Babies, Babies, Babies

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thanks so much for the kind reviews and for the feedback on my question, it seems most of you like the posting schedule as it is with the shorter chapters so I'll just carry on as normal, Nikki.

Part Twenty Four

"Hey Bells." Bella woke up with a start when she heard Jacob's voice. She turned her head to see him kneeling next to the bed, a mug of warm coffee in his hand. "I brought you a drink." He smiled at her and leaned in for a gentle kiss.

Bella returned his smile weakly as she hurriedly sat up. She used her hands to try and smooth down her tangled hair. When she glanced down to see if Jet was awake she found the bed beside her empty. Panic seized her heart and squeezed her lungs as she stared at Jacob wildly. "Where is she?"

"You are jumpy this morning." Jacob frowned as he put down the mug carefully before sitting next to Bella on the bed. "Jet got up an hour ago. She's washed and dressed and right now sitting in her highchair eating her breakfast. Marlon has been fed and changed, so just relax. It's all good."

"I'm sorry." Bella said breathlessly as she rubbed her aching chest. Her heart finally began to slow down and air whooshed back into her lungs as the panic attack began to subside. She was still having trouble throwing off the remnants of the nightmare she'd had the previous night.

"Don't be sorry, Bells." Jacob picked up the mug of coffee and passed it to her. "What's got you so jumpy? Did you have a bad dream or something?"

Bella gripped the mug tightly in her shaking hands as she nodded. "Yes."

"Want to talk about it?" Jacob offered as he rubbed soothing circles on her lower back. She was really worrying him. Her eyes were a little wild and her face had turned completely white with fear.

Bella drank some of the coffee, feeling the warm liquid slide easily down her throat eased her nerves a little. She had so much more to confess than just a bad dream. She wished now that she had told Jacob the truth in the first place about Alice and Edward. She had meant to get up early so she could have a private talk with him. Bella couldn't believe she had slept in like this. She wondered where her dad was. Perhaps he had spent the night in La Push too. She guessed he may have gone back to Sue's with her. Their relationship was getting very serious very quickly. "I was back in Italy." She finally admitted.

Jacob stiffened when she mentioned Italy. It brought back bad memories of the time she had left him to run after Cullen when the stupid bloodsucker had decided to end his existence. "Oh….what happened?" Jacob tried to keep his tone neutral but Bella wasn't fooled. She reached out and took hold of his hand.

"I don't have to talk about this…."

Jacob took a deep breath and smiled. "It's fine. Go ahead. I want to know."

"It was just a stupid dream brought on by stress I think…"

"Bells!" Jacob squeezed her hand and ducked his head so he could peer into her eyes. He saw the guilt and sighed. "Just tell me, honey." He encouraged her. "Stop worrying about hurting my feelings, okay."

Bella took in a deep, quavering breath before continuing. She had never gone into great detail with Jacob or anyone else about her time in Italy. She had given him a brief outline of what had happened, but had never shared the soul numbing fear that made heart beat painfully in her chest when she thought about it or the haunting dreams she had on a regular basis of the poor, innocent tourists who had been sacrificed for the Volturi's incessant thirst for blood. Witnessing the tourists deaths had opened her eyes to what being a vampire truly meant, the horror they wreaked on innocents. It had made her respect Carlisle and the other's drive for walking away from such an existence and try to turn their backs on that part of their persona. She knew it was a daily struggle for all the Cullen's. "I was back in Volterra being hunted by one of the Volturi guards." She finally choked out. "She's called Jane. If you saw her you would laugh. She looks like a china doll, she's so small and petite with blonde hair, but she is one of the most vicious and enjoys inflicting pain on others. Jane doesn't need to physically attack; she only has to look in your direction…."

Jacob swallowed thickly as he pulled Bella into his arms and kissed her forehead. He felt sick inside and cursed Edward Cullen to the pit of hell for forcing Bella to witness such things and placing her in danger. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that." He kissed her head again and rested his cheek on her hair.

"Anyway Jane suddenly disappeared to be replaced with Aro, he is one of the Volturi leaders. He is very flamboyant and theatrical. His mouth was covered in blood…." Bella shuddered at the memory and closed her eyes tightly trying to suppress it. "I kept yelling at them, begging them to tell me what they wanted from me…and he said the oddest thing…he said your shield, we want your shield."

"Shield?" Jacob was confused. He raised his head and cupped Bella's face in his hands. She was openly crying now but he could see she looked as bewildered as he did. "What do you think it means?" He asked her cautiously.

"I don't know." Bella whispered. "Their powers didn't work on me thankfully. Aro couldn't read my thoughts; Jane couldn't inflict any pain on me. You could see they were all thoroughly confused as to why not, as am I. I was just lucky I guess." Bella finished faintly. She glanced up at Jacob's handsome face. His expression was thoughtful. "What are you thinking?"

"Edward can't read your mind either, right?" Jacob said slowly.

"No."

"What about the other Cullen's? We know the little pixie can read your future, what about the others?" Jacob questioned.

"Well Jasper could use his power to calm me when I became stressed…." Bella replied as she tried to work out where Jacob was going with this.

"But that's physically right?"

"I suppose."

A slow smile spread across Jacobs face as he hugged Bella tightly. "It's you, honey. It must be you."

"What must be me?" Bella disentangled herself from his arms and threw him an irritated glance. "Are you calling me weird?" She demanded.

"Only in the nicest possible way." Jacob teased as he embraced her again. "You're blocking things, Bells. I don't know how you're doing it, but somehow you're managing to stop any supernatural voodoo messing with your head….and that probably means you've been resisting something else too."

"Jake, I don't know what you're talking about." Bella whined.

Jacob laughed again as he caught her lips in a heated kiss. Bella melted at once, her arms winding around his neck as she kissed him back fiercely. They were both panting when the kiss ended, and Jacob still had that annoying smirk on his face. "I think you might be blocking the imprint, Bells." Jacob finally revealed.

"Blocking it?" Bella was aghast. All thoughts of the Volturi flew from her head as she stared at Jacob in stunned silence. Could it be true? Was she resisting the supernatural pull of the imprint like she was resisting the supernatural powers of the vampires? It sounded so incredible but at the same time made so much sense. "But I want you to imprint on me." Bella huffed. "Why would I resist that?"

"Because you're my stubborn Bells." Jacob declared as if this was the answer.

"Very funny." Bella's nose wrinkled up as he ruffled her tangled hair playfully. Despite the conversation starting out so serious it had ended up easing both of their minds. Maybe her subconscious had been trying to give her the answers she was seeking for a long time but she had been too close minded to see what it was saying. They say dreams had the portent of truth about them. Bella wished hers didn't need to be so terrifying, but this one had certainly given her a shove in the right direction. Her anxiety about imprinting faded a little as she allowed herself to believe that it wasn't the fact that she wasn't good enough for Jacob, but perhaps it was just something ingrained within her.

Billy was helping Jet finish off the last of her breakfast when Jacob and Bella emerged from his room. They were smiling and holding hands. It gladdened Billy's heart to see it. Perhaps a good night's sleep had helped. Bella had certainly needed the rest. Billy picked Jet up from her highchair and perched her on his lap as he wheeled his chair over to his son and Bella. "Morning, Bella." He greeted her. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah. I think I needed the lie in." Bella smiled at Jet who was waving her arms around enthusiastically when she set eyes on Bella.

"I think this little one has missed you." Billy chuckled as he lifted Jet up toward Bella.

Bella let go of Jacob's hand and took hold of Jet. The little girl immediately wound her arms around Bella's neck and smiled. "Mom….mom….mom." She babbled.

They all froze as Jet continued to say mom over and over again as she looked adoringly up at Bella. "Is she saying what I think she's saying?" Jacob said huskily.

Billy nodded his head as he gazed at his tiny granddaughter encased in Bella's arms.

A/N-thanks for reading!