When Jacob heard that Bella was coming home for Christmas, he wasn't sure what to believe. He knew that Charlie had been telling Billy the various stories that he had heard from Bella about college, but he didn't believe them. How could he when he knew what she had planned to become at the end of her honeymoon?

Sam's agreement to her change not violating the treaty still stung, after all. Whether or not she gave her consent didn't matter much; she was choosing a fate worse than death. They shouldn't have allowed it. Maybe it would have caused her to reconsider if it meant war with the pack? He wondered, not for the first time. Of course, he came to the same conclusion as always. As if.

Still, when Charlie invited him and Billy over for dinner to celebrate her coming home, there was no way to say no diplomatically. Billy needed them to go to see if it had been done yet, and Jacob didn't want to let his father go into a vampire den unprotected.

Who am I kidding? He scoffed to himself. That's not why I'm going.

The fact of the matter was Jacob Black was still mourning over what could have been with Bella Swan. He still wanted her, still ached for her, and he found that his resentment had grown in her four-month-long absence. He hoped that she had taken his warning at her wedding to heart, that her change hadn't been made at the necessity from some failed attempt at a normal honeymoon. That would be as traumatic as it would have been off-putting. Still, he found himself putting on a full set of clothes for the first time in ages, hoping that maybe, just maybe his Bella would still be there.

Charlie's house was never quite big enough once Jacob hit his growth spurt. He felt that acutely now as he waited for what felt like a funeral.

"So, is she staying here tonight?" Billy asked Charlie as he was finishing laying out a pizza spread he had ordered. Charlie gave a small smile.

"I don't think so. I don't think there's quite room enough for both her and Edward in her little bedroom, and I know better than to try to ask a newlywed couple to be separated from one another." He rolled his eyes, even as a touch of a blush came to his cheeks. "No, I think they will stay with the Cullens, though of course she's welcome to stay here."

Jacob resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn't quite dumb enough to out that Edward and Bella could, in fact, both fit in the room, since he had apparently been sneaking in each night. But then Jacob would have to come clean about the times he had snuck in as well, and it just wasn't worth the hassle or animosity that it would breed.

He heard the soft sound of the leech's car pull into the driveway and braced himself. He could hear vague talking over the quiet music, then the engine turned off. Doors were opened, and he heard footsteps walk up the walk, including the uneven sound of a stumble.

Vampires don't stumble.

"Careful, love," he heard, and he knew that Edward had caught Bella.

More than that, though, he suddenly was filled with hope. Too much hope, and it was going to kill him. After all, nothing was definitive yet. Still, he found himself standing, for one moment just silent, and then the door opened.

There was Bella, his Bella, with brown eyes and pink cheeks and heart beating.

She was still human.