CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

I was abruptly exhausted with my newfound realisation, but I didn't want to go back to the hot bedroom. So I opened more windows in the TV room and lay on the couch right beneath them. It still took over an hour for me to doze off, my mind spinning hopeless circles. When I opened my eyes again, the sun was halfway up the sky, but it was not the light that woke me. Cool arms were around me, pulling me against him.

"I'm sorry," Edward was murmuring as he wiped a wintry hand across my clammy forehead. "So much for thoroughness. I didn't think about how hot you would be with me gone. I'll have an air conditioner installed before I leave again."

I didn't mention cooling charms as he didn't seem to remember that I was supposed to be a witch. My insides twisted uneasily at the thought, and one of my hands moved to my stomach without permission. I could feel the slight curve of the bump, which made me want to... I wasn't even sure. Cry more, maybe?

"I'm getting far too used to waking up next to you," I said instead, relaxing into my husband's embrace. "I don't ever want to sleep by myself anymore."

Edward chuckled and his cool lips brushed against my cheek. He did that a lot, pressing soft kisses anywhere his mouth could reach. My shoulder. My neck. My forehead.

"So," he murmured, icy lips moving against the shell of my ear, "what do you feel like doing today?"

"Let's stay here," I suggested instantly- the last thing I felt like doing was being on my feet all day when I needed time to adjust to my sudden new reality. "We can watch a movie, or something."

"Are you alright?" Edward asked, pulling back so he could look at me, his brow furrowing in concern. I laughed and then tried not to cringe, hoping that it had sounded less fake to him then it had to my ears.

"I'm fine," I said, which wasn't strictly a lie. "Just could do with a few lazy days."

"Of course," Edward said, with a smile. "We've been very busy."

"It's been the best two weeks of my life." I told him honestly.

"Actually it's been closer to three weeks," he corrected, with a small, encouraging smile. Something in my chest tightened and I tried not to let it show on my face. If it had been nearly three weeks since the wedding then my period was late. About a week late, to be precise. I'd never been late more then a day or two in my life. Shit.

It wasn't that I'd needed any more proof that I was pregnant, but I'd been given it anyway.

"Bella?" Edward asked, a hint of concern on his face, smile gone. I waved it off.

"Just thinking about what Luna and Dra- Malfoy could be getting up to without supervision." I said, which wasn't fully a lie.

Edward looked annoyingly amused at that, but didn't say anything else on the matter.

I had my usual omelette breakfast and then he put on a DVD. I couldn't really concentrate on the plot, my mind too busy going over it all, so just lounged lazily over Edward's lap, eyes half closed.

Vaguely noting the two main characters making out I twisted around to give my husband a kiss, but just like earlier this morning, after the ice-cream, sharp pain hit my stomach as I moved. I lurched away from Edward, my hand tight over my mouth. I knew I'd never make it to the bathroom this time, so I ran to the kitchen sink.

I felt so horrible that I didn't even care- at first- that Edward was with me while I bent over the sink and was violently sick.

"Bella? What's wrong?"

I couldn't answer yet. He held me anxiously, keeping my hair out of my face, waiting till I could breathe again.

"Go away," I panted when I finally could, "You don't need to see this. Go away."

"Not likely, Bella."

"Go away," I moaned again, struggling to get up so I could rinse my mouth out. He helped me gently, ignoring the weak shoves I aimed at him.

After my mouth was clean, he carried me to the bedroom and sat me down carefully on the bed, supporting me with his arms.

"What's wrong?" He asked anxiously.

"Nothing. Probably just a stomach bug." I lied blatantly for the first time, no omission or half truth available.

"A stomach bug?" Edward repeated, face creased with concern.

"It's a human thing." I said. "We get them occasionally. Or food poisoning, maybe. I probably ate something that didn't agree with me while we were travelling."

Edward didn't look convinced by my carefully feigned nonchalance. "Should we go see Qiang?" He suggested.

"For a small case of food poisoning? There's nothing she can do that an anti-nausea potion can't fix." I said firmly.

"Are you sure?" He pressed.

"I'm sure." I said. And I was.

The anti-nausea potions were part of the medical kit Qiang had given me, which Luna had so thoughtfully packed- though I got the feeling she'd packed it for the bruise paste, not so I could hide my surprise pregnancy from my new husband- and I took a quick sip of the phial, calculating how much potion I had and how long it could last me. I was pretty sure I could get a week out of it.

As I walked back out to the bedroom Edward put a cold hand on my forehead. It felt nice. "How do you feel now?" He asked.

I thought about that for a moment. Thanks to either the potion or the vomiting, the nausea had passed as suddenly as it had come and I felt like I did any other morning. "Pretty normal. A little hungry again, actually."

Edward made me wait an hour and keep down a big glass of water before he made me a sandwich and we sat back in front of the TV.

I refused to let the guilt I was feeling overwhelm the drowsy contentment I felt with my head on his lap and his hands in my hair.

-
-

When I thought to myself that the baby was growing fast, I didn't realise just how right I was.

Maybe I was just noticing now because I was watching for it, or maybe before now most of the changes had been internal, as my baby had developed from a clump of cells to a tiny, but vaguely functional, miniature human being. Either way, the bump was growing- and growing far too quickly. My stomach was gaining multiple centimetres of girth everyday- it wouldn't be long until hiding it was impossible. It only took two days for it to become, at a glance of my bare midriff, unmistakable as a baby bump.

A bit of stealthy googling on Edward's phone, which unlike mine had a payment plan that gave it access to Wifi, had told me that baby bumps generally first started becoming noticeable at the start of the second trimester- twelve to sixteen weeks, to be exact. Going by that, according to the site, my baby was around eight centimetres long and already had its own unique fingerprints. I wasn't entirely sure why, and I fully blamed the pregnancy hormones, but I'd had to put back Edward's phone then because I'd started tearing up.

Still, despite the awe I felt I was also concerned. Very concerned. With my stomach seemingly increasing by the hour, even Luna's loosest and most flowing dresses started to struggle to hide it. And then there were the plethora of other things- for one, morning sickness was a horrible, awful, terrible, lying lie. I was going through the anti-nausea potion much too fast, the awful sick feeling hitting me multiple times over the day, not just in the mornings. There'd been no more vomiting, but food had started to be... remarkably unappealing. Choking it down had become a real challenge, though one I was stubbornly persevering at.

I was dead tired too, but didn't have the excuse of full on travelling to explain it away. Plus I was overly emotional, feeling like I was always teetering on the knife's edge of some emotion or other. Not to mention the moments of intense, er, horniness. I'd solved that problem at least, wearing a lingerie nightgown to hide my growing stomach while shagging my husband silly.

Edward probably thought I was ten kinds of strange, but amidst all the designer clothes and lingerie Alice had packed I'd found a slip similar to the cream-coloured camisole from the first night but a deep purple colour, like red wine. The silk was tight and fashionably flimsy around my breasts before falling loose, loose enough to hide my growing stomach from view. That first time, when Edward had gone to lift it off, I'd started to panic. Looking back it was almost amusing, if it wasn't so mortifying.

"Wait!" I'd practically shouted, grabbing his hand before he could lift the hem of the silky thing up. He'd looked so confused as my mind raced, all too aware of the growing curve of my abdomen. "I- I like the feel of the silk," I'd eventually blurted out, going bright red. "It feels good- you know, the sexy sort of good." I'd prayed that he took my embarrassment to be for the confession to a kink of sorts. It wasn't even a lie, exactly- the texture of the silk sliding against my skin did make me shiver in a delicious way, but the feel of my own bare, heated skin against the icy marble of Edward's felt even better.

"That's fine," Edward had said, much to my relief, releasing his hold on the hem to pinch a bit of the silk between his fingers, rubbing them lightly. "I suppose I can see the appeal," he'd added, looking up at me with what I could only call 'bedroom eyes' and I'd started blushing even harder.

The blush hadn't faded as we started to kiss again, not until I got lost in the sensations of it all when Edward finally pushed into me and started moving. Our kissing, the movements, all of it grew more and more urgent, all needy and uncontrolled the way Edward hated to be but I loved to take. It never failed to bring a thrill to me that I had done that, had stripped away his careful self-control until it was just me and him, nothing between us. Even when Edward pushed in a fraction too hard, when he left my lips numb and swollen and deep bruises in the muscles of my thighs, I only ever clung tighter to him.

I knew the longer I put off telling him about the pregnancy the more likely it would be that he'd find out on his own. That didn't change the fact I kept putting it off. A week, I told myself. I wanted one more week of paradise.

Of course, that didn't work out.

-

Everything came to the inevitable head five days after I first figured out I was pregnant, a day after I claimed I was too sore to have sex, because even with the lingerie my stomach was too hard to hide then.

In fact, 'sore' was a bit of a general theme. I'd had a bad morning all around, losing breakfast in the shower despite the potion, and after only managing about half my plate too. I had no energy after a night of particularly vivid dreams and Baby was being particularly restless, and kept sitting directly on my bladder, as well as kicking the ever-loving crap out of my insides.

I wouldn't say I was sulking, exactly, as I claimed a headache and curled up on my side on the couch, a little silk dressing gown and conveniently placed cushion carefully hiding my baby bump while my face was buried in a cushion, but I sort of was. And after an hour or two, Edward cleared his throat.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I scowled into the material pressed into my face. This was his all fault, I decided grimly as Baby shifted restlessly again. I was never letting him stick his dick in me again. Ever.

"'m sleeping." I grumbled into the pillow.

"No, you've been laying there for the past hour, possibly attempting to suffocate yourself with a couch cushion." He corrected. Without looking, I waved a hand with my index finger extended in his direction.

Of course, that was when Baby decided to kick again, and the surprised hiss of discomfort that escaped from me would have been too quiet for a human to hear, or even a witch or wizard. Edward, however, was neither, and he'd picked up both the pained sound, and the way both my hands had moved to my sneakily covered stomach.

"Bella?" He asked, in clear concern, and before I could stop him, before I could even figure out some way to stop him, he'd moved the cushion and carefully undone the dressing gown.

Then there was dead silence.

I slowly, very reluctantly, lifted my head from the cushion I'd buried it in to meet Edward's eyes. He looked... well, a mix of shocked, desperate, hurt, disbelieving, more shocked, and Not Very Happy.

I wanted to defend myself, as those hurt eyes turned to me, but clearly, res ipsa loquitor; the thing spoke for itself.

"Impossible," Edward whispered, after what seemed like an eternity of silence. I actually slumped back into the couch, a bit relieved he'd started talking again, and my hands moved seemingly automatically to my now uncovered stomach. I was uncomfortable to realize there were small marks like ink-blots on my pale skin– bruises, from Baby's kicking. I hadn't spent a great deal of time examining my stomach, rather keeping it hidden out of sight, so I hadn't noticed them before. Or maybe they hadn't been there before today– Baby grew fast. I couldn't claim to be any sort of expert in pregnancies, but I was guessing bruising like that wasn't normal. Unsurprisingly, Edward's eyes went straight to the marks.

"I know," I spoke up, when I was pretty sure Edward wasn't going to. I wasn't actually sure he was able to, and I wondered if it was possible for vampires to go into shock. Edward looked like he'd been carved from ice, and that he wasn't in danger of melting any time soon. "I know it should be impossible, but it's not a trick or a prank or anything. I'm pregnant." I barely managed to choke out the last two words, but once they were out there, once it was out in the open, I actually did feel a little better. Sort of, anyway. Edward's expression wasn't so shocked and frozen anymore, but it still wasn't anything comforting. He'd definitely moved to the 'anger' part.

"How long have you known?" he demanded, voice clipped. I straightened slightly and tried not to fidget under the accusing weight of his gaze.

"Not long. About five days."

"Just five days?" Edward's eyes took in the bulge of my stomach again.

"You saw me naked, about a week ago." I reminded him. "I was pretty much flat then. The baby is growing... very quickly."

"Why didn't you tell me, the moment you figured it out?" Edward asked, after another long pause. I cringed back into the cushions, fingers anxiously kneading the smooth leather of the couch on either side of my thighs.

"Because I knew that once you knew, you'd insist we go get everything checked out. And I would have, soon– I just wanted another week, of it just being me and you and this island." I said, quietly.

"You need to see Carlisle." Edward said, flatly.

"I want Qiang," I disagreed, immediately. "No offense to Carlisle, I know he's an amazing doctor, but he's both a male and he works with humans. Qiang is far more equipped to deal with this sort of thing, and she's a woman."

"Fine." Edward agreed, brisk. "You need to see Qiang."

"Can we just..." I slumped down again, hands still cradling my exposed stomach, feeling tired and defeated. "Can we go watch the sunrise first?" I asked, quietly. "Over the canyon? It's the only item on our list we haven't done."

Edward's lips were a pinched line of unhappiness.

"Qiang needs to examine you as soon as possible," he said.

"We already know what she'll say- I'm pregnant. And the moment we see her, our honeymoon will be over. Can we just do this first? Please?" It was clearly the wrong thing to say.

"Our honeymoon ended when you lied to me, Bella!" Edward's face was stiff, his short, clipped words belying his anger.

"I never lied! I just... omitted!" I protested immediately, before shrinking into myself at the furious look he gave me. "It was still wrong of me." I said, my words so quiet a human wouldn't have been able to hear them. If Edward was human, though, then we wouldn't actually be in this position. "I'll make it up to you. I swear."

"I don't want you to make it up to me, Bella. I want you to stop lying to me– I want you to actually trust me. You're my wife– I love you more then anything else, and I want you to stop feeling like you have to hide things from me. You don't. Not anymore."

I was crying again, and the tears, frustratingly, wouldn't stop. This was a recurring theme recently. "Hormones," I croaked, wiping hurriedly at my face with the hem of the silky robe. Edward sighed and sat beside me on the couch. As he wrapped his arms around me, I buried my head gratefully into his chest. "I'll try. No more secrets." I managed to promise, between embarrassingly loud sobs and sniffs. "Or omissions." I added, as an afterthought.

Edward didn't say anything.

-

Edward packed. I got to sit on the couch and watch, after changing into a white sundress that prominently displayed my growing baby bump in a way that made me feel almost naked, especially every time Edward blurred past, pausing long enough to stare at it. I couldn't read the emotions in his golden eyes and it was making me sweaty and nervous.

There were two Portkeys left in the box. One would take us back to Forks, where the text message I'd sent Angela gave a very brief description of the situation and requested for her to contact Qiang to meet us there. Angela's response had been a touch on the heartening side (only you, Bella) but her good cheer about it all was influenced by the fact she didn't really understand the dangers of this situation. Qiang's response, I knew, would be wildly different.

I couldn't shrink our belongings with my magic on the fritz, so Edward left them there for someone else to pick up and held out the Portkey. "Ready?" he asked, quietly.

"As I'll ever be." I sighed, linking hands with him, ignoring his slight stiffness at my touch as I entwined our fingers together, while reaching to touch the Portkey with my other hand. He activated the Portkey with a murmured;

"Portus."

It was still night in America when we arrived, and found a spot to sit and watch the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. Edward had brought a thick coat for me to wear and I gladly shrugged it on and curled up into its warmth.

As we waited, I lost the concept of time and how long we'd been sitting there. We watched as the dark sky was slowly washed out with a lavender that was spreading gradually with every passing moment, before the sun determinedly burst free.

As it rose steadily, it painted reds, oranges and pinks into the horizon and the old wives tale about red sky in the morning popped into my head, the one that warned of approaching storms. It was... somewhat foreboding, and I pushed it from my mind, instead focusing on how the sky had turned golden above me before turning to cling onto Edward.

I dug my fingernails uselessly into the marble skin between his shoulder-blades and held him tight against my body. I didn't ever want to let go-- the wildlife around us could burn to the ground, a host of chimeras could appear and attack, an army of crumple-horned snorkacks could come trampling through, and at this moment in time I just wanted to close my eyes and hold Edward as tight as my weak human limbs were able, hold him close to me and never let him go.

Edward gave me until the sky had fully risen, his skin sparkling like diamonds under its bright, strong morning rays, before producing the final Portkey. There was a lump in my throat as I reached out to accept it, because I knew– this was it; my honeymoon, and my life as I currently knew it, was officially over.

"Portus."

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I'll definitely make an effort to ensure it doesn't take so long again.
~Cheshire Carroll