A/N: A GIANT thank you to everyone who reviewed which includes; j1u29, Puckabrina Alee, Kenia, lovesong101, DeanLover AmandaPanda, PinkVeeBerry and AmandaPanda again:). Again, thank you thank you. :)

AmandaPanda: Oh no worries, I always love suggestions. It helps me see how I can make my writing better and improve the story. Thank you soo much. :)

And again I'm sorry for how long its been! I'm horrible. And I know it doesn't make up for it, but I made this chapter a little longer than normal.

I have officially decided that the next chapter I post for Shattered will be the last one, but no worries. I'm not ready to tell Jacob and Jaelyn good bye and I already have plans for a sequel. ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Saga.

As soon as the end of day bell rang at school, I practically bolted out of class. Jacob had left in the middle of English, mumbling some excuse to the teacher but I knew why he left. With my hearing being a little better than the average student, I heard the light howl that seemed to carry with the wind.

I always wondered why I could hear what some others couldn't, or why I always was the fastest in gym without ever really running more than normal. I just blamed it on the whole my big brothers a wolf thing.

Seemed to work for me.

When I got to my car Quil and Seth were there, I must have had a confused look on my face because Seth said, "Jacob and Embry went on the call."

"Why didn't you two go?" I asked and watched Seth shuffle his feet and look down at the ground.

"Cuz we wanted to see your beautiful face of course," Quil said slyly throwing his arm around my shoulders. I pushed him off.

"Liar, you stayed to be a body guard didn't you?"

"No," Quil replied a little too fast, a little too defensive.

"Seth?" I asked turning my attention completely away from Quil. He didn't look at me, just kept looking at the ground. I huffed and walked over to the driver's side of my car and got in, buckling up.

When Quil got in the passenger seat I shook my head. "Nope, Seth's in front today."

"What?"

"He didn't lie to me."

"He didn't say anything at all!" Quil said, a look of horror a five year old has on his face when he just got caught doing something he shouldn't.

"Sometimes it's best that way."

I heard Seth let out a laugh and saw Quil pout as he got out of the car and into the backseat.

I tried not to grin too hard when Seth buckled in and turned to me and asked, "So Jay. How's it been?"

I heard Quil groan in the back.

Instead of dropping of Seth and Quil we all headed back to my cottage. Jacob was still out and truth be told, I really didn't want to be by myself. Having the two of them with me helped distract my thoughts from trailing to Joshua as much as they would have if I was by myself.

"Say Jaelyn-"

"Jay," I interrupted him curtly.

"But Jacob calls you Jaelyn," Quil whined.

"Jacob's her lover," Seth said a mock girly voice and the whole car went silent before I started cracking up.

"You're such a girl," Quil said flicking Seth in the back of the head.

"Don't forget who won the other night on patrol," Seth snarked.

"Awh," I said in a baby voice pulling into the driveway.

"Shut up Jay!"

"Competition is healthy Quil."

"That's what I tried telling him," Seth chuckled out.

Before either of us could say anything else Jacob's rabbit pulled in the driveway next to us. I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and bolted out of the car into Jacob's arms.

He looked down and smiled at me and I instantly felt those stupid little girly butterflies in my stomach. "Oh hey there," he said, his voice that perfect mixture of rough and smooth.

"Jacob! Stop trying to win over my lady!" Quil called finally emerging from the car.

I bit back my laugh and buried my face into Jacob's chest, breathing in the scent of pine.

"Are you sure he has to be your best friend?" Jacob growled in my ear. "I really like Seth better."

"Seth does have a comfy lap come to think of it," I said remembering the first day I ever met the pack. Jacob tensed up underneath me and I looked up at him.

"Awh, joking," I said lightly planting a kiss on his lips.

"Gag," Quil muttered.

"Shut up," Jacob barked.

Quil just smirked at Jake and after a minute or so, Jacob cracked out a smile.

Male bonding, so cute. I wrinkled my nose at the both of them.

For what I swear were a couple minutes, the three of us just stood there. Me in Jacob's arms, Quil right beside us and Seth just a few feet away. No one said anything and for how awkward it was, it was soothing.

"So…" I said when the silence was no longer comfortable.

I heard both Seth and Jacob huff at the same time and that gnawing feeling was creeping back into my stomach.

"Can't avoid it, can we?" Jacob asked, no longer looking directly at me.

"What's going on? Where's Sam? And Alyson? What happened last night? Adria told me her mom saw him stumbling around this morning? Did he stay in town or what?"

"Whoa whoa, slow down there chump," Quil said letting out a little nervous laugh. He was obviously trying to lighten the mood and for once, he failed.

"He stayed at one of his old buddies house," Seth mentioned lightly.

"Funny, I guess he didn't manage to burn every bridge he had, huh?" I rhetorically asked.

"Him, you, Sam, and Alyson are all meeting tonight at Dad's tonight," Jacob said.

I raised an eyebrow at Jake, "Why Billy's?"

"Neutral ground I guess," he replied, shrugging while looking off at the trees. I felt his hands tighten around my waist.

"When is everyone going to be there?" I asked.

"About an hour. Alyson is making spaghetti; she wanted to see you before Joshua showed up."

"Are you going to come with me?" I asked in a small voice, inwardly cringing at how pathetic I sounded.

"Yes, of course. I'll always be there with you unless you ask me to leave," Jacob said softly, pressing his forehead against mine.

"Double gag," Quil said adding a fake choking sound in for dramatic effect.

I flipped him off.

"I guess we should just go now, huh?" I asked.

"Sam's already there," Jacob offered, not answering my question directly.

"Then let's go."

I let Jacob drive to his dad's in the rabbit. The whole five minute ride I kept biting my lip, harder and harder each time. Hoping the slight pain from it would be able to distract me.

No such luck of course.

Jacob pulled up to the house and both of us sat in the car, staring at nothing. It seemed a lot of the awkward times we shared were in or around a car. Funny.

"Would you hate me if I asked you not to come in?" I asked quietly, almost instantly regretting asking before the words left my lips.

"No, never. Dad isn't even in there. Anyways, Alyson asked if no one besides you three could be in there."

I looked at Jacob and wanted to cry. Not because I was afraid of Joshua or even the nerves that seemed to be creating havoc in my body. I wanted to cry because I loved Jacob, and in this moment, that fact seemed to be stronger than it ever has.

I was turning into one of those mushy romantics.

Leaning over, I pecked him on the lips and kept my face close to his. I wanted to keep my eyes closed but I forced myself to open them and look at him in the eyes. "I love you Jacob," I whispered before I buried my face into his chest.

I've told him I loved him before multiple times, probably not as much as I should but this time felt different.

He ran his hand through my hair playing with the ends when he reached them. "I love you too Jaelyn."

XXXXX

"What time did you tell him?" Sam growled, his fierce gaze looking down on his plate of untouched spaghetti.

"Five," Alyson huffed as she checked the time on her watch.

It was five forty one and surprise, Joshua hasn't showed up.

Typical. I honestly didn't expect anything else but Sam seemed to be taking it harder than anyone else. For some reason I knew deep down, whether Sam wanted to admit it or not, he had been hoping for Joshua to come. I think Sam thought there was some hope of being a family again.

"I think we should just give up hope now, we all know it's likely he's not coming," I huffed angrily standing up and bringing my also untouched plate to the trash can.

"Don't say that Jay," Alyson spoke quietly.

"Why? He has nothing to gain by coming here besides a fight, and he knows that. We all know that. What's the point of even trying to talk to him? Nothing's going to change and this whole thing is just a waste of breath."

"My dear, I do believe one can argue that you are a waste of breath," Joshua said slinking through the front door, leaning heavily against the frame.

"Classy Joshua," I snapped back.

"Learn to take a joke," He said, his eyebrows scrunching together. "God, you would think my own children would have a sense of humor. I guess everyone's wrong at one point or another in their lives, eh?"

It took me a minute before I registered it but I could smell the booze wafting over from him. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Why are we even here? What is there to talk about? Nothing."

"Jaelyn," Alyson said, this time firmly.

I didn't look at her but sat back down at the table in between her and Sam.

"Joshua, sit down and refrain from saying anything stupid because I will tell you this only once…any disrespectful behavior towards Sam or Jay and I will have the law enforcement involved."

Joshua laughed bitterly. "Get them involved? OH, tough Alyson. There isn't anything you can do to get me in trouble."

"Do you want to bet?" She asked menacingly, one of her eyebrows arched slightly. As if it were planned we all heard a loud howl come from just a few feet behind the house and I smirked as the blood seeped from Joshua's face when he realized what enforcement she was talking about.

He didn't look happy about it but Joshua finally moved over to the table and fell into the only open chair, right in between Sam and Alyson. I don't think there could've been a worse spot for him.

"Why did you come back after all these years?" Alyson whispered.

"To come see my loving family," Joshua spat bitterly, not even looking in her eyes.

I watched Sam's fist clench on top of the table. "Spare us the bullshit, please."

Joshua glared at Sam. "I found out the she," he said loudly pointing his finger at me without taking his eyes off of Sam, "had made her way down here. She's the one who ran away from me and I knew that-"

"Ran away?" I shouted pushing back from my chair. "You left me alone for days with nowhere to go!"

"You're being dramatic!" He yelled his eyes finally leaving Sam.

"You left me like you left them Joshua! You can't drop something off on the side of a road and expect it to be there when you get back!"

"Just because I didn't give you the perfect life I'm the bad person? Huh? Is that how you associate me?"

"What do you need? Did you run out of money for drugs? Get kicked out of your friend's house that you've been bumming at and have nowhere to go? Are you expecting to get a free ride here?"

"You owe me," He whispered, his focus training on Alyson.

This time it was Sam's chair being the one pushed back from underneath him. Before I could think his hands were pinning Joshua to the wall. "No one owes you anything," He snarled. His whole body was trembling so bad Joshua too was shaking and I could see the fear in his bloodshot eyes.

"You are not my father and you don't deserve anything from anyone."

"Sam…" Joshua pleaded.

"As alpha, I order you to leave."

"You can't order me to.."

"You wanna bet? Jay and Jacob imprinted on each other, and he's the other alpha so I'm sure if she let him have his way…you wouldn't last very long." Sam was in a dangerous state right now, I could hear it in his voice and feel it radiate off of him. "Now get out."

Sam finally let go of Joshua, and backed up against the wall furthest from him, which in Billy's little house, wasn't far enough.

Joshua looked at me and that at Alyson. "Aly…you can't let him do this."

"Payback is a bitch."

I burst out laughing as soon as Alyson said that, knowing Joshua had nowhere to stand. I think Joshua knew that too because he just glared at us before he started to head out the door.

And I know I say it all the time, but I really couldn't help myself.

"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf now?"

A/N: So there we go. I think Joshua will permanently be gone from the story. Who needs him anyways. ;)

Let me know what you guys think by pressing that little button below. :)