A/N: So my not so little story hit over 1,000 hits with the last chapter… I'm excited to see so many people are enjoying this

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However I really wish more of you would review… please click that lil button and let me know what you think ;)

Oh and Twilight is sadly not mine

Chapter 6- Denali

As I crossed over the Alaska border, I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew that crossing the state line was getting me that much closer to get the help that both my baby and I would need. During the long drive, I had plenty of time to think through a lot of what was going on, while attempting to avoid the giant hole that had been ripped in my heart when Edward left. The baby was helping me focus on other things. I knew that the pain from losing Edward was not waning, but that I had something just as important as he had been and continued to be for me. Even though he was gone, I knew that no amount of time would heal the wounds or make me miss him less.

My thoughts as I drove lead me to some conclusions. I figured that Edward had no clue that a vampire and a human could have a child together. From conversations with the Cullens, I knew that female vampires could never give birth because they were frozen in time. Bearing children required a woman's body to change significantly and a vampire's body couldn't do that. However, after reading some the pregnancy book during stops to eat and stretch, I realized that men did not have to change to have children. Their bodies pretty much stayed the same all their lives. Edward's body did not need to undergo a change to get me pregnant. That was probably the reason why such a thing was possible. Without Carlisle's medical knowledge, it was the best hypothesis I could come up with.

This baby was a product of Edward and I. It would share traits from both of us. I began to wonder what it would look like. Whose eyes, nose, mouth and ears would the baby have? What color hair would he or she inherit? I began to draw pictures of my unborn child in my head. I pictured almost every combination I could come up with. The more I imagined my child, the more I saw a small boy around two or three who was a miniature version of his father right down to the bronze hair that was perfectly messy, sticking out artfully from his head. I gasped at this, and then the mental picture began to morph into a mental picture of my baby's father. My body began to shake with sobs ripping out of me. I had to pull the car over to cry myself out before I continued to drive towards Denali as the painful, soul-wrenching ache of his absence pulled the invisible hole open even more, bleeding and making it almost impossible to breathe.

Once I gained control, the next thing I realized was the fact that no one knew this was a possibility. Edward would have been too worried about the consequences of me carrying a baby that had any of his traits. The unknown aspect alone would cause issues and if the baby's diet was similar to his, I wasn't sure if I would make it through the pregnancy. If the baby needed blood, it might start feeding from me. The baby would be lacking the control of his or her father but have the instinct of a vampire, which made for a scary possibility. Again, I wished hard that Carlisle were here to answer my questions about the unusual nature of my pregnancy. I was also curious why Alice hadn't seen this coming. I knew that Edward was a gentleman. Even if he didn't love me anymore, could he really abandon his baby? There must be a reason he had not come to help us. I was obviously pregnant but I wondered how much this child would be like his or her father. Which vampire traits would carry through, and how would they morph with my human ones? Although I was thankful that so far, besides my inability to keep anything down except for the rarest of steaks, I was feeling and doing fine.

Then, while I considered what I was able to eat, it hit me like lightning. The baby was craving blood and that is why I was craving rare meat. It was providing the baby with the blood it wanted. It had an appetite more like its father than me. I couldn't believe that I had missed something so obvious. This was going to prove to be challenging. I knew I had better test my theory and soon. Maybe once I reached the Denali's I could find a way to access the blood I would need to check my hypothesis.

I also considered asking the Denali's to contact the Cullens. I didn't want to force Edward to stay with me due to the obligation he would feel towards our child. However, I knew that the only person who possibly had a good chance of helping me to deal with this was Carlisle. His unbelievable ability to avoid human blood and his knowledge as a doctor would be extremely beneficial for such a unique child.

The longer I thought about my baby, the more I realized that I was going to need to confront Edward. Even though he had left me crushed and broken, he didn't deserve to be kept away from his child. Watching Charlie have to live without me in his life, I saw how it had slowly crushed his heart and made losing my mom even more unbearable. My father loved me very much, even though he rarely said it, and it had killed him to leave me with Renee every time our visits were over. I would not be responsible for doing that to Edward. I still couldn't even handle thinking his name without crying profusely. At this thought, I had to momentarily pull off on the side of the road again to get my silent tears enough in check that I could see where I was driving. I took the opportunity to check over the maps and once my tears subsided, I continued towards my goal with renewed purpose and desire. I was on a mission to help my child and allow him or her to know their family. I didn't know how I was going to survive being around him, knowing that he didn't want me or love me anymore, but I was going to have to let my heart be ripped up even further, because I knew that what my child needed was more important than what I would ever need. I took these thoughts, used them to help me steel my resolve, and with determination drove into the secluded Denali wilderness.

I turned off the main road onto the only side road going into the forest that I had seen for miles in either direction and after driving for a little while longer I finally came up to a large house that was almost invisible in the surrounding trees. I knew that I had the right place when I saw something move too fast to be anything other than a vampire. Using my bravest expression to mask my fear, I walked up to the front door and after a slight pause knocked on it as confidently as I could. My mouth slipped into a frown after a moment when I realized that even though they were there, at this point they were not keen on answering the door to some unknown human.

After a few moments, I pounded on the door harder and said in a normal tone of voice that I knew they could hear, "I know who and what you are. I am a friend of the Cullens."

Almost immediately, the door swung open to reveal a tall, impossibly gorgeous, strawberry blond who was scowling down at me in disdain.

I gasped in a couple of breaths and then unsteadily said, "Tanya?"

The young woman's eyes widened at her name and it took her a moment to respond. While I waited, I took a detailed look at her. She was impossibly beautiful, even more so than Rosalie. Her hair hung down her back in small intricate ringlets. Her eyes were expressive and the same signature topaz color that marked her for what she was. She had perfect, regal features. Her long legs seemed to stretch on for miles and she had perfect curves, completely in balance.

Finally, she spoke up harshly, "How do you know me and what business do you have here? I will call the Cullens to verify your story. Explain yourself. Now!"

I took a couple of extra breaths and then as slowly and evenly as possible started in with, "My name is Bella-"

At that, her eyes widened even more but this time in understanding and shock. It caused me to stop speaking and look at her. Suddenly, her arm was around my shoulder and she was carefully ushering me into the cold house, shutting the door behind her.

As I looked around, I saw a few other vampires sitting around engaged in various pursuits except for one, whose eyes were focused on me with shock and awe. I looked at him for a moment until my mind flooded with the memories of last spring. I gasped and shook my head slightly as I stared into the wide orange eyes of Laurent.

Then, I heard Laurent gasp out, "Bella?"

I nodded slightly and suddenly every eye in the large room was on me. The awkward silence seemed to stretch out for an eternity. I looked slowly around the room at the different individuals it contained, trying to match up faces with the descriptions and names that I had heard from Edward and Carlisle.

Finally, Tanya cleared her throat unnecessarily and said, "Bella, what are you doing here? Why aren't you in Forks?"

I took in a deep breath, and addressed them all, "I am here because I need to reach the Cullens desperately and I knew that you were the only chance I had of tracking them down. It is very important that I talk to them as soon as possible."

I am sure they could hear the desperation in my tone, and at this point, I didn't care one bit. I looked up at Tanya, trying to put as much determination into my expression as possible. Tanya looked at me, with conflict raging in her eyes, for a moment.

Then, she set her lips in a thin harsh line and said, "Well I don't really know where they are or how to contact them right now. Carlisle hasn't called me to let me know where the family has resettled. Let's talk about this some more, after we get some food in you. You look like you are famished and exhausted." With that, Tanya took me by the hand and escorted me through the house to the kitchen.

Tanya unceremoniously pulled out a stool and motioned for me to sit as she walked over to the freezer and pulled out a frozen steak and some veggies. Then she switched to the fridge to pull out some pre-made mashed potatoes. I had no idea why she had all this human food lying around. It really confused me, since I knew from what the Cullens had mentioned about the Denali, that they lived as far from humans as possible, so they didn't have as many reasons to keep up appearances.

Apparently, the unspoken question was clear in my expression because Tanya let out a small knowing laugh and said, "My sisters and I often have male human company that needs to eat, so we keep a stock of food on hand. Bella, how do you like your steak?"

I blushed furiously as I remembered that Edward had told me that Tanya and her sisters loved sleeping with human men, and that is what had driven them to their current lifestyle choice. I mumbled out that I wanted my steak rare and then slipped back into my embarrassed silence.

As Tanya was preparing the food for me, the oldest of the vampires came into the room. I looked at him for a moment and realized that I was looking at Eleazar. Carlisle had told me about him over the summer, when I was talking with him one night. Eleazar had been changed in his mid thirties and had been a member of the Volturi at one point. The Volturi were little more than a name to me. I knew that they were a kind of ruling class for the vampire world, but other than that, the Cullens had said little about them, even though I could tell they were important somehow. He looked at me for a few moments, his expression becoming more and more frustrated as he stared at me.

Then suddenly, a smile slowly erupted on his beautiful, distinguished face and he said in awe, "Astonishing. I have never seen such a strong mental shield in a vampire, let alone in a human."

I looked at him and then Tanya questioningly, however neither seemed to answer my nonverbal question. I thought about his statement and his confused look for a moment. It reminded me of the look that Edward got when he was trying yet again to read my mind. Eleazar must have a power then too. I didn't understand the part about a mental shield though so I decided to ask him.

"Eleazar, what is a mental shield and were you referring to me?" I said and looked up at him, awaiting an answer to shed some light onto his previous statement.

He looked at me in surprise, then quickly composed himself and said, "Bella, I can read the power of other vampires and humans. Vampires are easier to read because I am one. Humans are harder, unless they have some kind of manifestation of their power in their human form. Humans like this are so rare that I only know of three others like you. You are a mental shield. That means that no one can use any power meant to affect the mind on you. I am going to guess that Edward can't read your mind."

I visibly flinched at the mention of his name. The hole in my heart was suddenly bleeding and I couldn't breathe. I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to take deep breathes until I was able to settle down. When I looked up at Eleazar and Tanya, their faces were obvious expressions of discomfort at seeing me fall apart at the seams at the mere mention of his name.

Finally, I stammered out, "He couldn't read my mind and it made him curious about me."

After I finished my statement, the tears were flowing fast and thick down my face. Suddenly I felt a pair of cold hard arms wrapped around me in a comforting gesture. I looked up at the face of the person who was hugging me and found that Carmen, Eleazar's mate, was carefully hugging me as I cried.

Once I settled down, Tanya led me to a spare room in the house and said, "Bella you are welcome to stay with us while I try to contact the Cullens. I don't know how successful we will be, but I will try. I can see how much you truly love him. I will do what I can to help you."

The tears began again at the mention of my love for him. Tanya gave me a gentle but awkward hug and closed the door behind her, giving me the peace I needed to allow the pain to put me back in my numb state and fall asleep.

Okay so I know she just got there but trust me…. Stopping here was the best place. Trust me you'll see… and don't read too much into Tanya yet… there is more coming ;)

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