feishuxs.com 
A little annoyed Bella turned her head, following Alice's gaze to see what was holding her girlfriend's attention, a small gasp falling from her lips a second later．
"Jake," she whispered, her eyes taking in all 6'7 inches of Jacob Black as he leaned against his motorcycle, which was parked across the street near the lights．
From where he was parked he had an unobstructed view of the door to Newton's, but he was far enough down the street that she wouldn't have been able to see him from inside the store. It was the perfect position to watch out for someone without them seeing you, and Bella remembered the feeling she had had of being watched earlier and wondered if Jacob was the source．
"We're watching her.”
Bella started, her eyes shooting from Jacob over to Alice, about to ask her what she meant, but when she turned she saw that Alice was still staring forward, her eyes trained on Jacob．
Bella looked back over to Jacob, her face a mask of confusion. Alice was just using a regular speaking voice, and Jake was maybe 50 yards away. There was no way that he could have …
Jacob inclined his head, acknowledging Alice's statement．
"You should tell her," Jacob said. "She deserves to know. It's her life," he continued, his voice a low grumble. "She's stronger than your brother gives her credit for. She's not going to break," he finished sounding offended on Bella's behalf．
She might not have had the best co-ordination, but Bella wasn't made of glass. She'd managed to survive for seventeen years before she had met Edward Cullen, and she could survive a hell of lot more without him．
Bella squinted, leaning forward. It looked like Jacob was talking but he was too far away for her to even be sure his lips were moving, let alone to hear what he was (possibly) saying．
"Yes, I know," Alice said. Ｈer voice was firm and certain as she held Jacob's gaze．
"Are you talking?" Bella asked staring at Alice. "Are you talking to him? What's he saying?" she continued, her eyes moving back and forth between the two of them rapidly, looking very much like a spectator at a very exciting tennis match．
"Go ahead," Jacob said gesturing towards Bella. "She's going to get mad at you if you don't answer her," he continued with a touch of amusement in his voice．
Alice smirked. Ｈe did know Bella well, she'd give him that．
"We're talking," Alice confirmed, finally turning her head to look at Bella. "We're almost done," she continued glancing back over at Jacob. "I'll tell you everything on the way home," she added, the comment directed at Bella, but also for Jacob's ears. "I promise.”
"You're not like him," Jacob said watching Alice closely．
She was still standing beside Bella, but she hadn't moved protectively in front of her as if she expected him to come charging across the street at any moment. And while she was a little guarded while talking to him she hadn't been threatening or hostile. In fact, she had been the one to first acknowledge him when she had spotted him on her way into the store. She hadn't seemed happy to see him there, but her tone had been more curious than anything, and she had been very polite during the entire conversation. She had even thanked him for saving Bella's life, which had absolutely stunned him．
"Ｈow so?" Alice asked curiously knowing that Jacob was referring to Edward．
"You're … nice," Jacob said after a second. "Really," he added sounding almost surprised. "For a bloodsucking leech you're not half bad.”
Alice smiled, and Jacob returned the expression．
Bella stared at Alice as she smiled at Jake, and then threw up her hands annoyance．
Now they were smiling？
She looked around the street as if she hoped to catch the eyes of someone else who found this as mind-boggling as she did, but there was nobody immediately around them．
Bella sighed and dropped her arms morosely．
She had no idea what was going on．
"Nice dog," Alice murmured still smiling. "Good boy," she cooed as if she was actually talking to an adorable puppy．
"Ruff," Jacob said in response, still grinning. Ｈe couldn't quite believe that he had just discovered a bloodsucker with a decent sense of humor. "Listen," he started a few moments later, his tone serious once again. "Tell Bella she's still welcome at La Push … if she wants. Please," he added, remembering his manners．
If he had been talking to one of the other leeches he wouldn't have bothered with the message, but Alice seemed not completely vile, so he decided to give it a shot．
"I will," Alice said, nodding her head in his direction. Ｈis voice was a little strained and she knew that it was probably hard for him to ask a favor of her. "You have my word.”
Jacob stared at her for a second torn between excitement and disbelief. "You're not going to try and keep her away?”
Alice glanced over at Bella and sighed. "She does what she wants," she replied. "Ｈonestly, I'd rather you met at Fran's for pancakes, but …" Alice shrugged and sighed again. "Frankly, that's more about me than you," she added, knowing that the majority of her unease about Bella going to La Push came from the fact that the werewolves blocked her visions. If Bella got into trouble around them she wouldn't know about it, and she didn't like that at all．
"You wouldn't follow?" Jacob asked, very tempted to believe her．
"I can't," Alice responded. La Push was forbidden territory. Even if she wanted to keep an eye on Bella she wouldn't have been able to．
"I meant if we were in town," he clarified．
"No," Alice said decisively. The werewolves made her nervous in general, but she knew that Jacob cared about Bella and that he wouldn't hurt her. And, truly, he wasn't any more of a danger to Bella than she or her family was. Vampires were quite a bit less hairy and quite a bit more sparkly, but it would have been disingenuous to resent him because he was a bit of an animal when they were too．
"I'm gonna hold you to that," Jacob responded, staring at Alice for a second longer．
Then he turned around and climbed onto his bike. Once he was astride it, he looked at them once last time, lifting his hand to wave at Bella, and then he popped the clutch, spun and bike around and he was gone．
"Okay," Bella started when Jacob was out of sight. "What?”
"Not here," Alice murmured, placing her hand lightly on Bella's shoulder. "Let's go for a drive.”
"Spill," Bella said the moment they were both seated in the car and the doors were closed．
"Why hello, it's nice to see you too," Alice responded glancing over at Bella as she started up the car．
"Don't be cute," Bella said, meeting Alice's gaze. "That," she said waving her hand about, "was powerfully weird. I want to know what you two were talking about. I thought you couldn't stand each other!”
"Ｈe's not so bad when I can't smell him," Alice said, pulling away from the curb, her body tense as she tried to obey the speed limit for the time being. "As for what we were talking about, I suppose the first thing is … Jacob says that you're still welcome at La Push, if you want," Alice continued. "Ｈis exact words," she added, stepping on the gas peddle as they made their way out of the populated part of town and hit more open road．
"Really?" Bella asked softly, her voice tentatively hopeful．
She had tried calling Jacob after the day of Ｈarry's funeral, but he either hadn't been getting her messages or had been choosing to ignore them because he hadn't returned any of her calls. She knew that he had a lot on his plate, and had decided to give him some time. After all, he had learned quite a few things that he would need time to digest after the last time they had seen each other. But as the weeks went on and her calls were still ignored, she had really and truly been beginning to think that their friendship was over, and the thought of that had devastated her．
"Really," Alice replied. "I think he misses you a lot," she added knowing that Bella missed Jacob terribly as well, and that she was one of the reasons that they had been staying away from each other．
"Edward won't be happy about that," Bella said angling her head towards Alice, watching the raven-haired beauty closely．
"No, he won't," Alice replied, her response simple and matter-of-fact．
"What about you?" Bella asked carefully. "Ｈow do you feel?”
Alice glanced over at Bella, watching her keenly for a moment before returning her eyes to the road．
