One More Night
Chapter Eleven
Everyone walked through the front door as the house phone started ringing off the hook and Bella looked to Edward confused as no one went to answer it.
"Why aren't you answering the phone?" Bella asked as she stood by Rachel, stroking Vanessa's silky hair.
"It's Charlie." Edward stated sadly and Bella's heart clinched. She had missed her father so much. As soon as she met her daughter, she wished Charlie had been there and could meet his granddaughter. She knew Charlie would love Vanessa just as everyone else did. Vanessa had inherited her father's natural bubbliness and everyone couldn't help, but flock to her and adore her for it.
"Why aren't you answering it?" Rachel asked as she went to grab the phone, but Edward quickly yet softly grabbed her hand.
"We can't talk to him yet." Bella was bewildered by this statement.
"Why not? Jake and I were going to see him today." Jacob nodded in agreement with her as Edward's eyes widened.
"What? Bella, have you even looked at yourself in the mirror? You look noticeably different. Charlie would easily notice. Your skin is darker so is your hair. You're even taller than you were before your transition. Your father will ask questions." Bella wasn't sure exactly what he was thinking should be done until Emmett sighed sadly.
"I'm sure going to miss this place." Jacob caught what they were hinting at and gasped audibly.
"Wait a second. No one said anything about leaving!" Bella covered her mouth from the shock as Seth stood by Jake.
"Yeah, no one needs to leave!" Carlisle looked to the wolves in understanding.
"Charlie is not going to stop asking question. We can't exactly fake Bella's death with her being a wolf. She's going to have to go away from here and not come back until Charlie has passed away." Bella's heart clenched as Carlisle said this.
"There has to be another way." Jacob tried to change the Cullen's mind, but it was no use.
"I wish there was. We all love it here. Forks is all of our home, but Bella and Vanessa need to remain concealed so no one will get suspicious." Tears filled Bella's eyes as she shook her head.
"No." She released herself from Jacob and ran out the front door, sobbing loudly. He looked in her direction in sadness.
"Just give us a day, alright?" Jake pleaded and Carlisle nodded. Jacob quickly exited the house and followed his imprint's scent. He found her far back in the woods, in the middle of a clearing filled with purple and yellow wildflowers. She looked so beautiful and yet so heartbreaking.
Her face was buried in her knees as she rocked herself back and forth in the fetal position, sobbing loudly.
He moved towards his imprint and took a seat next to her, pulling her into his embrace.
"I screwed everything up." She mumbled into his neck as he held her close.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Bells." She shook her head before wiping away her tears and looking at him.
"How can they expect us to do this? Leave our families behind? Billy and Charlie haven't even gotten to meet Vanessa and now I can't even come back until my dad is dead. It's not only unfair to us, but to our families as well." He gently rubbed her cheek and it relaxed her nerves like he knew it would. Gazing up into his eyes, he sweetly kissed her lips.
"Don't worry, honey. I will fix this. We have a whole day and I'm going to make sure we don't have to leave." He had a plan hatched in his head and he knew, if he told anyone, they would try to stop him.
"How? How can you fix this?" He smirked sweetly at her.
"Don't worry about that. Just relax and focus on spending some time with our daughter." She wanted to push, but she decided against it and pressed her face back into his neck.
"I love you, Jake." He chuckled softly before kissing her cheek.
"I love you, too." She smiled to herself before he pulled her closer against him.
"I'm gonna go fix this problem of ours, Bells." She nodded before looking up at him.
"I'll go with you." He shook his head before kissing her forehead. That kiss was so sweet, it was almost a term of endearment.
"I need you to stay with Vanessa. You two need some time together and I need to do this for you. You and Vanessa are my top priority and I'll be damned if because we have Vanessa you can't have your father as a part of your life." She smiled sweetly before she kissed him again.
"How did I get so lucky?" She teased him and he kissed her much more deeply.
"I'm the lucky one, Bells."
They both felt extremely lucky to have the kind of love they did and to be blessed with the special child they had. They wouldn't trade anything in the world for it.
Jacob pushed his car to a slow crawl until he parked at the edge of the curb outside of the Swan residence. He used to come here all the time to see Bella. How things had changed so quickly and so drastically?
He went from hating the Cullen clan vehemently and wanting to kill Edward Cullen from stealing Bella away from him to seeing them as his family and having not only Bella by his side, but a newborn daughter as well.
Jacob got out of the car fully dressed with dark blue jeans, his boots, a red and black plaid button down, and his brown leather jacket. He walked across the lawn to hear Charlie doing his normal chopping of wood into the forest he did once a week when the summer heat was over.
"Charlie." Jake approached and his father's best friend turned to him, shock across the middle-aged man's features.
"Jake? You're back?" Jacob nodded before taking a deep breath.
"Charlie, I need to talk to you...about Bella." He nodded and used the axe to hold himself up like a cane.
"What about Bella?" Jake struggled with his words. Truly, he hadn't thought all of this through. Sure, he knew Charlie wouldn't be too happy and that everyone at the Cullen house would be pissed, but he hadn't thought about how to word things right so not to give the Cullen's away.
The look on Jake's face was almost like he was struggling to tell Charlie something that would be heartbreaking. Charlie's brain went to the worst possible conclusion instantly. He leaned farther into the axe.
"No, she's not. Don't you dare say anything like that, Jake." Jacob realized quickly what Charlie had thought and shook his head fast.
"No, no, nothing like that, Charlie. She's not sick anymore. She's up and walking around. She's as healthy as a horse." Jacob tried to quickly keep from breaking Charlie's heart and saw the man relax noticeably, even to the human eye.
"That's great news, Jake." Charlie threw down the axe and pulled off his gloves before patting his daughter's boyfriend on the shoulder. "Is she at your house or in the car?" He asked and Jake struggled with his words again.
"Charlie, wait." The police chief froze before turning to Jacob who looked panicked. "Bella, she was really bad off, Charlie. I need to talk to you before you try to go see her." Charlie wasn't sure what this was about, but he knew what his first priority was, it was Bella.
"I need to see Bella, Jake." Charlie pointed towards his cruiser and Jake groaned.
"You can't until you hear me out, Charlie. Trust me. You need to hear what I have to say." Charlie stepped closer to Jacob while crossing his arms.
"Okay, Jake. I haven't seen my daughter in two weeks so you have two minutes. Starting now." He glanced at his watch before Jake gulped.
"Look, Bella was running out of options. She quickly got very skinny, malnutritioned. She couldn't hold anything down and was in a lot of pain from the baby." Charlie's eyes widened while he stayed silent. "In order to get better, she had to...change." His second father narrowed his eyes at him, a befuddled expression across his features.
"Change? What do you mean change?" Jacob gulped and pulled off his jacket slowly.
"Here goes nothing." Charlie's eyes widened once more as Jacob kicked off his boots and started to unbutton his shirt.
"Jake, what are you doing? Why are you taking off your clothes?" In his nervousness, he shrugged his shoulders, disbelief filing the man before him. "Jake, please, put your clothes back on." Jacob pushed off his shirt and got to work on his pants.
"I know this must seem really weird, but trust me, it will make sense in a minute. Plus, stranger things happen every day." Jacob pushed his jeans and his boxers down before kicking them to the side.
Charlie could not believe the nerve of this boy. It was bad enough the kid he had known since he popped out of his mother had gotten his now nineteen year old daughter pregnant then disappeared, but now, he was standing before him naked as the day he came screaming into the world. He definitely didn't want to see him naked and have the thoughts in his head that this boy had sex with his daughter. No, thank you!
Suddenly, Charlie saw steam coming off Jacob's body as his lip lifted in a snarl and he seemed to grow a few inches taller.
"What the…." Charlie whispered to himself as he took a cautious step back and Jacob instantly busted out of his skin and into the form of his russet wolf. Charlie gasped and lost his footing, falling to the floor. He crawled as quickly away from the beast as he could and Jacob quickly laid down, crossing his paws in front of him. "Jesus fucking Christ." Charlie said under his breath.
Bella was relaxing on the front porch with Vanessa, Leah, and Edward as Jacob's Rabbit started down the long driveway. Bella and Leah both saw the angry look cover Edward's features as Jake parked his car and Edward growled.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" Edward bellowed and Bella quickly handed Vanessa to Leah before speeding over to Jacob as Edward did, pushing him against his car door.
"Edward, stop!" She pushed him away and created a barrier between the two men. "What's going on?" She asked calmly as Edward growled.
"He went to Charlie and revealed himself to him." Bella gasped before she turned to her boyfriend.
"You did what?!" Her eyes widened at him as he groaned.
"You said it yourself. You didn't want to leave and this was the only way we wouldn't have to." He justified his actions and she groaned.
"One, you could have given him a heart attack, Jake! Two, if the Volturi ever find out that he knows anything-" She was frightened for her father and Jacob could see it. He quickly pulled her into his arms and her body relaxed.
"I didn't tell him about the Cullen's. Only me. He doesn't need to know about them. The only issue was him not knowing why you look different and why Vanessa is growing so fast. I fixed that. I was going to just tell him, but he kept trying to run over here to see you. Showing him was the only way to stall him long enough to explain." Bella understood why he did it and she wasn't mad, but she was freaked out about her father knowing about the supernatural aspect of the world she lived in. She had hoped to keep him in the dark, but now, he had seen the light and there was no turning back. "Please, don't be mad, honey. I did this for you and for Vanessa." Edward huffed loudly as he crossed his arms.
"You did this for her? Stop lying, Jacob. This had nothing to do with Bella. It had all to do with you not wanting to go anywhere." Jake knew he wasn't lying and that Edward was reaching so he shrugged.
"Sorry you feel that way."
"Were you even thinking about how hard this is going to be on Bella? Not only is she going to have to control her strength and her speed, if Charlie upsets her, she could kill him." Jake arm rested around Bella's waist as she stood by her boyfriend.
"Bella will be fine. I believe in her and I know she would never hurt Charlie, even if he pissed her off." Bella beamed up at Jacob for having such faith in her. Edward rolled his eyes and retreated to Leah's side. "We need to get inside. I could barely get Charlie to wait ten minutes before coming over here. We need to give you a crash course on acting like a normal human." She took a deep breath and nodded.
Within a few moments, they were in the living room with the others and everyone was up to speed on what was going on. Rosalie held Vanessa while Bella sat on the couch and everyone stood around.
"Okay, first, why don't you try sitting in the chair over there?" Esme pointed to the arm chair across the room and Bella slowly stood up. "Sit down and cross your legs, sweetie." Bella nodded and sped across the room without trying to, knocking the chair a few feet, before she slowly crossed her legs, laying her hands in her lap. Jasper snickered as everyone scowled at him. "Maybe a tad slower." Carlisle nodded with a small, kind smile.
"Just don't sit up so straight." Leah said softly from Edward's side and Bella nodded, slouching. "You've never sat that straight. Plus, don't sit so still. Bounce your foot a little. You can tell you are trying really hard. Relax." Bella took a deep breath and nodded.
"Also, remember to keep your mind calm." Jake said softly. "Think of something that would get rid of everything bad in your mind no matter how angry you are." She nodded and searched her mind before she found the most amazing memory, other than the first moment she met Vanessa.
She remembered the morning after she spent her first night with Jake and she took a shower. She recalled him joining her and holding her close to him. It was so relaxing and euphoric. It warmed her heart to the depths.
She nodded and quickly stood to her feet. "I got it. Move slow, slouch, bounce, think calming thoughts." They nodded while Jake smirked.
"Try and sit on the couch." She nodded and slowly took each step in front of her until she made it to the couch and sat down, bouncing her knee and slouching slightly.
"Good." Alice said sweetly and Seth snickered.
"For a low level cartoon character." Everyone scowled at Seth as Jake moved over to Bella.
"You did fine, Bells. You will do fine with Charlie, too." She smirked at him as all of them heard the undeniable sound of Charlie pulling up in his police cruiser. Jacob held Bella's hand as she took a deep, calming breath.
"Blondie, why don't you go hide away with Vanessa? We don't want to shock him too much by seeing Vanessa before talking to Bella." Jake suggested and Rosalie instantly complied.
Carlisle strolled to the front door and opened it as Charlie approached. It was obvious the man was still in shock from seeing Jake in his wolf form so Carlisle just gave him a sweet smirk.
"Afternoon, Charlie." The chief gulped before finally speaking.
"Where's Bella?" He said, his shock finally starting to fade away, and Carlisle opened the door wider.
"She is in the living room." Carlisle guided Charlie into the living room where he rounded a corner and found his daughter, dressing in black leggings and a black tank top, sitting next to the boy who shifted in front of him less than an hour ago.
He could see the differences in his daughter, her darker skin tone, how her body was covered in more lean muscle than before, and her hair. Sure, she could have dyed her hair, but why would she want to when she had been so ill?
"Be-Bella?" She gave him a shy smirk as she clutched Jake's hand in hers.
"Hey, dad." He let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't expect her to speak.
"Are you okay?" He asked, worried about her. Not just her health, but her being so close to Jacob after what he had seen.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Healthy as a horse." Charlie stayed motionless for a moment before his stance changed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You don't...turn into an animal, too, right?" She giggled as did everyone else in the room.
"No, I haven't, dad." She tried to remain truthful to him without freaking him out and Jake squeezed her hand.
"We will give you some privacy." Everyone else slowly bounced out of the room as Jake sweetly kissed his imprint's forehead. He moved to his feet and slowly moved around Charlie who flinched a little. Bella had never seen her father look so scared as he seemed to be of Jake which saddened her.
"I won't bite, dad." He nodded and slowly walked over to her, taking the seat Jacob previously had. "What all did Jake tell you?" She asked softly and he looked to her, disbelief across his worried features.
"Not much. I was in too much shock to really talk." She nodded then he spoke again. "He said this was necessary. What did he mean by that?" She took a deep breath before she looked back at him.
"Things were bad. I was unhealthy and my pregnancy was progressing unnaturally fast." He wasn't sure if he should believe what she was saying, but he stayed silent. "Dad, four days ago, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl we named Vanessa." His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Is that because of what he is?" Bella shrugged a little and remembered her special memory to keep her tremors away.
"Partly, but not completely. It's not Jake's fault. He didn't know that my pregnancy would be like that. Only Billy did and, once Billy told him, we came to Carlisle for help. If it wasn't for the Cullen's, I would be dead right now." Charlie turned more to her with heartbreak in his eyes.
"Why?" She tried to form her words to not make her labor sound so scary, but she couldn't find a way to explain without telling the Cullen's secret. "I want to know what happened to you!" He challenged her silence and she shook her head.
"I can't tell you." He groaned in frustration at this. Why couldn't she just tell him the truth!
"I think I deserve an explanation. If for nothing else than the fact that I'm your father." She agreed with him.
"You do, dad. If I were in your shoes, I would demand one, too, but I'm not at liberty to tell you. It's not my secret to share and, if you really need to know, Jake, Vanessa, and I will have to leave Forks and I don't want that." He quickly stood in protest.
"No!" He yelled from his frustration with this whole, stupid situation. "No more going away! I'm sick of you continuously running away, Bella. Your mother used to always do that." It was on a very rare occasion that Charlie would compare his daughter to his ex-wife. She didn't like it and neither did he.
"I know, dad. I don't want to go anywhere. Forks is my home and it's Jake's home, too. I want it to also be Vanessa's home. You are very important to me and Jake sees you as a second father. I don't want my life to be without you in it and I don't want my daughter growing up without having you as a major part of her childhood.
"For what it's worth, I'm alright. I'm better than alright. I'm alive and happy, happier than I've ever been. What happened when I was pregnant doesn't really matter anymore because I'm here, Jake's here, and Vanessa is happy and healthy. Can you live with knowing just that?" He stood up and groaned before pacing for a moment.
"Can I live with that?" He huffed momentarily before looking at her. "Well, I don't know, Bella. My daughter apparently conceived a child a month ago that she has already given birth to. I just watched a boy that I was present when he was fucking born turn into a very large dog. My daughter looks like my daughter, but doesn't at the same damn time. You are expecting me not to question any of this or how it all ties in together. You are expecting me to just pretend it's all peaches and cream when it's far from that." She nodded before slowly moving to her feet at a human pace.
"I know how you feel, dad, but I can promise you one thing that might make this easier." The idea clicked in her head as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. What could she possibly offer that could make this easier to process? "What if I promise to always tell you what you need to know? Could you deal with that?" He sighed. He knew when he had been beat.
"And this isn't something I need to know?" She shook her head with a slight giggle. She imagined the shocked look that would be plastered on his face if she ever told him the whole truth of everything that had happened since she moved to Forks. She was sure his head would explode.
"No, you really don't. Trust me. If you did, I would tell you." He groaned before averting his gaze from her.
"Well, I have no choice. I can't be without my daughter. I just can't." She smiled to herself as she clasped her hands together in front of her.
"You won't have to. I promise you that, dad." He nodded and quickly pulled her into his arms, tears filling his eyes.
Though he had spent most of her life away from her, she had become a permanent figure in his life. In that year and a half with her living under his roof, he knew she was just like him and, though they didn't talk much, his daughter was the most important person in his life. No one rivaled her in his heart.
She held herself to his chest as his hands rubbed her arms. His heart clenched at feeling the blazing skin and tears filled his eyes more rapidly.
What happened to you, my sweet Bells? He pressed his cheek to the top of her head and let his suspicions go. "I missed you, Bells." She smiled to herself as tears filled her eyes.
"I missed you, too, dad." Jacob smiled as he heard Charlie cave. He took his daughter from Rosalie's arms before smiling at the beautiful infant.
"You ready to meet your Grandpa Charlie?" The child giggled happily and Jacob gave her a face full of warning. "Don't show him your thoughts, little one." She snuggled into her father's chest before he strolled with her into the living room.
Jacob watched for a moment as the father and daughter hugged contently. He hated to interrupt it, but he needed to.
"Charlie?" The chief pulled his arms away from his daughter and looked in the direction of which Jacob's voice came from to see him holding a small child in his arms. "This is Vanessa." Charlie slowly approached with Bella beside him before Vanessa turned in her father's arms, a squeaky laugh leaving her lips. Her eyes sparkled and her tongue fell from her lips like the happy baby she was.
"Vanessa." He said her name softly before he gulped. "When was she born?" He spoke hesitantly and Bella gingerly touched her father's arm.
"Four days ago." She spoke softly before moving to Jake's side, taking one of Vanessa's hands in hers.
"I guess her growth is a need to know thing, too?" Charlie asked and Bella shook her head.
"Carlisle is trying to figure out how to slow it down." Charlie nodded before smirking at the infant.
"She has your eyes, Bells." Bella giggled to herself before looking to her father.
"Thanks." Then, the small group spent some happy, stress free time together, giving the maternal grandfather time to spend with his only grandchild.
Bella and Jake slowly waved goodbye to Charlie as his cruiser pulled out of the driveway and left the Cullen house behind.
She was glad that they didn't have to leave and her father could be a part of hers and her daughter's life. He understood that he couldn't question her about certain things and that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Bella heard slow clapping behind her and slowly turned to see everyone standing on the porch.
"Congratulations, Bella." Jasper said with his thick, southern accent and she smiled with pride. "I've never seen any wolf or even a newborn vampire show that kind of restraint. You should be proud." Everyone smiled, but Emmett's was smug.
"I'm not so sure she is a wolf." Everyone looked at Emmett with confusion, except Edward. He simply snickered under his breath from Emmett's thoughts. "She's so….tame." Bella raised an eyebrow as Edward patted Emmett's back in a challenge.
"Come on. Don't antagonize her. She's easily the strongest one in the house." Emmett quickly rolled his eyes as he cracked his knuckles.
"Please." Bella smirked as she caught onto what Emmett was getting at. "You ready to finish that bet, Bella?" She nodded eagerly.
"What bet?" Jacob question and Bella giggled.
"Before the newborn battle, Emmett bet that, once I was changed, he could beat me in arm wrestling." She stated, amusement clear in her voice, and the porch filled with laughter.
"What was the wager?" Leah asked. She was so used to people placing bets among the pack. It wasn't surprising to her that vampires did the same thing to pass the time.
"The only thing I ever wager with." Bella stated before looking to Jacob with a sly smirk. "Lifetime of servitude." Jacob snickered before she looked back to Emmett. "Now, we will know which is stronger. The vampire or the wolf." Everyone roared with excitement and went to the backyard to see what would play out. Emmett found a large boulder and placed it on a tree stump before Bella cracked her knuckles.
"Jazz, how about you be the referee?" Emmett asked with a smirk and him and Bella both placed one arm behind their back, looking to Jasper.
"Fight fair, you two." Jasper said with a big grin on his face before Jake spoke up.
"Don't hurt yourself." He spoke to both of them as he watched on with amusement.
"Ready?" Emmett and Bella clasped their fists around each other as they smirked at each other.
"You are going down, little wolf." She snickered before she rolled her eyes.
So you think. She thought to herself before Jasper started to do the countdown.
"Three, two, one. Go." Emmett started to fight Bella's strength, but she wasn't even trying. She wasn't even using enough strength to flex a muscle. Emmett grunted as Bella's arm didn't move. She didn't even have a drop of sweat on her forehead.
"Still think you're strong?" Bella teased and pretended to yawn which got a laugh from all of the wolf. Emmett went to use his other hand and she scowled. "No cheating, Emmett. Remember, cheaters never prosper." She joked before slamming his fist down onto the boulder, taking off a huge side chunk of it with the force.
The wolves howled as Bella did her little victory dance.
"There you go, Emmett. Wolves win. Booyah!" Emmett looked to her in disbelief as Jake wrapped his arm around Bella's shoulder, placing a soft kiss to her temple.
"You are a damn freak of nature, Bella." She rolled her eyes at Emmett's pity party. "I fought Paul, remember? He wasn't that damn strong. You won, but that doesn't mean wolves are stronger." Bella was going to protest Emmett's assumption, but Jake spoke before she could.
"He's right." Bella looked to her boyfriend in disbelief before he smirked. "Wolves are their strongest in the first week and Bella has only been up and about for two days. If you really want to prove which species is stronger, you need to arm wrestle a wolf who is just as bulky as you." Emmett smirked happily at the challenge from the alpha wolf.
"How about it, Jake?" Emmett challenged and Jake removed himself from Bella and slipped off this jacket before unbuttoning his overshirt, leaving himself in just a grey tank top.
"Your on, Emmett." Bella watched in amusement as both men readied themselves for the arm wrestle that was about to ensue.
Jasper started the countdown.
"Ready, set, go." Bella watched in anticipation as Emmett and Jake both strained, creases burrowing into their foreheads. Emmett pushed Jake's hand down a little before Jake pushed back. They struggled for a few minutes before Jake's hand slammed Emmett's down into the boulder.
Another howl rang through the air in excitement from all the wolves as the Cullen's clapped in a congratulatory manner. Emmett looked to Jake in surprise before groaning.
"There, proof. Wolves are stronger. Not by much, but still stronger." Jake teased Emmett before he reached out to shake his hand, a cocky smirk on his face. Emmett accepted the handshake and both men retreated to their mates.
"Emmett just likes to think he is stronger than everyone." Rosalie stated before kissing Emmett's cheek. "You're still my monkey man." Everyone grimaced at the pet name except Emmett and Rosalie.
Though it was weird for Bella to see Rosalie and Emmett being so openly affectionate in front of others, it was a reminder to her that everything was finally perfect.
Her daughter was healthy and happy. She had Charlie as a part of her life and her family's lives. She had the most amazing man as her mate and he loved her unconditionally. Her vampire family was whole, all of them happy with their mates, and the fighting was over between the wolves and the vampires.
Everything was perfect, but they didn't know that it wouldn't always be perfect.