Jacob crept up to the back of the house, looking for lights in the window. The house was dark except for the flickering of the downstairs tv. Charlie would be totally engrossed in the baseball game this time of night. There were no signs of life upstairs. It was time to fess up. It was time to tell her what a careless idiot he was, what the consequences would be for this screw up. He promised.

A small, bright, white light that was suddenly snuffed out as he made his way up to the house. It looked like the screen of her phone, probably turning it off for the night. He really needed to get a cell phone. Climbing up the tree was old hat at this point; the real trick was being quiet about it. More than once had he hung from a branch with only one hand, or tried to jump from one branch to another, only to narrowly miss a concussion and waking up the neighbors. His cockiness was going to kill him one of these days.

The room was illuminated only by the moonlight creeping in. He scanned the room through a crack in the curtains, hoping to catch her before she fell asleep. His eyes landed on her bed, where she was squirming under the blankets, her voice quiet but persistent, but it was too quiet to make out. It looked like a nightmare. She never went into any detail about them, and he didn't even know about the screaming until she told him, but he felt it was safe to assume it was about the bloodsuckers. A twinge of guilt ran through him as he remembered how she found out about Victoria.

The duvet fell down off of her body enough to expose her completely naked back all the way down to her waist. This was so much more of her than he'd ever seen, or could probably ever hope to see. He could see the curve of her spine in the low light, her long hair tumbling down over her back, and the back of her neck. She was so beautiful. She always had been, even in her darkest days. There was no one in the world like her. He would keep loving her, even if it wasn't the way he wanted to.

Her hands were underneath the sheets, and her breathing was getting heavy. She was biting her lip and moaning faintly. The wriggling was even more pronounced, almost rhythmic. A hand reappeared from the blankets to grope her chest, squeezing and clawing as she arched her back. It suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks: she was definitely not having a nightmare, and she was definitely not asleep.

His heart began hammering away at his ribcage as he realized what he had been watching the entire time. No amount of cold showers were going to make the rest of the night any easier, and keeping the image of her half naked body in the back of his mind, away from the prying eyes of his brothers, was an almost impossible task. He felt like a pervert, peeping on her in her room, and he quickly turned away. He had no intention of doing this, he thought. He came explicitly to tell her what had happened and get his ass kicked. Of course, none of this had any effect on the growing volume of her voice, which echoed in his ears and beckoned him to stay just a little bit longer. He imagined her making those noises for him, naked, moaning softly in his ear, clawing at his flesh...

It sounded like the same word, just one syllable over and over again. It was long since time for him to go back and resume his duties, but he remained glued to the spot.

"...Jake..."

He stopped dead. There was no way. He absolutely heard that wrong. His mind had been permanently warped by wishful thinking.

"Mmmmm...Jake..."

This was too much. This was way too much. The full force of his discovery crashed over his head like a tsunami. She pulled him in then pushed him away, back and forth, for months. He was almost used to it at this point, and there were no expectations from him for anything more. So what the hell was he supposed to make of this? Nothing about her made any sense. In a daze, he climbed back down and made off for the woods, doing everything in his power to block out the secret he'd just been let in on.

The sound of plates clanking against the kitchen table echoed through the house.

"Bella, you up?" called Charlie, his voice annoyingly louder than usual.

"Yeah, just a minute," she replied.

The good news was the the throbbing had ceased, but was now replaced with the rumbling of her stomach. She knew she still looked like crap, and her mood has not significantly improved since she woke the previous morning. She managed to rouse herself from the bed and drag her body out into the world of the living. The scent of bacon and coffee drifted past her on the stairs, and she finally landed on the chair, emitting a wordless greeting. Charlie offered a steaming mug, his eyes regarding her with suspicion. Of course he knew something was up. That's what happens when you live with with a cop, she thought.

"Are we feeling better today?" he said, glancing over as he tended to the pan on the stove.

"Yeah," She grunted, sipping carefully. "Just hungry now."

"I'm glad. You were asleep when I got home so I was worried. Were you up late Friday?"

"A little, just finishing up a paper and watching tv."

"That's good. How was the bourbon?"

She almost choked on her coffee.

"W-what? How should I know?" she squeaked, blowing intently into her mug.

"Wow, you are a terrible liar, kid," he chuckled, sliding a plate of toast and bacon in front of her before taking a seat. She sank further into her chair, silently nibbling at a piece of partially scorched toast. If she was going to eat, she was going to have to suffer a lecture from Charlie.

"Look," he started. "I know you're at that age and all...I did stupid stuff too, back in the day. I once got grounded for a month after some shenanigans in the woods." He paused, staring out the window as if trying to recall something. "But you're a good kid, though. Hardly give me any trouble. I just want you to be safe. You're eighteen, going off to college next year. I guess it was only a matter of time".

He studied her face, no doubt taking note of the dark circles under her eyes and the way she was slumped down in the chair. He chuckled.

"And it looks like you already learned your lesson the hard way, so I'm gonna let you off with just a fine."

"A fine? Like you want me to pay you?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yep," he said, talking over a mouthful of bacon. "You're buying me another bottle. Watering that stuff down should be a crime."

"It was really good…"

Her voice trailed off. She stared out the window as the morning sun reflected off the fresh snow. The squirrels that lived in their tree were fighting again, chasing each other up and down the trunk. A bright red cardinal landed on a nearby bush. It seemed to stare back at her through the glass, still and silent, before flying off into the trees.

Charlie cleared his throat. Oh good, there was more.

"Well, I'm glad you weren't by yourself all night," he said, taking a gulp of his own coffee. Crumbs clung to his scruffy mustache and trailed down onto his shirt. He picked up the Sunday paper and began skimming the headlines. She sighed.

"How did you know?"

"Someone blew through my salt and vinegar chips," he said, not looking up. "And I saw the takeout boxes in the trash can. Too much for you to finish off in one evening." Cop work must have been getting dull if he was trying to play detective.

"It was Jake, wasn't it?"

She looked away, shifting in her seat. Here we go, she thought.

"I thought so. I'm not blind, Bella. I know there's something going on there."

"There's nothing going on, Dad," she said sharply.

She stood up quickly, shuffling over to the stove for a refill. It was far too early in the morning for this, she thought, staring off into space as she poured more cream into her mug. Was she really that obvious? She knew he was waiting for her, but she had gone through great lengths to conceal her own feelings from the world before she was ready for him, and the last thing she needed was the prying eyes of their families. Charlie would probably be thrilled if they got together, but it would still be complicated. If they were just normal teenagers, she'd only have to worry about getting caught fooling around in her truck. The magical bullshit brought sneaking around to a whole new level.

"Sure," he replied flatly. "Well whatever isn't going on, you better get it sorted out soon. I like that kid."

He opened the paper to the sports section, scanning for news about the upcoming World Series. Unlike her busybody mother, he was never one to press an issue, so she couldn't understand why he was so insistent on this one. Once he became absorbed in the article, she seized the opportunity to slink back upstairs and avoid any further interrogation.