A/N: Alright there are a few things that I want to address.
Anon: Yes the Cullens know about Alex. Remember Alice asked when she could see her nephew after the graduation ceremony. Also Edward in the book only pushes Bella toward things that would lead her forward in life like college and marriage. He would see Alex as something to hold her back and if she doesn't want him, Edward wouldn't force a relationship.
Gizmo60: Thank you for all your lovely reviews and I hope your Christmas is especially Merry. Thank you for thinking of me in your Holiday wishes. (:
Apocalypse owner: Yes Charlie is very awkward, but I will be saving this story from the extreme awkwardness of Charlie dating Sue. But he may find a little bit of happiness out of the story, too.
And lastly, I have received several messages begging me not to have Jacob imprint on Renesmee and I have put some thought into it. I think have found a way to make the Renesmee lovers and the Bella haters happy with my resolution even though it will stray from the storyline unlike I planned. Breaking Dawn will be a little different, but will basically be the same until after Bella and Edward's wedding.
~Miss. E. Thompson
Chapter Thirty Eight: Fear
My emotions were tumbling around in my head so fast that I could barely comprehend what I was feeling. Today had been haunting all of us in the back of our minds since Isabella's graduation. Today the newborns would attack and every one I care for would be at risk. The woman I love would be on that field and like everyone else has a chance of not coming home if something goes or with one wrong move. I don't know what I would do if Leah was taken from me. I know that I would never love another woman like I love Leah.
"Eli. Calm down. Your heart's going to beat out of your chest if you don't calm yourself." Leah said as she hugged me from behind. I sighed and turned, wrapping my arms around her and setting my head on top of her's.
"I can't help it. The knowledge of what is happening has me on edge. I hate the thought of you being in danger." I said and Leah tightened her hug around me before taking a step back and looking up at me.
"Nothing's going to happen, Eli." Leah said and cupped my cheek in her hand.
"We're built for this. Once the fight starts we'll all be back within twenty minutes. You'll be Emily, Kim, Claire and Alex. Brady and Collin will be on patrol around the rez. Everything will be fine. Just take a breath and relax." She said before kissing me on the lips and moving to pick up Alex from his crib. The five of us would be at Sam and Emily's during the fight because it was the farthest from the battle and Forks. The three of us packed into the truck and I drove us toward Sam's. I wished there was something that I could do besides standing back and waiting, but I wasn't dumb enough to get in the way. Leah kissed me good-bye and took off into the trees to phase. Sam came out of the house as I got Alex out of the truck.
"This feels wrong, Sam. I hate that I can't do anything, but I'll have to settle for this." I said and Sam looked at me curious.
"Make sure she's safe. I don't care if this is what you guys were born to do or if you magically figured out how to shoot fire from your eyes. Keep an eye on her." I said and Sam nodded. He had a look of understanding in his eyes as he turned and ran off into the trees like the others. Yet another thing to hate about this situation. I am trusting the man that had broken her heart and a pack of teenage boys to look out for the love of my life. I sighed and walked inside. Emily was busy baking up a storm, Claire was playing in the living room with her dolls while the TV played cartoons in the background, and Kim sat on the couch working hard on what looked to be homework.
I found it hard to distract myself from the cold hard fact of what was going on somewhere in the forest outside of Forks. I couldn't pretend it wasn't happening or keep myself so busy that I couldn't focus on anything but what I was doing. Emily had given me a list of things that I could do to keep me busy, but I'm only good my hands and that leaves the mind open for horrible thoughts. I had fixed the back door hinge, changed the faucet in the bathroom, replaced the ripped screen in the living room window, and got Emily's 4th of July decoration out of the attic.
It had only been an hour since the pack had left and I was slowly losing my mind. Being in this house felt confining, I felt like a caged animal that paced from one length to another. Claire watched as I paced and occasionally asked a question. I was too stressed to give her any real answers. After pacing for what felt like hours, but in reality was probably only ten minutes. Kim grabbed me by my shoulders, trying to hold me in place and stop my pacing.
"There's a pile of uncut wood outback. I'm sure Sam would appreciate you cutting it for him." Kim said and I nodded before going outside. I found Sam's ax in the garage and walked out to the cutting stump that stood by the forest to the right of the house. I slowly began to chop the wood and began releasing my anger on the logs. I imagined Edward Cullen's face on the wood as I chopped it wishing that this would be able to solve the problem. Then I imagined the pale, fire haired bitch that had given me the scars that I would be forced to see every time I looked in the mirror for the rest of my life. I blamed the bitch for putting my family in danger when they were forced to help defend my so-called sister. I blamed Cullen for getting involved in my so called sister and derailing any chance she had of having a normal life or a good mother. I blamed the entire Cullen family for coming to Forks in the first place and bring all the vampires to the area and for forcing all these people that I have come to see as family to suffer the loss of normalcy in their lives. I blamed Isabella for all the chaos she has caused and even though I love Alex I blame her for taking away the extra time I could have had with Leah before we were taking care of a child. Lastly, I blame Renee for having Isabella and leaving dad. For ruining my childhood and teaching me how to hate.
I continued to chop wood until pained howls filled the air. The chopped wood was seven feet wide and a little more than two feet tall. I hadn't realized that I had been out here so long that I could get that much done. As I dropped the ax by the post Brady and Collin broke through the tree line. Both boys looked panicked as they came through the trees. They stopped short when they saw me; I glanced toward the house and saw Emily and Kim peeking through the window.
"What's going on?" I demanded and the boys gulped in a big breath.
"Jake's hurt. A leech got its arms around him. The leech seems to have broken the bones on the right side of his body. They're taking him to Billy's as we speak. The leech doctor will be down soon to take care of Jake. Sam sent us to watch over the five of you till the others could get here and the doc left." Collin rushed out and I started for the house. Kim and Emily met me at the door.
"Eli, what's wrong? Who's hurt?" They both questioned with tears in their eyes. I grabbed my jacket off the peg.
"Jake. Collin and Brady are outside. Stay in here." I said shortly grabbing up my keys and storming out the door.
"How far out are the others and Jake?" I asked harshly toward the boys.
"They were just leaving the field when we phased back. They should almost be to Billy's when you get there." Brady said and I nodded.
"Did they send anyone ahead to tell Billy?" I asked and they nodded.
"They sent Leah." They said and I climbed into the truck. I gassed the truck and roared down the roads toward Billy's. Gravel span out from under my tires as I drove. I got to Billy's in five minutes flat. I ran my way into the house. Leah met me at the door. I pulled her in for deep kissed and hugged her to me for a second before pulling away and directing my gaze to Billy.
"What needs to be done?" I asked.
"That doors needs to come off the hinges if they're going to be able to come through. The chairs can be taken into the living room to create my room for the doc to work." Billy said. I nodded and ran to the shed for a screw driver to remove the door. As I started on the door Leah was moving the chairs. She even got the leaf that went in the table to make it a little longer. The table still wasn't big enough and would strain under Jacob, but it would have to do. As the door came loose I saw the pack break through the tree line. Leah helped me move the door and we stood out of the way as they carried a groaning and cringing Jacob to the house. He was obviously in extreme pain. I remembered the pain of when I had my accident, but I was sure that the pain from that was a mere pin prick compared to what Jacob was feeling.
Jake let out a scream as they set him on the table. I winced and held on to Leah a little tighter. All the guys except for Sam came out of the house. Their expressions ranged from sympathy for Jake to pissed off in Paul's case.
"What were you thinking Leah?" Paul demanded and I was confused with what he was talking about as Leah growled at him.
"What happened? I demanded. I obviously hadn't been told everything.
"She tried to take a new-born by herself. When she started to lose Jake stepped in and you saw what happened." Paul sneered as he glared at Leah. I held in my temper and pulled Leah toward me a little more.
"That's enough Paul." I said and glared at me. He sent a glare my way before walking away to Jared.
"We'll talk about this later." I said in Leah ear. I didn't care if everyone around us could hear or not. Embry and I put the door back on the hinges to give Jake some privacy.
It was only a few minutes before the leech doctor pulled up in his shiny black Mercedes. He and his 'son' stepped out. The entire pack tensed at their presence and a few growls escaped from a couple of people. We all hated the idea of the bloodsucker taking care of one of our own, but let him through. There wasn't anyone else that we could turn to help him. I couldn't hear what was going on inside, but the others could and there were a few murmurs about what was being said.
"The leech is going to have to re-break the bones." Leah whispered to me and not a minute later the first scream ripped through the air. I cringed at the sound. Billy rolled out and joined us on the front yard. His face showed all the pain of seeing his only son being caused so much pain. I clasped Billy on the shoulder and he held my hand there like a life line. It seemed like the screaming wasn't going to stop and the tension built as the all too familiar rumble of Isabella's truck could be heard coming down the road. I few growls were let loose at the sound, Leah being one of them.
The screaming continued as Isabella's truck pulled into the drive way and came to a stopped. The screaming was momentarily stopped and we all hoped that the worst was finally over. Isabella stepped toward us when another blood curdling scream pierced the air. She froze with a horrified look on her face as she realized what the sound had been.
"The doc has to re-break all the bones because they set wrong." I said and glared at her. She stood froze away from the rest of us as the screaming continued. It was only another fifteen minutes before the leeches came out of the house. Cullen darted to Isabella and had a hushed conversation before he nodded and walked with his 'father'. Sam came out the door and motioned for Embry and Quil to inside. When they came out they looked a little ashen. Sam followed behind them and stood next to Billy.
"Bella, Jacob is asking for you." Sam said and I could see that he wasn't the least bit happy about Jacob's decision to speak with Isabella. She glanced at Billy and he gave a grudging nod. She hurried into the house leaving the rest of us on the lawn.
"How long with it be till he's fully healed?" I asked Sam.
"You know we heal extremely fast, but broken bones can take a couple of hours to a day depending on the injury and with this amount of damage it's likely that it'll prolong the healing a little. I'd say that it'll be about three days before he's fully healed and he probably shouldn't phase for at least a week." Sam said and I nodded. I couldn't imagine Jake willingly laying in bed for that amount of time even with healing bones. Embry and Paul let out a growl on the other side of the circle that we had formed during our conversation and glared at the house.
"Seriously! He got hurt fighting to protect her and she's only comes to relieve herself of guilt and tell him that she's still picking that god damn bloodsucker over him!" Paul gritted out and I took a deep breath to reign in my temper. How cruel could she be! Jacob had repeatedly put his heart on the line for her and in this situation he had put his life on the line as well and she was going to smash it all to pieces as if it was nothing! Like it meant nothing to her at all! We all watched with matching glares as she came out of the house, tears streaming down her face and made a bee line for her truck. She avoided looking at any of us as she took her leave and headed back to beloved bloodsucker.
After helping Billy as much as we could we all left for our own homes or to be with those we loved. The fear was finally over and we could all relax for the time being. But for how long would we remain free of the fear before a new obstacle stepped in our path? Would we all make it out of the hurdle? Would my father be losing his daughter soon? Would she create a scene and give my father closure with her death or would she simply disappear like the newborns that had just been destroyed?