Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. In fact all of Twilight is in no way my invention. How depressing.

Set in mid-Eclipse, so don't read if you haven't polished that one off yet. Don't want to spoil anything!

Chapter 1
... A Rusty Handle.

I slammed the door of my truck behind me, still seething in silent anger. Why couldn't it just be easy? Why did I have to fall in love with the two most frustrating and… amazing people in world? And why couldn't they just get along?

Jacob ran through the front door to greet my unexpected arrival, nearly ripping the door from its hinges in his obvious enthusiasm. His smile stretched from ear to ear and his eyes were gentle and kind, like they used to be, before…

"Bella!" He yelled out as he approached my truck in three quick bounds.

Suddenly the air was being squeezed from me as Jacob embraced me in his usual over zealous manner, his arms like a constricting vice around my body. I gasped, fighting for air until his hold around me abruptly loosened. I leant back to look at his face, which smiled warmly in return.

"Sorry, I always do that. I'm just happy to see you," He smiled, shrugging apologetically for nearly breaking my ribs.

I smiled back, unable to feel mad at the person who managed to dissolve my entire day's worth of bad mood in one simple gesture. He definitely was my personal sun and that was the exact reason I had visited today, I needed a bit of sunshine, something Forks was reluctant to grant me.

"I'm happy to see you too, Jacob," I eventually replied. The comment didn't seem to do him justice for the unknown favour he had just given me so I added, "Really happy."

He beamed and continued to stand beside me, close enough that his hand brushed against mine. I folded my arms subtly, rubbing them together for warmth, but the action was not unnoticed. Jacob's smile hardened in the corner of my eye, a look of dejection was plastered obviously on his beautiful face.

"It's bloody cold, isn't it? I was expecting it to be warmer down here in La Push, but it's gone and snowed! This makes Forks look like a summer getaway resort!" I complained, kicking the thick layer of snow with my boot.

The wet snow glistened brilliantly in the sun as it flew before landing again with silence. Jacob chuckled.

"Bella, Forks is only a 20 minute drive from here. Believe it or not it's winter for the whole of the Western hemisphere, not just little ol' Forks."

I glared at his sarcasm, determined not to show any sign of amusement, although I couldn't be sure my face didn't betray some of my inner laughter.

"So the bloodsucker finally untied the leash? Did he finally decide to let you make up your own mind about whether or not it's too dangerous to hang out with werewolves? Seriously Bells, the leech is like an over protective, possessive-"

"-Edward, is his name." I objected spitefully. "And he isn't possessive or over protective, he is… well, he just cares is all. He just worries about me."

Jacob raised his eyebrows, turning slowly to go back to the house. I frowned, my bad mood returning. Why does every conversation with Jacob about Edward always end like this? It's because boys suck. I tightened my arms around myself moodily, rubbing my arms furiously trying to get warm, an apparently unachievable ideal on such a day.

Jacob was nearly at the door, having taken much more time than his long legs deemed necessary to walk back in a sulk when I snapped, "Fine! I'll just go home then!"

I stomped though the blanket of snow until I was at the driver's door of my truck. I wrenched it open with more force than was necessary and made to get inside, before pausing. I sunk into the driver's seat, my legs dangling from the still open door staring in disbelief at what I had just done. The driver's door handle had broken clean off and was cold even through my thick gloves.

Before I could even take a breath Jacob was there, inspecting the outside of the door. The panel covering him from my view as I could only watch his feet dance beneath the door. After a moment he leant around the door to lean against my dangling legs, his face fighting the overwhelming urge to laugh out loud.

"Maybe you're a werewolf Bella. You certainly don't know your own strength." He flashed an amused smile, his teeth as white as the snow which began to fall lightly from the sky, a stark contrast the russet colour of his skin.

I gaped, looking away from him to stare at the door handle I had managed to break off in my gloves.

"I can't be though…I don't--I can't…" My head began to swim as I swayed in my seat.

"Whoa!" Jacob laughed, the laugh was deep and loud, it echoed in the silent street dampened only by the blanket of snow which covered everything. "Settle down Bells, honey, I was only joking." He paused smiling and he raised his hand to cup my cheek, forcing me to look up into his deep brown eyes. "You're not really a werewolf."

I felt the heat begin to rise into my cheeks, turning into a deep blush. How embarrassing, I am such an idiot. To even believe that for a second and he didn't even say it convincingly. So it's not like I can blame my stupidity on his good acting or anything…

"Bella, don't get all embarrassed about it. It was cute, watching your face in conflict like that," he soothed, while impersonating the facial expression I had displayed when I thought I might be a werewolf.

I laughed and then Jacob extended his arm to place his hand, palm up, against my cheek.

"Your cheeks are a bit warm though, you might be running a werewolf's temperature there."

His comment made me blush even more as I looked down at my snow covered boots. Suddenly I was whisked effortlessly out of the driver's seat by Jacob's arms; I latched my arms around his neck instinctively as I squealed in surprise.

He laughed at my reaction, and I heard the laugh rumbling in his chest, deep and joyful. I smile crept over my face, Jacob was an infectiously happy person. This side of Jacob I had begun to miss, it seemed ever since the responsibilities and burden of realising he was a werewolf came into his life this side had been replaced by someone much more bitter… angry.

"See, Bella? It was rusted right through; it didn't take super werewolf strength to pull that handle off. Only about the strength of a pissed off 18-year old small town girl."

I snapped from my thoughts to look at what was left of the door handle, Jacob was right, the brown rust had been eating away at my truck all this time.

I suddenly felt emotional, my truck was sick. I knew it was ridiculously sentimental of me, but this truck had got me through a lot, I didn't want to have to get rid of it anytime soon. It signified a lot, all the trips to La Push, to my first day of school where I met Edward, to my fateful 18th Birthday party, it was all there. Before I could stop myself the tears began the well up and roll silently down my cheek.

I pushed against Jacob to let me down. After looking down at my face he frowned and set my feet back onto the snowy ground.

"Bella, it's just a door handle. Don't sweat it, I can fix this in a few seconds, no problem," Jacob's face looked in pain, like it actually hurt him to see me upset.

I sobbed, breathing in unevenly before attempting to talk through my tears. "It's not -- ju --just a handle! It's my truck," I sobbed again before finally crying, "It's us!"

I stumbled forward and wrapped my small arms around his firm waist, crying uncontrollably into his shirt. He hesitated, no doubt surprised by the sudden turn the conversation had taken, but soon I felt his arms gingerly wrap around me, his warmth immediately comforting me.

My breathing began to even as I pressed my face into the chest of my warm friend. I felt him rest his cheek on the top of my head as he began to stroke my hair comfortingly.

"We're a rusty door handle, are we? Now that can't be right…" He mumbled.

I snorted at how ridiculous my analogy now seemed. I wiped the tears from my eyes and sighed, I had stopped crying, for now at least.

"Sorry, I'm being over emotional. I've just had a bad day, that's why I wanted to see you. You always make me feel better," I buried my face harder against his chest into the pleasant warmth that he seemed to radiate, a welcome contrast to the bitter cold that surrounded the rest of La Push.

He exhaled sadly, his chest rising, pushing my face away until he breathed out and I sunk back into his comfortable embrace.

"Good job I'm doing…" He muttered in bitter sarcasm. "You've only been here a while and already I've made you so mad you ripped off your truck's door handle and I've reduced you to tears. No wonder you don't come up the La Push very often anymore."

He paused, and a moment of silence followed until I felt his body stiffen, he swallowed, "Am I the rust? Is that what you were saying? I'm the corrosive rust ruining your perfect life the bloo—with… Edward."

I could feel the pain hidden beneath his words and I suddenly felt cold, despite having my arms wrapped around a live heater. I tore myself out of his arms and staggered back a few steps, to see his face, to understand his words.

His arms fell to his side abruptly as he looked up at me. His face was detached of emotion, unreadable, and yet it was this absence of emotion which betrayed his true pain. Even the false bravado and confidence had been dropped as his eyes studied my face attempting to read my emotions, much the same as I was trying to do to him.

After a moment too long of hesitance I saw the anger, betrayal, ignite in his eyes. The corners of his mouth pulled down into a concentrated grimace as he attempted to fight back his emotions.

I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him that he has the wrong idea, that I love him and he's not rust, but at that moment my mobile rang.

In the silent stare-off of unspoken emotions the sudden noise in the otherwise quiet street made me jump. I instinctively grabbed at the phone through my pocket, to muffle the noise. My ring tone echoed from my pocket as I began to speak again.

"Jacob, I –"

"You better get that. It's probably him," he spat, his hands now clenched into fists, quivering with suppressed anger.

I glowered at him, immediately irritated by his irrational hostility. I reached in my pocket and flipped my phone open in an accentuated movement, not breaking eye contact with Jacob the entire time.

"Hello, this is Bella."

The luxurious and velvet voice that greeted me on the other end immediately dissolved my anger. I smiled absently, cherishing the sound of his voice, still worthy of an angel even through the distortion of the phone's speakers.

"Hi Edward," I smiled, swivelling to wander idly in the direction of my truck.

I heard Jacob slam the front door behind him as he stormed back into his house, I looked over my shoulder, immaturely sticking my tongue out at the painted mahogany door.

"Bella? Where are you?" Edward asked innocently.

I froze. Even though he didn't really mind me going to see Jacob anymore, the only other times I had been he had insisted I be escorted to and from the boundary like a child in the middle of a custody battle. After spending a rather horrible morning alone and bored, brooding over life's complications, while Edward had gone out hunting I had decided to award myself this little expedition. Only I had assured Edward before he left I'd be spending the day at home, safe. Not with an overemotional werewolf. I'm not sure he would appreciate my change of plans.

"Me? I'm just… at Angela's." I lied. "She needed a bit of help with her Biology homework."

I awaited his reply with anticipation, to see whether or not my lie had been successful.

"Oh, okay," he replied calmly. Success!

"Just thought you might be interested, apparently there is forecast to be a quite severe snow storm up in La Push this evening. Alice has verified it too…"

"Well she is the best weatherman we could hope for," I joked, my voice quite frantic given the choice of topic.

Alice was there too? Hopefully she had been too focused on the weather to be checking up on me; otherwise she may be surprised by my unexplainable disappearance from her visions, unless Angela has recently gained werewolf status too. Either way, I had a bad feeling about the direction of this conversation.

"Yes, I suppose she does have a use after all," A muffled protest from Alice could be heard faintly in the background. "The snow storm is actually about to hit, so your little friends in La Push might be housebound for a while, until it passes. All the roads are already closed, you see?" He continued on unrelenting through my attempt at distraction. He definitely knew.

"Oh, that's no good." I muttered sympathetically, "I'll call Jacob and give him the heads up."

Housebound, why hadn't I heard of this storm before? Charlie must be out there now, helping close off the roads, why didn't he mention it before I left? In fact he was the one that first suggested I visit Jacob today. Unless… that scheming wretch already knew! Oh, I'm going to KILL Charlie when I get home!

Edward interrupted my murderous thoughts, "I believe Charlie has already called Billy explaining the situation."

"I'll bet he has," I seethed, my voice no longer able to disguise my anger.

Edward chuckled, making me smile again. "What's the matter Bella? Is something making you angry?" He teased, the underlying amusement in his voice now obvious.

"Am I that bad a liar?" I complained jokingly.

"Bella," He started. "Angela isn't in Biology."

We both laughed, I looked up at the grey sky. Not yet able to see any approaching storm clouds, although I hadn't noticed that the falling snow had definitely intensified during my phone call.

I paused before asking hesitantly, "You're not mad that I lied?"

He sighed a troubled sigh and then answered, "There was a reason I'd asked you to stay home today. If you'd payed attention to the news you would have heard too, that this storm's been brewing for about a week now. I mean, Alice didn't see you leave before it was too late, because you obviously had intended to do as I had asked until whatever impulse it was possessed you to go to La Push today…"

"That impulse now goes by the name of Charlie," I muttered angrily.

Edward laughed again, obviously amused by my dilemma, "Either way, it seems there is now nothing either of us can do about the situation. We can only make the best of it; Alice seems quite thrilled she gets me for the night. She's been dying to challenge me to all-night chess, which is something I have been desperately trying to avoid, but hopefully the torture will occupy me enough so I don't spend the entire time wishing you were with me. Impossible."

I sighed, "Can't you just run over to Jake's house and whisk me away. Never mind the boundary; it'd be worth the broken treaty and ensuing war than be stuck here for the duration of the storm. Snowed in, unable to escape…" I murmured sarcastically.

"Do you want me to?" Edward replied fiercely, his voice deadly serious.

I rolled my eyes, Edward did often enjoy the over reaction approach to situations but even this suggestion surprised me.

"Edward. Don't be silly," I warned. "I was kidding, I'll be fine. Hey, if I can't have you at least I'm stuck with my best friend, right?"

The other end of the phone line was silent, only the quiet crackling of the mobile's speakers could be heard.

"Just call me if you need me, Bella."

"It's going to be fine, although I've got half a mind to go suss out the road closure on the main road and give Charlie a piece of my mind," I threatened.

"No, you had better stay inside from now on. It's already picking up i--"

Edward's velvet voice crackled until it was inaudible as the phone line began to drop out.

"Edward? It looks like my phone is dropping out, I can't hear you."

I listened intently to the crackle and buzzing of my phone, hoping to hear his voice just once more before the line went completely. Taking it from my ear I inspected the screen - no reception. My arms fell limply to my sides.

After a while standing in the now quite heavily falling snow I lifted the phone weakly to my ear once again.

"Goodnight Edward, I love you," I sighed before snapping it shut with the flick of my wrist, like they sometimes do in movies.

Don't worry all you Jacob fans, we will get out happy ending! It's a bit Edwardian there but it'll develop, just you wait.
R&R, so I know what the people want! Tell me if you like or not so I know if I should continue.