Not Without a Fight
Annaleise Marie

Round Twenty-Five

AN: So between updates, I gave you readers the chance to pick which story arc you want me to start next. It was a pretty close poll, with Option C: The Hales return, winning by exactly one vote. While this would be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the importance of voting and how one vote can make a difference, I'm going to appeal to the masses at large and combine B and C into one arc. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks to everyone who voted! Now let's get on with the show!

I own a shiny new iPad, which I am pretty much in love with to an extent that borders on inappropriate for an inanimate object, but I do not own Twilight. Stephanie Meyer, of course.

X

EPOV

I was woken up rather rudely the weekend before Valentines Day as my door banged open, slamming against the wall with a loud crash. My plan had been to sleep as late as a human being could actually manage and then trudge around in my pajamas all day. Rosalie was having a girl's day with Alice or some shit so I really had no plans.

Instead, I sat up with enough force to crack my neck, going from sleeping like a fucking baby to more awake than a speed freak in about half a second.

Jasper was striding into the room like he owned the fucking place. I flopped back down, pulling one of my pillows over my head and groaning.

"Man, I need your help," he said. I groaned again, shaking my head under the pillow.

"I'll help you when I'm awake."

"Dude, this is serious," he said, pulling the pillow off of my face and hitting me with it.

"Fine," I grumbled, rolling out of bed and trudging towards the bathroom. He followed me across the room, thank god stopping a few feet from the bathroom door.

Unfortunately, he proceeded to yell through the door at me even after I had closed it.

"So Valentines Day is this week. This week, man. I didn't even realize it," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"That is your gigantic emergency?" I asked.

"Don't you get it? Valentines Day is either the best day of the year for guys, or doomsday. There is no middle ground on this," he said.

"You know, it is really hard to piss with you talking to me," I said. He paused just long enough for me to finish but then started up again the second I turned on the water to wash my hands.

"Girls get all uppity about this shit, you know? Like, most of the time if we can't get our shit together and be romantic it's like, okay, well, we're guys, what can you really expect? But then fucking February rolls around and god help us if we're not romantic. It's a lot of pressure," he said. I opened the door and walked past him, making some sound of agreement just to placate him.

"So anyway, I need your help," he finished. I opened my dresser and pulled out clothes for the day, not wanting to parade around in my boxers in front of Jasper any longer than strictly necessary.

"Why does everyone seem to think I'm some sort of big romantic gesture guru?" I asked, thoroughly irritated.

"Have you had one special occassion that didn't go off without a hitch?" he asked, looking at me like it should be obvious.

"I get that, but that's with my shit. If you'll recall from the whole Edward situation, I'm not that good at planning other people's crap," I said. "I don't know, it's easier with Rose. I guess because I want to make her happy, and I get her and all of that."

"Then decide to want to make Alice happy," Jasper said, shrugging. I rolled my eyes.

"I can't think of Alice that way. She's like a little sister or something. I'm telling you, every time I try to think of something another guy should do, I just come up with flowers and crap. It's not my fault your girlfriend is ridiculously high maintainence," I said, shrugging. Jasper made an irritated sound in the back of his throat.

"She's not high maintainence," he corrected me. "She'd be pretty happy with just some flowers or something. But flowers aren't good enough for her."

That was oddly touching, actually.

"I don't know then, man," I said.

"We should go scouting," he said, his expression determined.

"What?" I asked, plopping down on my bed to put on my socks.

"We'll just go out scouting locations and shit and see what comes to us," he said.

"Isn't that going to be difficult without even something to start with?" I asked. Jasper started to turn red. I guess I wasn't showing the sort of cooperation he was hoping for. "Fine, fine. It's not like I have anything else to do today." I stood up and grabbed my jacket off the hook on the door and headed for the stairs.

I let Nanuq out into the back yard and then shouted to Mom that I was going out. Jasper seemed much calmer now that I was playing along. He followed me outside, still talking.

"I mean, it's getting difficult, you know. This is our third Valentines together and it's like each year I've gotta one-up the last. I'm not even sure how to go about that," he said.

"What did you do last year?" I asked as I stepped off of the curb, and directly onto something that let out a loud crack. I looked down, puzzled, only to discover that the thing I had stepped on was a dried-up pen that I had thrown out a few days earlier. That was when I realized that all of our trash had been torn into, the wind pushing it against the curb, out of view of the house.

"Dammit," I sighed, reaching down and righting the collection bin. The Hale's was overturned as well, and it seemed like the contents of both household's trash had taken over the edge of the street. God damned dogs. The least the neighbors could do was keep them in their yard. I mean, Nanuq could be a distructive beast, but you didn't see me just letting her wander around getting into shit.

Jasper and I both crouched down, scooping up the garbage and dumping it in the collection bins.

"Damn, man, your family is disgusting. Don't you have a disposal?" Jasper asked, holding an old banana peel with two fingers and gagging theatrically.

"I don't remember asking you for an appraisal of our garbage," I grumbled. "Just pick it the fuck up."

"Anyway, last year I look her to dinner at the Space Needle. Romantic as fuck, I'd say, judging by what she gave me, that night," he said. I groaned. It really freaked me out when Jasper talked about that aspect of his relationship with Alice. Maybe it was because she looked like she was about twelve, but there was something about it that was just nine hundred times dirtier than normal, in a Herbert the Pervert kind of way.

I was so disturbed out that it took me a second to realize that Jasper had frozen. He was stooped over by a pile of garbage, not speaking, not moving.

"Dude?" I asked, kind of creeped out, to be honest. He turned to look at me slowly, his eyes wide in apparent horror. He held something up, his mouth working slowly as he searched for words. I walked over slowly, and realized immediately once I saw it why he was acting like such a special fucking snowflake.

"Dude," he finally managed to croak out.

Between his fingers he held a plastic stick, printed on the side with ClearBlue. It had a digital readout, but for what it conveyed it may as well have just said fucked in big letters.

"Whose trash did this come from?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" I asked. Rosalie was at my house as much as her own. She could have taken it either place.

"Well, not for you," Jasper conceded grimly. "But it would only be Alice's if it came from ours. She wouldn't take one at your house."

Alice. I hadn't even thought of that. It was fifty-fifty that it wasn't Rosalie. That thought wasn't as much of a comfort as it should have been.

"Fuck, man," I said. My brain felt stuck.

"Fuck," Jasper muttered. It sounded like an agreement.

We stared at the test and the damning word. It was all we could do for a long time.

X

When we had finally collected our thoughts enough to act, we decided to just ask Rosalie and Alice about it. Like mature goddamned adults. Mature goddamned adults scared out of our wits. And I'll tell you, Jasper must have been as scared as I was, because he hadn't yet offered to kill me for possibly knocking his sister up.

Jesus fucking Christ. Rosalie might be pregnant. Emmett fucking McCarty, father. I did not like the ring of that one. Fucking hell.

My mind was a swirl of terror and obscenities. It was hard for even me to tell what I was thinking.

We found Rosalie and Alice in the Hale's living room, stretched out on the couch in opposite directions, the television on although neither of them appeared to be watching it.

"How long do you think they'll be here this time?" Alice asked. Rosalie shrugged.

"They didn't say. I didn't even know they were coming," she said. Jasper cleared his throat and both of their heads swivelled around to look at us.

"Hey, glad you're back. You'll never guess-" Rosalie started.

"Is there something either of you need to tell us?" Jasper asked. Alice looked puzzled. Rosalie just looked ticked off at being interrupted. Jasper held up the test and everyone just stared at it for a second.

"Is that a-" Alice started, her nose wrinkled in distaste.

"Whose is that?" Rosalie asked. "Why do you even-"

"It was in the trash," Jasper said. There was a pause where both of the girls just looked confused.

"And why are you fishing random pregnancy tests out of people's garbage?" Alice asked carefully.

"Oh, come on!" I burst out. My mind was a muddled mess already and I was pretty sure this was a mindfuck of a conversation anyway. "Which of you are pregnant?"

"Us?" Alice asked, straightening up in surprise.

"Pregnant?" a low voice asked from behind us. Rosalie's face went white. Jasper and I slowly turned around, only to find ourselves face-to-face with Mr. Hale.

"Dad," Jasper said weakly.

"Pregnant?" Mr. Hale repeated, louder.

"Dad, we're not-"

"Pregnant?!" Mr. Hale was definitely yelling now. I took an instinctive step back. Everything in my dangerous-father radar, honed over years of sticky situations with girls, was warning me that close proximity to this man was not in my best interest.

"Pregnant?" Mrs. Hale appeared in the doorway. It would have been really nice to know that they were back in town before this whole scene.

"Can we pick a new word now?" Rosalie asked. I turned to look at her and then realized that that put my back to Mr. Hale, which didn't seem like a safe option, and spun back around.

"No one's-" Alice started, but at that moment Mrs. Hale snatched the test out of Jasper's hand. Her eyes buldged as she looked at it.

"Pregnant," she gasped.

If I heard that word one more time I was going to scream.

"Which one of you is it?" Mrs. Hale asked, her voice deadly quiet. I took another step back. "Rosalie?"

"Mom, no!" Rosalie said, her face still devoid of color.

"Emmett thought it could be you," Mrs. Hale said.

"It's not!"

"Alice?" Mrs. Hale continued, pivoting to look at her. Alice shook her head hard.

"So this positive test just... appeared in our trash?" Mrs. Hale demanded.

"I guess, because I'm not-"

"Fine. If no one will own up to it, I guess you'll both just have to take a new test," Mrs. Hale said shortly.

"But we're not-"

"If you're not pregnant, then you have nothing to worry about," Mr. Hale said in a very final tone of voice. "Jasper, go to the store."

"I really don't want to go buy pregnancy tests, Dad," Jasper said, looking almost more horrified than he had when he found the stupid thing.

Now, here's the thing about my mom: she may be absolutely batshit crazy at times, and more than a little unstable, but she provided some good instructions for life in general over the years, one of them being, if you can't stomach going to the store, looking a cashier in the eye, and buying a pregnancy test, then you probably shouldn't be having sex. It was a rule I had lived by, and it looked like it was about to come in handy.

"I'll go," I said quietly. It went against every instinct in my body to draw attention to myself in this situation. Mrs. Hale disappeared into the kitchen. I wondered if she was going to bake something. But a moment later she returned with two gallon jugs of orange juice. She gave one each to Rosalie and Alice.

"Drink up," she said shortly. Rosalie glared at her and twisted the top off of her gallon with a snap. Alice looked like she might cry.

"Emmett, go to the store. Get the early response tests. And god help you if hers comes out pregnant," Mr. Hale said quietly. It was a dangerous sort of soft voice, the kind that left absolutely no doubt in my mind that I may actually die today.

A disturbing quiet settled over the house as I walked to the door, the only sound the snap of the seal on Alice's juice.

X

RPOV

"Well, this really couldn't get any more awkard," Alice grumbled. She was sitting on the toilet, the lid down, her gallon jug balanced on her legs.

"Yeah. It's a little too Juno for my tastes," I agreed from my spot on the edge of the tub. "Why don't you just tell them? Then we can both be done with this."

"Tell them what?" Alice asked. I looked at her pointedly. "I'm not pregnant, Rose!"

"Well, I'm not, either!" I said. "I didn't even take a test."

"So wait. If you didn't take a test, and I didn't take a test, then how did a positive test end up in the garbage?" Alice asked. I shrugged.

"The only other woman in this house or Emmett's that was even in town to take one would be..." I trailed off as Alice's eyes went wide.

"Do you think Emmett knows?" she asked quietly.

"God, no," I said firmly. "He'd be losing his mind if he did."

"Well, it's going to come out eventually," Alice said, shrugging. "I guess it's not really my business. In the meantime, how do we get out of here?"

"Seems like there's only one way," I said, holding up my own gallon of juice in a mock toast. "To nothing in the oven."

"Cheers," Alice agreed grimly, taking a long drink.

X

EPOV

By the time I got back to the Hales's, Rosalie and Alice had already disappeared upstairs. The Hales did not look excited to see me, even by their usual standards, but they seemed to be holding their tongues for the moment. I wasn't looking forward to that explosion.

I handed the paper pharmacy bag to Mrs. Hale, who took it upstairs without a word.

I looked at Jasper as I sat down, but he just shook his head minutely, not meeting my gaze.

"I just don't understand how this could happen," Mrs. Hale finally burst out as she returned to the living room. "We've been so careful with you kids."

"Mom, really?" Jasper asked incredulously. "You're never here. We're teenagers. What do you expect?"

I really, really wished Jasper would stop talking. It wasn't like I could exactly deny that Rosalie and I were having sex, given the circumstances, but I really didn't need him drawing extra attention to the fact. Parental instincts might prevent them from killing him, but I got the distinct feeling that I wouldn't be so lucky.

"But you should have been careful," Mrs. Hale argued. Jasper gaped at her.

"Again, I have to ask, seriously? I've been with Alice for almost three years. You think I don't care about her enough to be careful? We're always careful!" he said, his voice rising. Oh goody, we were going to get a prime time showing of angry Jasper. I couldn't think of a more inopportune time for that.

I sunk into my chair, trying to make myself very, very small and inconspicuous, two traits that I have never in my life possessed. Sure enough, I was unsuccessful. Mrs. Hale's eyes turned to me, narrowing sharply.

"Oh, stop it," Jasper said before she could start in on me. "Don't act like he's taking advantage of your precious little girl. You didn't seem to care when someone was."

"Jasper," Mr. McCarty started warningly.

"What? It's the truth. She told you Royce raped her. And you just ignored it and tried to villianize Emmett! So stop trying to do the concerned, involved parent thing just because now there's a problem you might not be able to ignore until it goes away."

Jasper was definitely yelling now. He got to his feet, the veins in his neck standing out. I'm not even going to try to act tough, he was scaring the shit out of me.

"You weren't even here when it was happening! You're never here! Alice heard it and I had to break her fucking door down because the bastard you insisted she date for your own fucking good was raping her. And that's fine. That's how we've always done things. It's the Hale way, right? But you don't get to just waltz in here and suddenly try to act like a parent!"

Oh god. It was like watching a train wreck. No, it was more spectacular than that. It was like watching a plane crash into a building full of blind bunnies. It was horrifying and catastrophic, but something about it just made me want to burst out in completely inappropriate giggles. There was nothing actually funny about it. Actually, everything he said horrified me to the bone. It was like being tickled - you know it's a panic reaction, even though you're laughing.

And I could do nothing to stop it.

"You know what, Jasper, like it or not, we are your parents! This needs taken care of, and it's our job to make sure that happens, whether you agree with us or not. Now sit down," Mr. Hale said, ending on a slight hiss.

"You know we travel because it's what's best for our family," Mrs. Hale said. Oddly enough, she now seemed to be trying to appeal to Jasper, almost pleading.

"Does this look like what's best for our family?" Jasper asked sharply. Mrs. Hale paused, her lips pursed.

"We're doing the best we can," she said finally. "We thought we could trust the two of you."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Jasper breathed.

"Language," Mr. Hale interrupted him warningly. I thought it was odd he was taking offense now, after that last outburst, but who was I to judge?

"We're teenagers," Jasper said, stressing the term. "Things happen in life, to everyone. But we're teenagers and when something happens to us, it's a hell of a lot bigger of a deal than normal. We're not supposed to be left to deal with that alone."

"We thought we had taught you how important it was to use protection-" Mrs. Hale began.

"I'm not talking about the fucking pregnancy!" Jasper shouted. "Goddammit, Mom, I'm talking about Rose. You can't just walk around with your eyes closed hoping that what happened will stop being a thing! She told you, and you ignored her. She's a teenager and she needs your help! I mean, Jesus, this could be Royce's kid! Have you thought about that? What if it's a rape baby? How much do you think that will fuck her up?"

If Rosalie was pregnant, it wasn't Royce's. We had been together four months, intimately, and she had been on the rag three times. I kept careful track of it, because you know, I'm a mature fucker, and I know it happens to every woman and it's a beautiful natural thing, blah blah blah, but that just wasn't my thing. Actually, she was about due to start again.

Did pregnancy tests work before a missed period? I was almost sure I had heard some "five days before your missed period" crap on TV at some point, but well, it didn't really apply to me so I couldn't be sure.

Mr. and Mrs. Hale didn't answer. I guess they had no words for that one. Even though I knew the truth, I wasn't about to contradict Jasper. First, I didn't really want the attention at this minute. Second, I thought it was a pretty smart move on Jasper's part. Maybe it would wake them up. I've been pretty sure for awhile that Rosalie could use some help actually dealing with what happened, and if this was the catalyst her parents needed to finally come to terms with it and help her, all the better.

There was a primal, instinctual part of my mind that absolutely raged against the idea of Rosalie being pregnant with that scum's kid, but I beat it down. It wasn't true. No reason to get mad about it.

What followed was the longest, heaviest, most uncomfortable silence that I had ever experienced in my life. And to put that in perspective, I had had weapons trained on me while fathers watched me dress and their daughters hid under the covers. So that's saying something.

The silence was finally broken by the sound of the bathroom door opening and shutting upstairs, followed by the sound of Alice and Rosalie's feet on the stairs. Alice approached Mrs. Hale timidly, holding out her test.

"Negative," Mrs. Hale reported.

All eyes in the room snapped to Rosalie. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was glaring at her mom, but she made no move to hand over the test.

Oh fucking shit goddammit, it was her. It was Rosalie. We were pregnant.

I couldn't get anything but the simple thought to process. I had absolutely no reaction slated for this. I wasn't exactly the type of guy to call foul and leave, or something, or try to get out of my responsibilities, but I wasn't the type of guy who was ready to be a father, either.

So I just sat there.

Eventually Mrs. Hale stepped closer to her, her hand extended, and after a pause, Rosalie dropped the test into her hand, not meeting her eyes.

I tried not to think of the fact that they were just passing around urine tests like pens. It seemed grossly unsanitary.

"Negative," Mrs. Hale finally said. It seemed like the room let out a collective breath. I nearly fainted. Just nearly went into a full-out swooning, fainting fit, I was so fucking relieved.

And then the strangest thing happened.

Mrs. Hale took a last step towards Rosalie, opening her arms, and Rosalie just kind of crumpled into them, breaking down completely. I was at a loss. I could not for the life of me understand what there was to cry about. This was good, right? No one wanted Rosalie to be pregnant, right?

Mrs. Hale muttered something into Rosalie's hair and Alice walked over, grabbing my jacket sleeve and hauling me out of my chair. She jerked her head pointedly towards the door and led me to it, Jasper close behind us.

"That was really risky, Jasper," Alice said once we were outside and the door had clicked shut.

"It had to be done," Jasper answered, pulling his cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one before handing the pack to me. I took one out gratefully.

"You heard all of that?" I asked. Alice looked amused.

"Well, yeah, we were just upstairs. I'm pretty sure people heard Jasper in Dubai," she said.

"Rose needs help, we all know it," Jasper said, shrugging.

"Did you really break down her door?" I asked, something he said unsticking in my mind. Jasper nodded, exhaling slowly, sending smoke and vapor soaring up into the air.

"Yeah. Held a knife to Royce's throat and threatened to cut off his dick, too," he said calmly.

"Nice," I said. Jasper just nodded, drawing on his cigarette.

"Anyway, maybe now your parents will help her," Alice said. "I mean, even if she's not pregnant, if that's the wake up call it took..." she trailed off, chewing her lip.

"You didn't piss for her?" Jasper asked, looking surprised. I hadn't even thought of that. My stomach instantly twisted itself in knots. Alice sighed.

"No, Jazz, neither of us are pregnant," she said. "Just like we told you from the beginning."

"Well, someone's pregnant," I said. "If it's not Rose, and it's not you..."

Alice just looked at me like it should be obvious. It finally hit me after a second and I shook my head.

"No way, my mom's like forty-five," I said.

"It's either that, or someone ditched the test in your garbage can to avoid this whole scene at their house," Alice said. She seemed to think about it. "That would be pretty smart, actually."

Her tone of voice made it clear that she was just thinking out loud, and that she didn't really believe it. I couldn't believe my mom could be pregnant, though. I mean, she had to be well past baby-making prime, right? Didn't women pretty much dry up once they hit forty?

Aside from that, it would mean that she had actually, you know, done it. Pretty recently. And that was just... gross.

I think we've established that I have the mentality of a small child at inopportune times, right? We've covered that? Good.

"Do you think Dr. Cullen knows?" Jasper asked.

"Dude," I groaned.

"I kind of doubt anyone knows. I mean, especially at her age, she might be waiting to see what happens," Alice said. I raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean, you know, her body might not be able to handle it and it might not make it to term."

Well, there's a depressing series of thoughts.

On top of that, how would Mom react if she lost a kid? I mean, I know she had miscarried before, but that was when Dad was still alive.

None of this was something I could voice, so I cast around for a safe subject. Not really able to come up with anything, I remembered my earlier conversation with Jasper.

"Hey Alice, what do you want to do for Valentines Day? Jasper was wondering earlier," I said. Jasper shot me a mutinous glare. Oh well, at least we weren't talking about babies and miscarriages and crap anymore.
I shoved all of that into a file in the back of my mind, labelled it to be dealt with later, and tossed it away.

"I want to go ice skating," Alice said, grinning.

"See man? Skating. Simple," I said. Jasper just continued to glare at me. Whatever. Now that we had a starting point, I could help him. I already had an idea.

X

RPOV

I was exhausted. Every muscle in my body ached, my eyes burned from hours of crying. My hair was stuck to the side of my head where my mom had smoothed it, a nervous gesture of comfort that she hadn't used on me or Jasper since we were small, for hours earlier that day.

But I felt better. I had been trying not to think about it. Trying not to acknowledge how it had actually felt when she hadn't believed me.

But she did now. Or, even if she didn't want to, she couldn't find any more ways to ignore it, either.

She and Dad were still leaving again by the middle of the week. I had figured they would. Jasper's speech hadn't been enough to change that. But this was a start. I had an emergency appointment with Dr. Cullen on Monday, and repeating appointments every other Monday from then on. Alice was excited, since they were the session right after hers and so we could ride together instead of her having to treck all the way into town and then back across to the school afterwards.

It was a start at least. I was pretty sure that there was still a long way to go, but it was a start.

X

AN: Well, if anything, this chapter was eventful, yeah? Thanks to everyone who participated in the vote last chapter! Of course, this is a story arc, not just a one-chapter deal, so if it wasn't all that you were hoping or you felt like nothing was resolved, fear not, it's just the beginning.

Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Want to set it on fire and watch it burn? Well, tell me about it. Of course, please be tactful. There's really no need for flames, you know. Ever.

Also, beginning with this chapter I'm restarting something I've done with other stories in the past! Every reviewer will recieve a preview of the next chapter! It's going to be a pretty good one this time around, so I hope you're as excited as I am! Love to you all, see you next time!