A/n: For those of you who have read "Tears of Blood", we have finally reached the point in which Rio had stopped the story. Read on, my loves, read on.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Twilight Series.

The happy days came to an end, of course.

Eventually, there came a day when my body failed me. I became an invalid, worse then a cripple. Useless and fragile and pathetic and human. Bedridden and too weak to do much of anything, all I could do was wait.

Wait for my death.

Once you go through some certain about of hardships, you just get to a point where enough is enough. You have suffered, and suffered, and suffered; and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You give up the will to keep fighting. You're just done. Living was harder then dying, so you were so ready to leave this world behind.

I was at that point by now.

Why? Why had God forsaken me? Did he hate me? Was I really his sick, little joke like I always assumed? My fate had been wrought with misery. What other conclusion could I reach?

Now, surround by beeping machinery and the IVs Carlisle had seen fit to poke in me, I knew death was on its way. While I still loathed leaving Edward and the Cullens behind, I had to admit that at times my own misery took over me. And I would want to die. I would forget who I was leaving, only seeing what I was gaining: forgoing all the pain and hardships and hatred and sadness. I didn't know exactly what was on the other side, only that it had to be better then this own world that cast me such an unfair hand. I wanted the easy way out; I had already died inside long ago anyway.

My back hurt almost constantly. Sometimes, I would pass out from the pain only to wake in a cold sweat many hours later. Not that it mattered. I already slept too much thanks to my constantly tired state. But it was inconvenient and downright annoying to realize that the last bits of your life were being wasted in a bed. Then again, there were plenty of days that I could care less.

Sometimes, when a particularly bad spasm hit me, I would try to give up. The fight drained out of me and I only focused on letting myself go. On stilling my heart forever. Then, Alice and Edward would storm in and shake me. Edward would inject some foul-smelling liquid (one he admitted a short time ago that he had been giving me in my sleep for weeks to help ease my pumping bloodstream) into me while Alice held me down. And then I would drift into a false, medicine induced sleep.

I became aware of my rapid weight lost. My skin was stretched over my thin, pale arms, gaunt and lifeless. It disgusted me. Now I truly was a corpse. But one still stuck in limbo, just waiting to go to the other side.

Slowly, I was losing control of my body. Tremors would run up and down my arms at will. Sometimes, a veil of tears would swarm down my cheeks without warning or cause. My neck in particular hurt, most likely the product of my attempts to sit up and read books to distract myself. So I gave up on my reading, letting the boredom have its way with me now.

One of the worst pains, though, came from my heart. No, not figuratively; quite literally. I could feel the sluggish pace it beat at try to speed up randomly. When this happened, I was forced to scream out with the pain. Edward and Carlisle would rush to me, but there was nothing they could do besides drug me up until the hurt eased away. Carlisle said that my bloodstream trying to get back on track could be a good sign, that my body was trying to fight back for it's normalcy. But then Edward was cut his father off, saying that the sudden rush of blood through the clogged heart valve would only serve to pain me. To kill him faster, too, I assumed from his grave face. After that, I tried to remain quite when the blood pumped too fast, hoping Edward's prediction would come to fruition.

Oddly enough, religion came to affect me deeply as I lay awaiting my end. I convinced Carlisle to come to my side and talk to me for hours about everything his pastor father had taught him. I wanted to know what was waiting for me beyond this world. Was there really a heaven, and if so, what about hell? And who determined which realm you would spend the rest of eternity in? Would my soul finally find peace, or would it roam forever in darkness as it did now? He couldn't answer all of my questions, of course, never having died before. But, he tried his best to soothe me about the unknown with promises of a heaven that I would find my place to. It was all he could do for me and I appreciated that very much.

I was never without visitors. This was meant to placate me, I thought, but only served to ruin my plans to end my life quicker. Besides that, I hated how each face looked at me with such sadness and pain. I hated how they all thought me weak. I hated looking weak to them all, indestructibly strong vampires that they were. It made me sick with envy, something I knew Jasper had sensed and most likely told Edward, for he kept their visists as far away from the topic of my impending doom as possible.

I had one surprise guest, though. Well, two really.

One day, as I was trying to wiggled an IV out of my left arm with no success, a booming knock on my door distracted me. I rolled my eyes. "No need to knock, Em. Come on in." My voice was weaker then I was used to, but it didn't matter in a household full of beings with super hearing.

But when the door eased open, I was shocked. For the new occupant of the room was not Emmett; this person was far too different. The person was large like Emmett, though I thought a bit larger. He was tanned in a way that made me think he was of Native American decent, though I could not remember meeting a Quileute of such stature. He was rippling with muscles in his plain, white wife-beater and was beyond impressive – he went straight to down right frightening. On instinct, I scooted back in the bed, ignoring the pain coming from my bruised back and the IVs that tugged at my arms.

The man's coal-black eyes widened. "Wait, Bella! Don't move around so much; they said that would hurt you."

I ignored the man and continued trying to back away. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Panic was growing within my very being; why had Edward let this frightening stranger into my room? What in the world was going on?

A wave of sadness came over the person's face. "You don't… you don't recognize me?"

"No, I don't. Now I am going to have to ask you to leave." Like, now, I thought as I scanned over his large frame with wide eyes.

He ducked his head then, a short mop of dark hair flopping over his face ungracefully. "Come on, Bells. Don't be like that. I haven't changed that much, have I?"

His voice was somehow familiar when he said that nickname, but I still couldn't place it. "Do I… know you from somewhere?"

"Doesn't even recognize me," he grumbled to himself, his hand shoved in the pockets of his khaki shorts and kicked the carpet sullenly. "Thought we were family…"

Something within me clicked and without thinking, I replied, "Would you like some cheese with that whine, kid?" Those words just came to me, like I had said them a dozen times over in the past. With a gasp, I realized, I had. I tilted my head to a side, trying to look from the features I was familiar with in the person I thought he was. "No way… you can't be… Jakey?"

His head shot up. Yes, there was that silly smile of his. His eyes even shined in the same way, despite how much time had passed since I had last seen him. "You finally recognize me, Sis?"

"Jakey!" I squealed, unable to control myself. Being so loud strained my voice, but I didn't mind in the least. "Gosh! I forgot how much I missed you, kid." I patted the bed beside me."

He sat down with a level of awkwardness, the whole bed sinking under his weight. "How could you ever forget about me? Thought we were 'family in everything but blood'."

"We were," I allowed, being careful with my words. "But then we weren't. You must admit that we lost our closeness. These things happen, kid."

His face darkened. It reminded me of the pouting face he used to make when Ray, Becca, and I wouldn't let him play with us at times. I giggled, causing him to glare at me. "That's not funny, Bells. I have been meaning to ask you since you left La Push: why did you start ignoring me. I know now might not be the best time, but it's been killing me. Did I do something wrong?"

I patted his arm. "Sorry. But I don't think you'd understand, kid. Maybe when-"

"If you say 'when you're older', I swear I will walk out of here and never come back."

I shrugged. "So be it. It's the truth."

"I'm not the little kid I used to be. Just look at me."

And I did. "How did you get so huge, Jakey? I mean, I've heard of growth spurts but-"

"Not now, Bells," he sighed. "I'll explain after you explain why you ditched me. I'm plenty old enough to take it."

I smiled at him the best I could. "Jacob, just because you don't look so little anymore doesn't mean you're not still a kid." I paused, counting the days backwards. "Oh, you're birthday is coming up, soon, isn't it?"

"Turning 15," he mumbled, ducking his head into his chest again.

I reached over to ruffle his hair like I used to when it had fallen to the nape of his neck. Looking at him again, I knew that if we had been standing up, that wouldn't have worked anymore – he had to be at least six feet now. "Congrats then."

"You wont…" he paused as his voice broke. He cleared his throat loudly. "You won't be around to see me turn 15, will you?"

This must have been why the Cullens let him in: to say my last good bye to him. It filled me with appreciated mixed with turmoil. "Oh, kid," I sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."

"You can't be apologizing for… dying, can you?"

"Sorry," I said again, falling back against my pillow. "But let's not talk about that right now. How about you tell me what you've been up to since I started avoiding you, huh? How was your first year of high school and all that? And Billy?"

He took a deep breath, staring at the wall as he spoke. And he spoke of amazing things. How he had started coming to Forks quite constantly since a few months ago, hoping to run into me (cue the guilt). And how he started to not feel well in January and had had to stay home for a full week while his temperature spiked out of control and his body ached with pain as he grew several inches in only a week. And how Billy had known was was wrong right away despite the doctors in La Push being clueless. And how he fulfilled that Quileute legend I had heard so long ago,

Now, I knew my fear was well deserved. He was a monster. A werewolf.

I pushed myself against the frame of my bed, my mouth opened in horror. A monster! A monster only a few feet away from me! "Jacob… because tell me this is just some stupid joke."

His voice was harsh, something I had never heard before. "If your bloodsuckers exist, it only stands to reason that the other half of the legend is true too, Isabella."

"Don't call them that," I snapped, aware that the way he said bloodsuckers made it an insult. "Don't you dare call them that, Jacob Black. They have taken care of me and-"

"And you know me and Billy would have gladly done the same if you had asked!" His voice faultered then. "W-why didn't you ask? You'd rather be in a house full of… vampires then stay with me?"

I was not in the mood to be guilted into anything. "At the time, I didn't know. But don't let that delude you; even if I had known what the Cullens were, I still would have stayed with them."

"Do you hate us that much?"

"Don't twist my words take it like that." I forced myself calm then. "Look, the fact is, I like it here. I like the Cullens – love them, even. It had nothing to do with how I felt about you and Billy. You know I have always been grateful with how you took care of me when we lived with you."

Jake turned to face me then, his eyes narrow slits. "It's not safe for you here, Bells. Do you realize that?"

I glared back in return. "I'm not an idiot, Jacob. I know the danger." I chose not to tell him about my near-death experience with Emmett. Who knows; if I had gone to La Push after Charlie's death, perhaps something of the same would have happened to me with Jacob. Already in my mind, werewolf Jacob was a thousand times more frightening then my vampire Edward. "Besides, it don't matter at this point. If the Cullens did slip up and kill me, they would only be quickening the end of my life. I assume they told you about everything," I said, gesturing to the multiple IVs and machinery.

"Yeah…" He ran his hand through his messy hair. "I didn't believe 'em at first. Thought they had killed you and broke the treaty."

"Well, it's the opposite. If not for them, I'm sure I would already be gone." I played with the hem of my covers. "And even if they did, what were you planning on doing, kid? What, come here alone and throw down the law?"

He shook his head. "I'm not alone. Sam's going around the perimeter-"

"Sam transformed, too?"

"Yeah. Right now it's Sam as the Alpha, Paul as his Beta, and then me and Jared. But Paul and Jared thought it was stupid to come here, so they are back in La Push communicating with Sam, ready to attack if something goes wrong."

"Explain again, this time minus the wolfy stuff."

It was Jake's turn to roll his eyes. "There are four of us. Uhh... Sam is in charge with Paul under him. And we can communicate with each other in our wolf form through our minds."

I took a second to absorb that. "That's kinda creepy, Jake, I won't lie." Scary creepy. A bunch of mutant wolves sharng their thoughts?

"Only the half of it, Bells," he stated darkly.

"But what did you mean by if something went 'wrong'?"

Jake didn't say anything for a few minutes, perhaps wondering how much he could tell me. When he did speak, his tongue was heavy, though. "You know that we've always considered you family, right Bells?" I nodded. "It's not just me, either. I mean, since you were allowed to sit in on that tribe meeting before and hear our legends, we've always thought of you as one of us... even after you started to ignore us. And we protect our own, no matter the cost and no matter who has to die for that to happen."

A chill shot through me. "Do you mean to say, that if I had been dead…"

"We would have destroyed every monster in this house."

A loud snarling reached me ears then. "Hush, Edward," I spoke in a normal tone, knowing he would hear me. "I will handle this."

"Forgot how good there hearing is," Jake stated off-hand.

I crossed my arms, glaring at the boy who was once my brother. "How could you even think about killing the Cullens? Aren't you even the least bit grateful for everything they have done for me?"

"A: it's not killing when the thing in question isn't alive." I snorted at that. "And B: we had no idea what was going on. We didn't know you were really sick, so you can't fault us for assuming the worst when you were living with these monsters."

"Please, you are just as much of a monster as them, Jacob," I lied – in truth, I didn't think the Cullens were monsters at all, yet I wasn't so sure about these werewolves yet. Jacob admitting that he had came here with the intentions to wipe out Edward's family only served to drive my point home.

"Don't ever compare us to them."

"Because you don't match up to them? Glad you realize that."

"You are impossible, you know that?"

We sat locked in a glaring contest for a few minutes before Jacob relented. He dropped his gaze to the floor. "You could come with us for as long as you… have left. You know that, right, Bella?"

"I know I could, but you know I won't." I was more then content to stay near Edward until my last breath. Anything less then that would be torture.

"We could provide for you just as much as they can – without the threat of drinking you dry."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "Do you have a doctor with over a hundred years of experience who can treat me all hours of the day, literally, because he doesn't require rest? Not to mention all of this machinery that Carlisle has access to thanks to his prestige at the hospital." I waved his reply away. "Besides, Carlisle is immune to the smell of human blood. I must have bled on him at least four times this week and he's always been fine about it."

"What about the rest of them?" he growled, shaking with rage.

"Edward would never allow them near enough to hurt me," I replied confidently.

"There's always the chance-"

"Are you done here, kid?" I asked unkindly. "Because you're really not good for my health. No, really. If you say one more stupid thing I may just have to rip these IVs out and strangle you to death. And where would that leave me, huh?"

A cocky smirk stole over his face. "I doubt you'd be able to lay a finger on me, Bells. I'm much stronger then you."

"But not stronger then me." I looked up with a smile as Edward appeared in the doorway, a cold expression on his face. His eyes were a flat black as he stared down Jacob, and I knew the color had only to do with rage instead of thirst. A thril ran through my bones as I realized how firecely protective of me Edward was. I smirked at Jacob.

He then jumped to his feet, Jacob's shaking limbs more pronounced. "You wanna bet, leech?"

"Calm down, dog. You're much too new to transforming to be able to control it." Edward's eyes flickered to me. "And if you were to lose control, you might hurt Bella, something I won't allow to happen."

"I'm perfectly in control of my body," Jacob hissed, his voice somewhere between embarrassment and annoyance.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Edward replied condescendingly, bypassing him to come to my side. As soon as he was close enough, I pulled him into a cool embrace. He brought his face down to mine until we were eye to eye. "Do you really wish for him to leave? I would be more then happy to make it happen."

"In a second," I decided. I turned my head so I was now facing Jacob. He looked so devastated! I had to console him in some way; I owed him that much. "I really am sorry about all of this, Jakey. I've been wanting to apologize for everything I put you through, but I'm much too much of a coward. Forgive me?"

His shoulders fell. "Of course I do, Bella. I could never stay mad at you. Love ya too much, Sis."

"Sorry it has to end this way," I added.

"Me too. You were one of the good ones. Shouldn't have to die like this." Even from a distance, I was sure I saw tears in his eyes. "You don't deserve it, Bella. Not at all."

Tears filled my eyes too. "Fate seems to disagree, kid."

Edward helped me to sit up long enough for Jacob to crush me into a hug. I nearly yelped from the heat radiating from him, but I still held on tightly, knowing this would be the last time I got to hold Jacob. My little brother.

"I'm gonna miss you, baby brother. I love you forever, kay?" I gave him one last squeeze before pulling away.

"Me too." He forced a smile over his features. "Don't mean to be rude, but Bella, you stink like vampire."

A watery giggled filled me as I leaned into Edward's embrace. "I'll take that as a compliment. Now get out of here. And tell Billy I love him, too."

Jacob got all the way to the door before he stopped. His eyes turned not on me, but to Edward. "Before I go can I-"

"I'll be there in a second," Edward smoothly interrupted. Jacob nodded and walked through the doorway without another look to me.

I tugged on Edward's shirt. "What does he want? You won't hurt him, will you?" Then again, I was equally as frightened that Jacob might hurt him.

Edward shook his head. "He just wants to talk, love. I swear." He tapped his forehead. "My gift does come in handy every once and a while." He kissed me lightly on my lips. "Now you just rest for a while, okay? I'll be back before you wake."

I was already fighting with my eyelids. "You promise?"

"Upon my very existence." And then he was gone.

A/n: I know a lot of you have wanted to read about Jake's involvement in my story, so, here you are. What could Jacob want to talk about? Warning: next chapter is the last one! :O