A good number of changes in this one I think you need to pay attention too.

CHAPTER TWO

She knew what he meant by those words, the unsaid concern and worry. The pack. Sam.

"What will they do, Jake?" she asked him, staring at her belly, feeling the small shift of the little person inside of her.

"I don't know. I can't keep this from them, won't be able to once I shift. They'll see everything, I have no idea how they might react, but I have a feeling it's not going to be much different from how your leeches feel," he shook his head, the shaking in his hands gone, his worry for Bella stronger than his anger over the situation.

"I don't like when you call them that, Jake!" she snapped at him.

"Don't you think you should be focusing on everything else I said rather than that right now, neither one of us has the privilege to worry about what I call your in-laws right now when their are bigger problems." he snapped right back, both glaring at each other, competing in a stare off, silence filling the room until Bella caved with a sigh and looked away.

"Will they….try to hurt me?" she asked.

"They can't." his expression was fierce before twisting into something else, his eyes going slightly wide as he pressed his lips together. It was as if he had said something he shouldn't have. She knew him well enough to tell he was hiding something, but for the moment she wouldn't push to find out what it was.

"I mean, you're still technically human, so they can't" he followed a little too quickly, his words rushed and clumsy.

"What about my baby, after it's born?" that was her main concern." It's half vampire, but it's also half human."

"I don't know, this is going to freak them the hell out. None of us have ever heard of anything like what you're carrying, we have no clue what it's capable of that unknown factor is going to set off all of their instinctual alarms." he told her.

"When they look inside my head when I shift, they're going to see the worst, they're going to see what you look like now, see how it's affecting your body, draining you, weakening you and that is enough to see at a threat. Because it's hurting a human,"

"He's not doing on purpose, once he's born everything will be fine, I'll be ok again. Can't you just tell them that," her body tensed with stress, with worry, and she felt so cold again.

"And what if it's born feral, going on instinct, biting whatever it can once it has teeth, what if it craves blood?"

"Then he'll be a vegetarian, like the Cullen's and the Denali's we'll give him animal blood and when he's older he can go hunting with everyone." she threw out their quickly, having obviously thought about this before.

"I'll teach him to be good, he won't' be like some wild newborn, Jake." she promised him. "I'm his mother, he'll be a good-boy, not at all like everything thinks he will be."

"Kids can be hard to control, what if it goes off during a hunt, attacks someone. It's happened even with your precious Cullen's, a slip of control."

"Then we'll put him on a damn child leash!" she threw up her hands and rolled her eyes.

"Besides, why should it bother him, we'll have to leave after he's born anyway when Edward turns me," she told him, regretting her words when she saw him flinch.

"So even if you survive the birth without having to be turned, you would still go through it?" she admired how he could simmer with such anger while still looking perfectly calm, it was the tense line of his jaw that gave how he really felt away.

"What if you can't control yourself, how long did it take these guys before they could be around people. You wouldn't be able to even hold it, maybe for months or even years. You would miss out on so much?" he pointed out. "Do you want to stay the same, watching your kid get older and older, watch them die before you. Because if you survive that could happen. Like you said, it's half human."

"That's what Charlie is going to have to do; bury his daughter. Now that you're going to be a mom, try to think of how that would feel to bury your only child before you, to mourn for them before it was there time to go." he so desperately wanted to change her mind, he wasn't afraid to fight dirty.

"That's not fair, Jake, and you know it!" she glared at him, her voice thick with emotion as she tried not to cry.

"Life's not fair, Bella, and that's no different for the perfect little world you think vampires get to live." he told her, wishing she could see the reality of everything.

"Please stop." she closed her eyes in pain and whispered.

"I don't want to hurt you, Bells, I'm just trying to save you." he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, honey."

"It's ok," she swallowed, and when she opened her eyes he noticed she was looking over his shoulder. Doing the same he saw Blondie, though he had already smelled her entrance so her presence wasn't a surprise to him.

"It's okay, Rose," Bella smiled at her, but Rosalie didn't seem to buy it, glaring at Jacob.

"Don't get her upset again," she warned before leaving, hovering just outside the kitchen, sticking close.

"So, when have you and Blondie become BFF's?" Jacob asked with a raised eyebrow. Changing the subject.

"Rosalie understands what I want." Bella shrugged.

"Sure she just doesn't want to cradle rob you?" he glared back over his shoulder, suspicious.

"Jacob!" Bella gasps, outraged at how rude he was being.

"Bella!" he mimicked her, mocking her for her naivety. Something else was going on here. He doubted the blonde leach was just helping Bella out of the goodness of her cold dead heart.

"That was an awful thing to say, Jacob." she tells him, her hoarse voice disapproving.

"You're too trusting, Bells, I'm just trying to look out for you." he told her. "You always said the two of you weren't exactly close, in fact I thought you were scared of Barbie."

"Things are different now, I know why she treated me like she did. She doesn't want me to be a vampire either." she confessed, playing with the hems of her clothes, picking at the fabric.

"Really!?" that was not what he had expected.

"Yeah, it's not my story to tell you why, but she pretty much thinks I'm an idiot for giving up everything that she always wanted and can never have. I knew she would understand, that why after I found out, and Edward first voiced his opinion I called her for help."

"Huh," he said a little amazed, impressed and as much as he hated to admit, grateful to Rosalie.

"So, what's happened while I was gone?" she asked him, needing to hear some news of the outside world being stuck where she was, and it would only get worse after she was changed. All she had was the Cullen's, and before that felt like it was enough, that she didn't want or need anyone else's company. She wasn't so sure anymore it was enough. It was a little sad really.

"Well, Paul imprinted on my sister." he started off.

"No way!" her jaw dropped, her expression one of horror and sympathy. "Oh, Jake, I am so sorry.

It was universal knowledge that Paul was an all around jerk to everyone, to imagine any girl having to deal with him for a lifetime sounded like a tragedy rather than some blessing on finding their soulmate. Not to mention Jacob could see in Paul's head when they phased, that means every time Paul and his sister kissed, or god forbid have sex, he would know, he would see it, practically feel it. How disgusting.

"It wasn't Rebecca was it? I mean she's married."

"I don't think that really matters with this whole thing, I mean Sam was with Leah when he imprinted, I don't really think fate or the spirits, or whatever gives a shit about breaking people up." he said, his expression a torn one. There was more to it than that though, and she once again got the feeling he was hiding something.

"But no, the one he imprinted on was Rachel." he looked ready to both explode and cry.

"Oh, Jake, she's so smart though. Didn't she just graduate with a major in computer engineering?" she asked, trying to remember the details of what Billy had told Charlie and what Jacob had told her in the past about his sister.

"I know!" he slammed his hand down on the counter and immediately Rosalie was in the room. Bella just shook her head, her hand slipping to cup Jacobs trembling hand, trying to hide it so Rosalie wouldn't worry. She didn't leave the room, but she didn't come any closer either.

"I know she's smart! She's so goddamn smart and that's wasted here. There's not exactly a high demand for computer engineers on the Rez or in Forks."

"She was only supposed to move back for a few months, working part time from home while looking for a bigger job in New York." he told her, his voice growing louder.

"New York, Bells, New York!" he smiled, proud of his sister, knowing she deserved more, deserved better.

"She hates it in La Push, ever since our mom-" he choked.

"Shh, it's alright, Jake, it's alright" said Bella, reaching out and caressing his head, pulling him by the back of his neck to her shoulder, the position awkward on the stools but they made it work.

"I didn't blame her and Rebecca, never, I never resented them for leaving me to take care of dad. Mom always wanted bigger and better things for us, and they were so close to her…"

"Now Rachel is stuck here until the day all this is over, when we can stop phasing and she can leave with Paul but I don't know when that will be. And Paul never leaves our house, oh god, Bells, he eats all our food and I can hear them at night, in the afternoon, early in the morning. It's absolute hell!" the sob that he gave was more dramatic than it was real, and she felt no tears on her neck or shoulder.

"Poor baby," I cooed, running a hand up and down his back. "no wonder you were so hungry when you got here."

"Thank god for Sue, at least she still comes by to bring us food despite having to feed Leah, Seth and now Charlie." Bella tensed, almost forgetting that the two were dating.

"H-how are the two of them doing?" she asked.

"Seth and Leah?" he sat back, looking at her funny.

"No, I mean them too, but Sue and Charlie." she shook her head then clarified.

"Oh, well their doing good. She takes good care of him, Bells. If it wasn't for Seth and Leah, I think he might ask her to move in with him, but the house doesn't have enough rooms." he told her.

"That's really good, I'm glad he's found someone, he deserves to be happy. I really need to thank Sue for giving that to him." she smiled, but it was distant.

"You know you made him happy too, right?" he asked her softly, making her look at him. "He loves you so much, Bells. It might not have been obvious to you, but for those who knew him before you got here, it was so clear how much you moving in with him affected him, how much happier he seemed to be."

"I know," she said, her mom had said the same thing when she came for the wedding, told her how heartbroken he must be that she was leaving.
She felt a movement inside, her, a press of a foot or hand.

"Oh," she said, a smile breaking out on her face, some of the color returning to her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" Jacob asked, startled, glaring at her stomach.

"Nothing's wrong, he kicked is all." she explained to him, her palms dragging over her stomach, trying to find that spot so she could feel it against her hand.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, looking freaked out. She shook her head.

"Nope." he had never seen her look so surreal, so at peace, it was strange.

"I call him Nudger, since I haven't thought of a name yet. Rene used to call me Dink, before I was born." she told him, making a little sigh as she felt him kick again.

"My mom called me Peanut." he admitted after some hesitation, still staring at her stomach like the omen child was about to chew it's way out, a big 666 tattoo it's forehead.

"You keep calling it a boy, how can you know for sure?" he asked her, curious.

"I don't, it's just a guess. Every time I think of the baby, I always picture a little boy." she told him, that serene look still on her face.

"I should have brought blue balloons." he chuckled darkly, ruining her mood as she looked up and glared at him.

"Don't, Jacob, just don't. Despite everyone freaking out every time he moves, these are special moments for me, don't ruin this one." she warned him.

"He doesn't move much anymore," she frowned.

"You should feel him, Rosalie says she can even hear his heartbeat, I wonder if you can too."

"Uh,"

"Oh come on, he can't bite you," she rolled her eyes, grabbed his wrist and brought his hand to her belly, placing it right over the spot he had been kicking before. Jacob's hands were bigger than hers, so if he moved off center he should still be able to feel him.

"Give him a minute." it took only a second for Jacob to feel the press of a tiny foot against his palm. He wanted to jerk his hand away, but Bella held him in place.

The longer his hand stayed there he began to notice the heat emanating from inside her belly, radiating out. It was warm, the thing, the baby was warm blooded. Closing his eyes he focused in on Bella, it wasn't the same as with the vamps, his hearing wasn't as advanced when he was human as it was a wolf, but if he focused hard enough maybe.

Bum bump, bum bump, bum bump.

A tiny little heartbeat.

"It's alive," he gasped, finally managing to pull his arm away.

"Of course he is," Bella laughed, "what did you think, he was a zombie?"

"Maybe I'll name him Charlie, after my dad." she said, replacing her hand back on her stomach. "What do you think?"

Jacob sighed.

"Listen, Bells, the reason I brought Charlie up before isn't just because I don't want you to change, but because I know him, Bells, he's practically raised me with Billy after my mom died. People thought they were gay for a long time because it was always just the two of them, which honestly I think my dad is. But shh," he told her, interrupting her before she could question what the heck he meant by that.

"My point is I love Charlie, I care about him and know him, and losing you would kill him. I don't want to see that," he told her.

"I love him too, Jake, I really do but…" she took a deep breath, trying not to cry with Rosalie so close. "It's what I want, what I've always wanted."

"Not always,." he shook his head. "Sometimes you act like you never existed until you met him, and without him you would just disappear. I've seen it before, but that's not true and you know it."

"Why do you always think you're not good enough as you are?" he touched her face, cupping her cheek. "Why can't you just see that your perfect, that your beautiful and smart and that people love you just the way you are, even your precious vamps. You don't need to become one of them to be all the things you already are, Bells."

"Being a human doesn't make you any less of a person then the ones you think they are." he brought his face to her, his nose sliding right against hers, so close yet not close enough. He felt like he was in Charlie's kitchen again, just the two of them.

"Being human isn't about the little time you have to live, it's about how you live that time out with the people you love, with the things that you choose to do."

And then he couldn't help himself. He kissed her. It wasn't like the mountain, or by the beach when he forced himself on her, it was soft, chaste and over in a second as he was ripped from Bella by Edward and thrown into a wall.

"What do you think you're doing to my wife!" he hissed in that way vampires did.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." he grinned, a feral, wolfish smile as he watched Edward flinch. Whatever Jacob was thinking, Edward clearly didn't like it.

"You shouldn't have done that, Jake." said Bella, her voice tiny but not exactly upset, and he noticed with great pleasure and pride how she licked her lips, the kiss lingering with her.

"She made her choice and it wasn't you," Edward reminded him.

"Yeah, but I know the twist ending of this story that not even your psychic Tinkerbell can tell you." he grinned

.
"It doesn't change anything, you said it yourself before." he shook his head. "She's too stubborn to ever see what's good for her,"

"What the heck, Edward!" Bella glared at her husband, offended. "don't talk about me like I'm not right here."

"It's time for you to leave, dog." Rosalie hissed at him, moving to stand between him and Bella.

"Rose," Bella started to plea, she wanted to talk more with Jacob, she felt so lonely without him sometimes.

"No, Bella, he needs to leave. If he stays things are only going to get tense and then you'll get stressed and it's not good for the baby." she said, glancing over her shoulder at Bella's stomach.

Bella scoffed.

"Like I'm not already stressed as it is." she rolled her eyes, something Jacob noticed she was doing a lot.
Rosalie scowled.

"It's fine, I was leaving anyway." he said.

"Jake, no, please don't go." Bella pleaded, reaching her thin hand out to him.

"I don't belong here. I've got to get back." he shook his head.

"Why did you come today?" she asked, still reaching limply.

"I just wanted to see if you were alive or not. I didn't believe you were sick like Charlie said." he couldn't tell from her face alone if she bought it or not.

"Liar." she glared, seeing through him like she always had.

"Fine, I came here to see if you had come back as vampire so that I could kill all of the Cullen's and probably die in the process."

"Jacob!" she gasped and Rosalie hissed, the rest of the vampires starting to move into the room eyeing him warily.

"What, can you really blame me? If you had come back turned it meant the treaty was broken, and if you had turned I didn't want someone else to be the one to-"

"To kill me?" she finished for him, looking oddly ok with that.

"Yeah, it wouldn't feel right for one of the others to do it." he shrugged.

Strangely enough, Bella found that kind of romantic. God she was messed up.

"Will you come back again?" she asked, her hand finally dropping.

"You really are a cruel woman," he sighed.

"I won't hang around and torture myself watching you get ready to give birth to someone else's kid and become one of them." he told her, shaking his head.

She flinched. "You're right, you're right. You should go, it's not fair to you."

Jacob headed for the door.

"Bye," she whispered behind him. "Love you, Jake."

He almost went back. Almost turned around and fell down on his knees again. But he knew that he had to quit Bella, quit her cold turkey, before she killed him.

"I Love you too." he mumbled, needing to say it one more time so she knew what she was doing to him. Let her live with her choices.

He pushed past all of the vampires, only to stop and glare at Edward, smirking even. She was killing him, he could see it in his eyes. And if Edward couldn't come to love the baby, Bella would have no choice but to leave him unless she wanted to raise her baby with a man who would never even be able to tolerate it. She didn't have to choose either of them(not that there was a choice to be made anymore) but if she chose to live and raise her baby than he would be just as happy as if she had chosen him. Besides, it was fun watching the bastard suffer. After all, it took two to tango, and if he didn't want the baby then tough shit. This was one thing about Bella that was out of his control.

Back in the house, Bella was brought back to the living room, Esme tucking the blankets around her on the couch, kissing her head. She had begged for Rosalie to leave her alone, she didn't have to worry about Jacob anymore so she had no reason to hover. Edward was also out of the room with everyone else.

"Are you comfortable?" Esme asked.

"Yes, though I wish I had a real bed down here," she admitted.

"I'll see what we can do about that," she smiled before leaving Bella alone like she asked.

By herself, Bella was free to wallow in conceited self loathing.

Why was she such an awful person? All she ever did was hurt the people she loved, over and over again, never learning. She wondered if their was something wrong with her in the head to be this mean to people. She didn't want to hurt everyone, but that's what she did anyway. Jacob had been so understanding about everything, and she had been so relieved he hadn't demanded her to get rid of her baby like the rest of them. He had made it clear he wasn't happy about it, but so far he seemed to have respected her wishes.

He was more mature than he had been the last she saw him, more level headed in a way. She wondered what had happened since the time between the wedding and now that might have changed him. But at least she got to see his smile. She loved his smile. She remembered how well they had fit against hers when they had kissed on the mountain, how warm they were, how soft as they moved against hers. He had held nothing back, taking her breath away and leaving her with weak knees. She wished that their brief kiss in the kitchen had lasted longer.

She felt ashamed for thinking about that kiss, for parts of her warmed and made her hold her legs tight together and squirm. She couldn't help wonder how different sex would be with Jacob in comparison to the few times she had had sex with Edward during their honeymoon.
Realizing how horrible her thoughts were she wanted to slap herself. What was wrong with her? She might be fighting with Edward right now but she still loved him and he was her husband.

She blamed her out of whack hormones caused by the pregnancy.

There was no other way to explain what she was thinking or feeling, she thinks as she runs her hands through her greasy hair. She needed a bath. A nice, calming bath. Or maybe a cold shower.

"Rosalie, could you help me upstairs, I want to take a bath."

Leaving the mansion the Cullens called a home, Jacob didn't even look at his bike in the front drive. The emotions he was currently feeling were too much for his human body to contain and took off in a run, phasing and bolting into the forest. Everything replaying in his head, every image, sound and touch he had only just experienced between himself and Bella a violent slideshow in his mind,

It wasn't supposed to be like this, it was never supposed to get his far. He knew it was all his fault, that he should have just told Bella the truth and maybe she would have chosen differently, but he knew her better than that to actually believe that would happen. It was so clear then that she only saw him as one thing, wanted him as only a friend, in denial of her own conflicting feelings for him and Edward.

He was positive at the time that it wouldn't change anything. Imprinting on someone meant that you would be anything for them, a brother, a lover, or just a friend and Bella had needed him as a friend so that was where they continued to be as long as that's what she wanted. Despite his tries, she was the one in control of the progression of their relationship.

He hated not having control, he was both relieved that he had imprinted her and resented it all at the same time. He didn't need it to tell him she was his soulmate, that they were born for one another, completed each other and made one another better. He didn't want it to control and take over his life like it had with Sam and Emily, ripping their free will from them. He already had that happen to him when he phased and first joined the pack, he didn't want to add on to it.

Despite his desperate attempts, he had been prepared for the outcome of Bella's choices, what would happen to her after the wedding, her turning. He had been content to know that somewhere she was happy, not alive, but happy and then when she came back he was ready to end her, so that the others didn't get the chance first. The laws of the treaty still held, imprint or not, if she wasn't human anymore she wasn't under their protection, it voided the other rule.

He thought of her smile again, her hands against his skin, her foot hooked around his ankle, The things heartbeat, the warmth that came from it.

Jacob, Jake! Eight voices chorused in relief in his head.

The pack!

Come home right now! Sam Alpha ordered him, his voice deep and resounding, unable to be refused. Sam was furious that he had gone off on his own, endangering himself and breaking orders to stay away from the Cullens.

In the background he felt Paul fade out, going back to Billy and Rachel to let them know he was ok real quick. He would be back once they knew he wasn't vampire chow.

As he made his way back home under Alpha order he could feel the others in his head, seeing everything, picking things out. They focused on her bloated stomach, the way she hobbled her gaunt face, the darkness under her eyes, the tense atmosphere at the Cullen's house, the things she had told him about it.

The only thing that can break through such tough material is their teeth… Bella's voice was pulled from his memory, hoarse and scratchy.

Edward wants me to have an abortion….

- legends he's heard of…

-Everyone thinks I'm dying….

-Progressing a lot faster and the symptoms are a lot worse….

-How strong the baby is….

-breaks a rib…..

-Alice can't see my future, or the baby's…

They took only the worst, exaggerating it, there imaginations running wild. The new information threw them all in a group state of shock. After a minute they regained themselves, moving to meet up. They convened ten miles just outside of La Push, in a clearing left by the loggers. It was out of the way from any big roads, and surrounded by miles of mountains and forest on either side.

The pack mind was absolute chaos, snarls mixing with words, paws stomping anxiously against the ground, their claws digging lines into the packed dirt. Jacob didn't know what to do, what to think or say to make it stop. He tried to focus on Bella's smile, the way she had laughed, the brief kiss that they had. They ignored it all, not caring for his sentimental, sappy thoughts.

Pregnant!?

What will it be?

It can't be safe, it's not right, not natural. Dangerous.

Abomination.

We can't allow it to live.

The entire pack was pacing, jittery and on edge. Jacob and Seth were the only ones who didn't seem to be taking it the same way. He was too dazed to pay much attention to Seth, terrified what this would mean, what they were going to pack circled them.

We don't have much time, we'll attack tonight, we'll have surprised on our side.

But the treaty-said Embry, glancing at Jacob with sympathy.

The treaty does not cover this. We can't ignore it, this could put everyone in danger.

How? Seth's small voice shattered the chaos, and everyone stilled, staring at wasn't trying to challenge Sam, he was just confused, he didn't understand the direction everyone's thoughts, what it meant.

Whatever this thing is, it's killing Bella from the inside so imagine what it could do to her and others from the outside. Sam explained almost gently to the young wolf, patient with him. A normal baby wouldn't do that to it's own mother.

You can't possibly think it's that aware, Sam, that it's hurting her intentionally. said Jacob, standing, finally having enough of this talk.

A vampire's mind is different than ours, they're higher functioning, so the chance that it's already sentient is possible. Sam said, his black nose practically touching Jacobs, his muzzle in a terrible snarl. That thing is a crime against nature.

That's real ironic coming from a bunch of shape-shifters. Jacob pushed, his own jowls lifting over his teeth. It's just a baby.

Vampires are soulless by creation, Jake, mindless, thirsty monsters. How can anything created by one of their seed be anything less?

It's also a part of Bella, it's warm and alive, Sam, I've felt it, I've heard it's heartbeat.

Well, it won't have one for much longer. Leah sneered, and Jacob turned on her, snapping his jaws so close he caught some of her fur. Don't worry, Jake, we'll make it quick. Snap her neck first, so she won't have to see or feel the rest.

Your a sick bitch, you know that! Quil came up. He could see what this was like for Jacob, the pain it was causing him.

You will not be cruel to him, Leah. Ordered Sam. It is against everything we stand for to take a human life, to make an exception to that code is a terrible thing, but necessary in this circumstance. We will all mourn for what we do tonight.

Please, don't do this! Jacob begged his brother, picturing Bella, her eyes blank of life, the wolves around her, her stomach ripped open. His Bella, his imprint. They wanted to kill her. You know what it will mean if you go through with this.

A fight to the death. said Sam.

To kill an imprint was the greatest offense, the most severe of pack law, to hurt another imprint with intent or by accident, was unforgivable and leading the Imprintee and the guilty wolf to battle to the death.

Think of Emily, Sam. Are you ready to leave her, prepared to never see the little baby growing inside of her, your son or daughter? Because if you kill Bella, even scratch her, I will kill you. Promised Jacob.

I am thinking of her, and of my child. What if I'm right and I let Bella deliver this thing into our world and it attacks people, it could murder our families. I am protecting my family, my imprint. Sam literally howled, sending a signal in to the air as if a goodbye to Emily, a declaration of his intent.

And I'm protecting mine. Jacob roared, pushing forward despite the heavy weight of the Alpha's mere presence, intimidating and fierce.

You will stand aside tonight, Jacob Black, you will not interfere with our plans until the battle is over. That is an order! Sam declared, an echoe to his voice as he used the Alpha command.

The alpha order felt crushing, it's edict bringing Jacob to the ground, the heavy timber of Sam's command backed with the power of the Alpha a powerful resonation in his ears. He felt like his legs were tied to concrete, holding him down, breaking his spirit and will.

No, I won't ! doing what had to be done to protect Bella, he defied an Alpha's order, by becoming an Alpha himself.