This "talk" was getting more and more heated. Bella was aggravated that Charlie felt the need to point out the flaws in her plans. It's not that she didn't see the negative aspects and possible outcomes. She knew she was going to devastate her parents, it was going to break her heart losing them as well, but she wouldn't have had to deal with them in person, making it easier to push the knowledge and feelings she didn't want into that box in the back of her mind, right next to the one she had for Jacob. She was glad her father wasn't ripping that box open too.
Bella opened her mouth to yell about him trying to use her mother to control her life, but the creek of the stairs grabbed their attention.
"Sorry." Sue said. "I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Hey Sue," Charlie greeted. "It's alright. I think we need a break from this conversation anyway, how's Leah doing?"
Sue smiled sadly. "I think she is getting aggravated with my fussing. Bella, she requests you come up and sit with her."
Eyes wide Bella pointed at herself. "Me?"
"Yes dear, and she insists you bring the brownies… all of them."
"Okay." Bella shot out of the room. Grabbing the brownies from the kitchen, she remembered Jake saying Leah wanted pancakes, so she piled some on a plate and placed them in the microwave for a minute.
Bringing everything up the stairs, she was surprised she didn't drop anything. Stopping at the open door just out of sight. Bella took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, pasting a smile on her face. She held her head high and took a few steps into Charlie's room.
Leah was propped up with extra blankets and pillows. There was a heavy quilt tucked around her legs and stomach and a scowl on her face. "What the hell are you grinning about?" she huffed.
"I was just… I just… I don't know." Bella's smile fell and all the breath left her lungs causing her shoulders to slump forward.
"Just give me that food," Leah groaned. "and sit down."
"Right, okay." Bella made her way to the kitchen chair someone must have brought up for Sue. "So, why am I up here?"
"You saved me, I thought it only fair to save you."
"Huh?"
"I heard the conversation going on down stairs."
"Oh, that. Well it took you long enough."
Leah smiled wide. "You're welcome." Bella lifted her eyebrows. The other girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Hey can you get these fucking blankets off me. My mom keeps covering me up, but I'm fucking hot."
Bella flinched at her cursing. It was obvious Jake wasn't the only one the Pack's bad habits were rubbing off on. Or maybe Leah was always like this. She barely knew the girl. She hesitatingly moved the blankets off Leah's legs, not sure what she would find, do to the state they were in before. She let out a breath. Even though her skin blossomed with purple, brown and yellow bruises, they were straight and smooth.
"Did you get a good look?" Leah snarked.
Blushing, Bella hugged the blanket. "They look good."
Snorting, Leah said, "What good are pretty legs if you can't use them."
"I don't know." Bella smiled, "I could picture Billy having pretty legs. He would show them off every chance he got."
Leah's lips twitched up. She shoved a bite of pancakes in her mouth to cover her amusement.
Back to being serious Bella asked, "So, Carlisle thinks you won't be able to walk?" she pressed her lips together internally chastising herself for being too late to prevent Leah's injuries.
Sighing, Leah explained, "No, he spewed some crap about me still feeling pain and my spinal cord not being severed. He thinks I will be walking in no time. It's just hard to believe when I'm just about able to wiggle my toes."
"If Carlisle says you'll walk again, then you will."
"Whatever," Leah waved her hand dismissively. "Take your confidence somewhere else."
Bella sighed and started to walk out of the room. "Where are you going?"
"You just told me to leave."
"No, if you leave mom will come back and start fussing again, before I know it, she'll have me back to being wrapped up in that damned blanket. You sit, the only thing that has to leave is your positivity."
"So you want me to sit here with you while you wallow?"
Leah shrugged, "Misery loves company."
"Sure, why not." Bella made her way back over to the chair and sat down pulling the blanket into her lap.
Finishing the pancakes Leah put that plate on the nightstand and started on the brownies. "He's not wrong, you know."
"What? Who?"
"Charlie. About the distance thing. Hell if you chose to, I would love to come with you."
"I don't want distance."
"Why not? I mean how could you just accept him back with absolutely no repercussions
after what he did to you?" Leah scowled and shook her head.
"He didn't do anything to me."
Leah narrowed her eyes, "Bella, he left you in the woods!"
"No, he left me near the house."
"Your note said the two of you were going for a walk in the woods, and that's where you were found. Pretty far in too."
"I didn't leave a note." Bella shook her head. Did she just say that out loud? "I mean I followed him into the woods. After he left. It was me. My stupidity."
"What do you mean you didn't leave a note? Sam saw it."
Bella pressed her lips together and looked away from the other girl.
"Bella, either you tell me, Or I tell Charlie one more thing you probably don't want him to know."
"Fine! Edward left the note."
"Why would he do that if he left you at the house?"
Bella looked away and shrugged.
"Wait, the psychic can see what will happen to you. Right?"
"Sometimes." Bella whispered under her breath.
"Fuck Bella! They knew, didn't they? Bella, look at me."
Bella turned her head trying to push the memory of Alice's words out of her mind. {I told him this would happen, but he didn't believe me.} She thought Bella had tried to kill herself. She wasn't convinced she didn't even when the truth was revealed. If Jacob didn't come into her life when he did she probably would have ended up dead, on purpose or not.
If Edward ignored Alice's warnings just because she made some promise, then Alice very well could have warned him about her following him and he left the note trusting Charlie would be able to find and take care of her. She focused her eyes on the wall over Leah's shoulder.
"He knew you would end up in the middle of the fucking woods."
Bella hugged the blanket closer. "We don't know that."
"Why else would he have forged a note from you."
"Even if they did know, it's not their fault."
"Yes it is." Leah stated. "Now the question remains, why are you letting him get away with this? How could you just accept him back?"
"If it were Sam?" Bella threw it in the other girl's face. "If he turned around and said, 'Hey, I made a big mistake. I'm sorry. I promise to never leave again. Wouldn't you accept him back?"
"Hell no!" Leah spat. "He had his chance. Then he had to ruin it by… well you know what happened. But still that wasn't as bad as what that leach did to you."
Bella shook her head. "You're wrong."
"Bella, Sam broke my heart and it pissed me off. What that leach did to you." Leah shook her head. "He destroyed you."
"You're wrong."
"Pack mind, remember. It's as good as being there. When he found you shivering on the ground. Your mind so broken you could barely lift your head. He seriously thought you were dying."
"It was my own fault."
"How? What did you do to deserve that?"
"I don't want to talk about this." She started to stand. "I'm just going to go."
"No! Just stay. We can talk about something else."
Sniffling Bella sat back down. "Fine. What?"
Leah took a bite of a brownie. "These brownies are the shit."
Bella huffed out a laugh. "As long as they don't taste like shit."
Leah snorted. "Oh my god. You just cursed. Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"
Bella clicked her tongue. "Shut up."
Leah looked at Bella thoughtfully. "What?" Bella squirmed.
Smirking, she said. "I like this side of you."
"What do you mean, this side of me?"
"You're sassy, sarcastic and bold. You are a totally different person when your boyfriend's around. Meek and weak."
"Leah, I'm not talking about him with you." being around the pack Bella had learned to ignore their rude comments when it came to her and the Cullen's.
"Fine," Leah shrugged, "I'm just saying, I like this side of you. It's more like the way you are when you're around Jake."
"Right," Bella nodded. "You and Jake."
Leah furrowed her eyebrows. "What about me and Jake?"
"I'm happy for the two of you."
"Happy, for us?"
"Yeah, I mean it's hardly a surprise. You're beautiful and he's… well he's great; funny, sweet, kind, supportive. The two of you have to spend a lot of time together. It's only natural that things would lead to this. I mean you look great together, you make a great couple. You both deserve to be happy." Bella pressed her lips tight to stop herself from babbling any more.
"Right." She drew the word out. "Me and Jake." Bella couldn't bring herself to look at the girl so she missed the twitch of her lips. "How did you figure it out?"
"I mean… I was there." Bella blushed. "When you said he had seen you naked."
"Ahh, so we're caught." Leah's eyes twinkled. "Yep, that's right. We just can't seem to keep our clothes on around each other."
"That's great." Bella choked. "I'm so happy for you."
"Yeah. You said that."
The Cullen's entered the front door before the pack entered the back door.
Their attention was drawn to someone cursing. A boy in his late teens stood protectively in front of a girl splayed on a couch. They had barely caught a glimpse of the two before a sudden feeling of disgust forced them to look away. The wolves, who had come in ready to phase, fell to the ground heaving. "What is that?" one of them yelled before their writhing forms vanished, only to appear again as their wolves.
"It's one of the newborns." Edward yelled back. "He has a special power."
Carlisle and Esme started toward the trio, making slow progress. The rest, unable to move forward, or even look in that direction, strained their ears to hear the boy's whispers over the loud music coming from the basement.
"Who the hell are they?!" one boy said.
"What the hell are they?" The other boy squeaked.
"I don't know, but I'm not sticking around to find out."
"What… Blood!" The bag of Bella's blood laid on the floor having flew from Jacobs hand when he was forced to phase.
"Fred, you've been doing good. The girl has been bleeding all day, you've been fine. You even stopped the others from getting near her."
"Her blood didn't smell like this."
"Fred," gag. "Stop that." gag. "You can resist the pull." gag. "You just fed." gag. "They're getting closer." gag. "Fred, we need you."
The squeak of a window opening forced Jake to push past his nausea allowing him to get to his feet. It also seemed to bring the other boy, Fred, out of his bloodlust. "Diego, what are you doing? The sun is up!"
"Look, I might not know what those beasts are, but they are vampires. If they didn't burn up I'm taking my chances."
'Shit' Pushing through the feeling of repulsion Jake thought. 'We have to get to them!'
Diego shimmied out the window. "Look Fred, I'm fine. Hand me the girl."
'No!' Jake growled, as Fred pushed himself out the window. Suddenly the repulsive feeling was gone, but so were the two and a half vampires.
'We have to go after them.' Jake yelled to Edward.
"No," Edward said, "Alice, Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie will deal with them."
'They can be going after the Swans.'
"They don't even know Bella exists." Edward argued.
'How could you be sure?'
"If I wasn't positive they weren't going after Bella, I would be on their tails." Edward bent down to grab the blood bag off the floor. "Now, get ready," he said before ripping the top off the bag. "We are about to have a lot more company." He tilted it, letting a few drops of blood fall to the floor.
There was a clattering on the stairs. Hissing and screaming like wild rabid animals, young vampires climbed over each other, ripping and tearing at the ones in front of them to get to the blood first. Edward sprayed the rest of Bella's blood on to the first unfortunate soul that made it to the top of the stairs. He waited for that one to be surrounded before spraying Charlie's blood onto the crowd. They were so frenzied half the newborns were destroyed before the others realized they had company. That left one for each of them. Unfortunately, they were the best fighters. They turned away from each other and began to fight like the monsters they were.
Almost immediately they heard Emmett yell, "You piece of shit! That was my pinky. You all better not burn that when this is over, I want it back!"
They were pretty evenly matched before the one fighting Quil bit down on his shoulder distracting the wolves from their own fights. It bit him again on his back before snapping the bone in his leg. The chocolate brown wolf laid on the ground howling in pain, his blood bubbling out of the bite marks. The vampire stood above him about to deal his killing strike.
'Go.' Embry yelled to Jake. 'I got this.' Jake jumped over Paul and the cold one he was fighting, landing on Quil's opponent.
Paul, with his jaw hanging at an odd angle, labored breaths and three legged limp, had finally gotten the upper hand with Jared's help. The torso of the vamp that Jared ripped in half pulled its way to the fight where Embry was already facing two others alone.
One of them bit into Embry's neck then that one and the broken vamp grabbed his front legs and the third grabbed his waist all pulling in opposing directions. As the skin around his shoulders began to tear his painful howls became human screams. Jake jumped into the fray quickly dispatching the two full bodied cold ones. Edward tore the head off his opponent as the one left on the wolf's side made one last effort to fight back, reaching up and slashing its nails across Jake's throat.
"No!" Edward's voice echoed hollowly as Jacob swayed and fell to the ground. Fuzzy shapes surrounded him before all went dark.
Leah was debating having a little more fun with Bella or putting her out of her misery when mournful howls rose up from the yard.
The girls glanced at each other then Leah cocked her head to the side, all color draining from her face.
"What is it?" Bella's voice shook. "What's happened?"
Leah's lips quivered and tears rolled down her cheeks. She tried to speak but all that came out was a sob.
Sam burst through the door barking instructions as he lifted Leah out of the bed. "I'm borrowing your truck to take Leah to the Cullen's. You and Charlie go get Billy and meet us there."
Bella never saw Charlie move so fast. He sped through the streets to get to Billy and once there, had both Billy and his chair in the back of the car in mere minutes.
Charlie was pulling out of the driveway when Billy asked, "What's happened?"
"I don't know." Charlie ran one hand through his hair keeping a tight grip on the steering wheel with the other. "Sam ran past me yelling it's bad and told me to go get you."
They got to the house just before the first vans pulled up. Bella left Charlie to take care of Billy and made her way to the van. She only took a few steps before Edward was in front of her, a sob tour from her as she reached out for him. Red! There was red everywhere. The metallic scent only solidified what she already knew. It was blood, Edward was covered in it. Her brain and body were numb as she grabbed at him searching for wounds. She couldn't find where it was coming from. There was so much blood. But wait. Vampires didn't bleed. Bella tried to step around him but he blocked her path. "Where's Jake?" She whimpered.
"Bella, Love," Edward cooed. "Look at me."
Refusing to meet his gaze she peered around him. Rosalie and Carlisle were carrying Embry between them. He grimaced in pain, she could see the blood that stained his arms from where she stood.
Alright, it was fine, it was Embry's blood that stained Edward's clothes. She saw him and he looked like he would be okay. So it would all be okay. She just had to find a way to slow down her breathing.
The second van pulled up. Jared, Quil and Paul got out all looking worse for wear, but they were okay too.
"Where's Jake?" She asked again.
"Bella, Please."
Edward tried to step in front of her again. She looked around his other side. He tried to block her view once more, but it was too late. Because she saw him. His body lay pale and limp, as the pack carried him toward the house. Billy's cries of despair were drowned out by her own. She fell into Edwards outstretched arms, letting the peaceful darkness creep in and pull her under.
A/N Okay who is hating me right now?