Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters.
Chapter Fourteen
Fede
"By the way," she added for him only, "Izzy is not very happy about all this."
Lucio gave Althea a quick nod, and strode out of the house at an alarming rate. Edward, his curiosity getting the best of him, followed him almost immediately out the door, and into their front yard.
"They're going to be a while," Althea said with a smile, "how about I get to know all of you a little more while they discuss certain things."
It was hard to say no to her. Her smile was warm and welcoming, and her presence left everyone feeling calm, despite learning of Victoria's impending arrival. She continued to entertain them with her abilities, while Lucio attended to other matters.
Lucio lifted his head towards the sky, and took a deep breath of fresh air. He loved the smell of the forest; he had forgotten how much he missed it. The city was nothing like this; it smelled of gasoline and blood. But he wasn't lost in his memories for long, as he heard Edward quickly approaching him from behind.
"I'm going to talk to her, Edward," he said as he turned to face the vampire.
Edward stiffened at the very idea. "Could you," he asked cautiously, "bring me with you?" He longed to see his beautiful Bella, even if he couldn't call her that anymore. She was no longer his, and she was no longer Bella, but he doubted she was any less beautiful.
Lucio smiled slightly, amused by how little Edward really knew.
"I'm not teleporting to her," he began, "she's not very happy with us right now, and I'd rather not push my luck with her any further."
"Instead," he continued, walking further away from the house, "I'm going to talk with her up here." He pointed to the side of his temple with his index finger, indicating he planned on contacting Izzy telepathically.
Edward was shocked, and felt a pang of jealously towards the man standing before him. He could communicate with Izzy on a level Edward never could; his ability never worked on her.
"I can let you listen, if you want," Lucio added, realizing Edward's thoughts.
"You can, what?" Edward questioned.
"Izzy may be unaffected by your gifts, but like I said earlier, mine are much more powerful. I can also let you read my mind, if I choose to let my shield down. If you want, I can let you hear my end of the conversation, however I will not let you hear her response, that's offering a bit too much. The offer is on the table, if you want it. Take it, or leave it."
Edward couldn't get over how firm Lucio was when he talked. He noticed that Althea and Lucio shared that quality, bluntness. But he couldn't help but feel excited at Lucio's offer. If he were human, his heart would have started beating faster and faster as the seconds ticked on. He nodded his head to show his agreement to the deal, and Lucio motioned for him to come forward.
"Close your eyes," he whispered to Edward, "it helps."
Alice watched from her bedroom window as Edward crossed the grass to meet Lucio in the front yard. She already knew from her vision what was going to transpire between the two of them, so she turned her head to meet Jasper's glare. He had been staring at her that way since the meadow, & she realized from her vision that he had brought her up here to talk, but he kept changing his mind about what.
"Darlin," he whispered softly as he walked over to her, "can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can Jazz," she replied.
He took her hand in his, and she noticed the stress in the lines of his face. He had such a beautiful face. She'd pictured it so many times before the day they met, and even now, she realized, it "dazzled" her, as Bella used to say. But now, she wished he'd look away. She knew what he was about to ask him, and she wasn't quite sure how to answer.
"When we were in the meadow, I sensed something from you. At first I thought it was anger, but then I realized that was just from the excess of emotions I was feeling from Edward. No, what was coming from you, especially when Lucio asked me to work with Bella, or Izzy rather, was anxiousness, and fear." He paused here, waiting for her to confirm his statement, but her eyes refused to meet his. So he added, "You don't trust me to be alone with her, do you?"
He couldn't believe he was asking his own wife this question. He knew that some of the family held resentment towards his lack of control, especially after the birthday incident, but he never thought Alice would actually hold it against him in such a manner.
"Jazz," she began, "it's not as simple as you make it sound. I love you. But this whole mess that Izzy's in, I can't help but feel like it's our fault, especially since we're the ones that left her. I was supposed to be her best friend. But instead I let my husband try to eat her, and my brother rip her heart to pieces. I don't want to hurt her anymore Jazz, and please don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't think that leaving the two of you alone, in such close conditions, is a good idea. I can't see her future anymore, now that she's a Strega, and it just makes me uncomfortable not knowing what could happen to her."
Jasper could hear the strain in her voice as she finished, and he could feel the wave of emotions rolling off of her. But he couldn't hide his own frustrations when he responded.
"Don't you think I feel guilty enough about what I've done to this family?" he rebutted, the pain shaking his voice. "You think I'm not ashamed of who I am and what I've done? I thought you, of all people, would be able to see past all that, and know that if I could take it all back, I would."
She couldn't help but feel angry as well, his emotions overflowing and mixing with hers.
"I am on your side Jasper," she hissed back, "and I alone have defended you to this family, to almost everybody we come across. I just don't think that Lucio knows what he's asking you to do. I think it's too much strain on you, and I think Izzy would be safer if we just didn't try it at all."
"Didn't you hear what he said?" Jasper realized he was now yelling, but he didn't care. "Izzy is stronger than all of them, I'm no more of a danger to her than she is to me. That's the whole reason Lucio wants her here, so I can help fix the part of her that I helped break."
He tried desperately to contain his emotions but it was no use. He was trying to convince her, just as much, as he was trying to convince himself. He turned away from her, and clenched his fists in his hands. He turned back to face her, just once, before leaving.
"Have some faith in me," he pleaded, as he disappeared out the door, leaving Alice to dwell on the words he left behind.
Taini swore she was crazy. One minute she was standing in the meadow, looking at Jake, and then she was in here, in her room, and felt the sudden urge to vomit. She tried calling him, but felt his phone vibrate across the room on her nightstand.
"Of course," she said out loud. Jake always forgot his phone here. She was constantly returning it to his house, not that she minded. It was always just another excuse to spend more time with him; she sometimes wondered if he did it on purpose.
She tried to replay in her mind everything that had happened that day, but it all happened so fast. The one thing she could remember, as clear as if he had just said it, was Jacob's story. Jacob didn't talk much about Bella, or her family, to her, and she knew it was because it was painful for him to talk about. She also knew that some of the pack blamed her for Bella's death, but she really didn't understand why. How was she supposed to know Jake was a werewolf and that he was supposed to be guarding Bella from vicious vampires? She had only been in town one day, and it was Jacob who had imprinted on her, not the other way around.
There was the word again; imprint. She hated it really. She wanted Jacob to love her unconditionally, the way she did him, without any supernatural powers getting in the way. She sighed, realizing there was so much she wanted to tell him, and she had no idea when she would be able to get to see him. She decided to write it all down, just to make sure she didn't forget anything.
She sat in her room, writing, as the sun fell slowly down from its high point in the sky. It would be dark soon, and she was beginning to worry about Jacob's safety.
Just then, she heard the soft knock on her door, and she instinctively called out, "Come in."
The first thing she noticed about Jake was his eyes. They were filled with so much sorrow, and anguish; he looked like walking death. He shoulders were hunched over, as he stood there in the doorway, leaning up against the frame.
"Hey Tai," he whispered to her. Before he could even speak again, she was away from her desk, and wrapped around him, her arms squeezing tightly at his back.
"Jake," she breathed into his chest, her voice almost a whisper, "I was so worried."
He instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He took her smell, and her touch, and tried so very hard to allow her presence to bring him back to life. But so much had happened; so much had changed.
He was momentarily distracted as he looked over her head and noticed stacks of crumbled up papers all over her bed, floor, and desk.
"Babe," he said, removing his right hand from her waist and bringing it up to her chin, "what have you been doing in here?" She met his gaze, and then instantly pulled away. She tried desperately to pick up the scattered papers, but the instant Jake realized what she was trying to do, he began to help.
"No," she immediately cried, and snatched the paper from his hands.
He was taken aback by her harsh tone, and stood a bit dumbfounded for a moment.
"What's going on Taini?" he asked his eyes searching hers for answers.
"I just," she began. She was trying very hard to make the words come out right.
"I just didn't want to forget everything I wanted to say. But now...now I think I know exactly what I need to say."
He was looking at her with so much sadness; she didn't think she could keep speaking. But she needed to get this out, before too much time had passed and the subject became unmentionable again.
"In the meadow," she continued, "before whatever his name was, sent me here, you talked about, Bella." She paused at her name, realizing just how much itmade him flinch. She sat on the edge of her bed, and rested her face in her palms. She knew she needed to get it together, for his sake.
She motioned for him to join her on the bed, and he slowly approached her side. He didn't like where this conversation was going already.
"You said you told Edward that he could never love Bella the way you did. That's an awfully powerful statement, Jake. And I just, I just wanted to know if...if you loved me, the same way you loved her?"
Her question stung at his heart; he didn't know how much more pain it could bear. She couldn't ask him this. This was something he couldn't truthfully answer without making it seem like he was lying. He did love Taini, very much, and he knew some of it had nothing to do with the fact that he imprinted on her. But it was nothing like the love he felt for Bella, nothing like it all. The two were completely different.
"You can't ask me to answer that question," was all he could choke out. "It's like asking me to compare apples to oranges, you just can't."
He paused here, realizing he owed her a much better explanation than that. He took her hand in his, and reached out with his other to bring her face up to meet his.
"I love you, Tai, more than you'll ever know. I'd do anything and go anywhere for you. But please understand that I can't answer your question the way you want me to. " He tried thinking of a way to explain, so she would understand what he was talking about.
"Look at it this way. Say a woman finally gets married to her high school sweetheart. Her husband lives with her for only 3 years, when he suddenly dies of a heart attack. The woman is so upset and distraught, but eventually, with some time, she falls in love again, and marries another man. This second husband picked up all the pieces of her broken heart, and taught her how to live again, how to love again. You can't just go up to her and ask her if she loves her second husband the way she loved her first; they are two separate things. Do you understand now? It'll never be the same type of love, but that doesn't mean the love I have for you isn't strong. I know you know that, deep down."
She looked at him, and she saw how badly he wanted her to understand. And she did, actually. His analogy was rather good. But she couldn't hold back the words at the tip of her tongue.
"You love me because a part of you has to, Jacob Black. You loved Bella, with all of your heart, because you wanted to. How am I supposed to compete with that?"
She could feel the tears begin to stream down her face, and she stood from her place on the bed and walked towards the window. She heard him stand and soon felt his arms wrap around her from behind and his chin rested on her shoulders.
"Tai, please don't cry," he soothed into her ear. "I love you. Have faith in that, have faith in us."
She turned around to face him, and couldn't help but force her lips onto his, hoping his kiss would help her forget everything she had learned, everything he had said. But they both knew things were different now, it didn't matter how passionately they kissed, nothing could take back what had transpired.
The full moon was high in the sky now, as they tried to kiss away their fears, and hold onto their love. As a sadden vampire returned to his home, and stood in the doorway of his bedroom, holding out his arms, awaiting his wife's embrace. As an unlikely pair held a conversation with an angry girl thousands of miles away, hoping she would understand.
The full moon had risen, and it was time for things to start changing.
A/N: Okay, I am SO excited that you all like this story so much; I'm having so much fun writing it =] This story is getting so many visitors, and I couldn't be happier. Please keep reading and reviewing, I love hearing your thoughts and opinions. I try to respond to every review, but I do apologize if I miss you. Oh, and for the record, Fede is Italian for Faith. I'll update again tomorrow. Until next time. -SNO
PS. According to my university, the Internet in my dorm room should be completely fixed now, so I won't have to worry about a bad connection anymore.