Disclaimer: Not Mine. Well, it's mine, but it's not mine. If that makes any sense. I'll just shut up now.
A/N: THIS IS THE SECOND OF TWO UPLOADS I HAVE MADE TONIGHT! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST, TURN BACK NOW! Okay, now that we've got THAT cleared up...(: Enjoy a slightly (just slightly lol, I need to be a screenwriter for a soap opera or something) less dramatic chapter. Well, the drama is less crazy intense than it has been. I CAN write less dramatic things, and have notebooks full of them, but what's the fun in that? I promise I'm not a sadist, I just like to make my characters suffer! (Or in this case, Stephanie's characters.) And I just realized that that truly does sound indeed sadistic. So I'm just gonna leave you with a smile and a Hope You Enjoy! 3
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: POWERS AND FIST FIGHTS
Makenna climbed up on the couch beside me, putting both of her little palms on top of my head.
"Makenna, sweetie, what…" I started, and then stopped in astonishment. My legs…they were healing! A process that would usually twenty four to thirty hours was happening right before my eyes. "Oh!" I yelped in shock.
"What, Jake?" Leah asked fearfully.
Makenna pulled back, grinning at me. "I told you that I could help you," she said.
I wiggled my toes in wonder. Then, making Leah gasp, I stood up. "Do it to her," I sad, pointing to Leah.
Leah warily eyed Makenna as she placed her hands on her head. "Oh my God," Leah whispered. She started flexing her fingers.
Makenna jumped out of the way, smiling proudly, and scrambled into a corner.
I took Leah's hands and tried to pull her to feet. She quickly shook her head, burrowing deeper into the blanket. "No, Jake."
"Why?" I asked in bewilderment.
She grinned crookedly. "I'm…not wearing any clothes."
"Oh. Right," I muttered, utterly grossed out.
Leah laughed. "I'm healed!"
Immediately, all the vampires and Seth were standing there. Nessie looked extremely pissed, and I guessed that she'd caught the whole imprinting kiss thing.
Everyone's jaw dropped when they saw me standing, and dropped even more when Makenna spoke up and said, "I did it."
Carlisle darted up to me and jabbed me in the ribs, not bothering to be gentle. He ran to Leah and yanked her to her feet, and she just barely had time to catch the blanket and hold it against her body. He bent down and caught her right ankle, making her totter on one foot. I could tell that Leah wasn't too fond of being touched by a vampire, but she didn't say anything. Carlisle let her ankle drop. "Amazing!" he breathed.
He ran over and scooped Makenna up, then disappeared into the kitchen. "I am sorry, Jacob," he said when he returned, holding up a sharp carving knife. With one arm he held Makenna, with the other he raked a long jagged cut down my arm, stretching nearly from my shoulder blade to my elbow.
"Damn! What was that for?!" I asked, grabbing at the wound in shocked pain.
"Heal him, little one," Carlisle said to Makenna.
"Give it a minute and a half and it'll heal itself," I suggested, still rubbing my bloody arm.
Makenna climbed agilely up my body until she sat on my shoulders, and placed her hands on my head. Within seconds, the skin on my upper arm was closed up.
Carlisle grinned as Makenna hopped down from my shoulders and went to stand by Emmett.
"Whoopee, we beat the Volturi, everyone's healed, and we all live happily ever after. But you and me, chick, we got a problem," Nessie said, jabbing a finger at Leah.
"What do you want, Ness-sicko?" Leah sneered.
Same old Leah.
"You need to keep your lips off my man! I don't care, imprint or no imprint, but if you kiss him again, you won't have a tail left to tuck between your legs!"
Leah smirked. She looked at Nessie. She looked at me, and tied the blanket around her like a towel. Then, in one quick motion, she stepped forward and kissed me.
Immediately this time, I tried to yank away, but Leah wasn't having that. Her fingers were curled into huge clumps of my shaggy hair. I was willing to rip my hair out to get her off, but I didn't have to. Nessie did it for me. With a snarl of anger, she leapt at Leah, tackling her to the ground. Leah didn't even bother to phase, just fought Nessie as the fists flew.
By the time Carlisle and Edward managed to rip the two kicking bodies apart, Nessie had a bloody lip and Leah had an already blossoming black eye.
Seth was trying frantically to calm Leah down, who was shaking so bad that her teeth were rattling.
"I can heal you," Makenna said sweetly to Leah. Leah slapped her. Hard.
Makenna's eyes welled up with tears, and immediately Rosalie was in Leah's face, cussing her with words that even I wasn't sure of the meaning to.
Emmett was standing with his arms folded across his chest in silent anger. I noticed that he'd put pants on, for which I was glad.
Carlisle handed Leah a set of clothing. "I will allow you to dress, Leah, then I want you to leave our home," he said in a low voice.
"I don't want your damn clothes!" Leah snarled, ripping into a wolf and racing out, the shredded remains of her blanket fluttering to the floor.
Rosalie scooped a crying Makenna into her arms. "Its okay, sweetheart, its okay," she crooned.
For some reason, I wasn't angry with Leah. I knew what she'd done was wrong, but I couldn't bring myself to hate her for it. Leah…well, Leah was Leah, and she had a short fuse. You had to get used to it and tread lightly with her. One wrong move and you'd had it. And I knew that some of her anger was embarrassment; she'd finally found someone that she really and truly loved, and that person didn't love her back. I'd known the feeling. It sucked.
Billy cleared his throat, trying to make the awkwardness go away. "It's late, I suggest you get your children to bed," he said. As if on cue, Makenna yawned.
"Thank you, Seth, for being here," Carlisle murmured. "I believe you saved our lives tonight by sneaking around to the back where the physical shield didn't stretch."
"Yep. No problem. All in a day's work for me," Seth teased halfheartedly. Then he hesitated. "I'll…I'll talk to her for you."
"We'd appreciate that."
Seth nodded glumly, padding out.
Nessie turned to me, and I couldn't help but blurt, "Did you have to hit her?"
"What?" Nessie asked blankly.
"Did you have to hit Leah? I mean, it's not her fault that she imprinted on me."
Nessie's jaw dropped. "Well…if that's how you feel about it…hmphh!" She pulled Seth into her arms and marched out.
"Nessie…" I started, but Alice put her hand on my arm. "Give her time to cool off," she said softly.
I sighed, but nodded. "What did I say?" I asked the remaining Cullens.
Rosalie snorted in disgust and took Emmett and Makenna's hands, and the three of them went upstairs.
Esme looked at Carlisle and frowned, then gestured for them to leave the room.
Alice's eyes widened in pity, and she and Jasper walked out.
"Um…I'll go," Billy said uncomfortably, disappearing.
Edward and Bella were the only ones left in the room. "Jake…you just took Leah's side…after she kissed you," Bella winced.
My mouth popped open. "I-I didn't mean to…" I stuttered.
Bella pressed her fingers against my lips. "I know, calm down. You just need to go talk to her."
I groaned. Girls are just so damn touchy, I thought.
"You have no idea," Edward smiled. "You learn to work with it, or you sleep on the couch."
Bella stretched up on her toes to kiss my cheek. "Goodnight, Jake. Make things right with Nessie," she said.
I walked outside, crossing the massive yard to our house. When I walked in, I saw that Nessie had already put Seth in his bed and gone to bed herself. After kissing Seth goodnight, I crawled under the covers and stroked Nessie's cheek.
She cringed away from me. "Don't touch me, Jacob Black. We'll talk tomorrow, when I'm not on the verge of punching you in the nose," she hissed.
My eyes widened as I rolled over away from her, which was a first. Every night since we'd been married, Nessie had slept wrapped in my arms. It gave us both comfort, knowing that we had someone to curl up next to. Tonight, she wasn't having it.
"I'm serious, Jacob. I don't even want your back touching me. I'll hit you, I swear I will."
To avoid injury, I scooted to the edge of the bed, closed my eyes, and went to sleep.