AN: Big, big, big thanks to RoseMarieCraves and Wolf Born Woman for your reviews! Feedback is always welcome, especially positive, it's very much appreciated.
Read and review please!
Song suggestion: Both of us, B.O.B. ft. Taylor Swift. (Please feel free to suggest songs and I'll see if I can fit them into one of my suggestions)
Chapter Six: Trading.
I woke up to the smell of breakfast and smiled. I hope dad-reality came crashing down on me and I couldn't breathe. Someone had taken the air from my lungs, like I'd been punched in the gut. Yesterday came back to me like a blast of arctic water over my head. A tear trekked down my cheek as I tried to hold back my sorrow.
My hand came up to brush it away, but I needn't have. Another hand was there, wiping away my tears. I glanced up at Jacob, with his chubby little face, smiling sadly at me. For such a young child, he seemed to understand deeply.
Billy entered then, dressed in mourning clothes, new lines aging his face. He took in the two of us curled up on the bed and smiled weakly. Jake gave me a quick squeeze before leaping out of the bed and hugging his dad. I looked away, my heart aching. I would never hug my dad like that again. Swiping at the tears beginning to fall, I had to be stronger, they had lost a parent too, I turned back to Billy and Jacob.
"Hey son." Billy ruffled Jake's hair affectionate, "Why don't you get breakfast?"
"Sure, sure." Jake smiled and looked back at me. I motioned him on and he walked out with a wave. Billy clearly wanted to talk to me alone.
"How's it going Bella?" Billy sat on the bed and watched me carefully. Shrugging, I looked away, "Today Mark and Steve will want to know where you want to stay."
"I want to stay here." I replied adamantly.
"Okay. But we'll have to have you staying with Allison Uley. You remember her, don't you? And her son, Sam?" Vague memories of a dramatic woman and a very serious native boy surfaced. I'd seen them at the beach a couple of times, occasionally we'd speak but not often, "Lovely people, you remember?"
"Yeah." Nodding, he smiled back sadly. I understood. This house barely fit the Black family in it, never mind adding me to the pile. I'd still be close by, it wouldn't matter, and I could visit all the time.
"Alright, breakfast time." Billy stood and walked to the door. His limbs wobbled slightly, yesterday taking its toll on his already weak body.
I followed him out to find Rebecca and Rachel huddled at the dining table. In their grief, they'd closed ranks. They had their hands linked, drawing strength from each other, and my heart broke for them. Jake was trying to be his usual bubbly self but it was like watching a deflated balloon slowly falling down. Billy had set out some boiled eggs and toast, but hardly anything was getting touched. The atmosphere was suffocating; the tension stifling, as if everyone was on edge in case someone burst into tears. This was highly probable looking at their eyes.
After breakfast had gone stone cold and our butts had gone numb, someone knocked on the door. Only Billy glanced up as Rachel and Rebecca slipped away to their room, too distracted in his own thoughts to have noticed. Jake stood up to answer it but Billy shook his head and went to get it himself.
"Morning Billy." Harry Clearwater nodded as the front door creaked open under Billy's hand. With him were Sue, Old Quil, and Allison Uley, who stepped in from the typical Washington rain that darkened the sky above.
"Come in." Billy replied in greeting and moved to clear the dinner table, "Jacob, Bella, can you play in Jake's room please?" His request for privacy was quickly obeyed. When Jake shut the door behind us, I noticed all the adults watching me and I shivered.
"What do you want to play?" Jacob smiled at me and I spotted the quiver in his cheeks. Clearly keeping up the bravado was waning on him already.
"Are you okay Jacob?" I asked worriedly, my hand coming up to resting comfortingly on his shoulder. He sighed under my hand and tears temporarily swarmed his eyes before he rubbed them away. I could swear Jake was not younger than me sometimes. Patting my hand, he stepped away and crawled under the bed.
"How about we play…?" From the noises rustling Jacob was making I briefly wondered how many toys were stuffed under there as his version of 'tidying'. In Jake's tiny room, there wasn't many places to sit, so I found myself leaning against his door, ear pressed against it to eavesdrop on the living room. Muffled voices conversed and I strained to hear.
"…Allison, for Charlie." Billy's deep, rumbling voice droned through the wood and I pressed the shell of my ear harder against it.
"I barely have enough money for Sam and I, I can't raise another child." She argued and I bit my lip, a bad habit of mine. If Mrs Uley couldn't take me in, I didn't know what would happen. I'd be taken into care, away from my home. Tears blurred my vision at the prospect.
"You don't need to worry about any of that; the tribe takes care of its own. Bella is a good kid, you needn't concern yourself, and all you need to do is legally take guardianship, everything else we can sort ourselves." Crossing my fingers, I hoped she'd accept with all my heart.
"What about snakes and ladders?" Jake startled me. Pressing a hand to my raging heart, I smiled lopsidedly at him and nodded. His answering grin was weak as he pulled the game board from beneath the bed and set it between us.
Deciding that it was up to the adults to plan my future right now, I gave Jake my full attention. There was nothing I could do about the discussion in the living room but I could do something about the depressing mood building in this room. I reached across as Jake rolled a dice and took his hand, in reply he squeezed back and smiled, comforted by touch.