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Chapter Twenty-Four

"Flesh is weak, but love is strong"

Only my Bella would faint while having sex and discovering she didn't only carry a single child, but two… Yup, that's my Bella!

I wondered briefly if I should try to rouse her in the most obvious way, or try a kinky twist to it, and seeing as how I am a vampire, who has lived for so long, I had to go with the kinkiness.

Leaning her body against mine, one arm wound around her back to keep her somewhat immobile, I began to gyrate my hips, with each rotation her engorged clit was ground against me, my body knew hers almost as well as it knew itself.

I suddenly had a blinding moment of wonder and stilled all my movements. Could this hurt our children, should we be careful, seeing as how she had already suffered one miscarriage…?

No sooner had those questions popped into my mind than I was flood with a billion others. If it wasn't for the fact that we were making love, I was positive my dead heart would have begun beating again, due to all the stress of the sudden epiphany…

I slowly lifted her body off of mine, and with the utmost care, laid her carefully upon our bed. Placing a chaste kiss to her lips, I slowly backed away, there were things that needed to be done and no time like the present.

Before I could leave the room, the soft thump, thump of our children's heartbeat, drew me back; I carefully lowered myself to the bed and with great care, lowered my head to her flat stomach.

It was the most amazing thing ever. With their little hearts beating, I made a promise – I would never allow any harm to come to them, it wasn't something I was able to keep before, but this time, we were going to remain right where we were, away from stress and harm. Our children were going to see the light of day, if I had to give my life up for that to happen, then so be it!

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"It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart, without saying a word."

I came awake slowly. I could feel the light press of Jasper's head resting on my stomach, and the tender touch of his fingers as they glided over my sides. I could barely make out what he was saying, but he was whispering something to…our children! Wow, that was such an amazing thought, feeling… It stole my breath.

"Welcome back my love."

"Hi baby!"

"Bella?"

I could hear a plethora of questions just waiting to bubble out. I had a good idea about some of them, but I was sure my darling Jasper would surprise me; he seemed to live to do that.

"Yes…"

Not moving from his comfortable perch, he simply turned, so he was facing me and began. "What do you think about staying here until you give birth, then at that point, we can decide if we even want to return? You are under way less stress here, you don't have to deal with our "siblings" and perhaps, we can avoid being discovered, which would mean, less stress to you and a whole lot less for me?"

I was sure this was something I should probably think over, but all I could think about was Jasper and our twins, I needed to do what was right.

"If you are sure my love, but you have been missing your family ever so much, do you really think more time away would really work for you?"

"You may not be my wife yet, but you are the most important person in my life. I love my family, of course, but I will not risk your health or our babies by doing something that could put you in more danger!"

I suppose the appropriate response would be to refute his claims of being in danger, but he was right, and what was nine months, give or take, when considered with a life time of happiness that we would be getting in the long run…

"So… We stay here, more or less hiding and hope nothing bad befalls us? Do we ask your family to visit, do we tell them the good news now, or should we wait?" I suddenly realized I hadn't breathed and took a wavering breath. My mouth and brain had been functioning more so without me, the whole time.

"Easy my love, those are all very good questions, but you need not worry. We will tell the family when you reach your second trimester, and in order of them not finding out and spilling the proverbial beans, we are going to tell them that we are taking a short holiday. Well…short in vampire time at least."

"Why the second trimester, do you fear something bad will happen with this pregnancy too?" Suddenly breathing was becoming difficult. "Jasper, I can't go through that again, I won't. I would not survive…"

He rolled to his back, pulling me to him, my head rested upon his chest while his fingers played lighting with my hair.

"Not now, not ever again, will you feel such heartache my love. Our twins…"

Suddenly he trailed off, one moment he was speaking briskly and the next he was staring into space.

"Jasper?" I asked, giving him a-none to gentle shove.

Before I could stop myself, I burst out laughing. So it would seem, the news had finally penetrated his thick skull.

"Oh My GOD!! Bella, we are having twins! Like, double the trouble, double the work…"

"Double the pleasure, double the love… You just figured this out… what were you thinking, I was going to give birth to a two headed child or something?"

I am sure my smarmy response and look would break him out of his funk, or whatever one would call this, but it actually didn't. His eyes were glossy, his heart was beating a staccato, the like of which I had never heard and his palm, which was holding my hand, had broken out into a sweat. I could even see small beads of perspiration collecting on his temples and upper lip.

I didn't have a clue how to handle a panicking, soon to be daddy vampire… How does one go about taking care of such things, or even easing the worry.

"Jasper, my heart, my Soulmate, my love, please calm down, this is nothing to freak out about, you need to relax."

And then an idea hit me…

"Baby, what would the other vampires think if they could see, strong, courageous Jasper Whitlock crumbling to pieces over discovering his soon to be wife is pregnant with twins?"

That did it…

"I don't know what you are talking about, I am just fine! Besides, no other vampire could possibly be in this situation, at least as far as I know… I am the only lucky Vamp who gets to indulge in such wonderful moments!"

By the end of his little speech, he had calmed himself down, except now; he looked like he was positively glowing.

"I am the luckiest vampire in the world, because I get the chance to bask in being loved by you, every day for the rest of my life!"

"Okay baby, I'll trust your worldly knowledge and believe that is a good thing."

"Of course it is!!" Jasper replied, almost yelling it.

"Baby, you didn't need to shout." I said, a soft smile alighting upon my lips.

The glare I received was almost too perfect and I couldn't help it when I fell backwards, laughing long and loud.

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"When you're with me, I'm absolutely and totally, quite uncontrollably happy."

I wondered if it was possible to be too happy… Did the question whether vampires had a soul, have any baring now?

Could one be too happy…I decided, it didn't matter, Bella and I had created a miracle, twice, and this time we managed do create twins.

All the things that used to bother me seemed to be evaporating. I couldn't be bothered with the little things. At least the little things that were of no consequence.

Bella had fallen asleep a short while ago, and here I lay, watching my angel sleep. She was, is, the most beautiful creature I have ever met. Not only was her beauty one to be rivaled by the ancient Greeks or Egyptians, but her inner and outer strength, her kindness, her amazing heart. She was, is, the woman who could change the world, if only the ignorance of the human race could truly see how wonderful she was.

I can't be sure how long I watched her sleep, nor how long my heart beat, but as the drowsiness over took me, I allowed my eyes to slip closed.

These moments, I am sure regular humans take for granted. I was a creature, who was, for all intents and purposes, dead, but when I was with my soul's mate, amazing, miraculous things occurred.

My last thought as my mind drifted peacefully upon the waves of sleep, were ever so simple. Nothing and no one would ever harm my family again.

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"You're a genie in disguise, full of wonder and surprise."

It was one of those days, the shock of such amazingly wonderful news and the fact that the dream had come true, for a second time…No wonder I had needed a short power nap.

I am not exactly sure what woke me, but something in the atmosphere of the house had changed.

Jasper still slept peacefully beside me. His legs tangled with mine and his right arm laid carefully across my stomach, almost as if he was protecting our children, even in sleep. Of course, it took me a moment to grasp the fact that the love of my life was indeed sleeping, but, the soft snore that was coming from him, was a dead give away…Pardon the pun.

There was no way I was going to be getting off this bed without waking him, so I carefully rearranged myself and snuggled closer.

If something was wrong, Jasper would be the first to know about it, so I wasn't overly worried. But something didn't make much sense. The fact that I had shifted myself slightly and even woken up should have been more than enough for him to wake, but my love slumbered deeply, or so it would seem.

He normally intuited things I was going to do, before I could even do them. Well, that is since we came to the island.

My breath caught as I heard and then saw the bedroom doorknob begin to turn. It wasn't my fault; suddenly I didn't want to see what was coming through our bedroom door. My eyes snapped shut, my breathing increased and suddenly I had nightmare images bouncing unwanted through my mind.

Chastising myself for my stupidity, I cracked my eyes open, barely, but I could see a large hulking shadow crossing the room. Faster than my eyes could keep up, suddenly the newcomer launched into the air and came sailing towards me.

With great effort and possibly even great speed, I shoved and screamed in Jaspers ear, but he didn't move an inch…

I was going to lose my mind any moment. The darkness of the room only hindered my ability to see my attacker, but that was more than enough, because in that moment, I was reliving losing my child, only this time, I had two babies to fear for…

I don't know if time slowed down or if something was wrong with me, but the hulking shape loomed over me. Snapping my eyes tightly closed, I began to pray to any deity that could possibly exist.

With an Amazonian-like scream, I prepared to protect my family, come hell or high water; I would not lose another child because of the evil that seemed to always wait in the shadows!

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