A/N: I'd like to apologize, but for more than one thing. First of all, obviously I should apologize for putting off updating this story for so long. That was basically evil of me. And secondly, I should apologize for any and all differences you may see in my writing style. Somehow time away from the keyboard took its toll, and now I find that I am… much less deep, when it comes to writing angst. Or at least I believe so. I'm not sure. Something's different, at least. If you spot a difference, please let me know what it is so I might change it… Unless you like the difference of it. In that case I won't change anything.

I promise it won't take me so long to get up chapter ten. I promise. And again, I'm sorry.

Chapter Nine.

The forest seems to separate on either side of you like a door being opened. You expect the sight in front of you, although you don't know why, exactly—but of course, it's Sam and Emily's. You had something of a hunch that this is where Jacob was running to, but as for the reason why he was here…

God, was it so impossible for Jacob to explain things before just running off into the unknown?

You nervously release your tight grip on Jake's fur. The next second, he sits down and dumps you onto the ground, rather painfully, you might mention.

"What the—" you sputter, completely disgruntled. Jacob probably wasn't your most favorite person in the entire world at the current moment. "Remember I'm still right here, Jacob!"

He doesn't seem to acknowledge you. Three feet away from where you stand, dusting off the thighs of your jeans hastily, he quickly transforms—just like that, without even bothering to conceal himself—right there in front of your eyes.

A strange sound finds its way out of your throat as you take in the sight in front of you, sounding like something between a moan and a grunt.

You hadn't ever seen him naked… no, not before now. It seems that, as close as you two were, you might have accidentally found yourself in a situation that consisted of you accidentally catching a glimpse of him in his birthday suit… but, no, there had never been such a situation to occur before.

Several seconds pass before your realize that you're actually staring—ugh, staring! What was the matter with you? Had you no shame to try and pretend like you weren't… immensely interested…?

Jacob doesn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Not even that he happens to be standing in the middle of Sam and Emily's yard with not one article of clothing upon his body. Maybe he was used to running around naked all the time with his bromance buddies, but you certainly weren't used to seeing the action actually taking place.

Jacob simply glares in your general direction, the look in his eyes still slightly glazed over but nevertheless focused. He seems to be waiting for you to do something—but what? What in the world are you supposed to do when he stands naked in front of you, as though he's actually clothed when that is not the case at all?

Finally you gather enough dignity to politely (or at least you hope it looked that way) avert your eyes to the dirt below you. From the sight you just saw, you don't think you'll ever quite be able to look at Jacob the same way ever again. It just would never be possible.

But to clear a few things up; the sight wasn't bad. Oh, God, it wasn't bad, not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. It just didn't make sense that Jacob had to… taunt (was that the right word?) you, all the time, every single time he was around you. But you were just human, right? Suddenly you marvel at the fact that this is what it means to be human—being sensitive to everything. Being attracted to hot—yes, hot—guys, and especially if they were standing naked before you… what more could you do than to stare in awe?

You can't exactly make sense of your sudden direction of thoughts. You'd never actually been sexually or even physically attracted to Jacob before now, not in the sense that you wanted him. As any regular girl would be that way, you never had been. Always you thought it was just something wrong with your brain or emotions to not feel something immensely powerful whenever you were around Jacob. Other girls were attracted to him; why not you?

But no longer did this question apply. Somehow, you couldn't understand how you didn't see him this way before. Jacob was just there, Jacob was very good looking, and Jacob was your best friend. All that you took for granted, but you never even thought to mention the fact that he was literally the most physically appealing people you had ever met.

And, in just that exact second, the thought of Edward doesn't even find its way into your mind. No. Not at all. And it is nothing short of a miracle.

Again, you focus in on Jacob's face, carefully avoiding looking at his torso and downward. For what you think is the first time that entire day, he actually smirks at you. You glare right back, not wanting to be caught in the middle of an extremely embarrassing and revealing moment… or, rather, epiphany.

The thought was just ridiculous.

"Oh, freaking shut up, Jake," you say fiercely, looking away so he doesn't see the way your cheeks are probably burning the exact color of blood right before his eyes. But then, it probably wouldn't make a difference. He probably already saw your shocked expression anyway, despite his look of detachment before. Well, he was definitely present now, and it looked like you were in for a good teasing.

"I don't know if you're deaf, but I didn't actually say anything," he laughs, now looking nothing less than ridiculous as he makes no move at all to cover up any of his shit.

"At least grab a fucking leaf, you idiot," you mutter, looking again towards the ground as you start moving away from him and more towards Emily and Sam's house for whatever reason you were there for. "And then let's get started on this so-very-important mission you rushed off to—damn it—"

…Talking and walking. Not such a good combination for the most physically uncoordinated girl on the face on the earth.

The slick mud beneath your feet suddenly gives way and you see the brown-and-green ground coming closer to your face. Along with being uncoordinated, you also suffer from delayed reactions, so it's only when the ground is now seemingly two inches from your face that you have half the mind to stick your arms out—

But, as always, there's no need. Jake's right there. Of course. (When isn't he there?) And worst of all, he's still naked.

Fuck.

"I got it, I got it!" you yell as you try desperately to avoid any and all contact with any part of his skin whatsoever. You hastily push yourself out of his arms and start angrily towards the house yet again. You know you look like more than an idiot, what with your legs shaking uncontrollably and your face as flushed as a tomato. But it wasn't your fault the boy had no sense to cover up once in a while!

"God, Bella, don't get your panties in a bunch," Jake mutters, the same amused tone in his voice. "I've got shorts now. Calm down."

"I don't believe you. You're probably just trying to trick me, God knows why—"

"Seriously, Bella, I promise you I'm not lying." You risk a peek over your shoulder. You don't know if you feel disappointed or relieved to see that, indeed, he wasn't lying when he said he had shorts. "All this nakedness was fun and all, but I admit I didn't come here just to show you all my junk." Something sparks in his eye. Sarcasm. Wow. You didn't think you would live to see the day when Jacob could be happily sarcastic again, and around you. It truly was a miracle.

"Are you sure?" you reply with just as much sarcasm dripping in your voice. Suddenly it's become a game. Suddenly you're enjoying yourself. What a nice change. "Because I was beginning to think that's what your sole purpose in coming here was—to find an appropriate environment to show off how hot you are naked." The words are out before you can stop them. Your face burns again, probably more than ever before.

Jacob doesn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, though, and for this you are grateful. He just laughs. "So you did enjoy the sights, then? That's good."

"Shut up."

"Whatever you say."

"Shut up!"

Turns out that something great can only last for as long as it is meant to. Because, before you knew what was happening next, Jacob was suddenly the dark, angry stranger that you'd grown to hate over the past few weeks. There was no glimpse of his old self—the part of him that could be joking and sarcastic around you and not even feel anything was wrong about it. No, that part was gone now. For the time being, or at least you hoped that with all your soul.

Natalie is found sobbing in Sam and Emily's kitchen, her face hovering over the table top, covered by her hands, her hair wet with tears. She doesn't hear when you and Jacob enter; her cries are much too loud. Not even Emily (who sits in the seat next to Natalie, patting her shoulder awkwardly) hears, and she's not even the one crying. It's a strange, depressing sight, as you view it like a horror movie in the dim light of the kitchen. You can't help but acknowledge somewhere in the back of your head that you are the cause for all these bad things that were continually happening to the people around you. You are the reason that Natalie's sobbing; you are the reason that Jacob can't find his true self again; you are the reason for virtually any and all things bad that happened around here.

And you, miraculously, had gotten used to it. Even more so since you could find nothing to do about it.

Jacob's face is a look of pure torment. You feel like he should never have looked that way because of someone that wasn't you. It makes you feel strangely envious. Such a wrong, wrong feeling, when someone other than you was suffering so much. And whether that someone was Jacob or Natalie, you could not be absolutely sure.

He walks forward slowly, you following warily behind, feeling like an unwelcome guest; a misfit in a situation that you ought not to be involved in. What did Jacob bring you here for? What was there that you could do? Did he purposely want you to see how true his and Natalie's relationship was, just so that you could finally give up on him?

You are sure Jacob wouldn't purposely do something like that. You are sure that he would know how painful that would be for you to watch. So, what, then? Was he going to explain things anytime soon?

"Natalie," he finally whispers.

She literally jumps a foot in her seat as she recognizes at last that Jacob is there. Her eyes are strained, bloodshot; you had no idea that Natalie could behold so much emotion. Somehow, before now, you never really thought that humans were capable of such a thing. Perhaps it was just one other thing you took for granted, along with about a hundred other things you know you had yet to discover.

You look away from the horrible sight. Instead, you look for Emily's reaction.

She glares; her eyes are full of so much anger and spite, you being to wonder what Jacob had ever done to Emily to make her look that way, so full of hatred of malice, towards Jacob.

Natalie hiccoughs as she struggles to form words.

"Jake," she sighs at last.

Before you know what's happening, Natalie pushes her chair back and nearly flings herself over the table into Jacob's arms. To give them somewhat an air of privacy (although you're not sure if Natalie has even noticed you, anyway), you step back a few feet so that your hand can reach backward for the doorknob, if ever the time calls for you to leave at short notice.

It's embarrassing, it's torture, it's basically cruel to watch such a touching moment between a human girl and the boy that you love. Because, yes, obviously you do love Jacob; you accepted that fact long ago. Just now, though, is when you truly realize the extent of your love for him. You used to think that Jacob was always just there; you could call for him whenever and it wouldn't matter to him if the time was bad or not. If you were being honest with yourself, there never was a bad time in which Jacob couldn't answer your calls. Again, that was just something you took for granted.

But when someone actually came along to challenge all of your previous beliefs on the subject of Jacob, that was when you knew you never actually gave enough credit to Jacob for all of the countless times he was there for you; so many nights were there when he stayed up with you till four in the morning, whispering jokes and providing conversation with you over the phone when you were in need of the sound of his husky voice for whatever reason. So many hours had been spent in his garage, laughing and smiling and drinking warm sodas and cold pizza, as you recalled the day before and complained about school. You could tell anything to him, anything at all, not matter how trivial or small… It didn't matter. It never mattered, not to Jacob, not when it came to you.

You always knew you were selfish for taking such a great thing like having Jacob in your life, and not even realizing just how much he gave up for you, just how truly great of a person he was.

But where you stand now, witnessing a terrifying scene unfolding before your very eyes (the scene in which you slowly begin to realize that Jacob might not ever again be there for you in the way you wanted him to be), you begin to understand and almost—almost, but not quite—accept the fact that you had to give Jacob over to someone else sooner or later. When the time proved itself to be sooner than you wanted it to be, it was more painful than you could have imagined. You never wanted it to come to this, but all the same, you can't be surprised that it did.

"Bella's here, too," Jacob says, interrupting your reverie and making you jump. The fact that he could still do that to you is more than enough to send a pang of sorrow through your chest. "She… well… we need to explain things to her, Natalie. She's wondering why I'm here."

That's when Emily speaks up. "She is, really? Well, I think that's something we all would like to know! Since when did you ever care about Natalie's well-being? Since when did you become oh-so concerned about your own girlfriend? Since when did that ever matter to you?" She yells the words, causing you to flinch, even though they weren't words directed to you. You see in front of you that Jacob is flinching as well, looking towards the ground, shame-faced. "Can you even begin to realize how much Natalie has worried about you over these past few days? Can you even comprehend how she felt when she saw your thoughts about how you were deciding never to come back, and just leave her in the dust, broken-hearted? Does your imprint mean nothing to you? Can you not at least respect this magic?"

Saw his thoughts? you think, enormously baffled. What the hell does that mean?

"Em," Natalie speaks up. Although her words are quiet, they reach to Emily's ears and she automatically cools down. "This isn't helping anything."

Emily again glowers at Jacob. "Of course it's not," she huffs angrily, her words much quieter, "because Jacob's too thick-headed to realize the truth of any of my words."

"That's not true," Jacob mutters. "You don't understand. You can't know how it feels, how much it felt at first… when I realized—" His voice begins to shake.

Again you feel like you're just an unwelcome onlooker on a scene that isn't meant for your eyes. You feel as though you'd just walked into the middle of a movie, without having any clue what the plot was about. To sum it all up, you feel confused. More than confused. You don't want to have to voice your troubles in the midst of all the tension, but you feel that you might as well leave any second if no one was going to explain something soon.

So, instead, you wait.

"You're right," Emily says, her voice suddenly dripping with understanding and respect. The sudden tension in the room dissolves into sadness. "I can't know, exactly, despite me and Sam… Well… I shouldn't have… I'm sorry."

Jacob smiles slightly. With each passing second, your brain only hurts more and more as you try to take in all of what is being said. "S'alright," he murmurs. "I'll try not to act so… impulsively, if ever something like this happens… again."

Emily smiles a sad smile. "Let's hope not, for the sake of you two."

Everything's gotten far too frustrating already. The urge to yell at everyone in the room is almost overpowering.

Thankfully, Natalie finally acknowledges your existence in the room. Slowly, she turns towards you. To bring about the movie comparison again, you feel as though now you're watching that one moment in the horror film in which all the characters slowly look towards the camera. Except for now, this time, the expressions on all of their faces is noticeably less tense.

"Bella ought to know about it," Natalie says.

"Definitely," Jacob agrees right away. "That is why I brought her here, anyway. She needs to understand."

"Of course," Emily chimes in. "You'd probably explain it to her best, Jacob."

"I'm still in the room, guys," you say, annoyed.

Jacob looks down uncomfortably. "Right. About all this, Bella…" He scratches the back of his neck nervously. "You should take a seat first, before I… begin."

"I'll stand," you say firmly, glaring at him, straightening your position as though to prove your point.

"Always so stubborn," Jacob chuckles quietly. Natalie just smiles uncertainly.

"Well," Jacob says, clearing his throat as he reaches for a chair from the table and takes a seat on it, while Natalie takes a seat in his lap. You resist the urge to vomit. "Something has happened between me and Natalie that—as far as anyone in the pack knows—has never happened to any other imprinted couple known to man—or, uh, werewolf." He grins at his play on words.

"Get on with it," you growl, not in the mood for jokes.

Jacob frowns. "Yeah. Well, it's already known that imprinted couples already have enough involved magic and phenomenal power. But… well, just a few days ago, I realized that the thing between me and Natalie is more than that. You see, we kind of have… a bond."

You were bracing yourself for the worst, but after hearing it finally let out after all the climatic buildup, you can't say that you're particularly impressed.

You raise an eyebrow skeptically. "A bond, huh?" you say sarcastically. "Oh my, I would have never guessed you two had a bond. Especially not after you'd imprinted, started dating, and who knows what else." You make a psh-ing sound. "No, a bond had never even entered my mind." A roll of your eyes.

"No, no, you don't understand, it's not what you think," Jacob insists, looking genuinely concerned. "Just hear me out.

"Last week I was on patrol with Jared and Paul. Okay, not that the names or characters really matter ultimately, but just to lay down a little bit of a back story… Anyway, the point is… We were discussing who should mark the territory lines. Well, um, I'm sure you don't need to hear that part of the story, but anyway…" He seems to be struggling to find a way to word things. Whatever these things were. "One moment, all I hear is Jared and Paul arguing and then the next moment, I—well, I hear another voice. One that I knew didn't belong to our pack.

"Frantically, I asked both Jared and Paul if they had any idea what that was all about, whose voice it was that was in our heads. But as it turns out, it was only in my head. I was the only one that could hear it! They thought I was crazy. I thought I was, too. In fact, they probably still think I'm crazy, but as that is irrelevant…" He takes a big breath. "I was panicking so much that I didn't even try and stop to hear what it was saying, or what was happening… only that there was a—seemingly—stranger's voice in my head that only I could hear.

"I ran to Sam right away, taking it for granted that he would automatically know what the hell was going on, that nothing was wrong, that it was something he never told me about, that it was something I was going through and would eventually grow out of… Anyway, when I transformed back into my human form to speak to Sam, I thought the voice would disappear, as all the voices of the pack do when I leave my wolf form. But here's the weird thing—the voice was still there, in my human form! I was thinking thoughts, but they weren't my own… and it seemed that I couldn't separate my thoughts from... the other thoughts."

"Jacob," you say a bit impatiently. "This back story is probably unnecessarily longer than it should be, I'm sure."

"Right," he says, his eyes looking a bit lost as he seems to be trying to skim down the story a little bit. "To sum it all up, it turns out that when I actually stopped to listen, I realized that it was Natalie's thoughts I was thinking. Natalie. My immediate reaction was that I thought she'd turned into a werewolf as well, but then I realized she wasn't Quileute and so that made no sense—"

You clear your throat.

Jacob sighs. "Alright, here it is, Bella: Natalie and I seem to having something of a psychic... connection, when or when I am not in my wolf form, it does not matter. We've started to call it a bond—a mental bond. I feel what Natalie is feeling as she feels what I'm feeling. Our emotions and virtually everything about our current states transcends our own bodies to reach the other. We involuntarily hear each other's thoughts, emotions, and actions at any given moment."

That was definitely something you were not exactly prepared to hear.