other. She paused and then took a deep breath before sending the next memory into my head. I saw that she reached out to him and brought her face closer to his, running her thumb over Nahuel's lips.
"Ness," I couldn't help but laugh, "too much information."
"Sorry," she blushed, giggling, "it's just, we kissed and… I felt so guilty for betraying you; I don't want to hurt you, Jake, I…"
"I think it's quite obvious you won't, Ness."
"But how is this possible?"
"No idea," I shrugged, slightly disappointed that she didn't have the explanation that I was so desperate for.
We stood there, both of us staring at the floor, not knowing what else to say and I assumed she was thinking of Nahuel. My thoughts threatened to run off to my memories and fantasies about Leah, so I shook my head. There was one more conversation we needed to have, the one I was dreading the most.
"We need to talk to Mum and Dad," Nessie stated before I could speak up.
"Edward already knows," I rolled my eyes, "Bella, though…"
"I know…" she sighed, "OK, let's do this."
With that, she grabbed my hand and headed out of the door. For a moment, I wondered what I was going to tell Bella about betraying her daughter. I was sure she was going to see it that way, despite the fact that Nessie really didn't seem to care;she had her own agenda. The flashbacks of newborn Bella ran through my head and I wondered if there would be anyone to save me this time.
LPOV
He said he'd be back soon and I felt mildly pathetic for replaying his words in my head. The time seemed to have slowed down and I was pacing the room impatiently. My head was so filled with thoughts of Jacob that I didn't dare phasing. After he came back, we'd have to talk to Quil, Embry and then eventually to Sam's pack. I had to talk to someone before that, though, someone who wouldn't judge me, someone who would understand.
It wasn't going to be my brother, because what I needed to talk about wasn't what he wanted to know. For the first time in what seemed like forever, I was in a desperate need for a girl talk. And there was only one person I knew would understand me perfectly. She always did, that was why I asked her to come visit me back when Sam… well, that was when and why everything happened. And she might even be able to explain why Jacob's imprinting wasn't final, how we were able to fall for each other.
"Emily?" I whispered into the phone as she answered, "Would you mind… Could you come over to mine? I need to talk to you."
"Leah?" she sounded shocked, but happy, "Of course. I'll be there in a moment."
While I was waiting for my best friend, my mind pulled me to a different place and memories of Jacob's words at the beach came flooding back. I almost felt his touch while I was remembering the promises he made me. His lips on mine were so soft and I thought of my own lips running over his chest, tasting every cell, watching him groan. I was going to tease him senselessly for telling me all those things and then leaving me to think about them.
The knock on my bedroom door startled me out of my little fantasy and I walked to the door to let Emily in.
She smiled softly at me and without hesitating I wrapped my arms around her. She returned the hug and I felt tears filling my eyes as I realised how long it'd been since we'd done that. All the old bitterness I felt towards Sam washed away and though Emily was never the one I hated, our friendship had still suffered. It felt good to be close to her again, but I needed to get my confusion off my chest, so I pulled away.
"Leah," Emily's face showed her concern, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing… and everything…"