AN: I would like to once again thank all of the reviewers for their enthusiasm and support! It is wonderful to read your words. To clarify—I'm not sure how long this story will be, I'll just write till its done; the conversation with Charlie in the restaurant was basically a reiteration of his words the night previous; I will keep posting as soon as they are ready, which so far is roughly 2000 words a day. Thank you, thank you, thank you again to all of you 

*****

It looked like we would have a nice long road trip to figure it out.

Charlie hadn't recognized Jake. He had watched the two of us leave the back room and an unfamiliar darkness crushed the light out of his smile, until Billy noticed and nodded towards his son. It had taken some private convincing to ease Charlie into the idea of a camping trip with my old friend; redirection had helped as much as anything else. Charlie never enjoyed emotional discourse so I used that to my advantage as well, and even though my intentions in this case clearly and firmly for the greater good, I still felt a small wave of guilt as I saw his will weakening.

"I'm thinking of sticking around for a while, Dad," I said. "We're going to have lots of nights to fight about how I spend my time." He looked at me, plaintively hoping, and shook it off as he went up the stairs. His sober footsteps echoed across the floor above me and I hoped Victoria wouldn't make a liar out of me.

I called Edward as soon as Charlie was safely snoring above me. He answered immediately and I could tell by his tone that he already knew everything I was going to say. I looked warily out of the windows around my house and wondered how he'd managed to sneak past the wolves. He sighed.

"Seth Clearwater is a wonderful person," he said by means of explanation.

"And apparently kind of a big mouth," I retorted. I didn't want Edward's mind swimming with images of Jake and I any more than I wanted to dwell on Jake's suffering over my vampire laden past.

"Do you believe Jacob Black's intentions are…romantic?" I could feel the soothing tendrils of his voice creeping through my subconscious, and shook them off. It was harder to remember the many reasons why he and I were no longer without his boyish appearance to remind me.

"I'm not totally sure he has intentions of any kind any more." I heard myself sounding wistful, and I realized that Edward didn't need to hear more, for many reasons. One of them was that telling Edward that Jake's impulse control was somewhat less than human would not quiet the terror I had seen so plainly in his eyes when he left last night. I realized Jake's mind must be much more difficult for Edward to read now; his relationship to language having deteriorated, it appeared Edward was lacking his usual insight. Then again, maybe not.

"With a woman like yourself, Bella, no man has ever lacked intentions." It was open ended. He was reminding me that not all of them had been honorable.

I smiled. "When I left Forks I stopped inspiring the kind of attention that used to bring me so much trouble, Edward. I am now hopelessly ordinary." I felt sad, but reminded myself that ordinary was okay. The whole rest of the human race was ordinary.

"You will never be ordinary, Bella," breathed Edward. He was happy to speak to me, to engage in a dialogue, even if it involved Jake. I realized that a friendship, however tenuous, might still be possible between us. I realized it as surely as I knew I could never bring my twenty five year old body to desire a seventeen year olds.

"I suppose not," I mused. "What's a girl to do with so much supernatural romance?" We both laughed a little. "Seriously, though…I appreciate your…companionship, Edward."

"I will be whatever it is I can be to you, Bella," he said, and I could tell from his voice he was smiling. "I know I mentioned this to you once, long ago, but perhaps you have forgotten…once changed, never changed again. So it goes with our kind."

I remembered. "What if I have half-wolf babies with a certain former rival of yours, Edward?" He was quiet, but I found I wanted to know. "What if I never marry anyone, and spend my life collecting cats and bad art?"

He sighed. "I'd probably make a horrifying babysitter. It makes me so nervous to see the vulnerable in any danger…and Alice, of course, would never allow you to collect bad art." I laughed out loud, hearing the smile in his words. "But Bella…all I can want for you is happiness. I won't be swayed from it."

"You're such a geek, Edward," I said, and I knew he could tell that I was smiling.

"Don't be so coy," he chuckled. "Having two of the most dangerous men on earth fawning over you must at least occasionally feel good."

My smile faded. "It's how they fawn," I said. "What their motives might be…What mine are. I want honest fawning," I said, trying to end lightly.

"You may have to resign yourself to being loved, which is much more complex," whispered Edward. "But surely not so bad, among one's options in life."

"You know that I love you too, Edward?" It was suddenly important that he did know. I mean, he'd just mentioned baby-sitting. For Jake and I's fictional children.

"I know." The gentleness in his voice was forgiving, complete. "I am afraid that the only way we will continue to disappoint each other is if we forget." He paused. "Bella, I should tell you, I've thought a great deal about what you said."

Respect my choices, I thought. "And?"

"And I believe we may both be right," he finished. "We may have to leave it at that."

"If that's the final verdict we can agree to disagree," I said. I hadn't really expected him to ever agree with me; it was gratifying to know my irrational humanity was at least being carefully considered.

"I want to be as much a part of what you decide to be and do as I can, Bella," he said. "I want to somehow…see the happiness…I bet both of our lives on." The words were smooth, but I caught the undercurrent of grief. He had waited this long to try and let me rebuild. Alice must know we would be okay.

"Of course, Edward," I whispered. I knew it was time to go.

"Goodnight, Bella," he whispered back, and the line went dead.

Jake was waiting by my truck the next afternoon. Charlie insisted on walking me out, where he squared himself and took in Jake's scars and stooped posture before grunting his assent. Jake looked down at him.

"Charlie…" his voice wavered. He was so unlike the boy that had ricocheted around my life, my childhood. His voice was getting a little stronger now, but it was with obvious effort that he addressed my father. He straightened up, standing tall, and looked down at Charlie. "I promise we're just going to hike, and fish."

Here, of course, Charlie's eyebrows shot up. Jake laughed.

"Okay," beamed Jake, shaking his head and resolving to try again. I found I was holding my breath, taking in his smile. It shattered the rest of the ominous image—the stoop, the awkward outfit, his strangely bare feet. His ridiculously long nails. "I'll be fishing. She'll be reminding me why we were friends in high school. Hopefully."

Charlie seemed appeased by the smile too. The mischief surrounding the corners of his mouth was infectious as he chuckled at the pair of us. "Maybe some things never do change," he said, and turned his back on us. It was the closest to a blessing we were going to get. I wondered how Sam knew that Charlie would be so easy to win over, especially when Quil and Embry had held on to their grudge; maybe Sam knew more about the friendships of men than I did. Quite likely. We got in the truck.

"Sorry I can't drive, Bells," Jake murmured, and it took me a moment to turn the key. Bells. He went on. "I haven't driven a car in about six years." My elation faded abruptly.

"You gave up cars?" You moved to the woods to become Van friggin Helsing and gave up everything you loved?

"Not really—" He backpedaled, looking self-conscious again and somehow finding a way to squirm and not jostle me. "I still repair them. Still got the old garage over at my dad's, chock full of cars." He sounded amazingly human today. "Spend all my free time with them. Really." He was smiling again, sitting on his hands, watching my face. I smiled back at him.

"You sound a lot more like your old self again, Jake." I kept my eyes on the road, focusing on finding the highway leading out of town and into unknown territory. Even with my shaky memory, I could point us in the direction Sam had requested. My stomach was still, my breath calm and sure. If Victoria died at the end of this, I would feel gratified; truthfully, between the peace I felt about Edward and I, and having Jake's smile so close to full throttle, I felt pretty gratified already. As if to challenge me, the sky opened and misty rain swept the blue away like a broom. I laughed. Nothing could dampen my mood.

"I got a lot of practice in, between Billy and the pack this weekend," he said. He had taken my meaning literally, as if he'd heard my thoughts about how human he sounded. "They must have really missed me," he said very quietly, and looked out at the rain, rolling up the window until only a two-inch crack showed at the top. I knew he was only doing it out of courtesy for my human temperature. The cab instantly began to heat up.