The Situation Is All Critical

"The monsters are buried down deep inside. You never know when they're satisfied."

Sophie's phone calls were a daily occurrence now. Sam could not censure Serena's incoming calls and the vampire's seemed to have given up trying to stop their newest member from contacting her friend. But that didn't mean anyone had to be happy about it. Carlisle had finally called Sam, a week after his supposed kidnapping, requesting a formal meeting regarding their little issue, specifically visitation for the girls.

Sam was not happy about the topic but acquiesced to the suggestion, before calling Serena to discuss… well, he wasn't quite sure what yet. They had hardly spoken more than was absolutely necessary since she'd pulled her little stunt, even though most of the pack had all but forgiven her for it. Jacob still had not, he knew, and even though he understood why she had done it, Sam did not relax the watch on her and did not have to like it in the least.

When she arrived, Jacob at her side, she resumed her usual seat at the table where she had mended clothes and studied for the past few months, but her companion did not take up his usual post by the refrigerator, opting instead to lean against the wall just behind her, still suspicious and angry of Sam's attack on her two weeks prior. Sam sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"We need to talk."

"Your meeting with Carlisle tomorrow?" she asked, leaning forward onto her hand, gazing at the table in thought. All day consideration had not given her much help in the planning of this conversation, but she felt it best to keep her gaze down to prevent a repeat situation.

"Yes." His eyes drifted closed, then opened sharply again. "What is it exactly that you want here? Just to see her?"

"Well," she began slowly, deciding on her words with caution. "Yes… and no. I do want to be able to see her, frequently, with whatever that might entail in terms of security precautions, even though I can't imagine why we would need them with her." She ignored Sam's snort of derision and continued on. "But, the more I have thought about all this, the more I've realized how little sense this all makes."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, not daring to sound hopeful.

"Since I've been here, you've been thwarted on the hunt twice because you've lost a vampire to their territory. You don't even know if they ended up killed or not. From what I can tell talking to Sophie, the Cullens have their fair share of enemies because of who and what they are, enemies that do in fact eat people. How much easier would it be if we could track even a little bit further onto their land, or them even a few feet further into ours?"

"No." Jacob was the one who answered, and she turned to face his incredulous eyes.

"Why not?" she challenged, looking back to Sam. "What doesn't make any sense is living with this kind of 'peace' with those on our borders. It's only a matter of time before some kind of accident occurs, before casualties begin. What with tempers on both sides, it's a miracle that it hasn't happened already. And if the Cullens wanted to eradicate us, they would have done it with the previous pack, with your grandfathers."

She saw Sam exchange a glance with Jacob over her shoulder. Sam considered the ceiling for a long moment.

"So what are you proposing?"

"A renegotiation of the treaty. Genuine peace, not tense military agreement. Frequent communications between us, meaning not killing every vampire, but only those that serve a threat to us and the people here. Maybe the Cullens can convert more bloodsuckers to their way of life."

"And how do we know that you aren't just doing this for your friend?" Sam replied, tone still carefully even. "Even I can't force you to open up your head fully, you can still keep your secrets from us, and because of that, I can't ensure your compliance with orders."

"Even if that was the only reason I was doing any of this, " Serena growled, voice like a razor. "You cannot deny what I am saying. I am right and you know it."

"And you would trust them, would trust her, with the safety of all the people here?"

"Have you any evidence that they have done anything other than uphold their end of this treaty?" she snapped back. "I would trust Sophie with my life. The only reason I would not trust her with any human's is because she is still new and subject to her hungers yet, though she is always watched and prevented from it. Right now, her record is a hell of a lot cleaner than mine, just in case you'd forgotten." Her eyes blazed fiercely up at him.

Again he sighed, shaking his head. "I'll give you the visitation rights, if I can," he said after a moment. "As for the rest, the pack deserves a little input, as does the rest of the council. That's all I can promise at the moment."

Serena nodded, standing up. "That's all I can hope for at the moment."

She headed for the door without waiting for Jacob, who watched her walk down the driveway back towards his house.

Finally, he spoke. "You're not going to allow that, are you?"

"Allow what, Jake?"

"Any of it. The visitation, the renegotiation, anything."

Sam considered his second for a long while. "How do you propose we stop her from the first? And as much as I hate to say it, the second makes sense. It is rather incredible that we haven't had an incident yet. I can think of a couple of times where we were saved only by that one bloodsucker's stupid ability to calm everyone down. If he wasn't there-"

"We could take them, though!" Jacob cut in angrily. "There are eleven of us now, and only eight of them, with their newest addition who has no experience! This doesn't even have to be an issue!"

"Stop trying to physically protect her, Jacob!" Sam snapped, anger flashing in his eyes. "Think instead of how else you can protect her! Do you honestly think that she would ever forgive you if you killed her best friend, bloodsucker or not? She has control now, but how much more do you think she can take before she snaps?"

"She would see reason."

"Reason?" he laughed, shaking his head. "In how many years? If ever? You should know this about her, Jake! You've been in the wrong place at the wrong time with her for this whole damn affair. You may not like what she's advocating for, but come on. At least see where she is."

The younger wolf glared at him before flouncing out of the house.

" 'First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order.' "

Jacob took his time walking home, kicking pebbles along the asphalt moodily as he went. He was angry at the bloodsuckers, angry at Sam, angry at Serena, and, unlike usual, the slow walk and cool weather was doing nothing to help his mood.

Sam was going to try to give Serena what she wanted with no regard to her safety, Jacob was all but certain. Never mind that it was easily the stupidest proposition that he'd ever heard. Never mind that the leeches were about as safe as starving tigers. Never mind that they couldn't be trusted with anything with a beating heart. Never mind the trouble they attracted among their own kind, drawing other leeches to Forks and the reservation. And Serena was ready to simply drop everything and run off to the damn suckers for someone who was already worse than dead.

It was hardly the gift, the miracle that Serena thought it was. Sophie wasn't herself anymore. Why couldn't she see that? She had been reduced to a bloodthirsty monster, a demon masquerading as an angel. Sophie was not and could never again be the carefree, musical deviant that she had been.

Meanwhile, the wolves protected the people from them. Committed themselves to bouts of uncontrollable rage, lonely lives lived in fear of what had happened to Sam, and places where even their darkest secrets lay exposed. They sacrificed all their plans they'd once had for the future to keep everyone around them safe from those who would drink their blood dry. And Serena was willing to risk them all, especially herself, for the sake and trust of one, dangerous leech?

Hadn't the wolves, hadn't he done enough to earn her trust, her respect? They'd been patient, they'd been kind, helped her transition, counseled her out of her nightmares, and still, still! she did not trust them enough to share her ideas, her plans, or even warnings to her schemes. Hadn't trusted him! He'd worked so hard to earn her trust, earn her love, and still she resisted everything with a force of will that had everyone guessing, Emily and Kim completely dumbfounded.

Not at all less angry and more irritated still, Jacob arrived in from of his house just as Billy wheeled himself onto the porch.

"Where's Serena?" The question was not meant to be a growl, but Jacob could not bring himself to feel guilty about it.

Billy cocked an eyebrow. "In the living room on the phone."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam's black pick-up trundled up the drive.

"What's going on?" he demanded of his father.

"Sam's called an emergency session of the council regarding his meeting with Doctor Cullen tomorrow," the old man replied, examining his son closely, only managing to irritate him further. So Jacob's theory had been correct: Sam was going to pitch it to the council.

"That's just great," he snarled, pushing past his father into the kitchen, screen door closing with a bang behind him.

Serena's voice greeted him at the door, but her rapid Spanish was not for him. He groaned inwardly; he hated those phone calls to and from her home, not because of her mother, but because of Julio. The masculine voice that he heard more faintly over the line confirmed his worst fears. Anger and jealousy pulsed deeper into his veins and he sat opposite her couch seat on the recliner, leaning forward onto his knees, glaring at her.

She matched his gaze evenly as the polite conversation on the deck faded; Sam helped Billy down the steps and the tires of the black truck ground into the mud and away. This silent angry exchange lasted for the duration of the phone conversation, about five minutes. Jacob supposed it had to be something important to keep her there; usually she ended the calls pretty quickly when he came in the room, but this only served to annoy him further. This deliberate ignorance of his desire to talk with her made the wolf want to growl and pace.

Finally, thankfully, Serena snapped her phone shut, dropping it on the cushion next to her and turned her full attention to Jacob. Silence spiraled upon them like a vulture, and she waited, face devoid of expression. Finally, he found it in himself to start the conversation.

"What the hell was that?"

"What the hell was what?" she replied evenly.

"Don't give me that shit, Serena," he snarled, getting to his feet, pacing up and down in front of her. "You haven't said any of that crap that you told Sam today to anyone. Where did that all come from?"

"I've been thinking about it."

"Really? Well, that's great! You think about it, but you never tell anyone anything! Just like that stunt that you pulled with those fucking bloodsuckers!"

Her eyes flashed angrily as she too got her feet. "I didn't tell you because there is nothing you would have done to help me!"

"Oh, and that ass you were talking to? You can tell him?"

"Of course I can't! If I did, the psychiatric ward would be knocking at my door right now, and he never would have let me come up here in the first place!"

"Then the least you could have done was give us some warning!"

"Excuse me? I did. You knew how badly I needed her back, what it meant to me to find her alive! And you all sat by and did nothing."

"We did nothing because there was nothing that we could have done!"

"You all knew that he worked at the hospital. And I come to find out after the fact that they have Sam's phone number, and I am sure that he has theirs. So don't fucking lie to me, Jacob."

"I have never lied to you! I have stood by you this whole time and you didn't even tell me!"

Serena stopped to stare at him for a half second. "So tell me who exactly you're jealous of here, Jake. Please, so we can just clear this whole thing up."

"I am not jealous," he snarled, eyes flashing black.

"Oh really? Then what, pray tell, is the problem here?"

His lip curled into a snarl and he turned away as if to go upstairs, then decided suddenly to continue the fight. "You are not going to see those damn bloodsuckers."

"And who's going to stop me?" she spat back. "You, Jacob? Are you going to stop me?"

"If I have to!" he shouted. "You don't seem to get it, do you? They are dangerous, Serena!"

"So are we!" she countered, matching his volume. "We are just as deadly, just as hard to control! Look at Emily! Remember what I did! We are just as dangerous!"

"But we don't eat people!"

"But I did! And they don't! And you all haven't thrown me out yet, Jacob!"

"It's not the same thing!" he bellowed, glowering at her.

"Then tell me what exactly is different here?"

"You can't trust them, Serena! You can't trust anything that they do or say!"

"I have trusted her with my life for years, and I have no reason to believe that that has changed, especially after what happened that night!"

"She is different now! She's not even dead!"

"She is not," she snarled back, eyes burning blue. "And my safety really isn't the issue here, is it? You just can't bear the fact that I can trust her despite everything that's happened!"

"Yeah, a little! You so easily trust people who can't have anything to do with you anymore and not us!"

"Not you, you mean," she snapped. "That I can trust my best friend with anything even though she's a leech." Silence was her only answer.

"Exactly," she continued. "So safety is all a relative term here. The only ones here who are 'safe' are the ones that aren't near any of us!"

"That isn't true-"

"Isn't it?"

He paused, trying to bring himself back under control. "All I'm saying," he started quietly, "is that you can't trust them, and you can't trust anyone on the outside. You'll either end up dead or in a straight jacket-"

"How would you know, Jacob? You've never tried to do anything but fight!" she snarled.

"Because this whole thing is their fault! All of it, the phasing, the control, the anger, it's all their fault!"

"And because of it, you have the best family you ever could have had."

"That's…. Damn it, Serena, you know better than I do how much this can suck! They are unnatural, not human, not anything! They're not even dead!"

"And so it's better to be dead, is what you're saying?"

"Exactly!" he exploded. "It's better to be dead than to be what they are! If Sophie had actually died that night, she'd be a hell of a lot better off, and so would the rest of us, you included!" Something in her eyes made him stop, and after a moment, his mind caught up with his mouth and he froze, instantly regretting his words.

Serena gazed levelly at him for nearly thirty seconds before she grabbed her phone and walked past him. Jacob tried to stop her and apologize as she walked by, but she ignored him, pushing him from path without looking at him. She heard a bang and a crash behind her as she entered Jacob's old room where she had been staying, throwing her clothes and textbooks into a bag. Pausing, she pulled out her cell phone and called Julio back.

"Yeah?"

"I'm moving back," she told him in Spanish.

"What? Since when?"

"Since thirty seconds ago."

"Alright… Do you need me to come up and help you get your stuff?" He sounded confused, but still dependable, and she sighed in relief.

"No, no, I just need to get out of here now. We can worry about my stuff later." Serena was not sure what she was doing, not sure how she was going to plan anything, where she was going to go, or how she was going to work things out with Sophie, but at that moment, she found that she didn't care. Out was all that she wanted, to get away from all of it.

"Okay." She heard him sigh. "Do you need some money to catch the bus down here?"

"Yes… I'm sorry, Julio, you'll get your money back-"

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted firmly. "Can you get a ride to Portland?"

"Yeah, no trouble there."

"Alright. I'll call you in a few minutes when I have something a bit more definite."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it, kid. What happened?"

For the briefest moment as she considered her answer, Serena felt her eyes begin to sting and water. Surprised and angry, she pushed the tears back.

"Nothing," she told him, hating the weakness in her voice. "It's just time to go home. I'm done here."

"It's that idiot kid, isn't it?" Julio let out a long stream of very colorful words. "I'm sorry… I'll get you out of there, alright?"

She nodded, even though he could not see. "Okay… Thanks. I owe you."

"Not this time you don't. Take care of yourself until I can get something arranged, and then I'll come up and kick his ass for you."

Serena terminated the call, looking out the small window across the mattress that had been hers for the past few weeks. There was something constricting her chest that she could not identify, but it hurt, clouding her ability to think properly. It worried her, and she pushed it aside, willing her mind to focus on her options. Sam was unavailable, at the meeting. Jared, Paul, Embry and Quil wouldn't take her. Leah would, but she didn't want to deal with her all the way to Portland. Seth might, but he and Leah were generally a package deal on such things… Collin and Brady would. She spun through the index on her phone and dialed. She heard Jacob in the hallway, but ignored it.

"Hey, what's up?" He was so cheerful she almost smiled. Almost.

"Hey, Collin. Can I get a favor from you?"

"Yeah, you name it. As long as I'm back to school by Monday."

"Can I get a ride to Portland?"

"Sure… I don't have to go shopping, do I?"

"No, of course not. I just need a ride there."

"Okay…" he said, obviously puzzled. "What about a ride back?"

"No, just there."

"Alright… Is Jake busy?" She could hear suspicion starting to creep into his voice.

"He can't right now, and it's a bit urgent." She closed her eyes, praying that he wouldn't keep pressing.

"Okay, I guess." She could hear Brady in the background, saying he was heading out to get the car. "We'll be there in about ten minutes, okay?"

"Perfect. I'll see you then." With a relieved sigh, she hung up and slipped the phone into her pocket. Serena could feel Jacob's eyes on her back but did not turn around as she resumed her packing.

She heard a car horn honk from the front and her name being called outside just as she pushed the last zipper closed. Swinging it over her shoulder, she strode past Jacob in the hall; out of the corner of her eye, she saw him standing there against the wall, head down, as if he were trying to comprehend something far exceeding his ability to understand. A lamp lay shattered on the floor in the living room and a fist-sized hole decorated the wall.

Collin waved to her before swinging into the back seat; Brady had just qualified for his license and was extremely proud of it, enough to convince his slightly older cousin that he could drive his car. Serena climbed into the front passenger seat, putting her bag with Collin in the back.

"Where you going?" Brady asked curiously, looking at her as he pulled out.

"Temecula," she replied, evenly enough. "My mother has a bit of an emergency and she asked me to come down and help."

"Hmmm. What happened?" Collin leaned his huge frame forward in his seat to stick his head into the front.

"She sprained her wrist pretty badly, and needs some help around the house. Since I can do my school work anywhere, I opted to go stay a bit with her." An easy lie, one that she loathed saying. She never felt good about lying to any of the pack, even if it was to keep people out of trouble, the boys most of all. It did not feel right. But never mind. They would find out the truth soon enough anyway.

"Huh. And Jacob isn't going to drop you off?"

"Jacob's busy… He couldn't make it."

"So you called us?" Brady raised his eyebrows in the mirror.

She smiled at him; even that felt fake on her face. "Of course. Who else could I take having with me all the way to Portland?"

They both laughed and the car fell silent, except for the hip hop CD the boys had playing in the car with Serena staring out the window. They were almost at the border, a place where the road disappeared behind the trees ahead when Brady glanced to the side of the road into the tall, moss covered pines.

"What was that?" he muttered, turning his gaze.

"Probably one of the guys screwing around- hey, watch out!"

Jacob, in all of his infinite wisdom, was standing in the middle of their lane in the road, wearing only a pair of sweatpants that had been hacked off into shorts, looking as if he were planning to stop the car with only his body if necessary. Brady slammed on the brakes, and the car squealed to a stop hardly a foot from Jacob's knees.

"What the hell?" Brady growled, unbuckling his seatbelt. Serena's face was again blank, with the barest hint of fury blossoming in her eyes.

"Get out of the car, no one's going anywhere," Jacob said firmly, opening Brady's door, but his eyes were only on the girl beside the younger wolf.

Collin was looking back and forth between the two of them, understanding lightening, then darkening his face. He shook his head as he got out of the car, reaching forward to pull the keys out of the ignition.

"Collin, drive," Serena growled, holding his wrist in a vise-like grip, but he twisted away, climbing out.

"Nope," he told her. "Can't disobey orders, you know that." He gave her a small smirk, which she returned with a dark glare.

He closed the door behind him, sliding across the hood of his car to face Jacob, Brady looking a little irritated.

"Man, you must have fucked up bad," he declared, still grinning.

"Yeah, I did," Jacob admitted, not able to return the smile. "Just hand me the keys, alright?"

"Fine," the younger boy replied, dropping the keys into his waiting hand. "If you haven't worked it out by Portland, then she's mine. I will expect the phone call in a few hours. And fill up the tank while you're at it." With a playful salute, Collin dragged his little cousin back down the road, disappearing into the trees.


Author's Note: the second quote is a Jace classic. Seriously people, read these books! It's the Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare.
Featured Song: "Monsters" by Hurricane Bells