Chapter XIX

In which they finally reach Chicago, and do some other things.

Jacob's POV

Embry took over driving. He and Harper both insisted that neither Mia nor I were up to it, because, as Harper put it, "Emotionally unstable people should not be behind the wheel."

I was going to argue that my emotional state was entirely stable, but I saw that Mia was still upset. Her eyes were red from crying. I gave up in favor of being able to hold her for the rest of the ride.

But I still wasn't emotionally unstable. Just angry. How could anyone say something like that to an angel like Mia? Harper was right, that guy was a horny bastard, and if I ever meet him I will rip him limb from limb for hurting my Mia the way he-

"Jake?" Mia said slowly.

"Yeah?"

"You're shaking again."

"Oh. Oops. Sorry baby. I'll calm down." What was it with me all of a sudden? I was much better at controlling my temper then this. It wasn't even something I normally had to think about! Now my temper is getting completely out of hand. And worse, it's scaring Mia.

I looked down at her and smiled apologetically. She smiled back slightly, and then raised her eyebrows.

"Ok boys. You have some 'splaining to do. What's going on?" She said.

I sighed. Embry began to explain.

"Well, werewolves are known for their tempers, I guess you could say. When we get mad, it makes us start to phase. So, I guess that Jacob was angry about what had happened to you, Mia, and his temper got a little out of control. He's normally much better at that, but his protective side must have gotten the better of him."

I nodded in agreement with Embry's explanation. He was much better at explaining things then I was at times.

"Ok, so the shaking was Jake's body preparing to change." Harper said from the passenger seat. She turned to look at me carefully. She'd been watching me since our game of truth or truth, always with a calculating expression, like she was gauging my reactions.

"Um, yeah, that's about it." I said to her shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. What was she watching for? Harper turned back to the front. I looked down at Mia. She was looking up at me. Her face just as calculating as Harper's in 'shrink mode.'

"What?" I asked her. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, shrugging. I continued looking at her, but she just smiled and leaned against me.

"So, what else do we need to know about you? When you get angry, you turn into a giant human vibrator and that can lead to you bursting into fur. Anything else to add?"

I laughed at the analogy; it had never been put that way before. "I'm not sure. We've you pretty much everything. I can't think of anything we haven't explained." I told her.

"Alright. But if you think of anything let us know, so we're not taken by surprise next time." Mia said, snuggling into me. I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

Mia turned her head and pressed her lips to my arm, then took to tracing patterns with her fingers over my skin. Her touch was cool, but it a good way. It soothed and excited me at the same time.

After a few moments silence though, Mia began to get restless. She wasn't one for long silences or sitting still. She sat up and began rummaging around in the little fold down compartment on the ceiling. She took out a remote, and pointed it to the front.

"Mia, what are you doing love?" I asked her, amused.

"I need music." She answered as 'Long Road to Ruin' started playing.

After a while of Mia flipping through songs, Embry pulled off at an oasis.

"I'm hungry." He said, when Harper asked him what he was doing.

"Me too! Good thinking Em!" I said happily.

Mia and Harper exchanged a glance as Embry and I smiled at the prospect of food. The girls chuckled.

"Well, we can have McDonald's, KFC, Subway, or Panda Express." Embry said pulling into a parking space.

Mia sat up straight, looked out the window, and squealed.

"Mia! What is it?" I asked, worried something had upset her. Whatever it was was not going to get away with upsetting my Mia.

"Panda Express!" She yelled.

"YES!" Harper agreed. Both girls were grinning and Mia even began clapping her hands.

"I have a feeling they like Panda Express." Embry said looking at Harper with an amused expression.

"Actually, Chinese food just so happens to be our favorite. Even fake Chinese." Mia said, stepping out of the car. Harper and Mia set off for the fake Chinese food. Embry and I stopped however.

"Um, ladies?"

Mia and Harper turned to look at us. "What? Come one, I thought you were hungry."

"We are." I said. "But isn't there a rule that say, 'no shoes, no shirt, no service'?"

"Oh." Harper said. "Right. Well then you two wait in the car and we'll bring the food out. What do you want?"

"Whatever you get will be fine." Embry answered. They both nodded, and then turned to walk into the fast food joint.

Embry and I remained standing there until they were out of site. I turned to get back into the car when I felt Embry's hand collide with the back of my head.

"What the fuck was that for?"

"That was for being an idiot you dumb shit." He said coolly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Mia's not stupid you know. She can tell when you're lying to her. Don't forget her best friend is a psychiatrist, she's picked up a few things."

"I know she's not stupid!" I defended. What was he talking about?

"She may have forgotten how you reacted to her questions temporarily, because of your anger management problem, not that I blame you for that one, but she will remember. She'll know you're hiding something from her. And right now all she knows is that you forced yourself onto someone who didn't want you to kiss them. Considering her recent past I don't think she's going to be entirely ok with that knowledge."

"I was sixteen! She can't hold that against me. The past is best left in the past." I said angrily.

"No, she won't hold that against you. That's not the problem; she knows that you weren't being honest with her. She'll be more upset that you couldn't just tell her and be honest with her and then you being an ass about it, then she will be about the fact that you kissed Bella without her permission. And I don't know if you noticed but, you hurt her Jake. She tried to hide it, but you did."

"I noticed." I said sadly dropping my head it shame. "But I didn't mean to hurt her! God Embry, I would never ever try to hurt her. I just couldn't talk about Bella. You know how hard I've tried to keep her in the past and move on. How am I supposed to move on, if she keeps being brought up? Let her be. She's dead anyway. It doesn't matter." I said, pleadingly.

Embry sighed. "Fine. Just remember I warned you."

"Yeah man." I assented.

Mia and Harper came back happily carrying bags of Panda Express food.

"We know how much you boys can eat, so we got a lot." Harper said.

"You're amazing." Embry said, pulling Harper to him.

Mia smiled warmly at them. I took the bags from her with one hand, and wrapped my other arms around her waist. Mia looked up and smiled at me, my heart swelled at the sight.

Mia took back over as driver, saying that she was completely stable and that she knew where she was going better then Embry did.

A few hours later we pulled up to a house.

"I always thought Chicago was busier. With more buildings." Embry said looking around.

"It is you dork." Mia chastised. "This is a suburb, my mom lives here. We're leaving the camper here. There's no where to store it at our place."

"Oh." He said. Harper chuckled.

"Wait, your mom?" I said nervously.

"Yup." Mia said. "Don't worry, she'll love you."

"Uh huh." I muttered. Mia smiled at me reassuringly.

We stepped out of the car and turned towards the door. Mia slipped her hand into mine, and I sighed at her cool touch.

Mia opened then door stepping in and pulling me with her. Harper and Embry fallowed after.

"Honey, I'm home." Harper called.

"Harper that boy of yours better be with you so I can meet him." A female voice called. "Oh good, you brought my daughter too." I looked up to see a woman descending the stairs.

Well, I don't think Mia could ever deny that she was related to this woman. They had the same dark blond hair, Irene's cut short. Irene's cheeks were a little less full then Mia's but they had the same rosy color. She was the same height as Mia as well. The biggest difference seemed to be their eyes. Mia's eyes changed color; they went from grey to green to blue. Irene's eyes were jade, with gold flecks in them, and they weren't as pronounced as Mia's were. Other then that, there was no denying, they looked alike.

"Of course I brought her with Aunt Irene. You didn't think I'd leave her out in the woods in Wyoming did you? Besides we found out that strange men appear there out of the blue, I thought it best if she tagged along."

Mia rolled her eyes. "Hey Ma." She said.

"Hi honey. And look I was right!"

"About what?"

"I knew they'd be really attractive. But did you really have to bring them here half naked?"

I looked down, embarrassment washing over me. Mia just chuckled.

"They didn't have any clothes Ma sorry. I was actually hoping there was something here they could barrow."

Irene's eyes narrowed. "I thought you boys were campers."

"We are." Embry said, his face showing the confusion I felt.

"What kind of campers go camping without clothes?" She said suspiciously.

"We, um, lost our clothes." I lied.

Irene raised her eyebrows. Ok, she practically is Mia only older, they have the same facial expressions.

Mia cut in to save us. "Yeah, well unlike us they're real campers Ma. They slept on the ground and what not. There was a situation, they had to leave their stuff in a hurry."

"What kinda of situation?" Irene asked skeptically.

"There were, um, wolves." Mia said quickly.

I closed my eyes and tried not to laugh.

"Wolves? Wolves don't normally bother human campsites." Irene said.

"Yes, well there were most defiantly wolves in our campsite Irene." Embry said, his voice was calm, but his eyes danced with mirth.

"Right." She said, clearly not believing us. "Well, yes I think I have some of your uncle's and brother's clothes. We'll see if any of it fits them. They're rather large though, I'm not sure if any of it will."

We managed to find some clothes to wear, though Mia and Harper weren't happy with the selection. They insisted that the first thing we did when we got to Chicago was shop.

We spent the evening with Irene and Mia's little brother Casey, who was twelve. He was a cute kid.

Irene's cooking was great. Although she seemed shock by the amount of food Embry and I consumed.

Casey wanted to come with us when we left, but Mia promised him we'd see him soon for Harper's birthday, he grumbled something about there not being anything fun for him to do here, and that he wanted to hang out with Embry and I. He seemed to think we were cool. I laughed when Mia told him I was the 'coolest' and she wasn't ready to share all the coolness with anyone yet, so he'd have to wait. That just made him glare at her and walk away.

We said goodbye to Irene, although she offered to let us stay the night. Mia wasn't sure she wanted her mother aware of our sleeping arrangements just yet. Irene seemed fun, but Mia said she would quite approve of us sleeping together this early in our relationship, no matter how literally we mean it.

Mia once again took the wheel, and within an hour we were in Chicago, and pulling into a parking garage.

"We're here!" Harper said groggily. "Now let's go in before I crash here."

"Good plan, I'm bushed." Mia yawned. "I can't wait to shower with enough space to reach my head to wash my hair." She said laughing.

"I could've helped you with that you know?" I said.

"I'll keep that in mind." Mia said, holding open the door to the apartment building.

AN: Once again I'm not real happy with this chapter, but we're fianlly to chicago, so things should get better from here. Prolly some more fluff is on your way. LOL. I do love fluff, if it starts getting annoying let me know! I do have plans for some drama and a little angst later, but that'll take some time to get to. I'm working on it! lol.

Ok, what do you guys think: Should Harper and Mia share an apartment, or just live in the same building. Living in seperate apartments might make things easier for if I ever get up the courage to write a lemon or two. Harper is a reproductive therapist after all! lol. I'm still working out some details, so we'll see. But I'd like to know what you all think? Is there anything specific you'd like to see happen? And before anyone says, "Bring in the Cullens" let's just say that whether or not the Cullen's get involved is already predecided. So don't ask, if they're going to be involved they will be when it's the right time.

Much love, Bridget