You can fake it for a while

Bite your tongue and smile like every mother does her ugly child

But it starts to leaking out

Like spittle from a cloud amassed resentment pelting ounce and pound

"Turn on Me"

-The Shins

Chapter 25:

Jacob and his big stupid mouth

The sound of happy birds chirping outside my window was the thing that woke me up. But I wasn't irritated. I felt wonderful. My bed was so comfortable. I didn't want to get up at first. But then I remembered Seth. I'm sure he was completely healed by now.

I grabbed a quick bite to eat before I ran out the door to see if Seth was okay. When I phased, I was startled to feel that Jacob was running as a wolf. Seth was with him.

I was beginning to think you'd forgotten you had four legs. I laughed at Jacob. This was the first time since Renesmee had been born…spawned...I guess would be the correct term, that Jacob had embraced his inner wolf, not counting the time he'd taken two seconds to phase and show Seth and I his oh, so lovely imprinted lover.

I could tell immediately that there was something serious going on. Through Jacob's uneasiness from being away from Nessie, I could hear that he had some dumbass plan running through his mind.

I'm telling you, man, I don't think this is a good idea, Seth whimpered.

I could see they were running towards Forks. Odd. What was in Forks? If anything, I would have expected him to be patrolling the Cullen's land or heading back to La Push. But Forks?

It suddenly dawned on me what Jacob was doing. There was only one person that Jacob knew in that town. He didn't have to say anything. His thoughts said it all. There had been some discussion about the Cullens leaving town now that Bella had gotten everything she ever wanted. Stupid spoiled brat.

It was very painful for Jake to think about losing Nessie. So he was going to give Bella a reason to stay. He was going to see Charlie.

You're going to tell Charlie? I was finally able to pick through his thoughts. You know you can't do that! What about the rules about humans not being able to know about them? Even though I couldn't really stand the leeches, I understood and respected their rules about humans not knowing of their existence. It made perfect sense to me. If people knew about vampires, eventually they would know about werewolves as well. We didn't want that.

I'm not going to 'tell' Charlie anything. I'm going to show him… Jacob shrugged. I could see now that Jacob was planning on phasing in front of Charlie. But why? What did werewolves have to do with his daughter becoming a vampire? This was just Jacob being desperately dumb. I increased my speed and headed towards Charlie's house. With any luck, I could beat Jacob there and get him out of the house. Maybe I could tell him that my mom was waiting naked in her bed for him. That would get him out of the house in record time.

I felt Seth cringe at the thought.

Gross, Leah.

Well, I had to think of something.

You'll do no such thing, Jacob growled softly at me. My mind is made up.

Aren't you worried about scaring him? Seth questioned.

Charlie's stronger than he looks. He can handle it.

And what if he can't? What if he drops dead of a heart attack in his front yard? If you think Bella's pissed at you now, imagine how she'll feel after you've killed her father. This was a stupid idea, and Jacob was obviously not thinking clearly. I mean honestly, Jacob, what brought this on?

I've waited a long time for Nessie. I won't lose her. I felt a twinge of pain and sadness from him when he even thought about Nessie disappearing from his life.

I sighed. I knew that Jacob would stop at nothing to keep the little demon baby in his life. I couldn't convince him otherwise. So, I gritted my teeth and accepted his stupid plan.

I got to Charlie's place before Jacob and Seth. Jacob warned me to stay hidden. And I did what I was told. Jacob appeared as human, dressed and ready to change Charlie's life forever.

He had a certain cockiness to his walk as he strutted up to the front door. I noticed that my mom's car wasn't around. Guess she hadn't stayed the night at Charlie's after all. I hope I hadn't disturbed her this morning banging around in the kitchen looking for something to eat.

Seth glanced at me as I thought of mom.

She really likes him. He looked at the Swan's house.

She does.

If Jacob gives Charlie a heart attack, I'm going to kill him for doing that to mom again. Seth frowned. I could see that he thought this wasn't very smart either. And Seth was right. Killing Charlie with a heart attack, the very thing that had killed my father, would be heartbreaking for my mom.

Jacob knocked on the door.

"Jacob!" Charlie was stunned to see him standing there, especially with a smile on his face.

"Charlie, you got a few minutes? I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure, come on in."

"Actually, I was kind of hoping we could talk outside. It's a nice day to go for a walk." Jacob motioned towards the woods.

'Nice day?' Seth questioned. It's getting ready to rain… He pointed out.

Charlie gave Jacob the confused look that was on my brother's face as well.

"Looks like rain," he said with a frown.

"Yeah, but it isn't raining yet," Jacob said. "Trust me, this will be better if we were outside."

"What would be better?" Charlie questioned. I saw confusion flash across his face. "Is this about Bella?" He started to panic. "Did something happen to her? Is she…"

"She's fine, Charlie. But this is really important. And Bella's involved." He begged him to follow. Charlie looked confused, but followed Jacob anyway.

Oh, good idea, Jacob. Take him into the woods so that if he gets freaked out and runs off, he gets lost just like his idiot daughter. I rolled my eyes.

He's a cop. Seth had more faith in him than I did.

A cop that's about to find out werewolves exist. That can impair your sense of direction quite a bit. When you're running away screaming, following the marked path back home is not the first thing you're going to think about doing.

My eyes followed Jacob and Charlie as they went off on a trail. Seth and I lingered behind, careful not to reveal ourselves.

"Charlie, there are things unseen in this world…" Jacob shed his shirt. I saw Charlie's expression change as he watched him strip. He had no clue what Jacob was up to.

"Uh, er…Jake, if you need some help…someone to talk to, a psychiatrist or something, I can get you a referral." He noticed that Jacob was going to take off his pants. "Son, you do know that there are laws against public nudity?"

"This is going to sound weird, but this is about Bella," Jacob tried to explain.

There was a pause as Charlie analyzed what Jacob was doing. He furrowed his brow and frowned.

"Now, this is going to be alarming…" Jacob put his hand on Charlie's shoulder. "...but I need you not to freak out, okay?"

"Jacob, are you drunk?" Charlie looked accusingly at Jacob. I snickered a laugh. The last time I had seen Jacob drunk, he had gotten into a predicament with a riding lawn mower and a lake.

"I'm not. In fact I'm quite sober. And I spent the evening with Bella," he explained. I saw Charlie's expression change. Hope washed across his face. "She really is fine, Charlie."

"Is she better?" Charlie demanded to know.

"In many ways."

Hmm, I think she's worse in many ways. But that was just one biased wolf's opinion...

"I have to go see her." I could see Charlie turn back towards his house.

"Wait…" Jacob reached out his hands and softly stopped Charlie from leaving. "Just let me show you something first." And with that, he tossed his pants off.

Charlie's face went beet red. He looked down at the ground, trying to avoid looking anywhere else. But Jacob quickly started to tremble, and that gained Charlie's attention. He watched as Jacob exploded into his beautiful brown coat.

Charlie gasped and flew a few steps backwards. His mouth was wide in shock as he pointed and shook his index finger at Jacob in disbelief. I could hear the wheezing building up in his chest.

Jake, this is stupid. I couldn't believe his idea to phase in front of Charlie. I felt bad for poor Charlie. I wish I could go out there and comfort him. Of course, if I did that, it might freak him out more. So for now, Seth and I stayed hidden in the bushes, trying not to overload Charlie on information.

Just give him a minute to absorb it all, Jacob said confidently.

Charlie's face blanched.

Jacob…you're going to kill him. He looks like he's gonna faint! Charlie didn't seem to be reacting very well.

He'll be fine…

"Huh…" Charlie said aloud, "...strange. I don't recall taking any mind altering drugs…" Now he thought he was hallucinating. Charlie looked around the woods. "Ha…" A laugh escaped his mouth. "Oh, I get it!" He broke into hysterical laughter. He slapped his knee in amusement.

Oh, great, Jake, you broke Bella's dad! Seth complained.

"Is this some kind of joke?" He faced Jacob.

Jacob shook his head and Charlie jumped from the movement.

Come on. I'm the same Jacob you've always known… Jacob eased towards him. Charlie was frozen in shock.

"No! Bad Jacob!" Charlie blurted out in fear.

I snorted out hysterical laughter.

You better be careful. He's gonna get the rolled up newspaper and chase after you.

Naw, he just needs to see that I'm not going to hurt him. Jacob laid down in front of Charlie. It took me a minute to figure out what he was doing. He rolled to his side and his tail thudded happily against the ground. Then…he rolled over and showed his belly to Charlie. He was being submissive? Well, actually…that wasn't a terrible plan. Most people are suckers for big, sweet, dumb dogs.

After debating for a moment, Charlie leaned down and started scratching Jacob's stomach. This was hilarious. Where was a video camera when you needed one? I could post this on Youtube and be famous for it. I watched as Jacob's back leg started to kick in satisfaction.

Oh, now you're just being dramatic. I rolled my eyes.

Jacob stood back up and Charlie froze again. After a moment, Jacob phased back. He wasted no time in getting dressed. All the while, Charlie was absorbing all of this new information.

"You okay?" Jacob questioned.

"I don't get it." He finally spoke. "Especially how I could have not known about this. I have never seen anything like it in all my years on the force." Charlie shook his head.

"You don't live in the world that you thought you lived in. But it's not all bad. And now that you know, nothing has really changed...except that you're in on the secret. And nothing has to change just because you know. You can continue living like you've been living."

"Off of frozen TV dinners and peanut butter…" I heard Charlie mumble very softly. He faced Jake again seriously. "How exactly does Bella come into all of this? I thought she was sick?"

"Not anymore," Jacob explained. "She's better than she's ever been. The only thing that's different about her now is the fact that she's going to look a lot different to you. She's…" He tried to figure out how to describe her.

A pasty bimbo? A pale albino freak? An ashy dimwit? I offered Jake a few suggestions.

"She looks a lot more like Esme now."

Well, I wouldn't have compared Bella to the sleek and pretty Esme. I watched Charlie's face to see if anything registered.

He assumed wrong. "So…Bella's a wolf, too?"

"What? No." Jake shook his head.

"Well, what does she morph into then? A big cat?"

HAHAHA! I barked out laughter. Well, she was a giant pussy in one way or another…

"No. She's not an animal, Charlie."

So vampires weren't animals now?

"So…not a wolf then?" Charlie questioned.

"She wishes she were that cool." Jacob smirked.

"What exactly are you, Jacob?"

"You remember those old legends my dad tells all the time?" he questioned.

"How can I forget them? It's all he ever talks about," Charlie mumbled. "I almost dumped him out of the boat on our last fishing trip because that was all he rambled about. I caught a giant Trout that day, and all I could think about doing was holding your dad's head under the water until he stopped talking about all that tribal nonsense."

"Yeah, it can get kind of annoying at times. But my old man has a point." He looked to where Seth and I were hiding and waved us out. "Seth. Leah."

Seth and I glanced at each other and then slowly came out of hiding. Charlie's jaw dropped again.

"Sue's kids, too?" he exclaimed.

"The legends are all true. I didn't believe them myself until I became a werewolf…"

Charlie cut him off, "Okay, that's enough. I don't want to know the details. Just tell me one thing...did Bella know what she was getting into when she got involved with the Cullens?"

"Of course." Jacob nodded. He was right. She knew exactly what she was getting into, which made me dislike her even more.

"Oh, that's just great," Charlie grumbled. "Here I am, busting my ass to protect my community, and my daughter is running around with monsters in her spare time right under my nose." He shook his head. "I'm such an idiot. 'No, Renee, send her here to live with me. It's a safe little town. What trouble could she possibly get into?' Why couldn't she be smoking dope and getting drunk like a regular teenager? Well, this is just wonderful. Her mother is going to kill me. And I should kill her for keeping this from me."

"She only kept things from you to protect you." Jacob tried to defend her.

"Son, I'm trained in special arms. I have thirty-five different guns laying around my house. I don't need protecting," Charlie snapped. I laughed. I had never seen Charlie pissed off. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down. "Alright, here's the deal…I want to see my daughter."

"That's why I came out here today," Jacob said. "Just give me a fifteen minute head start so I can tell her what's going on."

"Hold on, there is a catch…" Charlie frowned. "I'm old. And I don't like change. I'm completely content living in the dark. And as much as I appreciate your honesty, I don't particularly want to know anything else. So, let's make these weird things a 'need to know' basis."

Dang, this worked out better than Bella could have ever hoped for! Seth exclaimed happily.

Of course it did. Everything worked out for her. Bella and her stupid perfect little life.

"I think we can arrange that." Jacob nodded. "My lips are sealed." Then he gasped, as if he suddenly remembered something. "Except…there is one thing you need to know about. Bella and Edward have a…"

Don't say 'daughter', Jacob. God help me, don't say 'daughter.' Bella will kill you for sure this time.

"They're sort of watching after a baby. She's an orphan." Thank God he had decided to lie. If Charlie knew that Bella had given birth just a month after conceiving, it would blow his brain completely out of whack. We certainly wouldn't want poor Charlie to think of his daughter as an unnatural, freaky little slut.

Charlie looked shocked, but he answered softly, "Are they going to adopt her? Am I going to be…a Grandfather?"

"I guess you could say that." He chuckled. "Hey, congrats, Gramps."

"Watch it, Jacob. You may be a monster, but I can still put your butt on the ground." Charlie threatened. But then, his face looked serene. He smiled. Was he…happy about this?

Charlie continued with the smile on his face, "What's she like? Is she a smart baby?"

"She's incredible." I saw Jacob's face light up. "She's really special, Charlie. You're going to love her. But…you're going to have to keep an open mind and ignore the strange things around you. It's probably best to not ask questions. If you can get past the weirdness, you'll do just fine." Jake's face suddenly became a mask of sadness. "But if you can't deal with it, Bella is going to leave…and I know you don't want that."

I do, I grumbled. That would be awesome.

"No, I don't," Charlie said softly. "I'll deal with whatever has changed. And as long as no one pushes any more information on me, I should be fine."

I saw Jacob smile. "Great. So, if you want to give me that fifteen minute head start, you can head out to the Cullen's place."

"So you will be there?" Charlie sounded relieved, not upset.

"Of course." Jacob nodded.

And I got the distinct impression that Charlie was more afraid than he was letting on. Having Jacob there would make him feel a little more at ease, knowing that he was the only one of the entire group who had been honest with him.

The two of them walked back to the house in silence. Seth and I lingered behind them. I wanted to make sure Charlie didn't feel like we were crowding him. He seemed fine.

"See ya in a few!" Jacob waved as he ran towards the woods.

I watched as Charlie slunk back into the house. Jacob phased back, and Seth and I followed him out towards the Cullen's place. As we were on our way to the mansion, there was only one thing that I was wondering.

How would Bella react? Were we sentencing Charlie to death?