AN: I've decided to not go into detail about Jacob being a werewolf. In my version, he won't officially ascend until he's 18. Enjoy this nice long chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, etc. of the book Twilight/NewMoon/Eclipse. The original characters and plot are the property of the brilliant Stephenie Meyer.

Monday morning, 2:12 AM.

Edward sat in the rocking chair across from Bella's bed for the second night in a row, silently watching her

sleep.

'What am I doing?' he thought to himself.

"Jake," she mumbled softly in her sleep.

"My Jacob."

Edward stiffened.

"Tell me what's wrong," she said.

Edward glanced out of her bedroom window and saw that dawn's approach meant it was time for him to

leave again.

With a mournful gaze in her direction, he retreated back through the open window.

Later that day, Bella kept herself busy cleaning the house and doing some grocery shopping. She was just

about to sit down and watch a movie when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"I have a surprise for you," Jacob's voice spoke on the other end of the line.

"What?" Bella asked in agitation and confusion.

He sounded perfectly fine, like he had never snapped at her so vehemently on the phone the day before.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Bella scoffed.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe I'm a little hurt at the way you bit my head off yesterday when I called you," she

reminded him.

"Oh, that," he said gingerly.

"I'm sorry Bella. I acted like a jerk. It was just one of those days. Guys have them too," he said.

Bella was still suspicious.

"Anyway, I'd like you to come outside," he said eagerly.

"That is, if you forgive me?" he added hopefully.

Bella rolled her eyes and walked out the front door, wiping away the tiny droplets of rain that fell on her face.

'So much for the nice weather,' she thought bitterly.

Jacob was leaning against the side of the Volkswagen, grinning from ear to ear.

Bella couldn't hold a grudge against him anymore when she saw the way his triumphant smile lit up his entire face.

"Congratulations. It's beautiful," she said, clicking off the phone.

He opened the passenger door for her with an impish smile.

"A ride for the lady, as promised," he said, holding out his hand for her.

She smiled and got into the car, while Jacob hopped around to the driver's side.

"I'm still working out some of the kinks," he told her as he sat down in the seat.

"You wouldn't believe how many times I stalled before I got here."

He turned the key in the ignition and the car sputtered a few times and died.

Bella stopped his hand from turning the key in the ignition a second time.

"Let's not push it," she said.

"I don't believe this," he said.

"Billy's gonna kill me. I wasn't supposed to take the car out while he's gone," Jacob ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Look, it's getting late, why don't you stay here tonight and try to get the car working tomorrow, okay?"

Bella said.

"I don't want to have to worry about you making it home in one piece."

"Are you sure that's alright?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah. Besides, I could use the company," she replied.

"Great!" he said trying to hide his excitement.

"I'll sleep on the couch. I hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor," Bella said, while throwing heaps of

blankets and pillows down on the floor of the living room.

"No problem," Jacob said, trying to get the fireplace going.

She sat down on the nest of blankets and flipped around on TV to find something to watch, and settled on an

old horror movie.

Jacob finally got a fire going and sat down next to Bella.

"You know, when I was younger," Bella started, "out of all the infamous monsters, like Dracula and

Frankenstein, the Wolf-Man always terrified me the most," she laughed.

"I have no idea why though. I mean, it wasn't his fault that he became a monster," Bella said.

Jacob's heart raced.

"Jake?" She asked.

"Hmm," he answered.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

"Actually, I'm not fine," he began.

"Sometimes..."

"What?" Bella asked, concerned.

"Sometimes, I worry about you and me," he mumbled.

"What do you mean?" She answered.

"You're such an amazing person and I'm so glad that we've become friends, but..." he trailed.

"But?" Bella said eagerly.

"There's something about me that you don't know, Bella, and I'm afraid of what would happen with us if you

knew the truth about me," Jacob said, his eyes clouded with anxiety.

"Whatever it is Jake, you can tell me," Bella assured him.

"No, that's the thing! I want to, Bella, but I can't. I'm not allowed to," He said adamantly.

"But, if you figured it out for yourself, I wouldn't be breaking any rules," he said thoughtfully.

Bella stared at him, perplexed.

Jacob sighed.

"Remember when we first met at the beach that day? I told you about the Quileute legends?"

Bella nodded.

"Of course I remember."

"Well, they're not really legends. They're more like...our people's history, our origins," Jacob explained.

"I'm not following, Jake," Bella shook her head, slightly annoyed that he wouldn't just come out and say what

he wanted to.

"Just try to remember, Bella!" He said, scooting closer to her.

"Until I told you the truth about...about the vampires, did you honestly not know what they were? What he was?" Jacob asked sternly.

"How did you-" she began, astonished that Jacob knew the Cullens' secret.

"Look, I know I was skeptical before, but the stories are true. All of them! The Elders weren't off their

rockers after all!" he exclaimed.

The color drained from Bella's face, and she felt her mouth go dry.

"'The cold ones only have one natural enemy...'" Bella recited part of the legend Jacob had told her.

Jacob nodded his head.

"The werewolf," Bella whispered.

Jacob held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

"You're a werewolf?!" She asked louder now.

"Ssshhh!" Jacob hissed.

"Technically, not until I turn eighteen," he added quietly.

Bella's mouth hung open in shock and bewilderment.

The silence that followed seemed to last an eternity.

"Please say something!" Jacob demanded.

"What's wrong with me?" She said putting her face in her hands.

"What?" Jacob asked surprised.

"What is so screwed up about me that I can only relate to people who aren't...people!" she cried.

"Bella," Jacob said, cautiously putting an arm around her.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly and cried into his shoulder.

"I tell you I'm a werewolf and I end up comforting you," he said with a small laugh.

"Jake, I don't care about that. You're my friend and you always will be no matter what," she assured him.

Jacob let out a sigh of relief.

"How do you feel?" She asked him when she was finally calm.

"I feel like me," he said.

"Some small changes have begun. I'm getting taller and my body temperature is getting hotter everyday," he explained.

"There are some days though, that are harder than others. I'll wake up and I won't be able to smell a

damn thing no matter how close I hold it to my nose. Then, other days, I can smell things miles away, or hear

a car coming down the road ten minutes before it even passes my house. It can become like sensory overload

and it makes me sick more than anything. That's why I was such a jerk to you on the phone yesterday. I was

having one of those days and I didn't want you to come over because I was afraid you would find out," he

said.

Bella's eyes were wide with wonderment as she listened to Jacob.

"You won't...hurt anybody, will you?" Bella asked.

"Not unless we have to," he replied.

"We've been learning how to track certain scents, for our protection," he stated.

"The Cullens," Bella guessed from what his tone implied.

"It's nothing personal. It's just to make sure the treaty is always honored."

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" he asked, changing the subject quickly.

Bella thought for a moment and the meadow that Edward had taken her to what seemed like ages ago,

suddenly flashed to her mind. She wondered if it was still there or if, like him, it only existed in her dreams.

"Well, there's this place that I found a while ago while I was...hiking. It's really beautiful. If the weather is

nice, we should go try to find it," she suggested, then regretted it instantly.

The meadow had been her and Edward's secret alone.

"It's a date," Jacob said.

Bella smiled feebly and gazed at the flames dancing lightly in the fireplace.

His gaze turned serious.

"You look beautiful in the firelight," he whispered softly to her.

She swallowed hard.

"Your skin is glowing," he said as he brushed his fingers lightly across her cheek, and turned her face gently

towards his.

Holding her face in his hands, he brought his face closer to hers until they were inches apart.

She felt his warm breath on her mouth and her hands began to shake.

He inched his lips closer to hers, and she stopped him suddenly.

"Jake," she whispered as she pulled his hands away from her face.

"I'm sorry," he said, turning away shamefaced.

"Goodnight," he said abruptly, lying down in the blankets and forcing his eyes closed.

Bella stayed awake for a couple of hours after Jake went to bed, and wondered if she had given him the

wrong impression when she asked him to stay the night.

She felt her eyelids getting heavy, and didn't realize that sleep had overtaken her until she woke up the next

morning to an infomercial on the television and the muted light of an overcast morning.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she gasped as she discovered she was tangled with Jacob's body.

His arm was draped over her stomach lightly, and she wasn't sure how to untangle herself from him

discreetly. He was really going to get the wrong impression if he woke up and saw their compromising

position.

She tried sliding from underneath his arm, but the sensation of his warm hand brushing against the exposed

skin of her stomach gave her chills.

She lay there for a moment panicking, when Jacob mumbled something incoherent and rolled onto his back,

freeing her from his grip.

Bella exhaled slowly and sat up.

She couldn't help but stare at Jacob.

His face was so innocent, so peaceful, that she couldn't imagine this beautiful boy ever turning into

something that had once given her nightmares when she was a child.

She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, and against her better judgement, she lay her ear gently

against his chest and listened to the musical beat of his heart.

With her index finger, she gently stroked the silky, russet skin of his cheek, then lightly touched his lips.

She wondered what would have happened if she had let those lips kiss hers the night before.

Pushing the thoughts from her head, she sat up and quietly moved to the couch and pretended to be asleep.

Jacob stirred on the ground below and sat up.

"Bella," he whispered.

Bella overexaggerated the process of waking up.

"Morning," she said, faking a yawn.

"Hi," Jacob answered.

"What time is it?" Bella asked.

"A little after nine, I think," Jacob said.

"Did you sleep okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. It was probably the best night of sleep I've had," he said.

Bella smiled.

"Well, I'm going to go shower and then I'll make us something to eat for breakfast," Bella said as she

walked upstairs.

Jacob nodded and heard the bathroom door shut upstairs.

He touched his hand tenderly to his chest where Bella's cheek had been, and smiled.

Bella scrubbed her hair furiously in the shower in an attempt to knock some sense into herself.

She didn't understand why she couldn't stop thinking about how it would feel to kiss Jacob Black.

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