Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
AN: I felt so bad for leaving you all hanging that I decided to put this out now. I didn't want to make you wait or keep you on the edge of your seats any longer.
Bella had been busy in the week following Billy's release from the hospital. Rebecca was on the mend and able to help out a little. The only time Bella felt like she wasn't being pulled in different directions was when she was with Jacob. He did everything from running errands to starting dinner. Jacob was reveling in his time with Billy.
She had been so wrapped up in taking care of Billy that she hadn't gone to see the Cullen's like she had planned earlier in the week. She hadn't thought twice about them until Alice's number flashed across her cell phone as she and Jacob cleaned the kitchen after lunch. She wiped her soapy hands on a towel before answering her phone.
"Hey, Alice," she said breezily.
Jacob turned to face her, listening intently to Alice's frantic voice. She'd had a vision that she couldn't discuss over the phone and needed Bella to come over as soon as she could. Bella grabbed her keys and quickly called that she'd be back later to her dad and Rebecca, not waiting for them to answer. She didn't hear Jacob behind her until he grabbed hold of her car door to keep her from shutting it.
"I'm driving," he stated objectively.
Bella got out of the car and walked briskly to the passenger side. It was times like this when she wished that she had a more practical car, one where she could slide across the seat to the other side. Jacob kicked up rocks when he pulled out of the driveway.
"Call Sam and let him know to call a pack meeting for tonight. Tell him I'll explain later," Jacob said, not looking away from the road.
He made a sharp turn onto the narrow road leading to the Cullen's house making Bella grab hold of her arm rest, she was never more glad that she didn't get car sick than right then. Trees zipped passed them and the car lurched to a stop in front of the Cullen's house less than five minutes after they had left Charlie's.
"You can't do that with this car. It's not meant to go a hundred miles an hour, Jacob," she said once she found her voice.
Jacob ignored her as he jerked his door open. The resounding slam made Bella jump in surprise. Jacob hadn't been this mad since Bella told him her plans to become a vampire in his garage. She hoped that the Jasper was home or that the Cullen's had removed all of their valuables from easy reach. Bella opened her door and slowly got out while Jacob charged through the yard and up the stairs.
A wave of calm crashed over Bella letting her know that Jasper was close by.
"What the hell just happened?" Jacob asked in accusation.
"Jasper used his powers to calm you down," she said quietly.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked, anger and accusation still in his eyes.
Jasper opened the door, narrowing his eyes on Jacob. Bella put a hand on Jacob's back to lead him into the house and gave Jasper a grateful look. He nodded with a curt smile. He led them upstairs to the loft that the family used as their family room. Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie flanked Alice who sat on the couch with her hands in her lap, her head cast down.
"Well there's the reason why you can't see her future. The dog is back," Rosalie said giving Jacob a look that could melt the strongest of wills.
"I told you that he was back Rosalie and you know that Alice can see around him at times. This is not the time to be hostile," Carlisle said calmly.
Jacob glared daggers at Rosalie who stared at him smugly.
If the weird vampire can control moods then why the hell wasn't he giving blondie a virtual sedative? Jacob thought to himself.
"Jacob's right. Control your temper or I'll have Jasper do it for you," Edward said from behind Jacob and Bella.
Jacob stiffened while Bella relaxed against him.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd stay out of my head," Jacob said over his shoulder.
"My apologies. Carlisle, why don't you explain why Alice asked Bella to come here?"
"Alice has seen something that we knew would happen eventually but it will be happening sooner that we had hoped," he explained.
Jacob gave Carlisle a confused look while Bella stared at Alice, scared beyond belief.
"Can she not tell us herself?"
"Keep in mind that she can't see the actual outcome," Esme warned.
"The Volturi are coming," Bella whispered.
"Are they?" Jacob asked no one in particular.
"They'll be here sometime within the next month. We don't know when exactly, just that it will be during a snow storm," Carlie answered.
"Why can't she see the outcome?" Jacob questioned.
"We aren't sure. Usually if the pack is a part of something along with us she can see things from our perspective," Edward rationalized.
"Now all she sees is black and she's getting mind numbing headaches," Esme said in concern.
"Why are they coming?" Jacob asked.
"They warned Edward, Alice and Bella that they would be checking on Bella to see if she was still human. We had hoped that they would wait but since Alice sent them a wedding invitation they have decided to pay us a visit."
"The whole guard is coming," Edward informed Jacob and Bella.
"There's nothing that we can do. If we don't let them see her they'll go after her and nothing will stop them from killing her or anyone who gets in their way," Jasper explained.
"So that's it? I could die either way?" Bella asked, her eyes brimming with tears.
"You foolish human, of course we're not going to let you die," Rosalie admonished her.
"Alright, that's it; do your mood voodoo on her or blondie's getting ripped apart," Jacob warned.
Rosalie scoffed at Jasper before relaxing against Esme. Carlisle, Jacob, Edward, and Jasper left the room to discuss things leaving Bella standing in the middle of the room. Esme helped Rosalie sit down next to Alice who was now hunched over with her head in her hands. Esme crossed the room to pull Bella to the couch. Alice flinched when Esme knelt in front of them, gathering them into her arms.
In Carlisle's office the men sat at the office table waiting for Emmett to show up. He had been hunting with a member of the Denali clan and had no idea what was going on. Jacob had called Sam and had filled him in on what was happening. Carlisle wanted the pack there so that they could discuss a plan together. There was talk of bringing in more vampires, some of whom didn't share the Cullen's lifestyle choice. They would need witnesses.
"What would happen if we hide Bella? How can you know what will happen?" Sam asked.
"We've already considered it, Alice has seen what would happen," Edward said.
"What happens?" Embry questioned.
"Not only will Jacob and Bella die but so will a third of our family along with a few other members of the pack, not to mention that Alice will be forced to join the Volturi," Jasper explained.
"So we should go forward with option A," Edward stated.
All were in agreement that option A was there best bet even if Alice couldn't see the outcome. It would be best if they acted now and were on the safe side. Carlisle made some calls and the pack left to tell the elders what was happening. Now wasn't the time to do anything rash. They all needed to be level headed and not make any quick decisions.
XXXX
With her future up in the air Bella was more on edge than normal. Patrols became more frequent and Carlisle called at least twice a a day with updates. Alice was getting snippets of what would happen and everyone was using the information to their advantage. The Cullen's house was filling with vampires and the pack was growing by the day. Some of the boys joining were even younger than Seth, barely teenagers which made them unreliable. Jacob spent all of his time on the reservation training them since he would be Alpha soon.
Bella threw herself into work, taking as many shifts as she could so that she didn't have to think about her future which as of right now unknown. There wasn't a chance of snow for another week, but that was looking like the day that the Volturi would arrive. Everything was happening at a dizzying speed that Bella found herself more stressed out than ever. She spent her nights worrying about Jacob and her days were spent checking her phone for news from the Cullen's. She had it easy compared to Jacob who was juggling all of the preparations for what would happen plus school.
Charlie, Billy, and Rebecca were purposely kept out of the loop. Quil Sr. was the acting chief until Billy was well enough to handle things, so all decisions were cleared by him. If he hadn't liked the Cullen's before, he was starting to understand them better now. The less Billy knew the better, Jacob would tell him everything once he was better. There was no use telling him when there was nothing that he could do.
Jacob should have been spending more time with his dad and concentrating more on school but he couldn't lose his focus. Bella was doing his homework for him so that was one less thing he had to worry about. He found her dictating a paper he had due in a couple of days using some kind of software she had gotten for Christmas. All you had to do was speak into a headset and whatever you said came up on the screen.
She waved over her shoulder, not stopping what she was doing. He lay down on her bed with a sigh, thankful to have a few hours of down time. A piece of paper hit his arm and he unraveled it.
I love you.
He looked up to see Bella watching him.
"Love you too," he said with a tired smile.
She held up a hand to let him know that she was almost done and he closed his eyes once more. He fell asleep to the sound of Bella talking about the turning points of the Cold War.
Bella sighed in relief ten minutes later as she clicked print. After an hour and an half she was glad to be done and she needed something to drink. She saved the file then shut down her computer. She stretched; feeling her shoulders, lower back and a few places along her spine crack in relief. She rolled her neck a few times to loosen it as she walked down the stairs.
Rebecca and Billy were watching a movie in the living room and her dad had left for work while she was working on Jacob's paper. She didn't mind doing things like that for Jacob since he was heading the fight for her life along with Jasper and Edward. She would do everything she could to help as long as it meant that Jacob had time for himself. She could hear his snoring from the bottom of the stairs when she asked Rebecca and Billy what they wanted for dinner.
"That depends. What I want and what I can have are two different things," Billy grumbled.
"What do you want within reason?" Bella asked with an amused smile.
"Your home made chicken noodle soup would be nice. But when I'm up for it you'd better make some four alarm chili."
"Sure," she promised.
"I'm fine with soup," Rebecca said.
"I can make you something else," Bella offered.
"It's pointless for you to make two different dinners," Rebecca said with an eye roll.
"Who said I'd be making two dinners? I've got some soup in the freezer, all I have to do is heat it up."
Rebecca thought for a minute before her face brightened.
"I heard Quil say that you knew how to make shrimp and grits."
"Shrimp and grits it is."
"Never mind about the soup, I want shrimp and grits too," Billy chimed in.
"Okay," Bella said with a laugh.
She was nearly done with dinner when Jacob came down. He set the table for the two of them since Rebecca still had trouble sitting at the table for long periods of time. He sat on the counter playing a game on Bella's phone as she finished. She doled out food for the two of them while Jacob took food to his dad and sister.
Jacob had an hour before he had to run patrol so he spent it with his dad and Rebecca went to her and Billy's room for the night. Jacob and Billy watched TV in silence until Billy turned off the sound.
"This job you have, you haven't told me much about it," he broached.
"I do security work for the hospital," he explained.
"And it doesn't interfere with your school work? I heard what Bella was doing upstairs earlier," he said giving Jacob an even look.
"I wrote that paper. She just put it on her computer because it had to be typed."
"I guess I can understand that. So you won't be home late?"
"No Dad, I should be home by eleven thirty since it's a school night."
"I'm not being nosy son, I'm just worried about you. I've hardly seen you at all the past few days."
"I know. Things will slow down and I won't have to work as much once I'm done with the training course I'm required to take," Jacob promised.
Jacob took his dad back to the spare bedroom and got him settled down for the night before going upstairs to tell Bella goodnight. He was on patrol with Edward tonight. They hadn't talked since the day at the Cullen's but Edward had been nothing but nice to him.
Edward was waiting when he stepped outside half an hour later. Jacob pulled up his hood to ward off the rain as they sat on the porch. Leah and Seth were running the peremiter and were to report back periodically. Edward and Jacob were staying close to the house in case someone slipped past the others.
"I know that it isn't easy lying to your father," Edward said to break the silence.
"What would you know about lying to your parents? From what I hear you've only lied to Bella; for her own good of course," Jacob answered credulously.
"Keeping my family at bay and hiding are just as bad as lying," Edward murmured.
"So you're not in college right now?"
"I've been in Brazil. It hasn't been easy to keep Alice from finding me, but I think I finally got her off my trail."
"And now you've given yourself away."
"She knows to leave me alone. It only took her five months," he said dryly.
"Why didn't you break things off with Bella sooner? Why ask her to marry you only to leave on your wedding day?"
"I tried everything I could think of to dissuade her from choosing my life. You know how stubborn she is; once she thinks she wants something she'll stop at nothing until she gets it."
"That is true."
"I want to apologize for giving you so much grief. I know how you felt about her but I wasn't willing to let her go until she vocalized her feelings. By then you were already gone."
"There's nothing wrong with fighting for the person you love. You aren't the person I thought you were," Jacob said with a shake of his head.
"I wish I could say the same for you, it would give me a reason to hate you. You're a good person Jacob and I know that you'll not only love Bella in a way that she deserves but you'll lead your tribe with loyalty and dignity."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, Jacob. Now go inside and get a proper night's rest," he ordered.
Jacob was up the stairs and in Bella's room before the front door could close. Bella was in bed but she was watching TV. She watched him curiously as he stripped down to his boxer briefs. He slid into bed with her and she drew close to him. He kissed her temple and she turned off the TV. They lay awake in the quiet and hoped that it would be a quiet night for the pack and the Cullen's. They were both in need of a good night's rest.