As always, I wanna thank everyone for supporting this story and giving me access momentum to continue and finish it!

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing that has to do with the Twilight Series. I only own the plot.


Chapter 9

~Bella's POV~

After months of ups and downs for Jake and me, things were finally looking up. It was just me and him without anyone or anything to mess things up again between the two of us. No vampire ex-fiancé or his future seeing sister and definitely no pack of shape shifting wolves. I doubt they believed my change of heart, all the more reason that I was glad to not have them in the mix. This time was perfect to allow us to be just Jake and Bells again and we weren't going to take it for granted.

"I was wondering..." I begin, in hope to break the silence between us as we walked through the crowded streets of downtown Seattle, holding hands and just enjoying spending time together.

"Wondering what?" Jacob asked curiously, looking down at me.

"You know how I tend to over think certain things..." I bit my lip as I trailed off while I tried to figure out how to say what I wanted to say.

"Spit it out, Bells," Jacob urged. "You know that you can tell me anything."

I had to smile at the truth of that, giving a little nod in agreement, I gathered my thoughts and started talking. "Okay, it's just...it's bothering me that it seems our agreement to start over new is just because we can't stand the idea of not being in each other's lives," I admitted, I wasn't gonna hold anything back. 'It makes me wonder if that's the only reason why we agreed to restart."

Jacob stopped walking and abruptly pulled me towards a more private area of the sidewalk.

"You're right," Jacob said with a smile.

I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion. "About what?"

"You over think certain things," he chuckled. "This happens to be one of those things."

"I figured it might be," I said quietly.

"We both know that there's more to what we agreed..." he trailed off before correcting himself. "To be honest, I don't even like calling it an agreement. If we call it an agreement, then where's the contract that we need to sign?"

I don't think he meant that as a joke, but I laughed anyways.

He gave me a look and my laughing ceased.

"Sorry," I apologized.

Jake nodded at my apology and continued. "We both know that we're working on rebuilding our friendship because we have something that can't be overlooked."

"Yes, I do know," I agreed with him.

What he said next had me wanting to run for the hills and not come back.

"It's because we love each other," he said to me.

I swallowed the nervous lump in my throat brought on by his words.

I wanted to say, "Yes, we do love each other."

But all that would come out was, "yep."

Jake's face clouded with sadness, causing me to feel bad. It was fleeting as he covered it up with his sunny grin.

"When you're ready to say you love, it'll happen. I'm not going to force you to say it if you're not ready."

I nodded and smiled in acknowledgement to what he said.

"I'm not pressuring you to say it back or anything..." He paused.

"Oh, god. I know what's coming next," I said to myself.

"But, you know I love you," he finished his train of thought.

His words made me melt, I would never get enough of him saying that to me. They sounded so perfect coming from him.

"And, I know you love me, too...even if you can't say it out loud on your own yet."

"If he wasn't tied to the pack, he'd make an excellent motivational speaker," I thought. "He could convince me to doing anything."

I was trying to distract myself from the guilt that I felt for not being able to say the words out loud back to him.

"I might just be biased," I laughed half heartedly to myself. "Nope, that's not helping me at all."

I hated knowing that even though I had changed my mind and chose him, my inability to say those three words to him were a cause to his emotional pain.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked myself. "I love him but for the love of God, why can't I tell him out loud?"

Let the mental ass kicking begin.

"I should have never brought it up," I said quietly.

"It's fine," Jacob said.

I shook my head. "No, it's not, we're supposed to be working on our friendship. I brought that up and now we're on more of a relationship level than a friendship level."

Jacob thought for a moment before his mouth took the form of a sly grin. "I know just the way that we can fix this."

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"

Jacob gave me one last grin before turning and walking down the sidewalk.

"What is he doing?" I asked myself as I watched him in confusion.

He walked a few feet before he turned back around.

"What are you doing?" I called out to him.

He didn't say a word as he walked back up to me and extended one of his hands towards me.

I looked down at his hand and then back up to him. "Wha..." I started to ask.

He cut me off and jokingly introduced himself. "I'm Jacob. It's nice to meet you."

I burst out laughing. "Oh my gosh, Jake! You're such a dork!"

Jacob shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "But, it worked."

His grin was a lot closer to the sunny grin that I had missed so much, I noted.

"Not much longer and it'll be back fully," I thought to myself.

I smiled and shook my head. "Yes, yes it did work," I agreed. "You're a dork, but you're a successful dork."

"If I'm a dork, then what does that make you?" Jacob asked.

"The normal one," I quipped without hesitation while trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably.

"The dork would have to successfully disagree with that one," he said, throwing my own words back at me.

"You can't use my own words against me!" I exclaimed.

"Yep, I can...I just did," he stated proudly.

"Cheater," I accused. "Use your own words," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

He reached out to grab me, I ducked under his arm and took off down the sidewalk. "Too slow!" I called back.

I never stood a chance. I could hear him gaining on me and screamed when his arms wrapped around me, causing my feet to leave the ground.

"You were saying?" he laughed.

I pouted. "You didn't give me a good enough head start."

"You better get used to it if you're planning on sticking around for a while," he said suddenly serious.

I wasn't surprised that he was throwing some tests at me here and there.

"Of course I'm sticking around," I smiled at him after he had put me down and turned to face him. "Not just for awhile, Jake...for life."

~EAW~

Not too terribly long later, we were at the top of the space needle. I was enjoying the view from above while Jacob was enjoying the all you can eat buffet paid by who else...but Edward. I was undecided whether I should be jealous or disgusted that he was already able to eat again when we had eaten lunch not too long ago. It had to be nice to be a bottomless pit when it came to food.

"The view of the city from here is phenomenal!" I exclaimed as I looked out the window.

"The view of all this food is better," Jacob said, his voice muffled from having a mouth full of food.

"Okay Shaggy," I joked, casting a brief glance in his direction. "Don't forget that Scooby isn't here to help you eat all of that."

Jacob rolled his eyes, "You know just as well as I do that I can eat all of this by myself."

I shook my head and laughed. "I don't know if I should be jealous or disgusted by how much you can eat on your own."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a growing man."

"Boy who looks like a man," I teased.

Jacob gave me a dirty look and ignored me, his attention turned back to the plates of food that were in front of him.

"Just imagine having to cook for him in the future," I told myself. "Oh god...won't that be nice?"

"Bella," I heard someone call my name, breaking me away from my thoughts.

I looked around to see who called my name and saw Anna making her way towards the table.

I smiled. "Hey, Anna!"

"What are the chances of us running into each other at a restaurant again?" she laughed, walking up to the table with a guy, who I figured had be her husband.

"Apparently, very good," I laughed in return.

She nodded her head in agreement. "Bella, this is my husband, Matt. Matt, Bella," she introduced us.

"It's nice to meet you," I said with a small smile.

"You, too," he replied.

Anna smiled and looked towards Jacob. "I assume you're Jacob?"

Jacob looked from Anna to me and then back to Anna. "I take it you heard quite a bit about me?"

Anna nodded. "You are correct."

"Our stories of how we got to where we are now are very similar," I stated.

My eyes were on him while I tried to figure out what he was thinking about me having told Anna so much.

"She's a keeper," Anna said, sparing a glance at Jacob. "I just wanted to put that out there."

When Anna looked back in my direction, I mouthed a quiet, "Thank you."

She shook her head yes and mouthed back a silent, "You're welcome."

As it turned out, meeting Anna was more of a Godsend than I originally thought.

"I would love to stay and chat but I finally talked Matt here into riding the Ferris Wheel with me," she said, obviously knowing when to back off before she went too far. "It was nice to see you again," she smiled at me.

"Likewise," I replied, smiling back.

"Hopefully, we'll meet up again before one of us checks out," she said.

I nodded my head in agreement.

She offered a smile in Jacob's direction. "Okay, well it was nice meeting you, Jacob."

Jacob waited until they were out of hearing range and sight before he questioned me, "How much did you tell her, exactly?"

I shrugged as I stole a fry from his plate. "Not too much," I answered, which was the truth. I didn't tell her what everyone in the situation was..now that would have been too much for sure. "You know..we should go ride the Ferris Wheel too," I suggested with the hope of changing the subject.

Jacob sat there while he stared at me in silence for a few seconds before he nodded in agreement.

I shrugged my shoulders and stole a fry from Jacob's plate. "Not too much," I answered, which was the truth since I didn't tell her what everyone in the situation was...now that would be too much. "You know we should go ride the Ferris Wheel after this, too," I suggested in hopes of changing the subject.

Jacob sat there and stared at me in silence for a while longer before nodding his head.

"Yeah, alright," he said. "Sounds like fun."

"Yes, it does sound like fun," I agreed. "Well, isn't this just great?" I asked myself. "Now I'd probably end up having to apologize to him for telling Anna more than he was comfortable with me telling." I sighed. "How was I supposed to know that he wouldn't be okay with me telling her? It's not like I could read his mind...no pun intended."

~EAW~

Approximately twenty or so miserable minutes later spent in silence, we made our way back onto land. Jacob hadn't spoken one word since asking me about how much I had told Anna. His silence spoke volumes, I knew he was stewing about all of that. It wasn't like I did it on purpose, I was venting in hopes that I'd feel better afterwards.

Jake was walking ahead of me as I bit my lip and followed.

"Jake, are you gonna say anything?" I asked loudly, having had enough of the silence.

No reply, he just kept on walking.

"Jacob!" I called after him.

Still no reply and he didn't miss a step.

"That's it," I huffed, running to catch up.

I didn't care that we were surrounded by crowds of people as I passed him and turned, stopping right in front of him. Everyone that was walking could move around us, I wasn't budging until I got some answers.

"Is this because I told Anna too much?" I questioned, my arms folded against my chest.

I had no other ideas why he was suddenly acting this way.

"No, it's not that," he answered quietly.

"Then what is it?" I asked feeling clueless and slightly agitated. "The same goes for you, Jacob. You can tell me anything."

Jacob sighed before giving in and telling me what was wrong. "It's not what you told her, it's what she said."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "What do you mean it's what she said?"

"She said that you're a keeper," he said.

If I wasn't confused before, I was definitely confused now.

"Is that suppose to be a bad thing?" I asked with a frown.

I'd be lying if I said that that statement didn't hurt me. Why would that statement make him act like this? Was me being a keeper a bad thing?

Jacob shook his head. "No, of course it's not," he answered quickly when he realized how his statement has affected me.

"Then, what's wrong with that statement?" I asked not understanding how that couldn't be a bad thing.

"Everyone seems to have figured that out before me," he confessed.

"That I didn't expect," I thought to myself.

"It doesn't exactly feel good that while I was fighting with myself over whether to give you another chance or give up on you that everyone else didn't have to think it through. They knew that you were a keeper and that I should give you a second chance," he explained. "My dad, Seth, and Anna...they all knew and I didn't."

I heard him talking but didn't actually comprehend what he was saying after he said, "give you up."

"Had he actually almost given up on me?" I asked myself, not really knowing the answer.

I should have asked him that question, not myself.

I was about to ask him the said question but before I could, something behind him caught my eyes. My mouth snapped shut of its own accord, my eyes grew wide.

"They're here," I whispered to Jacob.

Jacob heard me loud and clear while he sniffed the air.

He growled once he caught their scent.

"Turn around slowly and start walking," he ordered quietly.

I nodded my head and did as he said.

"Just stay calm," he said. "Keep your heartbeat steady."

"Believe me, I'm two steps ahead of you," I replied, breathing in and out evenly to keep my heart beat at its normal pace.

"Get ready to run," he told me.

"Run?" I asked. "Why?"

"If I could smell them from here, then they can definitely smell me," he answered.

"Oh, right."

"When we turn the corner start running," he spoke quietly still.

"Does he already know the plan?" I asked, hesitantly.

Jacob shook his head and slowed down, stepping in behind me. I guess to momentarily block me from their view when I started to run.

"I'm blocking him from my thoughts."

"How?"

"Lyrics."

"Good idea," I said with a small smile.

"Alright, get ready," he told me as we got closer to the corner.

"Easier said than done," I thought to myself. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," I whispered, took a deep breath just as we rounded the corner.

"Run!" he whisper yelled.

He didn't have to tell me twice.

I didn't run nearly as fast as he did, it was no surprise that he easily kept up with me.

He quickly and quietly explained his plan to me. We were going to run together until I got tired and by then, we could split up. Edward and Alice would follow him since they were most likely onto his scent and not mine. He would lead them far enough away so he could phase. Hopefully he could get a hold of Seth, Embry and Quil. The latter two, he was sure would be understanding about mine and Jake's situation, unlike Sam, Paul, and Jared. He had another plan for when he got them to help but there wasn't any time to fill me in on that one.

Per the plan, we ran until I was breathless, ignoring Edward and Alice as they yelled after us. One would think that they'd take the hint when we didn't pay them any mind the first few times they called out at us. Apparently some just never learn.

Thanks to the crowded sidewalks, we were able to lose them momentarily.

"Yeah, this is where we part ways," I panted quietly, out of breath while leaning forward, placing my hands on my knees.

Jacob pulled me into an alley, out of the view of others, including Edward and Alice.

"Bells, you stay here for at least five minutes before heading back the way we came from," Jacob told me. "I'll continue leading them the way that we were already headed."

I nodded my head at his words.

"Alright, you go straight back to the hotel and stay there," Jacob demanded.

"I will," I promised him.

"I'll knock twice when I get there," he informed me. "Don't answer the door for any other knock."

"Got it," I assured him, while I leaned up on my tip toes and kissed him gently.

When I pulled back, Jacob was standing there wide eyed.

"What was that for?" he asked with a goofy grin.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I felt like it," I smiled. "Now go before they catch up."

Jacob opened his mouth to say something else but then stopped himself.

"I'll see you in a couple of hours," he said as he turned to leave the alley.

"If I don't then I'm sending a search party," I teased.

Jacob chuckled briefly and shook his head before disappearing around the corner.

I sighed and leaned back against the wall, ducking just out of sight.

Now all that was left to do was wait for five minutes and hope for the best.


There's Chapter 9! What do you think?

Review, please?!

Heads up for next chapter; it's gonna be Rated M, so if you don't like then skip the second part of Chapter 10. Part 1 (Jacob's POV) will be Rated T still, but Part 2 (Bella's POV) will be Rated M.

Next chapter; Jacob and Bella's POV - An accidental slip up of Bella's leads to something big happening between Bella and Jacob.