Days slowly morphed into one another as Carlisle kept an eye on Bella and her new eating habits. The color had completely returned to her cheeks, filling her eyes with a sliver of the light that used to sparkle in them before the pregnancy. Edward and Rosalie were still at ends about the whole situation, but their bickering had lessened by day three when Bella walked around the living room on her own (under their careful supervision, of course).

The more Bella grew, the more worried I became. It was a good thing that both of them were eating, but eventually the baby would run out of room. And since we couldn't tell if he or she was more vampire than human and vice versa, it was hard to figure out an exact birth plan for Bella.

I brought it up to Carlisle when it was only the two of us in his study.

"How exactly are we supposed to get this baby out safely?" I asked, perched in one of the chairs while Carlisle poured over books from his time with the Volturi. "C-section?"

"That's one option," Carlisle answered, his eyes flickering to me. "There will be blood on hand for a transfusion in case Bella needs it..."

"But with Edward's venom, she might not need it." I echoed his trailing thought.

"Hopefully."

"Is he okay with this?" I asked after a moment. "Does he realize that in order to save her, he will have to turn her into a vampire?"

"I'm sure he does." Carlisle smiled weakly. "I know my son. He'll do what's right, despite his... personal beliefs."

"Do you realize she's practically killing herself because she's counting on me saving her?" Edward asked, standing in the doorway of the study. "She has this whole crazy theory it will work because Esme was a lot closer to death and you were able to change her."

"It makes sense," I said slowly, glancing between the two men. "If I had the chance to be with Jacob forever the same way Bella could be with you, I'd take it too."

"We will make sure she's okay, Edward. She will survive this, but you have to have a little faith." Carlisle placed a hand on Edward's shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "Your wife needs you, more than anything right now."

"I know." Edward sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Thanks, Carlisle."

"Anytime, son."

Sensing Edward had more to talk to Carlisle about, I quietly left the study and wandered back to the living room. The room was empty, except for Alice standing near the window. She turned when she heard me enter, a small smile on her lips.

"Rosalie just took Bella to the bathroom," she said before I could ask. "Esme's making food for you, Emmett and Jasper are somewhere, and Jacob's on his way."

"Thanks," I smiled back, plopping down onto the couch. "How are you feeling, Alice?"

"Better. Having Jacob and Seth around helps with my headaches. The baby makes everything blurry, just like Jacob did, so it's difficult to see Bella's future. Which absolutely terrifies me."

"You and me both." I leaned my head backwards to stare at the ceiling as the front door creaked open. Moments later, Jacob appeared in the doorway, Chloe right behind him.

"Sorry I'm late," Jacob said to Alice as Chloe hurried over to me. "We had a visitor."

"Your mom wanted me to check on you." Chloe shrugged. "And my parents took Casey to the zoo for some bonding time so I needed to get out of the house."

"I'm glad you're here, Peaches." I squeezed my best friend's hand reassuringly as Rosalie and Bella entered the room, Rosalie keeping a slow pace with Bella.

I immediately moved to the floor to allow Bella to lay down while Chloe claimed one of the chairs. Edward and Esme both appeared in the living room as Rosalie helped Bella lower herself onto the couch. Despite having the extra support, Bella turned white and held her breath, almost as if she was trying not to make any noise, despite obviously being in pain.

"Are you cold?" Edward asked her, brushing his hand over her skin once she was settled.

"I'm fine," Bella said half-heartedly, still gritting her teeth.

"Bella, you know what Carlisle said - don't downplay anything." Rosalie warned. "We can't help you if we don't know what's wrong."

"Okay... I'm a little cold." Bella said sheepishly. "Edward, could you grab me that blanket?"

Jacob snorted as Edward snatched the blanket off the chair and draped it over Bella's body.

"Isn't that what I'm here for? To be your personal space heater?"

"You just got here, Jake." Bella stuck her tongue out at him. "Besides, you haven't seen your fiancé in a few hours. You can spend some time with her first."

"I won't complain about that," Jacob smirked as he sank to the floor to sit between us, kissing me deeply before I sprawled out on the carpet. He slipped his arm under my legs and pulled them closer to him, rubbing my feet one at a time as I continued to stare at the ceiling.

"When was the last time you ate?" I raised an eyebrow at him as his stomach rumbled loudly, causing Chloe and Bella to giggle.

"This morning..." Jacob's voice trailed off as he shot a guilty look in my direction.

"Rosalie, why don't you get Jacob something from the kitchen?" Alice spoke from behind the couch as she sat on the floor.

Rosalie glared at the back of the sofa in disbelief, her lips turning into a frown.

"That's okay, Alice. I don't think I'd want anything Rosalie spits in. My system probably wouldn't do well with venom in it." Jacob replied, keeping his gaze leveled with Rosalie.

"She wouldn't dare to embarrass Esme like that," Alice piped up.

"Of course not," Rosalie said in a sugar-sweet voice that immediately hailed red flags in my head. She breezed out of the room without another word and I looked at Jacob with concern as Edward sighed.

"Do you two have to constantly egg each other on?"

"She started it this time." Jacob held up his hands in surrender before going back to rubbing my feet. "Edward, you'd tell me if she poisoned the food, right?"

"Yes."

From the kitchen, a series of bangs echoed through the air and I winced as the sound of metal protesting floated through the doorway. It was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, sending shivers down my spine. Edward chuckled under his breath, shaking his head when Bella glanced at him curiously. In the blink of an eye, Rosalie came back into the living room with a silver bowl in her hands and a pleased smirk on her face.

"Enjoy, mongrel." She set the bowl on the floor next to Jacob, proud of herself.

Rosalie has managed to take a mixing bowl and bent it into a dog bowl with Fido scratched on the side. I realized that's what Edward had been chuckling about and I had to stifle my own giggle as Jacob picked the dish up and gave Rosalie a big smile.

"Thanks, Blondie. Hey, what do you call a blonde with a brain?" Jacob asked offhandedly before continuing in the same breath, "a golden retriever."

Rosalie shot him a dirty look in response before sashaying over to a chair and plopping down, flipping through the channels on the tv so fast there was no way she was really watching them. A silence settled over the room, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Chloe moved to the floor beside me, laying down so our heads were together but our bodies were in different directions.

"How are you holding up?" she asked quietly.

"Let's just say, at least I wouldn't have had to worry about you dying from your pregnancy as much as I have to with her." I sighed.

"If you need anything..." Chloe trailed off. "Well, you know you can always come to me."

"I know." I smiled at my best friend. "I appreciate everything you do for me, Peaches."

Bella and Jacob were talking quietly as Jacob finished his food. I watched them for a moment before something Bella said about her "due date" caught my attention and ice filled my veins. I met Edward's gaze and he gave the slightest nod, causing my stomach to churn.

Bella had roughly four days until she either became a vampire... or she died from giving birth.

A few minutes passed by before soft snores floated from Bella; her eyes had drifted shut at some point while she talked to Jacob. Waiting until she had fallen asleep for certain, Jacob twisted his body to look at Edward.

"Approximately," Edward responded softly. "From what little research we've been able to do, it would appear the creatures use their own teeth to escape the womb."

"Research?" Jacob asked weakly. Edward's words had piqued my interest enough to cause me to sit up from the floor, and by sharing a look with Jacob, I knew he was feeling every ounce of worry I was.

"That's why you haven't seen much of Jasper and Emmett. That's what Carlisle's off doing now. Trying to decipher old legends and myths, looking for anything that might be helpful."

"So, that means this baby might not be the first?" I spoke slowly, earning a nod from Edward.

"Maybe. The myths could just be products of fear, spurred by imagination... but your myths turned out to be true," Edward nodded to Jacob, "so there's a chance these myths are too. They seemed to be localized, linked..."

"How did you find...?" Chloe asked this time, trailing off when she couldn't find the right words for her question.

"In South America, we encountered a woman who had been raised in the traditions of her people. She had heard warnings about such creatures, legends that had been passed down through the generations. Warnings that the creature must be killed immediately. Before it could gain too much strength."

I shared another look with Jacob, who had paled at Edward's words. I knew he was thinking the same thing: the warnings were just like Sam had thought.

Was he right?

"What did they say about the mothers?" Jacob asked slowly; I braced myself, not absolutely sure if I really wanted the answer.

Edward flinched, his face full of agony; I knew then, it wasn't good. Instead of Edward answering, Rosalie snorted and turned in her chair to face him.

"Of course, there were no survivors," she said, a hint of bluntness to her tone. "Giving birth in the middle of a disease-filled swamp while a medicine man smeared sloth spit on your face to drive away evil spirits was not the safest method. Even normal births went badly half the time because none of them had what this baby does... caregivers who have an idea of what it needs. A doctor with a unique knowledge of vampire nature, a plan in place to have a safe as possible delivery. Venom to repair anything that goes wrong. The baby will be fine. And if those other mothers had all that, they probably would have survived."

The way Rosalie sniffed disdainfully at the end made me wonder what her intentions really were in this whole situation; and judging by the look of disgust on both Jacob and Edward's faces, I knew I wasn't the only one. Edward's face had turned white as snow as he balled his hands into fists. As Rosalie turned back to the TV, indifferent to his reaction, he leaned forward in a crouching position. Before he made a move, Jacob held up his hand with a small smirk on his lips. Edward paused, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

Silently, Jacob picked the silver bowl up from the floor. With a quick flick of his wrist, he sent it sailing through the air in Rosalie's direction; an earsplitting bang sounded through the room and the dish smashed flat before it ricocheted across the living room and landed at the foot of the staircase.

"Dumb blonde," Jacob muttered under his breath angrily.

Rosalie turned her head slowly to glare at him, her voice clipped.

"You. Got. Food. In. My. Hair."

Jacob erupted into laughter just then, pulling away from Bella so he didn't wake her up. His laugh was so contagious that even Alice and I joined in, trying to stay as silent as possible. Rosalie didn't spring at him, as I half expected her to; instead, her expression remained fixed on the sofa, where Bella was waking up from her nap.

"What's so funny?" Bella asked groggily, looking at Jacob.

"I got food in her hair." He replied, still chuckling.

"I'm not going to forget this, dog." Rosalie hissed, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh relax, Rose. You sort of had it coming." I snorted, rolling my eyes.

"It's okay, babe. It's not that hard to erase a blonde's memory," Jacob countered. "Just blow in her ear."

"C'mon, Jake. Leave Rose alo---" Bella broke off mid-sentence as she sucked in a sharp breath, her back arching off of the sofa. Edward rushed over to her, putting his hands on either side of her face.

"Carlisle," he called out, his voice low and tense.

"Right here." Carlisle appeared beside us, his eyes full of concern.

"I'm okay." Bella panted. "Poor kid doesn't have enough room to move in here, that's all."

Edward and Carlisle shared a look, silently communicating as Bella continued.

"You know, he almost reminds me of you, Jake. With your growth spurt. I remember how you got taller by the minute."

"Hm," Carlisle murmured, his gaze resting on Jacob. "That's actually interesting."

"What?" Jacob raised an eyebrow.

"I was wondering about the fetus's genetic makeup... taking your similarities into consideration - the accelerated growth, and the fact that Alice can't see either of you. I wonder if the baby has the same number of chromosomes."

"That's actually kind of interesting..." I murmured, noticing the curious glances being shot my way. "Sorry, I'm a science nerd. I like these kinds of things."

"It is interesting indeed," Carlisle agreed before he and Edward got into a deep conversation about the genetic makeup of the baby. Alice chimed in every once in a while, perched from the back of the couch instead of on the floor.

As they went back and forth, I could tell the wheels in Jacob's head were churning. Tilting my head to the side, I mentally asked what he was thinking. Letting me into his head, Jacob showed me the conclusions he had come to during their conversation.

Fact one, Bella had said the baby was protected by a membrane that appeared to be as strong as vampire skin, something ultrasounds couldn't get through to read and too tough for needles. Fact two, Rosalie mentioned a plan to deliver the baby safely but didn't elaborate on what that plan was. Fact three, Edward said according to some myths, the creatures would chew their way out of their own mothers, leaving no survivors.

I felt a wave of nausea hit me as he slowly thought about fact four, wishing feverishly that I could erase it from my mind. Not many things could cut through something as strong as vampire skin... except for the baby's teeth, according to the myths. Jacob's teeth were strong enough because he was a werewolf.

And of course, vampire's teeth were strong enough.

Acid burned my throat as I swallowed back bile threatening to come up. Judging by the look on Jacob's face, he had the same idea on how Rosalie planned to get the baby "safely" out of Bella...

And it was most likely going to end with Edward ripping Rosalie's head from her body.