AN: Sorry day late. Yesterday was my sons birthday.

Warning abuse and violence in this chapter.

Check my profile for links to this chapter.

Thanks to all those that review. Keep reviewing it keeps me going on with this story.

Chapter 17 War of Words

∞Alice∞

Was it possible to feel happy, sad and downright sick all at the same time? I had been up for two hours bowing down to the porcelain god throwing up and dry heaving. This whole pregnancy was taking an absolute toll on my already frail body.

It was now six o'clock in the morning and I climbed back into bed to snuggle with Jasper. I rolled onto my side, reached up and lightly combed my fingers through his hair. He didn't stir and I felt a tinge of jealousy because he was sleeping soundly and hadn't even moved when I had left the bed to throw up.

Before we came to Vegas I was so depressed about Bella's death that I had a hard time functioning. Jasper had started to notice, but he never brought it up. He knew that when I was ready to talk to him about her death I would, so he graciously gave me my space. Unfortunately that didn't last very long when I seemed to be actually getting physically ill and couldn't keep any food down what so ever. Every time he tried to shove food down my throat I instantly would gag from the smell of anything that passed by my nose.

It wasn't until I saw a commercial on TV that was showing raw chicken being cooked, which had me doubled over puking my guts out on my living room floor, that I realized that I could be pregnant. I found myself rushing to the pharmacy grabbing the best pregnancy test they had over the counter. When I got home I rushed into the bathroom and relieved myself onto the stick. The box had stated that it would take about three minutes to show the final result, but as soon as I peed on it the digital screen popped up 'Pregnant'. I dropped the test right onto the floor in a state of absolute blissful shock.

Jasper and I had been trying for over a year to get pregnant and we never had any luck. We tried to keep our spirits high, but we longed for having a child. I wanted to find a special way to tell Jasper about the happy news. I had only wished that I would be able to share it with Bella as well.

I never got to tell Jasper in a special way because when Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and I went to a have Italian I found myself throwing up my shrimp Alfredo that I had for dinner when we got back to our hotel room. Jasper had started to get too worried and said he didn't care if we were in Vegas he was going to find a doctor to check me out. He was pacing back and forth in the bathroom asking over and over again if there was something he could do for me. I watched him and had to close my eyes because his fast movements had made me more nauseous making me throw up some more. Out of shear frustration and between heaving I also had word vomit and spewed out 'I am pregnant'. Seemingly it made him stop pacing and I felt happy that the room had stopped spinning. He didn't say anything, but he came over, fell onto the floor beside me and wrapped his arms around me. He didn't have to say anything because we knew we wanted this and we also knew what we had gone through to get to here.

After feeling somewhat better, we relaxed into our bed and made love to each other in silence.

However, my nerves were still shot and I constantly found myself thinking about my friendship that I had with Bella. We had grown close when she started working at the school and for the first month everything seemed to be great. I even considered her my best friend.

After that first month though she seemed to get so personally involved with Bree Newton and she started to drift away. Even her health had started to deteriorate.

When she had gone missing last December I had the strangest feeling that she was hurt and in pain. Nothing about her disappearance had settled very well. Things just seemed off.

Even after they found her and she was back in my life I could never shake that uneasy feeling that I had in the pit of my stomach. I thought it would leave after she died, but it didn't and I wasn't quite sure if I wanted it to because it was a reminder to me that she was actually real.

I knew at that moment that if my baby was a girl I was going to name her Bella.

My stomach growled bringing me back to my current state. I could never get over this rollercoaster ride of feeling hungry, eating everything in sight and then throwing it up a half-hour later. I wanted to surprise Jasper so I decided to order room service.

After placing my order I showered and got ready for the day. I still felt quite queasy, but knew I would get better as the day progressed. As I walked out of the bathroom I was met with a knock at the door. I looked over to the bed and noticed that Jasper was still soundly asleep.

When I opened the door I immediately cursed myself for not looking through the peephole. The person in front of me had me slight confused. This was the same woman, waitress that served Edward, Bella and I when we went to Café Garden. I stared at her for which seemed like forever having a slew of questions run through my mind stopping at two that rang louder than the others. Why is she here and why is she at my door?

She stood there staring at me with one of her eyebrows quirked as if I was amusing to her.

"Hello, Alice," she directed. She must have heard my name at the café.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, hoping she would elaborate.

"If you know what's good for you and that husband of yours," she nodded and looked at Jasper's sleeping form. "You will come with me without hesitation, not waking him or alarming anyone."

"Why would I come with you? What is this all about?" I blanched raising my voice.

She apparently did not like the tone of my voice so she swiftly reached out and yanked my arm spinning me around so my back was to her chest. Then she placed her hand over my mouth silencing me from a further outburst. It was at that moment that I noticed a man pressing his back against the wall right by the door; I had not seen him there before since I was inside the room. He reached in his jacket and pulled out a roll of duct tape and ripped off a piece. The woman removed her hand and the man quickly placed it over my mouth. I hadn't noticed until he placed the duct tape that I had tears rolling down my face.

"You need to go back in there and get all of you luggage and come back. If we see you trying to alarm your husband we…will…kill…him," he whispered into my ear making me jump.

I knew in my heart that I would do as he asked so that Jasper would not get hurt. I stumbled into the room and they quietly followed, closing the door slightly, but still leaving it ajar.

They watched me as I fumbled with all my clothes and I made an extra effort to be as quiet as I could. The image of him waking up and then being shot passed through my mind. I closed my eyes, took one last look at Jasper and left with the two crazy people.

I had no clue if I would ever see him again. I didn't know why they wanted me or where I was going, but I knew I had to survive because I just wasn't living for myself anymore, I was living for the tiny life inside me and its father.

∞Edward/Anthony∞

There is no way I was going to let this slide. I didn't care if we were under cover; they were not going to hurt my Love anymore. Well, technically they didn't know it was Bella, but they should know that they couldn't treat people this way.

"You said that the elevator went to the top floor right?" I confirmed with her as I pulled her towards the elevator.

"Yes, but I don't think it is such a great idea. Um…maybe you should calm down first. Plus, are you sure that's where Aro is?" she deflected.

"That's the Chairman's Suite on the top floor and the only suite on that level. I'll take my chances," I spat out.

Once we descended the elevator we made our way to the double doors of the suite. I stood there glaring at the doors; my temper was still boiling. I chanced a glance at Izzy and noticed she had her hand on her neck where that stupid James had marked her. Her face was paler than usual and she was tapping her foot nervously. I couldn't stand to see her this way. I briefly felt that maybe she was right and that this was a bad idea. I slipped my arm around her waist and pulled her into my side.

I was about to turn and leave, but the door opened and both Izzy and I gasped when we saw that it was Alice greeting us at the door. I suddenly remembered that I hadn't discussed with Izzy about who I ran into that morning and that they knew about everything, but Alice didn't.

The look on Alice's face was one of confusion, shock, hurt and maybe some relief. She didn't speak instead she stepped back and opened the door wider motioning for us to come in. At that moment I noticed a thick black bracelet on her wrist. It didn't look very fashionable and it appeared to be really tight around her wrist because it never moved. Then there was a noticeably tiny red light that was flashing. After seeing the light my mind turned over the possibility of it being a tracking device.

We walked in and noticed that Aro was sitting in a low armchair talking with Victoria and James as they sat in the other armchairs that surrounded a coffee table.

He met my eyes with his, then looked at Izzy.

"Alice, go tend to Bree's lessons for the day," he ordered. Izzy and I both stiffened when we realized that the Newton's were in fact here with Aro. Alice took one questioning look at us and I gave one back, then she was instantly out of the room.

"Anthony, Izzy it's nice to see you. What can I do for you?" he sounded condescending. Apparently, he wasn't aware about the incident. I looked at Izzy and she had he head down looking at the floor. When I looked up I noticed a smug smirk on James' face. I was livid at this point.

I approached Aro, pulling Izzy with me and all three of them stood as we got closer.

Removing my arm around Izzy's waist I brought my hand down to her shoulder and pulled back the collar of her shirt.

"Do you see?" I looked at Aro. "Do you see what your Number One did to her?" I fumed.

Aro seemed to be taken aback by my sudden elevated tone. Then he turned to James and glared at him seeming to be asking him a silent question.

James nodded. "Yes, I did that. I felt that she needed to be put in her place. She asked me if I had any drugs that she could have. I told her no and she started to freak out. The only way I could get her to calm down was to bite her," he lied. I was a little shocked because she never mentioned the drugs to me.

All right I knew that Izzy was supposed to be a recovering drug addict, but I knew the truth Bella was far from that. Before I could speak up I saw Izzy's head snap up and started speaking.

"Are you kidding me?" she exasperated. "You, you offered it to me. I never asked. I never said a word to you about drugs. And if I remember correctly you offered me the drugs and when I refused you took them. Plus, you had your dirty hands all over me," she disclosed as she pointed a finger at James. Victoria snapped her head at James and I could swear she growled at him.

"Oh, sweetheart you know you enjoyed it when I felt your soft skin in my hands. I still have the taste of your skin in my mouth," he said while he licked his lips. That's it this creep is going down.

Before I knew it I was landing punches to his face as he lay there on the floor. Blood was pouring out from his nose and mouth. I heard yelling going on around me, but I was so caught up with the adrenaline pumping through my body. All this anger wasn't just directed from what he had just done, but for all the times he touched my Love.

Suddenly I felt a small hand on my arm trying to pull me away from James and then the voices became clearer.

"Anthony, Anthony stop. Please stop!" Izzy calmly pleaded. I stood up and looked at Aro. He didn't seem to be mad, but rather fascinated as a smile spread wide across his face. Victoria was now at James' side trying to get him up. Then she exited the room, coming back with towels and ice. When I looked at his face I knew I did quite a bit of damage. It looked as if I had broken his nose, gave him a black eye and his lips were swollen and covered with blood. There were bruises that started forming all over his face. I had never in my life felt the rage that I had when I was punching him. Everything was in a haze.

The pain in my hands finally caught up with me and I looked down at them. They were covered in my blood and James' as well. Izzy noticed and placed my hands in hers softly. We all heard footsteps and a gasp coming from the hallway. I turned quickly and noticed that it was Alice. She was looking back and forth from me to James taking in the horrific scene in front of her.

"Alice, I believe I told you to attend to Bree!" he seethed and before I knew he was in front of her, inches away from her face. He apparently was not happy that she saw what had happened.

"I know sir, but she said that she was thirsty so I came out to get her a glass of water. I didn't see harm in that," she whispered without making eye contact.

Aro took a step back and lifted his hand then smacked Alice across her face with the back of his hand. The force was so strong and it sent her to the floor. The first thing that crossed my mind was that he had just hit a pregnant woman, but I was certain that she probably had not disclosed this information to him. Izzy tried to move to her, but I thought it would be best to not upset Aro so I grabbed her around the waist and held her tightly. I knew that we were both upset with what was happening, but we couldn't take the risk.

"Don't ever assume and never take that condescending tone with me. There will be consequences to your actions. Now you have ten seconds to get that water and be back in that room with Bree. One…two…" he continued his counting.

We stood there and watched Alice make quick eye contact with us as she hurried into the kitchen and back to the room, by the time he said eight she had closed the door. Aro approached us and seemed to be in deep thought. The most disturbing thing that I saw was that he showed no remorse for what he had done to Alice and he seemed to be eerily calm.

He rubbed on his chin with his hand and looked straight at Izzy, but he spoke to me. "So, Anthony, it seems to me that you are going to have to keep your eye on this one a lot closer. She may be a recovering addict, but she can relapse."

I tried to stay calm, but he constantly was referring to woman as objects and treated them like so. "Yes, sir, I am aware of that, but I have been monitoring her for quite some time and so far she is doing very well," I countered, feeling bad that we seemed to be talking as if she wasn't in the room.

Aro gazed at me and then at my hands and decided to change the subject. "Well, Anthony, I really do look forward to hearing you play this Saturday. Do you think you could still play with your hands beat up?"

I pulled my hand away from Izzy's waist and held my hands out in front of me assessing the damage and stretching my fingers out.

"They're a little sore, but nothing that ice and Motrin can't help. Yes, I do believe I can still play Saturday, plus that's a couple of days away and by then they won't be throbbing like they are now."

"Well, to make up for this inconvenience that my Number One has put you and your woman through I will comp anything you want to do. You can go to any shows, eat anywhere you want too, go anywhere you want. When you decide all of that call me, let me know and I will make sure it is set up," he offered. "Also Anthony after the concert Saturday I would like to sit down with you and discuss your options with your permanent employment with me." I simply nodded feeling quite a bit on edge.

I had such mixed emotions. I really wanted to get out of there and go spend time with my Love, but I also was reluctant to go because Alice was here and I wanted to make sure that everything was going to be all right. We hadn't even seen the Newton's, but we knew they were there, well at least we knew Bree was with Alice. Glancing over at Izzy and seeing the look of anger and worry on her face I knew she felt the same way.

Alice now knew that Bella was alive and I was happy she didn't make a scene. I knew she was a smart woman and she knew the position she was in. It was obvious that she put two and two together, and figured out what was going on to a certain extent.

"Aro, sir, I think Anthony and I need to go," she said softly and turned to me. All the color was gone from her face and it occurred to me that she had a traumatic day. Plus, I knew she was probably in pain from her injury and that she needed rest.

"Yes, Love I believe you need to get some rest and I will get you something for the pain," I smiled, showing her that I understood. "Aro, I would appreciate it if you could talk to James and make sure he stays away from Izzy. I thank you for your hospitality and we will see you Saturday." I stuck my hand out and Aro extended his as we quickly shook hands. Then he nodded and said his goodbye.

Once we were back in the hallway I had a rush of calm and relief washes over my body. I was so happy to finally be out of that room.

"What are we going to do?" she asked me with sadness in her eyes.

"First, I need to call Emmett and Jasper," I whispered hoping that the hall was not bugged.

"What are you talking about? Won't they find it odd that you called them about Alice?"

I rubbed the back of my neck and looked at her from the corners of my eyes. "Well, here's the thing. When I came back and then found you in the shower," I paused as she closed her eyes remembering the incident with James. "The reason why I was late is because Emmett literally ran into me and then recognized me."

She gasped. "Oh, no!"

"It's going to me okay," I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.

"I told them everything. Rosalie was there to. They were actually out looking for Alice." I stopped not really knowing how to tell her the next news. "Love, um…Alice is pregnant."

She stopped walking after we just descended the elevator, heading to our suite. "Oh my gosh. That's great! But Anthony, we need to get her out of there." I nodded and pulled out my phone, finding the number I needed.

I had knots in my stomach while it rang.

"Hello, Edward."

"No, this is Anthony," I said slowly, hoping he understood.

"Yes, Anthony. What's going on?"

"We need to meet. I found Alice."

He gasped. "Is she there with you?"

"No. No more questions on the phone. We need to meet. Bellagio Fountains tonight at nine."