And I'm back with chapter 2! I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out so I hope you guys like it!

Random Fun Fact (I realized I totally forgot to do this last chapter): I think I've mentioned it before, but even Emmie Black is the property of Stephenie Meyer. While coming up with Erin's character, I found out that Billy Black, according to the Black family tree, actually has four sisters. Emma Black was the name of the baby of the family and so I made her the black sheep (pun intended) and Erin's absentee mother.

Like Emmie, I don't own Twilight. I only claim Erin and Baby Seth/Erin.


Once in the living room, I noticed Paul was looking incredibly entertained and I was pretty sure it wasn't just from the trout fishing competition of the TV. My Uncle Billy was glowering at the screen, looking as huffy as he always did lately, and Jacob was on one end of the couch, tapping his leg and twitching his neck, lips pursed.

On the other end of the couch, between the two Black men, was my poor boyfriend. Seth looked like about the most uncomfortable person I'd ever seen, his head bent down to examine his hands like he'd never seen them before while he bit his lip and occasionally glanced up at either the TV, Billy, or Jacob.

I recalled, for a moment, the conversation I'd overheard between my cousin and my boyfriend the day after the whole attempted murder incident.


Voices woke me from my slumber in the armchair in the corner of the Seth's room at the Cullen's. Peeking through my eyelashes, drowsily, I found Seth and Jacob speaking in hushed tones. I had to strain to hear them.

"You know I wouldn't have actually killed you, Clearwater." Jacob rolled his eyes, lightly punching Seth's arm. "You got a kid on the way that you gotta help raise. Besides, Nessie would cry and ya know I can't have that."

Seth grinned at Jacob so easily it left me in awe of his forgiving nature. "Well, I am her second favorite wolf, after you of course." Looking more serious, he reached out and set a hand on Jake's arm. "But really, man, I understand so forget about it. All in the past now."

Jacob's eyes flickered over to my corner and I quickly pretended to still be asleep, wanting to hear my cousin's response. I heard him sigh, heavily. "Yeah, tell that to Erin."

Seth's laugh echoed through the otherwise silent room. "She can hold one hell of a grudge, that's for sure. But she still misses you. She'll never admit it but I can tell and she'll forgive you eventually. Maybe just don't try to kill me again in the meantime?"

For the first time in months, I heard Jacob genuinely chuckle. "Deal, Seth. But you are gonna have to pay for knocking my baby cousin up, I'll just leave my Dad to set the price."


I sighed and let my eyes scan over Jacob for a moment. Yup, still not ready to forgive him. Apparently Seth's prediction of 'eventually' wasn't today.

Walking past Paul, I thumped him on the back of his head before grabbing the remote and turning to TV off. "Okay, boys, Queen Rachel Sarabecca Black has declared it dinner time, so get moving." I gestured to the kitchen.

Paul leapt up, slowly followed by a begrudging Billy and lastly Jacob, who turned back to smirk and roll his eyes as Seth got up and approached me. I returned my cousin's inspection with a glare around my boyfriend's bicep. Jacob's expression shifted to that of a wounded puppy and I felt the slightest bit of guilt as he slipped from the room.

Once he heard the kitchen door close for the last time, Seth slid his hands over my hips and wrapped me in his arms.

"Billy hates me, 'Rin." He mourned woefully into my hair.

I reached up resting my hands on the back of his neck and pulling back slightly so our noses almost brushed. "He does not hate you, dork. He's just…" I bit my lip, contemplating, "He's just still adjusting? Give him a chance."

Seth gave me a look of disbelief, "Give him a chance? Shouldn't you be taking your own advice?"

Giving him a hard look, I fiddled with the collar of his t-shirt. "Give him time." I corrected myself, steering the conversation back away from Jake.

"Time won't stop him from hating me and, I mean, I get it. I just hate that he and everybody else assumes that because of the baby, our lives are over. We can make this work, I know we can, but no one else seems to agree." Seth bit the inside of his cheek in frustration.

"I know, I know it sucks," I ran my fingers back and forth over his neck, smiling a little when he shivered at my touch. "But like you said, we're going to prove them all wrong. Now we better go eat before Rachel comes hunting me down."

Dinner started out with a lot of potential. Rachel talked animatedly about her new job and I even managed to nibble down a whole half of my lasagna piece. Paul and Jacob slipped into a conversation over different patrol patterns that the two Packs could split. Even Seth seemed to relax after a while, slipping his hand to the small of my back where his fingers began tracing aimless patterns.

Feeling some major exhaustion coming on, I leaned my head against my palm, pushing my remaining food around my plate with hooded eyes. Maybe between my tiredness and the distraction of Seth's touch, I slipped into a false sense of security. And Uncle Billy jumped on it.

"Erin, eat your dinner." He ordered, instantly silencing any other conversation.

I looked up at him, taken aback for a moment before setting my fork down, "But I'm not really hungry."

"Considering the only thing I've seen you eat today was half a slice of bread, I find that hard to believe." My uncle grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know in your, uh, situation you shouldn't skip meals. Now, finish your plate."

My cheeks burned in embarrassment, feeling like a scolded child. Beside me, Seth sat forward and I saw him turn to me from the corner of my eye but I kept my gaze locked on Billy. So okay, maybe I hadn't told Seth about being too sick to eat half the time. I didn't see the point; we both knew it was morning sickness and there would be no use in worrying him. Unfortunately that meant this was the first he was hearing about my meal skipping.

"I'm not five." I snapped, feeling myself shift into the defensive before I could think rationally. "You can't make me stay at the table until I clean my plate anymore. And it's because of my, as you so delicately put it, situation that I can't eat sometimes. Just don't really see the point when I know I'm going to throw it back up in ten minutes anyway."

Billy gave me a hard look before raising his eyebrows, "So your solution is to just starve yourself?"

"I am not staving myself!" I countered, indignantly. "I'm pregnant, Uncle Billy, not brainless."

Pregnant. It had become a taboo word in the last two weeks in conversations involving my uncle. It was something he was fully aware of but basically refused to actually come out and acknowledge. It had been driving me up the wall to have to walk on eggshells the last two weeks. And now, the word got the same reaction it always did when I dared utter it.

Jacob cleared his throat and got all twitchy again, like he felt uncomfortable in his own skin. Paul and Rachel both shifted uncomfortably in their seats, glancing at each other in some silent conversation. And Billy glared at the ceiling before his eyes settled back down on to Seth, whom he shook his head at.

"I know that you're pregnant, Erin. Don't need any reminding of that." Seth looked down at his lap, seemingly ashamed, and dropped his hand from my back under Billy's cold eyes. I was just about the snap at him for treating my boyfriend so harshly before he looked over at me, "But maybe you do, since you're not taking care of yourself and the kid isn't even here yet."

My heart plummeted and tears brimmed in my eyes as Billy pushed his wheelchair back from the table and rolled out of the room. I bit my lip, reflecting on his parting words. You're not taking care of yourself and the kid isn't even here yet. God, even Billy thought I was destined to be a terrible mother.

"Dad!" Jacob called out, angrily. He shot me a look of pity that only made me feel even more pathetic as he got up and went after his father. Stupid Jacob.

"Erin-" Rachel started, shifting her gaze from her brother to me.

"I'm going to bed." I cut her off and kept my head down as I rushed from the kitchen, still leaving behind the stupid half eaten lasagna.

Falling onto my bed, I curled up on my side with a hand resting over my middle. Letting the partially hormone-induced tears go, I was soon sobbing into my pillow. The crying only made me feel worse, considering I knew full well that Seth and Paul and maybe even Jacob could hear my pathetic break down throughout the house. Living with supernatural beings with super hearing could be so shitty sometimes.

I'm trying, Baby Wolf. I really am. You deserve a good mother, a great one. And I promise I am trying my best. Sorry if it's not enough right now… I thought, miserably rolling up my shirt to just under my bra to run my hand over my bare skin. I won't let you end up like me. You're going to know just how much I love you.

And I did. I really, really did. Three weeks ago, I had thought nothing worse could happen in my life than getting pregnant at 15 and having a baby by 16 but things had changed. Now, I couldn't imagine my life without my little tag-along. It made it impossible to hold on to whatever understanding I had tried to gather up for my own mother, having seen things more from her side now.

Damn, and I had thought I could make it through at least one day of this pregnancy without dwelling over that bitch.

How could Emmie have just walked away from me when I was barely older than a newborn? How could she still claim to love me and want the best for me after ignoring me for almost my whole life? Did she even know I was pregnant, even younger than she was when she had me? Would she care if she did know?

After a while, I heard my bedroom door open and shut but remained where I was, trailing my fingers over my stomach while I cried. The bed shifted under me and strong, warm, familiar arms wrapped around me from behind. The scent of evergreens and salt water filled my overly sensitive nose and lips lightly kissed along my neck up to my ear.

Snuggling back into the comforting embraced, I laid my head back against a strong shoulder as a large hand joined mine over my abdomen, our fingers intertwining. "I'm not starving myself." I mumbled, my voice sounding hoarse from my sobs.

"We don't have to talk about that now." Seth's voice fluttered through my hair, just barely loud enough to be heard.

"Maybe," I paused, turning over in the bed to be face-to-face with him, and looked up at him with teary eyes. "Maybe I can't do this. What if I end up like Emmie? I mean, Billy basically said it tonight, didn't he? That I'm selfish, just like her."

Seth looked genuinely furious for a moment and my heart plummeted again, more tears leaking from my eyes. Then his eyes trailed down to my still uncovered stomach and his expression softened, "I can hear them, you know."

I followed his gaze before looking back at his face, "The baby?"

He nodded slowly, sending goosebumps across my skin as he ran his thumb absentmindedly over it. "Just the heartbeat and only sometimes, when I'm close enough to you. Freaked me the hell out the first time I noticed it."

"What does it sound like?" I whispered, barely even noticing that I had at some point stopped crying.

The corners of Seth's mouth twitched up, "Fast and steady, like a pitter-patter. And I swear to god there's never been a more beautiful sound in this world than that pitter-patter beating right alongside your's."

I went breathless at his words, staying silent for a second before I finally asked one more question, "Can you hear them right now?"

He nodded slowly, looking back into my eyes. A second later, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my nose and then to my lips, softly pulling me closer until his chin could rest atop my head and my forehead could lean onto his chest. "You could never be like Emmie, 'Rin. Emmie wouldn't care about what her baby's heartbeat sounded like or whether or not she was being selfish."

Seth snuggled his face into my hair and took a deep breath, "We're going to figure this out and we're going to do it like we do everything else. Together."

"And live happily ever after?" I asked, my tiredness from earlier combining with the fatigue I'd built up crying to form a solid wall of exhaustion.

"Well, duh. But for now, why don't you just focus on getting some sleep? I'll be here when you wake up."

I decided not to question how exactly he planned to pull that off with Billy being so pissy and instead curled up closer to him, eyes fluttering shut as I reached up to clutch his t-shirt. "I love you."

Lips pressed against my hair, sending warmth through me from head to toe, "I love you, too. Now, sleep."


Quick announcement: I will be starting another companion to this series that will just be one-shots of different moments and AU's with the characters. If you have any requests of one-shots you'd like to see (childhood moments with Seth and Erin/AUs of them meeting in college/whatever) PM me or comment/review.