My mind started to clear from the haze I had been experiencing. My limbs were heavy and my stomach was numb. I lifted one of my hands and tried to place it on my stomach; just to make sure it was still there.
A cold hand grabbed onto mine before I could find out if my stomach was still there. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, my dear," Edward's velvet voice whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes and turned to where Edward's voice had come from, "Edward? What happened?" I asked.
His face twisted into an expression that confused me. He looked like he was angry with someone, frightened, and in pain. "Bella, do you remember anything?"
I started to panic slightly; this cannot be good if Edward doesn't want to tell me what is going on; my brow furrowed slightly. "I remember walking on a path in the woods and then something standing over me… what was standing over me?"
Edward took a deep breath and looked into my eyes, "Bella, sweetie, um… it was Jacob Black, in his werewolf form."
I was confused, "What? But, wait; Jacob would never hurt me, so, what is going on? Edward, say something, is the baby okay?"
He looked tormented as he looked down at my hand. He started rubbing comforting circles into the back of my hand, "Bella, sweetheart, I know you think that Jacob would never hurt you, but I saw inside his mind, and even though he wasn't human at the time, I could still tell what he was thinking. Ummm… and that was Jacob, honey, he scratched you across the stomach, and I nearly lost you."
He did not answer my question about the baby, which made me think that something was wrong with our baby. I needed to know first though what had happened. This was not making any sense a tear slid down my face, " Why did he do that, Edward?"
He reached up with the hand that was not holding onto mine and wiped the tear off my face. He took a deep breath and then explained, "He was furious that you have chosen me, and he blamed me as the cause of all of your problems. On some level though he's right, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't constantly be in danger." I glared at him as he said the last part, but he just continued explaining, "He also knew in the back of his mind about the baby," again he looked worried as he mentioned our baby; what wasn't he telling me? "All he wanted was to cause me pain, and to get rid of any possible baby. He wasn't thinking about what he was doing to you, baby, he was just trying to make me pay for what I have done to you, you know, constantly putting you in danger and all of that."
I sat there for a few minutes in shock. I never would have thought that Jacob would do that to me, he was my best friend! I looked back at Edward who looked like he wasn't telling me something. My expression went from shocked to suspicious, "Edward? Is there something else you aren't telling me?"
He looked like he was struggling with something internally when he finally said, "He was going to kill you, and so I had to pull him off you. I also had to hurt him enough that he wouldn't come after either of us later, and Carlisle told me a little bit ago that I," he gulped as he gauged my worried expression as if he was worried about how I would react, "I killed him when I saved you."
My mind was working sluggishly from the painkillers I had been given; it sounded like he had said that Jacob was dead, that could not possibly be right. I looked at him expecting him to tell me that he was just kidding, but he looked remorseful. "What?" I gasped.
Tears started to flow down my face as Edward gently held me in his arms. I placed my head on his chest as he murmured, "Shh… it's okay… I'm so sorry, Bella, I tried, but I had to keep you safe."
My tears eventually stopped flowing as I remembered that Edward never told me if something had happened to the baby. I looked up at him warily. He frowned as he took in my expression, "What's wrong, Darling?"
I took a ragged breath and then said, "Is something wrong with the baby, Edward? Did the attack kill it?"
He looked at me with an unreadable expression. I opened my mouth to ask him again when all of a sudden, Alice ran in the room, and jumped on the bed. Her stone arms wrapped around both Edward and myself as she yelled, "I cannot believe I am going to be an aunt! I cannot wait for the babies to be born! I am going to spoil them so much!" she let go of us and said, "This is amazing! I cannot believe you guys are going to be parents; much less to twins!"
My jaw dropped; did she just say parents of twins? My mouth moved wordlessly for a couple of sentences as I tried to find my voice. I looked from Edward to Alice when I eventually found my voice; even though it was strained and weak, "Did you just say twins?"
I looked at Edward for an explanation, but he was frowning at Alice. A string of unintelligible words streamed out of his mouth. He looked down at me with one of his crooked smiles that I loved on his face. "I'm sorry, Bella, I was going to tell you when Alice came in here. They had to do an ultrasound when you were brought in here; they were just making sure that the baby, well, babies were still doing okay, and they found out that there's twins." He was grinning from ear to ear, as was Alice.
I did something then that surprised Edward, but Alice had obviously seen it before it was going to happen. I burst into tears; Edward and Alice exchanged a confused look. Edward wrapped his arms around me again as he asked, "Bella, honey, what is it?"
"I knew we weren't ready for one baby, but we are definitely not ready for two! Edward, what are we going to do?" I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at my eye level.
His face twitched as if he was trying to not laugh as the rest of his family, all except Carlisle, came into my room. I turned and looked at them in shock as Emmett walked over to my bedside and gathered me into a gentle bear hug. "Hey, congrats on the whole pregnant with twins thing; I cannot believe I am going to be an uncle!" he gave Edward a punch on the arm as I burst into tears again.
Everybody looked confused. Esme finally asked after what seemed like an eternity of my sobs being the only sound in the room, "Bella, what's wrong, dear?"
I gave her a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look as I managed to say, "What's wrong? What is wrong? I will tell you what is wrong! One of my best friends is dead, and now I am going to be responsible for not only myself and one fetus, but also another one! Then, after I go through the agony of childbirth, twice, we will have to take care of two demanding babies!" I grabbed Edward's shirt again and forced him to look at me, "We are NOT ready for this!"
His brow creased as he gave me a reassuring smile, "Bella, we have nearly eight months to get ready, besides, I don't think that we are going to be alone on this; the babies are going to have many doting relatives waiting to spoil them."
I started to protest when Carlisle came in the room. He looked confused as he looked around the room at his family. "Did I miss something?" he asked.
Emmett answered Carlisle's question before anybody else could, "No, and besides if we tell you now, what are we going to tell you on the car ride home?"
My face twisted into a smile as I gave Emmett a playful smack on his shoulder, "That is not funny!"
Everybody let out a small chuckle. Carlisle walked over to stand next to Edward. They shared a look, and then Edward moved slightly so Carlisle could exam me. "Are you in any pain, Bella?" he asked.
I shook my head and said, "No, I think the painkillers are taking care of that."
He smiled and looked at a chart that was in his hand, "Well, everything looks to be normal, so, we are all going to leave you for tonight. You need to get some sleep, you and your children need it."
"Oh, okay," I said dramatically. The Cullen family, minus Edward, started for the door. "Carlisle," I called. He turned around and I asked, "Is the painkillers going to hurt the babies?"
He smiled softly and said, "No, they are going to be just fine, and we called Charlie, he will be here in the morning; you can tell him the good news then."
I looked at Edward and he looked at Carlisle, "Actually, we told Charlie that Bella's pregnant when we found out. He hasn't reacted well to just one baby, yet, so I don't think we should tell him about two babies until later."
Carlisle started for the door again as he said, "Okay, it's your decision, but you cannot wait for very long, he's going to find out when two babies are born instead of the one he's going to expect."
I smiled as Carlisle left Edward and me in the room. Edward situated himself on my bed so I was lying in his arms. I looked up into his eyes as he leaned down and pressed his lips gently against mine. I felt like I was soaring as my heart rate stopped beeping briefly, but it started again once Edward pulled his lips away from mine. The kiss and everything that had happened in the past couple of hours seemed to disappear briefly while he kissed me, but it returned once again. Edward whispered into my ear as I leaned my head against his chest, "Sleep now, my love, we'll talk more in the morning." I must have fallen asleep, because that was all that I remembered.
How was that? Thank you to the reviewers and the several people that help me brainstorm: Jenna and my dear editor, Brittany, and many others. I realized, thanks to one of the reviews, that in the last chapter I made the mistake of putting that Bella was 17, and I even knew that she was 18! Gosh, oh, well, just know that I realize that she's 18 not 17, and my editor also says she's sorry for not noticing that.
I will try to update again soon, like over Thanksgiving Break, but it may be a couple of days before the next chapter is up.
I am not Stephanie Meyer; none of the characters in her books are mine… darn it.
Love, as always,
Crazy Speech Kid