A/N: Shout to myself for finally updating and shout out to all of you for sticking by.

Notes:

No New Notes

Warnings:

No New Warnings

Disclaimer: No new owners, still Stephanie and associates.

Even In The Darkness

Jacob sighed, getting up from the rocking chair slowly. He was tired, so very tired, but it wasn't that kind of tired that made him want to sleep forever, it was a different kind of tired, set deep in his soul, making him weary. It was like he'd been fighting, like he'd been destroying with bare hands.

It had been a week since Bella's arrival and Jacob had had another session with Lynda earlier where he'd had to talk about the unexpected arrival of his former best friend. Jacob didn't know how he felt about it, still now, a week later. He didn't know where his emotions were when it came to Bella and her being around him. He knew that he wasn't quite ready to be around her, not yet, but eventually, maybe.

The boy placed his son gently in the crib, making sure Mason was lying properly. When he was sure his son wouldn't suffocate in his sleep, Jacob left the room. He kind of wanted to call Rebecca, but then thought better of it. Rebecca was probably spending time with her family now, catching up on all the times she hadn't been able to because she was looking after Jacob and Mason. She deserved her break from Jacob and all his drama.

Instead, Jacob decided to call his father. Billy was due to visit Jacob in a month. Jacob was excited about that, having missed his father while away. He wouldn't be going back to La Push for another while, not yet, but Billy could come visit him. Maybe Rachel would come too, with Sam and Emily, maybe, the house was big enough for everyone.

The pair of them spoke for almost an hour about nothing and everything. Billy told Jacob about everything the Pack had been up to, what they'd been up to. He didn't mention the Cullens and Jacob didn't ask, he didn't even tell him about Bella's unexpected arrival. Billy talked about Rachel and her growing relationship with Paul. Jacob didn't so much mind that. If there was another reason for Rachel to want to stay in La Push, then fine.

Billy and Jacob had to cut their conversation short—not so much since they'd been speaking for almost an hour—when Mason decided he need a bottle and a change. Jacob said goodbye to his father, promised to see him soon, and then hurried to his son's room. Mason was wriggling on his cot, blinking up at Jacob with teary eyes.

"Hi sweets," Jacob whispered, picking his son up. Mason felt strangely cold. Jacob frowned, touching his son's forehead, then his cheek. Mason was already warming as Jacob touched him. "What's wrong, Mase, hmm?"

Mason only hummed, wrapping a fat little fist around Jacob's shirt. The boy smiled down at his son, bouncing him gently and humming as he walked him over to the changing station. Jacob put his son down and started to change him. Although Mason wasn't that messy a child—Jacob was ever grateful for it—he still changed his son halfway through the day.

"Grandpa's going to come and visit, Mase," Jacob said to his son as he changed him. Mason was chewing on his fist, drooling all over his vest. Jacob chuckled, watching his son kicking at his little legs. "Mason's being a messy baby, isn't he? Mason's a naughty baby, being messy."

The baby gurgled, blowing strawberry kisses at his father. Jacob chuckled, grabbing a clean diaper for his son. He changed his son carefully, talking to Mason as his son gurgled and drooled and kicked about. Jacob grabbed clean clothes for Mason and dressed Mason in them—a cute little onsie Rebecca had gotten him with little Wolf ear and the words "Wolf goes GRRR". It was one of Jacob's favourite onsie and Mason wore it more times a week than Jacob would like to admit.

Jacob's phone rang, indicating a message was incoming. He picked his now dressed son up and went to look at his phone. He smiled when he saw that it was a text from Vera, inviting him over for a play-date the next day: LANI, NANI & KAI WILL BE HERE TOO (:, the text read. Jacob sent a quick reply, promising to be there, he needed the distraction anyway, from the whole week—the whole Bella showing up, thing, and finding out that Vampires were patrolling around his house.

Jacob spent the rest of the afternoon with his son, pretending that there weren't a pair of Vampires outside his house, patrolling—he'd noticed them a few days ago, but when he hadn't freaked out about their presence he'd mostly ignored it. He didn't quite know how he felt about it, but since he wasn't freaking out, that was a good sign. And since Jacob was working on his reservations about everything that had happened, his Wolf seemed to be coming back to him, meaning his sense of smell was on a higher level. He could smell Fred, it seemed to come and go like the wind, but Jacob didn't mind it. He knew Fred wasn't a threat to him or his son; knew that the guy was just around to keep watch of him—not that he needed it, but whatever.

In a spur of the moment thing, Jacob opened his kitchen door and left it open while he cooked his dinner, Mason gurgling and chewing on his fist on his baby seat on top of the kitchen counter. He could smell Fred and two other Vampires in the area. The other Vampires—Jacob hadn't met them yet, but wasn't so much afraid of them—kept further away from the house, while Fred seemed to gravitate closer every now and again. Jacob wasn't sure if he wanted Fred to come in or not, he wasn't really sure about actually interacting with the Vampire, but the scent wasn't so bad on him anymore, and Mason seemed to not mind it either.

Jacob knew that his son needed to be around other Vampires, needed to know about that side. He still wasn't sure about Esmé coming over, but if push came to shove then he was sure he could arrange something with Fred, maybe have the guy come in, walk around Mason, make sure the baby was used to the Vampire scent being around too, not just being surrounded by Jacob's Shifter scent and Rebecca and her family's Human scent.

Maybe.

While Jacob was eating his supper, he saw Fred. The Vampire was standing by the beach, watching the waves. Jacob couldn't offer him food or anything of the sort, even Mason's blood packets couldn't be appetising—they'd been sitting in his fridge for a few days now—but Jacob kind of wanted to talk to the Vampire—it'd been a while since he'd been able to talk to anyone supernatural about things that didn't involve his past. And Jacob was sure Fred would be the right kind of supernatural to talk to him about anything that didn't have to do with Edward. Not as of yet, but eventually, maybe it would be cool to just sit with Fred and talk.

Jacob sighed, finishing his supper and putting his dishes into the dishwasher. Mason was sucking on his bottle of bloody milk, halfway to sleep. His sleeping patterns were on a very agreeable level and Jacob wanted to keep them that way. Maybe later on in life, Mason would sleep less—Jacob was ruing the day that that came to be—but Jacob was enjoying knowing that his son was co–operating with Human sleeping patterns, mostly.

The boy picked his son up gently, with one arm holding Mason carefully and with his other hand holding the bottle, bouncing Mason and he walked up the stairs and to his son's room. By the time they reached the room, Mason was fast asleep. Jacob rubbed at his son's back gently till he heard the quiet hiccup, before putting his son down and wrapping him in a blanket. Jacob made sure that the baby monitor was on before leaving with the other.

Jacob went downstairs. There was a bottle of very cheap wine in his fridge that Rebecca had bought a while ago and Jacob had never had reason to open, but tonight he grabbed a wine glass and poured the wine into it. He left the wine on the counter and went outside onto his deck. He sat on a chair, putting the baby monitor on the table, making sure it was on loud. He looked out at the ocean, sipping at his wine every once and a while.

Sometimes Jacob's eyes would shift over to Fred, who hadn't moved from his position by the salty waters. His need to not look at the Vampire wasn't as thick as it had been when they first met, or any other time after. Fred seemed to be more look-able now. And he wasn't bad looking either, but always hiding his face behind those thick-rimmed glasses of his. He didn't need them, not anymore anyway, but Jacob supposed they looked good on him, suited him and his awkward-but-hot-nerd look.

When Jacob finished his glass of wine, he didn't get up to go pour himself another. He wasn't anywhere near drunk, Wolf stamina and all that, but his body felt warm in the way that only wine could make you feel. The Shifter put his glass down and shifted lower on his chair, putting his feet on the table, wrapping his jersey around his body tightly and shutting his eyes.

Seventeen minutes.

That's how long it took Fred to decide to sit at the table with Jacob. They didn't say anything to each other, just sat there. Jacob was filled with the sounds of the ocean and the scent of salt and sea and Fred's Vampire scent. It wasn't a bad combination.

They didn't speak for the whole time they sat there together, neither boy tried to start up a conversation and Jacob was okay with that, he was fine with not talking. He liked that there was someone sitting there with him, someone not of the Human species, and he liked that he wasn't expected to say anything. Fred wasn't a talker, not even when he sat in in sessions, always sitting stiffly and silently until Lynda said he could leave. Jacob was getting used to this, could deal with this.

Eventually Jacob got up. Fred didn't look his way and Jacob didn't care about it. He grabbed his glass and the baby monitor and went back inside. This was good, this was easy. Jacob could handle this.

The boy shut and locked his door, put the wine glass in the dishwasher and headed up to his own room. He crawled into bed, feeling a little less tired than he had when in a while, and curled himself into bed. Sleep came in a calm, swift wave.

…TBC…

I like this chapter too. I enjoyed writing it. I think I talked about Jacob's reaction to Bella arriving well enough. He didn't spiral back to the dark—YaY—and he's trusting vampires a little more, well one Vampire and a Hybrid, but same thing. I think Billy, Emily and Sam will be coming over next chapter.

Anywhoo…

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