A/N: I want to give a very special thank you to Aleeab4u who was kind enough to let me bounce some ideas off of her. Even though she doesn't yet know what I finally decided on she was instrumental in getting my brain working and feeling inspired to do this.

Also shout-outs to:

Marajade30: Thank you so much for your continued support and reviews. It's really nice to know that there are people out there who get this little fic and appreciate it.

EdwardsCandyCane: Yes, there is hope. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

Brokentragedy2: You know I love you right? Thank you so much for your awesome words and encouragement.

RubyLou: Thank you for saying so. That's exactly what I was going for.

Saritadreaming: Ha, guess you caught up on my fic huh? Yes, I'm glad that I decided to continue it and I hope you're glad too.

Baynewen: Thank you so much for your review. And yeah, this could get long. What I envision right now will definitely take us through all of New Moon though obviously a bit different since he's back already.

Ktsgran: I'm so glad you liked it and that I was able to get it just right. I was VERY nervous.

And of course thank you to anyone and everyone reading this. This fic may not get a lot of reviews but the ones it does get are awesome. Quality over quantity eh?

That being said, reviews are love…

"Oh God." Bella woke with a start, the memories of last night flooding her mind. She quickly rolled over away from Edward burying her hands under the pillow and fighting to not look at him.

"Bella?" He reached out a hand tentatively. He could hear her heart racing and wanted nothing more than to calm her. She could feel him roll onto his side to face her and as soon as his cool hand grazed her arm she recoiled.

"Get out."

"What?" He asked, perplexed.

"Get out!" She shouted.

He sighed and she felt the mattress lift as he got up.

"I love you Bella." He whispered when he got to the door.

When he was gone so many thoughts raced through her mind. Thoughts of the weekend, thoughts of the ritual she had performed to get Edward back, and that in turn made her think of Jacob. Right now she needed the ear of a friend but as much as she thought it might be better to talk to a girl there was no way she could talk to Angela about how Edward came back.

She rose, placing her feet on the cold wooden floor her shoulders slumped with the weight of the weekend. Charlie would be home soon and she hated lying to him. It wasn't something she was very good at. So maybe some time with Jacob would help steel her and refresh her a bit.

After taking what Edward referred to as a "human minute" which really was quite longer than a minute, she went downstairs and called Jake. Billy answered the phone and seemed frantic like he was expecting a call.

"Billy?" Bella asked, concerned.

"Oh, hi Bella." He sounded disappointed.

"Is Jake around?" She began to worry.

"Yeah…well, no, I mean he's not here at the house but he's on the Res."

"Oh." I said disappointed.

"Why don't you come on down, Bella. He could use the distraction right now."

"Why? What's going on?"

He sighed. "Sam Uley is missing." He said flatly.

"Oh my God. Does my Dad know?

"Yeah. He's been busy all morning talking to people and looking around. He's back at the station now putting out calls to all the local law enforcement offices."

"Maybe I should call him. Or go over there…" Bella wondered out loud.

"No Bella. Let him do his job. Come on over and try to calm Jacob down. He and the other boys are really put out over the whole thing."

"K', Billy I'll be right over.

Bella made good on her word and made it to the Reservation in record time, especially considering her beat up truck could hardly make it over fifty. She parked next to the red shack of a house that the Blacks called home and Billy was waiting in the doorway for her.

"He's down on the beach Bella." He nodded in the general direction of the ocean.

She waved a thank you and headed down as fast as she could. She found him there with Quil and Embry.

"Jake!" She called out.

All the boys turned to look at her. Jake looked relieved and the others looked just plain worried. Jake met her halfway while the others wandered off.

"You heard huh?"

"Yeah." She whispered, unsure of how to comfort him. He was the one who had always been good at that sort of thing, not her.

"What can I do?"

He sighed, sounding very much like his father, and then turned his gaze out to the water. "Can you find him? Bring him back?" He said it with a bitter smirk on his face and though she knew he was only trying to joke it still broke her heart.

"I'm sorry Jake."

He looked back at her and finally gave her a bit of a smile. It was a mere shadow of the sun she knew he could be but it was still nice to see. She thought of why she was here and decided it would be selfish to bring that up now but then she had another thought.

"What about the Shaman Jacob? Can't she help?"

He laughed, the bitterness seeping back into his voice. "She says everything is fine, that we have nothing to worry about. What a load of crap." He sneered. But something must have shown on her face.

"Bella?" He asked, searching her face. "Did it work?"

She bit her lip and then nodded yes and Jacob's eyes widened.

"Really?" He continued in disbelief.

"Yeah." She admitted. "It took awhile." She hoped she could keep up the charade by insinuating that Edward had to travel a long distance to get to her coming from someplace that would have taken time. "But he came. The next day." There. Not a complete lie. I don't have to tell him when the next day. She thought to herself.

"So now what?" He asked, momentarily forgetting his own dilemma.

"I don't know." She replied shaking her head and looking away, her brown curls cascading over her shoulders. "It's…" She drifted off searching for the right words. "It's amazing. That it worked. But now that he's back I don't know what to make of it." They began walking as the words poured out of her.

"I mean a part of me is happy to have him back but then a part of me is angry with him. It's very confusing."

"He really hurt you Bella. I saw it, more clearly than you could ever see it because you were trapped inside of it."

"Yeah…" She whispered.

"It was like someone had died Bella. Like the most important person in the world to you had died."

She knew that was true. A part of her had died that day. And now it was back trying to edge its way into a broken and scarred hole that was torn between rejecting it or taking it in.

"Well maybe the Shaman isn't full of crap after all." He continued. "She did say he would come back to you if it was meant to be."

She'd been so caught up in the overwhelming emotions that she had forgotten about that part. It seemed easier to her to accept a reason that was least in her favor, the one in which she concluded that the only reason Edward came back was because of her blood.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She said, finally smiling a little. She'd have to think on this more though. Maybe write it out later on.

"Doesn't make sense though." Said Jacob.

"What doesn't?"

"Well if she really does have a gift and can sense things why can't she tell us where Sam is? Why does she act like it's no big deal?"

"I don't know Jake." She replied with genuine sorrow in her voice. She desperately wished she could help him as much as he'd helped her.

Just then she heard a horn honking over the ridge and they both looked up. Her Dad was standing there trying to flag them down.

"Maybe he found him!" Jake shouted and took off leaving Bella behind. Men were always leaving her behind she thought sadly. Even her Dad in a way had left her when she was little by choosing to stay behind in Forks and putting a distance between them and causing a rift that could never fully heal. Logically she knew that he loved her but right now it was emotion that was ruling her, not logic.

She finally made her way up the hilly dunes and to her Father. Jacob was gone by the time she got there and she looked at the absent space she imagined he had just been standing in. Gone. She thought.

"He went back to the house." Her Father's somber tone answered her next question but she asked anyway.

"Have you found anything?"

"No Bells. And I'm so sorry I left you alone this weekend. When I think of what could have happened…" He trailed off. Ironically she couldn't have been safer but she immediately stepped up to him and rubbed his arm.

"It's okay Dad. I'm okay." She looked at him imploring him to believe her.

"Let's go." He said.

She started to point back to the truck.

"It'll be fine. I'll come back and get it tomorrow while you're at school."

She got in the car and they drove home in silence. Despite everything they'd been through they were still victim to their nature which was one of solitude and introspection.

The rest of the evening passed without event. Bella made supper, caught up on the homework that had been neglected, and then pulled out her notebook. She'd half expected to find Edward sitting in her room when she finally turned in for the night but he wasn't there. She couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed.