Pairings: Jacob/Emmett, Jacob/Bella, Bella/Edward, Edward/Jacob, Edward/Paul
Warnings: Bella bashing and graphic sex in the second part.
This story has two chapters. I will upload the other one in a few days.

Jacob walked up to the Cullen house, the bag carrying his tools a comforting weight against his slim hips. The door opened with a flourish before he could ring the bell to announce his presence.

"Jacob, what can I do for you?" Emmett leaned against the doorframe, his arms wrapped tightly around his bulging chest.

Jacob tilted down his chin and peered at Emmett's massive frame over his dark glasses. "I came to fix Blondie's car. Didn't she tell you?"

"Nope, she left in a hurry." Emmett lowered his gaze, which prompted Jacob to raise his eyebrows in surprise at his sad demeanor.

"Well, kind of suspected Rose would pull a Bella. Anyway, nice seeing you, big guy." Jacob sighed and pointed at his Rabbit. "Gotta go."

He craned his neck to glance at the vast expanse of glass windows in the Cullen house, the scene of so many heartbreaking moments before reality brought him down to earth.

"Wait, Jacob." Emmett cocked his chin at the door. "Do you have time? There's a car of mine that isn't working right."

"Sure thing, man." Remembering the banter he and Emmett often exchanged, Jacob shot him a mischievous grin. "Have a few hours to kill before patrol anyway. Where is it?"

"In the garage." Emmett made a sweeping gesture as Jacob approached and when the Quileute passed through the threshold, his broad hand patted Jake's back.

The two made their way through the hall and took the stairs to the garage.

"So when is Blondie coming back?" Jacob said.

"Probably in a few years." Emmett shrugged nonchalantly. "Or never."

"Sorry, man. Didn't know you two were having problems."

"It's ok, Jake. Guess you were too busy wrapped up in your own world." Emmett opened the door to the garage and the two strolled towards a vintage Mercedes.

"You can say that again. Sam's giving me grief, even if he is only the Beta." Jake sighed as he lowered his knapsack and fished out his tools, laying them in a neat row on the floor with a thudding sound.

Jacob crouched on the floor as he hooked his thumbs around the waistband of his Henley shirt and tugged it off, the hairs at the nape of his neck rising as he felt the weight of Emmett's stare when his toned chest was uncovered.

"Don't wanna get this shirt dirty," he explained as he glanced up at Emmett, caressing the soft cotton before balling it up and throwing it next to the wheel. "It was Bella's last gift."

"I see," Emmett said curtly, his gaze sliding down Jacob's broad shoulders, the striking silhouette of the Quileute tapering down to the perfect cut of his hips. "Mind if I ask you something?"

"Nope, go ahead." Jacob grabbed a wrench and laid himself down on the rolling creeper. He grabbed a hold of the car chassis to pull himself forward, the motion aided by Emmett's gentle push on the end of the creeper.

"What happened between the three of you after Edward and Bella came back from the honeymoon?" Emmett said.

Amid the clanking noise as Jacob maneuvered the wrench to unscrew the bolts, Emmett's finely tuned ears heard the slight gasp from the wolf.

"Wait, Edward didn't tell you?"

"He wasn't very talkative," Emmett said as he crouched on the floor, his gaze fixed on Jacob's scuffed boots. "And I'm interested in hearing your version of events anyway."

"What about the pixie?" Jacob said, his brow furrowed in concentration as his nimble fingers gently took off the loosened bolts.

"Alice wasn't very talkative either." Emmett's shoe pushed against the soles of Jake's boots. "C'mon, wolf, don't keep me waiting or I won't regale you with beer."

"Hey man, you trying to get me drunk to take advantage of me?" Jacob scoffed.

"Depends." Emmett snorted as his shoe traced the seam of Jacob's worn denims. "Would you let me?"

"Depends." Jacob pushed the creeper backwards, his hand searching for a rag. "Don't want Blondie mad at me."

"She won't. Rosalie is out of the picture for good."

"So tell me, what happened?" Jacob cleaned his hands and threw the rag against Emmett's shoes.

"You first."

"Spoilsport." Jacob jerked his leg, kicking softly Emmett's feet. "Anyway… where to start?"

Emmett waited earnestly for the Quileute's words, his patience wearing thin as the moments dragged by. Finally, he saw Jacob's bulging arms as he pushed against the chassis. The wheels of the creeper creaked as he appeared from beneath the car, his bare chest streaked with oil stains.

"First, it needs cleaning, so that means I'll have to go to Forks and get a carburetor kit."

"That's fine. Just tell me which parts and I'll get them," Emmett said distractedly, his fingers twitching with the almost physical urge to reach out and rub his fingertips against the smooth expanse of russet skin, marred by the oil.

"Nope, they'll charge you more. I'll go 'cuz they know me well. I set up my own auto shop and fix cars, mostly from the Rez," Jacob said as he stood up, and then he patted Emmett's shoulder. "Your Merc needs a complete overhaul; it'll take me weeks to fix it."

"Whatever you need, Jacob." Emmett crossed his arms and sat on a bench.

Jacob leaned against the Mercedes' rump, tilting up his neck as he sought the way to start the story, his motion baring a stretch of unblemished tanned skin to the vampire's hungry gaze.

"Simply told, I imprinted on Bella," he said after a few seconds.

"That's what I gathered from Edward." Emmett nodded solemnly.

"You didn't believe him?" Jacob arched his eyebrows.

"Well, after what happened later…" Emmett trailed off, his hand reaching out for a gleaming screwdriver on the bench.

"I remember that moment like it happened yesterday. Doc Cullen had just told me the sad news of Bella's miscarriage." Jacob sighed, tilting down his chin to stare at the floor, his hands brushing his short-cropped hair. "I was mad as hell at Edward for getting her pregnant, but at the same time very sad for Bella."

"We all were sad, especially Rosalie." Emmett's fingers played with the tool, his gaze lost in the distance as he pondered if that was the moment when he began to lose his wife. "Carlisle was frantic after he got the phone call from that hospital in Rio. Jasper and I had to go hunting that day; Rose needed to go too, but she wanted to be here for moral support when Bella showed up."

"The Doc told me, and the next moment I heard their car pulling up the driveway." Jacob's fingertips tapped a nervous rhythm on the hood of the Mercedes. "I walked out the door and saw Bella walking towards me, and then…"

"You imprinted," Emmett said shortly.

"Felt like someone punched me and I couldn't breathe, like I was floating high above it all and completely detached from the world." Jacob turned to look at Emmett. "Bella was all that held me to the moment, the anchor tying me to the ground."

"Rose told me." Emmett motioned to the door of the garage. "Want to go to the kitchen and grab a beer?"

Jacob nodded and as the Quileute and the vamp made their way out, their hands casually brushing, he glanced at Emmett. "Truth to tell, I don't recall if Rosalie was present. All that held my attention at that point was Bella."

"How did she react?" Emmett cocked his chin at the stairs. "Was she mad at you?"

"Nope, Bella didn't even notice." Jacob shook his head wryly. "She was wrapped in herself, like always. It was Edward who went ballistic."

"I see." Emmett strode confidently across the hall and opened the kitchen door. "I take it that was when you three came up with your strange arrangement."

Knowing the layout of the kitchen, Jacob walked up to the refrigerator and opened it to grab a bottle of beer. "That came later."

Emmett's body cast a long shadow in the morning sun as he stood there, transfixed at the sight in front of him as Jacob pressed the cold bottle against his chest, before he uncapped it and took a sip. The vampire's gaze followed the hypnotizing line of Jacob's long throat, and the way his Adam's apple bobbed as he greedily drank the beer.

"Edward knew what had happened, of course." Jacob put down the bottle on the counter and thrust his chin at the copse of trees visible outside the window. "After we saw to Bella's comfort, he took me outside and made his offer."

"I can't believe how much he loved Bella," Emmett said admiringly. "I would never walk away from someone I loved."

"I don't judge him. Turned out Bella's life was very much in danger when they operated on her in that Brazilian hospital." Jacob frowned, remembering the soft sounds coming from the forest that evening, a soothing counterpoint to the day fraught with tension. "The operation took hours, it was very serious and she is unable to bear children. It drove Edward out of his mind with guilt because he thought it was his fault alone."

"So what exactly did he say?" Emmett cocked his eyebrows at Jacob.

"Offered to leave me and Bella alone, to give me a chance to make her happy." Jacob tilted down his chin and stared at the floor, sighing.

"And you took it."

"Yep. I was convinced I was the only one that would be able to heal Bella's wounds again. The imprint made it so my life revolved around her, and of course it fueled my conviction that Bella and I belonged together."

"And Bella just accepted the decision you guys made?" Emmett frowned.

"No, she fought tooth and nails for Edward to stay but it was to no avail. You know how stubborn Edward is when his mind's made up."

"Exactly." Emmett nodded sagely. "I wish I had been here to see the drama unfold, but Rosalie got it in her pretty head that we had to get married again, in Kathmandu."

"Probably Rose just wanted to distract herself from her grief." Jacob walked to the window, staring at the lean pines outside.

Jacob shook his head, recalling those days. It was uncanny the way Bella's grief yanked everyone and pulled them around her orbit.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, during the course of consoling Bella yet again she fell in love with me." Jacob wrapped his arms around his chest. "We were the perfect couple, with a bright life ahead of us."

"So what happened to shatter the dream?" Emmett said.

Jacob glanced at the length of the shadows cast by the trees outside as he gauged the time he had left before his patrol.

"Gotta go, Emm. I'm gonna be late and Jared's gonna chew my ass." Jacob shrugged as he swiveled his neck, fixing Emmett with an intense gaze. "To answer your question, life happened. It shattered the dream like it always does, and I fell out of love with Bella."

tbc