Billy's house quickly fills with pack members, some I remember some I don't. The energy is nervous and hectic. Being around the pack makes me realize what I've missed during the last 10 years. Jacob refuses to leave my side, even when Sam tries to gather the pack for a meeting. After about an hour the house begins to clear, and Jacob and I find ourselves standing alone in the kitchen.
"Bells, I'm so sorry that I showed up so frantic tonight. I'm just so afraid of you getting hurt by those blood suckers"
"Jake, I will never be mad about you wanting to keep me safe. I am just confused about everything that's going on at the moment."
"If I'm being honest, none of us are really sure what is happening or who these vampires are. I wish I had more news for you. You must be exhausted, let's get a little more sleep. You have the day off right"
"Just promise to keep me in the loop okay? I could definitely use some more sleep, especially since saturday is my only day off during the week."
"You can have my bed again. I don't want to be too far away, so I'll stay on the couch."
"Jake… will you lay with me? I don't want to be away from you"
"Of course I will Bells, I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable." Jake says, taking my hand and leading me to his bedroom.
It isn't until this moment that I remember that I am still in my Pjs. I remove the light jacket I've been wearing and my robe and crawl into Jakes bed. He lays down next to me and the heat radiating off his body warms me instantly. I rest my head on his chest and listen to his fast heartbeat. Moments later I'm asleep again.
When I wake for the second time this morning the sun is pouring through the window into Jacob's room. He is laying next to me still asleep, snoring softly. I run my fingers across the skin of his chest, admiring all of him as I do. His constant fever means he sleeps wearing almost nothing. He offered to wear more than his boxers, but I assured him I wanted him to be comfortable. Now I'm glad I did, his hot skin ignites under my touch. My eyes wander down to where the thin sheets covers his hips. I sigh, thinking about him.
"Enjoying yourself?" Jacob says. Causing me to jump with surprise.
"Umm sorry… I didn't know you were awake" I say, embarrassed that I was caught admiring him.
"Don't be sorry, I would have done the same if I had woken up first." he says with a wink.
When we finally force ourselves to get out of bed it is nearly 11am. Billy and Sam are sitting at the kitchen table. They are deep in conversation but become quiet as soon we enter the room. It's clear that Jacob and I were the topic of conversation.
"Nice of you two to finally grace us with your presence" laughs Billy.
"Jake can we talk outside?" Sam asks as he raises from the table.
Jake looks nervously at me.
"Go, I'll be fine" I say
While Jake is on the porch with Sam, I start to make some food for us. To avoid making small talk with Billy. I'm still angry that he kept Jake and I away from each other for so long. I don't know my way around his kitchen well but I manage.
My mind begins to think of all the possible conversations Jake and Sam could be having. Maybe they have realized that I am simply a liability and that I should leave La Push for good. I am getting wound up in my mind as Jacob comes back into the house, without Sam.
"Bella, Sam doesn't think it's safe for you to go back to Port Angeles. Is there any way for you to stay on the res? At least until this situation is under control."
"I'll see what I can do, I should go talk to Dr. Freedman later, he will know what to do. Does he know about the pack and the rest of the supernatural world?
"He actually does, Sam told him incase any of the pack members ended up at the clinic he would know what to do and not freak out about 108º temp."
"Would it be alright if I told him the pack is the reason I want to stay in La Push full time instead of commuting to Port Angeles?"
"Of course, I'd be happy to go with you if you'd like me to"
"That's okay, I'd actually rather go by myself. I can handle it."
After a shower and a change of clothing, I feel like a new person. It feels like a lot longer than a couple of hours that Jake was banging down my door and telling me the vampires are back. This whole week has been a blur. I never would have imagined Jake coming back into my life and me letting him waltz back in as though the last years never happened.
Everything happened so quickly I never stopped to think about how I really feel about the new developments. I don't think my feelings for Jake ever truly went away when he left, but his disappearance destroyed me for a long time. The imprint has to be part of what is causing me to fogo my feelings.
Alone I make a short walk to the clinic. Jake put up a fight about me walking alone, he's terrified that the vampires will get me. I was surprised he didn't walk to to the clinic door until I see movement in the woods. A beautiful russet wolf is following me from the tree line. Normally I would be afraid of wolves but his eyes give him away. I shoot a smile and wave in his direction before opening the clinic door.
"Bella what are you doing here?" Dr. Freedman asks as I knock on his office door.
"I was hoping I could talk to you about something."
I explain everything that has happened in the last week. How the pack found vampires coming down from Canada, why Victoria might be after me and how Jacob has sworn to protect me. Then I ask him if there is anything he can do to keep me in La Push.
"I'll see what I can do Bella, I understand how stressful this must be for you. Before Jacob came back the other day, did you know about the supernatural world?" he asks.
"I did, in high school I dated a vampire, but I didn't know about Jacob or werewolves" I explain.
"Well, I will make some calls and see what I can do. I'll be in touch."
As soon as I open the door, leading to the outside, I see my wolf. He follows me all the way back to Billy's. Jake disappears for a moment then reappears in human form. Shirtless as he seems to spend most of his time when not at work.
"Thanks for keeping me safe, while also respecting my need for space"
"I will always be here to protect you, but I also realize everything is new to you. A lot has changed in the last couple days. I have to keep reminding myself that we're not back to our teenage selves."
"I've really loved the last couple of days and sleeping next to you was really nice, but I meant what I said when told you I didn't want to go too fast. I trust you with my life but I'm not sure if I'm ready to trust you with my heart again."
"I understand Bella, I guess I thought you'd overlook my disappearance because of the imprint, but that was foolish of me."
"Why didn't you fight for me? Why didn't you find me, all these years I've been wondering what I did wrong."
"I couldn't. It's not as simple as me wanting you or not. I had a direct order from the alpha to stay away from you"
"So this is Sam's fault" I say, my voice raising.
"Well kinda, I mean I shouldn't have cut you off cold turkey. I owed you an explanation and I didn't give you."
"Jacob we missed 10 years that we could have been happily imprinted! How are you not as angry as I am!" I shout
"I've learned that things happen for a reason. Maybe if we imprinted 10 years ago you wouldn't have wanted to go to medical school. Maybe we would have gone to war with the vampires and one or both of us world be dead! All I know is that we can only go forward from here, I'm all in if you are, I'm not going to let Billy and Sam stand in our way anymore."
"Jake I need some air" I say walking for the door. "Don't follow me."
"But Bella the vampires"
"I'm on the res. It's fine!"
After 10 minutes of pacing along the road I decided that it's not completely Jake's fault. After another 10 I'm calm enough to finish the conversation. I can see him watching for me from the window. I wonder if he's been there the whole time or if he two can sense when I'm near as I can with him.
"I'm sorry I walked out, I shouldn't have left." I start.
"I know this wasn't completely your fault, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just feel like I've missed so much time with you and I know we can never get that back." I say slouching into a kitchen chair.
"I want you to know that I'm on your side. I'm angry and hurt that my father and my pack leader would care so little about my happiness. I'm devastated that we lost so much time, but like I said before we can only go forward"
" I know you're right, I'm just not sure I'm ready to forgive them yet."
"You don't have to, but try to eventually" he says, placing his large warm hand on my small shoulder.
We spend the rest of the afternoon wondering about the reservation. I learn more and more about the last 10 years each time we hangout. It turns out Jake was a star wrestler at UW being a werewolf is probably an unfair advantage, but since the supernatural world is a secret no one had to know about Jacobs superhuman strength.
Talking with Jake is easy, I'm surprised how quickly we fell back into the easy going relationship we had before he left. The one downside to rural medicine is it can be hard to make friends. The last couple years have been a little lonely. Dr. Freedmen is nice company but I wouldn't consider him a friend. I'm hoping that having Jake back in my life will open up some other friendships too, I remember Embry's girlfriend being nice, I wonder if they're still together. For the first time in a long time my future plans include more than medicine, now they include Jake.