Liplocked Lullabies

Jacob was standing, beaming at me.

His hair was pulled back in the ponytail I had come to love, and his grin seemed to reach his eyes. He wasn’t wearing cutoffs, which surprised me, since that was his trademark fashion statement.

Instead, he was wearing a dark green button down and jeans, which scared me slightly. This was not how Jake would normally dress.

I was in the kitchen, baking blueberry muffins. It was a hot day, one of the few days in La Push that felt sweltering.

I was wearing jeans, though they were high- waisted, and a tank top. My scars were faded, but were still slightly noticeable, on my cheek.

Something was different though, and you could tell we looked older.

Jacob was a man now, his muscles still large and prominent, though his face was more serious, and less childlike. My hair had grown out, and was an odd chestnut color. It cascaded down my shoulders, and rested by my waist.

We were both smiling, and there were three children—two boys and one girl—sitting at the dining table. It was peaceful. I gave Jacob a kiss on the cheek and he was laughing.

“Mommy, can I have another muffin?” the girl asked, her black hair tied into two pigtails.

“Of course,” I smiled, placing another muffin on her tray. She giggled.

“We have beautiful kids,” Jacob cooed, an odd thing for him to do. He kissed me, full on the lips.

“I love you.” I grinned, but noticed his face serious. He didn’t respond.

And then the scenario changed. Jacob still had his grim face on, but now we were at the beach. Black clouds swirled above us, thunder crackling. The waves pushed towards the shore, the seaspray getting in my eyes.

Jacob was trembling, and suddenly, a wolf was in his place. He snarled at me. And I shivered, confused.

“Jacob?” I asked, uncertainly. He roared, like a lion. I stepped back, feeling that pang of fear run through my veins.

“Hello, Journey.” I turned around and saw Andrei, sitting atop a rock and smiling maliciously.

“Andrei?!” I must have looked surprised, because he laughed.

“Nice to see you haven’t changed.” He grinned, and Jacob the wolf roared.

And then there was a leap, and a jump. And the scenario changed again.

I was running now. I was in the forest, but my clothing had changed. I was in rags, and Andrei had that strong, powerful grip on my hand. And then we stopped. It was a clearing, and I could tell it was far away from civilization.

“And now, no one can hear you scream…” he trailed off, dipping his head towards my neck. I could feel his teeth grazing my skin. His fangs, full of venom. And then—

I screamed, jolting upward in a sitting position on my bed. I looked around, noticing that I was in my room. It was dark, which meant it was sometime in the middle of the night.

Everything was fine, nothing was out of place or seemed different.

My breath was coming in shallow pants now, and I put a hand to my forehead, suddenly feeling a wave of exhaustion crash over me.

I sighed, ready to close my eyes and drift off into slumber once again.

It was only a dream.

But then I heard the door open, and I felt my heart freeze inside my chest. A warm body found its way to my bedside, their voice, worried and frantic.

“Are you okay?” Out of pure instinct, and reflexes, I brought my hand up and smacked the intruder, hoping that they would fall to the floor.

But all I felt was a throbbing in my hand. I opened my eyes and saw the outline of someone, who I soon realized was Jacob, hovering over me.

He blinked, not even flinching as my palm came in contact with his cheek, but instead just continued mumbling things.

“Holy shit!” I cried, the pain getting worse in my hand, and I realized that it was probably broken.

Trust a werewolf like Jacob to have rock-hard cheekbones as well.

“Are you okay?” he asked, for a totally different reason now, before tenderly picking up my hand. His hand was warm, his large fingers brushing my bruised hand gently. “I’m so sorry!”

He examined it carefully.

“It should be fine, but it looks bruised.” He said, before dropping my hand and disappearing suddenly.

He returned a few moments later, holding what looked like a giant bandage and some cream. In a matter of minutes, he had my hand nicely wrapped, like a present.

“What the hell?” I asked, glaring at Jacob.

“Sorry, but you were screaming and Embry was too tired to check on you, so I came…”

“That doesn’t mean you have to burst into my room like a creep!”

But then I remembered the imprinting thing. And how he had to protect me. And it all made sense. Jacob, my future boyfriend/husband.

“I’m sorry.” Jacob mumbled, looking like a kicked puppy.

“It’s okay.” I said, feeling guilty for making him feel bad. “I was just having a nightmare anyway.”

“What was it about?” he asked, curiously.

I know he hadn’t meant to be nosy, but I couldn’t exactly tell him the truth. How would that go?

Oh hi, Jacob. I actually had this really bad nightmare about us having children, which kinda implies that we’re going to have sex, but that doesn’t matter. Did you know I know about imprinting? Anyway, you almost attacked me though, because my vampire ex-boyfriend returned, stole me away and killed me. But none of that matters, and it’s not messed up at all. So, nice weather we’re having, huh?.

Yeah right.

“Monsters.” I lied. “Monsters were coming after me and I jumped off a cliff.”

“What kind of monsters?” he asked, realizing that I may have meant werewolves.

Damn, too vague.

“Cyclopses.”

“Cyclopses?” he looked sceptical for a minute, before his expression turned to amused. “Is that even a real word?”

“I think so.”

“Oh, well are you okay?” he sounded relieved, but a bit worried at the same time.

“I’m fine,” I laughed, shakily, “it was no big deal.”

He gave me a disbelieving look before sighing. In the dark, I could make out him running his hands through his hair.

It reached a little above his shoulders now, and I realized he probably wasn’t going to cut it again.

“What time is it?” I asked aloud, before looking at the clock anyway.

3:41.

Realizing that was a rhetorical question, Jacob yawned.

“You’re tired.” I said, more than questioned. “You should get some sleep.”

“I know, but I’d rather stay here with you.” Jacob turned slightly pink, realizing his word choice, but shrugged it off.

“Jacob Black,” I pretended to chastise, “you better get a full eight hours of sleep, or I am going to get very upset.”

“Oh no, please don’t hurt me mom.” He joked.

“Shut up.” I grumbled, getting ready to hit him, but realized my arm was bruised.

“Is your hand gonna’ be okay?”

“Yeah, yeah” I waved him off, ignoring the pain. “It’s fine.”

“Okay,” he gave me another sceptical look, before getting off my bed. “I’m going to go to sleep now. “

He kept looking at me, oddly, glancing between the door and my body, just to make sure that nothing would jump at me when he left.

“Uh-huh.”

He continued until he was literally in the door frame. But then he paused, and turned to look at me.

“I’m going to Port Angeles tomorrow to get some clothes, want to come?”

“Sure.”

I nodded, to tired to process what this meant. I could have taken it many ways, even implying a date with my future husband/boyfriend, but I didn’t bother.

“Goodbye Journey.”

“Bye, bye, Jacob.”

“I—“

“Jacob?”

“Yeah.”

“Go.”

His twinkling laugh filled the air, before he disappeared from my view, closing the door behind him.

My head hit the pillow, ready to let sleep overcome me, hoping that the nightmares wouldn’t plague my mind once more.