(A/N: Next chapter! And in this one, we have Jacob. For those who are wondering when the smut will return, as you will see at the end of this chapter, you don't have long to wait. If there's any confusion about the Jacob/Leah/Nessie situation, I tried to summarize it the best I could, but it's explained in more depth in my other story, "All The Way To La Push" and the Mike reference is from "Mike's Chance". Hope you enjoy. Feel free to review, good or bad.)
Bella was running as fast as she could. Sure it would have been more practical, not to mention less conspicuous to just use her car, but…Edward got her that car…both of her cars in fact. It seemed…wrong for her to drive it now that they weren't together anymore. She'd tried to deal with it on her own. Just talking to Emmett and Rosalie about it, but when it came down to it, Bella needed a third party.
Edward had been gone for a few days now. Not that Bella had expected Edward to stay at the mansion. That would have been torture for him, but it was still weird not having him there. Bella would have loved to talk to Alice about this, but she was still gone. She did, of course, have another option. Not only one of her best friends but someone who would definitely have some input on the situation. And she was almost there.
Making sure to stay to the trees, Bella finally reached La Push. It wasn't long at all before she felt someone following her.
"You know you're not supposed to be here, right? Or do you think you're special?" Leah growled, folding her arms.
"It's not like the treaty's been the most enforced the past decade or so." Bella said back, politely. "My daughter comes here all the time."
"Your daughter's not technically a leech. And to be honest, if it were up to me-"
"Tread carefully there!" Bella snapped back. Leah could talk all she wanted about her, but she wasn't going to stand someone badmouthing Nessie. The irony being that that's what got her into this mess in the first place.
"Oh please. Make my day, bitch." Leah roared back, a dark smile on her face.
"Would you two at least wait for me to book tickets before this goes any further?" A familiar voice asked, not too far away.
"Jacob!" Bella exclaimed, her face lighting up.
"She started it. She keeps thinking she's exempt from the treaty." Leah stated.
"That's because she is. Just like Nessie, for the most part anyway." Jacob said with a toothy grin. "The alpha has spoken!" He said with a mocking tone of authority.
Leah growled back at him. She hated when he pulled rank on her like that.
"Keep growling at me like that if you want. You know how much I like that. You keep it up and I'll just have to catch up with Bella later." Jacob teased, licking his lips, which caused Leah to stop growling as a subtle red tint filled her cheeks.
"Then make her leave then…" Leah said, returning the grin.
"Hey! It's not like I'm up here that often." Bella complained.
Jacob couldn't help but to chuckle at Bella's pouting. "Just give us a bit, okay Lee? I'll make it up to you later." He promised to Leah, demonstrating how he would 'make it up' to her by quickly wiggling his tongue, which got the same blushing response.
"Fine…I'm totally holding you to that." Leah said, trying to hide her grin as she walked away.
"Was…that really necessary?" Bella asked, giving Jacob a skeptical look.
Jacob whispered in Bella's ear, obviously not sure if Leah was in earshot anymore. "I get the feeling she's not completely sure I'm over you since me and Nessie obviously didn't imprint romantically."
"Thank God." Bella muttered, rolling her eyes.
Jacob grinned as he continued. "I think it's usually a good idea if I openly flirt with her when you're around. Makes her feel like the…well…alpha as far as I go."
"You mean the top dog?" Bella suggested with a huge grin.
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Never heard that one before. So…I take it this has to do with Edward's visit a few days ago?"
Bella momentarily blanked. "Ed…Edward was here?"
Jacob nodded. "Yeah. He just strolled up, like you did, and apologized to me for all the pain he caused me when I was still all hot and heavy about you. Told him it was not big, but he insisted on it, because he 'now knew how [I] felt, and wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.' Interesting choice of words, right?"
Bella once again seemed to be incapable of thought before she quickly recovered. "Yeah…interesting…"
"Trouble in paradise?" Jacob asked, resting his massive hand on Bella's shoulder.
"Yes…and no…Me and Edward…aren't together anymore…" Bella mumbled.
Jacob nodded, a sly grin forming. "Hmm, I kinda figured that out."
"You're…not mad are you?" Bella asked, a little bit of worry lacing her face.
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Well aren't you Ms. Irresistible? I guess there isn't any way I could actually be over you or anything, is there?" He teased, giving her a playful elbow.
"You know what I mean…" Bella said, feeling the slow electric shock going through her cheeks.
Jacob gave Bella a warm smile and ruffled her hair. "I know how heavy you were for Edward. For you to leave him, I'm assuming he either did something really wrong…and I mean so wrong that I'm taking the packs to rip him another one…"
"No! No! It's nothing like that!" Bella quickly defended, seeing that as Jacob's threat became more pronounced, his face was getting darker.
Jacob's face returned to his normal smile "Or you just fell out of love with him. Or you found someone you loved more. Either way, I trust your judgment. No one can know a person's heart like they do. So…who's the lucky guy?"
Bella's eyes went wide at the question. "Uh…about that…um…"
This time Jacob mirrored it. "Just so…I'm not reading the situation wrong…it's not me is it?"
Bella burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. "No no, Jake. It's not you."
Jacob loudly cleared his throat. "Well! There's no need to be insulting now is there? Hmph! I guess I'm not 'kinda beautiful' anymore, huh?" Jacob exaggerated his emotions, seeming almost humorously offended.
"Noooo! You know I didn't mean it like that, Jake." Bella said, with a playful punch. "It's…not a guy."
This time Jacob blanked shortly. "Ah. Alice?"
Bella cocked her head to the side. "You're the second person to make that implication." She said with surprise. "Do me and Alice seem like we're-?"
Jacob quickly changed the subject. "Who is it then? Because we let you being turned go. Then we let Mike being turned go to someone who wasn't even in the treaty. If you have to turn someone else, I'm really going to have to draw a line there."
Bella let out a long sigh. "It's Rosalie."
Jacob paused a bit, obviously waiting for Bella to say that she was kidding and then got a thoughtful expression once he realized she was serious. "Blondie, huh? Wow…she must be seriously good in the sack…"
"It's not like that!" Bella defended, giving Jacob a playful shove. "I mean…that part of it is really nice but…there's more to Rosalie than just her looks. Once you get past the bitchiness she's…really sweet." Bella could see Jacob's expression and see that he wasn't buying it. "She is!"
Jacob put up his hands, defensively. "Okay, okay. I'll take your word for it." A sly smirk crossed his face. "Or…ya know…you could get me a video or something of you two together and I could better judge whether it's true love or hardcore lust."
Bella just glared at Jacob for a few seconds before she responded. "I'm telling Leah that you just asked to see me in lesbian vampire porn."
The true horror in Jacob's face made that threat totally worth it. "Don't even joke like that!" Jacob growled.
"OH LE-!" Bella started before Jacob rushed to her and covered her mouth.
"That's not funny!" Jacob stated, waiting for Bella's shriek of giggles to subside before letting her go.
"Won't she find out anyway?" Bella teased.
"Oh…trust me when I say, when you're dating someone who can actually read your mind. You learn to control what you think around them quickly. Really quickly. As in…really…really…quickly."
Bella found herself giggling again. "Okay okay, I was just kidding."
"Oh, out of curiosity, how's the big guy dealing with the situation?" Jacob asked.
"Apparently Rosalie told him everything, even that me and him were basically on equal footing as far as her loving us. He's totally okay with it."
"Hmmm, I wonder why?" Jacob asked, rolling his eyes.
Bella sighed. "It's not like that. Okay we do kinda kiss in front of him and all but-"
"Bingo!" Jacob exclaimed victoriously.
"We're going to be telling everyone pretty soon. If Edward doesn't come back it's…only fair they know why." Bella stated, her face getting serious again.
"You told me first?" Jacob asked, intrigued.
"I wanted to judge your reaction…" Bella muttered. "And all things considered, 'Wow, she must be seriously good in the sack.' isn't the worst reaction that I could think of."
Jacob chuckled. "Sorry about that. I suppose if she's really that important to you I'll at least make an attempt not to piss her off…too much."
"Thank you." Bella commented, smiling back. "You're not going to tell Nessie yet, right?"
"Ha!" Jacob barked. "Like I'm going to tell her that her mother dumped her father for her aunt. Yeah, have fun with that one."
"You make it sound so appealing." Bella shot back, sticking out her tongue. "Hm, I think Leah's on her way back. I don't think she trusts me."
"Well…you are a leech." Jacob teased.
Bella rolled her eyes. "I suppose I should be on my way then. Thanks a lot, Jake." She stated, embracing her werewolf friend.
"Anytime Bells. Now go away before she gets out of the mood."
Bella chuckled as she looked behind Jacob to see Leah glaring at them. "He's all yours."
"I know." Was all Leah replied.
Bella sighed as she let go and a devious idea crossed her mind as she turned back to Leah. "By the way, did you do something with your hair. You're looking really hot today." She said with a wink as she dashed off. Bella only saw Jacob's face for a fraction of a second but that was enough, thanks to her vampire memory. Let's see him keep that scenario out of him mind the next time he phased.
It wasn't long before Bella was back at the mansion. She'd told Rosalie she'd be in La Push testing out Jacob's reaction. As Bella got closer to Rosalie's room it was fairly obvious that Rose and Emmett had figured she'd be gone a little longer. Usually Bella would just leave and give them their…intimate time together, but this time her curiosity was beginning to get the better of her as she snuck towards the door.