A/N: Oh, my darlings. You never fail to make me smile. Obviously, I'm a pushover. Someone begged and i caved. Don't count on out happening again. Humph. Don't assume. That is my advice to you re: this story.
Some part of Edward was aware he must have looked like a deranged serial killer. He was pacing the room, muttering to himself, mostly ignoring the nurses asking him progressively more irritating questions. His hands were still shaking uncontrollably. He was quite literally a bloody mess. It stained his shirt and bits of dried blood were flecked around his fingernails.
This entire night was surreal.
Edward was living from one minute to the next, doing what he had to do, what he thought was right, or what his instincts demanded. At first, he only left Bella with the baby long enough to retrieve a towel and his cell phone. Babies needed to be wrapped in something, right? And this one was covered in gore. A towel seemed like the best option.
Once he had the phone, he dialed 9-1-1 and then he listened half to the operator, half to Bella who absolutely did not understand what was going on.
Luckily, it was Forks and it didn't take long for the EMT's to get there. Edward stood back, letting them take over, but he refused to leave the cramped little bathroom, perching instead on the farthest lip of the tub rather than let Bella leave his sight. The medics didn't argue when Edward followed them into the ambulance.
By then Bella, hysterical with confusion, had been sedated for her own protection, leaving Edward to hold her clammy hand while the EMT's yelled at him and the baby screamed its head off. They were pissed, berating them for being so stupid. "How the fuck did you kids think you could do this by yourself? Were you trying to hide it? Trying to keep it a secret? It could have killed them both!" one of the medics fumed.
Edward had just stared dumbly, not comprehending what he was being accused of. His mind was stuck on stupid.
When they got to the hospital, the doctors and nurses assaulted him with a barrage of questions. Some he knew - her name, of course, her mother's number, though good luck getting a hold of her - most he didn't.
He briefly wondered what the hell he was going to tell his parents about where he'd been tonight, but dismissed it as unimportant at the moment.
With all the questions, reality was beginning to sink in.
Bella - who he was positive didn't have a boyfriend - had been pregnant.
He'd delivered a baby - Bella's baby - on the floor of her bathroom.
The nurses assumed he was the father until he snarled at them that Bella was a virgin and he had never touched her and none of this made any fucking sense, g'dammit.
When the nurses finally left him alone to wait, Edward began to pace. His thoughts were flying at a mile a minute, each of them more confusing than the last.
"I realize there's a whole show about it, but I will never understand how anyone wouldn't know they were pregnant."
Edward stopped short, blinking in confusion. That was one of the thoughts flying through his head, but it was definitely not his voice. In his frazzled state, it took him a minute to realize he was overhearing a conversation between the nurses at the station just around the corner.
"Is that what happened?" a more matronly voice came. She clucked. "Honey, in my years, I've seen everything. It does happen and there are all sorts of reasons for it. Some babies sit further back so you don't show very much. Some babies aren't as active. And then the power of denial can't be ignored." She chuckled. "If it doesn't occur to you that you're pregnant, your mind can excuse away a lot of what your body does."
Wringing his hands, Edward considered this.
He'd been wondering too how he couldn't have known, but Bella didn't look big. She looked like she had put on a little weight, but that was normal. He'd assumed that was part of the depression she seemed to be in.
"Edward?"
Edward's head snapped up and he came to an abrupt halt. He didn't realize how badly he needed a familiar adult presence until he saw Carlisle Cullen standing in the doorway. Edward occasionally did yard work for the Cullens to earn a little bit of money where he could.
Before he knew what he was doing, Edward hurled himself across the room into Carlisle's arms. The man held him as he very suddenly broke down, crying and trembling and blubbering like a baby.
Carlisle led him to a chair and sat him down, keeping his arm around him.
"They wouldn't let me go with her," Edward said when he was calm enough to speak legibly. "I-I-I told them I wasn't the... the... you know, and they wouldn't let me go with her."
"Okay. It's okay. If they sedated her, it was for her own protection, so she wouldn't hurt herself or the baby by panicking," Carlisle explained patiently.
Edward flinched at the word baby.
"That means she'll be awake soon, son. It's going to be alright."
"No." Edward's voice was raw, horrified. As his rational thought returned, he began to put together pieces of the puzzle, trying to make the situation add up. "Carlisle... she wouldn't..." He swallowed hard. "If she was," he swallowed hard, barely able to make himself say the word, "pregnant, someone had to have... hurt her."
The skin around Carlisle's eyes tightened, and he took a deep breath. "That's a very serious accusation, Edward. Are you sure?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything."
~0~
Bella came to with a start and a little scream, terribly confused and...
Holy crow. What was that pain?
It had been worse before, she vaguely remembered. These cramps were unholy, they were so strong, and then time blurred. She remembered thinking she had to be dying, the pain was so insane. There was a pressure she didn't understand hitting her right at her core and then she felt like her body was being ripped in two.
Edward was there, she remembered.
She remembered flashes. The smell of blood. Edward's eyes gone so wide and his face so pale she hardly even recognized him as he...
Laid a squirming, slimy, bloody baby in her arms.
"Bella? Honey? I'm going to need you to take deep breaths, sweetheart. You need to calm down. Calm down so we can talk, okay?"
Bella jerked her head, blinking sporadically, unaware that she'd started to hyperventilate until the woman's voice was by her side telling her to breathe, just breathe.
"Where?" she gasped. "What?"
"You're in the hospital. Remember? You gave birth to a baby at home. A little girl."
Bella's head spun wildly. Those words seemed utterly impossible, and yet they did match up with the images in her head.
"She's just fine, honey. Tiny little thing - barely five pounds - but just fine." The nurse patted her hand, smiling at her as if Bella should be relieved.
"I don't understand," Bella whispered. Her chest was still tight. She was reeling. She was fairly close to having a mental breakdown, she was sure.
"Jackie, why don't you let me get this one, hmm?"
Bella looked over as a blond doctor with a kind smile walked in the room. He looked familiar.
"Good evening, Bella. Do you remember me?" he asked gently.
Truthfully, Bella wasn't sure she remembered her own name at this point, so she shook her head.
"I don't blame you. Your father and I used to be very close, but it's been a few years since he moved out to Canada, hasn't it?"
Bella couldn't look at the man anymore. At the mention of her father, she was suddenly aware she was seventeen, she'd just had a baby, and she didn't have the slightest clue how that had happened. She cleared her throat, remembering the doctor had asked her a question. "About five years," she mumbled.
"Right. Well, my name is Carlisle Cullen. Your, uh... friend Edward does some work for me. He asked me to check on you."
"Is he still here?" Bella bit her lip, trying not to whimper and failing.
"Of course, sweetheart. He's chomping at the bit to come see you. Do you want me to get him?"
"Please." To her own ears, Bella's voice sounded feathery and weak. She was just overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and terribly frightened. Nothing made sense, and she needed Edward by her side. She needed her best friend.
Carlisle squeezed her shoulder. "Okay. I just need to ask you a few quick questions, and then I promise I'll get him."
Bella nodded.
"So from what Edward told me, it sounded like you didn't know you were pregnant. Is that right?"
Suddenly it was very difficult to breathe. "I didn't know," she whispered. "I don't understand. Dr. Cullen... I'm... I mean, I'm a virgin."
Normally, Bella would never have cried in front of anyone, let alone a near complete stranger. It was just too much, too much and she didn't understand at all how this could have happened.
"It's okay. You're fine. Just breathe," the doctor soothed. "I'm sorry, but I must be clear. Please understand I'm only trying to help you. No one is going to be angry at you. We simply need the most precise information to better inform us how to care for you and your daughter."
Bella's body jerked at the word daughter and she closed her eyes tight.
"So I have to ask you. Have you had any sexual contact at all?"
"No," Bella said quickly.
"Is it possible you were raped?" he asked quietly.
Bella's breath wheezed as she gasped, tears falling quickly now. "No!"
"Okay. That's fine. We're going to figure this out." He squeezed her hand. "I'll go get Edward."
~0~
Carlisle managed to get them privacy, so by the time he led Edward to Bella's room, it was just the three of them. Edward raced to Bella's side, grabbing her outstretched hand and giving her forehead a long, lingering kiss.
"I was so worried about you," he murmured. She squeezed his hand hard, tears overflowing. "Are you okay?" he asked, wiping away her tears.
"No," she said, her voice trembling.
Edward had never seen her this way. It was scaring the hell out of him.
They were only distracted by Carlisle clearing his throat, looking at the two of them - their obvious closeness - pointedly. "Kids, honestly. I need you to tell me the truth." His voice was still gentle but there was a serious edge to it, an edge that said he meant business.
Not letting go of Bella's hand, Edward sat down in the chair by her bed.
"You said you weren't in a relationship," Carlisle said pointedly.
"We're not," they said at the same time.
Carlisle gave both of them a look. "Complete honesty," he warned. "Right now, we have some leeway as we weren't able to contact your parents-"
Edward scoffed. "Good luck getting Renee and James to pick up the phone tonight."
Bella sniffled, trying to calm down. "Charlie is on a cruise. He won't be turning on his phone for the rest of the week. Renee and and my stepfather, James, are just in Seattle for the weekend. They'll probably check their messages tomorrow."
Carlisle nodded, accepting this. "Well, things will be different when your parents are around. If you want my help, I'm going to need you to tell me the truth."
The two teenagers glanced at each other. Edward really wasn't sure what business it was of Carlisle's, but he trusted the man. He took a deep breath. "It's... complicated. We want to be together, but we can't be together."
"What does that mean?"
"Edward has a girlfriend," Bella said to her lap.
"I remember. Lauren, isn't it?" Carlisle asked.
"Yeah." Edward grimaced. "But it's just... It's not what... It's just a front. I want to be with Bella, but-"
Carlisle held up his hand in a stopping motion. "I get the idea. It's complicated. So you two have been together physically in secret?"
A quick glance at Bella showed Edward her cheeks were flushed a deep scarlet. He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "We haven't done anything. Not really."
"Not really?" Carlisle had the patience of a saint. "Anything, Edward, Bella. Even once."
They looked at each other again. Edward huffed, getting a little pissed off. "Look. We had sex-ed, okay? We know where babies come from. We didn't do anything like that. And it was a long time ago anyway. Maybe it's... I mean, when bad things happen sometimes people repress them, right?"
"Edward!" Bella protested.
"Well, I don't know what else to say. What else could it be, Bella?" he asked gently, taking her hand in both of his.
"I would have remembered that," she argued.
"There's a reason it's called a repressed memory," he returned. "I mean, what else? You weren't visited by an angel without telling me, were you?"
Bella bit into her bottom lip, obviously trying not to cry again.
"Right now, we won't rule anything out. But I'm going to ask you one more time. I don't mean penetration - but have you had any sexual contact at all?
They were both silent, the only sound in the room breathing for a few moments.
"We... It was... I mean, it was just..." Edward stumbled.
"Was it wet humping?" Carlisle asked.
They both blushed and balked. Those were not words any teenager wanted to hear from any adult. "What the hell is that?" Edward asked.
"Dry humping without clothes."
"Oh." Edward clutched at his hair. "Um. Yeah. Sort of. But it was just that once and... that doesn't... I mean that wouldn't..."
"It is possible. You would be surprised how often it happens," Carlisle said calmly.
"Oh, God..." Bella was squeezing the hell out of his hand, but Edward didn't pull away.
"Okay. What we're going to do now is get a cheek swab from you, Edward, and from the baby. We'll do a paternity test, and then we'll know for sure." He nodded. "Stay here just a minute. I'll get what we need."
When they were alone, Edward and Bella were again left to silence.
Bella's breath hitched as she began to cry quietly into her hands. Edward shifted so he could put his arm around her shoulder and leaned his forehead against hers. "Don't worry, Bella. It's going to be okay."
"How can you even say that?" she asked wryly. "Edward... I just had a baby. A baby!"
He tugged her closer, and she laid her head on his shoulder. "What am I going to do?"
Before he could even think of what to say, Carlisle came back into the room. He explained a little about timelines and expectations as he swabbed the inside of Edward's cheek.
When he was done and the sample was sealed, he sat at Bella's other side and took her hand. "I know this is overwhelming, and I don't want you to feel pressured, okay? But if you want to see your daughter, I can have her brought to you now."
Edward felt Bella's shoulders go rigid under his arm. Her breathing became erratic.
"It's okay, Bella. It's okay if you don't want to yet," Edward said against her ear.
Actually, he wasn't entirely sure he could handle seeing the baby yet, as fair as that wasn't.
"If I don't see her, I'll never believe this is really happening." Bella's voice was barely audible. She took a shuddering breath, but nodded to Carlisle. "I'll see her."
A/N: okay no more begging! ! ! *stern* My cushion isn't that big... I love you, kids. We're I'm for an... interesting ride.
