Chapter 11

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Bella took over the driving as they got close to Seattle. She knew all the back roads and short cuts and how to get into the lane that led to the back access to the bar. This wasn't Jake's country, it was hers. She walked into the bar and inhaled. It felt likes years had passed since she had left, rather than mere days. The string of dusty Christmas decorations and the lopsided tree on the end of the bar looked more hopeful now, than pathetic as she had remembered them.

The barmaid told her, the boss, Dave, was in his office out the back. She left Jake parked on a bar stool.

She knocked and waited for his curt command to enter. Dave had his feet up on the desk, crossed at the ankles and was frowning at a printout. He had run this bar for a long time. He wore his standard work uniform of white t-shirt and black jeans. He glanced up at her as she entered the room.

"Izzy. You aren't due back until Tuesday night."

"I know."

"You needed your pay now?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

He nodded and gave her a look. "And?" he hinted.

She grinned. He did know her well. "And I've kind of got a bit of a crisis."

"Permanent or temporary?"

"I think it's permanent. Family," she added, as if that would explain everything.

"Didn't think you had one."

She hadn't worked there long but she had always taken every shift and public holiday the other workers didn't want.

"Not much of a one anymore. But I make up for it with an extended family." She thought that was the easiest way to explain the pack; as extended family.

"Right." He stood and opened the safe to get out her salary.

"I'm sorry to let you down. Especially at New Year's when it will be busy."

Dave shrugged. "Someone else will claim that night; it's prime overtime."

"Huge tips, too. Dammit."

"You did warn me you might have to leave in a hurry, one day, but I thought we might have longer than this."

"It's a good bar, Dave and the people are nice. You'll be fine."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence. It's not like I've been running a bar-"

"-for years, I know." She hugged him impulsively. "Thanks for all your help Dave. I do hope to see you again."

He gave her a look, unnerved by her hug. Izzy wasn't into public displays of affection. "Now that just sounds vaguely scary."

"Yeah. I suppose it does." And she refused to say any more.

"Did you want that bag you left with me? It's in the locker here."

"Oh, yes, please." In case she wasn't able to return to her home, she had always had a bag packed with clothes and cash. She usually left it at her workplace. It was part of her planning. She was always ready to run.

"Call me if things change," he said as he handed over her bag.

"I will. Thanks again."

When she walked back out of the office, Dave followed her out. Jake was still perched on a bar stool, nursing a soda and making eyes at the barmaid. She was leaning across the bar and making sure that she had his full attention and that he had a great view of her cleavage.

"Dave, this is my friend Jake."

Jake stood and stretched to his enormous height. He held out a gigantic hand to Dave who tentatively shook it. "Hey."

Dave nodded at him and looked him over. "Pacific Northwest, huh?"

Bella was shaking her head behind Dave and Jake knew not to tell him too much information. "Around there."

"So you have a long drive home. You'd better get started." He backed away. Bella knew he didn't like emotional stuff. "I have things to do," he said.

"Thanks, again Dave. And Happy New Year."

"You too, Izzy." He turned and walked up the small corridor to his office.

She patted Jake. "Finish your soda, we need to get going."

"Don't we have to get to Josh's house, too?"

"It's just around the corner. We can walk from here."

"Bella?" she heard.

A very tall woman had been standing near the door. She rushed over now.

"Angela?" Bella was astonished. It had to be, she was the only woman over six feet tall that she knew. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you."

"But… how did you?" Bella had been going to say that nobody knew she worked here. She frowned at Jake and he made a face.

"I'm a journalist," Angela laughed. "I can find people; it's my job." She turned to look at Jake quizzically.

"You remember Jacob Black," Bella prompted. "Jake, this is Angela Weber from Forks high school."

"I do remember you," Angela said. "You used to pick her up on your motorcycle at school. You were just a boy then." She kept talking as she looked up at his face. "And may I say how refreshing it is to not look down on a man."

Jake was just staring at her. Not blinking, not doing anything except just looking at her.

Bella inhaled sharply.

Jake's hand reached out and took Angela's in his. He still hadn't blinked. Angela glanced at Bella quickly, but her attention snapped back to the silent man still holding her hand.

They stood there until the silence became awkward. An annoyed huff noise from the barmaid indicated how she felt about being comprehensively ignored.

Angela tried to pull her hand back, but Jake wouldn't let go of it. And he still hadn't said a word.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked him quietly.

He shook his head very slowly without taking his eyes from Angela's. "I had almost given up hope of ever finding you," he said in a low voice. He sounded as if he had seen a miracle.

"Finding… me?" Angela asked.

"Jake," Bella hissed at him. "Snap out of it."

"No, he's not doing anything wrong," Angela said. She smiled at him carefully. "I'm just not sure why he is holding my hand." She sounded surprised herself. Maybe that she was still letting him hold her hand.

Bella patted him on the arm. "Jake, we need to go."

That didn't work.

"Angela," she tried. "Can you give me your details and I will call you later or message you or whatever. We are kind of in a rush today."

"No," said Jake. "She's coming with us."

"Don't be silly, she's probably got things to do."

"No… she's coming with us," he insisted.

"Okay," said Angela.

"What?" said Bella.

"I know this is really weird but I…" She stopped and looked up at Jake's face again. "I don't want to let you leave without me."

He smiled at her. It was his thousand watt smile. It was blinding.

"Gah," said Bella.

Angela blinked rapidly under the smile onslaught.

"Angela," he said and then stopped as if he had forgotten what he was going to say after her name.

"Jacob?" Angela said.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," said Bella. She tugged at Angela's arm, trying to get her to walk towards the door. She lowered her voice conspiratorially, "Look, I think I know what has happened and it kind of happened to me this week, too."

"It did?" Jake asked her. He let go of Angela's hand to turn on Bella.

"Oh, now you snap out of it!"

"Who was it?"

"Josh, of course."

"When? He's unconscious! Was that in a dream, too?"

"I am NOT talking about this now."

"And how, unless he is going to ph-"

"Jake!" she interrupted before he talked about wolves phasing in the middle of the bar.

"Oh, right." He shook his head as if he was trying to clear it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it is none of your business."

"It IS my business… it's my p-"

Bella was making odd head and eye movements at him, trying to tell him Angela didn't know about the wolves, yet.

Angela was glancing between them as they argued like an old married couple.

He stopped talking again. "Man, I have screwed this up big time. I'm sorry Angela." He turned to face her and reached for both her hands. He held them in his and got distracted again the second he looked in her eyes.

Angela glanced sideways at Bella. "There's an explanation? Really? Because I don't usually have this effect on men."

"Oh, yes. There's an explanation. But I think it would be much better if we did it at Josh's flat."

"Who's Josh?" Angela asked.

"He's the guy who looks at me like that."

"That's not actually an explanation," Angela chided.

"I know. It's all you are going to get right now. I think if you go, he'll follow you."

"Gosh. I surely hope so."

"Go?" Jake said. He clearly only heard one word in Bella's sentence.

"Yes," she raised her voice as if he was slightly deaf, "We're going now."

"Why are you shouting at me?"

"Get out the door, now Jake!"

meanwhile back at the rez:

Charlie and Seth managed to convince wolf Sue to go hide in the forest until they worked out what was happening or she worked out how to phase back. After they had sneaked her out the back door and hoped that no one saw her. At least, not someone who was still ignorant of the wolf secret. Given the circumstances of the last few days, that was becoming fewer people on the rez all the time.

Seth brought out some clothes for her and put them just inside the tree line.

"You aren't going to … what do I call it? Go play like a wolf?" Charlie asked him.

"Phase?"

"Yeah. You could go show her how it all works."

Seth got the oddest look on his face. "Ah… No. I thought I might go with you to check that Lucas is okay as a human… not a wolf… definitely not a wolf… I'll be human to do that… yep… human."

Charlie tilted his head. "Seth," he warned.

"Oh, come on, Charlie! It's the shared mind thing-"

"The what?"

"No offense but there is absolutely no way I want to share my mind with my MOTHER. My sister is bad enough… but if she even sees half the stuff I have done. Heck, Charlie, she just yipped at me for saying fuck! And if she sees even one thing in my mind I will be grounded for life-"

"Wait. What?"

"Shared mind. The pack can't talk when we are phased, so we transfer thoughts. ALL the thoughts ALL the time. And when you try not to think about stuff you have to think about it to not think about it. Just think about that for a second.

"Ah… yeah… okay, I can see your point… I think."

"I mean I was fifteen but I looked twenty-five."

"I don't want to know the actual details." Charlie held up his hand. "How does it work?"

"We don't think all the same things; it's not like a hive mind but we can communicate by thoughts… pass scent messages… visual trails… there's so much stuff that we don't even have the words for that we can see or smell in wolf form… You know?"

"Ah… no."

"Oh, right. Well, a scent trail smells different if it was left by a male or a female, and it's different again if they are young or old and the trail is an hour old or a week old."

Charlie put his arm around Seth's shoulder. "Tell me on the way to check on Lucas."

Seth babbled away happily, momentarily forgetting about his mother phasing as he tried to find the words to explain the unexplainable to Charlie.

Lucas had wanted some privacy and had checked into one of the holiday cabins. Christmas was off season and a little too cold for tourists.

Seth's head lifted. "I just heard a yip. I think it was Mom. Something is wrong."

They walked faster.

"Maybe we should have driven," said Charlie.

The cabin was deserted; the door wide open. Seth tracked the path Lucas had taken across the ground and into the trees. It wasn't long before they found some tattered clothing. The trail led further into the forest.

"He's what is it … phased, too," said Charlie.

"Yep. That means he and Mom can talk to each other. She might be able to tell him some info. Calm him down. It's pretty weird when it first happens."

"How did you and Leah cope?"

"Not well… Leah was freaking out." Seth looked really serious and then he said quietly, "That's when Dad had the heart attack."

"Shit." Charlie hadn't known that.

"They were arguing and she just…" He bit his lip. "She thought she'd killed him. She was screaming in my head and then Sam tried to talk to her and that almost made it worse." He shrugged. "You know… that it was Sam."

"No wonder your mother was upset about the Billy imprint."

"Yeah."

Seth started punching phone buttons. "Dammit. Jake has turned his off."

"Why did he go, now?"

"We can't have known this was going to happen… and he's with Bells, he'll be back."

"I know-"

"SHIT!" Seth said. "What if it's ALL the pack parents?"

"Oh, my God. That would be disastrous."

"Josh?"

"Or Billy?"

"Who else? Mom's gone, so that leaves," Seth started to count on his fingers; "Josh is Sam's dad. Can't be Quil - no Dad alive. Embry? Who knows? Jared, Paul, Collin and Brady. And Billy, of course."

Is it both parents, or just one?"

"Depends on who carried the wolf gene. Mum is a Black and a Uley. Dad is an Ateara, so they both would have phased."

"Wolf gene?" Charlie asked.

"Later. We have to call Sam."

"We have to warn people."

"Yeah… we don't want another Emily."

"Is that what happened?"

"Oops. Yeah. Sam phased too close to her."

"Too much kept too quiet for my liking." Charlie shook his head. "Sue screamed at me to run."

"She would have. She would have realized she was standing in exactly the same spot that Leah was when she phased."

"Call Sam. Billy has sisters! There's four of them."

"One is Collin's mom."

"So she'll be a definite. We have some calls to make. I'll call Billy."