AN: This is the first time I've repeated a scene from Jake's POV, but it really needed to be from his POV as well. I hope you enjoy it and it makes up for chapter 17's length.

Edit: Thank you to 578 for catching my mistake. You're lovely.

"Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses."

LAO TZU

Cupid's Chokehold; Chapter Eighteen. Jacob.

I woke up to my name being called out, it was dark and the bed, while it was cramped, it was incredibly warm and cozy. I figured Bella was just talking in her sleep again; I draped my arm around her waist and waited for her to settle back down. When she lay back down I started to fall back asleep, but when her fingers brushed against my face every nerve in my body woke up. No matter how dishonest it was I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes, once that happened she would take her fingers away.

Her fingers ran against the skin under my eyes and then onto my cheek and down my jawbone. Her fingers felt so cold on my skin that I was certain the pads of her fingers were suffering burns of some degree. Her fingers stayed under my chin has her thumb brushed against my lips. I wanted more than anything to open my eyes and kiss her senseless right than and there, but I had to resist. For the sake of whatever relationship we were forging I had to keep my eyes closed and my breathing labored. It took more power than resisting the powerful feeling of my wolf side taking over and morphing, but I somehow managed it.

She withdrew her fingers and curled them at the base of my neck. When she snuggled more into my body I finally let myself go back to sleep.

I woke up again a little later and saw Bella slowly coming out of her deep slumber, "Morning beautiful."

"How long have you been awake?" Heartbreakingly, she stretched and wriggled slightly away from me.

"Just a little bit, a few minutes maybe… I think the batteries in your alarm clock died," I looked over her head towards the blank alarm clock I had seen last night.

"Crap," she cried out, "Oh, crap!" she fell out of bed and I wasn't able to move fast enough to get her, "We're gonna be late for school." When she got to the door the cried out again, "Double crap," she looked towards me and froze. A few moments passed before she shook her head and started to talk. She spoke so fast I had to watch her lips carefully to make sense of everything she was saying, "Jake, Charlie's home. Charlie has to have figured out by now that… oh, crap! What's he going to think? What are we going to do? You can't just sneak out the window, you're car is outside. Besides, Charlie asked that you stay here because of… oh my God, the girl, she's dead."

She looked so torn standing there that it broke my already bruised heart. I slowly got out of bed, listening for each pop of my joints, "Charlie had to have figured out where I was sleeping when he came home, the first thing he probably did was go to his room. He knew I wasn't sleeping on the couch and then I wasn't in his bed, you were scared last night, Bells, anyone would have wanted someone to stay with them through the night. It's hard to comfort someone who wasn't in the same room. Besides, unless Charlie checked in on you he doesn't even have to know that we shared the same bed and it's not like we did anything. We have nothing to be guilty about. And yeah, Victoria did get a little restless yesterday so school is the least of our worries right now. Just breathe.

"Let me worry about things, Bells. I want to be there for you to do that. If you won't let me love you like I want to at least let me worry for you," a strangled cry escaped her throat, "Please let me try and erase those frown lines off your pretty face."

I held my arms out, ready to accept her in a hug. I had to let her make that decision, it seemed that this was going to be one of those days that anything could set Bella off. She looked at me and then all but fell into my arms. I walked back over to her bed and leaned back on the headboard with her, I pulled the comforter up so I could tuck the entire thing around her. Several minutes passed before she sat up, she pushed her hair behind her ears and smacked her lips. I frowned and waited for her to talk, in the past week conversations that started out with deep thinking rarely ended well.

"Jacob…. I wanted to say sorry about the way I acted last week after Victoria showed up at the beach. I shouldn't have tried to push you away, it was wrong of me. I thought I was doing the right thing and I wasn't… but I should know that better than anyone! It's exactly what Edward did to me and look where that landed me… well, I mean a few months ago, back in the beginning of the year. I wasn't doing so well, Jake, but you were there. If I left you, who would be there for you? I want to keep you safe, Jacob, but if I have to hurt you to keep you safe… I don't think I can do that. I just feel like the only way for me to keep you safe is by leaving you, I can't fight for you." This was the farthest thing from the truth possible. Bella leaving me would not keep me safe, it would drive me over the edge. I'd end up jumping off one of the cliffs, "But, I care about you too much to hurt you Jacob."

I thought I went into cardiac arrest when she kissed me on the cheek, "I'm gonna go down stairs, if Charlie's still here I'm just going to act like it's a regular Monday morning," she said quietly and left the room. I sat down on the bed, unsure about whether or not I should follow her down there. I waited for the kitchen cabinets to open and close before making my way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Morning Charlie," he was sitting at the table, newspaper in hand.

"Good morning Jacob," I tried to figure out his tone of voice, but if anything he sounded distracted by whatever he was reading.

"You want an omelet, Jacob?" Bella asked quietly as if speaking any louder would cause Charlie to realize she was in the room if he hadn't already.

"Of course, need any help?" I walked further into the kitchen and looked behind me to see what Charlie was reading: Sports. I frowned at Bella, silently asking what Charlie's problem was. She shrugged and opened the fridge and got the eggs out.

"How many?"

"How many do you have?"

"Ten, I only need three. I can make all of them if you want," she smiled and began cracking open the eggs, already knowing my answer. "Can you get the cheese out? You can look in the veggie drawer, see if you want anything, we might have some onions or something…"

I took the ingredients out the fridge and began shredding and slicing them and scooping into what was becoming a scrambled mess.

She kept laughing as I continually bumped into her or into the exhaust fan above the stove. "Your poor head!" she cooed as we sat down at the small counter and ate our massive omelet. She slouched and sighed at the first bite, "We're going to have to make this again," she took another bite.

"Oh dear," she looked up at the clock. If I remembered correctly, she still had a few minutes till the bell rang, I on the other hand was doomed for yet another tardy. The sun had actually been out in the morning for a change and deceived us, had it not been part of nature I would have been angry at it. This week had been harrowing for Bella; she didn't need the thought of being late for school to make things worse for her. "Dad, I might need a note for school. My alarm batteries died at some point and Jake and I both stayed up late," she coughed, "because I was a freaked about last night and you being gone."

She put her fork down and bit her bottom lip, I knew she was waiting for an explanation and Charlie did too. He wasn't dense. Charlie set the paper on the table next to his cold cup of coffee and soggy cereal. With the paper down we could both see his face, he looked like death in front of a radiator. "Kids," he started, "There's no easy way to say this, but a student at your high school, Bella, was found dead last night. It appears that she committed suicide. School has been cancelled for you, Bells. Uhm, Jake, I can write you a note, I guess. Are you going to visit Billy?"

"Dad what happened?" Bella asked.

Charlie sighed and rubbed his forehead, "You'll find out soon enough I guess. A girl committed suicide out in the woods, her body was found by a tourist last night. It was Katharine Butney. Did you know her Bella? If you did—if you know anything you'll need to come down to the station to give a statement. Bella?"

I looked over at Bella and her face had fallen. I got off of the stool and went over to Bella, I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her over till she was leaning on me. She shook her head, "She was going to be valedictorian, at least that's what we all thought. She got into like all the Ivy League schools or something, too. I never really talked to her though."

"Okay, thanks," he nodded. Charlie appeared frustrated, a suicide should have been an open-and-shut case, but he just couldn't seem to let it go. The problem was that it would be better for Charlie to just let it go. Hopefully, by the time the girl's autopsy came back the pack would have killed the vampire. If Charlie could just wait until then to start asking questions then he would be safe. "Kids, I have to go into the station and do some paperwork. Jake are you going into school today?" I shook my head, what was another absence with Bella in danger and Dad being so ill? "Could you stay with Bella please?"

"Dad I can take care of myself," she turned towards me, "Jake, you don't need another absence! You're having a hard enough time."

"It doesn't matter Bells," I looked back at Charlie, "I was planning on visiting some of my friends today, Bella can come with me." Charlie frowned, I had forgotten that he didn't think very highly of my friends.

"Uhm, okay. Bells, try and call me through out the day. I'll see you two later," he went to the door, grabbed his coat and gun and then left.

Bella turned around and looked at me, putting on a brave face, "So, who are we going to visit today?"

"I thought we'd see Sam and Emily, maybe go have lunch with Dad," she nodded, her eyes still full of sorrow, "Or we could just relax and stay here. It's up to you."

"I think that would be nice."