A/N: Sorry for the delay. My muses went on a temporary vacation and I've been having some stomach problems that prevented me from sitting on the comp and typing. Anyway, I'm back now and better than ever. This chapter is once again dedicated to my girl BGirlAngelSpike. She didn't ask for anything special but I thought that she deserved it due to her patience over my choppy ability to go from Edward/Bella to Jacob/Bella as fast as I go from Jacob/Bella to Edward/Bella. Anway, I hope you guys like this one.

BELLA

Charlie was sitting on the porch, waiting for me when Emmett pulled into the driveway. I saw relief wash over his face when he saw me. I briefly wondered if that was how it was going to be from now one. Would he always be afraid to leave me alone or let me go somewhere? Would he spend the whole time away from me worrying about me? Would he be calling every five minutes to make sure that I was alright.

I worried about all of that as I climbed out of the car. Things were so messed up now. We could never have a normal father/daughter relationship anymore. He would be too worried about my well being. This was going to be a huge hump for both of us to get over.

I walked to the porch, limping slightly with every bit of pressure on either ankle. Charlie wrapped his arms around me when I got there. He kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair.

"I'm so glad you're safe baby girl." he said squeezing a little tighter. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, daddy." I replied understanding his need for this.

I pulled away just slightly to see if my friends had left yet. Thankfully, they had. Charlie and I were rarely ever emotional like this -could you really blame us after everything that happened in the last three days?- but we hated people to see us like that when we were.

He pulled me back briefly and kissed the top of my head.

"Are you hungry?" he asked when I pulled away again.

"No, Jasper fixed all of us breakfast, already." I answered.

"Good, so we can just go inside and talk then." he replied.

I looked down at the porch. I knew that what he meant by talk. He wanted me to tell him everything that had happened between Edward and I in the last three days. That was something that I wasn't ready ton talk about just yet. Especially if I was going to have to give a statement. The memories were too fresh in mind to be able to relive it twice in one day. I would probably have an emotional breakdown.

"Dad, that's not something that I feel ready to talk about at the moment." I stated looking up at him.

"Oh, okay." he stated.

I could see the hurt in his eyes and hear it in his voice. Great, he thought that it was personal.

"It's not you, dad." I stated hurriedly. "It's just going to be hard enough to give the officer my statement. I don't think that I'd be able to get through that meeting if I relived it before then. I'm sorry, maybe, you could stay with me while I talked to the officer. I don't think I could do it alone."

"I understand." He replied. "And seeing as I'm going to be investigating this whole thing, personally, I don't see how my staying with you would be a problem."

"You're the best, dad." I stated throwing my arms around him. "Thank you so much for understanding."

"That's what I'm here for." he replied hugging me back. "Besides, Billy called about fifteen minutes ago, Jacob's been awake for forty five minutes now and all he's been doing is asking for and about you."

I could feel the blush creeping onto my face as I bit my lip and looked at the porch. That was typical Jacob. Always looking out for the ones he loved and never really caring about himself.

"Did something happen that I should know about?" Charlie asked as we headed inside.

"Just before Edward took me, Jacob told me he loved me." I stated. "And since I had finally gotten over thinking Edward was perfect, I realized that I loved him too."

Charlie chuckled and said,

"It's about time."

"What's that suppose to mean?" I questioned as I sat on the armchair in the living room.

"Billy and I both knew that it was only a matter of time before the two of you got together. We could tell how much Jacob loved you and, though, you hid it better, it was still there in the way you smiled and the things you said." Charlie explained.

"I must admit before Edward came along, I was wanting something more from Jake." I replied. "But I was worried that it would screw up our friendship and Edward offered me a way out of those feelings. I'm so sorry that I didn't listen to you from the beginning. If I had none of this would've happen."

"Bella, you have nothing to be sorry for. You're at that age where you need to be left to follow your heart and make your own mistakes. Besides, you had no way of knowing that this was coming. Hell, not even I, who never liked him from the beginning, would've never even imagined him to be capable of something like this. So it's natural for someone like you, who was infatuated with him, to fall for his perfect fascade." Charlie responded.

"Yeah, but all of this happened because I was stupid enough to fall for it." I stated.

"No, Bella, you weren't stupid. You thought you were in love and that Edward could do no wrong. It happens all the time with girls your age. While some are more dangerous than others, it's a common happening of teenaged life. But the fact of the matter is, none of this is your fault. Edward's to blame for all of it. His decisions made all of this happen. Not yours."

"But if I had just gotten with Jacob..."

"Bells," Charlie interuptted me. "Honestly, it doesn't matter who did what or how we got here. What matters is that your safe and alive, your friends are unharmed, Jacob's still alive, and Edward and James are in prison for a very long time if I have any say in it."

"I guess you're right." I said with a sigh.

"Good. Now, go get ready to go to the hospital, like I said, Jacob's dieing to see you." Charlie replied and I smiled before heading up the stairs. "By the way," he yelled after me. "Wear clothes that are easy to get on and off, I asked Dr. Erikson to take another look at your cuts, and rebandage them."

"Okay." I replied as I stepped into my room.

I put on my most comforable pair of jeans and a black camisole with a pair of pink flip-flops. I decided it be easiest to just leave my hair in the french braid that Alice had put it in, so I simply hairsprayed it and smoothed down the flyaways.

Once I finished, I headed downstairs where Charlie was sitting on the couch watching baseball.

"Okay, let's go." I stated as I walked out the door.

I heard Charlie chuckle as he stood and followed me out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie and I beat the others to the hospital. Which was something I was very grateful for. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't want them there or anything. They were my friends, after all, and I loved them all very much. However, I just wanted to spend some time alone with Jake before everyone got there. Did that make me selfish?

Billy, whom Charlie had called to tell we were coming, was sitting outside Jacob's room waiting for us. The minute he saw me, he spread his arms open and I bent down to give him a hug.

"Thank God, you're here." He said when I pulled away. "Jacob's been so worried about you. And he wouldn't take my word for it that you were alright."

I was again looked at the ground as the blush crept back into my face. I did, however, notice the significant look that Charlie gave Billy.

"Well," Billy continued, "Why don't you go in and see him? Charlie and I will get a cup of coffee, maybe, even something to eat."

I knew what he was doing and I was grateful for the offer of alone time.

"Just remember Officer Bryant will be in pretty soon to get your statements." Charlie stated.

"I know." I replied as he started to push Billy down the hallway.

I took a deep breath and walked tentatively into Jacob's room. As excited as I was to know that Jacob was alive and as well as he could be, I was a little anxious about what I'd see when I walked into that room.

Jacob had always been my big brother of sorts. In my mind, he was invulnerable and indestructible. Nothing could hurt him because he was my big brother who protected me from everything. The thought of him lying in a hospital bed with a knife wound as a result of him protecting me, was a little much for me to deal with.

When his bed came into view, I noticed that he was lying down with the blankets pulled up to his chin, watching T.V. He was laughing at something that had just happened. He looked pretty good for someone who had just been stabbed. His color was a little off, a result of the blood loss, no doubt, but there was no other indication that he had been hurt.

The excitement at finally seeing that he really was okay overtook any anxiety that I was feeling and I ran directly to him. I threw my arms around him, banging my body against his right side.

"OW! OW! OW!" Jacob cried and flinched away from me.

Shit, I had just run directly into the knife wound. Great, I was already screwing things up more.

"Sorry," I exclaimed releasing him and backing up. "I didn't mean to."

Jacob grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him.

"Don't be sorry." He said, "It was worth it to feel your arms around me again."

I smiled as he lead me around the bed, with his hand and pulled into a lying down position next to him. We were silent for a long time, just staring into each others eyes. Simply, happy to be near each other again.

"So how are you feeling?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"Better now that you're here." He answered. "What about you?"

"Better now that I know you really are okay." I answered with a smile.

He laughed a little.

"What about the others?" he asked.

"They're all fine. Just a few cuts and bruises." I answered. "Nothing serious."

"Where are they?"

"They had to go home and see their parents. You know, talk and let them know that everything's okay. And Alice, her mom, and Ed have a lot to talk about now, so it could be awhile."

"That's understandable."

"They should be here later." I stated. "Charie has one of his guys coming to to get our statements later."

"Yeah, that's what Billy said." He replied.

We fell into a comfortable silence as we both thought about what we would said. My mind immediately jumped to the part that invovled my friends. I thought about what happened after their arrival just to be sure none of them had broken the law. I remembered there was hitting and punching but no one used a weapon nor did they intentionally hurt James or Edward. No one, except Jasper. He shot both boys. He didn't kill them but he could still get into a lot of trouble for firing at them.

"Jacob, what are we gonna tell them?" I asked in a near panic.

"The truth. We've did nothing wrong. We were just trying to save you." he replied.

"But Jake, Jasper shot Edward and James. If we tell them that then he'll get in trouble and possibly sent to prison. I don't want that to happen."

"Bells, he's not gonna get into any trouble for what he did. It will fall under defending someone who couldn't defend themself. James had a gun as was more than willing to shoot us, and Edward had a knife to your throat. We couldn't do anything for fear of you getting hurt. Jasper did the only thing he could do. He shot James to get him to drop the gun. Then he shot Edward after he stabbed me. He's not going to jail for that. In fact, they police will probably call him a hero." Jacob stated.

"But what uf they don't. What if they decide that we could've found another way out of it? What if..."

"Bella, stop." Jacob stated and grabbed my face in his hands. "Your father's the chief of police, right?" I nodded. "Which means he's in charge of the whole investigation, right?" I nodded again. "So do you really think that he's going to put Jasper in jail if it was Jasper's actions that saved you?"

"I guess not, but it still worries me." I stated as a few tears fell.

"I know, but everything will be fine." He responded as he wiped away the tears.

I know." I replied.

We fell into another comfortable silence as I snuggled myself closer to his chest. His arms tighten around me. We sat like that for a few minutes before a thought hit me.

"Jacob, why did you do it?" I asked. "Why did you save me?"

It was a stupid question, I know. I already knew the answer, of course, but I just felt like I needed to hear him say it again. I didn't know why. All I knew was that I really needed to hear it from him again. I propped myself on my arm and looked him in the eye.

He was looking at me like I was absolutely crazy. I don't think that he quite believed that I had really asked him that question.

"Did you seriously just ask me that?" he questioned, "I know you know the answer."

"I do." I replied staring at him in earnest. "But I just really need to hear you say it again, after everything that's happened. I just need to hear it again. It'll make me feel so much better.

He grabbed my face in his hands again and looked me directly in the eye.

"Isabella Marie Swan, I love you with my whole heart and soul. I would do and give anything for you. Even if it was my life. It means nothing to me unless you're there. If you were gone, I would be nothing but an empty shell. I want to love you now and forever. I will never EVER leave you and I will ALWAYS protect you. No matter what it costs me."

His words caused me to shed more tears and he wiped them away, again.

"I love you too, Jake." I whispered.

He then brought his lips crashing down onto mine. It was one of the most fiercely passionate kisses that I had ever shared with anyone. And it was ten times better than anything that I had shared with Edward. This was love and pure bliss and I couldn't get enough of it. The kiss lasted for several moments.

When we finally pulled apart, gasping for air, Jaocob pulled me back to him and I responded by snuggling into his chest. He then kissed the top of my head and rested his chin on it.

We were perfectly content to spend the next hour or so just laying in each other embraces. In fact, we didn't move an inch until our friends showed up nearly two hours later.

A/N: Did you like? Please, review.