It had been 20 years since Jacob gave up the wolf. After all of the fighting, tormenting he'd been through, the vampires were gone and he no longer needed his furry protector. He'd married, settled down, had kids and his daughter was pregnant with his first grandson on the way.

He laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. That night his family had thrown him a surprise 50th birthday party. He silently chuckled as he thought about how surprised he'd been. Embry right by the door when they shouted, "Surprise!" Jacob had reacted and punched him in the face.

"Oh my gosh! Jake!" Bella admonished, as she ran to Embry's side. "Emb? You ok?" her hands ran over his face, checking for injuries. He'd grabbed her and pulled her away from his friend, still jealous after all these years of her attention on any wolf but himself.

"He'll be fine," Jake had growled out.

"Daddy! Happy birthday!" his youngest daughter called out to him, from her perch on the recliner. He had smiled hugely when he saw her. She had not been able to come home because of her pregnancy and now she was here. He walked over to her and hugged her.

"Hey, sweetie. Glad you're home. Where's that no good son-in-law of mine?"

"Daddy! Don't say that about my husband. You know Uncle Embry hates it when you cut on his son."

"Well, if he hadn't knocked up my daughter, I wouldn't have to insult him."

"Dad, knock it off. Maria and Jay were married. Don't be like that," his son said.

"Chuck, I told you to stay out of it," Bella said, coming over and pulling Jacob back from their daughter.

"She's pregnant, Jacob and the last thing she needs is you causing stress talking crap about Jay."

He'd grunted. "Well, then where is he?" Jacob waved his hand around the room, noting that the little shit wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"He had to work. You know so we can pay the bills," Maria said huffily. "Knock it off, Daddy. I came home to celebrate your birthday, not argue with you."

"Okay, okay. Let's celebrate. Where's the cake?" he'd asked, walking into the kitchen. They still had the large table they'd bought for hosting pack dinners. Even though no one shifted anymore, they were all still close. They'd had many dinners and breakfasts together at the table. Jacob sat at the head of the table, his arms crossed over his chest.

The guests all chattered and laughed in the living room. They knew that Jacob was really just upset because he'd started growing a couple of gray hairs. They'd heard him yelling about it in the bathroom at the shop. Although the wolves were all gone, each of the wolves had been left with better than usual hearing and vision. It wasn't as good as it had been, but it was better than most people.

Bella stood watching Jacob pout. He could be such a baby even at 50 years old. Her foot tapped impatiently, until he looked up at her. He let out the breath he was holding when he saw that look on her face. It was the "don't fuck with me look." He'd tested it in the beginning, but it didn't take him long to realize that Bella could be a spitfire.

"What?" he asked, trying to exude a calm he wasn't feeling.

"What? That's what you have to say after punching Embry and embarrassing Maria! Did you even say hi to our son, or our other daughter?"

"Kristen is here?" he asked, jumping up out of his seat. He looked around, confused. He didn't see her anywhere.

"She went out back when you walked right past her."

"Ugh! Why did you have to have a surprise party? You hate surprises more than anyone I know. You'd have to know that this wasn't any fun. When did the kids get here? I've missed them."

"You know what, Jake. I love you, but you're oblivious. Now go out back and talk to Kristen, while I set up the cake and ice cream."

Jacob headed out the back door. He saw that it was dark, so he flipped the light on and looked around for his daughter.

"Hey, Kris. How are you? I'm glad you're home," he said, sitting down next to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest. It was hard to believe he had a 27 year old daughter. She was older than he was when he got married and she was born.

"I'm okay. Just having a rough day."

"Where's your boyfriend? He couldn't get off work?"

"I don't know where he is. I broke up with him after I found him in the supply closet with his secretary."

"Oh, Kris. I'm so sorry. He was a jerk anyway. I could've told you that. I could smell the jerk all over him."

She laughed at her dad. Always her knight in shining armor.

"I probably wouldn't have believed you anyway," she admitted.

"What is it with these stubborn children I have?" he asked into the night.

"Well, you know what they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," she said.

"I know, you kids are just like your mother," he answered seriously.

She laughed loudly. "Whatever you say, Dad!"

"Cake!" Bella called out the door.

"It's a good one this year," Kristen said, standing first. "Come on, Dad. Let's go celebrate your birthday."

Kristen was right. The cake had been a good one. Bella had outdone herself as usual. Each year, she made a spectacular cake for the kids until they grew up and moved out of the house. She'd missed doing something special for them, so she started making epic cakes for Jacob. She'd watched old reruns about cake making and bought special pans and tools. She'd once made a cake that looked like the Space Needle, a Rabbit that looked exactly like Jake's, but it was this year that had stunned them all. It was a near replica of his wolf. The color was so close, one would think she had it color-matched from the fur.

As Jacob laid in bed, remembering the night, he heard a noise outside. He froze, listening closely, honing in on the noise with his senses. It was the sound of a window lock being jiggled. Grabbing the baseball bat by the side of his bed, he stood, still listening. He crept over to the window and peered out the blinds. He didn't see anyone and it was still dark outside.

Slowly, he made his way through the house. He tried to locate the sound, but still couldn't tell which room the prowler was trying to get into. When something hit the ground and broke, he ran like hell to his daughter's room. His heart was racing as he prepared to beat the crap out of the person that dared enter his house.

In the darkened room, he saw the shadow of the man that had climbed in the window. He grabbed him and pinned him to the wall.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" Jacob demanded, the man struggling to get out of his death grip.

"Daddy, what's going on?" Maria gasped, her heart beat thumping hard in her chest.

"Jake! Jake! It's me!"

The light flickered on as Jacob identified the prowler. He dropped his body and let him hit the floor.

"What the hell are you doing sneaking in the window like a common thief?" Jacob thundered.

"Maria didn't answer her phone. I didn't want to wake everybody up."

"Really, Jay? Did she even know you were coming?"

"Daddy, yes I knew he was coming. He had to work."

"He had to work? And now he's showing up in the middle of the night? What kind of job is that? Are you lying to my daughter?" Jacob was furious. He glared at his son-in-law. He couldn't explain his rage, but even though Embry was his best friend, he'd always thought his son a deadbeat.

"I was patrolling," Jay answered quietly.

"Did you just say patrolling?" Jacob asked, shock ringing out in his voice.

"Yes. Patrolling."

"How long?" Jacob asked.

"How long what? How long have I been patrolling tonight? Or how long have I been patrolling? Or how long have I been a wolf?"

"Jake, let's take this in the living room," Bella said from the doorway. He looked back, surprised to find her there. "Maria, Jay, let's go sit on the couch and talk about all this. Oh and Jay, shut the window. Maria will get cold."

They followed Bella into the living room and she sat down on the love seat. She stopped Jacob as he tried to sit next to Maria and block Jay from sitting by her.

"Jacob Black, sit over here right now," she demanded. He glared at the other man but did as his wife asked.

"Okay, Jay. Tell us. Start from when you phased to tonight." Bella looked at him patiently and sat with her arms holding her robe closed. Jacob looked down and realized he was wearing the Snoopy boxers Bella gave him for Christmas. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and covered his lap.

"Well, um, I phased about 10 years ago. I met Maria about 8 years ago and that's when I imprinted on her. I didn't know what it meant at first, but my dad explained it to me," he was interrupted by Jake's growling.

"Embry knew?" Jay's eyes widened and he looked between Jacob and Bella wondering if he should out Bella. He decided to nod.

"There was no threat until Maria got pregnant. That's when I started patrolling. My wolf insisted on it. That I make sure that she and the baby were safe."

"There are vampires in La Push and no one thought to tell me?" Jacob ground out.

"I wanted to tell you. But my dad didn't think I should. He helped me out and I have killed the few stray vampires that have come through. He thought if you knew, you'd try to phase again. He knew that Bella didn't want that." His eyes shifted over to her.

Jacob turned to look at his wife. She stared right at him, not flinching for even a second. He realized she was being defiant, but he wasn't sure why.

"Bells, you don't want me to phase again?" he asked.

"Jake, we're aging together, remember? If you phase, you stop aging, but I keep getting older without you."

"What about our family? I could protect them."

"We have a protector in the family now. I didn't think we needed another one. You've done your time. After the newborn army and fighting off the Volturi guard, you deserved to live your life out in peace. The Cullens promised they would keep vampires away from here."

"I always knew he was hiding something from me. I didn't realize this is what it was. Damn it."

"I never wanted to hide it from you, Jake. Bella thought it was best." He stopped when he realized his slip.

"You knew?" he asked her quietly. "All this time you knew and you didn't say anything?"

She nodded.

Jacob stormed out of the room and onto the porch. Maria stood to go after him but Jay grabbed her arm. He jerked his head in Bella's direction. This was her mess. She would have to clean it up.

She padded out to the porch. Jacob was leaning against the railing and she sat on the swing and waited for him. She rocked gently, staring out into the night. It'd been difficult to decide whether or not to tell Jacob about Jay and the vampires. He had had the most difficult time letting the wolf go when they were younger. It had been her that he defended from vampires. He feared that they would come back when he could no longer defend her.

"I wanted to protect you," she whispered.

"Did you forget what it felt like to have someone make decisions for you because they wanted to protect you?" he asked her pointedly. She winced from the sting of his comment.

Of course, she'd hated when Edward did that to her. The newborn battle had been the worst. He didn't tell her why she needed to go with the wolves-he only told her it was for her protection. So when Jane showed up to check on the newborn situation, she'd been furious with Edward for not following Aro's orders. She'd killed him on the spot, leaving the rest of the Cullen's shell-shocked.

Bella had screamed and cried for days. She was inconsolable after Edward's death. Carlisle hadn't known what else to do, so he sent for Jacob. Jacob was barely healed from his injuries, but he came anyways. His heart had shattered when he saw her curled up in a chair, crying out for Edward. She hadn't gotten to say good-bye. She'd told him she needed more time before agreeing to get married.

Jacob gathered her up and carried her over to the bed and held her in his arms. She continued to cry until she didn't have any tears left in her body. Rosalie had brought a bottle of water to them. Jacob had to force Bella to drink little sips until she finally finished the bottle. Together they laid in that bed for a week. The Cullens brought food and drinks to them.

On the 7th day, it was Emmett that told them they both reeked so bad they could smell them downstairs. He insisted they take a shower. Bella shook and screamed that Jacob couldn't leave her. So he carried her into the bathroom and they showered together. When they got out the sheets had been changed and new ones were on the bed. There was also clean clothes and fresh food.

"Let's go home, Bells," Jacob had told her.

"I'm afraid to leave," she admitted.

"I'm sorry Edward is gone. He was trying to protect you. I'm glad he did. I'd be lost without you. I would be worse off than you," he told her.

"I want to see the Cullens. I want them to be a part of my life."

"That's up to them."

Together, they walked down the stairs to find the Cullens assembled in the living room.

"Bella, we're going to Italy. We're going to try to straighten all of this out," Alice told her. "You should go with Jacob. We'll keep in touch. But we can't see you anymore. If we did, it would be disastrous."

"No!" Bella cried out, looking around for someone to support her wants.

"Bella, please. If we don't the Volturi will come for you, and the wolves. I've seen it. We've got to go fix it."

Bella sniffled and Jacob held her close to his body. "I'll miss you."

"We will miss you. But, Bella, go. Go live a happy life," Esme told her, as they grabbed their bags and headed out the front door.

Bella ran out the door and screamed in frustration. "I love you! You're my family! Don't leave me!"

"We aren't your family. We will always love you, but you will have your own family and it will be beautiful," Alice told her as she ran up and gave her one last hug.

"How can you know that?" Bella cried, holding as tightly as she could to her vampire best friend, not wanting to let her go.

"I've seen them. Your children, your grandchildren. Yours and Jacob's. Now, let me go. I don't want you to get hurt. I love you. You'll always be my sister," Alice said, as she darted away.

Bella stood staring as the cars left with the Cullens in them. She cried again until Jacob lifted her up and carried her back to La Push. She never moved out of his house again.

One month after the Cullens left, Emmett called frantic. The Cullens and some of their friends had stood up to the Volturi. They ended up killing two of their leaders. The guard were furious and promised to take it out on Bella and the Quileute's. Emmett had given them enough information and lead time to prepare for the arrival of the 4 guard members. They could have had the advantage over the wolves if they had the element of surprise.

Alice told them exactly when and where they would arrive.

The fight had barely started before it was over.

Bella continued to swing, mulling over Jacob's words. In a way, he was right. In the beginning, she hated that she didn't die with Edward that day. That he didn't give her the choice. But Alice was right about the future. She did have a beautiful family with Jacob. She didn't want to ruin it and she wanted Jacob to have a peaceful life. She explained her reasoning to him.

He paced the length of the porch, thinking over every odd thing that had happened in his life. Who else knew besides Bella and Embry? Had they been chummy all this time? The questions rolled through his mind as he paced.

It took him awhile before he finally calmed down enough to sit with her. He was still furious with her for not telling him that Jay was a lone wolf and that he had imprinted on their daughter.

"Did you know about the imprint?" he asked.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Were you ever planning on telling me that Embry imprinted on you, Bella?" he asked, shocking her with his knowledge. Her head whipped up.

"He did not."

"Yes, he did. Do you really not know?"

"How could he? We've been together for almost 30 years, Jake. You marked me on our wedding night." She stopped and thought about it. "That's why you did it, isn't it?"

"No, that's not why. I did it to protect us from imprinting. I didn't want for us to lose each other. You'd already lost so much." Jacob looked down at his wife that he still loved so much. He never told her how he and Embry had fought after their wedding night. Embry knew the imprint had been broken and he was pissed at Jake for not giving Bella the choice. Maybe he should have. It hurt not being given a choice.

"Jacob, maybe we did some things we should have done differently. But one thing I wouldn't do differently is us. I love you. Embry is my friend. That will not change. I'm sorry for not telling you about Jay. He was handling it fine on his own. I didn't want you to think he couldn't protect me or Maria."

"I'm sorry for telling you about Embry like that. I'm not sure I should have ever told you."

"It's okay. It doesn't change anything. Can we go back in the house now? I'm freezing out here," she said, holding up her feet only in a light pair of socks.

"Yeah, let's go," he said, carrying her in the house.

They ended up making passionate love that night, apologizing to each other without words.

In the morning, Jacob noticed that Jay wasn't at the table with Maria.

"Where's Jay?" he asked.

"He went home to see his dad for a while. Said he couldn't sleep," she responded, her cheeks turning pink.

"What are you lying about?" Bella asked.

"I'm not lying about anything," Maria answered, looking away and reddening further.

"Spill, Maria."

"Ugh…he heard you guys last night, okay? He was grossed out that he could hear you guys going at it," she responded.

"Oh," Bella replied, going back to the pancake batter she was mixing up. Her cheeks turned the same shade of red as her daughter's. It was a genetic trait. They both blushed at the drop of a hat.

"Oh, please, like we don't know how you got pregnant," Jacob said to her as he drank his morning coffee and read over the morning headlines. All sound in the room evaporated. He looked up to see both women staring at him.

"What?" he smiled.