Back to the Start
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Collaboration
"Excellent." Alice hissed. Her face was alive with exultation, all the worry and despair wiped clean from her perfect features. She grinned at Bella. "It will work, I'm sure of it. Everything just disappeared, of course. That's inconvenient, but all things considered, I'll take it."
"Wait, wait, wait." Edward interrupted. "There is no way that I will condone this. You can't expect me to allow you to put Bella in danger like that. Its too risky."
"Oh, shut up, Edward." Alice chastised him unexpectedly. "It is Bella's choice alone. No one else's. Even the dog agrees, don't you?" She said smugly, turning her attention to Jacob.
Bella bristled at Alice's insulting jibe, but Jacob squeezed her around the waist, letting her know it didn't matter. He was beyond taking offence at the vamps' nicknames for the wolf pack, he had enough of his own for them. It was tit for tat.
"As Bella said, we'll have to coordinate." He answered calmly. "It won't be easy for us. Still, this is our job more than yours."
Alice was revved up with excitement. She stood on her tiptoes, with Jacob leaning toward her, both of their faces lit up with eagerness, both of their noses wrinkled against the smell.
"Coordinate?" Edward repeated through clenched teeth. "It will be impossible. I'll say it again, its too risky. Bella needs to be taken somewhere safe."
"You didn't honestly think you were going to get away with whisking Bella off to some remote location, leech?" Jacob responded scathingly.
"You are staying out of this!" Edward argued.
"Your psychic doesn't think so." Jacob sneered.
"Alice-tell him no!" Edward insisted. "He'll get Bella killed!"
Jacob, and the rest of the pack, laughed out loud.
Edward." Alice said, her voice soothing, placating. "Separately, we could all get killed. Together – "
"It'll be no problem." Jacob finished her sentence. "How many?"
"It changes." Alice mused. "Twenty-one today, but the numbers are going down."
"Why?" Bella asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She ignored Edward, who was desperately trying to gain her attention while the others were preoccupied talking.
"Long story." Alice said, suddenly looking around the room. "And this isn't the place for it."
"Later tonight?" Jacob pushed.
"Yes." Jasper answered, speaking again for the first time. "We were already planning a strategic meeting. If you're going to fight with us, you'll need some instruction."
The wolf pack all made a disgruntled face at this proposition.
"No." Edward complained.
Just like Bella, everyone ignored him.
"This will be odd." Jasper said thoughtfully. "I never considered working together. This will be a first."
"No doubt about that." Jacob agreed. He was in a hurry to leave now. "We should go? What time?"
"What's too late for you?"
Jacob glared at Jasper in annoyance. "What time?" He repeated curtly.
"Three o'clock?"
"Where?"
"About ten miles due north of the Hoh forest ranger station. Come at it from the west and you'll be able to follow our scent in."
"We'll be there."
Jacob, with his arm still firmly locked around Bella's waist, signaled for his brothers to leave. Only Embry was to remain behind so he could escort Angela back home safely. Bella saw her friend in the distance, shooting curious glances in their direction, clearly wondering what the gathering was about.
"Wait!" Edwad said sharply to Jacob. "You cannot do this. You claim to love her, so why risk her life like this?"
Jacob paused, sharing a secretive look with Bella, before glancing over his shoulder at Edward. "Don't be ridiculous, leech. There won't be any risk. I'll see to that."
"No!" Edward snapped. The sound of an electric guitar drowned out his protest.
Jacob didn't respond, he towed Bella along with him as he hurried to catch up with the rest of the pack, who had already disappeared into the night.
"That had to be the longest party in the history of the world." Bella complained on the way home.
Jacob didn't disagree. "Its over now." He said, rubbing her arm soothingly.
Bella's solution had them all relaxed (apart from Edward), almost euphoric after long weeks of stress. Doubt had been replaced with confidence. The party had ended on a note of celebration. They finally had a game plan.
Still, even though Bella was mostly happy that a strategy had been put in place, she was still worried about Jacob and his brothers risking their lives again. A lot of the pack was younger than she was, some, like Quil, acting like oversized, over muscled children, and they looked forward to the upcoming fight like it was some sort of picnic on the beach.
Bella had scolded them outside for this outlook, warning them the battle was going to be no walk in the park. They had laughed at her fondly, Quil coming forward to kiss her on the forehead, and then ruffling her hair as if she was a toddler.
With her nerves frayed and totally exposed, Bella had turned to Jacob, begging him with her eyes to get him to make the boys realize the seriousness of the situation. The redhead may have been vanquished, but in a way, the newborns were much more dangerous- they were bloodthirsty, strong, and totally out of control.
Jacob had followed through as she knew he would. He had demanded his brothers' attention, ordering them to focus, and not to underestimate the risks they were all facing. His lecture sobered the pack up, by the end, they all wore matching somber expressions. It was only Quil, who still refused to take anything seriously.
Bella had to restrain herself from the urge to scream out loud at him. Jacob, so in tune with her moods, cautioned her to keep quiet. He would have another talk with Quil in private. Now was not the time to be playing at being a have-a-go hero. Quil's reckless attitude could have serious consequences if he didn't stop being so irresponsible. Jacob didn't want to have to issue an Alpha command for his friend to behave, but in this case, he felt like he had no choice if Quil continued on with his devil-may-care attitude.
Bella whispered to Jacob, to keep her voice under control. "You're taking me with you tonight."
Jacob glanced down at her, noting the weary expression her face, her heavy, tired eyes. The party had worn her out, the stress and burden of it all, taking its toll. "Bella, you're worn out."
"You think I could sleep?"
Jacob frowned. "This is an experiment. I want us all to cooperate. I hope we can…I just don't want you in the middle of that…especially with Edward Cullen there."
As if that didn't make Bella feel more anxious to go. She was concerned Edward might try and do something to Jacob if she wasn't around to act as a buffer between them. Not that she didn't think that Jacob wasn't able to take care of himself, but a fight between them could ruin the fragile peace, she didn't want to risk it.
"I'm going, Jake." She insisted.
"Okay." Jacob sighed, giving in. He knew when it was pointless arguing his point when Bella was acting so determined.
They had reached Charlie's house now. The front light was on, which meant that Charlie had beaten them home already, after dropping Tiffany off at her place.
"See you upstairs." Bella said to Jacob as she pushed on the car door and climbed out.
Tiptoeing in the front door, Bella crept past the living room, only to find Charlie asleep on the too-small sofa, and snoring so loudly she could have ripped a chainsaw to life and it wouldn't have woken him.
Bella gave up on being quiet and marched into the living room, bending down, and shaking her father's shoulder vigorously. "Dad!"
Charlie grumbled; eyes still closed.
"I'm home now-you're going to hurt your back sleeping like that. C'mon, time to move."
It took a few more shakes, and his eyes never did open all the way, but Bella managed to get Charlie off the sofa. She helped him up to bed, where he collapsed on top of the covers, fully dressed, and started snoring again.
It was only then Bella noted the smudged pink lipstick coating the corner of his mouth. She fought a smile; it seemed his night had ended with a kiss or two from Tiffany. Well, good for him, she thought. It was about time he dipped his toe in the dating pool again, and Embry's mother was a good sort. Bella liked her. Maybe it would progress into something more, she could only hope so. Charlie deserved to be happy.
With Charlie so out of it, Bella knew he wasn't going to be checking on her anytime soon. It also meant that Jacob could come in through the front door undetected, instead of climbing through her window.
Jacob was amused when she told him about the romantic ending to Charlie's night with Tiffany. "Good for him." He said, echoing her earlier thoughts.
He waited in Bella's room while she washed her face and changed into jeans and a flannel shirt. She carefully hung up the outfit she had worn to the party in her closet.
"Come here." She said, reaching out to take Jacob's hand and pulling him over to the bed.
Jacob didn't need asking twice. He lay down with Bella curled up against his chest. He was so warm, so cuddly, that she soon found her eyelids drooping. She fought to stay awake.
"Please, relax, honey." Jacob whispered. "I promise I'm not going anywhere without you."
"Sure."
"This is going to work, Bella. I can feel it."
Bella nodded, her eyelids sliding closed despite her best efforts. Jacob was radiating relief; he was certain that they could end the newborns. He was confident in himself, in his pack. Even so, he could tell that Bella was about to lose it. He tried to reassure her again.
"Listen to me, Bella, honey. This is going to be easy. The newborns will be completely taken by surprise. They'll have no idea what hit them, with all of us working together, I truly believe that we'll be able to divide and confuse them easily, enabling us to end then quickly and efficiently."
Bella glanced up at him, still worried, still concerned, that those like Quil, like Edward, would somehow ruin the smooth passage of the fight. It would only take one reckless action by either one of them to put everyone else at risk.
"Piece of cake." She said tonelessly against Jacob's chest.
"Its going to be okay." Jacob stroked her cheek with warm fingers. "You'll see. Don't worry."
Bella wished she had his confidence. People -well vampires and werewolves, but still- people she loved might get hurt. She couldn't bear the thought of even one of the wolves getting injured. They were her family. She believed in Jacob, she believed in them, of course she did. But, still, there remained a lingering doubt that there they were missing something important, but she couldn't think of what.
Finally, she fell into a troubled doze.
In her dreams she heard herself yelling up at a blood red sky: "It's me you want – over here! Just me!"
A figure, dressed in a long, black cloak, with a voluminous hood turned around to face her. Frozen in horror, Bella watched the same figure pull back the hood to reveal the face of –
Jacob suddenly pulled them both up into a sitting position, waking Bella up from her nightmare. "Are you sure you don't want to stay and sleep?" He asked hopefully.
Bella shook her head groggily, the dream already fading in her mind. "No, I'm coming. Let's go."
Jacob sighed, and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her toward the stairs to the sounds of Charlie's snores coming from the next room.
A/N-thanks for reading!