Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Saga series, the characters (sadly, I know) or the song Dreaming with a Broken Heart. They all belong to SMeyer and JMayer, respectively.

When you're dreaming with a broken heart

The waking up is the hardest part

Jacob began to stir in his bed, hearing the music begin to seep into his drowsy brain.

You roll out of bed and down on your knees

And for the moment you can hardly breat-

Jacob quickly turned down the radio to a dull murmur.

"Every damn day," he muttered to himself. He slowly sat up in bed, throwing his legs over the edge along with his blanket, and wiped the sleep from his eyes.

Every day some poor bastard – as Jacob liked to think – seemed to request this song and Jacob seemed to wake up at that exact same time; sometimes it was midway through and other days, like today, he would catch it first beat. It wouldn't have annoyed him so much if it didn't hit a heart string for him.

Jacob always dreamt with a broken heart. And he didn't need a song to remind him.

Wondering could you stay my lo-

Jacob turned off the radio this time. "Stupid wolf hearing," he said. "Stupid John Mayer and his songs." Jacob heard a howl in the distance and quickly recognized its laughing tone.

"Shut up Quil," he said as if Quil was standing right in front of him. He knew he could hear him though.

Ever since Bella left to Italy to save her precious bloodsucker, Jacob hadn't quite been the same. The pack knew it; Billy knew it. Hell, when Charlie would come and visit he could see a change in the once smiling and exuberant Jacob Black. All that seemed left was a shell of what was. Everybody – except Charlie – tried to get him out of it, but nothing worked. Nothing would work except for her. Bella coming back to him safe, human and with a beating heart.

'Come on Jake,' Embry pleaded.

"Stupid wolf telepathy," Jacob again mumbled.

'Hey! It's not stupid,' said Quil, joining Embry in Jacob's head. 'It's cool.' Obviously he was one of the few who felt that way.

"Get out of my head guys," said Jacob, hoping they would oblige without a fight.

"No can do. Come on Jake," said Quil, now entering through Jacob's bedroom door. He wore the trademark Quileute cut off shorts, pulling on a shirt as Embry followed him in; Embry stayed sans shirt. "It's been way past long enough."

"You don't get it Quil," said Jacob, attempting for the umpteenth time to get his point across so they could leave him the hell alone. "You don't know what it's like."

"All I get is that you're here moping around while she's only what, a half hour away at Charlie's? If you want to see her so badly get your large wolf ass out of your bed for once and just go." Quil took a seat at the edge of Jacob's bed, looking at his depressed friend.

"She doesn't want to talk to me," Jacob said sadly, laying back down and wanting to waste another day sleeping. 'If she did,' he thought to himself, 'she would have been here by now.'

"That's now what I heard," said Embry, a small smile playing at his lips.

"What are you talking about, Call?" Jacob was not sure what he was referring to and was not in the mood for the two boys' constant jokes.

"Well," Embry said, plopping down on the floor by the bed next to Jacob's bed, "if you got out of bed once in a while, you would know that she's been here. Every single day."

Jacob quickly sat up, analyzing both Quil and Embry's face. Both of them were dead serous. "If you're fucking with me Em, I swear that I'll tear you apart, limb by limb. In human form."

He hoped his threat meant something so if the two boys were messing with him, they'd come clean now. Embry let out a small chuckle and looked over at Quil who glanced at the clock and nodded. "Jake," he started, "I know we love to mess around with each other. A lot. But this is something I definitely wouldn't do to you. Take a look for yourself if you don't believe me." He jerked his head towards Jacob's solitary window which overlooked the front yard of the Blacks' property. "Time is almost up anyway."

Jacob quickly shot out of bed and hurried to his window. Sure enough, as if from his dreams, Bella was in the cab of her truck in front of the faded red house, waiting. He could see her from here, biting her lip in anticipation and nervousness.

"You assholes! How long has she been here? How come you never told me before!?" Jacob quickly jumped around his room, looking for various articles of clothing to cover his usual moping attire of boxers.

Both Quil and Embry laughed at his frantic state, which Jacob shot them both death glares. "Because man. We wanted you to find out yourself. You know, surprise? But it's been two weeks since she's been coming out here and we thought that if you didn't come out today, we'd get your ass out of bed and bring you to her."

Jacob finally pulled on his pair of shoes when he heard the familiar sound of the ancient truck starting.

"Shit," he cursed, running out of the house. When he got outside, she was beginning to reverse, looking behind her. "Bella!" he yelled, but knew she wouldn't hear over the truck's overly garish engine.

He ran up to the side of the cab, quickly rapping on her window to get her attention. She looked at him and jumped a little in her seat, obviously briefly scared at the 6'7" boy standing at her window. He let out a small chuckle while she rolled down the window.

"Jake? What are you doing here?" Jacob grinned at her and she returned it tentatively.

"I could ask you the same thing." He knew he was getting happy too quickly, knew she must have been here for some other reason but he just couldn't help it – she was here, right in front of him, and from what he saw and could faintly hear, she still had a pulse. It took all the restraint he could muster not to tear open the door of the truck and pull her into a gigantic bear – or wolf – hug at that very moment.

At his comment a small blush crept on her cheeks. "Right," she mumbled back. She placed a slightly shaky hand on the door handle of the car and opened it, stepping out onto the familiar reservation. Jacob stepped back to allow the door to open and when she was out, he closed it for her. She looked up at him and for the first time in what felt like awhile, Jacob felt his heart flutter again.

He looked down at the 5'4" girl and couldn't believe what she had done to him. With her pale beauty, even paler than normal when compared to him and his russet skin, he felt like she was perfect for him. Whenever he hugged her, she fit exactly right into his arms, as if she were truly made for him and only him.

Jacob walked over to the porch and she followed him. He motioned for her to sit and she sat on the bottom step, absentmindedly playing with the dirt and pebbles around it.

"So Bells, are you going to tell me why you've been coming to La Push every day for the past few weeks without as so much as a honk or are you going to continue playing with dirt." He hoped he hadn't sounded too harsh, but he wanted her to know he was frustrated with her behavior.

Bella looked up at him, questioning crossing her eyes. "How…how did you know?"

"Quil and Embry just told me. Why Bella? You know what it did to me to see you leave to Italy like you did, and then what? You decide you want to be coming all this time without saying anything?"

Bella looked down, shaking her head. "I'm sorry Jake. I didn't know what to say…"

"Uh, what about 'hi', or 'hello'? Or even 'look, I still have my own heartbeat' would have been okay." Jacob looked away and tried to calm himself before he got too angry.

"I know that you're mad at me and, and you have every right to be Jacob. But I didn't know what to say to you. I felt embarrassed and sad and just…lost."

Jacob looked at her and could see the emotions conflicting on her face. It was then that he finally remembered why she had left him in the first place.

"Where's your blo-I mean, where's Edward?" he gritted his teeth at the name, but tried to be civil for Bella's sake.

"Alaska." She said simply. He noticed how she suddenly looked straight ahead, her face going blank.

"What? I thought you went to Italy to save him? Why in the hell is he in Alaska?"

She took a deep breath and bit down on her lip before letting it all come out. "Ed-Edward thought it best that even though I was alive that he should still continue to stay out of my life." She began to fiddle with her nails, doing anything to distract herself from the pain he knew she was going through. "He said that Alice saw the pain he put me through and he couldn't see me anymore without seeing that pain, even if he was the one that caused it. He wanted me to move on."

Jacob mentally slapped Edward on the back, thanking him for his stupidity.

"Okay, that answers one question. But what about the first one I asked? What are you doing here?"

She looked down again.

"I don't know Jake. It's just…I missed you. I was broken again when Edward didn't come back to Forks, but then, I couldn't remember if I was crying because Edward was gone or because you weren't there."

Tears had slowly started to fall from her eyes and she quickly turned her face away, not wanting to be embarrassed anymore. Jacob quickly went and sat next to her, enveloping her into a warm embrace. She continued to sob into his shoulder for a short time, but then she stopped and let out a sigh.

Jacob wiped away the few remaining tears with his thumb before placing a gentle kiss on top of her forehead.

"Bells, I will always be here for you, no matter what happens. Never think twice about it." He stared into her gentle chocolate eyes and he suddenly knew why he felt the way he did when he saw her. And why felt empty when she wasn't around.

Jacob didn't just have a crush on Bella anymore; it was deeper than that. He wasn't just in love with her. He really loved her, and he knew that she was the one for him. Without imprinting, without being forced. It was just natural for him. It was the way they would have been if no monsters or magic existed.

Just Jake and Bells. Together.

Jacob started to smile and it grew from a small grin to a full out Kool-Aid smile. Bella started to look at him oddly, wondering what the hell happened to him.

"Jake? Are you okay?" She waved her hands in front of his face, trying to get him back to planet Earth.

He shook his head a few times before turning his attention back to her. "Yeah, Bells. Just fine. I just had a sort of epiphany or something."

That got Bella's curiosity. She raised one of her eyebrows, asking him what it was about.

"You sure you want to know?" he warned. "It is about you."

She took a deep breath, thinking she knew – and maybe wanted it to be true – what he just realized.

"Ye-yeah. I wanna know."

Jacob took Bella's face into his hands slowly leaning into her. After a moment, she realized what he was going to do and didn't pull away like she used to.

Before his lips gently crushed hers, he whispered to her that he loved her. Bella closed her eyes and honestly thought then that she was dreaming.

After what seemed like an eternity, they broke apart; Jacob was smiling and Bella kept her eyes closed, wanting to savor the moment.

"Don't you want to tell something back in return Bells?" he teased. "I don't know, maybe like 'Jacob you're so handsome' or 'Jacob you're such a go-'"

"I love you, Jacob."

Jacob stared back at her wide-eyed not really believing what she said.

"You…you what me?"

"I said 'I love you, Jacob Black'. You made me feel alive again when I didn't even want to live. You love me as this broken mess I am and you don't want any more than what you think I can give. I love you."

Jacob smiled back at Bella before he dove in for another kiss, hearing cat calls from his bedroom window. He didn't care if Quil or Embry saw – he wasn't dreaming anymore; Bella was right there in front of him.