Xxx
A week or so after the wedding, I was basically living in the garage. Now that Bella and more importantly Edward weren't home it gave me a chance to get to work. Bella was under the impression that we had hauled her truck off to a junkyard once I realized there was no saving it. However, what she didn't know was that it was in fact still at the house, hidden in the back yard out of sight under a tarp.
It was my goal to restore it, I just needed time and with the two of them off on their honeymoon, I had that chance. The work wasn't the issue, if I could restore the Mustang given the rough shape that thing was, Bella's truck shouldn't be so difficult. The body was in perfect shape, the interior was fine. Both of those took out steps right there. The Mustang's body was decrepitated and the interior was virtually non-existent.
The main issue was finding the engine. No matter where I had called, no one seemed to have the exact engine and I wanted a full restoration.
It gave me something to do, because I had decided that I would not be returning to school. I had already talked to my Forks friends and explained the situation. The reason I wouldn't be going back was the real issue. I may be pretty creative, but I was drawing a blank.
Esme came up with the excuse in the end. She explained that I would be taking courses online because I was going to spend a semester in Scotland with my relatives over there. It wasn't enough to sway my friends who I talked too. They were disappointed and wanted me to change my mind, but I couldn't, I couldn't go back. Maybe in a few years, maybe when it came time for Bella to join us at school I would go back. But going back to school right now went against every instinct in me.
I've learned to listen to my profile very carefully and though I may take it with a grain of salt, this time around I trusted it. I saw that I needed to do this. Give myself a break from school, from that part of human life. Mentally I knew I needed that break.
I was just going over the schematics for the truck, I had found them online, the same site that had the information for the Mustang. I put the plans down when I heard footsteps in the woods, just outside the garage.
I was the only one home surprisingly, it never happens; Esme and the girls were in Seattle shopping, Carlisle had a shift at the hospital, and Emmett and Jasper had driven to Port Angeles to go see a movie, a movie that I had no desire to see. Snakes on a Plane. Yeah no, I am not an idiot, I am not going to go see a movie that involves a plane. So I opted to stay home.
I slid off my stool and cautiously walked towards the door, I didn't smell anything out of the ordinary and didn't see anything to explain the footsteps I clearly heard.
What the hell, I thought
"Hello?" I called, no one answered, not that I expected an answer, it was strange, but it wouldn't be the first time I've heard things. Shrugging it off, I went back to the stool and turned my radio on, just for some background music while I worked.
It didn't take long before I heard the footsteps again, this time however they were accompanied by a voice.
"What the hell did you do to that truck you little Flea,"
I went stiff, recognizing that voice and unfortunately that scent…unsure how I missed it before I growled a little.
Jacob.
"I beg your pardon?" I replied turning to face the much bigger teen that was leaning against the doorframe of the garage, he was glaring at me and looked disheveled, like he hadn't slept in days, I don't think he'd bathed in those few days either, he looked like hell. Worse than he had at the reception.
"I spent years working on that truck, then you come along and kill it. What the hell?"
"Hey!" I exclaimed "for your information the truck died on its own accord, I had nothing to do with it, in fact if anything I did all I could to save it." I paused "and for another thing, how is it, we can't come onto your lands and we honour that, and yet you can waltz onto our private property?"
Jacob didn't answer that right away, he just glared at me some more.
"That's the original engine in that truck, if you killed that you're going to have to find a replacement." he finally said and it was all I could do not to give him a 'duh' face
"No really?" I said "wow, I never would've guessed it considering how many times I changed the oil and did repairs on the bloody thing." I looked at the truck as if I was admiring it "and you say it really needs an engine to run, holy hell I never would've guessed that."
"So it is true you leeches kill everything you touch huh?" I rolled my eyes "takes a lot of skill to kill an antique truck,"
"Hey, Judge Judy, before you go accusing me of anything you outta know that Bella called ME when it died, since you were MIA she called me to come and check the truck out. I did what I could to revive it but the engine's shot. Whoever restored it originally did a pretty crappy job."
Now Jacob moved away from the doorframe and inched towards me, a look of pure hate on his face.
"What did you say you little Flea?"
"You heard me." I replied "doesn't matter now, it's dead, I have to rebuild it from the engine up. Replace all the parts to get it running again. Sometimes old things just die and there's nothing that can be done to save them." I paused and crossed my arms. "So is there something I can help you with Jacob, or did you just feel the sudden need to visit?"
Jacob didn't answer me for a moment, shame had replaced the hate on his face. Granted he was trying to hide it and to someone who couldn't profile, hate was the only emotion, but I saw the shame, the guilt, even the fear.
"I was in the neighborhood, heard that Bella's truck had kicked the bucket and came to see exactly what you did to it."
"Let me guess Seth was thinking about him and I going to Portland next week to look at an engine?"
"So that's true?"
"Uh, yeah it's true, not that it's any of your business. And he did ask his mum for permission, again if that's any of your business. Seth knows a thing or two about cars, and anyone tries to stiff us 'cause we're a couple of kids, Seth can go all Lon Chaney on them." I added joking about that last part, but Jacob didn't seem find it funny.
He growled a little and I wondered for a second if he would be this brave, this intimidating if I wasn't home alone. He really didn't take me serious, didn't think I was a threat.
"Have you heard from your brother?" Jacob growled and I rolled my eyes "I said have you heard from your brother?"
"I heard you just fine Jacob, there's nothing wrong with my hearing, yours maybe, but not mine."
"Have…you…heard…from…him!?" Jacob repeated, spelling it out for me, as if I needed that.
"You're like a broke record you know that? Emmett and Jasper are at the movies, they don't call to check in."
"Not them, have you heard from…Edward." He managed to spit out
I sighed, I knew who he was talking about of course and I knew why. But it was definitely more fun to annoy him, especially knowing full well, he wouldn't hurt me, he couldn't for that matter and we both knew it.
"Edward is on his honeymoon with his wife as you know. He doesn't check in with us." I explained, I lifted myself up onto the workbench table. "But if he does I'll be sure to pass any messages you have for him on."
"Where did they go?"
"Somewhere tropical." I replied "somewhere private,"
"You know where they went flea?"
"'Course I do, I've been there once or twice. But I'm not going to tell you. 'Cause you'll go do something stupid. Leave them alone, let them enjoy their happiness."
"You're a stupid little kid you know that, stupid or just blind."
"I'm neither Jacob and if you opened your eyes and thought about someone else's happiness for once instead of wallowing in your own self-pity, you'd see the happiness. You'd see that after a hundred years of loneliness, Edward finally has his other half, you'd also see that Bella is happy with my brother."
"Shut up," Jacob growled
"Need I remind you Jacob, you're on private property, which brings up my original question? How is it, that it's not okay for us to cross over the treaty line just to go swimming at First Beach, and yet it's perfectly acceptable for you to waltz onto our private property and try to raw with me for no reason."
Jacob started to argue with me when his face went extremely confused, his eye brow went up.
"What the hell is trying to raw?" he asked, his voice wasn't angry, it was curious and I chuckled a little, relaxing.
"It means you're starting a fight with me." I explained
"So why didn't you just say that. You Brits really are weird." Jacob said, he paused "so what exactly happened to the truck? Did you figure it out?"
I studied Jacob's face, trying to see what he was up too, was he just trying to get me to drop my guard or was he really asking about the truck instead of accusing me of killing it?
"It wasn't intentional," I said pointedly
"Sure it wasn't, but makes no difference who did it, at least you didn't give up on it."
"I couldn't give up on it. Thought maybe I could restore it and give it to Bella as a birthday present." Jacob nodded "and it'll annoy Edward in the process. For me it's a win, win."
"Annoy Edward?" Jacob asked
"If I wasn't a hundred percent sure that Bella's truck just reached its end, I would have guessed that Edward did something to it, just to be rid of it." I paused "but I went through the entire truck, it was just time."
"So what happened?"
"Bella called me up said the truck was puttering along then it just croaked, no explanation, nothing. I did all I could to examine the engine, I could hear it trying to turn over, but it wouldn't do it. I don't know exactly what happened but the stupid thing exploded."
Jacob's eyes went wide, he looked the garage over as if he was looking for the damage left over by an explosion."
"Uh," he started to say
"Not that kind of explosion, it was just a Mount Vesuvius eruption of oil. I didn't even think the truck had that much oil in it."
"Must've been hell to clean up,"
"Considering most of it ended up all over me, yeah as a matter of fact it was, mum wouldn't even let me into the living room."
I heard snickering, it was coming from Jacob, he was actually trying not to laugh, I don't think I've ever seriously heard him laugh. His attempt to not laugh failed pretty quickly as he burst out laughing, it echoed through the garage and I joined him.
When our laughter finally calmed down, Jacob took a small step into the garage towards the truck. I could see he didn't want to invade my space and was actually being respectful of it, which surprised me.
"So what's the plan of attack Fl…Chris." He finally said. I nodded my approval, calling me by my name is a rare thing, I've always been referred to as Flea when it comes to most of the pack, Seth excluded from that.
"I've got some of the basic parts on order, I got an email from some guy in Portland said he has the original engine, Seth and I were going to take a road trip next week to go check it out." I paused "it's all interior that has to be repaired, the body, the cosmetic stuff, everything else is fine. Y-you did a nice job with the repairs Jacob."
"Was that a compliment?" Jacob asked
"Take it however you want, but regardless of the truck's current status, it was a good vehicle and I'm going to do whatever I can to get it back into that state."
Jacob wandered through the garage and stopped in front of the Mustang.
"You restore this yourself?"
"Me an' Rosalie." I said "took us a few months to restore it. But it something that we're good at."
"Blondie is a car chick?" Jacob asked, clearly surprised by that "no way."
"She's more than just a 'car chick' Jacob." I explained "everything I know about cars, rebuilding them, repairing them, everything is because my sister. She taught me everything I know."
"I don't believe it."
"I was edgy after Carlisle changed me. You have to imagine what it was like for me Jacob. I was thirteen, nearly fourteen. I had just faced death, was turned into a creature I had once believed was simply fiction…simply legend, I was brought from a city ravaged by nightly bombings to a tranquil and calm place. The very opposite end of the spectrum I had come from, I had left my parents to endure."
Jacob moved towards one of the portable raisers we have in the garage and plunked his butt down.
"Your parents?"
I nodded
"Yes, my parents, my father was a medic, he was killed a month or so after Carlisle saved me, saving St. Paul's Cathedral from German firebombs. My mother died shortly after, just gave up on life." I paused "I've got a short attention span Jacob, an extremely short one. Within a few days of living in the Cullen's house, not allowed to venture outside without someone with me, explosions from the mine occurring on a daily basis, reminding me of the bombings in London, I was going mad. Rosalie had to do a tune up on Carlisle's car, to take my mind off everything she asked me to come out to the garage and act as her assistant. I think at that point I was driving the whole family bonkers, pacing back and forth like some caged animal."
"I still can't believe it was Blondie." Jacob replied "but go on,"
"Rose would tell me what tool she needed and I was to hand them to her, easy enough. From the moment I started helping her out with just that simple task I felt calmer, I started asking her what each tool did, asking her all sorts of questions about the car and automobiles in general. My father had taken his car off the road early on in the war, stripped the tyres, and siphoned the gas and the oil all for the war efforts. I'd been interested in cars before the war, but not as a hobby, more of a general curiosity. Sitting there handing tools to Rose I was able to use my ability to profile the car, I knew something else was wrong with it, I could just tell, Rose listened to me and checked where I thought there was a problem and found out I was right. I didn't know exactly what the problem was, I just knew there was one. After that, she started teaching me everything she knew about cars, I picked it up pretty quick and it wasn't very long before I wasn't Rose's assistant, I was her partner."
"A girl and a Brit working on classic American cars, if that's not a strange story I don't know what is"
"Hey, watch it," I shot back "I'll have you know that not all cool cars are American, point in fact some of the best cars are foreign. Porsche, Audi, Maserati, Ferrari, and for your information we Brits do know something about automotive endeavors, ever heard of an Austin Healy."
"Yeah of course, who hasn't?"
"That's a product of the good ol' United Kingdom."
"Okay kid I get it, you know cars." Jacob paused and stood up dusting his hands off on his jeans "think you can actually get it up and running?" he asked nodding at the truck
"Before Bella's birthday?" I asked, Jacob nodded "I don't know, I'm going to try, I'm going to work my arse off to get it finished in time, but if not it'll have to be a Christmas present."
Jacob took a deep breath, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked the truck over carefully.
"Look I did a lot of the work on the truck. It was my dad's and was supposed to be mine, but Charlie mentioned that Bella was going to be living with him and she would need a car, so I finished working on it and we sold it to Charlie."
I nodded
"Yeah I know,"
"So what I'm saying is if you need help with it, or suggestions on it, let me know. It's not that I don't trust your mechanical skills-"
"I know it's not I get it. Extra help isn't a bad thing. I'll just think of you as a consultant. If I need help on something I'm stuck on or Rose is stuck on we'll call in for a second opinion."
"Yeah that makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I'm going to get called in by a vampire for consultation, like some deranged game of doctor."
"Could be worse," I replied and Jacob looked me "there could be a vet involved." I grinned wide and he seemed taken aback by that for a second.
"Right, I'm leaving now." Jacob started to leave the garage, but he paused "how long were they going to be gone?" he asked
I shrugged
"I really don't know Jacob, I'm not my brother's keeper, I don't keep track of him. I may know where him and Bella are on their honeymoon but I have no idea how long they'll be there. Alice and Jasper were there for a month after they were married."
"A month!?" Jacob kind of squeaked
"Oh chill," I replied
"This sucks," he muttered and headed out into the woods disappearing into the thick forest.
I sighed, that was definitely interesting to say the least. I heard the sound of rubber on the rocky dirt of our driveway, it sounded like the Jeep not the Audi or the Mercedes, so I knew my brothers were returning home from their movie. This was confirmed when Emmett came whipping around the bend and slammed on the brakes right in front of the garage, sending little rocks flying into the air.
"Dr. Doolittle!" Emmett exclaimed as he jumped out of the Jeep "dude you missed a kick ass movie!"
Jasper who was not as excited as Emmett nodded quickly in agreement with him. He was grinning as he walked over to me.
"It really was Chris, plane aside I think you would have enjoyed it."
"Yeah it's still about a plane, I saw the trailers guys, bloody snakes get loose on a bloody plane, start eating people, big ass bloody python is involved, and Samuel L. Jackson saves the day. Did I get the basics?"
Jasper and Emmett exchanged a look
"It's not the same as seeing it though," Emmett argued
"It involves a plane I don't want to see anything that involves aircrafts with the potential to crash."
"You watched Airplane and liked that," Jasper pointed out
"Comedy, knew it wasn't real." Was my reply, my brothers exchanged another look and sighed.
"You're impossible, when it comes out on DVD we're renting it and you will sit your… how do you say it, arse down and watch it." Emmett finished
"Keep telling yourself that," I replied, my brothers grinned at each other and started walking into the house when Jasper stopped short, he gave the air a sniff and gave me a puzzled look.
"Was Seth here?" he asked, clearly recognizing the scent, but not sure entirely who it belonged to.
"No," I started taking a deep breath "Jacob,"
Now Jasper went from curious and confused to stiff.
"What the hell did he want Chris?"
"To know when Bella and Edward were coming home,"
Emmett didn't seem to care about the tension, he grinned wide and nudged Jasper in the ribs.
"They're on their honeymoon, who knows how long they'll be gone right?" he asked "they've got a lot of getting to know each other to get done huh? It could takes weeks, months, years." His grin widened "it could be decades before we see the lovebirds."
Jasper ignored Emmett's ribbing and looked at me sternly.
"What did you tell him?"
"That I don't keep track of Edward's schedule and I don't know when they'll be home, that they're enjoying their honeymoon. He also wanted to know where they went, wouldn't tell him that either."
"Can't let it go can he, what is that guy's issue?" Emmett asked coming out of his joking mood
"Who the bloody hell knows," I replied "he also accused me of purposely killing the truck after all his hard work."
Jasper rolled his eyes
"idiot." He muttered
"Come on Jas, it's over and done with, he's gone."
"I don't like it Chris, I don't like him coming over here, especially when you're the only one home."
"I can take care of myself," I reminded my brothers as we headed into the house
"I know you can Chris, but how come he is allowed to just waltz onto our property uninvited, but we are bound by a treaty to stay off of their lands.
"Ironically, I asked him the same question, actually I didn't get an answer and I'm still curious."
"That fact aside, I just find it interesting that he decided to come over now and ask about Edward and Bella. He wouldn't have dared do that when we were all home, he waited until it was you."
I rolled my eyes at my brother's paranoia
"Jasper,"
"It's not being paranoid Chris, I'm being cautious. Especially around the fact that someone who has made it clear he doesn't like nor trust us, came onto our property without permission and interrogated you while you were the only one home. The feeling and distrust Jacob has for us, is mutual, your friendship with Seth aside, which is also toeing the line, I do not like Jacob nor do I trust him. I don't trust him around anyone in this family, but I especially do not trust him around you, Bella, or Alice."
"Hey!" I started to exclaim, I did not like Jasper putting me in a category with Alice and Bella, I knew why he wouldn't trust Jacob around Bella, she's human and therefore frail.
Alice he still fears for her safety because of her size and the fact that around the wolves her vision is blind. But he should know better than that, Alice and I may be the smallest in the family, but we are nowhere near the weakest.
We can take care of ourselves with no problem, even against the pack. Especially me, I mean pack wide I'm not their favorite person…vampire, whatever, but Seth has become one of my best friends, and friendship has to be based on a mutual trust and we definitely have that. He trusts that I won't go Dracula on him and try to kill him and I trust him not to pull a Wolfman and eat me.
"Let me finish Chris, it's not because I believe you and Alice cannot take care of yourselves, we all know you can do just fine. But Jacob clearly sees you both as the weaker members of this family and therefore he thinks he has a chance to intimidate you. Bella he seems bent on controlling for whatever reason and sooner or later He's just going to have to realize that it's over and he needs to let go."
"Yeah, that'll happen." I replied "not." I paused "there's something about Jacob, when he looks at Bella I can see it, I can profile it, I'm not quite sure what it is exactly, but it's there. Like he has the need to protect her, the need to just be around her. It's the strangest thing."
We walked into the house and Emmett turned to me, he had been deep in thought for a while now and he seemed to have a revelation.
"Maybe he did that, whatcha call it…impersonate her?" he asked "no, wait that doesn't sound right…impollenate, is that even a word?"
I chuckled
"I think you mean imprint,"
"Yeah that's it, maybe he imprinted on Bella and that's why he so freakishly attached."
I shook my head
"I don't think it works that way Em, I've been talking to Seth, he kind of explained it to me, I don't get the technical stuff with it, but I think if Jacob had imprinted on Bella, Edward wouldn't have had a chance in hell. Bella would know it and so would Jacob."
"So there's more to it?' Emmett asked switching on the TV for a football game "man talk about confusing as all hell."
"You're telling me."
"So when are the girls due home?" Jasper asked and I shrugged
"Dunno, they just said they'd be gone for a few hours, but think about who we're talking about here."
"Good point," Jasper replied he grinned a little at Em, then looked at me "was Edward's party the last time you went hunting?"
I nodded
"I was going to go later on,"
"How about now?" Jasper asked and I grinned
"Sure sounds good to me, Em? You in?"
"Oh come on, the Seahawks are about to crush the Giants, I've been waiting all week for this game." He whined
Jasper and I exchanged a look and chuckled
"It'll be on again Emmett, come on, come hunting with your brothers," Jasper said grinning, Emmett grumbled a little bit more, but caved and shut the TV off.
He grumbled the entire way towards our usual hunting spot, one that has never let us down it usually has an abundance of mountain lions and a few bears every once in a while. Emmett's mind was clearly back home on the game which considering it was a pre-season game I'm not entirely sure why he was so concerned about it.
However his grumpy demeanor quickly changed after we had all had our fill of critters. Jasper who wasn't even trying to alter his emotions made the first move and tackled Emmett into a fallen tree. Stunned for only a brief moment, Emmett retaliated and it didn't take long for me to join in as the wrestling match reached epic proportions. Going even insane and fun than Edward's bachelor party. It was just us having fun.
Of course none of us are psychic, so not one of us had any idea that this would be our last brotherly fun outing for a while, none of us knew that our lives were about to change forever…
