four

I flipped absently through the stack of mail on the counter, sorting out the junk mail from the bills and letters that Jacob or Quil would need to look at. The shop phone rang, and I glanced up, but Seth was already reaching for it, wedging the headset between his ear and shoulder as he answered.

The office door around the corner opened, Lucas sulking past on his way back out to the garage. My gaze followed him. As amusing as it had been the first couple of times, this was the third time this week he had been pulled aside for some sort of disciplinary action, and I knew it was starting to grate on Jacob's nerves.

I heard a sigh, and glanced over to my left. Jacob propped himself on his elbows against the counter, and scrubbed both hands over his face.

"Remind me again why I keep giving that kid another chance?" The words were muffled, spoken into his palms.

I grinned. "Because you're a big softie, and you don't want to see him fall through the cracks?"

Seth had told me Lucas' story, about how his mother was in prison on drug charges and his dad wasn't exactly sober either, how he was struggling in school and on the brink of expulsion. Jacob had given him the part time job more as a way to try to keep him out of trouble than anything.

"No," Jake said, shaking his head. "I don't think that's it."

I pretended to think for a moment. "Because you enjoy torturing yourself?"

"That sounds more like it."

I snickered as he straightened up to his full height, reaching a hand into his pocket and pulling out his cell phone as it chirped out a notification. He swiped a thumb across the screen and glanced down to read the text message. "Rachel locked her keys in the house," he said, rolling his eyes. "She asked me to come by and let her in. Guess I'll go rescue her."

"Do you want me to go?" I offered, already halfway off the stool.

He shook his head, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "Nah. I need a break. Besides, these guys like you better than me, anyway."

I grinned, settling back onto my seat. "Just 'cause I'm prettier."

He snorted. "That's the truth." He unclipped the key chain from his front belt loop and backed toward the door. "See if you can't get rid of some of the deadbeats while I'm gone, yeah?"

"Fire Seth," I said, sketching a salute as he pushed open the door and stepped out. "Got it."

"If you're gonna do anything for Seth," Seth said, setting the phone back on the cradle, "it should be a raise."

I winced exaggeratedly. "That's above my pay grade."

He chortled, and I turned back to the mail stack, gazing absently down at an auction flier. A photo halfway down the page caught my attention though, and I took a second look. I picked up my phone, snapping a picture of it and sending it to Rosalie with a single word - Jake?

She replied in kind almost immediately - Absolutely. And then a second later, Only so I can borrow it on occasion.

I grinned, and turned back to the flier, searching for the auction information.

"Hey," I said, glancing over at Seth, and he raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement. "Have you ever been to this auction house?"

He tilted his head, and I held the flier out so that he could see it better. "I haven't," he said, "but Jake and Quil have. That's where Quil got his Dodge."

"What about Quil?" The man in question popped his head over a shelving unit where he was working inventory. I tipped my head to the side, beckoning him closer, and he tucked his pen behind his ear as he made his way over. I spun the flier around on the counter to face him, and tapped the picture I was interested in.

He let out a low whistle. "That bike's seen better days."

"You think that means it'll go for cheap?"

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "I dunno. Even as busted up as it is, they're still pretty rare. Why, you in the market for one?"

"Not for me," I said, and a slow grin spread across his face as he shook his head.

"That lucky bastard," he chuckled, and I grinned.

"What are you doing -" I glanced back down at the flier - "Thursday morning at nine-thirty?"

Thursday morning found me pulling into Sam and Emily's driveway just after eight o'clock in the morning, reaching over to unlock the passenger side door.

"I got some ratchet straps and a tarp out of Billy's garage," I told Quil as he climbed in. "Do you think that'll work?"

"Should be fine," he said, reaching for the seatbelt. "It's not like we're worried about it getting banged up or anything."

I put the truck in reverse and backed out of the driveway, cutting a tight u-turn to head back to the interstate. "True."

"Man, you owe me," he said. "Jake was pissed."

I grinned, handing him a cup of coffee and a muffin. "What did you tell him you were doing?"

He winced, and I laughed. "Another one of Claire's cheer competitions. He forgot about the last one, so I just convinced him he'd forgotten about this one, too. He told me he's gonna start making me turn in time-off requests like the rest of the guys."

I turned on the windshield wipers, and put on my blinker, easing from the entrance ramp into the flow of traffic. Thankfully, for a Thursday morning, rush hour wasn't too bad.

"Well," I said, setting the cruise control and settling back in my seat. "Consider your favor. I'd be totally lost without your help."

He glanced over, hesitating, and I realized he already had something in mind. "Shoot."

"It's really more of a favor for Claire," he said, and I hid a grin in my coffee because of course it was a favor for Claire. "She's been talking about wanting to learn to play the guitar, and her birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks. I was wondering if maybe you'd be able to help me pick one out for her, and if you'd be willing to give her some lessons. I mean, I'll pay you for the lessons," he hurried to add, cutting his eyes over at me.

I smiled, touched that he had thought of me. Several of the guys, Jacob included, could play the guitar, and I recognized the gesture for what it was - an effort to include me.

"Of course I'll help you find a guitar," I said sincerely. "And you don't have to pay me anything for lessons, I'm more than happy to do it for free."

He smiled, looking relieved. "Okay. Cool. Thanks."

The auction house outside of Port Angeles was packed, and I had to work to maneuver the truck into a parking spot between a flatbed trailer and a diesel dually with a massive tow kit. We jogged through the rain up to the entrance, and Quil walked me through the registration process. I glanced around at the crowd idly as we made our way into the yard. I was the only female that I could see, and the majority of the men had the disingenuous, slightly sleazy look of used car salesmen.

"You might not want to wander off too far," Quil muttered. "Some of these guys look like interesting characters. If I get arrested for assault, it'll blow the cheer competition story."

A man leaning against the crumpled hood of a Kia a few paces away grinned at me, showing two gold front teeth. "I'd bail you out," I muttered back, even as I inched a little closer to his hulking form. I knew, obviously, that I could take anyone who showed me any unwanted attention, but it was a comfort to be in the presence of a man like Quil, who was easily a foot taller and a hundred pounds of muscle heavier than Gold Tooth.

The bike was in the far back corner of the yard, almost hidden behind an old rusted out Silverado. The front wheel was bent completely perpendicular to the rest of the body, one mirror totally missing and the lights busted out. The entire right side was scraped, gashes perforating the fuel tank and exhaust. Quil stepped forward, grabbing a handle bar and pulling it upright, walking in a slow, assessing circle around it.

"The front part here is obviously the worst," he said, nudging at the tire with his shoe. "But this entire assembly will come off, and we can replace it. Headlamp, tank, exhaust, mirrors are all easy fixes. Engine components will be standard if there's any issue with those. We can do a custom paint job, so it won't matter if parts are a little mismatched, and it'll be cheaper to get 'em scrapped or second hand, anyway." He glanced over at me. "What are you thinking?"

I honestly had no idea what I was looking at, but I trusted Quil implicitly. "Do you think it's worth it?"

He looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "Hell yeah, I think it's worth it. It'll be sick once it's fixed up."

I grinned. "Then let's do it."

We headed back inside for the calling, and found seats about midway up a set of bleachers in the center of the room. I zoned out once the auctioneer took to the block, his gibberish too garbled for even my ears to make out. I checked my phone, feeling a slight twinge of guilt as I responded to Jacob's text about getting lunch. Meeting up w/ Sue, I sent back, and it was true - I would be meeting up with Sue, just not for lunch.

Quil nudged me when the picture of the bike flashed up on the screen and the auctioneer called out the number. Wordlessly, I handed over my paddle, and he chuckled.

"Just tell me when to stop," he said, flicking it up as the opening bid was called, and I nodded. I didn't have any intention of stopping until I had gotten it, but Quil didn't necessarily need to know that.

There was a little bit of bidding back and forth, but sooner than I'd anticipated, the auctioneer dropped the hammer and called out a "Sold!", and Quil and I shared a grin.

Sue was waiting for us at Charlie's house, seated in one of the front porch rocking chairs, the door to the detached garage already rolled up and waiting for us. She made her way over to the truck as I backed into the driveway, putting it in park and letting it idle as Quil hopped out.

"Seth says that's a pretty fancy bike you've got there," she said, propping her elbows against the driver's side door and smiling through the open window. The truck rocked a little, and I glanced back in the rearview mirror to see Quil lifting the crumpled form easily from the bed.

"That's what they say," I replied. Truthfully, I knew very little about the bike, other than the fact that I'd been witnessing Jacob drool over them for the last nine and a half years.

"You'll end up spoiling that boy if you aren't careful," she warned, though her eyes sparkled and there was no real censure in her tone.

I grinned as Quil rolled the garage door closed and slammed the tailgate shut. "He deserves it," I said, and her smile stretched wider. "He spoils me all the time."

She stepped back from the door as Quil climbed back up in the passenger side, shoving the rain-dampened curls away from his face. "Well, your secret's safe with us. We'll see you tomorrow night."

We said our goodbyes, and I eased out of the driveway, turning back toward the reservation and reaching down to crank the window closed.

"I'm a little pissed I won't be able to see the look on his face," Quil said, and I glanced over to see him smirking.

I grinned. "I'll have somebody record it and send it to you."

He nodded, appeased, and reached absently for his phone as it vibrated from his pocket. His expression softened, and I knew without asking who it was that was texting him. He tapped out a response, and sat back in his seat, blowing out a puff of air.

"There's this kid on the football team that she has a crush on," he said, and I didn't have to ask him to clarify. "I guess he texted her and asked her out, and she's flipping out about it." His head tilted to the side. "I'm not even sure how you go out when you're fourteen and can't drive."

I shrugged when he glanced over at me, turning the information over in my mind. Obviously, Quil didn't harbor any romantic feelings yet for his imprint, but I wondered what it must be like for him to watch her take interest in other boys.

"Is it weird?" I asked after a moment, my curiosity getting the better of me.

He pulled in a breath, eyes narrowing slightly as he thought. "Yes and no," he finally said. "It's weird because I feel like maybe I should be more upset about it, you know? I mean, nobody else has really done it this way, except you and Jake, but that's -" He flapped a hand in the air.

"Not the same," I supplied, and he nodded.

"Right." He was quiet for a moment, his eyes on the road as it stretched in front of us. "I always kinda wondered what it would be like when it got to this point, and how I'd react. But she's happy, for now, and that's all I want."

"And when he breaks her heart?" I asked, because it was inevitable - if not this boy, then the next one, or the next.

His jaw clenched, his fingers twitching like they wanted to form a fist, but he took a breath instead and forced himself to relax. "Then I guess I'll be buying lots of mint chocolate chip ice cream and listening to a bunch of Taylor Swift."

I grinned at that, and glanced over at him a moment later when I felt his gaze on the side of my face. His brow was furrowed, and I could practically hear the gears turning in his mind.

"What?" I asked, a little self-consciously, and his expression turned sheepish.

"I just - was it -" He looked away and cleared his throat. "I mean, what was it like for you? Growing up with Jake just hovering over you all the time? Did you ever feel, like, I dunno - repressed or something? Resentful?"

I felt my face soften into a sympathetic smile. "No," I assured him, meeting his gaze steadily when he glanced over. "I never felt like Jake was hovering, and I never felt repressed or resentful, or anything like that. He was - is - my best friend, and the person I always wanted to share everything with."

He let out a slow breath, his expression relieved, and it was an intriguing thing for me to see the other side of this. I wondered, idly, if Jacob had stressed and worried and agonized over things similarly. I remembered, suddenly, his words from that night in my mom's room - how he'd not wanted to influence my decisions, and how he had worked so hard to make sure that I had been the one to make my own choices - and realized that yes, he had been burdened with his own particular types of anxieties in our relationship.

"Do you think it was good for you guys to spend so much time apart?" Quil asked, breaking me out of my own musings. "Or do you wish you hadn't?"

I considered his question carefully for a moment. There were many more facets than just what he was asking on the surface, and I didn't know how deep to go.

"It wasn't something I had much of a say in," I said slowly. "We moved out of necessity." I remembered that first move, when we'd left Forks and gone to Vancouver, only a short six hour drive. The incident with the Volturi had been fresh in everyone's mind, and Jacob had spent the first couple of months after our move driving back and forth multiple times a week. But as time had progressed, and it had become clear that I was in no immediate danger and thriving in my new environment, his visits had lessened to once a week, and then once every couple of weeks as he had enrolled in school and his schedule had gotten busier. When we'd moved up to Denali a year or so later, the separation had been easier, though he'd still made a point to fly up at least once a month. A year after that, we'd gone to Burlington, Vermont for a short stint so that my mom could finish her graduate degree before we'd started out on what we'd jokingly called the world tour, and Jacob had bought the garage, and his visits had gone from once a month to once every three. I thought of all the things I'd gotten to experience in my short nine and a half years of life - and all the things Jacob had gotten to experience by extension - and couldn't bring myself to resent the time that we'd spent apart. My parents had done their best to give me the best of both worlds, while still allowing Jacob the space he needed to establish his own life and follow his own dreams, and while it hadn't always worked out perfectly, they had tried, and I appreciated that.

"I think," I finally said as we pulled into Emily and Sam's driveway, "that it was a good thing. I can't say what it would've been like if we hadn't spent so much time apart, obviously, but I don't think I would've appreciated our time together as much. It wasn't really until the last few months that it started to become a strain, and I think my parents recognized that." Looking back on it now, I was beginning to see the progression of change - the restlessness I'd felt, the near-constant communication we'd kept, the subtle shifts in our conversations that had hinted at something growing deeper than friendship. "If we had to be apart now, I don't think it would be nearly as easy as it was before."

I put the truck in park and looked over at him, his expression thoughtful as he mulled over my words.

"I'm not really sure if that answered your question or not," I said, grinning wryly.

He snorted, and then grinned back. "Some of it," he said, reaching for the door handle. "But it was a tough question. Don't forget to send me that video," he reminded as he stepped out into the rain.

"I won't," I promised. "I'll send you some guitars to look at, too, and you can pick whichever one you think she'd like the best. And Quil," I said, stopping him as he went to shut the door. "Thank you."

He grinned an easy grin. "No problem."

"Should I go ahead and start forwarding your mail?" I raised an eyebrow at my parents when they appeared on my laptop screen, both of them stretched out on a wicker chaise. "Two weekends in a row on Isle Esme?"

My mom simply grinned, and my dad mirrored my expression, his own eyebrow edging up. "It's been a couple of years since just the two of us had a vacation," he said dryly, and I laughed. It had been a few years, almost exactly ten, in fact. Privately, I was glad they were getting some time to enjoy each other's company - without me.

"What are you up to this afternoon?" my mom asked, tipping a wide-brimmed hat forward on her head a little bit. I found the sight amusing. There was absolutely no reason for her to wear the hat, other than pure habit from her days as an easily burnt human.

"Heading over to Sue and Charlie's in a few minutes," I said, my voice forced casual even as I widened my eyes meaningfully. Jacob was in the next room over, helping Maddie find her missing sandal. My mom's mouth formed a little "o" of understanding, and she nodded, her eyes twinkling conspiratorially. "What about you guys? Another sunset cruise?"

My dad chuckled, and they shared an affectionate gaze that almost made me regret asking. "Your mother has requested a movie night," he said, giving me a look that clearly stated he'd had no choice in the movie selection.

"Let me guess," I deadpanned. "Wuthering Heights?"

My mom rolled her eyes as my dad snickered. "No," she said, lifting her chin. "Pride and Prejudice."

"Colin or Matthew?" I asked, and she looked at me like I was crazy.

"There's only one correct answer to that question," my dad said at the same time as my mom's emphatic "Colin, obviously."

I shook my head, grinning at the longstanding feud. "You're wrong."

My mom opened her mouth to protest, but movement in the hallway caught my attention, and I had half a second of notice before Jacob had stepped through the door and was tossing Maddie onto the bed beside me. She landed in a fit of giggles, bouncing a couple of times. I reached for the laptop screen, angling it to give my parents time to make sure they were completely out of the sun, and shot Jacob an incredulous look.

He looked appropriately abashed as Maddie pushed herself to her knees, one hand coming up to brush the hair out of her face as she crawled over toward me. She paused when she caught sight of my laptop and the two people smiling at her on the screen, her dark eyes flickering back up to me uncertainly.

"It's okay," I said, reaching for her elbow and helping her gently into my lap. She burrowed her head back into my shoulder, picking up a handful of my hair and draping it over her face, suddenly shy. "These are my friends, Bella and Edward. Can you say hi?"

She peeked one eye out around the curtain of my hair. "Hi," she said, and I grinned.

Jacob pushed away from the doorframe, ambling over and dropping down next to me, and she scrambled over to his lap. "Hey Edward," he greeted, one hand on her back to steady her as she climbed up on her knees, her hands patting his cheeks. "Bells."

"Hey, Jake," my mom greeted.

Jacob caught Maddie's wrists in one of his hands as she pinched at his nose, and lifted the other to dig gently into her ribs. She threw herself to the side, squealing, and I found myself smiling as he chuckled, locking his arms around her and lifting her up to blow a raspberry against her stomach. Her giggles rang out as he pushed himself to his feet, tossing her easily up over a shoulder and glancing back at me.

"We'll be in the car," he said, and I nodded.

My parents' smiles held more than a little bit of nostalgic longing, and I felt a pang of regret that they hadn't had longer with me as a child.

"My bus is leaving," I said apologetically, and my mom's smile twisted wryly.

"So we hear," she said.

"Have fun with your movie marathon. I'll call you later," I promised, and they each nodded, wishing me a good evening and giving me their love before ending the call.

I slipped my feet into a pair of shoes, and headed towards the front door, pulling it shut behind me. Paul was wrangling a crying Makenna into her car seat as Rachel loaded Maddie's tricycle into the back of the truck.

"You're with Jake," she said, tipping her head back to the El Camino idling in the driveway behind her. Jacob was loading a large ice chest into the back, Billy already buckled in the passenger seat.

"Too many kids, not enough room," she joked as I passed her.

"I'm not complaining," I tossed over my shoulder, grinning, and she laughed.

I glanced at the bench seat of the El Camino as I reached the driver's side door, my eyes flicking up to Jacob as he came up beside me.

"You're pretty optimistic here," I said mildly as Billy shoved up the armrests in the center of the seat. The space was barely wide enough to fit half of me. The glint in Jacob's eyes told me he knew exactly what I was thinking. He smirked, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

"You could always ride in the bed," he said, and his grin turned impish. "Or my lap."

I rolled my eyes, dropping unceremoniously down onto the seat and scooting in as Billy chortled. "I think I'll manage."

I straddled the hump in the floorboard where the console was, and Jacob slid in next to me, his leg pressing against mine from hip to shin as he reached for the pedal with his foot.

"Comfortable?" he asked, glancing over at me, his eyes dancing with mirth, and the heat from his body wasn't the only heat I was feeling.

"Very. You?"

He shifted the car into reverse, and then dropped his arm down to rest on top of my leg, his fingers tracing back and forth across the inside of my knee. A muscle in my thigh jumped involuntarily at the touch, and he grinned. "Extremely."

Billy chuckled, reaching over to pat my other knee. "Don't worry," he said. "We'll stall him out in the middle of town."

We didn't, in fact, stall him out in the middle of town, but it certainly wasn't from lack of trying.

What we did manage to do, was barely avoid a wreck.

"You know," Jake said as he lifted Billy out of the passenger seat and dropped him rather unceremoniously down into his chair on the sidewalk outside of Charlie's house, "I'm not sure why you're laughing so hard. It would've been your side of the car that got hit."

That only managed to send Billy into another round of belly laughs as he rolled himself up towards the front door.

"And you," he said, turning toward me, an eyebrow cocked accusingly. "What were you trying to do, kill me?"

I grinned, my shin still burning from where I'd managed to slip it between both of his to stomp on the accelerator. He'd been so distracted by foot brushing along the underside of his leg that it'd taken him a few seconds too long to remember to break, which he managed to do just nanoseconds before a truck traveling in the cross lane took out his front bumper.

"Play stupid games," I told him sweetly, smiling up at him, "win stupid prizes."

He barked out a laugh at that, and the next thing I knew, he was catching me around the waist and dragging me to him, lifting me easily. My legs wrapped around his middle automatically, my arms bracing myself against his shoulders as I felt the warm metal of the car door against my back. I let out a startled laugh, more than a little breathless as one of his hands ran down the line of my leg, from hip to knee, fingers flexing as he held me more securely in place. He grinned, his eyes flickering from mine down to my lips when I licked them reflexively. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered that Billy, from his place at the bottom of the porch stairs, was clearing his throat pointedly.

"Who's winning now?"

His murmur was barely more than a breath, brushing over my lips in a teasing caress. I tilted my head closer instinctively, a slow smile stretching across my face as I realized he sounded just as dazed as I felt.

"Looks like both of us," I said, my arms slipping tighter around his neck, drawing him closer, and he pressed his lips in a searing series of kisses down over the curve of my cheek to the line of my jaw.

"Hey you two!" Paul yelled as he crossed the lawn, and I blinked my eyes open, not realizing they'd fallen closed. "Get a room!"

Jacob let out a sigh that bordered on a groan, and I hid a grin in the side of his face as I unhooked my legs from around him. He let me slip back down to the ground, but kept a hold of my waist, pinning me with a pointed look.

"We're making Dad ride with them on the way back," he said seriously, and I snickered, slipping out of his arms to grab one handle of the ice chest.

Charlie was in the kitchen, staring blankly at a sack of potatoes in the sink, as Jacob and I shuffled in, dropping the ice chest on the floor just inside the door. He started, and glanced over at us.

"Sue had to run over to Jared and Kim's," he said by way of greeting. He looked back toward the sink. "She told me I could go ahead and start on the potatoes, but -"

I bit my lip against a grin. "Why don't you go help them with the fryer?" I suggested, and relief washed across his face. "Rachel and I can handle it in here."

He beat a hasty retreat, stopping only long enough to drop a kiss on top of my head as he passed. I made my way over to the sink, swiveling the faucet around and washing my hands before dumping out the sack of potatoes and picking up the vegetable scrubber.

"I'm not entirely sure how that man managed to survive so long on his own," Rachel said fondly as she entered the kitchen behind me.

I smirked. "Coffee and microwave dinners," I said, and she made a face as she rifled through the cabinets for a large pot.

I washed and peeled, and she chopped, and by the time Sue bustled in a few minutes later, chunks of potatoes were boiling on the stove, and a pan of squash and asparagus was roasting in the oven.

"Sorry, sorry," she apologized, dropping her keys on the counter and hugging each of us briefly.

"Don't worry about it," Rachel said, and I nodded in agreement. "How's Kim doing?"

Sue sighed, shaking her head as she surveyed our progress and stepped back, propping a hip against the counter. "She's bleeding again. Not too much yet, but enough that it'll make me uncomfortable if it continues much longer. I left her with something to take to try to slow it down, and told her to lay down and call me if it doesn't stop in a couple of hours."

Rachel chewed on the corner of her lip. "I don't understand why she's had so much trouble. If she loses this one, that'll be three in a row."

I felt myself frown, a twinge of sympathy thrumming through my chest. "I didn't realize she'd had miscarriages."

Sue shook her head again. "I don't know why," she said, responding to both of us at the same time. "They're both healthy, no issues that we can find." She shrugged, smiling sadly. "Sometimes, for whatever reason, it just happens."

"How's Jared?" Rachel asked, and then winced at the expression on Sue's face. "That bad, huh?"

"How could it not be?" Sue asked rhetorically, reaching over to turn down the heat on the burner as the potatoes began to bubble over. She picked up a dish towel and wiped up the splatters, and then gave them a quick stir. "What she wants more than anything is a baby, and he hasn't been able to give her that yet. Not only that, but he has to watch her struggle through all the sickness and the pain, and there's nothing he can do to fix it."

I tried to imagine what Jacob would do in that situation, and couldn't. The closest I could get was picturing my mother's pregnancy and how I knew he'd been then, but I also knew how much more he loved me, how much more frantic he would be if I were in her shoes.

Rachel's eyes flickered over to me for a split second. "I guess Paul and I were just really lucky," she murmured, and Sue chuckled.

"A little too lucky sometimes," she replied with a knowing smirk, and Rachel flushed a pretty shade of pink even as she grinned ruefully. Sue reached out and rubbed her shoulder, smiling gently over at me. "Let's not borrow trouble," she said. "Worrying about it won't change a thing."

Leah was conspicuously absent from the evening, but I couldn't say that I particularly minded. Conversation flowed easily as it always did, eventually coming around to the garage, and a call that Jacob had gotten earlier in the morning.

"What'd you tell him?" Billy asked, scooping a spoonful of banana pudding - sugar free - into his mouth.

I glanced over at Jake, and he shrugged, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck as he leaned back in his chair, propping one foot up on the opposite knee. "I told him I'd think about it," he said. "We've never done any kind of commission work like that, and I'm not sure it's something we should take on right now."

His arm came to rest along the back of my chair, his fingers plucking idly at a few of my curls. "I think you should do it," I told him, and he turned to look at me, his eyes studying my face. "Why not? You've done it before."

He pulled in a breath, shifting a little, his hand slipping down over my back. "Refinishing or restoring a couple of old beaters for you and your buddies is different than a period restoration of a 1940's classic for a paying customer," he pointed out. "I'm not sure I could even get the parts it needs."

I snorted, and the corners of his lips quirked up at the sound. "You could do it," I said unquestioningly, no doubt in my mind, and his arm slid around me, pulling me against his side.

"Maybe," he said, dropping a kiss onto my forehead, and it wasn't quite a yes, but it was a long way from a no, too. I smiled, settling more comfortably against him.

"Speaking of restoration," Seth said, slapping his hands down on the table on either side of his empty dessert plate, his eyes flicking over to me. I felt a tickle of anticipation in my stomach, and forced my expression to remain neutral, even as I gave an almost imperceptible nod. "There's something out back that Jake needs to take a look at."

A few knowing grins passed around the table as everyone rose, and Jacob looked at me, his expression questioning. I simply raised my eyebrows innocently and eased him towards the door, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What did you do?"

I grinned, my hands at his waist urging him forward toward the back door. "What makes you think I did anything?"

He just gave me a look, and I led him by the hand down the back steps towards the garage, where Seth was opening the side door and reaching for the light switch.

"This was," he said, his head poking back out of the door, "one hundred percent Nessie's idea."

Jacob slid an arm around me and mumbled an I told you so. I grinned, tipping my head against his shoulder, my arms looping around his waist as Seth ducked back into the garage to roll up the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rachel surreptitiously slip her phone out of her pocket and hold it up in front of her, recording.

There was a beat of silence, and then Jacob's arm went slack around me. I heard his sharp intake of breath, and he stepped forward, into the garage, his fingers ghosting over the bike as he circled around it, coming to a stop in front of the mangled handlebars. He traced the insignia there, his eyes flashing up to mine. I rolled my lips together to keep from grinning.

"An 8 ball?" he asked faintly, his voice hoarse. "Where did you find this?"

"The auction house in Port Angeles," I said, and I saw the moment it clicked - where I'd disappeared to the previous day, Quil's corresponding absence from work, my randomly meeting up with Sue.

He let out a strangled laugh, kicking a leg over the bike and sinking down onto the seat. It wobbled dangerously between the blocks it was propped up on, but held his weight. I watched as he ran his hands up over the fuel tank to the clutch, admiring the way his shoulders stretched and bunched as his wrists twisted over the grips, his lithe form spanning easily across its considerable size. It was a huge bike, with the potential to be unbelievably showy, and I knew he never would've bought something like it for himself, not in a million years.

He looked back over his shoulder at me, a grin splitting wide across his face, and tipped his head, beckoning me closer. I obliged, hiking a leg up and over the seat in front of him when he sat back and reached for my waist. His arms tightened around me, pulling me back flush against him, his face burying in the curve of my neck, and I felt myself flush, even as my arms came to rest over his.

"Do you like it?" I asked, and he snorted, his head shaking in disbelief.

"It's perfect," he murmured. A warm tendril of satisfaction curled through me at his pleasure, and I suddenly understood why he found such joy in doing things for me.

"You have," he said, straightening up and reaching for the handlebars, the grin evident in his voice, "impeccable taste."

I grinned, tilting my head back to look at him. His eyes sparkled, his smile threatened to split his face in half, his dimple flashing, and the picture he made hit me right in my gut. I lifted a hand to run idly along the line of his jaw, humming under my breath. "I do, don't I?"

He chuckled, reaching up for my hand, and pressing a kiss against my knuckles. "Are you gonna help me rebuild it?"

I threaded my fingers through his. "Only if you want me to."

"Oh, I definitely want you to."

We shared a grin, and he sat back, looking around at everyone else.

"Can you imagine," he said, "the look on Quil's face when I finish this thing? He's already salty that I got the El Camino."

Hoots of laughter rang out, and I caught Rachel's eye, grinning, as she slipped the phone back into her pocket with a wink.

"Up," he said suddenly, his hands at my hips, lifting me. "I want to look."

I stood obligingly, and made my way over to a dusty camp chair in the corner, sinking down into it as Jacob went over every nook and cranny of the bike with a fine toothed comb, babbling only half-intelligibly about what parts he would need and where he could get them. One by one, everyone else made their way back inside to clean up dinner and pack up everything for the girls.

I felt an affectionate smile curl up the corners of my lips as I watched him, his hands smoothing over the surface of the bike, stopping every now and then to trace over some defect or test the integrity of a bolt. He glanced halfheartedly towards Charlie's tools in the corner, and I chuckled.

"Wait until we get it home before you start taking it apart," I said, and he looked up at me, grinning sheepishly at being caught.

He pulled in a breath, pushing himself up off his knees. "Yeah," he said. "I guess you're probably right."

He slipped a hand into the fork under the handlebars and lifted the front end so that it would roll easily on its rear wheel, pulling it down the driveway. He glanced briefly at the bed of the El Camino before walking the bike over to Rachel's truck.

"Here," he said, lifting Maddie's trike out of the back with his spare hand and passing it to me. "Put that in the back of mine. This bed's bigger."

I did as he asked, and then helped him lift the bike into the back of the truck, laying it on its side and strapping it down. He shut the tailgate and then looked down at me, shaking his head as he pulled me into his arms.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, squeezing me tight. I squeezed him back, lifting myself up onto my toes to nuzzle myself into his neck.

"You're welcome."

He leaned back against the bumper of the truck, bringing me with him, and ran his hands up and down my sides idly. "One hundred percent your idea, huh?"

I pulled back so that I could grin up at him. "One hundred percent my idea," I confirmed, and his lips pressed against my forehead, the tip of my nose, my cheek. Behind him, the front door opened, Rachel carrying a groggy Maddie down the front steps, Sue following her with Makenna as Paul lifted Billy's chair down.

"I must be the luckiest guy ever," Jacob murmured against my ear, the feeling of his lips brushing against the sensitive skin there sending a shiver down my spine.

"Not a chance," Paul countered as he edged around us, popping Rachel lightly across the backside and dropping a smacking kiss onto her mouth as he reached out to take Makenna from Sue. Rachel rolled her eyes at him, but her cheeks flushed pink even in the dim light.

I stepped out of Jacob's arms and over to Charlie, hugging him goodbye.

"That's sure one hell of a present," he said, squeezing my shoulders in farewell. He winked, and then lowered his voice. "I could use a new reel the next time you're feeling generous."

I laughed, even as Sue scoffed and swatted at his shoulder. "I'll remember that," I told him as she reached for me and pulled me into a quick embrace.

"You'll do no such thing," she chided with an affectionate roll of her eyes. "This man has reels coming out of his ears." She held me at arm's length, and her smile softened. "Call me the next time you get a free afternoon. I'll meet you somewhere for lunch."

I nodded, returning her smile. "I'll do that."

I turned towards the car just as Maddie lifted her head from Rachel's shoulder, blinking her dark eyes owlishly and reaching for Jacob with whine. "Uncle Jake, Momma. I wanna ride with Uncle Jake."

"Not tonight, honey," Rachel told her, reaching for the truck door, even as Maddie began to squirm in protest. I watched as she blinked up at Jacob, her big doe eyes glassy with unshed tears, her little bottom lip quivering heartbreakingly.

"Aw, hell," Jacob muttered, reaching around me with a shake of his head to take the little girl from her mother. She locked her arms and legs around him, and burrowed her face into his neck. Behind us, Charlie laughed.

"You big ol' softie," he teased, and Jake shook his head again, glancing over at me with a wink.

"It's all these pretty brown eyed girls," he accused. "I don't stand a chance."

"Not a single one," Charlie agreed with a chuckle, hooking his thumbs in his belt loops and rocking back on his heels.

Rachel handed over a booster seat, the expression on her face apologetic. "Sorry my kid's cramping your style."

I laughed, shaking my head. "She's not," I assured her, hefting the seat up on my hip. "We'll see you back at the house."

With a final wave and goodbye, we loaded into the car. "Windows, Jakey!" Maddie ordered happily, her feet bouncing over the edge of the seat. Jake caught hold of her heel just before she had a chance to smash it into the gearshift, guiding her little foot gently back over her lap with his free hand as he checked his blind spots and eased out into the street. "Windows, windows, windows!"

"Yes ma'am," he replied emphatically, reaching for the window crank on the driver's side door as I did the same on the passenger side. The night air whipped in, warm and thick with moisture, and Maddie laughed, the sweet sound infectious. She made another request for princess songs, and proceeded to whack Jake's arm repeatedly until he gave in and mumbled the words along with the soundtrack.

"Don't pretend you don't know the words to this one," I teased, grinning as the opening theme to Hercules came on. "I know it's your favorite."

He grinned over her head at me, finally belting out all the words, swinging up into an awful, off-key falsetto for the hook, and I found myself giggling right along with Maddie.

I pulled in a deep breath of the fragrant air as the music transitioned to a slow ballad from Anastasia and then Angela Lansbury began crooning about a tale as old as time, and I let my gaze drift out the window. Trees shot straight up on both sides of the highway, one small strip of brilliant, star-speckled sky visible between their spiny tips.

Warm fingers brushed the hair off my shoulder, and I glanced over to see Jake watching me, his eyes darting back to the road every few seconds, a small, sweet smile curling up the edges of his lips. Maddie was already asleep, one foot resting over the edge of her seat on Jacob's lap, her little mouth open as her eyes flickered back and forth under their translucent lids.

I lifted my fingers to tangle with Jake's, and smiled over at him. "Bring back memories?" I asked, nodding to the girl between us.

He chuckled, turning back to face the road, his thumb making long, slow passes over the back of my hand. "Yeah."

I studied his profile in the darkness, the same now as it had been nearly ten years ago, frozen in time. Only his eyes, when they flicked over occasionally to mine, looked different, fuller somehow, if that were possible. "Do you miss it?" I asked, thinking about the conversation I'd had with Quil, and then clarified as his forehead creased in confusion. "I mean, do you wish I had aged slower, like Claire?"

He took his time answering, his breath deep and even, the only sound in the sudden silence as the music reached the end of the playlist. He glanced down at Maddie, but she slept on peacefully.

"Sometimes I miss it," he finally said, smiling over at me to soften his words, and I found myself deeply appreciating his honesty. "I miss being your superhero, being able to take all your troubles away with just a word. I miss how simple the world was for you."

His statement struck something deep within me that I'd never before been able to put a name to. My feelings of sometimes being stuck in the middle, not quite fitting in completely one place or another, halfway in and halfway out, neither fully human nor fully vampire nor fully Quiluete. But his words - they told me that he had seen that struggle, that he acknowledged it and knew it, and that - that feeling of being understood - was a powerful sense of reassurance that I didn't know I'd needed.

"But no," he said with a chuckle, drawing my attention back to him. I blinked, clearing away the sudden moisture from my vision. "I don't wish you had aged slower. I'm glad you only had to go through months of the awkward teenage stage, not years." He pretended to shudder.

I grinned at that, and cocked an eyebrow. "Faster, then? Or that you'd met me as an adult, like Rachel and Paul?"

He shook his head, a slow grin curling the edges of his lips. His eyes cut over to mine, and traced over the lines of my face, and the longer he looked, the more serious he got, the amusement in his gaze slowly replaced with an openness and an honesty that had my heart fluttering unsteadily in my chest.

"Nessie," he said finally, affection curling around the husky edges of each syllable. I tried to answer him, but found that I couldn't, my throat suddenly dry. He untangled his hand from mine to cup the side of my cheek, his thumb tracing over the bow of my lips so tenderly, the touch so light that if my eyes had been closed, I might've mistaken it for a breath of air.

"You're perfect."

His words were as soft as his touch, and it was the second time that evening I'd heard him breathe that word so earnestly and so decisively that there was no room for even my frequently dysfunctional self-confidence to break through and argue.

I pulled in a shaky breath of air as he wound my curls around his fingers, and there were no words that needed to be said for a long time.

When we finally reached Billy's house, once Paul had come and scooped up his sleeping daughter and Jacob and I stood side by side against the grille of the car, both of our heads tipped back to look up at the masterpiece that was the night sky, I tilted my head to look at him.

"Jake?"

My voice felt loud in the relative silence, and I watched the muscles move under the skin of his neck as he hummed an acknowledgement. My gaze traveled up the line of his jaw, over the strong planes of his cheek and his nose, finally landing on eyes that were warm with gentle amusement at my obvious perusal. I was sure that my cheeks flushed pink, though I didn't feel the warmth of it, as close as I was to him.

"You'll always be my superhero," I whispered into the air between us, smiling as his arm slipped around my shoulder and his face buried into the top of my head, breathing me in.