.ASL Chapter 21

Affirmation of Life

EPOV:

I was wiping down the bar for what had to be the millionth time tonight. I knew that I was getting on Jane's nerves but I didn't care. I was restless as hell tonight. It was like something was off but I had no idea what it could be. I double checked my liquor order, my supply order, and my calendar. I hadn't forgotten anything. I even called Bella to make sure that I hadn't forgotten to do something at home. I hadn't. I was driving myself crazy.

I tried to clear my head by thinking about other things. Last Sunday had been Ethan's birthday. Just like he wanted, we had his party at Chuck E. Cheese, and then I had a half a bottle of ibuprofen to try to get rid of the headache. I can work in a sports bar five nights a weeks but one afternoon at an arcade full of kids nearly killed me. Ethan got everything that he asked for. At least, I think he did. He asked for a lot of shit, some of it I have no clue what it is. Some of it stumped Bella. I had to laugh we he rolled his eyes at her when she asked what a Loki was. He even got some gift cards to buy more stuff.

Bella, on the other hand, had a great time. Of course, since she's so far along in her pregnancy, all she really did was sit with Tanya and watch everyone's stuff. Tanya was too weak to go chasing the kids around so they left Felix and me in charge of making sure the kids were kept with their pockets full of tokens.

Ok. To be totally honest, it might be possible that Emmett and I got into an air hockey tournament and just kept shoving money at the kids as they came up asking for more tokens. Well, until Rose yelled at Emmett for handing a twenty to a kid that wasn't even part of our group. The little smartass had caught on that we weren't paying attention and scammed us. We were put in 'time out' after that and made to sit at the table. Of course, being the big kids that we are with absolutely no restraint, we ate too much pizza and drank too much soda and made ourselves sick. Our mean wives had no compassion for us, either. Bella shoved a bottle of tums in my hands and made me go to work later that afternoon, with a 'welcome to my world' when I complained about being too nauseous to function.

Tanya. That poor woman was another story in itself. Her first round of chemo had not garnered any positive results so they were going try it again. We were all devastated at the news. She had wanted to wait until after Ethan's birthday, but the doctors said that that wasn't an option. They gave her two weeks and then it started again. This time, Maddie was staying with Mom and Dad. Bella felt bad about not being able to care for her again but she was eight months along now and could go into labor at any time, so it was easier for them to keep her. They also had Ethan tonight. He had begged to go stay with them for the night because he knew that Kara, Aiden, and Maria were there, too, while Alice and Jasper celebrated their anniversary.

I think that Bella was eager to get a night to herself and relish the peace and quiet. When I called her I could hear the tub running. It was good for her to get this time to herself because very shortly we were never going to have quiet time or personal time again.

Emmett got my attention when he came out of the kitchen and plopped down at the bar in front of me and asked for a coke. I never would have thought that I would have ended up so close to anyone that married one of my sisters, but Emmett was the coolest. He was almost as worried about Bella through her pregnancy as he was with Rose when she was pregnant.

I went back to my office and started going through the bills and working on payroll. That was one of the hard parts of my job. There were so many rules and laws that I had to follow, it bordered on ridiculous. By the time that I was done with it, it was after eleven and the kitchen was closed. I wandered back out to the main bar and sat down with some regulars that were watching the end of a game. The game was almost over but they offered me a glass of beer from their pitcher that I declined. It's an unusual move for me. I am more than willing to kick back with my favorite customers and have a drink, but as Bella has been nearing the end of her pregnancy I decided to stop drinking at work. I don't want to have a beer and then get the call from her.

All the customers are gone by a quarter til midnight so I closed early. I do it on occasion but not often. I am not worried about customers finding me closed early. The only people that are going to show up at a bar after twelve are the ones that are already drunk off their asses and have already been cut off by at least one other bar.

I am excited that I will be able to get home early and crawl into bed and cuddle with my wife. I sighed out loud at the thought of having Bella in my arms. We couldn't make love though. The doctor cut us off a couple of weeks ago for fear of sending Bella into labor early.

I was still antsy so I left my car at the bar and walked home. I had been driving lately so that I could get home faster if Bella needed me, but I had talked to her not long ago and she was absolutely fine.

Walking the few blocks to our building, I took in deep breaths of the crisp night air. It was only a five minute walk home from the bar, but by the time that I got into the lobby doors I found Bella leaning on the doorman's counter taking the same kind of deep breaths that I had been taking a few minutes ago and clutching her stomach.

"What happened? Are you alright? Why didn't you call me?"

"EDWARD! Calm down. My water broke. I tried to call the bar but no one answered."

"We closed early. Why didn't you try my cell?"

"I did. It went straight to voicemail. I called Emmett's cell and he said that you were walking home. Tommy's the doorman tonight and he offered to go get my car so we'd be ready to go when you managed to show up." I looked down and saw that she had her bags on the floor beside her. It was mere seconds later that Tommy pulled up in front of the building and helped me get Bella into the car. He wished us a safe delivery as I got into the driver's seat and drove us to the hospital.

BPOV:

Why of all nights did my fool husband decide to not only close early but to walk his ass home? Don't get me wrong, I was glad that he got home early and all, but it irritated me that I couldn't reach him when I really needed him. It had happened so suddenly. One minute I was fine and searching for a tub of chocolate ice cream that I had bought the other day, and the next my water broke and I was standing in a puddle. Then I got to freak out over Edward being MIA. I called Emmett's cell phone and he promised to call the family and then made me promise that if Edward didn't show in the next ten minutes to call back and he or Rose would come get me and take me to the hospital. I texted him back while Edward drove us to the hospital that all was well now.

Edward pulled into the parking lot outside the maternity entrance. He tried to pull up to the door and let me out but I told him to just park the damn car and we'd walk in together. There was no way that I was going to walk in there alone, even if it was only for a few minutes. I needed Edward by my side and holding my hand through every second of this.

When he finally quit arguing with me and did what he was told he parked in the closest space. I leaned on him as we walked the short distance from the car to the building. I was already tired and hoped that it wasn't going to be a difficult deliver or even a really long one.

"How far apart are the contractions?" The nurse asked us as we were escorted to a room.

"I have no clue. I've only had one and that was about nine minutes ago." I told him, checking the time on my cell phone. Even though we lived close to the hospital, Edward drove like a crazy man to get us here. Not that I was going to say anything to him. Rose said that Emmett did the same thing when she went into labor. I was just happy to be at the hospital where the doctor and the nice guy that would give me the epidural were waiting.

We entered the room to find another nurse and the resident on duty waiting for me. The nurses helped me change into a hospital gown while Edward took out his phone and realized that it had died. No wonder I couldn't reach him on it. The boob was forever letting the battery die.

"I bought an extra charger and put it in my…Oh fuck me this hurts!" I was having another contraction and it was hurting a hell of a lot more than that first one had. Unfortunately, I was still standing when it hit and my knees started to give out. The nurses jumped to catch me before I hit the floor and got me into bed.

Twenty minutes and an exam by the resident later showed that I was not only dilated to four centimeters but my contractions were now coming every ten minutes. They had called the anesthesiologist and we were eagerly awaiting his appearance in my room. Alright, I was eagerly awaiting the guy's arrival.

Speaking of eagerly awaiting an arrival, I couldn't wait for Esme to get here. I loved my own mom and called her as soon as I was admitted and the doctor had left the room. She and Phil were going to be on the first flight to Washington they could get tomorrow. But Esme had been my rock through the pregnancy.

I didn't have to wait long for Esme. She waltzed right into the room and hugged me. Then she hugged her son. She sent Edward down the hall to get me some ice and the two of them some coffee, saying that it was going to be a long night for all of us. As soon as Edward was gone the anesthesiologist came in and Esme held me while the doctor inserted that needle into my spine. That is when it hit me that Esme had gotten Edward out of the room on purpose. The needle going in hurt like a bitch and Esme knew that it would. She also knew, from experience, that one wrong move and the doctor would end up paralyzing me.

As soon as she made sure that I was comfortable and didn't need anything, she pulled a blanket and a book out of her bag and curled up in the chair by the window. I loved Edward and needed him here with me, but I was relieved to have Esme here to help me too.

Once the epidural kicked in I was able to relax and doze off a bit. I was in and out of consciousness all night long. There were times that, I guess, the nurse examined me and I slept right through it. That was a good thing since they said that I probably wouldn't deliver until morning anyway.

A couple of times when I woke up I could hear Esme trying to get Edward to attempt to get some sleep, but he kept telling her that he was too keyed up to sleep. I think that he was just getting on her nerves.

EsmePOV:

This is one of my favorite parts of being a grandmother. I loved being here when they came into our lives. My children had given me plenty of grandchildren already but I was always thrilled to have more. I even considered Tanya and Felix's Maddie to be another one of my grandchildren. I was trying to get her to call me Nana like the other kids did. She wasn't really all that verbal yet but I know that we'll get there eventually.

I left Carlisle at home watching all the grandchildren that we had staying at our house overnight. It was a good thing that Ethan was already with us so they hadn't needed to wake him, but I'd already had a long evening with a houseful of hyper children; the last thing that I needed or wanted to deal with right now was a hyper child in his thirties. I knew that he was excited and nervous about Bella being in labor but Edward was driving me crazy. He kept pacing and rambling. First he'd be by the window and then he'd be over by the bed Bella was sleeping in, back and forth, and back and forth. I was close to calling the nurse to have Edward sedated.

I was glad that Bella was able to get some sleep. It was not easy to deliver one baby but two, back to back? She was going to need all the rest and strength that she could get when it came time for the main event.

Carlisle was going to bring the kids up to the hospital after he got everybody breakfast. Knowing my husband, that would either be cold cereal or taking them out to some diner. I was hoping for the latter. I was going to be exhausted myself by the time I finally got home and I really did not want to have to clean up a mess in my kitchen.

It was close to eight in the morning when Bella's contractions were getting so intense that they were piercing through the epidural and she was ready to start pushing. Now the both of them were utterly terrified of the next step, so much so that it almost made me laugh.

Luckily, Bella had a relatively easy delivery. Well, I could say that it was easy but I am sure that she would see things quite differently from her side of the story. She was so strong and did beautifully. And she did it with a hell of a lot more grace than my daughters had. Alice cried and begged for a C-section to make the pain go away, and Rose tried to castrate Emmett using her hands. She always did have a bit of a vicious side to her.

At almost ten, both babies were finally here, all red, blotchy, and screaming their heads off. I excused myself to go down the hall to tell everyone and to get Ethan and bring him back. He was so excited about becoming a big brother again. He had actually helped Edward and Bella name his new baby brother and sister; James Hunter and Victoria Rose.

A/N:

OK. Happy Saturday! I will admit that I almost forgot to post this. I was lying in bed with my computer already packed away for my trip when it hit me that I had a chapter to post! *face palms* We leave in seven hours so I need to get a little shut eye.

Thanks to SweetPea123 for betaing this for me. I appreciate it greatly. This is it for this story except for the epi that I have not started yet. I will when I get back and will post as soon as I can.

Anyone here watch the college world series? I live in Omaha and can see the new stadium from my desk at work but I am leaving for vaca just when its starting. Weird, I know.