A/N: This chapter is going to be a little on the short side.

Bella POV:

Jacob had returned to the room a short while later. He looked slightly uncomfortable.

That was definitely because of me.

"Come on, Bells. We better head out soon."

I packed a few sets of clothes in a small overnight bag. Despite our heartfelt reunion, Jacob stood awkwardly in the doorway waiting for me to finish. I wasn't as stupid or naive as I was a few months ago. I knew what being in my presence did to Jake. Hell, I knew what it did to me. It's selfish of me to hold on to him when I know I can't have him. But, if Jake's going to insist on constantly being around me in spite of his feelings, I'll hold on to him for as long as he'll put up with me.

I'd slung my bag over my shoulder and followed Jake downstairs to the front door. He fiddled with the keys to the gaudy Mercedes Edward insisted on buying me. I still hated the shiny overpriced hunk of metal. Edward had bought it to placate me after fucking with my truck one too many times to the point where Jacob could never get the thing running again.

Jacob stopped right in front of the door and walked face first into his back. I scrunched my nose as it bore the brunt of the contact. I was sure my nose would start bleeding at any moment.

"Wait here, Bells. I need to do something first," he unlocked the door, a subtle sign for me to wait for him in the car.

"Get out here you nosey, dogs," he yelled to the tree line right as I closed the door.

Jacob POV:

Within a minute of me calling them, Embry and Quil came out of the woods in human form.

"We headed out, Jake," Embry asked.

"Yeah it's just for a few days."

"Alright, we'll meet you back home," Quil said turning to leave.

"Wait," my voice cracked slightly as I spoke this time.

"Can-Can you guys come with me," I felt weak as I asked my friends this. "I can't do this alone. I mean I can't be alone with her."

I felt my eyes burning with tears and I kept my head down. It was a split second decision. Originally, I had no intention of asking them to travel with me. Suddenly, being alone with her terrified me. I knew that if I drove with her alone she'd want to talk. I couldn't handle making small and meaningless conversation feeling the way I felt. But I knew I couldn't handle it if she attempted to talk to me about our "relationship". I needed my friends there, to keep the mood light and keep me levelheaded.

After, the way I treated them, I couldn't imagine them saying yes. We just got back on speaking terms yesterday. For the first time in a long time, I felt vulnerable to someone other than Bella.

I saw two sets of feet standing before me.

"Of course, we'll come with you Jake," Quil clapped me on the shoulder.

"And don't worry. We won't tell Bella that you're so scared of her that you cried," Embry added teasingly.

"Nearly cried."

"It's okay to be in touch with your sensitive side, Jake," Quil shook my shoulder as he cooed at me.

It was about a 45 minute drive from the Cullen's house to La Push.

About 15 of those minutes were filled with awkward silence. But Quil and Embry could never keep their mouths shut for too long.

"So Bella, we haven't seen you since the wedding. How's married life treating you," Quil asked gripping the headrest of Bella's seat.

She shrugged slightly

"It's alright I guess," she answered looking down at her lap. She began to meddle with the massive ring on her ring finger. She frowned, slipping it on and off, rolling it around in her hands.

"Just alright?"

I cleared my throat.

"Quil, she clearly doesn't wanna talk about that," I remembered how distant Bella had been from that bloodsucker since they came back. The way he yelled at her for wanting to keep the baby.

Sure, I thought keeping the demon was a terrible idea too, but Bella was already under enough stress at the time.

"Yeah, Quil. Don't be so dense," Embry slapped Quil on the back of the head.

Another 5 minutes went by before any of us spoke again.

"You're still human," Embry stated.

"Yeah, I am."

"So, how did that happen? You got bit right?"

"Well, I don't know Embry. I've never tried turning into a vampire before," Bella replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Maybe you're like an X-Man or something."

This conversation went Seth fantasy world very quickly.

"X-Men? Even Seth wouldn't say something that childish Embry. They'd never let me in being as clumsy as I am."

"Well, whatever is going on with you, we're glad you can still hang out with us Bella," Quil said.

"Yeah, that also means you can still cook for us too."

"You are a pretty good cook, Bells," I added.

"Yeah. The Cullen's food was alright but they don't have anything on you and Emily."

"Wait a minute. I've never cooked for you guys."

"Not, exactly," Quil replied nervously.

"Remember that lasagna you made from scratch with the homemade garlic bread a few months ago," Embry said in reference to a meal I remember too well.

It was Charlie's birthday and Bella wanted to do something special for him on his birthday, as it was supposed to be the last one she would spend with him. She was going to make lasagna and garlic bread from scratch. All fresh ingredients. She'd just forgotten one thing. Fresh parsley for the garlic bread. According to Bella, it wasn't garlic bread without parsley. Bella called me to let me know to she was going to run to the store and to let myself in when I got there. She invited Billy, Sue, Seth, Leah, me, and a few other close friends of Charlie's. No Edward though, because she knew Charlie couldn't stand the bloodsucking tick or his family.

I smelled the lasagna but never got to experience it. When I got there, the dish of lasagna dish was completely empty.

Long story short, Embry and Quil were in charge of guarding Bella that night and burglarized the lasagna when Bella left.

"Hold on. It was you greedy dogs that ate my dad's birthday lasagna? I blamed Jake for that. Do you have any idea how long it took me to pull those noodles and make a tomato sauce from scratch?"

"I told you it wasn't me."

She mouthed a brief sorry to me before getting back to scolding Quil and Embry. I had to admit, it was nice not to be on the receiving end of her mom talks for once. I remembered that even when I tried telling her that it was Embry and Quil she jokingly implied that I was trying to place the blame on on those two idiots.

"I can't believe you two ate all that lasagna. I had to try to find last minute reservations to some random steakhouse because of you gutter mouths'."

"That's not the point," Embry said trying to distract from the crime they admitted to committing. "Quil and I have a theory that because vampires don't have a taste or smell for food so they aren't necessarily the best cooks. Not bad cooks but not the best."

"The Cullen's aren't bad cooks," Bella replied with a laugh.

"Of course not," Quil said. "But you've certainly had better meals."

"And you've certainly made better meals," Embry added.

There was a slight pause as Bella held in a laugh.

"It's okay for what it is. Not exactly the most flavorful food I've had. Still hits the spot when you're starving."

That may have been the first time I've heard Bella say something that wasn't constantly defending the Cullen's.

"That's what we're trying to say. We need you to stay human for us Bella. We're growing wolves who need to eat, Bells," Quil draped himself over Bella's seat.

"Yeah and Emily can't cook for us as much now that she's pregnant," Embry whined.

"Emily's pregnant?"

"She has really bad morning sickness so she can't keep anything down. The smell of food makes her gag. We can't survive on supersized McDonald's meals. My body is a temple," Embry said.

"The same temple that you shoved 2 bags of family size Cool Ranch Doritos, a pack of Hot Dogs, and a 2 liter soda in a few months ago," I joked.

Embry's hand slapped me on the back of the neck causing Bella to laugh.

"Shut up, Jake. Are you really going to let your protectors starve to death, Bella?"

She rolled her eyes at Embry's dramatics.

"Of course not, Em."

"Not so fast, Bells. Before you commit to being the personal chef to a giant pack of wolves we need to test your skills," Quil interrupted.

"You've already demolished an entire dish of homemade lasagna and according to you two it was pretty damn good. Not that anyone else would know."

"We're gonna need a proper analysis of your dessert making skills. Can you make a chocolate cake," Quil asked.

"You guys can eat chocolate," Bella asked, a slight laugh in her voice.

"Oh, so vampire girl is funny now? Of course we can eat chocolate, Bella. Don't be so silly. If your desserts are even half as good as Em's, we'll definitely hire you as our personal chef. Now we can't pay you in cash but what we can give you is love, appreciation and praise for your cooking."

"That'll certainly pay the bills," Bella rolled her eyes.

We finally pulled up to the tiny red house I called home.

"What do you say Bells? You gonna be our personal chef?"

"After all you've guys done for me, it's the least I can do."

From the rear view mirror I could see Quil and Embry high-five each other.

"Sweet, our people will be in touch. And by "our people" we mean Jake. We'll see you two later."

Quil and Embry both rushed out of the car.

"Jake, we'll be at Sam's place when you finish up."

They ran to the forest to no doubt phase.

"So, you ready to head in?"

A/N: As stated before this chapter is a bit on the short side. I was eager to get to scenes involving the wolves. Even the parts in the Twilight series involving the wolves and Bella are fun and natural, which is why I love their interactions together so much. For me, trying to write the Cullen's is like being constipated and it certainly feels that way when I read Bella's interactions with the Cullen's.

Next chapter is gonna be pretty important.