Chapter 25: Daddy

~Edward.

Disbelief.

Surprise.

Shock.

Fear.

My heart was ferociously pounding in my chest and that one word ringing in my ears over and over again.

Father.

I was going to be a father.

Me, Edward Cullen, a father.

I would be lying if I hadn't thought about it before, about me being a father. About a future where Bella would agree to marry me and where we would build our own family.

Only I had never thought the future would come so soon. And I hadn't even had a chance to ask her to marry me...

"Edward?" Bella's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, her eyes glued on me, waiting for any kind of reaction. But I was speechless. I was lost as I didn't know how to react. I know I should be happy and stuff but I was still taking everything in.

When I gazed into her eyes I only saw one emotion; fear. She hadn't seen it coming as well, that much was certain.

"Are you sure?" I choked out. I needed to be a hundred percent sure before I was going to allow myself to think about it any further.

She held up what I assumed was a pregnancy test but I had no idea how you were supposed to read one of those things.

"It's only 99, 9 percent effective, but I knowI'm pregnant, Edward. I can feel it." Her voice was no louder than a whisper and her eyes were diverted from me.

I crouched down in front of her, forcing her to look at me. I had to say something. I had to reassure her. I didn't want to see her so damn scared anymore.

"Hey, we can do this," I said, even though I wasn't really convinced myself, but there was no time to dwell on it. We would have to be there for that child, ready or not. There was no way back and there was no way I was opting abortion.

I won't say that the entire idea of a baby wasn't freaking me out to an extend I had never experienced before, but I also knew that freaking out over it wasn't going to change anything.

"It's a baby, Edward. A child. We have never discussed this before and..."

I laid my finger over her lips, willing her to stop speaking.

"No, we didn't. So how about we talk about it now."

She was looking at me like I had lost my mind. And who knows, I might have. Maybe I was supposed to freak out about this huge news, but all I could think about was a little baby with the same big brown eyes as my girl and dammit, my heart already melted just at the thought of it.

"Look, Bella, it didn't take me long to figure out that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I want a future. I want to marry you someday and I want children someday. There is no shred of doubt about that. And maybe things have moved a little faster now and the sequence of stuff is changed, but I don't care. As long as I have you and we're together to face it, we can do it. I'm not going to say that if we'd had a choice in the matter I wouldn't have waited a few more years before starting a family but I can't even freak out about this because I know this is what I want."

She looked up at me, her eyes glistening with tears. Most of the fear was gone and I could see a flicker of hope nestling in her brown eyes.

"I'm going to love this little one as much as I love you," I continued, "I refuse to make the same mistakes my parents made."

A soft smile spread across her face as she threw herself at me, throwing her arms around my neck and pulling me closer. I wrapped my arms around her middle and allowed to let everything sink in once again.

I was going to be a father.

Happiness.

Joy.

Cheerfulness.

And still an ounce of fear because I wasn't stupid. This was going to be hard on both of us. It would challenge our relationship and both Bella and me as individuals, but I was willing to give everything to succeed.

"I love you," I said, still holding onto my girl.

"I love you too." Yeah, we were going to be fine.

After a while she started to pull back and I reluctantly gave her some space.

"You really think we can do this?" she asked.

"Positive."

Her lips turned into a big smile and I could feel my heart swell at the sight of it.

"One question though," I said, contemplating something for the first time. "How... I mean, how did... I thought you were on birth control?"

"I am," she said, looking as confused as I probably was, "I don't recall ever missing a pill but I did once hear it's not always hundred percent effective." Not always effective? Well, that's lovely. You put your confidence in those little things and then they decide not to work.

"Are you mad?" I glanced up at Bella, who was now nervously chewing her bottom lip.

"Why would I be mad?" I asked.

"I didn't mean to put this upon you," she said softly.

"Bella, I think it takes two people to make a baby," I shrugged, "So I guess you should be mad at me then, because without me, there would be no baby."

"I can't be mad at you."

"Good, because neither can I," I admitted.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked, still chewing that lip of hers.

"Well, I guess we have nine months to prepare ourselves." I was already making a mental note to go to the closest book store tomorrow and buy every book on parenting and babies I could find. Luckily Suzy didn't sell those types of books because I didn't want to think about all the questions that she would shoot at me if I was carrying all of those books home.

"What if nine months is not enough to prepare myself? What if I fuck it all up, Edward?" she asked, fear evident in her voice.

"You won't, Bella, you are a caretaker. You've always taken care of your father and you even took care of me. Don't you dare to doubt yourself! You'll be the best mother in the world."

"And you'll be the best father," she said, a soft smile on her face. I pulled her closer again and breathed in, letting her scent intoxicate me.

We were going to be parents. Real parents.

My heart swelled at the thought of it, the thought of a family and a future. A future I never imagined I would have. I future I thought was shattered the minute my parents kicked me out of their house.

And I was determined to never let my child have the same fate. I would love him or her to the extent that they would probably be embarrassed.

Hell, I already knew I was going to spoil them, no doubt about it.

"So, Alice already knows?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, shooting me an apologetic look because she told her best friend before me, the father. "I was scared to tell you."

"You should never be scared to tell me anything, baby," I said, feeling bad because she rather confined in her friend than in me.

"This is a big deal, Edward. You know this will change everything, right?"

"Yeah, I'll probably love you even more when you're all round and glowing," I grinned. The image of a pregnant Bella was filling my mind again and damn, she indeed looked even more beautiful.

"Edward, this is serious," she said, slightly pushing my shoulder and worry all over her features again.

"I know it's not going to be easy, love, but we'll be fine. I've already told you we can do this, and I believe that."

"You're not going to run when it gets too hard?" I looked up at her in confusion. Did she really think I would do that? Leave her alone with a baby? Did she really think I was that kind of a person? Especially after everything I had to go through as a child?

"You really think I'd do that?" I asked, hurt by her presumptions.

"I don't know, I just don't know what to expect of all this," she confessed.

"I don't know what to expect of it either, Bella, but about one thing I'm sure, we're in this together, no matter what happens."

She seemed to be reassured by my words because I could see a smile forming on her lips again and this time it reached her eyes as well.

I leaned in and softly pressed my lips against hers. She immediately wrapped her arms around me and kissed me back, deepening the kiss.

And then much too soon she pulled away again, a serious expression on her face.

"We shouldn't tell people yet," she stated.

"And who do you think I would tell? It's not like I really have anyone to spill it to, apart from Jasper and Alice and they already know."

"Jasper knows?" she shrieked.

"You really think Alice is going to keep that to herself?"

"Oh, right," she said, shaking her head at her own ignorance.

"And I don't think it's a good idea to tell Charlie already. I actually value my life so..." I shrugged.

"Oh god, my dad, he's gonna freak out, Edward." Panic was taking her over again and it didn't do any good to calm me down. But instead of showing how much I feared her father, I tried to comfort my girl.

"Bella, we'll be fine. He accepted me, of all people he accepted me. So why wouldn't he accept a child?"

"Because it's way too soon for me to have a baby," she whispered.

"It's not like we planned this. The contraceptive failed and there is nothing we can do about it. He'll have to live with it. And you said it yourself, he's a reasonable man!"

"I guess..."

"Don't be so negative," I said, "And you shouldn't worry about this just yet. We probably shouldn't tell him before the first three months of the pregnancy have passed, to be safe. So let's just enjoy it now, okay?"

"Okay." Her voice was no louder than a whisper and I hated it. I hated that in a few seconds her entire mood could change from happy and excited to fearful. I didn't like her scared, especially over something like this. Pregnancy should be something beautiful and I was determined to make her forget about all of the bad stuff about it and make this all worthwhile.

We spend the reminder of the day inside, just hanging out, doing absolutely nothing. Well, we did stuff of course but I can't remember for the life of God what it was.

Bella stayed silent the entire evening and as much as I tried I couldn't seem to succeed in cheering her up. I understood that she was scared about all this but I didn't want this important period in her life to be dominated by fear.

"How about we watch 'The Wizard of Oz'?" I suggested. I knew this was her favourite movie and one of the few things that could always lighten the mood.

"You sure you want to watch it again. We've already watched it two weeks ago?" she said, but there was a little sparkle in her eye and I was determined to keep it there. If that meant I had to watch the same movie over and over again, then so it be.

I sat down on the couch, motioning for her to come and sit with me. "Of course I'm sure I want to watch it. I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want to see it, would I?"

That was enough of an encouragement for Bella to plop down on the couch and snuggle into me. I pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head as I started the movie.

She was quiet as her eyes were fixed on the screen but she did appear to loosen up after a few minutes and by the time the movie ended all of the tenseness had left her body and she seemed to be her cheery self again.

I hope she felt this way because she had realized she had nothing to worry about and not because she had forgotten about the whole pregnancy.

Can they even? I mean, can a woman forget that they're pregnant for a while or do they feel the constant presence of a little human being inside of them?

"Are you coming?" Bella asked, pinching my arm, shaking me out of my musings.

"What?"

"I'm going to sleep, are you coming as well or?"

"Oh, I'm coming," I said, finally understanding.

She pulled me up from the couch and dragged me to the bedroom as she suppressed a yawn.

We quickly climbed under the covers and I instantly snuggled up against my girl, enjoying the warmth of her body.

I wasn't that tired yet so when I was still awake after half an hour, I ducked my head under the blanket and ran my hand of my girl's still flat, now exposed belly. A smile crept across my face as I realized in a few months it would be all round and I would probably be able to feel the baby kicking.

"Hey there little guy," I whispered.

"Or girl," Bella added, scaring me a little because I thought she was already asleep since she had appeared to be tired.

"No, it's going to be a boy," I said determined, peeking out from under the blanket to look at her.

"Based upon what results did you make that decision, doctor?" The humorous tone in her voice made me erupt into laughter.

"I just know," I snickered. My mind kept producing images of Bella in a rocking chair, holding a little baby boy wrapped up in a little blue blanket, so I was fairly sure my first child was going to be a boy.

"Wow, that must have taken a lot of research," she said sarcastically, only causing me to laugh even more.

"You have no idea."

"So you know we're going to have a boy just because you feel so," she concluded.

I nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh boy, am I going to laugh when we'll have a little girl."

"We won't. It'll be a boy."

"We'll see," she said, bringing an end to our little argument.

She kept raking her fingers through my hair as I laid my head back on her stomach.

"What if we do have a girl?" she asked, her voice traced with worry again. My head shot up and I looked at her.

"Well, then you're going to laugh," I said but apparently that wasn't the answer she was looking for. I straightened myself and she did the same as I took her hands between mine.

"Baby, the gender doesn't matter, okay? A boy, a girl, I'll love the little one no matter what."

"But you'd prefer a boy?" she said, still not convinced.

"I didn't say that. I said we'll have a boy. That's something entirely different."

"So if we ended up having a girl..."

"I'd love the girl to no extend and probably be the most protective dad in history. Protective as in no dating in the first seventy years after she's born." I grinned.

"Poor girl," Bella laughed.

"I know. Good thing we're gonna have a son," I smirked.

"You're incorrigible."

"And that's exactly why you love me," I said, an evil grin all over my face.

"I love you for many reasons, but that's not one of them."

"Oh, come on, I know that is a reason."

"Nope," she said, popping the p.

"You're mean, you're so mean!" I said mockingly before I turned around, facing away from her and trying to pretend to be mad. I loved these little games, though I wasn't as good at them as she was. I would always feel bad after less than five minutes of giving her the fake silent treatment and when I would turn around Bella would be looking at me, grinning like the Cheshire cat because I had given in before she had.

But this time I wasn't going to be the one losing because I could already feel Bella's hand on my shoulder. She softly rubbed my arm and came to lie closer to me, her lips near my ear now.

"I love it that you're incorrigible," she said before wrapping her arms around my waist.

And now

I was grinning like that weird cat as I drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Oh what a shock that Edward is happy about this. Lol

But the big question now is: Will he be right about the gender? :'''')

Review = sneak peek! :D

Did I already tell you how much I love MidnightSunSC17 and all the effort she puts in helping me with this story? Well, you can never tell it enough!

Hope to see you all back at the next chapter ;)

Love Ellen