Title: Trouble, Near and Dear
Author:
ivynightsRating: PG
Pairing: Jacob/Bella
Word Count: 493
Summary: Written in December 2009 originally for the
sortofbeautiful’s 2nd drabble contest. Prompt: from now on our troubles will be miles away
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me and I am not making profit off of this in any way. Twilight belongs to the Stephenie Meyer.
Author's Notes: First posted
here. Reposting here both for posterity and to claim it as my own, as the contest winners have still not been announced and who knows if they ever will be. Also, PLEASE NOTE: Renesmee never existed in the world of this drabble.
Just as there are only so many places a group of immortal, sparkly, blood-sucking beings can go to remain unnoticed, there are only so many places an enormous, preternatural, russet-colored wolf can go to bide his time in peace.
In the year 2312, thanks to global warming and deforestation, those places are even fewer and less far between. So, it’s only a matter of time before the two collide.
After she turned, they spent a decade lurking around Alaska, and then more hanging out in South America. Then on to France, Bulgaria, a decidedly uncomfortable couple of years in Italy, back to South America, and now a return to Alaska again.
She told herself, assured herself, consoled herself, that at least, once the choice - the change - was made, she’d leave all her regrets and aches behind.
But Bella knows that Alice hasn’t been able to see her future in decades now. No one’s been able to figure out why.
She’s alone, out hunting on the tundra, when the reason why reveals himself. Her nose knows before any other tangible part but Bella’s knows that some other piece of her has known for much, much longer.
Suddenly, all her troubles are no longer miles away.
She’s abruptly, shallowly, concerned about her appearance. If it were anyone else, Bella would feel secure that she looks damn good, world’s most alluring predator and all that, but this one might not appreciate the diamond shimmer, the immovable skin, the amber eyes.
He will appreciate the leather though. As a human, she never particularly cared about what she wore, but in the past few decades Bella’s become strangely enamored with fashion. Something’s got to keep changing to prevent things from being unbearably stagnant. So, she’s traded in the beige for leather, in for something a little edgier (Edward was scandalized).
Petty rebellions to keep things interesting.
His scent’s growing stronger now, it’s unique and unmistakably his own; even if it didn’t scream Jacob, scream garages and engine oil and the sun, things simple as breathing, things always changing, new surprises mixed in with familiar comforts, scream home, she would still know who it was. There’s only one wolf left these days.
Suddenly, he appears before her eyes, coming to a halt only a few feet away.
Jacob doesn’t bother with clothing.
“Hey Bells,” he says, and his grin looks even more wolfish than she remembers it last, canines sharp and glinting off the bright Alaskan ice.
“Jake,” Bella breathes, useless frosty air filling into her dead lungs, “What are you doing here?”
“Messing up your perfect world,” he says.
If she could still get weak in the knees, Bella thinks, she would now.
Suddenly, all her troubles are no longer miles away and not nearly close enough still.
Her answering grin is just as dangerous and genuine as his own.
Let propriety take a hike for a change. She’s found a new way to spice things up.
end.