Charlie's POV

At least she came back with Jake.

The guys at Sam's had been incredulous after Bella left to see the Cullen boy. It threw me for a while, but then I remembered who had found her, shivering and broken in the woods. It would have gotten around Sam's friends what Edward had done to her, and they also wouldn't want Jake to get messed about. I had left early, mindful of my two big nights, and not really willing to stay where people were whispering about my daughter whenever I was out of the room.

Billy had been great though, as always. He patted my hand, and assured me that everything was going to be okay. Edward had 'nothing on my boy.' I was glad when it turned out he was right.

She was beat up, three of the long bones in her hand were broken, and all her already mangled muscles had taken a battering. She would most likely need physio once everything had healed up. I had yelled about the bruises on her arm, but Jake assured me they were accidental, that Edward had tried to grab her when she tripped.

She, on the other hand, hadn't said anything coherent at all. She was completely out of her head on painkillers. She was jabbering about needing glasses, and being in the closet. I didn't think she meant in a lesbian way, but who knows with Bella. At least then I wouldn't have to worry about her getting knocked up. But she seemed pretty into Jake still. She kept kissing him, in a way that really wasn't appropriate around me. He did seem suitably embarrassed though, so I couldn't really call him out on it.

She was covered in blood, too. Thankfully Emily had come back with them, and gave her a bath for us. I couldn't have done it by myself, and I wouldn't have wanted Jake to help. As it was, we had to lower her into the tub, still in her underwear and a singlet. I just had the job of making sure neither her head or bandages went under the water, Emily had to do the awkward stuff. I owed that girl big time.

I just couldn't stay worried though. She hadn't come back with Edward.

* * *

Sam's POV

Emily had cried to sleep.

It had taken a couple of hours, and I had held her as close to me as I possibly could, but she was still shutting me out. Her strong body had felt feeble, weak, while she was shaking in my arms. Her breath had come in gasps, as tiny mews of pain had been forced from her. I had cried along with her, unable to bear seeing my love like this. Unable to fix it, unable to heal her.

She had asked about the fight, about what Leah had done, and I had told her. It was against my better judgment, but I had told her. Leah was crazed.

That on top of the stressful couple of hours at the hospital, and then at Charlie's… she was a mess.

I knew everything. I knew she needed to talk to someone, but she didn't feel like she could talk to me about Leah, like it was a betrayal. I knew, I could feel every emotion, I could read her and tell exactly what she was thinking, how she was hurting. She needed Leah, she needed a friend, and I needed her.

I had curled around her, tucking her up against me, trying to make her feel safe. But instead of being her normal, pliable, soft self, she had kept rigid, her body unyielding to my touch.

Emily needed Leah. I needed Emily. And gathering from what I had seen in Leah's head, Leah still needed me.

Great. A love triangle.

* * *

Leah's POV

I could hear Emily crying through the thin walls of her house. I was in her home… the home she shared with Sam. I sighed angrily and rolled over, kicking viciously as Seth's sprawling legs as I did.

This house wasn't quiet. Seth's gentle breathing next to me was soothing. But I could hear Quil's obnoxious, open mouthed snores coming from the sofa, and Emily sobbing away, and Sam's desperate little pleadings.

I remembered that tone of voice. It was the same tone he had used with me when we had broken up, and I had gone to pieces. 'Please Leah, I'm sorry, I can't explain, I never meant to hurt you' Blah blah blah.

I got it now. I understood. I could tell Sam was trying not to think of Emily while I could hear him. But the other guys were as transparent as glass. Big gossipy fish wives, the lot of them. And then when I felt it, through Jake. I got it. This imprinting shit was bigger than both of them.

Great. Fine. I understood. I still didn't like it. I didn't want to feel tied to him. I certainly didn't want to stay in his stupid house, sharing a bed with my brother. I didn't want it to be 'for my own good'. I didn't want to be a danger, or unstable. I didn't want to be a freak amongst freaks, the only ever female werewolf! ARGH.

I wanted to leave, like how I had planned! I wanted to go to collage and get away from this crappy little town and away from him. And her. She thought I hated her, but I didn't. I couldn't even figure out what I felt towards Emily, but it wasn't hate. My hatred was directed to the ones that didn't care.

More than anyone, I hated God. I pressed the pillow into my face. No more than one person should cry themselves to sleep here tonight.

* * *

Edward's POV.

I boarded up the windows and cleaned up the floors. I didn't know how the mongrels lived, but it must be in filth, if their 'clean up' job was anything to go by. I kept being drawn to the closet, but I was hard on myself, denying myself until I really couldn't stand it anymore.

The door creaked slightly on its hinges as I opened it, and I just stood there for a second, savoring the smell of her. A dark, still-wet puddle of Bella's sweet blood was smeared across the pale carpeting.

I dropped to my knees and pushed my face against the red-black smear. It had hardened across the top, and a fresh wave of her glorious scent engulfed me when my face exposed the wet blood beneath. I forced my tongue into the mess, scraping it between the wool fibers, disregarding the particles that I gathered up with the blood.

I could taste her now, without worrying about scaring her, without worrying about her life. It was beautiful, I didn't even care that it was stale. I inhaled it, pressing my nose right into the thickest part of the puddle, trying to draw it into my lungs.

I remembered the cloth I held in my hand. Folding it into a neat square, I wiped the blood from my face with it, then pressed it into the carpet, mopping up every drop of Bella's blood that I possibly could.

I was insanely aroused. Insanely jealous of what Jake was doing with My Bella. She had stunk of arousal when I had opened the door. Why hadn't I taken her when she had begged to be taken? I was a fool. And now she was with a werewolf! He was so confident, so sure of their relationship, and so was she, in a way that she and I had never been. It wasn't fair! I had done everything that I could! Why couldn't she see that?

Morose, I slipped the soaking fabric square into a zip-lock bag, and placed it in my suitcase. A keepsake. My personal version of a lover's perfumed handkerchief.

I spent the night with my face against the stain of her blood, begging with the gods to let me sleep.

The morning found me at Bella's house.

I had all the best intentions. To knock at her door, with a bouquet of flowers in hand, to woo her and court her. To win her back. I could smell the dog, I could hear him and Charlie talking in hushed whispers. I seethed with the unfairness of it all.

The mongrel didn't need to sneak in during the night, he was welcome to come and go as he pleased, to bed Charlie's daughter. I ground my teeth, my fists tight by my side. I wondered if Bella had found the possessions I had returned to her yet, safely dug up from under a loose floorboard in her room.

Charlie left, looking even more worn than the last time I had seen him. But the house stayed relatively quiet. The dog bustled about, showering and the like, but I didn't hear Bella stir at all. The faint creak of her bedsprings caught my attention for a second, but then there was the sloppy noise of kisses. He was kissing My Bella.

I put my head in my hands as I listened to them. Her breath was more haggard, her heartbeat more powerful than it had ever been with me. I fought the urge to leap through her bedroom window and rip him off her. I listened to everything, to her wailing and moaning, calling his name, to him grunting. I could almost smell them, and envy tore through me. My Bella.

They were quiet for a moment, after a brief crescendo. I held my breath, hoping that they would get up, that I could knock on the door and ask to speak to her. But then her soft words floated down to me.

She was practically begging him to… pleasure her. I flicked out my phone, called her home number. I heard the phone start to ring, but she didn't even catch her breath at the noise.

I had lost her. I needed to get her back. I needed her.