Title:An Unkind Fate

Rating:PG (T)

Pairings:Ultimately Bella & Edward but first we have to show what happens with Jacob

Disclaimer:I don't own Twilight or any of the Twilight series. They are the property of Stephanie Meyer and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Set:Alternative Universe to New Moon. Edward doesn't think Bella died. Edward doesn't go to the Volturi nor does he come back to Bella.

A/N 1 – Thank you to those who reviewed. It's great to hear your comments on the story or any feedback on the quality of the writing.

Chapter 11 - Confrontation

It had been five weeks and still no word from Jake. Not a phone call, not an email, not even a post it note.

I was folding some laundry that had built up and I noticed two shirts that should have been in the load were missing. I remembered throwing them in the laundry basket with the jeans and the sweatshirt that I had just folded. I went back upstairs to see if they were stuck at the bottom of the laundry basket. After ten minutes of fruitless searching I went back downstairs.

"Hey Dad, did you attempt to do the wash in the last week?"

Charlie looked up from the baseball game on ESPN and looked like a deer frozen in headlights. "No, sorry, should I have? I thought you banned me from laundry?"

That was true. I had told Charlie I would handle laundry along with the cooking after the great pink debacle. When I had first moved to Forks, Charlie had wanted to show me he was pulling his weight and decided to throw in a load of laundry I sorted. Unfortunately it was a load of my whites and he had added his new red button down shirt to the load. I still didn't own even one white bra or pair of underwear after that.

"No, no. I just can't find a couple of my shirts and I thought maybe they got mixed up in something you might have washed. Don't worry about it."

Charlie, clearly happy that he hadn't forgetten some assigned chore went back to watching the game.

As I went to walk out of the living room, Charlie called me back.

"Bells, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, Dad."

"I special ordered a new reel for my pole at Newtons. They said it would be in tomorrow and I won't be able to pick it up before they close. Could you pick it up so I'll have it for Sunday?"

"No problem."

Satisfied, Charlie went back to watching his game.

XXXXXX

The next afternoon I drove to town. I stopped by the post office to drop off a package for Renee and decided to leave my car there and walk across the street to Newton's. I found Mr. Newton in the back of the store rearranging a camping display.

"Hi, Mr. Newton. My Dad sent me to pick up the reel you ordered for him."

"Bella, it's so good to see you. How have you been?"

"I'm good Mr. Newton."

"You know, Mike always asks about you when he calls home. Too bad he spent Spring Break in Cancun; I know he would have loved to have seen you."

"Well tell Mike I said hi when you talk to him. Hopefully we'll see each other the next time he's home."

"Good, good." The front door bell jingled indicating a customer had just walked in.

"Bella, Mrs. Newton is getting her hair done and I'm by myself. Would you mind going into the stock room and grabbing Charlie's package yourself while I help whoever just walked in? It is on the table near the rack with the lanterns."

"Sure, no problem."

I walked to the stockroom and noticed that everything looked exactly as it did when I worked for Newton's in high school.

I spotted the lanterns and found the package on the table with Charlie's name on it. I took one last look around and walked back to the showroom floor. I made it as far as the tent displays when I stopped in my tracks.

My heart stopped and my stomach dropped. The customer talking to Mr. Newton looked like Jake from the back. I did a double take and I realized it was Seth. I felt a little light headed from the adrenaline rush.

I wondered what brought Seth to the store. I inched my way closer to where Mr. Newton was waiting on Seth but stayed out of sight behind one of the tent displays.

"We're having a bonfire tonight at La Push and I finally got those cheap bastards to kick in some cash so we could replace the old grill."

"Well, we have a fine selection of grills just over here. How much were you thinking of spending?"

I walked back to the stock room before Seth could see me. The pack was having a bonfire. That usually meant mandatory attendance by all the wolves and their imprints or partners except the two that would be on patrol. Would Jake be there? Since we weren't going together maybe he volunteered to patrol.

I really needed to see Jake and find out what the hell was going on. I felt like a stalker running him to ground but I didn't see any other choice. I couldn't take this limbo anymore. I would go to the bonfire and confront Jake.

I felt better now that I had a plan of action. Part of me hoped that he would have a reasonable explanation for the way he had been acting for the last month so we could move on.

I peeked out the stockroom door and saw that Seth had left. I paid for the reel and Mr. Newton told me he would tell Mike to give me a call the next time he came home. I told him that would be great and drove home.

There was a note on the table when I got home from Newton's. Charlie wrote that he had to work the night shift for one of his deputies. Part of me was grateful that I didn't have to tell Charlie where I was going. I wasn't sure I would have the courage to go to La Push and confront Jake if Charlie told me I was being foolish chasing after someone who obviously didn't want anything to do with me.

I tried to settle my nerves as I drove out to the beach. My stomach felt like butterflies were battling each other. I wanted to know where I stood but I was contrarily afraid of what Jake would say if he was there. I parked the truck and had to walk a bit to get to the section of the beach where fires were permitted. I could just make out the flickering flames of the fire when I heard the faint sound of music and laughter drifting down the beach.

I was around ten feet away when I saw a couple of the guys wrestling over a beach chair that someone must have just stolen when the other guy got up for some food. I smiled at the normalcy of it all. I scanned the crowd and finally saw Jake on the other side of the bonfire with a drink in his hand smiling at something Embry said. The flames of the fire accented his burnished copper skin and made him even more handsome than I remembered. I was just about to call out to him when I saw her.

A beautiful statuesque girl walked up to Jacob and put her arm through his. Her shiny black straight hair, high cheekbones and beautiful sloping eyes proclaimed her Native American heritage. At the lightest feel of her touch, Jake turned from Embry and looked into her eyes. It felt like a knife plunged into my heart when his face lit up. No matter how many times he had smiled at me he had never looked at me like he did her just then.

I gasped. I must have been louder than I thought or it could have been the stupid supernatural wolf hearing because Jacob turned toward the sound immediately and saw my stricken face. In an instant, I could see guilt, regret and embarrassment race across his face. He looked at me, then the girl holding his arm, and back to me. I could see he was torn. Everyone had stopped talking to watch the drama that was about to unfold before them. Most of the pack members looked away from me, clearly embarrassed. Paul had a bit of feral smile on his face. The girl looked questioningly at Jake. Jake whispered something to her, she nodded, and he started to walk across the clearing to me.

I spun around and tried to get to my car. Stupid Bella. Stupid, stupid Bella. I felt like I was walking through quicksand as I rushed back to the truck. I tripped and fell to my knees. Why did I come out here? Why didn't I just leave well enough alone? I got back up and fought my way to the parking lot.

"Bella, wait!" Jake called out to me. I couldn't stop. If I stopped I knew I was going to fall apart. Jake's long strides quickly closed the distance. He grabbed my arm to halt my progress and I felt the incredible heat of his hands burn through my sleeve. I yanked my arm away and kept walking, wiping the tears running down my cheek. I was such a fool. How could I have been so stupid?

"Bella, please. It's not what you think."

I froze. I couldn't believe he just said that. I turned around and stared at him incredulously. He stopped at my expression. "How would you even know what I think, you haven't spoken to me in over four weeks."

Jacob looked embarrassed at the rebuke. "I know. I'm sorry. Something happened and I didn't know how to tell you."

"So ignoring me was the better plan?"

Again, he looked embarrassed. "Let me explain."

I couldn't say anything. I wanted to beg him to be quiet. Part of me wanted to tell him he didn't have to tell me what happened. All he had to do was tell me he still loved me and I would try to forget his weeks of silence. We could go back to being Jacob and Bella. After seeing how he looked at the girl by the fire I knew that wasn't going to happen. But once he said the words I knew they couldn't be unsaid.

"I imprinted."

And there they were. The words I had been dreading since I found out about imprinting over a year ago and realized that Jacob had never imprinted on me. The fear I had built so many defenses to keep myself safe from. Those same defenses I let go of last month when he told me he loved me and would never imprint. I believed him because I wanted to believe him. I was such a fool.

Tears welled up in my eyes but I didn't say anything. All I could do was stare at his achingly familiar face. My Jacob. But…. he wasn't my Jacob any more.

"It happened the day I took Quil to his cousins' house at the Makah reservation. Quil invited Embry and I to meet everyone and get a bite to eat before we drove back to La Push. You have to know I didn't mean for it to happen. Especially, the timing."

I flinched at the reminder of what had happened the night before.

"Quil's mom was introducing us around and that's when it happened. She introduced me to Vanessa and I took one look at her and …..I knew." As bad as he felt for what he was saying to me I could still see how happy he was in his imprinting.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you that first night when I called to tell you I couldn't make our date. I thought I could fight the imprint. I hated myself for what this would do to you after everything that had …. happened … between us." He couldn't even say the words. He couldn't say after we made love, or after we had sex, not even after we hooked up.

I could see in his face that he was embarrassed that he slept with me.

"I know I made you promises and I swear I had every intention of keeping them. I tried to stay away from her but I couldn't. I would find myself running to the Makah reservation every chance I could get. I'm sorry Bella. No matter how hard I tried …. I just couldn't fight the pull to Vanessa. "

"I told her about you and about us." I cringed. "I was planning to come over and tell you everything this week. I'm sorry it took me this long. It was unfair to you and it was unfair to Vanessa." I couldn't believe that even as he was apologizing to me it was still Vanessa that was most important.

"Bella, please say something. Yell at me. Tell me you hate me. Say something."

I couldn't. What was the point? All I wanted to say was 'Why her? Why not me?' Why was she good enough but I wasn't? What was I missing that he didn't imprint on me? Even after we made love, it wasn't enough. I wasn't good enough. Again.

I just turned around and walked to my truck. I could see Jake's agonized face but I couldn't spare him the energy to say anything to try to make him feel better. It took everything in me to drive home without falling apart.

I walked into the house feeling like an old woman. I was glad Charlie wasn't home yet and I didn't have to face his questions. I went upstairs and crawled into bed with my clothes still on. I cried and I cried. I cried until there just weren't any more tears left. Then I laid there and stared at the ceiling. I was alone again. Yet another man told me he loved, he would never leave me and then found me wanting. I rolled over and waited for sleep. What was the difference between the nightmare I was living while I was awake or the ones I experienced when I slept. It all felt like the same black void.

A/N – Thank you to those that have set up this story to follow or as a favorite. I really appreciate the interest. Reviews are highly motivating and I would appreciate any feedback you might have on the story or the writing. Please tell me what you think.