Don't own Twilight. Inspired by The Bride and the Motorbike by NikkiB1973.

Bread Ties and Dandelions

I was standing in the most uncomfortable dress I'd ever worn, Edwards hand on mine, as we faced each other in front of the minister, and all of our family and friends. I had been surprised when so much of the pack had shown up, doubly so when Jake was amongst them. "If anyone has any reason these two should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

I heard movement and gasps behind me, so I turned, to see Jacob standing, Sam's hand on his shoulder. He just shook the hand off and moved to step into the aisle. "Bells.." his voice sounded strangled. "Don't do this. You know I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you since we were kids. You complete me, and I know that I complete you too. Don't marry him. Come with me, be with me." My jaw dropped at his words, along with most of the guests. The Pack in particular were giving him shocked looks.

"Jake… I…"

"I know you love me too. You're just afraid to say it. But I remember how you were when he left Bells. He doesn't deserve your kindness, your forgiveness. Can't you see he wants to hurt you." Jake gestured around us. "You don't want this, you know you don't. Besides, I proposed to you first, and you said yes."

Even with the shock running through my system, I managed to roll my eyes, even as a smile slid on my face. "I hardly think a bread tie ring and a dandelion when we were five and seven count as a proposal."

"Bella, everything I said was true when I slid that on your finger. Bread tie or not, kids or not, it was true. I will love you, forever, Isabella Swan. Be with me. Stay with me."

"Bel-." Edward started, but I placed a finger against his lips.

"Shhh. I'm having an epiphany."

Jake was looking at me hopefully as the thoughts and feelings ran through my head. Everybody was watching with baited breaths as I thought. Eyes followed the movement as my right hand reached for the left, and I slowly slid the engagement ring off of my finger. I placed it in Edwards hand, and looked up into his eyes, to see them swimming in venom. "I'm sorry." I whispered. "I can't do this."

I held my bouquet out to a grinning Rosalie, since Alice had stepped back shaking her head. I made the first step down the little staircase when a cold hand grabbed my elbow. I felt a flash of fear as I turned to look into the eyes of my ex-future husband. "If you leave with him now, I won't be waiting for you. We'll leave town, and you'll never see us again."

"If you had kept your word last time you said that, we wouldn't be here right now. Keep it this time. Goodbye Edward." The pack stood as I walked to my Jake, following us as he grabbed my hand and started to run. I let out a laugh as we rounded the corner. "Jake, I can't run in these heels."

He gave me a wolfy grin and slid his arm under my knees, the other moving to behind my shoulders. My arms wrapped around his neck, and I just looked up at his face as we ran into the woods. "I can't believe I did that. I can't believe you came with me."

I twirled a lock of hair at the back of his neck around my finger. "I'm sorry I took so long… to realize…"

"Bells, I meant what I said. I love you so much. I wanted to make sure that you knew that before you married him. I was going to tell you after, but I couldn't stop myself."

"Where have you been? I've been so worried about you."

"I had to think. I was trying to give you what you wanted, even if it wasn't me."

I sighed, leaning my head against his chest. I wasn't sure who, if any of the pack was around us. Surely they drove there. But I didn't want to be teased for what I was about to say. "Jake, I've known that I've been in love with you for a while now. You… you brought me back to life. You've never expected me to change. I cherish the memories of distracting you in your garage while you worked on the bikes or the rabbit. Because that was when I started to have feelings for you."

He slowed, and was giving me a confused look. "But-."

"When I found out about the pack, you told me about imprinting. I didn't want to embarrass myself telling you how I feel, when the concern that you were going to imprint on some other girl was always in the back of my mind." I looked down at his shirt. "I was a wreck when Edward left. You know that. Hell, Sam knows that, because he's the one who found me. But you… you make me feel so much stronger than he ever did. It might actually kill me if you imprinted on someone. I know you'd try to fight it. But, if it happens, I want you to know, that you should go for it. Don't worry about how I would react, and go for it."

He stopped and looked at me. "Bells. I have something to tell you."

I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his chest. "O… okay."

"Do you remember that day in the meadow? When we took out that leech with the dreads?"

I opened my eyes, shocked, and confused. This is not going where I thought it would. "Yeah?"

"When I stopped in front of you and looked into your eyes…. I imprinted on you."

I sat in his arms, shocked, heart beating wildly. "Put me down." I said quietly, and when he did, I turned to look at him. "You what?"

He ran his hands through his hair, button down shirt pulling taut against his muscles.

"I… I didn't want you to feel pressured. I wanted you to be able to fall in love with me on your own. I didn't want you to think the imprint forced you to fall in love with me. I didn't want you to have regrets."

I closed my eyes again running through what I wanted to say to him. "It'll take us forever to get back on the reservation. Can I ride your wolf so we can get there quicker? You and I need to talk, and I don't want to do it out here." He gave me a wolfy grin before taking off his shirt and handing it to me. He then walked behind some trees. I slid the dress shirt on over my gown, knowing that the wind would probably make me chilly, and the top half of this dress was very sheer. I looked back up to see my russet wolf walking towards me. He sank to the ground in front of me, and I began the lengthy process of hiking up my skirt. Once I was seated on his back I leaned forward and twined my fingers into the fur at his neck. "Let's go honey."

He stood slowly, and took a few short steps to make sure I would stay in position, then he was off. I remember being terrified of Edward running me through the forest, sure that we'd hit a tree or something. But this… this was magical. I sat up as he ran through the woods, and flung my arms out to the sides, gripping his body tightly with my thighs. He slowed down slightly when I let go of his neck, but kept going. I leaned my head back, feeling freedom coursing through me. Instead of the normal hour it would usually take to get from the Cullens to La Push, we were there in twenty minutes. He slowed to a stop in Sam's backyard. When he lay down I drifted off in thought. I heard a couple of vehicles pulling up in front of the house. The pack walked around, and Seth chuckled at me still sitting on Jacob's back. "You need some help Bells?"

Jacob growled a little, bringing a smile to my face. "Yeah. The run over here made my shoes get tangled in this stupid dress."

"Were you scared?" He asked as he grabbed me by the elbows and held me in the air as a now human Jake untangled my legs.

"When have I ever been scared of your wolves? It was exhilarating, freeing even."

Leah offered me a small smile. "Dropping two hundred pounds at the altar will do that for you."

I looked down as I was sat on my feet. "You guys must think so little of me for what I almost did."

"We would have if you'd gone through with it. We care about you Bells." Seth said, causing me to look up and see nods from the other pack members.

"Come on inside, and we'll see if Emily has something you can change into. You said the dress was uncomfortable?" Sam offered.

"Yes, please, and with all of these pins holding my hair in place I'm getting a headache. Also, she thought it was a bright idea to put me in these stiletto death traps like I can walk across a flat surface. It's insane. I didn't want any of this. I mean, Alice likes to plan parties, but this was too much. It was beautiful, but none of it was me."

They were quiet as we walked in. Emily gasped and dropped the bowl she was mixing when she saw me. "Oh Bella! You look gorgeous, I'm sorry I couldn't make it." She glanced at Sam. "We figured the Cullens would be bringing some… friends of theirs, and didn't want to risk any of the imprints."

Hearing that word made me frown at Jacob, before I turned back to Emily. "It's fine I understand. Thankfully everyone there from that side of the.. family shared the same diet. Do you have anything I could put on? This dress is making me itch."

She smiled and walked over to me, I slid Jake's shirt off and handed it to him as I turned back to her. "It's uncomfortable then? Why didn't you get something else?"

I snorted, gesturing at the entire get up. "Please. Like Alice would allow that. She had this monstrosity specially crafted by some hoity toity designer in Paris. I think the only thing I got to pick out in my own wedding was inviting the pack. Which they were not happy about, but the pack was there for me when I needed friends."

Paul snorted. "But you were still willing to-."

"I know you don't like me Paul, and you probably never will. While I am sorry for slapping you maybe you should talk to Jake. He's the one who didn't tell me he imprinted on me in the meadow." The pack went silent while I ranted. "He should have said something after I met Sam and Emily, and learned about what happened with their imprint. But because I didn't know, I went back to Edward. Because I didn't want to go through what Leah did. She's stronger than I am. I didn't want to let myself fall deeper for a man who could wake up one day and fall out of love with me because he met his soul mate. You, Jared, and Sam saw how destroyed I was when Edward left, and he was just my boyfriend. If Jake and I got together, it would have killed me to have him leave, because I feel more for him than I ever did for Edward. So I just avoided it all together."

Paul looked up at Jacob slowly, frown marring his lips, and eyes pressed into a glare. "You didn't fucking tell her? You said you told her on the beach when you explained imprints. She's a nice person that I have been an asshole to for months because I thought she was knowingly turning her back on the imprint."

I held my hands up. "Whoops. I'm going to go take this off." I looked sheepishly at Emily. "Can you help? I can't reach the buttons in the back." Just as I moved to follow her, my heel caught in the hem of the dress and I fell. A strong arm was wrapped around my waist before I could hit the ground though. "See, death traps." I muttered, causing a few chuckles. I was quickly sat down in an armchair.

"Would you like some help getting those off?" Jake asked quietly.

I nodded, but as he moved forward I had to say, "you know I'm mad at you?"

"I know." He said as he got the first one off. I let out a little moan in relief and wiggled my toes.

"You know I have absolutely nothing except this fucking dress and those death traps? I don't know if I'll be able to get any of my stuff. Everything is at their house. My purse. My wallet. Everything."

"Don't worry about it honey." He said.

"I fully expect Leah and my brothers here to rip you a new one while Emily helps me out of this god-awful dress."

He looked up at me with sadness in his eyes. "I know that too. I'm really sorry that I kept this from you. Like I said in the woods. I didn't want you to feel pressured-." I pressed a finger against his lips.

"We'll argue later, if you would take the other shoe off I'd be grateful to regain feeling in that foot." He gave my ankle a small caress when he slid off the other shoe. He then grabbed both of my hands and helped me to stand up.

"I've had dreams about this." He murmured quietly.

"Me lea-."

"No. You, in a white dress, in my arms. But in those dreams, it was always our wedding. Taking your garter belt off with my teeth, flicking it in Pauls face."

"Thanks for helping with the shoes." I murmured, before lifting the front of my dress and walking over to Emily. We left the room to the sounds of other pack members yelling at him, and I smiled at her. "Should I go easy on him, since they're letting him have it?"

She shook her head though as she closed the bedroom door. "No. He told us he told you about it. That's why some of the pack was so cold to you. Like Paul said, we thought you were knowingly turning your back on the imprint, on the pack. Now turn around so I can get to these buttons."

I turned and sighed as the dress loosened. "I mean, I understand his reasonings. But he wasn't going to tell me at all I don't think. He ran away, and I've been miserable. If he had told me, I wouldn't have gone to Italy, and I would have never agreed to marry Edward. I would have never gone back to him in the first place. Jacob is home, and without him… I'm lost. He told me that he didn't want me to feel pressured, but now I'm worried it's because he didn't want me. Even after he stood up at the wedding." I don't know when I started sobbing, but Emily pulled her arms around me. "He was going to let me marry a vampire, he was going to let me die as opposed to being with him."

"Oh Bella."

There was some commotion outside of the door, but I heard Sam's commanding voice. "You will not walk in there. What did you think would happen keeping this from her? Now go into the living room and SIT DOWN." There was silence before the steps faded away.

"Ugh." I said, itching at my side, causing Emily to giggle.

"Here, let's get this off of you and into something else." When the dress was finally off, I sighed in relief as I itched the spots that the dress had irritated. Emily handed me a pair of cotton pajama pants and a loose t-shirt. "Would you like some help with your hair before you take a shower. You might feel better after you wash off."

"That sounds wonderful. All these pins make me feel like I've been given a face lift." It was nearly an hour later when I walked into the living room, feeling like myself again. The pack had gone home to change at some point, because those who'd been at the wedding were out of their wedding attire. "Hey, so, who wants to have a bonfire? Cause I got a dress to burn."