EPOV

Carlisle and Esme's house in Reedsport sat on a low hill that peeked down at the usually deserted beach through the space between the clusters of vegetation that surrounded it. As white and grand as the one that we had left, it bore the same Victorian strokes that Esme had flicked upon the house in Forks, but the modern windows and the minimalist traits were missing.

In fewer words, it was evidently more old-fashioned, and it reminded me a bit of the place that I'd lived in when I had been human – before Carlisle had found me, I mean. We settled into the house, then, without any problem, and I felt at ease as I stored my belongings in the huge wardrobe on the far side of the bedroom, where Jacob and I would sleep for the next month or so.

Until something – or rather, someone – burst into my bubble of peace.

"It's alright, ex-leech," Jacob almost cooed, as if I were a child, and took the sweater I'd been folding into his hands. Destroying my work in the meantime. "I'll take it from here. Go get some rest."

"Do you mind?" I snapped, snatching the shirt from his careless hold, my nerves beginning to simmer.

"Hey, calm down," Jacob said sternly. His face hardened as he stared down at me, and I didn't like it. Not a bit. Who the hell was he to order me around?

"How am I supposed to calm down when you constantly treat me like an invalid?" I grumbled angrily, folding the now rumpled piece of clothing. Again.

The bed whined – goddamnit, Carlisle and Esme could at least have bought a new one – as Jacob sat next to my suitcase, his face sporting an unreadable expression. My cheeks burned under his scrutiny, and my irritation swelled, because the way he was staring at me was making me feel more and more like a hysterical housewife and it was humiliating.

"Wouldn't you do the same if it was the other way around?" he asked suddenly, quietly. The cracking embers inside my head burst into a wild flame.

"No!" I growled.

"No?" Jacob said skeptically, his eyebrows raising as if asking a question that he already had the answer to.

The fire died out. Immediately. Truly, deep down, I agreed with him, knowing that I had the tendency to more or less smother people when I thought they were in danger or in any sort of vulnerable position, and I'd already recognized that, in my situation, I needed more care and protection than usual. It was just– for so long I'd shut people out when they tried to help me and when I finally let someone in I held on to him with claws and teeth because his love and concern was so precious and made me feel, for the first time, like I wasn't worthless after all, and…

God, what the hell was wrong with me?

"Darling, it's okay," Jacob whispered, wiping the tears that slid down my cheeks with his thumbs. His gentle touch reminded me of what I'd made him endure, how undeserving I was of his care, and my head shook between his strong hands, until he stilled my chin with his thumb and forefinger, holding it firmly. "Hey, none of that, alright? You stop treating yourself like that right this second, Edward Anthony." His voice was woven into a stern tone, even though he was trying to lighten the mood.

"But I shouldn't have spoken to you so harshly," I rasped, and my vision blurred again.

"That's right." He nodded. "You shouldn't have. But you don't need to beat yourself up over it." A sigh escaped his mouth, and the following words were uttered so softly I didn't even think they were meant for me to hear. "I wish you'd stop doing that."

"I'm sorry," I said, rubbing my knuckles over the dampness that covered my eye. It seemed that no matter how many times I convinced myself that I was over this – this tendency to punish myself every time I did something a little less than perfect – the truth was that I still did it all too frequently. "I love you. You know that, right?"

I did wonder for a moment if he really did, if I hadn't after all made a strong enough effort to show how much I cared for him…

"Ed, Jesus Christ, what's wrong with you today?" he huffed, dropping his hands. "Yes. Of course I know that."

"Well, I was just making sure. No need to get pissy," I muttered.

"Fuck, ex-leech," Jacob chuckled. "You don't ride on an emotional rollercoaster. You are an emotional rollercoaster."

Sighing, I scratched my brow lightly, remembering the reason why I was having these mood swings. Damn hormones. "I'm pregnant."

"Yes, I can see that." My hair flittered as he laughed throatily on top of my head, his warm hand slipping beneath my wool sweater and pressing against my stomach. "But you're also an emotional rollercoaster when you aren't pregnant."

"Jake," I rasped, and my throat clicked dryly as I swallowed. The heat of his touch frothed over my skin, set aflame a need which lately I'd been failing to suppress. Immediately my fingers threaded through his overgrown hair and pulled him down for a kiss, my lips latching onto his with unexpected fervor – I could sense his surprise, feel it in the way his mouth failed to respond at first, but in less than a second our thoughts converged, and when my tongue demanded entrance into his hot cavern he willingly gave it to me. The warmth and velvet softness of his tongue against mine in a lovers' battle roused my member from its hung position inside my jeans, which suddenly felt too tight.

"Aren't you tired?" Jake asked as he momentarily pulled away, only to make the question redundant with a new wave of kissing which heightened the heat in the pit of my stomach. I seized the hem of his shirt and tugged on it until he lifted it over his head and threw it aside, revealing the rock-like outlines of his muscles, the rippling flesh beneath the hard prominence of his chest, the silk skin. God, he was so fucking beautiful; I had to touch him, couldn't wait, or else I'd go berserk for sure.

"No," I breathed against his mouth. "No, not at all." I pushed him down onto the bed and climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. "Why? Are you?" I asked teasingly, leaning my weight on my elbows on either side of his head so that I could keep on lavishing his mouth, swirl my tongue around his, feel the taste of his full lips.

"No," Jacob growled into the gap between my lips, and reversed our positions in barely a second, until I was lying on my back. His eyes had darkened beyond the darkest of browns, hunger written all around his pupils, and his lips descended upon mine with such dominant passion that I couldn't prevent the moan that trembled in my throat.

His fingers fumbled with the button of my jeans, until he managed to get the job done and pull the denim down my legs. Right afterwards he removed his own pants, while I sat up to take my sweater off. As soon as we were fully naked, our boxers discarded on the floor, Jacob's mouth locked around my Adam's apple, his tongue lapping at my blazing skin. My back arched slightly, my baby bump meeting his chest, and my fingers threaded through his thick hair. Fucking hell, I couldn't wait to have him inside me – it seemed to me as if we hadn't done it in ages, even though it'd been only days ago. The night before we'd hit the road he'd yanked all my energy out of me just with his fingers, and though it had been incredibly pleasurable I couldn't wait to tighten my inner walls around his cock.

I was needy. And pregnant. And very horny.

"Jacob, don't take too long," I said between pants. We'd reversed positions again, because the astronomic size of my belly (I was going to give birth to a beast for certain, and I mean that in the most endearing way) erased the possibility of making love in our preferred way – me lying down with him on top of me, face to face, as he claimed me over and over. There was something simultaneously tender and animalistic about it – his wolf lunged at his mate as if it were in heat, and at the same time the Alpha in him took care of his imprint, made me feel protected. I couldn't wait to finally have Thomas in my arms, even if the knowledge that he was inside my body reassured me somewhat, perhaps automatically, and to have the chance to feel Jacob's cock pulse inside me and see him rock back and forth above me in tempo with his thrusts. Feel the warmth of his gaze on me, another piece of my sense of self fall back into place, returning from wherever Ephraim had thrown it into after tearing it apart.

I knew I wasn't completely healed yet, just as I knew that it was moments like these that reformed my strength.

While making me mad with lust.

"Jacob, please!" I gasped, my hands tightening around the edge of the headboard. My member throbbed between my spread legs, bent on either side of his hips, as he prepared my hole for the size of his cock with two thick fingers. He added a third one, and I cried out at the intrusion, a miscellany of pain and pleasure and unconditional love tearing through my burning body. "Oh… oh, fuck…"

He was one hundred percent aware of what he was doing. Curling his fingers just in the right direction, when the sting around my entrance was still present, touching that special spot within my channel. The head of my penis was damp beneath the bead of pre-cum that was leaking from the slit, and the ache in my stomach was splintering my rationality into tiny shards. God, I needed him. I needed him so much.

"What do you want?" Jacob asked teasingly, a smirk playing on his beautiful lips. Bastard. He was such a beautiful, strong, caring, funny bastard.

"I want you," I whimpered. "I want your cock inside me. Fuck me. Please, please…" I was a babbling mess, but honestly it was all his fault. He and that goddamn talent of his to send me into an upward vortex…

"Damn you, Edward. Why are you so tight?" Jake grunted, his member so full and hot inside me, filling me to the point where I thought I might explode, that I turned into an even messier mess, my blubbering reaching a new height.

"Why are you so big?" I asked back. "Jesus Christ, I love you. I love you so much," I breathed out against his temple, my voice desperate, brushing against a whining tone. He was so thick, damnit, and my inner walls felt every single inch of his breadth, stretching as he pounded up into me. My fingers pressed against his wide shoulders, my nails carving crescent moons into his scorching flesh, and I'm not sure whether it was the sting or the way my hole clenched like a vice around the base of his dick, but suddenly a sound that wasn't quite human thundered through the minimal space between us and made my bones rattle.

Fuck me harder. That was sexy as all hell.

Jacob shoved his cock harder into me – harder and faster. Despite our positions, he was clearly the one in control, his hands on my hips pulling me down to meet his powerful thrusts, setting the pace, and I could come just from the noises he was making, his growls echoing in my head and rocking my thoughts like an earthquake, the blood that pulsed through the veins in my penis speeding up…

"I'm not going to last," he almost snarled. I opened my mouth to reply, but suddenly his middle finger slipped between my lips, which clamped down around the digit as if it were something else, my tongue pressing against his blazing flesh, even though I couldn't understand the action, until it left my mouth and reached down beneath my ball sack, after collecting a drop of cum from the head of my cock, and–

What?

My other hole tightened around his finger, wet from my saliva and my semen and vestiges of lube and, holy mother of all saints, he was fucking me with his cock and with his finger at the same time. My muscles coiled, ecstasy simmering along with my blood, and I couldn't quite understand it but guessed, amidst the warmth and heaviness of our breaths, the rumble of my wolf's chest, the pleasure that misted my head, that the fact that a bit of my own cum was inside a part that we'd left unexplored until now, combined with his ceaseless thrusts, the rubbing of his hard flesh against the hypersensitive counters of my channel, was just… too much.

I cried out his name as I fell apart, whiteness flashing behind my eyelids and undulating through my head, beaming as warmly as a ray of sunlight. My whole body shuddered around the force of my orgasm, soaring through open space, no bounds holding me to Earth. As soon as it ended, I heard Jacob shout my name amidst a cocktail of swear words, his body stilling beneath me, his warm cum coating my insides, and opened my heavy eyes to see him relax into the mattress, white streaks strewn across his sculpted abs.

"You're beautiful," I whispered tiredly. My eyes closed on their own, as Jacob shifted beneath me, his cock slipping out of my hole. Soon enough I was lying on my side, while my sudden exhaustion pulled me under.

Just before I fell asleep, I felt his lips against my forehead, his voice a slight rumble against my skin:

"So are you, my ex-leech."

«-»

"Aw, look at that," Esme cooed, tracing the outline of Thomas' head on the picture of the ultrasound we'd made earlier in the day. My fingers drew a similar pattern on the hard swell of my stomach as I lounged in the living room couch with the precious pieces of paper in my lap, my swollen feet lying on the dark green corduroy extension. My legs had been killing me all week, although admittedly I hadn't done much to relieve myself of the tired ache that'd been weighing me down.

Who knew helping Esme with some of the household chores could be so exhausting? And she hadn't once told me to have some rest or anything, despite Carlisle's persistence that I should… hibernate or something. He was being overprotective, and so was Jacob, and only Esme and Rosalie seemed to understand that being pregnant didn't equal being highly prone to a total collapse, even though the latter hadn't been in my situation. There was plenty that I could still handle.

Although during the past couple of days I'd been tending to disagree with my own maxim.

"He's lovely," I whispered tenderly, my eyes drawn to the figure of my son in the picture. His head could be made out perfectly amidst the smears of black and grey, and as I touched my stomach I tried to imagine where it would be positioned. Probably near my fingers, since his foot was most definitely trying to dislodge one of my ribs.

"Everything okay, Edward?" Rosalie asked suddenly, her eyes lifting from the fashion magazine in her lap when she heard me moving around to get in a more comfortable position. It was useless.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I waved her off, but I'm sure my wince betrayed me. "Where's Jacob?"

"Right here, Cullen," he laughed in my ear, and I would have jumped out of my seat if it weren't for my (heavy) condition.

"Where have you been?" I tried to ask casually, but a hint of irritation stuck to my voice as I spoke. He'd been there for the ultrasound, but then he'd disappeared into God-knows-where, as if he even had things to do.

"I've been with the pack up in Olympia. They're trying new tactics for the battle."

I stalled. I hadn't expected him to say that – seeing him around almost every day had diluted my worries regarding the Volturi's upcoming visit. Which, I realized suddenly, was only a couple of weeks away. And suddenly I felt like an idiot – he'd probably been stressing over his pack, his responsibilities, while I sat here like a damn couch potato silently whining about his absence. But, what was even more upsetting was the fact that I was still mad, for some reason or another.

"And you don't think I deserved to know that?!"

Jacob frowned confusedly. "Ex-leech, I did tell you this morning."

I froze, heard my throat click as I gulped down the lump that'd begun to form there. The scrutiny of both my mother and my sister set my cheeks aflame, while Jacob's lack of understanding of why I was acting like this and my own confusion teased my tear ducts. I attempted to stand up on my own, my back protesting loudly as I did, and immediately Jacob rushed to help me.

"I'm fine," I snapped, shoving his hands away from me.

"No, you're not. Do you mind?" he hissed back, and put my arm around his neck so I could lean on him. Fuck. I'd made him angry. I'd upset him, cut his last thread of patience, and now he was going to leave me, I was sure of it–

"Let me go!" I rasped, as dampness gathered in the corners of my eyes. Instead of complying, Jacob slipped his other arm under my knees and scooped me up, carrying me out of the living room and up the creaking stairs. "Jake, put me down!" I cried into the crook of his neck. My protests were not only in vain but also incompatible with my actual wishes – I was holding on to him as tight as I could, my arms wrapped around his shoulders as I sobbed against his strong chest.

Why was he doing this? If he was going to leave me why…

"You take those stupid ideas out of your thick skull, ex-leech," he said all of a sudden, laying me down on our bed. I'd been speaking out loud… "Or I might just have to kiss them out of you."

I looked up at him then, eyes blurry and fingers shaky as I caressed the smooth skin on his neck and willed my breathing to slow down. The idea seemed ever so tempting, but I was afraid that our displays of affection wouldn't turn into anything more intimate than that, because all of a sudden a tide of sleepiness waddled over my brain.

"Okay," I mumbled. Jacob smiled, his pearl-white teeth bright and perfect against the delicious darkness of his lips, before bending over me and pushing his tongue into my mouth, his hand smoothing down the disarray of hair strands that'd fallen over my temple. I sighed into the kiss, my emotions settling down completely at last, tamed by the movements of his lips against mine. "I'm sorry for being an ass to you," I whispered when he pulled away.

"I don't mind it when you give your ass to me, ex-leech."

"That's not what I said," I laughed.

Jacob raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. "Really? I couldn't hear your cute, drowsy mumbling very well. Plus, your fangs kind of distracted me."

A chuckle welled up in my throat – I knew my canine teeth were a bit sharper than the average human's, but this was the first time he'd ever made a reference to it. "Don't worry. I don't bite," I cackled.

"I beg to differ. I know from experience that you do bite," he retorted. His thumb suddenly poised over the side of my upper lip and made it slid upwards, revealing the pointy tooth underneath. "Geez…" He winced. "I'm just glad you do it lightly."

"You're welcome."

"Now," he huffed, his breathtaking face taking on a more serious expression, "how is this one treating you?"

His hand lay upon my belly, beneath which Thomas' little foot moved abruptly in a kicking motion. I cringed slightly.

"He's been kicking me for one hundred years now," I joked. It was true that I'd been able to feel him changing position and pressing his limbs against my stomach for more than a few months, but lately his movements had been causing me some hardcore discomfort.

"Hey, Tommy," Jacob whispered, his brown gaze drawn to our joined hands, glued to my navel. "How's it going? I know you're probably having the time of your life in there, but try not to break one of Daddy's ribs meanwhile, alright? Papa will take you to all the concerts and parties you want, but do us this one favor, okay?"

I closed my eyes and smiled. "You're delusional if you think that I'd let my son go a party with you."

"Oh, yeah? And why is that?"

"You would so embarrass him, Papa."

My eyelashes fluttered open when his lips fell upon the tip of my nose. "Just think about it, Chicken-Daddy. You wouldn't want your little boy going out on his own, would you?"

"I know I want him to gain some social skills at least," I laughed, and caught his bottom lip between my teeth. Jacob slipped his tongue into my mouth in turn, and I buried my fingers in his jet-black hair as we kissed.

"Get some sleep, Ed," he muttered, and puckered his lips against the skin on my forehead. "I'll join you in a little while."

"Mm, where are you going?"

"I have a call to make. I'll be back."

Figuring that he'd probably call his father, I shrugged, shifting until I was on my left side, and fell asleep within less than a minute.

«-»

It was settled – once I gave birth to this hyperactive child and found the time to spread a towel outside and lie down under the sun I would. Not only because the beach beyond the forest fizzed with precious heat, the sand looking white and soft from my bedroom window, but also because my skin was pale as fuck. I couldn't remember ever being tanned, mostly because I'd been damned for decades to walk around like a ghost, but clearly I'd been spending too much inside the house, because my skin was nearly as pale now as when I'd been a vampire. A change was overdue.

"Goddamn," Jacob whistled from the doorway. "You look like you should be in the cover of CQ."

"Been reading my sister's magazines, love?"

"Always with a critical perspective," he stressed, stepping closer, his reflection in the mirror in front of us contrasting against mine. While he was tanned and muscular, I was fair-skinned and lanky – oh, and while his abs were in perfect shape mine didn't even exist, replaced by a huge baby bump. I'd never given that much importance to my appearance, but now…

"Jake?" I said softly, my cheeks growing hot, red lakes flooding the freckles on my face. "Do you still find me… attractive?"

His reply startled me – a sign that I wasn't feeling as insecure as I'd had myself believe.

"Ew, no, ex-leech. You look like Shrek."

"I am so getting you for that!" I shouted, my voice clashing against the sound of his laughter. My hands balled into fists by my sides.

"Come on, then! Waddle after me."

I stopped, well, waddling to take in what he'd said without snatching the nearest object and hurling it across the room, grabbing the doorframe to steady myself instead.

"What did you say?"

Jacob crossed his arms over his chest, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

"Waddle. after. me."

"I am pregnant. How dare you?" Didn't he know how much my back hurt? How much my legs hurt? How much everything hurt? "You know what? I bet that if it were the other way around you wouldn't even get up from bed, you…"

"What?" Jake cackled, walking slowly towards me, like a wolf stalking his prey. "What am I?"

"I have nothing sufficiently offensive to say, asshole. Unlike you I care about people's feelings."

"Oh, man! Twenty points for the irony! This kid should run for president!"

To be honest, I had no idea what I wanted to do to him, but his sarcasm was getting on my nerves, and I couldn't let him get away with it, so as soon as he was near me my arm shot through the space between us, my fingers itching to pinch him.

Nothing too serious. I was pregnant, not mentally ill.

Although with the way my moods had been swinging one couldn't really know.

But of course Mr. Snarky just had to slip away from my crab claws, his laughter growing with each passing second. He was enjoying this a little bit too much, for some reason. As if the fact that my walking skills were suffering because I was carrying his son was a laughing matter. My frustration forced a huff out of me, much to Jacob's amusement, until an idea flashed brightly in my head, my inner diabolism taking over.

My hand flew to my stomach all of a sudden, as I bent slightly, fingers clenched around the wood of the doorframe. I shut my eyes tightly, my teeth gritting together as if I were in actual pain, and I didn't have to wait long – in less than a second Jacob was in front of me, sounding so winded I almost allowed guilt to destroy my plan.

"Edward? What's wrong, baby? Is it Thomas? Are you in pain?"

And he was just in the right position, too. Perfect. Still bearing my pain-filled mask, I moved closer to him, my fingers quickly flying through the short distance between us and doing a fast dance against his armpit. Jacob's shoulder nearly jumped out of its socket, his body retreating instantly.

"What the fuck?!" His vibrant brown eyes were wide with surprise as he stared at me. "You tricked me! You tricked me and then you tickled me!"

"I think…" I trailed off, my loud laughter ringing in the ample bedroom. "I think you should press charges!"

"That's very funny, ex-leech," Jacob grumbled bitterly. "Next time I'll let myself be caught instead. You don't need to scare the shit out of me."

"I'm so-sorry," I chuckled. Jacob's frown didn't fade, however, but my amusement certainly did – it died out like a flame hit by a sudden gust of air, because in that moment a sharp pain crossed my insides, a quiet explosion radiating outwards, and I sucked in a breath through my teeth, my vision blurring upon the wave of near-unawareness that crawled over my mind. Flashes of sheets tainted with blood and echoes of my own cries inundated my brain, then, and my arms quickly wrapped around my stomach… "J-Jake?"

"What?" I heard him snap, as if he was very far away. My hands fumbled for something to help me steady myself.

"Something's wrong…" I groaned, the pain escalating to a new height, accompanied by the inflation of my fear. Please let Thomas be okay. Please.

"Yeah, right. Like I would fall for that again."

"Jake!" I didn't know if it was the way my face was twisting in agony or the desperation in my voice, but finally he realized that I wasn't fooling around and soon enough his arms were around me, holding me in place. My hands gripped his biceps as if they were a life buoy, squeezing for all it was worth when something… when something wet began to run down the inside of my thigh.

"Baby, calm down," Jacob whispered in my ear. My breathing had picked up, while memories shimmered inside my head – I felt as if I were living the dream I'd had months ago, after my heat stroke. The dampness was growing, slithering over my skin. "Baby, look at me. That's right, beautiful. Listen to me," he said gently. I couldn't understand how he could be so calm… And why the hell was he smiling? "It's not blood, Edward."

"Huh?" was my eloquent response.

Jacob smiled, his eyes glistening over an emotion I couldn't distinguish. I drew in a quiet breath when the realization also dawned on me: the fluid that'd been slowly spreading between my legs was coming out now at a faster pace than what I deemed normal, rushing out of me in a huge gush.

"You see," he chuckled, "I'm no expert, but judging from what I can see… I think your water just broke."

«-»

A.N.: These two little kids are going to have a child. Something to think about. Anyway, guys and chicks, I would love to know what your thoughts are, and if you are mad at me for the cliffhanger, then please: free your rage. See ya! (Figuratively, of course.)