Love is a Battlefield; Epilogue

My head throbbed as I got out of bed.

"Turn off the sun, Jake," I moaned, pulling the blankets over my head.

"You're still getting the dreams?" Jake asked softly, smoothing back my hair and shutting the bedroom curtains.

"No," I groaned, "I'm trying to challenge you."

"You know I'd do that for you, Bells," he scooped me up and held me close to him, keeping the blankets over my head and all the light out.

"I'm sorry. Could you go get my meds for me?" I kissed his stomach and waited while he went into the bathroom to grab the array of medication I had collected over the past six months. The bed indented again with his weight and I heard the tray settle on the bed, "I need the bottle with the Dora sticker and the one with the daisy sticker."

He handed me the two bottles of under the covers and swallowed the pill dry, "Tell the girls they can watch TV before school. I'll be up in a half hour to do their hair, they can pick out their own clothes today."

"Sure sure, Bells," he slipped underneath the comforter and kissed my cheek gently.

I waited under the warm blanket for the medicine to kick in, ever since Jacob, the girls and I had come back from Italy I had been having vivid slideshow style dreams followed by waking up with intense headaches. The dreams contained pictures of bronze haired boys and sparkling meadows.

After the pain killers had kicked in I slowly got out of bed and made my way down the stairs, "Mommy!" both girls came up and hugged my legs, I stopped walking down the stairs so I wouldn't trip.

"Hey, girls. Did you sleep alright?"

"Yes, Mom," they groaned out. They always slept well, "Can we have ice cream for breakfast? Daddy said we could."

"Daddy, do you want to sleep on the couch?" I called out.

Jake walked up the stairs and picked both McKenzie and Paige up, "Ah, you wouldn't last one night without me."

I smiled; knowing whatever lie I came up with would sound like just that. A lie. A terrible lie.

"Girls, go pick out your cereal. Get the bowls out and pour the cereal in to the bowls," Jake set the two girls down and they ran quickly through the living room and into the kitchen. I heard the cabinet doors slamming and cringed, "And clean up whatever mess you make. I'll come pour the milk when you're done."

Jake pulled me over to the couch and helped me sit down, "Are you feeling better?"

"Compared to what?"

"Before you took the meds," Jake combed his warm hands through my hair.

"I guess. I don't like it, Jake. I don't like having to depend on little orange bottles to survive. I don't like the fact that the doctors don't know what's wrong."

"They'll figure it out, Bells. I know they will. And if the doctors in Seattle can't get it, we'll go somewhere else. San Francisco, LA, New York if we have to. I'll get you all better, I promise. 'In sickness or health,' remember?"

"Jake, how'd I get so lucky?"

He looked away and pulled his hand out from my hair, grasping my own, "I don't know," he looked away, a million miles away.

I helped the girls with their breakfast and did their hair, just in time for Emily to come pick them up for preschool, "Emily, I'm so glad your stitches healed nicely, I thought I was the only one on the Res that was klutzy."

She laughed uneasily, "Um, guess not. One of the boys left a, um, truck on the stairwell."

"Side effect of being a mother, I guess."

"Yeah," Emily and I stood there awkwardly till the girls came running through.

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad!" they ran into Emily's van and managed the buckles on their carseats.

"7 o'clock?" I asked, confirming the pick up time.

"Yeah, I'll feed them dinner."

"Thanks," we said our awkward goodbyes and I went to go sit next to Jake on the couch, "What time do you need to leave for work?"

"I took the day off," Jake said carefully, already knowing how angry I was going to be.

"I'm not totally helpless, Jake. I get headaches, I take the meds, I'm better. I'll be fine! I don't want you to miss work."

"We'll be fine."

I lied down on his lap and closed my eyes, "You know what's weird, Jake?"

"A lot of things are weird, Bells."

"I can't even remember planning that vacation. Why would we decide to go to Italy of all places in the middle of September?"

"We won the tickets, Bells. They expired at the end of the year and we didn't want to go for the holidays when everyone else going to go. If I had known that you were going to trip on all those cobblestones and end up knocking yourself unconscious I wouldn't have insisted we use the tickets. I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes, sick of this story, "Jake, it's not your fault I'm a klutz. It's just weird not being able to remember things. Like how we met, it's like you've always been there for me- I mean with me. It's like we've always been dating, like we've always been together."

Jake smiled, "You know, I did find pictures of us in the tub together when you were about four or five, I was two or three. They were in Dad's old photo albums. Maybe young love was created over a rubber ducky."

I smiled and sighed, "Maybe."

Jake pushed my shirt up and I shivered from his warm hands over my cold skin, he traced the scars that were slightly raised from the new bump, "When are we going to tell Paige and McKenzie?"

"I don't know," I said honestly.

"You're showing early this time. You lost too much wait when you were in the hospital. You'd think the doctors would try and manage something like that a little better."

"They didn't know I was pregnant at the time, I came in with migraines, nothing else. It's not like they did a pregnancy test then and there."

"Maybe they should have," he looked angry and I held his hand tightly, "Maybe we should get a different doctor, I can drive you to San Francisco, there ought to be better doctors there."

"Jake, it's fine. Just calm down, we don't need any mishaps right now. Did I tell you that the doctors thought you had Munchausen's? They thought you were poisoning me somehow. I laughed when they began asking me questions, 'Does your husband make you any food that tastes funny?'

"The thought of you cooking is hilarious."

"What if it is me, Bells? What if we are using some new chemical at the shop and you're getting it off of my clothes. Maybe I should head into work and research the products…"

"Jake, just calm down. We'll figure it out. The doctors said that the meds wouldn't hurt the baby and if they ever do, I'll just stop taking them. It'll be fine," I held the palm of his hand to my mouth, "I promise," I whispered.

Jacob seemed content with this, "So, where are we going to tell the girls?"

"I don't know."

Jake looked at me and I turned my head, if he were to see my face he would know exactly what I was thinking about, "That won't happen again. We'll have you closely monitored. At the smallest sign of trouble we can go to the ER, Emily and Sam have both promised to keep their cell phones on them and can pick the girls up at anytime."

"What would we do with out them?"

"It's what godparents are for, Bells."

We stayed on the couch a little while longer, before I began nodding off I got up, "I need to go work on my article."

"Ah, my little Lois Lane."

I shook my head and laughed, "Oh no, it's much more Carrie Bradshaw and you know that. The paper says I don't have enough experience under my belt."

"I think you have enough under your belt," Jake said, tugging on the belt loops of my jeans.

"I have something under my belt," I looked down at my poofy belly, "Girl or boy? What do you think?"

"I want a boy," Jake declared.

I laughed and made my way up the stairs to my computer desk. I wrote away for hours working on some poor girls love life. If only people could solve their own problems, things would be so much easier on me. I could be writing serious pieces of journalism. I could be syndicated. It would be wonderful and complete.

I heard the front door shut and McKenzie and Paige ran through the hallway and into the kitchen, awaiting their snack, "Oh, holy crow!"

I tripped downstairs and looked up at Jake, he was smiling softly and holding the keys to car, "I don'tdeserve you!" I hugged him tightly and whispered, "I owe you."

I felt Jake smile against my cheek and he kissed my neck, "I can't wait! Did you finish your article?"

"Almost."

I went back upstairs and hit my word quota, a game of Pretty, Pretty Princess serving as background. I peeked through the door and saw that the girls and Jake were wrapped up in a heated 3rd game.

I sat back down at my desk and took out a sheet over paper.

Cullens,

I could never thank you enough for all the help and I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you no matter how long I live.

Carlisle and Esme, thank you for being so kind and giving. My love and gratitude for you is eternal.

Emmett and Rosalie, thank you for putting aside your differences with me to help out. I greatly appreciate it.

Alice and Jasper, thank you so much for the kind, wise words of inspiration. Your words were my light at the end of the tunnel.

Edward, dear Edward, how can I even sum up in words what I need to say to you? Remember, while love may not last forever, it's the fact that you had it that counts. There will always be a place in my heart for you; no vampire mind trick can change that.

I took a deep breath, stretched my fingers and turned the page over.

To everyone, I cannot express how happy I am that my plan worked, I had so many doubts, I was certain Jasper would notice and he did, but he passed it off as nerves, never guessing at my scheme. was terrified that Edward would notice something. Despite all these year passing he's still the only person who can read my face so perfectly.

But most of all I was sure that Alice would see something. Even now I am unsure if she did, she always was best at keeping secrets.

I don't think we'll ever know why my mind is so protected, maybe we aren't supposed to. But, my dear vampire family, I will always remember you.

Isabella Marie Black.

I read over the letter one more time before carefully folding in into thirds and tucking it under the floorboard beneath my bed.

Jake knocked on the door before coming in. I shook my head, "It's your room too Jake, you don't need to-" I looked up and laughed.

Jake was decked out in full princess attire; pink drop earings, pink necklace, pink bracelet and the bejewled crown.

"I think Paige and McKenzie went to bed bitter," he said with a straight face.

"Well, your wife is questioning your sexual identity," I bit my lip, "What kind of werewolf wears pink?"

"A terrifying one." I scoffed. His eyes lit up, "Take it back."

I sat down on the bed, "Nope," I slipped my shoes off.

"Do it!"

"Nuh uh," I slipped my shirt over my head.

"Fine," he turned around and opened the door, "I'm going to sleep on the couch."

I slid off the bed and ran to Jake, wrapping my arms around his back, "Fine, you're a very terrifying monster."

And it's done. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and everyone who read but didn't review (albeit, those who reviewed are getting a slightly larger thanks than those who didn't.) This story took forever to write even though I knew from the start where it was going. I actually wrote the last bit of this chapter over a month ago. However, without someone's help this story wouldn't have been finished as quickly.

In a PM from Heartbroken1 she wrote me this while she was trying to get me to understand why Jacob was the better man.

"He was literally fighting for her life and soul. Consider being in Jacob's

shoes, if the man you loved was going to have his life (debatably soul) taken

away in 30 days, but if he realized he loved you (you knowing that he already

does) and chose to stay with you, then wouldn't you do everything within your

power to help them find those feelings? I would."

Oh. Who could argue with that?

On another note, I have a new story in my head and I'm pretty sure the plot isn't up here already. I'm not going to say much, only that it'll be Jake and Bella and I'm very excited.