Chapter -1

A week, Lily had actually been able to keep her possible pregnancy a secret for a week. It wasn't easy but not for the reasons anyone might think. Jake and Jess were very perceptive and noticed the change in her behavior immediately, but were sure it was due to the incident with Manny. They had also been very busy with training. Even though Victoria and the newborn army were no longer an issue, Irina was still on the loose, along with the many nomadic vampires that crossed the woods from time to time. Jake and the pack were making sure Jess and the rest of the youngins were well trained and able to handle a vampire on their own. It should've been easy to keep the secret; problem was Alice was given permission to cross the treaty line as she pleased, to visit Lily. Meaning she had to physically gag her plenty of times to keep her from blabbing. After much arguing and debating, Alice finally agreed to keep her mouth shut, but only until Carlisle gave her a physical and they knew for sure what was going on. Monday took forever to arrive.

Mondays are always hectic and hospitals are no exception, even small ones like the one in Forks. She had to spend hours there, getting the most thorough physical imaginable. The ultrasound was the last of it and she stared at the white lights above as Carlisle squeezed cold, slimy gel all over her belly. Rosalie and Alice stared at her, motionless, speechless and filled with anticipation while his facial expression gave nothing away as he went over her belly with the ultrasound thingy, over and over again. After several minutes, which seemed endless to everyone, Carlisle turned off the machine and snapped his gloves off. Waiting for him to speak was not scary, it was downright terrifying. When he finally spoke the two little words she was waiting for, she took a deep breath, not realizing she was holding it before.

You have to understand, Lily was in love with Jake. Her love for him was immeasurable. She would never again be able to live in a universe where he didn't exist. There was no doubt in her mind that he was the person she would love for the remainder of her existence, the man she would share her life with. She wanted nothing more than to be his wife and mother to his kids. She didn't however, want to be a statistic. She didn't want to be a teen mother, she didn't want a rush, rush, hush, hush wedding where a little surprise would show up 6 or 7 months later. She didn't want Billy to kill Jake; she didn't want Jess to kill Jake, or to be disappointed in her.

"What do you mean false alarm???" Alice snapped, placing her hands on her tiny waist.

"Urine analysis came up negative" Carlisle explained "So did the blood analysis, and even though the ultrasound does not work properly on her, it I did not pick up on anything"

"She has multiple heart beats" she argued in a 'duh' tone.

"She is a witch, Alice" Carlisle insisted "There is not much known about how their organism works. As far as we know, that could be normal"

"We would've picked up on that long ago" she further argued "The heartbeats just started"

"Yeah" Rosalie smirked "Because we were so good on picking up that her blood didn't have a scent. We picked up on that right away, it took us what, a mere month?"

"I told you it's probably a side effect to Emmett's blood" Lily stated as she sat up, wiping the goo off her belly.

"It is a possibility" Carlisle nodded thoughtfully "We have no knowledge of how vampire blood affects humans, much less witches"

"So what happens now?" Rosalie asked before Lily could.

Carlisle turned to face Lily, and casually leaned back against the counter as he wrote away on a chart. "I want you check you once a week until we are certain of no further side effects"

Lily exhaled sharply as she closed her eyes as tilted her head back. She had told Jake about the physical, but not the reason for it. He thought it was just Carlisle's way of making sure she was completely out of danger in regards to the venom, she didn't bother to say otherwise. She figured there was no reason to freak him out until necessary. Good thing Sam made the entire pack be present at the training sessions or he would've tagged along. Problem was how to explain to him her weekly visits to the hospital.

"We can do the check-ups at home" Carlisle suggested, obviously knowing what she was thinking of. "It would be less worrisome for Jake and we would avoid giving the staff something to talk about"

"Perfect" Lily smiled "I'll let him know you'll be checking my heart and give him the vampire blood theory. No one will mention the pregnancy theory" she added looking directly at Alice.

"Did we learn nothing about the Paul fiasco?" she scolded "Lying is not the way to go with Jake"

"I'm not lying to him"

"Withholding information is not lying" Rosalie smiled "Being sneaky and being a liar are two very different things"

"Exactly" Lily smiled

Rosalie smiled, and Carlisle held in a smile as Alice exhaled sharply as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. No matter how much they tried to deny it, she and Jake had a closeness that was clearly evident

Alice argued all the way back to her house, giving a thousand and one reasons to tell Jake the whole truth. Lily appreciated her concern, but there was no way she was gonna do what Alice wanted. Even after proving how well she could handle herself against a vampire, the pack was set on not allowing a similar incident again, ever. If they knew there was a slight possibility she was in a delicate state, they would not let her out of their sight. That was so not happening.

Jasper and Emmett were standing at the door when the girls arrived at the Cullen house. Their faces were filled with curiosity and anxiety. Lily had been able to block any thoughts of herself in their minds which kept Edward in the dark about everything, he couldn't keep secrets from Bella and she from Jake, not making that mistake again. Jasper didn't have a problem keeping quiet since he was always quiet but Emmett was dying. Like Quil, Emmett couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it, not saying anything was torture to him.

"So?" Emmett asked as he bounced around nervously "Will there be a little wolf?"

"No" Lily and Rosalie chorused before Alice had a chance to open her mouth. "False alarm, the heartbeats are just a side effect to your blood" Lily added giving Alice a 'you better not say anything else' look.

"Damn!" Emmett said visibly disappointed before kissing Lily's forehead and running off with Rosalie.

"He is gone now" Jasper stated "What is the truth?"

Jasper couldn't be fooled as easily as Emmett, not to mention that he could sense her emotions and Alice's irritation. He knew there was more to the story but he also knew it was better if Emmett didn't know.

"The ultrasound is a little iffy because it doesn't work properly on me" Lily answered "But the urine and blood analysis came out negative" Jasper looked at Alice's irritation and seemed a little puzzled. "Carlisle and I are sure there is no pregnancy, that the heartbeats are a side effect to the vampire blood in my system, Alice obviously isn't"

"I take it you have no plans on telling Jacob about the possibility of you being with child?"

"No" Lily shook her head

"I agree with you" Jasper nodded "He does not handle hazardous situation that involve you, very well"

"No he doesn't" Lily smiled "Besides; I don't think the p word should be dropped on a guy unless you're 100 % sure"

"Once again, I agree. I will never know personally, but I imagine how that could sideswipe you"

"Ugh!" Alice yelled, throwing her hands up in the air as she went to sit in the window, sulking.

"Alice doesn't like being wrong" Jasper smiled

"I have not been proved wrong yet" Alice snapped

"Proved wrong of what?" asked a deep, sexy voice in Lily's ear.

*****

After hours of being surrounded with nothing but testosterone driven werewolves, Jake was in great need of holding Lily in his arms. He was dying to see her glorious eyes and sweet smile, to feel her soft skin and electrifying touch, of digging his face in her loose curls and inhaling her intoxicating scent. It was to no one's surprise that as soon as their meeting was over, he hauled ass to the bloodsucker's house where he knew she was. Sam took off to Emily's, Jared to Kim's, Quil to Claire's, Paul tagged along with Jess, Seth and the rest of the boys, Leah went to be Leah somewhere else, and Embry decided to tag along with Jake since he had nothing better to do.

Emmett and Blondie were in the garage, working on his Jeep as they arrived. Emmett serving as the jack, holding up the jeep with one hand and using the other to wave, face filled with his usual big grin. A huge smile crossed Jake's face as his love's scent hit him like a ton of bricks. That clean, sweet, alluring and intoxicating scent he loved and couldn't live without. He stretched his neck to see Lil sitting on the side of the living room couch, talking with Jasper while Tink sat on the floor, little legs hanging out the window, tiny arms crossed at her stomach, face full of irritation. Jake was so overtaken by Lil that he didn't pick up on what they were talking about. Tink's snap brought him out of his daze.

By Lil and Jasper's laughter, Tink was not getting her way about something, which she hated. Jake and Embry phased, pulling their shorts on as they jumped in through the window. Embry sat next to Tink as Jake leaped to wrap his arms around the waist of the most beautiful woman in the world, his woman.

"Proved wrong of what?" he asked in her ear.

Lil gave him that smile he was dying to see as she turned to throw her arms over his neck, landing her lips on his. As always, he lost all track of thought and time. By the time their lips parted, they were alone.

"We can sure clear a room" she laughed. Cute little laugh that was music to his ears.

"I missed you" he whispered, cupping her face with his hands, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs as he gently stroked her nose with his as he got lost in those glorious pools of chocolate, honey and mint, she called eyes.

"Me too" she smiled, capturing his lower lips between hers; awakening a hunger only she could satisfy.

But Jake couldn't think of that. He couldn't touch Lil that way until Doc confirmed that she was completely out of danger from the venom. He knew of her multiple heartbeats even though she pretended not to notice herself. He and Jess picked up on it the moment they walked into Emmett's room. They knew she was worried but didn't wanna worry them so they allowed her to keep it to herself. After all, everyone is allowed to keep secrets. The thought reminded him that Lil had gotten her physical from Doc. Jake knew he would probably need to get the dirt from Tink, but she deserved the chance to give her response.

"So?" he asked as he trailed her neck with little kisses "What was the doc's verdict?"

"No venom in my system" she whispered as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, giving him free access to her neck.

"Really?" he asked wondering if she was gonna finally come clean with him "Everything is ok?" he added while continuing his little kisses.

"Emmett's blood cased an echo in my heartbeat" she whispered, not bothering to open her eyes "Carlisle is sure it will go away soon, but he'll keep an eye on it anyways"

Jake could no longer pretend not to worry. He cupped her face, bringing it to his in order to look into her eyes. "What did he say, exactly?"

Lily smiled as she placed her hands over his, those delicate hands that always seemed so cool in contrasts to his "Carlisle hasn't found anything that might give him an idea of what vampire blood can do to the human system, much less a witch's" she explained honestly "Because we know there isn't a single trace of venom in my system, thanks to Emmett" she smiled "We concluded the echo is a side effect of his blood. He's pretty sure once it's out of my system, the echo will disappear"

"What if it doesn't?"

"Well we know that it doesn't harm me in any way" she shrugged "He's still gonna check me weekly, just to make sure. But there isn't any reason to worry about it. I'm perfectly ok"
she added with a devious smile and brow wiggle.

Jake nodded, not totally convinced. He had to find a way to talk to Doc alone. Lil could sense his worry and decided to take matters into her own hands. She slid her fingertips down his abs as she gently scraped his chest with her teeth. The sensation of her soft, cool lips on the bare skin of his blazing pecs sent the most pleasurable current to go through his body. Amazing how she always knew how to erase his mind of anything other than her.

Like she had been doing for the past week, Tink showed up the moment things were heating up. But unlike the prior times, Jasper and Embry were chasing her, failing to catch up to the quick and sneaky pixie.

"We shall leave them alone, Alice" Jasper said as he leaped, missing her completely.

"I need to talk to Jake"

"No you don't" Lil and Embry chorused as Embry leaped, also missing by a few inches.

"What's going on?" Jake laughed at the very funny and entertaining scene.

"Nothing" Jasper, Embry and Lil chorused "Nothing's going on" Lil added as she joined the chase.

"Like hell there isn't" Tink exclaimed as she dodged the trio.

"Oh no!" Blondie rolled her eyes as she and Emmett walked in the room "Butt out of it, Alice" she stated before making the trio a quartet.

"What the hell is going on?" Emmett laughed as he leaned on Jake

"Your guess is as good as mine" Jake chuckled.

"The heartbeats are not due to Emmett's blood" Tink yelled as she dodged 4 blurs.

"What???" Jake asked in alarm. Emmett's eyes widened and his mouth fell wide open, informing Jake he really didn't have a clue what was going on.

"Shut up, Alice!" Lil and Blondie yelled

Emmett stood in complete confusion as Jake joined the chase. But unlike the four that were trying to keep Tink shut, he wanted make sure she did the opposite.

Just as Tink leaped to the top of the stairs, dangling from the outside of the rail, she froze. Everyone stopped and looked at Lil, who by the way she was looking at Tink; she was responsible for her sudden lack of movement. She was using a spell. Before Jake could ask Lil to explain what the hell was going on, sneaky little Tink blurred out the three words he heard before everything went black.

"Lily is pregnant!"