Bella and her baby spent three days at Sarah Black's cabin before moving in with Billy. Sue and Emily kept a close eye on her to make certain she was eating, and sleeping, and healing, while the pack kept watch in the woods. She was grateful for the quiet and solitude. Baby Jake was a fussy one, eating every two hours, sometimes every half hour.

"So hungry," Bella crooned at him. "Aren't you, little guy?"

"Like his dad."

Billy's comments stung. She knew he meant them without malice. He simply refused to pretend. She hadn't been surprised the day Billy Black and Sue turned up at the cabin and told her it was time to go. She was surprised when Sue had driven them to Billy's house.

"Welcome home," Billy had grunted.

Bella said nothing, grateful for his peace offering. Jacob had been gone almost a year and she owed Billy this at the very least. So she stayed. Charlie grumbled about it, but he seemed to understand Forks wasn't her home anymore. Billy and Bella never spoke more than they had to, but living with him was easy. He was more than content to hold his grandson, telling him stories or singing in Quileute or watching football with Jake in his lap, while she went for a walk or stole a few precious minutes to sleep and shower.

"You're good with him."

Billy grunted, which was his usual way of saying 'I know'.

The hardest thing about living at the Black's wasn't Billy or her fussy baby. It was Jacob. The house was filled with him; pictures in beat up frames on the walls, piles of his tools or carving knives scattered everywhere, his soap and deodorant still in the bathroom, rumpled clothes in odd places, his movie collection spilling off the worn fiberboard shelf in his closet. Billy kept everything the same, as if he expected his son to turn up any minute, and settle back into the vacant hole he'd left behind. It was hard not to hold on to hope.

"I wish I could take it all back," Bella said one night. Baby Jake was almost a week old, tucked in a contented ball in Billy's arms. She was certain her son hadn't been put down for more than ten minutes his entire life. If she or Billy or her father weren't holding him, one of the pack would 'drop in' and spend an hour or two walking the yard with the fussy baby. In a way, Jacob's son belonged to all of them. Bella was grateful, even if it made the Jacob-shaped-hole in their life better and worse at the same time. "I wish I could erase it all." She paused, staring into the darkening gloom. Summer was passing so quickly, like sand in an hourglass. "Every stupid lie I told him."

Billy said nothing. He was like Sue in that way. His words were always measured, and never carelessly tossed out. "Do you really think he believed you?" he finally said.

"Sometimes." Bella shivered, and brushed at her eyes. "I think he did."

The warmth from her pregnancy was already fading, the burning heat ebbing a little more each day. A shadow moved in the trees. Bella squinted through her tears. Sam in wolf form. There was always at least one or two wolves nearby, but if Sam were here—

Headlights cut through the growing dark, and she smiled at Charlie as he stepped out of police cruiser. He waved, "Hey, kiddo." He joined them on the porch and reached for baby Jake, glancing at her. "Sam called."

"The Cullens want to see you." Billy said, his eyes fixed on the dark forms shifting through the trees.

Bella nodded. The Cullens had lingered, waiting, for her answer to their proposal. The wolf patrols had increased again, like they had before the newborn battle. With each day the vampires lingered, the pack grew more restless—worried, waiting. Always waiting.

"Bella?"

"I have to talk to him," she said. She hated the way it sounded; weak, frightened, desperate. It didn't change anything. She had to talk to Edward one last time.

"He's come for you." Billy sighed. She shrugged, knowing it was true. "Filthy leech."

"It's how he is," she said softly. "They can't really let go."

"You don't have to talk to him," Charlie began.

"I do." It was firm and determined. Time meant nothing to Edward. He would always be waiting, so long as there might be a chance. "I owe him this." Bella looked back towards the woods. Sam was almost invisible underneath the shadow of the trees. Waiting for her. He, at least, seemed to understand. Charlie grunted and she stood, brushing her shaking hands down her ill-fitting jeans. "Keep little Jake for me?" Charlie nodded. Bella glanced at Billy, and thought she could almost see a hint of fear in his black-brown eyes. She picked up her son and kissed him, memorizing his scent, his warmth, his own Jake-ness. "You be good, little guy." Then she stepped into the growing night.

"I'm glad he's not here," Billy called after her sharply. "To watch you walk away again."

Bella jerked to a stop, and looked back, her vision swimming with tears. Charlie said nothing. Billy still didn't trust her, and she couldn't blame him. The entire pack was trying, but they still tiptoed around her, like they were waiting for her to leave again, to break them again. Everyone except Sam and Leah. She turned back towards the trees and forced herself to keep walking.

"Hey Sam," Bella said once she reached him. His warmth radiated out over her, and she slipped her chilled hands into his fur. It wasn't as soft as Jacob's wolf, more wiry and matted. A flash of silver. "Hey, Lee," she whispered, knowing the she-wolf would hear her. They reached the edge of the woods and the clearing near the treaty line before Bella was ready. She shook her head, gripping Sam's fur hard enough that he turned and nudged her with his muzzle. "Sam. Am I crazy?"

Sam's wolf snuffled and tilted it's head to one side. She could almost hear his half-sarcastic remark. you tell me, bella.

She chuckled and ruffled his fur, "I deserve that." He blew out a sharp heated breath. "Stay close."

A low grumble sounded in his throat and then he slipped into the deepening shadows. He wasn't going anywhere.

Edward stood alone in the middle of the clearing by the treaty line. Bella used to wonder how all the wolves and the Cullens seemed to know exactly where the line drawn between them lay, as if it were painted in bright red on the ground. Now, she thought she understood. La Push was her home, and as soon as she stepped off the rez, to visit Charlie or run errands, she'd felt different. She wondered if she would feel the same if she stepped over the invisible line between Jacob's world and Edward's.

"Isabella." Edward inclined his head in an odd old-fashioned greeting. A small shiver passed over him as he stared at her. He looked uncomfortable, as if he smelled blood.

"Oh," Bella stiffened. She was still bleeding from Baby Jake's birth and would for another few weeks. "It bothers you."

Edward shrugged. It was the one casual habit he'd adopted during his time in Forks. "Birthing blood isn't exactly appetizing," he said. "It's," he paused, "tolerable." They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Bella shifted on her feet. All her silences with Edward were uncomfortable after they'd returned from Italy. If only she'd noticed the distance growing between them sooner. Edward took a dramatic unnecessary breath before speaking again. "I've missed you, love."

"I know," she frowned, feeling off balance by the emotion in his voice. "You left."

"I was," he paused again. "Angry."

"I noticed." She stepped closer to the treaty line. "I missed you too." She didn't why she was telling him this. Maybe it was something she needed to tell herself, out loud. His smile broke free, alluring, dazzling, breathtaking in it's inhuman perfection. Bella held up hand as he started to step closer. "I'm sorry, Edward, but—"

"But?"

"I miss Jake more."

He blinked hard, his jaw tightening. "Alice said the baby would bind you to him."

"He's my son." Bella wrapped her arms around herself, burying her fingers in the soft cotton of Jacob's old track hoodie. "Jake's his father and I—"

"I understand," Edward nodded. "It's not ideal, but I do understand." He smiled patiently when she frowned. "When the pup is old enough to be without you," he let the unfinished sentence hang between them. "I'll wait for you, Isabella. It won't be long."

"Wait for me...to do what?" She frowned. "To leave my baby? For you?"

"To move on."

"Move on?" She stared at him, a strange horror churning in her stomach. Edward didn't really care about her son at all. Why would he? Baby Jake was just another human life, a flame that had burst into the world, to burn for a mere seventy to eighty years, and then go out again with only a puff of smoky memory left behind. And then that would fade too. Bella pressed her eyes closed, shaking her head against the terrible finality of it all. However frail, little Jake was hers; hers and Jacob's. Their tiny little miracle. "Edward, I can't move on from my baby. I can't leave him."

"Time weakens all bonds eventually. You'll understand that soon enough," he smiled. It was a sad look, and it tugged at her still. "You forget things after your first one hundred years."

"I can't forget Jake," Bella said firmly. Edward frowned, as if he was trying to decide if she meant her son or his father. He so looked uncomfortable, and she almost felt sorry for him. No matter how they tried, the Cullens would never quite fit the human world. Maybe she'd always known that. Maybe that was why she'd tried so hard to reshape herself into their mold. "You told me before that you wanted me to live," she said after their silence stretched too long. Again. "This is me living."

"I meant with me."

"I know," Bella sighed. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. You didn't deserve that."

"And I forgive you."

"Edward, we can't go back. I have a son."

"Isabella." He smiled again, that flat, patient smile she hated. "In eighteen years, he won't be a baby. He won't need you, but I will always need you. You're my singer." A vampire thing; his singer, his soulmate. "You don't understand what it's like for me." He stepped closer, the tips of his shoes brushing along the treaty line. "You're my everything, my torture, my savior, my drug, my reason for existence—"

"Do I smell the same?"

His eyes flashed, "Isabella—"

"Don't call me that," she said before he could finish. "I don't like it. You know I don't."

"Very well." His voice was soft with deliberate patience. Too soft, like she would break at the slightest touch. It was also warm in a strange way that made her shiver. "Bella, please look at me."

don't, bells! run! run!

She sucked in a sharp breath. "Jake?" Only her lips moved. Her eyes cast over the dark forest, searching. Had she really heard him or—

"He's not here, Bella. I am. I cannot be without you. I tried." Edward shrugged again, his voice almost a purr. It reminded her of how he'd charmed the school nurse their junior year into letting him take Bella home. "I love you still, even now."

"I know." Her tongue felt thick. She shook herself. "Jake loves me more."

"Never." Edward's voice was almost a hiss. "That is not the same."

Bella blinked at him, and then she laughed softly, surprising herself and Edward. Jake had said the same thing, and it had taken her almost a year to finally understand. "Of course it's not the same. We're saying the same words, Edward, but we mean very different things. You might have been my first love," Bella said, reaching out over the line. His cold, hard grasp met her small warm one. She flinched. Maybe monsters had soulmates, but she didn't really believe in those things anymore. She did believe in choices, and she'd made hers. "But you're not my heart."

"You don't mean that," his voice purred again, soft, silky, and warm. "Don't say such things, love."

no! run, bells, please!

Birds sprang from the tree line behind Edward.

"I did love you, once. But I've always loved Jake, even before I met you. It's not the same, and I'm sorry it took me so long to understand." She couldn't love Edward like he wanted, unless she cut Jake out of her heart. And she couldn't. She wouldn't. She tried to pull her hand free, but Edward's grip tightened. "Edward, don't."

"Come with me, Bella." His voice was too soft, slipping into the cracks of her mind, making her thoughts hazy. He tugged again. "Please. Come away from here, and we can talk."

He pulled, forcing her to take a small step over the treaty line. "Stop! Edward, please." She realized too late what he was doing. The forest behind her exploded with howls and flashes of fur, blurs of color speeding towards her. "Jake! No, stop!" She braced her feet and tried to yank herself free. Stupid, stupid, stupid. If she crossed over the treaty line, Sam's pack couldn't help her or protect her. "Jake! Jake!"

bells!

More howls echoed from an outcropping of trees behind Edward. Then a flash of dark fur streaked across the clearing on his left on the wrong side of the treaty line. Edward's eyes widened. He moved so fast and gracefully, Bella didn't have time to react. He dodged the charging wolf, pulling Bella with him. He gently spun her around until her back was pressed against his chest, one arm banded around her middle in a vice-like grasp, his other arm outstretched for balance.

Sam, Paul, and Jared's wolves had stopped at the treaty line, snarling and snapping, held back by the treaty and Sam's alpha command, but Leah leapt over it without hesitation, joining the large russet wolf now crouched menacingly in front Edward.

Bella took a painful breath. "Jake."

Jacob Black had come home.