VI. What's Good for the Heart

"That was my shin."

I instantly pulled my foot back with a wince. "Ugh, sorry," I said to Isabella, meeting Jacob's glare with a dirty look of my own. "This is all Jacob's fault. All things considered, there's no way Billy invited him along."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jacob hissed, at the very least smart enough to keep his voice low. Billy and the chief were talking sports, but if Billy's distracted hums were anything to go by, he was likely more invested in what we had to say.

"Leah, just drop it," Isabella said to me and then to Jacob, "Jacob, quit fighting with Leah. You're both being annoying."

I frowned. "I was just trying to help…"

"Yeah, I know," she assured me, voice still hushed. "But instigating a fight with Jacob isn't making this any easier."

Despite my offense, I knew she was right.

But of course, Jacob refused to let sleeping dogs lie. "I know you two are hiding something."

I bit my tongue before I could dish out another cutting retort.

Isabella gaped at him. "...Excuse me?" But when he simply glared at us stubbornly, she turned to her dad and loudly cut into his one-sided conversation, "Hey, chief, you mind if we go hang out in the yard?"

"Sure, Bells. You kids go ahead."

"Thanks!"

I jumped to my feet, putting my dirty dishes in the sink and hurrying after her, leaving Jacob in the dust. As soon as the back door shut behind us, Isabella whirled around to face me. "What is going on? What did you tell Jacob?"

"Hey, I didn't tell him squat," I scoffed, crossing my arms. "...But I may have asked him what he remembered about those old legends we'd listened to as kids."

I couldn't think of any other suspicious thing I'd said to him or the guys. Other than maybe asking him if he'd had a fever, but that was arbitrary enough to be dismissed.

"Leah!" she groaned.

"What?!" I huffed. "There's no way I was going to ask my dad! We haven't exactly been getting along great!"

Her stricken face caught me off guard.

But before either of us could say anything more, Jacob joined us on the porch, shutting the door behind him with a careless bang. "Leah spending time with me out of her own free will was freaky enough," Jacob cut in, making it clear that he'd heard every word we'd said. "Then my dad loses it when he finds out Isabella is dating Edward Cullen and invites himself right over. And surprise surprise, Leah is already here. Being a pain in the ass is typical, but the protective streak is new."

I sneered at him. What the hell did he know about how I treated my friends? "And?" I demanded. "We're not friends, Jakey. Isabella and I are. So what if I want to keep her from dealing with Billy's superstitious tales?"

Jacob stared at me, incredulous. "Superstitious tales? If they're so superstitious, why were you so keen on listening to them not even a few days ago?"

I carefully maintained an expression of mockery as I needled him, "Don't tell me you believe those ridiculous stories."

And as I expected, he grew unsure of himself. "...No, obviously not. But I'm not stupid. You've been acting strange, Leah. Hanging around Quil, Embry, and I? That's not normal."

I immediately felt like a fool for trying to make him doubt himself. Hadn't I wanted this? Hadn't I wanted to tell them everything? So, why was it that Isabella appeared so against it? Why was I the only one who deserved to know the truth?

When I turned to her, she was already staring at me, waiting for my explanation. "...You remember our last phone conversation?"

"Sure," she said, seeming nonplussed. And then, understanding dawned across her features. "You want to tell them."

"Well, they're not being fair!" The words gushed out with all the force of a broken dam. "We all deserve to know! After all the shit they put me through? I deserved to know." My voice cracked, but I soldiered on, "It shouldn't have had to come from you. And Embry…"

Embry, who could be a brother to any one of us. It wasn't fair.

Isabella's voice softened as she said, "You don't need to make your case to me. I'm not a tribe member and these are tribal concerns. It's your call."

I breathed out, relieved. For all that Isabella sometimes seemed larger than life, she was right. It was my call. Despite her disapproval earlier, I didn't need her permission, though I was glad to have her support. "True," I told her. "But I wanted your help. I doubt those imbeciles would take me at my word."

Jacob glared at me, insult not going unnoticed. But instead of devolving into another argument, he bit out, "What is it that you're trying to tell us?"

"Not tonight," Isabella suddenly cut him short. "We can sit around, have tea, and gossip about tribal secrets another time. There are still things I haven't discussed with Leah which concern her."

The unease returned, creeping uncomfortably beneath my breastbone. Whatever Isabella had to say to me, I wouldn't like it.

Jacob frowned. "It can't wait?"

"No," Isabella snapped, shocking us both. "It's a matter of life and death. But since you'll be joining the club soon, you can do us a favor and get your dad home. I really could do without him butting in, all good intentions aside."

Jacob carefully concealed his hurt behind a mullish scowl. "Anyone ever tell you you're bossy?"

Isabella didn't seem especially offended. "No, but thank you."

"Wasn't a compliment," he muttered.

"I know."

I watched their exchange with little sympathy. We had all made it clear to Jacob that Isabella wasn't interested in him. His hurt feelings would pass. I was personally more concerned with her dramatic declaration of 'life and death.' The sinking feeling in my stomach grew heavier.

"Seriously," Isabella said to Jacob in a kinder tone. "I need to speak with Leah."

All it took was her pleading eyes for him to give in.

Ugh. Puppy love. How revolting.

"Sure, sure. I'll get him out of your hair. See ya."

"Thanks, Jacob," Isabella sighed in relief.

He turned, waving us off as he went back inside.

Isabella turned as well, moving to sit atop the porch steps, gesturing for me to join her.

I reluctantly moved to sit beside her, no longer hiding my apprehension. "'A matter of life and death?' Please tell me you were lying to get lover-boy off our backs."

But as I suspected, Isabella shook her head, expression grim. "Let me know when they leave."

I looked over my shoulder, listening to Jacob and Billy's conversation inside with more ease than I'd expected. Fortunately, he did as asked, convincing Billy that it was getting late and suggesting they return home.

"Why don't you call Bella in for a second so I can say goodbye?"

"Ah no, I can't do that," Jacob said, completely losing his cool, like the idiot he was. And then, "Leah's out of sorts and Isabella's a lot better with tears than I am."

"...I see."

"That dumbass!" I hissed. "He told Billy I'm crying and you can't come say goodbye because you're so busy comforting me! I'm going to strangle him!"

Isabella's eyes lit up with mirth. "In his defense, he did do as I requested."

"Yeah," Jacob, the moron, continued, "you know how abrasive she can get. I'd rather not go back out there if I can help it."

"Fuck that and fuck him. He's dead."

"Leah."

I held up a finger as I continued to listen. "Hold onto that thought a little longer."

Fortunately, Jacob kept his mouth shut after that and Isabella's dad saw them out. When I finally heard them drive off, I turned back to Isabella. "They're gone."

Isabella's gaze dropped, expression twisting with guilt. "You haven't been getting along with your dad?"

I stared blankly at her. "...No. But you're already aware of that, little miss know-it-all." What? Did she need me to remind her? I seethed, "After Sam pulled all his bullshit with me, dad hardly treated him any different. Instead, he hired him along with the other tribe elders."

It was only after knowing the truth, that it made so much more sense. But it failed to lessen the hurt or anger.

"And now you know why," she said, as though reading my thoughts.

"Duh. Doesn't change the fact that they all lied to me."

Isabella didn't disagree. "How's his health?"

The non sequitur threw me off. Of course I shouldn't be surprised that she was aware of his health issues, but it still seemed out of left field. "Not the best," I admitted. "Mom's been on him about eating healthier ever since his blood cholesterol tested high. Why?"

Isabella gripped the edges of the step, as though she were bracing herself. "When I said this was a matter of life and death…"

My heart dropped. "Oh."

For a moment, my vision grayed out as my lungs shrunk and collapsed in on themselves. Somehow, I managed to choke out, "He dies?"

And suddenly it didn't matter anymore. It didn't matter that he still maintained a relationship with Sam. It didn't matter that the reality of the legends was more important to him than my broken heart. It didn't matter, because who would there be left to be angry at, if he was dead?

"It's a little more complicated than that," Isabella blurted out, staggering to her feet and onto the wet grass below, pacing across it in a frantic manner. "Leading up to your transformation, you were arguing a lot."

"We argue plenty now," I scoffed. Was that it? Had I caused him so much grief that I had irrevocably hurt him?

My throat closed painfully at the thought.

Isabella paused and said gravely, "It needs to stop. His heart won't be able to take it."

My own heart thundered in my chest with bruising force, threatening to shatter bone. "He dies because of me?"

The words came in a rush. "You were arguing and at the height of your temper, you shifted into a wolf. His heart couldn't take the shock of seeing that. And then, after seeing his dad die, Seth shifted as well."

I jumped up and slammed a fist against the wooden post of the porch. The wood splintered under the force. "Typical," I spat, the rage that had burned inside of me for so long releasing in one explosive tirade, "it's not enough the my boyfriend turns into a fucking werewolf. It's not enough that he dumps me for my cousin because of some mystical bullshit magic. It's not even enough that I'm lined up for the same fate and will be forced to share a mind space with him. No. Now, it turns out that my dad dies because of me, and my brother suffers for it. What utter fucking garbage." I stalked down the stairs, past Isabella, and shouted into the creeping dark of the forest, "Well, universe?! Anything else you wanna fucking throw at me?! Maybe kill me and bring me back as a ghost so you can have a good laugh?! Or just astral project me straight into hell?! At least then I'd get a break from all your bullshit!"

I heaved and breathed in sharply, before screaming, "Nothing?! Well then, piss off!"

"...Are you done waking up all the forest critters?"

I huffed a humorless laugh and spun back around. "For now." For all that I hated everything about my future, not all of it had yet come to pass. It wasn't too late. "Listen up, Swan. Because you are the single worst fortune teller ever, and there is no way I'm allowing the rest of your rotten story to happen."

Isabella stared back with fierce determination. "I'm listening."

"Here's what we're going to do," I began, crossing my arms and tilting my head in thought. "First, we'll have to tell the idiot trio everything. After tonight, there's no way Jacob is letting us off the hook."

"I can do that," she agreed.

"As for my dad, there's no way around it," I sighed. "It'll be an uphill battle to get him to eat healthy. But I'll force-feed him if I have to. He's not going to die under my watch."

"I'll rope Charlie into the plan," she decided. "It'll have to be a team effort. You can't supervise him for the rest of your life."

I grimaced. "Maybe not. And as for me…do you happen to know anything about anger management?"

Before she could reply, the backdoor swung open and her dad stepped out. "Leah! Was that you screaming like a banshee out here?"

"...I was expressing my feelings."

"People are trying to sleep. Express them more quietly," he said sternly. "Besides, shouldn't you be heading home? Your parents will be wondering what you're up to."

"It's not that late."

"It's fine, chief," Isabella cut in. "She was just leaving."

"Geeze, okay, I know when I'm not wanted," I huffed and began to head around the yard of their house, back to where my car was parked in the front. "I'll see you around."

"Bye, Leah!" Isabella called.

I waved over my shoulder and hurried off. After all, there was plenty of work to be done.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this very late update! :)

Next chapter, Carlisle will finally be making an appearance! :)

In Reference to A Body of Water and Bones: Chapter 31.