Author: Hannah

So the last chapter was a bit of twist, huh? I hope I've done Amy's idea justice as it continues in this chapter. Enjoy, and please review with your thoughts as we love to read what everyone thinks. Happy Reading!

Chapter 11 – Jacob's POV

"Pregnant!" I roared, slamming my front door behind me. I could not believe it, after everything that jerk had done, he'd now gone and got my imprint pregnant.

"What?" Billy called back, coming into the living room. "What did you say?"

"Damien. Annie. Pregnant." I spat the words out in contempt. I knew it wasn't her fault deep down, but a small part of me blamed her as well as him for this. It's a two way street, after all. "I can't believe she'd do something like that! What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

Billy looked at me, and in that moment I could sense something in the way his eyes surveyed me. He didn't have to say anything, I knew I was wrong. I knew that it was unbelievably selfish of me to think about myself at a time like this, in Annie's time of need. She was probably wracked with fear and guilt over carrying Damien's baby, and here I was, blaming her and thinking about myself. It was so wrong.

"Do you still love her?" Billy asked quietly, and without pause I responded.

"Yes."

"Well then, Son. Nothing else matters." With that he retreated back into his bedroom, leaving me alone with the quiet hum of the washing machine and my thoughts.

Later that afternoon, I made my way over to Annie's house, constantly changing my mind over and over about what I would say to her when the moment came. Although I loved her with everything I had, I had to do my duty as an imprint and be to her whatever she wanted me to be. If that was a close friend, a supporter, a protector, but never a lover – than that's what I would be. Admittedly I wouldn't be thrilled with that decision, but when the time was right it was one Annie would have to make.

I knocked on her door tentatively, praying her dad wouldn't answer. Sonia opened the door, peering out and sighing with relief when she saw it was me.

"Thank God," she whispered. "I thought you might have been him."

"Is Annie in?" I responded sharply. I didn't mean to be rude, it was just the overwhelming desire to see her was taking over me. I had to talk to her, and soon.

"Ah, no I'm afraid she's gone for a drive with her father, I'm not sure when –"

"Please don't lie to me, Sonia. I really like you, but I know Annie's home and her father isn't. I promise I'll be gone by the time he's back if you could just let me in to have a quick word with Annie."

After a moment she nodded, pulling the door open further and letting me in. I kicked my shoes off quickly and took off upstairs without a word, heading for the room my heart was pulling me towards. I knocked a couple of times, getting no answer.

"Annie," I called softly through the door. "It's Jacob. I'm really sorry about everything, I over-reacted earlier and I should have followed you. Can you just let me in and we can talk about this properly?"

It took a few good seconds, but finally the door opened, a tear-strewn girl on the other side. Instead of talking she threw herself into me, wrapping her fragile arms around my frame and holding onto me like I was the only thing she had left.

"Oh, Annie," I whispered, leading her into her room and sitting her down on the edge of her bed. I cradled her in my arms, taking my father's lead from earlier and not saying anything.

It took a while, but finally Annie lifted her head out of the crook of my arm. Her beautiful eyes were red from crying, but no more tears came from them.

"Talk to me," I asked her softly. "Tell me how you're feeling, what you want to do?"

Her eyes clung to mine as she looked at me for what felt like the first time. It was so intense, and then everything happened too fast to think about. Her small hands were on either side of my waist as she leant above me, forcing her lips down on mine. I didn't even think about what I was doing as I let my hand slip into her hair, holding her head and kissing her back with everything I had. Our lips moulded together like they were always meant to be there, and I could see this going a lot further through all of the passion and the lust and the love that clouded both of our visions. My senses had never felt more alive, and as I tasted the salt left from her tears, I was brought back to earth in a crushing blow.

I placed my hands on her shoulders and gently pushed back. "No, Annie," I gasped, "this isn't right. We shouldn't be ..."

As quickly as my words came, fresh tears sprang from her eyes. With a horrified look on her face she sprang from the bed, pacing up and down and breathing erratically.

"I'm so stupid," she whispered, stopping in front of me. "I'm so sorry, one minute I'm telling you I'm pregnant and the next I'm trying to make out with you on my bed!"

"No," I protested. "Annie, you are anything but stupid –"

"Then how do you explain this!" She screamed hysterically. "Seriously, Jacob, I appreciate your vote of confidence but you should go."

I shook my head. "I'm not leaving you like this, Annie. I understand how you're feeling."

"How?" She snapped. "How can you understand a pregnant girl who isn't with the father of her child, but instead with someone she really doesn't know that well? And all because of these feelings she keeps having for him that even she doesn't understand, no matter how hard she tries to figure it out?"

So she was finally feeling the effects of the imprint. I knew that as soon as she kissed me, because the imprint finally felt so real it was almost tangible.

"I'm here for you," I promised her, getting up off the bed and standing next to her. I wasn't sure whether it was the response she really wanted, but it was the one she'd get for now. "I'm here for you every step of the way with this baby, I swear to you."

"But what about us?" She asked, tracing my jaw line with her fingertip. "I don't even know if there is an us, but I can tell there's something there Jacob, and it's all so confusing y'know?"

"Yeah, I know," I told her. "But you have another one to think about now."

Annie nodded, sighing frustratedly. "Is this wrong?"

I didn't have to guess hard to figure out what 'this' was. Annie and I, was my involvement in her life and these crazy feelings when her ex boyfriend was fathering her baby, wrong? "No," I answered her, "because it feels so right."

It was true, as messed up as the situation was, right here right now with Annie felt right.

"Walk with me, Jacob," she said. "Walk with me and tell me everything about you. That's what I want to know about you – everything."

I couldn't tell her yet, surely. Not after everything that was going on in her life, I could tell her that I was some otherworldly creature. We weren't even an item yet, technically we weren't much of anything. But we were us, and god, it really did feel right.

It was a beautiful night. The stars were out in all their glory, the sea was gentle, and I was walking along the sands with the most incredible girl in the entire universe.

"So," she laughed, sounding the happiest I'd heard her in a while, "you're saying you and Paul caught your other friend Embry at it with Kelsey Johnson?"

"I know, right," I laughed back, "we all wondered how he managed to get himself that lucky. But what he doesn't tell you is that he hasn't actually spoken to her since that fateful night."

Annie's glorious laugh seemed to bounce off the waves, bathing us in our own little bubble of euphoria. Since we started this walk I'd told her about my 'friends', my dad whom she'd met, and my sisters who lived away. Every time I told her something different she'd be ready with another question, which led into all the funny stories the pack had been involved in, leaving out the wolf part of course. I just wasn't ready to tell her yet, and maybe she'd resent me for that later on, but that was the price I'd have to pay. For now though, her happiness was something that I didn't want to ruin. Her carefree laugh had invaded my mind and my heart, and I never wanted to let it go. Besides, it sounded like she was forgetting for at least a little while, not just about the baby and Damien but about her father and her strict lifestyle too.

"And then," I continued, "there was the time when Jared tried to make dinner for this girl he met at the record store. Burnt everything, I'm not even kidding. He ordered pizza in the end, nothing like extra pepperoni to impress a girl, right?"

"Of course," she nodded, "pepperoni's good, but pineapple is so much better."

"Hmmm, I'll remember that one," I laughed, leading her over to the water's edge. "Ever swum in the sea, Annie?"

"Oh," she stammered, taken aback by my random question. "No, can't say I have. I'm not really a fan of the water."

"Ah, so you wouldn't be up for say, a late night bathe?"

Looking at me like I was crazy, she took a step backward. "Do you know how cold that water is, Jacob Black?"

"I know, but the question is how you would if you've never swum in it."

We stared at each other for a second, sizing up the chances of either one of us going through with this at all.

"On three," I whispered. "One ... two ...

"THREE!"