(Disclaimer- I don't own anything.)

okay, first of all, i'd just like to apologize for this being tres long.
its REALLY long, but I didn't see how I could make it any shorter unless I separated it into two chapters...and
if i'd separated it into two chapters, the second chapter would have been extremely short. extremely short.
but anyway, i hope that this isn't too boring. haha. read and review! more drama coming. and more edward
for all of you who adore him. speaking of which, no matter what side your own, Team edward or team jacob, please
do not hate me because of the outcome of my story. i will not say who she is going to end up with, but I can't
make everyone happy, and remember, I'm just as much an Edward fan as all the rest of you are, but I love Jake too.
So don't think I'm all team Jake. I'm definitely not. My storys just kinda runnin like that right now. :D
oh. and just because i said "right now" doesn't make it a hint. theres no hints in here. im a tricky gal.
:D mwahaha.

Lemons

My eyes widened as I stared at the object in my hands. That couldn't be right. The breath caught in my throat, my heart no longer pumping blood throughout my veins. I was half hoping that the oxygen would be hindered enough on its way to my brain that I'd pass out. Maybe if that happened I'd wake up and it'd have only been a dream. But unfortunately, even though I waited, breath never escaping my pale lips, I didn't lose consciousness. I'd been getting too good at holding my breath. I was almost vampire-like in my new ability. I'd been holding my breath so much lately due to all of the stress that it was almost as if my body no longer had any problem functioning without the constant flow of air. But that wasn't healthy. Because I wasn't a vampire. And I needed to be healthy now more than ever.

I heard the door to the public bathroom open then, heard the soft footsteps shuffle into the stall beside mine. The shoes under the short wall were blue and old-lady like. My eye twitched while I stared at them, remembering with an uneasy stomach the old lady that we'd met at the hotel. The hotel. I blinked, my heart now busy with beating again, though much too fast, quietly shoving the piece of terror into the sanitary bin, flushing the toilet and hurrying to the sink. I washed my hands with impatience, not stopping for paper towels. I was wiping my hands on my jeans as I exited the room, my eyes darting swiftly around the white grocery store.

I was on the lookout for pests. By pests, I mean John Newton. It was incredible how very much he had in common with his ancestor. Mike had always been a tad bit subtler, but other than that, they were exactly the same. They both had so much hope built up inside of them, hope that really shouldn't have existed, because neither of them would ever have had the time of day with me. And, I couldn't forget, they were both excruciatingly nice and amiable, a quality that I liked. The only bad part about the fact that they shared a good quality was that they could both always tell that I liked that. And that just fed into their foolish dreams. I scowled.

Of course, John was still at the cash register directly before the women's bathroom. He was chatting with a blonde girl. She was tall; four light bags were slung over her wrist. She seemed to be flirting a little, but he didn't look very interested. Of course not. I watched as the girl walked away, too afraid to move myself, praying silently that maybe, if I could muster the courage to move my legs at all, I could sneak by unnoticed. As I stood frozen there like an idiot, he took off the dark blue smock, getting ready to leave. His shift was over. He'd want to talk. There was no chance to move now. He turned and caught my horrified eyes, his jaw muscles working overtime to produce the biggest dopey grin I'd ever seen before.

I really had to work on my timing.

"Anna!" He greeted, his hand flopping around in the air like a frenzied fish. I continued to stare; I was too full of self-loathing, too busy cursing my immobile legs, to even smile back at him. He blinked, his eyebrows rising as I completely ignored him. We were still making full-on eye contact. That didn't make me very happy, seeing as I was making it completely obvious that I'd seen him, that I was still seeing him, though I didn't want to. There was no point in trying to pretend like I hadn't noticed him now. I had no where to run. My lungs filled slowly with oxygen, my mind endeavoring in the act of getting my lips to curve, getting my legs to step forward. My mind wasn't having too good of a time with that.

The lady with the blue shoes stepped behind me now, her shopping bag jabbing into the back of my knee. My lips pursed themselves, finally managing to move a little as I turned my head to peer at her. The woman had blue-gray hair that matched her sneakers, too-bright red lipstick on her non-existent lips. Her shirt was a bright orange color. I gawked at her as she smiled genially at me.

"Excuse me." She said, her voice quivering with age, grinning. I stepped to the left, allowing her to pass me, mumbling apologies. I continued to stare as she walked away from me, noticing the sway of what could possibly be artificial hips. Yuck. Aging. This was not something that I would have a fun time with. I flinched as the image of myself, gray and waddling, came into my head, turning back to look at John. It surprised me when my eyes came up empty, when he wasn't there.

"Watcha doin?" His voice slid into my ear, suddenly right beside me. I jumped. "Sorry." He muttered, grimacing slightly. I blinked at him, not quite sure if my impatience would hold off long enough for me to have a polite conversation with him. It probably wouldn't. Maybe that would be a good thing, though. Maybe he would finally realize that I didn't want him or any of his family members. Maybe, I thought, trying to think on the positive side of things.

Positive. My face fell blank with shock and horror at the word.

John's eyebrows furrowed as he took in my expression, his mouth opening to utter the question burning in his eyes. He was too curious for his own good, rather nosey for someone who was mainly a stranger. Strangers didn't own the right to pry in on someone else's business unless they were offered the information. Someone ought to have told him that. My eyes narrowed as I cleared my throat quietly, banning the look from my face. I was almost to the point of hyperventilation. I needed to get my emotions under control, especially in front of the ever-observant John Newton, seeing as he was so poorly educated on the art of stranger-etiquette.

"I was just going to go meet my friend back at her car." I informed him, nullifying any chance of the question to pour from his mouth, answering his earlier question a little late instead. He nodded, a sour expression creeping onto his ivory skin. My eyebrows hooked together, wondering what had caused that to happen.

"That Jacob Young kid?" He asked, pouting. I could understand now why he was making the face, but the last name caught me off guard. My eyebrows rose high above my eyes, my mouth opening. I blinked.

"Jacob Young?"

"Yeah…" He said slowly as though talking to a moron. "That kid that was at your house the other day. His name is Jacob Young. Didn't you know that?" He stared at me for a moment like I was mentally challenged. I continued blinking rapidly, trying to understand. I could feel the correction burning on my tongue, feel myself itching to tell him that he was wrong, that Jacob's last name wasn't Young, but something deep in my stomach told me to just go along with it. I'd ask Jacob about it later.

"Oh." I replied instead. "I didn't know his last name."

John snorted at this, looking away from me with a smug expression on his face. "Yeah, Jake's always got a girl on his arm. I'm not really surprised he's been trying to get at you." He paused shortly, his eyes flashing to my face, inspecting my reaction before continuing. Almost as if he was hoping that his words had disgusted me, had made me want to spend more time with him than the player he was making Jake out to be. Or like he was lying. Trying to see if I'd bought into his words. My eyes narrowed as he finished talking. "But is that him that you're talking about, waiting in the car?"

"No. It isn't." I told him curtly, turning my back to him and heading for the motion-detector doors. He followed me, of course, but I didn't stop. I continued on, quickening the pace, hoping I wouldn't trip over anything on the way. He was practically jogging to keep up. I was speed-walking in my determination to get away from his pathetic face. So the new Newton was a vindictive liar, was he? Hmph.

"So, uh, who is it?" He huffed, catching up with me. I scowled at him, making my way through the parking lot, headed for the blue car that was waiting for me. I could see Melanie sitting in the driver's seat, her blonde curls bobbing as she tossed her head to whatever music she was listening to. She'd stayed here while I'd snuck back into the store and bought the aspect of my future. She knew nothing about it. We'd already finished all of our shopping and were back to the car when I'd told her that I'd needed to go to the bathroom, that she should wait in the car. I didn't need a bathroom buddy. This wasn't high school anymore.

It hadn't been my main reason for going alone, but she didn't need to know that.

"None of your business." I shot at him. Patience up. His eyes widened at me as I glanced back at his face. Instead of trying to be diplomatic and polite, to correct my rude behavior, I smiled antagonistically at him before opening the car door and jumping in. I was getting to be more like Jacob. It made a genuine grin come to my face.

"All good?" Melanie asked, turning the volume of her car radio down with the little knob. I nodded, smiling, thanking her for being so patient, as she drove away.

--

After helping to unload the groceries, Jacob sat down on the couch, a lethargic look to his dark features. His arm twisted over the back of the couch as he slunk down into the cushion. He'd been out all night and early morning with his pack brothers and sisters, protecting the town. Though he was tired, Melanie had gone home already, eager to get back to Seth, and I knew that this was most likely the best time to tell him. I should tell him while we were alone. I felt the nausea building in my stomach, the acid eating a hole right through my flesh, as my breathing picked up. His tired eyes examined my face, tapping the cushion beside him.

I sat hesitantly, smiling shyly at him. I could feel the queasiness creeping onto my face, was aware of the fact that my skin had probably turned a little green. I closed my eyes, attempting to even the ragged breaths dodging my lips, as his hand found mine.

"What's wrong, Bella?" He whispered, lifting me from beside him and hugging me to his chest. It was so warm there. I eased at his touch, but not enough to completely forget my qualms. I sighed, my face breaking with the thoughts swirling around in my head. Groaning into his neck, I let myself collapse there in his arms. I was so tense lately.

Ignoring his question, I shot one of my own. "Why does John Newton think that your name is Jacob Young?" I asked. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he answered me.

"It's a name that I use sometimes. I'm always changing my last name. It's just to be safe." As he said this, he shifted me on his lap, making it easier for him to see my face. I bit my lip. "Now stop avoiding my question. I know that isn't what's bothering you. Tell me." My heart thumped in my chest. "C'mon, Bells." I panicked, my eyes focusing on one of the yellow lemons displayed in the center of the table.

"Jacob, how do you feel about…lemons?" I asked him. I knew that it was a really horrible analogy, but I could think of nothing else, and I didn't want to actually tell him quite yet. I was pining for another way of informing him, a way that consisted of well, not really having to tell him at all. I wished I was a werewolf, that I could transform with him and send him my thoughts. There'd be so much less stress involved. My fingers toyed nervously with the belt loop on his jeans. He raised his eyebrows.

"What?" He looked at me like I was a lunatic, his eyebrows pulling together over his confused black eyes. I pursed my lips.

"How would you feel if I gave you a lemon?" I insisted.

"What? Bells, what do lemons have to do with anything?" He shook his head at me incredulously. He looked so confused that I would have laughed if I hadn't been so distraught. I really felt like I was going to puke. I needed a bucket. A barf-bag.

"Jacob…" I had no idea what I was saying. I was becoming delusional with leftover shock from the image that'd been displayed before me in the ladies bathroom. The image of blue. Blue. I'd seen so many blue things today. I hated the color blue. I despised it. My heart spattered like a jackhammer in my chest. I started to hyperventilate. My words were mixing around in my head. It was so hard to think. I couldn't get it straight in my head. "Jake, I'm pregnant. We're having a lemon."

(author's note: ahahahah! wooo. so uh, edward fans, don't hate me. read more before you attack. and please
be kind in your reviews, even if you have critical remarks. everyone seems to have been being careful about this,
no one's really been very mean, but i just want to warn people. haha. i hate confrontation. but anywayyyy!
props to wideeyedmonkey who totally guessed that this would happen, and also to megavamp, who, too, said
a LOOOONG time ago that she'd thought this would happen. It was so hard lying to her about it! :D)