"Jacob, I'm…"

Edward seemed to run out of words before the end of his sentence. Jacob didn't have the presence of mind to try to figure out what the vampire was trying to say.

His throat was dry and Jacob was sure that he'd forgotten to breathe. There was something important that he had wanted to say, but he could no longer remember what it was.

Edward hesitated for a moment and then tried again.

"I'm sorry."

Jacob's mind reached a new platform of vacancy. Why was Edward apologizing? Whatever Jacob had been expecting, whatever he had come here for, this wasn't it. A feeling of intense disquiet rose in his chest. He didn't want Edward to be sorry about what had happened.

"I don't know why I did what I did. I'm really sorry, I don't want this to change things. We can still be friends, this doesn't have to change that." Edward lifted his hand to his face rubbing briefly at his forehead before moving to the back of his neck. Jacob watched the movement, feeling his own discomfort rising.

Edward's words assaulted Jacob's mind. This was all wrong, and he didn't want to hear it. He wanted Edward to stop saying these things. He wasn't looking for the kind of reassurance that Edward was offering. Finally, after the endless minutes of purposeless stupor, a resolution appeared in Jacob's mind and he clung to it like a life raft. It suddenly seemed so clear, why he had come here, everything that he had been feeling for the last few months. It might not make sense, but it felt right. It felt like the only thing that actually existed.

Jacob resolved that he had to stop Edward's words, stop the destructive possibility of their poisonous power. He could only hope that Edward didn't truly mean them.

"I swear, I will never-"

Jacob interrupted him by stepping forward and kissing him.

He barely registered the difference in temperatures as he pressed his lips forcefully against the stone lips of Edward's frozen statue. Edward was slightly shorter than Jacob, something that the wolf had never really noticed before. It hadn't seemed to matter, but now that Jacob had to crouch slightly to reach Edward's lips, it started to register.

Edward still hadn't moved, but the kiss wasn't motionless as the last one had been. Jacob was moving slowly, waiting and hoping for Edward to react. Slowly, Jacob began to straighten up, pulling his lips slightly away from Edwards. Moving just as slowly Edward inclined his head to follow Jacob's movements.

Jacob's heart almost stopped beating when Edward began to kiss him back. Edward's lips moved just as slowly as Jacob's had, slow but sure movements grounding Jacob to the spot where he stood.

It was over in mere seconds. Edward sprung back, pushing Jacob a few steps away from him, as though Jacob had shocked him with a cattle prod. The distance between them was instantly and exponentially increased. Jacob's shock at the sudden loss of contact changed into disappointment. That had all been a mistake after all. Edward had been offering him a way to salvage their friendship, but that was truly gone now. This time it had been Jacob who had ruined it.

Jacob couldn't look away from Edward's face. His sharp features didn't register disgust, as Jacob had expected them to, but mirrored the shock that was surely present on Jacob's own skin. Jacob scrambled to get his thoughts back in order, to hide them from Edward for the sake of Edward's own feelings.

The shock seemed to dissolve from Edward's features, leaving new emotions. Jacob couldn't quell the rush of misinformed hope that filled his bones as he watched Edward's slow reactions. Edward looked scared, desperate confused and unsure, but his features held no sight of the rejection that Jacob feared most. Jacob didn't move as Edward took a few unsteady steps forward, closing the distance between them. As Edward's lips came in contact with his, Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. They kissed, with equal participation and enthusiasm, both clinging desperately to the hopelessly displaced feeling of correctness.

Jacob marvelled at the completely new sensations that kissing Edward brought upon him. When he'd kissed Bella, it had been the only way to prove his feelings to her. He'd spent the whole time trying to convey something to her.

This was completely different. It may have started out as an attempt to shut Edward up, to show him how Jacob felt about what had happened, but the moment Edwards started kissing him back it changed. Jacob couldn't focus in the face of the overwhelming emptions that overcame him. He didn't have to worry about what Edward was thinking, or whether Edward got it.

He'd unconsciously let down all of his mental barriers once more and he could feel Edward in his mind, knew that Edward knew exactly what he was feeling. So Jacob just let himself feel, and got lost in the unfamiliar sense of belonging that quieted the unease that had found place in his chest even since Edward had first flinched back.

Jacob lifted his hand to Edward's hair, carding his fingers through the surprisingly soft curls. The cold body in his arms responded in kind. Jacob had kept his hair cropped, it had always been easier as a wolf to keep his hair short, and the feeling of the cold fingers against his skin was unlike anything Jacob had ever felt before.

In an instant the kiss became more desperate. Edward pressed impossibly closer, breathing lightly against Jacob's lips. Jacob parted his lips slightly and Edward deepened the kiss. Jacob could feel his usually amplified temperature fall slowly as Edward kissed him. Edward's cold temperature was drawing in his heat and rising. The last thought Jacob had, before he lost all control of the kiss, was that their abnormal temperatures would probably cancel each other out completely.

Jacob hadn't done a lot of kissing, and he'd never been kissed like this. Even while Jacob knew that Edward was unable to read his thoughts, Edward seemed to know exactly what Jacob was thinking. It had felt more natural, easier, to bring his guard back up. Not that there was much thinking being done, Edward seemed to by systematically reducing Jacob to a thoughtless being intent on holding on to the perfect feeling coiling in his stomach. This kiss was all Edward's now.

Edward lowered his hands to Jacob's shoulders, pushing them gently. Perhaps, had Jacob been completely human, that light touch would have been enough to move him, but as it was he didn't budge. He was content standing in the middle of the corridor.

Edward, though, seemed to grow a little impatient at Jacob's lack of movement. Tiny frown lines formed between his eyes, though he made no movement to disconnect their lips. Bringing his hands back up to Jacob's hair, Edward tugged lightly, causing Jacob's head to spin.

Hair pulling. really?

Edward must've noticed Jacob swaying on his feet, because he held onto the short tufts of Jacob's hair and pulled harder. A full-blown shudder ran through Jacob's body, leaving his knees weak and causing a heavy sigh to escape his lips.

As his sigh fell upon Edward's lips, it stirred the vampire into action. With a greater fraction of his true strength, Edward pushed Jacob back, stumbling with him until Jacob's back jolted against the hard wall.

Edward pressed his body closer, pulling Jacob to him simultaneously. The warmth that accompanied the intimate contact filled Jacob's mind. It was too much. A brief spike of fear pierced Jacob's contentment. He didn't know where this was going, but it was definitely somewhere he wasn't ready to go.

Feeling the need to regain a little control over the situation, but not willing to in anyway stop, Jacob flipped them around so that Edward was backed against the wall. Edward's arms were still around his shoulders, fingers still grasping at the back of Jacob's neck, and Jacob's own hands found their way to the wall either side of the vampire's body.

Jacob used the wall to pull his mutinous body away from Edward's, just enough to quiet the worry. This didn't have to turn into anything more serious just yet. Jacob wasn't ready for that.

A small disapproving sound came from Edward at the loss of contact. Jacob's body strained with the difficulty of not quieting the sounds by just giving in to their silent plea. He wanted to be closer to Edward, to hold him against the wall and feel the imitation of shuddering breaths escape the vampire's body. But he didn't want to completely lose control.

Edward strained away from the wall, towards Jacob, but Jacob pulled back completely, until he was standing with his back against the opposite wall. Edward seemed to realise that something was up, and didn't follow.

Jacob's breathed like someone who had only recently discovered oxygen. He waited for his heart to stop beating quite so fast, watching Edward study him. A little of the worry that Jacob had seen returned to Edward's features. Worry that Jacob had changed his mind? Jacob smiled at Edward and saw the worry disappear.

"So… ah…"

Edward smiled as well, regaining most of his composure. While straightening his shirt and standing upright did wonders for his image, it didn't quite counteract the mess of his hair and the gold glow of his eyes.

Jacob sighed, leaning down against the wall. He sunk to the floor, sitting down. Even with the emotional cocktail flowing through his bloodstream, Jacob could feel fatigue closing in. It had been too long since he had slept, and he'd been running on nervous anticipation for far too long.

Edward paused for a second and then sunk down to the ground opposite him. He looked at Jacob a little expectantly.

Jacob knew that he owed Edward an explanation, but he was dreading giving it. It was a little embarrassing, to say the least.

Everything seemed to have fallen into place between them. They sat, for perhaps the first time, in a completely comfortable silence. It felt natural, warm and pleasant, to be sitting here. Jacob had expected it to be weird, uncomfortable, for it to take a lot of work to get to this. But it seemed right.

Jacob could feel sleep intruding on his mind, knew that he would have to leave soon if he had any chance of driving home in a semi-reasonable state.

"That was… unexpected." Edward began. Jacob smirked at him.

"Really?" He asked sceptically.

"Yes."

"You're supposed to be the mind reader."

"I can't read your mind."

"You could before."

"Yes, but I never expected this." Jacob smiled, but then his face fell. An explanation was still owing.

"I'm… ah… sorry that…" Unbidden, a thought escaped his mind, to Jacob's relief. He knew that, even if it had been unintentional, it was taking the coward's way out.

Edward seemed to understand. He sighed, letting his head fall back against the wall.

"What a pair we make. The widower and the seventy year old virgin. Sounds like the start of a bad joke."

Jacob smiled gratefully. He'd been dreading telling Edward, partially because it was a little pathetic being the seventy year old virgin and partially because he didn't want Edward to blame himself. It had been Edward's influence in his life, the overpowering anger and wish for revenge that had stopped Jacob from going out and having a life.

He chuckled. Edward was right, they were quite a strange pair.

Edward rose to his feet, reaching his hand out to help Jacob up. When they were both standing, Edward leaned forward, frowning slightly and kissed Jacob again, soft and undemanding.

Edward pulled back and looked into Jacob's eyes. Jacob almost caught a glimpse of sadness and regret as Edward looked at him. Something that hadn't been there only seconds before and was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

Jacob smiled, and yawned deeply. By the time he looked back. Edward was by the door, holding the keys that had been in Jacob's jacket pocket.

"You need to get home and sleep. Come on, I'll drive you to the border."

Jacob tried to ignore the melancholic note of utter finality in Edward's voice.

It shouldn't belong there anymore.