Waking Up
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Emily's Kitchen
Bella was disappointed to find that neither Jacob or Billy was at home after Mike Newton dropped her off at the Black's.
"I can take you home." Mike offered, looking hopeful. "Or, even better, we could go get something to eat. Or maybe catch an early movie."
Bella tried to keep her expression composed. She still couldn't believe, even after all this time, and even with Edward's return, that Mike still secretly entertained the hope that she might take him seriously as a suitor.
"That's very kind of you, Mike, but I don't think it's an option right now." She smiled sweetly to take the sting out of her rejection.
Mike's expression turned sullen. "Fine." He muttered. "I was only being friendly."
"Of course, you were." Bella refrained from rolling her eyes. She seemed to spend most of her time appeasing the hurt feelings of the men in her life. It was getting a bit tiresome. But Mike had done her favor driving her to La Push at the last minute, so she didn't want to end his chivalrous action on a sour note. "Maybe another time. We could get a group together."
Mike brightened up at the prospect. "Yeah, that would be good. I'll arrange it."
"Great." Bella injected just about the right amount of enthusiasm in her tone to be convincing. "Text me the details."
"Will do." Mike grinned. "See you later, Bella."
"Bye." Bella stepped back from the black Suburban and waved Mike off.
It took her a while but Bella finally tracked Billy down at the Clearwaters. He was surprised but pleased to see her. She asked him where Jacob was and he told her that he was probably out patrolling.
"You're quite welcome to wait here with me." Billy said. "But he could be some time. You'll probably have better luck if you head over to Emily's. The boys are always in and out of her and Sam's place."
"I'll think I'll do that then." Bella bent down and gave Billy a brief hug, before heading back out into the cold.
As she walked the air became an anxious swirl of drops, wind-freed from gravity. Bella shivered, pulling up the hood of her jacket to shield her face and hair from the worsening weather. The rain had lost the ambient temperature of early fall, freezing, and paling her skin on contact. As she tried to navigate her way across the rough ground, the water began filling deep puddles that hid the ruts of dryer weather. It wasn't the sort of rain you could enjoy, not fun like the gentle sunshine of springtime, yet to Bella it had become part of life in Forks and she wanted to feel it just the same. She wanted to experience each drop, together and apart, same, and yet different. Despite her shielding hood, the fine droplets soaked her eyelashes before they joined their brethren on the ground like saltless tears. She actually found she needed to be in this, chaotic and wild, just like how her mind and soul felt after Edward's latest stunt- like nature looked right inside her and pulled the weather out to match her sour mood.
After what seemed like an eternity, Bella finally reached the dirt road that led up to Emily's place. As she made it to the end of the lane, she saw the tiny house come into view. It hadn't changed much since the last time she had been there. The one narrow window beside the faded blue door reflected the bad weather, even the window box underneath, usually filled with bright orange and yellow marigolds, looked drab and forlorn, the heads of the flowers wilting under the hammering rain.
Bella hastened her steps now the house was in sight. She rushed up the one step to reach the door, pounding her fist on it, desperate for some warmth now as the cold infected every cell of her body.
A few seconds later it was opened by Emily herself. She looked surprised to see Bella, the right side of her face, scarred from hairline to chin by three thick, red lines, remained frozen, while the other half rose in a lopsided smile of greeting.
"I wasn't expecting you. Come in. Come in. You look frozen."
"Thanks, Emily." Bella said gratefully as she stumbled inside.
The front room, like Billy's house, was mostly kitchen. Bella immediately smelled the delicious aroma of cooking. Emily took the lead, hooking a lock of her long, straight, crow-black hair behind her ear as she walked to the stove. Her satiny copper skin glowed in the subdued lighting as she stood by the counter and began popping big muffins out of a tin and placing them on a paper plate.
"I'm sorry to just drop in on you like this unannounced." Bella apologized awkwardly. "I was just looking for Jake and Billy suggested he might be here."
Emily smiled. "And he'd be right. I'm expecting the whole lot of them soon. Its close to feeding time." She laughed at Bella's stunned expression. "Don't look so shocked, Bella. You've been here before; you know how the boys like to eat."
"I guess." Bella wasn't sure how she felt about facing the pack as a whole. Jacob had assured her that they bore no grudge against her, still, it was a daunting prospect.
"Take your jacket off and relax, Bella." Emily said, the left half of her face warming.
"Thanks, Emily." Bella murmured. She shrugged off her wet jacket and hung it on a coat hook by the front door. Feeling at a loss again, she asked the older girl if she needed any help.
"No. I'm mostly done." Emily was mixing a bowl of humongous eggs now that she was done with the muffins. She had the sleeves of her blue shirt rolled up to the elbows, revealing the scars that ran all the way down her arm to the back of her right hand. Bella was glad that Edward couldn't see this, it would just be the excuse he needed to justify the infuriating notion that hanging out with werewolves was truly a risk. What had happened to Emily was a tragic accident.
Bella leaned awkwardly against the counter, wishing that Emily would give her something to do. She felt rather in the way. "Are you sure that I can't help with anything?" She asked again, a desperate note in her voice.
Emily looked up from the yellow mixing bowl. "Oh, well, if you really insist. I guess you could lay the table for me."
"Will do." Bella said in relief.
Emily's kitchen was a friendly place, bright with white cupboards and pale wooden floorboards. Bella lay out the cutlery on the large wooden table that took center stage. A cracked blue and white pitcher overflowing with wildflowers was the only decoration.
Just as Bella was placing the paper plate of muffins on the table the front door opened and Sam stepped through, His russet skin was glistening with water droplets, his short black hair in disarray.
"Bella?" His dark eyes showed no surprise when they landed on her. He must have smelt her scent from outside.
"Bella just dropped by for a visit." Emily said casually, as if this was an everyday occurrence.
"Uh huh." Sam said no more, just going straight to his imprint, his gaze saturated with such love that it was spellbinding.
Bella felt embarrassed, intrusive, as she watched Sam take Emily's face in his wide hands. He leaned down and kissed the dark scars on her right cheek before he kissed her lips. It was like déjà vu, a routine Bella had witnessed before, a ritual that Sam and Emily performed every time he returned.
Suddenly the front door banged open again and the rest of the pack tumbled inside. Bella stepped back, pressing herself against the counter as the group of rowdy boys surrounded the table, each fighting for their place, shoving and pushing at each other to be the first to reach the food.
Emily rolled her good eye at the over-the-top display. "Say hi to Bella, boys." She chided them.
"Hi." They all said, one after the other, all of them, just like Sam, seeming unsurprised by her presence.
"Bella, are you hungry? Go ahead and help yourself to a muffin."
"Thanks." Bella stepped uncertainly toward the table, wondering how the hell she was supposed to get one, with the gargantuan boys blocking her path.
"Hey, guys, make room for Bella." Sam ordered, laughing.
Reluctantly they stepped back, clearing a path for Bella to get in-between them. Bella smiled weakly, feeling all eyes on her as she delicately reached out and nabbed one of the only muffins left on the plate.
"Oh, that was the best one!" Embry sighed. "I had my eye on that, Swan."
"You've already had three." Jared smarted. "Don't be such a pig, Call."
Embry shoved him. Jared shoved Embry back harder. Bella quickly made her escape as the two of them engaged in a friendly wrestling match.
Retreating to her former position at the counter, Bella inhaled the scent of fresh blueberries-it smelled wonderful. She took a bite; it was as delicious as she remembered. Emily was a skilled cook.
Bella was just wondering where Jacob was when he finally made his entrance. He was with Paul. The two of them were bantering back and forth. Bella saw Paul punch Jacob on the shoulder and Jacob went for a kidney jab in return. Soon they were scuffling, just like Embry and Jared.
"Hey, hey, enough of that!" Emily came over and hit Paul on the back of the head with her wooden spoon.
Paul grimaced, rubbing the back of his smarting scalp, before plunging into the midst of his brothers, ready to fight them for the last of the muffins. Meanwhile Jacob scanned the room, his eyes stopping when they landed on Bella leaning, awkward and out of place, against the counter in the far corner of the kitchen.
"Hey, Bella, honey." He greeted her cheerfully. He grabbed two muffins out of Emily's hands that she had saved for the latecomers and came to stand beside her. "This is an unexpected surprise." He said, stuffing one of the muffins whole in his mouth as he spoke.
Bella laughed as his cheeks puffed out like a hamster as he chewed. "You're such an idiot, Jake."
"She's not wrong there, Jake." Embry called out.
"Ah, shut it, Call." Jacob's voice came out muffled, his mouth still full of muffin. He swallowed a few times, then turned to face Bella. "I'm glad you're here. How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. Good muffins." Bella picked hers back up and started nibbling again. She felt much better and more relaxed now that Jacob was beside her. She leaned into his warmth as he threw his arm over her shoulder.
"As great as it is to see you, Bells." He said a in a low voice. "What are you doing here? I thought we'd arranged to meet on Saturday."
"We did." Bella mumbled as she picked at her muffin.
Jacob looked at her curiously. "Then what gives?"
"Not here." Bella said meaningfully, referring to the multitude of listening ears that were unsubtly listening in to their conversation. "Later."
"Oh, okay." Jacob said in understanding. He automatically tugged her closer, Bella reveling in the soothing heat pouring from his body.
"Hey, guys." Sam said in a loud voice, interrupting all the conversation going on in the small room. Emily was at the stove again, scraping the egg mixture around a big skillet, but Sam still had one hand touching the small of her back, an unconscious gesture, much in the same way Jacob had his arm around Bella's shoulder. It was just instinctive.
"Not the patrol schedules again, Sam." Paul whined. "We know them by heart now. We don't need to go over them again, do we? We're wasting valuable eating time."
Jared kicked the leg of Paul's chair. "Shut up, Lahote. You can fill your stomach any time. This is not about the schedules."
"Oh." Paul said, his interest piqued. His gaze wandered in Bella's direction. "I bet it's something do with vampire girl." He guessed.
Immediately everyone's eyes, apart from Sam, Jared's, and Emily's, swung in Bella's direction. She cringed, tucking herself further under Jacob's arm to shield herself from view.
Meanwhile, with stunning speed, Jacob yanked a can opener from the counter and launched it at Paul's head. Paul's hand flicked up faster than Bella would have thought possible, and he snagged the tool just before it hit his face.
"Stop calling Bella vampire girl!"
"Jeez, it was just a joke, Black. Just chill." Paul said, unabashed.
Sam rolled his eyes at this childish display. "Enough now." He warned, impatience creeping into his tone. "What I was about to say before I was interrupted." He glared at Paul, who shrugged nonchalantly in response, before turning his stern gaze on everyone else gathered in the room. "Its mine and Emily's anniversary today, and we're holding a small get together here tonight. So, I want you all to be on your best behavior. Do you all think you can manage that?" He concluded irritably.
There were murmuring of congratulations, followed by questions directed to Emily about the food. She laughed, clearly used to that being the shifters main priority.
"All you need to know is there will be enough for everyone twice over." She looked over at Bella. "And you're invited too, of course, Bella."
"Oh, thank you." Bella smiled. "I'd love to come."
"Great." Emily enthused. "It'll start around seven."
"I'll be there."
Everyone began talking again. Jacob glanced down at Bella, his eyes holding a million questions.
"Why don't we take a walk?" He suggested.
"Okay." Bella agreed. "Let's go."
She looked around the kitchen. Sam and Emily were by the stove, he had his arm about her waist, and they were talking together in low voices. The other guys were still huddled around the table, laughing, and joking together. It was such a warm, happy scene. Bella felt reluctant to leave, but she owed Jacob an explanation. He helped her on with her rain jacket, then took her hand as they bid everyone goodbye, and stepped back out into the rain.
A/N-thanks for reading!