SM owes Twilight, we just want to live in her world a bit longer.

Chapter 2

"So what's the plan, Bella? I really hope you have a plan. I don't have anything on me." Literally. Seth had been out patrolling. He didn't have shoes or a shirt. No phone or money.

Bella pulled a bag out from under the seat.

"T-This is a go-bag that A-Alice packed for me ages ago. In case we ever needed to make a quick g-getaway."

She reached into the bag and pulled out a wad of money. Seth's eyes bulged. That was more money than he had ever seen in his entire life.

"We need to get into Canada. I don't have a passport," he started. Seth had seen a glimpse of where Jake was last week.

Bella was looking a bit calmer now that we were in the dark car, speeding through town. She had stopped crying and had a determined look on her face.

"I have one for me. I thought you could probably run across the border… like Jake did." She looked down at her hands and was squeezing them together tightly.

At least it appeared that she had put a little bit of thought into this crazy-ass plan of hers.

Seth sighed. He was going to be in a lot of trouble for this. Both the pack and the Cullens were going to be pissed.

They could see the back of the "Welcome to Forks" sign approaching.

"Are you sure about this?" Seth asked tentatively.

"Yes," she said definitely, without looking at him. She took a huge breath and breathed out a sigh of relief as they drove out of Forks.

"We are going to be in a lot of trouble for this. Did you at least tell Charlie?" Seth was really hoping that at least someone knew where they were.

Bella started crying again. "I... I didn't have time. If I had stopped to write a note, Alice would have seen my decision and come to stop me. I had to move fast."

Shit, this was going to get a lot worse before it got better.

"Can you text him now?"

She shook her head. "I left my phone at home."

Great. Just great. Seth was on the run with the Chief of Police's daughter and the fiancé of a large clan of powerful vampires. No one knew where they were, and Seth didn't even know exactly where they were going.

"Bella!" he growled as he hit the steering wheel.

She flinched and cowered towards the passenger door. She was trembling again.

"Shit. Sorry, darlin'. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just a little freaked out at the moment."

Seth took a few deep breathes and turned to look at Bella. She had her hands over her face and was sobbing into them. It broke Seth's heart.

"Hey," he said quietly, but she didn't lookup. "Hey," he said again, "I'm sorry for scaring you." She finally looked up into his eyes.

He turned his gaze to look at her appearance. She had on a pair of slacks and what looked like two jumpers that were hanging off her. She was looking thinner than she did two months ago. She was rubbing her arms like she was cold, but it was September and still quite warm.

He noticed her white knuckles. She was curled up into a ball against the door still. "You look freezing," he started.

"Cold," she muttered. "Always cold. I c-can't warm up anymore."

"Come here," Seth said. He reached his arm out to her, and she latched onto his hand. He pulled her towards him and put his arm around her shoulders. After a few minutes, she visibly relaxed and put her head on his shoulder.

He could feel her cold face on his bare chest and the wet tears she had cried. At least she had stopped crying now.

Seth was trying to think through all of the logistics. All hell was about to break loose if it hadn't already. He could only hope that their disappearance wasn't noticed for a few more hours.

He needed to be in wolf form to cross the border, but one order from Sam and he would have to come home.

He was about to tell her that she should get some sleep; they had about 3 hours before they hit the border. However, one look down, and he could see she was already passed out.

"Bella, honey, you need to wake up."

Over the past few hours, her shivering had slowly died down, and she relaxed into a deep sleep. Finally, she had slid down his chest and ended up lying with her head on his leg.

She flinched and slowly lifted her head. Wiping her eyes, and peered out of the front window. It was still dark, but the sun would be up soon

"We're about half an hour from the border," he stated. "We need to discuss logistics before we get too close."

Bella just nodded. She didn't trust her voice. The tears would probably follow, and she already had a terrible headache.

"I'll get out about 5 miles before the border and met you at the first rest stop on the other side. If all goes well, I'll probably beat you there.

"However, if the shit has hit the fan, I won't be able to stay phased. One order from Sam and I will have to go back home. If he is there, I will have to run in human form, so it will take me longer."

"O-okay," she shuttered.

"Now, before we get that far, you need to talk to me. I don't even know what is going."

Bella looked frightened.

"Hey, I'm not here to judge you. Jake is like a brother to me, and he is going to be ecstatic to see you," he paused and looked over at Bella. She had a slight smile on her face, the first glimpse of happiness he'd seen today. "But I respect Edward, and if I have to explain myself to the pack, while sprinting in across the border, like an illegal alien. Then I'd at least like to know the basics."

Bella nodded and looked out the window, not seeing anything. She pulled her sleeves down over her wrists and fidgeted in the seat.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "It hurts too much," she simply stated.

"What hurts?" he asked quietly.

She lifted her right hand and placed her knuckles over her heart. "It hurts so bad," she whispered. "It's been getting worse and worse. I can barely function. I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't think properly."

He could see the pain in her face. It was heartbreaking. "Why?"

She shocked her head. "It started after the Newborn War," she whispered, "when I told him goodbye." There was a long pause. He could see she was reliving the memory. Heck, even Seth could relive it. He had seen it so many times in Jake's head while out patrolling with him.

"I thought it was the best decision. I love Edward, and he was always the one for me. Or so I thought. I didn't want to lead Jake on anymore.

"When I drove away, it felt like my heart was ripping in two. I pulled over on the side of the road, Edward found me. He graciously let me cry it out. He held me as I cried all night.

"In the morning, I thought I had got it out of my system. And I suppose I did. I had no more tears left to cry, but it didn't stop the pain." Seth could see more tears flowing down her cheeks.

"It felt like a black hole in my heart, and it started to eat away at me. Edward, I thought Edward would heal the hurt, but it only seemed to make it worse.

"When Edward left me last year, Jacob helped me heal. He put my heart back together. I was hoping Edward could do the same in return, healing the Jacob sized hole in my heart. But it didn't work.

"I threw myself into wedding planning, hoping for a distraction. Alice is good like that." She smiled a bit. Seth knew she liked Alice. Everyone liked Alice.

"After the invitations went out, the pain in my chest multiplied exponentially. I told Edward I had a stomach bug. I vomited for days."

Seth's eyebrows furrowed. That was the same time that Jacob took off. He took off in wolf form and didn't come back. Jake has been eating, sleeping, running, thinking like a wolf for 2 months. The pack gave him his distance and didn't try and talk to him, although they knew he was almost always there. He tried to avoid towns and ignored road signs, but Seth had caught a glimpse last week of where he was.

"Last night was my first night alone in two months. I freaked out and ran."

She looked over at Seth. He didn't know what she saw, but she continued anyway.

"I know I messed up. I have let everyone down, Edward, Charlie, Alice, even my Mom. They have wasted so much time and money on that stupid wedding, and I just ran off without speaking to anyone. I'm a coward."

She hung her head down in shame as the tears slid down her face and dripped off the end of her nose.

She whispered the last sentence, "if I spoke to Edward, I would have changed my mind and stayed."

Seth reached over and wrapped his large, warm hand around her small, ice-cold hand.

"I supposed it's better late than never," he said in hopes of lightening the mood. Bella didn't react.

He squeezed her hand gently as he pulled off on the side of the road. "Are you going to be alright to drive for a bit?" he asked.

Bella sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She nodded.

Seth opened the door and watched as Bella stumbled around the outside of the car. He pulled her into a hug and wrapped his long arms around her body. She cautiously wound her arms around his waist to return the hug. Finally, she relaxed into the embrace.

"Thanks, Seth," she said quietly before stepping back and got in the car. She shut the door and merged back into the traffic.