Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Stephenie Meyer owns it all. I am merely having fun with her characters.

Author's Note: HUGE shout out & thank you to my beta dolphin62598 for getting these chapters back to me so quickly! And another big thanks to my pre-reader teacher1209 for reading over these and giving me her thoughts! Another BIG shout out and thank you to LunaEclipse17 for creating the kick ass banner for this story! You can check it out on my Facebook page. Song Inspiration for this chapter: Not Over You (either version, the one by Gavin DeGraw only or the one by Gavin DeGraw & Sara Evans whichever you prefer).

Chapter 11

BPOV

That day, I decided to go with the rational part of my brain. I had enough on my plate preparing for the twins. The last thing I needed to do was throw Edward into the mix. I did not call him back. It hurt my heart too badly to think of how much he had hurt me. I was tired of reopening the wounds he had caused.

The only way I would successfully get over him was to completely be free of him.

Even though, I would be staring at two reminders of him for the rest of my life. Okay, so I would never be free of him. However, I would have to be free of the hold he had over me. That…I definitely needed to destroy…and talking to him would not do that.

Not to mention, if I talked to him I knew I would risk letting it slip to him that he was in fact the twins' father. It would be much harder to keep that information to myself if I had to hear his voice or see his face.

Shortly after I confronted Paul about him lying to Edward, he said he needed to talk to me. When he arrived, he told me he knew I asked for space but he really needed to tell me something.

He told me that he was leaving the next day to go to Alaska. He said he was offered a job there and did not want to pass up an opportunity to travel somewhere he had never been. He was ready for his next big adventure since this one had not turned out how he expected.

I completely understood why he needed to go and I told him that. His concern was if I would be okay without him there. I reminded him that I had a huge support system here and the babies and I would be just fine.

After reassuring him that I would definitely let him know when the twins were born and send him a picture, we said our goodbyes.

I honestly felt relieved that he left. I did not have to keep up any more charades. Everyone important in my life here in Phoenix now knew he was not the father…and Alice and Rose actually knew who the father really was.

Things were a lot less stressful…until Edward started texting me.

The first text he sent was a picture of his finalized divorce papers. Then the message that followed really had me thinking.

It's finally over. I'm finally free. Please call me. We need to talk.

My first instinct was to pick up the phone and call him immediately. My head overruled my heart's wishes once again. I was still his second choice. When we were having our affair, he always chose Tanya over me.

Now, his marriage to Tanya was finally over…but I would still be the second choice, right? Yes, he couldn't have Tanya so he wanted his consolation prize.

I did not want to be someone's consolation prize, a second thought. I wanted to be someone's one and only…their first choice. It was what I deserved…what my children deserved. I had my friends…my family…and my babies. The lives inside of me would always be my first choice…and for that reason…I decided to ignore Edward completely.

I erased his texts as they came in.

I miss you…

Please text me back…

Bella, call me…

Isabella…I need you…

Please call me as soon as you get this…

I know you have to be getting my texts…

I know you miss me too…

I love you…I always loved you…

Bella this is getting ridiculous…call…me….back…

In between the text messages, the phone calls were coming as well. The voice messages he left said pretty much the same things his texts did. I could hear the desperation in his voice.

Rose and Alice told me I should file harassment charges, he sounded so desperate. In my heart, I knew that his desperation stemmed from his need for instant gratification and his constant determination to get everything he wants.

I held strong and was not giving in. His calls and texts were all left unanswered.

"Are you eating properly?"

"Of course, Dad. I eat like a cow, all the time and in big quantities. I'm eating for three you know."

"Are you getting enough exercise, as much as you can?"

"Yes, Dad."

"How about rest? Are you adding in enough rest now that you are off work?"

"Yes," I replied. Dad was a worrywart for sure.

"Are you sleeping well? When your mother got towards the end of her pregnancy with you she had a lot of trouble sleeping. I imagine that would be magnified since you are having two babies."

"Yes, Dad. I promise everything is fine. The babies and I are great. We are ready to meet each other. They just have to say the word and it's a date," I laughed.

"Good. I just worry about ya Bells. You're my baby girl. How about Paul? Is Paul taking care of my girl?"

I did not want to get into a discussion with my dad right now about Paul and the fact that he was not the father of my twins. That was definitely a discussion for a later time…like never.

"Yep, Paul is great. He's…working a lot. But other than that…he is fine."

There…I did not exactly lie. I just avoided the second part of his question…and then changed the subject immediately.

"How is everyone there? Leah was telling me that Seth proposed to Angela. Isn't he a little young to be worrying about marriage already?"

And…just like that I had my dad easily distracted. He started in on how he and Sue felt that Seth was way too young to be getting married but the good thing was that he and Angela promised a long engagement.

I knew my dad loved all three of us as his own children even though only one of us was biologically his. By sidetracking his thoughts to his youngest…I knew he would get off my case.

After letting him vent about their worries about Seth, he started on how proud he was of Leah. He could not wait to have Jacob as a son-in-law.

This part of our talk started making me feel sad and as if I had disappointed my dad.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

"What in the world for, sweetheart?" He sounded shocked.

"For letting you down and being a disappointment," I said honestly.

"Why would I ever think you were a disappointment, Isabella? And honey you have never let me down."

'It's just Leah has everything together, and she will marry Jake, who you adore, and give you grandkids you can be proud of because everything was done in order, as it should be. Career…marriage….kids."

"Isabella Marie Swan, you stop that this instant. Do you hear me? Listen to me carefully young lady. Nothing you could ever do would make me love you any less than I already do. You are and always will be my baby girl.

"I will love all my grandchildren, equally and completely. It doesn't matter to me how they get here, what order they come in…or anything. They are my grandchildren and I will love them unconditionally as I do their parents. Life is messy…and there is no perfect order of anything to make anyone more or less proud. I am proud to call you my daughter…no if's ands or buts about it."

His words brought tears to my eyes. "I love you, Daddy."

"Oh, I love you too sweet girl."

He was getting choked up and made up an excuse about Sue calling him from the other room. When we hung up the phone, I went to the bathroom to clean up my face. It was tear stained and blotchy.

Today was the day everyone was supposed to come over and help me get the nursery together for the twins. Right now, I was living in a two-bedroom apartment. The two bedrooms were on the smaller side and they would be sharing a room until I could get us a bigger place so I was limited on how I could fix up their room. But, Alice assured me they would make it fabulous.

Her idea was to do half of the room in pink and half of the room in blue. She had planned where to place the cribs and changing tables. She was also having canvas portraits done of their initials to hang above their cribs. I actually could not wait to see her ideas become reality.

Once I was cleaned up, I decided I needed something to distract me until everyone arrived. I flipped on my iPod and of course, the very first song that came up on the shuffle was Not Over You by Gavin DeGraw. And I was way too much of a masochist to turn it off.

Dreams that's where I have to go

To see your beautiful face anymore

Only in my dreams now did I get to see Edward. That was all it would ever be for us. Dreams that would never come true.

If you ask me how I'm doing

I would say I'm doing just fine

I would lie and say that you're not on my mind

But I go out and I sit down at a table set for two

And finally I'm forced to face the truth,

No matter what I say, I'm not over you, not over you

Would he ever leave my thoughts and dreams? Would I ever be one hundred percent over him? The hard truth was…probably not.

I listened to the song and turned off the iPod. I did not want to take a chance on some other song coming on and putting me through hell. I made my way into the room that was to become the nursery and tried to visualize everything.

I heard the key in the lock and knew it was either my mom or Alice and the gang.

"Bella! I'm here…am I late?"

Mom…she always ran late to everything but oddly enough…not today.

"In the nursery, Mom. No one else is here yet." I yelled to her.

She came rushing into the room and then came to a halt in the doorway when she realized I was telling her the truth.

"Wow, I actually was on time for once. Who woulda thought?"

We laughed. "I spoke to your father on my way over here."

"Oh yeah? I just talked to him a bit ago myself. You two must have talked right after we hung up."

They did not talk very often and usually when they did, it was only about me.

"He is very worried about you Bella. That is why he called me. He sounded like he had been crying. Said he wonders why you would think he is disappointed in you and that you let him down. Bells, did you tell him that Paul is not the father of the babies?"

I hung my head down a bit and replied, "No…Mom…I don't know how to tell him that."

"Sweetie, your dad will love you no matter what. Maybe you can confide in him who the father is since you won't tell me…your mother…who birthed you…for twelve excruciating hours."

"Mom, lay off the guilt trip. You told me that giving birth to me was the easiest thing you have ever done. I came out in less than an hour. I know you are full of shit right now," I teased.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, can't blame a mom for tryin'."

She clapped her hands and rubbed them together. She was beaming with excitement. "So, when is everyone else going to be here? Alice called me and told me the plans about this nursery. Oh Bells, it's going to be so adorable. I can see it already…the pink walls on this side…the blue walls….oh shit! Damn it! I knew it was too good to be true that I was on time! Shit…shit…shit!"

"Mom, what? What is the problem?"

"I forgot the paint! I was supposed to bring the pink and blue paint. I'm going to run out to the store and grab it really quickly and I will be right back. Do you understand? Don't you dare start without me! I'll call Alice on my way and let her know!"

Mom and Alice had become besties apparently…while bonding…over my babies. It was quite endearing and I loved them both all the more for it.

She rushed out of the apartment and I decided to make myself something to eat. There was leftover lasagna in the refrigerator and it was calling my name. These babies definitely loved Italian food like their mother. That made me extremely happy and I could not wait to make Italian food for them.

After I finished my food, I went back to the nursery. I decided to go ahead and see if I could get the box with crib pieces open to attempt putting it together. It was much more difficult being as pregnant as I was, than I had planned. I was thankful when my cell phone was ringing in the other room.

"Hello?"

"Hey, B. We're going to be there soon. Alice and I got held up at Babies R' Us but we are sending Em and Jazz on, okay? They will be there shortly to start with the manly stuff, so don't touch anything."

I laughed. It's as if Rose could tell what I was doing beforehand. "You got it Ro, just hurry up. I am bored out of my mind. I never have anything to do anymore."

"You are doing plenty…you are cooking two babies…now sit down, put your feet up, and relax until we get there."

"Okay, okay. Just hurry. My mom forgot the paint so she had to run and get it."

"At least she remembered, we'll see you soon!"

We said our goodbyes and ended the call. I went back into the nursery to look around at what we had gotten together so far. Two big boxes contained the cribs. Those definitely needed to wait for Em and Jazz…even though I wanted to try getting into that box again badly. Also a box contained the parts of a changing station. Maybe that was small enough for me to work on by myself.

Before I could even try, my phone was ringing in my pocket and I answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Bella. Your mom remembers which shades of pink and blue to get right?" Alice asked in a panic on the other end of the phone.

"I don't know Ali. Isn't it just pink and blue?"

"Oh, no, Bella! It has to be the right shade of pink and the right shade of blue. It just has to be! I will have to call her and tell her."

"Alice, seriously…it's just paint. It doesn't matter what shades she gets."

Just as Alice started schooling me on how important the exact shades were for her vision of the twin's nursery to be complete, there was a knock at my door.

"Alice, you're probably too late. My mom is back now. We will just deal with what we have, okay? I've got to go. I'll see you in a bit."

I ended the call and rushed to the door. If mom was knocking, she probably had her hands full and could not get to the door.

I wanted to give her a hard time, so I threw open the door and laughed saying, "Forget your key old lady…"

I stopped…dead in my tracks…because standing on the other side of my door…was not my mother.

It was a completely disheveled Edward. He did not look the completely put together Dr. Cullen per his usual attire.

His hair was a mess and he had on tattered jeans, a simple t-shirt and sneakers. His hands were tucked in his pockets and one word was all he said.

"Hi," he breathed. I could barely hear him it was so soft.

So much for avoiding him. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

Author's Note: Okay, so next chapter WILL be EPOV of how he ended up in Phoenix so I do apologize if you will feel you are re-reading this chapter but it should feel a little different until the ending since it will be Edward's POV and not Bella. You guys know what to do!

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