Wow! I can't believe all the amazing reviews! You guys are freaking awesome! Here's an advance chapter as thanks. Regular posting will continue on Monday.

Chapter 5 - Dreams

Six Years Later

Sweat soaked the cotton sheets twisted around Bella's trembling body, causing her to awaken panting and gasping for air. She'd been dreaming again. Visions of warm copper skin sliding against her own. The surge of heat and lust tipping her over the edge and back.

Rushing to the window she threw it open wide, gulping in the cool evening air. Gooseflesh rose over her heated skin. "Jacob..." she whispered.

Six years had gone by since she'd last seen his handsome face. Six years since that night when he made love to her under the moonlight. Six years since she'd last pressed her lips to his, telling him goodbye.

The red lights on the alarm clock glowed eerily in the darkness. Bella knew sleep would not come again for many hours. Padding softly into the kitchen, she filled the tea kettle, hoping to shake loose the feeling of foreboding that lingered. Something about the dream tonight was different. Jacob was stronger somehow. Less gentle when he claimed her body. There was an air of reckless danger about him. The wolf that shared his soul more dominant and unforgiving. Bella struggled to understand what it meant.

Lost in her own thoughts, she wasn't surprised by the sudden quiet, but persistent knocking at her door. In fact, she knew who it was on the other side.

When Bella turned the lock and pulled open the old wooden door, Leah was waiting for her on the other side. Without a word, the she-wolf slipped in, heading straight for the bathroom to cleanse the muddy earth from her body. When Leah emerged ten minutes later, she looked less animal and more human, but everything in her demeanor, from the way she walked to the electrically charged air that surrounded her screamed of nature.

This wasn't the first time that Leah showed up on her doorstep in the middle of the night. In fact, Bella had been expecting her. The dreams and midnight runs came in tandem for them. It had begun years ago. The first time, Bella thought little of it. Now she had to wonder if it meant something more. If there was a connection that she was missing.

When she first moved back to Seattle, it was not uncommon for Bella to be awakened in the middle of the night by Leah's insistent knocking. Often after a run, Leah would bypass her own apartment below in favor of Bella's. The first time it happened, Bella was slightly startled. Leah's hair was wild and matted, twigs and leaves caught in the rich black tangles of her silky mane. The bronzed skin of her body was streaked with earth, fingernails broken and bleeding, mud embedded beneath them. Crimson colored stains painted her mouth and hands. Barely healed scratches adorned her sides where the claws of her prey had fought valiantly against foe.

Seeing her that way should have been shocking. The truth was, there was something ethereal about her. The wolf magnified her beauty. Wild, free, primal. It was a part of her soul being freed. Leah Clearwater embodied the wolf, just as much as the wolf embodied her.

Settling into the mismatched padded chairs of the small kitchen table, both sipped their tea quietly, many thoughts weighing heavily on their minds. It was Bella who finally spoke, staring at the healing scratches that littered Leah's arms.

"So, what was it this time? Tangle with a raccoon?"

Leah raised her eyebrows at her, smiling wickedly. "Cougar."

"The dream was more brutal tonight," she observed. It wasn't a question, but a statement really. They had learned in the past that the tone of her dream often set the pace of Leah's phase. It was as if she were feeding off the energy of the pack without connecting to them.

Phasing was something Leah only did once a month now. At first it was a competition with herself, to see how long she could battle the wolf for dominance. Now it was a part of her existence, much like paying the bills or going to work. Of course, neither of those activities entailed turning into a hairy animal and rampaging through the woods under a bright moon. Without fail, Leah phased the night of Bella's dreams.

On those days her body would fairly hum with anticipation. The fine hairs on the back of her neck would stand up. She would become more carnal, more animal than woman. Often she would know the context of emotion the dream would contain before Bella ever fell asleep.

Leah no longer connected with the pack. They were always there, part of her subconscious and easily accessed if need be. It was more of an emotional division, a sort of protection her mind provided. One that she sorely needed in order to heal the wounds of her heart after leaving La Push and the life it contained behind.

Yet there was something. A connection with Jacob that seemed to be unsevered somehow. She often wondered if he realized it himself. Soon enough she'd find out. It was part of what she needed to discuss with Bella.

"So, Matt wants me in Port Angeles next week to close the real estate deal."

Bella sighed softly. She had known it was coming. Sooner than she expected perhaps, but a surprise nonetheless. "When are you leaving?"

"I thought I'd go on Thursday. It gives me the time I need to see my mom, reconnect with the pack. I'll scout a place for us to live."

"I haven't decided yet."

Leah studied her from across the table. Bella hated it. That all-knowing look. The way Leah read her the way Jacob once had. "You've already made up your mind whether you want to admit it or not."

Bella shifted uncomfortably in her seat, playing with the string attached to the tea bag. "No. I really haven't. I'm not sure if I'm ready." She wasn't just referring to the amazing job offer to run the new gallery that Matt was opening. His confidence in her wasn't just friendship cloaked in a lie.

It was a fact that ever since Bella had begun working for him two years ago as an intern that she had succeeded in bringing to life an extension of the business where others had failed. Bella knew how to communicate with local tribes and how to showcase their customs and heritage with skill and respect. The job was something she wanted. It was the location which bothered her.

Glancing down at the scars that had never faded from sight, Bella breathed deeply. Facing her demons was something that she wasn't sure she could handle. Facing Jacob after the last several years of deviant dreams she'd had about him was another.

"Look, Bella, I get that this isn't easy for you. Nothing in life ever is. You and I know that better than anyone else. You might be able to hide those scars on your wrist, but the ones on your heart you can't conceal from me. There's so much you've done. The way that you picked up the pieces of your life instead of letting it pull you down is a miracle." Leah gazed at her sternly, refusing to allow Bella to make any more excuses. "But, it's all for shit unless you face the past. You can't run from it forever."

Leah stretched and yawned, her sign that it was time to go home and get some sleep. She said no more, heading for the door. When her hand was on the knob, Bella finally spoke. "I'll make up my mind soon. I owe that to Matt."

"You owe it to yourself, Bella." With that she was gone. Just as quickly as she had came.

When Bella climbed back into the comfort and safety of her own bed, she found that sleep would not come. Instead she thought of all that had happened since the day she had left Forks and all the memories it held behind.

So much had changed since then.

The first few months in Florida she'd fumbled through life. The old depression seemed to waken inside, frightening her mother and herself. Leah had left LaPush not long after her, going before Sam and the council, demanding to be freed from her responsibilities and allowed to live her own life. A life without the stench of betrayal and far from the knowing stares of the people on the reservation.

Leah was Bella's only connection to the pack. Letters from Jacob came, but most went unanswered. Bella was never sure what to say to him. There were things she had to do. Strength that she had to find. A healing that needed to take place in both of their souls so that they could move on.

It wasn't only Bella who needed to grow, but Jacob did too, whether he realized it or not. Leah understood. What's more she agreed with her. There was too much between Bella and Jacob that hinged on the supernatural. It was a relationship steeped in magic and fear. The two needed time. Time and space to learn what life could be like without the unnatural attachment they'd formed with each other.

Leah Clearwater understood more than anyone ever gave her credit for.

Perhaps it was because she too needed to heal. To stop licking her wounds and allow them to permanently close so that she could be happy once again. Sam and Emily's imprint, as well as their subsequent marriage, had nearly destroyed the once vibrant girl whose dreams revolved around the one person she could never have.

That fall she shook the sand from her feet and traded in the soft beaches of La Push for the hard, grey sidewalks of the city life. Leah enrolled in college in Seattle, pursuing her own hopes and dreams of a life without monsters or magic.

While Leah Clearwater soaked in classes and made new friends, Bella kept to herself, hiding in the dark shadows of her mother's Florida home. The corner bedroom faced the morning sun, but Bella kept the curtains tightly closed. Some days she opted never to get out of bed. She had no clear idea of what to do with her life or how to live it. It seemed like years since she had woken without fear. Now that it was gone, she realized that in a way it had been a comfort. Fear meant that Jacob was close by, ready and waiting to take her in his arms.

Day after day Bella hid herself away from a world that passed her by, unaware that on the other side of the country, Jacob Black was doing the same thing, except he did not have the luxury of hiding.

It seemed that even with Bella gone, a stray vampire was always crossing onto their lands. The forest became his refuge, leeches his prey. For days he would roam the woods, chasing scents, honing his skills. Jacob Black became a hunter.

Deadly and fierce.

While he was doing that, Bella was changing. One morning Renee marched into her bedroom, ripping the curtains from the windows in an act of motherly desperation. "Baby... it's a great big world out there and it's about time you started living in it. If you want to stay here, you're going to get out of that bed, take a shower and get outside. It's time to rejoin the living."

Those words startled Bella out of her stupor. That afternoon when she wandered in and out of the crashing waves, she felt the sunlight on her face. The warmth spread through her body, the ocean breeze breathing life back into her soul. She began looking at colleges and wondering where she could go that her meager savings could afford. Renee urged her to stay in Florida, but it was too humid, too bright. The tropical scenery not what she longed to see. Bella needed a place that felt like home.

So, she packed her bags and headed for Phoenix. The first semester she lived in the dorm's until the constant noise and parties became too much. Bella had never exactly fit in well with that crowd. Something about her was always more serious, more studious than the other kids her age. She wanted more at the end of the day.

A place to call her own.

To her great surprise, Renee had never sold the little bungalow they lived in for all those years before she married Phil. Bella could have it if she agreed to pay the taxes and the utilities. As Renee put it, it was better to have her daughter there than some stranger she didn't know.

A year rolled by without any fanfare or demons of the night chasing her. Then another. By the time she'd finished her sophomore year of college, Bella was ready for a change. At Leah's urging, she transferred her credits to University of Washington. Without realizing it, Bella was inching closer to home.

It wasn't long after that the dreams began to happen. Infrequent but insistent. Prodding her brain, a thousand broken images of Jacob's face. Sights and sounds of La Push and her small bedroom in Forks. The smell of clean mountain water and pine pervading her senses. A warm tender touch against her skin and Jacob's bright smile flashing through her mind.

By the time she'd made the move to Seattle, the dreams were hitting her every month like clockwork. Always the same night, never wavering in devotion. Bella could track the days of the calendar by those dreams alone.

She found an apartment in Leah's building. Bella breathed a sigh of relief when it opened up. It was stupid to think that just because she was moving back to a place where it rained more days than not that she'd get eaten alive by vampires. Having a friend nearby, Leah specifically, made her more at ease during the transition.

The first day there, she mailed a postcard to Jacob. Just a quick note written on the back of a picture with the Seattle skyline. It had been years since she'd seen him and in a way, she hoped that one day the courage she needed to face him again would emerge in her soul.

Now that the time had come, that courage had begun to fail her. It had been years since she'd heard his voice or seen his face. So much time gone by, so many things left unsaid. Not just with Jacob, but with Charlie, Billy and the pack too.

Christmases came and went. Easter dinners and Thanksgivings where Charlie and Sue would come and visit their daughters. It was an unspoken rule to not talk much about the past or the people who had been a part of it. Both girls needed that so that they could continue to move forward. Their parents knew that in time each of them would find their way home again.

Infrequent letters to Jacob had become the norm. The ones he sent her in return never detailing much. Short and to the point. In fact, Bella realized she barely knew her best friend anymore. Laying in her soft bed, she was reminded of the way his body felt next to hers on the tiny mattress inside his cramped, cluttered bedroom. The way his chest rose and fell to the steady beat of her heart. Bella wondered if she would recognize him now. Would he have changed or did the wolf really prevent that from happening?

Jacob breathed so much life back into her. Yet, he was unable to do the one thing she needed. Jacob could not make her heal. He gave her the tools, but she needed to start the process. Leaving him behind had been harder than she'd ever anticipated. It seemed that with distance, her love for him grew. Magnified by the miles between them. Jacob was so much more than the boy who saved her life or the best friend that had supported her during the worst period of her life.

Jacob Black was Bella's soulmate.

Over the years, Bella had dated. She'd taken lovers out of the desperate need to feel another man touch her the way Jacob once had. Nothing compared to him. She'd find ways to excuse the lack of emotion she had towards the men she dated and bedded. Eventually she'd leave them with little excuse as to why. It wasn't hard to understand. Jacob was her soul mate. The connection she felt to him was stronger than anyone, including herself, had ever realized.

Now, so many years removed from his warm presence, Bella wondered how much of it was in her mind. Was it only the misguided idea of romance tricked out of the imagination of a teenage girl? Deep down, she knew it couldn't be. Further, would Jacob still feel the same way or did some part of him resent her now for all of the upheaval she'd caused in his young life. That thought was what frightened her more than anything else and made her resistant to Matt's offer to run the gallery.

In the end she knew that she would accept it. It was inevitable, really. Another inch closer to home. Bella reasoned that Port Angeles was still far enough removed from Forks and La Push that she'd be able to slowly come to grips with what would eventually happen. Distance would buy her time. Time to steel herself to the possibility that once again she would be unwanted and alone.

When the early morning rays of sun began to peek over the horizon, Bella Swan finally fell asleep.

Thoughts? What do you make of this chapter? What do you think of the friendship that Leah and Bella have forged? What about the dreams that Bella is having?