-Bella-
I wake up unsure if what happened last night was a dream or not. I smile into Jacob's arm and reach over to shut the alarm off. I turn to kiss him and feel something against my fingertips. I pull away and see that its blood. I flick the light switch on and see Jacob laying there, blood spilling from his mouth. "Jake!" I scream as two red eyes start towards me.
"Bella! Bella, wake up!" I sit up fast, noticing that I'm sweating. Taking in my surroundings I notice Jacob's worried eyes looking into mine as he holds my wrists in my lap. "You were hitting yourself and screaming my name. Are you okay?" He releases my hands and puts his palm to my cheek. It takes a moment for my breathing to go back to normal, trying to calm myself. He sits there, calmly smoothing my hair down. My fingers play with the hem of the shirt I'm wearing.
"I-You were dead, Jake. Laying beside me, and there were just these redeyes coming towards me.." He watches me as my voice trails off. The alarm goes off on his phone, and I jump at the sudden noise breaking the silence.
"I'm right here, Bella." He kisses me softly on the forehead, his hands still smoothing my hair. His other hand enclosed softly around my jaw. "Take a minute, I'll start getting things ready to head to the airport." He kisses my forehead again and busy's himself with packing everything together, his eyes occasionally drifting towards me. I watch him for a little bit, and finally go to get up, stretching my sore legs out. "How do you feel?" He's standing next to me, holding a pair of jeans, and a pair of dark grey sweats. "I wasn't sure which one you wanted to wear, so I brought you over both."
"I'm okay, just a little sore." I blush as I remember last night. Suddenly feeling shy, I take the sweatpants from him and head towards the bathroom. Changing quickly I head back into the bedroom. Jacob has all the bags packed, he changed into a pair of blue jeans and a black shirt. His usual leather jacket is folded over his duffel bag. I feel underdressed in my grey sweats and blue tank top. He notices me looking at him and his face gets red.
"I wanted to make sure I looked good, you know make a good impression on your mom and all." He runs a hand through his hair.
"You need a trim, Jake." I play with his hair, messing it into his eyes. "Thank you for caring, it means a lot, Jake." I snuggle my head into his chest. "How far are we from the airport?
He embraces me, kissing the top of my head. "We should probably head out." He grabs the bag and we head down to the lobby. I stop at the front desk to check out. The lady behind the desk raises her eyebrows at me as Jake heads out to the car.
"Where did you find one like that?" Her eyes very clearly follow after him I raise my eyebrows at her, ignoring her question. "Oh, there was a guy who came and asked if anybody checked in under your name. He was obviously gorgeous too, don't worry though because we can't give out information so." She purses her lips at me and continues to check me out. I feel like I can't breathe.
"When was this?"
"Uhh, late last night. I don't know who you are girl but you should definitely share your secrets."
I turn and walk away from the counter, walking faster until I'm sprinting outside. The girl from the front desk hurries after me. "Wait, there was something left for you!" She hands me a folded-up piece of paper with my name scribbled onto the front in swirly handwriting. ALICE!
"Thank you." I take the paper and turn, bumping into Jacob. "Jake!"
He looks slightly frantic, as he sets his hands on my hips. "What's wrong?"
"Somebody dropped this off! I think it was Jasper. This is Alice's handwriting."I hold up the piece of paper. He grabs my hand and leads me towards the car. "Where are we going?"
"To the airport, Bella. We can read it in the car but I want to get you out of here just in case that's a trap." He opens my door for me and climbs into the front seat. The car purrs to life and we speed off towards the airport. "Are you sure that's her handwriting?"
I open the letter with trembling hands.
Bella,
I know that this is probably going to sound crazy, but I need to talk to you. I haven't been able to see you because of Jacob, but meet me at the coffee shop down the street from your mom's house. You can bring your dog.
-Alice.
She knows that we're headed to Pheonix. How? "Bella? What does it say?"
"She wants to meet in Pheonix. She said to bring you, I'm guessing she knows that you won't let me go any other way."
"Well, at least she got that part right." His hands tighten on the steering wheel. "Bella, if this is a trap I can only do so much here. You know that right?"
"It's Alice, Jake. She won't hurt me." He clenches his jaw and we drive in silence to the airport. Once we board the flight from Seattle to Pheonix Jacob is clinging to the seats.
"Bella, next time can we drive?" His head is leaned back, eyes closed, knuckles turning white. I laugh and place my hand over his.
"What? You can turn into a wolf and tear vampires apart but a plane is too much for you?" I giggle as I whisper into his ear. He smiles slightly and shakes his head at me. I sleep through the four-hour flight, occasionally waking up to Jacob and his fidgeting. We land and he gently wakes me. We head out of the airport, Jake leading me through the airport as I follow behind him half-awake. He grips my hand tightly as though if he lets go I'll get swept up in the crowd. The gleeful yelling of my mother wakes me up.
"Bella!" She runs forward and Jacob releases me just in time for her to embrace me.
"Mom, I kind of need to breathe." She pulls back and smiles at me, before embracing me again.
"Oh, and you must be Jacob." She raises her eyes at me and pulls Jacob into a hug. He smiles at me awkwardly over her shoulder. "Come on. I have so many plans for your birthday!" She drapes her arm over my shoulders and I hear Jacob's laugh behind me as I follow her towards the car- a million horrible ideas running through my head of Renee's idea of a birthday party.
-Jacob-
Renee is...very welcoming and I wonder how Bella and she are related. Physically the resemblance has always been there, the same smile. Dark brown hair and amazing brown eyes. It's the personality that's hard to understand. Bella is quiet, and shy whereas Renee is flamboyant, ditsy, and outgoing. They both are clumsy though, so I can see where Bella gets that from. I lean back against the counter watching them laugh as they catch up. It's good to see her so carefree. I didn't realize how much I missed her smile or the sound of her laugh until it was all that I was hearing with her mother. Renee looks over her shoulder at me as she drags Bella outside. I turn and listen quietly.
"What happened between you and Edward? You guys seemed inseparable the last time that I saw you guys in the hospital together."
"We-" Bella pauses, "We broke up."
"I'm sorry Hunny."
"It's okay, I just, it ended really badly. He just left, without a word."
"Your Dad told me, they were worried sick when they found you in the forest. He almost sent you back up here with me."
"I know. It got pretty bad for a couple of months..." She pauses, her voice trembling slightly. "Jake helped with that, he pulled me out of the dark place that I was in without me even noticing."
"You two used to be inseparable when you were younger. I remember your Dad telling me about how you two would be making mudpies at the beach."
I smile at the memories of young Bella, how we spent almost every minute together whenever she would visit until she stopped and I saw her again.
"Yeah..." She turns her head to look at me and I pretend to busy myself with something else.
"So tell me about Jacob."
I stop listening, deciding to busy myself with Bella's birthday present. What does Alice want? Is this a trap? I can't protect Bella here, without being able to phase I can only do so much. I'm strong but not strong enough to fight a vampire on my own, let alone two. I weave the delicate chain through the all piece of carved wood. I run my fingers over it, letting the little notches slide over my fingers. I hope she likes it. I tuck it into the small dark green box and smile as it reminds me of the other night. I shiver and swallow as I remember her taste, her sounds, the way that she felt under my hands. Tucking the present underneath my jacket I head back into the living room. We eat spaghetti for dinner, full of laughs and pestering from Renee.
"So, this is the first time that Bella has brought a boyfriend up here to meet me. She tells me that you stay home and look after your Dad most of the time on the Reservation. Are you planning on going to college?"
"Mom." Bella's face is flushed beside me as she gapes at her mother.
"It's okay, Bella. I don't know yet, ma'am-"
"Oh stop that makes me feel old, call me Renee."
"Sorry, Renee. I don't know yet. My sisters are off in college right now, so I'm the only one left to take care of my Dad." I partly lie, Billy doesn't really need much looking after but I hadn't thought about college. I'm a guy who transforms into a wolf, that wasn't on my top list of thoughts. The night continues with Renee's questions until Bella decides to drag me away, sleep as the excuse.
"I'm sorry," she says as soon as we're behind closed doors. "My mom is..." She trails off, running her hands through her hair. She steps towards me and kisses me. "I know we didn't really clear on where we stand with the whole boyfriend thing and she doesn't really have a filter when it comes to certain things. I hope she didn't make you too uncomfortable."
I raise my eyebrows. "You think it bothers me to be called your boyfriend?"
"Well-no. I just.." She bites her lip. "We just never really talked about it, I guess."
"Bella, you brought me on a six-hour journey to meet your mom. I think that slides me into boyfriend territory, that is if you're wanting to put a label." I chuckle at her. She laughs and turns away from me. "I uh-I know you aren't too fond of your birthday, but I made you something." I nervously pull the green box from beneath my jacket and hand it to her. She eyes me warily and takes it from me.
"Jake..." She unwraps it slowly and pulls the chain out looking at it carefully. The silver shining in the light, as she inspects the carving. The wolf is in a sitting position, head up howling towards a would-be moon.
"I made it myself." Running my hands through my hair I watched her nervously.
"Jake, this is beautiful. Will you?" She reaches her arm out towards me, and I clasp the bracelet around her wrist.
-Alice-
It wasn't easy tracking her down, I can't see her anymore. It must be that dog blocking my vision unless it's what she's entirely that might be doing the trick. I called Charlie and he told me that they were headed up to Port Angeles for the night before heading up to see Renee in Pheonix. Jasper dropped off the letter at the hotel and waited to make sure that she got it. I didn't want to miss the opportunity of getting her the message before it was too late before she didn't have time to prepare and get to know what she really was. It took me a while to figure it out, and it wasn't until one of Carlisle's friends pointed it out to me that it made sense what she was. I saw Edward's plan, some of the things that he has already done. We all hoped that he would come back from this, that he wouldn't let this become who he was. My last vision proved that there was no coming back from this. jasper and wait in the cafe, hidden back against the far walls so that we aren't in the sunlight. Soon enough I smell the nauseating smell of dog. "Alice!" Bella comes barreling through the door and straight for me. I hold my breath and hug her, trying not to smell her. I forgot how sweet she smelled, I haven't seen her in so long. I pull back and glance at Jacob standing a few feet away from her.
"Jacob." He nods back at me as I take a seat with Bella. "Listen, Bella. There are a lot of things that I need to tell you and I need you to listen very carefully." She nods, looking as though she wants to say something. "Edward is building an army with Victoria. He wants to come after you, and you." My eyes shift up towards Jacob, his hands tightening into fists.
"What do you mean an army?"
"He is creating newborns, he wants to come after Bella. Victoria wants to kill her, Edward wants to change her. Not that I am opposed to you joining our family, it's not what you want anymore. You made your decision and Edwards made his. Bella, you need to understand that he isn't going to stop. My family has come to terms with what needs to be done, we have tried everything. They don't want us to stand by you and fight against one of our own and believe me it isn't something that I want to do either. But, what he is doing isn't right. He can't come back from this."
"What are you saying, Alice? That we're going to have to...kill him? No, there has to be another way. I don't want anybody to die because of me."
"Bella. There isn't anything you can do. I've seen the things that he has thought about doing, the paths that he was going to take. There isn't any talking him out of this..." I glance over at Jasper as he makes a sense of comfort wash over me. "There's something else that you should know. Bella, you're what they call a shield. You have the ability to keep people out of your head, that's why Edward could never read your mind. I got curious and started asking Carlisle's friends and one of them told me about the abilities that you have. Bella, if you work on this you can protect yourself and others...you could have an advantage."
"A shield? Wha-no that's not possible."
"Think about it, Bella. You are the only person that Edwards has never been able to read his mind. My visions of you aren't always clear, sometimes you block Jasper out, or overcome his ability."
"How does this work?" I watch determination and curiosity flash across her face.
"We don't quite know yet. It's something that you can expand with your mind with practice to protect yourself and others. You have to be able to visualize it, as though it's a rubber band disconnecting and stretching from you're body." Jasper pauses and turns towards Jacob. "Newborns are strong, they still have their human blood and are rash. Alice and I want to meet you guys back in Forks, and if it's okay with your pack I would like to help with the training."
"I think we're good in that department."
"With all due respect Jacob, you don't know what you're up against. Your kind could benefit from a few lessons."
"My kind, wouldn't have to worry about this if it weren't for your kind. If it weren't for your brother." Jacob steps forward, his hands shaking.
"Jake. Calm down. Go step outside for a minute and clear your head." I watch Bella rest her hand on Jacob's cheek, he nods and heads outside after a long look towards Jasper and me.
"What do I have to do?"