A/N: PLEASE READ

Alright, first of all, I want to apologize to everyone who has been waiting forever for me to update on this. Even though life has been pretty crazy for me and I really have a legitimate excuse, I know how much it sucks to be waiting on the other end. So I hope y'all forgive me when I say I am so, so, sorry.

I also want to tell you a little something about this chapter before you read it.

You guys are going to find out a little bit about what has been going on with ol' Eddie and some of you may find yourself a bit irked at Jake when you get to the end of Edward's piece. Take a deep breath and keep in mind though that, in fic, things are not always what they seem to be upon first read. I can't tell you any more than that for now, but you guys will see what I mean before long. ;-)

Last but most definitely not least, I want to give a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have me on your alerts and who have left me such awesome reviews. You guys are the only thing that keeps me writing at all. You totally rock my socks.

~ Morrigan (Aka Morgania)


He stood silent, alone and still, staring out at the thick blanket of snow that covered the hills. The way the moonlight shone upon the icy ground seemed to illuminate the earth in various shades of blue which, along with the cold, seemed to reflect his mood, perfectly.

Edward had thought that a visit with Denali coven would be the perfect escape from his woes until he was ready to return home and confront Bella, again. And, it had appeared, initially to him, that he had made the right decision. He had been welcomed, here, with eager hospitality and asked few questions. His 'cousins' were talkative and pleasant, which he assumed would go a long way toward shutting putting his own worries on the backburner. Alas, on the contrary, he found that staying in their midst only intensified his feelings of loneliness and self depreciation.

Although he had kept his cell phone turned off, there wasn't a single day that would pass that he would not check to see if his wife may have called for him and, as always, there would be many missed calls logged. But, he was always disappointed, although not surprised, to find that they were always from his family in Forks; mostly Carlisle or Alice, but never Bella.

He didn't know what he would say to her if she were to ever call him, but he felt that it would be easier to talk things through, if she were to reach out to him first. Although Edward felt that he didn't deserve it, he felt that her doing so would show him that she had the desire to hear his voice and that, in itself, might give him a thread of hope to hang on to. But, with each passing day, he felt that hope dwindling.

He had begun to wonder if he had ever known Bella at all. The girl that he had fallen in love with, the woman that he had married seemed so different to him now. He recalled the day that he had left her in the woods and how she had begged him to let her go with him, the fear in her eyes and how she so easily believe that he didn't want her. Even after all of that, fully believing in her heart that she would be leaving Italy alone, she had traveled halfway around the world to save him. He never thought that he would see the day that she would run from him.

Even when he told her what he had done to Jacob in order to keep her, he had expected tears, anger, maybe even a rough patch where he would have to eat crow and grovel while she unraveled the mess that he had made, leaving in it a pile at his feet for him to clean up. But, in the back of his mind, he thought that he would ultimately find forgiveness, even if it meant enduring some self humiliation.

When she made it plain, by her absence that she didn't want to see him, he figured that if he left and gave her the space that she needed, she would eventually calm down and call for him, when she was ready to talk things through. But, even after all this time had passed, she didn't.

So, a couple of weeks ago, in a moment of weakness he called her, himself. Not from his phone, of course, because she would know that it was him, but, from Tanya's phone. Hearing her voice from across the miles was bittersweet agony and he wanted more than anything to beg for her forgiveness. But, holding fast to his decision that his acceptance would come only on her terms, without his interference, he didn't speak a word, resigning himself to be lost, briefly, in the sound of her voice, her rhythmic breathing along with her faint but steady heartbeat through the phone line, until she hung up, severing the connection, along with his frozen heart.

It was something that had become a kind of ritual, for Edward. He would call, every couple of days or so, and listen to her sweet voice, feeling the sting of excess venom pooling in his eyes for those few seconds until the line went dead.

He began to wonder when he had become such a coward. This couldn't go on forever, he knew. One way or another, they would have to speak to each other, again, regardless of whether or not he was afraid of what she might say. And, frankly, he the strain of waiting was begin to wear on him more than the fear of possible finality.

And so, summoning up all the courage he could, he had stepped outside, with his own cell phone in hand and dialed her number. If she didn't answer, he would simply leave a message and wait. If she screamed at him, he would be patient and take it. If she cried, it would break his heart, but he could take that as well. If she told him that they were through and that she never wanted to see him again, he would do his best to be strong and pray that he had enough strength to let her go. He could do this. It had gone on for too long and it was time to have it out. He knew that he could do this. As the phone began to ring, he told himself that he would be prepared for anything.

He was wrong.

He was completely unprepared for the slightly amused voice that assaulted his hearing, taking him back through time to the first night that he believed his Bella was lost, to him, forever.

"Well, hello, Bloodsucker."

Edward froze, his eyes darkening, his face taking on a haunted expression as his fingers gripped his phone hard enough to leave a lasting impression upon its outer casing. He floundered, mentally, trying to wrap his mind around the realization of who had just casually answered his wife's personal phone, his emotions swirling tumultuously over the possible meaning that this simple action implied. He found that he was, momentarily, incapable of forming words.

The last voice he was prepared to hear was that of Jacob Black.

Bella

I awoke, blinking against thin rays of light which were filtering in through the spaces between the heavy, drawn curtains and managing to, somehow, all shine directly in my face.

Again.

I decided that I was going to have to do something about this. The sun didn't shine often in Forks. But, when it did, it was always through my window.

With a groan, I pulled the covers over my head to shield my eyes from those offensive little sunbeams, while memories of last night's evens came back to me.

Drinking, dancing and singing for the entire hotel to hear, scarfing pizza like it was ambrosia from heaven, trying to make Alice feel better about her loss of humanity only to start freaking out about Edward… Again, only to stomp, childishly, off to bed where I had the pleasure of experiencing, yet, another wonderful nightmare where he played the starring role. God, I am so dramatic!

But there was more to it, this time, wasn't there? Allowing myself to relive the dream until the difference I was searching for came rushing back so clearly I found myself amazed that I had nearly forgotten it, to begin with. For the first time I could ever recall, my dream ended on a high note.

Just as I thought that all hope was lost, Jacob had saved me.

He had saved me and I had fallen back to sleep in his arms, right here in this very bed.

Now that I had reclaimed the memory from my post alcohol soaked brain, it was so vivid; I felt as if it had really happened. But, surely, it hadn't. I mean, what was the likelihood of it, in reality? The last time I saw Jake, I had thrown myself at him, climbing and clawing at him like some kind of a desperate, drowning cat in heat until, in an act of self preservation, he had dumped me on my sorry ass and run from me like I was the devil, him – well, in this case, herself and I hadn't heard a word from him since. The chances of him just showing up, late in the evening and sauntering through the door just in time to wake me from a nightmare; a nightmare in which I had been screaming for his help, even, was pretty far-fetched, to say the least.

It was not surprising that Jacob had finally made his way into my dreams, though. Despite the way things went down the last time we spoke, I missed him terribly. Knowing this didn't change the strange feeling I had that if I rolled over and looked behind me, I would find him there, beside me. This was silly, of course. There was no way that I could be laying so close to such heat without being able to feel it, but the urge was there, all the same. I resisted, however, because I wasn't ready for my bubble to burst, just yet.

"Good morning, sleepy-head."

I gasped and jumped in surprise, as the all-too-familiar voice reached my ears.

Yanking the covers down from their place over my head, I sat up and turned in the direction of that voice and lost my breath as I locked eyes with the most gorgeous black brown ones in the world, which were sparkling mischievously in his smiling face.

No flippin way!

"Jake?" His name fell from my lips in a whisper as I stared. This couldn't be true. But, it was. He was really here, sitting in the chair across from my bed. I couldn't believe it.

Were you expecting someone else?" He asked, his eyes sparkling mischievously, "Because, you know, if you were, then… Well, this would be kind of awkward and I should probably go…" He rose to his feet, his head turning toward the door as if he was going to leave.

"Jake!" I cried, exuberantly, I could feel the smile spreading across my face.

"Yep, I think we've pretty much established that it's me," Jacob replied. As if mirroring me, his lips curved into an answering grin of his own.

"You…" I scrambled out of the bedcovers and up to rush to the other side of the room to stand next to him. I wanted to jump into his arms and hug him as if my life depended on it. But, was that okay, now? I remembered all too well what my assumptions had earned me the last time we met. But, he was here, wasn't he?

Reigning in my excitement, I held back, deciding it would be safer to test the waters before diving in to land on the concrete below the mirage. After all, it wouldn't be the first time I had experienced hallucinatory visions of someone who held such a large piece of my heart.

Reaching out, tentatively, I stroked my fingertips lightly across his shoulder, exhaling in relief as the warmth of Jacob's skin, radiating through the thin fabric of his t-shirt, combined with his body's soft resistance to my touch stood as indisputable proof that this moment was not a figment of my overactive imagination. "You're really here," I stammered.

Jacob shook his head at me as he reached up and caught my hand in his. "Wow, Bells… you really were wasted, last night, weren't you?"

He was laughing, as he said this; the kind of laugh that I used to know so well. The kind of carefree, familiar laughter that was only shared between the best of friends and although his statement was less than flattering, when he wrapped his arms around me, literally lifting me off of my feet to engulf me in one of his famous hugs, for once, I found myself too happy to care.

Unfortunately I was quickly reminded that all good things, even things like basking in the joy of being enveloped within the warmest arms in the world, must come to an end when my poor lungs began to burn and scream for much needed oxygen.

"Jacob," I choked out, my voice barely more than a hoarse whisper, "Cant… Breathe!"

Check that off as another note for the books, I thought to myself. Even supernaturally enhanced humans of the odd variety require air.

I silently cursed my remaining frailties as Jacob gently lowered me down with a grin that was, impossibly, both smug and sheepish at the same time, to stand on my own two feet. Even with only a couple of feet between us, my skin chilled, mourning the loss of that heat.

"God, Jacob, I missed you so much!" I breathed, looking up into the face of the guy who had once been my only lifeline in this world; my own person sun and wondered how I had ever thought that it would be so easy to just walk out of his life. At this moment, my previous assumptions on the matter seemed absolutely ridiculous to me.

"How did you… I mean, what are you doing here?"

Sheesh, Nice one, Bella! I, inwardly, scolded myself. That's what every guy wants to hear when they come knocking!

"Well," he mused, "as much as I really, really wanted to stay mad at you, I realized that I couldn't because the whole mess wasn't your fault. I mean, other than marrying a walking corpse, of course, other than that, you didn't do anything wrong-"

Jacob rushed through the latter part of his statement at lightning speed and I opened my mouth in protest, but he held up his hand and continued.

"-and, well... I missed you too, Bells. You have no idea how much. And, uh... As far as the how I came to be here," he paused and glanced quickly toward the window, "Alice kind of let me in."

"Alice?" I murmured to myself, "Alice just let you in?"

I was pondering this oddity when Jacob added another perplexing piece to the puzzle my mind was currently trying to put together.

"Yup," he affirmed, popping the p and nodding for emphasis. "And, oh, uh… She left already. She said something about having some kind of meeting she had to attend, so it looks like it's just you and me, here, for now."

"What?" The look on my face must have been awful, as I could feel my eyes squinting into his as if to see if he was really serious.

"Alice let you in and actually left you here with me without throwing a fit?"

"Well, yeah," Jacob confirmed, but the way he averted his eyes and chewed his lip, like he was trying to think of what to say, told me that there might have been a little more to the story than that. When way he mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like "sort of," only further solidified my opinion.

"Okay," he amended, "Maybe not just like that, but that's the short version." His easy smile slid smoothly back into place and he nodded, seemingly satisfied with his own answer and I could tell that he didn't plan on letting me get any more out of him, any time soon.

"No harm, no foul, Bells," he soothed, lightly, but something about his voice was off. "Relax, already."

Relax? He wanted me to relax? He shows up out of nowhere, with the beautiful, sunny Jake smiles and the big bear hugs and the funny, funny ha-ha's but then gets all weird when I ask him about Alice he beats around the bush, shuts me down and just tells me to relax?

Something was definitely fishy around here.

On one hand, I was thrilled beyond belief to have Jake here with me, after believing for so long that he would never want to see me again. But, on the other hand, I couldn't understand how he could be so cavalier about it. I, for one, was at a complete loss for words. I felt, suddenly, awkward; unsure of how to proceed with this surprise reunion. Especially when I tried to sort through the way he came to be here in the first place and came up with nothing outside of him catching me, in my dream and finding myself wrapped up in those big strong arms…

But, what happened after that? I went to sleep, right? No…

There was more to it than that. There was something I was forgetting and I had a strong suspicion that it had a lot to do with why Jake was behaving so strangely. We had barely even exchanged words and I already could tell that something was very wrong, here. I knew that until I remembered what happened, last night, it was going to drive me nuts.

"Um… Sure, sure, Jake." I shook my head and forced a light smile, hoping that I was doing a better job at playing this game of charades than he was. Looking around the room, my eyes landed on the clock which helped me formulate my next statement. "I mean, I'm not worried, or anything! I'm sure everything is fine. I don't know why I would have expected Alice to stay so late, anyway. She hates to sit still for too long. Hey, uh… Do you mind if I take a shower, real quick?"

I was improving here, trying to find an excuse to get out from underneath his all encompassing gaze when I had only just got him back, so I could get some time to sort out what was missing in my head.

"Oh, I mean," I continued, "unless of course, you aren't staying for long. Not that I want you to go…"

Boy, I really sucked at this.

"Because, I don't! I really, really don't. Want you to go, I mean. But, if you need to, I'll understand and I'll just wait. But-"

It was Jacob's turn to look perplexed. He stared at me, curiously as I fumbled and floundered through my words.

"I think I can stick around long enough for you to take a shower, Bells," he said; his interruption saving me from continuing to make an ass out of myself. "I'm really not in a rush."

"Oh! Okay, good. I mean… Great!" I corrected myself, quickly. "I'll be right back. Just make yourself at home. There's some sodas and a few things in the fridge or I could order room service, real quick first, if you are hungry-"

"I'll be fine, Bells, assured me, waving his hand as though shooing me. Although," he added, with a grin, "I might take you up on that room service when you get out!"

"Okay," I felt myself smile back in response, despite my concern. Even under such odd circumstances, Jake's smile was infectious. "I'm going!"

Okay Bella, into the shower with you. You've only got a few minutes to clear that foggy brain of yours.

I made quick work of stripping out of my clothes and, after adjusting the temperature, stepping in to stand underneath the cascading water.

What happened between the end of my dream, and waking up this morning? If this is what happens to someone's memory every time they drink, I'm never drinking again, no matter how much fun I had. This shit is for the birds! I vaguely remember talking with Jake, last night. I'm just not sure how much of that conversation was real and how much of it was something we talked about while I was still dreaming.

It's funny to think that the night I have such a vivid dream about Jacob would be the night that he decides to show up in an attempt to rekindle our relationship. I decided that my subconscious must have inserted him into my dream because he was already in the hotel room. I probably could hear him talking with Alice. That makes sense. In fact, looking at it from this angle, it would mean that the part of my dream where he caught me was actually something that happened. Knowing me, I probably thrashed around and rolled right out of bed and if I had been screaming out loud Jake might have come in with Alice to try and wake me up just about the time I did so.

As I worked on shaving my legs, much of the following conversation began coming back to me.

Jacob was holding me in his arms telling me that everything was going to be okay. "I've got you," he told me, over and over again. He was stroking my hair as I shook and held onto him for all I was worth. I remember trying to tell him that I was sorry for the way I had acted the last time we saw each other but he never let me finish. He said that he didn't want to talk about it. No… He didn't want to talk about anything. I'm pretty sure that's what he said.

And he held me, for the longest time, until the tears stopped and the shaking went away and the panic that I had awoken with subsided to be replaced with a feeling of calm and safety that I haven't felt, even in my waking hours, for such a long time. I can even recall thinking to myself that it was so much nicer to be held by him than dropped and being mildly shocked when he whispered, as if on cue, that he would always catch me.

Hold on!

Sensing that this was important, I backed up thought of those words again, "I'll always catch you, Bells," which may have been appropriate under the circumstances, but as I quickly replayed the conversation in my head, I found the missing piece.

"How? How did you…?" I had asked, hoping that, despite my inability to complete an entire sentence, he would understand what I was asking of him, which was 'how did he know?'

"I heard you." When Jacob answered, his voice had sounded far away and confused and even a little scared. "I heard you," he said. "I don't know how… But, I heard you…"

Gasping, I blinked with surprise and the loofah that I had been scrubbing with fell to land with a soapy splat upon the shower floor.

He heard me?

I decided that there had to be some reasonable explanation for this. Even Edward, who can read into everyone's thoughts couldn't read mine. And, last time I checked, Jake's only supernatural ability was one that allowed him to morph into a giant horse-sized canine. I laughed to myself as I picked the fallen sponge off of the floor, rung it out and hung it back on its hook.

It was probably just a coincidence. Or, even more likely, I really had been screaming and Jake was being sarcastic when he said that he didn't know how he had heard me.

I suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. All that worry about not being able to remember all of last night's details and I find that I had gotten myself all worked up over nothing. Jacob was probably just acting strangely because he was just as nervous as I was.

Stepping out of the shower, I dried myself off and reached toward the hook for my robe and realized it wasn't there.

Shit!

I had left it in the dryer. Well… This is awkward.

As I stood there, wrapped in only a towel, I contemplated how I was going to get from the bathroom to my clothes without being caught in such a state of undress, only to giggle again to myself as a silly idea popped into my head and refused to go unheeded.

Oh, that's right. Jake and I can hear each other's thoughts. I'll just kindly ask him to get my robe out of the dryer for me. I'm sure he won't mind.

I concentrated on asking him to do this as if I were shouting through the door, telling him exactly where to find my robe and smiled to myself as a few moments went by with no response.

Confirmation of my mind's privacy was nice. But I was still, however, unclothed. So, as embarrassing as it might be, I decided that I was going to have to call for Jake to get my robe for me, after all.

"Jake?" I called out only to jump when he responded immediately from the other side of the door.

"You don't have to keep shouting, Bells," he said. "I've got it, already."

I felt myself freeze.

No, he couldn't possibly have known.

Several seconds ticked by before I heard him ask, cautiously, "So… do you want me to hang it on the doorknob or something?"

My arm felt like lead as I slowly turned the knob on the door and reached out to grasp the soft terrycloth bathrobe within my fingers. Without even uttering a 'thank-you' I pulled it inside the bathroom and shrugged into it and then flung the door open to stare at Jacob in disbelief.

There he stood, only five feet away from me, his expression a mask of apparent confusion in response to my odd behavior. Running his fingers through his long hair, he cocked his head to the side and asked, "Are you alright, Bells?"

"You brought me my bathrobe," I answered, stoically.

"Well, yeah," he nodded with a worried frown. "You told me that you forgot it and asked me to get it out of the dryer for you."

"I didn't say anything." I corrected him and watched his expression falter for a moment before he smiled and shook his head.

"Sure you did," he countered. I heard you plain as day."

"You'll always catch me, huh?" I asked him, then, stepping through the door and walking slowly toward him.

"Are you planning on falling down?" he asked, he was nervous. I could see it and he actually took a couple of awkward steps back as I approached him.

"You heard me?"

"Yeah, I told you I did." His eyes seemed to have trouble holding my gaze as he glanced around the room. "Bells, you're weirding me out, right now," he said followed by a weak laugh.

"You don't know how. But, you heard me."

Jacob's eyes quickly snapped to mine and his face grew very serious. "Damn it, I was hoping you wouldn't remember that," he groaned, softly. He continued to look into my eyes with this pained expression and I stared back at him in wonder, noting how his lips never moved when I heard him ask in a voice filled with trepidation.

"Are you still happy to see me?"