After reading another fanfic recently and wishing for longer chapters I thought I'd give y'all one in turn!

Disclaimer: I had a dream…and in it Jacob fought Edward and won (j/k…steph meyer owns this saga, but we own the fandom! :)

Chapter 36

Immortal

The drive to the Cullens passed by in a blur. I spent it leaning against the rough fabric of Jacob's t-shirt, his leather jacket now warming my frozen limbs. I pressed my palms flat against the familiar ridges of his abs and could feel the scars he would always bear because of me. Besides the ones Edward had inflicted in his rage, were new ones, the marks given by my creator.

The Eldest threat was over, the Volturi appeased, thankfully without knowledge of the half-breed baby left behind. And if Carlisle could help it, they never would.

Jacob's eyes were emotionless as he turned to look at me over his shoulder, while his bike's engine cooled.

The lights within the Cullens' glass paned home shone dimly ahead of us. Within there was silence and only the softest hum of Vampire voices inside. Even now the home I once thought as my own seemed emptier. I could not bear to lift my eyes towards the corner of the house that had been Edward's.

"Bella?"

Startled, I met Jacob's open questioning gaze. I held my breath as his muscles rippled beneath my fingers. He swung his leg over the handles with ease. He stood to face me and keep the machine beneath me steady with his powerful arm. His eyes were tender but pained as his hands clasped me, his heat burning through the fabric of his jacket.

"Breathe, honey…"

I obeyed, calmed by his heat pouring into my sides. Twilight darkened the sky witch shades of purple and gray, echoing how hollow I felt inside. Were it not for Jacob I would have been lost. I wondered faintly how he could love me. How could someone so perfectly imperfect forgive and bear so much when he did not have to?

"Are you ready?" His deep husky voice rumbled even in its whisper. Shivering from his heat, I brought my eyes at last to meet his and nodded once.

To Edward, I faintly thought as we approached the steps leading to the front door, "Remember when you first brought me home? How nervous you were, how I was? Remember Rose cracking the salad dish? Remember playing my lullaby to me for the first time? Remember my birthday party? Remember my Graduation party? Remember the day I broke your heart?"

"Bella!" Esme surprised me when she opened the door and home seemed to come with her, light casting a soft halo over her weary lovely features. Her arms wrapped round and pulled me gently from Jacob's grasp. I could sense him tense behind me and could guess the emotions and thoughts rushing through his mind. For me though, he would keep silent.

Into my ear, my Vampire mother whispered, "I just finished supper if you would care to join us." Her voice ached with silent plea. One of the things Esme loved most about me was cooking human meals. I think it made her feel more human. I nodded against her caramel hair, breathing in her overwhelmingly sweet Vampire scent. Her touch was soft as she pulled away, eyes crinkling as she touched my cheek and then ushered me over the threshold.

I turned back to see Jacob's clenched fists as he ducked through the open door and shut it behind us. Yet there was love in his eyes when they flickered up to meet mine. How out of place he looked in my family's old home, I realized.

The stairs led to the landing and a dining table set with flickering candles. Two place mats were empty. Jacob's and my plates had been set beside one another, full of steaming Italian food. The rest of the chairs were marked by wine glasses filled with blood. Jacob did not hide his open disgust as he followed me to my chair. His hands grasped the back of the wood, knuckles white as footsteps marked the entrance of the rest of the Cullen family.

Emmett reached me first, his golden eyes sparkling yet sad as he lifted me off the floor with a deep sigh. "Bella it's so good to have you home!" He ignored the deathly glare Jacob shot him behind me, though he did set me down. A tentative grin etched into his boyish features as he cast a cautious glance at Jacob and then me. "Things have been so wrong without you here Bella. You think maybe you could stay with us?"

I heard the wood begin to crack where Jacob's fingers gripped the back of my chair. I offered Emmett my best smile. "Maybe…for a while."

He nodded, appeased for the moment.

"Bella, so glad to see you looking well. Seth mentioned your visit when I came over to check on his progress this afternoon." Carlisle's honey eyes were tragic. Edward had been his first companion in immortal life, his true and closest son. Seeing my father's grief, I reconsidered Emmett's proposal a second moment. I went into Carlisle's arms without provocation, could feel the surprise in the twitch of his arms before he too squeezed me, so tightly it would have crushed my ribs if I were just human.

Esme shooed Emmett, for moment looking the mother I had known. "Sit down dear, we should eat." Emmett turned and winked at me. As Carlisle moved to sit at the head of the table, near Jacob's place and mine, I finally saw a shadow move from the living area and into the light.

Gasping I watched as a very altered Jasper moved across the dining room floor. Though his features were stunningly perfect, albeit harsh for the crescent shaped scars that ran along his neck and over his face, golden curls falling softly over his eyes, he managed to lift them at last to meet mine. Utter hopelessness, a loss of purpose was so deep and thoroughly etched in him, only I could fully understand it. I knew that look had been on my face when Edward left me, because Jasper had tried to kill me years ago.

A sob wrecked his chest then as he linked eyes with me and took in my emotions, mask of control gone as a wave of unsurpassing grief swept over the room, though he could not shed any tears. I rushed, a blur across the room as I took my brother into my arms. And in the same moment the horrible truth I had feared so deeply, yet somehow knew, overwhelming grief shook me to my core as I understood.

Alice was gone.

Jasper's chest shook. His forehead rested against mine as I gently rubbed his back, tears streaming down my cheeks. And then at last his honey eyes opened, calmer and less strained than before. In the silence I heard his hard, lilting voice. "Thank you."

I bit my lip as I felt keen eyes upon my back and began to pull away. Jasper's embrace tightened a moment, so I smiled and lifted my hand to his neck. "I'm here." The honey in his eyes shone, softened, his grip relaxing so I could step out of it. And I took his hand in mine as I led him across the room and to the seat opposite mine.

The wave of grief had obviously stricken everyone else in the room, though Emmett of course eased the tension. "Where the hell is Rose? I thought she wasn't mad at me anymore!" His eyes met mine playfully. "I did just repaint her car yesterday."

The familiar scene was comforting, and the family settled into their chairs, began to tell stories of those we had lost. Jacob's jaw was set, eyes downcast and face a plane of dark shadows when I came to my chair at last. Muscles in his arms twitched when I put my hands over his, yet his brow unfurrowed, eyes flickered to mine uncertainly a moment before he turned to his own chair. The top rim of my chair had deep indentations where his hands had been.

Without Edward's presence…without Alice's energy, the family was more reminiscent of the one I had known after being turned. Though broken, the obvious love they held for one another even amid such loss, I knew eventually we would be alright.

Jacob was silent and despite his wolfish appetite barely touched his plate when the Cullens started drinking the blood from their glasses.

"Bella," Carlisle was the first to speak, "have you thought of your plans? I heard of your book's publication. We are very proud of you my dear. But might you continue your education?

I bit my lip, fork hovering over my plate. My other hand on Jacob's thigh was wrapped in heat as his hand came to cover mine tightly. "Um," I fumbled, "I—I haven't really thought so far ahead. I suppose I would like to finish school…but we'll see."

Esme smiled from her place at the other end of the table beside Emmett. "Whatever you decide, Bella, we'll continue to support you."

"Maybe we could go to college together, Bella!" Emmett offered, voice more jovial than his tired eyes. "Sounds like it'd be fun."

"I don't think I'd get much studying done with you there Em."

His mouth opened with false offense. "You say so now, but trust me, no one knows how to have a good time like me, little sister."

I caught Jasper's eye across the table, a hint of amusement in its honeyed depths and smiled. "Only if Jasper comes too."

Emmett groaned protest.

"Are you staying in Forks now?" Jacob's hard tone was every bit the Alpha male.

Carlisle answered unphased. "We're selling our home. It will be many years before we return to Forks, I think."

Jacob nodded. "Good. I—wanted to thank you for everything you all have done for us." The words were more difficult to say for Jacob than the others realized and held a deeper meaning than he could articulate. After a long silence Carlisle smiled.

"Your welcome."

Esme's soft voice followed. "Have your people found a home for the child yet?"

I watched the shadows play across Jacob's hard lined face as his features twisted. When he lifted his eyes again I saw some of his walls fall as well. "The Council can't agree. They put the decision in my hands. Not even Embry's family knows about the baby. And if the Volturi learn about her…" His eyes fell to the half eaten plate.

Carlisle's tone was matter of fact. "They will destroy the child. I have already taken several blood samples and found a heavy dose of the Werewolf gene in her system. As she is female it is uncertain whether or not she will share the same traits of your pack, but she is an Immortal child. Perhaps it would have been kinder for Rosalie to leave her with the Volturi when she had the chance." Disgust dripped from Carlisle's words, his mouth twisted, eyes flitting to meet Esme's across the table.

I held my breath, wondering whether the thought that had been in my mind from the first were too much to hope. I saw the conflict in Jacob's eyes. Embry had been like his own brother.

Rosalie stirred in the nearby kitchen. The baby's soft cries shot straight down to my soul, bringing memories of Embry and Anna afresh to my mind. And then the cries ceased as a heavenly voice hummed a song I didn't recognize. I glanced over at Emmett surprised to see the love shining in his eyes already. A brilliant smile was on Esme's face as Rosalie came to the table looking so altered I might not have known my own sister. For her long hair had been tied back, her stunningly angelic face aglow and all attention focused on the tiny babe wrapped in her arms, drinking from the formula bottle in her hand. Her eyes rose and met mine and I stared back at the Rosalie that should have been. Now more than ever before she truly was beautiful.

Jacob watched in silence as she moved over to stand behind Emmett. "Can you help me put Lina to sleep?"

"If I do?" Emmett's grin split his face in two.

Rose rolled her eyes though her tone held no malice. "Why should you be rewarded when you haven't finished the second coat yet?"

Jasper stood from his chair then, a soft smile playing at his lips as he reached for the tiny olive skinned baby. "Here, let me do it Rose." The days old infant's eyes opened enough to shine brilliantly black beneath a thick shock of black hair. She was beautiful. Rosalie playfully punched Emmett's arm as Jasper shifted the bottle and child in his arms. I could feel the edges of the wave of calm Jasper lay over the infant and smiled.

"Lina?" Jacob met Rosalie's eye across the table.

A hesitant smile tugged at her mouth. "Adeline…it—it was the name I had picked out once, a long time ago."

Emmett's arm snaked round his wife's waist.

Jacob left without announcing his decision, though the tension faded from the room after Rosalie and Emmett left Carlisle and Esme alone with us.

Carlisle offered for me to join them. Apparently they were planning on moving to Vermont soon for a change, near Dartmouth…

Esme's arms held on longer than ever before. "You'll always have a home with us Bella."

Jacob was silent when we pulled up into the driveway of Charlie's house minutes later, thanks to his impossibly mad driving skills. The lights inside were off and Jacob killed the engine quickly, turned and then lifted me from my seat behind him and into his lap.

I could feel the emotion with each resounding tremble of his body that shook my chest, struggling against the change that could release his pent up anger and confusion. Sitting partly against bike handles and his left thigh, his hands remained fixed on my hips, chin tucked to his chest as his arm muscles flexed with each breath.

"You sure you want to stay the night here?" His voice was softer than I had expected, yet he still didn't look at me.

"It's still my home, Jake. Sue's at the Res, and I need to talk to Charlie…" I didn't tell him that the very thought of lying in bed without him made my half human heart race with panic. Moonlight made my vision blur, fade to shades of silver and back again. My breath clung to the cold air between us. The Werewolf blood that mingled with my human blood now surged and swelled, adding fresh energy to my limbs. All because of the pain I felt radiating from my mate's soul now.

Jacob nodded then. "Sure, sure. I understand."

Panic made my hands rise to press against the solid wall of his chest, to feel his heart race beneath my fingertips. His eyes flickered and seared into mine, breath caught in his chest as he hesitated.

"I'll see you tomorrow Bells?"

My fingertips met either side of his scarred face and his obsidian eyes closed a moment as I brought my lips to meet his. He tasted sweeter than anything I had tasted in my life. In that moment flashes, images, emotion flickered in my minds' eye. Immense passion, overflowing desire, fear with images of me filled my mind.

A creature that looked like Bella Swan with silver and red eyes fought a monstrous shadow bent Vampire…

The same creature lying unconscious upon the earth…

Agonizing pain and paralyzing fear…

Relief as the golden skinned creature whose heart pumped fresh and anew with a different sort of blood, moved beneath my russet toned fingertips…

Relief and joy to hold Bella in my arms and fear that the loss of him might push her away for good…

I gasped, pulled quickly away in confusion. Had I seen Jacob's memories? Was this some new Vampire gift or unknown Werewolf connection, similar to what the pack shared? Jacob's brow as contorted in pain. Had he seen me too?

The kiss had lasted seconds and breathless, I feared and longed for more. The very thought of seeing and feeling what he felt made me long for more. I realized in that moment under the moonlight just how much Jacob Black loved me than I could have imagined possible. I couldn't leave him if I didn't go now and so I balanced a hand on his shoulder and alighted to the wet earth. Turning to leave, I gasped as a fire wrought russet hand covered mine firmly.

"Wait," he said, his voice hoarse and soft, strained with meaning. I heard the creak of leather, the shift of his pant legs on the metal of the bike. In one swift motion I was lifted by the waist by two large hands, pressed flush against him and off the ground until we were eye level. Until my legs and arms naturally folded round his waist and neck and his dark gold-flecked eyes reflected my own silver and red rimmed. I felt the need to be ruled by him, to fight him for dominance, to run wild through the forest together beneath the luminous moon...

A dangerous fire was in his eyes I had never seen before and it excited me until I pressed my nails into his neck, my hold on his chiseled physique tightened.

"Bella…" he growled, one arm round my waist, one hand bringing my lips crashing into his. His tongue was urgent and almost violent, yet then his lips were tender and worshiping. I pulled away from him, tilting my head back, thrilled to hear his growl, gasping when his burning lips fell over my neck. His other hand positioned lower, tracing patterns that made me growl and take his mouth for mine willingly again.

I gasped as the flashes came once more, with greater intensity, faster than I could fathom, the last burned brightest…

Bella bathed in golden sunlight, skin shimmering, chocolate red-rimmed eyes soft on a face far more beautiful than mortals held…

Her lips formed the words, "I love you Jacob…"

The flames yet burned, though our passion had turned into slower languid kisses, caresses and looks. Jacob's forehead rested against mine, breathing hoarse, his desire evident below his waist and yet maddening.

"Bella…please say you aren't going with them…"

Reality crashed down over the strange magic the moonlight had cast over me and my hands were upon his chest, his cheek forcing him to look at me.

"Jake, what are you talking about?"

"The Cullens…" His tone was Alpha and hard, yet his eyes were soft and heartbreaking. "They said you would have a home with them…maybe you should get away from Forks for a while, maybe get away from bad memories?"

Edward. I knew instantly the fear that had been behind his tense behavior at the Cullens', the fear I had seen somehow in his own memories. After everything Jacob still believed I loved Edward more?

"Listen to me, Jacob Black..." His eyes shone as I took his face in both hands, willing him to see me. "I love you. I can't leave Forks because I can't leave you! I will never leave you again. No matter what I shared with Edward it can't come close to you, he can never come close."

Jacob took in a sharp breath, tears fell from his incredibly hard and life worn face. Pressing my forehead to his once again tentatively I kissed him again, slowly until the trembling in his chest ceased. When I pulled away again it was with greater difficulty than I had ever felt before. "But I have to talk to Charlie and he can't find you in my bed in the morning."

My smile made the tension in his eyes ease. He nodded, buried his face in my neck, breathed deeply. "Okay."

My room was eerily the same as I had left it, as though a war hadn't started and horribly ended, as though I hadn't lost my former love and sister, as though I hadn't been bitten first by Vampire and later by Werewolf until I was something different from any being that had been…

In that moment I felt the emotions of girlhood wash over me once more, of simpler times when I had been just your average teenage girl. Upon the floor beside my window I found Edward's love letters bound in leather and hid them carefully away under my floorboards to be read when the pain was not so fresh. My old copy of 'Persuasion' rested beside my journal where in I had begun writing about the madness that had become my life.

Finding some of my old sweats and a top and pulling my waist length curls back, I sat upon the old mattress and my pen was scrawling over the white paged surface before I knew it. My renewed silver tinged eyes no longer required lamplight, so I poured my soul onto the fresh inviting pages.

I felt the hours pass slowly, hand a blur and frenzy took over my senses. I forced through the difficult past, entered the freshest memories. And as I wrote I felt release, until I suddenly found myself lying face down upon my bed, my pen in hand stilled over the last pages of white paper.

The last lines I had penned read…

"His eyes were as scarlet red as they had been in my dreams.

Intent, hollow almost and yet somehow filled with such blatant desire and power I found myself desperate to escape his grasp.

His powerful hands, snow white and seemingly paper thin, grasped my hands tightly, overwhelming my senses with his sweet musk.

Strange that unlike all other Vampires I had met since he changed me, I was drawn to him rather than repulsed.

Were it not for Edward's sacrifice to come, for Jacob's love I would have been lost forever…"

Warm hands smoothed over the skin of my arms, stretched my body out correctly upon the bed. With a light thud journal and book and pen were set on my bedside table. I was encompassed in the warming touch of his skin through the fabric of my clothes, on my arms and against my forehead. An arm draped over my waist, and when I opened my eyes, pulled from dreams of sunlit beaches and russet skinned children racing with a giant sized werewolf, I saw Jacob.

His hand pulled me tight against him and his voice whispered low, "I couldn't sleep without you."

I smiled through my sleep and nestled further into his arms, head tucked under his chin, listening to the rapid beat of his heart.

His scent washed over me and I was home.