Thanks to my amazing beta, Kate Pedroso. If you have questions about the characters' motives please review or message me and let me know, we'll discuss. Thanks for the reviews that I did get. I appreciate those of you who take the time to do so.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series. Stephenie, I hope I did Jacob justice.

There was nothing I could do. I wouldn't be able to get Paul to phase back and I couldn't carry him as a wolf.

I phased back and knelt down next to him, my hand over the wound trying to staunch the blood flow. "Paul! Paul, listen to me, wake up!" Oh my god, I've killed one of my brothers. Nausea hit and I almost threw up.

I could feel Paul starting to heal, the vessel in his neck slowly knitting itself back together. I pulled my hand back to see that the blood had stopped flowing, but the injury was still very serious. His eyes flickered. "Paul? Can you hear me?"

He grunted a response. The tissues were now healing as well. "Paul, can you phase back?" Again, he could only grunt softly. "Try, Paul. I'll get you back but I need you to try."

His eyebrows knit together in concentration and soon enough he was lying before me in human form. I moved behind him, sitting him up against me. "Are you ok?" I could feel tears start to sting my eyes. I never meant to hurt him this badly. "Paul, are you ok?"

Paul's hand moved up to his throat, which was now almost completely healed. His face was very pale but his eyes opened. "Mmm."

"I'm so sorry, Paul. I never meant to…." I couldn't finish the words as regret consumed me.

The only evidence of the injury was now a vicious red scar from chin to shoulder on the right side of his neck. Paul sat up on his own, looking away from me, and took a few deep breaths. "Don't Jake." His voice was quiet but there was no anger in it.

"Come on, I'll take you back." He didn't push me away as I put one arm under his knees and another behind his back. He threw one arm over my shoulder and I lifted him as easily as if he were a toddler. He closed his eyes as I started to run. We were at least eight miles out.

About half way back Paul opened his eyes. There was more color to his face and some life in his eyes. Another bright pink scar led from his left eye to the corner of his mouth. "Jake put me down, I can run from here."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, put me down." I set his feet on the ground and held out my arms to steady him. His legs folded beneath him and he sat on the ground. "I'm fine," he said as I reached out to him.

"I'm sorry, Paul." Guilt washed over me in waves. As much as Paul and I could butt heads, I never thought it would come to such severe blows.

He held up his hand again. "This was just as much my fault as yours. I did just as much damage."

"I'm ok," I said, doing a full turn so he could see.

He laughed once. "Your back looks like someone took a cheese grater to it." He now looked just as guilty as I'm sure I did. "I'm sorry…and I didn't mean just the physical stuff."

I groaned and looked into the forest. "Please don't remind me. Its bad enough I have all that stuff going through my own head. Seeing it in yours makes it seem more real."

It was quiet for a moment. Paul got to his feet and was able to stand firmly. "Truce?"

"Can you calm down enough to really call it a truce?"

He looked at the ground and frowned. "I can try. I have a hard time thinking of them and not getting mad. It's like…" He paused. "I can't help it. It's like a like that just switches itself on. And…it just pisses me off that they are going to get away with this scott free."

"You're not going to believe this, but I felt the same way."

He looked at me with doubt in his eyes.

"No really, ask Embry. When we took Dad to the emergency room Doc Fang talked about the whole renegotiation thing, and I went crazy. He had to talk me out of wanting to rip a few heads off." I didn't tell him it was because I didn't want to hurt Bella in the long run; I didn't think that wouldn't make a difference to him. "You realize though, that if you can't control yourself Sam is going to order you to stay behind La Push borders for awhile. You know how you hate to sit on the sidelines."

Paul sat there for awhile, contemplating that thought. I knew it would drive him crazy not to be at that meeting in the clearing. "Okay, okay. Maybe we need to come up with a word to use. You know, something to tell me to calm down." He held out a hand to me so I would help him up.

"How about cumquat?" I asked and we both laughed hysterically.

"That might do it." He smiled and took a deep breath.

It was mid afternoon as we jogged back to Sam and Emily's place. I knew Emily would be worried by now.

"Hey, go easy on Emily when we get back. You know she meant no harm when she asked Sam if he was sure we should all go." I gave him a look of warning.

"I know. I'll have to apologize to both of them for that."

We dressed at the edge of the forest and came out behind their house. Sam stood in the doorway in the back. "Better?" he asked. He frowned as we came closer. "What the hell…"

"It's nothing," Paul said.

"Nothing?" He put a hand under Paul's chin and turned his face this way and that. "You've got an enormous scar on your face and neck and Jake looks like he has gone through war."

I looked down at myself and saw that my arms, chest, and, most likely my face, were covered in Paul's blood. I probably looked like I was bathing in it. I walked past Sam and into the house, heading toward the bathroom to look in the mirror. Emily spotted me just as I spotted myself. She screamed and ran into the bathroom.

"Oh my lord, Jake, are you ok?!" Her hands ran over my body looking for wounds. Her fingers lightly ran over the scars on my back making them tingle. I turned and caught her hands in mine and squeezed.

"I'm fine, Emily. It's not all my blood."

"Paul?" I nodded and she ran out to go check on him.

I turned back to the mirror. I looked like death warmed over. Every inch of skin was covered in blood and my hair was in tangles, pieces of twig and burrs caught in it. I sighed in defeat. That's it; I'm never going to get these out. I looked under the sink and found the item I was seeking. I walked back out to the kitchen where Emily was making her assessment of Paul's injuries while Sam leaned up against the counter. She knew that we would heal, but it didn't stop her motherly instincts from checking, just to make sure.

I took a seat in one of the kitchen chairs. "I'm sick of this; just take it all off please." I held up a pair of clippers. There is no point in keeping it anyway. Emily's eyes widened. "Just do it, Emily, or I'll do it myself and mess it up."

She hung a towel around my neck and brought the clippers to my head. I closed my eyes at the sound of the buzzing and sighed as chunks of my hair fell to the floor. One more tie cut.

So there you have it, Paul survived. I couldn't let his death weigh on Jacob's conscience. Please keep reading and reviewing, knowing people out there like it definitely makes it worthwhile.

Oh, and let me say this...I have the chapter written out for the negotiations and it is gooooood if I do say so myself. One nice, big twist. Any ideas what it might be? I'm interested in hearing your theories. (It isn't anything I have completely come up with on my own...remember, based off of SM's own story!)