Chapter Three:

I stared blankly at the result on the digital screen.

Pregnant

Charlie is going to have a heart attack. I might be having one right now, the room was swishing around me a little, Miriam walked me into a consultation room and sat me down and offered me a drink from the drink cooler in the store. She sat in silence with me for a moment while my brain processed the information. Without realizing, my hand had instinctively wrapped around my stomach protectively, I found myself scared the baby would just fall out of me if I was up and walking about.

Could I have this baby? I wouldn't graduate high school, I have no job, no place of my own, what if Charlie kicked me out? Renee? She was too much of a flake to be around a baby, I would know. The panic set in, my breathing sped up and little dots appeared in my vision and my ears were ringing. My mom was 18 when she had me and look how well she fucked me up, even my mother managed to keep her legs shut longer than me.

"Drink, breathe, you have got time on your side either way darling." She opened the can of Arizona iced tea and put it in front of me. I took a long swig of the drink, not realizing how dry my mouth had gotten. I felt my body relax a little, but I just felt weird, knowing I was pregnant, my body felt suddenly foreign.

"I don't have a job! Or a plan!" I blurted out, picking up the test, and tapping the screen like it'd made a mistake and would change its result. "I'm having this baby and I'm going to be broke and homeless."

"I'm hiring..?" Miriam shrugged nonchalantly.

"You are? No, I don't have a diploma, I'm gonna be a drop out." I squeaked, picturing the disappointment in my dad's face that he'd never send his little girl off to college, his baby would be repeating the mistake he's lived through. He would be so disappointed.

"The pharmacy is a shop as much as a pharmacy, you don't need a PhD to stock shelves and check out customers at the cash register, why don't you let me make you an offer? I have an empty apartment above the store, I'll offer you flexible hours, healthcare, paid overtime, and maternity leave. On the condition, that you study for a GED, and you put yourself through school."

"Are you kidding? That's too much, I couldn't accept that, you're offering more than I could give back." I shook my head wondering if she was crazy.

"You seem like a bright young woman; I think you'd add great value to my business. I'm willing to invest in your future if you are?"

"I'll take it, if you're sure... You're too generous." I was starting to see it, my making a life for myself and my baby. I'd leave Forks and La Push behind me, and build a life from the ground up in Port Angeles, no one who knew me would see me, so I just wouldn't say anything, I'd swear Charlie to secrecy and hope that Jake kept his mouth shut and never tells Charlie about Paul. If I could stop word getting around, then my dad won't shoot Paul with a shotgun. Maybe Paul would want to know? But if he wanted to know he wouldn't have cut me off so completely without knowing. I was heartbroken, but something about having this life inside of me forced me to pick myself up and cope. I couldn't pass my misery to my child, they felt everything I did.

"I kept mine, despite my family cutting me off. My son is the best thing that ever happened to me, without him, I'd have never had the drive in me to get where I am. I was 16. I have no regrets, but it is not the easy path, it's not for everyone." She warned me.

"I'll make it work; I know what I'm getting into." I nodded and she squeezed my hand.

"I see myself in you dear, you've got spirit. Now do you want to have a look upstairs at your future home?" She offered. I followed her into the alley down the side of the pharmacy and the fire escape the led up to the apartment, I imagined how hard it would be dragging a stroller up and down that on my own, but I'd figure it out. She unlocked the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

"It's nothing fancy," She flipped the lights on and opened all the doors letting me wander about.

"It's amazing," I answered, it had two bedrooms, a lounge, bathroom and large kitchen diner. The flooring was all old hardwood, it just needed paint and a deep clean, it was ridden with dust and cobwebs.

"So, what now? I imagine you'll need to talk to your school, parents?"

"Yeah. My dad might never speak to me again, my mum will cry because she got pregnant with me at 18." This was going to be rough. "When can I start working?" I asked her, eager to gain my independence.

"Just swing by anytime when you're ready, I'll wait." She led me back to the pharmacy where she passed me a bottle of prenatal vitamins and wished me luck. She already felt like the mom I had needed all these years.

"Thank you for being my fairy Godmother," I hugged her goodbye and set off home.

I felt good, I felt alive, my mind was racing forwards thinking about the baby, but it didn't mean my heart wasn't broken. Tears streamed silently down my face as I imagined giving birth alone, late nights alone, first steps and words alone. Or worse, when my child would inevitably come home and ask me why the other kids at school have and mom and a dad. How much would they look like Paul? Would that make me smile? Cry?

"I'm sorry your dad won't be there, I'm not really sure why." I apologized to my belly; my hand felt glued to my stomach in a way that would be hard to hide from Charlie. Now I had to figure out when exactly to tell him. What the fuck was I supposed to do about Paul? If he wouldn't talk to me? How would I even try to tell him?

I didn't want people to be whispering behind closed hands about my baby, so I wasn't going to tell anyone but Charlie, until enough time had passed for people to have no clue, maybe they'd think I got pregnant after I moved... I resolved to try and talk to Paul one last time, I drove to la push, my stomach twisting in knots as I thought about the possibilities of what might happen now. As I got to his street, I had to pull over to dry my eyes and compose myself. I got out of the car and knocked on his door, nothing. I knocked again. Nothing. Determined to do my due diligence in informing the father of my child, I grabbed my notebook and pen from the car and wrote him a note.

Paul,

I'm pregnant, call me, please

Bella.

I jotted down my number and posted it through his door and promised myself I would never return unless he answered me back. As I made my way home to Charlie, I tried to think about how to broach the subject, there really wasn't any way to drop this bombshell lightly. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew I'd be breaking his heart. I pulled up in the drive and put the prenatal vitamins and test in my pocket before heading inside.

"Dad?" I called out, his car was here but he wasn't. I guess he must have gone out for a drink with Billy and Harry. I flipped the light on and nearly screamed when I saw a statuesque figure right in front of me, inches from my face.

"Bella? Would you like to explain yourself? I thought you'd been murdered." Alice Cullen, stood before me in the flesh, berating me for some unknowable reason was the last thing I expected.

"Alice? What are you doing here? Is he back? Is everyone back? Are you okay?" I rambled chaotically, looking around expecting to see them now. She steered me to the sofa and sat down with me.

"It's just me, I came to check up on you. I saw you meet a man, near some train tracks, you went to his house and then nothing, blank, void. I thought you got picked up by a serial killer Bella, what happened?"

"I don't know, my friend was drunk and needed to lie down, we stayed there and left in the morning, nothing remarkable happened." I didn't quite meet her eye as I said 'nothing remarkable' because it didn't quite feel like the truth, and she could tell.

"All I know is the events that took place there have ended your future, are you sure there's nothing you missed out?" She stared directly into my eyes holding me in almost a trance. I pulled the positive test out of my pocket and dropped it in front of her, not brave enough to say it out loud.

"So, this is what you call 'nothing remarkable'?!" She snatched the test out of my hand and paced restlessly at vampire speed around the house, I got up and got a glass of water to take my prenatal vitamin with when Alice materialized and stopped my hand before I could get the pill in my mouth.

"You're... keeping it?" She looked somewhere between horrified and disgusted.

"Alice, I have it all figured out..." I started but she cut me off by throwing me over her shoulder and chucking me into the backseat of her car. I sighed and buckled myself in, it's not like I could outrun or fight her, so I was along for the ride. I checked the doors anyway and unsurprisingly child lock was on, I realized a while ago that to the Cullens, I was just a petulant child.

"I have never met someone so prone to life threatening idiocy," She raved furiously from behind the wheel. "Keeping you alive is a fulltime job Bella, thank God, you've got me watching over you. We'll get that thing out, and then your future should come back." my blood ran cold when I realized what was happening, now I wished I'm made a commotion, not that it would have made a difference. That's when I realized why the back seat, the back is completely blacked out, so there won't be any cctv photographs of me to follow the trail. If I planned something to ruin her plan, she would see and adjust her course... Suddenly I realized just how terrifying Alice really was. She'd always just been an eccentric tinker bell in my mind, not anymore. I needed information, to make any kind of game plan.

"Where are we going?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"Bella, I know you're trying to find a way out, just calm down. We'll get Carlise's opinion, you think I'd trust just any doctor with you?" She huffed, offended at the thought.

"Oh. Okay." So, we'd meet Carlise somewhere, maybe I could... no, if I did anything it needed to be spur of the moment, I just had to go along for the ride. I laid back in my seat, trying to get comfy, at least the seats were heated. I felt less worried about seeing Carlise than the whole clan, at least Edward wasn't getting involved. Even though he didn't have the same hold on me anymore, it would feel strangely wrong to see him while I'm carrying someone else's child. Just too weird. I fell asleep at some point, and I think I must've been down for a long time by the color of the sky, I woke up to Alice pushing a McDonalds bag into my lap. I picked at it half-heartedly not having much appetite except for the Mcflurry she'd thrown in.

"How much longer? I need to use the bathroom." I sighed, fidgeting in my seat.

"56 minutes, you'll make it." She said with the authority of a future teller. Great no chance of getting on a camera here or making a break for it. We eventually pulled into a long, gated driveway that went on for a mile to a very secluded ultra-modern house that screamed 'Cullen Lair'. We pulled into a garage that opened itself, Alice let me out once it had fully closed, she showed me to a bathroom and then left me to my devices. I finished up quick and wandered about the property, exploring the large open living space, I cringed at the Piano in the corner, knowing whose it was. I wondered where he was right now, and if he'd be disgusted that I'd been here.

"Bella?" Alice called from upstairs, I walked in the direction of her voice and found her in a bedroom I assume she was assigning me, she opened the wardrobes to show off those clothes she'd picked out for me, as per usual nothing I'd ever chose for myself.

"Thank you, Alice, I-" I started, trying to appeal to her as a friend.

"I thought you'd want to freshen up, I've seen Edward coming later. Around midnight I think." She chimed cheerfully. I turned straight around and ran into the ensuite and puked my guts up.

"See? That won't happen if we get that thing out of you." She called from the other room. Fuck off Alice I grumbled internally. Needing the alone time to compose myself, I got in the shower and took her advice, freshened up. She laid out a ridiculous designer outfit in Edwards favorite shade of blue for me that I begrudgingly changed into, she chattered away about something I couldn't for the life of me pay attention to as she did my hair and makeup.

"Bella?" Carlisle startled me as he materialized in front of me. "How are you feeling? Alice told me the news, are you having any symptoms yet?" He asked in his clinical bed side manner.

"I feel fine, maybe a little tired..." I started but Alice interrupted.

"She threw up, and she barely touched her food." She snitched.

"I think the throw up was more from shock," I argued.

"I'm sorry if Alice has unsettled you, she's trying in her own way to protect you, if you don't mind, I'd like to run a few tests, just check everything is normal. We won't be able to run certain tests for a few more weeks I imagine, do you know how far along you are?" He smoothed over, always the diplomat.

"I, uh, conceived, about 2 weeks ago." I mumbled looking down at the carpet.

"So, it's a bit early for scans then, I'll run some bloods and observe you for now."

"I'm gonna be here for weeks? What about Charlie?" I felt the panic building in my chest, ready to explode.

"Whoa there, let's keep that heart rate a little lower. Alice, would you leave us a minute." He waved her out of the room.

"Carlise, I don't want to..." I couldn't finish my sentence, hyperventilating for the hundredth time today.

"I'm not here to hurt you Bella, Alice is concerned this pregnancy isn't viable, lets run the tests, if it's safe, there's no reason to intervene, if it's not..."

"If it's not you're gonna take my baby away from me." I sobbed silently, watching the carpet absorb my tears.

"I will provide you with the best possible health care, Bella. You're still a valued member of our family, we'd be distraught if any harm befell you."

"Then why did you leave me? I was harmed. I-" Before I could finish that sentence I looked up and saw Edward, lurking in the doorway. My breath caught in my throat and the room started to spin, Carlise sat me down and then left without a word.

"Bella?" Edward stared at me with the intensity of a thousand burning suns, crossing the room in as human a motion as he could, he dropped to his knees in front of me, took my hands in his and looked into my eyes. I would have given anything for this weeks ago, now it had only the faintest tug on my emotions.

"Edward, what are you doing here? I'm pretty sure you remember you last words to me better than I do." I sighed, too exhausted to kick up a scene.

"There are no words that could express how wrong I was, how sorry I am, or how determined I am to fix what I broke."

"You can't fix me. Can't fix this." I shook my head, pulling my hands back to no avail.

"Bella, we just need to get rid of this," He gestured to my stomach with a look of contempt, "and then you will live, and I will spend my eternity try to make this up to you, it's my fault, I know."

"You had nothing to do with this," I pulled harder until he conceded and released my hands, which flew to cover my stomach protectively. "This was 50% me, 50% someone else."

"...Who?" He whispered, staring into space.

"It doesn't matter." I huffed.

"Bella who was that man? He might cause your death." He shook his head in disdain.

"Why does it matter? This is my future. Nothing any of you say will make me get rid of my baby, if it kills me, it kills me." I shrugged. Alice and Carlise speed into the room at speeds and things started flying across the room, everything and everyone moving at such speed that I was all a blur, I instinctively ran to the bathroom and locked the door as if something like a lock would deter a vampire. I couldn't be sure, but I think the commotion was Edward wanting to remove my fetus with his bare hands. All I could do was curl into a ball in the furthest corner of the room, holding my belly and crossing my fingers that the door would be opened by a friendly face soon enough.

"Bellaaa?" Alice called, knocking on the door. When I didn't answer she threw it off its hinges and scooped me up in her arms, depositing me on the bed and reassuring me that my makeup wasn't ruined.

"Please let me go home," I grasped her arm and pleaded. "I'll go to the doctors I promise but let me go." She shook her head and walked away without a word. Exhaustion overtook my body, and I knew there was no point fighting it, I was equally vulnerable asleep or awake. I woke up at some point in the early hours of the morning, wrapped up in the cold marble arms of Edward, something I never thought would happen again, but I recoiled as soon as I realized.

"Bella..." He pulled me back into him. "I'm sorry if I startled you, I thought if you wouldn't listen, you'd die."

"And you don't now?" I scoffed.

"Alice promised she won't let you die." he explained.

"You mean Alice is willing to perform an invasive medical procedure against my wishes?" I asked. He answered in silence. "I don't understand why you care?" I groaned in frustration.

"Bella you are my world, my reason for existence, I left because I thought I'd be doing you a favor and clearly, I haven't. When Alice told me... Bella my heart broke into a million pieces and I knew I couldn't go through with it, staying away from you is impossible, I'm bound to you." He tucked a stray hair behind my ear. "I will never leave you again, I will never betray you like that." He vowed.

"I don't know what to say to you Edward, words are cheap, and time doesn't stand still for the rest of us, you wanted me to be with a normal human boy, clearly, I was."

"Are you with him?" He looked deep into my eyes, as if he could read the answer there.

"No. Actually he won't take my calls, or see me, or respond to my note telling him he's going to be a father, so no, I am not 'with him'. Doesn't make a difference though."

"He abandoned you?" Edward seethed.

"Hey so did you, I guess I have a type." I pointed out as caviller as I could. Edward froze to stone for a while before growling lowly.

"Who. Is. He."

"I'm. Not. Telling." I shook my head.

"How did it even happen?" He asked. "And I'm not asking for a biology lesson." He shot me a knowing look seeing the contrarian look on my face.

"You really want to know?" I scoffed.

"I do." he nodded.

"I met him while I was drinking with a friend, he offered us a place to sleep. My friend got too drunk and I got pregnant, it was a eventful night."

"You didn't know him? You were drinking?"

"No, you don't get to judge how I fixed what you broke." I corrected him.

"I know you, you would never go with someone you don't know, if I'd have been there to protect you... Then he wouldn't have taken advantage of you when you were vulnerable."

"Maybe you don't know me that well, and that's not what...happened." he interrupted me by pulling my face to his and gazing heatedly between my eyes and lips, something that would have incapacitated me before, but was just enough to raise my heart rate a little now.

"I know you. I know you still love me, like I will always love you. I know you wanted more of this from me, maybe... We could try." He murmured, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I stared at him wide eyed, unable to believe what I was hearing, and deeply unsure of how to answer. I don't love Edward like that anymore. The truth is I wanted Paul, but he wasn't an option, and apparently Edward was. Just then I heard the front door close and a car engine start, did that mean Alice saw us getting hot and heavy and was giving us privacy? Did that mean I'd already said yes? Was it destined now?

I don't know which one of us moved first but my lips were on his, and it felt hollow compared to Paul, but it was something, and oddly comforting, if confusing as hell. I couldn't do it though.

"I'm sorry, I'm just, a lot going on right now." I pulled back, kicking myself that I'd slipped like that and given him an inch knowing he'd be expecting eternal devotion from now on.

"It's okay..." He stroked my hair soothingly, a concerned look on his face. He must sense how loose his grip is on me now. I didn't turn down the comfort, tired of everything, I laid there being petted like a damn cat, eyes closed, playing through a montage of Paul in my head. Everything in me screamed that this was wrong, but I just didn't know how to get through this any other way. I didn't know why Alice's certainty that this baby would kill me didn't scare me, but it didn't. I just knew she was wrong; I just couldn't tell you why.

AN: Some big twists but don't worry, things will keep moving quickly. Thank you to all thee people who have reviewed, you've given me the motivation to write faster :)