Coeval
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She doesn't know why she does it exactly, but she steals the razor from her little brother's sink and locks the bathroom door. He doesn't hear about it until three days later, and by then, the rumors about why she did it are just dirty lies.
He goes and sees her after the incident on an irrationally warm Monday, bringing with him a warm batch of cookies and milk. She refuses to open the door when she sees his car pull into the driveway.
She actually sort of likes the way she looks without any hair, like a dangerous young man with a dark past and an infinite future, and wonders why she didn't shave it all off years ago. He won't admit it, but he likes the way it looks too, and wonders if this makes him the tiniest bit…whatever.
He tries purple flowers the next time. She still won't open the door.
She capitulates when her mother brings home a wig, even though it's blonde and looks faker than her shaved head does. He can't help but laugh when he sees her at the supermarket, the yellowish locks falling mercilessly across her black eyes.
He sort of had a crush on her when he was sixteen and first saw her naked. She slapped him across the face when she found out about it.
She doesn't need a savior at Sam's wedding, she just needs a good stiff drink to remind her that this is all part of a bigger plan. He came prepared, and slips her a silver flask when Emily starts crying during her vows.
He asks her on a date after Sam and Emily wave goodbye from the car Jacob fixed up as a wedding present. She's so wasted that her response is to pull off her scratchy wig and kiss him sloppily behind the chapel.
She is ninety-nine percent sure that it doesn't count when said it happens behind a chapel after her first love's wedding to her cousin and she didn't even manage to get out of her bridesmaid dress. He is one-hundred percent sure that it does.
He decides not to phase for awhile because he's confident that he would be castrated if anybody finds out what happened. She wouldn't actually do that, but she finds her own excuses to stop phasing until she can get the way he felt inside her off her mind.
She sort of wants to scream, sort of wants to laugh, sort of wants to cry when she sees the positive sign on the pregnancy test two months later. He is much more resolved in his emotion, and throws up when she shows up on his doorstep with the white stick in her hand.
He tries flowers again. She opens the door this time.
She doesn't have to tell her mother; Sue had figured it out a long time ago. He is less fortunate, and finds himself sputtering out the whole story to his mother over her birthday dinner.
He is the one who tells the pack that they are going to be parents. She is the one to tell the pack that this means they won't be phasing ever again.
She won't say it out loud, but she's downright frightened of children. He has never had such a fear, and can't help but feel a little giddy when he puts his hand on her rounded belly.
He buys a ring from a jeweler in Seattle. She surprises even herself when she slips in on her left hand without any hesitation.
She feigns disgust when Bella offers to throw a baby shower. He is actually disgusted when Quil suggests that he have a bachelor party.
He is more than a little upset when Sam pulls him aside before the wedding and threatens to beat him to death with a baseball bat if he ever hurts her. She laughs when she hears about the confrontation, and she kisses him until he can't remember why he was upset in the first place.
She dances with Jacob that night, laying her head on chest and allowing him to spin her across the floor. He dances with Bella, and decides that she doesn't smell as bad as he had always thought.
He is visibly nervous when he shuts the door to the honeymoon suite. She is not, and soon they are tugging at one another's clothes and muttering meaningless sentiments as they move together against the white wall.
She wakes up the next morning with an uncharacteristic smile on her face. He wakes up and tells her that he loves her.
He gets a job in Port Angeles, where the pay is good and the people are friendly. She tries, but she cannot find a reason to be upset with him when he buys a small apartment for them that overlooks the harbor and is only three blocks away from his workplace.
She doesn't miss La Push as much as she imagined she would. He misses it even less.
He is startled one afternoon when he gets a phone call from the hospital, telling him that his wife has gone into labor a few weeks early. She grabs the phone from the nurse and starts cursing him for doing this to her.
She handles pain better than any other woman the obstetrician has ever come across. He thinks it's because she's been through far worse.
He cuts the umbilical cord. She holds their daughter first.
She makes a promise to herself to be the best parent and spouse she can be. He made the same promise a long time ago.
He has his doubts sometimes, that maybe he'll be like his father, whoever he was, and find some reason to leave his family. She doesn't have any doubts about him anymore.
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Disclaimer: I don't own it; never did, never will. However, Stephenie Meyer does own my soul.
Notes: None, really. Now onto something Seth related. Or Jacob related. Or both.