Baby Fever [Jacob & Edward]

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.