A/N I am very new to this. I made a mistake with the last chapter and had to edit it. If you want to re-read the conversation with the border officer, you can. But, mostly, I had to change her name. She didn't use her real passport, but a fake one.

I also wanted to write a few more chapters ahead of time so that I don't make any more mistakes like that one.

SM owns Twilight. We just want to live in her world a bit longer.

Chapter 4

Exactly one hour later, Bella stood nervously in front of a payphone. She knew that she had to talk to Charlie, he would be extremely worried about her, and this had not been the first time she had to take off without telling him first. He would be upset and disappointed.

Seth stood off to her right, leaning casually against the bricks of the gas station. Bella had stopped off at a Walmart half an hour earlier and made a quick dash for clothes, for both of them, and a few more supplies. She was so used to seeing all the boys shirtless that it was strange to see Seth fully clothed and wearing shoes.

She lifted the receiver and put in the number for her house.

Charlie picked up before the first ring had even finished, "Bella?" he asked urgently.

"Hi, Dad," she said quietly.

"Bella, where are you? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Dad, I just…" she took a deep breath, "I just couldn't get married today. I had to get away."

She heard him let out a loud sigh, "why didn't you just talk to me? You just left, again, without letting me know."

Bella closed her eyes, "I know, Dad, I'm so sorry. I was just scared."

"Honey, you know you can talk to me about anything. You know I would have supported your decision, whatever you chose to do."

Tears started to flow down her cheeks as she nodded her head. She knew that, but she was not scared of him. For not the first time in the past year, she wished she could just tell Charlie the truth about everything going on around him.

Charlie continued, "where are you? Alice mentioned something about Canada?"

Bella knew that Alice would be keeping tabs on her. Still, she had silently hoped that she had been lucky, getting over the border unnoticed. However, it was clear she was being tracked. They had been right to make a quick getaway from the border.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm in Canada. I needed to get away. I'm so sorry," she apologized again.

"Bella, I'm concerned about you, all up there by yourself." He paused, "and you have left a very distraught fiancé here."

Bella's eyes shot open, and a cold chill ran down her spine, starting at the base of her head and running all the way through her body.

"H-he's there? Now?"

"Yeah, and he would like to speak to you."

"Oh, oh no, Dad, I'm not…."

"Bella?" a very familiar melodic voice picked up the other end.

"Edward," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Love, what happened? I thought that this is what you wanted?" He knew damn well that she never wanted to get married. But, she could never say no to him.

"I-I changed my mind. I want to stay human." This is what he always wanted for her. She hoped he would have been happy to hear this.

"You could have done that with me," he said, with apparent hurt in his voice.

But Bella didn't want to stay with Edward. She was so nervous around him all the time. She could never relax, never do what she wanted to do. She didn't even feel like she could express her genuine opinions without being admonished.

When she didn't respond, he continued, "please come home, and we can talk about this. You didn't need to run away."

The guilt she had felt up until this point was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. The phone in her hand started to shake. Finally, she realized that it was her that was shaking. She could barely hold the phone to her ear anymore. Her breathing was coming in short and fast. She was about to agree to abandoning her plan when she felt a warm hand engulf her left hand. He unclenched her tightly wound fist and placed his hand in hers.

She felt a warm, calm pass over her body as it chased away the cold guilt. The shaking slowly stopped. A simple touch from Seth had reversed the effects of Edward's words with one kind gesture.

With more resolve than she had had at any point in this phone call, she said calmly, "no, Edward, I need to do this. I need space."

"What?" Edward shouted, clearly upset that she was refusing his request.

"I said, no," Bella was happy with her newfound confidence. She liked being able to say what she truly wanted.

There was silence for a few heartbeats, hers, not his, and Bella hoped that he would calm down. However, what she heard next was not what she expected.

"Who are you with?" Edward asked in a calm, flat tone. Bella stopped breathing for a second as she looked up at Seth. She had never heard him talk like this before, well, not to her.

"That doesn't matter."

"It must be one of the wolves. Are you with Jacob?"

Bella gasped, "what about Charlie?" She was concerned about him overhearing this conversation, plus she was trying to deflect the question.

However, Edward was not distracted. "He left to give us space to talk. Now answer the question, are you with Jacob?"

"N-no, I'm not with J-Jacob," she stuttered. Not yet, she hoped but did not dare say.

"Alice can't see you, so you must be with one of them. You know you aren't safe around them. If you get hurt, in any way, the pack will pay for taking you away from me," he threatened.

Bella looked up frantically into Seth's eyes. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. This is one of the reasons that she didn't just stay on the reservation. She didn't want to start a war between the wolves and the vampires.

"No! This isn't their fault, please, just leave them be. I am perfectly safe. Don't blame them. This is all my fault." She took a deep breath and continued, "please, Edward, this isn't you. I know you are hurt, and I know that I was a coward, blame me, not them. Please?" she asked, with more tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't bring herself to look at Seth. However, she could feel him rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand in soothing circles.

"Come home to me then," he said in a much calmer voice.

"I will," she whispered, but Seth shook her hand. When she opened her eyes, he was shaking his head and mouthing the word 'no'.

"Just not right now," she continued. "I need a little time, but I will come back soon. So please, just be patient with me."

"Fine, but come home quickly to me, my love. I miss you."

"Good-bye, Edward," she said with finality like she hoped it really was good-bye, but she knew that this was far from over.

With her head hung low and her eyes firmly closed, she hung up the phone before he could respond.

The next thing she knew, she was being pulled into a giant bear hug. These weren't the arms she longed for, but they were warm, just like his. She concentrated on one muscle at a time, and slowly she relaxed her body as the knots in her muscles released.

"Thank you, Seth," she whispered. "I don't deserve a friend like you."

Seth turned her face with his hand so that she was looking up at him, "everyone deserves a friend, Bella," he said with a soft smile. "You can't do everything by yourself, and I'm just glad that I get to be here for you and Jake. I haven't been a good friend to Jake recently, and I plan on making it up to him."

Bella frowned, "what do you mean?"

He shook his head, "nothing. But, now, it is my turn to call home."

Seth held the receiver to his ear as he heard the phone ringing. Please let it be Mom, please let it be Mom, he chanted in his head.

"What?" came the exact voice he was hoping to avoid.

"Leah," he said with a sigh, and he braced himself for the following words of assault out of her mouth.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Seth?" she screeched.

"Is Mom there?" he asked, avoiding her questions.

She scoffed, "no, she's just left to go and hold poor Charlie's hand." The disgust was evident in her voice.

Seth ignored her remarks again, "can you let her know that I'm okay, and I will be back home as soon as I can?"

"Dude, what are you thinking? You know you are in heaps of trouble, right?"

"Oh yeah, I know."

"Is the leech lover really worth it?" she sneered.

"Leave her alone, Leah. She's been through a lot." Seth had finally had enough of his sisters attitude.

"She made her bed, and now she has to lie in it."

Seth rolled his eyes, Leah had become so bitter over the past year, and holding grudges was second nature to her. He looked down at a nervous Bella, chewing on her fingernails.

"Look, she came to me and asked for help. She was scared and alone and barely coherent. I couldn't just leave her there. We are supposed to protect people, Leah. That is what we were made for."

When she didn't comment, Seth continued, "what would you have me do abandon her? She needs help finding Jake. So can you help me or not?"

There was a long-stagnant pause as Seth cross his fingers. Then, "what do you need?" came a grumpy reply.

Seth smiled, "Um, well, we need to find Jacob, but I can't risk phasing and facing Sam."

"Yeah, you're right. He is mega pissed at you."

Seth grimaced. He was such a people pleaser. The fact that his alpha was upset with him sat very uneasily in his stomach.

Leah continued, "Sam will be at a council meeting at 3 this afternoon. So you should be able to phase then and speak to Jake. But don't be too long, I'm sure Jared or Paul will be on patrol, and you know they will just run back to their master the moment they sense you."

An infection smile spread across his face. "Thanks, Leah. You're the best. I owe you."

"Yes, you do. Now get your furry ass back here as soon as you can."

"Love you, Leah," he said happily.

"Yeah, yeah. Bye," Leah said as she hung up.

Seth looked at Bella wiggled his eyebrows, "we finally have a plan!"

"I can't believe Leah is willing to help me. She hated me before. I can only imagine what she thinks of me now."

"Nah, she puts up a hard front, but she's a softy at heart."

Bella looked at him in disbelief, but she wouldn't say anymore, especially if she had agreed to help them. "So, what is the plan?"

"At 3 pm, I should be able to phase, and hopefully, I can speak directly to Jake. Sam will be at a meeting, so we should get a few minutes of relative privacy. With any luck, Jake will be around and more willing to talk to this time."

Bella felt her first glimmer of hope in a long time. "Thanks, Seth. I really appreciate everything you're doing for me."

He lopped his arm around her shoulders as they headed back to the car. "Meh, I'm only doing it because I get to drive your car."