The Desires of The Heart

In A Heartbeat

The silence is deafening as I wait for Jasper to say something. I can feel his fear, anxiety, and a touch of excitement that all seems to mirror my own. I don't even have the words to speak first, so I understand his silence, but it doesn't make this any easier... I watch as his eyes flick through the emotions, debating on what to say.

"Sophia... I... Are you sure?" He runs his hands through his golden curls, starting to panic slightly and I honestly don't blame him.

"I'm about four weeks past my missed period, and the standard test says I am...but it's completely different from Bella's so I wasn't sure what to think." I can see his mind race as he tries to think of possible answers, but everything leads to this..

"Have you talked to Carlisle? Has he been able to run anything?" I shake my head.

"He's been so busy with Bella, I haven't thought to bring it up and put even more on his plate..." He nods and I'm suddenly no longer hungry and he notices, grabbing my hand in his.

"Everything will be just fine. Let's head home, and hopefully we'll have a chance to talk to him about this." He says with a smile and I feel a little better, not nearly as nervous.

We head out of the restaurant and towards the car, Jasper wrapping his arm around me and kissing the top of my head as we walk, before opening my door for me. In that gesture alone, I believe we're gonna be okay and he's at least not in complete shock. Halfway down the highway, Jasper suddenly turns off the radio causing me to look at him strangely. He simply holds one finger up and looks as if he's straining to hear something.

"I noticed it on the way up, but I thought it was in the radio. Do you think you have my advanced hearing?" He raises a brow as I decide to quiet my brain and try to focus and see if I can hear whatever it is that he does.

Closing my eyes, I place my racing thoughts towards the back, pulling myself from that chaos and suddenly everything around me hushes and that's when I hear what he's talking about. A soft fluttering noise, like water rushing at a break-neck speed. My eyes fly open widely as I look to my husband, in udder shock that words fail me.

"That my dear, would be a heartbeat."

~~

The house is quiet as we pull into the drive, our hands are clasped calming the nerves that suddenly flare in my gut. Lights illuminate the first floor so I know they aren't out hunting, and I can't help but wonder what kind of changes went on while we were gone. We make it just inside the door before Alice is in front of us, looking focused as she stares at me.

"Alice—?"

"Shh."

I clamp my mouth shut, my eyebrows shooting up at the demanding sound of her voice. She must've had a vision while we were out and therefore needs to confirm whatever it was. Jasper gives me a small shrug at her action, but I can tell in his eyes he's thinking the same as me.

"It's true...?"

Her words drift off into a question almost like she doesn't believe what she's hearing herself. Probably hoping it wouldn't be a similar situation to Bella's...but if she saw it, that already tells me it's different. And that gives me a sliver of hope.

"What did you see Alice?" Jasper asks, concern lacing his voice as he pulls her to the secluded dining room.

"I saw Sophia's choice to tell you while at dinner. Then I started looking forward, and I didn't lose sight of you. Which didn't make sense, if this was going to be similar to Bella's situation, so I kept looking." My eyes widen at the knowledge that she continued to see me... Once again, completely different from my sister's situation. "And I was able to discern a slow progression, almost human-like and your ability to tell Charlie." That shocked me the most, knowing how secretive the Cullen's want to be, and the apparent normality of our situation that I was able to tell him at some point.

"You're sure?" I ask flabbergasted.

"At least until the vision changes. But I'm not sure what would cause it to."

There's a stunned silence between the three of us, and I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the idea of being pregnant, but not having to worry about the same unknowns as my sister. After a minute or so, Carlisle comes into the room looking between us before landing on me, and nobody says anything as we watch his eyes suddenly widen and emotions flash through his amber eyes.

"Shall we head to my office to measure your progress?"

I nod before grabbing my husband's hand and we head through the living area, up the stairs and into Carlisle's spacious office that has been rearranged to house obstetrical equipment because of Bella and now me too, I guess. Suddenly filled with nerves, I climb up onto the chair and fiddle with my fingers as Carlisle starts to lay it back, and I don't know what to expect.

"Relax my love, everything is going to be alright." Jasper says softly as a wave of calm fills my chest, and I thank him with a look, not trusting my voice.

"How did you know?" Jasper finally addresses the elephant in the room.

"I've trained myself to hear these things. Makes diagnoses and treatment a lot easier when the patient doesn't know or isn't conscious." I wouldn't have thought of that, but it does make a lot of sense.

"Have you been able to hear it this entire time?"

"I hate to say it, but I didn't due to be so absorbed in Bella's predicament and trying to keep Edward from another outburst. I noticed Alice's strange reaction when you got home and began to listen."

At this point, he had the gel and monitor ready before placing both on my lower abdomen and a grainy, black and white picture begins to form on the screen. As he moves the wand around, searching, suddenly a white, peanut sized shape appears and my mouth drops in awe. There on the screen wiggling slightly is the beginning of a child I never thought was possible. I can't peel my eyes from the screen, but I hear Carlisle hit a few buttons and suddenly the room is filled with the same whooshing sound I heard just an hour ago and I feel tears gather before spilling down my cheeks.

"Looking at the size of the baby, you look to be about 7 weeks along. Giving an estimated delivery of May 21st, if this were to be at a human rate. We will just have to wait and see." Jasper tightens his hold on my hand with a smile and eyes that glistened in tears he'll never shed and my heart swells.

And with that heartbeat, our lives began to change in a way we never thought to be possible in this lifetime.