A.N: Here's a normal sized chapter for you:)

Sneaking

-NPOV

When I opened my eyes, Jacob was there. I didn't see him, but I could feel his arm wrapped tightly around my waist. His body was lined against every inch of mine, and he had buried his face in my neck. He held himself close to me, and he must have been holding me like this throughout the whole night. His breaths were slow and deep, so he must be sleeping.

He'd carried me into his room again. Why was it he always seemed to carry my around when I slept? Or maybe it was me who had the habit of falling asleep in everything but the bed, rather. This wasn't the first time I'd fallen asleep in the living room.

His stomach rumbled quietly. Hadn't he eaten anything last night? I'd put the lasagna on a very visible spot on the counter. Maybe he hadn't been hungry. The thought made me worried. Jacob was always hungry.

I very carefully tried to ease my way around in his arms so that I could face him. He grumbled something in his sleep and his arms around me tightened abruptly as if to keep me there, not wanting to loosen his hold of me.

"Hey" I smiled. "I'm not sneaking off." He was kind of squeezing me.

I managed to turn around in his arms so that we were facing each other. I didn't wake him though, he just grumbled some more and kept his grip around my waist. His grip around me was tight and he was pressing me firmly against his own body. He moved one of his his hands upwards to press against my back, and it felt surprisingly soft against my skin.

Wait.

Hand. Back. I looked down. My t-shirt had been pushed up while I slept, exposing my stomach and lover back. No flannel shirt there, mister. One of his hands was placed tightly around my waist, and the other was pressed up between my shoulder blades, dragging the t-shirt upwards. This meant my panties were sprawled out for the world to see. Only this wasn't the world, it was Jake. So I guess I didn't mind. I sure hope he hadn't found me like this though. Thank god I'd put on pretty underwear.

He let out a heavy sigh, mumbling something I didn't quite catch. I leaned forward and kissed the tip of his nose. I smiled to myself when he wrinkled it, as people do when they're being tickled. I leaned forward to kiss his nose again, and just as my lips made contact he opened his eyes.

I smiled. He didn't. I almost asked what was wrong when he reached forward and pressed his lips to mine. His lips were rough against mine and he was kissing me hungrily, pinching his eyes shut. His hands moved from my back only to frame my face, and he rolled us both over pressing me into the mattress under him.

He pinned my body to his, and my arms automatically roamed over his back. This was unexpected. But oh so good. His kisses were hot and desperate, and there was a raw honesty in the way they grasped for mine. A quiet moan escaped my lips when his hands moved down to wrap under me, arching my back, pressing me closer to him. His tongue left a burning trail in my mouth.

If my t-shirt was pushed up or down or to the side, I wouldn't know. I was busy running my fingers through his hair. The only thing I managed to focus on was the blazing trails his fingertips left on my skin, leaving my skin in tingling patterns. He moved one of his hands downwards, letting it trail down my thigh. When he reached my knee he wrapped his hand around it and hitched it up, wrapping it around his waist. I could feel him press between my legs. I shivered. He let out a shaky exhale but didn't stop kissing me.

I was starting to feel lightheaded, and I could almost feel the sparks emoting from him. He moved his hands from my sides and hips and wrapped them around my rear. His breath was ragged and I guess mine was too. I had a sparkly, tingly feeling deep in my stomach, making my knees shiver.

It hit me that I was going to miss another day of school, and I didn't mind one bit. I put my palms on his back and pressed him closer. I let my hands wander down his back and slipped my fingertips under the hem of his sweatpants. He made a little noise in the back of his throat, somewhere between a moan and a growl. His hand moved from my backside only to grip the front fabric of my t-shirt in his fist, tugging it. I wondered briefly if he was going to tear it. But I never got to find out, because just then my phone rang and we both jolted into the air.

Our lips broke contact and our grip loosened. We lay there for a few seconds, staring at each other, trying to control our ragged breaths. It took another couple of seconds before I realized I was supposed to answer the phone.

It was my mother. Thank god it wasn't my dad, he would have gotten suspicious at once he heard my breathless, vague answers. My mother didn't seem to notice. She wondered where we were and if I would be coming home today. She didn't pester me about school either, which almost surprised me. For a moment I'd just about forgotten everything that had to do with the outside world. School, friends, my parents... Now it all came crashing back.

All the time I was talking on the phone, Jacob was laying quietly beside me, stroking his hand absentmindedly up and down my back. I watched his face as it gradually settled into a calm, sad mask. I guess reality was catching up with him. It had at least broken the bubble we had been wrapped up in a just moment ago.

I realized maybe this wasn't the best time to continue what had just passed between us any further. It could only be very confusing for Jacob to have all these feeling mixed together. The sorrow for his father and the feelings he had for me. Both were so strong and both so far apart. Seth had told me a while ago how confusing this felt for the pack. I couldn't then imagine how this must feel for Jacob himself.

But that didn't mean those feelings we shared, what had just happened weren't there. Because they definitely were. It wasn't possible to just put them on hold. I wanted him. I remembered only two days ago, how I'd almost bounced to La Push to be able to be alone with Jacob while Billy were at Charlie's. If Billy hadn't died that day, who knows what could have happened. I thought I had a fairly good idea.

Another thing was, that if he had these feelings towards me as well, I would let him have it. If the first thing he wanted to do this morning was kiss me like this, then I'd let him. Encourage him. It wouldn't ease how he felt, but it would take his mind of it for a little while. But taking the full step? Maybe he needed to clear his head a little bit first. Maybe not today, at least.

After finishing talking to my mom, we both hung up. Funny how Jacob and I always got interrupted like this every time we were in the middle of something. I looked down at him. He was staring distantly at the curls that fell down my back, while absentmindedly stroking one finger up and down my spine. He seemed deep in thought. Not before I lay down beside him did he realize I'd stopped talking on the phone. He smiled. Not a happy smile, but honest.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

I nodded. Everything was fine.

The house was quiet. The only sound was the loud ticking coming from the clock on the mantlepiece in the living room. It was raining outside. I could hear the muted thuds from raindrops landing on the roof.

"How did it go yesterday?" I asked quietly. I figured it was an okay question. If he wanted to talk about it, he could, and if he'd rather not then he could let it be. Up to him. He hesitated before he answered."

"It felt good to come back home last night" he paused. "I might have to go back there today though."

He didn't say anything else, he just wrapped his arm around me and held me to him. Maybe he didn't feel like talking just yet.

"You know, Jacob" I paused, choosing my words carefully. "If you want to talk about it, you don't even have to ask."

He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.

"I know. Thank you. But not now"

I rested my cheek on his shoulder. He reached down and kissed my forehead tenderly. "Maybe some other time", he said. I just nodded. He knew he could talk to me if he wanted to, at least.

"Thank you for everything that you did last night" he said gratefully and opened his eyes. There was a slight change in his voice, it was a little warmer somehow. It took a second before I understood what he meant. But then I got it. He'd seen the wolf.

"Don't mention it" I closed my eyes and let my head relax on his shoulder. I let out a quiet exhale and felt his grip tighten around my waist.

It took nine days. Before he made a joke. A sincere, honest typical Jacob happy-like-the-sun joke. I watched him as he somehow got his good mood back, bit by bit. As the days past, his smiles grew more sincere, and his eyes followed. I knew he was still sad. Of course he was. But it didn't consume him all the time. And he seemed happier around me, so I stuck to him like an extra limb. Now he had two feet, two arms, ten toes and a Nessie. He definitely didn't mind.

The funeral had been beautiful. It had been a cloudy day, with no rain. My family was there, and almost everyone in La Push. I cried. Jacob didn't. I think he must have cried all the tears he had the past few days and didn't have any left. During the ceremony he was standing there beside me like the perfect picture of calm control. His hands weren't even shaking. But I could see his jaw was clenched tightly.

The after-ceremony was held down at the Clearwater's. It was easier that way. Just a quiet gathering of a few people. It was nice and sad and didn't last very long. He was glad when it was over.

I had skipped a few days of school in the beginning, but now I had started going again. Slowly our lives had started to go back to normal. We were together all the time. He slept with me in my room, and my parents didn't object. For now. He'd stayed at his home in La Push the first few days, when Rebecca had stayed there too. They had decided they would keep the house for now. When Rebecca had left, the house was left for him to live in alone. He hadn't been there much though, he spent most of his night at our cottage.

It was Friday. A sunny one. I was sitting outside in the school yard with my girlfriends. The subject of the conversation hovered around boyfriends, and it was easy, relaxed and a bit goofy, I guess. I let them keep on with it and enjoyed the sun on my face, listening to their stories and complaints with an amused look on my face.

"And my dad was like, so mad, he all but kicked him out of the house and then grounded me for a week. He thought we were going to, you know, do it, but we weren't!" Sophie sighed dramatically. "I'll never have a guy sneaking into into my bedroom again"

"Well, I sure can forget about Dominic spending the night" Tina said. Dominic was her new boyfriend. "My dad's won't allow it. He's really old fashioned."

I smiled. I was willing to bet a lot that my dad was more old fashioned than hers. Older, at least.

About that. My dad had been surprisingly cool with me and Jake's relationship. I'd been thinking about that (only when dad was safely out of mind range of course) . Why would he think it was okay for Jacob to stay now, when he normally didn't like it? And why would he be okay with me staying the nights at Jacobs place?

The only answer must be that he was happily oblivious. Thoughts of Billy must have taken over both of out brains for the last weeks, no wonder.

Not that we'd really done anything. We hadn't. And definitely not since Billy had past away. But I could imagine the look on his face if my dad were to walk in on us while we were doing what we did, and it wouldn't be a pretty one. Of course, in the cottage we barely touched. A small kiss at the most. We weren't stupid. Or suicidal, as Jacob liked to put it.

"...and besides, I don't have the guts to keep sneaking around" Tina finished, sending Sophie a sly smile. Sophie smacked her shoulder playfully.

"I can forget about sneaking anywhere, that's for sure" Joan said dryly, taking a sip of her soda. She lived with her parents in a small apartment. On the sixth floor. I could see the problem. "Easier if you lived in the forest, like some" she poked my arm, waking me from my reverie. "Just climb a three, jump in a window, and you're there"

Of course, she was referring to the main house. My girlfriends didn't know about the little cottage. There wasn't really a real road leading up to it, and on questions of how we would get there, "running" might sound little bit different in their ears than in mine.

Joan continued

"Your house is like sneak-in foolproof. On a windy day, no one would notice. Seriously, anyone could do that!"

Sure. It would be so easy to sneak up to a house with eight vampires, where as one could see your future, one could read you mind, and one could sense your emotions. No problem. Piece of cake.

"Now why hasn't Jacob thought of that, huh?" She elbowed my rib, wiggling her eyebrows.

Sure, why wouldn't he? I think they might hear him when he climbed up my window. And smell him when he opened it. They were kind of sensitive to werewolf scent last time I checked. And of course, there was the thing about the mind-reading. Jacob might as well come knocking on the door and declare his intentions. Well, I guess he sort of did the last part. Without the the declaring, of course.

"He doesn't need to sneak around really" It wouldn't work much either, that's for sure. "He can just come in the door. He spends most of the nights anyway" I shrugged. It was true. The cottage, the main house... He'd slept where I slept lately.

I noticed the atmosphere had gotten suspiciously quiet. I looked around to see three pairs of shocked eyes before I was bombarded with questions, all of them requiring the same: Explain. Guess I should have seen that one coming.

"No, no, not like that. We don't... you know. He just sleeps there."

I did sooo not want to have this conversation.

New round of questions.

"Seriously, your parents are okay with that?"

"How would you define "sleep"?"

"Why haven't we heard about this before?"

"How can your guy spend the nights when my can't? It's so unfair"

Well, I wouldn't say it was unfair. I guess the conditions on Jacob spending the nights was that my parents had super-hearing and could hear our every move and touch. Oh, and then the minor thing that my dad could read both of our minds. Foolproof. No biggie.

I didn't know what to say so I just shrugged.