Characters borrowed from S. Meyer
Fourteen
Edward
The rest of our Back Friday trip was relatively uneventful. It took some convincing on my part to get Bella to finish out the trip without wearing a paper bag over her head. She only agreed to do so because Emmett had apologized.
"I'm sorry Bells, sometimes I don't think about the shit I'm saying until its already out. I thought it would be funny."
She smiled lightly at him as he shrugged. "It's not a big deal. It was funny...kind of."
It bugged me that she seemed embarrassed about our pregnancy. I understood that it hadn't happened like she'd hoped but I couldn't help but notice how the idea of us having a baby together wasn't growing on her the same way it was growing on me.
I'd been spending most of my time at Bella's house lately; not that I minded. Admittedly, I was there way more than necessary, but the baby was too good of a reason not to use.
My urge to spend as much time as I could with her didn't keep me from realizing how drained I felt at the end of each day, especially when I'd leave for work in the morning and get home just before midnight. I could never pass up a chance to spend time with her, so every offer for movie watching and late night chit-chat was welcomed.
I knew it would be easier to live with her than to keep running back and forth between our apartments, but I knew she'd balk at the idea of sharing a place with me. The more I thought about it, though, the more I talked myself into approaching her.
We still had so many things to deal with. Neither of us had done any baby prepping. We both avoided talking about it but each day that passed by gave us less time to strategize. The baby was due in summer, giving us less than six months to figure everything out.
Ideally, I wanted to live with Bella and the baby, and as much as I liked Bella's apartment, it was smaller than mine so I knew moving in with her would be cramped. She only had two bedrooms, meaning her office would need to be turned into a nursery. That would either exile me to the couch or force me to sleep with her - which would not have bothered me in the slightest - but after everything that had happened between us, I knew it wasn't an option.
My next best option was to offer my place. I was sure she'd fight me every step of the way, which is why I was surprised when she actually agreed to my idea later that night.
"I'm heading out guys," she called to Emmett, Rose, and myself. Rosalie groaned and grabbed for her as she stood from the couch.
"No, don't go! We're about to play Mario Party."
Bella laughed apologetically. "Sorry babe, I've got a meeting in the morning or I promise I would stay."
She collected her things as I stood to follow her.
"Bro, don't tell me you're leaving too," Emmett implored.
I shook my head as I crossed the apartment. I pulled on my shoes and coat, saying, "I'm just walking her out."
We didn't say much as we walked to the car. Bella's voice was so quite that I barely heard her when she spoke.
"I think you may be right. Giving this two parent household thing could be good for the baby."
I grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Woah woah woah, what did you say?"
She faced me, a small smile playing at her features. "I don't think us moving in together is a terrible idea."
My smile grew wider as I gripped both of her shoulders. "You're agreeing to move in with me? You, Bella Swan, are agreeing to an idea that I came up with?"
She was still fighting a smile as she stood stiffly against me. I grabbed her arms and wrapped them around myself and she resisted playfully, her smile breaking out into a full, heart stopping grin.
"I'm agreeing that moving in would be the smartest choice for dealing with the baby. At least until we figure out what we're doing and then we can go from there," she spoke, her voice muffled slightly by my shirt.
I was smart enough not to ask for clarification twice.
Edward
"What about this?" I held up the sticker attached to a crib for Bella to see. She inspected it closely before her eyes widened.
"Edward, that crib is $670! The baby is only going to sleep in it, we don't need to spend that much."
I shrugged and flicked the tag away. "I don't know what I'm doing! I'm just picking what looks nice."
She laughed and examined another tag a few cribs away. "Yeah I can tell, you've only pointed out the most expensive stuff since we've been here."
"I have no clue how much baby supplies are supposed to cost," I shrugged. "I really just came to help you lift the boxes."
She turned to glare at me.
"You were the one who jumped on Alice and Rose's bandwagon when they suggested looking at baby stuff. Don't even try to blame this on me."
"I only agreed because you refuse to look at anything for the baby. We don't have that long until you deliver, we've got to shop sometime."
"That's not true, we bought that newborn bathtub on Black Friday. Oh, and those cloth diapers Alice swore we needed. And I'm not putting it off, I'm just waiting until the baby shower," she added. "People bring you gifts and stuff."
My eyebrows shot up.
"Seriously?"
She nodded, continuing, "Remember that girl Ashton from college who got pregnant my sophomore year? She had a baby shower and I think people brought her enough diapers for like a year."
My eyes bugged out.
"What other kind of stuff can you get?"
"Anything you register for, really. Clothes, toys, furniture if the person really loves you. You pretty much just make a list of what you want and show it to people and they pick out stuff to buy you. It's really cool."
"Why aren't we doing that then?" I asked, observing some space age stroller that looked way too complicated for my education level.
"The baby shower isn't for awhile. We could have waited but you were so insistent upon doing things this way."
"I'm just excited," I justified. "Summer couldn't come fast enough."
"Speaking of summer," Bella smiled mischievously over her shoulder. "I'm not getting you anything for your birthday. Its close enough to our due date that the baby can technically be considered a birthday present so I'm exempting myself from gift duty this year. Is that even a word?" She finished, returning her attention to the items in the aisle.
"It is," I answered. "And what about Father's Day?"
Bella's eyes widened as she turned to me, "Holy shit, Edward! You're going to be a father this year."
I grinned widely and puffed out my chest as she continued, "It just hit me that this is actually happening. We're having a baby."
I shook my head in amusement as I watched her. Bella, my eternally calm and collected best friend, was freaking out about something. In all our years as friends I had rarely witnessed her freak out over anything. Aside from the whole pregnancy talk, she hadn't spazzed out in ages.
"You're freaking out," I voiced, reaching for her pacing form.
"Hell yeah, I'm freaking out," she scoffed, stopping in front of me. "There's going to be someone in the world who calls me their mother. We're going to be responsible for a person. How the hell are we supposed to raise children? I'm still a child myself."
I grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Calm down, we'll figure it out. We always do," I reassured her, kneading her shoulders playfully with a smile. She merely looked on with wide eyes and took a deep breath before pulling out of my grip.
"The baby's going to be your Father's Day gift, too," she muttered, turning her attention to a rack of baby food.
"That's so unfair," I shook my head. "I expect four gifts next year then: two for my birthday and two for Father's Day."
"How about just one really big gift? Like a piano."
"I will take one massive gift. Like another baby," I joked.
"Another baby?" She cried. "We didn't even want this one. How the hell are you asking for another one?
I cocked my head to the side, "I thought we did want this one. Isn't that why you never...terminated it?"
She shook her head. "I didn't mean it like that. Of course I want this one. I just meant that we didn't plan for it."
"So we'll plan for the next one," I said simply, tugging at the bottom of her hair.
"There's not going to be a next one. One is enough."
"Oh come on, we have to give our kid a sibling. You were an only child and look how you turned out," I grimaced jokingly.
Her mouth fell open and she pushed my shoulder.
"Fuck you, I came out just fine. You're the messed up one and you had Alice," she stuck her tongue out.
"Oh come on, don't you think it'd be easier if we just had them together? Same last name, same killer DNA."
"Forget about it, I'm only planning on making this mistake once," she said with finality. Her words felt like a punch to the gut, yet another reminder of her regret.
"When are you leaving for your parents' house?" I changed the subject, running my hands across a row of bottles.
"I'm leaving tomorrow. My mom asked me to make it by four so we can have Christmas Eve dinner with the Blacks."
"And what else are they dragging you to this year?"
"I'm sure the force is having their annual holiday party on Christmas day, and then my mom is hosting her coworkers for some New Years cocktail party so i'm sure I'll be around. Aside from that, I'm just planning on relaxing. Six whole days of doing nothing," she said blissfully. "Think you'll be ok without me?"
No.
"I'll be fine. I always end up finding something to do," I smiled.
"This is the worst," Bella groaned, scanning the pile of clothes that were scattered on her bed. I was leaning in the doorway looking on with amusement.
"You're only staying until the 30th, why are you packing so much?"
"Because that's six days worth of outfits that I have to take. Just pick for me," she whined playfully, plopping down into the chair behind her.
I snorted, "There's no way in hell I'm getting roped into helping you pick. You ask me to help every time and then you talk shit about my choices when we're traveling. I have no sympathy for you."
"Please?" she begged, clasping her hands together and throwing me puppy eyes.
"You're wasting time," I ignored her plea. "You're supposed to be out of here by noon."
She pouted as she finished throwing the items into her bag. When the suitcase was ready I hauled it to the car, jamming the oversized piece of luggage into the back seat.
"Please be careful when you're lifting this. Don't put too much strain on yourself."
"Edward, I'll be fine. I'll ask my dad to help me."
"Promise?"
"I promise," she said, offering her pinky to me. I wrapped my own around hers and we pressed our thumbs together.
"Are you sure you're ok with telling your parents on your own? I feel bad that I'm not going to be there." I tightened our pinkies when she tried to pull away.
"No, it's fine," she waved me off, our hands dropping. "You need more time. I get it."
I grasped the back of her neck lightly with one hand and pulled her to me.
"Be careful, please. Let me know when you make it there safely," I requested, kissing the top of her head as she hugged me back, tucking herself into my side.
"Of course," she smiled up at me, one dimple and bright teeth.
I felt a rush of blood course through me.
She was flawless, and I was an idiot for ever turning her down.