Waking Up

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Worry

As soon as Charlie left, Edward reappeared. Bella turned to find him sitting in the rocking chair as if he had been present throughout the whole conversation.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that. Charlie is just upset." Bella whispered.

She was still reeling from the ultimatum. It shocked her that her father could be serious about asking her to leave if she insisted on continuing her relationship with Edward. Still, he had given her a couple of days to mull it over, she could only hope he would see sense and change his mind.

"I deserve far worse." Edward said resignedly. "Don't start anything with Charlie over me, please."

Bella turned away from him, a little peeved that he wasn't rushing to her defense. "Don't worry about it." She muttered as she gathered up her bathroom things and a clean set of clothes. "I'm hoping once his anger dies down, he'll change his mind. If not, its not like I don't have anywhere else to go. Or are you trying to tell me I'm not welcome at yours?"

"You'd move in with a house full of vampires?"

"That's probably the safest place for someone like me." Bella tried to make light of it, putting to the back of her mind the infamous birthday party where Jasper had attacked her.

Edward's jaw tightened. "Be serious, Bella."

"I am being serious." Bella countered, frowning. "Or did you not mean what you said to me earlier?"

"Of course, I meant it." Edward rushed to reassure her. "But we must be objective here. You can't just move in with me. How would that look? You know its important that we stay under the radar and not attract unnecessary attention. You moving in with my family will provoke gossip. We can't risk it, Bella. You must see that."

"No. I don't see." Bella fumed. "How is anyone likely to know if we don't tell them? It is just an excuse. I know you; you think it will sully my reputation or something."

"Now you're being ridiculous, Bella." Edward insisted. He glowered at her and started to say more, but Bella cut him off.

"It hurts me when you belittle me, Edward." Bella said sadly. "I hope you have enough respect for me not to do it again."

For once, her words left Edward speechless.

"Let's not argue anymore. Let's both be hopeful that Charlie changes his mind." She suggested tearily. "Not that it matters. If you stay, I don't need heaven."

Edward got up slowly, and came to put his hands on either side of her face as he stared into her eyes. "Forever." He vowed.

"That's all I'm asking for." Bella said, and stretched up onto her toes so that she could press her lips gently onto his.

Almost everything was back to normal-the good, pre-zombie normal-in less time than Bella could have believed possible. The hospital welcomed Carlisle back with open arms, not bothering to conceal their delight that Esme had found life in LA so little to her liking. Thanks to the calculus test that Bella had missed while abroad, Alice and Edward were in better shape to graduate than she was. Suddenly, college was a priority. Many deadlines had passed Bella by, but Edward made sure to have a stack of applications ready for her to fill out everyday (much to her annoyance). He'd already done the Harvard route, so it didn't bother him that, thanks to her procrastination, they both might end up at Peninsula Community College next year.

Charlie was still not happy with Bella. He was sticking rigidly to his ultimatum. Nothing she said could persuade him to change his mind, which only added to Bella's stress. He refused to speak to Edward at all, or allow him inside the house. While she remained under his roof, Bella wasn't allowed out, either. She either abided with his rules or she find alternative accommodation.

School and work were the only exceptions to this rule, and the dreary, dull yellow walls of her classrooms had become oddly inviting. That had a lot to do with the person sitting next to her.

Edward had resumed his schedule from the beginning of the year, which put him in most of Bella's classes again. Her behavior last fall, after the Cullens supposed move to LA, meant that the seat beside her had never been filled. Even Mike, always keen to take advantage, had kept a safe distance. With Edward back in place, it was almost as if the last eight months were just a disturbing nightmare.

Almost, but not quite. Before the fall, she hadn't been best friends with Jacob Black. So, of course, she hadn't missed him then. She really missed him now. More so than she had ever anticipated. It seemed like he was on her mind, every minute of every day. She kept bringing his name up at random moments, which was beginning to test Edward's patience.

It wasn't like Bella was at liberty to go to La Push, and Jacob wasn't coming to see her. He refused to answer her phone calls.

Bella made these calls mostly at night, before Edward snuck through her window when Charlie was asleep. She chose that time to make the calls because she didn't want to irritate Edward. The more she mentioned Jacob, the more disapproving and wary he became…sometimes even looking angry. She guessed he had some reciprocal prejudice against the werewolves, though he wasn't so vocal as Jacob had been about the 'bloodsuckers.'

Try as she might over the intervening days, Bella couldn't stop mentioning Jacob. It made her unhappy that her former best friend seemed so intent on cutting her out of his life. With Charlie also pressing her to make a final decision about whether she was going to give up Edward and stay under his roof, or stick with the relationship and move out, she was feeling under an intense amount of pressure.

The fairy tale was back on. Prince returned; bad spell broken. Instead of being joyful that her heart had been pieced back together, she felt miserable. Bella didn't know what to do about Jacob, had no idea how to resolve things with him. Where was his happily ever after?

Another day passed and Jacob still wouldn't return her calls. It started to become a constant worry. Like a dripping faucet in the back of her head that she couldn't shut off or ignore. Drip, drip, drip. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.

Unbeknownst to her, she was even beginning to mumble his name in her sleep, driving Edward crazy. Several times he had to vacate the room, just to calm himself down, only returning when he was certain she was deeply asleep.

So, though Bella did her best not to mention Jacob too much, sometimes her anxiety and frustration about his welfare boiled over.

"Its just not fair." Bella complained on Saturday when Edward picked her up from work. Being angry about the situation was easier than dealing with her guilt. "Its downright insulting that he keeps ignoring my calls."

Bella had varied her pattern, in hopes of a different response. She'd called Jake from work this time, only to get an unhelpful Billy, again.

"Billy said he didn't want to talk to me." She fumed to Edward, glaring at the rain oozing down the passenger window. "That he was there, and wouldn't walk three steps to the phone! Usually, Billy just says he's out or busy sleeping or something. I mean, its not like I didn't know he was lying to me, but at least it was a polite way to handle it. I guess Billy hates me now, too. Its not fair! How am I supposed to make things right when he won't let me?"

Edward tried to hide his impatience. He was tired of hearing Jacob's name. He had hoped Bella would be over her fixation with the wolf boy by now, but as more time passed, it seemed to be getting worse.

"Its not you, Bella." He said quietly, hoping to placate her. "Nobody hates you. It's a difficult situation all round."

Bella folded her arms stubbornly across her chest. There was no hole there now-well maybe a microscopic one, which she attributed to Jacob's loss-she could barely remember the feeling, or so she convinced herself.

"Jacob knows we're back, and I'm sure that he's ascertained that I'm with you." Edward continued calmly. "He won't come anywhere near me. The enmity is rooted too deeply."

"That's stupid. He knows you're not…. like other vampires."

"There's still good reason to keep a safe distance."

Bella glared blindly out of the windshield, seeing only Jacob's face, set in the bitter mask she hated. She missed his smile, his sunny personality.

"Bella, we are what we are." Edward said quietly. "I can control myself. I doubt he can. He's very young. It would most likely turn into a fight, and I don't know if I could stop it before I k – "He broke off when he saw the look of terror on Bella's face. "Before I hurt him. You would be unhappy. I don't want that to happen."

"Are you for real, Edward?" Bella exclaimed in disbelief, her incredulity rising with each passing second. "I would be more than unhappy. I would be devastated if anything happened to Jacob. He's my best friend. I don't think you really understand how deep that friendship runs. His pain is my pain. If you hurt him…I would…I would…"

"What?" Edward demanded, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"If you killed him, Edward. You would be killing me, too."

Edward looked away from her, staring grimly into the rain. In front of them, the red light she hadn't noticed turned green and he started forward again, driving very slowly for him.

"Please don't ever say that again, Bella. You're being melodramatic. I would try…very hard…not to do that." He finally added.

Bella stared at him with her mouth hanging open, but Edward continued to look straight ahead. They were paused at the corner stop sign now. She couldn't believe that he would contemplate such a thing. It brought home to her just how serious the rivalry was between the vampires and wolves.

"Well." She said, taking a deep breath, shaking her head to try and rid it of the gut-wrenching anxiety. "Nothing like that is ever going to happen, so there's no reason to worry about it. I need to get home quickly; Charlie will be clock watching and I don't want to aggravate him anymore than I have already. He's still pushing me for an answer. He's so stubborn. A family trait, I suppose."

Bella turned her face toward Edward to smile halfheartedly.

Every time she looked at that face, that impossibly perfect face, her heart pounded just a little faster. This time the pounding raced ahead of its usual pace, as she recognized the expression on his statue-still face.

"Its too late, Bella. It seems your time is up." He whispered through unmoving lips.

Bella slid closer, clutching his arm as she followed the direction of his gaze, trying to see what he was seeing. She didn't know what she expected – maybe Victoria standing in the middle of the street, her flaming red hair blowing wildly in the wind, or a line of tall black cloaks…or a pack of angry werewolves. But she didn't see anything at all.

"What? What is it?"

Edward looked down at her then, and his expression was calm enough to ease some of her panic.

"Charlie…. he's packed your bags." He told her. He started to drive forward again, down her street, but he passed the house and parked by the edge of the trees. "He's probably not going to kill you, but he's thinking about it."

Bella stared at Edward in alarm, panicking about what had suddenly pushed Charlie over the edge. Edward was glancing back toward the house and she followed his gaze, noticing for the first time what was parked in the driveway next to the cruiser. Shiny, bright red, impossible to miss. Her motorcycle, flaunting itself in the driveway.

And just beside it -looking impossibly bigger, taller, and much more intimidating then when she last set eyes on him-stood Jacob Black.

A/N-thanks for reading!