Thanks to TwiSherry for looking this chap over for me, I 3 you! And Jessica1971, seriously don't know what I would do without you. Mwah~
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Previously
As we walked them to the door, Esme wrapped me tightly in her arms like she had every other time before.
"If you need anything, or if Edward gives you any trouble, please let me or one of the girls know. You're one of us now, and we take care of our own."
********
I sat on the exam table waiting for Addison to bring in the technician, eager to get this appointment over with because I had some things I needed to do before my meeting at work tomorrow. Edward was standing beside me pulling pens out of one pocket of his white coat only to place them in the other pocket.
"Are you nervous?" I asked.
"No, why would I be nervous?" he scoffed.
"I don't know, you're just kind of antsy, that's all," I said with a shrug. "Can I ask you a question about something you said the other day?"
He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips, calming himself. "Sure, beautiful."
"When I was joking with Rose about wanting a girl, did you mean anything with your comment about boys?"
"Other than the fact that I want a boy?" He shook his head. "No."
"So that's something you've thought about then?"
"Well, yeah. I always thought I'd have a little boy first."
"I...I guess, I just didn't think that you had thought about what I would have."
He laughed as he stepped between my legs. He actually laughed as I sat there nervous as I could ever imagine being.
"Bella, I know this is awfully early and that's why I haven't brought it up in the past few weeks that we've been together, but, sweetheart, I have every intention of being with you for a very long time."
He ducked his head and it was my turn to use his signature move and lift his chin up so that I could look into his eyes.
"Edward," I breathed as tears formed behind my eyes. I placed my hand behind his neck and brought his face to mine, kissing him lightly on the lips.
"I know it's crazy," he whispered.
He kissed me again as Addison walked in, followed closely by the technician, and smiled at us.
"Edward, I thought you were done with your shift," Addison said.
"I am."
"Then why don't you go hang up your coat while we get Bella settled."
He sighed and looked at me, so I nodded. "Go, I'll be here," I assured him.
Edward kissed me on the lips one more time before he walked out of the room.
"What?" I asked as Addison smiled and shook her head.
"Nothing, I've just never seen him like this. That man is completely head over heels for you, and nervous as can be about this appointment. You should have heard him talking to Carlisle over lunch yesterday. You would think this would be second nature to him, but because he's now on the other side of the desk, so to speak, he just can't get over the fact that you want him here with you for this. Now undo your jeans, lay back, and lift your shirt so I can put this gel on your stomach."
I didn't get a chance to respond because Edward was already back in the room and took his position, taking my hand in his as Addison and the technician prepped my stomach.
I gasped as the cool gel hit my overheated skin.
"Are you okay, love?" Edward asked me as he leaned down to kiss me on the cheek.
"Yeah," I breathed. "It's just cold."
The gel was rubbed along the small swell of my stomach with the wand of the machine and a faint heart beat could be heard. This tiny fluttering sound continued to beat throughout the room as Edward and I watched the motion on the screen.
In my emotional state, I blinked back tears as Edward reached out and touched the screen.
EPOV
I'd been in countless sonogram visits, witnessed dozens of mothers and fathers as they watched their baby for the first time, but I'd always been there as their doctor.
I reached across Bella and ran my hand over the image of the baby on the screen. Her baby, and if she'd let me, our baby. It was so small, but active as the wand moved around Bella's stomach. I looked down at the beautiful woman lying next to me and witnessed a first for me. I'd been in the room with emotional mothers, but never was I the man that was there to comfort them.
I placed my hand against her cheek and ran my finger against her full bottom lip. Wiping a tear from her cheek, she looked at me and I knew I couldn't wait to share my love for her. I had already told her I planned on forever, wasn't a mention of forever typically accompanied by those three little words? I don't know why, or how long, I would wait before I told her. I continued to look between her and the screen, grateful that I was able to share this with her.
The tiny heartbeat stopped as Addison removed the wand and grabbed a tissue to clean off Bella's stomach, but I smiled and grabbed her hand, assuring her that I could take care of it.
I wiped the gel off of Bella's stomach and ran a cool rag with soap on it to actually clean the goo off. Before I pulled her shirt down to cover her stomach, I kissed her tiny bump.
She sat up and I helped her off the table; she started to walk out and I raised my eyebrow at her.
"What?"
"Nothing, I just didn't know you were so comfortable walking out into the waiting room with your pants undone."
Her cheeks flushed scarlet as she reached down and struggled a little to button her jeans.
"Have you gone shopping for maternity clothes yet?"
She shook her head.
"Is there a reason?"
"No, I was just putting it off as long as I could."
"Why? I thought you enjoyed shopping."
"I do. But shopping for maternity clothes is different. It's admitting that my skinny clothes no longer fit and that I've gained weight. You wouldn't understand."
"On the contrary, I think I do understand. But it's not like you gained weight because you're getting fat and lazy, Bella. You're growing another person in here, and that is something that's beautiful. And you're not fat," I assured her. "I can also tell you from experience, well not experience, but from what I've seen," I chuckled, "with how little you're showing right now, you'll probably only gain weight in your stomach, and people won't be able to tell you're pregnant from the back."
BPOV
"Really?" I squealed as I wrapped my arms around his stomach.
"Yep. So are you opposed to doing a little shopping for some maternity clothes?"
"I thought Alice said you hated shopping."
"I hate shopping with Alice, with you it'll be like my own personal runway show," he grinned.
Shopping with Edward wasn't like shopping with my girlfriends. He helped me pick out things he liked while I picked out the things I would actually wear. Once the sales ladies had eyed our selections from the maternity department of the finer department stores that Edward had drug me to, they got the hint and left us alone in the dressing room. I tried on a few of the items and looked at them in the mirror. I could hear Edward getting restless so I put on one of the outfits he picked out. It was a little black dress, which made no sense when all of the things I was picking out could be used for work to evening and this was a little too dressy for me.
"Bella, are you going to come out and show me some things?"
I zipped the side of the dress up and opened the dressing room door.
"Is there a reason you picked out a little black dress for me?"
"Oh, is that what it's called?" he chuckled as he watched me walk towards him. "I just thought it'd be something you could wear to the wedding this weekend."
And just like that, Edward helped me decide that I did need a little black dress after all. I don't even know how many outfits I picked out. As I was headed up to pay after the saleswoman took my stuff, I got to the counter and she was already loading things into bags for me. Edward was signing a receipt and I hope he realized that we'd be having a discussion about this later.
*****
"Good morning, Bella," my boss greeted me as I walked into our lounge room. We didn't meet in a board room like a lot of executives would at most companies; our meetings took place in a room that resembled more of a coffee shop, with a few couches, over stuffed chairs, and rugs clustered around a coffee table.
I took a seat as a few of the other girls from the office walked in. I recognized all but the last one to enter. She had strawberry blond hair and she was beautiful. I could tell she knew it, too.
"Oh, it's so good to be back," she said as she greeted my boss with a kiss on each cheek, taking the seat next to her.
"Tanya, I didn't think we were expecting you back until next month."
"Well, an editor's work is never done. Besides, rumor has it you're doing a piece on working mothers, and I know someone that might be interested in being interviewed."
I rolled my eyes, I was just waiting to see who she thought would be perfect for the piece. There was no way it was as good as my idea, well maybe.
"Oh really, who?"
"You silly girl! Me, of course."
My boss, Irina, cocked her head to the side. "Tanya, I think we're looking to go with someone that's a little more recognizable in the public eye."
I raised my hand and shared the idea that had been brewing in my head ever since Rose and I had that conversation.
"I have the perfect person, she's married to a former New York Yankee, has been a model for several years, and was just released from her contract because she's pregnant again."
The smile on Irina's face grew wide as she waved her hand in the air to silence the individual conversations going on in the room.
"Bella, please continue. Do we get a name?"
"Rosalie Cullen. I believe she's usually credited as Rosalie McCarty-Cullen, but if she does this piece, I think she'll want to start fresh and drop the McCarty."
"Hah, as if a little nobody like you could snag a high society model like Rose Cullen," Tanya scoffed at me. She looked around the room to see if anybody else doubted me. A lot of the women knew I was dating Edward. Even though his job was low profile compared to the others in his family, you couldn't be a Cullen without people knowing who you were.
"I'm sorry, Tanya, why is it so hard to believe that Bella could figure out a way to have Rosalie agree to do this?" Irina asked with a smirk.
"Please, you would have to have some clout to even speak to her. She's not just a model, she's a Cullen," Tanya scoffed.
I laughed at the ridiculousness that was spewing from this woman's mouth. It was obvious she thought highly of the Cullens, almost as highly as she thought of herself.
"I'm sure it won't be a problem, I just didn't mention it to her because I wanted to run it by everyone else first."
"I think it's a great idea, especially if she just lost her contract due to her pregnancy. You'll be seeing her at the wedding this weekend, right?"
Luckily Tanya had been looking away when she took a sip of coffee because she spit it out and the brown liquid was now all over her.
"You got invited to the Cullen-Hale wedding? That's a family and close friends invitation only event," Tanya asked incredulously.
Lauren, who had remained relatively quiet through this whole conversation, huffed. "She's dating Edward Cullen."
"You're dating Edward Cullen?" Tanya sneered.
"Hey ladies, sorry I'm late." Angela greeted us as she walked into the room, smiling at me and effectively ending the previous conversation. She had something going on out of town this weekend, so Jake and I had spent the weekend getting as many things as we could packed up, because after the wedding we could start moving things to Alice's condo.
I was leaving with Edward on Thursday morning and Jake would be coming after his shift ended on Friday night. I knew Jake was eager to spend some more time with Nessie; they were so cute together and I was excited he'd found someone to hang out with. They'd been talking on the phone whenever the opportunity presented itself and they'd spent a few evenings going out, but I didn't think they had made any declarations and I knew Jake was getting eager. He always was a one woman man, even in high school when he'd been with his first girlfriend Emily, who'd ended up cheating on him with his best friend Sam.
Angela had wowed so many of the people in our department, and even shown me a few things she knew about other areas of the journalism business. I knew she'd be one of the lucky ones to get asked to stay. If I wasn't asked back, I wasn't sure what I would do. I knew there were several places I could apply within the city, but who knew if they would be hiring.
The meeting was relatively uneventful after the initial conversation and I was given the okay to ask Rose about using her for our feature article.
I was walking out of the room as Angela grabbed my arm and pulled me back in, shutting the door after the last person left.
"Thank you," I told her.
"For what?"
"For interrupting Tanya, the evil woman was ready to make my life a living hell with the new information Lauren shared with her, ugh. You should have heard the way she said it. I mean, it was like..."
"Bella, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just got the best news and I have to tell somebody."
"Oh my God, Ben proposed?"
"No, but you know how I was out of town this weekend? Well, you knew I went to Chicago, but what you didn't know was that I was there for an interview at the Tribune. They're looking for a feature photographer, and while I never thought I'd actually be considered and let alone get the chance to be flown out there for an interview, they actually offered me the job."
"What? Oh my God, Ang, that's great. Congratulations!" I said as I enveloped her in a hug. "When do you start?"
"Well, I really need to talk to Irina. She's been so good with us about making sure we know that she's all for supporting us in whatever we decide to do, but I need to let her know so that if they were going to offer me a position here they can offer it to someone else.."
"Yeah," I nodded as Angela released me and opened the door to go find our boss and tell her the good news. What a day. I have no idea what was up with that woman, the one that just waltzed in here like she owned the place and tried to place judgment on me about the whole Cullen situation, both of them. Angela got offered a job somewhere else, I hadn't heard from Mike because his job hadn't sent him back to the states in weeks, and I was moving to a whole new apartment, with no idea what I would do if I didn't get offered a permanent position with Conde Nast . Could I get a pity party for one, please?
I walked slowly out to my cubicle, ready to spend my lunch in a dreary mood because I was pregnant and I could. Rounding the corner, I couldn't believe my eyes. Edward was sitting at my desk, in my chair, in his scrubs laughing with several of my co-workers. When I walked in he got up and snaked his arms around my waist and gave me a chaste kiss on the lips. I could hear the collective sighs and the one shocking gasp that came from my right.
"Can I take my girl to lunch before I have to start my shift?" he asked as he gave me another kiss.
"Yeah," I responded with a giggle. Amazing. Without even knowing that I was having a pity party, Edward could make my whole day turn around.
He shifted, but kept one of his arms around me and led me to the elevator. I turned around in the elevator and as the doors were closing, I saw the look on Tanya's face...priceless.
"Is your boss still cool with you having Thursday and Friday off this week?"
"Yep," I responded as I turned in his arms and peppered his jaw with kisses.
"You know, we could leave Wednesday after my shift ends and I get a quick nap in. Then we'd have another night together," he hissed as I nipped at his Adams apple.
"Mmmm, or I could just come over to your place after work on Wednesday and stay with you so we can leave together in the morning."
"Really? I like the sound of that plan."
I took Edward to a quaint little deli just around the corner from the office. He ended up getting paged with an early delivery and our lunch was cut short, but he left with a kiss and a promise to see me on Wednesday once I got over to his place after work. When I got back to the office, there was a heated debate going on in my boss' office between her and Tanya. Tanya was livid, so I sat down at my desk to work as quietly and as quickly as I could. I had a few things to do to get everything ready for the article about Rose and wanted to have it all done by the time I left for the wedding. I had to get the contracts and everything worked out, develop some sort of theme to go along with her article, and I knew I wanted to be able to share it with her at the family dinner on Thursday evening so she'd be in an ecstatic mood for the rest of the weekend.
Things at work on Wednesday went much smoother, and I didn't see Tanya. Maybe they'd let her go, but I didn't think I was that lucky.
On my way home from work on Wednesday, I stopped at the dry cleaners for the few items I had dropped off to take with me to the wedding. They were the only things that I hadn't packed yet and I was eager to get over to Edward's. He'd offered to pick me up, but I told him I was fairly capable of getting to his place on my own and he needed the rest. Walking in my apartment, there was a fresh bouquet of daisies on the kitchen counter with an envelope. Inside the envelope was a note and a key to Edward's apartment.
I don't know if you'll ever need this, but I don't want you to have to stand outside and wait for me to answer the door. The doorman knows who you are and has been instructed to let you up without any hassle. I can't wait to see you this evening and spend not only tonight, but the whole weekend with you, beautiful.
Always, Edward
I called him on my way over to his place, but there wasn't any answer. As I walked up to his door to find it locked, I was glad he'd sent the key. I left my bags in the foyer and wandered towards his bedroom. He was still wearing his dress slacks, shoes, even his tie. He must have come home and just fallen right to sleep. I walked over to his bed and removed his shoes and loosened his tie so he'd be a little bit more comfortable, then went out to the kitchen to see what he had that I could work with for dinner.
He had a full pantry and I could see the fixings for spaghetti when the doorbell rang. I didn't know he was expecting anybody, so I walked quietly to the door and looked out the peep hole, laughing to myself. Edward always thought of everything it seemed.
There outside the door was a delivery guy and on the table where his keys were laying was exactly the right amount to give the young guy a nice big tip. I gladly took the food from him and sent him on his way. The smell of the Chinese food must have woken Edward, because he had changed into a pair of sweats and a well-worn t-shirt and was making his way towards me in the kitchen with a goofy, sleepy grin on his face.
"I'm glad I ordered the food before I left the hospital," he said with a yawn. "How long have you been here?"
Giving me a peck on the lips, he surveyed the food I laid out on the counter. We ate quickly, but not really in a rush to get anywhere. He offered to put on a movie in the living room, but I told him I was getting pretty tired and we just decided to call it an early night.
He pulled my suitcase and garment bag into his bedroom and placed them on what he referred to as my side of the room, complete with an already empty closet. Well, empty with the exception of a few items that I didn't realize he had purchased for me during our shopping trip.
Inside the closet, hanging next to the clothes for me, was a little onesie that said "I am loved" and had two stick figures holding hands on it. I changed into my pajamas in the closet while Edward finished packing his suitcase.
As I was finishing up my nightly routine in his bathroom, he joined me at the sink to brush his teeth. It really wasn't anything special, but it kinda made me feel like an old married couple getting ready for bed together. He followed me out into his bedroom and we pulled back the covers and got into his massive bed. He pulled me into the center with him and I laid my head on his shoulder, resting my arm across his abdomen.
As I was drifting off into a peaceful slumber, nestled in Edward's arms, I could have sworn I heard the most beautiful words ever spoken.
Shocking I know, I left you there. What do you think she heard, hmm? I'll give you a hint, it's three words...I wonder what she's going to do? *shrugs*
A/N - She's technically thirteen weeks in this chapter, so she missed her 12 week check up. AND if you were on the thread and paid attention to the teaser, you saw that I posted a 12 week sonogram which is a week earlier...but oh well. Try finding a 13 week sonogram. And it had a gender as part of the title, we don't know for sure in the story, but that's what I'm leaning towards.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU reviewers! I got over 600 total with the last chapter. It amazes me I get some people saying one thing and I get others saying the complete opposite. I'm really enjoying writing this story, and hope you enjoy it as well!
Fic Rec(s) - Did you know I have a lovely little blog that has summaries, links and even naughty images that make me think of the stories that are rec(d) here? I do...heatherdawnffrecs blogspot com
So, go check out the following stories if you aren't reading them already :)
SEALs by CarribbeanLady - OMG, my weakness is military men, but a SEAL yeah, it just doesn't get better than that. *fans self* Read it, you'll dream about SEALward!
The Long Walk Home by bsmog - This is a fantastic fic set in the heart or the civil war. Love it, really the writing is witty and she really KNOWS these characters.
Anything But Conventional and it's sequel Don't Ever Forget by kyla713 - High School love and the perils of your man joining the army...it's really amazing...a fic I couldn't put down today!
Still working on Esme...that should post soon :)