Serendipity

Tears brimmed her eyes and she fanned her face in an attempt to calm herself. Her sides ached and she could barely get enough air into her lungs to maintain her upright composure. The tears appeared to recede back from where they came as she rapidly blinked her eyes, and her sore abdominal muscles seemed to relax as she came to. As she returned to her normal state of being, she couldn't even remember what had made her laugh so hard.

Brennan turned her gaze towards the giant beside her, the boy still laughing to himself over whatever they had just found hilarious, and a smile subconsciously pulled at her lips once more.

Jake turned to her and let out one final chuckle, “You ready to head home?” He inquired, motioning towards the parking lot with a nod of his head.

“No, not really. It's such a good day today.” She replied honestly, staring up at the sky as she and Jacob began to walk towards his car. Today was a rare occurrence in La Push – clear skies, dry earth, and a warm temperature that reminded them of a late spring day (especially as they were getting into the last few months of the year), and Brennan was dreading spending it back at home. “But yeah, I guess I am ready,” she finally conceded.

As the pair drew nearer to the Rabbit, Jacob stared at her, knowing what she meant about it being a nice day. The last thing he wanted to do was take her home. He didn't want to miss an opportunity to be with Brennan on such a day like today...

And when he thought about it he came to the realization – when would the chance come again?

“Then let's not go home yet.”

Brennan stopped a few paces ahead of him before turning around and glancing at him curiously. “And just what would we do then?”

Jacob walked up beside her and stared into her copper eyes. “Do you trust me?”

That caught her off-guard. “Uh, what?”

He smirked to himself and started the walk once again towards his car, repeating, “Do you trust me?”

As he reached the car, Brennan stared at him wordlessly, trying to figure out what was going through his mind. Just what was he trying to get at?

Without replying, she jogged over to the Rabbit and slid into the passenger seat. As Jacob got comfortable and started the car, she kept looking him over, analyzing him and coming up with nothing.

“Do I trust you?”

“Yes, do you trust me?”

“Well... yeah, I trust you.”

“Really convincing there, Bren,” Jacob laughed.

“What do you expect me to say when you ask, 'do you trust me' all ominously like that, you idiot?” Brennan laughed and covered up her smile to hide how wide her grin must have been, and Jacob shook his head at her cute antics.

“Okay, I guess that's a good enough reason,” he admitted to himself. “But you do trust me, right?”

As her last few giggles escaped her lips, she nodded her head. “Yes, I trust you, Jacob.”

“Good,” he grinned. “Then let's get going.”



Brennan wasn't quite sure what the pair was doing pushing through the green foliage of the hill they were hiking, the only clothes they had on being their swimwear. She also wasn't quite sure why Jacob had taken her home to change into her swim suit before they had arrived at the base of the trail. However, as they climbed the path together, she could begin to smell the brine of the ocean, her hair already beginning to catch the salt of the air in the small breeze that passed through the leaves of the forest around them.

“Are we almost there?”

“Almost,” Jacob affirmed.

“I swear where we're going better be fun, Jake. You're really making me work for this.”

“Don't tell me you're breaking a sweat over a little hike, Bren,” he looked back at her with a teasing, lopsided grin.

She jogged up beside him and shoved him lightly, “Then I just won't tell you.”

After another minute or two of climbing, Jacob pushed through the remaining bit of brush and extended his hand out to take Brennan's, helping her walk through the bushes and over a few rocks and branches that might have posed an obstacle for her.

He sighed and took a deep breath in of the air. “Here we are.”

Brennan was at a loss for words at seeing the expanse of the ocean before her. Below she could hear the waves crashing into the rocks and each other, and as she stared down from the cliff where they stood, she could feel her stomach flip.

“Whoa...” she whispered.

“Pretty high up, huh?”

“That's... an understatement,” she sighed.

“Do you not like heights?”

“I'm not afraid of heights, but it's kinda freaky to stand so close to the edge.”

“That's how I felt the first time I was up here. The guys wouldn't stop picking on me.” Jacob recalled fondly. “Then they shoved me over the cliff and I realized it wasn't so bad.”

“They shoved you off?!” Jacob laughed at Brennan's reaction and then she suddenly stood at attention. “You're not going to to do the same to me, are you?”

“No, I'm not, promise,” he answered, holding a few fingers up. “Scout's honor.”

“Those aren't even the right fingers, but I'll believe you. So this is where you and the guys go cliff diving,” she mused aloud.

“Yeah, it's fun, and today's a good, clear day. You wanna try?”

“Are you crazy, Jake?” Her feet seemed to automatically back her away from the edge.

“Just when I'm with you,” he flirted.

Brennan's eyes widened at his blunt retort and she could feel the warmth of her blood spreading through her cheeks. She laughed and tried to brush it off, “Who knew you were that smooth?” Before he could get a word in edge-wise she replied to his earlier question, staring at the end of the earth as if to confirm her answer. “And I don't know if I'm down to jump a cliff to be honest.”

A warmth enveloped her hand and she looked down to see his own capturing it. Her eyes followed the arm up and locked with his, and for a second the world went silent, the crashing of the waves appearing to calm the world around them with a soft hush.

“It's okay if you don't want to, Bren, but just know that I wouldn't let anything happen to you.”

“I know,” she sighed softly, “I trust you, remember?”

Jacob grinned and nodded his head. “Let's start making our way back down.”

As Jacob turned to face the trail, Brennan looked back to the cliff, her heart racing a mile a minute, and she wasn't sure if it was from Jacob or from being asked to jump off of it. She looked to Jacob and then back towards the edge, soon tugging upon his fingers to gain his attention.

“You sure it's not as bad as it looks?”

His ears perked up and he turned back around, Jacob meeting her unsure gaze with confidence. “It's over before you even realize it,” he explained. “You don't have to jump if you're unsure, Brennan.”

“Well... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious,” she admitted.

Jacob took a few steps towards her, his hand squeezing her comfortingly. “You sure you want to jump? You don't have to feel pressured.”

“No, I'm not sure about dropping around a hundred feet off a cliff,” she giggled shyly. “But I think I can do it if you jump with me. Will you?”

“Always,” he nodded, guiding her towards the end of the earth.

The pair stood at the ridge, the wind whipping Brennan's dark brown tresses around her face and spritzing them with the salty mist of the ocean. Brennan would be lying to herself if she said this didn't scare the living crap out of her, or if she insisted her knees weren't slightly buckling beneath her. The only source of comfort she could find was Jacob's hand wrapped securely around hers, his body heat seeming to act like a soothing blanket to calm and steady her nerves.

“Remember, no pressure,” he whispered. “You can back out.”

She squeezed his hand, “It's okay. I'm okay.”

He nodded his head. “Then... on the count of three.”

“One,” Brennan started.

Her feet subconsciously dug themselves into the earth beneath them, bracing themselves to leave solid ground.

“Two,” Jacob added.

A strong gust came and roared in their ears, almost as if it was urging them on, their bodies swaying with the breeze.

“Three!”

Jacob gave her hand a tight squeeze, and she closed her eyes tightly. Her knees bent and she leapt forward, her eyes opening once the deed was done and widening as she saw only the ocean beneath her, Jacob following her lead with his hand still gripping her own.

“Oh, shiiit!” She screamed.

Jacob grinned as he heard her frill scream, trying not to laugh as they neared the water. For a split second that seemed like a minute, they turned to one another. As the last of her air left her lungs, she felt a sort of peace spread from within her. With just a glance, Jacob seemed to calm and reassure her that this was nothing – that she was safe in his care. She knew this to be true.

Before she could take a breath, their bodies penetrated the ocean, her eyes shutting tightly as the rip tides dragged them down, Jacob's large body acting as a sort of anchor. Jacob's fingers tightened their grip on Brennan's, and as they grew closer to the sea floor, the water grew calmer and so did her heart. The sensation of a gritty surface meeting her toes caused her eyes to open, the salty water stinging at her copper irises. Through blurry vision she could make out the large body of Jacob, his grinning features hard to distinguish, but there.

They stood there on the sea floor in an unearthly silence, hair weightless as it swam around them, and bodies wavering just like their hearts in the push and pull of the waters.

Brennan's chest seemed to remind her of her lack of oxygen, her lungs pushing out the last bit of air they held, hoping to refill themselves when unknowingly there was none around. Jacob's heart stopped as the air bubbles left her, her hand shooting towards her nose and mouth to prevent anymore air from leaving her body and any water from entering. She looked up to the surface, her knees bending to get a good push off to return, but Jacob knew better than to think that she could face the tides and make it with little to no air in her lungs.

Without hesitating, his grasp pulled her towards him. His other free hand extending towards the back of her head and pulling her into him, his fingers reaching through her tresses and bringing his lips to hers. Her eyes widened, and Brennan couldn't believe her body could be so on fire underwater as a sensual heat spread throughout her body. It took a second for her to realize that this was not some sort of light-minded kiss, but rather help as air was transferred from his lungs to her own. With air in her lungs, she could feel her chest grow at ease, but nonetheless her heart was in disarray.

As they separated, Jacob wasted no time. The hand he used to capture the back of her head secured her waist and his knees pushed them off the seabed, the small particles of wet sand following them up a few feet before falling back down. Jacob effortlessly swam them both back towards the surface, gliding through the rip tides and bursting through the surface.

They both gasped for air, their natural instincts causing them to focus on taking deep breaths to fill their lungs, yet somehow Brennan was finding it hard to do so with a lingering warmth upon her lips. She knew better than to think too much into it – he had seen her struggling and helped her, but there was a part of her that felt the meeting of their lips felt too perfect for words.

Don't be an idiot! Brennan cursed herself.

“Are you alright?” Jacob asked, pulling her towards him as the waves threatened to steal her away from him.

They brushed up against another, his bare chest pushing against her. The feeling of her exposed skin from her bathing suit grazing his made her stomach do flips, her cheeks gaining some color in them.

“Y-yeah, I'm good,” she stammered.

“Let's swim to shore then,” he instructed, fixing his grip on her and guiding her.

After a few minutes of swimming against the current, they were wading through the waves and dragging themselves onto First Beach. When they got onto dry land, Brennan's knees gave way beneath her and she fell to the sandy shore as the adrenaline rush left her, Jacob quickly kneeling beside her in concern.

“Whoa, are you okay, Bren?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Just... insanely exhausted. I mean we hiked, we dived, we swam. How are you not tired?”

He laughed and shook his head, glad that nothing was wrong with her. “I'm used to it,” he replied. “I take it you don't want to go a second time?”

“Once was enough,” she answered. “Forever.”

“Did you at least have fun?”

“Yeah. I can also say that was probably the most exhilarating thing I've ever done in my life.”

“Yet,” Jacob corrected.

“Yet,” she agreed.

“Well, since we're not going back up, what else do you wanna do?”

“Mmm...” Brennan's brow furrowed and she licked her lips in contemplation. “What else can you do around here? Everything is mostly in Forks or Port Angeles, right?”

“Yeah, not much doing in La Push,” Jacob sighed.

She contemplated. It was already nearing five o'clock, and while Port Angeles wasn't too far out of the way, it would surely take a bit of a drive to go to and fro. Her dad, Andrew, had never really put ground rules for her being out and about – but something told her that he wouldn't approve.

Brennan hugged her knees to her chest and looked to Jacob. “It might be best to just head home. It's getting late.”

Jacob heaved a lite sigh, trying – and failing – to hide his disappointment. “Alright, we'll head home. I have some towels in the back of the car. We'll dry off and I'll take you home.”

He rose from the sand and extended a hand, Brennan taking it and letting Jake pull her up from the ground. The pair slowly made their way across the small dunes, arriving at the parking lot within a few minutes and heading on their way.

The familiar red house came upon the horizon soon enough, and noticing that Andrew's car sat in the driveway caused her stomach to sink to the soles of her feet in anxiety. Had he noticed her absence? If he had, did he care?

As the car rolled to a stop, Brennan opened the door and turned to Jake. “Thanks for today. We didn't do much, but... it was fun.”

“You'll get used to it,” he joked.

“Not if I never do that again for as long as I live,” she laughed. “I'll see you, Jake.”

“See ya, Bren.”

The car drove off as she made her way up the path to the front door, Brennan unaware of a pair of eyes locking onto her from a window above. Andrew Wiltern's brow furrowed and he stalked off down the hallway towards his room, not wanting to see the girl enter his home. The less he saw of that girl, the better.