Sorry it's been so long! I've been absorbed in trying to pass Calculus and trying to sort out the madness that is my non-existent romantic existence. Now that I am passing Calc and seeing the proverbial light, here's a little taste of what's to come.

Chapter Three- Down the Rabbit Hole

Once graduation was over with, and Ilea had calmed Jacob down about the coming wedding (although he had somehow miraculously imprinted on her, he was still certain that Bella's marriage would kill her), everything chilled out. She watched as Jake grew more and more angry with Sam, of course, but other than that, they spent most of their days getting to know each other and themselves. Her father called her once a week to talk about his new job. He started sending money back, which she rolled and saved in a jar under the queen-size mattress that, of all people, Edward Cullen purchased for them.

The events that caused the purchase, of course, must be told. To do that, we must return to graduation.

"They're coming after me," Bella said softly. "The newborn army is under the control of Victoria. They'll come after me."

Ilea, a month into her life as the resident healer and shaman of La Push (only two months into her life as a La Push resident), snorted. She knew it was true, but she also knew that "Ice-Cube Boy," as she referred to Edward, friendly as the reference seemed, wouldn't let anything happen to his precious Swan. It didn't change the fact that, in her heart of hearts, she was worried for Jacob's friend.

"Then we stop them," she said finally.

"And how do you propose to do that? Some mystic force-field?" Edward snapped.

They weren't necessarily the best of friends. It was difficult for them to get along together, but they managed it for the sake of their respective significant others. Since the beginning, when she admitted that she knew something was coming but not what it was (she'd never been given a chance to amend said knowledge), Edward had alternated between insulting her abilities and insinuating that she was nothing but a crock.

It made her mad.

Jacob went to attack, to defend her honor, but her hand on his chest stopped him. They were parked in the borderlands, sitting on the neutral territory where the Cullen's land ended and the Pack's began. Any action on either of their parts could be considered an act of all out war, resulting in a broken treaty and an end to the friendship between Bella and Jacob. It would be easy for the testosterone filled men to forget that, but Ilea was not so easily blinded by anger.

"He doesn't hold with my power. I don't blame him. If I didn't know I could do it, I wouldn't believe it myself," she said softly, more diplomatically than she really wanted to. "And I wasn't thinking a mystic force-field, Edward. I cannot fight the newborns for you. I don't have that kind of power yet."

Edward's eyes snapped to hers, and she could tell that he was reading the thoughts she had screamed across the gap at him. He could only do so because she let him.

"It's impossible."

"It's the only way."

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked. "I hate it when you let him do that!"

"Sorry, babe," she said softly, and she kissed his cheek. "We have to form an alliance between the Pack and the Cullens."

He paused. They all paused. Bella looked at her as if to say that it was a stupid idea that would get people killed. Edward gave her the look that said he was considering it, now that she had said it out loud. Jake just looked at her.

"That… could work," Jacob finally offered. "Sam wouldn't be opposed to it if we explained the threat and the danger."

"Jesus, I can't believe you're considering this! It could get you all killed!" Bella gaped. She started across the line, but Ilea snarled. Even Edward—born predator, vampire who could kill anything and anyone—drew back at the sound.

"You stay on your side," she snapped. "Right now, you're the only one who doesn't have a say in this. It's your safety on the line, so all negotiations on your part are off."

Jake smirked and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.

"Have I told you I love you lately?"

"Only every hour on the hour. I don't mind."

Edward, to the surprise of everyone there, smiled.

"It's not a matter of wanting to or not. It's a matter of having to!"

Ilea sat delicately on the stump, her mouth shut. Jake and Sam were standing at odds, as usual, and she was staying out of it. Even though she was shaman of the pack, Sam didn't like her feeding visions to Jake as information to use against him. He felt that she was undermining his authority, which she was. Seated on the stump, however, she had a sudden snap of vision, brought on by the image of Jacob and Sam standing against each other. She went instantly from what she knew as the Aware state to the Focus state. It was enough to almost knock her off the stump, and it was by a sheer miracle that she didn't come down.

You can't do that! The treaty still stands!

Sam snarled. It's a threat to the whole village.

"It's a child," Ilea snapped darkly, rising up from the log on which she sat. "It's no more a threat to the town or the village than we are. You cannot kill it because of its birth-right."

We have to kill it.

Jake suddenly looked as angry as Ilea felt. His hackles rose and rage painted itself in his eyes.

You can't force her to do that. The Cullens trust her and she doesn't agree with this as is.

She is the shaman of this pack. She will do what I say!

Jake shifted from an anxious state to a state of defense, and suddenly Ilea understood. Sam wanted her to go in and kill the child, then draw the Cullens out into the forest, where they could be slaughtered. "No. I won't do it."

Sam snapped, This is my pack. You are my shaman! You will do as I say!

She allowed the tendrils of her mind to shift and heard the alpha order to stand down. Jake, however, was resisting. And, in resisting, he was coming into his own. As Sam tried to beat him into submission, he rose against it, taking command of his destiny, as she had known he would.

I am the great-grandson of Ephraim Black. I am the great-grandson of the chief. I was not made to follow you.

He rose up over Sam, and Ilea made the leap, letting the wind carry herself to her wolf's back.

I side with him. I break all bonds with this pack!

"Illy? You alive over there?"

"What? Yeah, I'm alive," she said, instantly hiding the vision in the back of her mind. "Freezing my ass off, but still alive."

"Whine a bit more, why don't you?" Sam snapped.

"Fuck you, Sam. I'm sorry I'm not a super heater." she replied, moving over to Jacob. "What's the plan? I kinda zoned out."

"We're going to train with them."

Ilea nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "As wolves, I suppose."

"I don't trust them enough to go as humans," Sam interjected.

"I wasn't talking to you," she snapped.

"I am the alpha of this pack—"

"And I am the shaman. If you want my help, you stop waving that fucking 'I'm alpha' bullshit in my face. You're only in charge because of deferment."

Sam didn't say anything, but Ilea could hear him thinking exactly what she expected. She said nothing in response to it.

When Jake carried Ilea into the clearing where the training was to go on, she felt like she was going to be sick. It had nothing to do with the presence of the Cullens; more so, she could feel the potential loss of life in the air. Such an ending to so many lives made her nauseous. He set her down, and she found a rock at the edge, where she couldn't end up hurt by anything.

Jasper gave her a look that shook her to the core, before Jacob's body blocked him out.

She tuned out the look, trying to concentrate on what he was saying to his family. When he began to teach the wolves, she folded her legs over and went into the Focus state, what she liked to call the Best-Sleep-I've-Ever-Fucking-Had-While-Concentrating State, or the All Important Omnipresent State, in an effort to avoid the blonde vampire she called the Texas Gentleman. Over the last two months, she'd developed nicknames for everything in order to keep the levity in her life. The potential for failure and anger was so great it was impossible to overcome without making fun of almost every aspect of her power.

She felt the ancients would understand.

The tendrils of her mind stretched out, and her future was but a thought away. She brushed the images aside, looking instead for the exercises she'd started working into her daily routine. She touched Jacob's consciousness, and was pleased to find that he didn't start whining like he'd been bitten by a horde of angry fleas like he had the first time. It was just another way to strengthen the tactical bond between them.

I heard that thing about the fleas.

Point being?

Eddie probably heard it too.

Ilea could see, through Jacob's eyes, that Edward turned to glare at them both.

It's very hard to stay in the Focus when I'm about to fall off this damn cold rock laughing.

I know the feeling. I want to start rolling around, but I have to pay attention to Blood Sucker #6, your Texas Gentleman or whatever.

"Jacob, I'm sure we'd all appreciate it if you paid attention now and insulted us later," Edward said.

Fuck you, pretty boy.

Ilea's physical body smirked, but she withdrew all the same, knowing that Edward was right; Jacob needed to pay attention. It was vital to his survival, unless everything played out exactly as it was supposed to. Then, she supposed, it was fair game to distract him.

She wasn't willing to risk it. Jake was too unpredictable.

In the Focus state, she had learned, she could both cast and extend her awareness into the future and past. So, instead of attempting to suppress the vision of Edward's six month separation from Bella, she allowed it to come while she focused on holding a large rock in the air.

Standing on the hill over the castle-village, Ilea watched as Edward's eyes grew darker and darker with sorrow. Hovering beside him, she could hear the thoughts of the Edward who was training her lover and his pack.

I was sure she was dead. I was so positive that I would never see her alive again.

The Edward in the vision knelt down to touch the Earth, and she was certain, had he been capable of producing tears, that he would have been crying. The grief was chiseled into his every feature, making his whole body scream with it. It gave her insight into just how strongly he felt about Bella, and how much her month old threat to kill Bella for hurting Jake had scared him. He'd already lost her once, after all. Going for two would kill him.

The scene shifted around her, and she was hovering next to him in the Volturi's chambers. He wasn't kneeling this time. Instead, he stood proud and tall in front of the vampiric elders, hoping that his defiance would prompt the results he was hoping for. And, all at once, she knew that he'd gone to the Volturi to get them to kill him. And, he would have his way no matter how he had to go about it.

He didn't think his life was worth living when Bella Swan was dead.

"I told a human about our existence. You and I both know the punishment for such a transgression."

"And… you have come here seeking this?"

I was. I wanted to die—knew I couldn't live without her. It would be impossible, unthinkable. I used to think, in all honesty, she would have been better off if I had died before she got to me. Fortunately for you, she got to me.

Ilea opened her eyes to see Edward staring directly at her, standing three feet away from her. She was so startled she dropped the rock, and heads turned to see what had just happened. Jacob was beside her, hackles raised in such a way as to illustrate his displeasure with Edward's proximity.

"Calm down," she said softly, burying a hand in his fur.

"I usually don't narrate. I usually don't have to, because no one has ever been in my head before."

"It was not my intention to go there," she said, "And even if you had died, it would not have mattered. He imprinted when I made the change."

"Why not before?" Jasper asked, coming closer to her.

"For the same reason that you do not have your powers before you become vampires—I was not complete, and therefore his genes could not accept me."

"What if you had never…"

"Then the future would be very different."

"Ok, so we're on top of a fucking mountain? To watch over Bella?"

Jacob shrugged, and Ilea nodded gently.

"Alright, but we have to do this carefully," she said softly. "And we'll have to go back in the morning… both of us."

"Illy."

"No. If you're in the thick, I'm in the thick."

"Damnit, woman," Jacob snapped, but he kissed her anyway.

Ilea heard, in her head, Edward's internal gag. In response, she deepened the kiss. When Edward coughed, Jacob pulled away and she smirked.

"You knew he was there…"

"Me? Never."

Edward rolled his eyes as they separated.

"I'll carry her. You carry Bella. We should cover their scents."

"I'll cover yours," Ilea said, speaking to Edward. "If Victoria smells you, she'll find the campsite. Then, we'll all be in trouble."

"She might find it anyway," Jacob said.

"It's a risk we have to take."

Jacob scooped Bella up into his arms and turned away, but Ilea wasn't done.

"Jacob?"

"Yeah," he said, turning to face her.

"Not for her. Remember that."

Jake smiled. "Never."

They turned and headed off into the wilderness, while Ilea clambered onto Edward's back.

"What do you mean, not for her?"

"He's not allowed to die for her," she said softly as Edward began to run. "Really, he's not allowed to die for anyone, but he wouldn't agree to that so we had to compromise. He's not allowed to die for her if I don't die for him."

"Shouldn't you be able to tell when it will happen, and who you'll die for?"

"No. I cannot see his end or mine. All I know is that it's a long way off," she lied. There was no need to worry him about something she was hoping to change.

"Not after we leave. When we leave here, you'll both return to your human states."

"I'm afraid that when you leave, we'll be going with you."

Edward stopped, and she was amazed to find them at their campsite. "What do you mean?"

"I can't tell you. The choices that will be made to get there are not yet set, and if I tell you, I'm afraid you'll make the wrong decisions for the right reasons," she said softly. "And you're wrong about another thing."

"What's that?"

"Even if you leave and we stay, I will live long after he dies."

Jesus it's cold.

Ilea felt Jake's furry paws push her closer into his body heat, and she was grateful. The cold snow was not something she'd been prepared to deal with on top of the mountain, and it was hard to wait for sunrise and warmth when everything was so cold. The chattering teeth in the tent weren't helping.

"We've gotta do something," she whispered.

Jacob growled before shifting back into his human form. Ilea's eyes widened, and she felt the lack of body heat shocking to the core. He had to pick her up and carry her into the tent.

"Can't sleep with all the teeth chattering going on," Jacob said as he re-zipped the tent door.

Edward looked at him, and the anger became palpable.

"No."

"It was my idea," Ilea snapped. "You think I like it any better than you? It's the only way she keeps her toes."

"Oh, yeah, and what about you?"

"There's a reason I stopped shaking when we got in here. I don't feel cold like she does. Granted, I'm not as immune to it as Mike Tyson over here, going toe to toe with Father Winter, but still."

Edward glared between the two of them, until Bella's teeth chattering increased. Then he sighed, and Ilea knew they had won. She nodded, and Jake slipped into the sleeping bag behind her.

"Like having a personal space heater," Jake said, and Ilea smiled.

Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow that was Jake's arm, Bella was asleep. That left him, Edward, and Ilea awake in the tent. He however, only counted for half.

"You can lie down. I promise I won't kill him before the end of the night," Edward said.

"I couldn't sleep if I wanted to, and I don't want to. I'm too keyed up."

"Why's that? The prospect of death and dismemberment or the blizzard outside?" he asked sharply.

Jake was slowly drifting toward sleep, and Ilea could tell he was wishing that it was her in his arms, not Bella. It made her smile just thinking about it.

"Neither. The chance to fight," she replied.

"You want to fight? You're dumber than I thought you were."

"Not dumb, just tired of being benched. They've been chasing people up and down the line for weeks, going on patrol and watching for activity. I've been on the side-lines because Sam doesn't 'need nor want our best fighter distracted'."

"He's right."

"No, he's not. The only thing that distracts Jake is Sam."

"Really, so—"

"We were both bored in the clearing. You were trying to teach them something they were born to do."

"You know, if you weren't in love with the enemy, I might like you," Edward smirked.

"If you weren't such an almost narcissist, maybe I'd like you too."

"Not me, now will you both shut up?" Jake mumbled.

"Sorry, babe."

The red-headed vampire went for the ending blow, her partner holding Edward by the arms. Bella, standing in the trees, took a rock to her arm. Fear consumed her; Jake had left her on the mountain alone so that she wouldn't get hurt in the battle, but the war had come to them anyway. And in this way, it was worse. Oh, so much worse.

"No!"

Ilea sat straight up, and looked into the corner where Bella had been laying. They were outside, talking about how Edward had known Jake was standing there when they were talking about their wedding.

"Please, tell me he didn't leave," she snapped, stepping out of the tent.

"Yeah, because he's upset about-"

"That's not all of it, is it," she said, but her eyes were far away. "He knew, damnit. He knew I'd want to fight."

"So, he left you up here with us?"

"Yeah, and he ended up making this a hundred times worse."

"How?"

Before she could answer, Riley, Victoria's lover, appeared, and the battle lead-in, as well as her dream vision, were complete.

"Shit," she snapped, and as Edward tried to distract Riley, she grabbed Bella's arm and began to pull her away. "SETH!"

The wolf went for Riley as Edward headed to attack Victoria. As both battles raged, and Riley hurt Seth, Ilea felt her mind headed for the Cast state, without any conscious decision on her part. She knew what was coming. Riley went for Edward, and Bella thought back to the stories she'd heard.

"Do it," Ilea whispered. "I'll hold them off if Edward has some extra trouble."

Bella cut herself, and two heads snapped up.

"No," Edward whispered.

Seth, although not dead, was still out of commission. It would take him a moment to recover. She knew this because, when she prodded his mind, he gave no sign of consciousness. It would take both of them to finish the two vampires before Victoria got to Bella. With one of them out, she had to hold the she-vamp off. She, however, had never held anything off with her physical shield, Edward's so-called mystic force-field, except Seth when he was playing around. This was the real deal, and she wasn't trained. It didn't help that she was still partly in Jake's head, watching him fight.

As soon as Victoria left Riley to Edward, Ilea threw up her shield, a physical and mental force-field that, when Victoria pushed against, she could not penetrate, even though it shoved Ilea back almost a foot. It wasn't long before they were locked in both a battle of wills and a battle of strength, with Victoria leaning against the shield where Ilea was holding it up and Ilea trying to brace herself in the snow.

"Tell me what I can do!" Bella shouted.

"Don't… get… killed…" Ilea shot back over her shoulder, keeping her focus largely on the shield. C'mon, Seth, I can't hold this forever.

In the end, it was not Seth but Edward who came to her rescue. Seth was busy taking out Riley, leaving the other to rescue Ilea and Bella (primarily Bella). As soon as Edward pulled Victoria off the shield, she collapsed, falling to her knees in the snow. Holding it for so long against so strong a foe drained her. She knew, as she watched the black wings begin to come over her vision, that she was headed to a black out. Just the physical exertion had her panting like a dog.

At the thought, her lips turned up at the corners.

"Illy!" Bella cried, and she knelt beside her.

"Tell… Jacob… just fine… Exhausted… is all… and… he's… gonna get… his ass… handed… to him."

"Ok," Bella said softly, but there was a whisper of a grin on her face.

"What are you thinking about so diligently over there?"

Ilea sat up from the queen size mattress that had been shoved haphazardly into Jake's bedroom.

"That, with this bed, we need a bigger room."

"How about a house?"

"A house would be nice, if we could afford it," she laughed.

"Someday."

She shook her head as giggles consumed her. It was as joking as he'd been all day, with the decision finally being made that they would go to the wedding and the talk Billy had been throwing around about breaking the treaty. They both knew it would be coming, and they both knew that it was not up to Sam Uley; it was up to the great-grandson of Ephraim Black, the chief at the time of the treaty, to decide if it would be allowed or not. Ilea thought he would give his permission, but she knew he would defend the Cullens when Sam decided to attack.

"What's so funny?"

"It's kinda out of order; we move in before…"

She stopped giggling as she sat up, looking at him.

"Before we get married?"

She shrugged. "I guess." Marriage hadn't been something she'd thought about for herself and Jacob, especially since they were meant to be together anyway.

"It is kinda out of order. I suppose we'll have to fix that," he said, and he moved as close to the bed as his plans would allow. She watched in shocked silence as he went down on one knee and produced a box with a ring in it. "Will you marry me?"

The ring wasn't some dime store piece of junk, like what her own father had proposed to her mother with; it was at least 2 carats, a rock of a diamond that, as Leonardo DiCaprio had said in Titanic, would send her straight to the bottom of the ocean. She didn't want to know how many odd jobs he'd taken since the beginning of the summer to get it. It wasn't something she wanted to think about, because the ring itself was hard enough to consider, to wrap her head around.

"Yes," she whispered, breathless.

Jake smiled and slipped the ring on her finger.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Jacob. Forever and always."