I don't have much to say...just keeping my fingers crossed that this posts properly.

I can't thank Katmom and Minna enough. Minna, I miss you. I hope Melbourne is treating you well.

This chapter isn't as weepy as the last.

Edward

Having a child in our home felt right. Jaden was a little nervous when we took him into our home for the first time; he stood behind Bella's legs until he spotted Fred, who had run over to greet us with his pathetic meows, leaving a trail of orange fur tumbleweeds in his wake. Sheesh, when was the last time one of us had combed him?

"Kitty!"

Fred stopped in his tracks, his back arched and a sneer on his lips. I don't know if he'd ever been around children.

Jaden sat down a few feet from the nervous-looking cat and smiled. "Hi, Mr. Kitty. Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

Bella knelt down beside him. "That's my friend Fred. I think he might be a little bit scared of you—he's never been around a kid before. If you're quiet and don't chase him, he'll probably come to you. Do you want to go into the living room?"

"No, I'd like to stay here and wait for Fred if that's okay. I know all about kitties, Miss Bella—there was a stray one that used to cuddle with me and Mommy. She taught me how to be still and quiet until the kitty understands that you're a friend and not a foal."

"Foe, sweetie, I think you meant foe," she correctly gently.

"Whatever. He's going to be my friend. I just know it."

"Your mommy was right," I said as I ruffled his hair. "Fred just needs to see that you're cool and then he'll be your best friend."

He grinned up at me. "You think I'm cool, Mr. Edward?"

"I sure do. You're the only person I know who digs classical music." I winked at him before stepping past him, around Fred, and toward the living room. "I'll play for you after you tame Fred."

"Really? Okay!" He turned his focus on Fred. "You and me need to be friends soon so I can go watch Mr. Edward play."

Bella and I stood back and watched as Jaden somehow managed to get Fred to come near him. In minutes, the orange cat was rubbing up against him and purring like a motorboat.

"See, Fred, I'm a good kid. I won't hurt you. Now, if you could please move your butt out of my face, I'd like to go with Mr. Edward."

In the past few months I had learned a lot about Fred, and one of the biggest lessons I had learned was that he was stubborn as hell. When he was comfortable, he would refuse to move. When he was determined, he wasn't easily deterred, unless of course you were shaking a bag of treats in his direction. In this instance, it was evident that the cat had no intention of giving up his claim on the little boy, so I dove in and pulled Jaden up to his feet. Fred rubbed against his little legs in awkward figure eights as I led him to the music room.

We sat at the piano and I explained some fundamentals before I began playing. Much to Jaden's delight, I played some familiar pieces, then asked if he had any requests.

There was no hesitation on his part whatsoever. "Can you please play the Piano Man song?"

"The Billy Joel song?" Again, this child's knowledge of music beyond the typical seven year-old's repertoire amazed me.

"Um, I think so. It's the one that goes, sing us a song, you're the piano man. That one. Do you know it?"

I began to play the song and he squealed. "Yes! That's the one! Can you sing it? I don't know all the words."

"I'll try," I said, "I'm a little rusty; it's been a while." I began singing the words as best I could and smiling when he joined in. We sang the chorus loudly, like two old drunk friends sitting at a bar.

If someone had told me this time last year that I would be singing Billy Joel songs with a seven year old, I'd have declared them insane and called the men with straightjackets and the funny wagon myself. But this felt so right. Instead of being sad that it wasn't my own daughter singing with me, I was filled with joy at sharing this moment with Jaden. I felt another part of me healing and letting go of the persistent pang of loneliness I'd been dealing with for years.

We continued to sing songs together until Mom poked her head into the room. "There's a slight change in plans and dinner is being pushed back a bit. I was wondering if maybe you boys would like to have a snack?"

Jaden hopped off the bench, running toward her. "I'm staaaaaaaaaaaarving," he exaggerated.

She ushered him out, leaving me alone with my thoughts, smiling at the memory of what had just happened.

"Penny for your thoughts," Bella said quietly from the door.

I held my arms out to her and noted how amazing she looked. Her mahogany hair was shining in the fading daylight streaming in from the window. She was dressed in a pale blue blouse and flared pants. The healthy pink in her cheeks made me smile and it renewed my hopes that our meeting with the doctors tomorrow would go well. After Em's pep talk, I had been trying to think more positively and I found that at first it felt artificial, but now—now it felt real, it felt right.

Bella sat in my lap, allowing me to hold her as I nuzzled her neck to get a good lungful of her intoxicating essence. I sighed happily. "Have I told you today just how beautiful you are?"

Being the cheeky monkey that she is, Bella tapped her chin with her finger and overdramatically pondered my question. "Hm, I don't believe you have."

"You look delightfully beautiful and devastatingly ravishing."

She giggled.

"You are delicious and I can't wait to devour you." I nipped playfully at her earlobe.

"Mm, as much as I would love for you to bend me over the piano and fuck me senseless, our family is in crisis and gathered in our living room."

My playful mood ended. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I got so caught up with having fun with Jaden that I almost forgot. Has anyone heard from them?"

Bella shook her head. Not yet. I'm sure it'll be a while before we get a call…"

Her thought was cut off by the sound of Emmett's voice booming. "WHAT? IS THAT HER CRYING? I'm on my way!"

We got up and ran out in time to see Emmett running out the kitchen door.

"What happened?" I asked no one in particular.

Dad's phone rang before anyone could answer. "Yes, Jasper? She's hysterical? Just try to get her to slow her breathing. Emmett will know what to do when he gets there. If she gets worse, call and let me know."

Everyone was wide-eyed and worried, except for Jaden who was feeding goldfish crackers to the cat.

"Should I come pick up Donald?" Dad continued. "Okay, but call if you—wait, son, Alice wants to talk to you."

Dad handed his phone over to Alice, then turned to face us. "Rosalie is very upset, as we assumed she would be. Emmett is going over to try to calm her down and Jasper will be coming here with his father as soon as Rosalie has calmed down."

Bella stepped forward. "Where's Mama Hale? Is she gone?"

He nodded.

"Good, poisonous bitch," Bella mumbled.

"Ooh, Miss Bella said a bad word!" Jaden piped up from the floor. Of all the things he had a chance to hear, Bella's curse was it. We all started to chuckle, then erupted into loud, raucous, cleansing laughter. Jaden just shook his head, clearly exasperated by all the grown ups, and went back to feeding Fred.

Everyone grabbed snacks and sat around talking quietly. Eventually, Jaden got bored and asked me to put in a movie. I put on Shrek and he curled up in Mom's lap with Fred, where they both fell asleep almost immediately.

I found Bella out on her swing not long after I put in the movie. "What's up?"

"Just thinking. Today's been a real clusterfuck. I can't help but worry about Rosie. She doesn't get hysterical. EVER. So something huge must have happened."

"Emmett's there now, he'll look after her," I replied softly as I shifted my swing closer to hers. "He's got the magic touch, love, he'll do what he can for her."

Turning her head toward me, I was shocked to see how upset she was. I moved a hand over to pull her swing closer to mine, turning her and locking us together with my legs. "Bella, love, what is it?"

Taking one of my hands in hers, she held it to her wet cheek. "You don't really know much about Rosie and Jasper's childhoods do you?"

I shook my head because she was right, I knew nothing. Bella went on to tell me how their mother had treated them as possessions with little to no love or compassion. My heart broke as she continued her story and I silently thanked the gods that I had been blessed with the amazing family that I had been given.

I knew they'd had a rough upbringing—Jasper had spoken briefly about it, but no one had ever gone into greater detail about it. I had been privy to some of the wedding day drama but didn't realize how deeply it ran.

"Rosie has endured so much and rarely shed a tear over it, and then this week she's been a mess. I just hope that bitch didn't finally break my Rosie. A person can build up walls and be strong only for so long; I'm scared that if she snaps, she won't come back."

Getting off the swing, I helped her to her feet, holding her to me tightly. "There is a very large family in that house behind you who are more than capable of bring her back or helping her out of her shell. Maybe breaking down some walls wouldn't be such a bad thing. Sometimes it gets lonely in there."

Bella sighed and gave me a squeeze. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

"Edward?" Her voice was quiet and nervous.

"Yes, love?"

"I'm scared about tomorrow."

"We'll be okay, I promise. If it's not in the cards for us to have a child naturally, then we'll look at adoption. For now, though, we just need to be strong and go into this with a positive outlook."

She pulled away, stepping back a couple of steps. "Who are you and what have you done with my Edward? Not that I'm complaining, because I like this positive-thinking version."

"Emmett."

She smiled before returning to my embrace. "Of course it was." I heard a soft sigh and felt her smiling against my chest. "What would we do without him?"

"We'd be a sorry lot of sad people," I replied, smiling.

We stood in each other's arms, just enjoying the rare moment of peace when Dad stepped into the doorway. "Son, Emmett called; Rosalie wants us to come to their house. Would you mind bringing Alice and Jaden? We can take Millie and Ian."

Bella perked up, grinning. "She must be okay! Let's go!"

I watched as she dashed off ahead of me to gather the rest of the food she had planned to take to the party. I was left with the task of waking Jaden and separating him from his ginger-furred lap blanket.

"But…" he whined groggily, "he's my new best friend. I'll miss him! He'll miss me! Look how sad he is, Mr. Edward."

"Fred will be fine and you can come play with him anytime you want. Miss Bella would be very sad if he left."

That got him. "I don't want Miss Bella to be sad. Okay, he can stay; but, Fred, don't miss me too much because I'll be back." He gave a kiss to the top of Fred's head. "Be good, Fred."

The ride to Rose and Em's was subdued; even Alice was quiet. When we pulled past the gate, Jaden spoke softly. "Is nasty Mama Hale here? I don't want to see her, she scares me."

Bella reached back for his hand. "No, sweetie, Mama Hale is gone."

"Forever?"

"I don't know. Now, Miss Rosie was very upset a while ago and she might still be feeling poorly, so we won't ask her too many questions, will we?"

"No."

Bella laughed. "Alice, I was talking to you."

"No, Bella, I won't pepper her with questions. I just want to see my husband and make sure he's okay. I know Rosie's in good hands with Emmett."

Alice was unbuckled and out of the Volvo before I even managed to put it in park. For a pregnant woman she ran fast. Jasper met her at the door, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Um, I need some help, please," Jaden said. "I can't wait to get rid of my cast—it makes everything so hard."

Bella got out first to help him, then the three of us walked toward the house. Emmett and Rose stepped out onto the porch, both looking utterly exhausted. Jaden released Bella's hand and ran to them the second he saw them. I watched as the little boy worked his magic on them and the new little family reconnected.

"They really love him," Bella observed aloud.

"Yeah, I think we're all pretty much screwed now. Let's go inside and find out what's going on."

The evening was somewhat subdued as a result of the nastiness of the afternoon. Jasper and Rosalie asked that no one ask questions, that we'd all find out what we needed to know in the coming days.

"Just know this—Mama Hale is gone and will not be coming back," Rose declared, holding up a tumbler of scotch. "Ding dong the witch is dead."

Everyone drank to her proclamation and left it at that. Even Jaden understood not to question it right away, although he asked me later if Mama Hale was really dead.

"No, buddy, it's a song from The Wizard of Oz. Mama Hale is still very much alive.

"That's too bad," I overheard him mumble.

Bella and I excused ourselves after our late dinner. She was exhausted and I wanted some alone time with her to talk about our appointment with the doctors in the morning.

I ran a bath when we got home, undressing Bella slowly and attentively before removing my own clothing. I entered the tub first so she could lean back against my chest. There would be nothing sexual about this bath; I hoped. My intentions were purely sensual and relaxing.

My hands ran up and down her arms as she sunk even further into me, releasing a deep sigh as she settled. Her head fell back, resting just below my shoulder. I took this opportunity to place a kiss behind her ear.

"I love you, Bella."

"Ditto, Edward."

I lathered up the loofah mitt and languidly washed her skin, hopefully removing the tainted grime of the day.

"Edward?"

"Yes, love?"

She turned a little so she could see me. "Aren't you the least bit curious about what happened today?"

My mouth moved along her jaw, peppering the soft line with small kisses until I reached the corner of her mouth. "Nope."

"Ungh," she groaned as my hands moved up to gently massage her breasts. I bit back a curse as she moved back against my growing erection. I willed it to go down—this totally wasn't the point of having a bath. It's not sexual, Edward. Hands off the boobs.

Reluctantly, my hands retreated and wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer.

"Why not?" she asked slowly, coming down from my unintentional groping.

"I care what happened, Bella, I do, but they made it very clear that a debriefing will take place when they are ready. I don't want to think about it or make ridiculous or unfounded assumptions when I could be thinking you, about us. Call me self-centered, but I'd say that I'm more selfish—I want to keep you to myself," I blew across her wet, heated skin, "I'd rather think about you. Is that okay?"

"Yes," she sighed.

My hands moved to her sides, then down to her thighs. My right hand hooked under her knee, lifting it gently as I moved my mouth to her ear. "I'd rather think about your incredible legs and how although you're only five and a half feet tall, your slender legs look like they go on for days."

I set her leg up on the edge of the tub so I could trace the scars. "I'd like to trace these scars and think back about how each one happened. This one here? On the underside of your knee? It happened when you got stuck in the tree. This one, the dark thick one at the top of your knee, this happened when you were learning how to ride a bike and you fell, splitting your knee open when you landed on the sharp edge of your bike pedal. That was how many stitches? Eight?"

She nodded as she raised a hand to cover mine as I mapped out a lot of our history through the scars on her body. When we reached a newer one, she would tell me the story behind it.

The water started to cool off after awhile so I grabbed a towel before standing so I could cover her the second she stood. Can't have my girl getting cold.

We moved to the bed where we crawled in under the duvet without putting on any clothes. She put on some quiet music as I continued my exploration of her body, praising each part as I passed by. Her feet, although flat and knobby were still incredibly cute. Her calf muscles flexed as I kissed my way up them and her breathing started coming out in short pants and hisses as I bypassed her molten mound.

"Not yet, love. I need a moment with the rest of your body because I know once I get a taste, I won't want to stop."

"That's…that's okay…" she squeaked as my tongue dipped into her navel. I noticed a small white scar inside and touched it. "What's this from? I don't remember seeing it before."

She tried to speak as my finger gently ran the perimeter of her navel. Finally, she slapped my hand away. "It's…it's from the accident. They had to do a laparoscopy to check my internal bleeding. If you look over here," she pointed to a faint line on the right side of her torso, "and here," she moved to point out a very inconspicuous white line in the tiny crease just above her pubic area, "you can see the other entry points. They ended up removing my spleen laparoscopically."

"You don't have a spleen? I'm incredibly unobservant," I breathed as I flicked my tongue out to run across the faint raised lines.

"'It's okay, it's not like it's something you see every day or that comes up in conversation on a regular basis."

I chuckled as I moved up the centre of her torso, where I let my nose skim her flesh ever so lightly, raising an incredible number of goose bumps. "I love your skin, so flawless, so soft, so," I inhaled deeply as I reached the underside of her pert right breast, "aromatic."

Bella squirmed beneath me as I continued by tracing her breast with my tongue, nose and finger. I watched as fascinated as ever as the ridged flesh of her dark areola puckered tighter than I thought possible.

Even as awkward teens, I loved playing with her nipples, fascinated by the bumpy topography, ever-changing and never the same. Then when she was swollen with our child, the once light pink peaks and surrounding landscape darkened and enlarged.

Thinking about how jealous I was at one point as I watched our child suckle on her, I had to chuckle. The vibrations further excited her as she moaned. "What's so funny?" she finally asked as she fisted a hand in my hair.

"I was thinking about how I used to be jealous of Emma and how she could suckle you whenever she wanted. I know it sounds strange, but I'm a little territorial when it comes to these," I latched onto her right nipple and sucked hard, then nipped at it. As soon as her body arched into mine, her wetness rubbing against my erection, I knew I was done for; I didn't have long before I would have to be inside her.

I blew a hot breath over her wet nipple before switching sides. Words fell from her mouth but they made no sense. Her hands roamed my body until she reached my cock. She stroked me a few, glorious times before releasing me and pulling my face up to hers, kissing me fiercely.

"I need you now, Edward. Foreplay is over."

My intentions of worshipping her fully and completely flew out the window as she stared at me with eyes darkened by lust and sparkling with something primal.

The head of my cock agreed with her wholeheartedly, nudging its way into the wet heat of Cooterville and it wasn't long before I was fully sheathed in heaven. Slow, methodical thrusts preceded the faster, rougher passes. I lifted her legs up so they were over my shoulders as I thrust even deeper. Her eyes grew huge as I rubbed against her g-spot and my thumb circled her clit.

The noises we were both making were almost comical in their sheer Neanderthal nature—grunting, keening, wailing and nonsensical syllables flying carelessly into the thick atmosphere we created. The room smelled of sex, of desire, of love.

"Edward!" Bella cried out as she reached the highest peak of ecstasy her muscles clenching around me as her whole body froze, her mouth agape, eyes closed.

"Look at me please, love," I begged as my balls tightened and I felt myself about to crest.

Her incredible brown eyes opened, inviting me into her soul as I poured myself into her body.

My bones became gelatin as my cock pulsed inside of her, spilling my seed, uniting us in the most primitive of ways possible.

Small warm hands ran up my sweaty back and into my hair as she brought me back to the moment. "I love you, Edward."

Was she crying?

No, it was me.

"Don't cry, baby," she cooed quietly. "We'll be okay."

Too tired and too spent to respond, I remained on top of her, my ear over her heart which I knew was mine, it would beat only for me. It was strong, she was mighty, and together we would tackle the meeting with the doctors and whatever news, good or bad that they had to impart.

"I love you, Bella. Always."

Ah, a lemon. I know some of you have been waiting for one...especially a Bella and Edward one.

Well, it seems Encore has been nommed for TWO Twinklings Walk of Fame awards, Angst Goddess and Queen of Hearts. Thank you to whoever nominated it. I really appreciate it. They haven't announced when voting will begin, but I'll let you know as soon as I know.

My fic recs this week are:

Grand Jeté by stella luna sky
Resurrection by TwilightMomofTwo
Puddle Jumping by 107yearoldvirgin
Click & Strum by Bratty-Vamp

Finally, thank you all for getting Around the Bend over the 600 review mark. As usual, reviews get you a sneak peek (unless you ask not to get one).