Bella PoV

He had shown up on my doorstep around four in the afternoon. I had sat on Charlie's recliner and watched TV while Jacob still slept on the couch. His sleep was so deep that I sometimes got up and checked if he was still breathing. It had been almost six hours since our arrival back home and he had dropped like a stone dead on the couch.

A small knock on the door tore me away from the bad sit-com I was watching. Man, I hated this filled in laughter that told you when the scene was supposed to be funny and when not. I put the TV on mute and went to open the door, expecting maybe Alice or one of the Cullens.

But it was that young kid, Seth, who was standing there, looking like a beaten puppy. It had started to rain sometimes during the day and he was soaked to the bone. His brown eyes were lowered to the ground and his shoulders slumped. My first instinct was to grab him and hug him, like a big sister holding her baby brother. Surprisingly enough, he didn't push me away but returned the hug, pressing his lean body against mine. He was big. Not as big as Jacob, but still one head taller than I was. Yet, in this situation he was the little kid and I was the adult, giving comfort and strength to someone who needed it desperately. "Come on in, you are soaked." I took his hand and led him inside, carefully closing the door behind him. He stood in the hallway like a lost child, water dripping from his half-naked body, pooling under him. "Wait, I'll get you a towel."

The towels were in the dresser on the first floor so it took me a few minutes to get one and return to Seth, who hadn't moved an inch. Only the puddle to his feet had become bigger. "Here you go." I handed him the towel and watched as he dried his hair and his chest as best as he could. Still, his trousers and sneakers were drenched . We'll have to find a solution for this. I thought. I knew he was unlikely to get a cold but Charlie wouldn't appreciate it if the house was half flooded when he came back.

"Do you want to change? I could give so some of Charlie's clothes. Jake doesn't have any here, so that's the only thing I can offer you. Or do you want to talk first?"

At this, Seth looked up, his brown eyes usually so full of joy and mischief now filled with sadness and disappointment. "Maybe... talk?"

I nodded and pointed towards the kitchen. At least we had tiles there which would be easier to clean than the wood in the hallway. Inside the kitchen I put water in the kettle. A good cup of tea always helped, no matter what the problem was.

Seth sat down on one of the chairs at our small kitchen table and I sat beside him while the water boiled.

"What happened?" I asked, gently taking his hand in mine, stroking it lightly with my thumb.

"It's Sam..." Seth whispered. "You should hear how he talks..." The kid gulped and tears welled up in his eyes. "He says that...That Jacob is a traitor. That he is banned from the reservation." His hands turned to fists, nearly crushing mine, but I didn't retreat. A bruised hand was nothing compared to what this kid had gone through.

"He says that we are not allowed to speak to him... That he no longer belongs to the pack. That he had chosen the vampires over us, that he had broken his vows and sided with the enemy. He calls him vampire lover and blames you for making him turn against his own family." The longer he spoke the faster his words came. It seemed like he needed to let everything out, every horrible thing Sam Uley had said.

"Bella, I just couldn't... Jake, he is not a traitor. He didn't do any of the things Sam accuses him of. I tried to tell him but he wouldn't even let me finish... He told me that I am too young to understand and that I shouldn't meddle in something that I couldn't understand. And the others... None of them said anything Bella. They all listened to Sam and I know that most of them believe everything he says. To them Jake has betrayed his own and got the right punishment for it."

"Oh Seth..." I sighed and stood up. I put my arms around him and drew him close to me until his head rested against my stomach and I could stroke his short, black hair. Sadness filled my heart and anger at Sam Uley who had said all these terrible things and made Seth listen, Seth who was such an innocent and sweet kid, who adored Jacob and the others and now had to see Jacob banned and called a traitor. "It's alright, Seth." I knew it wasn't alright, not for him, not for Jacob, not for anyone but what else was I supposed to say?

"I slipped away while Sam and Jared were discussing their plan and the rest was on patrol or sleeping. I couldn't stay, Bella. I just couldn't."

"I know." I smiled unhappily. How many more lives was this war going to destroy before it was satisfied? "You can stay here if you want. As long as you need to." I didn't know how to explain this to Charlie when he returned but maybe I wouldn't have to. Maybe this war would be over and everything back to normal before my father returned.

As if...

Against my body Seth nodded. "Thank you..." I patted him on the head before I released him. The water was boiling and so I fixed up two cups of tea, handing one to Seth. "How about I'll make us all some dinner? Things always look better when you have your stomach full and Jake will be hungry too when he wakes up."

Seth eyes, before locked on the cup of tea, shot around. "Where is he?"

"On the couch, sleeping since the meeting this morning."

"Bella, do you know what happened? Somehow, Jake disappeared from our minds. I tried to call him but it was like he has never been there. Just a blank space."

I thought of the episode, Jacob falling down, wincing in pain but I shook my head. "You'll have to talk to him when he wakes up." Seth looked already a little better. The rain had dried, his hair was, although a total mess, dry as well and even his trousers seemed only damp and not wet anymore. "How about a shower and some dry clothes while I fix something up?"

I showed him the bathroom and gave him one of Charlie's old jeans and even a short sleeved shirt before I left him to make something to eat.

We had a lot of fish in the freezer and so it would be fish with potatoes and vegetables for dinner. Half an hour later the potatoes were boiling and I prepared the fish. The shower had long gone out but Seth hadn't re-appeared yet. I had told him he could use my bed if he wanted to rest a bit while I cooked and he obviously had taken the offer.

The potatoes were ready to be peeled and the fish sizzling in the pan when Jake had woken up. I had heard him stir in the living room so I wasn't surprised when he entered the kitchen and hugged me from behind.

I had told him to set the table but totally forgotten about Seth. So when the question came why there were three plates and not two, I was taken aback for a second. Luckily, I was spared an answer because at the exact same time footsteps approached from above and two seconds later a tall, gangly kid stood in the doorway. He looked much better, all showered and dressed but the sadness in his eyes bothered me still. I didn't seem like it would go away any time soon and I feared it was there to stay.

Oh, how much I hated Sam Uley at this moment...

"Seth?" Jacob sounded as surprised as I had been when I had found him on my doorstep. I turned down the heat a little and put a hand on Jake's forearm. "He showed up here about two hours ago. Sam has driven him away from the reservation and I offered him a place to stay with us till this whole business is sorted out."

"What do you mean, driven away? What happened?" Jacob looked from me to Seth and back again. Seth had buried his hands deep in the pockets of Charlie's old jeans and avoided Jacob's gaze. He wouldn't talk, that was sure. So it was up to me to fill in Jacob on all the important details while I cooked and Seth set the table.

The more I talked the more I could see Jacob's face darken. When I had finished, his mouth had turned to a small, tight line and his body shook with tension. Anger radiated from every pore. "This... this... I don't even have a word for him right now..." He hissed through clenched teeth. "It was my decision to leave the pack, how could he have drawn Seth into this? That's between me and him, Seth shouldn't have to suffer because of me."

I put down my spatula and joined Jacob. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, I murmured: "I know, it's completely unfair. Seth is such a nice kid and much too young for this. But he is here now, and we have to do our best to help him through this. He adores you Jacob and he needs you, that's why he's come here. Don't show him how angry you are, he might take it the wrong way. Just be there for him and listen to him when he talks."

My boyfriend sighed. "You're right, as usual. But it will be very hard to play nice when I want to rip Sam's throat out."

He vanished into the living room to talk with Seth while I finished the cooking. When I brought the serving plate with the fish and the big bowl with potatoes and vegetables to our dining table Jacob and Seth were already sitting there, talking quietly.

Sine I didn't want to interrupt them, I went quietly back into the kitchen to get the lemonade and a jug of water and afterwards salt and pepper. But then the table was all set and the food getting cold, so I had to interrupt after all.

"I am sorry, but dinner's served."