I managed to make it through school the next day. I woke with a shock because I had forgotten to call my dad the night before. Edward soothed my worry.

"Relax, I called him. He understood and accepted the invitation to have dinner here tonight." I sighed with relief.

"I still need to call him. I want to ask him what my mom was like when she was pregnant with me. I want to know if she had morning sickness and if so, how bad it was."

"That is an excellent question. You can always wait until he's here for his cooking lesson to ask him. I like that you are strengthening your bond to him. He likes getting to spend time with you." I snuggled up to him, but he held me at arm's length. I pouted.

"You need to get moving for the day and we need to have breakfast." He shuddered at the mention of food. I smiled gratefully at him. I am his mate and he says it's his job to keep me safe and happy; even it meant eating human food for me. I love him so much. He also knows that if he were human and I the vampire, I would eat human food for him if it made him feel better. He helped me off the bed and pushed me toward the shower. I grumbled, but the hot water did help. I dressed and he carried me to the kitchen. I watched as Edward made eggs for us. When we were both sitting at the table with our plate, Emmet strolled into the kitchen.

"You're not going to eat that, are you?" He pulled out another chair and sat down. I jumped to Edward's defense.

"If you want to sit with me while I eat, then grab a plate. I'm not going to throw up alone."

"You must really love her." I took a bite of my eggs while they were hot. I noticed that I had a significantly larger portion, but I didn't care.

"I do. She's also completely serious. If you want to sit with her when she eats, you have to join her." To prove his point, he took a bite and managed to swallow it without making a face. I was so proud. Emmet ate a few bites from Edward's plate, mostly because he was morbidly curious about our deal. Sure enough, ten minutes after we cleaned up, my stomach rejected the eggs. Edward carried me to the nearest bathroom, with Emmet close on our tails. I went first and could hear Emmet making gagging noises from the smell. Edward went next, followed by Emmet. Edward waited for me to brush my teeth again before driving me and Alice to school.

Lunchtime was a true challenge. The smell of the room disgusted me, but I did my best to tough it out. Edward and I shared a piece of pizza, an apple and soda. We didn't finish any of it, but we both ate a few bites. He truly hated lunch now, because he had to keep the food in his stomach until later in the day when no one would catch him regurgitating it.

My dad arrived just as I finished with m homework for the day. Edward and I coached him through cooking a steak and baked potatoes. My dad asked questions of vampire life, reminding me of all the ones I had asked him as well. We shared a private smile. Edward shared the story of how Carlisle changed him and demonstrated a few of the talents that come with being a vampire. All of the Cullens knew Charlie was coming by and they were told to be themselves. Alice and her perfect timing whisked into the room as my dad and I sat at the table.

"Hey Edward, let's go play chess and leave Bella to eat with her dad." Edward looked so relieved to not have to eat with me. I smiled and let him go. It was my turn to talk to my dad.

"Dad, what was mom like when she was pregnant with me? Was she sick all the time too?"

"I know she was sick at least once every day. She was tired a lot. She was certain that you were going to be a girl from the moment she found out about you. Other than that, it was a fairly normal pregnancy. Why do you ask?"

"I can only keep my dinner from coming back up. I've read that most women have similar pregnancy experiences as their mother's had. I was curious."

"You should ask her."

"I don't want her to know. She would insist on coming up here and I can't put her in danger like that. She wouldn't be able to handle it like you can."

"Yeah, you're right. Would you have told her if it wasn't supernaturally related?"

"I don't know; probably, but I would still not want her to come up here."

"Other than throwing up, how are you feeling?"

"I'm tired a lot."

"I'll bet. Why did Edward look so happy to leave you in here with me?"

"I umm told him that I didn't want to throw up alone, so he agreed to eat with me. We take turns throwing up. It's gross, I know, but it's what I need right now and he's doing that for me."

"Pretty generous of him. How does he throw up?"

"Um…I guess the best way to describe it is he's like a bird. He regurgitates it back up. It's not pretty to watch. He only eats a few bites of whatever I'm having, but I love that he loves me enough to support me like that. I love him so much." We finish our meal and he heads back to the house. I knew that he had a lot to process from seeing the Cullens in action. I headed up to the room I share with Edward. He was lounging on the bed writing in his journal. I disappeared into the closet for my pajamas and then into the bathroom for some human time. By the time I came out, He had finished his entry and re-shelved the book. I sometimes am extremely curious about how he interprets our life together, but am too afraid to ask. I snuggled up to him and after a gentle kiss good night, fell asleep.

The next day during school, I received a text from my dad, asking me to be home for the night. He also invited Edward over, figuring it was pretty useless to try and keep us apart. I had forgotten to take my ring off before school and by lunch, I was once again the source of all the gossip. Edward was highly amused and told me what everyone was thinking about our engagement. Naturally, pregnancy was thought of as a way for me to trap Edward into marrying me. Some people, though he wouldn't tell me who, thought I drugged him. I laughed at that one. We said nothing to clarify or dispel rumors, choosing instead to let others come to their own conclusions. We knew that as soon as the baby was big enough, people would automatically assume it was Edward's baby. We were ok with that, though we still did need to decide what to do after the baby arrived. Did I want to keep it? Did Edward? Would Rosalie want to adopt and finally be a mother? There were so many questions that I just wasn't ready to deal with and thankfully, nobody was pushing me to answer them yet.

That night, I was content to cook on my own as my dad insisted on a few physical demonstrations. Edward took my dad for a drive and I knew he was going to go somewhere private before taking him for a run. I wasn't sure how my dad would react to Edward's insanely fast driving. I had long ago stopped asking him to slow down, even though it still scared me. I was serving up mine and dad's plates when I heard Edward's car pull up; or so I thought.

"Still alive I see; you're much stronger than I thought." I whirled around and came face to face with Victoria. She wasn't alone though. There were two guys with her. I said nothing, hoping that Alice would see my decision to try and stab one of my attackers. She looked puzzled by my lack of reaction.

"You smell different."

"Ok. Is that good or bad?"

"I'm not sure yet. It shouldn't matter, I still want you dead."

"I know. How long have you been following me?"

"A while. I thought you would never be separated from one of the Cullens. They're all over you, even at school."

"I know." She looked down.

"So, those children were right, you are engaged."

"Yes."

"Are they also right about you carrying his baby? I know you didn't drug him."

"I haven't heard those rumors." I say. It's true to a point; I haven't heard those rumors directly. I wouldn't know how to answer the question anyway. If I chose to keep this baby, I know Edward would consider himself the father. If I had told the truth just now and he was within hearing distance, I know it would hurt him.

"You haven't answered the question."

"Would you let me live if I said I was pregnant?"

"I might. I might also kill you now. I might let you live long enough to deliver and then finish you off. There are so many decisions."

"You could just leave me alone too."

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Suddenly, her head swung around in several different directions. She flashed over to me and used me as a body shield with her hand wrapped threateningly around my throat.

"I have her and I will kill her immediately if you don't leave." She called out calmly. I didn't hear anything, but all of the Cullens, minus Rosalie, were in my kitchen. Edward even brought my dad in here with him.

"If you kill her now, you won't have any fun trying to keep hunting her down. Why not try to get her on her wedding day and ruin even more lives? Edward isn't even the one who killed James. I ripped his head off while these two held him still." Alice spoke with confidence and gestured to Emmet and Jasper. Her hands tightened on my throat and I was struggling for air; it wasn't completely cut off yet, but dangerously close. I held as still as possible.

"I would have thought that you would have learned from your mate, Vikki. The fun is all in the chase for him. There's no thrill in the kill. He likes to play head games. Oh, I'm sorry, he liked to play head games." Edward joined in on the taunting. I hoped he knew what he was doing because right now, it was my life in the balance. It wouldn't take much for her to end me. Victoria is confused and somewhat relaxes her grip on me. It's not enough for me to get away, nor is it enough for anyone to pry her off of me before she can kill me. Edward kept going. I could breathe a little better at least.

"Alice is right you know. I wasn't the one to kill him. I was merely protecting my mate. I tore a chunk off of his neck, but these three are actually the ones to rip him apart and burn the pieces. Alice took pride in it because she is the only other game that he played where he lost. He was never truly mated to you. I saw it in his head; he used you for your body and for your gift of escaping." I looked at his hands; he was motioning for Charlie to back up, which he thankfully did. Victoria snapped and flew at Edward; finally having had enough of his taunts. In her rage, she had seemingly forgotten that she had him in the palm of her hand simply by threatening me. I was glad that Edward was able to distract her enough that she released me completely. Carlisle was at my side in an instant to inspect my throat. Esme stood as guard for me and Alice moved to protect Charlie. Edward and Victoria were beginning to cause damage to the house. Emmet had his hands on the guys she came in with. Jasper was watching and waiting for a signal to jump in and help. The humans in the room were clueless about the fight, since it was a total blur, but the vampires in the room could clearly see everything. Unfortunately, no one was saying a word, so I had no idea how Edward was doing.

It seemed to take a long time, but was in reality only a few minutes when Jasper saw an opportunity. He joined the fight and they quickly had Victoria locked down. Emmet took Charlie's handcuffs and bound the two guys together before leaving them and lighting a fire in the backyard for Victoria's body. We could hear the sounds of ripping metal and smell the incense of her burning body. I was glad that I didn't have to watch it. Edward was the first one in the house and he grabbed me up into a hug. That's when I started to sob into his chest. After a minute, he tensed up.

"Charlie, these two are the guys that roughed up Bella. They were just thinking some inappropriate thoughts."

"Their scent is the same one I smelled on Bella's clothes the day you brought her to me at the hospital." Carlisle added. These guys must have known that there was no way they could escape now, so they nodded and confessed. They even apologized to me.

"We are sorry miss. She paid us a ton of money to be as rough as we could without killing you." I was still going to press charges. If they weren't going to be released from jail any time soon, I was hoping that they would take their 'paycheck' from Victoria and donate it to charity.

It wasn't until after the two gentlemen were escorted away via police car that everyone started to take in the damage. One wall had been completely knocked out while the rest had a good size hole or two. The refrigerator would need to be replaced as well as the table and chairs. The worst was the back door. The hole was so big that you couldn't even tell exactly where the door had been because the frame and surrounding wall had gone outside when Edward, Jasper, and Victoria's fight had rolled them that way. I looked at Edward when I broke from his hug to see that he was covered in drywall dust.

"Edward, are you ok?" I gasped. He looked at himself and laughed.

"I'm fine, love. This dust is because I was the one to go out the backdoor first. She threw me." My hand covered my mouth and he tugged it away.

"I'm fine love. It takes more than drywall to hurt me." He placed a quick but tender kiss on my lips.

"Charlie, I insist on repairing the damage to your home immediately." Carlisle redirected the conversation. Edward, Alice, Jasper and Emmet all nodded to back him up. Emmet and Jasper left immediately.

"Where are they going?" I asked.

"They went to get drywall for the back wall. It's too late to do any major repairs tonight, but we will cover the wall and take you both back to our house for the night. We will be here bright and early to fix it tomorrow. If you need anything from your room, let's go get it." I nodded and tugged him with me. I grabbed a few more articles of clothing, determined to sleep in one of Edward's shirts for the night. I knew they would all come back here while my dad and I slept. We heard my dad in his room packing an overnight bag when we left my room. I did my best to salvage the dinner I made, but it was taken from my hands.

"Alice left to get you and Charlie some dinner. It will be at the house waiting for you." I slung my backpack over my shoulder. It was pretty much a book and clean underwear. I had a few days worth of clothes already over there. My dad came down and saw us waiting for him.

"Charlie, Edward is going to run Bella to our house since Jasper took his car. Would you like to run on my back or drive your cruiser?" Carlisle was being polite as Edward helped me onto his back. I eagerly squeezed him.

"Uh, I think I'm still windblown from my earlier run with Edward. I'll drive. Bella, want me to take your backpack?" I shrugged and nodded. Dad took it from me without me having to dismount from Edward. Charlie stared at Edward for a minute and then I watched Edward nod. We took off like a shot, having the time of our lives. I tapped his chest almost immediately and he stopped.

"What was my dad thinking at you?" I asked.

"He was admitting that I'm a pretty cool guy and thanked me for saving you. He understands a little more what it means when vampires mate for life and how we will do anything to keep our mates safe. He's given us his blessing. He wants to ask more questions later." I jumped down and circled to face him. He helped me back up, easily supporting my entire weight on his hands. I hugged him with all of my strength, which most likely felt like a breeze to him. He hugged me back and let me kiss him. He returned it with a little more passion than he usually allowed in terms of our physical relationship.

"Not that I'm complaining, my love, but what was that for?"

"It's my way of saying thank you. I figured you would like it more than Charlie's way." He laughed.

"I do and you never have to thank me. It's my job, and a full time one at that." I mock pouted and climbed down.

"Just for that little remark, we have to walk at my clumsy human pace for a while. Lead the way." I let him take my hand and we walked even more slowly than I was able to because of the uneven terrain.

"I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to tease you like that. Can we run now? Please?" I have no idea how long or how far we had gone when he finally cracked.

"How far have we gone and how long did it take me?"

"We've been walking for twenty minutes and we've gone just about a mile." He helped me over a fallen log.

"Five more minutes and then you can run again." He caught me as some twig tried to trip me. I watched him bite his cheek to hold in his comment about my walking. I caved.

"Alright, let's run. It must have been terribly difficult to keep that comment from escaping." He smirked at me.

"Almost impossible. Emmet wouldn't have been able to." I was on his back again.

"Duh. We both know that's why he likes me hanging out at your house. If my clumsiness follows me in to vampire-hood, then I'm going to demand a refund." He laughed again and took off. Even with my slowing of our trip, we still made it back to the house before Charlie and Carlisle. Alice was already there, in the kitchen with Esme serving up two plates of Chinese food. It smelled amazing. I was looking forward to the one meal that I didn't throw up. I started without waiting for my dad, knowing he would be here within the next few minutes anyway. Edward sat with me until he arrived.

A/N: Victoria is toast, but I still have many more plot twists to throw at you. Reviews are wanted and appreciated. Have a great day! Kelly