Chapter nine

After paying for the tests, Bella almost ran home, her heart in her throat all the way back. As disgusting as it sounded, Bella peed in a plastic cup before bringing it into the living room with a towel. She covered the coffee table in the towel before setting the cup down. Pouring the contest of the bag out on the couch, Bella took all the tests out of their boxes and placed them in a neat line on the towel in front of the cup.

When they were all out, she started at the left end of the table and took the cap of the stick, dipped it in her own pee, put the cap back on and laid it down, and continue doing it with all then of them. When she was finished and all she could do was to wait, she brought the cup back to the bathroom, poured it out in the toilet and threw it away, before washing her hands.

She had to wait three minutes. It took three minutes to tell her if she was pregnant or not. All it took was three minutes to know if her life would change forever or if she could live at it was.

With her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, she sat on the couch and stared at a spot on the towel just above the line of tests. She was engrossed in her own mind, trying to keep her emotions in check, so when her door burst open and Edward strode into her apartment, his gaze murderous, she lost it. Bella pressed her face against her knees and sobbed hard.

Everything she had felt and suppressed the last four days came crashing down on her and when Edward made her look at her, his cold eyes staring intently at her, she could barely breath, the sobs making her gasp for air.

"Is it his?" he growled and Bella shook her head, blinking as his face was blurry through the tears.

A sob caught in her throat and suddenly she couldn't breathe. Panicking, she tried to calm down and breathe normally, but it didn't help. Instead, Edward made her lean back and held her arms above her head. Slowly, she started to calm down and found herself breathing easily again.

"Is it his?" Edward asked again after letting go of her arms.

"Who's?"

"The guy from the park," he gritted.

"There is no guy from the park," Bella sighed, rubbing her face, "All I know is that he's name is Jacob and that he gives lousy advice."

"Would you have told me if it hadn't been for the fact that Jarred followed you and called me as soon he saw what you were buying? Would you have left town, shacked up with someone else and kept my son or daughter from me?" Edward demanded to know, his voice loud in the small apartment.

"They're not…"

"If you pull anything stupid, I'm going to be there to make sure it doesn't happen. From a woman who claims she loves me, I think it's rather heartless to keep something like this away from me."

"I don't know!" Bella cried out, "The tests aren't ready yet so will you just shut up!" Bella pressed her face against her legs again and tried to ignore that Edward sat down next to her on the couch.

"Half of them are negative and the other half is positive," he told her she felt him rise form the couch. What she hadn't expected was for him to take hold of her arm and pull her off the couch.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he took her jacket and threw her Chucks at her feet.

"You're coming with me."

"Why?" Bella asked stubbornly as she shrugged her jacket on.

"I'm taking you to my father so we can find out if your pregnant or not." Bella followed him down the stairs but when they reached car, she hesitated a second, though a second too much, and Edward grabbed roughly hold of her arm and pushed her inside the car.

After buckling up, Bella rubbed her arm where Edward had grabbed her and leaned back with her eyes closed as they drove fast through the city.

"If I'm pregnant," Bella murmured as they came to a stop at a red light, "I want you to know that I didn't do it on purpose, to force myself further into your life." She didn't get an answer and when she peeked over at Edward, he was staring out the window, so she did the same.

At the hospital, Edward kept a firm grip on her arm as he dragged her to the front desk.

"I'm here to see Carlisle Cullen."

"Dr. Cullen is in a meeting right now, but I can give him a message and he will call you when he has time."

"I don't have time to sit around and wait for my own-"

"Edward?" Edward spun around, taking Bella with him to see his father come towards them.

Dr. Carlisle Cullen was a handsome man with blond hair that had started to turn ever so slightly white. Bella could see where Jasper and Rose had gotten their golden locks but he had the same hard eyes as Edward and the strong yaw. He carried himself the same way Edward did; with importance and stealth.

"Dad, I want you to examine Bella here," Edward pulled Bella forth by her arm till she was standing right in front of Carlisle.

"Why?" Carlisle asked without looking at Bella.

"She might be pregnant and she took a test at home, but I would feel better if you could do it."

"Ok, come with me young lady," Bella felt herself melt when Carlisle wrapped his arm around Bella's shoulder and guided her to an examination room. "Do you want Edward to stay?" he asked when Edward followed them inside. Bella shook her head no.

"I'm staying," Edward crossed his arms over his chest and sat down in a chair.

"Fine," Carlisle said as he handed Bella a hospital gown and a cup. "You can go in there and change and I want you to pee in this cup before I take some blood."

"Blood?" Bella asked and Carlisle nodded. "Do you have to?"

"Bella, I need your urine, blood and to perform an ultrasound on you before I can state if your are pregnant, or not."

"Blood makes me sick," Bella whispered.

"Oh for the love of God, Bella, just do as he tell you," Edward snapped.

"Edward, keep it down; can't you see that she's shaken?"

"Sorry," Edward murmured as Bella locked herself in the small bathroom and changed before forcing herself to pee.

When she came out, she handed Carlisle the cup and got up on the table. She held her left arm out and looked away as Carlisle came over with a needle and drew some blood. She breathed through her mouth as she felt the needle go into her arms and tried to focus on everything else than the needle.

When he had enough, Carlisle taped her up.

"I'm just going to run the tests before the ultrasound."

The air became thick with tension as soon as Carlisle left the room and the hem of the hospital gown suddenly became very interesting to Bella as they waited.

It didn't take long before Carlisle came back with a clipboard in his hands, writing something down.

"Ok, before we do the ultrasound, I have a few questions for you," Carlisle said as he sat down in front of her. "When was your last menstruation?"

"End of June I think," Bella said as she tried to remember the date.

"Six weeks ago, then. When did you suspect you might be pregnant?"

"Today on my way to work," Bella explained, "I was walking to Milo when I noticed that there were a lot of advertisement for a sale on tampons, pads and women necessities. That was when I remembered that my period was two weeks late, I just hadn't noticed."

"How can you not notice that?" Edward snapped.

"I've been kind of busy, you know," Bella snapped back at him.

"When you have a lot on your mind, it's easy to forget something from your everyday routine now and then," Carlisle agreed as he wrote something else down before putting the clipboard down. "Now, Bella I want you to lay back and put your legs up," Bella did as she was told but looked up just as Carlisle lubed what looked like a rod with a power cord attached. Taking a deep breath, Bella focused on the ceiling, but she couldn't help but think that now had both father and son penetrated her, though differently.

"If the two of you look here," Bella lifted her head to look at the screen, "That is your baby," Carlisle said, pointing at a small white dot on the screen before pushing a button. The black and white screen changed to a sepia color and Bella could see more easily a small peanut shaped form on the screen.

She was pregnant…

Bella wanted to scream, cry, laugh and faint, all at the same time, but she managed to stay on her feet as she changed back to her clothes and followed Edward out.

"Prescription on the vitamins you will need and my number if you need anything at all, Bella," she gave Carlisle a weak smile and a thank you before she followed Edward to the car.

"I just want you to know that you don't have to do anything," Bella murmured as she looked down at her hands.

"You're not going to keep me away from my baby," Edward snapped.

"No! That's not what I'm saying," Bella quickly explained, "I'm just saying that I'm not going to force to do something you don't want to. If you want to walk away, I'm not going to stop you."

"I'm not walking away."

"I'm glad," Bella whispered as they drove back through the city. Outside, the rain had started.

~O~O~O

A few days later, Bella was feeling pregnant. She was a lot more tired than she used to be and she caught herself snacking a little more in the kitchen then what allowed. She was constantly hungry and even though she had just eaten, the smell of food in the restaurant made her stomach growl.

She hadn't heard from Edward since they had found out that she was pregnant and she wondered if he had decided to run away after all.

That night when she walked home, Bella wished that Emmett and Jasper would be waiting for at the same spot they always had, but she knew that they wouldn't; they hadn't done it since she moved out.

The night was quiet, not many people out as the rain was still coming down strong, the fourth day in a row. As she walked to the bus stop, Bella felt that someone was watching, but when she stopped and looked behind her, no one was there. Quickening her pace, she half ran in the direction of the bus.

She didn't get far before she felt someone grab a hold of her arm and before she see who it was, a hard punch landed on her face, followed by more.

~O~O~O

A thundering banging on the door woke Bella from her slumber on the couch, the once cold cloth covering her face warm and the ice pack almost melted into nothing but water.

"I know you're in there Bella, and I won't hesitate running down the door again," Edward's voice came from the other side and Bella quickly sat up, regretting her actions when her head started to spin.

Panicked, she looked around the apartment and contemplated sneaking out on the fire escape and climb to the roof, not wanting Edward to see her yet.

Moving slowly and silently from the couch to the door, Bella peeked through the peephole with her good eye, seeing Edward ready to run the door down.

"Come in," she called after quickly unlocking the door and rushing away from it, "I'm just going to take a quick shower," she called over her shoulder and disappeared into bathroom, turning on the shower.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Bella knew that she would need a lot of makeup to hide the bruises that colored half of her face purple and yellow and the cut above her left eye was still too fresh to be covered up properly.

Pulling back her hair, she hissed when she pulled too hard around the area of her left temple.

"Bella," Bella dropped her makeup bag on the floor when Edward knocked on the door, "Can you hold the shower a little? I need to talk with you."

"Just give me a few minutes to get dressed again," she quickly pressed out some foundation on her fingers and started to apply it to her temple.

"Just throw a robe on," he called through the door and she could hear that he was starting to get impatient.

"Just give me a few minutes," Bella called back, hissing as she applied too much pressure on the bruise.

"What the hell are you doing in there," Bella gasped and spun around when the door opened, but there was no use; Edward could easily see that side of her face in the mirror, "Turn around, Bella," he said softly but Bella stood still as tears started to gather in her eyes.

With a firm hand on her shoulder, Edward turned her around and took in the purple and yellow bruise that covered the left side of her face, a green one at her temple, the cut above her left eye and her black right eye.

"What the hell happened to you?" he growled as he made her sit down on the toilet before turning off the shower.

Tears had started to run freely down Bella's cheeks and she was unable to speak as Edward took a cloth and soaked in water before carefully washing the makeup off her face. She had managed to cover up most of it before Edward came in and as he cleaned the makeup away, he saw how bad it really was; what he had seen was not nearly as bad as the reality.

"Mom wanted me to check on you since you haven't been at work for four days now," Edward murmured as he carefully ran the cloth over Bella's bruised face. "Several girls have been beaten up in the area around Milo and she wanted me to make sure that you didn't have to walk alone at night, to have someone to drive you home."

"I'm ok," Bella rasped, and then hissed when Edward touched her cut.

"You're not fine," he huffed in annoyance as he threw the cloth in the sink and carefully pulled Bella to her feet.

"What are you doing?" she gasped when he pulled her t-shirt up; she wasn't wearing a bra and she wasn't going to let Edward see what he was missing.

"You're not hurt anywhere else, are?" he asked, ignoring her attempts to pull the shirt back down as he ran his hand over her stomach, her ribs, her back and between her breasts.

"No, he only went for my face," Bella murmured softly as Edward pulled her shirt back down.

"You're coming home with me," he said before walking out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. He grabbed her duffel bag and started to fill it up with clothes, a book from her nightstand and a picture of her parents.

"Why?" Bella asked from the door.

"Because I'm not going to let you be alone with someone out there who gets off by beating up woman," he said softly, caressing her right cheek. Bella's eyes went to his lips and she wanted kiss him, but when she looked into his eyes, she saw lust; it's only sex to him, she thought. "Come on," he said thickly, taking her hand, and for a second Bella wondered if it might be more than just sex for him, but she quickly pushed the thought away.

In the car, Edward had an arm wrapped around her the whole way and Bella leaned her right cheek against his shoulder, just enjoying being near him again. Her mind kept going back to when she confessed her love to him and she wondered if he ever would return the love, but right there, right then, sitting close to him like that was more than enough.

"You're going to move in with me, and protesting will be to no use, so you're going to take my room; I'll take the guest room," Edward explained when they were back in the apartment, standing in the very same room that started it all.

"Edward, you don't have to do that," Bella sighed, not planning to protest on moving in, but she didn't want to take his bedroom, "The guest room will be more than enough for me."

"I know, but I don't want you to walk up and down those glass steps and that's final," he took her bag into the closet and started to put her things away, "I'll send someone to your apartment tomorrow to pack up your things and bring them here. Then we can try to make some room for your things."

Overwhelmed, Bella walked out of the closet and sat down on the bed as tears started run down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked, kneeling between her legs, brushing away the tears.

"Thank you," Bella sniffed.

"For what?"

"For doing this. Ever since we saw Carlisle, I've been wondering how I'm going to do this. I know you said you want to be in the baby's life, but I haven't been able to stop thinking that you will change your mind and leave the two of us alone."

"I'm not going to give up that little peanut that grows inside you, I'm giving you my word," Edward promised as he helped her to her feet, catching her when she swayed, dizzy. "When was the last time you ate?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Toast for breakfast," Edward sighed as he led Bella to the kitchen.

"The first thing we're going to work on is you're eating habits," he informed her as he pulled out a contained from the fridge and placed it in the microwave.

"When did you start believing that this was your baby?" Bella asked, changing the subject, not because she didn't want to talk about it, but because her question had been popping up in her head since the moment she learned that she was pregnant.

"The moment I saw you panic and couldn't breathe after I kind of broke into your apartment."

"But you were so mad," Bella whispered.

"I was so mad at myself for being so stupid for believing that you actually had sex with that guy from the park. When you looked at me as if I was crazy, I knew that you were telling the truth, but something inside me kept pushing and pushing against the truth. A few days later, Friday I think it was, I recognized the man on the picture: Jacob Black. He lives in the building but he's not quite there, if you understand what I mean, and he's claimed that mom, Rose and Jasper have been his girlfriends."

"Jasper must have been his boyfriend," Bella corrected and Edward cracked a smile.

"No, it was girlfriend. Jacob strongly believed for some time that Jasper was a girl called Jasmine, but she dressed like a boy because she wanted to hide who she really was."

"And he told you that I was his girl then?"

"No," Edward shook his head, "I talked with him, asked him a little about you and he told me that you had seemed sad when he saw you in the park and he wanted to make you better, so he joined you."

"You're kind of an asshole you know."

"I'm not an asshole; I'm a dickhead," Edward said with a straight face and Bella laughed.

"Yeah, you are a huge dickhead for being such a dickhead," Bella agreed with a smile.

The microwave dinged and Edward poured the contest of the container over on two plates and placed the one with the largest portion in front of Bella. She raised an eyebrow but he gave her a look that told her not to argue with him. They are in silence, Bella hungrier than she thought and she scarfed it all down quickly, just as fast as Edward did.

"When all of your things are brought here tomorrow and everything has it place, there's one thing I would like to do," Edward said as he rinsed the dishes and placed them in the dishwasher.

"And what is that?" Bella asked as he walked over to her and kneeled next to her.

"Try again," he whispered, brushing his lips to the corner of her mouth.