JacobPOV
"Erg!" The wooden chair hits the wall, splintering and falling with the sound of rain as the small shards hit. Somehow, I find it slightly amusing that the straight-backed chair had gone straight into pieces. A stupid pun, yes. But when you're too tired to sleep, things like that can defiantly bring amusement.
With a sigh, I flop back onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. On the tenth floor of a boring apartment building, surrounded by the exact same, the sun did what it could to the small room. It's only 7am, but feels much later. Then again, I haven't had a drop of sleep in a few days...perhaps that's why?
A few days ago, a letter had come through the mail anonymously, addressed to me-well, the old me. It had come through work, meaning that whoever it was didn't have my address-and based on the contents, I was willing to add a 'yet' to that. It had been made out to Jacob Black, who didn't work anywhere. I was Jacob Fowler, the last name of-
"Jacob?" Diana calls from the bathroom. The bathroom fan partially obscures her voice, but I hear her perfectly, still being a werewolf. "I forgot my towel in the bedroom!"
I jump up, grabbing the dark towel hanging off the bedpost. I run into the bathroom and open the door. Diana is standing in the bathtub, water off, dropping the curtain once I hand her the towel. Her wet hair is dark blonde hair, dripping with hot water that rolled onto her shoulders and down her breasts. Her whole body is red from the hot showers she takes, but glows with health. Splotches of her skin are pink or white, being the palest human girl I'd ever seen.
As she wraps the towel around her body, I pick her up in a hug, kissing her pink lips and pulling her out of the tub. She giggles at what she calls chivalry, and what I call romance. I love romancing her. It's not always easy, is always fun, and makes me feel better about our love-which holds strong. Right before we left for New York, I'd gotten down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She'd agreed with a teary smile, green eyes nearly blue as I slipped the diamond ring onto her finger. I adore her, more than I have ever loved before-I love her more than I had loved Bella.
"How was your shower?" I ask her as she runs a brush through her hair, then toweling, then brushing, then toweling, et cetera.
She gives me a loving smile through the mirror. "Better than last night." She puts her hair in a messy clip, then looks around. "Ugh! I forgot my clothes!"
"I'll get them!" I volunteer, remembering the chair...
I give her a kiss as I rush out of the room. Quickly as possible, I remove the evidence of the chair, shoving it into the closet to dispose of later. She doesn't need to know about the letter, which I would need to tell her about if she saw the damage to the straight-back. She thought I was over the breaking.
I find a pile of neatly folded clothes on the dresser by the bedroom door, and pick them up. Light brown, straight-slacks and a ruffled white blouse with a fitted blazer to match the pants. On top was a white lace underwear set. I take the clothes into the bathroom and place them on the counter beside where she's curling her hair, still wrapped in the towel. She sends me a grateful look, then continues with her hair. I smile back at her before taking off my own clothes and getting in the shower.
Under the hot water, I think about my life, and the letter.
When I'd first moved in with Diana, back in Portland, after we'd found that living in La Push wasn't going to work, I'd been fine. But after Bella...when Diana picked up a job here in New York, I was...pretty messed up. I'd broken things, trying to quell my anger. I'd take it out on her, yelling at her about things neither of us could help. Then, I'd leave in shame and guilt when I made her cry. Somehow, she'd always managed to forgive me for hurting her. I'd never lay a finger on her. I never physically abused her, or hurt her, which is the only reason I can allow myself to stay. The pain of loosing Bella back in London had made me hate myself. And having Diana around had kept me from killing myself, though the guilt of making her cry almost over-ruled that.
The letter in the mail had brought back some of those feelings of hatred and pain. The bloodsuckers had been there when Riley had killed Bella. I hadn't made it, my bones crushed by the demon that had killed my love. Carlisle had let me heal before telling me all of it. Today, I know that he'd been forced by Riley mind tricks to lie to me.
Bella was still alive, somewhere, and Edward was dead. The rest of the Cullen's were living somewhere cold, somewhere north. Seth had a theory about Alaska, but very rarely spoke to me. He thought it was wrong that I hadn't gone to look for Bella, that I had just started a new life in New York with Diana. He liked Diana, sure, but he would have been happier with me at least looking for Bella. Diana knew how the pack felt, how Seth felt. She'd told me before that she would be fine with me taking off for a while to find her. I'd told her no, told her that I didn't want to leave her, even for a day. She'd thought I was being ridiculous, but hadn't pushed the issue.
After my shower, I toweled off with the towel Diana had left on the rack for me. Totally dry, I pad off into the bedroom when Diana is putting things in her white purse. From the dresser I pull on a pair of boxers, then take some dark jeans from a hanger and put them on too. Deodorant and cologne. And when I can't find a good shirt in the closet, a smiling Diana pulls one off a hanger and hands it to me. I smile gratefully and tug it over my head. It's a white shirt, plain. I put a light green dress shirt over it, leave it unbuttoned, then follow it with a dark blazer. My simple black trainers are next to a pair of socks at the foot of the bed, and I know Diana put them their while I wasn't looking. She's always doing that, little things that don't really matter.
Diana and I both work in the same building. She's a book publisher, and I'm the editors assistant. She's gotten several big promotions since we'd first moved to New York. I've gotten a few as well, but have preferred to stay where I am. I like being the editors assistant. I get to see my wife plenty, make a decent wage, and get to read manuscripts that will never be published because the editor is a total dick-face. Not that I would ever tell that to her or our co-workers. Diana agrees with me though, because I tell her most everything.
We take the subway to work. The station is just under the building, which is too convenient for words. However, to get to that station that takes us there, we must walk three city blocks. No big deal.
"Lets go," Diana smiles, slinging her purse onto her shoulder. "You ready?"
I nod and walk over to her, taking her hand and leading her out the door, locking it behind us. Only seconds after entering the crowed of busy New Yorkers, I wrap my arms around Diana and pull her close, kissing her lips and taking her breath away.
Right as we're about to go down to the subway, she stops and points to a Starbucks nearby. "Wanna get some coffee?" She asks.
I look at my watch, then nod. "We left early."
Considering the time, Starbucks was fairly not busy, so we decide to stay a while. We sit down with small coffee's and muffins by a window.
"Did you sleep good?" She asks me as I set down my coffee. "You seemed restless. Did you have a nightmare?"
I shake my head. "I slept just fine. I think I just ate too much at dinner last night. No big deal." I tend to toss and turn when I'm too full. Since I haven't run around a whole lot as a wolf lately, my body hasn't been needing as much food. I still eat a lot, which Diana finds a bit sickening, though she'd gotten used to it.
Diana nods in understanding. "I had a dream about you last night."
Any other day, I would have made a sex joke about it, adding a wink for good measure. But her voice told me that the dream was serious. Her voice is solemn, almost sad. "What happened?" I ask.
She shrugs, but I know that it's a big deal. At least to her. "You got something...a letter or email or something. It was from the pack. They said that they really needed you. So you took me to La Push and made me stay with your father, then went to meet with Sam." I stiffened. This wasn't turning out good. "He told you that the Cullen's were coming back to Forks, staying at their house for a while, unseen by humans. And you didn't see why it was such a big deal. But then he said that things were different because they'd told Sam they had humans with them." She paused.
"Honey," I say, slowly. "What is it?"
She takes a deep breath. "The Cullen's didn't stop at their house. They went to La Push and you started freaking out and killing them because they had Bella with them." She takes another deep breath. "And...then you killed Bella. Then me."
My eyes get wide. "You...dreamed that I...killed you."
"And Bella."
I run a hand through my hair, trying not to imagine. I'd killed all of the Cullen's. Bella, for being a vampire. And Diana... I shudder. Diana, because she'd been there while I was a wolf. I try harder not to see it in my head. Killing the Cullen's was seeable. I could deal with it. I'd imagined Bella dead before. But Diana...The woman I truly loved? The woman who kept me living when I'd thought there was no point...It's a physical pain when the image pops up anyway.
"Jacob?"
"I would never do it." I look up at her. "I love you more than anything. I would never pull you into the heart of danger like that." My voice is low and fierce, and I tone it down a bit, not wanting to scare her. "I love you. I won't let anything happen to you. Especially not by my own hand."
She smiles at me. "I know."
We're silent for a minute, sipping our coffees and eating our breakfast.
When we're done, we head off to the subway, which is busy as usual.
I get a call on my cell phone as we enter the street once more, and pull it out of my coat pocket.
"Who is it?" Diana asks casually.
"Unknown number..." I press talk. "Jacob Fowler," I say. I take Diana's hand and we continue to the building.
"Formerly Black?" Someone asks tonelessly. "Jacob Black?" I don't recognize the voice, thought it's male.
"This is he. Who is-" They hang up. I roll my eyes and put the phone back into my pocket.
"Who was that?" Diana asks.
"Not sure. They hung up." I shrug as I hold the door open for her, smiling.
Once in the elevator, I give her a kiss, holding her close. We make conversations as people get on, talking about things other than work. And on our floor, I kiss Diana again, then we go our separate ways. I wave and smile at co-workers.
"Fowler!" Pruitt yells from her office. Pruitt is the editor, the dick-face I assist. I pick up my pace to her. She starts talking before I'm in hearing range. "...tell me that you were in contact with such a prestigious family!"
"Who?" I ask, wondering who I know that is so great to have attracted the attention of Pruitt.
"The Cu-"
"Jacob!" A high pitched, sing-song voice cries joyously. I only have a second to brace myself before being impailed by the tiny-armed hugging, tiny stone body of Alice Cullen.