Jake didn't like hanging around Forks. His trips usually consisted of ballgames at Charlie's or movie nights at Izz's. Though it was getting colder, Izz, her brothers, and for the past few weeks, Lala, found more things to do in LaPush, like surfing, cliffdiving, whale watching or just hanging at the garage or having a bonfire at the beach, so they usually made the drive over. Though it was a schoolday in Forks, school at the rez was closed due to teacher conferences and Jake was heading to Dowling's for a part for the Rabbit. Since it had been Bella's birthday a few days back, he would also be seeing Bella and giving her a little something.

He wasn't kidding about the small. Buying parts for the car was sucking him dry of the small savings he had, though Izz numerous times showed up with parts he had mentioned needing. As a matter of fact, he had begun to make sure not to bring up that subject anymore. The girl was smart though, and a damn fast learner, she was building that car just as much as he was and knew a lot more than he ever expected her to.

Harry had offered him a ride, but since his truck wouldn't start right away, they ran a little late. Jake's plan was to stop at Bella's house before she left but ended up having to look for her at school. He caught her right before she went into class, of course pretty boy Cullen was with her. The animosity was mutual between him and Edward, so it did surprise Jake that it was precisely him who stopped Bella and told her of his arrival.

"Jacob!" Bella smiled as he walked up to her "What?"

"I'll leave you to talk" Edward said, taking a few steps away

"Hello, biceps!" Bella laughed "You know, anabolic steroids are really bad for you"

"Well, I'm just filling out, Bella" he smiled "You know, it wouldn't seem so drastic if we hung out more"

"You should switch schools. You can come hang out with the palefaces"

"I'm alright" he smirked "I prefer the rez school's exclusivity. They let any old riffraff into this place"

"I see" she smiled "Then why are you slumming it?"

As if on cue, the roar of Izz's bike filled the parking lot. Jake and Bella glanced over but Izz was not looking their way, probably intentionally.

"I was just buying a part for the Rabbit" he answered "You should really come take a ride when it's done"

"I don't think that's the only reason, but ok" Bella smiled causing Jake to blush a little "Is it fast?" Jake buried his brows in confusion causing Bella to laugh "The Rabbit, Jake"

"Oh" he laughed "Um. It's decent"

They both laughed.

"I'm kidding" she continued laughing.

"Okay. Good" he laughed as well "Hey, happy belated birthday" she didn't look too happy about that "Your dad told my dad, so"

"Yeah, of course he did" she nodded

He took out the dreamcatcher he'd bought for her out of his front pocket "I saw this the other day and thought of you" he said holding it out to her with a shy smile "Catches bad dreams"

"That's kinda perfect" she said taking it "Um, thank you"

"No problem" he smiled. It was then he noticed Edward was staring at them from one corner of the parking lot, and Lala from the other, giving Izz, who was still on her bike, a play by play "Good seeing you"

"Yeah, I'll see you later" Bella said giving him a hug "Bye" they both chorused.

Bella walked over to Edward as Jake did to Izz and Lala. Izz was facing away from him, but Lala wasn't and smiled at him as he approached, he smiled back, especially when he noticed her purple plaid jeans and jacket looking t-shirt that matched them.

"Hey there, Lala" he smiled

"Hi, Jakey" she smiled

"Hello, beautiful" he said hugging Izz, who was still mounted on the bike.

"Hey" she answered flatly "Busy morning?"

He sighed with a smile "Not really"

"Looked like it from here" Lala whispered as she pretended to look up at the trees.

"It was Bella's 18th birthday on Tuesday and I got her a little something" he found himself explaining "Just came to drop it off"

"A dreamcatcher" Lala pointed out "As a friend, right?"

"Yeah" Jake smiled

"Then I'll be expecting my dreamcatcher in December?" Lala smirked

"I'll get you something better"

"Sweet!" she smiled

It was impossible not to notice Izz's silence. At first Jake thought it was due to seeing him with Bella but there was more to it than that. Her usually bright and beautiful eyes were dimmed, a little puffy and pink.

"Are you ok?" he asked a bit worried. He'd never seen her like that and he didn't like it.

"Mmm hmm" she nodded.

Jake turned to Lala who glanced at Izz to make sure she wasn't looking and shook her head quickly. Something is wrong! He knew Izz would tell him about it whenever she was ready so he figured the best thing to do meantime was distract her. She was wearing black doc marten maryjanes, blue jeans, black tank top and over it a black men's shirt a couple of sizes too big for her.

"Nice shirt" he chuckled

"It's D's" she answered almost in a whisper "I always wear it on his birthday" she added sadly "I know it's stupid but it kinda makes me feel like …"

"Like he's close to you"

"Exactly" she sighed

He was about to try comforting her when she jerked her head at Lala, alerting her to look back. Coming towards them was Chris, the turd they'd ran into in Port Angeles, and tall blonde that by the way Lala had described, appeared to be Chase. The loving smile he received confirmed he was indeed her boyfriend Chase.

"Umm?" Lala buried her brows, looking back and forth.

"Go ahead" Izz half-smiled, or tried to

"So he walks you to class?" Jake asked. He didn't mention who but she knew.

"Usually" Izz shrugged "We have 1st period together and he's my lab partner"

"Hmm" he cocked his brow. I can't stand this asshole!

Lala grabbed her bag off Izz's handle bar and smiled "See you guys later"

"Can you do me a favor, Lala?" Jake asked causing her to stop and look back "Can you tell….everyone that Izz didn't feel too good and went home"

"What are you talking about?" Izz asked

"Sure" Lala smiled widely, winking at him before she ran off.

Izz cocked her brow and stared and Jake, waiting for an explanation "I gotta run some errands and it would help to have my assistant" he smiled "And you look like you need some cheering up" he added gently tracing the pink lines under her eyes with his thumb "Let's get outta here"

She sighed deeply and the corner of her mouth lifted in a small smile "Alright. But you drive" she said scooting back to give him room. He was unsure of what to do for a moment, she smiled "If we get caught, we tell Charlie I got sick and you're taking me home"

"Ah, what the hell" he smiled.

The turd was still standing a few feet away, watching them, trying to hide how pissed he was. Jake couldn't help but smile as he mounted Izzy's bike. With her arms tightly wrapped around him, he revved the bike and took off.

He never asked but it was obvious Izz was not in the mood to go shopping for auto parts, they went straight to his house instead. As usual his dad was somewhere around but not home. Suddenly he realized she might get in trouble for ditching school.

"Will your mom get mad?" he asked while getting off the bike.

"No" she said while taking the helmet off "She actually wanted me to stay home but I wasn't in the mood to be alone"

Her words bothered him. He turned to her completely serious "And you didn't you call me, why?"

"I didn't wanna ruin your day too" she said while getting off the bike.

"Hey!" he said grabbing her hand, stopping her from walking any further and pulled her to him "You know I'm always here for you, right?" she nodded as he placed a strand of hair behind her ear "Not just for the good times"

"But I believe I was promised some cheering up" she smiled.

They spent all morning watching old reruns of 80's and 90's sitcoms. Billy showed up around noon but since he probably thought Izz didn't have school either, he didn't say anything. He even cooked for them his world famous spaghetti, aka Ragu. They were just finishing watching the 'Back to the Future' trilogy and making plans for dinner when the call came through.

Charlie was frantic. Bella had left a note saying she was talking a walk with Edward up the path and would be back soon, but that had been hours ago and she was nowhere to be found. No one could get a hold of the Cullens either and since her truck was still home and so where all her belongings, he was afraid she had gotten lost in the woods, woods that had been recently plagued with wild animal attacks. He was quickly forming a search team and wanted them there if not to help at least for moral support.

Jake looked at Izzy's sad little pretty face and couldn't bring himself to leave her. But there was also that urge to run out and find Bella and take her home, safe and sound.

"Go" Izz said, picking up on his inner turmoil "Charlie's family and he needs you" Jake looked at her internally debating what to do "Don't worry about me" she assure "I got Ma, my brothers, Lala" she smiled "Do what you gotta do"

With Izz's bike in the back, and all loaded up in Billy's truck, they headed off to Forks.

… ***** … ***** … ***** …

Daniel's absence was felt every day, from his empty chair at the dining table to the vacant space in the garage that would be his apartment when he got back. Ma always said it was the price they had to pay to have a hero in the family, it was nice to hear and they were extremely proud of their brother for fighting for the freedom most took for granted, but it didn't help with the heartache.

Izz's relationships with her brothers were all very different. Andy was her little brother and she felt extremely protective of him. He was her confident and because there were never any judgments, they shared everything. Good, bad or indifferent, there was nothing she didn't know about him, and there was nothing he didn't know about her. In fact, he was the only one that knew exactly what was going on between her and Jake.

Mark was older but never played the big brother. Nothing ever bugged that kid and he was the go-to guy when she needed a good laugh. No matter how bad things seemed to be, together they always found something to laugh about; problem was he always had a girl attached to his side. To Mark, she was his personal Teen Cosmo, the one to go to when he had girl troubles and needed a translation of girl code and behavior. They weren't just brother and sister, they were buddies.

D was the big brother is every sense of the title. He was protective of all them, but especially Izzy. Ma was the queen of the house and to D, Izzy was the princess. He taught her to ride a bike, he taught her about cars and motorcycles, and he taught her how to fight and how to defend herself from jerks, which according to him where any guys that looked her way. Daniel was the only father figure Izzy ever had ever had which made him twice as special to her and made her miss him twice as much.

It wasn't often that his absence hit her so hard. It was usually in special occasions like birthdays or holidays that it was impossible to pretend everything was perfectly fine. Izzy was happy Jake was sweet enough to go out of his way to cheer her up. With him around it was very easy to forget her troubles and have a good time. That's why she loved hanging out in LaPush, Billy was hilarious, Quil was a riot, Embry was funny and sweet and Jake… well Jake was Jake.

The day had been one of the best she'd had in a while. Then the phone rang. It was probably childish, petty and self-centered, but Izzy couldn't help feeling hurt that Jake ran off and went to Bella's rescue. In her heart she knew it was the right thing to do, she knew it was what any good friend would do, but she couldn't help it. If it had been Quil, Embry, Lala or any other friend in Bella's position it wouldn't be an issue, she knew that, but why does it hurt so bad?

It was almost midnight when Jake called with an update. After catching up on the Bella drama, they said goodnight and planned to spend all Saturday at her house watching movies. Jake, Quil, Embry and Seth would join her, her brothers, Lala, Chase and Chris, which Jake was not happy about, but Mark had invited him. She got a second update when Jake called in the morning to ask what she wanted the guys to take for their movie day.

Of course Lala was the first to arrive and was itching for the download on the drama the whole town was talking about. She knew Jake was there and of course assumed Izzy would get the 411 from him.

"What the hell happened?" Lala asked eagerly "Did she get lost, get hurt and couldn't make it back, or what?"

He mouth was wide open when Izzy told her Bella had not only been dumped by Edward, but had been left alone in the woods while he split town with his family.

"Wow" Lala breathed "I would've never seen that one coming"

"Apparently she spent the night crying and screaming" Izzy informed "And now she's in like comatose state, won't talk, won't eat and just stares into nothing"

"Damn!" Lala scrunged her nose "I would hate to be her"

The arrival of others kept them from talking any further, but it surely wouldn't be the last time Bella was the topic of choice, especially when they went to school on Monday.

The day went way better than Izzy ever expected it to. Apart from the glances she and Jake received from Chris, when he thought no one was looking, and the deathly glares Jake threw in Chris's direction when he caught him, they pretty much ignored each other.

For the next couple of days things appeared to go back to normal. Kids at school whispered and gossiped quietly behind Bella's back while pretending not to notice she was in zombie mode, not that she would notice. Jake pretended he wasn't worried about Bella when he hung out with Izzy, Billy pretended not to be worried about Charlie, and Izzy pretended not to be hurt that Jake was thinking of someone else while he was with her. It was a few days of pretending before everyone got used to it.

Bella became nothing more than a lump on a lonely chair in the corner. Billy felt bad for Charlie and what he was going through with Bella's depression, but went on spending time with Harry and Quil Sr. Jake and Izzy went back to their usual routine, school, garage, homework, dinner, some awesome goodbyes and on weekends, goofing off with the entire group, which many times not only included Lala, but Chase as well.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Life went on.

… ***** …

October

… ***** …

November

… ***** …

December

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