Babies, Babies, Babies

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thanks for the kind reviews, Nikki.

Part Twenty One

"I am not in Forks right now, Bella." Rosalie said on the other end of the phone. "Emmet and I have decided to split from the family for a while. We're in London."

Bella felt disappointment flood through her. She had so hoped to get Rosalie's help on the situation brewing with Alice and Edward. Now she had no close ally she felt she could trust who would be able to keep a close eye on them. "I didn't realise you were leaving." She said forlornly.

"We were all supposed to be leaving." Rosalie sounded puzzled. "After I gave Edward back his ring and gave him your message, we had a family conference and it was decided that we should all move on. Carlisle and Esme, as did Emmet and I, felt there was nothing keeping us in the area anymore. Carlisle and Esme headed off to spend some time with their acquaintances in Denali. They left before we did. Edward was supposed to follow them, and Alice and Jasper were going to take a tour of Jasper's old haunts."

"But Alice and Jasper are still around, and Edward too I think." Bella was aghast.

"What?" Rosalie was astonished. "Tell me everything, Bella." She demanded.

Bella lay back on her bed, her anxiety building up inside as she told Rosalie about Alice's odd visit.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Even though the sun was out for once and it was fairly warm, Bella felt cold inside. After her revealing conversation with Rosalie she was left feeling deeply perplexed and anxious. Rosalie had promised that she and Emmet would head back at once, but it would take them a while to get there. In the meantime she advised Bella to make sure she was either in La Push or that Jacob was with her. Bella got ready quickly and pinned up her wet hair. She didn't bother to dry it. Charlie was already on his way to work before she came down the stairs for breakfast. He called out a hurried goodbye before he left. Bella fried some bacon and poached some eggs. She expected Jacob would be joining her any minute. He had been on guard outside all night and would be ravenous as well as tired. She felt guilty that he had to lose sleep trying to keep her safe again. It was so unfair. Why wouldn't Edward let her go?

A tap on the back door startled her. She glanced up to see Jacob gesturing for her to unlock the door. Bella felt relief wash through her. She fumbled with the key and shoved the door open. Within seconds she was engulfed in a warm embrace and pressed against a heated chest. She was so glad to see him. "I missed you." She confessed as her lips sought his. They kissed for a long time and only stopped when the smell of burning reminded Bella that she had been in the midst of cooking. "Dammit." She heard Jacob laugh as she hurried to the stove and tried to salvage breakfast. "Are you up for some burnt offerings?" She peered at the burnt bacon and mass of congealed eggs.

"I'll eat anything." Jacob smiled at her fondly as he took the pan out of her hand and kissed her again. "It's okay, Bells. Don't stress. There was no sign of the leeches last night so perhaps they got the message."

Bella felt her anxiety flare up again. Jacob still didn't know. She pondered whether to tell him, but one look into his tired eyes stopped her. He was absolutely running on empty as it was. He needed rest. She forced a smile onto her face and began to serve up the breakfast.

Bella spent a pleasant day in La Push with the children and Billy. Jacob went to bed straight away so he could take a power nap before he went to the garage and worked on some of the cars he needed to finish. Jet was skilful in getting about even with her leg strapped up. She was quite ingenious for one so young and kept Bella on her toes for most of the day. She was thankful Marlon was such an easy baby otherwise she would have been tied up in knots. She thought Billy was amazing with Jet; he managed to keep the little girl still for a while by weaving his wonderful stories. Jet would sit on his lap, her dark eyes wide with curiosity and her thumb in her mouth as she looked up at her grandfather adoringly. Bella got a lump in her throat as she watched them.

Jacob woke up around noon and shared some lunch with them before heading off. He told Bella he was going to be tied up for hours; he had a difficult mechanical problem to solve. He was going to have to take an engine almost completely apart so that he could reach the part he needed to fix. Then it would have to be rebuilt. It was going to be a difficult and frustrating task and needed complete concentration. Bella sighed; she was hoping to have got a bit of time with him. She promised to bring him some snacks and made him promise to take regular breaks before she made them all dinner.

Bella put Jet down for her afternoon nap about two, Marlon had been fed and changed and he was sleeping peacefully in his cot beside his sister. Bella carefully closed the door and went back to join Billy. He was sitting at the kitchen table carving his latest masterpiece. He used any opportunity he could while the kids were settled to work on his craft. He was determined to use his skills to bring in some much needed income. "Kids asleep?" He asked as Bella came into the room.

"Yeah, Jet has finally worn herself out and me too." Bella swiped at her forehead. It was coated in perspiration. Trying to keep Jet in one place was exhausting. The little girl loved exploring and usually headed to the most dangerous parts of the house. She seemed to have developed a fixation for plug sockets. Several times that day Bella had to stop her from shoving her little fingers into the small holes. "I think we need to make this house Jet proof. I thought I might head down to Port Angeles tomorrow and get some safety equipment. Jake can put the child locks on the cupboards and I think we need one for the toilet seat too. Jet pulled it down and nearly hurt her little fingers. I wonder if they do covers for the plug sockets as well." She began to make a list in her head as she roamed around the house.

Billy became quiet for a moment. "I don't have any money to give you toward the cost, Bella. The last of it went on stocking up on food." Shame was written all over his face and Bella felt her heart clinch in her chest.

"It's okay. We're all in this together, remember? Dad gave me some money." Bella knew how proud Billy was and for him to admit such a thing must have really cost him. "Anyway when you start selling your work you'll be raking it in." She smiled at him encouragingly.

"You are a good girl, Bella." Billy wiped at his eyes before she saw the tears welling in them.

The chill was back in the air when Bella emerged from the garage. She had brought Jacob some snacks and a drink, but he was so engrossed in his work that she decided not to stay and distract him. She knew he needed to concentrate as it was such a fiddly job. She strode back toward the house only to bump into Rachel who was just climbing out of her old car. Rachel had a mutinous look on her face as if she was spoiling for a fight. Bella groaned inwardly. She didn't feel like dealing with Jacob's feisty sister today. But there was no avoiding her. She called out a reluctant greeting. "Hey, Rachel."

Rachel turned around and marched toward Bella. "I've just come back from speaking with Emily." Was her only greeting. "Why wasn't I told that it was Sam who inflicted those horrific injuries on her?" She demanded.

"What?" Bella was taken aback. She stopped just in front of Rachel and fumbled for something to say. "It was accident. Emily must have explained. Sam didn't mean to hurt her."

"Of course the stupid lovesick fool is going to defend him. But she is an imprint and he hurt her. I thought the whole idea of being imprinted on was that they were supposed to keep you safe and not ever hurt you, but this puts a whole different spin on things. Paul's got a temper, what if he does the same to me like Sam did to Emily." Rachel said angrily.

"He won't. Paul is better at controlling himself now. All the wolves are. Sam and Emily's situation was different. Sam was the first to phase, then there was the Leah situation, everything was so fraught and…."

"That's another thing that I don't understand. This is all messed up. I don't want Paul near me, or any of them. They are dangerous…." Rachel was becoming hysterical.

"Does that include your own brother?" Bella snapped as she finally lost her temper with the other girl. Rachel was spouting ridiculous nonsense about stuff she didn't understand. "You are being irrational and stupid. I pity Paul that he had to imprint on you."

Rachel's face flushed as her hands curled into fists at her sides. "Well at least I was good enough to be imprinted on, unlike you. Jacob's wolf obviously has better taste then to be chained to you for the rest of his life…."

Bella didn't even realise she had slapped Rachel. It was only when she felt the stinging on her palm that she understood what she had done. She stared at her hand as if it had betrayed her. Rachel was cradling her cheek as angry tears welled in her eyes. "You vicious cow." She spat at Bella before reaching out and slapping Bella back just as hard.

Everything became a confused mass of tangled limbs as Bella and Rachel began to fight. Bella didn't know what she was doing. All she could do was defend herself against Rachel's rage. She felt her hair being pulled so she kicked out, unintentionally tripping Rachel up. Rachel screamed and pulled Bella down with her. They hit the dirt and began to scrap on the ground instead.

"Hey, hey…stop this." Jacob came running out of the garage, alerted by the sound of his sister's screams. He heard Paul calling out Rachel's name as he sprinted from the woods, obviously intending to come to his imprints rescue. But he halted and exchanged a shocked look with Jacob once he realised it was Bella that Rachel was fighting with. The two of them tried to assess the best way to stop the fight. Bella and Rachel were rolling around on the ground, pulling and tugging at each other's hair and punching and kicking.

In the end Jacob grabbed hold of Bella and hauled her upright. Paul did the same with Rachel. He had to try his best to avoid her flailing hands as she tried to shrug him off. Bella was breathing heavily. Her hair was a tangled mess; it had come undone from its messy bun. Her face was covered in dirt as was her clothes. Rachel didn't look any better. The one thing that was the same was the glow of anger in both of their eyes.

"Explain?" Jacob turned Bella around and gazed down at her. Despite the state she was in he still thought she looked incredibly beautiful. He had not seen this feisty side of Bella in a long time.

"Ask her!" Bella muttered as she smoothed her hair back and wiped at her face. "I have to go and check on the children." She began to stalk off.

"Not in that state. You'll scare them." Jacob stopped her midstride. He glanced over at his sister who was staring mutinously at the ground while Paul tried to get her to talk to him. Jacob saw the hurt on Lahote's face as Rachel rejected him yet again. This couldn't go on. Rachel's behaviour was upsetting the pack and needed to be dealt with right now. For Bella to get into a physical fight with his sister meant it had to be huge. "Come on we are all going to sort this out once and for all." Jacob stopped Bella and Rachel as they started to protest. "No, we are all adults here. Paul?" His tone brooked no argument. He gestured for Paul to follow as he grabbed hold of Rachel and took Bella's hand as he towed them toward the garage.

A/N-thanks for reading!