CHAPTER EIGHT: GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS

I woke up to the sun shining through the window, caressing my face with light and warmth. Feeling energized and refreshed, I started to sit up and "OUCH!" I was pretty sore from last nights events. The pain was very bearable but it surprised me. I looked over to the right side of the bed to find it was empty.

I grabbed one of Jake's shirts put it on, and walked over to the window and soaked in the heat. I missed the sun. In Alaska, I would go months without a single ray of sunlight and I enjoyed every bit of comfort the sun had to offer. Today, was a new day. It was the beginning of my new life, love and future.

I was standing there for a good five minutes when I felt warm arms snake around my waist. "Good morning beautiful." He whispered into my ear.

"Good morning handsome."

I turned around to face him and he looked gorgeous. All he was wearing were a pair of NY Giants pajama pants.

"A Giants fan?" I asked.

"You bet!"

"Alright." I smiled. "What are we doing today?" My stomach let out a very embarrassing growl.

"I'm not sure, but how about we start with some breakfast?"

"Sounds great ."

We headed downstairs and walked into the kitchen. He made French Toast, eggs, sausage, it was a perfect breakfast. "Jake, this is perfect." He walked over to the table and pulled out a chair for me.

"Have a seat." he said.

We sat there for an hour, enjoying our breakfast and talking about how great it was to be back in each others lives. It was so hard to believe that after everything, I was sitting here with Jake, eating breakfast like an old married couple.

"Breakfast was great Jake. Thanks for feeding me."

"It's my pleasure Bell's." He said with a shit eating grin on his face. It was comforting.

I was really sore and just felt like a hot shower was well over due.

"I want to take a shower, is that ok?" I asked.

"Of course it's alright. Especially if I can join you." He thought he was so sly.

I couldn't help but blush at the idea, but I don't have anything that he hasn't seen already, so what could it hurt? I have a feeling we will be sharing a lot of showers from now on. "I guess, but don't be an animal." I said with a wink.

Jake POV

Did I just hear that right? Bella just said yes to me joining her in the shower? Hell yeah! I walked to the bathroom with her behind me stepped inside to turn around to face her. Her cheeks were five different shades of red. I walked over to her and lifted her face in my hands. "Bella, it's ok. It's just a shower. I don't have to be in here."

"No, I want you to stay, it's just I'm nervous."

"Never be nervous with me Bella. I will never hurt you. I will always take care of you." She gave me a weak smile and lifted her arms silently asking me to pull off my oversized t-shirt. When she was standing in front of me naked, I had to reign in the wolf. He wanted to devour her. But I wanted to show Bella that that's not the only thing that I wanted from her. I quickly discarded my pajama pants and turned on the water. When it was the perfect temperature, I stepped inside and held out my hand for her.

She stood in the water and my dick twitched. Fuck! She was so god damned sexy with all of that water running all over her. Between her breast , over her nipples, down her flat stomach . This was going to be harder than I thought.

I ran my hands down her shoulders and took her hands in mine. "You are so perfect Bells. In everyway."

Surprisingly I was able to behave myself for the duration of our shower and we were in the bedroom getting dressed. "Bella?"

She looked at me with a huge smile on her face. "Yea?"

"I really want to talk to you about something. I guess you might think it's a little soon to talk about, but I want to."

"Anything Jake. what's going on?"

I was so afraid that she was going to reject me. I pushed my fear to the side and asked her. "Will you move in with me?

Complete happiness spread across her face, but just as fast as it came, it was gone.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because we haven't even told Charlie about us yet you silly wolf."

A huge feeling of relief washed over me. "You really think Charlie's going to keep us apart after all these years?"

"No, no I don't. But I do think I will enjoy watching you squirm while you explain to him your," she put up her fingers and did the 'quote' sign, "reasonable, reason you want me to move in with you after one day of being back in Forks." She started to laugh, "for both of us."

Her logic was very reasonable. What kind of explanation could I possibly come up with that didn't make us moving in together seem like complete nonsense. "I think your right. What could we possibly say to make this acceptable for him?"

"Jake, as hard as it is to stay away from each other, I don't think we're going to be able to do this every night. We're going to have to go through the motions."

"I know your right, I just don't want to have to sleep in this bed one more night without you next to me."

She walked up to me, and wrapped her arms around my waist. "I do have a window and I seem to recall you being able to get into it quite easily."

"Why Miss Swan, are you trying to seduce me?"

"Why? Is it working?" She laughed at me.

"Oh, yeah." I picked her up and lifted her as high as my arms would stretch. This was the beginning of the rest of my life and I was for once in my life, ecstatic to start it.

"As a matter of fact Jake, we need to go see Billy and Charlie. Dad hasn't seen you yet."

The thought of seeing Charlie made me smile. I missed him a lot. He was like a second father to me.

"I guess that's what we're doing today." I said

We got our stuff together, jumped in the car and headed to the lake.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was bright and beautiful and looking to my right seeing the sun on my Bella's skin, was a sight. No crystal skin, just a beautiful tan.

We parked the car and grabbed the six pack of beer I picked up for Dad and Charlie. It was a five minute walk through the woods to Charlie and Billy's fishing spot. Looking ahead you could see the wheelchair tracks that have been worn down through the years.

We were only a few yards away when overheard Charlie and Billy talking like two fifty year old women.

"I woke up this morning and Bella was gone." Charlie said.

"That's odd." Billy confessed. "Jacob left last night and never came home. I don't think that I was very stealthy last night when I was trying to keep him from coming here. He said that he wanted to surprise you."

"You think he came to my house last night?"

"Oh, I'm sure of it. Jacob and Bella are missing in action. It only makes sense that they would be together."

"That means Bella would have gone home with him last night?"

"Either that or he came and got her early this morning. But I seriously doubt that he would have been able to leave her last night. You know just as well as I do that Jacob never loved Bella any less after she left with those Cullen's." He said Cullen's, in disgust.

"I just hoped they behaved themselves."

And before they could go anywhere else with their uncomfortable dialog I coughed and came into the clearing.

"Charlie, Dad." I said smiling. Bella came out with me. Hand in hand we walked over to Dad and Charlie.

"Jake!" Charlie said full of excitement. He got up and pulled me into a tight hug. "Welcome home son!"

"Thanks Charlie."

Charlie looked down at mine and Bella's hands entwined. A toothy grin spread across his face.

I didn't give him a chance to say anything. "Charlie, I would like to talk to you about something in private. Is that ok?"

"Yes, of course it is."

I left my Bella with my dad and started to walk around the lake with Charlie.

"Charlie, I don't know where to begin with this."

"Just spill it Jake." He laughed.

"I'm in love with Bella." I spilled willingly. "She is the most wonderful person I have ever met in my entire life and I intend on spending the rest of my life with her. I have seen things that have made me realize that life is a gift and I want to give your daughter all I have to give."

"I know you love her Jake. I really do, but don't you think that you guys are moving a little fast?"

"I completely understand why you would feel as much. Anyone would. But I think it's time, for your own sake that I fill you in on some things. I fully intend on making Bella my wife someday and I think it's time I pull you out of the dark. There are some things about me and the tribe that you need to know."

Charlie continued walked and stepped ahead of me and turned around. "Jake, I'm going to be honest here. Your starting to freak me out a little bit." He rolled out with a laugh.

"Charlie, this is really, really serious. You are going to be freaked out. But I cant emphasize how much I need you to stay calm and know that you are completely safe. Dad is going to be upset with me that I'm going to do this without his consent put it's my pack."

"Jake. I trust you son. I know your not going to do anything to hurt me. Pack? I'm so confused."

"Please don't be scared. You have never seen anything like this before. And as much as you want to run. Please don't. I won't hurt you I promise."

"Your starting to scare me now kid. Your sounding very cryptic."

"Trust me." I said while I was backing up.

I took off my shirt, and put up my hand before Charlie could say anything. I turned around and stepped into the tree line.

Charlie POV

Jake was really starting to scare me. I knew he would never hurt me, but some of the things he was saying were very cryptic.

Jake disappeared into the tree line, and I heard and large cracking sound resonate through the trees. A flock of birds flew out of the forest.

And there were the eyes. Huge brown eyes. It was a wolf! I knew I didn't stand a chance at running from it, so I stood there, still as a marble statue.

I couldn't believe the size. It was massive, a foot taller than me at least on all fours. Sweat started to fall down my forehead and my heart was racing. The brown wolf walked toward me, very slowly as if wanting to make sure that I was comfortable.

He told me I would be scared. He told me that I would want to run, but that I was safe. This is what Jacob wanted me to see. He wanted to show me this. But why? As I asked myself that question I realized that this wolf was one of the wolves that Bella had seen and told Harry and I about in our kitchen. The Quilettes have wolves? I asked myself.

The wolf was now mere feet away from me. Something about his eyes were vaguely familiar. He lowered his head in front of me as if to show me loyalty. I couldn't believe this was happening. My fight or flight reflexes wanted me to run like a bat out of hell away from this wolf but my trust in Jake forced me to stay.

I looked down and the wolf was setting something onto the ground from his mouth. I gasped at the Swiss Army Knife at me feet. I reached down very slowly to pick up the trinket from my past. I had gotten this knife for Jake's sixteenth birthday. On one side is said, "Son of my heart."

I stood there admiring the knife for a few seconds, and the wolf got back on all fours and turned away from me. Once he was in the tree line I started to breathe again.

After a minute or so, I heard rustling. I looked up and Jake was walking out of the woods. With an unsure look on his face. He picked up his shirt and put it back on.

Jacob POV

I didn't know how else to show him. I had to do, what I had to do. I was going to be with his daughter for the rest of his life, and he deserved to know what kind of life her, and his future grandchildren would be leading. Charlie was a part of this now and that was that. I would deal with the wrath of Billy later. At least he wouldn't have to be secretive around his best friend anymore, so that was a plus.

Charlie just stood there in complete shock holding the Swiss Army Knife he had gotten me for my sixteenth birthday.

"What are you Jake?" He asked in complete confusion.

"I'm what you just saw Charlie. I'm a werewolf."

"I don't know how to register this right now kid. I mean, I know I just seen this for myself but it's a lot to take in. I guess the only thing I can think about right now is if Bella already knows this."

"She's known since I was 17." I spit out. I didn't know how to sugar coat this for him, so I decided that it was time to let Billy clean up my mess a bit. Charlie needed his best friend to explain to him what I just showed him. He needed to know everything.

"Charlie, I think that you need to talk to dad. He'll help you understand and get you through some of this shock. There was a very important reason that I had to show you this. I need you to understand where mine and Bella's relationship is heading."

"Yeah. Yeah." He nodded his head. "Yeah, your right." What did I just do to him? Everything Charlie knew about his world was about to be turned upside down. Lets just hope Charlie is at least half as good at dealing with weird as Bella has always been.

We can only hope.