Jacob POV:

For the past few days since Bella passed out I've been watching over her. Edward kept his distance. Only coming in a few hours out of the day to check on her. I don't understand how he could keep his distance when the woman that he supposedly loved was practically knocking on death's door a few days ago.

I'd always knew he'd kill her. It's what their kind did.

I just didn't think I'd be stupid enough to watch him drain her every step of the way.

Now here I was watching the only girl I'd ever love fight for her existence.

And somehow, I hoped she'd win. Despite what I said to her so many months ago after she'd told me she would be changed, I hoped she'd open her eyes. Whether they were the soft, earthy brown-eyes that I loved since I was a toddler or the bright red-eyes that signaled that she was frozen in time forever.

Even if he didn't deserve her, she didn't deserve to have the life she looked forward to cut short. No matter how fucked up I thought her fantasy was.

"It's admirable that you're still here Jacob."

Even with my supernatural hearing I couldn't hear Doctor Fang come through the doorway.

"You're loyal to a fault," he added as he pulled up a chair on the opposite side of Bella's bed. "She couldn't have asked for a better friend."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes as I refocused on Bella. Rubbing small circles on the healed scar on her wrist.

Loyal like the stupid lovesick, dog I was.

Doctor Fang had taken to trying to make small talk with me whenever he came to check Bella's vitals. His visits since Bella's blackout was second only to Edward by a slim margin.

Her heart had taken on a rapid pace since the venom entered her veins. Its beat mirrored that of a hummingbird's wings.

Carlisle had said that all of the Cullen's had similar reactions to the venom before their hearts stopped.

The venom had rapidly repaired the physical damage to her body days ago, when she should've "woken up". At least, according to Doctor Fang. You'd never known that she'd just given birth to a life sucking demon a few days ago.

God, the expression on her face when she realized her baby wasn't alive.

Despite Doctor Fang's calm and collected bedside manners. As each day went by without Bella waking, they grew more and more concerned.

I heard the hushed conversations of the leeches throughout their mansion. Even with with people being turned in the worst condition humanly possible, the turn around time was still three days.

We were now approaching day five since they injected the venom into Bella's body.

They'd said it themselves, if Bella's heart wasn't beating they would've gave up and assumed the worst.

Carlisle went through the motions of his daily check-ups on Bella then left.

Just before 7 pm, a few hours later, the motherly vampire came in with a massive plate of food.

She'd walked around me to the bedside table and set the plate of food there.

"I know food is not your greatest concern," she said as she reached out to place a hand on my knee. I flinched and scowled at her attempt to display motherly affection to me of all people.

"You should really eat more," she finished.

"I thought you should know, your brothers are here to visit," she said before turning to leave the room.

My brothers? Some brother I was. Shirking my duties as a pack member to watch the girl I loved kill herself thoroughly. Fighting them a few days ago to protect Bella and the life that hadn't even taken its first breath.

I'm surprised they even want to see me.

I pulled Bella's hand up to my lips. Feeling her fluttering pulse under my fingertips watching her breathe slowly and evenly.

I took it in as though it would be the last time I saw her like this.

I rested her hand gently at her side and went downstairs to see what the Pack wanted.

I don't know why I had expected to find all of the pack crammed in the Cullen's grand entrance.

To my surprise, it was just Quil and Embry practically standing back to back as they looked in awe and in worry at their surroundings.

Despite being my best friends, I knew they hadn't come of their own accord. I knew Sam sent them to check on me.

The two instantly perked up seeing come down the flight of stairs.

"Hey Jake," for a moment it felt like I was back in my tiny shack of a garage, working on new projects while these two idiots came to bother me.

I hadn't seen them since they had come to eradicate Bella's already dead baby. I hadn't talked to them as people since a few days before Bella gave birth. I hadn't spoken with them as pack members and brothers since I "went rogue" a few weeks prior.

It was strange seeing them like this. They were practically strangers to me now.

I couldn't beat around the bush. I knew why they were here but I needed to know for myself.

"Did Sam send you here," I asked off the bat.

Quil's eyes immediately began to look everywhere but at me. Embry at least had the decency to look me in the eye.

"We heard that Bella didn't wake up when she was supposed to. We assumed the worst," Embry explained.

The pack obviously wasn't in close constant contact with the Cullen's. Which meant even after the attack, they had been monitoring and spying from a distance.

"We wanted to visit you a few days ago but like Sam said: Bella and the Cullens aren't the packs concern anymore," Quil added. "Somethings come up. Sam sent us to bring you home."

As much as I wanted to come home I couldn't. I felt so out of place, surrounded by the enemy. But I couldn't just leave. I had to see this through. As long as her heart was beating, I would be there.

Maybe I'd stick around even after her human life ended.

"I'm sorry, but I can't leave yet. I can't leave while she's still fighting for her life. You guys hear it, right? Her heart is still beating, I can't leave her yet."

They exchanged looks between one another. Weary and knowing.

"Well then we're staying too," Embry said as he clapped a hand over my shoulder.

"You are?"

"We are?"

"Yeah, we weren't there for you before. We're supposed to be your best friends, but we haven't been acting like it. Not since we first phased, but we're here now."

"Oh great, more dogs," Rosalie said sourly as she came out of the living area.

Blondie had been keeping her distance from the family since the end of Bella's pregnancy. No one, not even Bella, was more excited for the arrival of the baby than her. She'd practically dragged Bella through her pregnancy. While the rest of the Cullen's prioritized keeping Bella alive, she was more concerned for the life that was sucking the life out of her new sister-in-law. She'd taken it hard when the baby didn't survive.

Mama Vamp, glided out of their fancy lightly used kitchen.

"Well, since you boys are sticking around, there's plenty of food for you to eat. I know you tend to eat a lot."

I smelled a mixture of savory smells coming from the kitchen. My boys followed their noses to the kitchen. I shook my head my head in disbelief. They were as goofy as ever.

Greedy bastards.

I hung out with Quil and Embry, in the kitchen while they nearly ate themselves into a food coma. Despite my prying, they wouldn't tell me what was so important that I needed to come home soon.

The most they did was assure me that my dad, although worried, was okay.

They'd asked to see Bella and I was shocked to say the least. I knew they slightly resented her for what she put me through. But they still cared.

The rest of the Cullens had "turned in" as the day wound down. The future seeing pixie still lingered about. She didn't hang around as much. I remembered a conversation from a few days before Bella went into labor. How she couldn't see things involving the pack. How me being around made Bella's future come in foggy. She'd taken to staying away from the house just to be sure of anything anymore.

That bronze-haired bastard had already, made his visit to Bella for the day. I didn't have the time to confront him on his bullshit. I could confront him for being absent from Bella's side in this moment later. For now, Bella was still alive.

Despite the Cullens massive mansion, my boys didn't feel comfortable sleeping under the roof with a bunch of leeches. I couldn't blame them. They'd taken to sleeping in their wolf forms at the tree line of the Cullens yard.

I knew they'd report Bella's status to Sam. Tell him that although she was unconscious, she was still alive. I didn't care. I'd hold onto Bells for as long as I still had her.

I'd taken to sleeping in the armchair beside Bella's bed. It was around 11 when I finally fell asleep to prepare myself to start the cycle of uncertainty again tomorrow.

Bella POV:

Surely it had been longer than 3 days at this point. I can't even change into a vampire like a normal person would.

At this point I had gotten used to the burning sensation caused by the venom fighting my living cells. The pain flowed in waves throughout my body.

The burning sensation had finally made its way to my chest. It became difficult to breathe. Then I felt it in my throat. It felt like a hot iron was being slowly dragged down my throat.

As time went on the burning in my throat. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but it felt like I was gagging. My body was trying to force something out. I tried to swallow it down but it wouldn't stay down. Whatever it was, it was coming up now.

I'm not sure how, but for the first time in days I moved.

When trying to get up, the stiffness in my joints caused me to fall out of and onto the floor. The trashcan that I had become familiar with throughout my pregnancy and wretched into the brushed metal waste bin.

The contents of what I just threw up shocked me. It wasn't food or anything like that, I hadn't eaten a proper meal in over a week.

From the way it sloshed in the bin, it was bile like in consistency. It was cloudy and shimmered slightly.

I didn't have time to ponder on it as whatever I had attempted to swallow down came up again.

What happened? I'm not supposed to get sick. I don't feel different.

Maybe the change wasn't obvious. Maybe my unconscious state stalled my movements.

I attempted to push myself up off the floor. That's when I saw it, a fresh bruise forming on my knee.

Vampires didn't bruise.

I was still human.

Sam POV:

I wasn't sure how much weight we could give Old Quil's discovery. Sure he and Billy had guided us through our first phase and adjusting to pack life. For the longest time they were the only one's I could trust and rely on.

But this was an entirely different generation of wolves we were talking about. A pack where imprinting was common, where girls phased, where kids who could barely be considered preteens phased.

We were facing an entirely different of challenges than our ancestors.

We were reacting to situations based on instinct alone.

Now we were so desperate we were relying the predictions of an 80 something year old man.

Bella POV:

How? I'd felt the bites as Edward attempted to start my transformation. The plunge as he stabbed a syringe filled with venom into my body.

I'd examined my arms and legs all over. Places where I knew he bit me. No bite marks.

I'd used the bed to pull myself up off the floor and saw the giant plate of food sitting on the bedside table. Four buttered rolls, several slices of meatloaf, a pile of mashed potatoes and a hefty scoop of broccoli.

My stomach growled at the sight. I hadn't eaten in days.

I was definitely still human.

I'd placed the giant plate of food in my lap and dove into the meal indiscriminately with my hands. I couldn't be bothered to use utensils. It was cold but still so damn good.

Yep, still human.

The Cullen's couldn't stand the smell of food, let alone the taste.

A few florets of broccoli had rolled off the plate.

One had fell into my lap and the other had bounced across the floor in front of an armchair where two long legs were outstretched. I followed the legs upwards to find Jacob Black snoring, his elbow propped up on the arm of the chair. Head resting in his massive palm.

He was here.

I thought he'd leave after all the times I pushed him away. At least I hoped he would leave.

But he was still here. Against all odds, against every instinct that told him otherwise, he was here.

I set the plate of food and moved slowly towards his sleeping form.

I was by no means quiet in my approach, but he continued to snore.

You always were a deep sleeper, Jacob Black.

I reached out and touched his soft, black hair. He'd been growing it out from the crop the rest of the pack had adopted when they phased.

I remembered how upset I was when I'd found out he'd cut it. I remembered how he'd let me play with and braid his hair when we would just hang out together.

I'd thought it was silly when he told me that he'd be regrowing his hair for me. I couldn't understand before.

Jacob POV:

I'd been dreaming of that moment on the mountain top. I'd just found out that Bella was getting married.

He really did play dirty. If only she understood how low he was willing to go.

I'd had my heartbroken and felt my spirits be lifted within 10 minutes.

She'd kissed me. Bells kissed me with so much passion and conviction.

God, could I even call this a dream. The events played out exactly as they'd happened in real life. If this were a dream, the battle would've ended without a hitch. She'd return her gaudy engage ring and diamond charm to the undead bastard and come to me to confess her love.

But this was not a dream or a fantasy.

It was my fucked up reality.

The events of that day played out the exact same way they had in real life. Bella kissed me, I stupidly attempted to save Leah from a stray newborn, I get nearly every bone in my body broken and rebroken. Bella comes to me, tells me she loves me but that it's not enough.

That I'm not enough.

With tears in her eyes, she tells me that she'd never been kissed like that. Not even by Edward.

"I saw it, Jacob. I saw what could be. I saw our future kids, our life together, and I wanted it. I wanted it all, Jake."

"You can still have it. We can still have that, Bells."

Through tears, she shook her head back and forth. As though she were she trying to shake the thought from her head.

"No, no, no. I can't have it. It's not enough."

She began to sniffle.

She'd nuzzled herself into the uninjured side of my body.

"I saw everything that I never wanted until today. I never thought about getting married, having kids, or anything like that before," her voice cracked and hiccuped through her confession to me.

"Not even with Edward?"

"No, not even with Edward."

It didn't make sense to me.

"Then why are you marrying him?"

...

"Bella?"

"I-I need him, Jake."

She'd pulled away from me, face swollen, nose red. She looked at me pity as she ran her fingers softly through my hair. She'd leaned forward and kissed me on the lips one last time.

A goodbye kiss? A kiss because she pitied me in my pathetic, broken state.

Her touching my hair felt so real. She'd done it so many times before. I must've memorized the feeling.

Bella POV:

I still couldn't believe he was still here. No matter how much I pushed, he bounced back.

I couldn't be bothered to wipe my hands as I reached out to touch his hair. I'd combed cold mashed potatoes into his hair.

He wrinkled his brow as my fingertips made contact with his scalp. I ghosted my fingers down his faced and touched his cheek softly leaving a light sheen of grease on his cheek.

Jake shifted in his seat, eyes moving rapidly behind his closed eyelids, lashes twitching slightly.

I'd seen the whites of his eyes as he slowly opened them. He raised head and his eyes met mine.

His eyes flashed with disbelief before they filled with the warmth that I'd always known him for. I didn't have time to process how fast he moved. His hands were hot against my cheeks as he rubbed his thumbs gently over the skin there.

He'd looked deeply into my eyes, his forehead pressed against mine.

He'd shut his tightly as tears gently dripped down his cheeks.

Jacob yanked me into one of his famous bear hugs. I hadn't been had one of these in so long."

"You're alive."

I didn't need Jake to confirm what I'd already known. I was alive. I practically rubbed elbows with death less than a week ago.

But, for whatever reason, I was alive. Not a new existence as Bella the vampire, but as a living, breathing human.

Edward had injected me with enough venom to turn every human in Forks.

What the hell is wrong with me?

A/N: Sooo, this is my first story as you can tell by the lack of anything else on my profile. This story had been rolling around in my head for a while now. I just don't like the idea of Edward and Bella being together. I decided to toy with the idea of Bella choosing Edward for different reasons. Some things I make up as I go along. I haven't decided whether this story is going to be Edward/Cullen friendly or not.

If you don't like Jacob and his pack you won't like this story. I feel as though the series was seriously lacking in wolf pack moments so I'm going to add as many of moments with the wolf pack as I can.

Please Read and Review if you have the time.