Storm

The wolves laid him down carefully on the couch at Emily's place, Mike and the others had left a long time ago. He screamed from the pain and I sat down on the floor next to him and stroked his hair. I wished there was something I could do to help him, and every scream hurt me because I knew it meant that he was in agony. All the while the air outside was stirring and it seemed a storm was on the way.

Quil had called Sam, and just as the rain started to pour Sam and Emily walked through the door. They looked around the room with wide eyes, Embry, Jared, Paul and Quil were leaning against the wall of the living room, and I was still sitting by Jacob. No one said anything but then Paul spoke up. "Sorry we called Sam, but we didn't know what to do." He took a step towards them continuing. "It's not like we can take him to the doctor. And he's a little incoherent right now so we don't know where he's hurt."

"I'm glad you called." Sam said and walked up to Jacob. "Jake buddy, can you hear me, it's Sam. How are you doing?"

Jacob answered with another scream, and Sam looked at him with concern. "Well he's in a lot of pain, that's for sure. But I don't think there's anything we can do. Just wait until his accelerated healing makes him better I guess." His voice was calm and he seemed very untouched by the whole thing.

I look at Sam skeptically "We're going to do nothing?" I said angry. "But he's in pain, and we don't even know how badly he's hurt!"

"There's nothing we can do Bella, except ride out the storm and hope he's better in the morning." Sam said and then he continued. "I have to go call Billy."

Emily came over to me and put her arms around me, "It's going to be alright." Was all she said, and then she went into the kitchen to make us some coffee.

I took Jacob's hand and the tears rolled down my face, like the rain drops rolling down the window.

The night was very long, Jacob was in a great deal of pain and every scream made my chest ache in a horrible way. I just wanted the pain to be over, for Jacob sake, he shouldn't have to go through all of this, he deserved better.

One by one the wolves went home, and only Emily and Sam stayed. Which made sense since it was there house after all. Emily brought me coffee and then she and Sam went to sleep. Somewhere in the early morning the screaming stopped and both me and Jacob fell asleep. He on the couch, and me sitting on the floor with my head leaned against the armchair.

When I woke up I was strangely comfortable, I realized I was lying on the couch with a blanket draped over me. I immediately open my eyes and searched the room for Jacob. When I saw him I felt lighter, like a weight had been lifted of my heart. He was standing by the window looking out at the storm. How could he be standing when just a few hours ago he'd been on the brink of death?

"Jacob!" I exclaimed astonished and ecstatic. I got up, and the blanket fell to the floor. "You're alive… I mean awake. You're awake, and walking."

I raced to him throwing my arms around him. I hugged him tight and put my ear to his chest. His heart was thumping stronger and louder than ever, as if it was proving that it was still beating. That's all I needed in this world, Jacob's heart strong, and beating. I hugged him even tighter.

"Ouch, Bella." He said, it was the first he'd spoken.

"Sorry" I let go of him, took a small step back and scanned him for injuries. "Where are you hurt?" I asked concerned.

"Nowhere and everywhere… I just need a little more time to heal that's all, and I'm a little sore. I should be fine in a couple of days."

I took his face in my hands, and looked at him with desperate eyes. "Jacob, I thought I'd lost you, when I saw you there in the grass, you're heart wasn't beating and I thought you'd left me."

I was incredibly relieved he was alive, but I could still feel the despair I'd felt when I put my ear against his chest and his heart wasn't beating. The tears started running. He wiped them away with his fingers and said, "I could never leave you, even if you wanted me gone. I will never leave you Isabella. You are my everything."

He smiled my favorite smile, and looked at me with boyish brown eyes. He took my face into his big warm hands and kissed me.

It was a deep passionate kiss, and I could feel it in my entire body. I put my arms around his neck and tangled my fingers into his hair. He put his arms around my waist and I wanted to kiss him forever, never move, or sleep, just stand here with Jacob heat between us and his heart beating next to mine.

However this was not our house, and Sam and Billy came in through the door. "Well hello Jacob." Sam said loudly. "I see you're feeling a lot better."

We broke the kiss, and there was an awkward feeling in the air as I turned to look at both of them. "Good morning Bella." Billy greeted me and I mumble a response.

"How are you feeling son?" Billy asked Jacob with fatherly concern in his voice.

"Better than yesterday at least." He responded. "Bella said my heart stopped beating, is that true?" He looked at Sam now.

"The guys said that they found you on the ground in human form just as Victoria was about to finish you of. They killed her easily and then they morphed to help you. But you didn't have a pulse and they all thought you were gone. That's when Bella came to the scene, and she couldn't hear your heart either. But then it just started beating again." He looked puzzled.

So did Jacob, "How am I alive then?" Jacob asked.

"I don't know." Sam answered honestly. "My theory is that your injuries were extensive enough to stop your heart. But your accelerated healing mended your heart so it could start beating again."

"It seems a bit unlikely." Jacob said incredulous.

"It's all I got." Sam told him. "I don't know what else could have happened to make it start beating again."

"I suppose so, but it seems improbable. Maybe…" Jacob pondered.

"I'm just glad you're okay son." Billy said and Jacob woke up out of his daydreaming.

He smiled at his father, and then Sam said lightly "I'm just glad Victoria is gone."

That's right I thought, 'Victoria was gone'. Dead and gone, and she would never pose a threat to the people I loved again. Another weight was lifted off me when I realized what this meant. There would be no more guard duty, no more planning how to get her, and most of all, no more fear.

"Yes, finally." Jacob agreed.

Then something started buzzing, and Sam looked over to the table where my phone lay. "You're phone has been buzzing none stop." Sam complained. "At one point I thought about throwing it out into the rain. It kept me up all night, and it's been driving me crazy all day."

'Oh, no.' I thought. I walked up to my phone and looked at the display. And surely, it said 'Charlie'. "No,no,no." I exhaled. "I have to go. I can't believe I forgot to call Ch.. dad. "

I looked at Jacob. "I'll come to see you right after I've been home, if I'm not grounded for life, or dead." I kissed him and ran out the door. I stopped on the porch as I remembered I didn't have a car here,

I ran back in. the others were already in the hallway. "I'm driving Jacob and Billy home." Sam said. "I'll take you home too."

I took a breath to calm myself. "Thank you Sam." I exhaled.

"Bella?" Charlie yelled as I walked through the door. He walked into the hall from the kitchen with a stern look on his face.

"Yes dad, it's me." I said just as he appeared in the doorway.

"Where have you been!" He shouted with parental authority. "I've been worried sick Isabella, I've called you about a hundred times, why didn't you pick up?" He crossed his arms and stared at me.

"I'm sorry, I had my phone on silent. I fell asleep at Emily's after the party, and I just woke up." The truth, in a way, so I don't think Charlie noticed anything false in voice. Then I added "You told me to stay out late…"

"That is not what I meant by late!" He wasn't that angry any more, I could tell. Now that I was home safe and sound, he didn't have to worry anymore and his anger from the past day had subsided.

"I know, and I'm really sorry. I should have called, but there was so much going on I didn't remember." I looked at him remorsefully when I saw how worried he must have been.

"It's okay, for this time." He began. "But if it ever happens again you are grounded for life."

'Wow' I thought. No punishment, that was generous of Charlie. I was sure I would be on house arrest for at least a month.

Then his expression changed, and he grew serious. "I have to tell you something though. Shall we sit?" He motioned toward the living room.

What was this? He wanted to talk, this couldn't be good, and I had a strange feeling that a storm was about to come. But the last storm had just passed, Victoria was gone, and everything was sunny again, except the actual weather. The rain was still pouring outside, and the wind was swaying the treetops, it gave me a bad feeling. I didn't want to know what he was going to say, but I felt I had to. "I'd rather stand." I said with clenched teeth. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well… I don't know if I should even be telling you this, because you've been doing so well with everything but I feel like I have to anyway. If I were you, I'd want to know." He stopped collecting his thoughts. "You see…." He paused as if he wasn't sure how to begin.

"Just out with it, dad." I said impatiently.

"Alice… came by earlier this afternoon… she was asking for you, or really not for you, but about you." He hesitated with every word and tried to see my reaction to every syllable he said.

I was frozen and I didn't know what to say. Charlie's expression changed from hesitant to worried to angry. "I shouldn't have told you." He stated. "I've just hurt you all over again."

And surely the hole in my chest was throbbing and aching, but I was glad he'd told me because I wanted to know. I still hadn't said anything and Charlie was watching me. He was searching for something in my eyes, probably expecting the zombie to return, or maybe a mental breakdown.

"I'm glad you told me." I finally said. "Are they back?" I asked my tone flat showing no emotion, I needed the facts before I knew how I was going to react to the news.

"I... don't think so. She said they were visiting and staying at their old place. Mostly she asked how you were, and where you were."

"And what did you say?" I asked afraid that Charlie had mentioned Jacob.

"I said you were out celebrating graduation with your friends and I had been expecting you back a while ago but that you were probably still there. She actually seemed a bit down and she didn't ask anything else."

I exhaled in relief that he hadn't told her about my friends in La Push. I wasn't exactly sure why I didn't want her to know about Jacob, I just knew I didn't want her to.

I turned for the door and Charlie asked desperately, "Where are you going?" I turned to him with my hand on the doorknob. He was looking at me worried and I knew this must be hard for him so I quickly said. "To Jacob's house, I need to see him." I didn't wait for a response I just turned to the door and walked into the night.

It began to rain harder as I got into the truck and I turned the heat up in the car because I hadn't brought a jacket in my hurry to get away from Charlie and the entire situation. I wasn't sure how to feel about everything, the Cullens were visiting and Alice had come by to ask about me. He hadn't come to see me, but he was here, in Forks, everything that had happened on my birthday and the days after that suddenly seemed very recent. Every memory, every moment, and the heartbreak seemed like yesterday and the hole that Jake had almost healed started to ache again.

I wanted to see him so badly. To see him with my own eyes, to touch him, and smell him… but I knew he didn't want to see me, if he did he would have come by the house. My chest ached and the tears were running down my cheeks again. I'd been crying often these last few days. From happiness at graduation, in fear when Jacob was hurt, and now I was crying over a man who didn't even love me. I was suddenly angry, what right did he have to come back to Forks now, when I'd finally began to feel okay without him.

I fought with my emotions while I drove down to La Push, one thing I knew for sure was that the Cullens being here wouldn't change my relationship with Jake, and when they left everything would go back to normal.

I parked next to Jake's house and I ran through the rain to his small porch. The lights were on inside and I walked in. "It's me." I yelled into the house, sure that wherever they were, both Jacob and Billy would hear me in the small house.

Billy rolled into the hallway. "Hello Bella." He greeted me. "Jacob is resting in his room but you can go see him if you want to." He smiled and I noticed how kind he looked although he was a big man how could be scary if he wanted to.

"Thank you." I smiled and him and hurried into Jacob's tiny room.

He was draped across his bed feet sticking out, and he was snoring. I sat down on a chair next to bed and watch his peaceful expression as he slept. This made me feel better, but the aching in my chest was still there, as was the aching to see him. I gently pushed Jacob out of the way and lay down next to him waiting for him to wake up.

"Bella?" Jacob's voice was soft and low. "Are you awake?" I must have fallen asleep.

I stirred and a dream was slipping away as I woke. "No." I said and turned so we were face to face. He smiled and he looked so young when he smiled like that, my favorite smile. I smiled back, but my smile faded fast because I knew what I had to tell him now. He saw my mood change immediately and asked. "What's wrong?" He pulled his eyebrows together in a worried frown.

I knew I had to tell him about the Cullens, because he was alpha of the wolf pack, but also because I couldn't keep anything from him, and I wanted to talk to my best friend about this. So I said, "They're back, or just visiting, or I don't know, but they're staying at their old house." He knew what I meant at once, he always knew what I was thinking. "And how do you feel about that?" He asked with his teeth clenched.

I could see this was hard for him, discussing Edward with me because of our history and the history between the Blacks and the Cullens.

"I don't know." I said honestly. "I just want them to go away I think, so we can go back to living our lives together, you and I."

This seemed to give him some relief, and he hugged me tight. "It'll be okay Bella. I know how much this must hurt you, but you know I'm here for you, whatever you need."

His words warmed my heart but I knew what I needed. "I think I need to be alone." I said, concentrating to make the words credible. "I think I'll take the bike out." I stood up and Jacob sat up in the bed reaching for me. "Wait Bella, you can't drive know, the rain is pouring and it's going to be dark soon." His eyebrows were pulled together again.

"I'll be fine." I said and gave him a weak smile before I walked out into the rain towards the garage.

As I drove the rain whipped me in the face and I was shivering in the cold without my jacket. I'd left my truck at the Blacks', and I was speeding down a narrow path through the trees pushing my bike to its limit. The forest that surrounded the road was dark and quiet, and there were no animals in sight.

Then I saw the house and it was like nothing had changed, everything seemed the same as it'd been. I parked the bike outside and went up the porch steps to ring the doorbell. I heard footsteps, the door opened and there stood Alice Cullen.