/Author note: Thank you all for loving this story and the character changes I've made. I hope I haven't upset too many people and would like to apologize for the lengthy wait. to be honest, I've had this chapter done for a bit but I wanted to make sure that the next chapter or 2 was complete before I posted so I could get back to a schedule. my husband bought me something that is making writing much easier so I will hopefully be writing much more frequently now. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please no hate, my heart can't take it./
/BPOV/
Jared called the next day to let us know that Kim had a stomach bug, and shortly after the call, Leah was down for the count. Between bathroom breaks, Sam was making sure Leah stayed hydrated.
Two days after Leah got sick she was as good as new and the only thing left behind were some aches in her muscles from puking so frequently. Leah was happy that she got sick though, saying that it was proof her body was going back to normal after months of keeping the wolf at bay. It was hard to be happy for her though when I started feeling queasy myself. I knew it was going to happen since we lived together but hoped I'd been careful enough to prevent it.
I didn't seem to have it nearly as bad as Leah but after a week I was getting concerned. I managed to stay hydrated though so it was really just more of an inconvenience.
Leah and I sat on the couch together watching a rerun of Friends when a preview of the news came on during the commercials. The highlight: Romaine being recalled due to E. Coli.
"Good news." Leah said, "You're not contagious. You can come to the Halloween dance tomorrow at the community hall!"
"Very funny. I wonder what other products it includes."
"What does that matter?" Leah asked as I pulled out my laptop and confirmed that it was only romaine that had been recalled.
"It matters because I haven't had anything with romaine in months."
Months. That's how long Jake had been out of my life, and he'd come back into it almost 2 months ago.
I opened up the calendar on my phone and noticed a note on Sept 1st. "Plan a date with Sue." Only I never did. At that point in my life, I hadn't seen Jake in two months.
"Oh shit!"
"What's wrong?" Leah asked. While I did swear on occasion since spending so much time with the pack, she knew it had to be something big to make me just blurt a swear word out. I couldn't see her face though as mine zoned out looking at the screen in front of me but if I could see her I'd know she looked worried.
"I… oh God. Oh my God. I can't. There's… just…" Breathe Bella… I tried to remind myself internally.
"English please."
"I think... maybe I might be…"
"Be what?" Leah asked but I couldn't speak those words out loud. Hell, I couldn't even think them. Leah pulled the laptop around so she could see the screen and scanned the page before gasping. "You never went to get your Depo shot."
I started hyperventilating. I wasn't crazy, she thought I was too. It was real. I really was…
"Hey, calm down. I'm going to head to the store and grab a few tests okay? You good to stay here alone? I could call Sam back."
"I… no. I'm good. I'm good… I'm…" a sob tore through me. "Go. Please?" I muttered to Leah. I needed to be alone with my thoughts and I needed a confirmation before I went insane.
While Leah was gone I paced the house, thinking about how I would feel if the test was positive. I couldn't even think like that. I just had to wait and see.
It felt like Leah was gone forever but when she finally opened the front door, a small part of me wished she had taken longer. She walked in, tests in a bag at her side, and on the opposite side was Jake.
"Jake, what are you doing here?" I asked, panic in my voice, and I knew he could tell.
"What wrong? Are you okay? I just wanted to make sure you were getting better. I brought soup."
My eyes shifted between Jake and Leah's as my brain finally crumbled, along with it went my body. Before I passed out I felt Jake's arms wrap around me but I had no idea what happened next.
I woke up in bed and heard faint talking in the kitchen. I couldn't make out the conversation and knew I had to bite the bullet so I built up the courage and walked out of my room.
"Bells! Fuck you scared me honey. What's going on? I almost drove you to the hospital but Leah assured me I didn't need to."
I glanced at Leah and held out my hand. She handed me the small bag then sat back down, looking out of place in her own home.
"We need to talk. Come sit down." I started to walk toward the couch but Jake's hand on my wrist stopped me. "What are you doing?"
"I don't want to sit. Sitting always means bad news. Can you just tell me? Please?"
"Okay." I took a few deep breaths and began. "We found out that what Kim had was not a stomach bug but actually E. Coli on some romaine leaves which I realised I never ate because I prefer the crunch of iceberg. So then my brain started turning and I realised that uh… in all this mess that we've been going through, we didn't see each other for a couple months which made me kind of um forget about the Depo shot." I rushed through those last words before continuing, feeling embarrassed at my irresponsible behaviour. "I was supposed to get my last one just before we ran into each other at the mall."
"You mean this whole time we haven't been using any birth control?"
"That Is exactly what I'm saying. Leah went and bought these for me." I held up the bag and took a step back from Jake. "I'm so sorry Jake."
"Baby relax. We don't even know anything yet. Go take the tests. I'll wait right here."
"There's five, to be fair. And a little disposable cup from the water fountain machine." Leah chimed in.
Jake sat down at the dining table and put his head in his hands and my heart hurt for him. It was all my fault. He thought I was on birth control and I should have been more responsible. He would have used a condom if he knew I wasn't. If only I'd remembered.
I walked into the bathroom and peed into the cup. One by one I followed the instructions and kept mental note of the time. When the first one was done, I picked it up and took a deep breath.
Negative.
That's… why did I feel disappointed? I had no plans of having a baby any time soon but I felt like something had been taken away from me. 30 seconds later I picked up the next test, but no longer took a deep breath. There was a bright blue plus sign. I gasped and started to cry.
I blinked through my tears because they made my eyes a bit blurry then looked down. The third test had two bright pink lines, indicating the test was working and positive. The fourth and fifth were both digital tests from different brands. Both, clear as day in black letters across a small screen said the word pregnant.
I couldn't believe it yet at the same time a big part of me knew it was true. Some part of me was happy and excited and another part was worried and sad for Jake. Yeah he's already lost a good portion of his childhood to their tribal secret but I just took the last little remaining bit away.
I took another deep breath and took one of the digital tests out to the living room with the cap on the end where pee goes. My face likely didn't give anything away since I was so filled with multiple conflicting emotions which I felt was better. That way I could see Jake's pure reaction, unhindered by my own.
"How'd it go?" Leah asked, startling Jake who seemed lost in his own little world at the dining table.
I didn't respond but instead sat down with Jake and took his hands into mine, which wasn't exactly easy considering their size compared to my own. The test sat in my pocket.
"Are you ready?" Jake nodded and I could see the tears in his eyes. I pulled the test out and held it out to Jake. He took it from me, taking a few deep breaths before spinning it in his fingers so that he could see the screen.
"Pregnant. You're pregnant." Jake's face lit up and a huge smile appeared on his face, bigger than any I'd ever seen, causing dimples near the corners of his mouth.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Why wouldn't I be smiling? The love of my life is having my baby. I'm going to be a father." Jake said with pride in his voice and excitement in his eyes.
"You're only 16."
"Almost 17, with the body of a 25 year old memories of a hundreds years old werewolf elder that has kids of his own, with the responsibilities that adults don't even have, with a guarantee that the person I am with will never intentionally wrong me or leave me for someone else, a future career at the garage already in the works. Bella, I know this is a lot but we can do this. If anyone is prepared enough, it's us. Do you not feel the same?"
Jake sounded so sure of himself and it made my heart soar. I knew that this situation made me happy but knowing he felt the same just made me feel weightless.
"I do. I was just worried that you'd regret it." I admitted.
Leah stood up behind Jake. "I think that's my cue to give you two lovebirds some space. I'll come back around 5 with some dinner. Today feels like a takeout kind of day."
"Actually…" I glanced from Jake to Leah then back at Jake. "I'd love some fresh air. You stay, I think we should go for a little walk. Leah walked over and hugged me before I got ready to leave then she walked into her bedroom.
Jake took my hand and walked slowly toward the beach. The smell of salt hit my nose and the nausea I'd previously felt vanished as though it was never there. I moaned, pleasantly surprised by the welcoming gift the ocean brought me.
"What is it?" Jake asked, smiling down at me in a way I'd never seen before.
"I'm not sure how but the smell of the ocean took away my nausea."
"Then we'll stay as long as the weather will allow." Jake walked us toward the log we normally sit on during our trips to First Beach. I thought it was abnormally quiet before remembering it was a weekday.
"So what do we do now? We have roughly… nine months to plan."
"Well, you can't stay with Leah and Sam. They're getting married and wanting to start their own family, there just isn't enough room. Plus, if you think that I could stand being away from my child for even one night, you'd be wrong." Jake placed his hand on mine which was cupping my non-existent baby bump while trying to process everything.
"Then what do you suggest?" I glanced up to look into his eyes and was shocked by what he said.
"You move in with me and Dad. We can take the twins room and turn my room into a nursery." Jake said, sounding all too proud of his idea.
"That doesn't sound like a horrible plan. My mom is going to kill me and my dad is going to kill YOU."
Jake's eyes went wide at the mention of my father. The Police Chief was not going to react well to becoming a grandfather so soon.
I picked up my phone and sent a message to Sue.
/Don't say anything to my dad but… I need to schedule an ultrasound/ SEND
I put my phone on silent and placed it in my pocket.
"So what now?" Jake asked me, and I didn't know what he meant. Today? With the pregnancy? With our relationship? It was like he read my mind and elaborated. "Did you want to head over to my place? Pretty sure your parents are over. 2 birds one stone?"
I didn't think I was up for that but at the same time I just wanted to rip off the bandaid.
I wasn't sure if leaving the comforting smell of the beach caused my nausea to return or if it was the anxiety I felt at having to talk to our parents. I knew some people waited to tell their parents but given everything that had happened, I knew that secrets should only happen when absolutely necessary.
Walking through the front door that I knew so well was scarier than Victoria and James combined. My mom, more than anything wanted one thing from me. To not end up like her. Pregnant just after graduation. I've seen my premonitions though, something I had forgotten up until this point, and knew that even if she was mad today that she would be happy for us eventually.
I also knew that my baby was a girl, assuming the baby was healthy. Which I also hadn't thought about until this point. I suppose my premonitions never showed me if my oldest daughter was my first pregnancy and new fears plagued my thoughts. Before I could dwell on them for too long though, my mom's hand on mine brought me out of my thoughts.
"Everything okay, sweetheart?" Her warm smile calmed me but until I got in to see Sue, I would be a ball of nerves.
"Yeah, I uh…" I glanced up at Jake who was smiling at me encouragingly. "We're headed to the movies. Just wanted to say hi before we headed out."
"Alright." My mom said, skepticism written all over her face. She always knew when something was up, but the look Jake gave when I said those words probably didn't help anything.
I pulled Jake toward the door, grabbed the keys from the hook and walked back outside. Once the door closed behind us Jake gave me the oddest look, something I couldn't figure out.
"What happened?" he asked, walking toward the car and scrunching himself into the driver seat.
"What if the baby isn't okay? I think… maybe we should just wait until after I get an ultrasound to confirm everything is good."
"Oh. Yeah that's… do you think something is wrong?" I could tell based on his voice that he was already in love with the baby inside me and was worried.
"No. I'm sure everything is fine, I just want to be certain. Come on, let's head into Port Angeles. I have an idea."
I picked my phone out of my pocket while Jake drove.
/Of course. I'm free right now if you want to head in./ Sue messaged. I looked at the time and it had only been five minutes since she'd sent it.
"Wait. Head to the clinic. Sue's free."
