As the week went on, Gabrielle's condition started to get worse. The little one had started kicking, and while it wasn't that bad yet, it was bad enough that Carlisle insisted we start Gabrielle on the O negative ASAP. It calmed the baby down quite a bit. I asked if the baby hurt her, and she said it wasn't that bad (yet).
It seemed like Nick might actually be getting the hang of hunting animals. He even devoured a whole grizzly by himself! Watching Nick hunt seemed to make everyone wonder if he had any special powers.
"Oo, Can you fly?" Nessie asked excitedly.
"I wish!" Nick replied, "Actually what I do is pretty cool, in my opinion," he explained, "I can put myself in a state where even the slightest pinch from me could put someone in immense pain!" Of course, everyone had to test this out. He really wasn't kidding. He didn't even touch Jasper's arm for more than a millisecond before he fell to the ground in agony. He asked Renesmee if she wanted to try, and she and Bella shouted, "NO!" in perfect unison.
As the days went on, Gabrielle was spending more and more time lying on the couch. I felt so bad for her, but we all took turns entertaining her so it must not have been that bad. The baby was getting stronger and stronger everyday. It was so hard to watch Gabrielle every time she winced in pain. The strange thing, though, was sometimes it was obvious the baby was moving, but Gabrielle wouldn't even feel it. Carlisle was doing research on this, but even he was baffled.
Gabrielle seemed to be more talkative lately, especially to me. She would always ask me questions about vampire life, human life, or life in general. I did find it odd at first, but I figured she just wanted someone to talk to, and I just usually happened to be the one nearby. Everyone else seemed to think she had something else in mind when she wanted to get to know me, but I was oblivious. I just enjoyed talking to her.
The only thing that could put a damper on my happiness was Jacob. He was annoying as ever and always had an opinion on everything. Even worse than his opinions were his terrible blonde jokes.
"Hey, Rose, why can't blondes take coffee breaks at work? Because they're to hard to retrain!"
"Yo, Blondie, how do you keep a blonde busy for hours? Give her a paper that says "turn me over" on both sides."
"What do you call a basement full of blondes? A whine cellar!" I managed to ignore the dog's stupidity, but it wasn't easy to do. Why did he hate me so much?
One day while I was playing cards with Gabrielle, she brought up an interesting topic.
"You're jealous of me, aren't you?" she accused.
"Why would I be?" I responded.
"You want a baby, don't you?"
"Well, I guess, but that's impossible. I gave up on that fantasy decades ago." I told her.
"Ah, but Rosalie, you should never give up on your dream. Nothing is impossible. That's what my dad used to say." Why was this girl torturing me? Didn't she that a full vampire having a baby was the definition of impossible? I didn't get much time to think about that because the baby started kicking so I had to comfort Gabrielle.
Over the next few days, nothing could stop me from thinking about what Gabrielle said. Was I really giving up too easily. Were there other ways to make it happen? I was so distracted with my thoughts at the time that I didn't notice Emmett spending more and more time with Gabrielle. He enjoyed putting his hands on her stomach and feeling the baby move. If I wasn't so distracted, I would think something fishy was going on.
Gabrielle's pregnancy was progressing fast. Her growth pattern was pretty much the same as Bella's (2 weeks per day) but sometimes it was a bit slower. She was measuring about 22 weeks, which meant the baby would come in about a week or so. Alice and Esme were almost finished with the nursery, and the closet was completely stocked with clothes. I thought it was a bit odd that they would have a nursery here, but Carlisle reminded me that Gabrielle would need to stay for at least a few days after she had the baby to go through the transformation. Why was human girl insistent on becoming a vampire just for a guy?
Bella was busy helping Alice with the nursery, so Emmett and I agreed to take Ness hunting to keep her out of the way. She wasn't too thirsty so she mostly ran around in the field for awhile. It was nice to just watch her play while Emmett and I talked. I'd been so caught up in everything with Gabrielle that we hadn't had much time to just sit and chat. Our conversation ended a little oddly though. Before we left he asked if Gabrielle had talked to me yet. I asked him what about and he quickly brushed it off with a "never mind." In my experience, never mind is never good. I quickly forgot about it after the joke he made on the way home.
The next morning, I came downstairs to find most of the family crowding around Gabrielle. Uh oh. I just stood in shock until I heard Edward murmur, "I just don't see how it's possible!" That got my attention and I hurried over to Carlisle's side. "What's wrong with her?" I demanded to know.
"Well nothing's wrong really, it's just shocking."
"What's shocking?"
"Well, at this point Bella already had one broken rib and several bruises. Yet, when this baby moves, Gabrielle says it feels like almost nothing sometimes."
"Do you know why?" I asked.
"Well, our theory is that this baby could just have a slightly more dominant human side and just isn't as strong as Nessie was It's very possible that each hybrid is unique. Sometimes more human-like, sometimes more like us." Carlisle explained. While this theory seemed quite possible, I was thinking about a completely different theory. "His powers," I blurted out. Everyone looked at me waiting for further explanation, so I continued. "If Nick's power is to make himself put people in pain with any given touch. Wouldn't the baby's be the opposite of that? Maybe he's as strong as Nessie was, but he has the ability to not put her in pain." Suddenly everyone understood, and Carlisle said it made sense. Everyone pretty much went about their normal business at that point, but I stayed close by, per Carlisle's request. "So, Nick, Gabrielle, have you two made a decision yet?" he asked them. About what? Gabrielle and Nick nodded their heads, then Gabrielle said, "Could I talk to Rosalie alone for a minute?" Carlisle nodded and everyone cleared the room. What was going on?
A/N Well, thanks for reading chapter 3. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'll try to get chapter 4 up on or by July 4th, if not then definitely the day after. R&R as always! =D
