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CHAPTER 20

"Bella," I whispered, lightly shaking her shoulder. "Honey, you gotta get up. You have to leave in thirty minutes." She didn't move or respond in anyway.

I knew I shouldn't have let her fall back to sleep after she woke me for a quick roll in the sheets at four thirty in morning, but I knew she'd have a hard time making it through the day if I didn't. It was a catch twenty-two—let my pregnant girlfriend sleep, or keep her awake so she won't be so grumpy? Obviously, I went the selfish rout.

I was elated when she agreed to cut back to part-time and let me take care of them; however, she refused to accept anything more than her pay cut. I wasn't very happy about that, but I decided shortly after we found out we were having twins that I really needed to choose my battles—she was a loose fucking cannon!

I glanced at the clock, again — 6:21. "Baby," I whispered, nuzzling her neck. "You're going to be late."

She whined, shifting in my arms. "I don't wanna go, Edward. I'm tired. So tired," she muttered into the pillow, obviously still half-asleep.

I sighed, placing a kiss on her cheek. "I know you are, baby. But your appointment with Dr. Saunders is today …. Do you think you can make it through one more day?"

I knew she was tired. She'd worked ten-hour shifts the last four days. I told her to make an earlier appointment, but she said no, she'd be fine … it was only four days.

She'd been asleep on the couch when I walked through the door every night the week before. Moreover, she'd been in bed by eight. Masen was really missing his momma and I was really missing my girlfriend.

She turned so she was facing me and buried her face into my chest with a whimper. "No … I'm sooo tired." I pulled her closer and tightened my arms around her, kissing the top of her head. "I just wanna sleep all day, Edward," she whined. "Can I sleep all day, please?"

I couldn't help the chuckle. "As far as I'm concerned, you don't ever have to go back to work."

"Good," she murmured against my chest. "Will you get me the phone?"

I reached my arm out and grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand. She opened her eyes and looked at the phone a moment before taking it. I watched as she sat up slightly, pushing the hair out of her face before dialing the number.

She left a brief message stating she wouldn't be in, then hung up. She closed her eyes and curled back into me—five minutes later, she was fast asleep.

"You, little lady," I said with a smile. "Have another ear infection." I turned to her parents as I took off my gloves. "This is the third one in six months, right?"

The Spaulding's nodded. "Yes."

"I want to refer her to—" A knock at the door interrupted me. "Sorry," I apologized to the Spaulding's, then yelled to the person knocking on the door. "Yes?"

The door opened and one of my receptionists, Carmen, poked her head in. "Sorry to interrupt, but your son's daycare is on the phone …."

I turned back to the Spaulding's. "Excuse me, please?"

They nodded and I quickly left the room. "Which line?" I asked, heading toward my office.

"Line three," she answered, a flirty smile on her face—I, of course, ignored it.

"Thank you."

This was unusual. Masen's daycare never called me at work. I didn't even know they had the number, though I wasn't surprised, obviously, it was a number they should have.

"Yes, this is Dr. Cullen," I answered, picking up the line.

"Oh, um, Dr. Cullen," she stuttered. "This is Nancy, Masen's babysitter …."

"Yes, is everything okay?"

"Um, I don't know? He's … he's, um, sick? He's vomited twice since you dropped him off this morning …. I tried to call Ms. Swan, but there was no answer …."

"Yeah, she's probably sleeping," I replied, glancing at my watch – 11:55 – then to the schedule. "I'm just finishing up for the morning, but I should be there within the next half an hour …. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she replied. "He's sleeping right now."

I hung up the phone and went back to finish up with my patient. Luckily, she was the last of the morning.

"Carmen," I said, walking into the reception area. "I have to go pick up my son and drop him off with my mother …. I'll probably be running about a half hour late. Please call and reschedule all patients from two thirty on …. I have to be out of here by three fifteen."

She nodded her understanding and I left the office. Once I was on the road, I pulled out my phone and quickly hit speed dial three. The phone rang three times before she picked up.

"Edward?" Mom answered. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah …" I replied with a sigh. "Actually, no, Masen's babysitter called, I guess he's sick and Bella's … well, Bella's at home passed the fuck out …."

"Okay," she chuckled. "So you need me to take Masen now, then?"

"If you could."

"Of course I can," she answered enthusiastically. "Would you like me to meet you at the office? Then you can check him out … I'm not sure what's wrong with him—"

"She said he'd been vomiting …. There's a stomach virus going around right now, which if it's that, there isn't much I can do, but yeah, if you could meet me at the office, that'd be great."

"Not a problem."

"Thanks, Mom."

Mom and I hung up and I arrived at Masen's daycare not long after. I was right in my pre-diagnosis of Masen; it was indeed a virus, and unfortunately, we just had to wait it out … and hope Bella didn't catch it.

Thanks to mom picking Masen up at the clinic, I didn't have to worry about getting behind, but I told Carmen to call and reschedule the patients anyway.

I had about fifteen minutes to kill and decided I'd better give Bella a call. The phone rang and rang and rang … I was just about to hang up when she answered.

"Hello?" she croaked. I could tell she was sleeping, and felt bad for waking her up.

"Hey, baby," I cooed. "I'm sorry I woke you …."

"It's okay," she replied with a yawn.

"I won't keep you. I just wanted to let you know Masen's at moms. Angela called … he's got that stomach virus that's going around. She's just going to keep him until we are done with your appointment …. Speaking of, I'll stop by the house and pick you up. I should be there by four."

"Um, okay?" She yawned again. "Why didn't Ang call me? I woulda gone and gotten him."

"She did call you, Bella," I replied with a light chuckle. "You must have been sleeping."

"Oh …." It was quiet for a few seconds, and then she suddenly shrieked, "IT'S ONE THIRTY?!"

I couldn't help the laugh. Yes, I know I probably should've tried harder, but she really caught me off guard with that one. However, what I said next, yeah, that … that was just fucking stupidity on my part.

I blame that pregnant nympho chick that raped me before I fell asleep last night, as well as twice after.

"Sure is sleepy head … should I expect to find you still in bed when I get there?"

Like I said, pure fucking stupidity!

"Fuck you!" she spat just before the line went dead.

Idiot!

Bella was sitting on the couch, completely dressed and ready to go, when I got to her house. Judging by the look on her face, she was still extremely pissed at me.

Did you really expect her not to be?

"You asked your mom to keep Masen for the night?" she snarled getting off the couch. "What? I'm not capable of taking care of my own son now?"

I sighed. I really didn't want to fight with her. "Baby, he's sick. If you weren't pregnant I wouldn't have asked her to keep him, but you are …. I was trying to keep you from getting it."

"I took care of him—" I knew where she was going, and quickly interrupted.

"You weren't pregnant, then." She looked like she wanted to argue, but I quickly went on. "Look, I really don't want to fight with you right now. I'm sorry I said what I did on the phone, it was insensitive, and I never should have said it.

"Now as far as asking mom to keep Masen, I really was just thinking of you. This pregnancy is already taking so much out of you. I thought I'd try to save you the added stress of being sick. Mom and dad are more than happy to look after him, but if you want him home then we'll go get him."

She sighed, picking up the already packed overnight bag from the chair. "No, you're right. I was just being a bitch …. I'm sorry I hung up on you … and called you a weenie."

I laughed. I really couldn't help it. "A weenie?" I asked, pulling her into my arms.

"Yes, a weenie," she replied sheepishly, burying her face in my chest. "After I hung up, I told the twins you were being a weenie."

"Okay," I laughed. "Well, how 'bout this? I forgive you for hanging up on me and calling me a … weenie …." Yes, I laughed like a six-year-old boy. "And you forgive me for being an insensitive ass earlier, deal?"

"Deal." She sighed, nuzzling her face into my chest. "Do you have to work tonight?"

I squeezed her a bit tighter. "Unfortunately, I do. Trust me, baby, I don't like it anymore than you do."

"I know," she replied, stepping out of my arms to turn off the T.V., while I went to grab her coat from the closet.

Once we had everything, I locked the door and we headed for her doctor appointment.

"You're okay with what she said?" I asked hesitantly, buckling my seat belt.

We had just left Dr. Saunders' office and she had taken Bella off work.

She glared at me. "No. You knew she would do that, Edward. Why would you do that?"

Bella had been having very frequent dizzy spells over the past week and it appeared she did not intend to mention them to the doctor, so I did. I knew she was going to be pissed at me, but I was thinking about my girl and our unborn babies—I could care less if Bella worked or not.

"Because she needed to know about it, Bella," I reasoned.

"Whatever!" she spat, not once looking at me.

Bella thought my reason for telling Dr. Saunders about the dizzy spells was so she would be forced to accept more money from me, but that wasn't at all the case. I wanted to ensure my girl and children would make it to term.

So needless to say, the ride to mom and dad's was filled with a very loud silence.

Bella wasn't happy when I suggested she stay in the car and not go in to see Masen, but after near … all right, it was full on begging, she begrudgingly agreed. I gave him a kiss for the both of us, told mom I'd be over in the morning to get him, and then returned to Bella waiting impatiently in the car.

"How was he?"

"Sleeping," I responded, putting the car into drive.

"Is he still sick?" she snapped.

"Fuck!" I hissed, pulling back onto the road. "Yes, Bella. He is still sick. It hasn't even been twelve hours!"

She glared at me but didn't say anything.

I glanced at the clock – 6:14. "I'm gonna stop and get something to eat." I chanced a glance at her then focused my attention back on the road. "Are you hungry?"

"No."

I rolled my eyes but kept them on the road.

She's pregnant, I thought, trying to contain my frustration. This is just the hormones talking.

"You're eating here?" she asked when I pulled into Burger King.

I turned to look at her. "Um, yeah?"

She didn't respond. She just crossed her arms over her chest and turned her attention back out her window.

She's pregnant, I thought, again. This is just the hormones talking.

"Should I not eat here?"

She didn't say anything, just continued to stare out that damn window.

"Whatever!" I snapped, pulling back on the street.

She's pregnant. This is just the hormones talking.

It was silent until I pulled into her driveway. She reached for the door as I put the car in park, but quickly turned to look at me when I didn't shut the car off.

"You're not coming in?" Her voice was calm, but I could still hear the irritation there.

I sighed, pulling my hand through my hair. "I don't have time, Bella. I have to be back to the hospital at seven and I still need to stop and get something to eat—"

"Then by all means," she interrupted callously, getting out of the Volvo. "Please go, get yourself something to eat … don't bother coming back!"

"GLADLY!" I yelled moments before the door slammed.

I reversed out of the driveway and floored it down the road.

"Fuck!" I cursed, hitting the steering wheel.

What the fuck just happened?

**Author's Note**

Okay, this chapter sooo took on a mind of its own. This is not, in ANY way, the ending I had envisioned, but whatever, I went with it. Please don't be to mad at me! This is Edward and Bella we're talking about… what's the one thing their relationship lacks?

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