Everyone handles stress differently. Some people are able to remain calm and levelheaded, while others blow a gasket and seem to require a heaping dose of anesthesia. A month and a half ago, I would have had no doubt in my mind where I fell on that spectrum. It used to take a lot to get me worked up, Jacob too for that matter. But after everything that went down in December, all bets were off.

Just a month into school, Angela had had enough of my attitude.

"What is with you lately?" She said raising her voice, which she never, ever did.

"What?" I snapped at her.

"Well, for starters, that! You've been in the pissiest mood the past couple weeks!"

I considered telling her to just mind her own business, but this was Angela. Why wouldn't I talk to her about it?

"I'm sorry, I don't know, I'm just really losing patience with everything."

"Well, I would suggest you vent instead of taking everyone's head off over the smallest thing."

"I know, I know. Ok, now before I start with this, you have to keep in mind that no matter what, my feelings for Jacob will never change. I will love him with everything in me, until the day I die, but I swear, if that boy doesn't give me some space, I'm gonna end up on that show, Snapped."

"What? Why?"

"He hasn't given me space for weeks! You know how I've been staying with him, well he doesn't even let me out of his sight! It's ridiculous, I feel like I have to ask permission to take a piss."

"Wow, he's that freaked out about the Edward thing?"

"Yeah! And the thing is, I don't even think the bastard knows where the rez is, there's no way he could get in there and find me without someone else finding him first, but it doesn't matter. Jacob stays stuck to my side." Angela looked at me funny. "What?"

"Sorry, but I don't see how it's any different than any other time. You two have always been inseparable, why is this bothering you now?"

"Ugh, I don't know." I said, burying my face in my hands. "That's what's so frustrating. I feel bad for feeling like this, which makes me even more aggravated, and it makes my mood even worse."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"No."

"Of course not. I swear Swan, you are the worst at communicating. If you don't talk to him, you're going to end up exploding. Besides, based on what I've seen, and what Ben has told me, he's not exactly all sunshine and rainbows either."

"Yeah, I think we're both running on fumes. We don't talk much, and when we do, it's usually arguing."

"So, basically, you both need some breathing room. But again, I don't get why it's so different."

"I don't know, maybe just the stress of the situation, maybe if it wasn't for the reason we have to be together all the time, we would actually want to be together all the time."

"Yeah, that makes sense. But you do understand that he's just worried about you, right?"

"Trust me, I get why he's scared, I really do. But frankly, I think I'd rather be scared, instead of smothered."

I really did consider what Angela had said about talking to him, but by the time we were alone to talk, I was just as aggravated as before, and really didn't have it in me to make peace.

So it really wasn't surprising when, a week later, we finally reached our breaking point.

"I'm going over to Leah's." I said as I passed through the living room. I heard him huff and get up and follow me to the door. I turned and faced him. "No! Not with you! I'm going alone!" He just rolled his eyes and roughly pushed past me, and I completely lost it. I threw my entire body into his, pushing him through the door, and causing him to lose his footing and fall. He was right back up in my face, just as furious as I was.

"What the hell, Bella?" He yelled in my face. I didn't care, I was right up in his face too. My blood was boiling, and I knew I just couldn't take anymore.

"Don't fucking push me!" I screamed back.

"Then stop acting like a brat!" My eyes went wide, and I slapped him as hard as I could across his face, although I'm sure it hurt me more than him. Right now though, all I could feel was anger, and a whole hell of a lot of it. He jerked his face back to mine and snarled. I vaguely registered voices in the distance, but I was more concerned with holding my angry tears back.

"Don't you ever do that again." He growled at me.

"Then don't talk to me like I'm a damn child! I'm sick of this shit, Jacob! I can't live like this!" I turned to walk off the porch, but he grabbed my arm and spun me back around to face him.

"You think this is a damn party for me? You think I enjoy having to watch over you like I'm your fucking keeper?"

"I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!"

"NEITHER DID I!

We stood there for a beat, just staring each other down, before either of us realized Sam was standing beside us.

"Jake," He said softly. "Let go of her arm, you're going to hurt her."

I saw his nostrils flare, and he dropped my arm like it burned him.

"Nah, she's invincible, nothing can hurt her." He snarled.

"You're right Jake, after what you've put me through, nothing could ever hurt me as bad as you have." I gritted right in his face. He growled menacingly before I was grabbed by two hands and pulled back away from him. Sam stopped him just as he took a step toward me, and I could see the fire in his eyes.

"Oh yeah, cause you're such a damn angel all the time."

"Fuck you, Jacob Black."

"Go to hell." He sneered.

We froze, staring at each other in horror. What just happened? Had we really said those things to each other?

"I need to go." I choked out, barely above a whisper. Leah released my arms as I turned, and she followed me down the driveway. I thought I heard Jacob say my name, but it wasn't loud enough to stop me. How had everything gotten so messed up? I know we were frustrated, but for us to just blow up at each other like that? That just wasn't natural. We were the kind of people that talked things out, we worked things out, always together. I started getting angry, no, furious! And not at Jake. I was so angry at the situation we had been put in. We had done nothing to bring any of this on us, yet we were the ones suffering. I felt my blood boiling, and I felt like I would explode. I took off running, hoping to blow off some of this steam. I heard Leah yelling at me from behind, but I just kept running. I just kept thinking how this was so unfair, and there was basically nothing we could do about it. Leah didn't catch up to me until we got to the beach, and even then she huffing and puffing.

"Damn Swan, what the hell was that?"

"I'm so fucking sick of this shit!" I screamed back at her, trembling. I looked around, frustrated. "Damn it, I just want to punch something!"

"Here, punch me. You can't hurt me, although it'll probably break your-"

She didn't finish her sentence before I pulled back and punched her square in the face, knocking her back about five feet.

"Oh my God, Leah!" I said running to her. "I'm so sorry! Why did you tell me to do that?" Leah just laid there, one arm propping her up, the other rubbing her jaw, looking at me wide eyed. Suddenly a growl ripped through the trees as one of the wolves broke through, running toward us. Then I realized he was running toward me. I jumped up backing away from Leah quickly as he stalked toward me, not really scared of him, but just trying to diffuse the situation of me attacking her, but Leah jumped to get in between us.

"No! Paul, it's ok, I'm ok. Go get Sam." He looked past her to me and growled. "I said go!" She yelled back at him. He huffed and took off back the way he came. She turned to face me, her eyes drilling me.

"Leah, I am so-"

"How did you do that?" She asked quietly, and I couldn't tell if she was angry or not. I hadn't been scared when Paul was coming toward me, but now here with Leah, I suddenly seemed very vulnerable.

"I….I'm sorry, I was just mad, I didn't mean to-"

"No, that's not what I mean. How did you actually hurt me."

My brow furrowed as I realized what exactly had happened. What should have happened was a broken hand, but what actually happened was something impossible.

"I…...I don't….." I couldn't even finish my sentence. She wrapped a hand around my arm.

"Well, you aren't hot, so it isn't like you're turning." She said calmly, and I looked at her funny.

"I can't turn, it's only you guys, Quiletes." She just shrugged.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to either, but look at me now. But it doesn't matter, without the fever, I doubt that's the case anyway." She scrunched her eyebrows together. "It still doesn't make any sense though."

I hugged my arms around my torso and sat down in the sand. The only thing going through my mind was 'too much…...too much….too much'. Really though, what did happen?

"Ok, let's think about this." Leah said as she sat down cross legged in front of me. "You were really mad…"

"Yeah, but I've been mad before."

"But you've never fought with Jake before."

"So?"

"Maybe whatever brought on that whole episode, which by the way was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen, maybe that's what brought on all this?"

"What do you mean scary?"

"You guys never fight, you never even raise your voice to each other."

"Yes we do, well, we have before, just not a lot."

"No way, not like that. It was….weird. Like something out of the twilight zone or something. But then, after that, you took off like a bat out of hell. I couldn't even keep up with you, and let me tell you, we run pretty fast." I widened my eyes.

"I thought I just took you by surprise."

"Even if you did, I should have been able to catch up within seconds." I just shook my head, staring at nothing.

"I don't know, I didn't feel any different other than being just really, really mad."

"At Jake?"

"No." I shook my head hard. "Mad that all this crap caused us to act like that to each other, and that all of this has turned ours, and everyone else's world, completely upside down. None of us did anything to bring this on us, and yet we're the ones having to suffer. All of you all having this whole 'wolf' thing, and then with the vampires, which by the way, I still feel ridiculous when I say that out loud."

She laughed out loud, and I found myself smiling, which felt really good. Then we heard both wolves and people barreling through the woods, right before they broke out onto the beach.

"This will be fun." Leah grumbled as we stood up to meet them.

"What happened?" Sam asked in a very serious and demanding tone.

"She hurt me." Leah said simply, which earned a ferocious growl from Paul. Jared and Embry flanked him, holding on to each arm, keeping him from coming after me.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"She was mad, she needed to hit something, I told her to hit me, and she did. Only it hurt me, not her."

Sam looked at me, brows furrowed, while the others just stared at me.

"It hurt?"

"Not like if one of you all were to hit me. As mad as she was, if she had that kind of strength, she would have knocked me out."

Just then Jake broke through the treeline. His eyes were bloodshot, probably much like mine.

"What happened?" He asked. Sam turned to stop him.

"I told you to stay home and I would-"

"Yeah, well I didn't. What happened?" He asked again, pushing past Sam and eyeing Leah suspiciously.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm the victim here." Leah said, rubbing her jaw again.

"I said I'm sorry!" I huffed in exasperation.

"Wait, seriously?" Jake asked incredulously.

"Apparently your girlfriend decided to take her anger out on Leah." Paul spit out.

"Chill Paul, I'm fine, and don't forget that I can hold my own as well as you can." Leah said to him. Paul didn't answer, just glowered at me, which earned a swift punch from Jake. Sam just rolled his eyes and continued.

"Is this the first time it's happened?"

"Well, when we first started walking, she took off running and I couldn't keep up with her."

"Maybe you're just getting weaker, Clearwater." Embry laughed. Leah walked over to him calmly.

"Hmm, let's see." And she knocked him clear back to the treeline. Everyone, including myself, howled with laughter.

"Well, we know that's not the problem." Sam said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, she pushed me pretty hard." Jake said. "Back at my house, when we were fighting, she pushed me hard enough to knock me down." He looked at me intensely, and suddenly I became very uncomfortable. I hugged myself tighter.

"But I'm not a Quileute! Leah said I wasn't running hot, this is just-"

"You were bitten, Bella." Sam said softly. The silence that followed that statement was deafening. Even Paul looked at me sympathetically. Jake walked over and held me to him, and I wrapped my arms around his waist, holding him to me like he was my anchor. And he was.

"I'm so sorry Bella." He whispered against my hair. All I could do was shake my head, I couldn't form coherent words, but he needed to know it wasn't his fault. It all lead back to the vampires. None of this was anyone else's fault. It all lead back to them. I took a deep breath before I started getting angry again.

"Jake, we need to see if she-"

"Not now Sam." He interrupted, not moving from his spot.

"Jacob, we don't know if-"

"I. Said. Not. Now." I could feel the rumble in Jake's chest as he growled out the words, and instead of feeling scared, it comforted me.

"Jacob Black, you will stand down." Sam ordered in a much less understanding voice. Much to my surprise, Jake's arms loosened and he stepped back, though the look on his face was murderous. He kept his eyes on me, though I know his anger was reserved for Sam and his 'alpha' order. I took a breath and managed a tight smile.

"It's ok Jake, I'm fine."

"Jacob, we aren't going to hurt her. Now Bella, I want you to knock Leah down." A growl rose up from Paul, which both Leah and Sam both glared at him. "And Paul, if you can't control yourself, then go home." Paul stepped back with his arms crossed, but kept his eyes on Leah and me. "Alright Bella, see if you can knock her down." Leah turned to me with a smug smirk. I rolled my eyes, I felt ridiculous. I just walked over to her, and pushed, but it was like pushing a wall. Leah snorted, which just made me push her harder, and she still didn't budge. I walked several feet away from her, and turned to face her.

"Bring it, bitch." She said smugly. I narrowed my eyes at her, as I heard an angry growl come from behind me. I took off running, and slammed my side into her.

Now, what would have been really cool is if she flew back from my hit, even a few feet, but unfortunately that is definitely not what happened. What did happen, was I got the breath knocked out of me, and I was the one who flew back and hit the sandy ground hard, and I'm pretty sure I saw stars. I heard some growling and loud talking, but all I could focus on was trying to breathe again. Leah had me sitting up, rubbing my back, telling me to slow my breathing down, since I was gasping for breath. Although it didn't help that she was laughing at me the whole time. Once I was calmed down, she and Jake lifted me to my feet.

"Well, that didn't work." Sam said rubbing the back of his neck.

"You think?" The three of us asked sarcastically.

"Maybe it was just a fluke thing." Paul offered. I was shocked that he cared enough to give an opinion.

"I don't know." Sam said, shaking his head.

"Maybe she just has to be really, really mad." Leah said. "You should have seen her, I honestly don't think I've ever seen her that mad, and I've seen her pretty pissed." I glanced up at Jake and he had a pained look on his face. I took his hand and squeezed it, and received a small squeeze back.

"Can we have this conversation another time? I don't know about you guys, but I'm freezing." It had started sleeting awhile ago, and it was starting to get harder. I could feel my hair actually starting to retain the ice.

"Oh man, Bells, why didn't you say something! Come on." Jake took my hand and we started running back toward the treeline of the beach. I was actually surprised he didn't just swoop me up and carry me, but I liked that he didn't.

By the time we wound back to his house, it was really coming down. I couldn't feel much of my body from the numbness of the cold, but he'd been holding my left the whole time, so it was the only part of my body I could feel. Even after the run, which kept me marginally warm, I was shaking hard from the cold.

"Go get in the shower, you need to get yourself warm, fast. I'll bring you in some clothes and fix you some coffee."

"M-m-m-make it extr-tr-tra h-h-h-ot." I shivered as I walked back to the shower.

I stayed in the shower, running the water as hot as I could until it started running cool, and I still could feel just a hint of a chill under my skin. I got out and dried, and layered on the thermals and sweats Jake had brought in. There was a cup of coffee sitting on the end table by the couch, so I cuddled up on the couch and started flipping through channels.. I could hear Jake on the front porch talking to someone on the phone, but I was too tired to pay much attention. I ended up drifting off while watching some random cooking show.

I woke up a few hours later, covered in a thick blanket and a pillow under my head. I stretched out, relishing the warmth my body had finally acquired. I stood up and turned to see Jake hunched over the kitchen table, his head in his hands. I padded over to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders from behind. I felt him reach up and hold onto my arm lightly.

"Jake, I'm so sorry. I should have talked to you."

He turned and pulled me into his lap, holding me tight to him and leaning his forehead against my temple.

"Bells, I need to tell you something." He said seriously. I suddenly became very nervous.

"Nothing ever good comes from saying that." I tried to joke, but it didn't really land with either of us. He looked up into my eyes, and I could see so much hurt there.

"This isn't about us babe, we're definitely ok." He said, brushing my hair out of my face. Unfortunately, my relief was short lived.

"Bells, Angela is missing."