Disclaimer: Twilight, and those characters belonging to it, is property of Stephenie Meyer and I profit none whatsoever from using them for the fan fiction I write.
Author's Note: Last chapter shocked me as much as it probably has you, I never intended to kill Rose off but when everything was pouring out that's where I found myself. It was only afterward that I had a hard time trying to draw up the following chapter, this chapter. I think it's because Mrs. Meyer's characters have something so big to deal with that the decisions they will need to make are hard to come to myself. Also, I saw those new story follow button clickers, *wave* thank you!
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We ran east, over the coastal mountains towards the Cascades, then south along their border. The forest was silent where we treaded, foot falls barely registering on the floor of the forest where the balls of them touched the ground before springing off again, greenery in perfect standstill to our keen eyes. I studied the back of Emmett's shoulders as we moved, the tension in his shoulders would have been a dead giveaway to his weighted mind even if I were not able to pick up on his deeper emotions. Carlisle's silence further ahead of my brother was just as telling, his normal banter missing, if more subtly than the disappearance of Emmett's normally boisterous manner. My body ached with the reminder of the large vampire's pain, the feeling a constant in the week since Rosalie's leaving alongside his longing.
As physical a relationship as Emmett and Rosalie shared, the absence of my brother's love was excruciatingly hard to ignore during the evening when our human charade was put to rest and we were left to our own devices. Whether or not we were simply talking, cuddling, or in the middle of the act; a need of want would ride through me so strong I could do nothing but follow it at times, stealing Alice from several long conversations of the newest clothes purchased for Renesmee or a trip she had gone on earlier in the day. Not that Alice would ever abject my advances but still… knowing the need to possess her was not of my own making, but fueled by Emmett's own desires for Rose was hardly what I wanted to think about. Several times I had thought to act on suppressing my brother's emotions but Alice's reproachful glances were enough to change my mind.
Overhead, several shapes took to the sky as birds abandoned their nests seconds prior to our arrival and even shorter departure, the scent of wood and grass still the most prominent scent of all in the area. There would still be a few short miles until we reached our destination and I allowed the part of my brain that had begun to think of Alice dive into thoughts I had to push away in the presence of our mind reader.
Early yesterday morning, sitting in the chair across from Carlisle I had been focusing on Carlisle's aura of calm when I had felt an alarming jerk in the spot I had preserved for my sweet pin point of light's emotions. It was much the feeling Alice gave off when she had a vision but something was… different; the change sent a wave of distress that had caused me to rather rudely leave my talk with our coven leader and dart out the door of the study. Upstairs I found Esme seated by a still figured vision of my wife, hands on her arms with a worried expression across her motherly face glancing up at me, "Jasper-"
In another ungentlemanly gesture I ignored the rest of her sentence, flitting to my loves side, hand reaching to touch her cheek, "Alice?" I felt her confusion rolling over me in waves until it vanished, a calm much like the one she had forced during the time of our recent travels for Renesme's Witnessing taking its place. I stole myself against the trouble she was sure to share but my pixie only shook her head, reaching up with two fingers to press against her temple,
"I'm sorry, I…" She shook her head, hair sending light every which way as they filtered through the turning strands, "It disappeared." I did not release my hold of her cheek, even as Esme's hands fell away uncertain.
"Was it Rose?" Esme's voice was hopeful but withholding, not wanting to ask if by some chance it had been someone else. The sharp spark of something shot through my love's shield at the mention of our sister's name before being squished beneath the force of her serene façade,
"I don't know. I didn't see a person just…" Alice shrugged, dropping the matter but my fountain of joy had been depleted and I could not ask in such close proximity to ears as keen as ours what she had truly seen.
A low hiss pulled my attention back to the present as I felt Emmett's attention focus on the hunt, the scent of our prey permeating the air as we grew near, "Finally," he growled.
…
The house was quiet in the early hours of the morning; soft snores rising from the open mouth of the young man stretched out on a too short couch the only sound in the two person occupant home. Sitting silently in the kitchen, the older of the two men sat reading, jet black hair peppered with grey held by a single ring of twine hanging down his back; having woken only an hour and a half before when his son had come through the front door an past out where he lay. Just as the Quileute native pushed back from the table to turn down the flames of the stove where the kettle was set, the phone rang breaking the morning peace. Billy paused, turning down the heat before rolling his way across the floor to answer, "'Lo?" The sound was gruff as he answered and he eyed the container of hot water longingly, coffee…
The sharp voice of his friend's daughter greeted him, "Is Jacob there?" Sue's eldest back tracked momentarily, "Morning Billy. It's important."
The father of the current Alpha instantly sobered, relaxed posture straightening, "Leah, what is it? Are you alright?"
"It's Seth."
Taking hold of the cane propped against the door's frame, Billy rolled himself as close as he could to the lip of the floor where the rooms changed and nudged his son's foot with the walking stick he had made use of before he had lost complete use of his legs, "Jake." A stutter in his son's snore was all his reward and he tried prodding again, "Jacob!"
The tall figure sat up quickly, but moved slower to run a hand over his face, "What?"
"Leah."
Frowning, the tired teen stood up on numb feet and shuffled over to take the phone, "Yeah?"
Billy rolled back a few feet, watching his son's gaze widen and become more alert, the minutes ticking by as he caught only half the conversation;
"When?... No we weren't out on patrol then… What about them?... Is he still phased? I can take a look-" Billy frowned as he watched his son's brow furrow in confusion, "Yeah I can hold off, but why?... Alright, I'll join him. Thanks, Lee."
The levity of the situation had overtaken the room by the time Jacob hung up the phone and his father's shoulders were drawn tight knowing without a doubt the pack had just received a large burden, "What do you need me to do?"
Jacob paused for a moment, considering his father's choice in words the way he realized Leah had chosen hers. Need rather than should or want, there was no choice. Billy knew that something was going to have to be done even if he did not know what it was. Jacob's fingers flexed, curling into the palm of his hand, "Call Sue, tell her not to worry, that we've heard from Seth. Then phone Embry and Quill," the younger of the two was headed for the door then paused at his order, "Wait on that one though, give them another hour. Tell them I'll need them to alternate patrols. I'll be in touch through them."
The shutter door swung shut with a clap behind the tan figure, and Billy picked up the phone, water cold in the kettle behind him.
