Chapter Twelve: Jared's Theory


Jacob's POV

"You there, prince charming?" Paul asked, waving a hand in my face.

I decided to ignore him just to piss him off. I continued to stare openly at the kitchen counter.

"Jake?" This time it was Seth's hand that was trying to catch my attention.

Should I ignore the kid too, or should I answer him? Nah, I'll stick with ignoring him. I mean, he did humiliate me by getting me to explain what it meant to be whipped. Yes, I'll ignore the conniving two-timer.

"Whoa," Paul said in amazement. "He's ignoring you too!"

"Jake?" Seth tried again, hurt obvious in his voice.

Great, I just hurt his feelings.

"I'm listening Seth," I said in a blank voice.

I tore my eyes off the kitchen counter to face him. And of course, his once saddened face, was now replaced with his signature toothy grinned face. I rolled my eyes at him.

"For a minute there, I actually thought you were mad at me," he laughed.

I managed to crack a smile because no matter how stupid the kid sounded, he was still an innocent soul.

"Imagine that," I smirked.

"Hey, that's not fair," Paul stated.

"What isn't?" I asked.

"You're not mad at him, but you're pissed at me? I didn't do anything."

"Paul, you don't care if I'm mad at you or not."

"True dat." He grinned cockily.

"I hate you."

"You love me," he winked.

"Asshole."

Paul opened his mouth to make a comeback, but was cut off by my phone.

"It's Jared," Seth said, tossing my phone over to me.

I glared at the screen. What the hell does Jared want? Does he want to flaunt that he gets to hang out with my girl more than me? Fucking prick.

"Aren't you gonna answer it?" Paul asked.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p.'

"What if it's something important?" Seth asked worriedly.

Damnit. Why does he always have to open his mouth?

Another ring.

I was more then tempted to pick up the phone now. What if Leah really was in trouble? I mean, I wouldn't care if Jared was getting his ass handed to him by a leech, but what if it's Leah?

Answer or don't answer?

Ah, fuck it.

"Hello?" I answered angrily.

"JACOB!" Jared roared. "What the fuck took you so long?"

"Sorry, I was in the middle of wiping my ass." Paul laughed at my response and nearly fell off his stool. Seth, on the other hand, wasn't impressed. He looked worried.

You would be too if there was a chance your sister might be in trouble.

I immediately felt bad and decided to act mature for Seth's sake.

"Just shut up and listen, dipshit!" Jared snarled.

"What do you want, Jared?" I snapped.

"We're going to the hospital."

My heart dropped. That got my attention. From the corner of my eye I saw Paul immediately stop laughing, and make his way over to me. Seth's body was tense, his eyes narrowed at the phone placed against my ear. Oh, yeah, he's pissed.

"Why, is Leah okay?" I asked frantically.

"No, no, Leah's fine. It's your dad."

My dad. That was like a blow to the chest. I haven't seen him in a while. Why haven't I thought about him? I knew he was sick. What kind of son am I? I'm supposed to be a protector of La Push, and I can't even manage to take care of the man thats raised me since I was a kid. The man I live under the safe roof as me?

"Is he okay?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from cracking.

My head was turned away from Seth and Paul. I didn't want them to see my face in case tears started to spill.

"I don't know Jake, he just looks weak," he sighed. "Look, Leah and I will explain everything to you when you get here, but I have to go now. Bring Paul and Seth with you. We'll meet you at the hospital. I gotta go now, bye."

Dial tone.

"Let's go," Seth ordered.

I whipped my head around to Seth and saw that he had a determined look on his face.

"Yeah. The sooner the better. C'mon man," Paul agreed, giving me a light push towards the door.

I nodded in agreement, and proceeded out the door.

Once we hit the forest, we were phased and running at full speed. The only thing in our minds was to get to the hospital as fast as we could. It was a quiet run, and I was thankful that neither Paul or Seth had said anything to me.

I looked into Seth's head and saw that the reason for his anticipation was that he didn't want to lose another 'father.' My dad was just as much of a dad to him and Leah as well. The Clearwaters DID grow up with us, so of course. And not to mention that Harry and dad were the best of friends. Brother's actually. Seth was too occupied in his thoughts to even notice that I was listening to him. He didn't want to lose dad either. He's already lost Harry, he can't lost Billy either.

I decided I've had enough of Seth's thoughts, so I figured I'd stray into Pauls. I was surprised, to say the least, that his thoughts was almost identical to Seth's. Paul's thoughts, had sort of a twist to it that made it different on a whole new level. Paul still has his dad. Except his dad is a drunk that couldn't care less about what happens to him. Harry played the father figure to the tribal kids that had no 'dad' to turn to. Paul basically didn't have a dad, so I guess you could say that Harry sort of raised him. Along with Embry and Sam, too. I looked deeper into his thoughts and saw what was truly bothering him. After Harry died, he turned to Billy, as did Sam and Embry, because dad shared the same desires as Harry. Paul doesn't want Billy to die because if he's gone, then he truly won't have a father to look up to.

I left their minds, but still couldn't ignore the fact that we all shared the same fears. We didn't want to lose our dad. I guess this is real proof that we're a pack. A family. Harry Clearwater's death was hard on La Push, but was even harder on the pack. If dad doesn't make it, then what are we gonna do? What's the tribe gonna do? I know that once he passes, I'm gonna have to take over. But I'm not even ready to handle the thought of becoming the alpha of the pack. How the hell am I supposed to run the tribe?

He's gonna make it, Seth said, trying to sound positive.

Yeah. Billy's tough, he'll get through this, Paul agreed. Although it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than us.

We'll make sure he makes it, I said.


We busted through the emergency room earning a lot of surprised faces.

"We're looking for Billy Black," I said to the nurse at the front desk.

"You're going to have to fill out these papers first, sir," the woman said, not even lifting her eyes from the computer screen.

"My dads, in there right now! I don't have time to fill out these damn papers," I growled.

"I'm sorry, but those are the rules. Every visitor has to sign these forms," she said, not sounding sorry at all.

"Did you not hear him? Our DAD is in there, what would you do if your dad was in there and we were telling you to fill out fucking permission slips?" Seth said, pounding his fists onto the counter.

By now, every single visitor in the waiting room was eyeing the three of us nervously.

The bitch of a nurse finally decided to take her eyes off the computer screen and look at us. She eyed us each skeptically and pushed the clipboard of papers towards us.

Paul snatched the clipboard and threw it violently across the room, "Listen lady, we'll sign that shit once we're done. Just tell us where Billy Black is."

"Rules are rules," she stated simply, and went back to her computer.

Paul started to shake. His eyes were locked on the fragile nurse typing away on the keyboard. I looked to my other side and saw that Seth was shaking as well.

This is not good.

Ya think? I gripped their wrists, and told them to calm down. And then they did. They both stopped shaking. Just like that. I let go of their wrists surprised that they had managed to calm down that quick. That's when, of course, I smelled it. Vampire. Seth and Paul caught the scent too, and whipped their heads up into the direction it was coming from.

Jasper Cullen, or Hale, whatever the fuck his last name is. The one with the scars. My eyes narrowed at him. The hell is he doing here? He's the one with the least control, he could kill every single one of these humans if he's thirsty enough. He nodded in acknowledgement at us and walked over warily.

"Sorry to interrupt you ma'am, but my father has given them permission to enter Mr. Black's room," the leech said in his oh-so charming voice.

The woman looked up from her screen to meet with his eyes and flushed. She turned beat red, and started to rambling all sorts of apologies. The leech paid no attention to her 'sorries' or 'I had no idea's,' but rather at her flushed cheeks. He was thirsty.

"Thanks, Jasper," I growled. "You look thirsty. Maybe we should go back and ask your dad if you could get something to drink."

That seemed to get him out of his trance 'cause his eyes instantly turned back to its stupid topaz color. "Yeah, we should probably go. Your father is waiting for you all."

The nurse stood up from her seat and faced Paul, Seth, and I.

"Sorry boys, I had no idea that Dr. Cullen had requested to give you permission to enter freely," she said, faking a sugary sweet voice.

Jasper rolled his eyes at her and started walking back to the room.

"Fuck off and go back to your computer, hag," Paul snarled at her. I grinned at him and bumped my fist with his.

The nurse scowled at him and scolded him,"You watch your language, young man!"

"I'll watch my language once you invest in a breath mint," Paul retorted, following after Jasper.

The nurse side-glanced at Jasper and whipped her head back at us.

"You have no idea how way out of his league you are, not to mention the MAJOR age difference," Seth said, shaking his head in amusement.

I laughed and we quickly followed after Paul and Jasper. I knew what Seth had meant, but it was hilarious how it sounded horrible to a human. The MAJOR age difference was about Jasper of course, because he was like, a billion years old. If the lady hadn't given us such a hard time, I would've felt bad for her. But since she did give us a hard time, I enjoyed her embarrassment. It's not like Jasper would ever consider dating her anyway, it'd be physically, mentally, and supernaturally wrong.

"He's in there," Jasper said, nodding his head to the door.

"You're not coming in?" Seth asked, curiously.

"I will. I'm waiting for Alice," he answered politely.

The three of us stepped inside the room and paled. There, lying on the bed, looking almost as pale as a vampire was my dad. His hair was greasy from lack of showering, and the circles under his eyes were literally purple. He looked like he had been punched in the eye.

"Dad," I choked. "I'm sorry."

"Don't get all teary-eyed son, I'm gonna be okay," he said.

I saw Leah on the couch curled in a ball next to Jared, both fast asleep. Any other time, I would've lost my mind at the sight of them together, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. This was my chance to help my father get back up.

"Why didn't you call me?" I asked, taking a seat at the edge of his bed.

"I didn't need help," he said casually.

"Yes you do."

"I can manage," he chuckled weakly.

I rolled my eyes, "We're gonna get you outta here a healthy old man."

He smiled, "Leah said the same thing."

"You're lucky she and Jared visited you today," I said sternly. It felt weird, scolding someone older then me, but it came naturally to me.

"How are things between you two? You make your move yet?" he asked, glancing at Leah's sleeping figure.

"Yeah," I sighed happily. "She's mine now."

Seth and Paul sat down near the windows, and stared at Billy with sad eyes, totally ignoring the conversation that was going on.

"You treat her right Jake, don't hurt her. You make her happy - stop staring at me like I'm about to die, you two!"

Seth and Paul immediately looked away in embarrassment, and moved their focus on Jared and Leah.

"Really?" I asked, happily. "How can you tell?"

"Her eyes shine with happiness and she has that youthful glow," he said, looking at her with loving eyes.

"She also rekindled her relationship with Jared," he added, smiling brightly.

"Relationship? What are you talking about?" I asked, standing up and glaring at Jared.

"Easy, son. Don't you remember when Leah use to hang around Jared all the time? They were inseparable, those two. They just rekindled their friendship. Don't mess it up."

"But -"

"No buts," he said sternly. "If you get to be friends with Bella, Leah has the right to hang around Jared all she wants."

"You're right," I sighed. "But it doesn't mean I like it."

"Well its not like any of us like your friendship with the leech lover, so deal with it. They've been friends longer than you and Bella have," Paul said angrily.

"He's right Jake, other than my family, Jared was always there for her back in the day," Seth said quietly.

"Their friendship won't ruin your relationship with her," dad said as I sat back down. "Trust me, son."

I nodded and snapped my head in the direction of the door as two light knocks echoed in my ears, followed by a ghastly smell.

"Come in," Billy said.

Of course he would be the one to treat my father. How can Jared and Leah be okay with a leech treating my dad?! I don't care how much self control this blood-sucking, blonde, parasite has, he's still a vampire. He's still the enemy.

"Mr. Black, I've run quite a few tests and they all seem to look fine. You're healthy, but. . ." the leech seemed to hesitate, what with three shape-shifters staring at him.

"But?" I pushed.

"You're hiding something very important from me and whatever it is you're hiding is what's ruining your physical appearance," the leech said.

"Hiding something? What are you talking about leech?" I asked.

"All of his internal organs are fine. Nothing wrong with his blood, no signs of a fever, everything about him is perfectly fine. But, circles under the eyes that dark don't just appear out of no where."

The leech was right. And if my dad really was healthy, then I can't also help but wonder how one earth he had gotten so pale and thin. And those purple circles, how did those happen?

"Lack of sleep," my dad said casually.

"He's lying," a cool voice said.

Jasper and his midget of a wife walked into the room and stood beside their 'father'.

"Is this why you brought him here? To see if my dad was lying or not?" I asked in disbelief. I would never say it out loud but for once I was glad to have the emo-leech here.

Carlisle looked at me with guilty eyes and nodded. "I know it was out of the question for me to do such a thing, but forgive me, I was not thinking straight at the time, and I had to find out what was going on with his physical appearance if everything internally was fine."

It was hard to hate the doctor. He seemed more human than the rest of his coven. He actually showed emotion. Jasper only felt emotions, he didn't actually show them. Carlisle, on the other hand, was sympathetic. Even during the newborn army war, he gave one of the leeches a chance to live, he offered the mini-leech another chance. Everyone thought he was insane, including me. I just can't fathom how he can show so much sincerity through the roughest things. It's unreal. Humans aren't even that generous. Actually, now that I think about it, humans are greedy and just want things to satisfy their selves. They're selfish. I guess if Carlisle was a human, he'd be the purest of the pure, because he wouldn't hurt a fly. I mean, he'll attack a deer or two and drain them of their blood, but he wouldn't actually do that if he wasn't a vampire. I should probably trust Carlisle, he did treat my wounds after the newborn battle. And he did one hell of a job too. Besides, he can't bite my dad, that'd be breaking the treaty. Carlisle is too much of a good person to do that. I should probably stop thinking about how much of a 'good guy' Carlisle is, I'm starting to sound like I'm going gay for him.

Ewww. Bad image, bad image, bad image!

I saw Jasper's cheek lift up into a smile and glance at me.

"It's okay, doc. I don't care what you do, I just want him to get better," I said, sincerely.

"Yeah, just don't drain him of his blood while you're at it," Paul retorted, making his way over to the other side of dad's bed.

"I assure you, I would never do such a thing," Carlisle said.

"Says the leech," Paul snorted.

Seth elbowed Paul in the rib and smiled at Carlisle, "We appreciate your help, thanks, doctor Cullen."

"You're welcome, and please, call me Carlisle," he said, returning his smile.

"Will do, doc."

"Mr. Black, we can't give you any pain medication if we don't have a reason to," Carlisle said.

Dad sighed, "Wake Leah and Jared up then I'll tell you."

Paul walked over to the two and shook them awake. Both Leah's and Jared's eyes were red and they were walking incredibly slow. I wonder what they did while they were out doing God knows what to be as tired as they are.

"What is it, old man?" Jared asked. His voice was thick with sleep.

"Those vampires you're after," dad said. "They came to visit me."

5 ferocious growls filled the room.

"They're still here?" Carlisle asked in disbelief.

"Why haven't I seen them?" Alice asked in frustration.

"When?" I asked, furiously.

"The night after the bonfire."

"What happened?" Paul growled.

"The one with the blue -"

"Jayden," Leah interrupted. "My bad. Go on."

"Yes, him. He wanted information on what the pack was planning, and about you," he said, nodding his head to Leah.

"And?" Jared pushed.

"I didn't tell him a thing."

"That doesn't explain your bruises," Leah said sadly.

"BRUISES?!" Paul, Seth, and I hissed at the same time.

"Yes it does," Jared said.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked him.

"They hurt him. Tortured him because he wouldn't talk," Jared growled.

Alice's hand flew over her mouth as she gasped.

Leah was gaping at Jared, who was shaking. Paul grabbed Leah's wrist and pulled her away from his shaking frame.

"Jared, calm down!" Billy ordered.

I looked at Jasper, who was looking at me like he was waiting for permission. I nodded at him, because I knew what he was asking. Soon enough, I felt the calm wash over me.

Jared's eyes locked with Billy's and very slowly calmed. "Sorry."

"It's fine son. But you're right, they did torture me, and man are they creative." The old man tried lighten the mood by joking about being tortured. Was he insane?

I glanced over at Leah, her eyes dark with fury. She was on the verge of tears, I could tell. Her bottom lip was barely trembling, but I could see it. And apparently, so could Paul. The stupid bastard was staring worriedly at her and engulfed her in his arms. She didn't push him away, actually, she hugged him back. I knew the only reason she was letting him hold her like this was because she didn't want anyone to see her if she let a tear slip out. So I wasn't mad. Jealous, yeah. But, not mad. Besides, I know Paul - all of us, actually - doesn't like when Leah's upset. He's doing it to comfort her, to feel up on her, and to make me jealous all at the same time. Actually, yeah, maybe I am a little bit mad. Remind me to snap his jaw later.

"What did they do?" Paul asked, loosening his grip on Leah.

Good move, Paul. Press her any tighter to you and I'm ripping your balls off.

"Not much," Billy said, sheepishly.

"Not much?" We all repeated in disbelief.

"Billy are you serious?! C'mon, is it really that hard to tell us what happened?" Leah really was trying her hardest to choke back her sobs, and she was doing a pretty damn good job at it. She had released herself from Paul's arms and was hovering over my dad now.

"The bruises on my legs. They're there because they knew that my legs are paralyzed. It didn't hurt."

"They aimed for your legs?" Paul growled. This time he was the one who was shaking, and Jared was the one to pull Leah away.

Nope. No way. Not again. Fuck that.

I walked around the bed and grabbed Leah's hand, bringing her around the other side of the bed with me. I stood behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and resting my chin on her shoulder. I felt her tense body immediately relax, and I inwardly grinned. I can't even explain the feeling of having her in my arms again. Holding her, is like a breath of fresh air. I hadn't even noticed that my arms were snaking their way around her waist. It's like, once my skin touches hers, we're magnetically pulled together. If one of us tries to pull away, it just leaves an empty feeling.

I gave Paul and Jared a look that said 'ha-ha, she's mine and not yours!'

Jared rolled his eyes and grinned at Leah. Paul, however, was smirking at me, throwing a wink in the process.

"Paul's a prick, can't he understand that you're my girlfriend?" I whispered into her ear. Everyone - with the exception of my dad - however, heard.

She chuckled lightly and traced circles on my hands.

"Yes," Billy said, grinning at me and Leah. "They aimed for my legs."

"But how are you alive? A vampire can crush a human easily. If they were physically hurting you, and really meaning to hurt you, you'd be dead."

Jared was smart. Really smart. I never even thought of that. And from the looks of it, neither did the other guys. The vampires seemed to be wondering the same thing. I guess I can understand why Leah's friends with him. She's always been a genius and so has Jared. And beside her usual jabs at Embry's parentage, she's not so bad with Embry. Not as bad as she is with me, Paul, Quil, and Sam, at least. Because Embry is also a thinker. Put the three together and you've got yourself a dynamic geek squad. Her brain is like the polar opposite of mine. We balance each other out though. In my defense, I'm not an actual dumbass, I just act like one. She's still smarter than me by a mile, but it just works for us. She's the brains of the relationship, she makes the decisions. And I'm the leader? Yeah, I guess. The brawn's. I do the physical, protecting stuff. The usual. No big deal.

"They said a lot of stuff to me that you're all gonna want to know so I suggest you call up the rest of the boys down here if you wanna hear my story."

"How do you explain the weight loss?" Paul asked. "You look like you've been locked in a room for days without food."

"I don't think they intended to kill me," dad said. "It would've made things too obvious."

"Yeah, and to send us a message," Jared said solemnly.

"A message?" Leah asked.

"Yeah, that the game has started."

"We already know that, he told us that a while ago," Paul said.

"You're not getting it," Jared sighed.

"I think I do," Seth said. "Do you remember when Jayden said he wasn't gonna play fair? Maybe that's what he's trying to tell us."

Jared nodded, "yeah, that's what I was trying to say."

"That makes sense," Leah concluded.

"He's gonna do whatever it takes to get to you Lee," Jared said quietly. "I think that paper that Seth found is just a clue, I think they left it there on purpose. If they did do it on purpose, then it confirms my theory and what they wrote on that piece of paper. They will stop at nothing and will take advantage of anything to win the game."

"Do you mind letting us in on what's going on?" Carlisle asked politely.

"Jared, can you call up the rest of the pack? We're gonna need them. This takes things to a whole new level," I said. Jared nodded and stepped outside the room. "We'll inform you once the rest of the pack arrives."

"Do you mind if we call our family down here as well?" Carlisle asked hesitantly.

"No, that would be a good idea, actually. That way we won't have to keep repeating ourselves. It's better if everyones here today to get things straightened out."

The three vampires nodded and made way for the door.

"Jacob?" Carlisle called.

"'Sup doc?"

"Since everything internally is fine, and the bruising and skin impalement as such was caused by physical brutality, your father is going to be fine. His bruises will heal, and his skin discoloration should be back to normal soon. He's only paled because of the shock, he'll be up and ready to go soon."

And with that, the doctor excused himself from the room to join his 'kids.'

"So, you two are a thing now, eh?" dad asked, grinning.

"Mind your own business, old man," Leah teased. I saw Seth smiling at his sister happily. I swear, the kid loves his sister so much, he would literally sacrifice himself just to see her smile.

"Yep," I said a little too excited. Paul snorted, and rolled his eyes at me. I flipped him off, earning a wink from him. I vow that one of these days, I will gonna apply superglue to the bottom of his eyelids so that the next time he winks at me, his eye will be permanently glued shut.

"I'm happy for you two," he said sincerely.

Leah smiled at him and spoke, "well since we know that you're going to be okay, I guess I'm free to yell at you now."

"Well, that's my cue to leave," Paul said, making a bee line for the door.

"Right behind you," Seth mimicked, quickly following behind.

As Paul and Seth made their way out the door, Jared made his way in.

"They're on their way here," Jared informed us.

"All of them?" Leah asked.

"All of them," he confirmed, grinning.

Leah returned his grin and wrapped an arm around my waist. I took the opportunity to drape my arm around her shoulders, and pull her closer.

"Now we wait," Billy said from the bed.

"And now we wait," Jared agreed, leaning against the wall.


Author's Note: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know I said I'd update every friday or saturday but I've been occupied with stuff. It's sort of personal, kinda. Like, boy problems. Except its not really a problem, it's more like something...exciting? Yeah, that's it. Forgive me guys, it's midnight and I spent all day writting up this chapter and I haven't even started my homework! Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter. Of course I wasn't gonna let Billy die. C'mon, I can't do that to the wolves or Jacob. =) I know you all wanted some Jake/Leah moments, but I can't really have the two have a hot makeout session in front of Billy in the emergency room. Lol, that'd be funny though. Anyway, please review!