"So what's the emergency that required you calling my house at all hours of the morning?"

She stood in the doorway as Edward Cullen narrowed his eyes at her.

"Hello to you too."He said and gestured that he wanted to come inside. She moved her body slightly so he had to squeeze through the door frame and growled when his arm made contact with her. Closing the door, she stood with her arms folded across her chest.

He slipped off his jacket and made himself comfortable on her couch. She was starting to feel like this wasn't such a good idea.

"I tried calling Bella tonight," He stared "a few times actually. She wasn't answering. After about the third or fourth try I just left a message. I was getting pissed because we were supposed to be hooking up ah, I mean..."

"...You mean fucking? Whatever, I really don't care." She said, walking over and pushing his feet off of her couch. He rolled his eyes and sat upright.

"Okay, well, if you want to get crass about it than yeah. Anyway, so she's never ignored my calls before and I was getting really annoyed. I mean, I'm Edward Cullen, you know? It's not like I couldn't get a booty call if I wanted. I don't have to mess around with Swan. She's older too- there are plenty of girls my age who want some of this." He licked his lips and grinned at her.

"You need to find the point of this story quickly before I finish what I started at her house and rip your penis off altogether. I'm pretty sure it would be a favour to humanity if I wiped your seed from the earth."

"Jesus woman- you're so fucking uptight! You should try getting laid. It would help release some of that tension you're always carrying around."

Leah's mind flashed back to the night with Sam as chill ran over her body. She folded her arms quickly and tried rubbing at them to hide the goosebumps that covered her skin.

"What? You cold or something?" Edward asked, looking like he was worried she would say yes and he would have to do something.

"Just, hurry up."

"So... I head over to her place and she answers the door all bundled up in about thirty layers of clothing with a blanket wrapped around her. She looks like she's sick, right? So when she see's it's me she pushes me out the door and tells me to meet her around the back in an hour. I thought about driving off but it was too late to call anyone by then and she's usually always up for it so I figured an hour of my time was a good investment."

"She finally meets me, over an hour later, around the back of her house. I'm buzzed after sitting around smoking up and listening to music in my car. She starts blurting out this story which, at first, I didn't get because she was talking so fast. Then I realise she's gesturing to her stomach and I hear the words 'three weeks' and 'pregnant' and suddenly everything else just became the same, blurred stream of unintelligible ramblings. I fell against the back wall, worried I was about to be sick, when she pulled me to my feet. 'It's not yours' she says, and I know she's lying."

"Wait, what?" Leah said, suddenly interested "How do you know she's lying?"

"I can just tell. She does this thing with her eyes when she lies. She looks away and they glaze over a little. Her lip usually curls up a too, just at the corner."

There was a stupid happy look that filled his face when he spoke about Swan and Leah couldn't help but ask. "Edward, are you in love with Bella?"

"What?! No! What are you...I'm not even- me? In love? Ha!"

"You're smitten. I can see it. I know that look- I remember that look."

"I'm not smitten with anything, by anyone!"

He was getting angry and Leah knew it was time to change the subject. She made a mental note to be careful about what she said around him. He had some sort of feelings for Swan, she could see it in his face as soon as he began talking about her. There was a potential danger there that made her wary of her friend's brother.

"So, what? She's knocked up and you think you're the dad...what are you going to do about it?"

His face grew serious for a moment and for the first time she saw a glimmer of Edward the man and not Edward the boy.

"I want to know if it's mine. I want to be there for the kid. My dad was never there for us and I've always sworn that I will be there for my child- no matter what. I just need to know if Bella is doing this to hold on to Jake or if she really doesn't want me in the kid's life."

"But, what if it is Jakes?"

"See, Bella told me they weren't even having sex around the time that she apparently conceived. They were having some sort of problems. Something to do with, actually, something to do with you from memory."

"Me?!"

"Yeah. I know Bella was really jealous of you and they were fighting a bit. Jake kept trying to make it up to her but then he couldn't get it up in the bedroom. That's where I came in."

Jake? She thought. He couldn't get it up because of me...And Bella was jealous... of me?

She collapsed onto the couch behind her. Edward headed into the kitchen and started going through her refrigerator, scrunching up his face at her choice of food.

"You guys don't have any vegetarian food here? Rose would've loved that." He said sarcastically.

Sarcasm didn't suit him.

Leah ignored it while he continued on about the effect of meat on people's hearts and their cholesterol rates. Had her mind been with her she would've torn his head off. But her thoughts were with Jacob and why he been thinking about her instead of Bella. The Bella she had always thought he was completely lost to. The Bella who may have seen her as a threat a few months ago and The Bella who possibly had begun planning how she was going to keep Jacob Black earlier than she had thought.

She didn't even notice Edward standing above her until he poked her in the shoulder.

"Um...Leah? I've been talking for 5 minutes. I said 'Did you want to go to sleep? Am I keeping you up?'"

Her eyes shot up at him as they narrowed; annoyed he had pulled her out of such an important train of thought.

"Firstly Edward- Don't touch me. Ever. Secondly, I couldn't sleep if I wanted too. Thirdly, why are you standing so close to me? Don't do that either."

He took a good step back at her words and sat on the opposite couch, plate full of food in hand.

"Why can't you sleep?" He asked with a mouthful of potato chips.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because I'll smash your face in if you continue to pry into things that don't concern you."

He laughed. The snotty little shit laughed.

"You're a trip to be around. You have no filter and I find it fascinating." He continued to eat the sandwich he made as he took a few more potato chips from the bag he had just opened. Leah chose to ignore him. Yeah, he was rude, he talked at her as if she was a science experiment, and the sound of his chewing made her want to punch a wall, but her alternative was to lay in bed pretending she was able to get some sleep while she left him to sit on his own in her living room. That wasn't about to happen.

Three hours of infomercials and an uncomfortable silence was interrupted with Rosalie's early morning greeting for her brother of "What the fuck are you doing here?"

As Edward began his story Leah sat and concentrated on making her eye lids stop drooping and to change their voices from a mumble to actual words. She refused to sleep with the threat of her nightmares outweighing the need she had to recharge her body.

For now she needed to focus on something else until she could see Jake again tonight. Today it would be about Rosalie, and not so much about her. She was looking forward to taking a break from her own problems for a change. She felt as if the last few days she had been trapped inside one of her nightmares and was completely disconnected from the world. It would be good to help someone with a problem that didn't relate to her for once.

She watched Rosalie speaking to her brother as she got up to put on a pot of coffee. Coffee would apparently be her new friend for the day. She hoped she really could help. Rose had been a major part in helping her through the last few days. She wanted to pay her back in some way and was willing to do whatever it would take.

Now, it just depended on how much of a spell Bella Swan had cast on her Emmett. Knowing Bella, this wasn't going to be easy.

They parked outside the oval, along with the other fifteen or so cars in the parking lot. Leah could see the boys scattered along the field. Some were warming up, some were running solo drills and others were running two on two, passing the ball on every fourth beat. Leah recognized Paul, Quil and Jared in the crowd among some other lighter faces. She wasn't sure of their names but she had seen a few around town, and a few in the station before.

She heard Rosalie's breath catch and followed her eyes to the tallest, largest boy on the field. He had pale skin and dark curls and looked like a giant in comparison to the slender Rosalie Hale. There was no mistaking that it was her Emmett though.

"His hair has grown." She said under her breath.

"Do you want to come with me? Or do you want to wait in the car." Leah asked.

She could only shake her head as her eyes remained locked on the boy.

"Alright. You wait here Rose. I'm going to go talk to the guys."

Leah began walking along the perpetually muddy field. She wondered for a moment if she could trust Rose to sit in the car alone. She almost wished they had brought Edward along, although she caught herself with that thought and quickly retracted it. It was only because she could imagine what it was doing to her to be so close to the person she loved and yet have to keep her distance. She had known that pain once before.

Her eyes were on Emmett as she focused on her goal. He seemed to be paired up with a smaller, blonde haired boy who was the more agile of the two. He glanced over at her briefly and looked away, probably assuming she was one of the La Push boys groupies. With that thought she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Hey, Leah! Catch."

She felt a large, hard ball connect with her head before Paul had even finished his sentence. Her neck jerked forward and she was left stunned for a second as Emmett and the other one he was calling Jasper came running over to check if she was okay. She picked up the ball and turned around to see Paul bent over and laughing like the horses ass that he was. She pretended to throw it at his face and his arms instantly moved to protect himself. When they did she threw it at his crotch and he doubled over onto the ground.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Le…ah" he squeaked.

Jared and Quil stopped what they were doing for a moment to laugh at point at Paul laying on the ground in the fetal position. They gave Leah a small wave and went back to running drills. She looked up to see Jasper and Emmett looking between both her and Paul as if they were conflicted as to who to help first.

"Jazz, you go help Paul up for me. I'll help, Leah is it?"

"Yeah, it is. But I'm fine. Paul is more of a headache than the lump that he just left sticking out the back of my head."

Emmett laughed. "Are you his sister or something?"

"I'm his 'something'."

"Oh. Oh! So you two…?"

"No!" Paul yelled as Jasper helped him to his feet.

"Yeah," Leah cracked her neck as the pain in her head started to settle into a throbbing ache "what he said. We work together at the station."

That was the easiest and shortest answer she could be bothered giving. Paul was at her side now.

"She's like my annoying, bitter, harpy of a sister." He punched her lightly on the arm and she moved her hand as if she was about to hit him in the balls again. He jumped to leap out of her way and tripped on his own feet, falling backwards. She burst out laughing and he pulled himself off the ground. His cheeks were a lovely shade of scarlet.

"I think you're the first person I've seen successfully bring Paul to his knees twice in under a minute."

"Yeah, it's not as easy to bring Leah to her knees." He joked raising an eyebrow. He looked as if he wanted someone to hi-five him but both Emmett and Jasper chose to overt their gaze. Quil and Jared came running up behind him, catching the end of his sentence. Jared placed a hand on Pauls shoulder.

"I think you should stop now bro," He advised "We need you intact for the game on Saturday which means no broken bones."

The boys laughed as Paul scowled at them.

"Watcha doin' down these parts Lee?" Quil asked.

"I came to talk to someone." She answered. They looked at one another.

"If you came to find Embry, he's not here." Jared replied this time and they all became a little awkward. Leah couldn't help but wince a little at Embry's name. It felt like a life time ago now, when he was last yelling at her and packing his life up. She didn't want to admit that, with all that was going on, he had been the last thing on her mind.

"No, ah, actually I wanted to see Emmett." She answered. The smiles dropped from every face that was on her as their heads turned to an equally confused Emmett.

"Me?"

"Yeah. It'll only take a minute."

"I'll cover for you with Coach, Em." Jasper nodded at both him and then Leah.

"That's fine." Leah answered as she turned to walk away from their eyes with Emmett in tow. Paul's hand wrapped around her arm as he pulled her to the side.

"Give us a minute, will ya Bear?"

He nodded and walked off, out of earshot.

"Bear?" Leah asked.

"It's his nickname."

"Okay...so, what?"

Paul started fidgeting with a fraying thread that was hanging from his jersey. He seemed to be having trouble with his words.

"Look..I...The guys and I just want you to know that we're here for you. We don't know the whole story, and I know that Embry is taking this all pretty hard, but you're not the kind of girl who would do that and if Sam was involved, well, it means bad news. I'm trying to say that you know you have us here if you need us."

Leah's mouth dropped without even realising it.

"What? But...Sam is your best friend Paul. Both yours and Jareds."

"He was until he started obsessing over you. Then we lost him. Whatever has been said Leah, you have your head screwed on right. If something happened it was probably Sam's doing and we all know it. I just hope it wasn't anything too..."

Leah placed her hand on his arm.

"I'm fine Paul. I've got Jake and I've got Seth. I'll be okay."

His eyes narrowed at her words.

"Leah, was it something that we should be worried about?" He looked over her overly covered body. She rarely ever wore this many clothes and it was fairly warm today.

"Did he...did he hurt you?" He whispered the last part.

"No Paul," She lied "He only hurt himself."

She didn't want him catching on and ruining her plan for revenge. This was what she wanted after all. Complete control over the situation.

"I don't believe you."

"Not my problem Paul."

He had that same protective look of concern that Jake had and it made her realise that it took something like this to really see the love of those around you. As much as she appreciated his concern though, she just wished that he would let it go.

"Sorry, Paul, just...I need to deal with this on my own, okay? And please don't say anything to Charlie or any of the other guys at work. I really don't want them worrying unnessaccarily."

"Leah..."

"Paul..."

He could see he wasn't going to get anywhere with her.

"Well , the offer was extended. Not my fault you didn't want to take it."

"I know." She paused, forcing the words out of her mouth, as well deserved as they were. "Thank you."

He turned to make a slow jog back to the field but that look of concern was still plastered across his face. He was a police officer in training after all and he was learning to trust his instincts. Leah was a terrible liar and that wasn't going to help her situation. She would fix it though, put his mind at ease. For now though, he had a game to practice for and she had 6'5" of muscle waiting to find out what she wanted.

She walked over to Emmett who was already fairly covered in mud even though it was just the beginnings of their practice. It would be easy to be intimidated by such a large frame standing over her but there was a permanent smile on his face that made him so approachable.

"Hey." She said.

"Hi." He replied.

"Emmett, I'm not going to mess around. Recently I've had something pretty horrible happen to me. I'm not going to go into details but it's the kind of thing that's particularly hard to recover from. It takes an event like this that make you realise a few things. Things like who your friends are, who you turn to when you need help and who you can trust."

"Ah, Leah, look- Embry is a buddy of mine. I heard what happened with you guys and I really don't want to get involved. If you've come to see me in the hopes that I'll talk some sense into him..."

She rolled up the sleeve on her arms revealing the bruises that had matured into deep browns and yellows. His face twisted as he looked over her marks and his jaw fell open.

"This is bigger than Embry. This is something I'm not sure I would have dealt with the right way had it not been for the people around me who love me. They took care of me and are still taking care of me and there is no way in the world that I know how to pay them back for what they've done."

She pulled the sleeves back down, missing the feeling of the warm breeze running along her skin. She was worried one of the other boys would come running over and, although they seemed to know more than they were letting on, she didn't want to confirm anything with the obvious marks.

"I'm so sorry Leah. If there is anything I can do…"

"There is. There were two parties involved in this. There was a puppet and his master. The master was Bella Swan."

"What?! Bells? But, are you sure?"

"I could never get something like that wrong."

"Nah, not Bella. She's a sweetheart. She helped me through some stuff once. She's a good person."

"You couldn't be more wrong."

"But…"

"I'm not here to talk about her because if I do I might completely fall apart. I'm here for something better, something more positive."

"Which is?"

"There was someone who was hurt by Bella who helped me through this. I can't pay her back but I think this might help. See, my friend is in love with someone who isn't in love with her anymore due to some circumstances that were out of her control…"

He tensed up. He obviously knew what she was talking about.

"He believed a lie which, to his credit, was well orchestrated with apparently irrefutable evidence. Even with his gullibility and his willingness to believe a manipulative tramp over his own girlfriend, she still loves him. She knows that he hates her and she wants to do whatever she can to try and fix that."

His head was bowed so she couldn't fully see his face but she could tell from his posture that he was ashamed.

"I don't hate her. What she did though..."

"What you think she did. She didn't do anything Emmett- that's my point. Can you imagine if the tables were turned? One day you're hanging out with your caring, kind-hearted girlfriend and then suddenly, for no reason, she becomes distant. Before you know it she can't make eye contact with you and then out of nowhere she accuses you of something so personal and hateful that it makes you sick just to think about it. Can you imagine how horrible it would be to go through something like that and then have to deal with it alone? Bella left her friendless. You all left her friendless."

"But, she had proof. Hospital documents and..."

"Why did she have confidential hospital documents on Rose in the first place?"

"I don't know...shit...if what you're saying is true Leah...fuck."

"Emmett!" a stocky man in his late forties with a whistle around his neck called out to the boy "Enough smooth talking Casanova. You're needed back in practice. You know- the reason you're here?!"

Leah wrapped her hands around his wrist, pleading with him. Their time was up already and she had no idea if she had helped Rose or made things worse.

"Please Emmett. She's here now. You need to speak to her. I have to have some faith in the world that Bella Swan has put me in. I need to know that damage, as large and scaring as it is, is still reparable. Please Emmett- come see her with me."

"Hurry up Emmett or I'll make the boys do laps for every minute of my time you waste!"

"I can't. I have to go Leah."

"This is more important. Make a choice, now." Her eyes flashed nervously towards the car. She could see the outline of Rosalie's blonde hair through the tinted window. She wondered what this was doing to her, watching them without any idea of what they were saying. It would destroy her if he walked away now.

She looked back to see Emmett had followed her eyes as a look of pain took over from that boyish smile of before. He looked back at Leah as if he was looking for help with his decision.

"Come on Em, what's it going to be?

A/N: Next chap is half done so there won't be any ReiFail one month gaps between updates. Promise!