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Blind Ambition – Chapter Seven

"Can I ask you something?" Edward asked two days later at his next session with Dr. Clearwater. They were finished and resting, waiting for Bella to pick him up. Edward had been careful not to say anything during their workout, but he was curious to know more about her for some reason.

"About my brother?" she countered quietly.

"Well…" Edward trailed off, suddenly embarrassed.

He hadn't spent that much time with Leah, but he knew that she wasn't always open to conversation about herself. Of course, that was probably the way it was supposed to be: she had been nothing but professional, even when Edward could do nothing but talk about his personal life.

"It's okay," Leah replied and took a deep breath. "My mother picked him up from school one day. It was raining, the stoplights were down, and they got hit by a semi," she explained, and Edward felt his stomach drop. He was sure he didn't want to hear the rest of the story. "Mom was killed on impact and Seth was paralyzed."

"How old were you?"

"I was a freshman at UW," she answered. "Seth was eight. I wanted to drop out of school and help take care of him, but my dad wouldn't let me."

"Smart man. Who'd be helping my whiny ass walk again if you'd done that?" Edward teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Leah laughed and patted him on the arm. "Some other lucky soul."

"I'm beginning to think you don't enjoy our time together, Dr. Clearwater." Edward grinned.

Leah felt herself blush and, selfishly, was thankful for her patient's impairment. She had come to respect Edward greatly over the past few weeks- more than any patient she'd ever worked with. In truth, she thought he was a little fascinating.

"You keep working this way and I won't be seeing you much longer," Leah laughed and ruffled his hair.

It was a friendly gesture, but she pulled her hand away quickly, ashamed. She was surprised that she'd gotten so comfortable around him…at how much comfort she felt in his presence.

Edward smiled and asked, "Is that why you do this? Why you chose this career? Because of your brother?"

She shook her head, forgetting for a moment that Edward couldn't see her.

"No," she voiced her answer, and he quirked his head in her direction. "No, I've always wanted to do this. Being able to help Seth…well, it's a bonus. I know he won't be able to walk again, but sometimes I see patients in bad conditions, and it gives me a little bit of hope. Like, maybe they'll find a way to make it happen for him or something."

"Very positive of you, Doc," he told her softly, making her smile again.

"You know, my brother was the only one to ever call me that until I met Jasper."

"Yeah, Jas likes giving people nicknames. I won't tell you what mine are, though." Edward rolled his eyes and Leah realized that after their workout he hadn't asked for his sunglasses or even reached for them.

Leah laughed, "Are they not appropriate for my delicate ears?"

"I don't think they're appropriate for any living thing to hear, to be honest," he stage-whispered.

"I like him."

Edward nodded appreciatively. "Yeah, me too."

"Okay, your ride is here and so is my next patient. I'll see you next time," she said with a quick squeeze of his shoulder. She was gone in a waft of vanilla and quiet footsteps. Edward smiled and turned around.

"Hey, Al," he greeted his sister, and picked his glasses up off the bench he was sitting on.

"Hi." She kissed the top of his head and took his hand, helping him up and handing him his crutches. "I've got a doctor's appointment, do you mind going with me?"

"Not at all." Edward shrugged as she led him to her car. He listened intently to her changed gait and smiled. She moved slowly these days, being six months along, and shuffled her feet nearly as much as Jasper.

She spoke again once they were in the car, "You're wondering where Bella is, aren't you? She said she had a client meeting and called me at the last minute."

"Honestly, Alice…no, I wasn't wondering. She's pulling away, and I'm not quite sure what to do."

Alice was quiet, which usually meant she was trying hard not to say something mean. Edward chuckled a little tiredly. Apparently he wasn't the only one who'd noticed something was off with Bella.

"Something on your mind?" he asked, and she gave a soft sigh.

"No. I just see it, too. She's been like that with all of us."

"Maybe it's wedding stress. Or stress about me. Or…I don't know."

"You guys will figure it out. You've been through so much already," Alice said soothingly, while reaching over to squeeze her brother's hand.

"Maybe it's been too much, Al," he replied, leaning his head against the window and closing his eyes.

Alice let go of his hand and frowned at the road in front of her. It was true that her brother and his fiancée had been through a lot in the past few years, but so had the entire family. Alice couldn't help but think that none of them were pulling away, so maybe it was something different that was bothering Bella. She honestly tried hard not to meddle in her brother's affairs, but maybe it was time to do so. Or maybe it was time for Edward to figure it out on his own. Either way, Alice knew something needed to happen.

xXx

"Honey, I'm home," Leah sang, smiling, as she opened the door to her moderately-sized split level home.

She laughed quietly at the click click click of nails on the hardwood floors as her "roommate" made his way to her. Cooper was a four-year-old Brittany spaniel that she'd rescued from a shelter after his owners lost him in the woods and never went back to look for him.

Leah had barely time to set her bag down when he came barreling around a corner and skidding to a stop in front of her. He gave a soft whine, so she scratched him between the ears and set off to the kitchen with Cooper at her heels. She poured herself a glass of wine and led him out the backdoor, where he practically leapt off the deck to the fenced-in backyard. With a shake of her head, she leaned against the railing and watched him chase invisible things and roll around in the grass in the early evening sun.

Sometimes she wished life was that easy.

It wasn't as if she disliked her life. Actually, she was very happy with everything. Sure, there were things lacking and things that she wish she could change, but she knew she wouldn't be the person she was without all of it. Thinking about her own life made her think about Edward and how things seemed to be thrown at him. He hardly ever seemed to be down about anything.

Of course, thinking about Edward reminded her of just how long it had been since she'd been on a date. She'd studied so much that there was never time for dating. When she finished school, Leah started working full time and a social life just kind of fell to the wayside. Not that Leah really wanted to date, or date Edward for that matter. He was obviously taken and she would never get involved with a patient. But she also couldn't deny how incredibly attractive he was and how nice it was to sometimes just to be around him.