A/N: Holy shit, two updates in one week?! Yeah. I have something a little unexpected for you today. This chapter has dual perspectives that switch between Bella and Jacob. I felt that this was the only way to write this chapter, and I know some of you guys have been begging to get a look into Jacob's head. I have to admit as soon as I started to write this chapter, I couldn't stop. I was almost restless. And it was probably some of the most fun I've had in a long time. I hope you like it. You're in for quite a ride. *yes, that was a pun*

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Note: Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

Bella

I try not to let any excitement show on my face as he adjusts my jacket tightly, which strains trying to close around the other many layers that lie beneath it. My blood is singing, and for whatever reason, I can't help but think that this is fate. It was meant to happen, and all roads led to this moment.

His hands shake long after he's pulled up the silver zipper, and he can't look me in the eyes. I have to hold either side of his face and pull him down for him to spare me a glance at his eyes. His brows are furrowed in deep thought, and I know I can't leave him to imagine what I must be thinking. He has to be with me, right now, or else we'll both face the consequences. And I don't want to risk those on the long drive into town.

"Look at me, baby. It'll be alright." I stroke his ashen cheek, and lean on the tips of my toes to kiss the shadows underneath his eyes.

"I don't want to have to do this to you." He gestures towards the Rabbit with a flick of his head, and I know he means putting me in the trunk. But he's thought long and hard about it, and assures me that it'll be fine as long as I don't panic when he closes the lid behind him.

With a grim expression he holds out his hand for me to balance myself as I hoist my leg over the opening. He's laid blankets along the floor of the bed, and my chest tightens with a feeling I can't describe when I recognize a pillow among the mass of fabric.

Having a difficult time bending my left leg to lay comfortably, he guides my thigh with his warm hand firmly into place as if he's remembering just how he positioned me the first time I was laid down in the body of the Rabbit. I try not dwell on it as a glazed look comes into his eyes.

He pauses with a hand on the hood, taking in the sight of my body huddled as closely as I can get it before he leans down to brush his lips against mine, softly.

Jacob

I shouldn't have flinched when I saw her missing poster. Tattered, it barely held on. The lone staple on the top though fully embedded into the wooden post, could do nothing to help hold the paper made weak from the harsh winter wind.

She was smiling, that much I could tell despite the large rip that tore through the top half of her face. I'd known it was Bella, before ever looking down at the bottom half, knowing her name would be displayed in bolded letters. A number to the Forks Police Station was printed underneath, followed by the sentence: Any information pertaining to the whereabouts of Isabella Swan should be immediately called in.

I could feel my heart hammering in my chest. A nervous sweat came over my face, and hands. I felt like I couldn't breathe, as if I had red target on my back and I was standing in plain sight, waiting to be caught. The feeling only became worse, more heavy on my chest with the knowledge that Bella was in the trunk. If I were to be stopped or pulled over, there would be no telling just what I would have to do to get us both out of harm's way safely.

Thoughts of blood, and tearing through flesh came into my mind, welcomed for once since they didn't include Bella.

I sighed. This had been easier the first time, when she'd been so far under the influence of the tranquilizers that she still held no recollection of the night I had taken her, though she had woken more than once whilst traveling.

I can still remember the glazed look in her eyes as she stared at me, completely vacant in expression and in comprehension. I'd spoken softly to her, and she had relented, listening to my smooth voice lull her into the trunk when she accidentally kicked it open on the high way. I hadn't believed my luck, that I'd gotten all the way from Forks and to my home, undetected.

My hands tightened around the leather of the wheel. The sun was just starting to set, dusk only moments away. I'd had no other choice but to make this trip, no matter how much it could cost us. Watching her shiver for the past few days, her eyes teary and desperate made me willing to do anything. I couldn't deny her of warmth or of food, even if I was so despicable as to deny her her freedom.

Visions of her beneath me had kept me tethered away, distanced. Though they sated me, soon it hadn't been nearly enough. That brief moment we'd first met could only sustain me for so long. I had to know who she was, and it hadn't been as hard as I thought to find her once more.

Through spared glimpses, I had learned of her life, of who she was. I'd thought that by letting her live her own life, I couldn't bring any harm to her. But Cullen had drove things right over the edge, and without his interference, I don't think I could have mustered the courage to take her all on my own, without reason, without discourse. With abandon. Truly his involvement in her life, though unwanted, had been a blessing in disguise.

At least I had to think of it that way so that I wouldn't go looking for him. After learning of what he had done to Bella, I looked at her differently. She was damaged, broken inside. I don't even think she realized just how much of an impact his actions had had on her. But I started to see her clearly as if for the first time.

I remember being consumed by guilt at just how I had added to the damage. Of how I had forced her down and taken what I wanted, blinded by rage, knowing that she didn't want me. I had wanted her to see, to get it in her head that she was going nowhere. That she belonged to me, and always would.

But all that had done was push her further away from me. And with every violent act I committed, it drove her deeper into a place I couldn't penetrate. But given the opportunity to leave me, she hadn't taken any that chance had offered.

I hadn't known what to make of it, except to entertain the idea that she may have harbored the same feelings that she knew I clearly held for her. Only I couldn't have been more wrong. Soon she had wandered from the house, dawn fast approaching on her heels.

The fury I'd felt, I can't even describe. I'd taken her to the depths of hell that night, imprinting myself on her in the worst of ways. The reminder of my cruelty was slowly growing inside her now.

I looked in the rear view mirror out of habit, searching for any other vehicle on the road. I could see the shadow of a large truck looming several yards behind the Rabbit, and breathed a sigh of relief. They wouldn't stop.

I stare at the crumpled piece of paper in my hands, making out the loops and swirls of Bella's unruly handwriting to the best of my ability. Before we'd left I had told her to write down anything she would want me to purchase, and I found my lips curling up into a smile for the first time throughout this fucked up road trip.

Beef jerky. Lays chips. Cream cheese. Pisacchio ice cream. Brownies. I smirked thinking of how she'd come to have such cravings for junk food. Not once had I fed her anything remotely processed if it could be helped. I'd grown up on home-cooked meals myself until my mother had died, and later with Rachel's help learned my way around her recipes.

On Halloween she'd practically begged for something sugary and sweet. I relented, knowing I couldn't deprive her of the Kit-Kats she'd loved in her former life. If it was junk food that Bella asked for, how could I possibly say no? I added her suggestions to the cart, hoping the ice cream wouldn't melt too badly.

Surveying the meat section of the supermarket, I chose prime cuts with ease, filling the far right of the cart to the brim. With the basement freezer, I could keep the meat from spoiling for a month or two. Plenty of time to get a hold of some tranquilizers.

Those passing must have thought I meant to have a cookout once the weather lightened up, or assumed I'd been careless before the storm and forgot to stock up which was closer to the truth than I cared to admit.

I handled bags of potatoes, and picked steams of bananas and a few vines of grapes. Fruits I knew Bella cared for. I grabbed a plastic container of strawberries with the expectation that I would make her a strawberry jam to go with her cream cheese. She could spread the jam on bagels or crackers, which she'd added to the corner of the note as what looked to be like an after thought. I didn't neglect the vegetables as I passed, knowing they were essential to making any dish complete.

A dark roast of coffee soon followed the other items I'd chosen, along with a nice hazelnut blend I knew Bella had come to expect. She'd grown to love the taste, though sometimes it made it hard for her to sleep later in the day, but I'd never let her get near soda, and decided at this point though she had written it down on the list, all it was was unnecessary sugar that didn't need to be pumped into her body. I settled on looking for an alternative; a iced tea mix.

The back of the cart hit me suddenly in the back. The metal got caught on the edge of my bomber jacket, and I stood from where I'd been crouched in the aisle to separate the two.

"Sorry." I heard her voice before I saw her face. I thought nothing of the disruption until I turned my face to reply. I knew her name instantly without having to rake my mind from where I'd learned of her.

I continued to stand there, shocked.

"Alice, where are you?" She turned back, holding the handle of her cart tightly, until her knuckles turned white from the strain. Anxiousness crossed her face suddenly, before she quickly hid it behind a mask of indifference. But that didn't hide the tremor that went through her body when she saw the owner behind the harsh voice come closer. His bronze hair looked heinous underneath the fluorescent lights, stark, almost as if it wasn't natural.

"I'm right here, Edward."

Being so close, yet so far had me feeling as if hackles were standing up on my back. I pulled my cap down further, trying my hardest to appear as uninterested as I hoped they were in me.

I went back to reaching for the tea at the bottom shelf, as if I'd never been hit, and studied the yellow box as if I were reading it. I could feel her eyes on me, and I fought to steady my weight on the backs of my heels.

I listened as Cullen came down the aisle, the air becoming thick with tension when he only stood a foot away from her. "Why weren't you where I left you?"

"I wanted to look around. Is that such a crime?"

"Look around and what? Get snatched up?"

"Edward, you're being ridiculous."

"Am I?" I saw from the corner of my eye that his hand had come around to grip at her arm tightly, and she struggled to get away.

"We're in a fucking supermarket for God's sakes, where there are cameras everywhere."

"I don't give a fuck. You should listen to me when I tell you to do something." This sharpness of his voice made me turn my head, the profanities sounding infinity worse than they were when they left his lips in what could only be described as an annoyed hiss.

Alice's neck was flushed, and I knew she knew I had heard everything. Embarrassed, she stepped away with the cart, trying to hold back tears. He watched her with such distaste, you would have never thought that they had grown up together. Throughout all the fights Rachel and I had been through, I had never raised a hand to her in disrespect or with violent intent. But it looked as if the setting had been different, that's just what Edward would have done.

Feeling my stare on his face, he nodded his head toward the direction his sister had drifted off to and said, "Women."

I can feel Bella getting restless, and though she may not know it, she's starting to move the car. She's probably tossing and turning, and at this point, I know that I would rather have her be calm than become the reason why we're pulled over.

I stop on the side of the road, cutting the engine abruptly. Bella stops moving, but not before she kicks the trunk as if begging me to free her. I sigh, pocketing my keys before making my way toward the back of the Rabbit.

I unlock the trunk, waiting for her to dash out as soon as I clear the way, but all she does is lie down and stare at me with tears streaming down her face. "I know why you did it. Why you drugged me."

She sees how different it could have all been, how much mercy I had bestowed upon her. I could have had and ruined her, and left her to go on with her life. I could have been a random predator who sought her out and discarded her just the same. But I loved her, and that was the difference between selfish brutality, and the fate I had dealt her.

"Come." I hold out my hand to her, and she accepts, clinging to me when both of her feet are on the ground. I guide her to the front seat, and secure her seat belt, taking my time to calm her and let her know that everything is alright.

I stroke her face, wiping her tears where they've escaped her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Don't be sorry. Are you hungry?"

She nods, her mouth drawn in a pout. I kiss her lips, feeling my chest tighten when she reaches around to run her fingers through my hair. I pull away reluctantly, hard against my leg. It's been too long.

The silhouette of The Lodge stops me from driving any further. It's the only thing we've seen for miles, and I know I only have one more stop to make after this. I'll run and grab Bella a plate of food, and we'll be on our way. If I'm lucky, the next time I'll have to come into town all Bella will remember is sleeping the day away.

Her hand tightens around mine where she keeps it hostage in the center of her lap. She hasn't left the barn in almost five months, and it shows. After living in captivity, to be so close to the wild makes her shake nervously, as if she doesn't know how to function anymore. The threat of exposure has the opposite effect it once had.

"Bella," she flinches at the sound of my voice in the darkness of the cab. "I don't want you to be seen."

"Please, Jake. I don't want to go in the trunk anymore." She starts to wring her hand in mine. She's going to dislocate something if she doesn't stop soon. I squeeze her hand tightly enough so that it stills.

"You won't have to. I want you to hide in the backseat. Lie down on the floor, and don't come out until I come back. Do you understand?"

She follows my instructions, shaking like a leaf that threatens to break away from a tree in the beginning of autumn. I lock the door behind me, and check the backseat window to see if I can make out her body. I only catch a bit of her hair, the rest of her body is locked in tight underneath the worn seats. I think it'll work. I leave her before I start to really fret.

I walk up the front steps, and open the door to the diner. I pull my cap down once again, keeping my eyes peeled for anything even remotely threatening. My body is coiled with tension, ready at any moment to attack.

A hostess comes forward and welcomes me, asking if I need a table. "No, I'm getting something to go." She waves a hand toward the bar, and I thank her.

It's not until I've finished ordering that I notice just who sits on the next stool beside me. No, it can't be. I know I've stared at him far too long when the person next to him nudges him to look in my direction.

"I don't think I've seen you around, son."

"Just passing through." Though his words slurred from drinking the hard bottle of liquor he holds in his hand, I can almost see the gears turning in his head, feel him surveying my face with his beady eyes.

He sensed my otherness, my guilt without so much as a doubt that I was hiding something. His badge shone in the light, like a beacon on his uniform. I knew if I so much as gave him an inkling that I could be responsible for his daughter's disappearance like I was, I would be done for.

I'd never felt so gutted, so at a loss for what to do, not since my father had been alive. It felt like I had no control over the situation, and if I didn't run out of here as soon as I could, there could be a chance I'd get caught.

I start to sweat profusely, and I have to run a hand down my face to catch the nervous moisture that makes it's way through my skin. A nasty feeling comes into my stomach, and I swear that the walls are closing in on me.

I literally shake in my boots, trying to evade his gaze as best I could, but I know he's already gotten a good look at my face. Fuck. I can feel angry tears come into my eyes at the very thought of being separated from Bella. Of losing her.

Why couldn't we just be together? Why couldn't she love me as much as I loved her so I wouldn't have to constantly feel as if we were only a moments breath away from being over?

"Order up." I handed the woman behind the counter a ten, being careful to keep my wallet out of sight. My hands shook, and I swallowed hard. I knew if Chief Swan caught a glimpse of my name from my ID, that out of sheer curiosity, he'd look me up.

I don't notice that someone's following me until Bella's come up to the front seat once more.

Bella

"Shit." His voice is rough, as if he's falling to pieces and trying not to break at the same time.

"What is it?" He nods his head to the front of the diner. A man stands there, and stops short when he notices that we're both staring at him through the car windshield.

Jacob's grip on the steering wheel tightens and it is then I know what I have to do. I pull at his collar roughly, and smash my lips to his. Keeping a firm grip on his hair, I feel his shock and relief as he realizes my plan. Soon whoever had been leaning against the outside of the lodge drinking his beer, drifted back inside as if he'd never been interested in us at all.

I let out a deep breath, and pull away. He strokes the side of my face before finally taking a breath himself, a ring of smoke eliciting from his mouth. I rub my arms at the chill in the bed of the car, and he starts to engine quickly, moving to switch on the heat when he sees me start to shiver uncontrollably.

The warm plate of food in his lap beckons me, the aroma of gravy traveling through the brown bag they've placed the meatloaf and mashed potatoes in. "Jake," I gesture to the bag, and he hands it over, taking a plastic set of utensils from his coat pocket.

He begins to pull away from the curb, and soon we're back on the road, The Lodge long behind us.

"Be careful, baby. It's hot," he warns me, but I'm too hungry to listen. I blow on my spoonful of food after I burn my mouth on the first bite, and he shakes his head at me.

"You didn't get any for yourself." He shakes his head, and it's then I realize that he's too nervous, and shook up to even contemplate stomaching anything. His eyes move rapidly, scanning the road in the rear view mirror, looking for any other cars on the road. It makes me feel like we're some fugitives on the run in a blockbuster film, and I guess he fits the role of the criminal. I don't even want to think about who I would be. Who I am.

"I have to make a stop, then we'll go home, okay?" I nod my head at him, and he reaches with his right hand to pull me for a kiss. I melt into him, feeling my body come alive like a flame that's been doused with oil.

Jacob

"Holy fuck. Jacob. I hadn't thought I would see your face for a while. What are you doing here?" Paul stood in the doorway of his rundown shack, shirtless with bags under his eyes. It was clear that I'd woken him from whatever drug induced coma he'd been in since last night or this morning. The cold wind didn't seem to face him, in fact, it seemed to make him more alert, and probably more paranoid.

"I tried calling before, but nobody picked up." I thought back to the cell phone I kept buried in the front yard where Bella would never think to look and in the months we'd been together, she hadn't searched thinking her attempts would be futile.

"I got fucked up last night. Leah's still passed out." I shook my head at the lazy grin that came over his face, not wanting to hear anything about how they'd both drifted from the world in a hazed spiral of euphoria and only came up to deal. "So what do you need?"

"Tranquilizers, the strongest you have. Also a piece for the boiler, it broke right before the storm came."

"No shit? Man, that's rough. I have just what you need, give me a minute." I turned back to look at the car, relieved that Bella had heeded my warning to remain as low as could in the front seat. I could barely make out the silhouette of her head. Her time in the trunk was over, but we weren't out of the weeds just yet.

I stood in Paul's doorway, barely feeling the cold wind rake through my jacket. I nudged a large block of ice that hadn't yet melted on the steps with the toe of my boot, waiting for him to come back.

When he did, I saw a bit of white on his upper lip which he swirled around his mouth with his finger when he noticed me staring. He looked hardwired. I knew he'd done a line of coke, and I wondered where my childhood friend had gone. "Anything else, Black?"

I thought for a moment before considering. "You still got those anxiety meds?"

"Boy do I. Nightmares?"

"Sometimes," I replied. It was more my thoughts that were the problem. He came back and handed me an amber bottle filled with white capsules. "What do I owe you?"

"The usual. And for the boiler piece too. Meds on the house."

"You sure?" I didn't want him making an appearance on the farm, looking strung out and in desperate need of money when shit hit the fan. Which it did every few months. I'd warned him last time to not come around for a while, and I was grateful he'd listened. If he ever caught a glimpse of Bella, I would have no other choice but to protect myself any means necessary.

"You're one of my best customers. Consider it a gift." I gave him the stack of bills I kept in the inside pocket of my jacket, and clapped him on the back.

"Until next time," he said, and retreated back inside. I nodded long after he closed the door, hearing the deadbolt lock into place.

I'd sensed that we were being followed as soon as we had left Paul's house. The closer the police cruiser gained on us, the more uneasy I became at the wheel.

Bella had long rested her head back, and closed her eyes to get some sleep. Now that she'd been fed, she relaxed a bit, feeling that we were going to make it. I had assured her everything had gone according to plan, though the better part of the night I had encountered anything but. It seemed as if God was trying to gain retribution for all the harm I had done, for all bad that I caused, and really, I should have known better than to hope for anything less.

The lights sounded behind us, and Bella's eyes fluttered open, confused. She rested her hand on her belly almost unconsciously, and my heart tightened at the sight.

"Remember that I love you, okay? Despite everything I'm about to do, I love you. Please forgive me."

"Jake! What are you talking about?" Her eyes widened when I stopped the car, and stepped out. Walking into the middle of the world, I stood dead smack in line of the police cruiser. Even if it hit me, it wouldn't do much damage.

I could hear Bella's screams get louder the closer the car came to colliding with my body. But I tuned her out, knowing I couldn't give her chance to convince me to do otherwise, because let's face it, I would walk to the ends of the earth for her.

Bella

The car stopped just in time, the tires protesting against the road loudly. The door opened, and I recognized the officer who had signaled for us to stop instantly. I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't. I unlocked my door, running to where the both men stood, eye to eye. "Jacob! Baby, please come back to the car!"

Hearing my voice, Mark does a double take. But I'm already too late to try to get Jacob to back down. Everything that was going to happen had already started. Thinking back to this afternoon, I had thought that this trip had been orchestrated by fate, and now I wished it hadn't been.

I watch his spine as he shakes in front of Mark, my father's deputy. He crouches low and just before Mark can hit him with his crowbar, Jacob straightens suddenly. I feel my breathing coming in rapid, erratic pants and I can't believe my eyes as I watch him blur and then shift. His coat of fur is a reddish brown just like his skin, and he blends in just right with the night.

He struck, latching his muzzle onto his neck. I pleaded with him until my voice went hoarse. But the problem was that the more someone was told no, the more you said stop, it seemed to only drive that person further. I watched as he tore further through Mark's neck, splattering blood along the faded asphalt of the road. He bled out in moments. And his eyes, those same eyes that had looked at me with disbelief and in the end, with contempt as if somehow it had been my fault I found myself where I did, gazed endlessly at mine in death. There was no reprieve from the judgment and horror that had etched itself onto his face.

Whatever Jacob had turned into, slowly vanished from view, and soon he knelt naked before me. His clothes lay in tatters, destroyed. Every visible surface of his skin was stained crimson. It appeared as if he had bath in Mark's blood instead of being messy with his kill. No longer did he look to either side of the road, anxious as to whether or not we'd be caught. He'd taken to the defense before I could even utter a word for him to spare my father's best friend's life. He'd gone over the edge this night, and he was ready to have to do it again if need be.

To be rid of the sight, I walked back to the car in what I can only describe as a haze. I felt disconnected from my body, and some distant part of my brain told me I was in shock, but I couldn't be sure.

I shook in the gunshot seat, my nails making imprints in the worn leather. "Jake?" I breathed his name apprehensively. But he didn't respond, didn't acknowledge my voice until he got into the drivers seat, trailing his clothes in behind him.

Jacob

To looked at with such horror in her eyes, I knew that whatever she had found herself feeling for me had vanished. The instant she had watched me shift into my true nature, I could feel the shock and disgust rolling off her body in waves. Even now as I sat next to her, gore hanging from the side of my jaw, and blood in my mouth, she looked at me like I was the most grotesque thing she had ever seen.

It was as if I had lost her after all.

A/N: I would really appreciate it if you left me a review before you go. I don't know how you feel if you don't tell me, and I would really love to gauge your reaction to what just happened. Pretty please?

It might be a couple of weeks before you hear from me, I'm really exhausted from writing this, but know I already have an idea of what I'm going to write next. If you have any suggestions, also leave those in your reviews. Song for this chapter, Bend the Bracket by Chevelle.

Until next time,

a nyr byrjun