Moonlight in Forks
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Confrontation
For the second time in as many days, Bella was ambushed by someone she didn't want to see. After Jacob had left, she had taken her pain meds, which were now just kicking in.
When Leah first entered the kitchen ahead of her mother, Bella thought she was hallucinating, and began to worry she had taken too high of a dose. It was only when Renee hesitantly introduced Leah, that Bella realized that what she was seeing was real and not something conjured up by her fevered imagination.
"Why are you here?" She accused without thinking. "You should be at the meeting. Jake left ages ago."
"What meeting?" Renee butted in curiously.
Leah eyed Bella critically. She was wearing her familiar scowl, clearly irritated that Bella had let the cat out of the bag. However, she didn't answer Bella directly, instead turning the heat of her fierce glare onto Renee instead.
"Do you mind?" She said stiffly. "I would like to speak to Bella in private."
Renee was rankled by Leah's bad attitude. She drew herself up to her full height, not that it did much, the top of her head still barely reached Leah's shoulder, and matched the she-wolf's stare. Bella could have hugged her mother in that moment. She was like a momma bear defending her cub.
"Who do you think you are, young lady? You barge in here uninvited, then demand I leave. I don't think so."
Leah had average control when it came to her temper, her dark eyes tightened at the corners as she faced Renee down. The conflict was clear on her face as she battled internally to maintain some form of politeness. A tense moment passed as she continued to face off in a staring contest with Renee, then with excruciating difficulty, she huffed out an apology.
"I'm sorry. I would like to speak to Bella in private…please."
You could tell that the please cost her. The she-wolf's fingers twitched at her sides, her lips thinned and her brows drew down.
Renee held Leah's gaze for a few seconds longer before turning to Bella. "Do you feel up to speaking to her, baby girl? Or shall I ask her to leave? Remember the doctors told you to avoid any stress." Her tone implied she was very much hoping for the latter.
Bella looked at Leah uneasily, half wanting to do as her mother was not so subtly suggesting and tell the other girl to do one. She couldn't understand how Leah had managed to circumnavigate Sam's order. She thought the she-wolf would have been compelled to obey. Perhaps Sam didn't word it right and Leah had found a way around it. He was always lax when dealing with her. She remembered that Jacob had done the same a few times in the past.
"I'll speak to her." Bella agreed eventually, after much consideration. She saw her mother frown unhappily and reached for her hand. "Don't worry, Mom. She won't be staying long. She has nothing to say that I really want to hear."
Renee was still unsure. She glanced at Leah again, her eyes filled with disquiet. "I don't pretend to understand what is going on here." She said directly to Leah. "But if I so much as get a whiff of you causing trouble, or upsetting my daughter, you'll have me to deal with. Understand?"
"I understand." Leah muttered sarcastically. "As Bella said, this won't take long. I am not here to upset her or cause her any undue distress.
Renee looked disbelieving. She gave Bella's hand a gentle squeeze, then with many a backward glance, she left the two girls alone in the kitchen.
The silence was deafening.
Bella was not going to make it easy for the she-wolf. She neither offered her a seat or bothered with any pleasantries. Instead, she adopted the same pose as Leah: eyes hard, posture tense, expression indifferent.
It meant that the she-wolf had to speak first, which she was clearly uncomfortable doing. "Can I sit down?" She asked eventually.
Bella didn't answer, just gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.
Leah frowned slightly, before pulling out a chair and lowering herself gracefully into it. She sat opposite Bella, the long dark lashes rimming her eyes like feather dusters, as she blinked under Bella's scrutiny.
"You're not going to make this easy for me, Swan."
"Why should I?"
Leah's lips twitched. "Yes, why should you?"
More silence followed. Bella was determined not to be the one to break it. When she usually felt free to speak her heart and soul, conversations were rich and emotionally significant. When she sensed danger, non-acceptance or prejudice, the conversation turned shallow and awkward. She always considered conversations like a dance with moves, that either are reciprocal and complementary, or feel as if you are alone on the floor and should leave. Things either feel right or feel wrong, she supposed, and this felt very wrong.
"So, I came here to – "
"Kidnap me again?" Bella cut in.
Leah's beautiful face immediately twisted into her usual scowl. "If you just let me finish."
"Why should I?" Bella repeated her earlier refrain.
"Because I'm trying to…to apologize." Leah's hands which were resting on the table curled into fists.
"I suppose it's better than offering me up to your mortal enemy like some kind of sacrificial lamb." Bella said, there was no heat in her voice, the pain meds were kicking in and she was beginning to feel drowsy.
Leah reacted the way that Bella knew she would, letting her anger and bitterness define her actions. She launched into a vitriolic tirade, describing how much she had suffered, was still suffering, implying that none of what had happened to her could have anything to do with the choices she had made. It was always someone's else's fault, never her own. She was driven to act, her pain and distress so overwhelming at the latest turn her life had taken, it stopped her thinking rationally.
"You have to shoulder some of the blame here, Swan." Leah accused, jabbing a finger in Bella's direction. "If you hadn't gotten involved with them in the first place, then so much of this could have been prevented."
"So, nothing has changed then?" Bella said flatly. "You're still holding me responsible for things that were out of my control."
Leah snorted derisively. "The decisions were your own. And people suffered because of those decisions."
"I could say the same to you." Bella retorted. She was battling to keep her eyes open. She felt completely drained, not in a fit state to exchange barbs with the bitter she-wolf. "You've let your anger and bitterness define who you are. You push those that care about you away, because I think you actually enjoy wallowing in your own misery. I mean, exactly who are you without it, Leah? Do you even know anymore?"
"Don't you dare talk down to me!" Leah stood up, leaning across the table, her dark eyes gleaming with fury, looking as if she would like to yank Bella out of her seat and shake her.
"You are not the only one to suffer heartbreak, Leah." Bella was getting into her stride again now, her frustration with the she-wolf's verbal attacks chasing away the drug induced torpor. "It happens daily to people. Its how you deal with it that matters."
"You know nothing about it!"
"Oh, yes, I do." Bella argued. "I festered for months after Edward left me. You got angry, I got depressed. I did some really, stupid reckless things. Things that could have had serious consequences if those I love hadn't been looking out for me. I let myself wallow in my sadness, just like you are letting yourself wallow in your anger and bitterness now."
"I don't need you psychoanalyzing me!" Leah sneered. "You can shove your pep talk!"
Bella's tone turned icy. "No, you mean bitch, this is me trying to make you see there is light at the end of the tunnel. You just don't want to see it. It took me longer than it should have, but I realize now that I struggled with depression for most of my life, and even though I thought I was doing better after moving to Forks, I was just fooling myself. I was just ripe for a controlling asshole like Edward Cullen to prey on. Then I went through all the shit with James, which seriously fucked me up. It meant I just clung harder to Edward because I convinced myself he was the only one who could save me from myself."
Leah froze in place, staring penetratingly at Bella.
"And I also realized I wasn't just heartbroken because Edward left me. I was heartbroken that the whole future I had planned was suddenly ripped away from me. It was like losing a family. Honestly, I think I'd been at my limit for a long, long time, and Edward leaving was just the straw that broke the camel's back. And I always felt it was the same for you. You had this whole future planned with Sam. And then suddenly it was all taken away from you, and to make it worse you didn't understand why until much later. You had to watch Sam play happy ever after with your own cousin. Then you phased, you lost your dad, you had to endure being in Sam's head every day. You think I don't understand, Leah? You think I don't empathize? I do! Or I did!"
Bella was breathless by the end of her long speech. She watched as Leah slowly sat back down, her hands no longer curled into fists, but resting flat on the table.
"You think to compare your situation to mine?" There was no bite in Leah's tone this time. "Then take a good look, because if you stay with Jacob, then you will be me. You will devote your life to him, loving him, planning and building a future together. Then one day…BAM!" She thumped her palm on the wooden surface of the table, making Bella jump. "It will all be gone. He will imprint, just like Sam imprinted on Emily. And just like that you will cease to matter. How will you react then, Swan? Huh? Tell me that?"
The weary sigh that escaped Bella's lips was slow, as if her brain needed that time to process Leah's words. "Offering me to the vamps didn't work, so now you're throwing imprinting in my face?" She shook her head tiredly. "You can leave now, Leah. I don't think we have anymore to say to each other."
Leah hadn't provoked the reaction that she wanted out of Bella. Even though her original intention had been to apologize, as soon as she was in the same room as Bella, breathing the same air, she found she just couldn't do it. The truth was she was jealous. Life had worked out well for Swan when it hadn't for her. She had overcome her heartbreak and found happiness again. Jacob was completely devoted, Leah had seen inside his head, she knew, and they weren't even imprinted. She wanted what they had with Sam, but was never going to get it. So, her only option now was to leave, to run away and leave everyone and everything she knew behind to nurse her wounds in private.
"You'll be pleased to know that I'm leaving." She declared.
"Oh, so you're running away?" Bella responded sarcastically. "So, you're a coward as well as a bitch?"
"How dare you?" Leah growled menacingly. "I am not a coward!"
"Then prove it!" Bella challenged. "Go to that meeting and face your brothers. Put your bitterness and anger to one side and show them the real Leah Clearwater. I know she's hiding in there somewhere; you just need to set her free."
Leah snarled, her face twisting into her fiercest scowl yet. Her hostility nearly made Bella choke on her own resolve, but she stared the she-wolf down, determined not to quail under her menacing presence.
"Go, Leah, go now. Maybe after you've made peace with your pack…maybe then we can talk again."
Leah's eyes narrowed to slits as she shot out of her seat and flounced out of the kitchen. The last thing Bella heard was Renee's stunned exclamation as the she-wolf barged past her mother and slammed the front door as she left.
A/N-thanks for reading!
Will Leah take Bella's advice and face her pack?
What did you all think of the confrontation? Believable or out of character? I really would like to know, LOL I really struggled with this chapter.