Edward hadn't asked Jacob to elaborate. He'd just turned over with a huff. Though, now that he was downstairs with Leah by his side as he bathed Bear, he couldn't help but be curious. What had Jacob meant by 'claim'? He assumes by the way the he'd clamped his mouth shut, that'd he let something slip that he hadn't meant to. Was it something serious?
Edward stops his rinsing to look over at Leah, who's holding Bear's head. Something about the sudden lack of movement causes her to stop as well before peering over to meet his gaze.
He clears his throat, suddenly nervous. What if it was something personal that he shouldn't be sharing? Just because Darlene asked doesn't mean Jacob wants his entire family to know. He seemed like he regretted even muttering it to Edward, despite making it seem like it didn't mean much.
"You alright? You want me to finish bathing her?" Leah asks, looking down at Bear, who's staring up at him as she wriggles around in the warm water.
"Uh, no, I'm fine. I just -", he glances up before going to clean Bear's face, "I was just wondering..."
He stops, frowning to himself, before significantly lowering his voice. He was in a house full of werewolves, there wasn't a whole lot he could do to stop them from hearing him, but he could at least make it a little harder for them to do so.
"What does it mean to claim someone?" He mutters.
He assumes the "to a werewolf" part is implied.
He's not sure how he thought she'd react, but he's not prepared for her to go stock still. Her eyes are wide as she stares at him, clearly searching his for more information. She's like that for a millisecond before she snaps back into trying to be casual.
"Did you hear this somewhere?" She asks, peering around the kitchen as if she's looking for something.
"W-Well Jacob mentioned it..." He somehow says even quieter.
The answer has her head snapping back towards him, eyes somehow wider.
"What exactly did he say?" She asks, gaze suddenly only focused on him.
Edward doesn't want to repeat the full quote. He doesn't exactly need everyone knowing that Darlene was the one to spur on whatever this was just in case it was deeply personal.
"He said he needed to 'claim' me." He all but whispers, and watches as Leah begins nodding to herself as her eyes begin to roam again.
"Okay. How about I get Bear and you go upstairs?" Leah says with a smile that's not working to hide the sense of urgency that she'd just had.
Edward's not sure what any of it means, so he just turns to head for the staircase.
Jacob's keeping himself busy. He'd spent the rest of the previous afternoon looking over the evidence and he'd spent this morning writing down alternative theories just in case his hunch was wrong. However, none of it truly works to keep his mind from wandering. Maybe Quil had sensed his frustration when he stumbled downstairs to clumsily throw a sandwich together, mind clearly elsewhere as he inhaled it, 'cause he offers up an alternative. That's how Jacob finds himself stumbling around the perimeter of the woods. The run is long and arduous and it gives Jacob time to just think without the possibility of acting.
Though, once he's back to Jacob without fur covering him from head to toe, his mind can't help but focus back on Edward. He was about 80% sure the man didn't know what Jacob was talking about when he'd let slip that he needed to claim him. Though, now that the words were in between them, said aloud for Edward to hear, he couldn't stop thinking about it.
There were so many distractions before. There was the fact that they didn't gel, Jacob hadn't even known he'd imprinted, the accident, the recovery from said accident, the case in general. So many things to keep him from thinking, but now he was at home. There was no work to do, no case to solve.
Now, all there is for him to focus on is Edward wrapped up in his bed, creating a nest to keep the baby safe.
He stumbles into the house after Quil smelling like sweat and dirt and is bombarded with Leah yelling instructions at him as soon as she realizes he's home.
"You, go and shower," then she's turning to Quil, "Embry's waiting out front for you. Seth is at a friend's house."
Jacob's confused and turns to see if Quil is just as confused, but he shows no sign of it, heading for the door, no questions asked.
"Something happen?" Jacob asked, suddenly aware that Bear's asleep in her car seat on the kitchen counter.
Had something happened to Edward?
He listens and hears the squeak of the bed frame as the man turns over.
"Edward's upstairs waiting for you," she says matter-of-factly, "take this."
She hands him a cardboard box. It's a cardboard box filled with pre-cooked food, water, snacks, Jacob can see a couple of styrofoam cups and a handful of straws, and a very glaringly obvious pack of condoms and a little bottle of lube. He stares into the box for a second before glancing up at Leah who is prepping what seems to be a night's worth of bottles for Bear.
"May I ask what the hell is going on?" He says, sitting the box on the counter.
"Edward told me what you said. The least you can do is explain to your partner what you mean, by the way. The poor man doesn't even seem to know what he's gotten himself into." She says in an admonishing tone, frown in place as she continues to twist the tops onto each bottle.
"Gotten into?" Jacob asks with a frown.
"You're going to mark him, aren't you?" Leah asks, blinking at him as if he's fallen directly on his head.
Well, that is the million-dollar question, isn't it?
"W-We haven't even fully discussed it," he stutters out, "I just sorta said it."
How did this even come up? The last time he could remember Leah and Edward interacting was Edward running away from her like she was the boogey man and now he was telling her things Jacob said.
"Well, go and discuss it and if you need an extra day or two, I'll tell the boys." Then, she's trotting off with a little box of bottles under one arm and Bear in the other as she heads for the stairs herself.
With one sentence he's somehow backed himself into a corner.
He heads for the stairs much slower than Leah had, making his way up leisurely strolling over to the door before opening it at a snail's pace. On the other side, Edward's stretched on his bed in one of Jacob's shirts. The thing drowns him, pooling around his thighs like a dress.
This conversation was going to go terribly.
He forgoes his usual greeting of pecking Edward on the lips, heading for the shower to scrub the dirt off and try to clear his head. What had she even told him anyway? Had she told him anything? Was he even prepared for this conversation? What if he didn't want this at all? What was he going to do with himself if he didn't want this at all? Jacob finds himself blankly staring into one spot in the shower, the little shelf that held Edward's shower gel and his razor. Then he peers up at the shower head to see his towel dangling from it. If he didn't want any of this, he was going to have to be around his scent, him, constantly.
What if he just pretended none of this happened?
Leah would never let him live that down.
He steps out of the shower, dries his body, slips into a pair of shorts and ambles out of the bathroom like a man heading towards the gallows.
Edward's still in that shirt that tucked under the curve of his ass as he lays on his stomach. He peers up from whatever he's doing on his phone to peer over at Jacob.
"How'd the run go?" Edward asks, sitting up so that he's fully facing Jacob. Jacob's eyes follow the neckline of shirt as the collar slips over one of Edward's shoulders.
"It was alright," He mumbles, realizing that he was going to have to start this conversation sooner rather than later, "worked for a bit."
"Oh?" Edward asks, head tilting to one side, giving Jacob ample view of his favorite spot at the crook of man's neck and shoulder.
"Yeah," Jacob mumbles, forcing his eyes to focus on Edward's face, "what'd you tell Leah?"
He watches a little frown makes its way onto the man man's face.
"I just asked her what 'claiming' meant." He says with a shrug and the shirt somehow falls even lower, completely off of his shoulder.
Jacob hums.
He hadn't explained what he'd meant and Edward, thankfully, hadn't asked in the moment. Though, maybe he should've. He would've known how that man felt by now. There would be no questions hanging in between them and Jacob wouldn't have to worry about explaining what he would want at the exact same time that he was thinking about maybe wanting it.
He clears his throat.
"Did she tell you?"
It would explain the shirt. It would explain the way he smells like he was fresh out of the shower as well, smelling like a mixture of Jacob's soap and his own bodywash. It would explain the way the pillows are propped up in their proper spots.
"No." He admits, clearly waiting for the explanation from Jacob.
"Remember when I mentioned imprinting?" Jacob asks, finally settling on the bed as he watches Edward nod.
"Well, 'claiming' or 'marking' is the next step after that. We mark the person we imprinted on like a promise. It's like when two people get married," Jacob tries to explain, "except a little more intimate."
"More intimate?" He repeats, question clear in his eyes.
"It usually happens during sex." Jacob states bluntly.
Edward seems to take this in before he visibly looks flustered.
"So, when I asked Leah..."
He'd accidentally set up a checkpoint in their relationship, in the minds of Jacob's entire family, that he wasn't even sure they were at yet. They moved quickly, probably due to Bear's influence, but that didn't mean they were ready for something like the bite.
"We've got the house to ourselves for the most part," Jacob points out, "so there's that."
Edward's fine with watching shitty movies and nibbling on popcorn while using Jacob like a human pillow any other night. Any other night, he'd be elated. Any other night and this would feel significant, but now he can't take his mind off of the thought of Jacob genuinely wanting to give him the mark, genuinely wanting anyone who could tell the difference, to know that Edward was his. There was something about how everyone had just believed that it was happening that made him wonder if maybe it should've happened already. Maybe, Jacob just didn't want to yet. Why wouldn't he? Was it something about Edward? Was it something he did? Was it because of what he was? Or was he waiting?
Jacob reaches around him and grabs a handful of popcorn from the bowl in his lap.
What did Edward want?
Edward didn't want this to end. He wanted to live in this little, weird family they'd created long after Bear was safe.
Though, what if marking Edward was never a part of Jacob's plan? What if he didn't want to be linked to Edward? They hadn't even gone farther than kissing, maybe there was a reason for that.
Edward's so caught up in his own head that he jumps at the sound of an explosion on the TV, completely unaware of when they'd switched from cheesy romcoms to action movies. Jacob must feel the flinch because he takes his butter covered fingers and rubs them up and down Edward's sides to comfort him.
It's kind of humiliating in a way. It's like telling your entire family that you were running off to get married and returning with nothing to show for it. It's all Edward's fault as well, he should've asked Jacob.
"Do you want to pick something?" Jacob asks from behind him, moving the empty bowl out of his lap and handing him the remote.
"No, I'm good." He mumbles, handing it back and waiting for Jacob to start going through the selection.
Instead, he's left staring at the homepage of Hulu for half of a second before he's being lifted and turned to face Jacob.
"What's wrong?" Jacob asks, as soon as he gets a good look at Edward's face.
Edward wants to say 'Nothing's wrong' and turn back towards the TV, but he feels like Jacob will just make him stare at the ridiculous trailers auto-playing until he finally spills.
"I shouldn't have said anything," he mumbles, knowing that he's pouting like a kid who's in trouble.
"Hey, it's fine. They were going to assume it anyway." Jacob informs him, which doesn't make Edward feel better.
"Why?" Edward asks, voice cracking despite the force behind the question.
'Cause, why would they? Why would they assume unless it was around the time that people would usually do it and Jacob just hadn't?
Jacob looks at him for a while, like he's really analyzing him to parse what he should say next.
"A lot of werewolves move a lot faster than we have," he admits, "we're just in a less conventional situation."
Edward doesn't say anything, eyes going towards his lap.
"If I mark you, it's going to be a lot harder when the case ends." Jacob explains and Edward can feel his heart drop.
So, this was just a temporary thing? Despite the imprinting and the confessions and the overall closeness, they'd be done when she was safe.
"She won't be around forever, Eddy," Edward wants to move away, but there's not a lot of places to hide, "we bond with her here and it's going to feel like she died when she's gone."
Edward freezes at the explanation.
"What if she never leaves?" Edward mutters, picking at a string on the hem of a shirt he'd stolen out of one of Jacob's drawers.
"Baby..."
"What if they let me adopt her?" He asks and watches as Jacob looks him over again with that same analyzing look like he's gauging the situation.
It wasn't some outlandish hope at this point in the investigation. All of her family members were being picked off one by one. Plus, none of them truly wanted her because of the danger she brought. The chances of him being able to adopt her were at an all-time high.
He didn't want to be without her. He didn't want to be without either of them.
Jacob doesn't say anything, he just keeps watching Edward like he's waiting for something.
Edward feels ridiculous for even saying anything, slowly turning back around so that he was facing the TV, but he can feel himself getting genuinely upset as a movie begins to play. At least the explosions hid the sniffling.
Leah knocks at about 4:00 AM when Jacob's knocked out and Edward's hiding away in the corner of the bed, back pressed against the wall. She slowly opens the door when there is no response and looks like she's seen a ghost when Edward peers up at her.
"I came to get Bear's blanket..." she says, head tilting in an unspoken question that he didn't plan on answering. He pulls his knees even closer to his chest and rests his head back on top of them.
He's expecting her to slip in and grab the blanket that's poking out of the bassinet before scurrying off down the hall, instead she just waits for him to lift his head back up.
"Did he hurt you?" Is her first question as she shifts Bear on her shoulder.
Physically, he was fine. Mentally, he's not doing so hot.
"I'm fine." He mutters, wishing he could just leave.
He just wants to leave.
A couple of hours ago, he would've had to have been killed before they could drag him away. He feels ridiculous thinking about it now.
Her eyes flick over to where he's out, arm thrown over where Edward would normally be.
"I'll talk to him in the morning."
She says it like it holds some kind of promise. Like, she'll be able to right all of the wrongs just by 'talking to him'.
Edward only nods and waits for her to shut the door behind her before he's scooping up his phone to text Emmett.
"Jeez, Eddy." Emmett says as soon as he climbs into his Jeep.
Edward doesn't say anything as he curls up on the backseat.
Jacob wakes up to Leah standing over him, frying pan in hand as she glares down at him. It takes him a second to grasp what he's seeing, but as soon as it dawns on him, he glances over to Edward. Or, where Edward should be. The spot is empty. He must've gone downstairs and told her how the previous night had gone.
"Where is he?" Jacob asks with a sigh, and has to scoot back as Leah lifts the frying pan higher.
"I don't know. You tell me." She grits out.
Fuck.
Jacob's mind doesn't have to think long. Edward was a predictable man when he was upset. He's probably at Emmett's...wherever that was.
"I come up here at four in the morning and he's sitting up crying while you're snoozing like it's the best sleep you've ever had!"
Crying? Edward had looked upset, Jacob would admit that, but it seemed like just something he'd pout about and then they'd get over it. He barely knew anything about marking. Jacob was just trying to protect him. He knew what that type of attachment could do to someone. Just look at Lahote.
Being able to adopt Bear wasn't something that they could guarantee and he couldn't sit there and fuel that hope only to have it dashed later.
Jacob's about to say as much when Seth walks in with Bear, who's whining and crying, wiggling to get away.
"She's been like that since he left." Leah informs him as soon as she sees where his gaze has landed.
Jacob reaches for her and Seth quickly hands her over before making a swift exit. While she doesn't wiggle, she's still not happy and her cries become shrill.
"Fix this." Leah hisses before turning for the door and slamming it behind her.
Jacob lets out a sigh before calling Alice.
"Hey, do you have Jasper's number?" He asks as soon as she picks up.
"Nice to hear from you, too." She says, clearly miffed by the introduction.
"My life is falling apart here." He urges and listens to her huff before she starts reciting his number like she has it memorized.
"I expect to see you on time on Thursday." She grumbles.
"Wouldn't miss it." Then, he's hanging up to call Jasper.
Jasper picks up on the second ring.
"What'd you do now?" He huffs.
"How'd you even know it was me?" Jacob grumbles, bouncing Bear with the hopes of calming her at least a little.
"I don't have a lot of unknown numbers calling me. If one was going to call, it'd better be you." It sounds like the threat it is.
"I don't know how to quickly explain this, but I need to talk to him." Jacob sighs and there is a moment where he can hear Jasper contemplating.
"Give me the TLDL version." Jasper finally says.
"The what?"
"Too long didn't listen." Jasper explains.
Jacob lets out a sigh.
"As werewolves we have this thing that signifies a bond that's a bit more intense than marriage call 'marking' or 'claiming' and it came up and I guess he thought...Leah made him think that it'd be happening soon." He huffs out, feeling ridiculous at having to explain this to his brother of all people.
"Did she think it would be happening?" Jasper asks, clearly content to drag this conversation out before he ever handed the phone over to Edward.
"Maybe..." Jacob sighs.
"Why?" Jasper asks and Jacob can hear him sounding like he's sitting down.
"'Cause I mentioned it in passing to Edward and he asked her what it meant and she assumed that it meant that it would be happening soon." He feels like there's a bomb that he's supposed to be defusing and Jasper doesn't believe it exists, wasting precious time.
"Well, how long did Quil and Embry wait?" Jasper poses.
The question has Jacob pausing and looking up as if he'd see Quil sitting in front of him.
Why did he know they were bonded? As far as Jacob's aware, they've had a total of one conversation.
"You talked to Quil about that?" Jacob asks, aware that he's completely derailing the conversation.
"No, it's just obvious. Anyway, how long?" Jasper brings him back to the original question.
"A month." He finally answers with a sigh.
They'd known each other for years before that, their first shift came, and a couple of weeks later Quil had imprinted on Embry.
That was completely different than what was happening here. They'd come together on their own. They didn't have a baby in between them, there was no possibility for things to go terribly wrong.
"You're scared." Jasper says out of the blue, and for a moment, Jacob thinks he's talking to someone else.
"What?" He mumbles, confused by the accusation.
"You're scared. You're scared of what could go wrong instead of focusing on what you have and what you could cause to go wrong by waiting for the end of this case. Like the date isn't just some arbitrary set of numbers." Jasper rattles off.
"If I mark him with this kid here, it's going to hurt him when she leaves." Jacob informs him.
"It's gonna hurt him even worse waiting for an end that may not come. You're assuming that your ragtag team of officers will be able to not only catch and arrest the killer, but also that there will be enough evidence to convict them. They don't stay in jail, there's no way you guarantee that she's ever truly safe and you know the Chief isn't going to give up that easily." Jasper says, sounding like he was flipping through channels on the TV as he casually dismantles Jacob's argument.
Jacob lets out a sigh, eyes glancing over at Bear, who's in between bouts of crying as she whines into his chest.
"Plus, Edward got into contact with the Chief quite a bit ago and she got into contact with Social Services who got into contact with a judge and while the paperwork and overall proceedings will be hidden from the public, she's pretty much his."
"He's not there, is he?" Jacob mutters, feeling like he'd just lost a debate that he hadn't known he'd agreed to.
"Nah, he's with Emmett and, contrary to popular belief, we live in two different houses."
Emmett picks up on the fourth ring.
"Please just let me speak to him," he says before the man can start rambling.
"You called Jasper first, didn't you?" Emmett says, clearly amused by the pleading.
"Yes, I'm aware of my blunder. Now, please." He tries again.
He can hear the phone pass hands before he's met with a quiet, hoarse voice.
"What?"
Jacob could go about this a multitude of ways. He could plead for him to come home. He could promise him that they could talk about it when he got here. He could tell him he was right and Jacob was wrong.
"Bear misses you," he can practically hear Edward rolling his eyes, "can you talk to her?"
Jacob puts the phone on speaker and holds the phone near where Bear is wriggling on his shoulder.
"Are you serious?" Edward huffs, and it's not what Jacob was hoping for because Bear can hear the distress in his voice which only makes her more upset as she begins to cry again.
"I'm sorry, okay? I thought I was doing the right thing." He says, trying to talk over the sound of Bear howling.
"The right thing?" He sounds like he's crying.
Shit.
"Yes, the reason she doesn't have parents is because a bond got broken. This stuff is more serious than how you may feel right now. I couldn't hurt you like that."
"And here I was thinking we were making a decision together." Edward mutters around a hiccup.
"A decision that you don't know all of the terms of, Ed. That just didn't seem fair."
It's quiet on the other end of the line besides a little shuffling. Jacob assumes he's trying to calm himself down.
"I'm adopting her."
Bear wiggles in his arms as if she's suddenly aware that she's being spoken about.
"I heard," Jacob says with a sigh, "she really does miss you."
There is another stretch of silence.
"Hold the phone up to her ear."
Jacob takes the phone off speaker and holds it up to where Bear can hear. It takes a minute but once she's listening, she's relaxing against Jacob's shoulder like Edward was right there next to her.
She quietly listens to him speak until her eyes become heavy. A couple of minutes later and she's out. He puts the phone up to his ear.
"Your other father is an idiot." He hears loud and clear.
"Oh, wow."
"I was talking to my kid." Edward huffs out.
"Well, she's sleeping so you're left with me, her idiot father." Jacob hums.
He admittedly likes the sound of it despite the insult.
There's another little pause. Jacob almost believes that he's actually gotten tired of speaking to Jacob.
"Do you actually want me?" He hears Edward quietly ask.
"Yeah, more than anything." He confesses just as quietly.
"Then, listen to me for once," he mumbles, "and come and get me, dumbass."