-1This is what I was talking about in Ch. 1 about Edward's reaction. I don't feel like looking up the story name, but Edward at first said the same EXACT line I'd had him say about the same subject. I'm probably going to get OOC remarks, & if you don't like it I'm sorry. Also, I needed a way to explain Halfling's ending a little better so that's why I'm going with this path. Like I've said before…JUST GO WITH WHATEVER I SAY!

I couldn't comprehend it. The word was foul in my head. Killing all happiness. How could this have happened? I'm a vampire! Bella's hands claps mine. Her warmth was feverish to my even colder than normal skin . Two brown eyes looked at my face, begging for a response, a blink, anything. But I couldn't move. Bella was pregnant.

"Edward, please say something," cried a hoarse voice. My shock was hurting Bella, and though it hurt me to see her so scared I remained silent. It was several minutes before I realized I wasn't breathing.

I closed my eyes, bowed my head, and let our a huge sigh. At last I looked up to see Bella almost as pale as me. Her hands were shaking around mine so I held them steady.

"Say something. Come on, Edward! We're going to have a baby!" She was whispering through her cracking voice. I turned away from her, ashamed of my own thoughts.

"No," I said at last. "You're going to." A smile broke out on her face, and she laughed once.

"Ok, fine. I'm going to have a baby, but we're going to be parents!" She gunned me, but I carefully pushed her away. She tried to move back closer to me, but again I kept away.

"No, Bella," I ordered. She was hurt and confused, and that knowledge burned. But her announcement hurt me even worse. The thought brought back the unimaginable heat that burned inside me when I saw her with Jacob or Mike- jealousy and hatred.

"No, Bella," I said again. "You will. Vampires can't have children."

"What?" she screamed. She was standing now, overcome in dark emotions. She tried to turn my head back to her, but she wasn't strong enough. I closed my eyes again.

"Don't act like you didn't know," I sighed.

"Does that matter?"
"Of course it does, Bella! That baby is not mine!"

"How could you think that? You know I love only you! Don't you remember what happened when you left me?" She meant to make me mad; she didn't bring that up unless she had to.

I looked back at her with stone cold eyes. She did she best to look strong, but her rapid heartbeats gave her fear away.

I didn't know what I was going to do. She was too furious to speak, and I was too… everything to be near her. I needed to calm myself before I took my pain out on her. I ran to the door and was out before she could stop me.

Pregnant. That was something that, before, sounded right: the right girl, a house, and a family. When I was human that was something I was more than ready for…if I could have found her then. And Bella seemed excited too, but I wasn't human anymore. That was the problem.

Had I failed? Was I not enough? If I wasn't the man she needed at night it was only because she was so fragile! Should I have changed her sooner? Question after question exploded in my mind, and each one made me feel worse. Was I losing her, or was it too late? Worst of all…what now?

I rubbed the silver band on my left hand. The memory of our first night as husband and wife came to mind. We were lying side by side in bed, and I was admiring her hand. Seeing my mother's ring on Bella was too good to be true. Then she asked me if I'd looked at my ring. She slipped it off of my and showed me the inside. Engraved inside was "The Lion and his Lamb August Thirteenth." I smiled as I, once again, read the words.

It was hours after dark before I had the courage to come back home. Bella had already showered and was drinking hot apple cider while watching another movie on TV. I made my way upstairs to the master bedroom, wondering if that was where she and her other had…I didn't want to think about her betrayal again. I rested on my side of the bed and began reading one of the book my parents gave her, waiting for her to turn in for the night. A quarter of the way through it she stood against our doorway.

"Are you staying with me tonight?" She sounded hopeful, but her eyes could see the truth. I closed her book and walked out.

"Not tonight."

"Edward-"

"Not tonight, love." I brushed past her, but stopped at the end of the hall. "We should put up a good face in public. Charlie and Renee should know. Call them tomorrow."

"What about your family?" Good question. What would I say to them to them? Poor Esme would be devastated. All of the them would be. They'd seen how much Bella had changed me to the point where nothing else mattered. I dreaded the call.

"Don't worry about that."

The hours drug by so slowly that night. It was the first night I'd purposely not slept with Bella, but I wasn't ready to be with her that closely again. To pass the time I made that unpleasant call to Carlisle.

"Hey," I said when he answered.

"What happened?" He sounded concerned. I could almost see him sitting at his desk, frowning at my depressed tone.

"Bella's going to have a baby. She tells me I'm the father, but we all know that's impossible."

"Oh, Edward," he sighed sadly. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think Bella would ever do this!"

"I don't know what to do. Help me." He thought for a moment, searching for the right words to say.

"I really can't imagine Bella as the kind of girl to cheat on you. She needs you too much. I know of one other vampire doctor-the only other one besides myself-in America. He does DNA test in New Hampshire and claims he can use the DNA in our venom. If you'd life I can give him a call."

"I'll talk to Bella about that." And we hung up. A way to know the truth. Should we go? The odds weren't in my favor, but I wanted-needed- to know for sure. If Bella didn't want to do this did that mean she was afraid? I threw myself on the living room couch to wait for dawn's first light.