Rated: T
Pairing: Bella/Jacob
Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort
For meliz875. Happy birthmonth, hon!
Based on a picture prompt that I found for a friend.
I just couldn't resist fic-ing it myself, too.
(FFn readers can check out the pic in my Every Dog Has Its Day group on Tricky Raven. Link can be found on my profile)
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Coming Home
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"Make love to me, Jake? This one time?" Bella begged, tears in her eyes. Knowing her time was short, she wanted to make the most of every human moment that remained.
"We could have forever, honey. I'll protect you," he swore, punctuating each whispered promise in the dark with a kiss as he revealed every precious inch of warm pink skin.
They loved one another like it was the last time.
It would have to last for a lifetime.
In the morning, she was gone.
A note on his pillow told the truth. She would protect him and his tribe at any cost even if the price was her own life.
He heard she married the leech with tears in her eyes.
He wondered who those tears were for; him, the leech…
Or for herself.
When the time came, he thought he'd know.
Months passed with no word.
Jake existed, but didn't truly live.
Charlie had heard nothing from Bella since the second week of her honeymoon. The Cullens had disconnected every phone line. Every means of communication that Charlie once had with his daughter—gone.
Needless to say, it came as a shock when Jake came home from work one night to find a thick packet of paperwork had arrived in that day's mail, addressed to 'Bella Black'.
He thought it was some sick joke until he called Charlie to let him know Bella had mail delivered to the Black residence under a name not her own.
Charlie insisted Jacob open it. It could be a clue to Bella's whereabouts.
"Okay, okay, let me just-" Jake tapped the tip of a knife laying on the edge of the counter, flipping it neatly into his hand. He sliced open the envelope and shuffled through the contents, not comprehending what he was reading.
"I don't understand. It looks like some kind of legal mumbo-jumbo," Jake murmured, forehead creased in concentration.
"Just read some of it," Charlie insisted.
Jake read, "'This agreement serves as a full and final settlement of all matters of joint concern-'"
"What are the names on the paper, Jake?" Charlie sounded excited.
"Bella Marie Swan-Cullen and Edward Anthony Masen Cullen," Jake growled. "Why?"
"It's a final notice of a divorce settlement. She left Edwin," Charlie whispered.
"She left-" Jake's question was interrupted by the sound of a car door. "Hang on, Charlie. Someone's here."
He stretched the phone cord so he could stay on the line as he flipped on the inside light and swung the door open.
He gaped in shock, choking on air.
"Jake? Who's there?" Charlie demanded.
Standing on the stoop, wet hair plastered to her forehead, hands clasped over a belly round with a child enveloped in a cloud of his own Alpha scent, stood Bella Swan.
He reached out to brush a fingertip over her hand, checking for warmth.
"I'm sorry it took us so long," she whispered, placing his hand on her belly over their child.
"What?" he asked in wonder as a tiny foot kicked his palm.
"Coming home."