Author's Note: Don't forget to check out my entry for the Sort of Beautiful Challenge, "A Golden-Hearted Rose". Voting opens on October 1st!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

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The Downfall of Romeo

"Romeo and Juliet? You're kidding right, Bells? I mean, I know you like Shakespeare and all, but if you're going to go all seventeenth century on me, couldn't you at least choose something more manly? Like, I dunno, Macbeth or something?"

"No, Jake, I could not. Romeo and Juliet is an iconic play and I think it's important for you to have some culture. You'll live." Bella said more cheerily than she felt, tapping him playfully on the arm as she walked to the counter to take the DVD out.

She thought she heard him mutinously mutter "Yeah, right" under his breath, but she ignored him and determinedly made her way to the counter.

She knew this probably wasn't wise, but as part of her plan to get over Edward, it was a necessary step. She had started with the small things like drinking iced water again and not immediately excusing herself when people at school started to talk about "that Cullen family". Then she had gradually moved on to the bigger things like reading Wuthering Heights again and visiting the Cullens' deserted house without hyperventilating. But she felt that it was time to take the next big step and she knew that she couldn't do it alone. Hence her suggestion to Jake that they have a DVD night together. The poor guy wasn't to know that this was nothing more than a ruse to make sure that she didn't have to be alone when she exposed herself to the last film that she and Edward had watched together; the film that she had always identified their relationship with.

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As the film started, Bella could see Jake slump down on the sofa with a deep sigh and a look of utter boredom on his face. However, as the story progressed, she saw him sit up and lean forward, staring intently at the screen with a deep frown furrowing his brow. His frown only deepened over time and the moment the credits started to roll, he picked up the remote and, after somewhat violently switching the television off, he turned to stare at her with an intensity which made her feel uncomfortable and exposed. It felt like he was looking directly into her soul and she instinctively moved her arms to wrap around herself, trying to shield her deepest self from his piercing gaze.

"What?" she demanded self-consciously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jake didn't say anything for a few more seconds, then he cleared his throat and began to talk.

"Is that what you want, Bella? A guy who will compose soppy love sonnets for you and off himself if he can't have you? Is that what you really want?"

Bella was shocked. She wasn't quite sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't this. She felt the literature lover in her rise up in revolt at his harsh words

"Jake, it's just a story. But Romeo wasn't like that anyway. He was romantic. He didn't off himself because he couldn't be with her. He did it because he loved her. He loved Juliet enough to die for her, Jake. Isn't that true love?"

Jake snorted derisively. "No, Bella, committing suicide because you can't be with someone is not true love. It's called running away. Being too cowardly to face the pain. That other guy, now – Paris, I think his name was? He would have loved her. Instead of dying for her, he would have lived for her. He would have helped her to learn to love again; he would have comforted her and eventually the pain would have faded and she would grow to love him too. He would have been her best friend…."

Jake's voice trailed off as his eyes darkened and he stared at her intensely. Bella felt the blood rush to her cheeks as she realised that they weren't talking about Shakespeare anymore. Unable to hold his gaze any longer, she dropped her own gaze to stare unseeingly at her hands, clasped tightly in her lap, twisted together. She didn't know what to say, so she just kept quiet.

A warm hand brushed against her cheek, and curving gently beneath her chin, lifted her face up so that her eyes met those of the hand's owner again. The intensity in Jake's gaze was gone, replaced with another emotion, one which set her heart racing and her stomach fluttering. Jake's thumb brushed softly across her cheek and her lower lip, and she swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat.

"Bella," he whispered. "Let me heal you. Let me teach you to love again. I'll go slowly I promise. I just…I don't want to see you in pain anymore. I don't want to see you dying when you could live. Let me show you what it means to live again, Bella. I promise you won't regret it." His voice deepened at the end and became even more rough and husky. His fingers tightened slightly around her chin, and then abruptly he removed his hand and turned away from her.

"I know you're still aching, Bells. But I love you. And I'm here. He's not."

Bella swallowed again, her stomach clenching at the harsh truth and reality in his words. Edward was gone. And Jacob was here. Jacob loved her. And Jacob wanted to heal her, to teach her to live again. And….she realised with a funny little squirming jolt in the region of her gut, she wanted to let him. She did. She wanted to learn to love again. In fact….it was possible that her lessons had already started. This would be a big step, the biggest yet, but Jacob was right. She knew that she wouldn't regret it.

Bella smiled to herself, thinking of how she had always associated Jacob with Paris in her mind. Except back then, it had been as second best, as the barrier to Romeo and Juliet's 'true love'. Now, she realised that Jake was right. If Juliet had only given Paris a chance, she might have had a long, happy and fulfilled life. She would never forget Romeo of course, but she could have learned to love another just as much, albeit differently.

As Bella came to this conclusion, she reached out her hand to gently tuck Jacob's hair behind the ear facing her, and leaning in she whispered softly "Romeo falls. Paris wins. So teach me, Jacob Black."

A/N: So, what are your thoughts??