Being There

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thank you so much for the kind reviews. I really appreciate the support! You all rock!

Part Thirty Five

Six months later...

Jacob slammed the hood of the car down and stretched his aching muscles; another job completed. He gazed around his newly re-vamped garage with satisfaction. When they were fixing up the house after Emily had crashed Sam's truck into it, Paul had come up with the idea of extending Jacob's garage and modernising it. Everyone had been surprised that it had been Lahote who had come up with the suggestion, but Jacob could see the sense in it. Paul was eager to be the one to oversee the project and he had a good reason behind it. He wanted to partner Jacob and turn what was an initial idea of having somewhere spacious to fix up a few cars for cash in hand to actually beginning a small but viable business.

Jacob had been very reluctant at first, he and Paul were not exactly best friends but he did not have room to argue. They needed a heavy injection of cash to get themselves started, Jacob had the insurance money his mom had started for him and his sisters. Paul didn't have much capitol but he did have a strong work ethic and that more than made up for his lack of funds. The hours and hard work he had put in getting the garage up to spec had paid off in spades. Charlie and Billy had jointly taken out a small business loan to inject some money into the fledgling business. It was still early days but the work was beginning to trickle in. Their only real rival was Jim Dowling in Forks and he had a reputation for overcharging and poor work. Word of mouth about the new set up in La Push began to spread and now Jacob and Paul were able to start earning some proper money.

Bella was now eight months pregnant and very close to giving birth. She was no longer in school after having been expelled after a fight with Lauren. She had been four months gone when she finally informed the school of her pregnancy. Almost straight away the bitchy comments had started, mainly fuelled by Lauren. Every day that Bella went into Forks High she was subjected to gossip and stares. Jessica had been a huge support but she couldn't be with Bella twenty four seven while in school. In the end it had come to a head in the canteen when Bella could take no more of Lauren and her gangs nasty comments.

She was sitting alone grimacing at the rancid stew that the school deemed fit enough to serve it's pupils when Lauren's nasally tones floated across the cafeteria in her direction. It was the same old story; that she was carrying Edward Cullen's baby and that was the reason why he had fled Forks. Her hangers on laughed at each comment she threw Bella's way. In the end Bella just saw red. She picked up her bowl of stew and stalked over to Lauren and with a smirk on her face she dumped the whole lot over the other girls head. Lauren had been outraged, she began to spew more insults at Bella as the others laughed at her predicament. Bella knew that her time at school was up and decided to go out with a bang. She punched Lauren in the face for a second time and with the cheers of the other pupils ringing in her ears she just walked out before the principal had the pleasure of expelling her anyway.

Charlie had been both shocked and admiring as Bella spilled out what she had done. She refused to attend another school and announced she was going to work on the book about Sarah's stories. She wanted to do the same on-line programme that Jacob and all the other school age members of the pack were now doing. Charlie had caved in straight away and gave her a hug. He said no more on the matter. Bella worked hard on the book and had already sent several drafts off to different publishers, hoping to hear back from them.

Another development was the relationship between Jessica and Quil. It had taken her a few months to recover from the loss of her baby. Through all that time Quil had been supportive and a shoulder to lean on. The charges against him had been dropped. Jessica had taken it upon herself to go and see Eric; they had a heart to heart about what had happened between them and as a result he had promised to get his dad to drop the charges. When he received the news Quil was ecstatic and the first thing he did was ask Jess out on a date. She had readily agreed, her feelings for him had been growing steadily over the past weeks and as they were practically living in the same house with Quil's family they were hardly apart. The date had been a success and Quil was now ready to tell Jessica the truth about his heritage when the timing was right.

As for Leah and Sam it had been a rough road for them. Sam took longer than expected to recover from his guilt over Emily's death. At first he pushed Leah away and hid away in the small house he used to share with her cousin. He only emerged to go to work and carry out his patrol shifts. Leah was in despair; all that she had fought for was crumbling. In the end it took a few well placed blows on the jaw from Jacob and forgiveness from Billy to make Sam wake up to what he was doing. He still had bad days but with Leah's support he was finally moving forward. He sold the small house and he and Leah were now living in a small apartment on the res.

The pack as a whole had settled down well under Jacob's leadership. He had relaxed the timetable of late as there had been few sightings of nomadic vampires in recent months. News had spread in the vampire world about the pack and now the cold ones tended to avoid La Push entirely if they ever passed that way. It lifted a huge burden off of them all and they were slowly getting their lives back to some sort of normality.

Bella had moved into the Black's house in the end. While they were renovating it, Billy had agreed to extend Jacob's room. It was now three times its original size and had plenty of space for a king size bed and built in wardrobes. They were in the process of turning the twin's old room into a nursery. After a tense phone conversation between Billy and his daughter Rachel about when she was coming home, she had informed him that it was not going to happen. Billy had been upset by her attitude but he immediately consented for her old room to be used for the baby.

XXXXXX

Jacob strolled over to Paul who was lying underneath a car working on the exhaust. "Paul, I'm heading out to pick Bells up from work."

Paul pushed himself out from under the car and nodded. "Alright. I can't believe she actually managed to carry on working at Newton's for this long. At least its her last day. Maybe they gave her a bonus." He mused.

"I highly doubt it." Jacob replied. "Although she has practically taken over managing the whole store, she would be more than entitled to it."

"Well don't worry about coming back. I'll finish up here and lock up." Paul offered.

"Thanks." Jacob said gratefully. "Don't stay here too late. You should get out, it's a Friday night."

Paul shrugged. "Those days are gone my friend. I'm a hard working business owner now." He quipped.

"Yeah right." Jacob grinned at him. "See you later."

Paul gave him a quick wave before resuming work on the car. Who would have thought that Paul of all people would have been the one to change the most? Jacob thought to himself as he left.

XXXXXX

Bella was waiting for him outside the store. Mike Newton was standing with her, he had remained friends with Bella and, now he was no longer hitting on her, Jacob was able to tolerate him for short periods.

"Newton." Jacob nodded at Mike as he approached.

"Black." Mike responded. Bella rolled her eyes at them, they would never use each other's first names.

"Ready to go honey." Jacob asked as he leaned down to kiss her.

"Definitely." Bella was feeling extremely tired. She was still very thin which made her bump even more pronounced. The baby had been active all day, kicking and squirming about. The female customers had been touching her bump all day without her permission. Why did people feel it was their right to do so without asking? Bella was glad it was her last day.

"Keep in touch, Bella." Mike called out to her as Jacob helped her into the Rabbit.

"Will do and thanks for everything Mike." Bella yelled back to him. Mike held out his hand and waved as Jacob started the car and pulled away.

"How was your last day?" Jacob asked as he drove. He gave her a quick glance before turning his eyes back to the road.

"Long." Bella mumbled. "Oh by the way Mrs, Newton offered me the assistant managers job. She said I could start after the baby's born."

Jacob frowned. "What did you say?"

"I said I would think about it." Bella closed her eyes and was soon napping as Jacob drove her over to Charlie's. He parked the Rabbit behind the police cruiser and gently nudged Bella awake. Her eyes popped open. "Did I fall asleep again?"

Jacob smiled. "Yeah. You're entitled too honey. You're cooking our little boy in there." He patted her expanding belly with pride.

"It could be a girl." Bella reminded him. He seemed fixated on the fact that it was a boy.

"Nah, Old Quil says that the way you are carrying it is definitely a boy." Jacob said with certainty.

"What does that old fool know." She complained as she opened the passenger door and struggled to get out.

"He predicted all of his relatives births and was right every time." Jacob quickly got out and ran around to help Bella.

Bella rolled her eyes. "So he says."

Jacob smiled at her. She was so adorable when she was being moody. The count down to the birth was approaching fast and he knew that she was feeling a little apprehensive. Jessica had wanted to hold a baby shower but Bella had snapped that she didn't want any fuss. Instead Leah suggested holding another beach party, only a small gathering with the pack and family members. Bella seemed happier with that and it was to be held the next night on Second beach away from prying eyes.

"Have you got your key, Bells?" Jacob asked.

Bella nodded. She rummaged in her bag and handed it to him. Jacob opened the door and followed her inside. They found Charlie in the kitchen in the process of making some coffee. "Hey kiddo, how was your last day?" He asked.

Bella pulled a face. "Too long. Where's mom?"

"She's sitting out in the garden. I managed to persuade her to get some air. I just came in to make her a drink." Charlie told her.

"How has she been?" Bella asked cautiously.

"You know Renee. She's still not happy about going outside, she doesn't want people to see her using the wheelchair." He sighed. "Billy tried to talk to her but she shut him down. The Doctors have said it will take a while for her to adapt to her new situation."

Bella gave her dad a sympathetic smile. Renee had been transferred to Seattle and been assessed by a specialist team. They had decided to keep her in an induced coma for two weeks giving her time to heal. Each day saw a small improvement and finally they deemed her stable enough to bring her around. As pleased as she was to see that Bella and the baby were fine, Renee sank into a dark depression. The fact that the bones in her legs had been shattered and that she had months of rehabilitation ahead of her made her extremely moody. When she had recovered enough to leave the hospital she came back to live with Charlie. He'd had the house adapted for her needs; his medical insurance paying for the bulk of the work. Each day Renee was taken to Port Angeles to work on strengthening her body and working on her legs. She could walk short distances with the aid of crutches, but would always need the wheelchair. Hearing the news had been hard for her to take. Her spirit had further been crushed when Phil finally got in contact asking for a divorce.

"I'll take the coffee and go see her." Bella said, she took the mug from her dad's hands and headed out the back door. Jacob stayed inside with Charlie giving the two women some privacy.

"Hi, mom." Bella greeted Renee.

"Baby girl. Is that for me?" Renee forced a smile onto her face as she reached out to take the coffee. "How was your last day?"

Bella smiled wryly. "Not great. Everyone kept touching my belly without even asking."

Renee grimaced. "That happened to me too when I was carrying you."

"Really?"

"Yes. I remember telling one woman to take her dirty paws and put them somewhere else when she kept patting my belly." Renee smiled grimly at the memory.

"What did she say?" Bella asked with interest. It was rare for Renee to talk about her past.

"Charlie's mother didn't speak to me for a week for which I was grateful. She always was a snooty old bat." Renee took a sip of her coffee.

"You said that to Gran?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"Yes, she deserved it. Always interfering and telling me I wasn't good enough for her son. I always felt sorry for Bob marrying a woman like her." Renee replied.

Bella had few memories of her grandmother; she was quite a distant woman and didn't like mess. She would often tell young Bella off for making crumbs when she was eating. As for her grandfather Bobby, he always seemed quiet and withdrawn. They had both passed away when Bella was very young.

"Is that why you found it so hard to settle here,mom?" Bella asked her tentatively.

Renee looked at her sadly. "Partly. I never really fit in. Not here, or anywhere. I always felt on the edge of things. Never good enough."

"Did you ever tell dad that, mom?" Bella twisted in her seat so she could see Renee properly. Her mother seemed in a reflective mood.

Renee looked at the empty mug in her hands, her fingers gripped it tightly. "I was young when I had you, Bella. I was not strong like you are. When I see you and Jacob together, how much he loves and supports you I'm envious. It was different with your dad and I. We cared for each other of course but we were never partners or friends who could talk. Charlie was always reserved like his own father." She glanced up and gave Bella a small smile as she heard her protest. "Oh he's different now. I can see it. He has changed, maybe getting older is the reason. But back then he found it hard to discuss his feelings and I...well I was constantly seeking reassurance. Add into the mix the mother in law from hell and bam, you have a recipe for disaster."

Bella reached out and took the mug from Renee's hands so she could hold them in her own. "I've never heard you admit any of this before."

"Well I was busy trying to justify myself, trying to re-live the youth I thought I had lost. I've been a selfish fool baby girl. I'm sorry." Tears began to leak out of Renee's eyes as she spoke. Bella began to cry too as she leaned closer and put her arms around her mother seeking comfort.

A/N-I hope you all didn't mind me moving the story forward a few months. I thought it was time. Please let me know what you think. Nikki :)