The next morning when Grace woke up, Bella wasn't in her bed. She looked around groggy and confused and checked her phone. Nothing. She was the least popular Spirit Bird ever.

She threw her body back onto her pillows and let out a huge breath rubbing her tired eyes and face. With a groan loud enough to echo around her room, she tugged herself from bed and went to take a shower. Her hair was in tangled knots after dunking it in sink water to cool herself off, so Grace took her time letting the hot water run over her, combing her thick, black hair out gently in the shower. She washed her face and once out the shower, she brushed her teeth and put on face lotion. She felt semi-human again all things considered.

Grace was methodical in her bedroom, choosing an outfit carefully and donning black skinny jeans, a black tank top with spaghetti straps, and a bright white cropped hoodie that just showed the underside of her chest. She wrapped Ti'Hal's stone necklace around her neck three times so that the clung to her neck like a choker with the stone dangling off and refitted the bracelet Jake gave her to her wrist. She'd been leaving it behind in case she was called to the rez to help and didn't want to lose it, but now it felt necessary to have on.

Grace tousled her loose thick waves as she carefully blow dried them and when she was satisfied, she gently smoothed them so they were lustrous and shiny. When she looked at herself in the mirror she smiled-what she was doing, Grace wasn't entirely sure, but it felt nice to look this way again and not the disheveled mess she'd been for the past month and a half. As she walked to the bedroom door, her eyes caught the warm plum lip gloss sitting on her desk. She quickly pulled some color on and walked down the stairs to pull on her boots.

"Charlie?" she called out. "Bella?" As she tied up her laces, she glanced on the single pane window to see the truck missing. Charlie rounded the corner.

"Bells isn't here. She took off to the rez for something, she should be back soon." He paused. "You look nice. Off to see Jake?" he gave her a soft smile. Grace internally flinched and strode across the small foyer to grab her heavy raincoat from the closet.

"Ah, no." she gave a hard laugh. "Just going to run a few errands and swing by to see Billy and Ti'Hal, probably." She nodded.

"Oh well, I could give you a ride. Let me grab my keys." Grace nodded appreciatively and then bounded out to Charlie's cruiser.

Bella was at the rez? What for?


When they reached Billy's house, Charlie came inside with her to check in on him. Unsurprised, Jake was not home. But Bella's truck wasn't there either. She asked Billy if Bella had been by to which he nodded. Then discreetly, he motioned to the window.

Grace looked out and saw that there had clearly been a fight, between who she wasn't sure, but the broken trees and debris scattered everywhere indicated it was big.

"I think they all headed over to Emily's for some lunch." Billy replied casually.

"Oh, did you want me to take you there?" Charlie asked. Grace smiled and shook her head.

"Oh no, I can get there easy! I'll catch a ride back with Bells. Thanks Charlie!" Grace replied scooting out the door and heading into the trees to recast.

On the front porch of Emily's, she heard hoots and hollers within. Happy. She thought, relieved.

As she climbed the steps and crossed the threshold her eyes were automatically drawn to Jacob's. He was leaning against the counter in the kitchen with a black shirt and jeans on. Paul was rotating his shoulder and jabbing Embry who kept making quips about his ineptitude to dodge a phase on the fly.

Grace walked in and pushed both her hands on Paul's back making him lurch forward slightly against the table "I should have known it was you who started a fight."

"Ow! Injured here!" he cried back slapping playfully at her hand. "Oh wow, you look nice." he said smiling up at her. Grace blushed furiously and ran a hand through her hair.

"Oh, I do?" She responded embarrassed.

"You do." Jacob replied from his space leaning on the counter. Her gaze darted to his and held it there. She could still feel the warmth of blush in her face but instead of embarrassment, she swelled with a feeling that made her toes tingle.

"Thanks." She said, not letting her eyes drop from Jacob's. He gave her a secretive smile and then looked over to the staircase where Bella was sitting and gave her a nod to follow him. Grace hadn't realized Bella was there until this moment and she grounded herself immediately by placing a tentative hand on Paul's shoulder.

"Hey," Grace murmured as Bella walked past. Bella looked unsurprised but still a little startled to see Grace standing there.

"Hey." Bella said as she walked by her and out the front door. Jacob followed and they were off down the beach together.

Grace let out a long breath that she had been holding and then sank into the kitchen chair next to Paul. She shook her head laughing and said,

"So what did you do?"

"Me? I was just keeping the pecking order straight." Paul retorted.

"Wait, isn't that my job?" Grace said.

"I thought that was Sam's job." Embry said as he took a bite of a large muffin on the table.

"No, that's Emily's job." Jared countered. Sam laughed at this and kissed Emily's cheek.

"So what was all that about then?" Grace motioned to the door where Jake and Bella had left through.

"Jacob found a way around Sam's gag order," Quil relayed. "Bella figured it out."

"Figured what out?" Grace said alarmed.

"About us." Paul stated. "So you can see why I was pissed."

"Actually, I don't, but also what the hell. How did he do that?" Grace queried the room. They all shrugged their shoulders and Sam simply said:

"She just said she figured it out."

Good on Bells, Grace thought to herself. Sam gave Grace a measured look. "What?" she said when she noticed him staring. He shook his head and turned back to Emily. Weird.

Grace's gaze carried out the open front door toward the beach. The pulling sensation was back again. Paul nudged her from his seat next to her.

"Hey," to this she looked at him and gave him a smile. He reached out and grabbed her hand that was resting in her lap and she let him. It felt good to be so warm.


When Bella and Jake returned from their walk, the pack was already deep into dinner, crushed around the table. Grace was throwing her head back and laughing as Quil tried to imitate a member of the tribe who had a tendency to give unsolicited advice to passersby. Bella squeezed in next to Grace and Jake joined the head of the table next to Sam and Jared before digging in himself. Bella nudged her shoulder into Grace and gave her a reserved smile. Grace leaned her head into Bella's and touched her forehead to hers. To this, Bella left out an elated laugh, one mixed with relief and desperation to cling to the happiness filling this home.

It was late by the time they left, having been subjected to watching the pack play an impromptu version of soccer/rugby/volleyball where the rules changed as the ball switched hands. On their way home, Bella looked over at her tentatively.

"So do you turn into a wolf too?" Bella raised an eyebrow. Grace looked at her confused.

"Jake didn't tell you?" Bella shook her head at this. Interesting, Grace thought. How did Jake share the secret without including Grace. For a moment she felt a pang of insecurity that it was because he didn't see her as a real member of the pack but then realized it was more likely that he didn't want to share that with Bella if Grace didn't. Grace let a smile creep across her face before saying.

"Nah, I'm the Spirit Bird." She looked over to see Bella's reaction. She cocked her head to one side and opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it again. "Pretty cool huh?"

"Aaah, yah."

"You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" Bella bust out laughing and Grace joined in.

"No, no I don't."

The pulled into their driveway and still pealed with laughter as they stumbled out of the truck together. They linked arms and heard a rustling sound off in the forest that made Bella jump. To this, Grace clamped a hand over her mouth and tried to repress another burst of laughter.

"Bells, relax. It's Paul and Jacob." Grace pointed to where two glowing eyes were just barely visible in the dark trees. Bella held a hand over her chest and took a deep breath before continuing toward the front door with Grace.

"Jeez, that scared me. Do that do that alot?"

"Protection duty." Grace shrugged. She only knew because she heard Jacob communicate to her just now.

"Wait, how can you tell who it is?" Bella looked at her confused.

"Spirit bird, remember? I'm psychically linked with them when their in wolf form. Paul says," she paused and closed her eyes tightly trying to tune into Paul. It took more effort to pick him up. "Nice butt." Grace's eyes shot open. "WHAT!? PAUL!"

"Oh my god," Bella rolled her eyes and let out a guffaw. Grace could clearly hear an angry snapping sound coming from the tree line, likely Jacob in response.

"Boys." Grace groaned as they piled through the front door and up the stairs to their room. Once they were changed, careful to close the blinds to deter Paul "Nice Butt" Lahote from staring in, Grace laid on Bella's bed and told her about being the Spirit Bird. Bella listened intently and stopped her when she had a question about her abilities. Grace was surprised at how not totally freaked out she was by all of this.

Grace asked Bella how she had found out about the wolves with Sam's alpha order in place and Bella explained about how Jacob told her about the legends last year walking on the beach. Grace swallowed hard at the mention of the cold ones, not sure if Bella had grasped the entirety of the legends. She had pieced it together when she had had a dream about Sam's wolf form showing up in the woods to get her the night of the incident and again when she had went hiking in the woods. By the end of Bella's explanation, Grace had a strange feeling that Bella was holding something back but didn't press her. She was just glad to not have to sneak around anymore. She loved Bella and had missed sharing things with her.

They fell asleep in Bella's bed together, talking late into the night. Grace was glad for the company and she felt closer to Bella than she had been in months.

They were woken up the next day by Charlie opening their bedroom door and shaking Grace's shoulder.

"Girls! Wake up, you're gonna be late!" Grace opened her eyes, groggy, and Bella stirred a little.

"Okay," Grace said in the middle of a yawn. Charlie left their room and they heard his cruiser shortly after.

"Ditch?" Bella mumbled. Grace nodded and gave a tired "mmmmhhmm" before rolling over and falling back asleep.

They woke up again much later in the morning and Grace checked her phone. Two missed calls from Sam early this morning, followed shortly by a text from Jake:

SMS Text—7:55 am: Jake

Told Sam you were still sleeping. He's freaking out about you telling Bella about being the Spirit Bird.

Going home to sleep. Text me when you wake up.

Grace held a phone to her head and gave a dramatic sigh.

"What is it?" Bella asked as she pulled on her jeans.

"Sam's being fussy about me cluing you into the Spirit Bird thing."

"Why?"

"You got me." It wasn't a direct order was it? If it was, she wouldn't have been able to break it. She pressed Sam's number in her phone and closed her eyes as it rang.

"Sam? Yeah." She could already hear it in his voice. Disappointed, livid wolf dad tone. Great. When she hung up, she turned to Bella.

"So I have to go to the rez for a bit. You should stay here because–" Grace cut herself off, not sure how to conclude since she didn't think Bella knew about the redhead vampire.

"Yeah, of course, go. I'm going to catch up on some homework." Bella responded waving her away. Grace raised an eyebrow at her nonchalance. That was easy. She pulled on a green flannel an orange t-shirt and some jeans. She threw her hair up in a messy bun and ran toward the truck. When she looked up at their bedroom window, she saw Bella watching her go expectantly.

She didn't give it a second thought though as she turned out of the driveway and pushed on toward the rez. Sam had said to hurry, he'd deal with her later, bla bla bla, but that the redhead was back and they were running rounds. Charlie was in the woods with some hunting buddies trying to find the animal that had been killing all of the hikers when it fact it was the redhead. They're rounds would be more complicated with the hunting party spread out in the forest and Sam wanted her to run recon with Jake to better scout their path.

When she pulled into Sam's driveway, he was waiting arms crossed on the porch. Grace sank into the drivers seat away from his glowering stare. When she finally hopped out she held her hands up in surrender.

"I know, I know. Irresponsible, ditching class, wow, Grace what would your father think?" Grace recounted. She was already privy to their inner workings so she had heard what they thought often about Grace's father. At first it had been difficult to hear even his name, but soon it became a comfort.

"Just get moving. Jake's already on the northwest side." Sam said as he backed away from the porch and headed east.

Here we go, Grace thought as she recast, holding onto Jake's figure in her mind and letting that familiar pull guide her to him.