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Chapter 8:

Jake:

Every emotion imaginable flashed across Cara's face, her blue eyes piercing. My heart thudded in my chest, pounding so hard it was difficult to breathe as I watched her process those words. I stood frozen between her and the others, my shoulders tense and jaw clenched, not really knowing what to do to prevent what was going to happen next.

"What?" Her voice was barely a whisper, dripping with doubt. In a weird way it made me feel better, that she didn't believe this woman who was so much like her I already knew it was true. Cara glanced at me with confused eyes and I took her hands in mine.

"Cara-"I wasn't sure what I was going to say, her name seemed like a good enough start but the rest just froze in my throat.

Here it was, the one thing I'd been working to prevent, and it just seemed to be getting worse by the second. An insane amount of guilt swept through me as I watched her watch this woman who'd just said she was her dead mother. I should have been able to stop this, protect her and the fact that I hadn't been able to made my heart wrench in my chest. I felt Cara's hand tighten in mine almost as if she was trying to encourage me, felt it begin to quiver and knew that she trying to keep her voice from doing the same.

"You heard me the first time, sweetheart. I won't repeat myself" Her… mother… was cold when she spoke, putting a falsely sweet smile on the face that resembled Cara's. It was hard to believe this woman could even smile because not even five minutes earlier, as I fought and yelled, her face had been practically made of stone."I had to go away for a while-"

"A while? Go away?" Cara cut through in a voice filled with anger, but it wasn't shaking and I could tell she'd worked hard to make it that way. I saw Quil grin in the background, I fought a smile myself.

"But I'm back. And I'm so glad to see you all grown up" She went on as if her daughter had never even spoken. And as if that daughter were an imbecile. Already I hated her, for what she was doing and what I knew was going to come. Her brown eyes were flat and if she didn't look almost exactly like her, I would never have believed Cara- filled with so much light and love and kindness- could be related to her.

For a while it was quiet. We all waited for what was coming next. The man who'd come with Cara's mother, a man I recognized from a certain showdown a few nights ago, shifted from foot to foot with a cocky grin pulled across his face. David, I'd remember that name.

"Why are you here?" Cara broke the silence, surprising us all. I held on tighter to her hand, mentally rooting her on.

"For you, dear. I'm your mother" Cold One was already taken but the name seemed to fit her. She had none of the warmth my mom had when she was alive, there was no maternal spark in her voice or eyes. I was happy for it and at the same time… I couldn't even imagine what Cara was thinking.

"You never would have left" Hearing Cara not believe this woman, who still hadn't told us her name, was music to my ears.

It took me a while to realize that I'd had this fear that maybe Cara would leave us- this was her mother after all. It made sense for her to want to be with her mom, I know I would. And I wouldn't stop her, not as long as she was really happy, no matter how much it hurt me. But it turned out that my fear was foolish. Standing next to Cara, who bravely confronted her missing mother without automatically running to her side… it made me love her so much more, if that was even possible.

"I didn't have a choice, which is something I won't discuss here" The Cold One said "here" as if even the word were poison. The Pack silently glowered at her at the same time, instinctive pride kicking in. Cara joined in, her eyes slanting into a glare. "And I will not be questioned by a child"

Silence again. The moments ticked by as Cara let that settle in the air. Her hand stopped shaking in mine, it was solid and strong now. She looked sure of what she was going to do next. My heart swelled with pride in her, at how brave she seemed to be. If my mom had come back from the dead I might have burst into tears or something. Especially if she came back like that.

"Jake?" It took a second to realize she had said something, let alone my name. I looked away from David and down into Cara's blue eyes. "Take me home"

She didn't need to say another word. Sam nodded curtly, the annoyance and anger obvious on his face. I threw my arm around her neck, pulled her into my chest. With one final glance at her mother, and an extra glare at David for good luck, I turned us around and headed out the door.

Cara:

She didn't call for me to stop or anything. Just stood silently, watching me walk away with Jake. The throng of wolves and people outside cleared in front of us, closing up behind. The wall between us and the Rabbit, parked just under some shade by the dirt road, got thinner and thinner as the wall between me and my… mother got thicker. I strangely liked it better that way.

Jake opened the passenger side door for me, holding on to my hand for just a second longer than he needed to, trailing his fingers along my palm before closing the door and loping around the back to the driver's side. I kept my eyes trained on the road, refusing to look at David's Pack, so much bigger than mine, and especially away from the house. My head was still swimming, the recent event not fully processed yet.

For a while we drove in silence. Jake rested his hand on my knee, every once in a while glancing over to check on me. There were too many thoughts whirling around in my head, the first of which being that I'd failed. Jake was now tangled up in drama I'd hoped he could avoid. My heart fell at that. But it picked up speed when I realized how many there had been. I knew who David's "she" was now. My mother- assigning him the task of watching me. Once I knew that, everything sort of clicked… except the hikers being attacked. Unless… I shivered when I thought about the possibility of man-hunting werewolves. It was just wrong. Sick. Against nature- if that statement isn't an oxymoron in the current situation.

"You okay?" Jake asked a few minutes later, his voice cutting through my crazy, unorganized thoughts. I didn't know how to answer, there were a few different replies. So I settled with just not answering at all. "Cara?"

The steady slipstream of green leaves and moss, brown trees whipping past slowed down as Jake took his foot of the gas and eased the Rabbit to a halt. I sighed, really not looking forward the impending conversation. His hand tugged me around to face him, his gentle fingers tipped my head up. I felt myself falling into his warm, brown eyes.

"I can't tell my dad, can I?" I asked. My voice was barely above a whisper, I already knew the answer. I looked down at our hands, interlaced on the vinyl and felt my shoulders sag.

"Probably not a good idea, no" Jake told me, in a voice equally as quiet as my own.

My mother, I thought and the words just wouldn't stick. She'd been dead for so long and all of a sudden, poof! She's there as if she'd always been. And David had known, he could have told me. But we weren't friends, he'd probably enjoyed that scene just now. I ground my teeth just thinking about it.

"Listen, Cara… um, there's something I should tell you" I looked up at Jake's face, the guilt was there in his eyes again and my head provided the answer. With a smile, I leaned forward and kissed his cheek, sliding myself closer at the same time.

"You knew they were here, didn't you?" I asked. It made sense, his extra shifts and exhaustion. Jake looked down at me with a sheepish grin that made my heart flip.

"Just David, I'd been tracking him" He said. So David was bothering everyone, huh? Why was I not surprised by that?

"I knew about David too, I just didn't want you to worry"

"What? Why not?!" Jake exploded, his eyes went wide and wild. For a second I saw fear but fear for me and what could have happened. I reached up and touched Jake's hair, ran my fingers through it with a small smile as I realized how stupid I'd been, we'd both been.

"He's harmless. A little teddy bear" He snorted and rolled his eyes, more relaxed though at my touch.

"Not the David I met" Before I could even begin to question his murmur, Jake grabbed both of my hands in his and turned so that our knees touched, facing each other. My entire body still buzzed at his touched, butterflies flitted around in my stomach."No more secrets, alright? From now on, we tell each other everything. I don't want something to happen to you because you didn't want me to worry"

"Alright" I said, for a moment stunned at the new glow in his eyes, the refreshed ease in his body and voice. Here was the Jake I knew and he made me smile, even as the rain started to patter against the windshield, the individual drops like the new troubles in my life trying to get at us.

"I love you too much, Cara, to lose you over something stupid like that" Jake's voice was soft when he said that, giving me heart palpitations- only the good kind if there is such a thing.

"I love you, too" Even though the events of not even an hour ago were still weighing in my mind, it was easy to push them to the back of the thought vault with Jake as a distraction. His eyes burned into mine making it hard to ever want to look away. My mind was swiped clean, I could have forgotten my own name.

The rain started to pick up, pounding against the roof sounding like coins falling in a tin cup. The road was empty, no cars whipping past in this part of La Push. Just trees and moss and dirt, the sound of waves as a backdrop. Jake leaned forward, his face inching closer and I met him halfway, pressing my lips to his. Invisible sparks were flying as we kissed. My eyes fluttered closed, Jake's fingers twined through my hair and the world faded away till even the sound of the rain was nothing. I loved every minute of it.

Thunder rolled, making us jump apart. I could feel the heat of Jake's breath on my face, we were still that close and neither of us could stop smiling. We were strong together, we could make it through whatever was thrown at us, even if it happened to be… my long dead mother coming back to life with a huge Pack at her disposal. Even that.

"Let's go home" Jake said in a voice that was increasingly huskier than before. He was still trying to catch his breath, so was I. He started the car, eased it into gear and pulled onto the slick road, taking us farther away from a living headache until the time came when we had to face it again with his arm slung around my shoulders.

"Can I come over instead?" I asked, not yet ready to go home, face the long list of chores I still had to. My stomach rumbled as I realized I still hadn't eaten breakfast. Jake looked at me and grinned, kissed my hand held tight in his.

"That's what I said- home"