A/N: Thank you so much for the many positive comments! I appreciate it!

In this chapter, we tie up a couple of loose ends… ~LJ

Chapter Four: "It's almost as strong as I feel about you."

She appeared disconcerted as she punched a button. "Jake? Someone here to see you. Edward Cullen?" Her thoughts were a flurry of confusion, but she did have a true and already deep-seated concern for Jake's well-being. That was something.

I listened, my mind scanning the immediate area. I heard him. Swearing silently. No fear in his mental voice, but a huge layer of caution. Sensible. Then, his voice, husky as ever, with no trace of his unease. "Thanks, Kendra. Uh, send him around back, will you? I'll talk to him out here. You'll be all right for a minute?"

"Sure, Jake. No problem." She frowned a little, but only shrugged. "Sir? You know where he is? Out back?"

Not immediately, but I could see the image in her head and so I nodded. "I'll find him. Thank you." He had imprinted on her? Someone so obviously inferior to Bella in every way? It baffled me. How could that happen? Canine mating instincts...

I went through the back door, ignoring young Kendra's warning that it wasn't for customers. "Jacob," I called, seeing him standing next to a dusty Chevy truck. Not Bella's old one, but a newer model with chrome rims. "It's been a while," I said, for the benefit of Kendra, who was watching through the plate glass window.

Jacob nodded warily, putting the oil-striped cloth down. "Edward. It has." I could see him stiffen, heard his frantic thoughts.

You got my letter? Is she all right? Where is she?

I nodded twice in answer to his first two coherent questions. Murmured, "Olympia" for the third. "For now." His keen hearing would catch the words that Kendra didn't even know were spoken.

"Everything all right with your engine?" he asked me next, waving with a smile to the girl who still watched through the window. Is there anything she needs? Anything I can do for her? I miss her every single day, believe me.

"Still running well, thanks. There was this other car, though, that I wanted to talk to you about."

"Well, come on. Want a drink or something?" Let's get out of here. I don't want to worry her. She's never seen someone like you before. His mind's voice was pearlized with adoration and that was the only thing that kept him alive. He had imprinted most certainly. My poor Bella.

"Thanks, that'd be nice."

Jake pushed the intercom button near the hydraulic lift. "Kendra honey? Will you be all right for a few minutes? Mr. Cullen and I will be at the house."

"Of course, Jake. Everything all right?" Her voice was seared with anxiety.

He smiled reassuringly at her distant face. "Just fine, honey. I'll be back in a few."

"All right."

On the short stroll to the house I had seen in that one vivid image he had given me years before, Jacob Black replayed the scenes from when he imprinted on Kendra, from that night with Bella, and the half a hundred desperate questions he had.

Within the walls of his home, he cracked on the surface, collapsing on an old sofa, his long legs stretching half across the living room, his head colliding noisily with the wall. "Oh, man, Edward. I can't talk about this with anyone, you know?"

Selfish bastard, was what I first thought, but then I studied him, heard the sudden jumble of his thoughts and didn't say it aloud. "I'm not going to kill you. I did offer to, you know, but she wouldn't let me." The stench of werewolf in here was almost overpowering. I didn't bother hiding that from my expression.

He half-laughed, half-sobbed and scrubbed hard at his broad face. "That's so Bella. So, you got my letter. She's doing all right?"

"I didn't get it until yesterday morning, but yes, she is."

He paled. "Yesterday?"

I was appalled. "Didn't you check on her at all?"

"I had the guys report back and stuff, but they never said... I guess, I guess I never asked, either."

"She has appreciated the help," I said after a moment. "We discussed a research opening this morning that she heard about. You have no idea what this has done to her," I rasped. "Having to pretend she hates you is more draining to her than anything else."

He swore under his breath. "She was so... So careful," he whispered. "She came out that one time, about a week ago, as any 'old friend' might. I think she needed to see Kendra. Make sure, you know?"

"Hell, that's why I came out, mongrel."

"Is that the best you got, Edward?" he asked wryly, pain etched into his features. "I meant what I wrote to you. Somehow, the ties that bound me to Bella were completely cut when I saw Kendra, but Bella's been more than just my wife. She's my best friend. At least... At least she was... And that bond isn't gone. And that's the one that's killing me, now. Probably her too, huh?"

"You know I can't tell you that. I only know what she's told me."

"Does she need anything?"

"No. Your brothers have been caring for her. She said it feels like she's a widow."

He winced. Sorry, he thought at me. Damn it. I wish this never happened.

I couldn't agree, so I remained silent.

"So, about this job thing?"

"I think she's only considering it because it hurts so much to have to pretend all the time, Jacob. She's sick of it. Sick of hearing you maligned, if you must know."

"I never did deserve her," he murmured.

There, though, I did contradict him. "No, you did." He snapped me a disbelieving look. "You loved her. Gave her a human life – a much more normal life – these last few years than she would have had with me. If I had not turned and tried to force her hand. The regret for that will still be burning in me long after you have become worm-food," I told him. "She was truly happy with you, Jacob. She was," I reminded him, much as it galled me to say so. "And you kept her safe," I added. "Safe in a world that seems to conspire against her. So no. You deserved her. But she did not deserve this. That, I'll grant you."

He accepted that after a silent minute. Then, "So where is she going? When? How long?"

"To act as a lab assistant for a research team in the Brazilian rain forest. The initial grant for the project was something like six months, but their other tech got really ill. The director of the project knows her and thought a change of scene would be beneficial, apparently. I don't know when she'll be leaving, but I guarantee you I'll follow her."

Convenient, he thought at me.

"Yes, it is. So?"

All right. I won't ask for more information. Will she – will she be in contact with her family?

"Yes. Do you think I'm kidnapping her to turn her into a vampire or something?"

"No, no I don't. But I will say here, as Ephraim's great-grandson..." He rose from the sofa to his full height, crossing his arms across his chest, "if that does happen, I'm guessing it will be with her full consent and wish and it will not affect our treaty."

Such generosity told me that he had been giving the matter some thought over the last month. I nodded. "Thank you, Jacob Black. I wouldn't have asked your permission, but I am, I confess, relieved to have it. I would not want to break faith with you or your people."

He looked anxiously toward the door. "I need to get back to her," he murmured, and I knew that the pronoun meant Kendra, who would be the only girl in his world right now. "You'll be with Bella, right? Keep an eye on her? Tell her, tell her I wish her all the best. And that I wouldn't mind hearing from her, when she's settled in down there. Just to know she's all right. If she wants to."

"All right," I said, leaving the house ahead of him. The stink was so offensive. "But I can't guarantee her response."

"I know."

"Give Kendra my best. I know she's worried about you. She thinks I'm dangerous."

"You are."

I chuckled and walked around the garage to my rental car. That was one thing out of the way. Next, there really were things I had to do about the research project, so I pulled out my phone and called Alice while I sped to Seattle.

Paperwork, faxing, phoning... So much to get done. The time frame was dependent entirely upon Bella, but I was thinking no more than two weeks, at the outside.

I was waiting for her at the end of her work day. Twilight had settled comfortably overhead as I tried to lean casually against her car. I say 'tried' because I was truly more on edge than I thought I might be. It had only been a matter of hours, true, but I had been thinking about her every second of the endless day.

What if she changed her mind?

She stepped out of the lab and looked for her car, appearing unsurprised to see me. Instead, her lips curved in a smile. "Hello, Edward," she said in a tone so soft that it wouldn't have carried beyond her own shoulders. "I'm - I'm glad you're here," she went on, stepping beyond the first row of cars out to her own, which was parked in the middle of the lot.

"So am I," I told her when she was within human earshot. I was surprised at her acceptance of my presence, but enormously gratified. Almost as good as hearing my name on her lips. "Would you be interested in going out to dinner?" I asked impulsively.

"Not until after I've had a few human minutes," she demurred, reaching for my hand in a way that seemed so completely natural that I didn't notice for a moment. "But I think, really, I'd rather stay home, if that's all right. I could use some quiet. We had a busy day, today."

"All right. What if I pick up something for you and bring it back? Do you have a favorite?" I wanted her to be able to relax. To take her ease.

She told me the name of a take-out restaurant that specialized in chicken, and I chuckled before helping her out of her lab coat and into her car. "All right. I'll be back with you as soon as possible."

She looked up at me from behind the steering wheel, her expression poised between tenderness and curiosity. "I keep thinking I'll wake up, Edward. I hope I'm not dreaming. I don't think I could bear waking up again."

In an instant, I was kneeling beside her, her face cupped in my palm. The heat from her skin was a delicious sensation, the burning in my throat its inevitable price, but one I was more than willing to pay. "You're awake, love," I murmured fervently, willing her to trust me, though I didn't really deserve it. I would try to earn that trust back. I had to. "You are. I'll never be far from you again, if you'll let me stay."

Her heart skidded to a halt before jumping and running in a way that was so precious and familiar I couldn't breathe. Still, her eyes were shuttered in the waning light. "All right. One night at a time, huh?"

I studied her expression. "One night, one day... A week... A month... I'm here."

She extended her hand to run tentative fingertips across my face, as if to remind herself of things that – things that used to be so achingly familiar – to me, anyway. "You're not breathing," she murmured.

I smiled. Inhaled obviously. "Sorry. You just have always been able to take my breath away, you know."

She laughed and the tension was broken. I rose to my feet again and bid her be careful before going to buy her dinner.