A/N: Hello darlings! Has everyone had a good new year? Yes, I confess. There's been so much drama in real life that I took a break from writing fics. But this story is itching to be picked up and finished, and I think it's high time that I did. So I'm going to do my best to get you through the rest of the tale, because quite frankly, it's a pretty cool one

A few notes, going forward. My writing time is considerably shorter these days. In the interests of being able to update on a fairly regular basis, chapters are going to be shorter too. I promise, I'll still spin the whole story, but in slightly smaller bites than you've seen thus far. The 10-15 page chapters I'd been doing before this are just a little too much to handle in a single sitting right now. And yes, people are going to start dying soon, so don't go anywhere, kay?

On that note, we pick up in Forks, the day after our last chapter. It's mid-January, and the Cullens and wolves of La Push have gathered together to figure out what, exactly, they're going to do about Eli…and how they're going to stop the pack war he's put into play.

Carlisle

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Max, who had tucked herself the chair behind my desk, gave it an experimental spin. "Ohhh, Dr. C, this is nice. I'm telling Jaz she needs to hit you up for an upgrade." Focusing back in on Jacob, she frowned. "There's a good chance this is going to pretty much kill any chances of making nice with the Mojave pack. Like, ever."

"Do I have a choice?" Jacob spun sideways with a snort, popping his feet over the edge of a chair. "I'm not just going to roll over and hand my pack to Eli. Not gonna happen."

"I vote we go down there and kick their furry tails all the way back to California right now ," snarled Emmett, prowling back and forth across the end of the room. His restless pacing was starting to give me a headache. With a sigh, I pulled the little stress balls I kept for moments like this out of the corner of my desk and tossed it to him. He snatched all three out of the air without even looking, juggling them easily. And, thank the lord, no longer moving.

Max grinned, clapping silently and bouncing up and down to make the chair squeak. Catching her eye, I had to smile. Despite the gravity of the situation, and the nagging misery clawing at the back of my head (yes, vampires could get tension headaches too) it warmed something inside me that had been cold too long to see her laughing again.

We needed to figure out the details of this strange whatever-it-was that was happening between us. I wasn't foolish enough to believe our conversation from the day before had truly fixed anything. Everything was too new, too big, too frightening to put a name to yet. We could hash it out later. Right now, however, I needed to see her smile. If I didn't make it through this day, I wanted to remember her just as she was now.

I hadn't told the others, but they knew our enemy. If things went south, the way I was desperately afraid that they would, there was a good chance at least one of us wouldn't be coming home tonight.

Jacob, Sam and Embry had been standing on my doorstep as soon as the sun came up that morning. I'd been expecting them. Eli had given Jacob 48 hours to either relinquish the pack, or prove he had the right to keep it. With teeth and claws and blood. It disgusted me sometimes, how thin the veneer of civility we wore could stretch, but it was what it was. And what it was was a fight Jacob couldn't hope to win.

If all went according to plan, he wouldn't have to.

"This is such crap," grumbled Rosalie, looking down at her coral fingertips with a sigh. "I just got these done. Swear to god, if fur face and his little stooges mess up my manicure it doesn't matter how important he is. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to skin him. And I'm going to spend the next few centuries admiring how nice he looks hanging on my wall."

"Rose." I tried to sound paternally disapproving, but I couldn't help the quick quirk of the lips that snuck out before I could stop it. Rose was so delightfully predictable. Mostly because she meant every word of it. She might not have any particular love for shapeshifters in general, but Jacob and the La Push pack were family. For family, she would do what needed to be done and not lose a night's sleep about it one way or the other.

Blaming it on her manicure was just her way of writing it off.

When Jacob had come to me the day before to tell me about Eli's visit, and his ultimatum, three things had been immediately apparent. One, Jacob wouldn't last five minutes in a fight with the old lobo. He was a good fighter, but Eli was quicker, stronger, and more experienced. And for him, it wasn't personal. Jacob associated Eli with Jaz. He'd do everything he could to keep from tearing the other wolf's throat out, because he knew it would break Jazmine's heart. Eli would show no such hesitation.

Two, we couldn't let the Mojave alphas take over control of the pack at La Push. The treaty would disintegrate faster than marshmallows over an open fire. The only way to maintain the peace would be for us to pack up and move on. We'd talked about it, and as selfish as it was, we had no desire to leave. It may have started out as just another place to stay, but in the end, Forks had become home. Its citizens, human and non-human alike, were family. This was where we belonged, and we were willing to fight for the right to stay.

Which brings us to the third. The only reason Eli had challenged Jacob was because he believed leadership of the pack was easily in his reach. What he forgot, what they had all forgotten when they set this plan of theirs in motion, was that through the ties we'd made, the battles we'd fought together, we stood as one now.

Eli might have come north thinking he was challenging Jacob, but he was about to discover he'd bitten off a bit more than he could chew.

Which was why, three hours later, the members of the La Push pack lined La Push beach, silent and still. Jacob, flanked by Sam, stood at their head. The children and I stood beside them, an immovable front, the waves splashing frigid water over our heels as we watched Eli and his wolves approach.

"What the hell is this?" Eli snarled, looking from Jacob to me and back again. "I thought we had an agreement. This is between you and me. Your pet bloodsuckers aren't a part of this."

"No, you had an agreement." Jacob's voice was calm, carrying through the morning air to the ears of everyone standing on that beach. "I have a responsibility to protect my pack. Whatever the cost. I don't know how they do it in your pack, but this pack stands together. All of us," he added, looking over at me with a smile. "The Cullens are just as much a part of La Push as we are, and we'll stand together to make sure it stays that way."

Eli looked from Jacob to me, then over the crowd standing at his back. I could tell he was weighing his odds, trying to decide how good his chances were of getting his jaws around Jacob's throat before someone took him down. Heavy silence fell over the beach, all of us bracing for the fight to come. There was nothing left to be said. The Mojave wolves would leave, or they would fight. Either way, none of us were leaving this beach until this was settled.

Eli's beta curled his lip back in a snarl, immediately echoed by Sam. I saw him brace himself for the lunge, but before he had a chance to move a shotgun blast split the air.

"Now, I know you boys aren't down here starting trouble." Charlie, in full uniform and looking as intimidating as it was possible for a human to look on a beach filled with wolves, was standing downwind, looking from one group to the other. Sneaky bastard had made sure we wouldn't smell him coming up.

I heard Jacob's sharp intake of breath, and tried to ignore the quick clutch of panic in my own gut. Eli wouldn't be stupid enough to use the Chief of Police as leverage. On the other hand, Charlie was Jacob's father-in-law. The wolf was backed into a corner and looking for a way out. He knew, as we did, that it was far too dangerous to bring a human into the middle of this. Charlie wouldn't stand a chance.

"Oh, for the love of god." A familiar, disgusted voice filled the air, immediately followed by a head of flaming red hair. Jazmine, with Quil hot on her heels, came up behind Charlie. I felt the muscles in my back sag in relief. Bingo. It wasn't quite the ending we'd had planned, but it was an ending nonetheless. I'd take it.

"I leave you people alone for a month. One. Measly. Month," she ranted. "And you've got a freaking pack war going on." The tiny little redhead, with her blue ski coat and rainbow hat, didn't even break stride as she came down the hill and smacked Jacob in the back of the head hard enough to make him stagger. "You know better. And you!" She spun on Eli, who immediately wiped off the grin that had been sneaking across his face. "You and that testosterone overload of yours owe me two weeks' vacation, and you're by god going to pay up. I'm standing here freezing my ass off in Forks instead of enjoying my last two weeks in paradise because your mother called me and told me you were fixing to get yourself killed."

Her voice softened, confusion and hurt mixing with the anger on her face. "What were you thinking, Eli? This is my home. Why did you bring this to my door?"

"He's not fit," Eli muttered stiffly, shame mixing with anger as he tried to figure out how to get out of this with his pride intact. I'd been on the receiving end of Jazmine's temper before. I couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for him.

"Oh, whatever," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You just can't stand the fact that they play with vampires. Grow up, Eli. Open your eyes and see the world for once. These are the good guys. You've been so busy trying to figure out how to stay three steps ahead of your allies that you completely missed the fact that you've got an enemy knocking on your door. The Volturi are out there, waiting. You can't afford to waste manpower on a stupid fight you lost before it even got started."

Turning to Charlie, Jaz smiled sweetly. "Thank you for picking us up, Chief Swan. Would you be willing to escort these three buffoons back to the Cullens', so we can work this out like civilized beasts?"

"Yes ma'am." Charlie's voice was polite, the look in his eyes anything but. "Gentlemen?"

It clearly wasn't a request. Without a word, the three wolves turned and filed after him…but not before Eli managed to shoot one more venomous glare in Jacob's direction. The look on his face made it very clear this wasn't over. I questioned the wisdom of taking them back to our house, but it was the only place besides the beach to hold all of us at once-and it was our territory. We had the advantage. I wasn't going to waste it.

"Jacob, why don't you, Sam, Jasper and Alice run ahead?" I suggested. "Make sure our guests are settled in." And don't start any trouble with the humans, I thought dryly. None of the wolves would harm the children, I was certain of that. But Bella and Max were both at the house. Eli was fond of both of them, but there was no sense taking chances if we didn't have to.

As soon as they were gone, Jaz looked over at me and smiled. "Some welcome home party Carlisle. Can't wait to see what you're gonna do next."