Title: Fallen

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: Bella is just starting to heal when she is raped, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road near the reservation. Jacob finds her.

Notes: Rape, New Moon AU

Chapter 002

At one point during the night, exactly two thirty three am according to Bella's watch that he'd set on the bedside table, Embry came to stand in the open doorway. "Jake? I called your Dad, man, and he said it's fine if we want to stay up here for the next couple of weeks. Said he'd clear it with school and Sam. I didn't tell him about Bella; I just laid it on thick that we haven't had a real break since all of this bloodsucker shit started. He was totally cool about it, but he did say that he wants you to call him in the morning."

Jacob nodded at his friend. "Thanks, dude. I just don't know how we can hide this for long. Her Dad MUST be looking for her -"

"Um," Embry interrupted, "that's the other part. He IS, and when Billy asked me if I'd seen her, I told him that you'd told me that she was planning to take off for a while. When he asked why she didn't leave a note, I told him that she probably DID, and that it must have fallen or gotten lost or something. He bought it."

It was perfect. Jacob would have at least two weeks with Bella to help her heal physically and to try to convince her to go to her father and tell him the truth. He doubted he'd have much luck with that last, but he'd do what he could. "Embry, man - you're a GENIUS!"

Embry snorted. "Yeah, well, this genius is going to bed. It's been a hell of a night." That said, he vanished down the hallway toward his bedroom.

Jacob spent the rest of the night watching over Bella. Every time she started to whimper or cry, he would whisper soothing words in her ear and stroke her hair until she subsided.

He knew the instant she awoke. It was just starting to get light out and the birds were singing their morning songs. She didn't say anything, though, so he kept his mouth shut as well. She would talk when she was good and ready.

After several long moments, she did. "Where are we, Jacob?" Her voice was hoarse from hours of crying, and before that, hours of screaming. But she wasn't going to think about that, not yet.

"We're at Embry's grandparents' cabin in Seattle. Wait here, I'm going to get you a glass of water." With a soft kiss to the top of her head, he slid out of bed and quickly got a glass of ice water from the kitchen.

When he got back to their room, Bella was sitting up, using the blanket to cover her nudity. Her hands were shaking too badly to hold the glass herself, so he held it for her and helped her take several big sips.

"Better?" he asked when she had finished half the glass. He set it on the bedside table next to her watch and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Yes. Are Embry and his grandparents here, too?" She scooted closer to his warmth, and he wrapped his arms around her. She sighed in what sounded like relief and immediately relaxed into his embrace.

"Embry is. His grandparents passed away a couple of years ago, though, so it's just the three of us for the next two weeks." Jacob proceeded to tell her everything that Embry had told him the night before. "So nobody is going to be looking for you any time soon as long as you call Charlie once in a while."

"Good." Bella's voice was dull. "I'll call him later today."

"Okay." There was an awkward silence during which Jacob tried to figure out what the next logical step would be. It didn't take him very long. "Do you, uh, do you want to get dressed?"

"Do you have anything that will fit me?" she asked.

"One of my t-shirts will probably cover you until I can send Embry on a supply run. Will that do?"

For a moment, Bella didn't reply. Then, in a whisper, she asked, "C-can I wear something you've worn? Something that smells like you?"

Though he didn't really understand the request, he quickly agreed and made a short trip out to the car to carry the rest of he and Embry's things inside. He found her a reasonably clean black t-shirt in the laundry bag and took it and the first aid kit back to their bedroom.

He hadn't bothered with the first aid kit the night before because Bella had been somewhat hysterical, but there was no avoiding it today. "Bella," he began when he got back to their room, "I'm going to need you to lie on your stomach so I can disinfect the cuts on your back."

"Okay." She did as he asked, burying her face in the pillow and trying not to think about how those cuts had gotten there.

Jacob tried to be as quick and as gentle as possible, but he knew it must have hurt anyway. She never even flinched, though, which was a bit concerning. When he was finished, he told her to stay where she was. "I'm going to rub some salve into your bruises now. Tell me if I press too hard or if it hurts too much, okay?"

"Okay," she replied quietly.

He did her entire back side, even her butt once he had her permission. Then he turned her over and, starting with her face, rubbed some of the salve everywhere he saw bruising except for her breasts and inner thighs. "Okay," he said, a touch nervously. "Okay. Um, you might want to do the rest yourself."

"I can't see," she pointed out. Her eyes had swollen completely shut overnight. "You'll have to do it. It's okay, Jacob. I trust YOU."

So he took a deep breath and started rubbing the salve into the finger shaped bruises on her breasts as carefully as he could. Then he did her inner thighs, taking the opportunity to make sure she had stopped bleeding from her most intimate place, which she had. He breathed a sigh of relief, wiped his hands off on his boxer briefs, and helped her into the t-shirt. "There! How do you feel?"

"Like I want to die," Bella answered honestly. She laid back down and turned onto her side, facing away from him.

Jacob snarled at her back. "Don't you say that! Don't you EVER say that!"

Bella sighed tiredly and reached behind her, patting the bed. "Lay with me, Jacob. I need to feel your arms around me."

Unable to deny her, he did as she bid him, curling against her back and wrapping his arm around her slim waist. He kissed her tangled hair and did his best not to start crying. He was afraid that if he started, he wouldn't be able to stop. "I can't face a world without you in it," he whispered hoarsely.

Bella wasn't sure what to say to that, so she didn't say anything. Instead, she reached down and laced her fingers with Jacob's over her stomach. Not long after, she fell asleep.

Embry stopped at their door at around eleven am. "I'm going to make some tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. She needs to eat something, and so do you. I'll call when they're ready." He walked off without waiting for a reply.

Jacob gently shook Bella awake. "Embry's making lunch, honey. Tomato soup and grilled cheeses. As I recall, that's one of your favorites."

"I'm not hungry," she mumbled, snuggling back against him. He was so warm. "Let me sleep."

"You can't sleep forever, baby," Jacob replied sadly, "and you HAVE to eat. At least a little bit. Please? For ME?"

Bella sighed and would have rolled her eyes if they hadn't been swollen shut. "My throat hurts," she tried.

"Hot tomato soup would probably make it feel better. You don't have to eat any grilled cheeses."

"I can't SEE. How am I supposed to eat?"

"I'll feed you."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Bella sighed again, resigned. "Fine. If you want to feed me tomato soup, who am I to argue?"

Jacob smiled. "Do you want to eat in here or in the kitchen with Embry?"

"Here?" It came out sounding more like a question than a statement. "I just don't know what to say to Embry. I mean, he KNOWS."

"I know, too, and you don't have any problem talking to me," Jacob pointed out, slightly puzzled.

"That's different. You're my Jacob." She found his hand and squeezed it. "You take care of me."

Tears sprung to Jacob's eyes and he blinked forcefully, refusing to let them fall. Though her words would have made little sense to anyone else, he understood them perfectly. He WAS her Jacob, and he DID take care of her. Unable to help himself, he whispered, "I love you, baby. I'll ALWAYS take care of you."

Before, she would have gotten uncomfortable and pulled away, but now she just relaxed even more against him and said, "I know, Jacob." He didn't understand the change, but as long as it helped him to help her, he was all for it.

"Lunch is ready!" Embry called from the kitchen.

Jacob kissed the top of Bella's head and slid out of bed, helping her sit up before going to the kitchen to get their lunch. "Hey, man," he said as he walked in.

"Hey," Embry replied. He pointed to a tray on the table. On it were several grilled cheese sandwiches and two thermoses undoubtedly filled with tomato soup. "I thought it might be easier for her to drink it instead of trying to eat it the usual way."

"You were listening to us," Jacob accused.

"Wolf ears, remember? Besides, I'm just looking out for you, bro." Embry tried to shrug it off.

"I know, and I appreciate it, but please play some music or something from now on and TRY to give us our privacy. I don't want you to hear anything she might tell me in confidence."

"Fine, I won't listen in." Embry didn't sound like he cared one way or the other. Once again, he pointed to the tray. "Now go eat lunch with your girl."

So Jacob did. Bella was grateful for the thermos, glad not to have to let her best friend feed her. "Tell Embry I said thank you."

"I will." Jacob watched her drink, mindlessly eating his sandwiches. To his happiness, Bella drank the whole thing. "Thanks, Bells," he said as he was getting ready to take the tray back to the kitchen.

Bella's breath caught, and if it were possible, her eyes would have filled with tears. "You called me 'Bells'," she breathed.

Jacob was confused. "I've always called you 'Bells', Bells."

"You really DO still love me!" Bella sobbed.

Jacob put the tray on the floor and sat down beside her, pulling her into his arms. She climbed all of the way into his lap, straddling him and hugging his neck as her body shook. "Oh, baby, of COURSE I still love you. You need to understand that nothing is ever going to change that."

"Nothing?" Her voice was so tiny that he would not have heard it at all if it weren't for his being a Werewolf. "Even though I'm broken?"

"Oh, Bells." He held her tight against him, firmly ignoring the way her bare pussy felt against his bare thigh. As long as it didn't bother her - which it seemed it didn't - then it didn't matter. His cock didn't even twitch, held down by the knowledge of what had been done to her. "You could grow a dick and I'd STILL love you."

To both Jacob's and Bella's own surprise, she laughed. It was by no means the happy sound of before, but it was a laugh, and Jacob would take it.

Grabbing a handful of tangled hair in one hand, he gently tugged her head back so that he could look at her face. "Now how about I get a brush and we comb this rat's nest you call hair out."

A weak smile danced at the corners of her mouth. "Okay. But I'm not moving."

So he just grinned and hugged her for a while longer.