A/N: Hello readers, this is my first twilight story. I have four Harry Potter fics up right now, although i'm still working on two of them. I reccomend you read those two instead of the others. Anyway, I wrote this about a year ago for my friend's sixteenth birthday and I decided to post it today because I never thought this would actually happen in the saga (SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ BREAKING DAWN, PLEASE DO NOT READ.). Anyway, I've fixed some mistakes, but if you still catch any, tell me. It's short and sweet and could possibly be continued, but only according to reviews. Umm... it takes place after New Moon and so Eclipse and Breaking Dawn can be disregarded. For now, it is a oneshot. Enjoy... -janepotter22

The Heartbeat

A pale dawn peeked through the bedroom window of Isabella Swan and as the weak sunlight lit her face, she slowly came to, awakening to the gloomy, grey-and-green scene of Forks, Washington. She groaned and blinked against the intrusion of the light, giving her a headache, although it was not at all like the sun back in Phoenix. After taking a few deep breaths, she sat up on the edge of her bed and blinked some more.

"Well, good morning, my love," said a soft voice. Bella's head snapped up and her eyes focused on the perfectly still form of Edward Cullen, her anything but ordinary boyfriend, sitting in the rocking chair. Her eyes roamed over his form and her heart raced in her chest. Her breath caught when she looked at his perfect face and crooked smile, and liquid gold eyes. Within a second, or maybe even less, he was sitting next to her, and his arms wrapped around her shoulders, as cold and hard as she remembered them to be. "Breathe," he instructed her, laughter in his voice. She obeyed, taking a deep breath, smelling his sweet scent. She rested her head on his shoulder and took a big whiff of him, clearly intoxicated.

"Good morning," she said back with a shaky voice.

With strong hands, Edward effortlessly pushed her from him and told her to get ready. Bella started to argue, but was silenced as Edward spoke over her. "What do I have to do, Bella, to get you to get ready?" Then he sighed. "I'm going to go get the car. I'll be here in twenty minutes. Okay?"

Before Bella could even answer, though, Edward's hands brought her face up to his and he placed his cool lips on hers. Cold and hard they were, yet he touched them to hers ever so softly. Bella nearly lost herself again, but Edward pulled away, and she could smell the sweet scent of his cool breath in her face. "I love you," he said barely audibly, and he was out the window. Bella recovered and made slow movements toward the bathroom.

Once in the shower, the hot water felt amazing against Bella's skin, which was usually cold. She scrubbed her body and let the steamy water slowly rinse off the soap. She stayed in the shower for an extra five minutes, reveling in the warmth and thinking about Edward.

When Bella made it downstairs, dressed and nearly ready to go, her headache from earlier returned. Before, it had seemed completely unworthy of any notice. She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes, but it felt like bright lights were flashing behind her lids, which made it worse. Feeling dazed and rather unsettled, she leaned against the wall and took a few, deep breaths. She felt a little better, but decided to eat and walked into the kitchen.

She saw Edward sitting with Charlie when she walked in. Charlie was talking to Edward in a low voice, but when he saw Bella, he stopped and greeted her with a big smile. "Hey Bells!" he said cheerfully. Too cheerfully. Bella looked at her dad with a suspicious gaze.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

Charlie frowned and he looked his age, or maybe older. "Why can't I be happy?" Behind him, Edward was smirking.

"You just seem too cheerful is all, Dad." Bella opened the fridge and took out the gallon of milk, then poured it into a cup. After she drank the milk, she set the empty cup in the sink and licked her mustache. Turning to Charlie and Edward, she said, "I'll just been ten more minutes." She hurried upstairs to do something with her hair and settled on a ponytail, simple and nothing special. Un-elegant. She gave Charlie a kiss good bye and Edward walked her to his car.

"So," Bella asked him once they were around the corner, "what were you and Charlie talking about?"

Edward took a deep breath and rolled his eyes lazily. He didn't answer her and instead he stopped the car in the middle of the road. When he turned to face Bella, his expression was tense and, though his eyes were still gold, they showed a strong and dangerous thirst.

"Edward…" Bella started, wary. He just licked his lips, squeezing the steering wheel. Her body's instincts were sending her all kinds of warnings and red alerts, telling her she needed to run. Get out. But she didn't listen. Bella loved Edward and she was confident that he wouldn't kill her for something so simple as her blood…

When he spoke, Edward's voice was strained and full of evil tendencies. "Bella… You smell so very delicious." And he leaned forward, resting his face in her neck. Bella was very aware of the fact that he was on the brink of losing all control. Turning into a monster. Her heartbeat quickened.

"Edward," she said. "Edward, please just… just get off!" Edward snapped back into place. His face was contorted into an expression hard to decipher, even though his features remained impossibly beautiful and perfect. He looked paler than usual (which was pretty impossible). Finally, though, he continued driving, going much faster than he should have been driving.

They screeched into the school's parking lot, catching a lot of stares as well. "Way to be subtle, Edward!" Bella hissed. "What's gotten into you!" Her headache was gone by then, but she was not feeling to happy anymore. Today was going to be a very long day, for sure. What was wrong with Edward? He was perfectly normal (for him, anyway) earlier. And why was Charlie acting so weird, too? Bella sighed loudly and pointedly and tried to forget all the weirdness that only a morning in Forks could bring.

During their morning classes, Edward tried his best to ignore his intensified problem with the smell of Bella's blood. Instead, he sought to reason out what could've caused it; what could've caused Bella's blood to suddenly smell so strong. To Bella, it was embarrassing because he was muttering under his breath to Alice his many theories, and the theories concerned embarrassing bodily functions. Alice would reply to him with her mind. They were both confused because they were sure that Alice would've seen something, but she hadn't. And even through all of his intense pondering, Edward was still able to produce perfect results in their classes. Flawless, as usual. And Bella was left with tons of homework because she couldn't finish her class work.

By lunch time, Bella was exhausted, her arms loaded down with books and notebooks and homework. Alice chuckled as she plucked Bella's things from her arms, but Bella was too relieved to feel annoyed at how her human body limited her from doing things herself.

"Thanks, Alice!" she said, massaging her arms. "You're a life saver."

"Oh, Bella…" Alice stopped suddenly and Edward looked at her with a terrified gaze. Was Alice having a moment of weakness like Edward had earlier? She must've been thinking some pretty grueling thought, about how to kill Bella, surely, because Edward gave a defensive growl. Bella's books slid from Alice's arms with a loud clutter to the floor, and she started to slowly advance on Bella. There was a mad glint in her eyes that scared Bella. Alice buried her face in the crook of Bella's neck, taking big whiffs. She squeezed the other's arms too tightly…

Suddenly, Alice was jerked away from Bella, and Edward was holding her back. "Bella," Edward said in a fierce voice. "Go. I'll take care of Alice."

Bella nodded and walked off with her face burning. What the hell was wrong with her? When she looked back, Alice was being dragged away by Edward. She didn't see the Alice she knew and loved. She just saw a monster, a monster that was ready to kill her. She sat down at the lunch table she shared with Edward, Alice, Angela, and Ben. Angela and her boyfriend were already there. When Angela saw Bella, her smile instantly pulled back into a frown, and her forehead creased with worry lines.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

Her heart was racing. "I don't know, Ange." Which was the truth. With shaking hands, Bella sat down. Edward joined her a few minutes later. Angela, with her over sensitive eyes, saw Bella's reaction when he sat beside her; she flinched and didn't look at Edward, and he busied himself with staring straight ahead. His jaw locked in place and he folded his arms over his chest.

"I'm going to get some pizza," Bella told him, and she walked in line. She could feel Angela's eyes on her back as she watched her walk in line. She wished Angela would just give it up and get back to her normal life, and her safe, human boyfriend. Bella shivered as a draft of cold air hit her.

But it was only Edward.

"I am very sorry about all that's happened today," he said from behind Bella. He slipped his cold marble hand in hers, and she squeezed it with her own. And then she could feel his cold lips on her neck. Her instinct was to shrug him off of her, because they were in public, and surely people could see. But she did not. Instead, she closed her eyes and shivered. When she opened her mouth to protest, only a sigh came out. Once her eyes were open, though, she remembered she was in the lunch line.

"Edward," she hissed, jerking away from him.

"I'm sorry, Bella." He took her arm and held it tight. His other hand turned her face to look at him. "I don't know what's going on. Alice hasn't seen anything and this is affecting us all…" He grabbed a lock of her hair and smelled it. "What is making you smell like this?"

"I don't know Edward."

"That was rhetorical, Bella." Edward smiled his crooked smile that Bella loved so much. She smiled back.

"Maybe we should go to Carlisle."

"I think that is a good idea. We'll go directly after school."

Bella smiled and stood on the tip of her toes to kiss him. She grabbed her hand and paid for her pizza and started for their lunch table. "So, are things back to normal?"

"Not really," Edward said. "We aren't a normal pair."

They laughed as they sat down at the table and Angela looked up at them, amused. "So you're feeling better?" she asked. Bella smiled and nodded.

Bella fished out her bottle of cola and took a swig while Edward sat with his arms folded over his chest, like usual. He wasn't as guarded like he was earlier. Just when Bella was taking a bite from her pizza, she saw the small form of Alice sauntering back into the cafeteria. She smiled as if nothing bad had happened just ten minutes ago. Bella smiled back and then looked to Edward for any evidence of strange news from Alice's mind. He looked stiff, but not tense. Bella figured he was still upset about his sister's near-lapse in the strict diet they shared.

Oddly enough, Bella wasn't even worried for her own life. She inwardly laughed at herself for worrying more about Alice's diet than her own life.

Alice slipped in the chair next to Bella and leaned over as if she was going to kiss her ear. Instead, Bella felt the tell tale cold breath of Alice whispering something, loud enough for only her to hear, and Edward. It was inevitable that Edward would hear her anyway. "I'm sorry, Bella. You don't understand how horrible I felt afterward. Can you forgive me?"

Bella felt Alice's marble arms wrap around her in a gentle hug, and she hugged back as tightly as she could. "Of course I forgive you!" she said, just loud enough to hear herself. "Can you forgive me for being afraid?"

"Bella," came Edward's voice. Bella could just picture him rolling his eyes and smirking, and she smiled, too.

But suddenly, strangled noise came from Edward's mouth and Alice tensed, and they both stopped breathing. Literally. Bella pulled back, and looked at Alice, but she had already resumed her normal stance. When she looked at Edward, though, his eyes were wide and his expression was one she had never seen before. He gaped at Bella for a brief moment and then grabbed her pizza, tossing it in the trash.

"Edward! What are you doing?" Bella yelled at him.

"We need to go." His eyes shifted around nervously.

"What? Why?" Bella looked around, her eyes wary. Was it another vampire? Or one of Jacob's pack? "What's going on? Is it the Volturi?"

"Not so loud about such things, Bella," Edward admonished, gripping her arm tight and practically carrying her to the parking lot. "Nothing too dangerous. Trust me." He stopped suddenly. "But this is…" He smelled another lock of her hair. "This is big."

Something shown in his eyes that Bella couldn't quite discern, but she was sure the emotion was strong and based on love. She took his hand in hers and smelled it, his scent. "What's going on?"

Edward didn't answer her, but dragged her to the parking lot.

"We can't just skip school!"

"Bella, this is bigger than school!" He was silent for a moment longer. His eyes were unfocused. There was something in his mind he was concentrating on.

"Then, what is it?" Bella said in a deathly quiet voice. Edward ignored her and started the Volvo's engine, as quiet and soothing as a cat's purr. He screeched out of the parking lot and sped along the empty, long road.

"The heartbeat is beautiful," he suddenly murmured.

Bella looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about," she said with a bit of venom in her voice. Edward smiled.

"Prepare yourself," he said.

"For what?"

"Parenthood."

Silence. "What?"

"Tell me why I hear two heartbeats, and they are both coming from you."

Tears sprung into Bella's eyes. "But that can't be possible Edward. That just can't happen with us."

"It was never disproved before, Bella. We assumed nothing would happen. I always thought I would hurt you. I never did and now this. You're pregnant."

Tears fell from Bella's eyes. She sat back in her seat as the car sped along the road toward the Cullens' house. There was silence for a very long minute as Bella's mind tried to wrap around the possibility and the reality of their situation. "Pregnant." She said quietly. Edward nodded and patted her hand.

"Yes. Pregnant. I don't know how this happened, but just know that I will stick by your side, Bella, no matter what." He turned unexpectedly, down a familiar path.

A/N: And there you have it folks. Sound familiar? Please tell me what you think. At this point I am seriously considering continuing this... I have some great ideas so far but other than those few points... and it would be way different from breaking dawn... If you'd like to see this continue, or you want to make a suggestion, review! -janepotter22