Chapter Twenty One: Taking Over Bella
It was hours later that I woke up on Sam and Emily's couch to the sound of the guys coming through the door. I rubbed the smile out of my eyes and sat up as Embry walked over to me. I smiled as he took a seat beside me and put his arm around me.
"Everything okay now?" I whispered and made a so-so motion with his hand before leaning over to kiss my head.
"I have to go on patrol soon, but I wanted to see you before I did." I nodded and leaned into his side for a moment before Sam walked into the room.
"Embry." Sam said and nodded toward the door. Embry nodded and laid another kiss to my head before getting up and following Sam out. As they left Jake flopped into the arm chair across the room and I scooted down the couch to be a little closer to him.
"How you doing?" I asked softly, not sure how he was going to react. He put his head in his hands and let out a deep breath.
"I don't how to answer that, Anna. My life feels like it's spinning out of control and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I have to do to Quil exactly what was done to me and I hate myself for it, I hate Sam for it… hell I even think I hate my dad for it." Jake vented and my heart squeezed in my chest while Jake looked close to tears when he looked up.
"And then there's Bella..." Jake said almost too quietly for me to hear.
"I feel like the biggest asshole on the planet. I promised her that I wouldn't be like Edward. That I wouldn't leave her like he did, but here I am, doing the exact same thing because it's what's supposed to keep her safe." Jake looked away toward a photo on the wall and I could see the slight tremor in Jake's arms but he took a couple deep breaths and they stopped. We stayed quiet for a long moment before Jake spoke again.
"I can't believe that she knew about the Cullens. She knew and she still decided to be with him. Why would she put herself in danger everyday like that? What in her mind made that sound like a good idea?" Jake asked and I remained quiet, I didn't have answers for him, I was just as confused by the situation as he was. The only thing I could offer was a hug as I slowly got off the couch and wrapped my arms around him. Jake let out a breath that sounded more like a sob as he laid his head on my shoulder.
"I was angry too when I found out." I said after a couple minutes.
"I was angry that she would knowingly put us in danger like that and I realized all the lies she had told us and that she had thought it was all okay. I can't give you a logical answer for her actions because I can't think of one and I don't think one exists. She loved him and somehow in her mind that made it all okay even if she knew that it wasn't." I said softly and I could feel a shudder go through Jake but I held on, feelings as they slowly stopped and silently grateful that none of the guys were in the room. Embry for sure would have pulled me out of the room by now.
"I need to know though, you are nothing like that leech. He knew what he was doing when he got involved with her. He knew what he was doing when he took her into the trees and broke her to piece and he knew what he was doing when he left town to avoid seeing the repercussions of his actions. You're still here Jake, You didn't know it was going to be like this, you don't to hurt her and truly her happiness does not lay on your shoulders. You've been holding her together for months and slowly gluing pieces back together. It's time she starts gluing her own pieces together while you find your footing again. She can't lean on you forever, she needs to learn how to walk on her own again and you need to let her or she's going to drag you down with her." I said as comfortingly as I could and Jake released a shuttering breath again.
"I know that once she realized you can't be there like before she's going to slip, but there's more of us to catch her now. She's got Uncle Charlie, Angela, Mike and me. We're not going to let her collapse like she did before. And she's stronger now, though she doesn't want to act like it. She's going to have to learn to face her problems on her own again. I don't care if I have to give her a kick in the ass every step of the way, she'd not going to go back to the way she was, we're not gonna let her." I vowed to Jake and this time the shuttering breath sounded like a small laugh and I smiled.
"As for you, you've got a lot to learn and the pack is going to do for you what you've done for Bella. They have been in your shoes, forced to learn everything about something they didn't know was possible. Let them help you and learn from their challenges. They're going to show you how to be a wolf and to be human at the same time." Jake nodded into my shoulder and finally picked his head up off my shoulder. The redness in his eyes and the dampness of my shirt told me what I had already known, Jake just needed to know that eventually everything was going to be alright and not just alright for him but for Bella.
"Did you eat yet?" I asked and Jake shook his head as he rubbed at his eyes to cover up that he had been crying.
"Emily saved some of the food we made earlier." I said and Jake nodded and walked out to the kitchen where Emily was sure to be. She always seemed to be in the kitchen though seeing the way the boys ate was a pretty good indicator of why.
Embry was going to be on patrol for hours and was probably gonna go home to crash when he got done and with Jake taken care of for the moment I was content to go home and hopefully catch up on some more of the sleep I hadn't gotten during the night.
Of course any thought of sleep were thrown out the window when I walked into the house and could hear retching from the bathroom upstairs. Bella seemed have caught whatever bug had been going around with her friends the night before. Going into the kitchen I poured a glass of water and headed upstairs. Bella had been in such as hurry that she hadn't even shut the door when she'd gone in. She was hugging the toilet and I grimaced as she hurled again. I placed the glass on the sink ledge and pulled the cold pills out of the cabinet. Taking in the fact that Bella was still in her pajamas and the state of the bathroom I was willing to bet that Bella had been in here all day. She flushed the toilet and turned around to sit on the floor leaning against the wall as I handed her the cold pills and then the water before getting out a clean washcloth to wet to lay across her forehead.
"Do you need anything else?" I asked.
"No." She croaked hoarsely before forcing down the cold pills. I nodded and took out some of the pills for myself and headed back downstairs to get another glass. I hoped that Bella didn't pass along the bug, being sick was just not on my list of priorities this week.
Since Bella was sick, I knew she wasn't going to be up for making dinner like she normally did and after I forced down the medication I set to work on making chicken noodle soup, hoping she'd be able to keep it down after the medication had been in her system for a while.
While the soup simmered I helped Bella to bed since she'd managed not to puke since I'd gotten home. I left the glass of water and her next dose of cold pills on the night stand before leaving her to sleep. The only good thing about Bella being sick was that she wouldn't be worrying about Jake for a little while and thankfully it would just that much longer before she caused any trouble about Jake not contacting her.
I sat at the table doing the homework that was due on Monday and keeping an eye on the soup at it cooked. Uncle Charlie was surprised to see Bella home, but cringed when I told him she was sick and went upstairs to check on her before coming back down changed out of his uniform.
When the soup was done Uncle Charlie and I ate in silence before I took Bella up a small bowl and a half pack of crackers to leave on her night stand before retreating to my room to call Embry since he should have been getting home from patrol about now.
"Hey, babe." He answered sounding in more tired than he had when I'd seen him earlier.
"Hey, how was patrol?"
"Caught a scent today. We chased it towards Canada before it looped around and jumped into the ocean." He sounded disgruntled.
"Do you think it's going to circle back?" I asked.
"I hope not, but if it's dumb enough to, we'll be ready for him and we'll get it next time." Embry said resignedly and I hummed.
"Good thing you called when you did, I was two minutes away from dream land when you called." Embry said and I smiled.
"I was hoping to get some sleep earlier, but I came home to Bella sick as a dog. Seems she caught whatever Mike has."
"Eww." Embry said and I laughed.
"Do you feel alright?" Embry asked and I hummed.
"I feel fine, but I took some meds just in case. Puking my brains out doesn't sound pleasant."
"I second that." Embry joked.
"One plus to being a wolf, we've got great immune systems. So at least Jake and I won't get sick." Embry gloated on the other end.
"Um, lucky you." I hummed and he laughed.
"Hey there has to a silver lining somewhere, right? At least while she's sick she won't be looking for Jake." Embry offered and I chuckled.
"Speaking of Jake, thanks for talking to him." Embry said and I hummed.
"He just needed to know that Bella wasn't his responsibility, that it was okay to focus on himself for a little bit to get his head back on straight." Embry made a noise of agreement.
"Well I won't keep you up any longer. I'll see you tomorrow when I bring chicken soup down for Jake. Figured keeping up the ruse that Jake's sick will delay Bella a little longer." Embry laughed on the other end of the line.
"You're like a super villain, planning three steps ahead." Embry said through his laughter and I laughed back sarcastically.
"Not a super villain just an overly cautious friend."
"Alright, if you say so." Embry teased.
"I'll see you tomorrow then, love you." He said.
"Love you, too." I replied and we both hung up. I let my phone fall onto the bed before changing into some pajamas and crawling under the covers. The rain had picked up while I was on the phone Embry and soon the sound of the rain on the roof was lulling me to sleep.