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

Chapter 3

Seth made his way into the tree line before removing his pants and tying them to his leg strap.

He took a few deep breathes to centre his thoughts before phasing. He had a lot on his mind, but he couldn't be thinking about it right now.

Seth? Leah asked as soon as he phased. What are you doing here? I thought you went home hours ago.

I needed to go for a run. Is it just you patrolling?

Nope, I'm here too. Embry chimed in. What's up? You seem really tense.

Nothing, nothing. Just needed fresh air.

He was trying really hard to control his thoughts. He didn't want to draw attention to himself. But, the trees were flying past him, and he didn't stop when he flew across a small side road.

Where are you, Seth? I don't recognize that road.

Nosey sister.

Embry just laughed. Seth hoped that that would draw the attention off of him.

They all felt a new person phase-in. He felt panicked.

Has anyone seen Bella? Jared asked urgently.

No.

No.

Shit. Seth thought.

What do you know, Seth? Jared asked authoritatively. But Jared was not Alpha. He wasn't even beta, so Seth didn't have to respond.

She should be getting ready for her wedding. Isn't she at the Cullens? Seth was trying to deflect the question.

Charlie woke up, and she was gone. The Cullens called Sam 5 minutes ago. Alice can't see where she is.

So she immediately blamed us? Leah remarked. Typical.

Seth, what are you hiding? Jared wasn't fooled by my misleading answer.

Nothing.

SETH! Jared was pissed now.

Seth tried his hardest to keep his thoughts under wraps. Finally, he started singing along to a song in his head.

Smile for me, daddy (What you lookin' at?)

Let me see ya grill (Let me see my what?)

Seth felt Jared phase-out.

Shit, shit, shit. How long do you think before Sam get here?

Less than a minute. Embry said casually. He was also so chilled, not phased him.

Seth, WHAT'S GOING ON? Leah was not happy. She was not so… chilled.

Suddenly Seth realized what he should be using his time for.

Jake? Jake! Are you here, man? Answer me now!

The was silence.

JACOB! Seth screamed in his head

WHAT?! Came a grumpy voice. He knew he was there.

Where are you?

Somewhere where I don't want to be found. ESPECIALLY TODAY!

Seth sighed. Look, I know...

SETH! Sam's voice rang loud, causing Seth to lose focus. His paw slipped on a wet log, and he lost his footing.

He pulled himself together and phased mid-fall. It hurt like a bitch, and he ploughed headfirst into a low tree branch.

The blood started to immediately trickle down his face from a gash on his forehead. He gingerly reached his hand up to see how bad it was. A tear about 2 inches long was above his left eye.

It shouldn't take too long to heal, but head wounds always bled a lot more than others, and the blood was already getting into his eye. He would need to find a stream to wash off and clean the wound before heading to the rest stop.

Reaching down to his leg strap to grab his pants, his hands felt nothing but his bare ankle. Panic set in as he realized his pants were gone.

Turned around, he was relieved to spot them hanging off the side of the log only a few yards away.

Seth jumped to his feet, ran over and grabbed them.

"Fuck!" they have been torn in half.

Could this day get any worse?

Bella sat nervously in her car, waiting in line, at the border crossing. Although there were two cars in front of her, which gave her a few minutes to pull herself together, she didn't want to appear suspicious. But that was easier said than done in her condition.

Without Seth around, the deep, bone-numbing cold was starting to return. For months she had been cold. Nothing seemed to help. She used to stand in the shower until the hot water ran out, but still, she couldn't warm her toes.

The few hours she had slept this morning had been the most peaceful she'd had in months. She had no nightmares, and she didn't even need a blanket. Simply having Seth around had calmed her soul. Of course, the pain in her chest was still present, but there was some relief from the exhaustion and cold.

She knew she looked like a wreck. Running her hands through her tangled hair, she tried to smooth it down, but it was pointless. She opened the glove box and was relieved to see Alice had stocked it with a few supplies, a hairbrush, hair ties, some wipes and a few makeup items. Bella shook her head. Alice should have known better; she would need a first aid kit before she would need makeup!

The brush did a better job smoothing her frazzled hair and used the hair tie to put her hair in a messy bun. It was the best she could do in the car on short notice. She used the wipes to clean her face and applied a little lip gloss. Sunglasses would have to do, for hiding her bloodshot eyes. She knew that mascara would be useless today, as it would just end up running down her cheeks. She had no illusions that she would be able to hold herself together today.

Today was her wedding day. Or it had been. She tried not to think of how many people she would have disappointed and what Edward would have said when he realized she was gone.

She needed to think of a better topic to occupy her mind. Clearly, the previous one was not going to help calm her nerves and make her look less suspicious.

She thought of Jacob and imagined what their reunion would be like. Being that he was constantly in wolf form, it would most likely take place in the forest. She could see his russet brown fur and brought her eyes up to look into his dark brown eyes. Then, stumbling over her own feet, even in her own imagination she was clumsy, she ran towards him.

Jacob raised himself up on his back legs, and she felt the shimmer in the air as he phased back to human. Bella flung herself at him at the exact moment he appeared. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

Just picturing the hug, his warm arms around her body made heat start to rise from her stomach, chasing away the cold.

She pulled back to look into his eyes…

BEEEEPPPP!

A car horn blared at her as she had clearly been distracted from seeing the cars move forward.

Bella slowly accelerated. She was getting a bit better at controlling the car, finally, and pulled up to the customs officer's window and rolled down her window. He had been eye her car carefully as she pulled up.

"Good morning," the officer said cheerfully. Too cheerfully for this time of the morning. "Passport, please."

Bella handed him her passport without saying anything.

"What is the purpose of your visit?" he asked casually.

"Visiting a friend," she replied, her voice wavering a little bit. His gaze lifted from her passport and fell to her lips. She felt her lip on her teeth and immediately let it go. That was clearly a sign of stress.

"This is a nice car, what is it?" he asked again, casually, although she could see he had an ulterior motive.

"Um, a Mercedes Guardian." She thought a further explanation might help her hesitancy. "My f-fiancé organized this car for me."

The officer was looking between her and the car before mumbling, "I don't think your fiancé knows you very well."

A cold feeling started pooling in her stomach, and she frowned. She was shocked that a total stranger would make such an assumption. "Why do you say that?" she could help herself from asking.

He shook his head, "enjoy your visit to Canada, Miss Baker. You may drive on through." Bella was surprised to hear a name she didn't recognise, but then again Alice was always prepared for any situation.

Gratefully, Bella slowly exited the booth and drove on through. She breathed a sigh of relief, and a small smile appeared on her face. Even though borders didn't mean much in the supernatural world, Bella felt better. Finally, she was in the same country as Jacob, and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Continuing down the highway, she was relieved to see a rest stop about 5 minutes down the road.

She pulled into a car park, closest to the forest. She started nervously tapping her fingers on the steering wheel while scanning the treeline for Seth. Hopefully, he wouldn't draw too much attention, exiting the trees.

After a minute of waiting, her stress levels started to increase. Something must have happened to him.

After five minutes, her heart rate had increased, and she was struggling to take anything more than shallow breaths.

"Pull yourself together, girl," she told herself.

Seth would be coming any minute now, and he would be hungry. Yes, she needed something to do. She quickly grabbed her bag, pulled out some Canadian dollars, locked the car and headed into the shop.

Inside the store, she grabbed some hot food, snacks for the road, a couple of bottles of water, a map and some aspirin for her headache. No one looked at her too funny, so she assumed her act was better than she thought.

Without incident, she made it back to the car, but still, there was no sign of Seth.

Bella closed her eyes and concentrated on controlling her breathing and her thoughts. She had finally escaped, and everything was going to be alright. It had to be.

Suddenly there was a loud tap on her window and her heart starting racing. She looked out the window to see a very naked Seth.

"Eeck," she yelped as she quickly diverted her eyes and opened the passenger seat door. Then, she closed her eyes, took off her jumper and handed it over to Seth as he sat in the seat.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"Where are your pants?"

"They tore when I had to make an emergency phase."

"What's an emergency phase?"

"It's when your boss shows up, pissed, and I didn't want to get mind-controlled!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Seth. I'm so very sorry I have put you in this position," she looked into his eyes. She expected to see some sort of annoyance or even anger, but all she could see what sympathy. It made her feel even worse. She didn't deserve sympathy.

"It's fine," he said. "It was getting a bit boring at home. We haven't had any action for months!"

Bella rolled her eyes. These boys were always looking for the next fight. She knew that Seth was just deflecting, but she didn't have any way of repaying him, not at this stage anyway.

"We'll have to find some shops as soon as we can. I don't think they have pants in this store. I did get snacks, though!" she tried to smile at the end. She knew how much the wolves loved food.

Seth's eyes lit up at the sight of food. She handed him the bag with the hot food and watched as he stuffed his face.

Bella turned the ignition on and started out of the car park. She knew that Alice had probably seen some of the hour since Seth wasn't with her.

"We need to get moving, away from here. I'll drive while you eat and take a nap. Is that ok?"

Seth nodded with his mouth full of food. "You ok to drive? You are looking a bit better than last night or this morning, I should say."

"Yeah, I'm feeling better. Being around you really helps." Seth smiled up at her. It reminded her of the carefree smile Jake used to give her back before she had made him bitter.

She sighed, "so, what happened?" she asked hesitantly.

Seth recalled all the information he could remember, including how he started singing a Nelly song at one stage. He was obviously very proud of himself for thinking of that.

Bella nervously chewed on her bottom lip and clutching the steering wheel.

"Oh, and I spoke to Jake."

"What?" she shrieked and felt her heartbeat pick up.

"Well, it wasn't much. But, unfortunately, Sam interrupted, and I had to phase out. But I'm thinking that I should be able to check in again at some stage and see if I can speak to Jake again."

"That would be good," she paused again, thinking.

Seth interrupted her thoughts, "you should call Charlie, though. I'm sure he is very worried about you."

Bella's nerves started to increase again, "ok, but we need to put a bit of distance between us and the border."

She looked over at Seth, and he looked disappointed. "I won't wait too long, maybe an hour? I need you to be with me. Otherwise, Alice can see me, and you can't leave the car naked. You might draw some attention." She raised her eyebrow as she looked over at him.

He shrugged like he didn't care who saw him naked.

"Boys," Bella muttered.

Seth chuckled, and Bella started to giggle. It has been a long time since she had heard herself laughed.