Chances

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thank you for the awesome reviews. Nikki :)

Part Eleven-Bella Finally Breaks

Charlie ran down the steps and stood between the two angry males. It felt like deja vu, this wasn't the first time he had come between Edward and Jacob to stop them fighting. Right now he would love to see Jake pound Edward into the ground, but they were all in full view of the neighbors. He saw Edward scowl out of the corner of his eye and guessed he must have read his mind.

"Let's take this round the back, shall we?" Charlie ordered them.

Edward nodded stiffly, and after giving Bella an irritated glance, he led the way round to the back of the house where they couldn't be seen. Bella joined her dad; Charlie gave her a comforting hug before they both followed the others silently.

"Let's get this over with." Edward said, dropping all his fake politeness now that he didn't have to keep up the pretense for Charlie anymore. "Bella and I have a plane to catch."

"My daughter is going nowhere with you." Charlie snapped.

Jacob, Embry and Quil surrounded Charlie and Bella in a V-formation protectively. Edward snorted in disgust. "Really? We are back to this? You dogs are as predictable as ever."

Jacob opened his mouth to retaliate but Bella got there first. She pushed past Embry, who was standing in front of her, and marched over to her husband. Edward looked at her curiously, having no idea what she was about to do, he couldn't read her mind. "Bella?"

Bella didn't answer him. Instead she lifted her hand and slapped him hard around the face. Edward's head snapped back with the force of the blow. "I have been wanting to do that for so long." She yelled at him. She slapped him again, her hand was stinging from the blow. She may possess a vampire's strength but her skin wasn't as tough. Her palm burned where it had come into contact with his skin.

"Bella?" Edward said brokenly as he held up his hands defensively. "Please love, stop."

"No you stop." She raged. Bella lashed out at him again, hitting him anywhere she could land a punch. She kicked out with her foot and cried out when it connected with his skin. Her hands and knuckles were beginning to bleed. Edward's body was like stone and Bella knew she wasn't really hurting him in the literal sense, she was only hurting herself. But she had been holding her grief and anger at what he had done deep inside and she released it now, the only way she could.

"Bella please." Edward pleaded. "You are injuring yourself. You are not strong enough for this. I understand your anger, but this is no way to express it."

"I hate you." Bella screamed as she kicked him again. "You killed my baby. You are a murderer."

Charlie and Jacob rushed forward to stop Bella. She was becoming hysterical and was injuring herself the more she hit out at Edward. She was too strong for Charlie to catch hold of, but Jacob grabbed her round the waist and hauled her against his warm chest. "Enough Bells." He said as calmly as he could.

Bella began to cry. "I hate him. I hate him." She sagged against Jacob and let him hold her tight as she gave into her grief.

Edward stood a little way from them, completely dumbfounded as he witnessed his wife's despair. He had never seen Bella lose control like that. It had shocked him to his core. He understood she was angry at what he and Carlisle had to do, but he had assumed she had come to terms with the knowledge that they had acted in her best interests. Embry and Quil felt uncomfortable watching Bella's breakdown, they felt like they were witnessing something private. They turned away to give Bella and Jake the illusion of privacy.

Charlie glared at Edward as he approached him. "I know exactly what you did. My daughter is right, you are a murderer. Do you have no conscious at all?"

"Do you think it's something I wanted to do?" Edward demanded as he looked past Charlie toward Bella, who was still engulfed in Jacob's arms. "You have no idea how Carlisle and I struggled with the moral implications of what we did. But in the end it came down to the simple fact that I couldn't let Bella risk her life. I love her more than any of you can comprehend and I would do anything to protect her. If she had continued with the pregnancy she would have died."

Bella twisted round in Jacob's arms and stared at her husband. It was the first time she had heard him give a full explanation for what he had done. After the procedure had been performed he had refused to discuss it, expecting their life to continue on as before. "You just don't get it do you Edward? What you did wasn't love, you violated me. You violated my body and took away my choice. You had no right to do that, none."

"You would have died." Edward said sadly as he locked eyes with her.

"You don't know that." Bella snapped.

"Alice saw it." Edward confessed. "She saw you die as that thing you were carrying tore you apart from the inside out. It wasn't a baby, Bella. It was a monster you were carrying."

Jacob gripped Bella tightly as she struggled to break free. "You sicken me."

"You are angry at me now, that is the human side of you." Edward said brokenly. "But in time you will come to understand and forgive me."

"Forgive you." Bella spat. "I will hate you for eternity."

Her words seemed to pierce Edward right to his dead heart. He actually staggered back as if she had slapped him again. "You don't mean that."

"I do." Bella replied bitterly. "I hate you and if I could turn back time I would never have married you. Everyone is right to call your kind leeches, because that's what you do. You suck the life out of people until they rot and die. That's what you did to my baby."

There was a heavy silence in the air, no one said a word as Bella pulled away from Jacob and tore her wedding and engagement rings from her fingers. "I want nothing to do with you. Go to hell." She threw them at his feet and marched into the house, slamming the back door behind her.

Charlie and Jacob exchanged an uneasy glance. Edward was kneeling on the ground, the rings laying in the palm of his hand. He was making a keening sound as if he was trying to cry.

"Go inside, Charlie." Jacob said quietly. "See to Bella."

Charlie looked at Edward for a second before he did as Jacob asked him. "Quil, Embry, leave us for a while. I need to speak to Edward alone." He ordered them.

Quil and Embry looked at him with concern, but they couldn't disobey a direct Alpha command. They reluctantly ran over to the forest and disappeared into the shelter of the trees. Jacob waited a moment to make sure they were out of earshot before he began to speak.

"I wanted to rip you to shreds after I learned what you did to Bella. But I think she has managed to do that quite well on her own. You deserved everything she said to you and more for what you did to her." Jacob stated coldly.

Edward looked up at him, his features contorted with grief. "You think that you are better then me but the truth is you are no different. I know what you want Black. You think that Bella will fall into your arms and you will live happily ever after. If our roles had been reversed and Bella was carrying your child you would have done the same as me to keep her safe and well."

"Never compare yourself to me." Jacob thundered. "We are nothing alike. You have been selfish from the start. You knew what would happen by pursuing a relationship with her, but you went ahead anyway. If you had truly loved Bella you would have left as soon as you felt the attraction."

Edward rose to his feet and slipped the rings into the pocket of his expensive jacket. "I can read your mind dog. You think that because Bella can get pregnant that she will be able to bear your child, but you have no idea of the risk that will put on her life. I know about her saving your father, each time that Bella performs a healing a little bit of her dies each time. If she carries on she will not live long. I and my family were protecting her, sometimes from herself. She can be stubborn and does not always know what is best for her."

"Do you even hear what you're saying? You can't keep Bella under lock and key. She is capable of making her own decisions and looking after herself." Jacob growled.

"You are ignorant." Edward snapped. "As always. If she stays here then she will die. You cannot keep her from harm like I can."

A roar ripped from Jacob's chest as his eyes began to dilate. "Get out of here, bloodsucker and never return. The treaty is null and void, if you return here I will kill you."

Edward's own features contorted into a snarl. "She will return to me, dog. Bella is a vampire no matter how much she tries to hide beneath her humanity. She will forever be drawn back to her own kind." He saw that Jacob's whole body was beginning to shake and he quickly fled the scene before Quil and Embry came back to assist their Alpha.

Jacob was just about to follow him when the back door opened and Charlie emerged. "Jake, come inside. He is gone now."

Jacob stood with his back to Charlie as he took deep breaths to calm himself down. He didn't want Bella's father to see him in this state. Once he was back under control he followed Charlie back into the house.


Bella was lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling when she heard a soft knock on the door. "Come in Jake." She said wearily.

Jacob edged into the room. He had a first aid kit in his hands. "Are you okay?"

"Have you come to patch me up?" She asked wryly.

"Yeah." Jacob smiled at her tentatively and came into the room fully, shutting the door behind him. "Your dad is worried about you."

"I know. I just needed to calm down." Bella sat up on the bed, her long hair flowing around her shoulders. "I'm sorry for what I did out there. You must think I'm insane."

Jacob knelt in front of her and took one of her hands. He opened up a pack of wet wipes and began to dab at the blood on her knuckles. "No, I think you are just a girl who needed to vent and let out what she has been holding inside for so long."

Bella watched him silently as he cleaned up her wounds and bandaged them up gently. Once he was finished he sat beside her on the bed and put an arm around her. "I know things seem unsettled right now, honey, but you did the right thing. You are surrounded by people who love you here. This is your home. Not with them."

Bella hid her head in his shoulder and took comfort from his solid presence. "You always manage to say the right thing." She whispered.

He smiled as he pressed a kiss into her hair. "I'm always right."

"Arrogant much?" Bella raised her head and touched his cheek with her fingers.

Jacob entwined his fingers with hers. The warmth from his touch felt soothing and Bella began to relax. "Stay with me." He whispered to her in Quileute.

Bella glanced up at his beloved face and smiled softly. She had made a point of studying his language in their years apart. It was her small way of staying connected to him. "Yes." She replied in his native tongue.

Jacob's face broke out into a sunny grin as he wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close to his heart.

A/N-thank you for reading! I couldn't find the correct translation for what Jake and Bella said in his native tongue so I leave that to your imagination!