Chapter Five:
Treading in Dangerous Waters

Caroline was known for driving to relieve stress and so it was no surprise to her when her drive home had taken well over an hour. She had mostly calmed down from whatever the hell that was with Jacob Black.

Her ego was bruised, her pride shot but as the miles passed and she pulled into the driveway, she was more confused than anything else. The phone receiver was blinking when she got home so she dropped Bella's car keys onto the kitchen table and played them back.

"You have three new messages," the machine announced. "First new message from Emily Uley at 10:15 PM:

"Hi Caroline!" Emily's voice came through the speaker. "I was just checking in to make sure you made it home safe, you left kind of quickly back there. Please give me a call, we love you.

"Next message from Emily Uley at 10:47 PM:

"Hi Caroline, it's me again. I'm sure you just got home and went straight to bed, I'm just worried about you. Call me when you get up! Love you."

Caroline sighed. She wouldn't put it past Emily to drive all the way out here if she didn't call back tonight. She was always a mini-mother figure to everyone, but now that she was pregnant, she seemed to be even more so than before. Caroline pulled her hair in a quick bun and then reached for the receiver. She would likely be asleep - although, Caroline wouldn't put it past her for her to stay up waiting by the fun - but she decided it was better to call her now so she didn't worry too much. Before she could grab it, the next message started.

"Next message from 564-423-9838 at 10:59 PM:

"Caroline Talltree?" A man's voice shook softly. "It's Ranger Daniels." He paused, breathing heavy. "I'm in Forks, I have information on your father. Meet me at the Athletics and Aquatics club soon. I don't know how long I can wait.

"End of message. To call back, press 1. To repeat this message, press 2. To delete this message, press 3. To hear these options again, press 4."

Caroline stared at the receiver. With shaking hands she played the message two more times before she quickly scribbled down the phone number. She grabbed her keys and started out the door, but paused. She looked up the staircase to listen for movement, then as quietly as she could, she deleted the message from the receiver.

Her hands were clammy and shaking as she made her way to the Athletics and Aquatics Center towards the outskirts of town. The streets were eerily empty and the way the lights reflected off of the wet pavement only added to lonely seeling. Caroline parked a few blocks down from the center. She wasn't exactly in an inconspicuous car and she didn't want to meet up with him in anything too recognizable. This was the same man who lied to her about the circumstances around her father's death, she didn't necessarily trust him, but he was her only lead.

She walked briskly towards the center, her footsteps echoing down every alley she passed. She could see her breath as she walked and she wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she had grabbed a jacket before she left.

"Miss Talltree?"

Caroline jumped and whirled to face the alleyway a block away from the Aquatics Center. "Ranger Daniels?" The Park Ranger motioned for her to come closer. She looked around and elected to ignore the small voice in the back of her head that said no one can see you if you go in there, bad idea, go home, it isn't safe.

She clenched her fists and stepped just within the alleyway before freezing. The ranger in front of her was incredibly disheveled, his clothes were muddied and his face was pained but he otherwise looked good - attractive, even - from what she could see in the shadows. Then she noticed the dried blood covering the front of his shirt. "Oh my god," she rushed forward to try to help him but he stepped back, holding out a manila envelope for her to grab, effectively keeping her away from him. He scrunched his nose and hissed when she got close enough to grab the envelope. "Daniels," she said softly, grabbing the envelope from him and taking a tentative step forward. "Are you okay?"

The second she had taken the envelope he backed away from her. His eyes no longer filled was disgust, but almost yearning as he stared at her. Her heart rate accelerated and she took a step back. The alleyway was dark and the shadows that crossed his face made him look all the more menacing. But he wouldn't hurt her. Would he?

"I don't think I'll be able to return," he said, looking away from her. "They'll be looking for me."

"Who is looking for you?"

"This is all I have," he gestured to the envelope, ignoring her question. "I don't think I can get anything else. I know she's been helping you, too."

"Who has been helping me?" Caroline asked. "You didn't leave the letter?"

He stepped back again. "She knows more than she's letting on, but they won't let her -" he stopped abruptly and his head snapped behind him, as if he could hear something she couldn't. "Protect it at all costs," the park ranger said.

Caroline shook her head in disbelief. "Protect it from who?" Caroline stared at the folder in her hands, there were a couple of items protruding from it. When she looked up, he was gone. The air suddenly felt still and thick with tension. Her back went ramrod straight and she stood staring at the place Ranger Daniels used to be standing. It was only then she realized how silent the world seemed. Caroline turned and walked quickly back to her car, suddenly flinching after every step she took. Every shadow was following her, every echo from her one footsteps belonged to another person.

A loud bang sounded from one of the alleyways as she was passing it and Caroline broke out into a run. She turned on the autostart of Bella's car and when she finally got inside she didn't pause until she was turning out of the empty lot of the barbershop she parked in. She almost cried in relief when she finally pulled into Charlie and Sue's driveway.

She grabbed the manila folder from the passenger seat and shut the car door as quietly as she could.

"Where have you been?"

Caroline let out a curse and her hands flew to her thunderous heart, dropping her folder. Her heightened senses screamed at her to get into the safety of her home. Someone was out there looking for whatever it was she had.

"Emily has been worried sick," a shirtless Jacob Black stormed out of the woods to her left and growled. He was intimidatingly massive, she thought as she tried not to cower in front of him. He scrunched his nose and his eyes flashed dangerously in the flickering porch light as he approached her. "Who were you with?"

With shaking hands, Caroline bent over and grabbed the folder and held it securely to her chest. Her earlier fear only heightened when she met his eyes again. He looked just as scared as she did.

"Did Emily send you?" She snapped with more courage than she felt as she tried to move around him, not waiting for a reply. The anger she felt before meeting with the park ranger rushing back full force. "I'm an adult, she can't just -" she began to grumble when she was yanked back.

Jacob's hand was firm but not bruising on her arm. "You're nineteen," he snarled. "Hardly an adult."

Caroline whirled on him then, trying to pry her arm from his grip and only managing to twist herself into him. Her eyes dragged up from his chest and she glared up into his eyes. Tense seconds passed and she told herself the heat in her flushed cheeks was exclusively from anger. "I know you and Charlie are buddies, but I don't think he would take too kindly to you threatening me in the middle of the night outside of his home."

The rush of cold air was dizzying. When Caroline blinked, Jacob was a foot away from her. The speed in which he moved was forgotten the moment her eyes found his again. The look of profound sorrow on his face took her breath away. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him, his sudden change in demeanor making her hesitant.

She felt the folder crinkle in her hands and her heart rate skyrocketed remembering why she was rushing home in the dead of night.

Her terror didn't go unnoticed. Jake reached an arm out to her as a way of comfort but she stepped back.

"Caroline," he started again. Gently. "I'm sorry for scaring you, you don't have to be afraid of me." He frowned, she was caught off guard by how genuine his apology appeared to be. "We're worried about you. Emily asked me to check to make sure you had made it home safe, and when I couldn't find your car -" his voice had begun to rise and he cut himself off. He bent his head, searching her eyes. "Will you tell me who you were with?"

Ranger Daniels flashed in her mind. Blood on his shirt, fear in his eyes of an enemy she didn't yet know. She was still outside, away from the comfort of Bella's old bedroom and Charlie's trigger happy protection.

"I wasn't with anyone," she said after a long pause. His sincerity pulled a kinder response out of her than she ever thought she'd give to him. Suddenly the idea that someone, even Jacob Black, was worried about her was too comforting to push away. At least entirely.

"I just went on a drive. And now I'm going to sleep," she lied through her teeth, and by the look on his face he knew it, too. Something deep inside of her almost felt bad for it. Like she shouldn't be lying to the stranger who yelled at her in her front yard. The exhaustion was messing with her head.

He searched her face for a long time, the frown etched on his features looking out of place compared to all of the smiling photos she had seen of him hanging up in Emily's home. She wondered what that Jacob was like, and what she could have possibly done to deserve this one. She thought of their first - only - interaction, the look on his face and the venom in his voice and she shivered.

Jake flinched and sighed, his dark eyes bore into hers before he closed them tightly. He stood in front of her for a few more moments before the adrenaline wore off and Caroline remembered what she held in her hands. "It's late," his eyes snapped open at her voice but she was looking at anywhere but his face. "I have to go to bed," she said firmly, eyes searching the trees even though she knew she couldn't see anything past the first branches. "You need to go."

Jake looked panicked and Caroline almost rolled her eyes. "We're not friends, you didn't need to come." You shouldn't have come. "I'll call Emily tomorrow morning. I'm fine." She moved past him and this time he didn't try to stop her. That hollow feeling in her gut ached.

"The person you were with is dangerous." Jacob warned before she could make it up the porch steps. "You shouldn't see them again."

Caroline's temper flared then. She whirled around and pointed her finger to his chest, trying to push him backwards but he didn't budge, making her finger bend uncomfortably. "You will not tell me what I can and cannot do, Jacob Black. You just -" she stopped herself. The exhaustion weighing on her suddenly. She steps back into the safety of the porch. "Just… leave me alone."

"Caroline," Jake started but whatever bullshit he planned to say was cut off by the firm shutting of the door.

No amount of fear from her meeting with Ranger Daniels or anger from Jacob Black could keep her from sleep now. She slipped off her shoes and tiptoed towards the stairs.

"Emily called," Sue's voice was cold. Caroline sighed and turned to the living room, spotting her aunt sitting in the back of the darkened room. "She was worried about you."

"I just took a drive, Aunt Sue."

"Two of them apparently, seeing as you left after getting home late. And from what I hear, you met up with someone." Sue stood up and walked over to the younger girl.

"You heard that?" She flinched.

Sue gave her a knowing smile. "Most of it. You're an adult and I'm not going to baby you or pretend to be your mom, but I don't want to have to sit up all night worrying about you." Caroline looked down at her hands, the folder wrapped tight in her fingers. "I won't implement a curfew, but from now on I would like an approximate time I should expect you to be home. I know you can take care of yourself." Sue placed a soft hand under Caroline's chin and lifted it so she was looking at her. "You're smart, it's not like you to make rash decisions. I don't have to tell you the importance of looking before you leap."

"I know, Aunt Sue." Caroline thought back to the blood on Ranger Daniels shirt and suppressed a shiver. She knew now more than ever than she was treading in dangerous waters. But she was in too deep to turn back now.

"Alright," Sue smiled. "Go on and get to bed! You've already burned through most of the night." Caroline turned obediently and started up the stairs. "Oh, and Care? Try not to be so hard on Jacob. He's going through an - interesting time right now. A lot of his priorities have shifted and he's just trying to figure it out. Okay?"

Caroline tried not to roll her eyes, "okay, Aunt Sue." She slipped into her room, tossed the envelope under her pillow and was out before she could even rest her head on it.