A/N: As always, thank you for reading and reviewing:)

The Comfort of Hugs

When Edward got to the doorway of the living room, Esme's eyes hardened as she turned to him. "You have one hour. You either stay in the living room or you go upstairs and leave your door open. Exactly sixty minutes from when she walks in that door, I expect her to walk out again. Alone. If you fail to follow the rules, you will be completely confined to this house outside of school hours and you will not be permitted visitors."

"Aren't you and Carlisle the ones who said our mates have the freedom to come and go as they please? That their access to us wouldn't be restricted?" Edward asked with a petulant scowl.

"When you act like a child, you will be treated like a child. It's time you realize that there are consequences for your behavior. I'm perfectly happy sending you back upstairs and telling Bella you'll see her at school in the morning, so watch the way you speak to me," Esme answered coldly.

Edward's anger shot up at being scolded in front of everyone, but he kept his mouth shut.

Jasper felt Leah and Seth's amusement at the situation, but they kept their faces free of any trace of it. Given the glare Edward aimed at them, their thoughts weren't quite as concealed as they thought. Jasper decided to have them all go up to his study to talk when Paul got there. He had no desire to be around Edward or his mate when he was in this kind of mood, nor did he want to risk the telepath lashing out in anger at any of the wolves, particularly Leah.

Edward went and greeted Bella when she got to the door, but the girl stopped short when she saw everyone in the living room.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I thought you said you guys would be done by now," she said, looking at Seth and Leah in confusion. "They were here for a family meeting?" she asked Edward quietly, not that everyone couldn't hear her just fine.

"Is that what he told you? That you couldn't come over until now because of a family meeting?" Rosalie scoffed, completely ignoring the hiss Edward gave her in warning.

Bella nodded slowly, not sure what she was missing. "Yes."

Esme crossed her arms and glared at Edward. "Did you lie to her, Edward?"

Bella looked up at him, her discomfort growing at everyone in the room staring at them. "What's she talking about?"

When Edward just shrugged and stubbornly stayed silent, Emmett huffed a laugh. "There was no family meeting. Not today, at least. He's grounded because of how he acted at the actual family meeting we had last night. He's got visiting hours, or a visiting hour, I guess. You know, just like a hospital."

Bella's eyes widened in shock as she glanced at Esme and then looked up at Edward. "He's not joking? You're really grounded?"

"You don't have to look so surprised," Edward muttered. "Weren't you just grounded?"

Bella snorted a laugh. "I'm an eighteen-year old human who is still in high school and lives at home with her human father, and I'd just disappeared for days with hardly a word. Grounding is a pretty normal consequence for teenagers like me. For teenagers like you, though?" she trailed off with a shrug.

Jasper smiled a little in surprise. It looked like Bella did have a personality hidden away somewhere.

Edward obviously didn't appreciate the good-natured teasing the way everyone else did, because he scowled a little at her. Not his typical full-fledged scowl, but enough to let Bella know he wasn't pleased with her. "I was just defending you," he snapped.

Bella shrank back a little at his tone and looked around the room warily. "And what did I need defending from?" she asked quietly.

"These bloodthirsty wolves who are mere seconds away from ripping out your throat obviously," Alice said dryly, gesturing at Seth and Leah, who seemed to be more interested in their brownies than in the conversation.

Leah didn't like Bella at all, like not even a little, but she also didn't particularly like the way Edward was treating her. Sam was the same kind of controlling asshole that Edward was and she felt a moment of sympathy for the human, so she looked at the napkin in her hand for a moment before holding it out to Bella. "Brownie?"

Jasper really, really tried but he couldn't hold his laughter in. "Okay, the level of sadness and regret in you when you looked at that brownie before offering it to her - which was really sweet, by the way - is a little bit crazy. There's a whole plate in the kitchen, and I have no doubt Esme would be happy to give you another."

Leah laughed and jabbed her elbow into his side. "I have manners, and I'd already eaten one. She baked them for the police station not the wolves that descended on her house out of the blue," she defended herself, then shrugged a little. "Besides, her brownies are delicious, so of course I'm going to be sad giving one away."

Bella gave her a little smile. "I appreciate the sacrifice but Charlie and I ate just before I came over, so you can keep it to enjoy."

And, just like that, Leah's sympathy dried up. She would've given anything in the world to have her dad back, and Bella fucking Swan couldn't even be bothered to call her father 'dad'. Why the hell not? Did she not think of him as her dad? Did she think it made her more mature? In Leah's opinion, it just made her thoughtless. Did she not see the brief flash of hurt on the man's face when she called him by his first name or said 'Ch– Dad'? Which was fucking stupid, to be honest. All that did was show Charlie time and time again that he wasn't important enough for her to actually remember to call him dad.

Edward scoffed and glared at Leah. "You're awfully judgmental of how Bella treats her father for a girl who feels responsible for killing her own father."

There was a millisecond of shocked silence before the room exploded in a flurry of motion. At the same moment Jasper lunged for Edward, Alice used every bit of her speed to gently move Bella out of the way. In the time it took Leah to blink, Jasper had Edward pinned to the wall with his hand around his throat, squeezing hard enough that small cracks were forming.

Jasper glared at the telepath, his eyes filled with fury. "You absolute piece of shit. You really want to open this door? You want to use your gift to try and hurt my mate? Be my guest, but don't ever forget what my gift is, Edward," he growled. "I have a hell of a lot more ammunition to make your life an absolute misery and if you don't watch yourself, I'll spill every fucking secret you have."

Leah swallowed down her hurt as she stood up. Ignoring Edward for the moment, she looked at Bella, who was standing next to Alice with shocked, frightened eyes. "Bella, did you know there isn't a single wolf except Jake who enjoys your company? The rest of the pack finds you rude, pushy, and selfish," Leah said matter-of-factly, then turned and glared at Edward. "You're not the only telepath in this room, and unlike Jasper, I won't give you a warning. I could care less what you say about me, but if you think I won't do anything at all to keep you from using my brother's thoughts or the thoughts of any other member of the pack as a weapon or a means of entertainment, think again. I doubt anything I have to say would hurt you, but I'll use my gift to go after the only person you seem to care about in the slightest. With as much time as Bella spends swallowing up Jacob's attention and leading him on, I have more than enough ammunition to make her life a misery. So don't fucking cross me, Edward."

Esme gave Edward an icy glare, her eyes just as furious as Jasper's. "That thin ice you've been skating on lately has just cracked, Edward, and your consequences have now radically shifted. When Jasper is ready to release you, you will go straight to your room and you will only be allowed out during school hours. Alice will drive you straight there and straight back with no deviations or delays. Your phone is now mine. No calls, no texts, no emails. And before you even attempt to accuse me of keeping you from your mate, I'll remind you that you share your classes with Bella, where you will have the freedom to spend time with her. While you are inside this house, you will speak only when you are asked a direct question. Other than that, I don't want to hear the sound of your voice. Do you understand me?"

Edward glared at her for a moment but then nodded as best he could with Jasper restraining him. He may have been seething internally, but he wasn't stupid enough to open his mouth.

Jasper mentally showed Edward exactly what he'd do to him if he stepped a toe out of line, not only by hurting Leah again, but by lashing out at Esme in his rage. Then he tipped his head in Bella's direction and let Edward feel her emotions. Her feelings were definitely hurt from what Leah had said, but more than that, she was outraged and slightly disgusted that Edward had used Leah's private thoughts about something so personal to 'defend' her and hurt Leah.

When Edward looked at Bella with slightly beseeching eyes, she shook her head. "Don't look to me to tell you that you did nothing wrong. That wasn't defending me, Edward, that was unnecessary cruelty," she said, then picked up her keys from where she had dropped them on the floor when Alice grabbed her. She gave her friend a small smile. "Thanks, Alice. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Alice nodded and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Bella briefly looked around the room, pausing a moment on Leah, then said a quiet goodbye and walked out of the house. A minute later, they heard the roar of her truck starting and she drove away.

After shoving Edward into the wall a little bit harder and giving his throat a final squeeze, Jasper let him go and took a step back.

When he didn't immediately head for the stairs, Esme snapped at him. "Now, Edward."

Edward swallowed back a growl and stomped out of the room, then flew upstairs and slammed his bedroom door like the child he was. Esme growled quietly in frustration and went upstairs to warn him that if he slammed his door again, she'd take it off the hinges.

Leah took a deep breath and handed her brownie to Seth. "I'm gonna wait for Paul on the porch," she said as she walked out of the room.

Seth didn't even think twice, he just got up and followed his sister outside. He did bring the brownie, though. Leah might be angry, which tended to make her a little nauseous, but in about thirty seconds she'd regret giving it to him.

Jasper took a moment to wrangle his anger to a more manageable level, then followed the Clearwaters outside. He nudged Leah a little so she'd move down enough for him to fit on the porch swing beside her, then he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. Leah didn't respond with words, but she did reach over to take his other hand and used the skin contact to let him feel her gratitude more clearly. Jasper slowly started wrapping her and Seth up in the emotions of a mom-hug. He almost did a dad-hug, but he wasn't sure it would be welcomed in the moment.

A few moments later, Alice walked outside, and a few moments after that, Rosalie and Emmett followed.

And that was the sight that greeted Paul when he parked his car in the Cullen's driveway - Seth, Leah, and Jasper sitting all smushed together on a porch swing that Jasper was slowly moving by rocking his heel on the ground, Alice sitting cross-legged on the ground at their feet, and Rosalie and Emmett curled around each other on a little outdoor loveseat beside them. They were sitting in silence, and everyone looked sad or pissed, or a combination of the two.

"What happened?" he asked as he closed his car door.

"Edward's a dick so we're just out here soaking up a mom-hug," Leah answered.

Paul's steps faltered for a second as he looked at everyone on the porch, none of whom were moms, and none of whom were doing any kind of hugging. Jasper did have his arm around Leah, but he was absolutely positive Leah wouldn't compare Sue's hugs to Jasper's. At least he really hoped not.

"Uh, I don't know what those words mean," he said as he walked up the front steps. Jasper smiled at him and a moment later, Paul was filled with warm feelings of comfort, safety, and love. "What the hell is that?" he asked in surprise. "That's like when Sue hugs me."

"That's a mom-hug," Leah laughed. "Apparently Esme's feel just like my mom's."

"Cool way to use that emotional voodoo," Paul nodded at Jasper and sat down beside Alice. "So why's Edward a dick? Wait, never mind, that's a dumb question. What's Edward done to be a dick today?" he corrected himself.

Leah wasn't all that eager to tell Paul what happened - he was the wolf with the hottest temper and she didn't particularly want to be in the position of having to stop him from killing the telepath - but he'd see it in her thoughts the next time they were both wolves. Then he'd be furious at Edward and pissed at Leah for keeping it from him. Better to just get it out of the way and save herself the hassle of having her best friend annoyed with her. Besides, Leah didn't necessarily have to be the one to keep Paul from killing Edward, he had enough family members around who would keep him safe.

Probably.

Maybe, she amended as she looked at the sad and angry faces of the Cullens on the front porch with her.

"Edward didn't like my thoughts about Bella, so he plucked some things from my head and used them to try and score points against me," Leah eventually answered.

Paul frowned a little at Leah's tone. It was the voice she used when she'd been hurt by something someone said but was trying to act like she was fine. "What things?" he asked, watching her face carefully. There were only two subjects that had the power to truly hurt her - Sam and her dad. Sam and his treatment of her tended to push her closer to anger, while losing her dad and how it happened made her nothing but heartbreakingly sad.

When he saw the sadness flare in her eyes, he clenched his fists against his anger. "Your dad?" he growled.

Seeing his hands shaking, she quickly tried to reassure him. "I'm fine, Paul. He was an asshole but it's over. I've got way more important things to worry about."

"What the fuck is more important than that pompous asshat using your insecurities and fears against you?" he asked incredulously.

Leah smiled at him. "I might have used the pack telepathy as a weapon against Bella in retaliation, and when my mom finds out, I'm completely screwed. I'm a guest in this house and I was extremely rude to another guest."

"Oh damn," Paul laughed. "Forgetting your manners? You are screwed."

"And you know she won't be angry," Seth cut in with a smile.

"She'll be disappointed," Seth, Leah, and Paul all finished in unison, then started laughing. Jasper smiled at the three of them, glad that Leah's mood had lightened a little.

Esme came outside then, but she didn't look at anyone but Leah. She knelt down in front of her and started reaching for her hand, but stopped herself at the last second, not wanting to make the wolf uncomfortable. "I'm so very sorry, Leah. Edward's behavior is not indicative of the way the rest of the family feels about you and I want you to know that you are always welcome here, and Carlisle and I will make sure that you're treated respectfully from now on. I hope this won't keep you from visiting us here again."

Leah smiled at her. "It won't. And I appreciate the apology, but you have nothing to apologize for. Edward is old enough to know better, and his behavior doesn't reflect poorly on you, only on himself," she said, then hesitated a moment before biting the bullet. Apologizing would probably never be her strong suit, so she figured she should probably get the first and easier one out as practice, because she was going to have to grit her teeth and apologize to Bella fucking Swan. What she'd said was true, but that didn't mean what she'd done was right. "I do owe you an apology, though. I'm sorry I was rude to Bella in your home. It was the only thing I could think of that would keep Edward from being mentally intrusive again."

"I'm afraid you're probably correct in that," Esme said with a frustrated sigh. "Knowing you're prepared to lash out at Bella if he lashes out at you or any other wolf might be the only thing that keeps him from spewing unkind words once he's been given permission to speak again."

Esme was being a hundred percent genuine and was truly upset that Edward had hurt Leah, so Jasper and his siblings tried not to show their amusement, but they weren't all that successful. And when Emmett snorted a laugh in his attempt to stifle it, they all lost it.

Paul looked at the laughing Cullens, then at Esme, who was smiling and rolling her eyes. "Edward's not currently allowed to speak? How exactly do you enforce that?" he asked with a bemused smile before gasping and squeezing his eyes shut. "Oh god, please don't tell me you removed his tongue."

"No, of course not!" Esme laughed as she went and perched herself on the arm of the loveseat next to Emmett. She had a fleeting moment where she got a contemplative look in her eye before resolutely shaking her head. "No. We would never do something like that."

"You might not, but I might," Rosalie muttered under her breath.

Leah smiled at her. "I'm not sure he's worth the effort. Do you really want to touch his tongue, even if it is to rip it out?"

"Okay, ew, can we move on please?" Alice laughed. "I will gladly take literally any other topic of conversation to get that mental image out of my head."

Everyone took a deep breath or two to squash the last of their giggles, and then they turned the conversation to the whole reason the wolves had come over in the first place. The Cullens explained in more detail everything they'd discussed at the family meeting the night before, and then Jasper asked Leah, Seth, and Paul what their thoughts were.

"Like some of the vamps, my time is a little limited," Seth answered. "I have to balance school and my duties as a wolf, so between the hours I'm in school, the time I have to spend doing homework, and then any patrol shifts Sam gives me, I don't have a lot of free time. And that doesn't include helping my mom out with cooking, laundry, and cleaning."

"You know I don't mind picking up some of that slack," Leah reminded her brother. She wanted him to still have time to enjoy being a kid without having quite so much pressure on him all the time. Being a protector of their tribe was a high honor, but it also put a hell of a lot of weight on their shoulders. With their dad dying and Seth becoming a wolf, he was already having to grow up a little too quickly.

"Plus you're a terrible cook, Seth," Paul added, then quickly moved his leg out of the way before Leah could stomp on his ankle. "Oh quit it, it's true and you know it."

Leah just shrugged because she couldn't deny it. Seth was a terrible cook. He'd tried to be helpful a few months ago by cooking some chicken their mom had in the refrigerator, and all that got them was a nasty case of food poisoning. And four people being violently ill in a house with only two bathrooms was never going to be a fun way for anyone to spend twenty-four hours.

"Would Sam even let you patrol in our territory?" Jasper asked the wolves. "That's probably the first question we need to answer before we delve into any details."

Leah thought on it a moment and then looked at Paul. "What do you think? I'm honestly not sure. On one hand it means we have greater access to a wider area, meaning we have a better chance of catching Victoria and keeping our people safe. But on the other, it's working with the vamps. And we already know how Sam feels about that."

Paul shrugged. "If I had to guess right this minute, I'd say his answer would probably be no. But that doesn't mean we can't do it on our own time."

Jasper looked a little skeptical at that idea. "Do you really want to run extra patrols on top of whatever Sam schedules you for? Y'all deserve some free time, too."

Esme nodded her agreement. "He's right. It does no one any good if you're burning yourselves out. Even if I had no objections to that on a personal level - which I do - it makes it much easier for things to slip through the cracks."

Leah tipped her head a little as she thought on it. "How about we start with asking Sam if we can patrol a wider area and use the incentive that some of the pack are being allowed to help protect Forks? Bella might not have many fans in La Push, but Charlie absolutely does. Being allowed to keep an eye on him both at home and at work while we're wolves is no small thing. Sam's an asshole, but he does take the protection of humans seriously."

"Which leads us to Jacob," Paul said. "Expect him to throw an epic bitch fit if we're allowed to patrol Forks as wolves but he's not."

"We have no real problem with Jacob doing that, we only have a problem with him doing that alone," Jasper answered. "None of us are prepared to have him roaming our territory as a wolf when he's got that much hostility towards our family, but we've already outlined an area we're willing to allow him to be as long as he's accompanied by one of us."

"Who would be accompanying him?" Seth asked.

"I would," Jasper answered before anyone else could.

Leah smiled a little and squeezed his hand. She liked that he was so protective of his family and that he'd take the unenviable task of being around Jacob Black, even if he didn't have the power of speech, just so no one else in the family was at risk.

"Or Carlisle," Esme added, giving Jasper a stern look. When he opened his mouth to argue, she shook her head. "We discussed this last night. You've never lied to me before, Jasper Whitlock, so I sincerely hope you were being truthful when you agreed to Carlisle's stipulation."

Jasper laughed and nodded. "Very nicely played. It might've been even more effective if you'd called me 'young man' though, rather than using my name. That really nails home the scolding."

Esme gave him a bright smile. "I'll have to remember that for next time."

Leah twisted Jasper's wrist a little to look at his watch. "We should probably head home," she sighed, then looked up at her imprint with a smile. "Wanna hang out tomorrow with no nosy or rude family members around?"

Aside from Esme, everyone else on that porch - wolves and vamps - let Leah know they were highly offended by that characterization. Esme just beamed at the young woman who brought such a brilliant smile to Jasper's face.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Jasper laughed.

Leah nodded as she stood up and looked at the other vamps. "Thank you for letting us help keep Charlie safe, I appreciate that you're willing to go out on a limb for us. Please thank Carlisle for me. And thanks for the clothes, too. Is it okay if I leave them on that same branch you used, Rosalie?"

Rosalie nodded. "That's fine."

Seth looked at his sister for a moment and then turned to the blond bombshell and her giant of a husband. "Is it okay if I wear this home? I'll wash everything and bring it back, or send it back with Leah."

Rosalie nodded again. "Of course."

"You don't want to drive back with us?" Paul asked Leah.

She just shook her head. She wanted a little time on her own. And hearing that Embry and Jared were the wolves currently patrolling, she thought it was a pretty good time to stretch her legs. There were definitely worse people to share a mental space with. Neither of them would try to coax her into conversation once they knew she wanted to be left alone. Both felt the same way on occasion and Leah always tried to respect that, so they offered the same in return.

Jasper stood up to walk her around to the side of the house, and when he took her hand, Leah rested her head on his shoulder. They walked at a slow human pace and didn't communicate with words, but they did share their emotions with each other.

When they got to the trees, Jasper stopped and turned her a little so he could wrap her up in a hug. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Leah tucked her face against his neck and took a deep breath of the scent that she associated so much with comfort. She let herself soak up the hug for a minute and then pulled back a little. "It's fine. I mean, it's not fine, but it's fine."

Jasper almost wanted to smile at her words, but her emotions as she said them were anything but funny. "I may not know the exact details of what happened that day, but given the timeline as I know it, I do have a general idea. And Leah, you didn't kill your father," he said softly. "Before you protest that I wasn't there, remember that your brother was in that room when Edward exposed your innermost fear. And what Seth felt more than anything else when he looked at you in that millisecond of shocked silence was sadness that you believed that. There hasn't been a single moment that I've spent around the two of you that he doesn't have love, pride, and admiration inside him when he watches you. A boy doesn't look up to his big sister as an example of how to exist in the world if he blames her for killing their father."

Leah squeezed her eyes shut but they still started leaking a little. She knew her mom and Seth didn't blame her. Her mom actually blamed herself and Harry for not realizing what was happening to her sooner. Just like everyone else, they hadn't known it was possible for the females in the ancestral lines to become wolves and her mom felt like she'd failed Leah by not putting the pieces together to help her before she exploded in the middle of their living room.

But just because they didn't blame her didn't mean she wasn't guilty.

She didn't have the words in that moment to tell Jasper about the very worst day of her life, the day a single terrible moment caused a chain reaction that devastated her family, so instead she just stood in the circle of his arms, silently soaking up a few minutes of comfort.