"The Chief's daughter was attacked." Mike says, in a whisper as if it would keep the entire house from hearing him. This was bad. It was the worst news they'd received so far. It meant that the public would soon start panicking. If the Chief of the Forks Police Department's daughter could become a target, anyone could be next.

Considering that Jacob's no longer on the case, he takes in the information, but there's not a lot he can do to look into it.  He's pretty sure that Uley had asked that Mike keep the information that he gave Jacob to a minimum. The information he'd been giving recently was less centered around the case and more focused on the people's reactions to what was happening. The updates are a mere courtesy at this point. He gives a low hum to show that he's at least paying attention.

Edward, on the other hand, flies forward suddenly, eyes wide and head turning so that he can get a better look at Mike. 

"Daughter?" He asks, intrigue clear in his eyes, but Jacob could tell from the sound of his voice that it was a bit more than that. There was some kind of a connection here. He finally turns over to look at Mike as well.

Mike, who seems startled to suddenly have their full attention, sits a bit straighter in his chair. He looks between the both of them nervously.

"Yeah, Isabella Swan." He says, looking over at Jacob pointedly before looking back over at Edward.

Jacob looks over at Edward as well. Bella Swan? What was so special about her? Jacob's seen her a few times in his life. She'd lived in Forks for a couple of years when they were still teenagers. It was right around the time Chief Dwyer had moved back into town. From the look in Edward's eyes, there was clearly more than just recognition, like he was flipping through old memories that Jacob didn't have access to. Jacob, against his better judgement, looked over at Mike who looked like he knew more than he was telling.

"Do you know her?" Jacob asks Mike, hoping to get them talking again.

"Yeah, we were friends in high school," He says looking at Jacob as if he should already know what he was talking about, "she ended up moving away after, though. Remember?"

Jacob wracks his memory for that name or the weirdly vague story to go along with it. He eventually catches hold of something. 

"Listen, man, I know we didn't go to the same schools, but I know you heard about how weird they are."

Jacob really didn't remember much about the public high school, let alone the students in it.

"He just gives off serial killer vibes, is all I'm sayin'." Mike hisses. He's seemed to have really worked himself up, completely forgetting about the basket of cheese in front of him.

"He even dated one of our friends." Mike was whispering now, almost as if they were gossiping. "She was in love with him, Man. One couldn't be seen without the other. I haven't seen her since graduation. Her dad lives here. Word is they broke up, but what if he -?" Mike stops in his little rant to run his pointer finger in front of his throat.

"Or maybe she avoids a town where her ex lives." He said, eyes now settling for drawing patterns on the table.

So, this was the ex and, from the look on Edward's face and his reaction to the news, their might still be some type of feelings there. Jacob feels his stomach sinking before he can even process the information fully. Just as he thought, succumbing to the imprint would give him some form of peace, at least for a little while.

"Hurt?" Edward asks, seemingly only being able to ask one-word questions.

"Yeah, she got attacked, like, right outside the hospital." Mike answers, "She's currently unconscious, no one is being let in to see her besides the Chief so I don't really know how bad it is."

Jacob can visibly see Edward processing this. He looks so caught up in his own thoughts that it's like he and Mike didn't even exist. Then, as soon as the expression came across his face, it was gone. He still looked pensive, but it was if he was just told it'd be raining today. Slightly perplexed at best, mildly inconvenienced at worst.

"I'll let you two get back to it." Mike says, excusing himself quickly as if he hadn't just stirred the pot. 

Jacob's not sure he wants to discuss it. Whatever it was that happened between them, he's not sure he wants to know anything about it. It was the fact that Edward wasn't saying much of  anything that made him question whether or not he should push further.

So, they don't talk about it.

Edward gets up at around five in the morning and slowly makes his way over Jacob. While he isn't completely healed, he's feeling good enough to help Emmett and Jasper with this new development in the case. Edward lurches over him, trying his best not to put to much weight on his leg as he heads to get up. He's only slightly surprised when he hears that tell-tale whine. It's much quieter than it'd been in the past, almost like it was just there to remind him. He steadies all of his weight on his forearms, placing them on either side of Jacob, and leans down to quickly peck him on the lips. 

However, somehow he finds himself in a heated kiss so long that his knees give out. He realizes, as he pulls away to desperately get some air into his lungs, that Jacob's eyes, while half-lidded were focused. He was looking directly at Edward. He was well aware of what he was doing. 

"Gonna be late for work." Edward attempts to say against his lips, but Jacob doesn't look like he cares as he pulls him back down.

"You're late." Emmett makes a very astute observation as Edward maneuvers through the sliding doors of the lab.

Edward doesn't bother responding, plopping down into his chair and resting his crutches against his desk.

"Overslept?" Emmett asks in a mocking tone, a knowing smile plastered on his face.

"The case?" Edward retorts.

"It's just an attack, Ed. She's still alive. There's not an autopsy and the evidence has already been sent off to another lab," Emmett informs him, "You could've stayed home."

Jasper doesn't add in his two cents, but based on his eyes, he clearly has something that he wants to add in. 

"What, Jazz?" Edward asks, slowly turning towards his desk.

"I thought you were over her?" He says, looking warily over at Edward as if he were doing something questionable.

"Yeah, does your hubby know about this?" Emmett somehow asks in a serious tone. 

"I am. I'm just tired of sitting around." Edward says, looking between the two. 

He was aware that he hadn't actually informed either of them that they'd even broken up or his feelings about breaking up. It didn't make the accusations any less annoying. They hadn't ended on good terms. In fact, around six months ago, he'd gotten up to get dressed for work and when he'd returned home, nothing seemed to be the same. His mind was on a new case involving body parts found in a nearby river. He'd managed to pry his thoughts away from the case long enough to give her a kiss on the cheek on his way out.

 The crime scene was mostly just him waiting around for divers to retrieve what they could find while he avoided flies. There wasn't anything spectacular or glamorous about it. He spent the entire time thinking about what he'd cook her for dinner. Maybe he'd take her out to Carver's. She'd always liked that place. There was a group of officers gathered around looking for evidence. 

Jacob was there, he remembers now, telling his team that the mosquitoes weren't that bad and to stop complaining so loudly. He hadn't even given Edward or his team a first glance as he scanned the grass around the riverbank. The memory is odd. Everything seems a bit hazy, but Jacob is in full color as he grabs Newton's arm to keep him from toppling head first into the water. 

Edward'd gone home that night and couldn't get his mind focused on anything else. He'd left her to eat alone, instead going into his study to look over the case file. They fight that night and every night after. The case was solved within a matter of days, but the hazy feeling didn't go away. About a week later, she doesn't come home after working the night shift at the hospital. All of her stuff is gone from his place. That afternoon was the last time he'd seen her. He didn't want to miss her so he just stopped talking about her, like she was never there.

"And even if I wanted to keep it a secret, for whatever reason, Newton already told him." Edward sighs, rolling his eyes as both of them become even more interested, completely forgetting about whatever it was that they were working on before he'd hobbled into the room.

"Newt spilled the beans?" Emmett asks, scooting closer in his rolling chair.

"Yeah, apparently he and Bella were friends in high school."

They'd attended to so many high schools in their life time, that he doubted Emmett and Jasper remembered much of anything about these particular four years. They were insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but he could still see them trying to rack their brains.

"So, what did the detective say?" Jasper asks.

He hadn't said anything, Edward realizes. He hadn't really said anything for the rest of that afternoon and had gone to sleep early last night, saying that he wasn't feeling well. Edward slumps in his chair a little, mind now unable to leave the thought. He hadn't said anything, but he hadn't exactly seemed happy. He hadn't slept on top of Edward like he always did, instead sleeping closer to the nightstand.  

"Speaking of, Newton, you're going to be late for coffee." Emmett says, snapping Edward out of his thoughts, nodding over to the clock, "Better get going."

Edward thinks about Jacob's silence all the way to the break room and fixes coffee on autopilot. It's not until he's peeking out of the little window in front of the sink that he wakes up from his trance. 

"You gonna just stand there and hog the coffee pot?" Newton says, clearly joking as he nudged Edward's shoulder. Edward mindlessly hands over the pot to him and, as quickly as he can, moves away from the plexiglass and over into his seat. He's spilt half of his coffee on to himself before he can even sit down, but his mind is all over the place, so he doesn't even notice.

"You alright, Man?" Mike asks, grabbing a couple of paper towels and heading over to give them to Edward.

"I thought you said she was unconscious?" Edward blurts out, eyes flying to the window as if he can see her from here.

"Well, she woke up this morning and she said she was feeling well enough to give a statement." Newton says with a shrug. 

Edward can feel a headache coming on. He didn't want to see her. He was now well aware that he didn't want to see her, didn't want to talk to her, didn't want to even think about her. 

"Was it bad?" Newton asks, a hand on his shoulder.

Edward looks up at him, confusion clear on his face.

"The breakup, was it that bad?" Newton asks again.

The fights were loud and passionate and always ended in him staring down at that overpriced rug while he contemplated how they'd fallen so far in a week. Edward hadn't been paying enough attention to see that the end was coming fast. She'd accused him of cheating countless times, asking him who it was and why he was lying. He didn't think that this week of haziness was going to  turn into speculation. He'd thought that they were just naturally drifting apart. It happens sometimes. They'd been together since high school, it was bound to happen at some point. Though, the way the flame fizzled out was unusual. The way one week it was just like old times and then the next they were bickering about him cheating. The way she was all teary eyed all of the time. They'd just, somehow, gotten through the miscarriage without falling apart. He'd felt so guilty about the way it'd happened, but how do you reassure someone of something that never happened? How could she think so little of him?

In hindsight, it wasn't the worst that could've happened, but he still doesn't want to see her.

He pushes up from the table, leaving the mug behind for another day. He needed to change anyway, he couldn't walk around with coffee spilled down his front. He gets about half way to the door when it's pushed open and there she was. 

She rushes into the room, eyes on the floor, feet heading over to the fridge. Edward almost topples over trying to move out of the way. She turns around to apologize and freezes, staring at him. So much for a quick escape. His escape is more of an awkward one as he breaks the staring contest to hop over to the door and yank it open. Newton sidles up behind him to hold it while he clacks his way out into the hall.

He should've stayed home. He'd think he would've learned this lesson by now.

He doesn't even bother saying goodbye to Jasper and Emmett, instead heading straight towards the parking lot.

"I can drive you." Newton offers.

Edward doesn't even question it, sliding into the passenger seat of the cop car and trying not to slam his head against the headrest as he stares ahead blankly. Newton wrestles his crutches onto the backseat and he zones out as they head towards the house.

It's been about four hours since Edward left and Jacob hasn't experienced any symptoms of withdrawal. Instead his mind is plagued with other, somehow more taxing, thoughts. Jacob has never had a serious relationship to have a serious breakup afterwards. He didn't know what it felt like to still have lingering feelings for a person after years of not speaking to them. So, he doesn't know how it feels to be Edward currently. He doesn't know what Edward will do and that keeps him sitting up in bed, staring at the door. He doesn't expect him to come home until at least around five, but he sits there thinking of scenarios. 

The door almost scares him when it's pushed open at around 12:30 PM and in comes Edward, followed closely by Mike. 

"It's only lunch time." Jacob says stupidly, while watching Edward drag himself over to his side of the bed. 

Mike is shaking his head when Edward turns to focus on getting his foot elevated on a stack of pillows. The gesture only makes Jacob more curious.

"Everything go alright?"

"Yeah, y'know, not a lot happening." Mike tries to brush on by it with wide eyes, clearly telling Jacob to drop it. Jacob, however, is watching Edward. Jacob's never seen him look so upset. He looks like he's arguing with someone in his head as his expressions shift from being slightly frustrated to looking genuinely angry.

"Thanks, Mike." Jacob brushes him off, giving him a wave to give him the signal that he should get out. He can tell just from the noises that Mike is put off by this, clearly wanting to stay and make conversation, but he stands up from the desk chair and moseys out of the room. 

"Hey, you alright?" Jacob tries again. 

Edward lets out a sigh, teeth bared as he finally stopped messing with his foot.

"She was there." 

Jacob had been thinking about this since Edward left. He'd debated what would happen. He'd tried to think of ways to have a discussion about it, bring it up in a way that's not aggressive or isolating. He'd thought about how that would go. He gotten upset at the potential of it going poorly. Out of the list of potential outcomes that played through Jacob's mind, having to console Edward over his ex-girlfriend even being in the same building as him had never popped up. 

"Did she say something?" He asks, trying to figure out what exactly had happened.

"No." He sounds relieved for a second, happy that she hadn't gotten a word in.

Okay.

"Okay, well, what happened?" Jacob's not sure what he wants to know first. He hadn't really taken into account that the feelings that he saw may not be good. Edward clearly wasn't reminiscing. 

"She came into the break room. Why the hell is she in the break room? She doesn't work there." Edward seems really disturbed by this. Jacob doesn't want to be insensitive, keeping in his amusement at Edward's little rant.

"Why did that bother you? Did she do something before?" 

Edward looks like he's about to start ranting again, but takes one look at Jacob, finally looking up from his foot, and thinks better of it.

"We went through a lot together." Is what he provides instead.

Clearly, so, how does that end with him being furious at the sight of her?

Jacob is debating asking, but whatever Edward was thinking about seemed to deflate his anger into sadness.

"I don't know what happened," he admits, looking down at his lap, "She thought I was cheating on her and our relationship just seemed to spiral out of control."

There is something else there, Jacob can tell, but he doesn't want to force Edward into telling him anything. He just sits and listens to whatever he does want to tell.

Edward spends the rest of the day buried in a pile of pillows with Jacob somewhere amongst them. He can feel the heat radiating against his side. He can feel his breath brushing up against his neck. Jacob is clearly trying to give him some space and comfort by surrounding him in a large amount of soft things, which Jasper very annoyingly informs him, while laughing at his expense, is "nesting". He can hear Jacob turn over in the pile. Edward would prefer less fluff and blankets. He would very much prefer Jacob pressed against him instead of having to dig to find him. After moving about three pillows, he's met with Jacob's back turned to him. He takes the opportunity to wrap an arm around his waist and tug him closer. Jacob doesn't comment on the new position, only wiggling so that he's firmly pressed up against Edward's chest. 

Jacob hadn't felt sick recently. This was good. It was great. The only caveat is that Edward didn't have a valid reason for what he was doing currently. He had no solid reasoning behind his need to rest his hands on Jacob's stomach and do his little ritual, but he does it anyway. Jacob doesn't say anything as he runs his hands up and down slowly, but he can feel the man thinking. As much as Edward can intrude, he doesn't like to. Roaming around in people's heads had never ended well for him. He'd prefer being told things organically. He instead focused on Jacob's body language. He seemed fairly relaxed, body not rigid or wiggling to move away. Edward can't tell if he's become so accustomed to the motion, that he thinks nothing of it, or maybe he's thinking solely about the action itself.

Either way, Jacob stays quiet for about fifteen minutes before Edward notices how quick his heartbeat has become. 

"You alright?" Edward asks, slowing to a stop. It dawns on him, that maybe it's not as calming for Jacob as he thought it was. Maybe it reminds him of that sick feeling. 

"Yeah," Jacob answers, but he sounds breathless.

Edward pushes up on his elbow to get a better look at Jacob's face only to find that his eyes are pressed shut, face screwed up uncomfortably.

"Hey," Edward calls as softly as he can, just loud enough to get Jacob's attention. He doesn't open his eyes at the call, however, Edward can tell from his breathing that he's trying to calm himself.

"Sorry," Edward mutters, moving his hand to rest on Jacob's hip instead. He busies himself with nuzzling the back of Jacob's neck with his nose and just waits patiently for him to calm down.

He lays there anticipating the moment Jacob jerks out of his arms and runs off to the bathroom or curls in on himself and waits for whatever he's feeling to pass. What he isn't expecting is a low rumbling noise that sounds like it comes from deep within Jacob's chest. It makes the hairs on the back Edward's neck stand up. It's not familiar and but he hasn't heard a werewolf in decades. He can feel himself becoming more alert, his body wanting to get into a position where he's more protected. Is he growling? No...it's too low. It's like a cat's purr, not threatening. Edward is trying to look for a word to describe the sound and is only knocked out of his own head by it abruptly stopping. It's then followed by a quiet, shaky "Fuck". 

"Wanna tell me what that was?" Edward says after a moment.

Jacob doesn't answer immediately, but Edward can hear his thoughts racing again. 

Edward hadn't brought up his new found information. There was no casual way that he could find to mention to Jacob that he knew that he could phase into a giant dog. That would then present questions about his own condition and he thinks he's had a troubling enough day. So, Edward could understand the hesitation to answer. 

"What do vampires do when they're content?" Jacob asks after a while. He suddenly rolls over to look at Edward.

Honestly, maybe he should start listening to Emmett more. The man seemed to have all of the answers.

"Smile?" Edward responds, unsure. He hasn't been happy a lot in his hundred years of being on Earth.

"You've smiled like two times. Are you broken or something?" Jacob inquires.

"Where is this going exactly?" Edward asks, dodging the question.

"The sounds a wolf thing." Jacob says casually, trying to mask the answer with adjusting Edward's hair. 

A wolf thing. A wolf thing that happens when he's content.

He describes it as if they're separate beings. 

Edward opens his mouth to ask another question, but instead he gets a mouthful of Jacob's tongue.

Jacob really thought this whole breeding thing would go away. Withdrawal was intense, bringing out any desire possible to get a werewolf with their mate. It made the need to be mated almost unbearable. He was hoping it would subside a bit once he was with Edward in a more substantial way. One touch to the stomach and his wolf was humming like he'd already committed. It was unnerving. Not to mention the fact that, based off of Edward's reaction, he was clearly aware of, not only, Jacob being a werewolf, but also of certain mannerisms. One quick look in a book and he'd know.

"So, what happened?" Quil asked as he snacked on something that smelled like it had peanut butter in it.

"What happened to what?" Jacob asked, while staring down into  some old books.

"What happened to have you searching up other forms of birth control?" He asks casually, sucking on his spoon.

Quil's in a real chair with actual padding and a cushion in it that Embry had lugged from downstairs. He'd outgrown the desk chair and it's lack of comfort, stomach a bit more visible in what was clearly Embry's shirt. This man was asking him why he wanted to keep his wolf from making decisions for him. Granted, Quil didn't seem unhappy with his predicament. He seemed to be thriving despite himself. Quil had spent a record number of days away from Jacob to work on the nursery, so maybe he could understand. Once you were in a different position, one you liked more, it could be hard seeing why Jacob didn't want to put a pause to his career because he couldn't hold in a fickle urge. 

"Nothing happened." He mumbles, eyes never leaving the page as he tries to find something to help with the urge.

"Lies. Plus, you're not going to find anything in those. They're from when people had like three things to do: farm, hunt, and fuck." Quil says bluntly, before grabbing a  pillow off of Jacob's bed to put between the chair and his back.

Jacob slams the book closed with a huff and narrows his eyes at Quil.

Quil gives him a shit-eating grin in return, clearly happy at being able to call Jacob out.

"Nothing happened." Jacob reiterates.

"You really like him don't you?" Quil continues as if Jacob hadn't even spoken, "It's not just a wolf thing, is it?" 

This was fucking ridiculous.

"No."

Quil watches him for a second.

"You've thought about it outside of withdrawal and it freaked you out, didn't it?" 

Werewolves have a connection when they're in  packs. It's something that evolved out of a need to survive. They can share thoughts at any time without having to say a word out loud. Werewolves that were even closer could read each other without the ability. If they were paying enough attention, it would take no time at all. 

Jacob lies anyway.

"No, I would just like to get my job back." 

"Mhm, so you thought about a name yet?" Quil asks, sticking a spoonful of whatever is in his little bowl into his mouth.

"Quil." Jacob says, hoping to stop the ridiculous barrage of questions.

"When I gave in, it was on a night I was being cooked for too -"

"Quil!" He says louder, hoping that the man would take the hint this time. 

"There's nothing wrong with it. You're at home. You're financially stable with being on paid leave and everything. He clearly wouldn't say no to claiming you. Let's not forget that whole hickey situation. Plus, Pumpkin would have a friend." 

Quil is clearly enjoying himself as he smiles mockingly around his spoon. 

However, Jacob's more focused on the set of footsteps that have paused on the stairs. Edward stands there for a moment before he starts making his way up and wanders in, plate in one hand, phone in the other. He absently hands the plate over to Jacob while still staring down at the screen. 

"Be back with dessert." He says before wandering back out. 

"He even made dessert, that's at least worth more than a couple of seconds of deliberation." Quil starts again.

"Keep talking and I'm going to toss your chair down the stairs."