I'll be home for Christmas

Chapter 4

AN: I forgot to say - when I first wrote this I had Rick Mora in mind for Josh but in a few fics recently he is pretty well-recognised as Ephraim Black, the role he played in the Twilight movie, so I have changed my head pic of Josh to Benjamin Bratt… I mean why not? He's taller and so very handsome.

Sam carried Josh easily out of the room and laid him on the couch in the living room. Bella followed behind. She put a cushion under Josh's head.

Jake was on the phone but gave them a questioning look.

"He collapsed," Sam supplied. "His heartbeat is steady, a little fast, but it seems okay."

Jake spoke into the phone, "Hang on, Sue. Josh has collapsed… if you want to, sure… come check him out… ten minutes? Yep…" He hung up.

"I'm glad she's coming," Bella said. "I think she should check Billy, too."

"Why?" Jake asked.

"I-I thought I saw Billy's fingers move. That's a good sign for a coma patient… right?"

Jake just ran into his father's room.

Sam was looking at Bella with an unreadable look on his face. "What did he do to Billy?"

"You saw it, Sam. He didn't do anything except talk about how he remembered Billy being when he was younger and kiss him. You saw it!"

Sam huffed out a breath. He looked tired. "These last few weeks…" He sat down and put his face in his hands.

She had no idea what he was talking about but guessed it had to do with the rez. "Is Emily okay?" she asked.

"She's fine, she's Makah," he answered cryptically.

Bella didn't know what that meant. She needed some space. "Bathroom," she muttered and took herself to the toilet. She washed her face afterward and wondered why the heck this was happening to her… again. Weird, unexplained things. People not telling her everything. She had kept a lot of secrets for so many people for such a long time that she wasn't even sure which secrets belonged to whom anymore. She had thought karma was kicking her butt when she saw Sam at the beach, but it seemed like karma had started in on her a while before that. She told Josh that she didn't believe in fate but she was back in La Push for a start, surrounded by weirdness and half spoken truths. Again. More lies and more secrets and she was truly tired of keeping secrets.

And of course, part of her grand plan of run and hide for the last five years, was to avoid such weirdness. Avoid the supernatural. Choose a normal life. If looking over your shoulder constantly could be said to be normal. Damn it. If Josh wasn't awake she was going to kick him herself.

He had brought her here. It was all his fault.

She stomped out of the bathroom and caught sight of a looming figure that appeared in the hallway. He moved quickly towards her then stopped as if he wasn't sure of his welcome.

"Embry!" she squealed and threw herself at him. After Jake had his lupine hissy fit and disappeared for the whole time before her non-wedding, she had spent many phone calls checking in with Seth or Embry to see if he was in range, was he talking to anyone, when was he coming back, what he thought he was doing by this, etc.

"You came back!" Embry picked her up and gave her a massive hug. It was a 'Jake hug' and it was only as he did it that she realized she had missed Jake hugging her. He had been extremely careful to stay a long way away from her since her sudden reappearance. Jake had never kept his distance before from her; he was usually always hugging her; always touching her.