Better Man (P.L.)

Ten.

"What do you think our wedding will be like?" Olivia wondered out loud, staring up at the stars from the bed of Paul's truck.

The man in question chuckled, turning to her with fake shock. "Why, Olivia, are you asking me to marry you?"

"Oh, shut up." She slapped his arm lightly, rolling her eyes when she heard him laughing beside her. "I'm being serious here."

"You're the one who wanted to wait to marry."

"Yeah, because I don't want to be married at 18 and have everyone wondering when we'll have kids." She retorted, turning to meet his gaze. "But seriously, Paul. When you imprinted, you didn't get any visions of our wedding?"

"Wedding planning with Blondie and Pixie getting to you, huh?"

He had a point, Olivia had only been thinking about their eventual wedding because she had been planning for days with Alice. Bella and Edward were just two weeks from their wedding date and Alice had everyone she could working on different aspects of the big day. Olivia was on flower duty and since flowers were a big part of the decor, she had been looking at different wedding decorations and styles for a while.

"Paul." Olivia whined, her lips frowning slightly. "Come on."

He hummed, his hand going to rub over her cheek. He was silent for a moment, recalling the glimpses of their lives together that he saw when imprinting. "It's not gonna be a big wedding, at least not for the actual union. It won't be here, probably in DC and it'll be a rooftop. The pack will be there with some of the Cullen's and It'll be at night. It will have lots of red roses and some white vine flowers decorating the inside of our reception venue. Happy now?"

Olivia took in his words, all the details correlating to her dream wedding. She found herself smiling at the thought, knowing that Alice probably planned it and used the wedding binder Olivia hid in her childhood bedroom. "And my dress?"

"Wasn't clear. The vision was a bit blurry. Keeping it a surprise, I guess."

"It sounds great though, don't you think?" Olivia asked, Paul nodding and looping his arm around her waist. He pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I wish I could show you the little I did see, though. It was amazing, Livs." Paul sighed, looking at the sky. "We had a kid, a boy. He was the clearest thing and you were great with him."

"I've always wanted to be a mom." Olivia admitted, her hand absentmindedly brushing over her belly. "To feel a little baby boy or girl growing inside of me."

"I could make that happen." Paul commented, Olivia rolling her eyes once more.

"Are you done?"

"Just teasing, Angel." Paul licked his lips, becoming serious. "I never thought about being a dad. Not until I imprinted on you, anyways."

Olivia shifted to face him, propping her head up on her hand. "Because of your dad?"

"I guess. I mean, my parents weren't the best and I always thought I was too fucked up to have a family. To be able to settle down and be a good husband and father."

"You're not your parents, Paul." Olivia reminded him, her free hand gently turning his head to look at her. "Neither of us had great examples of marriage. But we can be better, and we will be. I know you'll be an amazing dad someday."

"Some day far far from now." She added after a moment, Paul laughing. He kissed her lightly, pulling away and leaning his forehead on hers.

"You think Bella will regret marrying him? She won't ever be able to have a family of her own."

Olivia shrugged. "I couldn't do it, especially knowing how much Rosalie struggles with being a vampire because she'll never be able to have a family of her own. But to each their own I guess."

Looking back on that night with Paul, a night where they first discussed the prospect of having a family and how Bella marrying Edward was practically giving up being a mother almost made Olivia laugh, the irony too big to ignore. She never imagined that Bella would end up pregnant, not even when Bella spoke to her about her plan of losing her virginity while human. To make it more surprising was Bella wanting to keep the baby when she had been so indifferent to the thought of motherhood before.

Olivia sighed, leaning against her and Paul's bedroom window and watching the woods for any sort of indication of action. An hour had passed since Jacob called her and alerted her that since Bella was nearly strong enough to give birth, Carlisle needed to hunt to be his strongest for the delivery. He told her that he planned to trick Paul and the others and to remain calm if she heard any howls.

Though, how could she remain calm? Soon, Bella would have the baby and there was no telling what Sam was planning to do if she gave birth before he could get to her. The war could break out for real and she had no way of knowing if she and Paul would survive it.

The forest was calm, however, no indication of movement whatsoever. It was silent as well, her ears waiting for any howls and nothing coming. She could only hope Carlisle would make it and this could finally end.

After what felt like hours, the howls finally sounded, Olivia sighing in relief when they stopped and nobody joined in to call Sam back into the forest. She left the window and crawled into her bed, forcing herself to attempt to sleep.

She had no way if knowing that the night was far from over for the Cullen's and the pack.