I'm thinking maplestyle's comment in the original doc just about sums this up, so...

It's going down, I'm yelling timber *hides*

fever dream

14

The next morning, after dropping Fi at school, Jameson and I meet Edward at the doctor's office.

I'm unexpectedly nervous, my heart beating too fast when I walk across the parking lot with Jameson's hand wrapped in mine and spot Edward leaning against the pillar by the entrance.

He's tall and tan and the epitome of sin in human form; leather jacket, white tee, dark-wash jeans…

And a boyish, excited grin that makes me wish I'd thought to ask Carmen to watch Jameson.

Pregnancy hormones—making it next-to impossible to look at Edward and not jump his bones.

"Unc-Ed!"

Jameson yanks his hand from mine and runs full-speed into Edward's legs with all the gusto of a little boy who's missed his buddy, and like always, Edward is only too happy to indulge him.

Scooping Jameson up into his arms, he props him on his hip and ambles slowly in my direction, helping to close the gap. The temptation to kiss that smile off his face bubbles to the surface; the smirk he flashes me lets me know he knows it, too.

"Hey, buddy! I've missed you. Have you been good?"

Glancing quickly at me over his shoulder, Jameson nods. "Color. JJ color?"

Edward laughs, gently knocking his forehead against Jameson's. "After we go see the doctor, okay? You can color me in after."

He's not happy about it, but Jameson grunts his agreement and waits patiently while I check in. He hangs out with Edward in the waiting area when I step out to get my height and weight checked, and then he flops onto the chair in the sonogram room when Dr. Gerandy finally calls us back.

"Mama, snack," he whines mournfully, bored and not at all impressed by the selection of snacks I offer from my purse.

Edward lifts him off the seat, sitting down and plopping him on his knee. "We'll grab some better snacks when we go, buddy, don't worry."

I'm still smiling at the way Jameson gleefully offers his fist to Edward for a bump when Dr. Gerandy presses the doppler against my belly, my leggings rolled down and t-shirt folded up.

The visible flicker of the baby's heartbeat on the screen overwhelms me for a moment, but when I look over at Edward, the sheer awe painting his face as he stares at the baby bobbing around on the wall-mounted screen, I'm overwhelmed for a different reason.

This situation couldn't be less ideal; my divorce from his brother isn't final yet, we still haven't told our family, and we're three months pregnant.

But when we step out into the sunshine a little while later, Edward clutching the sonogram picture so tight I'm a little worried he's going to tear it, I choose to push all that to the side and just...enjoy this moment.

~ fd ~

Nothing lasts forever though.

The carefully constructed castle of lies we've been propping up for months now starts to collapse later that week.

Em and Rose decide to throw a party for Henry's fourth birthday, so we're all over there when the shit hits the fan.

"Drink, Mama! Please," Jameson adds quickly, goofy grin and all.

"One second, baby," I tell him, looking around for Fi; she's nowhere to be seen, probably playing with her cousins in the other room. "Mama just needs to go to the bathroom real quick."

"I got it," Edward murmurs with a grin, sweeping past me to scoop Jameson up onto his shoulders. "C'mon, buddy. Juice or water?"

Patting Edward's head, Jameson shouts the latter and earns himself a chuckled "well done" as he's carried toward the kitchen, leaving me free to finally escape to the bathroom to pee. My bladder is screaming at me but Jameson was being so good, so engrossed in the game of Chutes and Ladders we were playing with some of his cousins, that I couldn't bear to disturb him.

Only, as soon as I wipe and catch a glimpse of the red on the tissue, thoughts of Chutes and Ladders fly out of the window.

Looking down at my pants pooled around my ankles I realize it isn't just a little, either, and suddenly I can't think of anything but the baby and getting to the hospital.

Snatching a pad from the little stack of drawers next to the toilet, I clean myself up with trembling hands before rushing in search of Edward. I find him still in the kitchen, Jameson sitting on the island counter chugging his water while Edward chats with his parents, Rose, Alice, and Riley.

The fear flooding my brain doesn't allow me to process what any of them are saying, I just need to get Edward's attention—

"Baby!" Jameson suddenly screeches around his sippy cup straw, wiggling along the counter until he can point at the sonogram on the fridge. It's Vera, but my blood runs cold when I realize he's putting two and two together and getting four hundred. Spotting me frozen in the doorway, Jameson points at me.

Or, more specifically, my belly.

"Baby, Mama! Baby!"

Wide-eyed, I'm too twisted up inside to be able to think, let alone speak.

I can feel everyone's eyes on me. Of course he'd choose this moment to say the word 'baby' after we spent the whole of Rose's pregnancy with Vera trying to coach him on it.

Carlisle and Esme, Rose and Alice, Edward, Riley…

"Bella, are you pregnant?" Alice finally squeals. Turning to Riley, because of course, she grabs his arm and beams at him. "This is so exciting, another baby!"

Riley looks uncomfortable as hell, rubbing his neck as he flounders for something to say, eyes jumping between me and Edward. "Uh, Alice…"

Esme has caught on now, too, her eyes welling with tears as she rounds the island to squeeze my hands, her smile a mile wide. "Is this true? I'm getting another grandbaby?"

"I…" yes, you are, but…

Not from the son you're thinking.

Shaking my head as a shooting pain zips through my stomach, I crane my neck around her to catch Edward's eye. He frowns, hand still resting on Jameson to stop him falling even as he steps toward me.

"What's wrong?"

"We need to go to the hospital," I croak, a second away from falling apart. "I'm bleeding."

There's a flurry of activity then as Alice pushes Riley toward me and promises to watch the kids for us, but the blanket of confusion falls when he crosses the kitchen to give me a quick hug before reaching for Jameson, freeing up Edward.

"Good luck," he murmurs, holding our son as Edward zips by, letting me know he's just getting his keys and he'll be right back. "I hope everything's okay."

All I can do is nod, barely cognizant of the baffled looks being exchanged around us.

The last thing I see when Edward returns, hand on my hip to guide me out to the truck, is dawning recognition on Rose's face.

~ fd ~

"So everything's okay?" Edward asks again, fingers wrapped so tight around mine that they're white.

"Everything's perfectly fine," the ER doctor reiterates gently, her smile soft as she snaps her gloves off and drops them into the trash. The metal lid closes with a clang as I lean into Edward's side and let relief swallow me whole.

Everything's perfectly fine.

"Subchorionic hematomas are relatively common, especially in geriatric pregnancies."

"Geriatric...the fuck?" Edward mutters, looking down at me when I snort a laugh.

"I'm old, Edward."

"You're thirty-fucking-seven!"

His abject horror at the term makes me and the doctor cackle, which puts a hilarious pout on his face.

"Anyway, you're fine to go home and carry on as normal, Mrs. Cullen," she finally says, trying valiantly not to laugh at Edward's muttered "what a joke."

"Thank you, Doctor. Sorry for taking up your time."

When we make it out to the truck, now that I'm comforted by having heard the baby's heartbeat and seen him or her kicking around in its sac, I can't help but laugh at Edward's shocking parking.

"What?" He grumbles, trying hard not to laugh himself. "I was worried, okay? You freaked me out."

"Hey, I was freaked out, too!" I splutter, climbing into the cab.

He doesn't start the engine right away, twisting in his seat to look at me instead. Now I'm calmer, I can see just how rattled he was. His shoulders are still tense, frown etched in his forehead.

Scooting over a little, I grab his hands and bring one up to press a kiss right in the center of his palm.

"The baby's okay," I murmur, watching him breathe out slowly. Instead of getting calmer, his breaths seem to come faster.

"I just realized how fucking terrified I was." Dropping his chin to his chest, he croaks, "Christ, that was too scary. C'mere."

I yelp as he pulls me out of my seat and onto his lap. When I'm settled with my thighs framing his, the steering wheel at my back and his hands cupping my face, I can't resist leaning in to kiss the worry from his face. I think we could both do with the distraction.

He tastes like icing sugar and Fanta, his fingers in my hair and hard chest under my palms pushing the scary last hour from my mind, at least just for now.

In the safety of his truck we can be us, Edward and Bella, not Mama and Unc-Ed.

The last time I got to feel his lips against mine was more than two months ago, before he left for Bali. We've both been busy since he returned—with work, the kids, other responsibilities we both have. The few times we've managed to see each other, I've had one or both of the children with me or we've been with family.

Getting to be this close feels like coming home.

With a side-order of hormones. Maybe I distract him a little too well though, because I suddenly realize we left a mess behind at Em and Rose's.

"Edward…" I pant as he kisses a trail of fire down my neck, detouring along the v-neck of my blouse. "We need...we need to…"

"Get rid of these?" he growls, tugging at the button of my pants until it pops open.

Fuck, yes. But we can't do that until the bleeding stops fully, and…

"The party, your family, the kids."

I can feel the moment his urgency dies. The moment he realizes that there's no way everyone hasn't put things together in the time we've been gone. They were blindsided by the news that there's going to be a new baby, but there's no way any of them will understand why Riley stayed behind with the children while Edward took me to the hospital.

Not unless Riley has explained it all while we were gone, which means we'll have a whole other situation to deal with when we get back.

Edward's forehead hits my collarbone as his shoulders lift and fall under my hands. "Shit."