Change of Plans

JacobxBella; Edward

Rated M

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the franchise, as it belongs to Steph Meyers

Change of Plans

Chapter XI

Everyone stared at and whispered about Bella Swan being pregnant for the rest of the school day. Ever since Edward had announced she was expecting and indicated that the baby wasn't his, the news had spread like wildfire throughout the school. Everywhere Bella turned, someone was staring at her or whispering to their friend. It was just like how when she had first started getting close to and dating Edward, only this time, it wasn't an exciting time for her. No, this made her feel more self-conscious than she ever had before in her life. Not even being embarrassed about her natural clumsiness could compare to this.

The speculating of who was the baby's father was more of a hot topic than the fact she was pregnant. Bella supposed that teenage girls getting pregnant wasn't much of a taboo topic like it used to be, something she could kind of be grateful for. Speculation of who got her pregnant and when it had happened came down to what was widely thought by her fellow classmates. Because she was pregnant by someone who wasn't Edward, some deduced that she had gotten pregnant before the Cullens moved back to Forks and had to have happened some time close to that point. As for who knocked her up, many believed that it was the hot hunk of man meat that had picked her up just the day before on the motorcycle. Needless to say, the one thing that everyone seemed to agree upon was that Edward had been completely out of pocket for what he did. He was absolutely wrong for revealing her pregnancy the way he did, and they believed that it was a super vindictive move on his part. They believed that if that was just a small sample of what Bella had put up with while dating him, they were glad she dumped him.

Angela and Jessica had tried to keep Bella occupied so as not to listen to what everyone was saying, but she heard it all. The one thing to surprise Bella after the reveal though, had been Lauren coming to her to tell her that Edward was gauche for doing that to her. She had told her not even someone as lame as her deserved to be humiliated like that. The way she had warped her insult to make it sound like some sort of apology amazed yet baffled Bella, but she thanked the blonde girl anyway. Even so, she didn't care about that. All she wanted was for the school day to end so she could leave school as fast as possible. Of the entire week from finding out she was pregnant on Monday to now (Thursday), it had seemed like some sort of wild rollercoaster, and she was strapped in and couldn't get off. Everything was happening so fast and out of her control, and this day starting with Edward's deliberate reveal of her pregnancy, to everyone talking about it, was the icing on the fucking cake. Bella really felt that once the day was over, she couldn't leave school fast enough.

The moment the final bell rung to end the school day, Bella rushed out of her class, down the hallway to the exit, and out of the building as fast as her feet would carry her. She rushed to her truck, hellbent on getting home and away from the awful day she had. She had felt like she wanted to cry the entire day, but had held back because she didn't want everyone else to see her as weak and witness just how bothered she was by Edward's actions. Now however, those tears were threatening to form, and she knew that once they did, they were sure to spill from her eyes and down her cheeks. Making it to her truck, she unlocked it with her key and made to get into it but was stopped from doing so by the sudden appearance of Alice.

Glaring at the pixie-like vampire, Bella nearly growled out, "Move Alice."

Alice looked at her with a hurt expression before saying, "Bella, I want to talk to you about this morning. I've spoken to Edward about it, and he-"

"Alice, I really don't give a damn what you said to Edward or what he had to say in response. I don't want to hear it, okay? You and Edward have done enough, and I want you to leave me alone, something you probably should have done a long time ago." Bella's voiced had cracked in the middle of her talking, her fraught emotions rising and threatening to make her start crying. Blinking quickly to keep herself from crying, Bella saw that Alice was about to speak again. Cutting her off, she said, "If you're going to try to convince me that he didn't mean it, you can kiss my ass because I know he did. I saw the look in his eyes, and he meant to hurt me this way. And you trying to justify it by saying it was an accident or he didn't mean it makes you just as bad as he is concerning this whole situation. You've both done enough damage to last a lifetime to me, and I'm sick of it. I mean it, Alice; leave me the hell alone."

Not even giving her a chance to respond, Bella pushed past her and got into her truck, cranking it up and nearly flying out of the parking lot, her tires screeching as she did while on the verge of tears. She was headed towards home, wanting to get there and lock herself away from the world. However, as she slowed down at a stoplight, she saw the police station not too far from where she was. Making a quick decision, Bella waited for the light to change before detouring to the police station, pulling into a parking spot next to one of the many police cruisers. Getting out of it, she closed the driver's side door and walked into the station towards the front desk.

Clearing her throat to get the attention of the lady sitting behind the desk, she asked, "Is my dad in?"

The woman looked at her and said, "Hello Bella. Yes, Charlie is in his office right now. You can go in; I'm sure he won't mind."

Thanking her, Bella made her way to her father's office, seeing the door open and stepping inside just as he hung up his office phone, having just finished a call. Looking up at the presence in his office, Charlie was surprised to see his daughter standing there, having stopped by the station, something she never did. Smiling at her, he greeted, "Hey kiddo. This is a surprise."

The brunette didn't respond, giving him a weak smile before it fell. Immediately, Charlie could see something was wrong. His daughter was clearly upset about something and looked like she was going to start crying at any minute. Frowning, he stood up from his desk and walked over to the office door, closing it to give them privacy. Turning back to Bella, he asked, "What's the matter, Bella? Did something happen?"

Seeing how concerned her dad was for her finished breaking the dam in Bella's eyes. Tears that were forming overflowed onto her cheeks and she began crying in earnest. Rushing into her father's arms, Bella wrapped her arms around him as she cried into his shoulder, Charlie holding her close and comfortingly while trying to also soothe her with words. Finally feeling like she could speak through her tears, Bella told Charlie what had happened at school that day. She told him about how she had broken up with Edward and him revealing her pregnancy in retaliation for her breaking up with him. Charlie was furious by that little prick's actions. How dare he do that to Bella? How dare he have the audacity to reveal something to everyone that wasn't his to reveal? He had already hurt Bella once and had promised him he wouldn't do it again—not that he believed him, and he could see that he was right—and had hurt her again, deliberately this time. Charlie made a mental note to have a few choice words with Dr. Cullen about his son and soon, but first, he needed to take care of his own child first.

Gently shushing her and calming her down, Charlie waited until Bella's sobs seemed to subside, though her tears kept falling. In a soft voice he said, "Look at me, Bella."

When she did, he continued speaking. "Don't let that little prick get to you. He's trying to hurt you because his pride is hurt, has probably never been told 'no', so he did this because he didn't get his way, which was to keep you as his girlfriend. Don't let him get to you because you're better than him and his childish ways. And it doesn't matter what he and everyone else thinks about you. It's none of their business what is going on with you and your life; they're not in your shoes and they have no right to judge you. The gossips can talk all they want, but only you know your truth, and that's all that matters. And no matter what, you still have my support, as well as the support of Billy and Jacob. You keep your head up, okay kiddo?"

Bella smiled up at her father through her tears and nodded, glad that she had him with her and that he was her dad. Hugging Charlie once again as she softly said, "Thanks dad."

Later that evening, Bella was in her bedroom doing a book report for her English class, typing her handwritten rough version onto a word document on her computer. She was making good progress and hoped to have it finished to be looked over by her teacher as a rough draft. Hopefully, her teacher would like what she had, and she wouldn't have to make too many changes. While working, she was also sipping on some ginger tea, the tea soothing her queasy stomach. She had thrown up again some time after dinner, the baby not agreeing with the pizza her dad had ordered, so the ginger tea was to help her out, and it seemed to be working. Bella had looked up to make sure it was safe to drink ginger tea while being pregnant and was relieved to see that it was okay.

Hearing a tap on her window, Bella turned to see that it was Jacob peering in at her. Smiling, she beckoned him inside and watched as he opened her window and climbed into her bedroom, closing the window behind him. Greeting him, she said, "Hey Jake. What brings you by?"

Jacob walked over to her and gave her a close hug, holding her as he said, "I had to come see you. I had to come see if you were doing okay."

The brunette looked up at him in confusion, wondering what he meant. Realizing he needed to expound on his statement. "I was in town looking for parts today, and I overheard people talking about you being pregnant. It didn't take me long to realize all of Forks was talking about it."

Bella felt slightly horrified at the knowledge that the whole town knew about her pregnancy. But at the same time, she wasn't really surprised, as Forks was a small town, and everyone knew everybody. Giving a small, half shrug, she replied, "It's okay. It was bound to come out or sooner or later, though I just wish that it hadn't come out and gotten around the way it did. But Edward made sure I was humiliated today by announcing it and that he wasn't the father."

Jacob felt nothing but utter hate and resentment towards the leech for purposely hurting Bella. For him to claim that he loved her, he sure too pride in crushing and hurting her. They said that you always hurt the ones you love, but he was positive this wasn't what they meant. What Cullen did was just cruel, and he couldn't believe Bella just put up with it due to some weird sense of loyalty towards him. Well, he obviously wasn't here now after what he did, so that had to mean something. Pushing those feelings to the side, Jacob took Bella into his arms once again, wrapping her in a warm, comforting hug.

Snuggling into the embrace, Bella felt much calmer than she had all day. She was glad Jacob had come to see her, as she had realized earlier that the one person she wanted to be with after her awful day was Jacob, but she hadn't wanted to bother him in case he was busy with Pack stuff. She snuggled closer to Jacob, wanting to hide herself in him. Another moment of them holding each other passed before she suddenly blurted out, "I broke up with Edward today. This was before he revealed my pregnancy, but I did."

To say he was surprised was an understatement, but Jacob couldn't say he wasn't happy about it. Bella had finally done it; she had finally cut the leech off. However, as ecstatic as he was over the news, he wasn't sure how to respond to that. He wanted to but didn't because he didn't want to say anything that could possibly insult Bella about it or be hurtful. Even so, Bella was okay with his silence and understood why he wasn't saying anything in response to her announcement. He was being respectful to her, even though he didn't like Edward and this was good news to him. She was thankful to Jacob for that.

Deciding to change the subject, Bella pulled back and took a seat back in her computer chair and asked, "So how goes the hunt for Victoria? Are you guys making progress?"

Taking a seat on her bed, Jacob answered, "We think she has a companion with her. There is a new scent lingering with hers, and it's the same one." He was silent for a moment before speaking up again. "I smelt the same scent around your house, but by itself."

Hearing this instantly worried Bella. Knowing that Victoria had an accomplice, and said accomplice was lurking around her home, made her afraid. Not necessarily for herself, though she was, but for Charlie. Victoria and her new partner could hurt Charlie, kill him even trying to get to her, but she hoped that they would leave him alone as it was her that Victoria wanted.

A sudden thought occurred to Bella, a rather horrifying thought. With talk of her being pregnant going around town, what if Victoria found out about it? What if she already knew? Voicing this to Jacob, she couldn't keep the worry out of her voice. After all, if Victoria found out she was pregnant, then that meant she would know that she was no longer with Edward and that Edward and his family had essentially killed James for nothing. It would just make Victoria even madder than she already was and make her more determined to end her life. Jacob, however, insisted that he wouldn't let her—or anyone for the matter—hurt her or their baby. He promised her nothing would happen to the baby before it was born, and she believed him, her faith in him calming her down from her slight panic.

The two of them continued to talk for a bit longer, laughing with each other about this and that like they used to before the Cullens came back. It felt good to have this again, and Bella found herself wondering how she was willing to give this up all because Edward and his family came back into her life. Eventually, Jacob had to leave and made for the window, opening it and preparing to jump out. Before he did that, he gave her one final hug for the night before letting her go. His hand lingered by her stomach for a moment, almost like he wanted to touch it, before withdrawing his hand. Jacob threw his leg out the window and jumped out, but not before saying, "By the way, Quil will be the one watching over your house tonight. Goodnight, Bella."

"Goodnight Jake," Bella replied, watching as he jumped out and landed gracefully, then ran into the woods out of sight.

Bella went back to her desk to continue working on her book report, deciding to leave the window open for a bit longer for some fresh air. However, just as she had started typing again, Jacob suddenly popped back into her bedroom, startling her more than she would have liked. "Jake, what are you doing?"

Jacob grinned at her sheepishly, an apology on his lips for scaring her. "Sorry for scaring you, Bells. But I was just wondering if you'd like to hang out this weekend. Sam gave me the weekend off surprisingly, and I'd like to spend it with you."

The brunette felt herself blush at his statement before nodding with a smile. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Great, awesome. Okay, well, I'll see you later. Goodnight again, Bells."

"Goodnight Jake."

As Jacob disappeared once again, Bella couldn't help but smile more. She really was glad that Jacob had showed up, knowing that his presence helped to turn her bad day around. That, and she couldn't help but feel excited about hanging out with him that weekend. She really couldn't wait for it.