Chapter 42

Jacob and Renesme had wandered back to their home, leaving Bella and Edward walking back to the house with Alexandra and Michael.

Edward could read that Alexandra's thoughts were mixture of a lot of things, and Michael was internally eager to comfort her in any way possible. Because of his somewhat shy personality, he hadn't yet reached out for fear of overstepping his boundaries.

The two of them walked side by side, though didn't say a whole lot. Michael tossed the ball from hand to hand and stared up into the black sky that continued to let rain cover them.

Edward grabbed Bella's hand and hurried her ahead of them. She wasn't immediately aware of his intentions to give them a little privacy, though quickly caught on.

"Hunt?" she asked.

Edward nodded with a smile and gave her a kiss. He looked back at Alexandra, "We're going to hunt. You two okay to make it home?"

"Yeah," she said, "And thanks. Both of you."

Bella smiled, "We might have a girls movie tonight tomorrow, so keep your schedule open."

"I will," she told her and waved as they disappeared.

Michael continued looking upward into the starless sky, "You know. I think it's terrible what Peter did you to you Alex."

She shook her head, "I don't even care. It was a stupid first crush if anything."

"It doesn't make it right," Michael said, "I feel terribly that you had to have such a negative first experience with a relationship."

"Did you kill him?"

Her words caught him off guard, but he shook his head, "No. Emmett did. And one of the wolves."

"Why do you think my dad stopped?" she asked.

"Because he knew it would hurt you if he did," Michael explained, "I think he had to let someone else do it."

"How do you know?"

"I had that feeling, plus that's what Emmett told me."

Alexandra sighed, "Makes sense."

"You're not mad at him are you? I mean for not doing it?"

She shot him a look, "No. Of course not," she looked down, "I'm glad he didn't."

"I didn't mean to upset you with the question," Michael said, reading her reaction.

"You didn't," her face turned warm again, "Thanks for looking out for me, too. I mean, like I said, I think I knew he was a jerk the whole time. He was just, you know, the only guy who's looked at me that way... or I thought he looked at me that way."

Alexandra's mind drifted to her previous comparisons of Michael and Peter, thinking she should have listened to her gut immediately. Michael was genuine and pure, never trying to overdo it. He was honest and even Edward could confirm that from his thoughts. Had she just listened to what her heart and mind had originally been trying to tell her, maybe they wouldn't have had to deal with the mess they'd just gone through and she would be happy.

Michael listened as the last words left her mouth, ... the only guy who looked at me that way.. or i thought looked at me that way... His thoughts revolved into a small group of similar statements that he wish could leave his mouth, he's not the only guy who looks at you that way... I look at you that way... I'd treat you right...

"What?" she asked curiously, noticing him staring at her.

"Nothing," he said, fixing his gaze just over her shoulder to try playing off his Alexandra daydream as something else.

Alexandra looked cautiously over her shoulder into the woods and Michael chuckled.

"Sorry," he said, "There's nothing there."

She smiled, "Still a little jumpy, I guess."

"Yeah, I'm sorry," he told her again.

"It's okay." She brushed her wet hair out of her eyes.

Michael smiled, admiring her for a half a second longer than normal before they continued their walk back to the house. Alexandra removed her shoes as she entered so she wouldn't track footprints all over the place and Michael stayed at the back step.

"You're not coming in?" she asked him.

He shrugged, "I may go back to Alice and Jasper's place."

"Why?" she asked, slightly disappointed.

Michael couldn't help but smile at her reaction, "I don't know. I feel like I'm.. overstaying my welcome. There's so many people running around here all the time."

"You're not overstaying," Alexandra told him with a laugh, "I don't understand why you were never around to begin with."

"We can have that talk another time," he told her playfully, though had a hint of seriousness in his voice. He raised his eyebrows a few times making her smile.

"Well Lucy's out in Italy, so you'll be there by yourself. After everything we just went through, do you really want to be... alone?"

Michael thought to himself and answered the question internally. No I don't want to be alone. The words that ran through his mind had a more in depth meaning than what they were on the surface.

"No," was his short answer.

Alexandra shrugged, "Come... hang out then."

They stared at each other for a minute and Michael stepped in through the back door.

"Just take your shoes off," she said with a smile, "You know how Mom is."

"Of course," Michael said with a laugh. He left his muddy sneakers outside and removed his soaking wet socks before crossing through the kitchen with her.

Masen entered through the front at the same time, looking a little flustered.

"Mase," Alexandra said with Michael in tow just behind her, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, "Where's Dad? Or Edward. Either one."

Carlisle quickly appeared down where his children stood with a look of concern. "What is it Masen?"

"Leah went to her mom's," he told him.

"Is she okay? Did you guys have an arguement?"

Alexandra and Michael quietly excused themselves from the room.

"No, no. I mean, yes, she's okay and no, we didn't have an arguement. She just wanted to have some alone time with her."

"Alright," Carlisle said, feeling a little better. Esme joined the two of them in the room.

"What was Bella's pregnancy like?"

Carlisle and Esme looked at each other before Carlisle spoke, "It was... scary; a very difficult procedure."

"What were her complications?"

"There were several complications," he told him.

"Like..."

Carlisle looked at Esme again briefly before he continued, "The fetus," he changed his words so his wife would not be upset, "The baby... was drinking all of her blood, draining her completely. She was forced to drink human blood in order to survive."

"And what else?" Masen asked eagerly.

"It crushed her from the inside, broke a lot of her bones including the major vertebrae in her back."

Masen's face was thoughtfully horrified, "Leah's bones heal so quickly. What if, regardless if I can help her, what if she heals wrong?"

"Well, we don't know that it's going to be exactly like Bella's," Esme explained.

"But it's the closest thing to it to compare to," Masen said, "And I know, Dad, that you had to rebreak some of Jake's bones to get him back to normal and it was really painful..."

Carlisle crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded, almost wincing at the memory of Jacob's pain.

"I can't sit there and watch if we have to do that to Leah. What if she gets, like, paralyzed or something?" His words were becoming more rapid and panic filled his thoughts. "Alice can't even possibly see the future on this either. God, what if this kills her?"

"Son, relax," Carlisle told him, "I'm going to be honest, I'm a little anxious about all the unknowns of this, but the biggest difference is that Leah does have a fast healing ability and, as you've pointed out before, you can instantly heal her."

"Dad and I were talking about this before," Esme said, "We really don't think it will be anything like Bella's experience because of that," her voice trailed off, "Poor Bella."

"And poor Leah," Masen said, shaking his head, "I should have listened to you, Dad."

"There's not much we can do now," he told his son, "Things will work out. The two of you will be okay."

"You or I can't be sure of that," he disagreed, "Man... it didn't really sink in until just now. I can't live without Leah."

Esme cringed as his thoughts became more and more morbid. Jasper quickly entered the room with Alice by his side upon overhearing their conversation.

"Jasper don't," Masen begged, feeling his anxieties dim down. His entire body, limb by limb, suddenly felt loose and relaxed.

Jasper smiled from across the room and looked at Alice.

"Stop what?" Alice asked him with a grin.

"You know what," he said, unable to keep the frown on his face. He unwillingly let himself smile back at them.

"We're going to monitor everything about this. I would have began tonight but the two of you said you wanted some space. So whenever you and Leah are ready, we'll begin the way we did with Bella."

Masen let a deep breath in and nodded, "Alright."

Esme walked up and gave him a long hug before she kissed his cheek, "Things will be okay, honey."

"I hope so," he told her.