Pictures of Us
"Okay, you two. Knock it off. It's time for bed, young lady!" Bella called out to the two bodies wrestling on the floor of the small living room.
"No, night-night, Mommy. Pway with Daddy," the little one said to her mother, sticking out her bottom lip in the process.
"Aw, come on, Babe. Five more minutes...please?" The huge man looked at her with his brown eyes and stuck out his bottom lip, too.
Bella couldn't say no to either of them.
"Honestly, Jake. You're worse than she is." Bella stopped and thought for a quick second. "Oh, alright. You have five more minutes, and that's all. Then it's nighty-night for Little Miss Melanie." Bella scooped up the three-year old into her arms and kissed her pink, little lips.
"Don't hurt Daddy too badly, okay, sweetie?" Bella joked with her pride and joy.
"I will twy not to huwt Daddy. He's showing me how to be a wulfff!" Little Melanie exclaimed.
"Oh, he is, is he?" Bella gave Jacob a sideways glance.
"I can't help it. It's part of who I am...or was. It's good for her to hear the legends of my people," he reasoned.
"But right before bedtime, Jake? Sometime those legends get pretty scary." Bella said, wiping her hands with the dish towel. She had just finished washing the dishes.
Bella turned to her husband and stared for a long while. She didn't know how to wrap her mind around the whole thought of her little girl knowing the legends. Would she one day understand that her father once was a real werewolf or shape shifter? How would Melanie live with the knowledge that her father hunted and killed real vampires? Would her daughter even know about how she herself fell in love with one of the leeches, as Jacob so affectionately called them? It was because of those leeches that Melanie's father went through his transformation.
She knew how difficult it was for Jacob when he first phased. What many in the tribe saw as an honorable riteof passage, he first thought of as a curse. Jacob soon embraced who he had become and used his new found strength to protect Bella.
At least the vampires were gone now, and if they stayed away, she wouldn't have to worry about explaining the truth to her little girl. Bella reluctantly allowed Jacob to take on the job of telling Melanie about her heritage. She knew it would be better for her young child to know now than to be shocked if any blood suckers came back unexpectedly. Most of all, she hoped the Cullens knew they weren't welcome here, especially a particular one of them.
Bella walked back into the kitchen, giving herself a moment to calm down and see the beauty in the tribal legends being passed down to the next generation. A few minutes passed when she heard Jacob talking to his little girl.
"Hey, how about a little family time," he said, hoping to get Bella's mind off the wolf discussion. "How about a book before bedtime, Melly?"
"No book. Pictuwes, pweez," Little Melanie demanded. She walked over to the bookshelf and pointed to the familiar family album Bella kept there. The little girl always enjoyed looking at the photos with her mom and her dad. She loved sitting between them on the couch, reveling in the warmth of being surrounded by her parents.
"Oh, pictures again, huh?" Jacob picked himself up off the floor and walked over to the shelf. His large hand easily grasped the thick album off the shelf. Melanie wrapped her tiny hand around Jacob's forefinger and led him to the sofa. The little girl patted the empty space next to her, motioning for her mother to have a seat, too. Jacob pulled on her dark brown pigtail, getting her to smile.
"Stop it, Daddy," she giggled. Jacob loved hearing his little girl laugh. To him, there wasn't a sweeter sound.
Melanie held the book on her lap and had her parents hold it open for her. She began to do what she normally did, point to the picture and demand the story behind it. Melanie loved her fairy tale books, but her mother and father's story was the best fairy tale anyone could ever write. That is why she would rather hear the real story of her mommy and daddy's love over those old, made-up ones.
"You and daddy were wittle, wike me, wight?" Melanie asked, pointing at the first picture.
A laugh came from Jacob. He remembered vividly sitting in his childhood kitchen drinking hot chocolate with Bella. It had rained hard all day, and they couldn't go outside to play. His mom had just made them stop fighting over a game they played. Bella accused Jacob of cheating, and she was probably just in her argument. Sarah calmed them down by serving them their favorite cold-weather treats.
"Yes, Melly. I was maybe five? Mommy was sixteen, I think." Jacob chuckled at himself and his attempt at humor. "Your mom always acted way older than she really was."
"I was seven, you moron," Bella shot back.
"Ooooh, Mommy you awe in twouble. You pwomised no calling daddy names. Wemember?" Melanie scolded her mother. Bella swallowed a big gulp of air and couldn't look at her husband whom she knew wore that smug I told you so look on his face.
"Well, you acted way younger than your actual age. I still remember how you stole my marshmallows and lied to your mom, telling her you didn't do it."
"Oooooh, Daddy! You wied to Gwandma." The sweet little girl shook her head back and forth.
Bella laughed that knowing laugh. Jacob understood that if he were going to mess with his wife, she would mess with him right back.
Then the tiny finger pointed to another picture. It showed a boy and a girl wrapped in a Star Wars blanket, sleeping next to one another on the couch. Jacob looked at Bella and smiled.
"After the hot chocolate, we had to take a nap. Your Grandma Sarah was very strict, so we did as we were told. She would have broken a lot of her rules for you, though, Melly. If she were here today, she would love you so much." Bella felt Jacob's hand squeeze her shoulder. Even after all these years, he still teared up over the loss of his mother. The way his wife made sure Melanie knew about his mother only gave Jacob more reasons to love Bella more.
"I've always enjoyed sleeping with your mother," Jacob said. He felt Bella's elbow in his ribs. No one else in the world could go from sentimental to horny in two point seven seconds flat.
"What?" he asked innocently, and he then shut up after Bella gave him the stare. It was her signature shut the hell up look. He winked at her and did as he was told.
The pages kept turning and the laughter kept coming as Bella and Jacob remembered their childhood days. A scowl came across Jacob's face as he saw the next picture his little girl wanted to know about. No matter how many times he saw it, it brought back bad memories.
"That's your mom and me in my old garage," Jacob said dryly, as always. He never liked the picture. Bella looked too pale, too gaunt, and too sad. The picture was taken only a few weeks after Bella showed up at his house wanting to fix the jalopies that were supposed to be motorcycles.
"Let's look at the next one, Melly," Bella requested, knowing how her husband hated that picture. The page fell to one of Jacob on his graduation day.
"Look how young your daddy looks there. Isn't he cute?" Bella said, looking at the picture of her young boyfriend. She remembered that day vividly. That was the day she realized that she loved Jacob and not just as a friend either. Bella could recall the exact moment she knew her decision. She sat in her truck with her hands gripping the steering wheel. Her nerves had gotten the best of her.
He was in the truck with her. She needed to give him an answer. She needed to tell him her decision. Edward gave her his stoic look as she sat next to him in the driver's seat.
"Bella, please, I am dying here. You know I will do whatever you desire, but you need to tell me. Is it him or me?"
"You know I love you, don't you?" she asked.
"I do, although I don't deserve it," he had said.
"For the first time since I have known you, I finally believe that to be true. You don't deserve any of the love I have given you." Her statement shocked him.
His marble jaw clenched, and his hands that had started to reach for hers retreated. "I see. I don't have to read your mind to figure out whom you've chosen," he said sadly. If he could cry, she knew he would have.
"When you left, you took everything with you, and I never thought I would get it back. I never thought I would see me again, but he changed that. He mended that hole and not only patched it, but healed it. He healed it a thousand times over. You coming back caused me pain, and my feelings that I thought had settled were shaken and bubbled up to the surface." Bella let go of the steering wheel and ran her fingers through her hair.
"I love him too much to hurt him. He's done nothing but love me, and there's no way in hell I can ever hurt him. Edward, I can't choose you because my love for you has changed."
"I see." Edward's eyes found hers. For the first time, she could look at them and not feel the electric current that had always shot through the two of them. The spark was gone, at least for her. He had crushed her when he left. He could never repair the damage he had caused.
She now saw the flaws in what she once thought was a perfect man. It did hurt her to see him in pain, but she reasoned that she could bear watching his pain over Jacob's. Jacob's pain would be too much of a burden for her to carry.
Today Bella realized she loved Jacob more.
"Good-bye, Edward," she said quietly lifting her head to see his reaction. It only took a moment, but he was gone.
She hadn't seen him or his family since.
Bella snapped out of her reverie by the small voice of her little girl.
"Mommy chose Daddy, right?" she asked. She had heard the story so often that she probably could tell it herself.
"Yes, Melly. Mommy chose Daddy," Bella answered, giving him a wink as she did.
"Yes, Mommy made me the happiest high school graduate in the world that day," Jacob boasted. "I knew she would finally come around."
A chuckle from Bella was heard, and a pair of little hands turned the page.
"Ooh, ooh. Daddy, tell the story, pweez. I love this stowy," Melanie demanded. Jacob smiled as she pointed to the picture of the pack taken the night of Sam and Emily's wedding. He remembered how beautiful Bella looked in the green, off-the-shoulder dress she wore. He also remembered how good it looked on the floor, too.
"Well, that's the night that your mommy said she would marry me."
"And you didn't have a wing, did you?" she said, crossing her arms giving him her best I can't believe you did that look.
"Yep," Jacob said, popping the P sound. "I didn't have a ring. Your mom will never let me live that one down." One detail from that night was kept from Melanie, though; that night was the first time they made love.
Jacob recalled taking Bella for a walk outside, wanting to get away from the music and crowd of people. Bella became angry when Jacob told her he was leaving the pack. He had nonchalantly brought it up while they danced. Bella had to leave the crowd to talk to him privately about such an important decision.
He had grown tired of his duties and was ready to pass them along to some of the younger guys. The vamps had been gone for a while now, so phasing started to become more and more unnecessary. He was ready to move forward with his life. For some reason, Bella couldn't let him do it.
"I don't want you to give up who you are to be with me. I love human Jake and wolf Jake. You know it doesn't bother me," she reasoned.
"I know, Bells, but as long as I keep phasing, I am tied here to La Push. I'm ready to move on, to grow up and move beyond where I patrol every night," he argued, tracing her arm with his finger. "I know you love me no matter what." He stopped and looked directly into her eyes. "There's more to this than what you are telling me. You know you can tell me anything."
She turned her face to his, hoping her tears would go unnoticed.
"I don't want you to leave me, once you are no longer tied to the pack, Jake. I can't take it, if you do." As soon as she spoke those words, she felt his strong arms wrap around her.
"Who do you think I am going to do all these things that I have planned with?" Jacob asked.
"Well, Quil seems to be quite fond of you," she joked.
"Very funny, Ms. Swan. I want to do these things with you. When we finish college, I want us to travel and see the world. I want us do all the things we haven't been able to do because of my duties to the pack."
"Have you talked to Sam?"
"I have. He understands and won't be angry with me. I told him that after we're married, we might not even live in La Push, and we would want to-" she interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.
"Wait! What did you just say?" Bella knew what she had heard, but she just needed him to say it again.
"That we would want to move somewhere besides La Push." Jacob stared at her, not understanding why she interrupted him, making him repeat himself.
"No. No. You said after we were married, Jacob." Bella always knew she wanted to live the rest of her life with him. Fantasizing about how he would propose had recently been a favorite past time of hers.
"I did, didn't I?" he said a little embarrassed. He knew he wanted to marry her and knew it was always in their future. However, making it a reality had never been discussed. He had been running the countless scenarios through his head about how he would pop the question for some time now. Nothing he came up with ever seemed good enough for the woman who owned his heart.
"I don't usually marry someone without being asked first. I think that is how it usually goes," she said with a hint of snark, running her slender fingers up the buttons of his starched, white shirt.
"Really? Hmmm. So you've been married before? I knew that's what would happen if I dated an older woman," he said laughing.
"You know what I mean!" Bella pushed him with all her might, only to find it didn't move him one inch.
"You mean you would like for me to ask you to marry me?" He began to intertwine his fingers with hers, stopping her from exploring his chest. He really couldn't think properly when she touched him.
"Well, er, only if you really wanted to marry me. I can understand if you wanted to wait," she said sheepishly, hiding her head in his chest.
"Why would I wait? Why wouldn't I want to marry you now and let the whole world know that you are mine, and I am yours? Why wouldn't I want to wake up every morning next to you? You're crazy to think I want to wait any longer. I just never thought anything I could ever do to ask you to marry me would be sufficient in comparison to the way I feel for you," he confessed, tilting her chin up so he could see her eyes.
"You are so stupid," she said bluntly.
"What?"
"How long have you known me?" she asked.
"Forever."
"And am I the type of girl who has to have anything fancy or elaborate?"
The corner of his lip lifted realizing what she trying to convey to him. In her own way, she wanted him to just propose-plainly and simply. Bella never wanted anything more. Less was always best.
He looked around and found a patch of sunflowers growing in the outside garden of the pavilion from where the reception was held. They had become a little deflated now that the sun no longer shone.
Bella watched as he ran over to the sunflowers and picked one. When he made his way back over to her, he bent down on one knee, holding the flower. Her hands immediately went to her mouth in astonishment, not believing that the moment she had dreamt about had finally come to fruition.
"I am not going to go into a fancy, prepared speech because you know I don't have one. I am not going to tell you how much I love you because you already know that I do more than anything. You have known for a long time that my day begins and ends with you, and breathing is impossible with you." His free hand took hers in his. She felt fire when his thumb caressed back and forth. "I will not go into how I feel when you aren't with me because I don't want to feel the tightness in my chest that forms when you leave. It hurts just thinking about it. I do, however, want to tell you that I want to spend forever with you."
Bella began to cry tears of joy. Seeing the man she loved kneeling in front of her with the glow of the moon overhead made her heart full and complete. She almost wished he would shut up and ask her already because she was so nervous with anticipation. Yes, yes, yes kept running through her head.
"Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?" he asked, handing her the sunflower when he did. He didn't have a ring, so he hoped the flower would suffice.
Taking the sunflower and holding it to her pounding chest, she said yes over and over again. Jacob stood and pulled her to him and held her tightly. She felt the warmth of her own personal sun and didn't mind the fact that her beautiful sunflower was being squished from their embrace. They kissed under the stars for what seemed like forever, until she asked him to take her home.
They sat in silence and listened to the rumble of her old truck's engine as he drove Bella home. Charlie was still at the reception, and the empty house seemed to invite them in, enticing them inside. They continued in silence as Jacob held her hand up the sidewalk and soon into the darkness of her home. Neither one said a thing as she pulled him gently up the stairs to her room. He shut her door behind him and took her in his arms. Tonight she wouldn't ask him to stop.
"Mommy. Mommy. This one! This one. Pwetty dwess. Mommy Princess." Melanie's little voice called Bella out of her remembrance of her first time with Jacob. She had pressed the flower and kept it in the book next to the pictures. She ran her fingers across it, smiling. Jacob glanced over at his wife and saw the pink flush of color cross her skin. He knew her too well and knew exactly what she was thinking about.
Jacob recalled how that night changed everything inside of him. His keen senses helped him forever keep every detail of that night locked in his memory—the way she smelled like vanilla, the way her skin felt under his fingertips, the way she gave him that satisfied smile.
He had always been cocky and confident because he was the Alpha of his pack, and his group of shape shifters carried out his every order. He could also kill a vampire with a single blow from his paw. He often thought himself to be quite the stud because of it, too. How wrong he had been. It took only one night with Bella to make him feel whole and like the man he wanted to become. To him, he never fully lived until that night. Asking Bella to marry him and having her make love to him made him the luckiest guy on the planet. She had given him everything he ever wanted or desired, especially the little brown-haired girl sitting on the couch next to him.
"That's the night that your Daddy's friends threw a surprise engagement party for us. I was so thrilled," Bella said with a hint of sarcasm. Jacob had tricked her into getting dressed up because he told her they were going out to a nice dinner to celebrate their engagement. Instead he took her to a local restaurant filled with their friends and family.
Bella never enjoyed parties and tried not being angry, but she couldn't help it.
"Yes, Melly. See Uncle Paul there? Your mommy slapped him right after we took this picture," Jacob laughed remembering it.
"Well, if he would have quit bugging me about how good I looked in the dress, I wouldn't have had to slap him."
"He was actually giving you a compliment, babe."
"I know. I apologized later, though, Melly. Your Uncle Paul can be quite annoying at times."
"I wuv Uncle Pawl. He wets me go for wides on his back," Melly said. She had every member of the pack wrapped around her little finger. Sam and Emily had started a family, too. They had three boys and Paul and Rachel even had one little boy running around, too. Melanie was the first girl born into the pack, and every male wolf treated her like a princess. She learned early on that they would do anything she asked them to do.
The little finger rested upon her favorite picture. She loved how pretty her mommy looked and thought her daddy looked like Prince Charming from Cinderella in his tuxedo. This was her favorite because it looked as if they were dancing at the ball. Her parents often told her that it was a ball, when in fact, it was their wedding. Melanie looked at the picture and just knew that her mommy and daddy were a real prince and princess.
"Your daddy made me get on that dance floor," Bella smirked, looking sideways at her husband.
"Hey, babe, it's a wedding. That's what the newly married couple is supposed to do. Besides, I am quite the dancer, so I had to show everyone how it was done," he boasted.
"Yep, I remember my foot getting stepped on at least three times, Mr. Astair."
"Okay, Melly, let's turn the page." Jacob laughed, not wanting to let his wife make fun of him further.
They all smiled fondly when they saw the picture of Bella with a big, round belly.
"That's me in thewe, Mommy!"
Bella nodded and remembered how huge she did get. Her pregnancy was difficult, and the labor was long. Looking at the little gift from above sitting next to her made it all worth it.
"Gwandpa Chawlie!" Melly pointed to the next picture of her grandfather holding a tiny baby in his arms. She was too young to notice the tears that welled in his eyes, captured forever in time. How she was his pride and joy, too. Charlie came by several times a week to say hello and bring her some little gift or another. Bella knew her father was a man a few words, but his actions spoke volumes.
Jacob realized that Charlie would be coming by tomorrow. "He'll be here to see you in the morning, sweetie. I bet he brings you something, too," Jacob said.
"Yipee!" she called out. She clapped her little hands together, and Jacob tried to turn the next page when he thought she wasn't looking. Jacob didn't realize that Melanie had every picture memorized, and skipping one would mean big trouble. She pulled the page back to the one Jacob wanted to skim over.
"Daddy huwt." Jacob saw Melly motion to a picture where his arm was in a cast. Jacob stood dressed in a blue uniform with a grimace on his face. Every time it rained he still got a little twinge of pain in his arm where the break happened, just like an old man. He knew that those were the breaks from not phasing anymore, no pun intended. Jacob knew that once he quit, injuries would occur and not heal like they once had.
The picture was of him with his work's softball team after their win in the tournament. He couldn't play in the league championship because in the previous game, he had broken his arms sliding into home plate. If it could be any consolation, he was safe and scored the winning run. Jacob remembered that he had to look happy for his team who had just won without him. This picture would always be bittersweet for him. Bella told him it was just a game of softball, but Bella wasn't a guy and didn't share his level of competitiveness. He hadn't played since. Jacob's pride had been wounded, as well.
At that moment, the family dog came running through the house, causing Jacob to frown. He hated that mutt, but he couldn't get rid of it. His two girls loved it too much. He realized that loving dogs came naturally to the both of them.
"Pickles! Come hew!" Melanie called out. The mutt from the pound came over to her with his tail shaking wildly. Even though he was a gag gift from the pack after Jacob quit phasing, he ended up becoming a part of the family.
"All that dog wants is for you to love him," Bella coaxed as she watched Pickles sit at Jacob's feet and beg for attention. The dog understood who its alpha was, even if said alpha didn't like him much.
"He's growing on me," Jacob scowled. Then Pickles jumped in his lap and licked his face, causing Melanie to laugh uncontrollably.
While they were distracted with the dog, Bella snuck out of the living room and retrieved a picture that hadn't yet made it into the album. She quietly sat back down, knowing her absence was noticed.
"What do you have there, Bells?" Jacob wondered what she kept hidden behind her back.
"Oh, a new picture. I figured Melly could put it in the book," Bella said happily.
"Yay! I wuv pictuwes." She reached out her little hand and gently took the paper-thin picture. "What is it? It wooks wike a bwob."
"Yes, it does look like a blob." Bella laughed, watching her husband look at Melanie holding the picture. She saw his eyes grow wide and soon looked over to hers.
"That's your little brother or sister on there. That's a picture of inside mommy's belly."
Before Bella could think, Jacob had scooped her up and lifted her until her head almost touched the ceiling.
"Are you serious? Really? Another baby?" he exclaimed.
"Yes, Jake. You're going to be a daddy again!" Bella hugged him tightly in sheer happiness. It wasn't long before Melanie rested in his arms, too, joining in the celebration.
"Will I stiwl get my woom?" Melly asked in the midst of the laughing and tears of joy.
"Of course you will, baby. No one's going to take your room," Bella said, kissing her little girl on the forehead.
The three played, danced, and celebrated until late into the evening.
Nine months later, Bella added a picture of the four of them to the album, which made it and their family complete. Another album was started, making sure Melanie's little sister had one to look at, as well.
~O~
Written for Mellyb6
Let me know what you think...Melly would want you to! ;)