Disclaimer:

Seth: Guess who doesn't own Twilight? Donna. She still owns this story and the OC characters so please don't use them without her permission.

AN: Wow, you guys had some pretty strong feelings about the last chapter. It was that good? You guys didn't see Riley being brought in, did you? I gotta keep you on your toes some how. I wanted to let you guys know that I am envisioning Rachel Lefvre (I think that's how her last name is spelled), not Bryce Dallas Howard. I've always thought that Rachel was more menacing so she's the one that I am using. Thanks for the support. You guys are awesome.

It was only two weeks into the summer and the campers and counselors had been through so much. Claire was physically better and was cleared to participate in camp activities but she had been so emotionally closed off that Sue and Harry weren't pressing her to get back into the swing of things. Bella was the only person who could get through to her. Bella's heart went out to her but she had no idea how to make things better. They had both talked to Quil a few times even though campers weren't allowed to have phone privlages without Harry or Sue's concent.

The Monday morning after Quil left came too early for Bella. Claire had kept her up half the night texting Quil, she hoped the girls wouldn't rat her out. Jessica entered the cabin just out of the shower and smiled feebly at her.

"Did Claire keep you up too?"

"I finally fell asleep around one," she said with a shrug.

"I'll remind her to put my phone on vibrate if it happens again. I'm sorry."

"No worries," Jessica said, waving a hand to brush her apology off.

"What time is it?"

"It's twenty to nine."

"I slept through breakfast?" she asked, jumping down from her bunk quickly.

Her ankle turned under the brunt force but Jessica caught her before she fell. Jessica gave her a concerned look and she smiled in gratitude.

"How'd you get me out of breakfast?"

"I told Sue that you had a headache but that you'd taken something for it and that you'd be down by nine. I was about to wake you up."

Bella dressed quickly and brushed her hair as she made her way down the stairs leading to camp. She made it to the mess hall precisely at nine as the campers were coming in. Sue had been nice enough to set up everything they would need in the kitchen. The kids came in and Bella got them settled down before bringing out the basket of paper slips. She looked around the room to see Claire sitting in the back by herself.

Once the rest of the week was decided on they made their way to the kitchen where the campers got to work on making snicker doodles.

"They really don't have Snickers candy bars in them?" Brady asked.

"No, Brady," Bella answered, biting back the urge to laugh.

Bella pulled up a stool next to Claire and she didn't even acknowledge her. She went about mixing her dough, not looking away from the wall in front of her.

"I miss him too, but you can't keep acting like this Claire Bear. It's been three days since he left. You've got the whole camp worried about you," she broached.

Claire stopped what she was doing and slowly turned towards Bella. Bella noticed the unshed tears and once she had cleaned Claire up she pulled her to her. She sobbed quietly into Bella's chest while everyone else ignored them. Bella rubbed her back soothingly, whispering words of encouragement into her hair. The kitchen door opened and Sue was standing next to them within seconds.

"It's gonna be okay Sugar," Sue promised.

Bella stepped away to check on everyone's progress as the hour wound down. Most of the kids were finished while others waited for their cookies to finish in the oven. Sue led Claire out of the room explaining that she was taking her up to the main cabin and they'd be back for lunch.

Bella helped the kids clean up with only a few minutes left. Once they had left she sat at the counter going over the shopping list for the week. The door swung open making her look up. It swung shut behind Riley silently. He sat across from her and she sat her pen down to give him her full attention.

"Do you want to know what Paul said to me when I got to our cabin on Saturday?"

"What?"

"He warned me that I had better not plan on trying to win you back because someone else had their eyes on you," he said with a smirk.

Why was everyone so hell bent on trying to push her and Jacob together?

"It's fairly new, we're still figuring things out," she mumbled.

"How new?"

"We've only started talking about it four days ago."

"And how are things looking?"

"I don't know," she said, looking down at her hands.

"From a guys stand point even I can see that Jake is crazy about you. He always has been," he said leaning across the counter to tilt her chin so that she was looking at him.

"You think so?" she asked hopefully.

"I know so, but he won't wait around forever. You can't keep him at arms length and expect him to be happy about it."

"I know," she said quietly.

"Take a chance for once Bells. You'll be within driving distance and I'm pretty sure that he's willing to do anything that you ask him to do."

She knew that Jacob would walk to the ends of the world and back if she'd ask him to, he'd always been like that. She'd been too scared to admit it until recently. Riley was right, she couldn't keep pushing Jacob away because he would eventually grow tired of it. She needed to get over her fears and take the leap that Jacob had already taken. She knew just what to do.

XXXX

Bella hadn't been able to talk to Jacob until lunch and she didn't want to carry out her plan in front of everyone. She had been able to talk Jessica into taking the girls down to the beach for a game of volleyball so that she could talk to Jacob. Claire looked considerably better at lunch so that made Bella feel better.

"Sue let me Skype with Quil. We talked for over an hour," she gushed.

"Do you feel better?"

"So much better," she said with an affirming nod.

"Good," Bella said, heartfelt.

Jacob came down the aisle and Bella smiled warmly at him. He winked at her before sitting down behind her. She turned in her seat and tapped him on his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder giving her a goofy look to throw her off.

"You're such a dork," she said with a laugh.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"Do you want to go for a walk in a little bit?"

"Sure."

"Okay," she said happily before turning back around.

Her eyes met Claire's and Claire gave her a knowing smirk. Bella gave her an inconspicuous shrug and Claire shook her head, still smiling. Bella rolled her eyes before breaking into a grin.

"I know that act so don't play dumb with me," Claire teased.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Only to someone who's in love."

Bella looked around their table and noticed that Bree was missing. She searched the room and found her sitting with Seth, Colin, and Brady at the table behind them.

"So you're parents are letting you rejoin camp?" Bree asked.

"Yep. I'm on cabin clean up duty for the rest of the summer though," he said with a sigh.

"I bet you're glad to not have to be around your parents twenty-four/seven anymore," she broached.

"Hell yeah! My dad was like a watch dog."

"That had to suck."

"He got tired of me complaining that I was bored last night," he said with a grin.

"That's one way of getting out of being grounded," she said with a laugh.

He laughed and Bree took a moment to lock eyes with Bella for reassurance. Bella motioned with her hands for her to keep going.

"Can I ask you something personal?"

"Sure," he said with a nod.

"Do you have a crush on anybody here?"

"Do you?" he asked with imploring eyes.

"I asked you first," she said with a wry smile.

"Please, Seth's holding out for Kendall Jenner, right man?" Colin asked.

"Well, that clears that up," Bree said with a short laugh.

Bella groaned as the conversation came to an end. Claire growled and Bella heard her curse Colin under her breath as Bree came back to the table. Bella patted Bree on the back encouragingly as she banged her head on the table.

"Every group of friends has one that's absolutely clueless. Colin is just the unlucky one who falls into that category," Beth admitted.

"Who's the friend from your group of friends Bella?"

"Quil," Bella and Claire said at the same time.

"I swear, sometimes I want to hit him over the head with a frying pan," Claire said with a laugh.

"Just try again, and next time make sure that you two are alone," Bella suggested.

Bree nodded in agreement when everyone started filing out of the room. Jacob and Bella hung back until the room was completely empty.

"Where did you want to go?"

"We could walk the trial," she suggested.

"Can you handle that? There's tree roots everywhere."

"If I fall, you'll catch me, won't you?"

"Always," he promised before taking her hand.

They started up the trail that led to the mountains hand in hand. Bella was silent, she didn't know how to put her thoughts into words.

"Is there a reason why we're walking this way?"

"It has nice scenery," she argued.

"You don't have any other reason?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I'm still trying to figure it out," she admitted shamefully.

"Just say the first thing that comes to your mind," he said encouragingly.

She stopped and he stopped to turn towards her. He knew that look in her eyes, only she had never given it to him before. Before he could react she leaned up on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck. Her lips were soft and gentle against his as he bit back a surprised moan. He cradled her face in his hands, brushing his thumbs along her chin. After a minute she pulled away to place her forehead to his. She had said what she needed to say without having to actually say anything and the look he gave her let her know that he understood what she was trying to say.

"I'd ask you out on a date, but where would we go?" he asked with a half smile.

"We'll have to take a rain check."

"Maybe we can get our weekend passes changed to the same weekend," he thought out loud.

"It's worth a try."

"Come here," he said leaning down to brush his lips to hers again.

This time he didn't hold back. He threw everything he had at her and she tossed it back at him with fervor. Her tongue glided over his and she fit in his arms like she was made for them. The feelings coursing through him went beyond anything he had felt for Nessera. A wave of calm washed over him once she pulled away. She licked her lips before a nervous chuckle bubbled out of her mouth.

"That's never happened before," she said quickly.

"You felt it too?"

"Yeah," she with a sharp sigh.

"Is there anything else that you need to tell me?"

"That about covers it."

He led them back down the path to comp and were met by Emmett and Edward as they were crossing the field.

"Can I go over something with you?" Emmett asked Jacob.

"Go ahead. I'll see you later," Bella said letting go of his hand.

He hugged her, his eyes meeting Edwards over her shoulder. Edward looked away quickly and Jacob kissed Bella's forehead. Bella looked over her shoulder once Jacob and Emmett were far enough away not to hear what she had to say to Edward. He had been keeping a low profile for the last week but she still caught him staring at her from time to time.

"Before you say anything; I would like to apologize," Edward said, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

"Go ahead," she said with a shrug.

"I've been an ass and the sad part is that I didn't realize it until just recently. I see now that I don't have a chance in hell with you and I am asking for a second chance," he said sincerely.

"Okay," she said with a nod.

"I'm Edward Cullen, it's nice to meet you," he said holding out his hand.

"Bella Swan," she said with a smile.

She shook his hand, not knowing what he would say next.

"What made you realize that you were going about things the wrong way?"

"Your friend Angela gave me a stern talking to and made me see the error of my ways," he said with a sheepish grin.

"Angela? Angela Webber?" she asked cautiously.

"Yep. Right before she kissed me," he said with a soft chuckle.

"Huh," she said, unable to comprehend that Angela would make the first move.

Bella looked at her watch and realized that it was almost time for her and Sue to go into town for groceries for the week. If she was lucky, maybe she could talk Sue into letting Embry go with her. She needed his perspective on what was going on. She said goodbye to Edward before heading up to the mess hall. Sue explained that Embry was covering both shifts at the beach until someone stepped in to fill the position that Leah had left. That was alright, she could talk to him after dinner. She wanted him to the first to know...after Emmett and Edward that is.

XXXX

Embry had been roped into play volleyball since Claire, Bree, and Nora had talked Jessica into playing on their side but he didn't mind. They had been playing for two hours and the girls were starting to get tired. Nora and Carrie collapsed on their towels while Claire and Bree went to take showers. Beth sat at the waters edge letting the water lap at her feet. Embry sat next to her silently wondering what was wrong with her. She was known for being a loner, but it wasn't like her to at least try to make an effort to be sociable.

"What's on your mind?" he asked quietly.

"I got a letter from home today," she said with a sigh.

"Usually that's a good thing," he said, nudging her lightly with his elbow.

"There's a lot going on and I'm not there to make it stop," she said with a sniffle.

"Hey, if something's going on you can tell me. No one understands screwed up families more than me," he admitted.

"You have family issues too?"

"I've never met my dad, my mom won't even tell me who he is. I have a right to know!" he said with a frustrated sigh.

"My problems do go that far, but that is pretty bad," she said sympathetically.

"You'll feel better once you talk about it," he encouraged her.

"My parents were separated for a while two years ago. During that time my mom got pregnant. The babies dad is causing problems."

"So you have a younger sibling? You told everybody you were an only child the first night here."

"I don't like talking about her that much."

"I guess I can understand that. But it's not your fault that her dad's a douche bag."

"You have a point. Thanks, Embry."

He gave her a one armed hug, squeezing her gently. Jessica came up to them to let Beth know that it was time to go.

"If you ever want to talk; I'll alway listen," Embry told Beth as he pulled her up.

Beth smiled gratefully before turning to follow Jessica and the girls up the path. Embry got the feeling that there was something that Beth wasn't telling him but he couldn't be sure. If she was, she had a right to keep it to herself and if she decided to come to him again, he would listen nonjudgementally, just like he had done this time.

XXXX

Riley knew that he could get in trouble for what he was doing but he didn't care. He stood outside Victoria's cabin and watched as Victoria readied for bed. He tapped on the window lightly but she didn't hear him. He tapped again making her still her hand with her brush hanging over her head.

"Victoria!" he whispered loud enough for her to hear.

She turned to the window with curious eyes. He pointed to the door and she met him on the porch thirty seconds later.

"What are doing here?" she whispered.

"I need to talk to you. Can we go for a walk?"

"Let me get my shoes. You'd better pray that no one finds us," she warned before going inside.

They sat on the stairs leading to camp a good football field length away from the cabins.

"What's going on with you?"

"I need you to do something for me."

"Anything," she promised endearingly.

"You have got to be nicer to Bella," he said firmly.

"I'm trying!" she whispered in defense.

"Babe, no you're not. I see the looks you give here when you think I'm not looking. She's trying to look past what happened two years ago, can't you?" he asked logically.

"If she's going to run to you every time she has a problem with me than I can do whatever I want," she said in contempt.

"That's just it, she hasn't," he objected.

"Yeah, right," she said with a scoff.

"I'm serious. She hasn't said a word to me about you. Just like she didn't tell the Clearwater's what happened two years ago. If she had, do you honestly think that they would have asked you to come back?"

"Well, no," she said in defeat.

"Be nicer to her, or you and I are going to have problems," he warned.

"Why do you care so much? Do you still love her?" she asked, panicked.

"Of course I don't love her! Not the way that I love you. We're getting married and you're honestly asking me that?" he asked, hurt.

"You said that you don't love her the way that you love me."

"A small part of me will always love her because she was my first love, albeit it is a very small part of me."

"But the rest of you loves me," she added.

"Yes, Vic," he promised.

"I love you too. I'm sorry for acting so crazy. I warned you that this might happen," she said with a shallow sigh.

He pulled her to him and kiss her forehead. She sighed into his neck as she got her emotions in check. No one had ever listened to her the way Riley did. No one had ever cared for her the way he did either. She didn't want to go back to the person she'd been a year ago. James had left her without looking back; leaving her to clean up what was left of her shattered heart. She hadn't expected to fall in love with Riley when he started hanging around all of the sudden. They had nursed each other's broken hearts and fallen in love in the process without even realizing it. She didn't know what she'd do without him. He put up with her mood swings and bouts of insanely jealous rage like a champ. She felt lucky to have him in her life.

AN2: Okay, they're officially together. Everybody happy? Great. I'm fighting a cold right so if there are any discrepancies please feel free to call me out on them. Now I am going to watch Les Miserable and hope that I don't pass out from a cough syrup induced coma. Later guys.