Title – You Found Me
POV – Bella and Jacob
Setting– Killeen, Texas (near Fort Hood, Texas)
Mortality– All human
Time Setting– Summer of 2007
Summary– The worst part of being an army wife is not the wait, it is when the wait is over and you find yourself with no husband and son with no father. That's the hardest part and at that point you can only find comfort in a certain person, when does the comfort become something else? Bella is what we call an army wife. She is married to Sergeant Black. He has been in the army since he was 17. He is best friends with Edward Cullen, a guy who is dedicated to the army but doesn't realize that it's taking a toll on his life. Tragedy strikes and soon there are two people left and they must depend on one another to get through it. Can they get through it without making a sinful mistake?
A/N– There was a moment where I wanted this to be in Fiction Press but I decided that I would post this one here and make up a fresh one just for Fiction Press. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER – I do NOT, I repeat do NOT know anyone in the army and I myself am not in the army. My knowledge is limited to the Army recruits at our school army movies and the internet. So bear with me if I'm not factual, I'm not even legally allowed to be in the army for another year so just keep that in mind as you read, don't freak out if I mess up because it's likely. I'm not perfect and I never will be.

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain there is the healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin'), I'm holdin' on (I'm still holdin')
I'm barely holdin' on to you

I'm hangin' on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
And I'm hangin' on to the words you say
You said that I will, will be ok

–Broken, Lifehouse

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Holding On

BPOV (Bella)

Today was the day. My husband was returning from his tour in Iraq. He'd been gone for fifteen months and he would stay here for two months before he returned for another tour. He would then be gone for another fifteen months. People ask me if it was hard being an army wife and I would answer truthfully. I would say loyalty and devotion is what gets me through everyday. I met Jacob when I was eighteen and he was nineteen. He joined the army when he was seventeen. It's what he wanted to do and I supported him. We got married when I was twenty, three years ago. He was my best friend before anything, he moved from his hometown to mine so that I wouldn't loose my friends and family. My parents did die a year after he and I met, in a car accident. Jacob got me through that. I suppose that's why we worked together. We were best friends and soon it turned to love.

Jacob has a best friend that happens to be in his platoon, I believe his name is Edward. I've never met him face to face. He attended my wedding, he was best man, but he left early because he was leaving the next day on a tour so I didn't talk to him. All I knew is that he was Jacob's best friend and he joined the army at nineteen after finishing high school and after one year of backpacking in Europe. His family is army oriented. His father used to be a field surgeon and his mother was a nurse also in the combat field. His brother was also a soldier and his sister was the only one who hadn't gone into the army. He rarely was on leave, he loved the army. That was my best guess.

I had never been scared for his life not before he went to Iraq. He was amazing, I didn't know then but when the towers fell he worked to become Sergeant. He is head of his platoon. He loves being a soldier though he hates killing the innocent, it eats him up inside. This was his second tour in Iraq. He'd been to Afghanistan once, his first tour, then two in Iraq.

I drove from my home to the airport with Jake, my son in the back seat, he was one. He was born a couple months before left on his second tour. Being an army wife wasn't that bad, being and army wife and mom is what sucked. My son always asked for his dad, as soon as he could speak, and I would try to answer him but he never really understood.

My phone vibrated in my purse, at the stop light I shuffled through my purse and got to it. It was my brother, Jasper. "Hello."

"Hey, is he home yet?" He asked.

"No he lands in about fifteen minutes." I replied. "Why?"

"He asked me to do him a favor, something about a friend."

"You're a psychologist, what could he possibly want?"

"I'm not sure, he e-mailed me." I pulled into the parking lot of the airport.

"I'll ask him about it." He agreed and hung up. I took my sleeping son out of the car seat and rested his head on my shoulder.

I rushed to the terminal I knew he would arrive in. Families flooded the area. I went towards the front, beside me stood a blonde. "Hi." I greeted her.

"Hello." She replied curtly. I turned away and waited. I waited for about 10 minutes until I heard the announcement say that they had landed. I took a deep breath and turned to the terminal exit.

The first soldier I saw was a large brawny guy early to mid twenties, and he had short brown hair, he looked my direction. It took me a while to realize he was looking at the blonde next to me. I walked around her and I waited for more soldiers to emerge.

Finally I saw a head full of dark hair, tanned skin. His dark eyes searched for me. I pushed through embracing families until I reached him. "Jacob!"

His eyes lit up and he dropped his bags to gently put his arms around me and Jake. The sudden movement woke him. He groggily lifted his head off my shoulder and looked around. "Honey, this is daddy."

His eyes lit up as I uttered the word. "Daddy?!" Jacob took a long look at him.

I nodded. I angled him so he could see Jacob. "Hey kid, you grew." He pulled him into his arms and hugged him tightly. My eyes watered at the scene before me. For over year I yearned for this moment.

He wrapped his other arm around me. My tears turned into sobs. "Hey, don't cry. Do not cry Bells."

He placed Jake on his side so that he could hold me. "I missed you so much, Bella." He leaned in to press his lips to mine. His touch left a burning sensation on my skin.

Despite the people and Jake he kissed me feverishly. "I love you." I whispered against his lips.

"You have no idea how much I missed you, how much I longed to see you." He turned around to search the soldiers to find someone. "I want you to meet –" He sighed and walked over to the large brawny man I saw initially. "Where's your brother?" he asked.

The guy shrugged. "He was right behind me. I think I heard him say he was heading back home to surprise our parents."

"I told him to stay." Jacob replied a bit annoyed.

"For what?"

"Nothing, forget it." He muttered. "Emmett this is my wife Isabella, Bella and my son Jake. Bella this is Emmett and his wife…" he trailed off.

"Rosalie, Rose." Emmett added. He had his arm wrapped around her.

"He's Edward's brother." Edward, the infamous best friend I never really got to meet. "You going home?" Jacob asked Emmett.

He nodded. "Yeah, my parents don't know we're coming home so yeah, that's probably where Edward is"

"Alright I'll see you later." Jacob led me off to pick his stuff up.

"You want me to take Jake?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I haven't seen him in over a year."

"He asks for you, he doesn't forget you." I said sadly.

He kissed his forehead. "I know." We walked off to the car.

"Jasper called, he said you wanted a favor."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it was for Edward."

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"You remember when I went home to see him before he left for the second time?" I nodded. "Well, I don't know he was acting really funny. You know out of character and I wanted Jasper to talk to him. I know something's up and he left to evade me."

"Maybe he really just wants to avoid me." His brow rose quizzically. "You know I've never met him, right?"

"Yes you have…at the wedding."

"You pointed him out in the midst of all those people, I didn't really see him. When you and I met he was in Europe, then boot camp, then he was stationed in Asia, and then he went to Afghanistan then Iraq. I've never met him."

"What? You…that's crazy, I talk about him all the time."

I nodded. "I know, I guess he's too busy to meet me." I laughed. "It's okay, maybe I'll get lucky. So what do you wanna do?"

He looked at me as if he expected my disappointment. "I want to sleep."

Okay, I was a little disappointed but I understood. "Sure."

"But I just really want to be with my son most of all. I didn't know what to expect when I got back, he's changed so much and so have you."

"I haven't really done anything."

"You dyed your hair and you cut it into layers, you arrange it a different way." I had dyed my hair a slightly darker shade but it wasn't really noticeable and I did cut it but it's grown. I had no idea he would notice. After I cut my hair I started to leave it loose because the layers were too short.

"I guess it's been a long time." I opened the car as we approached it.

"It has, it's been a long time. I'm glad to be home."

"Are you going home to see your dad?"

He leaned into the car and tried to buckle Jake into the car seat. I saw him fumbling with it so I climbed into the backseat to help him. I buckled the top and clipped the two straps to the buckle. Once he saw how easy it was, he let out a sigh of frustration.

"I'm going to go see him tomorrow, right now I just want to be home and eat some fast food." He got into the passengers seat and I drove.

"Pizza." I suggested.

"You still know me."

"So how was it?" I hesitated a bit to ask.

JPOV (Jacob)

I didn't know how to answer her question, I never lied but I couldn't be bluntly truthful. The blunt truth was that it was so horrible, the images haunted me and all I can do is push them away. The only thing that got me through every day was her, when I left she promised me that everything would be okay and I clung to those words these past few fifteen months. That's what kept me going. I wanted to live another day to see her and my son.

I simply shrugged. "Bad and just really bad, the basics remain the same."

"Was it worse this time?"

I always liked to be truthful so I gave her the sugar coated version of the true events. "It's always worse, before you think its mindless killing but once you really know, you see a lot of innocent people get hurt and sometimes you can't differentiate between the good and the bad."

"I'm sorry. I know it must feel really bad."

"You have no idea but someone has to do it." She had no idea how heavy my heart was. She had no idea that she and little Jake were the only ones who kept me alive and gave me the will to hold on, the will to keep fighting.

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Please share your opinion, and I hope you keep reading. If someone cares to know I'm currently writing chapter 6. So please review, it really motivates me. Suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

PS. This Story is broken up into 3 parts.

P1 – Holding On

P2 – Somewhere Over The Rainbow

P3 – Better Together

~Toodles.