"What do you say about busying ourselves preparing for a dinner?" Billy asked me once I got into the house. I couldn't argue that I needed something to occupy my brain and nodded my head.

I began to bring out chicken thighs and pre-heated the oven. I threw together a flour mixture with Cajun seasoning and whisked the egg wash, "How much chicken should I make?"

"A lot." Billy laughed, "Those boys can put away their weight in food. I'll grab the vegetables."

I had the chicken in the oven, the green beans on the stove and was making biscuits from scratch when Billy re-joined me in the kitchen. "Bella, may I have a word with you?"

"Sure Billy." I brought the bowl to the table and sat down next to him while I mixed.

"I know that this has not been easy on any of us, it is a very delicate situation." I nodded, "I want them to find Cullen as quickly as you do, but it has been rather nice having you live here with us."

I felt my face grow warm, "Aw, thank you Billy."

"I mean it Bella. I have seen such improvements in Jacob's attitude and he has a passion for life now that I know has to be because of you. Before he moped a lot, yeah. He didn't find happiness in very much, he just existed. I always wondered who he would bring home to meet me, if I would like her, how we would get along. How I would feel about another person wanting my sons attention...Never had I ever imagined it would be you. Now here you are in my kitchen preparing dinner for a wolf pack and one hungry old man, no complaints about anything."

My heart swelled at this new side of Billy, a side of him that showed what he was like as Jacob's father and a father who actually enjoyed his sons girlfriend. "That is really sweet of you Billy. I don't mind."

"I'm not just talking about the food Bella. You have this incredible way about you, it just makes everyone smile and it makes them all positive about things. I always knew you, but now that you have been here I know you on a more personal level. I truly do love having you here, you are a great addition to our family. And should the day ever come where you are formally my daughter in law I wouldn't be any happier than I am right now. You will always be very cherished by our entire family and pack."

I bent my head lower to shield my tears from his line of vision and knew I failed when he handed me a kleenex. "Don't cry, you'll ruin the biscuits." he smirked.

I immediately laughed, seeing a little bit of Jacob in him. "Sorry."

Heavy stuff was long gone and dinner was finished and staying warm in the oven while we waited for the pack to return home. The table was set and I sipped on the sweet tea I had made, glancing at the clock. It had been 2 ½ hours ago since I had seen Jacob and while I was worried about his well being above everything else, I really longed to kiss him again.

I couldn't believe the change in me recently, not afraid to be sexual and go after what I wanted. I chalked that up to this ordeal with Edward and assumed it pushed me to be like this. Guess we can't say nothing good came from this, because what happened in the garage was most definitely proof of that.

The front door swung open with such force that I actually spilled my tea, and Billy jumped beside me. I swung my head around and saw Seth coming through the door, followed by Leah, Paul and Sam. My heart dropped, "Where's Jacob?" I tried to hide the panic in my voice, not sure how well I did with that though.

Seth sighed, "He's out front, he wants you out there."

I stood up, but didn't move an inch. "Why? What happened?"

Leah took a step towards me and smiled, "Nothing to worry about Bella, he just wanted to show you something. Go quickly though."

I nodded and ran for the door, I sprinted down the stairs and saw Jacob standing next to a pile of trash. I was so happy to see him that I began to run for him, my tired legs carrying me the whole way. When I got there he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. His hands on either side of my face, I could feel something in his hand and pulled back.

"What is that?"

He held out his right hand and smiled at me. A single match lay in it, "This is for you." I took it hesitantly and he pointed to the pile, which I saw up close was not trash but remains. There lay Edwards head in the midst of it all, cracked between the eyes just like a statue, two other bodies lay in the rubble but I could only focus on his. They killed him, finally.

"I wanted to give you the opportunity to end your own nightmare." He pulled me in close to his chest and presented me with the match box so I could strike the match in my hand. "Ready when you are."

I struck the match to the box and it lit with an angry red glow, I looked into Jacob's eyes and smiled at him. As if everything were in slow motion I tossed it onto the pile and it was engulfed in flames instantly. It whined and whistled, crackling with every passing second and we just enjoyed it.

All of the good memories he left with me would be there, but the bad ones I could envision them burning along with his cold, lifeless body. He would never be there to haunt me again or harm Jacob, I couldn't believe it was finally over. I felt Jacob run his thumb under my eye and kiss my forehead, I assumed I was crying.

"I'm not sad."

I felt him move slightly next to me, "It's a lot to comprehend Bella, I'm not asking you to do anything quickly. I'll give you all the time that you need."

I felt my knees getting weaker, but Jacob did too because he braced me and kissed the top of my head.

We watched the fire until it died out and there was nothing left of it and it was then that I remembered about the dinner. "Oh god, I made dinner. We should go eat."

As we headed towards the house the pack came out, "Great dinner Bella!" Seth hollered.

I laughed, "Glad you enjoyed it. Did you leave us some?"

"Yeah! Goodnight Bella!"

Billy was parked in front of the tv with a plate in his lap, "Hey Bella, sorry they couldn't wait. But I made them leave you some, it is delicious!"

I smiled at the sweet man I had become closer to in just a few hours, "Glad you like it Billy. Looks like I'll be going home tonight though, you guys going to be okay with burritos?"

He smiled but I saw the hint of sadness cross his features, "Oh, we will survive."

Jacob tugged me into the kitchen and into the corner by the back door, his lips were on mind in seconds and I kissed him back but one eye was on the doorway. Mid make out my heel clipped the broom and sent it flying down the basement stairs with a loud series of thuds.

"You guys okay?" I heard Billy say, his chair creaking.

"Yeah! Knocked something over." Jacob yelled back, pushing me backwards again and meeting my mouth again.

I giggled into his mouth and pulled him closer to me by his shirt, I felt my temperature rising though and turned my head away from him. When he lost the contact he asked why. "Your Dad doesn't need to see this."

He kissed my forehead and walked away without hesitation, making us both a plate of food. "Are you mad?" I asked, taking my heaping plate of food.

"Nope." He seemed genuine so I dropped the topic and joined him at the table to have our dinner.

After all my stuff was packed up and I had said goodbye to Billy, Jacob walked me out to our cave. He wanted to have the bonfire we never got to have and told Billy he would be back closer to midnight.

He lit our fire and joined me on the bench seat at the far end of the cave, from here we had a view of the beach which was illuminated with the sunset. "So pretty out here." I said.

"Yeah, makes you realize how easily you forget the beauty in life."

"Yeah." I looked up at Jacob, his face was bouncing with shadows from the fire and he looked so peaceful, but deep in thought too.

"You want to talk about something Jake?"

"No, just sit here with me a while?" He looked at me and I nodded, finding my spot on his chest. We sat there for what seemed like hours, he finally sat up and tossed another log into the fire and I laid back down on his chest. He, however, didn't relax and I took that as his sign that he was ready to talk now.

"What's going on?"

"Are you okay with where things are right now?" He all but blurted out and to be honest it scared me.

"Are you not?" I sat up, facing him and felt my face scrunch up with concern. I thought despite everything with Edward, things were going great.

"No, I am!" He shifted in his seat and faced me with one leg on the floor. "I want to be sure you are okay with our progression."

I felt myself get warm, "You mean with us getting more serious."

He simply nodded. I glanced at the flames, dancing back and forth taunting me to be daring. Jacob was my best friend and although it should be easy to communicate everything to him it wasn't.

"I'm really...okay with it all." I fiddled with my hands and forced myself to look him in the eye. "I feel...done."

He cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Done with us?"

"No!" I shifted again, trying to find the words that would convey my true feelings. "Done with trying to find someone in life that completes me." I waited for him to either understand what I had said or say it didn't make sense, he nodded and I felt relief.

"So you think you found the one you are going to be with for...the rest of your life?"

I suddenly felt stupid, hearing that out loud but Jacob continued. "You think?"

I said nothing, feeling my words betrayed me in a very intimate way.

"Bella, talk to me. Please? Is that what you meant?"

I nodded, avoiding his gaze. I was replaying this mantra over and over in my head, 'look at him, look at him' but I just couldn't bring myself to face him.

Jacob rose next to me and pulled me out of my seat, without a word he brought me out of the cave and faced me towards the sunset. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I leaned against his chest. "You don't have to feel insecure around me Bella, ever." He kissed my neck slowly and brought his mouth back up to my ear. "I love everything about you, that includes you being awkward with certain things. One day you won't be that way with me anymore and I will miss that about you. But I couldn't envision a better ending to our story than being together until our eternities run out."

I felt tears stream down my face; he knew that if eye contact was avoided I took in information better. So he had me face the beauty in front of us, he embraced me from behind and confirmed his feelings for me. I felt him squeeze me lightly and he softly kissed my neck again slowly, causing me to shiver.

"I love you, so much. If there is ever a moment that you feel we're going too far too fast or something I do makes you uncomfortable I need you to be able to say so. I know you pretty well enough to pick up on it, but you can't lose your voice."

I nodded against him as I felt him release me and pull me back into our cave. He tossed a log onto the fire and walked towards me, he smiled at me with such love that my fears dissolved right in front of us.

Author's Note: I had SO many reviews for Chapter 28 I'm going to thank all of you! Thank you to Beautiful Evil, .JacobB, mcamastow, kassibelle, twigames and mistdreynolds1! I am really pleased you are all enjoying the plot so far! I'm a week away from delivery so I am going to catch you guys up on what I wrote and hope to keep the chapters going. Love you all!