There was yelling outside when she got back downstairs with hair still wet shivering slightly from the way she blasted herself with cold water at the end of her shower.

She would not admit that she was ridiculously curious as Esme helped her down to the opposite end of the couch to Bella, draping a blanket over her legs preventing her from getting up and seeing it for herself.

It was small-town culture, not being able to mind your business when there was something for you to spy on, or that was what she was going to blame it on.

The fact that she had never heard the Cullen's Arthur like that made it all the modes interesting because that meant that someone else was here, someone that wasn't supposed to be here, and Roman wanted nothing more than to see who it was, hoping that it would be someone that could tell her how Seth was doing.

A week since they've been back and they've only allowed her to text him. She couldn't hide a conversation from vampires, not when they would hear her so easily.

It wasn't like hiding a pregnancy, apparently.

No, that had been physical, simple to hide until she grew too big and was starting to become too sick to hide it. 

They watched her now though, they hovered, and as much as she loved them, she wanted to just speak to Seth, her little brother. 

If they were right about everything then her time with him was limited, running out, and she worried for what it could mean for him once she was gone. 

The legends said that the shifter was never the same after the death of their imprint, that they wither away to nothing or disappear to never be seen again. If that was to happen to Seth she would never be able to forgive herself, even if she was dead. 

She would just know, instinctively, wherever she was and it would torture her eternally. She loved that boy so much and he really deserves better than herself. 

Roman sighs, drawing lazy shapes on her stomach since no one wanted to fill her in on what was going on. Not even Bella seemed inclined to share the news as she stared blankly ahead. 

Her wife had been growing more and more dismal as the days passed and she wasn't allowed to speak to Charlie or anyone else that called for her. She couldn't blame her for feeling much the same as she did. 

Being purposely told that you had to isolate yourself from the outside world was different from doing it voluntarily. It was making her more than a little stir crazy. 

The little nudge was draining Bella a lot faster than the bean was draining her. It was as though Roman was doing something she wasn't, or perhaps, she was just not as far along as her wife was, but the isolation was all that much harder as she had to watch her fade away before her eyes. 

It would be fine, of course, they would work to turn her the moment that Nudge was born. The venom would take to her veins and race through her heart and bring Bella back to them. The venom would fix everything. 

They just needed a way to feed the baby while things weren't too bad. With the rate that they were growing, it would all be over soon and she would be able to hold her babies. 

Edward came in after a moment, a familiar face trailing close behind, and she has to stop herself from gagging at the sight of him, her stomach suddenly doing backflips that made her feel like heaving up her breakfast -- and if she did that now, then who knows how long it'll be before she could hold anything down again. 

"Ew," she mutters, rubbing a hand roughly over her eyes. 

"Roman," Jacob says, voice tight with only the barest hint of basic politeness that he had to show her. "You're just okay with all of this?"  

"How's Seth?" she asks, ignoring his question. 

"He's as well as he could be with you ignoring him." 

She scoffs to cover the way she winces at his words. "Please, if you haven't noticed, I haven't been able to do anything. Don't you think I would have called him if I could?"   

"I think a lot of things about you." 

Edward shifts, voice quiet with warning as he speaks the boy's name. 

"Yeah, well I think you're a world-class idiot," she snaps, pulling away from Bella when she puts a hand on her ankle. "I also think you have a lot of nerve showing your face trying to cause trouble all over again." 

"Roman..." Rosalie says softly, soothing as she tries to calm her down.

"No, he just doesn't stop to consider anyone else when he does something, does he?" she keeps going, ignoring the way her heart raced and hands shook as they clenched the blanket. 

"I came to see if the treaty was broken!" he spits angrily, taking a step forward. 

Rosalie is between them in an instant just as Emmett places a large hand onto the shifter's shoulder. 

"I don't care about your stupid treaty! I'll spit on your stupid treaty!" she snarls, rocketing to her feet without thinking. Her knees wobble and she sinks, Rosalie grabbing her before she hits the ground as she gasps -- a hand coming up to cradle her stomach, holding it tighter when she's nudged lightly like quick little kicks that beat with her anger. 

"Roman!" Bella gasps her hand pressing to the back of her leg. She moves the best she could, sitting out of the way with the little strength that she had. 

"No! I'm so sick of him showing his face! I hate him! I hate him so much and he always comes and you always- always do that, that lovesick, heartbroken face, and--" she sobs, eyes squeezing shut as she bursts into tears, curling into herself. 

Every breath rattled in her chest as tried to breathe, tried to concentrate on something that wasn't the fact that she was crying in a show of ultimate weakness, of vulnerability when she couldn't be more vulnerable. She would never want him to see her like this, never Jacob, because he was a wretch, a disgusting fiend, and every time he showed his face something bad would happen. 

Jacob was like her personal little plague that couldn't be cured, that never stopped or died out. 

And she just hated that boy so much.

Then Edward was there, moving around her like the moon rotated the earth, stuck in its gravity, and she let herself fall to him -- crashing into his arms with a warbled cry. 

"You should take her upstairs," Rose says, shifting so that she was blocking Jacob fully from view. 

"You've- you're... You did this," the boy seethes. "You've killed them both." 

Roman whimpers, tugging on Edward's shirt, urging him to do something, to make the boy go away, but... but he wouldn't, would he? He had let him in, invited him in for whatever convoluted little attempt he tried next to sway them against their decision, and he wouldn't send him away even if she pleads and begs. 

Edward would do anything to get them to change their mind, even if it meant Roman's heart breaking. 

Pulling away as much as she could, she reaches blindly for Rosalie, the blonde easily accepting her into her arms. Edward doesn't fight as she pushes him away, doesn't flinch at the sharp look of betrayal that she shoots him. 

He takes it soundlessly, motionless, with that wild gleam in his eyes. 

As she's being helped from the room, Esme taking her back to the guest room that was slowly turning into her inner sanctum, Roman doesn't look back, not even at Bella's cry of her name because she knows that something has shifted again, that something would be different.

Because Roman knows that Jacob will be there still and she gets the feeling that this time he was never going to leave. 

There was an old, yellowing paged tome in her lap as she sat against her thrown of pillows looking for any information that she could about her situation. 

The skeptics had been researching legends, searching for answers to this situation that they so desperately wanted to rectify, and with nothing better to Roman didn't mind spending her time looking over the ancient books. 

They had been disapproving at first of her seeing the depictions of what her death would look like, of the bloody birth where Bean would rip himself from her, but she had talked them into agreeing eventually. 

She didn't see any of it like that. She saw them as cautionary tales, of what not to do in case of vampire impregnation. 

Somewhere in these pages had to be an explanation of how to make them last longer, of how to keep them healthy enough that they would survive the birth -- or the cesarean if Bella's vague idea of a plan was to be followed.  

Roman breathed deeply, taking in the scent of the old book as she leaned back, head pounding and back aching. 

Drained of energy with no will to get out of her bed, she was terrified of how quickly she was losing the hours that she was able to stay awake, unsure if it was better if she slept through the rest of the pregnancy. 

She was dropping, Carlisle had told her, slipping now faster than Bella was as she took a sudden turn. Apparently she needed some sort of catalyst that tipped her scales, something that knocked the wind from her sails and sent her tumbling pitifully.

Jacob coming had apparently stolen the life right out of her and now she was stuck on permanent bed rest. 

At least she didn't have to face Bella since the girl wasn't leaving the couch much. It was perfect, she supposed because now she would have to face them less and less often.

The trick Edward pulled with Jacob was absurd. Bella wanting Jacob to stay was absurd. Roman bursting into tears because she couldn't stand him was absurd.  

She hated herself right now for that, hated that she let her emotions get out of control. 

"Roman!" 

She jolts, nearly tossing herself out of the bed at the sound of his voice. 

"Roman!" 

"Seth. Seth!" she cries, tears already stinging her cheeks. "Seth, I'm in here!" 

There are loud thuds on the stairs as he races up, his frantic pace calling to her when she was helpless to move on her own. 

The book is abandoned, tossed carelessly to the side as she flings the blanket off. The door burst open as she does and he stands there panicked, shirtless and sweaty. His chest rises and falls with each panting breaths, his hands shaking where he holds the handle tightly. 

"It's true," he mumbles, frozen in the doorway. 

"You're really here," she says, wiping at her cheeks. "I can't believe that you're here." 

"It's true," he repeats. 

"Seth?" 

"You're pregnant." 

She sniffles, pushing herself to the edge of the bed shakily. "I am," she says happily, hands falling to her stomach with a pleased little smile. 

"And you're sick, just like Jake said," he continues, metal handle screeching in his hand. "Is it- it's killing you." 

Her smile turns bitter. "My baby is not killing me. I am just not strong enough for them." 

"You'll die doing this." 

"I won't." 

"You will," he whispers brokenly, sweeping into the room and slamming the door behind him. "You already look so sick, Ro, why are you doing this?"

She shakes her head, rubbing her stomach reassuringly. "You don't understand, Seth. The little bean is just a little needier than other babies, but he can't help it. I'm not trying to hurt you, hun, I would never try to hurt you, and no matter what they're saying downstairs, I refuse to leave you. I'm going to be here with my baby and you forever, remember?" 

His sniffles are loud, haunting, and she pats the bed, wishing that she could go to him.

"Don't be sad. Please, don't be sad, Seth," she whispers, curling her fist into the covers. "Just be mad at me, alright? Just be mad and call me reckless or selfish, yell at me. Just, don't be sad because of this." 

"How can I not be sad? You're choosing to die!" 

"I'm choosing to have my baby despite all odds," Roman promises. "But I have no plan to die. I want to live long enough to see my baby grow up."

"How are you going to do that? You're dying--" he chokes, clawing at his chest-- "I can't live without you, Roman. I won't be able to survive that kind of loss. I wouldn't want to." 

"No, no, Seth, don't talk like that," she whispers harshly, stumbling shakily to her feet. "Everything is going to be fine. It's never going to make it to that point. You just have to trust me, hun, you have to believe that I can actually do this." 

He holds her up, an arm sliding around her waist to support her. He guides her back to the bed, lowering her to the mattress in an instant relief to her back. 

Roman can't stand the way he looks just as broken, just as tortured as Edward does, just as desperate to make her change her mind. It kills her that she's doing this to him, to them, but she couldn't -- wouldn't -- go back now when she knew that her little bean was nothing but innocent in all of this. 

She had to protect them just as they were trying to protect her. 

Swallowing thickly, she grunts as she backs up toward the pillow thrown again and pats the space beside her. "Come lie down," Roman pleads, blinking slowly. "I'm cold and so sleepy. Come stay with me." 

Seth hesitates, torn, but eventually, the imprint must weigh out because he crawls in beside her. She runs her fingers through his hair as he cuddles up to her side making a point not to touch anywhere near her stomach. 

Neither of them points out the tears that wet her shoulder or the way his body shakes as he holds her closer and closer. Roman just holds him until she can no longer fight off sleep. 

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were almost (kinda) to the ending so I've decided to just extend my challenge and see if I can finish this before the lockdown is over and I have to go back to work.

unedited

2020-03-31