"P-p-p-pregnant?" Seth stuttered his mind reeling.
"Perhaps it would be best if we stepped inside. I do believe the girls are awake now. Emmett could you stay just in case things get a little out of hand." Emmett jokingly saluted his father figure before winking at Seth. The five shell shocked guys followed the vampire doctor into the room. Tamyra turned around in her bed just as Leah began to sit up."Leah it's good to see you awake as well."
"Right." Leah responded the grogginess still in her voice.
"I might as well say this out right. I did some tests…well actually I ran a lot of tests to figure out why you," Carlisle pointed to Tamyra," could have possibly fainted. As I told you earlier when you first woke, that you were exhausted but I know that from your previous physical feats that there was no way you could have worn yourself out in the short amount of time you were training today. I figured that the intensity of your exhaustion also factored into Leah's collapse. What I wasn't expecting was for the two of you to have separate factors for being exhausted. After about an hour I decided to take another test and discovered that you are in fact pregnant."
"Tamyra's pregnant?" Leah asked just as the other girl gasped.
"You're…both pregnant." A void of silence fell over the room at this statement. Tamyra broke the silence.
"But Leah hasn't been with-oh Jesus no!" Tamyra covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes went wide.
"I can assure you this ain't baby Jesus!" Leah roared back in a mix of shock and disgust. Suddenly Leah's eyes went wide as well. "That means you-you-you slept with my brother?!" Seth cowered at his sister's tone while Tamyra held up her hands in surrender.
"I didn't mean to, it's just that you were reciprocating all those feelings of submission right back to me and they were completely overwhelming." Tamyra whined weakly.
"You abandoned me with your schizo lunatic of a brother so that you could-" Leah continued to bellow completely ignoring Tamyra's excuses.
"How far along are they?" Jacob asked interrupting the argument going on between the two girls.
"Three weeks." That stopped all other conversation. Everyone's head turned slowly to Carlisle.
"That's impossible! It's only been a week." Seth stated, a little embarrassed by his own words.
"I realize that. It took me an hour to figure they were pregnant and it took me another hour to figure out that the fetuses are developing 3 times faster than they should be."
"Wait so that means…"Jacob mused verbally.
"Your gestation period will only be 3 months by my calculations," Carlisle let the statement settle in everyone's minds before continuing, "I have some concerns. It seems that phasing while pregnant takes a great deal of extra energy which is why you are in this predicament. Tamyra, you have been phasing a great deal since the start of your pregnancy?" Tamyra nodded slowly. "It doesn't seem to be affecting the fetuses but I believe it better if I check to make sure." Tamyra hesitated. Seth could sense the awkwardness and discomfort in the request and jumped to her defense.
"Dr. Cullen I don't think we should risk-"
"I'll do it."
Everyone looked in Leah's direction when she spoke.
"You can check my…mine if there's a risk." Leah knew that everyone was probably judging her at the moment. Before she could muse on the others' thoughts any longer she spoke again. "So doc where do you want me to phase?" The urgency caught Carlisle a little off guard but he told her to phase in the room. The boys left the room to give her privacy while Tamyra simply stared at her with a pity in her eyes. Leah ignored it. She quickly phased and barked to let Carlisle know he could enter again. Tamyra was surprisingly silent through the whole ordeal of giving Leah an ultrasound while in form.
"Oh my, this is incredible." Carlisle's tone of shock and intrigue caused Leah's head to whip around a little too quickly nearly throwing the vampire's hands away from her lower body. Edward had re-entered at some point to aid Carlisle. He also found the discovery startling.
"Leah it seems that when you phase, the fetus phases as well, taking on characteristics of a wolf fetus." Leah found the discovery strangely comical. It was at this point that she took note of any differences. She did feel extra weight in her abdomen and although it was barely noticeable to her, she could tell why it had slowed the other girl considerably.
"What about the whole…mix breed deal?" Tamyra asked quietly while subconsciously placing a hand on her stomach.
"I can only assume that when you phase, your fetus-"
"Baby." Tamyra quickly corrected. She would take to this so quickly.
"Of course. Your baby would take one panther characteristics." Although the thought slightly sickened her, Leah couldn't help but think how Seth could only father kittens for the rest of his life. So much for that whole bit on imprinting making stronger wolves. Leah barked a laugh earning her a concerned look from Carlisle while Edward attempted to hide his smile from having read her thoughts. After a few more moments Carlisle allowed Leah to phase back to human. Once dressed Tamyra broke the silence.
"Why were you so quick to volunteer?" Leah shrugged.
"Maybe because I don't care as much as you." Tamyra thought Leah's words over slowly before she let out an angry puff.
"You're not saying what I think that you're saying?" Leah rolled her eyes realizing that this was going to turn into an argument.
"I'm saying exactly what I said."
"Don't play games with me Leah Clearwater. You're saying that you don't want that baby."
"This fetus means nothing to me except an ingrained memory of the worst night of my life."
"It's not the baby's fault!"
"I don't care! I'm so sick of life right now and if this thing inherits any part of my misfortune it's better off not living." The two sat in a tensed silence.
"Give it to me." She whispered.
"What?" Leah asked unbelieving.
"Leah don't even play that way, I know it wasn't too long ago that you were pitying yourself because you thought you couldn't have kids-"
"It doesn't matter! What gives you the right to ask for my kid? You're already bringing one into the world effectively ruining my brother's life by turning him into a teen parent! You are not going to be that selfish by trying to obtain another!" Leah yelled back.
"What is this really about?" Tamyra asked, using that rare cold tone, the one that could effectively end conversations, the one that made you want to shrink into a hole and die because the conviction was too strong to confront. Leah didn't snap back at the girl. Instead she took the time to really wonder why she was so against the being growing within her. She thought back to her crushed dream of having 2.5 kids with Sam as her husband, them growing old together sitting on their front porch as their 5 grandkids came over for visits making a ruckus. Then she remembered Emily and how that dream twisted and contorted and somehow ended with her being a single mother to a rape baby. A baby that would have his features worst of all probably his eyes and she would hate them because she would always remember those eyes that stared at her with both pity and longing.
"Tamyra," Leah whispered sadly, "I would be a horrible mother."
"No you wouldn't!" Both Leah's and Tamyra's heads shot up at this new voice. Standing at the slightly opened door holding a tray of food and water was Rosalie. Her stone cold exterior that she usually wore around those not in her family seemed at conflict with an emotion she was trying to portray now. Her eyes flickered uncertainly between the two girls before she settled on entering the room completely. She closed the door needlessly, set the tray down and seated herself on the end of Leah's bed. Leah didn't protest. "I can sincerely say that I know how it feels to be in your position but I would never forgive myself if I didn't say this to you. It doesn't matter under what circumstances it happened or how much pain it caused, that child is a miracle. I saw myself in you when you thought you were infertile. Now I see hope and I'll be darned if you don't see it too. You kill that child and you'll be giving in to whatever evil aura you think is following you around bent on screwing up your life." Rosalie scooted closer on the bed, her golden eyes digging straight into Leah's soul. "But if you give that child a chance to live, I assure you, that you'll be the greatest mother you can be." Leah looked down at the female vampire's hand that was now clasping her own. She looked back up to Rosalie's lingering gaze before responding.
"I'll think about it." Rosalie nodded, hope lighting up her eyes again. She retrieved the tray and stood before the two smirking.
"Now which one of you fur balls want food?"
