.

Chapter 137

Apologies

Leah

All my bones were aching when I woke up. When I mentally went through my body parts, I was no longer surprised about it either.

Everything possible - which I could not really name at the moment - had to lie on top of and underneath me and was somehow knotted with me.

When I opened my eyes, this little grudge was already forgotten.

I looked at Marcus' sleeping face.

I wanted to put my fingertips to his beard, to scratch over it, but my hand was weighed down by something cold.

"Good morning, Little one," it whispered, letting go of my hand.

I put my head in the neck and saw my dad.

"Morning. Why are you holding my hand in place?", I asked mumbling while stifling a yawn.

"Because after the eighth time I was tired of being hit by you," Edward complained smiling.

I tried to turn myself, which required me to push some legs and arms off me.

Jake growled sleepily, Becky moaned disturbedly, and Marcus merely tried to pull me back against him - as a substitute, he now took Jake's arm, which was as warm as mine - while I just wanted to sit up. Somehow I managed it and looked at Mom, who was lying snuggled close to Edward, almost smiling.

"She's still a little pale, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. However, she has hardly eaten anything since Wednesday, as far as I know from David," he said worriedly and stroked gently over her hair.

One thing that was pretty cool about this house, each bedroom/guest room had its own bathroom. Most consisted of just a sink with a toilet. Some of them had a shower as well.

To one such I moved, after I stretched once in all directions. My joints thanked me for it.

The rooms that Esmé had prepared for Jake and me here in the house additionally contained a bathtub. The one adjoining Carlisle and Esmé's bedroom, however, was a veritable temple of wellness, for which one could easily attach a survey map without calling it excessive.

When I came back from the bathroom, I chuckled.

Becky looked creepy. All the mascara had spread around her eyes.

I took a shoe off her foot, which was only hanging by a little strap around her toes.

Edward also smirked.

"I'm sorry we messed up your date," he apologized ruefully.

"You can reschedule a date, but how many times do you get told you're having a little sibling? A real one. Not one from a random neighbor!" I winked at him.

"Then you don't mind?" he asked intently.

"No, I'm happy. I've always wanted a little sister," I stated, with Dad raising an eyebrow very skeptically.

"Since I've known you, you've wished to be an only child twenty-eight times. And once you even wanted to make that a reality!" he claimed.

I snorted contemptuously.

He exaggerated! Immoderately!

My eyes slid to Jake.

My little brother. So to speak ... Was it so surprising that I sometimes had homicidal thoughts against him? No one knew me as well as he did. Therefore, no one knew as well as he, how he could get me worked up! And quite honestly, he could be quite annoying! If only because of what I always had to listen to when we ran through the forest.

Edward chuckled to himself that Mom was waking up.

"Good morning, my angel!" he whispered velvety and breathed a kiss on Mom's forehead.

"Edward," she replied softly, seeming a bit taken aback. "You're really here!"

"Of course I'm here, dearest. How do you feel?"

"Don't really know yet," Mom seemed to still be thinking about it.

She tried to sit up.

I walked behind her to the edge of the bed. At the slightest movement, she might slide off the bed, as close as she was lying to the edge. But Dad was already helping her himself and holding her in his arms.

Mom was thirsty, so I quickly ran downstairs to the kitchen. We had left nothing from our picnic here on the floor.

Arriving in the large eat-in kitchen, I stopped abruptly in the doorless entrance.

Carlisle was sitting on one of the bar stools, looking pretty beat by his standards. As if he had been through a night of drinking.

"Good morning, Leah!" he greeted me after lifting his head from his arms with difficulty.

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he had dozed off there and was now awakened by me.

"How is Bella?" he asked immediately, standing up from the bar stool - now again with his usual casual elegance.

It didn't quite match his appearance. It didn't appear like after a hard night now, but he had stains on his clothes from head to toe and something was even stuck in his hair that I would most likely identify as butter.

"Good, so far," I said venomously. "As long as you don't get your hands on her, maybe it will stay that way!" He had wanted to get 'the thing' out of Mom. My fur had almost flown around my ears in anger when Dad had told us that. I wasn't stupid, and Dad definitely wasn't. I knew that this baby could be dangerous for Mom when I looked at the abilities of our family. But to just decide that on his own, over Dad's head, made me furiously angry.

"I know I would have made a mistake. I am sorry for that. And I fervently hope that Edward will forgive me for it," he said ruefully.

"You'll have to work that out with Dad," I said evasively, walking to the fridge and starting up the kettle on the way.

"The coffee machine should be ready any moment and the breakfast table is already set for you, too," Carlisle - still rueful - gave me to understand.

I bristled.

If anyone cooked - or baked - in this house, it was usually Esmé.

I leaned over the kitchen counter to look at the table.

Wow ... Not only simply covered, but very invitingly prepared. Almost like Dad always did.

My stomach growled as I roamed my eyes over the table. Two little baskets, one with rolls, one with bagels, cinnamon buns, and croissants. Jam, Nutella, orange and multivitamin juice.

I looked at the cooker.

A skillet stood ready as well as eggs and bacon lay beside it.

I continued to walk to the refrigerator and tried to look unimpressed.

A bowl of yogurt and one with fruit already cut into small pieces waited for them to meet. Plates with cheese and cold cuts, nicely decorated with tomatoes, cucumbers, and pieces of bell pepper.

"You want to repent?" I inquired suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. Was he thinking that breakfast would be enough to make up for his behavior? With that he was so wrong with me!

That is what my head said.

My stomach could be bribed with it quite well, which noisily announced itself immediately to word.

"No. I love my grandchildren. It is irrelevant for what reason you are in this house tonight, I would have made you breakfast in any case!" he looked at me meekly.

An answer that kind of threw me for a loop now.

"And even though you may not believe me right now, I love my daughter-in-law too. I was only concerned about her welfare yesterday. I had nothing else in mind. In doing so, I definitely would have gone one step too far in my zeal when I passed over Edward," he explained further.

"Is that why you look like that?" I asked, tugging at his sweater in evidence. I wanted to change the subject. To be angry, I just ran out of arguments.

He nodded.

"I don't understand how Edward manages to do this for you guys every weekend without devastating the kitchen. I've spent the last half hour cleaning up my mess."

I shrugged my shoulders ignorantly.

When I sometimes cooked, it always looked like the battlefield, too.

"Practice makes perfect," I said, pouring the boiling water into a cup.

I put a little tea selection on the tray as well as the coffee cups for us young folks and a glass in case Mom didn't want tea. I stood indecisively in front of the open refrigerator.

Plenty of choice of beverages. I wondering what one would be thirsty for when pregnant? I decided to take a little bit of everything. Milk, water, juice, lemonade.

So I carefully balanced the rather full tray upwards.

Jake had woken up in the meantime and opened the door for me.

Mom sat on the edge of the bed, Dad behind her and holding her upright. She looked a little weak, but quite happy and content. She smiled encouragingly at me and even chuckled at the selection of beverages I had brought along. She reached for the tea, but set it aside to cool. She reached out her hands to Jake and me.

We each took one and knelt in front of her.

"I'm pregnant. By Edward," she informed us.

"You don't say?" said Jake, rolling his eyes.

"That's what we have now realized," was all I said.

"Of course. But I want to know from you whether you agree with it. I want to have this child, even though I have no idea yet what may come with it in the near future. It may be the only chance we have. But it also affects both of you. It would not be fair of me not to include you in this decision. You will have a brother or sister who will be half vampire. How do you feel about that thought?"

"I don't know," Jake began to say, awkwardly playing with Mom's hand. "It's a weird feeling. I don't mean that I have anything against it. No. I'm actually glad. Kind of. Sure will be fun when we're in the majority again! But the thought that in a few months a baby will be screaming in our house is just not tangible for me ..."

"Yes," I picked up on Jake's thoughts when he faltered. "The consideration of having a little sibling never occurred to us. Maybe in the past, when we didn't know that it would take two people to do it. But then? You were alone all that time. We didn't need to think about it. But now everything is different ... We have Dad. Plus Esmé and Carlisle as additional grandparents. And the others."

"With every increase in our family, we've only been lucky so far. I'm sure it won't be any different now!" Jake concluded with conviction, and we gave Mom and Dad a kiss on the cheek.

They smiled touched by this encouragement, followed by a growl.

"Um ... Carlisle made breakfast, by the way," I announced, with which I conjured up another growl.

We chuckled.

Mom, however, wanted to take a shower and change before breakfast. She would not have been in a position to be able to that yesterday.

Dad wrapped Mom in a blanket, gently took her in his arms and walked her over to his house. It was more comfortable for her there, since everything she needed would be there.

It was shortly before seven in the morning, and we arranged to meet at the dining table for half past eight.

Thus, we would still have enough time to go running before breakfast.

Jake and I turned to face the bed.

Marcus and Becky were still asleep.

We would change that then times quite considerately!

We took a running jump in the middle of the bed. The two of them were startled, which was intended, and cried out in the heat of the moment.

Carlisle was standing in the doorway not five seconds later - with a face no less startled. While Becky and Marcus were still struggling to breathe, Carlisle already relaxed and left, not forgetting to roll his eyes and chuckle as he did so.

That was one of his favorite hobbies. I had already noticed several times.

"Good morning!" I peered down over the back edge of the bed at Marcus.

He had slipped out of bed in fright, but he had only been lying half on it.

"Morning," he almost growled, but not seriously.

His smile was far too beautiful for that.

I let one hand slide over the pad, ran over his eye scar, and finally tickled over his beard.

I liked this feeling. So scratchy, but still also somehow soft. And he looked damn hot with it too!

I didn't tickle him for long when he pulled me off the bed by my arm, turned with me, and finally lay over me. He kissed my lone freckle and then gently my lips.

We went to our rooms lovingly prepared by Esmé.

Marcus also had a few things lying around here in the meantime and changed his clothes.

He would go running together with Becky while we wolves were out. She and Jake were already waiting for us at the front door. Jake and I got undressed, they put our clothes away and we were off.

And we had a clear goal. Let's say I had a clear goal, which I now mentally communicated to Jake.

'Cool idea!' he opined, and we ran home to get the advent calendar gifts for today.

Plus, Dad still had to open the ones from the last two days.

Once home, we gulped.

Even though Marcus and Becky had put the furniture back in place yesterday and generally ensured a bit of order, our eyes did not fail to notice that hardly anything was in its right place. And we were to blame for that!

We cleaned up a little bit, then.

While Jake positioned the dining room in its proper place, I cleared broken pieces from the glass cabinet.

Three glasses had been caught when David had staggered against them. And then it was also the champagne glasses from Zoey. A special production, because normal champagne glasses were too small for her. Only one of them was still intact.

I let my head hang guiltily.

Was there blood on the floor? Sure. Jake's hook to the chin had been right on the money.

"We should go over and apologize to David," I reasoned, as I tried to get the stains off.

Jake nodded and put the decorations back on the dining room table.

The pillows ended up back on the sofa the way they belonged. The living room table was straightened. Pen, calendar, and notepad stowed in the drawer. The laptop was briefly checked for functionality. It was running.

Otherwise, we'd take that one directly to David.

Jake fetched a bag while I took the packages off the Advent strings.

Mom had to open hers for yesterday, too. Everything was back as usual.

"Well, let's get over there," I sighed. Damn, we had finished in a hurry.

"What for anyway?" Jake suddenly defiantly said, however.

"Hmm ...?"

"I mean, we thought that he wanted to thronge between Mom and Dad ... Well, the child isn't his, but that thought can hardly be so absurd if they thought that themselves. Doesn't that mean there must be something going on between them?" Jake tried to explain to me.

"Uh ..." I searched for words. Lasted a moment. "Not necessarily," I finally found a few. "It seems to have been clear very quickly that David had nothing to do with the baby. Dad wouldn't have come to David's defense last week and driven him home yesterday, too, if there was really more to it than just their long friendship. After all, he can look into his head. If Dad doesn't know about it, then there's nothing there," I stated.

Jake didn't surrender to my arguments really, but we went over.

The Mitchell family had just finished breakfast when Deacon opened the door for us. He pulled me by the hand excitedly into the hallway.

I bit my lip when I saw David, and Jake turned to me ruefully for a moment.

As if he wanted to say: What have we done!

David's nose was quite swollen, and his movements looked like they were accompanied by copious amounts of pain.

Emma immediately ran toward Jake, who spun her high into the air.

I could tell he was more than grateful for this brief distraction from the reason for our visit. I really just wanted to get it over with quickly.

"Hey, you two. Have you had breakfast yet?" Sonya came up to us in a good mood.

"Nope, but soon!" I waved off, with Jake quickly fishing a slice of cucumber off the plate Sonya was carrying past us.

She smirked and held the plate out to me as well. I took the cherry tomato, which literally gaped at me.

So. That's what she got out of it. Sonya didn't necessarily appear that the domestic bliss was still a bit short here.

I gave Jake an 'I told you so' look.

Luces was also standing by us pretty quickly and casually asked, "What's up?"

I chuckled.

Seemed funny all the time with his just nine years.

David whistled once sharply in the background, and the kids flinched and turned to their father, but he just pointed sternly behind him into the dining room with his thumb.

Clear the table. And this gesture of his was so deeply rooted in me that I almost began to move with his kids.

I chuckled when Deacon bumped into his father, who immediately hilariously contorted his face in pain.

Actually, I felt really sorry for him, but somehow he seemed mostly funny.

"How's Bella?" asked David when the children had disappeared into the doorway, and slowly approached us.

Now it was Jake who gave me that particular look. I punched him against the shoulder.

He only saw ghosts!

"Jake? What's wrong?" David naturally remarked.

"Nothing!" Jake snottily replied.

For a moment David looked at him, at which Jake just avoided his gaze, but eventually lifted his eyes to him.

Or rather, sparkled at him.

"Up you go!" commanded David, directing us up the stairs.

We followed.

Well. I followed and pulled Jake behind me.

David took a little longer to climb the many steps. At the top, he went into his study, and we sat down after being asked to do so. He leaned against his desk directly in front of us.

"I think I know what's going on," he began.

I first raised my arms in a generally defensive manner and pointed at Jake.

He nodded at me, while Jake just looked stubborn.

"I know Edward talks to you guys pretty openly," he started.

"From where?" Jake interrupted him challengingly.

I rolled my eyes at Jake's posturing.

"Because Edward counts as one of my best friends. Even after the events of the last few days," David replied calmly and meekly.

A moment of silence.

"You don't think your mom and I are just friends. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been this misunderstanding about the baby."

Jake nodded.

Silently. But looking angry.

"So. Edward talks to you about everything, so I'm going to try as well ... Yes, I slept with your mother," he said, and I was struck from somewhere with such an imaginary blow that I slipped out of the armchair.

Jake jumped to his feet, growling.

David ... smirked?

With this Jake apparently could not do anything either and looked at me over his shoulder, puzzled. However, it wouldn't be long before Jake would lose his patience. And yet he had so little of it. Unlike me, but even mine was on the edge.

"Please listen to me first before you try to lynch me!", David started anew. "We have ended up in bed many a time, mostly under drunken circumstances, but the last time was about eleven and a half years ago. You were ... six years old then," he seemed to do some quick math.

"How do you know that for sure?" I asked irritated.

"For one thing, I already discussed this with Bella on Wednesday, and for another, my life took on its meaning at that time," he said, handing me a picture frame from his desk.

I smiled.

David and Sonya. Apparently in an Italian restaurant. They sat at a little round table with a red checkered tablecloth and very gently held hands while smiling tentatively at each other as if enchanted. A date was written at the bottom.

I mentally counted.

"That was our first date," he almost got me confused counting ...

Eleven and a half years. "And after that, it was over?" I handed the picture to Jake.

"Yes. Implicitly. We didn't talk about it, vote on it, discuss it, or even argue that we would stop doing it from then on. It was just ... taboo. It was not proper. Neither of us are people who keep our options open behind our backs. And I have not concealed or downplayed anything about the other from either Sonya or Bella."

Jake indecisively handed him the picture.

David held it in his hands for a moment before returning it to its place.

"But if that was so long ago, how did the suggestion that it might be your child come about?" asked Jake, gathering all his suspicions.

"After the Pulled Pork on Saturday, Bella and I ended up in bed together," he began to say further, putting his hands on Jake's shoulders ahead of time. "Let me finish!" he snapped at Jake before he could jump up again. "We were drunk, and we were totally knocked out after the long day. We just fell into bed and fell asleep."

"But how ...?" I pondered.

"We would have independently sworn every oath that nothing happened that night other than us falling asleep lying next to each other. Even when Bella got here with the positive pregnancy test, I didn't assume anything else. I even congratulated her even though she looked like it was the last thing she wanted to hear. When she reminded me that Edward could not father children, I was quite angry and also quite disappointed in your mother ... However, she came to me for only one reason. If Edward could not be it, only I came into question. From his point of view, it was then finally comprehensible for me. Also that Bella already believed it herself. There were a few evenings in the recent weeks when I was alone with Bella, but we were able to mentally put each of them back together. Better said, we can remember those evenings without gaps. If we had actually fallen asleep, it was usually Edward who woke us up. Sitting in the living room and fully clothed. Only this one not ... Well. And if Edward absolutely cannot bring children into the world, this night must have gone a little differently than Bella and I had assumed ... I finally accepted that, begged Sonya on my knees for forgiveness and wanted to do the same with Edward. But yesterday's circumstances changed everything. Edward is the father, which in a sense confirms Bella's and my innocence."

"But how do you know you're not yet ...?" hooked Jake.

"We just know it ... I love Bella. In my own special way. She is the sister I never had, but who was always there for me. I respect your mother and do nothing with which I could harm her or her world. In the same way, I love my own wife and children too much to put my life with them on the line ... Edward is exactly who I've been hoping for all these years for Bella. True, I would have imagined him twenty years older. Or eighty years younger. But she's everything to him, he understands her, and is really good for her ..." David explained and squatted between us, moaning a little in pain.

He looked at us, meek and familiar.

"I was happy to be your surrogate father while I was here. I treated you as if you were really my children and loved you no less than my own. I have seen you grow up, I have helped to raise you, I have accompanied you in joy and sorrow, we have experienced a lot together. If I was here. So I also wished very much that you would get along with the man at Bella's side. A man who would always be with you and not just every three months for a few days. All the more I am happy that you not only accept Edward and get along with him. You have accepted him as your father, and he is currently the best friend I have ... We're all very happy with what we have. I don't think that Bella and I would accidentally destroy that."

Fleeting images of distant and near memories mingled, running like a slide show in my head.

David had been there as long as I could remember. I even had a few isolated memories from Jacksonville. And in the past he had been here much more often. Almost every weekend, on holidays or during vacations. That had changed only when we were in school ... Sure, when he met Sonya - I just found this temporal connection. A lot of memories had accumulated there. A huge birthday cake that David had almost dropped. A canoe trip on the Saco River. A quarrel between him and Mom because he wanted to convince her to let us ride along on a trip with friends. He taught me how to park so Jake couldn't continue to make fun of my attempts. Jake cut himself shaving and thought he was going to bleed to death because he was too impatient for David's instruction - it hadn't even bled properly! My favorite doll was gone, and David comforted me in his arms. Jake had hit me, which caused me to skin my knee when I fell, and David pressed a bowl of ice cubes into my hand the next morning for me to wake Jake up with. He was partly responsible for our happy childhood!

A little tear actually rolled out of my eye at this observation.

And this affectionate behavior he had not suddenly stopped when Edward was here. He had indeed withdrawn a little overall, but otherwise simply included Edward. As part of us. But even other images of the past I now searched specifically. Mom and David. Before Edward became a part of our lives. They kissed each other soulfully and gently, on the cheek, the forehead or something, but always only fleetingly on the lips. As if it were a silent greeting. Likewise their embraces. They were warm and loving, but there was no trace of desire. When they sat on the sofa, often snuggled together, it seemed familiar, but never like we were disturbing or interrupting them doing anything.

"No. You wouldn't," Jake muttered absently to himself, as if some memory fragments were marching through his head, too.

"Is that why you sent us up here? So you could tell us this without Sonya overhearing that you love Mom in your own way?" I inquired, but without meaning to attack him. I was just curious.

He rose with difficulty and looked out over us with a smile.

"Certainly not," I heard Sonya say behind us.

She leaned in the doorway, smiling just as much, and now walked toward her husband. He kissed her tenderly on the forehead and put an arm around her when she reached him.

"Sonya always knew what Bella meant to me. But I know where I want to be and where I belong!" he answered me now himself a little delayed, not letting Sonya out of his amorous eyes.

Jake and I looked at each other.

He was probably finally convinced that David wasn't going to make a pass at our mom.

David explained that the reason he wanted to talk to us up here was because his children wouldn't understand all this yet. Daniel probably would, but he wasn't here yet.

"But you haven't told me how Bella is doing yet!" David finally reminded us when he was able to tear himself away from his wife.

Well. Somewhat at least.

"Good so far. Better than yesterday in any case and she looks much better," I said.

"She's still a little wobbly on her feet, but Dad hopes that will subside after breakfast," Jake added.

Ah ... breakfast! At the same time I remembered ...

"We have to go!"

"Oh, the predators are starving!" David teased us.

"Predators?" Sonya did not understand.

Oops ... That we were not humans, Sonya did not know yet. I chewed my lower lip in surprise and looked to Jake for help. He didn't look any different, dammit.

"You want to call it something else, as much as the two always gobble up!" but David explained his choice of words, winking conspiratorially in our direction.

I breathed in relief.

"Say hi to your parents. We'll stop by later," Sonya started to say goodbye to us with a hug at the front door. "Preferably after you pick up Daniel, right?" she mused in David's direction.

He nodded in agreement, and she immediately went to the crying Emma sounds.

"Did your visit actually have a particular reason?" asked David then, however.

Once again, my lower lip had to be the victim. Ashamed, I looked down at the floor.

"We wanted to apologize to you," I meant guiltily.

"For the hook to the chin. And for yelling at you on the phone like that ... I'm sorry!" mumbled Jake next to me, awkwardly.

"And that I threw you over the dining table. Sorry!" I mumbled, pulling myself together to look at him while doing so and not to sink into the floor with shame.

"That was YOU?" asked David at first, completely flabbergasted.

I nodded.

"I forgot about that just yesterday," he said, hugging us as tightly as his pain would allow.

Thank you for reading!