Chapter 10:

I looked at it and almost fainted. There wasn't any indication that I had ever cut my finger. How in the world has this happened? We obviously needed Carlisle. I was so confused that I couldn't even concentrate on my beautiful naked husband in front of me. We both got out of the shower and dried off. I put my dress back on and Jake grabbed a pair of shorts. We both looked at each other then back at my finger then back at each other. One word left both of our lips simultaneously "Carlisle."

I walked into the bedroom and grabbed my phone out of my discarded purse and dialed Carlisle's number. He picked up on the first ring. "Carlisle, we have a problem. Can you come over?"

"I'll be right over. Are you ok?" I squeaked out a 'not exactly' and hung up. The entire clan was over, minus Edward, within five minutes. Jake ushered them in while I sat in the recliner just staring at my finger. I know that it was stupid, but there is only so much weird that a girl can handle in a few days.

"Jacob, can you tell us what's wrong with Bella?" Carlisle asked as he knelt in front of me.

Jake came over and picked me up only to pull me down on his lap. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and looked Carlisle in the eyes. "Well yesterday while Bella was cutting up some fruit she cut her finger. Today as you can tell the wound is gone. The cut was fairly deep and there is no way that it could be healed so soon. We were hoping that you had some kind of explanation for us?"

"Well, that is one of the things that I wanted to run some tests on. I had a feeling that there was going to be more than just the phasing. It seems that the baby is passing some of the werewolf genes into Bella here. You should be ok Bella. From what I've read the mother is going to be perfectly fine."

"What do you mean by that? The mother is going to be perfectly fine?" I questioned feeling more confused than ever. My baby is healing me and phasing. What more is there going to be?

"Well um … I found a prophecy and well um …" I have never seen Carlisle this flustered before. He was stuttering and running his fingers through his hair. It was very unnerving. "It says that a woman will give birth to a werewolf that will manifest its powers in the womb. The woman will be gifted with the long life of the shape shifters and be granted certain powers as well."

"Is that why you guys are back? You think this woman is me?"

"Yes Bella, I believe that this woman is you."

At that moment there was a knock at the back door. I looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed the time; the pack was here. We decided to go ahead and move out to the back porch where there was plenty of seating and hopefully the breeze will keep the "smell" down. I still didn't understand that but I thought this would be the best idea. As everyone was seated, Carlisle stood to begin the meeting.

"Sam, I am thankful that you agreed to meet with us. I have something very important to discuss with all of you; the reason my family has returned." He paused and sat down. "After Bella disappeared from Alice's visions, I started doing some research. Unbeknownst to my family I came back to check on Bella and made sure that she was ok. When I saw that she was pregnant I remembered reading about a prophecy. The prophecy states that a child will be born to a woman who has been affected by both worlds. The baby will contain the werewolf gene and be able to manipulate it beginning in the womb. As we have already seen, Bella and Jacob's child is already able to phase when Bella is feeling heightened states of anger or fear. Today we have seen that the child is emitting its healing power to Bella. This only marks the first half of the prophecy." He paused and looked around at everyone to let that part absorb.

There was a prophecy about my child, and because of it, the Cullens have come back. Obviously the second part is huge. "Carlisle we understand that part. Can you get on to the part about why you have come back?"

He looked at me and continued his story. "Ok, the second part of the prophecy states that this child will cause the downfall of the vampire royalty. He will lead an army to destroy the Volturi. That is why we are here. Somehow the Volturi have discovered the information and are coming to destroy the mother and child." There was a loud gasp from everyone in the crowd. Jake growled and pulled me closer to him.

"They want to kill my baby. He hasn't even done anything to them? How could they?" I whispered and then started crying. I was sobbing uncontrollably when I felt an overwhelming calm settle over me. I looked up at Jasper and gave him a small smile and nod. He winked back at me.

"Bella that is why we are here; we would never let that happen! I led my family to believe that I had been contacted by the hospital here to come back and work. I didn't want to overwhelm you with the entire family before you were ready, but I hadn't anticipated Alice breaking into the exam room." Alice looked down sheepishly.

I looked over at Alice and uttered a single word, "When?"

She looked up and I saw her eyes glaze over. After a few seconds she proclaimed that they would be here in a month, and that they were bringing the entire guard. Knowing that they would be here in a month had the fear rising in me again. As the full blown panic attack began I felt the sharp pains in my stomach begin. I screamed out and doubled over in pain.

"Bella, calm down, you have to calm down. Jasper, help her. Please." Jake sounded frantic as he held me and started rubbing my back and stomach soothingly. I again felt the calm wash over me. I could feel myself calming and the pain subsided. I thanked Jasper again and settled back into Jake's arms.

Sam finally spoke up and asked, "Well, what do we do? There is no way that we are not going to protect Bella. She is family."

"We prepare for war." Jake and Jasper both spoke at the same time. I looked at them in shock and waited for whatever was going to happen next. I couldn't believe this was happening.

"As much as I hate to admit it, we are going to need to work together in order to keep Bella and the baby safe. Tell us more about this Volturi?" Sam had a look of worry on his face.

"Thank you, everyone, for all of your help. I don't completely understand why this is happening but I couldn't stand for something to happen to Bella or my son. I know that this is going to be hard on us all since it is in our nature to hate each other, but we have something that is even stronger than nature to hold us together. This beautiful woman in my arms here is my life and if something were to happen to her I don't know if I could survive." Jake was in full on loving husband mode and I loved it.

I snuggled back into his chest and yawned. It has been an exhausting day. Jake wrapped his arms tighter around me and let me curl up in his lap. I don't know exactly how long I had been asleep but when I awoke I was back in my bed. Jake was snuggled up to my back with his arms wrapped tightly around my middle. I feel bad that I wasn't able to stay awake for the rest of the meeting but after the day I had, I couldn't help falling asleep.

The next few weeks passed entirely too quickly and were filled with battle plans and simulated training. It seemed that the pack was getting more and more used to the Cullens and I found out that Esme had begun cooking for them. I swear those boys would love anyone who would make them a home cooked meal. As the time for the Volturi to arrive was getting closer I got more and more anxious. For the most part Edward stayed away. I only really saw him whenever Jake and I went over to the Cullens to have tests run, but usually when they wanted to hang out they would come to our place. Whenever he was around, Rose kept true to her promise and made sure that he didn't make it within twenty feet of me. I loved her so much for that. She really was the best.

Mine and Rosalie's relationship grew exponentially over the next few weeks. She even convinced me to go out shopping with her and Alice and Esme a few more times. We went at least once a week. Alice was ecstatic with the new development. I knew that they were just trying to keep my mind off of the upcoming battle, but I was thrilled to let them. They did their best to keep me calm and happy at all times. We were even able to drag Jake along with us once when we did some baby shopping. Carlisle and Esme bought us a multi-use crib. As the baby grew the crib would change into a small twin bed and then eventually a couch. It was the coolest thing ever.

The day of the battle was fast approaching. As much as I wanted to know what was going on I was four months pregnant and knew that I shouldn't stress too much. They were keeping me out of the loop which really bugged me, but at the same time I knew that it was best that I didn't know. It would cause me to stress if I knew what was going on so I happily allowed myself to be distracted. Some of the time it drove me nuts, but at least Jake kept me occupied. We spent every waking moment that he wasn't preparing for the battle in each other's arms. Everything was so great with him. He almost made me forget that someone was coming after my baby. Almost.

"They will be here in twelve hours." Alice announced as we gathered on my porch again.

The plan was that I would stay at the house with Seth while everyone else met the Volturi in a meadow outside of the town. Alice hoped that being outside of the town would prevent any outside injuries. I was thankful to all of the people that showed up on my behalf. Friends of Carlisle showed up to meet the mother of the famous child and to help protect me against the Volturi. The entire pack was gathered as well. In total we had about thirty people, both vampire and werewolf. We hoped that it would be enough. Seth, of course, was pissed that he had to miss the battle but after Jake explained to him that he had the most important job, he settled down a little bit.

Jake and I decided that we wanted some time alone before the fight so we went back up to our room to cuddle a little bit.

"Baby, I don't know what I would do if I lost you. Promise me that you will be careful. I just wish that you didn't have to go. Why can't you stay with me? Why can't we just run? I'm so scared." As the time got closer the more I started to freak out. I don't know what I would do if I lost Jake. He was my entire life.

"Bells, I know that you are scared. I am too. But I know that we need to stop them. I won't let those monsters get anywhere near you or our son. Everything will be ok." He pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me.

The next two hours we spent in our bed cuddling and making love. I knew that everything was going to work out. It had to.

"Ten hours." Alice announced again. It was a little obnoxious but at least we had a countdown going.

Everyone else seemed to have broken off into their individual couples for the next few hours. It wasn't until Alice made her next announcement that we decided to have some last minute family time.

"Five hours." By this time, everyone was on edge. Especially Jake.

"Bells, you need to make sure to stay here," then he turned to Seth, "keep her safe, she is the most precious thing in the world and I would die if she were hurt."

Seth nodded and then turned to me. "Bella, I vow to keep you safe, you just have to trust me. I love you sis."

We all sat around in the living room and kitchen making last minute provisions. They weren't really needed because they had this moment planned down to the letter, but I think it made everyone feel better to go over the plan again. I just sat back and watched how one small child could bring mortal enemies together. The tension was high but there was also a high level of love circulating around the room.

"It's time." And with those two words everything fell into focus. I just wrapped my arms around Jake and kissed with as much passion and love that I could muster up.

"I love you Jake, come back to me." He kissed me one last time and then took off. I fell back onto the couch. The world stopped. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move.

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've been extremely distracted this week. I know that everything seems a little bit odd and rushed towards the end, but you have to remember that this is from Bella's POV, and that everyone is trying to keep her out of the loop so that she stays calm. No need to upset her more than needed. Because it is in Bella's POV the battle in the next chapter won't be shown, but if you guys really want to see, I will try and do an alternate POV later. Just let me know.