Breaking Tides

4 February 2010

Sum: What if Edward wasn't the first vampire Bella met?

Chapter 3

"Hey Bells." Bella looked up to the boy that had just driven up into her driveway. She was sitting in the front yard on a bench reading a book. Her face broke into a grin and dropped the book to go hug the newcomer.

"Jacob!" She threw herself into his arms and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Boy, you've gotten big!" She leaned back to get a good look at him.

"I'm no longer a boy, pipsqueak!" He laughed and spun her around.

"Oh please, you're only a month older than I am!" She tried to punch him the arm but only ended up encountering brick. She tilted her head and looked at him strangely.

"What are you conjuring in that mind of yours?" Jacob tapped her on the forehead.

"I was just trying to figure something out, but it's silly really, I can tell that you're burning up."

"What else did you think I would be doing with such a cute girl in my arms?" He teased and seeing the still slightly concerned look in her face, he sighed. "You know it's not safe just moving here, when you called me to inform me why you were moving back, I told you that you would need better protection than just moving away from the issue."

"Look, Jacob, I appreciate the concern, really, and I never should have told you. I got you involved too deeply and there's really nothing you can do."

"Remember that story I told you when we were five about where my ancestors came from?" Bella nodded, she remembered, she'd had nightmares as a child of big wolves chasing her.

"Well, they're true. I'm one of them, so yes, I can actually protect you from that leech." Jacob was deadly serious and Bella sat there looking at him for a long moment before she slowly nodded.

"Ok, but really Jacob, it's dangerous, you'll still get hurt. You don't understand this situation like I do, you don't get how they operate."

"You might have done a lot of research and have had one on one with that psycho, but trust me when I say that I'm more than capable of handling this." He lifted her chin up with his pointer-finger. "Hey, believe me, we'll both be all right."

"Well, what do you mean you've had experience with them?"

Jacob hesitated. "I don't know if you've noticed the resident vampires-"

"The Cullens?" She questioned, scared that she'd been taken for a fool yet again, she almost believed that he was telling the truth- that she was safe here even with them and that they were vegetarians. "What have they done?"

"Nothing." He sounded pissed by it. "We have this stupid treaty with them and until they break it, we can't touch them. They're supposedly different." He said the last part in quotes. "But there are rogue vampires that come through occasionally, way north of town, the vampires don't have territory up there and we're not only restricted to the Res. It's fragile ground, but they don't know we're chasing the red eyes." Jacob grinned. "So we've got plenty of practice!"

Bella shifted where she stood as she looked at him disbelievingly. "But its dangerous! You could be killed!"

Jacob laughed and pulled her into another bone crushing hug. "Ah relax Bells, it's not dangerous for me, I'm super strong and impenetrable! Don't worry about me, ok?"

"Jake!" She protested from within the confines of his arms. "Lego!"

"Did you say leggos?" He released her and looked around before turning to her and grinned.

"You big goof." She slipped her arm through his. "So, what's the plan for today? Come by to just tease me or you got things to give to Charlie from your dad?"

"Eh, I have a third option. How about I kidnap you and take you down to my favorite hang-out." He suggest.

"Aw, come-on, not your garage? Haven't you tortured me enough with the time I've spent there in our entire life history?"

"Hey, be grateful, if it weren't for me spending time in the garage, then this old thing wouldn't even be running and you'd be given a ride in the cruiser everyday for the rest of your life and have to hitch a ride with someone or call up your pa."

"Ok, then on that note, thank you very much for the truck, I do love it by the way. I'm surprised this is the first time you've been up to see in me the two weeks that I've been here."

"We were having issues with the boys and Cullens. We really don't like to step foot on this neutral territory as emotions flare high and it's really just gross being around each other."

"Ok, I'll buy that, but then again, I'm really close to you, so you don't really have to go through town to get to me."

"Fine, I'm not really supposed to be this honest with you, but, I was up in Canada tracking a vampire that we caught wind of in Olympia."

"What were you doing in Olympia?" Bella questioned, still amazed by their abilities that she could only imagine were the tip of the iceberg.

"Ah, we were getting some grub." Jacob laughed at her expression. "Come on Bells, what do you think? Forks and Port Angeles has enough food to feed us every day of the week? Yeah right, and cows fly."

"You know, I think that saying's when pigs fly." Bella teased him.

"Oh I know, I just think it'd be more impressive if a cow could manage to get its body weight off the ground, and the other saying is totally over-used."

Bella paused for a moment as she looked over Jacob. "I think you've out-grown a cow, I'd be more impressed if they could get you to fly, not to mention your other form, man you must be huge!"

"And growing." He stated proudly, puffing his chest out. "No, since it's nice out, I thought I'd take you to the cliff-diving, the weather is pretty calm."

"Ah, Jake, you know me though, and cliff-diving, well it's an extreme sport for most people, and just walking is pretty extreme for me..."

"Not to worry your pretty little head, we'll be on the beach watching the rest of them. I think it's fun and all but it's gotten a little over-crowded in recent weeks. Perhaps even, I might be able to get you to jump off the shortest one with me. Not to worry, I'll keep you safe!"

Bella's face split out into a grin and she spun away from him towards the house. "I'll just change and we can go, but you're crazy if you think I'm getting into the water. It may be April, but it's still very cold to me!"

"Then what were you doing sitting outside?" He called after her.

She turned and gave him a huge smile. "As you said, it's sunny out, and I was enjoying the actually first decent day since I've been here!"

When she returned she was carrying an extra sweater to put over her lighter-weight one in case along the shore was colder than in land, but she was also wearing a swimsuit underneath her jeans and few layers so if it got hot, she could strip off one at a time and she also had a pair of shorts she could switch into if it really did get warm enough. Jacob was shaking his head at her load. "Come on Bells, you'll change your mind when you see how much fun you could be having. What's a little cold? You'll get used to it in time."

"And if I develop hypothermia, it's on your head!" She brought him to task. "I'm an Arizona girl, in our winters, I wear sweaters! I'm not superheated by an internal furnace like you are. I'm actually the normal one here."

"When you're the normal one in our relationship, let me go buy you that cow." He picked her up and swung her into his truck, if possible, it was even larger than hers, but might not have run as well. "I'm working on it, but it's still decent, my newest project is a rabbit." He explained when she commented on getting the newest engine.

"Perhaps we should get bikes and really turn your life around. What am I saying? You would out run any motorized vehicle on the road."

"Not any." He grumbled. "I'm not sure if you noticed the shiny silver car that usually gets driven around town."

"Yeah, here it stands out but back home it would be a poor kid's car." Bella sighed. "Not that I could even afford the parking stall there."

"The motor in that thing though is much more than a normal volvo, it's only because they can't quite curb their indulgences but they don't want to stand out so much either."

The Cullens she wisely informed herself and attempted to steer conversation away from them, she couldn't be thinking of them, or she might just find herself in a trance remembering those golden eyes that seemed to pull her in without even meaning to. He was very dangerous to the center of her being, she knew it, and she couldn't do much about it, he was truly a god-like specimen if it wasn't for the fact that his teeth would either kill her or turn her, not to mention what he could do with one finger.

She had to pull herself out of it even then thinking of how he had disconcerted her with how nice he was, despite looking like he wanted to tear her to pieces. She flicked Jacob in the skull. "How about you try to alleviate my fears on this ocean thing that you've got me going to. Is it really not that dangerous?"

"Hell no, Bells, it's just a fun past time."

Three hours later...

"I can't believe you!" Bella pushed her soaking hair out of her face. "It's just a fun past time." She echoed mocking Jacob in her 'manly' voice. "I had so much fun, you really shouldn't have tried to scare me like that! Though I did love your face when you thought Quill was trying to drown me! I can't believe you didn't know Embry pulled me away and we were just hiding behind the ridge. I thought for sure I leaked it with that giggle!"

"Haha." Jacob intoned dryly. "Very funny, here I am trying to save your butt from vampires and you thought it was fun to play a practical joke on me where your life might have been danger from one of my own. Such a laugh."

"Oh whatever." Bella pushed him and he didn't budge. "You know, I don't like this, what happened to that sweet little boy I could beat up?"

"You haven't been able to take me on since we were five, so don't even go there."

"If you didn't have super-strength, I could still take you on!"

"OH yeah?" He challenged.

"Yeah!" Bella grinned and he lunged for her. She squealed and backed up a step before finding herself on the ground, looking up at him with sand finding its way in to cling to all of her strands of hair. "Oh great, that'll take forever to wash out." She complained, glancing at the sand that now hung in strands around her face.

Jacob plopped down next to her and nudged her. "You can take all the showers you want at my place. You have salt water in there anyways, so it'd be uncomfortable to go all the way back to yours like that. I'm glad that you've come out and joined us, even happier that you actually stepped foot into the water."

"I'm not the wicked witch of the west you know, I actually do outdoor activities including the beach and pools."

"I'd hate to see you do any sports, or *gasp* hiking!"

"Oh come off it!" Bella threw a pile of wet sand at his chest. "We both know sports and I don't match, but it's not that bad!"

Jacob cleared his throat, clearly disagreeing. "I do recall you falling over just trying to take off your sandal earlier."

"They're complicated footwear."

"The last time I saw you in complicated footwear, it was because you were three and didn't know how to tie your laces."

Bella pouted and leaned against her knees, it was true and she couldn't argue with him, being known as the simplicity queen and klutz queen as one entity meant that she didn't have much to go off of in arguing for herself. She was known as the Simple Klutz in Phoenix from the people who did see her, and weren't her friends, though they weren't much better in private.

"Ah come on, that's what I think is so great about you! You're always good for a laugh and you always know what your talking about and your super friendly when you're not being shy. Which I have to say, I don't see that side of you very often." Jacob splayed a hand against her back. "So, don't break up with me over that!"

Bella rolled her eyes, they'd been playing this game since they were toddlers, saying they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but not in the serious manner, just as a joke, and everyone knew it too. They were the best of friends and often the times she did manage to make it up to Forks, she never hung out with the local kids, she always came down to La Push, so it was no wonder the other kids didn't really know who she was. Charlie didn't care, he was always down here anyways.

"Fine, lead the way, oh great one, I think I want that shower now."

"Good, and I'll make us dinner why you do that. Billy should be back in time to eat." When Bella's nose wrinkled, he had only one word to say. "What?"

"You cook?"

"Hey, I'm not your parents, I am able to get around in the kitchen, and I kind of had to learn when my sisters left for their lives and left me with someone who couldn't reach all the cabinets. It was a rough couple of months, but we got through it, and now I make a mean meal."

"Nice alliteration." Bella teased. "I just have to stay and try this, it's too tempting of an offer to pass up."

"Just no grading." He warned.

"Would I do that?" They both paused and then broke out laughing, because she would, just not always out loud. "All right, all right, I will save the criticism for something else. You going to show me what's in your garage?"

"Yeah sure, after dinner sounds perfect."

---

Bella walked out of the bathroom with a towel in her hands, trying to soak up any remaining water in the follicles. She was glad now that she brought a change of clothing and in that pile was a pair of underwear she had sneaked in in case she didn't want to wear her swimsuit all day.

"Charlie called, he said he wouldn't be able to make dinner." Jacob called to her and she figured he'd heard her footsteps or the shower turning off awhile ago.

"Oh, ok. Hey Billy, how have you been?" She leaned down to give him a hug.

"Just great, better now that I see you are back in town for good. You know your old man couldn't shut up about it, he's so happy you've decided to take him up on the offer to stay with him for awhile." Billy responded to both the hug and question. "I know Jacob's glad you're back too."

"I think he's just more relieved that he's now around to protect me from my big dark shadow, if it comes this far Northwest."

"So he's told you?"

"She saw all the signs, she knows about the cold ones and she's being stalked by one, if I want her to trust me with the information she has on it, I had to share with her how I could protect her in return. Besides, I told her that story years ago, when I didn't know any better." Jacob admitted without an ounce of a shame or guilt, he in fact looked rather pleased with himself. "I like having her on the inside too, it makes it easier to cancel dates and strange behavior."

"You guys still going on with that charade?" Billy seemed tickled by it and Bella could only shrug.

"It's just tradition." She responded, looking over Jacob's shoulder, well, she would have if she could have, instead she had to look around his massive bulk to try to look into the pot he was working on.

"Hey, no peaking!" He objected, angling himself to block her out. Bella laughed and plunked herself down at the table.

"Sorry Jake, old habits die hard, and it's hard to image that anyone I know can actually manage food, they always seem to burn it or dust it or deep-freeze it or something that makes it completely inedible." She explained. "Charlie once tried to make noodles and it turned into a massive lump that needed a jackhammer to break apart."

Billy laughed uproariously. "Yeah, Harry always give him a bag of his special seasoning for fish, but I don't think it does any good. If I could only convince that man to let me buy him a grill, then maybe he could BBQ and survive off of that, every man has to be good at that at least, right?"

Bella's lips turned into a slow smile at the thought of it. "Yeah, I can suppose that to be an accurate assumption. Though I don't know if I want you encouraging his poor eating habits, he's going to give himself heart-failure if he keeps it up."

"Ah, he's way behind Harry and he's still going strong as a horse." Jacob interrupted as he came to the table and dropped the pan with a bang on top of a pot holder he'd set out earlier.

"Wow, I'm impressed you remembered that small step, it is after all, very hot off the stove."

Jacob smiled sheepishly, one hand going behind his head. "Ah, well.... It's one of those live and learn situations. I guess after burning a hole through the table a few times teaches you a few things not to repeat, or would be better off not doing so." Bella tried to lift the placemat up so she could peak at the damage he'd done but his hand came out to stop her. "Better not scare your eyes with that. Enjoy your food."

"Ah man, but I wanted to see your amazing handiwork at play!" She pouted but moved her hand away so she could lean up against the table to see inside the pan. "It actually looks ok."

"I thought there'd be no judging." Jacob playfully warned and she sank back down. "That's better, how much do you want?"

After dinner, she surveyed the progress of his newest project and commented positively on the fact he'd gotten so far in only a couple of weeks tied together with school work and wolf business. He shrugged in response.

"Ah, I'm a few parts short, I don't have the funds for it and I have to go to at least Port Angeles to pick it up and I haven't really had the time."

"But you can drive all the way to Olympia to catch some grub?" She raised an eyebrow.

"That was more recon missions, we knew there was a larger percentage of wayward vampires in larger cities, they don't really like or bother with the middle of nowhere, like here, not as many people to pick off and dump and move along unnoticed. At least in big cities, a body shows up, and it's just another day in the city. Out here, it's a big deal."

Bella had to agree with that. "So, can I call Embry and Quill Werecats? Just to tease them?"

"They'll find out eventually that you know Bells, but I think it's best they don't quite yet, I wasn't really supposed to tell you, but they didn't forbid it, so here you are."

"But I would have found out eventually, there's no way I could have missed all these signs!"

"Yeah, except for protecting you, I really wasn't supposed to have contact with the outside world and especially not hang out with you, but now that you know, I can't really be disciplined nor forbidden. Besides, I am kind of the leader, well, if I wanted to be, but Paul was first, so I let him keep it, it's not like I really want to be in charge anyways."

Bella shook her head. "Wow there was a lot of info in that, it's too bad though, I think you would have made an excellent leader. So I'm kind of an: it's easier to ask forgiveness than approval type of thing?" She wondered.

"Yep." Jacob grinned and snagged Bella into his arms and threw her over his shoulder, she protested and tried to get him to put her back down. "I am a take charge kind of guy as you know, and as such, I'm telling you that there is no way I am driving you home tonight, of course it's not really a matter of me being tired, it's just... it's late and Charlie will think it's a problem for me to drive back to the res tonight, so it's best if you just call him and tell him your spending the night, that way we can stay up playing board games and watching scary movies."

"No, not scary movies!" She exclaimed in mock horror. "No, not spending time with you, no!!!"

Jacob laughed as he carried her back to the main house and dumped her on the couch. "Pick out the game and movie while I get your dad on the line."

"Sir, yes sir!" Bella saluted as he sauntered back into the kitchen to get the phone. She had finished one task when he was beside her and the phone was in front of her face. She shrieked and backpedaled a few steps before realizing it was just Jacob. She had to stop doing that! If they could get next to her in a second, then really, her reaction would do no good. "Please try to make noise or slow it down!" She hissed at Jacob and put the phone to her ear. Her dad was worried about her noise and she tried to laugh it off. "Oh, Jacob just scared me with showing up at my elbow when I was fully engrossed in something else. I think I'm going to spend the night on his couch, he'll drop me off at school tomorrow, or at least the house to pick up my books. Yes, Billy is still awake, you want to talk to him?" She paused a moment to listen to him. "Oh, yeah, I'll do just that. Good night dad." She hung up the phone and thought it was funny that he was never worried about her spending the night in this house, then again she did think of Billy as her uncle. So she shrugged and handed the phone back to Jacob. "He just wanted me to tell Billy that their fishing trip for next Wednesday will have to be pushed back to Thursday."

Jacob returned the phone back to the kitchen and they set out to playing games until four in the morning at which time Bella started drooping off and making mistakes and falling asleep for long moments at a time. "All right, time for bed." He picked her up off the ground and deposited her into the couch-bed that he'd made up all by himself and covered her with a blanket.

"Wow you are growing up." She mumbled as she curled onto her side.

"Sweet dreams Bella." Jacob dropped a kiss onto her temple and padded off for his own room, but kept the door open, just in case. Bella was out in a few moments and Jacob listened to her with a disconcerted soul, because it started out peaceful enough, mumbles of incoherent things, nice things, then she said a name that chilled him, for if it was in her dream, then the dream must have turned bad. "Edward." She'd mumbled then switched again to other things that he couldn't make out. But the name didn't come again and neither did her real worries, at least not out loud to where he could hear them.

Jacob managed to get to sleep an hour or so later and it felt like no time had passed to when he was being prodded awake. "God you sleep like a log."

"Well I probably wouldn't if someone didn't keep me awake half the night with her desire to have fun." He mumbled and turned to his other side, so he wasn't facing her.

"You snore."

"Do not." He complained grumpily.

"Yeah, you do, you sleep with your mouth open to catch flies. Or maybe that's the dream catcher's real purpose, to make sure flies are distracted so they don't enter your mouth."

"You are too perky in the mornings."

"I've had coffee already." Bella jumped onto the bed so she could poke him again. "This hurts you know? But it's the only thing I got to get a response out of you."

"Then let me sleep, I'll be awake on my own shortly."

"I wish I could, but no can do, it's a Monday and classes start in less than an hour and a half." She informed him, directly into his sensitive ear.

Jacob bolted up in bed with a holler and covered it. "Do you mind? Some of us aren't hard of hearing like you are!" He rubbed it to make sure it wasn't burst. "Ow."

"Big baby." She pouted. "Anyways, you're my ride, remember?"

"Yeah, I forgot about that, stupid consequences." He pushed off from the bed and motioned to the door. "Shut it on the way out?"

Bella tossed him a look over her shoulder as she did just that. "I can't be late, I already have established a pretty poor record."

"Why, ditching and not inviting me?" He called to her as the door slammed shut.

"As if I would want you around!" She yelled through the door, but really, she didn't need to, supersensitive hearing, again. She heard Jacob's laughter through the door and she knew she'd been made. She patiently waited for him to get dressed and even made him a sandwich for the road.

"Ah, thanks Bells!" He snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her outside while the other hand snagged the sandwich she held out for him. "We're going to be late. Do you think we can skip going to your place?"

"I have all the necessary books that class is using at the school, and I'm sure I have enough notebooks and pens to do with for the day." Bella summarized. "I think I can manage if you just drop me off there."

"Okay-dokay." Jacob reached over and ruffled Bella's hair. She ducked though after an initial disorganizing of her hair.

"Come on, I'm heading to class!" She complained and tried to straighten it out, then a wicked grin crossed her features. She lunged for him and used both hands to mess up his hair, and when she finished, it was just a cloud around his head. "There! Now we're even."

They both laughed and Jacob continued down the path that would lead out of the Reservation and they both tried to get their hair back to a normal style. Jacob only had to pull it back into a pony-tail and Bella became content with the slightly disarrayed but still straight-like hair that she'd managed to achieve. It wasn't long until they pulled up to her school gates, it would have taken her longer, but not only did she not like to go all that fast, but her truck wouldn't go past 55mph without completely destroying the engine. Still, it took longer than a half hour, his truck couldn't much faster than hers, even if he wanted to push it harder.

"Thanks Jake!" Bella pushed open the door, classes with any luck shouldn't have started yet. Jacob reached across and pulled her into another hug.

"Stay safe, hmm? I can only do so much."

Bella returned the hug and laughed him off. "The worst thing that will happen to me here is tripping and ending up with a bruised bone somewhere." He returned the laugh, they both knew that was probably true.

Bella hopped out of the truck and shut the door. She waved goodbye to Jacob as she headed into the building that housed her first class, Jacob stayed to watch her make it inside. He felt a little distrustful, sure there was a treaty, but he'd just delivered her to a school teeming with vampires. Hopefully the other students there would provide a distraction and safety guard for her. He sighed and put the car into gear to leave the school grounds.