It was a loud crash that woke me up after who knows how many hours I was out.

It shook the couch I was laying on, the floor beneath me, and the warm, comforting hand caressing my cheek. I didn't know what it was, but something that laid in the back of my head told me it may be best not to ask.

"Not again," Seth's voice murmured. "She needs to get over herself."

My eyelashes fluttered open as I tried to ignore the pounding in my head. The room seemed to spin around me, though I didn't feel exactly dizzy. When the world stopped moving, I was able to see Seth's smiling face.

"You're up," he said. "Finally. I was almost afraid I'd lose you."

"I promised I'd never leave you, now didn't I?" I smiled and sat myself upright. One look at my stomach and I could've sworn I could see a noticeable difference in its size.

"Do I look bigger to you?" I asked Seth without really thinking about it.

"You look perfect," he said. "Perfectly perfect."

I made a face. "Seth, c'mon," I said. "I'm not asking you if I'm fat or anything. I'm just wondering if the look of the pregnancy has kicked in yet. I think it has, but I feel so drugged I can't even tell." I laughed and he joined in.

"That's probably the morphine," he said. "You had a pretty nasty fall there. It could've been a lot worse if Carlisle hadn't fixed you up quickly. Sorry on behalf of everyone about that, by the way. We sort of forgot about your… er… fragile state. And, if it makes youfeel better, yes, the baby belly is kicking in. Alice saw it, too." He chuckled.

I yawned and patted my stomach. "Little twins are already starting to stretch me out," I muttered playfully. "Speaking of Alice, where is she?"

"Right here!" Alice came bouncing into the living room, a perfectly exuberant smile on her face, and the strong smell of garlic and fish that clung to her clothes and engulfed me was enough to make me ignore another ground-shaking crash. I coughed.

"Sorry," Alice said, taking two steps back. "Leah wanted fish. Smells pretty bad, doesn't it?"

I nodded, trying to wave the scent away.

"I bet her breath smells worse," Seth chuckled.

"I heard that!" Leah called from the dining room. The three of us laughed.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked.

"Bella, Jacob, and Edward are with Nessie at Charlie's place, Carlisle and Esme went to go finish up their hunt, Jasper and Leah are in the kitchen, and Emmett's upstairs," Seth answered, another loud crash almost preventing me from hearing him.

"And Rosalie?" I asked. Another crash.

"She's…," Alice hesitated. "Not doing so well." A loud snarl accompanied by yet another crash came from upstairs.

"Is that her?" I asked alarmed. Seth and Alice nodded soberly.

"Well, why?" I was absolutely confused. "Why is she this upset?"

"You're pregnant," Alice said.

"Yes," I said. "And you're a vampire. What does that have to do with anything?" My words came out harsher than I'd intended them to. Damn hormones…

Alice didn't seem to mind my bitterness as her face remained in its sober mask.

"Rosalie… can't be pregnant," she said.

That one struck me like a ton of bricks. I hadn't even thought… Rosalie had told me all her stories, each and every one. She'd shared her love for children with me and her wish to one day have one to call her own. She'd confided in me the bitterness she'd felt toward Bella when she saw she was getting everything she'd ever wanted, and how she'd give everything up to be able to have kids.

"Oh no," I muttered, putting my head in my hands. Tears soaked my palms as Seth and Alice rubbed comforting circles on my back.

"I need to go talk to her," I decided, standing up and drying my tears. Seth put his two hands on my shoulders and pulled me back down.

"That's one thing you're not doing," he said sternly. "Rosalie loves you, and she knows that, but until she remembers that she doesn't really hate you for this, she's going to be a lot more than just hostile."

"I don't care!" I screamed. "She's my aunt! I don't want her angry at me or even thinking that she hates me. I have to talk to her."

"She could kill you," Seth said. "You shouldn't go up there."

"I agree," Alice said decidedly.

I shrugged out of his arms—something that really didn't feel right to me; his embrace was always the most comforting things—and stood up, smoothing my blouse.

"I'm going," I said. I walked as quickly as I could to the stairs and tried to ignore the terrified and shocked stares of Alice and Seth. They were probably going to follow me but I didn't care. I wanted to talk to Rosalie, and damn it, I was going to.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Those were the first words I heard when I stepped upstairs. Rosalie's voice was pained and too angry for words. I hesitated for a moment, but no more than a moment. I kept walking with one hand against the wall in order to steady myself should something else shake the floor.

Once outside the door of Rosalie and Emmett's room, an earsplitting growl reached me from the inside.

"Rose, babe, come on, calm down," Emmett reasoned with her. The sound of a loud snap rung in my ears.

"HOW DARE YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN?!" Rosalie screamed. I bit down on my lip and tried to swallow my fright as I knocked timidly on the door.

"Jasmine move!" Emmett warned, frightened.

I stepped out of the way of the door soon enough so that I wouldn't be crushed by it as it flew off its hinges and crashed against the wall. Losing my balance, I fell to the floor. It didn't take more than a second for me to stand again. One peek inside the room and I saw that Emmett was struggling to hold back a very angry Rosalie. Her cold, angry, coal-black eyes locked on mine as she growled.

"LET ME AT HER!" she shrieked as she trashed against Emmett. She hit his face a few times and gnawed at his arm. Nothing seemed to shake him.

"JUST ONE FAIR FIGHT!" she screamed. "ONE FAIR FIGHT!"
"Even if I was to let you," Emmett grunted, "which I won't, it wouldn't be a fair fight."

"DOES IT MATTER?!" Rosalie questioned, her voice almost so loud that my human ears couldn't hear it. "IT'S NOT FAIR THAT SHE CAN HAVE WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED, EITHER!"
I stepped cautiously into the room and Emmett immediately turned Rose away from me.

"Get out of here, Jasmine," he said, "if you value your life. I don't know how much longer I can hold her back."

I took a few more steps in. "No," I said. "Uncle Emmett, I know what I'm doing."

He couldn't help but crack a smile at his nickname. I knew that one would soften him up.

"I'm not letting her go," he said over Rose's screams. "But you can talk. I'm not guaranteeing she'll listen, though."

I sighed and moved to sit on the bed, which I couldn't do. The bed was snapped in half and was hanging out the broken window. Everything was turned inside out, upside down. The carpet was torn and the walls had obviously been scratched at. I settled for standing on the only surface not covered in shards of destroyed furniture.

"Rose, please, listen to me," I started pleadingly. Rose stopped struggling against Emmett but he didn't let go of her. Her eyes, I could swear, turned darker than they were before. She crossed her arms.

"Why should I?" Her voice was lower, colder. It was full of hatred, anger, betrayal.

Maybe she was still mad, but at least she wasn't trying to kill me anymore… or maybe she was waiting for Emmett to show a sign of weakness so she could spring. I didn't let myself dwell on that thought too much.

"Rose, please, you're my aunt," I said. "I don't want you to hate me."

She growled and snapped her long, strong white teeth at me. Emmett pulled her back.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hate you!" she snapped. "One good reason before I snap your neck in two and drink your blood! Why should you get to have what I've always wanted, huh?! Why?!"

"Rosalie, that's not my fault," I said.

"YES IT IS!" she screamed. "IT IS YOUR FAULT! YOU IRRESPONSIBLE, KNOCKED-UP, LITTLE SLUT!"

Not even Emmett's strength was enough to hold her back then. She leaped at me and pinned me to the glass covered ground. She growled at me, her hands holding my trashing arms to the floor, showing all her teeth. She tore my sleeve off and scratched my arm with her nails, leaving five open wounds. Her eyes were crazed as she bent her head for a taste.

"There goes my clean record." She laughed bitterly and pressed her lips to my arm for more.

I screamed.

Before I knew it, Rosalie was being pulled away from me. She fought against the hands pulling her away, her eyes on my dripping blood.

"Get Rosalie out of here," Carlisle's voice demanded. I could now see Emmett and Jasper pulling her away with Leah in her wolf providing backup. I was screaming in the pain that she gashes on my arms were causing me. My dizziness was much more than morning sickness. I was lying in a pool of my own blood that was expanding as the milliseconds ticked by. I wasn't sure how much blood I'd lost, but I knew my body couldn't take losing anymore.

"Carlisle," I called weakly. He came rushing over to me, medical bag in hand. Alice and Seth were right behind him. Seth grabbed my hand—the one that was not connected to my injured arm—and I tried to hush my screams for his sake, but it was so hard. My arm was stinging like crazy and I almost felt lighter because of all the blood I lost. I looked up into Seth's eyes and saw the worry, the horror, the love; into Alice's eyes and saw the same, but with suppressed hunger; and into Carlisle's eyes that were a mix between concern, utter concentration, and disappointment.

"I can't believe her," he said under his breath as he worked on my arm. I turned my head away and pressed my lips together tightly, trying to hold back tears and screams. While my screams stayed quiet, nothing could stop my tears. They streamed down my cheeks as my clothes started feeling crusty from the drying blood.

"How could she call her that?" Alice asked, half to herself. "That unbelievable, selfish, envious—"

"Alice, stop," I muttered through my pain. "She's your sister, she's my aunt. I don't like you talking bad about her."

"Mary Alicia Brandon," she said sternly and angrily. Ah, crap; she had never used my real name before. "Have you been in an extremely deep coma this entire time? Did you not just see—feel—what just happened to you, because of her?!"

I took one deep breath, choked on a sob, and tried to speak.

"I don't care," I said firmly. "She's family and I refuse to call her anything other than what she deserves."

"She deserves to be called so much more than that," Alice argued.

"I don't care what you think she deserves to be called," I said weakly. "She's my aunt."

"Alice, you shouldn't argue with her," Carlisle warned her before she could open her mouth. "Her current state is fragile enough. She doesn't need something else to take even more out of her."

I turned my head and shot him a silent thanks. He smiled, but didn't look up from his work for more than a second. One look at Alice, and anyone could tell she was extremely angry. I turned my head from her and contented myself with Seth's more understanding eyes.

"And she's all done," Carlisle announced. "She didn't need stitches; the wounds weren't that deep. I've just bandaged her. Alice? If you can handle it, I think you should go clean her up. Or should I call Bella and ask her to come home?"

Alice stared grimly at Carlisle. "I'm not going to attack her," she said.

"That's not what I meant," he muttered in response. "Don't be too angry with her."

"Will do," Alice said, and with that, she picked me up and carried me out of the room.

Carlisle's POV

I trusted Alice to not lose her temper with Jasmine, but taking precautions wouldn't hurt.

"Seth, would you mind making sure Alice doesn't abuse Jasmine with her words? Alice is short tempered, so she mayn't keep her cool very long," I requested.

"No problem," he answered, standing and walking out the door.

"Carlisle?" Edward's familiar voice made my head snap up. I hadn't realized he was even in the house. "Where's Rosalie?"

She's in the woods, Edward, I answered silently. They'd had to drag her away. She… lost it.

"I can see that," he muttered. "Do you want me to clean up around here?"

That would be a large help, son. I'm going to go find her. I rose from the floor and slipped off my blood stained coat. I'd be sure to drop it in the washing machine later.

"Good luck with that," Edward muttered. I didn't hesitate before I started to run. I'd made it to the center of the woods in less than a minute and it didn't take me much longer to trace Rosalie's scent a few yards further. Her eyes were like liquidized rubies; red and crazed, a color I hadn't seen on her since she'd first been changed. Her clean record was tarnished, and by the blood of her own family, nonetheless. I'd never been disappointed in one of my children, but, starting at that moment, I would never be able to say that again.

I was about to voice my thoughts to her so she'd know that what she'd done was by no means acceptable. I didn't have a chance to open my mouth before Rosalie's body landed in my arms—limp and colder than usual, shaking with sobs.

"It's not fair," she sobbed into my shoulder. "She's gotten what I've always wanted, and she's ruined me." She looked up at me through glassy eyes. "These eyes are her fault."

"Rosalie Lillian Hale." I said her name firmly, pulling her away from me and forcing her to look me in the eye. "How can you possibly blame Jasmine for this? Rosalie, she is a part of your family! You could have killed her, do you realize that? I really am sorry, as I have told you time and time again, that I put this so-called curse among you, but if you take a moment to process what it was that had been happening to you, then would you have been able to have children anyway if I hadn't have found you?"

Her red eyes turned to slits as she took in my words. She tore herself from me and went to try and find comfort in Emmett, who turned his head, not being able to even look at her.

"I love you," he said. "But I don't know what to say to you right now."

She growled fiercely and, with a flip of her golden hair, she scoffed and turned into an unfeeling, almost wax-like version of the daughter I loved.

"Fine," she said, her voice breaking. She couldn't hold up the façade for much longer.

"I'm leaving," she continued. She looked expectantly at Emmett who could only sigh and take her hand. He loved her too much to let her leave without him.

"I won't let her stay away forever," he said as they passed me. "We'll be back." He gave me a one armed hug and I patted his back.

"Be sure to do that," I whispered.

Rosalie, however, wasn't able to walk by Esme without showing some kind of emotion. Both she and Emmett gave her a warm hug before starting to run. Esme, my love, walked over and put her two arms around me and her head on my shoulder. I stroked her cheek, wishing I could be able to wipe away one of the tears I knew she needed to shed.

"She'll be back," Jasper said to me in comfort. "She always comes back. Remember the last time she laughed?"

I smiled sadly at the memory. "Oh, yes, I remember." She'd been so upset when she found out about Bella's knowing, she stormed out—Emmett following—vowing to never return. She was back mere months later.

"I suppose you're right," Esme sighed. We took our time walking back to the house. We really weren't in much of a hurry. Jasmine was fine, as far as we knew—and if she wasn't, we'd surely have heard from Alice or Seth by now—Rosalie wasn't leaving us permanently, we hoped, and there was nothing after us at the moment. Another month and an ultrasound would be necessary to find out how Jasmine's baby, or babies, by the looks of it, were doing, and I'm sure we could handle her food cravings from here till her nine month mark was up. She had a family that loved and supported her, and that would surely be enough… we hoped.