Well, Jasper very nearly took this story for himself. Someone remind me to write him a story of his own, if I find the time. I keep on thinking I'm focussing less and less on Edward's pregnancy and more and more on interesting stuff... a sure sign he'll be delivering soon.

Disclaimer- If Twilight was mine, would I be taking the crap out of it?

Chapter Fourteen

Edward was worried for Alice. She was acting all effervescent and lovestruck. Also, the Cullens had been seeing less and less of both Alice and Bella ever since the day they basically committed to each other. It seemed all of their time was taken up by movies, dinners out or shopping. Edward suddenly wondered, as he sat down in an extremely comfortable lazy chair, if he had ever been like that around Bella. So he decided to ask Emmett. Not a wise decision on his part, really.

"Emmett, was I ever like Alice is around Bella?" he asked his brother, who was surfing channels on the Cullens' television.

"Eh? Oh yeah. All the time," Emmett said, preoccupied by some reality show. "Have you seen what they make these people eat? It's insane..."

"Surely I didn't sigh all the time like that," Edward insisted.

"I'm telling you, Edward, you were just as lovesick and about ten times as emo as Alice is right now," Emmett said impatiently, then his face cracked into a grin. "That reminds me of a drinking game me and Jasper had going on while you were pining after her. Every time you sighed her name, we'd take a swig of beer. If we were mortal, we would probably be dead from alcohol poisoning by now..."

"You drank alcohol?" Edward asked with a distasteful grimace.

"Hell yeah. That was part of the fun, right? We could have easily spat it out, instead of actually swallowing it, but we didn't. Man, I miss Jasper," Emmett admitted, "Even if he dressed like a biker drag queen and liked to use his outdoor voice when I was about two inches away from him..."

"But don't you think something's wrong with Alice?" Edward asked, trying to keep his brother on topic.

"Naw. Bella just sucks the life-force out of everyone she gets romantically involved with. That's my theory, anyhow," Emmett said vaguely, and started to watch the Fear Factor rerun, completely oblivious of Edward's other anxious questions. After a moment, Emmett silenced Edward with a reassuring, "No worries, Edward. Even if Alice is dead inside, we still get girl-on-girl action. Sweet."

Edward decided not to dignify that with a response, got up from his chair (with some difficulty; his back was killing him), and sought out Jacob. His boyfriend was sitting with Esme in the kitchen, talking about something and stopping as soon as he walked in.

"Hey Edward," Jacob said, too innocently. "What's up? You look like Jasper came back with David Bowie as his bitch."

"What were you two talking about?" Edward asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Don't worry about it, Edward. Tell us what you wanted," Esme said gently.

"I'm worried for Alice. Do you think she's acting natural?" Edward asked worried, and gratefully took the chair that Jacob offered for him.

"She's fine, and so's Bella," Esme assured with a dazzling smile. "They're adorable together."

"Alice is cool," Jacob nodded in agreement. "That balances out Bella's life-sucking qualities quite nicely."

There was an empty silence as Esme and Jacob waited for Edward to leave. Edward looked from one to another, and almost decided to infiltrate Jacob's mind. Then he stopped himself. He had decided long ago that he wouldn't read Jacob's mind. The shapeshifter trusted him not to. And he couldn't check up on Esme because she always knew and she always reprimanded him, which wasn't worth knowing whatever they were hiding from him. He finally shuffled out and went back to Emmett.

"Emmett," he said quietly, "What's Esme keeping from me?"

"I dunno," Emmett said vaguely, "They wouldn't tell me so that way you couldn't read my mind."

"Damn!" Edward said vehemently, and then said, "Do you think that Carlisle knows?"

"I think everyone knows except for us, Edward," Emmett said inefectually, and turned to Edward, "Don't get your knickers in a knot, Edward. I'm sure you'll know everything sooner or later."

"But I want to know now," Edward said childishly.

"Just relax. Rosalie made a pickle run for you this morning. Go snack on some of those," Emmett said, trying not to make it too obvious that he was trying to get rid of Edward.

"Nobody loves me," Edward said, unloved, and went to the kitchen to get the promised pickles.

After his fifth pickle, Edward contemplated how locked up he felt. Carlisle had given all his teachers at the high school a medical note that said something about a very painful and long-lasting disease that would keep him out of school for the rest of the year, and now Edward couldn't go out in public unless it was the dead of the night and the only soul out and about was the drunk guy at the video rental store, too smashed to notice Edward's condition. It would be nice to get just a little fresh air, Edward decided, and, after some more pickles, he decided to go to the park bench in the backyard.

Carlisle said that the baby was scheduled to be born in something like a month and a half. Though Edward would be happy to see the end of jeans with elastic waistbands and the stretchy Marilyn Manson shirt that he had been forced to wear on laundry day, another part of him would miss the closeness he had with his baby and, yes, with Jacob. After the baby was born, did Jacob plan to stay? After all, his family was getting worried. Continuous visits from Charlie Swan late at night confirmed this. And Carlisle had said that Jacob only had to stay until the baby was born...

Edward was now crying on the park bench for no particular reason.

"Hey Edward, what's wrong?" Jacob's voice asked.

"You're going to leave me..." Edward said tearfully.

"... I think the pickle juice is finally going to your head," Jacob said after a moment. "You know, I wanted to tell you something today. It would have been better if we could have had the whole family here, but Jasper's wherever and Alice and Bella are watching their movie again."

"What is it you wanted to tell me?" Edward asked curiously as Jacob sat down on the bench beside him.

"Well, um... I've been planning it for a while, actually," Jacob said, a little awkwardly, and pulled a small box from his coat. "You see, I figured we might as well do this right for the kid. We didn't start out that great, so..."

He flipped open the box and revealed a simple golden band. Edward stared, and felt his jaw drop.

"Will you marry me?" Jacob asked.