I could see him standing there in the doorway, the light illuminating his perfect muscular structure. His back was to me as I lay there, where I took advantage of visually exploring the contours of each taut indentation of his perfect skin. In this dream, I knew him and I loved whoever it was. I almost didn't even feel like myself, for there was such peace there gazing at this man that I never thought could be possible.

I was safe. I was complete.

Bella's eyes opened lazily, the brightness shining from overhead causing her to wince more than she did over the pain in her joints and skull.

"Bella?" She heard her name being called repeatedly with hushed concern.

When her eyes finally came into focus, she was more than surprised to see who was sitting beside her. She wondered if she was dreaming still and she shut her eyes for a moment to keep the room from spinning around them.

"Jake?"

She heard him scoot closer and felt an almost uncomfortably warm hand cup the side of her face.

"Jake, what are you doing here?" Wincing, she held onto her side where a sharp pain surfaced after she tried to sit up. His hands were there to keep her from rising any further.

"Easy Bella. Just stay put, would you? For once?" He said with a hint of bitterness, running his hand through his now short espresso colored hair as he sat beside her. "You know Charlie's going to kill you, right?" His eyebrow perked while his deep and haunting eyes searched her face, as if he were trying to decode some cryptic message. Never recalling having seen him so tired and strung-out, Bella started to feel guilt. This wasn't the easy-going Jake she had spent her childhood with.

It had been a year since she had seen Jake, not since last Christmas to be precise. His hair was always so shiny and long, last time it had been almost down to his hips. How she envied that hair, yet now that he cut it off, she couldn't help but notice how much older he looked. It was impossible not to notice the rippling muscles beneath the thin cotton fabric shirt he wore, that was new too.

"You cut your hair." She said with the smallest glint of a smile and she immediately saw his worry and disappointment melt away as he grinned back. Then again, it could have been the morphine talking in her bloodstream.

"Yeah. I did."

They exchanged a silent moment just watching each other, till the booming voice of Charlie made them both snap out of it.

"Bella!" He exclaimed with relief, rushing to get in front of Jake as he placed his coffee off to the side. "How are ya feeling, kid?" He asked with his brow so furrowed she feared his head might cave inward at any given time.

"I'm fine. Sore, but fine." She nodded and tried her best to comfort her father.

He sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Good. Now, I can yell at you." The jawline of her father was clenched so tight, she swore if she listened hard enough she would hear the gritting of his teeth. "What the hell were you thinking?" He still wasn't yelling, but she knew just how serious her father was. Charlie never yelled, but whenever she had let him down she had felt it. It was in these moments she actually preferred a raised voice to that broken-hearted look in his eyes.

"I just needed to get away for a bit. You know...get out of Forks and be on my own." She gulped down, not wanting to explain her silly behavior was over some boy she had just met and the pressures of being new in that town. "I'm sorry, Dad." Looking down, Bella fiddled with her blood-stained hands, wanting so badly to take back the foolish move to go out on that street by herself. Still, she refused to break down after her embarrassing and traumatizing ordeal. What scared her more was that she couldn't feel anything inside of her, no dread nor sense of fear for what had happened. It was as if her mind had permanently blocked out the occurrence, to protect her in some way.

She could feel both of the men's heavy gazes on her, waiting for her to crack and she couldn't. She knew she should be in a ball crying and accepting comfort, but she couldn't. Nothing but a shell of the emotions she had felt yesterday, which made her feel even more vacant.

"Looks like I'm going to have to cancel my trip with Harry so I can stay home with you, Bells. There's no way I'm leaving ever again after this." Charlie sighed, taking a seat and watching the sickly sight before him. Her skin was paler than usual, lacking the luminance and slight pink pigment in her cheeks. The chestnut hair he used to brush for her when she was a child was tangled in knots and splattered with bits of mud and gravel.

Bella met her father's gaze, shaking her head lightly, yet stubbornly. "You don't have to do that. I'll be fine, Dad. Nothing happened..." Slowly, her gaze started to grow distant. "...I mean...they didn't get anything they wanted really." Ashamed, she looked down for several moments, feeling the uncomfortableness growing from the male companions, and their rage. "Something saved me." A stale breath escaped over her cracked lower lip. "Something...big and powerful. I don't even think it was human. An animal saved me." She kept correcting herself, searching the empty air between herself and her curious father as spots of the broken memory replayed.

"We have the police here in Seattle on it, Bells." Charlie leaned forward in his seat to get closer to her, awkwardly placing his hand over hers that lay on her side. "I won't stop till we find the two that got away."

Bella's pained brow became knotted. "Got away?" She looked between her best friend and her father for an answer, Jake's gaze was intently on the floor, lost in thought. So, she knew Charlie would be the one giving the answers.

"Whatever helped you, Bella, killed two out of the four who..." Charlie cleared his throat. "...assaulted you."

With that, Jake stood rigidly, his face flushed in a palette of red. Bella had never seen Jake angry, let alone as enraged as he was. Jake rushed out of the room, not looking at either of them as they listened to his heavy footsteps grow distant down the hall.

"Dad?" She began to ask, looking back to him slowly as exhaustion once again started to take hold. "What is Jake doing here?" It was a valid question, considering they were all the way out in Seattle and Jake belonged back in La Push, near home.

"When I realized you were gone, I sent him here after you to bring you back. He's the one who found you in the alley, Bells. He's shook up with what he found, is all." He sighed and tapped at her hand gently to keep her awake. "Bells, you gotta stay awake for the Detective. He needs your statement so they can start looking for these guys."

With that and directly on cue, three police officers entered the room and began to question Bella. She answered the best she could, but the questions about describing the attackers lead to one she did not expect.

"Miss Swan, I know what I'm about to ask you may seem out of line, but we are just trying to cover all of our bases." The one asking the questions stared at her blankly as he asked without a beat, "Was Jacob there during any of this? Do you recall the moment when he found you, or were you completely unconscious at that point?"

Ignoring the throbbing pain, Bella pushed herself up on her elbows to let the Detective know how sure she was of her answer. "Jake had nothing to do with any of this. To even ask me that is beyond out of line. He saved me and no..." She laid back down in defeat. "...I wasn't awake when he found me."

The questioner asked another, "Do you think you can describe this animal better? Like, what color it was, how big it was, et cetera, et cetera...?"

They waited. She tried to remember. They waited some more. Her lips parted. "It was like the size of a small bear. A medium brown shade. I didn't really see it, because it moved so fast. I heard it growling, though." She hoped that would end the session, because she had told them all she could manage to remember.

The police officers exchanged looks, while Charlie tried to listen in from his vantage point next to Bella. "If you remember anything else, Miss Swan, please don't hesitate to let us know." The officer shook her father's hand and they discussed something quickly before Charlie returned to his post next to her.

"It'll be alright, Bells. You'll see." Charlie kept his hand over hers, watching his only child drift off into sleep as the investigators cleared the room.

A/N Sorry for the wait all. Currently working on a novel, so I've been focusing on that. Not forgetting about this one though!