Chapter 15

Bella POV

Bella could tell that Edward was nervous about meeting her family, he kept running his hands through his hair and bouncing his leg up and down. She had to insist that she drive since she was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to focus on the task at hand.

"Edward, it's your time to calm down," she told him. He just gave her a disgruntled look before resuming his nervous leg bouncing.

"Bella, at least when we told my family my father didn't have a collection of guns that he could easily turn on me," he told her.

"My dad always has his service weapon put up and his other guns are in a safe in the garage. If I see him go towards any of them I will stop him, he wouldn't want my baby to grow up without a father," she said, reassuringly. At least she tried to be reassuring, she didn't think he was able to process anything that she was saying.

"Your father will hate me, the first time I'm meeting him and we're going to be telling him that you're pregnant. He's going to think I defiled you or something," Edward muttered to himself.

"Edward, no matter what my dad thinks I wasn't the innocent little girl that he always thought I was. He'll be shocked at first but I really hope that he ends up accepting it just like your family did."

"You hope?" Edward asked her.

"Yes, I don't think any dad would be happy to hear that their college aged child is knocked up with a guy that they don't even know. I would much rather have had the two of you meet before this but I don't want him to somehow find out from someone that's not me. This isn't ideal but my dad loves me and I really think that he'll find this to be a good thing."

She couldn't let Edward know but, she was just as nervous as he was...maybe more. She was trying to make sure Edward knew that her dad was going to be fine with this once he got used to this idea but she couldn't say the same about her mom. Her mom was a great friend to her growing up but that's exactly what she was...a friend. She never really acted like a mom, she never thought it was really a bad thing until she met Esme and saw how much she went above and beyond making sure that her family was okay. Bella couldn't remember the last time that her mom had a home cooked meal for her and her father, she was always the chef. Bella had to force herself to swallow down the anxiety so she could focus on calming Edward down, she couldn't let him figure out how nervous she was - it could only add to the strain.

Too soon they pulled up to the small house that she had spent her childhood in. It was considerably smaller and older than Edward's house, it had two stories and a small garage to the side. She pulled up outside the garage and waited a few seconds for her heart to calm down and for her palms to stop sweating.

"You're just as nervous as I am, aren't you?" Edward asked her after a few moments passed and she was still not moving.

She couldn't lie to him. "Yes," she whispered.

"Remember no matter what happens in that house I will always be here and will do everything I can to protect you two. You two are the most important people to me and I would do anything to make you happy," he told her. She gave him a watery smile before leaning across the center console and giving him a long kiss that told him how happy she was to have his support.

She took a deep breath and then opened the car door. Unlike at Edward's house no one came out to greet Bella, Edward helped grab their bags and she led him up the stairs and opened the door.

"Hello?" She shouted into the quiet house.

"Bella, is that you?" She heard her dad ask from the direction of the living room.

"Yeah, Dad, it's me," she said. She always wondered why he asked if it was her at the door, he always did that when she was younger, since he was the police chief she highly doubted that anyone would come breaking into their house. She motioned for Edward to follow her and then went to the living room.

"There's my baby girl," Charlie said. He slowly got up from the couch and came over to her to pull her into his arms. When she was in his arms it always made her feel better, she felt her heart rate come down just breathing in his unique scent.

"Where's Mom?" She asked when she pulled away from him.

"She went to the store to grab a couple items from the list you texted her. Who is this?" He asked while looking at Edward.

"Dad, this is Edward Cullen, my boyfriend; Edward, this is my father, Charlie Swan," she introduced.

"It's great to finally meet you, Mr. Swan, your daughter's told me a lot about you," Edward said. He reached out his hand, Bella was happy when her father accepted his handshake.

"It's good to meet you, Edward. How long have you and my daughter known each other?" Let the interrogation begin, Bella thought.

"I've known her since the beginning of college - our best friends have been dating each other pretty much since Freshman year so we've crossed paths quite a bit but I didn't get the guts up to ask her out until the beginning of this year. I don't think I could handle the regret of missing out on spending more time with her, you have an amazing daughter, sir," Edward said.

Charlie gave Edward a brief smile. "Well, thank you for saying that, Edward." He motioned for the two of them to sit down and then chose the armchair across from the couch to continue his interview. "What are you studying?"

"I'm majoring in American Literature, I want to be a writer."

"So, you must like to read? That's good since my little girl has probably read every book that's ever been published. When she was a child there would be days where I wouldn't see her and she would be stuck in her room with a book, she never cared about going outside or playing with friends. She was simply content to sit in her bed with a book." Bella rolled her eyes but felt a small blush cover her cheeks, she loved that her dad remembered things like that from when she was little.

"Even now, I think she has more books in her apartment than anything else," Edward joked. He gave her hand a squeeze which she returned. She would gladly be the center of attention if it meant that the two of them would get along.

"So, what do your parents do?"

"My father, Carlisle, is the Chief of Surgery at Chicago Medical Center and my mother, Esme, owns her own interior design company which is based out of Chicago."

"You also have a sister, correct?" Charlie only knew little things about Rosalie since Bella had told him when they went to Chicago after her car accident.

"Yes, she's a year older than me. She just graduated from college and is now pursuing a career in Social Work."

"Well, it sure sounds like you have a very exemplary family, Edward."

"Thank you, sir."

"Call me Charlie, son." Bella had to hold back a squeal when she heard him say that to her boyfriend. It meant that he approved of him and that went a long way for what they were about to tell him. Before they could talk about anything else the door opened and her mom came through.

"Bella, honey, I'm so glad you're finally home." Renee called out as she went to the kitchen to set down the bags. After a few moments of silence she came back into the living room to pull Bella into a hug.

"Mom, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my mom, Renee."

They shook hands before Renee looked back to Bella with wide eyes. "You sure got yourself a keeper, honey." She laughed. Bella softly chuckled to herself at Edward's scared eyes, her mom could be a little bit of a flirt but that was just her personality. She had no qualms with commenting on other people's appearances or telling her child who she found attractive. Bella wondered when she was younger if her mom had ever had an affair but the relationship between her parents never faltered and she could never find the right moment to ask such a question.

They spent the rest of the night talking about Bella's visit with the Cullen's and getting to know Edward. Since the next day was Thanksgiving Bella had to excuse herself quite early since she knew that she would have to be up early to start the turkey.

"Edward, I put blankets and an extra pillow on the couch for you," Charlie told him. Bella rolled her eyes but she'd already known that he was going to do that. Edward just smiled at her father before going to the living room to get his bed ready.

"Why can't Edward just sleep in my room? It's not like we'd try anything," Bella told her parents. The couch was fairly small and she knew that Edward wouldn't be able to fit on it comfortably, she was just glad that he didn't utter one word of complaint.

"Because you two aren't married and while you're under my roof I don't want anything even close to funny business," Charlie warned. "Remember what I said, I can hear if either of you try to sneak past me tonight." Bella just rolled her eyes before nodding her head in agreement.

This week was going to be a long one without the option of sleeping in Edward's arms.

~LCA~

Bella woke up to her alarm clock at four thirty the next morning. She groaned but went to take a shower, this was the seventh straight year that she would be cooking such a large meal for her family. She'd started when she was fifteen and she couldn't handle another year with a dried out turkey, lumpy mashed potatoes, and burnt yams.

When she made it downstairs she went straight to Edward who was stretched out in what looked to her like a very uncomfortable position. She laid on top of him and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, he began to move around but it took a couple moments for him to open his eyes.

"What time is it?" He groaned.

"Five." She laughed when he just raised his eyebrows to her in shock.

"The sun's not even up yet, woman. Why the hell are you?" He asked her, teasingly.

"Every year I get up this early so the food will be ready by two. You can go back to sleep, I just wanted to say 'hi' to you since I wasn't able to spend last night in your arms."

"How'd you sleep?" He brushed the stray hairs that had escaped from her messy ponytail away from her face.

"Not good, I've been too spoiled by sleeping with you every night. I don't know how I'm going to last this week being so far apart from you," she told him.

"Me too, love. It was hard sleeping without you next to me but I don't want to incur your dad's wrath so I forced myself to stay down here," he said.

"Good for you." She gave him another kiss and then went to the kitchen to begin her day. She was surprised when he followed her and sat down at the table with a disgruntled look on his face.

"Baby, you don't have to be in here with me. You can go back to sleep," she told him again. When he just shook his head she sighed in defeat. "You know where the bathroom is. Why don't you take a shower and I'll make sure that I have a pot of coffee waiting for you when you're done?"

"Mmmm, I think I might just marry you," he whispered to her. She blushed before watching him go up the stairs, once he was out of sight she quickly shook her head and focused on the tasks that were in front of her. She got her apron on and started her work.

About fifteen minutes later Edward came down the stairs, he looked relatively more awake then he had before his shower. She handed him his coffee and, with another kiss, he sat at the table and watched her walk around the kitchen.

"Can I help you with anything?" He asked when he was done with his cup.

"It's fine, I've got it all under control," she told him.

"Baby, please, let me help you with something. This seems like a lot of work for just one person to do in eight hours," he said. She reluctantly agreed and pointed some things out that he could help her with, she had to admit that it was nice to have a helping hand in the kitchen rather than just doing it all by herself.

When Charlie and Renee came down the stairs at about eight they seemed shocked when they saw Edward wearing an apron and rolling the dough that would be used to make the pie. They didn't say anything but shared a look with each other that spoke volumes, Bella knew that the longer they spent time with Edward they would see what an amazing man he really was.

For once Bella wasn't stressing about getting the food on the table by two, she was even ahead of schedule with the extra set of hands so she had time to eat something for lunch. Edward had to pull her away from the food so she could feed herself, she loved that he seemed to care about her so much.

They got back to dinner and, once two o'clock came around, she yelled for Charlie and Renee to join them at the table.

"Smells great, sweetie," Renee told her. Charlie just gave her a quick smile before sitting down and digging into the food that was around them. Conversation during the meal was a lot different than it was when she was at the Cullen's; it seemed like the Cullen's constantly talked about how their days had gone and what they were supposed to be doing the next day, Bella didn't realize how nice that was until she sat down at this table with her parents and the only sound that could be heard was the silverware scraping against the plates.

"Mom, Dad, there is something that I was wanting to tell you," Bella said after they finished the pie - again, in silence. Edward reached under the table to grab her hand so she would know that he was there for her.

"What is it, dear?" Her mom asked her.

"Umm…" Bella couldn't get the words out, she felt like her throat closed up and she couldn't breathe.

Her dad narrowed his eyes at her. "You're not pregnant, are you?" He asked, quietly.

"Charlie, Bella knows better than that. She would never be that irresponsible," Renee said while shaking her head. "What did you need to tell us?"

Bella knew that her heart had skipped a beat at her mom's reaction to what Charlie said, this could not end well. She took a deep breath, looked at Edward, and then turned her attention back to her parents who were supposed to support her in whatever she wanted to do with her life.

"Dad's right, I'm pregnant," she whispered. She watched her dad as she said this, his face changed colors from pale, to red, to purple, and then back to normal. It was so silent in the kitchen that Bella started counting in her head, she got to 160 before anyone said anything.

"How could you do that, Bella?" Renee asked her in a shocked tone. Charlie just kept his attention on his daughter, she was beginning to get really confused at his inquisitive stare.

"What are you talking about, Mom?"

"Please tell me that you are giving the baby up for adoption," Renee pleaded.

"No, Edward and I are going to keep him or her." Bella was unsure about a lot of things in her life but that was definitely not one of them.

"How are you going to do that? Your job at the library surely isn't going to cover all the costs that the baby is going to need. And what are you going to do, Edward? You're an editor on a school paper, that will not be enough to make sure that baby is well taken care of. You two are going to ruin your lives and the life of your unborn baby if you keep it," Renee said.

Bella had to swallow down her anger. She had to keep telling herself that her mom thought she was doing the right thing in order to protect her child. It was the same feeling she had the first time she saw her own baby on that ultrasound, she would do whatever she could to make sure that her baby had a great life with her and Edward.

"Mom, Edward and I have already thought everything through. Once I graduate I'll start looking for teaching positions around Seattle and Edward will be sending his manuscript to some publishing companies, if those don't pan out then we have other options. We know what we're doing," Bella said. Her and Edward had spent many nights going over their options for when they graduated, if worse came to worst and they weren't able to support themselves than Carlisle and Esme had already offered to help them until they got back on their feet. It wasn't the best case scenario but Bella would make sure that she exercised all their offers before resorting to that last one.

"Bella, you're being hormonal. You need to think this through all the way, I'll find a lawyer for you on Monday and then we'll start the process of finding suitable parents for your child, or you could go the easier way and just get rid of the problem all together," Renee said. She started to get up from the table and grabbed some of the plates that were empty.

"Did you really just tell me to abort my own baby? Your grandchild?" Bella was baffled. This wasn't the reaction that she had been expecting.

"Bella, it's the right call. If you don't do it then you're just going to end up resenting the baby for killing your dreams and leaving you to work a dead end job-"

Charlie interrupted her. "Renee, do not put your feelings onto our daughter. We may not be particularly happy about this situation but it sounds like they've thought everything through. Edward seems like a fine young man; you'll take care of your family, won't you, Edward?" Charlie asked Edward.

"Yes, sir," Edward said with no hesitation.

"See, Renee, our daughter has made up her mind and you should know more than anyone how stubborn she can be. Once her mind is made up there is nothing we could do or say that would change it." He looked over to Bella, she saw his eyes soften when he saw the tears that she was fighting to not fall. "Baby girl, you are an adult and if this is what you want to do then I will support you 100%. Now, can you two give us a couple moments so I can talk to your mom?" He asked.

Edward pulled her up from her chair and led her to her bedroom at the end of the hall upstairs. Once she sat on the bed the tears that she had been fighting won the battle and she was a blubbering mess.

"How could she say something like that?" Bella cried to Edward. She didn't know if she would ever be able to forget that her mom wanted her to abort her own baby.

"She was just shocked, love. Give her some time and she'll come around," Edward said. She could hear the slight hesitation in his voice, he almost didn't believe what he was telling her.

"Dad was shocked, too, but he took the news better than she did."

Edward just pulled her to him and let her ruin his shirt with her tears. She cried for what seemed like forever, her throat was sore and her eyes were sure to be red by the time she finally stopped. Once she began to calm down Edward pulled her away so he could look her in the eyes.

"Bella, love, I will always be here for you and our baby. I will never let a day go by that I don't tell you how much I love you and our baby, you are truly the love of my life and I will do everything I can to protect the two of you. If I knew you would say yes I would take you to Vegas tonight so I could tell everyone that you're mine, forever. I love you, baby," he told her. She gave him a watery smile and gave him a kiss that promised forever.

"Edward." They turned their heads to see Charlie leaning against the doorframe with tears in his eyes. He came through the door and stopped with his hand on Edward's shoulder. "I am glad that my daughter has you in her life. You seem like a stand up kind of guy and I am proud to have you be part of our little family." He then knelt next to his daughter, Bella noticed a couple tears leak out of his eyes that he quickly brushed away. "Bella, there has not been a day that's gone by that I haven't been proud of you and the woman that you've become. You are going to be a great mother and an amazing teacher, I can't wait to watch you become a mom to a little boy or girl.

"It will take some time but your mom will come around to the idea. You know that she made sure to always tell you to wait until you were married to have children, she never wanted you to be forced into marriage with someone that you didn't want to be with. She wanted to make sure that you never made the same 'mistakes' that she made when she was younger."

"Daddy, you weren't a mistake. You are the best dad I could've ever asked for," Bella whispered.

"I know, I tried my best but you never know if you make the right choices until your child is grown up. You are the greatest accomplishment of my life and I wouldn't want it any other way. Your mom and I were forced into marriage when her parents found out she was pregnant with you, they would've cut her off otherwise and she didn't want that. I'm telling you this so you know that she wasn't mad at you, she's just trying to sort through some things and it's going to take a while. No matter what, I want you to know that your mother and I love you so much and are very proud of you," he finished.

She leaned towards him and pulled him into a hug that spoke volumes. She sobbed into his shoulder while he rubbed her back and made calming noises in her ear. When she calmed down enough to pull away from him he wiped her tears and gave her a smile.

"I think I'm supposed to ask you how far along you are," Charlie joked.

Bella gave him a small smile. "Almost ten weeks," she whispered.

Edward placed something in her hand and when she looked down she saw the sonogram that she'd been carrying around in her purse ever since the nurse had given it to them. She gave him another smile before placing it gently in her father's hands.

"This is your first grandchild," she told him.

"Wow," he murmured to himself while he traced the black spot in awe. "He or she is beautiful."

"Thanks."

Charlie stayed up with them trying to figure out everything he could about the baby until he left them alone to go talk to her mom again. Bella just had to hold out hope that her mom would change her feelings and accept her daughter's choices.

The next morning, however, when Renee came down the stairs to find Bella cooking breakfast she just shook her head and left in her car. Charlie called her only to find out that she'd gone to the local diner for breakfast instead of spending the morning with her daughter. Bella knew then what she had to do.

She didn't want to spend the rest of the break trying to avoid conversation with her mom so, after another long talk with her father, her and Edward decided to go back to school earlier than planned.

After they ate lunch Bella hugged her dad goodbye and gave him a letter that she was hoping that her mom would read one day. She promised that she would keep her dad in the loop about her pregnancy and then her and Edward were on their way. Bella cried for a majority of the ride back to school but by the time they pulled up to her apartment she was determined that she wasn't going to let her mom ruin any more of their holiday.

After sending a text to her dad to tell him that they arrived okay Edward and Bella fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Renee wasn't excited about the announcement but Charlie is coming around to the idea. There's a lot more explained about Charlie and Renee as parents in this chapter. I hope that there's no disappointment in this chapter. I want to make a point to say that abortion is a very sensitve topic and I do not judge those that have made that tough decision. Thank you for your reviews, I love reading all the positive feedback!

Thank you!