Prologue: Discussions
Eight years has passed since the last sighting of the Cullens, eight years since the treaty had been willingly broken. After Bella's marriage to Edward, the family left suddenly, to everyone but the pack's surprise. For several months after the disappearance, Jacob had been inconsolable- he obviously knew what had happened, but it didn't hurt any less. And then, quite suddenly, Jacob had fallen into a blinding rage; he had spent the better part of a year lashing out at everyone he came in contact with. Eventually the anger had subsided, to be replaced with cold indifference. Jacob took his job as Beta seriously after his anger cooled, some of the pack thought he might take it too seriously. Since then, Jacob had dutifully completed his role as Beta and had taken a job at the mechanics shop along with some of the other guys. Between pack things and work, Jacob had very little free time to himself, and from everyone else's perspective- he seemed to like it that way.
The cool, damp air whistled its way through La Push, jingling the old wind chimes that hung on the front porch of an aging cabin settled back against the trees. The sun had just set, and a heavy fog was slithering its way from the tree line soon to engulf the small cabin. Inside however, the fire was blazing and the couches were packed. Bodies lined the walls and filled in almost every available space; just as the crowd had settled, the doors to the small space sprung open. Sam strode purposefully into the space, followed closely by Jacob, his second in command.
The Elders had called an important meeting, and much to their chagrin, Sam and Jacob arrived late- postponing the start of the night's events. Amidst grumbled complaints and muffled whining, Sam and Jacob slid their way to the front of the gathering, and positioned themselves amidst the more important Elders.
Billy Black cleared his throat and began, "Now that everyone has arrived, we can start the meeting. You have all been gathered here today to discuss the continued issue of the lack of medical professionals in the proximity. There has never been a doctor on the reservation, and it has been far too long to count on a doctor arriving in Forks. The floor is now open to opinions." Bodies shifted as hushed whispers broke through the cabin.
Joy Ateara was the first to speak up; "Billy, I'm not sure how we are supposed to change that fact," the aging mother of Quil quipped, "Does this fall under our jurisdiction?"
"The wellbeing of the La Push Reservation is our primary objective, of course this is our responsibility," Sue Clearwater added. Soon the whole room had dissolved into bickering factions; some jumping on Joy's bandwagon and claiming it wasn't their job to figure out how to get a doctor to Forks let alone La Push, some worried about letting an outsider into the Rez (especially considering some of their substituents' condition), and others advocating for a doctor in Forks or even in La Push.
Jacob leaned back in the metal folding chair that he had claimed; his legs extended far too forward to be socially acceptable and his eyes closed. He half-listened to the conversations that flowed around him. As the discussions carried on, Jacob unceremoniously fallen asleep; more than an hour later, the Beta was awoken by a sharp jab from Sam's elbow. In the time Jacob had been napping, it seemed that a decision had been made and most of the members of the Council of Elders were making their way out of the cramped cabin. Some had sour expressions on their face, but from Sue's pleased appearance Jacob surmised that the supporters for a new doctor had won.
Jacob pulled himself up from his resting spot and made his way to his father, where it seemed Sam was having a heated discussion with the elder Black. Jacob walked up just in time to hear Sam say "I don't have time to find and interview potential candidates, Billy. I have the pack to take care of and you know Emily is pregnant."
Billy seemed unimpressed, "Some of us have already compiled a list of potential candidates, all you have to do is contact them and schedule interviews. Split up the work between Jake and yourself." "I'm sorry Sam, but the decision has been made," added Billy a little more sympathetically.
"Jake, do you mind giving me a ride home, Charlie drove me here, but I don't have a way back," Billy said, turning on his son.
"Yeah, sure thing." Jacob said, taking over guiding Billy's wheelchair towards the door and thinning crowd. "We can talk about this in the morning, Sam. I'll see you then," Jacob called over his shoulder to his Alpha; all he received was a grunt that sounded slightly affirmative.
The car ride back to Billy's house was long and quiet for the most part; even though Jacob still lived with his father, he was rarely home and Billy saw very little of him. The conversation mostly consisted of Billy talking about the Mariners game that was on earlier and how Charlie was doing. Charlie Swan had stayed in Forks, even with the strange disappearance of his daughter and son-in-law. Billy had confided in Jacob early on that he felt it was because Charlie thought that if he stayed, Bella might return. At this point, Charlie had settled on the fact that Bella wasn't returning and he and Sue had even started some semblance of a relationship.
The next morning, Jacob left for Sam's house bright and early and the two discussed the next week's schedule and other pack things while Emily bustled in the kitchen- much to Sam's distaste. Emily was 5 months pregnant and was already showing quite a bit; this was the Uley's first child after many years of trying and Sam was overprotective and a bit paranoid about the whole situation.
By the time that breakfast was done, Sam and Jacob had run out of the normal pack duties to discuss and that left one thing to talk about: the doctor situation. Sam kindly filled Jacob in on the final decision of the night before, "The Council agreed upon setting up a small clinic on the Reservation. There are some… conditions though; some of the Elders wish to keep as many outsiders away from the Rez as possible- they want to try and find a doctor, or nurse practitioner, whose Quileute or Makah preferably. Apparently your dad has some candidates in mind; after your shift do you mind taking a look at them. If you can get them sorted into potential candidates versus never gonna happen, I can start contacting them."
"Yeah, I'll see what I can do," Jacob said, already not looking forward to the no doubt countless hours of organizing he'd just volunteered for. Sam was lucky Jacob had the day off from work; with that, Jacob bid his farewells to Sam and Emily and set off to begin the day's duties. There was never any rest for the Beta of such a large pack it seemed.
A/N: So I suppose I'll stop there for now. This is just the prologue for my foray back into writing fanfiction, so let me know how it is. If anything doesn't make sense or if you think there is something that grammatically seems weird let me know-it's been a while since I read/watched the Twilight series. I know they may seem a little out of character right now- it IS 8 years later (also the reason I settled on 8 years, is because most of Twilight (especially the latter two books) are set in 2006, sooooo. Thanks guys. Hope you like, and I promise, next chapter won't be so boring, this one is just to set the scene and get the plot progressing in this story.