Author Note: Thank you for the great response to this story so far! Getting close to the end now.
Thanks again to moosals for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.
Chapter 38 – Girl Panic
Two days after our girls' night, I'm working at the bakery on Saturday afternoon. It's a pretty slow day due to temperatures in the 60s and on-and-off drizzle. I hear my phone ding with a new text message, but I wait until I've gotten the cookies out of the oven before checking it.
Are you at the bakery? - A
Yes, I reply to Alice. I'm scheduled to work until closing, but it's pretty slow. Do you need something?
I'll stop by then.
I put my phone back in my pocket, then start mixing up another batch of cookies. Alice will occasionally pop by the bakery on summer days, if she's got a chance. She's really got a thing for our shakes.
"Your friends are here, Bella!" Brady, the Quileute teenager working the front window, calls. "I need a chocolate shake and an ice cream sandwich."
"On it," I yell back, a little surprised that Angela is here, too. At least that's who I assume is with Alice. I grab just a jumbo peanut butter cookie for myself, then carry everything outside to them. Luckily we have umbrellas to put up over the outdoor tables when the weather is bad — or too hot, though that rarely happens.
"Hey," I smile, seeing Angela and Chloe seated at the small round table with Alice. "This is a surprise to see both of you."
"Alice asked me to come," Angela said. "My other option was laundry, so I figured, why not."
"Here's your shake." I hand it to Alice, realizing for the first time that she looks terrible, with dark circles under her eyes. "Are you still not sleeping?" I ask in concern.
"I don't think I got a wink of sleep last night," she sighs.
"What's wrong?"
"Angela was right. I'm pregnant." My eyes widen.
"You took a pregnancy test?" Angela asks.
Alice nods. "And this morning I saw my doctor to see if she could confirm it."
"Wow…" I almost don't know what to say.
"Apparently my IUD came out, and I never knew it," she explains, her eyes downcast. "What am I going to do?" she cries. "Jasper and I haven't talked seriously about our future, but now there's going to be a baby involved in seven months!"
"Have you told him yet?" I ask gently. She shakes her head, wiping a few tears that have leaked out. "Well, I think that has to be your first priority."
"I agree," Angela nods. "Get on Skype or FaceTime or whatever with Jasper as soon as you can and tell him. There's no use worrying about anything else until you see how he reacts. Maybe he'll be thrilled!"
"Maybe," she sniffs. "I know he loves Masen. He wants children one day."
"Jasper's what, 31?" I ask. "He's not a kid. And he's making a doctor's salary. It's not like he's in no position to be a father right now."
"I guess. But he lives in Chicago!"
"Would you be willing to move if Jasper isn't?" Angela asks. "You survived four years of college in Seattle, so don't say you can't live in a big city."
She sighs. "A big city wouldn't be my first choice, but… I'd do it for Jasper."
"There you go," she smiles.
Later Saturday night, I'm lying naked and sated in Edward's bed, his arms wrapped around me. As my heartrate slows, my mind turns back to Alice and her surprise pregnancy. Jasper seems like a great guy — he's Edward's brother, after all — so I'm sure she's worrying too much about his reaction.
The question of their differing preferred lifestyles and the 2,000 miles separating their homes may be a different story, however. Yet I have faith that their love will be enough to work out some sort of compromise that works for both of them. I hate the idea of Alice moving to Chicago, or even Seattle or Port Angeles, but I understand if the slow lifestyle of Forks is too slow for a city boy like Jasper. He and Edward are different in a lot of ways.
And then I start to wonder what Edward would do or say if I became pregnant accidentally. I believe he'd like more children one day, but knowing that Bree was pregnant when she died… well, I'm not sure how long before he'll be willing to get back up on that horse again. Though Alice got pregnant while using an IUD — due to a freak mishap — I know that overall the effectiveness rates are higher than for birth control pills.
"What's wrong?" Edward asks, pulling me in closer to his body. "I can almost hear the wheels turning in your head."
I roll over to face him, running my fingers through his hair. "It's nothing I can talk about; I'm sorry. You'll find out soon, I'm sure." I can't risk Edward telling Jasper before Alice has the opportunity to do so.
"Find out from whom?"
"Just… trust me. It doesn't affect us directly."
I can see his brow furrowed in the little bit of moonlight coming through the large windows. "Do you promise? I don't like keeping secrets."
"I promise. I don't like keeping secrets either, but it's not my secret to tell." Leaning forward, I kiss his pouty lips. "I should probably be heading back home."
"All right," he sighs. "See you tomorrow."
I check my phone every chance I get on Sunday afternoon, but no word from Alice. Getting off work at 5:30, I text Edward that I'm on my way home. I'm going to try my hand at making my own crab cakes for dinner for us tonight. Masen tried some of mine at The Lodge last weekend and seemed to like it.
I put some vegetables on a cookie sheet to roast in the oven for our side dish, then just as I'm getting all of my ingredients out, Edward knocks on the door. "Hey," I greet him with a smile as I swing the door open. "I was just starting dinner."
Masen darts inside to find Sandy while Edward pulls me in for a kiss. "If you want dinner anytime soon, we need to postpone this," I say against his lips.
"Fine," he pouts, following me into the kitchen.
"Kitty?" Masen calls, standing in the kitchen doorway.
"Is she not down here? She might be upstairs asleep on my bed."
"I'll go look for her," Edward offers. While he's gone, I grab the remaining items from the fridge and start adding everything to a large bowl.
"Found her," he announces a few minutes later. "Right where you said to look. Anything I can do to help you now?"
"I need one-third cup of crushed crackers. Can you crush some?" I point to the box of crackers.
"Sure," he smiles. Meanwhile, I start heating up the oil in a large frying pan.
Once the crab cakes are formed, I add them to the pan and while they're frying, mix together a quick sauce.
"These are good," Edward says once we've sat down to eat. "Have you made them before?"
"No, I just Googled some recipes this week," I smile.
About halfway through our meal, Edward clears his throat, looking up at me. "So, um, I think I know what you didn't want to tell me last night." I raise an eyebrow. "I spoke to Jasper this afternoon. He said Alice is pregnant."
"I'm sorry," I apologize. "I just couldn't take the chance of you saying something to Jasper before Alice could."
"I wouldn't have, but I understand," he smiles. "So… how did that happen? I mean, I know how…"
"Her IUD came out of place," I explain. "A freak thing, really. I mean, it does happen, but usually a woman will notice. Alice admitted that she'd gotten a bit complacent and hadn't been checking every month that it was still in place, as you're supposed to."
"Finish your plate and you can go play with the kitten, all right?" he says to Masen, who's doing everything but eating the vegetables left on his plate.
Edward clears his throat. "You're… on the Pill, right?"
"Yes," I nod. "I take one every night before bed."
He nods, seemingly thinking hard. "Birth control pills aren't quite as effective as other methods, right?"
I shrug. "They're about 99% effective when taken correctly, but I think IUDs are over 99%, yeah."
"When taken correctly," he repeats. "Bree got pregnant again because she'd forgotten to bring a new packet with us on vacation."
"What are you getting at, Edward?" I can tell this conversation is leading somewhere.
"I… talking to Jasper today, I nearly had a panic attack. It's not that I don't want more children, and it's not that I wouldn't want them with you, but… Bree died less than a week after we discovered her pregnancy. I'm not sure how well I'd do if…"
"If I were to accidentally get pregnant?"
He nods. "I know it's something I'll have to talk to my therapist about."
"So you'd like me to look into a less error-prone method?" Honestly, I've been considering discussing the pros and cons of an IUD with my doctor since Alice said she hasn't had a period in two years.
"You would do that for me?" he sighs.
"It's for me too, in a way. I mean, I know that accidents happen. I was an accident myself," I snort. "My parents ended up getting married and look how that turned out."
"I didn't know that," he whispers.
I shrug. "I don't talk about it much, but… I definitely believe in doing everything you reasonably can to prevent pregnancy until it's for the best time for both parents. I'll talk to my doctor, OK?"
He reaches out, squeezing my hand.
Alice walks in only two minutes late to our next girls' night. She still looks a bit frazzled, but not nearly as bad as she looked last Saturday. I stand up to hug her tightly, and then Angela does the same.
"Has Jasper made it yet?" I ask. She texted me in earlier in the week to say that he was planning to fly out here as soon as he could.
"Yes," she answers. "He got here maybe 90 minutes ago. He's currently asleep on my couch, since he went straight from an overnight shift to the airport."
"So… he took it well?" Angela asks.
"He was definitely in shock," she chuckles softly. "I mean, we had this discussion back in March — I've got an IUD, both of us are clean and get tested regularly, we don't need to use condoms, yadda yadda. The whole issue of birth control was never spoken of again, since we assumed I was covered for another year or so."
"But… he wasn't upset?" I clarify.
"No," she smiles. "He's spent enough time with Masen and now Lily to know that he wants kids one day. Maybe this was sooner than he expected, but like you said, Bella, it's not like he's in no position to be a father."
"I told you that you were worrying for nothing!" I exclaim, lightly punching her shoulder.
"Hey, don't abuse the pregnant woman," she jokes.
"It's good to see you smile again, Ally," I smile. "I don't think I've ever seen you so panicked before."
She sighs. "I don't know… I'm just so used to planning my life out. I mean, I was 12 when I said I was going to become a nurse, and I did it. I always said I'd get married at 30 and have my first child two years later."
"Well, I suppose the second one can still happen," Angela laughs, getting a peek of Alice's tongue in response.
"So now that Jasper's here, what's the plan?" I ask curiously, once we've placed our orders with our waitress.
"I've got tomorrow off, so we're just going to talk it all through, I think," Alice says. "He's here, so he wants the baby and wants to be a part of its life. The only question is where."
"Any hints from Jasper?" Angela asks.
"No," she sighs, "but then we really didn't talk about our living situation at all. When we FaceTimed on Sunday morning, he was mostly just worried about me. I know I looked like shit."
"Jasper works in the ER, right?" I ask, trying to remember what Edward said months ago.
"That's right," she nods. "I already checked and Forks General doesn't have any openings for an ER doctor, but he obviously did a rotation in other areas, and it hasn't been that long since he finished his residency in emergency medicine. He could potentially switch specialties, though I know he loves the fast pace of the ER."
Angela snorts. "I doubt the Forks ER could ever be considered fast paced."
"Good point," I laugh, then sober when I see Alice's face fall. "That doesn't mean he'd never consider moving to Forks."
"I don't want to leave you guys," she sighs.
"I don't want you to leave either." I reach over and hug her again.
Edward and Masen come over after I get home from the diner so that Masen can play with Sandy. She's getting really good at jumping up to reach the feather as he holds the stick in his hand. Edward and I watch the action cuddled together on my couch.
"Have you talked to Jasper?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "Not since Sunday. He sent me a text today to let me know he'd made it to Alice's house."
"Do you know what he's thinking about… their living situation?"
Edward laughs, turning to face me. "So you wouldn't give me the inside scoop about Alice's pregnancy, but you're hoping I can tell you what Jasper's thinking?"
I shrug. I know he's got a good point. "You were the one who didn't want us to keep secrets. And… I do agree that's healthier for a relationship."
"I do too… though Jasper and I really haven't talked about it.
"I know he loves Alice," Edward continues. "And I know he really enjoys his job. If he had to pick between them, I think love would win out every time."
I smile. "I know that Alice would move to Chicago before she'd let Jasper go, but… she and I have been best friends since we were four years old. Selfishly, I'd really miss her if she moved even to Seattle."
"And I'd love to see my brother move closer. I do miss my family, but for my own mental health, I had to leave Chicago. I'm really glad I chose to move to Forks though," he says softly.
His lips are mere inches away, and I can't help but lean over and kiss them. I lose track of time as we exchange sweet kisses, until I finally rest my head on his shoulder, totally content.
A/N: As most of you suspected, Alice is pregnant! I had a reviewer last chapter who said she got pregnant with an IUD. Now, how do Alice and Jasper solve their dilemma about where to live?
Poll: Should Bella have told Edward about Alice's pregnancy or kept her secret?
I already had one vote last chapter that Bella shouldn't consider switching her birth control if she and Edward plan to have a baby anytime soon. He's got a bit of PTSD about that at the moment though.
Next update on Monday. Last regular chapter! I'm actually writing the Epilogue, yo!