BPOV

When I realized he wasn't coming back, I finally let go and allowed the fire to consume me. I gasped aloud as the pieces inside me finally shattered, leaving a gaping hole in my chest. I gripped the mattress edge, and just sat there, staring at the window, unmoving and unthinking as the fire raged on, burning the edges of the hole inside me until it grew impossibly larger.

He was gone.

In less than ten minutes, my world had just ended.

I don't know how long I sat there. By the time I blinked, it was completely dark outside. I shook my head, forcing myself to think. I couldn't just sit here! I had to do something! I had to stop him! The pain in my chest receded as my mind began to race. The pain would be back, I knew. But right now I needed to think. But what could I do that wouldn't make it worse? For one crazy moment, I had a plan going. I would drive to their house, and I would slice my arm open, right in front of Jasper. Maybe they would save me in time, and it would be too late to stop the venom. Then they'd have to take me with them. Or maybe they wouldn't save me in time. What did it matter?

But it did matter. I cursed Alice's stupid visions yet again. I didn't want everyone to die. Not that I could have pulled it off, anyway. Alice would have seen me coming, and they would have hightailed it out of town, long before midnight. I glanced at the clock: 8:30. I had a good three hours, then. I had three hours to think of something, and to save my own life. I just had to keep my sanity for three more hours. And then, if I hadn't figured it out, I could lose my mind. The fire could consume the rest of me, and welcome.

I sat, unmoving again. But this time my mind was racing.

I was finally stirred by a thump at the window. I jumped off the bed and ran, smiling stupidly, over to see him. He was back! It had all been a horrible dream, and he was going to climb up, grinning and ready to tell me the story about how he had broken the front door. It would probably have something to do with Emmett…

I reached the window, but my heart stopped when I poked out my head and looked down. Edward wasn't there, of course.

But Jacob was there.

Jacob?

"I need to talk to you!" he hissed up at me.

I just looked down at my friend silently. My friend? No, this was not my friend. He and his kind were the reason that Edward couldn't stay with me. Jacob's father was half the reason that the Cullens had to leave! If Billy hadn't kept giving his stupid hints, maybe Charlie wouldn't have kept digging. Jacob was- or would soon be- the mortal enemy of the one person in the world who meant anything to me. Jacob's boyish face suddenly seemed to take on a sinister shade, and I slammed the window in disgust, turning away.

A few second later, the window rattled open and Jacob was standing in front of me.

"What?" I hissed, backing away from him. "What do you want?"

He turned on the light. "Bella, something has-" he frowned as he took in my tear-stained face. "Oh. You already know."

"I heard. Now get out."

Now he just looked confused. "But if you know, then why are you still here?"

"Get out, Jacob! You can tell your mangy pack that he's gone. He's gone and he's not coming back." The tears finally returned, and I turned away from him, wiping my face furiously.

"Bella, listen to me for a minute!"

I spun back around, whispering as loud as I dared. "Why are you here, Jacob? Did they send you to guard the house? To make sure he wouldn't come back?" I desperately wanted to scream, but the last thing I needed was for Charlie to come upstairs. I needed to think, and Jacob was in my way. I didn't need Charlie in my way, too.

He held up his hands in defense. "Hey! I'm not the bad guy here. I tried, Bella! I told them there was no need to get nasty and end the treaty. But I'm not even a member of the pack yet, and they wouldn't listen. And back at the police station today, I told Charlie the Cullens were star citizens. I did my best, all right?"

I let out my hatred in a big whoosh of air. "Oh. Then… thank you."

I finally let him come to me, and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, holding me up as my knees began to buckle. I cried in earnest for a minute, and then calmed down. "Thank you," I repeated as soon as I could get the words out. "I don't know why you'd want to help them, though. Aren't you glad this happened?"

"No, I'm not," he said angrily. He started pacing the floor, running his fingers through his long hair. "I was practically raised to hate the Cullens. But after meeting them, and seeing how much you still care about them, knowing the truth… I don't know, I just don't see why I have to hate them. If anything, my Dad is the one who I feel like I can't trust. He was the one egging Charlie on, half the time. And did the Cullens tell you how he tried to double-cross them the other day about the treaty?"

I just shook my head.

"Well anyway, my Dad had this plan that wasn't kosher, and it was only your boyfriend's mind reading that stopped him. And now, look! The Cullens are getting run out of town because they got exposed, and what do Sam and the council do? They throw a party! They get together and decide to call the blood- I mean, the vampires, and rub it in. Not only that, they decide to end the treaty just for kicks! I'll bet if the tables were turned, Dr. Cullen wouldn't be doing all this stuff to us. He'd probably try to help somehow."

A new wave of pain washed over me, hearing Carlisle's name. I wouldn't be seeing any of them... not even Carlisle and Esme. It was like losing my own parents. I had to get back to thinking. How long was Jacob going to talk?

"Anyway," he continued, turning around to resume his pacing, "I know I can't really be on the vampires' side, but… but the more I learn about this werewolf stuff, the more freaked out I get. It's like they have my whole life planned out for me! They're already assuming I'm not going back to school in the fall. And get this! I just found out about this mind-control thing that Sam does with the wolves. If he gives a command in some special kind of 'Alpha' voice, the wolves have to obey, no matter if they want to or not. He says it doesn't work on me yet because I haven't phased. He said it right to my face! Oh, he went on about how he didn't want the responsibility, and he only does it for the good of the tribe, and blah, blah, blah… But I'm telling you, Bella, this stuff is weird. I practically have a bomb ticking inside me, and when it goes off, I'm not only going to explode into an animal, now I find out I'm going to lose my free will! Ugh!" He flopped down backwards onto my bed, his trembling hands at odds with the fear and disgust on his face. I backed away, waiting until he calmed down to spoke.

"Wow, Jake," I said, finally losing my patience. "That really sucks. But if you're not here to gloat, or chase him off, why are you here?"

He took a deep breath, glancing out the window as if he thought Sam was going to jump out and stop him.

"I'm here because you're my friend, Bella. I want to help."

"Help what?"

"Help you. I want you to be happy. And as much as I hate to admit it, I know that that means getting Edward back. So, let's get him back."

I just stared at him, waiting for the punch line.

But he just got up and started pacing the room. "Okay, so tell me everything. Why aren't they just taking you with them?"

I finally stirred to life. "Alice had a vision about that. I guess me disappearing made everything too suspicious, and got the police more riled up. Anyway, if we do that, the Volturi will get involved and we'll all get killed."

"You lost me. Who are the Volturi?"

"They're like the vampire government. They go around killing vampires who expose the secret to the humans."

"Well, it's not like the police know anything about that, right? I thought Charlie just found out about the fake identities."

"No, I think he found something else too. Edward said something about their lack of aging. I guess if I went with them, the case would get bigger and somehow the Volturi would find out about the immortality thing being exposed."

"And you all die," he said helpfully.

"Yeah."

"This sucks! I mean, none of this has even happened yet!"

I sat down on my bed, watching Jacob start pacing again. He was talking too loud, and his feet clopped on the floor- so different from Edward's quiet stealth. But I could hear Charlie's baseball game coming up through the floorboards, and I knew he wouldn't hear us.

"Well, I did have an idea, but it's not going to work."

He turned. "What idea?"

I blushed. "I was going to sneak over there and make myself bleed like crazy- right in front of Jasper. He's the one who has the most trouble resisting, so I figure by the time they stop him, the venom will be doing its job, and then they're have to take me with them."

He scowled in disgust. "That's a stupid idea, Bella. It's a good thing I came over."

"Well, I'm not really going to do it. Besides the whole we-all-die thing, I could never pull it off. Alice would know as soon I decided to do it."

He folded his arms, smirking. "No, she wouldn't. Like I said, it's a good thing I came over."

"What?"

He spread his arms, posing like a game show host. "Alice shield, at your service! Now come on, let's think of a real plan."

I smiled- it felt odd, like I shouldn't be allowed to smile right now. But having Jacob on my side did give me enough hope to keep going. Edward might be my life, but Jacob sure knew how to be my sunshine. And knowing that Alice couldn't see me did make it easier to think. The pain was receding further, and my head was clearing. "Thanks, Jake," I sighed. "Thanks for doing this."

"Hey, what are friends for, if not to right the injustice done to good vampires?" His smile twisted, settling into a rebellious smirk. "Besides, this is my own little way of sticking it to the man, before I lose my free will. According to Sam, I'm going to 'understand' as soon as I start phasing. Therefore, I refuse to understand as long as possible. So, plan number two is…?"

Now I flopped down backwards onto the bed. "Okay," I said to the ceiling. "Let's be logical here. They have to leave because the State Police are coming tomorrow, and the Police are coming tomorrow because Charlie tipped them off."

"Okay, so why don't you convince him to un-tip them off?"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

He rolled his eyes. "By telling him the truth?"

"The truth about what? That the reason the Cullens have false identities is because they don't age? Because they're vampires?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, that's about it, I guess."

I scowled. "Now who's got the stupid plan? Next."

He crossed the room and sat beside me. "No, I'm serious! It's not like you need to tell him everything. Just enough to get him to call off the cops."

"Jake, he already thinks they're criminals. How is telling him that they're blood-drinking monsters supposed to help?!"

He flopped down next to me. "Hey, you're the brains of this outfit. You figure it out."

"It's not like he would believe me, anyway. He knows I've been lying to him."

"He'll believe me. I'll tell him that this is what the elders have been hiding from him the whole time. And if he calls my Dad to get me committed, Dad will have to tell him the truth."

"You can't do that. The treaty, remember?"

He shrugged again. "What treaty? The wolves want it cancelled, it's cancelled. And why not break it a third time, anyway?"

"Okay, let's say we can get him to believe us. He'll have a heart attack!"

Jacob rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I see your point. Dead Charlie can't call off the cops." I just smacked him. "Okay, so we tell him slowly. Lead up to the vampire thing, you know? My point is, once he understands the reasons for the fraud stuff, and the fake abuse stuff, he'll know that they're not evil, and he'll call off the cops."

"Right," I snorted, but my mind was spinning. What if we did tell him? It would be breaking the Volturi's number one law. Edward's warning from the other day came back to haunt me.

It wouldn't be easier. Charlie would feel even more obligated to keep me away from you. And he would also feel the need to protect the town against us- it's his job as the Chief of Police. And that kind of thing attracts attention. It's bad enough that you know the truth about us. Don't you remember what I told you about the Volturi?

I shivered. Every lie I had ever told Charlie had been to protect him. Every time I had wanted to confide in him, the words had burnt to a crisp in my mouth, because I loved him. I didn't want him to be in danger, or to even have that burden of knowing the truth, and feeling obligated to do something because of his job. But the real fear had been the most selfish one – that the truth would turn him fully against Edward. If I was honest with myself, that was really the reason I had been able to keep up the lies.

That reason was gone now. Edward was leaving at midnight.

Could I change that? Could I convince Charlie of the truth, with Jacob to back me up?

More importantly, was I willing to do that to Charlie? I really didn't know how he would react. He would either see the light, and try to undo the damage he had done today, or he would decide that he didn't want his daughter around vampires, and call the Marines. Not that the Marines could hurt the Cullens… but the publicity would hurt them. Edward had hinted to me before that the Volturi didn't like big, talented covens. It wouldn't take much to get them swooping in here and killing all of us, like Edward had said when I wanted to come with him. Only this time, Charlie would be on the hit list, as well. Even if he reacted well, and undid the mess, could I trust him to keep quiet? This had never been my secret to tell.

That was what it boiled down to, then. Was I willing to risk Charlie, and everyone else getting killed? Did I love Edward so much that I was willing for everyone I loved to face death, just so we could be together?

I gasped aloud, the realization shocking me.

I was willing.

I was willing to risk my own father to keep Edward! Somewhere in my brain, I knew that this was irrelevant – if Charlie got killed for this, Edward and I would too. At least I wouldn't be sacrificing only Charlie. But the realization about the power of my need for Edward was still sinking in. Had I really become that obsessed with him? What kind of sick person did this make me? Was I even worthy of his love, if I was willing to do stuff like this, just to keep him? My cheeks grew hot as the final epiphany hit me.

I didn't care.

I didn't care if this made me unworthy of Edward. He was always talking about how he was a monster, and I was an angel. So what if the truth was really the reverse? So what if I wanted him so much that I let it twist me into some kind of monster? The point was, I needed him. And if he had been telling the truth tonight, he still needed me. Suddenly, I felt cold all over. What if this would be too much for him? He was like Carlisle – so infuriatingly moral that he would never suspect this of me. What if he couldn't love me after this?

I swallowed.

There was only one way to find out.

I sat up on the bed, tugging at Jacob's arm as I headed for the door.

"Come on," I muttered. "We've got a treaty to break."