Song: A Mother's Love by Jim Brickman and Mark Masri
youtube dot com/watch?v=6C1dHGB7J94&feature=related
No significant time has gone by since the last character summary, just a reminder of the characters and their current ages. Also during this chapter there is a 7 year jump so you will need to add that to the ages listed.
* Jacob is 34, Bella is 36, Dani (11), Asher (10), Zeke & Cindy (5)
* Rachel/Paul has Patrick (13), Richard (11), Paula (4), Rheida (3)
* Kim/Jared – Nicole (15), Brandon (13), Daniel (10)
* Embry/Jackie, still divorced but live together – Susan (7)
* Seth/Amber – Luke (6), Laura (5), and Lewis (3) and newborn Logan.
* Leah and Isaac adopted siblings Brian (5) and Brittany (4).
* Emily and Nomi – Tommy (16) and Stacy (7)
* Claire is 21, has been married to Quil for 1 year
* Colin and Brady are the only active wolves, both single.
Chapter 35 – MAKING A CHOICE
Bella and I fell asleep in the plane and they let us both sleep until we woke up naturally several hours after we had landed in Washington. Bella got a big bear hug from Emmett and she laughed and kissed his cheek.
"So do we have our own private pilot now?" Bella asked with a big smile on her face.
"Anywhere you want to go." Emmett promised.
"I'll keep that in mind." I said.
Bella then went to Alice and they hugged each other for a long time, promising to stay in touch and Alice kissed Bella's cheek before she fluttered back to Jasper.
There was something about the way that Edward and Bella moved when they were together, I don't think either of them were aware of how they leaned towards each other before they hugged or simply smiled at each other. It has been something that I had adjusted to as simply part of them. They hugged each other and Edward kissed her forehead.
"Take care of her," Edward said to me.
"I will, promise." We shook hands and then I put my arm around Bella. "You ready to go?"
Bella nodded, her lips trembling from tears she was trying to hold in.
"Hey Jacob," Edward said, getting my attention. "Take the car back with you."
"Really?" I asked, surprised.
Edward nodded. "I'll know where to find it if I ever need it again."
I had a huge grin on my face the whole drive home. I couldn't drive as fast without Edward telling me where cops were hiding, but it was still an awesome ride. That night we had a huge bonfire with all of our friends. I got more hugs than I thought was possible and everyone was glad that this chapter of our life was behind us. I wanted to burn the clothes we wore to get the vampire smell out, but of course Bella loved it. The kids were everywhere in small groups, making pebbly sandcastles, swimming and splashing one another, and playing soccer or football on the beach.
Quil and Embry ambushed Bella and despite her wiggling they held her securely by the wrists and ankles, throwing her into the water, fully dressed.
"That's it!" Bella screamed as she tried to tackle them both at the same time. The results was a Bella sandwich until Bella tickled Embry causing all three of them to fall back in the water again, kicking and squirming.
I watched them for awhile, laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. Only my girl would think she could take on a couple giants and win.
"Hey Jake," Tommy said, as he sat down next to me with a plate full of food.
"Hey Buddy, where is the love man?" I nodded my head towards his plate and he rolled his eyes as he handed it to me. "Nah, I can't do that. I'll get my own in a minute."
I handed him the plate back with a smile. Tommy and I were still very close and while Nomi was a great stepdad to him, I could tell that it wasn't the same. At least it made sense when time for some father/son event for Nomi to be there, however sometimes Emily would drop the hint that Tommy really wanted me to come and so Nomi and I would both go. I think that Nomi understood that I have been there for each major milestone of Tommy's life. A year ago I got out the Rabbit and taught Tommy how to drive a gear shift, he had a fantastic time, I'm not sure that the Rabbit had such a good time, poor girl. He still practices often and I told him he could use it anytime especially once he started to date.
I got my own plate and sat back down on one of the many large logs that surrounded the blazing fire. The sun would be setting soon and everyone would begin to huddle together for warmth. Tommy sat quietly while I ate, but I could tell something was on his mind.
"What's up?"
"Nothing." He shook his head and I let the silence hang. I knew that if he wanted me to know he would say it, and if not that was completely fine as well. Asher came and sat down, wiggling himself between myself and Tommy. Ash had a little bit of a hero worship for Tommy and wanted to be wherever he was and anything that Tommy said was fascinating to him. Both of them played football in school and could talk about practice drills and game plays all day.
As I finished eating I glanced around, hearing all the laughter and voices from my friends and the waves, lapping against the shoreline. Bella returned to me in dry sweats that she must have gotten from home when she took the twins to bed and curled herself into my side. We smiled at each other and I put my arm around her, Ash continued to talk to Tommy and Dani was in a skirt and tennis shoes playing soccer with her cousin's Patrick and Richard and Jared's kids Brandon and Daniel. Dani could hold her own against the boys, but didn't want them to forget that she was actually a girl.
The years went by and as the pack member's children all started going through their teenage years we were cursing ourselves for having so many children and so close together. It was like a soap opera to keep up with who was dating who and for how long. I finally told Bella that if it wasn't one of our four then I did not want to know about it. Dani thought I was the worst Dad ever for making any guy that wanted to date her ask my permission. Just because I happen to be a huge giant worked quite nicely in my favor and anyone willing to ask me I knew was serious. Oddly enough six months ago Tommy was the one to ask if he could date her and despite the age difference I was alright with it.
Tommy had a long on and off again relationship with Nicole, Jared's daughter, but after they broke up for the 5th time she started dating Patrick, Paul's son. (Patrick and Nicole were at the same college when that happened and Tommy swears that Nicole was dating Patrick before breaking up with him.) Tommy was very hurt and angry. It was then that Tommy started working full time for me. Slowly a relationship formed with Danielle and in a couple months she would be graduating from high school.
It was a hot summer day and it was Bella's and my turn to have an empty house. We rotated among the pack members and gave one couple the house to themselves and we would watch their kids for them. So after spending some very happy naked time we were dressed and laying on a large blanket in the backyard. Bella had her head laying on my stomach as we watched the clouds go by, reminiscing about some of our favorite times with the kids.
Life was fantastic and the cafe was thriving so much that Bella had a hard time keeping up with the demand. Most of the business was take out due to the limited space inside and while it made business sense to shrink the bookstore that was something that Bella loved and so we kept it. The garage was also doing very well. My side project of restoring old cars wasn't really a "side project" any longer and one year ago I hired Tommy full time to work with me on them.
Ash reminds me so much of myself it was almost scary. He still enjoyed sports and was so thankful that he had finally grown into his lanky body and filled out some. It was a very frustrating time for him so I encouraged him to lift more weights and did them with him, getting into great shape myself. Zeke was very strong willed and logical so if it didn't make sense to him he was extremely resistant, I thought that the 'why stage' was never going to end for him. Cindy has an obsession with animals and hangs out with Jackie as much as possible. She had been begging for a dog for years and Bella and I agreed to get one for her birthday.
Suddenly I heard Tommy's voice. "JAKE!" He yelled, there was a deep urgency in his voice and both Bella and I eyed each other as we scrambled instantly to our feet.
"In the back!" I yelled, taking Bella's hand we both started to head inside.
We met Tommy at the back door as he was coming out. "You have to come, now. Ash has been hurt."
Bella slipped on her flipflops that were by the door and I went barefoot as we ran with him towards the beach as Tommy explained what happen. Asher had been cliff diving with his cousins and other school friends. We liked to have an adult at the bottom to keep it safer and there was a large rectangular floaty that they would hold on to. Asher had jumped and another boy jumped too soon after him, landing on him, right as Asher returned to the surface. Tommy saw the whole thing and tried to swim over to Asher before the other kid could land on him but didn't get there in time. Asher screamed underwater, swallowing a lot of water and almost passed out. Tommy got there in time to keep him a float and he swam with Asher over to the floaty. With Patrick's help he got Asher on the floaty and swam him to the shoreline.
"Brian was going to get his mom and I volunteered to run here to get you." Tommy explained.
"So Leah is on her way?" Bella asked.
"I believe so." Tommy answered.
My heart was racing as we jogged quickly towards the beach. "Was Asher moving?" I asked.
"Kind of, he was while he was choking on the water. Then he coughed and got the water out, but I think the movements might have messed with his back or neck." Tommy kept shaking his head. "I don't really know."
I put my hand on Tommy's shoulder. "It's alright. You did good."
Tommy just kept shaking his head and I let it go for now.
Once at the beach it was easy to find where Asher was due to the large crowd that was round him. His screams had settled into loud moans and groans.
"Everybody move!" I yelled and quickly people shuffled out of the way for Bella, Tommy, and myself to get through.
"Ash, baby we're here." Bella fell next to the floaty that Asher was still on.
He was on his stomach and his eyes fluttered painfully. "Mom," he whispered, his voice hoarse from the water he had swallowed.
I knelt down next to Bella, not saying anything, but making sure that Asher could see that I was there. A few minutes after us Leah arrived, carrying the stretcher that she kept in her clinic.
"Ash, I need to know what's hurting the most." Leah told him.
"My neck and . . ." his voice low from pain, "and I don't feel my legs."
"At all?" Leah question.
Asher screamed as it looked like he tried to shake his head, momentarily forgetting that was not a good idea. "No, not at all." He answered once he found his voice.
By this time Paul and Rachel had arrived at the beach and she agreed to watch the kids. I could tell that Leah was very much in 'doctor mode' and her face was extremely serious as she instructed us on what to do to help get Asher to her clinic. She had an x-ray machine there and would be able to check his neck and spine. Paul and I carried the stretcher and I saw Quil take Bella's hand and together they followed us to the clinic. Asher had a chorus of steady moans and groans and occasional curses as we got him positioned for x-rays, until the morphine kicked in and he was able to sleep peacefully.
Leah sighed as she put the x-rays on the large light and despite never seeing an x-ray before, even I could tell that it did not look good. I wrapped my arms around Bella as Leah explained that he had three vertebrates that were completely dislocated in two separate areas.
"Honestly, I'm surprised that he can move his arms, based on this," she pointed to the screen, "he should be completely paralyzed from neck down." Leah frowned. "I'm so sorry."
"What about surgery to reconnect them? Somehow . . ." I suggested.
Leah shook her head. "The spine doesn't really work that way. We could try, but it has never been successful before. The bones don't heal back together."
Bella had been trembling into my side and suddenly her head snapped up. "How does this compare to what happened to Seth?"
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
"You know, when Victoria crushed him."
Leah shrugged. "I'm not sure we never had x-rays of Seth, but I would say it is very similar except for Ash's injuries are more focused on the neck where Seth's was the entire spine."
"Then it is possible to heal." Bella insisted.
"Sweetheart, that was only because Seth was a wolf. Asher isn't." I said, holding her closer.
"Then let's make him one. He is your son, he has got to have the gene."
"Bella, you can't just make him phase." Leah said softly. I silently agreed with Leah and ran my hand up and down Bella's arm.
"Why not?" Bella insisted.
"You would need vampires." Quil added. "And we have not had any in the area for years."
I knew that as soon as vampires were mentioned that Bella would bring up the Cullens. They still communicated regularly, especially by phone.
"I can get us vampires." Bella said confidently. "You might not have them on speed dial, but I do."
"Oh, I don't know." I groaned.
"Seriously Jacob? You would rather our son be paralyzed rather than become a wolf?" Bella shook her head almost angrily and looked at Quil. "It is not that bad, is it?"
Quil put his hands up. "I am not getting in the middle of this."
None of the pack members really understood my resistance, but most of all Quil. He was thrilled when he had joined the pack and it was more than just getting his best friends back. When I first phased I felt like my wolf was keeping me from Bella, however over the years I learned that he was actually protecting Bella. But to put the 'protector' burden on one of my kids? I wasn't sure that I could do that.
While these thoughts were swimming around inside my mind I vaguely heard Bella on the phone with Alice.
"They will be here in six hours." Bella said.
"Who is coming?" Quil asked.
"Edward, Alice, and Jasper." Bella answered. " Will that be enough?"
"We will find out, this has never been done before." Leah shrugged. "Emily has been working on documentation of the legends, I will give her a call and see what she knows."
Leah spent the next several hours on the phone with Emily, trying to figure out if the vampire presence would turn him instantly into a wolf or if he would go through the normal heat and growth spurt first. Though at 17 and 6'2" he was most likely close to his full height, she was worried about what a growth spurt would do to his spine before he was able to phase.
Bella held my hand, glancing at Quil every now and then. I know that my silence must have been driving them both crazy, but I didn't know what to say. I couldn't fault Bella's logic, if we were going to try it now was the best time. Most parents would do anything imaginable to get their child help, but most parents didn't have THIS as an option so it was still difficult for me to wrap my mind around.
"Jake?" Bella whispered. "Please, talk to me."
I just shook my head. "Just keep doing what you are doing." It was all the encouragement that I could give her, but it seemed to be enough and Bella leaned her head against my chest.
Leah got off the phone with Emily. "Jake, you will need to talk to Tommy soon. Emily said that he is a mess, feeling like he 'killed' your son. His words not mine, Asher will not die from this."
I nodded. "Let's see how all this goes and then hopefully I'll have some good news for Tommy and Ash will be fine."
Leah gave Asher more morphine when he woke up several hours later and once he fell back to sleep we decided to go ahead and move him out into the woods. Bella and I returned home quickly for her cell phone and for both of us tennis shoes and jackets. We had no idea how long this was going to take. When we got back Embry was helping Leah load Asher into the small ambulance that we had.
"Hey Em," I acknowledged.
"Quil is calling the pack and once we know exactly where we are going, he is going to bring everyone out there." Embry explained.
"Everyone is going to be there?" Bella asked.
"In human form, yes." Embry walked over and hugged Bella. "We will always welcome new members. Colin and Brady will be the only ones as wolves, unless . . ." he looked at me, clearly wondering if I would phase.
"Um, uh . . . I don't know. I really haven't thought of it."
Bella smiled nervously, wrapping her arms around my waist. "You will know, when the time comes, you'll know what to do."
Bella seemed so calm and confident, but her lips trembling with each deep breath she took gave away how scared and anxious she was. I was exactly the same way, I just didn't know how to express it. My shoulders were stiff and my throat felt thick, making it difficult to swallow. Asher was still sleeping from the pain medication, but Bella and I still decided to ride back with him, while Leah and Embry road in the front.
"We won't do this unless you are comfortable with it." Bella whispered to me.
"Does it not bother you at all?" I asked her.
"No, but does that really surprise you?" She replied. I shook my head, there wasn't anyone more understanding when it came to the supernatural than Bella. "I feel like it is just so obvious." Bella shrugged. "But I'm still really scared. I wasn't here for your transformation so I don't really know what to expect."
I nodded slowly, putting my arm across her shoulders, squeezing her into my side. "I'm not sure that any of us really know what to expect either."
I knew that I had been a time bomb literally ready to explode at any random moment. Seth was about the closest we have had to one of them instantly phasing when he did in response to Leah's phasing. Oddly enough it seemed like the younger they were the easier it was to go straight to wolf without a long transitioning stage.
We drove towards the small airport typically used for military training and occasionally for small private planes. It was about 50 miles from La Push, surrounded by thick forest and there was a place that we would often go camping at when we wanted to be further than our own large backyard. About one hour after we got there Alice called Bella, they were landing and would run here. That same time Asher began to wake up, groaning in pain. Leah talked to him and his pain was still mostly in his neck and shoulders, but didn't want to give him more morphine because she knew that his body would burn it up once the heat started and also didn't want him numb.
I knelt down on the ground next to Asher. "Dad," he whispered painfully. "Why am I in the woods?"
"Son, we are going to be trying something new, something that can't be done in a hospital." I took a deep breath trying to find the right words. I felt like at the very least he should know what was about to happen to him. "Ash you know the legends of cold ones and spirit warriors?"
"Of course." He looked momentarily confused and I realized that it was a stupid question, I had told him the stories since he was a toddler.
"It is more than a bedtime story or something told over a blazing fire." Maybe on a normal day he would have rolled his eyes and told me I was crazy, but I could tell that he knew I was serious. "When I was 17 years old, I learned that those 'legends' were actually true when I became part of the story. There was a family of vampires that lived in Forks and while they never hurt anyone there, them being in the area caused me to become a wolf."
"And me," Embry said, followed quickly by Leah and then Paul, Seth, Quil, Jared, Colin, and Brady. I smiled as they all came around myself and Asher. I heard a muffled 'thank you' from Bella as she went to each of them and hugged them.
"You were all wolves?" Asher asked, looking at the people that he has known all his life in a different light.
I nodded. "Colin and Brady are the only ones that still phase regularly, but all of us still have the ability to do so."
Seth came and knelt down next to me, giving my shoulder a squeeze and then looked at Asher. "I was hurt very badly by a vampire and for a while I also could not feel my legs. As wolves we have rapid healing and therefore my spine was able to heal itself. That is what we are hoping will happen for you."
Bella brushed some of Asher's shaggy hair out of his face. "Is that alright with you, baby? Do you want to become a wolf?" She asked.
Asher looked so scared and his eyes were filled with tears that he was trying to keep from falling down his checks. "I don't know. Dad?"
"Yes, Ash." I replied.
"You decide, is it worth it?" His eyes were pleading with me with a mixture of fear and pain.
My stomach clinched and I knew that he would do whatever I told him. And while I knew that it was something that could never be undone, I also knew that it was the right thing to do. I had no doubt that once his body was able to heal that he would be able to walk and the worst would be over.
"Yes Son, it is and it will be an honor to have you as part of the pack."
Asher closed his eyes, causing the tears to leak out, however others followed in a steady stream down each side of his face. "What about vampires? How do we find them to make this happen?"
"Your mother has gotten that taken care of." I smiled at Bella and she nodded her head back at me.
(Author's Note: This isn't a cliffy, you know what is going to happen, I just couldn't fit it all in the same chapter. :) )