On the day following Valentina's introduction to Leah and her strange dreams of that silver wolf, she was called to leave school early. She was actually grateful for her slightly inconvenient doctor's appointments, seeing as this meant she wouldn't have to see Bella Swan for the rest of the day. This, of course, was contingent on whether or not the Swan teen wanted to be with Jacob.

"Ms. Thurston," the blonde nurse called out. Valentina had learned her name was Candace. They would have to see each other pretty often, and would most likely continue to, even after the baby was born. Once Valentina had changed into her gown, annoyingly routine at this point, and she was sat on the bed, Dr. Mason walked into the room.

"Hello ladies!" She seemed to be a rather cheerful woman, she was young, probably in her early 30s.

"How was your, uh, maternity leave, Doctor?" Daniela asked, eyes alight with curiosity.

"It was wonderful, I love my son, but I am so glad to be back at work!" The two women shared a laugh, Valentina contributing a light giggle. "How are you, mommy?" Valentina knew she was pregnant. She was well aware of the fact that she was having a baby, but the word "mommy" put it all in perspective for her. Her throat closed a bit before she swallowed her anxiety.

"Fine. I'm fine, thank you."

The red-headed doctor smiled, grabbing the ultrasound wand, "Usually you wouldn't have an ultrasound at 17 weeks. However, considering I wasn't here last time you were, I just want to make sure everything's as should be." She said, calming the mother and daughter.

Valentina grabbed her mother's hand, and a smile appeared on Daniela's face.

"Huh."

"W-What? Is something wrong?" Valentina's instincts were nothing short of materna. Her grip tightened on Daniela's hand nervously.

"Not...wrong, just...interesting," Dr. Mason assured.

"What is it, Doctor?" The french woman asked.

"I don't know how they didn't notice it before," the doctor muttered, pressing buttons on the ultrasound machine.

"Doctor! What is it?!" Valentina had always been impatient, pregnancy definitely enhanced it, though.

"Well, Ms. Thurston, it would seem that, somehow, they missed the second baby on the scan. Congratulations!" Twins. Valentina was having twins. Dr. Mason left with the intentions of paperwork and printing the scans.

"Mommy," Valentina's watery voice choked out, "I was barely ready for one. How am I gonna take care of two?"

"Oh, mi amore, that's the beauty. It's not just you, it's me, and dad, and Adelina! We're all here to help, you're never alone, bébé." Daniela hugged her daughter tightly, comforting the teen.

After the appointment, Daniela and Valentina took a much needed trip to a fast food restaurant for chicken nuggets, fries, and a vanilla milkshake. The pregnant teen felt like she could eat the entire supply of food the restaurant had and still be hungry.

"Well, you are eating for three now," her mother joked, lightening the mood. Val laughed, feeling much better about the whole "two babies" situation.

"Now, on top of telling Addy that I'm pregnant," Val gestured to her growing bump, "I have to tell her that it's twins."

"You know that Lina had a twin? She absorbed it in the womb," Daniela said nonchalantly. Valentina nodded slowly, pursing her lips as she took in the information.

"Well, now that's just survival of the fittest," Val said between giggles.

After breaking the news to Chris, who was shocked but ecstatic at the news, Valentina decided to get ready for work. Knowing she had at least three hours before she even had to leave, she decided to take a bath, mainly because her feet were aching and the thought of standing in the shower disgusted her. She poured her favorite vanilla scented bubbles into the heated water, even adding a hot pink bath bomb.

As Val soaked in the water, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, she began to picture her little family. Four little feet leaving footprints in the sand at First Beach, the tidepools causing an abundance of high pitched squeals to erupt from their mouths. She would try to reign them in, only to be met with splashes from their little hands trying to throw the water at her. Valentina smiled at the idea, her hand caressing her stomach.

"I can't wait to meet you two," she whispered, the sound only heard by her and her children.

Once she had put on a white tunic dress, tight enough that it accentuated her bump, but loose enough that she didn't want to throw up, she placed a dainty gold chain around her neck and a gold ring on her finger. Her hair was in its naturally wavy form, falling down her shoulders and framing her face. She put mascara on and popped cherry lip gloss onto her lips and she was ready.

Valentina arrived at the bakery ten minutes earlier than she was supposed to. The walk from her father's car to the bakery alone made her wish she had taken a nap. Her feet were swollen, even in her red Chuck Taylors. Then again, when weren't they swollen or achy? As much as she loved growing her bundles of joy, she was counting down the days until she wouldn't be pregnant.

In the privacy of the backroom, Val announced her big news to Emily, who squealed and hugged her.

"I knew it! I knew it when you told me that you were bigger than you thought you should be!" Valentina and Emily laughed together.

"Whatever, Em!" When Val went to put on her apron, Emily stopped her.

"Nope! We're not working tonight, change of plans." Valentina gave a strange look to Emily who only smiled and said, "Bonfire!"

Was she supposed to know what that meant? Did it mean something? The teen was drug out of her thoughts, literally, Emily was dragging her out of the bakery and towards the beach.

"We have these every so often, just to celebrate sometimes," Emily explained. A crowd of people had gathered on the sand, standing around the bonfire, laughing and talking. Val noticed Sam, along with the boys she had met in the bakery were playing soccer, rather aggressively. She considered stepping in, telling them to calm down. Luckily, she didn't have to. The game had effectively ended the moment Sam noticed Emily. He ran over to her, pulling her into a tight hug which lifted her feet off the ground, given their height difference. It didn't take a genius to notice the way they looked at each other, like the other hung the galaxy. They were each other's everything, and it was obvious.

While the other boys grumbled about their unfinished game, Embry ran up to Val, giving her a tight hug. They talked for a bit, mainly about trivial things, like school and college. Embry took it upon himself to not verbally acknowledge what he already knew. He thought about how strange it was that someone his age was having twins. That somehow brought him onto the idea of Valentina, and how beautiful she was. Anyone could see it, she was a natural beauty, with long locks of caramel hair, and her emerald green eyes, hell, even her smile was gorgeous. Embry also thought that Jacob was an idiot for abandoning his friendship with her. Of course, Jacob happened to hear that.

It's not like that, you know that. Bella knows, Valentina doesn't, Jacob's thoughts sounded in Embry's head like a loudspeaker.

So because Swan ran with vampires, she's part of the elite group that gets to be friends with Jacob Black? Give me a break, Embry would have rolled his eyes if it wouldn't have looked so suspicious to Val.

Embry, shut up! Valentina's just gonna have to deal with the fact that we can't be friends anymore like a big girl, even in his thoughts, Jacob was an entitled ass.

She's fuckin' pregnant, Jacob! And her two best friends left her. For each other! Even if you can't be friends with her because of this stupid excuse that you've come up with, why can't Bella? Huh? Why did she have to leave? She was Val's only friend, besides you, Embry almost couldn't take it. He wanted to fight Jacob then and there.

You leave Bella out of this, she's innocent!

Jacob, four months ago, she was willing to never see you again, to practically die! And you think she's innocent? She's eight-fucking-teen. A whole adult who wanted to make the grown ass decision to become a vampire! And now you've let her become codependent on you. We're her new favorite monsters now, Jake, Embry heard a snarl sound in his mind, and he knew it was Jacob.

Both of you need to shut the hell up! Alpha's orders. Jacob, you need to stay away from the Swan girl for a bit, let her live in the human world for a little while longer. Embry, you need to stop starting shit with your brothers, understand?

Sam was right, even without the part in Embry's brain that was telling him to obey. He hadn't meant to start anything, but he shouldn't have continued it. It was comforting in the least to know that Bella wouldn't be around for a while. Especially since he could hear how loud Valentina's heart pounded in her chest at the sight of the pale girl.

"-and that's why I think schools should offer real classes, like money management." Val's voice came back into her focus, her hands were gesturing and Embry felt bad that he hadn't really been listening.

"You are so right," he agreed, "Do you want another coke?" He could hear how low the liquid was in the can, not that she knew that. Instead Val figured he'd seen how fast she had downed it.

"Um, no I can't. I guess they don't like it very much, after one can my stomach starts to hurt," she explained, blushing with the embarrassment of telling a cute boy the issues with her pregnancy.

"Water, then?" She gave a nod to Embry, who took her can with him to throw away.

As soon as he had the cold bottle in his hands, Sam gave an order. The redhead vampire had been spotted. Jared, Embry, and Sam were to go after her while the rest of the pack was to stay and protect the people.

"Hey, Paul!" His packmate looked up, "Can you take this water to Val? She's by the water. Thanks!"

Paul grumbled a "whatever" but Embry had already left. With a roll of his eyes, he started towards the water. She was sitting in the sand, watching the waves.

"Hey, uh, Embry had to go do something for Sam. He asked me to give you this." When Valentina's bright green eyes met his hickory ones, Paul's world stopped. Gravity was no longer a force in his mind, only her. He would protect her, even if it was the last thing he ever did. Paul had imprinted on Valentina.

Fuck, he thought.