Chapter 13

Rated M for language for sure

Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. It's not my fault the story went all wrong.

(They're coming from the cemetery where Jake just showed Bella the headstones for the baby and Embry. It had just started to rain when they headed back to Jake's house.)

Jake and Bella almost made it back to his house before the rain started coming down in buckets. Just as they walked up the drive, it came down really hard. They ran the last bit and stopped on the porch. They were both drenched and the water was freezing.

"We almost made it!" Jacob said, as he unlocked the door. "Wait here a sec and I'll grab some towels." He walked into the house, leaving Bella dripping outside.

As he came around the corner from the closet, he paused, momentarily in shock. Then he got himself moving again, as he hurried to give an obviously cold Bella the towel.

"What?" she smiled up at him, having noticed that he stopped.

"Nothing," he answered her too quickly.

Bella rubbed the towel over her clothes and headed toward her room to change into dry clothes. As she stepped into the bathroom with her change of clothes, she looked into the mirror.

"Oh! Oh my gosh!" she gasped as she saw her reflection. Of course, she would get drenched when wearing a light colored top. There was almost nothing left to the imagination of her chest. Dear Lord. She took a deep breath, got changed into her t-shirt and sweats, and then headed out to the kitchen.

Jacob was standing at the refrigerator with his back to her when she walked in. She was surprised to see that the fridge was stocked. She didn't think they would have any food and would need to head out. It was a pleasant surprise.

"Sorry about that," she said, turning a light shade of pink. Jacob turned around when she spoke. He walked over to her, and gazed down at her. She kept her face turned down slightly.

"Bella," he whispered. While she kept her face down, her eyes peered up at him. "Hey, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm sorry for the way I reacted. It was just surprising, that's all."

He leaned down close to her face and waited for her to lean up and kiss him. Still feeling a bit shy, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face there. Jacob put his forearms under her butt and pulled her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and hugged him tight.

Jacob carried them over to the couch and sat with her in his lap. Neither of them moved for some time. Bella finally felt like her face was getting too hot, and turned to rest her other cheek on Jake's shoulder. He rubbed his hands up and down her back. After a few passes, she pulled her body closer to him. Her legs were bent at the knees, but she pulled her knees in tighter so that she was touching as much of him as possible.

"You ok?" Jake asked to the back of her head. He placed soft kisses down her shoulder and across the arm she had wrapped around the front of his neck to the back of his head. All he heard in response was a sigh. To him this was a sign she enjoyed what he was doing, so he continued.

He didn't have much room to maneuver with her wrapped around him. So he continued rubbing her back, spreading out his fingers and pulling his hands in closer on her rib cage. When she pushed herself further into his lap, he reached around further skirting his hand over the top of her chest. They continued this a little longer.

Finally, Jacob said to her, "Bells, look at me." He waited patiently for her head to lean up and make eye contact with him. He looked at her seriously, trying to figure out what was going through her head.

Bella leaned in and pushed her mouth against his. She kissed him, and without any persuading from Jake, deepened the kiss and pushed her tongue into his mouth. They reveled in the taste of the other. Several days in the car wasn't really a time to make out. When they stopped at night, Jake would be exhausted from the drive. So all they did was curl up and go to sleep.

Yet, Bella wanted to show Jacob how much she appreciated what he had done. He had both melted and broken her heart when she saw the stone for her daughter. Edward had killed their unborn child in cold blood without remorse. She and Jacob were both saddened, and it was an odd twist of fate. Maybe Fate wasn't as big of a bitch Bella thought she was all of this time.

Bella wrapped her hands around Jacob's neck so that her fingers met on his spine, her thumbs right in front of his ears. She looked into his eyes and down to his lips. She placed one soft kiss there before speaking. "I am so thankful to have you in my life. I can't believe what a beautiful, caring heart you have."

Then, she kissed him again without a grain of doubt in her heart or mind. He kissed her back just as fully.

"I love you, honey. I am sorry for what happened. I know that you think it was your fault Embry died, but it's not. That was Edward's fault. He caused the fight that day. He orchestrated the whole thing. Don't blame yourself. I don't," Jacob said before kissing her soundly and lifting her as he stood.

"Let's head to the kitchen and get some food," he finished as he placed Bella back on her feet and walked back to the kitchen.

"I was thinking I'd like to cook a 'thank you' meal for the pack. You know for staying down there while I finished school. I really put everybody out and I want them to know how much I appreciate it," Bella said. "You should invite Sam and Emily too, even though Sam didn't make it to California."

"Sam will not be invited. He is not welcome here," Jacob answered gruffly.

Then he sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. It's just Sam and I haven't seen eye to eye for a while now. He and I can't be together in the same place. The guys don't care if you do something for them. But I'll tell them if you just tell me when," Jake said, placating her after his surprising response.

"Hmm. How about this weekend? That will give me enough time to settle in, plan a menu," she said.

"Sounds great, Bells," Jake replied. He took a pack of steaks out of the fridge and set it on the counter. He grabbed some potatoes, scrubbed them and poked them before placing them on a plate for the microwave. Bella stood quietly watching Jake as he moved around the kitchen. It was a surprising change from "the old days" when he would stand around watching her.

"Surprised I know my way around my own kitchen?" Jake laughed to her. "I'm a wolf. I've got to keep myself fed or I could literally starve to death. Now that I'm a big boy, I've gotta take care of myself."

"Do I smell steak?" howled Quil as he walked in the back door, staring into the kitchen. He sauntered over to Bella with a huge grin on his face.

"Don't you effing dare, Quil!" she squealed racing around the counter to grab hold of Jacob. Quil was soaked and muddy. She just got clean clothes on a few hours before.

"Quil, go get cleaned up. Then get back in here and mop up your mess. You should've showered out back first," Jacob reprimanded.

Quil whined as he went into a small bathroom to clean himself up. It wasn't long before he came back into the kitchen clean, mop in hand.

"So, Bella, what do you think of our bachelor pad?" Quil asked raising his eyebrows. "Awesome, huh?"

Bella smiled as she realized how living with Quil really must've been like having a large child in the house. She watched as he left half the mud on the floor while he yapped to her. Eventually she couldn't stand it anymore and walked over and took the mop away.

"You actually have to look at where the dirt is to make it go away, you know?" she kidded with him.

"Yeah, whatever. Did you see any dirt on the floor when you got here? It's not like we have a live in maid to clean the place up! Us grown men do all of the cleaning around here!" he responded, appalled.

"Don't believe a word this dumbass says, Bells. Rachel comes over here every 2 weeks to clean the place up. And, I happen to know she came her yesterday because she was worried what the place would look like before I got home," Jacob laughed heartily, leaning against the countertop. He pulled Bella to his chest and snuggled her close.

"Oh, gross. I'm out of here. I'm not going to hang around and watch you guys make goo goo eyes over steak!" Quil rushed out of the kitchen and put the mop away before leaving with a slam of the door.

"Jake, we just figured out how to get Quil to go away!" Bella cheered playfully.

"I know he can be a big goofball sometimes, but I have enjoyed having a good roommate here. It'd be lonely if I stayed here all by myself," Jake said as he got out the broiler pan for the steaks.

Jake and Bella sat down to dinner and talked about the plans for the summer. Bella did not want Jacob to stop working any longer. He needed to get back to normal as much as he could. People in the tribe were relying on him. Jacob told her he couldn't be at work while he was worried about her. So she promised him if she left, she'd take a pack member with her and keep him posted on her plans. They also agreed that she would not leave La Push without him at all. For the most part, she didn't need to go anywhere. She didn't want to get stir crazy stuck in the house.

After cleaning up the kitchen together, they headed to the living room to watch the evening news and whatever the evening lineup of TV programs was. Bella didn't regularly watch any shows and neither did Jacob. He enjoyed sports games and ESPN, while Bella enjoyed HGTV and cooking shows. They settled instead on Once Upon a Time, a show about storybook characters in a messed up world.

Bella lay back on the couch and propped her feet across Jacob's legs. He rubbed his hand slowly on her calves and massaged her feet as they watched TV. Both felt comfortable and relaxed with the other. It was better than being at Charlie's because, well, Charlie wasn't there hovering over them. Jacob watched as Bella drifted off to sleep. He stayed on the couch and continued his slow trails around her legs. When he began nodding off, he reached for the remote. Then he turned, carefully, and set Bella's feet on the couch. He stood and lifted her in his arms. As quietly as only a shifter could, he carried her to her room and set her on the bed. He leaned down and brushed his lips against her forehead and headed to the door.

"Jake?" Bella called out quietly.

"Yeah, Bells," he said, turning back toward her.

"Where are you going?" she asked him tiredly.

"I was going to go sleep in my room."

"How am I supposed to sleep without you next to me now?" she asked, mildly offended he was just going to put her to bed alone like that.

"Aw, honey, I didn't want to assume that now that we were here you wanted me to," he told her timidly.

"Lie down, now," Bella ordered him as much as a girl could half asleep. Jacob didn't hesitate, but stepped around to the other side of the bed and crawled in next to her. They both slept soundly, and neither heard Quil when he came in talking on the phone as loud as possible before going to his own room for the night.