Chapter Summary: Bella's heart remains split in two as Jacob tries to gain ground with her on the other half of her. Meanwhile, Edward now knows what he must do to keep his beloved Bella safe; exactly what he should have done in the first place.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight and, once again, Jacob Black made me stay awake last night to write on his behalf…he whipped me good.

Intermission II Chapter Title: 'Whipping Boy,' by Train

(BPOV)

The night of September 13th...

After numerous phone calls from my mother every few hours to celebrate my birthday over the phone I finally crashed my head down on the bed. I was a little sad that I hadn't been able to see any of the wolves or my vampire family up close, but Angela, and Ben came over and decided to stay with me for a couple of hours to watch a movie. Charlie had excused himself to go put in a couple of OT hours at work during the day after a small cake and a music CD as a present this morning. He didn't know that I still didn't listen to music much, but I smiled just the same, and then placed the CD case lovingly on the coffee table.

I hadn't bothered to look at the artist.

I had seen Edward from a distance earlier and he had given me a small beautiful charm to wear on my anklet next to Jacob's wolf charm. Seth had groaned when he slipped it to me while stating, "It smells and feels like a rock. I don't know what it is." If I knew Edward and his taste, I knew it would be one of a kind, special, and expensive.

I started to attach the added charm on my anklet when I felt a tug at my side. Suddenly I knew that I couldn't ruin a gift from Jacob to combine with another gift from Edward.

It was bad enough that the two weighed down my heart, but it would kill me if the charm proved to weigh down my leg too. I touched the rock with my fingertips and placed it on my dresser after lying on my bed for a few minutes. I would find some way to wear it later. I draped my fingers along the anklet suddenly and got a little annoyed that Jacob hadn't even called for my birthday. I knew that I had promised Edward that I would not be with him, but I wasn't aware of Jacob promising Edward that he wouldn't be with me.

It was sort of like a loophole that I was counting on.

My sighs were starting to tip Charlie off that I was annoyed when I was eating downstairs. It was now exactly 10:59pm and I hadn't gotten any closer to falling asleep. "Stupid werewolf," I muttered. I dressed in a pair of black shorts and a loose tank top. The humid air was doing wonders for my mood as well. Charlie would be up for awhile, but I was determined to sleep so that the next day would come faster. I was going to visit that dumb, supernatural, abnormal, teenage boy and give him a piece of my mind. I hated people making a big deal of my birthday, but he was supposed to be my best friend and we were still on talking terms. What would be his excuse now?

I huffed again and slammed down into the bed. My thoughts were driving me insane as my bed covers felt a bit chillier than they had previous nights. I used the sheets to rub my nipples, to help them harden. I imagined that they were Jacob's lips instead. I caressed my own left breast as I imagined him cupping my butt and forcing me to part my legs open for him, ready to receive him, ready to allow him in. My lips began to throb as my hand slid closer and closer to the top of my shorts. I then imagined Edward caressing my back with his cool fingertips and they both selfishly pulled me closer to their side as the other side struggled to get me back to theirs. I imagined being taken and frozen, almost not able to breathe from my once long lost love until I was warmed by the gentle fire from my best friend.

I felt more relaxed as my hands continued to move with my semiconscious help when I heard several taps on the window. Huh? I looked at the clock and saw it was 11:17. I knew I shouldn't have been so obsessed with the time, but if it was who I thought it was, the time would be a good indicator to how much I would strangle my best friend's neck.

I rushed over to the window and saw Jacob in a white button down shirt and dark gray slacks. He was holding something behind him in purple and green wrapping paper, and was smiling. I tensed at the sight at him, but my arrangement with Edward to keep Jacob safe rang true. To be with him would put us both in danger; Jacob more so if he were to fight in the battle.

I looked at him through the closed window and shook my head. I half hoped that he would leave even if my mouth wouldn't open and say it.

Jacob placed his hands in a pleading movement. "Please, Bella?" he mouthed. Again I shook my head. "Bella, please?" he mouthed again, looking crestfallen.

I started to turn away from the window until I saw him quickly yank off his shirt to hang on a low branch and then climb swiftly up a few other sturdy branches. He hung upside down for a second before swinging his legs upward and landed on the branch closest to my window. The whole process took him less than four seconds.

Why did this boy always have to remove his shirt?

He scratched on the still closed window.

I was not giving in. I opened it partway and hissed, "What are you doing here?"

"I was wishing you a happy birthday, Bells. Are you going to let me in?"

"No. Charlie's still awake downstairs. And it's not my birthday anymore. Not really."

"Sure it is. Come on, I'll stay for a few minutes and then leave. You want me to come through the front door instead like a real guest?"

"Jacob, it's late—"

"I have your present. It's a really good one. I picked it out. Bella, I haven't held you in almost a week. Please? I'll be really quiet."

"Save it. It's not my birthday anymore." I was feeling wretched. I hated being like this. I hated being like this with him, but he shouldn't have to be this way just for me. No friend should. I hated that about him suddenly. He had too many other obligations to make him truly mine. He had Billy. He had his friends from La Push and his pack duties. He still had school work. God, he was still underage for goodness sake. I was forcing this boy to become a man too soon. How could he take care of my needs and still find time for himself as well? Heaven forbid if he found happiness with another girl. What had Leah called it? An intern? A print? What—an imprint? That was it! What if he found his imprint? What time would he have for me then?

Tears formed in my eyes and Jacob looked alarmed.

"Bella, I will not save your present. Open the window."

"No." I attempted to turn from him before the force in his voice brought me back.

"Bella, look at me. Open this window." His grip on the tree branch increased and he stared at me past hurt, but irritated instead. "Open it." I wanted to hesitate, but I moved to the window quickly, undid the latch the rest of the way, and stepped back. My bottom lip was tucked under, but my thighs remoistened at the sight of him landing gently in my bedroom with only his pair of slacks. When had he taken off his shoes?

"What's wrong, Bella? Why wouldn't you let me in?" His hands were placed around his own waist after he secured my gift on a nearby nightstand. His facial expression was annoyed, but he looked less angry and softer somehow.

I looked at my bedroom door, praying that Charlie was still downstairs and stated, "I was upset with you tonight, Jacob. Really really upset with you."

"I gathered that. The question is why?" His arms were now unfolded and he looked curious.

I sat down on my bed trying to force the images of him and I on every surface in my bedroom imaginable and then answered after a little delay, "I—I am a horrible person. I am truly a monster and I can't—I won't do this to you anymore. I keep putting the people I love in danger and it has to stop. I promised Edward that I wouldn't see you because it was good for you and I believe that it is. With this battle and—"

"Bella." Jacob moved to my side on the bed and his hands shook as he grabbed my face. "I want to be here. I wanted to give you your present. Edward does not rule us. This is about what you want. He left. He gave up whatever hold he had on you when he left and you keep holding onto him like he's some perfect, supreme being—"

"Jake." I pulled my face from his hands and cried silently. Jacob pursed his lips together and forced a smile. His fingers touched my back and rubbed my neck through my hair. "I hate the way I can only cry when I am upset." A delayed shudder from his touch rippled through my body.

The force of his smile turned light. "It's endearing." He bumped his head softly to mine, but it still made my teeth click from the impact. Being a werewolf did not soften his touch. I rubbed my head and wiped a few of my tears with the top of my tank top, while trying not to stare too closely at Jacob's chest. "Sorry about your head. I did buy you a really cool gift though." He reached around the nightstand and pulled the small rectangular gift into my view. I knew it was a book and began to blush a little. If it was a book on Kumasutra, I would kill him, but I was delighted and almost screamed when it was a copy of "In a Glass Darkly" by Sheridan Le Fanu. A simple twine rope was tied into the book binding, imitating a bookmark, and a beautiful simple silver ring was draped just outside of the pages. I prayed he wasn't proposing, but I brushed the idea into the back of my mind for now.

I looked at Jacob with my mouth still open and hugged him effortlessly. "Jake, how did you get this? Why did you get this? You read gothic romance?" I asked, the questions puring out of me at such a remarkable gift.

"No, but I knew this would be the only way you would read anything horror related, willingly," he said. "Plus the lesbian leech, Carmilla, sounded hot. She's a real anchor as the last story."

I laughed a little too loudly and heard Charlie shuffle downstairs. Jacob covered my mouth with his thumb and I held his massive wrist closer to my cheek. "Bella, why do we keep doing this? You already know that you should be with me. I'm perfect for you."

"Jake—"

"I love you. And I want you to choose me over him."

My arm felt like the weight of the book was too heavy as Jacob made his declaration. Everything was so sure and clear for him. He never seemed afraid. I wished that I could mimic his example. "I can't. Jacob, you mean so much, but I can't just make a choice like this. Not now." Jacob took his hand back and moved off the bed. I almost felt like he dropped me. "Jake, wait. Just wait a minute." He backed up toward the window. I saw him reaching for the latch when my lips crashed into his shoulder blade and I began moving my teeth against his skin in an effort to kiss him.

"Is this how you get your leech to stop from leaving too?" His voice was barely audible over a whisper and trembled slightly, but at least this time it wasn't his entire body shaking or his skin burning; at least no more than usual. "He's going to change you into one of him, isn't he?" he asked suddenly. I kept my body pressed against his back and squeezed my eyes closed to slow down the tears. "He's going to change you and you won't even deny it. You're going to let him change you," Jacob accused.

"Jake—"

"I won't let him change you. I'll kill him, Bella." He faced me. "You don't really care for me at all, do you? Not like him. You…I'd never make you change for me. You wouldn't have to make that choice with me, but you'd rather die in his arms and let me die by the hands of our enemies." Jacob's voice was cold. "You would let me die. I know you would."

"Stop," I shook my head and stared at him. "I wouldn't. I don't want you to fight at all. I don't want you to die."

"Why shouldn't I? What's keeping me here, Bella? You don't want me. You don't need me—"

"I do. I do need you. And I do want you, Jake. Kiss me." I shook as I wrapped my arms around him and allowed my tears to show themselves. "I want you. I want us to…" I felt embarrassed at holding him, begging him to make me his again. All I could think about was keeping him even closer to me. All I wanted was to love him like he knew I did. That night on the beach, those afternoons in his bed, and even our early mornings together felt too long ago and had been so perfect that they seemed like a page from a dream instead of our life. I wanted to relive every single moment with him.

"Say it, Bella," his voice urgent. "What do you want from me?"

My lips felt raw as I bit them, feeling like I may have broken the skin. I didn't even have to be afraid of what a little blood might do to Jacob. I was so use to being either alone or with Edward, who had remained so conservative and aloof at times that I often wondered if he ever had wanted to ever be with me. Jacob was so different. And the best part was that I never had to be careful of what I did around him.

"I want you to kiss me, for real this time. I want to forget everything that happened before and make this about us. I want to feel happy just being us," I finished timidly.

Jacob barely paused as his fingers swept my hair back, and his lips wandered over my teary cheeks to gently push his tongue into my mouth. My feelings of arousal reawakened as I jumped a little to wrap my legs around his waist and tightened them, daring him to try and pry them apart. I sucked on his lower lip and his hands continued to press into my back through my top. My breathing became a bit sporadic as he looked at me in the few moments that our lips weren't locked and muttered a simple order.

"Lay down on the bed."

I complied and he ripped off my shorts before my back had yet to completely touch my mattress. Jacob kissed the top of my feet, ankles, parts of my legs, and then began to drag his tongue across my thighs. I felt like he was taking forever. I felt that he was sinning against me personally, by not moving faster. "Bella, stay as quiet as you can, alright?" His eyes met mine as I nodded. He reached to open my legs ever further as his head went in between them and I fought a little against the pressure of his hands. "Don't. Don't fight me, Bella."

Jacob's hands reached under the shirt and he circled, with his two fingers, around my breasts. I felt myself rise along with my nipples as he breathed gently on my lower lips. He wouldn't touch my nipples. They couldn't feel his hands massage them or his tongue caress them. A gasp escaped my lips as I felt Jacob's tongue enter me and suck on my clit. This was nothing like my fingers. This was nothing like anything. His hands finally closed around my breasts and began to massage my nipples as he gently nibbled, pulled, and loved his favorite button. He pushed his face deeper into me and my hips struggled to keep still. My throat began to dry as my mouth sucked in more air than needed in order to keep the scream and moans out of my voice. It was agony. It felt like pure agony.

I felt my wetness seep through my sheets in a matter of mere minutes. My butt was being kept warm by it. The window was still open and provided a great escape for the smell of sex to leave my room and for some of the noises that the bed began to make, as I fought to keep still. His teeth began to graze my outer folds. I attempted to moisten my own upper lips with my tongue, suddenly imagining what great pleasures I could give him. What great pleasure I would give him. My hands grabbed his ears, somehow finding them in the dark. My feet began to turn in slightly unnatural angles, and my shoulders began to twist back behind me, around me, in front of me, and then in defeat. The wetness would not stop leaking from me and my warmness was now spreading from my thighs to the other parts of my body. I felt Jacob's hands pull my hips closer to meet his face. I touched his hair.

This time I couldn't pull back from him. This time I would not allow myself to be freaked out by his younger age or the fact that he was my best friend. Wrong. He used to be my best friend. Now he was more. Now I had accepted him to being more. The way his tongue felt around my now engorged clit was almost as bad as the anticipation. The more he sucked on it, the more it made me wish he would bite it, and the more he bit it made me wish he would lick it. I didn't know all of what he could do, but it felt real. It felt right. It felt like him.

"Oh, oh my…"

His hand slowly crept up my stomach and to my chest. The heat from his arm made my nipples enlarge even more; they barely felt like a part of my body anymore, they throbbed so much, they were hurting so much. My legs almost closed completely around Jacob's head before he slowed down enough for me to regain some of my composure to ease the force I had been using. I felt the flush enter my face and I felt the swelling resume on the tip of my sex.

"Jake, oh God," I muttered just before I heard the sound. I heard my clit start to make a wet noise. It sounded like a faucet that had yet to be shut fully off. My hands dove into Jacob's scalp and his hand crept up the outside of my belly once more. The warmth was spreading. It was almost time. My toes began to lose sensation and my fingers clawed into Jacob's soft ink-black hair; the hair that every girl dreamed of having, the kind of hair that looked great on only my Jacob.

"Please…oh…"

I felt Jacob's hand reach around the base of my throat, applying slight pressure. His face was still buried beneath me. His tongue slid up and down my entrance and my butt continued to be warmed by the liquid that was now flowing freely from me. His fingers suddenly found their way into my mouth as he used his bottom lip to pull on my clit, hard. I screamed out from the force of the orgasm and Jacob had been prepared. He left two fingers in my mouth for me to bite down on, while the rest of his hand covered my mouth, allowing me to scream fully into his palm instead.

I felt the liquid leave my body in gushes and my body felt as if it were turning over as wave after wave of pleasure hit me, knocking me down and then knocking me down further again. Tears streamed from my eyes and I clenched my now soaked bed sheets, squeezing so hard that my fingernails left slight impressions in the cloth. I still felt myself squirting as Jacob fought to continue to go down on me as best he could. I was now struggling and pushed his head away from my sensitive clit, as I still allowed myself the pleasure of having my first set of multiple orgasms.

Jacob still tasted of me as I pulled him in for a kiss.

"Jake," I started, but I heard Charlie on the stairs and panic rippled through my body. Jacob was still smiling and gently kissed the side of my head several times to keep me calm as Charlie moved from the end of the hallway toward his bedroom. Jacob hissed in laughter as I hit him gently and wrapped my arms around his neck. "You can have a choice, Jacob; the bed or the floor." I didn't bother to tell him the reason for his two choices, but he hadn't needed long to figure it out. Jacob looked over me and pulled one of my dry blankets from the bed and tossed it halfhazardly on the floor. He gave a devilish smile as he picked me up with one arm and gently lowered us to the floor with the other.

"I want to give the bed sheets the opportunity to dry first," he gloated.

I laughed softly as he began to kiss me and then my lower lips once more. I was begging him with tears to love me and he penetrated me not long after that. It pained me to feel him inside of me again and I scratched parts of the floor as he gently forced my walls to readjust, to accommodate his large size. He kept his lips on mine as he pushed deeper and deeper, eventually stopping almost halfway when my nails drew blood and skin from his lower back. I pulled my tank top over my head to be topless as his hands gripped onto my naked waist. I glanced down and felt so small when I noticed how large his hands were and how much of me they covered. The fact that his powerful grip could break me and give me such pleasure turned me on even more.

"Please don't stop. Go deeper," I urged with fresh tears.

He protested a bit. "Honey, baby, you're too tight. I don't want to hurt you."

"I want you to. I want this." My eyes wouldn't let go of his until I saw their resolve. He put his lips to mine again, trying to keep me as quiet as possible as he obliged me and pushed further still. My stomach rose upwards as if that would have actually made room for him. My walls tightened, despite being wet and I started to feel small tremors within myself from the friction of his lower abdomen grazing my swollen clit. I kissed the bottom of his chin to keep back more tears and asked him to tell me words in Quileute. His words began to work as my body started to relax and allowed him more access to the deepest center of my body. I felt the tip of his cock hit my g-spot, the tiny flap that went just under my belly button and made the curl reappear back in my toes. I pulled his face closer to mine after two small climaxes of my own and told him, "Don't stop till you come inside of me. I want you to come inside of me, please."

I stopped crying and placed my fingers around his neck. His eyes continued to look into mine and I saw complete and utter devotion. Jacob's chest began to take in more breaths as the minutes went on and I knew that he was struggling not to come so soon. I almost smiled at the notion of him being worried about how long he would last this time, but a deep thrust on his part interrupted my thought process and my mouth merely formed an obtuse shape instead. I felt my hips vibrate against his and enjoyed it.

He kept speaking in his native language and I was able to wrap my legs around his upper mid-section, allowing him an even better angle. I watched him with envy as he slid in and out of me at a speed I almost didn't recognize as human. I ran my hands along his chest and begged him to come, begged him to really make us one. His flesh, his seed would be embedded in me and my scent and love would forever be on him. Jacob had made me come without fail and now I wanted him to come with no excuse. I wanted to feel the power of him. I wanted to come at the exact moment that he did.

Jacob's voice rose and he said something I didn't quite catch. He suddenly bit my earlobe and I was unable to control myself. My legs clenched, seized, and my orgasm was released moments before I felt his member increase and twitch inside of me. I imagined the explosion and felt a tickling sensation as the warmth from his seed filled me again. He gave one more enthusiastic push forward before he pressed my knees into his lower stomach. He began slowly withdrawing himself out when I whimpered in a playful protest.

"I like it there," I stated seductively.

"And I like you here with me," he said softly.

"Like this?" I added.

"I love this," he emphasized, kissing my knees. I groaned, feeling the soreness already as I looked into Jacob's sincere eyes. He didn't blink or break eye contact as he grabbed my arms to move me on top of him. "I wish you would be with me, Bella."

"When this is over, we'll talk. I promise we'll talk."

Jacob gave a light snicker and kissed my temple, seeing right through my ploy. "I love you."

"And I you."

"I know that better than you do, apparently."

I put my lips to his neck and moaned his name to his throbbing vein. "Please, Jacob? Just a little longer?"

He sighed. "How ever long you need." Jacob fought to move suddenly, too soon after his climax and I gripped my legs around his waist and shook my head.

He smiled and I felt his nose flinch as we kissed each other in an embrace and he was content to lie inside of me until we moved together, this time to the bed.

(EPOV) Edward's Point of View

I was practically gliding across four feet of grass and dirt, back and forth, frontwards and backwards. It didn't matter which way I went and it certainly didn't matter where I wanted to be. My Bella was still not within my reach and now I knew the reason why.

What am I still doing here? I'm a peeping tom!

I began to pace outside of the little indented area a few dozen yards or so from Bella's house.

Bella, my love. Bella, my world. My Bella, who was sleeping with a werewolf at this very moment.

I groaned and pulled a thick branch through its own trunk and felt on edge. Jacob could hear me. He couldn't see me, but I could hear his thoughts. They were mixed with the urge to make me physically leave from the vicinity of Charlie's house or to continue with Bella as if I wasn't there.

I was actually hoping that he would have tried to come after me. I would try to enjoy it less than he would.

I could see the looks of pleasure on my love's face and Jacob forced me to endure it, knowing that I was there. Knowing that I could hear his thoughts, smell their scents, and feel her blood rush to her cheeks through his very skin. And I was powerless to stop it.

"She had asked it of him. She had wanted it from him," I said out loud to myself, my whispers being the only sounds I could hear outside of their continued, but shared panting and Charlie's light snores. Why the hell couldn't Charlie hear them?

I could picture Bella's face better than a werewolf's memory, but my enemy was not far off as he remembered her beauty. She had been crying when she begged him to kiss her as they had done their first night together. I was even privileged to see that memory form in his mind and I knew, deep down, that it was accurate. The way she clung to him on the counter. The way she had screamed that she loved him on the beach, in the shower, in both their beds—STOP IT!

I snarled harshly at Jacob's internal reveling to stimulate her arousal. I could have dealt with that minor thing; after all, she was human and she was very attracted to him. I was completely aware of that. I just didn't know how much he meant to her until I had heard her mutter it in his ear.

"Jake," I heard her cry. "Promise me you won't fight in the battle. Promise me that you'll stay with me."

Jacob's breathing suggested that he had merely slowed down, but was still inside of my love. My teeth began to grind against one another and my fangs descended in slight venomous anger while awaiting his response. "Bella, all my brothers are fighting. And all of the Cullens are fighting too. I can't let them fight alone."

"I don't care," she said back stubbornly. "I want you with me. Stay with me, Jake. Please don't fight."

I heard her gasp in surprise and in pleasure as he triggered another of her orgasms while replying "yes" to her at the same time. I wanted to cry, but knew I couldn't. I hadn't wanted to think of a world without Bella, but I could feel with a beat-less heart that I no longer had hers.

My fingers sunk deep into the earth and I stared at my perfect and unchanging reflection against the glossy rocks on the forest floor. Bella had found happiness. Bella would be normal. I couldn't have changed her now, even if I had wanted to. She and Jacob would be very happy and I would not intervene with that. My hair felt even more lifeless and dead as I struggled with a way out. I needed to know what to do. I needed to know how I could leave again, for good this time, causing as little pain as possible for her. Another clean break, I promised to myself in bitterness. And this time I wouldn't be back.

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden sulfuric smell. Venom filled my mouth.

*A/N: It took four days for me to post. I know; I can count. Sorry, but at least I offered another lemon inside of an intermission. :-) Hopefully that makes up for it.