A/N: This took me a while to write actually, despite how short it is. Parts of this are taken from the film, not the book and those of you who know the mediums well will recognise the parts that are Stephenie Meyer and not me. Those of you who aren't obsessive fans; I hope you enjoy this anyway. I hope you all enjoy this :)
Title: Like Your Own Sun.
Summary: Bella gives in to the heat, and the heart, of her own personal sun. Set in New Moon after the cliff-dive.
Warnings: Tiny bit of Edward-bashing. If you blink you'll miss it.
Word Count: 3,027.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters involved in this story, Stephenie Meyer does. Hell, I barely even own the plot, haha.


Bella and Jacob had been dancing around each other for weeks now. Or rather, Bella had been doing the dancing. Jacob knew exactly how he felt about her, and as he had always said; he had loads of time, he promised her he wasn't going to give up. So when Bella's mind swam back into consciousness, the first sound she heard was Jacob calling her name.

"Come on, Bella, breathe," he muttered, the strain and fear evident in his voice. She gasped.

"Bella? Bella, can you hear me?" his voice grew slightly louder as shock laced through it. Bella's eyes fluttered open and the sight before her had her breath catching in her throat again. Jacob Black was literally enveloped around her, holding her as he tried valiantly and successfully to save her life. She gazed in to his deep, chocolate brown eyes, merely inches from her own, and everything suddenly fell into place, like the pieces of a puzzle slotting into place. She had been stupidly, risking her life nearly every day, trying to hold on to a fleeting, fragmented memory of Edward, when Jacob was right in front of her; real, alive and so in love with her.

"Jake, Jacob I-I'm so s-sorry," was all she could stammer out before her body was over wracked with coughing.

"Hey, shh, I've got you," Jacob soothed. He gently pulled her up to her feet and slowly helped her walk back to her truck. "I've got you," he repeated softly.

Once they had got back to the truck, Bella sat on the other side of the cab from Jacob so she could really look at him; the hard line of his jaw, the curve of his cheek bone, his full lips, his dark eyes, flickering as he watched the road, the line of his strong neck, curving to meet equally strong shoulders… Even as she sat there shivering, just to take in the form before her, she wanted to kick herself for not seeing it sooner. How could she possibly not be in love with him? Once again, Jacob's voice pulled her back in to the real world.

"It's 180 degrees over here," he chuckled as he noticed her still shivering. Unable to resist the proposition she slid over to him, sighing in content at the heat radiating from him. She closed her eyes and relished in the comfort.

"It must be nice, never getting cold," Bella said.

"It's a wolf thing," came Jacob's reply with a slight smirk on his lips.

"It's not, it's a Jacob thing. You're just warm, you're like your own personal sun." Bella's statement was greeted with silence. Jacob almost felt his heart stutter at her words. He had noticed that everything he did, or said, whether it was related to his wolfishness or not, was a 'Jacob thing'. Everything was so personal to him, to them, and it broke his heart just that little bit more that despite having created this little world around them, Bella still didn't feel the same as he did, Bella wanted to be friends, and he'd always give her what she wanted. Once he had pulled up outside her driveway, he cleared his throat to break the deafening silence.

"Is this better? Now that you know about me…" he asked awkwardly.

"But..?" Bella prompted. He almost smiled, tickled at how well she knew him, but he wanted to have a serious conversation.

"You saw what happened to Emily," Jacob began, his tone laced with warning. "Sam got angry, lost it for a split second, Em was standing too close. He'll never be able to take that back." He paused for a second, thinking the unbearable before he voiced it; "What if I got mad at you?" He stopped again, internally wincing at the violent images that flashed across his mind. There was a reason he had told her to go away in the beginning, he really was dangerous. He sighed loudly at his own thoughts. Why did he keep pulling her closer, only to have to push her away again, or watch as she pulled away from him? Fluctuating between man and wolf, slowly losing his identity; he couldn't let her sit around and watch him lose himself. "Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna disappear…" he muttered, mostly to himself. At this, he felt Bella shift to sit up straighter, turning his head he saw her looking directly at him with a determined look on her face. He blinked, twice, when he realised how close they were to each other. He could see the myriad of colours in her irises they were so close; yellows and tiny flecks of amber mixed in with the rich chocolate brown.

"Okay, not that you need me to tell you something like this," she began. A little smile played on her lips as if she could hear Jacob's mind screaming at her 'I'll always need you'. "But I always will," she continued, "You're not gonna lose yourself, I wouldn't let that happen."

"How?" Jacob's breath caught his in throat as they involuntarily leaned closer together.

"I'll tell you all the time, how special you are," she whispered, her breath fanning across his face as she spoke. The air between them grew thick with tension as they both knew this was it, this was the moment that would open up a multitude of new chapters in their lives, this was the moment that neither of them could take back once it had passed. As if this realisation spurred her on, Bella leaned forward, closing the small gap between them, and pressed her lips to Jacob's in a sweet, chaste kiss. The moment didn't last long, but it was enough. They'd had their first kiss. Bella answered Jacob's uncertain expression with a sweet smile; this was what she wanted.

"Bella, I-," Jacob stammered.

"Shh, no Jake, don't ruin this. I want this," she said. This confirmation as all he needed as he swept her up into another kiss, this time wrapping a hand around the nape of her neck and holding her to him, pouring all his love and adoration for her into the kiss. Bella pulled back for air before Jacob needed to, and he almost growled in protest until he saw the shy look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she chuckled. "I'd just like to go home, now, okay?" She smiled a tiny smile. Jacob's returning expression confirmed that he was his own sun, their sun, as his smile lit his face up, like the sun's rays breaking through the clouds.

"Okay, let me walk you to your door."

The door of the cab was only open a handful of inches when the smell it him; that awful, sickening, saccharine sweet smell of… vampires.

"Wait," said Jacob, his instincts immediately taking over as he reached over to slam Bella's door closed again. "There's a vampire," he muttered, his voice laced with distaste.

"What? How do you know?" Bella asked.

"I can smell it," Jacob said through his teeth, barely keeping his features from twisting up in disgust. Bella paled, if it was Victoria… Fear threatened to overwhelm her as she contemplated Jacob having to face her alone.

"I'm getting you out of here," came Jacob's soft yet assertive voice. Bella barely heard him as her eyes darted frantically around her truck. She whipped round to look out of the back of the cab.

"That's Carlisle's car," she breathed, recognising the vehicle immediately. "They're here." Working on autopilot, she threw herself out of the cab, stumbling slightly as she rushed to get to her house, her anger pulsing through her veins as she realised they were back. After everything they'd put her through. Fear wracked Jacob's mind as he watched her run back to them, run back to him.

"Bella, it's a trick," he shouted. His feet barely touched the ground as he flew out of the cab, before he had a hand around her arm. "Stop, you've gotta come with me," he said once he'd pulled her around. Bella's face was still contorted with rage as he held on to her.

"They won't hurt me," said Bella, trying to twist her arm out of Jacob's grasp.

"Look, if a Cullen is back here this is their territory. The treaty says we can only defend on our own land," Jacob said trying to make her understand the danger of the situation. Seeing her expression turn to confusion, he softened his tone and almost pleaded with her. "I can't protect you here." As Jacob's words sank in, Bella's face relaxed into a smile, her body releasing the tension of anger immediately. Watching Jacob's eyes search hers for some kind of explanation as he became confused almost made her chuckle.

"Jake," she breathed, pulling her arm sharply from his grasp. When he made to grab for it again, she swung her hand up to meet his, clasping his hand in hers. "Of course you can." Still smiling she stretched up on her tiptoes to kiss his nose. "I'm not going back to them, to him, Jacob. I'm with you." She declared once she had pulled back to rest her feet back on solid ground, looking into his eyes. Jake breathed a dizzying sigh of relief. He dipped his head to kiss her lips briefly, before resting his forehead on hers he whispered to her.

"I thought…I thought I'd lost you again, Bells," his breath hitched in his throat when he thought of how Bella had nearly drowned earlier on in the day.

"It's okay," she whispered back. "I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me now," she added with a slight smile. Jacob chuckled quietly before capturing her lips with his in another kiss. A slow, spine-tingling kiss that had butterflies flapping in his tummy as he revelled in the euphoric realisation that it was finally okay to do this, to hold and kiss her. A lot sooner than he would have liked to however, he felt Bella pull away. He snapped his eyes open to look at her, and saw a shy smile curving the corners of her lips.

"Come on," she breathed, tugging his hand a little. "I don't want to face this alone." Jake didn't need to be told twice. Technically the treaty did say he couldn't protect her on the Cullens' land, but right now he didn't care. Therefore the two of them, hand in hand, ascended the stairs to Bella's house, to whatever was waiting inside.