Chapter 13.

Jacob Black

He seemed unnerved by the question. His face became as emotionless as a rock and he stared me right down.

"I don't know yet," he admitted.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"I know, I know," he said, exasperated. "But without Alice to provide us with any kind of premonition I feel, as the rest of my family does, nearly blind. My extra sense is pointless at this point, because I'm quite sure that Aro is checking Alice's head every other day to see if she's seen us coming there. However-,"

"Wait, wait," I interrupted. "Say that again."

He sighed. "Aro. He sees every thought you've ever had, every one. So, I'm assuming from what I know of Aro, that he expects a pursuit by us, and so he'll making sure Alice hasn't seen us planning on going yet. If he does sense that we will be, then we will undoubtedly all be killed. Even if the only reason we were going was to prove the truth about Renesmee, and return our family to their rightful place."

He finished his little explanation, looking oddly tired while my mouth hung open and I took in all the new information. Finally, I gained control and snapped my face back together so that I could think of some way around the complications.

"But if we could get a hold of Alice-,"

"We're blind without her, Jacob!" he suddenly snapped. "You don't seem to understand. She naturally won't want to be in any kind of contact with me, because if Aro is doing what I know he's doing, then he'll know everything that's happening. He's seen Renesmee in Alice's thoughts, but won't believe a thing until he actually sees her. But if we go, he'll destroy us all. But there just has to be a way around that!" It seemed like he was talking more to himself now. His family and Seth were drawing in closer again to hear the potential plan that was forming. I was sure that they'd heard the information before, but maybe now they were counting on me to think of something useful. And, to be honest, I had nothing.

Edward turned away from me and started pacing up and down, back and forth, flitting around like wired atom, moving five feet at a time in milliseconds.

"We need…we need some form of reassurance before we can act on anything. Something that will make me believe that this can be peaceful as opposed to a bloodbath."

"If we could get them to listen for even a moment-," Carlisle started to add.

"We tried that already, Carlisle," Edward said cuttingly. "and look what's happened!"

"It could be different this time, Edward," Esme murmured. "It will be only us, maybe even only you, if you'd prefer. Surely Aro would not anticipate a battle if you arrived alone with Renesmee."

Seth and I both nodded in agreement. It was the first logical suggestion yet. Except for the fact that I would be included in that trip as well. I would go with Edward and Nessie if they were planning on going alone.

"That might not be best, Jacob," Edward contradicted. "We know how the Volturi feel about werewolves, and I don't think they'd be particularly pleased if you walked right on in." He was still pacing, so fast now that he was almost a blur. He suddenly stopped and a knowing look crossed his face. He almost smiled.

"Rose! That's not a bad idea, actually," he said excitedly, turning around to face Rosalie with a slightly awe-struck look in his eye.

"What idea?" she asked scathingly, her face confused.

"That! What you just thought! Because you're almost right. But the question is whether or not we'd be willing to wait that long…" He turned around again and started pacing again, only more slowly this time.

"Will some one please tell mewhat I've missed here?" Emmett demanded.

"What Rosalie thought was that if Aro is keeping an eye on Alice, then he'll have seen Jacob come back by now. If Alice saw that anyway. Which wouldn't surprise me. She may not be looking, but she'll still see, even if she tries not to. This is purely guessing now, so bare with me. The Volturi could potentially come back here if they saw that Renesmee was back. It's not certain…but Aro isn't aware that Alice's visions are subjective, I'm quite sure that he'll believe whatever Alice shows him. This is probably exactly what Alice knows too! She knows that Aro thinks her visions are certain, anything she sees, anything, will go through him as definite events. No strings attached!"

We all just stared at him like he was crazy.

"Edward. Please. Pick us up to speed here." I plead.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself."

"Just dumb it down, maybe," Seth suggested.

Edward grinned. "I think that they might come back. Here's what's wrong with this, though. This time, they would come for proof and information, not to return Alice and…Bella."- He swallowed and gathered his attitude again-"Also, not all of them would come a second time. They have Alice at their disposal now, and they'll know what our intentions are most likely. If they end up coming back, that is. And, so, I think we need to wait, not long, mind you. If we find that in the next month or so, no one is coming for us, then we will go there, and we will put our family back together. Because if they come here, they won't be looking for compromise, and they won't be coming for negotiation. They'll be coming to see Nessie and nothing else. I would be surprised if they even brought Alice or Bella with them."

"Okay, so, um, what's our plan?" I asked.

He thought about it for a long moment, weighing all the pros and all the cons, and after a minute he faced me and said confidently, "For now, we wait."

I raised my eyebrows again. "You're willing to do that?" I asked.

He nodded. "For now. Of course, we won't be putting anything off. From this moment on, I think, we'll need to come up with a plan, and hope for any kind of news from Alice. If she chooses to contact us, that is."

I shrugged. "If you say so."

He just nodded again. Carlisle did as well, and so did Esme and Seth. Rosalie scowled and stalked off in the other direction. Stupid psycho. Emmett groaned.

"I was hoping for something a little more exciting than that, Ed," he mumbled as he followed Rosalie out. Edward laughed at him. Then he turned to me again.

"It's late, Jacob. If you're tired, you could sleep here," he offered "Go to La Push tomorrow, maybe?"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think I'll stay here tonight. Don't mind if I use the couch, do you?"

Edward shook his head. "No, not all. Are you staying, as well, Seth?" he asked.

"Hell, yeah!" Seth said, walking over to punch my shoulder. "I'll stay here with Jake."

Edward nodded to both of us, wished us good night and then darted upstairs.

Seth and I crashed on the two couches in the big living room, and the rest of the Cullens either went out, or kept to themselves. We talked more about my journey, and he told me more about the Volturi. He agreed to come with me to La Push tomorrow and told me that Leah would probably be one of the happiest ones to see me. I doubted that; Quil would probably be happiest. Wow, Quil. I only realized then how much I'd missed him, one of my closest friends. And I'd be happy to see everyone else too. Charlie, my dad, Sue, Embry, Emily, Sam. Everyone that had been so close to me before disaster had decided to strike. I was pathetically wired that night and Seth and I stayed up talking for most of the time. But eventually, fatigue got the best of me and I passed out in the middle of Seth telling me about Charlie and Sue's supposed wedding plans.

I made a point of showering the next morning before I left for La Push. Edward loaned me clothes again, and I barely noticed the vampire smell anymore. There was snow everywhere outside, and Edward was nice enough to let Seth and I borrow his Volvo to get to La Push instead of running through the snow. Not that the cold would bother us, but still.

Nessie stayed home with Edward and the rest of her family, and I kissed her goodbye before we left.

Giddy with excitement, I sped along the road down to La Push, watching the sun glare off the snow from behind us. Seth was smiling the whole way, and told me that stop number one was his house.

I parked the car outside his little bungalow and watched Charlie peak through the curtains, with a look like horror on his face. Then he saw that it was me, and his eyes bulged dramatically. I laughed and jumped out of the car. Charlie was out of the door first, but Leah shoved right past him and ran straight to me, pulling me into…what was that? A hug? From Leah? Huh, maybe she had missed me after all.

"Jacob! Jacob, oh, Jacob!" she gushed as she squeezed me tightly.

I smiled and awkwardly wound my arms around her waist. I heard Seth snicker as he walked past us to give his mom a hug and run off into his house.

Leah finally let me go and there were tears streaming down her face. "I'm so happy you're okay, Jake," she said, smiling. I smiled back at her, but thought of nothing to say.

I got a similar response from Sue, who hugged me and kissed both my cheeks. She invited me in, but I told her I couldn't stay long. She made me a sandwich anyway and we sat around the kitchen table, as the same questions got asked again. Charlie was silent the whole time, just staring at me accusingly, his eyebrows all furrowed. I was sure that even though he was probably pretty terrified of me and the Cullens now, Sue would keep him sane. She held his hand under the table. That was sweet. Weird but…sweet.

It was an odd thing to be home again. Of course, it wasn't quite the same, when we were missing Bella, but this was the closest I'd been in a while. Seth and I could joke openly; act as though nothing was wrong. We tried to keep the wolf talk on the down low for Charlie's sake, but whenever we did mention something less than human, he would blanch slightly, and fade out until it was over.

We were just getting ready to leave when Leah touched my shoulder.

"Walk with me, Jacob?" she asked. I looked at Seth and he nodded. I turned back to Leah.

"Sure, let's go," I said.

She walked out of the house, and I followed after her, a little shocked but not confused. I was sort of expecting this from her. Always with the melodrama.

We were just at the road down to the beach and she was walking along beside me on the side of the street.

Leah sighed deeply. "I didn't know if you were coming back," she finally said.

I looked away, biting my lip. "I know," was my brilliant response.

"I didn't expect to miss you so much," she said, continuing. "And I didn't think I'd be so happy to see you again."

I wondered if there were tears on her face again, or if her voice was just shaking out of nervousness or something.

"I'm sorry, Leah. I was sort of just thinking of Nessie at the time," I replied. And that was true. Maybe it wasn't the brightest thing to say right now, but I was going to be truthful whether she liked it or not.

"No, I know," she complied. "But I was thinking of you. I was thinking of how if you were dead, then I'd be alone again. You're my friend, Jacob. You know that, don't you?"

I nodded stiffly. "Yeah, I know, Leah."

She put a hand on my shoulder again, and I turned around. "You weren't my friend last year," she continued, shaking her head. "But, I'm glad that you are. I really need someone like you, Jacob. You may not be in pain anymore, but I'll always be, that's inevitable. But it was crazy when you were gone. I was hardly sane. I didn't realize how much I was relying on you until you left." She finished, and smiled a little.

I took a deep breath in, and nodded, searching for something funny to say that would make this less intense. But nothing came to mind. So instead I said, "You know I'll be here for you, Leah."

Stupid, stupid, stupid thing to say, Jacob. You can't say that. It's Leah.

But I couldn't bring myself to regret the words, not yet. Because before I had time to react, Leah pulled me into her arms again and hugged me fiercely. I put my arms around her, too, just because I guessed that I had missed her. We hugged for maybe longer than friends did, and she buried her face in my chest, maybe crying again. I couldn't be sure, because I didn't look at her face.

"Come on, Lee-lee, maybe we should head back," I said finally. It didn't feel weird using her nickname, it felt normal.

She smiled and sighed, pulling away from me. We both walked back to Sue's house side-by-side.

Next was Emily's place where I got the same kind of response, only everyone was there. I mean everyone. The whole pack, all the guys. I was surprised that they were all crammed inside Em's small little kitchen.

The minute I opened the door, the first set of eyes I met were Quil's. He was looking at me, the biggest, stupidest grin on his face. I grinned back, almost laughing.

He ran right up to me, pulling me into a vice tight hug. I was getting way too many hugs lately. But I hugged Quil back the hardest, laughing freely.

Finally he pulled away, and looked at me, grinning again.

"Nice to see you, man!" he practically shouted.

I shrugged, faking nonchalance. "Yeah, thought I'd stop by."

He laughed and punched my shoulder. I messed his hair, and shoved him in reply. That started the rest of them, Emily, Sam, Embry, everyone. I was attacked by all the guys, hugs galore. Emily kissed my cheeks softly, and my forehead, too. Sam patted my shoulder, hugging me too, of course.

"Glad to have you back, Alpha," he muttered. I smiled.

After the onslaught, Emily made muffins and cookies and snacks and everything. We sat around, laughing, and eating, and I shared my story again with everyone.

There was the usual out burst when I mentioned the arrest. Yeah, laughter. Everyone seemed to think that was pretty hilarious. Embry and Quil were all but dying.

"And I thought you were the softy, Jake," Embry commented. I threw the remainder of my cookie at him.

But Emily looked concerned, and so did Sam.

"That's so strange that they would release you so easily," Sam said, now not the only person who'd mentioned that.

"Yeah, Edward said that, too. But it doesn't really matter now, I just can't go back to Canada. Which, to be honest, I really don't mind."

The guys all laughed again, but Sam looked away, his brow furrowing.

I spent the whole afternoon at Emily's, staying for dinner, too. This had to be home. There was nothing better. Even knowing that Bella was off somewhere in Italy, I couldn't find myself to be worried right then. A part of my mind had this feeling like, Well obviously we're going to get her back. That's just how things work out. And, being honest again, I really had no problem agreeing with that at the time.

Oh my god, let's not kill the author now. Yes, yes there was some Jake and Leah KINDSHIP. I promise, promise, promise, that it is NOTHING- I reapeat NOTHING- but friendship. I'm strongly anit- Jake-and- Leah. Jake and Nessie forerver, yo. Uhm, so yeah, that's all, don't freak, si vous plais. =] And, yeah, review, I guess?