CHAPTER 37 – NO MAN'S LAND

James Vincent McMorrow - And if my heart should somehow stop

And in the forest I make my home
Lay down my heart on an ancient stone
And if my heart should somehow stop
I'll hang on to the hope
That you're not too late
That you're not too late

A/N: Enjoy…

Finally we were clocking out and I had just finished changing out of my uniform and into the clothes that I had borrowed from Alice. I should have them cleaned for her tonight and then I can give them back to her on Sunday and if not Monday in school – that is if they want to make our friendship known to the others.

Part of me was sure that they would not abandon me and another strange part of me, somehow knew that neither would Edward. To prove this thought further was the fact that he was standing outside the doorway instead of waiting in the car like I had asked him to.

As I slipped into the jacket, I heard the door close and I snapped my head up but relaxed when I found that it was only Cora. She sent me a passing smile before making her way to her locker and began to taking out her own belongings while humming an unrecognisable tune.

While putting on my shoes, I tried not to make it seem like I was rushing so I could see Edward again even though that was exactly what I wanted to do.

"You look different…" Cora murmured.

Her sudden observation stunned me and I halted my movement to question her words, "Different?" confusion as to why she would bring this up now but also wondering what she was thinking for her to come to that conclusion. The contemplative look she directed at me suggested that she had been thinking over this for a while – possibly observing me through the whole of my shift.

She leaned her head onto the clocker, crossing her arms before finally explaining herself, "When you first came in here you looked so lost and scared and alone" she listed with a crease between her brows appearing to be troubled over the memory, "…but now…" she sighed, moving forwards so that she could sit next to me and take my hands in hers, "…you look happy" her infectious smile lit up her once troubled features and I smiled back. She then nudged my sides and looked over my shoulder to the door, "I'm guessing that it has something to do with the young man waiting at the doorway for you"

Even though I knew that Edward was listening to every single word that we were saying, somehow I didn't feel scared when I confessed in a timid whisper, "You wouldn't be wrong" a smile creeping up and Cora laughed.

It felt both strange and rewarding to finally acknowledge what I was feeling for Edward. However it did infuriate me to no end that I could not bring myself to understand what it meant and what I should do next. Everything was so different with him and it unnerved me as he had left me so powerless.

"Well good luck to ya" an unknown hope lighting her kind eyes as she stood, making a move to walk away but then halted In her steps so she could turn around and face me. She placed on hand on her hip with her eyebrow arched as she stared into my eyes, "Don't let him get away" a new found sternness hardening her words and it was strange to witness the great change in her expression.

Mirroring her seriousness, I nodded and took the first step as I silently promised, "I won't"

-XxxxxX-

Thankfully Edward did not say anything when I stepped out to meet him. However, the wide grin stretching across his face gave him away and I was just happy that he was smiling and not running away.

After my confession, it seemed that something had changed – something was different in the way he treated me.

He was no longer hesitant around me and this was shown with the decisive look he had when I emerged. In fact, as soon as I had stepped out of the changing rooms, Edward's hand was in mine and when I stared up at him in question, I found that the raging conflict that had constantly battled within his eyes was erased. Now it was replaced with a glimmer excitement and hope which I could not comprehend but I was simply content knowing that he was happy.

It was all I wanted.

"Here" Edward pulled me out of my thoughts when I felt his hand reluctantly leave mine and I almost whimpered at the loss of contact but I stopped myself by biting down on my lip.

When I blinked to focus on him, I watched as he was shrugging out of his black leather jacket and I began to protest, "You don't have to" shaking my head at his offer.

Nonetheless, my objections – however loud - were still ignored as he smugly smiled and slung it over my shoulders, "I want to" he replied in a gentle voice.

Reading the plea in his soft expression, I complied by slinking my hands through the sleeves and scoffing when the sleeves were too long and the jacket was literally swallowing me. Edward also joined into the laughter and I was absorbed in gaping as the beautiful creature before me, threw his head in laughter back causing his bronze locks to quiver and his pale neck to be exposed.

When his head fell back to look at me, there were adorable creases at the corner of his glowing eyes, "That bad huh?" I smirked.

He stepped forward so that our bodies were only inches apart. Not saying anything, he continued to look down at me with a small smile on his face. My breath hitched when his hands inched towards my face and I closed my eyes when I felt all air leave my lungs when I felt his fingers graze my back…but then…nothing.

Opening my eyes, I found that his purpose was so that he could pull the hair from under the jacket so it fell from my sides but the smile was still in place and he was still standing close to me.

Suddenly his fingers were cupping my cheek and I instantly relaxed under his touch while my heart raced, thumping against my chest and I was sure he could hear it.

In a painfully slow movement, his fingers inched upwards, towards my hair before he pushed the loose strays away from my face and moved back down to cup my cheek once again. "You have no idea…" he whispered and trailed off but his intense gaze never strayed away from me. "No idea…"

"What?" my words fell out in a barely audible breath.

His thumb caressed my cheek and the fire that flared in his eyes bored into mine which could explain why my feet moved towards him on their own accord, "No idea…" he repeated but this time, they fell from his lips in a raspy breath. Before I could persist for an explanation, he read my impatience and stunned me with his following words, "You have no idea just how tempting you are…"

This was enough to send my pulse to race faster than before and I had to force myself to gasp out a reply, "I could say the same" this earned a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Before I could comprehend what had happened, Edward had pulled away and I felt a mixture of emotions within me being overwhelmed by my confusion.

"That waitress, she's coming" he rushed his explanation and pulled me out of the diner and into the light drizzling rain in a bewildered frenzy.

The wild panic hardening eyes amused me but at the same time I feeling the relief wash away the doubts that had began to creep in when he finally gave an explanation.

If I didn't think Edward could tense up further, I was wrong because his whole form froze and we halted in our steps. When I was about to question him, I paused when I picked up the scent that strengthened as the light blue pick up truck rolled into the parking lot.

I looked back to Edward whose jaw was now taut and he was grinding his teeth but there was nothing to indicate violence. From what I could read from him, all I could comprehend was that he was slightly annoyed by something and he seemed to grow worse as he stared into the distance.

Following his line of sight, my eyes widened and I too felt tense when watching an aggravated Jacob push Billy who was in his wheelchair. The second Jacob caught my eye, his eyes widened but I could tell he was about to smile but it never appeared when his eyes flickered over to the person next to me. His whole form began to tremble and his fingers tightened their hold on the wheelchair.

The lycanthrope and vampire feud had gone on long enough and although I knew that a week ago I would have sided with the werewolves – things were different now.

"Edward Cullen" Mr. Black practically growled the name and it stunned me to hear the venom in his voice and the hatred that he was emitting as he glared at him. He was acting so differently to when I had met him and I could not understand why. Surely, he knew that the Cullens symbolised hope for all vampires. If my suspicions were correct then Mr. Black was one of the Quileute leaders and had possibly made a treaty with the Cullens – that would explain why they had decided to establish a life in Forks.

Being the gentleman that he was, Edward stretched out his palm and politely greeted the person that was supposed to be his 'sworn enemy', "Good evening Mr. Black" I knew his wary smile was forced but I was proud that he was at least making an attempt to smooth over their differences.

Mr. Black however, was not as impressed as I was because he simply grunted and took hold of his wheels, "I'll go wait inside" he pushed himself towards the diner after sending Jacob a long meaningful look and I didn't miss how he inclined his head towards me either.

Once he was gone, Edward turned his attention back to Jacob but this time, it did not seem like it would be easy for him to control his anger. "Jacob" he hissed through his teeth and the disgust that was evident in both his expression and voice unnerved me as it was a side of him that I had not witnessed before.

"Cullen" Jacob retorted in the same manner. Both of their eyes locked and it seemed that Edward was simply growing more and more frustrated so I figured out that it was probably Jacob's thoughts that were disturbing him.

Edward grew uncomfortable as Jacob continued to glare at him and it seemed that the hatred in Jacob's eyes was getting too much for him. In response to this, Edward slipped his hand out of mine; "I'll start the car" he excused him and began to walk towards the silver Volvo that was parked a few feet away from Jacob's pick up truck.

"Okay" I whispered after him even though he was already gone from my side.

Jacob's angry eyes were now boring into mine and he asked with an accusatory tone, "Didn't know you and Cullen were friends?"

"Well we go to the same school" adding a shrug so that I wouldn't anger him further. There was the risk of him transforming right here – outside the diner where the glass windows would allow the customers inside to get a full view of the young boy turn into a large wolf.

My explanation didn't seem to appease him because he was still shooting daggers at Cullen's car. "Where are you going with him?" his eyes never straying from where Edward now stood. He had started the engine but was now leaning against the car as he waited for me.

"Oh, he's going to drop me off" I answered with casual nonchalance not wanting to push him over the edge. Even though no more tremors racked through him, the rage was still evident in his pebbled eyes as he continued to stare at Edward's retreating form. His hands were by his side, balled up in angered fists and I noted how his jaw was still clenched.

Jacob finally turned to me and it was almost miraculous how he calmed down slightly, his shoulders were no longer tense and had slumped slightly. He had also relaxed his jaw and was taking the time to breath when he asked me, "What's wrong with the truck?" there was still an edge to his words.

"Well nothing" feeling very protective over Edward as I did not care for the hard tone he was using, "…he just offered to drive me to work", forcing a smile as I hoped that would be enough to calm him.

His eyes moved down my form and a small smirk played about on his lips as he arched an eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest, "Well that explains the uniform…" for some reason the smirk was gone and the sternness returned into his tone,"…but it does not explain why you couldn't drive yourself" his rage filled eyes flickered over my shoulder and this only added to my annoyance and I was only aggravated further because when I parted my lips to reply, he interjected, "Is it the truck?"

"N-"

Again I was interrupted, "Don't you like it?" the accusatory tone made me sigh.

"I love the truck" I argued and this appeased him. Looking behind me, I caught Edward intently watching us and I felt bad for making him wait for so long so I knew I would have to slightly bend the truth if I wanted to leave. Whipping my head back round to Jacob, I began to fabricate my story, "I'm friends with Alice and she invited me to a sleepover so Edward offered to drop me off"

"You slept at his house…?" he spat out with repugnance and I was taken back to see that this time, the disgusted expression was trained onto me. A disbelieving look in his eyes as he seethed and I was about to begin an argument but I stopped myself when I saw that the tremors had returned.

I heard the approaching footsteps before I caught Jacob take a threatening step forwards so in a panic, I rushed over to stop him by placing a palm onto his chest. When I found that he hadn't acknowledged myt touch as a feral growl rippled through him, I stumbled into a wild frenzy and began to use all the power that I could to exert calmness into him. However, his anger was too strong that my power only dulled it slightly but at least he was no longer on the verge of transforming.

"So he's dropping you off, to your house?" he questioned in a calmer tone although the flames of his fury were still flaring in his burning eyes. Not really sure how to answer without angering him, I simply nodded and watched as his lips were then set into a grim line before he barked out, "Isn't he the perfect gentleman?" even though he was supposed to be talking to me, his gaze still remained fix on Edward. "Are you going out with him?" he asked before I could say anything else and I regretted questioning why he wasn't looking at me.

His dark glare that now bore into mine and it was my turn to ball my hands into fists. I didn't like how he was talking to me – his rage reminded me too much of someone else and I didn't want to feel that fear anymore. "Why does this feel like an interrogation?" returning his glare with my own challenging stare as I placed a hand on my hip.

The turn of events was funny. Instead of siding with the ones that would protect me and the ones I was told to trust, I had gone the opposite way.

"I was just curious" Jacob blinked appearing to be startled with the new found courage that I had displayed and I felt proud of myself when he dropped the subject.

Wanting to take the conversation into a different direction, I patted his arm to gain his attention, "What brings you to the diner?

The calm that I was sending to him seemed to be working because as seconds passed, his trembling form grew more relaxed as did his voice as he answered, "Me and Billy got tired of ordering pizza" he rolled his eyes and I smiled, happy to know that it would be okay. "Plus the beach is noisy at the moment" he added and I sent him a questioning look. Last time I had been to the La Push beach, there was no one around so I found it hard to believe.

He read my expression and laughed, "Saw a few people from your school at the beach but I didn't see you…" and that triggered the memory of Angela and her bonfire plan. I was happy that she had still gone through with it because she needed a night to have fun. I was not really in the mood to tolerate the other humans so I don't think I would be able to make it. I felt too tired – mentally anyway.

"…plus we had that cliff diving session" Jacob continued and I realised that he had been speaking but I had not been listening as my thoughts had taken me elsewhere.

Simply grateful that there was no figc ht in the horizon, I hoped that we would be able to part as friends so I returned the politeness, "We did didn't we?" sending him an apologetic smile. He didn't know that I had been cliff diving without him and I felt bad for failing to fulfil my commitment.

Something different changed within the battle playing in his eyes and I caught how his gaze flickered to Edward again before turning to me. The mischief was familiar as it glimmered in his eyes as he reached into his pocket. Curiosity got the better of me and I watched as he pulled out his phone, "Why don't you give me your number and we could maybe make some plans to postpone?" he asked optimistically.

"Um, sure" I replied in a timid voice and recited my own number as it was too easy to remember. The reason that I agreed and gave him my number was because I already felt guilty for cancelling on him but also when I first met him, the warmth that had radiated from him made me certain that the rage that driven him only seconds ago, was not who he was.

He tapped in the number before looking up and grinning widely at me, "Cool" he replied happily and it was like the last five minutes had not even happened. To make matters even stranger, I suddenly found myself engulfed by his muscled arms as he held me close to him and his heated body burnt my skin, "Keep in touch Bells" he whispered against my ear.

When I realised that the hug had gone on longer than it should have, I patted his back and began to pull away so he got the message.

"I better get going" he informed me with a nod of his head towards the diner. Smiling in response, I was stunned when his fevered lips grazed my cheek on his way to the diner.

Still startled with his daring move, I realised that I was angry. Angry that he had been the one to do that – it felt wrong for Jacob to do that but at the same time I was angry at Edward. It was completely unjustified and didn't make sense but I was angry that he wouldn't do that. Maybe he didn't see us that way…

Urgh – this was so frustrating!

Stumbling my way down the parking lot, I halted in my steps as I found Edward still next to the car. His own frustration etched onto his features and his hardened eyes were glaring at the forest ahead. Similarly to Jacob, his jaw was clenched but his hands were gripping the top of the car and I feared he would break it.

I continued to stare at him, waiting for him to acknowledge me but whatever he was thinking of was only confusing him further.

Taking hesitant steps towards him, I called out softly, "Edward?" he didn't respond but my eyes flickered to his fingers that were probably moulding dents into the metal. Placing a hand onto his shoulder, I tried again, "Edward" my whisper wavering and was so low that it dissolved into the howling of the wind but it was enough.

He stood up straighter and didn't say a word as he walked round to the other side of the car so that he could open the door for me, "Shall we get going?" his stoic voice, like his movements was mechanical.

Following him, I took his offer and began to enter into the passenger seat but stopped and sighed not wanting to go on with him while he was still angry. I wanted to leave the past ten minutes behind us.

Turning around, his hand was still placed on top of the car door which meant that he was standing very close to him. "Edward?" I tried to get through to him and offered a small smile when he reluctantly turned his head but still failed to meet my eyes. "Edward?" I whispered and placed my palm onto his cheek and my touch seemed to work because his eyes finally looked up at me.

"I'm okay" he promised.

When I knew he was telling the truth, I slipped into the car and he closed the door after me before whipping round to the other side so he could also enter the car.

The lengthening silence grew overwhelming when he turned on the ignition and began to back out of the parking lot so I decided to break it again, "Are you okay?" my cold whisper sounded like a loud roar within the deadened silence that filled the small confinement of the car.

His fingers curled around the steering wheel and he kept his eyes fixated on the road ahead when speaking, "I didn't know you and Jacob Black were friends?" blatantly ignoring my question. A hard edge within his pointed words and this anger was reflected with the way the creases formed in the corner of his eyes.

"He sold the truck to me", trying my best to keep my voice nonchalant, just in case he was reading into my tone. When the silence stretched out after I spoke, I hastily added, "He's just a friend"

My words seemed to have triggered something because he whipped his head around so that his the intense gaze bored into mine as he asked, "Why did you feel the need to say that?" his eyebrows furrowing and a small crease forming on his forehead as he fell into a pensive expression.

His question valid and I parted my lips but paused when I couldn't think of an answer, "I-I don't really know" stuttering out the confession, "To make you feel better?" the words fell from my lips in a question.

"Why do you think it would make me feel better?" he challenged me and I was stuck as I did not know how to answer than question either.

"Did it?" turning the tables onto him and waited for an answer but the silence that prevailed spoke volumes and I read into how he straightened up in his seat and focused back onto the road ahead. His grip had loosened and he had finally relaxed to the point that he had dropped one of his hands onto his thigh.

After a few seconds of him having the time to contemplate his answer, he finally breathed, "It did" a smile had now graced his lips and he looked at peace at that moment.

He was happy which meant that I was happy.

A/N: Keep calm and review my story =)