A/N: And here we go.

Mystery friend

"You're going to be late for work," Rebecca taunted.

"I know," Jacob replied crossly, busy trying to find the keys he needed for work. He looked over by the phone, then went to the couch looking under the cushions.

"Look, just because Kimo's your boss doesn't mean you can shirk your duties," she nagged.

"Shirk, who the hell says shirk?" he said under his breath. "And Kimo doesn't care if I'm late, Bex, so why do you? AH!" he said triumphantly as he finally found his keys that had fallen underneath the couch.

"Because I do that's why and you should, too. He's done a lot for you, the least you could do is set a good example and not make it too blatantly obvious to the entire island he's showing favoritism."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'nepotism' and FYI the whole island knows. Besides, so what if he is. I do plenty for Kimo and he knows it. You know it, too, you're just tired. Go back to bed, already."

Rebecca had been working the graveyard shift recently and she hadn't adjusted to her new schedule, yet.

"I was trying to sleep when I heard you tearing around here looking for something. Now that you found em, get to work why don't ya," she said yawning. Jacob mused over Rebecca's appearance. She was quite a sight with her messed-up hair and oversized silk pajamas.

"Yes ma'am. Will do, ma'am. Is there anything else, ma'am?"

"You can quit calling me ma'am. You know I hate that," she grumbled.

"Yes sir," he said, giving her a half-hearted salute.

"Jake, you...AAH!" She screamed in frustration and reached to grab something. As she turned back around to launch it at him, she realized he was already out the front door and leaping off the porch to the safety of the grass below. Undeterred, she ducked her head out of the door and yelled, "Grow up, Jake!" and slammed the door behind her making the window shudders rattle.

Jacob was laughing to himself as his running took him further and further from the house safely out of range.

Jacob sauntered up to Kimo's Sea & Surf shop at 9:20 a.m. Kimo's shop consisted of swimwear, scuba equipment, surfboards and all the overpriced knickknacks tourists love to buy. Although Kimo's passion was surfing, they made most of their money in scuba.

As he anticipated, Kimo couldn't have cared less about Jacob being late and went straight to the scheduling book at the front desk to see what the day was going to be like. He was making a funny face, deep in concentration when Hina, Jacob's co-worker, walked up behind him and tapped him on one shoulder. As he turned to look she faked him out and popped up behind the other one.

She cleared her throat loudly, "Uh huh hmm, can you move? Some of us are working here," dripping with as much sarcasm as she could manage and nudged between Jacob and the counter to see the schedule.

"Ugh! Excuse you, woman," he said, pretending to be angry. Hina, a native Hawaiian who was just as dark as Jacob with classic Hawaiian features, was busy confirming her itinerary. She and Jacob were always verbally sparring but nothing ever came of their playful flirting. Hina had waist-length black hair, the blackest that Jacob had ever seen that seemed to magically change color with the light. When she was inside, it looked to be as dark as midnight but outside, in the sun, it seemed to have several hues all reflecting something different according to whatever angle you were looking. Sometimes appearing purplish, sometimes even casting a greenish-bluish color to match the water. Jacob asked her why her hair seemed so unusual, but she never gave a straight answer. She would reply, "It's always been that way," or "Why ask why?" She appeared to be young and couldn't have been more than 24-25 years old but she seemed so beyond her years. Kimo and Jacob both noticed that every once in a while she would look out into the sea as if searching for something. She always had a far off look in her eyes.

Even though Kimo had a team of 10 people under him, as much as it would please Kimo to see Jacob happy, he wasn't ecstatic at the thought of his two most reliable people developing a romance. Workplace romances scared him. Hina was merely a volunteer and even though Kimo offered to put her on the payroll she refused. Hina didn't offer too much in the way of information about her past, but over time Kimo had learned to trust her. Jacob trusted her, as well. There was an undeniable kinship between them, something he had a hard time putting into words.

Jacob and Hina were both very competent instructors and knew the inventory like the back of their hands. With the surf season starting, business was picking up. A torn rotator cuff put Kimo out of the entire season but his shop kept his spirits up. He was worried about Jacob and Hina's friendship. With the surge of the season coming, this was probably the worst time for complications. Jacob's turbulent split with Randa recently, only proved to Kimo that he'd only end up hurting Hina, too.

"Stop messing around, da customers waiting," Kimo said getting worried.

Hina chuckled and smiled at Jake and walked off to chat with the diving students that had assembled, knowing full well he was watching her. For a moment Jacob forgot what he was doing and lost his place in the scheduling. He had to start all over.

"So what it looking like, brah?" Kimo asked referring to the schedule.

"Busy. I got my first class at 10:00 and then the advanced open water class at 2:00 and then take them all out to Turtle Canyons to get certified around 5:00. It's gonna be tight."

"You stay working too hard. I going try for get someone else for help you. Put off the certs, mmkay."

"Nah, I'd like to just get it over with, and the class would, too. There's a few nervous Nellies in there that should get tested ASAP."

"You want help with dat?"

"Nah, I got this. That's why you pay me the big bucks remember, so you can get home to that crazy wife of yours," he said with a sardonic grin.

"I pay you choke cause you always stay working hard and people like you. Lotsa people."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jacob wrinkled his forehead in confusion.

"Ho, calm down killa, take it easy on the Hina, uh. She stay young girl yet."

"What are you talking about 'young,' she's older than me, I think. Besides we're just goofing around, she knows that."

"Jake, watch out brah, no mix business with pleasure. The word stay out about you."

Jacob scoffed, "You're exaggerating."

"Try look at your students, anything stay different?" Kimo nudged toward the front window. A group of 15-20 people were standing around looking anxious. Kimo wanted Jacob to notice what had completely escaped Jacob's attention. All of his students were women, young women. In fact, now that he thought of it his second class was nearly all women, too, and so on and so on. Women of all ages, even ones who were married. Some were there with their husbands who just looked pissed off half the time.

"Wow," Jake said. Kimo looked at him harshly. "I-I mean... eh never mind. I get your point. Don't molest the customers."

"Or Hina."

"Or Hina," Jake agreed. It didn't matter anyway because although she was gorgeous and they got along well, he didn't actually think of her that way, not really. Hina was fun and liked to cause trouble, and their flirting had become commonplace, but neither of them made any real attempts at starting something.

Jacob felt sure he could behave although he didn't really have a whole lot of success at that in the past. Jacob quickly shook himself back to the present. Your job, concentrate on your job, he thought and went back to organizing his schedule.

The day was fairly hectic and passed by quickly. Hina drove the charter out to different spots along the coast with different groups while Jacob encouraged his nervous students. As Jacob's assistant, when she wasn't driving the boat, aided him with distributing the tanks and other equipment. She knew her job extremely well and was always professional around the students.

The first class went off without a hitch. The second class, a more advanced class, was more interesting. This was their final class before getting certified so everyone was more nervous than usual. You could cut the tension with a knife. Like always, the men's eyes never failed to follow Hina everywhere she went and this made Jacob smile slightly in amusement. The wives, however, weren't as amused.

The wives, however, were having secret fantasies of their own about their intrepid instructor. Every time Jacob took his shirt off just before a dive all the women forgot how to breathe, some had to avert their eyes altogether as though the person next to them could see right through them. Some blushed.

Jacob was good about pretending not to notice.

His last group were finishing the dive and came up for air. They had all boarded the boat to return to the dock when Hina answered a call on the radio.

"Ariel, Ariel, Ariel, this is Triton, over."

Hina replied, "Triton, this is Ariel, over."

"Jake has a phone call from the mainland, they said it was urgent and they need him to call back immediately. Are you guys nearly done, over?"

"Yes, we just finished and we're pulling up anchor as we speak, over." Hina looked at Jake who was listening in. A worried look came over his face.

It took Jacob just a second's time to reach the mic Hina offered him.

"This is Jacob. What's wrong, Kimo? Who called? Over." The first thought to go through his mind of course was Billy. He instantly chided himself for not being home with his old man. He thought Billy was in good health but knowing how Harry Clearwater suddenly died he couldn't rule anything out. What if he had had an accident? What if he couldn't get up and no one was around? It only took Kimo a second or two to answer but it was an agonizing two seconds.

"They didn't say. Just that it was very important and left a number for you to call, over."

This was actually good news in a way. If it had been his dad or about his dad they would have told Kimo. Whatever it was is apparently pretty important, but at least it's not as bad as he thought. Jacob breathed normally again.

"We're heading back now. Ariel out."

Hina looked at him with concern but he dismissed it.

"Whatever it is can't be nearly as bad as what I thought. It's cool," and he put his hand on her shoulder, which seemed to instantly make her relax. She smiled and this made him feel better, too.

After they returned, Jacob finished up the paperwork and printed the certificates and then quickly went about handing them out to his students, congratulating everyone. They all passed with flying colors.

Jacob and Hina finished prepping the charter for the next time they were to take it out. As they walked back to the shop Hina asked, "So Jake, you wanna go get something to eat? We should celebrate another successful class. We can go to that steak place you like."

"Sure, but I gotta make a call first."

"Okay. I'm going to go get ready, and I'll meet you at your house."

After Hina left, Jacob found where Kimo had left the message and looked at the number. He didn't have the foggiest idea who this could be.

"Area code 867?" he scoffed. "Where the hell is that?" he said aloud. It better not be somebody trying to sell me something, he thought annoyed. He dialed the number. The phone rang.

"Hello?" said a woman's voice.

"Uh hello, this is Jacob Black speaking, someone from this number called me?"

He heard a pause and what sounded like the phone being passed to another person and occasional murmuring.

"Hello?" he repeated.

"I-I'm here, I'm here," a different female voice said. "Jake, it's me."

Jacob couldn't believe it.

"Bella?"

"Yes," she said hesitantly. "Hi. Um, how are you?"

Even though he tried to think he simply couldn't, his mind went blank. He realized she asked a question.

"Oh, uh, I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm good, I guess."

Jacob then heard Bella say something to someone next to her:

"I don't know what to say, how do I possibly say this?"

"Just ask him, Bella, he's waiting," the female voice said.

"Oh um, yeah sorry bout that. Jake, I need to talk about something incredibly important, and urgent. It's a long story and I really can't get into the details right now, but I need your help. I'm in trouble, Jake." She struggled to get each word out.

He shook his head and thought, When aren't you in trouble, Bells. "What's wrong?"

"I really can't discuss it all right now. You can say no if you want, but I really hope you say yes. It's the Volturi, Jake. They're coming for me."

Her voice was thick with fear. He had only heard the word, Volturi, a few times and didn't expect to ever hear it again. He had even forgotten the importance of it. He quickly realized she wouldn't have called for just any reason. She was asking something specific but couldn't bring herself to ask it. It surprised him to know, after all this time, how just saying her name and hearing her voice could make him feel. But he remembered all too clearly how these last few years felt and what led him here. After what he's been through, he wouldn't let her into his life again no matter what. He was absolutely certain of this.

"What do you need from me, Bells?" He hit his forehead with his palm. It sounded like he was ready to jump in and bail her out. It's not how he intended to sound.

After a slight pause, "Sanctuary?" she said nervously. "I don't know for how long. We feel it would be best to stay with you until, well, until we figure something out."

We. The disappointment he felt surprised him although he wasn't sure why. She's still with Cullen. Of course.

"I don't think so, Bella. If it was just you, we might have been able to-"

"It is just me, no one else is coming."

No one else? She didn't even sound sad when she said that, he thought. Maybe I'm just imagining things. He wanted to ask where Cullen was and why the leech couldn't protect her. Jacob knew he was the last guy Cullen would ask for help especially when it came to Bella. Things must be really bad.

Jacob didn't understand any more now than when the conversation started but one thing he did get was how the thought of seeing her again made him feel. Hearing her voice again, her human voice, filled him with a satisfaction and a yearning he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Okay. I've got to clear this all with Rebecca and Kimo first, of course, but I'm sure they'll be all right with it," Jacob lied. He wasn't sure of that at all.

Kimo won't care, but Bex is gonna have a serious bitch fit when she hears this.

Rebecca was at Sam's wedding and saw as much of Jacob's farewell dance with Bella as she could stand. Plus, she's heard everything there is to hear from their dad and other sources. Rebecca hasn't seen Bella in years and in spite of their friendly beginning she's grown a pretty healthy dislike for her. To be brutally honest, Rebecca hated her. This is going to be tricky, he thought.

"Really? Oh, I'm so glad," she sounded relieved. "I promise I won't get in the way, I'll cook, I'll clean, do errands, whatever you guys need me to do, I'll do it. I'll even sleep on the floor and I won't complain. I don't want to be a bother."

"It's fine Bella, really. When do you think you'll get here?"

"I'm on a payphone at the airport now actually. I was waiting for your call. I'll let you know soon. I don't know how to thank you, Jacob. Really. It'll be good to see you again."

She sounded happy when she said that and he found himself smiling. This sounded like the Bella he's always known. It made him happy to hear it again, but he knew he had to be wary still. History tends to repeat itself.

After a long pause he said, "Let me know as soon as you can," sounding nonchalant. "Take care."

"You too."

They hung up and Jacob just stood there at the counter, stunned. About 20 different emotions, thoughts and questions cycled constantly in his head. It took him a little bit to recover, but it was enough for him to grab his keys and paperwork and head home.

He walked slowly through the screen door of his house. The house was deserted. Kimo was out visiting friends and Rebecca had already gone to work. Good thing, too, because he wasn't ready to tell her about Bella with her being testier than usual. Bella's coming. He just couldn't believe it. No matter how many times he repeated it, it didn't seem real. He then quickly wondered how this would work. They only have three bedrooms, one is Kimo's and Becca's, one is his and the other one's the study, which is actually more of a storage room. It wasn't a big house and the rooms were small. Then, there's the couch.

I could put Bella in my bed and...wait... well that didn't sound right, he thought. This filled him with nervous energy. Okay focus, he thought. Once he got some of the logistics figured out, he heard a knock at the door. He answered it.

"Hi, umm, are you ready?" Hina asked, quickly noticing that he looked exactly as he did at the shop.

Jacob gasped out loud. "Hina! Holy crap I completely forgot!"

"You forgot? It takes like five minutes to get from the shop to your house, and you forgot?"

"Yeah," cringing at how bad that sounded. "It's a long story but I got some news and I guess I uh, oh forget it, I'm sorry. Just gimme a sec and I'll be right out, okay? Be right back."

He was hurrying around getting his clothes together and into the shower.

Hina was left in the living room to sit and wait. She looked at her watch. She now felt really stupid for rushing around and getting dressed just to wait for who knows how long.

"Okay I'm ready."

She did a double take. "You're ready already? It's only been four minutes."

Hina, of course, didn't know anything about the wolves or the reasons for his leaving home. Jacob completely forgot how getting showered and dressed at a super fast amount of time might look to her. Talking to Bella must have him completely frazzled.

"Uh, yeah, I uh, well you know how it is when you're in a hurry. So are you ready? You are? Good, let's go."

His manic energy made Hina look at him curiously, then skeptically.

Jacob was distracted most of the evening. He tried to be engaging but the conversation was virtually one-sided. Anytime Hina would ask a question Jacob would say, "Huh" or "Sorry, what did you say?" He did confess that an old friend was coming to visit but he didn't go into details. Ironically, this was the most he had ever talked about his past to her. She tried a few times over the last couple of years to get him to open up but he always froze up and changed the subject.

She hoped this mystery friend's visit would be a good thing. Who is this friend and why is he so anxious about them? she wondered. Well whoever it is maybe they can get Jake to relax a little, she hoped. They can't possibly make it worse.

A/N: Again, big thanks to my girl, Jakejunkie, for pre-reading for me. Jakejunkie asked me the same thing you're all probably wondering, "Why so much info about Hina?" Well she's about to be a very important person to this story, an original character who's function here will be revealed shortly. All in due time.

***Disclaimer: The characters setting and familiar situations belong to Stephenie Meyers. References to films or music also do no belong to me. No copyright infringement intended. I'm not making any monetary profit from this.***