It's been awhile, hasn't it? I know and I'm sorry, but I haven't abandoned this story and there are more (hopefully) interesting chapters on the way

First of all - quick author's note: my wonderful beta Willow2883 wisely advised me to give a (necessary) warning about Jacob's behavior in this chapter, which will be, let's say a little out of character in this chapter... it might even strike some of you as outrageous but, well, extreme situations call for...erm, radical measures? At any rate, I assure you that the following chapters will explain and make up for the inappropriateness in this one ;)

And the usual disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters in it, bla bla bla.

CHAPTER 7

A few minutes before eleven Jacob was entering the recently finished school wing. He directed his steps to the classroom where Officer Doherty said the students in social work would meet them for the interviews. It was on ground level and looked new, clean and less austere than the classrooms Jacob was used to seeing. The large windows probably contributed to this, although the thick bars on the outside of them were hard to miss.

As usual, Jacob chose a desk in the back of the room to sit down at. It was partly because he was usually among the tallest in any group, and also because he wanted to have the entire room in sight.

His eyes scanned the room slowly, drifting over the door, the blackboard, the desks and other furniture, then finally the other inmates in the room. Some looked bored, while most looked excited, one looked almost scared.

There was a large mobile blackboard next to Jacob, but from where he was sitting, he could see that it masked an unbarred window. The new wing had been finished in a hurry and this group was probably the first ones to use it. Warden Crowley had hand-picked every inmate in this group and chosen only the ones he trusted. They were all exemplary behaved kids. And even if any of them got ideas, they wouldn't make it halfway to the main gate without being tackled or shot down by the guards.

The bonhomous professor entered the classroom and greeted the inmates. His students followed closely. Jacob felt his pulse accelerate until the moment he saw Bella coming through the doorway. He just couldn't understand how she managed to look more and more beautiful each time he saw her. There wasn't anything obviously different in her appearance, but still... He watched her still as a stone, studying with exaggerated attention her every movement and gesture. He wished she would at least throw him a passing glance.

It was the same routine: students gathered around the teacher's desk, as he distributed forms, and this time tape recorders, to each of them. Some had questions for him and he explained until they seemed satisfied.

Just like the day of their first encounter, while she waiting in line at the teacher's desk, Bella timidly lifted her gaze towards the desks where inmates sat waiting. Her eyes passed gracefully from one to the other, spending just a fraction of a second more on Jacob.

When she finally started walking towards the desks, Jacob's body was as tense as a bow. He couldn't even blink until she was a few feet away from him and looking up to meet his eyes. That moment stretched to infinite proportions in Jacob's perception, making the shock that followed seem as sharp as a blade through his guts. Bella turned to the left and sat down at another inmate's desk.

Jacob had to mentally slap himself to get his bearings: Get yourself together man! You can't be losing your shit over this! She'll come to you when she's finished with the other. Just be patient..."

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, working on regaining his composure. Jacob still had his eyes closed when he heard a high-pitched male voice talking from not far away:

„Hi Jacob, my name is Matthew." He had a fake smile, as he stretched his hand out for Jacob to shake it. The following sequence of questions that circulated through Jacob's mind didn't allow for any sort of exterior reaction:

Why does this dude who looks like a scrawnier main guy from Dawson's Creek with plucked eyebrows and bleached Backstreet Boys hairdo know my name? If he already knows my name what the hell does he expect me to answer back? I'm surely not pleased to meet him and on top of everything, he's fucking taking the seat that should stay free for Bella!

However, the tape recorder and the sheets of paper with what looked like Jacob's writing, that the guy had brought with him to the table, left no room for doubt.

After three or four seconds of Jacob glaring speechlessly at him, telepathically suggesting he dig himself a hole in the classroom floor, lay down and die there, Matthew gave up the handshake idea and carried on with his mission:

„As top-of-my-class sophomore year at WSU Social Welfare, I was specially assigned to conduct the second part of our study with you. Which, as you probably know, is the interview. It was not only our professor, Mr. Hutchinson, who was impressed by the quality of your writing, but I myself must admit that your quiz is an outstanding piece of work."

Matthew's thick flattery was lost on Jacob as he couldn't give a flying toss about this guy's opinion of the quiz. If what he'd written in there was so fantastic, it was only because Bella had been his inspiration, and he might have tried a little extra harder because he wanted her to have something good to read and discuss with him in the interview. But certainly not because he'd expected to receive praise for it from this snotty, moussed-up shithead.

"I didn't want you to read my quiz," were the first words that Jacob spoke to the student dude. It was in a surprisingly calm tone of voice that completely mismatched the furious look in his eyes.

„Come on Jacob, there's no need to be modest here. It's a matter of equivalent value, you know?"

It was incredible to Jake how this stuck-up prick managed to get on his nerves more and more with every line he delivered. Sure, his conceited smirk added a lot to that, plus the fact that he kept calling Jacob by his first name, although he'd never invited him to. Only a few people were allowed to call him that and this guy was certainly not one of them.

Jacob snatched the papers of his quiz. Getting up from his chair, he took them to the now-empty teacher's desk. However, the Matthew dude was not so easy to shake. He tiptoed after Jacob, which caused the latter to bump into him as he was turning to walk back to his desk. He grabbed the quiz Jacob had just placed on the desk and sighed dramatically:

"We can leave the quiz out if you want to, but the interview will be much more interesting if –„

"She helped me with the quiz, so I want her to do the interview." Jacob interrupted with a clearly irritated tone, motioning his head towards Bella. But nothing seemed to click in Matthew's head; probably because he was unable to see past the end of his own nose.

„I am positively sure I could do a much better job on this interview than her," Matthew countered with a scoff.

He. . Scoffed.

A flash of white lightning blinded Jacob for a split second, and in the next he felt electrifying energy surge back from his muscles. He looked calm as a millpond as he walked back to his desk and sat down. The sight from there was anything but encouraging: the student who had tried to interview him was hunched down, supporting himself with one hand on the teacher's desk. His other hand was holding his stomach, his face scrunched as if in pain.

Some of the other students and inmates sitting nearby had witnessed the scene. They were now staring perplexed at either Jacob or Matthew. The students looked frightened, especially the girls, and the inmates seemed surprised or curious. Bella hadn't caught the incident from her corner, but she knew that something had happened just by looking at her colleagues' stupefied expressions.

Jacob was now the image of expertly contained rage, sitting still at his chair, looking nowhere further than the tape recorder left on his desk. He only looked up to the door the moment he heard it open and close, and he knew Matthew had just left the classroom. He kept his eyes fixated on the door as if he were counting down in his mind.

Minutes later, voices could be heard behind the door. When it opened, Jacob saw Matthew pointing him out to the guard. The guard didn't waver, he lunged in Jacob's direction and with a few wide steps, he was almost at his desk. Jacob rose slowly from his chair and when the guard was a few feet away from him, he grabbed his metal legged chair and with incredible speed and force, he hit the guard with it twice.

The 250 lbs man was now lying face down on the floor and Matthew immediately bolted from the room. He was closely followed by a few fellow students who had intended to come in or just happened to be close to the door.

Jacob knew time was not on his side and he needed to act quickly. Disregarding the gasps of shock and terrified faces of the students who were still in the room, he drew the guard's revolver out of his belt scabbard and pointed it to the remaining students, shouting at them to get out until he counted to three. As the crowd of students and inmates rushed to the door, jostling each other in their panicked hurry to flee the room, Jacob noticed Bella getting left behind, as usual. It didn't take more than a stretch of his long arm to grab her into a tight grip.

You're staying here" were the words that finally discouraged Bella's futile attempts to struggle free from Jacob's hold. He kept her in place until the last person escaped through the doorway, taking with her Bella's last hope of not becoming the innocent victim of a psycho teenager.

As soon as it was only the two of them and the guard lying on the floor, Jacob sprung to the door. He shut it closed and locked it. Then pulling down the large, heavy-looking bookshelf, he blocked the door with it. Bella was already feeling helpless, seeing how her feeble attempts at self-defense had been of no use. But now, witnessing and acknowledging Jacob's sheer strength and determination, she even forgot the few techniques her father, Charlie. had tried to teach her for such situations. She hadn't even really paid attention, because she didn't think she would ever need them. She always took care not to get into trouble. Now she could only hope that begging would work.

Jacob walked briskly to the other side of the room, toward the desk where he'd sat at a while before. But instead, he went and pushed aside the mobile blackboard that protected the unbarred window. Of course, it was a fixed window, but through it, he could see the crowd of guards and kids that had gathered, waiting in suspense.

He took two steps back, looked around searching for something, and soon set his eyes on a steel lectern propped in one of the corners. He seized it, stepping back a few feet, and flung it through the window, taking with it most of the glass on its way out.

Bella didn't let out even as much as a whimper in the two seconds that it took Jacob to get back to her, clamp her wrists back in the manacle of one of his large hands and push her forwards in front of the window. He pointed the gun to her head, menacingly cocking it and shouted to the guards standing outside:

"If you want her to live, get the warden to call the number I'll give you and ask about my sister! Tell him to come here only when he has an answer! And don't even think about coming for me, or I'll blow her brains out!"

One of the guards already had his mobile phone to his ear, apparently trying to call someone and getting no answer. Jacob dictated the phone number, the other guard memorized it in his phone, then ran off to find the warden.

In the silence that followed, Bella heard Jacob's quick breathing behind her. It was the only thing that reminded her that he was only human, just like her. And apparently nervous, despite all previous appearances.

As for herself, Bella was making a conscious effort to breathe again. Her lungs had stopped cooperating with her brain the moment she'd felt the gun at her temple. Her knees had gone weak and she would have surely collapsed onto the floor, if Jacob weren't supporting her weight. She felt dizzy now, and she prayed that she wouldn't pass out. Or, she thought, it might be better to be out than conscious for whatever her kidnapper had planned for her.

Jacob didn't give her much time to ponder. He pushed her away from the window, towards the blocked entry and sat her down on a chair nearby. He kneeled next to the unconscious guard, taking his wrist and bending down close to his head . Bella noticed the blood pooling around the guard's head and had to look away immediately, or she would get sick. She couldn't take the sight of blood.

„He's alive," Jacob informed her. Pushing with both hands, he turned the guard's face up. He took the handcuffs from the guard's belt, along with the small key used to unlock it, and shoved them into one of the pockets of his pants. He sprung up, going to the broken window again and called down to a few kids loitering in the yard:

„Hey! Call Dean and Rodney to get this guy to the infirmary!"

Jacob turned then and walked straight to Bella. The fear she felt reached new heights. Her limbs started shaking uncontrollably when Jacob took her from the chair. Holding her arms tightly, he pushed her towards the window again, but he stopped in front of the chair he'd taken for the interview and sat Bella down on it. He crouched, coming to eye-level with her, and took in her disheveled appearance. Her small shoulders trembled, even with her arms crossed over her chest as she tried to still them, her face livid, lips quivering, and her humid, blank stare made him word out the obvious:

„You are afraid of me... Listen, if you work with me on this, I promise I won't hurt you. If you don't... you leave me no choice... Do you understand?"

The look of consternation on Bella's face didn't give him much hope that his promise had managed to alleviate the effect of the shock. He knew that she heard him and understood the words, so all he could do was try to reformulate his message into something more persuasive.

„Do you trust me?"

Bella stared at him, wishing she could at least shake her head "no". But she was frozen in place and wished her eyes could convey the answer to him.

„Of course you don't, and you're right, you can't trust someone who's got you at gun point. But I'm afraid you don't have any other choice right now. If they catch me and it all ends here, it won't for you, believe me. They won't let you walk away just like that. The warden and his loyal watchdogs will keep you locked in a room for as long as it takes to scare you into telling them exactly how much you know about me, have heard from me, and what exactly is your part in this. There is some nasty shit going on behind the scenes here and if I'm not telling you more about it, it's precisely because I want you out of trouble in case this turns bad for me... Please tell me you understand me."

Bella didn't understand much, but the intense look in his dark eyes told her that right now, what he felt above everything else was the need to be trusted. And he was right – it was not like she had a choice anyway, so she just obediently lowered her eyes and nodded, still trembling.

Jacob got to his feet, went around the table and sat on the chair opposite to Bella's. She looked so frail and lost, sitting across the table from Jacob, hugging her torso. Without even looking up at him, she was aware of the intensity of Jacob's gaze on her.

"I think you owe me an interview… Or I owe you one, since I interrupted…" There was no reaction from Bella, and Jacob wasn't sure that she could even speak.

"I'll start this," he continued, pressing the red REC button on the tape recorder.

"Name is Jacob Ephraim Black, 17 years old, from La Push, Washington." Seeing that what he said made Bella look up at him, he made a detour from his speech plan:

"Have you ever been to La Push, Washington, Bella?"

"Yes," she croaked.

After clearing her throat, she explained. "My father is from Forks. I was born there."

"What is your father's name?"

"Charlie Swan."

"Thought so… You know he's the one who handcuffed me first, two years ago?" Jacob asked with a bitter smile.

Bella felt close to a heart attack. So that's what this was all about. This guy hated her father and wanted to get back at him by torturing and possibly murdering his only daughter… Of all the juvies and inmates she could have chosen, she went straight to the one she should have run like hell from. This must be her fate, she thought.

"But I don't hold it against him; he was just doing his job… That's what he actually said - 'I'm sorry son, I'm only doing my job'… He's not the reason why I'm here…"

Bella finally felt the claw-grip in her chest loosen and allow much needed air to pass through to her lungs. So then what was it about?

"You don't remember me, do you?" Jacob asked trying to understand the puzzled expression on her face.

Bella could only remember a photo in her oldest family album, taken when she was 9 or 10 years old. She was on First or Second Beach, playing in the sand next to a pretty boy with tan skin and long, beautiful dark hair. Could that be him? Bella strived to compare the features in her memory to those of the young man in front of her.

"It's ok if you don't, it's been at least ten years since we last met…" he concluded, not looking disappointed.

"So… Isabella Marie Swan, will you go out with me?"

Bella didn't spend time pondering the question. She gave the only answer she thought appropriate under the current circumstances: an inexpressive "yes".

Jacob didn't look the least impressed, probably because he suspected that her answer might have been different in a more normal situation.

"You're aware that this is being taped, right?"

"Yes," Bella repeated faintly, lacking inspiration or courage for a better reply.

"Not anymore," Jacob said turning off the tape recorder. "I hope you meant it, cause I would really like to take you on a date."

Before Bella had time to even wonder how that would happen, Jacob heard someone calling him from outside.

Bella didn't feel the same blood-freezing shock when she was again pulled in front of the window, restrained and at gun point for the second time in the same day. Maybe she'd gotten used to it, or she just felt too numb to even think of trying to escape. She looked at the various expressions on the faces of the inmates, officers and guards outside. The annoyed face of the warden gave her the impression that he looked mostly miffed about being interrupted from his coffee or smoke break. Not in a million years would she have imagined that an old, fat version of Philip Seymour, wearing an expensive-looking dress shirt, watch and tie clip, would have the decisive say in whether or not a bullet went through her head that day.

"Black, what the hell is this? Didn't I tell you to wait until –"

"I don't wanna hear it! Let the boys come get the guard out of here! " Jacob said sharply, looking in the direction of the two burly inmates he had sent for earlier.

As soon as the warden confirmed that they could go in, Dean and Rodney climbed through the window. Working together, they managed to haul the heavy guard, who was now mumbling incoherently, safely into the yard. Bella noticed in passing that one of the guys threw a defiant smile, and a 'good luck' in Jacob's direction.

It was only the two of them left in the room now. They were both facing a pissed-looking warden, who was getting red and sweaty from waiting in the sun.

"Black, if that man –"

"Did you talk to my sister?"

"Uh, no, I got a woman named Sue-something on the phone and she said your sister hasn't returned yet."

Bella heard Jacob draw a deep breath. He spoke in a lower voice:

"Come closer to the window. Come on, I won't shoot you." … though I've thought about it, Jacob reassured, keeping the last part to himself.

When the warden was only 2 feet away from the window, Jacob resumed, trying to keep his tone down:

"I practically begged you for a leave and you didn't even give a shit about the reason why I needed it. Now I'm going to take not only that leave, but your car for a ride too".

Crowley's eyes bugged out of his head. He pursed his lips as if preparing to throw a canon ball through them, but Jacob didn't wait to hear him erupt into a torrent of insults and threats.

"Don't sweat it; you'll get it back without a scratch. I just want to take this pretty lady out on a date. She said yes, didn't you sweetie?" Jacob lowered his mouth to Bella's ear and she nodded rapidly, trying to look convincing and not scared-as-shit like she felt.

But the warden's grim face told them that he was far from being persuaded by this type of argument. It was time to pull out the big guns.

"If you can't part with your toy car, then we'll all just spend a glorious day right here. Or maybe not, since you'll be too busy scraping her brains and mine from the walls until the IDJC guys get here! That wouldn't sit well in your record, would it, Crowley?"

Bella could tell from the change in Jacob's tone of voice that he was hanging onto his last straw of patience. A sharp shiver went down her spine at hearing his words – was he really willing to kill himself too if he didn't get what he wanted? Things looked a lot more serious when he'd put it all on the line like that. The warden's now petrified face showed that the words had achieved their desired effect. But what Bella didn't know was that it was the crazed gleam in Jacob's eyes that had done the trick. For her own sanity, it was lucky that she hadn't seen it.

"Throw the key to Doherty and tell him to bring the car here."

The warden looked tortured as he turned in slow motion, threw the keys to Doherty and muttered the command. But his bruised ego was quick to recover, and as soon as they could see the shiny new all-black BMW Coupe coming around the corner of the building, he turned to Jacob with a spiteful look and grumbled through his teeth:

"You have no idea what you started. This will cost you more than you think."

Jacob didn't bother with a reply. He didn't care a hang about Crowley's dramatic u-turn and angry strut across the yard. He told Officer Doherty to get out of the car and open the gates, but leave the motor running. The officer was obviously reluctant to take orders from one of the kids. He complied nevertheless, since he hadn't been otherwise instructed by the warden.

Jacob looked at the kids in the yard and noticed Jed among them, wearing a preoccupied look on his face. But he couldn't afford to waste time now, so he called Dean and asked him to take Bella out the window and get her into the car while he got out. Dean seemed very glad to help and excited at the prospect of participating in an illegal enterprise, so he did exactly as Jacob told him.

When Jacob landed on the ground, below the window with Bella's bag in one hand, he saw a small figure running towards him. He looked just in time to be caught in a tight hug by none other than Jed.

"Jed man, I don't have time for this, sorry!" He quickly pulled himself away and threw a regretful glance in Jed's direction, before opening the driver's door.

"It's ok, take care Jake!" Jed replied with his usual benevolent smile and a hint of nervousness, right before the door shut. The car took off with a roar, stirring a cloud of dust behind it.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-