Chapter 25

BPOV

I didn't miss the smug smile Jacob threw Edward just before we headed outside. As he closed the door behind himself and stepped down the porch I rounded on him.

'who do you think you are, jacob?'

His eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He held up his hands. 'What do you mean?'

'You tortured him in there, Jacob, and what the fuck was that smug little smile about just now?'

'You saw that?' he asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. ''You just… You don't know what you were like, Bella.' He said sighing heavily.

He started walking into the woods and I followed behind him.

'what do you mean?' I demanded.

'When he left. When they all left..' Jacob started, sitting down on a fallen tree not far from the path. I stood in front of him waiting. He sighed and looked up at me. 'You were broken, Bella. I know you think you hid it well enough, but Charlie was really worried. That first night that Sam found you in the woods… You were a mess. We feared you were dying. That's how bad you looked.'

I frowned. I knew I had been bad. I'd felt bad. But I felt I had been able to at least get a bit of composure back in front of Charlie and Jacob.

'You were barely alive for a while there. It seemed you were starting to get slightly better whenever I was around… but you were still so empty, Bella. So hollow. Your eyes were just dead.'

'Fine.' I snapped. 'I get it. I was a mess. Why did you torture Edward with that?'

'Because it hurt me to see you like that. You're my friend Bella. He doesn't deserve to just waltz back into your life and be all lovey dovey as if he didn't do that to you.'

'Jacob, you've not seen me for almost half a year. You don't know what happened between us when we were gone.' I waved my hands in front of me to emphasize my point.

Of course the sun chose that moment to make it's rare appearance in Forks, finding a pathway between the canopy of leaves above us to flare a sunbeam on my ring. The ring with its numerous diamonds sparkled like none other drawing Jacob's eye like a beacon on a dark night at sea.

His gaze zeroed in on it and his brow furrowed down. He sprang to his feet angrily and stalked over to me, grabbing my wrist in his hand.

'What are you doing?' I said cringing away from his sudden intensity.

His grip on my wrist was tight, and if I'd still been human my bones would have been broken, I was sure of it. As it was my new granite skin was screaming in protest.

'You…' he struggled to control the anger in his voice. 'You married him?' he spat out. 'It can't have been that bad between you, now can it?'

I yanked my wrist from his grasp, taking some satisfaction as he stumbled a bit before cathching himself. 'Fuck you, Jacob.' I spat at him.

That got his attention.

'I thought I made myself clear over the phone.' I snapped. 'You. Weren't. There.' I emphasized each word as I hissed them at him. He took a step back, taken aback. 'You and your merry little pack of dogs left me to go through this alone. You can't now decide that you don't like the choices I made after that.' I stepped closer to him, poking my finger in his chest. 'You don't know what I went through, you don't know what happened after you decided to allow me to turn and then completely abadonened me. No, Jacob. It doesn't work like that. Not at all. Now you have one second to apologize to me, before I wring your neck and throw you into a tree, because I've just about had it with you and everyone telling me what I should do or not do! I'm my own person. I fought to be here. I fought to stay alive. I fought to become independent and I'll be damned if some moronic little dog like you tries to interfere in my life!'

We stared at each other for a moment, my heavy breathing the only sound in the air. Tension crackled between us as Jacob seemed to weigh how serious I was about my threat. Then his face cracked into a huge grin and he suddenly bent over laughing.

I stepped back, thoroughly confused. 'What's so funny?' I demanded.

'I'm sorry.' he managed to bring out in between laughs. 'God damn Bells...' he started when he had calmed down somewhat. 'I can't believe you just ripped into me like this.'

'Well believe it. I'm done being walked all over.' I snapped.

He held up his hands in a peaceful manner. 'I know. And I'm glad. It's good to see you stand up for yourself, Bells. It was long overdue.'

'Well great. But I'm still waiting for that apology.' I tapped my foot impatiently.

He nodded once. His eyes still dancing with mirth. 'I know. And I am. Sorry, I mean. You are right. I had no right to do what I did. I guess I wanted him to pay for what he did to you, but you're right. I don't know what happened when you were gone. And if this is the new you, I can only imagine the struggles you put him through.'

'Yes, they were plenty and painful.' Edward's voice suddenly floated from behind me.

Jacob turned to him, an eyebrow cocked. 'How long have you been there?'

'Not long.' He said stopping, keeping some distance between him and Jacob. 'Just came to see if we needed to scrape your remains from a tree or not.'

I looked down at the ground guiltily. I must have been more out of control than I thought if Jasper or Alice had sent him over to intervene. Or it was just his own worry that set him off. He had been known to do that.

'Yes.' Edward said suddenly, my head snapped up to look at him, but he was staring at Jacob. Ah, it seemed he was answering some unspoken thoughts again.

'I can imagine.' Jacob grinned and chuckled.

'She didn't welcome me back with open arms.' Edward said. 'We got married only a few days ago.'

Jacob glanced back at me and I nodded. 'Well, that's good then.' Jacob sighed. He looked up at the trees for a moment and then closed his eyes.

Edward twitched for a moment but then relaxed as Jacob opened his eyes and looked at him. An easy smile was on his face.

'It's good to see you like this Bells. I can sleep better now, knowing you can take care of yourself.'

'Thanks Jacob.'

'I'm sorry for what I did. Both of you.' he looked to Edward who nodded graciously. Then he turned back to me. 'so… still friends?'

I smiled at him. 'if you can stop being a dick, then yeah.'

Edward snorted in a very un-Edward like manner and Jacob was doubled over as well. I rolled my eyes at them. It wasn't like I never used bad language…

'Sorry that just sounded hilarious.' Jacob said gasping for breath. Edward nodded in agreement.

'Alright. Enough fun. Are you two done with your talk?' Edward asked.

I looked at Jacob who shrugged and nodded.

'Alright. let's go back inside then, and we can talk about Charlie.' That sobered Jacob right up. He nodded once and we set off towards the house again.

'Pay up, Emmett' Edward called as he stepped into the house again.

'God damnit, again?' he groaned. Jasper laughed and held up his hand.

'Why do you insist on betting against Alice?' Rose asked laughing slightly.

'Hey, she couldn't see what would happen. I wasn't betting against her!'

'I may not have seen it, but I do know that Bella has more control than you.' Alice said, sticking her tongue out at him.

I shook my head at both of them. 'Why don't you find something other than me to bet about, Emmett.'

Emmett shrugged. 'But it's just too fun!'

I rolled my eyes at him and marched over to the sofa to sit down. Edward settled down beside me after bumping his shoulder into Emmett and warning him quietly with his eyes. I'd have to ask what he'd been thinking later.

'Alright.' Carlisle started, gesturing for jacob to take a seat as well. 'Now that the air seems to be cleared. Let's start.'

Jacob looked uncomfortable as he sat down on a chair. He perched on the edge of it, ready to leap off of it if it was necessary.

'First things first.' Carlisle stated looking directly at Jacob. 'I understand the wolves are back. Does this change anything?'

Jacob regarded him then shook his head. 'No, the treaty stands. As long as you adhere to the diet and don't step foot in La Push we're fine with you being here.'

Carlisle nodded his thanks.

'We're not sure we will be staying for long.' Edward said, rubbing soothing circles on my shoulder. 'Staying in town might be too dangerous for Bella.'

'Right. she is supposed to be dead after all.' Jacob grumbled. Edward and Carlisle nodded.

'We came here because we believe there might be a threat to Charlie.' Carlisle continued. 'We are hoping to deal with it quickly and then leaving again. We won't return for at least another eighty or hundred years, so everyone who might have known Bella will have passed on.'

I winced at that. Edward pulled me slightly tighter against him.

'What is coming for Charlie?' Jacob asked, leaning forward slightly.

'we're not sure exactly yet.' Alice said frowning unhappily.

'We think it might be a vampire. A redhead. Her name is Victoria.' Jasper continued.

'Yes, Bella told me. you killed her mate and now she wants to kill Bella.' Jacob said, his voice gruff as he looked at Edward.

'Yes, that is the theory.' Edward confirmed.

'but we don't know if she's still planning on killing me, now I'm a vampire. or…' I stopped. Unable to get the words out. Rose put her hand on mine and squeezed in support.

'Or if she might take an easier target and still get to hurt you.' Jacob mused.

Everyone nodded.

'Usually we would rely on Alice to catch anything major.' Carlisle explained. 'But we believe she may have insider information on how Alice's visions work.'

'And what's that?'

Carlisle looked at Alice.

'The future isn't set. It's subjective. A vision is trigger by a decision. But if there aren't any decisions… then…' she shrugged.

'No visions.' Jacob surmised. Again everyone nodded. 'So you're blind.'

'it would seem so.' Carlisle said. 'you can imagine we don't want to risk anything happening to Charlie.'

'Of course. Neither would we.' Jacob agreed.

'We planned on keeping guard around Forks, while actively searching out Victoria.'

'We could use your help.' Edward said.

'Mine or the packs?' Jaocb asked.

'Whichever you are willing to provide.'

'Everyone down on the Rez loves Charlie.' Bella said. 'I can imagine now even more, since I'm no longer there driving a wedge between Billy and him.'

'I don't know Bells. Charlie was pretty upset with Billy. He might have blamed the cullens for everything that happened with you.'

'Charlie blamed them too.' I muttered.

'He did. But I think that blame was mostly squared on Edward.' Jacob conceded.

'Oh, right.' I grimaced. Edward would of course be at the bottom of Charlie's shit list.

'So what do you need us for?'

'We'd appreciate it if you could keep an eye out for the redhead on La Push ground, since we can't follow there.' Edward said.

'For how long?'

'We're not sure yet. We will try to find her as quickly as possible. But right now we don't know where she is at all. We don't even know if she's in the area.' Edward was frustrated that much was clear. He wanted to kill her and be done with it.

'do you have her scent?'

'Not on something.' Carlisle shook his head.

'When she comes through we need to catch her scent. So if you spot her, let us know.' Jacob said firmly. 'we can track pretty well, it might speed things up.'

Edward nodded in agreement. 'if we spot her, we'll let you know.'

'do we have permission from the pack to stand guard over Charlie until this is resolved?' Carlisle asked Jacob formally.

'I'm not the alpha' Jacob said, rubbing his neck and looking away from Carlisle's surprised face. 'but I'm meeting up with them soon, I'll talk to them. I'm sure they'll agree. We can't have Charlie in danger.' He stood up then. 'I'll let you know tomorrow.'

Carlisle nodded and Edward stood up as well.

'Thank you, Jacob.' He said, sincerely. It seemd he was thanking him for more than just helping out with Victoria, but I wasn't sure.
Jacob hesitated for a moment, but then shook Edward's hand.

'don't mention it.' He said gruffly. Then he turned on his heel and walked out the door.

As the door closed behind him I pulled Edward back under my shield. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled at me.

'So that went quite well.' Carlisle surmised.

'As well as it could have gone, I guess.' Esme said thoughtfully.

'Let's hope his pack sees it the same way.' Jasper mused, still looking at the door.

'We'll find out tomorrow.' Carlisle sighed.

'No use pondering over it now. At least I can see again… it felt weird being blind.' Alice pouted slightly.

'Why couldn't you see anything?' Esme asked slightly worried.

'I'm not sure. I think it's the wolves in general.' Alice pursed her lips.

'It would explain why you didn't see my attack..' I piped up. Everyone turned towards me bewilderd. 'What?' I asked suddenly selfconsicous.

'That… makes a lot of sense.' Edward said, mulling it over. Alice was looking thoughtful at me as well.

'I think you're right.' she finally conclusded. Her mouth turn down in a frown.

'Well, that is unfortunate. But at least we know now. We can work with it.' Esme said smiling at Alice kindly. Alice nodded and I felt Edward relax slightly against my side again.

As we relaxed again we settled down as a family and started up our usual pattern of talking and spending time together. Edward was blissfully unaware of the thoughts of his family, but I had a feeling it might be one of those nights where it was payback time. Jasper and Emmett had been throwing each other glances the entire evening. Edward was unaware of it. He was completely relaxed as he and Alice were discussing some things about her visions. I was wrapped up in his arms securely. His hand was tracing patterns on the skin above my hip where my shirt had ridden up slightly. I shivered in response. He looked down at me for a moment and smirked. Letting me know he had noticed. Then he placed a soft kiss on my forehead before turning back to Alice.

Jasper appeared on my other side. Giving me a small nudge on my arm. He quickly sat down next to Alice, as if he'd only bumped me. But as soon as we'd made contact he'd sent me a wave of pure mischief. I knew he was up to no good then. I tried to keep a straight face as I sat up slightly, pulling away from Edward's arms.

He looked down again with a frown on his face. 'what's up?' he asked.

'nothing.' I assured him quickly, giving him a quick peck on his lips. 'I just wanted to go stretch my legs.'

'alright.' Edward nodded easily letting me go and turning back to Jasper and Alice.

Jasper gave me a small wink as I walked past him. I grinned at him and mouthed to be nice. He rolled his eyes in response. I headed down to the backwindow to look out over the garden. I could see Emmett doing something out on the lawn and frowned. When he looked up and spotted me he put his fingers to his lips. I rolled my eyes but gave a quick nod. I was sure by now that I did not want to know what they had planned. It wasn't going to be something as quickly as just jumping him like last time. This was an elaborate prank.

Emmett turned to face me again and pointed to the door, miming sliding it open. I frowned, mouthing why at him. He just crossed his arms and grinned. I rolled my eyes again, but did as he asked. I opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the porch, inhaling the fresh air deeply. It was a beautiful night. The stars were out and shining brightly above me as I stared up at the sky. I stepped away from the door opening, making sure I was out of the way.

Not a full second later I heard a yelp, followed by a curse before Emmett flew through the opened door into the living room.

'Outside!' I heard Esme yell indignant.

Laughter trailed out of the living room before Jasper and Emmett walked past with Edward in between them, struggling against their combined hold.

'Come on, guys. This isn't fair!' he said loudly.

'It's payback.' Emmett announced grinning. 'it's not supposed to be fair.'

Edward shook his head and suddenly planted his feet in the ground, throwing Jasper off his stride and unbalancing the three of them. They suddenly crashed into the ground and before Emmett and Jasper could get their hold back on edward. He had knocked both of their feet out from under them and had sprinted off into the woods, laughing loudly. Emmett and Jasper sprung up and cursed, before setting off after him. With their combined hunting efforts they managed to drive Edward back into the yard after a few minutes.

'Come on! You already got me.' he complained as he ran back into the yard. 'Let's call a truce.'

Jasper and Emmett looked at each other then grinned wickedly. 'Nah, this is too much fun.' Emmett said lunging towards Edward.

Although he no longer had the knowledge of their moves before they made them. Edward was no pushover in a fight. It took both of them to tackle him to the ground again, now they no longer had the element of surprise. When they finally had him down again it became clear what Emmett had been doing. At the back of the lawn there was a patch of ground upturned, and he had added water, to make it bona fide mud bath. They dragged Edward the few feet over and then rolled him into the mud, jumping back quickly before they got themselves all muddy. Edward rolled over and stared up at the sky for a moment, groaning loudly.
Emmett and jasper shared a glance before bursting out laughing. The commotion had drawn everyone out onto the porch and soon everyone was doubled over laughing. Especially when Edward started climbing out of the little muddy patch. His clothes were ruining and his hair was absolutely cakced in mud. But the best part was when he slipped just before he got out and fell back down, face first.

'Keep laughing, all of you.' he grumbled, getting to his feet again. 'just wait untili come and hug every one of you.'

'you wouldn't!' Rose yelled horrified.

'Just watch me' he grinned evilly at all of us and we looked at each other. 'And don't think I didn't see you helping them, Bella.' He warned me.

I struggled to keep a straight face. 'Who me?'

'Yeah you.' he cocked an eyebrow at me. 'you're in for it now.'

He finally got out of the mud and with a wicked glint in his eye started running towards us. Alice of course having foresight managed to keep out of his grasp. Rose, Jasper, Emmet, Esme and me weren't so lucky. Esme was the first. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, twirling her a few times around before releasing her again laughing loudly.

Esme scolded him but was laughing hysterically as well. His next victim was Jasper, he'd been distracted by Alice, probably by her design, and Edward managed to trip him up making him fall into the mudbath on his own.

Edward didn't waste any time going after Rose, who had backed up into the house, thinking she'd be safe there. But she was wrong. He stormed inside, tracking mud everywhere as Rose darted through the different rooms, laughing loudly as she warned him to stay away from her.

'Don't you dare!' she yelled, just before we heard something break and Edward came soaring out of the first story balcony with Rose slung over his shoulder. He landed in the mud, splashing the mud all the way over himself and Rose in the progress. She screeched and we all laughed harder. Edward put her down gently at the edge of the mud, apparently he still valued his life and knew if he threw her in, he'd be dead. She grinned at him and surprised the hell out of him by suddenly sweeping his legs out from under him and making him fall down into the mud once again.

'That's it!' he yelled, 'you asked for it!' he grabbed her ankle and pulled, making her lose her balance and fall down on top of him.

Emmett had wandered over as they had been wrestling and was cheering Rose on from the sidelines. Edward got a mischievous glint in his eyes and Rose smiled in encouragement.

Together they sprang up and pulled Emmett down into the mud as well laughing as they went at it. Edward couldn't resist pushing his face in the mud for good measure. As Emmett surrendered, Edward's eyes found mine. I was still unscathed and it seemed that was going to be rectified quickly enough.

'Well then, would you like a choice of a mud bath or a mud facial?' Edward asked tauntingly.

I shook my head. 'Neither?' i gave him my sweetest smile and batted my eyelashes.

He shook his head not falling for it. 'You should have thought of that before conspiring with my brothers.'

I giggled watching as he made his way slowly towards me. He looked absolutely ridiculous by this point, mud making his hair stick up at strange angles, his clothes torn and rumpled, his face covered with grime. I quickly jumped away from the porch and ran into the yard. He gave chase immediately and although I was still stronger, he was fast. I ran fast and zigzagged hoping to throw him off, but he was on to me before too long, matching my movements easily. Just as I was about to make a dash for the treeline, his arms enclosed around my waist. He lifted me off of my feet as I struggled against his hold, trashing and laughing wildly.

I glanced around and noticed everyone was in an all out mudfight. Jasper had finally gotten Alice muddy, Esme was throwing mud at Carlisle, and Emmett and Rosalie were wrestling in the mud. Their laughter was filling the garden and I smiled at the scene in front of us. Edward headed for the mud and dropped himself down into it yet again, taking me with him this time.

The mud was slimy and sticky and quickly found its way into my hair, my clothes and even my socks. I groaned and twisted in Edwardi's arms, laughing at him. He smiled down at me and picked up a hand full of mud.

My eyes widened. 'You wouldn't.' I warned him.

He grinned wickedly 'I think by now you know I would.' he said laughing.

His hand come down on my head as he rubbed the mud into my hair. I groaned, but quickly grabbed my own handful and smashed it into his hair.

We spent half an hour playing in the mud, having mudfights and just being silly with each other. It felt good. It seemed like everyone had needed this.

'Alright, we should get cleaned up.' Esme said after most of the laughter had stopped.

'Sounds like a good idea.' Carlisle agreed, staring down at his clothes.

'Edward, I expect you to clean up the house.' Esme warned, as she stood up.
He grinned over at her. 'Don't worry. I will clean or replace everything.'

She smiled back and nodded. 'Good.' She turned to head into the house. 'Shoes off everyone before going inside' she called back.

We all chorused yes back. Then she and Carlisle disappeared. Rose and Emmett followed and Alice and Jasper too. Edward looked over at me and smiled.

I grinned back. 'Can we go to the cabin?' I asked. Edward smiled brightly and nodded, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him towards our cabin.