Chapter 5 – Jacob
A/N Two chapters for you guys today, aren't you lucky? xD
He didn't look happy to see her. He frowned and then scrunched his nose up. "Um, Josie why don't you go hang out with your sister?" he offered. Josie smiled and skipped back up the stairs. Jacob stepped out of the house and closed the door. He saw Tyko and he frowned even more. "Who's this?" he asked.
"This is my sister, Tyko Andrews. Tyko, this is Jacob Black," Bella sounded a little too happy to be introducing a vampire to a werewolf. "Jake it's so wonderful to see you, you have no idea!" she exclaimed happily.
"Bella, I really wish I could say the same for you," Jake whispered sadly. Bella flinched.
"Do you really want me gone?" she whispered dismally. "Am I really that disgusting?"
Jacob flinched. "Bella, you knew this would happen if –"
"If what? If I became your worst enemy? If I smelled bad? If I drank blood?" Bella looked as though she would cry – if she could.
"Bella stop it," Jake snarled. She could tell he was angry, but he wasn't shaking.
She cocked her head to the side. "Have you gotten control of your anger?" she asked, confused. "You're not shaking, you're not phasing."
"What the hell?" Tyko muttered from behind them. Bella threw her an angry glance.
"No, I'm not phasing," Jacob said, just as sad as Bella was. She caught the hint of sadness and she stepped forward again.
"Jake," she whispered, reaching her hand out to touch him. He flinched away as if she had stung him. Hot tears bubbled up in his eyes.
"Bella stop it," he growled angrily. "Please stop."
"What's the matter?" Bella asked foolishly. "Wait, don't answer that."
"Can we talk?" Jacob asked, finally sighing and reaching out for her stony fingers. She kept them glued to her side and nodded stiffly. Unconventional terror began to rake through her emotions, but she knew that if she and her family were to continue living in Forks she would have to speak with somebody who had connections to any werewolves that may or may not still live in the area.
Jacob dropped his hand and stepped towards the back of the house. "The garage?" Bella asked, realizing where he was going. Jake nodded and she turned back to her sister. "Tyko, can you head home? I want to speak with Jake alone and I have no idea how long it will be before we're done."
Tyko rolled her eyes, exasperatedly. "Mom told me to stay with you, remember?"
"Please, Tyko. I know my way around Forks better than you guys do, and I can find my way back home in a heartbeat," she smiled crookedly at the pun. "Relax and go home, I'll be there in a few hours."
Tyko sighed. "Be glad that I have to unpack still," she whispered, turning and walking away. Bella wandered to the back of the house, to the garage. The rugged terrain of the backyard had been fixed up immensely; there were flowers and bushes planted in small areas of the yard. She smiled as the garage came into view; it was a familiar and happy place, even now.
As she made her way into the garage, she saw a small, lowly cross underneath of a large willow tree. She slid over to it and looked at the name carved into the elegant crucifix. It simply said: Billy Black, Loving Father RIP. No year, no other words. She reached out her fingers and touched it with a soft smile. "Rest in peace Billy," she whispered, raising herself up off the ground and getting back on course for the garage.
She knocked softly on the door of the garage and it creaked open. She stepped inside and was immediately awed. The entire room had been altered and it resembled much more of a car shop than an old tin greenhouse with an adjoining piece in the top. She let out a low whistle. "Looks good, Jake," she said, stepping further inside. Suddenly, through the window she saw something that shocked her. "Is that my truck?" she asked, gasping. Jake laughed and nodded. She wandered over to the window and gently touched the glass, "Wow."
"Yeah, she still runs too, a little slower now, even compared to what she used to go at," he chuckled and Bella turned away from the window.
"I don't remember much of it," she admitted softly, wandering over to Jake's newest project and opening the door so she could gently hop in. "How long has it been since you phased?" she asked softly, noticing the slight grey speckles in Jacob's beard.
"Fifteen years," Jake announced proudly. "I decided that it was time to stop phasing when I imprinted."
"You imprinted? Congratulations!" Bella exclaimed happily. "What's her name?"
"Tess," Jake told her, a smile forming on his lips. "And you met Josie, that's our youngest daughter. Then we've got Yolanda, Billy and," he paused, the smile full on his lips, "Billy's twin sister Bella."
"Bella?" she asked, slightly shocked.
"Yeah, Tess wanted me to name the twins, and since I don't remember my mom all that well I named one after dad and one after my first love," he chuckled, going to the fridge and grabbing a soda before returning to Bella. "I suppose you don't drink sodas anymore?"
Bella laughed and shook her head, "No way, they taste gross," she made a face of disgust and then laughed her soft, soprano giggle. "So how is it now? I mean, not phasing and stuff?"
"Difficult," Jacob admitted. "But at the same time it's easy. I think I like it more like this, but at the same time I miss things. The speed, the mind reading stuff, the fighting, the excitement and adventure, slaughtering blood suckers – oops, sorry," he muttered unhappily. Bella didn't flinch – she merely pursed her lips into an unhappy grimace.
"It's okay," she whispered, taking a deep breath. "It's what I am, there's nothing I can do about it now." She bit her lip, a question was bubbling up to the tip of her tongue and she was tempted to blurt it out. She took another deep breath and let the flow of words slip out her mouth. "So what happened? Look I know that Edward sent you that wedding invite, and I also know you were there. I saw you Jake. You were in the trees. So why'd you come?"
"I wanted to see you. I didn't know when I'd see you again," Jacob's focus immediately turned to the soda can. "I was thinking of leaving, of running away forever and never coming back, of staying a wolf forever. And then I realized that seeing you was suddenly the most important thing, that coming back to see you before you were... different... was the most important thing in my entire life. I wanted – no I needed to see you, Bella. I was in love with you, remember? I still am, only things are... different now, just like we knew they would be when you became a – what you are..."
Bella's face fell. "I suppose I can understand that," she nodded and sighed. "It was strange you know, seeing you there at the Cullens. I didn't expect that at all, especially to see you as a wolf. If my dad had seen you he probably would've had a heart attack," Bella's laughter trailed off into a gagging sound. "What ever happened to Charlie?"
"Didn't you ever talk to him again?" Jacob asked, surprised.
"No, things started going a little... crazy... when I left Forks."
"He wanted to come find you. Renée almost did, I know that for a fact. She flew up here in hysterics one day, but Charlie eventually calmed her down. Then we heard that you'd fallen into the ocean and gotten hypothermia –"
"Where'd you hear a stupid thing like that?" Bella exclaimed angrily.
"Where do you think?" was Jacob's retort.
Bella cringed. "The Cullens," she whispered airily, making it sound like a sigh. "Funny that they would say something like that."
"Speaking of the Cullens, you know the treaty's been broken right?" Jake whispered in hushed tones. "Seth, Leah and Embry are still around and there are a couple new ones, but that's it now. If they see them here they'll –"
"The Cullens aren't here with me," Bella snarled icily. "I don't know where they are."
Jake looked bewildered. "But I swear I saw the future seeing blood sucker – sorry – Cullen in Forks just the other day." Bella felt her jaw drop in shock.
"What!" she screeched. "That can't be true! She can't be here!"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Maybe I'm wrong though, Josie was having a temper tantrum so I wasn't really concentrating on who was around," Jake admitted. "It could've been anybody."
"Not anybody. How many people in Forks look like the Cullens?" Bella asked sullenly. Jake pursed his lips in agreement. "Jake, is there any way I can rekindle the treaty? Any way at all?"
He paused. "You'll have to speak to Leah about that one," he said stiffly. "She's going to be over here in a bit, they have a meeting."
"They're going to kill me," she moaned unhappily.
"No they won't," Jake growled defensively. "I promise that they won't."
Bella sighed. She hoped she wouldn't have to use her power tonight. "Okay I'll stick around, but if they try to hurt me I'm running."
"Oh come on Bella," Jacob laughed. "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"
"It's not one wolf I worry about, I'm really not so big on packs," Bella chuckled as well. "All together that's around five or six mouths that can tear me apart and a hell of a lot more teeth."
A/N How was that? Is everybody glad to see Jacob? I remember he said he isn't aging so I hope I did that okay... REVIEW PLEASE!