A/N: I decided to streamline the next two chapters into this one- and have the wedding be in the next chapter. I just didn't feel there was enough substance to either one to justify keeping them as separate chapters, so it's like a twofer.
Enjoy, and please review. The end is getting close, and I appreciate all the support you have given me!
Putting up a house seems like a simple enough concept, at least for those who know what they are doing. When it came down to building Hermione and Jacob's house, however, things couldn't have gotten more complicated. The pack was insisting on helping, but their knowledge of plumbing and electrical work was a little limiting. Emmett, Edward, Rosalie, and Jasper all knew how to build a house from the foundation up, but getting the pack to agree to let them on the reservation to help was a battle and a half. And when Harry and Ron showed up, unannounced, they wanted to help in any way they could, and suddenly the whole of the Weasley family was moving through the woods on the property, moving trees and leveling the property. Even Ginny and Luna, who were very distracted by the group of shirtless shape shifters around them, were being a great help. The chaos would have been quite a site for the rest of the tribe, if Hermione hadn't thought to cast Muggle-repelling jinxes, which surprisingly didn't work on the vampires or the wolves. Yes, it would seem weird that the house was springing up so quickly, but it was for the best.
Working so closely with each other had done nothing to improve Rosalie's attitude toward the wolves, and she didn't attempt to keep her snide comments and dog jokes to herself, with Emmett occasionally throwing in a joke himself. The wolves would build a section of the house, with the witches and wizards holding things in place and then reinforcing everything, then they would clear out and the vampires would move in to put in plumbing fixtures, electrical wiring, and inside walls.
"If I didn't know better I'd say they were trying to show each other up," Ron muttered, levitating a window frame up to the second level.
"You think?" Ginny said, rolling her eyes as Jasper dashed past her, arms full of piping.
"Five Galleons on the vampires," Harry said, ducking as Edward jumped over him to catch a falling brick.
"I'll take that," Ron replied.
"No you will not, Ronald Bilius Weasley," a stern voice sounded from behind her. Molly Weasley was climbing out of the Hummer Emily and Esme had borrowed while Esme opened the back, revealing mountains of food. "We are here to help Hermione, not stoke a vampire and werewolf fight."
"We won't fight," Sam called from above them. "We're just trying to get done so the parasite stench can get off our land."
"Sticks and stones," Alice sang, helping lay out the food on a table Mrs. Weasley had just conjured up.
"Hey, Hermione!" Rosalie called, walking around the side of the house, an odd smirk on her face. "Come here. There's something I need to show you."
"Oh, this can't be good," Hermione groaned, walking towards where Rosalie had disappeared. Rounding the side of the house they came across a dog house- a very large dog house.
"Isn't it cute? It's Jacob's room," Rosalie smiled.
Hermione looked up at Jacob, who was looking surprisingly calm. "I'm staying out of this," she muttered, walking back to the front of the house.
"Someone needs to get some new material," Jacob shrugged. "This one wasn't totally unexpected."
"I'll just have to try harder," she sneered.
He shrugged again and ran to the front of the house to get to the food. After eating three platefuls (between the Weasleys and the wolves the Hummer full of food had all but disappeared) he called Quil and Embry to the table where the blueprints were sitting. Hermione eyed them suspiciously, as neither Quil nor Embry were the strongest carpenters and knew little of reading blueprints. Her suspicions grew as they broke out in simultaneous laughter and Edward's head cocked towards the group a little bit.
"We'll be back in a few minutes, honey," Jacob caught Hermione from behind and planted kisses on her neck.
"Where are you going?" she asked skeptically.
"Nature's calling," he said, releasing her and running towards the woods, Quil and Embry on his heels.
Where are they really going? she opened her mind up so Edward could hear the question.
"You don't want to know," he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.
Would it be so much to ask for a truce as our wedding gift?
"Probably. You know Rose. She's going to fight this tooth and nail."
Even though Jacob is a good guy.
"We know that. He's still a mutt, though. She's not a fan."
"I can hear you talking about me!" Rose shouted.
"Did you need me to speak up?" Edward called back.
Hermione shook her head and stood up to start levitate a pallet of bricks towards the house.
"For what it's worth, the rest of us would be willing to at least try. Except maybe Emmett, but you know how he is."
"That's all I could ask for," she smiled.
"That is if we make it through today," he finished with a glance towards where Jacob and his friends had disappeared. She followed his gaze, but there was no one there.
Forty minutes later Jacob, Quil and Embry returned, smug smiles on their faces.
"Where were you?" she asked as he put his arm around her. "That was an awfully long call of nature."
"I got my job done," he said smugly.
"What job? What's going on?"
"Nothing," he smiled.
"Dogs rule," Quil muttered, walking past, supporting a large window with Jared, who let off a soft chuckle.
Hermione looked up at Jacob, who shook his head. An hour later Esme asked Mrs. Weasley, Emily, and Rosalie to help her start to cook dinner at the Cullens house. They climbed into the H2 and were off, and no one really made too much notice of their absence until a half hour later when Rosalie came running back into camp, her face contorted in rage.
"Jacob Black!" she shouted, causing everyone to jump and look towards her.
"Yes?" Jacob answered casually, jumping down from the second story and casually standing facing her.
"Did you mark every damned tree within a hundred yards of the house?" she screeched.
"Of course not," he chuckled. "That would be too much for me to do in half an hour. Quil and Embry helped."
The wolves started laughing at her obvious anger as she turned and stomped back off towards her house.
"Did you really?" Hermione groaned, appearing next to Jacob.
"Call it revenge for all the dog jokes she's been making the last couple days."
"Don't you think it's sort of punishing the whole family?"
"I'd find it more hilarious if I didn't have to deal with her later, but it's funny nonetheless," Emmett said, shifting the washing machine he was carrying to one arm so he could reach out and shake Jacob's hand. "Well played."
"I look forward to the retaliation," he nodded.
He slid onto the couch, muscles aching like he hadn't expected. From fucking dance lessons. If he didn't love Hermione as much as he did he wouldn't be doing any type of damned choreographed dancing at his wedding, but his not-quite-blushing bride had been watching some sort of chick flick with her sisters and got the idea into her head, and he couldn't tell her no. So they were doing three dance lessons a week, after his automotive classes at the nearby community college, and she insisted that he come back to the Cullens house for dinner. Esme was a wonderful cook, he would give her that. And Bella was usually around for the 'family dinners', and she was worth hanging out with, but the closer it got to the wedding the more annoying Blondie became. There was no hiding the fact that she was still hoping that Hermione and Edward would come to their senses and kiss and make up. Part of him wondered what would happen as well, if Hermione realized the vampire was the more logical choice, but she never seemed to wonder. He could tell she loved him, too, and was trying to carry on their relationship as normally as possible.
She brought him a plate of food and a drink, then snuggled up next to him on the couch. Her fingers danced delicately on his thigh, not too far above his knee, but enough that his thoughts immediately went vulgar. Out of the corner of his eyes he caught Edward looking mighty uncomfortable. Good. Let the damn mind-reader suffer a bit.
"It would be more of a punishment if you were picturing yourself instead of Hermione," Edward muttered unconvincingly as he winced as Jacob's mind replayed a scene from the night their house was finished. While Edward was in love with Bella there was little doubt that there was some sort of love for Hermione. Watching her writhe under Jacob was not his favorite activity.
"I'll work on that," he smirked with no intentions of picturing himself naked.
"Thirty two days!" Alice entered the room, carrying a deep red dress with a black sash that Hermione recognized as either Ginny's or Luna's. She had chosen Ginny, Luna, Harry, Ron, and Neville to stand up for her- everyone who had been at the Ministry with them. Much to Alice's chagrin Jacob made the bridal parties unequal- he chose Rachel, Leah, Seth, and, as a gesture of good faith towards the pack he had left, Sam. Hermione had taken Ginny and Luna to go scout locations, and they found a nice wizarding one that was willing to work with the rather unusual wedding. There was a driveway and parking lot for the Muggle guests, but enough security that they wouldn't have to worry about intrusion from the likes of the Daily Prophet.
Leave it to the damn pixie to be a countdown calendar. Every time she announced the time he got more and more tempted to whisk Hermione away and marry her in a no-fuss ceremony. If Carlisle and Esme didn't seem as excited as Alice he already would have done it. And he wanted to make nice with his in-laws... well, most of his in-laws.
"Hey, Hermione," Rosalie sat next to her, smiling sweetly. There was something sinister behind that smile. He looked away, towards his food, and tried to ignore the feeling that no good was about to come from Blondie's mouth.
"What's up?" Hermione asked, withdrawing her hand from his leg much to his disappointment.
"I've stayed mostly out of the wedding planning, since I was told my skills would be more useful day of, but I thought I would give you advice as someone who has been through it more than once."
"Anything you want to tell me," Hermione nodded enthusiastically. He pretended to gag behind her, causing Edward to snort.
"Well, the last time I was getting married I read this idea in some sort of bridal book or magazine or something. Emmett and I tried it, and it worked like a charm." Her voice was almost sickly sweet.
"What was it?" she asked almost excitedly. Now Edward's smirk was scaring him, too.
"We didn't have sex for a month before the wedding."
Jacob inhaled the bite of pasta on his fork and started choking on it. Rosalie smirked.
"Really?" Hermione sounded interested
"Yeah. By the time we got married he couldn't wait to get his hands on me. Some of the best sex we've ever had, and we've been having it for a while."
Hermione looked lost in thought.
"I can't believe you're considering this," Jacob groaned.
"It might be good for us to take a bit of a break," she looked up at him.
"I think we've got a good thing going already."
"I know we do, but absence makes the heart grow fonder."
"I think in this case absence would make for an inappropriate situation while in a tux," he grumbled. "I don't need to have my mind be on what I'm looking forward to on the wedding night when I'm trying to say my vows."
"You can practice restraint."
"I can. My other head..."
"Jacob!" she hissed.
"I'm just telling the truth."
"You should be lucky she only suggested a month. She was hoping for a permanent sex ban," Edward chuckled. Rosalie shot him a look.
"If I was forced to become celibate I'd have to fill my time with other activities, like hunting blondes..." he growled.
"Well, I think it's a great idea, and since sex requires both of us, I guess we're both going through with this."
He glared at her, but couldn't fight her. Damn imprint. "What exactly constitutes sex?"
"Emmett and I didn't do anything past kissing for that month."
"Ugh," he groaned, putting the food he was now not interested on the table. Oh, well, he thought as Hermione struck up a conversation with Rosalie. Hermione will last a week, tops.
Edward caught his eye, pulled a fifty part of the way out of his pocket and mouthed 'the whole month'.
You're on.
Edward looked up at the top of the stairs where Jasper was standing. Very slowly he did the sign for 'week' with a nod towards Jacob. He flashed the fifty again. Jasper considered Jacob for a second, then held up two fingers and brought them in a slight arc onto his other arm, which was across his chest. Edward chuckled and nodded. He looked back to Jacob and mouthed 'two days'. His eyes then flicked across the room to Emmett, who had noticed the exchange. Edward nodded, then mouthed 'two weeks'.
It was a good thing Hermione was so engrossed in her conversation, as the odds would definitely swing in Edward's favor if she found out her husband to be was betting on their sex life. And at that a thought occurred to him.
"So, this sex ban thing is for a month, right?" he asked.
"Yes," Rose said, sounding annoyed.
"And, Pixie, we have thirty two days left, right?"
"Yes," Alice called, now busy altering the dress she had brought down.
He jumped up. "That means we have tonight. Come on, baby." Before she had a chance to protest his hand was around her wrist, and he was dragging her up as Blondie growled in disapproval. Shouting a quick thanks to Esme for the food he dragged an eager Hermione outside, then let her go and phased. She leapt lightly onto his back, her arms wrapping gently around his neck. There was something about their closeness, about her comfort with his other form, that seemed to pour cement around the steel cable bonds that were his ties to her.
They made it home with him barely noticing the weight on his back. The cold- yes, that would undeniably be there every time he touched her. But everything else seemed so normal about her. If it weren't for those eyes, those eyes that were nearly back to gold, though he could still see shoots of crimson if he looked closely. he would easily mistake her for being human. She wasn't ashamed of being a vampire, but she certainly didn't prefer it, and she was going to try as much as possible to seem human.
Wanting to show off a bit he phased without warning, and she slid gracefully from his back. He reached back and grabbed her arm and, in a move taken from their dance class he spun her around and pressed his lips expectantly to hers. He hoisted her up without breaking their embrace and carried her across the threshold.
"I thought you were only supposed to do that the first time, and maybe after we are married," she muttered against his lips, her cold breath sending shivers down his spine.
"I just like doing that," he smirked. "We've got enough going against us without you bringing bad luck down on this house."
She laughed. "When's the last time I tripped on anything? Save for that one time that Sam and Jared conspired against me, because I tripped to avoid falling on Claire. I'm trying to stay in Quil's good graces."
It was his turn to chuckle. "You were human once. I'm sure you tripped back then."
"You'll never know," her lips were ghosting on his, and his eyes closed, expecting to feel her lips pressing against his, but there was a swish of fabric, the softest of sounds, and his eyes opened to an empty lower level. Temptress. She could wait a while, he knew it drove her insane when he took his time getting upstairs.
He sauntered into the kitchen, which was gigantic in anticipating for many years of providing food for the pack, and any ones that might pop up in the future. They had installed a large fridge, a deep freeze, a five-burner range and another in-wall oven to accommodate large meals. There was a dishwasher, but Hermione did most of the cleaning by magic. There was a walk-in pantry that Hermione already had to magically expand to accommodate more food. All the ceilings in the house were raised, easily fitting the group of tall people who were constantly streaming in and out. Everywhere there was space there was something to sit on. Hermione insisted on it being handicapped accessible so Billy could visit (and visit he and Charlie did once they found out there was a 52 inch screen involved). The other thing Hermione insisted on, a large fireplace, took up most of one wall, and another was all glass. Upstairs were five rooms, a very large master bedroom for them, three guest rooms, and an potions lab where Hermione was working on batches of antivenin to ship to wizarding hospitals all over the world, which were ordering it much faster than she could produce it. Her friends would come and go, using the bedrooms, but Hermione had planned the layout to be comfortable for the pack that hated her a few months prior.
Billy thought the next pack might be large, until they got used to Hermione living on their land, but that the numbers would decrease slowly until there would be Jacob- the everlasting Alpha, and one or two others. Part of that disturbed Jacob. He was the true Alpha. And when Sam stopped phasing and relinquished control, he would be the only Alpha. And he was everlasting because he wasn't going to age and couldn't pass those genes on, couldn't provide the new pack with another Alpha from Ephriam's bloodline. He had images on occasion, images that would never happen, of Hermione, her stomach rounded with a child- his child. Hermione was much more important to him than having a child, she always would be, but there was a part of him deep down that felt he kind of got screwed out of having a family because of his imprint.
Finishing a bottle of water he decided she had waited long enough and sauntered upstairs. She wasn't lying across the bed, wearing a look of annoyed anticipation as he had expected her to be. He didn't see her at all. Moving slowly into the room, wary of her jumping out at him, he walked to the bathroom, where he could see a faint flickering light.
"You didn't follow me up, so I decided not to wait for you," she murmured as he took a step inside. She was lying in the large whirlpool bath, head resting on the side, eyes closed, lavender scented bubbles covering the surface. A dozen or so candles were situated around the room, four floating lazily in the air. He smiled, stripped off his shirt, and sank to his knees next to the tub. Without a word he picked up a washcloth, lathered it, and started running it over her body. Muscles twitched under the light touch, so slight that a normal human wouldn't notice, but he could feel each little involuntary movement her body made. He felt the bumps of each individual muscle, and thought vaguely of how much had changed since he had first seen her. Before his ideal woman was... well, Bella-ish. Somewhat, well, delicate would be a good word for it. He didn't really go for the more athletic type women before. And here he was, with a woman who could beat him into a bloody pulp. And he wouldn't raise a fist to stop her.
Slowly he ran the cloth over her. She didn't really need the bath, but he diligently washed each part of her.
"You like taking it slow?" she whispered, opening her eyes just enough to look at him.
"I'm just drinking it in, since you're going to be denying me the sight for a month."
"Would you rather I run around the house naked and tease you?"
"You run around the house naked and I promise you I won't make it the month. You might be stronger than me, but you're not going to enforce the sex ban militantly."
"You hope."
He chuckled before leaning forward and kissing her lightly. Before his eyes could close her hand was at the nape of his neck, holding him to her. He wriggled out of his pants and climbed in the tub on top of her. His hands captured her face, holding it in place, feeling the coolness of her body not just pressed against him, but in a small aura of water around her. The cold stung the fire that was growing inside him, taming it slightly, reminding him to take his time. One hand slid down the body he knew so well, pulling a leg up so it hooked around his own. Her hips automatically started dancing against his, tempting him, but not demanding him quite yet. Her hands traced his well-defined muscles, leaving little rivers of ice that shot all the way up his spine, causing him to moan involuntarily into her mouth. He lifted her out of the tub part of the way, so her breasts were above water (he didn't have the advantage of being able to hold his breath for infinite amounts of time). He lowered his face to them, inhaling her aroma, tongue running slowly over each breast before he gently bit onto one of her nipples. She groaned, arching into him, the leg now wrapped around his lower back causing her to rub her sex against his abs. Her other leg was suddenly wrapped around him, so quickly that he was shocked by the movement, but not so hard that she hurt him. While he still occasionally came out of their activities with bruises she had gotten much better about hurting him.
He sucked the peak in his mouth, feeling it tighten and beg for more attention. His other had gently tugged and twisted her other peak, and her moans and gasps came so quickly that his brain had difficulty separating the two. Forgoing subtlety her legs tightened around his midsection, and she pushed herself down, back into the water, his erection now pressing against her opening. A thousand crude remarks sprang to his lips, but none were vocalized as he felt her fingers wrap gently around him and guiding him into her. The witch knew how to make him lose control. He pushed in as far as he would go, her lips parted in a silent moan of approval, the feeling of her surprisingly warm tightness wrapped around him. She was weightless in the water, legs wrapped lazily around him so she could use that weightlessness to slide easily nearly all the way off him before he drove himself all the way back into her. She now made sure to grip him with only the pads of her fingers, which were pressing tightly into his upper arms. Her lips were flying over the skin of his neck and upper chest as he bit his lip and focused on pleasing her. Drops of water flew everywhere as his hand found the small of her back, holding her to him, thankful that her skin was just cool enough to keep the fire from taking over.
In no time his hair was weighted down from the water flying around, her hips were grinding insistently into his, and their lips battled each others as she started humming between kisses. He knew those were no real hums, she was talking quickly, too lost in the moment to remember to play human, and he could see the last of the air pushing from her lungs, deflating her chest, and he realized when they failed to re-inflate that she was about to go over the edge. The muscles in her legs contacted, pushing into him with a steady-hard force. Her fingers were tightened so much he could feel the skin below them bruising. She clamped around him so tightly that it was all he could do to keep from spilling into her. He drove into her as hard as he could, willing her to finish.
And then she broke. Unsteady, uneven jerks of her muscles rocked through her body as he reached his own climax with a groan. Her breathing came back in short, rapid bursts, she was smelling him, smelling what she did to him, and reveling in it. Her golden eyes were locked onto his, and he didn't need to glance at her lips to know she was smiling up at him. Suddenly feeling the exhaustion in his bones he collapsed next to her, pulling her to him.
"You're pruny, human," she chuckled, stroking his fingers.
"Well worth it," he smiled back without opening his eyes.
"You're not mad at me, are you?"
"For what?"
"Thinking we should hold off on sex until the wedding."
"Nah," he squeezed her. "I can see why you'd want to."
"You're thinking I'm not going to make it," she chuckled, kissing his chin.
"There is that," he smirked and pulled her in for a kiss. He settled back in with a large yawn. He relaxed against her, feeling his breathing slow and his eyelids become too heavy top open. She moved out of the tub, barely disturbing the surface of the water. Moments later he felt himself getting lifted, then gently lowered. But it wasn't water that engulfed him, but their large, soft bed. The last thing he remembered before giving in to sleep was the feeling of her cool body wrapping effortlessly around his, and the ghost of a kiss on his lips.