Getting used to being partially human again was an experience Lizzie could have really done without. She was currently suffering from her period and it was no surprise that painkillers didn't work on vampires. Jacob had the unfortunate luck of actually feeling his imprint's pain and did he successfully freak out about it, too.
"I'm fine, Jake," Lizzie reassured him from her spot on the couch.
He crouched in front of her and held his hand gently to her stomach, exactly where the pain was. Jacob's natural heat helped ease the cramps and he knew it, so he'd practically become Lizzie's personal heating pad for the last two days.
"Are you sure?" Jake asked again, probably for the hundredth time.
"I'm sure," Lizzie smiled at him and sat up. "It's only my period, every girl in the world goes through this once a month."
"Not when they're vampires, hon," Billy Black stated, wheeling himself through the front door and into the living room. He had a white grocery packet in his lap.
After the Cullens initial freak out and even the pack's freak out after Sam and Leah returned to the rez, it took Lizzie a good hour of convincing both Edward and Carlisle before she could even step foot out of the house. And that's not even counting how she had to get past Rosalie and Esme, but finally, Lizzie did it and since last night she'd been staying at Jake's place.
"Dad, you're back," Jacob said as he looked behind him but didn't move from his imprint.
"What's in there?" Lizzie asked.
She pointed a finger at the packet Billy was holding and smiled, the old Black shook his head and laughed some before coming to a stop beside the coffee table.
"Here," he handed it off to her. "I know from past experience how my girls used to get when it was their time of the month. I also know your boyfriend here," Billy jabbed a thumb at his son, "is refusing to leave your side. He's planning on protecting and worrying about you but not feeding you, apparently."
Instantly, Jacob looked sheepish and his hand flew to the back of his neck as an embarrassed laugh escaped him. Lizzie grinned at the two before opening up the packet and being immediately grateful to Billy. He bought her everything she needed; heating pads, snacks that ranged from chips to chocolate, and even her favorite bubble tea.
"Thanks, Dad," Jacob said, feeling his girlfriend's happiness.
"Well, one of us has to make sure my future daughter-in-law doesn't die on me when you go into full panic mode," Billy stated.
Lizzie shyly smiled at that and if she could blush that's what she would be doing. Wait, could she blush now? Her cheeks did feel a bit warm or was that just because of her sudden surprise period? She didn't know and she didn't want to get up and check in a mirror to find out.
"I know, I'm sorry," Jacob apologized both to his father and then to Lizzie as he took her hand and kissed the top of it.
She moved her hand and instead intertwined their fingers. She knew Jake was worrying more about her situation than she was, but somehow she couldn't really bring herself to worry much about what was happening to her.
It wasn't like she was slowly turning human again. She was a vampire, she was always going to be a vampire, and personally, she liked being a vampire.
The rest of the day was filled with Billy cooking them lunch, Jake fussing over Lizzie, and Lizzie trying to remind her boyfriend that she was really perfectly fine.
✦✦✦
"I don't like it," Damon said out of nowhere.
It was the day before the newborn army was predicted to arrive. Alice had seen them and also seen the exact location they seemed to have chosen for this war. It was perfect in Lizzie's opinion, secluded and away from innocent humans. But it also gave the Cullens and the pack a few complications.
"I'm pretty sure I didn't ask for your permission, Salvatore," Lizzie shot back.
"And I don't remember caring about your consent on things, baby Cullen," Damon pointed out.
"She'll be fine," Jacob cut in.
They were currently situated in Sam and Emily's house with the pack all scattered around the living room. Emily was in the kitchen working on sandwiches and muffins while Sam, Paul, Jared, and Quil busied themselves with watching the game on tv. Leah was curled up in Damon's side with Seth at their feet and Embry was sitting on the back of the couch next to Jacob, who had Lizzie in his lap.
Pack dynamics had changed so much since the last generation of Quileutes. They couldn't stand vampires but here their children and grandchildren were peacefully sitting in a room with them. Two of the wolves had vampire imprints and the rest were all pretty good friends with them. Times had seriously changed.
"You've already taken me out of the fighting, Damon," Lizzie told her great-uncle-something calmly. "You can't stop me from protecting Bella as well. In case you forgot she's not only my brother's La Tua Cantante but she also happens to be my cousin."
"Oh, believe me," Damon scoffed and rolled his eyes, "it's hard to forget."
Jacob kissed Lizzie's shoulder when he felt how tense she was getting. He knew how much she hated being this useless, but he also knew he didn't want anything happening to her. So, despite how he wanted to keep her locked up at home and safe, he couldn't. Lizzie had to at least do something beneficial for this fight or she'd do something stupid and probably get herself hurt.
"Lizzie's going to be with Bella the whole time," Jake interrupted. "They'll be on the mountain with Seth and Edward."
"Besides, Babe," Leah looked up at Damon. "We'll be in control of the fight, we can easily see what's going to happen when the bloodsuckers show up tomorrow."
Damon nodded, immediately calming down and melting with the way his mate was reassuring him. He knew he was being overcautious when it came to Lizzie Cullen but besides Stefan, she was really the only family he had left from his human life.
"Yeah, and we'll rip them apart before they can even think about tracking Bella," Jared added, dragging his eyes away from the screen in front of him.
He looked over at Lizzie and Jacob and grinned, Jacob nodded gratefully and Lizzie sent him a smile. It surprised everyone by how protective Jared had become of his packmate's imprint, he was the one wolf that hated vampires almost as much as the old generation. But that was before he got to know Lizzie, she wasn't what their tribe kept describing leeches and bloodsuckers to be like. She was kind, and funny, and always managed to reach Jared's high level of sarcasm. After a while, the two actually became great friends.
"Damon?" Lizzie asked and looked at the Salvatore expectantly.
"Fine," Damon sighed. "Just don't get yourself hurt or killed, okay kid?"
"Scout's honor," she promised and held her fingers up.
"Were you ever a scout?" Damon questioned skeptically.
"I don't remember," Lizzie laughed.
✦✦✦
In the afternoon Bella met up with Edward and he took her to where Alice visioned the battle happening. Jacob and Lizzie stood there waiting for the two while Jasper went around scouting their surroundings out, he was a soldier after all.
"Hey, Bells," Lizzie greeted her cousin with a smile.
"Lizzie," Bella breathed out almost like she was relieved to see the girl.
"It's going to be fine," Lizzie reassured as she left Jake's side to instead stand by Bella's. "We have a plan."
"Which is?" Bella asked.
"We need to mark your scent on the trees around this field," Lizzie explained, gesturing around them to the open plain. "That way when the newborns arrive they'll catch it and think you're here when you're not. It'll give us an advantage-- "
"And a headstart in fighting them," Jake finished for his imprint.
"Right, okay," Bella nodded. "Let's do it."
"Come with me," Lizzie told her and grabbed Bella's hand in hers. She then looked back at her brother as the two started walking. "We won't be long."
Edward nodded gratefully to his sister. "Make sure not to leave any openings."
"I've got it."
Jacob and Edward didn't have anything to say to each other after that, so they just stood there in silence waiting for Lizzie and Bella to finish up. They'd gotten a bit better at tolerating one another but they weren't going to push their comfort zones.
"Everything's set," Jasper announced.
He came down from the mountain the girls and Edward would be camping out on and appeared at vampire speed a few feet away from Jacob and Edward.
"You're sure?" Edward asked.
"The trap's set," Jasper nodded. "It should all go according to plan."
"Doesn't mean it will," Jacob muttered, though he knew he could be heard.
Before Edward or Jasper had time to comment or question him, Lizzie and Bella were walking back to them. Lizzie smiled when she saw her brother and Bella immediately left her side to cling onto Edward again.
"Hey, Jasp," Lizzie said.
"Well done, you did a good job," Jasper praised his sister. "The area reeks of Bella's scent. It'll give us an advantage to have the newborns all in one place."
"Good."
"Okay."
"Now what?" Bella asked, glancing between them.
"Alice says there's a storm coming," Edward informed them.
"Yeah, I can feel it," Jacob agreed.
"You two should get going then," Lizzie said, looking between her boyfriend and cousin.
"Yeah, okay," Bella stammered.
She was nervous and no one could blame her. She was the center of yet another vampire threat but as soon as Victoria was killed and Bella was turned everything would finally settle down. No single vampire would come after her again and she'd be safe from the Volturi, too, hopefully.
"It'll be okay, Bells. Eddie and I will be there in a couple of hours," Lizzie promised.
"I know," Bella breathed out.
Edward leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead, hoping it calmed her and him down. Bella managed a smile and a small nod.
"You're not fighting, right?" Jacob asked and turned to look at his beautiful imprint. "You promised me."
"I promised you, Jake," Lizzie repeated. She gave Jacob a reassuring smile before a quick kiss on the lips to keep him calm.
"Elizabeth and Edward will be taking a detoured route," Jasper spoke up to try and ease both the wolf and Bella's nerves. "So Victoria won't easily pick up on their scents. It'll be safer that way."
Jacob nodded, he wasn't happy about the separation but he trusted Lizzie enough to know that she wouldn't do anything stupid. She'd circle around the mountain to confuse the newborns and Victoria and then come straight to him and Bella.
Bella left Edward's side reluctantly and Jake knelt down so she could climb on his back. He hooked his arms under her legs to keep her steady, he and Bella gave the three vampires one last look before taking off at a running speed up the mountain.
"We need to get going too," Edward stated when the two were completely out of sight.
"Okay, let's go," Lizzie said.
She waved goodbye to Jasper and he nodded before speeding away and back to the rest of their family. Lizzie took Edward's outstretched hand and the two ran up the opposite side of the mountain together. Much to Edward's relief, Lizzie blocked off her ever-racing thoughts from him at least for the moment. She knew how stressed he was and didn't want to in any way add to her twin's already growing anxiety.
They stopped at a cliff's edge and saw the battlefield where the war would take place right below them. The sun was just barely showing and it didn't make any difference in Forks' temperature on a good day but they were in the mountains now, so the sun was just for show. The cold climate around them gave off a chilling wind and the threat of snow or rain would soon be following.
Edward stepped closer to the edge but unlike his sister, his face started to gleam and shine like a million small diamonds glistening on his perfect marble skin. Lizzie was always fascinated by the true nature of the vampires that they were, how extremely beautiful and flawless, and how they didn't burn or even have a vampire face when they lost control. It was all so different from the Original bloodline vampires.
"This will work, Edward," Lizzie told him.
"If it doesn't?" he questioned without looking at her.
"Then we make another plan and make sure we win," she said definitely.
Edward wished he had as much confidence as his sister did. Hell, he wished he was as brave and as strong as she was on her weakest day.
He looked at her for the reassurance and comfort he desperately needed and Lizzie smiled back at him brightly. She wrapped her arms around his one and rested her head against his shoulder with her hands covering his.
"Don't worry, big brother. I'm right here."
Edward didn't say anything and rather kissed the top of his sister's head before resting his own against hers as they waited.