Chapter 13: Jacob

The nap I took after meeting up with the Cullens was the best thing I'd ever had. I felt like I could have slept for another eight hours but all too soon, the alarm's persistent beeping invaded my dreams.

I didn't have patrol until much later, but I still had things to do. Earlier that morning I had come home to find a note from Billy asking me to pick him up at Charlie's again. And before that, I had errands of my own to run.

I fingered the thick manila envelope sitting on the table. I hadn't brought it to the meeting earlier because I still wasn't 100% sure about the tentative alliance. But I was now.

Since I had to pick up Billy afterward, I decided to take the Rabbit out instead of running. As I opened the door of the garage, my gaze settled on the motorcycles huddled forlornly in the corner. Like every time I entered the garage recently, I reached out and brushed the handlebars of Bella's bike gently. Would we ever get a chance to ride our bikes together again?

It was never very far from my mind that I was putting so much effort into bringing her home and making sure she was safe. It was the only thing I could do. But even so, her friendship was no longer a guarantee. After all this, I still wasn't sure if she would even want to hang out with a wolf, much less one who had ditched her for so long after promising not to.

As I pulled into the Cullens' driveway, I was slightly surprised to find that it still looked the same as when Embry and I had broken in. The grass was still long and meadow-like and there was no evidence of any movement inside the windows. In fact, the only change was the sun that was now highlighting the wildflowers dotting the grass.

I wasn't sure what my plan was if no one was home. I knew they had planned on staying out of town so it never occurred to me that they would be anywhere else but at home. I certainly couldn't break into the house again and I didn't want to just leave their envelope on the front porch.

I didn't need to worry. As I walked up the front steps, the door opened and Emmett beckoned me inside.

"Alice was pretty sure it was you," he said by way of greeting. "But it's sunny outside right now so we had to be sure." With that he ducked back into the house, leaving the door ajar. After a moment's hesitation, I followed him inside.

The smell hit me like a sledgehammer. It was one thing to meet with them outside or to go into a house that they left months ago. But I didn't realize just how much rubbing shoulders with them inside would stink. Even so, under the stench of vampire that made my eyes water, there was another smell that made my mouth water too.

"Are those cookies?" I asked, cautiously sniffing the air. A flurry of giggles sounded in the kitchen and Alice appeared in the doorway.

"Esme stress bakes," she explained. "And there hasn't really been anyone to eat her creations since Bella.

Esme smiled warmly as I followed Alice back into the kitchen. She was the vision of a Norman Rockwell painting – apron and all – pulling a tray of cookies out of the oven. The fact that it was a vampire engaging in this display of domesticity made for a very strange picture.

"I hope you're hungry," she said kindly, placing a few onto a plate and sliding it across the counter towards me. I picked one up and popped it in my mouth. It was delicious.

"Thanks, these are really good," I said, my voice muffled by the cookie. Esme beamed at me and started placing the rest of the cookies from the tray into a paper bag.

"Here, you can take these ones to your brothers." I wasn't entirely sure that any of them but Embry would want cookies homemade by a leech, but I decided not to tell her that.

"Ugh, who let the Mutt in here?" Rosalie glared at me as she passed through the kitchen. "We just finished airing the place out from your last visit."

"Hey Princess, how long does it take a blonde to change the lightbulb?"

"Oh a blonde joke, how original," Rosalie sneered. "I guess with such a tiny brain you can't think of anything else." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and stalked out of the kitchen. I tried not to snicker.

"She doesn't mean it you know," Esme said anxiously. This time I couldn't help but laugh.

"Sure she does, but that's alright. I can take it." I turned back to Alice. "So you knew I was coming?"

"Sort of," Alice said. "We knew that one of the Pack was coming, but I couldn't see who. I did hope it was you though."

"Makes sense. I just wanted to drop this off," I said, tossing the envelope onto the counter. Alice put her hand on it and stared at it thoughtfully.

"I swear I didn't know this would happen to her," she said abruptly after a moment's pause. "My gift is clearest after a decision is made, but I still sometimes get feelings about things. Like I could sense that she would need these, even though I had no idea how or why." She looked up at me then, her gold eyes anxious. "I had no idea what she would go through or else I never would have left." She looked so sad that my heart went out to her.

"I just don't understand how you didn't see her decide to leave." Alice shrugged.

"My gift isn't perfect. I wasn't actively looking for her at the time so there are a number of things that could have hidden the decision from me. A member of your pack could have been close by when she made the decision. Or maybe I did see her deciding to leave but because she didn't have a plan, all I saw was her driving. I don't see the reasons behind the decisions, just the outcomes. This is what I've been trying to tell my family for months. Just because I don't see something doesn't mean it's not happening. There are too many variables."

The ability to see the future sounded incredible, but I had never before considered how muddled it might make things. But I was so quick to point out the harder parts of being able to turn into giant wolves, it made sense that it might be the same way for the vampires too. At this moment, Alice looked positively miserable with her gift.

"I'm sorry Alice," I said sincerely. "It's not your fault we can't find her." She flashed a shaky smile at me.

"That's very kind of you to say, Jacob," she said. "Speaking of the holes in my vision, are you by any chance going to see Charlie next?"

"Yeah, my dad is there now and I need to pick him up." She nodded.

"I'm getting better at this," she said to herself before continuing in a normal voice. "I was wondering if I could tag along."

"Why would you want to do that?" I asked. The thought of making the ten-minute drive into town with a vampire sitting in the seat next to me made my nose twitch.

"I want to see Charlie," she admitted. "When Bella and I became friends we hung out at her house a lot and Charlie was so kind to me. I know he's struggling with Bella's disappearance and I wanted to see if I could cheer him up at all."

"Then why not take yourself?"

"I'm afraid he's not going to be very happy to see me at first. I was hoping that arriving with you would smooth over the meeting." I rolled my eyes.

"I thought you were trying to stay under the radar here," I pointed out.

"For the most part, we are. But it wouldn't be that suspicious of me to spend my spring break coming back to visit my best friend. Besides," she lowered her voice conspiratorially. "My family is so guilty about not listening to me when I told them Bella was in trouble that no one wants to tell me no."


"So how are you going to divide up the groups to look for Bella," I asked once we were settled in the car. The sun had disappeared behind the clouds again so we had all the windows rolled down to keep the smell from getting too bad. I knew she would still be able to hear me.

"We'll be traveling in groups of three. It actually works out very well. Among the six of us, there are two who have medical training, two above-average fighters, and two who Bella is most comfortable with." She grinned at me. "Do you want to guess who's who?"

"Obviously Bella is very comfortable with you. And Esme?" Alice nodded. That was the easy one. Esme seemed to be the type of motherly person who could make anyone feel comfortable. "Emmett is one of the fighters. Maybe Rosalie too? She seems like she could be a good fighter if she gets pissed off anyway." Alice laughed.

"You're not wrong, but Jasper actually has more combat experience than the rest of us, so he and Emmett are the fighters."

"Is that so? I figured with all those scars he wasn't that good." I grinned at her to show that I was joking and she chuckled.

"Vampires usually fight to the death. So just the fact that he has that many scars and he's still alive means that he's very very good." Huh, I guess that makes sense.

"Wait, so that means that Rosalie is the other doctor?" Somehow I couldn't picture the imposing blonde with a seemingly permanent scowl on her face being allowed anywhere near a patient. Alice giggled.

"Not exactly. Rosalie and Edward are the only ones other than Carlisle to have gone through medical school. Rosalie's never practised as a doctor but if Bella is injured when we find her then theoretical knowledge is better than nothing."

"I thought Jasper said you guys wouldn't let her know you were there."

"That would be ideal. At least according to Edward. But if Victoria shows up while we're waiting for you, we certainly won't just stand back and watch."

"And you'll want to split up your gifts, right? So you in one car and Jasper in the other?" Alice shrugged.

"Thanks to modern technology, my gift is just as useful to both cars no matter where I'm riding. Rosalie will probably ride with Emmett and Esme because she tends to be nicer to them and it was a challenge to convince her to come in the first place. Carlisle and I, along with Jasper, will take the other car." I nodded thoughtfully. The Cullens had obviously put a great deal of thought into this. I was glad to see that they were taking this rescue mission just as seriously as I was.

I realized with a start that while I was talking with Alice, I had unconsciously driven most of the familiar route to the Swan residence. Maybe it was just that we had someone important in common, but I found Alice surprisingly easy to talk to. If life were different – if she had never been turned or I had never phased – I was beginning to think that we could have been good friends.

But reality settled back in as I pulled into the driveway and spotted Billy through the living room windows. We weren't friends. Instead, I was about to bring a mortal enemy into the same house as my dad.

"Don't worry, I'll keep my distance from him," Alice murmured, as if she could read my mind. "Take him and leave. I'm just here for Charlie." I nodded my thanks and taking a big breath to steel myself, I pushed open the Swan's front door.

A/N - This chapter would not be nearly this polished if it weren't for my lovely beta, oihdsfx. Thanks! Also I've been pretty good about sticking to the once-a-week update schedule but there will NOT be an update next Thursday. Appreciate the understanding. Remember that reviews = motivation and I'll see ya'll in 2 weeks 3