Timeline: some weeks after the cliff incident. Alice did not have any visions of a suicidal Bella. The wolf pack may or may not have finished off the pesky, vengeful redheaded vamp. And while Bella was too skittish to kiss Jacob that night in her truck, she has given up on unhealthy activities that lead to unhealthy sightings of an unhealthy ex-boyfriend. Go Bella!

Genre: Friendship/Humor/Romance

"Hmm, that smells delicious. What is it?"

"Cabbage with sausages. It's actually a Romanian dish."

Jacob paused for a second, frowning as he tried to figure out what she was saying.

"Romanian? As in, from Romania?"

"Yep."

"Romania, where Dracula, the original vampire, comes from?"

Bella giggled.

"Jacob, Dracula is just a myth."

"Yeah, but still. So you're feeding the werewolf vampire food?"

Bella wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Vampire food is blood. I doubt Dracula ever had cabbage with sausages."

"You don't know that. He might have, when he was still human."

"Oh my God! Fine then. The werewolf cannot have the vampire food then. It just means there'll be more for me and Charlie," she said, making to pull the plate away from him.

"No, no – it's alright. The werewolf will eat the vampire food Bella made him," Jacob said stoically, lightly slapping her hands away.

Bella rolled her eyes at him but said nothing further, digging into her own serving.

"Hmm, this is really good, Bella."

"Yeah? Thanks. I like it too."

"It's a bit spicy. It's nice."

"You like spicy food?"

"Not all the time and not the really heavy stuff but yeah."

Bella made a mental note to research some more spicy recipes for Jacob.

"So, really now: how did you end up making Romanian food, of all things?"

Jacob was genuinely curious, all teasing aside.

"Well, actually…" Bella played with her fork on her now empty plate. "I was looking up Dracula on the internet. Just for fun, y'know. And there was a link that sent me to this tourist site about where Dracula had lived in Romania, right? On the site, there was an ad: cook delicious Romanian dishes."

Bella shrugged then.

"You know me. Cooking's like a hobby to me. So I clicked on the ad and found this recipe."

She got up and collected her and Jacob's plates to take to the sink.

"And then it hit me: I can feed Jacob Dracula food," she said as she faced him with a swish, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

Jacob pretended to take serious offense. He mock growled and made to grab Bella.

"Why you evil, conniving –"

Bella squeaked and tried to dart away from him but his arms were long enough to catch her. He caught her by the belt loop of her jeans and dragged her back to him.

"Jacob, no! Let me go!" she squirmed and giggled as he tickled her, pulling her down onto his lap. He laughed at her red face and desperate struggles to escape him, half-hearted at best.

"Jacob, please! I can't breathe!" she wheezed and Jacob finally relented. Bella instantly leaned her forehead against one of his shoulders to catch her breath. His hand came up to leave soothing trails up and down her back. Once she had recovered, she lifted her head but stayed in his lap.

"You are evil," she accused with a grin on her face.

"That's like the pot calling the kettle black," he retorted.

"But your name is Black, Jake," she pointed out, the "duh" at the end implied.

Jacob rolled his eyes at her. "You're so silly, Bella."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"See what I mean?"

Bella had the decency to blush then but her smile was firmly glued to her lips.

She was so close he could count each individual eyelash. God, she was beautiful. And she was right here in his arms, so comfortable. This moment right now was just perfect: the two of them, happy together.

He wanted to kiss her.

Still holding her loosely, he used one hand to tuck a strand of her hair away. Bella seemed to catch on to the changed atmosphere between them but instead of making a run for it like usual, she kept on watching him, waiting to see what he would do.

Should he kiss her?

What if she pulled away? What if she didn't but still claimed they should just be friends?

What if she kissed him back?

Deciding to take the chance, Jacob carefully cupped her flushed cheek. It was incredibly soft against his coarse fingertips.

Instead of freaking out at him, she gave him a little smile, like she knew what he was doing, like he couldn't keep a secret from her. And in the end, it was her who leaned over to kiss him.

He was overjoyed. In fact, Jacob was sure his heart was out in the living room dancing the rumba with colorful maracas in each hand.

A/N: Yeah, I just went there. How could I not? Dracula is the original vampire (uh, I think). Besides, if we can make 'the Big Bad Wolf' references, why not Dracula references?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.