Hello again. Sorry for such a short chapter. I left you guys waiting and then gave you a chapter that only had 1k words. Hope you enjoy this new chapter. I had a fun time writing it!

Chapter 9 February

Edward POV

An almost two hour drive with a three year old is probably one of the scariest things I have ever been though. I knew Bella was nervous but I wanted to give the kid the benefit of the doubt and man was I wrong.

He was great the first 30 minutes. We sang some songs and he read his book about ant eaters and even had about 10 minutes of silence while he watched the trees go by. Then he wanted a snack, thank god Bella had though to pack some in his bag. Then he needed to go potty but when we got inside he wanted just about everything in the store. "Honey come on. Bathroom first then we can get something" Bella told him pulling him to the bathroom. He stopped and looked at me. "Wait Mama. I wanna go with Eddie" he whined walking over to me. "I is boy mama. I can't go to girls potty" he said wrinkling his nose. Me and Bella both couldn't help but laugh at his face. I looked to Bella and she nodded her head waving her hand to the bathroom. "Come big man. Let's get this done and get on the road" I picked him up and walked to the mens bathroom. Once he was done with his business I placed him on my knee and helped him wash his hands. We had to sing happy birthday twice before he was satisfied with his job giving me a wide smile. "Thanks Eddie". Bella was outside waiting for us and gave me her breath take smile. I moved Oliver over to my right hip so I could take Bella's hand. We walked though the store and let Ollie pick out a few things before we finally got back on the road.

He was happy and content with his new snacks till he grew bored with that. And then the "are we there yet" started and he about killed us with that one. I've never seen Bella get upset but she definitely snapped at both me and Oliver. I wasn't upset at her because I knew she was just stressed. The traffic in Seattle makes her really uncomfortable and pair that with a upset toddler just pushed her over the edge a little bit. I put my hand on her thigh rubbing her leg with my thumb. She shot me a nervous but apologetic smile and leaned back in her seat taking a deep breath.

Me and Bella both breathed a sigh of relief when we pulled into the parking lot of the zoo. Oliver's feet kicked against the back of my seat as he let out an excited squeal that even put Alice to shame. "Mama! We is here!" Bella laughed at her little boy giving him one of her biggest smiles. "We're finally here. You need to say thank you to Eddie for being us here" a pink tint came over my cheeks as both Bella and Oliver gave me hugs and kisses telling me thank you. "Come on you two. We have ant eaters to find"

We walked up to the front. Bella was holding Oliver's hand who was bouncing around on his feet excited to go see the animals. "I need two adults and one child please" the older lady at the booth smiled her eyes bright watching Oliver and Bella. She handed me the three tickets. "Here you go sir. I must say you have a beautiful family" my smile grew looking back at Bella and Ollie. "Thank you. I'm pretty proud of them" we gave her our thanks and headed into the busy zoo.

By the time it was 2 o'clock we had only seen half of the animals and we didn't even ride the train yet. We stopped at a little cafe to have some lunch as Oliver was hungry, once again and was begging for chicken nuggets.

"Eddie did you see how big that lion was" Oliver said with a mouth full of food. Bella asked him to chew all of his food before taking. He gave her a sheepish grin before turning back to me waiting for my answer and hanging onto my every word. "They were very big. Kinda scary though" he nodded his head and put his hand on my upper arm. "Don't worry Eddie. Me protect you from the mean lions" I kissed his cheek. Feeling so much love pour out of me for this little boy. I didn't care if he was not biological mine, he was Bella's and that was more then enough for me. How someone could be so loving and perfect was beyond me. I met Bella's eyes from across the table and the love in her eyes for both of us blew me away. I wanted to reach across the table and kiss the hell out of her after I told her how beautiful she was and how much I loved her.

The sun was starting to beat down on our table so we cleaned up our mess and headed to find more animals. We went to the petting zoo and I left Bella and Oliver to go inside the fence, while I went and bought a bag of food for the goats and surprisingly a few pigs. When I found them again Bella was bent down by Oliver who was clinging to Bella for dear life. "Hey, hey. What happen to my birthday boy" I asked him. As soon as he heard my voice his head popped up from Bella's shoulder and he reached out to me. I handed Bella the food and scooped him up in my arms holding his close and patting his back. "You wanna tell me why you are so upset little man?" He shrugged clearly not wanting to talk. I looked to Bella and she looked just as lost as I was. "Do you want to go home? Just say the word and we will go" he shook his head and pulled it from my neck. "No I want to stay. Where did you go Eddie? You were gone" Bella sighed and gave me a tight smile. "I didn't leave Ollie. I went to get some food so you can feed the animals!" He thought I left him. I would never leave him. They were both stuck with me. Forever.

After his little melt down he perked up and wanted to feed the animals. But he wanted me to stay holding him. I would gladly do that for him. I would hold him for the rest of his life if he wanted me too.

Surprisingly, He grew bored of the goats and pigs pretty quickly so we moved onto the animals that were inside as it was getting cold out but with the sun beating down it was being to feel warm especially when we all had our coats on.

Inside was all the snakes and other reptiles. Oliver loved them all and asked Bella to read him each sign that told you about the snake. He was very pleased with the Python and how big it was. Of course his next question was if we could get one.

Bella was telling Oliver how much his Papa loved the spiders and got Ollie to stand next to Charlie's favorite one and take a picture.

We got to see a zoo keeper take one of the snakes out and let the kids hold it and surprisingly Oliver wanted to hold it but he asked me to stay by him while he did it. "I is not scared Eddie" he said while he was rolling on the balls of his feet trying to wait his turn. Once we got up to the front he held the snake with no hesitation. And had the biggest smile on his face. Bella was snapping pictures of the both of us with her own breath taking smile.

It was already almost five when we found the ant eaters. Oliver was starting to get tried and had either me or Bella holding him the rest of the way. Me and Bella were both getting worried that he wouldn't make it to the light show. But that was fine we can come back another time when he's older and didn't get as tried so fast.

Of course as soon as he saw the ant eaters he quickly wiggled out of my arms and pressed himself against the glass. He didn't say a word just took it all in. He was living his dream and it was such an amazing thing to watch. Bella grabbed my hand and wrapped her other hand around my upper arm laying her head on my shoulder. "I wonder what's going though his head?" I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. "Who knows. The only thing I know is I wish I could experience it too" she nodded kissing my shoulder and just watched our boy with his love for animals.

We didn't stay much longer after that. On our walk to the birds we saw that Oliver had fallen asleep on my shoulder. Bella snapped a picture showing it to me and I had to laugh. His cheeks were tinted pink and his mouth was open from his cheek pushing against me. The kid was knocked out cold. So we took the chance and quickly made it to the car hoping to get him to sleep the hour drive and maybe beat the rush hour traffic.

The drive went perfectly. Thankfully someone was looking out for us and Oliver slept the whole drive home. Which gave me and Bella 58 minutes of uninterrupted time together to talk and just be in each other's presence. I never knew I could be this happy and feel so content. I feel like I have my own family and I love it. Who knows where I would be right now if I didn't have Bella and Oliver in my life. They have both very quickly become my everything.

Sorry again for the last up load. I suck at this. :-/