Better Than Revenge

Seth's POV:

She made that noise again. It started as a low groan in the back of her throat, and then led into a louder and heartbreaking sob. It made my stomach curl up every time. It sounded like she was hit by a truck.

We helped Val down to the floor. She leaned against the wall, holding her head in her hands.

Carlisle tried to prop her chin up, but she refused. "It's okay, Valerie." He whispered.

"It hurts." She cried. She couldn't even open her eyes.

I was really impatient now. "What's wrong with her?"

"It isn't very common, but the migrane might be caused by the memory loss she's suffered." He stood up from his crouched position. "There isn't anything -"

"There isn't anything you can do? What do you mean there isn't -"

"Stop," Val cried. "Please."

"She needs rest." He whispered to me.

I ran my hands through my hair, kind of starting to freak out. It was a headache, but I'd never seen someone in that much pain. And there wasn't anything to do but get her some rest?

That awful noise escaped her throat again. I wanted to run away this time, it scared the hell out of me.

"You should probably take her home, Jacob." Elena said.

I immediately slipped my hands behind her back and under her legs, lifting her in the air as gently as I could. She still whined in protest.

"I got her." I told Jake. "You drive?"

He nodded, feeling for his keys in his pocket.

"Seth," Elena curled her fingers around my shoulder. "I think Jacob can handle it. Right, Jake?" She didn't give him time to answer. "He'll be fine."

I shifted Val's head so it rested in the space under my neck. "I want to make sure she's okay. I won't be long." I took a step to follow Jake.

"I'll come with you." Elena spluttered, hanging onto my shirt. "She seems like a handful."

"I thought you just said I could handle it by myself?" Jacob questioned absently.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you can handle it."

"And I can't?" I asked.

"Elena, would you mind helping me with Reneesme?" Carlisle started to direct her away.

She sighed. "Sure."

I followed close behind Jacob and slid carefully into the back seat of his car.

Valerie lay her head in my lap, holding onto my hand with a death grip. I rubbed her shoulder. "It's okay. We'll get you home." I whispered.

"She's at her dad's this weekend, right?" Jake wondered quietly, watching me through the rearview window.

I gulped. "Yeah."

We were driving for only five minutes when Val lifted her head from my lap. She opened her eyes just enough to see me through her eyelashes, and wrinkled her forehead in pain.

"What's wrong?" I asked, helping her support herself.

She groaned, covering her mouth with her hand.

I got the message. "Pull over, Jake."

He obeyed the order, pulling to the side of the road. "Is she gonna be sick?"

I kicked open the door. Val crawled across my lap and leaned her head out of it. I tried to tune out the sound, facing in the opposite direction. Jake rolled down his window and rubbed his eyes, showing a weak stomach.

If I was worried before, I was completely concerned now. She's really sick, and it came out of nowhere. That doesn't happen often.

Val gradually lifted herself back to a sitting position, cradling her head again. I would have done anything to take it all away from her.

"Here." Jake tossed a half filled water bottle to me without looking back.

I screwed off the lid and offered her the bottle. She took it and rinsed her mouth quickly.

I felt her forehead with my hand. It was clammy, and her cheeks were pale. "Are you okay?"

Her sigh was broken, but she managed a nod.

"We're almost there." I promised. "Can you hold on until then?"

Val let her head fall onto my shoulder as an answer. Jake got back on the road.

I carried her again, up to the top of her driveway. By then I was greeted by a large man who had flown out the front door at the sight of me carrying his daughter's limp body up the driveway.

"What the hell happened?" He demanded, hasty to get her out of my arms.

Val locked her arms around my neck like a monkey. "She's got a killer headache. She really needs to lie down."

Her father realized that she wouldn't let go of me, and the thought made him turn even more red.

I gulped again. "Can I bring her inside?"

His eyes travelled down to my feet and back up again before he turned to hold open the door.

I stepped through sideways to avoid bumping her head on the doorframe, and waited there until her dad met up with me. He led the way to her bedroom, again holding open the door.

There was a beam of light straining through her window and straight onto the bed. "Can you close those blinds?"

He hesitated, but stepped around me to tug on the string. The room became significantly darker, which was good. It was what she needed.

"And pull back the covers?" I pointed with my chin to the bed.

He pulled back the sheets and the comforter, smoothing them out and adjusting her pillow. I carried her to the side of the bed and slowly placed her in the space, resting her head down last.

"She might want some water." I said over my shoulder. "She got sick on the way here."

"You mean she puked?"

My lips twitched to dodge a smile. "Yeah."

He didn't say anything else, excusing himself to find a glass of water.

Val was still attached to me by the hand, squeezing mine with all her might. I got down on my knees next to the bed, brushing her hair away from her face. "What am I gonna do with you?" I whispered aloud.

Her grip only became tighter.

"I'm right here." I said, loosening her fingers. She just rested her hand over mine now.

Her dad returned with water in one hand and a bottle of aspirin in the other.

I took the glass and offered it to her. She propped herself up on her elbow, opening her eyes just enough to see. Her dad dropped the two pills in her hand.

She moved in slow motion, pushing the pills into her mouth and then taking slow and tiny sips of water. When she finished, I set the glass on the bedside table and helped her lay back down.

"She'll be okay now." I said, more to myself. I started to rise back to my feet.

"No," She whined, clawing weakly into my arm.

I kept my eyes down, afraid to see the look on her father's face. I felt his eyes shooting lasers through my back.

"Don't leave."

I sighed, honestly kind of annoyed. Why is she doing this to me?

I glanced up at her dad sheepishly. Surprisingly, he only rolled his lips once. "Thank you." He muttered.

I blinked. "You're welcome."

With a sharp nod, he left the room and closed the door over, but not all the way. A towel over the door blocked it from closing.

I swallowed, carefully plucking her fingers away.

“No,” She whimpered, tugging my hand up to her chin.

I watched her face, tears long gone yet still sobbing, and immediately decided to crawl to the opposite side of the bed and sit next to her, my back against the wall. Her body turned and formed a sort of ball, her head next to my knee. I tucked her pillow under her head and she sighed, exhausted and broken.

“It hurts.” She whispered, squeezing my hand tighter.

“I know.” I whispered back. “It’s okay, I’m here.”

I heard her snoring quietly and smiled.

. . . . . . . .

Val's POV:

“Why did you do that?!”

“I was thinking about it, and I think it’s the best thing for us.”

Leah threw her hands in the air. “Sure, maybe best for you, but not for Seth! God, we’ll never hear the end of it!”

I frowned, it felt like her words were making me tinier and tinier. “I just…I’ve dealt with it long enough! And he won’t care, he has her.”

“You’re so stupid!” She snapped at me.

“What is going on?” Emily’s harmless voice entered the conversation.

“Go on, tell her what you did.” Leah pointed at Emily, scolding me like I was a bad dog who just peed on the carpet.

Emily eyed me curiously, itching to know what got Leah to be so enthusiastic.

“I told Seth that we should just be friends.”

Leah grunted.

“Oh.” Emily made an effort to stay neutral. “What did you say?”

I knew it would come out in a rush. “Well after I woke up from the whole crazy
migraine thing and he was there I kind of freaked out and he tried to explain himself even though I didn’t understand half of what he was saying because I wanted to tell him what I was thinking about since we talked to each other about everything - you know, that we should just be friends, so I did. He said it didn’t have to be like that if I was deciding because of the whole Elena thing and then he brought up the Jacob thing which I really didn’t want him to bring up and was kind of hoping he would just ignore but he obviously didn’t so when he asked if it was because of Jacob that I wanted to just be friends, I said…”

Emily blinked, trying to remember the jibberish that just came out of my mouth. She waited for me to finish.

“She said YES!” Leah yelled, throwing her arms around again. “You see what that will do to him? Just the friends line will kill him, but you had to go and say you’re in love with JAKE!”

“I’m not in love with Jake! He imprinted, it‘s not like he‘ll want me, either.”

“Then why did -”

They didn't know about the other night, when Seth showed up in the middle of the night. “I don’t want Seth to have to tell me. We both know that it’s not me, so I saved us
both from that whole conversation. It’s the best thing for us, Leah!”

“But you didn’t fight?“ Leah lowered her voice, answering her own question. “You didn’t know what else to do, right? You felt abandoned and sad and just wanted somebody in the world to give a damn about your feelings. You wanted to be the one in control for once, wanted payback.”

I watched as her bottom lip quivered. Emily stayed silent, as did I.

“I know,” Leah whispered. “I just never had the strength to actually do it.”

I leaned forward to hug her, and she curled her arms around my back. I should have talked to Leah in the first place. She understands. She’s the only one that will ever really understand.

. . . . . . . .

Seth’s POV :

“Why did you do that?!”

“Don’t act so surprised. You told me to talk to her.”

I shoved her away this time. “Yeah, not to tell her that I imprinted on you!”

She started smiling. “You did?”

“No! I mean, no! I don’t - I can’t believe you did that, Elena!” I wanted to punch a big hole in the wall.

“Okay, I get why you’re mad.” She nodded, touching me again. “It was too soon to tell her, but I knew you would realize that she wasn’t the one and be afraid to tell her yourself.”

God, no wonder she’s upset. This whole time she thought I just ditched her. That’s why everybody clearly hates me with a burning passion. That’s why she broke up with me.

“It will be okay.” Elena said, petting my arm. “She’ll get over it. She has Jacob remember?”

The urge to punch the wall got stronger.

“Just forget about her, Seth. She’ll never care about you the way I do.” She laced her fingers through mine.

I felt it coming on. “God dammit, Elena just leave me alone!” I yanked my hand away.

“What about before?” I wasn’t looking at her anymore, but I could hear she wanted to cry. “Why did you kiss me if you still have feelings for her?”

I closed my eyes and sighed, balling my hands into fists. “I’m sorry.” I needed to leave.

The minute I got outside I phased, running deep into the forest. I felt like such an idiot. I am an idiot. How am I going to get her to forgive me? She won’t. I know she won’t.

‘Boo! ‘

‘Get out of here, Leah. I’m not in the mood.’

She ignored me, as usual. ‘Oh, calm down. I’m here to help you. You’re lucky I
don’t kill you now.’

‘Go away.’

‘No, I’m helping. Don’t ask me why. Val will forgive you, even though she really
should not.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because she feels all lovey-dovey just like you do.’

I shook my head slowly. ‘What do I tell her?’

‘I don’t know, that’s your problem.’

I growled at her, but she cackled.

‘Just be all mushy about it. She’ll forgive you if you do it right.’

‘Well what’s the right way to do it?’

‘First, it would probably be best to get naked.’

I lunged and tackled her to the ground, growling again. ‘I’m serious.’

‘So am I.’ She laughed again. ‘But you better act fast. Before she realized what she did and she feels so sorry for herself that she won’t even let you talk to her.’

It didn’t convince me like I wanted it to.

‘I’m only helping you for Valerie’s sake. I could care less about your feelings.’

‘Thanks. Love you too.’

Leah spun and disappeared just as fast as she showed up.