A/N: i had a lot of fun writing this chapter ... enjoy! and review :-)

Disclaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer, I don't own any of the books or the characters - I'm just having fun with them

Chapter Seven

Charlie decided to bring the cruiser, too, so that we could leave separately. As we got closer to the reservation, we could see that the smoke from the fire was already billowing over the tree line. I parked my truck in front of Jake's house and we strolled hand in hand down to the beach. It seemed that just about everyone was down sitting around the fire – Billy, Charlie, the Clearwaters, Sam, Emily, Quil, Embry – all of my favorite human beings were there.

"Bella," Billy said warmly, extending his arms toward me. I went over and gave him a hug and he beamed at me. "I hope you brought your appetite, we've got enough food to feed an army; even after the boys eat, there should be plenty left over."

"I'm starving," I said with a smile, and Jake led me down to the fire. It was a driftwood fire, and I sat mesmerized by the colors. I sat between Jake's legs and leaned back against his chest; he was the perfect pillow – solid, yet warm. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I was perfectly content to stay there forever, never moving.

Emily came walking down from the houses with Sam; both their arms were piled high with food, plates, and utensils. I could see Quil and Embry not far behind, carrying food as well.

"That's a lot of food," I said wide-eyed.

"Well, with the way these boys eat," Billy laughed.

"We're doing the whole 'spear it on a stick and roast it' thing," Quil explained, setting down his pile on a blanket that was laid out for such a purpose. "Grab a branch, a hot dog, and go to town."

I started to get up to grab a branch, but Charlie put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "You're always cooking for me Bells," he said with a laugh, "Now it's my turn to cook for you!"

"Are you sure you can handle something other than eggs?" I teased, but snuggled back down into Jake's arms. Charlie stuck out his tongue at me.

"You cooking for me too?" Jake asked, and gestured that clearly he was in no position to be moving.

"I might as well," Charlie laughed again, and set to work spearing a bunch of hot dogs on one stick.

"This should be interesting," I said, smirking at Charlie.

"These hot dogs will be roasted to perfection," he said confidently; as he was turning to talk to us, he didn't notice that his stick had dipped down and the hot dogs were now resting in the fire. Three of them caught fire and turned black. "You like them well done, right?" he asked sheepishly.

The bon fire was one of the most relaxing experiences I had had in quite a while. It was nice to just relax with Jake without Edward there pushing his buttons. Jake was the most light-hearted I had seen him in weeks, and his enthusiasm was intoxicating; I couldn't stop smiling the entire evening. We sat around the fire for hours, with everyone swapping jokes and stories, and roasting anything they could find that could be speared onto a stick.

As the hour grew later and later, people slowly began to drift away until everyone was gone except for Quil, Embry, Charlie, Billy, Jake, and I.

"Wow, it's getting late," Charlie said with a yawn, stretching and giving me a meaningful look. "I think I'm gonna head on home."

"Yeah, me too," Billy agreed. "Charlie, you wanna give me a hand on up to the house?"

"You got it," Charlie agreed. He rose and began pushing Billy up the uneven ground to the house. "Don't stay out to late, Bells," he called behind him.

"I'll be home in a bit," I promised.

Once the adults had all gone, Quil and Embry began to torture Jake by telling dirty jokes; they knew he'd want to join in, but that he'd never do so in front of me. I just laughed at the jokes, but Jake flushed scarlet.

"It's nice to see someone else blushing for a change," I laughed, elbowing him in the ribs teasingly.

"I'm not blushing," he denied, "but I bet I could make you blush in a second."

"Don't you dare," I warned, but I was laughing too. I just couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" Jake suggested, rising and pulling me to my feet. "We'll be right back," he said to Quil and Embry.

"Sure, sure," Quil remarked. "They're going to stroll off down the beach and fine somewhere to make out." He smirked at Jake and he and Embry exchanged a high five.

"Oh ha ha," Jake said sarcastically. He grabbed my hand and led me away from the fire.

"What's wrong?" I asked. His face had grown much too serious since he had risen.

"Bella, can we talk about Edward?" he asked. Oh crap. I probably should've seen this coming.

"What about?" I asked, swallowing hard.

"Do you still love him?" he asked quickly, taking the Band-Aid approach. For a moment, I had no idea how to answer.

"It's complicated," I mumbled, though I knew that was no where near a sufficient answer.

"It shouldn't be," Jake remarked quietly.

"Well, you know our history," I said helplessly, staring at my feet.

"So that's a yes, then?" he asked.

"Isn't it possible that I love you both?" I asked. He scoffed at me. "I don't know that I'll ever truly be over Edward," I admitted after a moment of silence. "Words can't even express the relationship we had. But that's over now. However, just because I'm committed to being with you now, that doesn't mean that all my feelings for him have completely disappeared."

"Bella, hun," he said with a sigh, tilting my head up with his hand so that I was looking into his eyes; during my little speech, I had been staring down at my shoes. "Can't you see how much better I am for you? I'm not cold and hard like he is; I'll never break your heart like that, or do anything to hurt you! I mean, come on, I can even go out in the sun! With me, you don't have to be stuck in Forks forever just for my sake – we could move to Hawaii if you wanted, and just sit in the sun all day! I would never leave you," he promised softly.

"Until you imprint," I mumbled.

"That's not a guarantee," he countered. "Not everyone imprints, it doesn't have to happen."

"Edward said that the last time they were here, every wolf imprinted. He said it's been sort of lost through the generations of story telling, but that it does happen to everyone," I argued.

"And Edward is right about everything?" He asked angrily, dropping my hand.

"Oh, Jake, no!" I cried, trying to backtrack.

"Maybe you should just go be with your statue then, clearly you prefer him to me," he spat, and started to storm away from me down the beach.

"Jake," I called helplessly, and my eyes brimmed with tears.

"What?" he said angrily, turning back to face me.

Suddenly, I heard a quiet jingling sound.

"Where's that coming from?" I wondered aloud. It sounded like it was coming from me, so I began checking my pockets. In one of them, I found a tiny silver phone.

"I didn't know you had a cell phone," Jake commented suspiciously.

"I don't," I replied, staring at it. "This is Edward's phone."

"How did it get in your pocket?" he asked harshly.

"He must've stuck it there so he could call me," I said with a shrug and flipped it open. The caller ID said "home". "Hello?" I answered.

"Bella?" I heard Edward's frantic voice on the other end. "Where are you, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said quickly, pacing down the beach. "I'm down at La Push; we had a bon fire… what's wrong?" I had never heard him sound so panicked before.

"There's no time to explain," he said quickly. "I'm coming down there, treaty or not."

"Edward, what's going on?" I asked, tears flowing freely now. "Tell me what's happening!"

"It's just… Alice saw something," he said. His voice sounded extremely frustrated. "I'll be there soon, just stay where you are," he said quickly, and I heard a click as the line disconnected.

"What's going on?" Jake asked, coming back to stand by my side. Angry as he was, he wrapped his arms around me protectively, and smoothed down my hair.

"I don't know," I replied, sobbing against his chest. "Edward is on his way, he said Alice saw something and he's coming down here, treaty or not."

"Typical," he spat. "Quil, Embry!" he called down the beach. "Get over here!"

A minute later the two of them appeared, jogging toward us. "What's up?" Embry asked as they got closer.

"Cullen is coming down here," Jake replied angrily.

"Ah," Embry said, and we all waited in tense silence for a moment.

Suddenly, all three sets of eyes grew wide. "Vampires," Quil said suddenly.

"Well, yeah, Edward's on his way," I said. I didn't understand why it was a surprise for them.

"No, not the Cullens," Jake said, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"Then who?" I asked, terrified. Victoria? Had she finally come for me?

All three boys turned to face down the beach in the opposite direction of the fire. Suddenly, I could make out the outline of five dark figures moving toward us quickly. Five? There were only four of us, and I wouldn't even count myself useful in a fight, so that made three.

"I won't let anything hurt you," Jake whispered quickly, stepping in front of me to shield me from those coming.

I wanted to believe him, but there was no way the three of them could fight five vampires and keep me out of harms way. In the blink of an eye, the three boys before me vanished, and were replaced with giant wolves. I stepped back, certain that this was the end.

As the vampires came closer, I could see that there were three males and two females, but I didn't recognize any of them; Victoria wasn't among them. Was I really so much of a danger magnet that an entirely different clan of vampires was coming after me tonight? They didn't seem surprised by the appearance of the wolves, so I assumed that they must have something to do with Victoria.

The vampires stopped about 15 feet down the beach from the wolves and stared for a moment; then they all sprang forward at once. I sank down to the ground on my knees, closed my eyes, and covered my head. I prayed that whatever was coming next would be quick and relatively painless. I felt a pair of cold, hard arms wrap around me and pick me up; I was being carried somewhere. It was comforting to know I wouldn't be dying that second, but also terrifying to consider what else might be in store for me.

"Open your eyes," a melodic voice commanded, and I was overjoyed to find that it was Edward holding me; I was safe­. ­

"What's happening?" I sobbed. He kissed my forehead lightly. "Is everyone okay? What's going on?"

"Everyone is going to be fine," he said softly. "Everything is okay now."

Against my better judgment, I wrapped my arms tightly around him and buried my face into his shoulder.

"It's okay," he said soothingly, and I couldn't help but grow calm from his touch.

I looked up at him, and he stared down at me with his beautiful eyes, black though they were, and I was instantly dazzled. Once again, I found myself unable to resist him, and I stood on my toes, craning my neck toward him. He bent down slowly and kissed me softly. At that point, I could no longer control myself; I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him closer; he returned the kiss almost as enthusiastically.

"Ahem," I heard from behind me, and quickly pulled away guiltily. It was Emmett. "This situation is under control now," he said quietly. "We're burning the pieces."

"Good," Edward replied, and led me back down out of the forest to the beach.

"It was lucky they were having a bon fire tonight," Emmett remarked, and I saw that our once colorful fire was now billowing great purple smoke. "It made it much easier to take them down with an already-made fire."

"You brought Emmett too?" I asked.

"And Jasper," Edward replied, and I saw Jasper walk around the fire; he had been hidden behind the smoke. "Good thing it's so late; explaining why we have a purple fire on La Push lands might've been difficult to explain."

"So what happened?" I asked softly, staring at the fire.

"I'd like to know the same thing," Jake asked, reappearing in a pair of mesh shorts from the direction of his house. "I ran home for clothes when we were done," he added with a shrug.

"Are you okay?" I asked, rushing to his side.

"Yeah, just a scratch or two, but they're almost healed already," he said nonchalantly.

"Did Alice see them coming?" I asked turning back to the vampires.

"Um, not exactly," Edward replied quietly. "Alice is fairly certain that the wolves are the reason she could never see your future before," he explained. "She thinks that she isn't able to see them at all, so your future disappears whenever you are with them."

"Well, if she couldn't see me, then how did she know you needed to come?" I asked.

"Um, you see," Edward began, looking uncomfortable.

"Just spit it out," Jake said angrily.

"Calm down," Edward said venomously. "I don't want to upset her."

"Well keeping her in the dark isn't going to make it any better!" Jake yelled back.

"Just tell me," I said with a sigh. Jake was right; the longer Edward made me wait, the more anxious I got.

"Well, Alice saw your funeral," he finally said, barely above a whisper.

"My what?" I asked, wide-eyed. My breathing quickened, and my eyes brimmed with tears.

"This is why I didn't want to say," Edward said, moving toward me, but Jake wrapped his arms around me first.

"It's okay hunny," he said softly.

"She saw your funeral," Edward continued, "but didn't know what caused it. I didn't know how much time I had, so I came down here immediately; as luck would have it, we were just in time."

"We could've handled it," Jake said defiantly.

"No, you couldn't," Edward replied. "Alice saw her funeral because the three of you could not have taken on the five of them without Bella getting hurt. You might've been okay, but she would've died. And that is why I'm no longer going to let her out of my sight."

"Excuse me?!" Jake roared, releasing me and moving toward Edward.

"You may have the best of intentions," Edward began coolly, "but you aren't capable of keeping her safe. Until this situation with Victoria blows over, Bella isn't leaving my sight."

"Bella??" Jake said fiercely, turning back to me. He actually frightened me quite a bit.

"I don't want to die," I said helplessly, tears streaming down my face.

Jake's expression immediately softened, and he came back to hug me. Then he turned back on Edward. "You promise you'll keep her alive?" he asked quietly.

"You have my word," Edward replied. "I would never let anything harm her."

"Then fine… you can be around. As long as you don't do anything funny," he added.

"I'd like to go home now," I said quietly.

"Of course," Jake said. "But I think we should all meet in the morning to discuss this."

"Agreed," Edward said. "Now Bella, let me take you home."

I waved goodbye to Jake, Emmett, Jasper, Quil, and Embry, and headed back toward my truck with Edward.

"I'll drive," he suggested, holding open the passenger door for me.

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