Erin tried shushing him, bouncing him, rocking him, feeding him, checking his diaper…Nothing was working. She was trying not to panic as she paced Nick's bedroom. It was going on three in the morning and she'd been up since she heard Nick cry around midnight. Luckily, it was summer now, Nick was four months old, and all Erin had to worry about was one online class she was taking and her job at the restaurant.

"Sshhh…It's okay, Nicky. Please, just go to sleep." Erin whispered desperately as the tiny baby screamed in her ear.

"Erin?"

She winced and looked over her shoulder at the bedroom door, which was cracked open so Jake could peer inside.

"Sorry." she whispered, knowing he could hear her over the baby.

Jake didn't respond, he merely slipped inside and shut the door behind him before approaching her. He carefully took the little baby from her and lifted him to his shoulder. After a few minutes, Nick started calming down, his cries softening to little whimpers before he finally dozed off.

Erin's eyes burned, both with sleepiness and frustrated tears. She'd been with him for three hours and couldn't calm him down. All Jake had to do was hold him for a few minutes and he went to sleep.

Suddenly, two hands cupped Erin's face, thumbs gently swiping tears from under her eyes. Jake was peering down at her, having already put Nick in his crib to sleep.

"Erin, what's wrong?" Jake asked worriedly.

Erin shook her head, ducking to look at the floor and avoid meeting Jake's eyes. "Nothing. I'm just tired." she mumbled.

Jake was silent for a few moments. "Well,…why don't you get some sleep then. Come on." Jake rested his hand on her back and lead her back to their room to go to sleep.

Jake climbed into bed behind Erin, who curled up on her side facing away from him. Jake wrapped his arm over her waist and spooned in behind her, kissing the back of her head.

"I love you." he whispered into her hair.

"Love you, too." Erin mumbled quietly.

The next day, most of the pack and imprints met at Sam and Emily's for lunch. Erin was curled up on the couch under Jake's arm talking to Kim, who was sitting next to her. Nick was laying on a blanket on the living room floor with Claire, who was now five years old. Nick was able to roll over and lift his head, giggling whenever Claire made a face at him or tickled him.

Erin was pulled from her chat with Kim when Nick suddenly started crying.

"Erin! Nicky's crying, but I didn't do anything!" Claire called worriedly, not quite getting the concept of an inside voice.

Erin groaned, pulling herself to her feet and approaching her baby brother, lifting him into her arms. "I just fed you ten minutes ago, what could possibly be wrong with you?" she mumbled, resting him on her shoulder. She sniffed his diaper, but that didn't stink. Feeling a few people watching her, she grabbed Nick's diaper bag off the floor and moved into the spare room, bouncing him and trying to figure out what was wrong.

After being in there for ten minutes with no change and no idea as to what was wrong, there was a knock on the door and Emily peaked inside.

"Hey, everything okay?" she asked gently.

"I don't know what's wrong with him." Erin admitted in embarrassment.

Emily bit her lip and hesitantly entered the room, closing the door behind her. "Could I try?" Emily had been helpful from the moment Nick was born, but it seemed ever since she found out he was Sam's brother she'd been even more willing to help whenever she could. Though, Erin guessed she wanted practice for when her and Sam had their own family.

"Please." Erin answered, handing Nick over to the older girl. Emily rested Nick on her hip and looked down at his crying face. She lifted her free hand and stuck a finger in his mouth. Almost instantly, he stopped crying and looked up at her with watery eyes. Emily smiled.

"Do you have any teething toys in his bag?"

Erin blinked as realization hit. She remembered reading babies can start teething anywhere from 3 months to a year. "Oh." she muttered, reaching into her bag and fishing around until she found a teething ring someone got her at the baby shower. "Here."

She handed it to Emily, who instantly put it in Nick's mouth. He grabbed it with his tiny hands and chewed away on it.

"When they're teething they can get fussy, since it's a bit painful." Emily explained, lightly bouncing the little boy on her hip.

Erin looked down at her lap, feeling very useless and inadequate. She should've known he was probably teething, she was a horrible person. She knew all along she couldn't be a good mother.

"So, want to head back out there?" Emily suggested lightly.

"Yeah, sure." Erin forced a smile and followed Emily from the room, diaper bag in tow. When they reached the living room a few people looked up, particularly Embry, Sam, and Jake.

"He's fine. Just teething." Emily told them as she placed Nick back on his blanket so he could lay there and chew on his new toy.

"Everything okay now?" Jake asked as Erin sat down on the couch next to him.

"Mhm. Yeah." she answered quietly, curling up into his side and closing her eyes. She hoped if she could pretend to be really tired, Jake wouldn't notice she was upset. She especially didn't want him calling her out on it in front of the pack.

Jake didn't seem to notice anything wrong with Erin. He just ran his fingers up and down her back, eventually getting her to relax and almost doze off.

The next few days were similar. Nick would cry, and Erin would do whatever she could think of to sooth him. The teething ring didn't always work. And it seemed like everyone could get him to stop crying except Erin. Jake, Emily, Rachel, Sue, even Billy! But with Erin, it seemed like nothing she did calmed him down, and it was starting to wear on her.

She tried not to show it, but she soon found herself drawing back inside herself, much like in her early teens. She felt useless, like no one needed her. Nick certainly didn't seem to need her. He preferred everyone else. So, whenever someone offered to take care of him when he cried, Erin easily allowed it, no longer fighting for the responsibility like she had before.

Of course, it wasn't long before Jake started to notice.

"Erin, can I talk to you?" Jake asked one evening. Erin had worked the lunch shift at work and had left Nick with Jake. Rachel and Paul had come over for dinner around the time Erin came home. Nick started crying when Rachel was holding him, probably needing to be fed, and Rach volunteered to do it. Erin willingly let her, and it seemed that finally tipped Jake off.

Erin followed Jake outside and into the garage, where he shut the door to give them privacy. He turned to her and crossed his arms, his brown eyes seeming to see right through her as she sat on the lumpy, old couch.

"Alright, what's going on?" he finally demanded.

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to talk past the lump in her throat. Whenever someone asked a question like that, 'what's going on?', 'what's wrong?', 'what happened?', Erin struggled not to break down. It was like a reflex.

"I mean lately you've been avoiding taking care of Nick." Jake explained, walking closer so he looked down at where she was sitting. "I know I told you that you don't have to do this alone, but it seems like you try to get out of it whenever you can, now."

Erin stared at her lap, refusing to say anything or meet Jake's eyes. Jake, however, had other plans. He crouched down on the floor in front of her and lifted her chin with his knuckle, making her meet his eyes. His own softened when he saw that hers were glistening.

"Babe, talk to me. What's wrong?" Jake pleaded.

Erin struggled to swallow for a moment before she managed to speak. "He…he doesn't need me."

"That's ridiculous." Jake argued.

"I can never calm him down when he cries anymore. Everyone else can! You, Emily, Rachel…But with me he just keeps crying! I don't know what to do anymore!" she cried.

Jake sighed, sitting down on the couch and pulling Erin into his lap. "Why didn't you talk to me, Erin? Why didn't you tell me you felt like this?"

"I don't know. 'Cause you don't need to worry about it." she whispered. "You made him laugh yesterday. I can't do that."

Jake scoffed. "Please. It was probably just gas. Or he was laughing at Quil's face."

Erin managed a small smile, but she knew he was lying.

"Erin, he's teething. It's painful, so of course he's going to be a bit fussy. And teething can take a while, there's no way of knowing when he'll be done with it. He could be a couple years old before all his teeth are in. That doesn't mean he doesn't need you."

Erin was doubtful, but to make Jake feel better she pretended to believe him.

A few weeks later, it was a particularly long day. Erin had started the morning by feeding Nick and setting him on the living room floor to play and roll over, which he'd been getting better at, while Erin took a chapter test on her laptop for her online class.

However, the day started going downhill around lunchtime. Nick was too fussy to drink his formula, and when she tried to feed him some oatmeal mixed with milk, which he'd had one other time and liked it, he knocked the bowl on the ground.

After about an hour of trying, she managed to get him to drink one bottle. After that, he refused to go down for a nap, which of course made him even more fussy because he was tired.

Jake came home around 2 after a day of one patrol shift and a shift at an auto body shop he'd got for the summer. Seeing how frustrated Erin looked, he took Nick and did his best to put him down for a nap. Erin was almost pleased to see that Nick wouldn't go down for Jake, either. Whenever Jake managed to settle him down, he'd try to put him in his crib, only for him to start screaming again.

Evening rolled around, and Erin was tempted to call and tell Emily they wouldn't be around for dinner with the pack, but Jake insisted they both needed it. And it might be good for Nick. So, they packed up Nick's diaper bag and walked over.

Nick didn't really cry, but he was very fussy and Erin felt like she as walking on eggshells with him. Like if she did one thing, like move him too much or talk too loud, she'd set him off and he'd start screaming.

They soon arrived at Emily's, where everyone already was. Even Embry's imprint, Maya, was there. Embry had told her about the legends about a month back and she only recently worked up the courage to hang out with the whole pack.

As soon as Erin walked in the door, she was swarmed by the girls, wanting to hold Nick. She handed him over willingly to the first set of hands she could and walked over to sit at the kitchen table, resting her head on her arms. Her ears started pounding when Nick's cries started up all over again, and she groaned.

"Erin, where's his diaper bag? I think he might need a teething toy or something." Kim's voice sounded from somewhere behind her.

Erin sighed before forcing her head up and turning around. Her eyes scanned the kitchen floor. "It's right there. The teething ring is in the front pocket." she announced dully.

When Kim moved to grab it with Nick in her arms, Erin's blue-gray eyes met Nick's watery, brown ones.

What happened next shocked Erin.

Nick whimpered and reached his tiny hands toward her. Kim paused and looked down at Nick, seeing that he was reaching for his sister.

Erin's mouth fell open in shock, and she felt like time froze. He wanted her? Was she seeing things, or was he actually reaching for her? Glancing over her shoulder, Erin made sure no one was behind her, in case that was who Nick was really reaching for. Nick's cries grew a little loud and she turned back to face him.

"Um, Erin? I think he wants you." Kim pointed out, clearly not understanding why Erin wasn't taking the baby.

Swallowing nervously, Erin stood up and slowly took Nick from Kim's arms. The little boy instantly curled into her chest, resting his head on her shoulder and sticking his fist in his mouth. His heavy eyelids finally fell shut and his breathing slowed down, his tiny back rising and falling slowly under Erin's hand.

Almost afraid to breathe, Erin stared down at him, her mouth open in amazement. After weeks of being practically the only person unable to calm him down, she almost couldn't believe that he wanted her to hold him, and actually fell asleep on her the second he was in her arms.

A warm arm slid around Erin's waist, holding her against someone's side as a set of familiar lips kissed the top of her head. A second later, Jake's voice spoke into her ear.

"Told you so."