Disclaimer: I do not own any twilight characters.
Chapter 2:
Checking Out
Jacob scrambled around the newly revamped kitchen, surrounded by stainless steel interments that did god knew what, and a fully stocked refrigerator that contained foods with 27 syllables and apostrophes in the middle of the name. There were only three things in the entire kitchen that he recognized, bread (though it was in a full loaf, which he'd never had to cut before), cheese, and butter. It wasn't the fanciest or most appetizing entrée in the world, but he needed to get back up to that room, back to her. He couldn't seem to find a logical explanation for his immense attraction to her; she was beautiful; her slender frame and billowing long hair, her gorgeously big, sad eyes and the smile that could radiate through an entire room. Still, she seemed broken; her heart seemed weak and fragile.
It took him several minutes to find a pan in this unfamiliar territory, but once he did the sandwich came together quite nicely. Once on the plate and cart ready for its ride to the room he was so eager to get back to, he felt it needed something else. He scoured the room and a huge bundle of what looked like dark green lettuce, he pulled off a couple of pieces and shoved them inside the melted cheese, took a step back, and felt satisfied it might resemble something made in a restaurant.
As Bella looked down at her fate 21 stories below her mind raced with the choices she had made, and what led her to this point. There was a knock at the door, quite and shy, but audible. Looking down at herself she quickly ran to the bathroom to find something to cover her half naked body. She put on the terry cloth robe and rushed over to the door. She knew who was there before she even opened it, or at least she hoped she knew.
"Sorry again miss," Bella raised one eyebrow at the name and he quickly corrected himself, "Bella, but I thought you might be hungry."
"You did?" Bella played along, realizing and flattered by the true meaning of his visit, she opened the door wider, letting him in. "How did you figure that?"
Caught red handed and with no reasonable explanation, he blushed a little and decided the truth was the best bet, "I don't want to lie. You looked kind of lonely before, like maybe you wanted someone to talk to. I'm an excellent listener."
Taking a look at the cart she just couldn't keep the smile from her face, "Grilled cheese?"
"Sorry it was the only-"
"Don't apologize, grilled cheese is my favorite." She said picking up one of the half of the sandwich and biting into it. She stopped as soon as it hit her mouth, "What's in this?"
"Cheese and bread," He looked at her face, she didn't seem as pleased as he had pictured, "And some lettuce."
She laughed so hard her whole body shook, Jacob feeling a little stupid gave an embarrassed chuckle, "This wasn't lettuce, it's anise," She couldn't stop the laughing even to talk, "you put it in cookies and cakes."
He picked up the other piece and put it up to his nose, "It smells like licorice."
Felling defeated he made his way to the bed and plopped down by the wedding dress they talked about earlier, she followed him over there making sure her robe didn't slip at all. She was finished laughing and the silence was creeping back in, Jacob had to say something. In a panic he looked around for something to say, his eyes caught the movement of the sheer white curtains and the window that was now open.
"Aren't you cold," He said as he looked at the robe which clung tightly around her waist excentuating her breasts. He got up from the bed to close it when she didn't answer right away, but his arm was pulled away by her soft hand, whose warmth and fragile fingers did not go unnoticed.
"Don't," She said and pulled him back over to the bed.
He was confused, but once again started to look through the room for something else to talk about, he eyes caught a pair of pink socks too small to be anything other than a baby's. He picked them up and looked at Bella, "These yours?"
"My daughters," she said, her face growing cold and unresponsive.
"I didn't know you had a daughter."
"I don't anymore," She said shortly.
"I'm sorry, is she with your husband?" He said not knowing if he should press the topic.
"No, she didn't make it."
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have-"
"No it's ok, I like talking about her. I just wish I would have known her."
"What happened, I mean, if you don't mind my asking?"
Bella sat down on the bed and took the socks from Jacob's hand, "She was a still stillborn. She was a tough little girl, too tough for me I guess. I just wasn't strong enough." She touched the embroidered stitch on the top of the sock which simply read R.C, "We had a name picked out and everything. Edward was really nervous about me the whole time I was pregnant, I was sick for most of it. One night though, she kicked while we were cuddled up on the couch, he felt it and his eyes lit up like Christmas morning. He was so happy after that, planning things, building the crib, all of it." She put the socks back in the bag, deep, so that she couldn't even see them anymore, "A week before my due date I started to bleed and have contractions. I pushed and pushed but something wasn't right, they got her out but it was too late."
"What was her name," Jacob said shifting himself a little closer. He could smell her now, the fragrance of a perfect summer day wrapped up in lilacs penetrated his nose leaving him dizzy.
"Renesmeee," She said looking over to him, letting the corners of her mouth perk up a little when she saw how hard Jacob was trying not to laugh. "I know, it sounds ridiculous but it had a lot of meaning behind it. It was my mother's name and Edward's put together."
"Well it's better than Moon Unit, or Dweezle," Jacob said trying desperately to lighten the mood. It seemed to work as Bella's face softened just enough for her to look completely confused by the names he just said, "That's what Frank Zappa named his kids."
"JACOB!" they both heard someone scream and turned back to each other.
"I think you better go," Bella said with a kind smile.
"Um, yeah…" He said getting up, "I'll be right back."
"No need to hurry."
Jacob rushed out of the room and Bella was once again left alone. Then, looking down at the bag that contained her only child's unworn socks, she realized it was the last time she was going to have a conversation. The last time she was going to be able to talk to anyone, to catch up, the meet someone new. It took her off guard that through everything she had been through, and everything it took her to get to the point where her decision made sense, she still might still miss someone. She was going to miss Jacob, the man she met not 10 minutes ago had left such a mark on her that in her last few moments, she was thinking of him, not her husband.
She looked over at the open window, then back down at the wedding dress before her. The decision was made, it was calculated as much as she could, and was planned out as well as she could. She continued to prepare as Jacob was almost running with four bags to the elevator. The elderly couple to which he was seeing to their room walked at the pace of glue running down a window. Once they finally reached the elevator Jacob pressed the button for floor 7 and waited as the elevator inch slowly and nonchalantly upwards. The once enjoyable experience of riding such a slow elevator with Bella had turned into a torture chamber.
The elevator doors opened and Jacob did everything but pick up the couple and throw them into their room. Surprisingly he still walked out of there with a $10 tip, he re-entered the torture chamber and pressed the button to the 22nd floor. As it inched at an incredibly monotonous speed, Jacob started to put the pieces together. The married woman who comes to an old hotel without said husband and asks for one of the highest floors of the building, talks openly about her marital problems, her dead child, and opens the window in the dead of winter.
Panic flooded his entire nervous system and he started to pound the 22 button over and over. Why didn't he see it before? The doors opened and he sprinted to the room he had visited twice already. He banged on the door with his fist…
No answer…
He banged again…
No answer…
Fearing the worst he threw all of his weight at the door and busted the solid oak door off of its hinges. The image before him made his whole body cease to function, Bella in her white wedding dress stood in front of the open window encompassed by the sheer fabric of the drapes as they caught the winter breeze and flung themselves around the room. She wasn't moving, she just stood there ignoring the large boom of the door falling to the ground and the man who seemed to awestruck to stop her.
In her heart she knew it was now or never, she took a step towards the window and put her hand on the sill.
"Bella, stop. What are you doing?" Jacob said finally regaining his ability to speak.
"I'm sorry that you had to see this Jacob," Bella said without any emotion in her voice.
"Ok…then don't do it," Jacob said confused, "Come on, you don't really want this."
"I do Jacob," She said in the same monotone voice. "What life do I have left to lead?"
"Whatever life you choose, bella." He said taking a step toward her, "but if you go through with what it is your planning on doing here then there's no choice, no options left."
"He doesn't want me anymore Jacob, he can barely touch me. I killed his daughter, his only chance of having a child, I killed his future and his last hope at redemption."
"You didn't kill anyone. The fact that you feel like that is his fault for not seeing and helping you through your grief as well as not going through his own," He said taking another step. "What do you mean redemption?"
"He hates himself, he hates who he is, and he saw Renesmee as his chance to be something more than a monster. I took that from him."
"You took nothing from him, these things happen. It was no ones fault." He was close now.
"He can't even kiss me anymore, he thinks…" Before she could finish Jacob grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him, pulling her away from the window and out of harms way.
"He's an idiot if he doesn't see you as anything less than Aphrodite herself," He knew he was being bold, but as his mouth closed in on hers and he could taste her sweet breath, all else was pushed aside. He plunged into the kiss he had been hoping for since he first saw her walk with him to the elevator, their lips intertwined and moved with such emotion doves somewhere in the world were weeping. While still attached to each other, he lead her to the bed and they both fell into each others arms.
Bella had never once been kissed with such unbridled passion, the situation at hand was causing her loins to pound and yearn for this man she just met. She let herself feel his body, rubbing her hands all over his hard, hot, chest. Her hand moved up and down with the quick pace of his short heavy breaths. He moved on top of her and slowly started to move his hands over her body, scouring every inch of her from the roots of her silky hair to the milky white soft skin of her inner thighs.
"You're beautiful," He said breaking away to look into her eyes. A soft tear ran down her cheek but a smile grew across her mouth.
The telephone rang pulling them both out of the fantastical world in which they found themselves in. Jacob got up slowly when he noticed her looking slightly in the phone's direction.
"Hello?" She said into the receiver, there was a long pause and tears started to run down her face at back breaking speeds, "Ok." She looked back at Jacob's confused yet hopeful eyes and considered her options. "Thank you," she said grabbing his hand and curling it up in both of hers, "You saved my life today; you gave me hope, and made me feel like a woman again." She kissed the hand that laid in hers.
Smiling and still confused, "Who was that on the phone?" Jacob asked.
"It was my husband…I have to go," She let go of his hand and started to put her stuff back in her bag.
"Wait…your husband," He said standing up in outrage, "the guy that made you feel like less than dirt, the reason you were about to jump out of that window and say farewell to everything. You're just going to go back to him, just like that."
"I don't really expect you to understand the nature of our relationship. What just happened here… it was what I needed, and I thank you for that. Still, he says he wants to talk, to work things out. I owe him that much."
"You owe him nothing!" Jacob shouted.
"I owe him everything," She finished packing and changing and pulled out a slip of paper and a pen. Then after scratching on it, she handed it to Jacob, "I owe you so much, please keep in touch. This is my number."
"You're leaving just like that?"
"Yes."
"I don't know what to say," He put his hand on his head, "I think I love you Bella."
"Don't," She said and walked out of the frame where the front door once stood.
I know it kind of leaves as a cliff hanger, but I think it's a very good ending because I wanted to leave it open for interpretation. Please tell me what you think, who knows I might continue it if enough people like it.
