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The next couple of chapters are sort of transition chapters between Eclipse and BD. To save any confusion, just in case: this one is between Bella getting shown her Anne-of-Green-Gables vision dress and Jake and Leah's "jump off a cliff, Leah" conversation.

Chapter Forty Four: Uninvited

Carlisle:

In between work, shopping with Esme, trying on infinite tuxedos - which all fit me, but didn't fit Alice's agenda - and being told off by Alice for trying to take a look at Bella's dress, I frequented the Blacks' house over the next week. Billy was always there waiting, and opened the door for me every time, using a clever device which allowed him to open the door from a yard or two away, so that he wasn't in the path of whoever came in. I would have insisted it wasn't necessary but he seemed determined. I wouldn't have been surprised if he started laying roses at my feet and sacrificing lambs, the way he went on about it.

Despite his profuse and rather intense gratitude, we rarely talked: we were still natural enemies, after all. When we did converse it was mostly about Jake. Sometimes it would drift onto Bella, and then Edward, and then would abruptly come to a halt. This was one of those days. I excused myself before the atmosphere became too awkward, and slipped upstairs into Jacob's room. He groaned when he heard me coming.

"How are we this morning, Jake?" I asked cheerfully as I prepared the morphine injection.

"Good," he grunted. "Bit stoned though, eh?"

"Sorry about that," I replied. "I'm working with trial and error, mostly. You're a special patient, Jacob."

"One-oh-eight," he mumbled groggily. "That's me."

"It's best we wait for this one to fade off before I inject any more. This dose will only be 4 milligrams."

He chuckled drowsily.

"Oh, great...so I'll only be two thirds as spaced out?" His voice was still a little slurred, but much easier to understand. It was meant as a joke, but nevertheless, there were unmistakable signs of how much he hated to be here - under the care of a vampire, no less.

"At least your speech function has returned," I remarked.

"Small mercies." Jacob shrugged his good shoulder.

"While we're here, maybe I should check how the re-growth is coming along," I offered. "Would you mind sitting up?"

He moved to obey and muttered under his breath;

"Yes sir, whatever you say, Doctor Fang. I can't believe Sam caved. Bloody coward. Ow."

"I don't know if Sam would appreciate being a coward," I pointed out, pretending to ignore Jacob's previous comments as I gently prodded his ribs, testing their strength. They were fine; his skin was barely even bruised anymore. Amazing. "Without his asking for my help, you may well have been stuck in a wheelchair for a lot of long, painful years, Jacob."

"Sure I would've."

"It's true. I had to re-break all your bones when you were-"

"YOU WHAT?"

Jacob jumped out of bed, his tense muscles straining at the gauze that wrapped them. His jaw was clenched tight, his temples throbbing with fury as his heart pumped at double time, preparing for the change. I backed up against the wall, holding up my hands in surrender, hoping for the chance to explain myself.

"Please, Jacob, please understand I wouldn't have done it unless I had to," I pointed out. "Sam was as mad as anything. He might well have killed me. I understand you're angry too, but please hear me out. I'm really, really sorry but you were unconscious and your bones were healing so fast, so badly...I wish I could have asked for your permission, or at least told you what I was going to do, but there was no time, Jacob. Honestly."

He glared at me with cold, dark eyes, but his breathing slowed and his muscles relaxed a little.

"Sorry," he muttered. "You're tryin' and that's all I can ask, I guess. I shouldn't have gone off at you like that, Doc."

I straightened.

"You've been cooped up in here for too long, is all," I shrugged. "Really, you're doing fine. I can take off the dressings, if you'd like."

Jacob growled and sat back down, looking pained more than just physically as he offered his arm out.

"Why do you do that?" he asked as I tore the gauze away.

"Do what?"

"I insult you, I ignore you, I grunt and groan and complain and then I jump out of bed and threaten to tear you into little glittery vampire bits, and you shrug it off like you give a damn about how I feel."

"I do 'give a damn,'" I replied. "Wolf or not, my patient's wellbeing means a lot to me, and I am offended that you think I pretend it."

"So now I offend you?" Jacob laughed. "I throw all the vampire-doctor insults at you the world has to offer, and you don't even flinch, but diss your compassion and there's a knife in your heart? Are you sure this doesn't have anything to do with that stunt Esme pulled back on the field? Feeling a little more heartless after leaving her unprotected like that?"

I gritted my teeth, tearing the piece of thick, medical-grade gauze in my hands as if it were rice paper.

"That is none of your business, mongrel," I growled, forcing my hands down, still clasping a strip of gauze in each. Jacob seemed to realise he had crossed a line; his eyes became more solemn and his voice lost its mocking tone.

"I just mean that maybe your pride was a little wounded," he pointed out. "You vampire types are known for being psychotically possessive - like father, like son, right?"

"I grant you Edward is a little overprotective," I admitted, recovering control over my emotions and my tone. "And yes, so am I, but I'm trying to put that day behind me. There was more death and guilt than I care to remember. I have accepted it and I am moving on."

"And yet your eyes blaze fire whenever I mention it..."

"Jacob, please. This is harder for me than you think. I know you find it difficult to believe, but that battle was a very, very difficult thing for me to commit to. We had so many problems looming over our heads already - many of which remain - and I had a plan, but suddenly this army turns up, and the Volturi don't get involved until too late, and I'm well on the way to believing their intentions are not as innocent as they'd have us believe..."

"The who-what-i?" Jacob asked, confused.

"The Volturi," I repeated. "They're the leaders of the vampire world...the ones Bella had to rescue Edward from last year. They pride themselves on keeping the rules, but lately, it seems they're wandering from the path in order to secure their own power. To destroy us. I didn't want to believe it at first, but the evidence just keeps showing up."

I sighed. My hands released their tension on the strips of gauze. The room was silent but for Jacob's heartbeats. I began to remove the wrapping from Jacob's ribs, and after a long stretch of this near-silence, curiosity got the better of him.

"Why was it so hard?" he asked. "I mean, there are a lot of you aren't there? It's not normal for so many bloodsuckers to hang at the same crypt. And you've been there for a while; you should know the land by now. As for the actual fighting - surely you guys could handle a bunch of kids by yourselves. I mean, the Civil War one has some mad skills."

"Was that a compliment?" I asked, fighting a sly grin. I never thought I'd see the day.

"No," Jacob replied firmly. "But I give credit where credit is due."

He smiled a little in appreciation of Jaspers 'mad skills.' I shook my head.

"We're a large coven, yes, and a rather strange one, which keeps a lot of potential threats away," I told him, "but we're also a peaceful one. Even Victoria was bringing the army against us as a distraction, to help her get to Bella. We've never actually been at war. If it weren't for you wolves..." I shuddered at the thought. Jacob was confused.

"You wouldn't have let her get Bella would you? You wouldn't have left her unprotected?"

"Of course not. Never. Every last one of us would die first. For a while there, that was a frightful possibility. We'd have had the upper hand in skill, but they outnumbered us more than two-to-one. The skill balance was not enough to offset that."

"Oh..."

"I called some friends of mine - close friends, very close - but they refused to help because of what happened with Laurent while we were away."

"Laurent? French Columbian dude with the dreads?"

"Yes. One of them was his mate. I didn't know that at the time. She wanted revenge on the pack - they said they'd help us in return for our permission."

Jacob gasped.

"I said no," I assured him. "But of course we were left without help, and going on Jasper's estimation, we'd win the battle but lose some fighters. We had to go through with it, of course - what choice did we have?"

"Man...that sucks. No pun intended."

"When you offered your help, it was like a miracle. For all I know, I'm sitting here today because of you, Jacob. You may have saved anyone and everyone in my family that day. So...thank you."

Jacob's expression hardened suddenly, and I felt like someone had slammed a door in my face.

"Don't mention it," he muttered bitterly, flopping onto his good side and making a point of putting his back to me. He crossed his arms, shutting me out.

"If you prefer."

I shuffled around in my bag for some disinfectant; if I was going to leave the scars uncovered, they had to be cleaned. Jacob understood this and reluctantly held his arms away from himself - still crossed - as I worked. He twitched as the cold, damp rag touched his raw, healing skin, but said nothing. I worked quickly, and soon his scars were clean. I glanced at the pair of crutches leaning against the bed-side table.

"You'll have to-"

"Yeah. Props. I know. Thanks, Doctor Fang. You can go now." Jacob abruptly pressed his arms against his chest the moment I pulled my hand away. "Don't worry about the morphine."

I frowned, unsettled by the uncertainty in Jacob's voice. He sounded hurt and tired, like something heavy weighed on his conscience, but I didn't want to intrude. If he wanted someone to talk to, it wouldn't be a leech. I packed away my things in silence, and headed for the door without debate.

"You don't have to come back tomorrow," Jacob called after me. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."