All Bark, No Bite [Jacob & Edward]

14.5

a/n: there might be mistakes in this, but I'm living by the Hannah Montana code.

a/n: i liked the message above so I didn't remove it. xo.

Jacob is sure he's hallucinating when his eyes slowly open to find Bella standing in the corner. Her eyes are watching him intently. She has this half-smirk, a look of contempt, on her face.

Maybe he is still in the dream.

Or he must be losing his mind.

He can't bring himself to look away from her as she raises her left hand towards him. There is something in her palm that he struggles to make out. It looks like brown strands wrapped around her ring finger.

What does that mean?

Jacob's not even sure how long Edward's been standing in front of him, but he doesn't realize until a cool hand presses against his forehead.

"Hey," It's all soft again like he's afraid he's going to scare him. Jacob doesn't actually blame him this time. It has not been a good day for him.

"Want to tell me what happened?" He's moving closer slowly, like he's negotiating with a startled, wild animal.

Jacob's eyes close on their own, but he immediately reopens them, eyes running over the sheets again.

"Just between the two of us." Jacob hears him mutter quietly. It takes him a minute to realize that he means the pack isn't listening in.

He doesn't want to talk about it. It feels like he's genuinely losing his mind.

"Nightmare." He finally unclenches his jaw and puts the shirt down low enough to where Edward can hear him.

"Want to tell me what it was about?"

No.

Jacob lays back on the bed out of pure exhaustion. Somehow, whatever sleep he'd gotten had made him even more tired.

He's almost, accidentally, completely closed his eyes before there's a quiet knock on the door.

Leah's standing behind it, eyes warily watching Jacob.

She stands there for a moment before her confusion evolves into a frown.

"Jake, where's your nest?"

Jacob looks over at her wondering why it mattered. He eventually pointed at the hamper. The junk he'd been accumulating on their mattress was barely contained within it.

"Why did you put it in the clothes basket?" She sounds like she's trying to be gentle. Her tone is soft and her eyes are wide in question. He just doesn't see why it matters.

"Why does it matter?"

He can see frustration flash across her face before she remembers to relax. Her jaw unclenches, her eyebrows raise slightly.

"When did you start building the nest?" 

He doesn't know. It was around the time the witch was still a problem. It was a bit blurry, but he remembers the shirt he's clutching in his lap.  He remembers Edward chucking it in the hamper. He doesn't remember digging it out.

"Did you have nightmares before you started finding clothes in your bed?"

Yes.

He'd kept reliving being torn open every night. They all knew this. 

"Have you had a nightmare since building the nest?"

He stares at her. She's really trying her hardest to be patient with him. She's trying to convince him that a pile of clothes is what stopped the onslaught of nightmares every time Jacob closed his eyes.