Chapter 24: 24

a/n: anotha one.

Edward comes to exhausted. It's not a natural feeling for him, he doesn't really experience it due to his inability to properly sleep. Though, he'd closed his eyes last night and opened them this morning to find that he'd managed to black out at some point. Bear's laying partially on top of him and partially on top of Jacob. He can feel her little head lift as she attempts to survey the area before she ultimately has to drop it back down on his chest. He peels his eyes open, and finds himself staring at a little, disgruntled face on a tiny head with a little tuft of hair on top that was skewing up and to the left.

Hungry.

He sits up, groaning at the ache in his neck and lower back as he does, before slowly climbing over Jacob and reaching for Bear. He carries her downstairs, trying his best to keep in a groan of discomfort with every step. He stiffly makes his way into the kitchen and immediately freezes as he catches sight of Leah standing there with a bottle already in hand.

"You should be resting." She informs him before glancing over to where Bear has started to wriggle in his arms.

"I will, I just need to feed her first." He sighs, eyeing the bottle that Leah has in a firm grip.

"I can feed her." Leah offers, arms reaching out for Bear, who has started to become more vocal about her discomfort, whining as she shoves her head into Edward's chest.

"That's okay. I can —" He starts, reaching for the bottle and watching as Leah tugs it away.

Bear's moved on from whining to outright crying and he can feel himself starting to get a little agitated. His back is killing him and he's so tired. Why wouldn't she just give him the damn bottle?

"The bond needs nurturing which means alone time," her eyes once again flit over to Bear...

and Edward can feel this sinking feeling in the pit of his gut. He knows it's irrational. Leah hadn't wanted Bear when she'd found out that her parents had been murdered. Why would she want her now? He still finds himself backing up a little despite the shrill cry coming from the baby on his shoulder.

He needs to get her something to eat.

He attempts to move around Leah, only to have her step in front of him again, arms crossing over her chest. She wasn't going to let up on this. He could feel the agitation bubbling into sheer frustration and he could feel that tell-tale stinging in his eyes and a lump forming in his throat.

He wasn't in the mood for this.

"Leah." He hears himself sigh out.

"Edward." She retorts pointedly.

"Please." He begs and watches as her resolve crumbles for just a second before she shakes her head no.

"Just take a day." She tries to bargain, holding her arms out for Bear who is howling in his ear at this point.

He feels like he's starving her. He's being selfish, should do whatever will lead to her being fed. If he keeps standing here, she's going to wake up the entire house.

He hands her over and, by the time he makes it to the bottom of the staircase, Bear's humming around the nipple of a bottle. He wanders up the stairs, trying to ignore the frustration that was quickly morphing into helplessness as he headed towards the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Though, he gets one good look at Jacob, who's sleepily staring back at him, and the tears start falling like they're out of his control. He's huffing and puffing like he's hyperventilating, and maybe he is. Maybe he's lost his mind somewhere during these last few months and he's just now realizing it.

Jacob lurches up from the bed, grimacing at the pain in his neck, but too distracted by how distraught Edward is to care.

"What's wrong?" He asks, grasping Edward's chin as he tries to look towards the floor.

He looks at Jacob like he wants to tell him, wants someone to know just how upset he is, but he can barely get out whatever it is through the huffs and puffs of air. Jacob looks around, looking for whatever it is that could've made the stone-faced man bright red and teary eyed and his eyes immediately catch the empty bassinet and then the empty bed.

Leah.

He knew this would happen, had to happen at some point with the way Leah worried over the both of them. They'd have to have a difference of opinion or Leah would overstep somehow, but he hadn't really seen it going down like this. He'd thought maybe they'd bicker a little and then have to set up some rules and boundaries. He hadn't really thought about her somehow making him cry. 'Cause he doesn't cry that often. Granted, he was crying a lot more lately, which was expected with imprinting and bonding.

The link tended to make even the most emotionally stable people a little unstable. Having babies tended to be reserved for after marking, not just because of the security of it, but because mother's instincts would be on such high alert. If they couldn't see their baby, something was wrong. Jacob hadn't really thought to have that worry when it came to Edward, but Leah had clearly seen the signs in bright, neon lights.

Jacob pulls him over towards the bed and watches as his eyes flick back towards the door. He pulls Edward on top of him and just holds him for a second, letting him cry it out on his shoulder. Once the hiccups and sniffles die down, he moves them so that they're laying down.

Edward's spent. He can tell by the way the man goes limp in his arms, eyes struggling to stay open as he snuggles further into Jacob's side. He doesn't bother with trying to have a talk with him. That would be best saved for when the world didn't feel like it was crashing down around him.

Leah's in the kitchen. She's clearly working on a spread for breakfast as she simultaneously cooks bacon, sausage, and eggs while preparing some batter for pancakes and Jacob doesn't have to think too hard about why she's clearly distracting herself.

"It was for his own good." He hears over the bacon sizzling in the pan.

He doesn't say anything as he watches her dump the sausage from a different pan onto the pile that's sitting next to a large stack of toast. Bear's sitting in her car seat on the kitchen table, face scrunching up as she takes in about eight different smells at once while listening to bacon grease violently pop.

Leah peers over her shoulder when he doesn't respond, eyeing him as if she were fully prepared to stand her ground.

"I didn't do anything to hurt him. I just took Bear off of his hands for a bit."

That sounded simple enough, but he distinctly remembers the sound of Bear howling downstairs. It's what had stirred him awake in the first place. That sound followed by a distressed Edward, had him looking around for whatever danger his brain had conjured up. Considering the severe lack of activity from everyone else, he assumes they'd all heard it as well. Maybe they'd heard more than him. Maybe that's why they weren't marching one after the other despite the strong smell of food wafting from downstairs.

He watches as she begins to wash some rice in the sink.

It's understandable that Leah would assume he wants to defend Edward. That's also a side effect of bonding. Though, Jacob knew better than to try to bicker with Leah about something so blatant. Edward wasn't going to take the time away from Bear on his own. He'd spent the last couple of months taking her everywhere and now he was suddenly supposed to be able to separate himself and he just didn't know how to do that yet.

Instead, Jacob just quietly watches as she glances around as if she's contemplating finding something else that would take more concentration than rice.

Plus, he knew guilt when he saw it. Edward had clearly done or said something that had Leah already questioning herself. When she finally turns away from the stove to look at him, she looks conflicted.

"Is he okay?" She finally concedes, shoulders sagging as she lets out a sigh.

"He's fine. Resting." As much as a vampire can rest.

"It's just...I didn't think he'd —!"

Cry. She didn't think he'd cry. He didn't seem like the type even with his previous track record. It's understandable. Most people in his position tend to lash out, say something they don't mean, maybe even try to fight. He's assuming that Edward hadn't done any of those things, if Leah's response is anything to go by. He hadn't even had a particularly good reason not to simply push Leah out of the way and grab the bottle except for his need to protect Bear.

Leah's used to being the villain. She's used to being trampled over and people attempting to hurt her. She's not used to such strong feelings. So, he doesn't say anything as she stress cooks a meal for an army...or, at most, five ravenous shape-shifters and two humans.

When Edward opens his eyes again, he finds himself staring at one of many pillows he'd perched up against the wall. For a second, he's confused, mind trying to put together the pieces. One second, he was going downstairs to fix a bottle, the next he was back in bed alone. It doesn't hit him until his phone vibrates next to his head and he flips it over to see that it's his daily call from Jasper.

He answers it, grumbling something that's hopefully close to a greeting.

"Hey, you alright?" Jasper asks, voice already layered with concern despite the fact that they'd barely spoken.

"Mm, yeah." He hears himself mumble quietly as he gets a bit more comfortable amongst the pillows.

There's a pause where he can practically hear Jasper contemplating his next words carefully.

"Uh, Quil told me to call..."

"Quil?" He mumbles quietly. Jacob's cousin Quil?

Why would Quil contact his brother and tell him to call Edward?

He blinks a couple of times, racking his brain for what would warrant that type of response. That's when this morning comes back to him. It hadn't occurred to him that the entire house had heard him have some kind of episode. Apparently, so disruptive that they'd called in his brother in for reinforcements.

He lets out a little hum, trying his best to tamper down his own embarrassment as he hides his face partially in a pillow.

"I dunno." He finally mumbles.

'Cause he doesn't know what's wrong with him or why he'd reacted like that. He hadn't come up with some kind of answer the last time he'd gotten all upset. It just seems to be where he's at nowadays.

"He said you sounded upset." Jasper informed him.

"I was." He mutters more to himself than anything.

He was really upset, unreasonably upset. Why?

"Wanna talk about it?"

Did his brothers not have lives of their own? People to worry about that weren't him?

He lets out a sigh.

"I just — Leah wanted to keep Bear for a while and I just..."

Lost it. He'd absolutely and completely lost it and he didn't know why. He'd spend plenty of time with Bear when Jacob was in the hospital. He hadn't solely cared for her, Leah stepping in when he wasn't feeling particularly good, but for the most part, she was his responsibility. He'd let Leah take care of her before but something about this morning felt different.

He just felt off.

"Has Leah taken her before?" Jasper asks in his best therapist voice.

"Yeah, Jazz. All the time." Edward sighs.

"Okay, so what was different about those times compared to this one?"

He's about to roll his eyes and contemplate finding a way to wriggle out of this conversation when he's suddenly aware of the dull, throbbing pain in his neck. He reaches up, touches the spot and is suddenly reminded of last night.

He hadn't been bonded before. He assumes, if Jacob's previous worries were anything to go by, it would have some kind of a strong effect on him.

"Uh...well..." He mumbles into the phone, eyes searching the ceiling for something that neighbored the truth without embarrassing the shit out of him.

There's silence from both of them for a stretch of time before Jasper speaks again.

"He finally marked you, didn't he?" Jasper's voice fizzles through the phone and Edward can hear his brain already preparing to relay Edward's answer to Emmett.

Edward doesn't say anything, allowing the blanks to fill themselves in.

"So, you're experiencing separation anxiety?"

Jacob ignores the way he can feel eyes on him as he nibbles at his breakfast, mind focusing on Edward's movements upstairs. He's clearly no longer distressed, but that seems to have replaced itself with a couple of other emotions.

The entire table is pretending not to wait for some kind of fight to break out between him and Leah. He can practically feel Seth clench his teeth and Quil sipping nervously at his coffee. The pack being nervous is putting Mike and Jessica on edge. They look like they're trying to figure out what's going as they peer across the table at each family member. When he finally gives up on breakfast and stands from the table, he can hear Mike jump at the sound of his chair scraping against the floor. He doesn't spare anything except for a confused glance before heading for the stairs.

Edward's still in his corner. He turns over at the sound of the door opening and he immediately looks shy, clearly trying to make himself smaller amongst the pillows. He's showered and he's drowning in one of Jacob's shirts.

He must be feeling better; that'll ease Leah's nerves.

The thought pops into Jacob's head before immediately vanishing as Edward turns to adjust the blankets draping from the headboard. The oversized shirt rises up to drape across the curve of his ass before resting atop it.

Guess he hadn't bothered with underwear.

Jacob doesn't say anything, curiously watching him finish his task. When he's done, he plops down on his calves with his thighs partially spread as he appraises his work.

"Good?" Jacob asks as he makes himself comfortable on his side of the bed.

He doesn't get a response. Edward just crawls over to him, tossing a leg over Jacob's waist before lowering himself down on Jacob's lap.

There must be something in the way Jacob looks at him because he looks hesitant when Jacob finally properly looks him in the eye.  He looks like he regrets being so confident. Jacob's lifts his hands to rubs up and down Edward's sides, underneath the shirt that's now pooling around his waist, before pressing his lips up against the mark. He can feel Edward relax ever so slightly, but some of the tension remains.

"There's something wrong with me." Jacob hears whispered somewhere near his temple.

He sounds alarmed, scared even.

"It's normal, Eddy. Leah knows that, they all know that." He attempts to reassure him, placing a kiss on Edward's shoulder before raising his head up to look him in the eye.

He thinks maybe they're about to have the talk he's been putting off for the past hour and a half. Instead, he's caught off guard by Edward rocking his hips forward, rutting against Jacob's pajama pants. It's not exactly news to him that the man his half hard considering he's been strutting around half naked for the past ten minutes, but he's still a little surprised at how quickly he fills out.

"Well, good morning to you, too." Jacob hums as Edward yanks at his pants that have seemingly offended him by just existing.

Jacob slips them down just enough only to find himself grabbing at Edward's hips to keep him from simply sinking down onto Jacob.

"Box." Jacob huffs when he's glared at.

"I'm clean and so are you, I've seen your records. Plus—" Edward takes Jacob's hand and leads his fingers down in between his thighs and to his hole only to find that he'd apparently found a way to entertain himself while Jacob was downstairs.

Jacob's about to make some quip about something, but all of the oxygen leaves his brain as Edward sinks down until his ass meets Jacob's hips. To make matters worse, he doesn't even give Jacob time to think. He starts bouncing up and down like it's a race against time, eyes closed as he uses Jacob's shoulders as leverage. Apparently, he was just a bit rusty last night. Today, he's pushing himself down on Jacob's dick like he was on some kind of mission, face scrunched, eyes closed, completely determined. Jacob watches him, absolutely mesmerized as he grinds down, quiet groan leaving him before he's almost off, only the tip in before he's lowering himself down with alarming speed. All Jacob can do is touch. He runs his hands over Edward's back, sides, thighs, takes a handful of one his ass and gives it a squeeze. Edward's cheeks are as pink as Jacob's ever seen them and he swears he can see sweat beading on the man's brow.

Jacob's about to maybe suggest that he slow down a bit, take his time. Though, by the time his brain and mouth connect, he can feel the burn low in his belly steadily rising.

"H-Hey —," he hears himself mutter right before Edward stutters to a stop, mouth open in an 'o', eyes unfocused.

He trembles through his orgasm, head on Jacob's shoulder as he breathes through it, hips rocking ever so slightly. He eventually has the strength to lift himself up and off of Jacob. He reaches down to finish the job, only to have his hand smacked away as Edward lays on his belly. He grabs Jacob's cock by the base and presses the tip against his lips and Jacob's not sure how long he's going to last.

He opens his mouth a little further sucking on just the tip itself and Jacob swears Edward's trying to prove something, but he's not quite sure what.

Either way, he only gets about half an inch further and Jacob cums without warning, teeth biting down on his own tongue to keep him from making any noise.

Edward doesn't seem too perturbed by it, swallowing before moving back up to settle himself on top of Jacob before leaning down to capture his lips.

Jacob lets out a sigh, eyes turning up towards the ceiling as he mentally wrings the neck of whoever the hell is knocking on his door. It can't be one of the pack. They knew better. He moves Edward off of his lap and stands with a grunt, pulling his pajama pants up as he slowly makes his way over, cracking the door ever so slightly and glaring down at a flustered looking Mike. At first, he thinks he's been listening until he opens his mouth.

"We spotted Lahote about a mile away, managed to chase him out of the neighborhood but they're still looking out for him." He rambles, sounding like he's out of breath.

He keeps going on and on, clearly not dissuaded by the displeased expression on Jacob's face, about perimeters and plans and shit that Jacob doesn't particularly need to know at this very moment. Eventually, he stutters to a stop, staring at Jacob for a moment before something seemingly dawns on him.

"Am I interrupting something?"