Disclaimer – Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended.

A huge thank you to my wonderful Beta, shelikesthesound.

In the Long Run

Chapter 9

EPOV

Dad kept his word, bringing us some waffles for breakfast about thirty minutes later. He reassured us that Mom would come around sooner rather than later. Our surprise was quite a shock to her system, and she had gone to bed with a migraine. He also told us that Alice had called, and the gang was on their way over to spend the day.

Just as I was carrying Bella, and she was holding onto our dishes, Alice and the rest of them burst through the front door. They followed us into the kitchen where I told them to be quiet because Mom had a headache. After loading the dishwasher with our dishes, they followed us downstairs for the planned Wii tournament between Jasper and Emmett. I laid Bella down on the couch, propping her foot up on some pillows and taking a seat on the floor by her head.

Whispering in her ear, I asked her if we wanted to tell them or wait until later. She nodded har approval, whispering back that they'd find out soon enough anyway.

"What's all of the whispering over there?" Alice butted in.

"We were just trying to decide whether to tell you guys or not," Bella said.

"Tell us what?" Alice was all ears after Bella's comment, now. In fact, she came over to the couch and took a seat beside Bella. Jasper and Emmett never looked up from the Wii bowling match they were in the middle of.

"At the hospital last night, I had a lab test come back abnormal," Bella said.

"OH NO! Is it cancer? Is it treatable? How long have you got? Oh, Bella! Why didn't you call last night? Is that why you and Edward have red eyes?" Alice asked, hugging Bella hard, and loud enough that, Jasper and Emmett paused their game and looked over at the two of us, noting for the first time that something might be wrong.

"Alice, calm down! You might hurt the baby," I said with a pause, waiting for my words to sink in to the others.

Jasper was the first one to grasp what I had said. "Bella's pregnant? Oh my God! Do your parents know?"

I nodded, and taking Bella's hand in mine, I said, "When have you ever known my Mom to be in bed with a migraine?"

He shook his head and said, "No, never. I thought that was kind of strange. I guess they didn't take it too well?" I shook my head and gave Bella a kiss on the cheek.

Alice sat up straight, and making eye contact with Bella, she said, "Does Charlie know?" Bella shook her head, and the tears started flowing again. Alice leaned over and hugged her close. I could hear her mumbling something to Bella, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"What are you two gonna do?" Emmett asked.

Still holding Bella's hand, I answered, "We're gonna have a baby."

"Well, then, when's the wedding?" Emmett asked.

"We haven't really talked about that," I said, getting up from the floor and walking over to the shelves where we kept the DVD's. Emmett and Jasper followed me.

"What the hell, Edward. You knocked her up; you should at least marry her," Emmett whisper yelled at me.

I rested my head against the shelves and said, "I already asked her, three or four times. She said, 'No.' She doesn't wanna marry me."

"Oh, hell, Edward. I'm sorry. Did she say why not?" Emmett asked.

"She doesn't want a shot-gun wedding. She said maybe after the baby's born," I told them. Then in a louder voice, I said, "Do you guys wanna watch a movie or do you want these guys to finish their tournament?"

"I'm good with the tournament. That way I won't have to concentrate on anything," Bella said.

As we walked back over to the girls, I overheard Alice's question to Bella, although I know that she didn't mean for me to hear it. "I thought you were gonna wait for marriage. What happened?" Bella looked up at me before she said anything.

"Okay, I know you're all curious. The two of us were supposed to be the virgins of the bunch, and now we're the ones who're pregnant. I'm gonna say this one time, in front of all of you, and then Bella and I'd appreciate no further questions about it. We were together one time, on the day that I was arrested. This is all my fault. I was stupid and didn't use any protection. We found out last night. Dad did the test as part of her routine trauma panel and found out first. He told me. I told Bella. We told Mom. Charlie doesn't know, obviously, because I'm still alive. We're keeping the baby. End of story. No more questions."

"What did Uncle Carlisle say to you when he told you, Edward?" Emmett asked, a subtle smirk on his face. Emmett always liked to know the gruesome details.

"I said, 'No more questions,'" I said, but Bella tapped me on the arm and said she wanted to know, as well. I closed my eyes as the night before came back to me. "After I took Bella upstairs, Dad tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to follow him. I didn't wanna go because I didn't wanna leave Bella, but he pulled me into his office." Emmett snickered. "Do you wanna hear this or not?" He nodded. "Anyway, he sat down on the couch, and I sat down next to him, and he gave me a sheet of paper. It had Bella's name at the top, and it had obviously been done at the ER. It said something like HCG or something like that, but it said positive next to it. I handed it back and asked him what it meant, and he said, 'It means that she's pregnant, Edward,' and he gave me a few seconds to let that sink in, and then he asked me if I was all right. I shook my head, and he hugged me. I guess that I started crying like a baby, because he handed me a tissue and told me everything was gonna be okay and he and Mom would be behind us no matter what we chose to do about it. Then he told me that I had to get myself together and go tell Bella, and I did. End of story."

"Well, that was cool, I guess," Emmett said. "It could've been worse. Dad would kill me if he found out that I got Rosalie pregnant."

"He wouldn't have to. I'd kill you first. Don't forget that," Jasper said, punching Emmett in the shoulder.

"Right back at ya. Watch yourself around my baby sister, Jasper," Emmett said, knocking him in the shoulder. The two of them started a pushing match, ending up rolling on the floor, play fighting.

Bella sat up, laughing, and I took the opportunity to slide in behind her. I kissed her behind her ear, and she turned her head and caught my lips with hers. We shared a quiet moment with each other, a first since our unexpected revelation the night before. I guess the moment got to me, because when our lips broke apart, I found that I needed to take a deep breath to keep the tears away. All I wanted to do at that moment was to take Bella to my bed and hold her close to my body, protecting her from all of the pain she was feeling.

My arms were wrapped around her, and I slid further behind her on the couch. Pulling her into me, I effectively pushed Alice off of the couch. I put my lower arm under her neck, and for the first time, I took Bella's right hand in mine and laid both of them on her stomach. Initially, she tried to pull hers away, but I held them there and whispered into her ear, "Bella, it's our baby growing in there. Think about it. What a miracle."

She shook her head, and I could hear her starting to cry again. The silent sobs were meant to be private, but I knew Bella better than she knew herself. I turned her around to face me, and she buried her face into my chest. I ran my fingers in her hair, pulling it away from her face, and rubbed her shoulders, gently massaging the tension that had built since she had arrived home. It was bad enough that Bella was hurting physically because of the ankle, but I had added emotional pain to it because of my actions.

I had only seen Bella that distressed once before. Not even the day that I was arrested had affected her that badly, and I was afraid that day she was going to slip away from me again. At the moment, she was trying to withdraw from us all, and I couldn't allow it to happen. I couldn't believe Bella had gone from the laughing, happy girl we'd seen a few seconds before to the crying, red-eyed, and sniffling person I was holding in my arms with just a few words and the placement of my hands. What a fool I was turning into.

"Bella, is your ankle hurting?" I whispered. She nodded as she wiped her eyes.

"Alice, would you mind going upstairs and getting Bella one of her pain pills and a little apple juice. They're on the kitchen counter. Her ankle is hurting," I asked as I moved to get off of the couch. I pulled Bella back up to a sitting position and made sure that her ankle was propped up so that it wouldn't throb so much. Alice was already up the stairs by the time I had Bella comfortable. Then I jumped into the scuffle between Jasper and Emmett and pretended to try to pry them apart, but in reality, tripping one up while knocking into the other one. By the time that Alice was back with the pain medicine, Bella was giggling again, and Rosalie was trying to convince the three of us to stop the wrestling. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing around, either with the Wii or board games, so that all of us could play.

Around dark, Dad came downstairs and asked for the guys and me to go outside and help him with the grill. He had gone to the store and bought steaks for everyone. Then he asked the girls if they could come upstairs and prepare the potatoes and the salad. I looked at Bella, and she nodded, so I lifted her in my arms and carried her to the kitchen and placed her on a barstool next to a counter where she could direct the others. Once she was settled, I went out to help Dad with the grill.

"I assume that you've told your friends your news," Dad said when I joined them at the grill.

"Yes, Sir. We told them. They were about as shocked as you and Mom were," I said.

"Then you won't have to explain to them why I've invited Charlie over for supper," Dad said.

"Um, Dad, I don't think that's such a good idea. Bella isn't ready to deal with her father. She hasn't had time to grasp what's happening, yet. Every time she thinks about it, she breaks into tears. I'm afraid that if we push her, I'll lose her again," I said.

"You two have to tell him, and sooner is better than later," Dad said.

"We'll go," Emmett said. "We really shouldn't be here when you tell him. This is something really personal, and I think that it should be private between your family and his, don't you, Edward?"
"I really don't care if you guys are there or not. I'm just sayin' that Bella isn't emotionally ready to face Charlie, yet. She hasn't come to terms with being pregnant herself. I doubt that she's anywhere near ready to tell Charlie that she's pregnant, especially since she believes that she's gonna lose him as soon as she tells him."

"Well, you'd better go prepare her because he's gonna be here in about fifteen minutes," Dad said.

I shook my head and walked back into the kitchen. I came up behind Bella and put my arms around her. She turned her head to kiss me, and I could tell by the red rims of her eyelids that she'd been crying again. I hated to do this to her, but I knew that I had no choice. "Bella, I hate to tell you this, but Dad invited Charlie over for supper. He's gonna be here in fifteen minutes."

"No! Why did he do that? I can't face him!" Bella cried out.

"What's he thinking?" Alice asked, pulling Bella away from me and into her arms. "Uncle Carlisle's crazy! Bella isn't ready to face him, and he'll kill you!"

"What is going on down here? What is all of this yelling?" Mom asked as she walked into the kitchen. "What are you girls doing?"

"Dad invited Charlie over for supper. I don't think that Bella's ready to face him, yet, but it's too late. He'll be here in ten minutes," I said.

"Well, let's put on our game faces, and we'll be there to back you two up. Bella, I'm so sorry for the way that I reacted this morning. It was wrong of me to act that way, and I'm embarrassed for the way that I treated you. I hope that you'll accept my apology. I'm truly sorry, and I hope that you can forgive me," Mom said coming over to Bella and holding her arms out hoping for a hug.

Bella leaned forward out of Alice's embrace and into Mom's. I was so happy to see the two of them making up that I put my arms around the both of them, holding both of them close to me. I knew that, somehow, everything was gonna be okay, since Mom and Dad were on our side.

"Thank you, Esme. I can't tell you how much your support means to me. I don't have my mom any more, and I've grown to love you like you were my own mother, and I know that my mom would be disappointed in me, and to know how upset you were just broke my heart," Bella said.

"The disappointment is in both of you, not just you, Bella, though I know I took it out on you." Just then the doorbell rang. Bella jumped and cried out. I looked into her eyes and saw the fear there. She started shaking, and I took her out of Mom's arms. Before anyone could answer the door, I picked Bella up and quickly carried her upstairs. I passed Dad in the foyer, and he waited to open the door until I had her upstairs.

"You stay here, and I'll tell him. Just rest, and I'll handle this. It's my fault that we're in this situation, and I'll tell Charlie," I said.

"Would you just quit!" Bella yelled. "Just stop with the 'my fault' crap! You know as well as I do that we're BOTH to blame! You know that WE made love! It wasn't YOU! It was BOTH OF US! WE. DID. IT. Please quit trying to protect me."

"Bella, honey, I plan to continue to protect you until the day that I die."

"No, Edward. Not about this. I have to face the music just like you do. I just needed more time to get myself together before we told Charlie. I'm not ready to lose him forever."

"Well, let's hope that he's more of a Father than a prick. Let's get this over with. Mom said they'd have our back." She nodded and despite the obvious fear in her eyes, she put her arms around my neck and allowed me to carry her back downstairs. I gently placed her at the table in her spot, between where I would sit and Alice's seat. Then I called Alice to come in and sit with her. Charlie was outside with Dad at the grill, but I wasn't gonna leave Bella alone for a second. After Alice came in to sit with her, I left to go help with the meal.

As soon as I got outside to the grill, I felt everyone tense. Charlie looked at me for the longest time, and then he moved over to allow me to go to Dad's side. He remained silent during the entire time that I was outside, though I'd heard them laughing and having a grand time before I joined the group. A sense of deep foreboding fell over me as I thought what I had to tell him, and I hung back as they took the steaks into the house. I rested my forehead against the cool glass before I went in to face the music, saying a little prayer that the evening would go okay.

As I walked into the dining room, again, conversation ended. I felt as if I had some mark on me like Cain did, though not placed by God. My mark was placed by Jessica, and I'd be glad when it would be erased.

"Hi, everyone. I guess I know how to stop a party," I said, laughing. Our friends kind of jokingly answered that it was just a lull in the conversation, and that it had nothing to do with me entering the room as I sat down next to Bella. She took my hand and squeezed it in encouragement. I just laughed with the rest of them.

Dad passed around the steak platter, and Mom passed around the potatoes and the salad. We started eating one of our favorite meals. Dad was a great cook when he took time to grill, and his steaks tasted wonderful, but try as I might, I couldn't enjoy mine. The tension in the room was thick, and when I looked over at Bella, I noticed her face had turned green.

I was going to ask if she was okay when she tapped me on the arm and motioned to the bathroom. I grabbed her up and rushed her down the hall. Unfortunately, we didn't make it, and I changed our course to upstairs. I sat her down on the edge of our tub and helped her out of her vomit covered shirt and skirt and brought her a nightshirt to put on after I washed her off. Mom quickly followed us up, and saw me washing her down, the vomit still on my clothes.

"Oh, Bella! Are you all right? I'm so sorry. We should've made you something that would be easier on your stomach," Mom said, as she came into the room. She stood by my side, undisturbed by the fact that Bella was in her underwear in the bathroom, and I was helping her clean up. I stripped my soiled clothes off and washed myself after I was done with Bella.

Once Bella was clean, I helped her dress in the nightshirt. "Bella, please stay up here. Your nerves are shot, and this isn't healthy for you or our baby. Please, sweetheart. Let me do this for you." She nodded, and I carried her to the bed where she laid down.

"I'm gonna go get you some Coke and crackers. That should settle your stomach, dear," Mom said.

"Thanks, Mom," I told her as I tucked Bella's hair behind her ear, and in no time she was back, placing the crackers on the nightstand and the Coke beside it. She also brought up a bowl in case Bella's stomach got upset again. I leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. "I'm gonna go take care of things, now. You rest, okay?" She nodded and closed her eyes, turning on her side and taking slow even breaths.

Mom walked out of the room, and I finished changing. I rejoined the others a few minutes later. I felt self-conscious being in different clothes.

"Where's Bella?" Charlie immediately asked.

"She's upstairs, lying down. She got sick, and I put her to bed," I said.

"Is she okay? Why'd she get sick? She seemed okay to me," he said.

"Yes, Sir. She's gonna be fine. She's just really nervous about tonight, and she made herself sick over it," I said.

"What's she gotta be nervous about?" he asked. "I've been on my best behavior."

"I know. It has nothing to do with what happened the day I was arrested. Well, I suppose in a roundabout way, it does. Charlie, there's no easy way to tell you this, so I'm just gonna come right out and say it. Bella's pregnant with my baby."

I was standing next to chair, which happened to be across from Charlie's, when he closed the distance between us. He had me by the shirt, practically lifting me from the ground as he said, "I think I heard you wrong. Did I just hear you say that you got my little girl pregnant?"

"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry. We didn't mean …," I was interrupted by his fist connecting with my face, repeatedly. I didn't make a move to block his strikes. I could feel his pain, and I knew where it was coming from. He knew that he'd lost Bella. Loving her the way I knew he did, I couldn't imagine a worse pain for a father to go through, so I let him take it out on me. He was pulled off of me a few seconds later, my dad taking him into the den and my mom leading me into the kitchen where I sank to the floor.

"Carlisle, get in here. I can't get the bleeding to stop," my mom called out after several minutes of trying to stop the nosebleed. I had a bag of vegetables on my eye and another one on my lip, but my nose was broken. I heard the front door close before Dad stepped into the kitchen and looked at the mess I was.

"Damn it, Edward. Why didn't you even try to block his punches?" Dad asked, coming over to look at my nose. I flinched when he touched it. "This is gonna hurt," he said, and I closed my eyes as he put the broken bones back in place. I gasped at the amount of pain and ended up choking on some of the blood, spitting it onto the floor. He held my nose, tight, until the bleeding stopped, and then he put a piece of tape across the top of it to hold the bones in place. I didn't have any idea what I was going to tell Bella about my injuries, and I was sure she was gonna ask. As Dad helped me up from the floor, he said, "I'm proud of how you handled the situation tonight, for standing up like a man and taking the responsibility for your and Bella's actions. However, being a man doesn't require you to get into a fist fight with the Chief of Police of Forks. You didn't even attempt to block his punches. What were you thinking, Son?"

My voice sound strange even to me as I answered him. "He was hurting. He knows what he told Bella, and now he knows that he's lost her. He blames me for it, and I am to blame. He wanted to strike out, and better me than her any day of the week. I can take it, and I probably deserved it. If someone does to my daughter what I did to his, I'd wanna beat the shit out of them, too."

"That doesn't make it right, Edward. It isn't right to settle disputes with your fists. I've tried to teach you that, too. Haven't you learned anything that I've tried to teach you?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm gonna stand up for my responsibilities and admit what I've done. I won't let Bella bear this burden alone." I said, and then, turning to Jasper and Emmett, I said, "Guys, please forgive me, but I think that I'm gonna call it a night. I'll see ya tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, we understand. We'll come over sometime tomorrow afternoon. That will give you and Bella some time to get things together," Jasper said, and I nodded. I shook his hand, and giving Mom and Dad hugs, I headed for the stairs and my Bella.

When I opened the door, Bella was sitting up waiting for me. "Oh My God! What happened to you? Did Charlie do this to you?" I looked at her and nodded.

"It doesn't matter. I let him. He was angry and upset. He deserved to hit me," I tried to explain to her, but she wouldn't hear a bit of it. She started shaking her head.

"No! You didn't deserve this, to be beat to a pulp! He deserved no such thing. Why would you say something like that, Edward?"

"Because he was hurting because of losing you."

"Did he say something?"

"No, you could see it on his face, Bella. The way his face fell when I told him that I'd gotten you pregnant. It was like his life was over." I undressed and got ready for bed. We cuddled together like two lovers who had been handed a tough deal. Bella and I were ready to face what life had planned for us head on, tomorrow. For the moment, we just wanted to hold each other and take the strength that the other one had to offer.

The following morning, I gave Bella some of the crackers before she got up, and she seemed less affected by the morning sickness. We sat up in bed, talking about a variety of things, some of which involved school, some of which involved our futures, but none of which involved Jessica or the baby. It allowed us some time to feel almost as if our lives were back to normal. When Bella felt as if she could get out of bed without increasing her nausea, we went down for breakfast. She did well, and we spent the rest of the day avoiding the elephant in the room.

After the others left for the night, Bella and I went upstairs to study. We hadn't really done any school work during the past week, and we needed to hit the books hard. We started with our first subject, and we stopped when we had gone through a week's worth of material in our last. It really felt good to be back in a routine, studying and joking around with each other. As we were putting our books back into our backpacks, she started staring at me with a wild look in her eyes. I glanced around the room to see what was going on, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, when she attacked me, throwing her arms around my neck and pushing me to the floor. As her lips found mine, I returned the favor, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her over to lie on top of me. I ran my fingers through her hair, gently easing it back from her eyes where it fell in cascading waves. When her lips intensified the kisses, pleading with mine to open for her, I accommodated her. I allowed her access, which she took, as her tongue searching out the recesses of my mouth, finding my tongue and dancing with it. I found myself panting, wanting more, wanting to wrap her with my body and hold her close to me, allowing no distance between us, but also knowing that she needed her space. I would hold off, letting her lead and guide us.

Just then, she broke our kiss, using her lips to whisper in my ear, "I want you to take me to our bed, please." I nodded, and I gently rolled the two of us over so I could get my arms under her and my feet under me. I stood with her in my arms and walked us to our bed where I pulled down the spread with one hand and then laid her down, making sure to prop her foot on the pillow that I had added to our bedding. I then climbed in after her.

"Will you undress me please?" she asked me.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" I asked her, my fingers metaphorically crossed.

"Yes, I've never been more certain about anything," she said. I leaned over and kissed her, bringing our lips together again. Next, I brushed my lips against her eyes, nose, and ears, before I moved the kisses down her neck and onto the area between her collarbones. She was breathing heavily, and as I complied with her wishes, I found myself holding my breath. I had already seen her before, but that time was different. We weren't rushed, and I took my time to soak in every inch of her, my hands exploring and caressing her. She felt so soft, so perfect between my fingers. Finally, I just felt the need to bring her closer to my body, so that her skin came in contact with my own. It almost burned for us to touch each other that way, and we held each other for several minutes, just taking in each other in a way we really never had. Every time we'd even come close to intimacy, we'd been rushed and hurried. The chance to embrace, admire, and soak in each othar's love had never presented itsself. So, we took advantage of it since the opportunity had finally arrived. I kissed and explored her body, and she did the same to mine. Nothing else happened that night as we fell asleep in each other's arms, but ultimately, Bella and I grew closer to each other as lovers.