Epilogue 1

A/N: These Epilogues will be set up so that they capture certain important moments in time for the little Cullen family. Below is the first one, starting eighteen months after the marriage of Edward and Bella Cullen. It's a bit longer than I expected it to be, but I hope you all enjoy it. Next one should be up next week some time.

I'd like to thank everyone for all the great comments last chapter. They were very touching. I'm amazed to see how this little family touched so many people out there.

My lovely beta Danna0724 is back for this Epilogue. Thanks so much sweets for turning this monster around so quickly. I really missed you.

All characters (except Maddie) belong to S. Meyer.

Chapter Song Rec: - Arms Wide Open by Creed.

Epilogue 1: Expansions

Eighteen Months Later:

EPOV

"Daddy can you help me with my math homework please? I don't understand this, what Mrs. Steele taught us today."

I looked over the granite kitchen countertop at my daughter. She caught my gaze and smiled widely, dimpling her cheeks and fluttering her long eyelashes softly. It was the smile she reserved solely for me, her daddy. The smile she'd learned quickly would get her anything she wanted in a heartbeat. I'd been a sucker for that smile from day one.

Sighing, I put aside my laptop and walked over to her side of the counter. I'd been on a roll; this latest proposal would be the hardest, because the client already had a winning group doing their web-advertising, the Twilight Group. I had to convince them why jumping ship from Twilight and going with CCW's new Social Media Advertising group would be a good idea for their company. It had taken me all afternoon, but I'd finally been able to work out my thoughts and ideas into the start of a decent proposal.

But Maddie needed help with her homework now. And after all, wasn't that why Bella and I alternated days working at home? So that we could be here for Maddie when she needed us? The balancing act had admittedly gotten a bit harder in the past few months since we'd started the new branch of the business, but this was me and Bella's brain child, it was up to us to make it work.

"What do you need help with Princess?" I asked leaning over her. She pointed at a textbook page of brightly colored shapes, all twisted and turned. I frowned.

"I don't get the difference between a flip and a slide daddy," she said in a tone that let me know her patience with it was wearing thin. I chuckled internally. Maddie Cullen had her father's tolerance level.

After half an hour figuring out together what the friggin' difference between flipping and sliding shapes was – and wondering to myself why the hell the Board of Education felt that this was something my daughter needed to learn in order to someday succeed as an adult – we finally figured it out and got Maddie's first grade homework finished.

She packed up her books into her pink backpack and turned to grin crookedly at me.

"Thank you daddy!" she exclaimed, before hugging my waist and pulling me down by my arms so she could plant a kiss on my cheek.

Maddie was always grinning. She had to be the happiest six-year-old in this city. Whenever we went out, people were always stopping Bella and me to tell us that.

'Oh your little girl is so adorable! Always grinning!' Or:

'What a sweet little girl! Always so happy.'

My favorite was always when we'd be at the park and inevitably someone would stop and tell us how beautiful our daughter was. Something that, since I'd become a father, I'd realized strangers tended to do to families when they were out with an adorable and well-behaved child. Then they'd go on and on about how much Maddie looked like her mother. Eventually their eyes would come up to me, and go back down to Maddie, and she'd grin up at them. It was almost always the same line that came out of their mouths.

"But she's got her father's grin."

"Yes, she does," I always answered proudly.

Maddie also shared other similarities to me. She loved running. Over the past few months she'd started to join me a few evenings a week for a run through the track in Central Park. I had to slow my pace down considerably for her, since she was about half my size. But shit, she was good for a six-year old, and I wasn't just saying that because she was my daughter. Again, people we'd meet up with would comment at what a good runner she was for a little girl.

Sometimes Bella would join us for our evening runs. But usually she preferred a few laps around the building's pool to running. Sometimes Maddie and I would join her there. But running was mostly our thing.

And my daughter loved baseball. She could recite the Yankee lineup like nobody's business. And soccer. Shit, you did not want to be on the receiving end of one of Ms. Cullen's kicks, I kid you not. For the past two seasons we'd put her on a Pee Wee Soccer League, and even though at her age the games were still scoreless, it was no secret who the star of the team was. I tried not to laugh smugly every time she kicked a goal into the net, and I honestly did try to keep my fist pumps to a minimum. Still, Bella would elbow me discreetly and warn me to try and control my enthusiasm. But fuck, I was only human. A dad still had a right to be proud, didn't he?

With all of that, Maddie was still a little princess. She played with her dolls. She loved to dress up like a princess. We'd taken two trips to Disney World, and were planning another one after the holidays this year, where my in-laws Charlie and Sue Swan were going to meet us. She loved to dance; she'd moved up from Sugar Plum Fairy a couple of Christmases ago, and this year she'd be taking on the role of Clara herself in Alice's Holiday production, much to her aunt's pride and delight.

And she was completely enamored with her little baby cousin, Matthew, Rose and Emmett's son. She'd spend hours talking to him, playing with him, telling him stories.

Madisen Cullen was a happy little girl.

"Mommy, daddy, I want a baby like baby Matthew," she exclaimed one night a few weeks ago over the dinner table.

"You're too young for a baby, princess," I joked. "We'll talk about it when you're in your late thirties."

"No daddy!" She pouted. "Not me have the baby! You and mommy have the baby! A little brother!"

Since Maddie had started school over a year ago, her little speech impediments had gradually lessened more and more – a fact that had caused me great heartache. Now her speech was mostly clear, though like any six year old, she still got her sentence structure and grammar mixed up once in a while. I left it up to Bella to correct her. I simply didn't have the heart to do it. Truth was I loved listening to all her little mistakes too much. A fact that Bella always chided me about.

"You don't want her still mixing up her words and sentences when she's sixteen, do you?" Bella would ask me.

I'd shrug. "If she's still mixing up her sentences when she's sixteen, then I'll correct her."

Bella would just shake her head.

"If I leave it up to you our daughter will be married with children and still mispronouncing words."

"Nah," I'd wave her off. "I'm sure by the time that happens, when she's in her late forties, she'll have outgrown it on her own."

My wife would smirk at me. "You add a decade to her marrying age every week."

I'd shrug it off. My daughter was not going anywhere near boys while I was still young enough to beat the shit out of them.

Hey. I never promised to be a perfect man. Just a man that would do his best for his wife and daughter.

Bella tried to explain things calmly to Maddie over the dinner table that evening.

"Maddie sweetie, mommy and daddy will try to give you a little brother or a little sister as soon as we're all ready."

"But mommy, I'm ready now!"

Bella watched our daughter and sighed deeply.

It wasn't that we didn't want to have another baby. God, just the thought of growing my family with Bella made me feel all fucking teary eyed and emotional and shit. There was nothing I wanted more. There was nothing either one of us wanted more.

But about a year ago, while Bella had been filling in for Rose at CCW while Rose was on maternity leave, she'd realized that if CCW was going to remain at the cutting edge of advertising, we were going to have to delve deeply into the world of social media advertising. The project became me and Bella's baby – well, our second baby. And between our family and the new start-up branch of CCW, right now would not have been an ideal time to have another baby. We just couldn't expand the family while we expanded the business. Maybe in a year or two, once we'd gotten the new branch off the ground, attracted sufficient clientele. And besides, while our Central Park West apartment was admittedly large, it was only a two-bedroom. Having a baby would mean looking into moving. Another headache we just didn't have time for right now. It was a lot of work.

In the meantime, Bella and I enjoyed the little girl we had at home, as well as our nephew. And we definitely enjoyed practicing making them babies. We were goddamn near perfect for form by now. But hey, there was always room for improvement. So we'd just practice some more.

But although Maddie dropped the subject that night, every few days she'd bring it up again.

"Can I have a little brother?"

"Please?"

"Just one?"

"You know, princess," I said to her one night while I tucked her in, "mommies and daddies can't control whether they have baby girls or baby boys. How about a little sister someday?"

Maddie had puckered her face in a way I rarely ever saw her do. She'd crossed her arms in front of her.

"No. No little sister. Only little brother."

I jerked my head back in surprise.

"Why not a little sister?"

She'd eyed me carefully, her dark eyes, so like her mothers, holding me in an unbreakable gaze. Then she'd just shrugged.

"I only just want a brother."

So now it was November again in New York. Another summer had ended, and the cold days and nights were upon us once more. Bella and I had been busy the past couple of months, trying to get as much work done before the holidays as possible. We were going up to Forks for Thanksgiving, as had become our custom, and we'd spend Christmas and New Years here with the rest of our family. But as had also become custom Bella, Rose, Alice and Esme would prepare a pre-Thanksgiving feast for us the weekend before, so that we could celebrate with our family here too.

While my daughter went to put her backpack away, I turned back to my laptop, anxious to get at least some more work done before-

The sound of the front door opening, as well as the pleasant butterflies that flew around my insides – alerted me to the fact that my wife was home.

"Mommy!" Maddie exclaimed happily. I could hear them greeting each other in the living room; Bella asking Maddie about her day in school and whether she'd finished her homework. Sighing, I turned off the laptop. The proposal would have to wait until later. Late nights for both Bella and I had become more the rule than the exception because of the start-up.

Bella greeted me with a smile when I walked into the living room, a smile that mirrored my own emotions at seeing her; happiness, gratitude, relief, and of course love. Always love.

But she looked tired. The start-up was a lot more work than we'd both anticipated, especially because neither one of us was single any longer, or had just us to think of. We had a family to take care of, and balancing it with work was not an easy task. Totally worth it, yes. But not easy.

Looking at her, I felt guilty for not having gotten dinner ready yet. But I'd been busy too; between proposals and flipping and sliding shapes.

I walked over to her and pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly to me before pulling away to kiss her tenderly. Displays of affection in front of children were healthy, our marriage counselor, Carmen, had assured us once. We'd seen her for about a year after we got married, to help us deal with both of our issues with communicating and with letting the other help shoulder the burden of any problems or stressors in our lives. The truth was, neither Bella nor I had ever had a functional relationship with a member of the opposite sex before meeting each other. In fact, the relationships we'd had had been pretty dysfunctional. Carmen helped us deal with all that. She helped us understand that it was okay to disagree, to even argue sometimes, to show the other a side of us we weren't always proud of, and to let the one we loved help us, be there for us when we needed them. The fact that both Bella and I were madly in love with each other and were willing to do whatever it took to ensure our family's well-being made the lesson easier to learn.

Again, we weren't perfect. But we had love. And unlike what that witch that would remain unmentioned had once said, true love did conquer all. Just like a fucking fairy tale and shit.

I held my wife's chin in my hand and searched her eyes, not at all happy with the dark circles I found under them.

"Love, you look tired. You should've called me. Maddie and I would've come picked you up."

She chuckled, removing her coat and walking to put it away in the closet. "Babe, it's a fifteen minute subway ride. It would've taken you half an hour to get to Columbus Circle through rush-hour traffic."

"Subway ride?" I asked, following her into the kitchen. "With how exhausted you look you took the subway? Why didn't you at least catch a cab?"

She walked to the fridge and started taking out ingredients for tonight's dinner. She looked up at me and rolled her eyes.

"Edward the subway is perfectly safe. Besides, at this time of day it's quicker than a cab."

I sighed heavily. Bella had always been so stubborn. Always had to do things her way.

But I had to admit it was one of the things I loved about her.

She moved around the kitchen expertly, pulling out more ingredients from cabinets and the pantry, but her movements were slower than usual. The extra time we'd been putting into this project was definitely starting to take a toll on her stamina.

I frowned, walking over to her and pulling the package of steaks she'd taken out of the fridge out of her hands, throwing it across the counter.

"Bella, you're obviously exhausted tonight. Let's just go out for dinner. We'll go somewhere close and be back early." I lifted my hands to her shoulders and started rubbing them soothingly. She hummed quietly. And as exhausted as she looked, that sound went straight to my groin. I grinned down at her. "I'll give you a nicer massage after Maddie-"

"We can't go out tonight Edward, we're having company for dinner, remember?"

I groaned and threw my head back. I'd forgotten that Alice had invited herself over for dinner tonight. Well to be fair, she'd invited us over there, but as she failed to understand - being the only one of my siblings without a child - it was much easier for her to travel to us. Wherever Emmett and Rose went with the baby, a mountain of gear followed them. And while it wasn't like that for Bella and me, since Maddie wasn't a baby that needed diapers and bottles and rattles everywhere she went, it was still easier for Alice to get her little ass over to us than it was for us to hike it down to Brooklyn.

I huffed angrily, massaging my wife's shoulders again. She rolled them around and around, again humming her appreciation. And Jesus, as exhausted as she looked, I wanted her to make that sound against her pillow for me tonight while I slid into her.

"I suppose that means Emmett and Rose and the baby are coming up for dinner too?" I asked.

"Of course," Bella murmured quietly, as if it were the most natural conclusion. She closed her eyes, enjoying her mini-massage. I sighed. Not that I didn't enjoy spending time with my brother and his family, but my wife was tired. She didn't need the extra work right now.

"And your parents are coming too," she added with her eyes still closed.

I stopped my ministrations on her shoulders. "What the hell, is it Christmas or something?" I said with exasperation.

"Hey, don't stop with the massage," Bella complained. I exhaled heavily and turned her around so that her back was facing me, and started massaging her shoulders again, rubbing my thumbs into her shoulder blades and raising the other four fingers on each hand to the nape of her neck, slowly massaging her scalp. She threw her head back and purred.

"Oh God Edward, that feels sooo good."

I groaned, before lowering my head and kissing the back of her neck. She shuddered. I brought my mouth to her ear. "I don't want company tonight Bella," I murmured, nipping at her earlobe. She melted against me, and I brought my hands down to trail slowly down her sides before moving them to her breasts, cupping them in each hand and massaging those too. She moaned quietly. I let my hands trail even lower, cupping her in one hand. I hissed against her ear. God, she was absolutely burning down there.

"Please," I begged, "Let's cancel. Tell 'em all to fuck off."

She chuckled throatily. "We can't do that. Alice really wanted to come over, and besides, it's not like they're spending the night Edward," she chuckled again. "They'll be gone soon enough," she finished in a whisper that promised all good things ahead.

I groaned again and pushed her against the counter, bending her over it and grinding myself into her.

"It can't possibly be soon enough," I murmured in her ear, licking her neck. This time she groaned.

"Mommy, Daddy!" Maddie called out suddenly, the sound of her little feet scampering our way. Quickly, I backed away from Bella and turned to adjust my pants and disguise my hard-on as well as possible. Displays of affection were one thing. Grinding into Bella in front of our daughter was completely something else.

A little over an hour later, I sat at our large dining room table with my entire family, while they all laughed and joked and ate merrily. Just like friggin' Christmas. I watched them all warily, anxious for them to leave. I had proposals to finish and a wife to make love to goddamnit. There was no time for family get-togethers right now.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy getting together with my family. On the contrary, Bella and I loved to have them over. But we'd both been so busy these past few weeks, and I couldn't get over how exhausted Bella had looked getting home from work today. Her shoulders hunched, circles under her eyes, her feet practically dragging into the kitchen. She should've had a quick dinner and gone straight to bed. Not hosted a dinner party for eight adults and two children.

Halfway through dessert, I was tapping my foot impatiently under the table and casting irritable glances around the table, when Alice tapped her wine glass with her spoon.

"Alright everyone, Jasper and I have an announcement to make," she giggled happily.

Aah.

I glanced over at my wife across the table. She was grinning, watching my sister make her announcement, but there was no surprise on her face. Of course, Alice would've already confided in Bella. But while Bella didn't look surprised, for a couple of seconds, some strange, hard-to-read emotion flickered across her face. Almost like uneasiness; maybe even wistfulness.

And then she sighed, a deep heavy sigh.

I jerked my head to the side, waiting for her to meet my gaze. When she did, her smile widened, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, and then she looked away from me quickly.

We all offered Alice and Jasper our congratulations, and then Bella, my mom and I started cleaning up. The rest were all still too involved in discussing Alice's news and chasing little Matt around the apartment. I looked down at the table and started gathering up the mostly empty wine glasses that had been used for toasting, shaking my head and hoping that everyone got the friggin' hint; dinner was fun but it's time for you all to head back to your own places. I exhaled heavily as I thought of all the paperwork I still had ahead of me tonight.

As I picked up the wine glasses and lost myself in strategizing what would be the best way to get Bella to go to bed early and still make love to her and still work for at least a couple more hours tonight, the woman who filled all my dreams herself moved next to me, clearing the rest of the table.

"So what do you think about your sister and Jasper?" Bella asked with a small smile and a sideways glance.

I stopped, three wineglasses balanced between the fingers of each hand. Bella kept clearing the table, but there was something very precise and measured about her movements.

"I'm thinking…" I began, "I'm thinking it's a good thing Jasper's not working on the start-up with us. He's going to have his hands full now."

Bella's hands froze momentarily over the salad bowl before she picked it up and continued, without looking at me.

"Well, you know, nothing really has to change for them for a while yet."

I snorted. "Have you met Alice? She'll probably milk this for all it's worth; run the poor guy ragged. And when that baby comes, Jasper'll probably have to cut his hours by half to help Alice." I picked up a couple more wineglasses, holding these more carefully since they still had wine in them. "When we were growing up, Alice killed our fish all the time because she kept overfeeding them," I chuckled. "Poor Jasper's going to have to-"

I stopped when I saw the look on Bella's face. She'd stopped cleaning up and was staring at me with an almost horrified expression.

Confused by her reaction, I tried to explain. "They were just small goldfish Bella. Mom and Dad didn't let us get bigger fish until-"

Just then, Jasper came up from behind and clapped me on the back.

"Looks like I'm joining the club with you and Emmett man," he laughed. His blue eyes sparkled.

I grinned at him. "We've come a long way haven't we?"

"That we have," he said thoughtfully. His eyes brightened mischievously. "So hey, now that each of us is going to have a kid, it's up to you and Bella to break the tie. What'd'ya say? Since you were the ones who started it all?"

Across the table, a loud tinkling rang out, and I looked over to see that Bella had accidentally dropped a few of the utensils she'd been cleaning up over the table.

"You need help love?"

"No, I've got it," she answered quickly.

I turned my attention back to Jasper. "Bella and I aren't planning on breaking any tie right now," I chuckled, though even as I said the words something constricted tightly in my chest. "We've got our plates full, and with the new start-up, now wouldn't be a good time at all."

This time, plates and utensils alike rattled loudly against the table. When I looked over, Bella was glaring openly at me. I frowned, startled.

Abruptly, her expression changed into a blank mask. A blank mask I recognized and wasn't very fond of.

"Excuse me," she murmured, "I've got to…" she turned and stormed into the kitchen.

I looked back at Jasper momentarily, but he was either blind, or not in tune with my wife, or too ecstatic at he and his wife's news to have picked up on Bella's strange behavior. It was probably all of the above. He'd already started to walk away, headed towards Alice.

I stood in place for about ten seconds, making sure everyone seemed to be entertained, before walking quickly to the kitchen.

Bella was loading up the dishwasher, throwing plates and glasses and utensils in with an almost brutal force. I flinched at the sound of glass meeting glass.

I put the wine glasses down on the counter, deciding they were safer there, and walked up behind her, putting my hands on her shoulders. They stiffened under my touch.

"Bella love, what's wrong?"

She threw another dish into the washer. "Nothing's wrong Edward."

I turned her around to face me. She stared at my chest, refusing to look up.

"Something is wrong. You've been acting funny all night, and if you keep throwing those dishes around like that, we'll be eating breakfast out of our hands tomorrow." I put one finger under her chin and lifted her head to meet my eyes. "Now tell me why you're upset at me. Tell me what I did wrong so I can apologize properly."

She snorted, but suddenly the corners of her eyes looked moist, and when she spoke her voice was shaky.

"You didn't do anything wrong," she almost growled, her eyes bouncing all over the place. "I'm not upset at you. I'm just…" – she drew in a shaky breath – "I'm just…"

"You're what?" I asked intently, moving my head into her field of vision so she couldn't keep avoiding my gaze.

When she finally let her eyes meet mine, she smiled. But it was a sad, resigned smile. Her shoulders slumped.

"I'm pregnant."

The world stopped for either fifteen seconds, or an eternity.

"What?"

She huffed. "I'm pregnant Edward."

I furrowed my brows, sure I'd misunderstood her. She couldn't mean…

"What? How?" I drew in a lungful of air, needing it before I passed out. "When?"

She rolled her eyes. "The what, I already told you. The how, I should hope you already know," she said sardonically. "And as for the when, pick any night about a month ago."

"But I mean…you're on the pill…"

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, before opening them back up. "I guess they only promise 99.9% effectiveness for a reason. Hello point oh one percent," she drawled sarcastically.

We stared at each other for an endless amount of time, my mind racing, trying to make sense of the words.

Pregnant.

Baby.

"When…when did you find out?"

"Today. Last night, after we…you know, I realized that it's the middle of the month, and I should've gotten my period a few days ago. We shouldn't have been able to do what we did last night. So I took a test this morning and…"

She was right. By now, I was as in tune to my wife's monthly cycle as she was, although for totally selfish reasons. She disliked that time of the month because it meant cramps and bloating and blood. I hated it because it was the only time of the month when I couldn't lose myself inside her.

But I hadn't been denied so far this month. And I'd been only too happy, and probably too occupied with work, to have even noticed.

I blew out a large gust of air through narrowed lips. "Wow."

It was the understatement of the year, but it was all I could manage at the moment.

Unfortunately, my lack of verbal coherence did nothing to soothe Bella.

"Look, I know its horrible timing. I know this is the last thing we need right now, with the start-up, and how much work we've both got on our plates." She looked down at my chest again. "But I think-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, lowering my head to her field of vision again. "What are you talking about horrible timing?"

Her lips twitched down as she spoke. "You said…a few minutes ago…you said now wouldn't be a good time. I know how busy you are, and I know how important this start-up is to you, so I won't make things-"

I grabbed her face between my hands. "Bella love, what are you saying? What are you thinking? Do you really think any of that could ever be more important to me than our family?"

"Edward, don't try to tell me this start-up isn't important to you."

"I'm not saying that Bella."

"And don't tell me you didn't mean what you said to Jasper."

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Yeah, I meant it." I opened my eyes back up. "Till about two minutes ago."

She stared at me, searching my eyes.

"You're not upset?" she asked quietly.

Half of my mouth twitched up. "Upset? Bella…I…" – I drew in another desperately needed lungful of air. I felt dizzy, startled, my heart was beating like a friggin' racehorse.

"Bella, I'm shocked beyond words, yes. Was it the last thing I expected right now? Probably. But upset? Bella…I am so the opposite of upset that I don't even know how to put it into words. I can't even describe to you what I feel right now. Me. A man that makes a living out of describing things. All I can say is that once this shock wears off, I will bet anything that you won't be able to find a happier man in this city. In this friggin' state."

A wider, though still tentative smile graced her pretty lips. "What about the start-up Edward? I mean, this shouldn't affect it for now. But once…the baby comes…" – my heart jumped, my eyes widened; those three short words had suddenly made it all so much more real.

I grinned widely.

The baby.

A baby.

We were having another baby.

And the shock wore off. I picked up my wife and spun her around in my arms, kissing her over and over again. She squealed in delight.

"Oh God Bella, I love you. I love you so much."

She wrapped her arms around me tightly.

Then I remembered she was pregnant.

And I was spinning her around in the air.

I set her down quickly, holding on to her firmly so she could steady herself.

"Oh love, I'm sorry! Are you okay? Do you feel alright?"

She chuckled. "I'm fine Edward. Just a little tired. But it'll pass soon." She shrugged easily. That explained why she'd been so weary lately.

I frowned at her. "No more late nights for you. You'll be in bed early from now on."

"But the proposals-"

I shook my head firmly. "The proposals will get done when they get done. The start-up will happen when it happens. We're having a baby, and that's all that matters right now."

She raised her eyebrows. "You're schedule…"

"Is out the window, and I couldn't give two shits." I smiled crookedly. She smiled back. "The Cullens are expanding their family. All other expansions can wait."

OOOOOOOOOO

We didn't tell our families right away. Something about waiting until the first trimester was over. It was fucking hard for me to keep a lid on, especially every time I spoke to my mother, though I suspect she knew long before we announced it. Every time we saw her pre-announcement, her eyes would sparkle and her mouth would turn up in a knowing grin. Or at least what I perceived as a knowing grin. I'd avert my gaze away from her, trying desperately to keep my word to Bella. But then when I'd meet Esme's eyes again, that grin would still be there.

Yeah, she knew.

A week after Valentine's Day, the night before we told our families, we sat with Maddie on her bed, tucking her in, one of us on either side of her.

I cleared my throat. "Princess, there's something mommy and I would like to tell you."

She watched us patiently.

"I..uh…that is we…uh…mommy and me…" Bella reached out and took my hand over Maddie's legs. I drew in a calming breath. "We're going to have a baby."

Maddie stared at us for a few moments, her eyes finally growing wide. "You mean I'm having a little brother?"

"Or a little sister," Bella corrected gently.

Maddie shook her head. "No," she said with certain conviction. "Not a little sister." Then she grinned and clapped her hands happily. "I'm having a little brother!" She bounced up and down on her bottom. "Yay! Can he come running with us at the park daddy? And can he play soccer on my team?"

I chuckled. "Not right away princess. But in a few years, maybe."

This news, that she'd have to wait a little while before her sibling could join her in play, subdued her somewhat. She turned thoughtful for a few seconds, before smiling widely again.

"Mommy, can I help you feed him like I help Aunt Rosie feed Matthew sometimes? And can I hold his hands when he learns to walk?"

Bella smoothed back our daughter's hair, smiling tenderly at her. "You can certainly help feed your little brother or sister. And hold his or her hand when he or she learns to walk."

Maddie ignored her mom's hints. "Yay! I'm gonna have a little brother! I'm gonna have a little brother!" she sang, flinging herself into my arms. I chuckled and held her tightly.

The next few months passed by unbelievably quickly. At first, the only outward signs that Bella was pregnant were her increased appetite and slight loss of energy. She didn't suffer from morning sickness, the way I'd read many women did, a fact Alice envied her greatly in those first few months. My sister spent the winter months puking her brains out every hour on the hour for the entire winter. Can't say I envied Jasper.

Bella just ate a few small meals a day, as opposed to three large ones, because otherwise she got gassy. She slept when she got home from work, she slept during car rides up to my parent's house in Long Island. She slept in the middle of the day on weekends, and no matter how hard she tried to stay awake after Maddie was in bed to help on the proposals, she was out like a light within five minutes. I was glad her body forced her to rest, because God knows she fought it every step of the way.

But she was right. As soon as she hit the beginning of her second trimester, it was as if she'd been injected with some sort of energy drug. Her stamina returned full force. And with increased stamina came an increased sex drive. I was in my own personal heaven. She wanted to make love every night, every morning, twice on Saturdays and even more on holidays. She was like the sex toy version of the Energizer Bunny. Shit, I thought to myself, what the hell were all these other men moaning about? Pregnancy was wonderful.

Slowly, Bella's slim figure began to change. Her breasts, already perfect as far as I was concerned, filled out even more, her silky dark hair became even silkier and shinier, and little by little, month by month, her midsection grew, until by early spring she looked like she had a perfectly round watermelon hidden under her skin. She looked perfect.

The first time we felt Baby Cullen move, we were lying across the sofa, she and Maddie watching TV, while I balanced the laptop across one knee and Bella's head across the other. Maddie lay with her head not directly on Bella's stomach, but parallel with it. She was singing the baby a song, while Bella hummed along and I tried to get some work done.

Suddenly, both Bella and Maddie froze.

"Did you feel that?" Bella asked Maddie in an excited voice. I stopped my typing.

"Yes mommy!" Maddie cried. "Was that my little brother?"

"Or your little sister," Bella answered.

"Feel what?" I asked. "Feel what?"

Maddie lay her small hand over her mother's growing bulge, and abruptly squealed loudly. "Again!"

I threw the laptop across the sofa and reached out my own hand and placed it over Bella's stomach. It took a few minutes, and just as I was about to give up and pull my hand away. I felt it. A tiny nudge. Like an insistent little rabbit pushing my hand away.

"What was that?" I asked, my eyes wide.

Bella laughed. "That, Mr. Cullen, was your little nudger."

From that day on, we nicknamed the baby Nudger Cullen, because that kid could nudge like nobody's business. Bella was cooking? He or she was nudging. Bella was in the bath? He or she was nudging. Sleeping? Guess what? Nudging. Watching TV? Nudging. In the office? Nudging. Mommy and Daddy getting' busy? That kid was still nudging.

"How do you go about your day with someone kicking around in there like there's some sort of gymnastics meet assembled in your stomach?" I asked Bella one day. She was lying in the Jacuzzi, taking a bath in only warm water, like the GYN had recommended. Her entire body rested under the water, except for her beautifully huge breasts and even huger stomach, which NC, as I'd nicknamed my kid, was nudging away in as always.

She chuckled. "You get used to it. It means NC is happy and safe in there," she said, rubbing her belly tenderly.

I smiled, joining in the rubbing with the soapy sponge I was using to bathe my wife. I made small circles with the sponge all over her protruding stomach, feeling NC trying to push my hand away. I chuckled and moved up to her breasts, soaping them up and watching them in open fascination and admiration.

"Don't get too used to them Edward," Bella teased, seeing the way I was gawking her mini melons. "They won't always be this way."

"They've always been perfect," I murmured. "It's just that…well…"

And being the man I was, not perfect, just fucking crazy about my wife and kids, I lowered my head and took one of her soapy breasts into my mouth – well, only about a quarter of one – enjoying them while I still had them. I'd read the books. I knew pretty soon they'd be for feeding purposes only, and I'd be banned from them for a while.

Sex, while still hot as hell, got tricky during that last trimester. Bella could no longer lay flat on her back, and throwing her legs over my shoulders had gone completely out the window, only to be remembered in dreams for the foreseeable future. But hey, creativity was what Bella and I did for a living. We made it work.

"God Edward, yesss," Bella moaned one night, while I thrust into her carefully from behind. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, wrapping my arms around her as best as I could and trying as hard as hell to keep from plunging into her the way I really wanted to.

"Is that good baby? Are you okay?" I asked breathlessly, moving slowly inside of her.

"Please Edward. Go faster. Harder. Please."

I closed my eyes and groaned. "Bella…the baby…"

"The baby's fine Edward," she whispered in a pleading tone. "We're rocking it to sleep. Please," she begged again. "I need more."

"Are you sure?" I asked, unable to resist her pleading and thrusting just a little bit harder.

"Yes. Yesss."

Quickly, I pulled out from inside her and grabbed her gently, turning her around to face me and then lifting her over me. I held her carefully as she situated herself. At thirty-seven weeks pregnant, her clumsy side had returned full force, and the last thing she needed was to fall off the bed while we made love.

And goddamn, maybe it sounded crazy, or even a little weird, but having a hugely pregnant Bella ride me was so fucking hot. The extra weight she carried brought her down over me with even more force, and I slid into her easily, feeling myself all the way in and her heavier body over me increasing the overwhelming warmth.

"Alright love. You're in control. Do whatever makes you feel good."

She didn't wait to be asked twice. Without even so much as a slow build-up, Bella started moving quickly, her cries getting louder and louder, until I felt her walls clamp down tightly around me and she threw her head back, forgetting the extra bulge she carried in the middle and almost falling backwards. I held her waist carefully, letting her get it all out before I exploded inside her myself.

It was fast, but fuck it was good.

But had I known that was the last time I'd be making love to my wife for the next six weeks, I probably would've tried to make it last a bit longer.

OOOOOOOOOO

It was a rare event the next day, that Bella and I were both in the office. But it was her last day in the office before being practically forced to go on maternity leave. She'd tried to insist she could work up until the end, but I wasn't having it. I knew Bella wasn't used to being taken care of while she was pregnant, and throughout this pregnancy I'd done my best to make up for everything she'd had to endure alone while she'd been carrying our daughter. Sometimes it caused us to bump heads and argue. She railed and pouted. In the end, we compromised. I agreed to let her come into the office one final time today, for the meeting, and then I'd drive her home straight afterwards.

We were pitching the social advertising idea to the Cartwrights this morning. The past couple of years of Bella managing the EverSoft account had brought the company increased sales and market share. The Cartwrights were happy beyond words, but once again, they'd gotten complacent. It was going to take some work to show them why it was important to get their brand into the social advertising market now. Therefore, we would all be meeting with them this morning.

About ten minutes before we were to meet the Cartwrights in the conference room, Bella and I were reviewing a few key strategies we'd be using with them with Emmett, Jasper, and Rose.

"With the Cartwrights, it's important to show them how entry into this market will further attract the younger demographic," Bella was explaining, seated at my chair behind the desk. I stood by her, one hand resting on the desk next to her, while I navigated the mouse on my Mac with the other hand.

"We've got to show them that it's better for them to get in on this now, while the market is still relatively controlled by a young demographic, otherwise-"

She paused. We all waited, letting her find her words while I clicked away on the laptop.

Bella's hand suddenly covered my own. "Babe, my water just broke."

"Don't worry about it love," I said distractedly. "I've got some paper towels in the bottom drawer. I'll clean up the spill once I'm done printing…these…"

Silence.

The room started to spin.

Rosalie finally broke the silence while I stood rigidly next to Bella like a useless statue.

"Bella honey, you've got to get to the hospital."

In my still frozen state, I moved my eyes to my wife and saw her give Rose a pleading look.

"Rose, you think you can run down to that clothes store on the corner and be back in ten minutes? Pick me up a dark skirt that'll match this jacket. It doesn't have to be maternity, just grab a big size-"

"Bella are you nuts?" Rose laughed incredulously. "You're not going into that Cartwright meeting with amniotic fluid dripping down your legs!"

"Maybe if I sit still no one will notice."

"Bella!"

I finally unfroze. "Bella, we're going to the hospital. Now."

She didn't turn to look at me. "There's still plenty of time for that. Right Rose?"

Rosalie didn't answer.

Bella huffed impatiently. "Alice's water broke in the middle of recitals last June, remember? And she just changed her outfit and went right back on stage-"

I swiveled the chair my wife was sitting in, and leaned down so that we were at the same eye level.

"Listen to me. Had Alice delivered Connor on that stage and cut the umbilical cord with a ballet shoe, and then gone on to perform Swan Lake while nursing him, you, Bella Cullen, would still be on your way to the hospital, right now," I hissed, "even if I have to carry you out of this building by force."

Her nostrils flared and her brows furrowed. She was about to open her mouth and say something in protest, when her face suddenly scrunched up and she closed her eyes, clenching her teeth tightly.

My eyes widened in horror.

When she opened her eyes back up, she blew out a huge gust of air through narrowed lips and stared at me through big, chocolate eyes.

"Fine Edward, fine," she breathed. I knew right away that must've been some fucking kind of pain she'd just felt for her to give in so easily.

I took her hand and guided her carefully to the door.

"What about the meeting?" she moaned on our way out.

"We'll take care of it Bella. Don't worry. We've got it," Jasper answered her.

"And Maddie?"

"We'll pick her up from school and keep her with us," Rose told her in a calming tone.

I turned Bella to face me when we were right at the door, picking up both her hands in mine.

"Everything'll be fine love. We've got it all covered." I sincerely hoped my voice belied the extreme terror I was really feeling.

She bit her lip nervously and offered me a tight, worried smile. I put one of our joined hands over her belly. "In a short while, we'll be welcoming little NC into the world, to join his or her big sister at home."

Her face relaxed, and she used my hands as leverage to pull herself up on her tiptoes. When I realized her intentions, I leaned my head down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"I love you Edward," she said softly as she pulled back. "Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father, and for making this pregnancy so easy."

I chuckled once. "I love you too Bella. And you're totally welcome."

OOOOOOOOOO

"Jesus Christ, doctor," Bella moaned, during the doctor's periodical visit to her room, "It's been almost twelve hours. I don't think labor is supposed to last this long!"

I reached over and stuck another ice chip in her mouth. She glared at me hostilely.

Over the past eleven hours or so of labor, Bella had slowly but surely gone from being cheery and grateful for such a loving husband, to clearly blaming me for the position she currently found herself in. Which was laid up on a hospital bed, hooked up to monitors and IVs, and consumed by periodic contractions that, while obviously agonizing, were doing very little in the way of dilating her cervix.

The doctor chuckled, standing by the machine that measured Bella's contractions and annotating something in the margins.

"I assure you Isabella, you're doing just fine."

"But it didn't take this long last time, with my daughter. She was practically born on the car ride over to the hospital!"

"All deliveries are different Isabella, just like all babies are different. This little munchkin seems to be quite comfy in there," he teased. Bella glowered at him.

His smile disappeared, though when he spoke his voice was still soft and soothing. "Would you like an epidural?"

I turned to my wife. "Maybe you should consider-"

"No." She shook her head emphatically. "No drugs."

I sighed. So damn stubborn.

"Are you sure?" the doctor asked slowly.

A contraction hit her just then, and she threw her head back against the pillow, shaking it back and forth as she rode it out.

"Shh," I said soothingly. "Breathe in and out." I wiped off the little beads of sweat at the top of her forehead off with a moist towel. The green line on the monitor spiked, and then slowly lowered.

"That's it…" I murmured gently. "It's passing now love." The expression on her face confirmed my expert diagnosis.

"Easy for you to say," she groaned anyway, once she was able to talk again.

I pressed my lips together to keep from saying anything. I mean, it wasn't like it was easy for me to sit here and watch her in all this pain. But I was pretty sure that wouldn't be a smart thing to point out to her right now.

"Now's the time to do the epidural Isabella. Later on it may be too late," the doctor warned, once Bella opened her eyes again.

But she shook her head once more.

"Alright," the doctor said, in a tone that said, 'Don't say I didn't warn you,' and made me shudder. "I'll be back to check on you in a little while."

A little while meant every half hour for the first six hours we were there, and then every hour once he saw we'd be taking up residence in this room for longer than just your express baby delivery. By three in the morning, we were barely further along than we'd been around midnight. As bad as Bella's contractions appeared to be, they weren't helping her dilate very much. We'd tried everything; walking around the hospital a few times, showers, the doctor had even stuck some long stick into Bella's amniotic sac to try to bring on stronger contractions. Crazy fucker.

Unfortunately, he also had a habit of sticking his finger up my wife's crotch periodically. But every time it was the same. Bella had either dilated very little, or nothing at all since the previous check-up.

"We're making progress Isabella," he said cheerfully during his latest visit. "It's just slow progress."

"No friggin' kidding," she groaned, closing her eyes. "Give the man a medal Edward. He's a friggin' genius."

In the past few hours, my once reserved and respectful wife had gone through a Jekyll-and-Hyde-like transformation. At this point, no one was safe from Bella's ire. Throughout the night we'd had a few visitors at regular intervals; Alice and Jasper, taking turns so that one of them could wait with little Connor outside in the family waiting area, my mom and dad, Uncle Aro, cracking jokes that earned him a pillow tossed at his head, and the Chief, calling to offer early congratulations from Jake and to let us know what time his flight would be landing the next day.

Bella relaxed somewhat when Emmett stopped by and told us that Maddie was at home with Rose and Matthew, and that she was just fine. Excited and jumpy, but thrilled that her 'little brother' was on his way. She still wouldn't accept the possibility that it could be a girl. Emmett and Rose had a boy, Alice and Jasper had a boy, so as far as Maddie was concerned, the odds were in her favor. Bella smiled for about two seconds while Emmett relayed the news on Maddie, before another contraction hit her. She squeezed my hand so tightly I was sure she was purposely trying to break it off.

In twelve hours, Bella's mood had gone from cheerful, to wary, to downright pissy. Not that I'd ever have the nerve to point that out.

But I guess the good doctor was used to such mood shifts in his line of work. He'd simply chuckle at Bella's outbursts and offer Bella an epidural, like he was offering her a cup of coffee. And for some strange reason, which at this point I couldn't even begin to fathom, she kept refusing. So again, the doctor would walk out, promising to check in on her again in a little while.

I drew in a cleansing breath, the kind that we'd been taught at our Lamaze class, and turned my attention back to my wife. She stared at me anxiously, her breaths coming in long, hard pants. I couldn't even begin to understand what kind of pain she was in, and my heart ached for her, wishing I could switch places with her.

Well, maybe not exactly switch places with her.

But I did wish with all my heart that I could take her pain away. There she was, in the throes of agony, and all I felt was tired from lack of sleep and anxiety over the whole situation. Sure I knew how unfair it was.

I was just about to tell her that; that I wished I could take her pain away. That I knew how hard and unfair this was to her. That I was so grateful to her for going through this for our baby. But when I opened my mouth, no words came out. Instead, I made what could have been a fatal mistake.

I opened my mouth and instead of words…a fucking yawn the size of Texas came out.

From where her head rested against the pillow, Bella glared at me incredulously, beads of sweat trickling down her forehead, into her eyes; her hair matted and stuck to the sides of her face.

"Did you just…did you just…yawn?"

"I…I'm sorry love. I didn't mean to."

"Am I boring you?"

"No. Of course not."

"Would you prefer it if I got up and broke into a song and dance for you? Would that be more entertaining?"

"No my love. I'm not bored. It's just that…" – I glanced at the clock on the far wall, its hands moving with taunting sluggishness around and around – "we've been here for a while, and it's almost four in the morning."

To this day, I still maintain that those are probably the stupidest words I've ever spoken. Bella agrees.

Her eyes widened, and her breathing hardened even more. Her nostrils flared, cheeks so red they looked like cherries.

"Are you tired Edward?" she asked. "Am I keeping you from getting a good night's rest? Because if I am, I'll try to contract more quietly, and I'll try not to scream too loudly when this baby that you put inside me," she hissed accusingly, "finally decides to rip its way out!"

Another contraction hit her then, and she closed her eyes and moaned, digging her head deeper into her pillow and her nails deeper into my hand. I suppressed a whimper. At this point I was sure that the only thing that kept her from reaching out and strangling me was that she'd be raising two kids on her own. As it was, she gripped my hand so tightly I lost all feeling in it. I was cringing when she opened her eyes back up.

"That's it baby. Breathe," I said uselessly, remembering my lines about thirty seconds too late. She rolled her eyes and turned her head to the other side.

For the next two hours, things progressed pretty much in that vein, with Bella's contractions hitting her at even intervals, knocking her out to the point where she was unable to utter a single word. But once the contraction subsided, she'd come out swinging. Unfortunately, her swings were mostly aimed at me.

"Edward, can you please dim the lights a bit," she groaned after an especially strong and long contraction. "I feel like I'm on stage up here with those lights glaring down at me. Entertaining everyone. Except you, of course. You, I'm boring."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Bella, I'm not bored love."

The doctor walked in just then, thank God.

"Isabella!" he cried cheerfully, earning himself a hard glare from my wife. "How are you doing?"

"Doctor," she cried breathlessly. "I've changed my mind. Please, just drug me up already."

The doctor chuckled heartily, as if he'd been expecting those words at some point tonight. I stared at him incredulously, that he could chuckle at a time like this.

"Well, let's see how we're doing first, and then we'll talk more about the epidural."

As he'd done more times than I'd ever want to remember, the doctor waited for Bella's next contraction, and then shoved his finger up her crotch, pressing down on her stomach with his other hand. Bella moaned and I flinched. I had to physically fight the urge to get up and knock him out.

Usually, a detached, sterile look would mark the doctor's features every time he poked and prodded around inside my wife. This time, however, while he wiggled his finger in there, one eyebrow arched up, as if he'd just discovered a treasure chest or some shit hidden inside my wife's vagina. And fuck, even though I knew the doctor wasn't getting off by having his finger all up inside Bella, I couldn't help the way my hands instinctively curled into fists. I was the only one allowed to hunt for gold down there.

"What is it, doctor?" I asked, while Bella writhed in pain on the bed. The least Magellan could do was tell me what his great discovery was.

The doctor snorted. "Well Mr. Cullen, I've got good news, and not so good news."

My hair stood on ends. "What is it?"

He took his hand out from between Bella's legs and went to look at the monitor, while at the same time pressing down on the call button to call for the nurse. Bella's vice grip on my hand loosened, indicating her contraction was subsiding. But then almost as soon as she loosened her hold, she tightened it again, and on the monitor, I could see the thin green line spiking up again, even higher than all the previous spikes. Bella closed her eyes and moaned again.

"Shh baby, it's okay. Just breathe through it love. Just breathe." Bella whimpered. I groaned helplessly, not sure how much longer I could take this.

"Doctor, what is it?" I repeated.

With a smile on his face, he turned to face us. "Well, the good news is Isabella's dilated to nine and a half centimeters, which means as soon as soon as we get everything set up, she can start pushing."

"Oh thank God," Bella breathed. "When can I get the epidural?"

"That's the bad news Isabella. It's too late for the epidural."

"What?" we both cried.

Just then, the next contraction hit Bella, right on the heels of the previous one, doubling her over.

"Please doc," she cried once the contraction subsided enough to allow her to talk. I could tell by looking at the monitor that this one refused to go away completely. "Just a small epidural. I don't think I can- ohhh," she groaned, as she was consumed by another wave of torture.

"Breathe love, breathe," I coached, wiping her forehead with a wet cloth and smoothing down her hair. I looked up at the doctor desperately.

"Hey doc, isn't there anything you can do?"

"'Course there is," he chuckled. "I can deliver this baby." And then he turned around and started barking orders at the nurses that appeared out of nowhere. Asshole.

For the next couple of minutes, a flurry of blinding movement and preparations took place all around us, while Bella moaned and groaned non-stop now, and the green lines on the monitor managed to remain aggravatingly high, never dipping more than half an inch anymore. At one point, the doctor instructed Bella to sit up completely and grab one ankle in each hand. She glared at him as if he'd just grown an extra head right in front of her eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me," I told him.

"Nope," he laughed. "This is how it's done."

"I don't remember-" Bella started, before being knocked out mid-sentence by a contraction the size of Mount Everest.

"Of course you don't remember," the doctor said easily as he dropped the bottom portion of Bella's bed so he could have a ringside seat to my wife's crotch. "There are certain things the human mind blocks out. Otherwise none of us would have any brothers or sisters," he snickered.

Once this guy safely delivered my son or daughter and sewed my wife back up nicely, I would be sticking my fist in his mouth.

"Alright Isabella," the doctor said, sounding much more serious all of a sudden. "When I say go, you're going to push your chin down into your chest, and then bare down with all your might, keeping your mouth closed, until I count to ten. Are you ready?"

Bella looked exhausted and bewildered. But she nodded her head tiredly. I wrapped one arm around her shoulders and helped her hold on to her ankle with the other. The nurse helped her with her other leg.

"Alright Mrs. Cullen. Go!"

It took three sets of pushes, and then on the last one, me and Bella's eyes met, and I saw my entire future spelled out clearly in her soft brown orbs.

"I love you Bella. You can do it love. I know you can. You're the strongest woman I've ever met. You can do it."

She pushed, and then suddenly a surprisingly loud wail filled the room, and at five twenty-two a.m. on a warm August morning, Megan Olivia Cullen screamed her way into the world, expanding our family, and our hearts.

And when her older sister walked in a few hours later with her Aunt Rose, looking around the hospital room warily, I picked up her little sister and brought her over, kneeling down in front of my first daughter.

"Megan Olivia, meet your big sister, Princess Madisen."

Maddie's eyes widened, gazing deep into mine.

"You mean I'm still your princess daddy?"

I held our newborn in one arm and used the other to pull my princess close to me into a tight hug.

"You will always, always be my princess," I murmured close to her ear. "No matter how many little girls or boys come along."

When I pulled back, Maddie was smiling widely.

"Would you like to hold your little sister?" I offered.

"Can I?"

I took her hand and guided her to the chair next to her mother.

"Put your arms out," I instructed, and then gently placed the little bundle in her arms, while still holding most of the small weight in mine.

Maddie looked down at her baby sister with awe in her eyes.

"She looks like a little dolly," she exclaimed in amazement. "So beautiful."

And that's how Madisen Cullen first became a big sister.

Reviews are so much better than labor.

And yes. My husband had the nerve to yawn while I was in labor. I'll never forgive him.

Any great labor stories?

Next Epilogue should be up next week. From Bella's POV, from a different point in time…