10. The pregnancy theory

I stepped out of the car, which was parked in front of the big white house the Cullens lived in. The doctor leech was going to examine me and in some way it didn't make me as nervous as I thought I would of should be. My appointment with Doctor Hanson had been a mistake, I knew that now. The risk of exposure was just too big to not consider. It felt somewhat better to have a doctor that knew about my… condition, for lack of better word. Nobody was really sure if the kids of werewolves showed some werewolf-treats. Maybe my pregnancy would help my people to get more insight in werewolf-babies.

By now, no werewolf rang the bell anymore when visiting the house. Jacob had promoted vampire/wolf interaction and as little lambs, we had all complied, even when it still felt extremely weird. I opened the door and walked in. The house was silent. They probably cleared the house, I thought to myself. I knew I wouldn't feel comfortable when Edward, the mind reader would be in the house during the examination. I wasn't sure if he just heard thoughts like someone was talking or that he really saw the pictures. Anyway, I wasn't taking the risk. It would be horrifying if he saw me naked through his father's thoughts.

….

Did that sound as weird to you as it did to me?

So here I was, walking in the quiet house, feeling very uncomfortable. Every time I had been here before, at least three leeches and one or two wolves would still be here.

'Hello, anyone there?' I called. My enhanced hearing picked up a soft sound upstairs. Someone was walking on the second floor. Making my way towards the stairs, I absentmindedly picked some dust of my clothes. Like any of that matters when the man is going to see your naked … you know what. Suddenly I did feel nervous. I really, really, really hoped he would keep his thoughts about me private when the mind reader was in the room.

'Hello Leah,' the smooth voice almost made me stumble. Wow, didn't see that one coming. Well, actually I had, but then I got distracted and which lead to… Um… yeah, not really the point.

I greeted the doctor back quietly. 'If you wouldn't mind following me, I will show you to the exam room. I set it up during Bella's pregnancy.'

Great... Hopefully the room is sterilized properly, I thought to myself. As I walked into the room, I noticed it didn't look much different from Doctor Hanson's room. It probably looked like any doctor's office. Still, something in here made me feel less uncomfortable.

Doctor Cullen asked me to take a seat in the chair standing in front of the desk. Yes, I know, I called him Doctor Cullen. I figured it might me easier if I referred to him as that. He was going to help with during this pregnancy and this was supposed to be the best time of your life. If I was going through it feeling uncomfortable and all with my doctor, it would only end badly.

First Doctor Cullen asked me the same questions Doctor Hanson had before. I found it much easier to talk, because I knew he wouldn't be surprised by any of the answers I gave him. He did look curious though. I had heard from Seth that Doctor Cullen always had held a deep interest in the supernatural biologic features. Both mine and – dare I say here name in one sentence with mine – Bella's pregnancy must have really interested him. He would have a field day examining all the changes and stuff within my pregnancy. Kinda freaky, but okay... Maybe it would give me some answers too.

He wrote some things down on a sheet of paper and was silent for a little while. Suddenly I found myself curious and frightened at the same time. 'Leah, I am not completely sure how any of this could happen, but I have a theory. First I would like to physically examine you and afterwards I will tell you more about my thoughts. Is that alright with you?'

I hesitantly nodded, not quite knowing how to act around him anymore. I don't think it was caused by the raging hormones in my body – although most guys would contradict me on this part – but he made me feel a bit different about him. Before I had only seen him as the creepy leech doctor and now he was going to be my doctor during a very important part of my life. I don't know why, yet something in me was changing.

Or maybe I was just going soft.

He guided me to the examining table and told me to sit down. Again, the part that followed was the same as with Doctor Hanson before; he took some blood and did a few other tests I didn't really pay much attention to. In a few minutes I would be seeing my baby for the first time and I couldn't wait for that moment to come!

Eventually he told me, in that strangely soothing voice of him: 'I am going to set up the ultrasound now.' Giddy, I lay down and bared my stomach. The gel he put on my belly was cold, though it felt kind of nice against my warm skin. I sighed; this was the moment I had been waiting for. I guess someone who had known me during the 'depressing' part of my life, would hardly recognize me. This pregnancy had definitely changed me. These motherly feelings, I'd never thought I would experience them. And instead of being cranky most of the time, I wanted to laugh out loud as much as possible (knowing everybody would die from shock, I refrained from doing so).

So all this excitement because of the ultrasound wasn't like me at all. Yet, I was happy to let myself feel nice feelings for once. Although being with Chris had changed me already, I felt this would be the turning point in my life.

So, as you might have noticed, not only did this pregnancy make me happy, it also made me a philosopher. Not really part of the plan.

Suddenly I could hear a soft but steady sound of a heartbeat. In the time I had been contemplating the miracles of life, Doctor Cullen had pulled out the ultrasound machine – hell, does that have an official name? – and had put the device on my stomach. Now we could hear the baby's heartbeat. Furthermore, on the screen I could also see a tiny little baby. Well, it didn't really look like a baby yet, it was more like a blurry thing, but still, it was my baby. The doctor pointed a few things out on the monitor and suddenly I could see a bit of its arms and legs. My heart swelled when he told me this baby was totally fine; it even looked 'strong for his age', whatever that meant.

'Do you want me to print a photo for you?' I eagerly nodded, still watching the screen. It was fascinating that a person was growing inside my body. It still felt unreal to some extent. Doctor Cullen froze the screen and pressed a few buttons before a photo was printed. 'Here you go,' he said when he handed the little photo over to me. He then wiped the gel off my stomach, while my eyes were possessively on the image.

'Do you want to come over to the desk again? I can tell you more about yours and the baby's health. Also I will explain you my theory on your pregnancy.' When I we were sitting again, he took one look at his papers again and started to talk.

'Because there is so little information on werewolves, I like to observe the packs and come up with my own theories. I know this sounds crazy, but you interest me the most. Never has there been a female wolf and I can't help but wanting to know more about how and why this happened.'

Was it too late to run?

'Next to you being some kind of a miracle, imprinting is a mystery to all of us. I think it has worked out differently for you because you are a woman. The male and female anatomy is very different, even with non-wolves. You have the best traits from your human and wolf from combined. You have the extra abilities, like sensitive hearing and the ability to change form. Yet you have kept the female elegance, something that would have totally changed if you had changed the same way the boys did.'

I had to suppress a shudder when I thought about how I could have looked. Probably like someone who used a lot of steroids. The guys all had big muscles and six-packs and stuff. Although I was strong and muscled too, my body was better proportioned.

'You looks, so to say, helped you with finding an imprint. For you imprinting doesn't only mean finding a 'mate', I think it made you ready 'to mate'. I know this sounds too animalistic, but well, you are a werewolf.' He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, which almost made me smile. 'So finding Chris was your only way of ever getting pregnant.'

'But why haven't I gotten my period sooner during the time Chris and I had been together?' I asked him.

He thought about my question for a moment. 'That I am not too sure about. Maybe because the menstrual cycle makes a female fertile only one part of the time, while your body was ready to mate immediately after finding your imprint. That raises the question: why didn't you get pregnant right away then? Again, this is a mystery to me. What I do know is that you are much more connected to your body that normal humans are. Maybe your body wasn't ready to carry a baby. With no other cases to research, it is hard to come to definite conclusions.'

I thought about what he had said. It sounded logical, but then again, I was no doctor and didn't have much knowledge on things like this. 'So I can't shift anymore but I still run a high temperature. Is this the mix of 'good traits'?

He nodded. 'Your warmth will protect the baby, while shifting could hurt it.'

Continuing in a softer tone he said, 'Leah, I have a question for you. It might make you feel a bit uncomfortable but I would like to follow you during this pregnancy. Of course I will be your doctor first; I just would like to gain more information about your situation and so. Would you mind if I ran some blood tests every few months and examine you more closely?'

I wasn't so sure about all of this. Him being my doctor ok, but him using me as a study case… No, I didn't like that one bit. Yet the look on his face told me something else. He didn't see me just as a study case, he was truly interested in finding out more about the shapeshifters, probably wanted to help them to gain more information about our weird DNA and stuff. The smile on his face when I gave my consent made my heart flutter a bit. Ugh, stupid pregnancy hormones!

'Maybe next time you want to bring Chris with you to the check up?' This question wasn't expected. I mean, how could he ask if I wanted to bring a human to the vampire lair? 'Jasper and Alice could go hunting in Canada for the day and the others can go to Edward and Bella's house. It's no problem.'

I just gave a tiny nod before standing up. 'We'll see.'

The Doctor Leech walked to the door. 'I'm glad everything is going so well for you, Leah. I know you went through some hard times.' Again I was rendered speech less.

'Not that it is any of your business, but… thank you.' God, that was hard! I almost had to squeeze that last part out. I walked away to the car then; this love-the-vampire-day had taken long enough.

The only thing I needed to do today was going to Emily's. Then I could crawl into bed and stay there for a long, long time. Well, until dinnertime anyway.

Hi everyone! I am so sorry it took me such a long time to update. I have been swamped with schoolwork. It really isn't funny anymore. Luckily I only have one week of school left, then I'm free for four weeks to study and then I have to sit for my exams. So I will be busy for the next few weeks but maybe I can write when I need to relax for a while.

Anyway, I'm not sure if I replied to your reviews, so I wanted to thank everyone for reviewing the last chapter and for adding me to their favorites/alert list. You are great!

And I am still looking for a Beta Reader. If you want to beta read my story, I would really appreciate it. Of course I will be looking on the Beta Read section of the website too, but the few I had asked, were too busy to take on new stories… -sigh-

So I hoped you liked this chapter. It wasn't as long as I would like it to be, but my inspiration has left me a bit… So, sorry about that.

Please keep reviewing; it makes me feel super happy!

Byee!