Flabbergasted Phenomenon

Summary: "This is the most unique situation I have ever heard of with a human and a vampire," was what Carlisle said, but all I could think was, "I'm going to have a baby."

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just own the scenarios where I thrust my favorite vampire and his family and the love of his life! Yay for me!

Chapter Seven: The Truth Unfolds

"Where are you going to stay?"

"Charlie's," I said automatically, trying to catch my balance as I wobbled on my feet. "Or Jacob's," I added with malice, knowing exactly how low of a blow I just tossed at him. I could imagine the hurt on his face, but I refused to look up, I just continued to grab my clothes. My belongings were already packed, ready for the move to Alaska, or, the now cancelled move to Alaska.

I almost screamed when Edward tugged on my wrist, pulling me towards him.

"Don't say that Bella." His voice was deadly, and his eyes were even more dangerous, and I could feel myself being dazzled underneath his death stare. He let go of my wrist and turned away from me. I could hear him gulping down air, and I couldn't stop myself when I mumbled,

"At least Jacob loves me."

In seconds flat, I was against the wall, and Edward had his face mere inches from mine. His hands held mine against the wall as well, and I tried to get out of his grasp. "Don't ever think that Bella," he growled, and my eyes opened wide in surprise. I swallowed hard and tried to say something, but before I could articulate a sentence, Edward was flying through the air. Esme was standing protectively in front of me. In another second Alice ran into the room, looking wild as she noticed me against the wall and Edward lying on the floor, unmoving.

Alice said something, but I didn't catch it. I just watched as she stalked toward Edward. He was getting up, but in a blink of an eye, he was on the ground again. I caught a glimpse of Alice moving her foot; I assumed she kicked him.

I examined my wrists quickly, there was no bruising or swelling, and then I brought my attention back to Edward and Alice. Within another two seconds, Alice hit Edward again, and Carlisle ran into the room. This is going so fast! "What is going on in here?"

"Carlisle, check Bella's wrists. There was a confrontation between Edward and her."

Esme delicately turned around and sent me a small smile, I think to reassure me, and then she led me to the bed. Standing, with his head cocked to the side was Carlisle, and he was extremely concerned. I sat down on the bed weakly, and Carlisle picked up my left wrist first. I winced and returned my attention to Edward and Alice.

"You are an idiot Edward!" I gasped when in a blur, Alice slapped his face. My eyes almost missed the movement, but I saw Edward's head actually turn with the force of it. "You are an idiot, and you don't even know it! How can you even suggest Bella slept with another human being! How could you?" Another slap to the face. Edward grabbed his jaw and narrowed his eyes at Alice. I saw him growl something but Alice just shook her head. How am I hearing some of this?

"You are telling me that Isabella Cullen, who has spent every day, every afternoon, and every evening with you, minus the night she ate dinner with her father, that she somehow managed to slip beneath our noses, sleep with some scoundrel, and come home without smelling different, and without me seeing it. You honestly believe that happened? You actually think I would hide something like that from you?"

It took a moment for me to comprehend the horrified expression on Edward's face, and then Alice was speaking again, her voice a murmur in my ears. With each passing second, Edward's face would crumple even more, and I think he finally believed my story.

"I—" Edward tried to speak, but he seemed to be at a loss for words. He turned from Alice to me, and I wanted to reach out and hold him, immediately forgiving him for what was said, and praying that he would forgive me too.

"Go hunt."

It was Esme who demanded it, and I looked at her for the first time since she led me to the bed. She picked up my clothes that I tossed out of the closet, and my wedding dress was back safely, and she had her hands on her hips, pointing an accusing finger at Edward. "Do not come back until you've cooled off young man," she said sternly, and I had never heard her so serious before. I couldn't even imagine what she was saying in her head.

With his head ducked, he ran out of the room, not sparing me a glance.

"What is going on?" Carlisle asked, and I realized that he was done manipulating my wrists. They throbbed, but I knew the pain would leave soon enough.

"Marriage problems that'll get more confusing this evening," Alice said with a sigh. She pointed to the door. "Can I have a minute with Bella?"

Esme and Carlisle vacated the room instantly, and Alice sat down on the bed, taking my hands in hers and wrapping her fingers around my wrists. It automatically soothed the pain. "Bella."

I tore my eyes away from my hands and felt tears prick in my eyes as I saw the look of remorse that covered her childlike features. I wanted to reach out and hug her, but Alice shook her head.

"This is all my fault Bella, and I—I'm sorry."

"Wh—What?" I choked, sniffling.

"I should have told you," she paused for a few seconds, and I sucked in a breath. She had a vision about Edward and me fighting? I was confused, and I think she saw my confusion on my face, because she continued slowly. "Do you remember when I asked you to set the wedding extremely early?"

I nodded my head dumbly. "You said you saw the weather, and it was perfect."

Alice laughed a little nervously, and it made me shiver. I did not like it when she acted like this. "Well, rain does suit you Bella, but that's not my point. Do you remember when I asked you to wait until it was unnecessarily close to your birthday before your change?"

"Edward complained about that for so long. He accused me of being too soft with you." My mouth felt entirely too dry. I swallowed hard but it didn't seem to change my circumstances. Alice fidgeted; I don't think she saw the outcome of this conversation in her mind. My stomach twisted and I felt like I was going to get sick with the anticipation of Alice's confession.

Finally, Alice reached out, and I jumped at the feel of her cold hand pressing against my stomach. "This isn't a lie Bella."

My mouth opened and closed for a minute, I'm pretty sure I resembled a fish out of water. I tried to say something; anything really to describe how I was feeling, but nothing was coming out. Eventually, when I gained the gift of coherent speech, I managed to spit out, "How?"

Alive shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I've known about this for a few months, since the end of June, really. I had a vision of you taking a test, but it was before your wedding, and I knew you and Edward were dead set on waiting until the wedding to try, so I thought if I pushed the wedding along it might happen, and then I had a vision verifying that I was right. I am so sorry Bella; it was not right for me to keep this vision from you. It is my responsibility to tell you as soon as I have visions pertaining to your life, but I thought Edward would have been overjoyed about this. I am so sorry." She sounded so sincere that I had to believe her.

I sank into the bed, absolutely exhausted. I winced as I pulled my wrist out of Alice's grip. There was too much going on right now, and I was pretty sure I was not going to be able to sort out everything this exact moment. All I wanted to do was get ice for my wrist and sleep.

I did not want to think of my, well, for a lack of a better term, inconceivable pregnancy, or the fact that Alice lied to me for over two months, or even the fact that Edward and I might not survive this explosive argument. "Please Alice," I begged, and I felt her move towards my head. "Just let me be, for a little bit."

"No problem." She moved off of the bed before I realized she responded. I thought she left when I rolled to my side, but then she said, "I am sorry Bella."

I closed my eyes and sighed, trying to suppress my emotions. It would be easier to just go to sleep right now. My mind wouldn't drift away like I wanted it to, so to soothe myself, I began to hum my lullaby. Surely not as good as Edward, but it did its job and I soon began to fall into the realm of sleep.

I awoke, not because of the dream, which I hardly remembered now, but because of the pain erupting from my stomach. I clutched it slightly, trying to push my sleep away so I could concentrate. My eyes were extremely unfocused and I felt like I slept less than an hour.

When I finally managed to push away my exhaustion, I realized that I was extremely weak. I tried getting out of bed, but that was no good, so I just sat there. No one came to check on me during the few seconds that I was awake and sitting up. I slouched against the bed and tried to figure out what to do next.

"Help!" I squeaked finally, shocked that my voice was quieter than a whisper. It was as if my voice was gone because I had been screaming.

Within seconds the door opened and in walked my angel with a steaming bowl of something. He warily walked towards me, as if he half expected me to scream at him to go away. I'm pretty sure he knew that I was in no state to scream at anyone at the moment. Silence ensued, and I just stared at him, trying to decipher his features. His topaz eyes held concern and regret in them and his lips were set in a thin frown.

At least he hunted, I thought, trying to suppress the tears that were pooling in my eyes.

He took another hesitant step towards me and I just watched. Who is going to apologize first? Edward finally inched his way towards me and sat down on the very edge of the bed, as if he was sitting on air. I moved my feet for him to have more space, but he didn't move an inch. "Drink this," he whispered, and held the bowl out to me. I took it with shaking hands. Edward had to keep hold of the bowl as I picked up the spoon that was resting in the bowl and took a small sip of what seemed to be broth.

I hummed with happiness as I slowly began to sip away the still steaming liquid. My hands grew steady as I ate, and within minutes I was able to hold the bowl in my own hands.

It took some time for the soup to be eaten. I ate slowly, savoring every drop because I had been depriving myself of food for a few days now. When the bowl was empty, Edward took it from me and moved across the room, sitting down on the couch. I just watched him, again.

Before either of us could get a word in, a voice floated firmly from downstairs, "Edward, you better not be thinking about leaving her!" I shrank away from that voice. Was that really what Edward was thinking? I looked at him fearfully, my chest ripping in two. I couldn't breathe as everything spiraled around me.

Edward was leaving.

Holy crow.

I couldn't deny it, I expected Edward to leave, eventually, but not now, not so soon. I managed to wrap my arms around my knees and curl onto my side. I was going to get sick.

In moments I was wrapped up in Edward's embrace, my body tucked tightly against his. I gripped his shirt tightly in my hands and before I could stop myself, I began to beg. "Don't go Edward, please! I can't bear being away from you for even a few minutes, I won't survive!"

"And I won't survive either, Bella; I'm not going anywhere."

I began to cry then. I couldn't breathe with the force of my sobs, and I suddenly had so much to say and yet no words to say it. I tucked my head beneath Edward's chin and waited for my small episode to be over with.

My small frame shook ferociously with my cries, and Edward held me closer to his stone, cold, body. I hate it when my emotions take me this fiercely.

"I can't stand hurting you Bella," Edward breathed, his cool breath hitting my ear lightly. I shivered and I felt his arms constrict tighter around me. "I don't deserve you after all the hurtful things I said. I truly don't. And yet, you still cling to me, as if I…as if I never said those things." I just listened, trying to find a way to get words and sentences to form in my mind. "I don't deserve you." He touched my wrist briefly, and whispered, "I hurt you."

"No," I said weakly, shaking my head. I hiccupped and saw the briefest of smiles grace Edward's face before it was replaced with the somber expression he wore earlier. I hiccupped again and sighed. A frown now covered my face as I tried to think of what I was going to say. "I don't want to leave you, ever." I said simply. I rested my head against his chest, waiting for my body to calm down from its latest tantrum.

We sat in silence for what seemed like forever, Edward stroking my back, waiting for my hiccups to go away. I clung to him fiercely, not at all ready to let him go. My knuckles were white from the grip on his shirt.

"Carlisle would like to speak with us."

Edward's voice broke through the long silence, and I just nodded my head dumbly. I was still wearing my clothes from…was it yesterday? I honestly had no idea what day it was, what time it was, nothing. Edward shifted me in his arms and carefully stood up, carrying me out of his bedroom.

"I must look a mess," I croaked, trying to hide my face in his shirt.

"You don't look too bad."

I stared at the walls as Edward walked to Carlisle's study. It took me a few seconds to realize that Edward was walking. "Are you okay?" I whispered, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Why?" Edward asked in alarm.

"You're walking." It was as if this was a forbidden term for vampires, even though there have been thousands of times where Edward walked at my pace.

"Well, you are expecting Bella; I don't want the baby to suffer from whiplash."

I stared at him with wide eyes until I whispered, "I should have gotten pregnant earlier."

"Shush Bella." Edward smiled at me, and I managed to smirk at him.

We paused at the doorway for a second, and I guess Carlisle told Edward to come in, because Edward walked in a second later. Carlisle was sitting at his desk, and at the sight of both of us, he stood and pulled the chair out for me to sit in. Edward delicately put me down, and I looked at both of them.

"How are you feeling, Bella?"

"A little tired," I said, wiping at my eyes. They actually burned from my most recent bout of crying.

Edward and Carlisle exchanged glances before looking at me again. Sometimes I hate it when they converse nonverbally; I never know what they're talking about. I think my frustration showed on my face because Edward smiled and moved to stand beside me.

Finally, Carlisle spoke. "This is the most unique situation I have ever heard of with a human and a vampire." And it seemed, just then, that everything crashed onto my shoulders. The pregnancy, the new changes, the fact that I was going to be a mother, but all I could think was I'm going to have a baby.

"Bella, breathe!"

I took a huge gulp of air and exhaled slowly. Edward was crouching down in front of me, his face inches from mine. "Breathe."

I don't think I blushed when I realized I forgot to breathe, I think I just got paler. Edward laughed lightly at an inside joke of some sort, and kissed my forehead. I leaned my forehead against his, and he stared into my eyes. "It's true isn't it?" Edward nodded his head wordlessly, and I whispered, "How?"

Carlisle cleared his throat, and I peeked at him. "I was just researching that." He moved quickly around me, and in a blink of an eye he was back to standing where he was before. He had a file and a book in his hands. "In my entire existence, I have not heard of this situation. Of course there have been numerous attempts at vampire's starting families, but they had disastrous results."

I gasped and covered my mouth, my eyes opening wide in horror. I felt my stomach heave. Disastrous results? Holy crow, what does that mean? I sucked in a breath, forcing myself to remember that I needed it. Before I started hyperventilating, Carlisle realized I was about to have a small panic attack and rushed into a better explanation. "No, no Bella, that's not what I meant. Obviously none of the disastrous results happened to you because you're sitting here in front of us. You're fine."

That eased me slightly.

"I know that what you and Edward accomplished those few months ago was a breakthrough in testing control." Carlisle paused and I saw him glance at Edward. Knowing that I would be frustrated for being left out of the conversation for a second time, Carlisle said, "I don't know how to say this without embarrassing you."

My face turned red without me saying anything. Darn my human instincts! "Umm…" I began, watching as Edward cocked his head to the side. "I guess you can just say it."

Edward moved behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. Carlisle sat down on the floor; I guess I took the only vacant seat in the room. I don't even know why I had to sit here; it was Carlisle's study after all. "You obviously know how normal babies are conceived?" I flushed even harder at his comment and nodded my head. Memories of hearing the talk from Renée, and Charlie's most recent attempt at the talk made me shiver. I hate having conversations like that.

"And you know all of Edward's—" My face felt like it was on fire. I nodded my head quickly. "They've been replaced by venom, or should have been, like any other normal vampire." Again I nodded my head, just reassuring that I understood what he said. "Physically, Edward is incapable of having children. He's infertile. You, on the other hand, have just reached the age where your body has finished developing and is ready to carry the weight of a child to term." I nodded my head. In Arizona I learned all about the human body, I knew this much.

"Because Edward has not been physically close to anyone but you, I can only assume that his body retained some of his sperm." That is an awkward word. I wish it wasn't so obvious to vampires when I was nervous or a little embarrassed because my heart was going ten thousand miles a minute. "When humans change, there is some blood remaining in their veins until their body uses it all up, hence the reason why vampires are so strong in their first year. I have never thought of this before, but it could be easily plausible that if blood can be retained for a year, sperm could be retained as well.

"But the only problem with that thought is the fact that venom should have taken over all his bodily fluids within a year. There should be nothing there." Carlisle paused for a moment, as if he were thinking over his thoughts. "It would be juvenile to think that it just hid in Edward's body." He paused again, and I waited for him to speak. Edward squeezed my shoulders soothingly, and I sighed.

"Of course, Edward, you have always wanted to settle down and have a family, even when you were human, correct?"

"Yes."

"I can only presume that that carried on into this life as well. If you wanted it badly enough, your body could have retained something to help you along. But how the cells actually survived in a dead body for almost a century is unexplainable."

It was as if Carlisle were talking in circles. Every time he thought of a way this could have physically happened, information would appear and he would be back at square one.

"But," Carlisle began, looking at Edward. "For ten years you fed off of human blood and you've had Bella's blood once. The human blood that you consumed could have rejuvenated the cells, and the animal blood could have supported them." Carlisle stopped for a second speaking to Edward nonverbally. I didn't mind this time, my mind was still spinning about Edward having sex cells at all.

"Her fate?" Edward murmured quietly. I was absolutely confused. I looked back up at Edward while he said, "Bella's predetermined fate could be to carry my child? And my fate could be actually having one, and it's just a coincidence that we were thrust together two years ago? Your scientific ideas made more sense."

"Could it be me?" I spoke quietly, my eyes falling to my wrists. They were purple now, but they didn't hurt as bad. "Edward, you always said that I made you feel things for the first time, what if I brought those cells back?" Edward gave me an incredulous look and I just ignored it. "I know they can't survive or even exist without blood and a beating heart, but a lot of things are unexplainable. This could be fate."

The room was quiet as I finished speaking and I could feel my cheeks burning. Did I just say something stupid? "Great! I'm more of a freak than I anticipated," I mumbled beneath my breath when no one answered. I was pregnant and no one knew how, I could only rely on the theory that it was fate because there were no scientific facts! Edward may have carried over something from his change, but how were we supposed to prove that? I dropped my head in my hands and sighed in frustration.

"You are not a freak Bella," Edward said softly. "I know this is frustrating,"

I tried to ignore that comment. "What we've concluded is that this is a coincidence because Edward wanted it badly when he was human, and when he was changed something came with him, and my body just happened to be able to accepted whatever he carried over, albeit venom or something else!" I was getting a little hysterical, and I stopped to take a breath. "This is more complicated than Angela saying it was just a miracle." I sighed again and frowned.

"It is a miracle," Edward said this so softly that I had to strain to hear him. I looked up at him, and he had a small smile covering his face. I brought my hand up to my shoulder, covering his cold hand with my own, and smiled myself. We stared into each other's eyes; I was so lost in the beautiful topaz that I forgot we were in company with someone else.

Carlisle cleared his throat, causing me to jump and blush, looking away from Edward and at his father. "Edward, why don't you take her back to your room? She's going to need to rest for a few hours."

"Right," Edward whispered.

In seconds I was in Edward's arms and he ran to his bedroom—whiplash, as if—just to gently put me in our bed and pull the blankets up to my chin. He didn't even give me time to protest, he just started to hum my lullaby as he perched on the edge of the bed. I was drifting off when my mind finally had time to comprehend one thought before I was gone.

Edward Cullen was pleased with me.

xoXoXoXox

BB/N: That ends the cliff hangers, at least for a few chapters. Thanks for the reviews, I enjoyed reading them, and I took some of them to heart! I just spent a good hour reediting this chapter, because I was extremely displeased with it. I still am, actually, but I guess I am going to have to deal.

I do not know what has been going on with recently! I've been trying to update, almost daily, since Sunday but it wouldn't let me! I've been wanting to update so bad!! But, I hope everyone likes this chapter...I'm still trying to.

Well, thanks for the reviews (again).

Love From a Dedicated Author,
Bob Bennit