A/N: The setting is the end of New Moon when Alice returns. The dialogue I've taken exactly from the book is in italics. This story will deviate from the books, but have some similarities with the plot in Eclipse. I hope you enjoy it! I own nothing! SM owns it all!

Chapter 1: Imprinting in Chaos

Jake's pov

"Stop!" Bella gasped.

I didn't listen to her. I floored her ancient truck. Surely she didn't know what she was saying. Surely she didn't want me to stop and leave her to fend for herself against the red headed leech that she called Victoria. Bella was always trying to be selfless, but this time I wouldn't let her. She had been so close to near death so many times, and finally she had started to let me in more since her precious leech left. I couldn't possibly let anything happen to my Bella now. It was my job to protect her.

"Stop!" she cried again, louder this time.

"What?" I asked, still speeding down the street to get her out of harm's way.

"It's not Victoria. Stop, stop! I want to go back."

Shocked, I stomped on the break so hard that Bella had to catch herself against the dashboard. This was unbelievable. I had to have heard her wrong. "What?" I asked again, aghast.

My mouth was open and my eyes wide. She wanted to go back. Bella wanted me to hand herself over to the leeches. How stupid was she? I thought we had dealt with the suicide attempt, but I guess near death from cliff diving wasn't enough. She wanted to hand herself over to a bloodsucker.

"It's Carlisle's car! It's the Cullens. I know it!" Bella's voice was high pitched with excitement as her face practically lit up with recognition.

My hands were on the steering wheel, gripping it almost hard enough to break it in two, as anger surged through my body at the mention of the name. I could feel my body racking through with tremors at the animal that was practically begging to be set free. The Cullens were the reason that I was sentenced to a life of exploding into a wolf. They were the cause of my transformation, they were the reason Bella was hurting, and they were the reason that Victoria and Laurent were sniffing around here. Those leeches had brought all of these bad things upon us and she wanted to go back because maybe it was their car and maybe it wasn't? A violent tremor racked through my frame then.

"Hey, calm down, Jake. It's okay. No danger, see? Relax," Bella tried to calm me.

"Yeah, calm," I panted, putting my head down and closing my eyes. I needed to get a grip on myself before I ended up hurting Bella in my anger. I couldn't do that. Emily's lopsided smile came into my mind, only it wasn't Emily. It was Bella's small, plump lips pulled down at one corner as scars trailed up the side of her face. That image in itself was enough to stop the tremors momentarily, yet the image of Bella's lifeless body – pale and drained – on the floor in her living room brought back the panic and the anger at her reckless suggestion.

"There's a vampire in your house," I hissed. "And you want to go back?" I looked at her incredulously, hoping that with my last attempt to reason she would hear exactly how dangerous her request to stop had sounded.

Her eyes were still on the car as if it was entrancing her. Slowly, her head turned toward me and I stilled myself against the blow that I could see in her eyes that was coming. "Of course," she said, her voice blank, surprised and held a matter of fact tone to it.

She made it seem as if my question was stupid, like the answer was plain to see – and of course it should have been. It was as easy as choosing a blood sucker over the one who had helped her and protected her when they left her defenseless and alone. That was the choice she was making right now, and it had been the choice she continued to make day after day. My hands were shaking with the thought, but I had managed to get a grip on the tremors. I quickly composed my face, not letting her see the betrayal and the pain of her decision.

I took a deep breath, giving her one final chance to change her mind. "You're sure it's not a trick?" I asked in a slow, heavy voice.

Excitement was evident in her eyes, and I knew there was no reasoning with her. I shouldn't have wasted my breath giving her one last opportunity to change her mind. "It's not a trick. It's Carlisle. Take me back!"

That was it. That was all I could take. If she wanted to run off with the leeches, so be it. She could go run into the arms of danger. I wouldn't hold her here against her will. I could feel the beast on the verge of exploding from me. It was taking all I had not to phase inside the cab of the truck. I shut down. If she didn't want me, I wouldn't care for her. I would just stop.

"No," I managed to say between clenched teeth. There was no way in Hell I would turn around and take her back to them.

"Jake, it's okay –" With every word she said in defense of them, it felt as if Bella was stabbing me in the back – and the heart.

"No. Take yourself back, Bella," I snapped, and she flinched as if I'd slapped her. I was trying to get a grip on my anger, clenching and unclenching my jaw, but it didn't work because when I spoke again, my voice was just as harsh.

"Look, Bella, I can't go back. Treaty or no treaty, that's my enemy in there."

"It's not like that – " Another stab and twist of the knife.

I went into wolf mode, thinking and calculating. I couldn't think of anything else – only tactics because they didn't hurt or betray you. "I have to tell Sam right away. This changes things. We can't be caught on their territory."

"Jake, it's not a war," she pleaded.

She had it all wrong there. This was a war – a typical us against them battle that had been going on for generations. I put the truck in neutral and hopped out. As I was walking away, I called over my shoulder, "Bye, Bella, I really hope you don't die." I began running as fast as I could away from her then, before finally giving myself over to the anger and bursting out of my human form.

Thankfully, I managed to lose myself when I was in the shelter of the woods. My feet pounded the earth, tearing it up as my paws gripped and released, quickening my pace. I wanted to be as far away from her as possible. Unfortunately for me, Sam was in my head patrolling the perimeter and saw everything that I had experienced within the last fifteen minutes. I really wished that there was some way to hide my thoughts.

Did you recognize the scent? he asked, straight forward and to the point in his Alpha tone.

It's a damn vampire, Sam. That's what the scent was. I don't know. I've never been up close on any of those leeches. How the Hell am I supposed to know? She thinks it's one of the Cullens, I informed him in a bitter tone.

I realize that this is hard for you but you have to get a grip. You need to get the answers we need. We first need to know if the bloodsucker's scent you encountered was a Cullen or another leech that could pose a threat to our people. If indeed it is a Cullen, we need to find out how many are back and if they are staying. If Bella survives the night, ask her to relay the message about Victoria because we can no longer protect her on their land as long as one of them is back, Sam advised in a calm, collected voice.

No! Hell no! I'm not going back to that house as long as there is a bloodsucker there! She made her choice. She should live with it, or die – which ever the case, I said emotionlessly, and I knew that my refusal had angered Sam.

You will handle the task that I have asked you to do. I don't care what your relationship status is with Isabella Swan. There is a possible threat to our people on the horizon and you will put our people first! Sam used his Alpha voice for the second time since my transformation. The weight of his words forced me to the ground pinning me with the orders that I couldn't refuse. Go home, Jake. You're no good to us tonight, but tomorrow you will do as I asked, and Jared and Embry will be going with you.

I don't need to be babysat, Sam. I can handle the tasks on my own. I was ticked off that he had taken my freewill, giving me no choice but to follow his orders and now Embry and Jared were going to flank my sides to babysit me. It was only one bloodsucker. I could handle it.

It's just a precaution. It could be a trick, so you have back up with you. Go home, Jacob, and come back in the morning with a better attitude.

I didn't have a choice in that matter either, so I made my way home as fast as I could. It took about fifteen minutes to calm myself enough to get back to my human form. I had to push Bella, Sam, and leeches to the back of my mind. I had to just think of working on the Rabbit. It was calming, soothing, and fun. Finally, I was able to find myself. I went straight to the garage, putting on spare clothes that I kept in the back of the rabbit before I went into the house.

The wear of tonight had started to take a toll on me. Harry had died, Bella had almost drowned, and then I had to hand her over to a bloodsucking death promise. I sighed exhaustedly. My feet felt like there were lead weights attached to them as I drug at a slow pace up the porch steps and into the house. It was dark inside the living room but I could see without difficulty. Everything was as it had been before I had taken Bella home. I thought my dad would be in bed by now, but he was sitting in the kitchen with his back to me. This night had been hard on him too. He had lost one of his best friends.

"How's Bella?" he asked in a flat voice, as he turned to look at me.

"Bloodsucker happy as always," I replied in the same flat tone with a hint of sarcasm.

Dad's emotionally void face scrunched in confusion. "What are you talking about? I thought you took her home."

"I did. Caught the scent of a leech and she demanded that I take her back when I tried to turn around."

"You left her to fend for herself against a vampire? We've lost one life tonight. We don't need two more on that list. Call her right now, Jake, and make sure she's safe! I mean it!" Dad yelled. It was odd hearing him raise his voice at me. For the most part, he took the laid back approach to parenting, but tonight when suddenly lives could hang in the balance he was yelling.

"Fine," I said abruptly before getting up and grabbing the phone.

I dialed her number, and if I was honest with myself, I was relieved to hear Bella's voice. "Charlie?" she answered the phone.

"No, it's me," I said without an ounce of enthusiasm.

"Jake!" she exclaimed excitedly as if she had been awaiting my call. I didn't know what for because she made her choice and I knew that the explanation was likely to come that her precious Edward had come back and I would get a "thanks for almost fixing me, but he's back" send off to our friendship.

"Just making sure you were still alive," I said sourly.

"I'm fine. I told you that it wasn't –" she tried to explain.

"Yeah. I got it. Bye." I hung up the phone.

I didn't want to hear the explanation of how she and her precious bloodsucker had reunited, or how we couldn't be friends anymore because he was back. That thought wasn't as far off base as I thought because she never sought me out until after he left. Even before I was a wolf, when I was just a normal teenage boy, Bella never wanted to hangout. She was so caught up in her bloodsuckers to even care about anyone else, and then when he left her high and dry in the woods, she came running to me. Stupidly I fixed her up, like the broken down car that she reminded me of. She had great potential, but just needed a little work. I put in the time, and I didn't even rush her. Now they were back and she was choosing them. I was too exhausted to feel angry about it. Dad was scowling at me for the way I had ended the call, and I didn't want to have anymore conversations with anyone tonight. I just made my way to my room and collapsed onto my bed. Instantly, I was asleep.

I woke the next morning to the sound of Charlie Swan's somber voice in my living room. He had come to pick up my dad so that they could help Sue Clearwater with Harry's funeral arrangements. By the time I was showered and dressed, they had already left. Of that, I was glad because I wasn't in any mood to fake niceties when I had to go over to Charlie's to hear Bella tell me the Cullens were back and I was losing my best friend once more.

Sitting at the table, I poured myself a bowl of cereal and pushed it around in the bowl. I didn't really feel like eating, but I knew I should. I just couldn't help the feeling that something big was going to happen with this one conversation with Bella. It was as if our whole friendship was going to be determined by this.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on my door, just one, before Embry and Jared came in. I stood, putting my plate in the sink. "Did I say you could come in?" I asked, taking my annoyance for the task ahead out on them.

"You didn't have to. We don't have all day. I want to get this over with already," Jared replied.

"That makes two of us," I mumbled.

We made our way to my car and I drove all the way there having to hear scenarios about what would happen if we got into it with the bloodsucker. When I parked on the curb of Charlie's house, their story had changed.

"Alright, who's going with me?" I asked, and both of them seemed to shrink back into their seats. "Fine, chickens, I'll go alone."

I hopped out of the car, slamming the door, and walked up to ring the doorbell. I heard Bella's voice as she was talking and a female voice replied to her. So it wasn't her precious do no wrong Edward that had returned. As I stood there, the faint scent of…something that I couldn't place surrounded me. I rang the doorbell again, growing impatient and suddenly feeling the dire need to be inside that house.

Finally, Bella opened the door, telling me that the leech wasn't there and invited me in. I gave one last look over my shoulder at the chickens in the car. As soon as I walked in, I was assaulted by the edgy feeling once more. It wasn't fear or anger that plagued me. It was as if I was waiting for something to happen, I just didn't know what. My eyes darted around the room, looking for the cause of my unease, but I found nothing so I went into the kitchen. I still couldn't shake the feeling, and I started pacing the small kitchen.

Bella sensed that something was wrong and she asked, "Hey. What's your problem?" She blocked my way so that I had to look at her.

"I don't really know. Something about being here…I don't like this feeling," I rambled and Bella took offense.

"Then I'm sorry you had to come. Why don't you tell me why you're here so that you can leave," she said.

"I just have to ask you a couple of questions. It shouldn't take long. We have to get back for the funeral."

"Okay. Get it over with then," Bella replied coldly.

I took a deep breath and began the questioning as professionally as I could. Bella answered each one of my questions with the same business like tone. She informed me that only Alice Cullen was back and she had an open invitation to stay as long as she wanted. She had already informed the Cullen girl of the situation with Victoria and I formed Bella of only her safety on the rez because we couldn't protect her as long as a Cullen was back. She also told me that the rest of the Cullens weren't coming back. That fact almost had me jumping for joy inside. Maybe she wouldn't be choosing him over me. Maybe there was still hope, but I knew that I had hurt her feelings. My feet wouldn't carry me farther than the living room when I left. I knew I had to apologize. I had promised Bella that I would never hurt her, and here I was hurting her once again.

Walking back into the kitchen, I found Bella crying into her hands. My heart broke at the sight. No matter what she loved, I couldn't be the cause of her tears. I apologized to Bella which she accepted and we talked through our differences and I agreed to always be her friend no matter what she loved. I wrapped her into a hug then and she leaned against my chest still sniffling. I put my nose to her hair, sniffing – an action that I had always done because I loved the smell of Bella's hair. This time it was different. There was a heavy perfumed smell about her. It wasn't unpleasant. It actually smelled good – it was just a bit strong. I was caught up in the aroma. I needed to smell more. I sniffed down her neck and over her shoulder before she pulled back.

"Jake…what are you doing? This is the second time this has happened to me!" Bella exclaimed.

"The perfume you're wearing, it's different, but I like it."

Bella sniffed herself and looked at me blankly as if she was confused. "I'm not wearing any perfume."

"Are you sure?" There was no way Bella's scent could just change this much in a couple hours without the help of perfume.

"Positive! Alice asked me the same question, but she said I smelled overly woodsy and musky. She figured that it was just your scent that had rubbed off on me."

"Vampires are supposed to reek. When Sam found you in the woods, you reeked of leech."

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "Well you both smell fine to me."

She rested her head against my chest again and I hugged her tight. "I'm going to miss you," I whispered. "Every minute. I hope she leaves soon."

"It really doesn't have to be that way, Jake."

I released my hold on her with one arm so that I could caress her cheek. "I'm sorry, honey, but there's no other way." I placed one of my hands on the side of her face and the other lifted her chin, holding her in place. She was looking up at me, expectantly but unsure, and I was gazing at her intensely. This was going to be the moment that I kissed Bella for the first time. She wasn't flinching away as I bent closer to her. My heart was hammering and I could hear hers beating loudly as well. Her breathing had accelerated and her big brown eyes were unwavering. Our lips were just inches away from each other and my breath was bathing her face when the phone rang causing us both to jump.

I didn't take my gaze from hers as I released her chin and grabbed the phone. "Swan residence," I answered.

"This is Dr. Carlisle Cullen. May I speak with Charlie?" I stiffened my position and dropped my hand from Bella's cheek immediately. I could feel the anger bubbling to the surface once more.

The intensity of the moment was gone then and Bella held out her hand for the phone just as I said, "He's not here."

"Could you tell me where he is?" The leech asked.

"He's at the funeral," I answered almost unwillingly.

As soon as the words left my mouth the line went dead. "Filthy bloodsucker interrupting everything," I muttered.

Bella had crossed her arms over her chest and she was looking at me disapprovingly. "Who did you just hang up on? In my house on my phone?" Bella was infuriated.

I tried to explain the situation that he hung up on me and that he only asked for Charlie, but there was a nagging feeling that I should get out of the kitchen. I followed the feeling because it was so strong that I couldn't fight it. "Bye, Bells," I managed as I was retreating for the door.

Bella ran after me, and into me causing me to turn around, knocking her down. She was struggling to untangle herself but I had to get out the door. There was a dire need for me to be on the other side of the door. My body was screaming at me, and I felt as if I was being pulled toward some unforeseen force. I extracted my legs one by one from Bella's and bolted for the door. As soon as I opened the door, my world was spinning on its axis, changing and realigning on one single thing.

She stood pale and beautiful at the foot of the stairs. Her hair was cut short, stopping at her chin. She was tiny, well dressed, and wearing a morbid expression. I couldn't explain it, but all I wanted to do was help her, to kiss that morbid expression away. I stood there looking dumbfounded as Bella rushed past me, trying to see what was wrong with my little vamp…my little vamp? Holy Hell, I just imprinted on a vampire! Was this even possible? I knew what imprinting was like through Sam's memories, and there was no denying it. I was intensely feeling love for this cute little le – vampire named Alice. I wanted to protect her and spend every waking moment with her yet I didn't know anything about her, except that she was my sworn enemy.

Quite a few things happened while I took the time to figure out what was going on in my head. Bella and Alice were talking about something that I didn't understand. Apparently, I wasn't talking to Carlisle on the phone. I was talking to Edward who believed that Bella was dead and that was the funeral Charlie was attending. Now he was going to the Volturi – whoever they were – and try to off himself. I knew that Edward was important to Alice. She was calling someone on her phone now. Her breathtaking face was arranged into an angry mask as she yelled at someone named Rosalie. I walked closer to her and Bella tried to stop me, thinking that I was going to hurt her. I cautiously tapped Alice on the shoulder and she whirled around on me, ready to strike.

"What?" she asked, stress apparent in her voice.

I raised my hands in surrender. "I feel the need to apologize. I didn't mean to set Edward off. I had no clue it was him. I thought it was Dr. Cullen." And I had no clue why I was apologizing.

Alice had visibly calmed as she looked into my eyes without saying a word. I didn't know whether or not imprinting went both ways in this situation. As far as I knew, there hadn't been a situation like this. "It's fine, it's not your fault." Her whimsical voice rang out. She could say anything and I thought I would love it. I saw her face scrunch as she looked at me.

She cocked her head to the side and neither of us spoke as my hand slowly went out to touch her face when Bella said, "Jake, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." I snatched my hand back.

"Let's go, Alice! We have to save Edward!" Bella nearly yelled.

In the time I was figuring out imprinting they had also decided that Bella was going to risk her life to save Edward's and that they were going to Italy. Now they were a flurry of words and movements, hurrying around the house to gather things so that they could leave. Bella was worried about Charlie, and treaty be damned I would protect him. As far as I was concerned the treaty was already void.

"Please don't go," I whispered when they both had returned to the living room. I was looking down at my feet because I didn't know what I would do if Alice left now and worse if she got hurt how I would cope if she died. At the thought a pain struck me in the heart so bad that I couldn't move from where I stood momentarily as they went outside to the car.

When I got my bearings, I followed them. Bella reached out to me as I was standing beside the driver's side door. I reached across Alice to give Bella my hand. She kissed my palm. "Please take care of Charlie."

I wasn't paying attention to her. My eyes were only for Alice, though she was looking straight ahead as if she was giving Bella and I a private moment. "Alice, please don't go," I begged, surprising myself at my words.

Neither Bella nor Alice seemed to catch that my words were only directed at Alice, and I'm guessing they took it as my last plea for Bella to stay because Alice didn't respond. Bella looked slightly sympathetic and said, "I have to go, Jake. Edward needs me."

I stood back then, letting them go. I looked after the car as it disappeared from view, feeling the pain of separation from my imprint. I didn't know what I was going to do, or how I was going to explain this to the guys as I slowly made my way back to my car. I of all people had imprinted on a vampire. Boy was Sam going to be pissed.

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