Chapter 1

Telling Charlie

It's been a month since Bella told him. Everything's as it's supposed to be. With the three months old baby in Bella's belly, they're both happier than ever.

Bella looks out through the window in the classroom. Her gaze gets caught on a kid outside. A little boy jumping ropes in the snow. Six months left,she thinks to her self and strokes her hand over her belly.

Edward, who sits next to her, must have followed her gaze and figured her thoughts, 'cause he's also watching the boy outside. He smiles at Bella.

It's the first day in school after Christmas holidays and Mr. Banner has made them watch a movie about caterpillars and butterflies in biology class. He must think their in seventh grade or something, Bella remembers watching this exact same movie in Phoenix in – well, just that – seventh grade.

Something distracts her in the middle of the transformation of a disgusting green caterpillar turning into a beautiful aquamarine butterfly.

Edward. His gaze is stuck on Bella and not anywhere towards the television.

It's quiet in the room, nothing but the low noise of a beeping butterfly from the TV screen can be heard. So instead of whispering to him, she rips out a piece of paper from here notepad and starts writing to him.

Head towards television, Cullen.

He smiles at her and he's done writing an answer before Bella's eve grasped that he's taken the pen from her. That's one of many ways in which he amazes her.

Sorry, too busy looking at you, love.

Besides, I've watched this at least ten times before.

She gets a lump in her stomach as soon as she reads it. But not out of fear, sadness or anything like that. Out of love. Gratitude, wonderment. Love because she loves Edward (obviously…) for an innumerable amount of reasons, not least giving her the greatest gift of all times – a baby.

Gratitude because she can't even explain how grateful she is that she has Edward. Without him she would still be that unhappy teenage girl stuck in the rainiest town on earth. Okay, the last part – still true. But with Edward it's not nearly as painful. Not even a bit, actually.

And last but not least – wonderment. Because she just can't stop wondering how someone like him can love someone like her. Though he says it in a way that almost makes it unbelievable not to trust him, Bella's self confidence is way to low for her just to believe him.

She writes the only thing she can think of at the moment.

I love you.

"Oh, I love you too. More than you could ever imagine," Edward whispers as a response to her note.

He looks deeply into Bella's chocolate eyes and she just can't stop wondering if he really means that – 'cause honestly, how could he?

"You know I mean that, Bella",he answers to her thoughts, with his beautiful velvety voice.

"H-how do you do that?"she stutters as she looks at Edward with big amazed eyes. And he says he can't read her mind!

"I know you, Bella. I don't have to be able to actually hear your thoughts to know what you're thinking." He smiles that beautiful crooked smile he knows Bella loves so much, and the wonder is gone.

SuddenlyBella starts giggling. It takes a few seconds for her to realize what's happening. "Oh my God."

"What? Are you okay?"Edward looks at her with astonishment. His voice sounds worried. She smiles and takes his hand and puts it on her stomach.

Edward smiles back, and his smile is even bigger than Bella's. "Is that…?"

She nods and bites her lip. "It's tickling!"

He kisses her on her forehead and keeps his hand on her stomach, when Mr. Banner suddenly interrupts them.

"Mr. Cullen, Ms. Swan."He shoots them an angry glance.

Bella doesn't bother to correct him, but he apparently hasn't heard about their wedding. 'Cause then, he would have called her by her actual name – Mrs. Cullen. She smiles just thinking about it. She loves her new name. Bella Cullen is more her. More correct, more right. Isabella Swan was just something she was called before she met Edward. This is her real name, what she was meant to be named. Who she was meant to be.

Edward takes his hand off of Bella and smiles at her and they laugh, but silent – they don't want to get thrown out by Mr. Banner. That wouldn't be the most parental-like thing to do.

Their classmates have left the classroom and Bella and Edward are the only ones there.

Bella's finding it a little hard to stand up straight from all the kicking going on in her belly, and she's not far from falling when Edward saves her by taking his arm around her. "Wow, I bet she's gotten her energy from her father."He smiles, but Bella just looks at him like a question mark.

"She?"Her voice cracks.

"Alice told me, she saw when we decided her name." Thank you, Alice, for your amazing gift to see into the future!

Her eyes starts filling with tears that make her se blurry. "It's a girl? We're having a girl?"

Edward, who still has his arms around Bella, wipes away the tears with his fingers.

"We're having a girl", he repeats her, but without a question mark in the end.

He puts his hand on her head and plays with her hair, still looking directly into her eyes. He kisses her gently. A kiss that lasts for an eternity. It could have lasted longer than an eternity, it could have lasted forever and Bella still wouldn't mind. The voice in her head that says she likes Edward's kisses is wrong. She doesn't like Edward's kisses. She loves Edward's kisses. She loves his mouth, his lips. She loves his everything.

"And what do we name her?" She just remembers what Edward had said Alice saw.

"She wouldn't tell me. And you know Alice…" He rolls his eyes and bares his teeth in a big smile.

Bella smiles back. She knows exactly what he means by the 'you know Alice…' and the eyes rolling.

"Stubborn, yeah… But I think I know a way to get her to tell me", she says and smiles playfully.

He raises his eyebrows. "Clearly, you don't know Alice as well as I thought…"

"I think I do. Actually, stubbornness comes second of the list of Alice's characteristics. First comes curiosity."

Edward smiles, impressed. "I have to admit, you're good."

"And you got that now?" she smirks and smiles proudly.

"No, I always knew that."He chuckles and kisses her on her forehead one more time and then continues. "So, tell me your big plans."

Bella hawks as if to prepare for a speech, or as in this case, just a really long sentence. "Okay. So, ever since the day we got home from our honeymoon, Alice has being trying to get me to tell her all about how the baby was conceived…"

Edward starts to laugh. "Wow, these decades in school and of sex education really proved to have done nothing."

"Very funny..." Bella fake-laughs. "No, seriously. You know like how it happened and stuff…"She looks at him innocently.

"You're going to tell her about our beach night?"Edward looks at Bella with doubt. He doesn't look like he's very happy about her – so called – plan.

"If that's what it takes to get her to tell me the name of my daughter, then yes."Wow, where did that come from? Bella hears how definite she sounds. After all it's just a name and they will find out eventually. Obviously. Since they will even be the once to decide it and all… But stubborn as she is – not really as much as Alice though – she wants to know now.

"Our daughter", Edward corrects her, and it seems he has given in.

"But no dirty details!" he adds.

He must have heard how strict he sounds because he continues a little easier. "Let's keep them to ourselves."

He smiles and winks with one of his remarkable dark eyes.

On their way out through the door they run in to Jacob, who has his arms full of books. He looks stressed.

"Jake, hey!"Bella shouts almost a little too loud.

"Hello Bella… Edward. It's been a while."He smiles but seems absent.

"Yes, it has. How are you?"Bella hugs him and he hugs back. She notices that he sniffs her hair just like he had done that day last spring before he had kissed her. Edward, who also – obviously – noticed, gives him a look that says something like 'back off, she's with me'. Now with the baby in Bella's belly, he's more protective than ever.

Jacob's smile, that almost isn't visible anymore, looks strained. Bella can't stop wondering why he's like this. He wasn't like this when he found out that Edward's the one Bella loves. She remembers Jake's word perfectly; 'as long as you're happy'. She remembers how he smiled when he said that, and how she felt that he meant it. So why would he be like this after – what is it? 10 months?

"I'm alright, a little stressed", he interrupts her thoughts by answering the question she forgot she had asked. "I'm late for chemistry class. Mr Johnson…."he continues.

"Oh. Well, then you'd better run. Hope you've had a nice Christmas."She smiles at him and says goodbye.

She has to talk to him. Something's wrong – and even though she's with Edward now, they're still friends, right? Or are they? Bella hasn't heard from Jacob the entire winter and she hasn't really been making any effort to stay in touch either. She just realizes how much she has missed him.

Edward grabs Bella's hand and they go to math class together.

"So…"Edward starts. "Are you going to tell him? 'Cause he clearly still has feelings for you and you might save him time craving for you and waiting for you to choose him if you tell him you're pregnant and married …" He looks at her knowingly.

When Bella hesitates he continues. "You know I'm right…"

"I don't know… I mean, I probably should tell Charlie first…"

Prepare for the yelling.

"You haven't told your father yet? Bella! I've told my whole family."He sounds more surprised than angry, surprisingly enough. She guesses he doesn't want to fight with her right now, he knows how easily she gets upset now with the hormones and all.

The reason she hasn't told Charlie yet is because she doesn't know how he'll react at all. If it wouldn't be for how busy Charlie's been with work the last months, he would probably have noticed that Bella's spending a whole lot of time in the bathroom – throwing up, but of course he can't know that. He hasn't even been pointing out her now pretty loose dress-style. She always used to wear tight jeans and too small t-shirts, but now her closet consists of extra-large college-jumpers and two sizes larger jeans that Esme has lend her. But as told, he's very busy…

She smiles guiltily. "Well… He knows we're married…" And for that, he had been a little grumpy. Running away to Las Vegas wasn't really Bella-style, he had made clear he thought. She could only guess what he thought about the honey moon on Isle Esme.

He looks at her and smiles, almost laughs, and tries to sound convenient."Bella, for me…?"

Too bad you can't say no to that angelic face of his.

"Okay, I'll tell him today. In one condition." Edward frowns at the last part. "That you'll be there when I tell him."She flashes her long pitch black eyelashes in an attempt to make her eyes look like puppy dog eyes, and puts her hands to her cheeks, just like she always does when she wants Edward to do something. He's very weak when it comes to this. It always works. This time – no exception.

"Okay… As long as he doesn't hit me."

Bella finds it hard to know if he's serious or not as he looks worried but laughs at the same time.

She raises her eyebrows. "Okay…? Since when did the vampire get scared of the 40 year old human?"

"Gee, I don't know… Since he married and got his teenage daughter pregnant, maybe?" They laugh together and just a couple of feet away they catch sight of Edward's just-as-beautifully-remarkably-gorgeous-as-him-brothers and sisters – Alice, Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie – by their lockers.

"Hey, Cullen-family!"Bella rushes towards them and smiles. Edward follows her and smiles as well.

"Hi, Bella! Edward!" Alice hugs them both even though she saw Edward this morning and Bella as late as yesterday night. She's always energetic. Kind of like Baby Cullen.

Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett, who all like Edward and Bella just as much as Alice, contents with just saying 'hi'.

Rosalie has accepted Bella by this time. She even says she loves her, according to Edward. Of course, Bella can't be sure if Rosalie really does love her, or if Edward's just saying so.

"How are you? Everything's okay with the baby?"Alice points at Bella's tummy andthe last word she whispers, even though nobody's around them.

Ever since Edward and Bella told Edward's family about the pregnancy 2 weeks ago, Alice has been asking Bella the same questions every day; 'How are you? Everything's okay with the baby?'

Everybody – well, except Alice – starts laughing.

"Honey, I'm sure nothing has changed since last night."Jasper smiles at her passionately.

Alice gives him a grumpy look. "Well, how would we know if nobody asked?"

"Actually it has",Bella disagrees with Jasper, to defend Alice. She hurries to continue when she sees Alice's eyes turn big and worried-like.

"She kicked for the first time today."Bella and Edward look at each other and smile.

Alice opens her mouth without making any sound and her eyes are now even bigger, but not because she's worried this time. Excitement!

"Cool! What did it feel like?"Emmett, who is unexpectedly excited about this, is the first to say something.

Bella doesn't know how to describe the feeling she had felt earlier.

"Well, strange… and tickling, but in a way, kind of nice…"

"Oh my God, I can't believe I missed it!"Alice looks bummed out, but continues. "You didn't miss it Edward, did you?"She switches her gaze from Bella's belly to Edward just as if she remembers that's the most important thing despite it all.

"Oh, no, I felt it. It was a wonderful feeling. Indescribable. She's as energetic like you Alice. She kicks very hard." The proudness in his voice makes Bella smile like a fool.

"Oh, she's like me. I'm so touched."Alice puts her soft marble-white hand at Bella's stomach – that's, by the way, not really looking like a third month pregnant-belly. But Bella knows why she hasn't gotten that big; she's normally so skinny that she looks like a normal 18 year old girl with this little but defined bulge of a baby bump. But she's not complaining at all. Not even a bit actually. This just gives her more time to postpone everybody finding out.

Edward opens the door of Bella's truck and takes her in his arms to put her on the passenger seat.

"Edward, I'm pregnant, not handicapped. What will you do with me when I'm in the eighth or ninth month if you go around carrying me in the third?"She laughs at his behaviour and Edward smiles at her.

"Oh, by that time, you'll be bedridden full-time at our house."

Bella crosses her arms and gives him a grumpy look."This is so unfair. What hard parts do you get out of this pregnancy? You don't throw up every morning, you don't have to get huge and give birth, breastfeed…"She lists on her fingers. "And on top of that be bedridden for who knows how long."

He laughs at her and strokes her cheek with his soft ice-cold hand."You're right, and I'm truly sorry for that. I wish I could do all of that instead of you, but I can't."Edward looks at her with sympathy in his eyes. He really means what he says and that makes her in a little better mood. That's something she will have to get used to. Mood swings.

Suddenly Bella starts to grin and Edward looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "What are you laughing about?"

She reveals her teeth into a big smile and Edward raises his other eyebrow too.

"I just imagined you pregnant. Ha-ha."

He bursts into laughter without saying anything.

"I think I, on the other hand, will look kind of hot with a big pregnant-belly." Bella smiles contentedly and starts to grin again.

"Of course you will, honey. You always look hot."He grins too, but unlike Bella he doesn't consider it a joke. She wonders how a beautiful and gorgeous man like Edward could ever see someone like her hot. But then again, that's what makes Edward so special. He sees the unique in the most regular boring people. Like Bella…

They pull into the driveway outside Bella's house and park next to Charlie's old miserable blue police car.

"So, you ready?"Edward looks at her anxiously. This is probably the first time she's ever seen him nervous.

"Not really, but what other choice do we have?"

They go through the door and take off their shoes and jackets. Edward gives Bella a comforting look and they go to the living room.

"Dad?"

"I'm up here, Bells."The strained voice comes from upstairs. "I'm trying to put this IKEA-furniture together but I seem to have lost the instructions…"It sounds like he doesn't really know what he's doing.

"Okay, can you come down for a sec?"She hears how serious she sounds, but in that way, Charlie might just think something's happened and will be relieved when he finds out she's just pregnant. Just pregnant…

"Uhm… Okay. Sure, hon."It seems to take an eternity for Charlie to walk down the stairs. And do the creaks always sound so awfully loud?

"Oh. Hi Edward! I didn't realize you were here."Charlie smiles at Edward, who smiles back but looks stiff. They shake hands and Bella wonders if Charlie doesn't feel how cold Edward's hand is.

"Charlie."Edward has finally learned to say that instead of Chief Swan.

Charlie switches his gaze from Edward to Bella, probably wondering why he was called down.

"Come, sit down." Bella makes a gesture towards the couch and Charlie sits down, raising his eyebrows, while Bella and Edward still stand behind the couch holding hands. Charlie's eyes go big. "I'm starting to get worried here. Everything okay?"

Bella looks at Edward who nods in confirmation.

It's time. She takes a deep breath. "Uhm… Depends on how oppose to becoming a grandpa you are…?"

When he doesn't react, more than to frown, she continues."Dad, I'm pregnant… We're pregnant."Edward presses her hand harder without even thinking of letting go of it.

"You're what, again…?"Charlie chokes, while he looks at Bella, with eyes even bigger than before.

She tries to understand his expression. Is he angry? Disappointed? Happy?

"Pregnant… You know, with a baby…"She gives him a gentle smile, unfortunately without getting one back.

Charlie looks at her incomprehensible. After a couple of quiet seconds, that seemed more like a couple of hours, he opens his mouth. "Oh, hmm…uhm, for how… long?"He scratches his forehead.

"Three months…" Bella answers, and literally hopes to God this will be over soon. These are exactly the kinds of question she finds extremely uncomfortable answering.

"And you got married…?" Charlie wonders and looks at Edward and Bella accusingly. Bella's cheeks immediately turn scarlet red. Gosh, does he have to make it an interview?

She can't make a sound so this time Edward, who hasn't said a word for what feels like an eternity – okay, a minute or so, but still – answers with his dark but velvety voice. "Three months ago…"

Wow, there's an awkward silence.

Why not just say the baby was conceived on Isle Esme only a couple hours after the Las Vegas ceremony?

"Okay… And what are you going to do about it?"Charlie draws his thin hair back.

And that was all it took. Bella's eyebrows are not far from vertical now and her fists were tightly clenched. She can only imagine what color her face was. "What are you talking about?"Fury-sparks flying in her eyes. "I'm not having an abortion if that's what you expect! We're both 18, you know." Well, practically… Edward's still-seventeen-being is not the point in this argument.

"And married," she adds. "Even if this baby wasn't planned, that doesn't mean we're not happy ab–"

"Bella…"Edward interrupts her and tries to calm her down by putting his hand on her back as smoothly as possible with those stone hands of his. She just realizes how loud and pissed she sounds.

Charlie looks at her, obviously confused. "Bella, what are you talking about? I don't expect you to have an abortion. I don't want you to. I would never. Why would you think that? And of course I understand that you two are happy about it, so am I."

"You are?"As soon as her ears receive those last three words Bella bursts into tears, who all get wiped away by a smooth touch of Edward's soft marble-hand.

She sits down next to Charlie in the couch and hugs him. Edward places himself next to Bella, still holding her hand.

Charlie smiles at Edward and then Bella. "Of course I am, Bells. I'm going to be a grandfather!" He practically beams as he says the last word. Grandfather.

"What I meant was that none of you two have a job and you're both in high school. Are you going to move in together?"

Edward smiles at Bella and answers Charlie's question with a bit proudness in his voice. "It's all clear. We've thought about everything."

They tell Charlie all about their plans. That Bella will move in with the Cullen's in a couple ofweeks so Edward can be there for Bella around the clock. And that they will graduate high school together. That, in the summer, Edward will work with Carlisle at Fork's hospital – which might not be exactly true... (If Charlie only knew how rich the Cullens was… No need for anyone else but Carlisle to work there. But, Bella just has a feeling Charlie won't like the idea of Carlisle and Esme paying for everything.)

They also tell him that meanwhile, Alice and Rosalie will stay home taking care of Bella, considering she'll be seven months pregnant by then.

"…And after the baby's born, Edward and I – and the baby, of course – will move in to the little house in the Cullen's yard."Bella takes over without interrupting Edward. She smiles proudly because of the way it all sorted out so well.

"Oh, you've really thought about everything. I'm proud of you. But it will be quiet when you're not around, Bella."Charlie strokes Bella's head.

She wipes away a few tears Edward's hand missed earlier."Well, I'll only be a couple of miles away."

After Bella's fallen asleep in Edward's arms, he puts a blanket over her and tucks her in, and then he runs home.