THE WORLD DID NOT SEEM SMALL ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE'S PROBLEMS TO BE SO COLLECTIVE AND LARGE. Chrissy had been waiting at the Reservation, waiting for any updates about where Andrei was. Desperate attempts had been made to search the United States, but there was only so much land that wolves were native to, and Jacob didn't want to end up on the news.

Her arms jittered with most steps that she took these days. Chrissy had grown weak once before, when she was in the middle of the woods after she'd been relocated with River. Before she escaped she was sure that her body was giving up, giving in to the torture. Surely, her malnutrition mattered much more than the stress, but frankly these days she wasn't so sure. Their escape had been a blur, and she'd nearly died of exhaustion before she reached the safe arms of a man she hadn't spoken to for months.

The idea that his whole family had broken apart over Andrei broke her heart. Carlisle, despite being a vampire, was an undeniably good person who didn't deserve what he'd been given. River had sent word that he'd begged and Chrissy hated it so much that she couldn't look at any other information the queen had sent.

She had been weak, faint, and exhausted since the war began. They'd gotten their funds, gotten leaves of absence for those who needed it, but Chrissy was at her new home. Jacob's home, where she made Billy terrible food that she tried her best on. Leah came over every day, giving updates, but Chrissy was getting sick of hearing it.

Andrei was the worst part of her life that kept on leaking into the best. Being involved in the war was important, she needed to know that she did her part in destroying him. Still, every piece of him that remained felt rotted inside of her. As if her very soul was being tainted by his presence in the world. Beyond anxiety, the real danger that he posed hurt her. Destroyed the sense of self she'd made over the past year. Everything had been destroyed, rekindled, and burned down again during the past year. Whiplash wasn't the right way to put it.

Her best friend was gone as she knew her, becoming a new person, and Chrissy was still who she was. Chrissy resented the fact that she seemed to be the only one stuck in stasis, so affected by her past that had only just happened. Only a year. Only a year, she tried to remind herself, but that really wasn't good enough.

Jacob was dealing with his own hurt. His childhood friend was now working with someone who harmed his imprint so badly that they couldn't even imagine going into the city alone. His family was in danger, life as he knew it was changing. Now he had to be the intermediary between the Pack and Volterra, who were noticeably stripped of their usual members. Each time, Jacob was on the phone with a new person, trying to get into contact with Aro or Caius to make sure that the wolves that they sent were behaving and safe.

When the door opened, Chrissy was happier to see Leah coming inside.

"I'm moving you to the community center, baby," she began to explain as she placed a kiss upon Chrissy's forehead, "we're getting information from Volterra that doesn't sound good. I want you to be with the guarded elders."

"What about the school?" Chrissy questioned, "Are we moving them or just me?"

The fact was that nobody had been learning a thing in that school since the war began. With parents worried, many were keeping their kids home and homeschooling their children with their teacher's curriculum. Numbers were fudged so things didn't get legally dicey, but there were still kids going there everyday, with a guard at the entrance and their teachers having their firearms at their side. As if that would do much. All it did was ease some of the parents minds. They would hear the bullets and know to scatter.

It wasn't guarded enough for how many of the reservation kids were still going everyday. A guard wouldn't do shit about a group of vampires, and shifting inside the school would cause problems. Chrissy had brought that up, but they didn't really have a choice. If someone were to come to the school, they would need to see kids, or else they'd be in massive trouble.

None of it was a good situation. Chrissy hated that she had to think about vampires around children.

"I don't know how many more people the community center can take," Leah admitted, "Frankly, it's a fire hazard if all the kids were in there during the day. We already have all of our elderly residents, we're moving you and Billy in because you can't protect him all on your own, and the rest of our disabled tribe members need the space during the day.

"If there were to be an attack, we don't know if they'd try setting fire to that center."

"What is this new information from Volterra?" The woman questioned with a sour look growing on her face. "Do we know if they're coming here? I thought they'd be attacking over there. That's why we sent Paul and Quil across the ocean to where the blonde one is."

She hated that man. His dumbly arrogant face, the way he clearly disliked her even without reason, and it was his wife who had turned River. Her best friend ran into him and their whole life changed. Chrissy knew they were mates, but that didn't mean she had to like him. She could hate him and still love River as her best friend. A friend who she wanted safe and loved and adored the way she needed to be.

It threw a wrench into everything she believed she knew about herself and her life. To dislike a man like Caius but love River was a hard pill to swallow. Knowing that because of him, she'd have to find ways to be around River in secret. She couldn't' forget that it was his wife, or the way he treated her when she was threatening to expose them all. Even if it was extreme of her, what did he expect? Chrissy felt like the trauma of witnessing her best friend in agony from being attacked and bitten by a vampire outweighed the laws of a people she didn't even realize existed a year ago.

At least Jacob seemed to dislike the kings well enough, though most of his ranting was over being deeply worried about Bella's pregnancy. Chrissy shared those fears. In a way, she was more worried about what Andrei wanted with the baby than Bella herself. She was a young woman who fell in love with a vampire. That was her prerogative. Bringing a baby into the potential arms of an unsafe man? That was not alright.

Chrissy hated the idea that the Volturi had never seen a case like Bella's before. Any situation where there's no frame of reference scared her. Lack of a plan for that child's safety worried her the most. Chrissy had grown up in a home that, in hindsight, she probably should have been taken from. Food all over the floor, dirty dishes stacked to the cabinets, and a flea infestation because they were too poor for their cats medical care.

Edward and Bella weren't... well, Chrissy had only heard stories from Jacob. He had liked her -- that was over now -- but she didn't seem to be the most maternal. Then again, some of the stories Bella had told about her own mother screamed neglect to Chrissy. Being shipped off to Forks so her mother could have time with Paul felt incredibly wrong. Even Chrissy's parents would have taken her anywhere. They'd done the best they could and it wasn't good enough.

A father can do a lot for a child, but Bella didn't really know Charlie. She called him by his government name, an appalling thing to hear for a girl who called her father daddy until the day she left home. He loved his daughter, always talked about her whenever he came over to see Billy.

Charlie wouldn't approve of this pregnancy at all. Chrissy was sure that he didn't know that Edward and Bella got married in secret, either.

It wasn't like he was a bad father, either. Charlie had spent most of his paternal energy on his friends and Jacob, who needed help with a lot of things around the house growing up. He cooked nice meals, cleaned Billy's house for Chrissy when she realized she was becoming more and more exhausted, and never complained about any of it. If there was anyone who needed anything, Charlie Swan was there to be of assistance, and Chrissy appreciated him more than anyone in the town. He was freely allowed on the reservation purely because he'd done so much for the people in it. Babysat, grabbed groceries for the sick, the works.

How could his daughter not realize what a gem of a father she had?

"Charlie will want to know why we're moving," Chrissy realized and began to protest. "He has no idea what's going on. We can't expect him to not ask questions under these circumstances."

A cop on their side, a good one at that, was rare. Charlie was suspicious of the Cullens and their involvement with Bella, but allowed it. If he finds out that Chrissy is moving into the reservation community center despite her being noticeably non-native, that will draw similar suspicion.

"Baby, I want you safe more than everything," Leah tried to explain as she drew Chrissy in for a hug. "If I know you're safe I can move to the school, if it makes it better. I can have Jacob talk to Charlie since I know you hate lying to him so much. What makes it better for you?"

She knew her answer would be snarky. It often was, with the way things had been going. Cynicism was the option that got Chrissy through to another day. Long gone were the times of optimism, when a kind word could get her through to the next motion. Her carefully crafted world was falling apart at the seams and her morals were going away with it. Lies, deception, all of it felt alien and unheard of. Who would lie to a man like Charlie?

Chrissy would, she had, and that very change in nature worried her most in this war.

"Make him lie for me," she relented, grabbing the extra small purse she kept just in case she needed to move quickly. "I don't want to do it anymore."

It had been her who advocated for it, pushed it upon the group like it was their mission, and yet Chrissy felt that tug of defeat stronger than anyone. Premature, tinged with regret over getting involved. The most selfish emotion she'd felt since she'd wanted to take River and have her run with her. Constantly that feeling ran through her bones, a reminder of what she'd lost rather than the friendship that still existed. A different sort of friendship than what existed before, but it still hung in the air between them. Longing for comfort, for sharing secrets they'd never told anyone else, and most of all, the love that had once been romantic that had fizzled only slightly into a deep platonic connection.

Letting go of war, of the creation of the worst sort of thing humans and vampires could ever make, was in a way letting go of her.

Betrayal of her instincts was one thing, but Chrissy couldn't go and betray her, not after everything. Every cut, every wound reopened, every smile from passing strangers was a reminder that people like River still exist. Amongst vampires, at least one of them would always have her back. Against even her mate, she knew it. No vampire would touch the tribe after this war was finished because River made it so. Declared it with as much authority as a vampire Queen could have, unanimously and unconditionally.

---

JACOB HAD PRESSED EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE THIN THE LAST FEW DAYS FOR THE SAKE OF HELPING OUT. The sheer amount of tasks that had to be done by the Shifters to prepare their reservation for attacks was deeply felt throughout the pack. Run out, exhausted shifters had their dismay felt through the pack bond, leading to more issues. From fights to crying in private, things did not seem to get better even with the extra help from parents and relatives. It was obsolete, the drain on their system was causing a crisis within that Jacob understood would crawl its way to the surface at some point.

Leadership was a concept well-known to the Shifter. He had participated in plenty of group activities while in school, being the de-facto leader of most presentations and assignments. Managing the Shifters was another beast, with their aggression and desperate, innate wolf voice calling out to protect the people and themselves came power struggles at every turn. They desired a leader, but also independence, which was nasty.

Sam had been the worst offender. His leadership was spotty and worked best when there were no vampires around to stir the innate aggression within the Shifters. Charisma and looking big only got the man so far, so Jacob had to step into the role. Every wolf had bowed to him eventually, but Sam had done so out of requirement rather than duty. Resentment hung in the air every time Jacob telepathically sent orders and he figured that he would be the straw that broke the camel's back when it came to potential crisis.

As Pack Leader he'd worked overtime to make sure that their elderly and anyone needing extra protection moved into the community center. While crowded and allegedly haunted, it was a place easy to see and therefore simple to protect. Stronger wolves guarded the school while the fastest were around the center in case of an attack. Jacob had to contend with the fact that all of them were underage.

"Reckon those bloodsuckers will show up here, Jacob?" Seth asked from beside him. "I bet we can take them."

Whether or not they could was not the question that Jacob needed answered within himself. How many people would be injured in an attack? Would there be lifelong consequences with those injuries? How would they explain those away in the hospital? Charlie would surely follow up if there were injured women and children who had unexplained injuries. Whether or not he had personal jurisdiction did not matter, the truth was that the unexplainable would damage their reputation with Charlie and could lead to further scrutiny. Why did everyone leave their jobs? Why are children being used as guards outside the school and community center? Where did all of their adult siblings go? Why do they constantly communicate with Jacob?

The second that Charlie got into their phone records and saw that Jacob had contacted River personally to see what happened with Carlisle, the whole messy situation would spill open and Jacob was not ready for that kind of battle. There wouldn't be a way to lie himself out of it and his father was a worse liar than him. His father whose best friend was the sheriff with an MIA daughter. He'd find the marriage certificate and think there was some sort of abuse situation going on.

Jacob gulped. There was an abuse case going on. Whether or not Bella realized it or not, that relationship was toxic and she was in danger with Andrei in the fray.

"We have to hope it doesn't come to that," Jacob reminded his cousin. "I don't think we can keep this a secret much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"The phone records make us look strange. The wire transfers are even worse," Jacob admitted as he watched some of the children walk into the community center for their after school program. Chrissy had been leading it when she could, but Emily was stepping up more and more these days. "I lied to Charlie about why we're all in here. Claimed that we're redoing the roof."

"So what? You redo the roof, you keep up the lie," the boy rebutted. "We can ask for more money to redo the roofs of everyone who moved in here. Our houses are all pretty old, it wouldn't be that strange."

"It makes it look even weirder, Seth. Why would we all quit our jobs and then redo the roofs of our homes? Where is the money coming from? From Italy? Why are they sending us money?" Jacob let out a sigh. "I guess we're going to have to mention River at least once if he brings that up. He doesn't know her but if we say she's bagged a rich guy who is willing to send money to us all... It makes it a bit better."

Before Seth could let out a response, Jacob felt a shudder through the Pack bond. His eyes narrowed as he searched for any sense of movement, hoping that it was a false alarm. The sun had not left the clouds yet that day and the wind left a cool touch to the Shifter's skin. Smell left nothing, as if the shudder had been from elsewhere, far away from Forks and their people. Yet Jacob didn't trust the calm sense of relief that washed over him and it was soon replaced with a sinking sense of dread as he turned his head toward the forest.

It had burned before, months ago, in an attempt to distract the wolves. Chrissy had been saved in the forest, broken and scared for her life. The forests had united and divided every supernatural being that found this part of the world home. They could give as they took, leading to Jacob's deep discomfort over that firing in the bond.

Three underaged wolves held down fort at the school, even after hours. Andrei was cruel enough to find pleasure in the taking of children.

Another rumble.

"Did you feel that?"

"It's the middle of the day," Jacob noted, "People may be outside."

Nobody with any sense, of course, but Jacob didn't want to be mean and add that part. They'd been clear that if Newborns were coming for River, they could be coming for them, and thus they should stay home as much as possible. The odd person here or there, mostly those who had married into the reservation, did not wish to listen and still went out for various things. Jacob hoped that they were near their cars, if not for protection so they could drive away from the situation.

A crunching sound came from the woods, then a noise that could only be described as gnawing. An animalistic groan came from the forests.

"I don't like the sound of that," the younger boy winced at the noise, keeping his body placed firmly behind his leader's. "We have to keep it away from the-"

"-I know," he cut him off before motioning him to stay quiet.

Vampires could hear far better than the wolves, but they weren't as agile. Newborns even more so, even with their bloodthirsty nature. Every time Newborns found their way into their territory they'd been able to push them off and kill them without much issue with the general public. Still, Jacob acknowledged that they'd never made noise like this before. The centers of communication had always been far enough away to not cause a disturbance.

Humans in Forks itself do not know about the vampire problem. If they got closer to Forks, that could change.

Get into the woods, take them down, Jacob sent telepathically. Absolutely no noise can come this close to our people. Lure them away deeper into the forest before taking them out.

A few notes of recognition rang out from the bond before another rumble nearly knocked Jacob off of his feet.

Who the Hell is doing that? Leah questioned everyone. You're stressing everyone out, stop it.

What is going on over there? Embry asked from across the ocean. Is the reservation under attack? Do you need backup?

No, we don't need backup. What we need is for whoever is making our pack bond rumble to fucking stop. I am trying to track these fucking things and it's pissing me off. Leah huffed audibly inside of Jacob's mind. I can smell four.

Only four? We're losing our mind over four?

Shut the fuck up, Sam. They are- WHAT THE FUCK IS IT DOING?

Jacob tried to focus on the bond, something he'd only recently found out he could do reliably. As their leader, he had to understand where they were coming from, and a part of that was by being them for a time. Carefully enough to not frighten her, Jacob found himself slipping into Leah's anxious mind to see the horrifying sight of a freshly tracked Newborn vampire with their own arm in their hand.

Leah what is going on? Chrissy sent out a little, quiet message straight to her. It was far simpler to send a message when you're an imprint, Jacob figured out, and the entire pack was not going to hear the small voice in the corner of Leah's mind.

HE IS HOLDING HIS OWN ARM AND IS TRYING TO SMACK ME WITH IT! Leah screamed uncontrollably as she tried to dodge the newly created (found? it was his arm) weapon. The Newborn was not agile, as expected, and was quickly taken down after his arm was accidentally flung straight into a tree. I can't believe that just happened. Who has the flamethrower?

Emily has the flamethrower at the community center. Seth let out a laugh that was quickly turned off as Charlie's car came into the parking lot. Fuck, Charlie is here.

We need fire, Leah complained. Get him off our ass.

Charlie Swan was an easygoing man, but he'd grown highly suspicious of the things going on in Forks and on the Reservation ever since the Cullens had come, left, come back, and left again. Bella was not answering his calls and Jacob had told him that she didn't want to talk to him anymore and Charlie had become even more concerned after that. How many cases had he seen like this with humans that didn't turn out well? Quite a few. He'd had plenty of domestic dispute calls in Forks from the few alcoholics that lingered at bars before coming home. Handling that was in his job description, which meant the signs were all there.

More and more frequent visits to Billy and Chrissy meant that he saw more and more that he didn't need to see.

He appeared drained these days, like all of the life had been sucked out, put back in, and sucked out once more without a single night of sleep in sight. Charlie had gotten his daughter back only to lose her again.

He'd cried when Bella's number went straight to voice mail. He thought it was all his fault, that he should have been more supportive and shown her that he could be trusted if she needed help.

"Jacob," Charlie gave a wilting wave before coming up to the man in front of the community center. "Do you know how many people are currently in the center? The Fire Department down in Forks wants to make sure nothing happens when the kids come on in."

Of course it would be the Fire Department. They'd have to also begin making new additions to the community center if they wanted to keep them all in there, they would say, and Jacob would have to say well, fuck, Charlie, we actually have everyone in here to protect them from vampires. Sorry about the fire hazard, but vampires are probably a more reasonable situation since vampires are threating to kill us all.

"I don't actually know, Charlie," Jacob lied through his teeth. He knew each and every person who resided in the community center right now. He knew their families and their jobs and their hours. "Is there something wrong?"

"Just don't know why everyone's in there right now, you know?" Charlie looked at the door to the center and all of the children playing around with their grandparents inside. "Your father and your girlfriend moving in here... Is there something wrong with the house?"

"We recently got a donation from Chrissy's friend's boyfriend so we can redo a bunch of people's homes." Charlie gave him a raised eyebrow. "Real rich Italian guy."

Can they please stop doing that.

I did not need to see all of that.

Shut up. Charlie is here, Seth reprimanded.

"Huh," Charlie gave him an odd look and then looked through the glass door once again. "Which friend was that?"

"Her name is River."

"I thought River was the name of Chrissy's ex." Jacob could have died of shame right then and there. "I swear I heard Bella say that name before."

"It's a small world," Jacob fake laughed and looked at Seth for some backup. The teenager seemed more worried about reprimanding everyone through the pack bond and chewing on gum to help him. "River and Chrissy are just friends now. She went on vacation and met a rich guy head over heels for her."

"Do you know the lucky guy?"

"Dad met him a while ago when he went to Italy," he admitted and tried to watch Charlie for his reactions. He'd never been this curious before and frankly, they didn't have great answers to give him. Everything was a half-truth or a full on fabrication.

I'm going to get the flamethrower, you stay here and distract the sheriff, Seth practically demanded as he nope'd out of the standoff between his Pack Leader and the sheriff. Meet us in the woods when you're done. I think they've gotten all four. Wasn't anything to be worried about.

"Didn't he go to Volterra?" Jacob's blood ran cold as Charlie looked over at his car. "Bella went to Volterra once. Met up with Edward there."

---

Charlie rn