AN: I’m on the block for the Support Stacie author auction (link on my profile). It’s a good cause, and you get a fic of your choice written by me! Here's the Epilogue. Hope you enjoy the last chapter of this story.

March

I stepped out of the building, groping my way along the side of the building until I felt the edge of the high-walled gardens in front of the hospital. I sank down, my whole body shaking, eyes welling over as I reached one trembling hand down and lifted up my shirt to place it gingerly atop the scared skin. Could it be true?

I had come in for a simple check up, which everyone had agreed was necessary. I hadn’t. Carlisle could take care of me at home. I didn’t want to face the questioning looks, having to explain I had been captured by a psychopathic killer. Didn’t want to relive those memories as I had to every time someone told the story. Didn’t want to have to think about the look on Edward’s face as he recalled events, especially after he had seen the video.

But Carlisle said he wanted me to go in, where there was better equipment. And he said he didn’t want to be the only one doing my medical work, he wanted someone else’s opinion as well, which is how I had ended up in the hospital in the first place.

And, I thought, as tears of joy streamed down my face, how I found out I was pregnant.

There was a child inside me. My baby. Our baby. Living and growing inside me. Inside plain old ordinary me there was a miracle occurring. I sniffed and wiped away the tears, my engagement ring dragging along my skin. The wedding remembered, I let out a laugh. Alice was going to have to buy a new dress, given the way I assumed I would expand.

Alice. How was I going to tell her.? More importantly, how was I going to tell Edward?

I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. I can do this. I can do this.

A part of me was screaming just the opposite. How, throughout all our conversations, both as friends and as a couple, with sex such a pressing issue, had children never come up? What if Edward didn’t want kids? What if he left me because of it? Or even worse, what if he didn’t? What if Edward felt he had to do the honorable thing, and this forced him to stay, even if he wanted to leave?

Just the thought of him leaving me, of leaving us, was unthinkable, unbearable. I found myself curled in a small ball on the entryway floor, arms wrapped protectively around my midsection. The tears started to flow when I thought of what my life would be like without my other half, my soul mate. What would life for our child be like, growing up without a father?

I squared my shoulders, wiped away my tears, and stood up. I could be strong. I would be strong. For our baby, I could make it through the worst-case scenario. And if I could do that, I could handle anything that was coming.

I glanced up at the clock. 5:45. Edward should be home any minute now. I took another deep breath and headed over to the bathroom to look in the mirror, see if I looked like I had been crying. My face was a little red, my eyes a little brighter than usual, but nothing that would suggest what had happened only a few minutes before. I ran my hands over my abdomen once more, for once not thinking of the many scares that ran beneath the shirt along the surface of my skin, but of the new life that was growing there, that had been growing there since that night with Edward. That night with James. But I had promised myself that I would never think about that part of the night again if I didn’t have to, even if my nightmares had other plans.

My one comfort about the entire thing was that he was in jail. After Jasper had shot him in the leg, the police had arrested him, I had given my statement. James had been sent back to the US to face justice. All that was left was the trail. A trail I was dreading.

I heard a key in the latch and turned around, mentally preparing myself for what was to come. I was ready, no matter the reaction. I could handle it.

Edward walked into the apartment, his footfalls resonating throughout the rooms. "Bella?" he called cautiously. I was easily startled after my encounter with James, we had learned the hard way. i didn't answer right away, still trying to prepare myself to give the information and for whatever his reaction would be.

"Bella!" he called again, this time sounding slightly panicked. If the experience had made me more paranoid, it had brought out Edward's protective instincts ten-fold.

"In the bathroom!" I called calmly, walking out of the room and into the hallway, running head-first into his very solid body. Without giving me time to recover, he grasped my shoulders and brought me in for a long, tender kiss. I couldn't stand to be away from Edward for too long, but he was even the disappearing act i had pulled and what it had resulted in, he could barely let me out of his sight. and it had been two months since then. I had had to practically kick him out the door to keep him in his job at the record company. Our reunions, no matter how long we had been apart, were always sweet and tender.

"Edward," I began, gently pulling away, "we need to talk."

He looked at me, his expression unreadable, but there was something in his eyes that had me worried. There was something there that looked almost...fearful. He lead me over to the couch before sitting down next to me, looking over, his face still blank.

"Edward," I began again, grasping both his hands in my own, "I'm pregnant." I inhaled deeply, waiting for whatever would come.

He looked at me, appearing puzzled. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn’t this. “You’re…pregnant?” He sat there for a few seconds, a smile growing on his face as it sunk in. “You’re pregnant!” he cried out joyfully, jumping up off the couch and pulling me with him. He spun us in a circle around the living room, all the while laughing and repeating “We’re pregnant!”

Eventually he put me down, and bent his head to my stomach, pressing his head against it before gently placing a kiss on the area where in a few months time our child would be expanding me.

“You’re not upset? This doesn’t mess everything up?” I asked him, running my hands through the waves of his hair as he continued to kneel in front of me.

“If it had been up to us, I would have wanted to wait a little while, but I want children Bella. And apparently we’re having a child. I’m marrying you, you’re carrying our baby…nothing is messed up. Everything is perfect.”

April

I sat in the courtroom with baited breath as the judge called upon the jury. There was only one word I wanted to hear as I sat, shrinking into Edward as James glared at us across the room, his smug grin flashing at me every now and then, making Edward growl in anger.

“Don’t worry,” said Alice, leaning forward from her seat behind us to talk. “They’re going to find him…”

“We the Jury, find the defendant guilty of all charges.”

I let out a sigh of relief as James was taken away through the back of the courthouse, escorted by two armed guards .This was it. The end of my own person nightmare. The demon was vanquished. The good guys had won. It was all over.

May

"Alice," I mumbled as she attacked me with some more blush just outside the church doors. "Those doors are going to open soon. And I want to be able to walk down the aisle when they do, not stand here waiting for you to finish with my makeup, which you've already done twenty or so times today." i couldn't quiet bring myself to be mad. It was my wedding day. As long as my groom was waiting at the end of that aisle, nothing could go wrong in my mind.

Alice had a different opinion. Everything could go wrong, and would, unless she personally supervised it all. As one of my co-maids of honor and the wedding planner, she had been a busy little bee.

Charlie waved Alice away, then came over and hugged me close, being careful not to muss up my dress. Alice moved in again as soon as the hug was over, but Charlie gently put a hand down on her shoulder, holding her back. "She's perfect Alice. Besides," he said as the music changed, "it's time."

Alice scurried to her place behind Rosalie, while Rose gently placed a reassuring hand on Natasha's shoulder. She had been so excited to be our flower girl, but now that the time was here she was nervous. Jacob's constant teasing about how he would do a better job as ring-bearer than she would as flower girl hadn't helped any.

I put a hand over my growing stomach, searching both to give and receive comfort. I felt the baby kick, for the first time ever. I let out a small gasp just as the doors to the inner part of the church were swung open, and we began our procession down the aisle.

First was Natasha, her golden curls bouncing as she took slow, careful calculated steps, her noses scrunched up in consintration as she carefully threw each handful of flowers, blue dress. Next came Jacob, head held high, letting the entire world know that he was the best ring bearer in the entire world. Then my bridesmaids started making their way down. First was Angela, followed by Rosalie, the other co-maid of honor, and the last of their number was spiky haired Alice, looking taller than usual in a pair of ridiculously high-heeled shoes.

Finally, it was my turn. For the first time, over the heads of my bridesmaids, I had a glimpse at what i was walking towards. Edward stood at the alter in his designer tuxedo, his best men Jasper and Emmett beside him. Edward turned around to face me, and his entire being seemed to glow with happiness.

In that instant, any nerves i had been experiencing, any doubts i had had, vanished without a trace. The baby inside me kicked again, and before me I saw not the small congregation of family and friends, but my future with the people at the alter; my closest friends. My Edward, my baby. My future. Our future. And i wanted it. I wanted it bad. I needed it.

It took all my self-control not to go sprinting down the aisle, but to pace myself, agonizingly slow step after step in time to the music. We finally reached the alter and Charlie turned me to him, kissing me gently on the forehead before taking my right hand in his left and passing me off to Edward.

We stood before the minister, Edward's childhood youth pastor, as she performed the ceremony. Time flew and froze all at once. We exchanged our vows and rings, and then came the words every girl dreams of hearing her entire life.

"You may now kiss the bride."

September

"Okay Bella, on the count of three, i need you to push for me, okay?" Carlisle said in a calm reassuring voice.

I was in no mood to be calm or reassured. I was in pain. Edward's hand was gripped vice-like in my own, my nails digging into his skin. Why, oh why, had we decided to do everything au natural? Edward had tried to talk me out of it, but I was stubborn. Too stubborn for my own good. I hadn't even wanted to know anything about the baby, as long as she was healthy. I would avert my eyes at the ultrasound and interrupt the technicians and doctors any time they tried to tell me something.

Edward squeezed my hand reassuringly as Carlisle reached three, although how he had any blood left to make it move I know not. I pushed again, only god knew how many times it had been, and a few seconds later i heard the most beautiful sound in the world. The sound of crying.

I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. It was over. And after all that hard work, i finally had my beautiful baby.

"It's a girl!" Carlisle announced, although he had already known. Had known the entire time. Edward had chosen to get the basics, but even he hadn't known the sex of our baby.

"Reneesme," I breathed out, the name i had decided upon for our child should it be a girl.

Edward still hadn't let go of my hand, and Carlisle passed my baby onto a nurse before returning to his former postion, still looking expectant.

"Almost there Bella," Edward told me.

"What do you mean almost there!" I shouted at him. Labor was not good for one's attitude."I had the baby! I'm done!"

"You're having twins Bella," Carlisle responded, calm as ever.

Twins. I was having twins.

Six years later

Edward sat in the front seat of the volvo, honking the horn impatiently. I simply glared out the window before looking up the stairs, tapping my foot impatiently, book bags slug over my arms, lunch boxes in hand. Reneesme appeared just as i was about to start bellowing. I gave her the Barbie backpack and the Hannah Montana lunch box. "Edward Jacob Cullen! get your tiny little butt down here or you're going to be late for your first day of school!"

He came hopping down the stairs a few minutes later, shoes still untied. I bent down and did them up for him before sending him off to the car, Reseeme and myself right behind. The twins piled into the backseat and Edward took care of EJ while I tackled Reseeme's car seat. By the time Edward and I climbed into the front seat, we were running 15 minutes late. And i knew what that meant.

"Please, Edward," I begged, "think of the children."

"I am," he said simply, a familiar grin creeping onto his face. Then he floored it.

We arrived at school with five minutes to spare, and Edward and I looked at the imposing building where they would attend kindergarten. They wouldn't let us walk them in, we'd had to fight just to get to drive them to school. I got out of the car and undid EJ's seatbelt and pulled him out while Edward did the same thing on the other side. I was given two quick hugs, a kiss, and a chorus of "Bye Mommy!"s.

Edward and I stood holding each other, quiet tears streaming down my face as they walked quietly into their futures.

AN: Bid on me to Support stacie. you can now also follow me on twitter. If you want to have more of my writing, i would recomend checking out my other baby, "Evil Angel". sorry for any spag, but i wanted to get this up.

If you want a really good read, check out "Bella and the Billionaire." it's in my favorites and is amazing

i just wanted to say thank you so much to you all for supporting me, and i hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as i enjoyed writing it. even if it's been completed for awhile, please feel free to drop me a review. I don't bite. That's Edward's job :)