Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted characters that I write about. No copyright infringement intended. Please don't sue. So hope you like this chapter! Please review after! It'll help me write faster! Haha. Take care!

Summary: Spin-off from my Soul Mate series. Jacob finds love in the most unexpected place but will that love withstand what Bella and Edward found inevitable? Will true love stand a chance against fate?

It's still there. It's still there. Why won't it go away? Where is the numbness? The cold? The emptiness? Why is there still pain? I stopped running right then. I had no idea where I was, but I knew it was time to stop running. It was a forest; that much was obvious. I didn't care anymore. I just felt so tired. So, so tired, but I don't want to sleep! If I do, all I'll see is her! I can't. I can't. I can't, but my body betrayed me and now there was nothing but Bella.

ANNALISE VAN DE CAMP

"Dad! I'm getting dirt on my shoes!" I cried at my father. He raised an eyebrow at me and shook his head as he continued to walk ahead of me and my brother. My new pink hiking boots were now smothered in mud. My matching pink jacket and jeans were now covered in frost as well. It was summer, all right, but that season does not exist in Eastern Canada.

Unlike Nathaniel, I was not thrilled about this hiking excursion to Churchill Falls our father drummed up to spend quality time with us. I for one thought it was a pathetic attempt at making us feel like we were a family. If mother could see me now, she would disapprove of such an unladylike diversion. I wished I went with her to Cabo but unfortunately she was going on her second honeymoon with Grandpa Horace. He was my mother's fifth husband but Nathaniel and I called him grandpa behind his back since he was like seventy years old.

"Stop whining Anna," Nate as I liked to call him, chided. "We're almost to the waterfalls." I groaned as I tried to keep up with the two burly, woodland men, or so they like to call themselves.

"Dad! We could have gone to the Bahamas! We could have gone to Sydney! But no! We had to spend our summer here in Canada! Don't you get the concept of summer? It's supposed to be sun, sand and sea!" My father just laughed it off while Nate glared at me for being so insufferable. I couldn't help it. My father, Victor Van De Camp, the king of iron ore mines, had to work during the summer and since we weren't allowed to go on vacation without him, we were stuck here in this desolate province in Canada.

"Daddy! I don't want to see any water falls if I can't swim in it!" I called after him. Nate stopped in his tracks and turned to face me.

"Shut up, Anna!" growled Nate. "Dad has been planning this trip for months now. You didn't want to go here on Thanksgiving and not even on Christmas. Dad has been looking forward to this since God knows when and you're not making this trip pleasant!" I shot him a look as he turned around and followed Dad's tracks. He was a long way off from us and we had to walk faster to catch up with him.

"Nathaniel! Annalise!" We heard him yell. Nate and I looked at each other and then sped off towards his cries. We found him bent over some sort of animal on the ground in the middle of a clearing.

"Nathaniel, do you have an extra jacket?" he asked as we walked into the clearing. That's when I realized it wasn't an animal. It was a man lying on the ground. I blushed and looked away when I saw that he was wearing absolutely nothing.

"Is he okay?" asked Nate. I didn't want to look just in case he wasn't decent yet. He looked very tan, much like the Inuit in the surrounding villages. Maybe he was one of them.

"He's running a fever!" said our father. I turned around and saw that he was wrapped around Nate's extra jacket. His face was covered in his long hair so I didn't get to see what he looked like. Dad bent down and carried him but once he was standing he fell over. I heard the man groan but still, he didn't wake up.

"He's too heavy," said our father. "Nathaniel, help me carry him." Nate obliged and held on to the man's feet while our father carried his torso. We walked quickly towards the Range Rover that we left on the road a few miles away. They placed the man in the backseat while Nate jumped in the front.

"No way! I am not riding in the back with this guy!" I told them.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," said dad as he slid in the driver's seat. "He's asleep and with that fever, I doubt he'll have any strength to try anything funny."

"That's reassuring," I said sarcastically as I got in the car. The guy was sitting up but his head was resting on the window. Dad started the car and headed back to Labrador City where the nearest hospital was. I looked at the guy and saw that his hair was now moved to the side. He definitely looked like an Inuit but I couldn't know for sure until he opened his eyes. I didn't know if they were pointed like the Inuit's. For a moment I thought he looked sort of handsome, but I quickly brushed off the thought and stared outside the window.

"What do you think happened to him, dad?" Nate asked.

"I think he was mugged and left to freeze to death by some mountain stragglers," said dad. "Whoever said mountain bandits didn't exist anymore was dead wrong."

"Maybe he's a wacko who likes hiking in his birthday suit," I added. "I mean, why did we have to bring him with us? If he wakes up and kills me here, it'll be on your conscience!"

"I seriously doubt that," said Nate. "The part about your death being on my conscience." I kicked the seat which made Nate bump his head on the windshield.

"Dad!" whined Nate.

"Now, now, kids," chided dad. "Stop that. We're just gonna bring him to the hospital and they'll take it from there." We kept quiet the rest of the rest of the drive to the city. Dad pulled over in front of the emergency room. I was in the way of the nurses so I had to jump out of the car so they can get to the man.

"Can we leave now?" I insisted. Dad just shook his head and followed the nurses who brought the guy inside. Nate drove the car into the parking lot while I was left in the driveway. I huffed as I started to follow dad inside. I found him talking to a doctor and telling him how we found the guy in the woods.

"I don't know how he got there, but I think he was mugged," dad explained. The doctor nodded and gestured for us to wait while they called the police to take our statement. Nate came back and sat beside us as we waited for the police. After half an hour two burly policemen, dressed in large furry jackets came and took our statement. After they left us, the doctor came and talked to my father.

"It seems other than the abnormal rise in his temperature, the patient seems to be fine," said the doctor. "He appears to be just sleeping. I think it was from exhaustion but I don't have any explanation as to why he was naked. There doesn't seem to be any injuries so I think we can rule out any mugging."

"Doctor Sloane!" called the nurse. "The patient seems to be waking up." The doctor excused himself and went to the patient. I thought we were finally going to go but my father followed him and so did Nate.

"Urgh! What is wrong with this family?" I groaned as I followed them towards the ward.

A/N: That was the first chapter! Please read and review! Here's a few questions I would like you to answer on the review.

Did I deviate from the story in any way?

Is there an OOC you wish to inform me about?

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you!

danielleanne