"But I would…run away with you, if I could." – Jacob Black

Bella watched him, watched his deep brown eyes seep into her own and she knew this would be their only chance. She closed the gap between them easily with two steps and looked into his face. "You can. You can Jake. We can just get into the truck and go."

She would never know how conflicted he was with this. His heart was aching more than he ever thought possible. He had to stay with the pack, they were his family and he vowed to protect them. But this was Bella…his beautiful, glowing, clumsy Bella and now she was offering him the ultimate sacrifice. She was willing to give up her own life for him. He'd spent so many nights dreaming of this day and now he couldn't take it.

"I can't, Bells. I wish I could…you know I do."

Bella crossed her arms against her chest and looked away from him, the tears pooling in her eyes. He hated that he made her hurt or cry like that. "Hey," he said softly and wiped the tear away from her cheek with his thumb. "Don't cry…it doesn't suit you."

She smiled through her tears. "You promised me. You promised that you'd never hurt me. You know you're my best friend in the world Jacob. I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't know what Sam's doing but it's changing you Jacob. You're different and it's scaring me. He's going to hurt you."

"He's not going to hurt me Bells. I promise I can take care of myself. They're helping me."

She pulled away from his touch then, infuriated at his stubbornness and reminded herself that he was just sixteen. "How is he helping you if he's pulling us apart like this? We used to be so close…now we had our first fight, you didn't return my calls…I'm scared for you and us!"

He pulled her back into him and wrapped her into his arms. She closed her eyes against his bare skin, smooth and warm, comforting. "Just trust me Bella. Please…I know I've already asked for too much but I need this last thing from you."

Bella's breath was soft against his shoulder. "You could never ask for too much from me Jake. You know that."

With a final squeeze of reassurance, he released her. "I better get going, got some stuff to take care of."

The look in Bella's eyes told him immediately that she knew just was kind of 'stuff' his words entailed. She walked over to her bed and climbed in. "Just promise me that you'll think about it? Even if it's just a couple more hours to mull it over. I want you to be safe Jacob. Even if you don't see if I do."

His smile started to falter but he pulled it up quickly. "Sure. I'll think about it. Good night, Bells."

"Night Jake." She replied in a soft voice. "I love you."

"I love you too." He turned and leapt onto the tree branch and swung down easily. I do love you Bella. He thought in his head, glad that for now his thoughts were solely his own. That's why this is so hard. Jacob barreled towards the trees as he saw the light in Bella's window disappear like a star in the morning light.

"There you are son!" Billy smiled from the porch as Jacob loped up to their house and up the stairs to meet him. "When the buys came by lookin' for you I didn't know if you were at Miss Swan's house." He said this with a twinkle in his eye and the tone he saved when telling a highly inappropriate joke.

"I was." He said and slid onto the banister across from Billy. "But not in the tone you're using…and that's kind of weird by the way."

Billy ignored this and looked his son up and down. "What's the problem then?"

Jacob picked at the fringe on his cutoffs wondering how Billy had the innate ability to know when something was bothering him. Maybe it was a wolf thing, maybe it was a dad thing, maybe it was a little of both. "Bella and I had a talk and she…I don't know how to be around her after," he gestured to his body, "this."

"You've never had that problem before." He smirked.

"Dad, I'm serious!" He cried in exasperation.

Of course Jacob had left out the part of Bella wanting to run away with him. He knew it wasn't appropriate and the point of running away was that no one knew. Right? At least that was how he understood it. He ran a hand through his short hair and sighed.

Billy squeezed his son's knee. "I know it's hard Jake. But she'll figure it out. You guys are meant for each other. Everyone knows it, now she needs to. She might not like it or understand it at first, but she will eventually. I can see into her heart, better than anyone else. What does that tell you?"

Jacob knew his father meant it in a different context, but Jacob had the deeper look in her soul. If she was willing to give everything up for him, he was going to as well. He loved this girl more than he could imagine, and the idea of being with her, truly being with her, was too strong to ignore. She was worth everything.

"Thanks Dad." He smiled softly. "I'm going off to bed."

Billy nodded. "Good night son."

Jacob moved in and hugged his father. "Thanks for everything."

He felt Billy's hand on his back as they came apart. "That's what I do, son. You know I keep it tight…control the emotions and…crap."

Jacob grinned and shook his head. "Okay Dad. Night." He walked into the house and through the small living room into his bedroom. He flopped down hard on the bed and cupped the back of his head with his hands as he waited for Billy to retreat to his own room. Now that he'd made his decision, the minutes couldn't tick away fast enough.

When his father finally closed the door and he could hear the soft humming of Billy's snoring, he leapt out of the window and ran through the woods at record speed, loving the feel of the cold wind on his face and for once in a long time he felt free and high on the idea of 'what if'. He scaled up to Bella's window just as easily as the first time, and opened the window quietly.

A small night light in the corner of Bella's room washed the room in a soft, yellow glow. He could hear Bella's steady and even breathing as he slipped in. He was reminded of all the times Bella told him about the bloodsucker watching Bella sleep for hours unseen. Jacob hesitated for a second, wondering if he should make this wait until morning.

He was just about to climb back out of the window when he heard Bella's quilt rustling. "Jake?" Her voice was slow and thick with sleep. "What're doing here? It like, early morning."

Jacob smiled softly, Bella never woke up the most coherent person on the planet. He turned and came over, kneeling on the side of her bed. "I've been thinking about it and I had to come see you. Let's do it. Let's go. I don't know where but I want to run with you. We can do this…sightsee, travel the world."

A slow and sleepy smile inched across her face. "Let's go."

Jacob left the room to let her change and when he returned, she was stuffing anything within arms length into a duffel bag. She didn't even look at him as she zipped it. "I have a savings account that my Mom and Phil gave me before I came to Forks for emergencies. Since I kinda consider this a dire need…" She opened a drawer, dumped the clothes out, and peeled back the stickered bottom.

Jacob's eyes widened as she dumped at least fifteen hundreds and some fifties onto the bed. He whistled and fingered the cash. "Holy crap. I'm going to start calling you money bags."

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at his humor and started stuffing the cash into all pockets of the duffel. Jacob pulled a brown leather wallet from his back pocket and dandled it in front of her. "Ever heard of these nifty little things? This, dear Bella, is a wall-et."

She punched him in the shoulder. "Are you going to help me or not?" And then for good measure, added, "punk."

Once she was packed and note written for Charlie, they slipped out the front and to the truck. "Let's do it." He grinned as Bella slid into the passenger seat.

"Carpe diem, Jake." She grinned and rolled down the window. The cool air whipped her hair around her shoulders as they blasted towards the freeway.

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