Disclaimer: Usual spiel: I own nothing, don't want to, and I'm glad of it. I think SM sucks.
Timeline (According to Lexicon):
March 16th: Harry Clearwater dies.
March 18th: Harry Clearwater's funeral.
May 25th: Bella learns about imprinting.
all the cracks and broken parts
oh, love, let me see inside your heart
all the cracks and broken parts
the shadows in the light
there's no need to hide
ross copperman, "hunger"
broken [broh-kun]
— verb
1. past participle of break
— adjective
2. reduced to fragments; fragmented
3. ruptured; torn; fractured
4. not functioning properly; out of working order
5. (meteorology, of sky cover) being more than half, but not totally, covered by clouds
6. changing direction abruptly
7. fragmentary or incomplete
8. infringed or violated
9. interrupted, disrupted, or disconnected
10. weakened in spirit
prologue
"Did it happen to you?" [Bella] finally asked, still looking away. "This love-at-first-sight thing?"
Eclipse, Chapter 5: 'Imprint'
"Yes," he replies.
If Bella hadn't been sitting, Jacob's absolutely sure that she would have fallen. Maybe she still might. Maybe she'll topple straight off the tree and onto the wet ground where he's sat by her feet.
Once — before — Bella's lack of balance would have made him smile. Throw his head back and laugh, even. Now it just has him worried that she'll end up hurting herself, because she's proven to be real good at that.
He waits one minute. Two. Three.
Then, hesitantly, he clears his throat and looks up at her. "Bells?"
She takes a deep, gasping breath at the sound of his voice, as if she's been holding it in. Then she scrubs at her face, wiping away the tears which Jacob suspects begun to fall almost immediately after he admitted the truth.
"Aw, Bells." He reaches out for her, but he lets his hand fall when she flinches. "C'mon, don't cry."
"I'm not," she lies, turning her head away. "Really. I'm… I'm glad. It's good, right? I'm happy for you."
He doesn't believe her. Especially not when she chokes on a sob and wraps her arms around herself, exactly the way she used to after the bloodsucker had left her. The bloodsucker who had broken her into pieces.
But—
No. It's not the same. He doesn't belong to Bella. He has never belonged to Bella. Not even after he'd finally put her back together. Not when she had crashed her motorbike and called him sort-of beautiful. And certainly not when she'd run off to Italy after he had begged and begged her to stay with him.
He doesn't belong to Bella, because Bella didn't choose him. Maybe she never would have.
Either way, it doesn't matter. She won't have the chance now.
Jacob doesn't know how he feels about that.
Bella squeezes herself and keeps her eyes on the horizon as she asks, "When?"