Twelve

Into the Storm

Bella blew a wayward strand of chestnut hair from her eyes as she hauled the heavy leather-bound books from one shelf to another. The small library was even emptier now thanks to Christmas being only a week away. Deciding to do something productive with her time, Bella took it upon herself to rearrange the shelves so that the newer titles were by the large frost-covered windows. Perhaps they could lure in a pedestrian or two – though she doubted it. The truth was that she felt useless. The last month had been a flurry of activity between the Cullen's leaving town, Wyatt's fourth birthday, and a persistent ear infection, she had gotten next to nothing done. In those four short weeks, she was glad that the library was practically dead. Now that everything had calmed down, and the only sign that she had even had an ear infection to begin with was a little nausea left over from the vertigo, she was ready to get back to work.

It wasn't all bad – she had to admit to herself. Paul had spent those weeks taking charge and helping out wherever she would let him. He helped decorate for Wyatt's party, and cleaned the house while she napped the throbbing pain away. All the sleeping during the day left their nights wide open too, and Bella found that she enjoyed that time with Paul especially. She wasn't sure when or how it happened, but her stuff had slowly made its way into his drawers. Now, they spent practically every night cuddled up in his room. Well, she supposed it was their room now – as Paul had unintentionally referred to it. There was something so easy about taking these small steps with Paul. Edward had always pushed for more – for what he wanted, but Paul was content to sit back and just… be. It was refreshing. Bella blinked herself out of her thoughts as the tiny bell above the door rang, signaling a customer.

"Hey, come on in, I was just… Jake…" She breathed his name as their eyes locked. How long had it been since she had seen Jacob? He seemed to be avoiding her since he returned. Every time she was over at Sam and Emily's, or there was a bonfire, he was conveniently on patrol. "Are you looking for a book?" She could have slapped herself. Of course he wasn't. He wouldn't have driven out to Forks for a book at seven o' clock.

"I just wanted to see you, Bells." He gave her a weary smile as she met him at the counter. Despite his feelings for her, Jacob had always been her best friend. He helped her like no one else could when the Cullen's left, and it hurt to not be able to have that with him anymore. "I just…" He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just wanted to see you." He reiterated, his wide shoulders deflating.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Jake?" She frowned and crossed her arms over her stomach. She wanted to be Jacob's friend, but as long as he harbored feelings for her, it wouldn't be possible. Not only would she be waving something he couldn't have in his face, but he would grow to resent her for not returning his feelings.

"Why? Because it would piss Paul off?" He growled out, his teeth clenched. "Damnit, Bella! I knew you first!"

"So what, you get dibs?" She asked sarcastically with a sneer of her own. "You were my friend, Jake. You were my best friend. We were never anything more. I'm sorry that it couldn't be different." Thinking over her words, she paused. "Actually, I'm not." She nearly sighed again when his young face fell. "I don't want to hurt you Jacob, but I love Paul, and I'm happy things worked out the way they did…"

Jacob paused, several emotions playing over his face before it settled on hurt. "You love him?" Her confusion and shock must have been clear, because he continued. "That's what you said, just now. You said that you love Paul and you're happy things worked out the way they did."

Bella's breath caught as she played the sentence over and over again in her head. Her stomach seemed to tighten and flip as her chest became a little less tight. She loved Paul… She wasn't sure when it happened, but she had fallen hopelessly in love with the father of her son… her boyfriend… no, her imprint. What they had was so much more than any label any human could conceive. They were connected in a way that was impossible to explain or replicate. One thing she was sure of, was that love was the only word that could describe the feelings she had to the hot-headed werewolf that had become so much more to her.

"Yeah." She breathed a small laugh. "I guess I am."

Jacob took a deep breath, eyeing her for a moment with a questioning look before shaking his head – seemingly thinking better of whatever he was about to ask. "I can respect that, Bells. I can respect you when you say you don't want anything more." He gave her a small smile. "I'll always have a place for you in my heart, you know. You were my first love, even if it was unrequited." She opened her mouth to say something, but he held up his hand to stop her. "No worries, Bells. I'm a catch." He joked with a shrug. "I'm sure there's a lonely lady out there that would love to comfort me."

"Jake…" She called lightly as he made his way to the door. He looked back with a small smile, but said nothing as he disappeared with nothing but light chiming to tell her that he was ever really even there.

It was a start – Bella thought as she turned back to the books on the counter. They might not have been best friends, but they could work their way up to being friendly. She was sure that once Jacob imprinted, things would be okay for them. She wanted that for him – to imprint. She wanted him to understand the unwavering connection and love that came along with that kind of dedication to someone else. She would tell Paul tonight – she decided with a small smile. Why wait? They weren't exactly a romantic couple, so there was no need to wait for the perfect moment. She would simply put her things down, kiss Wyatt's forehead, and tell Paul that she loved him. Perfect.

After twenty minutes of going through the small pile, the bell above the door rang again. "Did you forge-"

Her words were muffled by a strong, icy hand around her throat – marble lips brushing against the shell of her ear as Edward Cullen's familiar voice spoke above the pounding of her own heart. "Don't fight me, love. It will all be okay…" His voice faded as her body went limp and her vision went black…

PAUL WAS TYPICALLY an angry man. That had faded some after the imprint, and having Wyatt around definitely kept his temper in check, but nothing could sooth him as he glared down at his alpha who watched him with a defensive look. "Why would you lift the restriction on Jacob!? You know he's going to go straight to Bella!"

Sam made sure to keep himself between Paul and the children – as if Paul would ever hurt his own son. "You have to believe that Bella will choose you – even if Jacob is an option. You're brothers, I can't keep him away from her forever."

Paul grit his teeth. As much as he wanted to believe that Bella loved him too, he wouldn't until he heard it from her own lips. They might have had the imprint, but she and Jacob had history – a fact the baby alpha always loved to remind him of. "And what if she chooses him?" His voice was strangled instead of the abrasive tone he had planned. Anything further was cut short by the front door opening, and an exasperated Jacob walking in.

"Relax, man. She chose you." He said simply.

There was something almost painful about the amount of relief that washed through Paul. He hadn't dared to hope that Bella would choose him, that she could possibly feel even a fraction of what he felt for her. Sure, there were signs that she was warming up to the imprint, but they didn't talk about it much. He was mostly just happy being with her, especially since Wyatt's birthday. It was the first birthday of his that Paul got to be part of, and he would make sure he was a part of as many as he could be. Sure, Wyatt would probably hit his teen years and not want his father around, but Paul hoped that he could be. He wanted to be there for all of Wyatt's life events. Graduations, his wedding, his first child. And he wanted Bella by his side every step of the way. He knew Bella wasn't the type for marriage, but he hoped one day she would consider it with him. He never thought he would want to marry anyone, but the idea of Bella wearing a ring that tied her to him, and possessing his last name was enough to nearly make him purr.

"Good." Was all he said, but his lips quirked into a smirk. "Are we good?"

Jacob looked at him for a long moment before sighing and meeting Paul's fist with his own. "Yeah man. We're good."

"Finally." Sam all but cheered as Quil silently handed Jared a twenty. "You two were driving me crazy."

"You were driving us all crazy." Leah offered from her place in her imprint's lap. Angelo was a good guy that had the patience of a saint. He was a good match for Leah, and she had been a lot easier to be around since she imprinted, though she could still be a bitch at times - literally.

"Yeah, well, no one asked yo-" Paul's voice cut off as the air seemed to be sucked from the room. His face paled and his eyes widened as he gripped at his throat, gasping for air even though he could breathe fine.

"Paul?" Emily was by his side in a moment, her hands going to his shoulders. "Paul are you okay."

Paul shook his head as he looked to Sam, his body shaking. "It's Bella."

"Don't panic." Sam instructed, but he was already moving to grab for the phone as the others jumped up. "I'm sure she's okay. We'll find her."

"Before we go, there's something you should know." Jacob placed a hand on Paul's arm as he tried to storm past him. "Bella smelled familiar… like she did before she left."

Paul growled at his pack-brother who was quickly getting back on his bad side. His imprint was alone, and possibly hurt. Paul's mind was almost too loud for him to bear, his wolf clawing at the edge of his consciousness. "Unless she smelled of leech, I don't care." He jerked his arm out of Jacob's hold, but at his brother's next words, he froze.

"Paul… I think Bella is pregnant."

AN: Dun dun duuuunnn! Thought it was time we had a little bit of drama! If you don't know, antibiotics, such as those that are taken for an ear infection, can mess up birth control – maybe someone should have told Bella? ;D Just wanted to let you guys know that I got an awesome idea for my next story. I won't be giving much away until this story is done, but I will tell you a few things: A – it's going to be a college AU and B – It's inspired by P!NK's song, Beautiful Trauma! I'll include a little preview at the end of this story. I'm not sure how many chapters will be left in this one, but I'd say we're about 2/3 of the way through. But who knows!