So, I know this is Road Maps, but I'm going to shamelessly pimp out Branded for a minute. Thanks to you lovelies it has been nominated for TWO Indie Twific Awards: Best Alternate Universe-Human and Most Original Storyline. Voting starts on July 7th. I'd really appreciate it if you could throw a vote or two my way. :) Tell your friends too! To vote you can go to www dot theindietwificawards dot com/vote dot aspx (remember to replace the word dot for an actual dot). Again, voting opens July 7th and runs until July 12th (which is the day after my birthday!)

Another item...I posted an outtake for this story. It's Ed Sr.'s perspective of things. I know a lot of you hate him (most of you do) and it might be hard to read something from his POV, but it's there if you want to read it. Just click over to my profile to find the link in my stories section.

Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. Vacation has a way of making a person's brain turn to mush...or perhaps it's the lack of sunshine and all the rain we've had that's given me a serious case of wet brain.

Stephenie Meyer still owns Twilight, but I own a red nose from the thirty minutes of sunshine we had in Tidnish on Wednesday (HAPPY CANADA DAY!).

Happy 4th of July to my US friends.

We left Bella and Edward as they were returning to Hanover. This chapter begins a couple of months later. Bella's a whopping 6 months along, while Rose is in her 8th month. Enjoy!

"Have you got the bag with the paint?" Bella called out to Edward.

"Yes, love."

"Have you got the brushes?"

Big sigh. "Yes, love."

"Are you annoyed with me yet?"

"No, love, never," he said, stooping to give her a kiss.

"Mm, that was nice. So, how nasty is this going to get when Alice finds out we did the room without her? Rosie and Emmett managed to elude her too; so she's going to be furious."

"She'll just have to have a baby of her own, won't she?" he said, smiling. "She's going to be even more pissed that we're using gender-neutral colours too."

Bella stood in the empty room they were converting to a nursery. She ran her hands over her now ballooning belly. "Yes, Peanut, this is your room. I swear some days it feels like I'm going to give birth to Jean Claude Van Damme's demon child. Somebody's very active today."

Edward kneeled down in front of her, placing his ear to her baby bump. "Hey, easy in there, Peanut. Give your mother a break, would you?"

She smacked his head lightly. "Hush, I don't mind it that much."

He smiled up at her, then kissed her belly. "Love you, Peanut."

"So, have we got everything?" Bella asked.

"Nope! You're missing two very important people and a baby that's about to burst out any day now," Emmett said, barging into the room, a very pregnant Rosalie in tow.

"Oh, Rose, you shouldn't be here," Bella said as she went to get a chair.

"No, no, I'm nesting like crazy and our home is spotless. I needed something to do. Point me in the direction of laundry in need of folding or something."

Emmett elbowed Edward. "She's driving me crazy. Cleaning, cooking, arts and crafts...dude, you are so up shit creek when Belly starts."

"Actually, I'm looking forward to it, as well as the gang at the hospital are counting the days until she starts baking hardcore."

"You're lucky your wife is an awesome cook," he whispered as he pointed to Rose. "That one over there, not so great."

"No? I always thought Rose was a good cook," he patted Emmett's stomach. "You don't seem to be suffering."

"She's," he whispered the next part, "experimenting."

"How so?"

He looked around nervously. "Her wild and wacky concoctions are, um, a little unorthodox and a whole lot of disgusting. I swear to God, pregnancy hormones totally mess with a woman's taste buds."

Thwack. A newspaper came down on his head. "I heard that, Emmett Swan! Now you best shut your pie hole before I do it with one of my, hmm, how did you put it? Oh yeah, wild and wacky concoctions."

"Sorry, babe, it's just that peanut butter and asparagus just doesn't mix. I'm sorry, I tried. I really did."

"Okay, I'll give you that; the peanut butter and asparagus roll-ups weren't one of my shining moments," Rosalie conceded.

Edward grimaced and gagged a little. "On that note, I daresay we get started. Em and I will put down the base coat if you ladies would paint the trim. It's all laid out in the studio."

Bella kissed him on the nose. "Have fun, but don't you two make too big of a mess."

He grinned at her. "Don't go getting any strange culinary ideas from Rosie, Mrs. Cullen."

"I heard that! Geez, I'm eight months pregnant, big as a fucking house and hormonal as hell, now is seriously not the time to be pissing me off, boys." Rose said, scowling.

She turned and offered an arm to Bella. "Let's leave these two to wallow in their crapulence. We have trim to paint."

"So, how's things going?" Emmett asked as he dipped his roller into the light green paint.

"Good. I'm really liking my new rotation at the hospital; I'm working in the paediatric ward. It's tough to see so many sick kids, but it's an awesome feeling when a kid you thought was going to die walks out of the place smiling. It's incredible how tough and resilient kids are."

"I don't know if I could handle it. At least you'll be able to fix our kids when they get sick."

Edward laughed. "I suppose you're right. How're things with Rose, beyond the bad cooking?"

Emmett looked around wildly. "Shh...she'll hear. I swear to God pregnancy unleashes a woman's super powers; she has supersonic hearing. She's good though. The baby is growing like crazy, she's nesting like Martha Stewart, and the doctor figures we've got about 5 weeks to go before she's ready to pop.

"How's being a dad make you feel?"

"Dude, you're hanging out with shrinks too much, all this how does it make you feel shit. I'll tell you how I feel, I'm scared shitless, brother. I'm scared something's going to happen and I'm going to lose one or both of them and I'm scared I'm going to be a shitty dad. My track record with looking after people isn't the greatest, I mean, take a look at Bella..."

"What's wrong with Bella? She's a wonderful woman? If you say anything about what happened after your folks died, I'll dump a bucket of paint over your head. You dealt with it the only way you could so stop blaming yourself. I thought you left all that baggage behind years ago. Now, if I were you, I'd be more worried about the baby coming out cursing like a sailor. Between you and Rose..."

"Easy, Eddie."

Edward cringed. "Please, Em. Please don't call me Eddie."

"Sorry. You've been so sensitive about that since the wedding. What gives?"

"Nothing, Em."

"Dude, come on, you can tell me."

"If I tell you, will you promise to try extra hard not to call me by that name from now on?"

Emmett crossed his heart.

"And you'll promise not to call me a pansy?"

"Holy shit, Edward, do we have to go all girlie and pinky swear on this? As much as I don't want to hook pinkies with you, I will."

Big sigh. Pause. Deep breath. "My father used to call me Eddie."

"I've never heard Carlisle call you...oh, the sperm donor called you that. Gotcha. Consider Eddie stricken from my vocabulary. Oh, shit, I said it again, didn't I? Sorry."

Smiling, Edward clapped Emmett on the back. I'll let it go this time."

They painted in silence for a while, before Emmett cleared his throat.

"What, Em?" Edward asked, fearing the question to come. He had a feeling he knew what it was.

"So, uh, have you heard from him since you got back?"

"Thankfully, no, but he's not been incarcerated for the assault, so he's still out there. I'm trying to block it from my mind."

"I don't blame you; dude's messed up."

"Yeah, a lot more messed up than I originally thought. His parole officer told me that he's been diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, which would explain, but never excuse, some of his behaviour."

"Got any beer?"

God love Emmett, Edward thought, always knows when to change a subject, even if his segues are non-linear and nonsensical.

Edward went to the kitchen to grab a couple of cold ones and overheard Rosalie and Bella talking in the studio.

"I'm worried, Rosie," Bella said, putting down her paintbrush.

"Why so, Sweets?"

"We've been back from Forks for a couple of months now and I can't shake the feeling that Ed Sr. is going to find us."

"Oh, hush, Bella. You and Edward are two of the biggest worrywarts I've ever met. You're pregnant, Bells, stress isn't good for you or the baby."

"I know," she said quietly as she picked up her brush again. "My blood pressure was up at my last check-up."

Edward cringed in the kitchen. He gripped the edge of the counter. He was pissed; his father wasn't here and he was still causing trouble.

"So, now that you've got physical proof that you need to chill the hell out, what do you say we go for pregnant pampering tomorrow? A mani, pedi, full body massage, facial, the works."

"Sounds heavenly. Count me in. Oh, crap. I have a video conferencing meeting in the morning with Dr. Carmen and one of the survivors being profiled in the book. Can we do it in the afternoon?"

Rose smiled. "Any time is good for me, Sweets. Let me go grab my phone and make a couple of calls."

She walked into the kitchen to find Edward looking at her, pain etched on his face.

"Edward, what's wrong?"

"Can we talk later? Just us?"

"Sure, but seriously, what's wrong?"

"Later."

Emmett walked into the kitchen. "Where's the damn beer? You leave me hanging like that when I'm here doing you a favour? Way to go, Doucheward."

"Emmett Swan, don't you dare call my husband Doucheward! How would you like it is I started calling you Smegmett? Dickmett, perhaps? Assmett? Emjerk? Embarrassmett?"

"Easy, Belly, no harm, no foul. Hey, wife, what are you laughing at?"

Rosalie was doubled over, laughing so hard there were tears were streaming down her face. "Sweet Jebus, Bella, that was funny shit!"

Suddenly, the smile dropped off Rosalie's face. She grabbed Bella and dragged her out of the room.

"Bells, I just pissed my fucking pants. Just another one of the joys of being über-pregnant. Can I borrow some clothes?"

"Of course, Rose. Come on upstairs."

Emmett stomped out of the kitchen. "What's wrong? Did you lose your mucous plug, babe?"

"Mucous plug?" Bella asked.

"He's been reading up on pregnancy, ignore him."

Mucous plug?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, I've been reading up on all this pregnancy shit. It's pretty cool in a gross kind of way."

Edward chuckled as he took a drink of his beer.

"Rosie, babe, did you piss your pants again?"

"Yes, Em, I did. Did you want to tell the whole neighbourhood? Oh, and Edward, laugh all you want because Bella'll be having accidents soon enough."

He stopped laughing. Emmett patted him on the back. "Oh yeah, little brother. You have SO much to look forward to. Come with me, let's paint and talk."

"Bella?" Edward said, snuggling into her side.

"Yes, love?"

"Why are you stressing out about my father?"

She stiffened slightly. "I'm not."

"Please don't lie to me. I overheard you talking to Rose."

Bella sighed before rolling over to face him. She grunted a little as she tried to get comfortable. "Ugh, can we switch sides? It's too hard to get comfortable on my right side. I want to see you when we talk."

He crawled over her to the other side and positioned himself so they were eye to eye. Bella put one of his hands on her belly while she put hers on his face.

"Yes, I'm a little worried about your father showing up."

"Is this what's causing your high blood pressure?"

"I'm sure it's a contributing factor, but don't let it worry you too. I'm just being overprotective of Peanut."

"Why don't we both promise to try to not think about it. We need more fun in our lives."

"Okay, sounds good. Oh, by the way, we're hosting Rose's baby shower here next weekend. Alice is coming up next Wednesday to help with the preparations."

He kissed her. Just think, in a couple of months she'll be throwing a shower for you."

"I know. I think I might disappear," she replied, cringing.

Edward laughed. "It never ceases to amaze me that you can speak in front of hundreds of people about your darkest days, but being at the centre of a celebration in your honour with close family and friends is torture. You are truly puzzling, Mrs. Cullen."

"And you are truly sexy, Dr. Cullen."

Bella leaned in and kissed him gently at first, her hands roaming his face, then his neck, shoulder, his ribs.

"Mm, Bella," Edward said between kisses. "What're you doing?"

"Seducing you," her hand snaked around and grabbed his ass, pulling him closer to her.

"Oh, well, two can play at that game." He ran his hand down above the back of her knee, hitching it up over his hip.

Bella gasped before letting out a scream.

"What is it?" Edward asked, panicking.

"OW! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

Edward sat up and looked at her. Her leg was cramped at a weird angle, her foot contorted and curled up. "Leg cramp?"

"YES! Make it stop! Please!"

He moved down and gently massaged her leg, humming as he tried to stretch it out and ease the pain.

"OW! EDWARD!" Bella cried, tears streaming down her face. "Please!"

"Calm down, love. I'll fix it."

After another minute of agonizing pain, the muscle finally loosened and she was able to straighten it out again.

"Thank you," she panted. "I'm sorry, that attempt at seducing you had less-than-sexy results."

He kissed her gently. "It's okay, love. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Dr. Dimitri mentioned it might happen."

Edward lay down beside her and rested his head on her belly, which seemed to be getting bigger every day. "Hi, Peanut, it's Daddy."

"Ooh, Peanut liked that. Could you feel it?"

"No. Man, I can't wait until I can feel the baby kicking all the time. I feel like I'm missing out."

"Shouldn't be long now," Bella assured him as she ran her fingers through his unruly hair.

"Hello...lo...lo..." he called into her ever protruding navel. "Can you hear me? Me? Me?"

"You silly wingnut."

Edward began to sing.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy, when skies are grey

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

Peanut gave him a swift kick to the eye.

"Ow! I felt it that time!"

Bella laughed.

Edward sat up and leaned onto the headboard. Bella scooted up to lay her head on his chest.

"Any more thoughts on names?" he asked, twirling her hair around his fingers.

"I don't want to finalize anything until we meet Peanut. He or she will let us know exactly what their name is."

"And, have you picked out any contenders?"

"Well, for a boy I was thinking about Nathan, Caleb, Joshua, or Gabriel. For a girl, I thought about Carlee, Vanessa, Elizabeth, or Lily."

"Elizabeth? Like my mom?"

"Yes. If her first name isn't Elizabeth, then I'm pretty sure I want to use it as her middle name, if that's okay."

"Of course, I'm sure she would be honoured."

"But I'm not cementing anything until I meet Peanut. What if it's a boy and we pick the name Caleb before he's born and he comes out looking like a Stanley? I don't want to pigeonhole the baby. He or she will tell us his or her name when they are ready. At this moment I'm thinking Elvis might be appropriate."

"Why Elvis?"

"Because there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on in there right now."

Edward rubbed her belly, trying to slow the movements. Bella switched positions and it seemed to help.

"Ahh, much better," Bella said, stifling a yawn.

"Get some sleep, love. You've got a busy day tomorrow."

"Thanks. Good night."

"Sweet dreams."

Bella was more than ready to meet Rosalie at the spa. Her video conference in the morning was long and Peanut was being more than uncooperative. She was uncomfortable and was running to the bathroom constantly.

What she didn't know was that there was another conference of sorts going on while she was attending to her own. Edward was over at Rose's.

"What's on your mind, Edward?"

Edward pulled at his bangs nervously. "I'm worried about Bella."

"Duh, you're always worried about her."

"Should I be?"

"I don't know, should you?"

"Rose, I don't have a lot of time here. I overheard you two talking yesterday about her blood pressure being high, about her worrying about my father."

"And? I'm not going to tell you anything. I'm not going to betray her trust."

"I'm not asking you to. What can I do to de-stress her? What makes you feel better at the end of the day? I've never been pregnant and reading books only helps so much."

"Rub her feet and her back and you'll be her best friend for life. Em took a class on prenatal massage."

"Really?"

"Yup. He's really into this baby thing. He watched a fiver hour Baby Story marathon he PVRed on TLC. Dude is more prepared for this baby than I am."

Edward pondered this, baffled. "How bizarre. He never once mentioned it."

"Did you honestly think he would? He's been going to aquacise class with me too."

"Wow. Good to know. Um, Rose," Edward paused.

"Yes?"

"If something really big happens with Bella, promise you'll tell me or at least try to get her to tell me?"

"Yes, Edward, I will. I know I tease you about being Worryward, but I don't always mean it. She's lucky to have you."

"No, I'm the lucky on. Thanks, Rose."

"Anytime, kiddo," she said, opening her arms for a hug.

When they made contact, Edward felt a firm kick from Bean. They both jumped before breaking out into laughter.

"Bean must not be happy that another man is touching his or her mother," Edward said, laughing. "May I?"

He knelt down so he was face-to-face, so to speak, with Bean. He placed his hands on the big baby bump and smiled. "Hey, Bean, easy in there. I'm Uncle Edward, I'm not hitting on your Mommy, so chill out."

A clear impression of a foot pushed against him. "Whoa! That was fucked up!"

Rosalie laughed. "You should have seen Em's face the first time Bean did that. He was sure the baby was trying to claw his way out."

"His?" Edward stood and quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Or hers. I honestly don't know. It's killing Em. He really wants to know what it is, but I don't, and we both know he can't keep a secret worth shit."

"True that, he's got to be the worst secret keeper."

Rose rubbed her big belly lovingly. "Yup, but he's going to be a great daddy, isn't he, Bean? I hope it's a girl."

"Emmett could use a girl to keep him in line."

"Yeah, and he'd bend over backwards for her," Rose said, smiling, before wiping a tear from her eye.

"Are you crying?" Edward asked, in awe.

She looked up at him and scowled. "Yes, I'm crying. I can't seem to stop. As soon as I even think abut the baby finally being here or Emmett holding a little bundle, cooing at it, I get weepy. Stupid hormones. It's driving me fucking crazy."

Rose's phone started to play Baby Got Back. "Oh, there's Bella."

"Shit, what time is it? I need to get to work. Thanks for the talk, Rose. Please don't tell her I was asking about her; I don't want her to think I'm skulking around behind her back."

"I won't, Edward. Thanks for coming by." She flipped open her phone as she hugged him. "Hey, Bells. You done?"

"Sweet merciful crap, that feels so good," Bella said as the massage therapist rubbed and tugged at muscles she'd forgotten she had. Peanut's morning acrobatics had really done a number on her. "Rose?"

"Mmm..." Rose said from the adjacent table.

"Thanks, I needed this."

"Rough morning?"

"Oh yeah," she moaned, drawing out the words. "I interviewed one of the subjects for the book this morning and it was heartbreaking. Then, Peanut was going apeshit, beating on my bladder. I had to keep excusing myself during the interview and I'm worried that Dr. Carmen is going to think I can't do the job."

"He knows you're up the spout, right?"

"Mmm..." Bella groaned when the masseuse began to work on her lower back. "Yeah, he does."

"Then no worries. I'm sure he's reasonable."

"I also worry that the subjects are going to think I'm not taking them seriously."

"Oh God, right there—work that spot for a while longer, please. Uhmm, Bella, you really need to chill out on the worrying. Your blood pressure, remember?"

"Yeah, I remem..."

"Bells?"

The masseuse laughed quietly. "She fell asleep."

Rose laughed. "Can you let her nap for a few minutes? She had a rough morning."

"Of course. Um, can I asked a question?"

"Let me guess," Rose said, sighing, "the scars?"

"I feel bad saying anything because I can only imagine what happened."

"No, I don't think you could possibly imagine. She'll tell you if you ask. It's not my story to tell."

"I can't even believe you let me sleep for twenty minutes!" Bella said as she and Rose drove home.

"Claire didn't have another client right away and you must have needed it."

"She looked so nervous when she asked about the scars."

"Yeah, she did. Poor thing really wasn't expecting the story she got. Hey, you want to go to yoga with me?"

"Yes, please. My back pain was a lot better after the last class. I've been doing it at home a bit, too. Edward walked in on me the other day and just about jumped me," Bella said, giggling at the memory.

"Really? How odd."

"Um," Bella blushed, "I was naked."

Rose slapped her playfully. "You dirty girl! I'm so proud of you."

"I tried to seduce him last night and got a leg cramp. How embarrassing. There's nothing even remotely sexy about your half-naked pregnant wife laying bed screaming and crying while her muscles spasm."

"HA!" Rose said, chuckling. "That picture you painted could go either way because there have been times when I've been in bed with Em screaming and crying while other muscles have been spasming...Is that even a word?"

"Okay, so who's the dirty girl now?"

Bella was cooking dinner a couple of nights later when Edward came home and wrapped her in a warm embrace.

"Hi," he breathed in her ear.

"Mm..." she hummed before turning to kiss him.

His hands roamed her body until they rested on her ass. He pulled her to him, grinding his erection into her.

"Hi, indeed. Hello, Adam," she reached down to palm him.

His breath hitched as he bit at her neck. "I need you," he grunted, picking her up.

Bella looked back at the timer. "We've got six and a half minutes. Can you do it?"

He pulled down her pants and groaned. "Commando? Bella, you're killing me."

"Mm hm," she moaned as she untied his scrubs. Unfortunately he wasn't commando. She quickly pulled down his boxer briefs and squealed as he placed her on the table.

"Open," he commanded. She spread her legs wide for him. He dipped one finger into her folds. "Oh, God, you're so wet."

"I was waiting for you."

Edward nudged Adam toward her before ramming into her. The sound of skin slapping was almost as loud as his feral grunts and her moans.

"Too hard?" he panted.

"No. Harder," she cried out, wrapping her legs around his waist, pulling him closer. "HARDER!"

"I can't hold on, Bella. I'm going to come."

"Me...me...Oh God!" Bella exploded around him, pulling him over the edge into oblivion with her. He flopped over on top of her, trying not to crush her, while he composed himself.

"How much time did we have to spare?"

The timer went off just then, prompting Bella to push him to the side. She sighed sadly as he withdrew from her. "I'd say we had a good twenty seconds to spare. Not too shabby."

He laughed as he watched her waddle, bottomless, toward the oven, where she pulled out a tagine.

"Chicken Tandoori?" he asked, hopeful.

"Yup. Oh, here are your pants." She threw them at him and laughed. "So, out of curiosity, what brought that on?"

"You're so hot. I was thinking about how hot you are on the way home from the hospital."

"You're delusional, sweetie. I'm getting less and less hot every week."

"Au contraire, my love, you get hotter and hotter every day."

She turned away from him as she bent over to pick up her pants. He growled at her.

"If you want a repeat performance, stay just like that. Don't move."

"Ow!" she cried out, as she went down on one knee.

Edward ran to her side. "What is it?"

"I don't know. Must just be a kink. I'm okay now."

She stood up slowly. "Yes, it's passed, whatever it was."

"Come, sit." He lead her to a chair, pulling her gently onto his lap. "Tell me what happened."

"It was like an intense cramp. It's okay now, and Peanut's tap dancing, so I think we're okay."

He kissed her cheek. "Are you sure? Do you think we should call Dr. Dimitri? Do you suppose I was too rough? Do you..."

Putting her fingers over his lips, she shushed him. "Everything's fine. Geez, who's the doctor here?"

He pulled her closer, resting his head on her shoulder and rubbing slow circles on her stomach. "Sorry, I should be calmer, shouldn't I? It's just that I worry."

She rubbed his back reassuringly. "I know, honey, but everything is okay. Now let's have some supper because I've worked up on hell of an appetite."

So...what are your thoughts? The four names listed for boys and girls are all the top ones suggested by you, my wonderful friends. So, will Peanut be a Caleb, a Lily or a Stanley? (*snort* No offense to anyone named Stanley, but Peanut won't be named that!)

Again, I can't thank you all enough for the encouragement, support, and friendship you've all given me on this journey we're all taking together. Waking up to find 50+ reviews in my inbox does incredible things to a person's mood and well-being. I may not have the sun shining in the sky, but I've got lots of warm fuzzies in my inbox and on my review page.

Don't forget to go vote for Branded if you're so inclined to do so on July 7th. That link again is: www dot theindietwificawards dot com/vote dot aspx If you go to the home page there is a link for all the nominees. There are some great stories there. :)