A/N:

Most of you wanted a girl, but some also said boy. A few even asked if there's still any possibility Edward was the sperm donor, and as I explained previously Bella went to a Seattle-based sperm-bank, and Edward isn't from Seattle and has no reason to have ever donated his sperm there.

So no, there is no possibility whatsoever :)

Title: The Perfect Partner Program

Author: MarieCarro

Beta: EdwardsFirstKiss

Pre-reader: brwneyedgrl01

Genre: Angst/Hurt&Comfort/Romance

Rating: NC-17

Summary: The summer of 2005 was the summer that changed Bella Swan's life forever. Sent to Ohio by her mother to attend a school for debutante girls not quite up to par, she meets Edward Masen, an apprentice. But is that really all he is? AH

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Word Count: 2, 973

CHAPTER 28 THE 'MOM' THING AND REUNIONS

My son, Alec James Swan, was born on March sixteenth at 4:08 in the morning after nine hours of labor. I would never forget the first time I heard him cry after I'd painfully pushed him out of my body. Even less the overwhelming feeling when Sue laid him on my chest to give us that first skin to skin contact.

"Congratulations honey," she said with tears in her eyes, but I barely registered what she was saying because I was looking at my son's beautiful, scrunched up little face. He was just perfect. Absolutely perfect.

"Hi there, handsome," I said shakily, overcome with emotion at seeing him with me for the first time. "You know me, right?" I asked as his confused dark eyes blinked up at me. "I'm your mom."

I hadn't had a name for him at first. Of course I'd perused names on several baby name sites, but it had been difficult to choose a name while I still didn't know whether I was having a boy or a girl. However, as soon as I looked into his eyes, I knew that I wanted to name him Alec after my Pops—it was so obvious that it wasn't even a choice—and James from the first crush I had as a kid on a fictional character in Nana's favorite book, which she'd read to me occasionally.

The names were connected to two of the most important people I'd had in my life, and it felt like I was honoring them by giving my son those two names.

After it was all over, I felt high off of the endorphins swimming around in my brain, and I didn't care about any sort of indignities when I was cleaned up and helped into a new set of pajamas.

The sleep deprivation had made me overly emotional. When my family and Becca were allowed into my room while Alec was being checked over to make sure he was completely healthy, I started bawling my eyes out and blubbered nonsense.

Sue had assured them that I was fine when I couldn't tell them myself. When the nurse came back into the room with my son in her arms, all cleaned up and swaddled in a soft cotton blanket with the cutest little blue cap on his head, they oooh'd and aww'd over him.

"I want to name him after Pops," I told Dad, and his bottom lip started trembling as he tried to keep his tears at bay.

"He would have been very proud, Doll," he finally told me and kissed the top of my head lovingly while he looked adoringly at his first biological grandchild. I knew he loved his step-grandchildren very much, and both of us knew that being a family didn't demand blood-relations. It didn't make it any less special that Alec was indeed his flesh and blood.

The day after his birth was a whirlwind as almost everyone I knew, mostly colleagues and a few other friends came to visit and get a look at Alec.

"So this is going to be the next generation's finest Seattle investigator, huh?" Demetri grinned when I opened up the blankets so he could see my son.

"I guess we'll have to see about that," I'd told him with an amused smile. "He might want to do something completely different."

He laughed, but luckily not loud enough for Alec to wake up. "He very well might, but why break a beautiful tradition?" he asked and winked at me.

Because Alec was the epitome of health and there had been no complications for me either, I was allowed to go home less than forty-eight hours afterward. That was when things I hadn't thought of or considered until then became painfully obvious to me.

The physical things were easy to explain, like how uncomfortable it was to sit down and how I just wanted to take the first bag of frozen vegetables from my freezer and place it between my legs until I was numb, but other things were a bit more difficult.

In the hospital, surrounded by nurses and my family, it had been easy to have Alec with me, to hold him and love him, but the first hours after I arrived home were just weird. While I loved him so much I could barely take my eyes off him, a part of me was confused and reeling, wondering who this new little human was, and who I was to him.

It was as if I couldn't wrap my head completely around it that he was the same being as the one I'd been carrying for nine months and getting to know through my uterus.

When I nursed him, I had to shake away the strange thoughts I had about the fact that I had a virtual stranger sucking on my nipples.

The night wasn't much better, but I was so worried I wouldn't wake up in case he started crying despite the baby monitor, that I tossed and turned the entire night, completely unable to sleep. When he did wake up, I was so scared of doing the wrong thing that I double-checked each time to see if he was wet and needed a diaper change, or if he was hungry, or simply needed comfort from having been thrown into this new strange world, so much colder and larger than my womb.

Still, despite all my fears and insecurities, I managed pretty well, and it felt as if everything was worth it when I finally developed the ability to differentiate his cries.

The reality of being a new parent quickly turned out to be the opposite of what I had expected, though. I had always been a restless person who always felt the need to do something, and every time I put Alec down for his nap, I found myself just walking around, not knowing what to do, or what I had the time to do before he would wake up again.

One thing, I knew though. I don't think my windows had ever been this clean before. Cleaning the windows was easy, and it didn't take much time, so that's what I ended up doing, along with the most mind-numbing things such as organizing my movie collection, re-arranging my cupboards and so on.

It wasn't until Becca pointed out to me that I looked awful that I confided in her that I had only gotten the absolute minimum amount of sleep. I was terrified to sleep because then I would miss Alec's cries and become the worst mom ever.

She knocked some sense into me, though, and made me realize that if I didn't start taking care of myself, how was I supposed to keep taking care of Alec? So I started the habit of napping with Alec in my bed during the day, just to recharge my battery the tiniest bit.

However, time passed quite fast, and suddenly, Alec was already six weeks old. He was the happiest baby I'd ever come across. He laughed at pretty much anything from a bird hopping around outside the window to the sound of his favorite stuffed elephant's bell ring.

It had also become obvious that he had inherited the brown eyes that both Dad and I had inherited from Pops, which was very suiting since he was named after the man But the small soft strands of hair on his head were very light and fair. Sue had told me that his hair could still grow dark, though, and that it wasn't unusual for babies to have very light hair. Not that it mattered to me.

The simplest things made me happy when it came to Alec. For example that he recognized me enough by now to reach out to me when he wanted to be lifted, and although the smiles he gave were, what I'd been told, reflexive ones as involuntary as the kicks he made with his legs to test out his muscles, it still delighted me to see one stretch over his face.

It was at this point in time when I was reminded of the complicated mess that actually was my life.

I had been down on the floor, playing with Alec in his baby gym.

"Look here, Alec! Look!"

I shook his favorite elephant in front of him to make the bells ring, and Alec fascinatingly reached for the stuffed animal. At first, he missed and grabbed my pinky instead, but as soon as he had it in his grasp, he pulled it toward his mouth and determinedly bit into it. I laughed softly and just had to place a kiss on his soft, downy head.

The doorbell rang, and I got up from the floor before scooping Alec up in my arms to take him with me, the elephant still in his mouth.

"Someone's at the door. Let's go see who it is. Maybe it's Pop-pop and Mema coming to visit," I continued to talk to him as I went to the door. However, as soon as I opened it, I froze in shock. "Edward."

His eyes widened somewhat when he looked at my son, but he soon regained control. "Bella, uhm … hi," he replied uncertainly.

I instinctively tightened my hold on Alec and swallowed hard. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest as I stared at the man I had once again fallen for before he had disappeared for almost four months. "What are you doing here?"

An agitated hand pulled through his hair as he let out an uncomfortable laugh. "Well, I finished the case, and so I came back."

"Why?"

"I wanted to see you," he replied honestly. "Because I missed you."

To hide my reaction to his words and that they made me both warm and cold inside, I hid behind Alec. "This is Alec," I said introducing my son, and Edward's eyes moved back to him.

Edward smiled, but Alec just stared at him with his dark brown eyes and continued to chew on his elephant. "Hello Alec, it's nice to meet you," he said softly. "My name is Edward." He looked back at me. "How old is he?"

"Six weeks today."

He nodded and shifted his weight to his other foot. He was still standing on my front step since I hadn't let him in yet. While I sort of enjoyed seeing him a bit uncomfortable, I couldn't torture him for long. I stepped to the side and asked him to come inside, which he did gratefully.

I led him into the living room so that I could put Alec in his playpen, and I noticed how he looked around at the baby toys, the breast pump drying in the dish-stand, and all the other things that had obviously not been here the last time he'd been in my home; which was when we ended up having sex on my couch. A brief thought made me wonder if this was perhaps the first time he truly realized that potentially being with me didn't mean he would only be with me.

He took a deep breath and placed his hands in his pockets. "You look well," he commented, and I couldn't help the soft snort that escaped me.

"Thanks. Besides being constantly tired, I am well, I guess." I stroked Alec's head soothingly before straightening up and turning to Edward with my arms folded defensively over my chest. "How about you? You look well, too, although I haven't heard a word from you for two-and-a-half months, so I can't be sure," I said with an obvious hint of accusation in my voice.

A sad frown took over his face. "I told you before I left I wouldn't be able to keep in constant contact."

"You did," I agreed. "Although, I thought that meant I wouldn't hear a single thing from the moment I left your hotel, but since you did text me a few times, I guess I assumed you'd be gracious enough to at least give me a warning before going radio silent."

"Bella," he began and then let out a deep sigh. "I am so sorry. I wanted to contact you so badly, hell, I ached to call you every single night, but I was in deep undercover and every move I made was monitored. Contacting you, even just sending a text, would have compromised your safety. I couldn't risk that."

I didn't want to be understanding. I wanted to be hurt and annoyed, but I couldn't because what he said made sense. Undercover jobs were risky, and as a detective, I knew all too well how important the cover was. The slightest suspicion from the target could destroy an entire investigation and cost the case.

That was why I nodded. "I understand," I whispered without further argument.

Edward took a step toward me but still remained some distance away, which made me feel strangely torn. A part of me yearned to feel his strong arms envelop me. "I really didn't want to leave things between us the way I did. I've thought of you every day."

I wanted to tell him about my own growing feelings, and I knew we needed to have a thorough conversation about what would happen going forward, but I also knew that I wouldn't be able to focus entirely on that while I had Alec. I glanced over my shoulder at my little baby boy, and as always my heart clenched with love.

I turned back to the man who was looking at me with such uncertainty. "We really need to talk, but I need to make a few calls and get a babysitter for Alec. Can you wait?"

"Of course," he immediately accepted. "I have nowhere I need to be."

"Good," I said and grabbed my phone that I had discarded on my couch earlier. The first calls I made to Dad, Sue, and Becca were failures as they all were at work, but then I got a hold of my step sister Lilly, and she said it was no problem for her to take Alec for the rest of the day.

"Thank you so much, Lilly. I owe you one. If you ever need me to babysit little Bella and Juliette, I'm there."

"I'll take you up on that!" she said with a laugh and promised to pick him up within twenty minutes.

While I put together the diaper bag for Alec and made sure everything he would need was there, Edward sat on the couch and looked adorably out of his element. He continuously glanced at Alec, and I knew I needed to introduce the two of them more properly, so when the only thing that was left was to wait, I picked up my son and sat down in the couch next to Edward.

I had Alec on my knee and held him so that he was facing us. Edward looked as if he was scared.

"He won't bite," I teased him. "And even if he does, he doesn't have any teeth, so you're safe," I encouraged with a smile.

Edward took a deep breath and then slowly reached out to touch Alec's hand with the gentleness of someone who was afraid to break something. He took the small, clenched, baby-fist between his fingers and made the show of shaking it to say hello.

Alec turned his head to Edward and focused his eyes on him, but when he realized that this strange man was touching him, he instantly started crying loudly. Edward startled and his eyes widened in terror.

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered. "I didn't mean to—"

"You didn't do anything wrong," I quickly assured him as I stood up to walk around with the bounce step that was a sure way to calm Alec down again. "He doesn't know who you are, that's all." I placed my mouth against Alec's scalp while I whispered soothingly, and only a few seconds later, his crying settled down, and he was once again quiet and looking around the room over my shoulder as if he hadn't been upset at all.

Once Lilly had picked Alec up, and Edward and I were alone, a new sort of tension settled between us. A tension of anticipation. Both of us knew that this conversation would be the make or break one, and his nerves were palpable. However, the instant I came back into the living room, he stood up from the couch and walked all the way to me with determination.

"Bella, I know it's unfair of me to ask this of you when I've given you nothing, but this is killing me. I need to know if you've decided yet."

I sighed. "I haven't and I'm sorry, but there's still so much we need to talk about before I can even begin to make a decision."

His shoulders slumped disappointedly, but he grabbed my hand and brought it up to his mouth to place a feather-light kiss on the back of it that sent tingles through my body. "These last few months, I've been thinking a lot, and I get that what you're most afraid of is that I won't be able to handle a family situation."

I shook my head. "That's only one of my worries," I disagreed, and he nodded, although he didn't seem very focused as his gaze continuously traveled from my eyes to my mouth.

"I want to hear about all of them so that I can reassure you, but I'm afraid my head's been muddled since you first opened the door," he said. "I just can't seem to stop thinking of kissing you."

A/N:

The physical pull between them is too strong for Edward to resist. Will Bella be able to? Will she want to?

To all the Moms' who are reading this story, could you recognize anything of what Bella was feeling in those first days after Alec's birth? I'd love to hear if you did!

Until Friday

Stay Awesome!