Chapter 12 Going Home

Rated M

Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyers.

I'm kind of running out of steam on this story. My original inspiration was the idea of Bella having a huge scar down her stomach from a forced abortion by Edward, which would later bring Bella and Jacob together. Alice decided to be the bad girl in this story. I liked Alice in the Twilight series, but in a way this was a plot hole to me. How did Alice not see the outcome of the honeymoon?

Shush! you say? Well on with the story…

Jacob drove back to Bella's house, his heart full of love. He enjoyed the night out with her friends, though mostly he loved seeing her enjoy life. As he pulled into the driveway, he glanced over to see her head leaning against the window. She let out a soft snore, and he laughed lightly knowing she was done for the night. So much for heading out earlier than everyone else.

The next morning, they were up as bright and early as one can be with a bitch of a hangover. Bella showered, trying to wake herself up. She leaned her head against the wall, as the warm water ran over her achy body. She chastised herself for the last 3 shots. Really how drunk did one need to be to have fun? She did have fun though. While she enjoyed dancing with the other guys, she really enjoyed her dances with Jake. He was so sexy. The way they moved together was sizzling.

"Bella, we need to get on the road soon," Jacob announced outside the bathroom door.

She grunted in response and shut the shower off. Grabbing her clothes, she closed the door from the bathroom to her bedroom, so Jacob could get his turn in the shower. As she looked around her room, she realized that the guys had already packed all of her things into the cars. Their plan was to load everything she needed into the backseats and trunks of both cars. If some of it didn't fit, she knew which boxes Charlie could ship to La Push. She folded her clothes and put them in the last duffle bag.

They all met downstairs, where Charlie had laid out enough pastries to feed an army. They munched on doughnuts and other sugary treats as they drank coffee and discussed the driving plan with Charlie. It would take them 3 days to drive the 1,200 miles back.

With tears in their eyes, Charlie and Bella gave each other tight hugs. Bella promised to call every day for her "summer vacation," and to let him know as soon as they pulled into Billy's house.

Charlie was still out of the loop on the supernatural things, so they told him Jake and Bella wanted to spend time catching up before Bella decided on her adult job. Jake told Charlie in private that he was hoping he could convince Bella there would be a way for her to write there. She didn't need to live in a big city for the career she wanted.

Of course, what they couldn't say to him was that Alice Cullen had flipped her mind and jumped on the crazy vampire train. It wasn't safe for him to know and he could keep living blissfully ignorant of the truth as far as they were concerned.

As they pulled away, Bella left the window open and waved enthusiastically to Charlie until they turned the corner and he was gone from view. Bella sat back in her seat, and rolled the window up. She sighed and looked over to Jake.

"I'm happy to go back with you. I wish it were on my own terms and not because a vampire was after me again," she said, and then leaned back into the seat to get comfortable. She still felt like complete crap from the night before and planned to sleep for a few hours in the car. Their first stop for the night was Sacramento. Then they planned to stop somewhere in Oregon, before ending in La Push. Jacob promised he felt fine and that she could sleep.

The trip was long and uncomfortable for all of them. The wolves were more than ready to be home to run free and the men were as well. While they all were comfortable enough while they were in California, it wasn't 'your own bed in your own room' kind of comfortable.

Bella kept her promise and called Charlie as soon as they pulled in the driveway. She spoke briefly to him, as not much had happened to report to him. He told her to have a great time and he would see her soon. While he didn't plan to come for the summer, Billy did talk him into coming for at least a long weekend. Charlie said his job owed him some vacation so he'd work it out some time.

Other pack members were standing outside Billy's house as soon as they pulled in. Bella stayed in the car while she called Charlie, but she had watched as they all greeted each other. They shook hands and gave one-armed hugs. Bella looked around at the familiar faces of Seth, Brady, Collin, Jared, Quil, Paul, and Phoenix. She was surprised that she didn't see Sam or Emily there. It made sense that Sam didn't come to California as he was married and Emily was pregnant. Though, she thought for sure they would be here now. Taking a deep breath, she got out of the car.

"Bella!" Quil sauntered over to her and scooped her up, swinging her around. She laughed and asked him how it was going. Each of the guys welcomed her and gave her a quick hug.

Bella looked around noting how much had changed at the house. There was a new roof, fresh paint and inside there was new flooring and more lighting. Jacob had been putting his new degree to use in his father's home.

The guys stayed out in the living room talking and laughing while Bella looked around. She headed to the bathroom and was surprised with another change to the house. The bathroom had been expanded and included a fully accessible shower for Billy. It had everything he needed to be as independent as he could.

Jacob had told her there were changes, but this was beyond what she imagined. Rachel came and greeted her, then offered to show her the expansion at the back of the house where she and Paul lived. They had their own separate living space with a small kitchen and laundry room. It had a covered path, so that they could go between the main house and their area whenever they wanted or needed to.

"Wow. Everything looks great, Rachel," Bella marveled over the changes.

"Yeah, Paul and Jacob worked on it together. Dad said he could not live under the same roof as us for another second," she laughed and Bella joined in. "Dad really can do a lot on his own with all of the new accessible additions to the house. He needs us for some things but he likes the company sometimes too."

Bella chuckled knowing from Jacob how Billy was just fine without their company.

When they walked back into the living room of the main house, only Jacob and Paul were left chatting. Paul was filling him in on the latest with the Cullens. Bella walked over and sat beside Jake on the couch. He reached out and grabbed her hand without missing a beat in the discussion.

"Thanks, Paul, for taking care of things while I was gone. It really means a lot to me," Jacob said sincerely.

"No problem, man. You're family. Pack," he answered as he reached out to pat Jacob's upper arm before turning and leaving the room.

Jacob turned to Bella, "Are you ready to head over to see my house?"

"Definitely," she answered. "It looks great, by the way. I can't believe all of the improvements around here. It's great that Billy is able to be more independent and not always rely on somebody to do stuff for him."

Jacob stood and they walked out to his car. He drove the 5 minutes to his house and pulled his car into the garage.

As they got out of the car, Bella looked around the garage and smiled. While it was new to her, it was completely Jacob. All of his tools were lined up on the wall and there were many more to the collection. She supposed he needed them with working on houses around the reservation.

"Come on, Brady and Seth dropped your stuff off before they headed home," Jacob beckoned her into the house.

Bella absorbed the house as she walked around. It wasn't a brand new house, or a huge house, but it had all been refurbished and looked really nice. It, too, was Jacob. She admired the dark floors and stopped in the kitchen. It wasn't huge but it was a dream. It had a gas stove top, double ovens, a side by side fridge, and a dishwasher.

Jacob walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"What do you think? Will you survive here for a little bit?" he asked, as he ran his cheek against hers and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"I'd be fine as long as I was with you," she replied softly. It was true. She knew they could live in worse conditions and that she was lucky he was here. Really she was pretty simple but she could picture herself cooking a huge "thank you" dinner for the pack for all of the traveling and trouble they went through while she finished college.

"I want to take you somewhere," Jake said to her, pulled her hand and headed out the back door.

They walked down the road together, hand in hand, until they reached a rocky path. Bella gripped Jacob's hand a bit tighter to keep her balance as they walked up a small hill.

When they reached the top, she saw they were at the cemetery. Jacob guided her until they reached the place he wanted to show her. She knelt down as she saw the headstone with Embry's name on it. The tears flooded her eyes as she remembered that fateful day. The pack has lost their friend because of her.

"There's one more thing I want you to see," Jake whispered to her, as he pulled some grass off a tiny marker a few feet away.

It said, "Little One we would never get to know." It had a picture of a swan over the words. Bella sobbed when she saw that Jake had placed a marker for her baby.

"Jake? Is this just a memoriam? Or is she here? I can't believe you did this for me," she continued to cry.

"She's buried here. After I saw Edward with the bundle, I checked the baby out. I couldn't just walk away not knowing for sure if the baby survived. I figured she hadn't by the way he was acting. When I smelled her, she smelled so much like you. Her hair was fuzzy brown all over her head. She would have been a beautiful baby. I couldn't let her be buried off in the woods someplace away from here. I brought her back and had this made-for her," Jacob shared as tears streamed down his own face remembering that day. It had been a secret he kept from her all this time. He wasn't sure how she would feel knowing that her daughter had been buried in La Push. The baby girl had been at least part vampire. Only the pack members knew about it. Most of them understood Jake's desire to do the right thing, only one didn't understand and thought it was against everything for which the wolves stood.

They stayed until the rain came in. They had walked to the cemetery and needed to get back to Jake's house before it started to pour.