Marie

I couldn't tear my eyes away from Bella. I couldn't even believe what I was seeing. I'd been told she had a tropical disease but I'd had no idea it was this bad. And the more I stared at her, the more I became certain. She didn't have a tropical disease. She was pregnant. That bulge around her stomach was a baby bump - a sick, distorted version of one, anyway.

"What happened to you?" I whispered. I didn't have to speak loudly to get her attention because everyone was staring at me anyway; I guessed that was because I wasn't meant to be here.

"What are you doing, Marie?" my cousin croaked.

"I followed Jacob", I said. "Are you...pregnant?"

Bella sighed and put a hand to her stomach.

"It wasn't planned, Marie. But now-" and her face lit up with a smile that contrasted with her sickly, unnatural appearance-"now it's like it's meant to be..."

There was a snort to her right. I followed the direction of it and my eyes found Jacob. He wore an angry, contemptuous expression, similar to the one he had at the wedding. And it seemed to be Bella's words that had made him so angry. My cousin's face had turned in the same direction as mine.

"Please Jake, Marie", she said, an edge of desperation in her voice. "Support me in this? I need you both on my side."

I wondered what she was talking about. Why would she need us on her side? She obviously didn't need me. I'd never felt more shut out of Bella's life than I did right now. I couldn't believe she'd let me think she had some dangerous tropical disease when actually she was pregnant. Was she afraid Charlie and I would disapprove? I'd never judge my cousin; she ought to know that.

I took a deep breath and I walked towards Bella , crouching beside her on the sofa.

"What's going on?" I asked. "You can tell me. But please don't keep anything from me, if you want me to help you."

I looked into her eyes and hoped desperately she'd do as I said.

Time lapse

"Are you being sarcastic?" I asked, ten minutes later. "Because I can't even tell."

"She's telling the truth, Marie", Jacob growled from beside me and I jumped. I hadn't realised how close he was. His voice really did sound like a wolf's growl. "I can prove it to you by morphing if you like."

"No, you don't have to do that..." I said hastily. "Not yet, anyway." I paused. The only reason I was even considering that what Bella was saying might be true was because of what I'd seen at the wedding. There had been wolves there, wolves who seemed to be trying to hold Jacob back from attacking Edward. And then there was the speed with which Edward had leapt to Bella whilst he was holding me. And of course there was the bizarre warped pregnancy Bella seemed to have going on now. That wasn't natural; I'd never seen anything like it.

"So if I say I believe you", I said slowly, "and I agree that Edward's a vampire and Jacob's a werewolf-" and if that really was true, I couldn't help being hurt she hadn't told me-"then I still don't see why you need me and Jacob on your side."

The doctor - vampire – man - Edward's dad, stepped into the centre of the room at that point.

"We have some...concerns...about what it is Bella's carrying", he said. "Nothing like this has ever been seen before. Therefore, in the minds of myself, Edward, Jasper and Alice it would be better if the...pregnancy if that is what it can be called, was ended. However Bella disagrees." Edward, who I'd already noticed was curled up by Bella with his hands clenched as if he was in pain, moaned softly. "Furthermore, Rosalie, Emmett and Esmee have taken her side and will not allow us to take steps...against Bella's will...to get rid of it."

When Edward's dad said that I glared at him and moved closer to Bella. Whether she wanted to get rid of the baby was her choice not his. And truthfully, if I'd been Bella, I don't think I'd have been comfortable getting an abortion in this situation either, although I could see why Edward and Carlisle might want her to.

"That's why I need you on my side, Marie", Bella whispered. "I can't take any more people telling me I'm wrong right now. I won't change my mind but I don't want to have to fight you as well as the others." Her eyes were pleading.

"I'm on your side", I said, squeezing her frail, trembling hand. I was still hurt by how much she'd kept from me, but she was my cousin and I loved her...and it was her right to have her own baby if she wanted to.

"Jake?" She didn't look up at him as she said it. She already seemed prepared for him to say no.

"I guess I'll agree with Marie, Bella." His voice was gruff. "I'm on your side. Though I'll have to go and report this to the pack. I don't really have a choice."

"Of course", the doctor said, nodding.

"But I'll come back." For some reason, Jacob was looking at me. "Are you gonna stay here?"

"I guess." I didn't know why he cared. But then he moved closer to me and as he walked past, our hands brushed and tingles shot up my spine. I didn't know why. It was just a quick touch.

Pull yourself together, Marie, I told myself. It was fine to have a harmless little crush from a distance, but now you actually know him, it's just creepy. Besides, he obviously loves Bella.

I was still surprised Jacob had sided with Bella, actually. When I'd first come in he'd seemed utterly contemptuous of her happiness about the pregnancy. He'd only seemed to change his mind after I said that I was on her side.

Don't flatter yourself. He barely even knows you.

Maybe it wasn't just the evidence of my eyes that made me believe Bella's story. Maybe it was the fact that somewhere, deep down, I knew that Jacob Black was a werewolf, just as I knew in my gut that I wasn't one.

And maybe I was more like my cousin than I realised. Because the fact my crush wasn't human didn't put me off even the tiniest bit.

Which was a shame really. Because the sooner I got over Jacob, the better.

Time lapse

"They're frightened. They don't know what it is Bella's carrying and they think it could be harmful. They want to destroy it," said one voice.

"Well then...thank you, Jacob. Thank you for breaking away and coming back to warn us."

I opened my eyes. I hadn't even realised I'd been asleep. How had that happened?

"It wasn't easy", Jacob's voice answered gruffly. "But like Edward said, I was the real Alpha. I just had to realise it. Or something." I couldn't see Jacob but I could almost hear him shrug after that sentence. It bothered me that I knew him so well I could tell when he was doing that. How could I? I barely knew him at all really... "Seth and Leah came with me. I didn't want them to, but they did anyway."

"Well, again...thank you. You're a true friend, Jacob."

"It wasn't just for her I was doing it", Jacob muttered and I wondered what he meant. Her must be Bella so...who else was he doing it for if it wasn't just Bella?

But the two speakers didn't say anymore. Instead, the door to the main room opened and first Jacob, then Carlisle, walked through, Jacob flinching slightly as he was hit by the smell of all those vampires again.

"What's happened?" I asked, sitting up from the sofa I'd fallen asleep on and smoothing down my hair, which was sticking up everywhere.

"My pack want to destroy Bella", Jacob said shortly. "They ordered me to help them, but I resisted and ran away to warn you all."

I stared at him in horror.

"So...they're going to come and kill us all?" I moved protectively closer to Bella.

"Probably. But we'll fight them and win. You don't need to worry." Jacob smiled in a way that I thought was meant to be reassuring, but I didn't feel reassured. I was a human. I wouldn't be able to stand against werewolves. Visions of having to stand to the side doing nothing whilst Bella and Jacob were murdered danced before my eyes and I winced. I'd never let that happen. I'd attack them myself before I'd see them kill Bella, even if it meant death for me. Standing aside and doing nothing WASN'T an option.

"You don't have to stay here, Marie", Carlisle said gently.

"No, I want to". I'd already called Charlie and told him I was staying over at a friend's. He'd accepted that, even though he had to know I'd yet to make any friends in Forks who weren't right now inside this house. It was still the Summer Holidays, so I hadn't actually met many people yet like I would have if school had been on. But in any case, going away and wondering all the time if my friends were dying right now was the only thing worse than actually watching them die.

"The pack won't harm her, anyway", Jacob said, looking significantly at Carlisle.

I wondered why not. Chivalry? Not wanting to hurt someone so much weaker than themselves? I really wished Jacob and the others would stop keeping things from me. I was about to snap at them about it, but then there was a cracking sound and Bella clutched her stomach. Her baby had broken one of her bones. After that we were all distracted.

Time lapse

It was weird but it was hard to think of anything I could talk about in this situation. The others seemed fine sitting in silence, but it meant I had nothing to distract me from my thoughts of being ripped apart by werewolves, so I'd have preferred having something to say.

"How was the Honeymoon?" I asked Bella. "Apart from...you know..." I gestured at her stomach.

She smiled and somehow it made her face look even more haggard, stretching the skin painfully over the bones.

"It was brilliant, Marie. You should see it sometime. It was in Rio, but Edward has his own island..."

Forgot I was dealing with millionaires for a moment. I wondered how they'd even managed to get so rich. I was sure doctor's like Carlisle weren't paid that well.

I thought again how my wedding and honeymoon and all that were going to pale in comparison to Bella's when I eventually had them.

"Were you pregnant before you married?" I asked my cousin.

"No."

I sighed. They didn't seem to want to talk. Jacob had gone out on patrol. I was tired.

"Is there somewhere I can sleep?"

"She can have my bed", Edward muttered. He still looked like someone was torturing him.

Carlisle showed me where Edward's room was. A huge apricot coloured bed dominated the room and I perched on it gingerly, trying not to think about why someone who didn't need to sleep would have a double bed in his room. I decided I'd sleep in my clothes - I could probably borrow someone else's for tomorrow - and I climbed under the covers reluctantly. Sleeping in Edward Cullen's bed felt so intimate somehow that I didn't really want to do it. But there was nowhere else so I closed my eyes and tried to drift off. I hoped I didn't dream of Edward. That would be wrong on so many levels.

But it was Jacob who invaded my dreams that night.