Spilled blood

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When we arrived in the garage Edward was waiting for us, something rare since the last few days he wouldn't leave Bella's side. I don't think anything bad happened with her, by the look on his face. He seemed more calm than before. We parked the cars.

"A few things, Jacob," he said as soon Jake cut off the engine.

I left the keys of Alice's yellow Porsche on the stand, while Jake got out of the car and threw the keys to Edward.

"Thanks for the loan. What do you want now?" Jake asked.

"Firstly... I know how averse you are to using your authority with your pack, but..."

"What?"

"If you can't or won't control Leah, then I—"

"Leah?" I spoke. "What happened?"

Edward's face was hard. "She came up to see why you'd left so abruptly. I tried to explain. I suppose it might not have come out right."

"What did she do?" Jake asked him.

"She phased to her human form and—"

"Really?" Jake interrupted Edward.

Jake was thinking it was strange Leah letting her guard down.

"She wanted to... speak to Bella." Edward said.

"To Bella?" Jake and I spoke.

"I won't let Bella be upset like that again. I don't care how justified Leah thinks she is! I didn't hurt her—of course I wouldn't—but I'll throw her out of the house if it happens again. I'll launch her right across the river—"

"Hold on. What did she say?" Jake asked.

"Leah was unnecessarily harsh. I'm not going to pretend that I understand why Bella is unable to let go of you, but I do know that she does not behave this way to hurt you. She suffers a great deal over the pain she's inflicting on you, and on me, by asking you to stay. What Leah said was uncalled for. Bella's been crying—"

"Wait—Leah was yelling at Bella about me?"

"You were quite vehemently championed."

"I didn't ask her to do that."

"I know."

"I can't promise to control Leah, I won't do that. But I'll talk to her, okay? And I don't think there'll be a repeat. Leah's not one to hold back, so she probably got it all off her chest today."

"I would say so."

"Anyway, I'll talk to Bella about it, too. She doesn't need to feel bad. This one's on me." Jake said.

"I already told her that."

"Of course you did. Is she okay?" I spoke.

"She's sleeping now. Rose is with her." Edward said. "She's... better in some ways. Aside from Leah's tirade and the resulting guilt."

Jake now believed Edward was on Bella's side. He wasn't seeing the child as a monster anymore.

"It's a bit more than that," Edward said, reading Jake's mind. "Now that I can make out the child's thoughts, it's apparent that he or she has remarkably developed mental facilities. He can understand us, to an extent."

Jake's mouth was open. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. He seems to have a vague sense of what hurts her now. He's trying to avoid that, as much as possible. He... loves her. Already."

"The progress, I believe, is more than we'd judged. When Carlisle returns—" Edward continued.

"They're not back?" I asked him.

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