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I woke up worried, my sheets knotted around my legs. I already knew what time it was, 3.42am; the same time it was when I woke up the last three mornings. But there was something different about this waking; I wasn't alone. All my anxiety faded from me as I heard the most comforting sound I could think of right beside me; his heartbeat. I rolled over to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Jacob smiled at me, his teeth luminescent in the dark. I almost smiled back, but then I remembered that he left, with no explanation.
"Hey." He mused.
"Hello." I glared back at him.
"Sorry I didn't say goodbye. You were asleep, I didn't want to wake you."
"You could have phoned."
"I didn't spend much time on 2 legs. It's difficult to dial without fingers." He gave me a sheepish grin; it only slightly melted my hard expression. "I am sorry. I ran back as fast as I could."
There was a huge sense of relief, knowing that Jake was here, safe, with me, but it was overshadowed by concern for why he had been away. "Where did you go?"
"Forks."
"Forks?" This information startled me. What had happened that would force Jacob to go to Forks with no goodbyes? Was everyone okay? Leah, Quil, the rest of the pack? Or worse, Charlie? "Why?"
He heard the panic in my voice. "Everyone's fine, relax. It's just…" He stopped. Jake looked anxious, the way he did when he didn't know how to word something or when something significant had happened.
"What? What is it?" His hesitation didn't help me to relax.
"Sam's son, Toby. He… he made the change." Jake's expression showed just as well as his voice the confusion he felt.
"As in… he's a wolf now? Like you, and Sam, and Leah. A wolf?" The words fell out my mouth in sporadic stutters, as incomprehensible as my thoughts.
"Yes." I thought about what Jake had just told me. Toby was a wolf now; a werewolf. But how could Toby be a wolf, he couldn't be any older than 13? And why would someone else change, there hadn't been any vampires in Forks for over 12 years. Jacob knew what I was thinking, I didn't have to ask him anything. "We don't know why. There aren't any traces of any vampires anywhere near the town. The closest trail we found was just north of Seattle, and that was about a week old." I lay still for a moment, absorbing what Jake was telling me. Toby had made the change, but there wasn't any reason for it - no vampires to cause any need for another werewolf on the reservation.
"That's so weird." Is all I could say.
"Tell me about it. Everyone's going mad back home, no one understands." Jacob sighed, frustrated. Another thought occurred to me.
"Wait, why did you have to go back? And why was it so urgent?"
"Yeah, well, Leah called, and told me there was something I needed to hear, as a wolf. When I made the change, I could hear him."
"Toby? Was he okay? Did he know what was happening?" I was practically merging all my questions into one long stream of sound. Jacob looked almost amused under his concern.
"Relax Ness, he's fine. He wasn't freaking out, like everyone else did their first time. Sam had told him everything, he'd even seen his dad as a wolf, he was just a little surprised you know, he didn't expect to be… well, the same."
"Oh. That still doesn't explain why you left." Jake was holding out on me.
"Well, the thing was, we could all hear him."
It took me a moment to understand the significance of this fact. "All of you? Like, everyone?" Everyone could hear Toby's thoughts? But Sam and Jake had different packs, how could they both hear Toby's thoughts?
"Yeah. Turns out he needed to choose a pack. Of course we didn't know that, there's never been two packs before, so at first everyone was a bit panicked, we thought it maybe meant another pack had been created. Anyway, he needed to meet us all, both packs, before he could choose, so I had to go back. I can't really explain how, I mean, I've met Toby heaps of times. It was like induction though, we all needed to be there." Jake always looked so much older, so much more influential when he spoke about his pack traditions. It was almost reverential.
"So who did he choose?" Had Jacob's pack grown on the last three days? I never thought that I would be asking that before. Someone's pack had grown, for no apparent reason. It couldn't be anything good.
"Sam, obviously. It would be a bit rude not to choose your dad. I reckon Sam will give up his title to Toby now, and just be human. Must be pretty weird having an Heir."
"Freaky." I teased.
"Yeah, just the usual." He gave me a huge smile, and I returned it. I was happy to have him home. The worry almost killed me while he was gone.
"Don't you ever leave like that again. If you have to go, take me, and if you can't, say goodbye next time."
"Sure, sure. I mean, hopefully there won't be a next time, but if there is, I promise to say goodbye. You know, it was just as difficult for me." He moved in to kiss me, but I wasn't playing ball tonight.
"Not a chance. You left me for three days without one word. You don't get to touch me for at least 24 hours."
"Oh come on Nessie, don't be like that." Complaints were always Jacob's forte.
"That's Miss. Cullen to you." He looked at me with a pained expression, but there seemed to be something else behind his eyes, irritation maybe.
"Yeah, I guess I deserve that. I'm sorry. I missed you so much. I'm glad I'm home." And with that, my indignation crumbled.
"Me too." I hugged closer to his chest. His skin felt, amazingly, even better than usual after the separation. He smelled good after running through the forest. Like trees and mud; like Jacob. There were small bits of twig and leaf locked in his hair. "Have you told the others?"
"No, I came straight here." He kissed my forehead lightly, squeezing me gently with his arms.
"Guess that explains the fashion statement." I motioned towards his bird's nest hair-do. "We should go tell them now. Carlisle will want to know about Toby. Plus, Mom will be glad to know you're back." I smiled widely at him and began to shuffle out of the bed. He pulled me back to him.
"Ness, come on, it's 3am, can't we just wait till the morning?" He pleaded at me with his most desperate face, it almost made me change my mind.
"You can sleep later." I touched my hand lightly to Jake's face, letting him feel that I was concerned about what Toby's transformation meant and that it was important to let Carlisle and my dad know. I still liked to 'show' Jake things the old fashioned way. It was much more powerful when I made contact, skin to skin; there are emotions and feeling behind the thoughts, as opposed to throwing them at people, when it's just a message. I was getting stronger though, I was learning quickly, and Dad helped as much as he could, now that we knew I could project my thoughts, without physical contact, to whomever I liked.
I moved completely out of the bed and made my way to the dresser. Jacob made a loud groan and huffed out of bed behind me, deciding either that I was right, or just to tired to challenge me. He picked up the cell from the bedside table and handed it to me.
"You should call them first, we don't want to interrupt unannounced." I could hear the smirk in his voice as he pulled on his T-shirt, the one he had worn when he left from the looks of the dirt stains.
"Jake, a clean one, please." He looked emptily at me, groaned again and changed his shirt. Someone answered the phone on the second ring.
"Hello?" Carlisle greeted me from the other end.
"Hey, Carlisle, it's Nessie."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. Jake's back."
"Oh, good. Alice thought that might be the case." Carlisle sounded as though he didn't know whether to be annoyed or relieved. After all, Jake had abandoned everyone, not just me. "When did he get back?"
"About 20 minutes ago. Listen, can we come over, Jake's got something important to tell everyone." I tired not to make my announcement sound too weighted, worried I would cause unnecessary alarm and add to the anxiety of Jake's departure.
"Of course. Shall I round everyone up?" Carlisle was always one step ahead of me.
"Could you? Thanks Carlisle, we won't be long."
"See you soon." He answered. I closed the phone.
