Happy Halloween, you're all pretty. :)

Blind Ambition – Chapter Nineteen

"Where's Leah? Did she skip out on you already?" Emmett teased, and Edward shook his head with a smile.

"She had a client run late," he explained.

"I wouldn't blame her if she tried to get out of a family dinner. God knows I tried to get out of a few…" Rosalie said from Emmett's side.

"I'm hurt, babe!" he replied.

"I never tried to get out of any!" Jasper boasted.

Edward laughed. "Yeah, because you stayed drunk the entire time."

"Still do," Jasper said with a grin in his best friend's direction.

The laughter in the kitchen died down when Alice entered with Ethan in her arms and Chloe trailing behind her, enthralled with her little cousin.

"I'm going to put Ethan down in Chloe's room, is that okay?" she asked Rosalie.

"Of course, the rocker is still in there if you need it."

"I'll come with you," Edward told his sister, following her footsteps out of the kitchen.

Truth was that he wanted a little peace and quiet. Since things had moved to the next level with Leah, he felt like he was on sensory overload all the time. Of course, it didn't help that he'd spent every night of the past two weeks with her, at her house, and in her bed, either.

Alice led him into Chloe's room, where he felt around for her toddler-sized bed and sat on the floor in front of it. He heard Alice sit down and situate Ethan in her arms.

"You're not nursing him right now or anything, are you?" Edward wrinkled his nose, and she laughed quietly.

"No. I just like to look at him sometimes," she explained.

"Must be nice," he said softly.

Alice sighed. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Edward replied and offered her a small smile. "It's…let's just say it's been on my mind."

"What, children?"

He nodded slowly, afraid to even admit that since he'd been with Leah the thought had become larger and larger in his mind. It frightened him even more because he didn't even know what Leah thought about marriage or a long-term relationship, let alone children.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that, Edward."

"Me either," he confessed. "It's different now. I'm different. We're different, Leah and me."

Edward expected her to say something about his relationship with Leah. Maybe some encouraging words for her brother who was starting over, but she didn't.

"I saw Bella today." Alice said it quickly, like a confession, and Edward's head snapped toward her.

"What?"

"She stopped by the house. It was weird, she didn't even call first. But then she said she saw you…"

"She came by the store a couple of weeks ago." He shrugged. "It was weird."

"She uh…she's not seeing anyone. That guy, he broke up with her."

Edward thought for a moment, letting the information process, and suddenly Bella's appearance at his store made so much more sense. It was like she wanted to see if he'd forgiven her, or gotten over her. Like somehow she knew he'd moved on and wanted to see how he'd done it.

"I guess that explains it."

"What?"

"Just her showing up. She said she wanted to see how I was."

"Do you think she meant more?" Alice asked.

Edward frowned. "I don't know, Alice. I don't know her anymore. Frankly, I don't care."

"Bella asked me something, and…and I didn't really know how to answer her," Alice said cautiously.

"What?"

"Well, she asked when you and Leah started seeing each other."

"That's not really her business," Edward muttered.

"I know! That's why I didn't say anything to her…" Alice trailed off.

"But?"

"But I was wondering, too." Her words were quiet, but the question practically yelled at Edward. He couldn't believe his own sister would think that he would cheat.

Edward stood up and shook his head. "Are you kidding me, Alice?"

"I don't know, Edward! You haven't talked to me about that kind of stuff since high school, and Jasper didn't say anything."

"So, you just assumed that I was cheating on Bella with Leah?"

"No!" she cried, and then lowered her voice, remembering the baby sleeping in her arms. "No. I just wanted to ask you first."

"I really can't believe you asked me that," Edward told her, angry that she had automatically made the assumption that he and Leah were fooling around before he was single, just because Bella had mentioned it.

Downstairs a door slammed, and Edward turned to leave the bedroom before Alice could reply. He carefully made his way into the kitchen, where he could hear Leah greeting everyone happily.

"There you are," she said when he finally made it to her. She took his hand and he pulled her into his arms.

"Hey, let's get out of here," he whispered.

"I just got here. Are you sure?"

"Yeah." He nodded and kissed her hair, then lifted his head to the others. "We're going to run, guys."

Edward's family groaned in protest, but he was already dragging Leah out the door as quickly as his impairment would let him. She called her goodbyes and then led him to her car.

"Are you okay?" Leah asked once they were on the road to her house.

He shrugged. "I'm fine, why?"

"Because I was hardly in your brother's house for three minutes and you practically dragged me out the door!" She said with a laugh.

"I just…wanted to get out of there. Sensory overload or something," he mumbled but sighed when her fingers closed around his.

"Okay," came her quiet reply.

Edward didn't talk much and did a poor job of listening as Leah drove. He kept the conversation going by muttering little things that he thought he could pass with, but Leah knew better.

"Yeah, that's fine," he answered a random question and Leah giggled loudly. "Why are you laughing?" Edward frowned.

"I just asked you if you wanted to have sex on the kitchen table and I get a 'yeah, that's fine'? I must be losing my touch already." She squeezed his knee and Edward managed a smile.

"I'm sorry, love. My mind is a million miles away. Maybe that kitchen table will help bring it back."

"Oh, no. You'd better start talking," she said while they pulled into the driveway.

He didn't say anything and, thankfully, Cooper's exuberance at seeing them both dropped the subject for the moment. They let him out in the backyard, watching and listening to him chase and bark at things.

"I'm going to order some take-out," Leah said quietly. She ran her fingers through the hair on the back of Edward's neck and kissed his cheek before she went back inside.

He groaned quietly once her footsteps were out of earshot. Cooper nudged his thigh.

"I know, I know." He gave the dog a scratch behind the ears, making the tags on his collar jingle, and carefully made his way back inside.

He'd spent so much time at Leah's house over the past couple of weeks that he had learned the layout pretty quickly. Occasionally an end table or wall decoration would impede him, but he knew the basics. He could hear her in the kitchen on the phone, so he followed the sound of her voice. She stopped talking and set her phone down on the counter, and Edward could just make out her shape in the brightly lit room.

"I'm sorry." Edward stepped up behind her, pressing his body against hers and running his fingers down the slope of her neck.

"You keep apologizing, but you haven't told me what for yet," she whispered, shuddering when his lips touched the back of her neck.

"Alice said something that bothered me and I shouldn't have let it," he explained.

Leah turned and pulled him against her, resting her head on his chest. "About?"

"About us."

"What did she say?" she asked, brushing her lips against the skin of his throat.

Edward sighed and rested his forehead against Leah's briefly before he pulled away and settled his hands on her hips. "I guess Bella stopped by to see her."

"Oh."

"She wanted to know when we started seeing each other…and Alice asked me the same thing. I guess I sort of lost it."

"I can't really imagine you losing it, Edward." Leah frowned- he could hear it in her voice- and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Just the fact that they would imply that I…that we…it just bothered me."

Leah pulled him into a soft kiss. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," he said quietly. "I hate that my sister would think that about us."

"She knows it isn't true, Edward. More importantly, we know it isn't true. You'd never do that and I…well, I can control myself."

"So, you had to 'control yourself' around me?" Edward grinned, so she shoved his shoulder.

"It was difficult, you know," she whispered with lips close to his ear.

He pressed closer to her and smiled. "I can only imagine. Now, about that kitchen table…"