A/N: Ok, so I scrapped the other story. It was moving too slowly for my tastes and I just feel like I could have done better by you, my darling readers. So I'm going to. I'm guessing that the Volturi showdown happened in early to mid November. This is starting at the beginning of December.

Changes to the canon – Bella had the little boy she was dreaming about

Be kind – rewind (and review while you're at it!)

Chapter 1

Joey could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of being almost nine hours away from her family. It wasn't that she hated them. Truth be told, she absolutely loved her big family. It was just that she needed some space to breathe for a little while, make her own mistakes. Spread her wings a la a Hilary Duff song. Her cliched older brothers – all four of them – were far too over protective in her books. They were intimidating enough that none of her boyfriends ever stuck around for long.

Note: When a girl, no matter how amazing she may be, has three older brothers in college on football scholarships and one in the Marines, you do two things. You learn to keep your hands to yourself at all times and you learn to run very far, very fast. But this story is not about Joey's ex-boyfriends and their new-found interest in running. This is a story about two people who were luck enough to touch each other's hearts and heal the damage that was there.

Belinda, or Bel as her husband Dave called her, checked her husband and daughter's suitcases for the umpteenth time. She knew she was being overly cautious and that she would get teased about it at some point, either by her husband or her children. Better to have three extra pairs of woolen socks in your bag than get stuck in a snowy pass somewhere and lose a toe to frostbite.

Bel sat by the suitcases as she waited for Dave to get back from waking up Joey. It was Friday morning and Dave and Joey were going to go to the west side of Washington State to look at colleges. Her only girl…looking at colleges. It was hard to believe that her youngest was finally leaving the nest. Only a few more months and she would be gone. Bel knew how Joey longed for some form of freedom, but she didn't know if it had to entail moving further away than any of her siblings had. She just couldn't imagine her sweet little girl working as an EMT. If Bel had known the reason behind Joey's choice, she would have been flattered.

Bel worked as 9-1-1 operator, and while she may not have seen the things the EMTs she dispatched did, she still had to hear the terrified cries of people over the phone. Her dreams were often tainted with disembodied voices crying for help – help she could never give them fast enough. Joey wanted to be the one to arrive and bring help, hoping that besides the horror she would undoubtedly see at some point, it would help give her some of the closure that her mother never got.

Bel's musings were brought to a halt as she heard footsteps on the stairs. Moments later her little girl (well, Joey had been her little girl at one point) bound into the room, her eyes bright with excitement and anticipation. If she had been a dog, Bel was sure her tail would have been wagging so hard it would have broken itself. She smiled at Joey and handed her a paper bag with breakfast and snacks for the road trip in it.

"Thanks Mom, I really appreciate this," Joey said as she hugged her.

"No worries darl," Bel said as she returned the hug. (A/N: To those not aquainted with Aussie-isms, "darl" = short version of "darling")

Dave popped in, kissed Bel (much to Joey's disgust) and then proceded out to the car with the suitcases. If they were going to make it to Forks by 3 o'clock for the tour and open house, they had to haul ass. They'd already talked about things and decided it would be best to take Joey's car and have her drive while Dave worked on his laptop. That way, she learned how to get there and he could get some much needed writing done.

The drive had been long, boring, but full of beautiful scenery. Joey was sure she would die happily if she never had to drive in or through Seattle again. That was just one confusing mess. Dave looked over at his girl. He didn't want her to live so far away – she was the only one who seemed to keep her brothers in check some days. That, and he was feeling the empty nest syndrome, just as he was sure Bel was too. But he was proud of Joey. She was a smart cookie, and if anyone could succeed, he knew she would.

When they pulled into Forks, they had to ask directions to the Peninsula College. The main campus was in Port Angeles, but most of her classes would be in Forks. It was a small building and there wasn't anything overly flashy about it. There was no on-campus housing, something that quietly bothered him and his wife, but Joey had been excited at the idea of moving into an apartment on her own. There was a pool in Forks that she would be applying to for a job and there were plenty of decently priced apartments in the area. Things should work out.

Joey knew she would be accepted. With grades like hers, the prospect of not getting into a community college was almost laughable. She knew she shouldn't brag, but if it were up to her, she'd have to say she was pretty smart. As she walked into the building, the feeling of exhilaration overwhelmed her. In six months, she would be moving here. In eight, she would be starting school. On her own. Free.

The pack had secretly been taking turns keeping an eye on Jacob. Ever since Bella had given birth to - if such a term could be used for that carnage - little Robert the pack feared for his sanity. What little had been left after the wedding, that is. He had stopped shifting after they witnessed against the Volturi and there was no way for them to fully know what was going on and through his head.

Now he spent his days sitting on the cliff and staring off into the water. By now, he had probably thrown enough rocks in there to make jumping dangerous. Not that the pack did that anymore. The bloodsucker threat had all but disappeared since the Cullens left, but no one knew how to go back to a normal life. They had seen too much, experienced too much.

No one knew how to pull him out of this funk. They just knew they had to. And fast. Emily suggested getting him off the reservation for a little bit, maybe have him go to the community college in Forks and train to be a licensed mechanic once he was done with high school. The others thought it was a great idea, and knowing how averse he would be to the idea, applied for him. He may have been his own alpha now, but he still felt like a part of Sam's pack and still felt that they needed him. He would never want to leave the reservation. And though he was not mystically bound to follow Sam's direct orders anymore, he chose to anyway. He'd never admit it, but he needed someone in his life telling him what to do at this point.

Quil and Embry decided they would drag Jacob into Forks and force him to go to the open house and tour of the campus. They'd pretend like they were going to apply and wanted him come with them before breaking the news. They'd have to tell him at some point that he had been accepted into the mechanics program and because he lived on the reservation he'd gotten a scholarship that would pay for most of his schooling. They just didn't know how to do that.

When it came time for getting ready to go, he'd dragged his feet as much as possible, like a petulant child who didn't want to go to school. But finally, the twins of terror had him stuffed in the back of the car – his own Rabbit, no less – and took off for Forks. They'd talked with the pack the night before. Knowing how much he loved the Rabbit, and how much effort had gone into fixing it up, they figured it would be the safest spot to tell him. His love of his car would (hopefully) prevent shifting due to the fury they knew they were going to face. The timing though, had to be cruicial. Most likely on the way home from the tour – that way, when he got out, they wouldn't have to use bodily force to get him to go to the open house. He could run as free as the wind blows for all they cared.

Jacob knew something was up. His wolfy-sense was tingling. He just couldn't place his finger on it. Looking at the campus, he had to wonder how it would be big enough to hold Embry and Quil. They were some big boys. The looks the three of them were garnering was amusing. It was a mixture of fear, awe, curiosity, and jealousy.

"Look at all the college chicks!" Embry said, his eyes roving back and forth among the sparse students, searching for a hot girl to ogle.

"Don't you mean, community college chicks?" said Jacob, amusement tinging his voice.

"What's the difference? College is college."

"And most of them are actually high school students doing that running start program – I bet half of them are too young."

"Good point."

Joey ran back to the car. How she could have forgotten her application form and the copies of her SAT and ACT scores, she would never know. But she was supposed to be having a quick meeting with the man who would be her academic advisor this very minute! It was definitely an "oh shit" moment as she fumbled with the keys, barely registering the giants she had torn past in her efforts to get in and out of her car as fast as possible.

She swiped her hair out of her eyes as she spied the troublesome forms. Grabbing them, while trying to not crumple them and make her look like a slob, she locked the car and ran back the other way towards the advisors' block. She was so glad she was a runner as she dodged people left and right, until she ended up slamming into a large, warm, solid body.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" she muttered as she picked herself and her papers off the ground.

"I'm sorry. Really, I am. Can't say stay to chat. I'll buy you coffee one day! Bye!" she yelled as she ran off again. She felt bad. She'd never had a hit and run before. But she was going to be late, and that was just not cool.

Jacob had been walking along with Quil and Embry when he heard a snicker and as he went to look at the troublesome duo, they suddenly pushed him. He stood there for just a fraction of a second, not understanding why they had pushed him. Then it hit him. Literally.

A blur of red and honey slammed into him, and even managed to knock the breath from his lungs. It – he then noticed that it was actually a "she" – hit the ground.

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

Before he could move towards helping her up or get the papers that were scattered on the ground, she was up and running again, papers in hand. Pretty impressive considering she had just body-slammed a werewolf.

"I'm sorry. Really, I am. Can't say stay to chat. I'll buy you coffee one day! Bye!"

She's like the white rabbit in Alice and Wonderland, he thought as he watched her weave in and out of people towards the opposite end of the campus, Wow. That was a really gay thought, Jacob. Good job champ.