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BPOV

The Monday after Alice broke the news, she made an appointment with a local OB-GYN. And, of course, I had to accompany her to the doctor's office. She picked me up in Jasper's car after we were finished with classes, and we drove in silence. I could tell she was beyond nervous, and I was still thinking of how to breach the subject of Jasper's reaction. Judging by how she didn't bring the subject up herself, I had a feeling he didn't take it very well. In the waiting room, I decided to just dive right into the conversation.

"Did you talk to Jasper?"

"Of course," she replied in a harsh whisper.

"And? What did he say?"

She suddenly became very interested in the patterns of the tile floor. Oh no, she was getting off that easily.

"Mary Alice Cullen, don't you dare ignore your best friend!" All eyes in the waiting room turned to us, and Alice turned bright red.

"Bells, please keep your voice down," she seethed through her teeth.

"Then tell me what happened," I told her. "Did Jasper not take it well? Did you two have a fight?"

"It's not that he didn't take it well, he reacted the way you'd expect a 19-year-old male to react," she said.

"Then why are you upset?"

She huffed slightly and crossed her arms over her chest. "It's just…he said I should honestly consider the…other option."

I gasped and everyone turned towards us again. Once their attentions were otherwise occupied, I took Alice by the elbow and dragged her out into the hallway.

"Abortion? Jasper said if you're pregnant, he wants you to get an abortion?"

"Not that he wants me to," she retorted, "Just that I should seriously think about it."

"What did you say?" I asked. "You told me abortion is not an option."

"It's not, but I think Jasper and I should talk about it again once we've both managed to calm down and think rationally."

Still skeptical, I led the way back into the waiting room just in time for the receptionist to call Alice's name. "Do you want me to go in with you?" I asked.

"Yeah," her whisper was barely audible. Her nerves must be getting the better of her again.

Alice went to the bathroom to give a urine sample and change into a hospital gown while I waited in the examination room with the stack of parenting magazines silently taunting me. My curiosity finally became too much, and I grabbed one of the glossy periodicals and perused the pages. There were articles about the benefits of breastfeeding and photo after photo of happy, smiling babies. It elicited a strange feeling from deep within me – was that wanting? No, I told myself, it was mere fascination. What must it feel like to be happy and secure enough in your life and your marriage that you're ready for a baby? I wonder when I'll be to that point.

I had just set the magazine back with the rest of the stack when Alice walked in, trying in vain to keep the gown closed behind her with one hand while her street clothes were held in her other. She caught me with my hand figuratively in the cookie jar. "What were you reading?"

"Just a parenting magazine," I said, trying not to sound sheepish. Why should I? I was going to be an aunt soon, so I should learn a thing or two about child care, right? Then why do I feel so strange? I can't explain this feeling – guilt mixed with…something else…it almost felt like envy. No, it couldn't be. Who do I have to be envious of? I looked up as Alice sat back on the examination table. She looked downright terrified. Nope, I'm definitely not envious of her…am I?

The doctor entered then, interrupting my inner debate.

"Hello Alice, I'm Dr. Brown," she said. "So, your pregnancy test should be finished in just a few minutes. The nurse will let us know when the results are in." As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. "Oh, that must be Faith now."

Dr. Brown opened the door and took the clipboard handed to her by the nurse – a young woman with a sweet, round face and short, brown hair. After looking over the results, the doctor looked up with a tight smile. "Well, Miss Cullen, it seems you are, indeed, pregnant." Alice let out a long, hissing breath that seemed to have an air of resignation. She knew it was true; she just needed to hear it from a professional.

"Well," Dr. Brown began, "Let's get you checked out, shall we?"

APOV

That horrible, horrible word: Pregnant! I'm really and truly pregnant! At only 19 years old! What have I become, some white trash, welfare case who lets her skeevy boyfriend knock her up? No Alice, that's not fair. It's not only Jasper's fault. The fault lies with both of us. I just wanted something, some scapegoat I could blame for all of this.

Dr. Brown took down all of my info – family medical history, date of last period and so on. Then she gave me a pelvic exam, while Bella occupied herself by reading another parenting magazine. I was getting this weird vibe from Bella, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. She seemed upset – maybe even jealous. Was she envious that I got pregnant before she did? She, the happily married woman, would become a mother after me, the single sister-in-law. No, Bella's not that petty.

After the highly invasive and oh-so uncomfortable examination, the doctor left the room so I could change clothes and we could discuss the pregnancy in greater detail. And yet, I'm not sure I want to know any further details—aside from when am I gonna get this thing out of me? In the back of my mind, I already had decided I should just put the baby up for adoption. Hell, even its father was completely disinterested in raising it, so why not give it to some childless couple who would love it unconditionally?

Kind of like Juno, only I hope I can find a less dysfunctional couple than the Lorings.

Dr. Brown sat us down in her office and told me I was about two months along, and the baby would be due next April. I thought about this time frame she set before me and figured I must have gotten impregnated around the end of July. And then it hit me—Jasper and I had his house all to ourselves when his parents went on vacation to Palm Springs. He declined their offer to join them, saying he wanted to get some reading done before the school year began.

Well, he got something done, but it wasn't reading. And now I was going to have swollen ankles and a big, fat stomach as a result. And what did he have to show for it? Nothing. Damn, sometimes I wish I was a guy.

I drove Bella back to her apartment. In the parking lot, we just sat there, neither one knowing what to say.

"Do you want to come in for a while?" She asked. "We could just sit and watch TV."

"I have homework," I told her. "I should just go back to the dorms."

"OK, call me if you need anything," she said as she gave me a quick hug and jumped out of the car. Sure, I'll call her. But, really, how can she help me? I walked glumly through the halls of my dorm building until I reached my room. My roommate, Tanya, was sitting on her bed going over calculus with a friend of hers. She gave me a quick nod in hello before I flopped myself down on my bed with a heavy sigh. Reluctantly, I pulled my anthropology book out of my bag and started reading the chapters for tomorrow. Even with my mind occupied, I managed to finish the reading in record time. And, just as I set the book aside, my phone rang. I didn't even have to look, it was Jasper's ringtone.

"Hello," I said with little enthusiasm.

"Hey, what did the doctor say?" He didn't seem too thrilled to be having this conversation, either.

I looked up to my roommate and her friend still studying next to me and decided to not have this conversation over the phone. After all, it was five o'clock already, why not discuss this over dinner? "Meet me in the dining hall in five minutes."

"No," he said quickly, "I don't want to talk about it in front of a dining hall full of students. Why don't we go to a restaurant somewhere?"

"Alright," I replied as I stepped out of the room with my purse in hand. "Meet me down stairs and we'll go to the Old Spaghetti Factory."

"OK," he said before hanging up. He looked tired and disheveled as he met me in the dorm lobby. Clad in ratty old jeans and a tattered sweatshirt, he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"Are you OK?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I'm fine. Let's go."

I handed him his keys and he drove us over to the restaurant. Luckily, it wasn't very busy for an early Monday dinner. We sat in a secluded booth and he gave me an expectant yet hesitant look.

"The doctor said I'm due in April," I said in a voice only we could hear. "I calculated back to when I must have become pregnant—the end of July, when your parents were in Palm Springs."

He nodded in agreement, staring intently at his hands. "That sounds about right."

"So," I began tentatively, "I guess the next step is to see how we go about finding adoptive parents."

His eyes suddenly met mine, confused. "What? When did you decide that?"

"It's what I've been thinking about since I thought I might be pregnant. Come on, Jas, it makes the most sense out of any option. You and I aren't ready to take care of a baby."

"Says who?" He asked defensively. "I'd be a damn good father!"

"Sure you will be, when we're ready to start a family," I said gently. "We've got college to worry about right now. We should be focused on getting our future careers in order, not whether or not we can afford baby food."

"But, it's our baby," he replied sadly. "Some adoptive parents aren't going to love it as much as we can."

I was taken aback by his sudden change of heart. "Where did this come from? Just the other day you said I should keep abortion open as an option, now you're telling me we should keep the baby?"

"I was taken by surprise," he said. "You didn't give me much time to think about this, you know. But, now that I've been able to process things, I think we should look at all the possibilities before we just decide to give our baby away."

"Alright," I said, trying to hide my smile. He had me worried for a minute there. I thought his coldness towards my pregnancy meant he probably had one foot out the door already, just waiting for a good chance to break things off. Not that I could really blame him, a lot of high school sweethearts break up in college. And, we have the added incentive of a baby on the way. But, Jasper really and truly loves me; why else would he want to make this work?

"So," Jasper began after we placed our dinner order. "I'll definitely need to get a job sooner than I expected. But, that shouldn't be a problem now that I don't have sports tying me down."

I gave him a weak smile until a thought suddenly crossed my mind. "How am I going to tell my parents?" That silenced Jasper for a moment. We both stared at each other for what seemed like half-an-hour before Jasper sighed and rubbed his hands over his face.

"We just have to do it now and get it over with," he said.
"Not here," I said in a harsh whisper. "We'll call them after dinner, OK?"

"Sure, sure," he replied.

When our food got to the table, the server placed my chicken penne in front of me and my stomach turned a bit. This was a nice little side affect of pregnancy I've never been informed of—sudden changes in appetite. I didn't want my dinner anymore. Jasper's lasagna, however, looked unbelievably good. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and whimpered slightly.

"What's wrong?" He asked his fork poised to dig into his meal.

"Can we trade?" I replied in a baby voice.

"What? Why?"

"The baby decided it wants lasagna," I explained.

He sighed heavily and switched our plates around. "I guess this is something I'm going to have to get used to, huh?"

I nodded with a mouthful of tasty lasagna. "And it only gets worse from here—or better, if you're me."

Maybe this whole pregnancy thing doesn't have to turn into a life-ruining situation. Maybe it can be awesome. At lease, it could be after I get through with the ritual of telling the parents. Gee, hi Mom and Dad! You're precious baby girl, the one you've always been so proud of, she got herself knocked up. This won't be pretty.

Jasper and I retreated to his dorm room, because his roommate never seems to be around and we definitely need privacy for what we're about to do. I went first for the parent briefing. Dialing my home phone number I held my breath, hoping they might not be home tonight. No such luck.

"Hello?" It was my mom. Good, Dad would be the more difficult parent to deal with.

"Hey Mommy," I said. "How's it going?"

"Alice! We're wonderful, how's my girl?"

"Good, good," I replied, trying to keep my nerves in check. "Um, there's something I need to tell you."

She was silent for a moment. "What's wrong?"

"I...um, am...preg...nant.."

Again, another ominous silence. And then she sighed in disappointment—I think I preferred the silence. "When did you find out?"

"I took a test on Saturday, and I went to the OB-GYN today," I said. "The doctor said I'm due in April."

"Alright," she said simply. She was being cold, even a bit dismissive. "Do you want to tell your father, or do you want me to?"

I could hear my dad in the background, asking to talk to me himself. Mom covered the phone for a moment, but I could still hear them arguing about something. Suddenly, my dad yelled, "WHAT?!! Give me that phone!"

Great, I had really hoped I wouldn't get such a passionate reaction from him.

"Mary Alice Brandon, is it true? Are you really pregnant?"

"Yes," I said, unable to hold back my tears anymore.

"That's it, you're coming home right now!" My mom was trying to calm him down, explaining they had already paid a whole semester's tuition for me. "Fine," dad replied, "But, as soon as this semester's over, you're coming home, young lady. Jesus Christ, I never thought your could do something so incredibly stupid, Alice!"

My mom managed to wrestle the phone back from him, saying he was being too harsh.

"We'll call you back later, Alice. You're father and I need to discuss this."

"There's nothing to discuss," my dad yelled in the background. "That girl is bringing her ass back to Forks as soon as possible!"

Mom sighed. "I'll call you tomorrow, sweetie."

I hung up and let my phone drop from my hand to the bed I was sitting on. Unable to hold myself together anymore, I began bawling uncontrollably. Jasper pulled me into his arms and rocked me gently, whispering soothing words to me. "It's going to be OK, babe. We'll get through this together."

I shook my head. "It's not going to be OK, Jas. Dad wants to pull me out of school. If he gets his way there's nothing I can do to stop him, he's paying my tuition."

"We'll take out a loan," Jasper said. "There has to be some kind of loan or grant we can get for you. You're smart, I bet you can get some kind of scholarship if you tried—like Bella did."

"All their scholarships have already been given out," I said. "And my parents make too much money for me to qualify for student loans. I think we're going to have to wait and see if Dad changes his mind."

"No, we'll think of something, don't you worry," Jasper said as he set me down on the bed and stood up to retrieve his phone. "Now, it's my turn to get this over and done with."

EPOV

I couldn't concentrate at practice. I just kept thinking about what Alice and Jasper must be going through right now. To have a baby when you're 19 and unmarried, that's got to be rough. I mean, I'm married and I can't even imagine Bella and I having a baby right now. Hell, I don't know if we could even handle a pet.

Bella had finished her homework and was already starting dinner by the time I got home. She was making fried chicken strips with mashed potatoes and green beans. I had to smile to myself as I snuck up on her and wrapped my arms around her from behind. "Always have to get something green in our dinner, don't you?"

"Yep, keeps us at least somewhat healthy," she replied. She was trying to sound cheerful, but I could tell there was something bothering her.

"What's up, Bells? Did something go wrong with Alice at the doctor's?"

"No," she said. "Well, unless you count the whole her being pregnant thing as something wrong."

"When is she due?" I continued as she put the strips onto some paper towels to drain.

"April." There was still something amiss. Maybe it's just the whole situation that's got Bella upset. Or, maybe Alice hasn't been confiding in her as much lately. Certainly Alice can be a bit distant when she's upset.

"Bella, are you OK?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She replied.

"You seem upset," I said. "Is it Alice? Did she say or do something?"

"It's not what she said or did," Bella said as she sat in one of our kitchen chairs. "It's just...nothing, I'm being silly."

"Please tell me," I begged, sitting next to her and wrapping her in my arms once more.

She fidgeted with her wedding ring before meeting my eyes. "Do you feel strange at all that your sister's having a baby before we are?"

I really wasn't expecting that response. "No...why, do you feel strange?"

"A little," she admitted. "I mean, I'm a married woman who's unmarried sister-in-law is going to start a family before me."

I sighed. "Bella, she didn't mean for this to happen. You make it sound like she's trying to steal your thunder or something."

"I know she's not doing this on purpose. See, I told you I'm being silly," she said as she looked back down at her hands.

"What brought this on?" I asked, tilting her chin up towards me. "You're acting as if you wish you were the one having a baby."

She jerked her chin out of my hand and looked back at the floor quickly. She did, she wanted to have a baby. We'd never really talked about it, but I thought we'd kind of decided to wait until we were at least finished with our undergraduate degrees before trying to have kids.

"Look," she said. "It's probably just some weird phase I'm going through. Once the whole baby drama has calmed down, I'll realize I'm not ready yet."

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Good, for a minute there, I thought you'd gone all biological clock on me."

She smacked my arm lightly. "I'm just moody. That's a good sign for me, though; it probably means I'm about to start my period, so no surprise babies for us."

I chuckled as Bella stood up to finish the mashed potatoes. I found a loaf of bread in the cupboard and sliced it into four pieces, thinking chicken sandwiches sounded delicious with mashed potatoes and green beans. Bella declared this an excellent idea and grabbed some ranch dressing and pickle slices from the fridge. We enjoyed our dinner in piece, the threat of further baby talk forgotten—for now.

Remember kids, read and review!