Gravity

Jacob Black could not get Charlotte off his mind.

Even more now then before. Before it was unclear whether or not she saw him as a friend or more, but the fact that she kissed him made everything perfectly clear.

"You're pathetic man. Seriously, she kissed you three weeks ago, and you two have kissed about a million times more, get over it." Seth said, watching Jacob from across the table.

Jacob rolled his eyes, "We haven't kissed a million times. And I am not pathetic." He defended.

"Leave him alone Seth, someday you could be in his position." Emily said, standing infront of the oven. Seth scoffed.

"I will be so much less pathetic then this guy Em." Seth laughed, pointing at Jacob. Emily merely rolled her eyes, and went back to flipping pancakes.

The phone rang loudly, and Emily grabbed the portable, and picked it up, "Hello?" She asked. Seth and Jacob ate while Emily listened, before turning towards them, and covering the mouthpiece. "Jacob, it's Charlotte's dad." She whispered, Jacob furrowed his eyebrows, "He sounds upset." She added, holding out the phone to him. He took it, and put the phone to his ear slowly.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Jacob it's Ben, I hope you don't mind me calling you here, but I tried your house and your dad said you weren't home and gave me this number." Ben rambled.

"It's fine, what's up?" Jacob asked.

Ben let out a small, shaky breath, and immediately Jacob sensed something was wrong, "It's Charlotte," Ben started, and Jacob felt his grip on the phone tighten, "There was an... Incident. She's in the hospital. She keeps asking for you, and I know you live kind of far, but is there anyway you can get here?" Ben asked, Jacob was breathing heavily, and Seth who could hear the conversation was looking at him worriedly.

"What happened? Is she okay?" Jacob asked, Emily turned around, and asked him what was wrong. Seth told her what Ben had said.

"Well she worked yesturday, and I had asked her to go to the drug store near her work to pick some things up for Brian, since it's only a few minutes from where she works she decided to walk, and she was pulled into an alley by some guys." Ben said slowly, Jacob felt himself start to shake a little.

"What did they do?" Jacob asked, but having a bit of an idea what they might have done.

"Jacob I don't think you'll want to hear this over the ph-"

"What did they do?" Jacob repeated.

Ben sighed, "They beat her up, and they sexually violated her."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Jacob said, before hanging up, and walking towards the door.

"Jake." Seth called, following after him, "Maybe you should take a minute to calm down. You can't drive."

"I'm not going to drive, I'm going to run there. It's faster." Jacob said, shedding his t-shirt. "Do me a favor, tell Sam when he get's back I won't be around until Charlotte is okay. He can call me on my cell phone." Jacob added.

"Jake, you can't just leave for God knows how long."

Jacob turned to Seth, giving him a death glare, "And why the hell not?"

"Charlotte was raped Jake," Seth said gently, cowering a bit under Jacob's glare, "She won't be okay in a couple of days."

"I realize that, but I'm not leaving until she is better." Jacob said, before running into the woods.

________________________

"Jacob?" Ben said surprised, seeing Jacob walking into the waiting room, "That was quick." He noted.

Jacob mentally panicked for a split second, "My uh, friend is a fast driver?" He asked more then said.

"Oh." Ben said, clearly not buying it fully.

"Where is she?" Jacob asked.

"They're prepping her for surgery right now." Ben said.

"Surgery?"

"To put her arm back together. The guys shattered her arm." Ben said quietly, Jacob's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Do they know who did it?" Jacob asked, wanting nothing more to get names, then hunt the guys down.

"No, luckily someone walked past about an hour after the attack, and heard her crying. The police got a lot of DNA, and are running it."

Jacob narrowed his eyes, "Oh yeah, thank God for small favors." He said sarcastically. Ben pursed his lips together, probably to stop himself from saying something.

"Mr. Browning?" A nurse asked, walking up to the two, and nodding at Jacob. "Charlotte's almost ready for surgery if you wanted to see her before we put her to sleep." She offered.

Ben looked at Jacob, "That's alright, I'll see her after, but Jacob might..." He trailed off.

"Oh, you're Jacob?" She asked Jacob, and he nodded, "Come on then." She said, and he followed her out of the waiting room, as she stopped in front of the door, she turned to him, "I'm going to warn you, she's somewhat medicated right now, and isn't in very good shape. If she seems scared, or something you need to back off, or leave." She instructed. He nodded slowly, and she opened the door to let him in.

His heart dropped, and he literally felt like he literally failed. The one thing he's supposed to do is protect her, and here she was: laying in a hospital bed. Gashes on her face, and bruises on her arms. He didn't want to imagine what the rest of her looked like, it was just more proof that he had let her down.

"Jake." She said, her voice raspy.

"Charlotte." He replied, walking to the side of her bed, she attempted to smile, "I'm so sorry." He mumbled, crouching down beside her.

"For what?" She asked, "You didn't tell those guys to do what they did." She added, "At least, I'd hope not." She said, attempting a joke. He couldn't smile though, he wanted to, but he couldn't.

"For not being there." He said, answering her question.

She sighed, leaning her head back against the pillow, "You can't always be there Jake."

"No, but I should be when I need to be." He said slowly.

She shook her head slowly, "You can't always know when I'll need you Jacob." She said, "But I need you now." She said quietly, "I really do." She added, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I know, and I'll be here. I'll stay until you're out of the hospital, and as long as I can when you get back home." He promised.

"But, your patro-"

"Sam will know what happened, don't worry." He cut her off, "I told Seth to tell him, and there's no way Sam can tell me to come home when he knows he'd do the same thing if it was him and Emily in this situation." She just nodded, and the door opened, and the nurse poked her head in.

"Sorry, but we're almost ready to get you in surgery, so if you can finish up." She explained, Jacob nodded.

"I'll see you after." Jacob whispered to her, she nodded, and he kissed the top of her head, and left the room after she said good-bye.

"How was she?" Ben asked, as he returned to the waiting room.

Jacob just shook his head, "Scared." He said, "Worried." He added.

"Mr. Browning," A man in a white coat said, "Im Dr. Ross, I'll be doing your daughters surgery." He said, shaking Ben's hand.

Jacob listened as Dr. Ross explained the surgery, and everything. Jacob didn't like him, he didn't know why but he just didn't. He tried to act as if it wasn't a big deal, as if Charlotte hadn't been hurt in the worst way's possible. When the Doctor left, Ben sighed.

"Of course, of all the Doctors, I get him." Ben muttered to Jacob. "I know that he's not telling me exactly how serious this is, he's trying to make it seem like nothing."

Jacob nodded, and suddenly an idea popped in his head. "I'll be right back." He said, leaving Ben to walk down the hallway, he dialed a number he knew, but not one he used a lot. He knew of one doctor that would be able to help Charlotte, and who would be able to consult with the tool of a doctor she had now, and then give the information back to Jacob and Ben without sugar coating everything.

"Hello?" A familiar voice answered.

"Esme, it's Jacob." He said.

"Jacob?" She asked surprised, "Is everything alright?"

He sighed, "No, I need to talk to Carlisle."