Impasse

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Prom

As Bella drifted, she dreamed.

Where she floated, under the dark water, she heard the agonized cry as if it was travelling across a vast distance – the cry, at once eerie, beautiful, as uplifting as it was ghastly. This sound was followed by a snarl: a deep, wild roar that rang with fury.

Gasping for air, Bella was brought back to the surface of the dark water, a sharp pain slashing at her upraised hand, but she couldn't feel her way back to open her eyes.

And then she knew she was dead.

Because, through the heavy water, she heard the sound of an angel calling her name, calling her to the only heaven she ever wanted.

"Oh no, Bella, no!" The angel's voice cried in horror.

Behind that longed for sound was another noise – an awful tumult that her mind shied away from. A vicious bass growling, a shocking snapping sound, and a high keening, suddenly breaking off…

Bella tried to concentrate on the angel's voice instead.

"Bella, please! Bella, listen to me, please, please, Bella, please!" The angel begged.

Yes, she wanted to say. Anything. But she couldn't move her lips to speak.

"Carlisle!" The angel called, agony in his perfect voice. "Bella, Bella, oh no, please, no, no!" And the angel was sobbing tearless, broken sobs.

The angel shouldn't weep, it was wrong. Bella tried to find him, to tell him everything was fine, but the water was so deep, it was pressing in on her and she couldn't breathe.

There was a point of pressure against her head. It hurt. Then, as that pain broke through the darkness, other pains came, stronger pains. She cried out, gasping, breaking through the dark pool.

"Bella!" The angel cried.

"She's lost some blood, but the head wound isn't deep." A calm voice broke through the angel's despairing wails. "Watch out for her leg, its broken."

A howl of rage strangled on the angel's lips.

Bella felt a sharp stab in her side. This couldn't be heaven, could it? There was too much pain for that.

"Some ribs, too, I think." The methodical voice continued.

But the sharp pain was were fading. There was a new pain, a scalding pain in her hand that was overshadowing everything else.

Somone was burning her.

"Edward!" Bella screamed.

"I'm right here, my love." The angel's voice whispered in her ear.

From asleep to awake in one heartbeat, Bella woke abruptly from her nightmare, her every thought in high definition. Her heart was pounding, as if a hypodermic of adrenaline had been emptied into her carotid. She strained into the utter darkness as she scanned her room for any sign of Edward Cullen. She had heard his silky voice as clear as day, she knew that wasn't part of her nightmare. But as her breathing rate began to steady, she could see there was no one there. Falling back onto her heaped up pillows, she used the palms of her hands to shield her eyes and emitted a quiet sob.

The nightmare, if that's what it really was, continued to torment her mind, bringing with it the usual rush of fear and panic. For Bella knew, deep down inside, that this was no nightmare, it was a memory, repressed, but determined to resurface. But she wouldn't let it. No, she wasn't ready to deal with the truth. She didn't have the strength. So, she did what she always did, reached for the bottle of Tylenol on her nightstand, she took just enough to knock her out for the rest of the night, keeping the nightmares at bay.

In Pheonix they held proms in ballrooms. This dance was in the gym, of course. It was probably the only room big enough for a dance, Bella thought to herself wryly. Jacob had his arm tightly around her waist, supporting her as she limped along beside him. When they got inside, Bella stared around wide-eyed. There were actual balloon arches and twisted garlands of pastel crepe paper festooning the walls.

"Jeez." Jacob muttered darkly. "This looks like a horror movie waiting to happen."

Bella couldn't disagree. They slowly approached the ticket table, with Jacob still carrying most of her weight, but she still had to shuffle and wobble her feet forward.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the dance floor; a wide gap had formed in the center of the floor, where two couple whirled gracefully. The other dancers pressed to the sides of the room to give then space – no one wanted to compete with such radiance. Emmet Cullen and Jasper Hale were intimidating and flawless in classic tuxedos. Alice Cullen was striking in a black satin dress with geometric cutouts that bared large triangles of her snowy white skin. And Rosalie Hale was…. well, stunning as always. She was beyond belief. Her vivid scarlet dress was backless, tight to her calves where it flared into a wide, ruffled train, with a neckline that plunged to her waist. It made Bella pity every girl in the room, including herself.

Glancing up at Jacob to see if he was staring at Rosalie like most of the other guys in the room, Bella was relieved to see that his eyes remained on her. He smiled down at her, immediately putting her at ease, her brief flash of envy at Rosalie's beauty quickly fading.

Jacob bought the tickets, then turned Bella toward the dance floor. Bella cringed against his arm and dragged her feet.

"You're too funny." Jacob laughed. "Why did you want to come so bad if you hate dancing so much? We could just have stayed in and had a movie night."

Bella was beginning to wish that they had done just that. She didn't want to admit that she had issued the rash invitation to prom just to annoy Mike and make it clear she wasn't interested in him romantically.

Jacob towed her toward where the Cullens were dominating the dance floor – both couples still twirling elegantly – if in a style totally unsuitable to the present time and music. Bella watched in horror. The last place she wanted to be was anywhere near that family. But Jacob seemed determined to make some type of statement, especially when they caught Edward Cullen watching them with narrowed eyes from the other side of the dance floor.

"Jake, I honestly can't dance." Bella could feel the panic bubbling inside her chest.

"Don't worry, Bells." Jacob snickered. "Neither can I."

"Then why?"

"Why not?" Jacob countered as he put his hands on her waist, and Bella reached up to put hers on his shoulders.

"Wow, Jake, have you grown again?" She exclaimed in surprise. "How tall are you now?"

Jacob was smug. "Six – four."

They weren't really dancing – Bella's leg made that impossible. Instead, they swayed awkwardly from side to side without moving their feet.

Bella felt pinned by Edward Cullen's eyes. She could feel the golden orbs stabbing into her back. She was glad she was facing away from him, seeing his face just brought the nightmare back into focus, his angelic voice ringing in her ears: "Bella, oh no, Bella, please!"

"Can you believe that my dad was willing to pay me twenty bucks for us not to come to your prom tonight?" Jacob admitted, reclaiming her attention.

"Really?" Bella asked in surprise. "Why?"

Jacob shrugged, frowning slightly. "He said it wasn't a 'safe' place. I swear the old man is losing his mind."

Bella joined in his weak laughter, but she could see Billy's odd request was troubling him.

"Anyway, he said that if I cancelled, he would get that master cylinder I need." Jacob confessed with a sheepish grin. "Is it bad that I nearly gave in and did what he wanted? I wasn't joking about movie night."

"Yeah, I think it might have been more fun than this." Bella agreed, a prickling sensation running up and down her spine when she spotted Edward Cullen weaving his way through the crowd of warm bodies toward them. Surely, he wasn't intending to cut in? "Perhaps we should go?"

"You want to go? Really? We only just got here." Jacob said, confusion written all over his face. "Its not that bad, is it? I mean, I'm enjoying the dancing part." He continued, tugging her closer.

"I suppose." Bella tried to take her mind off Edward Cullen. One glance over her shoulder again confirmed that he hadn't been making his way toward them. He was now dancing with his sister, Alice. She let out a sigh of relief. Relaxing, she returned her attention to Jacob. "Seen anything you like?" She teased, nodding toward a group of girls lined up against the wall like pastel confections.

"Yeah." Jacob said huskily, his face all seriousness. "She's standing right in front of me."

Bella felt the familiar heat of her blush warming her skin. Jacob stared down to meet her shy gaze for just a second – then they both looked away, embarrassed.

"You look very pretty, by the way." He added quietly.

"Thanks." Bella whispered, still looking everywhere but at him. "So do you."

"Thanks." Jacob echoed her.

Bella cleared her throat, swallowing down her self-consciousness. "So, what's up with Billy?" She asked, desperate for a subject change. She could see Edward watching them out of the corner of her eye as he danced with Alice, his face expressionless.

Jacob looked away again, ashamed. "He's just being superstitious."

"He is?"

"Yeah. He was… kind of over the top when you got hurt down in Pheonix – that's why he was so insistent on accompanying Charlie. When I asked him why, he said it was for your protection and that he had to see with his own eyes that you were still you. Whatever that means." He shook his head in disbelief. "I'm not weirding you out by telling you all this, am I?"

"No." Bella reassured him. "I was the one who asked." She felt a flutter of panic beginning to make itself felt in her stomach. "What does he think happened?"

Jacob sighed, pulling her even closer, until there was barely an inch between their swaying bodies. She could feel the heat coming from his skin even through the thin material of her dress.

"He thinks that Edward Cullen had something to do with me getting hurt." Bella guessed, feeling the remnants of her nightmare beginning to rear its ugly head. She quickly suppressed the horrifying memory, not wanting to revisit it again.

Jacob wouldn't meet her eyes. They weren't even bothering to sway to the music anymore, though his hands were still clamped tightly to her waist, and hers around his neck.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I shouldn't have said anything." He apologized.

"I was the one who asked." Bella reminded him again.

Jacob was still looking awkward…upset.

"There's more?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"Its so bad."

"I don't care. Just spit it out, Jacob."

"Okay… but, geez, this sounds bad." Jacob shook his head. "He said to tell you – and this is his plural, not mine" – he lifted one hand from her waist and made little quotations in the air – "We'll be watching out for you. You'll be fully protected." He watched warily for her reaction.

It sounded like something from a mafia movie. Bella couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Oh, god, well thank him, I guess."

Jacob grinned in relief. His eyes were appraising as they raked quickly over her dress. "So, should I tell him to butt the hell out?" He teased.

"No." Bella laughed. "Tell him I said thanks. I know he means well."

The song ended, and she dropped her arms.

Jacob's hands hesitated at her waist, and he glanced down at her bum leg. "Do you want to dance again? Or should we bite the bullet and get out of here and have that movie night instead?"

"You read my mind." Bella was ecstatic in her relief. The further she was from any of the Cullens, the better.

But before they had a chance to move, Edward was swiftly upon them. "Can I have the next dance?" He said smoothly, holding out his hand toward Bella.

Bella flinched at his sudden appearance, staring wide eyed up at him, pressing herself awkwardly into Jacob's side.

Jacob tensed, his dark eyes narrowing slightly as he regarded Edward with intense dislike. "Where did you come from?" He demanded, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "You've overdone it a bit on the aftershave haven't you, Cullen? You smell like a confectionary stand."

Edward regarded him with the same indifferent expression Bella had seen on his face earlier. "Coming from one of your kind I take that as a compliment." He said coldly.

"What do you mean by one of my kind?" Jacob moved nimbly around Bella to confront Edward, glaring at him malevolently.

The air was suddenly so brittle it could snap. Bella shivered, reaching out and pulling on Jacob's hand to regain his attention, she pleaded with him to take her home. "I'm tired. Let's go."

"Of course." Jacob said, shaking his head a little as if to clear it, his fingers closing tightly around hers. He looked more himself again, his expression once more relaxed and open.

Edward's gaze slid past him onto Bella. His expression had changed as well. No longer indifferent, his golden eyes held a tenderness that was breathtaking. "I want you to know you look beautiful, Bella. And when you feel ready to talk, I'll be right here waiting."

Then just as quickly as he had appeared, he disappeared back into the crowd to re-join his family.

A/N-thanks for reading!