Moving Forward - J. Black

xviii.

EDITED

Eliza stood beside Emily as she tried her best not to start tapping her foot again. Carlisle was inside rebreaking Jacob's bones and everyone was on edge as they periodically heard his screams. Eliza's whole body was on alert as the anxiety and waiting were killing her. Billy Black was beside Emily and Eliza and he quickly got annoyed with the blonde's foot tapping, Eliza immediately stopped when he looked at her annoyed. It had been a long time since Carlisle went in and he should be done any minute. Bella's red pickup came swerving into the dirt driveway as the human finally arrived at the Black household. "Hey-" Bella walked up to Billy as Jacob's screaming cut Bella's sentence off.

"It's been going on for a while." Quill didn't look away from Eliza as he informed Bella of the situation. "Doc's re-breaking his bones." Sam explained to Bella as his own imprint comforted Billy. "Why did he have to butt in? I could've taken that tick." Leah continued to grumble over the past and Eliza snapped her head up, ready to rip the shifter a new one. "Oh give it a rest, Leah." Paul snapped at Leah before Eliza could. Everyone was tired of Leah's attitude, but the pack could see Eliza was on her last straw with the prideful shifter. The tension was cut when Carlisle finally opened the door to exit Jacob's room.

"The worst it over, he'll be alright." Carlisle's eyes immediately found Eliza's as he glanced over the tribe members. "I gave him some morphine, but his body temperature will burn it off soon. I'll come back to set up a drip." Carlisle directed his next words to Billy and Sam, Billy offering his hand to shake. "Thank you." Billy thanked the vampire as the two shook hands. "He's asking for you." Carlisle looked over at Bella and Eliza suddenly felt stupid. "Both of you." Carlisle looked at Eliza with a small smile, taking away a small portion of the sting. "Uh, do you mind if I go first?" Eliza looked to Bella hopefully, the human having already taken a step forward. "Oh, uh, yeah." Bella nodded awkwardly and Eliza silently thanked the girl for not putting up a fight.

Eliza walked in the door, scanning the injured shifter. Jacob's entire chest and arm were wrapped to keep them still and sweat was dripping down his face from the amount of screaming and physical pain he had endured. . It felt awful to see the shifter bandaged up and barely able to breathe. "Hey." Eliza spoke softly as she gently closed the big white door "Hey." Jacob tried to smile at the blonde, but she could still tell he was exhausted. "I-uh-I don't actually know what to say, I think I just needed to see that you were okay." Eliza moved closer to the shifter's bed but didn't move to sit down. "I was worried about you." Jacob tried to sit up and Eliza immediately stopped him.

"You're laying here in bandages and you were worried about me?" Eliza leaned down next to the shifter. "You were late and after last night I was afraid-" Jacob's words caught in his throat as he was already pushing his body too hard. "You were afraid I was going to run." Eliza sighed as she finished his sentence for him. "Even if I was going to run, I didn't. Jacob, you could've died." Eliza could care less about the drama that happened this morning. "It almost sounds like you care." Jacob tried to joke, but even laughing sent pain through his body. "It's not going to be easy for us, is it?" Jacob sighed as he craved the touch of his imprint.

"Jake." Eliza let out a low breath, the nickname seeming foreign on her tongue. "Just listen, I know about you and Edward." Jacob shook his head, moving his left arm to grab her hand. "I know that you're cautious because he chose Bella, but, Eliza, you are my imprint. I only want you. Hell, Bella Swan asked me to kiss her today and I said no." Jacob was so shocked at his own actions from the morning, but Eliza's heart was warmed by his words. "That's...kind of nice to hear. Not the Bella part, though." Eliza let out a breathy laugh as she smiled down at the shifter. "I think this is the kind of talk we have after you're done healing and a little less drugged up." Eliza confessed as she remember the amount of morphine rushing through Jacob's body. Jacob nodded and Eliza gently squeezed his hand.

"I'll come back, but right now there are other people that want to see you." Eliza went to move, but Jacob kept his grip. "Tell me about your life, your human life." Jacob looked up at the blonde with pleading eyes. "What do you want to know?" Eliza furrowed her eyebrows at the request. "How'd you die?" the question was like a hit at Eliza's heart. "A fire. My dad was one of those smoke-while-you-drink kind of guys, one night he threw a bottle of whiskey at my head and then dropped his cigarette. It wasn't a big place, the fire spread quickly. I had time to save my brother and sister, but the damage was done." Eliza could still smell the burning flesh when she thought back to the end of her human life.

"You don't come back from the burns that I suffered, Carlisle was a specialist, he gave me the chance to live and with that second life I raised two amazing people." Eliza remembered how she refused to ever taste human blood, demanding to stay in her sibling's life and keep them safe. "You stayed after you turned?" Jacob looked at the blonde confused. "Someone had too, best years of my life." Eliza smiled as she remembered seeing her siblings grow up. "When did you leave?" Jacob thought about the vampire's aging.

"I staged myself as their aunt for a while, we moved far away, but eventually they both began lives of their own. My secret became a liability, so one night I just left, that was probably 70 years ago." Eliza thought about the time she spent away from her biological family, a sad smile taking over her face. "Thank you, for telling me." Jacob let the blonde's hand go as he began to drift from the pain again, Eliza leaving him with a small smile.

"He's all yours." Eliza came back out and Bella quickly made her way into the room. Eliza wasn't even concerned about Bella's eagerness to see the shifter, she was just glad he was okay. "Thank you." Eliza smiled lightly at Billy, knowing he too wanted to see his son but allowed the girls to go first. Billy gave a small nod to the blonde, taking note of just how close his son and the imprint had become.