Jacob Black awoke the next morning to the scent of frying bacon. He reluctantly opened one eye and looked around, for a moment wondering where he was. Billy's room... not much bigger than his own room, which he now used for storage.

He briefly remembered that at one point he'd considered to clear off his old bed for Bella, but she had informed him after they'd arrived at home that she didn't sleep.

He sat up and stretched, groaning at the pull of his stiff muscles. Cracking his neck and back, he sniffed again at the smells. Various different breakfast smells were woven into and out of the dominate aroma of the bacon. He yawned and reached for the first pair of jeans he saw and pulled them on groggily.

He contemplated putting on a t-shirt, but realized that he was running low on them due to ripping so many, and the ones he saw in his room were caked with mud. So Jacob, not bothering with a shirt, opened the door of the bedroom and thumped down the stairs.

What he saw once he had arrived at the bottom of the stairs made his jaw drop. This did not look like his home.

The floors had been picked up of the various bottles, garbage and broken furnature, had been swept and was virtually spotless. The place where the floor was rotting through in the corner had been pulled up and new boards had been laid down. He knew there were other scuffs and scratches throughout the floor, but Bella had cleverly laid down a simple orange rug, covering the worst of it.

The dull green sofa now held patches where there were originally claw marks, rips, and chunks torn out of it. The stuffing that had been strewn around the floor and on the couch had been returned to inside the cushions, giving the coucha much fuller and less saggy appearance.

The previously broken side-table on the end of the couch was newly-repaired, and beneath it, where a pile of bottles had been before, there was now a little bright yellow wastebasket, gleaming as though it was grinning spitefully up at him.

And lastly, the busted up television had been turned right-side up and somehow fitted back together, a new screen fitted into it. He curiously reached down and turned the knob, and the TV came on instantly, the lights inside slowly brightening to show the news. The volume was turned way down, he guessed, so that Bella could listen to it without waking Jacob from his sleep.

He stepped back again and looked at the room as a whole. It didn't even look like it was his.

He walked into the kitchen. Bella had her back to him, her concentration on the skillet before her that she was turning the seared meat in.

She greeted him without turning around, "Goodmorning, Black." He grunted in return.

"Had a busy night?" he asked, stretching again as he eyed the breakfast food she'd made so far. She shrugged.

"I got bored."

He rolled his eyes and opened the fridge to take out the lone jug of milk from inside. There was rarely any food in his house. Any eating he did was at Sam and Emily's, with all the pack --

"Jesus, you stocked the fridge too?"

Bella only laughed, still not turning around. Her laugh was musical. He remembered it and he couldn't help but warm from it slightly.

"I couldn't sleep, and there was too much I could be doing."

"But the stores around here aren't open all night!" Jacob protested. Bella looked thoughtful.

"No, you're right. They aren't," she said, looking back down at the browning bacon.

"Where all did you go?" he pressed. She shot him an annoyed look.

"Out," she said firmly. Her tone marked the end of the conversation, and Jacob knew she wouldn't tell him anything else. Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Okay."

Silence. Jacob felt himself subconsciously giving into the comfort that having Bella around this much seemed to cause. She had pleasantly surprised him cleaning up his house like that, and he appreciated it. And at the same time, he hated her for it. He hated her for making him not hate her.

He stood behind her and prodded some already finished bacon, as if expecting it to bite him. She raised an eyebrow.

"It's not trained to attack," she said sarcastically, nudging the plate toward him. "Eat some."

He was tempted. The scent was making his mouth water. Instead, he snorted.

"What, and let you poison me? I don't think so," he snapped and turned his head away in disgust. She whirled around on him.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, you heard me. Just because I let you stay here doesn't mean I trust you. How do I know all the food and cleaning and shit wasn't to catch me unawares?" he watched the outrage on her face slowly take hold and couldn't help but smirk inwardly.

"Believe you me, Black, if I had wanted to kill you, I would have done it long before now; it would have been far too easy. Especially with you sleeping as deep as you did last night." she shook the hot fork at him warningly.

He growled and yanked the fork out of her hand, throwing it into the sink without breaking his glare at her. She glared right back, standing her ground defiantly. Jacob towered over her, but she refused to acknowledge that fact. She was a vampire, after all. A huntress. She had nothing to fear really. Deep down, she still thought of him as her playful Jacob Black.

"You watched me in my sleep? What, waiting for an opportune moment to attack?" he asked through gritted teeth, puffing out his chest and standing over her threateningly.

Bella laughed dryly. "I don't have to watch you. As big a creature as you are, I can hear you breathing from a mile a way." It was a small lie, but still.

Jacob opened his mouth to retort, but stiffened as he suddenly lost his train of thought. He screwed his eyes shut and cleared his mind as he felt the familiar feeling of someone standing behind him.

"One has returned. You never informed me?" Sam Uley's voice (or something similar to his voice) asked growlingly in Jacob's mind. He answered back, "She means no harm so far. She came to me for shelter temporarily. None have followed her. None know she's here."

"She will be easily done away with then. They cannot be trusted. She will not be endured." Jacob heard the words echo multiple times, as though many other voices were agreeing with Sam. Then suddenly, they stopped. The deep breath before the plunge. Then came the insanity. So many thoughts collided, Jacob's head was spinning. Options. Jacob's mind could scarcely keep up with Sam's calculations and mental debates. It was as though being inside the mind of a chess player during a key moment in a game. As suddenly as the traffic of thought began, it stopped, and Jacob could feel a sense of undescisive decision around him.

"She will not be harmed. Not yet. We will have a meeting... bring her. No ill fate will befall her until a decision is reached."

And it was over. Jacob's mind cleared and he was in the present once again. His eyes opened to see Bella looking at him curiously, the fight no longer in her eyes. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Sam knows you're here. He wants a meeting, so that we will decide what to do with you." Jacob said steadily, the fight also leaving him. Not for the first time in his life, he felt a sense of apprehension at letting the werewolves anywhere near his Bella.

He froze.

"My Bella? Where the hell did that come from? Why am I so damned protective all the sudden? ... I took an oath to keep her safe. That's why. I'm true to my word, and that's the only reason." He decided firmly, and shoved any further arguments with himself out of his mind. They were once friends, and now they're acquaintances. They had never been more, and they never would be.

"When do we leave?" Bella asked quietly, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"As soon as possible. Sam sounded positive. We need to be in the circle within 15 minutes. It's a bit of a ways into the woods, so we need to leave now," he finished, turning away from her and placing his hand on the door knob.

"Wait."

Jacob growled and rounded on Bella, infuriated by the calm look on her face. He was anything but calm, yet here she was thinking she was in control of the situation.

"What do you mean, wait? We are leaving. And we're leaving now." He demanded, jerking open the door as emphasis. She scowled at him.

"I demand that you eat something. I put a lot of time into making it, and it'll be cold later if you don't eat it now."

"Aw, Christ!" Jacob exasperated, "It's not like you really even give a shit! Unless you did poison it."

Jacob stared at her in disbelief before he finally sighed in defeat. Grudgingly, he grabbed a piece of toast and shoved it in his mouth, swallowing it after only a few chews.

"There. I ate. Let's go."

Bella didn't move, only stared at him. He stared back, losing patience with her obstinance. He growled and grabbed a fistful of bacon, cramming it all into his mouth at once and chewing it, glaring at her all the time. She only smirked and handed him a glass of milk. He took it and downed the entire glass in two gulps.

"Now we can go." she said with a satisfied air. He watched her with an eyebrow raised as she strode past him and out the open door.

He noticed all she was wearing was a billowy white top (probably designer, by the silky look of it) that tied in the front, and dark, washed out jeans. Her trenchcoat was still draped over the armchair he'd left it on the night before.

"Won't you be cold?" he asked her. She looked at him like he was crazy. He grunted and rolled his eyes, stepping out and shutting the door behind him, not bothering to lock it. Vampires...

They both could have run. But for some reason, neither of them attempted it. They were content to merely walk the distance.

For a long time, there was only silence, for both were pensive. Bella was the first to speak.

"What can we expect?" she asked finally. Jacob glanced at her once before looking back straight ahead.

"Picture the way they were the first time you met them, only worse. Used to, you were something to avoid but protect. Now you're a threat, and you're something to kill."

Bella shuddered at his grim tone. Bella planned to kill herself after she left Forks one way or another. So really, it made no difference whether or not the pack got their hands on her. Yet for some reason the last thing she wanted was for her death to be at their hands. She had the feeling that her end would come a lot more violently, painfully, and probably in a much less dignified way.

She wasn't threatened by Jacob anymore. She knew she couldn't trust him fully, for if he even so much as suspected that she would turn on him, he wouldn't hesitate an attack. But even if he did, he was only one wolf, and she could easily take care of him if she really wanted to. One wolf was simple, two... possible. But three? Let alone five, or maybe more... how many were there? The pack was bound to have grown in members. How many Quileute boys were there now?

She decided to think about something else.

"How did Billy die?"

"Cancer."

Silence again.

"I was truthful when I said I was sorry about his death. Billy wasn't always necessarily kind toward me, but he cared as much about my well-being as you do. Well... as much as you used to," she added as a sheepish after-thought. She didn't notice how much this comment bothered Jacob, and how badly he struggled to keep his face impassive. Regardless, he never responded to her comment. She sighed, kicking herself mentally and refusing to say anything more.

"Why do you do that?" he asked suddenly.

"Do what?"

"Breathe."

"Habit. My sense of smell is more acute, too. I feel naked without it."

Jacob grunted. They walked forward in silence yet again for the longest time.

Jacob suddenly stopped. Bella stopped and looked at him questioningly. He looked at her with a serious look in his eyes.

"Listen," he began, "Whatever problems go on between you and me are strictly between us. You kept your end of the truce so far, so I'm willing to keep mine. Since I'm temporarily responsible for keeping you safe, I'll do the best I can to keep them from ripping you apart." Bella couldn't help but feel touched. An agreement not to kill her had somehow molded into an oath of protection. She warmed at this, and looked into his dark eyes more trustingly than before.

"Such an optimist," she tried to lighten the mood, a half-hearted smile on her lips. Jacob didn't smile, only continued to look at her seriously.

Her smile faded and she too took on an apprehensive expression, "I'm not completely incapable like I once was. I can take care of myself."

"To a point. Even with me helping you, we're still outnumbered," he said. Bella bit her lip and slowly nodded in agreement. Jacob turned his back to her and began to walk forward again, but he felt a cool hand on his shoulder. He suppressed a flinch, even though her touch felt suprisingly nice. He allowed her hand to stop him, but refused to turn around.

"Thank you," her soft voice came, barely above a whisper. She didn't have to say it loudly. She knew he could hear it.

Jacob looked at her, the suprise evident on his face. Her eyes held something he couldn't interpret, and he fought to suppress his own emotions as well. She gave him an encouraging hallf-smile and runs her hand over his back lightly. Jacob couldn't help but give a strained smile back; the friendly guesture somehow turned to something terribly sensual when Bella did it.

She reluctantly took her hand from his shoulder and stepped to where she was beside him, pulling her eyes away from his to look ahead into the thrush before them, a dull, emotionless mask over her face. Jacob looked forward as well. The clearing was not yet visible, though both creatures knew that it wasn't much further.

Taking a deep breath, Jacob broke into a speedy fast-walk, Bella in pace beside him, toward the clearing of mutinous werewolves that would soon be before them.