Catherine (J. Black)

Chapter Thirty Nine

Catherine strokes her bump as she watches Leah and Niklaus playing. Sam sits at her side and hands her a bowl of ice cream, Catherine offers him a small smile.

"Thank you" she whispers taking it from him.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asks.

"Oh you know....impending doom, babies on the way....fiancée who doesn't seem remotely worried"

"Jacob's worried" Sam corrects. "Trust me he is, he's just trying not to show it, he doesn't want to freak you out any more than you already are, he's trying to stay upbeat" Sam gives her a reassuring smile. "He loves you. You and Niklaus and these two" Sam motions to her bump. "Are the most important people in his life, he'd do anything for you"

"Anything?" Catherine asks quietly rubbing her bump, her eyes glancing to Leah who laughs watching Niklaus pounce on Embry who screams.

.............

Catherine walks with Leah through the trees back towards their home. Catherine glances to Leah.

"You'd do anything to keep Nikki safe, wouldn't you?" Catherine asks her, Leah lifts Niklaus up, helping the boy onto her back.

"You know I would" Leah answers.

"Anything?" Catherine shoots her a look, Leah stops and takes Catherine's hand.

"What are you thinking?" Leah asks, Catherine looks around before sighing.

"I'm not risking my family for her" Catherine answers. "And I will do whatever it takes to keep my children and Jacob safe and alive"

"I'm with you, Cat" Leah promises. "Whatever you need of me"

"I just have to convince Jacob" Catherine teases, Leah nudges her softly as Niklaus threads his fingers in Leah's hair.

................

"Are you serious?" Jacob asks Catherine who paces their bedroom, he watches her from the bed. "Are you?" he asks again.

"It's the only way" she answers.

"And Rose and Emmett?" Jacob asks, Catherine looks to him and then away again. "I know why you want to do this" Jacob assures her. "And if you really think this is the only way, if this is what you really want, then you know I will back you 1000%, always" he stands and moves to her, takes her hand in his. "Sleep on it and we'll talk about it again tomorrow" he pulls her closer and kisses her head. She nuzzles into his side. "Okay?"

"Okay" she agrees, he pulls her with him as he backs towards the bed. He smirks at her and she rolls her eyes fondly.

...............

"So?" Leah asks, Jacob looks up from his breakfast and raises an eyebrow at her. "Did Cat talk to you?" she asks.

"You know?" He asks quietly.

"Yeah, she told me yesterday" Leah answers. "So?"

"I said we'd talk about it today, so she slept on it" Jacob answers standing. "Look this is a big deal, if we do this.....the amount of people this affects"

"You do realise that Cat is right about this. This is the only way for your family to survive. She knows these....bad leeches better then you and me"

"I know" Jacob agrees. "And I happen to agree with her. This is the best plan. And I won't loose that much sleep over doing it" Jacob sets his dish in the sink. "But you?" He asks. "Seth? Your mother?"

"Will understand" Leah answers. "We're talking about protecting our imprints, Jacob, a lot of things can be forgiven" Jacob nods and turns to her.

"All right" he agrees. "Let's do it" Leah raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" she asks, Jacob nods.

"Yeah, anything to keep them safe" he answers.

"And the good leeches?" Leah asks.

"Will understand" Jacob answers already walking away. "Two hours?" he asks turning back. "Can you get yourself ready in two hours?" Leah nods.

"I can be ready in one" She corrects. Jacob nods and heads up the stairs.

...............

Jacob kisses Catherine who smiles against his lips, he smiles back.

"Are you sure?" she asks him, he nods.

"About you? About Nikki? About the twins?" he asks and brushes her hair back. "You know I am. It's about time we look for ourselves" she nods agreeing. "Grab only what you need, we'll figure out the rest later" she nods again, he kisses her. "I love you" he tells her.

"I love you too" he kisses her once more.

"Right, I need to talk to Sam and my Dad before we do this" she touches his arm and smiles.

"Thank you" she whispers, he touches her bump and nods.

"An hour" he tells her leaving the room, Catherine bites her lip and touches her bump before smiling and nodding.

..............

Jacob pauses as he sees Embry stood with Leah, he sighs and approaches them.

"What's he doing here?" Jacob asks, Leah and Embry turn to him.

"He wants in" Leah answers, Embry looks to his shoes as Jacob sighs again.

"Why?" Jacob asks.

"Look, I just.....please" Embry begs, Jacob looks to Leah who offers him a small look before nodding. Jacob sighs.

"Fine" Jacob agrees. "Go to the house, make sure Cat's ready" Embry nods and then hurries away, Jacob turns to Leah.

"Jake, he's acting like I was before Cat gave birth....." Leah explains, Jacob frowns. "He's going to imprint on one of your babies, we have to include him in this" Jacob sighs and nods.

"Fine, fine, you have everything you need?" Leah nods and squeezes his shoulder.

"It's going to be okay" she assures him, Jacob nods and looks to Billy as he leaves the house. "He'll understand too" Leah offers. "I'll see you back at the house" Jacob nods and then heads towards his father as Leah heads into the woods.

.........

Embry shuts the trunk to Catherine's new car, a family sedan, perfect for a growing family.

"Wait, wait, this" Catherine states leaving the house, Embry hurries to her and takes the box from her.

"You should have shouted" he scolds gently. "What is this?" he asks walking to the car.

"Our Christmas presents" she answers. "Some anyway" she corrects leaning against the car and taking a breath. Leah carries Niklaus out of the house.

"Where's Jake?" she asks handing Niklaus to Catherine, the young hybrid nuzzling into his mother's neck.

"Here" Jacob answers jogging out of the trees and towards Catherine, she looks to him and raises an eyebrow. "Let's go" he tells her, kisses her and then opens the back passenger car door. Catherine climbs in with Niklaus setting him into his car seat in the centre as Leah climbs in the other side, Embry and Jacob share a look. "You can back out" Jacob tells Embry. "But get in the car and you're part of this" Embry nods and climbs into the front passenger side, Jacob nods and climbs into the driver's seat, glancing back at his son as Catherine clicks the safety harness into place, she looks to him, Jacob strokes her cheek and then turns forward to start the car. "Here we go" Jacob tells them and then drives away.

.....................

Rosalie and Emmett share a look, he kisses her and then they climb into their own car, it pulls out of the Cullen garage and drives away from the house. Emmett takes her hand and squeezes, she smiles up at him and then answers her cell phone.

"We just left" Rosalie states. "We're right behind you, little sister"