Disclaimer:
All characters and known situations belong to their respective owners. Everything else came from my own mind- scary place that it is sometimes. In no way shape or form have I made or intended to make a profit from this story…. All rights still belong to Stephanie… though it's a shame she never did anything more with the wolves… ah well.. There's always fan fiction

Authors Notes:
Ok ladies and gents! We're down to the wire. You all are so amazingly awesome for sticking with this. It really does make me smile and squeal- my twin can tell ya all 'bout that .- I've got another fanfic in the works now… simply because my original stories are all causing me writers block from hell .
Anyways, enjoy… I may do a few out takes… moments in the story that were simply glossed over… lemme know what y'all think.

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Chapter 15

Bella sighed and fell backwards into the cool, shaded, pebbled sand beneath her. Her baggy shirt hid her slight baby bump from prying eyes. So far, only the pack and the imprints knew she was pregnant. Of course she had told her dad and Billy as well. While they were a little less than pleased, it didn't take them long after seeing the ultrasound confirming Bella was carrying twins to warm up to the idea. She shook her head in memory. Mating season- something none of them had been told about until Old Quil stumbled upon it in one of the oldest journals the elders had.

They had all of them been worried about her becoming pregnant. She still had vampire venom running in her blood that would never leave. However, Bella begged Old Quil's help, and together, they were put at ease by the spirits. It wasn't a direct answer, but the shaman was told Bella would survive this pregnancy and any other she was to have. The venom was in a sort of stasis without a vampires power to keep it active. They had all breathed a sigh of relief at that. Bella even learned from the spirits themselves that it would never affect her pups, something that had almost brought tears to her eyes.

As soon as she got over the shock of becoming pregnant, she and Jacob went back and tried to remember just when she had failed to take her pills. It was something of a religious habit for her. It was then that they realized just what time of the year it was that she had gotten pregnant. The imprints still on the pill quickly changed over to a shot. It was after all, Jacob's wolf who had been so determined to see her round with their child. She didn't mind so much, she had always known in the back of her mind that eventually she and Jacob would become parents, she just wondered if it was still too soon sometimes.

She sighed and brought herself from those thoughts- it was a dangerous road to travel down without someone to talk to about her fears of becoming a mother like the one she had- and rested her hand over her stomach with a calm smile on her lips. A little ways down from the group of trees she was seeking shelter under, the other girls were soaking in the sun on a rare cloudless day. Time had seemingly flown by, and now the summer was here again. Leah was on her way home with Tristan in tow. The last time she had heard anything, they were an hour away and had promised to meet them on the beach.

Giggles from her left caused her to crack one eye open and peer at the youngest of the imprints. Bella smiled and watched them huddled together with pens to notebooks perched in their laps. They reminded her of Jacob, Quil and Embry. They were thick as thieves, and definitely kept Seth, Collin and Brady on their toes. She sighed and shook her head at them, chuckling when she saw Nicole trying and failing to be sly enough to discover what was so funny to them.

Angela sat down next to Bella and smiled fondly at her friend. It had been a while since they had really taken the time to talk. Her smile grew when she saw Bella crack her eye open again and look at her. There were no words spoken between them, none were really needed. They could be content with the quiet. It's what made them such good friends.

The said quiet, however, was broken when Nicole plopped noisily down beside them with a pout on her lips. Angela chuckled. "What's the matter Nikki?"

Nicole sighed. "Those three are being entirely too secretive. They're up to something." She frowned, racking her brain and trying to find reasons for them to act that way.

"They're only writing a short story. They asked me for my input earlier." Bella said with a smile.

Nicole arched her eyebrow. "A story…" She repeated skeptically.

"It was Claire's idea really. She wants to be a writer and these short stories are based off of the pack. And, before you ask, yes, she changed names and places." Bella giggled along with Angela.

Nicole shook her head and pouted. "Well they could have said that!" She huffed.

"You could have asked too." Angela said poking her side playfully. "I don't know who's worse- you or Quil. Both of you are so nosey." She teased.

Bella giggled. "Quil. By far."

Angela couldn't help but agree. While he didn't pant after every female he saw anymore, Quil was still very much a child at heart. It was clear to see that he could act every bit his 17 years of age deemed mature, but he chose to let a lot of things roll off of his back. He was a perpetual child in the eyes of the adults on the reservation, and he was a source of entertainment and comic relief to his friends and the pack.

Anything else the girls were going to say was cut off by the pack coming over to them with Emily and Rachel in tow. Angela only chuckled when Quil settled his head into Nicole's lap. Nicole, for her part, sighed and smiled sweetly down at him. She had come to love him and there was no changing it.

Bella grinned. "Have fun?" She teased.

Jacob's hands snaked around Bella's stomach as he kissed over his mark. He smirked when she shivered at the barely there kisses placed across her skin. She smiled and placed her hands over his as they rest on her belly. He'd been putting a lot of hours in at his job in the Forks garage and had been missing her. He was determined to have his own garage by the time the girls had their bistro open. He chuckled quietly when he remembered them going back and forth about either a bakery, a café or a coffee shop, and finally it was decided to turn it into a bistro and use elements of all three ideas.

With a chuckle as her answer, Paul followed his lead and dragged Rachel onto his lap before shifting to make himself comfortable. It wouldn't be too much longer before he would have to go out on patrol with Sam. Even though the vampire activity in the area was slowly decreasing, Jacob didn't want to chance not patrolling at all for another few years, though he did drop it down from three wolves to two.

Their group lapsed into silence while they waited for Leah to arrive. It wasn't long before Kim and Jared were running over to them, excitement seeping from their bodies. "They're here. Leah sent me a text saying they were going to be here in a few minutes. They want to talk to Sue first."

"Won't they be tired?" Embry wondered. He remembered how they had driven from Alabama to Washington over the winter break.

"No, they were smart this time around. Tristan has a friend watching his apartment for the couple weeks they'll be here, and Leah's room mate isn't leaving for vacation like they thought. They flew into Port Angelas I think, or somewhere close by…. Driving the rest of the way… it's a lot better than sitting in a car for two days." Rachel shrugged.

"There they are." Jared said with a nod towards a slightly hidden pathway in the trees.

The girls, save for Bella who took her time walking- were up and running in a flash, all of them grinning. Leah was met with tight hugs and squeals of excitement. For her part, she grinned and hugged them all back. She had missed them all, and only being able to see them online through either Skype or Facebook chat had depressed her and her wolf at times.

The pack was next to say hello, and now that Tristan knew what they were, he watched with almost rabid interest as each of them scented her. He shook his head in awe of them and grinned when he noticed them trying to subtly do it to him as well. It pleased them that he hadn't run away screaming when Leah had told him; they had all seen it happen, no thanks to Natalie hooking Bella's lap top up to the big screen TV in her house.

"It's good to be home." Leah finally mused.

Jacob grinned. "It's good to have you two home."

Leah's next words were cut short when Seth, and Collin tackled her to the ground. They had just come back from patrolling. When they stood up, Leah couldn't help but grin at them. It had been a while, she'd give them that. It wasn't until Sam and Paul left and they were all sitting quiet that Leah's head cocked to the side in confusion. There was a feint rhythmic beat behind her ears, she didn't know quite what to make of.

Jacob nudged Seth and smirked. "What's the matter Leah?" He asked.

The attention was drawn to her, her head still cocked to the side, her eyebrows still drawn in confusion. "What the hell IS that?" She wondered.

"It would help if we knew just WHAT it was you were referring to." Seth said with a grin. He was thoroughly enjoying picking on his big sister.

Tristan watched her in open curiosity. He loved that she had told him her secret, in turn, he had whole heartedly accepted it for what it was. Fate. The spirits' way of telling them their paths were meant to have crossed. Now as she sat in his lap, her head tilted to the side, he had to thank whatever holy being again for placing her into his life. Even at her worst, she was still amazing, and it always awed him how in tune she was with her inner wolf.

The girls all snickered. They had decided they would wait for Leah to come home before she was told about the pregnancy. As it stood, the entire pack had only just found out the month before when her twins' heartbeats had become increasingly stronger. The couple was congratulated, and it wasn't two weeks later that Jacob led Bella to their log and proposed. The wedding was to be held after the babies were born- Bella had refused to be pregnant with twins knowing they could come early.

"What does it sound like Leah?" Bella finally asked taking pity on her friend.

"I don't know… it's like a thumping sound almost. Like… a heartbeat…like… a baby's heartbeat…" She started scanning her friends- all of them with smirks on their lips.

Tristan's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You can hear that well?"

"Yeah, part of the wolfy senses we get after we first phase." Collin grinned.

Everyone rolled their eyes. Collin had an obsession with Spiderman. He and Bella got into frequent arguments involving her favorite superhero- Superman- and his favorite, Spiderman. Bella would tell him how much better Superman was than Spiderman and he would argue back that Spiderman was the best. It was a source of great entertainment and, at times, tons of exasperation.

"Here we go…" Seth muttered to Tristan.

Bella rolled her eyes. With the pregnancy came her own version of heightened senses- particularly hearing. Her apatite had also increased ten fold- much to Jacob's pleasure. Tristan watched Bella and Collin go back and forth- almost like a game of tennis with a small, amused smile on his face. In all that time, Leah was watching her best friend with a look of shock on her face.

"It's you." She muttered. It should have been too quiet for Bella to hear, but if Leah had been standing, she would have sunk to the sand in shock.

"It took you long enough." Bella grinned. "Care to guess WHY it's me?"

Seth snickered beside his sister. She had the same look on her face when the rest of the pack had found out. Bella was carrying the first pack pups. Mating season had come and gone, and Jacob and his wolf were the only ones to walk away successful. Bella, it seemed, hated needles and therefore took pills instead. Jacob's wolf had seen fit to keep her in bed all weekend long during February. At the time, valentines weekend spent in bed with her boyfriend had been romantic. Now though, the pack knew that Jacob's wolf had been more in control than they all realized.

"You're pregnant?" Leah was awed as she stared at the place where Jacob and Bella's hand lay intertwined over her stomach.

Jacob grinned. "Twins."

"Congratulations. That's wonderful news." Tristan said breaking Leah from her stupor.

They laughed when she pulled Bella into a gentle hug. The pack had all done that as well. But it seemed with the pregnancy and heightened apatite and senses, Bella's body had become stronger as well. Bella smiled when she was released and laughed when Leah's hands moved to her stomach.

"They're going to be in November… the 12th or something like that… at least the doctor said that's the due date. Then she told us to expect them as early as 36 weeks. So two weeks before Halloween or two weeks after, they'll be here." Bella told her.

Leah frowned. "yeah, but I won't be. I'll be in school."

"But we'll be here fro Christmas. Or if you want, we can come here for Thanksgiving instead of going to see my dad. He's been… distant again." Tristan told her quietly. Naturally, everyone heard him.

The pack all gave him sympathetic smiles. Bella had broken down and told them some of what Leah had told her about Tristan. His dad was an amazing man, but his grips on reality slipped and allowed him to fall into heavy and often times dangerous bouts of depression. Without medication and a neighbor or two to check in on him, Tristan was fearful that he could get a call from someone that his dad was dead.

Leah sighed. "No. I promised you we'd go and see your dad. We can come here for Christmas. That way it gives Bella time to settle into a routine, and Jake won't be such an overbearing ass."

"HEY!" Jacob snapped. He pouted when Bella giggled. "I'm not THAT bad!" He huffed.

Seth snorted. "Yeah, ok! None of us can even HUG Bella without you glaring and wishing death upon us."

"You just wait for Maggie to get pregnant." Bella teased. "You'' be the same way."

Jared snickered but whole heartedly agreed. "So who's up for some cliff diving? Leah, you game to see if you can out jump the guys?" He goaded.

"I already proved a long time ago that I can Jared." She sniffed.

Tristan shook his head. "Go on baby. I'm going to lay here and talk with the girls, if that's alright."

"I'm sure they'd welcome the company. I'd stay, but Paul's out on patrol and dad is over at Sue and Charlie's house. It gives me free reign to clean!" Rachel grinned.

Bella shook her head in amusement. It hadn't been a shock to anyone other than Leah when Charlie asked Sue to marry him. They were engaged to be married in the coming year and Leah would well and truly be her step sister after that.

"Have fun cleaning. Remember, keep the doors open or you'll kill yourself with the fumes." Natalie teased.

The girls laughed. Paul's wolf nose couldn't handle the smell of bleach and Billy detested it as well. So the only time Rachel was able to clean the house properly was when she was alone in it. She always made sure all the windows were open and the big box fans were placed in the windows, but it was always clean by the time Paul and Billy came home. Jacob was just grateful that his sister had woken up and was stepping up to take care of their dad the way he had been doing since he was a young teen.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you girls later. Bella, remember, no stress!" She warned.

Bella chuckled. "Alright. Alright. So what do you girls want to do?" She asked when the pack started to slowly walk away. Leah was in the process of kissing Tristan goodbye, much to the amusement of some of the boys who were giving them wolf whistles and cat calls.

Emily sighed. "I'm going to go back to the house and start on the laundry I was supposed to do this morning." She said with a disdainful frown crossing her lips.

Kim shook her head. "I'll help, Emily. Two people are faster than one alone."

"I'd love that. Thank you." Emily said with a smile.

Leah hugged Emily and told her she'd be over later. They talked once a week over the web, but it wasn't like seeing each other in person. Emily promised to have the house cleaned and a hot plate of food waiting. Kim grinned and promised she'd help Emily, so they'd have more time to catch up later on. Leah only grinned at the two and watched them walking off.

"I can't believe you're pregnant! How did that one happen? I thought you were always Mrs. Careful." Leah teased.

"Ah… yeah… um… I don't like needles. And uh… Jake's wolf can be really persistent." Bella said with a small grin.

Tristan snickered but refused to comment. He turned to Maggie, Claire and Natalie and engaged them in quiet conversation when Leah finally jogged off after Embry and Quil. Nicole, Angela and Bella watched the pack in the distance, each of them with smiles on their faces. They never noticed when Tristan, Maggie, Claire and Natalie stilled. They were lost in their thoughts until they heard a throat being cleared to their left.

"I should have known you'd be here today." Bella muttered.

In front of her stood three girls she would have gladly gone the rest of her life without seeing. Lauren, Jessica and Amy had seen her and were looking down their noses at the girls while Mike, and Tyler stood awkwardly behind them. Lauren was the first to act, her eyes lighting up when she saw Tristan.

"Hello Bella. It's funny, running into you on the beach. You've been making yourself scarce in town." She all but purred.

Bella shrugged and stood with a small bit of help from Angela. "Oh I've been around. I live here with my boyfriend now. Or hadn't you heard? Jacob Black finished school a year early. We moved in together last year." she smirked when Lauren realized Bella had stood to put herself on even ground so to speak.

Laurens eyes flashed dangerously. "I hadn't heard that at all. I do have to say, it doesn't surprise me. I mean, we all wondered. But none of us heard that you had left for school, so we just guessed you were spending all your time here." She said primly.

Bella smirked. "I've been taking my courses online since a month after graduation. My friends and I are going to be opening a bistro on the outskirts of the reservation, between here and Forks. You should come by when it's open. I'm sure we can… accommodate you and yours. You'd have to find something more… appropriate, but that should be easy for girls like you."

"Just what is THAT supposed to mean?!" Jessica hissed from beside her.

Natalie, Maggie and Claire all snickered. They all knew that Bella had a 'no shoes, no shirt, no business' policy. With the way the girls in front of them were dressed, it was a wonder no one said anything before about their less than tasteful choice of attire.

Angela arched an eyebrow. "Temper, temper. Mike… how are you?" She asked with a smile on her face. "Seeing anyone new lately?"

"If you MUST know, we've gotten back together, I'll thank you to try and remember." Jessica snapped.

Nicole arched an eyebrow. "Hit a raw nerve did she?" She muttered causing Natalie and Claire to giggle.

Maggie turned towards Amy, vaguely remembering seeing the girl draped all over Seth at one point in the previous year. She looked to Bella with questioning eyes and rolled them when Bella nodded. So this was Seth's ex. She suppressed a shudder and shook her head. WHAT had he seen in her?

"So who's this then? We've not seen you around here before. I'd know." Amy purred while letting her eyes freely roam over Tristan.

Maggie glared and stood in front of Leah's boyfriend with her arms crossed, the same as Claire and Natalie. She may have been tiny, but she had a temper to rival Leah's at times. "This is Leah's boyfriend. I'm sure you'll remember her."

Amy paled slightly. "Leah's back?"

"And walking this way." Bella said with a raised eyebrow. She smirked when Claire waved her phone subtly towards her. The smart girl had sent a text to Brady. He always kept his phone zipped up in his pocket.

"Well… it was nice seeing you again Bella. But I think it's time we left." Amy said swallowing thickly.

Lauren and Jessica only arched their eyebrows. "And why should we leave?" Lauren asked snootily.

"Because if we don't go, we'll have our asses handed to us. And I for one do NOT want to deal with Leah… again." Amy huffed.

Jessica glared. "Well, I for one was enjoying the shade in this spot. I think I'll stay." She pouted.

It was loud enough that Leah smirked when she heard it. A hand on her shoulder quelled the she wolf in her easily. Jacob's eyes were set on Mike and Tyler- the two biggest threats to his mate at the moment. Leah huffed and pouted. Jacob didn't have to say anything to make it well known that he didn't want her to fight. But that was fine, Leah just had to remind Amy of what had happened last time she had messed with the pack- even if she didn't know she had stirred the proverbial hornets' nest.

"Amy… how nice to see you." Leah's grin was almost wicked when she reached the small group.

Amy eyed the girl warily. "We were just saying hi to Bella. It's been a while since we've last seen her."

"I'm sure there's a reason for that." Leah said with an arched eyebrow while she stared from Amy, to Jessica to Lauren. She smirked when they started dancing from foot to foot.

Maggie grinned when Seth wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her temple. The spark of jealousy in Amy's eyes wasn't missed by her. It made her snicker quietly. Only the wolves heard it, though Leah had seen it.

"You know Amy, I think you need a reminder of what happens when I feel that my friends and family are being messed with. Perhaps another walk in the woods is in order, hm?" Leah asked while looking at her nails.

The pack all turned to Leah and Jacob's eyes in particular were rather sharp and accusing. Leah merely shrugged. She hadn't blown their secret, and even if she had, she was confident that no one would believe her.

Amy paled. She had told Lauren and Jessica about it. The three shivered at the memory. "No… no we were just leaving. Come on guys. Let's go a little further down."

Leah smirked when she watched them walk away. Amy was explaining to Mike and Tyler how Leah had asked Amy to take a walk with her through the trails to second beach. In the dimming light, just before they had gotten to the beach, Leah had rounded on the unsuspecting girl and rammed her fist into the tree closest to her head. It wouldn't have been so bad if Leah hadn't told her the next time she badmouthed her friends or family again and she found out about it, she'd feed the girl to the wolves on the reservation in pieces and her body would never be found.

Jacob only shook his head. Sometimes he wondered how bad Leah would have been if Bella had listened to Sam and waited to try and reach out to her all those months ago. There was no denying the woman had a sadistic streak to her. He was only thankful the pack knew she wasn't like that unless provoked.

Bella sighed and rubbed her stomach. Stress was not something she needed. Jacob was by herself in a matter of moments. He was waved off as Bella smiled and batted his hands away.

"Come on guys. Lets go watch a movie at the house. I'll call Rachel, Emily and Kim when we get home. All the excitement has me hungry." Bella huffed.

The wolves all smirked. "Sucks to be us doesn't it Bells." Quil chirped.

Bella shrugged. "I don't know. Personally… I think I love the heat."

Whoops of joy chased that sentence and Jacob could only smirk. They teased one another as they walked back towards Jacob's house- now the place where the pack came to spend time together if not near their own families or on patrol.

"I still can't believe you did that, Leah." Nicole piped up as they walked. "I mean, you could have been called out by her instead of scaring her."

Leah shrugged. "Let's see… bottle blonde with a silver spoon in her mouth who's still in high school… or the prim and proper, well mannered daughter of a reservation elder who was going away to college and at home studying… I took my chances." She said with a grin.

Bella rolled her eyes. "That sounds like you."

"What? She messed with not only my kid brother, but my alpha's female as well AND my pack sister. There was no WAY I was going to let it slide." She huffed.

Tristan pulled her to his side, soothing the growing anger from her. "While it could have been handled with less… violence, I think it was also cleverly executed." He said with a grin.

"See… Tristan gets it!" Leah crowed.

Bella turned and hugged her. "We get it too. We just like to tease you. You've been gone for ages now! And we missed you! This is our way to let you know that."

Leah smiled. "I know. I missed you all too. Even the pups, surprisingly." She gasped when they reached the front yard of Bella's house.

"What? What's wrong?" Angela asked from behind her.

Bella, it seemed, had quite the green thumb- much like Emily. It was like walking into a scene from The Secret Garden. There were flowers everywhere, all blended together to create a tasteful blend of color that seemed to make the house come alive in welcome. Leah grinned. This garden put all others on the reservation to shame.

"How long have you been at this, Bella, this is amazing!" Leah complimented.

Bella shrugged. "The pack all helped build it. The girls and I need something to do to vent our frustration, so we plant flowers."

Leah smiled at that. "Somehow I can see you doing something like that." She teased.

"She was abusing a punching bag in the garage. But now that she's starting to show, she doesn't want the bag to swing and catch her in the stomach." Jacob grinned.

Bella huffed and rolled her eyes before sauntering past him. "I seem to recall that being YOUR fear, not mine." She shot over her shoulder before disappearing into the house.

Jacob's wolf stirred. Their mate was being playful. "Ehh, you may be right." He said with a shrug.

The girls went with Bella into the kitchen, leaving the pack to watch whatever game was on the sports channel in the living room. Jacob grinned and looked around his living room. He thought back to all the ups and downs along the way to this point and he tilted his head back in silent thanks that Taha Aki and the spirits had listened to his prayers. This was his life. This was where he was meant to be.