All Bark, No Bite [Jacob & Edward]

26.5

Carlisle offers to make a chart for them to make sure they understood. The chart has Bella, Edward, and Jacob and all he does is cross out Bella's name. 

"The witch basically removed Bella's DNA or made it obsolete and replaced with Jacob's much more durable traits." He glances over at Edward, Jacob, Leah, Quil, Seth and Embry as if he's questioning whether he needs to explain further. They all just stare ahead blankly.

"The kids are technically fifty percent vampire, Edward, and fifty percent werewolf, Jacob. Though, considering the basic traits for a vampire are recessive such as light skin and light eyes, both of those kids are going to have werewolf traits or, in this case, Native American traits. That means dark eyes, dark hair, dark skin." He slowly turns around again, eyes searching for understanding.

"So, they're still half-vampires, they just look like us?" Quil says very slowly and Edward can see the exact moment Carlisle's eyes light up.

"Exactly!" He booms, beaming at the group.

"So, the witch lady was wrong?" Embry asks, not really believing anything he's hearing as he glances over at Seth.

"Yes, on the fact that there will be no indication that either child is a vampire...because they'll be newborns, ergo no teeth, that look like Jacob. No, in the fact that, technically, we have broken the law and both girls are half vampire." He looks around again hoping that everyone is on the same page.

"So, if she does want to march up to the Volturi with a newborn..." Seth begins, looking unsure of himself.

"It'll look like them walking up and slaughtering you for no reason which would be very bad. A vampire slaughtering a werewolf's child would result in actual war." Carlisle says bluntly before turning back to scribbling on the little white board he'd brought upstairs.

There's a bit of silence where everyone just stares at the chart.

"That doesn't mean they won't..." Quil begins and doesn't bother finishing.

Attempt to kill the babies and Jacob anyway...

They all looked around at each other thinking that this entire thing sounded like a big leap. People who would hop on a boat to come and kill children probably didn't exactly care what they looked like. The thought buzzes in between all of them but none of them speak a word of it in front of Jacob.

"So, what happened to Bella's DNA?" Leah finally speaks, eyes looking over Carlisle's diagram.

"I have no clue. It's beyond me, I'm not a witch, I'm a doctor." 

Jacob glances over to the corner where Green Eyes is back and casually watching them. She seemed thoroughly invested in this theory as she looked between them and the whiteboard. 

Jacob waits until the pack and Carlisle are marching down the stairs before he finally opens his mouth to ask.

"What the hell is going on?" 

Edward seems a bit taken aback by the sudden outburst until he follows Jacob's eyes over into the corner.

"I told you she was yours. Your DNA was necessary to keep her alive." Green Eyes answers as if it were that simple. 

"So, he's right?" Jacob asks, and he can hear skepticism thick in his own voice.

"Yes, they'll look like you. They really don't have any other choice." She glances over at Edward. "Your partner is something of a blank canvas in comparison."

She whispers the last part as if Edward can hear her.

Jacob glances over at Edward before quickly looking away when he's caught.

"Okay, so will that stop them from coming?" Jacob can hear the hope creeping into his voice before he can even think to prevent it.

"No," she takes a moment to shift further into the corner, "but it might spark doubt. Slaughtering young werewolves, while not uncommon for Cold Ones, might not be a game they want to play with over a hundred werewolves lurking in the distance."

Unfortunately, the answer doesn't stomp out the hope that Jacob can feel blooming in his chest. There might be a chance that they could actually survive this. 

"The only issue is providing a second parent," The witch says, looking pointedly over at Jacob as if he should understand, "If you want to ensure that they believe they've made a mistake, killing the 'mother' would be your best bet. Bella may have told them that the child was hers, but it would your word against a dead woman's."

If Bella's dead, who was going to defend her notion that one of the children Jacob was currently carrying was hers?

Jacob glances over at Edward who's been watching him stare into the corner and Jacob can tell the exact moment when he'd started to listen to Jacob's thoughts.

"If she thinks it'll work." Edward mutters, seeming completely on board with the solution.

The room goes quiet for a moment before Edward nudges his arm.

"Ask her where she was earlier."

Jacob looks over at the witch for answers.

"Replenishing potions, re-upping on spells so you don't die," she says before crossing her arms, "Why?"

"There was someone with red hair and blue eyes standing over there." Jacob points over the corner on the other side of the room. "She says I'm going to die along with one..."

...of the babies.

Jacob gestures into the air and then lets out a sigh.

"Witches don't exactly know the future. You want to know the future, ask his sister." She says, gesturing to Edward.

It's a good point. The only issue is that they don't want to know the future. They would, in fact, like to pretend that it's still a coin toss. It was hard not to have some form of hope that they'd pull off a miracle and they didn't need Alice spewing one of her premonitions. Plus, if Alice hadn't come stumbling over to the house to tell them, it probably wasn't good news. 

Edward watches Jacob pick over a hamburger. They've finally made their way downstairs together and they have the TV playing just loud enough to where they can hear both the weird commercials and the sounds of the ocean outside. They aren't listening to either. Edward's tuned into other people's thoughts and Jacob smells something wafting in the air. 

Edward's frowning, hands clenching his knees, eyes staring at the screen but he's clearly not seeing anything in front of him. Jacob thinks the scent smells a lot like copper. 

They're both shaken out of their own heads by Quil standing at the glass door staring in. Edward hops up to open the door and he barely has it cracked before Quil's babbling.

"Bella's bleeding out; they can't save her unless she gets the bite."