I don't own Twilight or any of its' characters

BPOV

Chapter 15

Night Terrors

It was November and already getting very cold in Alaska, Thanksgiving was right around the corner and I was feeling homesick. I missed Charlie, I talked to him several times a week on the phone, but I wanted to see his face. I wanted to hug him and see him smile at me with his crinkly, prematurely aged eyes. I longed to hear the sound of sports playing in the background of our tiny house and smell the Naugahyde of his chair. Edward and I had not planned to go home for Thanksgiving, but we would go back for Christmas break and then I would have a month or so to spend with Charlie. I missed the Cullens too, Edward didn't seem as nostalgic as I was, but then again, he had some family nearby. I ached for Charlie, I missed him so much. I didn't understand why I was feeling so down, usually I missed him, but it never caused me physical pain like it did right now. I figured it was probably because the holidays were approaching, and this would be my first time away from my parents. I missed Renee too, but she had Phil with her, and I didn't worry about her so much with him around.

I kept remembering what Alice had said before we had left for Alaska, that Edward's transformation would occur sometime over Thanksgiving break. However, she had made no further mention of it, and nothing to me indicated that we would be going back to Forks any time soon, which was supposedly where this would happen. I pushed it to the back of my mind, and tried to focus on my school work. Edward knew I was feeling down, so he promised to make me a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and watch football and the parade with me. I hated watching the game on Thanksgiving, but we always had when I was growing up, so it was kind of a tradition; a tradition that I loathed, but needed to have happen just the same. Edward's promise made me feel a little bit better.

It was the last day of the semester and I had just finished up my last exam. My new out of state school friends were bustling around getting ready to fly home for the holiday, except Martina, who could not afford to fly home. Edward and I invited her over for dinner the next day but she declined and said she was going to spend the day catching up on sleep. I always felt sad for her for some reason, she seemed like a broken person, maybe she would be the first person I would help when I graduated.

Thanksgiving night was when the dreams began. Edward and I had had a quiet but very nice day together. As he had promised, he made me a traditional dinner with turkey and stuffing and vegetables, and of course it was delicious, but we had piles of leftovers since I was the only one who could eat it. We watched the game and the parade and I took a nap, later on in the evening, I made my way over to Martina's dorm and dropped off some of our leftovers to be nice and let her know I was thinking about her. She gratefully took them and invited me in. I spent a few hours there with her, and then went back home. By the time I got back to the house it was nine o'clock and Edward had gone out, hunting I supposed. I showered and went to bed, exhausted, exhausted after a day of doing nothing. I had hoped that once the day was over, my ache to see Charlie would subside, but it hadn't, I fell asleep slightly teary eyed.

And then the nightmare came; a nightmare that would come to repeat itself multiple times that winter. In the dream, a long hallway faced me. I was sitting in an industrial style metal chair and I quickly stood up when I realized where I was. The lighting in the hallway was terrible, pale yellow lights threw dirty, murky shadows everywhere, I could barely see in front of me. I started down the hallway, holding the walls for support, and I tried to move with a sense of urgency, but I moved like I was treading through water. Panic and fear overcame the dream, I was looking for someone. I could feel that I was desperately looking for someone. I felt so tired in the dream, like the hallway wouldn't end and when I thought I was toward the end of it, it would lengthen before my eyes. When I finally reached the end of the hallway, there was a window, behind the window was a very well lit room. To my horror, Edward was in the room, seated in a chair similar to the one I had been sitting in, his back was to me. A shadowed figure stood in front of him, and didn't seem to notice me peering through the window, banging on it; there was no sound in the dream. Then suddenly, Edward's head fell back, I still couldn't see his face, but I knew that he was dead. I screamed in the dream, but no sound came, and I banged on the window, but it would not break, there wasn't a door in sight, there was no way that I could get to him and he was dead.

My eyes snapped open, the sheets were soaked and twisted around my bare legs, my heart pumped and my hair clung to my face, I knew I had been crying. A cool hand touched my thigh, and he was there. Alive and well seated at the foot of the bed. I scrambled over to him as quickly as my tangled body would let me and climbed into his lap. I buried my face into his hard shoulder, burrowing intensely, spastically, I could have broken my jaw but I didn't care. I clung to him and he held me still, trying to soothe me.

"I'm alright, I'm alright," I said tightly, "you're here and I'm alright, it was just a dream." I tried desperately to compose myself. I looked at his face for the first time since the episode had started and it was a twisted mask of sadness and concern.

"What's the matter?" I asked shakily.

"Carlisle just called." He said warily, I looked over at the clock radio; one thirty a.m. "Bella, Charlie's been shot."

I felt like I was going to vomit, I pulled away from him, my hands raised up slowly and covered my mouth, I felt my eyes widen in horror, tears started rolling down my face.

"He's alright, but he's critical, Alice is with him right now, Billy and Jacob are on their way…"

"We need to leave now." I whispered as tears continued to roll down my face. Edward nodded and disappeared.

I quickly put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt and tied my hair back in a messy ponytail. I threw on sneakers and searched the house for Topaz; he would have to come with us. I found him and his cat carrier and shoved him in, he didn't fight me. Edward reappeared suddenly with two backpacks full of our stuff. I saw him putting wads of cash into his wallet and setting the security system for the house. He slung both bags onto his back and grabbed our coats, tossing mine at me. I quickly got into it and followed him to the garage; the roads were beginning to get icy so we took the Escalade. We said nothing on the car ride to the airport. If I started to talk I would start to cry, and I had to keep myself together until I made it to the plane. The time was nearing two o'clock in the morning, Edward's phone rang, he grabbed it at half a ring, it was Alice.

"Alice, how is he? What's going on?" he waited for her response and spoke again, "Bella's okay, right now, we're on our way to the airport, we'll get there as soon as we can." There was silence for a few minutes more and then he just hung up.

I didn't ask, I was concentrating on my composure, trying not to fall apart, I knew there was a reason I had been missing Charlie so much lately.

"Charlie remains stable. Billy and Jacob are with him. It's a little tense with Alice there with the two of them, but nobody seems to care right now. We'll be there soon." He said calmly. I felt more tears coming on, and Edward took my hand tightly in his, I took deep breaths to relax myself and I heard Topaz mew softly in the back seat.

We got to the airport in time to catch a flight that was headed for Seattle, no layovers. At this rate, we might be able to get there by daybreak, or a little while after. We practically had to run to the gate and I knew Edward was having a hard time keeping normal human speed. Once we were seated, I took it upon myself to fall apart all over him. As usual, he didn't mind, I felt like my meltdowns on airplane rides were becoming a tradition and I didn't like it, I would have to start packing valium instead of Dramamine if this kept up.

"What happened to him? Why did he have to go to work tonight? I should've gone home to him, and then he wouldn't have gotten shot." I moaned, burying my head in Edward's chest.

"Bella, he's going to be alright, you know this isn't your fault. Carlisle said that he's critical, but he's going to make it." He whispered into my snarled hair.

"He's all by himself." I sobbed, my shoulders shaking. He wrapped his arms around them tightly, trying to make me still.

"Alice and Jacob and Billy are with him. We'll be there soon enough, I promise. Carlisle has changed his schedule with the overnight doctor and is with him. Everything is being done to help him, he's in good hands."

"I know that, I just want to see him right now." Composure was starting to come over me slowly.

"I know you do love," he wiped my puffy eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, "listen, I'll keep tabs on Charlie and you get some rest. I'll wake you up when we're almost home."

I was too upset and tired to argue with him, "Alright, ok" I said defeated. I took off my jacket and balled it up into a pillow and rested against the window, I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth and comfort. As if on cue, Edward quickly removed his jacket and covered me with it. The last thing I saw before I konked out from exhaustion was Edward putting on his headphones and clicking on his mp3 player, he was trying to escape just as much as I was.

We arrived at the airport around eight o'clock, I had slept the entire flight and I woke shortly before the touchdown to Edward gently nudging me to get up. I had almost forgotten why we were here and then the horror struck me again, Charlie had been shot. I burst up out of the seat and ripped my bag out of the overhead enclosure. Frantically I shoved my way through the crowd off of the plane and hurried down the hallway, I felt like I was moving very quickly, but Edward managed to keep up with me without breaking his stride once. I kept moving right past the baggage claim, when Edward had to stop me.

"Bella," he called after me, my sneakers made a squeaking sound as I skidded to a stop I turned and looked back at him impatiently, "Topaz," he reminded me.

"Right." I forgot it wasn't just the two of us anymore; we had a traveling companion these days. We safely retrieved Topaz unscathed, he stared at me with his yellow eyes in curiosity, he seemed a little off these days, like he wasn't feeling well, but I couldn't worry about that right now.

He looked anxious after his first plane ride. Edward picked up his cage and peered inside. "It's alright little man, we're here," he cooed softly at him. Topaz immediately relaxed and began to purr and rub his face on the cage. I think he preferred Edward to me on most occasions.

We continued toward the exit, a little more slowly so as not to disturb the cat, when we finally reached the door, Jasper and Emmett were waiting for us.

"Hey kids!" Emmett boomed at us, "Long time no see."

"Hi Emmett, hi Jasper." Edward said warmly

I tried to smile at them, but I couldn't. "Bella, are you alright?" Emmett asked a little more softly. I burst into tears and ran to Emmett and hugged him.

Jasper stepped in and took my hand and looked at my face, his gentle gold eyes piercing through me. "Bella, Charlie's going to be fine, he just got moved from ICU to a regular hospital room, he's healing well." A wave of calm washed over me, I assumed that was why Jasper had come, to soothe us, I hugged him too. Topaz let out mew and began to purr loudly.

"What," Emmett chuckled, "is that?" he pointed at the carrier in Edward's hand.

"It's a cat you jackass what do you think it is?" Edward growled.

"I'm sorry, we had to take him with us on such short notice, do you guys mind?" I asked, letting go of Jasper.

"That's fine Bella, please don't worry." Jasper reassured calmly. Emmett continued to laugh.

"Can we get going please?" Edward said impatiently.

"Right, let's go." Emmett said, becoming all business. He took our bags and Topaz and loaded them into his jeep and we were on our way, Edward sat in the front and I sat in back with Jasper. I felt better that Charlie had been moved, but I still was on edge, I think Jasper sensed that and did all he could to protect me from my frightened, irrational thoughts.

We arrived at the hospital in less than an hour and I practically sprinted to the front desk. "Charlie Swan please." I blurted out to the receptionist, Edward stood protectively behind me with his hand on the small of my back.

"Room 309, third floor." She said in an uninterested tone, clearly she had no idea that my I was falling apart at the seams.

"Thank you." I said tersely, I turned and headed toward the elevator, my pace quickening at each step I took.

"Bella," Edward whispered in my ear, "I know you're upset, but you need to get a grip, you can't run and shove people around in a hospital, you have to calm down please."

I shut my eyes and walked onto the elevator, "you're right." I whispered. I took his hand and squeezed.

We stepped off the elevator and walked down the hallway. The ward smelled like hydrogen peroxide and simple green, it was nauseatingly sterile. I walked past the multiple hospital beds without glancing on either side of me, I didn't want to see anything. I started to feel hot and woozy, for the last six hours all I could think about was getting here and now that I was here I wanted to turn back around and go home. Whether it was my home at Charlie's or at the Cullens or even back to Alaska, I didn't care, I just wanted to be out of this hospital. The smell was suffocating me, I turned my head to the side and buried it into Edward's jacket and breathed deeply as I walked. His sweet fragrance filled my nostrils and the choking stagnant hospital air was gone. I felt like I could breathe again. Room 309, we were here.

I had no idea what I was about to walk in to, I didn't know what Charlie would look like, the sounds I would hear, the tubes that would be connecting him to all kinds of life supporting devices, I prepared for the worst. I walked in and it looked like I was at some kind of social gathering. Charlie was sitting upright, looking like his old comfy self; he had an IV catheter in one of his arms and a tube in his nose, just like I had when I was in the hospital. He was hooked up to a heart monitor, but that was it for all of the foreign life supporting devices that I had expected to see. Alice was perched at the foot of his bed giggling and Billy was seated in his wheelchair alongside the bed, to my delight, Jacob stood against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest smiling.

"Hey, there they are!" Alice exclaimed happily as we walked in. She hopped off the bed and ran to us and hugged us both.

"'Bout time you got here." Jacob said warmly as he approached me. "So, the only way we can get you to come home is by someone getting shot?" He teased as he hugged me.

"Shut up Jacob." I laughed. He looked up and saw Edward's tall form shadowing the doorway.

"Hello Jacob." Edward greeted politely.

"Hello." Jacob replied glaring at him, their relationship was frosty at best.

I was prepared to intercede, but I was here for a reason, and it wasn't to play referee for Jacob and Edward. "Dad," I whispered hurrying across the room to him.

"Bells," He whispered back with a weak smile.

I carefully squirmed into his arms and embraced him gently. It was a weak squeeze, but he hugged me back. I pressed my cheek against his stubbly face and shut my eyes tightly as tears of relief trickled out of them. "I was so worried," I whispered, my small voice trembling.

"Oh baby. It's okay, your old man's going to be fine." He said softly into my hair.

I pulled away from him slowly, still crying, I laughed a little between tears, and stared at him in amazement, he looked fantastic for someone who had been shot less than twelve hours ago.

"What happened to you?"

"Oh nothing, wrong place at the wrong time. We got called out to a robbery at a convenience store, when we got there the guy was still there, but we didn't know there was another one in the back of the store and he got me."

"Where'd you get shot?" I said almost choking on the words.

"He clipped me in the side." Charlie carefully lifted his shirt up, wincing a little, and I was able to see the huge bandage wrapped around his torso. "Broke a couple of ribs too, nothing major." I could see by the look on his face that he was physically uncomfortable, but he was trying to put a brave face on for me.

"Dad, you look like you're in a lot of pain."

"No, no, I got plenty of pain meds on board." He gestured to the IV bag overhead, "It's just Carlisle wrapped this thing so damn tight, I can barely breathe."

"Probably so you wouldn't bleed to death." I informed him. Charlie took my hand in his and I sat down beside him on the bed, we just stared at each other for a moment in silence. I felt at ease seeing him, talking with him and feeling the warmth and roughness of his hand on mine. All the fear I had been experiencing for the last seven hours had disappeared.

Edward approached the hospital bed cautiously, Jacob didn't take his furious eyes off of him for a second, it was like he was trying to guard Charlie and me from him, even though it was Edward's family who had saved Charlie's life and brought me back to him. Edward sat beside me on the bed careful not to disturb Charlie.

"How are you feeling Charlie?" Edward asked warmly.

"I've been better, but it's not so bad."

"I'm glad to see that you're going to be alright. Everyone was very worried about you, Bella was a mess."

Was a mess? I could only imagine what I looked like, my hair all matted and snarled, old sweatpants and a baggy sweatshirt, not to mention my eyes were so swollen and red rimmed from crying that I was starting to have trouble seeing, you could probably blindfold me with a piece of dental floss by now. Charlie patted his rough hand against my knee.

"I'm going to drive home and let Topaz out, he's been cooped up for a long time. After that I'll come back." Edward said standing up.

"Okay." I whispered, he leaned over and kissed my forehead, I saw Jacob's face darken.

"Heal up Charlie," Edward said touching his shoulder lightly, Charlie gave him a polite nod. Edward passed by Jacob and gave him a look of warning, while Jacob looked like he would rip Edward's head off if we weren't in a hospital room. He quickly refocused and loped over to my side.

Alice didn't seem affected by what was happening, she just looked pleased to see that we were home for now. She bounced out of the room behind Edward and I heard her say, "you brought Topaz with you? I want to meet him."

"Who's she talking about?" Charlie asked, confused.

"We acquired a cat." I informed him sounding a bit too much like Edward at that moment.

Jacob leaned over and whispered in my ear harshly, "You sure he's not going to eat him?" I elbowed him in the ribs so hard that it caused him to cough out loud.

Carlisle poked his head in and saw me sitting beside Charlie on the bed. "I thought I heard that you two had gotten back." He flashed his irresistibly suave smile.

"Carlisle, thank you for taking care of my dad and thank Alice and Jasper and Emmett for me." I said attempting to straighten out my frazzled look.

"You'll be able to thank them yourself Bella. Where's Edward?"

"He was going to go home to drop off our stuff and let out…" my voice trailed off, I didn't know how Carlisle would feel about having animals in his house.

"Very well," he cut me off; thankfully I wouldn't have to explain about the cat yet. "Charlie, a nurse will be coming up shortly to give you some more meds."

"Should I go?" I asked

"Of course not, stay as long as you like Bella, he's your father."

"Thanks." I said sheepishly. With that, he was gone. The nurse came in, and I excused myself while she did her thing. Billy stayed with Charlie and Jacob and I headed out.

I had to get away from the stuffy indoors of the hospital, so Jacob and I went outside to walk in the woods behind the hospital. I felt like I hadn't seen the sun and the trees for days after the plane ride and the terminal and the hospital, so even though it was freezing outside it felt good to me. Jacob, as usual was unaffected by the unseasonably cold weather.

We walked silently side by side like we used to, and as expected, Jacob was the first to break the silence. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. What's been going on?"

"Oh you know, school keeps me really busy, I'm looking into getting a part time job on campus and the whole out of state thing throws off me being able to hang out with you after school." I said sarcastically.

"Do you miss Forks?" He asked.

"Well, yes, but Alaska is nice too. It's pretty similar to Forks but colder."

"But you hate the cold."

"I'm actually starting to really like it out there Jacob. I'm on my own, we live in a great house and get this, I see Northern lights on my back porch every night." I said, getting excited and wanting to share with him.

We continued along the walking path until we reached a clearing on the trail that faced a river. We sat down on the rocks together and watched the water. I shoved my hands in my pockets and shivered a little. The novelty of the cold air was starting to wear off. Jacob put his freakishly long arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to his warm body. I instantly felt the heat and relaxed against it.

"Bella, why don't you just move back?" he asked suddenly, I turned and gazed up at him, his long black hair fell over his warm brown eyes and he nervously shoved the strands behind his ear. "I mean, I'm going to graduate in a year, and then we could go to school together somewhere local and you'd still be near Charlie and the Cullens. I mean, the bloodsucker's been alive like a hundred years, I'm sure he doesn't need another diploma, and really wouldn't care if the two of you stayed out here."

"Jacob!" I said angrily, pulling away from his inviting half embrace. "First of all, don't call him that, and second of all, I like Alaska, it's my home right now."

"Your home should be out here with me." Jacob blurted out, "Not out in some arctic place with him."

"Ugh, Jacob!" I said getting off of my rock and throwing my arms down in disgust, "God, don't do this, like I don't have enough to worry about right now. Look, I'm only going to be home for a few days, why can't we just spend time together without all of this heavy stuff coming out. I just want to be with my best friend for awhile, and not be criticized about the decisions I have made with my life ok? Why do you have to be such a jerk?!"

Jacob stood up and towered over me, Edward was much taller than me but Jacob dwarfed me, everything about him was huge. "Why do you have to be with him?" He argued.

I stared up at Jacob pleadingly, I was so tired, why did he have to do this to me? His skin trembled a little; he looked like he was about to phase. I didn't care, I just didn't care anymore, vampires, werewolves, it didn't matter, he wouldn't hurt me.

The trembling stopped as quickly as it came on, "no, you know what? You're right, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry. I am being a jerk. But he just, he brings out the worst in me Bells, you know that."

"He's a permanent part of my life, just like you are, and besides, he's not here right now, and it's just you and me."

"Right." Jacob resumed his seat on the rock by the water, I sat back down beside him. He put his arm back around me to keep me warm and I nestled into him with my feet folded under me.

"So, seriously, what's been going on, you look like you're ready to crack." Jacob asked calmly.

"I think I might be," I replied. I lapsed into school, and meeting Edward's cousins, and the nightmare I had before I got the news about Charlie, about my weird feelings that I had been having about Charlie and then of course, about Charlie himself. Jacob sat and listened patiently, occasionally adding in a 'hm', or an 'ah' to let me know he was paying attention.

"What have you been up to?" I asked after I had finished my spiel. "You were gone for most of the summer. I didn't get to see you very much, where were you?"

"Where wasn't I?" He said rolling his eyes, "I just got home about a month ago. There's been a lot of stuff going on with the pack. I've been running a lot of errands for Sam lately. There have been some packs across the southwest that have been getting too numerous, they're overhunting, some people have gotten hurt, that sort of thing. Sam had me running defense and making treaties and meeting with elders and all kinds of stuff like that. It sucked mostly." He explained nonchalantly.

"Sounds like pretty important stuff. Did you get to have any fun out there?" I asked, mischievously probing for information.

"Well, I met a couple of girls here and there, had a little bit of fun with them."

I sat up and turned to him flabbergasted, "How much fun did you have with them?" I teased.

He grinned widely, his white teeth gleamed brilliantly against his smooth copper skin. "Let's just say that wolf girls are pretty wild and confident. They really know what they want." He looked embarrassed for a second, and then started to laugh like he had just come up with a fabulous joke, "and I know how to give it to them."

"You disgust me." I said grinning back at him. "I thought you were waiting to imprint on someone."

He rolled his eyes again, "like that's going to happen any time soon. Besides, the only person that I want is currently taken." He added a little more seriously, but not to the point of making the conversation uncomfortable.

I leaned back against him and he tightened his grip on me a little. "So how was it?" I asked casually.

"Fantastic." He said lowly. Of course it was, I thought to myself.

Then I thought of a fabulous joke of my own, "I hope you didn't get any fleas."

"You kidding me? They're crawling all over you right now." He laughed, roughly tousling my hair.

"EEw Jacob!" I squealed jumping up again.

"Just kidding! Sit back down with me." I resumed my position against him. "I'm sorry I was gone all summer. I was legitimately working for Sam, but, there was something else," he paused and said, sounding ashamed, "I was trying to stay away from you."

"Why would you do something like that?" I asked, trying to disguise the hurt in my voice.

"Well, I thought that you were going to…change…into…something else, and I didn't want to be around to see it. I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

"Don't worry; I don't think that will be happening any time soon."

"Why do you say that?" Jacob asked, not trying to disguise his elation in the slightest.

"If I tell you, you can't say anything to anyone, got it?" I said sternly.

"I'll put it in the vault." He assured me.

"Alice," I started

"Is she the freaky witchy one?" He interrupted.

"Yes" I sighed.

"I don't mind her so much, anyways, continue."

"ANYways, Alice had a vision over the summer that Edward would somehow be able to turn back into a human."

"How is that possible?" he asked, I then proceeded to tell him the story of the healer and everything Eleazar had told us about. Again, Jacob listened patiently and with some interest until I finished.

I had remained very serious the entire time, confiding in Jacob all of my fears and expectations of what was supposedly going to take place and it felt so good to get everything off my chest. It felt good to have a friend that I didn't have to keep secrets from, because he understood how important it was to keep the secrecy between us. Having a shape shifting wolf for your best friend was great. However, despite all of my worrying and seriousness, Jacob had to retort back with a sarcastic comment.

"Gee, he's really got everything going for him doesn't he?"

"Jacob, come on,"

"No seriously, he's rich, he's good looking, he's intelligent, he's got all kinds of supernatural powers, the only thing I had that he didn't was that I was still pretty much human, now I don't even have that. Now I really don't stand a chance with you." He smirked at me.

"If you think the only thing that you've got to offer the opposite sex is the fact you're human, you're way off." I teased.

"Really?" His smile gleamed, "go ahead then, tell me how great I am." I started giggling, "No, really tell me how handsome I am and how suave I am" I giggled some more, "tell me how good I smell and that I'm funny, and…" he teased and nudged me with his head.

"Yes, yes, you're all of those things." I laughed.

"Oh, who am I kidding? You're going to marry the ex-bloodsucker and have good looking, rich, intelligent babies with supernatural powers together."

"Shut up." I giggled

"There is one thing that I have that he doesn't have."

"What's that?" I asked

"Animal instincts." He said, arching an eyebrow at me suggestively.

"You need a cold shower or something." I suggested.

He hugged me close to his chest and muttered in my ear, "I'm glad you're back Bella, even if it is only for a little while."

We sat out in the woods by the river for about an hour, despite that whole scenario, very little of our conversation revolved around Edward and the doomed fact that Jacob and I could never be more than friends, or at least not in my mind we couldn't. He talked about the summer with the pack, how most of the males in the pack were imprinting and how he felt left out. I talked about school and how I was worried that I had chosen the wrong major. He talked about Billy, I talked about Charlie, and before I knew it, it was ten thirty in the morning.

We headed back to Charlie's room and found him sitting up in bed playing checkers with Billy. Edward had come back and was seated in an arm chair by the window, in his hand he had a deck of cards and he kept flipping through them one by one as if he were trying to memorize them. He had changed his clothes, and I remembered I was still in my ratty pajamas. I sat down on the arm of the chair beside Edward, he glanced up at me and threw me a smile, my insides fluttered and I heard Jacob let out an annoyed sigh as he flopped down beside Charlie and Billy.

Edward leaned over and teased in my ear, "you smell like you just left a kennel." I blushed a little.

I knew Jacob heard him, "Better be careful, she might have fleas" he said smugly. Edward glared at him. Why didn't the two of them just get it over with and urinate on my shoes to mark their territory?

"What was that Jacob?" Charlie asked, not looking up from his game.

"Nothing Charlie, just a private joke," Jacob smirked. Edward went back to his card counting.

We all stayed until a little after eleven, then Charlie's pain meds started to kick in and he became drowsy. The party started to break up and I was a little relieved, because I really needed a shower and a change of clothes. I felt disgusting. Jacob and Billy left together and I promised Jacob that we would get together again before I went back to Alaska and he seemed satisfied. I hugged and kissed Charlie and promised to return that night, he was nearly comatose by the time I had put my jacket on.

Edward and I climbed into Emmett's jeep and headed to the Cullen's. I felt as ease, having seen Charlie and having been able to talk to Jacob, but then started feeling guilty about it. I sniffed my sweatshirt and my hair and looked over at Edward, his eyes were glued to the road and his cool hand rested on my thigh.

"Do I really smell like a kennel?" I asked, paranoid now.

He removed his gaze from the road and looked at me, amused. "I can tell that you're starting to calm down now."

"You can?"

"It's your scent. When you're anxious, it becomes more intense and pronounced, but as you calm down, it becomes more subdued and just kind of, swirls around me. I can always tell what kind of a mood you're in." He explained.

"How come you never told me this before?'

"I just recently started noticing it, not your smell of course, but the way it changes with your mood. I never noticed before, maybe it's because we live together now, you pick up on all sorts of little things."

"I actually caught myself talking like you today." I said shyly.

"Really?" he asked, grinning widely now in amusement, "What did you say?"

"Well, when Charlie asked me who Topaz was, I said to him, 'we recently acquired a cat.' Who says that? I could have just said, we got a cat."

Edward laughed softly, "You're right, that does sound like something I would say."

"Sick isn't it?"

"Actually, it's very endearing." He paused for a moment, and then said, "No, actually, it is pretty sick."

We got to the Cullen's house and a wave of drowsiness overcame me, I suddenly wanted to sleep, no, I needed to sleep. I almost didn't want to shower; I wanted to just change my clothes and flop onto the couch in Edward's room and fall asleep until I had to go see Charlie again. Yes, maybe that's what I would do; maybe Esme would make me dinner, like she did last time I was there. Maybe Edward would play the piano for me, I hadn't heard him pick up an instrument in months…I walked in the front door and saw the familiar white open living room I had grown to love, before I went to bed, I would find Esme and hug her, I would… then I saw Alice before me looking very sad,

"Alice, what's wrong?" Edward asked, immediately concerned

"It's Topaz, he's…he's sick." She said quietly.

I shut my eyes, and felt my need for sleep disappear immediately and become replaced with alertness and responsibility.

"I'll call a vet." Edward sighed; he pulled his silver cell phone out of his pocket and left the room.