Chapter 25

Edward

From: Jason Jenks

To: Isabella Swan, Edward Masen

Subject: Re: Enquiry

Dear Professor and Mrs Masen,

I have updates for you. Please call tonight, after 11pm UK time.

Jenks

Jenks's email was short, which made me wonder if he'd uncovered something salacious. It had been two weeks since we'd signed the contract with him, and there had been little contact in between other than Jenks sending over security recommendations, which included a state-of-the-art alarm system. I was about to text Bella when she appeared at my office door.

"Hey, Foxy."

She was her usual stunning self, but she was exhausted all the time, despite sleeping like a log for nine hours a night.

"Hi, Baby. What brings you here this morning? I thought you had a class at Longwood?"

"It was cancelled, so I thought I'd say hi and see if you had any painkillers in your desk. The packet I keep in my handbag is empty."

I beckoned her and she closed the door before plonking herself in my lap.

"I'm sorry, I don't. Are you feeling poorly, my sweet vixen?"

"Yeah, just tired, I guess. My period's due today or tomorrow, so that won't help."

"I actually don't remember you having one since before we moved into the house."

"I ran a few packs of pills together so I didn't get my period at an inconvenient time, so this one's going to be a bad one."

"Poor Baby," I kissed her temple and she cuddled against me while I held her around the waist. "Sorry to bring this up, but Jenks emailed just now; he wants us to call him tonight."

"Shit. Does that mean it's something awful?"

"Try not to worry about it, please. What have you got on for the rest of the day?"

"I was going to have some lab time, and then meet the group at four, but I might go home early and ask them to come over to the house. Would you mind?"

"Not at all. You head home and relax. Don't even pick Jake and Nessie up early from Sarah. I'll collect them later." Sarah was our dog-sitter, and lived around the corner with her brood of husband, three teenage kids and four dogs.

"Okay."

After Bella left, I managed to get on with my day without worrying too much about the phone call to Jenks. I finally had a full research team, so the work was progressing nicely; Randall was getting excellent results in his trials, while MJ and Nahuel's early work showed promise. Despite all the turmoil going on at Oxford, my Harvard colleagues treated me with respect and I was making friends. Amun El-Samir was supporting us from a distance; despite his detached demeanour, he had helped enormously by handling almost all of the communication with Oxford over the allegations of misconduct.

At around five, I biked back to Arlington, collected Jake and Nessie, and gave them a little run around the park before taking them home. We were greeted by the sound of low, murmuring voices from the living room, and the smell of coffee and chocolate cake.

"Da, I agree wiz Nahuel. We need to spend more time on neurotoxin mechanisms."

"But if we lose sight of the molecular cell physiology, we'll struggle with neurotoxins pharmacology," argued MJ.

"Surely there's a way we can do both," suggested Bella as Jake and Nessie rushed over to her. "Hello puppies! Mummy's missed you."

"Hi Edward, we're just thrashing out our study schedule," explained Nahuel. "Lovely place you got here."

"Thanks." I kissed my wife's forehead and helped myself to a slice of the cake she had made. "I'll be up in the study if you want me."

About an hour later, I heard the sound of chairs shifting around. When I popped my head out of the study, to my surprise, I saw MJ walking down the corridor.

"Hey Edward, could you remind where the bathroom is up here? I had, like, four cups of coffee and Irina snuck into the other one before I could get there."

"Err ... that door behind you."

"Thanks, Boss."

I headed down the stairs, half expecting Bella to have invited them all to stay for dinner, but instead she was showing Irina and Nahuel out.

"See you tomorrow, guys, bye!" When they took off on their bikes, she whispered, "Just MJ to go and then we've got the house to ourselves."

"You okay?" My darling wife looked deathly pale.

"I feel even worse than I did this morn... shit." She clutched her tummy. "Edward, I think I'm going to be ..." She pushed past me into the downstairs loo, and heaved her guts up. The sound of her retching roused Jake and Nessie from their slumber on their beds, and they came rushing over, whimpering slightly.

"It's okay, she'll be okay," I murmured, as much for myself as for them. "Bella, what can I do?"

It took a minute before she answered.

"Dunno ... a glass of water?"

By the time I returned with her drink, MJ had come down, and was trying to get past the dogs. Jake, however, wasn't moving from the door to the downstairs bathroom for anything, while Nessie was in the hallway, growling at our visitor.

"It's all right, pups. Nessie, come here, sweetheart," I murmured.

Ness looked torn between protecting Bella and listening to me, but eventually came over.

"What's going on?"

"Bella's not feeling so well, MJ, and the dogs have gone into protective mode."

"Sorry, MJ," called Bella from the bathroom.

"You poor thing," she replied. "Feel better soon, doll! I'll see myself out."

Her path now free from anxious canines, MJ skipped out of the door and I went into the bathroom.

"No, don't come here. I look and smell bloody awful."

"'For better or for worse, in sickness and in health.' Sound familiar?"

"Whoever wrote that wasn't thinking of vomit, I'm sure," she joked feebly, before letting me put my arms around her. "We need to call Jenks."

"He can wait. You are my priority, always."

"I'm actually okay. I feel better now I've thrown up. In fact, I'm hungry."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I feel like bacon and scrambled eggs, ooh, with buttered toast."

"Should you be having such rich food if you've just been sick?"

Her tummy growled loudly.

"Maybe not, but that's what I feel like, and nothing else is going to hit the spot. Do you mind making me some while I brush my teeth and change?"

"Of course not, Baby. But will you promise to go to the doctor? You haven't been quite right for the past few weeks."

She raised an eyebrow, about to disagree, but I returned the look and she conceded.

"Fine. Now, please, Foxy, feed me."

An hour later, with dogs and people all fed and watered, we settled down to phone Jenks. He answered on the first ring.

"Hello Professor and Mrs Masen, how are you?"

"Okay, thanks," I replied. "So, what have you found?"

"Cutting to the chase ... I like that. Now, you asked me to look into Aro Volturi and find Bree Tanner. I did that, and I want to start with Bree."

"Have you found her?"

"Yep. Get this- she's in New York."

"What?"

"She and her son are staying with her husband's uncle in Brooklyn. Her son is attending a local school, so they aren't just visiting."

"Is she working?"

"We don't think so. My colleague says she barely leaves the house."

"And what about her husband, Don?"

"Don is still in Glasgow, but he phones the house in Brooklyn every day."

"Have you any theories based on your observations?"

"My colleague who is doing the surveillance believes that she is hiding from someone. She and the uncle are overly vigilant. There is no wireless internet connection, only wired, and it's firewalled to the hilt. Bree has cut and dyed her hair blonde, which appears out of keeping with the character profile."

"Very," I agreed, thinking of the sweet girl I'd first met all those years ago, who was so proud of her tumbling, brunette curls.

"Have you found out anything else?" asked Bella.

"I've just found out, today, that Don has sent some emails to an Alec Brighton at Cambridge University. Unlike in Brooklyn, the internet in Glasgow isn't as tight. The emails are kind of cryptic, which has set off my detective's instinct. They refer to 'Beanie,' which is a nickname for someone, possibly her son."

"Alec Brighton ..." Bella murmured, biting her lip. "I know that name ... Why do I know that name?"

"Bella?"

Suddenly, her face perked up with recognition.

"He was one of the candidates for the Oxford Neurosciences PhD programme. He was in the waiting room with me before my panel interview and presentation in April. American, skinny and pale, preppy, slightly creepy. He said he was finishing off a Masters at Cambridge, and that he was applying for PhD programmes in Britain as well as home in the US."

"Can you tell me anything else, Mrs Masen?"

"Not really. He was well-off, of that I'm sure. He smacked of conservative, old money. I completely forgot about him after my presentation."

"If he was at Cambridge, does he have a link to Aro?" I wondered.

"At this point, I would assume so." said Jenks. "While I haven't yet established if Brighton is still in Cambridge, I have found some info just on LinkedIn and Google."

Jenks told us what he knew. Alec Brighton was from Connecticut and had done his undergraduate degree at Columbia. He had been a Fulbright Scholar, although it was unclear where he had travelled with the programme. He had, as he told Bella, been at Cambridge for the past year doing a Masters degree in the Biological Sciences faculty.

"Having heard all that, I'm convinced that Alec Brighton is linked to Volturi," I murmured, "even though it's a circumstantial link right now."

"What if Volturi somehow found out about Bree's son, and she's left Scotland to get away from him?" suggested Bella.

"I've come to the same conclusion, Mrs Masen," agreed Jenks.

"What about Volturi himself? What observations have you made?" I wondered.

"At first, he seemed utterly respectable, and I was starting to wonder whether you two had blown things out of proportion, but then, we trailed him from Oxford to London last weekend. He has a flat there, in the East End."

"I would have thought he'd choose a more prestigious part of London to have a crash-pad," replied Bella.

"Not if the aim of the crash pad is to have somewhere to have sex with young conquests. He wouldn't want to advertise that."

"Serious?" Bella's eyes widened.

"Yep. This time, the girl in question was a rather ambitious graduate by the name of Jessica Stanley."

"My turn to recognise the name," I murmured, unable to stop my eyes from rolling. "She graduated from Kings' College London last year. She applied to Oxford for a PhD at the time and we interviewed her. However, John Gerandy, Jasper and I felt that she was more interested in being an Oxford doctoral student than the research itself."

"Hmm ... she was more than willing, in exchange for his promise to give her a PhD place at Oxford, to be funded by Eclipse."

"And he's intending to follow through with that promise?"

"Yes, from the calls I've overheard and his behaviour. Miss Stanley is compliant and motivated by material gain. It is clear that he and his cronies at Eclipse want students like her."

"Why?" The idea was clearly anathema to my beautiful, principled wife.

"They don't care about the integrity of the research, Baby."

"Indeed. My insiders tell me that Eclipse are planning to release a new medication for chronic neuropathic pain in 2016, and Volturi is spearheading the launch, with the enthusiastic backing of the CEO, Demetri Kasparov. The research shows it's extremely effective with little side effects. Almost too good to be true."

"Which means it probably is," I realised with chagrin.

"And that's what I'm going to try to establish," replied Jenks. "I'm afraid that I have to go, but I'll do more digging and come back to you in the next few days."

"Thanks Jenks," I told him. "It's good to finally have some concrete information. Talk soon."

-cc-

Bella

"Hello, Ms Masen?"

"It's Mrs Masen," I corrected immediately, as had become my habit. "Dr Evans?"

"That's right. Come on in." The middle-aged, friendly, African-American lady showed me into a large consulting room. "I see this is your first appointment with us at Arlington Family Doctors, so welcome."

The doctor instantly made me feel at ease. I was surprised to get a morning appointment the day after calling up, but they had fitted me in with no hassle at all.

"Yes, you come highly recommended by our friends, the Cullens."

"Such a sweet family. Now, how can I help today?"

"To be honest, my husband made me promise to come. It's nothing specific, just feeling run-down, and moody. I think it's because we're under quite a lot of stress at the moment. But I vomited for no apparent reason a couple of days ago, and I keep feeling queasy during the day."

"Hmm ... anything else unusual?" Dr Evans asked, tapping some notes onto an iPad.

"I've gained a bit of weight, both of us have since moving here, and while my husband has lost his with some extra exercise and healthy eating, mine won't shift. It's only a few pounds but I've never had trouble losing weight before."

I patted my tummy for emphasis.

"Well, apart from some low blood pressure, your initial tests with the nurse were fine. Are you taking any medication or herbal supplements that you haven't written down on your patient questionnaire?"

"No, just the oral contraceptive pill."

"When was your last period?"

"Not since the end of July, because I ran my pills together without a break for a couple of months. It's due imminently."

"Hmmm ... and you've been under some stress recently?" The doctor looked at me over her glasses, as though an idea had come to her, although wasn't ready to share it.

"Yes, what with moving to the US, new jobs, finding a house and some problems back home, it's been a rather rough time."

"Well, I think we should do a general check-up, take some blood and urine tests, and see what comes up."

"Sounds good."

"I'd like to also run a pregnancy test too. Just routine."

"Sure," I agreed, happy to go with whatever Dr Evans suggested.

However, over the next twenty minutes, as all the tests were conducted, I started to think about all the odd symptoms I'd been experiencing, and began to wonder if maybe I was actually pregnant. I touched my belly and rubbed it, wondering whether a tiny little someone was growing in there. As I imagined it, my eyes drifted closed and I let my head fall back against the examination couch. It would be earlier than we planned, but it wouldn't matter to me and The Fox. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to be carrying our little Cub.

"Mrs Masen?"

I snapped out of my reverie to see the doctor standing over me. I sat up immediately.

"Sorry, Dr Evans. Everything okay?"

She sat down next to me and smiled kindly, in a way that made me think she was about to tell me something big.

"The pregnancy test ... It's positive." She watched my face for a moment before adding, "Would a baby right now be welcome news?"

I promptly burst into tears. Dr Evans slung an arm around my shoulder and let me sob until I could find my voice.

"This baby is desperately wanted, but we weren't planning on starting a family until next year. We have so much stuff going on right now."

"In my experience, babies turn your life upside down, planned or not."

"How pregnant am I?"

"I suspect that you're at least eight weeks, but I'll send your samples to the lab for a more accurate result, and I'll have those for you in forty-eight hours. I have to ask this, but are you considering termination of the pregnancy at all?"

"An abortion? No, no way. The baby might be here earlier than planned, but he or she is very much wanted."

Dr Evans looked relieved.

"All righty then. I'll give you a prescription for prenatal vitamins and set you up with our OB/GYN."

"Thank you, Dr Evans."

"It's a pleasure, Mrs Masen, and congratulations."

After I left the doctor's office, I took a slow bike ride towards Cambridge, but found myself going home instead. I called in sick, emailed my study group to ask them to get notes for me, and then, before collecting Jake and Nessie from Sarah, I texted The Fox.

Foxy, any chance you could come home early today? Been to doctor. Have news. Love you. B xxx

He was home twenty-seven minutes later, bursting through the front door before stopping in his tracks at the sight of me sitting on the floor with my back against the sofa, mug of peppermint tea in one hand, the dogs draped across me.

"Bella, what's wrong?" He gently nudged Nessie to make room for him, and took me into his arms. "You've been crying, Baby. What's happened?"

"You didn't need to rush back, Edward. I'm not dying."

"Bella ..."

"In fact, I'm full of life. Full of life."

Edward looked up sharply at my face, and tears started rolling down my cheeks for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

"Baby? You're pregnant? That's why you've been off?"

I took his hand and placed it on my stomach.

"Yep. Foxy, meet Cub."

"I'm going to be a father," he whispered.

"Yeah. I know it's earlier than we planned and things are crazy right now but ..."

I was silenced with a kiss, wet from both our tears.

"Bella, they don't matter. Only our family matters, and I could not be happier right now. I love you, both of you, so much."

A whine from Jake and Nessie interrupted us.

"Oh, we love you too."

Our sweet dogs nuzzled into us as we revelled in the news that in a few months, we would be a family of five.

-cc-

The Fox and I agreed that we would only tell Carlisle and Esme for the time-being, until the start of my second trimester, but within a few days, it became apparent that my pregnancy sickness was going to throw a spanner in the works.

"Bella, you look positively green," murmured MJ as we sat down for our study group's lunch meeting. "Are you okay, doll?"

"Uh, yeah, just a virus or something."

"Some virus," snorted Nahuel. "You ain't been right for a couple weeks."

"I'm fine. It'll pass soon enough." In about seven months.

Irina walked in then, carrying a small, brown paper bag, which she put down on the table. Suddenly, my stomach lurched as the strong stench of pickles and fish hit my nose.

"I find new deli near Central Square," she announced, smiling more widely than I'd ever seen. "Owner is from St Petersburg like me. He give me homemade herring salad."

Herring. Herring?

"Uhh ..."

I didn't even have time to excuse myself before running for the ladies' room and hurling my guts up.

A couple of minutes later, there was a quiet knock on the door of the stall.

"Bella, you in there, doll?" came MJ's cute voice.

"Yeah."

My voice was hoarse, but I felt all right.

"Irina and I got you some water, and I phoned Edward. He's on his way over."

"Thanks, but it isn't necessary. It's just a touch of stomach flu."

"Bella, I think we both know that's a lie." MJ's voice suddenly had an edge to it, which surprised me. I stepped out of the cubicle. She was standing with her hands on her tiny hips, and her expression was momentarily hard, before softening. Irina was standing behind her, looking apologetic.

"I am sorry, Bella. I did not know you have problem with the herring."

My stomach lurched at the mere mention of herring.

"It's fine, Irina."

"What's going on is serious," pressed MJ. "This is the second time you've thrown up in, like, a week. You're bloated, and you're always tired."

She passed me a bottle of water and some Altoids.

"Always you look so pale. And so ... What is word ... anxiety?" added Irina, giving me a paper towel to wipe my face.

"Things are stressful for me and Edward at the moment," I admitted. "I'm dealing with shit from my parents and both of us are dealing with crap from Oxford."

"What crap?" asked MJ.

"Certain former colleagues of Edward's, and former professors of mine, are having a tough time accepting our relationship, and are questioning our professional integrity. There's a lot of mudslinging going on."

"Oh, doll, how awful." MJ patted my hand sympathetically. "What kind of things are they saying?"

A wave of exhaustion hit me and I slumped against the sinks.

"Can I tell you some other time, ladies? I think I need to lie down."

MJ shrugged, as if she was disappointed not to get the juicy details, but a split-second later, her usual smiley face was back to normal and I wondered if I was being overly sensitive. It wouldn't have been the first time I'd overreacted to something trivial recently.

"Of course. Let's get you to Edward."

Irina wrapped her arm around my shoulders, while MJ opened the door, and walked me back to the study room just as Edward rounded the corner at breakneck speed.

"Bella. Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

I glanced over at my study-buddies, all of whom were looking at me with concern and curiosity. Irina's eyes strayed to my abdomen and I could tell that she was piecing together the truth, and the other two probably were too.

"I'm fine, Edward. I just need a quick lie-down. Can I borrow the couch in your office for a few minutes?"

"Of course."

When we were back in his office, Edward and I talked about what we were going to do.

"Maybe you should call in sick for the next few weeks, until you're in the second trimester. You're going through all sorts of stress, and I don't want you or the baby to be affected any more than absolutely necessary."

"I don't need to be coddled, Foxy ..."

"I know, Baby, that's not what I mean," he replied, holding his hands up. "But I can't help but worry about you and Cub. Your sickness is only getting worse. What if you end up in hospital, like …" He paused and swallowed hard. "I dunno, like The Duchess of Cambridge?" He sat down next to me and held his head in his hands. "Bella, I just can't bear the thought of anything happening to either of you."

I placed my hand in the small of his back and it was rigid with tension. I was the one who was visibly struggling with stress, and now with the pregnancy too, but The Fox was equally affected. He was awake in the middle of the night whenever I was, and every time I was upset or sick, he was right there soothing me.

"Okay," I agreed, "let's go see Carlisle."

-cc-

So, all of you who thought Bella was pregnant were absolutely right!

Thanks again for your patience with me and the story. I think this is going to run to 34 or 35 chapters with an epilogue.

Once again, my opportunities for writing are so limited that I'm just posting chapters whenever I get them ready, so this was unbeta'd once again.

CC xxx