Ricochet

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Chapter One

"She's taken him!" Bella cried in anguish.

"Bella." Edward's soft voice came from behind her. She turned to see him approaching, eyes cautious. He pulled her into his arms at once, and leaned to kiss her.

"What are you doing?" Bella turned her head to one side so his kiss landed on her cheek instead of her lips. She was absolutely furious with him. With the whole family. "My son is missing, Edward!"

"Yes… your son." Edward placed emphasis on the your, barely managing to disguise the bitterness in his tone.

Bella couldn't let herself think about his feelings. Her focus was solely on her child. She pulled out of his embrace and retreated to the far corner of their bedroom. She stared at him resentfully. "It's not CJ's fault that he feels uncomfortable around you."

Edward stared back at her unblinkingly. "No, it's not his fault. It's yours."

Bella blanched under the weight of his accusation. What he said was partially true. Ever since CJ had been born, she had kept Edward at arm's length from him. It was an innate maternal instinct to protect her child from the monster in the room. Except in this instance, the monster was her husband.

Bella brushed her fingers over her aching forehead as she quickly dismissed that thought from her mind. Edward wasn't a monster. But he was a vampire. Just like the rest of the Cullens. CJ was uncomfortable around all of them, something in his genes making him uniquely immune to their vampiric charms. The exception to the rule was Rosalie and Esme-their maternal instincts to protect him were as great as Bella's own. They had been her fiercest advocates when Carlisle and Edward had joined forces to try and persuade Bella that the best course of action was to have an abortion, when she initially found out she was pregnant, shortly after her marriage to Edward.

"The child will not thrive amongst us. It is either an abortion or adoption." Edward had coldly pointed out the only two options he was prepared to accept. "You cannot be selfish, Bella."

Edward's level of emotional indifference about the whole pregnancy had caused the first cracks in their marriage. He had made a sham of her pain and guilt, blowing a hole in her heart with an ice-cold magnum. That level of emotional indifference was not a mark of superiority, yet the reverse. It was no wonder she had reached out to Rosalie and Esme for help and support.

And now Rosalie had betrayed her and stolen her precious child.

Bella cast her mind back to her honeymoon. She had been ill for most of it, suffering from a strange sickness she didn't have an explanation for. Despite how ill she was feeling, she craved food, eggs being her number one choice much to her new husband's disgust. Then bringing it all up again only hours later. Bella didn't want Edward near her the entire time, at times locking herself alone in the honeymoon suite just so she could escape his anxious questions and overbearing, overprotective manner.

Behind her back Edward called Carlisle, concerned about her odd behaviour, he listed her symptoms, concerned that she had picked up some exotic bug that had caused her to change personality almost overnight. It hadn't taken Carlisle long to work out what was really going on. The news about Bella's possible pregnancy had bowled Edward over. He went into complete shock, knowing deep down there was only one candidate who could be responsible for their current predicament.

"It's not mine, Carlisle." Edward said flatly, gazing bleakly in Bella's direction. He passed the phone to Bella, avoiding her guilty gaze the whole time. "Carlisle wants to speak to you. He has questions."

"You're pregnant, Bella." Carlisle told Bella when she pressed the phone to her ear. As if to back up his claim, she felt an odd flutter in her stomach, like she was going to be sick again. "When was the first day of your last menstrual cycle?"

"Sixteen days before the wedding." Bella felt her face heat up as she spoke.

"How do you feel?"

"Weird." Bella admitted, and her voice broke. A trickle of tears broke free and dribbled down her face. She couldn't bear to look at Edward, couldn't bear to witness his devastation. "I'm eating all the time and crying and throwing up…and…. I'm sorry, Carlisle." She apologised in defeat.

"Let's not dwell on that now, Bella." Carlisle said curtly. "Can you pass the phone back to Edward, please?"

Edward held his hand out for the phone, his face white and hard. Bella placed it in his outstretched hand, still unable to look him in the eyes. He pressed the phone to his ear, silently listening to Carlisle, staring blankly at nothing. After a while he hung up and tucked the phone in the top pocket of his shirt.

"What happens now?" Bella asked shakily, bowing her head.

"We're going home. Carlisle is contacting the airline right now, arranging an emergency flight."

"An emergency flight?" Bella finally raised her head, daring to look at him for the first time. Edward's face was completely expressionless, his amber eyes lifeless and dull. "I'm pregnant. Not dying. We need to talk, Edward. I need to explain…"

"There is nothing to explain, Bella." Edward said in the same dull, lifeless tone. "You don't need to worry about a thing. Carlisle and I will take care of everything."

Bella couldn't bear the strange, listless energy radiating out of him. She quickly left the room. His last statement worried her, and made her feel sick to her stomach-not like the morning sickness, but something much more sinister. This icy, focused Edward was honestly frightening her a little. She clutched her stomach protectively as she reached for her own phone and made a private call to Rosalie. She felt like she was the only one who would help her now.

Bella came back to the present when she felt Edward's icy hands on either side of her face. He pulled her back against his hard chest, so tight it was hard to breathe. "There is no need to concern yourself, darling." He murmured soothingly. "Rose would not hurt CJ."

"I know that." Bella closed her eyes and let Edward comfort her as she thought about Rosalie. She'd never really understood the blonde beauty's pain and resentment before. She'd never imagined she'd ever be a mother, never even wanted that. It had been a piece of cake to promise Edward before their marriage that she didn't care about giving up children for him, because she truly didn't. Children had never appealed to her. She never cooed over babies like other girls, they seemed such loud, clingy things, always demanding attention. But when she found herself unexpectedly pregnant with CJ, that all changed. She wanted him like she wanted air to breathe. Suddenly he was the most important being in her life, and Edward was relegated to second place. A place that sat uneasily with him. He was no longer the priority he had always been. CJ came first every time.

"Bella, perhaps its for the best." Edward suggested tentatively.

Bella pulled away from him again, made wary by the tone of his voice. It was too cool, too careful. His face matched his voice, empty and hard. She was on the offensive at once. "You knew she took him!"

"Darling!" Edward put his hands back on her face. "It wasn't like that. CJ was unhappy. He belongs with his own kind."

"Own kind?" Bella fought him as he pulled her against his chest. "He is my son. He belongs with me!"

"I warned you this would happen." Edward clamped his arms around her, keeping her a prisoner of his ribcage as he spoke close to her ear. "I told you at the time that he would not thrive amongst us. That you couldn't be selfish in keeping him with us."

"Damn you!" Bella screamed at the top of her lungs. She struggled in his embrace like a wildcat until he finally let her go. "You never accepted him because he wasn't yours. You can't accept that I love him more than you."

Edward looked her in the eyes, anguish clear in his. "I never held that against you. Never. If he was a human child born of your flesh, I would love and accept him as my own. But the unique genes he inherited from his father means he is something more than human…."

Bella clutched the counter for support, her vision swimming as she turned away from him. "I am leaving now." She muttered. Edward didn't care about CJ at all. He was deeply jealous of him. Jealous of CJ's real father. She clenched her eyes shut, keeping her back to him. "And you know I stayed because I had no choice." She flung at him.

Edward placed his hands on her shoulders, pinning her in place. He turned her around, pulling her once again into his arms. "My deepest regret was exposing you to the Volturi."

Bella glanced up at his sad and serious face. She couldn't feel sorry for him. Not anymore. "Your words ring hollow, Edward. Let me go. I need to go and find my son."

Edward pressed her harder against his chest. "You know I can't let you go alone. Its too dangerous. If the Volturi find out that you are still human and you have borne a son…." He left the rest unsaid.

"It's been six years and we've heard nothing from them." Bella retorted. "You can't keep holding that over me as threat to keep me with you. They've more than likely forgotten all about the pathetic promise I made. It was a long time ago."

Pain flashed in Edward's eyes. "Time moves slowly in Volterra, but I can assure you that Aro and the others haven't forgotten. If you truly want to protect CJ, let him live with those who are best able to protect him. Keeping him with you is selfish and will likely expose him to harm in the future."

Bella looked up at Edward's face. Once upon a time she had thought him perfect, often comparing his appearance as similar to the mythical Greek god, Adonis. His facial features—high cheekbones, a strong jawline, perfect eyebrows, a straight nose and full lips-were certainly striking. But strip away the attractive outer layer and what was left? "Rose is taking CJ to Forks." She guessed.

"Bella." Edward whispered, his fingers closing around her upper arm. "Please, think through what you're doing. Think about what's best for CJ."

"What's best for CJ is to be with me. His mother." Bella hissed angrily. "I am going with or without you. But I am going, Edward. You can't stop me."

Edward let out a weary sigh. He could deny her nothing, even if what he thought she was doing was wrong. His first instinct was to protect her. "Then we'll go." He said flatly.

Without another word, Bella pulled her arm out of his hold and went to pack a few essentials. They needed to leave immediately if they were going to have even the slightest chance to catch up with the determined blonde.

The rain had fallen steadily without let up since daybreak. Rosalie pushed the silky blonde strands of hair out of her face with one had while her other rested on the steering wheel of the hire car. Outside the summer flowers and leaves drooped under the weight of the droplets. Something about this rain had her more relaxed than she'd been in days and she was in no hurry for the clouds to vanish. She threw an affectionate glance at the little boy curled up in the passenger seat beside her. His shock of black hair stood up in untidy spikes, one half flat against his head where it rested against the back of the seat. CJ had fallen asleep almost as soon as they left Port Angeles.

"Not too long now, little one." Rosalie murmured as she returned her attention back to the road. Everything was so green: the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns. Rosalie had forgotten how densely the air filtered with it.

Eventually they reached their destination-a small, two-bedroom house in Forks that still belonged to Charlie Swan, the police chief of Forks, and CJ's grandfather.

Rosalie parked up outside the house and killed the engine. Reaching out, she brushed her fingers over the top of the sleeping boy's head. "CJ, its time."

CJ slowly opened his sleepy eyes. He focused those deep brown eyes on Rosalie, their deep earthen hues reminding her of the forest and the fall leaves, the soil in summer and after the rains. They were his father's eyes. Everything about him screamed Jacob Black. "Are we here, Aunty Rosy?" He asked in a small voice.

"Yes." Rosalie pointed toward the house.

"Is Mommy inside?" CJ looked hopefully through the misty passenger window.

Rosalie let her fingers linger near his cheek. "If I know anything about your mother, she will be here soon, little one." She promised with a warm smile. "But first you get to meet your grandfather. Are you ready?"

CJ nodded his head eagerly in response as he gazed trustingly up at Rosalie.

"Then let's go." Rosalie said gently, holding out her hand toward him.

A/N-thanks for reading!