Summary: Bella returns to Forks as a human, having separated from Edward.Jacob's continued with his life and essentially forgotten about the girl that he was irrevocably in love with just years before. But when he sees her again, things change drastically. Bella realizes that the russet wolf means a whole lot more to her than she thought.

This story is set after Eclipse and a little bit into Breaking Dawn. There is NO Renesmee (she was not born yet), and Cullen DID propose but there was never a wedding.

Italics are thoughts of either Jacob or Bella.

In "Russet" Jacob will have a girlfriend. You'll find out details about her in the upcoming chapters. I'm just stating right now that Jacob will NOT end up with his girlfriend. This is a Jacob/Bella story, not an OC story.

Disclaimer: SM owns all except the plot.

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He dropped his wrench on the ground, his mouth hanging slack. Those dark eyes seemed to burn holes through her body. She crossed her arms subconsciously, her eyes darting to his.

His brown eyes were no longer soft—they were hard and unwelcoming. He looked different than he had years before. He looked mature. Like a man, and not the same love sick boy she remembered.

She could tell that he hadn't shaved in quite some time due to the stubble that was evident on his chin. His hair had gotten longer over the time she was away. It was wet and tousled from the previous shower of rain.

She chuckled softly to herself. He was always the one to work in torrential downpours of Seattle's frequent rain. The wife-beater shirt that he wore perfectly showed his well-defined muscles and stature. She swore he'd reached seven feet with the way he'd grown.

"Bella?" He breathed her name in awe. Was she really standing there in front of him, or was it all just a horrible hallucination?

"Hi, Jake," she replied in a small voice. She stared at him standing there, looking strong and strikingly handsome as always.

For a second he wanted to move to pick her up in his arms and twirl her around like the reunion he'd always dreamed of himself having with her. But things were different now. Much different. He stopped himself. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you. See how you were doing," she told him. Bella twirled her fingers, her hair blowing in the wind.

Jake shifted his weight onto his other foot and sighed. "And where's the leech?"

"Gone."

He stared at her deeply, his mouth moving but no words coming out. She looked to the ground, her facing turning a bright shade of scarlet. "What do you mean gone? Did he leave you?"

"No." She shook her head rapidly. "No, I left him."

"Why?" he questioned. He was interested in hearing her response, what she would say about her blood-sucking lover that he loathed with every bit of his soul.

"Living with vampires—it was all too much for me. I wasn't ready for eternal life…and I don't think I ever will be." Bella told him truthfully.

Jake shook his head, running a hand through his tousled black hair. "It took you only seven years to figure that out."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I really am—"

He held up a hand to silence her. "No, I don't want your sympathy. I don't need it. I've moved on."

Her heart sank. "You got a lover of your own?

He nodded his head, rubbing the backs of his hands. "She's my girlfriend. Her name's Zee, and I met her on the Res. I live with her now." He pointed to a small wooden house down the road. "I built that. It's our house."

"And did you imprint on her?" she questioned.

"Nah. Don't think I'll ever imprint. I don't want to," he told her.

"You told me you couldn't help who you imprint on." Bella remarked, walking towards him.

"Can't." He faced her, staring into her big brown eyes. He sucked in a breath; gosh was she beautiful. "I'm not gonna be your second choice anymore, Bella. I was for so many years, waiting for the day when I'd become your first choice, but it never happened."

"I don't want you to be my second choice anymore." Bella told him. "I…"

It's too late now, he thought.

He looked her up and down, inspecting her. Her hair was longer and darker than he remembered, her skin paler. Her eyes were a big, soft brown as always. She wore a green V-neck shirt that hugged her top and middle perfectly. She was always so beautiful, so pure, so innocent.

He smelled the air—it smelled like her perfume, the scent of cherry and sugarcane. He swore that he could get drunk off of that scent, and that he could kiss her pink, pouty lips all day and night without getting bored once.

He snapped his eyes away from her quickly and broke the trance he'd undoubtedly put himself into.

"Go home, Bella." He didn't want to be tempted and teased anymore. He'd accepted the fact that she wasn't his years ago, and he'd do it again.

"Can't we talk? You're my best friend. I've missed you." She walked up to him, standing up straight to her height of 5'4. After all those years she still felt like a twig when compared next to him.

"We have talked. Now go home, Bella. It's late, and Zee will be coming home soon." He pointed her towards her old truck but she steered herself around to look at him.

"It's not late. It's only six o' clock, and I don't have to be back at Charlie's for another hour." She reasoned. "I wanna catch up, Jake. It has been three years since I last saw you."

"Four years," he corrected, turning around and back to the car that he was working on.

"Four, whatever. I just miss you."

"I said go home."

"Talk to me, Jacob."

"Go!" He whirled around, startling her half to death and causing her to stumble back. Being that clumsy Bella he'd always remembered, she tripped over the wrench that he dropped and landed on the ground.

Before she could even realize what had just happened, she was bleeding from a large gash in her hand that a decent sized rock had made. She flapped her arms in shock; blood always made her sick, especially her own.

"Shit!" Jake cursed loudly and stormed over to where she was sitting. He scooped her up and hoisted her over his shoulder, carrying her inside of the garage. "Leave it to you to get injured."

He sat her down on a wooden stool and rummaged around in his drawer for a bandage. "You always keep band-aids in your garage?" she asked.

"Workin' with tools can sometimes be risky," he replied. "Ever drilled a hole into your skin, Bella?"

"No," she replied. He chuckled lightly, coming back with the first-aid kit.

"Lemme see," he said, grabbing her hand and inspecting the cut. From the kit he pulled out a disinfecting saline and prepared to pour it on her hand.

She yanked her hand away. "It'll burn," she told him.

"No it won't," he replied, slightly annoyed. "S'just cold." He poured the saline onto her hand, feeling her flinch beneath him. "See? Just like I told ya. Cold."

"I've never really gotten used to cold," Bella told him. He looked up at her, his big black eyes softening slightly.

"Let's face it. No one really likes the cold." He placed a large band-aid over the cut and wrapped it with a light layer of gauze. Patting the back of her hand, he stood and returned the first-aid kit from where he got it.

"Thanks, Jake," she told him. "Don't know what I'd do without my Personal Sun."

He froze when he heard the nickname. It pierced him right through the heart, right where it counted. He almost snapped at her, telling her not to call him that. He almost grinned back at her like her "Personal Sun" would and ruffle her hair; he almost broke down and cried at the nickname he'd missed for four years. Jake didn't know which to do, so he just settled with, "You've lived without me long enough."

"Again, I'm so, so sorry."

"Again, I said I don't want your sympathy," he snapped back at her. "I'm happy…and I don't want you to ruin that."

She recoiled as if he'd slapped her across the face with all the force he could muster, the pain evident in her eyes. His shoulders slumped as he realized what he'd said.

She cradled her injured hand, feeling the soft gauze between her fingers. She began to nod her head slowly, trying to get the fact into her head that things between them would most likely never, ever be the same.

She wanted to cry, she wanted to yell, she wanted to throw a tantrum and scream at him. She wanted to pound him with her fists, and smack him across the face, and push him… She wanted to hug him, kiss him, and make him love her again.

But it wasn't that easy, and she knew that now. She glanced at the wooden clock on the garage wall. It read 6:15.

"When's, uh, Zee comin' home?" she asked him.

"Soon."

"I should go?" She looked at him. His face was hardened and his lips pinched into a straight line. He didn't say a word. She waited for a few moments, but nothing was said. "Fine. Then I'll go."

He watched her get up and exit the garage. "I don't want you to go," he finally said, stopping her in her tracks. It was then when her heart began to beat faster, a spark igniting its broken engines.

"You don't?"

"Nah," he waved the question off with the flick of his hand. "Zee won't be home until 6:30. We got some time."

She dropped her hands at her sides and looked back at him. "I knew you'd come around."

"You could always persuade me and manipulate me," Jake said with a little smirk on his face. "I would have jumped off of a cliff for you if you asked me to."

"Don't you already do that?" she asked him.

He cocked his head in confusion.

"Y'know, cliff dive." She clarified.

"Oh," he said, nodding his head. "Yeah. Guess I do jump off cliffs already."

"I wanna do that. Seems fun. Seems like it would be such a thrill." Bella told him, playing with the gauze on her hand. "You know how I like thrills."

"I'll take ya sometime," he told her. "When I have some free space in my busy schedule. How long you gonna be here for?"

"Hopefully forever," she sighed in response. "Jacksonville, Phoenix…they're nothing compared to what I have here in Forks."

"You gonna stay with Charlie?"

She nodded her head. "Charlie's had Billy over a couple of times. He was the one that told me where you were this afternoon."

"Wait…when did you get back to Forks?" Jake questioned with widening eyes.

"Weeks ago," she responded.

"Why didn't Billy tell me?"

She shrugged, "I'm not sure."

"Well…" he began slowly. "Welcome back, I guess."

"Thanks. But technically I came back weeks ago." Bella stated.

He chuckled, pulling up a stool near her. She ran a hand through her hair, looking around the place.

"You still work as a mechanic?" she asked him.

He nodded. "It's my full time job now," Jake replied in a jolly way. "Fixin' stuff…it's what I'm good at."

"You were always good at fixing stuff," Bella told him. Like my heart.

He looked out the window and smiled. "You still drivin' that old piece of junk? Would have thought you'd have gotten rid of it a millennia ago."

"No, that old red Chevy will be mine forever…that is, until I can't run it anymore." She laughed lightly. He smiled back at her, thrilled with seeing her smile.

"You ever need some fixin', you know who to call, don't you?" He nudged her in the side and she smiled back at him.

"Mike's Mechanics?"

"Guess again."

"Forks Car and Truck Repair?"

"Try harder."

"Andy's Auto Service?"

"Now you're just playing with me," he told her, ruffling her hair playfully. She pushed his big hand away, realizing that he was burning hot.

"Do you still patrol?" she asked him quietly.

"Sure. Whenever Sam tells me to." Jake replied.

"Does Zee…?"

"She knows. She's okay about it, though."

"I thought so." She saw a shiny white car pull into the Garage's driveway. Jake followed her line of gaze, seeing the car.

"Shit, Zee's home early." Jacob cursed loudly and quickly put the stool back. "I'll tell her that I was workin' on your truck."

"Does she get suspicious of you?" Bella questioned, following him out the door.

"She's that kind of person." Jake replied. "She's scared to death that I'll imprint and leave her behind."

"Oh. I would be too."

He rushed outside and embraced the tall, leggy woman that stood before him. She giggled and clutched him close to her body, kissing his forehead. Bella felt a sharp pang in her chest as she watched them.

She had long black hair as most Quileute women had, and a beautiful copper skin tone. She was about 5'7 in height and her brown leather boots made her look even taller. She wore a fitting purple dress that showed off her perfect backside and perfect chest.

Bella frowned, looking down at her own chest. She liked to think that she was a C cup, but there was no escaping the reality that she was barely even a B cup. Zee however looked like she was in the high C's, maybe D's.

Zee let go of Jacob finally, turning to inspect the scrawny, pale girl standing near her. "Who's that?" she asked Jacob softly.

"Bella. My customer. I was workin' on her truck." Jacob motioned towards the rusty red Chevy in the corner of the Garage driveway.

"Oh," said Zee. "Nice to meet you. I'm Zee." She stuck her hand out to Bella. Bella took Zee's hand and shook it.

"Hi…it's nice to meet you too." Bella felt like a mouse standing up against two elephants. Zee clung to Jacob's side as Bella made her way over to her truck.

"Bye, Bells." He said, waving to her. He glanced over at Zee who was staring at Bella with a hardened glance. He didn't want her to leave yet.

"Bye, Jake." She waved back at him.

0o0o0o0o

"Hey, Bells. Did you visit Jake today?" Charlie asked as he came in and sat down at the table.

Bella nodded, stabbing a piece of the steak and setting it on the plate. Steak and cobbler as always. She carried the plate over to Charlie and set it down.

"Yeah. I saw him at the Garage." She grabbed her plate from the counter and sat down with her father.

"How is the kid? Haven't heard from him in a while." Charlie shoveled a forkful of food into his mouth.

"He has a girlfriend…and they live together." Bella told him. Charlie almost dropped his fork.

"Girlfriend? Bells…I'm sorry," he told her.

"Don't be sorry. I'm happy for him." Bella tried to give her father her best smile, but it was terribly weak. She stabbed a piece of meat and slipped it into her mouth.

"No, you're not." Charlie knew his kid well, and he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be happy about her best friend having a girlfriend. After all, Bella was the only girl in Jake's life.

"Don't be silly, Dad. He's moved on." She chewed faster, stabbing her fork with more force into the meat. "I can be happy for my best friend. Can't I?"

Charlie stared at her for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, kiddo."

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That's it for now, folks. Should I continue? If I get enough reviews, support, and love from the readers I'll continue the story.

If you liked this story, drop a little review please :)

Hugs and Smooches,

Courtney