A/N: Okay, I am officially taking this story off of hiatus and I'm going to attempt to update regularly. I just spent the entire afternoon re-reading this fic and after much dissecting, editing, and re-writing, I'm finally satisfied with this chapter. I actually had this chapter half-written for months, but I hit a wall and couldn't stand to write anymore Twilight fanfics. This is largely due to my new-found disdain for the entire fandom. However, I remember how much fun I had writing this and decided to continue.
This chapter is dedicated to sportytc who sent me the review that got my arse in gear :)
25. Dana POV
It was fun beating Emmett all the time. There was a time, earlier on, when I constantly found my face in the dirt because Emmett would always win. That was before Jasper trained me, now his face was the one in the dirt all the time. I challenged Alice to a match once and found myself in the dirt, I challenged her to a rematch and lost again, after awhile, I noticed I never managed to even touch her once and I realized that, due to her visions, I would never win against her. Edward either, it seemed, though Jasper said that, with practice, I would learn to block my thoughts from Edward and possibly win. I beat Jasper once. Just once. And that was impressive. Jasper was trained against newborns, he knew how to fight newborns, and I still won. But just once, I have yet to do it again. But Emmett, I always won against him.
Emmett growled in frustration when I deposited his face in the dirt once again.
"How does that dirt taste, Emmett, 'cause you just ate it!" I taunted.
Jasper and Rosalie chuckled at my antics, but I heard a growl of frustration from Alice. Why would my mom be frustrated with my success?
"Damn wolves!" she cursed. Oh.
"What's going on?" I asked her.
"The wolves want to talk," Alice said holding up her cell phone. "Bella got a surprise visit from them at her house and now they're coming here to ask some questions. Bella's coming too."
I knew Alice was just irritated that she couldn't see. Other than that, she bore the pack no ill will, especially since Sam spared Jasper for his violation of the treaty.
"They'll be here in a bit," The way she said the last three words, you'd think they'd tasted bad.
About five minutes later, Edward showed up to wash up after hunting. He was out in about a minute, and then looked expectantly at Alice.
"Don't look at me like that, I don't know!" she huffed, exasperated.
I stifled a giggle. Edward smiled at me.
When we heard Bella's truck a mile away, we all went around front to wait.
Over the roar of the truck's engine, I heard Bella say, "Jacob, please!" she sounded annoyed. "Do try to be polite."
"Yes, Jacob," I heard Sam say. "Please be civil. We're not here to start anything, I just want to talk to them."
Jacob huffed in frustration. I guessed that he wouldn't have such a hard time being civil with us if Edward wasn't dating Bella. It was just Edward he ever got annoyed with from what I'd heard.
The truck pulled up and Jacob snorted. "Jeez, Bells. You drive like a grandma."
"Sorry for not having super human reflexes like everyone else I know," she retorted. "Besides, you're the one who told me the truck couldn't go past fifty anyway."
I giggled. Sam jumped out of the back of the truck and Bella and Jacob got out of the front. My giggle drew their attention. Jacob glared at me and I flinched before recovering, I glared back in return, adding a little growl that I knew Bella wouldn't hear. Jasper put a warning hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, Dana!" Bella called and stepped forward for our usual hug. Since I discovered I could safely touch her, this was always how we greeted each other.
"Hiya, Bells." I hugged her in return. I saw Jacob stiffen out of the corner of my eye. When we let go, he relaxed a little and I glared at him. "Stupid mutt," I muttered so Bella couldn't hear. "I'm not going to hurt my only friend."
Jacob growled in annoyance and Bella actually heard him. "What is your problem, Jake?"
He looked away. "Nothing," he muttered.
Carlisle stepped forward to avoid all other forthcoming arguments. "Sam Ueley," he greeted. "You wanted to speak to us?"
"Yes," he nodded politely. "I actually wanted to direct my questions to Jasper and Dana."
Carlisle raised his eyebrows, Esme looked worried, and Rosalie and Emmett shared a wary look. Jasper had thought it would be better that we not tell the others that he offered himself to the wolves a month ago. Of course, Alice was told, and me as well, then Edward picked it from our heads, and then Bella sent me a letter worried that the wolves would start a war so Jasper gave Edward permission to tell her. Only those in the know were unsurprised by Sam's request.
Sam noticed the range in reactions and pieced it together pretty quickly. He looked at Jasper. "You didn't tell them?"
"I didn't want to worry them," he said.
"About what?" Esme was looking between Jasper and Sam in confusion.
"I knew it was just a matter of time before Sam figured out one of us bit Dana, and I didn't want a war to start, so I went to him and told him it was me," Jasper explained.
"And he let you go?" Emmett was incredulous.
"Not quite like that," Sam corrected. "I could see the remorse and shame in him was true. He told me he vowed to spend eternity making up for it if he had to. I decided I would give him a chance to prove that he could do better." His tone made it quite clear that he would not be so lenient should the situation arise again.
"So you had some questions?" Jasper asked.
"Yes, I just need to be sure of everyone's safety."
Jasper nodded for Sam to continue.
"In your expert opinion, how controlled would you say Dana is?"
I opened my mouth to protest but Jasper cut me off. "Are you asking about safety around humans or emotionally?"
"Both."
"Well, as you can see for yourself," he gestured to the closeness of Bella, who was barely an inch from me. "She has no problem around Bella. As for other humans, however, we don't know; Alice hasn't seen her out of the house unless she's hunting with one of us. The whole county is on the lookout for her as she is supposedly missing."
"And emotionally?"
"Very stable for a newborn. When she woke, I half expected to have to wrestle her to the ground every twenty minutes, despite what Alice had predicted. I felt such intense emotions from her when she first looked at me, that I worried just that. But I was surprised when it shifted to... nicer emotions, and I was more surprised, pleasantly so, that blood was not the first thing on her mind, like it is with other newborns."
Jacob grimaced at the mention of blood and I rolled my eyes at him. I was getting increasingly irritated that they were speaking about me as if I weren't there and Jacob making stupid faces wasn't helping.
As Sam and Jasper were talking a tuned out and started staring around. I was getting bored and more irritated. How long was this going to take? I realized that as an immortal being, I had literally all the time in the world, but man was I bored!
Jasper kept glancing over at me, sensing my restlessness. Uncle Edward was watching me, too. He could hear how bored I was.
Jacob's such an idiot, I thought.
I caught a smirk from Edward, having heard my thoughts.
Reeks too.
The smirk turned into a barely concealed smile.
Hey, Edward?
He glanced at me to show he was listening.
Jacob loves Bella, doesn't he?
Edward frowned.
Bella says she's known Jacob since he was in diapers. I suddenly had an image of a baby Jacob in an overly full diaper, and struggled to hold in the laugh.
His smile came back.
That sort of means they grew up together.
The smile faded a little.
That makes them almost family.
His smile was almost gone now.
Jacob's in love with someone who's almost a sister to him.
Edward looked at me as if to say 'where are you going with this?'
What is he? A hillbilly? In love with his sister, that's sick!
Edward couldn't hold back the laughter that poured forth, neither could I. We both broke out laughing and everybody stared at us like we were lunatics.
Edward recovered first and apologized. I held my breath to stop my laughter, but I continued shaking with mirth, eyes bright, stupid grin on my face.
Jasper and Sam continued to talk and I continued to ignore them, this time seeking to distract Jacob. This proved to be more difficult, as he couldn't hear my thoughts, to I settled for pulling faces at him. Instead of distracting Jacob like I thought it would, my actions seemed more effective in distracting Emmett, who was trying his best to hold back his sniggering. An unexpected sequel to Emmett's barely concealed mirth was Jasper's distraction.
Suddenly, without warning, I felt heavy and lethargic once again, the first time being four days ago when I was too excited. I slumped to the ground, unable to hold myself up.
"Jasper!" I whined.
The wolves looked at me in confusion.
"I'm sorry, Dana, but you're being far too distracting right now," he replied. "You need to settle down—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," I interrupted him. "'Settle down or I'll settle you down.' I got it, can get up now?"
He frowned at my petulance, but let off on the lethargy and I got up.
"So as you can see, I'm more than capable of handling her outbursts," he continued, turning back to Sam.
"What just happened there?" Sam asked, observing me.
"I calmed her down with my ability," Jasper explained. "I can feel what she feels and also add other emotions. It helps when she gets a little overexcited."
"Do you have to do this often?"
"Not often, no. This is only the second time I've had to do it," he gave me a stern look as he said this.
"I'm bored," I complained in explanation for my behavior.
"I noticed," he said smiling slightly.
In that case, I'll direct my next question to you, Dana," Sam said. "How is it that you're keeping such strong control over your emotions and instincts, when it's obvious that others in your position would struggle?"
I shrugged. "I dunno. Sometimes I feel like I don't have control over it, to tell you the truth, but the others keep saying how amazing it is that I'm doing what I'm doing."
"What do you mean about feeling like you're not in control?"
"My emotions jump from one to the other at the speed of light sometimes so frequently that it gives me emotional whiplash. I also feel like I have to constantly hold back the monster within, to keep from flying off the handle and leaping on the next person to get on my bad side," I glanced pointedly at Jacob as I said this and he just scowled at me. Again with the stupid faces.
"And what about around humans?" Sam asked, glancing at Bella and ignoring Jacob's scowl.
"Well, I've only been around Bella, and I've gotten used to her scent, so for the most part, I'm fine around her."
"What do you mean, 'for the most part'?"
I hesitated, not sure if I should tell him. I knew I should be truthful if I ever wanted to be added to the treaty, but all these prying questions were making me nervous.
Jasper put a hand on my shoulder and I felt calmer and more confident, so I continued.
"Sometimes, when the wind shifts, and her scent is unexpected, I have to struggle for a moment to remind myself that she's my friend and not my prey."
Sam and Jacob exchanged a look at this and my nerves jumped again. If I still had a heartbeat, it would be doing the Can-Can in my chest.
"Bella didn't mention this to us before," Jacob accused.
"It's only for a moment, I doubt if she even noticed," one look at Bella's astonished face, and my thoughts were confirmed; she didn't know. "I think I'm getting better though," I added hopefully.
At this new information, the two wolves walked a distance away to discuss what they had learned in the quietest voices possible so that even with my new supersonic hearing, I couldn't hear them from where they stood.
I looked nervously at Edward, who I knew could hear them, but he was focused intensely on what they were discussing. This only served to increase my anxiety. Soon, however, a look of relief passed over his face and the wolves turned back to face us.
"We have decided to include Dana in the treaty between your family and our pack," Sam announced. My lifeless heart soared. "However," he continued and I deflated a little. "As the girl is Jasper's responsibility, if she breaks any of our laws regarding the treaty, the punishment will be on both of their heads, so I suggest you keep an eye on her."
"I'm not a baby," I said indignantly.
"But you are a newborn," Sam said in rebuttal. "I look forward to news of your progress."
With that, they left and Bella, after a shooting me a quick congratulations, went with them to drive them back to her house.
A/N: I hope you all found that as amusing as I did. Don't get me wrong about Jacob, though; he's actually my favourite character, Dana's just a sarcastic little nut-bar. R&R!