Chapter 34:

Jacob POV:

I heard the car pull up out front. Finally! I opened the front door and met her on the porch and pulled her into my arms. I was in physical pain, waiting for her to get home. Now, the pain evaporated. I pulled back and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. That's when I smelled it. Him. I let her go and stepped back. "Bella? Where were you?" I asked, trying hard to control the anger.

She dropped her head and sighed. "Yes, Jake, I was with Edward. And Alice. We met in front of Dad's house to talk. He told me that Carlisle received a summons to go to the Volturi and he is going with him to try and read what is going on inside Aro's mind. They just left. That's it."

"He could have called you and told you that over the phone," I stated angrily.

"Yes, he could have. I don't know why he didn't. He touched me on the cheek before he left. That's probably what you smell. It was nothing, Jake."

"Nothing! I . . . " Damnit! Get a grip. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I need to stop with the jealousy, I know." I sighed.

"Yes, you do. Can I go into the house now?"

"Yes, you can. Please, come in," I said as I opened the door for her and she walked past me into the house. She threw her purse on the couch. "Are you cooking something?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just threw two frozen pizzas into the oven. It' all we had," he said sheepishly.

She smacked her forehead with her hand. "Groceries. You know I got a little side-tracked yesterday then I worked all day today. I'm sorry. I'll go tomorrow, I promise. I guess I am shirking my wifely duties, huh?"

I walked over to her and pulled her close to me. "No, not all of your wifely duties. There are some you do very, very well," I said as I lowered my head to kiss her on the lips.

She pulled back and smiled at that. "I forgot – you only think about two things, food and sex."

"Damn right! And don't you forget it."

Bella POV:

Jake and I went together to see Dr. Bailey. Carlisle was right. I really liked her. We listened to the heartbeat again, and she said that the baby and I were both doing fine. I asked her if I could have another copy of my ultrasound, as I happened to lose the one I had. She smiled and opened the folder that held my records. She pulled a copy of the picture out of the folder and handed it to me. "Take this one. I will have them send me another copy," she said with a smile. She also informed me that I would be having another ultrasound at around 24 weeks just to make sure the baby was growing properly. That made me very happy.

After I climbed into the truck, I looked down at the picture of the baby in my hand. Jake looked over and smiled at me then said, "Now, hold onto to that one, OK?" I nodded happily.

We left the doctor's office and Jake drove to the new shop to unload all of the stuff in the back of the truck. Embry and Quil were already there, unloading their trucks. I liked the shop. It was an older brick building, but Mr. Collins had kept it immaculate. It had two very large white garage doors, and a smaller door that led to the office.

I waved to them as we drove in. I noticed that Embry was having a hard time looking me in the eye lately. He hadn't hugged me in awhile either, now that I thought about it. And that wasn't like Embry. I looked at Jake, and told him what I was thinking as he parked the truck. "Did I do something to piss him off?" I asked.

He got a grin on his face, but didn't say a word.

"What? Jake? What's going on?"

"Um, you remember how when we are in our wolf bodies, we hear and see what each other is thinking? Well . . . I, uh, have had a little problem lately screening what I am thinking when I am patrolling . . . and Embry saw some of those things when we were on patrol together," he said slowly.

What does he mean by that? Screening his thoughts . . . "JAKE!" I yelled. "You mean you have been thinking about us . . . having . . . doing . . . " he was grinning sheepishly. I smacked him. "No wonder he can't look at me."

"I'm sorry, Bells. I can't help it. You are so hot . . . and well, I love sex with you. Sometimes it stays with me for awhile." He put his arm around me. "Bells, it's OK. We all deal with it. Now you understand why I will NEVER patrol with Paul. You think I want to see what really goes on between him and my sister? I had to get used to it with Sam. It was hard to look at Emily for awhile, but it's part of the deal. You have to learn to live with it. Don't be embarrassed, OK?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, don't be embarrassed, right."

He gave me a quick kiss and got out of the truck. I took a deep breath and opened the door to climb out as Jake grabbed some boxes out of the back. I walked into the shop to look around. It was going to be so much better for the guys to work. More room, more equipment. They actually had a lift now so they could get underneath a car easier. I made my way into the office to take a look in there. Now this needed some organizing. And cleaning. I decided to look for a broom, a dust pan and some cleaning supplies. I walked out the door and ran right into Embry!

He caught me so I wouldn't fall. I just stood there close to him, with my hands on his arms. He looked at me and dropped his hands. "Bella! Shit! I'm sorry. Are you OK?"

I laughed. "Yeah, Embry, I'm fine."

He tried to back away as I talked and he wouldn't look at me. I gripped his arms tighter.

"Embry? What the hell is wrong with you? Why won't you look at me? Have I pissed you off in some way?" I asked.

"No! I'm not pissed, Bella. I just . . . look, Jake has a problem with . . . God, Bella, just let me go, will ya?" he stammered.

I laughed and said, "I will let go after you give me a hug. Just one, Embry. I know what's going on. Jake told me. I know it's awkward, but Embry, I don't want to lose our friendship. OK?"

He finally looked at me. I pulled him close and he wrapped his arms around me. "Thanks, Em." I let him go.

"That was mean, Bella." I nodded with a grin. Then he said, "But cool." He winked at me and walked away.

We worked at the shop until late in the afternoon. I organized and cleaned the office, and I thought it looked pretty good. There was a counter in front of the small outside door, and the desk was behind that. There was a small copier that the Collins left for us, too. I couldn't believe how nice the Collins had been to Jake. We were very lucky.

Jake came into the office and said, "Wow! Look at this place. Thanks, Bells. You didn't have to do this."

"I know. I wanted to," I told him. I was sitting in the desk chair. I had just finished cleaning and was giving my back a rest. Jake leaned against the door frame. "You know, Jake, I always thought I would run the office for you when you finally had your own shop. I just didn't think it would be this soon. I don't know how I can do that right now. I don't think we can afford for me to give up my job at Newton's. I know I don't make much, but it is still money coming in. Maybe when the shop takes off and the loan is paid. But now with the baby coming . . . "

"Bella, it's OK. I want you to be with the baby. I want to be able to support us. But you're right, we do need a little extra money right now, so if you can work for awhile until the baby comes, that would help. Actually, Embry and I have been talking about this. We came up with the idea to ask Leah to sit in the office right now. It's kind of a sneaky-ass way to get her where we can keep an eye on her," he said with a smile.

I smiled. "Sneaky, but smart. I like that idea. Do you think she'll go for it?"

"I don't know. She might. We are going to talk to her about it in the morning." He came over and held out his hand and said, "Come on, I'm beat. Let's go home."

I went to stand up and all of a sudden, I felt a kind of a flutter and I sat back down. There it is again! A little movement. I looked up and said, "Jake, I think I just felt the baby."

"What? Are you OK?" He sounded worried.

I looked over at him and said hurriedly, "No, I mean in a good way. It was very small, but it was amazing! Emily told me it should happen soon." I stood up and Jake walked over to put his arms around me. "It's like it's really real, you know?"

"I can't wait until I can put my hand there and feel her move," Jacob said.

I looked up at him. "Her? So you've decided the baby is a girl?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "I'll be happy either way, but I would kind of like a little girl," he said with a smile.

I pulled his face down and kissed him softly on the lips. "I love you, Jacob Black."

"That's good, because you're stuck with me." Jake said with a grin.

I grinned back and said, "Let's go. I'm starving! Think we can splurge and hit the McDonald's drive-thru on the way home?"

Jake laughed. "Yes, we can splurge. Come on."

We pulled out of the drive-thru and I was digging in the bag for french fries. I pulled the box out of the bag and fed some to Jake. I had just put a couple in my mouth when my phone rang. I quickly wiped my hand on my jeans and pulled out my phone. "Hello?" I said while trying to quickly swallow the food in my mouth.

"Bella, it's Edward. Do you know where Leah is right now?"

"What? I don't know. We just left Forks. We're in the truck driving to La Push. Why?" I asked.

"Find her, now, then call me back," He hung up.

"Who was that?" Jake asked me.

"Um, it was Edward. He wanted to know if we knew where Leah was. He told me to find her now and call him back," I answered. "Does Leah have a cell phone?"

I noticed that Jake had put the pedal down and was going as fast as the truck would go. He shook his head and said, "Call Sam, then hand me the phone."

I pushed Sam's number and handed Jake the phone. "Sam, where's Leah? We need to find her now. Yeah, I don't know. Edward just called Bella from Italy and told her to find Leah right now. Call me back." He handed the phone back to me and said, "Call the Clearwater house."

I dialed the number and handed Jake the phone. "Sue, it's Jake. Is Leah there? Uh huh, did she say when she would be home? Did she say where they were going? OK. Well, if you hear from her, can you have her call me or Sam right away? OK, thanks, Sue. I will. Bye." He held out the phone for me to take. "Damnit! She said she went out with Evan and she didn't say where they were going. She told her mom she'd be home by midnight."

"She has to answer Sam if he calls, right? Or does it have to be you?" I asked. I still didn't understand exactly how all the Alpha stuff worked.

"Either. I'm sure Sam is trying that now," he answered.

I reached into the bag and handed him a burger. He unwrapped it and took a big bite. I unwrapped mine and took a bite. I was worried, but I needed to eat. So did Jake. He finished the first burger, handed me the paper and I handed him the next one. I noticed he flew by our house. Must be heading for Sam's. Even though Jake was really the Alpha, the gathering place was still Sam's.

He finished his third burger by the time we pulled into Sam and Emily's. We jumped out and ran into the house. "Anyone find her?" Jake shouted out as we came through the door.

Emily said, "Sam is trying. Nothing yet."

Jake took out his cell phone. "Embry, have you seen Leah? Do you know any of the places that she goes with this Evan guy? You are? OK. Keep checking and call me." He hung up.

I stepped out onto the front porch, took my phone out and called Edward. I needed to know what the hell was going on. He answered on the first ring. "Bella, did you find her?"

"Not yet. Everyone is looking. I want to know exactly what happened. All of it. Edward, tell me what is going on. Now," I demanded.

"We went to see Aro. Carlisle began by asking why he had sent a summons. He said that he had become aware that you were pregnant. He would not say how he found out. He said that he had his ways to find out what he needed to know. Apparently he sent someone here to spy on you, like we suspected. They got lucky when you dropped the picture. Carlisle told him that you were married to Jacob now and that the baby was his. He had believed that I was possibly the father. I assured him that was not possible. I let him hold my hand and see that I was telling the truth. I did my best to read him while he was trying to find the truth. He was guarded, but I teased him a bit letting him see Jacob. I held back, Bella. I did not reveal Leah. He did! I felt a small jolt of excitement and all of a sudden I saw a hint of his plan. He has had a plant in town for quite awhile. He is not a vampire. He is a human that Aro is using. His name is Evan."

"Oh my God! Are you serious? Leah has been seeing Evan for a few weeks now," I told him.

"You have to find her. If Evan has her, it may be too late. I don't know how they found out that Leah is a werewolf, but he is very anxious for Evan to capture Leah. It seems they just found out. Evan has been using Leah to stay close to the pack. I don't have the time to tell you the whole story now. Carlisle and I are still in Italy. We will stay here in case he brings her here. Bella, we will do whatever we can. I want you to let Jacob and the rest of the wolves know that."

"I will. Thank you, Edward. I will call you when I know something."

"Me, too. Good-bye, Bella."

"Bye." I hung up and just stood there. Oh Leah, where are you?

"Bella? You OK? Why are you out here alone?" Seth asked me. He must have come in the back while I was out here.

"Has anyone found your sister yet?" I asked.

"No, not yet," he said. "Sam is pretty pissed at me. He told me not to leave her alone. I was gone when they left, Bella. I should have been there and stopped her. I didn't know."

I put my arm around him. "This is not your fault. Don't let Sam pin this on you, OK? Besides, we really don't know that anything is wrong. She could be home by midnight from her date, just like she said." He kept his head down and nodded. "Seth, have you ever really talked to Evan?" I asked.

He shrugged and replied, "Yeah, he's been to the house to pick up Leah. I mean, we talk about sports some, but I really don't know that much about him I guess. Why?"

"I just talked to Edward. Seth, don't freak out, but Edward just told me that Evan is working for Aro." I told him gently.

Seth's eyes grew wide. "Evan . . . is a vampire? We would know that . . . "

"No, Seth. He's not a vampire. He is human, but he is being used by Aro. I'm not exactly sure how, Edward didn't have time to explain. I'm sorry, Seth." I squeezed him closer. "Come on, I need to go tell Jake." He nodded.

We walked into the house and Jacob came over to us. I knew he could see by Seth's face that there was something wrong. "What is it?" he asked.

I told him quickly what Edward had told me. "Oh God, Bella. What the hell is he going to do to her?"

"I don't want to think about that right now. Let's just find her."