(Leah POV)
I shifted in the overly comfortable bed. Time moved more slowly the closer it got to the deadline I had been granted. Edward had been genuinely apologetic when he told me that he would have to rebreak several healing bones in my leg. Just like Thomas had been worried about, the shift between human and wolf had warped some of the healing bone as it started knitting back together.
Trying to distract myself from the phantom ache and throb that I was left with after he was done, I wondered if it would have just been better to stay as a wolf for the days it needed to heal. Thinking about such random things kept my mind from wandering to the room downstairs.
The room where Edythe spent half her day… With Thomas. The rest of the time was spent mercifully with me. She claimed that it was only fair to do so. I offered to let her spend all her time with Thomas, but she refused.
She told me that it was a… pull. For her to spend equal time with us. My suggestion that she allow me to be moved to the same room so we could all three be together was cut down by Carlisle.
When he returned from Billy's house after working on Jacob (Oh, ancestors. A vampire on our land, and treating the son of the chief no less!) and figured out that Thomas was having a reaction to the venom in his system, he worried that when he woke, it would be bad for me if I was in the same room.
I didn't believe for a second that Thomas would purposefully hurt me. But Carlisle explained, patiently, carefully, that when venom got involved, there was no telling what might happen.
My mind jumped from thought to thought like a water skipper, never staying on one long enough to sink fully into it, but just brushing over it. A wolf bitten by four vampires would most definitely die from the venom. Stories said that just one bite was enough to make a wolf warrior sick for days if it didn't outright kill them.
But happily, Thomas seemed to be different… well, that's an understatement.
Edythe says he is not reacting like a human who has been infected with the venom, either. Trust that man to leave us all worried while he stays blissfully asleep.
The known timeline is simple: it usually took three days for the venom to run its course, and two of those days are nearly gone. Less than an hour, and I will be allowed to try walking on my leg. I chanted in my mind.
Carlisle and Edward were both excited over the natural healing of us wolf warriors. A human with bones crushed like mine would most likely need amputation. Even a simple bone break would take six to eight weeks in a cast and hobbling around on crutches for a normal person. But Jacob's and my healing was defying all that the two vampires had learned over their long years.
My thoughts were broken by Edythe and Carlisle walking into the room I was in, Edythe's old one, before she moved in with Thomas.
Edythe gave me a small smile, "I talked dad into letting you try and walk around a little early so you can come sit with Thomas."
Carlisle had his smooth doctor's smile on. "You were fortunate that no one saw you. Poor Jacob will have to wander around with crutches for the next couple of months because people saw him hurt. Can't bring attention to your pack by healing too fast. It's still fascinating that the whole tribe is selectively told about your gifts. Anyway, let's see how your healing has gone, dear."
His cold hand pushed and prodded at places on my bare leg as I sat in the shorts Edythe, or more likely Alice, provided for me. There was no pain, just a tingle of numbness that stuck around, like the pins you get when you are in one position for too long. I answered honestly every question he asked.
Finally, after 10 minutes of inspection, "Okay, let's get you up and put some weight on your leg." Carlisle said as he moved to offer his hand to help me up.
Edythe moved to my other side in a show of support. I smiled at her as warmth filled me at her unconscious action.
The pins-and-needles feeling surged back the moment I stood, but I bent my knee slowly and worked my ankle, shifting my weight under Carlisle's instructions, and the feeling eased.
Not fully healed yet, but stable enough to move around.
Carlisle's eyes stayed sharp. "Try not to push yourself for a few days. After that, start working it and see what strength you've got. If it hurts, you stop, and you tell me." His voice turned firm. "And no shifting for at least a week."
After he left, I turned to Edythe, and she spoke before I could.
"You want to go see him… Of course you do, what am I asking, come with me."
She took my hand and slowly led me to the stairs going down to the main floor, where most everyone was doing whatever they did when they weren't fighting off an army.
I nodded and smiled at those who met my eyes as we passed through, headed to the stairs that went to the basement.
Halfway down the steps, the feeling of the house changed completely. Upstairs was warm (for a vampire) and lived in, a shared space. But the closer to the end of the stairs we got, the overriding feeling I got was… Sterile.
When we got to the bottom, I looked around, and I was taken aback. The Cullens had a lab…an honest-to-god lab, built into the bones of the house. Stainless steel. Bright overhead lights. Shelves lined with labeled containers and sealed instruments, everything arranged with obsessive precision. The air carried that clean, clinical scent, like antiseptic and cold metal and something faintly chemical that made my wolf instincts want to pace.
Edythe's hand stayed in mine, and she paused with me, letting me take it all in. She didn't rush me or start explaining anything; she just watched me patiently so we could move forward. Like she would rather stay and move slowly with me than quickly without me.
After shaking my head clear of the evil scientist vibe that movies (okay, cartoons!) had imprinted in my head, I began to move forward slowly. My leg started to give me some complaints, but I was so close to where I wanted to be that I ignored it and kept moving.
Then we turned the corner into what looked like the main workroom, and in its center was a hospital bed that didn't belong in a house.
That bed made my stomach twist, but once again Edythe's hand offered an anchor. She directed me to a chair that sat next to the bed and helped me settle before walking around to a chair on the other side.
Finally, I focused on the last thing I wanted to see, which was at the same time exactly what I wanted to see. The conflict was hard to make sense of.
Thomas, handsome as ever with his pale skin and white hair, his strong jaw and chiseled features. Gone were the bite marks and the torn skin…
But he was all wrong… Where was the little smirk that he kept on his lips even when he slept? Where was the heat he radiated, like my own personal sun?
He did not look like he was resting; he looked off. His skin was just a little too pale, almost waxy. His hair sat flat instead of the usual bounce it held. I wanted to peel his eyelids open to see those gloriously sky-blue orbs that I got lost in mid-sentence of a scolding he deserved.
I reached for his hand that was placed above the covers, "Thomas, you damn fool, we are here. Waiting for you to wake up. Don't keep us waiting too long, you hear me."
I ignored the trail of the single tear that fell down my cheek.
The next few days were a torture of worry and assuring Edythe that everything would be fine. She did the same thing for me in her own way, and we both ignored the obvious lie.
Two days passed, and Edythe and I stood by as Carlisle looked Thomas over yet again.
"Well, girls. I think we are right, and his body is fighting the venom in his system. But with so much venom introduced, it was overwhelming his system faster than he could heal. But now his healing has… well, I guess you could say collected itself and is preventing the venom from taking over completely. This is simply unheard of, but these last few years have been bringing that to us rather often."
He placed his hand on Edythe's shoulder as he left the room, "Just be patient, after everything that has happened, we should be due some good news."
Thirty minutes later, I let out an angry, "I hate this."
Edythe's voice was soft, but her dark eyes were hard. "So do I."
Someone was coming down the stairs, with soft and hesitant steps. Not a vampire, so that only left one possibility.
I turned my head.
Bella stood in the doorway.
She looked like she hadn't slept properly since the fight. Her hair was pulled back in a messy knot, and her eyes were rimmed like she'd cried and then told herself she wasn't allowed to. She didn't step fully into the room, like she was afraid to interrupt.
Her gaze went straight to Thomas.
Then to Edythe.
Then, cautiously, to me.
"Hi," she said, voice small.
Edythe's posture didn't change, but her expression softened a fraction. "Bella."
Bella swallowed. Her hands were clasped together so tightly her fingers were pale.
"I… I didn't want to interrupt," she said quickly. "I just…Edward told me you were down here and I…" Her eyes flicked back to Thomas. "I wanted to see him. If that's okay."
My first instinct was to bite someone. Mostly the universe. Maybe Johnny's ashes, if I could find a jar.
Instead, I forced my jaw to unclench.
"Don't hover in the doorway like a ghost," I said, gruffly. "Either come in or don't."
Bella flinched, then did exactly what I'd told her. She stepped in, quiet as a church.
She didn't come close to the bed. She stopped a few feet away, like she didn't trust herself not to ruin something just by breathing.
"He looks…" She swallowed. "He looks peaceful."
"He looks wrong," I said before I could stop myself.
Bella's face pinched. Not offended…just sad.
Edythe's eyes stayed on Thomas, but her voice gentled. "He doesn't look like himself. But he is closer to it than a couple of days ago. It's like life is returning to his skin and hair. Though they are as hard as a vampire despite the changes."
Bella nodded once at the information. "He will fight his way back to us. My brother doesn't give up."
Bella took one careful step closer.
"Can I…?" she asked, not finishing.
Edythe gave a single nod.
Bella reached out and touched Thomas's hand. Not gripping. Not holding. Just her fingertips on his skin like she was checking if he was real.
"I'm sorry," Bella whispered. It was barely sound. "I know everyone says it's not my fault, but… I'm sorry anyway."
I wanted to tell her to stop apologizing for being alive.
I didn't. My throat wouldn't let me.
Bella's lips trembled. She blinked hard.
"I should go," she said quickly. "Edward's probably…"
"He knows where you are," Edythe said, calm.
Bella nodded, then hesitated and pulled her hand back from Thomas. "Still, I will leave you all alone." Then she moved for the stairs
Edythe finally looked up from Thomas and met Bella's eyes fully before she left. "Bella."
Bella froze.
"This isn't your fault," Edythe said. Not gentle. Not harsh. Just true.
Bella nodded once like she believed it.
She didn't.
And then she left, the door clicking shut behind her.
The room felt colder after that, even with a vampire sitting two feet away.
I stared at Thomas for a long time, and the anger came back, hot and useless.
"This is stupid," I muttered.
Edythe's gaze didn't shift from his face. "Yes."
"I hate him for doing this," I said, voice low. "For leaving us here to guess."
Edythe's mouth moved as if she might smile, but it never fully formed. "So do I."
Hours later, Esme came down with a large plate of food that I didn't want until she placed it in front of me. "Eat up, dear. You need your strength to heal and be here for him." Later, she brought down a blanket I didn't need, but she tucked it around me anyway.
The next day, day five since the fight. Thomas opened his eyes.