A/N: Alright, next chappie, everyone!!

Hollie – I'm glad you think so… coz Stephenie's Edward is HAWT!! Which means MY Edward is HAWT!! Yay me!!

love-hurts-us-all – well, that's good to know! You wouldn't believe some of the misconceptions people seem to have about Indians. I think it would actually be funny if it wasn't so offensive.

emm – I'll answer all your questions… you just might have to wait a bit for some of them. :D

Princesz of Blood – Thanks!!

Erin – I've increased the rating to K . I hope it's alright now.

Disclaimer: I own the plot and Summer. That's about it.

Time Will Tell

Jacob's POV

I woke up the next morning on the couch.

I blinked in the morning light streaming in from the window, getting that annoying feeling you sometimes get in the morning.

You know, the one where you know you had this amazing dream, but you just can't seem to remember any of it.

Only in my case I remembered all of it perfectly. And I also knew that reality was nowhere near as simple.

So I lay there for a while, staring up at the ceiling, savoring the last few moments of sanity before beginning what I knew was going to be the craziest day of my life. And not in a good way, either.

Finally I groaned and sat up, jerking out the bones on my arms and neck. I was stiff all over.

During the course of the night, my pillow had somehow ended up on the floor five feet away. How had I managed that?

I stood up slowly and stumbled sleepily into the kitchen.

And then suddenly I didn't mind being awake anymore.

Summer sat at the table, still wearing the oversized t shirt that I had given her to wear last night –it didn't look indecent or anything, though. It almost reached her knees– and drinking deeply from a cup of what looked like coffee. Her arm and her head still looked pretty bad (or maybe it just looked more pronounced now, since she had her coiled up in a bun behind her head), although she did look a lot calmer this morning, and much better rested.

"Hey," she said when she saw me, smiling hesitantly.

I smiled back sleepily. "Hi." I pulled up a chair and sank into it. "Did you sleep well?"

"Actually," she sounded surprised. "I did. I hadn't really expected to get any sleep at all, with everything that happened, but… well, I hope you don't find this really weird, but your house just seems strangely… comforting to me."

She looked away, embarrassed.

"I'm glad," I said, squinting at the wall clock. "God, is that the time?"

"Yup," she grinned. "Why? Miss school or something?" she said sarcastically.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did," I informed her.

She gaped at me. "Are you serious?" she said in shock. "I was kidding! You're in high school?"

"Sure," I shrugged. "I'm tall for my age."

She stared at me, as though trying to reevaluate everything that had happened last night, only now replacing her big 25 year old rescuer with an equally big teenage kid.

I decided to give her some time to come to terms with that and stood up.

"Hey, could you wait here for a sec?" I said. "I'll be right back."

I took one last look at her and then turned to go to the bathroom.

I cringed as I examined at my reflection. I seriously looked like an oversized dog, no pun intended.

I combed through my hair and finished brushing my teeth in record time. In less than three minutes, I was back at the table with Summer.

It was just as I was pulling out a carton of orange juice from the fridge that I noticed that something was missing. "Have you seen my dad?" I asked her.

"Um, yeah," she replied. "He went out."

"Billy went out?" I frowned to myself, now hunting a glass. "With whom?" He usually mentioned it if he planned to going somewhere as I was generally in charge of driving him around.

"He said his name was Sam," Summer said, watching me as I dug through the cabinets. "He showed up this morning while you were asleep. He said they'd be back in a couple of hours. Which, I'm guessing, should be now."

"Oh," I said, finally sitting back down. "It's okay, then, I guess."

"Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Not at all," I said. "What?"

"Um… well, this is just something I noticed," she began uncomfortably. "And I was just wondering… don't take this the wrong way, okay. But are all your friends so… big?"

I laughed out loud.

I mean," she went on quickly, "The two guys from yesterday were huge… and judging by the size of that Sam guy, not to mention you. I mean, you all just seem really… well developed."

Her gaze lingered on my chest as she spoke. Then, realizing this, she blushed and returned her eyes to my face. I tried to contain it, but I felt a small smirk appear on my face anyway.

"Yeah, I guess we are," I agreed, with no small amount of pride. "You know how it goes, birds of a feather."

It didn't really count as lying, right?

"I guess… hey, it was really nice of you to let me have your room for the night," she said. I couldn't be sure, but I thought maybe she sounded a bit shy.

"Yeah, no problem," I assured her.

"No, really," she insisted. "You shouldn't have."

I waved aside her protests. "You're the guest here, Summer."

We sat there in amiable silence for a few minutes. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't seem to look away from her for more than a few moments.

"So…" I began, wondering if I should bring it up. I didn't know if she was ready to talk about it yet. "You want to tell me what happened last night?"

She didn't pretend to misunderstand. But she still seemed reluctant to answer.

"You don't have to tell me anything," I quickly assured her. "I just thought you might want to talk…"

"No, no, it's alright," she said, and she looked like she meant it. "I mean if anyone has the right to know it's you, right?" she laughed nervously. "I'm just… not used to talking about it."

I waited as she gathered her thoughts.

"I'm not really from around here," she said finally. "I used to live in Boston. My dad was a veterinarian and my mom was a lawyer at this big law firm. So we had plenty of money coming in. Big house, private school, everything. Damien," she said the name like one would say cockroach, "used to work at our house. You know, do the yard, and run errands, things like that. My older sister Rachel had gone off to college that year. I'd always been very close to her, and then suddenly she was gone. I was really messed for those first few months. I was having problems with my parents and Rachel wasn't there… but then suddenly Damien was."

I didn't miss the way her voice shook a bit at the end. "Look, if you don't want to talk about it, I really understand," I said.

She gave me a disparaging look. "I'm fine, Jacob. Seriously, do I look like someone who would be intimidated into telling a story?"

I smiled. "Go on, then"

"Alright," she said. "So we sneaked around behind my parents' back for a while. I knew they'd never understand. But then one day my mom had to fly to D.C for work. She was on her way to the airport and my dad was still at the clinic so I figured Damien and I had the house to ourselves." She chuckled humorlessly. "I guess you can imagine that didn't work out too well. As it turned out, my mom had forgotten some documents at home, so halfway to the airport she turned back. She walked in on us, and then we had this huge fight. My dad, of course, sided with my mother. They told me he was only after the money. I didn't believe them. We'd been fighting a lot those days anyway, so I just took their disapproval of Damien as their way of getting back at me. But they were just looking out for me. I know now that they were right, but at the time I really thought I was in love with him. He can be really charming when he wants to be, and I was totally smitten."

I snorted. "Yeah, a gold digger with bad breath. That's charming, all right."

She glared. "Do you want to hear the rest, or do you just want to be a smartass?"

"Okay, sorry," I muttered. "So then you two moved here?"

She shook her head. "Not immediately," she said. "I moved out of my parents' house and into Damien's apartment. I think he was hoping for our family to reconcile soon. I told him it wasn't going to happen. I was too angry at them… for everything. But after a while things got hard, you know, financially. We decided it was time for a fresh start somewhere new. Damien wasn't very happy about that idea but I talked him into it. I had some money saved up and he had a cousin who lived in Port Angeles. He was able to get us a small apartment."

I sensed that we were just getting to the hard part.

"Things were okay for a few months. Every now and then he'd bring up my family and how bad he felt for having separated us. I kept telling him that I was okay with it as long as he was around. Then on June 21st he proposed to me. I accepted of course. But then he started badgering me about how we should contact my parents to give them the news. I kept refusing and he began to get angry."

"What I don't understand" I cut in, "is how you didn't see right through it. I mean, it's so transparent."

"You know what?" she regarded me thoughtfully. "I don't understand that either. It's just so obvious!" she agreed. "But anyway, it was last September, I think. I got a letter from my mom. She gave me an ultimatum. If I didn't come home they were officially going to disinherit me. I wrote back and I told her to do whatever she wanted to, and that Damien and I didn't want their money. Boy was I wrong," she muttered bitterly. "When I told him about what I'd done, he was so mad. He started screaming and throwing things around, shouting at me and telling me I'd ruined everything. It was on a night two months later that he first hit me."

She sucked in a deep breath. "From there everything basically began to go downhill. I'd figured out what was going on, of course, but I thought it would get better. It just never did. Alcohol had always been a problem for him, but never this bad. Then he started cheating on me, and hitting me every time I did even the smallest thing wrong."

"Why would you stay with him?" I asked through clenched teeth. I knew it was over, that she was safe now. But I still couldn't get rid of the image from last night, Summer slumped up against the wall, and him towering over her, preparing to hurt her some more. "Since September…" It was such a long time.

She smiled, but it wasn't a happy gesture. "You know how sometimes even when you know you're fighting a lost battle, you just keep on fighting anyway? You keep on hoping that maybe someday they'll understand how you've been feeling all along. That one day they'll wake up and realize they feel the same way about you. And that day would suddenly make everything else worth it."

I nodded, thinking of my early days with Bella. "I know exactly how that feels."

I still remembered, with vivid clarity, the day I had towed Bella out of the water after her cliff diving accident. That was the day we had shared our first kiss in my car. The day that made everything worth it, as Summer put it.

"I just… kept hoping for some sort of miracle, I guess," she was saying. "I would never take that kind of shit from just anyone. It's just that he was the first guy I really trusted, you know?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Can't see why you would trust someone like that."

"Neither can I," she said sullenly. "But believe me, it wasn't always like that. He used to be… different. He used to be caring, and he'd make me laugh, and we'd just have so much fun together, you know? It's amazing how fast people change. And everything you thought you knew just doesn't make sense anymore."

"Believe me, I know," I said with a groan.

She looked at me questioningly.

"I'll tell you some other time," I told her, wondering how exactly I was going to explain to her that up until the moment I saw her, I'd been head over heels in love with someone else.

She nodded and went on. "I didn't realize for a long time just how serious our problem was, but I did know that I was in trouble. I couldn't go back to my parents. Not after the way I'd behaved. So even if I did leave him, where would I go? At least this way I had a roof over my head. But the abuse just kept getting worse and worse, and one day I decided I wasn't going to live like that anymore. How much worse could things get? I told him I was leaving. But we both knew I had nowhere to go. I left anyway, but he found me again and promised that he'd changed. I'd had a taste of life on the streets by then, and… well, let's just say that it wasn't exactly a picnic. So it wasn't very hard for him to convince me to come back to him. But in a few weeks it all started again. It just kept going on and on, you know?" her voice had lowered to nothing but a whisper and her eyes were glistening. "I can't even… I can't describe the things he put me through, Jacob. I didn't even know what he was trying to punish me for. All I'll say is that it was hell. Worse even, because I knew I could leave anytime I wanted. But what if there was something worse out there? I didn't have any money, no place to live. Staying looked like my only choice."

"I should have killed him when I had the chance," I mumbled under my breath, but I think she heard. She ignored me and went on.

"Last night did it. He brought home a hooker. A hooker, Jacob. To the house. I knew he cheated on me a lot, and he never even denied it whenever I asked. But never while in the house. At least not that I know of. And I was cooking, right, and he stumbles in with this blond girl wearing pretty much nothing but a pink bra and fishnets clinging to him. Well I just decided I'd had enough. For real. I mean, who was I kidding? I was wasting away my life over that little piece of shit. And for what? I was finally going to get over my ego and go back to my parents. Nothing they would do could possibly be as humiliating as this. It didn't matter if I didn't have any money. I thought I'd figure something out. I just had to get away from him. So I flung a pan at his head and just walked out. He'd already had a lot to drink and he followed me… I was so scared, Jacob. I swear, for a moment there, I really thought he was going to kill me." She looked up at me and a single tear escaped. She brushed it away quickly. She continued in a falsely chipper voice, "But then you showed up and… and you know what happened next."

I wasn't fooled.

"You're better off," I told her gently.

"I know," she said. "It doesn't matter. It never mattered. Not when I dropped out of school for him, or when I alienated my entire family for him. The last conversation I had with Rachel lasted less than ten minutes! And that was six months ago. I can't take it back. But that's alright. Isn't it?" she looked up at me, almost… well, almost angrily.

Without thinking of what I was doing I reached out and took her hand in mine. "You're better off," I repeated, more firmly.

She gasped, completely distracted.

"Oh my god, Jacob, you're so hot!"

I grinned. "Why, thank you."

"No, I'm serious!" she said, jumping to her feet and pressing her hand against my forehead. "You're burning up!"

I chuckled, entwining my fingers with hers and pulling her hand away from my face. "I feel great."

She pulled her hand out of mine.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she muttered as she paced around the kitchen uselessly, not quite able to decide what to do.

I couldn't help but laugh. She was so cute.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm… uh… I'm not good in a crisis, okay?" she nearly shrieked at me. "Tell me what to do!"

"Sit back down!" I laughed.

She spun around to face me. "Why are you laughing?" she demanded hysterically. "Stop laughing!"

"I'm not laughing!" I laughed.

"Jake!"

I stopped laughing a little, but only because I was a bit distracted by what she had just said. This was the first time she had called me that. Jake, I mean. The word sounded so different coming from her. In a good way.

She didn't seem to notice how monumental this moment was for me, though, since she was still jabbering on about how I was about to drop dead at any moment. "Can you seriously not feel how hot you are?"

"Look, I'm fine!" I stood up and modeled so she could see.

She still looked unhappy.

"Summer –okay, look. I promise you that I feel fine for now." She opened her mouth to protest but I went on loudly, drowning her voice. "But if you don't think I'm okay by tonight, then I'm all yours. If you think it'll help, we can go see a doctor tomorrow."

Great. Now I had a deadline.

She eyed me doubtfully. "Okay…" she said slowly. Then she added, "But if you die, Jacob Black, I promise you that I will kill you. Again," she threatened.

"And I promise not to hold it against you," I said, fighting to keep a straight face.

"Fine," she said, but she still looked uncertain as to whether or not she should press the issue further. I decided to change the subject before she changed her mind.

"So what did you want to do today?"

"Um…"

"Anything," I offered. "Shopping, movies, Vegas?"

"How about I start with a shower?" she suggested.

"Sounds great!" I clapped my hands together. "Need company?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'll pass, but thanks."

I showed her to the bathroom at the end of the hallway and gave her a couple of fresh towels.

"You sure you'll be fine in here?" I asked.

"Yeah, perv, it stops being funny the second time," she said.

"That's not what I meant, perv," I teased. "It's your arm… will you be fine?"

"Oh," she looked down at her bright blue cast. "Um, yes, I… I think I can manage."

She looked back at me and smiled in a way which, I'm sorry to say, caused my heart to turn over in a way it really shouldn't, on account of how I barely even knew this girl, not to mention someone called BELLA. This imprinting stuff was really going to take some getting used to.

"Okay, then," I managed to say, and turned to leave. She stopped me. "Jacob."

I turned. "Yeah?"

"Um," she fidgeted nervously with the hem of her t shirt. Or rather my t shirt that she was wearing. It suddenly occurred to me how much I rather liked seeing her dressed up in my clothes. "I never said thanks. For last night. For everything. So, um… thank you. You probably saved my life."

And suddenly it was like we were connected, or something. It was just like it was with couples on T.V. The air between us was suddenly filled with some sort of charge, locking us both into place. She looked up at me nervously and I looked right back at her, completely entranced by everything about her. My instincts screamed KISS HER, but I resisted. It wouldn't be right. Not yet.

"Er," I said, breaking the silence –and the magic– of the moment. "You're welcome."

She looked away. "There is one more thing" she said. "I, um… I don't really have any clothes other than the ones I had on yesterday," she admitted. "And those are pretty much ruined."

"Oh."

She watched me for a few seconds as I thought. "I'm really sorry," she gushed before I could even make a decision. "It's alright. Forget I said anything. This will do. This t shirt is… lovely. Very street."

"Don't be stupid," I said, but even so, I was at a loss of what to do. I wasn't friends with too many girls. I knew none of Emily's clothes would ever fit Summer, and Leah was the last person I would call for help. That only left one person. "Wait, I know!" Oh, no. Jake, you do not want to do that. "I guess I could give Bella a call in a while." Okay, I guess you do. "She'll be at school now, but she'll be home soon. In the meantime could I give you another shirt?"

"Who's Bella?"

And there it was. The perfect question. My perfect opportunity to tell her. My fiancée. I willed myself to say it. Say it, dammit! Be honest

"A friend," I was what I ended up saying. "She could bring over some fresh clothes for you. She's really nice. You'll love her."

I. Am. So. DEAD.

"Great," she smiled brightly, momentarily blinding me. "Thanks, Jacob."

I went into my room (I noticed how she'd remade the bed perfectly that morning, with the spare toothbrush I'd given her last night kept neatly on the side) and quickly looked through my wardrobe, looking for the largest shirt I could find. I found something I thought would be long enough and brought it back to Summer.

I checked one more time if she'd be okay before returning to the kitchen.

I sat down, and waited until I heard the water start running in the bathroom. Then I promptly put my head in my hands, and prepared to begin my self-pity party. It was official. I was the world's worst fiancée/whatever-the-hell-I-was-to-Summer EVER.

And now I had the whole day to think about that, and how badly I'd screwed up.

I'd totally flown off the handle last night when I found out about the Cullen's being back in town. She'd only met the small one, for god's sake. I wasn't happy about their return, but she trusted them. As long as he kept his fangs away from her, and if she limited her 'vampire time' to public places only, there was no reason they couldn't be friends. I wouldn't be happy about it, but I guess I didn't have a right to stop her from doing what she wanted to, especially now that I knew what I would have to do to her today.

I wished there was some way for me to resist Summer, that somehow, I wouldn't be pulled to her so absolutely. But even though my guilt was just about killing me, I couldn't bring myself to wish I hadn't stumbled across her last night. I couldn't imagine not saving her. I couldn't explain it, but she was…

She was it. Even though we had just met, I felt (and I say this at the risk of sounding unbelievably corny) like I'd known her forever. Everything about her… it was driving me crazy.

Billy had told me last night that Bella had been trying to call me the entire time that I was in Port Angeles. My guilt seemed to multiply tenfold when I realized that the entire time I'd been at the hospital with Summer, Bella had been sitting at home thinking about me. Worrying about me. And after all that she'd already been through… she deserved better.

I wished Summer would get done with her shower already. That way I'd get distracted and would probably be able to avoid thinking of Bella for at least a little while longer.

But looking back, I was glad that she wasn't around to witness what happened next.

"Where is she?" a loud voice suddenly cut through the silence. "I wanna see-"

"Jared, shut up!"

My head snapped up. Jared bounded into the room, with Paul trying to calm him down (which I thought was pretty ironic). Quil, Embry, and Leah sauntered in behind them.

They all stopped when they saw me sitting there, looking not so happy to see them.

"What are you all doing here?" I hissed, hoping Summer hadn't heard Jared.

"We were curious," Jared shrugged sheepishly. Then, in response to the four pairs of incredulous that were suddenly focused on him, he amended, "Okay, I was curious. What's she like? Where is she?"

I glared at Quil and Embry. "Thanks a lot," I spat at them.

"Well, what did you expect?" Quil said, rolling his eyes. "They were going to find out."

"Yeah, but not yet!" Then, turning to the rest of them, I said, "All of you, out. Now."

"What's the big deal, Jacob?" Leah piped up, looking thoroughly amused. "It looks like you and Bella weren't meant to be after all. So what? Just accept it already."

My teeth clenched. "No one asked you, Leah," I said coldly.

"I'm just voicing my opinion," she shrugged. "Bella's history, and that's that."

The others all looked like they agreed with her, but something about my expression must have told them that now wasn't the best time to voice their opinions.

"Jake, don't listen to her," Embry said, glowering at Leah.

"Why, though?" Leah demanded, turning on him. "I'm the only one here who's talking any sense!" She directed her gaze at Jared. "Why are you here to see this Summer chick? You'll be seeing enough of her. Did it ever occur to you to maybe go see Bella? Oh, I know! Maybe we should all go. You know, to say goodbye." She gave me a sweet smile. "What do you think, Jake?"

Don't hit a girl, don't EVER hit a girl, I kept repeating in my head.

Leah's voice turned hard. "Or are you afraid that she may not even want to see you anymore, now that she has her bloodsucker boyfriend back?"

One punch, I thought. It won't even really hurt her. Much.

"That's enough, Leah," Sam said from the doorway, wheeling Billy in.

She glared defiantly at Sam, but did as he said.

"Jake and I need to talk," Sam said, speaking to the room in general, but looking straight at me. "Billy can stay, of course. The rest of you. Out."

"So, what, even we don't get to stay?" Quil complained to me, gesturing to himself and Embry. "After everything we did for you last night?"

Sam looked at me questioningly. "Well, Jake? What'll it be?"

I sighed. "No, just us," I muttered. "And make it quick please, I'm busy wallowing."

Reluctantly, they all began to leave.

Quil mouthed traitor at me as Paul shoved him through the door.

I responded by making an extremely rude gesture at him, thinking of how Bella wouldn't approve.

Gah! See? She was so thoroughly infused in my brain that I couldn't even fathom the idea of not having her in my life.

Sam took a seat opposite me and Billy.

"Alright, now Jake. First things first," he said. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, it's great," I said sarcastically. "I get to tell my fiancée I'm suddenly in love with someone else. Brilliant."

Sam shook his head. "You may not realize this right now, Jake, but this is the best thing that's ever going to happen to you." I knew he meant what he was saying. Finding Emily was certainly the best thing that ever happened to Sam.

"I'm not worried about me." Much, I added to myself. "I'm worried about Bella."

"I know," Sam nodded. "That part is going be hard. Really hard."

"I can't do that to her, Sam. She needs me."

"Believe me, Jake. I know," he said. "But she'll move on."

"Yeah, like Leah's moved on?" I challenged, wondering if somehow Bella would end up like that. Bitter, lonely, hurting everyone else just because someone once hurt her. No, I decided. I wouldn't let that happen to Bella.

Sam sighed. "Look, I know it's really messed up, alright? But there's only one way out of this, and someone is going to get hurt. And I don't want that someone to be you."

"But," I protested. "No matter how bad it is for me, it'll always be worse for Bella, wont it? I'll have someone with me. She'll have no one."

"She'll have you," Sam pointed out. "Granted she might not want you around at first, but she'll come around. You can still be there for Bella."

I snorted. "Who're you kidding, Sam? Bella is going to want nothing to do with me after this. I mean, I know I don't have a choice and all, but that doesn't mean I won't be hurting her. And I can't hurt her, Sam. I promised."

Sam was quiet for a moment. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, Jake," he said quietly. "Breaking my promise to Leah. And I can't tell you that it gets better with time, because it doesn't. Every time you see her, the guilt will get worse. But what I can tell you is that keeping that promise –or trying to, really– would be a thousand times harder. It would be impossibleJacob. If you fight this, you'll only end up losing them both." He fixed me with a meaningful look. "You're lucky to have found this girl, man. Now you've got work to do. Win her over."

I sighed and nodded. "Win her over," I repeated. "Got it."

Sam turned to Billy. "Anything you want to say?"

Billy looked at me sympathetically. "You cannot be unhappy about this, Jacob," he said. "I told you this last night, but I think I need to repeat myself. You've seen how happy Sam and Emily are. This is your chance to have that. This is a gift, Jacob. Take it."

Take it. Ha! It was easy for him to say. He wasn't the one who would have to hurt someone he cared about. But I nodded anyway.

Neither of them was fooled.

"Jake, listen to me," Sam said. "You need to stop worrying about Bella. You're Jake and Bella, man. You'll make it through this. You'll make ot through anything. Just… be her friend."

And yet I couldn't quite get Leah out of my mind. She and Sam had been just like me and Bella. Closer, maybe.

"And how am I supposed to do that, Sam? I questioned. "How am I supposed to be friends with Bella?" I didn't know how to be friends with her. Our relationship had never been platonic. Not for me, anyway. I'd loved her since the moment I saw her. She'd captivated my mind so completely for more than 3 years now.

How could one girl just come along and nullify all of that?

"It's not as if you've never been friends before."

"Yes, but that was before." I grit my teeth in frustration. "I don't know if we can go back to that. Not after being together for so long."

"Well," Sam sighed in resignation. "Only time will tell, I suppose."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Only time will tell."

This chapter was not supposed to end here, but I generally try to keep my chapters around 8-9 pages long. This one is touching 13, so I guess I'll leave it at this.

I searched the internet for AGES but I still couldn't find anything that really resembles how I picture Summer. But I found some pictures of Joss Stone with her pink hair and that kind of looks like Summers hair.

Except Summer's hair is slightly longer, less wavy, and is more red, less pink. She hates pink.

http://i66.