Let me just start this by saying that Dean Lewis is an amazing artist and everybody needs to check him out right this instant. Like right now. No excuses. Well, maybe after reading this chapter. Open it in another tab or something.

When I was planning this chapter out MONTHS ago, I was listening to Dean Lewis' album 'A Place We Knew' religiously and I just knew that the song for this chapter had to be one by him. This is one of my favorite songs off the album (my favorite being "Waves") and I felt like some parts of it, as well as the overarching theme that I got from the song, matched the direction that I wanted to take this chapter in perfectly. It's a self-reflective song, which meshed so well with what I wanted to do here.

One of the biggest issues that I have with Twilight fanfiction (and I have read a LOT of it) is how little character development Jacob has. Now, this isn't necessarily fanfiction's fault. If anything, it's Stephanie Meyer's fault because she's pretty shit at developing her characters as well. But anyways, I've always wanted to write a Jacob x OC story (because any relationship with Bella is just toxic) that actually gives him the chance to grow as a person. Real people don't stay stagnant, and the fact that I'm pretty sure Stephanie Meyer only wrote Jacob's character that way to have him fall in love with a baby kind of makes me sick.

So yeah, here is the next chapter.

***IMPORTANT NOTE*** The next, and final, chapter will only be posted on my Ao3 account, so go follow it there to read the final chapter when it comes out! My screen name is MissAxolotlQueen and the story over there is called "When Things Fall Apart". Is the title inspired by Chinua Achebe? Yes. Is the plot anything similar? Lol, no. Sorry to disappoint.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Twilight or any of Dean Lewis' music. So don't come for me please...

"I've been running from my demons,
afraid to look behind.
I've been running from myself,
afraid of what I'd find."

One Month Later…
FEBRUARY

Jacob sighed to himself as he pulled up in front of his small home. He knew his dad was home. After all, he was the one that gave the man rides a majority of the time, and he hadn't been home in the past couple of days, so he knew that he didn't give the man much of a choice in the matter.

He really didn't want to think about how horrible of a son he has been at the moment. He knew he hadn't been around much lately. He knew he was now showing up at 2 A.M. without notice. And he knew his dad was probably sitting in his chair, awake, and waiting for him to come home.

He knew he was a shitty son, but he didn't want to think about that right now. He had enough going on in his head.

Turning the truck off, he took his time collecting his belongings from the center console. He forced his legs to twist so he could jump out of the truck and slowed his drawl towards the front door. Anything to delay facing what was inevitably on the other side.

With another deep sigh, he opened the door quietly, just in case his father had fallen asleep. He hadn't. Instead, he was trying not to doze off in front of the television watching reruns of one of the 90's sitcoms that was played late at night. When he heard the door open, however, he straightened up and turned towards the door. "Jacob?"

Jacob winced, making sure to manage his expression before closing the door completely and making his way over to his father's still-sitting figure. "Hey dad."

His dad said nothing— just continued to stare at him expectantly.

Jacob's hands twitched at the tense silence. "What's up?"

He knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left his mouth, but it was too late to take them back. Instead, he was forced to watch as his father's face tense with disappointment and something else that he couldn't quite pinpoint. Frustration? Anger? A mix of the two?

Seconds ticked by without either saying a word, and when Jacob couldn't take the intensity of the older man's harsh stare any longer, he moved towards the connecting kitchen to grab a glass of water.

"Jacob, come sit down."

Jacob filled his glass and took a large gulp before planting himself on the couch adjacent to his dad's reclining chair. The chair was no longer reclined. While he was in the kitchen, his dad had sat himself up, leaning himself on the arm of the chair for support.

"Do you want to explain yourself?" The man's voice was firm. The older Black had always been reasonable in how he dealt with his childrens' bad behavior. Especially after his wife, Jacob's mother, had passed— Billy Black always made sure to cherish his children and show them all the love and support that a single parent possibly could.

It was rare that he got truly angry.

"I-" Jacob ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry is not an explanation Jacob. I want an explanation."

The younger boy wiped an exhausted hand over his face. "I don't know dad. I just… I just got sidetracked."

"For two days?!" Jacob jumped at the intensity of his father's voice. Billy rarely raises his voice. The man sighed deeply. "Jacob, you were gone for over forty-eight hours. You didn't tell me where you were going. Hell, you didn't tell me that you were leaving at all. You didn't answer any of my calls or texts when I was trying to get ahold of you to see if you were even okay. Do you understand how scared I was?"

"I know dad, I'm so-"

"No, Jacob. You don't know. I called everybody to see where you were, but nobody knew. Not even Sam. I didn't know if you were..."

The room fell into a loaded silence. Guilt started to sink in. He hadn't thought about what he was doing until he snapped out of it a few hours prior to coming home. It was like he wasn't in control of himself. He was just running off instinct.

A lump formed in the back of his throat and his entire jaw clenched with emotion.

"I'm sorry." His words came out no louder than a whisper.

They fell into silence once again as both father and son collected themselves enough to continue to speak.

"Where were you?"

Jacob shrugged. "Not sure. I think I made it up to the border at some point. I just wandered mostly."

Billy's eyes softened. He reached over to his son and placed a comforting hand on the boy's own. He gave it a tight, reassuring squeeze. "Are you okay?"

Jacob's shoulders began to droop forward as the tension that previously filled the room began to dwindle. "Yeah dad. I'm okay."

"You really think you can lie to your old man and get away with it? Think again."

Jacob huffed a faint laugh. "Yeah, I figured you weren't old enough yet for that to slide."

A hand firmly biffed him off the back of the head. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding. You're as young and spry as you were twenty years ago."

"You're really pushing it…"

"Sorry, sorry." Jacob's laughter quickly died down. "I don't know. I just… Bella won't listen to reason. I tried, and we were finally connecting again and then she just ruined everything by going after that suicidal leech. I just don't get it dad. Why can't she just understand us when we say they're no good for her?"

He appreciated his father's attention with matters concerning a certain Swan. Whenever he spoke of her around his friends and packmates, they just mocked him and told him to get over her already.

He stopped talking to them about her altogether.

"Jacob," his father started hesitantly. "Are you sure this is about Bella?"

His entire body tensed. His hands began shaking, leading him to take a deep breath in efforts to calming himself down. No. He wasn't thinking about that right now.

"Of course it is. I just said it is."

His father sighed, eyeing his son's visibly shaking hands. He gave the boy a minute to collect himself before continuing. "You can't lie to me, remember?"

Jacob leapt off the couch. "It's late. I'm going to bed."

Before his father had the chance to say anything else, Jacob stormed into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him, leaving his father alone in front of the television once again.

2 Months Later…
APRIL

Everything ached. It radiated over his entire body, lighting up every nerve like a firework. It hurt so bad, yet it felt slightly better than it had a few minutes prior when half his bones had to be rebroken and fixed. It was like an agonizing pain that knocked his breath away. It was the type of pain that made you wish somebody would knock you out just so it would go away.

But now it all ached.

He asked Carlisle to see Bella, but as he waited—covered in sweat in his small, single bed—he wondered if that was a good idea.

He just wanted some comfort. Anything to ease the aching just a little bit. He thought that maybe Bella could give that comfort to him. Maybe, if he saw what he had been fighting for, then he would feel better about what it cost him.

Maybe Bella will see him like this and change her mind.

"Hey Jake," he heard faintly from across the room.

He hadn't even heard Bella come in. He was too wrapped up in his own head to be completely present on the outside. Despite that, he still managed to choke out a pathetic "hey" in response.

His body was hot. Hotter than usual. He could feel the sweat covering his body from head to toe. It all felt like a fever dream.

He kept his eyes trained on Bella, knowing that if he didn't, he would begin to drift into his own headspace again. He needed to talk to Bella. He needed to see she was okay—that it was all worth it.

"I was worried about you," he whispered. His throat, along with the rest of his body, was shot from screaming so much.

He really hoped she hadn't heard that.

She shook her head in disbelief. "You were worried about me?"

"Yeah, I was worried he read my thoughts. Was he hard on you?"

She shook her head. "He wasn't even mad at me. Or you."

His chest clenched. "Well damn," he managed. "He's better than I thought."

His throat welled up, but he swallowed it down. He didn't want to show the girl in front of him just how he was feeling. He was sick of being let down every time he did.

"He's not playing a game."

He hoped. He really, truly hoped that maybe things had changed. Maybe, for some reason, this sacrifice he made for the sake of the girl kneeling beside his bed would shine a different light on him in her eyes.

He's never felt like such an idiot.

"Right."

He didn't have anything else to say to her. He was tired of trying to convince her. He was tired of feeling crushed every time she went crawling back to him.

He was just tired.

A few days later, he was finally starting to feel better.

That night after Bella had come to visit him, she ended up leaving soon after the strained silence that fell between them became too much. She wished him well and ignored the glares she was receiving from the rest of his pack on her way out. Other than a quick phone call to check in on him yesterday, he hadn't seen or heard from her since.

He had been hurt at first. On top of all his broken bones, it felt as if his heart had snapped as well. Especially when things started to make sense in his head: her behavior towards him, her hanging out with him only when she needed it, that kiss…

She was using him.

It was so blatantly obvious. He felt dumb for not seeing it before. His pack had warned him. His father had warned him. Michelle had warned him…

Michelle. God, he missed her so much. He had managed to push the thought of her aside for the past few months, but everything revolving around her was hitting him harder now than ever. She had warned him from the start. She was always on his side, no matter what. She was his best friend.

She's his imprint.

He can't believe he just threw all that away. And for what? For Bella? For a girl who never really cared about him at all. A girl who was just selfishly leading him along like a puppy at her beck and call.

He was such a fucking idiot.

And now he couldn't even fix things between him and Mitchie. She was all the way on the opposite side of the globe and had, at some point, blocked his number. He could always go to her best friend, but that didn't feel right. She clearly wanted nothing to do with him. He could at least give her that after everything he put her through.

He found himself wondering what life would have been like if he had ripped off his rose colored glasses sooner. Would he have a better relationship with his father? They had been slowly growing closer again over these last few days, but they still had so much more to do in order to get to what they were before. Jacob realized he had been pushing the man away and now hated himself for it.

Would he be closer to his pack? While they had been with him through everything, things were a bit tense between him and Sam, making things tense between the whole pack by default. Maybe if he had just listened to their teasing and taunting to begin with and taken the hint, things would be better between them.

Would he still have Mitchie by his side? He knew she always hated living in this town, but she always said that he made it worth it. After he abandoned her like he did, he could imagine that there wasn't much left for her here.

No. Despite all the negativity that came from the situation, he was glad it all happened. If it didn't, he wasn't sure that she would have left. She probably would have stayed in Washington and went to the local community college for no reason other than obligatory emotional ties holding her back.

She always wanted to leave and find her place, so he's glad she was able to grasp that opportunity. He just wished he was there for her when she did.

He missed his imprint. No matter how much he tried not to, he couldn't help it. She was his soulmate, and deep down, he's always known that. But the best thing he could do for her now was to let her open her wings and fly, so that was exactly what he was going to do.

A few days later he received a wedding invitation.

He passed the invitation along to his father and stayed home that night to take a well-deserved nap.

3 Months Later…
JULY

Bella was pregnant.

He couldn't believe those words were even going through his mind.

He hadn't spoken to the Cullens or Bella in months. He knew they got married. He never attended the wedding, but his father, out of respect to Charlie, went in his place. He doesn't even know why he was invited really. There was no reason for him to go, and he couldn't imagine what was going through Bella's mind when she invited him. Did she think he would show up and cause a scene? Continue to argue with her that she was making a mistake?

Well he was sick of being the one to make a scene, and to be honest, he really didn't care about her decisions anymore. She was a big girl. She could handle herself.

At least that's what he thought.

But now she's pregnant.

How was that even possible? Weren't vampires sterile? They were dead. They didn't have blood. How does that even work?

Despite his confusion regarding the entire situation, he really didn't care for the answer to any of those questions. In fact, he was pretty frustrated upon hearing this news. He had finally been managing to move on from the girl who had strung him along for years and now this? It's like he couldn't escape her. She was always getting herself into some shit that affected everybody around her and it was frustrating to say the least.

But he had heard talk within the pack. They wanted to kill the baby. Kill it because it was a freak of nature—a monster that would destroy all in its path.

Jacob thought that was a little dramatic.

It was just a baby, and as much as he didn't like Bella and the Cullens, he was able to recognize that this child hasn't done anything wrong. Killing it out of spite and speculation wasn't right.

Nobody else agreed with him though. Some of the pack members chose to remain quiet on the topic, but nobody was willing to argue against their alpha.

Maybe it was time for him to step in.

"Sam, this is ridiculous."

"Redi- do you hear yourself right now? This thing is a threat to our tribe-"

"Baby."

Sam stopped, brows furrowing. "What?"

"This baby," Jacob stood from where he was leaning against the wall. "You keep calling it a thing, and it's a baby. Whether it's half vampire or not, it's still a half human baby."

"Are you on fucking drugs?" Jacob sighed and rolled his eyes at Paul's voice. "No, you're just still pussy-whipped aren't you? And here I thought you were finally getting over that bitch."

Jacob ground his teeth to keep from snapping at his packmate. "This has nothing to do with Bella. Like I said, this baby is still going to be half human. Bella hasn't been turned yet. If you kill it, you're committing murder. I'm not going to have that on my conscience."

"Yeah," Paul's voice was harsh. "And what about when that baby comes out with a thirst for blood and murders this whole town? Then what? And what about your precious Bella? It'll probably kill her before she even pushes it out."

"And that's her problem, but we don't know anything about what's going to happen. For all we know, that baby can come out completely human. There's no reason to do something as harsh as killing it when it hasn't given us any reason to."

Sam sighed. Noticing Paul tensing to lunge forward, he stuck his arm out as a barrier. "Paul enough." Paul didn't move for a moment. It took another intense look from his alpha to get him to take a deep breath and back down. Sam dropped his arm and turned his attention back towards Jacob. "Jake, you have to understand that this could be incredibly dangerous to everybody involved if things take a turn for the worse. We're simply preventing the potential threat from becoming an actual problem. That's what we do. You know that."

"And what about our arrangement with the Cullens? We're just going to light that aflame by attacking their offspring without any logical cause? That seems pretty hypocritical if you ask me."

"He's planning on turning her though." Seth piped in from his spot at the kitchen table. They had all been crowded into Sam's kitchen in a pack meeting, and he had made himself as small as possible in the corner as he listened to everybody talk about the issue at hand. "I went with Jared and Embry to their place, and Bella looks really sick. I don't think she'll make it if they don't turn her."

"Exactly," Paul nodded. "So they're breaking the pact. We aren't doing anything wrong."

Jacob was silent as he mulled this over. He hadn't gone to visit Bella at all since he heard the news, and he didn't really plan on it now. He'd take Seth's word for it.

He sighed. "Look, I want the Cullens out of here just as much, if not more than, the rest of you. I still think this is too extreme though. If we pull something like this, all morals issues set aside, do you think that they're just going to let us kill their kid and leave? We'll only make things worse for ourselves."

Everyone fell silent as they thought this over. Taking down an entire coven of angry vampires was admittedly ridiculous, and in the end, that would be the only way to kill their offspring. Even if all of them weren't on board with Bella giving birth to this kid, at least one of them had to be. And once their head hit the floor separate from their body, all of the others would be out ffor blood.

Sam was the one to break the silence. "What do you suggest then?"

They all turned to Jacob, waiting for his response. He thought about it for a minute before making up his mind.

"Why don't we give them an ultimatum?"

The pack looked between one another. "Like what?" Jared asked.

Jacob straightened and moved to stand beside Sam to face all the others. "Why don't we let them make the choice. They can either take their spawn and leave—as in move away and never come back—or we can go through with the original plan. After all, I agree with you guys that it's time those leeches need to go. They've been here too long and I don't like how young pack members are starting to become…"

They all agreed with that last fact. The people that were shifting were starting to get younger and younger. Their youngest right now were Brady and Collin who were both thirteen. Thirteen year olds shouldn't be having to worry about fighting deadly supernatural creatures.

The pack was quiet as they mulled the idea over. Finally, Sam cleared his throat, catching all of their attention. "How about we think about it and reconvene tomorrow. It's been a long day."

They all agreed and slowly began to file out to avoid the lingering tension in the room. It was suffocatingly thick.

The only two to stay behind were Sam and Jacob. Once the last pack member could be heard leaving out the back door, Sam leaned over the counter and ran a stressed hand through his hair. "I've never seen you that composed before. I'm starting to think you might have a point."

The younger boy said nothing. He just watched the older man as he seemed to be thinking hard about something.

"You know," Sam started, "you were originally supposed to be the rightful alpha of this pack. The only reason it ended up being me was because I came first."

Jacob remained silent. He had, of course, known this. His ancestors had always been the alpha of the La Push pack. This was the only generation where that was different. He thought about it a lot too. What would happen if he became alpha tomorrow?

He used to think that it wouldn't be so bad. He would be in charge and he would be able to make all the final calls on things he didn't agree with before.

But lately, he wasn't too sure about that. Being alpha was a lot of pressure and responsibility. He was happy that he hadn't become alpha right after shifting. His naive ass would have probably gotten everybody killed by now.

So even though he butted heads with Sam and his opinions sometimes, he had to admit that the man made a pretty good leader.

He turned and made his way towards the back door, stopping right at the entrance to the kitchen and turning his head back around to say one final thing before leaving.

"As much as you piss me off sometimes, I'll pass. It's just not for me."

Renesmee Cullen was born a few days after their meeting and Bella was turned into a vampire that same day.

The Cullens left Washington two weeks later.

2 Months Later…
September

Things have been oddly peaceful ever since the Cullens left. Of course, they all expected things to quiet down once the family of blood-suckers left their land, but none of them were used to the quiet. Vampires had been in Forks ever since Sam first shifted, and all of them had just grown used to the drama that had plagued their lives for years.

Now it was all gone, and they were finally able to relax.

It took a couple weeks for this to sink into the pack members' minds. Once it did, however, most of them had taken advantage of this newfound freedom and branched out in different directions.

Of course, they all still did patrols and kept an eye on things. But now, they didn't have to worry about nearly as much as they had before. Because of that, Paul, Jared, and Leah were now working on taking over Jared's dad's car shop, as the man was starting to get up there in age and didn't want to deal with the stress of running an entire shop anymore. Sam and Emily were engaged and expecting, which everybody was excited for. Quil, Embry, and Jacob were finishing up their first semester of their senior year of high school. Seth had found his imprint in a girl named Melissa who sat quietly in the back of his art class until she got paired up on a project with the person who sat next to him. Brady and Collin were enjoying their last year of middle school before they joined Seth at La Push High.

And other than pushing through his last year of high school, Jacob was taking some time to himself and just going with the flow.

A big part of going with the flow, however, was realizing how much he desperately missed Michelle.

He wasn't sure why, but lately, the distance was getting to him really bad. Maybe it was because the threat that kept him and his whole pack on edge was finally gone now, taking with it all the distractions that used to fill his mind. Or maybe it was seeing all his packmates settling down into their own routines while he still didn't know what to do with himself. He thought about joining Jared at the shop once he graduated, but he wasn't sure how long he wanted to do that for. He never really thought about any possibilities for himself because he was so wrapped up in other people's drama, but now he was able to ask himself: what was he going to do next?

He didn't really feel comfortable leaving La Push. None of the pack did. They weren't forced to stay there or anything, but they all felt a duty to protect their land and people. The threat might be gone for now, but that doesn't mean that a new threat won't pop up in the future.

But going somewhere nearby didn't sound so bad. Something a couple hours away that offered a bit more opportunity.

'Opportunity for what though?' he asked himself over and over again.

He wasn't really sure, but that didn't bother him. He knew he had plenty of time to figure things out. He was in no rush. The only thing that was clear in his mind, however, was how much he missed his imprint.

He did something that he had never done before and talked to his father and even Sam about this. Both men were surprised that he was talking to them about his feelings at all—his father muttering something about his little bratty boy finally growing up—and both men told him different versions of the same thing.

It would all work out.

Jacob was pretty hesitant to believe it. After all, that cheesy line sounded way too good to be true with how messed up him and Michelle's relationship had become over the years.

Yet somehow, it still gave him hope. Hope that maybe now that things have changed, he can work on mending whatever he and Michelle have left. Even if it means only being friends again, he'll take it. He just missed her.

He wanted to tell her that—that and so much more. However, he'd have to wait for her to come back before he could start to apologize and make things right. He remembered hearing that the study abroad program was a year long, so he'd only have to wait for a few more months before she was back.

Only a few more months. He could manage that.

3 Months Later…
December

Jacob didn't realize how bad his grades had gotten during all the werewolf vs. vampire drama until his algebra, chemistry, and government teachers all sat him down in a single meeting with his father to discuss the 2 C's and a D that he currently had on his progress report. He physically cringed when he saw the grades, and it only got worse when he got a full, 2 hour lecture from his father later that night for not focusing on his schooling.

Ever since then, he had been forced into a tutoring program at his school with threats of not graduating on time if he didn't get his grades up in the last couple months of the semester.

He wasn't thrilled about this at first, but did it anyways. He saw the stress that it was giving his dad and that was the last thing he wanted to do at this point, so he sucked it up and went to his tutoring sessions every day after school.

Turns out, tutoring wasn't so bad. It was actually really helpful. Math had always given him a hard time and history always felt impossible to keep up with, but the other students that he worked with had given him strategies and explained things to him in ways that made everything much easier to process and remember.

The only thing he felt dumb about was not taking advantage of it sooner.

By November, he was already starting to feel more comfortable with the material and even managed to ace his chemistry test and get a high B on his algebra test.

Those were both solid wins in his book.

Between going to tutoring every single week day and studying in between his patrols and pack get-togethers on the weekends, he hadn't even realized how much time had passed until the whole pack was enjoying some barbeque food around a bonfire and Seth leapt up from his seat with his phone clutched in his hand and a excited smile spread across his face.

"Guys! Michelle's back!"