Inevitability

7

Jacob's Point of View

Another agonized howl pierced the night, and I covered my ears with my hands, resting my forehead on the wheel of my car. That was Seth; he would howl every night, begging for me to return, or at least faze to talk. I couldn't imagine having a pack without an Alpha. Maybe Leah had taken over in my absence – she was my second in command after all. I myself was struggling with being a pack less Alpha; it wasn't right or natural. The Alpha gene needed wolves to follow it. It also wanted me to be with her, but I couldn't.

When the children had been lost…I had sacrificed control to my animal instincts, and hadn't made myself a human for days. A few nights ago, Seth's pleas had been too much for me, and I had become human, taking my car and leaving town. I couldn't be around Wren right now; it hurt too much. Whenever I would picture her in my mind, the image also had a little faceless child in her arms, and she was smiling. That wouldn't happen now. I had failed her.

I looked up at a quiet knocking on the car window, as well as the scent of vampire. I looked up, and then unlocked the door so Edward could slide into the passenger seat. He didn't say anything for a while, and I didn't encourage speech. Silence was safer.

"You need to come back, Jacob." It was an hour before he said that sentence, and I growled a little. "You have to. I wish, just for a moment, that you had my ability, so you could see what I want to show you."

In my mind, the mental equivalent of wolf ears perking up happened.

"What do you want to show me?"

"It's more like telling…" He sighed, running his fingers through his hair, considering what to say. "Do you know what she thinks?"

I shook my head, leaning down to use the wheel for support again.

"She thinks…that she's failed you."

My head shot up again. What? How could Wren possibly think that! I had been too late to rescue her and my child. I had failed her. How could she think otherwise?

He continued, sparing me the need to voice my thoughts aloud. "She thinks that…she will never be able to give you children. She doesn't think that she's right for you. She thinks the imprinting is wrong. You know as well as I do that imprinting is irrevocable, much like vampire mating. The change is permanent and unbreakable. Separation is physical pain. I know this, and you know this too. Jacob," he turned to me, eyes begging. "You cannot live the remainder of your days in this self-imposed exile. I tried to leave the one I love when I thought that staying would hurt her more than my leaving, and I was wrong, and it nearly killed us both. Don't make the same mistake I did. Wren…she needs you."

"But…" It took me a moment before I could think more than one syllable. "But I failed her. How could she possibly think otherwise? She's…perfect." I looked forward, unable to meet his gaze. "She's my imprint, and she must know that I will always love her, and I don't think it's her fault."

"Then prove it," he answered, voice and eyes suddenly hard. "Go to her, before she closes herself off forever."

An image of Bella when Sam had found her in the forest rose unbidden to my thoughts, and he winced, nodding. "Yes. Don't repeat history."

Decided, I shifted the car into drive and made my way to the Cullen house. I was almost violent with the car when I pulled into the driveway; my only concern was getting to Wren. Bella was standing outside, dark eyes anxious as she scanned the darkness for our approach. She probably knew that Edward had gone looking for me, and must have been sure on his success. Well, the leech can be persuasive when he wants to be. In my peripheral vision, I saw him smirk.

I launched myself out of the car, through the open door and upstairs to her room. Behind me, I hear Bella and Edward greet each other.

"What did you say to him?" she asked, and I could feel her eyes on my back.

There was a pause, before Edward answered, "Nothing he didn't already know."

Wren's Point of View

Okay. I'm going to stop crying and get a grip.

Now.

Now.

Now.

The tears refused to stop running. I was curled up on my bed into a ball, my arms holding my now empty and healed abdomen, devoid of the heartbeat I had come to love. Earlier, in Volterra, I had grown attached to the nameless being inside of me, my only remnant of Jacob in that Godforsaken place, and now, it had been taken away, and I felt empty and desolate.

Where was Jacob now? On the road, still, or had he found himself a new pack to lead, where he could sever the ties between us completely? Perhaps this imprint thing had been wrong, and I wasn't really meant to be his. The aching in my slowly beating heart increased and I drew in a shaking breath as I once more tried to calm the sudden rush of new tears, my thumb tracing circles around my still-grown belly. It would take a while before the baby bump went away.

"Wren?"

The word was hesitant, and I gasped. Was I hallucinating now? Was my mind breaking, just like my heart, to torture me until I finally ended it? Heavy footsteps echoed behind me, and my bed sank under the weight of the man I loved. I turned around, not altering my position – still curled into a ball, clutching my abdomen – and met his dark brown eyes. My own avoided his after a few seconds in shame. Maybe it would have been better for both of us if we just had a clean break.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, the words sounding as small and broken as I felt. I heard Jacob's intake of breath, and I tensed for his anger. Instead, though, his hand reached under my chin, making my eyes meet his again. I watched him through teary vision.

"Never. Ever. Say. That," he said. His eyes burned with restrained anger. Anger at me? I had no idea.

"What?"

"This is not your fault, Wren. Never ever think that it is, please. It breaks my heart. I failed you, not the other way around."

"But…but I lost our child. I'm a terrible imprint; I can't even carry into the second trimester."

"You did not lose it." He was speaking with a clenched jaw now. I was terrified, but the trust I felt in him was unbreakable. He could kill me now, and I would let him. Because I loved him. "It was taken from you. Taken from us." He laid down next to me on my bed, so our faces were level. His fingers didn't leave my chin. "I love you, Renesmee, never doubt that."

But how could I not?

"I'm still sorry," I said, the tears leaking over. "I was stupid, in the forest, when they caught me. I provoked them, and I let them catch up to me."

"You thought it was your father. That's a reasonable mistake, and you were ill. Nothing that happened is your fault."

"Please, stop saying that."

"What would you have me do?"

I considered the question for a moment.

"I want…I don't know!" I cried out, closing my eyes. I knew exactly what I wanted him to do; I wanted him to shout at me, to call me every bad name he could possibly think of. I wanted him to make sure I knew how much of my fault this was. But he wouldn't do that to me, stupid, lovesick dog.

"It's alright, Wren. I'm here." He pulled me into his arms, letting the heat that emanated from him surround me, close me in the safe cocoons of warmth.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I felt a sudden pulling at my stomach. I frowned, but the sensation didn't happen again, so I ignored it; maybe an aftereffect of the miscarriage.

Then, it happened again, less than an hour later. It was stronger, almost painful. I shifted uncomfortably in Jacob's arms, and he lifted his head to watch me. I didn't meet his gaze; my eyes were fixed on the wall without really looking at it. My stare was being directed internally. What was wrong with me now? Was I just some genetic mutant that would have a bunch of problems with her for the rest of her life? The thought wasn't exactly stupid; it could happen.

"Wren, are you okay?"

I looked up at him, meeting his anxious chocolate eyes.

"I…think so. I -." The sentence was cut short by a hiss that escaped me, when the sensation came back once more. This time it was definitely there, and very painful. I pressed my legs together tightly, as if doing so would relieve the pain, and my hand clutched at my stomach harder. They were getting closer together.

Though I was unresponsive on the outside, my mind was working at light speed. How long had it been since Jacob and I had been together, that way? Three months…and then another week…and then another few months…I couldn't be that far along, surely? Hadn't I miscarried?

What was happening?

Jacob got up, sensing my distress, and called for any members of my family to come in. Edward entered first, followed by Emmett and Bella, and then Carlisle a few minutes later. The rest were out hunting – I had heard them leave an hour before.

"What's going on?" Bella asked, coming to sit by my head, her hand on my forehead. For once, I was glad and welcoming of the freezing temperature of my vampire family. I was suddenly very, very warm.

"I don't know…Wren?"

"It hurts…" I whimpered pathetically, clutching my abdomen as another flash of pain went through me. "Doesn't make sense…" I said, before my words were lost in desperate, gasping breaths.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say she's going into labor." Carlisle came forward, his eyes examining me carefully.

"But…she miscarried…" That was Jacob's voice, unnaturally low and husky for him to be a vampire.

"Who knows? Perhaps this child possesses healing abilities?"

"Then why couldn't we hear the heartbeat?"

"I don't have all of the answers Jacob, I cannot. All I can do is find out what's happening and act accordingly. Bella, Emmett, you may want to leave the room. There could be lots of blood."

"Like hell I'm leaving," Bella hissed. Emmett, however, wordlessly left the room. His eyes were coal black, and I was grateful he had sense enough to leave and not to risk endangering anyone.

"Fine. Now, Renesmee…" Carlisle's voice changed, going into Doctor Mode. "How long between each flash of pain?"

"About…About…" I tried to continue, but couldn't.

"Around four minutes, Carlisle," my father supplied for me. I nodded in both agreement and thanks.

"Okay, now I'm going to give you a few painkillers; if I'm right, then you'll want them."

I don't remember what happened then. Everything was a swirling mass of pain and unanswerable questions. How far along now? How could this be happening? Why wasn't it over yet? At the end, I think I started blacking out, because I would open my eyes periodically to frantic shaking and more questions, coming from an endless stream of them. I was so tired. The scent of blood was climbing in the room, permeating every surface, making me dizzy. I wanted to throw up. I wanted cold, then hot, then cold again. Heat and chills passed through me with every breath. I felt, right then, that I was capable of dying. And then the pain passed into a whole other level. I was told to keep pushing, and not give up. Bella eventually did have to leave, because of the blood, and I wished that I could too.

But I was the star of the show now. I couldn't just leave.

Jacob's Point of View

"Just one more push, Renesmee, you're doing great."

I sidled up next to Edward, who was standing back, allowing the doctor to work his magic. He turned to me, sensing the question I was about to ask.

"When Bella was pregnant…you could hear Wren's thoughts, when she was in the womb?"

He nodded.

"Wouldn't you have been able to hear the baby's then, here?"

He nodded again.

"Did you?" I finally asked, frustrated by the lack of response.

He smiled. "Yes, I did."

"Then what the hell? Couldn't you have spared us the torture and told me and Wren?"

"No."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because…the baby was suffering. I had no real reason to think that, when she did go into labor, she would still be alive. But something happened…she healed herself. Absolutely amazing, but she did."

"She?"

He smiled again. "You're having a daughter, Jacob."

"A daughter?" I repeated in disbelief.

"And in my defense, I only sensed one mind."

"You mean there's more than one?"

"Twins. Both girls."

"How in the world would you possibly know that?"

"I can smell them."

I paused in my retort, opening my sense of smell to encompass Wren. There was a definite…'young one' smell, Sam used to call it. Children had a very distinct smell, because they were not yet old enough to take on their own, it was said. It seemed magnified beyond regular proportions in this room. Like…there was more than one.

Twins. Wow.

"Alright, Renesmee…you did well, sweetheart, rest now." I heard a mumbled assent following Carlisle's statement, and then the very distinct sound of babies crying. The high pitched wail was like music to my ears, because I knew that…they were my children. A little of me, and Wren, combined into two entities.

I walked over to where Carlisle was bent over a table that had been covered with a white cloth. He was wrapping a towel around each child, and I watched with a mixture of awe and wonder.

Two girls.

Twins.

Wow.

Author's Note: Long time no see! It's been too much, my friends and loyal readers, but now we finally have the babies! Two girls, because I think it would be funny, poor Jacob with a bunch of hormonally imbalanced women. =D I bet you didn't see this coming, eh? Hehe, I'm full of surprises I am. Besides, I think people would have actually killed me if I destroyed the babies.

Love you all! Review!

HigherMagic x