Bella's Point of View
Today had been pretty quiet, Edward and Rosalie was nowhere to be found, for once the Cullen house was peaceful. Alice and Jasper had taken a stroll out to the woods; probably to hunt. Carlisle had taken another late shift in the hospital and Esme had decided to head out to Port Angles to do some fall shopping. It was hard to believe how fast time had went. It has been almost a year since Edward had left me; alone in the woods. It happened not to long after my eighteenth birthday. It had been late July that Emmett and I became... intimate. And now it would only be a few days before I would be seeing my next birthday.
If my pregnancy would progress at a normal rate, I would be around six weeks along. However this wasn't a normal pregnancy, Carlisle says the baby is growing at such an alarming rate that if the baby continues to grow this fast I can expect to deliver at the end of October.
The thought of it was exciting, but at the same time terrifying. Was I going to be a good mother? There was no doubt in my mind that I won't be perfect... and even more nerve-wracking, what if my child didn't like me...
When I spoke of these concerns with Emmett he just seemed to laugh it off and tell me how silly I was for even thinking such a thing would ever happen. But I could see it in his eyes, the fear. It was possible that he may have just as many fears for parenthood than I did. But he had years and years of wisdom and experience that I didn't have, there was no doubt that he knew how to raise a child... I on the other hand... well I'm eighteen, I'm still in school and I didn't have much insight to give a child... I sometimes still felt like a child myself.
With a sigh I let my head fall back gently against the back of the tub, letting the warm water run over every inch of my sore body. It was true, my body has been slightly more delicate than usual and it was beginning to get a little painful to do simple things. I hadn't really given much thought to it until Carlisle has brought it up. And after Emmett and I had a little … intimate time together... he noticed that my body is starting to get covered in bruises. Emmett's hand prints painted my skin; he wasn't being to rough... my body was just a little weaker because of the baby.
So now, it was everyone against me. Of course Emmett still didn't want to lose the baby, however he was doing everything in his power to slow this whole pregnancy process. He and Carlisle both have been hounding me to try different things; none being successful.
Carlisle had said the baby was beginning to feed on my blood, he said I couldn't last much longer than a week if I didn't remove the baby... or find a way to slow her down. So that's what we were doing right now, we tried everything. Eating certain foods, getting certain amounts of exercise, meditation, medication, you name it... we tried it. Nothing was slowing this little angel down.
I knew Emmett was worried, but I tried to tell him everything would be okay, he just had to believe in me, he had to trust that I really could do this. I was strong enough to deliver this baby and live to see her grow. At least that is what I hoped for, more than anything in the world.
After what felt like an extremely long time I decided that it was time to get out of the bath. There was no point sitting around just thinking about things, I had to keep on trying to solve this puzzle. The bath water had ran cold anyway.
Gently I stepped out, making sure that my balance was alright to step out onto the slippery marble tile floors. I dried off quickly and attempted to wrap a towel completely around me; but I couldn't. My stomach now was preventing me from even doing that much. I was tempted to take a peak at the scale, but I decided against that, it would probably be for the baby's best interest if I kept my stress levels down.
I covered myself up as best as I could and took a few steps out of the bathroom to jump in surprise to see Edward standing just a foot away. He had appeared to just be passing through, but as our eyes made contact he went completely still, his eyes sneakily roamed my body. He seemed to stop breathing and for the slightest of a second, the only sound between us was my thudding heart.
To say I was uncomfortable would be an understatement... Edward had never seen me... lacking this many clothes. We never had a very sexual relationship... when it came to the thought of it, there had been one point where it was Edward's body I craved, I had wanted him to take my virginity, I wanted him to make me his. It's almost funny how things actually turned out... Never would I ever had thought Emmett and I would ever be in the situation we are now.
"Bella... I..." His eyes shot back up to mine, for once he seemed to be at a loss for words.
"What's going on here?" Emmett's voice came up from behind me, a cold look was dancing in his eyes as he turned his gaze on Edward. "Do you mind explaining to me why I found you outside the bathroom door; waiting for Bella to come out?"
"Not that it's your business, I just got home from a long walk." Edward glared towards him. "I was just passing through as she came out."
"I saw you trying to catch a peak." Emmett shifted in front of my to block the exposed parts of my body. "She isn't yours to stare at anymore."
Edward made a face at him, before turning away a pained look coming to his expression. "You don't have to keep reminding me." Slowly he took another glance to me. "I apologize if I had offended you, sometimes there are some emotions that are a little harder for me to control."
I wasn't sure if this was a compliment or just another one of Edward's famous lies; that just drive me absolutely insane. Why did this have to be so difficult? Why did he have to keep saying these things and making me feel this way. It wasn't fair, after all the things he put me through, why couldn't he just leave me alone.
"I just don't even want to get into this tonight, I just want to get in bed and let this day be over." I grumbled, letting my forehead rest in the back of Emmett's shoulder. My brief touched seemed to soothe him, I felt his shoulders slump and a deep sigh falling from his lips.
"Come on babe, I'll take you."
Before any of us could make a move a savage snarl echoed from the other room; causing the three of us to go completely still. The growl was like nothing I've ever heard before... it wasn't familiar but I did know that this had to have come from another vampire.
Now both Emmett and Edward both were in protective crouches in front of me, growls erupting between the two of them.
My heart was racing heavily in my chest, to the point that I thought I would surely faint under this intensity. I feared for my baby, I feared for Emmett and even Edward. Whoever this intruder was didn't sound to happy.
I tried to peak over their shoulders, just to get a glimpse of the person I had wanted to talk with for what felt like forever now. Tears stung in my eyes and for a moment I felt myself try to walk around Emmett and Edward both.
Edward held an arm out, stopping me in my tracks. "Don't make another move."
I gave his arm a huge shove. "It's Charlie, it's my dad, don't you see he is finally awake!" I hissed at him, feeling anger boil in me to the point I thought I was seeing red.
And there he stood, looking so much like himself... but of course the sharp crimson eyes and the startling pale skin reminded me that this wasn't good old Charlie... this was a newborn vampire, who was probably incredibly thirsty.
"If you want to live... or matter yet, if you want your child to live, you will stay away from him." Edward said with a cool tone. "He is a newborn Bella, just the smell of human blood being this close could send him into a frenzy at any moment... just one wrong move."
Emmett sneered at Edward, giving him a hard crack in the back of the head. "You watch your mouth, don't you ever talk to Bella like that again." The tension was building steadily between the two of them. Now I didn't know if it was Charlie that was the danger or these two bickering.
Charlie stood in the doorway, completely frozen, his eyes darted between the three of us.
I swallowed hard, reluctantly taking a step away from him. I knew that Edward was right, Charlie wasn't safe to be around right now. Not for the baby or me... A thought came to me now as I had thought of Edward's words. He had used the term 'baby' for the first time it wasn't fetus, or demon or monster, it was just... baby.
It was a strange development, one that had me confused and brought a burning need to know what had changed for him. Why was he now showing just a little respect for my child?
"Charlie, stay calm, we need to get you out of this room." Edward said slowly moving towards him; taking a less threatening stance.
Charlie looked at him for a long pause, then as his eyes flickered between me and Edward again I saw the raw emotion flood through him and in seconds he was in front of Edward throwing wild punches at his torso.
"You filthy son of a bitch!" He cursed, taking a hold of Edward by the shoulders and throwing him through the wall of the living room. "Do you have any idea what you put her through?"
Oh god... what's next...
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