DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creation of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

Emmett's Party 1

Edward's POV

Frustrate…defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "to make invalid or of no effect". That was the perfect word for what my attempts to get Bella to see reason about James were causing—we were both frustrated, but for different reasons. Bella still thought I was overreacting and reading into things. With Mike, he'd been so direct about his intentions that she couldn't possibly miss them. But James…Oh, James was slick. He never came right out and said what he wanted from Bella, but it was there in every little thing he did.

I'd thought that one lunch with him four weeks ago was going to be the end of things. And the next day, a Thursday, a day James had no reason to be near Bella, was the start of a long string of incidents that could not be written off as coincidental. That Thursday, James seemed to be everywhere we were on campus. He invited himself to lunch that day—okay, so Bella had felt sorry for him sitting all alone on a bench a few feet away from us and had invited him, but I still stand by my belief that he knew what he was doing.

And from there, it only got worse. James started meeting us in the parking lot the moment I pulled in. He was also "in the area" every time I walked with Bella during lunch or on the way to the parking lot in the evenings—nearly four weeks of James being everywhere we were at school. He'd even managed to wrangle an invitation to Emmett's birthday party today out of Bella. He'd given her some story about how he'd be all alone this weekend because his sister was going to visit their parents, and of course, Bella felt bad for him and invited him. My attempt to point out that he could have just gone with his sister wasn't met by friendly ears.

We'd had a big fight on the day she'd invited him, just last Friday actually. She'd even tried to sleep in one of the guest bedrooms. We'd never really talked anything out or made up—they're just didn't seem to be any way to get her to see what James was doing. So this week, I'd tried not to talk about James at all, doing my best to be cordial in front of him, and not speak about him after. Unfortunately, the only way to not talk about James was to not really talk at all unless I was answering a question. All of my own thoughts were focused on how his feelings were going to end up hurting my wife. For some reason, Bella took my silence the wrong way and decided I was ignoring her and that she should do the same to me. How this woman got these absurd ideas, I would never know. She was downstairs right now, waiting for Emmett's party to start, pretending that I didn't exist.

I rubbed my chest, trying to smooth away the pain caused by the very idea that Bella might not want me anymore. She was so angry so fast with me, and defended James with such tenacity. It just didn't make sense to me. Couldn't she see I was only trying to keep her from getting hurt? There was no doubt in my mind she would be hurt once she discovered her new friend was in love with her…Or maybe that was just the reaction I was hoping for because I couldn't bring myself to even consider the other possibility. No, that outcome would certainly kill me.

Maybe it was a good thing he was coming to the party today. At least this way, everyone else would get to see what I saw—I was sure they would back me up once they saw it for themselves. James wanted more than friendship from my wife and he had no problem acting as if he was already more to her right in front of my face. He had comments and opinions about everything having to do with Bella and our child, and he was never too shy to share them. He was only too shy when it came to making friends other than my wife.

There was a quick rap on our door and then Alice bounced in, holding a dress bag. She spread it out on the edge of the bed and then walked over to me, folding herself on the opposite end of my sofa. "What are you doing?" she asked.

I shook the book in my hand and went back to pretending I was reading.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"Go away, Ali."

"I haven't seen you sulk this bad in ages. Does this have anything to do with you being up here alone and Bella being downstairs?"

"I'm not sulking. I'm contemplating."

"Is this about James?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

Alice sighed and put her head on my shoulder. "I don't want to take sides in this, Edward. None of us do."

"I'm not asking you to take sides. I just asked that you watch him and try to see things from my side."

"And your side states that James doesn't want to just be friends with your wife?"

"My side states that James has an agenda, probably doesn't have a pregnant sister, and is acting like my wife and unborn child are his priority."

"If it's really that bad, I'll talk to Bella. But hopefully, you're just feeling overprotective and it'll all come to nothing. Then, you can stop being angry about it."

"I'm not even angry about it," I said, dropping the book to the floor and getting up. "I wouldn't even care if Bella wasn't so tender-hearted. Remember when she scalded Mike's hand with the coffee? And she didn't even like him, Alice. How will she react when she finds out she has to break James's heart because he's gotten the wrong idea? She's already overly concerned with him being lonely."

"Have you told Bella that's what's bothering you about him?"

"Yes. And she doesn't believe me. She thinks I'm just jealous and that I'll say anything to get her to stay away from James. Well, that was before she stopped speaking to me last week."

"You did yell at her for inviting him to the party," Alice pointed out.

"I was shocked. I wasn't expecting it and my temper got away from me. If only she'd give me just an ounce of trust on this, she would see, Alice. But no! She's stubbornly convinced he's just a friend."

"So prove her wrong. Go downstairs and be welcoming and gracious to him to prove you're not jealous. Try to become his friend, just like Bella."

"I did try. He told Bella I intimidate him."

"Try again and make sure Bella sees you're making an effort. If James complains again, Bella will know you're doing your best and she'll take up for you."

"Doubtful," I sighed. "She's ignoring me, remember?"

"This is just so wrong," Alice fussed. "Bella's finally reached the half-way point in her pregnancy, she's been feeling so much better, and she's ignoring you. I'm putting a stop to this."

"Ali, as much as you love to tamper with my life, I think this is one time that you shouldn't."

"I'm not going to say anything to Bella, little brother. I'm just going to keep an eye on James and make sure that Bella sees you aren't jealous of him."

"How will you manage that?" I asked, turning away from the window and looking at her.

"I have a plan." Alice got up from the sofa and grabbed my arm, dragging me out of the room. "And it starts with you going downstairs and apologizing to Bella. The first step is to get her happy with you."

As we walked down the stairs, Alice whispered the highlights of her master plan to me. Amazingly enough, most of it sounded like it might actually work. It was all about letting James act the way he normally does, while I stood in the background, letting him out himself.

When we entered the living room, Bella was holding Lily and talking with Rosalie. "Go on," Alice whispered, pushing me toward Bella a little. "She won't bite. I don't think."

"Thanks," I muttered. I took a deep breath and then stepped forward. "Bella, could I talk to you in private for a moment?"

The smile that had been on her face completely disappeared and her tone was cold as she answered me. "I suppose so." She handed Lily to Rose and then followed me outside.

"Bella, I just wanted to apologize. I'm sorry that my concern for you has upset you. I just worry that James has deeper feelings for you and that you'll be upset when you have to set him straight."

She continued to stare off into the trees as we walked along, not looking toward me at all. "You've mentioned that quite a few times, Edward."

"I know. I'm sorry. I should have told you the one time and left it alone. I've just never dealt with this sort of thing before and I wasn't sure how to handle it. When Mike had a crush on you, you saw it and handled it yourself. This time, you just don't seem to see it."

Her jaw tensed the slightest bit. "That's because it's not there."

"I know you believe that. Therefore, I won't say another word about it. And honestly, Bella, I hope that you're right. I want you to be right—so much so that I'm going to try again to be friendly to James."

She turned her head, finally looking at me. Those brown eyes of hers didn't hold nearly the same amount of annoyance for me that they'd had the past couple of days. "You mean that?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't, Love."

Bella stopped walking and I stopped with her, waiting to see what she would say or do. She smiled wide and put her arms around my neck, hugging me. "Thank you."

I let out a sigh of relief as I put my own arms around her. I hated for her to ever be upset me with, and having her practically ignore me lately had been excruciating.

"Let's go to our spot for a little while," she suggested, letting go of me and taking my hand into hers.

"Do you need a jacket?" I asked. Spring was here, but it was still a little windy.

"No. The sun is out and more than warm enough," she replied, smiling as we walked along. "I love it here. I hope that when we find our own place, we have a yard like this. Or maybe a park nearby. When are we going to look at more houses with Heidi?"

"I'm not sure. She's waiting for the market to settle down a little so that we'll have more options to see." That wasn't exactly true, but I couldn't tell Bella the real reason for our lapse in house hunting just yet. I needed to get a few more items cleared out of the way first.

"I'd prefer to be moved and settled before the baby comes."

"I want the same thing for you and I'm doing what I can to see that it happens." We reached the little hill that we called our own and I sat down, taking Bella into my lap. We both put our own hands on her stomach as we enjoyed the warm sun.

Awhile later, Bella broke up the silence with her soft voice. "I'm sorry I got so mad at you. It's just…I like having a friend that I can talk books with. I mean, I know I can talk with you, too, but it's different when the person is as enthralled with a subject as you are. Imagine if you got to hang out with Debussy and discuss compositions."

"Just be careful, Bella. That's all I ask," I replied, resting my head on her shoulder. "I love you, and I don't want anything, or anyone, to hurt you."

"I love you, too, you insanely protective man," she chuckled, kissing my forehead. Her laughter turned into a gasp and her brown eyes widened. "What was that?"

"Don't move," I whispered to her. We waited quietly for a few seconds, but nothing happened. "Must have been my hand or—" My explanation was cut off that same subtle movement I'd thought I felt before.

"Edward, did you feel that?" Bella asked in an awed tone. She gasped and then squealed. "It happened again! Just now! I know I didn't imagine that."

"No," I laughed. "That's definitely not your imagination. That's our baby kicking you."

"It's so faint," she said, looking down at her stomach and moving her hand around a little. "Do it again, Baby."

"I don't think he can kick on command just yet," I chuckled, kissing the side of her neck.

"Please, Baby? Kick for Mommy and Daddy," Bella pleaded. After a few seconds had passed, she sighed and shook her head. "Guess he's being shy about it now."

I laughed as I lifted my hands up to her shoulders and started to massage them. "He'll kick again. Give him a few more weeks and it'll be much more pronounced. We won't have any trouble knowing we really felt it."

"Your book says we should count his kicks every day at the same time to make sure he's okay. I'm supposed to lay on my back or my side."

"Lay on your side and then I can massage your back for you while we wait for the kicking to start."

Bella moved her hair away from her neck and leaned her head forward just a little. "Can you get my neck on the right side? It's been bugging me since I woke up this morning."

"Now that you're speaking to me again, do you think we can discuss the housing situation?"

"Sure," she sighed, relaxing under my fingers.

"I was thinking that since the crib is already set up in the room across from us, we could hold off on getting a house until after the baby comes. Maybe until he's three or six months old? We just haven't seen a house we really love yet and I don't want us to pick something just because we feel rushed. And by waiting, your parents' house should be sold and we'll have that extra money."

"Well…On one hand, it would be nice to have Esme and Carlisle so close and have that extra help with the baby. On the other, I don't really like the idea of turning their room into a nursery. What are they going to do with it when we move?"

"It'll be his room whenever we visit. And whenever my parents babysit for us. We'll take the crib you picked out with us and put a regular crib in there for when he stays over with his grandparents."

Bella sat up straight and turned her head, kissing me on the lips. "I like that idea."

"So you don't mind waiting then?"

"As long as Carlisle and Esme don't mind, I'm fine with it."

"We'll speak with them later on tonight and find out." My phone started ringing and I pulled it out, seeing Alice's name flash across the front. "Yes, Alice?"

"Where are you two?" she asked. "The birthday boy is ready for his cake. And James has arrived."

"We'll be there in a minute," I told her. "We were just discussing a few things."

"Don't tell her about the baby moving yet," Bella whispered. "Let's surprise her when we get back."

I smiled and nodded for Bella. "Anything else, Alice?"

"Nope. Just hurry up," she chirped.

I put the phone away and wrapped my arms around Bella. "Your brother is ready for his cake."

"I don't want to leave just yet," she sighed, resting her head against my cheek. "Just hold me for a few more minutes."

"I can certainly do that."

Bella closed her eyes as she smiled, tilting her face toward the sun just a little. She looked divine with her hair shining in the sunlight and her hands resting on her round belly.

"I love you," I whispered into her ear.

Her smile widened. "Love you more."

A few minutes later, I found myself trying not to laugh as I roused Bella. She'd managed to fall completely asleep in my arms and was even snoring a little. "Love, your brother is going to be awfully disappointed if you sleep through his birthday. Besides, you don't have any sunscreen on so you can't stay out here forever."

She stretched her arms and yawned loudly. "But I like it right here, with just you and me."

"We'll come back later after the party's over," I assured her.

"Fine," she groaned. "Let's get back to the house."

I got us both on our feet and we took our time walking back, just holding hands and enjoying the peacefulness of it. "We have Emmett's birthday today and Alice's next month."

"Then your birthday the month after, and two months after that, our baby will be here with us," Bella added, smiling wide as she rubbed her stomach.

We entered the house and Alice immediately stole Bella from me, taking her upstairs to change.

I started working on Alice's plan and walked over to James. He was standing by himself near the front door, his eyes trained on the staircase that Alice and Bella had just walked up. I pushed aside the annoyance I was feeling and smiled at him. "Hello, James. Glad that you could make it," I said, holding my hand out toward him.

He looked at my hand for a split second before looking at the stairs again. "Where's Bella?"

"She's with my sister. She should be back down soon," I replied.

"Eee," Lily yelled out as she bumped into my legs.

I smiled as I leaned down and scooped her up into my arms. "Hello, Lily Bear," I chuckled, kissing her cheek.

I set her in the crook of my arm as she spoke to me in her own little language. The only words I understood were "love" and "Eee". Suddenly, she leaned forward and gave me a sloppy kiss on the nose. I laughed and she giggled along with me.

"James, this is my niece, Lily. She's the daughter of Bella's brother, Emmett, and his wife, Rosalie," I said, pointing them both out for him.

"That's Bella's brother?" James asked, turning white as he took in the sight of Emmett flexing his arm for Jasper. It seemed they'd just finished their game and Emmet was enjoying his victory.

The childish part of me took over, enjoying seeing James scared. "Emmett, come here for a second. There's someone I want you to meet," I said.

"Da-dee," Lily sang, waving at him.

"What's up, Princess?" Emmett asked, clapping his hands together and then holding them open for Lily.

Lily leaned her whole body forward, tossing herself into Emmett's big hands. He lifted her up high above his head, making her giggle, and then dropped her safely into the crook of his arm as he placed a loud kiss on her cheek.

"Emmett, this is Bella's student and friend, James," I introduced.

Emmett stuck out his hand and James tentatively grabbed it. I smiled as the tendons in Emmett's forearm and wrist tensed, knowing he was squeezing James's hand as hard as he could. "James, nice to meet you," Emmett said, making his voice sound gruff. "I'll give you the same warning I give to anyone who comes near my sister…Make her cry and you'll wish you were never born."

Emmett quickly let go of James just as Lily started to take a nose-dive toward me. Emmett and I both laughed as we kept her from falling, and I took a giggling Lily back into my arms.

"Lily Bear, what are you doing to your daddy and uncle?" my mother cooed, appearing beside us.

Lily's eyebrows drew down and her little lips pulled into a determined line. She opened her mouth and practically yelled the word at my mother. "Ma-gaw." Lily immediately smiled and clapped her hands together, proud of her accomplishment.

"What was that?" Emmett asked, scratching the back of his head.

"It was grandma backwards and in baby speech," my mother chuckled, taking Lily into her arms.

"Mom, this is James," I said. "James, this is my mother, Esme."

"It's nice to meet you, James. I'd offer to shake your hand, but as you can see, I have my hands full," she laughed as Lily wiggled in her arms.

"Edward!" Bella called out, sounding very excited. "Look what Alice got me!"

I turned to see her coming down the last few steps, holding onto my sister's arm. Bella was still wearing the jeans she'd had on earlier, but now she had a gray t-shirt on. I read the printing on her shirt and started laughing as I walked over to her.

"Very fitting," I chuckled, wrapping my arms around her.

"I thought so too," she giggled, hugging me back.

"I couldn't resist," Alice chirped.

"Let me see," Emmett demanded, tapping my arm.

I moved to the side, but didn't let go of Bella—she didn't let go of me either and I was happy to see that.

"'Property of my little boy, XY'," Emmett read. "What's the XY thing? Since when is that a size?"

"It's the chromosome initials for a boy," Jasper chuckled.

Alice leaned down and pressed her cheek to Bella's belly. "Don't worry, Baby. We aren't all as silly as your Uncle Emmett."

"Oh, yeah?" Emmett said, pushing Alice out of the way. He squatted down so that his face was even with my wife's stomach. "Little Man, let me be the first to warn you…The pixie is evil. E-V-I-L. Remember that."

"Stop telling my baby mean things about each other," Bella demanded, covering her belly with her arms. "He can hear you now that I'm twenty weeks."

"We know," Emmett and Alice laughed. "We're only kidding, Squirt," Emmett added.

"With all the fluid around him, I don't think he can hear actual words, just tones of voice," James piped up. "As long as they say it nicely, he won't know the difference. And even after he's born, it'll be almost a year before he starts to really understand the words have meanings."

"And you know so much about babies because?" Rose asked, folding her arms and glaring at James just a little. Rose was the only one who believed me about James and his intentions.

"My sister is pregnant and has me reading her book with her," James replied.

"How far along is she?" Rose questioned.

"Um…thirty-eight weeks," he said.

"And she took a car trip to Minnesota? Is she nuts?" Rose asked, her voice rising slightly. "That's way too close to delivery to be taking a long trip in a car."

"Did I say car trip? I meant flight. They flew over. It's just a couple of hours," James said.

"They couldn't have flown," Bella said, her eyebrows drawing down, just like her lips. "Doctors don't let you get on the plane that late into your pregnancy. The pressure changes could send you into labor."

"Well, she got some note from him or something since it was just going to be for a few days," James replied.

"She should find a new doctor," my father said, having entered the room at some point. "It's extremely dangerous to allow that sort of thing, both for the baby and the mother."

James shrugged his shoulders. "She did this with her last kid, so it's no big deal."

"You never mentioned she had a child already," Bella said.

"Well, no…I didn't." James pushed his glassed up his nose, looking nervous—well, at least he looked that way to me.

"Is it a boy or a girl? How old is he or she?" Alice asked.

"I don't know," James replied. "She was younger then, so my sister gave it up for adoption. Now that she's married, she wanted to have a baby."

Emmett kicked my foot with his and I looked up at him, shocked to find him seething. "I think now would be a great time to start the party for the birthday boy. If we bore him any longer with baby talk, he's liable to start pouting," I announced.

"Cake!" Emmett said, acting cheery. "Let's go get it and bring it into the dining room."

"Jazz, you better come help me keep him from eating it," I chuckled. I kissed Bella's temple and then let her go, not happy with the creased lines across her forehead.

As soon as we were in the kitchen with the door closed, Emmett let loose with a litany of curse words as he paced around the kitchen island. He came to an abrupt stop and the chords stood out in his neck as he took in a deep breathe. "That bastard is lying to my sister," he ground out from between his clenched teeth.

"I don't know if he is or not, but I've doubted for some time that he actually had a sister," I told him.

"He was definitely nervous and scared," Jasper said. "Did you see the way his eyes kept darting around the room?"

"Yeah, except for when he looked at my sister and was all goofy eyed," Emmett huffed.

"At least I know I'm not just reading into things," I sighed, sitting down at the table.

"We're sorry, man," Emmett said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "We should have given you the benefit of the doubt and taken a look at this clown sooner."

"Sorry, Edward. Even Alice thought you were just overreacting this time," Jasper told me.

"I know. And I know it's my own fault you guys thought that. At least you see what I see now," I replied.

"Bella knows something is off. That's good, too," Jasper added.

"Yeah, but he'll explain it away like he always does," I sighed. "It's how things have been going for the last month. I almost catch him in a lie, he explains it away, and then Bella fusses me for 'interrogating' him."

"Well, this happy crappy ends right the hell here," Emmett growled. "No one screws with my sister and her marriage and gets away with it."

"You can't just go out there and pummel him," Jasper said, putting his hand on Emmett's arm. "This is going to take finesse on our part. Bella wants to believe this guy is legit so we have to let him keep sticking his foot in his mouth until she sees for herself that he's full of hot air."

"So how do we do that?" Emmett asked.

"Alice has a plan," I announced. They looked at each other, exchanging smiles, before sitting down at the table with me. "So here's how it works…"

Uh, oh! James has Emmett's attention and that's not a good thing for our young nerd. Hope he has some sort of sense of self preservation or can at least run really, really fast. We'll find out next weekend!

George, this chapter gave us both hell, but I think it came out great in the end! Thanks for all the help!