I've had this chapter title chosen since the very, very beginning a year ago when I started this. We're finally getting to the critical business. EXCITED! Hope you love.

CHP 38 – SUN VS DIAMOND

*JACOB POV*

I barely noticed the familiar thrill and adrenaline of my body morphing and tripling in size. My brain was completely clouded by the night's events. But I had to focus now. Time to work. I shook my head back and forth, clearing it, tuning in to what was happening hundreds of miles away.

Walking into the woods to be alone, I closed my eyes, pulling myself deeper into my instincts, blocking out everything around me.

The majority of the fight had passed. They'd taken down all but a few stragglers early on. The few remaining who had been trained well had put up a fight – but nothing all of us couldn't handle. No injuries on our side. What had happened to Victoria? I pulled myself deeper down, straining to hear my brothers speak.

She figured out she couldn't get past us. Counted her numbers, compared them to ours. She might've bolted. Paul reasoned, running north, searching the trees.

No, Embry retorted. There's no way she'd walk away. Not after all this.

Quiet, Sam ordered. Let me focus. Paul and Jared, sweep the trees. Check Jacob's trail and make sure it's clear. Check Emily's too.

The Alpha stood in a clearing with part of the pack: Leah, Seth, Quil… along with the Cullen clan. I flinched and felt the pack recoil when a piercing scream sliced through the silence.

"Jasper," I heard Carlisle say through Sam's ears. "Calm her down."

What? I quickly scanned the pack's thoughts. One of the newborns had surrendered. Bree. They were going to spare her. Sam wasn't happy. One more added to the clan.

Seth phased out and I lost his thoughts until he started speaking. "We lost track of Victoria. My brothers are scanning the forest for her now."

"Good." Carlisle replied, hands clasped together in front of him. "Her friend didn't manage such a lucky escape."

"Yeah, we took that bloodsucker down hard. He didn't even see it coming!" Emmett boasted, his arm tossed over the blonde's shoulder. Did he really fight wearing a sweater?

I shook my head again. Focus, Jake. Come on.

Emily's trail is good. Billy's place has been steered clear of. No trails within fifty miles, Jared reported. I felt myself nod. Solid news. But Victoria hadn't been killed yet. That was, admittedly, a little unnerving. If she came here, I couldn't very well fight her off and protect Bella at the same time. The plan had been to cut her off at the pass…

Paul, report, Sam ordered.

I'm running Jake's trail, he said. Something isn't right here.

What?

I'm picking something up. It's fresh. Carefully calculated. Coming from the East, then heading north along their trail. Something…oh sh-

I stumbled backwards when the signature flowery scent began to burn my nose, making my eyes water – a reflex reaction to the trail he was picking up. Come on, Paul, I thought. Fight it off! Focus! What's there? Who's there? I hoped I was close enough for him to hear me.

Paul kept on it, following it a few more miles before slowing. Vampire, he spat. The scent's familiar. Picked up the trail. Definitely following it. And its brand new.

I let out a stream of cuss words. Victoria.

"No, not Victoria," a familiar, hated voice rang through the air.

Edward.

And I didn't have time to think.

I lunged. Shear hatred boiled up inside of me. Months and weeks of rage and fury coursed through my veins. Everything was a blur. I could hear the pack screaming in my mind. Could they see Edward was back? Or was something else happening?

Ice and fire. Stone and flesh. A furious mix of loathing between mortal enemies and, even more so, competing lovers. Blow for blow.

The trees around us shook and trembled with the force of our brawl. Limbs cracked and stones rolls. I couldn't see past the burning in my eyes and the searing in my throat from his sickening scent. It pushed my rage beyond my control. If I could morph into something more than the monster I already was, I would have.

He threw me off of him and my back hit a tree, my limbs stretching and cracking with the blow. I bounced back, adrenaline flowing, fiery eyes facing his cold, black ones.

"I don't want to kill you, Jacob." He said. "I don't want to fight you."

He looked, physically, the same as he always had. Seventeen. Pale. Glistening white like diamonds. His clothes were ripped and worn and dirty – like he hadn't changed since he'd disappeared. I stepped forward for another blow.

"Jacob-" He started, palms raised in surrender.

I left out another stream of curse words, digging my palms into the moist dirt. "LEAVE," I ordered in my mind.

"I can't."

I cursed again. "Bull. You left before. Leave again. What're you trying to do?"

"I just want to talk to her."

"You completely destroyed her. She doesn't want you." Could hurt have just flickered across his face? I doubted it.

"Let me speak to her."

"No."

*BELLA POV*

I was fine with Jacob taking a long time outside. Maybe he just needed some fresh air. I closed my eyes and listened to the gentle breeze rattle the thin sides of the tents and the familiar sounds of forest birds calling. It wasn't until I started to hear deeper noises –distant growling and thumping- that I got worried. I wrapped up in a blanket, unzipped the tent door, and walked outside. He wasn't around our immediate tent area, so I scanned the trees around us. Not seeing him, I picked my way carefully towards the edge of the trees, careful not to step on rocks or twigs with my bare feet. He'd probably yell at me for wandering by myself – but in all fairness I was looking for him.

I don't know if I would've seen Jacob – he blended so well into the woods around him – if it hadn't been for the gleaming rock underneath him.

My heart stopped. Victoria.

The next thing I knew, I was sprinting towards them, screaming.

"JACOB!"

All I could see was a mix of white and brown, copper and black. The trees blurring as I sprinted past them towards the fight, tripping over the blanket and tossing it aside as I ran. Sam had to be on his way. Sam, Seth, Embry, Quil, Paul, Jared, Leah, anyone. Victoria was here. And it was one on one.

"JACOB! NO!" I screamed again. But they kept fighting. I slid to a halt, pulling at my hair and bending at the waist, all my energy devoted to my cries. I couldn't watch Jacob die. I couldn't. Not unless I could die too.

What could I do? How could I distract her? Jacob's growls and the snapping of trees clouded my thoughts. Blood. She'd be distracted by blood.

I dropped to my knees and frantically clawed through the earth. Something sharp, something sharp…

A rock, chipped at the edges. Sharp enough to do some damage if I tried hard enough. And I was going to try. I had to help Jake. He couldn't do this on his own.

I wrapped my shaking fingers around the cold stone. I stayed on the ground, knowing id fall again if I saw my own blood. I closed my eyes, holding the tip of my makeshift dagger to the bend in my arm. This would be easy. One fluid motion.

"Ah," I gasped, dropping the blade. A steady stream of blood trickled down my arm, making dark rivers across my fingers and pooling on the ground.

"Bella!" Jake yelled. I looked up from my bleeding arm, the world smudging around the edges, to see him running towards me. He fell on the ground in human form in front of me, face close to mine. "Are you okay? What happened- who –"

"Jake!" I screamed, looking over his shoulder. No one was there. "Victoria! She's here – I was trying to –"

He cursed. "It's not Victoria. We have to get you out of here." He ripped off the bottom hem of my tank top and tied it around my bleeding arm. "What were you thinking, Bella?" I could tell he was angry.

"What do you mean it's not Victoria? I saw-"

"Come on," he cut me off. "Let's go." He started to lift me off the ground.

"Bella." A familiar voice sounded.

Spinning around, I tried to locate the source of the voice. A voice that had haunted my dreams for months, made my heart ache, made my head pound, sucked the life out of me, tore me to pieces for so long. Jake was right, it wasn't Victoria that was here.

"Come on," Jake grunted in my ear, gripping my arm and pulling me back towards the tent.

"Wait," I protested, ever so quietly. But as soon as Jake heard my voice – heard what I wanted – he dropped my arm. I didn't look up at his face. I didn't want to see what my last word had done to him.

I scanned the woods, looking for him. I knew he was there. He was just here. The copper hair – the blur of white – it had been him. Not Victoria.

"Edward," I whispered, so quietly I could barely hear myself.

He stepped out from the trees – into the dazzling sunlight – and looked just as I always dreamed he would. His marble skin threw a thousand rainbows in my direction. His bronze hair caught the sun and made it shimmer. His eyes were dark and dangerous, his face flawless. He was alive.

His eyes flashed across my body- and I knew what he must be seeing. And thinking. Me- barely dressed and bleeding on a mountain alone with Jacob. So many scenarios could be formed. There's no way he could assume the right one. Hurt flashed across his flawless face. My mind was a haze, an empty wasteland, but I felt when Jacob took my discarded blanket and draped it over my shoulders.

"Bella," he said, reaching his hand out towards me. I could feel Jacob shivering beside me. His voice – Edward's voice – were like tiny, chiming bells in my ears. A beautiful sound.

"I'm so sorry," he began. "I'm so sorry for leaving you."

I didn't answer.

"Please, Bella…" he pleaded.

Jacob was letting him talk. I felt his hand move towards me – but he dropped it down to his side again. He was going to let me choose. My heart ached.

"You…you left me." I choked out. The shock of his initial return was wearing off. I was remembering now. How he left me alone in the woods. How he told me I couldn't go with him, and that I wasn't good enough for me. He didn't want me anymore.

"I had to. It wasn't safe for you. But I can't live without you, Bella. I had to come back and get you. I…I still love you, Bella. You're my only reason for living." His eyes were sad.

"I don't understand." How could he have left me, if he loved me?

"I've been all over the world, trying to find somewhere I could be happy, but I couldn't find it. I'm only happy with you, Bella. I've waited a century to find happiness and I walked away from it, but I want you back. I don't want to have to live eternity without you." Edward said quietly, taking a step toward me. "Please, Bella."

I couldn't look at Jacob, but I knew he was still there. I couldn't hear his breaths anymore – had he stopped breathing?

"Bella," Edward said again, his hand reaching ever towards me. "Will you marry me?"

Jake twitched beside me. I couldn't look at him. I couldn't. I didn't want to see the pain in his face, or the doubt. I wasn't strong enough.

I could get my legs to move. My ears were still ringing from the sound of his voice. He was alive. And beautiful. But Jacob was more alive. And somehow now more beautiful than Edward could ever be. And Jacob loved me. Always. Never left me. Always here. Always, always, always.

Charlie's words echoed in my ears – what he'd told me in the middle of the night after one of my many nightmares. "Sometimes, you have to learn to love what's good for you." Remember what's best for you. Love what's good for you. I hadn't worked myself out of this black hole for nothing.

They both knew it was my choice. Edward. Jacob. They both stayed silent – watching me – resisting the urge to kill one another. It was my choice. And I had to choose.

All those months of my life I'd wasted waiting and hoping. All those nights I'd spent crying and screaming and torturing myself. Edward Cullen was finally here – he'd come back for me, he wanted me now. Everything would go back to normal. A million nights spent by his sleepless side. A thousand runs through the forest. A hundred looks at his shimmering skin. An immortal life filled with his golden eyes. This was everything I'd always dreamed of– and I didn't want it. I wanted Jacob. My Jacob.

I stepped backwards, my hand reaching for Jacob's. I relaxed and felt his deep sigh when his warm fingers wrapped around my own, the blood from my arm making rivers over our interlocking fingers.

I watched as Edward's hand dropped; I saw as his face turned to stone. I blinked, and he was gone.

Jacob dropped to the ground before me, and it was then I realized I had sunk to the ground as well. It was then that I noticed the scratched littering his body – evidence of the brawl and fight.

"Did you make the right choice?" he asked, his face emotionless, save for a hint of worry.

I nodded, tears weling up in my eyes. I had made the right choice. I reached up and ran my hand across his face. Jacob was real. Jacob was warm. I'd chosen life instead of death. I'd chosen real love.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

I nodded again. "Yes."

Jake's firm arms wrapped around my body and he pulled me into his lap. It was a strange scene. Both of us wrapped in each other, alone on the side of a mountain. The tears in my eyes spilled over and ran down his chest and fingers. We were both covered in our blood, his sweat, my tears. We were an absolute mess, but we were together, and I felt whole.