The snow began drifting into Forks sometime in the night, as if a thin white blanket had been laid over every horizontal surface. The sun set early this far north, far earlier than it ever had in Arizona. She had never become accustomed to Daylight Savings, and the 4:30 sunsets, though beautiful in their own right, were still disconcerting.

She never liked being home alone, especially while she was growing up. Renee's late nights at work meant that Bella was alone more often that most kids, and more independent, but she never became accustomed to being home alone at night. The desert was still, dark, and quiet. Coyotes and rattlesnakes were the only serious hazards it had to offer, besides her habit of tripping on cacti. But Charlie's house groaned and creaked like an old man, and the wind howled and battered the siding with tree branches. The darkness of the nearby forest was impenetrable.

Since Bella learned the truth, Victoria had begun clawing her way into her nightmares again, and she seemed to taunt her in the daylight as well. Charlie had left for a fishing trip in the early hours of the morning, and wouldn't be back until late the next day. For the first time since moving to Forks, she would spend a night in the house completely alone, and with a murderous vampire only a stone's throw away. Every sound was her hands on the window, her footsteps, her voice, even though Bella knew that it was just the raccoons breaking into their trash again.

She sat by the window, watching the sun disappear behind the trees. The temperature was beginning to drop, and the snow showed no signs of slowing down. She reached over to grab her fuzzy green blanket, pulling it to her chin and tucking it under her toes to fend off the cold. The way the darkness was slowly enveloping the house made her anxious, and the waiting was making her fidget.

"Bells?" came a muffled voice.

In his usual fashion, Jake had appeared on the tree limb, but this was the first time he was fully dressed. She sat up and scrambled to open the window, relieved that he had finally arrived. In place of his usual cutoffs were a worn pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt that had clearly been purchased well before he joined the pack. He climbed inside as usual and grabbed her around the shoulders, pulling her in for a bear hug. She gasped from the sudden lack of air.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, suddenly loosening his hold on her. "I'm still getting used it."

"You know, we have a front door, too," she panted. "It's really nice. It has a bell and everything." She already feeling more at ease. That seemed to be Jake's other super power.

"Sorry, force of habit. But I brought food." He grinned.

In his hand were two large white paper sacks. They were dotted with brown stains that made them look almost transparent and they smelled like hot grease and orange.

"Chinese?" she asked. He knew her too well.

"Yep. I even got that terrible sugar-chicken thing you like and the crispy wonton strips."

"You're the perfect man," she said. Boy. Man. Man-boy? Whichever it was, there was still a big age gap between Jacob's mind and the rest of him.

"That's all it takes, huh? You're such a cheap date."

She ignored his teasing and walked over to the closet, reaching into the back and pulling out something wrapped in several plastic shopping bags.

"I grabbed us a little something else. I guess we'll find out how well it pairs with Chinese."

She reached inside, pulling out a large glass bottle bearing a white and gold label filled with a dark amber colored liquid and hoisted it up for him to see. His eyes widened.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked.

"Yep. I swiped it from Charlie. I figured it would be awhile before we got another opportunity like this."

He'd only ever had beer before, just the couple that Quil or Embry managed to swipe on one of those precious friday nights before they were dragged into the wolfpack by their ears. One or two was all it took before they were all ready to make asses of themselves, singing loudly along with the radio and scaring each other. Cheap beer in the woods with his friends was one thing, but liquor with her was another matter altogether. Maybe his new overactive metabolism would save him.

"He won't mind?" he asked.

"He doesn't have to know," she said with a sly smile.

"Well I think he's going to notice half his booze disappearing overnight."

"It's fine. I'll just water it down a bit to help make up the difference. And anyways, Dad owes me after a year of keeping him from starving to death. He even got through an entire month without a hot pocket. I don't know about you, but if I don't do something to decompress before finals I'm going to keel over."

"Come on." She waved the bottle in the air as she headed towards the door The stairs squeaked with every footstep down to the kitchen. "You remembered the dumplings, right?" she called.

"Of course. Dumplings are the best part."

He took a deep breath and followed her. When he arrived, she was already working on drinks. The bottle sat on the counter, already lower than before. She pulled a two liter bottle of Coke out of the refrigerator, which wheezed under the stress of mere daily use. A couple inches worth of whiskey was in each cup, and she filled the remaining space with soda.

"A little something to warm us up." She smiled and reached out to hand him his glass, but hesitated.

"Wait, I'm sorry. I should have asked first. Do you want some? 'Cause I can just- "

"-No it's cool. I'll have a little. But I'm your bodyguard for the night, remember? I can't get too wasted."

She nodded, handing him his glass. "Fair. You're the only monster allowed inside tonight." She raised her glass.

"Cheers?"

"Cheers."