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Chapter 49

Coming Home

Bella

"Bella, it's going to be okay. It was your idea," Jasper said, sending wave after wave of reassurance.

I felt myself becoming calmer.

"Thank you, Jazz."

We had come back yesterday, and I wanted to see Charlie again. So Carlisle called him last night and asked him to come over today to talk about some things.

Downstairs the doorbell rang, and I heard Carlisle open the door.

"Charlie, please come in," Carlisle said.

I heard footsteps into the living room, where Esmé asked him to sit down.

"We need to tell you something ... about Bella," Carlisle began the story. "But don't worry, she's fine. And she'll be right down after we explain everything."

"What is there to explain and why hasn't my daughter come home to me?", Charlie asked impatiently.

"Bella had an accident," Esmé said in the warmest voice in the world.

I heard Charlie's breath catch.

"She was riding a motorcycle and fell off a cliff. She hit her face on a rock ..." she continued.

"Jasper, please send down some rest," I asked him, afraid Charlie was going to have a heart attack.

"Her skull stayed whole, but the face was ... We didn't want you to have to see her like that," Carlisle said, and I heard him put a hand on his shoulder. "That's why the story about the infection. But one of the best plastic surgeons operated on her. And she's doing well again. She just ... looks a little different."

"And where is she now?", Charlie asked.

I got up from the bed and adjusted my jeans.

I insisted on showing up in front of Charlie in reasonably everyday clothes, so the change wasn't more drastic. I wore a long-sleeved T-shirt and skin-colored gloves. In addition, I had tied my hair together so that it was not seen how long it suddenly was.

"She's upstairs," Carlisle said.

"Bella ... dear, come down," Esmé called a little louder because Charlie was there.

The four of us walked downstairs and then stopped in front of the living room door. I hid slightly behind Emmett as Alice pulled me into the room.

"B ... Bella?"

His eyes were full of emotions - confusion, fear, amazement, disbelief, anger, relief ...

I nodded and took a few steps toward him.

"How many times have I told you? How many times? Motorcycles are killing machines! What were you thinking? You could have died," he said but already with tears in his eyes.

He came up to me and hugged me.

I hoped that the coldness of my skin was not felt through the clothes.

"I'm glad you're doing well again, little one. I don't care what you look like," he said, breaking away from me. His hands held on my shoulders, and he pushed me a little further away. "So you're coming back home with me right now?", he asked.

I looked down at the floor in embarrassment and shook my head.

His hands slipped from my shoulders, and I saw in the corner of my eye as he turned to Carlisle and looked at him questioningly.

"The doctors only let Bella out of the hospital so early because I promised to take care of her. And the best way to do that is to have her stay at my house ... for a while," Carlisle lied further.

I thought the excuse was pretty lame, but it seemed to work because Charlie nodded his head in understanding.

Charlie agreed to let Alice pick up my things and then said goodbye to all of us.

"I'll come visit you, Dad," I promised, trying to cheer him up as I hugged him again.

We stood on the porch and waved to Charlie as he drove away.

As I was about to turn around again to go into the house, I heard the sound of large soft paws on the forest floor. I walked a few steps closer to the forest and heard the footsteps more clearly now.

"Jake?", I asked uncertainly.

The footsteps stopped.

Emmett came up to me and wrapped his arms around me as a soft howl was heard.

I broke free from Emmett's embrace.

"Let me talk to him alone for a minute," I said and jumped into the woods.

I heard the sound of a wolf phasing.

Stepping into a small clearing, I stopped a few feet away from him.

"Whew ... Jake, you really stink," I said as the smell of wet dog hit my nose.

I laughed a little, but his expression remained hard. He stared at me. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair, where he folded them behind his head.

"Why are you here if you don't want to talk to me?", I asked annoyed.

"Bella ... I just wanted to see you. My last memory of you was you lying half-dead in front of me with a broken spine," he said, shuddering at the thought.

I didn't remember much about the accident. I saw that Jake was losing me and I wanted to step on the gas more. I wasn't paying attention to the track and my bike started to lurch until it threw me over the cliff. I heard a scream and then it was all gone. Until I woke up in the fire again.

Jake took a step toward me. Then he relaxed.

"You stink too, by the way - like bleach!", he said and wrinkled his nose.

"Emmett told me what you did for me at the accident, Chief Jake," I said. "Thanks for that ..."

"Remember ... back when I said to you, I'd rather ... Well, you know what."

'I'd rather you were dead than one of them!' His voice from back then echoed in my head.

I nodded.

"Bella, I had no idea what I was saying at the time. When I saw you like that in front of me, I really thought I could never see you laugh again. I was so afraid I was going to lose you. And that's when I just knew what I had to do. What does it matter if you're a stinking leech, Bells. You also stayed with me and the boys when you found out we were going to be huge dangerous wolves."

It stung my eyes and I felt like crying, but there were no tears.

"Jake!"

I ran to him and wrapped my arms around him.

"That means you don't hate me?", I asked.

"Bell ... y ... ouch! ... Ow ...!"

I let go of him, startled.

My emotions just overwhelmed me, and I forgot that I could break Jake's bones with a hug.

"Oh! Sorry ... Jake, are you okay?"

He laughed at me.

"Yeah, it's okay. And no, I don't hate you," he said, patting my head. "You look monstrously good, by the way!", he said and grinned.

I rolled my eyes.

Something came to mind.

"Um ... Jake. Carlisle said Sam was kind of mad. What is it?"

He took a deep breath and sat down on a stone as he exhaled. He tapped his hand next to him and I sat down with him.

"Long story ..." he said, hesitating for a moment.

"I have eeeternally time," I said, smiling at my innuendo.

"When I allowed Emmett to bite you, I sort of acknowledged my place as the alpha animal. I didn't realize that until I was a wolf again. Of course, Sam immediately called everyone together. He was furious that I allowed you to do it, and of course he wanted me to undo that leader wolf stuff. But I couldn't ... and he wouldn't submit ... and now the pack has split into two groups. Embry, Quil, Seth and Leah are sort of in my group, Paul, Jared, Colin and Brady are with Sam. We are still a pack, but we had to split up because there couldn't be two lead wolves. Sam is pretty annoyed about this and of course blames you guys ... But I'm sure he'll calm down a bit soon. Just try not to get too close to our territory," he said.

"Thank you."

Emmett came into the clearing and stood in front of Jacob.

We stood up and Emmett threw his arms around Jake and hugged him. He let go of him and looked at him seriously.

Jake and I were speechless.

"I don't know how to thank you for what you have done for us. If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to ask us for help," he said, pulling me lovingly to him.

Jake nodded and said he needed to go back sometime.

As we walked back to the house, I saw Emmett's Jeep on the driveway in front of the porch.

"So now that everything is done, we can finally go celebrate your immortality," he said, grinning at me with his dimples.