A/N To John C. Here's a big THANK YOU for loving this piece so much and encouraging me for the third year to submit it to the W-a-t-t-p-a-d-d Contest and helping me prepare it for Wattys 2021. It's so late for Twilight Fanfiction but why not?

I am following through with his request this year because they changed the stipulation that would have required me to remove it from all other platforms. Now they only require platform removal if the story makes their short list. Wish me luck!

Oh, and over there, I could add images of the cast, chapter by chapter. So, I did, and that was fun. Cheers to the final chapter!

Bonus Epilogue Part 4, taking place 15 years after Jacob Benjamin was born.

Bella

Ice-cold wetness chilled my palms. I wiped off the excess moisture, then lifted the bottle to my lips.

Seth didn't look drunk, despite how many beers he consumed throughout the day. "Are you excited about moving into your new home?" he asked. "I stopped by and looked at it when Jake told me they finished construction. It's a lot smaller than the house in San Diego."

Small talk is good.

"That's one of the best things about it. The other one was too big for our family. I was always searching for the kids and making sure Jacobi was even home. But what I'm most excited about is being closer to the family."

"How is Jacob feeling about his retirement?"

"He's thrilled being able to retire so young, and he's looking forward to giving back to the community. I didn't know they funded Jacob's boxing travel all those years."

"Yeah, the community will do what they can for someone if they show dedication and potential. Our tribe loves honoring its members whenever they're able to."

"I think it'll be great for Jacobi and Will to experience small town community. In the city, Jacobi struggled in both private and public school."

"Why?"

"He said the private school kids were snobbish, looking down at him. Then he told us the public-school kids, thought he was snobbish, looking down on them."

"Is he a loner?"

"Not really. He's outgoing, but he's carrying a chip on his shoulder, and it seems like it began when he quit boxing. I know he's going through teenage angst years, but I worry about him. Did Jacob tell you what happened on the last day of school?"

He shook his head.

"On the last day, some high school kids from a different school were throwing water balloons at students walking home. Jacobi got hit with one, but another fell on the grass beside him without breaking. So, he picked it up, walked straight up to the passenger side window, and smashed it on the guy who threw it at him. The boy jumped out of the truck, saying he'd kick Jacobi's ass and took a swing at him. Jacobi ducked and then in two punches sent the kid to the ground, hard, leaving the boy with a bloody nose and a black eye. We waited for weeks for a lawsuit to find us. It was a good thing the boys didn't know Jacobi is Jacob Black's son. Jacobi could get into serious trouble just for being who he is, especially if he hurts an untrained fighter. And all Jake said about it was 'it's a guy thing.'"

He cracked a grin. "You hate that phrase, huh, Bella?"

"I do!"

"It is a guy thing, though."

"I don't believe that. You and Jasper didn't get into fights."

"We didn't have to. Look who our older brothers are. Not that we couldn't handle ourselves, but nobody was stupid enough to mess with us. That's what they get for bullying him. Like father, like son. I wouldn't expect Jacobi to take shit from anyone. I can tell he has a lot a confidence for being so young."

"Too much confidence for his age. He's growing up fast, especially there. All the kids grow up fast there."

"I don't know. I think kids are the same everywhere. Didn't we feel and act like we were older than we were, at his age?"

I thought it over. "Maybe we did. But there truly is something different from growing up in the city. The kids act like miniature adults. And you should see the girls he spends time with. They're more like short Victoria Secret models than girls in junior-high."

He grinned. "Like fa."

I faked a scowl, lifting my hand. "Don't say it!"

We laughed, and Seth sighed and said, "He'll be all right."

"I know, but I think moving home is our best option for him. For all of us. We were lonesome for everyone."

We quieted, and I searched for how to do what I came for, comfort him, and convey to him he had my support. "I'm sorry for how I acted today, Seth. You didn't deserve that and there's no excuse for my behavior."

He shrugged, and whatever camouflage he'd enshrouded himself in momentarily slipped. I felt the heavy depression Jacob talked about beneath his casual facade and the fire seemed to emphasize the weariness of his face.

He cleared his throat, poking at the fire with a long branch in silence.

I already embarked on the subject, so there was no going back. "I hope you won't get upset with me, but I overheard your conversation with Jacob."

He glanced at me but said nothing.

Jacob was right. Seth's depressed vibe was draining, and I didn't know how to help him.

Aloofness was a weakness of mine. It made me nervous when someone acted aloof, and it made me ramble. They say observing a negative pattern is the first step to making a change. Not in my case. I couldn't help myself. "I'm sorry Angela thought you were someone you're not," I said, continuing the difficult, lobsided conversation.

Ice jostled inside the cooler as he pulled it closer to him, opening it up. "Want another one?"

I bit my lip, tempted to ask him how many he drank, but it wasn't my place. He looked over at me.

"Sure."

Opening another for himself, he said, "I only told him what I told him."

I moved my chair closer to him to escape the campfire smoke blowing my direction. "What does that mean?"

He chewed his lip, and I knew he was having trouble saying something he wanted to say.

After a few moments of silence passed, the bleakness in the atmosphere made me push further. "Why didn't you guys move to California with us, Seth?"

When he didn't answer, I tilted my head back, marveling the bright full moon and star speckled sky, chugging the beer, ready for a subject change.

He finally said, "Because I couldn't follow Jacob everywhere. It was time to cut the cord."

"You wouldn't have been following him. We wanted you guys to move with us."

The expression he made transitioned into blankness before I could discern it. "Can I tell you something personal?" he asked.

"Of course."

"Jake was my biggest inspiration, growing up. I admired everything he did and how he made the folks of La Push dream with him. That's why the community funded all his traveling, hotels, and meals. They knew he'd make La Push proud one day. Put our tribe on the map. I envied the way people bragged about him and his skills.

"I wanted to be just like him, and so I let him lead the way.

"But every once in a while, I wondered if I was even myself or if I was just a generic version of him."

Puzzled by his conversation, I said, "You're yourself, Seth. Different in great ways."

"Biased much?"

Don't believe me then.

"I didn't know how much boxing meant to me until I left it. Recently, I realized the goals I had set and reached were my own. I was good. I am good. I'm great. I just didn't see it before." He stretched his legs out, leaning back, cupping his head in his hands, and huffed. "But, anyway, that's why I didn't follow you guys when Jacob asked me to. I was trying to become my own man... Amongst other things."

"I just think I could have helped Angela after her miscarriages if we were closer. If I'd known something was wrong. If she confided in me more."

He stared at the fire, then asked in a quiet voice. "Why do you think that was?"

"That I didn't know how much she was hurting?"

"Yeah. That she didn't confide in you."

"Because we lived so far apart."

He squinted but kept his eyes on the fire. "Is that the only reason you can think of?"

"If it's not the reason then, I guess I don't know."

"Like I said. I didn't tell Jacob everything. Angela always believed there was someone. I didn't tell him who."

What? Startled, my body straightened, and I twisted toward him, on edge but giving him all my attention.

"You told her about her us."

My first instinct was to defend myself against gossiping. "Well, yeah. She was my best friend." The only best friend I could discuss Seth with.

In the next instant, Angela's sweet and friendly ninth grade face flashed in my mind. "Seth looks completely into you, Bella," she had said during the Teen Holiday Dance.

Clear on what Seth was referring, another flash caused my stomach to twist in a nauseating manner.

"You saw him naked?" Her eyes were wide, holding both amazement and curiosity.

His pants and briefs were down, not all the way off, but everything was visible, so I said, "Pretty much. And he received an eye full too before they interrupted us."

"Bella, you're lucky they did! You could have gotten pregnant. Then what would you have done?" Her tone scolded.

"We won't make that mistake again. He said he'll have protection next time."

Flustered, I searched my memory. I recalled telling her Seth broke up with me because of Jacob. But I couldn't remember telling her we didn't do it after all. I realized the oddity of me even discussing it with her. She was the most virtuous because of her religious upbringing, always looking like she'd rather bury her head in a hole to hide her embarrassment than listen to the cleanest of sexual discussions.

Maybe it was just to give myself someone to talk me out of it. And of course, I couldn't talk to Leah.

"But who could have predicted you two would end up together?"

"She knew that. She didn't want to feel any way about it, especially not insecure."

"Seth, I don't know what to say."

I didn't know what to think. Shocked, I threw myself back in the chair. It wobbled, tipping over.

Seth's arm shot out, steadying the chair like nothing. His quick reflex made me feel drunker than him.

Tunnel focused on our conversation, he asked, "Remember when Jake took that inspirational speaking tour at reservation schools around the country after the Olympics?"

"When Jacobi developed pneumonia?" Jacob had sent Seth to the hospital to sit in the emergency room with me, because I was scared and couldn't get a hold of my parents or anyone else.

"That was when I found out she knew. Her parents had come to town, and I missed dinner with them."

"But you were only with us for a little while. You left after the doctor gave us the diagnosis and admitted him."

He stared at the ground with a somber frown on his lips. "That's what you thought. I stayed in the waiting room for hours before I went home. I just didn't want to spend time with them. I always felt like they were judging me. I walked in the door just before midnight, and the next day she asked me if I ever got over you."

"But that happened before you guys were married."

"I made it my priority to get comfortable with her parents. When she said she'd marry me, I thought all of that was done and buried. But occasionally, when you and I were interacting, I'd catch her watching us. That was another reason I didn't consider moving to California. I didn't know what she would think if I suggested it."

"I don't know what to do with this information. How am I supposed to act around her now?"

"Just continue to be there for her in whatever way she lets you and however much she wants. She loves you, Bella. Will you promise me that?"

"I promise you that, but I hope you told her we didn't do it and it was a mistake and we regretted it ever since."

He made a sniffing sound with a hint of a laugh, glancing a way. "I told her." He sounded disgruntled.

I called him a mistake to his face. "Seth, I didn't mean..."

He lifted his hand and shook his head.

The quiet became so loud I heard every cricket under the sky.

As we sat in reflective silence, sipping on our beers, flashbacks assaulting me, I remembered how excited I was about introducing Edward to Leah and Seth when summer came. I never gave one thought to how Seth might have felt when I flaunted my relationship with Edward in front of him, forcing him into friendship with Edward. A rise of culpability caused a tear to surface. I ignored it, acting casual and taking another drink.

I never gave one thought to how Seth might have felt when Jacob and I found each other again. It wouldn't have stopped us, but shouldn't I have had concern for him and his feelings?

Oh my god! How self-centered and cruel was I? I hurt everybody. Leah should have beaten me up years ago. I turned my head toward the trees, hiding tears trailing down my face.

"Hey," Seth said. I knew that "hey". It was one filled with concern. I twisted more opposite him and wiped the corners of my eyes.

His cool fingers chilled my skin when he directed me to look at him with a touch to my chin.

"Fucking family dynamics." My voice carried a sob. I turned all the way toward him, wiping my face dry.

"Huh?"

"Jasper made an observation that he denies taking part in. Apparently, whenever me and Emmett get together, we end up bickering and turning into teenagers, and Mom and Dad, start parenting us as if we are teenagers."

"Interesting observation, but I don't think it warrants tears or angry swear words."

I rolled my eyes. "You and Jake swear when you're not even angry. I'm talking about us, Seth."

"Come again?"

"Every time you're hurting, and I try to comfort you. You end up needing to comfort me." It was shameful how I made everything about me, and I was doing it again.

He pulled his head back, puckering his lips, then said, "Whoa. You just exposed another layer of fucked-up-ness I have to work on."

"No, that's my fucked-up-ness to work on." Nevertheless, I needed to know something. "Back then. Did I hurt you, Seth?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

Yes. "Not if you don't want to." His counter question gave me the answer. I covered my face, sucking up my emotional upheaval.

"Fuck," he said. "I had no business laying all my shit on you and Jake tonight, and making you feel as miserable as me.

"I meant what I said at your wedding. I'm grateful you came back to him. I'm not sure if you realized this. But even before his accident, we were losing him. And if we didn't lose him from this world, we would have lost him from our lives. You brought him back to all of us.

"The greatest love story of our small town."

The sarcasm underlining his last sentence pricked me. "Is it?" I didn't care to mask the venom in my tone.

He chewed at his cheek, his eyes reflecting the blaze, then his mouth curved downward. "I used to think so but seeing everyone today. It turns out I'm the anomaly."

"We all went through our hard times, Seth. Look at Emmett and Rosalie. They weren't married yet, but he cheated on her and she cheated right back."

He smirked. "Yeah, he put a ring on it quick after that, didn't he?"

"You're going to get through this."

A thought occurred to me. "We met our significant others when the world was small, consisting only of our under populated town. But there is a gigantic world out there, and maybe you should consider yourself lucky that you get to experience it. You get to learn who you are now and find out what you want. You're free to explore what type of person you want to share the rest of your life with."

He laughed. "Sounds like you're telling me to sleep around."

I giggled. "It does, doesn't it? I'm not saying that but... If sleeping around is what you want, you're free to do it."

A loud quietness arose after our chuckles died. But the spurts of humor that were so Seth eased both of us.

"I'm trying to say that this doesn't have to define you. Just like everybody else does, you made a mistake. But it's not who you are."

"I know."

"In fact. It isn't you in the slightest. You're wonderful and one of my besties and... Still one of the good guys." I love you.

I withheld those three significant words because I wanted no miscommunication about the type of love, I held for him.

Back then, I told Jacob the truth. I didn't love Seth. But I also told Seth the truth. I could have loved him. It's why talking about Seth to Jacob was so difficult. Because even within the privacy of my mind, revisiting that period of my life felt like a betrayal. I was ashamed of my feelings and what I did to them. It's why I buried it so deep.

But somewhere in an alternate universe. One where Jacob didn't exist. Seth might have been the one.

After me and Jacob rediscovered each other, changed and all, he claimed one hundred percent of my heart, and we never looked back.

I stared at Seth when he said, "In answer to your question. What I wanted was for someone to look at me the way you look at him." The corners of his mouth curled, and his eyes sparked of humor, a welcome familiarity that I missed seeing. "That was the attraction. Not necessarily you."

A full-fledged grin burst onto my lips, followed by an authentic laugh. It didn't truly answer my question, but I'd take it.

Seth suddenly pointed toward his cabin. "What's that over there?"

I followed his direction, my eyes darting across the porch and into the surrounding trees. "Where?" I glanced at him.

He pushed my face back toward his cabin with his fingertips. "Right there... by the... Okay. Never mind. It must have been a squirrel."

"A squirrel? Are you kidding, Seth?" I quirked my eyebrow in bewilderment.

He broke with laughter, and when he stopped, he said, "So, Jacobi is a handful."

"That's a subtle change of subject."

Bursting with more laughter, he needed a minute getting himself under control. "We should probably shut this night down." He showed me his empty beer bottle. "I'm going to feel like shit tomorrow as it is."

"You're right."

"I'll walk you down the hill. Jacob will murder me if I don't, and you end up with a broken limb."

We reached the bottom, and before I ventured across the gravel path, he said, "Bella." I turned back. "Thank you for our talk."

I smiled. "Goodnight, Seth."

A/N It's a wrap. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I made great friends through Twilight fanfiction and this piece. I'm going to miss it but its on to the next story. By the way, is their any interest in seeing what happens when Jacobi meets the beautiful daughter of a certain Cullen? I'd love to hear from you.