Your Pain is My Pain

JacobxBella

Rated M

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the franchise, as it belongs to Steph Meyers

Your Pain is My Pain

Chapter 30

2 Years Later…

Life had been good for Bella Swan ever since she had graduated high school. She had celebrated not only her success in academic achievement, but her own personal achievement in having even made it that far considering how her senior year had started off. Once the celebrating had worn off, she had spent her summer spending time with her boyfriend Jacob Black, as well as having fun with her friends, and preparing for community college in the fall. And when the fall arrived, she set off on her first day ready to learn and strive for an Associates Degree. And that degree she received in English and Creative Writing, and she was so very proud of it.

During that time, her relationship with Jacob had grown stronger than it ever had. She sometimes still couldn't believe that what she had with Jacob was real, that her was her ideal match in every sense of the word. He was so sweet and considerate of her and her feelings, never making her feel bad or down about herself when she already did and made her feel better when she was down. As Charlie had once told her when they were having some father-daughter time, Jacob loved the bones of her with his entire being. Sometimes she didn't think she still deserved his love, but he showed her every day that she was deserving of it, and any emotional scars left behind by Edward Cullen had faded away. If she thought about it, she was actually grateful to the vampire. Because if he had never abandoned done what he did to her, she would never had known a true friendship, relationship, and love like the one she had with Jacob. She knew many people would give anything to have something real like what she had with Jacob, and she was so glad that she got to have and experience it.

Yes, life had been good for not only her, but everyone in the past two years. And just like two years previous, it was time to celebrate her achievement in receiving another diploma. And once again, they were to have it at Billy's house on the Res, and Bella wouldn't've had it anywhere else. And Billy's house was where she currently was with everyone celebrating her Associates.

Currently, she was standing with a bottle of root beer in hand, people watching her friends and family. The Pack were busy being rambunctious as ever, acting like the big kids that they were, something about them that she wouldn't change for the world. Near their Pack members was Sam and Leah, the two of them talking quietly together. Seeing them like that lately wasn't much a shock to Bella like it had been the first time she had seen it. At some point last year, Sam's Imprint with Emily had broken shockingly and unexpectedly, so much so that it baffled the Council of Elders. Bella had asked Jacob about it when she had found out, wondering if it didn't have anything to do with her telling them off about their Imprint. Jacob had laughed and told her that that hadn't been it, but rather that they had found out that Emily had discovered that she was infertile, and despite her being chosen to carry the next line of wolves through the Uley bloodline, it was never going to happen—she and Sam and tried, they really had. Not only that, but apparently Emily had also been having insecurities about Sam and Leah's close proximity to each other now that her cousin was also a wolf Shifter, especially considering their history. It all imploded one day and the Imprint broke completely, and Emily moved back to the Makah Reservation. Despite the awkwardness following, Leah had checked in on Sam to make sure he was okay, and as time went on, the friendship that had been lost between them slowly grew again. Even now, though they were not together romantically again, and according to Leah, she didn't think it ever would, they were happy together as just friends. But if you asked anyone, it was obvious that feelings for each other were still very much present, feelings Sam hadn't been able to express with Emily and the Imprint.

Looking over to the house, Bella watched as her father and Billy sat on the porch sat talking and laughing together as they drunk beers, with Sue Clearwater and Victoire sitting and laughing with them. Charlie and Victoire, after a year and a half of dating, had gotten married in a small courthouse ceremony and were very much happy and in love. As for Billy, he and Sue were seeing each other, something that came as a bit of a surprise to their children. But Bella believed that they, like everyone, deserved happiness with the person that made them happy, and if that was with each other, then there was nothing wrong with it. Looking back at Charlie, she couldn't help but giggle thinking about the time she, Billy, and Jacob had come clean to him about what was really going on around them in terms of the supernatural. He hadn't believed it at first, but after watching Jacob not only strip naked, but turn into a bear sized wolf, he had had no choice but to believe it. And after sputtering and spluttering about it, as well as grilling her about her true relationship with Edward and the Cullen family, he had accepted everything with about as much grace as he could upon finding out his best friend and daughter had been keeping secrets from him. Even so, he had gotten over it well enough.

Arms wrapping around her from behind would have startled her, had they not been so familiar to her, she would have known them in the dark. Smiling she turned her head and looked up at her boyfriend, smiling wider at his handsome, smiling face. Holding onto his arm, she greeted, "Hey Jake."

"Hey you," Jacob replied, giving her a sweet kiss on her forehead. Looking back down at her, he asked, "How are you feeling, honey? Doing okay?"

"I'm good, and I feel happy."

"About…?"

"About…everything. I'm happy with how life has been for not only myself, but all of us. And I'm happy about getting this degree and am feeling proud of myself."

"As you should, Bells. You've earned and deserved that degree, especially with all those reports and papers you had to write that cut into our alone time."

Bella blushed brightly before exclaiming, "Jake!"

Jacob laughed and kissed his honey once more before saying, "Now you can do online classes at the university."

"I know, four more years of schooling for a Bachelors. But I know I can do it."

"Of course, you can Bells, and you will; I just know it. But hey, if you're not too busy right now, can you come with me for a moment?"

Nodding, Bella let Jacob take her hand and followed him towards his house, passing by their fathers and down the hall to Jacob's bedroom. Once inside, they sat down on his bed, Jacob still holding the brunette's hand. After a moment of silence, Bella took notice of his almost nervous expression and asked, "Jake, what is it?"

Jacob took a moment to collect his thought before looking into her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Bella, we've been together for a long time, and not just as a couple. We've been friends since we were kids, and you became my best friend when you moved back to Forks. And though we've been through a lot together in a negative sense, I've also only found happiness and light with you as well. I've promised to always be by your side, even if we hadn't become a couple, and now two years later, I still intend to keep that promise. Bella, I love you so much with all my heart, and I don't know about you, but I want to get married one day. I want to marry you if you'll have me."

"Jake," Bella said breathlessly, her heart beating quickly in her chest as Jacob pulled a ring out of his pocket. She gasped as she recognized the gold band with embroidered pink flowers and tiny diamonds in the center of each flower. That ring, it was Sarah Black's rings, Jacob's mother's ring. And here he was presenting it to her. Finding her voice, she said, "Jake, that's your mother's ring. I can't accept that."

"But I want you to have it. And this isn't a proposal if you don't want it to be. This is me promising to remain faithful to you and marry you in the future. Think of my mother's ring as a promise ring, a promise to make our love official later on down the road. And when the time is right, I'll propose to you for real."

Bella looked between Jacob and Sarah's ring for a moment before smiling. With a nod, she simply said, "Okay."

Jacob smiled and moved to place the ring on her finger, only for her to take her hand back. In confusion by the action, he asked, "What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, Bella said, "I won't wear it on my finger. It's Sarah's ring and it wouldn't feel right for me to wear it on my own hand. But…"

She looked around Jacob's room and noticed the chain to a necklace that she had left there some time ago. Jacob had been meaning to put a charm on it for her, but things with the Pack had gotten so busy for him that he never got around to it. Glad that he hadn't, she picked up the chain and handed it to her boyfriend. Smiling up at him, she continued, "…I'll wear it around my neck."

Smiling at her solution, Jacob unfastened the chain and slipped the ring on it, then fastened it around Bella's neck. Once it was securely around her neck, he took her face into his hands and kissed her passionately. Bella kissed back just as sweetly and passionately, breaking it to press her forehead against his. In a soft voice, she told him, "I love you, Jacob Black. And thank you for being here for me for all these years, even when I was at my lowest and worst. I know it couldn't have been easy for you to see my in pain, but I'm grateful to you even more."

Wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his lap, Jacob replied, "Your pain is my pain, Bells, just like mine is yours. And there is no way I wouldn't be there for you. I'm with you through thick and thin, no matter how tough things get. You're not getting rid of me, Bella Swan. I love you, and I promise that no matter what pain we face in the future, whether it be mine or yours, we'll face it together."

Chocolate brown eyes looked into dark brown ones, and Bella smiled before kissing him once more. Their moment together, as perfect as it was, was soon interrupted by her stepmother. Victoire called them back to the party, as it was now time for Billy's campfire stories. Bella told her that they would be right out, and the couple soon rejoined the party with everyone else. As they settled around the fire, preparing to listen to Billy's stories, Bella snuggled against Jacob, the Shifter holding her close.

Never had she been happier than in that moment, and she knew it was only going to last. All the heartbreak and pain she had been through with Edward, all the bad decisions that she had made, were all worth it in the end to her. Because if not, then she wouldn't be right where she was right now. And that was something she was sure she would go through again if it meant being here with Jacob. Holding his hand and lacing their fingers together, Bella smiled as Billy began his tales. Pain and heartbreak, emotions one was sure to feel at some point in life in different measures. But the rainbow at the end of it all was always worth it. And in her case, it was, because Jacob was that rainbow, and she was finally and indefinitely happy.

Author's Note: This is the end of Your Pain is My Pain. Thank you all so much for reading along with this story until its end. I hope you all enjoyed Bella's journey with Jacob and will hopefully stay tuned for whatever else is to come. Again, thank you so much for sticking around until the end of this story and following along. XOXO, SehunsBae37.