See you tomorrow!

Edward paced the office, phone pressed to his ear, every now and then craning his neck to make sure Bella wasn't going to pop into her office. He had absconded it about two hours ago and since it was thankfully a Neuro day for her, he had given her a list of surgeries to research for his patients. She should be busy for a while.

Should be.

Finally a human voice was responding.

"Hello? Yes. My name is Dr. Edward Cullen and I was inquiring about adoption…. No, I haven't called before… no, I don't need to come in and see what you have available… crap this is a kid not a couch, seriously, there's a catalogue?… I already have a child picked out, now I sound like I'm ordering pizza… no, obviously there are no parents… well, yes, I mean there are parents if you want to call someone who leaves their infant out in the cold behind a church by itself. Yes, I am sure you saw that on the news… no, I am not being sarcastic, okay maybe I am, I just… this is the seventh place I have called and held for and I just want to know what to do. Okay… okay… yes… I am at Seattle Pres. No! Don't have me paged. Call my cell… 206-555-3821. Thank you."

Edward hung up with a sigh of relief. Now if he could just keep Bella from finding out about this. He didn't want her to get her hopes up if this didn't work out.

"Hey! I am done and the notes are on your desk, in your closet that passes for an office." She said, breezing in.

"Well, not all of us are lucky and privileged enough to have a big, gigantic office such as this." He teased.

"Are you calling me spoiled?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He leaned back and looked at her.

"No. Lucky." He informed her.

"Hmmm… so what are you doing in here? Tanya said she walked by twice and you were pacing and cursing at your phone." She asked.

Shit!

"Oh… the DMV. Problem with my registration." He told her, cringing inwardly.

There goes the honesty stipulation of their agreement.

"That sucks. Those people are vultures." She sympathized.

"I'm used to it." He said.

"Oh, yeah, that's right, you used to date Lauren." She taunted.

Edward laughed.

Edward started when his phone rang. He had left it on Bella's desk and she was now closest to it. She picked it up and he practically knocked her over to get it from her.

"Edward!" She yelped.

"Sorry… Hello? Yes this is he. Okay yeah. Great. Thanks."

Edward hung up slowly and looked hesitantly at his girlfriend, his befuddled and now slightly pissed off girlfriend.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You almost knocked me over!" She asked.

"I… I've gotta go. Very important meeting… with a patient.. .about his brain... yeah, brain. See ya!" He ran out after kissing her cheek.

"Wait!" She called out.

Something was definitely up with him. He had been twitchy and secretive for a few days now.

Well so much for lunch. She decided to head into the NICU and see Lily.

"How's she doing?" I asked, walking in and grabbing her chart.

"The same as when you asked forty five minutes ago." Eline, the NICU nurse, answered teasingly.

Bella sheepishly shrugged and continued to read Lily's chart.

"She can be released tomorrow." Eline said.

Bella snapped her head up.

"Says who?"

"Dr. Mallory."

"Wait, Dr. Meyers is the doctor I put in charge."

"Yes, and she and Dr. Mallory had it out about two hours ago. Seems that Dr. Mallory spouted off some rules nonsense to Dr. Meyers. Social worker was in here a thirty minutes ago."

"And what did she say?"

"That she would be by to take the baby to a foster home and that she would have to be quick in lining one up." Eline finished informing her.

Bella felt her breathing get shallow.

A foster home? Foster homes, for the most part, were full of money hungry people who didn't give a rat's ass about the children.

She couldn't let Lily, her Lily, suffer through that. Even if it was a good home, it is almost never permanent and then what? Bounced from home to home. What kind of life was that for Lily, for any child unfortunate enough to be born into those circumstances?

But what could she do about it? She was an unmarried, albeit, attached woman who worked… like a lot. She knew that going up to some social worker and saying 'Hey, I want her and I will get the best possible nanny money can buy.' wouldn't tip the scales in her favor.

So, it was time to bend the rules over Lauren Mallory's ass.

***TMAIA***

"You're a man."

"Yes."

"You're not married."

"No, I'm not."

"You're a very busy doctor."

"Yes, I am."

"And you want to see about me placing an infant girl in your care?"

Edward calmly looked at the social worker, Whit, who right now was looking at him incredulously.

"Yes."

"Give me one reason why I should even consider this?"

"Yes, it is true that I am a single male doctor who works long hours, but if you can just read between the lines and look beyond what I look like on paper, you would see that I am a man who can't have kids who is desperately in love with a woman who can't have kids and we have a lot to offer a child, this child. Bella fell in love with her the minute she saw her and I have to admit it only took me about five minutes more than it did her."

"What does Bella do?" Whit asked.

"She owns the hospital, or rather her father does. She runs it." Edward said, his expression sheepish.

Whit narrowed her eyes.

"She would cut back her hours, we both would and I have a huge Catholic family that is willing to pitch in."

"It's just not an ideal situation..." Whit began.

"What is? If we were fortunate enough to have children of our own, we would have to do it like this. Families have both parents working these days. But we are financially secure, we do love each other, and we have a stable and safe home. Much safer than being abandoned." He said pointedly.

"I understand your point of view and I even sympathize but I have rules to follow, guidelines, criteria and I don't know if you meet those." She said honestly.

"Tell me how to meet those."

"How long have you and your girlfriend been together?"

Yeah, ask that question.

"A little over three months."

Whit raised her eyebrow.

"I knew from the first second, maybe the first day, okay, the first week, that she was it for me. We just… clicked. I would do anything for her."

"Including take on a child that you don't want?"

"I want her. I want her as much as Bella does. And I don't care how much money it takes, how much time it takes, how many legalities… she will be ours. Now the question is, are you going to help me or do I need to get someone else?" He said sternly.

Whit scrutinized him closely for a moment and then sighed.

"Okay first off you are going to need to get a lawyer…"

Note: Before anyone gets offended on behalf of foster homes, I do realize there are great people out there who are truly making a difference in children's lives. Unfortunately that is not always the case and as a doctor, Bella would see that side of things. Also, I do realize that an infant would get adopted more easily than an older child.