1Title - What Happens in Venice
Chapter – 1: Threat Level Red
Rating - R with a dash of M later
Pairing - Jake/Edward
Word Count - 2,046
Disclaimer - All characters and original plots belong to Stephenie Meyer and her affiliates. No disrespect or copyright infringement is intended.
Spoiler – New Moon... up until Edward decides to go to the Volturi
Warnings - Slashy goodness
Summary- Saving Edward's life was surprisingly easy. It felt good. It felt even better to make him laugh.
Jacob's jaw shifted, grinding his teeth together in frustration. He was too good. He blamed his father. It was always the parents' fault, how a kid turned out, right? Couldn't Billy have been a drinker, or at least a little unsupportive? But no, Billy was a good man—and the unfortunate result was that Jacob was a good kid.
Dammit.
Alice Cullen stuck a jar of Vick's Vapor Rub under Jacob's nose. He jerked away out of instinct. After all, she was a vampire and he was a werewolf.
"It's mentholatum ointment," Alice said in a low voice. "It might help with the smell. Coroner's use it during autopsies."
Death always managed to come up around vampires.
"I can barely smell you," Alice said and pushed the jar closer to his face. Jacob stared at it. "You'll be glad you listened to me."
"Did your freaky ESP tell you that?"
"No," she said, her perfect brow creasing in annoyance. "I can't see you. But I can smell you. And if you think I smell half as bad as I think you smell, then you'll try the mentholatum."
"Yeah, okay," Jacob jammed his first two fingers deep into the ointment, making sure they were both thoroughly coated. He held his fingers up and looked at Alice. "Where do I put it?"
"I was going to tell you to just dab a little at the base of your nostrils."
"Oh," he looked at the mess on his fingers and shrugged. He ran his fingers back and forth over his top lip. He rubbed the remainder on his faded black jeans and turned to Alice again, grinning. "If a little works, then a lot works better."
"Okay, let's go over the plan," Alice said. She pulled a red silk scarf from her purse and started smoothing the wrinkles. "We'll land in about fifteen minutes and—"
"Hold on," Jacob held both hands out to silence her. "You're telling me that you made me suffer through hours of smelling you before you thought to offer up the mint rub?"
"Well," Alice smirked and picked a piece of fluff off her pristine jacket. "I'm nice, but I'm not that nice."
"What the hell was I thinking?" Jacob pressed his forefingers into his temples. "I think I've changed my mind. I'm done being nice. Save the leech on your own."
"I'm sorry, Jacob," Alice said immediately. She would apologize to her worst enemy if it meant saving Edward from himself. "I should have offered earlier. I didn't think you would take it from me… but mostly I was being petty. I am truly sorry."
He was slightly mollified, which in turn horrified him. He should not be mollified by a vampire's apology. When he thought about it, he shouldn't be traveling with a vampire. Not only was he too good, he was also too stupid for his own good.
"Bella would want you to do this, Jacob," Alice said. She reached over to touch his arm, but stopped just in time, with her fingers hovering over his brown skin. "You didn't want me to tell Bella about Edward's decision to go to the Volturri. You offered to help me save him."
"Fine, but if you touch me," Jacob warned. "I will tear your hands off."
"Can we please talk about the plan?"
"I would like nothing more," Jacob said through gritted teeth. He figured sarcasm translated to the dead.
They bowed their heads together, both reeking of Vapor Rub, and planned to save their nemesis—or brother, depending on your point of view—from making a huge mistake.
Jacob stood in the middle of the cobble-stoned street in Volterra and stared at Edward, who was slowly unbuttoning his shirt. His eyes darted to the clock tower over Edward's head—one minute to spare. He gently pushed the celebrants of Volterra out of his way as he snaked his way to his enemy. He wasn't rushing, per se, but he didn't dawdle. He knew Bella would never forgive him if she found out her blood-sucking boyfriend died because he was too slow.
He walked right up to Edward and stopped, waiting for Edward to notice him. The clock donged impressively. Noon. Time for the show.
Edward kept his eyes trained on a spot above Jacob's head. Jacob climbed the first two steps, putting himself directly in Edward's line of sight. He saw the vampire's eyes flicker and focus on the face in front of him.
"Hey, Cullen."
"Jacob Black?"
"You remember me," Jacob said, briefly impressed. He'd only met Edward once, if you could count their ever-so-brief encounter at prom.
"What are you doing here?" Edward asked. His face registered shock and curiosity. "And why do you smell like a… cough drop?"
"It's mentholatum," he corrected and then shook his head to refocus his attention. It didn't matter what he smelled like at the moment. He had flown to Italy to save the vampire, not discuss cologne choices. "Look, I'm here to stop you from killing yourself."
"What?" The curiosity slid off Edward's face like a child down a Crisco-coated metal slide.
"Bella's alive and she sent very specific instructions that you not die," Jacob said. He was glad to be absolved of message duty. He moved his head to look into Edward's bizarre golden eyes. "Did you hear me? Because I'm about to walk away and if you go ahead and die anyway, I'm going to catch hell from Bella."
"She's alive?" Edward shook his head as if he didn't believe the boy in front of him. "But Alice saw her jump off—and Rosalie said…"
"Yeah, Alice saw Bella cliff diving," Jacob pantomimed diving. "You know, for fun? At least, it's supposed to be fun. I don't get it, but whatever. Anyway, she wasn't trying to kill herself and she's not dead."
"How is that possible?" Edward asked, his tone saturated with incredulity. "She nearly loses her life just by walking out Charlie's door. How could she survive cliff diving?"
"Well," Jacob lifted his heavy eyebrows and sniffed proudly. "I had a little hand in that. I saw her jump and I went in after her. She only drowned a little. A little chest compression and she was presto better."
Edward fell silent. Jacob waited, rocking back and forth on his toes and looking at the doorway they stood in. Italian architecture at it's best. He'd never been out of the country before—unless you counted Canada, and Jacob did not. He wished he'd been able to travel on his own accord, to somewhere he wanted to go, but he knew that without Alice's impressive stack of cash, he never would've seen Italy. He'd rather Edward would've tried to off himself in Rome or Venice; at least he could've seen some sites. Who even ever heard of Volterra?
"What are you doing here, Jacob?" Edward asked again. He turned and walked into the building behind him, buttoning his shirt as he went. The suicide threat level plummeted from red to blue.
"Bella left her passport in Phoenix," Jacob said, correctly assuming that what Edward really wanted to know was why Bella herself hadn't flown to the rescue. "She was freaking out and Alice said you'd be able to hear her coming. I was drafted because I am the idiot best friend who continuously satisfies the girl's every whim despite the inevitable pain it causes me. And because I have a current passport."
Edward blinked. "You are very interesting, Jacob."
"Sure, sure, I get that a lot."
Edward laughed, surprising himself as well as Jacob. He gestured for Jacob to follow him down a hallway and out a door that deposited them in a dark alley. Alice stood at the end of the alley, a dark umbrella shading her from the sun.
"Hello, Alice," Edward said softly. Before he finished saying her name, she had her arms around his neck, the umbrella banging inconsiderately into Jacob's head. "I hear Bella is alive and well."
Alice's lips began moving, but Jacob heard nothing. Her words flew so quickly through the air and into Edward's ears that they never truly existed. Jacob turned his gaze to Edward's face, which flitted between shock, outrage and disbelief. Finally, he swung his murderous gaze to Jacob.
"Whoa," Jacob held up his hands and stepped back. "I just saved your life. Respect that."
"You are a werewolf?"
"Oh, that. Well, yeah."
"Wait—there's more?" Edward glanced at Alice, who grimaced. His eyes narrowed as he plucked the image of besotted Jacob capitulating to Bella's pleas to save her undead boyfriend. ".In.Love.With.My.Girlfriend?"
"Technically, she's not your girlfriend."
Edward snarled and snapped his gleaming teeth. Technicalities be damned.
"And technically," Jacob said, ignoring the dangerous glint in Edward's eyes. "I was in love with Bella, but currently… not so much."
Edward abruptly fell silent at that news. He quickly scanned for any proof of deception, but Jacob's thoughts were benign—at least as they concerned Bella. His thoughts about Edward and his belated regret in flying off to Italy to save an ungrateful blood-sucking bastard who was actually snarling at him, well, that was different.
Edward smiled at that, because he couldn't stop himself. Bella was alive and the werewolf was not in love with her. Life was good, or at least better than it had been three minutes before.
"Thank you, Jacob Black," Edward said formally, inclining his head in a slight bow. "For saving my life. I am grateful and would continue to be so, if you will join me for dinner."
Jacob's thoughts stuttered down to one: He's asking me to dinner? He eats dinner?
"Yes, dinner, and no, I won't eat."
"Oh, yeah," Jacob laughed with no true humor. "Bella told me you could read people's mind. Guess I forgot. We haven't really talked about you much. Not recently."
Edward nodded. It shouldn't hurt him to hear that he was not part of their conversations, but it did. He was selfish; he could admit that without difficulty. He wanted Bella to be happy… but he didn't want her to forget him so easily. Hell, he'd be on the cusp of returning to Forks to beg Bella to take him back.
But then he'd heard the news. She was supposed to be dead. That worked well in Edward's self-martyrdom. He could work with the fact that she was dead. He knew what to do—kill himself. Now that she was alive, he was plummeted back into indecision.
Please don't come back to Forks, Jacob thought. Edward knew the boy wasn't addressing him directly. It was more a prayer sent up to the universe. Bella is normal again. She's got a good thing going with Quil. She's happy. She deserves to be happy. Finally.
"Oh," Alice said from her sentry at Edward's side. "That's surprising."
"What?" Jacob asked.
"You're not coming home," Alice said, looking up at her brother. "Whyever not?"
"Bella is happy," he said. He forced a smile and swore he could feel his skin creak under the unfamiliar expression. He had not smiled since the night Jasper attacked Bella at her birthday party. "I will not cause her any further pain. I will endure in silence."
"You are so dramatic," Jacob laughed. He drew his arm in front of his face, striking the classic vampire-with-a-cloak pose. "I vill suffer zee pain of my heartbreak alone in my coffin. Ah-ah-ahhhh!"
"What was that?" Edward asked, his eyebrows shooting up. "Was that supposed to be Dracula… or The Count from Sesame Street?"
"Neither," Jacob laughed and dropped his arm. "I was going for that douche in those books all the girls are reading these days."
Edward laughed, too. He felt drunk, like he couldn't control his reaction to the tall, dark boy who had flow around the world to save him from himself. He cut off his laugh abruptly and stared at Jacob.
"Let's get out of here," Edward said.
Alice danced down the alley, twirling with her umbrella held high overhead. Jacob whistled "Singin' In the Rain" and followed Alice at an easy lope. Edward stood back and watched the pair of them, wondering what his future held now that he could finally let Bella go.