Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 88 Details

"It's for you, Bella, it's your Mom."

BPOV

How could I have forgotten . . . but I had. I always talked to my Mom on Sunday mornings. Always, even when I had lived at Charlie's and was finishing up high school. I even emailed her sometimes on Sunday mornings when Jake and I had been off working with Dale on the Harley drags in Calgary, but I had delivered Masen and not even thought of calling her.

I had spoken to her last Sunday, of course, but that was when I was still pregnant, when the worry that clouded my mind was helping Jake to learn how to phase back into human form from wolf . . . that was when I had not yet been held hostage by Victoria and Riley, before the snowstorm, before Bree was admitted to the hospital. Last Sunday existed in a world where Sam had not tried to kill my husband or caused his wife to be in critical condition, lying in a hospital bed. Last Sunday my Dad had not known that I was married to an immortal, a vampire . . . and that his only grandson was only half human.

I just wasn't sure what I was supposed to tell her.

I didn't suppose that,

Hi Mom! Edward, my 110 year old immortal vampire husband with two medical degrees delivered my partially human son who, by the way, can sit up on his own almost at three days old,

put thoughts in your head as well as read the ones that are already there and drinks blood.

How was your cruise?

Shit.

I had never been good at thinking fast on my feet and now was no exception. My eyes darted from the phone to Edward to the phone and back several times making me look like somewhat of a cartoon character, I'm sure. I felt Edward hug me to him, and I would have sworn I heard him chuckle as he reached out his hand and took the phone from Charlie; ushering me over to the chair to sit down with the baby, and handing me the bottle that Masen had been devouring when we had come down the stairs.

"Renee," Edward said smoothly, never missing a beat and sounding excited to hear from her, "Bella is feeding the baby right now. Yes, yes I know. Thank you, we couldn't be happier. Well, it all happened so fast and we just didn't want to interrupt your cruise, you and Phil have never really gotten away like that before. I know, yes. It does seem impossible that the baby is fine even though he was born so early. Well, miracles happen, Renee. Yes. I'll have her call you when she finishes. Yes, I'm glad Charlie could be here with us as well. I'll tell them. Say hello to Phil for me. No. It's fine, you're welcome. Bye."

"I'm really sorry about that, Edward. I forgot all about the supernatural stuff and the baby not being due and all the other stuff. I just blurted it out when she asked how Bella was. I don't even know why she called me . . . guess she couldn't reach Bells," Charlie explained. I guess that was true enough, she couldn't have called me . . . my phone was left somewhere in the house that burned and what with having the baby and all, neither Edward nor I had thought about getting me a new one . . . I wasn't even sure Edward had his own phone at this point.

"I understand, Charlie. Bella and I just have to decide how to handle it. Telling her what we are puts her life in jeopardy, and I don't think there is any way to realistically explain Masen to her . . . not that I can think of anyway," Edward replied. He was right, of course. But Masen was intelligent . . . extremely intelligent.

"Edward, what if we get Mom up here right away. Masen is small and he listens well. He could just act like a newborn in front of her," I suggested.

"Bella, he's only three days old. He is a newborn," Charlie corrected, his face incredulous. He was still adjusting to the whole half human half vampire traits that Masen displayed.

"He might be able to pull that off, acting like a newborn human baby . . . maybe," Edward said quietly, obviously listening to some unspoken dialogue. "We would have to lie about when he was conceived, though, and I don't know if that would work with her having gone and viewed the ultrasounds with us while you were pregnant. It might be easier for her to just believe that his being this developed early on in your pregnancy is a miracle, and let it go."

"Yea, well you wouldn't have this problem if you got rid of all human contacts like most vampires have to do. With the rest of us, none of our human family or friends ever saw us again after we were changed because we were presumed dead," Emmett said. Emmett was nothing if not hard as nails factual.

"Look, that might be true if she had been changed . . . but she hasn't. She's still human. The baby just complicates things because of course her Mom wants to be a part of her grandchild's life. You just need to figure out how that can happen or if it can happen. It might be time to fake your deaths and move on," Rosalie added.

I sat staring at Masen as he finished his bottle. He was nuzzling me and rooting like he wanted me to breastfeed him as well and I just wasn't sure I was ready to give that up. I had wanted at least a few weeks with him, feeding and caring for him before I could no longer produce milk . . . if that was even going to happen when I changed. Carlisle had no idea and neither did Edward. They weren't even sure if I would be able to be around Masen while I was a newborn because some blood ran in his veins as well, though it appeared to be mostly venom.

"Maybe it's time for me to completely join your world. Maybe Edward should change me, then we could be gone for a year or so and my Mom could think we were lost in a plane crash or whatever," I told them.

"Bella! What are you talking about?" Charlie demanded.

"Dad, you knew this was coming, you knew I wanted to be like Edward so that I could always be with him. You know about them, Dad. I wouldn't be able to be around you for a year or so since you're human, but I would keep in touch and eventually be able to see you and be around you like the Cullen's do now," I tried to comfort him.

"Now hold on just a minute. What about my grand baby?" Charlie said, looking at Masen.

"We could arrange for you to visit him, Charlie," Alice said, trying to comfort my Dad.

"Nothing has been decided. Charlie. Bella and I need to discuss all the options and make a decision. Alice will see and we can do what's best for all of us. We just need to keep Renee and Phil safe and keep our world a secret from humans," Edward told him.

"If your world has to be secret from humans, why is it okay for me to know? Why didn't you lie to me if you normally go to such elaborate lengths to cover things up, faking deaths and all?" Charlie demanded both perplexed and outraged.

I couldn't stare at him, knowing. My eyes dropped to the baby as I searched for an answer to give him that would not embarrass either him or Sue.

"Actually, Charlie, Jacob showed you himself as a werewolf first, the rest sort of . . . ," Carlisle was cut off by Edward.

"I told Charlie what we were, and the responsibility is mine. Unfortunately, the Volturi would punish my entire family for it, Charlie, not just Bella and me. We were so involved and worried about Bella having been kidnapped that your arrival surprised all of us. I was willing to tell you because of some of the visions that Alice has had. It isn't a problem for you to know," Edward told him.

"That doesn't make sense, son. Why would I be different?":Charlie asked, determined to have an answer.

"Charlie," Sue said, walking over to stand beside him, "they are trying not to embarrass either of us, but the truth is that I think Alice has probably seen that we're together, and you would know about them through your association with me anyway. That doesn't break any of their laws," Sue told him.

"Yes," Alice agreed. bounding up and down as only Alice can, "and I would love to help with any of the arrangements, Sue, anything at all that any of us could do, really."

"Well, Alice," Sue said shyly, "he has to ask me first."

Charlie looked from Sue to Alice and back again several times before settling on Sue's face, his face going a shade that was whiter even than Edward's skin as he realized what they had been discussing.

"Well, the problem still exists with Bella's Mom, and it needs to be solved. Carlisle, didn't you speak to Aro about Edward's injury? How much does he know about Bella?" Jasper asked.

"I spoke with him about Edward's injury, yes, but I didn't explain how it happened. The Volturi keep up with the news and current events, though, and Bella's kidnapping was front page for a few days, no matter how much I tried to tone it down. If he saw our names associated with it, there may be questions to answer, or perhaps a visit from them," Carlisle stated.

"Then you need to change me anyway," I said somewhat urgently, "I don't want to be responsible for getting all of you in trouble with them. Edward! How will they react to Masen?" Edward moved to stand behind the chair where I sat and gently massage my shoulders to calm me down.

"I don't think there is cause to worry yet," Carlisle said quietly.

"I will start watching Aro's decisions more closely and see if he is interested, even in passing, in anything to do with the Cullens," Alice offered.

"Excellent, Alice. Look closely, even with some of the other guard. I just don't want to be caught by surprise. I think Bella being human this long can be explained, assuming they are accepting of Masen. He is such a novelty, he may interest Aro . . . once he realizes he is not one of the immortal children from long ago," Edward grimaced.

"Immortal children?" Charlie asked, Sue's interest was peaked as well. Edward's family either looked paler than normal, or their eyes looked away, as though trying not to remember something unpleasant.

"Yes. Our kind decided they wanted children, which of course the women are incapable of having. Human children were turned into immortals . . . and they were uncontrollable, their temper tantrums resulting in the destruction of entire towns and villages, and when they got thirsty, there were mass murders. They could not be taught and were a threat to exposing our world to the human world. They all had to be destroyed," Jasper explained.

"They were every bit as adorable as Masen is now. Immortal covens fought to the last man and woman to save them . . . the scars on the vampire world run quite deep with regard to them. It's a very touchy subject, even to people close to us. Tanya, Irina and Kate's mother created an immortal child, a small boy. The Volturi came and ended her in front of the sisters, many years ago. They never speak of her," Carlisle said quietly, "but the scars run deep."

"Well, back to Renee. From what she said on the phone, I imagine she is repacking her suitcase to come up here and see Bella and the baby. What are you going to do about it?" Charlie asked.

"I have no idea, Dad," I told him, my arms starting to shake. Edward noticed and took Masen from me as he helped me to my feet. "Right now I'm going to go upstairs and nurse my baby. Edward and I will figure something out."

~oooOooo~

Jacob POV

Eric . . . what kind of pansy name is that anyway. No one names their kid Eric, no one that wants their son to become a man anyway . . .

I couldn't think of anything else. Sue was completely absorbed in all things Emily, attending to her every need as she sat moistening her lips with ice and then gently putting Vaseline on them for the tenth time today as Sam sat holding her hand.

Sam was intent. Sam was focused. Sam . . . Sam was useless. Completely and utterly useless when it came to doing anything at all. He couldn't even go to the vending machine for coffee by himself without forgetting what he went for or fucking up the order completely. I understood that he was upset, but come on . . . get a fucking grip. She needed him to be coherent and make decisions regarding her care, especially now that the doctors had told us she was pregnant and that she had not lost the baby. I suppose that was what pushed him over the edge, into la-la land I mean.

I walked out of the room, there were only supposed to be two people in there at a time, but I had to be somewhere. Eric was visiting Bree. Eric was here for the day, up from Clemson. I didn't know if he came on his own or if it was at her parents request, but he was here . . .

. . . and he was in the room with my girl.

My girl.

She just didn't know it yet . . .

I hadn't meant for it to happen. Up until now, the only imprinting that I had been aware of was Sam and Emily, and something about Paul imprinting on my sister. I had ignored that because, well . . . Paul was an ass.

But Bree . . .

She was everything I hadn't known I wanted . . . smart, quick witted and friendly, accepting people and circumstances so easily . . .

All it had taken was one look. I had opened the door to let everyone know that we needed to head off to meet Sam, and there she was. It hit me like someone dropped the moon on my head. All of a sudden, there was nothing but her . . . nothing. I knew she would be there, in the hospital. It wasn't like she was going anywhere anytime soon and that knowledge was the one and only reason I was able to leave at that moment. I shut the door fast, before I could think about it for too long . . . before I could decide that Sam and Emily and Bella and anything else on the planet just wasn't important.

She was.

I knew that if I stared too long, if I talked to her, that I would never leave to take Emily to meet Sam. I had responsibility as the alpha, and for a moment, that responsibility flashed in front of me; and I moved quickly to go and take care of it so that I could return to the hospital . . . and to her. Emily's injury just kept me away from her longer, but in a way it kept me with her because now I had a valid excuse for being at the hospital. I didn't have to make up some lame reason for wanting to be there and to talk to her. Well, I guess I still needed a reason for that . . . I just hadn't come up with one yet. I was starting to, the conversation was going well when she woke this morning and I was the only one there. Then he showed up.

He seemed like an alright guy, and I controlled myself. I didn't rip his throat out when he kissed her on the cheek in front of me and sat there on the side of the bed holding her hand. I hadn't decked him when he affectionately moved some of her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. He still had that hand attached to the arm it came on. Asshole.

"Everything okay, Jake?" Sue asked as she met me in the hallway outside of Emily's room. The doctor was in with her she explained and she had stepped out to give them some privacy.

"Does Emily know about the baby?"

"We have no idea. They still have her in an induced coma and she hadn't mentioned being pregnant to Sam. The baby being at risk now just terrified him more," Sue told me, quietly sipping her coffee.

"How's Bree?" Sue asked.

"Good, her parents are gone for the day and it's just Eric here with her. I have no idea when he's going to leave," I said with a voice that even I recognized as whining.

"Don't worry, Jake. Imprinting may only be from your side, but it gives you the insight to be whatever it is that your love wants you to be . . . it's kind of funny how it works that way. She won't be able to help loving you, once she gets to know you and you spend time with her. This is the first time I've heard of it happening and the chosen mate not being of tribal descent though," Sue explained, "Imprinting is there to strengthen the tribe . . . and the wolf. There must be something in this girl that the tribe needs, some new blood." She kind of drifted off like she was thinking to herself more than she was talking to me, and I just stood in front of her and waited for her to snap out of it. Carlisle walked out of Emily's room in the meantime, nodding to me and asking if I had seen Bree yet.

"Yea," I told him, kicking the toe of my shoe on the hospital tile floor, "she has her boyfriend with her right now. Her parents left for the day."

"Ah. Well, I'm going to go check on her. It looks like we may be releasing her tomorrow or the next day, Jacob. Have you managed to make friends with her yet?" he asked, knowing my situation.

"Working on it, Doc. See what you think of the new guy. I had hoped Edward would be by today and I could get him to get a read on the guy for me, you know, the mind reading thing and all," I said.

"Call him, Jacob. I'm sure he and Bella would run in if you asked them. They're at home and they've spent the entire day alone in their room according to Esme, they may be up for a break," he all but chuckled.

"Does Edward have a new phone yet or should I just call the house?" I asked.

"I don't think either Edward or Bella has given any thought to replacing their phones. I had Jasper order them new ones and they aren't here yet. Call Esme or the house, either way I would make the call," Carlisle smiled, "I'm going to go and see Bree now. Emily is coming along well. We may be able to allow her to wake up tomorrow, we'll just have to wait and see if the drainage stops being bloody or not." Carlisle started down the hall, then turned and took a step back towards Sue and I. "Have you had any thoughts about Sam, what you're going to do with him I mean?"

"No. Nothing firm. Before Emily was injured, I had planned to fly home with Charlie, Sue here, Sam and Emily and settle things with the tribe," I told him, pausing for a moment to stare into his face. "We need to settle the treaty issues between our two families, Carlisle - the Cullens and the Quilettes."

"Yes. I would like that," he responded, gesturing to us that we should move to the waiting room that was unoccupied right now so that we could talk in private. Once there, he turned to Sue and I and asked, "Have you thought of a solution?"

"Well, you said that you had no intention of retaliating for Sam's attack on Edward. Is that still the case?" I asked, tensing in spite of myself.

"Yes. Edward accepted his apology. As for my part in the treaty, I only want peace. We have no reason to be at odds with each other, neither you and I nor your family and mine. Neither of us means harm to humans, I think that has become painfully obvious," Carlisle recounted. "I do, however, seek one concession on the part of your tribe . . . one amendment to the treaty. Though the wording of the treaty would allow us to use methods other than biting to inject venom, the intent of the treaty with your grandfather was clearly that we create no more of our kind. You know that Bella wants to be changed . . . and Edward has agreed."

The look on Carlisle's face was one of compassion and intent . . . his words were no less solemn, "Jacob, I do not want to break faith. I gave my word to Ephraim Black and it was always our intention to keep it. I won't phrase it that it's in return for not retaliating or demanding Sam's life be forfeit, because those things are true regardless. I do ask for permission to change Bella. I want it added as a one time amendment to the treaty, or perhaps we can forge a new treaty . . . one that reflects more trust between us and has fewer territorial restrictions. I know Bella would want to visit you on the reservation, regardless of her . . . condition."

"The council will have a say on that, Carlisle, but what you ask is not unreasonable, even if Sam's actions had not made us indebted to you," Sue said to us both. Her vote carried a great deal of weight, that much I knew.

"I am returning to La Push to sort all of this out, Carlisle. It's time I stopped running from my heritage, and responsibilities. As I said, I had planned on flying home today with everyone else," I told him, "Could you come to Forks, after we have a week or so back there, and we can sign a new agreement?"

"I would be happy to, Jacob," Carlisle smiled and extended a hand for me to shake.

"Emily is progressing, and she should recover enough by the weekend or possibly before. I was checking on arrangements to hire a private plane to fly her home, Jacob, so that she would be comfortable. You could all fly home with her at the same time if that's acceptable," he offered.

Sue nodded her acceptance. "If we can just convince Charlie that Forks can live with out him on duty as Chief of police for another few days!" she laughed, "But perhaps I can convince him. Tearing him away from Masen is like separating two magnets, they just seem to want to be with each other, even though Masen is only a baby."

"Yes, they have formed quite a bond, haven't they. Yet another reason for us to renegotiate the treaty. Charlie will be with you, Sue, and he will want to have time with Masen as he grows up," Carlisle added.

"Yes, there is a lot to consider. I'm not worried about it though, Jacob and I should be able to convince the elders to see it our way, and if that fails, Jacob is Chief . . . in the end he can do as he pleases," Sue added.

"I hadn't even thought of that. It's settled then, now about Bree . . . ," he asked Carlisle, "You really think Edward would come up here just to eavesdrop on them for me?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it exactly like that when I asked him, Jacob!" Carlisle outright laughed with Sue as they both stared at me. "Call him. Just ask for his help . . . they'll come Jacob, quit worrying."

Carlisle walked away and Sue smirked at me as she walked back towards Emily's room. I pulled out my phone and called Bella and Edward's house, hoping they had a great day and their moods were good . . . because I really wanted his help.

~oooOooo~

EPOV

I helped Bella settle into a comfortable position in the rocking chair, opening her blouse and getting ready to feed Masen. She reached for one of the breast shields that Carlisle had furnished us with, thank goodness. I didn't want to remind her that she needed to put something between her and the baby . . . but the thought of Masen biting her unnerved me. My son latched onto his mother's breast and fed greedily. I could relate. I had to admit, there was a pang of jealousy there, though I would probably never admit it to anyone else. Bella knew, she saw my face as I watched them . . . and she knew. She also knew that I loved Masen and was willing to do anything for them . . . anything.

"Emily is better, so is Bree," I told her, trying to make some small attempt at conversation so that I wasn't just sitting there staring at her breast.

"You spoke with Sue?" she asked. She knew that the only time I had seen Sue was when I had been with her, and that I had taken no phone calls.

"I read her mind. She and Carlisle convinced Jacob to call me and ask you and I to come to the hospital this afternoon, apparently Bree's boyfriend was there and Jake wanted me to eavesdrop. He's anxious about her and wants to know more about the relationship she has with the other guy and how she feels about him," I laughed, "So now he wants to use me as a spy for his love life!"

I had to laugh. Bella smirked and shook her head.

"I wanted to visit Bree today anyway, do you mind going to the hospital for a little while after Masen finishes?" she asked. Her eyes danced at me as a smile covered her face from ear to ear as she added, "Unless you're waiting your turn."

"I wish," I said as I leaned over and stroked her other breast with the back of my knuckles before cupping her face in my hand and kissing her softly, "I believe that in just this one case, Masen was the one waiting his turn, love. I had you all day."

"You're tired of me then?" she asked in a mock hurt voice.

"As soon as we get back from the hospital, I'll be happy to show you just how not tired of you I am," I told her, my lips pressing against hers while I cupped her breast in my hand, feeling the weight and softness of it. I was rewarded by Masen firmly and intentionally kicking my hand away from his Mom, his mind quite clearly telling me that he wanted time with her.

"Okay, son. I get the message. I'll leave you and Mommy alone while you nurse," I told them both, kissing his head as I moved to sit back on the bed and watch them. I loved them so much . . . and I hadn't even realized how much I wanted a family, till they were right here in front of me.