A/N- This was a hard chapter to write for many reasons. The main one being that I want to get back to Edward and so I didn't want to spend forever in Italy :)

Thank you to all my faithful reviewers :) You make me smile every time my phone says I have email :)

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Chapter 10 - Growing Pains

A few hours later, I woke up from a long nap to a knock on my door.

"Come in," I quietly said, and the door slowly opened.

Alec and his sister, Jane, were standing there with my bag and other items from my hotel room in town. Alec came over, gently placed my things on the bed for me, and then backed up to stand by his sister.

After an awkward moment, I decided to interrupt the silence with, "Thank you, both. I really appreciate it."

Alec smiled at me as Jane's expression darkened.

I smiled sweetly at Alec as I addressed him, "I am going to need to eat something soon. I need to eat much more often than you do; however, my child's dietary requirements are a lot more like yours than mine. I would prefer not to consume human blood. I know it's possible to live on animal blood, so I was wondering if there was any way someone could procure some for me."

Alec looked at me with wide eyes, and Jane's scowl slipped into a look of shock for a moment.

"We will have to talk to Aro. W-we were not planning for this," Alec stuttered out.

Without another word or glance, both of them swept out of the room, shutting the door forcefully behind them.

I was so tired when they brought me into my room that I hadn't looked it over. Now, my eyes swept the walls. There were two large bookcases, containing a wide variety of literature, all old volumes that were covered in a thin layer of dust. The bed was a large four-post affair with curtains and luxurious linens. The floors were highly polished hard wood. The ceilings were very intricate. Everything in the room screamed wealth, privilege and age. There were two paintings on the walls. One was an ornately detailed depiction of Volterra at twilight. The other was covered for some reason. I pulled back the curtain and gasped in shock. There, on the wall, was a life-size depiction of Carlisle. I knew he had visited the Volturi in his younger years and had lived here for a short time, but I was not prepared to find pictures of him here, especially in my room. I wanted to ask Aro or one of the others about it, however, I did not want to let my connection with their family become known.

There was also a small writing desk next to the picture of Carlisle that contained a laptop computer. I was excited at this prospect. I wanted to make sure I kept some kind of link with the outside world, and kept my parents from looking for me until the trail of my disappearance went completely cold. I quickly pulled up the internet and created a bogus account. From this throw away account I emailed Renee and Charlie, letting them know that I was safe and that I had just needed to get away for a while. I told them that I loved them and that I would come home as soon as I could. I wrote a couple of things in each email so they wouldn't question who it came from, and then sent the messages. I began to surf the web somewhat, looking at news from the outside world, when I heard a soft knock at the door. I opened it and found Aro on the other side, smiling down at me.

Aro looked at me with a fatherly smile and sat down comfortably in one of the two plush chairs. I sat down opposite him and looked at the ancient leader of the Volturi with expectant eyes.

Finally, Aro said, "Alec came to me and told me about your unique dietary requests. We will take care of you my dear. I find your request for an alternative blood source amusing, especially given the room I have placed you in. Have you ever heard Eleazar mention the Cullen coven?"

Aro looked at me for a moment with an inquisitive look in his eyes. I froze the pleasant smile on my face and thought for a moment. The likelihood of Eleazar not mentioning Carlisle was slim, however, I was not sure I wanted to even acknowledge that I was aware of the Cullens, let alone give any hint to how well I knew them.

I finally decided that my diet request made it plain that I knew quite a bit about the vegetarian vampire lifestyle, and that Carlisle most likely would have come up in conversation. So I said, "Yes, Aro, he did mention his friend to me, however I have never had the pleasure of his acquaintance. He came up when we were discussing, um, diet options for your kind."

A look of disbelief flashed across the clouded eyes for a moment before the more jovial appearance returned.

Aro then motioned over to the covered painting on the wall and said, "Take a look. That is a painting of Carlisle. This was his room when he lived with us."

I steadily walked over to the painting and pulled on the cord to sweep the fabric out of the way. I looked at the painting for about five seconds and turned back to Aro with a forced smile on my face.

Aro began to speak again, "Well, my dear child, we have decided on a plan of action for you. We are going to do some research on your condition. There have always been rumors floating around our world that such things were possible, however, we had never seen such a case until now. We will send a small guard contingent to find out if the rumors we have heard are based in fact. We are going to help you however we can. I have decided to call my friend, Carlisle, in to help with the birth of your child if I can track him down. He has practiced medicine for centuries. Otherwise, we will have a human doctor come in to help. Carlisle would be my first choice, but we have not seen him in many years, and Demetri, our best tracker, is currently gone from the city, working on something else of greater importance. We would like you to consider something, however. Once your child is born you will have two options. You are a human who knows too much about our way of life. Normally, this would not be allowed. I am inclined to believe, however, that the vampire who did this to you was planning to turn you at some point. If that is not the case, please do not tell me. I have barely convinced my brothers to not go after the father of your child or push you to find out who he is. I am much more interested in you and your child to push the issue. If you choose to become a vampire, we will require a period of service from you. We do not turn people freely, Bella, especially ones with your level of potential. The other choice is for us to kill you after your child's birth, which we would do if that was your wish, but I would prefer to see you join us for a time, if not permanently. Of course, remaining a member of our group would be your choice after your time has been served."

I looked up at Aro, trying to wrap my brain around all that he had said. Aro had a weird look on his face, one that for some reason frightened me, although I could not figure it out at first. My choices were difficult. I could become a vampire, but to spend eternity apart from the love of my life would kill me. However, I did not want my child raised without me. I wanted my baby to have the right values. I knew that if he or she grew up here alone, they would not be taught a way of life that I agreed with. They would live a life completely different than that of the Cullens. I was not sure I wanted to end my life now that I was responsible for another.

Finally, I asked Aro, who was waiting for me with that same strange expression, "Aro, how long would I be required to serve the Volturi as a member of the guard?"

Aro looked at me, flashed a huge smile and his expression finally made sense. It was one of greed and power. He wanted me because of the power and abilities that he would have some form of control over. I tried to control my body, but my realization sent a shudder of dread through me.

Aro quickly said, "I'm sorry if I frightened you, my dear. I mean you no harm; I am simply out of practice with making humans comfortable around me. The period would be one of ten years, once you are through your newborn phase. As a newborn, you would have to be controlled and so you would be of no use to us until you were past your first year, at least."

I looked at Aro, trying to keep the expression of disgust off my face as I asked a few more questions of him. Aro would allow me to eat whichever diet I chose and would not force my child to serve in the guard. He also guaranteed me that unless he or she was completely uncontrollable or broke the law, they would never be under any kind of threat from the council. I finally agreed to Aro's proposal, and his face lit up like a child on Christmas morning as he welcomed me into the Volturi guard, and placed an almost-black cloak around my shoulders.

The next couple of weeks went by in a blur. I had doctors checking up on me constantly. They were completely baffled when they realized that their normal baby monitoring equipment would not work on my child. They monitored my progress by measuring my stomach to gauge roughly, how far along I was. The doctors had to be changed out quickly as they became suspicious of what the Volturi actually were. Aro and the council attempted repeatedly to find Carlisle and the rest of the Cullens, but were unable to. Demetri came back after ten days and joined the search, however, for the first time in his existence, he was unable to track them down, always missing them by mere hours. When I heard repeatedly about Demetri's failures, I would laugh to myself. Alice was keeping the Cullens away from the Volturi. Then, I began to wonder if Alice had seen me and what was going on. If she had, the whole Cullen coven would be here, in harm's way. The more I got to know Aro, the more he scared me. I began to wonder if I would have been safer in Alaska all along. Aro was a collector of talents because of the power that they provided him. I hoped that he would never catch up with Alice, Jasper and Edward. Finding Carlisle would expose them all, and so I was grateful that Alice wasn't seeing me, or was choosing not to come to Volterra for me. Maybe they had believed the story I told Kate. During the day, I was kept so busy that I could not think about Edward at all. However, at night while I laid there trying to fall asleep, I saw his face, heard his voice in my head, and cried until I had no tears left, missing the love of my life who no longer wanted me. Every night I had nightmares. Most of them were about me searching for him, and I would wake up screaming. The first few nights, someone would rush in to make sure I was ok, but after a while, they accepted my nightmares and left me be.

The Volturi guard did research for two weeks and finally brought home a couple of examples of others like my child. Both of them were immortal and had good information for us about what giving birth to my baby would entail. Naheul and his aunt were the more informative of the two. With great sadness, they informed me that the mothers of children like him did not live through the birthing process, as far as they knew. At this fact, I was in shock. What was I going to do if I did not survive long enough to be changed? After a long night considering my options, I decided to speak with the council about my problem. I did not want my child growing up without one of his or her two parents. I knew that if my life were forfeit, I would want Edward to raise our baby. With extreme determination, I faced the council. To my surprise, they agreed with me wholeheartedly. I still refused to reveal the father's name to them in case I did survive the birth process, but I told them that I would lock away a letter in my desk that on the event of my death, my little one could be sent home to his or her father. I knew that this would put the coven in danger, but I did not want my child raised by Aro.

After two weeks in the castle, I could no longer leave my bed. The baby had become much too strong. My stomach was covered with deep bruises and I had broken two of my ribs. I was constantly in pain, even though the doctors gave me every course of pain management that they considered safe for the baby. A human doctor was assigned to stay with me continually until the birth. He figured out the truth in mere days and they decided to keep him through the birth process. When I frantically asked what would happen to him, someone would pat my head and tell me not to worry about it. I continued to worry, but could do nothing for the man. I was concerned that he knew too much and would be killed once my baby was born, but I knew there was no recourse.

A couple days later, I reached my targeted size and the doctor notified Aro. The room was sealed off. After speaking with Naheul and his aunt, we knew that the child would normally attempt to remove itself using its own teeth. The council had decided that once I reached the correct size, they would do it themselves. I was assured that they had enough control to do what was necessary. The doctor drugged me with heavy amounts of morphine, and I slid into oblivion. The next thing I remember is waking to feel a burning sensation and teeth cutting into my flesh. I knew this feeling. It was the feeling of venom entering my system. The transformation process had begun. The pain then overwhelmed me and it was all I knew for what felt like an eternity. I wanted to be able to scream, to tell them to kill me, but something was holding me back. Slowly, my brain began to process with more accuracy and I had room to think of other things. I heard footsteps around me and a baby crying somewhere nearby. Through the pain, I rejoiced in the fact that my baby was all right. I heard voices and people moving around me. The fiery pain began to leave my fingers and toes and traveled with added intensity towards my heart, which began to beat like a helicopter.

I heard someone nearby say, "Get Aro, the rest of the council and guard. It's almost over."

My heart raced on and on, and I burned hotter than I had even in the beginning. My heart stuttered, beat twice more at a normal pace, and then stopped forever. The pain was instantly and completely gone. After a moment, I opened my eyes to my new life as a vampire.

Okay I know there are a lot of things I don't answer in here but there is a reason for it. The main one being that Bella has no clue what the answers are

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