A/N Happy National Strawberry Shortcake Day! There are other more important ones, like Flag Day and Abused Women & Children's Awareness Day, but come on. I had to go with the yummy dessert goodness :) It's also National Bourbon Day, so drink up!

Forgot to mention this last week, but I've been asked to participate in the Fandom Lymphoma & Leukemia Society Compilation. It seemed only fitting to say yes in honor of our little Danny. I haven't decided what I'm going to write yet, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to put them forth. Keep in mind that a Rainbow POV is coming up, and I am posting Dani's first date as an epilogue of sorts, so those are out. Anything else is fair game, so let me hear your suggestions!

Sorry I'm a little late. This morning has been insanely busy already. I grocery shopped, then I had to clean out my freezer bc my water dispenser isn't working, so it needs to thaw. Then I walked 4 miles. Then my TV box decided to be a douche, so I had to reset all that. Blah. I should go see Jurassic World again to toast myself for accomplishing so much. Saw it yesterday, loved it! If any of you happen to be secretly cloning baby dinosaurs, I would like one as a present. It has to be an herbivore, since I don't want my cats eaten, but other than that, no restrictions. hehe Yes, I'm strange. We already knew this!

No tears ahead, as far as I know, but there are some mentions of the little guy, and of course, reunion with Rainbow time! Don't worry, next time they got to the island, she's going. Supermodels beware! Hehe Have a great one and I'll see you all next week with more!

Getting Blitzed Chapter 40

"She's gonna be pissed as hell," I warned Reed Girl when we got to the door.

My wife just grinned and shook her head. "She's going to be so happy to see you that she'll forget to be mad, at least at first."

I snorted at that one. It was probably true. Rainbow would find a way to punish me later.

"Hopefully she got some of it out of her system with Jasper."

She snickered. "Why do you think I suggested we leave her with them? She's been a good girl for entirely too long. She probably needed to blow off some steam just as much as we did."

My hands wrapped around her, and I gave her ass a squeeze. "Luckily for us, she's fixed, so she can't blow off steam the same way we did. The last thing we need is more Rainbows running around." Although, now that I thought about it, that would be pretty cool. They'd be like my little minion army, taking out anybody who annoyed me. I could totally sic them on any boy who came sniffing around my daughter in the future.

"Whatever you're imagining, forget it," she told me with a laugh, raising her hand to knock.

"Attack cats," I murmured, making her giggle harder.

"Only you."

The door opened, and Shorty grinned at us. "You're back! Oh my God, you're both so tan! You look awesome! I'm totally jealous." She stood back to let us in.

Jasper stood from where he'd been on the couch and started heading our way, but before he could reach us, a gray streak ran between his feet, causing him to curse and hit the floor. I didn't even have time to laugh before Rainbow launched herself into the air. I caught her and brought her to my chest so she could head-butt me to her heart's content. How could I not after a greeting like that?

Rainbow purred and rubbed all over me as Jasper got to his feet, grabbing his ass as he came toward the door.

"It's been two damn years, and she still hates me. Will I never be forgiven for things I did when I was high?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Doesn't seem like it. You made yourself a powerful enemy, man."

He sighed. "Don't I know it? Come in; take a load off. As you can see, Rainbow missed you. She's barely moved from your chair since you left."

He sounded a little bit put off by that. I didn't want to know why, so I brushed it off and carried Rainbow over to the couch with me.

"So, how was it? Tell me everything! Where did you end up?" Shorty was practically bouncing off the walls she was so excited. "Emmett and Rose will be here soon. We thought we could get some dinner together."

"We'll tell you all about it when Em and Rose get in." Reed Girl leaned into me. "How were things here?" She stroked Rainbow's back.

I tried to hand her over, but the claws dug into my shirt.

Reed Girl laughed. "She's not budging from you for a while, Champ, especially with Jasper here."

He sat in my old recliner, sulking. "It's so unfair."

Shorty giggled as she sat on the arm of his chair. "Well, Jasper's not exaggerating when he says that she barely left that chair during waking hours. At night she slept in our bed, but-"

"She kicked me out! She stole my pillow, and when I tried to move her, she hissed and swiped at me!"

Shorty rolled her eyes. "You could have moved her, Jaspy." She shook her head. "Rather than risk her wrath, he slept on the couch."

"With Jimi and Hendrix, since they knew better than to try to sleep in our bed with her there either. Male solidarity."

I had to laugh at his ass. "Look at you, afraid of an eight-pound cat. You're losing your man card, Jasper."

He pointed at me. "Ha! You know what she can do. You'd be afraid too if she ever turned on you."

I grinned smugly at him as Rainbow burrowed her head into my neck, purring away. "But she won't." At worst, she'd ignore me for a while once she remembered that she was pissed at me for deserting her. And that would be bad enough.

"Yeah, yeah! Everybody loves you."

There was a knock on the door, and my brother and Blondie let themselves in.

"Yo, bro! Looking well-rested. Ready to hit the field again?"

I smirked. "Always."

Reed Girl snorted. "Well-rested my ass. He went to the gym every morning while I was still asleep."

"Thatta boy!" Emmett gave me a fist-bump before pulling my wife to her feet and giving her a gentle hug. "Hello, little mama." He put his hand on her belly. "Hi, niece. It's good to finally see you. I'm your favorite uncle, Emmett. I'll be the one you come to for beer and condoms."

"Then you'll be her favorite dead Uncle Emmett," I warned.

Reed Girl just laughed and got a hug from Blondie. "Hi! It's so good to see you."

"You, too." Blondie eyed the belly. "Wow! There she is! You look fantastic, Bella."

"Doesn't she?" I grinned when my wife rolled her eyes. "Told you, baby. That bitch doesn't hold a candle to you."

"What bitch?" Blondie asked as she sat down.

I pulled Reed Girl onto my lap, as space was limited. She sat sideways, and Rainbow put a paw on her shoulder.

"This chick on the island," I replied.

"What island?" Shorty demanded. "I want to know where you went."

Reed Girl smiled softly. "Oh, Alice, you should have seen it. We were on Musha Cay, this island in the Bahamas that David Copperfield owns. There are only five cabins, so it's almost completely private. We had our own house with this pier where they dropped us off; it led right to our front door. It was gorgeous. I have tons of pictures."

"It sounds awesome. So who's the chick, then?"

All eyes turned to me, which was fucked up. I hadn't done anything. "Some chick named Senna hit on me. I shot her down. End of story."

"Senna?" Shorty shrieked, getting off the arm of the recliner and grabbing a magazine. "This Senna?"

She thrust the cover of Vogue in our faces, and sure as shit, that was the girl.

"I told you she was a model," Reed Girl hissed.

"She's like a mega model, one of the hottest models out there at the moment. She just married this oil tycoon, and…oh! She was on her honeymoon, too. She hit on you?" Shorty demanded.

I shrugged while Reed Girl nodded.

"Looks like a mega bitch," Blondie decided, tossing the magazine away. "What did she do?"

"She asked Edward to help make her stay more active." Reed Girl threw air quotes around the word active. "I suggested she take a swim, hoping the waters were shark-infested if she did."

"You did more than that, baby." I grinned at everyone. "They have an outdoor movie area, so we went one night. A big movie screen, benches under the stars, popcorn; all the shit you could want. It's pretty awesome. Bella requested The Great Gatsby, which you know she's a sucker for." I couldn't say how many fucking times she'd made me watch that damn movie.

"Oh yeah. We bawled our eyes out in the theater," Shorty remembered.

Ha! Good, then they knew exactly how my girl felt about that movie. I'd fully expected her, with her hormones raging now, to lose her shit all over the place, but no. "So, instead of getting teary and upset when Leo gets shot and calling Daisy a cowardly bitch like she always does, my wife loudly announces that that's what he gets for trying to break up a marriage."

The room busted up laughing as Reed Girl just smiled. "I was just trying to make a point."

I laughed. "I think the point was well received, baby. She didn't come near me again, not that we were around them much."

"And that was what I wanted." Reed Girl smiled. "I actually would have felt kind of bad for her if she hadn't hit on my husband. Hers was on his phone every time we saw him."

That was true. The couple of nights we'd dined in the main room, he'd been on the phone. It had been more than a little rude and distracting, so we'd mostly dined on the dock instead. We'd liked it better there anyway.

"So you were on an island with a billionaire and a supermodel? You must have forked out the bucks, bro."

I shrugged at Emmett's comment. I had, but it was totally worth it. "Nobody, not even the wait staff, asked for an autograph or bugged me in any way. It was about as private as it gets without being completely alone. And I prefer that to camping."

Reed Girl giggled. "I'll say. It was beautiful, seriously. The food was fantastic, the water was gorgeous, and the house was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon."

I gave her a kiss, making Rainbow grunt when I shifted her. "That was the goal, baby."

"Well, I'm damn jealous. We should go to an island for our honeymoon, Jaspy. Obviously not that island, but maybe we could do a resort."

"Sure, Wife. Whatever you want to do," he agreed.

Reed Girl nudged me, and I knew what she was hinting at. "Not that we want to go on your honeymoon with you, but they do have a huge ten-bedroom house that we could rent sometime. Bella and I agreed that maybe in a couple of years, when the baby's a little older, we could all go as a family."

"Hell yeah!" Emmett held out a fist for me to bump. Blondie smiled and nodded, while Shorty looked like she was going to pass out with joy.

"Mom and Dad could come, Charlie, maybe a few of my teammates. I'm sure we could fill the place."

"That sounds incredible. I already can't wait!" Shorty bounced up and down on the chair and would have fallen off if Jasper hadn't put an arm around her. He knew his woman's exuberance for sure.

"Speaking of Mom and Dad, have you heard from them?" I asked my brother. They'd been on their cruise for a little over a week now.

"Dad sent a text when they first got on board, but nothing since. You know how expensive it is to have your phone on during a cruise."

That was true. Speaking of, I slid my phone out of my pocket and turned it on. I hadn't had mine on while we were on the island either. Everybody knew where I was, so I didn't expect to have missed anything.

It booted up, and I saw I had a few texts, so I pulled them up and my heart did a little lurch when I saw the name Danny. Reed Girl squeezed my leg in support as I pulled them up.

Hi, Edward. Dad says you're on vacation but I just wanted to tell you that I tried to watch the playoffs but couldn't because you're not there. Maybe next year ok?

Chelsea. She was texting me just like her brother had.

I have to go back to school tomorrow and I don't want to. Danny missed a lot but I'm still used to him being there.

My heart hurt for the kid. I couldn't imagine having to return to the classes she used to attend with her twin. It had to suck ass.

People are being weird. Girls I never talked to are being nice to me. Boys too. I hate it.

That one had been sent yesterday. Fuck, I felt bad that I hadn't responded yet.

"You okay, Champ?" Reed Girl asked, stroking my leg.

"Yeah, I just don't know what to say to her. How do I respond to that?" I read the texts out loud, and the jovial mood was replaced by sad contemplation.

"Tell her that you understand that it would be weird to go back to school, when she's used to seeing her brother there. And that you'd hate it too if people who never talked to you before suddenly started being nice, but that they're just trying to be understanding. Ask her what she would do if one of them lost a sibling, and say that you bet she'd be nice because she was a good person who cared about others. That's all those kids are doing, as well."

I stared at Jasper. "Where did that come from?"

"Years of psychology." He shrugged. "I told you I want to be a counselor."

Yeah, he had. It had never occurred to me that he might actually be a good one. "That was good. I'll tell her that." I started texting.

Hey, Chelsea. It was good to hear from you. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I just got back from my vacation, and my phone was off while I was gone.

I know it's probably really weird and hard to go back to school without your brother there. I don't think I would like that much, either. And I know kids are treating you differently, but they're just trying to be nice. You'd probably be nice to them if they lost someone they loved, right? Try to keep that in mind when someone you don't know is nice to you. It's not easy, but you're strong, and I know your brother would want you to be nice to them.

I'm here if you need someone to talk to. You don't have to be nice to me. We both know you're pretty good at putting me in my place. I'll be home in a couple of days, so maybe we can hang out soon.

Reed Girl kissed me after I sent the final text. "That was perfect. You're a wonderful man, Champ." Her eyes were a little wet, but thankfully she didn't cry.

I hugged her to me. "Thanks, baby."

Shortly cleared her throat. "Why don't we go look at menus and order in tonight, ladies? I don't think any of the restaurants around here can compare to dining under the stars on the water, so let's not try to compete."

Reed Girl got up and smiled at me. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Just you."

That got me another kiss, while Shorty awwed and my brother made gagging noises. Fuck him. My girl was all I needed.

"I'm all yours. But I'll get you something you like as well."

I thanked her, and the girls filed out, going into the bedroom to no doubt gab about more than just food.

"How are you doing, by the way?"

I looked up at Jasper's question. His blue eyes were focused in on me like he was trying to see into my head.

"I'm good. Bella was right to get me out of town. I needed to get out of my head for a bit." I nodded at him. "Thank you for wearing the jersey in the bowl game. I know it was your only real start in one, but it meant a lot to him. He didn't stop smiling and laughing the whole night."

Jasper waved that off. "Please. It was easy, and I was happy to do it." He smiled. "And it doesn't look like it'll be my last game either."

My brother let out a whoop next to me. "You're staying?"

Jasper nodded. "I've got another year of eligibility, and it looks like Ali might get a job within her department. I should hear soon if I got into the master's program, so why not play another year while the freshmen get a little more seasoning?"

That was awesome. "That's great, Jasper. I'm glad you're going to play more." Who knew? Maybe he'd get drafted with another year under his belt. "Time to get back to the championship game."

He laughed. "I'm going to try."

"You'll do it." I believed that. "And since they play that game on a Monday, I'll be there, straight from my playoff game."

Emmett hooted. "Gotta love the confidence, little brother!"

I shrugged. "I nearly got there this year, so why not? I'm only going to get better."

Emmett shook his head. "I'd challenge that, but I know you probably will. And I hope you do. I want Super Bowl tickets."

Of course he did. "I'll see what I can do."

"So, you really got hit on by a supermodel, huh?"

I laughed. "Yeah. She's nothing compared to my Reed Girl, though."

Rainbow let out a little meow, obviously in agreement.

I sat back, holding Rainbow, and enjoyed the laughter and joking that commenced. My wife had been right, as usual. The alone time, followed by time with my friends and family, was just what I'd needed.

Xoxoxoxoxo

"I wonder if this picture will end up in the paper." My brother held a little polka-dotted white Seminole outfit up. "This is cute as hell. I'm getting it."

I had taken no end of ribbing from them over the damn pictures of Sammy and me that had been published a few weeks ago. I hadn't gotten much shit at the time because I was dealing with Danny, but now it was apparently fair game. The New York Post had run a giant "It's a Girl!" headline, and baby gifts had poured into the Giants offices, from what I'd been told. I'd given Alec permission to donate most of it but to pick out a few things that seemed handmade or personalized to keep. It seemed the thing to do.

I grabbed a little garnet onesie with balloons on it that said F, S, & U on it. Yeah, we were stocking up on Nole baby gear at Bill's Bookstore while we were here. May as well. I also got an "I'm the cutest Seminole fan" onesie, because my baby damn well would be the cutest. No doubt about it.

Reed Girl smiled at the pile that I'd accumulated. "You're going overboard again, Champ."

"We've got to stock up, baby."

Jasper ran over with a tiny Nole jersey with his name and number on it. "This is from me!" He was fucking thrilled about it.

"Where did you get that?"

He gestured over to where the jerseys were. I went over and felt a little pang when I saw that mine was there, on sale. I mean, I got it. I wasn't playing anymore, but still. Edward Cullen should never be on sale. It was just wrong.

Reed Girl came over and put her arms around me. "We have to get one for her. She needs to wear her daddy's number, just like I do." She held up her charm bracelet. One of the charms she never took off was my number.

"Well, I'm not really on the team anymore…" I started to put the jersey back, but she grabbed it from me.

"You're always going to be a Seminole, Champ. One of these days in the near future, they'll retire your number."

That was a fucking cool thought. "You think so?"

"You won two championships for this school, Edward. Of course they will. They should have already."

The fact that they hadn't had her looking a little outraged. It was really fucking awesome.

"Well, with you on my side, they surely will." I grabbed a newborn onesie with my number on it.

Reed Girl shook her head and added a jersey in each size so she wouldn't outgrow it all too fast. "Every kid we have is going to wear one of these. When they outgrow it, we'll frame it or something. That would be cute, right?"

I had to smile at her. "That would be great, baby."

"Do they have any baby chastity belts? I figure Edward will want to get started on guarding her early on."

I flipped my idiot brother off. "Joke about it all you want, asshole. Wait until you have a daughter on the way. Turnabout is fair play."

Emmett grinned. "Only boys in these balls, baby!" He cupped his groin and shook it.

Blondie walked up and smacked him upside the head. "Keep that up, and there won't be any balls to make boys or girls." She held out a little cheerleading outfit. "How cute is this? This is from her Auntie Rose."

"It's adorable. Dani will be the cutest little football fan ever."

I showed everyone the onesie I'd found. "Already declared."

"What did you say? Did you say her name is Dani?"

Oh, shit. We hadn't officially told them yet. I exchanged glances with Reed Girl, and she nodded.

"Yeah, we already talked to Danny's parents about it, and they were honored when we suggested naming her after him. Her name is going to be Danielle Elizabeth Cullen."

Reed Girl had been adamant about wanting to use an E somewhere in our baby's name, and Elizabeth just sounded better. Plus, it might make the GrandMonster happy-not that I gave a flying fuck, but it didn't hurt either.

"I love that name." Shorty popped up with a baby hoodie. "From Aunt Alice."

"Dani Cullen." Emmett sounded it out and smiled. "Yeah, I like it. Maybe she won't be too much of a girly girl with a boyish name."

"She'll be whatever she wants to be," Reed Girl announced with a small smile. "Although, odds are, with us as parents, she's going to be a tomboy. I was climbing trees and playing in mud puddles when I was little."

"Maybe she'll be the exact opposite. A complete fashionista. Can we get her ears pierced?" Shorty asked, pointing to the jewelry area.

Reed Girl laughed at the horror that no doubt washed over my face. "I think she can wait on the earrings, heels, and makeup, Alice."

Yes, she could. A long fucking time. Like forever.

"But babies with their ears pierced are so cute!" Shorty bounced around. "I got mine done before I was one."

That explained a lot. And no way was my daughter going to become another Shorty.

"She'll let us know when she wants that, and we'll discuss it then." Reed Girl pointed between herself and me. "In the meantime, you can spoil her with clothes and toys."

"I can do that." She bounded off to do more shopping.

I pulled Reed Girl into my arms. "Thank you, baby."

She laughed. "No problem, Edward. I personally think jewelry on babies is dangerous. Our little girl isn't going to have any until she's old enough to take care of it. And not choke on it." Reed Girl shuddered. "Just the thought of that freaks me out."

"Me, too." Though I had an idea for something… She wouldn't have to wear it right away though.

Shorty and Blondie started shrieking over some little jumpsuit they'd found. Reed Girl cuddled into my side as we watched our family racing around grabbing baby items, much like Sammy and I had up in Jersey.

"We're going to have a hard time keeping her from getting too spoiled, aren't we?" she asked with a laugh.

I glanced over at the pile I'd made on my own and gave her a guilty look, which only made her laugh harder.

"Maybe I should amend that statement to I'm going to have a hard time keeping her unspoiled." She tilted her face up to kiss me. "I'm going to be the bad guy, aren't I?"

"Just until it comes to boys. Then I'll take over." I would have no fucking problem saying no to dating. I was already ready for that.

Reed Girl just laughed and shook her head. "This is going to be fun, Cullen. A lot of fun."

Even though she was laughing at me, as I watched grown men losing their shit over baby girl clothes, I had a feeling she was right. It was going to be fun. And scary as hell. But fun, too.