Okay, I am so, SO sorry that it has taken me so long to update. It took me a very presuasive message from a close friend to motivate me to steal my sister's laptop while she was at university and upload the latest addition (thanks abc). But here it is, the latest chapter for your reading pleasure... only 3 months late!

Chapter 37 – What Life Brings

I sat quietly in the passenger seat of Carlisle's black Mercedes, holding onto Edward's hand. He rubbed small circles on my hand with his right as he drove with his left, the tires never drifting from the centre of the lane. I looked up at his face, and couldn't help smiling when his eyes drifted to mine at exactly the same moment, an identical smile on his lips. The contrast to the trip there was remarkable, and for that I was grateful.

The drive to the hospital earlier that day was completely silent, and I grew more and more anxious the closer we got. Edward sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window. I wished that I could read his thoughts, but also grateful at the same time that he could not hear mine; I couldn't follow the path my own thoughts were on, let alone expect anyone else to understand them.

Carlisle pulled up around the back of the hospital, and Edward came around to help me out of the car. He held onto my hand we walked to the building, following Carlisle through to the front desk.

He greeted the nurse, and quickly explained that he would be unavailable for an hour. She nodded, promising to make sure he wasn't called. Carlisle smiled warmly at her, before leading Edward and I to the emergency room. Here, he left us in one of the empty exam rooms, promising to be back in a few minutes.

While he was gone, Edward helped me up onto one of the uncomfortable beds I thought I was free from, but unfortunately not. Once I was seated on the middle of the bed – sitting cross-legged, and twining my fingers into each other as I waited – Edward stopped almost all contact. He sat next to the bed, and I intertwined my fingers into his.

Carlisle soon returned, and came around to the other side of the bed.

"Okay Bella, the first thing I want to do is an ultrasound, to see if we can get an image through the amniotic sac. Hopefully that will allow us to know what we're dealing with."

"Alright," I agreed, trusting Carlisle completely to do whatever he though necessary. I grasped Edward's hand tighter and I lifted up my shirt, exposing my stomach. Carlisle picked up a small tube and squeezed a small amount of the jelly-like substance onto my skin, before rubbing it around with the tip of the wand.

We all sat in silence; Carlisle looking at the screen, Edward's eyes fixed on Carlisle, and I was watching for Edward's reaction. I don't know how long we sat there in silence, but before the silence was even broken, Edward's face broke into a huge grin, and he turned to smile at me. I knew from that moment that everything was okay.

"It's good news," I said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Carlisle replied, and when I turned to him, I could see he wore a smile too. "As far as I can tell, it seems to be a reasonably healthy baby. The amniotic sac seems to be slightly thicker than normal, but there are no other signs of anything unusual or out of the ordinary."

Edward leaned in and surprised me by kissing me enthusiastically. I smiled against his lips, and we were both still grinning as he pulled away.

"Now the only problem we have to face now is what to do about your ASD," Carlisle said. "The best advice I can offer you would be to have the surgery as soon as possible, to allow you to carry through for the full term."

"But what about the baby?" I asked. "How risky is the surgery for him?"

Carlisle smiled. "The risk to your baby will be no more than the risk to your own self, and you both already know what that is. So, do we book you in for the surgery?"

I looked back up at Edward, and saw his smile fading slightly. "What do you think?"

"I've told you this before, but I think you need to do what you think is right," he said. "I know how much you want this baby, so I think that we should book you in for the surgery for as soon as possible. That way you can focus on recovering before this little one comes along."

I grinned back at him before turning to Carlisle. "Okay. Book me in for the surgery. It's the most sensible option, isn't it?"

Carlisle ran a few more tests, just to ensure that there wasn't anything he missed, before he said that we could go. He told us to take the Mercedes, and Edward and I wandered back to the car park, his hand tight around my waist as we walked.

Being drawn back to the present, I looked away from Edward's eyes, down to my stomach. There was no visible difference yet, but it felt like it was different already.

"Are we going to tell the family when we get back?" Edward asked, breaking the silence in the car.

I glanced back up to him. "Do you think we should?"

"Yes," he replied. "They're already going to know that something's happening, and I think it would be unfair to leave them in the dark. Besides, I don't want to hide this from anyone."

Another thought crossed my mind. "Rosalie…"

"I'm sure that Rosalie will be happy for us," he assured me. "Remember what she said about her not wanting you to give up on having the things that you only get as a human? I think she'll be happy that you're able to get that."

"If you say so," I sighed, knowing he was probably right, but still terrified of telling her.

We pulled up at the Cullen's house a few minutes later, and I was still terrified about what our family would think. Edward just kissed the top of my head as he closed the car door behind me, and told me to stop worrying. He held the front door open for me, and I was surprised to find the rest of the family sitting in the lounge.

"Hey Bella," Alice said, as she bounded over and kissed my cheek. I smiled back at her, and she took my free hand and led Edward and I inside.

"Did you tell them anything?" I asked as we walked.

"Nope," she replied, with a grin on her face. "I thought you might want to tell them yourself."

"Thank you Alice," Edward said, as we entered the living room. Alice bounded over to sit next to Jasper, and I followed, with Edward sliding in next to me.

"Where did you two run off to?" Emmett asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"We had a few things to take care of, which we actually wanted to talk to you about," Edward said, holding my hands in his. "Bella had I have some exciting news to tell all of you."

He glanced back at me and I nodded, wanting him to be the one to tell them. He smiled back at me and kissed my hand, before turning back to our family. "We're having a baby," he said, with a huge grin on his face. "Bella and I are going to be parents!"

"What?" Esme exclaimed, standing up. "Oh, that's so wonderful. Congratulations, both of you," she added, pulling me and Edward into a tight hug.

"Thanks Grandma," Edward said, with a playful grin on his face.

"Oh, stop it you," she scowled, with a playful swat at his arm. "You're making me feel old."

"Making you feel old? Esme, you do realize that you're over sixty years old now?"

"Edward, it's not polite to mention a woman's age," I told him, shooting a quick grin at Esme. "Besides, you're only as old as you feel, or in your case Esme, look."

"That's right, Bella," she smiled. "Edward, you could learn a thing or two from your wife."

"I see how it is; everyone teams up against Edward…"

I leaned up and kissed quickly. "You know we're only kidding, Darling."

Edward smiled back at me. "Oh, I know that."

"So I'm going to be an Uncle?" Jasper asked.

"Of course you are," Alice said, beaming. "And I'm going to be an Aunt!"

"As long as the kid doesn't have Bella's sense of balance," Emmett laughed. "Or his father's sense of humor, or lack thereof. I think I'm going to have to teach him a few things."

"Within reason," Edward warned him.

I was too preoccupied watching Rosalie to pay much attention to the rest of the conversation. She hadn't spoken a word since we told everyone the news, and it was killing me not to know what she was really thinking.

"Rose, I know that this might be a bit weird for you, but I want you to know that we understand how you must be feeling –"

"What are you talking about, Bella?" she asked. "I'm so happy for you both! It will be wonderful having a little one running around the place."

"So you're fine with it? Really?"

"Of course, silly," she replied, grinning back at me. "I'm just glad that you have the chance to have the life I never had. The only reason I didn't want you to change was because of what you would miss out on, but it seems as if now everything is working out fantastically for you. Well, all things considered…" she trailer off, worried that she might have said something to upset me.

"I agree," I said, my smile growing even larger if that was even possible. "I couldn't imagine things working out better if I had asked."

"But what's going to happen now?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"With your condition," she explained. "I thought that Carlisle said it would be risky to hold off on the surgery, and you can't be changed while pregnant…" Rosalie trailed off, before understanding flashed across her face. "You're going to have the surgery, aren't you?"

I smiled at her and nodded. "It's the only logical option."

An uneasy silence flowed across the room. I had counted to fifty before I decided it was time to break it. "Nothing's going to happen. I'm sure of it."

"But Bella, you said that there was a lot of risk involved," Esme said.

"Yeah. But I can't let the odds keep me from doing what I think is right," I explained. "Seriously though, with my luck, I could trip over my own feet tomorrow and be hit by a bus or something. I'd rather take the risk knowing what good can come out of it."

"She's got a point," Emmett said. "About the bus, anyway."

"When's the surgery booked for?" Rosalie asked.

"Carlisle was going to ring this afternoon and check with them, but he was hoping it would be some time in the next week."

"So soon," Esme whispered quietly to herself.

"Cheer up guys. It's going to take a lot more than surgery to bring me down," I said, trying to lighten the mood. It seemed to work, because half an hour later, when the phone rang, we were all laughing at the movie on TV.

Edward was the closest, and he leaned over and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he said. "Oh, hi Carlisle."

He waited for a few seconds while Carlisle spoke. "That's great news. Thank you so much. I'll be sure to let her and the rest of the family know. Oh, and Alice wants me to tell you not to answer your phone when it rings tonight. Apparently, some nurse is going to ring to try and track down some labs you already sent last week. Don't worry, she'll find them as soon as she hangs up, but you'll have to spend hours trying to track them down. Alice also said there's going to be a storm coming in from the west, and she was hoping to get in a game of baseball if you were home."

Edward waited again for a moment before saying goodbye and hanging up.

"So will he be here?" Alice asked.

Edward smiled. "Yes, he will. And Bella, he wanted me to tell you that he managed to get an opening on Friday for you, but it's early in the morning, so you'll have to go in on Thursday afternoon."

"This week?" I asked. "Wow… that was quick. But the sooner the better, I guess."

I snuggled back against Edward as we finished watching the rest of the movie. My mind felt much lighter now that everything was in place. There was nothing else to be done now; all we could do was wait and let the cards fall as the may.

Ok, so there it is. Only a few more chapters left to go in this story. I'm not sure of the exact numbers yet, but it's going to be under 50, I promise! And I also promise that it will not me another 3 months until I update... that's just ridiculous! Love you all. xoxo