Troubleshoot

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Guilt

Something warm touched Bella's forehead with the softest pressure.

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She was still dreaming, and it felt abnormally real. She was so close to waking…and any second it would be gone.

But she realized it felt too real, too real to be good for her. The strong, muscular arms she imagined wrapped around her were far too substantial. Bella knew if she let this go any further, she'd be sorry for it later. Like she was sorry for so many things. With a resigned sigh, she wrenched back her eyelids to dispel the illusion.

"Oh." She gasped, and threw her fists over her eyes.

Well, clearly, she had gone too far, she was still firmly cemented in her dream state, her imagination getting out of hand. Okay, so 'let' was the wrong word. She'd forced it to get out of hand-pretty much stalked her hallucinations in an effort to convince herself that everything was right in her world, that she hadn't fucked up with Rachel, and that everything was forgiven-and now her mind had snapped.

It took Bella less than half a second to realize that, as long as she was truly insane now, she might as well enjoy the delusions while they were pleasant.

She opened her eyes again- and Jacob was still there, his handsome face just inches away from hers.

"Are you okay, Bells?" His husky voice sounded anxious. "I didn't mean to startle you."

This was very good, as delusions went. The face, the voice, the scent, everything- it was so much better than the poor images in her dreams. The beautiful, perfect, muscular figment of her imagination watched her changing expressions with growing alarm. His dark eyes glowed with concern; his perfect face troubled.

Bella blinked twice, desperately trying to remember the last thing she was sure was real. Billy had been part of her dream, she had been talking to him, talking to him about Rachel. He had told her that Rachel had gone missing. Maybe she had come back. Maybe it was just part of the nightmare scenario she had conjured in her head. Rachel must have returned. She was imprinted with Paul. There was no way she could stay away for long without feeling the incessant pull to return to soul mate. Was there?

"Oh, crap." Bella croaked. Her throat was thick with sleeping, and something else….

"What's wrong, Bella, honey?"

Bella frowned up at Jacob unhappily. His face was even more anxious than before.

"Oh, God, Jake. I'm so sorry. Will you ever be able to forgive me? Will Billy? And what about Paul?" She moaned in despair. "Oh, just kill me now."

Jacob frowned in confusion. "Stop talking in riddles, Bells. What do you need forgiveness for? You haven't done anything wrong."

"Oh, but I have! I have!" Bella cried. She rolled onto her side, the gut-wrenching guilt making it difficult for her to continue to make eye contact. "Oh, why did I have to wake up?"

"I'm sorry I woke you." Jacob said, perturbed by her reaction. He had no idea what was causing her to act like this, like she had done something unforgivable. He had climbed through her window as usual, looking forward to spending some quality time together after finishing his late-night patrol shift, only to find her thrashing around in her bed, mumbling incoherently.

Bella shook her head from side to side, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm still asleep. I must be. Otherwise, there is no way you would be talking to me right now." She put her hands over her eyes and choked back a sob. "That's why I must still be dreaming. And when I do wake up, then it'll all be too real. I'll see the blame on your face, though I know you'll try to hide it. This is awful. Poor Billy. Poor Paul…" She trailed off in horror at what she had done.

"Bella, honey, you're beginning to freak me out here." Jacob said grimly. "You're not making any sense. Why do you think I would be angry with you? And what's all this crap about Billy and Paul?"

Bella grimaced. "Its Rachel." She mumbled.

Jacob sighed at the mention of his sister's name. "What has she done now?"

Bella's head was getting clearer. She removed her hands from her eyes, flicking them up to Jacob's frustrated face- unwillingly- for one second, to the dark, open window, and then back to him. Shame washed over her…and she felt the usual faint, familiar blush warm the skin over her cheekbones as she slowly realized that Jacob was really, truly in the room with her, and she was wasting time being an idiot.

"It all really happened then." She said bleakly. It was almost impossible to reassign her dream as reality. She couldn't wrap her head around the concept.

"What really happened?" Jacob tried to tone down his exasperation. "Just tell me what you mean?"

Bella's gaze strayed to the half empty bottle of Tylenol sitting on her bedside cabinet. In her dismay at Rachel's disappearance, she had accidentally ingested twice the recommended dose, hoping that the medicine would knock her out for a few hours, to quieten her busy brain. It seemed it had done much more than that.

"You don't know about Rachel yet, do you?"

Jacob rolled his eyes, not wanting to think about his estranged sibling. "Maybe you should go back to sleep. You're not coherent."

"I'm not tired anymore." Bella's brain fog was slowly clearing now. "What time is it?"

"It's just after one in the morning."

Bella stretched as he spoke. She was so stiff.

"Charlie?" She asked.

Jacob frowned again. "Sleeping and all that good stuff. Now are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Bella's eyes were sad as she looked up at him. "Rachel has run away….and its all my fault." She felt her heart beginning to up its tempo as the usual panic took over. She was struggling to keep a firm grip on herself, she didn't want to scare him anymore than she had already with the frantic, gnawing craving that was raging inside her.

"What do you mean?" Jacob's tone was more curious than angry.

Bella stared up at him, wondering where to even start. "She lied, Jake."

"Lied about what?" Jacob's eyes tightened at the corners.

"About why she really came home." Bella sighed in resignation. Then it all came tumbling out, about Rachel's initial deception when Bella had challenged her about the reason why she had left college so abruptly, followed by the budding doubts when she realized that Rachel's story shared too many similarities with her own. Then the results of her investigation afterwards. "So, I went back to confront her about it, showing her the proof. She couldn't deny it after that, Jake. I told her it was time to tell you and Billy the truth, and that if she didn't, then I would. I gave her a week to come clean. But she didn't and ran away instead."

Jacob's expression turned stern, forbidding. "That sounds true to form as far as Rachel is concerned." He muttered.

Bella's breath caught in the back of her throat. "I'm so sorry, Jacob." She whispered forlornly. "If I had known that she would run away, I would never have made that threat."

Jacob's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You think I'm mad at you?" He asked incredulously.

"I'm mad at me." Bella moaned, as she stared up at the incomprehension on his face. "I went about it all wrong. I should have just come straight to you. I just didn't want to burden you with any more family drama. I thought it would be better if Rachel came clean about it herself. I screwed that up. Now I've driven her away."

"Hey, hey!" Jacob interrupted. "Stop right there." He brushed the tip of his warm finger against her lower lip." Bella, honey, you seem to be under a misapprehension. I'm not mad at you. You did nothing wrong. You were just trying to help, to give Rachel time to do the right thing. Its on her if she couldn't find the courage to follow through, instead running off like a coward."

Bella's head swam with relief as Jacob stared deep into her eyes with his sincere, earnest gaze. "You mean that?"

"You know I do."

A lone tear trickled down Bella's cheek, her relief so profound that she was struggling to keep her emotions in check. "But what about Billy and Paul? They'll blame me. I know they will." She whispered, through unmoving lips.

Jacob leaned his head closer, the feel of his breath warming her chilled skin. His expression a mixture of love and exasperation. "You're impossible." He said, and he laughed once- a hard laugh, frustrated. "How can I put this so you stop blaming yourself? You have done absolutely nothing wrong here, okay? I love you. I have always loved you. I want you to stop feeling guilty right now. You gave Rachel every opportunity to confess. She was the one who chose not to. Billy and Paul have no reason to hold a grudge."

"But if I hadn't…?"

"Bella, what did I just say?" Jacob demanded.

Bella shook her head while the tears continued to ooze from the corners of her eyes.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Jacob sighed. "Listen, honey, and listen well, you did the right thing. I will deal with Billy and Paul. They are as much to blame for everything that has happened as Rachel herself. We both gave them every opportunity to sort out this mess, but Billy chose to bury his head in the sand, and Paul…well…" He shrugged, not finding the right words to describe his anger toward Lahote for taking advantage.

"What are you going to do?" Bella asked in a small voice as she slowly absorbed his words.

Jacob's eyes narrowed; his jaw tightened. "I'm going over there to deliver a few home truths of my own, to both of them."

"And Rachel?" Bella said cautiously.

"I don't care about her. She made her bed; she can lie in it." Jacob fumed.

"You don't really mean that." Bella touched his face with tentative fingers. "She's your sister. She's family."

"Yeah, one who's been absent for years. She couldn't give a shit, Bella. She never once came home, even in the holidays. I was left on my own to deal with everything. So why should I concern myself with what happens to her now?"

Bella stroked away the obstinate frown on his face. They both knew that he wouldn't really give up on Rachel. Jacob had a sneaking suspicion his sister couldn't have got far anyway, not with her being tied to Paul because of the imprint.

"I want you to stop fretting about her now." Jacob murmured, drawing Bella closer. "We have other things to focus on."

"Like?" Bella asked, confused.

Jacob didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed Bella's face securely between his hands, his lips hovering just half an inch above hers. She gazed up at him, the intensity of his gaze making her head whirl.

"I love you." He whispered as he closed the gap and kissed her.

With his mouth anchored on hers, Bella immediately relaxed. She reached up and hooked her arms around his neck, frantically returning kiss for kiss. Her heart pounded out a jagged rhythm while her breathing escalated until she was panting. Jacob's fingers moved greedily over her face, memorizing every line and curve, the same way hers were tracing his.

After a few moments Jacob pulled back, moving down a little so he could place his ear over her racing heart.

Bella lay there, dazed, waiting for her gasping to slow and quiet.

"It'll be okay, Bella." Jacob promised. "You have nothing to worry about anymore."

A/N-thanks for reading!