Bella's POV

I was proud of myself. Edward and I had dropped Ethan off at preschool, and had driven home and I was just fine. We got to meet Ethan's teacher, and Ethan loved his teacher. He made several friends almost instantly, and it was easy to see that he was going to be one of the most popular kids in the class. He was going to love school, and that made me so happy, that it was easy to control my tears for him. Plus, I was going to be able to pick him up in a few hours. I only had to go until lunchtime until we picked him up. Edward and I didn't talk much on the way home, but I knew he was waiting for my tears. We pulled into the driveway, and I saw Alice's car parked on the street. I shot Edward and questioning glance. He hadn't mentioned she was coming over. But, he looked just as surprised as I did.

"How did that little creeper get into the house?" Edward asked me. I just laughed.

"I don't even want to know." I said. He laughed with me, and led me into the house.

"Alice?" he called. She was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. I sat next to her.

"Hey! How'd it go?" she acted as if she belonged her.

"Alice. What are you doing here?" Edward asked, leaning against the countertop.

"I need to talk to you, Edward". She said sternly. She was angry about something.

"Well, I should actually get back into bed anyway, so I can go with Edward to pick Ethan up in a few hours." I got up from the table carefully, and kissed Edward lightly on the lips before leaving the room.

"Do you need help up the stairs, love?" he asked, concerned.

"Is that a question? Are you actually asking first?" I was a little excited by this. He laughed.

"Yes." he nodded. I smiled back at him, staring for a moment at my gorgeous husband.

"I'll be okay, I think, but I will let you know if I can't handle it". I promised.

"Thank you". He said simply, turning back to Alice, as I held tightly to the railing as I walked up the stairs.

I made it to our room okay, and turned on the TV, to drown out their conversation. Alice made it clear that she wanted to talk to Edward, so I didn't want to eavesdrop on their conversation. Since I'd been placed on bed rest, Edward had been harsher towards Alice than was necessary, and I was sure that it hurt her. They had always been the closest to each other of their siblings, but recently, things had changed, and I'm sure that Alice was upset about it. I snuggled back into the pillows, and flipped through the channels, but nothing really good was on. Finally, I found a Friends marathon, but didn't stay awake for longer than five minutes of it.

Edward's POV

Alice and I just stared at each other down in the kitchen. It was evident that she wanted something; I just couldn't decide what it was she wanted.

"Edward, I want to throw Bella a birthday party". Alice finally said.

"Alice. No. She's on bed rest. She hates celebrating her birthday. Hell, she hates acknowledging it's her birthday. You will cause unnecessary stress, and she will go into premature labor." I said calmly.

"Did you know that you are making her feel like your daughter than your wife recently?" she retorted simply. This took me off guard a little.

"What?" I was shocked.

"She says that she feels more like your rebellious daughter than your wife, with the way you've been acting towards her. She's an adult Edward. She's a wonderful mother, if she wasn't feeling up to it, she would tell us. She wouldn't put her baby in danger. I don't want to throw her a big part-" she stopped, realizing that was a blatant lie when I raised my eyebrow at her, "well, okay, I do want to throw her a big party, but I know that it is not possible for her right now". She corrected, and then continued "I just want to do a small dinner party, just the family. We can even do it here if you want. Just us, it'll just be dinner, and a few gifts. She can get up and go lie down at any moment if she needs to. This is for your benefit, Edward." She sounded almost as if she was threatening me. Well, two can play at that game.

"And why is that, Alice?"

"I just told you, Edward. You keep yelling at her like she's your kid. I get that things are difficult, since you can't be together, but she's your wife, Edward, and it is her birthday, pregnant or not."

"Alice, please do not talk about our sex life again." It was bad enough that Emmett did that.

"Oh stop it, you little prude. I'm your sister, and furthermore, I am Bella's best friend. Girls talk Edward and brother or not, you are married to my best friend. Let's be adults, shall we? This isn't high school, you're married." Alice was angry now. I rolled my eyes.

"I will talk to her about it, Alice. But if she says no…" I warned.

"If she says no, I will drop it." Alice promised with a small smile.

Bella's POV

I woke up to Edward's mouth on mine, kissing me deeply. I moaned quietly, and wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. I felt his hand slide down from where it was resting on my cheek. He trailed it lightly down my neck and chest, and cupped my breast. I moaned a little louder this time, and I felt him smile through the kiss. Then, I remembered a conversation from very recently. I lightly pushed him away.

"Oh my gosh!" I covered my mouth with my hand. "You talked to Alice, didn't you?!" I felt color creep up my neck and onto my face. He just smiled.

"Why did I have to find out from Alice and not you?" He asked, as we both sat up against the headboard. I had to think for a moment.

"I don't know, I wasn't intentionally keeping anything from you, we just aren't really alone much, and I know that you must be just as frustrated as I am about this. I didn't mean to talk to your sister about our sex life, or lack thereof, but I forget that she's your sister when I am talking to her sometimes; she's been my best friend forever. And girls talk. But in my defense, she's like a conversational wizard. She practically pulled it out of me". Edward laughed.

"Yeah, she has the tendency to do that." I scooted closer to Edward so that I could rest my head on his chest.

"I'm sorry I haven't been treating you like my equal lately, Bella. I just loose my head a little when I'm trying to protect you. It doesn't help that I'm a doctor, either." He ran a hand through my hair.

"Apology accepted". I kissed his chest through his shirt.

"Alright, well, let's go get our son from preschool." He said, climbing out of bed, and helped me stand. He wrapped his arms around me, placing one hand on the back of my neck, and the other on my back. He pulled me close to him, and kissed me, long and passionately.