Breaking Dawn
Chapter 22
Author's note: First off, let me apologize for over a year's absence. Life just kind of caught up to me, and I haven't had the time or the inspiration to write for this fic. However, everything in life comes to a circle, so I'm back to working on Breaking Dawn. I need a few ideas from you though. Should there be a baby (hint hint) arriving in the story, what would the name be? Send ideas, and leave lots of comments!
Bella's POV
Waking up for the past week has been one event after another for me. I finally got Edward to give me one of the few remaining human experiences I wanted, and he took to it rather well to my surprise. It was messy at first, and resulted in the destruction of two of the rooms, but we were finally able to get it under control.
I slid out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. After taking care of some business, I glanced at the calendar and frowned. I was now 3 days late. Looking in the mirror, I saw that even after all our rigorous 'exercize,' I seemed to have gained a few pounds. Consciously, I told myself that there was nothing to worry about. Edward and I had used condoms. However, my mind kept telling me that I should do some investigating, so I decided to go out.
Edward was gone for the morning, taking care of some business in town to order some replacement furniture and to inform our pilot that we'd be leaving in a few days (or whenever my body stopped being generous). This in mind, I passed up the breakfast that was waiting for me in the fridge, and went outside to drive in one of the jeeps located in the garage. While it wasn't my truck, it was still sturdy enough for me.
Arriving in town, I mentally scolded myself for my actions. How could I have thought that a market in Africa would carry a home pregnancy test? I walked through the street, looking cautiously at each tent or shack to see what they were selling. If anything, I could get something for Renee while I was here. Finally, I saw what appeared to be an American run medical station. As I walked up to it, my stomach seemed to get lower and lower. By the time I walked in, it was definitely around my knees.
"Can I help you miss?" the bored employee asked.
"Uh yes," I responded, blushing profusely. "Do you happen to have any home pregnancy tests here?"
The employee turned around and grabbed a box off the shelf. I paid the amount and then hurried back to our vacation house. Thankfully, I made it back before Edward had arrived. As silly as it is, I didn't want to worry him with this. If the tests came back negative, then everything was fine. If they came back positive… then we had some serious planning to do. As I made my way to the bathroom, my stomach started to sink even lower; it now felt as if it was dragging behind me on the floor.
&
William's POV
Nothing felt more satisfying than being the one to throw the torch on the gassed up pile in front of me. Keaton was now gone forever. The question remained though: how would we prevent Alice's vision from coming true? It'd been a week, but I was still haunted by the vision that I saw. Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to extract much more information from Keaton, but it was enough for us to go on.
After watching the pile of vampire burn into nothing, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and myself ran back into the house. Subtle changes had been taking place lately. The kitchen was now stocked with food since there were now two (technically three) humans living in the house (I always gave Jacob some food from the pantry, although I swore up and down that the rest of them hadn't touched it [lies]). One of the extra spaces in Emmett's closet now belonged to me (Alice complained that it wasn't nearly enough room to put all the new clothes she wanted to get for me). For the first time in a few years, I felt like I had a home.
The past week had been spent demonstrating the limits of my abilities for Carlisle, shopping with Alice (she seemed a bit upset that Bella wasn't here to drag around, but found joy in supplying me with a wardrobe), and spending time with the Cullen's in general. Today though, I had something else scheduled. Jacob wanted me to come meet the pack and explain what I was. Surprisingly enough, Rosalie and Emmett wanted to accompany us, but I assured them that it would be fine, and there was no need for an escort. Translation: they'd be following a ways behind, just out of my range.
Early in the morning, we arrived in a clearing, and I saw over a dozen werewolves. Some were sitting, and some were standing. I could hear the chatter of their minds, and I heard the exchange of information from the alpha – Sam – and Jacob. The Alpha then turned to me and thought "Explain how you came to be in existence."
His attitude irritated me. It was as though he believed he could control me. "My mother was raped by a vampire," I stated briefly. "It appears that as long as one half of the couple is human, vampires are capable of reproducing."
I could hear the buzzing noises and some growls as the pack heard this. One of them in particular stood out to me though. "So now we have to worry about those leeches reproducing too? Why can't they all just kill each other and die off? At least then we wouldn't have to worry about half-breed freaks walking around." I briefly glared at the offending werewolf before turning back to the Alpha.
"I don't know if you have been informed or not, but our pack currently has a treaty in effect. It states that as long as the Cullen family stays off our land and does not harm any humans, we will leave them in peace," thought Sam. "As you are staying with them, we will extend the same offerings to you. Do you accept?"
"I do accept the terms of the treaty," I responded.
"Bull crap," thought the werewolf from earlier. "I believe this freak as much as the next leech." The werewolf growled and took a small step towards me. I turned and looked him straight in the eyes. Although I was in my human form now, I could easily change that. However, I didn't want to start anything.
"Back off Paul!" Jacob sent to the angry werewolf.
"You're really going to sit here and defend a leech?" asked Paul incredulously. "Look at the way he just stands there, it's like he thinks we're nothings."
"It's not like that and you know it," responded Jacob heatedly. "Quit trying to start a fight here."
Obviously Paul had missed the memo that I could hear thoughts – despite my demonstration of this ability. Either that or he just didn't care. On the opposite side of the clearing, a small sandy colored werewolf was looking at me with interest. "Don't mind Paul," said Seth, "he's all talk and no bite." I smirked, but unfortunately Paul just took this the wrong way andcharged at me – quickly.
I barely missed the attack, but he turned around to run at me again. I quickly shifted to my vampire form and levitated him into the air. Paul growled and yelped loudly, but I kept him there. I turned and glared at Sam. "Can you please control him?"
The alpha nodded and made his way below where I was suspending Paul. The other wolves dispersed into the forest. They had been told to order to leave, but one of them wanted to talk to me more (why, I didn't know.) Sam established eye contact with Paul. "Stop what you are doing and do not harm this vampire," commanded Sam. "He hasn't violated the treaty, so he is to be treated as a friend." Paul immediately stopped struggling and just staid there, limp, suspended in midair. I set him down on the ground and he ran off into the forest, tail between his legs.
"Thanks," I said shortly. I turned as I sensed one of the werewolves, now in his human form, emerge from the trees. Sam glanced at the Quilette boy before trotting off into the forest as well. This left me, Jake, and Seth.
"Nice to meet you now that I'm human," he said, smiling brightly.
I grinned in response. "Nice to meet you also," I responded.
The two of us turned to Jacob, kind of expecting him to phase back to his human form – something I had only seen once. He simply shook his shaggy head and then looked in the direction of the house before looking back at me.
I turned to Seth. "He wants to leave," I said apologetically.
Seth looked crestfallen. "I was hoping we could hang out since Bella and Edward had left," he said sadly.
I felt bad for him. Obviously he was a lonely kid and unfortunately, Jacob didn't want to stick around. 'You really suck sometimes, you know that?' I telepathically sent to him.
"I'm not comfortable behind here alright?" he responded. "I have a lot of memories here that I'd rather avoid."
'Fine,' I thought. Out loud, I said, "Well here, what's your phone number?" I pulled out my new phone (courtesy Rosalie, of all people) and added in Seth's phone number. "Just call me or something. We'll hang out or something."
Seth smiled and nodded. "Definitely," he responded. "The Res gets boring after a while."
He turned around and headed back to the reservation as we made our way back to the house. After a bit of silence, I decided I might as well try digging into Jacob's past a bit. "So what is there to do on the Reservation?" I asked.
He grunted in his wolf form. "Not much really," he responded. "There's a movie theater, a bar, and an automotive shop. That's about it."
I laughed. "You go to a bar?"
"I don't, but I know that some of the pack does," he said. "They think its fun to go get drunk. Because everyone lives so close, they can just walk home."
"Huh," I said, thinking to myself. "Does Paul go there?"
"Don't even think about it," he warned.
"What?" I asked innocently, already planning my night. "It's not like he can phase in the middle of a bar."
"I don't want to have to clean up your mess," said Jacob, rolling his eyes.
We passed Emmett and Rosalie, who were attempting to look as though they actually had a reason to be there. "So?" Rosalie said, wanting to know what happened.
"Nothing really," I said, deciding that it would probably be advisable to omit the part about a werewolf attacking me. "It was kind of just a meet and great. They extended the same rights of the treaty to me that you have."
"Well that's generous," said Emmett.
Rosalie snorted. 'It's the least they can do since we've practically taken in one of theirs,' she thought. Lately, she'd been watching what she said around Jacob. Part of this was because she knew of our friendship, but she was slowly softening her views on Jacob.
We reached the yard only to see Alice sprinting out of the house with an odd look on her face.
&
Bella's POV
I sat nervously in the spacious living room of the mansion. Had I not been in the state I was, I would have marveled at the opportunity to actually enjoy the view. The room was provided a fantastic view of the outside with wall to wall windows and a clear roof. The sun was setting, and I could see the desert area outside clearly. In the distance, a few antelope made their way to the rest of their herd. I was currently occupying one of the many spaces on the gigantic L-shaped couch. There was a huge plasma screen tv against one of the interior walls and surround sound speakers rested on platforms near the ceiling.
A sports car pulled into the driveway going at least 65 miles an hour, and my stomach clenched in nervousness. Seconds later, Edward appeared in the door, a smile on his face which slipped away as soon as he gauged my mood. He was by my side in an instant, staring at me as if he could discern the cause of my distress by looking hard enough.
"What's wrong?" he asked me, concern etched into his face.
"Nothing," I said. "Nothing's wrong. Something unexpected has happened though."
He stared at me, silently willing me to go on. "There are times when I wish I could read your mind, if only so I wouldn't fear that you were about to hurt yourself."
"I tell you everything I'm thinking," I responded, a bit indignantly but smiling a bit.
"You edit sometimes," he retorted, relaxing a small bit, knowing that the situation wasn't life threatening. "Tell me, what has happened?"
"Edward, I'm pregnant."
He said nothing for a minute and then looked pointedly at my stomach before looking into my eyes. "You're certain?" he inquired.
"I'm three days late," I started. "That's never happened before. On top of that, I've gained weight, which is the opposite of what I should be doing considering our activities the last week." I took a deep breath and continued. "I took a trip into town today and bought a box of home pregnancy tests. Each one of them came back positive."
"Every one of them?"
"Yes."
He looked at me appraisingly. "So let me get this straight darling, you bought a box of home pregnancy tests and used every last one of them? I know that you're thorough, but I do believe that after the fifth, one would assume that the results were conclusive."
I pushed him playfully, knowing that he wasn't upset by the news. "I wanted to make sure. So I take it you're okay with that?"
"If it's what you want Bella, I'm ecstatic," he responded with a wide smile.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Is that what you've been worrying yourself about?" he asked. "You know that if it makes you happy I'll support your decision."
"I know, it's just a big step for us."
"Well at least we can honestly claim that we didn't have a shotgun wedding," he joked before pulling me into his arms and kissing me deeply. "I love you Bella."
After kissing him some more, I pulled back and asked thoughtfully, "Boy or girl?"
He gave this some consideration. "A girl with all of the stubbornness of her mother," I answered.
"I think it'll be a boy who keeps just as many secrets as his father does," I said, smirking.
Then his cell phone began ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Yes Alice," he said. He paused for a few seconds before responding, "Alright, be careful." He closed his phone before looking me in the eyes. "We need to leave."
He disappeared from the couch and began packing all our belongings at vampire speed. It seemed like a good idea to me – he could accomplish it in a matter of seconds instead of the half hour it would take me. He came out and scribbled a note before attaching the key to it and posting it on the door. He ran outside with the bags and then returned to the living room.
I was standing by the door, waiting for instructions. "What do I need to do?" I asked worriedly.
"Stay close to me at all times," he responded. "Don't make any rash decisions. Alice is having enough trouble seeing the future as is." He grabbed my hand and began leading me to the car.
"Edward," I said, buckling my seatbelt, "what happened?"
He pulled out of the garage and sped out of the mansion's grounds, barely missing the opening gates. "It appears that our mysterious foes have made their move," he said.
&
William's POV
We were running up to the house as Alice ran out of it, an odd expression on her face. I was then taken by surprise as I was hit by something big and heavy from my side. As I hit the ground, I realized that Emmett had been thrown into my by a male vampire wearing the dreaded Victorian outfit. Three other vampires began approaching us now. I could hear their thoughts getting louder as they approached.
"He's got three other friends coming," I stated before getting knocked back by a small missile that hit me. I hit the ground just as the other two vampires arrived. The third – the missile that knocked me back about 20 feet, rounded back and began to fight with Alice, distracting her from the first fight. This vampire had short, brown hair and had unparalleled speed. The other female had black hair and was wearing matching lipstick.
I recognized the thoughts of one of the Vampires that approached – the young blond one, Adam – was currently circling Jacob as the female vampire dodged Rosalie's move before grabbing her and throwing her into the woods. The male vampire was exchanging shattering blows with Emmett, who was on the defensive. I rushed to attack the female vampire but to my surprise, she let me hit her. The meaning behind it became clear. As soon as my skin made contact with hers, I found myself falling, unable to move.
I fought the warmth that began spreading through me. Unfortunately, her power also seemed to nullify any other powers that vampires had, or mine at least. I felt someone roll me over. The female who had paralyzed me smiled sadistically at me. I tried to use my telekinesis to toss her away from me, but I couldn't in my current state. "Nighty night," she said, flicking my temple, knocking me unconscious.
&
Bella's POV
2 hours later…
We were on board Edward's jet flying to whichever destination he had given the pilot. The two of us were sitting on a couch looking at a screen which Alice was communicating with us.
"There were only four of them, but one of them has the ability to paralyze those who she touches," Alice explained. "This took us off guard because she was able to take out Rose, William, and Jacob before Emmett and I realized what she was doing."
"Is everyone okay?" I asked.
"Emmett and Rose are fine," she responded. "Their ego's are bruised, and they're anxious to follow the scent to find William, but nothing's wrong with them. Jacob is still out of it, but Carlisle thinks he'll make a full recovery."
"What would our best course of action be?" asked a worried Edward.
"I'm trying to figure it out," Alice began. "On your current course, you should be alright for the time being, but formulating a rescue plan is difficult when I have to work around a werewolf."
"Try to find holes," he said. "Play 'What If' with him, and get him to imagine that while you're running your rescue, he goes and tells his pack what is happening."
"I'll work on that," she promised. "Bella, Edward, I'm so happy to hear the news. Unfortunately it couldn't have happened at a worse time. If Carlisle and William's information is correct, vampire children take nine months to mature, meaning we're going to have to keep Bella in a safe place for nine months so she can carry this baby to term."
"Everything's going to be alright though," I asked, panicking.
"I can't see anything going wrong as of right now," she said, putting me slightly at ease. "I had a vision earlier this week with William and I knew that your future wasn't settled yet. I guess I know why now."
"What was that vision about Alice?" Edward inquired.
"The part of it that I'm speaking about is kind of a family gathering. William, Rosalie, Emmett, you, and Bella are all running in the meadow, but Bella wasn't all there. I meant that her future was still changing."
"Can you see that future now?" he asked urgently.
She paused a minute to focus before shaking her head. "No. This latest event is clouding everything. Because I only have a few faces to go on, I'm going to try to look and see what they are doing, but like I said, I have to work around the presence of a werewolf."
Edward sighs. "Alright, just keep looking. I'm going to find a safe place for Bella to stay, and then we'll reconvene from there."
I look sharply at him but don't say anything until the screen is off. "I'm going with you," I said.
"No you're not," he said sternly. "I don't just have to worry about you getting injured; we also have to think about the baby. Besides, it isn't good to have all of this stress on yourself. I'll stay with you as long as I can, and we'll get an ally to stay on for your protection."
"Who would I stay with?" I asked him. "Who could protect me better than you?" The Quilettes came to mind, but I wasn't sure exactly what my position is with them at the moment.
"I'm going to call Seth and see if he can try and work something out with Sam," stated Edward, pulling out his cell phone. "I want you out of the country, and as many of them around you as possible to hide your scent and to keep you protected."
"And you don't think that's just a bit extreme?" I asked. "They aren't going to respond kindly to a request to babysit me while you go fight a war that could affect them. At least let me ask them in person. They're more likely to listen to us if we go together."
He contemplated this for a moment before nodding slowly. "I'll inform the pilot that we're going to alter our course a bit. We should be landing in Russia in a few hours."
"Where were we going originally?"
"The only place I could think of that I could hide you successfully – Volterra."
Author's closing notes:
Alright, I know it was short, but I'm working on the next chapter already. I'm planning on finishing this fic up in probably another 5 or 6 chapters. The reason I ended it so soon was because it flowed better with what I've got written for the next chapter. Again, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long. Hopefully you'll love what I've written and write lots of great reviews. Lol.