Title:An Unkind Fate

Rating:PG (T)

Pairings: Ultimately Bella & Edward but first we have to show what happens with Jacob

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the Twilight series. They are the property of Stephenie Meyer and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Set: Alternative Universe to New Moon. Edward doesn't think Bella died. Edward doesn't go to the Volturi nor does he come back to Bella.

A/N 1 – Thank you to those who reviewed. It's great to hear your comments on the story or any feedback on the quality of the writing.

Chapter 9 - Morning After

The next morning I got out of bed to jump in the shower. I felt sorer than I expected. I guess that was to be expected when your boyfriend was 6'7 and built like a pro linebacker. Thinking of Jacob's body and what I had done to it the night before made me giggle a bit. I knew I was blushing as I walked gingerly to the bathroom.

I looked at myself in the mirror and was surprised I looked the same as yesterday. I expected to look different, older somehow. Instead, I just looked disheveled and a bit guilty. Would Charlie be able to see what we had done by just looking at my face? I took another look at my forehead. Nope, there was no tattoo proclaiming my new sexual status.

I didn't know why I was beating myself up. Jacob and I were in love and in a committed relationship. We were planning a future together. A physical relationship was just the next natural step for us to take. If I compared myself to my peers, I knew that I was way behind the "loss of virginity" curve. Still, I wasn't looking forward to sitting across from Charlie at breakfast this morning. I heard him come in an hour after Jake snuck out. I knew he liked to wind down after a night shift but maybe the fates had been kind and Charlie went straight to bed this time.

I walked into the kitchen and realized I was forever Fate's bitch. Charlie was at the breakfast table having some coffee and reading the paper. Charlie looked up from his paper and gave me his best stern parental stare. "You look tired. Did you stay up late last night?"

I grabbed a bowl and some cereal from the cabinets and the milk from the fridge. I sat down across from Charlie and poured some cereal into the bowl as I answered. "Uh, yeah. Jake stayed and we watched a movie so I went to bed a bit later than normal."

Charlie continued to look at me. He really missed his calling in Forks, I thought as I took a mouthful of cereal. He had the interrogation stare down to a science. Stop blushing. Stop blushing. Charlie finally went back to his paper and just said, "Hmm."

That 'hmm' just made me feel more judged and guilty. I took a couple of bites of cereal when he said behind his paper, "It says here that you got your V-card swiped last night."

I spit a mouth full of Cheerios out and squeaked, "What?"

Charlie dropped the paper a few inches and looked at me funny as he repeated what he had said. "It says here that the Victory statue was swiped last night. You know; that statue in the Port Angeles town square. "

I just stared at him in relief. Damn guilty conscience. I quickly mopped up the mess I just made and mumbled, "Who would do such a thing?" I didn't really care but it gave me something to say as I lectured myself. Get a grip, Bella.

Before Charlie could speculate on the Port Angeles' crime element, my cell phone rang. I grabbed it from the charger.

"Hey, Bells." Jacob's booming voice greeted me on the other side of the line.

"If that's Jake, tell him to stop keeping you up all night."

"Daaaaaaaaaaad." I groaned. I felt like I had "tramp" stamped on my forehead. I heard Jake chuckling on the other end of the line.

I excused myself and took the phone up to my room.

"Hi, Jake," I said softly, surprised at how shy I felt. If this is what it was going to be like over the phone, I knew I was going to be beet red when I saw him in person.

"Tell Charlie to tell his daughter to stop keeping me up all night."

I blushed but giggled at the double entendre.

"I miss you."

I heard a chorus of "miss you's" from some of his friends in the background as they made fun of him. He told them to shut the hell up.

I smiled and something inside my chest felt warm and soft. "I miss you too. Will I see you later?"

"Absolutely. I'm driving Quil and Embry over to the Makah reservation to drop Quil off to his cousins. They just moved back and this is the first time Quil has seen them since they were little kids. The whole family is having a barbecue later this afternoon. His Mom is already over there helping them get set up and he needed a ride. I'll give you a call when we get back and maybe you can come over tonight."

With some excitement Jake said, "Billy's and Old Quil are staying at Old Quil's cabin tonight for some elder retreat so we'll have the house to ourselves."

I blushed at the thought of being alone again. "Sounds great," I stuttered.

Reading my mind, Jacob laughed. I thought he would hang up then, but he hesitated. "You know last night was really special to me?" Before I could say anything, he continued, "I love you, Bella."

"Me too," and we both hung up.

XXXX

The day dragged on after Jake's phone call. I straitened up the kitchen and made sure I wiped up the last of the cheerios I sprayed across the kitchen. Stupid guilty conscience. I threw some laundry into the washing machine and sat down to write a paper due on Monday. It was hard to concentrate on something as mundane as school work when such a life changing event had just occurred. I found I had to force myself back to the writing after zoning out and staring off into space.

I felt good but unsettled. Last night was beautiful and flashes of the evening kept popping into my head as I tried to write my paper. I smiled as I remembered how Jacob was so unexpectedly gentle. Just the memory of his lips on my body made me shiver and squirm. I never knew how wonderful it could be to feel the heavy weight of his bare chest pressed against mine as his body moved in mine. I thought I would go up in flames when he trailed kisses down my collar bone to my breasts and then down my stomach. Once I had let myself go I couldn't remember why I had been so worried about taking the next step with him.

I blushed and forced myself back to my paper. Concentrate, Bella. The fall of the Roman Empire due to over taxation. I wrote a couple of sentences but soon found myself drifting off again. I thought of what it felt like to feel every inch of his muscled chest and legs against mine. Giggle. Rome. Must concentrate on Rome.That just reminded me of roaming hands and I started to giggle again.

I looked at the clock. Time seemed to be dragging. I felt restless and unanchored. I couldn't wait to see Jake again. Would he expect to do it again tonight to take advantage of the fact that Billy was out and we had the house to ourselves? Would Jake expect it every time were alone now? How did I feel about that? I didn't have the answers but part of me was excited to see where this would take us.

I was so grateful that Jacob didn't give up on me. This last year with him ….. I don't know how I got so lucky.

I finished my paper a couple of hours later expecting to have heard from Jake to firm up our plans. Another hour went by and still no phone call. I would have expected him back at La Push by now. At loose ends, I drove to the grocery store to pick up some food for the week. As I walked down the aisles I saw some of the items for one of Jakes favorite meals, lasagna. I picked up the ingredients and thought it might be nice to cook something special for Jacob one night this week when Charlie worked the evening shift. Would he read too much into that? I shook myself out of my silly musings and drove back to the house.

I checked the house phone answering machine and my cell phone voicemail. There were no messages or missed calls from Jake. I started to cook a couple of meals that I could freeze for Charlie when the phone finally rang. I looked at the caller ID on the phone. Jake!

"Hey, Jake," I answered breathlessly.

I was greeted by silence.

"Hello. Are you there?" I called into the phone. Maybe we had a bad connection.

Jake finally spoke. "Uh, Bells, sorry I didn't call sooner. I'm still at Quil's cousins' house. Um, something's come up, and um, well," he uncharacteristically stuttered, "I, ah, I can't talk right now but I wanted to give you a call to say that I won't, uh, be able to see you tonight."

I heard Quil and Embry say something to him but I couldn't make out any of the words clearly.

"Is everything ok, Jake? You sound funny."

"Uh, something just come up that I can't get away from here yet and, well, can we give tonight a miss?"

Disappointed, I said. "Sure. Sure. Take care of what you need to take care of and I'll see you later."

"Thanks." He paused, seeming to try to find the right words, "Look, Bells, I'm sorry. So very sorry."

That was a lot of apology for breaking a date. Granted it was the first date after our change in relationship status, but still it wasn't the end of the world. I tried to sound understanding, "It's okay, Jake. It's not like you could prevent it."

There was another long pause. He seemed to want to say something but all I heard was the background hum of the cell phone connection. To break the silence I put all the warm feelings I had into my goodbye. "I love you, Jake."

Again there was silence. "Uh, yeah, me too. I, ah, I'll call you," he stuttered again and he hung up.

I stared at the cell phone with a frown on my face. Something wasn't right.

A/N – Thank you to those that have set up this story to follow or as a favorite. I really appreciate the interest. Reviews are highly motivating and I would appreciate any feedback you might have on the story or the writing. Please tell me what you think.