I again apologize for the wait. This is right after Charlie shows up to look for Bella in the Black's house.

The screaming didn't end there. Billy and I spat, while Jacob tried to keep the peace before I went into early labor.

"I'm paying the price already aren't I?!" I sob-screamed.

"That's the price of being stupid! You should have run when you found out he was a monster!"

"What you don't get is that he was just a boy! People fall in love all the time! It's like saying loving your wife was a mistake!" I half regretted it as soon as I said it, but I didn't think I was entirely wrong. It's just that Billy won't ever see them as different from their nature.

"My wife wasn't a blood sucking demon." He said.

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. "Billy, I'm dying. Can you just have pity? I'm only eighteen. I won't even get to say goodbye to my mom and dad," The words were nearly intelligible as I forced them through the sobs that shook my frail frame.

"Dad, stop it!" Jacob yelled. With his hands under my arms, he eased me on to the ground before I fell. I was already losing everything I've come into this life with. the devastation was already too much.

Billy didn't stick around.

"I'm sorry I brought up your mom," I told Jake. "It's just...the pain of losing her was worth being given you and your sisters, right? No. It'll still hurt, no matter what. But I don't regret loving him. It was the best time of my life." I just wished it didn't end. And I think Billy wished the same.

"It's in the past. I'm sorry you have to worry about the police, I really am. I wish you didnt have to, but why couldn't he leave the past alone?" I said, hoping it would ease the wound the evidence of my love for Edward created for him.

"I'll handle the police. I just can't handle losing you," He said. I grasped his arm, wishing that wasn't true.

"Jacob...promise me you'll look after him if I die?"

"...the baby?"

"I meant Charlie but...that's why I can't die. I have to make it." I hugged my belly firmly.

Maybe when the baby is born, I could go back to Charlie, explain? I don't know. But I could show him I was ok and save him." The possibility gave me some hope.

Jacob's arms, that were embracing me, moved down to include it.

"You're going to make it."

Emily quickly brought the waste basket for me to heave into for the umpteenth time. As always, nothing came.

"You're much weaker now, Bella. Bedridden." She tried to say kindly. "I could help you with daily things, but at some point there won't be anyone to help. I've tried talking to Sam. They still havent found anyone but... I've been trying to get him to advocate for you,"

"He wouldn't. He speaks for the pack and La Push as their protector." Jacob muttered.

"Thanks anyway, Emily. You don't have to, if he doesn't agree," I said. She shook her head.

"We've got to get your strength up, or you won't make it til it's time."

"I know," Jacob and I said.

"Human food just isn't doing it for him." I said, shifting my position on the couch a little. At this point, I should prepare to have someone to look after him after he's cut out of me.

"Maybe it's looking for something to sink its teeth into. I'm surprised it hasn't already bitten you along with the kicking, " Jacob joked. I scoffed. It was pretty funny.

But also possibly true. My head jerked up and to Emily.

"What if it's thirsty? None of us knew it was possible for a vampire and a human to conceive a baby, but what if it's possible the baby is half vampire?"

"I don't know much about genetics but vampires are turned, not made," Jacob said.

"But what if? I'll try anything. I need to eat so I can keep carrying this baby. And if I've been starving, then so has he," I said. I don't care if its gross. It's food, and my baby's been starving this entire time.

Emily and Jacob looked at each other with slight disgust, then like they were thinking to themselves. Suddenly Jacob got up and marched into the kitchen. He came back bearing a knife and a cup.

"Jacob, what do you think you're doing?" I said. He had the knife at his forearm and the cup positioned underneath.

"No time like the present to start teaching it to be vegetarian," He laughed.

"Jacob!" I was thinking more along the lines of robbing the blood bank, but that made less sense, I realized.

"It's ok Bells, I heal fast-" Blood squirted and dripped down his arm in a thick, healthy flow. Emily went and ran to get a towel.

"Bon appetit," He said, handing me the cup, while Emily applied pressure with the cloth. I took the cup, from his hand and tried not to look and chug it.

It was warm, tasted like rust, but that was what was good about it. I stopped to take a breath, and savored the remaining taste of it in my mouth. Emily and Jacob looked at me expectantly. Jacob's wound had already closed and turned light pink.

"It's good," I said. I drank the rest more slowly.

"Did it work?" Jacob asked. Emily touched my cheek eith her hand and felt my pulse with other.

"I mean... I feel ok. I don't feel like I'm going to be sick."

"You're warmer, and I can feel your pulse better!" She said happily. The three of us grinned ear to ear.

"Little bloodsucker," Jacob chided, rubbing my tummy. The baby seemingly responded with a kick.

"Maybe I can buy blood collection needles so it's easier," Emily said. "You can't over do it, you hear?" She told Jake.

We decided that we'd wait until I thought it was hungry again to figure out a schedule so Jacob didn't bleed to death.

A few hours after drinking Jacob's blood, I decided to try eating something. I hadn't at all felt queasy, and the urge for a bite of something was harder to ignore. Hope tasted like cinnamon rolls.

Thankfully the council hadn't stopped by to visit. It might have been difficult to explain how I wasn't at death's door anymore. When Sam came to pick up Emily sometimes, he didnt come too far into the house so he never saw me. Things were still tense between him and Jacob. There might be a reason for him to be afraid of Jacob, maybe his formal rebellion or that Emily is here a lot of the time. But Jacob was afraid he'd command him to leave me. So he avoided him too. Billy was certainly relieved. Even started joking with me a bit.

Slowly, but surely, I was filling up again. Being pregnant began to feel like a good time. I can walk around more, slow dance with my belly to offer some comfort that I was the only parent here. I didn't get any crazy cravings, but I went through a lot of eggs. Jacob hunted small woodland creatures for me, a little horrific, so I didn't depend on his blood, but his definitely tasted better. I wouldn't tell him though, that's weird.

Mother's Day rolled around and Emily invited me to a gathering she had been planning for a while. I wasn't sure about going, since I didn't think I belonged, but Jacob said he'd be there and bring me back if I wanted to leave. I should probably touch some grass after being cooped up for 2 months.

It was like a pot luck. Emily had food ready but they all brought something they made despite being told to only bring themselves. It was a massive, joyous ruckus, all of them screaming when they saw long time friends again. Emily and Jacob introduced me as a visiting friend. Everyone congratulated me on the pregnancy.

After the food, the party mellowed out into conversation about the shenanigans they went through with their children, as those same children ran around playing their games. Sometimes they'd include me by stating I'd have to deal with the same things. Everyone here was nice, and warm. I wondered if it was possible to raise EJ here, if he could play with the rez kids one day. This place was hidden enough. Especially Jacob's house. Though...I couldn't stay there forever. Maybe regardless of how great La Push was, I'd have to move some place where no one could see him or...be endangered by him. Who would teach him to hunt? Jacob?

"Chill here for a sec. I'll be back," He suddenly said.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't worry. I don't think wolves will show up here," He bounded away to catch up with a couple of other men before I could ask something else.

Some time later, Jacob returned with a small bouquet of flowers.

"Happy mother's day," He said with a big smile. I was shocked.

"Gremlin isn't here yet, but I think it counts," He said, pulling me up.

"You're going to be great, Bells," He whispered to me, holding me in a tight hug.

"Jacob...I don't know if I can do it alone."

"What do you mean, you've got me? I said I'd help." I looked at him as we parted.

"Really?"

"Yeah," He said sheepishly.

"Someone has to be able to catch up to him," He whispered. "And you'll teach them to be human, just, maybe less clumsier," I half understood and was half confused. I tried to ask something to confirm if he meant what I thought he did, but he said "sit, others are watching". Though I've been suspecting the party goers thought we were more than friends. He sat back down next to me with my hand still in his, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

It's strange, Jacob telling me he'd raise the baby with me. It was different from him offering to help. It wasn't his. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to do that. I felt like I would be betraying Edward if I allowed him in, even though he betrayed me.

But, after everything Jacob has done for me, should I...? Could I live here?

He laughed heartily at a joke someone made, and he just glowed with that grin on his face. He was beautiful, in his way. I loved him. Not quite the same, but maybe if I had never met Edward, he'd be the one. Maybe I loved him enough to stay with him. Pay back what I owed him.

But I wished it was Edward who was smiling at me. Did he think of me a little? Was there enough familiarity between us for that?

With the new diet, the baby grew too, and I looked so close to giving birth. I used to dread the day the technician was found, but I was relieved to at least know how the baby was doing. I wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of me knowing. Baby, safe. That's the most important thing.

Though others made sure it was a stressful event.

Sam and the elders came to deliver the news about finally tracking down someone who had moved to the neighboring reservation.

"We've already contacted her. She'll be here early tomorrow, just like the rest of us." Levi said. So soon! I scowled at him, hating we didn't have more of a heads up to plan. And I wasn't at all keen at the idea of them witnessing the imaging.

"You'll wait outside," I said.

"We have to see it."

"The woman doesn't know me. She won't lie on my behalf," I said. "You can wait outside the room and she'll tell you what she saw. I still have the right to privacy."

Levi definitely didn't like me, but it wasn't my fault he was being unreasonable, giving me the opportunity to call him out on it. He really thought I'd be easy to bully. Maybe if I wasn't a human girl who had been hunted by vampire before, ran away from home, with every intention to fight to the death to protect my baby, I would have been easy to pressure.

With the elders in agreement that they would wait outside Jacob's room, they left. Because they weren't interested in the next issue. Birth. If I could deliver naturally, great. We just need a midwife or doula. Maybe even Emily could deliver him. I just need to push right?

If an emergency happens...I could need a C-section. We have to hope I could get away with lying about my documents being destroyed in a flood, and that Alice's financial help could cover the cost. That maybe using my health insurance won't alert anyone. It wasn't ID. Maybe I could bribe someone to skip certain admittance parts. But let's hope it all goes well.

Sorry for the long wait again. This section was a little hard to write. I wanted to put in moments where it felt like everyone could relax, like those small moments we get where we feel like we can breathe whilst in the middle of a difficult situation. I do have a piece I wrote that sort of comes after the last chapter where Jacob helps Bella bathe if you're interested?

Thank you so much to everyone who's followed recently. I appreciate it.