Wedding Bells

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thank you very much for the kind reviews!

Part Ten

The night eventually came to an end. The guests began to tire, the food and drink ran out, and the weather had taken a turn for the worse. It began to rain heavily, which finally put an end to the party. The guests began to head home, most of them worse for wear. A fleet of taxi's arrived to take the frazzled partygoers away, and soon the Cullen's place was virtually empty. Renee had found Charlie; she was alarmed to find her new husband and her ex exchanging fisticuffs as they fought stupidly. Neither of them was hitting their target, both of them were drunk, as was Renee herself. She felt her head spinning as she wobbled over to them. "Stop this."

"Don't interfere, Ren." Charlie called out. "I am defending your honour."

Renee rolled her eyes as she saw Charlie hit out at Phil and miss completely. He staggered forward, bumping into her husband instead. Both men toppled over and hit the dirt. "Really." Renee peered down at them. Phil was holding his head and groaning, while Charlie had flopped onto his back. "Perhaps you should have attempted this when you were both sober. Although," Renee leaned down and touched Charlie's cheek softly, "I am happy that you wanted to defend my honour."

Charlie beamed up at her as he blinked owlishly. "Did I win?" He asked.

"Not in the way you imagined, but yes." Renee glanced at her husband. Phil scrambled to his feet as he shot her a look of disgust. "Phil, I…"

"Don't say anything." Phil stated coldly. "You two deserve each other. I'm getting out of here."

Renee watched her younger husband stagger off into the night with his hand holding the side of his head. She thought she would be upset, she knew she should be upset, but really she was the total opposite. She looked down at Charlie again; he was still smiling like someone who had won the lottery. Well maybe they both had. "Need help?" She offered him her hand.

Charlie took it and instead of getting up he pulled Renee down with him so she ended up lying on his chest. "That's better." He declared.

Renee giggled as she leaned up a little so she could kiss him.

Old Quil had managed to prise his grandson away from the mad girl long enough to talk to him. The strange girl hovered in the background, whining and pouting like a spoiled toddler who'd had its favourite toy taken away. "Where did you get her from?" The elder whispered irritably.

Quil looked blearily toward the girl with the long, curly black hair and very red lips. She had awful fashion sense, he didn't even like to imagine how much the overtight red dress had cost her, or how she had even managed to squeeze her delectable curves into it, but she had grown on him over the last few hours. "Jess, her name is Jess." He mumbled as he gave her a silly wave. Jessica nearly fell apart as she blew him a kiss and giggled when he pretended to catch it.

Old Quil watched them in disgust. Did these young people have no decorum? He yanked on his grandson's arm. "What's this about you being engaged?"

"Yeah, Jess proposed and I said yes." Quil was so out of it he couldn't remember the finer points of what had happened.

"Will you snap out of this, Quil Ateara." The elder clicked his fingers in front of Quil's face.

"Yessss ssssireee!" Quil pretended to salute his grandfather and laughed like a loon when Old Quil glared at him. He then waved Jessica over. "Come here sweetheart and meet my ole' grandpa!"

Jessica squealed in delight and tottered over to them. She took the elder's hand and bowed as if he was some type of royalty. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Old Bill." She blushed profusely when young Quil winked at her and threw his arm across her shoulders.

"My name is Quil." Old Quil huffed indignantly.

"Quil?" Jessica looked between Old Quil and his grandson. "Two Quilly's for the price of one!" She smiled in delight and took the elder's hands in her own and tried to get him to dance with her as she sang his name at the top of her voice. Quil was grinning like a fool as he watched Jessica whirl around with the gobsmacked elder.

"Oh my!" Old Quil sighed heavily as he swayed along with the odd girl.

Paul Lahote and Embry Call carried a comatose Seth between them. The youngest wolf had imbibed far too much drink and had fallen into a drunken stupor. Sue shook her head in disbelief at her son as she examined him carefully to make sure he was physically okay. "He's going to have a huge hangover in the morning, but he seems fine." She glanced at Paul and Embry who were both yawning. "Will you two goons stay awake long enough to carry him home?"

"S'pose so." Paul hefted Seth up higher and motioned for Embry to follow as they headed back to La Push with their heavy burden.

"Unbelievable." Sue watched them go, still shaking her head.

"He's young, Sue." Billy reminded her. "It's a rite of passage to have a hangover."

"Damn moonshine." Sue cursed under her breath. "It seems to be affecting everyone."

Billy discreetly touched the brown bottle he had snagged from Old Quil. He had hidden it under his shirt when he had come across Sue again. Leah had left the party early to go and meet up with Sam after she had received a text from him. All the revellers had gone now, although Billy still hadn't managed to track down his own son or Bella. Well he was sure that Jacob would turn up eventually. He was big enough to look out for himself. Billy reached out and took Sue's hand tenderly in his own. "Perhaps we should head home now. The party is well and truly over here." He looked at her meaningfully.

Sue caught his look and hesitantly placed her hand in his. She had to admit she liked the warm feel of his fingers lacing with hers. "Yes, let's go home." She agreed softly as her intense gaze met his.

Bella had finally got over her crying fit. She blew her nose loudly and dabbed under her eyes. "Well that's it then." She mumbled.

Jacob watched her with a pensive expression. What did she mean, that's it? Was she regretting her rash decision to give the ring back? Was she regretting letting him lead her astray? Was she….he was pulled out of his frantic thoughts by the feel of Bella's fingers curling around his. "Huh?" He blinked a couple of times as he tried to calm down his inner anxieties.

"Whatever you're thinking, Jacob Black, don't!" Bella smiled at him weakly. "I can see your brain whirring looking for the downside. Don't do what I always do. You have nothing to be worried about anymore."

"I don't?" Jacob said cautiously. He knew Bella was still suffering the effects of the concoction she had drunk and he wasn't sure whether he should allow his guard down completely. She seemed sincere, her eyes were shining with love and affection, but would this all vanish by the morning when she sobered up.

"It's all worked out just as it should." Bella replied softly as she stood on her tiptoes and tried to reach his lips. Jacob felt a shiver of anticipation run down his spine as he wallowed in the feel of her sweet breath ghosting across his skin. Bella's lips grazed his, which was literally torment for him. He wanted to gather her in his arms and kiss her until she couldn't breathe, but he needed to let her initiate this. He didn't want her accusing him in the morning of taking advantage. No her memory needed to be intact on the point where she took the step to kiss him. Jacob didn't lower his head, instead he waited and waited for her to close the gap and press her mouth onto his. But like everything in his life nothing came easy. Just as he felt Bella lean against him so she could reach higher, they were interrupted.

"Hey, Jake, there you are." Jacob groaned at the sound of his Alpha's voice. He had been so close. He watched as Bella frowned and glanced around him at Sam Uley.

"What the hell, Sam?" Jacob complained as he turned round. He stopped short when he saw Uley's arm strung across Leah's shoulders. So it was still on then. He forgot all about his resentment as he took in how happy Sam and Leah looked. Uley was smiling; Jacob didn't think he had ever seen him do that, well not a genuine one anyway. He felt Bella brush past him as she stumbled toward the new couple.

"Wow, you're beaming." Bella declared in wonder as she examined Sam's face carefully. "Jakey, look." She waved her hand in Sam's face nearly poking him in the eye.

"Jeez, she reeks of booze." Leah pretended to gag at the smell as Bella peered at her face too.

"I'm drunk on love." Bella giggled and sighed happily as she went back to Jacob and flung her arms around his neck. "SO ARE YOU, SO IS EVERYBODY!" She laughed again, pressing her face into Jacob's chest when a whoozy feeling made her head spin.

Jacob wrapped his arms around Bella to keep her upright as she kept giggling to herself. "Is this on then, with you two?" He checked.

Leah and Sam exchanged an affectionate glance. "Yeah." Sam said huskily as he leaned down to kiss Leah. "And it's all thanks to you, Jake." He chuckled when he saw Jacob's confused expression. "You don't know do you?"

"Know what?" Jacob demanded.

"You'll find out. Night Jake, night Bella." Sam and Leah burst out laughing at Jacob's bemused face before they wandered off back into the trees.

A/N-thanks for reading!