All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, no copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 25
Before I knew it, Wednesday was upon us. I arrived at the office an hour early, making up a little of the time that I would be taking off this afternoon. I wasn't worried about the hospital visit at all. I knew that Edward was Josh's father and so did he, it was just a matter of formality.
What I was worried about was spending time alone with Edward. Being around each other was awkward enough at the best of times without having to endure at least two hours of him pretending that I wasn't even in the same room as him.
I had spent time last night thinking about the possibility of leaving Cullen International. Today was no doubt going to be a huge deciding factor in that decision.
Could Edward put his dislike of me to one side and maintain a polite atmosphere while at work? Possibly!
Could he even try to build a friendship for the sake of Josh? Doubtful.
Would he ever want me again in the same way that I wanted him? There was a better chance of seeing a pig flying past my 17th floor window.
The floor was empty when I arrived, all except for Carlisle, who I could see puttering around in his office through his open door.
"Good morning, Carlisle," I called with a smile and little wave as I strode across to my own office.
"Oh, Bella," he called after me just as I reached my office.
I turned on my heels and smiled at him warmly.
"I believe today's the day?" he asked sympathetically with a sad look in his eye.
"It is," I sighed. "I'll be glad to get it over and done with."
He rubbed my arm reassuringly, "Try not to worry, all the family is behind you. We love Edward and will always support him; but you and Joshua are family now, and the same applies to the both of you."
"Thank you," I told him genuinely. "I'm just sorry that it's all come to this."
"We all are," he said sadly. "Bella, can I ask you a favor?"
"Of course you can, anything."
"Just don't give up on him." He gave me a small pat on the shoulder and a weak smile before turning around and walking back towards his office leaving me standing there feeling confused.
Carlisle's words were left ringing in my ears as I was brought out of my musings by the ding of the elevator and the sound of the doors slowly opening.
Edward walked out and came to a stand still as he lifted his head and noticed me standing by my office door looking him. He looked tired and even from this distance I could see the forming of dark circles under his eyes.
I blushed as I realized that he must be wondering why on earth I was standing there, let alone watching him. I gave him a weak smile as I turned quickly and entered the office closing the door behind me.
By 9:30 a.m. I'd completed two reports, and I was on a roll, feeling quite happy with myself when the door opened and in strolled Edward. I knew from earlier that he had looked tired but seeing him up close like this, he looked positively exhausted. It was probably his new piece of ass keeping him up all night. I mentally kicked myself at the thought of that and quickly put my mask in place.
"Is everything alright?" I asked smiling as he placed a pile of paperwork down on the corner of my desk.
He looked surprised at my cheerfulness. "I've brought these for you to work on. There's no rush, you can do them when you come back to the office tomorrow," he said curtly. I nodded my agreement as he continued to hover as if trying to find a way of saying something else.
"Is there something else that I can help you with?"
"Um, I was just wondering what time you're picking up Josh, and how you were getting to the hospital?" he sounded distant and aloof.
"Well, Leah is dropping Josh off here in," I looked at my watch "around 30 minutes. I figured we'd just get a cab."
"That's going to be expensive," he mused more to himself than to me. "You could just come in my car with me. I have a car seat and I can drop you both off at home afterwards." It sounded to me as though it took him a great deal of effort just to get those words out. Was it really such a hardship to even be pleasant, or even just civil, towards me?
I thought about what he'd just said and realized that if it wasn't for Joshua, he would have never asked me if I needed a ride.
"Its okay, Edward, you don't need to play nice. We can just get a cab and meet you there. Thanks for the offer though." I put my head back down and shuffled several papers that didn't even need shuffling.
Edward didn't move, he still continued standing at the other side of my desk shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
I had no choice but to look up at him, he looked furious and was obviously trying to compose himself. The knot in his jaw was bulging in and out as he clenched his teeth together, and the vein in his temple looked like it was about to pop.
"I wasn't being nice. I was being practical," he said trying to remain calm. "It's raining buckets out there," he pointed to the window and my eyes followed suit. He was right, the weather had turned really bad and it looked like a storm was brewing. "I just don't want you having to wait around in this weather for a cab with Josh. He'll get ill," he exclaimed.
Looking towards the window once more, I saw that the rain was teaming down in sheets against it. It dawned on me that Edward was right, it wasn't fair to Josh. I had to swallow my pride.
I turned back towards him and conceded. "You're right, it wouldn't be fair to Josh. Thank you, Edward, we'll ride with you if the offer still stands."
He visibly relaxed and nodded his head, "Let me know when he gets here. I'm sure my dad and Emmett will want to see him before we leave."
"Okay, no problem," I mustered up my best smile which he didn't return, he simply turned away and walked out of the door... he was good at doing that!
Shortly afterwards, Leah arrived, she had only walked from the cab to the building and both she and Joshua were drenched. I quickly took Josh from her arms and removed his dripping wet coat. Leah herself was soaked to the bone, water was running off of her as though she'd just stepped from the shower.
"Give me one minute," I said holding up a finger to her as I picked up Josh's changing bag.
I quickly ran to Edward's office and opened the door without knocking.
"Here, grab him." Edward gave me a bewildered look as I plopped Josh down into his lap. I threw Josh's soaking wet coat and changing bag down onto the floor beside the desk and ran out of the room as quickly as I ran in.
"Come with me," I said taking hold of Leah's hand and leading her to the ladies' bathroom to get her cleaned up.
I helped her to get out of her coat, thankfully, it was waterproof and the rain hadn't seeped through. Her shirt remained dry, but the same couldn't be said for her jeans; unfortunately, there was nothing we could do about that. I shook the excess water off her coat and wiped it down the best I could before placing it on the heater, hoping to take the worst of the wetness away before she left.
"Here," I said handing her some paper towels. "Sorry, it's the best I can do."
We both started to laugh as she blotted the worst of the water from her hair and face.
"Come here, I have an idea," I told her as I walked over to the hand dryer.
She eyed me curiously but followed me anyway.
"You don't spend years hanging around with Rose and Alice without picking up a few tips," I told her with a wink. "Now bend over."
Leah started to giggle and I followed her lead as she bent over with her head under the hand dryer with me playing hairdresser as I ran my hands through her hair in an attempt to dry it off.
Victoria walked in and burst out laughing at our makeshift hair salon.
"I've seen it all now," she laughed as she made her way into the stall.
15 minutes later and Leah was as dry as she was going to get. I gave her my umbrella, a hug, and told her to enjoy her afternoon off. She whispered "Good luck," and gave a little wave as she disappeared into the elevator.
At that moment Edward strolled out of Carlisle's office holding Josh firmly in his arms. He was chatting away to him without a care in the world and Josh was happily babbling back.
"I heard what happened. Did you get her dried off?" he asked with no sound of resentment.
I was momentarily taken aback at the way he spoke to me so freely. "Um, yes," I smiled. "Well, as dry as we could get her anyway."
"Good," he replied. "Are you ready to go?"
"Y...Yes, I err, just need to get my coat," I was confused by Edward's sudden ability to speak to me as though everything between us was normal. I quickly ran back to my office and slipped into my coat before running into Edward's office to pick up Josh's changing bag.
I made my way over to them waiting by the elevator; Emmett was just leaving Carlisle's office and I noticed him give Edward a narrowing look of the eyes. As soon as he spotted me, Emmett's whole face morphed into a huge grin and he winked at me before disappearing into his own office.
I wondered what I had missed. Something had obviously happened whist I was in the bathroom with Leah; Emmett scowling at Edward, Edward suddenly being civil towards me.
I didn't have time to think about it because by the time I reached them, the elevator arrived.
We made our way inside and once again the atmosphere was tense. Neither of us spoke to one another and the only sound that could be heard was Josh babbling away to himself as he played with the buttons on Edward's jacket.
I breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator doors opened and we stepped out into the underground car lot. I took Josh from Edward's arms while he dug out his keys. I noticed that a car seat was already situated in the back for Josh; and as soon as Edward pressed the fob to unlock the doors, I placed him in it checking several times to make sure that the belts were tight enough before placing the changing bag into the foot well below him.
After closing the door I briefly pondered whether to get into the passenger seat beside Edward, or to walk around to the other side of the car and sit in the back beside Josh. Edward must have sensed my dilemma and leaned across and opened the passenger door from the inside.
I hesitated for a moment before deciding that it was no good being childish and climbed into the seat beside him. I reached across for my seatbelt and buckled myself in chancing a quick glance up at Edward. I noticed that his eyes were not trained at the seatbelt that he was buckling up, he was looking elsewhere. I followed his gaze only to blush with embarrassment to realize that he was staring at my legs which were now on full display, due to the fact that my just above knee length skirt had rode up so high that my mid-thighs were now on full view.
I quickly tugged on the hem of my skirt and the furthest that I could lower it was about an inch due to being seated and the restriction of the seat belt. Edward averted his gaze and thankfully, I don't think he realized that I had seen him staring.
He started the engine and turned on the radio for a bit of background noise, and no doubt it was so that I wouldn't talk to him or so he wouldn't have to talk to me.
We made our way out into the busy Seattle traffic which was crawling along due to the appalling weather. The windshield wipers were going as fast as they could, and it still wasn't quick enough to clear away the sheer amount of rain that fell.
We were halfway to the hospital when a loud clap of thunder boomed from above us making me jump and Josh start to cry. I tried soothing him the best I could, but couldn't really do much from the confines of my seatbelt.
"Have a look in the glove compartment, there's some old CD's in there," Edward said calmly.
I glanced across at him and his eyes were firmly fixed on the road ahead.
"What good is that going to do when the radio isn't soothing him?" I said in a clipped tone.
"Just find one," he said with obvious annoyance.
I fumbled around looking for the CD's and finally found a few.
"Classical?" I asked with a raised brow.
I gasped as I skimmed through them and my eyes fell on Suite Bergamasque.
"OMG, you like Debussy!" I offered more of an excited statement than a question. "I used to play this to Josh all the time while I was pregnant. Whenever he wouldn't settle and he was keeping me awake at night, I'd play this and by the time Clair de lune would start, he would have settled down enough for me to sleep."
I was so excited that I'd forgotten about any animosity that Edward held towards me, his lips curled slightly at the edges forming a slight smile.
Another loud clap of thunder boomed out, but this time it was followed by a flash of fork lightning, and I yelped slightly as it made me jump. Josh screamed even louder and I composed myself enough to slip the CD into the player. Edward turned up the sound really loud trying to hide as much outside noise as possible. It seemed to be having a calming effect as Josh's screams turned into a cry, and then eventually a whimper. As if to prove my point I looked into the mirror as Clair de lune started, and sure enough, Josh had fallen asleep.
We arrived at the hospital shortly afterwards, and due to the teaming down rain, Edward dropped us off at the entrance while he found a suitable parking space.
I waited patiently behind the automatic glass doors with a still half-sleeping Josh in my arms. Finally I noticed Edward running towards us; he battled in the wind and rain to keep the umbrella over his head as his long lean legs sprinted him forward. Even fighting his way through a storm, the man still looked incredible.
The doors slid back and a very wet and windswept Edward stepped through, shaking the excess water from his umbrella as he did so, his hair was all over the place, although that wasn't really unusual as he ran his hands through it trying to tame it unsuccessfully.
"Come on, this way," he said reading the signs on the wall directing us to where we needed to be.
I sat Josh in a more comfortable position on my hip and Edward picked up the changing bag as we made our way down the corridor.
"Through here," Edward muttered more to himself than to me as he led us through another set of double doors leading us into a reception area.
"Hello, we're here to see Doctor Laurent," Edward told the receptionist as I took a seat in the waiting area.
After a few moments he came back armed with paperwork.
"You need to fill these in and hand them back," he told me taking a now wide awake Josh from my arms.
I set to work grabbing a pen.
"Charles?" he asked curiously, glancing over my shoulder as I wrote Josh's details on one of the forms.
"After my dad,"
Edward nodded his head in understanding. "Joshua Charles Swan," he repeated to himself over and over. "That needs to change once the results come back."
"Excuse me?!" I asked confused.
"His name, it needs to change, it should be Cullen, Joshua Charles Cullen."
I lifted my head up from the papers and glared at him. Was he being serious?
"Over my dead body," I said.
"My son takes my name," he hissed through his teeth as he signed his own consent form.
"Fine, we'll add Edward in there after Charles," I hissed back. "He was born a Swan and that's the way it's staying."
"Over my dead body," Edward threw my words back at me.
"That can be arranged," I retorted.
I walked back to the receptionist handing over the paperwork; she glanced over it and smiled warmly. "Everything seems to be in order. If you'll just take a seat, Dr. Laurent will call you shortly.
She glanced over at Edward and back to myself, giving me a pitying smile. Our little altercation obviously hadn't gone unheard; I rolled my eyes upward and gave her a shrug of my shoulders. "Don't worry, dear, we get a lot like that," she whispered with a small chuckle.
I leaned forward onto the desk, "Are they all this bad?"
"Oh, believe me I've seen a hell of a lot worse."
I couldn't help smiling to myself as I walked back to my seat, I liked that woman!
"What was all that about?" Edward cocked his head towards the receptionist.
"Nothing that concerns that pretty little head of yours," I replied curtly.
If looks could kill, I would be half way to heaven by now, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to care. I took my seat and for the next 15 minutes Edward and I sat in deathly silence, the only interaction that either of us had was with Josh.
"Joshua Swan?" Dr. Laurent finally called.
I could have sworn I heard Edward mutter Cullen under his breath; I shot him a death glare before plastering a smile on my face as I shook Dr. Laurent's hand. Edward followed suit as the doctor showed us into his room.
"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting," Dr. Laurent told us as we took our seats. "Now, let's see," he tapped a few keys on his computer to bring up Josh's file. "So, it's a DNA test that you're after this morning."
"Yes," I nodded.
"I take it that you've both read all of the information that we provide?" Edward and I both nodded our confirmation. I felt like I was back at school and had been summoned to the headmaster's office.
"Well, in that case it's all pretty straight forward. Let's get started!"
Dr. Laurent swivelled around in his chair and opened a cupboard, removing the necessary swabs etc., before putting on his surgical gloves.
"Now, this is the hardest part," he said as he picked up a buccal swab. "I just need to rub this on the inside of Joshua's cheek. It's completely painless. The hard part will be getting him to open his mouth and keep still," Dr. Laurent chuckled.
Thankfully, Josh complied. "Well done, young man," Dr Laurent praised him once it was over. Josh looked bewildered; he must have thought he was about to be fed.
Dr. Laurent carefully placed the sample into what looked like a glass vial and placed a sticker on the front of it with Josh's details.
Next, it was Edward's turn. The doctor quickly ran the swab on the inside of Edward's cheek collecting the cells. "That's it," Dr. Laurent declared as he placed both samples inside a bag and placed a detailed label on the front. "The results should take three to five working days. Now let's see how you want them," he said flicking through the forms that I had filled in. "So, you want them by post to your work address, is that correct?"
"Yes," Edward and I both said together.
"Well, that all seems to be in order," Dr Laurent said after confirming the address for Cullen International.
"Thank you, Doctor," Edward said as he stood and shook hands.
"Goodbye, Mr. Cullen, Miss Swan," said as he showed us the door. "Goodbye, Joshua," he ruffled Josh's hair as we made our way out.
The rain was still coming down in sheets, in fact I think it had even worsened if that was at all possible. Edward ran to fetch the car while Josh and I waited at the entrance. We had spent almost one and a half hours here when you count in travelling and waiting time, all for an appointment that lasted less than 15 minutes. Why Edward couldn't have done one of those D.I.Y internet DNA tests is anyone's guess. He probably didn't trust me with it; he probably figured I would swap his sample for someone else's. It wouldn't surprise me. The way Edward's mind works will always be a mystery to me.
He pulled up as close to the doors as he could get and I quickly ran out into the pouring rain. After strapping Josh in securely, I jumped into the passenger seat, and shivered a little as I put on my seat belt. Edward must have noticed because he switched on the heater as well as putting the CD player back on for Josh. We crawled along in the midday Seattle traffic in total silence; other than the music and the rain lashing against the windows, there wasn't another sound to be heard.
"I'll drop you both off at home. Is it still okay to pick Josh up later for an hour?" Edward asked, breaking the silence.
"Yes, that's fine. You won't have him back too late though, will you?" I said concerned. Not only would it mess up Josh's routine, but also I didn't like the idea of Josh not being at home in weather like this.
Edward shook his head, "No, I'm going to head back to the office once I've dropped you off, but I'll make sure that I finish around 5 o'clock so I'll pick him up around half past."
He pulled up to my apartment building and I was surprised when Edward jumped out of the car and held the umbrella over me as I struggled to unbuckle Josh from his car seat. I grabbed the changing bag as well and was even more shocked to find that Edward walked us into the building holding the umbrella over us the whole time. I gave him a curious look.
"I don't want him getting wet and catching a cold," he said.
Of course it wasn't Edward being chivalrous; he just didn't want his son getting ill. I couldn't blame him, I didn't want that either.
"Thanks," I told him as we reached the doors.
"Not a problem," he murmured before bending down and giving Josh a kiss.
I watched him turn on his heels and walk away. Edward's behavior was strange to say the least. It reminded me of when we first met at Cullen International. One moment he was happy-go-lucky, the next he was childish, and then he was positively ignorant and rude, all before he became warm and loving. It was as if his whole personality was trapped inside a revolving door and had gone full circle. Would I ever be able to figure that man out?
A/N
So, Edward's mask is very slowly starting to crack. I know that some of you will ask about why Bella has not looked for a new job yet. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about that, watch this space ;)