"When you're away I'm restless, lonely, wretched, dejected; only here's the rub, my darling dear, I feel the same when you're near."

SAMUEL HOFFENSTEIN

SATURDAY, APRIL 15

Cupid's Chokehold; Chapter Fourteen. Jacob.

I hung the phone up after talking to Bella. I hated disagreeing with her, but no matter what the words were it was soothing to hear her voice. I looked around the house, it was quiet and dark without Dad moving around. I fell onto the couch and picked up the remote, I flipped through the channels pointlessly. It was just a blur of colors and noise at this moment, my mind was too swamped with what was going to happen to my dad to pay attention to… Good Eats. Bella would like this show.

As much as she thought that telling Dad about werewolves and vampires would do him some good, she simply didn't see the bigger picture. Of course, she hadn't been to see him since he woke up. He really was in terrible condition.

A knock at the door startled me out of my reverie and I shut the TV off to get up to ask the intruder to go away. It was late and I didn't want to have to talk to anyone. I opened the door and all resentment I felt fled my system; it was Bella. Her hair was pulled up into a knot on the top of her head and she dressed as if she had put on the first things she found this morning. She smelled faintly of Lysol and Windex.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"You shouldn't have to be by yourself right now. I know I wouldn't want to be by myself and I'm not going to let you be by yourself. So, could I come in? Have you had dinner yet?" she kept running her hands through her hair and tugging down on the few short strands that missed her matted knot of curls on the crown of her head.

Why did things have to be so complicated with us? A few weeks ago she would have just run in her and wrapped her arms around me, a few weeks ago this wouldn't have been so hard. I had to go and mess it up though, would it have been smarter to not tell her a thing about the imprinting? Would it have been easier to let her discover it all by herself? Who was I kidding; Bella hated secrets. No good could have come out of a relationship based on secrets.

I placed my hands on her shoulders and pulled her into the house, I kept my hand on her shoulder as I went to the hallway to turn up the thermostat. The house was perfectly fine for me but I knew once Bella took off her jacket the chill air would get to her quickly.

"I haven't had dinner yet, do you wanna order something? The menus are on top of the fridge," she looked over towards the fridge, the menus were well out of her reach. She smiled back at me.

"I can make something, Jake."

"Come on, I don't want to put you out. Besides, I kinda just want to have the food come to the door. I hadn't planned on moving from the couch until visiting hours tomorrow. I didn't know you were going to come by."

"You shouldn't be by yourself right now," she took her jacket off and set it on one of the dining chairs. "Does Chinese sound good?" she went off to the fridge and stood on her toes trying to reach the stack of menus Dad and I kept up there. I smiled and lifted her up so she could grab the menus. I let her slide back down and kept her close, her bare skin felt cool against my hands. Cool and lovely. "Jacob, please let me go," her voice was quiet and reserved. While I knew I had pushed it too far I wouldn't take it back for anything.

"Chinese sounds great. Any preferences?"

"Extra egg rolls and lots of sweet and sour chicken." She went over to the couch and curled up with the beige blanket.

When the food arrived I placed the cartons on the in table in front of the couch, "Do you want to use plates?"

"Not if you don't," she picked up a pair of chop sticks and carton of chicken and began eating. She pointed to the TV, "Food network okay?"

"Of course," I sat down next to her and picked up the beef and broccoli.

"Can we go see Billy tomorrow?"

"Of course," I needed Bella to understand how seriously damaged Billy's memory was. I had told her about him not remembering about werewolves and vampires, but I really hadn't told her the half of it.

I finished off the cartons of food as Bella watched the end of some movie that we had caught the end of. After the credits finished rolling the station went blank and fuzzy, but Bella's hand remained still on the remote. I looked over at her, her eyes were closed and her face was peaceful. For the second time tonight I smiled at her, I pulled her into my arms. She wrapped her hands around my neck and nestled her head into my shoulder. "No. The cows want the marzipan. Please give it back to them!" I couldn't help but laugh at the gibberish that came out of her when she was sleeping. I wanted to hold her like this through out the night more than anything.

I carried her into my room and sat her down on my bed, I stood back up but her hands stayed around my neck. She shifted a little as if she woke up. "Please don't leave me alone, not tonight." I tried to pull back in shock, but either her grip was strong enough that I couldn't pull out of it or I couldn't bring myself to lose the close contact she had engaged. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out which one was the answer. I contemplated on the consequences of Bella waking up next to me tomorrow morning. Surely she would believe the truth; certainly she wouldn't believe that I would push her so far as to sleep in the same bed as her without her consent.

I looked down at her face, her eyebrows and forehead were scrunched together in determination and I knew I could resist, no matter how much she yelled in the morning.

I picked her back up and held her close to my chest and I settled down into the mattress and pulled the covers around her making sure she was completely covered. It wouldn't take long for her to push them off, but for now I wanted her to be as comfortable as possible.

She seemed at peace in my arms, her legs straddled my waist and her arms were now wrapped around my shoulders with her head lolling next to them. I kissed her cheek and closed my eyes to join her in her peaceful slumber.

AN: Say it with me now: Awwwwww!

Sorry for the long wait, life caught up (homework, failed midterms, food poisoning- life sucks.) I'll do my best to update soon. I have a break coming up soon so hopefully I'll get something written then, if not I have my winter break coming up soon and while it looks like I will be moving then I will hopefully be able to write something!

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