You ever know that a story is over, but for some reason can't stop thinking about it? Here's a bonus bonus.
"Ma!" A deep voice that Rose couldn't get used to shouted for her. "Mom, get up!"
Rosalie looked up from the schematics she was sketching. "Bella, your son is calling for you."
Bella grumbled, rolling over on the bed. "Before sunrise, he's your son."
"You better answer him before he comes barreling in." Bella covered her head with the pillow. Feet storming up the stairs announced the impending arrival. "Too late."
The door to their bedroom burst open. "Are you guys deaf?" Brady boomed. "I've been calling for you." Brady's six-foot-five frame filled the doorway. "I need you to settle an argument Colin and I are having!"
"We're not arguing!" Colin yelled from downstairs. Emmett's deep laugh announced his arrival in the house as well.
"Boys, when we built this house, it was so we could have privacy. At least until eight am." Bella grumbled while Rose laughed.
Collin showed up behind his brother. At six foot three he was smaller than Brady, but not by much. He shoved Brady face-first into the room. "Okay, we get it, but can you settle a disagreement we're having?"
"Depends," Rose said as she walked from her desk to stand in the middle of the room, arms crossed. "Is the disagreement appropriate, or are you going to be grounded after?"
Brady jumped up, looking between Rosalie and Bella, who had finally taken the pillow off her head. Bella raised an eyebrow at her boys. Colin caught Brady by the shirt and pulled him from the room. "This can wait till later!"
Brady stumbled backward from the room, trapped in his brothers' iron grip. "Love you, bye!"
Bella rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "Do you think they're too old to drop off at the firehouse?"
Rosalie laughed. "Bella, they're grown men."
"On the outside. They're fourteen and seventeen on the inside. I think you have to drop kids at the firehouse in the first year of their lives." Bella huffed. She ran a hand through her hair, pulling out sleep tangles. Rosalie leaned over the bed and kissed Bella. "Good morning."
Bella smiled into the kiss, her eyes still closed as Rosalie leaned away. "Good morning." She sighed. "You know, they look old enough. We could send them into the world. No one would judge us." The boys had shot up in the two years after their change. Billy had explained that usually, in the first few months after shifting, wolves grow exponentially and reach full-grown. Bella could attest to that first hand. As the youngest wolves to ever shift, Brady and Collin had taken that much longer. Now they both looked to be in their twenties. Brady had even managed to buy alcohol without getting carded. That situation had gotten he and Colin grounded for two weeks. (They knew what they were doing.) Emmett was glad to have two exuberant wolves to tussle with at all times.
"You will not send my boys away. They could stay with your dad and Sue for a while."
"You're right. I'm calling Charlie later." Bella checked her phone before dropping it back on the bedside table. She stretched. "What are you doing today?"
Rose stretched her hand over the plans on her desk. "Esme wanted help with an interior decorating plan. I'm just looking it over. You?"
"I have a term paper due," Bella grumbled under her breath. She had considered going away for college, but once she and Rose were married and officially had the boys to care for, they had decided to stay in Forks. Bella had decided to get her degree online. She was one semester away from receiving her Bachelor's in Psychology. ("If I have forever, why don't I just get degrees in everything? I can start with Psychology!" Bella had insisted. No one argued with her.)
"You should probably get to it," Rosalie suggested. A hand caught her jacket, pulling her back to the bed.
"I don't wanna." Bella wrapped Rosalie up, trapping the vampire against her warm body. "
I'm gonna stay here all day."
Bella's stomach growled loudly. Rosalie stifled a laugh. "Okay wolf, if we don't get you fed, you'll probably die."
"Fair. Okay, let's go get food." Bella rolled from the bed, keeping Rosalie tightly in her arms. Rosalie laughed loudly, wrapping her legs around Bella and allowing herself to be carried down the stairs to their kitchen. Bella kissed Rose's neck, burying her face into Rose's cool shoulder. A howl echoed through the woods. Bella paused, waiting. It was joined by another howl, and then another.
"What is it?" Rosalie asked, leaning back to look at Bella.
"I'm not sure. It doesn't sound like trouble, but I should probably answer." Bella set Rose down and opened the front door. Her barrage of strays came charging in. The dogs were howling along with the wolf call. "I gotta find out what's up. Will you feed them?"
Rosalie sighed. "I guess I'll have to, won't I?"
Bella offered Rosalie a half-smile. "I love you, you know that?" She leaned in and kissed her mate.
"Sometimes I wonder," Rosalie grumbled as Bella leaned away. Bella kissed her again until Rosalie gently pushed against her shoulder. "Go! I'll probably be at the house when you get back." Bella headed towards the door, whipping off her clothes as she hit the front porch. She shifted quickly, taking off into the woods in her wolf form.
She was greeted by a multitude of voices.
What is it?
Why are we being called?
Are we under attack?
Shut up and get here! Sam's voice echoed through their minds. He was running from the reservation, tearing full speed to the halfway point between there and the Cullens'. It was their officially unofficial meeting ground. Whatever Sam wanted, he was keeping it buttoned up. Call everyone else!
Jacob, Leah, and Bella all halted in their frantic run. They lifted their snouts high, howling into the early morning hours. They resumed their frantic flight. More voices joined the mental fray as their other brothers and sisters shifted.
Everything okay?
Coming!
Sam stopped short in the circle they were all headed to. One by one, the wolves poured into the clearing. They had come here so much that the vegetation had been trampled under wolf foot. All that was left was the sturdy grass. Bushes, small twigs, and sprouting trees were all crushed into the ground here. The wolves shuffled anxiously. Bella glanced side to side, a nervous undercurrent rippling through their shared mind. Angela took her spot by Leah. Leah had been allowed to change Leah shortly after Sam had fully recovered. He retook his mantle, and Leah approached him immediately. She made a strong argument. Half her brothers and sisters had immortal mates. Why should Leah know one day her imprint would age and die? Sam had acquiesced, and Angela had been there ever since.
What is it? Jacob demanded impatiently.
Sam looked around, sure everyone was there. His wolf huffed. Okay, so, here's the thing.
What? Brady yelled.
The wolves danced nervously.
It's about Emily, Sam continued.
Is she sick? Bella couldn't resist asking.
Guys! Everyone got quiet again. Emily is pregnant!
An unbridled roar rose from the wolves. Some of them tackled Sam. So many voices shouted congratulations that no one could truly be heard. Someone got knocked back into a tree, involuntarily making their clearing larger.
The next six months flew by. Emily and Sam had a small house that wasn't large enough for a growing family, but they refused to move. Esme and Carlisle convinced them to allow the Cullens to design an addition to their house. It took some convincing, but the elders agreed that the treaty should be rewritten. The tribe and the Cullen's had one shared land now. Many of the older Quileute's objected, but it was going to be very hard for Esme to oversee a construction project she wasn't allowed near. The nursery they built was large but simple. Sam wanted to pay for everything, and Carlisle refused to let them pay for anything. "You made our family complete," Carlisle insisted again and again. "Let us do this for you."
They came to a final agreement that the Cullen's could pay, as long as people on the reservation were paid for the work. Esme designed everything, from the main room in addition to an extra bathroom. They paid contractors on the reservation, and the wolves hung around to help anywhere they could. The plumber was from Forks, but the landscaper was also a Quileute. The Cullen's stuck to their end of the bargain, and when everything was finished, and Esme walked the Uley's through their new nursery Emily had cried so hard that everyone went outside. "It's the hormones. She's happy, I swear," Sam insisted after some time. "It's beautiful. Thank you."
(It was only later that Sam found out the Cullen's had 'accidentally' paid the Quileute workers double their original estimates. They refused to take the money back, insisting that it was just a large tip. The influx of money to the Rez allowed the school to be reopened, after a flood had damaged it.)
Everything seemed perfect.
Until Billy got sick.
The pack and coven were engrossed in helping Sam plan for his baby when Billy developed a cough. He insisted it was nothing. "I smoked as a kid, guys, it's to be expected." After a month straight of Billy coughing nonstop, he started to cough up blood. Jake rushed him to the Forks hospital. Carlisle was on duty. Billy still had his reservations about the Cullen's, but he allowed them to treat him anyways. By the time they got him to the hospital, the diagnosis was severe. Billy had stage 4 lung cancer.
"Dad, please. Just do the chemo."
"It's just going to hurt, you know? Jake, Jake look at me." Jacob had, tears running down his cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, you know. Dr. Cullen says I have some time, right? Just let me live."
Jacob looked desperately between his father and Carlisle. Bree kept a steady hand on his back, rubbing a soothing pattern between his shoulder blades. "How long?" He demanded.
"Two months, maybe three." Carlisle looked like he would cry if he could.
"Is there anything you can do?" Jake asked a hand heavy on Billy's shoulder.
"At this stage, we can manage his pain." Carlisle looked like he was talking about his own father. "He likely wouldn't survive a surgery." Carlisle looked at Billy. "We can try chemo."
"Would that cure me?"
Carlisle's face fell further. "No. It might let you live longer, but you'd be sick the entire time."
Billy nodded. "Well, that's that, isn't it?" Jacob fell to his dad's feet, head on Billy's knees. He cried, hard, for the first time since he was a boy.
Billy lived for six weeks. Charlie hardly left his best friend's side. He was aware of the strange pact between the pack and the coven. He finally realized who (and what) his daughter had married, and everything after that was cake. Except for watching his friend die.
"I'm going to be the last one," Charlie cried softly to Sue. Bella was on the porch, wondering if she should knock or just leave. "Growing up, it was always me, Harry, and Billy." He cleared his throat. "We're losing everyone."
Bella knocked. Sue came to the door, her eyes red. "Hey Bells," she cleared her throat.
"Mom," Bella wrapped Sue up tightly in her iron grip. Sue broke down in her arms, no doubt overcome by losing Harry first, and now Billy. Charlie came around the corner, wiping his nose and trying to look dignified. "Dad," Bella opened her arms, and Charlie joined in. "Guys, it's time."
They both looked at her like she had dropped a hammer on them. "Now?" Charlie asked.
Bella nodded. She pointed to the Jeep. Rosalie was in the front seat, waiting for them. "Carlisle says Billy's feeling better. He's sitting up, he's talking. This happens right before they go. We don't have much time."
Billy was wide awake when everyone arrived. The hospital room was so crowded some of the wolves had to leave. Bella held Rosalie's hand tightly. "Charlie!" Billy cried, happy to see his best friend. "I feel great! I feel like I might make it!" The air was drawn from the room. Billy rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm kidding. I know this is it."
An uneasy laugh rolled through the room. Charlie took Billy's hands. Billy pulled his oxygen mask sideways. Jake's older sisters, Rebecca and Rachel stood to the side. Paul had his arm around Rachel, his imprintee. The entire room looked solemn. "You sure you have to go, buddy?" Charlie managed to mumble gruffly.
"I am. It's that time. Look at how much has changed," Billy looked around. Most of the room was full of wolves, but Carlisle, Rosalie, and Bree were on the fringes of the room. Esme stood outside the door, looking in sadly. "I think I've lived a pretty solid life. We've made a pretty good family here." Billy chuckled before looking at Sue. "Anything you want me to tell Harry?"
Sue sighed heavily. "Tell him not to drink so much." The room laughed.
Billy passed away that evening.
Two weeks later, Sam's son was born. He proudly brought the boy out of the house he'd been born in to introduce him to the pack. "Guys, I want you to meet William Samuel Uley. Billy." The pack laughed and cried, and congratulated the new father. Bella leaned into Rosalie happily. They all toasted that night to the new life of Billy, who might one day be the leader of the pack.
After all that time, there had been no threats. Forks remained safe. A new alliance had been forged. No one dared come to the Olympic Peninsula, as word spread that wolves and vampires worked together. In a few years the Cullen's might have to move on to keep the humans unaware, but for now?
All was well.
Okay, I swear I'm done. This is it. I have nothing else for this story.
I'll be seeing you.
