Soon I receive another unexpected visitor at an unholy hour. This time it is Jasper who appears at my bedroom window. He ushers me outside.
"Come Bella.", he says looking shiftily. "I need your help. Let's take your truck, it's less noticeable than the cars I could borrow off my siblings."
He is still looking nervous. "Please, I know you don't like being ordered around without explanation and I will tell you, but we need to go before anyone catches on."
Wordlessly I throw him the keys. "Go easy on the Thing. It can't handle the abuse you lot normally put your cars through."
He nods and drives off the moment I have clipped in my seatbelt. We do not go far, I look in confusion at the building as he maneuvers into a parking spot. The only other car there belongs to the employee who is just opening up the shop.
"Jasper, why are you taking me to a drug store?"
"Because you need to buy a pregnancy test."
"WHAT!", I yell. "Jasper, I have never even had sex!"
I start hyperventilating, and Jasper quickly calms me down with his empathy gift, looking at me sheepishly.
"Sorry, I meant I need a pregnancy test but I have no clue what to look for in the shop and I don't want to ask a human for help."
"Jasper, what exactly do you need a pregnancy test for?" I regard him suspiciously now.
"Rose.", he says simply. "Her emotions have been out of whack for months. At first I thought she was just conflicted over the infertility thing, but more and more the emotions coming from her started to feel like two separate presences. I started watching her more closely then. She has been eating such weird human food, and seems to have put on some weight as well."
I think back over our interactions in the past weeks. "She said she needed to buy some new bras because the old ones don't fit anymore."
"Erm, yes, Emmett rather extensively described his appreciation for how her assets have been developing under the new diet. That was another clue." Jasper looks like he would have blushed if he still could. "Anyway, you see my point then? The only explanation that I can think of that fits, is her being pregnant."
"What I think is that we need to be very careful not to give her any hope until we are absolutely certain."
"Exactly. That is why I snuck you out to buy a pregnancy test without the rest knowing."
"Yeah, but not here."
He looks at me in confusion.
I sigh. "Forks is a very small town.", I tell him. "People gossip, and Mrs. Stanley the assistant at this shop is especially bad. Her daughter is in my class. If she sees me buy a pregnancy test it will be all over town by tomorrow. She won't know it is not for me. She'll tell my father."
Jasper nods, wide eyed, and throws my truck into gear.
"NO!", I yell.
He looks at me in confusion.
"She was looking out the window. She'll have recognized my truck parked here. Now I need to go in and buy something inconspicuous or it will still be talked about."
I dash into the store and grab a box of tampons just to make a point. I take a packet of chocolate cookies as well to snack on when we drive to a store out of town, as that will take a while in my slow truck. Jessica's mom eyes me suspiciously as she rings up my items, but seems to not find anything she can interrogate me about.
While driving Jasper and I discuss how to actually get the pregnancy test done on Rosalie. It is truly a blessing that Alice can no longer see our futures, or all hell would have broken loose already.
In the end the plan we come up with is simple. Among the statistics Carlisle has been carefully tracking since his family started their new diet is the mineral levels in their urine, requiring regular samples. Next test round we would just have to steal Rosalie's sample and use a pregnancy test on it without either of them or the rest of the family finding out. Piece of cake right? I still saw it going wrong in about a hundred different ways, but in matters of tactical planning I had learned to trust Jasper's judgement.
We carefully ensured that the still-bloodthirsty Edward and Alice were out of the house when the testing happened. Hardly a large achievement, a phone call confirmed that they were still with the Denali coven all the way in Alaska. Jasper listens until he has heard Carlisle line up all his equipment in the study, then gives me a sign.
My turn. I, the resident clumsy human, very believably 'accidentally' break the glass I have been drinking from. Even after all these months I marvel that the blood dripping from the large gash in my hand no longer turns the five vampires in the house ravenous.
"Carlisle.", Jasper says at normal volume, knowing he will be heard. "Bella hurt her hand, I am taking her into your study so you can patch her up."
He carefully wraps my hand in a towel, giving me a conspiratory smirk. I feel lightheaded as he carries me up the stairs. Odd, I have not fainted at the sight of my own blood in a while. Was it even the blood? Perhaps it was the speed with which Jasper leapt up the stairs. I had not been carried like this by a vampire since I broke up with Edward. I was pressed rather tight against his chest, and could not help comparing how the outline of his hard, defined muscles felt with Edward's lanky, gangly frame. My softer body tingled, and I could not get the image of that playful smirk out of my head.
Luckily looking dazed is the only other job I have in this plan. Jasper deposits me in a chair at Carlisle's desk, and waits until the man is fully occupied in fussing over me. I do not even see him move when the arms clasped behind his back must be working to stir the pregnancy test through whichever of the open sample jars is labeled 'Rosalie'.
When Carlisle is done we quickly sneak into the garage, where the chemical fumes will cover up any lingering urine smell on the pregnancy test. Conveniently this gives us privacy to look at the test result.
A little pink plus sign is clearly visible on the test.
Jaspers arms are around me in an instant.
"I'm so happy for her.", he whispers in my hair.
My eyes tear up. I may not be able to understand Rosalie's obsession with having children, but I could see how much she has been hurting. And I could see how much feeling her hurt has been hurting Jasper. Playing twins for decades and both having a traumatic past gave them a much closer bond than their more happy go lucky siblings. I found myself hoping that seeing his sister heal would help Jasper as well.
Jasper suddenly breaks away, hit by intense emotions.
"Whaaaaaat!", we hear Emmett yell behind us. "Damn, I'm glad the two of you have finally come to your senses about each other, but this is moving a bit fast isn't it?"
I stare at him in confusion. He is holding the pregnancy test, clearly alluding to it. But what does he mean? My eyes drift to Rose, a watery smile on her stony face.
"I'm so happy for you Bella. You will be a wonderful mother."
"Mother?" The penny drops. "Rose, I'll be an aunt. YOU will be a wonderful mother. The best."
Her eyes grow large. "Bella, you don't have to give the baby up to me. What about Jasper, he deserves a say."
"FOR FUCKS SAKE I AM NOT SLEEPING WITH JASPER!", I yell, probably far too loud, but all their insinuations have been getting to me. "The test is yours, Rose. Jasper started suspecting when he felt two sets of emotions coming of you, but we did not want to give you any false hope so we stole your urine out of Carlisle's lab to do a test on first."
She looks at him for confirmation.
"Rose, you are pregnant.", he simply says.
It finally seems to register. She gives an elated squeal and drags us into a happy dance.
Emmett's face momentarily goes blank, until he breaks out in joy and joins our dance, his arms around Rosalie.
Carlisle and Esme are next join us in the garage, perplexed but happy.
We may not know what to expect for the future of this pregnancy, but in this moment none of us particularly cared.