I turned to Edward. He was looking at me, his expression hard and angry. "That wasn't nice. You should say sorry."

The 'teenage' Cullens burst out laughing at that.

"She's right... you really should," Esme said, though she too was smiling.

His eyes widened in disgust. "You must be joking - he was crushing you!"

"Because you dumped him on the floor! He didn't do it on purpose, and he didn't hurt me."

Edward groaned, revolted. Slowly, he looked up to glare at Jacob with hostile eyes. "My apologies, dog."

"Well... at least he apologized," Emmett laughed.

"That's not much of an apology," Esme sighed. "Haven't I taught you better manners than that?"

Edward shifted uncomfortably as Esme was giving her slightly hurt expression. "Yes," he finally sighed, "I'm sorry."

"No harm done," Jacob said, a taunting edge to his voice.

It was still cold, though not as cold as it had been. I curled my arms around my chest.

"Here," Edward said, calm again. He took the parka off the floor and wrapped it over the top of my coat.

"That's Jacob's," I objected.

"Jacob has a fur coat," Edward hinted.

"I'll just use the sleeping bag again, if you don't mind." Jacob ignored him, climbing around us and sliding into the down bag. "I wasn't quite ready to wake up. That wasn't the best night's sleep I ever had."

"Hah... I thought the pup would have liked that," Emmett frowned. "Isn't it what he's been dreaming of…?"

"Argh," Edward groaned.

"It might be - he just wished that Edward wasn't there," Alice teased.

"Yeah... that would have made it much better for the pup," Emmett agreed, laughing.

"It was your idea," Edward said impassively.

Jacob was curled up, his eyes already closed. He yawned. "I didn't say it wasn't the best night I've ever spent. Just that I didn't get a lot of sleep. I thought Bella was never going to shut up."

"Oh," Emmett was able to say before laughing boisterously.

I winced, wondering what might have come out of my mouth in my sleep. The possibilities were horrifying.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Edward murmured.

Jacob's dark eyes fluttered open. "Didn't you have a nice night, then?" he asked, smug.

"A nice night of envisioning ripping your head off," Emmett laughed and Edward's mouth twinged upwards again.

"It wasn't the worst night of my life."

"Did it make the top ten?" Jacob asked with perverse enjoyment.

"Possibly."

Jacob smiled and closed his eyes.

"But," Edward went on, "if I had been able to take your place last night, it would not have made the top ten of the best nights of my life. Dream about that."

"Ouch... nice one Eddy," Emmett laughed.

Jacob's eyes opened into a glare. He sat up stiffly, his shoulders tense.

"You know what? I think it's too crowded in here."

"Finally," Rosalie said.

"I couldn't agree more."

I elbowed Edward in the ribs - probably giving myself a bruise.

Emmett chuckled at that.

"Guess I'll catch up on my sleep later, then." Jacob made a face. "I need to talk to Sam anyway."

He rolled to his knees and grabbed the door's zipper.

Pain crackled down my spine and lodged in my stomach as I abruptly realized that this could be the last time I would see him. He was going back to Sam, back to fight the horde of bloodthirsty newborn vampires.

"He'll be okay, Bella," Emmett rolled his eyes.

"Jake, wait -" I reached after him, my hand sliding down his arm.

He jerked his arm away before my fingers could find purchase.

"Please, Jake? Won't you stay?"

"No."

The word was hard and cold. I knew my face gave away my pain, because he exhaled and half a smile softened his expression.

"Don't worry about me, Bells. I'll be fine, just like I always am." He forced a laugh. "'Sides, you think I'm going to let Seth go in my place - have all the fun and steal all the glory? Right." He snorted.

"There's no chance of that," Emmett agreed.

"Be careful -"

He shoved out of the tent before I could finish.

"Give it a rest, Bella," I heard him mutter as he re-zipped the door.

I listened for the sound of his retreating footsteps, but it was perfectly still. No more wind. I could hear morning birdsong far away on the mountain, and nothing else. Jacob moved in silence now.

I huddled in my coats, and leaned against Edward's shoulder. We were quiet for a long time.

"How much longer?" I asked.

"Alice told Sam it should be an hour or so," Edward said, soft and bleak.

"We stay together. No matter what."

"No matter what," he agreed, his eyes tight.

"I know," I said. "I'm terrified for them, too."

"They know how to handle themselves," Edward assured me, purposely making his voice light. "I just hate missing the fun."

"Do you think you're really worried about it?" Esme asked nervously.

"I'm sure I'm a little worried... but no, I don't think anything would happen to you guys," Edward said.

Again with the fun. My nostrils flared.

"She doesn't seem to like that," Emmett chuckled.

He put his arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry," he urged, and then he kissed my forehead.

As if there was any way to avoid that. "Sure, sure."

Emmett laughed harder that.

"Did she have to use that phrase?" Edward grumbled.

"Do you want me to distract you?" He breathed, running his cold fingers along my cheekbone.

I shivered involuntarily; the morning was still frosty.

"Maybe not right now," he answered himself, pulling his hand away.

"Ah... too bad, Eddy," Emmett teased.

"There are other ways to distract me."

"What would you like?"

"You could tell me about your ten best nights," I suggested. "I'm curious."

He laughed. "Try to guess."

I shook my head. "There're too many nights I don't know about. A century of them."

"As if any of those would count," Edward scoffed.

"What about meeting me?" Alice pouted and Edward rolled his eyes.

"That's one of my worse," Edward smirked, dodging Alice's smack.

"Jerk," Alice muttered, glaring at him.

"I'll narrow it down for you. All of my best nights have happened since I met you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really - and by quite a wide margin, too."

I thought for a minute. "I can only think of mine," I admitted.

"They might be the same," he encouraged.

"Well, there was the first night. The night you stayed."

"Yes, that's one of mine, too.

"Er... do you mean the first night that you stayed or the first night that you stayed that she knew of?" Emmett chuckled.

"I'm guessing the latter," Edward said. "At least, I'm relatively sure that's the one that Bella is thinking about."

Of course, you were unconscious for my favorite part."

"That's right," I remembered. "I was talking that night, too."

"Yes," he agreed.

My face got hot as I wondered again what I might have said while sleeping in Jacob's arms. I couldn't remember what I'd dreamed about, or if I'd dreamed at all, so that was no help.

"Does that mean she doesn't remember the conversation that you two had?" Emmett frowned.

"Apparently not," Edward smiled.

"What did I say last night?" I whispered more quietly than before.

He shrugged instead of answering, and I winced.

"That bad?"

"Nothing too horrible," he sighed.

"Please tell me."

"Mostly you said my name, the same as usual."

"That's not bad," I agreed cautiously.

"Near the end, though, you started mumbling some nonsense about 'Jacob, my Jacob.'"

Edward let out a sigh and his good mood seemed to vanish.

"No wonder the pup thought it was such a good night," Emmett teased little, but even he didn't seem that into it.

I could hear the pain, even in the whisper. "Your Jacob enjoyed that quite a lot."

I stretched my neck up, straining to reach my lips to the edge of his jaw. I couldn't see into his eyes. He was staring up at the ceiling of the tent.

"Sorry," I murmured. "That's just the way I differentiate."

"Differentiate?"

"Between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Between the Jacob I like and the one who annoys the hell out of me," I explained.

"Come on, that's got to make you feel a bit better," Emmett said, but Edward still looked glum.

"That makes sense." He sounded slightly mollified. "Tell me another favorite night."

"Flying home from Italy."

He frowned.

"Why are you frowning, Eddy?" Emmett asked, but Edward didn't answer so Emmett continued to read.

"Is that not one of yours?" I wondered.

"No, it is one of mine, actually, but I'm surprised it's on your list. Weren't you under the ludicrous impression I was just acting from a guilty conscience, and I was going to bolt as soon as the plane doors opened?"

"Yeah," Emmett laughed. "That's true."

"Yes." I smiled. "But, still, you were there."

Edward smiled at this one, along with Esme and Alice.

He kissed my hair. "You love me more than I deserve."