The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter XX: Jacob's Point Of View

The first second that Sue could bring back was almost forty-five minutes later. The legends say that the wolf and the man share bodies, but sometimes it feels like the two are at war. So while the man part of my brain understood that Sue was doing the best she could, the wolf side was impatiently waiting to hold our imprint again.

I told Charlie that I had been at the school, getting some books from my locker that Annie had forgotten when I heard her screaming. I pretty much told the truth after that. Bella showed ups little while later. I still wasn't sure what to make of her. Actually, I couldn't even think about her at the moment. My imprint was lying in a hospital bed. What did I care about Bella?

Charlie sat with us for a couple of hours before he said that he needed to go make some calls. Naturally, Annie chose that moment to groan and reach out, stretching the IV tubing.

"You can't do that, Annie," I whispered, wrapping my hand around her icy one. She furrowed her eyebrows, undoubtedly trying to figure out what was going on. I brushed my knuckles against her cheeks, watching the blood rush to the surface. I smiled as she turned her head towards my hand.

"Your dad and Bella went to cafeteria to get some breakfast," I said, looking at the clock overhead. Four in the morning is hardly breakfast, but when you've been up all night... Annie groaned and rocked her head from side to side. "Come on, Annie.I haven't seen those eyes of yours in almost a day."

That wasn't necessarily true; I had seen them. But they were full of tears and fear. I never wanted to see that look on her face every again. She grumbled as she opened her eyes, but finally she was staring up at me. Yep; blue was definitely my favorite color.

"That's my girl," I breathed, squeezing her hand softly.

"You look like shit," she managed, but the words were coarse, her throat cracking with every syllable. I didn't care what I looked like, as long as she was safe. She hacked, trying to push herself upright, but her arm kept collapsing.

My thumb was two big for the buttons on that damned remote, but I finally managed to get her sitting. When I looked back at her, she had drunk a quarter of what was in the cup. I pulled it away from, gentle and insistent, from her grasp. She looked up at me questioningly, probably still thirsty.

"The docs said the medicine they gave you can make you a little nauseous," I said quietly. "Best if we take it slow." She just nodded.

I wished she would say something, even if it was just another insult. I just wanted to hear her voice.

"Why are you here?" she managed in a whisper. Okay, that's not what I wanted to here.

But what could I expect? I had told her that I would be her friend forever when we were only nine, and then I left her to fend for herself against a grown man.

"Did you want me to leave?" I asked, my voice barely audible. Please don't make me leave you in a hospital bed, Annie.

Her eyes looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't quite manage it. Instead, she squeezed my hand.

"Isn't your dad going to be upset?" she finally said. If she only understood how upset my dad was.

I didn't know, or at least it had never occurred to me, that someone wheelchair bound could pace. But in the brief moment that I had left Annie's side, he had been wheeling himself back and forth, looking at Annie's door.

"My dad is in the waiting room, hoping that you'll tell a nurse that he can come and see you."

She glowered again, her eyes drooping. I watched her fight valiantly, her head twitching every time that she felt sleep coming over her. I pressed a kiss to her nose and one to her cheek before leaning over to her ear.