Chapter 10

And he never did. For two months he stayed by my side, watching my every move. More importantly he watched as my baby grew. He quickly stepped into the role of a loving father, but I had the feeling that deep down inside it would not last. After all, who really gets their Prince Charming and live happily ever after.

If Edward was not with me, then one of his siblings were. I was granted an automatic welcome into his home, but more importantly into his world. A world, that no human should ever be in, but I welcomed it with open arms. In truth it took my mind off of my past.

It was nearing the end of May, the school year quickly coming to a close. With about eight weeks left of my pregnancy I was grateful to have the summer off. I struck a deal with the principle that I would complete my senior year as every other senior would, behind the desk. Esme has already stepped up and volunteered to be honorary babysitter and grandmother. I could not help though to feel bad that I was having something that both Esme and Rosalie will never have the chance to have. I knew that deep down the two of them were living vicariously through me, and why not. Even though I saw them as the most beautiful people in the world that had everything, they saw the same in me.

"So," Alice was saying as I looked out my window. "With eight weeks left, we still have a lot to do. I already ordered the crib and Emmett and Jasper said that they will plan on coming over next weekend to work on the addition to the house. Of course Charlie will object, but I will convincingly say that it will be for the best and that I would hate for him to hurt his back. I am going to need to make sure that the boys move at a more human pace though. Rosalie says that everything is going really well for the baby shower, I just wish I could see what your mother is planning to do; she keeps changing her mind. Bella, it would have been so much easier if you moved in with us, but at least I am grateful you are allowing us to help."

"I never tell him," I spoke up quietly, mostly to myself, rubbing my seventh month belly.

"Tell who, what?" Alice said stopping her jumbling of words.

"He always tells me he loves me, that he loves us. But I have never said it back," I turned from the window and looked at Alice. "How does he know that he loves me? How do I know that I love him?"

Alice stood up and walked over to me. "Bella, Edward loves you and your baby more than any other creature or human ever could. He has loved you from the very beginning. Our whole family has. You love Edward, just because you never said it, doesn't mean that he doesn't know."

I shook my head. "Alice, what is love? And don't give me the 'Let me Count the Ways' speech. For me, what is love and do I love him?"

Alice tilted her head just slightly and the held her hand out toward my stomach. "May I?"

I nodded.

I watched as she rested her hand on my large belly and at her cool touch I could feel my baby kick. "Your Mommy wants to know what love is," Alice started off, whispering quietly. "Isn't she silly?"

If I did not know any better I would have thought that Alice had tears in her eyes. "Bella, this is love," She pointed to my belly. "You made a choice that so many others would have done the opposite of, just because it would be the easy way out. Especially with this child being conceived they way it was. You love the baby so much because who accept it. The same with Edward, you never once questioned his actions or lifestyle. That's what love is."

I moved over to sit down in the rocking chair. "Alice, I'm scared."

Alice sat down by my feet and lifted up my right foot to begin messaging the achiness out of it. "What is it that you are scared of?"

I looked toward my window as the clouds began to thicken. I knew that it was beginning to get dark outside. "Where's Edward? He's never gone this long?"

"You're changing the subject, but he's out hunting with the boys. Bella?"

"I can't sleep at night when he's not here."

"You know that I will stay if you…" Alice's eyes glazed over and her body became slightly weak. I knew by now that she was having a vision. "Bella?"

I reached over for her hands. "What Alice? What did you see?"

Alice looked at me for a moment and then shook her head as if to clear it, "Nothing. You have nothing to be afraid of and just tell Edward you love him. Make it special."

Alice stood up and then went over to the door. "I will check on you in a little while, Edward is on his way home, he will be back before you are ready for bed."

I stayed where I was looking out the window while Alice left, now with worry. I picked up the latest ultrasound picture of my baby and looked at how much he has grown. I could have found out the sex, but I decided that it really didn't matter to me what I was having.

"Make it special," I mused as a huge clap of thunder shacks the windows. I shuddered and wrapped the quilt tighter around me.

"Bella?" I opened my eyes to see the most perfect face in the world. "Come one let's get you to bed."

I smiled tiredly. "I must have gone to sleep."

Edward wrapped his arms around my torso and carried me bridal style to my bed. He pulled the blankets back and then took of my jeans off so I would be more comfortable. Once I was tucked in, Edward climbed in next to me, his hand draping lazily across my belly.

"Are the eyes gone?"

"What eyes, Bella?" Edward asked me shifting his weight just slightly. I could tell that he was trying to look at me.

"The red ones, are they gone? Every night they come."

Edward reached over to shake my shoulder but I was so tired. "Bella what eyes?!"

I closed my eyes to go back to sleep when I remembered that I was to tell Edward something. I shot up like a bullet and turned to look at Edward.

"Bella, I thought you were sleeping."

"I am…was, but I forgot I needed to ask you something."

"Only if you tell me about the red eyes that you saw."

I looked at Edward with confusion. "I don't know. I just thought I saw something the past couple of nights while you were gone. They looked like beady, red eyes. Probably a cat or something," I waved my hand to dismiss it. Edward did not look like he bought my reply but I continued anyways.

I sat up and tucked my knees underneath me. I reached for Edward's hand and placed it on my belly. I looked into his eyes which were now a rich butterscotch color after his hunting trip and smiled softly.

"I love you, Edward and I want to spend the rest of my life with you," I shrugged slightly. "Personally, I would like to spend all of eternity with you, but I know that I never will be able to, so I will take what I can get. I want you to be my baby's daddy. But I also want to marry you."

Edward dropped his hand from mine and looked away from me. I immediately felt tears of rejection start to fill my eyes. I said the words for the first time and laid my life on the line and he turns away.

I stood up and pointed to the window. "Leave. I can see now that this was just a show. A way to pass time or something. All those times that you have told me that you loved me," I shook my head and waited for him to go.

I heard the vibration of his phone and turned my head as he answered. I knew it was pointless to try and listen in. After a few seconds, he stood up and walked over to me. Kissing me gently on the forehead before turning to go out the window.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he whispered. "I need to go but I will be back."

"Don't bother," I said quietly.

I knew that my words would cause him pain, but I didn't care. I heard the window close and then I went to my bed and picked up my pillow, throwing it hard across the room. He said he would love me forever, I laughed at the irony.

Edward's POV:

Bella finally said it, she finally told me "I love you," and did she just ask me to marry her? I turned from her beautiful face and took my hand away from the only other person in the world that makes my dead heart beat to its own drum. Me, a daddy?

This wasn't the way marriage worked, or at least the way I was raised. I am to be asking her, not the other way around. And is raising a child by a monster be in his or hers best interest, let alone a house full of monsters. I squeezed my eyes shut for just a fraction of a second. When I opened them I could see the pain on my Bella's face as she took my actions as rejection.

She stood up and pointed to the window, asking for me to leave. Just as I was standing up, my phone began to vibrate. I reached into my pocket and saw that it was Alice.

"I'm busy," I said quickly and very low.

"I know, you need to come home now, something's going to happen and you will need to make a decision."

"What, Alice?"

"Just come home."

I hung up the phone and slammed it back into my jeans. I walked to my angel and gave her small kiss on the forehead. I could already smell the salty tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Bella," I whispered. "I need to go but I will be back."

"Don't bother," Bella said quietly.

I climbed out the window not wanting her to see how much those two words hurt. I was half way up the street when I could hear something being thrown across her room and then her sobs that I knew were shaking her whole frame.

I busted through the front door of my house, almost taking it off of its hinges.

"This better be good," I roared.

Alice was standing in front of me. "Well, it's about time she finally told you and I am so excited that she asked you to marry her."

I ran my hand through my hair and let out a small growl. "You called me to say how excited you are? I was speechless, Alice. I left Bella hurt and confused. So, either you had a vision and you tell me, or I am going to leave."

"Edward?" Carlisle said from the stairway.

I looked at him and realized that the rest of my family was already in the foyer. I turned my attention back to Alice.

"We are expecting visitors; someone has been tracking Bella for a very long time."

"What? I left Bella alone," I went to turn to go back out the door but my brothers were there to stop me.

"There's more," Alice said.

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes to see her vision.

Dark streets, Bella walking alone, constantly looking over her shoulder, she looked like she was in pain. A man off to the side in a dark alley. His eyes glowing red.

I turned to look at Alice. "The night of the rape."

Alice nodded her head to confirm. "He has been following her since, but staying just out of range. But, Edward, he's not after Bella."

I narrowed my eyes together, "If he is not tracking Bella, then who is he …"

"The baby," Alice said quietly as the whole room became quiet, only in my head could I hear everyone's reactions.

I lowered my head. "When Alice?" I finally said after a couple of minutes.

"I can see Bella giving birth, but as far as a set time frame, I don't know. The birth, that is the baby's decision, not something one of us can make."

"I can induce her," Carlisle said. "Throw the vampire off track. Maybe buy us some time."

I looked to Alice as she checked if that decision would work but all I got in return was a shake of the head.

No bastard is going to get within a hundred mile radius of Bella, Emmett's voice was loud and clear over Rosalie's growls. I nodded my head to let them know I heard.

"What's the plan, then?" Jasper asked putting his hand protectively around Alice's waist. "And can you see why he wants the baby?"

"Not clearly, but I think it has something to do with his mate. As far as a plan, we just need to sit tight and watch Bella. And Edward, you need to make your own decision, because in the end of my vision…"

"NO!!" I said and picked up the chair I was standing next to and threw across the room, coming inches from it going out the glass windows, but still doing enough damage to the walls.

"Alice," Esme said quietly. "Please share with us so we know what we are dealing with."

I looked at Alice, pleading her with my eyes not to.

"Edward will have a choice; one of them will not make it alive."

"There should be no issue, just change Bella," Esme said.

"And subject her to this life, no!" I yelled back and immediately hated myself for doing so after I saw the pain on Esme's face.

"What about the baby?" Rosalie asked. "Do they get the baby, or is it Edward that will need to choose which life is more important?"

Alice locks eyes with me. "I can't see that. The decision hasn't been made. But there is one way to keep them both safe and only Edward can do that. Isn't that right, Edward?"

"It's not my decision to make, Alice," I said with a hiss.

"I think Bella has already made the decision."

I watched as her head filled with my conversation with Bella right before I left and how it ended with Bella on the floor, holding her stomach, crying.

There was only one thing that I could do, that would turn this wrong into a right.

"Keep an eye on Bella and call me if any of your visions change," I said going down the hall toward the garage. "I want everyone to be watching her."

"Where are you going, son?" Carlisle asked.

"Chicago, there is something I need to do."

As I skidded out of the driveway in my Volvo and aimed my car for the East I already regretted my decision to drive. Flying would have been faster, but it would have also been much noisier and right now I needed the quiet. I needed to think, free of everyone else's thoughts.

I replayed Alice's visions in my head from the very first day that she had seen Bella. Alone and scared holding a pregnancy stick in her hand. Seeing her march through the picketers outside the abortion clinic and then when she made her final decision to board a plane and come out here to be with father.

I replayed the vision of us in the meadow that Alice saw me resting my head on Bella's belly, being perfectly at ease and content, just listening to my baby's heartbeat.

My baby.

Something that I thought would never happen, not in my existence. Granted, it wasn't mine, but I felt a connection to him from the beginning.

When I began to see the skyscrapers of Chicago rise in the horizon I lowered my speed just slightly and focused just on the visions.

The vision of Bella holding her child for the first time and with me right next to her.

The vision of Bella and the baby growing older, while I stayed the same.

I slammed my hand against the steering wheel, making a sizeable dent. Not in one of Alice's visions over the last nine months has there been another vampire present. I knew immediately that it was my fault. I brought this vampire to Bella and her baby. I set the trap and the other monster took the bait.

I picked my phone up off the seat and thought about throwing it out the window. Alice has been trying to call me since the second I left the house and each time I have ignored it.

I flipped it open not even bothering with a hello.

"It's not your fault; he has been tracking her since that night. He would have found her regardless of where she is living. If nothing else, Bella and her baby are much better off with you in the picture. Now hurry up and get back home to your family. And I'm not talking about us."

I let the phone drop to the floorboard and pressed hard on the accelerator. There was just one place I needed to go and then I can leave this city, knowing that I will not need to return for a very long time.

Once I had the ring tucked safely in my pocket, I left the bank and headed back for home. I already made my decision and I hope that Alice will get the hint that I needed her help to finish it off.

I took my time getting back home. I knew that Bella was safe and that my family was taking every precaution known to man to keep an eye on her. After stopping to hunt and spend sometime in the isolated Wyoming area I finally made it to the Swan's home. I knew it was late when I saw Charlie step foot on the porch after my headlights flashed through the windows.

Does that boy not know that Bella isn't here?

I chuckled slightly and then got out of the car. "Chief Swan."

"Edward?" Charlie said nodding his head. "Bella is out with your sisters and you mother having some girl time spa thing."

"I know sir," I swallowed hard and took an unnecessary breath. "But I was hoping that you and I could talk."

Charlie nodded and headed back into the house; I followed him in and took a sit on the couch while Charlie sat in his favorite recliner.

At least I can't use my gun on him for knocking my daughter up. I still wish she would tell me who it was. Charlie's eyes kept going back and forth between me and his gun that was hanging up by the front door.

If he only knew!

"As you know, Bella and I have become very close, but what you don't know is that Bella has asked me if I would consider being her baby's father," I stopped to watch for a reaction from Charlie, but his mind was completely clear. "Sir, I was raised to do things in a certain order and I know that we are young, but Bella has already been thrown a bad hand."

I stood up and walked over to the mantel that held the many years of school pictures and I could see Bella grow up in front of my eyes.

By God, please don't tell me you are going to take my little girl away from me. He's a nice kid and all, but still, so young.

I turned to look at Charlie. "If I am to accept what Bella asked of me, which I want to very badly, I need to ask you first, for her hand in marriage. It seems only right for a child to be brought into this world by two people who are deeply in love with each other and have the baby be raised by two parents. Chief Swan, May I have your permission to marry your daughter?"

What do you mean you have grenadine in a bottle? Mind giving me some.

I tried not to laugh as Charlie began to put my words together and come out of his haze and numbness, "No, sir, I am asking if I can marry your daughter."

Charlie stood up and walked over to where I was standing and picked up a picture of Bella. "You know when she six, she came here and told me that one day her Prince Charming was going to come and sweep her off of her feet. I laughed at her of course thinking there was no such person.

"Then when she came here after Christmas with the news of her pregnancy and rape, all I could think of was how will I be able to save my Cinderella and find her, her Prince Charming. Who would have thought that he would come waltzing in on his own?

"But, Edward, marriage is hard, especially with a baby, I ought to know. Are you sure you can handle this, because frankly, if something happens and you leave, I do not see Bella bouncing back."

I looked at the same picture of Bella that Charlie was holding it appeared to be a Halloween custom, dressed in blue, my favorite color, of being Cinderella.

"Sir, I'm not going anywhere, and neither is my family, at least not until we finish school. My biological parents left everything to me so financially I am very secure."

"What about college?"

"There's time for that and like I said, my family will be around. I want to do the right thing. I know that Bella's baby isn't mine, but I have loved Bella since the first time I saw her and every time I feel the baby kick, my heart just wants to burst. I may not have helped create that baby, but I want to help in creating a world that it deserves. A world where they both can be safe and protected.

Charlie shook his head, but no negative thoughts were coming from him. "When were you thinking about …you know...marriage?" His nose wrinkling just a bit at the final word.

I smiled at knowing that I had his acceptance. "The sooner the better, the baby won't wait forever."

Charlie nodded his head and then held out his hand, I took it willingly. "Welcome to the family."

Playing Cinderella
Riding her first bike
Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight
Running through the sprinkler with a big Popsicle grin
Dancing with her dad, looking up at him
In her eyes I'm Prince Charming
But to him I'm just some fella riding in and stealing Cinderella

--Chuck Wicks "Stealing Cinderella"

A/N: Thank you all again for the wonderful reviews!! I hope htat you enjoy this chapter, I think it is by far one of my favorites!!