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

Chapter 7

Admittedly the shower was probably a good idea for both of them. Bella could finally wash her face, which was caked with dried tears, from the many breakdowns she had had throughout the day.

Seth seemed to be taking the news of Jacob's disappearance better than Bella was. Everything was falling apart, and it was all her fault. All her life, she had done the right thing. She did what was expected of her and what would be in the best interest of others. But for once, she had made a choice for herself, and everyone else was paying for it. That one decision had set in motion a chain of events that were affecting so many people, and it was all her fault.

While she was in the shower, with her face under the water, she cried. She cried for Edward, for breaking his heart. She cried for Alice and the rest of the Cullens, for the loss of her almost family. She cried for her Dad, for constantly having to lie to him. She cried for Seth, who had to betray his family. She cried for the pack, who was now in danger. And she cried for Jacob, who had seemingly lost his pack.

After she had cried the last tears, she rewashed her face. She vowed that she would not cry anymore and that she would fix her mistakes. One day, she would make it all up to them.

Finally, she emerged from the bathroom and tried to smile. Seth was not convinced, "are you okay?" he asked, for what felt like the hundredth time today.

"Yeah," she lied again.

They had already had dinner and found a quiet motel with a vacancy. The room was nothing special, with dated décor, two double beds and an old TV on the wall. Seth's feet were hanging off the end of his bed, clearly not big enough for him, however, better than the back seat of her car.

Bella curled up under the quilts, which were not sufficient at keeping the cold away. Sometimes it felt like the cold came inside of her. Like her heart was pumping cold liquid around her body. She felt a shudder rip through her body.

She heard the bed next to her creak as Seth stood up. She watched as he took the blankets off his bed and draped them over her. The residual heat from Seth's body could be felt through the blankets.

"Thanks, Seth," she said quietly.

"You're welcome. I don't need them anyway."

"Must be nice to never get cold," she muttered.

Seth chuckled, "sometimes, being a wolf has its perks."

Bella rolled over to face Seth, "what's your favourite thing about being a wolf?"

An infection smile spread across his face, "family. It's like having six older brothers." Then, he frowned a little, "sometimes they play jokes on me, but most of the time they look after me. I know that they will always be there for me, and I learn heaps from them."

Seth's expression changed from happy to mischievous to sad. It was clear that Seth missed his Dad. Bella was glad that he had the pack to be role models in his life.

"I'm glad that you have them, Seth. I just hope that I haven't caused too much damage. You know, with today."

"Nah, don't stress. Once we get back home, especially if we bring Jacob with us, all will be forgotten."

"I hope so," Bella whispered. Unfortunately, she did not hold the same eternal optimism that Seth carried. "Good night, Seth."

"Night, Bella," he said quietly before rolling over onto his other side.

It wasn't long before Bella heard his breathing pattern change, and she knew he was asleep. That was another perk of being a wolf that Bella wished she could have; the ability to fall asleep in under a minute.

Bella tossed and turned in her bed. She couldn't seem to keep her mind from going over the conversation she had had with Edward. His voice, which usually calmed her, was morphing in her mind, and she could hear the hostility in it. It was making her heartbeat race.

This was clearly not going to help her get to sleep. She changed her thoughts to think of Jacob. She imagined another scenario of their reunion.

Seth and Bella were waiting in a diner. Bella was not sure why her imagination had brought her here, but she went with it. She was nervously tapping her feet on the ground and scanning the windows to see any sign of Jake. Then, finally, the bell over the door jingled, and a huge smile spread over her face as her best friend walked in.

Bella clambered out of the chair and ran over to him. Once again, she launched herself at him, and he caught her with ease. His warm arms engulfed her tiny body, and she felt at home for the first time in months.

"I missed you," she murmured into his chest.

"I missed you, too," said the wrong voice. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over her head.

Bella felt his warm body morph into something, or someone, cold and hard. The arms around her body became like a vice grip, pinning her arms to her side. "NO!" she screamed. "Jacob!"

Seth felt the fear in the room moments before he heard her scream. He sat bolt upright in his bed. Instantly, surveying his surroundings to assess where the danger was coming from. They were still the only ones in the room; there was no smell of anyone, or anything, else.

She was still dreaming. He could see her thrashing around in her bed. He leapt off the bed and reached over to grab her arm.

"Bella! Bella!" he said urgently as he tried to wake her.

Her eyes flew open, and he tried to reassure her, "it's just a dream."

Bella took a ragged breath in and quickly let it out. "Oh… sorry, Seth. I… I d-didn't mean to w-wake you," she stuttered as she started to shake violently.

Seth looked around the room to see if there were any more blankets but came up empty. "Do you want me to see if reception has any more blankets?"

"No!" she all but screamed at him. She swallowed, blinking rapidly, to keep the tears at bay, "don't leave me alone," she whispered.

"Okay, um, what can I do?" he asked tentatively.

She looked up into his honest eyes, "just stay, please," Bella shuffled over to the far side of the bed, away from Seth.

The invitation was clear, but Seth still had to ask, "Are you sure?" He wanted to help her, but he felt awkward perched on the edge of her bed.

Bella nodded, "please? I'm just so cold; it is messing with my dreams."

Carefully he lay down next to her, on top of the blankets.

Bella could feel his heat through the four layers of blankets she was swaddled up in. She rolled on her side, facing away from Seth.

"Thank you," she whispered as she felt her heavy eyelids close.

The following morning, Bella woke feeling like she was buried underneath 100 blankets. She tried to lift her arms to push the blankets away but quickly realised that she couldn't move. Then, opening her eyes, she was greeted with Seth's peaceful, sleeping face inches from hers. He had his arm slung over her body, effectively trapping her underneath his weight.

She didn't want to disturb his sleep, but she really needed to use the bathroom. "Um, Seth," she croaked out.

Seth's eyes flew open, and he jerked his arm away from her. He shuffled away from Bella before disappearing off the side of the bed with a resounding thump.

Unable to contain herself, Bella started giggling. Seth's head appeared above the bed, scowling at her. This just made her laugh harder. "Sorry, Seth," she tried to say. "You should have seen your face." She took a deep breath to squash the laughter, afraid of offending him further.

His face slowly broke out into a smile as he rolled his eyes. He got up off the floor, shaking his head. They stared awkwardly at each other before they both started laughing.

At least the laughter seemed to break the tension in the room. Bella extracted herself from the piles of blankets and tried to get up, tripping over the edge of one of the blankets on the way to the bathroom. She heard Seth continue to laugh as she shut the bathroom door.

After another shower, no tears this time, Bella got dressed and went back into the room. She saw Seth leaning against the headboard of his bed, watching some junky show on TV.

"Sorry for laughing at you, Seth," Bella said with a smile. She needed to make sure that she hadn't offended him. He had already done so much for her, including keeping away other nightmares during the night.

"Sorry for squashing you," he replied. Fortunately, Seth didn't appear to hold grudges. "How are you doing this morning?"

Seth watched as Bella subconsciously brought her hand up to her chest, "better than I have been in a long time."

After Seth showered, they checked out of the motel, had breakfast at a local diner and continued on their journey east.

Once again, Seth was driving, and Bella had let him chose the music. He had set the radio up to play a hip-hop station and was happily singing along. Bella didn't know any of the songs, but she was content in Seth's company. His happy demeanour was rubbing off on her. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the trees fly by out the window.

"Waaaahhhhh, wee-oww, wee-oww!" a loud, high-pitched siren startled them both as they turned to see a police car, with its lights on, right behind them.

A/N Sorry the chapters aren't longer. I'm trying to write them as quick as I can. Hopefully, I can get the next one up tomorrow.