Chapter 2: Unexpected

Edward's POV

The ride to the hospital had been difficult for Bella, even with the anti-nausea medicine. She had spent most of the ride leaning into my arms dry heaving. Now that we were still, and she was dressed in a hospital gown resting in a bed, my wife didn't look as frail as she had in the car. Carlisle had gotten a private room for her, and was taking her blood samples to the lab to analyze. While he was away I sat at Bella's bedside holding her soft hand in mine.

"I really am sorry for not telling you," she was saying, still feeling guilty for not telling me she was sick the other day. As Bella talked I noticed that the color was returning to her cheeks and she seemed to have a little more energy.

"I don't want you to worry about that," I answered, leaning forward, pressing my lips to hers. It was an affective way to quiet her and distract her from worry.

When I pulled away Bella took a few deep breaths before shutting her eyes, "I don't like being here and I really hope Charlie won't find out."

When I kissed her again and pulled away she sighed in frustration, "Why do you keep doing that, it just makes me want to do things we shouldn't in a hospital."

"I'm kissing you because I love you, and because I don't want you to worry. You need to focus on keeping calm, Bella. I know that's not easy, but try, for me." I wasn't beyond asking her to do that for my sake, and was glad when she took my hand before shutting her eyes.

My hearing was focused on the steady beat of her heart, and each breath she took while my eyes gazed down at her perfect body. It didn't take long for her heart rate to drop ever so slightly as Bella began breathing deeper. Once she was asleep I focused my thoughts on what could be wrong with her, medically. The likely candidates were still her appendix and gall bladder, but I kept wondering if I'd had anything to do with this. Carlisle and I hadn't had the opportunity to discuss my fears, and even though Bella trusted me, I didn't know if that was such a good idea.

When the door opened slowly, my thoughts came back to me and I watched as Alice silently entered the room. Her entrance caused me to realize that Carlisle had been gone for forty minutes. I ran my hand through my hair as my mind began to race. What was taking him so long, and had he found something worse than the two diagnoses we had come up with. "Alice, I need you to sit with Bella. I want to see what is taking Carlisle so long."

"I'll be happy to," As she began to sit down in the chair I had just vacated, I thought came to me, "Alice, can you see Bella's future?" I'm not sure why I hadn't though of that before now. Maybe Alice could tell us what we needed to know.

For a moment her eyes glazed over, then she was back, shaking her head. "I can't see her at all," more to herself, Alice muttered, "how strange."

Needing answers of any sort, I left the room and went to the other end of the hospital where Carlisle's office was. The door was partially open so I pushed it further, finding my father at his desk. Carlisle's thoughts were calm, clear as he looked at something in front of him on this desk.

"Carlisle?"

I knew he was aware of my presence, but he seemed to need time to collect his thoughts, and I couldn't make sense of what I was hearing in my mind.

Finally he looked at me. "They ran the tests for her appendix, and that came back normal. The technician ran another test, one standard for a young woman her age, one I didn't think of running. Edward, Bella is carrying a child."

His words caught me completely off guard and I sat down in the chair, pinching the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger while shutting my eyes.

"Whose child it is, will be something you two will need to discuss, but it all fits."

When he said that, for some reason I felt my anger boil, but only for a moment. Carlisle didn't know all the details and it was time for me to let him know. "Before we went to the island Bella had never been with anyone else." I waited to see if Carlisle would understand.

Instantly I could see in his eyes that he did, "The dangers," he began, but I held up my hand.

"I knew what we were facing and the first time I did hurt her," As I began to talk Carlisle went to his door and shut it, "It was only that one time. Carlisle, how is this possible?"

My father was sitting in the seat next to mine, and his mind was racing trying to figure out what had taken place. Carlisle was thinking of the Incubus, the legends of vampires who could father children in unsuspecting women. "Perhaps there is truth to that," he thought still not talking aloud.

"What happened to the women who carried them?" I was aware of those legends, but not enough to know that answer.

Carlisle's mind quieted as he gazed at me and I knew I didn't want to hear the answer. I got up, heading for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to Bella. This thing she has inside of her can't be allowed to continue growing."

Before I could open the door Carlisle was at my side, "Do you think it wise to discuss this given her condition, and will she agree?"

My wife would never agree and I knew this was going to be our first challenge as a married couple, "Can we get her home?"

"I want her to finish the bag of IV fluid she is hooked up to now, along with another before we move her back to the house. I'm sorry, son, I'll try and see if can find anything more online."

"How can this be possible? I'm not alive like she is. My body is frozen like the rest of us. That story about the Incubus has never made sense to me."

"Our bodies still have many versions of venom-based fluids that act like blood," the rest he said in his mind, that the fluids functioned the same way when a male vampire was aroused, and that when I completed inside of Bella that venom acted like seminal fluid and was able to fertilize an egg. It was all a nightmare from which I knew we would not awaken.

~*~

By the time I got back to Bella I'd gone to the maternity ward and looked at the new babies through the windows. I was struggling to convince myself what I knew was true. The babies I saw in the nursery were human created to thrive and live. The thing in Bella's body was a mockery and would likely kill her. At the same time I struggled because a part of it would be her.

My wife was sitting fully upright in the bed, talking to Alice about the class she was looking forward to the most once we were able to start school. There was a soft glow about her that was breath taking, and I couldn't help but stand where I was, watching her.

When her brown eyes caught mine I bit back the emotions I was feeling and went to her, "Carlisle didn't find anything wrong with your Appendix or Gall Bladder," I began.

The relief in Bella's eyes caused my chest to tighten, and I wanted to continue to go on and let her know about what was causing the sickness, but I knew I'd have to wait.

"What does he think it is?"

"Nothing to worry over this moment," I said as Alice got up, letting take my place by my wife's side. My sister knew I was holding something back, but left us alone without calling me out.

"Edward, please tell me. I can see it in your eyes; Carlisle found something. Is it that bad?"

I reached out and took her hands in my own, "It's very complicated, something neither of us have ever encountered."

My wife watched me, waiting and I shut my eyes. "He found out that you are pregnant."

Her sudden intake of breath caused me to open my eyes. Her heart rate picked up and as it did I heard something I'd never noticed before. Next to Bella's increased heart rate was one beating so fast that it was more of a hum. It was then I realized how much trouble we were both in, because the reality hit me straight in my own deadened heart. This being within her was real. This child was created not out of a vampire's greed to hurt the woman he was with; using her, but it was created out of love.

"Edward?" she whispered.

I focused my gaze on her. "I had awful thoughts just before I came here. I couldn't even think of what you carried as something good. Bella I can hear the heartbeat. How did I miss that?"

Tears made their way down my wife's cheeks and I reached out and wiped them away.

"How?" Bella's voice trembled as she asked that, and I realized that she was afraid, but not for the same reason's I had been.

I explained what Carlisle had told me in his office, and she clutched my hand listening intently. When a nurse came to check on her she was alarmed, but I assured her things were under control always amazed at how easily it was to dazzle young women. Bella had been the one to point that out.

"Edward, I don't know if I'm ready for a baby. We never talked about this because I never considered it," Bella began, "Rosalie told me once that I was too young to know what I wanted and that if I was changed there might be a day when I realized what I'd missed."

Her voice broke on that last part, and I gathered her into my arms, "We are in this together, and we have much to consider."

My wife nodded, resting her cheek against my shoulder. "When can we go home?"

"Soon," I answered rubbing my hand over her back.

~*~*~

Bella's POV

When we finally got home it was evening, but I was still in shock over what Carlisle had found. Edward told me that he briefly thought of our child as an abomination, but I was too numb at the time to be upset. My brain still felt prickly like something heavy had settled down on it. Up in our room I got ready for bed in a cloud of confusing thoughts. Edward had gone downstairs to get me something to drink, and I needed time alone to sort all of this out. This pregnancy wasn't just about me, it was about him too. Hadn't I tried not to follow my in my parents footsteps?

After slipping on one of Edward's large shirts, my favorite outfit for bed, I slipped beneath the gold sheets and covers. What was this child going to be like, who would the baby be more like, and what was this going to do to me. I was already having such a hard time and by Carlisle's guess, and what he and Edward both observed by the beating of the baby's heart, I was at least eight weeks along if not further.

The only thing my tired brain could come up with was an old movie about a woman who gave birth to the devil's child. There was a cult of people who took the baby and the first time she saw it, the eyes were black and it wasn't a normal child. Even so, she loved it because it was hers.

My baby wasn't like that. This was something our love created, but it was still so hard to figure out, and my thoughts kept going in circles.

"I'm sorry I took so long," Edward said pulling me back to where I was.

My husband helped me sit up and I drank down a full glass of water without pause. "Edward, what do you think this baby will be like? Do you really think it's going to be an abomination?"

As I asked those questions my heart began to beat painfully in my chest, and once he was next to me I moved into his arms. "I'm afraid, not because of your worries but because of what I've always worried about, what my mom pushed into me which was to wait for all of this. I'm glad we are married, but I don't know what to think about this baby."

My husband pulled me closer to his body and I felt safe being held, even though he was cold. The cold wasn't so much an issue for me anymore; though that may have had more to do with the electric blanket I was resting beneath.

"I'm trying to get my mind around this as well. It's difficult to describe my feelings, and I don't want to frighten you more, but I'm worried."

I lifted my head from his chest watching him as he continued, "There is no material on this, only small amounts of legend that don't apply to us. Have you ever heard the legends of the Incubus?"

That name rang a bell, and I thought back before all of this to Jacob and his tales of the 'cold ones'. Soon after I'd done my own research and found out about the Succubus and the Incubus. The Succubus was the female vampire blamed in infidelity. The Incubus could father a child and the story given was a husband gone for six months comes home to find the wife pregnant. The blame was on the Incubus but there was no mention of what became of the woman or the offspring. "The Incubus could father children and was a vampire?"

"Yes. There is mention of it in the story Merlin, but not enough for us to go on. Carlisle is planning to bring home some equipment over the next few days. He wants to make sure everything is alright."

I nodded, resting my head back against his chest. "Do you think this will hurt me?"

"I hope not," was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed into a much needed rest.

~*~*~

Edward's POV

Once Bella was asleep I'd thought of going hunting on my own. I needed to take care of the thirst, but my mind was too distracted with all the thoughts of this pregnancy. There was a huge danger in all of this, which was her body being able to carry a child that was part of me. As a species, vampires were nearly impossible to destroy. No human could accomplish that task and my mind took me back to my fight with Victoria. It had been difficult to get her to hold still enough to destroy her because she was so fast. Once she had been distracted by Bella's attempt, ripping her apart hadn't been that difficult. Maybe a better example was James. My brothers took care of him, and Jasper had shared his thoughts during that battle. James had fought back with hundred's of years of experience and it was a tough battle even with Emmett there to help out.

Bella was fragile, like a rose petal drifting toward a bed of nails moving around to rip it apart. Sliding my hand beneath the covers, I let the blanket warm it before I pressed it against her abdomen. I could feel the start of firmness where the baby was beginning to grow, and made myself face what we needed to discuss. This pregnancy was a huge risk to her life, and as much as I wanted to love this child, the thought of my wife being hurt by its development made everything feel conflicted.

For me there was no sleep to refresh my mind, and for the first in a long time, I wished I could sleep to escape my negative thoughts.

Morning came and I'd spent the whole night holding my wife, trying to figure out how to discuss the options we needed to consider. How much that would hurt her, and I wondered if that discussion would push my Bella away.

Her cheek rubbing against my chest drew me back to her, the feel of her soft body in my arms, "Good morning," I whispered when she lifted her head, smiling a moment before she kissed me.

"I love waking up this way, with you holding me."

"I love holding you, watching and feeling as you come out of sleep."

We snuggled for a few minutes both quiet before her stomach growled, "I guess I better get up and get your breakfast started. Eggs?"

She nodded, though when I tried to get up, Bella clung to me.

I leaned back against the pillows, pulling her fully on top of my body, wrapping my arms around her. "We are going to get through this," I told her trying not to think about how much my words would hurt her later.

"I always thought when two people found out they were going to have a baby it would be this magical moment. I feel like all of that is too far away for us."

Her use of the word people to describe me and her nearly took my breath way. Bella had never seen herself clearly or me for that matter. She accepted me on blind faith it seemed, "We are not ordinary, my love." Were we destined for struggle and was the best choice to change her sooner rather than later so she wouldn't have to face all of these worries?

Once she was calm, when we were both collected I got up and lifted her from the bed gently putting her on the ground. "I love you," I told her cupping her face in my hands before kissing her.

Her stomach growled again, and I smiled before leaving her to fix breakfast.

~*~

Holding Bella's hand in my own, I walked at a human pace by her side. We were close to the river and it was overcast. It seemed like we had been walking hours instead of a few minutes and I was trying to figure out the best way to broach what needed to be discussed.

"I was thinking about the baby while you were out with Jasper and Emmett hunting. I don't think it's going to be as bad as we think. I mean there might be a risk, but I don't know that I could handle it if something were to happen. The funny thing is we didn't even know yesterday when I woke up."

"Bella, there is great risk. We don't know what this baby will do as it begins to really grow within you. Do you remember what happened our first night when I lost control?" Those were painful memories to think of, but I had to get her to see this.

She stopped walking, looking down at the green grass, "I'm so confused, Edward," she admitted a moment before her arms were around me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered stroking my hand against the back of her head. "Bella, we need to talk about what we want to do," I finally stated feeling her body stiffen in my arms.

"Please, don't say what I think you are going to tell me."

"Are you prepared for the complications?" My voice was a little harsher than I'd meant for it to be and I was frustrated because my own emotions were at war. It seemed the idea of this baby had taken a firm hold in my mind and even thinking about terminating this pregnancy felt like betraying my love for my wife and all our love stood for.

The wetness of her tears against my shirt made my resolve waver, but I sucked in a breath of air and continued, "We don't know what will happen, Bella. On the one hand you might make it through this and be fine, but what kind of life will our child have? We have to consider what would happen if Aro were to ever find out," I said. My thoughts had been on the Volturi all last night. Some day they would remember, if Jane hadn't already reminded them. Some day they would come. We would all fight to protect this child, but if they got their hands on a half human half vampire baby, what would happen to our world.

Her sobs shook me to the core and I hated myself for doing this, "We would run. Don't ask me to give up on this baby, Edward," Bella whispered her voice shaking and breath hitching.

I sat us down and cradled her to me, kissing the tears away. "I'm most afraid of losing you," I admitted.

Bella took in a deep breath reaching up to trail her hand down my cheek, "You won't lose me. If you turned me, I wouldn't be a liability and we could keep our baby safe. I don't know how this will work out, but we've been through situations that were harder to face than this," she said, her voice growing stronger.

For a long while I sat holding her, both of us looking at one another as we occasionally touched and kissed. I listened to her heart beat and the unmistakable hum of the child's heart – our child. We both had to work this through and figure out what was best for all of us, but now didn't seem the time as we felt the first drops of rain.

I stood holding her in my arms as I began walking toward the house, never taking my eyes away from Bella's. Tilting my head forward I brushed my lips lightly against hers, "I love you."

Bella smiled into my kiss before reaching up to pull my head closer.

~*~*~

AN: Okay I'm a little sooner on the update but I wanted to get this out there. Mac, thanks for the Beta. Everyone else thanks for reading this. Also thanks for all of you who reviewed. Edward's attitude is going to be a little different than what we saw in BD, so please keep that in mind. I'm still trying to keep him close to his character.

Carlisle's explanation as to how Edward could get Bella Pregnant was from Stephenies Website on the Q&A page, Also what they said about the Incubus, that came from Twilight itself, and some of it came from what I found on Google. Just wanted to make sure I covered the proper credits.

~Ella~