Impasse

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

A Moment of Reflection

The crackle of the tiny bonfire Leah had made of Emily's clothes was all that could be heard. Flames sent red sparks dancing in the light breeze. Bella sighed in resignation as she watched the smoke twirl heavenward in small spirals.

"She deserved it, Bella." Leah muttered defensively. "I don't need lectures, so save your breath."

"I will." Bella replied grimly. "You don't need me to tell you that what you did was wrong. You already know that."

Leah's fingers tightened around the lighter that was already digging into the hardened skin of her palm. She wanted to rail at Bella, to call her weak and precious. But her mouth remained firmly shut. For deep down, she knew that her friend was right. Her cousin may be a selfish bitch, but she had few possessions. Her family were already struggling financially, that was the reason why Emily had been sent to stay with them for a while. Only, now, the wretched girl was left with nothing but the clothes that Leah had carelessly thrown her way so she could cover herself up. The rest turning to ashes right before her eyes.

"You've always been cruel." Emily sobbed in despair. "But you've sunk to new lows today, Leah Clearwater. I will never forgive you for this. And when Aunt Sue finds out about this, she won't forgive you, either."

"Get out of my face!" Leah yelled angrily, the regret already twisting the knife in her guts. She was dreading facing her mother's wrath. Sue Clearwater had a temper to rival her own when she was faced with any injustice. And Leah knew that she would immediately side with Emily when she found out the truth.

Emily's self-serving tears dribbled down her cheeks, sliding to the corners of her mouth. She choked, wiping them away with the sleeve of the old sweater that Leah had spared from the bonfire of her clothes. She turned to face Bella and glared at her.

"You didn't even try to stop her!" She accused.

Bella didn't respond to the false allegation. She had tried to stop Leah from following through with her threat to burn all that Emily owned in retaliation for coming onto Sam. She had fought with words until the very end, but Leah was in no mood to listen to reason.

"I suggest you do what Lee says and clear out for an hour or so until your aunt gets home." Bella finally said. She pulled out some loose change she had in her jacket pocket and passed it to a distraught Emily. "Go and buy a coffee or something."

Emily grabbed the money out of Bella's hand roughly, before she turned violently on her heel and marched off in the opposite direction.

Bella took a few steps closer to Leah. She could feel the radiating warmth of the fire. She took a cautious peek at her friend's face. Leah's skin glowed golden, her eyes riveted to the rising flames.

"Mom is going to kill me." She said hoarsely, without looking Bella's way.

"Most likely." Bella knew there was no way to sugarcoat things. There was nothing she could say that would make things any easier. Leah was going to have to face the consequences of her overreaction.

However, unbeknownst to both of them, things were about to get much worse. They saw Jacob coming toward them in the distance. His face was tight with strain.

Watching his approach, Bella felt her heart clinch in her chest. Something was wrong. Dreadfully wrong. She exchanged a frantic glance with Leah as they waited for him to join them.

Bella tried to compose her face so that Jacob would go on. Her nails were digging into her palms with the stress of the story. Her heart was heavy with worry about her friend.

"I can't believe this!" She mumbled. "It doesn't make sense!"

Jacob gave her a look full of weariness. He felt exhausted in both body and mind. The memory of the Alpha order he had inflicted on Sam was still weighing heavily on his mind. He could only imagine what the whole thing was costing the other guy.

"The whole thing was totally unexpected. I felt cornered. I didn't know what to do for the best – I just hope I made the right decision." He shook his head, his tone full of remorse. "What if I've just made things worse for the poor guy?"

"Hey." Bella rushed to reassure him. "Don't start to second guess yourself, Jake. I've been down that road too many times to mention myself. Believe me it gets you nowhere. There really was no other choice to make. Sam is strong. He can bear it. Its Lee I'm worried about."

"Me too." Jacob admitted as he bent over to pick up a rock from among the millions of pebbles at his feet. After dropping Leah off at Sam's, they had returned to the beach, both feeling too restless to stay inside the house.

With a casual flick of his wrist, Jacob sent the pebble flying a good hundred meters out into the bay. It did little to ease his frustration.

Bella's stricken gaze followed the flight path of the pebble, shuddering as she thought about Leah's reaction to Sam's news of his imprint with Emily. Leah had already badly overreacted once by burning her cousin's clothes. There was no telling what she might do once she learned of this latest catastrophe.

Jacob didn't seem to notice Bella's reaction. He was staring across the waves with a thoughtful expression on his face, his broad lips pursed.

"What are you thinking about?" Bella asked after a long, quiet time.

"I'm thinking about our imprint. About what I would have done if you hadn't been so accepting of it."

"That would have never happened, Jake. I know it wasn't something you had any control over."

Jacob frowned disconcertingly, like Bella's attempt at reassurance was having the opposite affect to what she had intended. Her heart thumped unevenly in her chest at the emptiness of the picture that began to paint itself in her mind at the thought of him never having this mystical attachment to her. It wasn't something she had ever voiced aloud, but she secretly liked the connection.

After what had happened with Sam and Leah, was this his way of voicing his regret?

"Do y – you wish that you had never i – imprinted on me?" Bella faltered, stuttering in her misery.

Jacob stared at her in bewilderment. He had been about to say something before she asked the question, he took a breath, and reached out to her.

"Bells, I was just thinking that I am the luckiest guy in the world that I imprinted on you. I love you. You know that. I've never made any secret of the way I feel about you. I can't believe you would even ask that."

Bella's eyes roamed the broad expanse of his bare chest before they flashed up to meet his. Jacob was fidgeting a little as she looked at him, drumming his fingers against his upper thigh, and gazing back at her with a nervous intensity that stole the breath from her lungs.

Bella felt the blood pounding in her ears as she worked up the courage to touch him…to do more than just touch him…to…to…kiss him.

Here.

In the open.

On the beach.

She swallowed hard.

Taking a cautious step closer, Bella put both hands on Jacob's chest. She could feel the pounding of his heart under the palm of her hand. It was a reassuring sound and eased her nerves. His skin was hot and smooth under her tentative touch. She slowly slid her hands back and forth, her own heart beat kicking up a notch when she heard him draw in a sharp exhale.

Bella could feel his pectorals bunch and flex beneath her palms as she continued her exploration. His breathing ramped up even more as she grew bolder and started gently tracing his collarbone with her thumb.

Jacob's dark eyes remained trained on hers the whole time, growing glazed and unfocused.

"Bella…" He murmured huskily, his eyes drifting closed as if he was in torment. When he opened them again there was a heat in his gaze that made their surroundings, the beach, the ocean, the rest of the world, fall away. He inclined his heard toward Bella, his delectable mouth inches from hers. She could feel his warm breath against her lips. Her heart raced; her knees wobbled.

"Hey, Jake!" Paul Lahote's unexpected hail broke through the intimacy of the moment.

They flew apart at the sound of his voice, coming from only a few feet away. They had been so lost in each other; they had missed his approach. Jacob – now standing a foot away from Bella – stuffed his hands in the pockets of his cut off sweats, a low growl ripping through his clenched teeth.

Bella stood with her head bowed and her cheeks flaming. Her eyes remained downcast as Paul finally joined them.

"We've got a problem, boss." He declared, totally oblivious to the charged moment he had just unwittingly interrupted.

"What?" Jacob demanded angrily.

Paul wasn't intimidated at all by the force of Jacob's reaction. "The redhead." He sneered. "We picked up her trail on the north of the res. Embry and Quil are following it now. We wanted to inform Sam, but he seems to have gone AWOL. So, I left the others to it and came to track you down, Almighty Alpha."

Jacob's jaw pulsed at the intentional barb. He glared stonily at Paul, his hands curling into fists. "Well, you've found me." He snapped. "Go back and join the others. I'll be right behind you. I just need to take Bella home first."

Paul's top lip curled back in irritation at the snarky rejoinder. However, he had learned from experience it was pointless fighting back. He nodded his head curtly and took off at a fast run back down the beach.

Jacob leaned down and scooped up another rock. He turned it over and over in his fingers, his eyes riveted on the black stone while he spoke in a low voice.

"It just never stops, does it?" He muttered darkly.

His eyes then flashed to Bella's; the agony rampant in every line of his body.

"Oh, Jake." Bella sighed, her own frustration mirroring his.

Jacob's eyebrows pushed together angrily, and his eyes were black in their deep shadow. "Come on, honey. I'll take you home." He said resignedly.

"Just walk me back to your house." Bella suggested. "I'll get Charlie to come pick me up. Your brothers need you right now."

Jacob nodded in agreement as he captured her hand and slowly began to lead the way back down the beach.

A/N-thanks for reading!