As always, thanks for the reviews, adds, and interest in the fic so far. Thanks to Claireoth for doing the Twitter readalong tonight and giving me the boot in the ass to write this so quickly

STRATAN - ILY SFM, Superman, for succumbing to the "evil" today and busting your ass with me, despite the holiday. ;)


Chapter 8

Edward

I stood at the entrance of the gymnasium with Charlie and my family, waiting for Bella to come out with the other graduates. Her speech was flawless and eloquent, surpassing any expectations I might have had from the way she'd practiced this morning. I'd never tell her this, but she reminded me of Billy up there at the podium; she commanded your attention without even trying.

Or maybe I was just a little biased.

I swallowed convulsively as the wind carried yet another human's scent toward me. My throat burned with the need to hunt; with everything going on, I hadn't found the time to break away and spend a few hours out in the forest. I was going to have to make the time before I let myself get too far gone. We couldn't afford a mistake like that, and I didn't want it on my conscience, either.

"You and Bella can go whenever you want," Alice whispered beside me. "I don't see anything happening any time soon."

I nodded. "Good."

Bella finally walked through the doors, scanning the crowd and spotting us immediately. I went to meet up with her, wanting a few seconds to talk to her alone without everyone interfering. She looked incredible in the little blue dress that Alice had picked out for her, and with that ugly, yellow gown out of the way, I got to appreciate the view again. I just wanted to take her and…

"Hey," she said with a smile. "You look um," she glanced around, "thirsty."

"You have no idea," I murmured, dipping my head down to kiss her. I pulled away all too soon, well aware of the people staring at us. "Feeling better now?"

"Yes," she said emphatically. "I will never give a speech again."

"You did really well. You had nothing to worry about."

She blushed. "Thanks. Where's Jacob?"

"He took off after the ceremony. Said he'd wait for you in the parking lot."

Her brows knit. "Oh, okay. Did you happen to hear why?"

"I don't pry," I chuckled, throwing my arm around her and leading her to where the rest of my family was standing.

"I know. I just thought maybe you caught the reason why."

"I didn't. Not this time."

After receiving countless 'congratulations' and compliments on her speech from our family and some of the other students, we finally started toward the parking lot, branching off from everyone else when we saw Jacob standing next to his motorcycle grinning at Bella widely.

"Why weren't you with everyone else?" she laughed, rushing over to him.

"They stink. I needed some fresh air after spending all that time in there with them," he answered, winking at me.

"They don't stink," Bella argued, rolling her eyes.

"You need to get your nose checked. I hear there's a pretty good ENT in Port Angeles. Go make an appointment."

"Well, you don't smell that great, either," I commented before backing away to give them some privacy.

Bella gave me a puzzled look.

"I'll go wait for you at the car," I murmured, and then walked away before she could protest.

I got in the Volvo and dug through the CDs I had in the glove box, settling on one that suited my mood and played it. I kept a close watch on where Bella stood with Jacob, but I let the music drown out the sound of them talking, smiling at the sight of her laughing at something he said before finally giving him a quick hug and coming back to me.

She got in the car and buckled her seatbelt before speaking. "I thought I could convince him to come to the party, but he said he had some things in La Push to take care of. He wouldn't tell me what."

I watched her face turn down in a frown of disappointment. "Training, Bella. That's what he has to do. Sam's scheduled a pack meeting up north. They're going to go over a few new maneuvers that Jasper told them about. They want to get a head start while we're busy with graduation."

"He couldn't wait so I could be there?" she asked angrily.

I shrugged. "I think it's smart that they want to get all the time in they can. Not a single one of them has actually killed a vampire. They have instinct on their side, but they know nothing of newborns."

"Neither do I."

"And you can ask Jasper to take you out back and teach you a few things whenever you want. They can't. They have to wait for us to teach them. It's smart to practice the knowledge while it's still fresh. You can't deny that."

She crossed her arms, but nodded.

"You aren't just trying to get out of this party are you?" I asked, throwing her a lopsided smile as I put the car into gear.

"No," she laughed, "but if you'd like to take me to where they're meeting so I can skip it, you won't hear me complain."

"It's two hours, Bella. Two hours with my family and your dad. And I'm pretty sure there's an entire cake for you to eat."

She arched her brow. I knew talk of cake would get her. "What kind?"

"Chocolate."

Her lips twitched. "And I don't even have to fight the boys over it."

"No, you don't," I laughed.

I drove to the house quickly since everyone was probably already there and waiting on us. I knew Bella still hated it when I drove this fast, so I gave her my hand to grip while I raced through town and down our driveway.

I could already see that my sister had decorated the house in the school's colors as soon as I parked the car. I got out, opened the car door for Bella, and walked with her to the door, warning her about everything that I could see and hear inside so that she wasn't taken aback by the streamers hanging down from the ceiling or the balloons that were scattered everywhere.

As soon as I opened the door for Bella, Alice rushed over to us with an annoyed look on her face.

"Do you think you two could have taken any longer?" she asked, pulling Bella inside. "We've been waiting on you guys for thirty minutes already."

"Um, yes, actually. We could've. I could have driven the speed limit or peeled her out of that dress like I've wanted to all day, " I replied in a whisper.

Bella shook her head and giggled, all while her cheeks pooled with blood. "I cannot believe you just said that."

"It's the truth," I said unapologetically. "You look gorgeous today."

Her blush deepened.

"Ick, stop that. It's bad enough I have to hear it; I don't want you talking about it to me too," Alice said in disgust.

I grinned widely. "Just getting you back for the suffering I went through when you and Jasper first arrived."

Bella did her own bit of suffering the entire afternoon, allowing my family and her father to shower her with gifts and attention while Alice snapped pictures. Rosalie even made an appearance, thrusting a small present at Bella with a smile and a quiet apology for her reaction to our engagement before going off on her own again.

Change was hard for all of us at times, but it was always the hardest for Rosalie. I was trying to keep that in mind when she reacted to things the way she did, but Bella was my main priority. If Rosalie couldn't accept her as a part of the family—in the way she came into the family—then I wouldn't hesitate to cut her out of our lives.

There was no way I'd let Bella spend an eternity being anything less than happy.

After the party was over, I found Bella in the kitchen with her back to me. She was piling some of the leftover food on her plate in what I considered to be the wolves' version of cleaning up: eating.

I chuckled with the thought and hurried to her side, startling her.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," she said breathlessly. She popped a tiny tomato in her mouth and grinned. "Want me to have a heart attack?"

"I find that unlikely, but no, I don't." I glanced down to her plate. "I'd ask if you wanted me to put all this away before it spoils, but I don't think there'll be anything left to put away at the rate you're going."

"Oh, aren't you funny?"

"Didn't you give anything to Charlie to take home?" I returned, ignoring her jab.

"He got some," she said, knitting her brows as she dug into her… dinner? Late lunch? I glanced at the clock, trying to decide what to call it.

"Ah. Want to save it for later and hunt with me?" I asked hopefully.

"No way," she said immediately. "Why would I want to eat raw meat when I have a plate full of roasted chicken in front of me?"

"Bella, you promised," I reminded her.

"I know. And I will. Just… not today, okay?"

I groaned. "So you want me to leave you here to go off and hunt while Victoria plots to kill you?"

"Your family's here. They won't let anything happen to me," she returned.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't argue with that. "Fine, I'll see if Jasper wants to go with me. But you're coming with me next time. You never know what could happen in the future. You need to know how to feed yourself when you're phased. Besides, I thought you wanted to watch me…" I let the statement hang.

"Oh, you're mean," she laughed, reaching up to grab my shirt and pull my mouth to hers.

"Never claimed to be otherwise," I murmured against her lips. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I know you will."


"It feels so stuffy in here," Bella breathed as she walked inside Charlie's house.

It had been two weeks since I suggested that she and Charlie move out until Victoria was found. The house was protected at all times now, but trying to make sure every pack member—every family member of mine—was present when Jasper held his training sessions was impossible while they lived there. Our attention was constantly being divided between training for the fight against Victoria's newborns and keeping Charlie safe. Someone was always missing a vital piece of information. It was frustrating, because I knew we'd never defeat the mass of newborns attacking us if we all weren't well prepared.

But I'd come up with a solution. Charlie was safest in La Push. Bella was safest at my house. If they were both willing—and thankfully, they were—Charlie could stay with Sue until after the battle and Bella could move in with me. We were getting married in just a few weeks' time anyway; she was always there planning things with Alice or getting ready to head out to the woods for training as it was. Why not just make it official? No one would be left behind to watch over Charlie; I felt comforted by the knowledge that they were both safe, and I loved having Bella move all of her stuff into my room. I just wished that we had some privacy.

"We can crack the windows," I said, "and have someone come back later to shut the house before the rain comes in tonight."

She nodded and glanced around the empty living room. With the wedding just days away, she and Alice had gone into planning overdrive. She'd insisted that we stop by the house and pick up her grandmother's silver locket so that Alice could attach it to her bouquet somehow the night before the wedding.

"Where's it at?" I asked, bringing her attention back to me.

"In Charlie's room. He said he kept it in a box in the top drawer of his dresser."

"I'll go get it," I offered. I wanted to give her some space. For some reason, it just felt like she needed it.

"Thanks."

I nodded and rushed up the stairs to retrieve the locket. I found it exactly where Charlie had said it would be, and then headed back downstairs to take Bella home before I hunted again. I'd been twice since graduation, and both times, she'd stubbornly refused to go.

I found Bella in the kitchen, concentrating on a letter in one hand while toying with her hair with the other.

"Renee can't come," she said flatly. "Phil broke his leg. She says she left a message on the machine and emailed me, but I never responded. I've been so wrapped up in this wedding, I haven't even checked my email since I moved to your house."

"I'm… sorry," I said, moving to her side.

"It's just as well," she sighed as she looked up at me. "She's happy with Phil now. I think if she came back to Forks and saw Billy, it would just ruin all of that. I can't even imagine seeing you for the first time in years and not… touching you. And can you imagine how uncomfortable Charlie would be watching that? I should've never invited her in the first place."

"Not invite your mother?" I scoffed. "How would that even work?"

"Yeah, you're right. It would've caused even more issues for us. As if we don't have enough going on right now…"

"Speaking of which, I need to get you home. We'll all be hunting more frequently until Victoria comes to keep up our strength. I'm going with Emmett in a little while."

Bella's stomach suddenly growled, causing both of our eyes to widen. "I want to go," she said. She folded the letter Renee had sent her and shoved it in her pocket.

"You want to… Wait, what?" I asked, certain I'd heard her wrong.

"I want to go with you. Come on," she said hurriedly. "We can hunt the woods here, can't we?"

"No, but we can use them to get far enough away from civilization that no one will see us," I responded.

"Okay, let's do that." She started toward the back door, only to stop when she saw I hadn't moved. "Aren't you coming?"

I forced myself to walk toward her. Her behavior was so odd that I didn't know what to do next. "I'm just a little surprised you want to come, love," I admitted. "You've been so stubborn about eating…" I searched for the right word, "raw."

"Take it while you can, Edward," she laughed as she headed out the door, not bothering to wait for me as she started across the yard.

We stopped just inside the line of trees so Bella could take off her clothes. I sent a quick text to Emmett to let him know that he'd need to recruit Rosalie for a hunting partner and watched her strip out of the corner of my eye. It seemed like she grew more beautiful to me every time I saw her; my hands twitched to touch her.

She carefully folded her clothes and placed them under a fallen tree in case someone came by, and then handed me her ring. I slipped it into my pocket without question. This wasn't some quick run up to La Push and back. We'd be gone for hours until she got the hang of tracking and killing her prey and we both had our fill. Neither of us wanted it to be stolen.

As soon as she phased, we took off toward the mountains, not slowing until we were a safe distance away from any place where humans frequently camped. I took her to one of my favorite places to hunt. It offered a wide range of animals to feed on and had a fantastic view of the valley below.

"Your senses are your best weapons," I said as I stopped and turned to face her. "Your instincts will tell you what to do. If you stop and focus on what's around us, what do you hear?"

I could see her brows knit as she listened to the sounds around us. Her eyes suddenly snapped to mine, and I knew she'd heard the hearts of the herd of elk at the bottom of the mountain.

"Phase back," I instructed so I could talk to her.

The air shimmered around her, and with the instantaneous explosion I still hadn't gotten used to, she was back in human form.

"Heartbeats," she breathed, smiling up at me excitedly.

I grinned back. "How many?"

"Five?" she guessed.

"Close. Six. Now phase back and track their scent."

She eagerly phased back into her wolf form and took in the air around us. She nudged her head to the east, indicating the direction of where the elk were grazing, and then looked back at me expectantly.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked with a laugh. "Go."

She leapt away from me and bounded down the mountain, slowing when she grew closer to the herd. She agilely lowered her body to the ground, creeping up on the unsuspecting animals. I hung back and just watched, marveling at the sight of her stalking her prey. She was a natural. She didn't need me to tell her what to do.

A low growl built in her chest just before she rushed forward, scattering the elk, and started chasing down the largest of the does in the herd. The thunderous sounds of hooves kicking up the dirt and Bella's paws following close behind echoed around us. She lunged for the doe, sinking her teeth deep into her neck and fighting her to the ground. It seemed like it took a while, but it had actually only taken Bella a matter of seconds to kill the doe and start feeding off of her.

I quickly caught up with the buck and took him down, letting the hot, thick liquid coat my burning throat while I kept my eyes on Bella. She was safe—Victoria had yet to track her when she was phased—but I still wasn't taking any chances.

I shoved the drained carcass aside and walked over to where Bella had practically devoured her kill. She backed away from the dead animal and shifted again.

"I just… Oh, my God," she said in shock, bringing her hand up to her bloodied mouth.

"It's not that bad, is it?" I asked, giving her a worried look.

She shook her head. "It was good," she answered in disbelief. "So good."

My laugh caught in my throat as I finally took in the way she looked standing there before me. She was dirty, bloodied, and her hair was in a mess of tangles from fighting with the doe. Her eyes widened as they stared down at the animal. Her naked chest rose and fell with her heavy breathing, sending desire rocketing through me. The blood, the sight, the smell of her…

"Holy shit," I said uncharacteristically and charged at her, unable to control this sudden… craving.

I pinned her to the nearest tree and took her mouth with mine, greedily kissing her as my hands explored her body. The heavy taste of blood mixed with Bella's natural flavor had me spiraling out of control. I wanted to devour her like she had the doe… I wanted to send her into mindless oblivious, make it so she couldn't walk home.

"Jesus," I gasped, stunned by my thoughts.

My mouth roamed her body, tasting her, nipping at her neck, sucking at her breasts. I spread her legs and ran my hand over her, feeling how hot and excited she was already. I plunged my fingers inside her and glanced up as I put my mouth on her, watching her head fall back and a moan escape her lips.

She rocked her hips into my motions, gripping at my hair as she came hard. The speed and intensity of her orgasm had me smirking as I made my way back up her body. I stopped at one of her breasts and bit down, careful not to break the skin.

"Edward," she groaned, fighting to pull my shirt over my head.

"You want this like I do, don't you?" I said thickly.

She moaned in agreement as she fumbled with my jeans. "I don't know what it is," she said, staring at me intensely.

"I don't care what it is," I growled back. I grunted as she wrapped her hand around me, closing my eyes as she moved up and down, squeezing me…

I couldn't take any more. I grabbed her hips and lifted her up so that her legs were wrapped around my waist. I watched her cry out as I pushed her hand away and plowed into her, letting everything that hung in the air finally consume me.

It was like I had been taken over by some unknown force. I was probably being a bit overly rough with her, but I couldn't help myself. At one point, she had to arch away from the tree to avoid the annoyance of becoming a piece of human… ish sandpaper. She tightened her arms and legs around me and pushed her body even closer to mine. I had enough sense to move one hand from her hips and brace myself against the tree, although, the sound of the tree cracking as I drove into her—into it—had me backing away from it before it collapsed with my movements.

She clung to me and trailed her tongue over my jaw until she reached my ear. "Sit down," she breathed. I nearly dropped her when that one, simple, seductively whispered command caused everything in my body to tighten and ache for release.

I fell to my knees and stared up at her through the curtain of hair that fell over her face. She grabbed at my shoulders for leverage, sliding down on me, rolling her hips, and making me see stars.

More.

As if she could read my mind, she brought her body down on me harder and went faster with each pass. Her body heated under my touch, becoming slick with sweat as she moved.

She tightened around me, and I took my hand and snaked it in between our bodies. I circled her clit until she finally fell apart at my hand. I waited until her orgasm ebbed, and then gripped her hips with my hands again, bringing her down on me one last time as I came inside her.

I held her against me and waited until she'd caught her breath before taking her face and kissing her soundly. I wanted to do that over and over again until she could no longer move.

She reacted to the kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck and moaning into my mouth, until all at once she pulled away.

She twisted away from me and ran over to the tree, where she doubled over herself and threw up everything she'd just ingested of the doe.

I was at her side at once, taking her hair in my hands and waiting anxiously for whatever it was to pass.

"Bella, are you all right?" I asked as she stood back up.

She nodded once and gave me a sheepish look. "I think I ate too much."

"Ate too much?" I laughed. "Well, next time stop before you've eaten the entire kill."

She put her hands on her hips. "Shut up."

I snickered a little more before I finally schooled myself. "I need to finish hunting so I can get you back home. I take it you're done?"

She still looked a little green. "Yeah, I'm definitely not eating any more raw animals today."

If ever, I thought wryly.

"By the way, sorry for being a little too rough back there." At this, she gaped at me. "I noticed that you sort of flinched away from the tree, and- "

She cut me off before I could finish my thought. "Are you kidding? Is that supposed to be a joke? I know your primary concerns are and always will be my happiness and wellbeing, and being responsible for causing me to feel even the tiniest bit of discomfort just about kills you, but you really need to cut yourself some slack. I have no real explanation for what just happened back there, but I have a pretty good idea. For all intents and purposes, we're animals. Mated animals, no less. What we just did was amazing, and I think… very natural."

I simply couldn't disagree with her. It had been amazing, and the more I thought about it, especially when I really began to consider that… force… that took me over, I couldn't help but admit that she was absolutely correct about the natural feel of it all.


Bella

"Bella, are you even listening to me?" Alice asked, tapping her foot impatiently.

I shook myself out of my daze. "I'm sorry, Alice. I'm just so… tired. Can't we finish this later?"

She gave me a sympathetic look. "Bella, there is no 'later'. You're getting married in two days."

My stomach did a little flip with her words.

I groaned with the nausea, wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep until next year. Between wedding planning and early morning training sessions in the woods, I was exhausted. The only thing that kept me going was that I knew that after the wedding, there would be a slight lull in activities around here, and I could finally try to catch up on all the sleep I'd been missing out on lately.

I squared my shoulders, determined to get everything finished before it got too late. If I could just manage eight hours of sleep before I had to get up for the three am training session...

"All right, what do I need to decide on now?" I asked through a yawn.

She pointed to the tables that were set up in the living room. I was so tired; I hadn't even noticed them until now.

Each table was covered with flowers and candles, but they were all different. None of them had the same layout or were even the same shade of purple. Yet somehow, they complimented each other.

Good God, this was confusing.

"Um, I thought we just said purple," I said, voicing my sleepy confusion. "I don't really know-"

"I thought we could use different table designs," Alice interrupted. "Every table will have the silver, imperial purple, and white to tie it all together, but none of the decorations will be identical, and I'll use different shades of purple as an accent color on each table. Oh, and the chairs will be covered in white with an imperial purple, tulle sash. What do you think?" she said in a rush.

There she went, speaking Greek again.

"I thought we said simple, Alice. This is kind of elaborate, don't you think?"

"No, not really. I wanted to do these huge floral arrangements in tall, stemmed vases, but I didn't. That would have been too elaborate for you."

I sighed. "It looks good. Really good, actually. I take it you already knew I'd say that?"

"Sort of. I caught a glimpse of Carlisle and Esme sitting at a table like this one," she gestured to the table in the center, "and ordered everything immediately. I'm starting to get the hang of seeing around your… wolfiness."

I smiled at her made up term and shook my head. "Of course you are."

"Hand me that bag behind you, will you? There are some bright pink flowers in there I wanted to get your opinion on for the wedding party's table. I thought we could add a little drama to it and make it special."

"Alice, there is no wedding party. Just you and Jasper."

"You and Edward are included too."

"That's four people," I objected on a laugh. "How special can it be?"

"Come on, just look at them."

"Fine." I twisted around to grab the black bag off of the floor. The quick movement had my stomach rolling again, and I literally had to clench my teeth and race to the bathroom so I didn't throw up all over the pristine hardwood floor.

"Again?" Alice called after me. "You have got to see a doctor! I can't have you puking in your wedding dress!"

I stayed hunched over the toilet until I was sure that I wasn't going to heave anymore, and then laid my head on the cool tile floor.

"No doctor," I managed. "They have needles."

"You're still 'sick'," Edward said from the doorway. His eyes were wild with worry; his mouth was turned down into a disapproving frown.

"I bet it's just nerves. I was going over wedding decorations with Alice just now."

"First, your stomach was upset from the nerves of having to go up and give the valedictorian speech back at graduation – which, might I remind you, was over two weeks ago. Then, you were sick from the raw meat. Now, you're back to claiming that it's nerves?" he said as he walked over to me.

I pursed my lips. When he put it that way, it sounded ridiculous. "Um, maybe I've just got a bug. It'll go away, I'm sure.

"Bella, you're a Quileute shifter with an abnormally fast metabolism and ability to heal. I highly doubt it's just a bug."

That one sentence was without a doubt the most petrifying thing I'd ever heard. He was absolutely right. I shouldn't be sick. I shouldn't even be able to get a cold, and yet here I was lying on the bathroom floor after I'd thrown up one of the innumerable times in a span of just days.

Something was seriously wrong.

He could see how scared I was, and crouched down beside me. "Bella," he said gently, pushing my hair out of my face, "you need to see a doctor. Let Carlisle examine you."

"I'll be okay," I said shakily. "No need to bother Carlisle."

"Please," he said pleadingly. "I need to know that something's not wrong. You're the first female member of the tribe to phase, and we have no way of knowing…" He took in a shuddering breath. "I'm going a little crazy here watching this."

I glanced up at him and saw that he was just as terrified as I was. It was enough to finally make me see a little sense and agree. I couldn't let him go through this just because I wanted to live in some fantasy world and pretend I was all right. I was anything but all right.

I nodded and saw him visibly relax with relief. "Can you walk or do you want me to carry you to his study?"

I glared at him. "Can I walk?"

"Okay, bad choice of words. But do you need help with anything before we go up?"

"You can't ask him first?"

"Bella, you live in a house full of vampires. They can hear us talking, you know. He already knows you're coming. He's getting everything set up as we speak."

An embarrassed blush rose to my cheeks. "Sorry, I'm a little… out of it lately."

"Maybe you should skip a couple of training sessions. We can stay here, and you can catch up on your sleep…"

"I'll be fine after we get married, and I can finally knock that off of my 'to do' list. It's too bad we're not going on a honeymoon," I teased as I sat up slowly. "I could use a vacation right now."

"As soon as Victoria's dead, we'll go for as long as you'd like, love," he promised, helping me to my feet.

I swayed a little and had to use his arms to keep myself from tipping over. My head cleared almost immediately, and I started toward the sink to rinse my mouth out.

As soon as I was finished, we went upstairs and found Carlisle reading at his desk. He gave us a smile and motioned for me to sit down in one of the many places at the other side of the room.

"How are you feeling? Any better?" Carlisle asked me as I crossed the room.

"Yeah. I could get checked out at the hospital if you'd rather," I said awkwardly.

"Don't be silly. It would be my pleasure, and I have everything we need here," he answered.

"Are you sure? I don't want to interrupt anything you were doing."

"Bella, please. I love every member of my family, but from a medical standpoint, since everyone else is a vampire, there's not much I can do for them. With you, however, I am afforded the unique opportunity of putting my training and skills to use on someone I love; on a family member. I can't tell you how much that means to me."

I teared up a bit at this. He made excellent points. While there is a great deal of comfort one gains in the knowledge that those they love are immortal, by nature, Carlisle is a caretaker. I could tell that there was a part of him that wished he could be a typical doctor-dad and stitch up his sons' cuts or hold his daughters' hands when they were sick.

"There's another issue that we should probably speak about," Carlisle gave me a level look. "I simply don't know enough about your biology to be comfortable with letting you go to the hospital or some other doctor. Some of what they might discover about you… well, what we would consider commonplace, they would consider a medical miracle. It almost certainly would draw a great deal of attention, and put both secrets in jeopardy."

"Oh. Yeah, that's a really good point. I hadn't even thought of. Well, if you're sure you don't mind and you have time, let's do this."

Carlisle came to sit across from where I sat on the couch and smiled reassuringly. "Okay, so I think I know your symptoms, but why don't you go ahead and list them off in case I've missed something."

"Well, vomiting, obviously. I'm tired, and I get kind of dizzy every now and then. It sounds like the flu, doesn't it? Crap, I've got some weird wolf flu two days before I'm supposed to get married."

He chuckled. "It could be, but I'd like to run some tests and do a physical examination to rule out anything else."

My eyes widened.

"Nothing too personal," he hurried. "Just things like taking your temperature, labs, blood pressure… the usual. If you don't mind, I want to do a little research on you. I might have more answers and know what to expect in the future, if I do."

I bit down on my lip nervously. Did I want to know things like that?

He looked so eager with curiosity that I finally agreed. Who was I to spoil his fun?

He asked a series of questions, ending with the most awkward for us both. "When was your last period?"

I blanked. I had absolutely no idea when the last time I'd…

"I have no clue," I answered, counting the days back in my head. It had been before I'd started phasing. "Oh, my God. I really am a freak."

"Don't be alarmed," Carlisle said comfortingly. "Female vampires don't have that continuous cycle, either. It's why I wanted to study you, for lack of a better phrase. We could learn so much that could possibly help all of the pack members in the future."

I swallowed hard, trying not to think about it. I was just finally starting to come to terms with being the only female in the pack and shifting into a wolf at will. This just made me feel even more like an outcast.

"Hey," Edward whispered, scrutinizing my face. "What are you thinking?"

I gave him a weak smile. "Nothing. I just feel like an idiot, that's all."

"You've had a lot to deal with. Don't worry about not noticing. I hadn't either, if it makes you feel any better," he replied with a tight smile.

I managed to laugh a little.

Edward gave me his hand as soon as Carlisle pulled a needle and a vial for my blood out of his bag. I cringed the second he put the tourniquet around my arm, squeezed my eyes closed, and gripped Edward's hand tightly while I tried not to faint from the anticipation of the blood.

"Just a little prick," Carlisle murmured as he aligned the needle to a vein.

Nothing.

I opened my eyes and saw that the needle was bent and hadn't even punctured my skin.

"What the-?"

Carlisle seemed stunned. "I'll have to get a stronger needle."

Carlisle got the biggest needle he could find and had to exert a fair amount of force to puncture it through my skin. My temperature was taken and written down; it was extremely high, but I already knew that my body ran hotter now. It now made lot of sense for why I couldn't go to a normal doctor.

Every inch of my body was examined—my reflexes, my tonsils, my eyes, lymph nodes. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary by Carlisle's reactions, and Edward was exactly the same. He just sat there with his brows knit, watching everything with the most intensity I'd ever seen from him, never giving me the slightest clue about anything he might've seen that was a little off.

I laid back at Carlisle's instruction and lifted my shirt so that he could palpate my stomach. I expected for it to be the same as everything else and just watched his stoic reaction as he moved lower down my abdomen. He abruptly stopped his movements, staring down at where his hands had stilled. His face quickly morphed into that of disbelieving wonder.

"Incredible," he breathed.

Edward gasped next to me as he heard what Carlisle was thinking. His hand shot out to feel at where Carlisle's cool hands still sat, gasping again as he carefully pushed down.

"How is this possible?" he asked.

"What?" I asked anxiously, leaning up and looking over at Edward's startled face. It was enough to bring me to tears. "What is it? Am I going to die?" I knew I was being stupid, but I couldn't help it. I had no idea what was going on.

"No, you're not dying," Carlisle laughed. "The opposite actually. I need to verify…" he trailed off and grabbed his bag.

"Verify what?"

He gave me an apologetic look. "Just give me a little time. I want to make sure I'm right before I tell you anything."

I nodded mutely.

The door closed behind him, and I finally chanced another look at Edward. He was absolutely still, not even glancing over at me when I stood up and began to pace the room. He was frozen in his own kind of shock. He was completely useless, leaving me to my freak out on my own, and I actually got a little angry at one point. He could have at least had the decency to give me an idea of what was going on.

"You're such a jerk," I grumbled under my breath, knowing that he could hear me.

He blinked, finally snapping out of his stupor. "I'm sorry?"

"You're a jerk," I repeated, glaring over at him. "You know what's going on and instead of maybe… Oh, I don't know… trying to keep me from having some kind of panic attack, you're just… sitting there!"

"You're right. I'm not thinking straight."

"Thank you." I waited for him to continue. "Well?" I asked when he said nothing else.

He blew his breath out loudly and ran a hand through his hair. "Bella, sit down. You need to be sitting down when I tell you this." The uncertainty in his eyes melted away my anger instantly and caused my blood to run cold.

Unthinkingly, I dropped to the couch. "What?"

"Carlisle thinks… I think… you're-"

Just then, my cell phone began ringing. We both jumped up, somewhat startled. It was Carlisle, so I put him on speaker.

"So I have some big news for you both, but I really feel like this is something I should tell you both in person. I promise, Bella, everything is fine. I'll be home as soon as I can."

I was a little disappointed that he didn't just tell us—well, me since Edward the Jerk seemed to already know—but the tone of Carlisle's voice gave me pause. It was both serious and excited.

"I'm sorry, love. I know you are driving yourself crazy with what this, but I swear, you're fine, and I really think this is something that would be best told by Carlisle."

The sincerity of expression was what really forced me to engage my seldom used ability for patience. I felt the overwhelming need to be close to Edward, so I climbed into his lap and we put our arms around each other.

Five minutes later, Carlisle found us tangled in that same position on the couch. We looked up as he dragged his desk chair over to us. A big smile split his face when he took in our position. "I'm sorry I left you two waiting, but this was too big, too important to not make absolutely sure."

At that, I felt Edward's body go slack, almost like he was going to pass out. I quickly grabbed him and pull him closer to my body.

Once he seemed like he had gathered himself, I looked up and took in Edward's awed face. "You okay?"

He laughed—it was a beautiful, amazed sound—and nodded his head. "You're pregnant," he said simply. "I can't believe it."

Carlisle laughed at this. "Believe it."

I felt like I must have misheard them, or was perhaps dreaming, so I shifted my gaze over to Carlisle with what must have been a clear look of confusion on my face.

His golden eyes flashed to mine, and a look over tenderness tinged with excitement overtook his face. "You're pregnant, Bella. Quite far, actually. I brought an unused ultrasound machine home from the hospital so we can take a look at the fetus. At the rate of growth, I don't think they'll miss it before we're finished…"

I stopped listening to his ramblings and glanced down at my stomach. I twisted around in Edward's lap, trying to see what they were talking about, but was unable to see any difference. I looked exactly the same.

"No, I'm not. It's impossible. I'm mated to a vampire, for crying out loud. He can't… I mean, we-"

Emmett, who I'd just realized was the one responsible for wheeling in the ultrasound machine, snickered. I narrowed my eyes in warning, instantly stopping whatever idiotic comment that had been ready to come out of his mouth.

"Carlisle, run the test again," I said frantically. "There's no way-"

A sob cut off any words I might have tried to say. As much as I wanted to deny it, I couldn't. The symptoms all matched up: the exhaustion, the nausea, the dizziness. It was always staring me in the face. I'd just been too blind to see it for what it really was.

"Oh. My. God," I whispered in shock. I'd never once considered that we could have a baby. Everything in biology said we should be unable to. And it wasn't something I wanted, anyway. Not until now. Now, it was all I could see, having a baby with Edward. Visions of bronze hair, green eyes, and a crooked smile, all on a miniature version of his father flooded my mind. Someone we created…

A sudden burst of excitement rushed through me. "Oh, my God!" I giggled, grabbing a hold of Edward's shoulders. "We're having a baby!"

He chuckled nervously and ran a hand through his hair. "So we are."

My face fell. "You're not happy?"

"Of course I'm happy," he said, reaching out and cupping my face. "I'm just scared. There's no precedence for this. I have no idea what it could it could do to you as it develops or what it is or if it will even be healthy… It's a hybrid. I-"

"That's exactly what I intend to find out, Edward," Carlisle interjected. "Emmett and Sam are going to start going through each of our histories, see if there's anything that could give us an idea of what to expect. I'll monitor Bella with the ultrasound daily. They'll both be fine," he said emphatically. "I won't let anything happen to them."

Edward nodded once.

The machine was powered up, and I was asked to lie down again. I rested my head in Edward's lap and blindly reached for his hand, needing to feel some kind of reassurance that he was, in fact, happy, like he'd said he was—like I was.

He interlaced his fingers with mine and brought our hands to his lips, kissing the tips of my fingers while Carlisle draped a napkin over my jeans and squirted some kind of clear, jelly-like stuff all over my stomach.

I sucked in a breath as soon it touched my skin.

"Sorry," he said, pulling the wand out of its holder, "I didn't have time to warm it up."

He maneuvered the wand over my stomach, pressing down and searching for an image of the baby, only to see nothing. He pressed a few buttons on the machine that caused the sound of the baby's heartbeat to flow through the room.

I melted at that sound.

"Listen to that," Emmett said to Edward, flashing his dimples. "You did that. Your little Eddies knocked her up."

"Emmett," Edward groaned.

"It's strong," Carlisle said, concentrating on the screen. "I can't get a visual, though. The membrane's too thick or too… I'm not sure, really. I just can't see it."

"The baby's okay, though, right?" I asked, chewing on my lip.

"Seems to be." He put the wand back and wiped my stomach clean. "I think you should take it easy. Edward's right. We have no idea what to expect, and I don't want you phasing or training or doing anything overly strenuous that could cause any problems for either of you."

"I've been phasing," I gasped, shooting up off the couch and nearly knocking my head into Edward's. "All this time… What if I hurt him?"

Edward's brow quirked with my confidence. "Him?"

I arched mine back. "Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all."

"You didn't hurt the baby," Carlisle said confidently. "The heartbeat suggests that it's thriving. Don't worry so much."

Yeah, right.

Carlisle flew around the room, putting things away while simultaneously pulling old books off of the shelves and placing them on his desk for Emmett to start looking through. I turned to Edward, desperately needing to know what was going on in his head.

"What do you think? Honestly," I asked, climbing back into his lap.

"I'm having a hard time believing that all of this is real. That I have you, after everything I put you through and now, we're having a baby. It's…"

"Mind-blowing?" I offered.

"Yeah." He ran his hand down my arm. "What do you think?"

"I'm excited. Really excited. But I'm scared. Like you." All of his concerns were valid, and that was the most frightening thing of it all. We had no idea what to expect.

"Don't be. Carlisle was right, we won't let anything happen to either of you."

I snuggled up against him and closed my eyes. "How did this happen?"

"I'm pretty sure you know," Edward whispered in my ear with a laugh.

"Stop it. I'm serious. This shouldn't be happening."

"I have a theory about that," Carlisle said, suddenly in front of us.

"Which is?" Edward prompted.

"We hear of incubus and succubus encounters all the time. The result, sadly for the human, is almost always death. So how were we to know that we couldn't still have children, Edward? We've been assuming all of this time, because we didn't have the facts. None of us have first hand experience with this."

"The Denalis do," Edward countered.

"But they're female," Carlisle argued. "You just proved that a male vampire could still reproduce, by simply being with Bella."

"All right, I can agree with that theory. But what about Bella?" he asked, tightening his hold on me. "She's not had a single period since we've come home. I'm sure of it. Wouldn't that mean that she hasn't been ovulating?"

"What if she was in heat?"

"Excuse me?" I nearly screeched. To be compared to a bitch in heat was just… insulting.

"Hear me out," Carlisle said to me. "Let's say you were feeling the desire to mate with Edward and seal the imprint. But what if there's more to it? A biological drive to create life that continued until you conceived?"

"But don't most females in heat… bleed?" I asked, blushing hotly. "I didn't."

"Who said you would ever resemble a wolf, other than with the form you can shift into?" he asked back.

"Nobody."

"Exactly. You're unlike anything we've ever seen before, Bella. You're the product of an imprint and you're the first female member of the tribe to phase. You imprinted on a being that was considered the tribe's mortal enemy for years. Who knows what you can do; what this baby will be able to do?"

I laughed at his enthusiasm. "You're really enjoying yourself, aren't you?"

"You're Carlisle's wet dream," Emmett said from where he'd been studying.

"Ew, come on, Emmett," I said, scrunching up my nose.

"It's just a theory, Bella," Carlisle said as he turned away. "I'll know more when I've run those tests on that blood you gave me."

With everything that had just happened, I was even more tired and could barely hold my eyes open to shower and brush my teeth. Edward was being… well, Edward. He was a little overbearing, insisting that we both hang back at the house and skip the training session so I could rest.

I was too tired to argue.

I curled up with my back against him and closed my eyes, but I couldn't quite shut my mind off. We were going to be parents. It was unfathomable.

Edward began humming my lullaby, relaxing me almost instantaneously. It calmed me enough to finally feel the first movements of the baby, a quick fluttering deep in my belly.

My eyes snapped open and my hands went to where Edward's hands sat, pushing them out the way.

"Didn't you feel that?" I asked, willing for the baby to do it again.

"Feel what?"

"The baby. It just moved," I said excitedly. "You didn't feel it?"

He kissed my hair. "I didn't. I can't hear his heart beating yet, either. I'm a little disappointed, to tell you the truth."

I grinned widely and turned in his arms. "So you're honestly okay with this?"

"Are you going to ask me that all the time now?" he chuckled.

"I might. Don't tempt me."

"I'm okay with it, Bella. Way more than okay, really. I promise."