|| 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

Her father had been gone for about an hour when the storm hit. She'd never liked them as a kid, she liked them even less now, with the weird things that'd been going on lately, the weird hang up calls from an unknown number, the way she woke up in the middle of the night sometimes with the strange sensation that someone either was in her old bedroom or had been in her old bedroom, watching her sleep. She was tense, and tense was not a good thing for her, not considering that she was pregnant and she didn't need to get tense or scared.. Especially not given what her doctor told her at her last appointment, that her blood pressure had been a little higher than he'd like among other things.

She took a few deep breaths and she thought she'd be okay, she'd even hit play on the dvr again, intent on finishing her Supernatural binge a thon, when the thunder and lightning really started to make noise, shadows on the wall as the power flickered and then went out completely. She jumped up off of the couch swearing and popcorn went everywhere. The phone rang again and she bit her lower lip as she gave it a dirty look. The weird calls were really starting to get to her, she could definitely tell this for sure now. "It's just a storm, damn it, Aria." she grumbled as she walked to the hallway table, dug around in a drawer and found a candle, matches to light it with. She'd never been a really big fan of darkness, storms and darkness together was probably ten times scarier to her. The phone rang in the house and she waited, holding her breath as the answering machine turned on and upon hearing Jacob's voice, she let out the breath she'd been holding, swore a little and ran to try and answer the phone just as he said "Fuck it.. I'll come over and make sure you're alright." and the dialtone recorded on the machine ending the message.

She paced a few moments and then shrugged. When the lights flickered back on finally, she let out her breath completely and flopped back down on the couch, started up the tv show, Supernatural, she'd been watching. He'd probably change his mind, she figured to herself as she started to get engrossed in the show. The storm continued outside and she tried to ignore it like she had been.. As it finally began to die down, she heard a motorcycle pulling up next to the house outside and she got up, went to peer out the curtains. She raised a brow when she saw Jacob walking up the stone walkway to her father's door.

"The literal fucking hell is he doing here? I mean I know his message said... But did he fucking fly?" she wondered aloud as she stepped away from the window and quickly straightened up the living room, scowled when she remembered that it was just Jacob and her father probably put him up to checking in, Charlie knew she hated bad storms...

He wasn't stopping by because he was actually worried about her, at least that's what she figured.. But when he practically beat the damn front door down knocking on it, she raised a brow. He sounded worried, a little panicked even... And it made her heart race a little, even if she'd die before admitting it. Finally, she threw the door open and stared up at him with her head tilted to one side, a slightly amused look on her face as she asked, "What?"

"Do you not know how to answer a phone?" Jacob asked through gritted teeth as Aria said quietly, "Someone's grumpy." and stepped aside, letting him into the house before answering, "If you must know, Jacob, I was kinda trying to find a damn light source.. So I didn't have to sit in the dark until the power came back?" as she bit her lower lip. He nodded and stopped scanning the house with his eyes, looked at her and nodding said with a slightly cocky smirk, "Yeah, you were always afraid of the dark."

She flipped him off and said "It's my own damn fault tonight, really, I was watching Supernatural when the storm hit." as Jacob looked at her, brow raised. She grumbled and explained "It's a tv show, damn it."

"Oh."

"As you can see, I'm fine. I know my dad's probably bugging the hell out of you, trying to make you keep tabs on me when he's working.. You really don't have to.. I'll talk to him about it when he gets back." Aria insisted as Jacob said quietly, "I haven't actually seen Charlie today... Nor has he called me.. I came because I was worried about you. You alright?"

"I'm fine, seriously." Aria lied as she bit her lip and stared at him intently. He saw something in her eyes that indicated she was lying and he asked "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, damn it.. Nothing I can't handle." Aria said as Jacob looked at her, brow raised, waiting on an explanation.. Which she gave, which ticked him off when she said casually, "Some creepy pervert I'm sure that's all they are, really.. Anyway, they've been calling my phone, hanging up after breathing really hard or laughing this deranged laugh.. It's just some idiot okay? That's all it is."

He held out his hand, she rolled her eyes and put her phone into it after keying in her unlock code. He dialed her voicemail and listened intently. When the messages finished he asked stiffly, "How long?"

"Since I left Biloxi.. Kinda makes me think it's my ex.. And he won't do shit." Aria said as Jacob looked at her and then said "Right.. That's why you left him, remember?" revealing that yes, he knew all about her ex and the things the guy had done before she finally got the courage to leave the guy. She grumbled and made a mental note to talk to her father about how much he told Billy and how much Billy told Jacob.. She'd told him already that Jacob wasn't ever going to love her like he'd loved her sister, begged her father to stop trying to throw them together, insisted she was just fine alone.. But tonight's events kind of made her wonder if she really were.

And Jacob racing over here like some knight in shining armor to save the day.. She looked up at him and he stared at her intently for a few moments as if he wanted to say or do something. "Since I'm here.. wanna watch tv or something?" Jacob finally asked as she shrugged and said with a yawn, "Cool with me but don't get pissed if I fall asleep.. I seem to sleep a lot lately."

"It'll be fine.. I just wanna be here with you.. At least then I'm not at home going crazy worrying about you." Jacob admitted, the bluntness of his answer making her do a double take when she looked at him and bite her lip again, her fingers trailing slowly through her long hair as she said quietly, "I told you, Jacob, I'm fine.. I mean now I am."

"Obviously not, you have a stalker that you neglected to mention to anyone.. What were you going to do, Aria, if the jerk showed up here?" Jacob asked through gritted teeth, a concerned look in his eyes as he looked at her. Aria shrugged and said "My dad would have handled him, trust me, he's dying to.. Besides, there's enough little perverts in Forks, Jacob, who's to say it's not some bored teenage guy?"

Jacob shook his head and for the sake of not getting her upset, he let the matter go. But he did make a mental note to find a way to answer her phone sometime and tell this caller what was going to happen if he dared step foot in Forks and Jacob could get his damn hands on him. Aria coughed and held out a bowl of popcorn as she took a handful. "So.. How was your day?"

"Fine, until you scared the hell out of me by not answering the damn phone." Jacob grumbled darkly as he took a hand full of the popcorn and watched her out of the corner of his eyes. She scooted a little closer, he noticed, and he laughed when she found a throw blanket and wrapped it around herself.. She'd always had the habit, it was kinda cute actually.. No matter what the weather was, she always had to have a blanket around her when she was sitting around watching television or reading a book. And those big oversized reading glasses.. It was good to see that while a lot about Aria had changed while she'd been gone, a lot about her hadn't changed, also.

Maybe there was hope for them, for him to finally get her back.

Aria watched Jacob intently as he watched the television in front of them, pondering what was up with him lately.. He'd never acted like this around her before, more or less, she was only a friend, and usually, he only bothered hanging out with her when Bella was tied up with Edward.. But the way he was acting towards her now, the way he spoke to her, tried to take care of her and even looked at her..

It just felt like something was different about him, about the way he felt about her.. And it made her curious.. Which of course, scared the crap out of her.. Because she'd fallen for him once and she'd never actually gotten over that.. And she didn't want to do it again, have it ruined when he moved on.. Or she messed it up somehow.

Lately, she seemed to make mistakes better than she did anything else. She didn't want to fall because she didn't want to crash to the ground when he didn't catch her...

Maybe this time.. She wouldn't even let herself think that.. If she gave herself hope, she'd wind up hurting again. And she'd had enough pain and hurting to last a long time.

She leaned against him warily and he slid his arm around her, made a joke about the blanket she was wrapped in. She glared at him and for a moment they shared this silent and intense staring war.. Something just felt different about him, about the way he acted around her..