Bella steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around herself. She notes the fogged mirror and runs her hand across it, clearing it up a bit. She can't help but look at her reflection and she doesn't like what she sees.
She has always been an insecure person, since her teenage years, but her insecurity is much more potent now. Last week was Bella's fortieth birthday and she hasn't been able to let go of the fact that she's getting older. Her body is getting older.
Bella glances in the mirror and looks over her face. It's worn and there are wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Her hair is going gray too, all around the edges. It doesn't have as much body as it used to either.
She drops her towel and examines her body now. When she was a teen, she was thin. She'd thought she was kind of pretty then. When she'd hit 23 though, her body filled out more and she had subtle curves and then she had really thought she looked nice. Now it's easy to tell that she is the mother of five. Her small hips are long gone.
Sometimes Bella wishes she looked a little nicer. You know, had a younger body. She doesn't wish she would've become immortal and kept her nice figure, just that time had been a little nicer to her during the aging process. She sighs just as the door swings open.
Jacob startles as Bella screams in surprise. "Jacob, I'm naked!" she yells. He shrugs, looking confused. "So? I've seen you naked plenty of times. It's kind of how we got kids." He winks and walks over to the sink to grab his toothbrush. "Scoot over, honey." He gives her another weird look when she grabs her towel to put around herself again and sits on the side of the tub.
"What's the matter with you lately?" he asks. Bella is close to sobbing. She gestures to her body and explains what's wrong with it. Jacob stares at her, dumbstruck. She didn't expect him to understand anyway. Being supernatural has it's perks. He still looks wonderful.
"You're kidding me, right?" Now its Bella's turn to shoot him a confused look.
Jacob sighs, frustrated and then proceeds to tell her exactly what a load of crap he thinks that is. Those lines on her face? They reassure him of how happy she is with him and that she doesn't regret choosing him. If she didn't have those laugh lines, he'd be miserable because that would mean she never smiled.
The no longer perfect body she's so worried about? Proof that she's the most amazing woman ever, sacrificing her figure to give him the five best gifts a man could ever have. He doesn't forget to mention that even after five kids he still finds her sexy as hell. And the hair? A sign of change, of life. A kept promise to grow old with him.
Jacob kisses her forehead. "Bella, you are beautiful," he says with conviction. "Time will never change how I see you." Bella smiles. For the first time in years, she actually believes beauty is timeless.