Disclaimer: I do not own any character's you recognize, those props go to SM; the ones you don't are mine.

Epilogue

I had been waiting for this day for a solid month, finals were insane and I was looking forward to a stress-free break wrapped up in Jacob's arms. He visited every chance he got, but he was trying so hard to save money for the apartment we said we would get together, that he never had any time. After we told Charlie about everything he seemed okay with the pack and the Cullens living in town, but when I mentioned the proposal…well he stopped talking to me for a while. Renee was on my side and very happy for us, and he came around a little too, but it wasn't the same after I told him. That's where the apartment idea came in, not that living with Charlie and Renee was unbearable, just uncomfortable, and I wanted to be with Jacob. He was working at the garage today and that was my first stop on my long list of people I had to see today.

The bus ride was long and painfully boring, all I could think about was how I missed my truck, missed driving myself places. All year I had to walk everywhere and catch rides because the school decided that freshman can't have their cars on campus. It was almost over though, and soon Edward would be waiting for me at the bus stop to take me away from this smelly old cat woman who wouldn't shut up about her son, who apparently was not only available but I was exactly his type.

The bus finally came to a halt and I rushed get out, but as I stepped off and smelled the clean forest air that I had been missing, I noticed that Edward wasn't there. I looked up at the sky and there was the normal Forks overcast so there was no problem with him being spotted, but as I scanned the parking lot once more, there was still no Edward. This wasn't like him, he was always on time, I mean he could move faster than the speed of light.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, "Bella?" Someone asked and I turned around to see a very familiar face.

"Torrance!" I screamed and threw myself at her, hugging her very tightly.

"Hey you, how was school?" She asked hugging me back.

"Boring, just books and papers," I said letting her go finally.

"Yeah I know life can be kind of tame when there are no royal vampire's to deal with, and no rogue werewolves in love with you and wanting to kill you." Torrance said with a laugh. She looked great, everything healed up perfectly and her spirits were high, she was wearing a very large puffy coat, which I found odd, Forks was cold and damp but it was still summer time.

She ushered me to her old Pontiac that looked like it was on its last leg and hurried to get into the driver's side. As she started the car and we went on our way I couldn't help but ask, "So why are you picking me up, where's Edward?" I said it under my breath; I didn't want her to think I wasn't excited to see her.

"Oh he's around," She said making sure she wasn't making eye contact, "He just knew how much I was missing you so he let me do it."

This was odd, I knew when I left for school that Torrance was hanging out around Forks a lot to be around Jacob. He decided he would still be the alpha to the Hoh pack, but he didn't want to move. So Torrance became his correspondent for what was happening on the Hoh rez and Jacob got to stay in Forks with his family. "You two getting along I take it," I said pressing for more information, something was fishy.

"Oh yeah, he's great," She said very enigmatic, but then stopped her enthusiasm when she saw my expression change, "I mean he's got a good heart, and he means well."

"Yeah, he does," I said still confused; the rest of the car ride was silent and uncomfortable, I didn't know if she was talking about Jacob or Edward.

As we pulled up to the garage I couldn't help but undo my seat belt and put my hand on the door handle. Before the car could even come to a full stop I opened the door and hoped out, a bad move because my clumsiness kicked in and I tripped on my own foot as I tried to keep up with the pace of the ground moving under my feet. I heard a couple of chuckles as I stood back up and looked around at the audience that now gathered around the garage. I shook off my shame and continued to run towards the open door. I pushed through the crowd that was still laughing and there he was, trying to wipe the oil and grit from his hands, he looked up at me and smiled, but it wasn't the excited smile that I was expecting. It was a hardened smile, one that showed he was happy to see me, but not the smile that showed someone who had been missing someone the way I had.

As I ran up to him and threw my arms around his neck, he kissed my neck and held my waist when it hit me; I knew that smile. I pulled away from him, "Jacob, what's wrong."

"Wrong? Nothing is wrong, you're back and I'm excited." He said and I knew for sure what that smile meant, it was an Edward smile; one that he used when he was keeping something from me.

"No, excited is running up to see me, or picking me up yourself for that matter. Excited is not waiting for me to get to you the giving me that half-assed smile," I looked up into his eyes, they seemed shocked and a little angry. "I know your happy to see me, but don't tell me nothing is wrong Jacob, I know you better than that."

He kissed my forehead, "Bella the only day I was more happy to see your smiling face was the day you said you would marry me. I have a lot on my plate right now is all, I wanted to meet you at the bus stop, I just…" He looked around and I felt bad for him, I felt selfish and guilty. I put my hand over his mouth and kissed the back of my hand.

"You worry too much and you work too hard Jacob, the apartment will come when it's the right time. I'm sorry that I haven't been that much help in that matter and I'm sorry that you feel like all of this rests on your shoulders, but it doesn't."

He took my hand from his mouth, "I love you Bella Swan."

I smiled at him, "Soon to be Bella Black."

He finished cleaning up and we all got back into Torrance's car to go see Edward. I was very excited to see him again because he was the person I had seen the least of since I left for school. He decided to stay home for the next year instead of pretending to go to college again. He said he wanted to help out Jacob and the wolf packs in case Aro changed his mind or something like that. We finished off senior year as best friends and everything was going excellent, but as soon as I went away for school I felt the riff between us grow. Jacob, Alice, Renee, even Torrance came to visit me, but Edward always had an excuse, he would call me and we would talk for hours, but he never came and saw me.

We found him at an old book shop at the end of town; Torrance told me that after about four months of doing nothing he took over the shop when its previous owner wanted to sell it to someone who wanted to make it into a McDonalds. It was spooky how much the building itself matched Edward. The outside was lined with large smooth white bricks and the sign that read "Vintage Books" was written in black cursive letters that reminded me of every note I received from Edward. Its two glass doors had iron vines and flowers on the outside covering the view of the inside.

As I walked in the bell above the door rang and I couldn't help but get antsy to see him. "One second," I heard him say from the back.

"I don't have all night," I said with a laugh and I heard a book drop from where the voice originally came from.

He appeared from behind a bookshelf and his smile melted my heart. He walked over to me and threw his arms around me, "Hello stranger," He said.

"You're the stranger, I've seen everyone here ten times more than I have seen you." I said poking him in the chest.

"I know I know, I'm so sorry about not coming up in February…"

"Or March or April."

"I've been busy, as you can tell." He said looking around the shop.

"I see, what is all this?"

"I just saw it one day when I was driving around and I saw there was a going out of business sign on the door. Something got to me, I walked in here and I fell in love."

"Ok…" I said confused.

"Look, enough about me how was school?" He said trying to change the topic.

"It was good; I made dean's list this semester." I said as he ushered me, Jacob, and Torrance to the check out counter.

"Here this is for you, I figured you already wore out your copy and this is a first edition," He said and handed me a hard back leather copy of Romeo and Juliet.

"Oh my god," I said as I flipped through the old pages that gave off that unique smell that old books have, "It's beautiful."

"It's an 'I'm sorry' gift, I was going to give it to you before you decided to yell at me, but I guess you beat me to the punch," He said with a smile.

"I'm sorry Edward," I said back.

Later that night the Cullen's decided that, even though I protested with all of my might, I needed a welcome home party. Everyone was there and everyone was having a good time. I danced awkwardly with Emmett and chased Sam around the house for an hour trying to get back my new Romeo and Juliet book; he thought it was too sappy for a wife of an alpha, him and Jacob ended up wrestling in the front lawn. As I watched from the porch I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Bella, can I talk to you for a minute," Edward said, I nodded and he pulled me upstairs to his room where Torrance was already sitting and waiting.

I smiled a little uncomfortably and confused, "What's going on?"

"We have something we want to ask you, well something we want to tell you then ask you," Torrance fumbled and looked over at Edward, "I told you that you should say it, I'm not good with things like this."

"Things like what," I said looking from Edward to Torrance then back to Edward.

Edward took my hand in his and looked at me dead in the eyes, "Bella, the reason I haven't gotten to visit you while you were at college was because Torrance and I have been involved with each other for awhile."

"Involved?" I asked.

"We've been dating since a month after you left," He said and looked down at the floor.

"Okay, so why didn't you tell me, and why are you treating this like you killed someone, this is excellent news. Torrance came out to visit me before Christmas break, why does you two dating have to stop you from seeing me?" the more we talked the more confused I was becoming.

"That was before we knew." Torrance said, "before we…" She paused.

"Okay, someone needs to spit it out," I said.

"I'm pregnant Bella," Torrance said trying to hold back her smile.

"You're…I can't believe…are you serious…" Torrance just kept nodding her head beaming, and when I looked over at Edward he was smiling that crooked smile I loved so much and a single tear was falling down from his face. "I'm so happy for you two," I squeeled and ran over to Torrance hugging her tightly, "When are you due?"

She laughed a little and put her hand on her stomach, "I don't know, this little one is growing faster than anything Carlisle has ever seen, could be a week, a month."

I was so flabbergasted, so completely in awe, that I didn't even notice Jacob walk in, "So they told you," he said as I turned around.

"You knew?" I asked.

"Yep, day after she found out." He said proud of himself and the fact that he was the first she told besides Edward.

"Why didn't you tell me," I said and punched him in the arm, which ended up hurting me more than him.

"We wanted to tell you, Bella," Edward said.

"And we wanted to ask you if you would be the godmother," Torrance said standing up.

"Of course I will," I took her hand in mine and placed my other hand on top of it; she in turn took her hand with mine and placed it on her belly. It thump thump thumped underneath my touch and I felt every nerve in my body melt away and I was in love.

We talked for a few hours about everything, apparently carrying a vampire's baby is no easy task; Torrance had to drink blood on a regular basis, which she hated, and the little one was kicking like a professional soccer player, causing her intense pain almost every morning. This was the reason Edward said he couldn't come out and visit, since there was no definite due date and all the complications that were involved he didn't want her to go anywhere, and he didn't want to leave her side, all of which was completely understandable.

"As fun as it is talking about your uterus and blood drinking Torrance, do either of you mind if I steal Bella away for the rest of the night?" Jacob said tiring of Torrance's and I's giggling and squeaking.

"Oh sure," Torrance said, and without even a good by Jacob took me by the arm and escorted me not only out of the room, but out of the house. We jumped in his old/new car he got from the shop and started driving somewhere I didn't recognize.

"What's all this?" I asked.

"Edward isn't the only one who has a surprise for you," He said with a devious smile.

"Jacob…" I said, but he didn't even look over at me, he just kept looking at the road and smiling bigger than I had ever seen.

The car came to a halt in the middle of the road, "Close your eyes," He said and I obeyed reluctantly. I felt the car continue on for another second or two then once again stop. Jacob cut the engine and I heard his door open then close, then my door open. I felt a hand reach out for mine as he helped me out of the car, then that same hand press up against my eyes to make sure I wasn't cheating. He walked me through some doors and up two flights of stairs, "Keep 'em closed" He said as his hand left my face and I heard a key unlock another door. He ushered me inside yet another door and closed it behind us, "Okay, Open."

I opened my eyes to a room filled with candles and a mattress sprinkled with rose pedals. The candle light let me see the room, its wallpaper was falling off around the corners and the hardwood floor was covered in dirt and tiny little holes, "Jacob…" was all I could get out, I knew what this place was, I knew what it meant for him and us.

"I know it's kind of rough right now, when you said you were coming home early I tried to patch things up as much as I could," I looked around and noticed spackling on the walls over what I assumed were pretty large holes, "but this is it, this is our apartment Bella, our first step toward starting our life together." I stood there speechless, he had done all of this for me, worked long days, saved for months, for this, something that was just ours, "Well what do you think?"

"I love it," I said and turned to him.

He turned to me and put both of his strong hands on either side of my face, softly moving his thumb up and down, caressing my cheek. His head slowly made it to mine and as he pressed his lips to my eagerly awaiting lips, I found my arms moving to his waist. He pulled me closer to his muscular body and his mouth found my neck and began kissing it, not missing the ear and jawline. Slowly, almost in slow motion his hands took off my shirt and bra and he stopped to watch as my breasts rose and fell quickly as I yearned for more.

Clothes came off in a whirl of laughter and giggles after my horrible attempt to get his pants off before his shoes. After red faces of embarrassment and shame he was on top of me and I couldn't help but stare at him. I had a lot of time before I had to go back to school, most to all of which would be spent side by side with him, but I just had this feeling that I would forget what he looked like, like this. His eyes, the gateway to a soul far older than his years, his mouth, and the way it felt when it melted into mine perfectly, and his strong shoulders, that I knew would always carry the brunt of whatever problems we faced. Love wasn't a good enough word for how I felt about Jacob Black, it was too simple, to overused. I needed a word beyond love that meant more than something high school kids say to one another, because I more than loved him. Everything we had been through together, everything that I made him go through alone, everything I went through alone built us into this…thing…that is stronger than any love in all the world. He is my defender, my knight in shinning armor, my life, and soon my husband. As we made love for the first time in our new home, rolling around in rose pedals and sweat, I realized what heaven was and how lucky I am to be alive and full of life.

This is the end of my tale with Bella and Jacob, I hope all of you liked it. Please please please review and tell me what you think. I have a poll up right now to see if you want a sequel so vote if you have the time. It has been an absolute pleasure writing this story and I am so unbelievably overwhelmed at all of the reviews and hits and favorites I got from this, thank you all so much for keeping up with my first fanfic. I'm really sad to see it end, but well…I guess that depends on all of you. Love you all, and thank you so much.