(Paul's POV)

I saw her walk in, and I automatically noticed the twins. They were bundled up in winter clothes and looked like they were sleeping. I moved Rachel off my lap and walked over, trying to ignore Natalie. I couldn't, though, and looked up at her.

"Hey Natalie," I whispered.

She gulped. "Hi."

"Which one's Taylor and which one's Tianna?"
"Tianna's in the purple," she whispered. "Taylor is in the pink."
I nodded. "Can I hold one?"
"Oh, yeah." She unbuckled Taylor from her car seat and handed her to me. "Make sure to support her head."

I had never had a feeling like that before. It was a bittersweet moment for me. My two baby girls were right before me, but so was their mother. I didn't want anything to do with their mother.

Rachel got up, but I told her not to before Natalie came. She walked up to Natalie and held out her hand.

"I'm Rachel," she said with a smile.

Natalie unsurely looked down at her hand, but shook it nonetheless. "Natalie."
"Your girls are beautiful," Rachel continued.

"Thanks," Natalie whispered. "How far along are you?"
Rachel held her stomach and smiled. "Six months."

"Oh, that's nice."

I handed Taylor back to Natalie and picked Tianna up. She was heavier than Taylor, but she was still beautiful. The only person that could even reach the beauty of my two girls was Rachel. No one else mattered.

Emily came from the kitchen and put her arm around Natalie. "Can I hold her?"

"Oh yeah," Natalie whispered, handing her Taylor.

Emily's face lit up with joy. "I can't wait until I have one of my own"

"They're a lot of work," Natalie said.

"I could've been there," I growled.

Rachel gave me a stern look, but Natalie didn't mind.

"If you didn't leave me the second I moved," Natalie growled back.

My voice started rising. "I had a right to know about my girls."
"Well I had a right to give birth to the love of my life's children, but I had that right ripped away from me."

Somehow Rachel had grabbed Tianna from me. "You are so selfish, Natalie. You've always been selfish."
"I'm the selfish one?" Natalie scoffed. "I bet you left me for that pregnant girl standing right next to you. You don't know the first thing about my life, or how hard it was that you didn't call or try to communicate with me. You didn't deserve to know. The only reason I'm down here is to see Jacob, because I wanted Jacob to see the girls. I couldn't give two shits if they never met you and you were oblivious to their existence. You're dead to me, Paul, and you're so lucky Jacob convinced me to come here. Otherwise, I would've kept these girls out of your life, just like I wanted."
"Do you hear yourself, Natalie? Do you hear how stupid you sound? You're a dumbass bitch who doesn't know what she's talking about. These are my girls, and, God dammit, if I need to, I will fight in court for rights to see them."

"Fine," she growled. "Do it! You and your precious new family can take care of my girls. They're mine Paul, not yours. They will never be yours."
"You little bitch."
Sam came downstairs. "Hey, what's going on here?"

I looked up at him and then back to Natalie. "Meeting my girls."
"Can we stop the yelling please?" he asked. "I hate yelling."
Natalie walked over to Rachel and took Tianna from her arms.

"Jacob, take me home."
"But you just got here, and I made lunch," Emily said.

She looked over at Emily and then back to Jacob. "Take me home."
Jacob sighed and took Taylor from Emily. "Sorry Emms."
Emily sighed, but she understood why Natalie was leaving.

"Come over whenever," Emily said. "We'll be happy to have you."
"Thanks," Natalie whispered, then looked at Paul. "If you want to see them, tell Jacob. I don't want to talk to you."

That was just great. I had to go through Jacob to see my girls. Why did this have to be so complicated? For some reason, I wished that I wasn't a werewolf. I wished that I could've been there for her without the fear of imprinting on another girl. I just wished that everything would be okay.

But I had another family, and I was so glad that I met Rachel. She was my everything, and I wouldn't give her up for anything in this world.

(Natalie's POV)

As soon as we got the girls into the truck, I broke down crying. Jacob looked at me with sorry eyes and held me in his arms.

"It's okay," he whispered. "Everything's okay."
But even he knew that our relationship would never be okay. I tried to turn my crying into sniffling, but it just wasn't working. After a little while, Jacob started the car and drove me back to his place. He got both girls out of the car and took us all inside. He brought us all into my room and lay me down.

"Do you want me to take care of the girls?" he whispered, rubbing my back.

"No," I whispered back, drying my eyes. "I'm fine."
"They probably need to be fed," he continued. "Why don't you get Tianna ready? I'll get a bottle for Taylor."

I looked up at him and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I love you Jacob."
He petted my hair. "I love you too Natalie. Let me go get that bottle."

When he left, I got up and took Tianna out of her car seat. I held her softly so she would latch. I felt so connected to her; she and Taylor were the greatest joys of my life. I didn't think I could love anyone more, not since Paul and I had left each other.

Jacob walked back in, put the bottle on the dresser, and took Taylor out of her car seat. I watched her hold her and feed her. He looked like the perfect father; it was so beautiful to see him hold such a little thing in his big arms. He looked so happy.

"Thank you," I said.

He looked at me. "For what?"

"For helping me. I couldn't ask for a better friend."

He smiled at me. "No problem, Natalie."

After feeding and changing, we put the girls down for a nap, seeing as they were falling asleep while we were feeding them. We walked back into my room.

"You look like you need a nap," Jacob chuckled, lying down next to me in bed.

I sighed. "Yeah. I don't know why seeing Paul hurt me so much."

"He's always been a jerk," he said. "You've known that."

"Yeah, but I just don't understand. I was trying to prep myself to be strong, but I just wasn't."

"It's okay Natalie. I would be upset too."
"I just need a night off. I haven't had one since the twins were born."
"Well, I can call Paul and ask him to babysit tomorrow. He'll do it."

"I just don't want to see him. Who was the girl he was with?"
"Well, that's my sister," he whispered. "When she came home, they got together. They're engaged and she's about to have his kid."

"I don't know what went wrong." My eyes started watering again. "I tried so hard, but I guess my best wasn't good enough. I just wanted him to be there with me when the twins were born, but I knew he didn't love me when I left. I saw it in his eyes."
"It's always hard, Natalie, but it's time to let go. You both need to be civil for the girls, but I don't think there'll be anything else. He loves Rachel a lot."

"I could see that. He never looked at me like that."

He pulled me to his chest and started wiping away all my tears. "No more crying, Nat. There's no reason for tears. I'm here."

I held him close and buried my face in his chest.

"I love you," I whispered.

He ran his hand through my hair. "I love you too."

Before I knew it, I was asleep.