Almost Impossible Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Right when we got to the house, and was just about to phase back, Quil popped in and he was upset about something. Suddenly after a moment of trying to figure it all out, I realized it had to do with me.

What's going on? Jake asked him.

Charlie is here Bella and he's mad.

I couldn't think clearly enough to move at the moment. The only thing that broke me from my thoughts was Jake's startling laughter.

What? I snapped at him.


Is your head always so confusing?

Actually... Yeah, it is. And I managed a little laugh too, but went back to being serious. All right, I'll be right in.

Great. That was just what I needed. I knew my nice and calm day was just about to be ruined. I walked over to the trees and phased back. Always getting easier, just like Jake had said. I tried putting my clothes on as fast as I could, but I fell once when putting my pants back on and I also ended up putting my shirt on backwards. Luckily I caught that before I walked away.

By the time I had gotten to the door, Jake was standing next to me.

"Take a deep breath Bells. It'll be fine," he told me.

Sure it would. Charlie was freaking out about something and in the back of my head I knew I wouldn't be able to tell him why there wasn't really a reason to. I knew it had to be about the things that have been happening lately. It was only a matter of time.

So I did as Jake said and took a deep breath, not much help it did. I opened the door and it literally took everything in me to not turn and run back outside when I saw the look on Charlie's face. Just Great.

"Where were you?" Charlie shouted at me.

"Out for a walk with Jake. Why?" I said, calmly as I could.

"Something is going on here Bella and I'm tired of pretending it's not," he said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about." His tone just kept getting angrier and angrier.

"Actually I don't." I didn't know what else to say. I knew he would ask questions sooner or later, but right now I had no clue how to answer him.

"For starters, did you even really stay at Leah's last night?" he asked.

"Yes I did. You can even ask Sue if you really don't believe me." I snapped. Sure, he thought I was lying about the things I actually wasn't lying about. I backed up slightly to lean against the wall. It helped keep me in more control of myself, I could tell I was getting to that point.

"Oh you can be sure I will. There is just too much going on Bella. Too much unexplained. Things with Edward just ending, no reasons, just some excuse. If he did something to you, I want to know and I want to know it right now." I have never heard him use these tones before and I felt horrible once again for having to lie to him.

"No. Nothing happened with Edward, not like that anyways. I don't know maybe I came to my senses, but it just wasn't uh... wasn't working out with him anymore." I guess that was the most common wording used for breakups and it seemed good enough.

"Just like that?" he asked, curiously.

"Yeah, I guess so," I told him. I was actually surprised at how stable and sure I was able to keep myself.

"After everything, now somehow you realize it's not working out. I wish you would have realized that months ago when he put you through all that." He didn't have to specifically mention what he had meant. I saw a flash of pain in his eyes at remembering it.

"Sometimes things just happen. Things become more clear," I told him.

"So you and Jake now? Is that what has become clear?" he said suddenly.

"Well... I guess I..." My words were slipping. Such an easy question and I was stuck.

"We had a talk the other day." Jake cut in. "I told her how I felt about her and well I guess sometimes that's all you need. We talked about it for a while and the next thing I knew she was here with me and I couldn't be happier." He said, smiling at me. I smiled back, slightly losing focus again on that moment.

"Well..." Charlie started. He looked like he didn't know what else to say. He eyed me for a moment with narrow eyes. "Bella, what's really going on?" he asked suddenly. Curiosity was gone and the anger was back.

What Jake has said was basically true, I don't know why he didn't believe it. The look on his face now made me think he had a totally different track of thoughts going on now. I was starting to get mad and I felt slight jolts working through my body that led me to an almost panic. I needed to calm myself, the panic was making it all worse and it was probably over nothing. I took a few deep breathes and looked Charlie in the eyes.

"Dad, we told you already." My voice cracked a little.

He eyed me a little closer and his eyes widened. I just stared.

"Bella, are you pregnant?" he yelled.

Wow. I never saw that one coming.

"What? No!" I said, completely in shock. "Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Your clothes are looking tighter, you ate about twice as much as normal last night. Not to mention you are just acting weird. It sure would explain a little better than you discovered your feelings for Jake," he quickly said.

I didn't know if I should laugh, get mad, or be embarrassed at that. I guess his reasoning made sense, but still. Pregnant? I laughed lightly.

"Well, sorry if I'm gaining a little weight Dad, but no that is definitely not the case. Do we need to have that conversation again?"

Jake laughed a little too and that made Charlie look a little more uncomfortable and he mumbled out, "Uh, no. I just can't help but feel like there is something more going on than what you're telling me."

"I guess, to sum it up, I've changed a little." I shrugged. If only knew how just how much. "Guess you could say I'm just seeing a lot of things more clearly. Jake has always been there for me and that is what's important."

I decided I had explained enough. If he had more questions, then Jake or Billy, who I just noticed wasn't in the room like I had thought, would have to answer them. There was only so much I could do. But he seemed slightly satisfied with that.

"Well then... I guess that's it," he said, and the conversation was dropped. "I should probably get home. I need to clean the cruiser anyways. The outside is looking pretty dirty."

"I'll be home for dinner," I told him.

He stared at the door as he walked too it. He slowed a little to put a hand on my shoulder tightly and smile, though it wasn't a happy one. He disappeared out the door and I heard the car start up and pull away.

I was happy it was all over with. For now. I knew it was just a matter of time before he brought it up again and I really didn't expect him to catch on this soon, but he did. I also knew things were only just now getting weird and soon I would have even more questions to answer.


***


The day was calm and quiet again and most of it went by pretty fast. After Charlie had left, Jake and I had lunch then went out to the garage so he could work on some new thing he was doing to his car. I just smiled and nodded while he explained, but he ended up just laughing at me most of the time.

When he was done with that, apparently giving up because something wasn't going right, we decided to go in and watch a movie. It wasn't all that interesting and we weren't paying attention to it. I wanted to talk to him, but I had a hard time thinking of something, and that forced the question I had from before up in front, ready to be asked. It was never so hard to talk to him before. I took a deep breath and Jacob turned to look at me.

"What's up Bells?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know, just was thinking about something," I mumbled.

"What about?"

"Us. This whole imprinting thing."

"What about it? I thought we pretty much covered all that?" he said, even more curious than before.

"Well, it's just that... Well, it seems to me that somehow we aren't as close as we were before. I mean, we're closer in other ways, but as far as normal ways, we don't even hardly talk anymore it seems. Everything has been about phasing, or other pack stuff. I don't know." I was rambling and my point wasn't really being made, so I just stopped.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We don't get enough time for ourselves and when we do it's for talking about the pack." He sounded as I felt, somewhat sad. "You know I love you, I have always loved you and I couldn't be happier right now." The way he said the last sentence was like he was leaving out something.

"But?"

"Bella, you just gave everything up, just like you did with that... Edward. I don't want you to do that. I don't want you to regret it later. I hate thinking it, but you somehow should have talked to him about it."

"I tried!" I said loudly. "I tried when he unexpectedly showed up and what happened? I phased! There wasn't much I could do. I'll talk to him again, when I know I'm controlled enough. But, what I meant was it all just seems to be harder for us. I can't think of a reason why, but it just does."

"Right. Well, I guess we do have it harder than most imprints do," he mumbled. I could tell he was thinking. "We're the only ones who can both turn into wolves. Usually the imprint stays at home, out of the danger while the wolf that imprinted goes out does things. But in our situation, we're side by side dealing with it together. Even though it is kind of nice, no secrets, it's harder. We have twice as much to worry about in the relationship I guess."

It made sense and I never really thought about it that way. Emily stays at home while Sam runs the pack. Her job, that she's proud to take on, is to care for the pack. At the end of the day they are somewhat normal. Jake and I are the same now, both werewolves and both constantly worrying about the danger to come. Where's the room for normal when neither of us are? Guess we do have to work harder, at least until that danger is over with.

"But Jake, you never have to worry about me regretting this. I don't think I can even if we have to work at it. I'm just sorry it took imprinting to really make me realize how I felt and I still feel horrible about that."

"So if you wouldn't have imprinted, you wouldn't be here right now?" he asked and it surprised me.

Ok that wasn't what I meant by that, but... If I wouldn't have imprinted on Jacob, would I still be with Edward now? The only thing I knew for sure was before Jacob and I had kissed, I was already stuck with deciding who I wanted. Jacob was always my friend who I loved, but there was no denying that sometimes I wanted more. Edward had always seemed so perfect, but so flawed at the same time. I think either way, someday, I would have realized I wasn't making the right decision and it would be with Jacob, it just might have taken a little longer. And I told him that.

"So you knew you loved me that way, you just never told me?" he asked.

"Yeah. You always said you could tell anyways," I laughed. "But I was denying it. I wanted Edward. When you kissed me, I realized that it was you I wanted and that was when all the weird things happened. Until those weird things I wasn't even sure how I would have acted on those new thoughts," I told him.

"As long as you knew you loved me more, that's good enough for me. I'm just sorry I ended up bringing all the werewolf stuff into your life. I wanted to be with you, but never imagined like this."

"I know. Guess next time you should be more specific in what you want," I said and he and I both laughed.

He pulled me into his arms and we sank into the couch comfortably. "It didn't really matter to me, as long as I had you." He whispered. "I just wish I knew what was causing it all," he said with a yawn.

"I know," I whispered back, leaning into him more and resting my head on his chest.

It was silent for a moment and I was getting tired. Jake spoke just as my eyelids were closing.

"I think I have an idea though. Not about that specifically, but about you phasing. ‘The special human girl,'" he barely whispered.

"What do you mean?" I asked. That was kind of random.

"Your head. It's closed to us somehow, until you let us in. That's something pretty special all right." His voice was lower than before.

It took about five minutes for Jake to fall asleep while I was thinking about what he had just said. Blocking people from my head can be considered special? I guess in a way it can. I just wish I knew if everything was connected or not and what the reasons were. I thought just being able to imprint was special, but I guess there had to be something "special" in me to cause that. But the blocking people thing, I wish I could find out more about that. Also, it feels like maybe it is all connected. Phasing, blocking people, and the danger. What was the trigger?

I felt like I should know the answer, like it was right there in plain sight, but I still wasn't getting it. It seemed like the more I thought about it, the more it confused me. I decided to just relax in this time I had with Jake and sleep a little bit before I had to get home.

Right as I was slipping into a dream, a flash of something crossed my mind; I really wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. My whole body tensed as I focused hard on what I had seen, even as a blur I could make out the figures. Dim lights, dark robes, pale faces, and bright red eyes; all facing me.

I jumped up off the couch with a gasp and Jake was on his feet followed by a growl. He stopped once he saw me. I had no idea what the expression on my face had shown and in that moment I didn't care. I looked up into his fear filled eyes, knowing that he had no idea just what there was to fear. Not yet.

"Bella, what is it?" he asked, voice shaky as he walked over to hold me in his arms.

I could feel the tears fall from my eyes as my head spun. I knew what had to be coming and I knew they were definitely coming for me.

I gasped for air so I could speak, but my voice was almost soundless. "The Volturi."