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Things in the Cullen house were... tense, to say the least, since Bella and Edward returned from their honeymoon. The house was divided on the situation — the whole Bella being impregnated by a vampire situation. Something was growing inside of her, and most everyone was convinced it was a monster that would kill Bella in the end.
It was evident that the human wouldn't survive. Every day, she got weaker, her growing stomach covered in bruises, her cheeks sunken in from lack of nutrition.
But Bella wanted to keep whatever was inside of her, and so Valeria and Rosalie were there to make sure the rest of the family respected her autonomy. It was rare Bella got to make a decision for herself, and even though it killed Val to see her in such a horrible state, it still was Bella's choice, who was already attached to what they all hoped was a baby and not a monster.
One downside to constantly being at the house to take care of Bella was that Valeria couldn't go to the reservation. She couldn't see Sam or listen to Leah go on about how great Mike was, who was officially her boyfriend even if he didn't know about spirit shifters and vampires yet.
Valeria missed Sam, wanting more than anything to see him — to not just talk over the phone. Things with Brady and Collin had settled down, and so he didn't understand why she seemed to be avoiding seeing him physically. It made him wonder if he'd done something wrong. If only he knew she was trying to hide a potential demon-hybrid baby from him.
She knew what Sam would think of it and she knew what he would be duty-bound to do. She could only hope that since the pregnancy was going so swiftly, that the thing would be born before Sam could find out.
Of course, the universe didn't seem to share the same wishes as Valeria, because two weeks into Bella's return, Jacob rode up to the house on his motorcycle, clearly not in a good mood.
Carlisle was the one to greet him at the door cordially. "Hello, Jacob, how are you?"
Valeria thought it sounded as if Jacob forced himself into the house, not bothering with politeness. "Listen, just give it to me straight—"
Though she wasn't a vampire, Bella could hear his voice carrying through the open house. "Jake, is that you?" she called.
"She's here?" Jacob asked sharply before storming up to the second floor. In an instant, Rosalie stood protectively in front of Bella, which Valeria thought was needless. He wouldn't harm Bella — he'd harm Edward.
"They came home two weeks ago," Carlisle muttered softly while following him.
When Jacob reached the living room, he was surprised to see the entire family present, especially when Sam had been dying to see Valeria in person for the last week. But there she was, sitting on the edge of the same couch as Bella, whose form was hidden behind Rosalie.
