8. My Little Girl

Last night's dinner hadn't sat well with me. The smell alone from our cold cut sandwiches and chips tasted like cardboard and in the end I hadn't been able to keep it down.

I was awoken in my bed to the sound of Charlie calling my name which baffled me for a second as I clearly remembered I had fallen asleep on the couch, my head resting on Jacob's lap. He must have been the one to bring me upstairs.

Quickly I put on an oversized sweater that I usually saved for days when I was on my period and wanted to be lazy and lounge around so that Charlie wouldn't notice the growing bump. He came into my room as soon as the hem of my sweater covered my belly. I flicked it just in case so it wouldn't cover too tightly.

"Bells, you wanna tell me what Jacob Black and that other huge kid are doing asleep in my living room?"

"I invited them over to hang out last night. Guess we just lost track of time."

"Enough time to where you could at least come upstairs?"

I tried to focus on Charlie but the queasy feeling I was starting to have begun to take over. Without a word to Charlie I left my room and locked myself in the bathroom.

"Bells," Charlie said as he knocked, "You okay?"

I heaved into the toilet a second time. "Fine," I replied weakly. "Go away."

"Bella, it's Jake, "Can I get you anything?"

There was a change in his voice from yesterday. Gone was the demanding and possessive Alpha. All I heard now was my Jacob, the Jacob I'd known before he turned. He said he'd be able to handle the conditions I set and now I knew he meant it.

"Can you guys leave me alone," I said to them.

Despite the door being closed I felt like I was being watched.

"We'll just wait for you downstairs then," said Charlie.

After my rocky stint of morning sickness was over I paused upstairs as I heard Charlie talking to Jacob and Embry.

"I'm glad you're here again, Jacob. I really don't know how much good I can do. I know it's only been eight weeks but it feels longer."

"Well I'm here to help Charlie, we both are," Jacob replied.

"That's real kind of you boys. I just wish I knew what was going on. One minute she's depressed and the next she seems to be over eating to compensate which is strange since I haven't seen her eat much."

Don't you dare tell him I thought.

"I'm sure she'll be okay. Edward leaving wasn't exactly the easiest thing and now things have gotten harder for her."

"Yeah but why? People break up all the time. It's not like he left but like someone died."

"Maybe someone did die," said Embry.

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.

"Edward was the love of her life right," said Embry.

"Maybe when he left," said Jacob, "a part of her left too."

I could hear Charlie sigh. "Guess I never understood how deep their relationship was. She's my only daughter, what kind of father wants to believe their little girl is growing up and falling in love? Pretty soon she won't need me anymore. So what happened? What brought her back?"

There was silence in the kitchen. I took a deep breath and looked at my belly, caressing it now that I had some privacy. I was eight weeks pregnant. While I was unsure of how long my pregnancy would last I did remember from my mom's sex talks as a kid and all of my sex talks in school that a human pregnancy lasted nine months. I shouldn't have even looked this pregnant. I looked bigger, much bigger, at least four months, not two. At this rate the baby would continue to grow and I'd have it in another month or two.

I took another breath and cautiously walked downstairs.

"Here sit down," Jake said offering the seat he had previously occupied. "Can I get you anything?"

"Crackers and orange juice," I replied, "I don't think I could keep much down."

"Okay Bells, what is going on," Charlie demanded. "You're not coming down with what Jake had are you?"

"Ha," said Embry, "I bet she wishes it were that." Both Jake and I glared at Embry, "Okay this looks like a family matter. I think I'm going to go to the store. You guys are running out of groceries."

"That's because you raided everything last night," I answered.

"Hey we can't help it if we've got fast metabolisms."

Embry left the house without another word.

"What's a family matter," asked Charlie as I bit down on a cracker. It tasted like cardboard but I swallowed with orange juice anyways. "Bella, what's the family matter Embry is talking about?"

Jacob looked at me sympathetically. I was glad he had my back and more importantly glad that he wasn't the one to run off and tell Charlie.

"Dad there's- there's something I have to tell you."

"You might want to sit down for this Charlie," Jacob said.

Charlie did as Jacob told. "You know what's going on?"

I answered the question, "He was kind of the first person I told," which wasn't technically a lie. I took a breath. "Dad, I haven't put on weight because I've been eating too much. In fact I'm eating the same as usual. I- I'm- Dad I'm…"

"Don't," said Charlie. "Don't say it Bells." "You're not… pregnant," he said forcing the word. "You can't be, that's impossible."

He had no idea.

I looked away from him, "Yeah that's what I thought."

I could feel Charlie's eyes on me. "What, so you're not denying it? You really are…"

I forced myself to look at my dad. "I really am pregnant, dad."

An uncomfortable silence remained for the next hour, long enough that Embry had not only returned from the grocery store but also from doing a perimeter run. Last night he and Jacob had told me everything about their lives as werewolves and about their confrontation with Sam. It was against their laws to attack the object of a brother's imprint because killing her meant killing him. And though Sam had told the boys that he would obey the law, Sam and his current brothers still hated vampires and the fact that I'd slept with one so Jake and Embry felt the need to keep their guards up.

In that hour Jake and Embry spent their time fixing breakfast in the kitchen, messing around as if nothing had changed.

I sat in the living room couch with a book in my hands, one that I hadn't read since Edward had left. Saying his name was still painful but not as bad as it had been. I guess because now my focus had shifted. The book wasn't for me but more of a distraction. My secret was out but I wasn't about to be careless and start placing my hands on top of my belly.

I could see Charlie glance at me from his reclining chair, occasionally lowering his gaze to my stomach. I knew what he was seeing now; not the stomach of an overeater and depressed teenager but the belly of a teenager who actually looked pregnant. Knocked up. And still in high school. That's what I'd become to him now and probably the rest of the town once word got out: another statistic in teenage pregnancy.

"Is that why he left," Charlie asked being the first to break the silence.

I looked down at my belly. "No."

Of course that's what he'd be thinking. Jessica had all ready thought it too.

I forced myself to meet my dad's eyes. "It wasn't like that at all. Edward didn't know I was pregnant. It was just an untimely coincidence."

He got up from his chair, pacing now. "Jesus bells, how could you let this happen? I thought we taught you better than that."

"You did."

"Then where did we go wrong?"

"You didn't."

"Then explain it to me Bella. Did you not use protection or…"

I couldn't blame Charlie for having a hard time with this so I decided to play it safe.

"We did," I said as I stood up. Jacob quickly came over to help me and offer me support. "I'm not that pregnant yet Jake," I said to him.

"Sorry force of habit I guess," he answered.

I returned my attention to Charlie, "They're not always effective."

The pregnancy I had all ready come to terms with, having the sex talk with my dad however was completely unnerving. Telling Charlie that we'd used a condom and that it didn't work was the easiest lie I could use. And for all I knew it could have been true. I was pretty sure latex rubber couldn't stand up to the venom that Edward produced.

Hearing this seemed to calm Charlie down but not by much.

"I just don't understand how this could have happened Bells."

"I love him Dad."

Love. Not loved. No matter how much pain Edward had put me through in the last two months, I knew that deep down I would never stop loving him. He had altered me so completely in a way that didn't seem possible for a human that somehow I knew if I never saw Edward for the rest of my life that I could never love anyone the same way that I loved him.

Jacob noticed my words too and he smiled. He understood in a way that Charlie couldn't.

"He's not coming back, Bells," Charlie said.

I took a deep breath and placed my hands on my belly, not caring if Charlie saw this time. "I know," I replied my voice barely audible. I caressed the bump gently as three sets of eyes gazed on my action. I needed some strength now and somehow as the baby had done all ready, she was giving me the strength to make it through life without her father.

I looked at my dad, my hands still resting atop the bulge. "That's why I'm keeping this baby. And before you try to talk me out of it you can't. It's a part of me and it's a part of Edward. I can leave if that's what you want. I have some money saved up. I could get an apartment or something."

"Woah Bella, slow down. You're not moving out," said Charlie.

"Well I can't exactly give up this baby either, I won't."

"Bella you're eighteen. How are you going to raise a baby?"

"I'll figure something out."

Jacob, still standing on my left side, stood straight up and looked at Charlie. "She doesn't have to do this alone. I'll help her and so will Embry and so will my dad."

"Jesus Billy knows? Anyone else?"

"A few of my relatives on the reservation," said Jacob.

"And I think a few people at school," I said. "Jessica started a rumor about me."

"You didn't tell me that," Jacob said as he looked at me.

"It really wasn't that big of a deal," I replied.

"So when exactly was I going to find out," asked Charlie. "Were you just gonna wait till I heard the rumors and confronted you about it or were you just gonna leave like you did when you broke up with Edward and he followed you to Arizona and then tell me after you'd had the baby?"

Both thoughts had crossed my mind I thought.

"I don't know," I lied. "Dad it's okay, I can just leave."

Charlie shook his head and took a seat back in his recliner. So I took a seat on the couch, Jacob next to me and Embry leaned against a nearby wall.

"I don't want that Bells. I just got you back, really got you back. I don't want things to go back to the way things were with seeing you every summer or less than that." Charlie sighed, "Are you sure this is what you really want?"

"I all ready love this baby," I admitted.

Charlie nodded and for once since our conversation began, he smiled. "Yeah I know the feeling. Your mother felt the same way when you were inside her." I smiled back at him. "Well guess we're gonna need more room. Can't exactly raise a baby in a two bedroom home."

I smiled again and lunged at Charlie, hugging him in a way I never had before.

"Thank you dad."

After releasing him and taking my spot on the couch Charlie nodded.

"But Bella, this baby is going to be your responsibility. I'll be around but you'll have to feed it, change it, all the things a parent does."

"I will I promise."

"Me a grandpa at this age, never would have seen that one coming. Guess we should figure out what to tell your mother."

"Actually can we not tell mom? She's on the other side of the country so there's really not much she could do and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want to move back to Forks."

"Or worse," added Jacob, "She'd probably have you and the baby move so you could raise her in the blistering sun all day."

Both Embry and I let out a small laugh. Though Charlie didn't get what Jacob had meant I knew he didn't like the idea of me leaving to Jacksonville either.

"Okay so we won't tell her. And what about you, Jacob?"

"What about me," Jake replied casually.

"How do you and Embry fit into all of this?"

"Just offering Bella a lending hand that's all," Jacob answered, "With the Cullen's gone, figured someone should look out for her."

"And we can't exactly go back home either," Embry said speaking up. Before Charlie could ask, Em was all ready on his way to explaining. "Things on the res. are pretty much run by Sam at this point. He sits in on the council meetings, they listen to him so when he tells you to leave you leave."

Charlie could only nod. The Reservation wasn't his jurisdiction so he had no say in their rules.

"Then if you're gonna be sticking around for Bella and don't have any place else to go guess we're gonna need a much bigger place."

My eyes widened, "You're serious?"

"Well can't exactly have the boys sleeping on the couch or outside the whole time. Won't come cheap though."

"Don't worry Charlie," said Jacob, "We'll take care of it. Being the descendant of a chief does have some perks. We'll have it figured out in no time before the baby's born."

"Somehow I don't doubt that," said Charlie.

Charlie looked at his watch. As he got up from his seat I did as well, this time without Jacob's assistance. I knew he had to get to work so I walked him out.

"So you really don't know when you were going to tell me," he asked.

"No. I didn't think I'd be showing this early. I thought I'd have more time."

"And you're eight weeks right?"

I nodded. Sure Charlie would know how far along I was. He'd been keeping track of my depression and how long Edward had been gone like I had.

"Huh," he said, "You sure there's only one in there?"