A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story to their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.

Chapter 14-

Billy's POV-

"Jake?" I frowned, wheeling myself inside the house, the sound of laughter from somewhere in there ringing in my ears, forcing a sigh onto my face.

Jake was laughing? So very freely at that?

His laughter was bouncing through these thin walls, an echo left in its aftermath.

I had not heard this melodious sound in years now...not since Bella...

She had to be here.

That was the only conclusion.

Why else would my son radiate as much joy and satisfaction? He seemed like a man complete; how I had sounded at one point of time when my Sarah...

No.

This was not about me or my happiness.

This was about my son.

This was about Jake and his future.

It had broken my son for his imprint to reject him in this manner, unknowingly indeed, but yet a rejection. She was older than him, maturity hitting her like that unstoppable car with the breaks tampered. And this older- puberty hit- Bella had wanted nothing to do with a mere kid, especially not after realizing his feelings for her, and how very strong they were.

I had been a worried and frightened man for those few days, knowing that were Bella to reject the wolf, Jake would be the collateral damage in the situation. Sleepless nights had been my relief from the plenty of nightmares, the thought of losing my only family remaining bringing out the tears in my eyes.

I had already lost enough.

I could not lose anymore.

I refused to.

Jake was the only one I could call family these days, my daughters having all but abandoned me, placing a call only when they needed some favor, or in Rachel's case, when she needed to be bailed out of jail for destroying public property after a fight with her boyfriend. Poor Charlie. The look in his eyes when I had asked him to drive to Seattle to bail my daughter out, being in no condition to drive myself...

He had been embarrassed.

Heck. Even I had been embarrassed to ask such a favor from someone, even if he was a friend of decades.

The tale of your daughter's arrest was not something you discussed over beer and baseball, certainly.

At times I wondered if it was better to be a Rebecca than a Rachel.

Rebecca just did not care about those she had left behind, they being of no importance in her busy life filled with modeling and fancy dinner parties with the cream of the crowd.

It hurt less, much lesser than the fact that Rachel could not be bothered enough to ask Charlie of how Jake and I were doing- the man being in front of her when he had traveled all the way to bail her out, not even one tiny, partially interested, out of courtesy, question asked. She just did not care- and that was when I had realized of how much my daughters had changed from the princesses they had once been.

They were no longer my princesses. Honestly, no princess could be this cruel, heartless and self-centered, which, sadly, my daughters possessed every quality of.

Jake may not be the most expressive of them, but he cared. He worried about me, and my failing health, the concern and love shining in his eyes.

And that was enough.

I had seen love, every hope of being happy again vanishing the day my Sarah left this world, leaving me behind and alone. Jake was all I had left to live for, every will of living disappearing the day Bella broke his heart. But of course, I could not do that to him. He needed his father around, and the least I could do is to be physically present, mentally not as much a possibility.

I had worried over how this rejection would affect my 'in love' son- with the hope of the future surrounding him like a massive-sized bubble, whether he would face the repercussions of the failed imprint or not, the former a scary possibility with every scope of becoming a reality.

But the spirits as always knew what they were doing, the imprint giving them room to grow and develop into their best version possible.

They needed to grow up.

They needed to find themselves, individually, before becoming a whole.

They were mere children when they had met- tied to one another for the rest of their lives, but a lifetime cannot be spent on the ridiculous day dreams that two kids can construct. Making a life with someone is much more complicated than that, and, yes, experience does matter.

Maturity does matter.

And sometimes, making mistakes, too, does matter.

Jacob and Bella needed this time apart, to realize that they may feel like one being, but they are not actually one being. They are two different people, with different likes, dislikes, goals and qualities.

Devoting your life to medicine, just because Bella thought that being a doctor was cool and respectable, would give Jake no happiness or job satisfaction. He would be forced to accept a future in which waking up each morning gave him no joy.

Similarly, Bella was allowed to like things that Jake hated, or vice-versa. She need not sacrifice cherries, owing to the fact that Jake made a disgusted face at the mere sight of them. They were not actually one person, despite their connection or childhood closeness.

And while they had started to walk down the path to understand this, the journey was a long one.

But I had hope.

The Bella and Jake that would find themselves again, would no doubt be the best version one could find of theirs, their future untarnished and filled with love and laugh.

Anyhow, the way Jake was laughing at the moment, I had no doubt in mind that Bella was in the house, and correctly so, I found the two in the kitchen, flour covering their face as they laughed aloud, lost in their bubble of togetherness, a food fight just occurred from the looks of it.

Kids! I tell you!

They were not looking at me.

No. They were too lost in the eyes of the other to notice my presence, but the love and happiness that they felt shone bright.

I smiled to myself. I could see the brief want in Bella's eyes, especially when Jake pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, their laughs disappearing into comfortable silence, passion and need heavy in the air.

She was ready.

Finally.

I wheeled myself out, done with the brief opportunity offered to be a voyeur, my fingers itching to dial the familiar numbers, our plan ready and waiting to be executed.

Jacob and Bella would become one- and it was high time for that plan to come into motion.

Sue would be ecstatic, not so sure about Charlie...

But. Eh. He only had twelve full years to come to terms with this reality...so, his loss...

I chuckled to myself.

This would be fun.