Chapter One
Returning to the Music

You never think about the small things that you miss when you're parted from something. But now as I stood in the driveway of my father's home in Forks, Washington, I was reminded of the lush, green landscape that I once called home. I inhaled deeply, breathing in the rich scent of wet earth. It was such a polar opposite from the dry, sun-baked smell of Phoenix.

I'm home. The thought struck me so hard that it nearly knocked the breath from my lungs. I was home, back in the small town where my life had truly begun and ended abruptly.

No, not ended. That was something the old Bella would have thought. My life was my own, and while parting from someone you love hurts, you move on, move past it, and eventually experience something that makes it all worthwhile, at least that's what I hoped. Because, honest to God, I was lonely.

"You look like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, Bells," Charlie rumbled from beside me, as he draped his arm over my shoulders and led me up the drive, with my suitcase in his other arm.

"No. Just...remembering," I murmured, my eyes rising to study the facade of the house, and vivid images flashed in my mind. Edward in the rocking chair across from my bed. Lying to Charlie as I purposely hurt him to keep him safe from James and Victoria. Jacob lingering so closely I could smell his breath in the kitchen...

I shivered as Charlie set my suitcase down to unlock and open the front door, his arm still securely around my shoulders. When he opened it, he looked inside for a moment before turning to glance down at me. "There were a lot of good memories here, huh? It's good to have you back, Bella."

He tried to maneuver both of us through the narrow doorway with his arm around me, and it made me sigh out a small laugh. Charlie was never one to show emotion, so I was a bit overcome by his exuberance of my return.

"Dad..."

"Oh. Sorry," he mumbled, swiftly dropping his arm from around me so that I could move inside. Everything was exactly the same, everything in the same place. The flat-screen brought memories of Jacob, Charlie, and Billy watching Mariners games.

I sighed as I paused at the bottom of the staircase, taking in the Swan residence. It seemed so empty right now.

Charlie had already begun up the stairs toward my old room which I would occupy once more, and paused and looked at me from over his shoulder at the sound of my sigh. "What? What's wrong?" He heaved a sigh himself, his shoulders sagging a little in defeat, as if I was going to tell him that I no longer wanted to be here and demand that he turn around and return me to the airport.

"...Nothing. Just thinking. About Jake." I moved up the stairs, and managed to squeeze past him in the narrow stairwell without falling down to injure myself. Bella 1, Clumsiness 0.

And then I ruined it by tripping on the last step, and falling painfully to my knees on the landing.

I nearly yelled at my dad when he sighed in exasperation and climbed the remaining steps to help me up. I swallowed the urge and stumbled to my feet, snatching the suitcase out of his hand and ignoring the way he narrowed his eyes at me as I opened the door to my room.

It looked exactly as I left it, and even worse...it smelled the same. It smelled like Edward, a scent that I would recognize anywhere. It made my heart ache in my throat, not necessarily for my lost companion, but for the relationship that we shared. I missed feeling close to another person whose life I enriched as much as they did mine. But my relationship with Edward thrived on my codependence, and as much as my seventeen year old self loved Edward, I was no longer that girl.

Charlie cleared his throat from the doorway, and I was shaken out of my reverie. I turned to look at him, somewhat surprised that he was doing something he never did. He was lingering, and shifting foot-to-foot uncomfortably while he did so.

"Look, Bells. I know you missed Jacob, but I need to ask you to do something. For Billy and for me."

I opened my mouth to speak, defend myself against something that was sure to be hurtful, but Charlie held up his hand to stop me.

"Let me finish. I know you want to reconnect with Jacob, but for your own sake, and his...wait. Wait for him to come to you, when he's ready. Don't force it on him. He was all broken up when you agreed to marry Edward, and I don't think that the circumstances under which you ended things made him feel any better. He knows you're home, so give it time, and let him come to you. Please, for me?"

Charlie rarely asked anything of me, and despite every fiber of my being that wanted to deny him this one request, that wanted to hop on the bike that was parked outside, one of the pair that Jacob and I had restored together, and drive down to La Push and pound on his door, I didn't. I took a long, deep breath, and then exhaled it slowly.

"...Fine."

It was all that was said before Charlie closed my door softly and left me to my thoughts.

JPOV

She was home, and being the stupid, gullible guy that I am, I was standing in the woods just beyond her back yard, and staring up at her window like a moronic, love-struck puppy.

Knowing she was up there, seeing the light of her bedroom on after being dark for so long, glowing dimly beyond the shades, made it nearly impossible to convince my feet to stay still. My heart thumped wildly in my chest, demanding that I close the distance between myself and Bella, but my head kept me firmly planted where I was.

She was home. However, despite what my traitorous heart kept trying to tell me, it didn't change anything. Bella didn't want me. She'd only ever want her vampire, that bloodsucker, even if they weren't together at the moment. Hell, she'd even agreed to become one of them!

So what if the Cullens didn't live here anymore? They'd moved away and come back before. Swooping in and stealing Bella away from me. Again. Stupid leeches. I couldn't live through that heartbreak again; I refused.

And so I continued fighting against the very nature of what I was. Battling the urge to fight my way to her and stand at her side, and protect her from the world that was all too often cruel and harsh. I fought the devotion that swelled within my chest as I thought of her, and the life that could have been.

I fought against myself every day since I'd made my way to Phoenix and stood outside her house, waiting for a moment where I could approach her by herself. I fought against my own heart every day since I'd first set eyes on her after she'd left, and felt that intense connection formed instantly.

Life was cruel. Destiny was malicious.

How else could my imprinting on Bella be explained?

My ears perked up as I heard Charlie discussing me, asking Bella to stay away from me. I growled at the nerve of him to try and keep my ma- No. Not that. Not my mate. Just Bella. To try and keep Bella from me.

But as I listened, I understood. He thought I needed time, but I was confused as to his use of Billy's name in the request. My dad knew what had happened in Phoenix, during the trip that Bella never knew I made. He knew I'd imprinted on her, and every day since I'd told him, the old man had been badgering me to man-up and claim what was mine.

He couldn't even imagine how hard it was to resist.

I heard Bella agree to Charlie's request, though she sounded annoyed as she did so. I couldn't figure out the exact nature of her aggravation. Was she upset because of the request, or because Charlie thought she would be so tempted to seek me out in the first place? Once upon a time, I knew Bella like the back of my own hand. She was my reason for existence, the only thing that made sense in my world of monsters, and I swore to do everything in my power to make her smile. Those days were long past, and the answer eluded me.

Having tortured myself enough for one night, I turned to leave, my paws treading lightly on the dead leaf-ridden ground. But as I began my trek back into the woods and towards home, I stopped when I heard Bella speak out to the darkness, after Charlie left her to settle back in.

"Come soon, Jake."

My skin tingled at her words, and it took every ounce of will-power I possessed not to turn around, shift into my human form, and barrel through Charlie's house to get to her. To scoop her up, claim her as mine, and then take her home and keep her there until she realized that I was the only one for her as much as she was the only one for me.

It took several deep, slow, calming breaths to get that urge under control before I was able to leave the Swan household behind, and my heart with it.