a/n: this might need a lil editing.
Edward nibbles at his fries despite being unamused by Darlene's conclusion of his current condition. He's gone back to bundling up in Jacob's shirts, adding a hoodie on top for added modesty.
Jacob wants to tease him about it, but his head is elsewhere as he tries to discreetly look into the man's ex. There weren't a lot of places she could be. Her father, Charlie Swan, lived in town. He assumes that would be the second place a concerned mother would look after searching Bella's house. He could call hospitals in the surrounding area, if she were struggling to keep both her and the baby alive, she could've checked herself into a hospital. He sends a list of hospitals to Stanley and asks her to look for a generic description of the woman he was looking for: Brown hair, brown eyes, five months pregnant, potentially in distress. It's a wide net, but the chances of her giving her name and her mother not having found her already were low. He sends a picture of Bella and tells her to take Mike and show it to the front desk at the hospitals that gave an affirmative.
He's more curious about what Charlie can tell him. Maybe he had more information than the Chief or at least enough to guide Jacob in the right direction.
Charlie opens the door slowly, before his eyes narrow and he throws it open the rest of the way.
"Jacob?"
It suddenly dawns on Jacob that he hasn't seen the man since his dad died. Despite working in the same station, he's not sure he's even accidentally bumped into him.
"Mr. Swan, I wanted to ask you some questions about your daughter." He watches as the man blinks a few times as if it takes him a moment to comprehend the words coming out of Jacob's mouth.
"Bella?" he asks, head cocking to the side in confusion.
"Yessir, Chief Dwyer said she was missing," Jacob elaborates, slightly miffed by his confusion.
He watches the man's confusion morph into concern as he stares at Jacob.
"I-I talked to Bella last week. She said she was with her mother." All of the color has drained from the man's face as his eyes search the air for answers.
If that were true, Dwyer hadn't alerted anyone. It was pretty clear in the little briefing that they'd had, that she wanted to keep this quiet. But not telling Bella's father? Jacob's not sure if it's because she doesn't think Bella's in actual genuine danger or if it's because of her condition and how'd she'd gotten into that condition. He doubted she wanted the entire station knowing that she was not only pregnant out of wedlock when she'd previously been engaged, but she'd also gone missing while pregnant with a coworker's baby. Without context, it seemed more than a little suspicious.
"I'm sure she's just with a friend." Jacob offers, trying not to startle the man more than he already had.
The expression on Charlie's face says he highly doubts it as he wracks his brain.
"Maybe she's with that Cullen boy." Jacob hears him mutter before pulling out his phone and Jacob has to train his face to keep from looking completely dumbfounded by the conclusion.
"Cullen?" He forces himself to ask.
"Yeah, she's pregnant with his baby," He admits before looking like he immediately regrets it, as he glances back at Jacob, "she was crazy about him at one point, but we thought that was all over."
It suddenly truly dawns on Jacob that this relationship was serious, serious enough that they'd been engaged at one point. That type of connection might mean that she'd been close with Edward's family. Emmett and Jasper seemed completely unaware, but that doesn't mean she hadn't gone to other family members, more qualified family members.
"Was she close with his family?" He asks and watches as Charlie nods his head while wracking his brain.
"They were her only family for a really long time." He says it as if he's trying to imply something, eyes watching Jacob to see if he understands.
Jacob's seen these types of implications before. Those aren't going to help him find his daughter when the man he's trying to point the finger to has been in his bed for the last five months. Edward doesn't have her cooped up in a tower somewhere.
Some of Edward's family members might have answers for her though. It was about the equivalent of Edward appearing on his doorstep with Bear. She wasn't having a normal baby, maybe she'd gone to people she thought could help more than her own family could.
Jacob only nods before thanking him for his help and heading back towards his car.
Edward's still glaring at him when he climbs inside, before he turns his ire towards Yorkie. Yorkie slides out the passenger's seat with a with little apologetic smile.
"He's here for your safety, Eddy." He sighs as the man slides across the middle compartment to plop into the passenger's seat.
Edward says nothing as he goes back to sipping at his cup.
"Do you think she could've contacted one of your family members who could help her with this sort of thing?"
The question has Edward pausing mid-sip as he stares at the glove compartment before looking over at Jacob.
"Carlisle." He mutters before putting the straw between his lips.
The diner is lively, filled with as many people as they can legally stuff into a building so small, but their booth is still open and Darlene guides them to it with the biggest smile on her face as she rushes off to fix their drinks.
Edward's happy to not have to face interrogation just yet as his mind reels. He's going to have another kid soon and the mother of his child is in the wind. A kid that would probably have his eyes, his teeth, and his appetite. Carlisle might be helping her, but why wouldn't he contact Edward? Even if he thought Edward knew, if her chances of surviving were low, he'd think contacting him would've crossed his mind at least once.
He lets out a sigh and feels his hand being squeezed as Jacob tries to distract him. He's only brought out his own head by a drink being plunked on the table in front of him. He glances up to see Darlene watching him, mouth fixed as if she were about to say something before she glances at Jacob, who's too busy analyzing Edward's every move to notice.
He watches as the woman lets out a sigh before resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Sweetie. Whatever it is, it'll be fine. Look at how well you've done with Bear. Just don't stress yourself out too much, and it'll all work itself out," she says before giving his shoulder a squeeze, "Now how about some celebratory fries?"
Apparently, that's all of the restraint she has as she brings them their food with a devious glint already in her eye.
"That's two babies, Jacob," she says pointedly, eyeing the man to make sure he's paying attention, "I think that deserves a little more than an engagement ring."
Darlene's inquiries only momentarily distract Jacob. Once he gets over the thought of finding Bella and following leads, he finds himself thinking about what that'll mean for them. He can tell by how quiet Edward is that he's already attached. He'd seen him slide the little ultrasound photo into his pocket before they left the house. Despite not even having seen Bella or the baby bump, he's already thinking about how the kid will fit into their life, and Jacob can't say he blames him.
After seeing what happened to Bear, he doesn't want to have to solve an entire mystery just to figure out where his kid was and how they'd ended up there.
Jacob's so caught up in his own head that he only just registers the words coming out of Darlene's mouth.
"So, when did you suspect you were expecting?" she says, eyes sparkling before turning into slits, "And when were you going to tell me?"
"Um..." Edward mumbles before glancing over to Jacob.
Jacob blinks before putting on his best innocent look and squeezes Edward's hand, hoping he understands the message before turning back to Darlene.
Honestly, Darlene thinking Edward was pregnant was probably the best way of keeping this entire thing under wraps while explaining away the baby that was going to pop up in a little over four months. Until they caught Lahote, he was going to have to just roll with it.
"After I almost died, D." he says, motioning to his neck.
She nods her head slowly, mouth opened an 'o' as if that completely makes sense. She jets away to help a table who needs refills before immediately returning to the table.
"You were so sick in the hospital that I thought I was going to have to call a nurse." Her eyes are distant as if she's remembering it.
Jacob can tell the moment Edward's mind leaves the conversation as his eyes glaze over. He's pretending not to worry about her, but he can't worry about the baby without wondering how she's doing. If what he's told Jacob about the first pregnancy is anything to go by, she's probably in new territory. They were lucky that she'd made it this far.
As soon as Edward makes it home, he calls Carlisle. The man pops up on the screen looking as if he's been expecting the call.
"She showed up this morning." He says with a sigh.
This morning? Then, where has she been the last couple of days.
There are a lot of unspoken words in his eyes as he clearly waits for some kind of explanation. Edward's not even sure where to start considering he has absolutely no clue what's going on.
"I got an unmarked envelope with an ultrasound image and pregnancy test in it." He says, giving a sigh of his own.
So, they hadn't been in contact...How'd she know where he was staying?
He hasn't even spoken to Bella in a year, he doesn't know how to explain how they'd ended up here. Carlisle's expression shifts along with the new information. His perception has clearly changed as he relaxes back in his desk chair.
"So, you're not back together?" He mutters, relief clear in his voice as he looks Edward over.
"No."
"But you are with someone," he says, eyes glancing around the screen for added affect.
Suddenly, it dawns on Edward that he hadn't seen Carlisle in a while. He hadn't even thought to update the man. His earlier annoyance and confusion was beginning to make a lot more sense. Though, the envelope was starting to make a lot less sense. If she hadn't gotten that information from Carlisle, where had she got it?
"Um...yes," he says and realizes that the bed has been shifting behind him.
He turns to see Jacob peering over his shoulder, interest peeked as he watches Carlisle. He's about to explain further when Bear starts whining in her little pocket of the bed near the wall of pillows. Edward can sense the smile on Carlisle's face before he can even see it as he leans over to grab her. He pulls her to his chest and can see more questions in the man's eyes.
Whatever they are, he refrains from asking them for now.
"You said she showed up this morning?" Edward asks, and watches as Carlisle suddenly remembers why they're here.
"Yes, she said she needed some help." Carlisle elaborates before letting out yet another sigh, "The short of it is that the baby may survive, but she won't."
Edward can feel Jacob rubbing at his sides, but he's not sure who it's for at this point.
"What'd she say?" He asks, already knowing the answer to his question before he even asks it.
"She wants to go through with it." He hums out before giving a tired looking shrug.
Of course.
Edward's nesting. Edward's nested before, he's placed pillows, he's pulled out blankets Jacob hasn't seen since he was five, he's put together an entire nursery that Bear spent all of one night in. Though, this was a little different. This was nervous nesting where he just sits for hours staring at random baby blankets with little sayings on them before he decides that Jacob's desk isn't in the right spot and asks him to move it to a different spot.
It should feel like a pretty normal occurrence, there is a baby on the way. It's just odd to Jacob to have to rearrange his dresser drawers for the third time when he hasn't actually even seen the woman carrying said baby.
He's about to voice his thoughts when he hears a quiet "Edward?" behind him.
He turns around to see Bella Swan staring at a very unimpressed Edward.
"What were you thinking?"