A/N: I don't own Twilight. So here is chapter 67 of Static. I've noticed that the review page for this story has been more active than… how do I say this… EVER, so catch my (short) response after the jump if you care enough.

Enjoy.

LXVII.

been tryin' hard not to get into trouble, but i
i've got a war in my mind

Bella lay in her and Paul's mattress later that night, wrapped in a sheet, trying to collect her thoughts. Her gaze fell on the seemingly lone light in the room, which came from the space between the bathroom door and the ground. Paul had been in the bathroom for a while now, dead silent.

Bella rolled over to her other side and saw that the living room light was still on. Then it hit her.

Shit, she thought. The stove.

Still wrapped in the bed sheet, Bella paced off to the kitchen only to nearly slip and fall on lukewarm water and limp macaroni noodles. The remains of what could have been her meal of the night if she hadn't been so careless were all over the wet kitchen floor. She had never felt so fucking stupid, and that was saying a lot.

Fuck it, she thought as she shut the stove off. Paul has to have some money somewhere. He can always pull money out of thin air.

She called out his name, but she got no response. Impatient and stubborn, she kept calling his name, but she never got a response as simple as a What?

She padded off to the bedroom and didn't bother to turn on the light. She walked straight across the dim room and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Hey," she said. "Open up, babe."

The door quickly swung open, and Bella immediately faced Paul. He wore a look of confusion, fear, and… shame.

Paul was anything but shameful.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

He remained silent, and Bella realized what was wrong. Their mistake washed right over her.

She took a step back and pushed her hair back with her hands, inhaling deeply, wishing this was just a bad dream that she could wake up from, but she kept looking back at Paul and nothing would be different. He was as static as ever.

"When did it break?" she asked him as if he was supposed to know. "God, could you just try to be a little helpful?"

"What's done is done," he said, his voice bleak.

"This is so fucking stupid," she muttered, going back into their dark bedroom. She removed the sheet and found some sweatpants discarded on the ground. She pulled them on and started to look for a t-shirt. "You are so fucking stupid, Paul."

"So this is all my fault, right?" he asked her, his voice hard.

"You've had sex, like, a million times and you still don't know how to use a fucking condom?" she shouted. "How many other girls have you gotten pregnant out of straight up carelessness?"

"Cool, so I'm the careless one," he said, entering the bedroom, looking for his own clothes. "You've had, what, three boyfriends and don't know what Plan B is? Or the fucking pill? You're telling me that you don't know what the pill is?"

"Condoms are cheap, jackass," she replied. "And for your information, all my money goes to my truck, or food, or our bills, or my fucking school. I don't know where the fuck you seem to be getting money from, but if we can't afford mac and cheese, I don't see how we ever had a chance of being able to afford the pill, so try me again."

He didn't have anything to say to her as he put on his clothes. She was right.

"You said you wanted me to stay," she reminded him as she picked up around the room. "I guess this is it. I really can't go anywhere now. Was this some sort of trap? I mean, you're damn persuasive and I'm clearly an idiot. You call me baby girl and tell me not to worry about it, and then I fall for it every single time. Well, congratulations, Paul. You did it. Now I don't have a choice but to stay in Forks. In fact, you could do the easy thing and just fucking leave right now. It's what you're good at, anyway."

"Are you done?" Paul asked her. "'Cause you're ranting."

"Like I don't have a reason to be mad," she said sarcastically. "You really don't care at all, do you?"

"Look, Bella, we don't even know for sure if you're pregnant. We should go to the doctor tomorrow morning."

"Paul, I've got work tomorrow morning," she said curtly. "I'm really in no place to be missing out on hours. And, anyway, you don't know if you're pregnant the very next day. That's not how it works."

"So have you missed your period or what?"

"I haven't been getting my period regularly, but shit happens when you're stressed out all the time and haven't been eating much."

"Aw, shit, Bella, I'm so fucking sorry."

"What's done is done," she said, echoing him.

"Well, look." In the dim lighting of their bedroom, he took her hands. "I'm still gonna stay with you through this. I know too many people whose fathers left them before they were even born. I'm not gonna be that guy, okay?"

She just pulled her hands away, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked up at him with an upset look. Classic Bella.

"I've got work in the morning," she told him.

She got into the mattress and tried to fall asleep, but the sound of the rain pouring into the living room was deafening.

Paul dropped off Bella at Sunshine Childcare the next morning, and she exited the car with as little as a wave goodbye.

In the afternoon, Paul was in between cleaning the house, calling up relatives on his mom's side for money, and looking for money of his own when he got a call from Bella's boss. Bella had collapsed at work and was on her way to the hospital.

With his heart pounding, Paul drove as fast as he could to the hospital in Forks without getting pulled over. He found it disgustingly ironic that the last time he was here, it had been because of Bella. The same thing was happening now, and yet again, he didn't know what to expect.

In the ER, after running blood tests, it had been determined that her blood sugar was low and that she was also pregnant. By the looks of it, she was about three weeks along.

Bella, in Paul's arms, immediately broke down in tears. The doctor gave them a moment alone, and by the time Bella was done sobbing, Paul's shirt was drenched.

He tried to imagine everything that was going through her mind, but he just couldn't. He knew she was regretful and terrified, but he couldn't come close to imagining the extent. He just stroked her hair and held her tight in his arms.

"I'm so fucking sorry for putting you through this," he told her.

"It's not all your fault," she whimpered. "I'm not mad. I just… It's been a long day."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Don't worry about it."

"Don't tell me that. Don't tell me not to worry about it."

"Why?"

"Because that's why we're in this situation. It's about time we start worrying about something."

"No, it's not a something," he said. "It's a someone."

Her mouth cracked into what could be considered a smile, and then she started crying again. It was a sorry sight. Paul started to cry with her. He couldn't tell if they were happy tears or not.

"What shitty timing," she said into his shirt.

"Why?"

"Our baby is gonna be a Scorpio." Then she started laughing.

He laughed with her. "I don't even know what the hell that means."

After scavenging their cars for cash and coupons that hadn't expired yet, Bella and Paul finally went grocery shopping the best that they could. Bella's perspective on everything had changed over the course of a few hours. Baby food on the shelves now stuck out to her. Displays of diapers now caught her eye. When she looked at Paul, she saw more than just her boyfriend. She even saw more than just her best friend, her only real friend. She saw the potential for more.

And she knew they weren't going to change overnight. They weren't going to suddenly become completely responsible adults. He wouldn't wake up the next morning with a stable job, and the amount of money in her bank account wouldn't magically increase. It would all take some time.

She just didn't know if Paul would be capable of taking that time.

This thought bothered her the entire car ride home, and when they got home that evening, she noticed how much cleaner the house was.

"Thanks for cleaning up around here," she said, setting a bag of groceries down on the table.

"No problem," he replied.

She sat down carefully on the couch, and he could tell that something was on her mind. He sat down next to her. "What's going on?" he asked her.

"A lot of things are gonna have to change around here if we're gonna make this work," she said, her eyes more tired than ever.

"We're gonna make this work, though," he said as if it was that simple. "We've got this."

She shut her eyes for a moment and then reopened them. "How?" she wondered. She still loved him, but she hadn't realized that he so often took her to be incredibly spineless.

"Well, we love each other, for one thing."

"Paul, you're killing me—you're such an idealist."

"I mean, it's true."

She felt a pang of sadness surge right through her. Paul, who hadn't grown up with something as simple, as straightforward, as uncomplicated as plain old love, thrived off the presence of love in his life now. She wanted to get mad, but she couldn't. The man just didn't know.

"Yeah, it's true," she agreed, "but you can't just pour cement onto the ground and say you've built a home. For one thing, you need to make sure it's in the right place. You also need to make sure there are pipes for the plumbing and wood for the frames."

She glanced towards the pails on the ground. "Shit, you need a roof that does its job," she said. "You need all that and more until it comes close to a place to rest your head. Our relationship is the same thing. Love doesn't pay the bills, love doesn't keep our cars running, and love sure as hell isn't gonna keep our baby fed. We need more than just love to make this work. We just need more."

"Then I'll give you more," he told her. "I promise."

"Paul, I can't keep falling into these empty promises. You can't just call me baby girl and tell me not to worry about it. I still love you, but that shit ran out."

"I'll give you more," he repeated. "I will."

"What's the first step, then?" she asked. "What are you gonna do tomorrow morning when I go to school?"

"Easy. I'll apply for a job at the Thriftway."

"You don't even like Forks that much," she reminded him.

"I don't like starving my girlfriend or my baby, either."

If Bella knew anything about herself, she definitely knew that she was soft on the inside despite all that she'd been through. She knew she was a believer and that she was in love with the idea of love. But when Paul leaned in to kiss her, she felt a bit of pride knowing that he hadn't stolen her mind again. It would be the last time, and it was a promise to herself that she knew she could keep.

A/N: I'm not trying to sell the concept of Paul x Bella to you guys. I'm just trying to keep it all in perspective and write a story. Trust me. The story isn't over until it's over, and I promise you that there is a lot more to come. My inbox is open for any and all private questions regarding the story and/or how I go about writing it.

That being said, let's keep it moving.

And of course, thanks as always,

HS