Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

As always, my beta The Real Teacher worked her magic on this chapter and made it look pretty. Thank you!

Grace

~ Part four ~

As we stood there, waving goodbye, I felt less sadness than I had expected. I knew I was going to miss my dad like crazy but this was a new chapter in my life and I knew that, had things gone differently – had I never met Edward and lived my life oblivious to there being such a thing like the Volturi – I would probably still have had to move from Seattle.

I mean, look at what happened to all of my friends. Rose and Emmett had already moved to New York after Rose had accepted a job – a dream job – with a major newspaper and in a couple of weeks Angela was going to follow Ben as he'd start his PhD at Duke.

No, this was a new page turned in our lives; a fresh start. Feeling sorry about everything I left behind just wasn't going to cut it.

Still, that fresh start came with a whole lot of challenges. Over the next couple of weeks I felt myself getting completely lost in juggling the new house, my new job as a junior reporter/errant girl/ little slave at the San Fransisco Gazette, living with Edward, spending time with Esme to keep her from going mad and making sure Carlisle wasn't sneaking off into a quiet corner to kill himself.

I was so busy that I didn't even stop to consider the effects it was having on me until one night I almost kicked Edward out of the bed for being too rough with me. I'd been tired, cranky as hell and my body was sore. Sure, we might not have had sex in a while but there was no need for him to paw me like I was made of rubber instead of flesh and blood.

His time to bitch came later that night when I woke up screaming from yet another nightmare, the latest in a long line of very vivid and horrible nightmares involving me, the Volturi and that damned baby I was trying so hard to protect.

It wasn't until I spoke with Alice that things suddenly became clear.

"God, you've gotten huge!" I cried as soon as my friend switched on her webcam. "How are you feeling?"

Alice chuckled. "Just like any woman in her third trimester feels: big, hungry and very eager to meet this kid!" She rubbed her swollen belly, her face breaking out into a grin. "But I love it, though. Every minute of it."

"Even the morning sickness?" I chuckled, grimacing as the thought of puking brought on another round of nausea.

"Yes, even the morning sickness," she replied confidently. "If it means that at the end of the line I get to hold a perfect little human being me and Jasper created, I'm willing to put up with some puking to get to that point."

I laughed, shaking my head. If Alice was to be believed, pregnancy was like a walk in the park on a sunny day in spring with only a few mishaps along the way. I guess in her vision, morning sickness was something like stepping in shit or seeing a cloud on the horizon or something.

"But enough about me," she went on. "I mean, I know everyone wants to know how I'm doing and all that but I get a bit tired of talking about nothing else all day. How are you doing, sweetheart? Have the nightmares gotten any better?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "Not really. I spoke to Zafrina the other day and she thinks it may be a reaction to us moving and all the new stuff in our lives."

Alice nodded. "That may be it. And the rest? You look like….."

"Shit?" I offered. "Yeah, I've been feeling like shit too. Remember what I told you the last time we spoke? It's still like that. I think it's just the stress of the move and the nightmares that make me feel so icky in my own skin." I shrugged. "And if that wasn't enough, Edward has kindly transferred his stomach flu bugs onto me. I've been puking since Sunday."

"Poor baby!" Alice cooed.

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Screw you, Whitlock," I grumbled, biting my nails.

"So let me get this straight," she spoke, suddenly all business. "You've been suffering from fatigue, nausea and sensitive boobs."

"Sensitive everything," I corrected her, "but yeah, that's about it.

"Dude!" she cried. "You're pregnant!"

I gasped. "No way! No fucking way, Alice. I've been taking my pill and…"

"You know as well as I do that no form of birth control is one hundred percent safe," Bella. "Besides….what other cause could explain all these symptoms?"

"Stomach flu and stress?" I squeaked, though in my mind I knew she was right, I just knew…"Holy fuck, Alice. I'm pregnant?"

"You sure are, honey," she beamed.

"Fuuuuuuuuuck." I was just now starting to realize what that meant for me, for Edward, for us….

We ended the call not long after that. Between Alice being too exuberantly enthusiastic and me being too shell-shocked to respond to anything. I did promise her to call her back as soon as I had made sure I was really pregnant.

Which I was.

Ten positive pregnancy tests and one emergency visit to my new gynecologist –what a way to get to know your new medical team- and I could no longer deny that I was.

"Fuck me!" I breathed at the empty living room, my hands folded around a mug of tea. "I'm going to have a baby!"

For a moment, all I felt was extreme happiness. I was going to have a baby! With Edward! Edward and I were going to have a baby!

Oh fuck.

Edward.

He was so going to freak out when I told him. What if he didn't want a kid? I mean, the guy had only just come down from his asshole I-don't-commit-to-any-girl-beyond-a-one-night-stand phase. What the hell was he going to think if I threw a baby at him?

Not literally, of course. Instinctively my arm wrapped around my stomach to protect my little turnip. No, no harm was ever going to come to it.

It turned out all my worries about how Edward was going to take the news were unnecessary, though. As was the food I'd spent hours preparing. Or so it turned out.

"Edward?" he looked up from his crackberry and whatever important law stuff he was discussing with his fellow legal cronies. "Would you mind putting that thing away for a moment? I have something I need to discuss with you."

He immediately put his phone away, worried eyes boring into mine as he studied me, no doubt alerted by the shakiness in my voice. "Is something wrong?"

No!" I immediately answered. "At least, I don't think so….I think….I think I have happy news. Very happy news."

He looked at me as if I'd gone completely mental, helping himself to a steak and some potatoes as he answered me. "What? Did you get some kind of promotion or something?"

"Er, no,' I fumbled. "It's something else."

"Fuck, Bella." It was clear that Edward was growing tired of my stalling. "Will you please just let me know what the hell it is? I have more things to do today than listen to you play mind games."

"Fine!" I huffed, slamming my napkin down on the table. "I'm pregnant."

See you next week!