(Thomas POV)
It was afternoon, the sky was the normal Forks gray as spring was making its presence felt. Though everyone knew it was too soon to count Lady Winter out just yet, she had a habit of storming back into town for just one last comment in the weather pattern that was the winter-spring handoff.
On the outskirts of town, the Cullen house looked as it always did, calm, serene, and part of its surroundings. Inside that house, however, there was a family preparing for war, quite literally.
Edward was in the entryway with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a rolled tent under his arm. Bella hovered close to him, jacket zipped to her chin even though she didn't look cold. She looked… keyed up. Too quiet, too focused, like her thoughts had become a thin wire pulled tight.
I just figured she was still trying to come up with a way to do this where she was the only one in danger. I was glad that Edward was going to be next to her to keep her from doing something stupid like showing up in the middle of the battle, hoping to distract some newborns.
Alice was sitting on the stairs, arms folded, eyes fixed on a spot that didn't exist for anyone but her.
"Ready?" Edward asked Bella, soft enough that it was private even in a room full of vampires.
Bella nodded, but it was the kind of nod that didn't actually answer the question. She looked around the room and spoke quietly.
"Everyone… Please be careful tomorrow. I don't know what I would do if any of you were hurt trying to protect me." She nearly had tears in her eyes as they stopped on Esme. The thought of the motherly vampire being in a fight was just so foreign to Bella that she wanted to cry.
Esme was quick to hug her hopeful future daughter-in-law. "We have been through much more than this, dear." She lied. "This family can do anything so long as we are together. You make sure you stay safe too, okay."
Bella nodded, hopefully taking solace from Esme's words.
Edward looked around at everyone, meeting their eyes one by one. "I will be watching through the wolves, and we will join you when it's all over."
Bella took a deep breath, "Okay, let's go mark the clearing and make it as confusing as I possibly can."
Edward nodded his head and took another look around the room, "See you all tomorrow." Then he and Bella were gone, slipping out the front door. Edward carrying Bella, so there was no time wasted in driving a vehicle that wasn't needed.
The moment they were gone, the air in the house seemed to shift. Reality was setting in that the first step of the battle was being taken. Bringing everyone closer to the fight and its uncertainty.
Emmett was naturally not going to let the moment pass him by. "All right," he announced, grin wide. "Who's ready to go get absolutely stuffed so we can tear some newborns apart tomorrow?"
Rosalie sighed so hard it could've been theatrical, but she still moved toward the back door anyway. "You're disgusting."
"Thank you," Emmett said cheerfully. "That's the nicest thing you've said to me all week."
Jasper was already halfway into his jacket, eyes bright in a way that didn't match the casual tone. He looked… alive. Focused. Like war had always been a language he understood too well, and a part of him couldn't wait to speak it again.
Carlisle stood near the fireplace, hands clasped behind his back, calm on the surface. But I'd been around him long enough to see what calm looked like when it was real, and this wasn't it. This was a peaceful man who was preparing to defend that peace in a way he hated, but knew that sometimes it was the only way.
Esme moved between them all like an anchor, touching shoulders, offering small smiles, straightening a sleeve that didn't need straightening.
Then her gaze found me, and the expression on her face softened into something maternal and practical. Leah next to me shifted, she was still having trouble coming to grips with the idea that what she had been taught was a blood-sucking monster could still look so compassionate.
She had confided in me that the idea was harder to settle than her attraction towards Edythe because she had known the vampires were attractive. But there were no stories about a vampire that could look at you like a disappointed mother.
"Thomas," Esme said, "before we leave, would you come with me?"
I nodded and followed her into the kitchen, both Leah and Edythe trailing behind me.
The kitchen smelled like clean stone and sugar and the faint metallic tang that always clung to the Cullen home when they'd stocked the fridge for me. Esme opened it and pulled out a neatly wrapped bundle.
"Fairly fresh," she said, handing it to me like it was leftovers after a Sunday dinner. "It is the last of the Elk from earlier this week. If I keep it much longer It will need freezing."
"Thank you," I said quietly. The simple caring about a need she no longer had was a reminder of how much she cared for me and my needs.
Esme's smile was gentle, but her eyes didn't soften. "Your family," she replied, like it was the simplest truth in the world.
From the stairway where Alice was seated came a frustrated sigh. Then a sharp breath.
No," Alice said, and she wasn't talking to us. She was talking to whatever future she'd just seen and lost again. "That's not…" She stopped, eyes unfocusing for a split second, then snapped back. "Ugh."
Jasper's attention lifted instantly. "Alice."
She waved him off without looking. "I'm fine."
Jasper's face said he didn't believe her, but he didn't push. Not here. Not with everyone already stretched tight.
Carlisle moved from the fireplace and gently placed a hand on Alice's shoulder.
"Still changing?" he asked softly.
Alice nodded once, jaw tight. "Still changing."
Then her eyes turned to me, "Can you think of a reason why you wouldn't be there? Or maybe why you wouldn't change into your tiger form?"
Her question hit me weird, "No, I plan on going in my tiger shape. Do you think that maybe I am fighting too close to the wolves? Maybe that's why your sight is blocked so much."
Leah shifted uncomfortably, but Edythe quickly placed a calming hand on her arm.
Alice shook her head, "No, it doesn't feel the same."
Leah's shoulders eased a fraction.
Emmett's voice boomed from the hall. "All right, team 'Don't Die Tomorrow'! Let's roll!"
Rosalie muttered something that sounded like an insult and a prayer mixed together before opening the door and walking out of it.
Jasper moved to Alice and offered his hand to help her up. She took it with a smile.
Esme moved to Carlisle, who then turned to Edythe, "We will wait for you at the stream, dear." Then they too left the house, leaving Edythe, Leah, and myself alone.
Their worry was unwarranted, it wasn't like we wouldn't see them in the morning before the battle, and I was sure Edythe would be coming home just as soon as they were done feeding.
Edythe just shook her head and smiled at the thoughtful gesture from her father. Then she looked at Leah and me, that familiar, dangerous, spark lit behind her eyes.
"Well," she said lightly, "I guess this is the part where I leave you two unsupervised for most of the night." Her elbow nudged Leah, "Better take advantage of it, love."
Leah's head snapped up. "Edythe…"
Edythe held up a hand, smiling like a misunderstood angel. "I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I'm just acknowledging that tonight is… emotionally charged."
I felt my mouth twitch. "It's the night before a battle, love. Not prom night."
Edythe's gaze slid back to Leah, and her smile softened just a fraction…still teasing, but kinder. "Mm. Sure. And humans never do strange things when they're scared and trying to feel alive."
Leah's ears started turning red, and I watched her fight the urge to look away and lose the battle anyway.
"I'm not…" Leah started, then stopped, because whatever she'd been about to say would've sounded like a lie even to herself.
Edythe's grin widened. "I'm not saying you have to do anything. I'm saying…" She stepped closer to Leah, just enough to be intimate without crowding. "If you want something tonight, comfort, closeness, a hand to hold, someone to remind you you're not alone, you don't have to apologize for it." Her eyes flicked toward me, then back to Leah, and her mouth curved sharper. "Think of it like training wheels, you learn to ride him alone, and then we can all ride together later."
I made a choking sound that might've been a laugh if my lungs weren't busy trying to implode.
Leah's head snapped toward Edythe so fast her short hair shifted. "Oh, my God."
Edythe's smile turned innocent in a way that fooled no one. "What? I'm being supportive."
"You're being…" Leah's face went a shade darker. She glanced at me for half a second and then looked away like eye contact might actually kill her. "You're being you."
"Guilty," Edythe said brightly. Then her expression softened again, the teasing falling back just enough to show the care underneath. "Leah, listen to me. Tonight isn't about proving anything. Not to me, not to him, not to the pack, not to your mother. If all you want is to go home, sit on the couch with him, and exist where nobody demands anything from you, that's allowed too."
Leah swallowed. Her hands flexed at her sides like she didn't know what to do with them.
I pulled Edythe into a hug, "That's enough of that little devil, remember the rule about pressuring people. Go with your family and eat, then come join us in bed so we all wake up together. I want to wake up surrounded by beauty before the battle tomorrow."
Leah's eyes flicked to mine again. This time she held them a beat longer, and something in her expression eased, just a fraction.
Edythe's eyes widened a fraction at my words, more surprise than offense, then she laughed under her breath and slid her arms around me, squeezing tight.
"Pressure?" she murmured into my collar. "Thomas, I'm a saint."
"You're a menace," I corrected, kissing the top of her head. "A beloved menace."
She pulled back just enough to look up at me, that dangerous spark still there but tempered now, like she'd heard the boundary and respected it. Mostly.
"I'll behave," she promised, which was never a real promise.
Then her gaze slid to Leah again. She had locked up again, lost in her mind and overthinking everything.
Edythe reached out and caught Leah's hand, just for a second. A squeeze. A silent I'm here.
"Take him home," Edythe said, simpler now. "Eat. Breathe. Try not to spiral."
Leah's mouth twitched. "You mean try not to do the thing I do best?"
"I mean," Edythe said, tilting her head, "try being brave instead of just acting brave."
Leah rolled her eyes, but it didn't have bite in it. "Yeah, yeah."
Edythe leaned in, quick as a blink, and kissed Leah's lips.
Leah froze; this was the first kiss from Edythe where the vampire hadn't asked first. Then in a blur, she was gone, leaving Leah breathless.
The look on her face made me chuckle, and that sound broke her out of her thoughts.
"Shut up, you."
I smiled, "What? You act like that was your first kiss."
"She just surprised me, that's all. Now stop smirking and let's go home." She started to walk to the front door, "And half of that Elk is mine."