Bella's POV

A few weeks passed since the meeting with my father. Sam, Renesmee and I were currently at Billy's for a council meeting. I wasn't exactly thrilled to be there, as the last council meeting hadn't gone so wonderfully for me, but it was customary for imprints to attend all these meetings, and there was no way in hell I was going to let my daughter go without me.

I looked over at Renesmee, who was currently being entertained by Jacob. He was holding her up over his head and twirling her around. If it were anyone else, I'd be worried, but I knew Jake would never do anything he thought would hurt her. she meant almost as much to Jacob as she did to me and Sam.

Speaking of Sam, I spotted him a few feet away with Emily. They were sitting down in a couple of chairs by the fire. I felt something weird in the pit of my stomach as I watched them. I couldn't explain what it was, but I was bothered seeing them together. A little voice in the back of my head said it was Jealousy, but I shrugged that voice away. I couldn't be jealous of Emily. Sam and I were not together. I had no claim on him. Emily was his girlfriend.

As I contemplated this, I noticed Renesmee run past me and make a beeline for Sam. "No, honey, don't..."

I was too late. Renesmee quickly made it over to Sam and demanded his attention. And he gave it. As soon as he saw her, he smiled, stood up, and picked her up. Emily on the other hand, didn't seem too happy about the interruption. She huffed in annoyance and stormed away.

I decided to go after Emily. I felt bad that her time with Sam had been ruined, despite the small part of me that was kind of happy. In fact, I felt worse because of that feeling. I felt like I had to make this right somehow.

I caught up with her by the back door of Billy's house. "Emily, wait. Look, I'm sorry about that."

Emily turned and glared at me. "Are you? You seem fine with saddling Sam with your kid."

"I'm not saddling anyone with Renesmee," I protested. I was kind of dumbfounded by the response. I knew she wasn't thrilled, but I'd never seen her like this. The few times that I'd met her, she always seemed nice.

"No? You're here aren't you? You're living with my fiance and making him play Daddy to your kid. You know, it's not Sam's fault that things didn't work out with you and your blood sucking husband. He shouldn't have to take care of your spawn.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Okay, I don't care what you say about me, but don't talk about my daughter like that."

Emily glared back at me. "Doesn't it bother you that you're trying to break up a relationship?"

"Did it bother you?" A cold voice asked from behind me.

I turned around to see Leah there glaring at Emily.

"Leah, this is a private conversation," Emily said, suddenly sounding very uncomfortable.

"Then maybe you should've had it in a private setting, not that that would make you sound any less like a hypocrite. You really have the nerve to accuse someone else of stealing a man? What's the matter? You don't remember how you got Sam in the first place?" Leah asked scathingly.

Just then, Sam came over with Renesmee in his arms. "What's going on here?"

"Well, you're girlfriend here decided to accuse your house guest of trying to seduce you away, as if she has room to judge," Leah said.

Sam looked at Emily intently for a minute and then turned to Renesmee. "Hey, Princess, I think Quil and Clair just came back from the beach. Why don't you go play?"

Renesmee nodded and started wiggling to get down. Once Sam obliged, we watched her run off towards the rest of the pack.

"Excuse us," Sam said before pulling Emily around the corner.

I turned to Leah in shock. I hadn't even been able to speak after she showed up. I was completely shell shocked that she'd defend me. Leah made it no secret that she hated me and my daughter. She'd make hateful comments about both of us every chance she got. Why had she started defending us to Emily. "Why'd you do that?"

"Not for you, believe me. I did it because the bitch deserved it. She acts like the perfect little housewife, but it's bull. Sam and I had been together for over three years when this damned wolf curse happened. Then he was onto Emily. And, yeah, fine, he thought he imprinted on her. Fine, but she doesn't have that excuse. She took Sam because she wanted him, not giving a damn that she was betraying her own blood when she did it. As you know, I can't stand you or your kid, but even you are better than her," Leah said before disappearing before I could even respond.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Sam's POV

I led Emily out of the backyard and towards my truck. I was really pissed. I didn't know exactly what Emily had said to Bella, but I knew it must have been pretty bad for Leah stick up for her. Leah had made her position on Bella clear. And I knew she at the very least insinuated that Bella was trying to get with me while both of us were technically still tied to other people. I didn't care if she accused me, but Bella did not deserve that. "What the hell, Emily? What did you say to her?"

Emily huffed angrily. "It's all about her, right? I'm your fiance! It should be me you're defending."

"I'm not going to defend you when you're wrong," Sam said simply.

"I'm wrong?! You are living with another woman!" Emily yelled.

"There is nothing going on between Bella and me!" Sam yelled back.

"Yeah, right. She's been living in your house. Her kid runs to you. She looks at you like you're her father! You wish you were, don't you? You wish she was yours," Emily accused.

"She is mine," I said after a minute. I wasn't going to lie about it, not even for Emily's sake. I loved that little girl more than anything. In my mind, she was my daughter.

Emily flinched as though she'd been slapped. "That's really how you feel. How am I supposed to handle that? How can you expect me to watch you with this woman and her child. That isn't fair!"

I nodded. "You're right, it's not. I never should've made you go through this."

Emily sighed in relief. "Thank you. So you'll make them leave and come home, right?"

"No. I'm sorry, Emily, but things aren't going to work out between us," I told her. If I was being honest, things should've ended a long time ago, even before Bella and Renesmee came into my life. Emily and I hadn't been happy in a long time. I was just less inclined to end it because I didn't want to hurt another woman. But I was doing that even worse by stringing Emily along.

"Sam, no! Don't do this! Fine, okay? I'll live with things the way they are. I'll even apologize to Bella if you want. We can make it work," Emily said in a pleading tone.

"This isn't about Bella. This was coming before she came into the picture," I said.

"That's not true," Emily denied.

"Yes, it is. Look, we both deserve to be happy. We're not happy together," I said.

"You wanna be with here, don't you?" Emily asked.

I sighed, getting a little tired of this being turned around on Bella. "Bella and I are not together. I can't answer whether or not we ever will be, but either way, it doesn't change anything between you and me."

Sam please," she cried.

"I'm sorry," I said before walking away. There was nothing more I could say. Continuing the conversation would just make it worse, so I just left.