Being There

Disclaimer:all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thanks so much for the wonderful reviews. I really appreciate it. Nikki

Part Five

Bella woke to a pounding on the door. She heard her father telling her that breakfast was on the table. She groaned as a loud thump made her sit upright in her bed; her long hair flowing in a tangle around her shoulders.

"Are you aright in there, kiddo?" Charlie's voice sounded concerned.

Bella rubbed at her eyes and stared down at the floor where Jacob lay in a heap. Her father's loud knocking had startled him and he had accidentally rolled off the bed and onto the floor. He was sitting up and rubbing at the back of his head where he had hit it.

"Bells, are you okay?" Charlie asked again. He began to turn the handle on the door.

Bella stared at Jacob in alarm. Quick as a flash he dived under her bed to hide, but his body was too long and his legs poked out of the bottom. However there was nothing more they could do as Charlie finally entered the room; a worried frown on his face.

"Hey kiddo, what's going on? What was all that noise?" He came over and sat down next to Bella making the bed dip, it hit Jacob on the head and he had to stifle a yelp. Bella quickly faked a coughing fit to hide the noise.

"Are you ill?" Charlie put his hand on her forehead. "You don't feel hot."

Bella tried her best to look contrite. "I'm okay dad, really. Just laid in a bit too long." She gave him a weak smile.

"Maybe I should stay at home today. I could bring some paperwork back and keep an eye on you." Charlie suggested.

Bella fumbled around trying to think of a good reason why he should just go in but she was so flustered that her brain froze. Charlie took her silence as confirmation that she wanted him at home. He patted her on the shoulder. "I'll call up Mac and he can send over some of the files. If they need me to attend anything they can always call me. It tends to be a slow day on a Tuesday anyway."

Bella just nodded dumbly as her father rose from the bed and left the room calling over his shoulder that her breakfast was waiting for her on the table. When the door shut Jacob slid from under the bed. He had managed to pull his long legs right under when Charlie entered by curling up into a ball, but he had a red mark on his forehead where the mattress had dipped down when Charlie had sat on the bed. He joined Bella on the bed and gave her a sheepish smile.

"That was close," he whispered.

"I can't believe I slept in." Bella scolded herself. "I always wake up before my dad."

"Chill Bells, we had a close call but Charlie didn't catch me." Jacob was feeling quite proud of himself at their narrow escape.

"That's great, Jake but we have a problem." Bella folded her arms and gazed at him in irritation.

"What?" Jacob was confused.

"My dad is not going into work now, so how are we going to sneak you out of the house without him knowing about it?"

Jacob groaned. "I didn't think of that."

XXXXXX

Bella sat opposite her dad and slowly ate her scrambled eggs. Her dad watched her closely, still thinking she was coming down with a cold. She spooned the food into her mouth and made a great show of chewing her food. This eventually seemed to satisfy her father as he took up the paper and began to read. She was glad that he was no longer focused on her. Jacob was still up in her room; she swore she could hear his stomach rumbling from upstairs. She would have to somehow at least sneak him up some food.

"Dad?"

Charlie looked over the paper at his daughter distractedly. "Yes, kiddo."

"I feel fine now. I must have just been hungry. You can still go into work," Bella suggested hopefully.

Charlie shook his head. "No, no. It's all arranged now. Anyway I thought it would be good to spend the day together. We hardly ever have the chance. In fact now you are feeling better I thought we could head out to Cooper's lake and do some fishing."

"Fishing?" Bella questioned.

"Yeah, you used to love it as a kid," a wistful smile crossed Charlie's face as he recalled Bella as a child.

"I did?" Bella couldn't remember actually enjoying fishing. It was something that her dad and Billy would do when she came to visit, she had just gone along with it to keep the peace.

"Definitely." Charlie stated adamantly. "You and Jake had your own little fishing rods and you would sit with me and Billy while we showed you the ropes."

Bella chewed on her bottom lip trying to recall the idyllic memory that her dad was painting. She kept coming up blank. She didn't want to spoil her dad's obvious happy memories so she pretended and agreed with him. "Yeah, those were great times." She mumbled.

"That's great, kiddo. I'll get the fishing gear together and we'll head there after lunch." He gave her a beaming smile as he folded his paper and rose from the table. "I'm off to have a shower."

Bella gave him a small smile as he left and then sat back in her chair and sighed. It was going to be another long day.

XXXXXXX

Jacob took the plate of toast off of Bella and began to devour it hungrily. She watched in fascination as he hardly paused for breath as he swallowed it down, she was sure he didn't even taste it.

"Is that going to be enough or do you need more?" She asked him.

Jacob just grinned at her as he polished off the last piece of toast. "For now."

"I take it you heard what my dad said about taking me fishing." Bella grouched, it was hard for her to get used to his keen hearing.

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. I don't remember enjoying fishing, we used to get bored and run off to make mud pies. Our dads would get annoyed because we complained we wanted to go home."

"That's what I remember too but my dad insisted I loved it." Bella frowned.

"I think that's called looking at the past through rose coloured spectacles or something like that," Jacob stretched his arms above his head to get the kinks out of his shoulders. Bella had to force herself not to stare at his bulging biceps. He really was hot; she began to fan herself down as she felt her face heat up.

"You alright, Bells?" Jacob asked her curiously. "You've gone all red."

"I'm fine, just need a shower," Bella huffed, rising from the bed. "It looks like you will have to wait until we go for our fishing trip before you can safely leave."

Jacob lay back down on her bed and made himself comfortable. "I'll be fine. It'll give me a chance to catch up on my sleep."

A thought suddenly occurred to Bella, she let out a small gasp. "School Jake. I'm on suspension but you're not."

"Shit," Jacob groaned as he flung an arm across his eyes. "I'm screwed."

XXXXXX

Bella glanced up at her bedroom window as her dad loaded the fishing gear into the back of the cruiser. She briefly saw Jacob peering out of the window and she gave him a quick wave. The slamming of the car door made her jump.

"Ready kiddo?" Charlie checked with her as he buckled up his seat belt.

"Yeah ready," Bella mustered up a reluctant smile as Charlie started the engine and they pulled out of the drive.

XXXXXX

Jacob entered his house to find his dad waiting for him. "Where have you been? I have had the school on the phone telling me you never bothered to turn up. I got so worried that something had happened to you that I called Sam. He told me you were fine." Billy snapped.

Jacob threw himself down on the couch. "Look dad I'm sorry. I would have called if I could but I was stuck."

"Stuck where?" Billy rolled his chair over to face his son.

"Don't get mad okay. I went over to Bells' last night and ended up crashing at hers. We overslept and I had to avoid Charlie, he decided to stay at home and take Bells fishing for the day. I had to wait until they left." Jacob leaned back and closed his eyes.

Billy snorted with laughter. "Why would the chief take Bella fishing, she hated it when she was younger."

Jacob opened one eye. "Not according to Charlie. He waxed lyrical about how much she loved it when she was small. Did we have fishing rods when we were younger?"

"Yeah, I made them for you and Bella but you both got bored after five minutes and created such a fuss we had to take you home." Billy scratched the back of his head as he spoke. "Poor Charlie he keeps trying to think up ways to connect with Bella. He has been so concerned about her since that leech left her. It's good to see her looking so much better."

Jacob let out a big yawn, he was still feeling the after effects of his long patrol shift. "Go to bed son. You've missed most of the day at school now anyway."

"Okay," Jacob nodded tiredly and headed for his room. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was fast asleep.

XXXXXX

Bella sat by the lake with her dad; fishing rod in hand. Cooper's lake was beautiful in the late afternoon light. When the clouds passed and let the faint sun shine through, the lake would shimmer sending rainbow sparkles across the surface of the water. She found herself enjoying the peace and tranquillity. Charlie showed her how to bait her fishing line and throw it out into the centre of the lake, she made herself comfortable on the fold out camping chair that he had brought and they sat back and relaxed.

They didn't catch much fish. There was one moment of excitement when Bella's line went taut and she pulled back on it tugging it completely out of the water to find an old shoe attached to the end. Charlie had grumbled about fly tippers leaving rubbish. He took the shoe off the hook and they added more bait. In the end it was only Charlie who managed to catch anything at all. As they packed up to return home, Bella had to concede that she had enjoyed the rare moment of relaxation and she could see why her father and Billy would go fishing to relax and get away from life's stresses for a few hours.

Charlie loaded everything into the cruiser and then got into the driver's side. Bella was already buckled in. "Did you enjoy that, kiddo?" He asked her as he switched on the engine.

Bella smiled at him. "Yeah, it was nice. Especially spending the day with you."

Charlie beamed at her. He began to drive away down the dirt track and back toward Forks. As the cruiser disappeared into the distance, a shadowy female figure stepped out of the tree cover. Her pale skin glowed in the faint rays of the sun; her lustrous red hair blowing gently in the light breeze.

XXXXXX

Jacob ate his dinner quickly and went to join Embry on another patrol shift. He would be glad when the shifts switched around and he didn't have to be up half the night. He left the house and ran toward the trees, undressing quickly as he got amongst the trees. Jacob tied his shorts to the strap wound around his leg and quickly phased. As soon as his four paws hit the turf he shot off to find Embry.

"Anything been happening?"

"Come over here Jake. I think I've found a trail. It smells like the red head that we've been chasing. She hasn't been around the last week or so but this is a fresh scent." Embry's nose was to the ground as he followed the circular route the cold one had taken.

Jacob took only moments to join his friend. This was the first time he had the chance to actually track a vampire. The others had warned him about the rank smell they left behind but it still didn't prepare him for how potent it really was. He tried to dampen down the nausea as the sickly sweet stench burned his nostrils. He copied Embry's movements as the two wolves followed the trail for quite a distance. It left La Push and wound around different areas of Forks, it eventually ended up on the outskirts of Coopers Lake.

Jacob's fur stood on end as he realised that Bella and her dad had been in exactly the same area at the same time as the red headed vampire. He could still detect the faint scent of Bella even though she had left the area hours ago. Embry saw his reaction and looked at him curiously.

"What is it?"

"Bells and her dad were here at the same time as the vamp. It feels too much like coincidence to me Em," Jacob told him worriedly.

"Go check on her Jake. I can tell you're worried. I'll continue to follow the trail, although it's very faint. Jared and Paul will be taking over soon anyway." Embry offered.

"Thanks Em," Jacob took off at high speed for Bella's house; his huge paws tearing up great clods of earth as he ran.

XXXXXX

He reached the Swan's house within fifteen minutes. He phased back into his human form and slipped his shorts on. Just like the previous night he ascended the tree outside Bella's window. Almost as if she expected that he would make another late night visit she had left it wide open. When he climbed into her room he found that she was fast asleep, wrapped tightly in her duvet to keep out the chill from the open window. Jacob breathed a sigh of relief to find her safe and well in bed.

Bella twisted around in her sleep and lazily opened one eye. She gave him a half smile when she saw him standing there. "Knew you might come." She murmured, pulling the duvet open so that he could lie beside her.

Jacob put his arm over her and she shifted back into him like the night before. "Night, Jake." She whispered before drifting back to sleep.

"Night Bells," Jacob said softly. He lay awake for a while, gazing at her worriedly as he pondered why the red head had been in the same place as Bella and whether she was once again in danger.

A/N-thanks for reading!