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Bella had known Harry Clearwater for most of her life. He was her father's closest friend and there wasn't a visit to Forks in her past that didn't hold the image of his face. She may not have known much about him, but she knew that he was normally a high-spirited man. The Clearwater house had been hit by tragedy by the death of Leah and as the eldest member of the Clearwaters clung to his only daughter's lifeless body, Bella could not control the tears that came to be. The parents and brother of Leah had mourned like they had never mourned before and Bella had been there to mourn along with them.

The loving mother, Sue, would drape a blanket over her only daughter's resting form with somber quietness after the cries had stopped. Tomorrow they were to bury her in the family plot, a cemetery that had been part of the Quileute tribe for countless generations. Bella watched from a few feet away, giving the family the space they deserved. They seemed to welcome her presence and had expressed their gratitude for bringing their daughter's body back to them and respecting traditions that they held dear to them. Bella had to painfully tell them the story of what happened when they would ask later, as they all sat in the house by the burning fireplace. Immediately, the Clearwaters wanted to go back to Seattle and get the baby that now belonged to them. After many discussions and arguments, Sue and Harry decided it was best to wait and see how the other Quileutes would fair overnight before they made their way out there. They had a dead daughter and things here to attend to first and after the hospital had assured them over the phone the baby would be fine there till they could come, they dropped the issue for tonight.

Sue had offered Bella a change of clothes from Leah's dormant wardrobe and the girl who had once lived in converses was now back in her preferred attire, thanks to Leah. It felt weird to be wearing her clothes, knowing that Leah would never be wearing them again.

Bella tried to leave to go see Jake, but his father had called earlier to request that everyone leave them for the night. Jake needed to heal, which Bella could very well understand. Bella insisted to Harry that she should go over, but a grieving Harry was enough to keep Bella level-headed. So, she sat by the fireplace alongside the quiet Clearwater parents. Seth could be heard occasionally sobbing from his room, having excused himself shortly after their arrival to tend to his breaking heart. His sister, his best friend was gone and Bella couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for it. Sure, it technically wasn't her fault, but she had once been part of the Cullens. She cursed herself for her previous stupidity and ignorance, having been blinded by the perfect image of a perfect family that wasn't perfect at all. They were killers, sadists and narcissists. All along, she belonged here with the Quileutes, who respected her for who she was. They would never try to change her or lie to her or hurt her; they were home and family.

Charlie would be here soon to see his daughter. Harry had called him in his broken sobs, telling him that Leah was dead, but added a silver lining that Bella was here with them. Harry had told him the gist of everything, but Charlie couldn't absorb it since all he wanted was to see was his daughter. A daughter, who had neglected him for too many months. Now that was something Bella knew she felt justified in feeling guilty for. Her father had paid a price for her actions and he had done nothing to deserve it. His once lost and terribly confused daughter had been an idiot and she wondered if he would even recognize her anymore, or forgive her for that matter. She had grown, she was wiser and had learned many lessons that most girls her age didn't even start to think about yet.

"Dad." Bella stood as he came in, his face clearly ravaged with torment.

He rushed to her and held her close in his arms, crying as he held his only child once again. Bella hugged him back, warmly embracing this side of her father that had never cried in front of her before. The constant awkwardness between them had temporarily subsided while they reunited. Bella would peg his emotions on the correlation he made between her and Leah. His daughter could be the one lying cold in the barn waiting to be buried and Bella believed she very well should be that person, not Leah.

"You alright?" It was the only question he asked as he held her face in his shaking hands. Although only two words, he was asking a number of things by it. Did Edward hurt you? What happened? And there was something with Jake hidden in his eyes, but it was the one question that Bella couldn't decipher.

She simply nodded, her lips parted and attempting to make any answer as she looked up at him with shame. "I'm sorry I didn't call. I'm sorry I didn't come home..." Bella's voice broke as she restrained from crying once more.

Charlie held her again with gratefulness that she was back and prayed that something like this would never happen again. She wouldn't disappear if she could help it. She felt bad for what she had put him through in her path for self-discovery and seeking of the unattainable.

"You're grounded. Forever."

Bella expelled a laugh as Charlie chuckled at the exaggeration.

"I'm actually looking forward to that." She smiled fully and wholly, never feeling more blessed in her life.

Sue chimed in. "I made some food if anyone is hungry."

Charlie turned from Bella and embraced his two friends, sympathizing and expressing his sympathies which had become distant noise to Bella. She stood there, holding herself in her obsessing thoughts of Jake's well-being. The last thing any of them could handle was another death and she said a silent wish for him to pull through this, for everyone's sake.

Night had passed and Bella had manage to find some sleep through all that bothered her. She waked on the Clearwater's couch, to the sight of Seth staring at her from the opposite couch.

"Seth?" Bella said groggily as her eyes struggled to adjust. "Everything okay?"

"My parents went to get the baby, they couldn't wait any more and they had too much time to pass till Leah's funeral, anyway."

It all came out in a matter-of-fact manner, which made Bella concerned for him. "You alright, Seth?"

He looked worn, beaten up by his own internal sorrow. "I will be fine and one day, I will kill those other Cullens. The ones that got away...one day."

"They got us out, Seth. I know they're not completely innocent, but getting any of us out was going to be impossible without them."

He didn't even breathe. "We coulda done it by ourselves. They're still to blame. Promise me you will let me know if you ever hear from them again. Promise me, Bella."

Bella's brow furrowed as she sat completely up on the cushion. She didn't believe she ever would hear from Alice or Jasper again, so making a promise to Seth didn't seem as hard as it should have been. "I promise."

The two stared at each other for a few moments, till Seth raised to his feet. "The guys are in the barn. Jake's still on the mend, but Sam's in there. I know you want to see them."

Bella bolted for the door, not taking a care for her bed-messed hair or untied shoes that had been hurriedly placed on her feet. She ran for the barn as Seth stayed behind. She slowed in remembrance that Leah was in there. They were in there probably paying their respects and as the barn door creaked open, she saw Sam there with Paul, Embry and Sam's fiancee, Emily. Sam turned to look at Bella, his face growing distant at the sight of her. She reminded him of both Jake and the Cullens, both of which were a touchy issue for him for different reasons. He approached her, leaving Paul, Emily and Embry with Leah's body.

He had cuts over his left brow and on his neck, wounds that were healing even as Bella noticed it. Quick healing was definitely a perk in the werewolf world. Seth had told Bella almost everything before he went to his room last night. Until that conversation with Seth, she had no idea that Sam was in the facility or that he was the black wolf Jake was fighting. Apparently, they all had that power to shape-shift, even Leah did.

"Hey Sam." Bella spoke as her arms folded insecurely over one another.

"Hey Bella." He half-smiled in greeting before motioning to Leah's body behind them. "They told me you helped her. They told me a lot of things. I didn't know you were being kept there against your will, too. The whole time I was there I considered you part of the enemy, now I know the truth." His hand went to her shoulder. "Thank you."

Bella nodded, bringing her hand over Sam's hand in acknowledgment. "How's Jake doing?"

His hand went back to his side and both crept into the pockets of his jeans. "He's better. He's conscious and starting to remember things. He's been askin' about you a lot."

Bella's heart skipped in it's pattern. "So, he's talking?"

"A bit. He remembers how to, for the most part. When he saw his dad, a lot of stuff came back to him. Our pack communication is back too. It helps when he can hear our voices in his heads. We remind him of a lot of things, whether we wants to or not." He smirked.

"What? Why are you smiling?" She smirked in return, since she felt it was about something funny.

"We remind him of how badly he had a crush on you before all this. We tease him a bit."

Her eyes went wide and she laughed. "Wish I would have known that before. Things could have been different." The smile faded and so did all humor from Sam's face.

"It is, what it is, Bella. We can't change it."

"And what about Leah? Does he remember anything about what happened to her?"

Sam's gaze had wavered from hers and a lining of tears had encompassed his vision. "Yeah, he remembers, but he's blocked out a lot of it. He's having a hard time feeling anything, really. Leah's parents will take care of the baby for now and Jake will step up if he decides to be the father. Honestly, I wouldn't blame him if he didn't. They were forced to do it. It's sick, all of it."

Sam looked as if he were going to vomit and Bella looked completely horrified. Jake was the father and Bella was learning this right now. The information almost became too much for her mind to handle.

After Sam had looked at her, he realized that Seth hadn't filled her in on that part. For all Sam knew, Seth didn't know about Jake being the father either. "Bella...they made them do it. It was part of a breeding program for better fighters...they were heavily drugged and threatened to do it." His face drew to complete concern as Bella's face turned a whole new shade of white.

"Oh my God." Bella said under her breath as she covered her parted lips with her shaking hands. She wanted to cry, but had nothing left in her to evoke such a reaction. "I'm going over there!" She announced and turned, running for the door and for Paul's truck to go to the Black household.

"Bella, wait!" Sam chased after her and grabbed her by the arm. "He might not be ready to see you yet, he might kill you, Bella. He's still unstable."

She grew angry and pushed the man who was three times her size away from her. "I've already been near him, Sam! He saved me from Edward. He killed Edward, right in front of me, to protect me! I saw him before the fight and he didn't hurt me. If he's somewhat normal now, I think I should be okay, since I'm the one who came face-to-face with The Monster and can live to tell the story!"

"Bella..." He tried to bring her back as she turned from him, stubborn on being shaken by anybody, even Paul who seemed angry when she pulled out of the drive in his truck.

Pulling like a mad-woman into Jake's driveway, she parked and ran towards the house almost simultaneously. Billy Black had opened the door before she could even make it there. She stopped short, looking down at Jake's father and taking note of the exhausted look on his face. Charlie was there behind him, holding onto the wheelchair handles and shocked that Bella was there when they opened the door.

"I was just going to send for you, Bella." Billy's voice sounded horrible and Bella instantly felt bad for having come over at such a sensitive time. Putting herself in Billy's shoes, she assumed that Billy had presumed his son to be dead all this time. It had been too long with no word and now that he had him back as an animal more than a son, it had to be a horrible time in Billy's life.

She entered the house as the two men made way for her to enter and looking up, she saw Jake standing in the middle of the living room. He wore a brown shirt, a pair of jeans and looked much older than he had the last time Bella saw him standing in this space. He looked much more like a person rather than an animal, which was a vision Bella had missed terribly.

"I'm going to go out for a bit with your dad, Bella." Billy spoke from behind her, but all Bella could do was stare at Jake, who was staring back at her.

"Be back soon." Charlie chimed in before the door closed behind them, leaving them to privacy.

"Hey." Bella said breathlessly, the sight of how beautiful he was taking presidency over her other thoughts.

Jake closed the gap between them and in the blink of an eye had her face held in his hands. He pulled her face to his and gave her a kiss that moved the ground beneath her feet at contact. His lips drew her into him completely, as if they were meant to be doing this forever as one being. Bella reciprocated the amount of passion that Jake was showing her, as if it were instinct. It didn't make sense, but she felt as if she had found her other half and that her feelings that once existed for Edward weren't even a fraction of what she was experiencing now with him.

Reluctantly, he pulled back and looked onto her eyes. "I love you, Bella."

Forgetting to breathe, Bella simply stared up at him. Naturally, her lips revealed her own truth. "I love you, too. More than anything."

They kissed again and all worries about what had happened to them both within those horrible Cullen walls had been forgotten and they took now to make up for lost time.

The Quileutes gathered in a circle around Leah's body. She was still draped in that blanket given to her by her mother, her paled, yet cleaned up face revealed only for the funeral ritual. Her parents and other members of the Quileute elders smoked sage around her body, which Bella learned was a way to chase away any dark spirits or experiences that could be attached to Leah's soul. Bella held onto Jake's hand tightly and he did the same in return, while they stared at the scene ahead along with the rest of Leah's loved ones. Jake hadn't spoken much after he had declared he loved her. He only expressed himself through touching in order to communicate with Bella. It didn't matter much to her that he didn't speak, since she understood what he was saying by merely touching her. Still, she worried about what he was truly feeling.

Now, he was struggling with what had happened between himself and Leah. Bella could feel his guilt as he held her hand so tightly. He was angry, he felt unfathomable guilt and still struggled to cope with it all. After being suppressed for so long, it would take some time for Jake to come back to all of them. Right now he was buried deep under many walls and was trying so hard to break free to put everyone else at ease, even himself.

Emily had her hand upon Seth's shoulder on one side and Sam had taken his support on the other. The new Clearwater baby now rested asleep in Seth's arms, it was a direction in which Bella had a hard time looking since it reminded her of how Leah had died and evoked imaginations of how it was created. Paul and the others stood in respectful silence, occasionally patting each other on the back or exchanging looks during Leah's burial. They lowered her into the ground after having wrapped her in proper dressings, each layer representing her journey into the afterlife. There was a layer of protection, a layer of love, a layer of wisdom and a layer of guidance. Everyone there took a turn placing dirt over her, but Jake had refrained. He stood to the side as the pack, as well as Charlie and Bella took their turn in paying their last respects.

Bella returned to hold Jake's hand while they all departed back to the Clearwater's house to feast and drink in Leah's memory. Once there, Jake had refused to join in with the group with so many troubles on his mind. He lead a worried Bella off to the side of the house and brought her to sit with him on one of the benches outside.

She looked at Jake's frozen profile, his eyes as dark and his brow as creased as it had been at the funeral. She wanted to talk to him, to evoke some sort of confidence in feelings, but didn't want to push him. Minutes passed and eventually, he turned to look at her. His gaze had softened, but troubled thoughts still lingered in his gaze.

"How did you feel when you found out I was the wolf?"

It wasn't the question she was expecting and the articulation of the question caught her off guard. She nervously brought a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear.

"I wasn't surprised, if that's what you're asking. I didn't know it was you the first time I broke into the arena, I just thought you were a wolf and nothing more. It took me a day or so to realize that the wolf had been you. I remembered back to when I first got into trouble and I was in the hospital. Something had saved me that looked just like the wolf I saw in the ring. I didn't put it together at the time, especially since my memory is so blurred from that attack in the alley. It was almost like I had a flashback to what Charlie had said to me in the hospital, that you were the one who found me there and helped me when I was passed out." Her eyes danced back and forth between his concentrated stare. "After Edward had changed into something...horrible...I did a lot of self-reflection and thinking about you more than usual. It was a guess, but I had a strong feeling it was you and I was fine with that, all I could focus on was getting you out of that place when it finally hit me." She shrugged, not sure if it was a satisfactory answer.

He was still looking at her with that beautiful stare of his and she stared back as she tried to read his thoughts.

"I don't know if you know anything about imprinting, Bella, but I imprinted on you long ago. I didn't even know I did it, since we were practically babies when I had done it. It means we have a connection, Bella. It's part of our tribe's custom, it means we're soul mates. Since we met each other so young, I'm sure I did it back then and I only remember it as a dream." He breathed. "I think that's how you all-of-a-sudden knew I was The Monster, Bella. Because you're my mate and you knew I was in trouble. The more you disconnected yourself from that jerk, the more you started to come back to me and what you are. You're mean to be with me."

He looked hurt and a bit angry when mentioning Edward and she wished that she could take it back, all of it. She cringed whenever she thought of her former self in her time with Edward and even the girl she was right before meeting him. That incident in the alley almost a year ago still held its traumatizing residue and the allure of being as powerful as Edward must have been the main attraction for her. She wanted to be him at the time, more than even wanting to be with him.

Her hand went over Jake's and she cradled her fingers in between his. "I believe it, Jake. I'm a different person now. I'm the person I'm supposed to be. I'm with, who I'm supposed to be with."

Lifting her hand, he lightly kissed the face of her hand. "It's gonna take me some time to get over what I did to Leah and get rid of all the faces I've killed." He swallowed his emotion and took a breath. "I'm going to leave him in the care of the Clearwaters. It's where he should be."

Hearing his decision on the baby, Bella knew it was for the best, at least for now. The baby would fill whatever void the Clearwaters were feeling over having lost Leah and Jake would still be a part of his life in some way. Besides, it would be some time before Jake could even try to take care of another creature. Bella knew she would have to take care of Jake till he was back on his feet, with the help of Jake's father. She squeezed his hand at the thought and leaned in to kiss him, accepting whatever baggage Jake came with. If this meant that eventually they would have to take his son in, she was willing to do that. She loved Jake and she would do anything for him, which she tried to convey as she caressed the side of his face.

Like magnets, they touched and kissed each other without attempting to break from their bliss. With all of the negativity Bella felt with Edward and the reminders it brought back of her traumatizing sexual experiences, none of it existed when Jake evoked longing from the very core of her. He was starting a fire that she had never experienced before and truly felt that Jake would be the only one who could ignite that within her. They pulled from one another in their heated embrace, catching their breath as well as their lust, which was harder for Jake since he struggled with a very primitive side of himself.

Jake was still broken, even though his feelings for her were never truer. Bella looked at him, knowing that when they did finally make love, it would be the greatest thing either of them had ever experienced.

"Soon, Bella." He promised her. She bit her lower lip as the excitement shot up through her.

He rose from the bench and took her with him, walking towards the house to join the rest in remembrance of Leah. Wearing a smile that she almost forgot Jake was capable of, she caught a glimpse of her own personal sunshine once more. She smiled back as they walked into the Clearwater's house and started the next chapter of their lives with the joys and journeys it would bring them through.

Thank you all for reading, please review with your thoughts on the story.

In time, I may start up the "next chapter" involving Seth's revenge on Alice and Jasper, including the follow-up to Jake and Bella's story. This would all be in a new story, so please favorite me as an author if you'd like to be notified on that in the future.

**PLEASE FAVORITE THIS STORY AND AUTHOR FOR UPDATES IF I DECIDE TO CONTINUE THIS AS A NEW STORY**

If you like zombies and apocalyptic stories, please check out my other story based off of 28 Weeks Later called "The Garden of Eden".