A/N: What is this fuckery? Another American Boy chapter so soon? Yes, it's true and you all have to thank Darcy13 for giving me the idea that sparked this chapter, thus making it your eyes so quickly.
Big love to MaggieMay14 and flightlessbird11 for their help and encouragement and all that shit. Who's envious that MM14 and I are seeing Joshua Radin tomorrow night? I know you all are! LOL
Also, today is the first day for submittals in the Esme's Erotic Ecstasy contest, so if you are interested in writing a one shot featuring Esme and well… anyone, get on it. The contest ends October 31st, with the link to the contest on my profile.
I don't own Twilight. I am currently watching Handy Manny against my will.
BPOV
"We're about to leave Philadelphia Edward and this is the first time I have asked you to go get me anything pregnancy related," I whined as Edward glared at me before zipping up his luggage and tossing it beside the door of our hotel room.
"You're right… we are about to leave Philadelphia, so how about we just go get it and eat it in the car," he suggested as I looked down at the ground and stuck out my bottom lip. I even pretended to kick dirt with my shoe, even though all I kicked was the fancy Berber carpet. "Bella, I don't mind going to get you a damned sandwich, I just think it would make more sense to do it as we drove home."
"Fine. I will eat the cheesesteak in the comfort of the SUV, but I won't be happy about it," I muttered as Edward suddenly picked up the hotel room phone and called the concierge asking about the best place to go for a cheesesteak. I sat on the edge of the bed, listening intently with a big smile on my face as I celebrated my first official craving.
"So, Darcy the concierge was very helpful," Edward said with a laugh as he hung up the phone and had a big smile on his face. "She's apparently quiet the cheesesteak connoisseur so she had a ton of thoughts on the topic. Apparently, we are supposed to go over to Jim's Steaks on South Street," said Edward as he checked the address on the little piece of paper he had written on.
"I thought Geno's was the best place in town?" I inquired, remembering what one of the ladies on the Independence Hall tour had mentioned.
"Not according to Darcy, the Cheesesteak Nazi. She said a lot of people like Pat's and Geno's but she recommended Jim's. She also said it was more authentic with provolone instead of Cheese Whiz and recommends grilled onions and the Italian roll. Now, are you ready to go?" he asked impatiently as he shoved the small piece of paper in his pocket. I nodded my head in the affirmative and off we went, about to leave our final destination for a cheesesteak and the comfort of home.
Half an hour later, we were standing in a line that rounded the corner, waiting rather impatiently for our sandwiches. We talked randomly to people in the line who agreed wholeheartedly with Darcy, that Jim's Steaks was the best in town and a few others were also from Manhattan and had been in town for a wedding. "Are you two getting married?" asked Sarah, the girl who was staring at my left hand with a grin.
"Uh yeah," I muttered as I held up the ring and she looked at it in awe.
"Holy shit, how many carats is that thing? Did you sell your first born for that huge rock?" she asked as I stared at her incredulously. Who seriously asked about shit like that with a complete stranger?
"It's not real," I lied with a laugh as she looked over at Edward and frowned in dissapointment.
"Not real? Seriously, you couldn't put aside two month's salary to get a real diamond?" she suddenly turned to her boyfriend and chastised him even though he had done nothing to deserve it. "Don't even think of getting me some cubic zirconia piece of shit."
"Whatever you say dear," her boyfriend replied as he rolled his eyes. I had a feeling that he didn't plan to ever ask her based on her rather acerbic behavior.
"Does your father know he proposed with a fake rock? I think my dad would have a coronary and probably kick the guy out on his ass," she added crassly and I came up with a witty comeback.
"Uh, no. I do think he and my father have come to an agreement on how many goats I am worth though," I said sarcastically as Edward let out a low laugh in response. I turned towards him and rolled my eyes as Sarah began asking us all sorts of questions about our potential wedding, if we went to school in New York and how we first met. She was a chatty little thing and I was so relieved when we finally got the front of the line to order our sandwiches.
Twenty minutes later, we were safely within the confines of the SUV, munching away on our sandwiches in complete silence when my phone rang. "Rosalie," I said with a groan as I lifted the phone and showed it to Edward.
"Are you going to answer it?" he asked curiously as he took another bite of his sandwich and I shoved it back into my pocket.
"I told her we would be home tonight. She can wait a few more hours until we are ready to talk to her right? I doubt it's anything life or death related. She probably is just worried that the scent of her flowers will be overpowering or something insane," I explained as Edward nodded his head but kept on eating.
Edward finished his sandwich in record time and was eager to get on the road since it was already after one in the afternoon. So, I sat back in the comfort of the SUV, my sandwich grasped firmly in my hands and off we went, leaving behind Philadelphia and our final summer as kids. Onto real life and parenthood.
When we pulled into the parking garage of our apartment building it was just after 4. We suffered through bumper to bumper traffic coming into Manhattan and were delayed a bit getting home, which pissed Edward off. Since there wasn't much to do, I ended up calling Rosalie, who wanted to see if we would be going down to the Cullen's house in Boston for the weekend. I looked at Edward in curiosity, surprised that he hadn't mentioned it earlier. He simply shrugged his shoulders as I informed Rosalie that we weren't sure and I would let her know.
Apparently Esme and Carlisle were throwing a small engagement party for Rosalie and Emmett at their home in Boston and we were all invited and expected to attend. Of course, this was the first I had heard of it and I was a little frustrated, having planned to sit on my ass on the couch most of the weekend and catch up on my TIVO.
When Edward and I got out of the Yukon, we both looked at it with disdain. Where it was once a comfortable ride around the country, now I just looked at it with fear because we would need to empty the damned thing. "Let's just go upstairs for a bit and unwind. This shit isn't going anywhere."
I agreed eagerly with Edward and we quickly took the elevator up to the apartment. When we opened the door, everything looked so small and old. There was a huge pile of mail on the kitchen counter, courtesy of Emmett who was charged with checking it weekly and none of our plants were dead, so that was a bonus. Edward grabbed my wrist and pulled me down onto his lap as he sat on the couch. "So… I was thinking that maybe we could contact that real estate agent on Thursday and have her start looking for something for us," said Edward as he rested his chin on my shoulder, his strong arms now wrapped firmly around my chest.
"Are we going to your parents place this weekend?" I asked, as Edward let out a small groan. "I take it that you don't want to go huh?"
"We're supposed to go and all, this is their engagement party and we are their maid of honor and best man, but I can't say I'm excited about it. I think maybe we'll drive up Saturday morning and come home early on Sunday. The less time we spend there the better," said Edward cryptically. I cocked my eyebrow at him, slightly concerned but he said nothing else.
"I thought you were getting along better with your folks," I said matter of factly as Edward pulled back from me a bit and rested his head against the back of our couch.
"Yeah so did I. Oh, hold that thought," he added as he lifted his hand to silence me and he pulled his ringing cell phone from his pocket. Edward suddenly launched into a conversation with Jasper about him and Alice coming over tonight, so I slipped off of Edward's lap and started going through the mail, making three piles… junk, bills and miscellaneous shit. "Jazz and Ali are coming over in like an hour with pizza. Are you good with that?" Edward called from the couch.
"Sure," I replied casually as I flipped through the monstrous stack and found that almost everything was junk. When Edward was done on the phone, he casually strolled over to me and wrapped his arms around me from behind, his lips landing gently against the crook of my neck.
"I promise I will make sure they leave early and I will have Jasper help me unload the SUV, sound like a plan?" Edward queried as I turned my head and kissed his cheek.
"Sounds fine baby. I'm going to go take a quick shower; can you at least go grab my bag from the car?" Edward quickly agreed and headed out the door and back down to the garage. After my shower, I found a few things from the car had been brought up in addition to my bag and once I was dressed in a comfortable pair of sweats and one of Edward's old NYU t-shirts, I began sorting through some of the stuff.
The first bag I pulled out had Edward's purchases from the record store in Philadelphia, so I quickly put them on his dresser, out of the way of the mess. I then found the bag from the Godiva store in San Francisco, with only half a box of chocolates left. I tossed a few truffles in my mouth, smiling happily as I reached for the next bag which was from the baby store in San Francisco. "What do you have there?" asked Edward as I jumped slightly, startled by him coming into the room. "Sorry."
"No, it's fine. I shouldn't have been surprised," I said lamely as I held up the small onesie from the bag that said 'Follow me on Twitter'. "This thing is fucking adorable and is it wrong that I hate shopping, but I can't wait to buy things for the baby?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with that at all," Edward said happily as he wrapped his arms around my waist, his hands resting on my stomach. "Just don't go overboard until we've moved and have room to store all the shit."
"I think I can handle that. Make sure you tell your sister and your mother the same thing," I explained stoically as there was a loud knock on the door and Alice suddenly bounded in, not even waiting for us to welcome her.
"Welcome back and all that shit. Jasper's waiting downstairs at the SUV for you Edward to help you with all the stuff," she said lightly as she walked into the bedroom and pulled me away from her brother. "We already ordered the pizza and it should be delivered within twenty minutes or so. Bella… come talk to me." I raised my eye brows at Edward as Alice pulled me from the bedroom. I tossed the onesie back on the bed and reluctantly followed her out to the living room where she sat comfortably on the couch and watched me expectantly. "Sit down Bella."
"What the hell has gotten into you?" I asked with a groan as I sat down beside her and began flipping through channels. Alice yanked the remote from my hands and rested her hands on my knees as she stared at me in irritation.
"Why aren't you and Edward going to the Engagement Party?" she questioned me as Edward walked by and out the front door, leaving me to fend for myself.
"We only just found out about it," I said acerbically as Alice rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I never said we weren't going. Where the fuck are you getting this info from? This sounds like some bad game of telephone where you hear something from Rosalie, who heard it from Esme who is making shit up to piss me off." I crossed my arms over my chest and let out a little huff of frustration.
"So, does that mean you guys are going? Rosalie called me in a tizzy all concerned that the maid of honor and best man won't make it to the party and I can't handle an upset Rosalie, I seriously can't," she said anxiously, her eyes pleading with me to head to Boston this weekend. "Is this because of the fight Edward had with our mom?"
"What fight?" I asked, my mind now racing with various thoughts about what the hell they could be fighting about.
"I don't know. All I know is she is being a cow lately and when I asked her what was wrong she said to ask Edward. I kinda wanted to punch her in the mouth, but since I was talking to her on the phone, that wasn't happening," giggled Alice as I quickly envisioned her giving her mother an uppercut to the face and I joined in the laughter.
Edward and Jasper walked in a few minutes later, both of the arms loaded up with bags and camping supplies that rarely got used. "Well you ladies sound happy," said Jasper as he tossed the sleeping bags and tent on the ground and waited by the door for Edward who had taken his luggage into our bedroom.
"I was just asking Bella here why Edward was fighting with our mom," said Alice as Edward walked out, his face turning pale and I instantly knew there was something he was holding back.
EPOV
Alice and her god damned huge mouth. I would kick her ass right now if I didn't think that both Jasper and Bella would be all over me about it. Bella looked at me, clearly waiting for a sufficient answer, but I still didn't want to worry her before the ultrasound.
"Can we talk about it later?" I asked as I moved closer to the door and Jasper, hoping to make a quick escape down to the parking garage to get more crap from the SUV.
"Did you fight with your mom and this is why you don't really want to go to the engagement party?" asked Bella, her face now appearing a bit saddened. I walked back into the living room and sat down beside Bella, offering up a sweet hug to console her. Alice got up and went to join Jasper and together they headed down to get more stuff out of the Yukon. "Why don't you want to tell me?"
"It's not that I don't want to tell you Bella. I was honestly trying to avoid any stress until after the ultrasound on Wednesday," I admitted anxiously. Bella rested her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms tightly around my mid section.
"Is it bad?"
"Well, not end of the world, completely disowning me and withholding my trust fund bad," I declared with a small laugh, hoping that Bella could find humor in the situation. "She's just been pestering me for you and I to get married before the baby is born."
"Did you tell her about Vegas?"
"No."
"Okay."
"Well, it's not really my place to say anything right? I mean, we made our decision and I'm sticking to it. Why, do you want to tell them about Vegas?" I asked her as Jasper and Alice suddenly stormed into the apartment, each of them carrying a handful of bags from our various destinations.
"What happened in Vegas?" asked Alice curiously as she laid the bags down on the counter.
"Nothing," Bella and I both snapped at the same time as my sister and her boyfriend looked at us in bewilderment.
"Oh look, I found the creepy doll that I bought at that Raggedy Ann Museum in Illinois. Do you think the baby would want it?" said Jasper as he tried to break the tension in the room.
"No," I replied in frustration as Alice stood there waiting for me to give a more solid answer about Las Vegas. As if the gods were smiling on us, a guy walked up to the front door hold two boxes of pizza and looking for Jasper, who paid him in cash and eagerly took the boxes from him.
We sat around in the living room and ate our pizza in relative silence, with the exception of Alice who yammered on about her classes and the redecorating she was doing to the apartment she shared with Jasper. How the hell she managed to be so damned talkative and full of energy completely baffled me, but Jasper didn't seem to mind and he was stuck with her for the rest of his life, not me.
"So, are you guys gonna come to the party? I'm pretty sure you can find ways to avoid Mom during the thing. Rosalie and Emmett would be so upset if you didn't make it," said Alice as she pleaded with us to make a decision.
I looked over at Bella, who was smiling faintly and then I just nodded my head in submittal. "We'll be there, but we might not like it," I said as I took another bite of my supreme pizza and Bella curled into my side. "By the way, please don't do something lame like try and corner mom and me in the pantry so we can talk. I honestly think I might never let you see the baby if you did that Alice."
My sister looked at me with feigned shock and laid her hand over her heart. "I'm hurt that you would think I would be so sneaky, Edward."
"Alice, I've known you for over twenty years, you were just as sneaky as a child as you are now as an adult. Mom and I have our own issues to work out and she needs to learn to respect our decisions," I said confidently as I moved my hand up and down along Bella's shoulder. I felt her nod her head against my chest and Alice, thankfully, took a hint and began talking about our doctor's appointment in two days.
Jasper ended up dragging Alice out of the apartment just after nine and Bella and I stared at everything in the room and just decided to go to bed. The day had already been long enough, neither of us wanted to stay up till two in the morning sorting out gifts and supplies. Not even ten minutes after we crawled into bed, both of us were passed out.
On Wednesday morning when we walked into Dr. Feldman's office, Bella and I were both a bundle of nerves. I walked up to the reception desk with her and Nicole, the main receptionist who Bella had booked the appointment with, handed her a pile of paperwork to fill out. We sat beside each other in the waiting room as Bella asked me for my family's medical history and we filled everything out as best as we could.
"I'm nervous," Bella said quietly once she came back to her chair after returning the paperwork to the front desk. The moment I went to soothe her, Nicole called Bella's name and we rose from our seats together. I entwined her fingers with mine as we followed Nicole into the Dr. Feldman's spacious office.
"She'll be right with you," said Nicole as she shut the door firmly behind her and Bella and I took seats across from her desk. I could sense Bella's anxiety was getting worse as her knee began shaking beneath my hand, so I tightened my grip and held it firmly.
"There's nothing to be worried about Bella. Everything has been moving along smoothly, even your doctor back in Forks said things were good, so relax," I said as I moved my hand to her neck and I began rubbing it slowly.
"Bella… it's so nice to see you again," said Dr. Feldman as she walked into the room and caught a glimpse of me sitting beside her. The doctor was a nice looking woman in her early fifties with salt and pepper hair and a very welcoming smile. Bella seemed to calm when she walked in, but the stress was still evident on her face. "I'm guessing you are her husband, Mr. Swan?"
"Uh no," I said with a laugh as I stood up and offered her my hand, which she shook graciously. "I'm Edward Cullen, Bella's fiancée."
"Well, nice to meet you Edward," she said as she sat down in her chair and leaned back slightly, looking at Bella curiously. "So, what's going on? What brings you two here?"
"We're expecting," said Bella quietly as Dr. Feldman got a huge smile on her face. "We were away for the past two months and I had the test run back at my doctor's office in Forks to confirm everything. "
"Well, let's see how you are doing then," said the doctor as she got up from her chair and led us into a small exam room. I sat off to the side as I watched her take Bella's blood pressure, check her weight and ask her question upon question, including the date of her last period which was in early May. Dr. Feldman got up and went over to a small computer and typed in some of the information Bella had given her.
"From the information you've provided me, we've got an approximate due date of February 14th. Valentine's Day," she said cheerfully, repeating the information we had learned from Dr. Lewis back in Forks. "Since you are already 14 weeks along, we can run the ultrasound right now if you are feeling up to it."
"Yeah, let's do it," said Bella excitedly as Dr. Feldman smiled happily at both of us.
"Nicole will be back in here in a minute and she will take you to our room where we do the ultrasounds. Don't be nervous, this is exciting Bella." Dr. Feldman was out of the office within seconds and I stood up and went over to Bella, grasping her hand firmly in mine.
"Are you ready?"
"Still nervous, but now it's more of a happy nervous ya know?"
Ten minutes later, we were in a small room and Bella was lying down on the examination table, her shirt bundled up around her breasts. Dr. Feldman seemed encouraged by the fact that Bella was already showing and declared that it wasn't odd for women with smaller frames to show earlier, but she also forewarned us that it could mean there was more than one baby. Bella had drank all of the water that Nicole had told her to when she called the day before to confirm the appointment and I could tell it was having an effect on Bella and she needed to pee.
I gripped tightly onto Bella's hand as I stood beside her as my mind went wild with the possibility of two babies. It had been discussed in passing before but I never took it seriously until the words fell out of Dr. Feldman's mouth. What the hell would I do with two kids? I was already petrified about dealing with one, although I was trying to hide my nervousness from Bella as best as I could.
I felt Bella shudder slightly as Dr. Feldman squeezed some sort of gel on her small stomach and then began moving something that looked like a telephone receiver or wand over her stomach and I sat there staring at Bella, my eyes full with love. She recorded a few things onto her piece of paper and worked silently for a few minutes which made me nervous. Why the hell hadn't she said anything? Was there something wrong?
"There you go… there's the baby," said Dr. Feldman as she pointed towards the screen and Bella and I both looked with wide eyes.
"Holy Fuck," I muttered a little too loudly, although Dr. Feldman just laughed at my reaction. She had clearly dealt with worse before since she just shrugged it off casually.
"There's only one baby," she said as I let out a silent prayer of thanks and continued to listen to her. "There's the heartbeat and it's very strong and healthy."
Bella and I were both just staring at the screen, my heart moving a mile a minute as I listened to Dr. Feldman talk but I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy staring at the small image on the screen and I think I was completely in shock. That was my baby on the screen that I had made with the love of my life and I suddenly felt the need to sit down.
"Are you okay Edward?" asked Bella as she turned towards me and looked downright giddy with excitement. I watched as Dr. Feldman printed out a few images from the computer that showed the images of the baby on them.
"Yeah… Umm… can you tell what it is?" I asked curiously as Bella tightened her grip on my hand and I leaned forward to kiss her forehead. Dr. Feldman began to move the wand thing over Bella's stomach again and even seemed to press on it a bit harder.
"Yes. Do you want to know?"
Bella and I looked at each other and I recalled previous conversations we had about finding out and I suddenly wasn't sure I was ready. Bella smiled at me and nodded, so I quickly agreed as well. She was so unbelievably happy and beautiful, there was no way I could say no to her, even if I wanted to. "Let's do this." Dr. Feldman handed Bella the small sonogram photos and she clutched them tightly in her small hands as we waited anxiously for word on whether we were having a boy or a girl.
"Alright then," said Dr. Feldman as she moved the wand again around on Bella's stomach and pointed to the screen. "See there?" she asked casually as Bella and I both nodded our heads in acknowledgement, "that means you are having a boy."
Holy shit, I'm having a son.
A/N: and now we all know where the title of the story comes from. Yes, I have known from the beginning that they were having a boy and thanks to grtchn for keeping my secret. So, now start offering up baby boy names folks! I have no idea what to call the little Cullen.