"Something tells me that doggy-style would just be awkward." Paul said as I walked into Emily's living room.
"Paul!" I growled; it wasn't an appropriate topic for the audience he was with.
Paul sat in his usual armchair, his back to me so he didn't notice our arrival. Collin, Seth and Embry sat on the three seater, and Quil had claimed Jared's usual chair. They were waiting to start their patrols; night patrols were particularly werewolf heavy at the moment, as Sam had been untrusting of the Cullens since the wedding.
I normally wouldn't have cared but Collin was only thirteen and he used to be very innocent when I sat beside him in History. Also, I wasn't alone. Lily had come with me, as she had a little crush on Quil. The whole Mat thing hadn't worked out too well; they had one date and then stopped talking to each other. Something to do with him telling Lily he wasn't looking for a girlfriend, just 'some hot and heavy'.
When Lily had confessed her attraction to Quil, I had wanted to tell her that wouldn't happen, but I didn't have the heart. I figured she'd eventually get over him by herself.
In early May, Quil came over to Emily's before patrol and met Claire, Emily's little niece. It had been a little weird to begin with, thinking that he had imprinted on a two year old but it became clear that his love was platonic. The pack were the first to accept the innocence of his affection, and all Jared had to do was tell me and I was fine with it; because I knew Jared wouldn't lie. Emily still has a few problems but I'd be surprised if she didn't.
"I'm talking about swimming." Paul laughed and I shook my head.
The boys on the three-seater were playing rock-paper-scissors in order to figure out who got to stay on the couch. Embry cheered and Seth and Collin got up to make room for us. I was happy to take Seth's spot beside Embry and Lily sat to my left. Seth and Collin went to grab chairs from the kitchen.
"Sure you were." I muttered to myself before yelling towards the hall, "Your mother wants to talk to you, Seth. You might want to pick some flowers on the way home because she sounded pissed."
I heard Seth curse and then the front door slammed shut.
Quil laughed, "Well, does Jared find it weird?"
I gasped and gawked at Quil, wondering exactly what it was that Jared had told them. If I found out that he was going into great detail with them then I was going to kick him, in just the right spot that he won't want sex for a month.
Lily giggled and stared at me, "Really?"
Paul came to my rescue, "No, Lily. He's just being a cock head."
"What? They've done just about everything else, it's fair to assume they've done that too." Quil argued and Embry started laughing.
"Everything else?" Lily kept giggling, "I didn't realise you two were so serious."
It was Embry's turn to defend me, as I couldn't think straight or fast enough to do so, "If you think what they've done is 'just about everything else' than it's no wonder that you're so unsuccessful with the fairer sex."
Quil pretended to laugh, "Oh, ha ha. When was the last time you even kissed a chick?"
"I could so get a chick before you could." Embry said as he turned towards Quil and they started to argue.
Paul turned away from the TV towards Lily and I, "Jared has never even hinted that you've done it doggy-style. He's been as chivalrous as possible."
"How much do you guys know about each other? If I walked into a room of guys and they were talking about my sex life, I'd feel a little worried." Lily smiled awkwardly and raised her eyebrows.
I sighed, it wasn't easy to explain this sort of thing, 'oh my boyfriend and his mates can read each other's every minds', I'm pretty sure Lily would laugh in my face.
"They're guys. All they ever do is talk about their sex lives. Which, for most of them, is nonexistent so they hold onto whatever they can get."
"Hey!" the boys whined and looked at me.
I shrugged and gestured for them to prove me wrong. Embry and Quil sighed and leant back into their seats. Paul didn't give in quite as easily. He moved to settle himself comfortably so that he could look directly at me.
"Firstly, just because we're guys doesn't mean the only thing we think about is sex. Secondly, I have a perfectly normal sex life, thank-you very much."
Lily laughed, "You two sound like brother and sister. A brother and sister that know too much about one another but still... it's kinda cute."
"Don't let Jared hear you say that." Quil said with a sly smile.
Lily's eyes glittered at that. She loved drama and, for reasons I do not understand, she thinks a guy getting jealous over his girlfriend's relationship with someone else is romantic. I don't think it's romantic, I think it shows a lack of trust and relationships can't work without trust.
She turned to me, "Jared is jealous of your relationship with Paul?"
"He's not." I said firmly.
It didn't do any good, "Did you have a crush on Sofia too?" Lily smiled at Paul, who shook his head.
"No. What do you mean by 'too'?" Paul asked, glancing at me.
"Well, Jared of course, but I guess that's not really a crush anymore, right?" Lily said with a slight laugh.
Embry laughed, "Hell, no. They're basically married."
"God knows Jared wants to be." Quil added.
Lily gawked at me and shifted her body away from Paul. She looked amazed and offended that I hadn't told her about Jared's almost proposal. I figured that since it was all in the hypothetical it didn't really matter, but the boys had clearly heard different.
I was thankful for the interruption when Brady burst into the room, "Sam needs you guys, now."
They didn't need to be told twice. Embry used my knee to help heave himself from the couch, only to be knocked back slightly by Quil, who was faster out of the gate. Barely a second later they had flown out of the room, none of them paying any attention to me and Lily now that they had a job to do.
Lily watched them run from the room and then turned back to me, "Do they all have an issue with wearing shirts? Actually, I don't care. What's this about Jared wanting to marry you?"
I explained the whole conversation, swapping astral projection with moving back to Australia, and made sure to emphasise that Jared wasn't actually proposing. It didn't work too well because Lily considered it to be as good as a proposal and said that I had actually accepted. As far as Lily was concerned, I was engaged. She also made sure to offer her services as Bridesmaid when we set a date.
It was not how I had expected the afternoon to go and I was grateful when I got back to the Clearwaters' that afternoon. That was until I walked through the door and found that Sue had company, Billy Black and Charlie Swan; he and Sue were good friends so I'd met him a few times. Considering how he was, I was surprised that Bella would be the way she was but I guess I didn't see him behind closed doors. Sue told me that Bella was, quote-unquote 'in hospital overseas and quite sick'. I knew exactly what that meant, as did Sue, but it was clear that Charlie thought it was exactly how it sounded, his daughter was sick not newly undead.
I couldn't stop thinking about it as I lay in bed. It was past midnight now and my mind swirled with the implications of Bella's choice.
Sam had said more than once, as had every member of the Pack, including Jacob, that if any of the Cullens turned Bella then the treaty was null and void. It didn't matter if they were on the other side of the country or the other side of the world. The Cullens were exempt from attack because they said they would never harm a human, if Bella was a vampire then the treaty was broken. To me, that showed how selfish Bella was and her issue with being older than her leech lover showed how immature she was. When you can live for an eternity than what does one year, or five, matter?
It meant that Jared would be risking his life. I didn't want Jared to be in harm's way, I didn't want any of them to be in danger. They may have been fast, strong and agile but even they knew that competing one on one was risky. If anything happened to Jared, to any of them really, then I didn't care if they were vampires or not, I would find a way to get revenge.
Even the simple act of choosing an eternity as a vampire confused me. Part of what made life so wonderful was the knowledge that we only had the one and it was short. To live forever would dull the senses to the beauty around them. Each sunset would be 'just a sunset' because there were a thousand more to come.
Then again it wasn't really living. Bella was dead, life was not an option for her anymore. How could that be enticing to anyone?
I knew that Jared would not age as long as he kept phasing and if he never stopped I would be alright with that. I didn't want to live without him so if that meant people thinking I was his grandmother than I would accept that, in order to stand beside him, in life. In order to live with him.
It made me shiver to think that someone would do what Bella had done, that someone would make such a massive decision with such an immature mind. I was sure she had not thought about this from all angles, no one who had could ever choose what she had chosen.
There was a knock at my window and I rolled over to see Jared standing outside. I rushed to open it, not bothering to remove the computer monitor as Jared was nimble enough to get past it without breaking anything.
He looked thoroughly exhausted and I led him straight to the bed. We sat in silence for a while, just watching one another.
Jared looked like he'd been running for days on end and had to do a five hour exam on quantum mechanics. His hair was scruffed up and his face smudged with small streaks of dirt and mud. He didn't hold himself with the same strength that he normally did. It was almost like he was sleep walking, only when he slept he looked much more comfortable than he did now.
He wrapped his long arms around me and I could feel exactly how tense and tired he was. I snuggled into his side, hoping that my presence alone would help him feel better. I think it did, somewhat, but I could still feel his tension in how his arms held me.
I broke the silence when the tension got too much, "Sue told me what happened."
Jared sighed, "She doesn't know the half of it."
"Do you want to talk about it?" I said softly as I tightened my arms around his waist.
He took a deep breath and pressed his lips to the top of my head, "Bella is still human."
There was something in his tone that told me this wasn't as good as it sounded. Bella being human meant that the treaty was still in place, which meant no war, which was good. Well, that's what I thought but it was clear that that wasn't how it was. I tightened my grip even more.
"She's pregnant."
I almost laughed but was able to hold it back because of the stress in the moment, "That's stupid, even for Bella."
Jared moved away from me and looked down, shock written on his face, "What?"
"Well, cheating on a human male can be dangerous at times. Cheating on a vamp is flat out moronic."
"She didn't cheat on Edward." Jared sighed.
I cringed, "He approved?" It was disturbing to think that a vampire would allow his human wife to sleep with another human just to get pregnant. It disturbed me to think that maybe he had watched. I shivered.
Jared shook his head and pulled me back into his side, "I guess you can say that." He took a deep breath before mumbling, "He's the father."
It was my turn to push away from Jared and I stared at him, "How is that possible? He's dead. No pulse. No pulse means no hard on means no climax means... how the fuck did he manage that?"
"I don't want to think about that." Jared groaned in disgust, "But the treaty is broken. The... that thing inside her... it's killing her."
The thought of a vampire having a child was beyond weird to me. If werewolves threatened the laws of Biology than vampires certainly did, and vampire offspring... that made no sense what so ever. How was it possible for something that wasn't living to make something that was?
"Jacob left." Jared whispered.
This was all getting to be a little bit too much, "What do you mean?"
Bella wasn't a vampire. But she was pregnant with vampire spawn. I wondered whether it would be human or vampire, should Bella survive to give birth to it. Now Jacob had left, I would have thought that he meant Jacob had run off like he did before the wedding but there was something hidden in his words.
"He's left the pack, for good. We can't hear his thoughts anymore because he's gone to save Bella and that thing."
I sighed, "It's a baby, Jared. You might not want to admit it but it's a baby. Maybe not human, maybe it's a monster like nothing we've seen before but it's still a baby."
Jared growled but I knew he didn't mean it to offend me, "It's a monster, you're right about that. But to compare it to a baby... it's not really a baby."
"Okay then, foetus." I said with slight uncertainty; I couldn't think of an animal equivalent of, or one that I feel deserves to be compared to, a vampire.
Despite everything, I still considered that science-defying progeny to be a baby. It wasn't its choice to be what it was, that was just the hand it was dealt. I learnt such things from Gizmo, she was a dog that no one liked but she couldn't help the breed she was born as or the unsuitable upbringing she had received. Bella I could dislike for wanting to be a vampire because she had a choice. This child was unfortunate; I couldn't hate it for being something that it had no choice in.
No, Bella was the one guilty of that.
Jared smiled at me but it was colder and weaker than usual, "I love that you still defend it. Despite how it goes against something that you love so much." He was referring to my love and knowledge of Biology.
"It's not the child's fault that its mother is a selfish, careless girl."
Jared kissed my forehead, "Seth went with him."
I pulled back and furrowed my brow at Jared, "With who?"
"Jacob."
I shook my head slowly and cuddled back up against Jared's side. I wondered if Bella felt at all bad for the drama that she was creating. If her past actions were anything to go off, she didn't know and she didn't care. Every day I found myself liking this girl, and that was what she was, less and less.
Jared fell asleep before I did and I was calmed by the sound of his slow, steady breaths. Despite everything, I was going to miss this when I went back to Australia, and I was sure that I would not be able to stay there for long without it.
