Chapter Title: Heaven (Embry/Hannah)
Song by: DJ Sammy and Yannou. Yes, I know that Bryan Adams did this song originally but I like this version better. The slow version, not the club mix...I just wanted to clarify that.
Summary: Hannah is pregnant with CJ and thinks back to when she and Embry were younger. Something else happens, but I won't give it away.
Disclaimer: I own Hannah, that is all.
AN: The parts in italics are flashbacks.
Hannah tried to remember a time when Embry hadn't been a part of her life in some way or another. Sure, they had met when she was nine and he was five but who really remembers the first ten years of their life? He was the same person now at eighteen that he had been then. He was fearless and had more tenacity than Hannah had ever seen. He was resilient.
She had been thinking back to when they were kids and almost every memory she had of Rachel included Jacob, Embry and Quil since they were left to watch out for them growing up. It was one of the reasons that Rebecca and Rachel had hightailed it out of town after graduating high school. To think that Rachel had tried to talk her into getting an apartment in Port Angeles after college. She couldn't picture what her life would be like if they had actually gone through with it.
"Rachel! Rebecca!" Billy bellowed from the house.
Rachel, Rebecca, and Hannah were down at the other end of the street in front of the Clearwaters and they had heard Billy loud and clear. The twins sighed in aggrivation but didn't make a move to turn back. They had plans and they planned to keep them.
"I can go back if you want," Hannah offered.
"No, you're coming with us. That's his 'I need you to watch the boys voice'," Rachel argued.
"You'll be with Bobby and Bec will be with Kingsley. I'd be the fifth wheel."
"Are you sure?" Rebecca asked skeptically.
"You two go," she said turning around to walk back up the hill.
"I don't see why they need a babysitter. They're thirteen," Rachel said with a scoff.
"Do you remember what happened the last time you were supposed to be watching them? They lit a bunch of dad's oil rags on fire in the burn barrel. Dad almost wasn't able to put it out," Rebecca pointed out.
Trouble seemed to follow the boys everywhere and Quil was usually the leader. Jacob was supposed to have been the lookout for the oil rag debatical but had gotten distracted when Charlie turned his conversation with Billy towards his daughter Bella. Quil and Embry hadn't seen Charlie at the kitchen window and Billy was out the back door before either of them could react. For someone in a wheelchair, he was pretty fast.
Billy was in the yard when Hannah made it to the top of the hill. He gave her a pointed look and she gave him a shrug. He shook his head with a small smile. Charlie helped him into his cruiser then folded the chair and tossed it into the trunk. The boys were in watching Laguna Beach in the living room when Hannah walked into the house. Quil looked over his shoulder with a wide smile.
"Thank God, it's Hannah," he said with a sigh of relief.
"As opposed to who?"
"Atilla the Hun and the Beast," he said in a whispered, mock scared voice.
"I never have figured out which one is which," Hannah said with a shake of her head.
"That's not for you to worry about, that's between us," Jacob called over his shoulder.
"What do you guys want for dinner?"
"Bec bought pizza for us," Jacob answered, not looking away from the TV.
Hannah found the pizza in the freezer and the set the oven then grabbed Rachel's copy of Glamour off the counter. She was flipping through it when the sound of feet shuffling across the carpet then padding across the hall before stopping on the linolium a few feet from her caused her to look up. Embry stood in front of her, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, his eyes fixed on the wall behind her.
Embry was a healthy mix of Quil and Jacob and he was constantly put in the middle when they bickered over the smallest things.
"Dinner should be ready in a few minutes," she said to get his attention.
"That wasn't why I came in here," he said with a shake of his head.
"What's up?" she asked, closing the magazine and placing back on the counter.
"I heard Rachel say that you got into UDub like her."
"Yep. We're crossing our fingers that we'll be in the same building, but I doubt it," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"If the three of us go to college I would want to go wherever they go," he agreed.
"I can see Jake going to college, but good luck selling that idea to Quil. He can party all he wants right at home."
"True," he said with a laugh.
"So, what's up?"
"Not a lot."
"Really? Nothing? You're boring," she said giving him a playfull shove.
She didn't know why he'd come to her at the time but now she knew that he had feelings for her even then; he had just been to scared to tell her. She had a lot of memories just like that one. He had been very good at hiding his feelings for her.
"I'm serious. Have you ever thought of either of them as anything other than Jake's friends?"
"For the last time, no," Rachel said the last word slowly.
"I'm just curious," Hannah said with a shrug.
"Why? Do you? Please do not tell me that you have dreams of being my sister-in-law one day," she said with a sigh.
"That's disgusting, ew. Thank's for that mental image."
"Well, then why did you bring it up?"
"I don't know, stranger things have happened," she said shrugging again.
Stranger things had happened. Like vampires descending on the quiet town that she had grown up in and the boys that she had looked after as kids turning out to be part of a supernatural legacy that was right out of a cheap horror movie. She hadn't planned on falling for Embry as hard as she had. Had she always felt that way?
Hannah was glad to finally be home from school. Her boyfriend was more trouble than she could handle and she was grateful to have a few months away from him. She was just sorry that Rachel had decided to stay in Seattle for the summer. Most of her time was spent with Ryan and her little sister and she was relishing in it.
She had finally relented when Ryan had asked her to take him to the batting cages for the third time in so many days. She was sitting alone watching him hit ball after ball against the chain link fence at the other end of gated area. Someone sat down next to her taking her by surprise. Embry smiled at her and she knew if he wasn't wearing sunglasses his eyes would be smiling too.
"Hey stranger," he said in greeting.
"Hey Em," she said with a smile.
She took a few seconds to take him in. His hair was shorter than it had been when she'd last seen him two years ago but still hung past his shoulders. The rest of his body was finally starting to catch up with the long limbs that he'd had since he was twelve. She mentally shook her head to shake the thoughts that were swarming through her head like insistant flies.
"How have you been?"
"Good. You?"
"I'm alright," he said with an indifferent shrug.
"Ryan doesn't talk much about you and the guys when I talk to him anymore," she said sadly.
"He's busy with football and baseball. It's cool," he said with a nod.
"What have you been up to? And you had better not give me your usual answer," she threatened.
"Not a lot. School takes up a lot of my time."
"Are you sure that you're friends with Quil and Jake?" she teased.
He smirked with a shake of his head. She hadn't expected to see him but she was glad that she had. She had been missing her talks with him.
School had taken up a lot of his time. He had dreams of going to college and now that wouldn't happen. She put a hand to the newly developed bump under her shirt. She sighed sadly as she felt tears sting her eyes. He had recently announced that he had a plan that was going to make things better for them. All she knew was that the plan had better include him going to college at some point down the road. She wasn't going to let her and the baby be the reason that he gave up on his dream of being an architect.
"Babe?" Embry voice broke through her thoughts.
She looked to see him sitting at his kitchen table with his homework spread out in front of him.
"Hmm?"
"What are you thinking about?"
"It's nothing," she said swiping at her eyes quickly.
"It's something," he said standing from the table.
"Do you promise to go to college once we have some money saved?" she asked.
"No. All the money we have needs to go towards the baby and getting us a place to stay. My mom won't let us stay here once I'm done with school."
"We could take Sam and Emily up on their offer and move in with them. That way we'll have a little extra money," she said with pleading eyes.
"Hannah no, our money could go to more important things than college."
"What if you wait until the baby's older?"
"You really expect me to go to college well into my forties?" he asked skeptically.
"You're right. I just feel so guilty," she said, her voice thick with emotion.
"We both made the decision to have sex, it wasn't just you," he reminded her.
Her whole body shook with laughter. She should have known that she was being silly for blaming herself for the situation. He came around the side of the couch and pulled her up to sit in her place. She leaned against him with a sigh and he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Just because I don't want to go to college that doesn't mean that I don't think about the future."
"What do you mean?"
"Marry me."
"What?" she asked, turning quickly to look at him.
"Marry me," he said again, more seriously.
"You are out of your mind," she said with wide eyes.
"You don't want to marry me?" he asked, hurt.
"Of course I do! Just...not for a few more years."
"Why not?"
"Embry, you just turned eighteen. I've already tied you down with a baby, isn't that enough?"
"I don't see it like that," he disagreed.
"Okay, how do you see it?"
"I love you and I thought that you loved me," he said harshly.
"I do love you," she said, put a hand to his cheek.
"Then marry me," he said, his eyes fiercely fixed on hers.
She couldn't believe that they were having this conversation. She had promised Sandra that she wouldn't ruin his life any more than she already had only a few days before and now he was asking her to go back on her word. She wanted nothing more than to marry him but she didn't want him to be a teenage statistic.
"Your silence speaks volumes," he said nudging her gently so that she sat up.
He stood from the couch and all she could do was watch him as he walked out the front door, silently shutting it behind him so that he didn't wake up his mom. The tears from earlier finally started to fall. They fell onto her shirt as she tried to control her breathing. Now was not the time to have a panic attack.
It was Valentine's Day and Hannah was alone. She had gone to the Black's with the assumption that she and the girls would do what they did every Valentine's Day. They had gone to the movies with Leah Clearwater without even inviting her. The apologectic look on Billy's face was enough for her to feel sorry herself. She had four hours to kill before her dad came to get her so Billy offered to let her stay with him and Jacob but she declined. She was twelve and she didn't need a babysitter.
She was almost to First Beach when Embry caught up with her. They walked in silence, content to just walk side by side. They sat on a piece of driftwood looking out over the ocean, she hoped that they would see a whale because she had seen one when she came down with Sarah and Rachel a few days ago.
"Why aren't you with the girls and Leah?"
"I wasn't invited," she said bitterly.
"That sucks," he said with a sigh.
"You got that right. Neither of them even like her," she said with a huff.
"Try living next to her. You should see her and Sam Uley making out in his car. It's disgusting," he said with a shudder.
"Wait five years and you'll feel different," she said with a light laugh.
"Hey, I'm seven, not five okay? I've kissed a girl before; but it looks like he's trying to do oral surgery on her with his tongue."
"Thanks for that mental image," she said with a look of digust.
"Why didn't you stay with Billy and Jacob?"
"Billy feels sorry for me, he's more than likely going to lecture the twins when Sarah brings them home."
"So, do you have a Valentine?"
"No," she said with a shy laugh.
"Me neither."
Hannah felt around in her pocket until she found the box of conversation hearts that her little brother, Ryan had given her that morning at breakfast. She opened them and shook a few into her hand. She held them out to Embry and he took one with a thankful smile. At least he didn't feel sorry for her.
Hannah found Embry at Jacob's. They were in the garage and she nearly slipped on a huge patch of black ice on the gravel path leading to the garage. Jacob dropped the wrench he was holding and made it to her before she reached the ground. She looked up at him with scared eyes.
"I'll walk you to him and then leave the two of you alone," he said quietly.
"Why didn't he catch me?"
"Because he's under the car and I was closer."
True to his word Jacob left once he had safely walked Hannah to the garage. By then Embry had crawled from underneath the car and was wiping his hands on a rag. She took the rag from him and wiped a greasy streak from his cheek. He leaned against the car with his arms folded over his middle.
"Can I blame my hormonal breakdown on our unborn son?" she asked sheepishly.
"You can, but we both know that it isn't true," he said, his voice a deep rumble.
"Why would you want to ruin your life any more than you already have?"
"How have I ruined my life?"
"You won't even be a high school graduate when he's born," she said quietly.
"That doesn't matter," he said with an angry shake of his head.
"It might not bother you but it bother's our mom's."
"Who gives a fuck what they think Hannah? All that matters is what we think," he said blatantly.
"Do you really mean that?"
"If I didn't do you think that I would have asked your dad for permission to marry you? Or bought you a ring?"
"You bought me a ring?" she asked sentimentally.
"Yeah, I did; but right now I don't think you deserve it," he said avoiding her gaze.
"Baby, I'm sorry," she apologized.
She stepped closer to him, uncertain what he might do. After a few seconds he finally unfolded his arms and pulled her to him.
"So where is it?"
"Where's what?" he asked playing dumb.
"My ring."
He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a thin gold band with a small aquamarine gemstone because it was her favorite gemstone. He slipped it on her finger then linked their hands.
"We'll never forget the day you proposed to me," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, you turned it into a fight and I ended up storming off," he said with a roll of his eyes.
"You'll always fight for me, right?"
"Always," he promised.
She didn't know what the future held in store for them but she didn't care. They would face every obsticle and hardship together. That was more than she could ever ask for.
AN: Okay, this is by far my favorite chapter of this story so far. It was so easy to write and even I found myself grinning like an idiot at the end when I proofread it. Let me know what you all think. Please?