Hello dearies! So, I've got a new chapter for you! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it means so much! Special thanks to OcToPiRsQuIsHy, my new beta, since my other one just.. kinda disappeared? So thanks to them!

Chapter 16

"You know me, you know me all too well

My only desire - to bridge our division"

The music was blaring through the house, and if it hadn't been for the fact that is was Saturday, the neighbours would probably have been banging on the front door complaining. Somehow Talae had managed to convince her parents to spend the afternoon and evening in Port Angeles. To be honest, they both needed to get out more anyway, so they had gone without a fuss.

"In sorrow I speak your name

And my voice mirrors my torment"

Humming along with the chorus, she walked out of the bathroom into her messy room, dressed in nothing but a towel, using a smaller one to dry her hair. Brushing aside a small pile of clothes that had missed the hamper with her foot, she opened awindow, letting in a fresh mid-April breeze. With a flick of her wrist, the towel came loose and dropped to the floor. Reaching into the top drawer of her dresser she pulled out a pair of lime-green 'boy shorts' panties with purple polka-dots in them. Fishing into the back of the drawer, she located and pulled out a plain, black bra - that in no way matched the panties, but who was going to see them?

"Seek me, For comfort

Call me, For solace

I'll be waiting, For the end of my broken heart"

"For the end of my brooooken heeeeeeaaart!", she screamed along with the last sentence as she pulled on the boy shorts and bra, sprayed on deodorant when the music switched to a dub step, electronic song with a heavy beat. It was the kind of song that lured your body into moving rhythmically, and she let it capture her, snapping her hips to the beat of the music. Not once did her scar-lined hip hurt, proving that it had healed properly and was stronger than ever. She bent over and shook her head furiously, air-drying her hair in the process . She glanced at the clock on her wall - it read 17:28. Plenty of time, she thought and rubbed her face with moisturizing lotion.

In half an hour Leah and Charlotte were going to storm her home, carrying loads of candy, chips and soda, for all their nourishment needs. Girls' Night was on. She'd already cleaned up and prepared the living room, throwing several blankets and pillows on the couch and floor, and rented a ton of horror and action movies.

The past week had been rough… to say the least. Her hip and ribs was fine, but Talae just couldn't seem to catch a break lately. Just a couple of days after the hip-incident was when the nightmares had started. At first she could deal with it, she'd had bad dreams before, no sweat. But now… ten days after she found out that her pack-brother shared her night terrors, she was almost at her rope's end.

Bypassing any socks, she pulled on a pair of very low-riding, black sweatpants and grabbed her hairbrush, dancing around bare-footed while running it through her now half-dry-ish mane of hair.

Good thing she had a redundant nervous system, or she would have gone totally bonkers from sleep deprivation by now. The worst thing was the content of the damn dreams. Always the same evil, white-haired vampire haunted her, the stupid bastard that had attacked her that night. Sometimes his blonde,malicious sidekick joined in the torture and she'd wake up screaming. Fuck, even afternoon napping was off limits!

She wasn't sure if it was serious, if the maiming had left some emotional scars she wasn't aware off, or whatever it was. When she had started voicing her concerns to Jacob – mostly because he'd nagged it out of her when he started sensing her constant state of exhaustion – he'd of course been sceptical that it was anything serious; after all, if was just nightmares, they couldn't hurt you. He got his dad to recite all kinds of ancient Quileute ways for the restless to find peaceful sleep. None of which worked, sadly.

Done with her hair she threw the brush ontobed and picked the damp towel upoff the floor, flinging it over the bathroom door to dry. As she felt the humidity go lower and the cold of the evening filling up the room, she turned to the window to shut it.

"Argh!" she staggered backwards in shock, her hand flying to her heart, "What the crap are you doing?"

A certain black-haired boy was leaning in her bedroom window, resting his arms on the frame with a big, cheeky grin plastered on his all too handsome face.

"What?" he laughed, "Did I interrupt something?"

"You pervert! How long have you been standing there?" she gasped and turned the stereo down before walking to the window. She slid the glass-pane a little higher, just enough so he could crawl in. Of course he only had a pair of cut-off shortson.

"Oh, about five or ten minutes," he chuckled, kissing her cheek before launching himself on her bed.

"So… a while," she blushed, realizing she was still in her bra and that he'd probably seen her dance around in her undies. Great.

"Yeeeaaah," he threw her a lop-sided grin, bobbing his head slowly up and down, all smug-like.

Face-palming herself, she let out an embarrassed sigh, "Fantastic. What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

He managed to get himself off of the bed and walked up to her, grabbing her by the hips, caressing the scar that marred her hipwith his thumb, "I just finished patrol and thought I'd come check up on you."

"Check up on me? Jake, I'm not a child," she glared at him, softly placing her hands on his chest as he pulled her body into his, "Besides, I have company coming over."

"Come on, I know that," he rolled his eyes before cupping her cheek and brushing his thumb lightly over it, "How are you feeling?"

She smiled, touched by his concern, "I'm okay, for now. I got in half an hour dream-free sleep, earlier. I'm holding up so far".

"Good. Now, who's coming over?" he murmured, leaning down to nuzzle her neck, placing feather-light kisses on her skin.

A contented sigh escaped her lips as she leaned her head left, giving him better access, "It's just Lee and Char, and they'll be here any minute, so you need to leave."

"Mhm, okay," he hummed, nibbling on her bare shoulder, easing the strap of her bra off for more play-space. She whimpered quietly when he bit down on the juncture of her neck and shoulder, slightly digging her fingertips into his exposed chest.

"Jake," she gasped, loosing control over the desire growing in her gut, "Jacob, I'm serious."

His teeth left her shoulder as he snorted against her skin, and ran his tongue over the indentations in her flesh, "Fine."

He sounded awfully disappointed. She chuckled and pulled back as he pushed the bra-strap back up, "It's Girls' Night."

"Arh," he rolled his eyes, "then I don't wanna stay." He pulled her in for a hug, kissing the top of her head, "I'll just go home, eat pizza and be all by my lonesome self." He sighed dramatically and laughed when she slapped his arm.

"Don't make me feel bad, you douche," she teased before pecking him on the lips, "you are, however, invited over for dinner tomorrow."

"What are we having?"

"What do you mean 'what are we having'? Isn't it enough that we feed you for free?" she mock gasped, slapping him on the other arm. He chuckled and drew her in for another short kiss.

"By the way," he said stepping away from her and jerked his hips left and right a couple of times, "I love the way you shake it." She gaped at him as he laughed at her, "Oh come on, I thought it was very sexy!"

"You're a jerk, Jacob Black," she pouted, searching the room for a t-shirt to wear.

"Ouch," he chuckled, clutching his chest for effect, "so vicious."

"Ha-ha," she smiled and rolled her eyes, finally finding a semi-clean, oversized t-shirt. Meh, she was probably going to spill something on it anyway.

"You're such a slob," he snickered when she pulled it over her head, "aw, I liked the view."

"Yeah yeah, you're very funny," she ushered him out the room and towards the back door, "now get out before I throw you out."

"Fine," he huffed, unlocking the door, "what time tomorrow?"

"Come over around four, we can hang out before dinner," she shrugged, standing in the doorway as he walked out onto the porch.

"Okay," he grinned, turning around to give her a quick kiss, "see you tomorrow."

"Bye Jake," she smiled, watching him bound off the deck and across the backyard, stopping at the tree line to wave at her before disappearing into the woods.

She couldn't stop the stupid smile on her lips from widening and taking over her face. It was funny how all her troubles seemed to melt away in the glow of his warm presence; just seeing him made her feel a whole lot better. Shaking her head, she re-locked the door and wandered into the living room. After pulling her hair into a loose ponytail, she pulled the curtains over the windows, shutting out all natural light, andinstead lighting a couple of dim table-lamps, just enough so you could see where you were going.

Several loud knocks sounded from the hallway when she turned on the TV.

"The door's open!" she shouted as she turned the TV to DVD.

"Yo Tee!" Leah shouted as the front door opened. She kicked off her shoes and walked straight to the kitchen with several plastic bags in her hands.

"Hey Tee," Charlotte called from the hallway, taking off her own shoes, then politely put both hers and Leah's on the shoe rack.

"Hey guys, make yourselves at home," she called back, pulling out the rented DVD's so they could chose what to watch first.

She walked out into the hallway and gave Charlotte a one-armed hug, "how was patrol?"

The young girl ran a hand through her short hair with a sigh, "we caught that scent again, but there was no other sign of them."

That was a bit unsettling to hear. After the night Talae had her hip smashed to pieces, every now and then they'd catch the scent of the vampires who'd thrown the damn rock. They'd caught sight of them a couple of times, but the blasted monsters always escaped. It was disturbing to say the least. Why the heck were they sticking around?

"Right," Talae nodded, and led Charlotte into the kitchen to join Leah in unpacking and preparing.

"You were out with Embry, right?" she asked, trying to grab a chip from the bowl Leah was pouring a bag-full into. Her hand was swatted away though, and she sent a glare Leah's way while rubbing the sore appendage.

"Yeah, all through the night and early morning. God, and now I know all the words to 'We Didn't Start the Fire' because he got laid yesterday," Charlotte groaned and rubbed her brow in annoyance.

Leah and Talae laughed until she punched their shoulders in turn. Talae got out the beverages and cups while Leah and Charlotte split up allthe chips and candy into different bowls.

"This is why I love our fast metabolism," Leah grinned as she walked into the dim living room, setting the bowls on the coffee table before throwing herself into one of the two big armchairs on either side of the sofa, restingher feet on the matching ottoman.

"What, the 'eating anything you want and not gain a pound'-thign? Yeah, I can see why that's appealing," Talae smirked, finally able to pop a chip in her mouth, almost swallowing it whole.

"Guys, what should we watch first?" Charlotte interrupted, holding up Crank and 30 Days of Night.

"Crank!"Leah shouted just as Talae was opening her mouth, "Frankly, I'm a little sick of vampires right now."

Talae snorted, but agreed. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and slid in the DVD, then joined Talae on the couch. They both dragged their feet up under their butts, and surprisingly enough the couch was just big enough for both oftheir tall figures. They even shared a blanket and a bowl of chips, while Leah enjoyed sitting by herself in the comfy armchair.

"Char, pass the soda," Leah waved her hand towards the 6-pack of Mountain Dew while focusing on the TV-screen, skipping past the trailers with the remote in her hand.

And so commenced an evening of movies, snacking, total relaxation and girl talk.

"Bye Char! Sleep tight!" Leah shouted and Charlotte turned around on the sidewalk to wave. Talae and Leah both waved enthusiastically back before closing the front door, walking back to the living room to clean up their mess.

It was a little before three in the morning when they'd finish, and both girls had night-patrol. Talae'sparents had decided to rent a hotel room for the night in Port Angeles, saying something about 'old days' and 'romance' when they'd called.

As it was, this was Talae's first real night-patrol since she had broken her hip. Long story short, Jacob had been wary to put her on patrol when it was dark and she was alone, trying to protect her from harm. And she wouldn't put up with it, fed up with being treated like a child, like she was a 'special case' needing 'special treatment'. Somewhere in the back of her head she knew Jacob just cared about herand that she shouldn't react too strongly, but her temper meant otherwise, coupled heavily with experience, and the fact that she was a very independent person, a free spirit if you will. She had no illusions that she needed Jacob as much as he probably needed her however. She was well aware of the feelings he stirred in her, sometimes painfully so. But she was a free person, and as long as it wasn't hurting other people, she saw no reason why she couldn't do what she wanted to do.

So they had argued, wrestled, struggled, waged war, andfought. Most battles she had won because Jacob's only defence was that he didn't want her hurt, whereas she had several arguments as to why that was completebullshit. The only reason they had not stopped fighting over it was the fact that they were both extraordinarily pig-headed. So in the end she had to pull the rage-card, seeing as it intimidated him as fuck, which had in turn cost her a few pieces of furniture… and the forest some trees.

So now she was allowed to run one alone with Leah on the other end, and had to promise Jake that she wouldn't engage anyone without calling for help first, and not at all if the vamps were more than two. The compromise worked well, so far; last night's patrol had gone fine, no scents, and no encounters.

She stretched and yawned as she waited for Leah to be done changing to phase-friendly clothing.

Going commando as always when anticipating phasing, Talae had put on some beat-up cut-offs with paint-stains; they had been her dad's, but since he spattered it with paint that wouldn't come out, he'd thrown them her way, knowing she could put them to good use. And an old tie-dye shirt of her mothers with a wide neckline, easy to pull over her head in a hurry. Shoes didn't exist in a shape-shifter's vocabulary. She'd taken to the way of keeping her clothes with her in wolf-form, like the rest of the La Push wolves, with the elastic string around her calf. It was more practical now that the snow was gone and didn't soak her pelt. Leah emerged from Talae's room wearing pretty much the same attire and yawned, "God, if I could get out of this I would."

"You could just let me patrol on my own", Talae shrugged her shoulders, unlocking the backdoor.

"Ha-ha, very funny," Leah rolled her eyes, pushing her friend out the door and down the porch steps.

"Just sayin'," Talae mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as Leah closed the door and locked it, hiding the key under a potted plant nearby.

"Then stop saying stuff, you imbecile," she snorted, pushing Talae by the shoulders towards the tree line when she slacked behind. They stripped, tied their clothes to their legs and phased smoothly.

Talae shook out her long fur and huffed, "Shut up."

"So does your face,"Leah said, bumping her shoulder against Talae's as they ran deeper into the woods.

"That doesn't make any sense, you ass," she rolled her eyes, ducking around a tree, playfully tackling Leah, sending her into a thicket of vines and something looking like poison ivy.

"So does your face! Hah!" Leah laughed as she came barrelling out of the bushes, butting her head against Talae's side. Not nearly enough to hurt her,but enough to send her stumbling and tripping over her own feet. She ended up falling into a partially thick patch of grass, taking a fallen, old log to the paw. She yelped and rolled into her stomach when coming to a stand still.

"Ouch," she frowned, licking her sore paw. It stopped hurting and just throbbed, like a stubbed toe.

"Shit, sorry Tee, I didn't mean to hurt you, are you alright?" Leah whined, nudging the white wolf with her snout. Talae stood up with ease though, groaned in her head and pulled away from her friend.

"Damnit Lee, not you too," she snapped with a frustrated growl, "a fucking tackle isn't going to fucking kill me." She was tired of being treated like a brittle-boned cripple. She wasn't mad at Leah per say, but she didn't like the idea that Jacob's overly-protectiveness had spilled on over to the others, much less to Leah of all people. She was supposed to be on her side. For fucks sake, her paw didn't even hurt anymore!

"Chill missy, I didn't mean anything by it," Leah tried, tugging her tail slightly between her legs and backing up. But parts of a conversation she had with Jacob slipped through her mind; him making his beta promise to look after his imprint, threatening her with everything he could think of doing if she failed.

"Leah! God fucking damnit! I'm going to shove my foot so far up his ass he's going to taste my shoelace!" she snarled, flexing her claws as the anger slowly built up inside her. Damn, she was acting like she did before she phased for the first time; throwing temper tantrums, getting into fights, lashing out over the smallest things. And it wasn't as if she liked being an angry bitch, she was naturally a quiet, friendly person. She blamed Jacob. All of it: Jacob's fault. Okay, she didn't blame him- blame him, she just... She was frustrated.

Sure life was way better in Washington than in Anchorage, but also a lot more complicated.

"Hey dude, I'm on your side, I just don't want shit-ass assignments, and I don't like being ordered around either, but hey, we have a hierarchy," Leah backed further away from the increasingly fuming white she-wolf, "just, calm down okay? You can beat him up after patrol, alright? Let's get this over with before you kill me in blind fury, please."

Talae snarled, but eased up her tensed stance, "Fine." She temporarily stored her outrage away so she could focus on the job at hand, but it still sat festering in the back of her mind.

There it is! Please review, you know how little I require :D I have several chapter ready to be beta'd, so more reviews is, as always, faster update! Tah-tah!