( outfit for
chapter above )

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

chapter eleven
sure as hell didn't see that one coming.

        It's been four days, and Christina was losing her mind. She was quickly losing her temper from her lack of being able to hold down more than one deer in the span of four days.

Four more days of arguments about Bella's pregnancy. Four more days of research to find any kind of answers about Bella's pregnancy, and now Christina not feeling right. Four more days of no answers, no leads, and no hope.

They had already tried to ask Alice if she could see anything; but since the baby came into the picture, all her visions were blurred.

Christina had sent Annie to stay with Seth in the reservation, just for the next few days. She had to figure something out quick about not being able to hold down blood. It was bad enough that Bella was here and her scent was starting to effect her. She knew that Bella would be safe because Edward and Rosalie hardly left her side anymore.

The pain in her throat twisted as she walked downstairs. She could feel Edward's eyes on her, knowing that he was on edge. She couldn't blame him, she would be too if she were in his position.

"No luck?" Bella called out to her sister. Edward had explained to her why Christina hadn't been around the past couple of days. It worried her that her immortal sister was sick— no one knew that it was possible.

Christina paused on her way to the kitchen. She turned around shaking her head negatively.

Bella bit her lip, not wanting to ask the question. "Have you tried..."

"No." Christina shuddered at the open ended question; knowing what Bella was thinking. "I haven't." She took a step back as her throat started to burn from Bella's scent. "I'm gonna go try hunting... again." She bowed her head and left the living room to escape outside.

She was starting to feel like a caged animal. The family looked at her with sorrow and confusion— not understanding why her body was rejecting something it needed to survive.

She was quick to track down a grazing elk. She scrunched up her nose, remembering that elk was not fun coming back up.

Afterwards, Christina leaned up against a tree next to the steam in the back yard. She watched the water flow as her phone started ringing beside her. She almost didn't answer the phone seeing that Darien was calling— but in the end, she craved a little bit of normalcy in her life.

"Hey, Dar," Christina greeted, leaning her head back on the tree.

"You. Me. Double date. Tomorrow," he started, ignoring a greeting back. His spirit made Christina's lips twitch into a smile, before it immediately turned to a frown.

"No, can do," she sighed, making him groan over the phone. "Not this week."

"Where's Carlisle? Put your man on the phone, so I can get someone else on my side."

"Sorry, Dar. I just haven't been feeling well lately. I don't think I should be going many places," the young mother explained.

"Are you okay?" Darien's joking manner halted as he got concerned for his best friend. In the year and a half that he's known the girl, she's never been terribly sick.

"I think so?" A humorless laugh came out of her mouth. "I don't know, I mean. I'm not dying—" She hoped. "I've just been sick. Haven't been able to hold anything down the past couple of days."

Darien hummed over the phone. "Any other symptoms?"

"Not much else. I'm running warmer than usual, but it's not a flu. And I'm tired."

"I don't know, baby girl," Darien paused. "Sounds to me like you could be pregnant."

Christina chuckled at his guess. She assumed from a human's perspective it would appear that she was. "That's not possible," she laughed.

"You are married," Darien pointed out. "I'm sure you and doc have been having a lot of fun as of late—"

"Yeah, but I can't—" She paused, unable to tell him the reason why she couldn't be pregnant. It was impossible.

"You can, and you did. Once before," Darien laughed. "Listen, just take a test— and let me be the god father when I'm right."

"You're not going to be right," she laughed.

"Wanna make it a bet?"

"Goodbye, Darien," Christina laughed. "I'll talk to you later."

"Goodbye, future mother of two."

She hangs up the phone with a laugh and an eye roll. If there was one thing she could count on from Darien it was to make her laugh. She slipped the phone back into her pocket before running towards the house. She jumped on to her and Carlisle's balcony, slipping through unseen. She tore off her bloody shirt before throwing it into the sink. She let the water run on it, the blood from earlier draining from the shirt.

She grabbed onto a different shirt before pausing in the mirror. Darien's words kept running through her head, even though she knew that it was impossible. Vampires can't get pregnant— if there was a way, Rosalie would have already found it.

So, then why did Christina's stomach look bloated?

She shook her head. She had to be seeing things. The lack of blood was playing tricks on her, making her see things that weren't really there. It's only a trick of the mind... and hands?

She ran her hand down her stomach, feeling nothing but smooth skin; but it was indeed bloated. How had she not noticed this before? How didn't anyone else? Someone would have said something if Christina wasn't making all of this up in her head. They would have pointed it out if they saw her stomach get bigger.

Except, everyone's focus has been on watching Bella's stomach get bigger. Not Christina's.

Her hands became shaky as her stomach twisted in a familiar way. She didn't know that vampires could have panic attacks, but she was in the middle of one. None of this made any sense to her.

She quickly threw on her shirt before leaving the room. She couldn't be alone with her thoughts right now. She would surely go crazy thinking about the possibility— even though, there was none.

"Chris, how did hunting go?" Bella called out as the older sister walked by.

Christina sighed as she leaned against the furthest wall. "So far so good."

A small smile broke out on Bella's face. "Good."

"Where's Edward?" Christina asked, noticing the lack of Bella's husband. Rosalie was gone from the living room as well, leaving just Bella on the couch.

"Both he and Rosalie are making some food for me," Bella answered. "Here's to hoping my hunt goes well too."

Christina nodded her head before stepping closer to Bella. She kneeled on the ground in front of the couch before making her voice into a whisper she knew wouldn't be heard from the kitchen. "I'm having an out of body experience, Bells."

The young girl furrowed her brows in concern. "Why?"

Christina sighed heavily before lifting her shirt up over her stomach. At first, Bella had no idea what Christina was getting at— but as soon as she looked down, her jaw went slack. Christina's stomach was swelled up— like Bella's was when she first came back from the island. Wide doe eyes lifted to meet darkened gold as Christina slipped her shirt down.

"That's..."

"Impossible, I know." Christina wanted to bang her head against something for even thinking of the possibility.

"What are you going to tell Carlisle?" Bella whispered softly. Christina felt venom surround her eyes as she became stressed again. She shrugged her shoulders lightly back, not having it in her to answer verbally. "I think you need to. If is it what we think it is, it's best to find out now."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶

Christina anxiously waited for Carlisle to return home from work. She paced the kitchen as Bella ate her dinner in silence. Both Rosalie and Edward has previously asked the newborn if she was okay, but she just shrugged them off. She had random melody's repeating in her head, trying to keep Edward away from prying at her thoughts. It seemed to work since he didn't mention anything that she's been thinking about behind the song.

The front door opened, making Christina pause in her pacing. She took a deep inhale of breath as she listened to him put all of his work stuff away in the main closet. He stepped into the kitchen and gave his hellos to everybody, lingering a kiss on the side of Christina's head.

"I need to tell you something," Christina whispered, making golden eyes turn down to her quickly. He worriedly rubbed her shoulders. "I need to tell you all something."

No sooner than when she finished her sentence, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett appeared. They all hung out in the back of the kitchen. Alice had taken to hiding from Bella since the closer that she was around her and the pregnancy, the worse her vision's came in.

Christina shook out her hands as she turned to the group. She met eye contact with Bella, who gave her a reassuring smile in return.

"Okay, hear me out, because I know how impossible this is going to sound," she started, making everyone even more confused. "Oh, God. Okay, I think... I'm pregnant?"

No one made a sound.

It was quiet for once in the household. Everyone was taking in Christina's sudden words differently. Alice glared at the ground, trying to get any sort of insight into the future. Jasper was quiet, arms crossed over his chest with a pensive look. Rosalie's brows were furrowed, but envy was lingering in her golden eyes. Edward was searching through Christina's open throats, piecing together what she did earlier. Bella was smiling, trying to be the light in the dark.

Christina was hesitant looking up at Carlisle to read his expression. His expression was unreadable. He was insanely quiet next to her, trying to piece together everything she did. His hand was still resting on her shoulder, but it no longer had any grip behind it. Christina could shrug her shoulder and his hand would fall freely back to his side.

"Well, congratulations," Emmett spoke up, snapping everyone out of their confused stupor; except the end of his sentence came out more like a question than him actually meaning his words.

"It's impossible," Alice muttered. She shook her head back and forth. "Vampires can't get pregnant."

"I know," Christina sighed. "But I've been extremely moody the past couple of days. My hunger is there, but I can't hold any blood down. I- I've gained like five inches on my waist line— which is also impossible for vampires."

Carlisle leaned down and felt around Christina's stomach. She was right in the fact that she was more bloated than when she first transitioned. Her stomach was tight against her jeans around her hips. Her stomach didn't feel much different— but being a vampire, there was nothing to go on for how their stomachs would feel while pregnant.

He put his hand up to her face, noticing her temperature hasn't gone down at all. She was still warm to the touch, almost as warm as when she was when she was human. If Carlisle had to guess, he would say she was running on a temperature of around seventy degrees.

"Carlisle?" Christina muttered out quietly, trying to get his view on the situation.

"We'll have to do more tests," he sighed, standing back up straight. "I have a feeling most are going to come back inconclusive, much like Bella's."

Christina frowned.

"The next question is how," Rosalie spoke up. She was biting back her envy as she looked at the mother. "If you are pregnant, how is that possible?"

Christina shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, you see. When a woman and a man love each—" Emmett ducked as a flying dish came towards his head. The glass plate crashed on the wall before landing on the ground. Rosalie's heated eyes staring at Emmett when he stood back up.

"It's possible if it's your power," Edward muttered finally. Everyone paused at they took in his words.

"So, you think I have the ability to produce babies?" Christina asked, a deadpan expression on her face.

"Not exactly," he chuckled. One of the first since he's returned from his honeymoon. "Seems like you could have the power of fertility."

"Just call me Aphrodite," she muttered under her breath.

"That could be why your body's changing. Your temperature's raising to carry until term. It's why you could be throwing up blood. If you need to actually ate something," Carlisle muttered.

Bella held out her plate. "Steak?"

Christina grabbed the plate, unsure how to feel. "So, if I eat this and I'm not pregnant, what should I expect?"

"Human food tastes like dirt to us, and we can't digest it," Carlisle explained. "We have to throw it up later."

"Great, more throwing up," she grumbled. She took a breath, hurting her throat in the process. She forked a piece of steak before settling it into her mouth.

Everyone waited with baited breaths as Christina chewed the piece of steak. She cringed slightly, but managed to swallow it before handing the plate back to Bella.

"It would be better if it was medium rare," she answered, only confusing everyone further. "It didn't taste like dirt, but it wasn't exactly appetizing cooked all the way."

"I guess it's a wait test," Carlisle stated. "See if that comes back up later."

Everyone nodded their heads.

"So, if you are pregnant," Alice started. "What is it?"

"It's a baby," Rosalie answered, with a sneer.

"Maybe," Alice snapped back.

"Whatever it is, it's gonna be part vampire," Emmett considered.

"There's both vampires," Jasper added. "How could it come out anything but?"

"Because of her power," Rosalie answered. "She ate human food just fine—"

"That we know of," Jasper interrupted.

"We don't even know if Christina's going to keep the thing," Alice grumbled.

"It's a baby, Alice," Rosalie reprimanded.

"We don't know that. Have you ever heard of a pregnant vampire? Or a pregnant human woman because of a vampire?" Jasper ranted. "Because I know I haven't. We don't know how they're going to be when they're born. The thing is already hurting Bella from the inside."

The only people to have noticed that Christina escaped from the room were Carlisle and Bella. They both looked at each other, contemplating who should go and talk to the young mother. Bella slipped off of the bar stool before waddling outside onto the back porch after her sister. She closed the back door, cutting off the arguments that the Cullens were having.

Christina was leaned up against the pillar as she stared blankly out into the trees; her hand subconsciously resting on her stomach.

"You okay?" Bella asked, coming up beside her.

Christina shook her head. "No." A humorless laugh came out of her mouth, almost mockingly was she glanced up towards the sky. "Bella, I don't know how you do it. Sit there and let them talk about you like... you're not there, like you're not important to the conversation. Like your body isn't your choice."

"Because I know that not everyone's going to agree, but I have people on my side to help me get what I want." Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I want to have this baby, and I want to be turned. So far, everything's leading up to that because of you, Carlisle, and Rosalie."

Christina nodded her head. "With you, we know it's going to be partly human, and partly vampire, right? It only makes sense— like ethnicity. If you were fully French, while Edward was fully German, that would make your baby half French and half German. But with me? With my possible baby?" She looked down at her stomach, venom filling up in her eyes. "We're both vampires. How do we know this baby won't turn into some monster?"

"Because you can't even hold down blood, but you can hold down well-done steak," Bella pointed out. "I don't believe you or Carlisle could produce such a thing. It would be too wrong for that baby to come out as anything but kind. And your baby can't be full vampire... it's growing inside you, and full vampires don't grow."

"Full vampires don't have babies either," Christina mumbled.

"So, maybe you're not," Bella shrugged. "Maybe your gift didn't allow you to change fully. You could be like ninety percent vampire, but ten percent human? It would make sense with how well you've been doing around human blood— this gift of yours. I don't think it's just a gift of fertility. Maybe you have the gift of life."

"You say that like I'm a God," Christina scoffed. "But still, everything that you're saying... it makes some sort of sense. More than what I've been able to come up with in the past five hours." She turned her head to look towards her pregnant sister. "Bella, I don't know what I should do."

"Whatever you want to," she answered easily. "Do you want this baby?"

Christina looked down in thought. She had always said that she wanted at least two kids when she got older; and was absolutely convinced she wanted more when Annie came into the picture. When she met Carlisle, those ideas and plans left her— she didn't really think about it, didn't really see it happening with Carlisle being a vampire. And then she turned, and those plans really left her. She was okay with not having more kids because she had Annie. She had Annie and she had Carlisle; and to her that was all she needed. But now....

She rubbed at her stomach, warmth filling her body at the thought of Carlisle and her's baby inside of her. She had to admit that she was scared; terrified even. She didn't know how this pregnancy was going to turn out, and she didn't know how to deal with it.

There were too many questions left unanswered. Too many concerns while carrying this baby. Not really for her, not like it was for Bella— but for everyone else. Bella and Annie could be in danger with either of these babies. Or they all could be totally and completely fine.

"How did you know so quickly that this is what you wanted?" Christina asked quietly, looking back up at Bella. "Because my mind keeps throwing around all sorts of ideas. Good and bad."

"Because I'm human," Bella joked. "I have a one track mind."

Christina rolled her eyes, slightly amused.

"Because I knew from the moment that I felt him kick, that he was perfect. He's not as bad as everyone tries to convince me he is."

Christina nodded slowly. "A boy, huh?"

Bella blushed softly. "It's just a guess. I have dreams sometimes, more in the beginning of being pregnant than now. But it always had a little boy in it. I just... I don't know. It could be a girl too, but," she shrugged.

"Yeah, I get it." Christina nodded again. "I knew Annie was going to be a girl from the moment I found out I was pregnant. Jonathan and I had bets going to see who was right, he was so convinced Annie was a boy," she laughed.

"So, what do you feel now?" Bella asked, a small smile lingering on her face.

"A boy," Christina answered