"Bella!" Alice called, stranded in her room. I exaggeratedly rolled my eyes and groaned simultaneously.

"Yeah?" I hollered back, irritated. I was really trying to finish the dumb analyzing I was doing in English class of an American Classic. I had got assigned The Raven. All I'd come up with so far was that Edgar Allen Poe was a whacked up guy who was addicted to poppy seed. I couldn't get passed the second paragraph. I don't even think it had a real meaning to it, Poe was probably drunk when he wrote it, and now its timeless piece of literature that people write their fucking thesis's on.

I'm sure my teacher would love any paper I wrote with those thoughts.

As you could tell I was bitter. Rose had gotten Huckleberry Fin.

"Could you come here for a second?" she asked, anxiousness flooding her voice.

"You just went to the bathroom 10 minutes ago!" I yelled agitatedly. I could practically hear Alice roll her eyes.

"Not that, you idiot! Get in here!" she insisted. I grumbled a few profanities as I threw down my pencil and pushed myself off of my bed, slowly trudging down the hallway.

I loved having Alice here already. I mean, she had been quiet for the most part and writing tons of letters to Jasper. Literally, she had probably written over a dozen letters already. But as of lately she had been starting to perk up. Esme adored having her here and I thought it was fun too. She was like our new shiny toy to play with. But I had to help her shower and pee every two seconds.

"Shut the door,"Alice requested as I arrived in her room. Wordlessly I pulled the door shut and then leaned on it. I looked around the room and realized it looked just as immaculate as when Esme had cleaned it before her arrival. I guess her time in the army helped her keep things tidy.

I raised an eyebrow at Alice expectantly. She better have a damn good reason for interrupting my Poe. She was sitting on the bed, her casted leg dangling over the edge with her other leg tucked in.

"Look at these!"Alice exclaimed, panicked. She pointed her good hand at her breasts.

I blinked and my face scrunched up. I started out confused, "I know you miss Jasper and all…but I don't really think I'm the answer to your loneliness…I'm not really into that." I shuddered.

I had a feeling if I was closer I would have been slapped.

Alice glared at me. "You are so not my type. And that's not what I meant, regardless. My boobs are not normally this big. And I don't think they've inflated with freezing air," she elaborated. My brow furrowed. I hadn't really been checking her out, so I'd have to take her word for it.

"Do you really spend that much time looking at them?" I asked, earning me a half eye roll and a sour look.

"No! But when they get that big I do take notice! I've never had big boobs in my life!" I could see that Alice was beginning to grow borderline hysterical. "Plus, look at this!" she hissed.

I watched as she used her free hand to pull up her baggy t-shirt. I stared at her pale stomach, baffled. It had been a few months since we were at the cabin for the 4th, but I could definitely see thatAlice had put on a couple pounds since then. But it had probably just been gained this past week, what with Esme spoiling the hell out of her and all…

Alice was looking at me with wide eyes. I knew what she was freaking about. I knew there was a possibility that the freaking out could be completely justified. I tried to assure her otherwise, "You haven't exactly been able to exercise lately. When I sprained my ankle two years ago I put on like five pounds because I couldn't run…"

Alice shook her head. "I've missed two periods."

I blinked, not reacting. "Esme!" I then hollered loudly.

"What was that for?" Alice hissed quietly. I shook my head as Esme called back in acknowledgement.

"You are taking a pregnancy test, right now." I told her, leaving no room for argument. I called Esme because I didn't have time to drag Alice all the way down the stairs and get her into the car, and then drive to a gas station. Plus someone would see me buying a pregnancy test and I'm screwed for the next two months. But if it were Esme who was purchasing the test, it wouldn't look weird; she was still young enough to have a kid.

"Buy three," Alice requested meekly. I nodded at her, taking in her stage of panic.

"It'll be okay." My mind was already in hyper drive with the possibility that Alice could be pregnant. We needed to know if she was or not, and quick. "Start chugging some water!" I called as I rushed down the hall to the stairs.

"Come on Es!" I exclaimed while I slid into a pair of boots. Esme was shrugging into a jacket and appeared at the front door. It didn't look like she had any idea where she was going, but she was just going with the flow.

"I'll drive," she announced as we trotted outside and down the stairs. I nodded in agreement. "Where am I driving?" she wondered as we approached her car.

"Gas station," I told her as we both slid into the car. "Alice is probably knocked up," I told her, slightly hyper.

Esme hummed as she pulled out of the driveway. She was fairly calm about it. "Hmm, maybe you should have sent condoms in your care packages."

I huffed.

She did have a point though.

The gas station was only a mile down the road. I filled Esme in on what she needed to buy and she nodded, accepting her mission. I opted to wait in the car, not dressed for the ridiculous winds. After anxiously cranking up the heat dial, I glanced around outside, antsy.

There was nothing unusual happening. There were just cars pulling in and out of the parking spots to pump gas, some running to the store hurriedly. I tucked my hands under my butt, wanting warmth as I continued to look around.

My brow furrowed as my gaze landed on a young man. He was dressed very proper for his age, he only looked about 20. He was wearing a pin striped suit complete with a black tie and black pea coat over that. The guy looked like he had slipped out of a magazine with his exotic yet appealing face. He slipped out of his Mercedes, again, not something I'd think someone like him would be driving.

I grew even more confused as he pulled a small, but extraordinarily high tech looking digital camera from his pocket. I continued to watch as he turned on the camera and raised it up. Then he turned his back to me and started casually snapping pictures of the neighboring apartment complex. Slowly he rotated to his left, still snapping pictures at a fast speed.

Finally he settled in my direction, or I should say the direction of Esme's car. My stomach knotted uneasily as he slowly continued his circle, taking pictures of her car. For a second, our eyes met. There was some flash of recognition in his mysterious eyes. I was almost positive I had never seen this man before in my life, and so I continued to stare, memorizing him.

Our gaze broke apart when I lowered my eyes. Within a second he was continuing his circle of picture taking. When I was sure he was no longer staring at me I glanced slowly back up. He had stopped again, this time his camera was angled at the door leading the gas station.

My mind was begging me not to jump to conclusion. He was probably just a young mogul. His father wanted him to look around at the land of the gas station so he could buy it and demolish and then build an unnecessary KFC in its spot. That was clearly the most reasonable explanation. I didn't have to think every strange man I met was going to pull out a gun. But the fact that he drove such a dark, shiny Mercedes was enough to make me raise an eyebrow.

Before I could break apart an inner argument, Esme pushed the glass door from the building and walked out. I glanced at her for second, noting that she looked like she normally did everyday. Then I hurriedly looked over at the young man. He seemed to snack a few more pictures of that area where Esme was leaving and then he slipped into his car before Esme even reached the vehicle. He was speeding out of the parking lot as Esme threw the plastic bag at me. The whole experience left me very unsettled. I made a note to ask Edward.

"I bought four," Esme informed me, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked over at her, momentarily confused. Then I glanced down at the plastic bag she had tossed on my lap. Oh! Yeah. "She better be drinking a gallon of orange juice as we speak to generate enough pee for them," she continued, oblivious to my distraction. She was completely unaware that she had probably just been photographed.

"I don't think that'll be a problem for her," I replied, my mind else where.

Esme sighed quietly after a moment. I turned towards her, having heard the sigh. I frowned, my eyebrows arching together.

Then it hit me. Esme and Carlisle had adopted me because they hadn't been able to get pregnant on their own. I cringed. This probably wasn't going to be a fun next couple of days. Esme loved me more than anything and I was so fucking lucky to have her. But I knew that she still sort of wanted a baby to call her own, she wanted to be pregnant and hold a bundle of joy that her and Carlisle and created out of their extreme love.

If the pregnancy tests actually had been for Esme she would have been so incredibly thrilled. She wouldn't be freaking out like Alice was back home. She'd be dancing around the house, anxious to confirm her suspicion with Carlisle, glowing like crazy.

No matter what happened with Alice and these tests, it didn't matter, the damage had been done. If Alice wasn't pregnant, she would still be sad for awhile, reminded that she was not pregnant either. If Alice was pregnant, Esme would be happy, but she'd have to watch Alice's belly grow with silent envy. And if Alice was pregnant and God forbid, she wanted to get rid of the baby; Esme would not make it. It would kill her to see that people who didn't want a baby could conceive one so easily.

I sighed too.

This was a whole lot of shit for an 18 year old.

Fortunately, we were home in less than two minutes. Esme pushed away her threatening sadness and prepared herself for the role of knowing mother. I on the other hand darted out of the car as soon as it was parked and sprinted up the stairs, the plastic bag clutched in my hand. The four boxes clunked against each other as I ran to her room.

Alice was almost in the same spot I had left her. But now, she had a huge water bottle that I used for really warm soccer games. It held like a liter, and she was just swallowing down a particularly large gulp when I threw the door open. She jumped, startled and then looked at me with wide eyes. I gave her the cliché, do it fast like a band aid speech as I helped her hobble warily to the bathroom.

We got into the bathroom and I closed the door behind us. I helped her to the toilet and she awkwardly sat down on the seat, carefully sitting unexposed. I fumbled with the first box and ripped it open after a few seconds, ignoring the perforated lines. The little white stick fell out into my hands. I tossed it like it was on fire to Alice who caught it with her good hand. She waited as I ripped another two out of their pink boxes. Then I grabbed a gross towel out of the cabinet and threw it on the sink counter, ready for the pee sticks.

Alice looked in her hand at the identical white sticks. She slowly took a deep breath in and then shakily let it out. Her eyes not losing their huge size.

"Maybe we should do this later, I should try to get a hold of Jasper first…" she muttered, looking at me panicked. I could tell that she didn't really want that. She just wasn't ready to find out or not.

"And then you'll freak him out that you might be pregnant. You don't want him a hysterical mess for the time it takes for you to take the damn test and call him back. It could affect his safety. So pee!" I commanded, gesturing towards the stick in her hands, slightly agitated. I wasn't really agitated with her; I just needed to see the fucking results.

Alice opened her mouth, about to protest no doubt, but I stopped her. With a smirk I turned on the water from the sink faucet so that it was flowing in a steady, loud stream. She glared at me as she grudgingly stuck the sticks under her and I turned away, silently snickering.

The fact that we didn't speak just made the sound of her peeing a hell of a lot more awkward.

After she finished she plopped the urinated sticks on the ratty towel and pulled her pants up one handedly. I read the box to see it would be a two minute wait. Alice's cloudy eyes never left the three sticks.

I hoisted myself onto the granite counter and sat there silently, counting to 120. In the back of my mind I tried to fathom how incredibly frightened and alarmed Alice must have been in those seconds. For a moment I placed myself in her shoes. And then I hopped right back out of them because it scared me shitless to even consider the possibilities.

I reached 90 mentally and looked at the sticks. They were still blank.

Well. . .so much for my Poe time. . .

The next 30 seconds were filled the most intense silence I had ever experienced in my life. It was more intense then it had been when my parent's caskets were lowered into the ground. Hell, it was more intense then when my fifth grade class figured out exactly how one has sex.

Alice must have been counting in her own head, because when I reached the allotted amount of time, she finally broke eye contact with the tests. She turned her head completely away from them. "You look," she begged quietly. I stared at her incredulously. Then I realized she was serious.

So, with a gulp of air I leaned over the sink to get a view of the towel. I was so nervous that it felt like these were my own tests. Biting my lip I noted that all three of them were identical. I read the inscribed label on the side, the key to reading the results. My eyes widened.

Two pink lines.

I stared at them, unmoving, unblinking, just staring.

Alice grew impatient after about a minute. Her impatience won over her anxiety and she snapped, "Oh for the love of God," at me. But as she said it she had turned back to the tests and saw instantly what I was staring at. Hence the seven syllable extension of the word "God."

She gapped silently at the tests. Then finally she exhaled her eyes impossibly larger. "Holy shit," she whispered quietly.

I nodded, thinking the same thing myself. "Congratulations Mama," I offered quietly, gathering my voice.

Alice still didn't look at me, her voice full of shock as she asked, "Is Carlisle home?" I raised an eyebrow, regardless of the fact that she couldn't see it. That seemed like an awfully strange thing to ask after discovering you're pregnant.

"No, why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure I'm about to pass out," Alice informed me, completely awestruck.

"Maybe we should try Jasper?" I suggested meekly, having no clue what one was suppose to do in this situation. I was eight fucking teen. Not 30.

It took a few, extremely anxious and tense hours before we could get a hold of Jasper. Alice and I just stayed in her room, saying whatever thought popped into our head about the current situation. It was dark outside by the time we were able to reach her soldier. I have no idea why exactly he was on the phone at 4 in the morning, maybe it was the frantic emails she had sent him, insisting he call her.

Her cell phone buzzed suddenly, seeming extremely loud in the silenence. Alice got up and reached over to the end table and snatched it up. I stood up and made a move to leave the room, wanting to give them some privacy. Alice immediately grabbed my hand and pulled me back down onto the bed. I looked at her, surprised, but she just gave me a pleading look.

I was about to tell her to answer her phone when I felt my back pocket vibrate. I held up a finger and pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw Edward's name flashing. Showing her that I wasn't going to leave, I held the phone up and went to sit on the chair, across the room from the bed, just to give her some privacy when she told him.

I had never seen someone look so scared. She frighteningly nodded at me before flipping her persistently buzzing phone open. I followed suit.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked immediately before I could even manage a hello. His voice was filled with unnecessary concern.

"What? Yeah I'm fine. Why?" Hi babe, I've had a bit of stressful day? How's yours going? Nah; we evidently didn't roll that way.

Edward let out a loud exhale of relief. "Well I checked my emails the same time Jasper did and we both got slightly concerned when we saw you had been so desperately trying to get a hold of us."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" I questioned. I wanted to forget about the Alice baby drama thing for just a couple minutes. I hadn't talked to Edward since last week when he called the school. I missed the shit out of him.

Edward ignored my question. "What's up with Alice?" Or we can go back to the baby drama. That's cool too.

I looked over at Alice. By the looks of it she hadn't quite spilled it to Jasper yet. I mouthed her asking if I could tell Edward, she nodded fiercely in response. The poor woman was scared shitless. "Well, Uncle Edward, it seems like we have an army baby on the way."

Edward was silent.

I was about to say something, concerned about the length of the silence when Edward spoke. "You're not...? You're not pregnant, right?" his voice so even more scared than Alice. I was starting to get annoyed with these soldiers, they were the bravest people in the country, but you say the word baby and everyone starts to freak out.

My reply was decidedly sarcastic. "Yes, clearly I am. Because you asked a question about Alice, and I called you uncle; that adds up to me being knocked up."

Again; a sigh of relief. A very large sigh.

"I'm sorry! It's 4 in the morning. I'm a little out of it," he defended. I felt selfish for keeping him up, but I figured after Alice and Jasper's little talk, Edward would be awake longer anyway. "So, are we happy about the little bugger?"

I sighed, glancing over at Alice, who appeared to finally be getting to the bottom of it with Jasper. "I'll let you know when she figures out."

"Hmm, I wonder why that didn't show in her blood work or anything when she was getting treated two weeks ago," Edward commented, accepting my uncertain answer.

"Is it possible that it did?" I asked curiously. I realized that Alice was pregnant when she had gotten thrown against the floor from the grenade. The realization filled my gut with dread. She would be seeing Carlisle immediately.

"That's what I was thinking." Edward's voice lowered, like he didn't want to be overheard, "I don't see how it couldn't have. And I was wondering about the discharge, those are rare, and Alice's didn't make much sense," Edward said thoughtfully.

"What would have happened had Alice found out she was pregnant there?"

Edward thought about this for a second. "Well, she probably would have had the choice to return to base and avoid the deployment, or she could choose to be honorably discharged. But as far as I know, she didn't choose to."

"Maybe your captain, or whoever the hell issued the discharge, knew that the baby was against the rules, since it was Jasper's. So he discharged her without the embarrassment and didn't tell her either. That'd make sense," I proposed.

Edward chuckled softly, and for a moment I was back under the trees, lying in the hammock with him, listening to his laugh. And then, when I repositioned the cell phone, I snapped back to the present. "You have such a cute way of reasoning about the army snicker doddle."

And now I was being laughed at.

I sniffed, "hmph," mildly offended.

"Sorry," Edward controlled his laughter. "Anything else exciting happening with your life?" he asked interestedly.

I told him about the gas station run and about the guy who was taking the weird snap shots. Edward listened silently, not interrupting as I expressed my concerns about Esme and why he may have been taking pictures of her.

Finally, after I was finished Edward spoke. "They're getting too close for comfort," he mumbled away from the receiver, but I still picked it up. "It's probably nothing to worry about babe, but I'll sleep on it, and shoot you an email tomorrow if I suddenly think it's a problem. You're safe where you are," he assured me firmly.

I nodded. "What about where you are?" I hated asking, but I needed to be assured.

"Fine, things have actually been kind of boring," he admitted, and I could tell he was being honest. I was satisfied with his answer.

After my weird, stressful week full of AP crap, missing Edward, Alice drama and paranoia I was just so completely drained. I was in dire need of some normalcy, the kind I knew before I met Edward.

"So," I prompted casually, "what do you want for Christmas?"


If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low
I'll go wherever you will go

And maybe, I'll find out
The way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you
Through the darkest of your days
If a great wave should fall
It would fall upon us all
Well I hope there's someone out there
Who can bring me back to you
Where You Will Go, The Calling


-Two updates in one day! Pretty sure that's the first time that has EVER happened.
-Next chapter is some boring Christmassy fluff, just btw.
-"Twilight Moms are banding together in a group on Facebook to support our troops!" They write to soldiers every week and send packages regularly. If you are interested there is a link on my profile! Seriously, seeing people do this is the BEST type of review I could possibly get. You're all awesome(: