PREVIOUSLY-

"Yeah. Like I said, it doesn't matter either way, but I think it would be cool if we could. I mean, if we knew which one of us got you pregnant this time, we'll know who gets the next turn." Jared winked at me.

"While that would be nice, can we table the discussion about kid #2 until this one is born?" I laughed. "Don't worry though, there will definitely be more whether you can tell or not."

I could feel both of their happiness about my statement as we all laid down to get some rest.


The next day I woke to only Sam in bed next to me, running his fingers over my stomach. As I looked up at his face, I could see him smiling and it made my heart melt.

I was so beyond relieved to see him like this after the horrible week we had.

As if reading my mind, he spoke. "I am happy about it, Bella. I wish I could fully convince you that I am, but I know it'll take time for you to believe it after what I said to you. I won't ever be able to tell you enough how sorry I am."

"I know, Sam." I told him, reaching up to run my fingers down his cheek.

He pressed a kiss to the side of my head and sat up.

"Jared is out patrolling with Jacob. He didn't want to, but he knew it was his turn." He told me as I sat up next to him.

"Why didn't he want to?" I questioned curiously, wondering why.

"He didn't want to run with Jacob because of how Jacob felt about you before. You know how Jared is, honey. You're the most precious thing in the world to him, to both of us, and he doesn't like the fact that anyone else had feelings for you." Sam explained to me and I gave him a wide-eyed look.

"So you're telling me that Jared is jealous?" I asked.

"More angry than jealous, if I'm being honest." Sam told me, shocking me even more.

"But I thought you said that Jacob understands about the imprint now? Didn't that take away his feelings for me?"

Sam sighed. "Knowing about the imprint doesn't just miraculously take away his previous feelings. It only made him accept that they'll never be more than that. As part of the pack he has to respect an imprint above all else but it will take time for his feelings to dissipate."

My jaw had dropped open as he spoke.

"If Jared is angry then how are you not?" I was confused. It was normally the other way around.

"I'm not happy about it, but I can't let it impede my ability to be able to run this pack efficiently. It's why I made Jared run with Jacob this morning. I need to have the two of them on the same page otherwise we risk exposing a weakness to our enemies."

Sam's logical mind always gave me some sense of peace, but I knew that Jared always felt things more deeply. He was more emotional and less logical.

"You don't think he thinks I—"

"No, honey, of course he doesn't. I promise Jared knows your love and devotion for us is unwavering. His emotions are heightened right now because of you being pregnant. He's on overdrive in every way it seems like. Maybe the two of you should take a trip out to the waterfall today. It's not supposed to rain until tonight. I think he might need that. I can patrol around the area while you're there to make sure it's safe and give you some privacy from the other wolves." Sam's idea was probably the best thing.

I hadn't been to the waterfall with Jared in a while because it had been so cold but today it was unseasonably warm and not raining or snowing.

It wasn't long after our talk that Jared came back in. I had just gotten out of the shower but I could hear him and Sam talking downstairs.

"Why did you make me run with him? I swear to Taha Aki that every other damn thought he had was about Bella as if he thinks we can't protect her as well as he could have. It took everything in me not to pull rank on him and chew his ass out." I could hear Jared say to Sam.

"Like I told you, all of us need to be on good terms, Jared. How can we expect to work as a pack when we're fighting amongst each other? Victoria is still out there. If the two of you are at each other's throats, both of you might miss something and that could be dangerous." Sam said back to him.

I could hear Jared then coming up the stairs so I finished up in the bathroom and walked out to meet him in the bedroom.

He was already waiting for me, now sitting on the edge of the bed, so I walked up in between his legs and he wrapped his arms around my waist burying his head into me and taking a deep breath.

After a few moments, I pulled away from him and ran my fingers through his hair. "Hey why don't we go out to the waterfall today?" I suggested to him.

His face lit up and he smiled up at me. "I'd love that. But what about Victoria?"

"Sam said he'd have us covered if we went." I explained to him.

He was standing and pulling me behind him in a single blink. I knew he needed some alone time with me, but I didn't know just how much until Sam told me about Jacob.

He drove me to where we could walk to the waterfall and pulled off onto the side of the road to park. When I got out, I heard Sam yip from the woods and then saw him poke his head out from behind a tree.

"I love you too, Sam." I said in his direction.

He yipped again and took off running into the woods.

Jared held my hand and carefully lifted me over fallen logs and anything that could possibly trip me as we made our way to the waterfall.

Once there, I laid out the blanket I'd been carrying with me and we both sat down.

"Sam told you I was pissed at Jacob, didn't he?" Jared asked me as I motioned for him to lay his head in my lap.

"He did, but I know you've been needing this for a while now. Talk to me." I asked of him while I played with his hair.

"With Jake, I don't know, he doesn't like the imprint. He knows what it means, sure, but he thinks you had no choice in the matter and that's part of what pisses me off. He thinks he has some sort of claim on you or at least that he did before the imprint. I mean the kid hadn't even seen you for the 5 months since we've been in your life!" Jared began. "And then him being disgusted that you're pregnant and that we've both been with you and don't know who the father is. I don't understand why Sam isn't more pissed off."

"Jared, honey, Sam isn't happy about it either, but he has to run the pack and now Jacob is part of the pack. Let him be angry, let him be jealous. This is a happy time for us. Don't let someone else ruin it. You know that I'm your wife and that I love you and Sam more than the world. What I need is for your head to be in the game, especially while Victoria is still around. I can't have you distracted by being pissed off at Jacob and have something happen to you." I told him very seriously.

Jared closed his eyes and leaned into me, pressing his face into my stomach.

After a moment, he looked back up at me. "I know, but I don't want to run with him unless we're all running or chasing. It's just too much right now by myself."

I nodded to him. "I'll talk to Sam about it."

"I still can't believe we're going to be parents. I can't wait to be able to hear the baby's heartbeat and see your belly growing."

I laughed. "I can wait for that part."

"Nah, it'll be the best proof. Until the baby is born, that is." He smiled brightly before reaching up and pulling my head down to kiss him.

We spent about an hour there just talking before I started shivering, making Jared decide it was time to go back home.


A/N- I'm back! I know it's been a super long time since I've updated anything. I was going through some really difficult personal things, but I want to try to work on some of my stories more this year. I'm sure most of you probably had or will have to go back and re-read this story because it's been so long since it's been updated and I'm sorry for that. You guys mean the world to me and even though I wasn't able to write, I still received the notifications from FanFiction letting me know you were still here supporting me and that always made me feel so much better.

Thank you for being so supportive.

-Bex