Back to the Start
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Need
"Go and lie down." Charlie said to Bella when they finally reached Forks. "We'll talk in the morning."
It had been a quiet journey home from Port Angeles. Bella had sat in the back seat of the cruiser, and she thought Jacob might have joined her, but he slipped into the front seat beside Charlie instead. Something seemed to be bothering him. Bella wished they had some privacy so they could talk about it, but it was impossible with Charlie acting as chaperone.
They shared a muted goodbye when they reached La Push. Jacob gave Bella another hug, but just like he had before, he released her quickly. It was only when she turned away from him that she heard him release a long breath. Had he been holding it the whole time? She didn't know what to make of this. She was still wearing Edward's jacket and she wondered if the strange heady scent of the cologne that seemed to linger in the creases of the leather were bothering him like they were bothering her.
Just as Bella was going to take Charlie's advice and go to her room, the phone rang. "I'll get it." She called out. She picked up the receiver and said a breathless. "Hello?"
"Bella?"
"Oh, hey, Jess." Bella answered reluctantly.
"You made it home?" Jessica sounded relieved, like her conscience had been pricking her the whole time since leaving Bella stranded in Port Angeles with Edward.
"Yes, I did. No thanks to you." Bella said curtly.
"What is with the attitude, Bella?" Jessica whined.
"You know very well." Bella snapped. She was not going to let Jessica off lightly. "You left me stranded in Port Angeles with Edward Cullen. Anything could have happened."
"But you wanted to stay with him." Jessica was aggrieved. "I mean you were texting him the whole time – "
"I was texting Jacob." Bella cut in angrily. "Which you would have known if you had given me a chance to speak! I don't know how you managed to create this little fantasy in your head that I have something going on with Edward Cullen. I have never shown any interest in the guy, and you would know that if you were a true friend."
"Bella, I…I'm sorry." Jessica stuttered apologetically. "And, I mean, it all worked out in the end, right? He brought you home safely, didn't he?"
"I called my dad." Bella revealed bluntly.
"Your dad?" Jessica's voice was shaking now, as it finally sank in how much trouble she was in. "Is he mad?" Her voice lowered to a whisper.
"Yes, and yes." Bella was secretly enjoying Jessica's discomfiture. She sure as hell deserved it. "And he'd like a word with your parents."
"No, Bella, please!" Jessica was begging now. "I made a mistake. I promise I'll make it up to you. Just don't involve my parents. They'll ground me – "
Bella pulled the phone away from her ear. She was done with Jessica's groveling. "Dad?" She yelled. "The Stanleys would like a word with you."
"And I'd like a word with them." Charlie said grimly as he appeared beside her, grabbing the phone out of her hand.
Bella walked up the stairs to her room to the tune of Charlie's angry voice ringing in the background as he unleashed hell on Jessica's parents for their daughter's selfish behavior.
Exhaustion was creeping in when Bella finally reached her room. She went through the motions of getting ready for bed without paying any attention to what she was doing. It wasn't until she was in the shower – the water too hot, burning her skin-that she realized that she was freezing. She shuddered violently for several minutes before the steaming spray could relax her rigid muscles. Then she stood in the shower, too tired to move, until the hot water began to run out.
Wrapping herself securely in a towel, she stumbled out, trying to hold the heat from the water in so the aching shivers wouldn't return. She dressed for bed swiftly and climbed under her quilt, curling into a ball, hugging herself to keep warm. A few small shudders trembled through her as the day's stresses slowly weighed back down on her.
Bella's mind continued to swirl dizzily, full of images she couldn't understand, and some she fought to repress, especially those of Edward Cullen. Nothing seemed clear at first, but as she fell gradually closer to unconsciousness, one certainty stood out – after what she had learned tonight -Edward Cullen was most definitely not human.
Bella was dreaming again. She was back in the forest around La Push – near the beach there. She knew if she found the beach, she would be able to see the sun, so she hurried forward, following the faint sounds of the waves in the distance.
And then just like she had dreamed before – Jacob was there. He grabbed her hand, just like the last time, pulling her back toward the blackest part of the forest.
"No, Jake, no. We can't go in there. We need to find the light." Bella pleaded.
Jacob's face was the frightened face of a boy, terrified beyond endurance. He yanked on her hand with all his strength, but Bella continued to resist. She didn't want to go into the dark.
"Run, Bella, you have to run!" Jacob yelled.
The abrupt wave of déjà vu was so strong that it nearly woke Bella up.
Bella knew why she recognized this place now. It was because she had been there before, in countless other dreams, ones she barely recalled when she was awake. This was the same dream she'd had not long after she'd spent the day on the beach with Jacob, when he had shared the old stories with her.
Feeling oddly detached from the dream now, Bella waited for it to play out. A light was coming toward her from the beach. In just a moment, Edward appeared out of the trees, his skin faintly glowing and his eyes black and dangerous. He beckoned to her. He was as beautiful as an angel, but as deadly as a demon. He smiled, revealing teeth, sharp and pointed….and glistening with venom.
Suddenly there was strange cry from Jacob. He dropped Bella's hand and yelped. Shaking and twitching, he fell to the ground at her feet.
"Jacob!" She screamed, but he was gone.
In his place was the enormous, red-brown wolf with dark, intelligent eyes. The wolf stared at her intently, trying to convey something with his dark eyes. The black-brown familiar eyes of Jacob Black.
Bella jolted awake, feeling suffocated and breathless from the vivid dream that had just plagued her sleep. Gasping, she clutched the quilt to her chest, her mind whirling as she tried to make sense of the nightmare that felt all too real.
She shivered as she felt a cold draught on her face. Glancing toward the window, she saw that it was wide open, the curtains fluttering in the chilly breeze blowing from outside. She frowned; certain the window was closed before she went to sleep.
Climbing out of bed, Bella quickly slammed the window shut, surprised at how smoothly and silently the hinges moved on the runners. Charlie must have oiled it. Trying to quell the budding dread building in her stomach, she raced back to bed, pulling the quilt right up to her chin, closing her eyes tightly against the dark night as she fought to keep the nightmares at bay.
It was hard, in the morning, to argue with the delusional part of herself that was sure Edward Cullen was far from human. Logic wasn't on her side, or common sense. She clung to the rational half of her brain, determined to dismiss all thought of the guy from her mind. Once she told Charlie about Edward's stalking behavior, he would no longer be her problem.
It was foggy and dark outside her window.
Great! Just great!
Bella dressed in her heavy clothes, remembering that she didn't have a jacket. She had left hers in Jessica's car. Dammit!
When she got downstairs, Charlie was waiting, looking all business. Bella grabbed a granola bar, pouring some milk from the carton in the fridge into a glass, before she joined him.
"Now, tell me everything, kiddo." He said sternly. "And leave nothing out."
It was a relief for Bella to finally get everything off her chest about Edward's bizarre behavior and the strange fixation he seemed to have developed on her. She told Charlie how she had tried to be strong and handle it all on her own, hoping that Edward's interest would die down naturally of its own accord the more she rebuffed him, but admitted that it seemed to have the opposite effect to what she had intended, and that his preoccupation with her seemed to have increased.
When she came to the end of her long explanation, Bella was close to tears. She hadn't realized how much the stress of it all was getting to her until she let it all out.
Charlie moved to sit beside her, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. She tucked her head under his chin and closed her eyes in blessed relief that it was all in the open now.
"I remember you mentioning that some boy at school was hassling you – "Charlie couldn't finish the sentence as guilt set in. He sucked in a sharp breath and moved on. "Listen, Bella, honey, you don't have to worry about that entitled creep anymore, okay. I'm going to take care of it."
"What will you do?" Bella gulped, wiping the last of the tears from her face with the back of her hand.
"I know what I'd like to do." Charlie answered grimly, picturing all sorts of scenarios in his mind, most of them violent. "But I'm a cop, so I have to deal with it within the confines of the law. First, I'm going directly to Dr. Cullen and inform him about exactly what his son has been getting up to. And second, I'll warn him if the little shit fails to comply and continues to make a nuisance of himself, then he'll end up facing the full force of the law."
Bella glanced up at her father's flushed face. He was breathing fast and hard to repress his anger. "Thanks, Dad." She whispered.
Charlie dropped a gentle kiss on top of her head, rubbing her upper arm with his hand. "No need to thank me, kiddo. I should have insisted you tell me when you brought it up the first time."
"I thought I could handle it."
"Its not your job to handle it, it's mine."
Bella felt comforted by her father's solid presence. She leaned into him again gratefully. She was so used to being the mature one, the one that was always expected to take care of others, that if felt nice to have the same done for her. Charlie was so different from Renee in that way. Bella had always been more like the mother and Renee the child in their relationship. With Charlie it was turning out to be the opposite, for which Bella was glad. This felt like a turning point in her life, one which had been a long time coming. She no longer felt like she had to deal with things on her own, she finally had a parent who was willing to step up and take control, allowing her to be the teenager she still was, instead of the adult she was always expected to be.
It was an unusually foggy day; the air was almost smoky with it. The mist was ice cold where it clung to the exposed skin on her face and neck. Bella couldn't wait to get the heat going in her truck. It was such a thick fog that she was a few feet down the driveway before she realized there was a car in it, a silver car. Charlie had left before her, so she was alone.
Bella's heart thudded, stuttered, and then picked up again in double time. She didn't see where he came from, but suddenly he was there, pulling the door open for her.
"I think you should ride with me today." Edward said, amused by the stunned expression her face as he caught her by surprise.
"Didn't you get the message yesterday?" Bella replied, trying to keep her voice calm. "Stay away from me."
Edward sighed. "Bella, please, can we start over? I would like us to be friends."
Bella shook her head, backing away from him. "I'm warning you now, Edward Cullen. I've told Charlie everything. He's on his way to see your father right now. So, if you don't want to get into more trouble, then I suggest you leave."
Edward didn't seem surprised by this piece of news. "I know." His tone was resigned. "I really do mean you no harm, Bella. I wish you could see that I only have your best interests at heart. That's why I'm here. I thought we could drive over together and join in the discussion and show a united front. We can explain that there have simply been misunderstandings on both sides."
Bella couldn't believe his audacity. "I'm getting in my truck now and driving myself to school." She said, edging around him. "Stay out of my way."
"I'm sorry, Bella. I really can't allow that." Edward's face and voice were both eerily calm. "You can hardly see through this thick fog. I won't risk your safety. I'll drive you to school myself if that's where you'd prefer to go."
Bella felt nausea well in her throat. "I'm not that delicate. I can drive myself to school."
"Your truck won't start, Bella." Edward held up a small black object in his hand. He twirled it between his fingers. It was a piece of the truck's engine.
"You disabled my truck?" Bella cried in disbelief. Her eyes, already wide, popped wider.
"There is so much you don't know or yet understand, Bella." Edward said in a low murmur. "And I wish I could explain, but you need to trust me on this, I am only doing this because you give me little choice. I promise that I will put your truck back together once the weather improves." He gestured toward his car, smiling disarmingly. "Now, are you going to get in of your own accord, or are you going to make me carry you?"
"Bella!"
Bella swung around at the sound of the familiar, husky voice. Appearing out of the fog-shrouded street-just as if he knew she needed him, riding on his bicycle- came Jacob Black.
A/N-thanks for reading!