"Jake?"

Bella walked into his room and looked around. She couldn't imagine that he had hidden in the closet as it was too small to fit a six foot werewolf who was covered in casts. She hadn't passed him on the way to his room and there was no way he had climbed out of the window. A slight rustle came from behind her and she turned quickly, still jumpy from being chased by Victoria and her deranged newborn army. Jake and Embry came into view, Embry holding Jake up as he hobbled back into the room. Bella backed herself up to the wall, trying to keep out of the way. Embry gave her a small smile before helping Jake lower himself onto the bed that was way too small for him.

"Right, showered, fed and watered. Do you need anything else before I go on patrol?" Even though he was making jokes about it, Bella could see that Embry cared for his friend.

Jake looked over to her and then looked back to Embry, as if he hadn't even registered that she was standing there.

"Nah, that's all. Just needed to get all the grime off me."

Embry chuckled slightly, as if an inside joke was being shared, and left the room. Bella stepped forward, only to be stopped by Jacob's harsh tone.

"What do you want Bella? Come to see me break even more?"

"What...no,no I...I wanted to...I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, well I don't want to talk to you. Go back to your leech and leave me the hell alone. I'm better off without you here breaking my heart over and over again."

"Um...I broke it off with him."

Jake blinked twice before replying. "What?"

"I broke the engagement off. I don't want that life anymore." Bella cleared her throat and looked down, fearful of his reaction.

When he didn't say anything, she slowly looked up through her lashes. He was...smiling? He had just told her that he was better off without her and now he was smiling?

"Jake..say something, please."

"Brilliant! Get over here." He was trying to shift on the bed to make room for her, but it wasn't working. She smiled at his frustrated look and took pity on him.

"Here, let me climb over so I'm on your good side."

"You're always on my good side Bells, I'm all good." Trust him to take it like that.

"Oh, I see that newborn didn't crush your ego as well as your bones. Thank God!"

"Ha-ha, you're hilarious. Climb on then."

Bella carefully manourvered herself so she could climb onto the bed withot hurting him. She ended up being pulled down by Jake, who had grabbed her wrist and somehow managed to put her off balance.

"What did you do that for? You could have hurt yourself!"

"Christ, you sound like my dad. 'Don't move Jacob. You'll only take longer to heal.'" It was scary about how accurate his impression of Billy was.

Bella was about to say something, but was interrupted by the raucous laughter of Billy and her dad. They sounded like they'd had too many beers, even though it was only early afternoon. Footsteps came down the hall, heading towards Jake's room. Bella quickly manourvered herself so she was sitting up, not wanting it to look too obvious that her and Jake were laying in bed together. Whilst doing so, she knocked Jake, sending a wave of pain through his body.

"Sorry, I'm so...so sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. I can take a bit of pain every now and again."

Charlie walked into the room, swaying into the doorway.

"What's going on in here? I heard laughter."

"Yeah...that tends to be what happens when Bella trips up over nothing." Thanks Jake.

"Ah, well that is funny. Behave." That would have been much more convincing if Charlie had looked like he was sober. He had this weird, concentration look on his face as he slowly made his way out of Jake's room.

Bella slid back down next to Jake's side. She didn't really know what to say, what to do.

Jake was leaning down towards her. She knew exactly what he was planning to do. She was panicking.

What was she going to do? Was this the right thing? Should she be kissing him so soon after breaking up with Edward?

During her mental questioning, Jake had gotten closer to her. His eyes were closed and their noses were now touching. Maybe it would be one of those heat of the moment things. Or maybe not.

"Jake?!"

Jake pulled back as if he had been burned. He opened his eyes and looked at her, right into her eyes, and froze. He stared at her, a confused look etched onto his face.