Do Peaches Have Teams?

So it occurred to me the other day that I've never read a Team Jacob fic. Crazy hunh? For as much as I feel for that no-so-little guy, I've never gone out and found a fic where he gets his happily ever after with Bella. So odd.

What made me realize this, of course, is that I found a lovely story where Jacob gets just that: Bella all to himself, forever. And since it's even rated K+, I knew I had this weeks pick for TPG. It's a great, short one-shot called The Third One Between by Stretch, an author whose work I became familiar with due to her FABULOUS one-shot for the Love for the Unloved contest: The First Five Times. Please, if you haven't had a chance to read this great story about Leah, run don't walk, over to FFn and do so NOW!!

The title, The Third One Between, comes from a beautiful and haunting Vienna Teng song, Between.



This story gives us a slice of Bella and Jacob's life a few years down the road. A future in which we can only assume that Edward never returned and Bella eventually did recover, with the help of her own, personal sun. Bella's had a bit of a shock, though, and as Jacob arrives home, she's reluctant to share it with him.

“Bella?” he asked tersely. “What is this?”

Her mouth went dry, but the shock that rushed through her frame was quickly replaced by anger. “You went through the trash?!” Bella demanded in response, slamming a stack of plates down on the rickety kitchen table.

“No, I knocked the basket over looking for band-aids under the sink and this just happened to fall out.” Jake waved the stick at her incriminatingly. “What, were you not going to tell me?” His expression was pained but his voice was full of tightly controlled anger. It was the tone he used when his shape didn’t want to stay together.

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s not like that,” he echoed. “Is this a pregnancy test, Bella?”

She couldn’t meet his eyes, turning back to the counter and gripped the edge to steady her shaking hands. “Yes.”

“Is it positive?”

“Yes,” she muttered again.

“Then I guess it’s exactly what I think…”

The silence was deafening. Bella had never fully understood that phrase until just then, when the dripping of the sink seemed to echo across the expanse between them like battle cry. The anger was seceding from her veins now, being replaced by the familiar gut wrenching fear that had gripped when she’d paced the length of bathroom earlier this evening.

“I have an appointment at Emily’s clinic tomorrow morning before work,” Bella said softly, staring down at her chipped nails. “I was going to tell you when I was sure-”

“Sure?” Jacob interrupted, his voice now coming from close behind her. “There’s four more tests scattered all over the bathroom floor right now. All different brands. Bella?” He crossed the room in a single stride, his hand lightly reaching for her arm. “Bella, are we having a baby?”

She couldn’t answer. The fear seemed to have migrated from her stomach up to her esophagus, and Bella knew that if she tried to speak she’d either throw up or cry, neither of which was an acceptable option to her. Instead she just nodded limply.

Jacob grabbed her arm gently and pried her away from the counter. An errant finger forced her to look up, to meet his eyes. She expected to find terror spelled out all across his features, but instead his expression was one of burgeoning hope and excitement. He was a child looking at a wrapped present, barely containing his yearning for whatever lay beneath the paper. “Bells, we’re having a baby?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” she muttered, finally forcing out the words. “Yeah we are.”

His expression morphed into one of utter reverence. He reached around behind her and tossed the test onto the counter.

“Don’t put that by the food!” Bella protested, voicing the first reaction that came to mind. “I peed on it, for crying out loud!”

But Jacob didn’t say anything. He just dropped to his knees and with the most delicate of touches he grabbed Bella’s hips and pressed his ear to her abdomen.

Bella didn’t know weather to laugh cry. “You really have gone off the deep end, Jacob!” she seethed. “It’s not even the size of a tadpole yet. There’s nothing to hear, not even with your ears.”

“Just checking.”

Jake's so sweet and perfect in this story! If there's even a hint of Team Switzerland in you, you'll be sighing over what might have been. So please, read, review and ENJOY!!!