Trigger Warning!

Muddled.

That was the only way to describe what I was feeling.

I just didn't understand how it was possible.

My mind was still trying to process.

One moment we were all together taking down Yiannis and Royce's, there wasn't a nicer other word, whorehouse, the next I ran into the last person I expected.

Jacob Black.

He was my ten year old neighbor who had gone missing on the way home from school.

We never saw him again.

We searched for him high and low, as it turned out, exhausted our resources.

But came up empty handed. His parents, Sarah and Billy, never truly recovered from the loss. Neither did his sisters, Rachel and Rebecca.

The worst part of finding him in this horrid place was that he wasn't alone. There had to be at least twenty odd boys and girls alike. All within the same age group.

The place was dark, and reeked of sweat, body odor, and — and sex.

My heart hurt. I couldn't remember everything that happened, just that something went wrong.

As I hesitated by the doorway the rest of the ladies worked to get the victims out as quickly as possible.

I was debating whether or not to check on them when suddenly I felt something smack me behind the head.

I quickly pushed through the haze and pain I suddenly felt. Fighting off the assailant, as hard as I could.

The man towered over me, and was as big as a quarterback. Twice as tall and stronger than me. But somehow he wasn't as experienced.

After a small moment of hesitation, I managed to leap onto his shoulders and use my legs to snap his neck.

Then I somehow managed to untie all the victims, settling them free, before everything went black.

I don't know how long passed before I began to feel someone's hands on me.

I wasn't sure if it was what I had seen or the fact that I didn't know if the person touching me was there to help.

Either way, their touch made my stomach swirl in discomfort, my skin prickle in disgust, and my mind begin to shut down.

Familiar images playing behind my eyelids as it did.

I woke up in what seemed to be a massive, foggy, white room.

Something wasn't right. I knew it immediately. This place was too calm, too peaceful than what I was usually surrounded by.

As I began to walk through the thick fog, a beautiful field of wildflowers.

I walked through it, a small smile began pulling at my lips.

A small breeze wafted through my hair, the place felt so soothing that I sat down.

I watched the wind, enjoying it as the wind danced through the flowers.

"Mommy." A soft voice called.

The soft sweet little voice called for their mommy again.

I frowned, tilting my head to the side slightly as a little boy with a familiar color of green in his eyes, and a smaller girl with chocolate brown hair, a blue eyes made their way towards me.

"Can you help us?" He asked.

I nodded, giving him a small, tentative smile. "What's your name, sweetheart? What do you need?" I asked.

"Alexander, and she is Sofia. We can't find my daddy. Will you help me?" He replied.

I looked around, realizing someone was watching us. Unsure of what to do, I slowly and calmly stood up, pushing the little boy behind me, protectively.

I felt the little boy and girl whimper as four men dressed in familiar black ensembles surrounded us.

Something inside me was telling me that I had to protect these kids with my life.

"Shh. It'll be okay. Just listen to what I say, okay?" I whispered.

As I looked down again the children's appearance had changed.

In their place was now terrified Jacob.

A scream slipped through my lips as the assailants tried to come towards me and the children.

I tried to fight off all of them, but the more men I took down, the more men appeared.

They came and took him. And I was powerless to stop it.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a white, sanitized room.

Five people were surrounding me and a sixth stood off to the side.

Without hesitation, I rolled off the bed, ripping the needle placed in my arm out.

"Miss. Greco, you need to calm down." One of the women said.

"Now, why would I do that?" I asked, moving towards the window.

"Because you're going to hurt yourself, little bird." A voice said from behind me.

I gasped, turning sharply to find Edward Cullen standing behind me.

"Ed—Edward, what are you… what are you doing here?" I asked, backing away.

"Rose called me. How are you feeling?" He asked calmly as he shook his head at someone behind me.

"You ignored my question." I pointed out.

"Well, you ignored mine." He replied with a sigh.

"Miss. Greco? We need to stop the bleeding in your arm." One of the nurses said.

I frowned looking down at my arm to realize there was blood running down my arm.

I put pressure on the puncture with my hand before looking back at him.

"You shouldn't be here." I replied.

"But I am. So, don't argue. Now, come on. Let the nurse help you." He said, gently guiding me towards the bed.

I allowed him to push me towards the bed and sit me down, but only because I was beginning to get light headed.

My eyes never left his as the nurse worked on my arm. Once she was done I turned away from him.

"You need to leave. Now." I whispered.

"No. I'm not leaving your side. Not again." He said, looking at me fervently.

I shook my head at him, "You didn't listen the last time. Things are different now. I'm no good for you. Go find some bimbo that serves as arm candy, a trophy wife or one of those ladies that like fucking with anything with a dick." I murmured, stoically.

I heard him sigh before murmuring something in Italian under his breath.

"You realize I can speak thirty languages, and understand at least thirty two, don't you?" I retorted.

He rolled his eyes at me, "Alright, what's got you panties in a wad, uccellino?" He asked me, as he moved the chair to sit in front of me.

"Nothing." I mumbled, shortly.

"Don't tell me it's nothing when I can see it in your face that something is clearly bothering you." He cut me off as I began to speak.

"It is nothing. You need to leave." I told him again.

"Already told you that I'm not going anywhere. So, try again." He said leaning back.

Ugh! I forgot how stubborn this asshole could be.

"It's not something I can or want to speak about...I'm not dragging you into this situation. Now, you need to leave before you get hurt more than you already are." I told him.

He wordlessly stared at me for a moment,before taking a deep breath.

"You don't get it, do you?" He asked, leaning forward and pulling my chin up to force me to look at him.

"What don't I get, Edward? That you're a stubborn asshole, who insists on being where he isn't wanted? Or that you're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong? " I retorted sweetly.

He smirked, a glint appearing in his green eyes, before he sighed and shook his head. "You forgot what I told you, that night we got stuck on that rainy highway, uccellino. There's no escaping this. We're into it for the long run. Good or bad. We'll face it together." He told me.

My eyes looked anywhere in the room. Avoiding those eyes that could melt a fucking ice cap.

Hope began to bubble in my chest, but I squashed it. We can't be together.

No, Bee, focus. Keep him safe. You have to keep him safe. It's for his own good.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, what you're asking for… you don't need someone like me in your life." I whispered. "Now please leave." I told him louder.

"Oh, sweetheart, you're going to have to try harder than that. Because as I recall telling you that night… You're mine, baby girl…" he replied.

I shook his hold away, before moving off the bed, swiping his gun away from him as I did. "I said leave!" I said point the gun, clicking the safety off.

"I'm not going anywhere!" He growled, walking towards me, and grabbing the gun's barrel with his hands.

My eyes blurred as I felt my shoulders sag in defeat. He wasn't going to leave.

Yiannis said he was going to start picking them off… I couldn't bear it if something happened to him. As long as that bastard is alive we're all in danger.

"Please… this situation is already complicated enough. I don't want you getting involved." I whispered, holding back a sob.

"I don't care how complicated this situation gets… I still want to be with you. I will always want to be with you. I'm not leaving your side." He said, intensely.

His words broke my resolve.

Before I could register what was happening, he had the gun out of my hand and me in his arms as my knees gave out.

He held me as I felt myself fall apart.

Gut-wrenching sobs raked through my body as I clung to his shirt.

"Baby, I don't care what you've done in the past. Or who you've hurt. Or what you've had to do to be here. I care about being in your future, and me being there right by your side. Don't ever do that to me again. I was sick with worry the entire time." He whispered, tightening his hold on me.

"I was trying to keep you safe." I murmured.

"Safe? You wanted to keep me safe. Please don't lie to me. It would have been better if you spoke to me about what was going on. We could have avoided all this mess." He told me, unmoved.

He was trying to keep his emotions at bay. I could see it. He thought I was being ridiculous.

If he didn't like hearing this, I could imagine what he was going to say when he found out who was also responsible for me leaving.

"I tried to tell you, before you left for Boston. You called me unreasonable. So, talking was out." I replied, annoyed.

"Had you mentioned this before, I would have listened." He told me.

I looked up at his face with a deadpan expression.

"Alright, so you did. Why didn't you wait until after I came back?" He asked.

"Because I've been independent all of my life. Never needed to answer to anyone. You changed that. When we started going out officially you promised me I wouldn't ever have to make a difficult decision again. You promised and you broke it! So, why should I keep my promise when you don't keep yours?" I asked rhetorically.

He was about to answer when a knock interrupted us.

When both turned to see everyone standing in the doorway.

My eyes searched, before I found her.

Anger burned through my veins as my eyes found hers. The sting of betrayal was clear on my face, I knew it was.

"Bee, before you get angry at her—" Es began.

I shook my head at her, "Don't try to defend her, Es. She knew I didn't want to go on this mission, and she practically twisted my arm. She never listens to anything me or anyone else says. This situation? Is on her." I angrily said.

Alice held up a hand as she made her way towards me. "I'm sure you're angry, we all are, but we did manage to rescue most of the people who were trapped in there. We can finish discussing this back home. For now, the doctor wants to speak to you privately." She quietly told me.

I nodded at her before turning to ask them, "Did you at least get them?"

"No, they escaped before we could get to them." Sul replied, annoyed.

My eyes looked at them, annoyance radiated from all of them.

"Did you—?" I began before Didy interrupted.

"Freeze their assets, and block all access to their other contacts and properties? Yes, we have. Kebi working to find both of their locations. She said she's close to finding them. We're waiting for the call." She informed me.

I nodded, sighing before standing up, "Al, tell the doctor to come in. Everyone clear the room."

I saw people begin to protest before I gave them a look. "Get the hell out before I find something to throw at all of you." I threatened, looking around the room.

After that they left without hesitation.

Edward gave me a worried look before following them out and closing the door behind.

A tall man with dark hair and blue eyes in a white lab coat walked into the room a moment later.

"Miss. Greco." The man said.

"Yes?" I softly replied while looking for my clothes.

I opened a small white armoire, opening the doors, and sighing as I spotted a familiar bag.

"When was the first day of your last menstrual?" He asked, calmly.

I frowned, setting the bag down on the bed.

I thought back to the last time I remember having a period at all.

"What date is it?" I asked, slowly turning to look at the doctor.

"The 6th of July. It's also Saturday." He replied.

I nodded. "My last menstrual was on May 12." I answered steadily, as I tried to not to panic.

"Miss. Greco, we ran a few tests when you were brought in. We discovered that your hCG levels are extremely high. Congratulations, you're pregnant." He said.

I turned to him, blinking a few times as my mind tried to process what he just told me.

"Can you please repeat that?" I asked.

There has to be some sort of mistake.

"You're pregnant. Congratulations." He said smiling.

Oh my God. It's true.

"Okay. Thank you. Er… is — is that all? Can I go now?" I asked.

He looked at me surprised, before looking down at the clipboard.

"Yes, we were concerned for a moment about your unconscious state but concluded it's not due to a head injury. I'll go get the paperwork ready so you can head home." He replied, before leaving.

Once he was gone, the weight of the news fell on me.

Pregnant?

I was pregnant.

Oh god, what was I going to do?

How was I going to tell Edward? Fuck how was he going to react?

I sat there for a second before slipping out of the hospital gown and into a pair of clothes in the bag.

A pair of hip hugging, dark washed jeans, and a loose black long sleeve blouse. In the bag, I also found my favorite black Chelsea boots, and a dark gray trench coat.

I dressed quickly, and waited for the doctor to come back.

When he did, I quickly grabbed the rest of my things and walked out of the room.

As I made my way out, everyone rushed towards me.

I quickly held up a hand, halting them.

"I'm tired and need to get some rest. Let's get back to the house." I said, ignoring everyone.

Es led me towards the large, glossy black industry van, and helped me into the passenger's seat.

Edward raised a brow at me, as he stood between the door and me.

"What is it now?" I asked, impatiently.

"Well, I did come all the way here to see you. Where will you be going?" He asked.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes before turning to look at him.

"Follow the van. We'll be heading to a safe house a few miles out of town." I replied.

"You're still mad at me aren't you?" He asked with a half smile.

"Pretty much. But don't worry, I'm not that much of a bitch to leave you stuck here. Now, get your ass in the SUV and follow us." I ordered, pushing him back and slamming the door closed.

"I guess we'll be having guests over tonight?" Didy asked.

I nodded, tapping my finger on my nose.

"You always are moody when it's your time of the month." She murmured.

I snorted, shaking my head as Lottie backed out of the spot and quickly made her way towards our temporary nest.

My insides swirled as I thought of what I just found out. Wondering what I was going to do.