Cold hands caressed Bella Swan's frail shoulders. Gently, always gently, Edward Cullen placed a kiss on her temple. Her eyes stayed focused out the kitchen window, watching a bird try and catch a worm. She felt like that worm, pulled from a place that was so familiar and thrown into the open. The bird flew away and Bella watched it until it flew high up and out of sight. A shrill buzzing brought her out of her daydreams. She shuffled over to the oven and pulled the steaming casserole out.
"Are you alright, love?" Edward asks from behind her. Startled by his silence, she nearly drops the dish she is holding in her oven mitt clad gloves. Edward catches it before she realizes it's left her hands and quickly places it on the counter, shaking his hands in an attempt to cool them off. It's the first time she's ever seen him in physical discomfort, his frozen hands burn against the four hundred and fifty degree dish. He can't handle the heat. Heat.
"Just a little flustered. I haven't seen the Pack since you came back. I'm worried of how they'll react to me now." What she says is true but she leaves out the part about not knowing how to be around a Jacob that isn't in love with her.
"You'll be fine." He wraps his arms around her. His lips quirk up with a wry smile when he says t her, "Then again if you don't wish to go anymore I can stay here with you. I'm sure Jasper would take my place wrestling against Emmett without much resistance."
"No I have to go. It's his house warming party, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't go?" She can't stop the sign that escapes her lips.
"I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself." He tries again to reassure her. "Jacob wouldn't invite you if he didn't want you to come and his imprint seems like a lovely girl."
Bella whips around in his arms to face him. "How do you know about her?"
Edward keeps his face cool and she wonders how long he has known. "We've been meeting with the wolves to discuss a plan of action on the Victoria situation. She came along with Jacob once and was very cordial. She and Jacob seem to be very much in love. Almost as strongly as I feel about you."
"I love you too." Bella tells him and she's surprised when it doesn't come out sounding hollow. He gives her a slow, safe kiss on the lips. Cold and unpassionate.
Walking into Jacob and Melanie's home, Bella is amazed at it's beauty. A large, open kitchen combines with the dining room, finally a table big enough to fit all the wolves. Melanie jokes that Sam can finally put all his folding chairs away. The house is nowhere near huge but it has a large living space and down the hall three bedrooms. Up a small flight of stairs there is a lookout room that has soft, plush carpet and light walls that contrast against the hundreds of books. Bella thinks for a moment that she might throw up. Of course she doesn't and when they head downstairs she is met with the Pack, minus Leah and Quill who are running patrols. Nervously she tugs on her jacket sleeve until Melanie comes over and wraps her arm around her shoulder.
"Come on Bella, dinner's almost ready." Melanie guides her over to the long oak dining table and sits her in a chair next to the head of the table where Jacob sits.
"Your house is amazing Jake." She tells him in wonder.
"Thanks Bells. It had just been sitting here. I guess the old owner died in it or something." He smiles and looks past her into the kitchen where she is sure his imprint is. "It's probably haunted."
"Don't you say that Jacob!" Melanie calls from the kitchen. "I don't want to think about ghosts in our house."
Melanie and Emily bring out the dinner, burgers with coleslaw and homemade chips. The Pack falls into a normal setting, joking and laughing. It's almost as if Bella isn't there, except for the glances. Everyone is polite, probably out of respect for Jacob, but everyone glances at her. Paul glares menacingly, Sam side eyes her from his place at the other end of the table, even sweet Kim can't help but roll her eyes although she does her best to hide it. Dinner passes by with out much pain or agony but dessert is a different story. It isn't long before Victoria is brought up.
"She left a fresh trail along the coast but the bitch is crafty." Paul sneers, a tooth pick dangling from his lips like a cigarette. "She's not working alone anymore and if her crew has any freaky shit like Swan's leeches who knows what they could do? They could hide her scent so she can slip out from under us. Again."
"We've been training." Jacob's voice is now Alpha, strong and powerful. "We can handle whatever she throws at us."
"Right up the coast is to close for my liking." Sam bellows from across the table, holding Emily's scarred hand. "But Jacob is right. We're ready. It's very kind of the Vamps to help us train. We appreciate it Bella."
It's the first time Bella is addressed by name by anyone other than Melanie or Jacob all night. Unable to find words, she nods to Sam. Sam nods in return and turns his gaze back to Jacob.
"Alice said a week until they come, right?" Melanie asks the group.
"Yeah. A weeks time in the mountain clearing, probably about morning." Paul answers her. She smiles at him and the corners of his lips crack upward. The pair had become close friends.
Bella is shocked. "A week?"
"They haven't told you?" Embry asks her, surprised. It's been all the Pack and the imprints could think about.
Bella shakes her head, "No. All I knew was that she was working with a group now. But if it's in a week I want to help, however I can. After all it's my fault we're all in this mess."
At that moment it clicks with Bella, the glares and the silence. They're gearing up for war, getting ready for the real possibility of losing a brother or sister or lover, preparing for the future this battle may bring. And it's all her fault.
The group shares a few almost guilty looking glances. Jacob speaks. "We do have a place for you."
The last one to leave after insisting on helping with the dishes, Bella sits at the table and watches Jacob . The way he stumbles around the kitchen, so fluid but still having no idea what he's doing in there. It's hard to believe he's only sixteen, he acts thirty now. Even Melanie is only a couple months older than Bella. They were all so young.
"I'm going to bed." Melanie comes from down the hall and gives Bella a tight hug. "Thanks for coming tonight. Come over whenever you want. We can try and make a dent in those piles of books."
"Yeah, sure." Bella agrees as she hugs back but she is already dreading coming back. "I should be heading out too."
"I'll walk you out, Bells." Jacob says, drying his hands with a towel. Before he walks her to her car he pulls Melanie into his arms and gives her a quick but passionate kiss. Bella remembers how warm his lips had felt on hers that night almost two months ago. "I'll meet you down there, babe."
Melanie waves goodbye once more before returning down the hall to the room she shares with Jacob. Bella and Jacob walk to her car in the comfortable silence she finds so rare with other people. When they reach her car he wraps his warm arms around her and pulls her in for a hug. Tightly she squeezes back and wishes he wouldn't let go. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and he lets go.
"Come to the meeting tomorrow night. We can all talk about the coming week. And get home safe Bells." He opens her car door and she climbs in.
"I'll be there. Promise."
Jacob smiles that special Jacob smile and closes the door, watching his house disappear in her rear view mirror, Bella is swarmed with a million 'what ifs'.