Babies, Babies, Babies

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Part Thirty Six

Charlie and Sue were surprised to see Jacob and Bella back so early, they had assumed the two of them would have taken advantage of having no responsibilities for the night and partied well into the early hours. Jet and Marlon were settled and fast asleep. Billy had only just gone to bed himself and Charlie and Sue were watching a late night film together. "Hey, kiddo had…" Charlie stopped talking when he saw Bella's wan face. "What happened?"

"Rachel." Jacob muttered as he steered Bella toward an empty chair and helped her sit down. He then went to get a glass of water for her. She took it from him gratefully and gulped it down.

Charlie only had a vague idea of what had happened between Billy and his daughter. He knew there had been a big bust up over money and that she seemed resentful of Bella's interaction with her twin's children, but he didn't know the full of extent of it. He got up and hunkered down in front of his daughter. "What did she say?" He asked worriedly.

"Just stuff about the kids and Becca coming back." Bella felt tears pool in her eyes again as she looked into her father's kind face. She smiled falteringly to try and ease the worry lines on his forehead. "I'm okay, honestly. Jet and Marlon okay?" She asked to deflect his worry.

"They went straight to sleep." Sue assured her as she came up behind Charlie and put her hands on his shoulders. "You want a hot drink, Bella? That always soothes my nerves."

"That would be great." This time Bella's smile was more genuine. The shock of Rachel's verbal attack was slowly wearing off. Jacob pulled up a chair beside her and took her hands in his. He was still anxious as was Charlie. Bella knew she needed to learn to hide her distress better. "I'm fine now, really."

"If you say so, kiddo." Charlie was still not convinced but he had learned over the years not to press the issue with his daughter when she didn't want to talk. He patted her shoulder as he stood up. "I have half a mind to go and tear a strip off of Rachel myself."

"Don't do that, Charlie." Jacob interjected quickly. "I think she got the message after I spoke to her."

"But why is she so hostile? I don't understand it. Of course I remember her having a short fuse even when she and Becca were kids, but still to take out her issues on Bells is not on." Charlie frowned. "She should be damn grateful that Bells is stepping in and looking after the kids. Unbelievable! Sounds like plain old jealousy to me. She sees you two getting on with your lives, yeah it's a struggle and all, but you've stepped up to the plate. And what has she done apart from drift from one thing to another when she flunked out of college." He shook his head in disbelief.

Jacob exchanged a confused look with Bella and Sue when Charlie came out with that statement. "Rach hasn't drifted; she's been doing three jobs to pay her way through college…."

"Yes, I know that's the story she told you." Charlie sat down and faced them. "And what your father still believes but I did some digging of my own when Rachel came back with Becca. After all the trouble with Becca just taking off on a whim I wanted to make sure that we weren't blindsided by something Rachel kept hidden. So I made a few discreet calls and enquiries of my own." He could see he had taken them all by surprise.

Sue sat beside him and took his hand. "Why didn't you say something?" She asked.

"Because Billy had enough to cope with and he was happy that his daughter was home after being out of contact for so long. And then Rachel seemed to be hanging around so I thought perhaps she was going to try and make a go of things here. I never expected her to do this though." Charlie ran a hand through his greying hair. He didn't like delivering bad news, but after Rachel's verbal tirade against Bella he couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"What has she been doing then, Charlie?" Jacob sounded defeated. Bella put her hand on his leg and stroked it comfortingly. She should have guessed there was more to Rachel's outbursts.

"Rachel flunked out of Washington State after one semester. She abused the terms of her scholarship and as such it was revoked. As far as I am aware she has been living hand to mouth through a series of dead end jobs. Twice she left places she was living in without paying the rent…." He shrugged helplessly when he saw Jacob put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, son. I expect the reason Rachel is hanging around is because she really has nowhere else."

"That's why she wanted me to plead her case to dad." Jacob raised his head again; his voice was full of bitterness. "That line she was feeding us about wanting to be someone, to train as a doctor was just a bunch of crap."

"She may have meant it." Bella said, even though she didn't believe that for a moment herself.

Jacob smiled at her sadly. "You always try to see the best in everyone."

"No, that's you." Bella stroked his leg again. "Now we know what has really been going on perhaps we can get through to her. She's obviously frightened. I think she's lashing out at me because I am an easy target and Becca let her down and fled."

"That doesn't excuse her behaviour." Sue interjected. "Billy needs to be told the truth." She glanced at Charlie. "I think it's best coming from you. He may be a little angry that this was kept from him." She pointed out.

"Of course he will. But I can take it." Charlie leaned forward and kissed Sue gently.

Billy was indeed angry. Charlie stood stoically as his friend raged at him. When Billy ran out of steam he patiently told him his reasons for not revealing the information earlier and after an hour the two men were sitting side by side drinking beer and discussing what to do next. Jacob was out in the garage working while this was going on so Bella and the children were the only witnesses. She was amazed at how well her father knew Billy and vice versa. They could exchange any number of harsh words but underneath their friendship was so strong that they could forgive as easily as sharing a can of beer.

Bella spent most of the day indoors. She didn't feel like going out for a walk in case she bumped into Elise or her cronies or worse, Rachel. She didn't feel up to having another confrontation with either. Instead she played with Jet and Marlon and spent a quiet lunch with Jacob when he took a break. Charlie had taken Billy fishing for the day. Charlie thought it would be a good distraction for Billy and perhaps clear his head so he could ponder his next move regarding Rachel.

Jacob was not in a forgiving mood about his sister. Bella tried to broach the subject but he shut it down immediately. Instead he made small talk about the kids and they spent an amusing hour watching Jet try to deviously climb onto a stool so she could reach the biscuit tin. She would furtively push the light stool toward the kitchen and pout when Bella or Jacob caught her in the act. She was certainly getting more mischievous by the day and Bella's heart swelled with love for them, which made it all the harder when she thought about Rebecca's possible return. Jacob still seemed certain that his flaky sister wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, but Bella wasn't so sure. But she kept her concerns to herself as she could see Jacob was still upset about his other sister, Rachel.

A few days of peace and calm followed. Bella was now practically living at the Black's house and Charlie had essentially moved in with Sue Clearwater. Both of them had started to move their clothes from the Swan house and bring them to the reservation so they wouldn't have to keep going back and forth. Jacob and Bella had moved into the twin's room now Rachel was camped out at Paul's, although they shared the room, for Charlie's sake, they pretended that Jacob still slept on the couch. Jacob had managed to score some extra work from a local car dealer who wanted his cars serviced by someone local with good mechanical knowledge and cheap of course. Jacob charged much less and did better work then Jim Dowling's, which was the only garage in the area.

Jet's leg was now fully healed, and as it was no longer strapped up, this meant that she could now move faster and more silently without any hindrance. Bella was kept on her toes by the little girl as she ran after her from one end of the house to the other. She found it much easier to head outside and wear Jet out playing in the park. Marlon was growing day by day and becoming much more aware. He continually fascinated Bella as she watched each tiny achievement. Both children were amazing in her eyes. She became so caught up in this peaceful interlude that her worries began to drift away and it came like a punch to the gut when she received a call from Rosalie with the news that Alice and Jasper had been located. Edward wasn't with them and they were refusing to talk, with Alice insisting that she couldn't say a word because it would impact on Bella's future wellbeing. Jasper was protecting his mate and told Rosalie, Carlisle and the others in no uncertain terms that Alice was not lying and to back off.

"I don't understand. Why is she doing this?" Bella held the phone tightly in her hand to stop it shaking. She watched as Jet toddled past pushing the stool in front of her. She sensed that Bella was preoccupied and was trying to sneak past to reach the biscuit tin. Bella followed after the toddler and took the stool away which sent Jet off into a crying jag.

"Mom….mom…"

Bella sighed, bent down and picked the little girl up in her arms. "Sorry, Rose." She apologised. "You were saying?"

"Is that the little girl?" Rose's tone was soft. "Is she alright? She sounds distressed."

"She's fine. I've just spoiled her fun that's all." Jet had already stopped crying and was now patting Bella's face with her hands mumbling mom, mom, mom.

"She calls you mom." Rosalie whispered. "I hear that word in my daydreams, a little boy or girl calling me mom and then I run to sweep them up into my arms but they're never really there…." Her voice faded away into painful silence.

Bella felt guilty. She quietened Jet down. "I'm so sorry, Rose."

"No…I just got distracted." Rosalie cleared her throat. "What I wanted to say is we need to meet. I think if you saw Alice face to face and demand to know what she is hiding it might have some influence on her. Bring your wolf boy of course."

Bella smiled sadly. She wondered whether Rosalie would ever call Jacob by his name, but the thought of seeing Alice again was not something she felt comfortable doing, but it couldn't be helped. It worried her what Alice could possibly be hiding about her future. What had she really seen that day when they were alone together? Could it have something to do with the children? A cold fear gripped her heart as she contemplated all different terrifying scenarios in her head. The threat of Rebecca's return loomed large and some internal instinct made her think it had something to do with that. The kids were so much a part of her now; it would make sense that Alice would see them too.

"Bella, are you still there?" Rosalie asked when she didn't answer straight away.

"Yes, sorry. When do you want to meet?"

"Bring your wolf boy and whoever else you want to the treaty line tonight around midnight. We will all be there, including Jasper and Alice."

"They won't come willingly." Bella surmised.

"They'll be there." Rosalie said with certainty. "Don't worry, Bella. We have your back." She assured her.

"Thank you." Bella replied gratefully.

"Oh and Bella…."

"Yes?"

"The little girl, give her a kiss from me." Rosalie sounded so sad that Bella felt tears spring to her eyes.

"Of course." Bella heard Rosalie end the call. She put her cell down and kissed Jet carefully on the forehead. Jet smiled up at her and began to babble away in her own made up language. "That's from your Auntie Rose." Bella murmured.

"Rrrrusss….rrrrusss…." Jet mumbled as a single tear fell down Bella's cheek.

A/N-thanks for reading!