DISCLAIMER – I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.

Chapter 10

Lullaby

Thursday, 1am

All I could hear were the screams and screeching in my dreams and I cried for what always seemed like an eternity as I waited for them to stop. Eventually they did and I waited for the voices to come, to hear Alice's voice call us both 'monsters'. This had become my personal punishment that I faced every night before I woke up screaming. I heard the words, but the screaming didn't start and I just continued to listen. Then I heard his voice respond to Alice "What choice do we have?" and then like water flowing from a collapsed dam, the screams started.

Horrifying shrieks came out of my mouth and silence only came in the brief moments I took in another breath. I heard a noise; it must've been my father getting out of bed and I think I heard him on the other side of my door, but he never came in.

My throat hurt so bad and all of the crying and screaming had exhausted my already exhausted body. I sobbed into my pillow at the thought of his voice and at that moment I had no concern for what his words meant or for what happened after he spoke them. I only cared that I could hear it in my mind, but I didn't want to remember that voice. That voice was just as Alice's had been, filled with pain to the point it was almost unrecognizable. I wanted to hear the voice that I loved. I changed my mind sanity be damned. I wanted to see him and I wanted to see him NOW!

"Edward. Edward please." I whispered, but nothing happened. Slowly my voice grew louder and louder "Edward please, please come back" I begged in between sobs. I was careful not to shout, but I persistently continued my pleading for, I don't know how long, but until the phone rang. I jumped, but then thought that perhaps my hallucination had learned how to use the telephone. I frowned, displeased with myself, but after all sanity had been damned.

I didn't know if Charlie was still awake, but I quickly grabbed the phone just in case he had fallen back asleep.

"Hello" My voice sounded scratchy and I hoped it would scare whoever thought it was acceptable to call at such a late hour. I thought maybe it was a prank call or maybe it was someone from the station calling Charlie about an emergency.

"Bella, are you OK? You don't sound well."

"Jake?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep so I thought I would give you a call. I woke you didn't I? I'm so sorry, I knew I shouldn't call so late."

"No, no you didn't wake me. I'm actually glad you called." My voice was tired and weak, but he knew I meant it.

"I miss you, Bella"

"I miss you too"

"My bed misses you"

I wouldn't have thought it possible to laugh at that moment, but leave it to Jake. "Yeah, I miss it too, it's way more comfortable than here" and we both knew I wasn't talking about the mattress.

I was wallowing in my self pity again when I heard Jacob begin to speak.

"I saw a squirrel fall out of a tree yesterday."

"What?" I don't think I heard him correctly; my ears must really be playing tricks on me.

"Yeah, there was this squirrel climbing a tree, you know running up and down and out onto the branches with the other squirrels, just doing regular squirrel stuff."

He had grabbed my attention and I was picturing their little bushy tails as they scurried around the trees. "OK, sure regular squirrel stuff" I responded truly intrigued to hear the rest of his story.

"Well, all of a sudden this squirrel falls off the branch and onto the ground, but she just gets up and runs away."

"She?"

"Yeah she, Bella the squirrel."

"Hmph, that that squirrel probably had rabies and that's why he fell." I scoffed.

"He?"

"Yeah, Jake the rabid squirrel."

We were both cracking up and we continued to joke and laugh about the squirrels for a little longer. Leave it to Jake to know exactly what to say. Then I noticed the clock.

"Jake, it's almost 4am! You better get some sleep or you'll be exhausted tomorrow, I mean today."

"I know, but I don't want to hang up." His voice was filled with sadness.

"Why?" it was almost like he knew somehow that I very well may go insane laying here alone.

"Because I love your voice, especially tonight, it's so sexy" he teased.

"I don't want to hang up either." I admitted as I let out a big yawn.

"How about I stay on the line until you fall asleep?"

"What about my phone?"

"Oh, it'll eventually stop beeping"

I suppose that was true enough. I'd rather hear beeping than the screeches and screams I usually heard anyway.

"That would be nice" I exhaled deeply and it came out all shaky sounding.

"You sound so tired"

"I am" I admitted.

"How about I sing you a lullaby?"

"A real lullaby? Do you even know a real lullaby or are you just going to sing me the Oscar Meyer jingle?"

"Yes, I know a real lullaby, a nice one too, but if you prefer the bologna song…" He was laughing.

"No, no I would love to hear your lullaby. It's been a long time since I have fallen asleep to one and that would be very nice." It had been too long really and it was a sad thought, but he would think I was talking about my mother even though I wasn't.

"Ok, it's about a mother wolf sleeping with her cubs in the meadow under the stars." Then he began singing, it was in Quileute and it was beautiful. I slowly drifted to sleep and was thankful that the screeches and screams did not return.

I opened my eyes and saw the phone lying on the floor and it must have stopped its beeping a long time ago. I would have to call Jacob later and thank him I thought to myself. If it were anyone else but him I would be questioning them about calling at just the right time, but I've learned to just accept the unspoken language that is between us.

A/N – Ok, I know it's a shorty, but I really wanted to keep it separate from the rest since it's pretty unrelated. Chapter 11 will pick up on the same day, which is the day she promised to hang out with Jessica and Angela.

My husband thinks the squirrel stuff is stupid, but what does he know? Jacob was trying to take her mind off of stuff and make her laugh and it was meant to be off the wall just like when Bella told Edward in the car that she was going to run over Tyler Crowley.

I thought I may get the question of "How did Jacob know to call?" so I was just going to tell everyone BUT I thought it would be more fun to offer 10 bonus points (yeah, I just made that up) to the first person who guesses correctly.

Reviews are better than Jacob's lullaby…sort of.