The characters in this story are from my favorite books, the Twilight Series, by the talented Stephenie Myers, and her copy write of the characters is implied.

Chapter 11: Long Flight

The trip back to Forks was the most excruciating two days in my life. No one spoke on the boat to the mainland, not one word. The same when the four of us squeezed into one taxi together to get to the airport. That whole time was a blur. I am not sure if I walked or was carried onto the private plane, but I must have collapsed from exhaustion.

I woke from my sleep screaming, "No, not Jacob, please." As my eyes opened, I realized that I was on the plane. I was cuddled into Jacob's side, and his arms were wrapped around me. We both sat on a large white sofa. I was cradled to his chest; my feet were laid out across the sofa.

"Nessie, what's wrong," Jake shrieked, as he gripped me tighter to his chest. I was sobbing again, so hard that I couldn't speak. My parents were both were kneeling in front of us on the floor of the plane, trying to console me.

"Bella, drop your shield for a minute," my Dad asked urgently. She must have obliged, because he started explaining to everyone the thoughts running through my mind. Usually it drove me crazy when he would do that, but right now, I could barely breathe I was crying so hard.

"She had a dream that Nahuel bit Jacob. She was holding him in her arms as he was dying."

"Sweetheart, Nessie, I am right here. We are both safe. It's OK," Jacob whispered into my ear. I felt him kiss my forehead, and gently begin to rock me back and forth in his arms.

"Nessie," my Dad said, "the entire family loves the both of you. None of us will allow either one of you to be hurt. I promise you, we will all protect both of you. I consider Jacob sort of a combination of both a son and a brother to me. Even Aunt Rose, though she would never admit it, thinks that you are lucky to have him. Cullen's protect each other. Someone messes with one of us; they have to deal with all of us."

"Nessie honey," my Mom said, as I felt her cold arms rubbing the tops of my shoulders gently, "I first hand know that this is true. Before your father and I were married, our family risked their lives against an army of newborns. I felt so guilty at the time that they were all risking their lives for me, but now that I have lived several years as a Cullen, and I now fully understand that loosing a member of the family is not something that anyone of us could recover from. Not to mention the wolves, Nessie. Jacob's brothers and sisters will defend both of you against anything. You are his imprint, making you a member of the Quileute tribe. In the next few weeks you will learn even more how important that is, because the tribe, like the Cullen's stand together to defend their own."

"Your parent's are right Nessie," Jacob whispered in my ear, still rocking me back and forth. "I love you and your family. As a wolf, the pack will protect each other against any obstacle. You will probably never be safer than now that we will be back in Forks with the entire family reassembled."

The three of them held me, trying to console me for hours. I must have drifted off to sleep again, but it wasn't a very deep sleep. I was constantly aware of Jacob's arms around me. I felt somewhat reassured to smell his woodsy, musky scent, and to feel his warmth through his clothes. As I lay there in a semi-conscious state, I heard the three of them talking in low voices.

"Jacob, do you remember when you showed me the image of Sam finding Bella in the woods when I left her," Dad said hesitantly.

"Yeah, Edward, you know I am sorry now for having done that," Jacob sounded remorseful.

"I know that Jacob," my Dad paused and then continued, "that is not why I am bringing that up, you know that Bella and I try to never talk about our time apart because of how painful it was for us. My stupidity almost killed the both of us. But I think you need to know this. The look that my daughter had on her face, when you saw her dead in her dream, it was the same look. I never thought I would say this about any other couple, but it is obvious to me that you and Nessie are as much in love as Bella and I. I don't think that you would ever be as stupid as I was to purposely leave her, but she was not kidding, when she said that she would die without you. Use your love for her, to keep yourself safe."

"Promise us Jacob," Mom said, "promise us that you will never leave our little girl for any reason, even death."

"I can promise to try, but like the rest of you, I would give my life to protect Nessie. I am not going to lie," Jacob replied, and then I felt him kiss my forehead.

I was mostly awake now, and I started to stir and roll around to stretch as I woke.

"How you doing sleepy head," Jake whispered into my ear, and then gently kissed my cheek.

"I think that I have gone from uncontrollable hysterics to paralyzed in fear, how are you?"

Jacob crushed me tighter to his chest. "I love you Nessie. It will be OK. We will all be ok, and I will spend the rest of eternity making you happy. I never want to see you that sand again."

"I love you too Jacob," I whispered into his ear, and then kissed his chest.

We continued to hold each other in silence until the plane landed in Houston to refuel. The four of us got off the plane for an hour. Jacob and I grabbed a bite to eat in the terminal, and then we all quickly reboarded.

Back on the plane, my parents took seats in the lounge chairs in the front of the cabin, while Jacob and I returned to the couch where we had been sitting. He sat down with his back against the arm rest and one of his legs was lying down the couch. He pulled me down to sit in between his legs, with my back against him, and wrapped his large warm arms around me. We sat silently, just holding each other, for the remainder of the flight.