Author's Note: I'm on Vacation, free wifi that is iffy but I'm able to upload to fanfiction at least. Please keep me in your thoughts, my fathers best friend whom I've known since birth had a massive stroke and passed away on the 4th. He will be greatly missed. I'd like to thank ALL of my reviewers, you are incredible sources of power and happiness for me. I live to write for you guys, I love you so much.

My mom arrived with Phil two days before Graduation and she drug me to every shopping mall in the radius, which was two and I couldn't turn down anything she wanted to purchase for me in the off chance I decided to attend college. Jacob had pack responsibilities so he wasn't able to attend and Phil wanted us to have a mother daughter outing and stayed back at the hotel to catch up on business.

"Bella!" She was holding up a mustard yellow dress with buttons on the bust and it reminded me of hot dogs, I must have pulled a face because she sighed and hung it back on it's rack. "You are so hard to shop for, what did you pick out?" She eyed my single pair of skinny jeans and eyelet blouse and clicked her tongue, "Bella...come on. Don't you want to, I don't know...change up your look? You've worn these comfortable go-to clothes since junior high."

I hugged the comfortable clothes tightly to my chest, "Yes and I love them." I sighed dramatically. "I guess you are right, I could venture a little." She clapped her hands together and I hung the shirt back up, "I said a little mom, don't go crazy." I put the jeans back as she tugged me towards the teen section and I groaned. "Mom, I'm not a teen anymore."

"Yes, but you have the body of one and these clothes are so cute! Look at this shirt!" She held up a white short sleeve shirt with a wolf on it made of lace and I bit my lip, hard. "What, you don't like this either?"

"No, I love that one." I smirked slightly and she smiled checking the tag, "Medium?"

I took it from her and smiled, Jacob would love this one. "Yeah, medium should be ok. I'll try everything on before we leave."

A couple hours and lots of money later my moms card was smoking and my feet were barking. We stopped for a much needed break for some lunch at a cafe inside the mall food court and she leaned in towards me with a girlish nature to her and I laughed. "Why are you looking at me like that."

"I want to meet Jacob." She bit her lip and widened her eyes, "I want to meet this boy who swept my daughter off of her feet!"

I laughed, "You will, he's coming to graduation."

"No, I want to meet him tonight. Invite him to the hotel for dinner!"

I nodded, slightly nervous. "Sure, I'll see if he's available and you've met him before. Holy crow."

"He was practically a toddler when we left Bella!" She laughed, "You were so mad at me when we left."

"I remember yelling at you, telling you that I would never live again. I was more or less a drama queen back then." I laughed.

"Oh honey, you were rightfully angry. I took you away from the only home and life you'd known. You and Jacob were inseparable, we spent so much time out on the reservation with the Blacks. I remember one afternoon we let you kids go to the beach, and Sara and I were sitting on a picnic table watching you play. You were building a sandcastle and ordering Jacob around, every time he'd add something to the castle you'd take it off. He was getting so irritated he finally filled a bucket of sand and pulled your bottoms down and dumped it in." She began laughing, "You cried so hard it made him cry, oh it was so cute!"

"I sounded like a brat."

"You were 3 Bella. Anyways, so..how are things going between you?"

I blushed, knowing that my Dad had probably called her when we got the talk from Charlie. "They are going really good."

"Yeah? That's what I hear." She gave me that motherly look and put her hand in mine. "Bella, I trust you 100% but I want you to be careful."

I shook my head, "Mom, we're not doing anything. I promise you, but when the time comes we will both be cautious, OK."

She nodded and patted my hand, "Thank you. Is he a good kisser?" She giggled, she went from my mother to my friend in nothing flat.

I blushed and smiled widely, Jacob was indeed an amazing kisser but I wasn't about to divulge details to my mother. "Mom..."

"Oh you are no fun. OK. Why don't you call him right now?"

I nodded, glancing at the clock on my cell phone. His shift should've been over if all went well, over 10 minutes ago and I his speed dial 1 and listened to the tone. On the third ring he answered out of breath, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. You okay?"

"Yeah, literally just phased back. Aren't you still with your mom?" He began to whisper, cautious of prying ears.

"Yeah, I am. Uhm, she wants to have you to the hotel for dinner tonight. Are you free?"

"Yeah, tell her I'd love to be there. Should I eat before hand so I don't scare her?" He chuckled and I smiled down the phone.

"Great idea."

"OK, I have to go but i'll catch you later butterfly. Love you." He swiftly hung up, he'd never called me butterfly before but it was cute.

"So?! Is he coming?" Mom asked, lightly pinching my skin, I nodded and she shot her hand in the air, "Yes! Let's go buy you a new outfit to celebrate!" I groaned, this was nearly over.

Another two hours later we loaded up her rental car with everything from clothing to bedding, rugs, lamps and things I'd need for my dorm room. I was set, but I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't want to go to college. If I didn't I could always use the stuff in my room at Charlie's, lord knows it could use a make over.

As I lugged the final bag into my room I sighed, there was way too much stuff here. I grabbed my robe and headed for the shower to get ready for dinner with Jake and Mom.

As I was sliding on my shoes Jacob poked his head in the door which confused me since my dad was home.

"You know my Dad is home...right?" I eyed him cautiously.

He chuckled, "Yeah, I came here to talk to him about the whole Jade debacle."

I mouthed 'O' and turned back to the mirror, "How'd that go?"

He stood behind me and mindlessly braided my hair for me, he never asked to do it he just sort of happened to start doing it and then realized it. It was adorable and I loved feeling him running his fingers through my hair.

"Well...I feel better that he knows I'm not this monster who uses women and that I'm not after your virtue." He pushed his tongue up onto his top lip and smirked.

"God, did he actually say that to you? You were after my virtue?" He nodded and pulled some more hair into the braid, he must be doing a french braid. "Geeze."

"It's okay, but the plus here is that he's Chief of Police in a very small town."

"So?"

"So...He's filing a report against her, finding the other kid she did it to and making a case out of it. AND," He ended the braid with a rubber band and I shook my head, amazed he could braid hair so beautifully and so quickly. I turned around to face him. "He's going into my school with me on Monday to call Jade into the office to see if we can't get her to fess up. Either way, she's going to be in trouble and I feel so much better. I really need to work on getting the word out about it so the school doesn't think less of you. I really...I honestly didn't even think about that before and I feel so bad about it."

"Your dad wasn't too hard on me either, he said he believed me and that he was sorry he jumped me the other night about not telling you everything. I told him that I have always been honest with you and that I'd told you the truth after the dance and he of course wanted that story. After that he said he felt closer to me, like I was being honest with him and he liked it. He said he still worries about us going to fast but he feels better knowing I'm not the guy he thought I was."

"That's good to hear Jake, you deserve to have your name cleared. Honestly, you are such a nice guy."

"I'm not that nice." He chuckled, squeezing me.

"You are so, you would go out of your way to help anyone who needed it and you know it."

He nodded, "Yeah, well. Anyways..." He laughed, "Let's head to your mom's."

Mom's reaction to Jacob when she opened the hotel door was nothing short of comical, it was as though she met her favorite celebrity. She ushered us inside and bombarded Jake with hugs and showered him with attention which I'm sure he was loving, he'd shot me approving looks over dinner and she patted my leg which told me she approved.

While they'd gotten caught up with each other up until this point now the real fun could start, because now she had on her 'mommy' hat.

"So, Jake..." She gestured to the non existent space between us on the couch, her and Phil sat across from us on chairs. "I hear you have good intentions."

"Yes." He stated, he more or less hissed the 's' and we all laughed. "I mean, I do."

"I'm glad to hear that, because as gorgeous as you are..." She fanned herself playfully and I wanted to crawl into a hole but Jacob was clenching my hand. "I know she won't be able to resist you forever. I just want you to be safe, okay?"

He nodded, swallowing thickly. "Yes ma'am."

"Ma'am!" She laughed, "Don't call me that, please...Renee."

"Yes, Renee." He chimed in, chuckling at my reddened skin.

Our night was a total success with minor embarrassment, Mom loved Jacob and couldn't wait to see him again and Jacob really enjoyed her. He'd told me she reminds him of me, and said he couldn't wait to see what I was like at her age and he guessed it wasnt much different.

I had been so caught up in finalizing everything to do with graduation that it had slipped my mind that we had dinner plans this evening. My graduation was at 6 and Jake and I were headed to dinner with our Dad's. My Mom and Phil were taking me and Jake to breakfast. As I was getting my gown from the back of my closet my Dad came in.

"Hey kiddo." Charlie said, hiding his hands behind his back nervously.

"Hi." I pulled the gown out and tossed it onto the bed and groaned. "I wish I could have them mail me the dang diploma and skip all this celebration." I sank to my bed and he sat down next to me.

"I know." He nodded, "But yeah, I got you something." He handed me a small box with a bow on it and stood up.

I turned beet red, a box of condoms. "Dad..."

He threw his hands up in protest, "I know what you both said and humor me. OK?"

"We aren't! God." I threw the box on my desk and grabbed my cap. "But fine."

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Graduation sucked, but I managed not to trip over my own two clumsy feet. I'd taken pictures with everyone and said goodbye to Forks High School, for good.

We'd all gone to a nice dinner in Seattle and had fun conversations about me growing up and I realized that the future was now up to me and what I did with it. I had to make up my mind.

"Bella?" Jacob asked from my desk, I was pulling my hair up and turned to him.

"Yea?" But as I turned neither of us had any words to say as he held my Brown University acceptance letter in his hands once again, a look of sadness washed over his tired face. "You need to go."

"Jake...No..."

He held his arms up, trying to pull me towards him but I jerked my arms out of his grip. "Bella,Listen to me..."

"I thought things between us were great, why do you insist I leave?"

"Bells, we are great...beyond great. I don't want you leave, but you owe it to yourself to at least try" I shook my head but he kept talking, "I'm not going to argue with you about it, you are going to call them and accept your admittance and I'm going to move you in to the dorms myself!"

He sat down next to me, his voice dropping to a softer, gentler tone, "I want you to go, I want you to experience college and better your education. You have wanted to be a teacher, so go get your degree! You can come home when you finish and be a teacher right here in Forks if you want to, or wherever you choose." He squeezed my hand and I felt tears burning my eyes. "Don't cry."

"Jake I don't want to leave you."

He nodded sadly, "Look,"

I shook my head, "No, I cannot lose you again Jacob. That was the worst month of my life!"

Tears welled up in my eyes and they fell in rivers, sobs wracking me as I tried to talk through them. "I can't lose you...again...please...Jake..."

"Hey, Hey." He hugged me tightly, his warmth engulfing me. It normally made me happy but it made me get even more hysterical at the thought of me losing that comfort. "You aren't going to lose me, I promise you that. Shhhhh."

He eventually leaned back and looked me in the eye, I sniffled and shook my head. "Jake don't. Please. I need you."

He nodded, "I know, I need you too. But we aren't going to break up, I'll be here when you get back. I have a bunch of pack stuff coming up, there's been activity and we need to train some new members of the pack. I'll be busy and I want you to venture out, at least one of us can, you know?"

"Activity? There are vampires around again? What?" I panicked, fearing Edward had returned.

He shook his head, pulling hair behind my ear and wiping my tears away, "Not the Cullens, they are unfamiliar to us, we are on our guard in case they cross our treaty line. Nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about." I chuckled, sniffing again. "I worry about you all the time."

"Well you shouldn't, you should trust that I know what I am doing and that I know how to handle myself."

I hung my head, but he lifted my chin up so I had to look at him, "I love you, but you have to have faith in me in all aspects."

I nodded, "I do Jake."

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Over the next two weeks Jacob had convinced me to give Brown a try, despite my gut feeling that something was going to go wrong. I'd called and set up my admission and spent every waking moment I could with him outside of his school and pack duties, enjoying his company. He'd promised me that we'd skype call every chance we got and though it was too far to visit we'd made it work, texting also. He'd given me a beautiful necklace with a heart on it that had his name on the back, closest to my heart and mine on the front in tiny letters. He'd told me it meant my heart came first, but his was always there too. It meant a lot to me, especially given this whole ordeal.

As I had arrived at my dormitory I was saddened by the fact that I'd left the comfort of Forks behind, my family and friends and Jacob. He'd promised we'd skype as much as we could and I'd give him a virtual tour of my dorm room which wouldn't take long.

The room was small, very small. It held two twin loft beds on either side of a picture window. Under the beds housed a desk for each of us and a small dresser. We each had a closet on our side of the room and that was it, nothing fancy. In the rest of the unit was a kitchen and living room and a small balcony, and a bathroom that was bigger than our bedroom. It would have been ideal for a single person but I wouldn't complain because it would hopefully provide a distraction to have a roommate. Boy how accurate that was.

When she had arrived it was slightly awkward meeting a stranger you'd now be sharing an apartment with. She was pretty, very pretty and looked to be from a sunny state. Her tan was a deep golden brown, which made her blonde ringlets pop against her skin. She had blue eyes and manicured nails, very girly, her name was Candy. I wasn't sure if that was her legal name, but that was how she introduced herself. After she decorated her half of the room I realized she was from California, also a long way from home. I'd put up pictures of Jacob and I and some of the others but that was it. It was hardly homey to me and I deeply wished I'd stayed in Forks.

I'd fixed myself lunch and walked into the bedroom to put my clothes in the dresser and saw Candy sitting at my desk looking over my photos, clicking her tongue against her teeth. When she saw me she smirked at me, not moving. "WHO is this delicious hunk?" She held up a picture of me and Jacob on first beach that I had Seth take, the sunset in the background.

"My boyfriend, Jacob." She raised her eyebrows and looked me up and down, obviously giving me a look over.

"A guy friend?"

"No, boyfriend."

She laughed but it was a belittling laugh, "Why would he date you? I mean...no offense but look at you..." She gestured towards my outfit which, I'll admit was just jeans and a hoodie but I was comfortable and not here to impress anyone.

"How exactly am I not supposed to be offended by that statement?" I said, boldly. I refrained from hitting the smirk off her face, which is what I wanted to do.

She waved her hand and sat the photo back in it's place. "Well, I didn't mean anything. It looks like you two have known each other your whole lives. So you were built in bump buddies, obviously. I bet he's good in bed, huh?"

I was growing irritated and was about to make a remark when I got a skype call. However she squealed, "Oooooh speaking of the hunk! Accept call!" she sung. Jacob's face lit up the screen and he looked confused. "Hello hunky man!"

I giggled at his confusion, "Uhm, hello."

"Hello there, what might your name be?"

His face made me giggle, he seemed annoyed just by her voice like I was. "Jacob."

"Oooh Jake!" she squealed.

He frowned and shook his head. "No, Jacob." He loved the nickname Jake, but apparently only when I used it.

"Ok, Jacob it is. So...you and Bella...Is that true?"

"Is what true?"

"You two are dating? Bumping uglies? You know..."

He looked from side to side and I came up behind Candy so he could see me and he smiled, "Hey Bells!"

I smiled, "Hi Jake."

She scoffed, "Ok...I get the picture. I'll leave you two to beat it off virtually." She slammed the bedroom door on her way out and I cringed as Jacob clenched his desk and leaned really close to the screen dramatically.

"Was that Satan herself?!" I burst out laughing as he relaxed and smiled. "I'm sorry you didn't get a nice roommate."

"It's okay, I'll just keep to myself which is nothing new."

"I'll have to be careful and make sure I wear a shirt in case she answers anymore of my calls." He shuddered and winked at me. "I love you Bells."

I knew he wanted to say he missed me, I missed him too. I missed his warm embrace and his kisses. I missed his laugh and his sarcastic responses to just about everything. I missed the way his nostrils flared when he lied to the guys, he'd yet to try it on me. But he didn't want to make me sad, he was the one that told me to come out here after all.

"I love you too."

"So, how about that room tour?"

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I'd been at Brown for 6 months now and I was still not impressed with this whole, 'lets go to college and get a better education' idea I was thrown into. I'd wanted to go home badly, I felt like there was a hole in my heart and nobody could heal it except my own personal sun. Candy got weirder and weirder as the days drug on, can you imagine that? She had a different guy over just about every night and would have sex with me in the room! The first time she'd brought one in she just started getting undressed and I was on a call with Jacob who cleared his throat so she would notice us.

But she just growled at us to shut up and they climbed up to her bed and had very loud animalistic sex while we tried skyping. I typed to Jake that I would go to the living room and we finished our call there but I was fed up with the parade of guys through my bedroom. I tried telling her it bothered me and her response was, 'So tell Jacob to come over and jump HIS bone.'

Over the week before Spring Break Jacob was unusually busy with school and the new job he'd gotten he had told me he needed to get his mind off of 'things' whatever those were. I knew we missed each other like crazy, but avoided talking about it all together. I had wanted to go home for Spring Break and even researched flights but the good flights were booked leaving the highly priced ones and I just couldn't afford it.

So I stayed behind on campus while Candy left 'thank god', headed to the airport to fly home for the week. She'd had the nerve to ask if I wanted to go but I happily declined. I'd yet to really make any friends here but was more than okay with that though now I wished I knew someone to take take the boredom out of this break. I'd treated myself to some lunch and went to a karoake bar for some entertainment a couple times but being alone was sad.

As I rinsed my cup in the sink a knock on the door startled me, it was loud and authoritative. I dropped the cup in the sink and it clinked around a few times before stopping all together. I cursed under my breath and wiped my hands as the visitor banged on the door even louder.

"Hold on! Damn." I squealed, impatient little pricks. My guess is it was one of Candy's latest flings, they were bound to find out about each other. I swung the door open, pissed off and ready to yell at whoever it was but my voice was stuck in my throat.

"Can you come out and play?" he asked. My knees went weak and I felt him grab me, I knew he was holding me but my body wouldn't register anything but shock. Why was he here, why? He lifted me gently into his arms and I felt my body go limp and ugly sobs took over.

"J-J-Jaaaakeeee!" I managed. Still crying but my body finally caught up to my vocal chords and I wrapped my body around him like a glove, clinging to him like he was only a vision. He rubbed my back with his warm hands and kissed my neck gently. He smelled like heaven, woodsy and that ax cologne I loved so much. His hair was longer but I knew that because we'd skyped every day, it was because there were no threats on the Res right now and they didn't have to phase everyday.

"Hi Bells." He chuckled into my ear, my sobs were subsiding and I assassinated his beautiful full lips. God they tasted so amazing, his warm lip wrapped between both of mine, my tongue flicking it. His grip on me tightened and he closed the door we'd neglected when he got there, pushing me up against it for leverage. His tongue flicked my lip and I opened my mouth, welcoming his sweet tongue. His tongue explored the inside of my mouth and I sucked on it, massaging the bottom of it with my own enticing a moan from deep within his throat.

He managed to find the couch and sat down on it, keeping me wrapped around his waist so I was now straddling him. I was curious as to how he managed to get out here, I was dying to know how he got here but right now all I wanted was this. I'd missed this incredible feeling of love, nothing could ever take it's place.

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"Mmmhmm" I moaned, my forehead was against his and we were both trying to catch our breath. My lips were warm and raw from our heavy make out session that was just that. A thousand kisses, all of them were sweet and meaningful.

"God I've missed that." He kissed the tip of my nose and pushed my hair behind my ears as I leaned back and sighed contentedly.

"Mmm me too. Now that I have control of my self...how'd you manage to come out here?"

He chuckled and put his hands on my hips, gently squeezing them with his warm russet hands. "I wanted to surprise you, I was working a lot of overtime to help pay for the trip. Everyone chipped in on the flight, even the council."

He was really good at surprises, unlike me. He couldn't lie to me though, his nostril flares when he did so and I told him I knew that. He would just avoid talking to me about anything related to the secret, which would explain why he avoided talking to me about missing me or spring break weeks leading up to today. "Wow, that was so nice of them. Why are they doing that?"

He bowed his head and a smirk crossed his beautiful features, I rubbed my hands up each of his rock hard biceps and palmed his shoulders through his grey vneck. "Sam...stepped down."

I scrunched my face in confusion, "How can the Alpha step down? I thought it was his destiny to be the natural born leader?"

"The true Alphas destiny, yes." He smiled his smile at me, obviously proud that I remembered his tribal stories.

"So, Sam's not the true Alpha then. Who is?" I thumbed his ear lobes now, his hands still resting on my hips. He just smiled at me and my hands froze. "You?!" He nodded and chuckled again. "Oh my god...you are the true Alpha...wow. Are you...excited about that?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I am. It's taken some getting used to, being the one giving orders and directions but it's kind of nice not having to listen to someone else for a change."

I nodded, kissing him lightly on the mouth. "Congratulations then Jake. I'm happy for you!" He mumbled a thanks while kissing me, but it wasn't anything but a simple peck on the mouth. "So what's changed with the pack then? Is everyone listening to you?"

He shrugged his shoulders, the muscles rippled beneath my fingers. "For the most part, it's hard to adjust after so many years of a different leader. I'm having issues with Leah but hell that was a given."

I laughed with him, Leah was definitely a stubborn individual and I hadn't really talked to her before and didn't care to. "Yeah, I bet. Things still tense with her, Emily and Sam?"

He nodded, "I don't think that knife will ever be removed. Where's Satan."

I laughed, "Went home to her family, thank god. I bet you are sad you missed her, huh?"

He chuckled, "Oh yeah."

We stared at each other a few minutes before he finally spoke up, "I love you."

I smiled, taking a deep breath..."I love you too."

He smiled at me so lovingly and kissed me. Which quickly turned into another heated make-out session, I was so excited to have him here in my arms. His hand hit the exposed skin below my shirt and my jeans and it made my heart race, just feeling his skin on mine was incredible. I involuntarily moaned into his mouth and ground into his lap and felt him moan into my mouth and his arousal pressing against the side of my thigh. I swallowed thickly and ran my hands up and down his chest, we'd yet to make it past groping over clothing and a million scenarios raced through my head but all in an instant that changed.

All of a sudden the door jolted open and we pulled apart frantically.

"Fucking shit!" Candy threw her keys on the counter and slammed the door, kicking her suitcases she'd abandoned by the door. Jacob had slumped down on the couch so I looked like I was kneeling on the sofa facing her. "My car broke down and the tow truck wouldn't take me to the airport so I had to come home. No money left for my flight! This is bullshit. Now I'm stuck here with nothing to do!"

"Uhm." I cleared my throat, my voice sounding weird, "I'm sorry Candy."

She threw her hands in the air and grabbed a bottle of wine, "I'll just get drunk and fuck the next guy I see." I closed my eyes and Jacob squeezed me I looked down at him and he shook his head furiously and mouthed 'get me out of here' and I wanted to laugh but I bit my lip.

She sat down in the chair and screamed so loud I thought my ears popped. "OH MY GOD! JAKE!"

He waved two fingers at her and smiled, "Hi."

"Oh my god, were you two..." She pointed at the position we were in and I went to climb off his lap. Jake made a gurgling noise and firmly held me in place so I sat still, bracing my arms on the back of the couch as he sat up straighter.

"No, we were just kissing."

"That's too bad." She mouthed, taking a guzzle from the wine bottle. "But this is great! We can all do something together! I could scrounge up some losers for a party or something, I'm sure someone is left on this god forsaken campus."

"Actually, I had hoped we could spend time together alone." I wrung my hands together, nervous to turn her down.

"Well that's rude little bitch." She laughed, I wanted to deck her but Jacob coughed and gently placed me next to him and he finally stood up and motioned for me to follow him out the door. We left Candy sitting on the chair looking dumbfounded that we didn't want her company, why that was a shock to her was beyond me.