Chapter 21 groundhog day

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer- this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute which, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

Several hours later Leah was almost completely exhausted. They had fucked three or four times, had a shower, fucked again in the shower, eaten out the fridge and fucked in the kitchen. Jake told her it was her fault for leaning over the sink like that while she was wearing one of his t-shirts and nothing else. She was not sure she would ever look at the Black kitchen table the same again.

Then, they had gone back to bed and fucked some more.

The sheets were all over the place and were completely saturated. She was literally crawling away from him on the bed.

"Noooo… I can't do it any more," she begged. He was standing at the side of the bed sporting yet another ridiculous erection.

He grabbed her ankles and hauled her back towards him; her face dragging on the sheets.

"God, I am trapped in the porn version of Groundhog Day," she moaned. [AN: a wonderful line from the TV show 'Veronica Mars' – I take no credit]

"Come on Leah, if I can get it up, you can take it," he encouraged her. "Let's go for double figures." His hands grabbed her under her thighs and he lifted her lower half; her face hanging down towards the bed.

"For fuck's sake Black… I am not a wheelbarrow!" She tried to fight him but this position was so bizarre and she was utterly exhausted.

He ignored her as he stood there and wrapped her legs around behind him. He lifted her a little as he positioned himself and started to push into her. So slowly it was painful; well it was a bit painful now.

"Ow…ow…oh…oh… OH...ooohhh." It was indescribable; the angle; the blood rushing to her head. He fully sheathed himself and then he just… stopped. She was having trouble breathing she felt so full.

And then he started to slide out and push back into her. And he started to say her name.

That was all he said, but he said it in fifty different ways. She was speechless.

The last one started breathy, was drawn out in the middle and finished with a shout as he came inside her. She thought it was the most fabulous thing she had ever heard.

He fell on top of her on the bed and honestly she couldn't have cared less. She closed her eyes and passed out.

She must have slept. When she opened her eyes, it took her a while to remember where she was and then the angle seemed all wrong for Jake's bedroom. She sat up a little. Suddenly she realized what was different. "This is Rachel and Rebecca's room."

Jake stirred and stretched. "Yeah it is," he agreed. "Paul pointed out to me how stupid it was for me to have this room empty and to sleep in the smallest room in the house when I was the biggest wolf in the pack. I mean I didn't even fit in my little bed anymore." He rolled over and sat up with his back against the headboard. "So I shifted all their crap out into the garage and bought myself a nice big bed." He yawned. "Now I can stretch out and sleep properly."

"They'll beat you up if they come home and find all their stuff moved. I know them."

"Tough. I can take 'em," he said. He pulled her up onto the top of his body. "I can take you, I can beat them up."

She couldn't argue with that. She snuggled down and drew patterns on his chest with her fingertips. She felt Jake's hand at the back of her neck.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking your temperature, you must be sick."

She pulled her head back and glared at him.

"You didn't argue with me," he explained evenly.

She rolled her eyes. He was watching her intently with his big dark eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing…"

"Jaaake…"

"Nothing."

"What is it? Really… tell me…"

There was silence and then he spoke in a very small voice.

"I am waiting for you to run away."

She just looked at him. She blinked. She opened her mouth and shut it again. She sat back from him. She was straddling his thighs now.

"I am waiting for you to decide you made a mistake and to run."

He shifted and folded his arms behind his head. It was as if he put his hands out of the way, just in case she did decide to run.

His eyes looked serious but there was something in their depths; like he really did expect to be hurt again. She suddenly realized he might look like he was over Bella, but her rejecting him for Edward and then for Paul had damaged him far more than she ever knew. He just didn't go around whining about it all the time, like she had done. She had worried about holding out her heart to be beaten up again, but she had never even thought about Jacob's. She had found his wolf hair on that driftwood tree, so he was still moping around there and recently; Jake and Bell's secret place still had some significance for him.

"Is that why you wouldn't let me out of bed?"

He actually blushed. His eyes dropped and he bit at his lip.

She thought about it. He was watching her again. How did she feel? She sat there while he watched her expectantly and she tried to look inside herself like she had done on her quest. She felt exhausted; but in a good way. She had no idea how much actual sleep she had got last night. She had come over before lunch and it was the next morning now. Her limbs all felt boneless and she was really sore in places. She touched her lips; they were swollen a little from the intensity of Jake's kisses.

But how did she feel emotionally? She wasn't really good with that stuff, but she had made a promise to herself that she would try harder with that crap. She took in a deep breath and she closed her eyes. She felt silly but she tried to look inside herself.

She breathed evenly. How did she feel? She felt comfortable, safe; that big empty void inside her that she had tried to fill with anger was full of… Jake.

She felt happy.

She almost didn't recognize it.

Something made her hold her hand out to him. With her eyes closed, she had no idea what was on his face but she felt him shift and place his huge hand around hers unhesitatingly. It felt warm, rough and oh so right. She squeezed it a little.

He tugged at her hand and she opened her eyes. He had pulled her hand over and placed it over his heart and then covered it with his. She just blinked at him, her eyes welled up and then the first tear trickled out.

His face fell. "Oh no…don't cry," he begged. "I'm sorry, you can run away… it doesn't matter… you can go… if you want to."

"It's okay," she sobbed. "I'm ha...appy…"

"Happy?" he queried. He sounded pretty doubtful.

"I love you, Jake," she sobbed.

"Oh Leah," he breathed, "Do you know how long I have waited to hear you say that?"

He reached for her face and cupped it in his hands; his thumbs wiped across her cheeks. He pulled her into him and kissed her.

She pulled back, "Don't kiss me, I am all snotty and wet."

"I love all your bodily fluids," he said intensely.

She smacked him in the shoulder, "Eww, gross Black."

He rolled his eyes. Then he paused and sniffed. "Hey, can you smell muffins?"

"No, my nose is all blocked."

Jake lifted her off him and padded naked towards the kitchen.

She went to the bathroom, blew her nose on toilet paper, used the toilet and washed her face.

When she came back to the bedroom Jake was standing holding a picnic basket; an honest to god picnic basket

"What is that?"

"It's a gift from Paul and Bella. Want to have a bed picnic?" He wriggled his eyebrows at her.

"Only if we change the sheets."

He grinned. "Deal."

They stripped the bed and she went and shoved the sheets in the washer and started it up, while he remade the bed. When she got back he was in the bed looking like a gift from the gods, or maybe one of those sheet commercials, with the top sheet delicately covering his groin. He patted the bed next to him. "I've got food," he encouraged. As if she needed encouragement.

She tilted her head to the side, "hmmm… I don't know…" she pretended to think about it. Then she beamed at him and slipped under the sheet next to him. The basket had juice, a thermos of coffee, hard boiled eggs and bacon muffins.

She was forcing down a last mouthful of muffin when she noticed the note tied to the handle. It said:

"Jeez guys, you sound like you are both having a really good time. See you in a couple of days. Remember Jake …days… XOXOX P&B"

"What does it mean?" she asked.

"Oh, it is just something Paul and I had a discussion about a long time ago."

She frowned at him. He was lying on his side leaning on his elbow.

"You really want to know?"

"Yes, I really want to know."

"When he got together with Bella he came over to talk; to apologize really for taking my girl…"

"Paul did that?"

"Yeah he did. Given I had beaten the living crap out of him the day before, it was pretty gutsy," Jake looked lost in thought for a minute. "And he suggested you and I should be together."

"Really?"

"He described you as 'a spectacular woman'," Jake added.

"Me? Wow."

"I mean he didn't know I had adored you since I was a kid, he just thought it would be neat for two shifters to mate on the basis that we could have sex for days."

She stared at him. There was silence for a beat. "Since you were a kid?" she queried.

"Oh you caught that, I thought you might catch the 'sex for days' bit."

"No I caught that too; I'll get to that bit."

"As long as you do," he leered at her.

"Don't change the subject," she reprimanded.

She watched him, he didn't speak. He reached for her hand, and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. She waited.

He sighed. He looked up into her eyes. "Remember when I used to follow you and Rachel and Rebecca around all the time?"

She nodded. He just looked at her. "Really? That long?" she asked. He nodded. She just blinked at him. That long; and she had never noticed. And after that, her world had just revolved around Sam Uley.

She moved the picnic basket off and placed it on the floor next to the bed. Then she slid down level with Jake and she kissed him.

This time they didn't fuck; they made love.

FF_2154210_ - 5/12/2010 12:59:00 AM