When we got back to work, our schedules were even busier than before we left. We were booked solid for the next 3 weeks, and both Monday and Tuesday the guys stayed late in order to finish up some jobs.
On Monday, I went outside to call the lawyer from my cell phone so Angela wouldn't over hear me. He said that he would have everything ready and would meet us at the house Wednesday night so that Embry and Angela could sign the papers.
We invited them over for dinner that night, leaving the other guys to work late and for Quil to close up for the night. We ordered Chinese, and talked about Emily's shower that was in a few weeks. Everything was all planned and ready to go, but we still needed to buy gifts. We made plans to go shopping the following week up in Port Angeles. When we were done eating, we cleaned everything up and asked them to take a walk with us. They looked at us in confusion when we stopped in front of the house we had gotten them.
"Jacob and I have something to tell you" I said.
"I was looking in the paper the other day, and I noticed that this house was for sale. We knew you both wanted to stay in La Push, and I know how hard it is to find a nice house with so few of them going up for sale. Bella and I stopped by the other night and talked to the owners, finally agreeing on a price. This is our wedding gift to you both, and I know it's early, but here you go!" Jacob told them.
They just stood there, blinking and looking so lost. Finally Angela broke the silence.
"You bought us a house?" she whispered, her hands trembling as they covered her mouth. Embry just kept staring at the house, then looked down at his feet, kicking around a small pebble.
"Yes, silly! Everything is fully updated, and you're set to start moving in at the end of May!" I excitedly said. I glanced over at Embry, worried because he hadn't said anything yet.
"Hey Em, you ok?" Jacob asked. When Embry looked up, I noticed tears falling down his cheeks.
"Are you ok, Embry?" I asked, moving toward him. I gave a yelp when all of a sudden I was crushed in a big bear hug.
"Thank you so much" he whispered in my ear. He released me, and went to hug Jacob, lifting him off the ground and laughing.
"OH MY GOD YOU BOUGHT US A HOUSE!" Embry yelled, going to Angela and picking her up, spinning around so fast he was a blur.
"Well, let's not stand out here all damn night! It's cold out and I don't want my pregnant wife catching a cold! Let's go see your new house!" Jacob said as he walked up the path. The owners had heard Embry shout, and opened the door before we could even knock. They took them for a tour, and when they got back, they were beaming with excitement and happiness.
"It's perfect! Thank you so much! Holy cow!" they said.
We were led into the dining room, and noticed both our attorney and theirs sitting down with a bunch of papers laid out. Jacob and I watched as they signed them all, then we clapped when it was all final. The owners told them that they would be all moved out by mid May, and then they could start moving their things in. We thanked everyone, then made our way back to our house.
"We are going to be neighbors!" Angela squealed.
"This is unreal, man! I cant believe you did this for us! Thank you so much! Jeeze!" Embry said.
They stayed over for another hour, and decided to leave so they could do some internet shopping to look at furniture and other things they would need. Jake and I walked them out, and then we went to watch a movie. We curled up on the couch together, and both dogs laid in front of the fireplace. Once the movie was over, I let the dogs out once more for the night, and then we went upstairs to go to bed.
On Friday, Jared and Kim met us at the shop so we could go get dinner before we had to go over to the Cullens house. Carlisle was going to start altering their DNA that night, but wanted both girls to stay the weekend so he could monitor them and make sure that there were no ill effects. When we got to their house, I noticed that Emmett and Rosalie weren't there. Alice told us that they were staying up in Denali for a little while longer to try and help out Edward's marriage. Alice was frustrated, because for whatever reason, she never could see Amanda in her visions.
"It's making my head hurt, because I can see everyone else except for her. And here I thought not being able to see you damn mutts was annoying" she said as she laid down on the couch. Esme had set up 2 queen size beds in Edward's room so that the couples would be comfortable during their stay. She put Jacob and I in Rosalie and Emmett's room, and I felt a little uncomfortable because I knew their sexual appetites. She had hidden everything, thankfully, so I felt a lot better.
Jacob and I stayed in the living room, and I talked with Alice and Esme while Jacob and Jasper got into some game on the Xbox live. Esme had made me some soothing herbal tea, and I sat there sipping it, grateful for its warmth.
An hour later, everyone came up from the basement, each of the girls with gauze bandaging on their arms. They sat down with us, and Esme gave them each a cup of tea and brought all the boys some bottles of beer.
"Everything went really well and I don't forsee there being any problems. Just remember, this will only stop your aging and give you the ability to pass on the immunity to your children. You shouldn't develop Bella's powers or anything, so lets just relax and spend a pleasant weekend together!" Carlisle said.
The girls and I went up to Alice's room, because she was thinning out her wardrobe and wanted to know if we wanted anything before she donated it all to a charity. I was stunned at the mountain of clothing she had all over the place. She could easily open up a small boutique with everything she owned.
Alice helped each of us out, finding outfits that would look nice on us all. By the time we were done playing dress up and going through everything, it was after 10pm and we cleaned her out. She went from having 10 bags of clothes to donate down to 2. Almost everything still had it's tags on, so I knew she never once wore anything. She helped us pack up the bags and then we brought them to my truck, loading everything in the back gate. Angela and Kim went back inside, but Alice held me back. We sat down on two chairs on their porch, and I waited for her to tell me what was going on.
"What's going on, Alice?" I asked.
"Things are not going so good up in Denali, Bella" she began.
"It seems that Amanda and Irina have become quite close and she's been filling Amanda's head with all sorts of sick things. Amanda was on the brink of working things out with Edward, but Irina made her change her mind." she said.
"How is Edward doing?" I asked.
"He's a total mess. He has tried so hard to let her know that he is completely over you and that he loves her so much, but that damn Irina has her thinking otherwise. Irina hates you and Jacob, and me for that matter, for killing Laurent. Carlisle went up there to make her see reason, and it worked for a little while. I'm watching her really close to make sure she doesn't go all psycho and go to the Volturi about you. Her coven is keeping an eye on her too, even though I highly doubt she will, so it's just a precaution." she replied.
"Oh Edward" I said, my eyes filling with tears because I knew how much pain he had been in and was in right now.
"Is he going to come home?" I asked.
"Nope. You know how stubborn he is. He wants to keep trying to convince Amanda and I hope she finally realizes he's telling her the truth. He loves her so much, Bella, just as much as he loved you. He is beating himself up so badly over everything, and we are really worried about him." Alice said.
I felt so bad for him. I wished there was something I could do, but I knew it would go badly if I tried.
"Let's go inside. Esme has made you all a late snack before you go to bed." she said, getting up and helping me to my feet. My stomach was growing bigger by the day and I wasn't sure I could survive another 3 months. After eating our snacks, Carlisle checked the girls vitals, then released them to get some sleep. Jacob and I went into our assigned room, and as soon as my head hit the pillows I was gone.
The next day was beautiful. Even though it was still winter, it was 50 degrees outside and sunny, so Angela and I decided to go for a walk. Jacob didn't want us to go alone, but I told him to relax and that we weren't going far.
"How are you feeling?" I asked Angela.
"I feel really good, Bella! My vision is so much more clear, and my hearing is way more sensitive. I tested myself hoping that I had your strength, but no. Still wimpy Angela" she ruefully said.
"I'm so sorry, Angela. Maybe Carlisle can alter it in order to give you strength?" I said.
"Maybe, but he worked so hard on this project, so I think I'm just going to accept the gifts I have been given." she said.
We continued to walk in the woods, still able to see the house in the distance, when all of a sudden a horrible racket was coming from the woods up ahead. We jumped when a silver wolf came crashing out, tearing off pieces of the vampire it was fighting.
"Leah!" I gasped. Where the hell was her backup?? I got out my lighter, which I carried with me at all times in case I ever needed to burn a vampire, and had Angela grabbing pieces of wood. We got the fire started when we heard a high pitched yelp, then a long howl of pain. The vampire had broken Leah's back legs, and they were crumpled in odd angles.
"Oh shit! How the hell am I going to fight being this damn pregnant??" I hissed to Angela. She just looked at me, fear in her eyes and her body shaking. The vampire just stood there staring at us, and I noticed Leah crawling our way. Angela ran over to help her, finally putting her behind me. I felt something surging through my body, like a massive surge of energy and all of a sudden we were encircled in a golden ball of energy. The vampire charged at us, but when he hit the barrier, bolts of lightening flashed from it and he went flying 50 feet backwards.
"Oh God, did you see that?" Angela said, her eyes wide.
I felt more energy building inside of me, and then a low pitch hum began to fill the air. The noise got louder and louder, and just as the vampire went to advance on us once again, my hands shot up and a huge ripple of energy shot out of my body. When the concussive wave hit the vampire, it shrieked in agony and instantly combusted in a huge plume of purple smoke. The circle around us faded, and I collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted.
I lay on the ground, sucking in huge gulps of air and trying to recoup my strength, as Angela came over to me, crying.
"Oh Bella, are you ok?" she asked, helping me to my feet. I felt my legs wobble a bit, but my strength was finally returning. I felt fine a few minutes later, so I went over to Leah to see how she was.
"I need you to phase back, Leah." I said to her as I shrugged my jacket off to cover her body.
"Angela, run back to the house and get help. I'm going to start carrying Leah there" I said, covering Leah when she phased into her human form. I gasped when I saw how badly her legs were broken, and all the cuts and gashes she had all over her.
"Leah, where was your backup partner?" I asked as I gingerly lifted her. I was more than able to carry her, by strength fully returned and I started making my way to the house.
"Paul…left" was all she said because she passed out a moment later. I was almost to the house when everyone came running out of the house. Jacob took Leah from me and we followed them into the house. Carlisle brought Leah down to his medical room and set all of her fractures. He gave her a huge dose of morphine, and covered her up so she could sleep and heal. When he came back up and told us her status, he asked what had happened. I told him the whole story, including the shield that had encircled us and the concussive wave that emanated from me and burned the vampire in a split second.
"Jake, Leah said that Paul left her. Was he patrolling with her today?" I asked. I saw his face harden and his hands begin to shake, so I knew he was pissed off.
"Yeah, he was. Embry, Jared, come with me. I want to find him and see what the hell happened" he said, getting up and going outside. The 2 guys followed him, and a few seconds later, we heard them phase. Carlisle looked at me curiously, so I beat him to the punch with what I knew he was going to ask.
"Let's go down to the lab so you can check out my blood" I laughed and started going toward the door. He had me sit on a chair, because Leah was in the bed I usually was on, and he drew a large vial of blood. He smeared some on a slide, then looked at it under the microscope for several minutes.
"Has this happened to you before, Bella?" he asked
"Nope, not at all. Nothing has changed up until today" I told him.
"Your blood seems to have changed a little bit. Come have a look. In one microscope, I have your blood from 3 weeks back. In the other one, the blood I took today. Tell me what you see" he said, stepping back so I could have a look.
The first one looked normal. Boring blood cells. When I looked at the other one, I gasped. In the center of each cell was a tiny glowing orb in the same golden color as the night of the Imprint, and the night I conceived.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice wavering.
"I think that your babies are very special, and their DNA must have altered yours a little bit. Now, besides your immense strength and healing abilities, you can put a protective shield around yourself and burn a vampire into ashes with one wave of power from your being. This is remarkable! I know your children will have the same gift, but the powers may be divided. One may have the shield and the other the incinerating wave." he excitedly said.
"I cant believe it! My children are so powerful and they haven't even been born yet!" I said, smiling as I rubbed my stomach. I felt them give several little kicks, and I giggled.
"I love you, my beautiful girls" I said, smiling even more broadly when they gave me an answering kick.
"Lets bring you upstairs so you can lay down. You must be drained from harnessing all that power." he said, leading me up the stairs. I told the girls that I was going to go take a nap, and for them to have Jacob wake me up when he got back. They agreed, so I went into the room and fell asleep immediately.