A/N: I've decided to leave the poll up for another week, so for those of you haven't voted go on over to my profile and let me know whether or not you would like the Cullen's to make an appearance in this story.

As always thank you to my readers and reviewers as well as those who have added this story to their favorites and/or alert list.

The boys were back on patrol and Bella had gone back to school, this time without Emily, who had upon Sam's insistence, decided to wait until the vampire was caught before returning to school.

Sam had tried to convince Paul to tell Bella she shouldn't go back to school either, but Paul hadn't been willing to do so.

"Bella's happy Sam; she likes going to school and she has friends there, why would I want to keep her from that?"

"Because there's a vampire after her."

"I can't ask her to put her life on hold, Sam."

"But aren't you worried something could happen while she's away from the Rez?"

"Scared out of my mind man; but we don't know how long it's going to take us to catch this leech lady. I mean we've been after her for months and so far we've only managed to catch and kill two of her lackeys."

"Well if she's going to continue going to school, then we're going to need to keep one of the boys with her at all times." Sam said

"Well Jacob's really the only one who doesn't have any other obligations outside of the pack and Billy. But I don't know that he'd be willing to do it and I'm not sure Bella would be cool with having a babysitter either."

"I'll talk to Jacob. You talk to Bella about it and see what she says."

When he returned from patrol that night, Paul found Bella and Kwoli snuggled on the couch, eating popcorn and watching TV.

"Hey." He whispered, leaning over the back of the couch and kissing her cheek

Bella jumped and turned to stare up at Paul.

"Hey; I didn't hear you come in."

"Hmph…. Some dog you've got there, he didn't even bark." He said squeezing in behind her on the couch

"Well he knew it was you, so there was no need for him to bark."

"I guess. So how was class today?"

"Eh, it was ok. There's only one teacher that I like this semester and its weird driving up to PA alone."

"So you wouldn't mind having someone to make the drive back and forth with?"

"No. Why?"

"Well Sam and I were talking and he thinks since you insist on going to school, that one of the boys should be with you to keep watch for the leech."

"I guess that makes sense, but I really don't want to put anyone out. And if one of the boys is with me, that's one less wolf you have here to protect the Rez."

"You won't be putting anyone out Bella. But the only one who'd be able to do it is Jacob."

"Jacob? I don't know Paul. I mean he's been a little nicer and less awkward since Christmas, but I don't know."

"Sam is gonna talk to him about it. Who knows, this might be the chance for you two to get back to being friends."

"But it's going to be so awkward! We haven't talked in so long; I don't even know how to talk to him anymore."

"Let's just wait and see if he agrees to it first."

Bella sighed and snuggled into Paul's embrace.

The rest of the night was fairly quiet, aside from the occasional barks and yaps from Kwoli who was tossing and dragging his toys around the house.

A few days later, Bella arrived home from school to find Jacob sitting on the front porch.

"Jacob? What are you doing here?"

"Uh, Sam talked to me about going up to Port Angelus with you."

"Oh."

"Umm…. Yea, so can we talk?"

"Uh, sure. You hungry?"

"I could eat." He shrugged

There was an awkward silence as Bella set about fixing Jacob something to eat.

After Jacob had devoured the sandwiches, he pushed the plate away and stared at Bella who had taken a seat across from him.

"So, how have you been?" He asked

"Good; you?"

"Ok I guess; been doing a lot of thinking.

"Yea?"

"Mmhmm; about you, Paul…. The imprint."

"Oh."

"I realize now that I was wrong to be mad at you; you didn't ask for the imprint to happen and I had no right to be mad at you for accepting it because you really didn't have any other choice."

"Is that why you think I accepted the imprint? Because I had no other choice?"

"Why else would you have accepted it?" He asked, frowning

"Because even though I wasn't thrilled about the imprint in the beginning, which isn't a secret to anyone, I realized that there had to be a reason the Great Spirits had decided Paul and I were a perfect match. And how could I turn down the chance at having that happily ever after that every girl dreams of? So many people spend their whole lives searching for that one person they're meant to be, and I was lucky enough that I didn't have to. I would've been stupid not to take the opportunity given."

"I guess I understand that, but it's Paul, Bella. I've known him a lot longer than you have and the Paul I know or knew wasn't someone you would have ever given a chance otherwise."

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe you were only getting to see one side of Paul? I admit that Paul has his faults, but I have mine too and so do you Jacob. You like to think that you're so perfect and that you're so much better than Paul, but you forget that you and Paul have led very different lives. Yes you lost your mother, but he lost both his parents. He's had to practically raise himself and if it weren't for some of the Elder's and Jared, who knows where Paul might be today. But you already know that Paul's had a hard life, so I don't need to tell you do I? What I don't understand, is how, knowing what you do, you could begrudge Paul his happiness?"

"I love you Bella and it hurt to have to see you with him. Knowing that I'd worked so hard and done everything I could possibly do to make you love me and it still wasn't enough. How was he worthy of you but not me?"

"You can't make someone love you Jacob; and maybe that's why I wasn't chosen as your imprint. You never could accept the fact that I didn't love you like you wanted me to; that I never would. You were always trying to force me to feel things for you that I just couldn't. And that's one of the big differences between you and Paul. He's never tried to force me to love him or to feel certain things for him; he's allowed me the time to grow as a person and to figure out what it was I wanted from life, him, and the imprint. He hates Edward and the Cullen's just as much as you do, but he also realized that the view I had of them was vastly different from the view he had; and though I had come to my senses where they were concerned, I had still loved and cared for them greatly at one point in time. And he certainly didn't like it, but he understood that I needed the time to let go of them and that part of my past before I could move forward; but you could never understood that Jacob."

Jacob frowned as he mulled over all the things Bella had said, and though he could see that there was truth in her words, he didn't much like the fact that she was right.

"I never really looked at it that way; I guess I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. But I've come to see that Paul really does love you, maybe more than I ever could have, and that you love him too."

"I'm glad that you realize that."

"And I've also come to realize that having you as a friend is better than not having you in my life at all; I know things can't really go back to the way they were, but I'd like to be your friend again."

"I'd like that too, Jacob. I've really missed you." Bella replied with a tentative smile

Jacob returned her smile with one of his own.

"So I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow?"

"You're going to be my watch dog uh?"

"It's a hard job but someone's gotta do it."

They shared a laugh and Bella told Jacob what time to be at her house the next day. With a hug and one last smile Jacob headed out to start his patrol.

A/N: Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.