A/N One more chapter after this and it's a wrap. I'm posting it right now. I hope you can finish this before I remove it in a few days. Again, I encourage you to read the original works. They Call It Heart with the new sweet scenes between our main characters, especially if you enjoyed this story.

Chapter 55

Jacob

I hurried out of the hospital room and got the nurse assigned to Bella, who'd last checked on her dilation progress. Bella got stuck at five for the longest time before they gave her something. But almost two more hours had passed. She'd been in labor for close to sixteen hours now. The nurse lifted the blankets, did what she needed to do, and said Bella was almost to ten, but not to push even if she felt like pushing. She left the room and brought Bella's doctor back with her, Renee following them. The doctor checked her again, doing something that made Bella screech in pain.

"She's at ten now, but there is a thick piece of her cervix still intact." She formed a circle with her hand. Then, using the other index finger, she blocked a sliver of the circle. "I call it a lip. It's an edge, so the circle is not fully round. I tried to push it in, but it's not happening. It's not safe to push the baby through it."

"So, you're saying, she needs a c-section?" Renee asked.

"Yes, it's best in this situation."

They walked us through the procedure. They'd numb Bella's body, but she'd be awake through the surgery, and I'd get to stay with her. Everything moved fast from there. A nurse brought me some scrubs after they wheeled Bella's bed to surgery to get her prepped. "Your wife should be ready soon, and you will finally get to see your baby," she said, while I pulled the scrubs on over my clothes.

My wife and my baby... The words hit me extra hard.

Six months after my comeback to the ring, I took the La Push boxing club to an overnight tournament in Portland, Oregon, for Nahuel, just to coach. He couldn't make it. I brought Quil and Embry with me to assist. They both weighed in and fought for the fun of it.

Most of the young fighter's parents brought them. The norm, so I only had one thirteen-year-old, one fourteen-year-old and two fifteen-year-old kids to chaperone. I checked them into the room next to mine, because me, Emmett, Quil, Embry, and some of our other teammates used those overnight trips to sneak out and do bad things sometimes, like meet up with girls and get older fighters to get us alcohol occasionally. I knew all the tricks.

When the pool closed, I made sure they were back in their room, going to bed. I warned them if I caught them out, they couldn't attend the next boxing match, which was unfair, because me and the boys had a lot of fun at those trips. To me, it seemed like we were older than them when we were their ages. Brady's parents had come along, and Brady's mom always served as a mom chaperone to the team. Their room was across the hall from us. She was keeping an ear out for them while I met with Quil and Embry at the hotel restaurant lounge to shoot the shit with other coaches and of age fighters, staying in the same hotel.

Quil lost his match, so he wanted to drink a few beers. Embry won and would fight the next day, but against my advice, he chugged a few beers with Quil. When we finished eating bar snacks, a table of three girls, who'd been paying attention to our table, sent over a round of drinks. Embry waved a thank you at them, asking me, Quil, and Amun, one of Eleazer's fighters, if we should send a round back.

"No," I said, "Because if you do that, they'll come over here and ask to join us."

"Bullshit!" Quil said.

I shrugged as Quil called for the waitress and sent a round back. Within ten minutes, the girls got up from their table and swayed over to ours, drinks in hand. I glanced at Quil. He rolled his eyes at me.

"May we join you?" The dark-haired girl asked.

"Sure," Amun said, and he and Embry dragged the empty table next to us over, pushing it up against ours to create a bigger table for them. Hands crisscrossed around the table as everyone introduced themselves.

The dark-haired girl, Kebi, took the seat next to Amun, interested in him, and Kate, the blond, and the redhead named Irina, sat next to each other beside Embry. I listened to the small introduction talk for about half an hour before standing up. "I need to check on my fighters."

"Are you coming back down?" Quil asked.

I shook my head, and noting that Embry was on his fifth beer, said, "Remember, you're fighting tomorrow."

"Okay, Dad," he said, causing everyone at the table to laugh.

"It was nice meeting you, Jacob Black," Irina said. "Number two light heavyweight in the nation, right?"

A groupie, great! I hid my sarcastic grimace because I didn't want to be rude. When I first hit the top, I gained a few fans. But I gained more fans after my return. I was known in the boxing world with my national ranking, fluctuating between the top three or four spots, depending on how many matches I attended. I planned to keep it that way until I got closer to the next Olympics and made it my purpose to hit and stay number one. People approached to take pictures with me and tell me they watched my progress, wishing me well, and, more than I cared to admit, women hit on me. Sometimes, the scantily dressed ring girls at the bigger fights flirted and slipped me their numbers. I appreciated it when I was single. Now it irritated me. Grossed me out even. I never bothered Bella with it. I didn't want to stress her out, knowing she couldn't always come because of her hefty school workload.

"She follows boxing." Kate fluttered her lashes in a nervous manner when I looked at her and nodded.

After I called and talked to Bella for a little while, and we said goodnight, I switched the channel to ESPN for the late-night boxing replay I planned on watching. I knew several of the new professional fighters personally. I fell asleep with the tv on.

A knocking at the door woke and worried me. I peered at the clock, wondering if one or more of my fighters snuck out and got caught doing something stupid. It was one thirty in the morning.

Glancing through the peephole, it confused me to see Kate, standing in the hallway with a six-pack, bottles of something. My initial thought was they moved the party to Quil and Embry's room, since theirs was close to mine, and the lounge closed at one.

"Hold on!" I pulled my shirt over my head before opening the door. "Did you lose them, because you got the wrong room?"

She seemed a little terrified as she slurred with a tipsy expression. "Not quite. I thought maybe if you were still up, you might like some company... to talk?" Her eyebrows raised.

Shit! "Nope." Annoyed, I scrubbed at my forehead.

Her partial smile wilted, her eyes dropping sheepishly as a blush appeared. "I'm s-sorry. I don't usually. Never. I never do things like this. I just thought... It's embarrassing. I knew you weren't interested when you hardly looked at me in the lounge, but I took a chance. Too many of these, I guess." She lifted the six-pack, her blush darkening. "Like I needed anymore."

She looked mortified; I felt sorry for her, but it wasn't my problem. "Don't worry about it. It's just that I'm happily..."

"You're married?" She cut in, more horrified as she dropped her eyes to my hand.

"Involved! Deeply involved with my girlfriend." The love of my life. I wouldn't do anything to screw that up ever again.

She gave me another apology, and I told her to forget about it again. After I shut the door, it inflamed me.

First thing in the morning, I pounded on my idiot friends' room door, burning in anger. Quil opened it. "Don't ever fucking give my room number out to anyone again! Dumb fucks hoping to ruin my life or what?"

"What the fuck you talking about? I didn't give shit out to nobody," he said, his thick eyebrows slanting in fury.

The bathroom door opened. Embry stalked out with a towel wrapped around his hips and surprise on his face at my glare. "What?"

"Who the fuck gave my room number out to that blonde groupie you guys brought to the table? She showed up at my room with booze after the lounge closed."

"Not me! I wouldn't do that to Bella. How low do you think I am? I left right after you."

"And when the bar closed, me, Amun, Irina, and Kebi drank a few more beers up in his room. I never even cared or asked where she went!" Quil said.

My anger faded, as I tried to figure out how she got it, because I didn't think Amun knew it, but I'd tell him the same thing as I just told Quil and Embry when I saw him.

"Maybe she got it out of someone at the front desk?" Embry said. "Jake, you might be rich and famous someday. It doesn't surprise me when your fans come up to talk to you, and it sure as hell doesn't surprise me some girls would try to hook up with you."

"Exactly! So, don't blame that fucking shit on us!" Quil said, still pissed off at my accusing them.

After thinking more about it, I realized it would be nice for females to see a ring on my hand to deter some of that, especially when Bella wasn't around. I knew we'd get married someday, but I thought we'd do it after she finished school or maybe when I accomplished my Olympic goal, when we had better jobs and more money. I started contemplating asking Bella to marry me, even though we might be too young. She had just turned twenty-one last month in September. I was only twenty-two. She was it for me though, so what sense did it make to wait? We already lived together.

After our first semester at UW ended, Seth followed Angela back to Forks for the summer. Bella moved in with me, not liking me living alone and us living in different towns. She lived with me ever since.

I figured I'd pick the engagement date and she could have the wedding date pick. Wasn't that how it usually happened?

Following advice from Eleazer, I asked Charlie and Renee for Bella's hand. Ecstatic, they promised to keep my secret while I decided on how to make it the most romantic, agreeing with me that we weren't too young since we were living together.

Six months later, in April, I'd finally put aside enough money to get her a ring. It probably wasn't as expensive as the jewelry she got from the other guy, but with the way she wore around that cheap piece I got her when I was young and had no money, she'd love whatever I picked out for her, with Leah's help, of course. Still, the set Leah and I decided on wasn't cheap.

Once I bought the wedding set, I told everyone else. They wanted to be there for it. Or at least be in the area to celebrate with us afterward. We had the best times when we were all together. Bella loved it. That's how I ended up settling on a date, coordinating with Emmett, so he'd be home from school since he was the only one of us not around.

I decided on the last weekend in May, a year, and eight months after we got back together. When I shared my plans with Renee, she seemed disappointed I didn't want to do it in front of everyone. It made me feel bad, so I told her they could spy on us if they wanted as long as they stayed out of sight. I didn't want Bella tipped off in the slightest.

I made up that I needed to step in for Nahuel at a junior boxing match as an excuse to get her to Forks, suggesting she go stay for the weekend with her parents. She did that sometimes when I traveled. She wasn't very interested in attending matches me, Jasper, and Seth weren't fighting at. I gave everyone an estimated time, agreeing to call them when I got to town, so they could sneak over there.

On my way to Forks, I realized something was missing. Something that would tell Bella how deep my feelings ran and how long I carried them. I headed to Aunt Sue's. Everyone was there waiting for my phone call. I put them in panic mode, helping me look for it. When I started sweating, it occurred to me, I'd have to make do without it. But searching the guest room closet, Sue found it in a tote filled with junk.

I knew Bella would say yes, but I was bouncing with nerves as I knocked on their door, holding the same football I held the first time I saw her. It was probably because our families were standing on the sides of the house, watching me. When nothing came from inside, I pounded harder, until feet finally thumped down the steps.

The door opened.

With all her hair tied up at the top of her head, I spotted smudges of green, lining the frame of her face. The remnants of a facial mask she had used. For a second, I hoped she wouldn't get pissed I surprised her this much and wondered if I should have chosen my idea of doing it in front of the boxing world. I quickly decided that if had to reenact it at the next boxing match, I would. I had intended on having them congratulate us on it, anyway.

"Jacob!" Her startled, milk chocolate eyes roamed my semi-formal attire. A vibrant smile materialized on her soft, red lips with a rosy hue to match.

Dropping to a knee, I placed the football on the porch beside me and held out the opened ring box containing the engagement piece of the set. I had prepared what to say beforehand, but the words totally escaped me.

I took hold of her delicate hand, not a hundred percent sure it was her hand trembling."You claimed my heart the first time you opened this door to me. And you looked as beautiful and as sweet as you do today." I didn't think I was a sappy wuss, but watching tears appear in her eyes, chocked me up. Mine tried to poke their way out. "So, will you marry me?"

Rivulets dripping, she nodded and said in a clogged voice, "That was the day I decided on you."

"She's ready now. Come inside," one of the surgery staff said, leading me behind a blue screen they set in front of Bella's face to block us from seeing the actual surgery. Bella's enlarged eyes showed terror.

"Are you okay?" I asked, sitting down on a stool placed there for me.

"I'm scared."

I stroked the curve of her face. "It'll be fine. I'm right here with you." I leaned over and kissed her tensed forehead.

When the doctor entered, talking to the staff about the procedure, Bella panicked, attempting to move her paralyzed body and started hyperventilating. The doctor told the anesthesiologist to give her something to calm her. He stepped to our side of the screen and shot something into her iv. It may have been a placebo effect, but she zonked right out.

"Was that supposed to happen?" I asked him.

"Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't," he said. "She's fine now."

Impatient, I waited, staring at Bella and the blue screen until the doctor said, "I see a lot of hair."

I sprang to my feet to see her pulling the baby's head out of the womb.

A scene from an old movie I watched flashed in my mind. Alien. The creature popped out of a gaping, bloody hole in the guy's belly, looking around, while the host body lay flat on a table.

Our baby's scrunched face held squinted eyes into two puffy lines. The doctor lifted the rest of the body out. A boy, my son, with a load of black hair pasted down. My heart swelled with love at the red-tinged and white, slimy bundle. I glanced at Bella, sorry she missed out, and looked back up, hearing him cry. The nurse wrapped a blanket around him and told me to come with her. I followed them, eager to see him close-up and hardly able to wait to get my arms around the tiny little guy.

They sent Bella into recovery for two hours, so Jasper, Leah, Seth, Angela, Rachel and all of our parents got to see him before she did. They only peeked at him, though. It was already after nine at night, so they planned to come back during visiting hours in the morning to hold him. Renee got to hold him. She earned it.

He weighed seven pounds and four ounces and, aside from having a bit of a cone head, was otherwise perfect. The doctor said his head shape happened because of the time he waited in the birth canal, but it would round as he grew. He looked like a skinny little bird. The nurse said he would have been close to eight pounds or more if Bella lasted until her due date. He came just two weeks after my birthday, born on June 28th. When the nurses brought Bella into the room, we couldn't wake her all the way. We even told her she had a boy, showing him to her. She just turned away and dozed back to sleep.

"Is that something to worry about?" I asked.

"No, she's just overtired. She had a hard day."

I sat in the room, cuddling and admiring him. His pale, wrinkled skin made him look like a little old man. His black-haired head seemed big for his body but appeared tiny in my palm. He was the most beautiful baby I ever saw. "You came just when you wanted to come, didn't you?" I liked that, showing he had a mind of his own already. "I promise to be a great dad. I don't drink or do drugs. I'm not a womanizer, and I love kids." I was more like Ben than I could have guessed. "And in just six weeks, I'll go to London and bring you home a gold medal."

We had planned to have a big wedding sixteen months from the engagement to save money, during fall. Then we pushed the date back further when Bella decided she wanted a spring wedding. We ended up rushing one as soon as we found out Bella was pregnant, so she wouldn't be showing in her wedding dress. She had stopped her birth control to give herself a break, because she didn't like the side effects. She read too many pharmaceutical books. But we were being careful. Mostly. I grinned. Nothing happened as planned, or Bella wouldn't have waddled across the stage last month, in May, to get her diploma. The unplanned events brought the most joy.

He slept as out as Bella. I gazed at him and his little features with stars in my eyes.

"Jake, bring him to me." I lifted my head, seeing Bella readjusting herself upright, her discomfort visible. Carrying him over to her, I placed him into her arms. "Oh!" Happy tears glistened in her eyes and awe sounded in her voice. "He has lots of hair."

"A lot of Native babies do. I did, too, according to Billy. I thought his skin would be a little darker."

She unwrapped his blanket. Our hearts melted when he stretched, making fists, and letting out a tiny whine. She held her arm against his. "He's as pale as me." Smiling, she brought him up and kissed his forehead. "Mommy loves you so much."

I tossed out one of the name combinations we had toyed with over the months. "So, I was thinking... Benjamin Jacob, BJ. We'll catch our dads with the next boy."

"Actually, I like Charlie for a girl."

"I like it. So, is that it? Did we decide?"

"Jacob Benjamin."

I grinned, leaning over, and planting a soft kiss on her lips. "Jacob Benjamin, he is."

Next time: Jacob's in London.