It was growing dark by the time Jacob got back to Edward's place. Parking the car in the garage, he went to the front door, opening it and letting himself inside.

The ride back from town had given him enough time to clear his head, the cool air doing wonders for his frayed insides and letting his anger cool back down to just glowing embers.

Edward wasn't downstairs, but Jacob thought he heard him moving about somewhere above his head. His senses were still a bit too confused to be any more specific. Shrugging of his jacket, which he had only put on as a reflex, since even against the cool night air he didn't really need it, Jacob moved into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. The liquid helped relax him even further.

For the last fifty years Jacob had been keeping his eye on the horizon, He had always been looking forward, hoping and planning for the day when he would finally be able to do what he had set his heart on doing, however ill-founded his plans had been. For the first time in his memory, Jacob had been able to just enjoy the moment, all of the moments that he was spending with Edward and his makeshift family. But just when he had taken his eye off the horizon, stopped always thinking about the future, new problems had arisen there, blocking his path.

He couldn't forget the threat that Sam had made. Couldn't forget the way the man had blindly pushed Jacob's arguments aside. Nothing he said would get through to him, and unfortunately Sam had to great a sway over the community to just ignore.

He didn't know what Sam could do to stop Edward, but he had seen the determination the man still clung to. Ig there was a way, he would find it.

Things were threatening to come crumbling down around him again, and Jacob had no idea what to do.

He fell back into the couch, throwing his arms up behind his head and shutting his eyes. Why was nothing ever easy for him?

Edward entered the room, quietly moving to sit beside Jacob. The taller man didn't open his eyes, just remained still, trying to fix a single moment of peace into the horror his day had turned into.

Edward shifted next to him, unwilling to disrupt him, but unable to settle back. They couldn't relax, not really. Not with possible death threats on the table.

Sighing, Jacob sat back up and opened his eyes. Edward smiled cautiously at him. Something was up.

Jacob steeled himself. It's not like things could get much worse.

"Edward, what's up?"

"Do you want to move?"

(...)

Edward piled more and more into Jacob's open arms, stripping the blankets and sheets off his bed and throwing them in a pile on the floor. It was no longer just the boring gold stuff he'd had on them before, but a colourful mess of patterned quilts.

"Why exactly are you…ah, we, doing?"

"We're moving out."

Jacob smiled at Edward's frantic search through his room. The vampire was grabbing things with a seemingly random determination. CDs, books, even items of clothing. Stuffing half of it in Jacob's waiting arms and trying to balance the rest of it.

"Yeah, I got that. But why are we moving out? I didn't even know I had moved in."

Edward paused for a second. He looked a little dismayed. Jacob smiled and moved forward to take the items out of the man's hands.

"I mean, I do want to move in, I guess. A little more permanently. But why are we moving?"

Edward looked only slightly relieved to find out that he wasn't moving too fast, but took the items back from Jacob and continued the flurry of motion.

"I just thought that we might like our own space."

"I thought we had space. The whole house is empty."

Edward froze. For a moment he didn't move at all. When he did start moving the movements were slow and unhurried, like he was buying time.

"Whatever it is Edward, you can tell me."

Edward looked up at him and gave him a small, apologetic half smile.

"The house isn't going to be empty for much longer."

(...)

"Don't get me wrong, I've over joyed that the bloodsuckers-sorry, your family are coming to visit, but why are they coming? And where are we going?"

The two of them were moving through the night, following a path through the woods that Jacob couldn't see, but Edward seemed to know. Their arms piled with knickknacks and blankets, Jacob stopped wondering why they were headed out into nowhere when the heavy scent of the woods hit his nose. It felt good, to be back out in his territory, after such a harrowing few hours. Jacob wouldn't have minded sleeping out in the open, but Edward's CDs probably wouldn't survive a sudden downpour.

"I have a place. It was supposed to be a birthday present, for Bella. But she never got to use it, and it's stood completely empty for years. I thought that we could move out there for a bit."

As Edward spoke, they rounded a corps of dense trees and the cottage came into view. It was beautiful, quaint in a way that was endearing more than it was cute, and even in the dark it was picturesque. Ivy clung to the walls, creeping its way over and through the bricks.

Even knowing that the house was intended for Bella didn't change the way Jacob felt when he saw it. It had never been hers. She had never stepped foot in it. But she would have loved it. As they approached the door, Edward retrieved a key from his pocket and unlocked it, letting it swing open. They stepped inside together.

There was barely anything inside, just basic furniture and necessities. There were a couple of chairs. A small but seemingly well contained kitchen. An empty bookcase. A fire place rested in the corner.

A blank slate.

Edward moved over to the bookcase and dropped the books and CDs, putting them in place without any particular order. He turned to look back at Jacob, who was standing by the entrance looking around him.

"There's a bedroom down the hall. Just put that stuff down in there."

Jacob followed his instruction and moved towards the bedroom. All of the doors in the corridor was closed, so he opened them as he went along.

The house was truly empty. Most of the rooms stood completely void, plastic covering the curtains. Dust hung heavy in the air.

"Why did you leave the main house furnished but you cleared this place out?" Jacob called back to Edward in the other room.

Edward's voice echoed back to him. "There is no need for this house any more. It wasn't going to be used again. All of the stuff that was supposed to go in here, we never got the chance to move it in. It's been empty since long before Bella died."

Jacob put everything down on the bed and went back out to join Edward. The man was checking through the kitchen facilities, pulling open empty draws and cupboards.

Jacob sat down in one of the seats. Edward stopped searching, looked around for a second and then in one swift movement perched himself on the kitchen bench, facing into the room and towards Jacob.

"So...everyone's coming?"

"My whole family, yes."

"And that includes..."

"My daughter, yes."

Jacob hesitated for a minute. "What is she like?"

"You will probably like her. She's a lot like her mother. She looks so much like her. Renesmee. That's what Bella wanted to call her."

"Renesmee? Please tell me you don't call her Nessie?"

A guilty silence confirmed his suspicion.

"But you will like her," Edward evaded. "She has this amazing, unique way of communicating, and people can't help but love her."

"But is she...?"

"She is immortal. We worried for a while, for a long time. She grew up too fast. You remember what the pregnancy was like. But she stopped aging about early twenties. She doesn't need to drink blood and she can eat human food. She is quite extraordinary."

Jacob hadn't thought much about the child, even during his blackest years. It had always been Edward he was focused on. He'd never seen the child, and though he had viewed it only as a monster, that time had passed. He was different.

Edward pushed himself off the bench.

"Do you mind opening up the windows in the rooms? It's stuffy in here."

Jacob smiled back at Edward and caught the small set of keys thrown his way. He started going through all of the rooms. Opening up the house with Edward felt better that Jacob would have ever believed. Jacob unlocked and unlatched each of the windows, letting the cool night air in. Moonlight filtered through gaps in the heavy curtains. It all felt strangely like coming home.

Jacob stopped when he got back to the bedroom, sitting down in the stripped bed. It was nothing but a mattress and a headboard, covered in a twisted heap of heavy material he'd dumped before, but it was comfortable. Edward entered and went to the cupboard, opening it to reveal a complete room. The room was empty, and Edward disappeared into it. Jacob went to stand in the doorway, realizing it was a huge walk in closet.

Edward was putting the few items of clothing he'd picked up in his room neatly away in a draw. Jacob suddenly wished he had something of his own to contribute.

"So, you never answered my first question. Why is your family coming back to Forks?"

Edward didn't look up from his task as he answered.

"When Sam left, my first thought was, of course, to call you." Edward didn't see Jacob's nod, but continued anyway. "My second thought was to call Carlisle and Renesmee."

"That sounds like a pretty normal reaction to have after a death threat. But I don't see how that would tip them off about it."

"Well, you remember how Alice can see things that are going to happen, but not where you wolves are concerned? Apparently my future's been a little blank lately. She didn't seem to mind, since she could see that my going back to them was still a possible future. Apparently that meant I was still safe."

"Yeah, I was wondering about Alice. So you mean she knows nothing about us?"

"None of them do. But when I thought about making the call, it became a possible future. Alice saw it, and when I didn't call, I guess it was a red flag. So they decided it was time to return. We don't usually return to a place so soon, but I was here, so here they are coming."

"At least we'll have a little back up. If things really do get serious with Sam."

Edward laughed. "That's one way to look at it."

"So you're going to have to tell them about all of this then."

"No, Jacob, we're going to have tell them about all this."

"Fantastic." Edward ignored the sarcasm in Jacob's voice and continued folding. "How do you think they'll take it?"

"I have no idea."

"How long till they get here?"

"They'll be here tomorrow afternoon. Think we can stave off the wolves until then?"

"I think we'll make it." Edward straightened up and took a few steps toward Jacob in the doorway. Jacob moved to block his way, trapping him in the small room. "What should we do until then?"

Edward moved closer, reaching out his arm to rest it on the doorjamb beside Jacob. "You may have noticed me carrying some books in. I'm sure we can find some way to occupy ourselves."

"Is that so?" Jacob could feel Edward's cold breath against his lips as the vampire leaned closer still.

"Yeah, and there's a particular title I've been meaning to check out."

Jacob relaxed against the doorframe, trying to pull Edward with him, but the shorter man took advantage of the newly unobstructed exit and slipped through. Jacob followed him back into the bedroom.

"Wait, you're not actually going to read are you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"I wasn't completely sure."

"Jacob, we have a limited number of hours left to ourselves before we are invaded by my family. We only have a short period of time when it is still only you and me. I suggest we make the most of it."

"Thank god."