Hi! *waves*. Missed you guys last night. That's why you're getting two chapters tonight. This is the first. I'm still working on the other and beyond. But I have free time to do it, so I shall write as much as I can.

I had a reviewer ask me why Edward and Bella didn't speak up for Jake. Ironically enough, Seth addresses that in this chapter. But also (and I didn't write this in because I'm not doing POVs in Edward or Bella) they felt that Jacob and Nessie needed to go through that fight on their own. In my mind, during the argument, they became aware that their part in the secret-keeping could backfire on them. Like I said, there's a whole section of that. It may not answer your questions, and if it doesn't, then please feel free to message me or ask in a review.

Now, I must get back to writing your second chapter for the night.

Do I really need to say that I don't own Twilight?

Enjoy!

Shelby POV

As soon as Nessie fainted, I was ready for it. I managed to keep her from hitting the floor while I held a hand out to the mass of people moving in to grab her.

"No. None of you come near her. She may not be wickedly pissed with you guys, but I certainly am."

"We could snap you in half, girl," Rosalie growled. Her hubby, Emmett, stepped forward to take her arm.

I grinned as Seth growled from outside. "I'd love for you to try, because then you'd have the whole pack after your ass. Speaking of which…Seth! Get in here."

A moment later, Seth came through the back door, keeping an eye on Rosalie. He wordlessly picked Nessie up like she was a child. I brushed the tears and hair from her face.

Carlisle, the doctor, stepped forward but I waved him back. "Nope. You either. You stay here."

"She needs to be looked at." He took a step forward, but I stepped in front of Seth.

I glared at him. "I can tell you what happened, doc. Her mind, body, and heart were under so much emotional pain that she just shut down. All that happened was that she passed out. And I know that I didn't let her head hit the ground. She's going to be fine. You can check in on her later."

He smiled a watered down smile. "Are you a psychology fan to know all that?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'm a woman."

Backing up, I gently nudged Seth so he'd start walking. We backed out of the kitchen and all the way to the stairs. Once we got to her room, and Seth laid her on the bed, I told him to step out in the hall so that I could get her into some dry clothes. It was a bit of work, but eventually I got her into some soft, flannel, purple and green pajama pants, out of her bra and into one of Jake's t-shirts.

I wasn't stupid. She was still in love with him and was still probably going to have a nightmare. So I picked one of the biggest shirts there was in hopes that it was one that he still wore and had the freshest scent.

I called Seth back in to lift her up so that I could pull the covers down. Once she was back on the bed, I pulled them over her. She'd gotten goosebumps when I'd removed her wet clothes and the air had hit her skin.

"How she doin'?" he whispered.

I walked over to where he was standing in the corner, and shook my head. "This is a coping mechanism. She may not wake up for a while. That's a lot of pain to deal with." I sighed. "As angry as I am with him, I wonder how Jake's doing."

Seth shifted on his feet as he took a deep breath. "While you were changing her, I went out and phased just to check on him. He's not doing so hot."

"Seth, he should have told her."

He nodded, but frowned. "I agree, but, Shelbs, even if he'd been the one to tell her tonight, I think this would have still happened. With each day that he didn't tell her, he dug his own grave in this situation. I love Jake like a brother, but he should have told her the moment she was mature enough to understand something like this. Or, hell, maybe he should have told her when she was little just so she grew up with it. Like, introduce her to the word and tell her it was a wolf thing. As she got older, he could have added here and there when she'd asked."

"Yeah, but he didn't and look where we are."

He rubbed his hands over his face. "I know. I guess we're all at fault for not saying something."

"Seth, the wolves can't blame themselves. From what I've gathered, he's the head alpha male. If he tells you something, even if it's not an order, you're going to be inclined to follow it. But the Cullens? They should have said something, anything."

He smoothed his hands down my arms. "Well, it doesn't matter now. What's happened has happened so now, I guess we just pick up the pieces."

We stopped talking and watched her as she cuddled herself lower into the blankets and sighed. Then a knock came at the door. Of course, Seth wanted to be the one to answer it. Sure enough, Rosalie and Emmett came through the door. To my surprise Rosalie's eyes were downcast.

I was even more surprised when she came over to me. Seth shadowed her, just in case.

"I'm sorry I threatened you," she whispered. "I wouldn't really hurt you. You're her best friend and are a part of the family. I'm just worried about her."

I touched her arm. "I know. If our positions had been switched, I'd have said the same thing. But you've got to understand that I haven't known long enough for it to have made a difference, but you and the family have. Seeing her like this is not my idea of fun."

"Ours either," Emmett whispered, his hands on his wife's shoulders. "We feel terrible about how this went."

"Yeah, well, this was the only way it could go, in my opinion."

Rosalie sighed. "Since you're her guard now, may we kiss her goodnight?"

I wasn't fond of the idea of them near her right now, but they were her family and I couldn't exactly keep them away from her unless she asked. So I nodded.

They headed for the bed and gently kissed her forehead, said good night, and left me and Seth to sit with her.

In her sleep, Nessie reached for the empty side of the bed, frowned, and whispered, "Jacob," in a worried voice.

JPOV

All I could feel was numb as I ran through the rain with the duffel on my back. Seth had checked in but I wasn't in the mood to talk. He'd heard and seen my thoughts and was smart enough not to comment. He just phased back out to leave me to myself. And apparently he'd called off patrols for a while because nobody else was with me as I ran. It was just me.

And I feared that it would from now on be just me.

Come on, Jake. Don't think like that.

I sighed. I'm not in the mood, Leah.

I know. I just wanted to let you know that we're gonna take care of her. You take care of you.

Thanks.

She'd already phased back. Once there were other females in the pack, she'd calmed down. Not as defensive. It was kind of nice. But Leah's moods weren't my immediate issues.

The cabin Bella had been talking about was built by the Cullens on land that the Cullens had bought. There was a lake on it that the cabin oversaw. The Cullens had purchased it for the wolves to use when one or a couple needed a break, a mini vacation. Right now, I'd be the only one using it.

Thunder rumbled through the night, echoing through my bones. It rattled through me, letting me know that I was hollow.

Nessie had been right to yell at me. I hadn't realized her point until she'd made it. It had been as much a part of her life as it was mine. I'd thought that the imprint was my problem, my thing to work with. But she'd been the imprintee. It was also over her head. And in keeping it from her, I'd taken her choices rather than making sure she knew that she had any at all.

Idiot, Jake, I screamed at myself. You're such an idiot.

After about an hour, I made it to the cabin. The automatic light came on when it sensed my movements in the trees. As soon as that back door had slammed, I'd phased and took off in this direction, shredding my clothes. Before I phased back, I shimmied the duffel off my neck. I picked it back up in human form and went into the dark cabin.

When I turned on the lights in the hallway, I came face to face with my own reflection, and it made me flinch. Nessie had done a hell of a job on me. Bruises had started to form in patches as big as her small fists. There were also a few scratches that ran from the side of my neck and down my chest where they became welts when her nails hit the tank I'd been wearing.

Touching one of the scratches on my neck, I flinched at the sting. I'd deserved every one of these marks. And I'd wear them with the guilt.

Turning away from the mirror that held the reflection that I could no longer stand to look at, I studied the cabin that was going to be my home for however long it took for her to forgive me.

There were two sets of stairs. One that led up, and one that led down. The master suite was downstairs because the stairs could be closed down and locked from the inside. The loft was open and airy. I went for the downstairs. Needing a shower desperately and not having any clothes to take off, I threw the duffel on the bed and walked into the shower.

Fifteen minutes later, I was lying on the bed, on top of the covers after I'd dried off, and just stared at the ceiling. Except, I wasn't actually looking at the ceiling. I was staring back into that kitchen, at Nessie's tear-stained face, the anguish in her eyes at my betrayal.

Because it was a betrayal. She'd been right. I hadn't trusted her with the reaction. I'd expected her to say "see ya around, Jake" and actually never see her again. But that was so stupid. It was as if I hadn't paid attention to the woman she'd become after all these years. I was expecting her to be like Bella and choose someone else over me.

I was the dumbest person on this planet. Trust should have been the first thing between us since I'd helped raise her. Every day of her life had me somewhere in it, even if it was just a phone call.

Sighing, I sat up. Being alone in the cabin, I didn't really have to put on clothes, but I didn't want to feel that vulnerable, especially after having my ass handed to me by the girl I love. But when I opened the bag to find her bag inside, I wanted to scream. I'd forgotten it was in there. With shaky hands, I unzipped the bag to find one of her favorite sweaters folded on top. Her scent hit me like a ton of bricks, but it comforted me as much as it hurt.

Since it would feel like disrespecting her to take only her shirt between the sheets with me, I grabbed a pair of cut off sweats and pulled them on. Once I crawled into bed, I dimmed the lights with the control on the bedside table, tucked her shirt to my chest, and breathed deep.

It took a while, but eventually, sleep took me wrapped in her scent.

RPOV

The day after I'd sent Jacob away was very uneventful seeing as how I'd slept through most of it. The sleep hadn't been restful at all what with the look of intense loss on Jacob's face haunting my dreams. And I woke up to Shelby rather than him. I'd wanted it to be him.

"Morning, sleepyhead," she whispered with a sad smile.

I didn't even try to smile. "Hi," I barely choked out before I burst into tears.

She hugged me to her as I cried myself back to sleep.

I don't know how much later it was when I woke up, but it was dark outside. Shelby was still there, watching me.

"Wanna try that again?" she asked, smiling. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

My lips lifted a minute amount. "Sorry. Hey."

"How are you feeling?" Her hands rubbed small circles on my back.

"How do I look?"

"Like crap." Trust her to be honest.

I laughed a little. "Then, it's good to know I look as bad as I feel." I wrapped my arm around her waist in an effort to hug her back. "Thanks for staying with me."

Her smile was gentle. "Of course. You would have done it for me."

I nodded. But a memory hit me and suddenly I was angry. A thought had occurred to me last night as I was raging at Jacob. And I wanted it answered. "Is my mom around?"

Her laugh was full of real humor. "Ness, they've all been waiting out in the hall since I had Seth close the door on them."

I leaned up a little to see the werewolf sitting in the corner with one of my old school books open in his lap. He looked up to give me a small wave and a big grin. "Hey, Ness. It's good to see you awake."

I nodded, but couldn't smile back. I loved Seth and always was happy to see him, but he reminded me so much of Jake that it hurt. I lay back down on my back and took some deep even breaths.

He must have heard them because he said softly, "I can leave if you want."

I shook my head against the pillow. "No, but I do want my mother in here."

Not one second later, the door opened to reveal her standing there. "Hi, sweethe-," she managed to get out before I interrupted.

"What happened?"

She blinked at my demand. "I'm sorry?"

I sat up and faced her. "What did you do to him to make him not trust me? It had to have been leftover trust issues with you, whatever happened before I came along. What the hell happened?"

Dad appeared behind her. "I happened."

"What do you mean?"

He looked at Seth and Shelby pointedly. "I think this should be a private conversation."

"Absolutely not," I said, echoing him from last night. "No more secrets around here. Spill it."

They both sighed but didn't look happy. Oh well. "A long time ago, when your mother was still human, I left her thinking that I was protecting her. Instead, it ripped her apart. Jacob was the one to fill that void. He helped heal her to a certain extent."

"I needed him, Nessie."

"You loved him." I said it as a fact, not a question.

She nodded. "I did."

"But not as much as you loved dad." When she shook her head, I said, "Did Jake know that?"

"I told him," she whispered.

Dad placed his hands on her shoulders. "He was angry with me for coming back. He swore that he could have made her happy had I stayed away for six more months. And when your mother got pregnant with you, he wanted-,"

"Edward," Mom's voice was sharp.

I looked between them. "What? What did Jake want?"

He looked at Mom sadly. "He wanted, as I did, to abort you so that she could live."

Mom answered to that quickly. "And when I said no to both of them, he still stayed. At first, he thought it was just because he was still drawn to me even though I had married another man and was pregnant with his child. But after you were born and he'd imprinted, we figured out that he'd been drawn to you. Even before you were born, he was yours."

I let that warm my heart for all of a second before I was back to glaring at her. "So you used Jacob. You kept him close because you didn't want to feel that void where Dad had been. You made him think that he could win you over. And when you went back to Dad like nothing had happened, you stabbed him in the back, right over the heart."

"It wasn't like that, Nessie." Mom's eyes pleaded with me to understand.

"Actually," came a voice from the corner. I turned eyes to Seth. He met mine with a force that I'd never seen in him. "Jake was torn up. When he got your parents' wedding invitation, he'd been so angry and hurt that he'd phased and run all the way through Canada before he could calm down enough to come back."

Mom and Dad glared at him. I'd never seen Dad angry with Seth. They'd always been good friends. "It wasn't like that."

"The hell it wasn't," he countered, getting to his feet. "You," he said pointing to Mom. "You played him a good one. You never once told him that it wasn't going to happen. You kept going back to him, making him believe that you needed him so much that he had a chance to be the man in your life. And now, because he's imprinted with Nessie, your daughter, he's messed up with the trust stuff. Sure, he didn't think he was. He thought he knew how all this was going to work, but when the time came he freaked that she'd reject him."

"I'd never do that," I felt the need to say.

Seth nodded. "I know, and I think he knows that. But with Edward poking his nose where it didn't belong in your and Jake's heads, he scrambled things. Jake was going to tell you about imprinting when he knew that you'd chosen him."

Dad said, "But I'd told him that she had."

"Exactly. He needed to see it for himself. And I bet you talked to Nessie about mysterious things and weren't up front with her about it. Your push caused problems." Dad began to argue, but Seth kept going. "Oh, and a good question is what the hell was that last night?"

I had intended this conversation to be led by me, but Seth was well and truly pissed off. No matter how much he and Dad got along, Jake was his priority because Jake was his alpha male. Jacob's well-being was the pack's well-being. So I just sat with Shelby against the pillows as they duked it out. Shelby was smiling at Seth in that way that a girlfriend does when her boyfriend does something hot and she plans to reward him later.

"What was what?" Dad demanded right back.

"Read my mind, Edward. It's what you're good at, but for all of those impaired of that gift, why the hell did you let Nessie do that to him last night without putting some of the blame on yourself? You were the one who kept telling him to tell her, but then turning around and telling him to get his stuff together first. And then, to top it all off, Nessie was trying to figure out her own feelings while trying to figure out if Jacob had also changed because you put thoughts in her head."

When Dad didn't say anything, but looked surprised, Seth shook his head. "What? Do you really think I don't pay attention? Jake is my Alpha, and with any luck in the universe, Ness will be his mate." He glanced at me apologetically. "It's my job to pay attention so that I can keep up and step up when I have to. I didn't get to second in command because of my humor."

I watched my father very carefully. The slump in his shoulders was slight, but I knew that meant that he felt defeated.

"I hadn't meant for it to happen like this. I just wanted to give them a push."

"Dad," I whispered. When he looked at me, I continued. "You should actually learn to play chess. Maybe then you would have thought of all the possibilities of the outcomes." I turned to Seth. "May I borrow your phone?"

He rummaged in his pocket for it and threw it to me. I made sure to check the time before I called anyone. It was only seven in the evening. Hopefully, they'd still be up. I scrolled through his address book and found the name I was looking for.

He picked up on the second ring. "Seth? How's Nessie?"

"Um, she's fine."

There was a pause. "Nessie. Are you ok?" Before I could answer, he rambled on. "Of course you're not. I'm sorry. What can I do?"

I smiled at the concern in his voice. "I was actually wondering if I could come down there and stay with you and Emily for a few days." I ignored the sad looks coming from Mom and Dad, especially Dad. I loved him and always would, but he should have left us alone. "Of course, if you say no, it's ok. I know that you and Emily would like some time to celebrate the baby."

His answer was immediate. "Don't be ridiculous. The baby is months away, and you need us now. Not to mention that Emily is really worried about you. She wanted to go up there today, but Seth told us you were sleeping."

"Yeah, apparently I'd had a shock to the system."

"No kidding."

I chewed on my lip, wanting to ask him the obvious question, but fearing I already knew the answer. My mouth asked anyway without my permission. "Have you heard from him?" I whispered.

He sighed. "No. He doesn't want to talk to anyone except you right now."

"I know. I just need a little time to think without him here to distract me."

I heard Emily in the background ask him a question. "Emily wants to know when you're going to get your skinny butt down here."

I couldn't help but laugh a little. "Let me pack a bag and I'll get Seth to walk me down."

"Ok. We'll see you soon. Em's getting an extra room ready."

"Thanks, Sam."

"Anytime. Hurry down."

"Will do." I hung up and handed Seth his phone back. "Would you mind-,"

"Of course not."

That was when Shelby jumped off the bed to shoo everyone out including herself to give me some time to myself. My normal sleepover bag was with Jake so I grabbed my messenger bag and threw some random clothes in it, and then dressed in some sweats and one of my own black sweaters. My phone and charger were next, and I tried so hard not to look at my walls. One of them was dedicated to just me and Jake, but one picture kept grabbing my attention. My favorite one of us. Without looking directly at it, I peeled it off the wall, folded it and put it in my pocket. And then I broke down by shoving some of Jacob's clothes into my bag. They were the clothes he wore now, so they held more of his scent. I also grabbed the pillow he normally used.

Ten minutes later, Shelby had my bag slung over her shoulder while I hugged Jake's pillow to me as the three of us trudged down to the rez. None of us spoke. I'd hugged my family before I left, because even though I was angry with them, I still loved them and they needed reaffirmation of that. Going to Sam's house was my way of distancing. The pack could have only told me so much what with Jake being so picky about what was said. I wasn't as angry with them as I was my family. I just needed out of that house.

We made it to Sam's house and Emily immediately pulled me into her arms. "I'm so sorry, Nessie. If I would have known-,"

I shook my head as I held on. "No. It's not your fault. It happened and now we're going with the flow. The time apart will help us think."

"I hope so."

Seth and Shelby left me in the care of Sam and Emily but both gave me hugs before they left, hoping that I'd get some rest. Sam hugged me too, before Emily showed me to the room I'd be staying in. One last hug from her and then I was alone.

I was alone. Jacob was alone. Everything was so wrong in the world at the moment. Before I crawled into bed, I placed Jake's pillow next to the one I would sleep on and grabbed one of his shirts.

Holding it to my nose and breathing deeply, I fell asleep surrounded by memories of him.

I have to say that I loved how Seth stepped up to Edward. Good friends listen to each other and those two became friends after Eclipse. And Seth is an outsider to the situation. I know this wasn't the greatest chapter ever, but I've had the reunion scene stuck in my head since I finally got the dramatic one out of my head. So please, just bear with me. xoxoxox