A/N Happy Father's Day! Seems like the day to focus on, given our Cockyback's impending fatherhood :) It's also Go Skateboarding Day, which might be something to do with your dads and husbands, although I'd be careful about that one. Father's Day in the ER doesn't sound like a good way to go! I hope you all have a great day with your fathers and husbands or whomever. I got to see my daddy on Friday night for dinner at my favorite restaurant. I got to have my banana cheese pie and I'm still on a high from it! Best thing ever.

In the sporting world, congrats to the Blackhawks and Warriors fans and condolences to Lightning and Cavs fans. Myself? I'm just happy that basketball and hockey are over because it means we're closer to football season. It's the little things, people. hehe There was a no-hitter in baseball last night, always cool, and the US Open is going on in golf. Have you seen that field? My parents are big golf fans (why? I do not know) so I was forced to watch some on Friday. Well, they watched and I read. hehe

GB and SC both advanced in the voting at the Fanatic Fanfic Awards! Thank you all for that! Last day of voting for the finals is today, so if you want to head over to fanaticfanficawards dot com and do some voting, great! Twilight is well represented there. Deb has a ton of noms and planetbluefic and lots of others. Plus there's some good stories in other fandoms to check out.

Might be a little tissue warning for some of you in this chapter. It's time for Edward to show what a great friend he can be to Chelsea, and what a fantastic dad he's going to be to his own little girl. You have a great one and I'll see you next week for moving day! For them, not me, thank God. I hate moving :) See you then!

Getting Blitzed Chapter 41

"Home sweet home, at least for a couple more weeks." I dropped our bags and set Rainbow down, and she scampered off to reacquaint herself with the place, or take a shit-or whatever it was she felt the need to go do.

"There's so much to do." Reed Girl placed the carry-on that she'd been designated to bring up on top of the luggage I'd carried. "And I don't feel like doing anything but getting back on that plane and going back to our island."

I chuckled and pulled her to me, kissing her neck. "I know. Reality isn't quite as appealing, is it?"

She turned and put her arms around my neck. "Our reality is. I'm just sleepy. I think I'm going to take a little nap before I call Emily to plan for tomorrow."

She was starting her music program the next day, and she was really excited about it. "You can't wait to get started, can you?"

Her smile was bright. "I can't! We're starting with recorders, since that's easiest, and Emily said those had arrived already. And they have a piano, so I'm going to pull some of the more promising or interested students onto that. She thinks some of the parents are going to want to pay for private lessons, so I have to get that together and look for some teachers. I'd like to do it all, but-"

"You have a lot on your plate, baby, not the least of which is taking care of this baby." I rubbed her belly. "Maybe we can look into hiring some retired music teachers, if there's enough interest. We'll see how it goes."

"Yeah." She snuggled into me. "You're going to stop by, right?"

I nodded. I had a commercial shoot for Nike along with my own plans for tomorrow, but I was going to do my best to see my wife in action.

"I can't wait to see you at work, baby."

"It's going to be so much fun." She gave me a kiss. "Do you want to take a nap with me?"

Like I could resist? "Of course, Reed Girl. I'll be in shortly, okay?"

"Okay." She took the toiletry bag and headed toward our room. Rainbow zipped after her.

I took out my phone and went to the living room. The texts that I'd received today were waiting for me.

School is still weird. I feel like everyone is watching me. Why won't they leave me alone?

Tomorrow is fish stick day. I hate fish sticks.

I couldn't blame the kid on either front. Fish sticks were gross, and it had to feel strange, being at school without her brother and being treated so differently. She'd sent her texts from a new number, so it seemed that she had her own phone now. I programmed her into mine before making a call.

"Hello."

"Hey, Joyce. It's Edward."

"Hi, Edward. How are you?"

"I'm good. We just got back home. How are you doing?"

She let out a strangled noise. "Holding up as best we can, I guess. Things are…hard right now."

Stupid question, Cullen. Way to go. "Yeah. I'm sure. Listen, I heard from Chelsea and-"

"Is she bothering you? We got her a phone of her own…" She broke off with a sigh. "Overcompensating, I guess? But if she's texting too much or something, I can stop her."

Fuck. "No. She's not bothering me at all." I didn't know what I should or shouldn't say to her mother about how Chelsea was feeling at school. Was it my place? Was her mom in any form of mind to hear or do anything about it? I didn't think so.

"She happened to mention that she didn't like what they have for lunch tomorrow. I'm going to be out and about taking care of some things, so I thought maybe I could bring her something to eat? Hang with her a bit?"

"She'd love that. I didn't know she didn't like what they were serving. Maybe I should pack her lunch? I'm back at work for the first time in forever. Some things are getting by me, I guess."

I couldn't blame her for being unfocused. "You have a lot on your plate. Let me help a little if I can. I'd really like to see her. Do you think you could call the school to get me clearance? I doubt in this day and age that I could just show up."

"Oh, yes. Of course I can do that. I'll call them right now. Are you sure it's no trouble?"

"No trouble at all. I was thinking it could be a surprise, so if you could not mention it…"

"I won't. She'll be thrilled. She's been…well, we've all been down, of course. I think she'll be really happy to see you."

"I look forward to it. Can you find out what time she has lunch when you call in and then let me know? I don't want to miss it." Nike better have their shit together at the shoot, because I was leaving on time.

"Sure. I'll make the call and let you know. It's really great of you to do that for her."

"I'm happy to. Is there anything I can do for you and Steve?" I felt so fucking useless, which I hated. I wanted to do something for them.

"Thank you, but no. We just have to try to find a new normal. I guess it takes time."

"It does. If you think of anything, don't hesitate to call me."

"I won't. Let me go make that call before I forget. I'll send you the information."

"Thanks, Joyce. You take care of yourself."

"I will. Thanks, Edward."

I sat back after we disconnected, closing my eyes. I hated not knowing what to do. Her pain-their pain-was as clear as day, and I wanted to help, but how? I couldn't just send them off on a vacation like Reed Girl and I had taken. They had jobs and school, and hell, it might hurt them worse to be on a family vacation when one part of their family was no longer there.

I felt rather than saw Rainbow burrowing into my lap. I stroked her fur. "I don't know what to do for them, Rainbow."

"You're doing it."

Fingers combed through my hair, so I opened my eyes and saw my wife smiling at me.

"You're supposed to be napping."

"I missed you." She sat next to me and leaned into my side. I slid an arm around her.

"Sorry, baby. I just thought maybe I could go see Chelsea tomorrow and bring her lunch since she doesn't like what the school serves. It's stupid, I guess, but it's something."

"It's not stupid. You're being a friend, and don't think I don't know that you're figuring if the kids are going to stare at her, they may as well stare at her hanging out with the Giants quarterback instead of looking at her for being the kid whose brother died."

The way the woman saw through me was almost scary. "She hates the way they're treating her. So do I."

"And it's for that reason, and very many more, that I love you, Edward Cullen." She kissed my cheek and stood, holding out a hand. "Now, how about we get that nap?"

"Can it be a naked nap?"

I lifted Rainbow off my lap, giving her a few treats to keep her from bitching.

"Like there's any other kind?"

"Sounds good to me." I pulled her into arms. "Though I'm not that tired, so I might have to burn off a little energy before I nap."

"Naked energy?" she asked, smiling up at me.

"That's the best kind."

"True. Let's get to bed, Champ. Wear me out so I can sleep a little."

"It would be my pleasure, Reed Girl."

"It'll be both of ours, Cullen."

Always.

Xoxoxoxox

I pulled up in front of Chelsea's school, grabbing the bag with our food before heading inside. My shoot with Nike had gone off without a hitch, though I was a bit curious as to how my wife was going to react to the scene of me wiping my sweaty forehead with my shirt, abs on display for all the world to see. I couldn't object since it was for their dri-fit technology, but she might not like it. Then again, she might just jump my ass when she saw it. That would be fun.

I checked in at the office and was directed to Chelsea's classroom. She was due out in a few minutes, so I just leaned against the wall and waited for her. The door opened, and I had to laugh at the reactions of the little kids walking out of the room. One look at me had most of them craning their necks and then stepping back. Maybe I looked a little scary to little kids? My size was probably intimidating.

Chelsea came out alone, her little head down. Fuck. I called her name, and her head whipped up, her mouth dropping open in surprise.

"Edward? What are you doing here?"

I grinned at her. "I had to rescue you from the dreaded fish sticks, didn't I? What kind of friend would I be if I didn't bring you something better for lunch?"

A smile lit up her face, and she launched herself at me. I caught her and gave her a hug. "How are you doing, kid?"

"A lot better now that I don't have to eat fish sticks." She cuddled into me, and I rubbed her back for a few seconds. "It's really nice that you're here."

"It's good to see you." I put her down and took her hand. "Sorry I was out of touch for a bit."

"That's okay. Dad said you were on your honeymoon. Where did you go?"

I told her about the island as we walked to the cafeteria. Her eyes got wider and wider as I talked about the water, the pool, and the outdoor movie theater.

"That sounds so cool! We were talking about maybe going to Disney World this summer but…" She broke off and shrugged. "That was before."

She didn't have to say before what. "Well, if you don't go this year, I imagine that once our Dani is a little older, we'll be taking her to Disney. Our family lives in Florida, so we visit there a lot. Maybe you could come with us."

"Really? I'd like that."

I swear the noise level in the cafeteria dropped from a dull roar to pure silence when Chelsea and I walked into the cafeteria. I saw her take a deep breath and square her little shoulders before she marched us forward. She took a seat at the table in one of the back corners, farthest away from where everybody else was.

"Don't you want to sit with your friends?" I asked her as I took the chair across from her. The plastic chair was pretty small and flimsy, and I was a little afraid I might break the damn thing, but I perched myself on it as gingerly as I could.

"No. They don't know what to say to me now. It's weird."

I took out the Jersey Mike's regular turkey sub I'd gotten her, along with my giant one. She grinned as she tore into it. "I love this!"

I grinned at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, your mom told me what you liked." I gave her the bottle of apple juice I'd picked up as well. "Why didn't you tell her that you don't like fish sticks? She was a little surprised when I called her."

Chelsea shrugged and fiddled with her wrapper. I reached out and touched her hand.

"She's got more important things on her mind than me not liking some stupid fish sticks."

Fuck. What did I say? "There's nothing more important to your mother than you and your brother."

Her blue eyes held so much sadness. It fucking killed me.

"Just because Danny's gone… Life goes on, Chelsea. And you need to talk to your mom and dad about how you're feeling. You guys need each other now more than ever, you know? I know it sucks and it's weird, but your brother wouldn't want you to shut everybody out. He told me to look out for you in particular because he knew it would be hardest on you."

Tears spilled down her little cheeks, and I felt like a giant asshole. "I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have said that."

She shook her head and got up, coming over to where I sat. I pulled her onto my lap and let her cry into my shirt.

"He was my twin, and we were always together," she murmured, finally pulling back to look into my eyes.

Jasper and I had talked about Chelsea more before I'd come home. "You feel like a part of you is missing. That's normal, Chelsea."

"I don't like it."

I wiped her tears away. "Nobody would. But Danny's always going to be with you, even though he's not here. He's watching over you, just like any good brother would do."

She nodded. "Mom said something like that." She glanced around and noticed that all eyes were on us. "Great. Now they're all staring at me because I cried."

I gave her my best smirk. "Quite the ego you've got on you, kid. Do you think you're the only one around here who's cried in front of people? I bet that happens all the time. But just how many handsome football players come to this school? We both know they're probably looking at me."

Chelsea stared at me for a few moments before letting out a little giggle. "Missy threw up in the hallway last week. That made her cry."

I tapped her chin. "Well, there you go, then. Nothing's worse than puking in front of the entire school. A few tears? That's nothing."

"Yeah? You really think they're looking at you?"

I grinned and shifted her onto the chair next to mine. "Yeah, I do. Watch this."

My eyes met those of one of the kids who'd played football with us over Thanksgiving. I couldn't name the kid to save my life, but I nodded and gave him a "come over" gesture. He was on his feet in a flash.

"Hi, Edward!"

"Hey, kid. Have you been working on your route running?"

He nodded emphatically. "Yeah! I'm getting really good at that double move that Sammy showed me. Is he here?"

I laughed. "Not today."

And like the flood gates had opened, a bunch of other boys suddenly surrounded us, talking football. Chelsea didn't say anything, but she didn't put her head down or look away either. I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, we'd be happy to give you more lessons. In fact, I'm going to be starting a football camp this summer. It's going to be called Danny's Dream Football Camp, and a lot of my teammates are going to be there, showing kids of all ages how to play football."

Chelsea's jaw dropped at my words. "Really? You're going to have a football camp for my brother?"

I smiled at her. "Of course. Danny was my friend, and he inspired me. Not only will we have kids like these guys,"-I gestured at the boys-"but also kids who maybe can't play anywhere else because they're too sick or too small or whatever. It's going to be open to everyone."

Excited murmurs started around me, but it was Chelsea's reaction I was most interested in.

"Everybody? Can girls play?"

I grinned at her. "What do you think? Do you think I could start a football camp without my best linewoman? You're the best blocker of all these guys."

She smiled. "I am! I want to play."

I ruffled her hair. It was growing in pretty fast. "Good. I'll talk to your mom, but I've mentioned it to her already." I glanced up at the other kids. "Let your parents know that it's coming up, although I don't have dates set yet. Chelsea here will let you know the details when I have them."

"That's so awesome! Will Jason Pierre-Paul be there, too? I want to learn how to hit the quarterback! What about Rashad Jennings?" Questions were firing all around and boys of all ages were coming up, joining us at the table, everyone chattering and excited. That was good.

Even better? Where all the boys went, the girls would eventually follow in their little packs. It wasn't long before a group of girls came up, a little brunette standing in as their leader.

"Hi, Chelsea."

"Hi, Sari."

She tilted her head and looked at me. "My mom has your picture hanging up in our kitchen."

I grinned at her. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, it's up even though it's not June yet."

I laughed. She had the SPCA calendar. From what I'd been told, they'd sold a shit-ton. "Well, June is the best month. That's my birthday."

She twirled her hair around her finger. "She's also got the cover, with you and that pretty cat, up next to it. She cut it off the front."

Was this kid flirting with me? Too fucking funny. "That's my cat, Rainbow."

"You have a cat? Can I meet her?" Chelsea asked, sounding wistful.

Huh. Maybe that was the answer. "Of course. In fact, I'm moving in a couple of weeks to a house closer to here, and I'm going to need your help."

"My help? What can I do?"

I held out my hands. "Well, I thought you'd do the heavy lifting, Chels! I can't risk hurting my arm, after all. I figured you could carry the sofa, the TVs, all the boxes of books, that sort of thing."

Everybody laughed.

"She can't do that! She's too little," one boy told me.

I shook my head. "Nah, Chelsea's the strongest person I know."

She shook her head. "You're silly. I can help put stuff where it goes, small stuff, if you want."

I put my arm around her. "Come on, kid. You think I'm going to put you to work? No, your job will be something much more important."

"What will she do?" one little girl asked me, tugging on my sleeve.

"Well, I've got a baby girl on the way, and I have to tell you, I don't know anything about little girls. I had a brother growing up, and he was a giant pain, you know?" Lots of nods and yeses greeted my pronouncement. "Chelsea, you're going to have to check out the house and make sure that it's a good place for a little girl to grow up. And I'm going to need you to tell me what girls like. I mean, I'm going to teach her how to throw a ball and ride a bike, but she needs to do other stuff, too, right?"

Chelsea nodded. "I can do that. I know what girls like."

"I know you do. I wouldn't trust anyone else with such an important job."

"You can get her American Girl dolls," one little girl suggested.

I had a vague idea of what those were, and if they were the slutty dolls that I'd seen in a TV ad, that shit wasn't happening. But I nodded anyway.

"What else?"

And they were off. The girls were suggesting things, as were the boys. Chelsea was laughing and smiling, adding her own suggestions, shooting down others. I signed some autographs on school paper, including one for the girl's mom who had my calendar. I barely got half my lunch finished by the time the bell rang.

"We have to go," Chelsea told me. "Are you coming to class with me?"

I laughed. "I wish, but I have go meet with some people about the football camp, and then I've got to go to another school. Bella's teaching music to some kids, and I want to be there."

"Okay." She didn't appear to be too sad about it. She gathered up her trash and tossed it.

I took her hand and walked with her back to class. We were still surrounded by most of the kids who'd been at the lunch table.

"Chelsea, I have a kitty, too. Do you maybe want to come over and play with her this weekend?" one of the girls asked.

She glanced at me, and I shot her a grin. I wasn't her dad; it was up to her.

"Yeah, I could do that."

"Cool. It'll be so fun!" And the girl ran off, skipping ahead.

"See, Chelsea? It's not so bad to be friendly, is it?"

"I guess not." She bit her lip. "Can I still text you and stuff?"

I stopped at her door. "Of course, kid. You have to let me know when the next fish stick day is, don't you?"

"Yeah? You'll come again?" she asked, sounding eager.

"Sure, when I can. It's the offseason, so I can work it out. Once the season starts, I probably won't be able to rescue you from the fish sticks, but maybe you could ask your mom to make you lunch on those days."

"I guess."

"Plus, I wasn't kidding. You're going to have to come over to the new house, meet Rainbow, and help me figure out if it's a good place for the baby. And I need your input for the football camp. I'm putting you to work, Chels. You're my consultant, my best helper."

She beamed up at me. "I like that. I'll be your consultant." She threw her arms around my legs.

I bent down to give her a hug. "Thanks for having lunch with me. You keep your head up, and try to have some fun. These kids don't seem so bad."

"They're not, I guess."

I laughed. "They're not. Now go learn something. I can't have my consultant slacking on her schoolwork."

She kissed my cheek and gave me another squeeze. "Okay! I'll talk to you soon!"

"Very soon, kid. Take care."

I watched her run into the classroom and waved at several of the kids watching me from inside. Not a bad first lunch at all. Things had gone better than I'd hoped. She'd talked to some kids, made some plans with one, and was looking forward to the football camp. Danny would be happy, I hoped. And so would his sister, if I had anything to say about it.

Xoxoxoxox

After a long brain-storming session with Alec and some Giants brass, I was able to head over to Miller Elementary, where my Reed Girl was giving her first music lessons. I found the auditorium, where they were holding the class, since it had a piano.

Before I even opened the door, I heard the squeaks and clashing notes of the music. How anybody could stand hours of that was beyond me. But when I opened the door, I couldn't stop the smile from spreading. There had to have been about twenty-five little ones, all laughing and blowing into their little horns. And in front of them all was my Reed Girl, sitting at the piano, a bright smile on her face as she sat next to a little girl and showed her a note on the music sheet and then played the corresponding key.

"It's quite a picture, isn't it?"

I glanced over to where Emily was sitting a few rows from the front, grinning at me.

"Yeah. It's pretty awesome." I walked over and sat next to her to watch the show. "My girl is in her element."

Emily laughed. "She has a way with the little ones, for sure. I'm pretty sure every single one of my kids has a crush on her. The boys want to impress her, and the girls want to be her."

How about that? "Who could blame them?"

"Not me. Bella's the best."

She was. "That she is. And how's my boy doing? I haven't talked to him in a few weeks."

I couldn't be sure, but it seemed like Emily blushed.

"He's good. Really good. He went to visit his mom for a few days, but he'll be back soon." She smiled at me. "We were hoping we could maybe do that dinner one of these nights."

Yeah, we'd never gotten around to going out with everything going on. "Sounds good to me."

"Good. Bella said you went to visit that little girl, Chelsea, today. How's she doing?"

"Holding up, but it's hard on her. I got some kids to come over to our table at lunch today, tried to get her to socialize a little. It seemed like it worked okay."

"I'm sure you made her day. I can't say I've ever had to deal with a child losing a sibling, a fact for which I'm very grateful, but I have had a few lose a parent or grandparent in my time teaching. If you need any advice or anything, I'd be happy to help."

Reed Girl was right; Emily was a cool person. "Thanks. I just might take you up on that."

Up on stage, my girl got everyone's attention. "Okay, we're going to try to do it all together now. Remember, just those four notes I taught you. Here we go."

She sat at the piano, helping the little girl as the students all launched into a semi-recognizable rendition of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." It was cute, if a bit loud, but the thing I couldn't tear my eyes from was my wife, sitting at the piano and patiently helping the little brunette next to her. In a few years, that could very well be her and our little Dani.

"You look like you're about to burst with pride," Emily observed.

"She's incredible." I never forgot, for one moment, that my wife had given up on her dream job to have our baby and to run this charity for me. The smile on her face made me smile myself. She said she had no regrets, but it was a relief to see for my own eyes that it was true. Reed Girl was having the time of her life.

"That was so good! Now, everyone can take home their recorder and the sheet music that I passed out. Practice, but don't drive your parents too crazy."

The parents who'd gathered to bring their kids home, or just to watch, laughed. Emily and I made our way up to the stage, greeting some parents and meeting their kids. I couldn't begin to count how many thanked me for making this possible. Reed Girl was surrounded by parents asking her questions about various instruments and private lessons and all sorts of shit.

It took a while, but eventually everyone cleared out and Reed Girl threw her arms around me. "Did you see? It was so great! Katie, the little girl at the piano with me? She has a real ear for music. I think I'm going to have to work one-on-one with her. Her mother is totally on board."

I laughed and hugged her to me. "Take a breath, baby."

She giggled and did just that. "Sorry. I'm excited."

"I love that you're excited. You were awesome up there. You're a really great teacher, baby."

She gave me a smacking kiss. "Thanks. I had the best time."

"You're a natural," Emily agreed. "I should hate you since I think they all love you more than they love me, but I can't blame them. You were really great with every single one of them."

"Please, they adore you. They all wanted to impress Miss Emily."

Emily gave her a hug. "We'll call it a tie. And now I have something to use against them if they act up in class. The threat of no music time with Miss Bella will keep them in line."

Reed Girl laughed. "Whatever works."

"I've got to go do a few things so I can head home for the day. Thank you both for this program. It really is a godsend."

"I'm glad it's going so well. You and Bella can get together and let me know when you want to do dinner."

"Oh, we will. See you on Tuesday, Bella."

"Bye! Thanks, Emily!"

My wife took my hand, and we headed out of the auditorium. The happy smile didn't leave her face as she chattered about the students. It was quite clear she'd already fallen for them and vice versa.

"Sounds like a great first lesson, baby. I'm so glad you had a good time."

"How could I not? How about you? How was your day?"

I laughed. "It went pretty well, actually. How about I take you to dinner and we can talk about everything?"

"I'd like that." We got to her car, and she wrapped her arms around me. "But tell me… How was Chelsea?"

I gave her a brief rundown.

"It sounds like you did really well with her."

"She's a great kid. I just want to make her happy."

"She's going through a lot, but she'll get there, especially with a friend like you. Maybe we can see if she has any interest in music? I could teach her as well. It was always a good escape for me when my mom was being annoying."

Which was all the fucking time. "Maybe. She really likes cats. I was thinking…"

Reed Girl shook her head, laughing. "Oh no. You're not getting her a Rainbow, not without talking to her parents first. There could be a reason why they had no pets. You guys got lucky with the three of us, Cullen. Get permission, and then we'll talk about it."

I sighed, but she was right. "Fine. I just think, you know, she needs someone to talk to, and talking to Rainbow always works for me."

She kissed me. "I know. You're beyond sweet to want to do that for her. And if her parents sign on, I'm all for it. But you can't get her one, only to have her be unable to keep it. She's lost enough."

That was very true. "Okay, baby. I'll ask. And in the meantime, we'll have her over to the new place. She seemed really excited about it."

"Sounds good to me. You're a pretty fantastic guy, Mr. Cullen."

"Maybe. I have to keep up with my wife on the awesome scale, though. After today, I'm way behind."

She kissed me again. "Well, maybe after dinner I'll give you a chance to earn a few points."

"I'm all about extra credit, baby."

She laughed. "Kiss ass."

"I plan to, later." I gave hers a gentle pat. "Follow me."

"Anywhere, Champ."

I held open her door for her before heading to my own car. I had an incredibly awesome woman, and it felt like we were starting to do something pretty great with our charity. And we were only just beginning. There was a lot more we could do. We would do. I couldn't wait.