Title: Natural

Summary: An unknown batter named Edward Masen takes a losing baseball team to the top of the league. Edward lives out his fame but can't seem to shake the idea of the mysterious woman he meets on the train.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work.

A/N: Thank you to my amazing mind soulmate and awbffe, LoveBadBoyVamps, for beta reading this chapter. *muah*

My head hurt.

That was the first thing I registered. The second was that I was tied up. My eyes fluttered open and I realized I was in a dark room which held only a single light that was directly over my head. I blinked in the harsh light and looked around. It seemed to be abandoned. How the hell did I end up here? Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching.

"Who's there?"

A smooth voice spoke in the darkness. "Don't be alarmed."

The voice was soon met with a face as Aro Volturi stepped out of the darkness. He was in an all black suit with his matching black hair slicked back. His hands were in front of his body touching one another and making a triangle.

"As you know," he continued, "the Knights are favored to win. What you might also know is that I can't have that. I have decided the Knights winning would be a grave mistake." He started to pace in front of me. "Financially speaking, I can do better by not winning. With your help, of course."

"No."

Aro snapped his fingers and a man dressed in black with a ski mask came out of the darkness and punched me. The blood poured down my face. He did it again and this time I felt the cut it brought. Aro snapped his fingers again and the man disappeared.

"As I was saying, the prevailing rate for this sort of thing is about $17,500. I'm offering you twice that."

I coughed up the blood that was spilling in my mouth. "You're wasting your time."

He laughed. "In the light of certain information that I know and possess, it is in your best interest to take this deal, Edward."

"What information?"

He held his hand out and an arm placed a manila folder into his hand. Aro opened it up and chuckled. "Oh, sorry. These are just too good to pass."

Then he showed the contents of the manila folder. There were pictures from on the field of Bella and I kissing after I struck out Felix. Then there were more of Bella and me dancing. Her cheek was on my chest and I was holding her tight to my body. The smile on my face was hard to miss and we looked like the perfect couple.

Aro pointed to me. "By the way, that you and Isabella Cullen—co-owner of the team you play on. A nice young boy a beautiful girl, quite the couple. Full disclosure of this scandal could only cause pain and embarrassment to those you love. Oh, Mr. Masen, if your fans should see this."

He had me and he knew it. I couldn't bring that kind of pain to Bella and her family. They had been like a family to me. The very thing Bella was trying to keep a secret, Aro had pictures of. And he had been monitoring it since the day on the train.

"What do you want me to do?"

He smiled. "It's a fairly simple procedure. You're to play your normal game… except when you're at bat. Under no circumstance, while you're at bat are you to hit the ball safely."

"They'll beat you without me."

"Without you," he laughed, "they were a losing team." He gestured to the darkness. "Make sure he doesn't forget our lesson."

They blindfolded me and took me to what I could only assume was a van. The van drove me for awhile and I was tossed onto a curb—my face cut up even more. They untied my wrists and the van sped off leaving me along in the darkness.

I groaned as I moved my hand to lift the blindfold off my face. I was alone in front of the Knights Stadium. In pain, I lifted my body up and stumbled towards the wall. There was a nearby water fountain and I splashed water in my face in an attempt to clean up the cuts.

"Edward?" a woman's voice called out.

My one eye was swollen shut so I couldn't see her clearly from where she stood. She rushed towards me wearing a blue flowing skirt and a grey button up. Her brown hair blew in the wind.

"Oh, my god! Edward? What happened to you?"

It was Bella. My sweet angel. What was she doing at the stadium this late at night? Why was she rushing towards me like she actually loved me? Her soft hands touched my face and I flinched whenever they ran over a cut.

"I have to get you to a hospital." She pulled me towards the curb again. "Taxi!"

"No!" I yelled. "No hospitals."

"But, Edward, your face it's really messed up."

I pulled away from her hold on my arm. "I said no hospitals."

"Okay. Okay." She grabbed me again. "No hospitals. I think I have someplace better."

I heard a car pull up and the sound of her opening the door. She ushered me into the taxi and followed in after me. She gave the cab driver and address—that I couldn't make out through my headache—and the car went to move. Bella took my head and laid it on her lap. Her hands moved through my hair and I let her touch soothe me.

I must've fallen asleep because she was shaking me. "Edward, honey, wake up."

My eye opened and I was looking up at her. She touched my face.

"We're here."

Holding on to my head—because it fucking ached—I sat up and let Bella ushered me to wherever we were headed. She knocked on the door and I saw Esme.

"Aunt Esme, is Carlisle here? Edward's hurt."

Esme's jaw dropped. "Yes, dear. Oh, my. What happened to him?"

She ushered us in and Bella brought me to the couch. Bella asked me to lay and she sat on her knees near my head—her fingers were still woven into my hair.

"He won't tell me. He wouldn't even go to a hospital. I thought this would be the next best thing."

Esme nodded. "It is. Let me go get Carlisle."

She left and soon Carlisle joined us with a black bag in hand. Bella released my hair and stood beside Esme who was nearly sobbing. Carlisle went right to work cleaning my wounds and stitching what he had to. Esme grabbed something from the freezer to stick over my eye and then I was left to deal with their questions.

"Edward," Carlisle began, "what happened?"

I cleared my throat. "It doesn't matter, okay? It's over. I handled it."

Bella threw her hands up in the air. "Yeah, your face looks very handled."

"What do you care?" I yelled.

Instantly, I regretted it. Bella's face dropped and tears began to fall down her face. She wiped a few of them away.

"Carlisle, Esme," Bella asked, "Can you leave Edward and I alone, please."

"Of course, dear." Esme hugged her and Carlisle kissed her cheek.

They left us alone in the living room. Bella took a deep breath and wiped away the tears that had fallen. She walked over to the couch and kneeled beside me on the ground. She said nothing at first, and just stared at me. I wasn't going to break the silence—she left me, remember.

"This was the very reason why I left."

I snorted. "You left because you're scared to fall in love."

"That's true." She nodded. "But, I also wanted to protect you. I know Aro did this to you its got Newton and his boys written all over it."

Bella paused and touched the contours of my face again. She was chewing on her lip again and her eyes moistened up. I didn't understand what she was trying to say and I wasn't going to admit that it was Aro who did this to me. Neither was I going to admit what he asked of me. It was in order to protect Bella.

"Seeing you there in that alley," Bella spoke though he voice was low, "I thought it was my father all over again."

I lifted my hand and placed it over hers. "It wasn't."

There was a long pause as we just stared into each other's eyes. I wanted nothing more than to kiss her right now but she couldn't be what I wanted. If we were to have any chance she would have to admit she loved me.

"Things sure turned out different." I said.

"In what way?"

"Different." I paused again and then asked her the question that had been bothering me. "That day in Chicago, why did you stand up?"

Her eyes dropped from my face as she often did when someone was penetrating her wall. It was something I learned from the weeks we spent together. The things I'd always wanted to learn about her I learned during that time. She chewed her lip when she was debating something and the blush, oh the blush. The blush was only something she did in reaction to me. No one else. Me.

When Bella spoke her voice was slow and careful. "I didn't want to see you fail."

"Why, Bella? Why after leaving me and breaking my heart once again did you not want to see me fail? I failed with you—the one thing I cared about more than baseball. So, why did it matter to if you if I failed?"

She shot up from her position on the floor and began to pace on the hardwood floor. Tears were streaming freely down her face and each one made the crack in my heart even bigger. Her hands were in her hair constantly pushing her curls back.

"Because I'm pregnant with your child, that's why!"

The world stopped and so did Bella. Her hand flew over her mouth as broken sobs racked her body. It seemed as I moved in slow motion as I shot from my place on the couch—ignoring the pain it took to do so—and take her in my arms.

I leaned my mouth to her ear as my arms wrapped around her waist from behind. "What did you just say?"

She turned and my arms allowed her. My hand lifted to wipe the tears falling from her face. She shouldn't be crying. In all the visions I played out of Bella telling me she was pregnant, I never once imagined it like this. Here I was, bruised and battered, and this beautiful woman had to yell she was pregnant at me because I was too stubborn to listen.

"I said," She drew in a breath to smooth out her voice, "I'm pregnant, Edward."

I couldn't contain it; I lifted her up with my arms and held her close to me spinning her around the room. The room was filled with her laughter as her legs kicked up and she pressed her mouth to mine. I was ecstatic and lost all sense of reason. Deep down I knew that just because she was carrying my child didn't mean she was in love with me but I didn't care.

"Thank you, Bella."

She blushed. "There's something else."

"What is it?" I placed her feet firmly back on the ground. "You can tell me anything."

Her hands reached up and went to the sides of my face. "I love you, Edward. I love you more than anyone has ever loved anyone in the history of the world. I'm not running away this time. I don't want to. Leaving you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do and I just can't stand it if I had to leave you again."

I kissed her again and her hand went into my hair pulling me closer. When I finally released her she was breathless. My hands went down her body and stopped over her stomach—where our child was growing inside her.

"What changed your mind?"

"I realized I couldn't live without you."

My mouth found hers again and I walked us to the couch. When we ran out of breath she asked me to rest and I laid my head on her lap. Her fingers worked their magic again calming me. It was in that instant I knew I had to tell her. Carlisle and Esme were asleep and she had to know that what I did tomorrow was for her. I was damaging Phil's career for her.

So, I told her everything. How I was drinking at Jessica's and Mike approached me. How I blacked out and woke up in a dark room where everything was hidden in the shadows. I told her all about what Aro Volturi told me and even about the pictures of us. When I finished she was quiet for a long time until she finally spoke.

"You know, I believe we have two lives."

Confusion crossed my features. That was the last thing I expected her to say. "How… What do you mean?"

"The life we learn with and the life we live with after that." She paused to look at me. "I'm living my life. I learned from the mistakes I've made. You need to know that with or without the records they'll remember you. Think of all the young boys you've influenced. What you choose to do tomorrow choose for you. Don't worry about the consequences this will have on me. I can handle it. This is going to affect you more than anything."

I took her hand that lay across my chest. "But if they find out you're dating a player on the team you're managing-"

"Don't worry about that. Whatever you decide tomorrow night I'm with you. Nothing's going to change that. This baby is a blessing and I'm not regretting it."

With that she brought me up to the guest room where she curled into my side—leaving me to my thoughts. She fell asleep quickly, obviously the stress from today had taken a strain on her. I was struck suddenly with the most surreal fact of all… I never had to give this up. I was going to be with Bella forever.

The only thing left to decide was I the kind of man who ran from my fate or charged it head on.