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Chapter 139

Edward

I watched my angel whenever possible that Saturday afternoon.

She looked so beautiful. Her cheeks were flush with healthy color again. Her eyes were shining. Her perpetual smile looked happy beyond measure. Overall, she also moved with confidence. Even when she got up from the sofa, there was no staggering as there had been many times in the morning. I wasn't afraid that she would buckle or get dizzy. The images of the various memories from yesterday, when Bella had been so incredibly weak and more dead than alive, no longer existed. My baby was simply thirsty. And my angel was hungry. That it was so simple ... My baby! I could hug the whole world!

Since this one was not available to me, I took David in my arms instead as we prepared hot cocoa for our beloved in the kitchen. They had both demanded it when it had started to snow.

'Demanded' was perhaps an exaggeration. In sentimental memory they both casually thought of their childhood. Snow, a fire in the fireplace, and even hot cocoa.

The fireplace was already crackling, of course.

David groaned afterwards and held onto the kitchen counter while trying not to cough, but just to breathe.

I had not quite been able to keep to myself.

"Sorry," I said apologetically, but laughed buoyantly.

"I don't believe you ... I was no different," he coughed after all. "When Sonya said we were going to have a baby, I hugged everyone who sat in the bar at night and bought everyone a beer. For a week," he said.

I saw in his head that this was about Luces. His second child.

"And what did you do at Daniel's" I inquired.

"There I was handed pregnancy and abortion on the same tray, so to speak. In that respect, my enthusiasm kept within limits."

I nodded in understanding. But I smirked.

With each of his other children, he was a little freaked out with joy, so to speak.

We presented the cocoa to the ladies and got appropriate rewards. They had expected only tea.

We chatted a lot. We talked about what we could say about the baby so far, with which we now informed Sonya a little bit about the gory details for the first time.

She had already slid mentally in the direction of the right term for my kind in the last few days. She took it quite calmly, which was not least due to the fact that I did not explicitly say that we were the exception with a vegetarian diet.

We didn't know yet how long Bella's pregnancy would last.

In the course of the morning, Carlisle and I had agreed that we would certainly not be dealing with months, but rather with weeks. Though how many remained to be seen.

With Bella's pregnancy, which was definitely going to be unusual, however, we had quite different problems.

Societal, so to speak.

No one was allowed to know about this baby. Because we would not be able to explain the rapid weight gain to anyone. David and Sonya were exempt, because they knew our secrets. So did Becky and Marcus, and even Brandon. Zoey knew that we were not normal people without knowing any details. Yet she already knew from Bella that she was expecting a child. But beyond that, it had to remain a secret. That, in itself, would probably not be a major difficulty, since Bella was still on leave from work, were it not for Sonya and David's children. We met too often for them to miss the growing belly that Sonya had already noticed at first glance.

So we agreed to tell them the truth.

Of course, we wouldn't make them aware of vampires and wolves, but that Bella was going to have a baby. We didn't really have much choice there. The children sometimes jumped into her arms to greet her, which we would have to stop from now on. But we would sell it to them as a very big secret. That no one else was allowed to know about it.

David was sure that Emma would accept this without further reason. She loved secrets and shared them only with Oscar. Her teddy bear. A harmless insider. In addition, Emma currently had very little contact with people outside her family or ours. She was not yet in kindergarten and there were no children of her age in the neighborhood. At yoga and the like, where Sonya took her, again, no one knew Bella, so blabbing away would not be a bad thing.

With his boys, it looked a little different. However, we could make them understand this secret because of our age difference, to which Luces had even already mentioned to his parents. And we would tell them that Bella had been pregnant for a long time, but that we had only noticed it now. After all, the fact that their own mother would not be subject to such rapid external changes would have to strike them.

David talked about his business trip. That he actually couldn't afford to still not sit at his PC and work since his return.

I promised him my help, whereupon he first very specifically checked my ability to do so. I answered each of his technical questions satisfactorily. About the fact that I saw the right answers in his thoughts, I reminded him only later, but I was not dependent on it.

Meanwhile, I sat at the piano and fulfilled some requests in this regard.

It wasn't long before David and Sonya were dancing harmoniously and in love to the sound.

Bella watched the two simply smiling, so I turned on similar music through my phone. My playing smoothly merged with the sounds from the speakers. Bella looked at me perplexed when I held out my hand to her. She threw a brief surprised glance behind her at the piano bench, where she had assumed I was still playing.

It gave me a lot of pleasure to dance with Bella. To lead her, to cradle her in my arms. I would be eternally grateful to David for teaching her the basics.

We also changed partners in the meantime, but at some point the ladies got a little exhausted.

Bella and Sonya played a boisterous game of chess against each other, which was always set up ready to play on a little table. David and I tried to intervene, to help our ladies, but both were too intent on winning this game without us. It ended in a stalemate.

If my stubborn angel had taken my suggestions every now and then, we would have so pulled Sonya and David over the barrel. David thought similarly, only the other way around.

When it was dark outside, the ladies had finished a box of brownies and emptied the large pot of cocoa, the eight children called through a phone. They asked loudly and wildly confused, whether one would stay here longer, how it looked with the dinner or whether they could drive to McDonalds.

We inspected my kitchen.

Esmé had not been here since Wednesday, furthermore I had had a 'quarrel' with Bella on Wednesday. Therefore, the supplies in my house were currently manageable. Nevertheless, we gathered enough to be able to prepare a balanced supper for three adults. So we allowed that the children - exceptionally - to get fast food.

I reminded Marcus to drive carefully in the weather. Sonya's Sharan would drive Carlisle. Him I didn't need to remind of something like that.

The ladies, meanwhile, thought they had to give us cooking advice now. We ignored them, just as they had ignored us during the chess game.

After dinner, we sat in the fireplace room again. I had pushed the big armchairs together so that Sonya and David could make themselves a little more comfortable. With a pillow protecting his battered ribs, Sonya leaned against him.

"I think we should drive home soon," David said as Sonya began to yawn.

"You're welcome to spend the night here, too. The twins will certainly stay over at the house tonight, and it's bound to be pretty slippery on the streets," I suggested, pointing outside.

The snow had remained.

"But the kids have to go to bed," Sonya reflected, though she liked the prospect of not having to go out in the cold again.

I called Carlisle.

It was just past eight in the evening. If the little ones had been swimming all afternoon, it was quite possible that they were already in dreamland. My somewhat older children were still awake. For them it was still much too early. But Emma was truly already asleep, and Deacon was not far behind. They were sitting in front of the TV, with a movie Emma had chosen and playing cards together.

Carlisle agreed of his own accord to distribute the children in the sufficiently available beds of his house and to look after them at night. It gave him - according to his own statement - a lot of pleasure to take care of the many children.

"... then you can also sleep in tomorrow morning without being disturbed by your children," I passed the information on like this.

While I said 'without being disturbed', however, they both came up with a completely different idea than sleeping. Apparently, sex no longer caused Sonya any unpleasant pain.

I rolled my eyes.

Whether Jake and Becky, Leah and Marcus, or David and Sonya. It made absolutely no difference to a mind-reading vampire! Complaining about it was idle. Fortunately, there was no one to complain about Bella's thoughts. Or about mine.

Around midnight I carried Bella and Sonya to the bedrooms. They had fallen asleep, and David could not carry Sonya himself with his bruised ribs.

The next morning, a thorough questioning took place. Bella stood in front of the bed, and I sat critically on the edge. I watched every movement of my angel. Every muscle twitch, every breath, and every heartbeat - both - I listened carefully and analyzed everything.

"No. I don't feel dizzy. I'm hungry, but no more than usual. I don't really feel weak or anything. It's just that I mean to have more energy otherwise," was Bella's statement and I still suspiciously checked whether she could have forgotten anything.

Her testimony seemed to be complete.

So I let her go back to bed.

I quickly ran into the main house. It was still quite early, but nevertheless I was surprised that I did not hear any thoughts.

Carlisle was in the house. Apart from his statement about watching over the children, I also smelled him, but I did not hear him.

I followed his scent and found him in his study at his desk. With his eyes closed, he was leaning in his large armchair.

"Carlisle?" I asked.

Immediately his eyes were open, and the thoughts were there.

"Were you ... asleep?" I inquired. Completely perplexed, by the way.

He smiled.

"No. I was just trying not to think about anything."

"It worked. I didn't hear anything!" The vampiric mind was much more complex than that of a human. We think on different levels, so it was practically impossible to think of nothing. In this respect, I needed a moment to process this scene. "You seem exhausted," I stated in retrospect.

"If this really works with your child ... will you want more?" he asked cautiously.

A hint of anxiety was in the voice.

I smirked.

"Was it exhausting?"

"With eight kids!" he stated sarcastically, thinking about yesterday while he escorted me to the examination room.

The kids had really kept him on his toes. The second he had stopped Deacon milk came out of his nose - and forbidden my sons to praise him for it and goad him on further - the next second Emma was already standing wobbly on a chair.

"But anytime again! The children are delightful. What ideas they come up with out of nowhere. Unbelievable. However, I seriously wonder how a normal person can cope with it."

"Parents have a very different perceptiveness and develop their own instincts for it over time," I stated, as I kept hearing it from David and Sonya. Instincts that Esmé and Carlisle never had any need of, since they received their 'children' as fairly self-sufficient individuals.

"I see how you handle not only yours, but also the younger ones. You have this gift! You are already great parents and will give your child everything they need. Protection, warmth, understanding and love," he mused.

"If only it stays as simple as it is now," I replied to him, deep in thought, as I looked at the blood bag in my hand. I knew he was thinking the same thoughts as I was. That we had no ideas whatsoever about what might be in store for us. This uncertainty frightened us. Maybe it would remain as it is now. That Bella only needed blood regularly. But what if that would not be all. But he was also right. So was Bella. We could only wait for further symptoms that might appear and then react to them.

"All we can do is wait and see if things get more difficult ... And rely on Bella not to keep anything from us," Carlisle replied sympathetically.

"Find the mistake!", I stated with a smirk.

He laughed.

I heard Leah in her room in the back of the house, so we made our way to the kitchen.

Wolves without coffee could become real beasts.

I had just turned on the machine when Leah came through the door.

"Good morning, little one!" I greeted my princess as usual.

"Hey, Dad!" she took me in her arms, smiling, after taking a checking look at the running coffee machine.

Otherwise, her smile would certainly have been a bit more pitiful.

"How's Mom?" she asked right after, bouncing joyfully onto the kitchen counter.

"Shiny. Only your little sibling seems to be a little thirsty again. And she has put on weight again," I said.

Carlisle reflected on yesterday's readings and considered that Bella would probably have to be measured and weighed every day.

I nodded.

"What it's going to be, I guess you don't know yet, do you?" Leah wanted to know curiously.

"Do you have any particular requests in this regard?" I inquired, looking inquisitively into my daughter's eyes.

She smiled adorably and let both possibilities quickly cross her mind.

How she would tress braids for a little sister and give tips to a brother for his first date.

"I'll take either!" generously stated Leah.

"Then we were lucky," I said, chuckling.

"Since nothing can be seen with the ultrasound machine, I'm afraid we won't know the gender until it comes into the world," Carlisle explained.

About the birth itself, he wanted to think timelily. There were no signs so far that a natural human birth could be excluded, but he wanted to be prepared for all eventualities and deal with the corresponding possibilities.

I asked Leah for a small favor before returning to our little cottage.

The sun would emerge from behind the horizon any moment, but was now already enchanting the world. Snow like powdered sugar shone in an orange rosa.

A glorious day. Freezing cold, but beautiful.

"Aren't you freezing!" sounded David uncomprehendingly, standing in my kitchen waiting for the kettle for Sonya's tea.

He was cold simply at the sight of me and he shook himself. I had only my pajama pants on. And shoes.

"It's a comfortable twenty-four degrees," I replied, and he shook himself again. "You could sleep in and yet you're already awake at this hour?" I wondered and also picked up a cup and tea for Bella.

It was only 7:18 a.m.

"It's TOO quiet. We're not used to it," David shrugged his shoulders in amusement and we went upstairs after he complimented me for my automatic coffee maker.

Bella had wrapped the comforter around herself, leaned against the floor-to-ceiling windows, and watched the sun as it rose, which glowed behind the Saco River.

I threw the medical utensils on the bed and joined my beloved. I hugged her from behind and looked with her into this wonderful, beautiful morning.

"Isn't it a beautiful world our baby is being born into?" murmured Bella dreamily to herself.

"Yes, it is," I confirmed.

I waited a bit until my hand had warmed up a bit between the blanket before I slid it onto our Knob.

Of course, I was still cold, but the freezing outside temperatures had increased it.

We stood there together for a little while. I sucked in the smell of my goddess - before it would change again in a moment due to the foreign blood - felt the slight pulsation of the heartbeats under my fingers, but also my baby, how it moved.

I could have stood there like that forever, but I had been already out of the house for a reason.

So I set up the blood transfusion.

Snottily, Bella then glared at me as she sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, her arms folded in front of her chest.

"How did you think you were going to distract me from sticking the needle in today?" she asked, as if I were trying to barter her soul.

I said nothing, but crawled towards her and kissed my defiant angel. She pushed herself lustfully onto my lap, I interlaced my fingers with hers and thus pulled her hands behind her back. Without interrupting my stimulating efforts, I prepared the needle there.

I didn't need to look to know at which point I would hit the vein on the back of her hand. I paid close attention to her vital signs. How her breathing was frantic, and her heartbeat was completely confused. The moment her heart tripped, I stabbed. And Bella did not notice.

I smirked to myself as I let the stormy kiss fade away.

"That doesn't answer my question!" Bella stated flippantly as she breathed normally again, and her fingertips ran through my hair.

"Well, I have my methods," I said succinctly, gently pulling her arms back around me.

"Oh ..." my angel murmured, looking delightfully confused when she noticed the needle in her hand.

While the blood steadily dripped into her vein, it occurred to Bella that my family would be returning today.

"What do you think they'll say?" she chuckled.

"I'm not sure. Especially with Rosalie and Esmé. We get that which they crave like nothing else in this world, but no one can grant them their wish. Carlisle and Emmett would move heaven and hell if there was even the slightest chance. They could blame Carlisle for transforming them, depriving them of the joys of motherhood, even though there was no hope for the two of them from a medical standpoint. You should expect that Esmé and Rose could not be pleased at all and could even be hostile," I tried to tell her.

Bella nodded and snuggled up to me again.

I didn't believe they would react that way, but with Rose especially, you had to be ready for anything.

After the transfusion, Bella's cheeks were red.

Good enough to eat. Literally! Fortunately, the others would be here only around noon. Only her changed smell displeased me very much.

We went to shower, finished our foreplay before medical care in a very sensual and sensitive way, and then waited in front of the grand piano for David and Sonya could tear themselves away from each other.

"Wonderful morning !" David fluted extremely good-humoredly as he came down the stairs beaming happily with his spouse.

"I heard," I muttered with a smirk.

To blush, his blood had apparently not yet returned to where it had less fun.

We walked at a leisurely pace to the main house, where we were already welcomed by a lively crowd of children and a richly set breakfast table.

One after the other - okay, it was rather at random, confusing and sometimes repeatedly - all the children were greeted warmly. It was unholy chaos in the kitchen, and I loved the turmoil.

With David, I stood for a moment in the doorway to the dining room and we watched the hungry mob chattering with each other randomly and pouncing on the food.

We had a little problem: there were only ten chairs. My vampiric family consisted of seven people including me. Eight, when Samantha was still with us. Then it seemed more than enough to acquire ten chairs. How to deceive yourself in a very pleasant way.

"Do you still know who belongs to whom here?" chuckled David.

"Let's see," I let my eyes wander over our huge family. "I'll take Bella, the three Native Americans, Marcus and the little blonde angel," I suggested.

"That could suit you!" he refused the offer with a dark tone and went to his smooch ball, which he took on his lap.

I shared the seat with Bella while breakfast continued its lively course.

Jake and Leah had already been out in the woods as wolves and - as I had asked Leah to do - had gotten the Advent calendar gifts for everyone. They contained all kinds of odds and ends for the children.

For Bella there was a little heating pad for her jacket pocket, which she put into operation directly out of curiosity.

The eight children composed themselves to carry out a snowball fight.

"Jackets on!" I admonished my two Native Americans, although they would certainly not be cold. Also a cold was rather not to be assumed.

"But Dad ..." Jake wanted to contradict annoyed.

"Nothing doing! If you don't wear coats, you'll give the others the idea not to wear them either!"

A little offended, the wolves moved away.

David and I accompanied our ladies upstairs.

Bella had to undergo her new procedure and Sonya took the opportunity that she was already here today instead of being examined tomorrow as arranged. Measuring blood pressure and abdominal girth, checking weight, giving a urine sample, getting an ultrasound, light palpations through the abdominal wall, temperature check, and checking the heartbeat of the fetus.

Bella and Sonya clearly enjoyed having to undergo this procedure together now.

The expectant fathers, on the other hand, seemed rather awestruck by the miracle of life.

"Everything is like in the textbook," Carlisle noted with extreme satisfaction. "Only with you everything is a little too fast!" he winked at Bella.

For the gynecological examination of Sonya's cervix we left the three of them alone, of course, but also in this regard everything was impeccable.

Afterwards, we stood together in the living room and watched the epic snowball fight.

David would love to romp with the kids out there and it appealed to me as well, but his bruised ribs and broken nose would not cooperate. So I stayed out of the battle as well.

Sonya and Bella sat down in the living room and animatedly shared their experiences of the last pregnancy(s). In Bella's case, they were more vague memories.

With David, I sat in the kitchen, continuing to watch the crowd of children, whereby he told me about the program he would have to present in Philadelphia on January 2nd.

He got very upset with his colleague. Correction. Ex-colleague.

I listened attentively.

To his words, but also how he already imagined the program in his head. In addition, I did not let the heartbeats of our sweethearts pass me by, although I deliberately ignored the intimate exchange between the girlfriends. However, I was unfortunately too far away for the pulsation of our babies.

And then targeted snowballs flew at my children, from a direction they didn't expect.

My family arrived.

Jazz and Em joined the snow flurry directly, while the others entered through the front door.

Carlisle promptly came down the stairs and greeted Esmé.

Alice stormed toward me.

"Go on. Tell me," she challenged me nastily.

It took me two milliseconds to understand.

She had seen me in a vision on Friday, which implied that I had not been with Bella or the Spirit Warriors for an unusually long time.

"There is news," I answered vaguely. I knew that I was bringing Alice to the white heat with it, since she foresaw nothing more - concerning my family - at the moment.

She snorted contemptuously.

"My dear Alice," David purred, amused. "There are things on this earth that you could never have foreseen!"

With that, David just dug his own grave. Exaggeratedly expressed. But he already assumed that by himself.

The children interrupted their war and came running in to welcome them all back home. They were almost soaking wet.

"How come you're all here?" inquired Esmé cheerfully.

She liked this commotion and felt very comfortable having so many children around her. Too rarely could she really live out her own maternal instincts. Jake and Leah were too old to indulge them to her hearts' content in a motherly - or rather grandmotherly - way. She was already thinking about baking cookies with the kids right away, making them cocoa, building an oversized snowman with them, and the like. And the children really liked the kind Esmé. For just such ideas.

Amidst the general welcoming bustle, David and I went to wake up our dearests.

Yes. Wake up. They had both dozed off. When I had noticed it some time ago, we had just covered them up.

I knelt next to my angel and carefully put a hand on her belly.

My baby seemed to be taking a nap as well, while the little heart thumped blithely away.

I smiled enthusiastically.

"Does this feeling ever stop?" I asked David quietly, who adored his wife no less. "That surrender to the new life. The awe of what she is taking on as a woman to give birth to this life," I said even further.

"No! Never!" David answered confidently.

I believed him without reservations.

Bella swayed a little, but she said that it would just be because she wasn't fully awake yet.

I wasn't sure yet if I should believe it.

David and Sonya advanced to the others and the pregnant woman was greeted by all.

All vampires found it totally exciting to witness up close how a new life was created, since humans usually kept us at a distance. First of all, of course, the ladies, but also Emmett put a hand on Sonya's belly veeeery carefully and chuckled merrily. He already formulated first threats! Football, baseball, wrestling. The crumb can get ready for that. No backtalk!

"What if it's a girl?" asked David with a smirk.

Em thought about it and stated that he would then make himself available as a make-up doll.

As I walked across the hall with Bella and finally stepped into the large and currently quite crowded kitchen, Em sprinted toward my angel.

He wanted to twirl her high through the air, which by now was his usual reception for Bella.

Carlisle was already widening his eyes in horror when Em started to make his stormy gesture.

Quickly, I turned in front of Bella, cutting off Em's path.

A growl had also slipped from my mouth. It was not intentional, rather an instinct, out of fear for my loved ones.

Bella had gasped in shock because I was standing in front of her so quickly, but immediately she smiled gratefully at me.

"Hey ... Eddie!" meanwhile complained Emmett, amused, behind me. "What are you acting like? You think I'm going to take your Bella away from you or something?" he reasoned, but backed away a little.

Our kind were very possessive when it came to our soul mates. He no less than I.

Bella chuckled and I tried to suppress a smirk.

"No one is going to take Bella away from me!" I declared with full conviction.

"Especially not you! You're not my type!" Bella stated categorically while looking at him past my shoulder and then underlining her statement with a kiss.

Em acted offended, but in general my family was confused.

Em had been greeting Bella like this for some time, but never had I acted like this. So they guessed that something must be different today than usual. But no one guessed how very different the things were today.

Bella and I smiled at each other, a hint conspiratorially.

I gently pushed Bella in front of me as I turned to face Emmett.

"Why don't you greet Sonya so effusively?" I asked hypocritically, putting my hands on Bella's waist from behind.

"Because she's having a baby?" asked Em.

He had never had anything to do with women in this condition or with a medical issue, but he was quite capable of understanding on his own that such a tumultuous greeting might be too much for an expectant mother and for the unborn child.

We said nothing, but I pushed my hands forward a bit and covered our Knob, and Bella placed hers on top of mine. For a moment I listened intently with my eyes closed.

Our baby had also awakened.

Em looked pretty stupid, when I looked at him again.

His head it was rattling. But also the rest of my family was still searching for the meaning between my question and our gesture. Esmé was the first to interpret it correctly. Of course. She was the only one who had actually experienced this feeling herself.

She put her hands over her mouth in disbelief and looked to Carlisle for support.

"Is she ...?" she murmured, barely audible.

Carlisle put his arms around her, nodded affirmatively, and gave his wife an affectionate kiss on the temple.

Esmé could hardly believe it. This happiness! She would become a grandmother!

She came the few steps to us and hugged us together.

"Don't let your other grandchildren hear you say that!" I warned her smirking.

She nodded.

Moved. She would certainly cry if she could.

"What?" the forgotten grandchildren immediately asked.

Esmé just shook her head, unable to say anything, and hugged her already existing grandchildren.

Jazz and Alice rejoiced when they understood. They both needed a moment to regain their facial features.

Jazz considered with amusement how this was possible, but he was not a doctor. How the baby had come into being was beside the point for him. He was already searching for the emotions of the little being, but he was unsuccessful.

It was probably too early.

Alice, on the other hand, was mentally preoccupied with setting up a nursery and the shopping trips it would require, while she jitterily clapped her hands together.

They also approached us, but kept a safe distance and just shook our hands in congratulations.

Jazz immediately noticed the changed smell of Bella and didn't want to get too close to her until he knew for sure if he could handle it. Alice, on the other hand, absolutely wanted to caress over her belly, but didn't dare. She already didn't dare to do that with Sonya. She had never wished to have children of her own. That was not expressed correctly. She had no memories of her human life, but children were not an issue there, as we found out at the time after James's attack on Bella. So this desire was not particularly profoundly present in her, as it was, for example, with Rosalie, who was just before her wedding.

But it was Rose who caught my attention.

She snorted contemptuously as she hit the realization in the meantime.

She had wondered - like everyone else - where David got his unmistakable bruises. Now she thought she had found the solution: I would certainly have done that to him. Because he would be the producer of the baby. Just as it had occured to me a few days ago, Carlisle's explanatory voice now echoed within her. There was no reason not to believe Carlisle's medical point of view. So there was only one explanation for Rose. The same explanation I had found. Bella had cheated on me! The fact that I was still protecting Bella despite her obvious infidelity and that David was still alive did not contradict this assumption. I would not finish off the biological father of five children, who was also Bella's best friend. And Bella was my soul mate, whom I would probably forgive anything. Rose thought I was weak. Because I didn't turn away from Bella. Because I let Bella wrap me up. But that didn't apply to her! She would finish what I had failed to do!

"Jake! Leah!" I uttered tensely before Rosalie arrived at David.

The twins had understood me and blocked Rose's way to David.

They protected him. In human form.

One glared at the other and the supernatural beings heard Rose's growl.

The tension was palpable, but nothing happened ... for a moment.

"Who wants to build a giant snowman?" asked Marcus into the tense mood, and he and Becky took David's kids outside.

Nobody moved until the children were in the snow and already not even thinking about this strange situation in here.

"Rosalie," I said meekly, approaching my sister. "It's not what you think. We don't know how it was possible, but it's my child."

"You're pregnant?" then Emmett had also drawn the right conclusions.

Well, yes. He had before, but this explanation had seemed so incredibly inane to him that he had thought to keep his mouth shut.

"Yes, Emmett. You're going to be an uncle to a little half-vampire," Bella purred, walking toward him.

Rose, on the other hand, was not convinced and growled at David, who had already pushed Sonya behind him.

"She's lying!" Rose looked me piercingly in the eyes without changing her attitude. 'How stupid are you anyway? You can't become a father! Look at the reality, Edward! She has betrayed you! With David, who at the same time pretended to be your friend! They make a fool of you and make fun of you! They take advantage of your simplicity and probably laugh at you!' she thought at the same time.

At that, she gave David a hostile look, followed closely by a grumble to Bella.

Jake and Leah took each other by the hand.

It was a subliminal warning to Rosalie. A warning that she had understood, but was not interested in.

"Rose," Bella spoke calmly before I could say anything back to Rose myself, but Bella only received another threatening look.

Rosalie growled viciously.

Immediately I was at Rose and grabbed her by the throat.

She had dared to growl at my baby!

Sonya gasped hard for air and Bella also sucked in the air between her teeth.

I heard the disturbingly racing human hearts.

Carlisle and Esmé pulled Bella protectively behind them.

While Carlisle suspected what was actually going on inside Rose, Esmé suspected something similar, but that she was stirred by envy. We were to have a baby and she herself was denied this.

Alice just stood there trying to understand what Rose could have been thinking that I was rushing at her like that and not being very careful with her.

Jazz understood it.

He felt the downright hatred that poisoned her thoughts. The pity for my folly of simply accepting it and not sufficiently questioning it. He made an effort to push her sensations in another direction. He did not dare to intervene in the events himself, for fear of a knee-jerk reaction. Both from Rose, because she was attacked, and from me. Someone who defended his loved ones was capable of anything. Regardless of the species.

One corner of my mouth twitched.

I held Rose just as adamantly as Samantha had held Jake in the school parking lot so many weeks ago. And I had held Samantha afterwards because I had to protect Jake. Even then, no one had interfered in the events, and possibly provoked a far worse action in doing so. It was a curious déjà vu.

Emmett struggled with himself.

Rosalie, his mate, confronted the rest of his family, which was precious to him. He did not know what to do. Also in order not to challenge any rash act.

David worried about Sonya.

He had not dared to turn away from Rose. What she intended to do with David had been so plain in her face that David was unable to move.

But now that I was holding Rose and moving her a little away from him and Sonya, he could take care of his wife.

In the second he turned to Sonya, Rose tugged herself out of my grip by purposefully hitting against my wrist and shoulder with the claws of her fingernails. Had almost broken my stony bones with it.

But she did not consider me an enemy. I was still the victim.

With the intact arm I was too slow and only grazed Rose when she now rushed at David.

"No!" I heard Bella say chokingly behind me, but by then it had already happened.

A rusty brown wolf stood in our kitchen.

For a split second, Rose was distracted by this.

She didn't understand why Jake obstructed her. He was my son, he was supposed to be on my side. Until she realized Jake was also Bella's son. Of course he would defend his mother. Presumably, he had also been twisted around his finger with the help of youthful simplicity.

This only fueled Rosalie's anger even more, but that brief hesitation was enough for me to reach her so that I could easily push her to the floor with Jake's assistance.

I held her quite hard. She lay on her stomach with me torturously crossing her arms behind her back and Jake holding her legs at bay.

Rose was immobilized.

Very different than Emmett, who could not tolerate his wife being attacked. Regardless of by whom.

There was no use in Jazz's precautionary appeasement, nor in Carlisle's reassuring words that he should not rush things and remain calm. Esmé's dismayed reminder that we were siblings was completely lost in the melee. She could only pull my angel aside a little from the events.

Emmett saw red.

He was quivering with rage. But when he immediately wanted to come to the aid of his beloved, a white wolf already jumped over us and pushed Emmett against the opposite wall. There he was immediately held by Jasper and Alice.

By now, everyone present had understood why Rose got so upset. It could not be my child and Bella and David should have been accused and even punished for it. But the intensity with which she expressed her opinion was not understandable to anyone. To that extent, they wanted to keep Emmett out before he did something that would destroy our family for good.

Jazz used his gift to the fullest to subdue both him and Rosalie.

While Em just looked uncomprehendingly into the big white wolf face that examined him critically and bared its teeth, Rose squirmed under Jake and me, ready to use any carelessness on our part to her advantage.

"Sonya!" shouted David all of a sudden, drawing my attention to the pregnant woman.

Her heart raged, her eyes were wide with horror, cold sweat stood on her forehead. She would lose consciousness at any moment! But I couldn't get to her, and Carlisle was too far away.

Sonya slumped down.

David tried to hold her, but had no chance because of his bruised ribs.

Leah threw herself behind the two with her soft fur and prevented worse at the last moment.

For a moment, no one moved, and silence reigned.

A moment when the many thoughts got through to me, as there was no acute danger. All the insurgents were under control.

Rose mentally cursed in my direction.

I was a fool. She saw herself in the right and still wanted to implement this right. Destroy the father of the bastard. I just couldn't find a clue as to why she got so caught up in the idea of punishment. Even if Bella had cheated on me, it was hardly punishable by death. Neither for David nor for Bella. Because she also accused Bella. She was insidious and would take advantage of the kindness of our family. She would betray us all. Above all, I didn't understand why this should be Rose's problem of all things. But she continued to clamor. Moreover, she was now additionally furious, since in her opinion I was attacking her, and her husband was held in check just as relentlessly as she was.

'If this escalates, our family will break up!' thought Esmé continuously, shaken.

This was not a trivial scuffle. This was a matter of deadly seriousness.

A struggle among her children and grandchildren. The fear that she might lose even one more of us was unbearable to her and the anguish was written all over her face. She had already lost a daughter, after all. Samantha. Also at the hands of her own family. The thought of infidelity had only occurred to her because of Rose's behavior. She didn't trust Bella with it, but even if it were so, she would join my revealed forgiveness. She didn't think I was such a fool in this case as Rose did. She rather thought of the desperate act, which I had also suspected at times and which I would have forgiven Bella for. But I had already explicitly said that it was my child. However that was possible, she believed us.

Alice was nervous.

She could not foresee what would happen next. She had only one thought. I should see to it that this stopped. She blamed me for the difficult situation in which she did not feel comfortable. She was torn. She would not be able to face against Rose or Emmett if it actually escalated. But she fervently hoped that it would not come to that. That was the only reason she held Emmett in place together with Jasper.

My children thought quite different.

They were willing to protect us at any cost. Bella. David and Sonya. Me. They were not at all comfortable with the idea, but they would do it and bared their teeth in evidence as their wary gaze alternated between Bella and me.

Jasper focused on his gift.

He gave us all peace and understanding. Without significant success. Moreover, he analyzed the situation, closely observed each person in the room. His sister lay conquered on the tiles. He felt sorry for Rose and the humiliation that came with it. He stopped Emmett from going after me. A situation that did not suit him. We were siblings. There were sibling rivalries and frictions between us, but they were never of a serious nature. Until now. He did not want to fight against his siblings, although he already had a strategy in mind. His side was my side. Rose's behavior was too rash and aggressive for him. But he doubted that he could actually attack Rose or Emmett with the intention to kill. Therefore, his strategic considerations went solely in the direction of defense so that no one would come to harm.

Carlisle was immediately with Sonya as she lay in Leah's soft fur.

Her heart was still racing, but the faintness was already making it calm down. A few seconds ago he had thought and also said that we should talk to each other calmly before we resorted to actions that we could not take back, now he thought only of Sonya's condition.

He gently lifted her in his arms and brought her away from the action into the next room.

David remained.

He knew he was the trigger and had to face the charges. Moreover, he was not sure if he could follow his wife independently. His body was shaking all over.

Leah used her freedom of movement without Sonya and David to growl warningly at Emmett again at close range.

Alice and Jazz had slight difficulty keeping Emmett's bear-like stature in check. The difficulties were immediately finished with Leah.

For the time being, the fronts were settled, but Emmett was still looking for his own role in it.

His wife's motives were not comprehensively clear to him, but the fact that she was held humiliated on the floor by me and Jake made him quiver with rage. He did not know what to do. He would not be able to take sides against his family, but not against Rose either.

Esmé held Bella gently against her to protect her if necessary from unforeseen dangers or to take her away.

If necessary, from buckling due to a fainting spell.

My angel was pale and trembling, yet she defended herself against Esmé's arms, which, however, did not let her escape. Fear was in her gaze. She mumbled awkwardly to herself.

"David ... Let me ... Edward ... Rosalie ..." could be heard indistinctly.

My fighter. But anger rose in me as I saw Bella like this. The two hearts were beating worryingly restlessly. And only Rosalie was responsible for this agitation.

My grip tightened and I growled.

My instincts demanded the destruction of the person who threatened my mate and my child, but Rose was my sister. I could not forget that, especially not with Esmé's worrying thoughts in the background.

I breathed deeply to force myself to inner calm.

"Rose. I know how this sounds. That you find it hard to believe, but it really is the case. Bella carries MY child inside her. She will give life to a vampire. I can't blame you for thinking that David is the father. We thought it ourselves. That's why Alice was able to see me in a vision. Because I was thinking far away about how things could go on under these circumstances. But we were wrong. The facts speak against this insinuation. My child is already thirsty and has tampered with Bella. The only blood it had available," I explained calmly, but with inner tension.

During my monologue, Bella had been able to regain much of her composure. She became calmer. With Esmé safely nearby, she took a few steps toward Rose, turned sideways, and pulled her T-shirt up a bit.

"Look at Bella, Rose," I urged her, loosening my hands so she could turn her head enough. "That's not a human baby growing inside Bella. It's OUR baby!" I continued.

I concentrated on Rosalie's thoughts and watched every muscle she moved. Absolutely nothing escaped my attention.

She looked at Bella's bulge very closely. Where it began, where it ended, how the elevation passed. She drew comparisons to Sonya. When she had gotten Sonya ready for Peter and Stan's wedding, she had seen and been allowed to touch her belly. At that time she was in her twelfth week. Bella's belly looked even a little bigger today. Also Bella she had seen almost unclothed on this said day. There was nothing and it was only six weeks ago. But even last Monday, when we were here together, there had been no obvious signs of pregnancy.

Her gaze went to David.

A man she had come to appreciate very much. Friendly, honest, and with an extremely lovely family that she had taken to her heart. Especially Emma, of course. Rose loved children, so she was grateful that through the friendship with David we got some that she could take care of from time to time.

She turned her head a little more with difficulty.

She wanted to look at me and I released her a little from my hard grip so she could do so.

Now we would have another child for this family! An immortal child! was her next thought. At the same time she remembered how Kate, Tanya, and Irina had lost their mother. Better said, because of wich actions. This one had changed a child and was held accountable by the Volturi for breaking the law. With her life. Rose had no intention of acting as a judge here, she merely recognized a certain parallel and saw the fundamental danger in the eye.

Rose's posture collapsed. All the muscles under me relaxed. Rose gave up, which Emmett also recognized.

"And should you dare lay a hand on one of mine, we will destroy you as we did Samantha!" I nevertheless articulated warningly, just as a reminder, whereby my Spirit Warriors demonstratively built themselves up beside me.

I had spoken it so softly that only Rose and the wolves could hear.

Rose nodded. Intimidated by the seriousness in my voice, but also convinced. Rose smiled meekly.

She was looking forward to having another child in our family.

I helped Rose up from the floor while David immediately started moving toward Sonya.

Her heart calmed down and she was already coming to.

"I'm sorry!" said Rose, looking first at me and then at Bella.

She nodded graciously.

"May I?" she then asked cautiously and slowly walked towards my angel.

Rose very timidly touched our Knob. She felt the pulsation of the heart, concentrated, and then also heard the difference to Bella's pulse.

A touch in which Rose lost all her hostility and could also no longer comprehend it. There was the sister I had expected. Subtly smiling and already enchanted by our baby.

Emmett also registered his consort's change of mood and relaxed.

Still a little hesitant, he was released by Alice and Jazz.

In her mind, not wanting to frighten Bella unnecessarily, Rose added to her apology a sacred promise that she would also protect Bella and the child from the Volturi, should that become necessary.

She hugged Bella and apologized again.

"Will it at least be a boy that we can do something decent? Boxing, for example?" Em inquired, definitively dissolving the mood.

Bad mistake!

Leah turned to him, bared her teeth, and chased Emmett all over the house.

Thank you for reading!