I don't own Twilight.

Chapter 2:

When there's nowhere else to run
Is there room for one more son
One more son
If you can hold on
If you can hold on, hold on

I wanna stand up, I wanna let go
You know, you know - no you don't, you don't
I wanna shine on in the hearts of men
I want a meaning from the back of my broken hand

Another head aches, another heart breaks
I am so much older than I can take
And my affection, well it comes and goes
I need direction to perfection, no no no no

Help me out
Yeah, you know you got to help me out
Yeah, oh don't you put me on the backburner
You know you got to help me out, yeah

And when there's nowhere else to run
Is there room for one more son
These changes ain't changing me
The cold-hearted boy I used to be

All These Things I've Done, The Killers

JakePOV

I never thought I would see Emmett McCarthy again. When he left Forks 9 years ago he told me he'd keep in touch, and he did. For a while. I understood when he said he couldn't handle talking to me anymore; that every time we'd talk he'd end up in the same place he was when he left and he'd worked too hard to overcome all of that stuff. I promised I would contact him only in a true emergency, and I feel like I kept that promise. For the past 5 years there has been no communication between us other then the updates on addresses and phone numbers. But I never thought I'd actually see him in person again. And I never imagined this emergency.

I hadn't told anyone else he was coming back either. Except for the social worker lady, but that was necessary and completely on the DL.

Pulling into the airports parking lot I glance back at the car seat fastened into my Jeep; she is fast asleep, her tiny features scrunched up in hard concentration. I park quickly near the entrance and swear softly at the clock. Emmett's plane had arrived at least fifteen minutes ago, and he'd probably been waiting for ten of those. Great way to greet your long lost best friend, Jake.

Jumping out of the Jeep I move quickly to the backseat and carefully unbuckle Bella; I don't want to wake her up because she seems to get nervous in crowds. Tucking her under one arm I move quickly toward the entrance.

I feel Bella waking up as I walk toward baggage; she yawns and murmurs soft words to herself, seemingly content to sit in my arms. Crossing into luggage I notice Emmett sitting at a small table surrounded by thirty or forty people, signing autographs and chatting about the season so far. As I walk closer I hear him tell a boy of 7 or 8 that he'll be playing again in a week, no doubt about it. I grin to myself because this is the Emmett I remember-easy going and a blatant liar. His shoulder injury was going to keep him out for at least another month.

I'm just standing there, watching him like a creep when I hear a small whimper come from Bella. Before I've even fully registered the sound it morphs into a scream and I am panicked. She hadn't done anything like this when the social worker lady was with me. She'd been completely silent, watching us with big eyes and sitting in the tightest spaces she could find; under my desk, between two bookshelves at the doctors office, and the corner of whatever room we were in.

The doctor had told me not to worry about it, that she'd eventually grow comfortable enough to speak and be out in the open. But I was still worried. Because she wouldn't be staying in quiet Forks, where everyone she saw would become familiar-she would be going to Chicago. Where she'd be living with a pro-football player who isn't known for his calm lifestyle. She'd be around his teammates and most likely traveling all over the country because God knows Emmett has never trusted people to look after his responsibilities. At least, when I knew him he didn't.

I shook my head and focused on Bella who was now screaming and crying for all she was worth, her face mottled and clinging desperately to my shirt. Rocking back and forth I try to sing to calm her down.

"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, she took the midnight train going an-y-where..."

This is totally not working. She seems to be screaming louder to drown out the noise of my voice. I look up and try to find someone who looks like they know how to deal with a baby and my eyes meet Emmett's.

He nods and glances to the screaming child in my arms. With a sweep of his huge forearm he sends his fans away. They scuttle off, looking pleased with their conversations with a football star.

It's only as Emmett is walking toward me that I really take in how large he's gotten. I mean, he was big when we were teenagers, but now he's huge-at least 6'4" and probably 245 pounds of raw muscle.

"Jake." Emmett says over Bella's screams, which seem to be dying off.

I hold out the hand that isn't cradling Bella and he shakes it roughly.

"What's with her?" he asks, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

"I really don't know," I mutter, swaying a bit back and forth, "she doesn't like crowds very much though."

By now Bella's screams are just whimpers and I can feel her body relaxing against me, fading fast into sleep. Emmett is staring at her, concentrating on her delicate features and blindingly white skin.

I motion for Emmett to hold his arms out, and before he realizes what I'm doing, I deposit Bella in them.

"Emmett. This is your sister, Isabella Marie. We, I mean, the guys and I, have been calling her Bella. Now where is all of your shit? We have a lot to do if you expect to leave tonight still."

"So all I have to do is sign these papers and you're handing her over to me?"

Emmett seems pissed off, and I don't get why. "Well, yeah. I thought you'd appreciate the quick process. I've done most of the paperwork for you."

"Jesus, Jake. It's not that I don't appreciate it. It just seems too easy. Like anyone could come and just take her. I figured it would take a hell of a lot longer then five minutes to do all of this shit. You know what I mean?"

Scratching my head, I focus on space of blank wall above Emmett's ear. "Uh, yeah. We, the social worker lady and I, kinda made the process shorter for you. Because you were coming from a long way and didn't want to be here any longer then you need to be."

"Oh. I just thought, I don't know, that someone would show me how to take care of her. Jake, I have never been in charge of another person before. I don't know how to handle a baby. Does she even talk? Or walk? And what the fuck does she eat?"

"I can show you some stuff, if you want. I thought you'd want to leave straight after this, but if you want to stick around for a while I can show you some of the things the social worker showed me," I feel like I'm in a fucking Lifetime movie, all we need is for one of us to start crying, "and yeah. She can sort of walk and she doesn't really talk all that much. As for the food, I think she eats pretty much anything we do. The social worker left some books if you want to read up on two year olds."

"Yeah. That would be good. Listen, I really do want to thank you for all of this, especially for calling me. I know it probably wasn't easy for you to do that after the way I've treated everyone for so long."

Emmett wasn't looking at me when he was talking; he was mostly staring at the ground and rubbing his hand through his hair. But I could tell he was serious, and it felt good knowing I had done the right thing in calling him.

"It was no big deal, I mean, you'd have done the same for me if the situation was reversed," I pause and inhale deeply, deciding to change the subject before one of us actually does start crying, "but anyway, I'll go get you those books and I then I can show you how to fasten the car seat in. I would never have figured it out if someone hadn't shown me."

EMPOV

It took over forty minutes to get that fucking car seat in the right way, even with Jake showing me. Being around Jake is sort of like being a teenager again, once we shook off the awkwardness we were acting like we always had: hanging out and trying to piss each other off. The only real difference was the sleeping toddler in the playpen.

"So, Jake, you still dating that chick from the rez?"

It was fun to see what Jake would say to questions like that. Half the time he would become so flustered he couldn't finish his answer, and the other half he made shit up. I swear to God, that guy is a fucking compulsive liar.

"Yeah, umm, no. We broke up like 5 years ago. I'm pretty much single now, even though the ladies are all over me. I mean, I am the chief of police, which is a big turn on for a lot of women." Jake was intensely focused on showing me how buckle a sack of flour into the car seat. "I was sort of dating this girl named Leah, but she only wanted me when I was unavailable. The second I asked her on a date she claimed to have other plans. Which is complete bullshit, I know her mom's birthday wasn't even near when I was asking her out. She was my next-door neighbor growing up. You should actually remember her with the amount of time you spent at my house."

I couldn't have ever forgotten her. Jake used to spend hours talking about her, and watching out the window just in case she walked by. "Nope. I don't think I do. But I don't remember a lot of things."

"Yeah. I guess you wouldn't," Jake looked uncomfortable, "but she really is cool. Even though she wouldn't go to the movie with me."

"Fuck Jake. She was probably put off by your stalking, I mean, it's a known fact that you've been half in love with her since we were fifteen."

"I have not. And you don't even know who she is. So what the hell are you even talking about?"

"I do too know who she is, Jesus, I couldn't ever have forgotten if I wanted to. You spent most of high school talking about her: Leah is trying out for cheerleading, Leah is going to the dance with Quil, and Leah made eye contact with me today. I'm surprised it took you this long to ask her out."

"Yeah, well she was married for something like five years. The minute I heard her divorce was final I invited her to dinner. And she went! But like a week after that I asked her if maybe she'd want to drive to Port Angeles and have dinner and see a movie she was all, oh, sorry Jake, it's my mom's birthday. What the fuck is that even about?"

By now Jake was pacing around the room, growing redder and redder in the face. When you get Jake started on a topic it is incredibly difficult to divert his attention, but I really didn't want to go over all of his women troubles. Obviously he had more then his fair share of them.

A whimper from Bella caught my attention, and glancing down at my watch I realized I needed to get a move on if we were going to catch our plane to Chicago. Jake was still muttering to himself when I stood up.

"Jake, I can't tell you how much I appreciate all that you've done for me. And I'll probably be calling you when I can't figure out how to get a fucking car seat into my Hummer. Especially since I didn't buy the same brand you have here. We really should have thought of that, huh? Anyway, I'll be calling you either way. I think this whole no-communication thing was too drastic. I mean, I'm here now and I'm completely fine, right?"

"Truth. And you probably will fuck up the car seat, 'cause God knows you couldn't do it here when I was showing you. But you've never been good with directions, have you?"

"Whatever, asshole."

Picking up Bella, who was now alert and staring at me in absurd fascination, I start packing up the shit Jake had bought for her in the two days she was in his custody.

"Jesus, how much stuff does a two year old need Jake?"

"It wasn't me who bought all of this. It was my sisters. I swear to God, I said I'm bringing home a baby for like a day and they go out and buy half a baby store. It's not like you can even take it all with you."

"Well, maybe I'll leave it here and when we come back and visit she can use it."

Looking up I catch Jake's huge grin. He looks like the fucking cat that swallowed the canary, and his eyes were watery.

"Emmett, man, I can't tell you how happy I am. I mean, I respect your need to be away and have some distance, but I've missed you so fucking much. When you left it was like losing a brother, like you were dead but I couldn't mourn, you know?"

And the weird thing is I kind of do. I cut every fucking tie to Forks when I left. I didn't take any pictures. I didn't call beyond what I had to. And I didn't consider what my leaving had done to my best friend.

"Jake, I'll be back. I promise. Or you could come to Chicago. It's a pretty short flight. Plus you'll want to visit Bella; you guys are fucking connected now. In fact, you should probably be there when my agent makes me have a press conference, 'cause he definitely is going to make me have one."

"Just tell me when and I'll be there. Anytime Emmett, whenever you need me."

Bella is fussing in my arms, and I know we need to get going before this becomes even more of a bro-lovefest where one of us starts crying and the other starts singing about being the wind beneath the others wings.

"Let's go. You have ten minutes to get us to the airport and you sure as hell aren't speeding with Bella in the car."

I know I said it was going to be Rose's POV, but I couldn't get into it. Thanks for reading, and if you review I'll send you a teaser for the next chapter.