Chapter 19

Bella's POV

Two weeks had passed since receiving the threatening pictures. Nothing seemed out of the normal but Bella made sure that when she was out in public that she never let her guard down.

It helped that if Edward wasn't able to take her to her classes that Jasper offered his help. She was rarely alone anymore and it was slowly starting to drive her insane. She knew that everyone was just trying to help her and make sure that she was safe but she needed some 'me time'. Her and Edward hadn't even been intimate since before the pictures were found, she was getting to the point that she was going to have to beg him to touch her.

A week after their visit to the police station Detective Uley had visited them with her report on Jacob Black.

"There wasn't much to find but when we looked into his previous relationships there was something that stood out. When he was in high school he was dating one girl, Leah Clearwater. About six months into their relationship she was in a terrible car accident after a visit with one of her friends. She ended up not surviving so her friend came forward with a statement saying that she was heading to the local police to file a report against Black.

"The report on her car accident claims that she fell asleep at the wheel and rolled off of the road and was thrown from the vehicle. There were some bruises on her that didn't correlate with the accident but the local police never looked further into the situation. Her friend claims that Black had been abusing Ms. Clearwater for some time and she was just getting the strength to go to the cops. She'd offered to go with her but Leah had turned her down, she said that she needed to do it herself. She's also adamant that Leah was not tired and that there was no way that she would've gotten behind the wheel if she was at all drowsy."

"The police never looked into this?" Edward had asked in astonishment.

"No, in my opinion, they seem to be kind of lazy and if the abuse wasn't directly spelled out in front of them they didn't care enough to look. Knowing what I know now, I have a very strong feeling that Black was involved in Ms. Clearwater's accident. He couldn't have her come forward and ruin his good name so he took her out of the picture and then played the grieving boyfriend for the rest of high school. There's no other reports on him but my gut is telling me that you two need to steer clear of this man."

Edward and her had wholeheartedly agreed, there was nothing they wanted more than to never see Jacob Black again.

They filed a restraining order against him but Detective Uley called her later saying that they weren't able to contact him to give him his copy. Bella's heart had skipped a beat when she heard that he was missing, she just wanted this to be over and done with.

Edward had also talked her into making the call to her father (more like he threatened), he'd told her that if she didn't make the call that he would. She knew that he was telling the truth so, with a deep breath, she called him one Sunday morning.

"Hey, baby girl. What's going on?" He asked cheerily.

"Dad, there's something I need to tell you but you should probably be sitting down first," she told him.

She heard a sharp intake of breath. "Did you and Edward elope?"

"No! Nothing like that," she said.

"Okay." She heard the creek of his favorite armchair as he sat down. "Lay it on me, Bells."

With another deep breath she told him everything; from the pictures to the trip to the police station and finally to the last information that the detective had given her. Her father was silent through her whole speech, she knew that he was putting his Chief of Police hat on. She was just glad that he was taking her seriously, she was worried that he would think that she was overreacting.

He was silent for a few moments after she finished speaking.

"I'll be right there, Bells."

"Dad, you don't have to do that. Edward's making sure that I'm always with someone, nothing is going to happen to me," she promised.

"I don't care, when my baby girl is in danger I need to be by your side."

She knew that there was nothing she could tell him to change his mind, she got her stubbornness from her father. Once he set his mind on something there was nothing that could derail him.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Her dad had arrived the next day and, after checking in on his daughter, went to the police station to see where they were on her case. She knew that the cops didn't have to particularly listen to him but Detective Uley knew how important this was to her father so she agreed to keep him informed.

Everything was going great - or however great it could be with a psychotic man following her around - when she woke up that next Saturday morning.

The last two weeks had been so stressful, with everything going on in her personal life she had to put it all aside and focus on her schoolwork and student teaching. She told Angela a little of what was going on just in case Bella would ever have to leave her class early but she still put everything she had into her students. She knew that there would be moments when she was teaching that something would be happening in her personal life but the moment she entered the school she had to leave all of her stress at the door. It was hard but it was the only time during her day that she didn't have to worry about Jacob or the case.

While she was making her morning tea she heard a knock on the door to their apartment. Since Edward was still in the shower she went to answer it. She looked through the peephole first (Edward made sure to tell her to never open the door without doing so first) and was shocked when she saw who was on the other side.

Renee.

She hadn't spoken to her mom since that fateful night when she had told her about the pregnancy. Everything that Renee had said couldn't be forgotten but the moment that she saw her mom she felt something break inside of her, she missed her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked when she opened the door.

"Charlie told me what was going on. I didn't know if you would want me here or not so I stayed behind but...I couldn't stay in Forks knowing that my little girl was in danger," she said. She had tears in her eyes as she spoke to Bella. Bella heard movement behind her and turned to meet Edward's eyes. She nodded at him to tell him that she was okay, he took one last look at Renee before going back into their bedroom.

Bella opened the door wider for her mom to come in. She just had to hope and pray that this meeting wouldn't end in disaster, she didn't know if she could handle more stress in her life.

"You look good, Bella. How far along are you now?" She asked as Bella led her to the kitchen table where they could sit and talk.

"Six months, did Dad tell you what we're having?"

"No." She shook her head in sadness before continuing, "What is it?"

"Girl. We're naming her Carlie Rose," Bella said, quietly.

All of a sudden Renee broke down in tears. "I was a horrible mother. I'm so sorry about everything I said when you told me that you were pregnant. The moment you left the house I regretted it but I didn't know if you still wanted me in your life. I never want you to think that I'm not proud of you, you are the best daughter that I could've asked for. It was stupid of me to try to tell you what to do and I am so grateful that you didn't listen to me. I don't know what I would've done if you actually had followed my bitter advice. Can you ever forgive me?" She asked, sadly.

Bella didn't even hesitate.

"Of course, I forgave you a long time ago." It took too much energy to hold a grudge, forgiving her mother took a huge weight off of her back. She knew that some people wouldn't understand her decision but it felt so good to have one less stress to worry about. With everything that was going on with Jacob Black, it really put into focus what was important - and family was at the top of that list.

They hugged each other, both crying, before they pulled apart and spent the rest of the morning catching up on what was going on in the other's life. Bella didn't mention Jacob and Renee didn't ask. It was nice to be able to talk about the good things in her life and not the black cloud that was following her around on a daily basis.

Renee also apologized to Edward when he reemerged from the bedroom. He took a page out of Bella's book and instantly forgave her, she knew that he didn't forget what she said but he didn't want to make Bella sad by ostracizing her mother. It was one of the many reasons that Bella loved him.

That Monday morning Bella woke up feeling better than she had in a long time. With her mom in town and the two of them back to talking it seemed that everything was going perfect. Even though Jacob was still missing she hadn't heard or seen him since that last coffee shop run in, she was beginning to think that he had let her go.

Edward didn't share her hopeful outlook, he was still wary of her going anywhere alone. Since he had an earlier class than her he made sure that Jasper was going to be able to follow Bella to her morning classes. He wasn't taking any risks.

"Jasper, you know you don't have to do this, right?" She asked him as she opened the door.

"Bella, you're one of my closest friends. There's nowhere else I'd rather be," he told her, adamantly.

She shook her head but, internally, she felt pleased at his answer. It was times like these that you truly knew who your friends were and she was glad that she had the friends that she did.

When they got to her car she turned away from Jasper, momentarily, to dig her keys out of her purse.

She heard a noise behind her and turned around to see what Jasper had just dropped. She hadn't seen him carrying anything but she couldn't figure out what else that sound could've been.

She was met with the sight of Jasper sprawled on the ground behind her and Jacob standing over him with a crowbar in his hand.

Jacob POV

He'd been watching her for weeks. He knew that she wanted to be with him but she was too scared to tell her losey boyfriend, Cullen. He had to get her out of her situation, get rid of her baby, and then they would be free to start all over again.

It took him a while to think of a plan but once he had it he could execute it almost right away. Cullen wouldn't leave Bella alone, not even for a second, when she was outside. If he wasn't with her then his sidekick, Whitlock, would be with her. Jacob was so angry that they were treating Bella as if she was their prisoner. He knew that after he had Bella back that he would go back for those two weasels. They wouldn't be breathing for much longer and that idea alone made him feel better.

As he waited outside of her apartment for her and Whitlock to show up he thought of all the ways that he could get rid of Cullen. He wanted something more creative than the crowbar that he planned to use on Whitlock, Cullen deserved so much worse for taking Jacob's love from him.

From the moment that Whitlock entered the apartment it took five minutes before he and Bella reappeared.

It was the longest five minutes of Jacob's life.

He watched Bella glide across the ground towards him. It was like everything in his life led up to this moment. Everything with Leah was just practice, he vowed to do better this time. Once he got Cullen and his evil spawn out of the way then he would be able to focus all of his attention on Bella. He couldn't wait to be able to put his hands all over her body and reclaim her as his own. He knew that she would be just as happy as he was when she was back where she belonged.

He snuck behind the car that was parked next to Bella's, it was perfect height for him to bend his body so he wouldn't be able to be seen. He heard the two of them talking but didn't pay any attention to what they were saying.

He picked up a rock that was near his feet and threw it a few feet away from him and was pleased when Whitlock turned his head to find the source of the sound. Bella was looking down in her purse so Jacob slithered up to Whitlock and, with all of the force that he could summon, he hit Whitlock over the head and watched him slump to the ground like a marionette puppet that got his strings cut suddenly.

He heard a gasp and looked up to find Bella staring at him with wide eyes. He couldn't tell what emotion she was feeling but he could only assume that she was overjoyed at seeing him, she had to have missed him as much as he missed her.

"Bella," he whispered. He opened his arms in preparation, he knew that she would just throw her arms around him when she realized why he was there.

She stumbled backward and clutched at her stomach. If Jacob didn't know any better than he would say that Bella seemed scared of him.

"What are you doing here, Jacob?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"I came to rescue you," he explained.

She seemed confused but when he reached his hand out to pull her closer to him she hit his hand away and backed up so she was against her car.

"Don't come near me or I'll scream," she told him.

"What are you doing? I'm here to help you," he told her. He stepped closer to her but then she screamed for help, he had no other option.

He grabbed the rag that was in his pocket and put it over her face, she attempted to fight him off of her but she was nowhere near as strong as he was. Her body went limp within a couple seconds so he picked her up (she was a lot heavier than he remembered) and carried her down to the car that he had stolen just for this moment. He opened the back door and placed her gently down in the backseat, he gave her forehead a quick kiss before rounding the car and getting into the driver's seat.

Now, the fun could begin.

A/N: I warned you that the story would get slightly darker! We're getting close to the end, I can feel it. I really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, please keep the reviews coming. I love to read what you guys think of these chapters. Thank you!