(The art is from Oorah22 on tumblr, we did an art/writing trade for a drawing of Eden and Jacob from the last chapter! They posted it on their account so please go like and reblog!! They're so talented, I love it!)

     Eden let out a soft groan and rolled onto her side. Feeling an unfamiliar texture under her arm, Eden unfolded one arm from on top of her chest and let it fall against whatever she was laying on. Then she realized the texture she was feeling was the shingles of her roof. This made Eden open her eyes and lift her head to try and figure out why she was on her roof.

      She saw Jacob lying on his back, asleep on the roof almost in the same position as she was. He was only wearing his tee shirt and jeans with nothing else to block the chilly night air. Eden sat up and realized that Jacobs army jacket was still draped over her shoulders, helping to keep her warm. The dull ache in Eden's shoulder told her how long she'd been laying on the roof for, but the first prickles of morning sun were an even better indicator.

     Eden yawned and stretched, feeling the early wisps of pain coming in from her pain pills wearing off. Eden knew that she needed to take her pills soon but she didn't want to wake Jacob up; she knew how little that man sleeps and a little rest right now wouldn't hurt.

     Pretty quickly after she sat up, Jacob heard her shuffling around and his body woke up for him. His eyes snapped open and he saw Eden sitting next to the ladder, contemplating whether or not to try and quietly sneak down the ladder.

     "What're you doing?" He asked in a husky and sleepy morning voice.

     The gentleness in Jacobs voice was still surprising for Eden to hear. Something about it was unique because she knew that no one else in this whole county has ever heard Jacob this relaxed, or just in the morning probably.

    "Oh I didn't want to wake you." Eden said and turned back to look at him, a random twinge of pain in her abdomen made her turn back around so that she didn't wince.

    Jacob shook his head and rubbed a hand over his face. "Don't worry about it." He mumbled simply and sat up and away from the wall. "Didn't think I'd fall asleep." Jacob chuckled and Eden turned away from him, a small blush creeping across her cheeks.

     She didn't expect to fall asleep on the roof, but even more so she never expected Jacob to let her sleep, much less fall asleep himself. Another rush of embarrassment flooded Eden's cheeks as she considered what it would look like if someone drove up right now, finding her and Jacob Seed together on her roof.

     Jacob appeared unbothered by their position while Eden glanced down at the ladder yet again. Jacob looked around and stood up, walking over to the ladder. "How about we go down now?" He asked and Eden nodded.

    "That would probably be a good idea." She said out of fear of not responding. She didn't really know what to say to Jacob, or what he would say back to her.

     The night before was very strange for Eden. She almost drank, which doesn't seem like that big of a deal but to Eden it was huge. After she moved to Montana she swore to herself to stay clean and sober and she had (save for the occasional beer with Sharky and Hurk) maintained that promise to herself.

     Being with Klaus right after leaving her mom's life...she couldn't escape a cycle of drugs and alcohol. It was a cycle that had drug her down with it, constantly sucking her into the whirlpool of bad decisions and pain. Especially with living in Hope County, Eden had been able to ignore the pull of her addictions but last night...something cracked.

     She was home alone from another exhausting meeting and she felt like she was a thousand pounds heavier than usual. Despite the strong pills in her system her head ached and she felt as though she could sleep for years. Eden's head swam with the bickering and arguing of both sides and something inside of her said 'I'm done'.

     Eden had an epiphany like no other epiphany she had in the past, even louder than the one that told her to leave Klaus. Something somewhere inside of Eden's chest finally sighed and gave up.

     "I can't do this, can I Boomer?" She asked and looked over at Boomer who tilted his head towards her. "I always knew I couldn't, but goddamn did I try. I can't believe I tried to get Joseph Seed to agree with me about anything." Eden rubbed her eyes, sitting forward with her elbows on her knees.

     She was feeling hopeless and got an idea.

One drink couldn't hurt to bad, could it?

She wasn't getting better, the meetings were barely salvageable, both sides of the discussions were silently getting more and more angry with the other, one drink wouldn't hurt. It wasn't like Eden had much of a life to derail anyways, might as well enjoy it while she could still enjoy something.

     She got up off of her couch and walked into her kitchen, fishing an old bottle of vodka she had stashed in her cabinets for Adelaide. Adelaide had forgotten about asking Eden for it back so it was basically Eden's.

     One drink wouldn't hurt.

She got out a glass that was far to big for vodka because of course she didn't have any shot glasses and paused. She looked the bottle of vodka up and down, as if it would say something to her. Maybe somewhere deep down she wished someone was there to stop her, but Eden didn't want to listen to her gut. Her gut got her into this situation, she definitely didn't feel like taking it's advice.

One drink wouldn't hurt.

Eden didn't want to spend hours thinking about she, she wasn't going to get shit-faced, just take the edge off.

One drink wouldn't hurt.

She shook her shoulders and grabbed the bottle, unscrewing the cap from the top of it with her left hand. She handled the bottle expertly, like she'd done it a thousand times before. It was easier when she wasn't drunk.

One drink wouldn't hurt.

She was a second away from pouring when Boomer rushed past her legs, knocking her knees out from under her and taking her to the ground, along with the bottle of vodka.

Boomer rushed over to the window and barked, probably looking at nothing more than a squirrel outside. Eden groaned and looked over at the bottle of vodka as it leached the strong toxic stench into the air, a pool of vodka growing larger and larger before Eden stood the bottle up so that it wouldn't spill anymore.

Eden grabbed a towel off of the counter and sopped up some but not all of the vodka. She looked over at the bottle and then at the seemingly innocent Boomer as he barked and wagged his tail at the window.

"Looks like I did have someone to stop me." Eden grumbled and looked back at the vodka. It was still about half full, enough to get Eden buzzed. But something in her told her that it was a stupid idea.

One drink wouldn't hurt me, but it would hurt others.

Others. Friends. Trying to pretend to be diplomatic.

It was all shit that Eden was exhausted from trying to protect. Trying to save. Trying to defend. She was tired of nothing working. It never worked.

Eden didn't even realize that she was outside until she nearly dropped the bottle again. It almost slipped out of her hand when she was walking over to the river. An emotion she hadn't felt this strongly in a while was bubbling to the surface, Wrath.

Eden felt the familiar blood rushing to her head, the hot rage melting the air in her chest until she had to pant to breath it in, the pure heat making her entire body sweat, that rage that ended so many people's lives. That sweet rage.

Eden marched to the river and turned towards one of the trees along the shore. The urge to throw the bottle was overwhelming, and Eden encouraged it. With an angry shout she chucked the bottle at the tree, vodka still in it.

She hoped for a clean break, maybe a satisfying shatter of glass and vodka to make her calm down, but it didn't break. It bounced off the tree. Even more furious, Eden grabbed the bottle off the ground and threw it again, even harder this time. Still, it didn't break, just bounced.

Eden let out a long-held and frustrated scream. She knew that if anyone was watching her then they'd be worried about her little fit but Eden didn't care. As John would say, because he has, she was letting herself become Wrath, letting it flood her every action, every thought.

She had to get this rage out of her, for a long time she was keeping it inside and that wasn't good.
So now was her chance to let it out, and the poor bottle of vodka was bearing the brunt of it.

Eden grabbed the bottle and threw it against the ground, again expecting it to shatter and again bouncing.

"Why won't you just break??" Eden screamed at it as it laid dejectedly on the ground, not so much as a crack on it.

Eden picked it up again and turned towards the water, raising her arm to throw it into the river. She was fully ready to throw that fucking bottle further that the river, maybe all the way to Falls End, but a small voice in her head told her not to.

Maybe it was the rage slowly leaving her body that was making her arms feel heavy, or maybe it was the tears that somehow found their way down Eden's cheeks without her noticing. She didn't know, but her body was telling her to sit down and when it said that she usually listened to it.

So Eden lowered the bottle. Her hand unscrewed the bottle without her telling it to and she dumped the rest of the vodka into the grass. Every last precious drop, spilled onto the ground.

Another tear rolled out of Eden's eye and she wiped her cheeks with her sleeve, trying to calm her breathing as tears blocked her throat. She gave the bottle a shake and screwed the cap back on, taking it over to a spot in the dirt to watch the river go by.

She set the empty bottle next to her and just sat there, letting the tears fall and not try to stop them. The more she tried to stop them, the worse it got. Ironic, that's how she felt about the Agreements too. As much as she tried to force it to go one way it goes another, harder way.

The sound of a truck driving down the road made Eden sniff and wipe her cheeks. She hoped that whoever the truck belonged to would keep driving, but much to her dismay she heard the truck rumble into her driveway.

The sound of the engine shutting off made Eden consider getting up, but then she decided against it. Maybe if she was lucky they'd think she wasn't home and leave, but her truck was there.

So Eden stayed in her spot. Forcing herself to steady her breathing and dry her cheeks. She heard Jacob's apology and she heard him go inside. Of course he wouldn't find her, but part of her hoped that he would leave. Then Boomer ran outside and she knew she had to talk to Jacob.

Talking so casually with Jacob was...surprisingly easy. There wasn't that normal tension between them like their other conversations. Eden was shocked by how 'relaxed' Jacob could be, even suggesting they watch the sunset from the roof.

Eden definitely didn't think she would fall asleep, and she would never have ever guessed that Jacob would as well, but it was one of the best nights she'd had in a while. Most of her nights were spent with just her and Boomer at home, and she usually didn't sleep very well when she did sleep. Of course, the roof wasn't very comfortable, but apparently she knew that she'd be fine.

     After they'd both woken up Jacob held the ladder steady from the ground and Eden crawled down. She also gave him back his jacket when they both got to the ground. Boomer was laying on the porch and leapt up to his feet when he saw Eden again, running over to her and whining.

     "I know buddy, pill time." She said and gave him a pat on the head. Eden walked up to her front door and turned around to see Jacob standing in her driveway awkwardly. "Would you like to come inside? I doubt it still smells like vodka." She asked him and Jacob glanced at his truck.

     "I should probably be heading back to the Centre now." He said and scratched his beard. "Thanks for the uh...chat." Jacob wasn't as confident and scary as he usually was. It was like he didn't really know what to do in this kind of situation, Eden could see him debating in his head about what to do.

     And Jacob was debating what to do. Should he stay and talk more with Eden and keep an eye on her, or should he go back to the Project? After a moment of debating Jacob decided to choose the safe bet and go back to the Veterans Centre, even if something inside of him was telling, no actually screaming, to stay.

     "Ok, you're welcome. I had a good time last night, one of the best I've had in a while." Eden said and halfway turned to open the door, stopping herself from twisting the knob. "And thank you, I really needed the company last night." She said and turned back to see Jacob standing in the same position, watching her go inside.

     "You're welcome." He semi-mumbled, he wasn't used to this type of conversation. There wasn't any hostility, there wasn't any underlying threat to place or receive, it was simple, and easy, but it was the hardest thing for Jacob to try and figure out.

    Jacob realized that Eden wasn't going inside and he walked back over to his truck. Boomer gave him a short goodbye bark and planted himself at Eden's feet as they both watched the truck leave.

     "Goodbye mutt." Jacob muttered under his breath, not wanting Eden to hear him. There was something he liked about that dog, even though it annoyed the hell out of him. It was his loyalty, and how he would stay with Eden no matter where she went. They were admirable traits in a dog.

     Jacob got into his truck and left, as he pulled out of the driveway Eden went back inside.

     When she opened her door the instantly she was hit with the stench of alcohol. Apparently the vodka smell had not gone away, which made sense but it was still annoying.

     The deep relief that Eden felt when she realized that she never drank was immense. And thank god she didn't drink. But still, being that close to temptation like that...it was scary.

     Eden imagined what would have happened if Jacob had come over and Eden was drunk. He probably would have gotten angry and yelled, he may have even taken her back to the Veterans Centre against her will. Just thinking about Jacob finding her drunk and lonely made Eden shudder, even without the threat of facing Jacobs anger.

     Boomer ran over to her, holding a bottle of pills in his mouth for Eden. "Good boy." Eden gave him a head rub and took the pills from him. Boomer barked and sat down obediently, looking up at Eden with those adorable puppy eyes.

     "Oh right, your breakfast." Eden reminded herself and walked over to one of her cabinets, pulling from one a bag of dog food. She used the scoop and gave Boomer his breakfast, which he was very excited about.

     Then Eden took her pills and sat down on her couch. She wasn't very hungry, but to be fair she never was, so she didn't make herself anything to eat yet. So Eden crossed her arms over her chest and laid her head back into her couch, waiting for her pills to kick in while she rested her eyes.

     Boomer finished his breakfast quick and walked over to the couch, sitting next to it to ask Eden to let him outside. Eden glanced over at the patient pup and got up to let him out the door.

     She opened the front door and Boomer ran out to go do his business, chase a squirrel or two, and then come back. Eden chuckled at his eagerness to run and closed the door again. She went back to lay down on the couch and rested her eyes again.

A strange pain in her abdomen made Eden sit up. It was the kind of pain that started ringing alarms in her head. It was dizzying and nauseating and it forced Eden to get off the couch.

It was a different kind of pain then she was used to, in came from inside. Not ribs, not getting shot or hit, it came from inside her abdomen somewhere.

     Eden stumbled across her living room and down a  hallway, practically falling through a door. She was in her bathroom and she dropped to her knees in front of the toilet, feeling stomach acid creeping it's way to the back of her throat.