Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight, but I do own "It's a…baby" pin.

A/N -

I love you guys and thank you for your continued support!

This chapter is unbeta'd, but I hope you can forgive me since I was in a rush to update. Only 8 days this time…high five!

This is kind of fuzzy bunny, but I hope you enjoy anyway :)

Previously on TB –

Bella got a huge smile on her face. "We're getting married!"

Chapter 21

The Median

EPOV

After Bella's announcement Rose gave her another hug and congratulated her, but quickly moved back from the stampeding Emmett. He was almost as giddy as the women had been when they all received the news. I could tell he was refraining, he was basically shaking he wanted to pick her up and twirl her around so bad. Emmett was just like that, the big oaf, and if I stayed out of the way this time he wouldn't pick me up instead.

Rose casually strode over to me and shook my hand and gave me one of those awkward one armed hugs. It wasn't that I disliked her, ok I did, but I liked her for Emmett. They were a great couple in their own wacky way, but she was a stuck up princess that I wouldn't otherwise want to be around. It was true I had thought she was pretty when I first met her, but honestly she was not my type at all.

Soon after the excitement died down we had all taken our seats and remained in the den for awhile. Bella sat in the big chair and I sat on the arm since the couch was full and Jasper and Alice were sitting on the love seat. This was the first time I really acknowledged Jasper and he gave me a pointed look, but then turned his attention back to Alice.

Alice told everyone her favorite story of how she would dress me up in her dresses and have tea parties. I was shameless in what I would do for a plate full of cookies and a teapot full of soda. Poor Mom couldn't figure out why I was bouncing off the wall every afternoon until she caught Alice with a package of Oreos and 2 cans of Coke making her way back up to our toy room.

She came back up with Alice, a teapot full of water, and a plate full of apple slices. Imagine her surprise when she saw me sitting at the small table that was completely set up for a tea party, stuffed animals and dolls occupying the extra seats, and there I sat there with a frilly hat, white gloves, and a very fancy pink dress on.

"Alice, what is going on here?"She asked in a serious tone.

"A tea party of course, Mommy." She said sounding innocent.

"Why is your brother wearing a dress?"This was the real question.

"That is not my brother. That is Claudia, my best friend, and we are late for tea!"

My mother was not much for yelling, but she was even less for rudeness.

"Mary Alice, you will put all your tea dishes away and wait for me in your room."Mom did not raise her voice, but it was apparent that this was a command and not up for discussion.

I had just sat there quietly still hoping that I would get cookies and soda. My mom came over and picked me up, shaking her head a few times when she saw the little high heels on my dangling feet. She turned a stern look back at Alice and pointed to the tea set and then pointed to its box before she left the room.

Back in my own clothes Mom had taken me down to the kitchen and sat me at the table as she dumped out Alice's teapot and set it where she couldn't reach it. She then took out 3 cookies and a glass of milk for me and left to talk to Alice. I'm not sure what was said, but I do know that after that she had play dates with little girls and I never wore a dress again.

Alice finished telling the story by saying it was a shame that I didn't fit into her dresses anymore. I scoffed, but everyone else laughed.

"Oh my God, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard! I hope you at least have a picture of that!" Bella exclaimed through her laughter and was wiping tears from her eyes; she apparently thought it was that funny. She was the only one in the room that hadn't heard the story, many times, and I had gotten over being embarrassed by it a long time ago.

"As a matter of fact" Alice said while slipping away from Jasper and heading to the bookshelves.

"Alice, you said you threw it away!" Ok, maybe I was still a little embarrassed.

Alice had gotten Emmett to take a picture of us with our parents' camera. He refused at first because he didn't want to get into trouble, but Alice was smart and she used the same cookie and soda bribery that had worked on me and had Emmett in agreement with whatever she asked.

Alice got down one of the photo albums and flipped through it until she found the picture she was looking for.

"Here we go" She said as she handed the book over to Bella.

I peeked over her shoulder at the old photo. I hadn't seen it in a long time and I did think it had been thrown away, but of course Mom probably thought it was funny even though she wouldn't have let Alice know that at the time. She was actually quite shocked when she found this picture mixed in with the ones that she had taken and she said hopefully the person who developed the film had just thought it was Alice's friend. The picture showed us in our playroom, girl toys on one side and boy toys on the other, and there was Alice and I in the middle standing in front of the little table. We both had on hats that I think were Grandma Cullen's 'church hats' and big feather boas. Alice had put makeup on both of us and we were in almost identical dresses, hers was white with pink lace and the one I was wearing was pink with white lace, and of course fancy shoes. I posed the way she told me too and we both had an arm around each other and the other one on our hips and for some reason my smile was just as big as Alice's. I guess at four years old it really was just a game, one that included sweets.

"And how did this not make the back of the yearbook!" Bella asked as she continued to laugh

"Oh, believe me, Bella, Alice picked an equally embarrassing one." I said as I flipped the pages looking for it.

"Oh, come on. At least you weren't in drag!" Alice said comically defending herself.

"Barely, I'm in a sailor outfit." I huffed and handed the book back to Bella once I found the photo.

"Aw, these are so cute!"

The whole page was full of pictures of Alice and I in coordinating outfits and she looked at each one carefully.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about the matching outfits." She said quietly and I gave her a sad smile.

When Bella was finished looking at the album she handed it back to me with the promise that I would show her other ones sometime. Alice was standing near the shelves on the wall when I put it away. She was staring off into space nostalgically and I knew she was thinking about Mom. I wrapped my arms around and whispered into her ear.

"Happy birthday, Big Sister, I love you."

"I love you too, Little Bro, and for the record you really were my best friend and I'm sorry for dressing you like a girl."

"I forgive you, just don't do that to my son." I said only half jokingly and she laughed.

"No problem" She said before addressing the whole room. "Time for cake!" She clapped her hands like a small child and made her way into the kitchen.

Alice insisted we eat cake before dinner because she didn't want to take her 3 layered, fancy confection all the way to Port Angeles and risk it becoming damaged in the car, she also didn't want to wait until we got home from the restaurant.

After cake we had to rush to the restaurant to make our reservation time and I made sure Bella and I rode by ourselves. She was staring out the window with her hand pressed firmly on the top of her stomach; it was what she did in what she called a futile attempt to protect her ribs.

"Baby kicking?" I asked even though I knew the answer.

"Yeah, too much sugar I guess." She replied never moving her stare.

"Bella?"

"Yeah" She said turning to look at me.

"I love you" I said with a lopsided grin.

"I love you too" She said and placed her left hand on my leg. I glanced down to see the ring on her finger and returned my attention to the road after we shared a quick smile.

Dinner was better than previous years, what I could remember from previous years, since I no longer drank myself into a stupor every time I was upset. As a matter of fact I wasn't upset, but even when I was I no longer used alcohol, or anything else, as an ineffective tool to make myself feel better.

We sat at a large, round table covered in dark, maroon linen with two candles in the center. Bella kept fidgeting with the napkin in her lap and I rubbed circles on the back of her hand until it eventually took a hold of mine.

When the salads came she busied herself with eating and I busied myself with watching her eat and just pushing the rabbit food around my plate with the fork. Esme started talking about a charity event that she was on the planning committee for and Bella perked up and joined in on the conversation. I realized it must have been something they had talked about while they were home together all day.

No one was in a rush and we all ate our dinner slowly, enjoying the conversation. Although we had already eaten cake, Emmett insisted on ordering desert and Bella ordered ice cream which came in a little fancy dish and was garnished with a little green leafy thing. It looked gross and it must have been because it became a melted puddle with a leaf floating on top of it by the time we left.

I could tell that Bella was exhausted when we left and she slipped her shoes off before buckling her seat belt. She didn't want to fall asleep though so we kept talking the whole time. We shared more stories from our childhood and just in general until we were finally home.

We had all gotten there at about the same time and we walked in behind everyone else. Bella gave Alice a hug and told her happy birthday again before she told all of us goodnight. I gave her a quick kiss and whispered to her that I would be up in a minute right before she went upstairs. I knew she would be asleep by the time I got there judging by how tired she had been.

Jasper and Alice decided to watch a movie and she went upstairs to change into her pajamas. I think Dad and Esme were sitting on the back patio because they were old and weird and liked to stare at the stars or some shit. Everyone else went into the kitchen, so I followed them not really having anything else to do.

Jasper put some popcorn in the microwave and Emmett was getting another piece of cake which he quickly took into the other room probably so Rose wouldn't see it was nearly the entire bottom tier, but she was busy washing the dishes we had abandoned in our rush to get to the restaurant. It seemed so far out of Rose's character, but I guess living on your own forces you to take on responsibility especially when my pig brother probably dirtied every dish in the house on a daily basis.

Jasper sat down on one of the bar stools at the island and I sat next to him. Rose turned to look at me and I smirked at her yellow gloved hands that were covered with suds and dripping water. I expected a bitchy remark or a spiteful glare or at the very least for her to flip water at me, which I knew for a fact was not beneath her, but she just smiled. Well, it was more of a sneer, but for her it was a smile.

"So what the fuck, dude! You're getting married, just like that!" Jasper shouted and snapped his fingers in a really pissy way.

What the fuck was up with these Hales? The bitch was smiling at me and my best friend was shouting in way that made me want to punch him in the fucking mouth.

"Yeah, dude, that's exactly what I'm going to do. What the fuck is your problem!"

I don't know who stood up first, but we both did in some testosterone, alpha male reaction. The stools were pushed back by our movements and wobbled, but didn't fall. Just as fast as we were up and in each other's faces Rose was between us with her sopping hand pressed against Jasper's chest.

"Jasper, what the fuck is wrong with you! Sit your fucking ass down!" Rose screamed in his face and pushed him back forcefully.

What kind of Midol Twilight Zone was I standing in?

"I'll tell you what my problem is! You're an idiot for getting married at 18 and everyone else are idiots too because they're actually happy about it!"

"Watch it" Rose growled at him, but his eyes were locked on me as mine were on him.

"Rose, I've never not wanted to hit you so bad, but I'm about ready to knock you the fuck out of the way!"

She pushed me back into my seat and had her hand back on Jasper.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Jasper? Edward has finally grown up and is doing the right thing for once and you're crying about it like a little bitch? You should be happy that he's actually stepping up to the plate!"

Wait a fucking minute. I totally retract my statement about not wanting to hit Rose.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Alice said from the doorway and I turned around just in time to see Bella scurry down the hallway.

Shit.

"This is not done!" I shouted at Jasper and shoved his shoulder beyond Rose's grasp.

I took off down the hall and frantically looked around for Bella. I ran upstairs, but our bedroom was empty and after swinging the bathroom door open and causing it to crash into the wall, I walked in and it was empty too.

I ran back down to the kitchen to see if Alice was still down there and to ask her if she had seen Bella. I could hear something going on in there before I reached the doorway, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

Bella was leaning on the counter casually eating a bowl of ice cream and both Rose and Jasper were sitting in front of her…crying.

I was pretty sure that the antichrist couldn't cry and as far as Jasper was concerned yeah he was an emotional dude, but fuck. It wasn't as if they were both sobbing hysterically, but still, Rose had a steady stream going down her cheeks which had fucked up her makeup and Jasper had wiped his face, but his eyes were still red and watery. I was stunned.

Bella didn't look up as she continued to eat and Alice led Jasper out of the kitchen by his hand. Rose got up slowly, walked over to me, and gave me a big hug. Emmett walked in with a plate full of cake crumbs and surveyed the situation as Alice and Jasper walked passed him.

"What the…hey, I miss everything!" He shouted, but no one responded.

"Goodnight" Rose said as she left and Emmett decided that he would follow her after mumbling goodnight too.

I walked up behind Bella and wrapped my arms around her. "Hey, baby, are we ok?"

"Yeah, we're fine." She looked up at me all doe eyed and innocent like nothing had just happened. I was too tired for this shit.

"You know none of that shit that Rose was spewing has anything to do with this, right?" I motioned my hand around her engagement ring.

"Yes, I know that. You do know that none of that shit that Rose and Jasper said had anything to do with us, right? They have their own hang-ups and personal problems. They just didn't realize it."

"So, you helped them realize it?"

"I guess. I think they already knew they just didn't want to admit it."

"Whatever, I'm just glad you're not going around kicking people anymore."

"Hey, Mike deserved that." She defended.

"I know, baby." I said and kissed her head before we headed upstairs.

~ Sunday

Alice was whirling around again and didn't let me and Bella do much. Finally we gave up and went to our room. She was sitting on the bed typing away frantically mumbling about 'the term paper from hell' and I was at the desk on the other computer making a power point presentation for US History. Easiest thing ever.

"Hey, do you need some help on your paper?"

"No" She grumbled and continued to type.

Eventually she abandoned the paper and started to get ready. It was cloudy outside, but the rain was holding off, which I was happy about. I wasn't so sure about Jacob Black coming over because I had despised him for so long, but I knew him and Bella were good friends, so I was trying to look at it positively.

I had offered to help my dad on the grill, but he was oddly possessive of that thing and it was a one man show kind of deal.

When Bella was finally ready and we walked outside I noticed her little hands ball up into fists and her eyes instantly found my sister.

"Alice" She growled.

"Surprise!" She yelled and then smiled unabashed.

She shook her finger at Alice and mumbled that she would deal with her later, but we both knew that nothing would come of that.

The back yard looked great with a tent set up just in case of rain and on a table were a bunch of desserts and fancy shit like mints and confetti on the table and there were balloons that matched the cakes and a few wrapped presents on the neighboring table. It was an impromptu baby shower and I knew Bella was not happy about that, but at least she was enjoying her friends.

She had run up to Jacob and wrapped her little arms around him. The embrace lasted longer than I would have liked, but I didn't say anything and then my self-restraint was truly tested when he started talking to her stomach.

Jacob's dad, Billy, was there too and it made me feel better that Bella had some sort of father figure who was worried about her and was excited for the baby.

Bella had gone off to talk to Angela when Jasper came up to me. He apologized for the way he behaved the night before and said that he was happy for both of us, but he didn't want us to rush into anything and ruin our relationship. He said we should still enjoy some of the things about being young because we wouldn't be able to get this time in our lives back. I wanted to correct him, but this is where Bella's observant comments came into play and I knew he was mostly talking about him and Alice.

Rose was more straightforward and just laid it out there that she was jealous that her and Emmett were nowhere close to getting married and she hadn't realized how much she wanted that and a family before now.

It wasn't intentional but it seemed that most of the women grouped together on one side and the men on the other. Esme was sitting next to Bella as she talked to the other girls at the table and I smiled at the sight.

When it was time to open presents Bella blushed bright red and I sat next to her because I knew she hated being the center of attention.

Angela had made a beautiful photo album and volunteered to take pictures of the baby to fill it up.

Leah gave her a baby book that was in the same colors as the photo album, neutral greens and yellows, and I thought they must've coordinated.

Jacob handed her a gift bag with a picture of a big pacifier on it and it was a funny sight, but I didn't laugh. She pulled out a big, russet brown teddy bear that had "My First Teddy" embroidered on his foot.

"Every kid needs a teddy bear." Jacob said and I nodded my head at his reasoning, it sounded good to me.

"Jake, still has his good old Mr. Honey, don't ya?" Billy said while he smacked his son's back.

"Oh my God, I bet you still sleep with it!" Bella exclaimed.

"Thanks, Dad." He said as he shook his head.

Alice's present was actually the smallest which surprised me.

"My real gift is the awesome job we're doing on the nursery; this is just something I would've gotten anyway."

Bella opened it and held up a tiny little shirt thing that said "I love my aunt". Everyone 'awwed' at how cute it was and I just shook my head because she had probably bought one in every size they come in.

Lastly, Esme handed Bella a large, rectangular box. I again had to hold back my laughter when Bella's delicate fingers tried to open the package without disturbing the bows or destroying the paper which she was successful at, but I didn't have any idea what she planned to do with it now.

She opened the box to reveal a beautiful white blanket. I ran my hand over it and it was so soft and fuzzy and it was obvious that Esme had handmade it, but I didn't even know she was capable of making something so nice.

Bella had tears in her eyes when she thanked everyone which was followed by a bunch of hugs and belly pats. I took this as my cue to return to the guys and I kissed Bella's cheek before walking in on a conversation between Emmett and Billy that was in numerical code. After a moment I figured out it had something to do with racecar drivers and I moved over to the conversation that Jasper, my dad, and Jacob were having because I knew shit about racing and I wanted to keep it that way. It turned out that the only thing the other guys were talking about was the weather…awkward much?

I changed the subject to sports, real sports not the kind where someone drives around in a circle, and it ended with Jacob and I challenging each other to a game of basketball. I kind of take for granted that we have a basketball court in our yard, but Jacob and Sam thought it was pretty cool and that's where we spent the majority of the evening.

When the sun started to set everyone started to leave, but Angela stayed and offered to help clean up. Everyone already had their own task, as assigned by Alice, so Bella asked her to just help her carry the baby's things into the house. It was then that I realized that she was probably curious about the house since pretty much no one from school had ever been inside.

Angela's eyes lit up at the mention of a tour and when I opened our bedroom door and announced it as "This is where the magic happens" Bella punched me in the arm and relegated my position as tour guide.

Angela went home soon after that, but I think her and Bella had made plans to get together some time soon. Bella had tried in vain to help with clean-up again, but was dismissed. She gave up and went up to our room and I stayed downstairs just long enough to feel useful. After I took out some trash and put the chairs back in the garage I ran upstairs.

When I opened the door Bella looked up at me over the top of her glasses from where she sat on the bed with the laptop much like earlier…but way better.

"Fuck. I didn't know you wore glasses."

"Oh, I don't. I mean I'm supposed to, I just never do."

"Except now?"

"Well, I thought it might help with this stupid paper."

"You thought being able to see would help you with the paper?"

"No, well yeah I guess, but no I just feel more studious like this."

I smirked "You look beyond studious."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah" Because she did, she looked like a fuckhot, sexy librarian with her hair in a messy bun with a pencil sticking out of it and those fucking glasses.

The laptop was pushed aside and the light was quickly turned off.

I called on my way home to pick Bella up for the last baby class just to remind her which was good because she had fallen asleep, but she said she would be ready when I got there.

I was going to get out and go get her because I would have felt like a douche if I had just sat there and honked the horn, but she came running out with her hair in a pony tail and she was wearing the pregnant dinosaur shirt that Emmett gave her.

"Sorry, I get so tired in the afternoon that I usually lie down after lunch and I guess I just fell asleep."

"That's ok, we're not going to be late." I said giving her a quick kiss before backing out of the driveway.

We sat in the same seats in the classroom as last time and it seemed that everyone else did too. I held my breath when Bella asked Bree where her partner was, not everyone had the baby's father with them, but everyone else did have somebody with them. She said that her boyfriend was in jail and Bella became very embarrassed that she had even asked such a personal question, but Bree just continued saying that she had just turned 16 and her boyfriend, Riley, was 21 and was arrested for being a perv that couldn't score with girls his own age…ok I'm paraphrasing that last part. I didn't listen to the rest of her story because I knew I was being a creepy eavesdropper and instead started talking to Alec.

Class was…class, but I lived to tell about it, not that I ever actually wanted to speak of it out loud, but now I can at least feel knowledgeable…or nauseous.

~ Early May

School was nearing an end which wasn't a bad thing, a nerve racking thing yes, but definitely not bad. Bella and I were old news by now and I hardly got a second glance from anyone. Bigger and better, or worse as the case may be, things had happened and the high school attention span had moved on to the fact that Jessica was walking around with what looked like leprosy eating her face, but if asked she would say it was a cold sore…slut translation = oral herpes. Not that the whole male population wasn't in an uproar about the 'cold sore' situation, but then Coach walked in on Mike and Tyler in the locker room shower doing a little more than conserving water. So yeah, no one gave a shit about who I had gotten pregnant.

It wasn't even second period yet and I was getting called down to the principal's office. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what the hell it was that I did this time, but I was coming up blank.

I walked in to see Bella sitting there looking especially nervous. I sat down and the principal went to close the door.

"He called and said we needed to talk about graduation, so I used Esme's car to come down here." She whispered.

"What about graduation?"

She just shrugged her shoulders but I could tell she was scared about what the principal was about to say.

"Don't worry, Bella, you are graduating."

"Of course she's graduating and that's what I wanted to discuss." He sat down at his desk and scooted his chair forward before folding his hands and giving us an authoritative look. "Being the top two of your class you will be sharing the title of Valedictorian and we would like you to deliver the speech together."

We both looked at each other with wide eyes and mouths and then looked back at the principal.

A/N –

After re-evaluating the outline we have 3 or 4 chapters left.

Did everyone catch my rpatz reference? Hehehe, I'm so clever, lol.

Baby/Little Kid Pictures in Yearbook – Our high school yearbook did this thing where parents or other family members would pay and submit a picture and a message for seniors. It was a big deal and that's what Bella was referring to. Did your school do this?

NASCAR – Yeah, I was making fun of it, but I live in Indiana so that makes it ok. The rules dictate that if you live somewhere where 'Nascar' and 'nice car' sound alike you can make fun of it all you like…and now you're totally saying that shit out loud. LOL

Valedictorian – Traditionally, there's only one per graduating class but there has been a (controversial) trend towards more than one.

Hugs and kisses to everyone who reviews and tears and sobs to all those that don't. Seriously do I have to kill someone to get ya'lls attention? *grabs pen and adds it to outline* ;)