------------------------------------------------------------ Travel Plans ----------------------------------------------------------

It was late afternoon when I woke up the next day from one of the best night's sleep I'd had in at least four days. Jacob lay snoring loudly beside me, taking up the majority of the bed. It always amazed me that I could sleep through Jacob's snoring; awake it sounded as though I would still be able to hear him if he slept on the other side of a 5ft concrete wall, even without my paranormal hearing abilities. I got out of bed, barely jostling the mattress, and headed to the bathroom. My face shone at me in the mirror, looking radiant with anticipation. This time tomorrow I would be standing in a completely different house; a house more familiar to me than my own face. The white house. I didn't realise until now just how much I had missed home. The pale rooms, the glass walls, the open space, the view of the river and forest as twilight settled in. And then a completely new thought erupted inside me; I would get to see the cottage. The magical home of my youth. A warmth spread through me that took me a little by surprise. I was suddenly very eager to get showered and packed and start the journey home.

It took less than an hour to pack. I only packed the bare essentials and my very favourite clothes. No doubt Alice would cease the opportunity to buy me a whole new wardrobe - maybe that's why she had been so distressed last night, she only had one day to shop - considering all the good weather we would apparently be experiencing in Washington. The thought of Washington sent another tingle through my veins and I almost reached the speed of light heading towards the bedroom to spur Jake on. He complained, naturally. Jake was good at complaining, it's what he did best.

"Calm down, Ness. If you would care to notice, I'm not going that slowly."

"Well, I want to get back to the penthouse soon, to make sure everything is ready. Do you think they got in contact with Rose and Em?" Another reason to be excited. I hadn't seen Rose and Emmett in almost 2 months. "It will be great to see them again."

"Sure sure." Was all the reply I got from Jake. Although Jake got on fantastically with my uncle, Emmett, his relationship with Rosalie wasn't particularly great. It was nowhere near as bad as it had been, but their stubbornness made it hard for me to believe that they could even be friends. I knew Jake was looking forward to getting back though. Leah had been pleased to find out that he was headed home. Everyone would feel a bit more at ease if the whole pack was together, ready to tackle any problems that may face them. I felt more at ease too; having Jake with the pack made him feel better, which in turn made me happy. I knew that Jake felt as though he was failing the others as an alpha when he was away. I had told him once that he should stay at the Reservation and study at the college in Seattle, but he rebuked me in an instant, arguing that he couldn't leave me for that long. I knew exactly what he meant. If he had chosen to study in Washington, no matter where I was, if I wasn't with Jake, there wasn't much point. But I didn't want to stand in the way of his duties, so I made the necessary sacrifices, not that it mattered in the end anyway. This arrangement worked well though - both of us in Forks, where he belonged, where I belonged.

Jake and I left the flat just after 4 pm and headed for something to eat before meeting the others.

"Are you looking forward to going back then?" Jake asked me between mouthfuls of rib eye steak and potatoes.

"Yeah. A lot. I can't wait to have everyone back home again, all together. And I hope we get to see Charlie, even just once." I could barely eat, I was already full of butterflies. Not literally, of course, I can't imagine butterflies would taste too appetising, or that they would fill me up. "We'll go to the Res as well, yeah? I haven't seen Claire in ages. She'll be almost 18 right?"

"Yeah, close. We might even make her birthday, depending on how long we stay. It'll be good to see the guys too." I often felt bad for Jake. Sure, he had friends here in Kalispell, but no one he was close too, not like Quil and Embry. Luckily for Jake, Quil hadn't started ageing yet, waiting for Claire, and Embry hadn't imprinted at all yet, so he was still exactly the same age as when we left. But it did concern me, the thought of what would happen when they did eventually age. Jared was now, physically at least, about 29 years old and Sam and Paul were both in their mid 30's, catching up with their partners, Kim, Emily and Rachael. Jake would never age. He would stay the same, like me, forever. However, unlike me, Jake would have to watch his friends age, and eventually die, while he remained frozen as a 20 something year old. All the people I loved would remain physically the same indefinitely, Charlie the one exception. It wasn't as if my family wasn't Jakes family, and vice versa, but he needed his friends, someone more human that he could relate to. "You gonna eat that?" Jake sat with an empty plate in front of him, eyeing my barely nibbled Hamburger.

"No, go ahead." Jake devoured my burger in 3 not-so-graceful bites. Honestly, I still hadn't really developed any deep appreciation for human food; good red meat and the occasional confection was about as much as I actually liked, the rest I ate with laboured tolerance. Being half human, I got a lot more hungry than my whole vampire family, and it became inconvenient to hunt so often so I substituted with human food. The hunting round here was poor anyway, no big beasts or exciting carnivores, just your run off the mill deer and similar leaf eaters. The waiter came over with our check, half-complimenting, half-insulting Jake's amazing appetite. His eyes lingered on me for half a second more than they should have and Jake's expression turned to a violent possessiveness. It was silly of Jake to get worked up about other people finding me attractive - I was half-vampire, it would be difficult not to draw attention - I know, I've tried. I knew how he felt though; girls continuously checked Jake out, day after day, but I didn't express my dissatisfaction as clearly as he did, there was no reason to doubt that Jake loved me as much as I loved him, so I didn't. I touched his arm lightly to tell him this.

"I know, but still, it's rude to appraise someone else's girlfriend."

"Hypocrite." I teased him lightly.

"What?"

"Don't you recall a time when you appraised someone else's girlfriend? As far as I understand, you even kissed her. Are you saying that isn't rude?"

"Oh." Jake stuttered for a second. "That was different though, that was love. Okay so it was poorly directed, but still." Jake felt highly uncomfortable talking about this, the time before me, when he loved my mom. I found it a little weird too, but more funny than anything, and also a little romantic, in a twisted sense, that Jacob loved me, even before I existed.

"It's always me that starts the trouble, isn't it!" I laughed, and he laughed with me, leaving the restaurant.

"The root of all evil." He said, as he wrapped one arm around me, dragging the luggage with his other as we walked to the penthouse.

The Jaguar was parked outside the apartment, alongside Carlisle's signature black Mercedes. Dad was just putting one of the suitcases in the trunk when we arrived.

"Hey, your early."

"We just came straight after eating. Why wait?" Jake asked rhetorically, as he lifted our suitcase into the trunk beside Dad's. "Bella upstairs yeah?"

"Yes. She's on the phone to Charlie. Did you tell Leah we were visiting? I think she may have passed the message on." Dad led us into the lobby and towards the lift up to the house.

"Yeah, and Sam. Best to let them know, so know one over reacts. Is Charlie okay with it?"

"As far as I could hear, he's thrilled. He can't wait to see Bella and Nessie again."

"Will we get to se very much of him?" I asked hopefully.

"As much as you like." Dad hugged me with one arm. The lift doors opened and we all stepped into the apartment. Carlisle and Jasper were leaning over the table on the right hand side of the room, examining some maps, discussing the best route to take I assumed. Mom was on the phone at the window and I could hear Esme and Alice talking through in one of the bedrooms. I went and settled in on the sofa, Jake following me. The news was on television, but it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. I sat absentmindedly looking out of the window, trying to calm myself. I had a full six weeks before school started and, with any luck, we'd be spending the majority of that time in Washington.

"Okay Dad. Love you." Mom hung up the phone and came over to sit beside Jake and I. "Where are your bags?"

"Jake put them in the car already."

"I hope you packed light. Alice has basically substituted everyone's entire wardrobe. She's been shopping all day." Mom laughed.

"Well you didn't leave me very much time." Alice had come through into the lounge to defend herself. "I would have been a lot quicker if I hadn't had to pace myself with the humans. Anyway, it doesn't matter now. Everyone is all sorted, even Rose and Em." She smiled in appreciation of herself, clearly proud of her success. I had to admit, even I was impressed; Alice always shopped beyond my expectations.

"Did you eat already?" Mom addressed Jake. She knew him about as well as I did.

"Yeah, before we came."

"And a lot too, well, in Jake's case anyway." Mom and I both laughed. "Have you?"

"No, we'll wait till we're back in Forks. I think Esme packed some food for you guys, for the journey."

"It won't take that long, will it? I shouldn't imagine we'll get hungry." Not me anyway, I could last a good 2 to 3 days without eating.

"A couple of hours, I guess. Depends what route we take, and how busy."

"Yeah. So who's travelling with who?"

"Carlisle and Esme will be taking the Mercedes, and I think Jasper and Alice will take the Jag. Who would you rather ride with?"

"We should probably go with Carlisle and Esme. It'll be easier on Alice if we're not in the car." When Alice was driving she liked to use her gift to drive even faster than a generic vampire, but if Jake or I were involved, we would block everything, and I couldn't imagine she'd be happy without her sight.

"Don't worry about me, Ness. Jasper will be driving anyway, and it's honestly not as bad as you think. I got used to working around you a long time ago. It's hardly a problem anymore." Alice tried to reason with me, but I still felt guilty.

"It's okay, Alice. You can take the night off."

"Hardly, Ness. I'll always be looking out for you." She smiled at me and then came and sat in front of me, resting her back on my legs, and focusing on the TV. I was cocooned, protected with love from every side.