Someone needs to take my television and dvd access away, as it seriously has too much influence on my writing apparently. The blame for this one rests entirely on me deciding to watch Pearl Harbor for the first time in its entirety yesterday. But this little blurb got my writing juices going and I hopefully finished the next chapter of Late Night Encounters today as well. *fingers crossed*


Penname: kyla713
Creative Original or Derivative Fiction: Derivative

Rating/Warning(s): M

Disclaimer: All copyrighted, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without their express written authorization.

Prompt: Word Prompt: Volunteer


He walked across the swaying grass of their Texas ranch, watching her as she hung laundry out on the line. He dreaded what he had to tell her, as it had been a source of contention for them for quite some time. But after the events of yesterday morning, he knew he couldn't hold off anymore.

It was December 8, 1941.

"Hey, you're home early. Is everything alright?" she asked as she noticed him approach, brushing back a few loose tendrils of hair that had blown free from her loose bun.

"Bella, we need to talk," he replied as he stopped in front of her, and her hand stilled on her hair. "Let's go inside."

She shook her head, staring at him nervously. "Edward, you're scaring me. What's wrong?" she asked, her eyes scanning his face until his eyes finally met hers and she felt her heart plummet. "No."

He reached out for her as she began backing away, her hands covering her mouth as if she were about to be sick and tears immediately began streaming down her face. "honey, I have to do this. You know that."

"Why? Why do you have to do it? We just bought this house, and what about the baby? It's going to be here in three months!" she exclaimed through her tears, running her hand over her swollen middle. "You need to be here, not across the ocean getting killed!"

"Bella, I can't ignore this anymore," Edward replied tensely into her ear as he pulled her back against him when she tried to walk away. Sliding his arms around her from behind, he kissed her jaw gently and rested his hands on her stomach. "It's not something any of us can ignore anymore. The war's been brought to our doorstep, we can't pretend otherwise. And I'm a pilot, they need me."

"I need you too!" she yelled back, a sob wracking through her body as she fell back against him. "We moved here to start a new life together, not to be torn apart like this. Why did you have to volunteer?"

He pressed his lips to her hair as her hands covered his, pulling them more securely around her. "Because I want you and our baby to have a safe world to live in, and this isn't it."

Bella pinched her eyes closed and turned her head, nuzzling into his neck. "I'm afraid. What if I never see you again?"

"That's never going to happen," he whispered and her eyes rose to meet his. He lifted her left hand to his lips and gently kissed the gold band around her finger. "I promised you forever, Bella. And forever hasn't come yet. I'm coming back, I swear."

Cupping his jaw with their joined hands, she pressed her lips to his, her body trembling through her sobs. They spent the next week until he was due to leave wrapped up in each other, touching each time as if it were the last.

And as they stood at the airport that would take him away, she held onto his hand until he turned to her and the tears she'd been attempting to hold back fell. She closed her eyes, resting her hands on the front of his uniform jacket.

"I love you," she whispered when her eyes finally opened again to look at him.

He took her face between his hands, kissing her firmly and murmuring softly against her lips. "I love you too. Forever, Bella. Remember that."

She nodded slowly as he began stepping back from her toward the plane. As he moved further away, she hugged her arms around her middle and forced a smile as he turned back at the top of the stair at the door to the plane. And with one last wave, he disappeared.

"Come back to us, Edward," she said softly before turning away to head back to the car.

x-x-x

Three months later

"I can't do this, Alice. I can't," Bella panted heavily, gripping the hand of her sister-in-law, who sat at her bedside.

"Yes, you can. You'll see your baby soon," Alice replied, wiping her dampened forehead with a cool washcloth as she began groaning again with another contraction. "Just breathe, Bella."

"Darlin', are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Alice's new husband, Jasper, asked worriedly, noting the exhaustion of the extensive labor taking its toll on her along with the unseasonably humid temperature of the room.

Bella shook her head vehemently with the little strength she had left as she fell back onto the pillow. "No, I want our baby born here. It's what we wanted. Edward… wanted…"

Alice and Jasper shared a brief glance as her breaths were becoming more labored and her eyes began closing.

"Bella, you might need to go," she said cautiously and Bella lifted her head again to gaze at Alice determinedly.

"I have Jasper. That's the only doctor I need," she panted.

"Bella, I'm a vet," Jasper replied with a sigh.

"If you can deliver a horse, you can deliver a baby. Now get it out!" Bella growled through clenched teeth as she groaned through another contraction. "It's coming!"

Jasper resumed his position at the foot of the bed, where he saw the top of the baby's head and looked back to Alice with a nod. "It's time."

Alice slid behind her, propping her body up and taking both of her hands. "Okay, the baby is right there, Bella. You need to push."

Bella sobbed through the pain, feeling the next contraction building and squeezing Alice's hands tightly as she screamed. After the first push, she collapsed back against her, crying. "He should be here, Alice. Why isn't he here?"

"Do him proud, Bella. Bring him a healthy baby to come home to," Alice encouraged, rubbing her thumbs over the backs of her hands. "You're almost there."

With three more pushes, the wailing cry filled the room and Bella's tears joined them as she closed her eyes, feeling Alice's arms wrap around her.

"He's here," Alice whispered in her ear with a relieved chuckle, kissing her forehead.

"He?" Bella asked tiredly, lifting her head with effort to look down at Jasper gently wiping the tiny baby's head with a soft towel. "A boy. We have a boy."

"A beautiful, healthy boy," Jasper smiled, laying the infant gently on Bella's chest.

Her cries increased with her smile as her arms lifted slowly to cradle him against her and finally looked down at his face.

"He looks just like Edward when he was a baby," Alice whispered softly, allowing the first tears of her own to fall as she gazed down at the mirror image of her brother.

"Edward Anthony Cullen, Jr.," Bella sighed in exhaustion, kissing the baby's forehead.

x-x-x

My dearest Edward,

Enclosed is a photograph of our son, Edward Jr. He's perfect and beautiful, just like his namesake, and waiting patiently to meet his daddy.

I miss you more every single day, my love. But I couldn't be more proud of you. Come home soon, we'll be waiting. I love you.

Love forever,

Bella

For eight long months, he'd held tight to that photograph and her words in that letter, giving him even more will to fight to get back to them. And now, as he made his way back home, he stared down at the face of his beautiful wife and their infant son, who would now be nearly a year old. A year he'd missed, but would spend the rest of his life making up to them.

When he stepped off the plane, his eyes scanned the crowd of tear-filled eyes and a sea of American flags being waved, looking for her and almost immediately finding her. Leaning onto the cane at his right side, he moved as quickly as he could on his wounded leg, as she began waving through the crowd and holding firmly onto their little boy on her hip.

"Welcome home, soldier," she said with a relieved cry as she ran to him, wrapping her free arm around his waist tightly.

"Not exactly in one piece, but I kept my promise," he chuckled softly as he held them both against him, tears streaming down his face as the moment he'd be waiting for, for nearly a year, had finally arrived.

"You're perfect, and my hero," she replied, pressing her lips to his firmly and smiled as her eyes met his. "Meet your son, Daddy."

He glanced down to find his own eyes staring back at him in wonder and stepped back slightly as she set the little boy in his free arm. "Hello, Edward. Daddy's never leaving you again."

Bella wrapped her arms around them, resting her cheek against her husband's chest. "Forever."