My Unattainable

A/N: My thanks once again to everyone who has reviewed, I love you all! Thanks also to everyone who added this to favourites/ story alert. Enjoy chapter three.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Three (Bella's POV)

I sat in the middle of the pale sofa in the pale house, a mortal between two vampires. Alice sat on my left and Esme sat on my right, both of them cooing over their recent purchases. Rosalie, of course, was nowhere to be seen, Jasper had fled as soon as he'd heard the word 'shopping,' and Carlisle was busy at the hospital. I tried to hide my grimace as Alice held up several rather daring items that were meant for me. I had watched her carefully the whole day, and, although she must have been aware of it, she said nothing. She seemed her usual excitable self, all solemnity from the previous day a distant memory. That made me feel worse than if she had retained her anxious mood: at least then I might have been able to easily question her about it. Now, when she was smiling at me with enthusiasm, it was going to be hard to bring up the topic again.

Esme quickly stood up, as graceful as ever, and took her shopping bags upstairs to her room. Alice smoothed her hands over her favourite new dress, a scarlet affair with black lace. I had to admit it was beautiful, but hardly practical for Forks. She turned a little to face me, and must have caught my thoughtful expression. She gave me an empathetic smile.

"He'll be back tomorrow."

I bit my lip, and nodded. As always, I was missing Edward terribly. But part of me was panicking. I didn't want to see him until I figured out Alice's cryptic visit yesterday, and the meaning of my dream. I'd had the same dream again last night. I had once again fled from my beloved Edward, and continued my frantic search for something unattainable. I'd woken in another bizarre panic.

Alice left her clothes on the sofa, and glided over to the wall of glass to look out over the sea of ferns and hemlock trees. I edged over to her.

"Alice?"

"Hmm?" She didn't turn to look at me.

I hesitated. "Please tell me what you meant yesterday."

She visibly froze, turning to marble against the glass.

"It was nothing, Bella. Just forget about it." She sounded slightly sulky again.

I sighed impatiently, and stepped over to her, carefully putting my hand on her petite shoulder.

"Alice, what did you see? If I'm going to hurt him, I want to know, so I can avoid it."

After a quiet moment, she turned to look at me, smiling feebly.

"You know it doesn't work like that, Bella."

"But," I insisted, "I don't want to hurt him. You have to know that, Alice."

She smiled wider at me, but her tiny jaw was set. "I know."

She stared intently at me, and I almost blushed under her topaz gaze.

Alice suddenly looked towards the front door, her intense features melting into natural, affectionate happiness. A moment later, Jasper appeared in the doorway. He smiled politely at me.

"Bella." His gaze immediately fell to Alice, and, in some subtle signal I missed, signalled her to join him.

Alice grinned at me, the heavy atmosphere lifting immediately. "I'll see you later." She danced over to her love, never taking her eyes from his as they disappeared out the door. I blinked, suddenly feeling very alone.

I made my way through to the kitchen, and took a bottle of water from the fridge. Esme always made sure there was plenty of food and drink in the house for me. I sighed, suddenly feeling very ill at ease in the big, empty house. My mind fought against the problems I needed to solve; part of me wanted to know the answers, part of me was terrified of what they would be. As if on cue, Esme floated into the room, wearing a warm smile. I tried to smile back, but I felt my lips quiver. She didn't mention it, but sat down at the large kitchen table. I sat opposite her, my fingers tracing the condensation on my bottle of water.

"Is everything alright, dear?" she asked, her genuine concern radiating through her voice.

"I... I don't know," I answered truthfully. I looked up at her, but she was waiting for me to say more. "Has... Alice... said anything to you? About me?"

Esme shook her head, her caramel hair falling down over her shoulders like a waterfall. "She hasn't said much these last couple of days. I think she's been a little distracted, but she won't tell me why. I can't help worrying about her, sometimes."

I nodded glumly, my own ideas about the reason for Alice's distraction wreaking havoc in my mind.

"I hope she's okay," I said weakly, trying to hide my worries.

"She will be; she'll be as right as rain when she gets back."

Those words stood out like they'd been written in neon lights. "'Gets back'?"

"Yes, she and Jasper are going away for a few days, didn't she tell you?"

I shook my head.

"It's sort of their anniversary."

I'm sure my eyes bulged. "Oh, why didn't she tell me?!"

Esme smiled, leaning forward consiprationally. "They like to keep their relationship private. And besides, she's been spending all her free time planning your birthday party."

I groaned at the news. "I told her not to make a big deal of it." I wasn't ready to face my birthday yet, and the idea sent a shiver through my spine. One year older, while he remained frozen...

----

I eventually reached my house, the journey home taking twice the normal time because of the heavy rain. I rushed inside, and found a note scrawled next to the telephone.

'Gone to Billy's for dinner, there's a match. Come up when you get this, I think Jacob wants to see you.'

I smiled involuntarily. I liked the thought of seeing Jacob again, and, although a 'match' of some sport or other didn't really appeal, neither did spending the evening alone. So I headed straight back out to my truck again, and started off to La Push.

----

I made it to the Blacks' house without swerving in the rain, something I was particularly proud of. The new radio was working perfectly, and made the journey enjoyable despite the weather. I silenced the truck and rushed up to the little red house, my enthusiasm inexplicable. Why was I suddenly so excited to be here? It didn't make sense.

Jacob greeted me at the door, his smile shining through the rain like a beacon. I couldn't help but smile back. His happiness was infectious.

"Hey, I'm glad you made it!"

I shrugged out of my coat and beamed up at him. "Well, I wouldn't miss the opportunity. For some reason, you're quickly becoming one of my favourite people around here." I clamped my mouth shut. The truth flowed too easily when I was around him.

His grin widened. "All early birthday presents aside, of course."

"Of course."

Dinner was fun. From what I could gather, Charlie hadn't been seeing a lot of Billy lately, and the meal seemed to rekindle their old friendship. I was glad; my Dad needed to spend more time with friends. After dinner they settled down in the front room in front of the TV. Jacob nudged my arm, and I followed him out of the house. The rain had died down, so we made our way to the beach, sauntering along slowly to allow for my short stride. Jacob flung pebbles into the ocean, landing far out in the water, looking like tiny grains of sand in the distance. I tried to copy, but of course mine barely made it past the waves, and I almost fell in, saved at last minute by Jacob's sharp reflexes.

We made our way to 'our' driftwood spot, and sat down on the damp branches. The sun was starting to set somewhere behind the clouds, though it didn't shine through. I had to squint to make out his face through the twilight.

A brief lapse in conversation left my mind to wander back to my worries over Alice's vision. Jacob seemed to realise where my thoughts were.

"When is Edward coming back?"

"Tomorrow," I replied quietly.

"You miss him." It was a statement, not a question.

I nodded. "Yeah. But I've enjoyed coming over here this weekend."

Jacob beamed. "Well, come up more often. I'll be able to get down to see you when I get my Rabbit finished." He'd shown me his beloved project the day before, after fitting my radio.

I thought suddenly about how Edward would feel about that. Jacob was harmless, but Billy seemed to know so much about the Cullens...

"Maybe," I answered in what I hoped was a positive tone.

----

That night, I tossed and turned in my bed.

I was running through the forests again, running from Edward as he held out his hand to me. I ran and ran, looking – searching – for something. And I saw someone stood in the middle of the trees, stood with their back to me. My heart lifted like I had found a piece to the puzzle. Whoever it was stood tall and dark, strong and safe.

And whoever it was looked a lot like Jacob Black.

----

A/N: Hope you enjoyed chapter three. Please leave a review.

Look out for chapter four, when Jacob starts to wonder what is happening to him, and why he's always so hot...

Thanks for reading!

MrsJacobBlack1988