Chapter 13

Bella POV

That first week back at school was stressful for both of them but it seemed like it was especially hard for Bella. She didn't have morning sickness yet so she thanked the Gods for that but there were certain things that she ate that gave her an upset stomach - she spent a lot of time bonding with the toilet and it wasn't because she was throwing up, understand? Edward tried to be with her as much as he could but, with the busy schedules, it was hard for them. They were both still working - Bella at the library and Edward at the paper - Bella knew that she needed to talk to the library about maybe cutting her hours so she would have less stress but she was putting that off until she absolutely had to. She enjoyed having the freedom that a paying job gave her and she did not want Edward to think that he had to pay for anything for her.

Right when Bella got back from Chicago she called her OB to make an appointment to make sure the baby was healthy. Edward was adamant that he wanted to be there for her so that Friday, instead of doing any of the fun college events that happened every Friday, they were heading to the doctor to see their baby for the first time. Bella took a deep breath as they were heading to the doctor's office, this was just the beginning of how their lives were going to change and she wasn't sure how she felt.

Sitting in the waiting room with women that were in varying stages of pregnancy gave Bella a strange kind of glimpse into her future. She eyed a woman that looked like she could give birth at any moment and prayed, selfishly, that she didn't get that big. She knew it was useless - she would get big and it would be okay - but she didn't want Edward to be disgusted when he looked at her.

"Are you okay?" He whispered in her ear. Bella could tell that he was slightly nervous because he kept running his hands through his hair. There were only a couple other men in the room and she was pretty sure that Edward was getting more scared the longer they sat waiting for her name to be called.

"I think I'm feeling better than you are," she told him. He gave her a small smile before reaching for her hand and giving her a gentle squeeze.

"How are you not nervous?" He asked her, incredulously.

"Oh, I'm nervous, that's for sure but I'm just trying not to think about it."

"How's that working for you?"

"Not real well." They shared a smile right before her name was called by a nurse.

"How are you doing today?" She asked her.

"Okay," she replied. The nurse went through the motions of getting her weight, blood pressure, and then told her to go into the bathroom and pee into the cup that was provided for her so they could check for UTI's. Bella just looked at Edward, and with one last kiss from him, she locked herself in the restroom to relieve herself. The nurse was lucky that Bella seemed to be peeing a lot more lately or otherwise she might not have had the need to fill the cup. She gave the cup to the nurse afterwards and then was led to a small room with two chairs, a desk, and a bed with stirrups. Bella noticed that there was a door on the other side of where they entered, she didn't know why but it gave her a sense of foreboding.

"Have you ever had a pap smear done?" The nurse asked her while looking through her paperwork.

"Yes, when I had my shot reupped the last time, about eleven weeks ago now," she told her.

"Okay, and you're a senior at UW, correct?"

"Yes, majoring in elementary education." She didn't know why she told the nurse that, she was so nervous that she thought she was pretty close to word vomit soon.

"Okay, so I'm going to give you our little goodie bag and then the doctor will be in to do a full work up." Bella swallowed and then nodded her head. The nurse showed her what was in her bag; the pregnancy book What to Expect When You're Expecting, a few brochures about breastfeeding and delivery, a schedule for lamaze classes, and a lot more. She also had to sign a lot of paperwork for when she would deliver, the nurse explained that it was easier to sign now than when she was in the delivery room. After all that craziness she finally left Edward and Bella alone.

"I think they killed, like, three trees for all that paperwork," she told Edward. He gave her a smile, she leaned her head on his shoulder and took a couple deep breaths.

"Are you getting more nervous?"

"I kind of feel like I'm going to throw up now," she said. She swallowed a few times and then drank a couple sips of the water bottle that the nurse had graciously given her.

"It's going to be over soon and then I'm taking you out to your favorite restaurant," he said. She gave him a smile but before they could say or do anything else there was a knock on the door and the doctor entered. She already knew that his name was Dr. Masen, he was slightly taller than her but still shorter than Edward, he had slightly graying hair, and just a small gut. He immediately gave her a comforting presence and the butterflies in her stomach lessened considerably.

"Hello, you must be Isabella Swan." He put his hand out so she reached hers out for a handshake. "I'm Doctor Masen, and you are?" He asked Edward.

"Edward Cullen, the father," he said.

"Good, I love seeing both of the parents coming in. I know this is going to be a really hard time for you two but as long as you support each other then it should make things a tad easier," he said. "So, you ready to see this baby?" He asked her with a grin and a small clap of his hands.

"Yes," she said, quietly.

"Okay, so through that door is our exam room so if you will go in there and then remove your pants and underwear and then cover yourself with the sheet that is folded on the bed I can start the exam. Since this is so early I will have to do an internal exam so it might be uncomfortable but I'll try to make it as quick as possible. I'll knock on the door in a few minutes and you just shout if you're ready," he explained to her. She nodded her head and then went through the mysterious doors with Edward behind her.

The room was about twice as large as the room they were just in. There was another bed with a large chair next to it and on the wall across from the bed was a fairly large flat screen TV. She quickly stripped and gave Edward her clothes, she placed the sheet so it was covering her and then proceeded to wait for the doctor to come back in.

"It's going to be okay, Bella, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," he told her. Bella leaned over to give Edward a kiss so he could see how much his presence was helping her. She knew that she would be a wreck emotionally if he wasn't here with her.

It was just a few more moments before the knock came and she told him to come in. He immediately got to work, he explained what he was doing while he checked her out, then before she knew it he was getting the magic wand out that would help her see her baby.

"You guys ready for this?" He asked with a giant smile on his face. Bella looked over at Edward and they squeezed each other's hands in support, they were more than ready for this moment. She nodded her head at the doctor before he got to work and started searching for the baby. Edward and her could see what he was doing on the large TV and just when she was starting to get nervous the doctor paused where he was. "There's your little baby." Bella couldn't really see a baby form, all she saw was a little blob in the middle of the screen.

"Is that blob the baby?" She asked.

"Yes, that's the head," he pointed out. She felt tears gathering in the corners of her eyes and when she looked over at Edward she was surprised to see him in the same predicament as her.

The doctor messed around with a few more buttons and then looked back over at them. "Want to hear something?" They nodded their heads and then a loud whooshing sound came over the room.

"Is that…?" Bella couldn't even speak through the tears that were threatening to fall.

"It's your baby's heartbeat." The tears that she was fighting won the battle and soon she felt like a blubbering mess. Edward leaned over her and gave her a large kiss that she felt in her toes. She felt his fear, anxiety, and happiness in that one kiss.

"We're going to have a baby," he whispered to her. She just smiled through her tears and when the doctor asked if they wanted pictures she didn't hesitate before saying yes. She never wanted to forget this day.

~LCA~

Lunch was surreal. That's the only word Bella could think of to describe their outing. It wasn't that the lunch was bad or awkward in any way, it was just very strange knowing that there was an actual human being inside of her. Before the appointment it really didn't seem like it was real but now...it was as real as it was going to get before the baby got there.

"How are you holding up?" She asked Edward. He wasn't acting any different but she knew that if anyone was going to hold back his feelings to protect her and not stress her out it was going to be Edward Cullen.

"I'm great," he told her. She just narrowed her eyes and didn't say anything for a few moments until he dropped his fork on his plate and placed his head in his hands. "I'm scared to fucking death," he whispered.

"Baby," she muttered. She moved so she was sitting in the booth right next to him and rubbed his back.

"I don't want you to think that I'm going to leave you or anything like that so I didn't want to tell you how terrifying this is for me," he explained.

"Edward, you are not the only one that's scared right now. I'm petrified but I know that as long as I have you that we are going to be able to get through this." She pulled his hands away from his face so she could clearly see his eyes and was glad to see some of the anguish that had plagued him was lessening.

"Bella, have I told you lately how much I love you?" He reached up so he was cupping her face in between his palms.

"Not for like an hour," she joked with him.

He just smiled at her and leaned forward so they could share a quick but passionate kiss. "I love you so much and I am very happy that we are starting a family together," he told her.

"Me too." She was glad that he was with her and out of all the men that she'd been with that she was always going to have a small piece of Edward with her.

~LCA~

Edward walked with her up to the apartment that she still shared with Alice. She knew that she was going to either have to move soon or have Edward come live with her but she really wanted to put that thought out of her head for the moment. It was hard to do with the ultrasound burning a hole in her back pocket but she tried nonetheless.

"Alice? I'm home," Bella called out when they entered. No other sound greeted them so Bella knew that the two of them were alone. Bella grabbed two waters out of the fridge before leading the way to the couch and plopping down with a loud groan. She took out the ultrasound and placed it on the coffee table in front of them so she could remember why she was so stressed and tired.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked her as he sat down next to her.

"I'm just already so tired but there's so much to do. I don't know how I'm going to handle the rest of the pregnancy and classes. And there's still so much for us to go over before this baby gets here - which I know isn't for, like, seven or eight months - but it'll be here before we know it."

"Alright, so what do you want to go over first?" Edward asked her.

"Well, the most simple question is; boy or girl? Which one do you want?" She didn't know how she never asked him that but once she thought about it at lunch she was curious to know what Edward wanted.

"I don't know, I guess when you first told me and I started to get more used to the idea I picture us having a little girl. One that looks just like her momma," he told her. "What about you?"

"I picture a little boy. With bronze colored hair and bright green eyes," she said.

"Well, I'm betting that at least one of us is going to be right," he joked with her.

She laughed with him while she thought of the next question or issue that they needed to talk about. "Living arrangements; what do you want to do?"

"Well, I was thinking that since both of us have two bedroom apartments that all we need to do is talk to Alice and Jasper and see which one would be willing to move in with the other. I know Jasper was planning to ask Alice after graduation so it shouldn't be too much of a shock for either of them. And then whenever you get your first confirmed teaching position we'll see if we need to move any closer to your school," he told her.

"Yeah, it sounds-" She was cut off by the sound of Alice and Jasper coming through the front door.

They hesitated when they sensed the light tension that was in the room. "Are we interrupting something?" Alice asked.

"It's okay," Bella told her.

Alice came over to sit in the armchair next to Bella and reached out a hand to place on her knee. "Are you sure? It feels like you've been hiding something from me but all I want to know is if you're okay or if I need to kick somebody's ass." She looked pointedly at Edward who just laughed and raised his arms up above his head in surrender.

"I didn't do anything, Alice."

"Everything's fine," Bella told her. She didn't know exactly how Alice would react to the pregnancy news so she was keeping it to herself for now, she had a feeling that Alice was either going to be saddened or overjoyed by the news.

Alice gave Bella's knee a supporting pat before standing up. She was just about to walk back to Jasper when she froze where she was standing with a look of pure shock on her face.

"What's wrong, Alice?" Bella didn't know what to think as she looked at Alice, who wasn't moving. Bella followed her eyesight and saw what she was looking at. She'd taken out the ultrasound earlier and placed it on the coffee table and completely forgot about it - thanks, pregnancy brain.

Bella looked over at Edward who looked just as surprised as she felt. She didn't know how both of them forgot about it, they must've been too distracted talking about the baby and their living arrangements.

"Alice?" Jasper asked.

Alice ignored him and turned her attention to Bella.

"Are you pregnant?" Jasper's eyes got wide when he heard her and looked at Edward with a similar expression as Alice's.

"Yeah," she whispered. It took a few moments for the shock to fade away but when it did Bella threw her hands up to cover her ears.

"OH MY GOD!" She screamed. She pulled Bella into a tight but gentle hug while Jasper went over to Edward to give him one of those man hugs where he patted him a couple times on the back. "Is that why you've been so quiet lately?"

"Yeah, we found out at the hospital in Chicago," Bella said.

"That's wonderful! You two are going to make the cutest babies. I'm going to be an aunt!" She screamed the last part again. Bella just laughed at her enthusiasm before she leaned into Edward's side, Alice's energy could be entertaining but a little frightening at the same time.

"Have you told your parents yet?" Jasper asked them.

"Just Rosalie and her boyfriend, Emmett," Edward said.

"We're telling our families when we go to see them in a couple weeks for Thanksgiving. Hopefully the holiday will put everyone in a joyous mood," Bella said.

"They're going to be happy for you two. At least you guys are seniors in college and not in high school. You're going to graduate and going to be kickass parents at the same time," Alice told them. Bella just gave her a smile, it was nice to hear someone that wasn't Edward telling her that she could do this. Edward was kind of obligated to say nice things to her but, as she looked into his eyes, she knew that he meant every word.

With all of the love that was in this room she knew that no matter what happened they would be able to conquer the world together.

A/N: I love reading your reviews so keep them coming. As always, stay SAFE, stay HEALTHY. And thank you to all my devoted readers that keep coming back for more, it means more than you could ever know that you guys enjoy my writing.

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