As I drove to La Push in my truck I refused to think about Edward. Instead, I turned the music on the radio up as loud as I could and concentrated on it. When I got to the edge of the reservation, I turned the music down so I wouldn't disturb anyone and made my way down the familiar roads to Billy and Jacob's house.

I pulled up in front of the house and parked. I made my way up to the door and knocked. It was silent for a moment, and then I saw Billy peek out from behind the curtain. The door opened and he ushered me in out of the rain.

"Bella!" he exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise! It's been too long since you've been here. It's good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too, Billy. How have you been?"

"A little cramped, lately, with Jake and his wife, but I'm doing well, thank you. How are you?"

"I'm okay," I said. "I came to talk to Jake. Is the living room picked up yet?"

"We'll go out to my garage to talk," Jake announced from the living room, "but yes, I got the living room picked up."

"Hey, Jake," I said.

"Bells, I'd like you to meet my wife, Helen," Jake said. "Helen, quit hiding in the kitchen."

Helen shuffled out of the kitchen looking like a child who'd just been caught stealing out of the cookie jar. "Hello," she said softly, and gave me a small smile.

"Hi," I answered, and held out a hand. "I'm Bella Kingery."

"Helen Black," she answered as she shook my hand. "Jake told me you were coming. Have you eaten anything yet today?"

"Actually, I haven't," I confessed sheepishly. "I had a stressful morning and completely forgot to eat."

"Then I'll cook something for you," Helen announced. "I'll let you two go talk."

"Are you fixing something for me, too?" Jake asked hopefully.

"You just ate!" Helen laughed.

"Werewolves have high metabolisms," Jake protested.

"I'll make something for you too," Helen sighed. "Go talk about her cold ones problems and I'll fix some breakfast."

"Thanks!" Jake exclaimed, and gave Helen a kiss. He pulled away with a grin and nodded towards the back door. "Let's go out there, Bells."

Once we were outside I commented, "She seems very nice."

"She is," Jake agreed. "I love her so much."

"I'm glad you found her," I told him softly.

"I am too," he answered. We remained silent until we got to the shed and Jake flipped on the light.

"Another truck?" I asked when I saw what appeared to be his latest project.

"It's Quil's," he explained. "He didn't want to take it to a shop."

"Is Quil a…" I started and trailed off.

"Yeah, he joined us not long after the Cullens came back," Jake answered, understanding what I meant. "He was the last, though. Apparently your 'friends' scared the redhead off. We haven't had any problems, so no one else has joined us."

"That's a good thing, at least," I said.

"We've been trying to hunt the redhead," Jake told me. He pulled himself onto the edge of the bed of the truck and patted the spot next to him. I climbed up and sat a few inches away from him, but he put his arm around me and pulled me closer. "So what did you want to talk about?" he asked once I was situated.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I just needed to get away, and I hadn't seen you in so long. I was thinking about the first time Edward left, and that made me think of you, and I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Could wanting to see me have anything to do with the fact that your 'friends' can't follow you here?" Jake asked bitterly.

"No," I answered, "It has everything to do with wanting to see you. We haven't talked since that day outside my house."

"I'm guessing Charlie didn't kill you for the motorcycle," Jake observed.

"No, but it was close," I told him. "He threatened to not let me see Edward for a year, but I told him if he took away my privilege to see Edward that I would move out. He finally decided to just extend my house arrest."

"I am sorry about that," Jake apologized. "I had to try what I could."

"I understand," I told him. "I was just young and foolish and in love, and had I known that Edward would leave when they couldn't change me because the treaty wouldn't allow it, I wouldn't have spent so much time with him."

"That's why he left the second time?" Jake asked.

"He swears that it was just because I reminded him of what couldn't ever be, since he couldn't change me and I would eventually die" I said.

"He's an idiot," Jake told me.

"I know," I answered, "but I still love him."

"Not as much as your husband," Jake pointed out.

"No, more than my husband," I corrected him. "Well, in a different way."

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, the confusion evident in his voice.

"Mark and I didn't get married because we love each other," I told him. "We got married so our parents would think that we've moved on."

"Who did he love?" Jake asked.

"A girl named Alicia," I answered. "She found someone she loved more and left him."

"And his parents wanted him to move on, too," Jake concluded. "Well, I must admit, you two are convincing actors."

"We had to be," I said. "Otherwise, all that effort would have been for nothing."

"So do you love each other at all?"

"We're essentially best friends," I answered. "We're married, we occasionally partake in marital pleasures, but we don't love each other like normal couples do. We're just married so we can put on a convincing show for the general public."

"I believed it," Jake admitted. "So now lover boy's back, and you're torn between wanting him and not wanting to screw over your fellow actor."

"That's one way of putting it," I admitted.

"Did I miss any details?" Jake asked.

"Not really," I said. "I still love Edward, but I'm not sure I can trust him, because he promised he wouldn't leave, but then he did, and now I want to love him, but I can't trust him, and I don't want to leave Mark, because he deserves better."

"Talk about a run on sentence," Jake joked.

"Jake," I whined.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly. "I'm just surprised you did that all in one breath."

"I'm serious about this, Jake. I don't know what to do,"

"What does your heart tell you to do?"

"I'm not sure. What do you think I should do?"

"I'm a little biased, Bella," Jake reminded me. "I would never tell you to go to the bloodsucker."

"But if he wasn't a vampire, and you weren't a werewolf, what would you tell me to do?"

"We wouldn't be having this conversation if he wasn't a vampire, because you wouldn't be attracted to him, he wouldn't have left the first time, or the second time, and you probably wouldn't be friends with me, because you would have been spending all the time we spent together here with him."

"Jake, can you just answer the question?" I asked. Jake didn't say anything for a few minutes, but I knew he was thinking.

"If I were in your shoes, I'd probably choose Edward," Jake finally admitted with a sigh. "If you love him so much that you still want to be with him forever, even after he's left twice, then you must love him a lot. I'd say go for Edward, but, since I am a werewolf, and he is a vampire, and I feel sorry for Mark, I will encourage you to stay as far away from the bloodsuckers as possible."

"Thanks Jake," I said.

The door to the garage opened then, and Helen came in with a tray of food.

"Do I need to be out here to chaperone you two?" she joked when she saw Jake's arm around me.

"No," Jake answered. "We're being good little children."

"Are you okay, Bella?" Helen asked.

"I'm fine," I assured her. "I'm glad that I got to talk to Jake again. It was hard on me when he wouldn't return my calls."

"He was rather upset until he heard that Edward had left you again," Helen told me. "He was rather jealous that you weren't giving him all your attention. I was almost offended, once I met him and he still thought about you." She winked at me, and gave me a plate that had considerably less food on it than Jake's. "He wasn't happy that you were hurt again, but he was happy that the bloodsucker had left. "

"He's back now," I told her as she handed Jake his plate.

"Jake told me," she said. "I figured you just needed to talk to an old friend about the problem that presents."

"It's a different problem than we thought," Jake told her. "Bella still loves him. Apparently she and Mark got married to make their parents think that they had both gotten over previous loves."

"Really?" Helen asked. "That's almost fascinating. Why would you marry someone you don't love?"

"Have you ever dealt with the wrath of my parents when they think that they are right, and that their only daughter is being foolish?" I asked. "It's a force to be reckoned with, and Mark didn't have it much easier."

"So it was simply to escape parental pressure?" Helen confirmed, and I nodded. "You two had everyone fooled, then. We all thought that you were truly in love."

"That was the goal," I informed her. "Mark and I are best friends, but we aren't in love."

"So Edward presents more of a problem than we originally thought," Helen concluded thoughtfully, and then grew silent. "I wish this was easier for you, Bella," she finally said.

"Me too!" I laughed. " But like I said earlier, I'm just glad I got to talk to Jake again. I missed my big furry friend."

"Hey!" he protested. "I'm only furry when I'm in wolf form!"

"But you are still furry part of the time," I pointed out, and poked him in the ribs. He tried to poke me back, but then thought better of it.

"I'd poke you back, but you'd fall off the truck since you're so clumsy," he gloated smugly.

"I'm well aware of that," I said. "Why don't you eat?"

"You should too."

"I know," I said. "But I'm still waiting for the poke in the ribs."

Jake and Helen laughed at me. "I won't poke you, I promise," he said.

"Just eat it before it gets cold," Helen advised us. "I'll be back in the house." She turned and left Jake and I to finish our food and finish talking.

When my food was gone a few minutes later, I turned to look at Jake. His food was almost gone too, so I waited for him to finish.

"I'm glad we're talking again," I said sincerely. "I really did miss you."

"I missed you too, but it was just so hard to see you with my enemy," Jake said. "Any time I thought about you with him, I'd start shaking so hard that I wasn't sure I'd be able to stay in human form. I thought that would probably extend into phone calls as well, so I just didn't talk to you. It's really your fault, after all," he teased me.

"I know," I acknowledged. "I just wish you guys weren't mortal enemies."

Jake didn't reply to that. He just hopped off the truck and held out a hand to help me down. I jumped off, with his help, and we started walking back to the house.

"So are you going to hang out here for a little while?" Jake asked.

"I think I will," I answered. "I'll call Mark first and make sure he doesn't mind spending the day at the Cullen's house."

"You might not be able to use your cell phone out here," Jake warned me. "We aren't very close to any cell towers."

"I have a signal," I said after glancing at my phone. "I'll meet you inside in a minute."

Jake nodded and took my plate from me. He went in the door, and I dialed Mark's cell phone number and waited for him to pick up.

A/N: This story is at 99 reviews. I seriously love you guys! You are all totally awesome! I'll respond to all of your reviews once I get them in my inbox, otherwise I'll just forget which ones I've already done, and then you'll get three or four while I think, "Did I do that one yet? Hmm, I'd better just do it, so that I make sure I get everyone." So be grateful that I'm waiting until I can use my organizational system to keep track of which ones I have and haven't done. :)

I hope everybody has a great New Year's Eve, and I wish everyone an awesome New Year! See you all in 2007!

Until the next chapter and next year,
Addie :)