Surprisingly enough the characters were barking at me today. I hope you enjoy this one.

The same song or "Here comes goodbye" by Rascal flats is another one I was listening to.

Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Meanwhile…

Bella opened the door, shocked to find Jasper behind it.

"Hey Bella," Jasper spoke.

"Jasper, what are you…" Bella started, stopped as Elizabeth screamed from living room.

"Uncle Jasper! What are you doing here?!" Elizabeth spoke, jumping into her uncle's arms, as he enveloped her into a huge hug.

"I'm here to get you kiddo." He answered her question.

"But I thought…" Elizabeth began, but was cut off by Jasper speaking, "Something came up."

Shrugging her shoulders, Elizabeth let the matter go, and unwrapping her arms from her uncle, ran to the living room to get her things.

"Uncle Jasper? You want to explain something?" Bella looked at him, crossing her arms in front of herself.

"She's my sister's kid. I forgot to tell you I had a niece. I rarely ever see the squirt." Jasper spoke, taking in the appearance of a preteen ready to go.

"I'm ready Uncle Jazz," Elizabeth spoke, standing in front of Bella and him.

"You have everything?" Bella questioned, looking over the living room, checking for any obvious things that were not hers.

"Yup, thank you so much Madame Bella." Elizabeth answered her, wrapping her arms around Bella.

Bella hugged her back, and kissed her head tenderly, speaking, "You're welcome. Anytime you need anything just let me know."

Elizabeth smiled at the woman, and looked at her uncle, "You go ahead kiddo. I need to talk to Bella about something."

She nodded and walked down the stairs, the keys she grabbed from Jasper jangling in her hands as she disappeared from view.

"Thank you Bella. When I found out that she was there, I came as soon as I can." Jasper spoke, giving Bella a large hug.

"It's no problem, I'm just glad I could help, that asshole father of hers is one of the most irresponsible people I have ever met." Bella growled.

"Cut Edward some slack. He's not such a bad guy," Jasper began, but was quickly silenced by the glare on Bella's face.

He shook his head and kissed his friend on the forehead, hugging her goodbye, and closed the door behind him.

Bella walked to the window and watched the two down on the first floor, where a conversation she could not hear was taking place.

Jasper was unlocking Elizabeth's car door when she spoke, "Uncle Jasper, why did you come for me and not Aunt Alice? And why did you lie to Madam Bella? I'm her niece not yours."

Jasper smiled at his niece and said, "I think you need to ask your aunt that question."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her uncle and got in the car, driving away a few minutes later.

Upon seeing the car drive away Bella walked to the couch and sat down, curling her feet underneath her, she picked up the remote and turned on the television. The light came on, flooding the room with the picture. She heard the song from "The Crow," playing and immediately shut it back off, choosing to pick up the mess from table instead.

She walked to the kitchen and dumped the left over contents of the tray into the trash. Granted not much was left, but she was amused to find she was not the only person who strongly disliked melon. Washing the plate, she put the dish away in the cabinet. The ceramic made a tinkling sound as it was stacked upon the other dishes. Bella went to close the cabinet door, but was startled as she heard one of the cups fall to the floor and break.

A string of profanities flew out of her mouth, as she bent down to pick up the mug. It was brown in color, a bit larger than what she was used to. All the cups she had were smaller, she had problems carrying the bigger ones, that and she was constantly known to drop things, so such a breakable cup was not normally kept in the house. As she bent down she recognized the mug.

"How did this get in here?" Bella asked to no one in particular. It had been Jacob's.

He had his coffee in it every morning before he left for work. Bella lost herself in the memory of her and Jacob having coffee every on the dining room table, the only quiet time they had before the girls woke up.

The sun would filter into the east facing bay windows, striking Jacob's deep mahogany skin, and shinning on his black hair, always pulled back into a sleek pony tail. He would have the paper out in front of him, looking serious, until Bella would look over his shoulder and found him reading the daily comics. His grin would widen, and he would turn around in his stool and grab Bella into a fierce hug, pulling her face to be eye level with him.

The tender words of, "I love you Bella Black," would pass through his lips before he would pull her into a kiss.

The clock chiming brought Bella back to her reality. She reached up and touched her face, surprised to find tears dripping down from her eyes. The moisture surprised her, as the feeling of warmth that was enveloping her drifted away.

"Jake," Bella whimpered, as she picked up the pieces of the mug, and placed them on the counter top.

She was going to fix that mug; she just didn't know when she would be able to. Seemingly lifeless, she walked over to the couch and grabbed her cell phone. She contemplated calling Alice, but knew she was busy with Elizabeth, so she scrolled through her phone. Emmett's number appeared, so she pressed dial.

The phone rang twice before he answered it:

E: Bella are you ok?

B: Yeah, I'm fine. Are you busy right now?

E: Not too much, I was just going to head to the gym, why what is up?

B: Will you go with me somewhere?

E: Sure, I'll be by in fifteen to pick you up.

B: Thank you.

E: Always, never hesitate to call Bella.

The phone conversation was done after that point, Bella shutting her phone and walked to her room. Grabbing her favorite hooded sweatshirt, she put her flats on her feet, and her purse on her shoulder, then heard her phone ring, signaling that Emmett was down stairs. She threw her keys off the hook into her purse, and shut the light off behind her.

Bella ran down the stairs, out to the car, waving to the door man as she passed by. Emmett was standing outside the passenger car door, and enveloped Bella in a large hug. She clung to him, refusing to cry outside the building, and pushed away, wiping her eyes. Emmett smiled a weak smile and opened the door, allowing her in. He ran to the other side and got in, slamming the door behind him. He drove, not needing any direction as to where they were going.

The initial drive took a little over an hour, the two never speaking, Bella just keeping her legs tucked underneath her chin, crying silently as Emmett rubbed her hand. After Jake's death, Emmett kind of took over as the rock in Bella's life for awhile. Rosalie knew she needed that, and though Charlie, her father was not far away, Emmett had a strange relationship with her. They were best friends, but maybe more, a lot like really close siblings. Emmett was constantly around Bella, always there, never more than a phone call away, much like Alice was to her. He helped with the closing on the house, the moving, everything that needed to be done he was right there to help.

They arrived at their destination, Bella and Emmett walking out of the car, and up the hill to the familiar spot. They both sat in front of the weathered stone.

"What's up Bella?" Emmett asked.

"It hurts Em. There are days when I wake up and I swear I can hear Jake and the girls in the morning. Or feel Jake behind me in the morning when I have my coffee. It sends chills down my spine." Bella spoke, letting go of the shaking breath in her lungs.

Emmett pulled Bella into a hug, cradling her head on his chest as she sobbed. She was shaking so violently he had to pull her even closer to him to keep her from falling out of his arms. After she had calmed a bit, Emmett stood up and pulled Bella to her feet.

"We are going for a walk come on," he spoke, leading her down the hill, out to the bay.

Bella followed wordlessly, stepping behind him. He led her to the open dune and sat on the log near the pit. She sat beside him, and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Bella you know I love you right?" Emmett asked her. She nodded her head showing that she knew.

"Look at me," Bella looked into his bright blue eyes, "Bella you have to stop this. I know Jake would not want this for you, much the less the babies. It hurts us all to see you like this. I can't ever say that I will fully understand what you went through, but I will tell you this, you have people that love you. We are here no matter what, but it's time for you to move on."

Bella's eyes were watering, but she shook her head, looking at the sun setting now beneath the water, the kisses from the wind whipping her hair in her face.

"I'm not one to usually believe in signs and things like that Bella, but I know Jake and the babies are watching over you. These memories someday will stop causing you pain, and cause you to smile, but it truly is up to you. You can either move on with your life, or hold on to your pain. Whatever choice you make, one of them is going to lead you being miserable forever Bella. I'm just hoping you choose the other." The truth in Emmett's eyes struck Bella's heart. She knew he was right, but was she really ready to move on and push the memories behind her. That is one question she didn't know the answer to.

Emmett hugged her, whispering words of comfort into her ear. Bella did not cry, at least not then. They walked, his big arm around her shoulders, where she held his hand all the way to his car. They drove back to the apartment complex, and Emmett walked her up, Rosalie would have killed him if he hadn't.

At the door, Bella gave her large friend a big hug, whispering an emotion filled thank you into his ear.

"It will get better Bella I promise. You just need to start living again, and someday, everything that makes you cry will make you smile." Emmett spoke to her.

Bella wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled at her big friend, "You get yourself home. Rosalie is probably smoking at the ears."

Emmett ruffled Bella's hair and looked into her eyes, "You going to be ok by yourself?"

Bella smiled and said, "I think so, if needed I'll call you or Alice and ask to spend the night."

"Anytime you need us Bella we are here, please don't forget that," he spoke earnestly.

"I know, thank you." Emmett hugged her once more, kissing her forehead much like Jasper did, and walked down the hallway, Bella went into her apartment, and after a shower, headed for bed, the broken mug now in a Tupperware case on the top of her closet, until she could fix it.

Will Bella change, and what does that mean with Edward?

Review please!

Thank you!

Ballerina