|| CHAPTER FOUR||

Here..
we've come to the end of our winding road
no one knows..
the reasons my eyes had til now been closed..
still you constantly, openly, stripped of me my deepest love
built on promises you never kept.. so just stay gone
There you are.. broken.. fake it

- For The Taking, Blackout

She'd just finished a load of laundry, she was stepping into the hallway when his arms shot out of nowhere literally and he grabbed the heavy wicker basket from her, gave her a raised brow as he said calmly, "Heavy lifting isn't a good idea."

"That basket, Jacob, weighs exactly seven pounds, if that. It's not exactly heavy. Why aren't you watching the game with Paul, Billy and Charlie?" she asked in curiousity as she tried to take the basket back. The shouts from the living room drowned out any possible answer he might have, but he shrugged and said calmly, "I'm just not in the mood to watch a game. I came to see you anyway. I mean correct me if I'm wrong here, Aria, but we were best friends at one point. Maybe I miss that."

"Okay, fine. I'll take that answer. And I have been a little touchy lately, I'm sorry for that. Horomones, I guess?" Aria asked as she looked up at him, bit her lower lip slowly, their eyes locked on each other. Jacob coughed as he nodded and said with a laugh, "Yeah, I get it. I just.. I miss being your friend." as he held her gaze, tried again to read her facial expression and use it as a gauge to tell what she was thinking. And again, he couldn't. She'd gotten really good at hiding how she felt and keeping her face void of anything she might feel or think.

Aria nodded and then said quietly, "Okay, alright.. But that's it, okay?" as she looked up at him a few moments. He nodded and said calmly, "For now, I'll take it." as he followed her up the stairs, put the laundry basket down on Aria's bed. He smiled as he noticed she still had the dream catcher he'd made her for her birthday one year. "Is it working?" he asked as he took down the dream catcher and turned it over in his hands. She shrugged and took the dream catcher, put it back where she'd had it hanging. "I suppose.. I mean I'm not having hellish nightmares, if you're asking that." she said after a few moments of tense silence. He watched her putting away her clothes, looked at the thick stack of college books on the desk in front of the bay window. He grumbled and turned to look at her, held up a book and asked, "Seriously? You're not just gonna take a little bit to recover?"

"Actually, Jacob, I'm taking online classes now. Can't get too far behind if I want to be up for an internship next year." Aria pointed out as Jacob grumbled again and said " So you're planning to leave again." the anger edging into his voice, making Aria flinch. He felt like an asshole instantly as he recalled everything he'd managed to figure out about this Adam jerk who apparently messed Aria up so badly that now she wanted to spend her life alone.

"Actually, no. I'm gonna apply for the internship in Forks.." Aria finally said as she looked at him and then said quietly, "Not that it matters. It didn't matter when I l left the first time, why would it now? I'm staying, Jacob, for my dad. Because he's not good at being alone in the house, even if he won't admit it.. I mean he can, he just.. He doesn't like it? And I'm staying for my kid.. Because Forks is better than some big city or something. There's a lot of shit out there I don't want my son subjected to."

"But you can't protect him from everything."

"But I can try. And Forks is safer than a big city.. This is home to me.. Even after everything.. So no, I wasn't leaving. Not sure why you were getting pissed about it, even if I were.. Like I said.. It wouldn't matter." Aria said calmly as she bit her lower lip, tried to figure out where the hell his sudden anger outburst came from. It was kind of scary..

She knew he was a shifter, maybe because of the animal side of him, he got angry quicker. Internally, she was disgusted with herself and thought 'What? Now you're going to make excuses for him too? You're pathetic, really, you are.. He's never gonna love you first.. And you cannot, you refuse to settle for anything less than first in someone's heart. Adam was right about you, he was the best you were ever going to get.. And your stubborn idealism is only going to wind up making you a bitter and angry old woman who dies alone.. But seriously, the making excuses for his anger thing.. Do not go down that path again.. Remember where it lead last time?' but she kept quiet and busied herself with putting up her clothing and then flopping down onto her bed, turning on the stereo and opening one of her college books.

Jacob flopped down next to her, intent on not leaving anytime soon, obviously. He watched her and thought to himself 'Way to go, moron.. Charlie and Bella have told you everything they do know about what Adam put her through and you go and lose your temper like that? But it's just so damn irritating the way she automatically assumes that I never loved her, not even a little. She doesn't have a clue.. But then, I never actually tried to show her before, either.. And now she thinks that if she has to settle for second place she'd rather not try at all.. Jessica told you that when you ran into her at the gas station earlier today.. You have to use what you know to help her.. You have to find some damn way to prove to her that she's never been and she never will be second to you.. That somewhere along the way, Bella became second place and she took first. It's always been a competition between them.'

"What's that one?" Jacob asked as Aria held out the book to him and said "It's actually a book I picked up on different things to expect while pregnant. Because I was curious as to what the hell was going on with me lately.. Apparently, it's all normal." as she smiled a little. Jacob nodded and took the sonogram photo, looked at it, smiled to himself. "Any names?"

"Well, I've decided that if they have to give me an epi, my father will be in charge of naming him. If not, I'm leaning towards a few.. I'd tell you, Jacob, but I'd have to kill you.. Nobody else knows." Aria joked as she smiled a little bit, took the sonogram he held out to her back and put it into the frame on her desk then asked, "So.. How's your life?"

"Well, I'm working at this awesome garage.. Beyond that, really don't do much else. Just not interested, I guess." Jacob said as Aria studied him a few moments and then asked "So no hot nights?"

"Nope.. I do have patrol and stuff.. And work leaves me pretty much exhausted. Then there's helping Paul fix that damn log cabin he and Rachel are going to live in.." Jacob said as he studied her intently and asked, "What about you?"

Aria doubled over in laughter then said "No guy's going to willingly start something with a girl who already has a bun in the oven.. And if they were, I wouldn't know.. Told you before.. I'm pretty much done with love as anything other than a mythical notion or something." which made Jacob say quietly while holding her gaze intently, "With the wrong guy yeah, it is.. But with the right one, who knows."

Aria bit her lower lip, tempted to argue back but for whatever reason, she fell silent instead and then finally coughed and said "Anyway, beyond that.. You moved to Canada?"

"Yeah.. I was actually toying with living out the rest of my life in wolf form.. Rejected or broken imprints will make a guy do crazy shit apparently." as he looked at her, wondering if she'd get what he was hinting at.

She held his gaze a few moments before saying quietly, "Oh.. So, this girl.. You just can't find her or something? Or she ditched you?" as she wondered to herself who in the hell would just willingly ditch him.. Other than her twin, of course, but her twin was batshit insane, Aria liked to think. Jacob's answer puzzled her a little more, she got the feeling that she was missing some huge hint when he answered "Oh, I found her.. And she's not getting away. I won't lose her."

"Good luck with that, Jacob.. If memory serves, you always were good at persistance." Aria said quietly as she found herself insanely jealous of a girl she shouldn't even be jealous of, given that she was forcing herself to get over her 'love' for him.. Went without saying, of course, it wasn't working, not even a little, but she was making a solid effort..

Or at least she'd thought she was until just now, hearing him admit he'd imprinted.. Once upon a time she'd have killed to hear him say that, think he meant on her..

He grumbled in frustration when he realized that Aria had no clue who he was currently talking about.. But he'd show her somehow.. There had to be a way in..