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December 11, 2011. 2:57 a.m.

"You're an asshole."

"Me? I'm the asshole in this situation?" He asks with a surprised look on his face. He looks tired and scared and a little bit annoyed. That last part is probably, most likely, directed at me.

"Yes," I nod, shifting Avery to my left hip. "You're the asshole."

"That's rich." Edward scoffs and then pulls at his hair. "And, at exactly what part did my asshole-ness become apparent to you? Tell me, please. Was it the part where I thought before I opened my fucking mouth or was it the part where I didn't volunteer us for something that we are both in no way capable of doing?"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"Bella, you would think someone as smart as you would be able to figure this one out but – "

"Edward, STOP yelling at me!"

Then Edward gets all screechy – which he only does when he's frustrated and extremely mad. "Bella do you even understand what the hell is going on right now? Do you even get it? Is it even computing right now?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and pursed my lips to defend myself. "Look, Edward I've got bigger things to worry about than this conversa– "

"No, you look, Bella." He said – to mock me I'm sure. "I don't think you understand what you've just agreed us to?"

I grab the finger that he has pointing in my face and bend it backwards – gently, of course – fed up with all his sass.

"I didn't agree to anything. I didn't sign anything. I didn't write my name in blood and I didn't hand over a fucking pound of flesh. So, calm. The hell. Down."

"You didn't agree to anything? I was right there when you said 'yes'!" Wow, his screeching has reached a new level.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Huh? Tell me?"

He takes a deep breath and then sighs, running his other hand through his hair. He takes another breath and then says, "Can I have my finger back?"

"Can you calm the hell down?" I snap back.

"Give me my fucking finger, Bella." He says all tiredly, like that's gonna make me have a change of heart or forget all the bullshit he's said in the past thirty minutes.

"No."

He looks at me like I'm crazy. And, maybe I am. Maybe I've finally crossed over that crazy line I've been straddling for all these years, but it doesn't matter. He was going to listen to me and he was going to listen to me now, goddammit!

"No?"

"No." I nod for clarification. "I don't think you deserve it."

He narrows his eyes. "I don't deserve my finger?" He asks sarcastically.

"Not with that attitude."

"Bella," He yells angrily. "I've had a really bad day and I am in absolutely no mood for your sense of humor."

"Really? Just you?" He rolls his eyes in annoyance and turns his head away from me. "No, Edward. Seriously? This only happened to you? You're the only one who's had a bad day?"

He doesn't look back at me and I can feel my eyes beginning to water – for like the eightieth fucking time today.

"I'm just taking her home, Edward." I let go of his finger in defeat and maybe a little bit of annoyance. "I'm just taking her home."

This day probably couldn't get any worse…

Let me just knock on some wood real quick.

.

One hour ago…

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Edward and I both screamed at the same time.

The African American lady – who's name I had forgotten - sits there with a serious look on her face and I could tell that she had done this thousands of times. She was strangely stoic – which is weird. Because, this job must put a lot of unnecessary stress on her life, as well as her personal life. But, that's beside the point.

Right now, I'm angry. Focus, Bella, focus.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to swear. What I meant to say was – "

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Edward interrupts me, screaming.

I frown and then tilt my head to the left a little. "Well, yeah. I was probably gonna say that again."

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Edward's eyes are blazing – probably a reflection of my own if I'm being honest. "'Cause I have had one rough day and this is – this is – this is like really cruel."

"Mr. Cullen, Ms. Swan. I know you must have many questions. I can assure you that I will answer all of them, but right now I just need you two to breathe."

"I'm 26!" I blurt out. "Okay. Twenty. Six. I can't – I'm not – this is just – "

Edward leans forward, folding his arms on the table. "Don't they have any relatives that could – "

"Dead." The lady states.

"But, what about a grandfa-"

"Dead." She looks between the two of us. "Didn't you two understand when you signed up to be the godparents that this would be your responsibility?"

"Psh. Nobody goes by the "godparent" rule anymore! It's just a thing. It's totally moot! Usually the child goes to an uncle or the grandparents or a sister or a cousin or a – "

"Bella," Edward says tiredly with a frustrated tone, effectively shutting up my rant.

And, really? I just want to cry. I mean, I have already. Cried, I mean. But, I just want to do it some more. For hours. Without a break. And, maybe with some chocolate. Milky Way preferably. I wonder if she has any Milky Ways.

I whisper through my hands - that I had placed over my mouth in an effort to muffle my cry. "We can't do this."

"Ms. Swan – "

"No!" I start getting angry, shaking my head back and forth viciously. "We can't do this!"

The lady stares at me patiently – probably tired of us interrupting her all day.

"I don't – I don't know what Alice and Jasper were thinking, but we can't. I can't. I just can't. This is just bad timing. My life's a mess. Like, a giant mess. And, I know Edward can't… We just… " I choke out a sob. "This isn't our place. I'm sorry."

Edward nods his head in agreement, patting me on the back awkwardly as I continue to sob.

"Okay."

Both of our eyes shoot up to the lady and we mutter a, "What?"

She grabs her long, straight hair and pulls it all over her right shoulder. "You don't have to take guardianship of Avery."

"We don't?" I ask confused.

"Of course, not. You are not legally bound to anything." She says calmly.

We both are silent for a good three minutes and then I hear Edward let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank God. I wouldn't have had any idea of what to do."

"Who're you telling? I almost shit my pants." I mutter quietly, sighing in relief myself. I want to brush my shoulder to wipe off the metaphoric ten billion pound weight that was lying there, threatening to end me, but I know they'll just look at me weird.

The lady stands and we follow suit. She reaches out a hand to Edward and goes, "Mr. Cullen, Ms. Swan, it was nice meeting you both."

Edward shakes her hand and she turns to shake my mine. I reach out my hand and smile at her. "No problem."

She heads toward the door.

"Well, hey, wait a minute!" I spit out. The lady freezes and she turns to look at me, questioningly. "Where – I mean… who was next in line? After us, I mean. Who's going to be taking care of Avery?"

Edward purses his lips, also interested in this piece of information that he, himself, wasn't bright enough to think to ask.

"Uh," She checks her chart again, but I can tell she already knows the answer. "No one. She'll stay in CPS for the remainder of the week or until we can find a suitable – "

"CPS?" I interrupt. "You mean like child protective services? No, no-no-no-no-no-no. No. Absolutely not. She's gonna be put in a home? Like, like, in the system?"

Edward tugs at his hair again and turns around facing the wall. I can see him rub his hands over his face from the corner of my eye.

"Well," The lady nods slowly. "Yes. That is typically how we deal with situations like this. Especially with children so young."

"Situations like this. Situations like this." I repeat over and over. "What the hell does that mean?"

She looks at me sadly. "Orphaned children, ma'am."

Tears begin streaming down my face and grab a hold of the back of the chair in front of me.

The lady sets down her papers on the table and gently grabs my hands. Edward still hasn't turned back around to join us adults in this important conversation.

"Miss Swan, we are well equipped to handle this situation. These kind of things, they happen way more than any of us care to imagine. Avery will be fine. And, I can tell that the both of you really care for her, so I want you to know that – "

And before I can really stop myself I blurt out, "We'll take her."

Edward whips around like someone had just told him his precious hair was on fire. "Bella, what the he – "

"We'll take her."

The lady looks at me sternly. "Are you sure? This is a huge responsibility."

"I'm positive. I'm her godmother. I'm Alice's bff. This is my job. We said we'd always be there for each other. So, this is me. Being there for her."

Edward, who has been awfully quiet this entire meeting, goes, "Bella, you can't just – "

"We'll take her." I insist again, with a determined feeling in my bones.

The lady smiles a knowing smile, like she knew this would happen all along and hands us both a stack of papers. "Great. I'll call you tomorrow to set up a suitable time and place for a meeting about how we'll go about this process. The address of the home Avery is staying at now is on page number four, they're expecting you, so don't knock. It's very late. Children are sleeping. And," She looks at me intensely. "Get some sleep. I know you're going through a really tough time right now, but Avery needs you guys to be strong. You're goddaughter needs you."

And with that she was out the door.

I bite my lip and then take a huge breath in preparation for the fight I know is about to ensue. He can't be too mad. If he didn't want to do this, he would have tried to stop me. He didn't try to stop me… Did he?

I slowly turn around and meet Edward's blazing glare.

"What the fuck is going on in your mind right now?"

I purse my lips.

.

3:30 a.m.

I walk down the stairs of Alice and Jazz's house and head towards the living room. I see Edward sprawled out on the couch with his hand covering his eyes. I know he's not asleep.

I head over and sit on table in front of him. "I, um, I think you should get some sleep."

He peeks at me from behind his hand and I bite my lip.

Since he says nothing, I continue speaking - it's this annoying habit I have that I can't seem to overcome. Babbling, that is. "You can take the bed upstairs. I already put Avery in her crib, so we should be good for a few hours. I mean, I'm not sure. I don't know her sleep pattern or anything. I've actually never actually had a baby over night before so this is all –"

"Bella," He says tiredly again. And, I'm beginning to realize that he must find me extremely annoying. Or my babbling anyway.

"Sorry." I stand up and head in the direction of the kitchen.

"What will you be doing?" I hear from behind me.

I turn around and say. "What?" I don't know why I said that. I heard what he said.

Edward looks exhausted. His hair is going in every direction possible, his face is flushed, his eyes are red…. He looks like shit. And, I wonder if I too look the same. "What will you be doing, instead of sleeping?"

"Oh, well," I pull my hair up into a ponytail with my hand. "I was going to go read over that shitload of papers that lady gave us earlier, for the tenth time today." I add slowly.

He nods, standing up.

"Actually there's something I wanted to talk to you about." He pauses and looks over at me. "I was reading and in here it says something about how, you know, like, one of us could chose to have sole guardianship."

His eyes widen and I fear that I've offended him.

"Because I know that this probably isn't in Tanya's 2011 Things to Do list and uh, you seemed pretty angry earlier and well- "

"I'm not letting you do this alone." Edward says annoyed.

"You're not letting me do anything, I'm just saying, you don't have to do this for me or think if you don't you'll be hurting my feelings or whatever." I offer.

"Bella," He looks at me so intensely and so earnestly that I almost melt. It was some scary shit. "I'm doing this. Not for you or for that lady that slyly tricked you into agreeing to this. I'm doing it for Avery. Avery's my princess." He gets up to walk away but fiercely adds, "I don't give two shits about you or your feelings."

I nod at him and he leaves the room. I hear him walking up the stairs and I collapse into the nearest chair. I grab the pillow that's squeezed between me and the chair and smash it against my face.

And, then I scream as loud as I possibly can.

.

8:14 a.m.

As soon as I woke up this morning I raced to the bathroom. I emptied whatever was in my stomach for what felt like hours. My stomach had been a wreck for weeks. My eating patterns were off, I was breaking out all over my face. All I know is, I was about to have one bad period – or at least that's what I kept telling myself. However, today it was worse – most likely on the account of the new daughter I had.

I get up, brush my teeth and go to check the nursery, but Avery's not there. Edward must have her downstairs somewhere. I walk down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Edward is peeking into the refrigerator and Avery is sitting in her high chair.

"Hey there, big girl! How are you this morning?" I gently pinch her cheeks and tickle her sides. I add in that extremely annoying voice people use when talking to babies. "How's little Avery, huh?"

I straighten up and turn toward Edward and stiffly smile, "Morning." I hadn't forgotten his attitude and all the rude things he had said last night.

Edward runs a hand through his hair – and even though I hate him, that move is so sexy. "Look Bella, I'm really sorry about my attitude last night. I was being an asshole. I was only thinking about myself and I was thinking that maybe I could make it up to you with breakfast?"

He smiles flirty-like and holds up two pieces of raw bacon. I take one sniff and I'm a goner. I run for the downstairs bathroom but I know I'm not going to make it, when I feel hands on my shoulder leading me toward the bathroom sink.

I hurl up what could only be my intestines since there couldn't possibly be anything left in the pit of my stomach.

Edward continues awkwardly patting my back. I can hear him trying not to gag. I heave one more time into the sink and then lean my head against the edge of it.

Edward looks at me with an eyebrow raised, "Done?"

I nod. "Yeah. I think that's the last of it."

I stretch out and got into the cupboard to rinse my mouth out with water.

"You sick or something?"

"Nah, nah. It's nothing." I dismiss quickly. "My stomach's been kind of weird lately. Nothing to worry about."

Edward nods and walks over to hand Avery a bottle. "Well, you should probably see someone about that." And then, to make sure I knew he didn't say that because he cared he adds, "'Cause you know, there's a baby around and such."

"Yeah." I wipe my mouth off with the back of my hand. "Yeah, there is."

And I'm doing just fine I'm always landing on my feet In the nic of time And by the skin of my teeth I ain't gonna stress Cause the worst ain't happened yet Somethings watching over me (Sweet Serendipity by Lee DeWyze)

Reviews are welcomed, loved, and cherished but never expected.

Laura :)