Closing Dusk ¤ Leah Clearwater | ✔

19. Announcement

Disclaimer I own no characters belonging to twilight, they are owned by Stephanie Meyer and are borrowed by me. I only own the unfamiliar characters.

Leah

I felt at peace.

The soft sigh of cold breath over my nipple lured me from my sleep. I kept my eyes closed and just savored the rhythm of Nikolai's breathing, and the knowledge that we work through the scary downsides of my pregnancy. Or nearly so. The more alert I became, the more I remembered about our argument. I shifted, muttering lowly, and I gathered Nikolai's cold body closer. I smiled just a little when I realized we were both naked. Convenient. Yes, it was very convenient last night.
Nikolai shifted against me. His kind way of letting me know he knows I'm awake. I rock back against him. He groans.

"Morning, lover boy." I say, peeking up at him from his stomach.

"Morning, pussycat. Wild night it was, eh?"

I giggled against his chest as I hid my face. Last night was a night of many firsts for me. Luckily, I had Nikolai to be my teacher. Now I am a few steps at being more advanced in knowing my imprint; intimately.

"There's nothing to be shy of. Last night you opened up so much, in a way even I wouldn't peg you and I love you more for that." He kissed my cheek as he pulled me against him. Closer.

"What are we doing today?"

"I was thinking we have a family dinner tonight, inviting your mom and brother and stepfather. We'll announce you're expecting then."

I froze. "M-m-mo-mother." I stuttered.

"Yes Leah, it's good for your mother to be their to celebrate with you. Oh, before I forget you'll need a doctor. We'll need to get you one."

"Nikolai, um slow down." I laughed nervously. "Are you sure we want to tell my mother? We are not even married."

"You want us to get married?"
"What? No!" I immediately regretted saying that. "At least not yet. But my mom's pregnant and I don't want to overshadow hers." I added meekly.

Nikolai looks thoughtful for a second. "Sue won't see it as you overshadowing her. In fact, she'll be elated. You're getting the one thing that you thought you couldn't have. Any mother should be happy."

"Let's hope so. I don't want her or Seth running to the council. Next thing you know, the pack will be baby hunting like last summer." I shudder at the I'll thought.

"No worries, koweyka. Everything will be fine."

I wonder if he would be so optimistic if he was present here last September. When all the pack wanted was to get rid of the threat.

'It's a baby, for crying out loud. Jacob had thought.'

'Not for long. I had whispered.'

If that memory wasn't bad enough another one painfully resurfaces.

'Jacob howled. She's human, too! Doesn't our protection apply to her?'

'She's dying anyway,' I had thought back. 'We'll just shorten the process.'

I shake off the unwanted memories and hug Nikolai tighter. I couldn't bear the thought of the pack killing me to kill my child.

So, why had I so quickly voted to out Bella to kill her unborn?
Simple.