A/N: Yeah it's a new chapter! I know it's been a couple weeks since the last update and it will probably be at least another two weeks till the next one – so this is an extra-long chapter for you, about double what my normal chapters are. I hope you like it -
Ness stood in the middle of her new living room, unpacking boxes. It had been six months since she'd seen or spoken to Jake, and every day was harder than the last to make it through. But she'd had enough to deal with without taking Jake into consideration. After her first couple conversations with Claire, she'd realized how angry he was, and she knew they both needed time.
Instead of trying to make Jake forgive her, she'd spent the past six months sorting out the mess she'd made of her own life. It wasn't easy; the divorce took so much out of her emotionally. It was hard to sit across from Michael and see the hurt in his eyes, but she knew that they would both be better off in the long run. Her family had been her rock, sticking by her side and offering a shoulder to cry on when she couldn't hold it in anymore.
Finally, after a grueling five months, the divorce was finalized; she was a free woman. She was free to move on and go about her life anyway that she chose…but she'd had no idea what she should do. It took a couple of weeks, but she made up her mind and now fully believed that she was doing the right thing. It was time to move on.
As she stood in her new living room, she looked around the room and a sense of calmness surrounded her. This was her chance for a fresh start. She took in a deep breath and smiled to herself as she folded the top of the box in front of her back down. It was late and time for her to go to bed. She was starting a new job in the morning and didn't want to risk being late.
As she climbed into bed that night, she pondered the endless possibilities of her new life. For the first time in months, she couldn't wait for morning to come.
…...
Monday morning had come all too early for Jake. He'd spent the night before at a local bar and ended up having one too many beers. He was in a foul mood by the time he got to the shop and wasn't looking forward to being at work and having to talk to and be nice to people.
As he got off his bike and walked over to the garage, he noticed a strange older car in the lot. He knew that Claire should be the only one at the shop, but he knew that wasn't her car so he decided to go into the office and check on her. He pushed the doors to the bays open after unlocking them and walked into the office through the connecting door in the garage. As he passed through the door, he started to speak before he even looked up, "Hey Claire, whose car is – " But halfway through his question he raised his head...and his throat closed up.
Jake couldn't speak and he could barely think straight. He'd had too much to drink the night before and was suffering from a massive hangover that wasn't helping matters any. But making it even worse for him was the person standing in front of him. He'd been expecting to see Claire when he entered the office, but instead he ended up being less than ten feet away from the woman who'd been haunting his dreams and making it nearly impossible to sleep for the past six months.
Jake swallowed, trying to clear his throat enough to speak, "what-what are you…where is Claire?" He'd wanted to scream it but the words ended up coming out just barely above a whisper.
Ness took in a deep breath to calm herself. She hadn't seen Jake in so long and her heart had started beating wildly when he first entered the office. He looked amazing; tired, but amazing…and mad. She knew this would be hard, that Jake wouldn't just melt at seeing her after 6 months, but there was a small part of her that hoped to see some flicker of happiness cross his features after seeing her. But she quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. Ness pulled herself together, determined to continue with her plan, "Well good morning to you too," she replied. "In answer to your question, Claire is at home starting her maternity leave. And I…" she paused, trying to build up enough courage to get the next part out, "I'll be covering for her while she's out."
Ness watched as the emotions played out across Jakes face, first confusion, then shock and finally settled on anger. "What do you mean, covering for her?" he asked in a quiet but seething voice.
"I mean that while she's out on maternity leave for the next three months or so, I'll be working here in her place." Ness tried to sound confident, but it was hard to keep her voice from cracking as Jake seemed to go from angry to pissed off with each word she spoke.
She knew it was coming, and Jake didn't disappoint. He blew up yelling, "How the hell can you be covering for her, you don't even live here?"
Ness stayed calm, knowing it wouldn't benefit either of them for her to yell back or worse, start crying. "Well, you're wrong about that…I do live here. I just finished moving into to my grandparents' house. Actually, it's my house now, and I'm not all done yet, I still have a couple of boxes left to unpack." She said, shrugging like it was no big deal.
Everything crashed down on Jake then as her words sunk in. Ness was here, she was going to be working with him, 5 days a week for the next 3 months at least. He was going to see her almost every day of the week. How am I going to handle this? He thought to himself.
Ness watched as Jake paled, she didn't know what was going through his head now, but he looked shocked and crushed at the same time. She wanted to go to him, comfort him, but she knew it wasn't her place; so she stayed where she was and watched as Jake turned and left the office.
….
Jake spent the rest of the day trying to keep his mind off of Ness, but it was hard. Even though he wasn't paying attention to her, it was like his body could sense her. He knew when she was close and when she wasn't. The only other thing she'd said to him all day had been around lunch time. She'd come out to the garage area and asked if he'd like her to pick him up something to eat.
He hadn't answered; he didn't even look at her. But he certainly felt it when she turned and walked away. At the end of the day, he lowered and locked the doors to the bays, got on his bike and drove away without saying another word to her.
He rode as fast as he could to the reservation, with only one destination in mind.
When he arrived at the small, blue framed house, he turned off his bike, dropped the kickstand and quickly made his way to the front door.
He knocked, growing more agitated by the second as he waited for someone to answer. When Quil finally opened the door, Jake didn't even let him get a word out. "I need to talk to Claire," he demanded.
Quil took in Jakes rattled demeanor and asked, "What the hell's the matter with you?"
"Nothing, I just need to talk to Claire." He replied.
Quil looked at Jake wearily. "I don't know man, you seem a little on edge. Claire's 8 months pregnant, she can't really be dealing with any stress."
Jake took a moment to try and calm himself down, taking a few deep breaths, before he answered. "I know, and I'm sorry. I promise I won't stress her out. I just need to ask her something about the shop. It won't take more than a minute or two, I promise."
Quil was still a little uncertain, but he nodded and backed up to let him in. Jake had been one of his best friends since before they could walk and Quil knew that Jake would never do anything to risk his wife or his child's safety. "She's in the kitchen."
"Thanks," Jake said, nodding at his friend before making his way to the kitchen.
As soon as he entered the small kitchen he saw Claire sitting at the table, peeling a potato. She looked up when she heard footsteps and Jake clearly saw the guilty look that crossed her face when she realized it was him.
Neither of them said anything for a moment, they just studied each other. Finally, Jake broke the silence. "I assumed you'd helped her. And from the guilty look on your face, I'd say I'm right."
Claire lifted her chin, getting a little defensive. "Yes, you're right. But you wouldn't listen Jake, I tried to talk to you and you shut me down. Hell, you wouldn't even return the girls calls. What was she supposed to do?"
Jake was livid but he did his best to keep his voice calm as he replied, "Did it ever occur to you that I didn't return her calls because I didn't give a shit about her or what she was going to do? All I know is, you were my friend, and I asked you to stay out of it. Thanks for nothing."
With that said Jake turned and left the house, not giving Claire any opportunity to respond, too afraid that he'd lose the little control he had left.
…
The rest of the week passed by much the same. Jake would go to work, do his best to ignore Ness, and leave immediately after. But each day it got getting harder and harder for him to concentrate.
Working on cars used to be his escape. After his mom had died, he'd thrown himself into it, learning everything he could. He would go out to his old garage and spend hours working on his dads' old truck or the lawn mower; if it had an engine, Jake had probably worked on it. And the last sixth months had been the same. He threw himself into his work to keep his mind off of her and the pain he felt. But now it was like his place, his escape, had been taken from him.
Thankfully it was now Saturday, which meant Ness wouldn't be at the shop and he was hoping to get some peace out of the day.
It passed slowly with just three cars showing up for minor problems that were easily fixed. In between cars, Jake kept his mind occupied by thinking of other things; like the dinner at his sister's house that he'd been manipulated into showing up at later that night.
His sister Rachel had come by his house on Wednesday claiming that his nephew Taylan missed him and thought that his uncle Jake didn't love him anymore because he hardly ever came over to play with him.
Rachel was good; she knew that to Jake, his nephew was one of the most important things in the world. And all she had to say to get him to do something was use his nephew as bait.
So Jake had agreed to go, but he wasn't looking forward to it. These past six months hadn't been easy for him. He'd spent the majority of his free time alone, isolating himself from his friends and family. There'd been only a handful of times that he'd actually shown up at a function. But they'd only been quick pop ins so that everyone knew he was still alive; Christmas was included on that list.
New Year's Eve had been spent in Port Angeles. Tired of being alone and hurting, he'd gone to a bar hoping to meet someone for a quick, no strings hook-up. But when he got there, all motivation left him when he heard the song that was playing; it was the same song that he'd danced to with Ness that night on the beach. Instead of looking for someone to pass the time with, he made a b-line to the bar and spent the night getting shit faced and turning away anyone that approached.
Deep down, he knew he couldn't stay like this forever. He was the happy-go-lucky, fun to be around guy, not the cold-hearted, bitter guy that kept to himself and had no friends. He'd realized after New Year's Eve that he needed to make more of an effort to get passed this, to forget her, and he was honestly going to try; but then she'd showed up.
It's not like he could just make her leave either. She had the right to live and work wherever she wanted. For a second, he'd thought about calling Dowling and telling him that the new girl just wasn't gonna cut it, didn't have the skills to keep up with things. But that thought had lasted less than a minute. No matter what had happened between them, he knew he couldn't do that to her.
Realizing it was close to quitting time, Jake started packing things up so that he could head out right after Dowling called to check on things. He had a dinner to go to that not only would his family be at, but his friends that he'd been avoiding lately as well. Thinking about everyone made Jake take a step back and see the big picture. Whether Ness was here in Forks or three and half hours away in Seattle didn't make a difference. He was the one who had to be strong enough to move on and stop letting her affect him. It was time to start living his life again.
…..
Claire sat across from Ness at the wooden table in the small yellow kitchen of the Ateara house. They'd been drinking iced tea and discussing how things had gone the past week for the last hour.
Mentally exhausted, Ness dropped her arms to the table and rested her head on them while letting out an exasperated sigh. "I just don't know what to do Claire. He won't even look at me let alone talk to me…how am I supposed to get him to listen?"
Claire reached out her hand and began to rub Ness' forearm. "I know its hard sweetie but you can't give up, you love him and if he didn't love you too, he wouldn't be acting this way. But he's a stupid, pig-headed man and his precious ego's been bruised so he's not letting himself hear you. He can't go on like this forever. Deep down, Jake's a good guy, he'll come around, you just gotta keep working at it."
Ness looked up at her friend and smiled; thankful she had Claire in her life. The past six months hadn't been easy for Ness either. After serving Michael with the divorce papers, he'd lost it. Somehow, even after she'd told him to his face that it was over and he saw that she'd moved all of her stuff out, he still believed that she wasn't serious. He'd come to her parents' house looking for her and he'd begged and pleaded for hours for her to come home, but Ness was firm and stood her ground. The final straw was when he offered her anything she wanted, a new house, car, jewelry, even a baby if she wanted; and that's when she'd lost it, telling him in no uncertain terms what she thought of his offer. It was just like Michael to think he could buy back her affections. It took hours and in the end, she had to force him to leave with help from her father. But after that, he didn't put up a fight.
As the months passed and finalization of the divorce grew closer, Ness began to plan for the future. She knew she wanted to see Jake, but didn't know how that would go over; they hadn't spoken since that day on the beach. She'd stayed in contact with Claire though and from what she said; Jake had pretty much been keeping to himself.
It was during one of her conversations with Claire that they came up with the idea of how to get Ness back in Jake's life. Claire, who was seven months pregnant and would be going on maternity leave the following month, would be leaving behind her office manager position at Dowling's. Ness had more than enough skills to handle the position and Claire had offered to hand deliver her resume to Mr. Dowling along with a shining recommendation. They both agreed that if Ness just moved to Forks, Jake could simply avoid her as he'd been doing with everyone else. But if they were working in the same shop, day in and day out…well, it'd be a lot harder to avoid her then.
Once Dowling looked over her resume and offered her the job, Claire and Ness plotted out the rest of their plan. Her divorce was finalized on January 7th and Claire's last day at the shop was set for January 21st. Ness would spend that weekend moving herself and all of her possessions into her grandparents old house and report to work first thing Monday morning, January 23rd. Once they had all of the details finalized, Ness sat back and waited to start the next chapter of her life.
Now however, she was beginning to get discouraged.
Suddenly changing the subject, Claire said, "Okay, enough with the mopping around, you know what you need?" when Ness only starred back, she continued, "You need to have some fun."
Ness let out a chuckle at the eagerness she heard in Claire's voice, "I'm sure I could use a night out, but I just don't think I'm up for it."
Claire rolled her eyes, "Save it, I'm not taking no for an answer. And it's not exactly a night out, its dinner at Rachel and Paul's house. But it'll do you good and if you're going to live here you need to have more friends than just me."
Ness bit her lip nervously, she wasn't too sure if this was a good idea. "I don't know Claire, dinner at Rachel's? I don't know how Jake would feel about me showing up uninvited to a dinner at his sister's house."
"Oh please," Claire responded, "Jake won't even be there, he's been such a hermit lately. And as a matter of fact you were invited, by me." She finished with a cheeky smile.
It took another minute or so of persuasion, but at the end, Ness agreed to go to the dinner.
….
Jake opened the door and walked into his sister's house without knocking. He was expected so there was no need, and he doubted anyone would've been able to hear anyway over the noise coming from the inside when he approached the door.
When he stepped into the house, he looked around at all of the familiar, smiling faces of his friends and family and felt a calm wash over him. He'd missed this over the past few months but he'd never let himself admit it.
Most of them were there; Paul sat on the couch with his dad beside him in his chair as they watched some game on the TV. Sam sat in the rocking chair across the room while Emily sat in his lap; their three year old Shayla was on the floor at their feet playing with some blocks. He could see Embry and Dyani in the next room, setting dishes and glasses down on the long table that had been set up while making googly eyes at each other. They'd gotten engaged over Christmas and it was clear to see they were still on cloud nine. And finally, Quil and Taylan, who were sitting in the middle of the floor playing with some matchbox cars.
Paul was the first to notice him and called out, "Damn Black, didn't expect to see your face here tonight." He had to shout to be heard over the TV and the music coming from the kitchen; not to mention the various conversations going on around him.
Having heard his father, Taylan turned and spotted Jake. He quickly got up and ran over, forgetting about his game of cars for the time being, "Uncle Jake, Uncle Jake, you came, I knew you'd come. Mommy said she didn't think you would be I knew it, I just knew it," he said as he hoped around at Jakes feet.
His enthusiasm was contagious and Jake couldn't help but laugh as he bent down to pick his nephew up. He gave him a big hug and said, "Of course midget, I wouldn't have missed it."
As he set him back down, Jake gave a nod to the rest of the room and quick hey. Everyone returned the greeting and smiled back, happy to see Jake out.
Taylan grabbed Jakes hand and started leading him to the small town he'd constructed in the middle of the floor. "Uncle Jake, you wanna play cars with me and Quil?" He asked, collapsing onto the floor and tugging on Jake's hand to get him to follow.
Jake looked down and smiled, "Just a sec midge, I wanna say hi to your mom," and then looking to his right, "she in the kitchen Paul?"
"Uh, yeah," he answered, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"I'll be right back and then we'll play, I promise," he said looking down to Taylan again.
He was already back to playing with his cars and didn't even look at Jake as he said, "Okay."
Jake chuckled and thought to himself, like father like son, as he made his way to the kitchen at the back of the house.
He was still chuckling to himself when he heard it, a laugh, just as he was about to turn the corner into the kitchen. But it wasn't just any laugh, it was her laugh. He was positive; he'd know it anywhere even though he hadn't heard it in six months. And suddenly, all traces of humor left him.
He entered the kitchen and there she was, and what made it worse, she was with his sister. Claire was there too, but he already considered her a traitor so this was nothing new; but his own sister, how could she? Is this why she wanted me to come tonight? Is she in on whatever crazy scheme Ness and Claire have going on? All of these thoughts and more swam through his head, but all he could do was stare.
He could tell they'd been having a good time, laughing even. But as soon as he entered and they noticed him, the laughter stopped.
Seeing the look on her brother's face, Rachel quickly went to his side. He looked like he was about to blow a gasket and she knew she had to diffuse the situation.
When Claire and Quil had showed up with Ness in tow, she'd been happy to see her. The last time she'd seen her brother truly happy had been that night on the beach when she'd met Ness.
They'd asked shortly after arriving if Jake would be coming and Rachel had admitted that she honestly didn't know. She'd done her best to try and coerce him, but he was unpredictable and her guess was as good as anyone else's. Ness had seemed to get a little nervous at that, saying that Jake might not be happy to see her if he showed up. But both Rachel and Claire had insisted that no matter what had happened between them, he was a big boy and he could handle it.
Looking at her brother's face now, Rachel wasn't so sure of that anymore. "Hey bro," she said as she tried to lean in and give him a hug, but he just brushed her off.
She took a step back so she could see his face and try another tactic, "I'm glad you came, Taylan's been asking all day if I thought you'd come, that kids crazy about you."
But he didn't look at her once and he didn't say anything in response, he just kept starring at Ness. Finally, through gritted teeth, he spoke, "What the fuck is she doing here?"
Rachel gasped, surprised, "Jacob. What is wrong with you? She's a guest in my home, how dare you talk to her like that!"
Jake turned on Rachel then, "She's a guest? And what the hell am I, huh? I thought I was your brother, family, but I see where your loyalties lay."
Having seen enough, Claire chose that moment to jump in. "Okay, that's enough. He's just surprised Rach, he didn't mean it. And Jake, honestly, don't you think you're over-reacting just a little bit? I think you need to-"
Jake decided to interrupt her then, "I don't give a shit what you think Claire. I've had enough of your meddling in my life. Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone?"
Ness just stood back in the corner, watching it all play out in front of her. She'd froze the second she saw Jake and she hadn't been able to move since. She'd never seen him this mad before and she didn't know what to do or say. And He and Rachel and Claire, they were all so wrapped up in it all that none of them noticed Quil enter the kitchen just in time to hear Jake tell his wife to leave him the fuck alone; none of them except Ness.
She would have warned him, she was just about to yell his name, but it happened too fast. As soon as the words were out of Jakes mouth, Quil tapped on his shoulder. Jake swung around fast but not fast enough to block, and he took the punch Quil threw right in the middle of his face.
Jacob was taller, but Quil's arms were all muscle and it was easy to hear the crunch of bones when his fist collided with Jake's face.
Jakes hands flew to his face as he fell to the floor with a load groan and everyone could see the blood dripping down his neck and seeping into his shirt. All of a sudden, it was like someone had cut the strings that had been holding Ness in place and she ran to the sink to get a rag. She ran to Jake's side with it, "here," she said as she tried to hold it up to his face. Jake just moved his head to the side and pushed her away with his elbow.
At the same time Ness was trying to help, Claire was screaming at Quil for punching Jacob and Quil was yelling back, "Damn right I punch the son of a bitch, and if I ever hear him talk to you like that again I'll do even more damage to his pretty face. Do you hear me down there Black?" He asked while looking over the shoulder of his pregnant wife who had pushed her way to stand in front of him after the first punch had been thrown.
Rachel had gone into action as well, she grabbed the rag that Ness had and slapped Jakes hands out of the way. "Will you move your hands and stop being such a baby for crying out loud! And tilt your head back, we need to get the bleeding to stop." She said as she pressed the rag to his face. "Ness, in the pantry is some sandwich bags, please get one and fill it with some ice so we can put that on his nose once the bleeding slows."
Ness ran to the pantry to do as she'd been told as Rachel continued to give orders. "Okay Jake, I'm gonna need you to stand. I know you're not gonna like this, but we have to take you to the doctor to get your nose checked out."
Not really able to speak, Jake just grumbled. "I don't wanna hear it, we're going," Rachel demanded while helping Jake stand. "And you," she looked at Quil, "I know you feel justified punching him after what he said…hell, he was being such a jackass even I felt like decking him…but did you have to do it so hard?" And for the first time since he'd entered the kitchen, Quil began to look sorry.
Once he was up to his feet, Jake lowered his head slightly and looked towards Quil. He didn't try to say anything; he just extended his arm and placed his hand on Quil's shoulder and let it stay there for a moment.
Quil didn't say anything either. When he'd entered the kitchen and heard Jake talking to his wife that way, he'd lost it. Only now that the haze had cleared did he realize that he'd over-reacted. It had been clear to everyone that Jake had been going through some stuff lately. Quil just hadn't realized how much it'd been affecting him until now. He knew under normal circumstances, Jake never would have acted that way. He nodded his head at Jake, accepting the apology that he was offering, and he knew they'd both forgiven each other.
As he dropped his hand and tilted his head back further, a pain shot up the right side of Jake's face that was so powerful, he had to squeeze his eyes shut. Just then, he felt something cold being placed on his face and he knew Ness had gotten the ice.
"Okay Jake," Rachel began, "We're gonna walk slowly to the front door, I'll lead you. Quil, can you please explain to everybody that there's been a mishap and the dinner's gonna have to be postponed?"
"Sure Rach," Quil followed as she began leading Jake out of the kitchen.
After they had all left the kitchen, Claire turned in Ness' direction and waddled her way to her side. "Not exactly the kind of fun I was hoping for tonight," she said raising her eyebrows.
"I'm so sorry Claire-" Ness began but was cut off.
"Oh shush, what do you have to be sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong," Claire stated.
"But I did, don't you see," Ness began, "It's all my fault, he wouldn't be like this if it weren't for me. I'm here a week and he's yelling at you and his sister and getting punched out by his best friend. I never should have come back."
Claire reached out and lifted Ness' head with her hand, forcing Ness to look at her. "Don't say that. It is clear as day that that man cares about you. He wouldn't be acting this way if he didn't. All men act stupid over love."
Ness wanted to believe her, but she just didn't know anymore. She felt Claire start wiping her cheeks and she could tell they were wet. She hadn't realized until then that she was crying.
A/N: There it is, hope you liked it. Really anxious to see what you guys think about this one. Thanks for being patient with my updating schedule – reviews get a special preview of the next chapter.