DISCLAIMER: Nope not mine. but you have to have a dream.

A/N: I know. It's been a while since I updated this one. Thanks for sticking with me.

Everyone had reassured Bella. They were much more relaxed. Bella was the only one who was tense. Emmett had laughed loud and long. Alice had patted her head and Esme had kissed her forehead. Jasper even tried soothing her with his ability.

Now Bella was worried about not only the Cullens, Edward in particular, but the wolves, Jacob in particular, getting hurt.

Whispering in order to keep her voice under control, she told Edward, "You're taking me with you tonight."

"Bella, you're worn out."

"You think I could sleep? And if I did, do you honestly think I wouldn't wake up screaming at some point? I haven't been able to sleep the night through without waking up since THAT night.

"This is an experiment. I'm not sure if it will be possible for us all to … cooperate. I don't want you in the middle of that."

"If you won't take me, I'll call Jacob."

His eyes tightened and she almost felt bad. But he didn't say anything. The front light was on when they pulled up to Charlie's.

"See you upstairs," she murmured.

She crept in the front door to find her dad asleep in the living room. He hung over the sofa almost as badly as Jacob did that first morning after the attack when she'd slipped down the stairs. She smiled sadly and went to help him up to his room.

Edward was waiting in her room as she washed her face and changed her clothes. But, even though he wasn't happy with her, he lay down next to her and held her close. "Please relax."

"Sure."

"This is going to work, Bella. I can feel it. Jake wants to help protect you. He feels just as guilty as I do for the attack that made you so skittish. He feels like this is a good way to make up for it in some small way." He sighed as Bella clung to him. "Listen to me, Bella. This is going to be easy. The newborns will be completely taken by surprise. They'll have no more idea that werewolves even exist than you did. I've seen how they act in a group, the way Jasper remembers. I truly believe that the wolves' hunting techniques will work flawlessly against them. And with them divided and confused, there won't be enough for the rest of us to do. Someone may have to sit out," he teased.

Even though Edward hummed the lullaby he'd written for her, it didn't help. She was terrified that she was going to lose someone she cared for.

****

Hours later, Edward and Bella arrived at the meeting place. Alice wasn't looking quite as optimistic as everyone else was.

"The werewolves are on their way, so she can't see anything that will happen now. It makes her uncomfortable to be blind."

Alice heard him and stuck her tongue out at him, making them both wonder just how old she really was. Edward laughed.

"Hey, Edward. Hey Bella. Is he going to let you practice too?" Emmett greeted.

"Please, Emmett, don't give her any ideas."

"When will our guests arrive?"

"A minute and a half. But I'm going to have to translate. They don't trust us enough to use their human forms."

"They're coming as wolves?" Bella shuddered, remembering the day she'd seen the pack in the meadow. They had been so huge, so fearsome-looking.

Edward wrapped a comforting arm around Bella's shoulders. Even though she couldn't see the wolves in the woods, she could tell that the others could. She felt their tension and shuddered again, remembering the day that Paul had gotten angry at her. He had nearly killed her that day and it had stirred nightmares for weeks.

Carlisle carefully stepped forward. "Welcome."

"Thank you." Bella started before realizing that the words coming from Edward's lips actually came from Sam. "We will watch and listen, but no more. That is the most we can ask of our self-control."

"That is more than enough. My son, Jasper, has experience in this area. He will teach us how they fight, how they are to be defeated. I'm sure you can apply this to your own hunting style."

"They are different from you?"

"They are all very new – only months old to this life. Children in a way. They will have no skill or strategy, only brute strength. Tonight their numbers stand at twenty. Ten for us, ten for you – it shouldn't be difficult. The numbers may go down. The new ones fight amongst themselves."

"We are willing to take more than our share, if necessary."

A little more talk and Jasper took over. He addressed himself mostly to his family, describing how the newborns would fight. He used Emmett as a prime example of how newborns fight.

After he had beaten Emmett, who true to his nature had demanded a rematch, Edward wanted a turn. "In a minute. I want to show Bella something first." Alice was waved into the ring. "I know you worry about her. I want to show you why that's not necessary."

Bella froze as he dropped into a crouch facing her. Alice, looking like a little porcelain doll after Emmett, smiled to herself as she stood motionlessly in the center. Jasper sprang, disappearing when Alice's eyes drifted closed. Alice didn't seem to move but yet Jasper was on the other side of her.

Jasper wheeled and launched himself at her again only to land in a crouch behind her like the first time. Bella watched Alice closer now.

She was moving – Bella had just missed it. Of course she had been distracted by Jasper's attacks. At the exact second Jasper's body flew through the spot she'd been standing in she would take just a small step forward. Taking another step, Jasper's hands whistled past where her waist had been.

Jasper closed in and Alice moved faster. It looked like she was dancing – spiraling and twisting and curling in on herself. Jasper was her partner, lunging, reaching through her graceful patterns, never touching her as if every movement was choreographed.

Bella started as Alice laughed from her perch on Jasper's back with her lips against his throat. "You truly are one frightening little monster."

She walked over and sat down next to Bella who was suitably impressed. The rest of the night was spent with Jasper trying to teach the others how to fight the newborns. As the session ended for the night, the wolves decided it would be best to learn the scents of the Cullens that way fewer mistakes could be made.

The Cullens held very still as the wolves scented each one. Bella noticed the wolf right behind Sam. He had reddish-brown fur that was longer and shaggier than the others. He looked right at Bella and her mind tried to process what she already knew. This was the one who had been with her when she needed a rock to lean on.

Jake gave her a wolfy grin and she giggled. He walked over to stand not two feet from Bella. He dropped down to an almost prone position. "Jacob?" He gave her a wolf's equivalent of a chuckle.

Her trembling fingers reached out to touch the fur on the side of his face, making Jake lean into her hand.

FLASHBACK

One night, not long after Bella had discovered Jake's secret about being a wolf, he had come to her room to sit with her until she fell asleep. Bella fell asleep only to wake up stifling a scream in her throat.

"Would it help if I sat on the bed with you?"

She shrugged and so he'd sat down on the bed with his back against the headboard. She'd put her head in his lap and tried to go back to sleep. It didn't work.

"Would you like to meet my wolf? Maybe if you met him this way you wouldn't be so scared of him. Maybe you can sleep curled up to him like a big teddy bear." When Bella nodded warily, Jake phased and dropped to a prone position on her floor. She sat down on the floor, running her fingers through his fur for a while, starting to feel drowsy again. She stood up and grabbed her blanket off the bed. She lay her head down on Jacob's side and covered up before falling asleep nestled against a giant wolf on the floor of her room.

FLASHBACK ENDS

She hadn't told anyone about that night. She didn't want to worry anyone about her mental status. They did that enough.

Jake nudged her from the submissive posture he had taken and she smiled down at him. Edward was watching them both closely, not too certain about having Bella so close in to him in his wolf form.

The flashback that had settled into Bella's mind had obviously taken up a prominent spot in Jake's as well. Edward scowled as he picked it up from the wolf. He stepped forward, knowing that Jake would never hurt Bella intentionally and wouldn't hurt him because it would hurt Bella.

He knelt beside Bella and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Thank you again, Jacob. For being there when my stubbornness wouldn't let me be. You guarded her well. Thank you."

He listened for a moment. "Of course I regret leaving. Especially knowing what happened to her." The pack had left but two of them stood just within the tree line, watching warily. He took her hand. "Ready to go?"

He turned to Jacob. "I've not quite figured out all the details yet."

Jake growled.

"It's more complicated than that. Don't concern yourself; I'll make sure it's safe."

"What are you talking about?" Bella demanded, frustrated at hearing only one side of the conversation.

"Just discussing strategy."

Jacob's head swiveled back and forth. He bolted for the forest. "Wait!" she called reaching after him. But he had left. "Why did he leave?"

She sounded hurt and Edward draped an arm around her shoulders. "It's not you. He's coming back. He just wants to be able to talk for himself."

She leaned into Edward, exhausted beyond belief. But she was almost as determined to fight it as she had been on the flight from Italy.

Jacob loped back into view. "Okay, bloodsucker, what's so complicated about it?" he continued their conversation from earlier.

"I have to consider every possibility. What if someone gets by you?"

Jake snorted at that thought. As if anyone would get past the wolves. "Okay, so leave her on the reservation. We're making Collin and Brady stay behind anyway. She'll be safe there."

Bella scowled. "Are you talking about me?"

"I just want to know what he plans to do with you during the fight."

"DO with me?" Both Jake and Edward turned toward her, knowing they were in trouble for the way Jake had phrased it.