Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

AN: Some of you have to wondering if I forgot something from the last chapter. I did not forget to add Jake's reunion with the pack. He will confront Sam in this chapter, I promise.

Jacob kept his mind clear as he ran. The last thing he needed was for someone to find him. Rachel probably had the entire pack waiting for him. He didn't want a welcoming committee; he wanted answers. He slowed to a stop to change back into human form. He was exhausted; he would probably pass out where he stood as soon as he said what he needed to say to Sam.

He could see his house from the end of his road a quarter of a mile away. Every light in the house was on, calling to him like a beacon from a long missed light house. Maybe a few hours of sleep would be good for him.

He gripped the railing of the ramp to keep from falling over as he made his way to the door. The door slowly opened and Rachel's silhouette came into view.

"Welcome home," she said quietly.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"I know that I'm not the person that you want to hear that from; but under the circumstances I am what you got," she said giving him an even look.

"Who all did you tell?"

"No one," she stated plainly.

"No one, not even Quil or Embry?" he asked.

"No," she said with a shake of her head.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's in the hospital. We'll go and see him in the morning," she promised.

"Bec is coming up this weekend. That reminds me; will you call her and tell her that I'm here? Can you come up with something when she asks how I got home so fast?" he asked.

"Sure," she said with a nod.

He dropped his bags at the foot of the bed before throwing himself onto it. He groaned as the bed sank beneath his weight. Sleeping in his own bed was going to take a while to get readjusted to. He was asleep before Rachel could get off the phone with Rebecca.

XXXX

The pack formed a circle around Sam, wondering why he had called for a meeting in the middle of the night.

"Paul got a call from Rachel a few hours ago. Jacob is home; before all of you start talking at once I want you to know that he thinks that I am to blame for his dad wanting him to be Alpha. So he's a little angry and I fully intend to take whatever he dishes out. I don't want him to find out from anyone but me that Quil Sr. is the one who talked to Billy. Is that clear?" he questioned pointedly.

Everyone agreed with him before he moved on to the next topic.

"I am going to make one last command as Alpha and I think all of you will agree with me when I say that Jacob cannot know about Bella just yet. None of you are to talk to him about her until I say so. He has a lot to adjust to and he doesn't need the added stress of seeing her added onto it."

"What if she's his imprint?" Seth asked.

"What if she isn't?" Paul asked harshly.

"I want Bella to be Jake's imprint just as much as the rest of you do, but he needs time for himself and to get used to being a part of the pack again," Sam reasoned.

"That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard," Quil said with a scoff.

"Are you going against my command Quil?" he accused.

"No, but I don't agree with it either," he said glaring at Sam.

"Do you want what's best for Jake?" Embry asked pointedly.

"Yes, that's why I think that we should tell him right away," Quil reasoned.

"No," Sam said flatly.

Quil shook his head before walking away from the group. Embry gave Sam a pleading look, asking silently for permission to go after his friend. Sam nodded his approval before dismissing everyone. He wasn't looking forward to having Jacob confront him. He hoped that Jacob would listen to reason and see that he was willing to do whatever possible to help him adjust to being Alpha.

XXXX

Jacob walked through Sam's yard, not knowing what would happen. Rachel had gone so far as to try to get Paul to try to reason with him. Paul had been no help so she had finally given up after half an hour. He walked up the stairs seeing Emily through the kitchen window. Her back was to him, so she had yet to see him. He knocked on the door lightly, hearing her walk across the cabin.

Her eyes widened in surprise before pulling him into the house. He let her pull him in for a hug, patting her on the back lightly. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked up at him. He gave her a tight lipped smile before pulling away from her. Sam came down the stairs, watching them interact.

Jacob's eyes met his as he passed him to walk out the door. Jacob followed him to the yard silently.

"I know you think you know what happened while you were gone. So let me have it," Sam ordered.

"You're just going to let me lash out at you?" Jacob asked credulously.

"You're going to be Alpha soon, I have to get used to it," Sam said with a shrug.

"That's at the top of my list of things that piss me off. You waited until I was gone to persuade my dad that it was time to buckle down on my duty to the pack," Jacob accused.

"Is there anything else that you want to add?" Sam asked with no emotion.

"I don't appreciate you bullying Quil," Jacob said flatly.

"Quil told you that I was bullying him?" Sam asked in a worried tone.

"No. I put two and two together," Jacob said with a sigh.

"Why would you think that I would bully Quil?" Sam asked.

"Why else would he not talk to me while I was gone?" Jacob reasoned.

"If you want to know than ask him. He's right behind you," Sam said gesturing with his head over Jacob's shoulder.

Jacob spun on his heel, almost colliding with Quil. He had lost his sense of his surroundings in his anger. Quil was glaring at him as he shook his head.

"How dare you talk to him like that," Quil spat.

"What?" Jacob asked, flabbergasted.

"Your time away didn't teach you anything. You're the still the hot head that you were when you left," Quil said getting in Jacob's face.

"Easy, Quil," Sam said calmly.

"Let me talk to him. I'll straighten it out," Quil pleaded.

"What did I say last night?" Sam asked evenly.

"He has no right to be angry with you. You aren't the problem!" Quil said, his voice rising higher with every word.

"You didn't talk to my dad?" Jacob asked, looking at Sam out of the corner of his eye.

"Since Quil went against what I asked I might as well tell you. No, I didn't. I told him that I would stay on as Alpha if you decided that you didn't want to after all," Sam explained.

"I'm not going back on my word," Jacob said, giving him an even look.

"I chose not to talk to talk to you while you were gone," Quil said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Why?" Jacob asked, hurt.

"Seth and I made a choice that no one else would. Someone had to look after Bella since you couldn't," Quil said flatly.

Jacob's eyes drifted to the ground at the mention of Bella's name. He hadn't thought that something might happen while he was gone; he was thankful that Quil and Seth had. He nodded, his lips forming a hard line.

"Why didn't you start talking to me after she and Edward got married?" Jacob asked.

"That was my choice too," Quil reminded him.

"I'm sorry for lashing out at you," Jacob apologized, holding his hand out to Sam.

"You had to get it out somehow," Sam said shaking his hand.

"Who talked my dad into talking to me about becoming Alpha?"

"My granddad," Quil answered.

He should have known that that was who it was. Quil Sr. had been giving him hell about turning down the position of Alpha since he decided against it. He shook his head, knowing that Sam meant well. He didn't give his elder the credit he deserved.

XXXX

Bella was ringing up a customer when her cell phone rang. Kourtney grabbed it from off the counter as Bella bagged the persons purchase.

"It's Quil, can I answer it?" she asked hopefully.

"Go ahead."

"Hey Bonehead," Kourtney said answering the phone as the person walked out the door.

Bella could hear Quil's laughter as she put the phone to her ear. There was muffled talking in the background, and she could hear Quil walking around.

"Whatcha need?"

"I was calling to let you know that I can't come over this weekend. My exam grades came back and my mom is pissed," he explained.

"I helped you study. How did you fail?" she asked in confusion.

"I don't know. She says I'm grounded until interim's come out," he said helplessly.

"What else is going on? There's a lot of noise on your end," she yelled over the noise.

"We're having a pack meeting in my living room. I'll call you again when I get the chance," he promised.

"I don't want you to get into trouble. Interim's come out in a few weeks; I'll miss you, but I'll suffer through it," she said with a light laugh.

She heard Sam call for Quil over his laughter. She got off the phone, watching Kourtney shut down the computers for the night.

"What did he want?"

"He can't hang out with us this weekend. He didn't do that well on his exams and now he's grounded," she explained as the news continued to sink in. Something didn't sound right.

"Well that sucks. I was looking forward to going hiking with him and his friend that you were telling me about," she complained.

"I'll call Embry later and see if he still wants to go."

Kourtney nodded, gathering her things together. A few minutes later they were getting in their cars. Bella waved, letting Kourtney leave first. She had a hard time believing that Quil had failed his exams. They had gone over everything repeatedly. Something else was going on, but what?

XXXX

Jacob rolled over with a sigh when he felt something hit him in the back of the head. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, waiting for his vision to focus on the blur that was standing at his bedroom door.

"Why aren't you at school?" Rebecca asked in a harsh tone.

"Bec..." Jacob whined, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Answer me, Jacob Ephraim," she warned.

"Gah," he said with a strangled sigh.

"Ina, he's in here," she called.

"You brought Luna?" he asked sitting upright in bed quickly.

"Are you sick?" Ina asked from the door.

"No. I'm getting tested to see if I can donate a kidney to dad today."

"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?" Rebecca accused.

"You didn't give me a chance to," he said pulling a shirt over his head.

"Have you gone to the school to enroll?"

"I need my legal guardian or a family member to do it. Dad can't for obvious reasons and Rachel has enough going on," he explained.

"I remembered to bring your transcripts from Hawaii, that way you can get the credits that you've worked so hard for," she said with a shake of her head.

"Thank you," he said gratefully.

"I'll go by on Monday, because I will not let you fall behind. You have come too far to let anything stop you," she ranted.

"Have you seen her yet?" Ina asked.

"No. I don't think I'm ready yet," he said with a shake of his head.

"You have to face your fears at some point," Rebecca reasoned.

"If the two of you are as close as you claimed you were, she's probably missed you just as much as you've missed her," Ina said giving him a sympathetic look.

"You don't know what has happened since you left. So maybe they did get married? Who's to say that she regrets it because she wants to be with you and she's waiting for you to come home so that she can break it to him? What if she changed her mind? You'll never know what will happen if you don't try," Rachel said from the living room.

"Do you know something that the rest of us don't?" Rebecca asked as she walked into the living room.

Jacob was out of his room and across the hall to the living room before Rachel could answer.

"I'm just saying that the three of you shouldn't jump to conclusions," Rachel said before shrugging.

"You shouldn't get his hopes up like that Rach. What were you thinking?" Rebecca said, admonishing her younger sister.

"Come on Jacob, I'll make you something to eat," Ina said draping an arm over Jacob's shoulders.

Jacob let her pull him into the kitchen then sat down at the table with his head in his hands. What if Bella wasn't a vampire after all? What if she had seen the error of her ways once he left? Was Edward still in the picture, or was she suffering alone the way he was? There was only way to find out.

AN: Dun, dun, dun...I did it again! Please no hate mail, I fully intend to devote the entire next to chapter to their reunion. Meanwhile, hit that review button.