A/N: Wow. This is coming along great! I want to thank my first ever reviewers for this story: Sunshine Ana Cloudyday, CocoaCullen, renalrocks, Showtunesjesus, and Nadeshiko Amamya. Thanks for the encouragement! I baked this special treat just for you!

Disclaimer: Rosalie's story is not my own. You should recognize it to be from Eclipse

The Heartbeat

Chapter Two: Half Breed

Bella's mind was abuzz. How could this have happened? Vampires weren't supposed to be able to procreate… and she'd accepted that. She had long ago accepted that she couldn't have children, if it meant she could be with Edward for forever. She looked to her left and up at him. He was very still, speeding down the open road with the biggest smile plastered on his face. His perfect teeth gleamed, and she thought how much she loved his smile. Why wasn't she as happy he was? He caught her staring and looked over. His expression changed automatically from elated to worried.

"Bella what's wrong?" She started to well, tears stinging her eyes, and when she blinked against the burning, salt water ran down her cheeks. And like a river before an open dam, she let the truth rush from her.

"I was resolved to the fact that once you changed me, I couldn't have children. That you couldn't even make them." She sounded like such a baby to her own ears, whiney and ungrateful. "I'm not ready Edward! I can't do this!"

Edward had pulled over by now and was hugging Bella to his chest. The cold seeping even through his sweater made Bella shiver. And when his hard frame had enveloped her, her tears had really come forth. What was she going to do? Edward said he'd stick by her side no matter what. But she still wasn't ready. Not psychologically, not emotionally, and maybe not physically. This was a baby! A living, breathing, human being…

"Oh God!" she moaned into his chest, and her tears suddenly stopped altogether.

"I'm here for you Bella," Edward murmured into her hair. "I want to do this with you. I'll be what ever you need me to be."

"It's not that, Edward." She lifted her head to look into his eyes. She'd almost forgotten how dazzling his eyes were and she lost her train of thought for a second.

"Then what is it?" he asked, placing his ice cold hands on either side of her face. He seemed unperturbed by her lack of expression and thought.

"I was just thinking… And I said in my mind that I'm going to have to take care of a human baby, when in reality it's a… we don't even know what this is! Is it even a baby?"

That stopped Edward for a moment. Barely a moment. "Which is why we have Carlisle," he said. As if that explained anything. Bella nearly rolled her eyes at him, but the situation was too serious.

"Edward… This is too much to han-"

He silenced her immediately with his lips, rock hard yet they molded to the shape of her mouth. He traced his tongue along a corner of her lips, her upper lip, and when he groaned, blew his glorious, cool breath in her face. "You have no idea." His voice was low. To anyone else it would sound too perfect, too seductive to be any thing short of dangerous. Her heart fluttered, beating like the wings of a hummingbird. He chuckled. "You smell amazing, right now. Delicious, yes, but much more. Much, much more. And you have no idea what this heartbeat sounds like. It's… it's just as clear as yours. Much faster. But I'll tell you one thing: What ever is inside of you - and I'm inside of you - it's alive. And it's no less alive than you are."

Bella looked at his lips, a mere inch from her face, and tried to focus. She heard his voice, his angel's voice, and she heard the words, but those seemed more distant than the actual voice. Yet they had an impact and what he said sunk in and hit home.

Alive. "Alive."

"I'm sure he breathes," said Edward, now purposefully using the influential power of his golden eyes.

"He?" That gave Bella a thought… a vision. What if this… half-vampire baby was her son? He'd look just like his father. This might not be so bad, she said to herself.

"I love you," Edward declared.

"Will he shine?" Bella asked, half dazed.

Edward didn't answer her, and instead kissed her once more. In Bella's mind, this kiss reminded her of two weeks ago, when this whole pregnancy literally started. It was unguarded and dangerous. Satisfying and never enough. She grabbed his face and pushed the limits again. She couldn't breathe when she pressed her face closer to his, and when Edward sensed that, he pulled away.

But when he looked at her, his expression was longing. He pushed some strays tresses from her face. "He'll shine," he promised her.

That made Bella's heart soar.

--

Edward assured Bella that none of the other Cullens new anything yet. As far as they knew, the two were returning from school, a few minutes behind Alice. But they would know soon enough, Bella thought as Edward turned into the long drive. If Edward and Alice could both hear the heartbeat, then what should stop the others from knowing something was up as soon as they could hear her own heartbeat?

And sure enough, everyone knew something was up. After Alice greeted her enthusiastically, Bella found Edward's hand and squeezed it as tight as she could, knowing the pressure wouldn't even be slight to him. But her heart raced when she saw everyone looking at her (Alice beaming like it was her wedding day). They should all have figured it out by now.

Suddenly, Edward tensed and looked to the floor. Immediately after that, Rosalie let out a fierce snarl. It wasn't even hostile, at least not entirely, from what Bella ascertained. It was… it sounded angry and… sad. Then Rosalie ran out of the house. A blur of beauty and poise.

"Rose!" Emmett yelled, and then chased after her.

And suddenly all of the tension was gone, the incident pushed from her mind for some reason. Edward straightened and cleared his throat.

"Carlisle."

"Yes." Carlisle choked it out. Bella's head shot up and in his direction. His face was full of wonder and elation. He slowly began to approach Bella, who was suddenly embarrassed and looked anywhere other than at the doctor. "How did this happen?" he thought aloud. Edward cleared his throat and Bella stepped closer to him to cool her blush. "Well, what I meant was - we never thought -" Carlisle stumbled over his words. If he could blush, Bella was sure he would. And the realization must have hit him. "Oh my," he exclaimed. "We should… This will be no normal pregnancy." Bella finally plucked the courage to look Carlisle in the face. His expression was professional now, and her chagrin subsided. She nodded to him in agreement. "I'm afraid, well excited is more the word, that I'm going to have to be your doctor for this, Bella. I'm sure you understand?" She nodded again, her mouth too dry to really speak. "Alice you foresaw this?" he asked, turning from Bella.

"No. And I don't know why. But she… smelled different today. Like her scent triggered my thirst in a much stronger way. Both Edward and I can vouch to that. It could be the new hormones…?" Alice suggested, and Carlisle contemplated that for a moment.

"Not entirely. I've been around plenty pregnant women to know that they don't smell more appealing to any dramatic degree. I believe it has more to do with Bella's special condition. It's entirely new and… foreign to me. Well, to all of us." Carlisle turned to Bella and Edward again. "Bella I'm going to need to see you as soon as possible. We can't, today, because I don't have any equipment, nor any records to compare your test results to normal pregnancies."

"Test?" asked Bella, the first word she'd said in twenty minutes.

"Carlisle wants to run periodic tests on you and… the baby. To see what's different. What's similar."

"Maybe from the tests we can predict what your baby will be like once he or she is born." Bella nodded. Carlisle's quick planning and logical thinking helped to subside some of her fears of what kind of creature she was carrying. But she was still afraid because no one knew.

Jasper must've felt her fear, because suddenly, oddly, she was okay with the unknown. But she welcomed the influence of his powers. The last thing she needed was stress.

"I think you should head home now, Bella," said Carlisle. "Get a lot of rest. And I will see you tomorrow. Hopefully in the morning. I can get what ever I need from the hospital tonight."

"Oh, no Carlisle, you really don't have to go out of your way-" Edward silenced Bella with a hand on the small of her back.

"Trust me, Bella. I really want to do this," said Carlisle. If Bella didn't know any better, she would've sworn she saw a bit of a mad glint in Carlisle's eyes and the way he looked at her. When he patted her shoulder, his hand was shaking from excitement. So much excitement that not even Jasper could calm him completely.

Wow, Bella thought. This is big.

"So I trust I'll see you tomorrow morning?" asked Carlisle.

Bella nodded, and Edward led her to the front door. "Bye, Bella!" called Alice. She ran up to her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, Alice. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bright and early!"

Bella smiled and waved as Edward led her out the door and to the Volvo. Once she was safely strapped in, he pulled out. He kept a blank face until they were out of range for the others to listen. Bella knew that when he relaxed with a sigh, stretching his arm to rest over her shoulders. He began to let up on the gas and took the familiar path to Charlie's house.

"So," said Bella expectantly. "What happened back there with Rosalie and Emmett?"

Edward didn't even tense up, although he did stop moving. But he seemed to know that Bella was going to ask about that. And so he told her from the beginning.

"Before Rosalie became one of us, she was engaged. She couldn't wait to be married because then she could have her own baby and start her own happy family. You see, she'd seen one of her friends happily married and with a baby boy. She was jealous of her even though her friend didn't have much money. Back then, Rosalie thought money meant a lot. But she didn't get any of what she wanted. Her fiancee and a few of his friends were drunk one night…" He didn't finish the sentence, but Bella got the point. She suddenly felt sad for Rosalie.

"They left her for dead and Carlisle and I found her like that. He changed her… and she was new. But I heard her thoughts. When she found out what she was, when she found out that she couldn't have any children of her own… Such agony unlike anything I've ever known. She took on an opposite way of looking at her new life than Esme did (Esme was already with us), because Esme chose to look at her new life as a second chance at children… she fell in love with Carlisle and chose to adopt me as her son. But Rosalie looked at it as a curse. She didn't love me the way Carlisle had wanted her to love me (and I took no interest in her), and she was very lonely. But when she found Emmett close to death… well, she couldn't leave him there and begged Carlisle to change him. And they fell in love with one another. She was happier, much happier… but something was always missing. The baby she'd always wanted. I think because she's found Emmett, she wants to have a baby even more." He tensed slightly as he continued, regretting what he was going to say. "But now her sadness has intensified to a very deep envy of you, and of our baby."

Bella was surprised to find herself crying. When Edward turned to look at her, she turned her face away. She'd never felt so much pain of someone else before, but that wasn't entirely why she was crying. Suddenly, she didn't feel so hesitant about the life she was carrying, because hearing about Rosalie's deep longing brought forth her own suppressed longing. She wanted to have this child, whether or not it would shine, breathe, or eat regular food. She not only felt what Rosalie felt, but she envisioned her life without what she had now… and she didn't want to live that life. With all her might, she didn't want that. She didn't cry for long, but the emotions behind the tears were powerful to make just a few minutes enough. "Wow," she finally said, rubbing her eyes. "I never knew." She looked up at Edward and saw a strange, untitled emotion in his gaze. Then she realized that they weren't moving anymore.

Bella looked around and saw they were in front of her father's house… which brought a new worry to her mind. "What are we going to tell Charlie?" she asked under her breath. She felt Edwards cold lips brush the back of her neck.

"We should wait," he answered. "Just a few more days. Or weeks. The sooner the better. It's up to you really. But I think we should wait." Bella looked at him and kissed him slowly on the lips, reveling in the fact that she had the freedom to do that, now. Ever since that night…

"I agree," she said. "I'm not ready to tell him just yet." Edward smiled and kissed her again, making their moment alone linger. Bella sighed and pulled away. "Remember what happened the last time you broke your rules?" she joked.

"Damage is done," he said, looking at her lips. "Besides. Ever since you became the soon-to-be mother of my half-vampire baby… I find you to be even more sexy than I could've imagined."

Bella smiled at that but kept her stance. "Charlie will notice something deeper going on between us and I don't want him finding out with an interrogation on our sex life… or walking in on something… You tempt me too much Edward. We've got to keep things under wraps until we tell him."

"You're right," he said and bit on his bottom lip to keep from kissing her. "So just stick to all the normal body language?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright, then. Let's go." He got out the car, and opened the door for Bella, all of this taking less time than any human would achieve without becoming out of breath. Knowing that this task of making everything appear normal would be an easy one for Edward, Bella mustered her best poker face and prepared herself for a whole lot of delayed-gratification, because if she knew herself at all, she knew that she wouldn't be ready to Charlie anything for very long time.