Bella nervously bounced on the balls of her feet as she knocked on the front door. She glanced back toward Leah, who gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up from where she leaned against her car. Bella smiled, but the smile fled her face as the door swung open.

Billy stared up at her in surprise, clearly expecting anyone but Bella. He did not look happy to see her, but she supposed she couldn't blame him. After all - she had caused a bit of trouble for Jacob the day before.

Then again, Bella still felt her reaction was more than deserved. She straightened her spine as she held Billy's gaze, refusing to let his stoic facade crumble her resolve. She came here to get her belongings and wasn't leaving without them.

"Bella," Billy said. "Can I help you?"

"I'm returning Jacob's shit from my house," she said, trying to sound as normal as possible. "And I have things here I'd like to grab if you don't mind. I'm more concerned about Grandma Helen's baking dishes than anything else. Charlie would probably have a fit if he knew they left the house."

Billy chuckled, then hesitated as he glanced behind him toward the hallway. He seemed to deflate as he sighed deeply and moved away from the door. "Come on in, then."

He turned and wheeled away from her as Bella tentatively stepped inside. She immediately glanced toward the hallway and living room, searching for any sign of Jacob before setting the box of shirts, CDs, and memorabilia on the kitchen table.

"He's out," Billy said as he wheeled himself to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. "If you hoped to avoid him, you chose a good time."

Bella moved toward the cabinets to gather the many dishes she'd left behind at one point or another. Stubbornly, she lied, "I'm not worried about avoiding him. He's the one who avoids me. I just want to get this over with."

She glanced back at Billy and forced a slight smile for him. "No offense."

"None taken," he said and lifted his coffee cup.

Opening the cabinets left her gaping, disbelieving the mess. Nothing was where it should be in the kitchen she'd once organized for Billy's convenience. Spices got tossed into stacks of dishes, and someone shoved leaking bags of flour and sugar behind random boxes of cereal and sugary breakfast bars.

Bella pulled out a box and shook it as she glared back at Billy. "You aren't even supposed to have these, mister!"

Billy chuckled again, and Bella felt her anger fade a little. She placed the box on the counter and impulsively shambled toward Billy. Bella slipped her arms around his neck and hugged him. She blinked back tears as he reached up to hug her back and sighed. Despite the ache where his gentle hands rested, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on all the good she knew in Billy. He had always loved her. She knew that.

Goddamn it, Charlie. His words had been absorbed, it seemed. Bella rolled her eyes at herself as she pulled away to stand up straight.

Before he could say anything, she shouted, "Damn it, Billy. I'm so tired of being mad. I've felt pissed off for the last two months, and I'm sad all the fucking time. I'm sick to death of being depressed and angry. I miss Jake terribly, and I hate this!"

Bella plopped into a kitchen chair, feeling like some weight had lifted simply by admitting how miserable she was out loud. It was a welcome relief despite the slight outburst. She blushed and shook her head as he grinned.

Billy asked, "Do you know how I can tell when you're bluffing, Bella?"

"No," she said and sighed. What the heck does that have to do with anything?

"When you're lying about something or trying to put on a brave face, you stand and walk like you have a stick up your ass."

Bella gasped and couldn't help but laugh. He sounded too much like Charlie.

Trying to remain straight-faced, Billy teased, "Well. Now. You do, honey. You always have."

Bella put her arm on the table and held her hand out to Billy, a gesture as involuntary and familiar to her as breathing. He gently clasped his hand around hers and squeezed a few times.

Unexpectedly, he admitted, "I lied to you. And I'm sorry. It was necessary, and there are things I can't tell you. But, I am sorry."

Bella nodded, both appreciating and saddened by his words. "I had a little chat with Charlie this morning. He told me you're protecting Jake because you love him, and I should forgive you for that."

Billy nodded. "I appreciate Charlie saying that because it's true. That doesn't mean I didn't owe you an apology, though."

Bella squeezed his hand before pulling away to sit back in her chair. "So why the comment about me bluffing? I feel I also owe you an apology, even if I'm unsure what it's for. I feel like I had every right to be hurt."

"You did," he interrupted. "But… I know that Embry explained things to you about the last time you were here."

Surprised, she asked, "You do? Did Embry tell you?"

Bella recalled Embry saying Sam would probably beat his ass for going to see her again. Frowning, she said, "Or was it Sam? God, I hope Sam wasn't awful about it."

Billy said, "Jacob told me, actually. He was already upset and suspicious, but then he saw you and Embry talking in your truck. They argued a bit afterward. He said you and Embry looked much closer than he'd ever realized you were. The night when you came here and argued with Sam in the kitchen… You were an entirely different person in front of Sam. And I saw it. I'm sorry, but it made me doubt your intentions."

"He just brings out the worst in me. The second he opens his mouth, it's like… Ugh," Bella growled in frustration, unable to explain how a man she barely knew could infuriate her on sight. "I just can't stand him, Billy. I already didn't like him, mostly because of all the shit Jake, Embry, and Quil had to say about him…and then he started fucking with my life. He turned Jake against me on purpose, Billy. I love Embry like a little brother, but Sam tried to make it into something else altogether, and it worked. How else can you explain how Jacob went from my best friend to hating me in less than a week?"

"Jake doesn't hate you, Bella." Billy shook his head sadly. "I can't claim to know everything or how you two have reached this point, but I believe I've heard the gist of it. All I can say is that Jacob had his reasons for distancing himself from you. I'm sorry it hurt you, but his intentions were good."

His intentions were good? He was practically a stranger when she talked to him on the phone that day. He'd hurt her on purpose! Again, Bella blinked back tears as her temper rose.

Glaring at the floor, she said, "Billy, if you'd heard how he talked to me on the phone, you wouldn't say that. He was cruel. Intentionally cruel, and it…" She shuddered as she tried to repress a sob and brushed away tears before her eyeliner could travel down her face. "It crushed me. He dumped me, so similarly to how Eh…"

Bella couldn't finish the sentence. Just recalling the devastation she felt made her stomach muscles clench as the ache swelled in her chest. Her voice was nearly a whisper as she added, "The only thing he didn't do was leave me stranded somewhere when he did it. I feel like I haven't stopped crying for weeks. Meanwhile, Jacob finds himself a new girlfriend, and nobody bothered to warn me."

When she looked back at Billy, his face was hard and angry. She cringed, expecting she'd said something to make him angry with her. Well, so much for making peace with him today.

Billy looked away from her, scowling toward the window as he took a deep breath to calm himself. "I did not realize Jacob had spoken to you so harshly, Bella. And that's the phone call Charlie was so pissed about?"

Bella nodded. "Y-yes. Sam was saying things about me in the background. I don't know what they were exactly, but it sure pissed Charlie off."

"I already talked to Sam about being disrespectful to Charlie. He might not be a tribal member, but Charlie is family to us, and I won't allow that. That won't happen again. I'm sorry about that, too."

But you didn't tell him to be respectful to me? Am I not family, too? Bella nodded again, still angry but no longer in tears. A line had been drawn, and somehow, she was the exception. Persona non grata, and for what? More to herself than him, she said, "I'm sorry too, Billy."

She used the table to steady herself as she stood and went back to sorting through the cabinets as their conversation went silent. It wasn't as if she expected Billy to take her side, but she felt as though she were being gaslighted. How had everyone's perception of her gotten so skewed when she was still the same person? It made her feel crazy.

As she stacked dishes on the counter, Billy drank his coffee, watching her every move. Realizing she was reorganizing the cabinets, he said, "Bella, you don't have to do that."

"It's just easier this way," she said. And it was. Everything was mixed together, some items falling out haphazardly as she went. She would only straighten the cabinets containing her items. The rest was Jacob's problem.

Forgetting her bruised back and cropped shirt, she winced as she reached over her head for a nearly hidden casserole dish. She stumbled sideways as she heard Billy take a sharp breath.

Tentatively, worriedly, he asked, "Bella?"

Lowering her arms, she kept her back to Billy as she blushed, assuming he'd seen some of the bruising as the hem of her shirt resettled against her aching flesh. "Don't worry about it, Billy." She looked over her shoulder, forcing another smile for him. "I'm fine, I promise."

"Heard that before," he said in a tone she'd not heard since before the Cullen's left.

She returned to her task, quickly becoming numb to the emotional rollercoaster she was riding. Bella raised up on her toes as she tried again and gasped as an overwhelming heat pressed against her back. One long, muscular arm reached over her to grab what she was looking for and gently placed it on top of the neat stack of dishes on the counter.

Bella froze on the spot, holding her breath as she waited for the heat to move away. An arm that size could only belong to a few people, and she wasn't ready to see any of them.

The body behind her didn't move away, forcing her to lower herself from her tip-toed stance, sliding her backside against him. She tried to ignore the heat as it seeped into her sore muscles, cursing the exquisite relief as she fought the urge to lean into it. A sheen of sweat formed where their skin met.

Bella shuddered as she took a deep breath and began rearranging the stacks of dishes, separating hers from theirs. She felt him lean down, hovering near her ear as he inhaled deeply. Then, angrily, Jacob whispered, "You're welcome."

Jacob's new, low tone seemed to vibrate through his entire form, echoing the trembling of her hands as she tried not to rattle the dishes. Suddenly, he moved, finally, and cool air met the sweat-sheen-covered exposed skin of her lower back.

Bella glanced over her shoulder to look for Billy, but he, apparently, fled the room. How had she not heard Jacob enter the house? Had Billy lied again? Was Jacob there the entire time?

She tried not to look directly at Jacob, who now occupied the chair she'd vacated, fingering at the box on the table.

He said, "Well. I guess I don't need to ask why you're here."

Bella didn't know what to say. She felt tongue-tied, practically piercing it with her teeth as she fought to stay calm. She began organizing the food items to one side of the cabinet so she could restock their dishes on the other.

"You don't have to do that," he grumbled, irritated by her silence - a reaction she knew well. "Just take your stuff, and I'll clean up the rest."

An involuntary 'hmph' escaped her. She blushed and continued with her task.

"I see Leah has you dressing like her now," he said and snickered.

Ignoring the comment, Bella lightly cleared her throat and asked, "If anything of mine is in your room, could you please get it for me?"

Jacob harrumphed and sarcastically bit back, "Since you know my room so well, go get them yourself."

Bella put the last of their dishes back into the cabinet and turned to glare at him before striding past him toward his room. His large, feverish hand grasped her upper arm and tugged, jarring her backward. The momentum turned her sideways, and her back pressed against the hallway wall with a pain-filled thud. A wave of fire-filled pain in her upper back made her stomach roll as sudden panic made her heart race. Looking into his gaze set her cheeks ablaze with anger and a hint of fear rather than embarrassment. She didn't realize her teeth were clenched and bared until her breath escaped in a hiss.

His angry face fell, and he hurriedly glanced her over as if assessing her for harm. Jacob grumbled, "Sorry. Don't realize my strength lately."

It took everything she had to say, "Clearly…"

He finally let go of her arm, and Bella raised her hand to rub the ache of his grip away. He turned away guiltily and stomped toward his room, saying, "I'll get the rest of your stuff."

Under her breath, Bella mumbled, "Certainly can't have my scent lingering around your room anymore."

As she turned back toward the kitchen, she could have sworn she heard him say, "You're right."

Bella emptied the box she'd brought of Jacob's belongings, hiding the memorabilia in the pile of shirts so it didn't spill all over the table. Bella stacked what she could into the box but couldn't lift it.

Jacob entered the kitchen with his arms full of books, a pillow, a heavy throw blanket, a small, folded pile of clothes, and a rarely worn pair of hiking boots. He set the hiking boots on a chair, put the rest on the table, and wordlessly took the box of dishes from her. He lifted it effortlessly and strode out the door.

Probably can't wait to get me out of here. Bella reorganized what he'd gathered in a more manageable pile. Unable to see her feet or anything beneath them, she carefully headed for the car.

Bella and Jacob nearly collided on the porch, and she could have sworn he growled. One glance at Leah's smug face, and Bella knew Leah must have said something to set him off. Bella shook her head and stepped around his rigid form. Nearly to the car, she flinched as the screen door slammed behind her.

Leah rolled her eyes as she opened the back door for Bella and helped her stack her things into the back seat. "You weren't kidding. Shit, were you like living here sometimes?"

"Basically. I have one more load of dishes to bring out," Bella said.

"No, you don't," Leah grumbled and gestured behind Bella with a nod. Bella watched Jacob step around them toward the other side of the car. Bella rushed to open the door for him to put the rest of her belongings inside.

"Thanks," she said automatically.

Jacob nervously ran one hand through his hair as he stepped back and sighed. "Can you think of anything else? Maybe in the garage, or?"

"No," she said, looking away from his hardened face to stare at the gravel, defensively crossing her arms under her chest. "Not that I can think of, but if you find something, just have Billy give it to Charlie."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Leah climbed into the car and harrumphed at them as she yanked the door shut.

Jacob followed Bella toward the passenger side, hovering next to her. Although his tendency to stand too close was once comforting, now it made her nervous. She finally looked back at his face as she reached for the door handle, unprepared for all the emotion she would find there. He still scowled fearsomely, but his eyes held a different sentiment altogether. They were sad, shining with tears, but for what, she couldn't guess. He was the one who created the situation but was staring at her like she'd kicked his puppy.

And then, in Bella Swan fashion, she snapped.

"How could you just leave me in the dark like that, Jake? You did the same thing that Sam did to Leah! You ghosted me, wouldn't answer my calls, or even tell me you were okay. I'm sure you've been up your new girlfriend's ass while I fucking hoped you'd come to your senses. I mean…" She wiped the tears that pooled at her lashes away and sniffled. "What happened to us, Jake? How did all of this even happen? One minute, we were fine. And the next, Sam turned you against me!"

She struggled to say it out loud, not wanting to embarrass herself more than she already had. "I thought that…"

Wrong. You thought wrong. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.

"Bells…" he said tentatively, reaching out to palm her upper arm despite the heated glare she shot him. The tender sound of her nickname on his lips made it harder to breathe.

Jacob said, "We weren't together. I didn't even know that's what you wanted from me."

"I know," she said, looking away from him. Bella knew too well that they weren't together, but that didn't leave her any less blindsided. "I guess I just thought… after some things that happened, I assumed we were heading in that direction. That was my mistake."

He smirked, looking sheepish as his cheeks reddened. He rubbed his neck nervously. "It's not fine, Bella. I mean…"

"You don't want me like that. It's fine. I get that. But did you have to destroy our friendship to get rid of me? You couldn't just say, 'Hey, I don't think Sam is so bad anymore. By the way, I met someone I'm interested in."

"Bella, I didn't even know her yet…"

"Why is she good enough to have a space in your new life while I'm not?"

Jacob rolled his eyes at her interruption and said, "Let me talk, okay? I can't say being with you isn't what I hoped for at one time, but I didn't think you felt the same. I got over it. I even said I wasn't in love with you, and you said the same thing! When all that shit started between us, I started thinking about it again, and I'll admit that for a second, I thought things were changing too… Look, I'm sorry it didn't work out. I didn't realize how much it affected you, I guess."

She guffawed, more at herself than Jacob. "Yeah. I didn't realize how much I cared until you completely shut me out. You promised you'd never abandon me, and that's precisely what you did. I stayed here for you, you know?"

"What?" His eyes narrowed at her, and he tensed as his hand fell away from her arm. He stepped back. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

She explained, "Charlie wanted to send me to my mom, remember?" He nodded slightly. "I refused to go because I didn't want to leave you."

His brow furrowed as he scoffed. "So, you're blaming me for still being stuck here? Do you want to go to Florida? Fucking go, then!"

She blinked. "No. Jake, that's not what I…"

"Forget it," he grumbled, turning away from her. As he strode toward the house, he yelled, "You forgot one of my shirts, by the way!"

She jumped as the screen door slammed behind him, followed by shattering glass. She suspected it was probably the framed picture of them together, one he'd gifted her on her last birthday. Perhaps it seemed petty to return it, but it hurt too much to keep staring at every day.

Dazed, she slowly climbed into the passenger seat, ignoring the shake in her limbs as she tried to calm down.

"Hey," Leah whispered, "Are you okay?"

"No," Bella said, still trying to comprehend the last few minutes. What. The. Fuck. Just happened? We were actually communicating, and he turned on a dime.

Starting the car, Leah said, "Hey, Bells. Maybe it's just better this way. Clean break and all that bullshit."

"Yeah," Bella muttered as she pulled on her seatbelt, knowing another piece of her heart had broken, too.

Well, folks. This story is finally caught up to where it's at on AO3. That means this story will go back to weekly postings on here too. I know the multiple chapters over the last few days have been a lot, and I'm sorry if it's been annoying at all. I hope you're still with me and enjoying this story. Let me know your thoughts - please review. xo.