Okay first, message to my amazing subscribers/reviewers. I am SO sorry for not updating last night. I was on a horrid computer that froze and I lost all I had of the chapter, and it was just annoying me. So, to make up for it, you guys get an amazingly long chapter…or maybe two. Not quite sure yet, you'll see soon enough. Much love to you all! Oh and just a funny little note; when I first started Twilight, I was a total Team Edward fan –cringes- I know, but now, I have happily gone over to Team Jake.

When I returned to school on Monday, I was a bit worried about encountering Edward Cullen. But at lunch, I didn't see him or his family. When I asked Mr. Banner where my lab partner had gone, he told me that the Cullens had apparently gone on emergency family business somewhere, but were attending to their studies via email and would be back sometime in October. Surprisingly, I felt much better after that. I'm sure that Jake wouldn't be too upset by this.

The rest of September flew by. I spent day after day with Jake. We almost always had dinner with Billy and Charlie at either house. Billy and Charlie would watch a game, and me and Jake would make dinner together, talking about our day, and just spending time together. We did get to have some fun dates though. We went to multiple movies, and of course, I jumped every ten minutes in each horror film. We had a more successful try at mini-golf where I didn't fall in the water, but Jake never would let me forget that one time. Basically, we just spent as much time with each other as possible; letting ourselves enjoy each other as much as we were able. I had never had been as happy as I was now. Just the thought of Jake got my stomach full of butterflies, and I had a constant smile. The effect he had on me was ridiculous and totally out of proportion, but it was amazing all the same.

School was a bit easier since the Cullens had left. I didn't have to worry about Edward saying or doing things that would provoke any of my friends, or worse, Jake. October was off to an amazing start though. Mike and Jessica had gotten together and were a couple, which she was absolutely thrilled about. Angela was trying very hard to plan this month's dance, which had the theme of Halloween where no one could get in without a costume. I couldn't wait for it; even though me and Jake spent an extraordinary amount of time together, it was always nice to dance with him. Hopefully it would be even better than my birthday. However, it wasn't our month anniversary yet, so we had plenty of time until Halloween to get a costume for each of us. I wasn't really warming to the idea of a couple costume, but I was definitely frustrated about what to be for Halloween. I talked to Jake about it.

"What do you think I should be?" I asked while he held me in his arms. Charlie and Billy were out fishing for the day.

"Hmm…the beautiful girlfriend of a werewolf? Wait, Halloween's about being something you're not…shoot." He nuzzled my head and squeezed me closer to him.

"Thank you, but I need suggestions…" He sighed and rested his head on top of mine, almost like a totem pole.

"Be true to your namesake and be a swan?" I wrinkled my nose.

"Too many feathers. I'd feel like a Vegas showgirl." He lifted his head and turned my face to his.

"I wouldn't mind that suggestion…" he said, leaning in for a kiss, and I gave in gently. Then after a few minutes I pulled away.

"I really need an idea Jake…" I said, giving him puppy-dog eyes. "Please help me?" He sighed, and looked down at me,

"You know, they should make the puppy-dog look illegal. It works." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Well, what do you want? To be scary? Different than yourself? Something that won't be too difficult?"

"Hmm…different than myself sounds good…and something not too difficult…I got it! What about a pirate!?" He looked down at me.

"You'd be a cute little pirate. You can shiver my timbers any time you want." I shot him a look. He laughed. "You'll be amazing." He said and wrapped me in his arms again. "You always are." I rested my head against his chest, perfectly content with how we just were. We didn't have to pretend to be something we weren't like some other couples. We just were ourselves, and we were each other's security blanket for everything. And luckily, our dads were pretty happy about it as well.

After that one blissful evening, and exactly a week before our one month anniversary, things changed. Drastically. I came in the next Monday morning to walk with Angela and Jessica, and on our way to the cafeteria for lunch, I heard a familiar voice.

"Isabella Swan." Said a deep voice in a seductive tone. I turned around to see none other than Edward Cullen leaning against the hallway wall, his arms crossed. Jess and Angela's eyes widened, and I motioned for them to go on by themselves. I'd be fine dealing with him. If not, I could always talk to Jake later.

"Edward Cullen. Long time no see. So what do I owe the honor of this meeting?" He noticed my sarcasm. His eyes narrowed the slightest bit. He arrogantly strode toward me.

"Well, after the way we left off, I thought it wasn't proper to leave someone of your caliber hanging." He got within five feet of me. He sniffed the air. "You smell of dog." I glared.

"Thanks."

"No, its not you…its more likely who you're hanging out with." His eyes fell upon the necklace that Jake had given me. I was wearing it, as usual. I never took it off. "Yes." He continued. "It is most definitely who you are hanging out with. Bella," he said hurriedly, "you should know the truth about him and his kind. They are not safe! They are not to be trusted!" He rushed forward, and I put my hands up.

"They are not to be trusted? You don't think I can trust my own boyfriend? That's a laugh and a half, especially considering what you are." His eyebrows lifted and a small look of surprise came on his face.

"Oh, so he's told you I see. Although, I'm sure that he hasn't given you the whole story. Especially," he said, lowering his voice. "about imprinting." Now was my turn to be surprised.

"Imprinting?" I asked, unable to help myself. He looked around.

"Let's go somewhere more private, shall we?" He brought me to his car and we sat in it, before he continued. "Imprinting," he said, looking me straight in the eyes, "is possibly one of the most heartbreaking things that can happen to someone involved with a werewolf. A werewolf has their perfect match, you see. The one person that they're meant to be with. And once they lay their eyes on them, the love is unshakable, is inescapable. They can barely afford to be parted for five hours, never mind an entire school day." He looked down at me, his tone getting more gentle. "I'm truly sorry that you didn't know about this. After the years that we've known the tribes, we've seen and heard about the many facets of being a werewolf. They're very volatile, you know. They can change within a millisecond." I looked into Edward's eyes, and I saw no lies, no hidden plots.

"So what if he didn't tell me?" I said somewhat indignantly. "Maybe I'm the one he's imprinted on."

"Maybe, maybe…not." Edward said softly. He took my shoulder very gently. "Bella, if he were imprinted to you, you would hardly be able to be separated from one another without an excruciating amount of heartbreak. And I would definitely think that if the imprint were the case, he would have told you." At this, I started to tremble slightly.

"But…why wouldn't he have told me?" I said, my eyes watering. Maybe Jake didn't know. I immediately shot that suggestion down though; Billy was the head of the tribe, they would know everything. Edward gently put his arm around my shoulder. I was too into my own little world to really notice or react.

"I'm sorry Bella," he said softly. "I wouldn't have thought he would have kept such an important thing from you. If you want, you can talk to me about it." I shook my head and looked at the clock on Edward's dashboard.

"No thanks. Oh great. We're going to be late to Biology." I quickly wiped my tears.

"Who cares?" Edward said "You and I are the best students in there anyways. I have an idea." He leaned closer to my ear. "Why don't you and I skip the rest of school? We can just drive around, and if you want, we can talk about the imprint and stuff." I thought about this. Driving around might be a bad idea. Besides, I didn't exactly want to get kidnapped by a vampire. But I definitely was not in good shape to go to Biology.

"Can we just…talk about something different without driving anywhere? I have a feeling that I will want to go to La Push directly after school." I had no clue how I was going to approach this at all with Jake. "Like, how did you become a vampire?" Edward raised his eyebrow at my common use of the word.

"Well…as you can imagine, I'm very old, over a century old in fact. In the early nineteen hundreds, there was an epidemic of the Spanish Influenza. Carlisle was a doctor during this time because he has been living for several centuries, and has always tried to help people. I was infected with the Spanish Influenza, and by the time he had me as a patient, I was already half gone. So, he decided to transform me into one of his kind. He had been alone all of the time he had been a vampire; naturally never being able to really confide in anyone, or have one singular companion. So, in a way, I became his son." He looked off in the distance, almost as if he was in another place. "Soon enough, we came across other members of our family. Esme was also saved in a hospital, and we found Rose, who in turn found Emmett. Alice and Jasper came out of nowhere, and eagerly joined our family. We were lucky enough to become a family, and share the quality of not taking human lives for our thirst." I didn't know how to quite respond to his family. He looked at me with his crooked smile. There was a note of sorrow in there that I hadn't detected before.

"So…what do you do to satiate your thirst?" I asked, a thousand questions forming in my mind, but I settled on that one in particular. For now anyway. He smiled.

"We feed on animals. Not exactly our ideal nutrition, but it satisfies the thirst, and we don't have to kill any humans. I'm surprised you don't have any more questions," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Well, actually I do. Are you really the only one without…a partner?" I asked carefully. I didn't know if that was the polite way to ask something like that. He leaned his head back on his seat.

"Yes, I am. There's been one time where I have felt anything for anyone, and that doesn't appear to have worked out just yet." I looked down.

"That's so sad." I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Yes. But, you never know what will happen." A small smile appeared. "I mean, in this world, who knows?" I nodded and then looked up at the clock again.

"Ohmy…it's almost time for Jake to get out of school." I sat up straight. "I think I definitely need to talk to him about this." Edward looked at me

"Would you like me to come?"

"No thanks." I tried not to grimace. This was going to be hard to ask Jake about. I didn't need a vampire who could possibly be lying coming with me. I got out of the car, and Edward did too as he walked me to my car. I got in the driver's side and rolled down the window. "Thank you Edward. For everything." He nodded.

"It was no problem Bella. Remember," he said, his face slowly growing serious. "you can talk to me about anything you need." I nodded and began my way to La Push. I had been to the high school there often enough to know where it was. I arrived a few minutes early of it letting out. I parked my truck and waited by the doors. I went through scenarios in my mind, trying to figure out how to approach the subject of imprinting with Jake. Suddenly, the ringing of the bell awoke me from my little trance, and I straightened up, standing on my tip toes to see where Jake was. I saw Quil and Embry first, and he was laughing with them, and making jokes. I smiled. This was my Jacob.

I started walking slowly towards him, and he didn't notice me. I rolled my eyes, and hid in a slight doorway to wait for him to pass. As he did, I began running after him, and jumped on his back. He was shocked, and whirled around, but I had my arms around him, so he couldn't see me. However, Quil and Embry could. They found it hysterical as Jake circled around like a dog chasing his tail trying to see who his mystery attacker was. Finally, I let go, and he saw me. His expression instantly changed from being frustrated to a smile of bliss. I couldn't help but mirror the smile, even though I had my own frustration about him not telling me about the imprint thing.

"Bells," He said, instantly picking me up like a child and holding me in his arms. I rolled my eyes.

"You can put me down you know."

"Not happening."

"Want a ride home?" He wrinkled his nose.

"Do I get to drive?" He asked eagerly.

"Ha. You do not have your driver's license, mister." I said, poking his nose. "So I am the driver here." Quil and Embry snickered.

"Burned by the girl" Quil said mockingly. Jake glared at him. He instantly backed off.
"See you later Bells!" Embry said, dragging Quil by the collar to get out of the little line of fire that Jake had created. Suddenly, as Jake was sniffing my hair, he drew his head back sharply.

"What's that smell Bells? It's too sharp, too sweet. It almost smells like…vampires. But the Cullens are away?" the last sentence was a question. I sighed.

"They're back Jake. In fact, I had a conversation with Edward Cullen today." His eyes narrowed.

"About what? Do you need me to talk to him?" He gripped me slightly tighter.

"I'm fine for the moment right now. I want to talk to you about one thing that he told me about though." My frustration about the imprint thing had faded, but I was still extremely curious. "How come you never told me about imprints?" Jake's face dropped slightly.

"Um, can we talk about this when we get in your truck?" He said looking around cautiously.

"Sure." He gently put me down, and we walked hand in hand to the truck. As we got inside, he ran a hand through his hair.

"The reason I didn't tell you about imprints is because I didn't think I'd have to worry about it just yet." I raised my eyebrow. "You see, imprints don't really start until you're around sixteen or so. I thought we still had a year or so before we had to start worrying about that." My face dropped and I blushed slightly. How had I ever doubted him? "Did the vampire tell you that?" Jake said, with a semi-annoyed look.

"No in fact. He just told me about the imprint part. And he seemed to try and make you the bad guy." I put my head in my hands. "And I almost believed him that you were trying to hide it from me." Jake put his arm around my shoulders.

"Bells, I know that you love me, and besides, the guy knows how to convince people. He can read their minds. He knows exactly what they're thinking, and exactly what makes them tick." I shook my head

"I was so stupid though, to doubt you." He pulled me closer.

"Hey. You were not stupid. I should have told you about it earlier. It kind of is a big deal. And I know that you wouldn't have gotten mad at me and left me." He touched my face gently. "Bella, I know you. You care about everyone you know, and the only reason you were upset by it was because you couldn't believe it. And you had to get it figured out." I laid my head against his chest.

"I'm sorry for ever doubting you Jake. Do you forgive me?" I whispered.

"What is there to forgive?" He asked, stroking my hair.

"Thank you Jake."

"I love you baby. You're my Bella." I looked up at him

"And I love you too." I was so happy that I had talked to him about it. I was beyond angry at Edward for even somewhat trying to drive a wedge between Jake and mine's relationship. Though, a small part of my mind was sorry for him because he had no partner.

Luckily, the rest of the week went without incident with Edward Cullen. Me and Jake were closer than ever; if that was even possible. We celebrated our one month anniversary on October 14th, and it was one of the best nights I'd ever had. We created a bonfire on the beach, and were just there together, talking and snuggling. We watched the mystical colors the fire changed with the sea salt on the driftwood we burned. We got to watch the sunset together again, and it was mystical. The day disappeared into night, the blue sky transforming yet again with a symphony of colors. Soon the rich warm colors of the change into night left a dark blue sky that looked like velvet sprinkled with stars of diamonds that shined by moonlight. It was an absolutely breathtaking sight.

Beautiful was not a strong enough word to describe it. It was striking, and wondrous. It was magical and splendiferous. And it was made a million times better because I was spending it with the most wonderful person I could have ever have imagined. I couldn't believe I had had a moment's doubt about him not telling me something. But, he had forgiven me, which was one of the many traits of him that made me love him so much.