The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter XXV: Jacob's Point of View

I stumbled into the house, wet from the never ending rainfall. I still hadn't had a moment to breathe, but that was more my own fault than Sam's. The girls were in the living room, Bella tucked under a few blankets. She hadn't tried anything about being cold again, so the extra blankets were clearly working. Annie had herself wrapped in one of my sweaters that fit before I phased. I was all too happy to see her in it. They were watching some sappy movie that girls loved on Hallmark. Annie noticed me first, patting the empty spot beside her. Her hand came up to scratch the base of my skull, moving its way down my back and back up. She made lazy circles, spirals, and other patterns, changing up every so often. I rested my head against her shoulder, despite the ten inches that now separated us. I was almost asleep when she leaned in and whispered,

"Why don't you go sleep?" I'd rather stay right where I was, thank you very much.

The irony of my situation almost made me laugh. Annie and I had been best friends for ages and I had never realized that I loved her. And when Bella came around, I fought for every little scrap of her attention. I would do anything just to stay right by her side. And though Annie gave me plenty of attention, I still thought about anything to do to stay around her. Even if it meant fall asleep in her lap.

But I couldn't ignore the fact that I had patrol... again.

"I have patrol in an hour." She wasn't happy with me, but she only sighed. At least she didn't try to fight me on it. I was only doing it to protect her. Protection, right. "Paul will be running around the house."

"Why don't you let Paul get some sleep? You've had him watching me and Bella for days." I couldn't argue with her. Someone had to be around to watch the imprints, and Bella, and Paul had been volunteering. Annie and Paul's shared sense of inappropriate humor made them quick friends. And even though Paul hated Bella, referring to her as leech lover more often than her name, he wanted to protect Ryanne. So when we needed someone to watch our girls, Paul volunteered. Unless he was sleeping... or eating. Either way, I was grateful for him. Annie was right; I had been asking him to run too hard.

"Are you going anywhere?" I asked before I conceded. Jared was finally telling Kim about the wolves. Embry was on patrol. Sam was getting some much needed and much deserved sleep. I had to go on patrol. I couldn't exactly ask Embry to run extra just to protect them. But if they were in the house and staying there, I could hear them and Sam was only a few doors down. If something went wrong he would hear it. But only if they were here.

"No; we'll stay here and work on dinner and stuff like that," she promised. "Go catch a nap." God, and Annie, knew I needed it. I looked at the clock. I could get forty-five minutes.

I swear it was only two seconds later when Annie plopped down on my bed, musing my hair to wake me.

"You have to get going," she whispered in my ear. I groaned, but quickly reminded myself that I had to protect her.

"What time are you off?" she asked. I liked that she talked about patrol like it was an on-call job. I wasn't sure if it was how she coped or what, but it made me feel like this was normal. Even if we were only sixteen; well, almost seventeen.

"Seven." She nodded.

"I'll have dinner ready then. And then you are going to sleep until tomorrow."

"But I have-" "I already called Sam. You're off until tomorrow morning at eight. That means that you can get twelve hours," she said quietly. I growled softly. "You look like shit, Jake. And you're not protecting anyone when you're this tired."

"Fine; be safe and stay inside." She nodded and I kissed her forehead. Maybe tomorrow morning would give us a chance to talk.

I phased once I hit the tree line, looking back to see Annie smiling from her spot on the front porch. I could get used to this.