Chapter 39 - Sleepless Night

BELLA

We went to Jasper and Alice's place. It was tiny but cute. Alice was too busy glaring at Edward to notice it was me with him, until I called to her and told her hello. Her eyes snapped to me and looked me up and down several times. She looked to Demetri and then to Edward, opening her mouth several times in shock. Yeah, I was eight months pregnant, why was this so shocking to everyone? It was like they had never seen a pregnant girl before.

Edward pulled me into a little bedroom before she could say anything, which was probably a good thing. I would let the boys straighten that out. He had me lay down and tucked a couple of pillows around me. "Are you okay? Are you feeling better now?" Edward asked worried.

I yawned, realizing D had been right, that damn train ride had totally whooped me good. "I'm fine; I just need some sleep," I said, and he kissed my forehead.

"You rest, I'll make sure Alice is nice and takes care of you when you wake up."

"Where will you be?"

"I have some business to attend to with Demetri and Jasper. Don't worry; I'll be back tomorrow morning to take you home. Just sleep for now, everything is going to be fine," he said, and I couldn't help but snuggle down into the soft pillows. He brushed my hair back from my face and kissed my cheek, and I was out.

EDWARD

I was freaking out internally. I kept thinking there had to be some mistake, that Bella wasn't really pregnant. Maybe she was just really, really fat. Yeah, that was totally normal, some depressed lonely people put on weight, right?

I tucked her in, and as I went to pull the blanket up over her, her belly shifted, and I would have sworn it was a little foot sticking up for a second. Maybe she had been abducted by aliens. Yeah, aliens, and the thing was trying to tear its way out like in that sappy vampire series.

"You okay?" Demetri asked, as I closed the door softly. "You look like you're going to be sick."

"I, ugh, are you, um…?"

"Don't even ask me if I'm sure it's not my baby, because I can tell you now, that girl did not let me lay one finger on her," he said wiggling his fingers low and suggestively. "Not for my lack of trying, mind you. Poor thing would rather suffer waiting for you than let me give her some relief."

I went from sick to wanting to kill him.

He must have seen the change in my demeanor, because he didn't shut up. "Look, man, she's pregnant, really pregnant, with your baby girl."

"It's a girl?" Alice chimed in.

Demetri shrugged. "Well, she said they couldn't tell when they did the ultrasound, but she's carrying it like a girl."

"How do you know what a girl carries like?" Jasper asked.

"Seriously, man? You know my momma has eight kids, right? And I'm the oldest. Not to mention all eight of my aunts and uncles that live in town have had a bazillion kids themselves. I've been around pregnant women since the day I was born."

Apparently, Demetri was a pregnancy expert.

"Besides, B has a thing for my momma's fried chicken. If she was carrying a boy, it'd be steak," he said crossing his arms like his word was final.

"Do you know when she's due?" Alice asked. I should have been asking that, but truth was I was still freaking out inside.

"Yeah, she has three weeks left until she pops. You should watch her, though, she could go anytime. That's why I brought her along. I didn't want her home alone."

"What happened to her parents? Why isn't she with them?"

"Man, I don't know anything about her dad, but I do know that her mother died this past summer."

"What?" I freaked even more.

"Oh no!" Alice gasped.

"Yeah, I guess she just got sick. Bella was all tore up about it. She keeps saying she couldn't donate to help her mother because she was pregnant, but I don't know how her not being pregnant could've changed anything, do you?"

"Oh, my GOD! Edward, you killed her mother with your dick!" Alice screamed.

"What the hell?" Demetri was looking at Alice like she was nuts, but ultimately, she was right. It was my horny uncontrolled dick that had impregnated Renee's donor source, making her unable to donate. Fucking hell, that had to be killing Bella.

"Bella's mother had an auto-immune disease that required plasma donations from Bella for her to get over illnesses. She was the only compatible plasma donor for her mother," Alice explained. "When Edward got her pregnant, she wasn't able to donate anymore. Edward killed her mom with his dick."

"Would you please stop saying that?" I snapped.

"Dude, that's messed up, man," Demetri said shaking his head. "I'm surprised she's even talking to you. No wonder she didn't want to find you."

"What?" Now this was news to me.

"Look, man, I don't know about you, but in this day and age, if you want to find someone, it ain't that hard. Bella kept her mouth shut about you. She said you weren't in her life and only mentioned looking for you when we were on our way here."

Did Bella really not want to find me? Did she plan on having my baby and not telling me? That was just all kinds of messed up.

"Edward, are we going to cancel the mission?" Jasper asked pulling me out of my thoughts.

Did I back out now? I looked at Demetri, who had come all this way to help, and shook my head no. "We need to get to work," I said, and Alice stomped her foot.

She grabbed Jasper's arm. "You've got to talk some sense into him."

"I don't need sense, Alice, I have a plan," I growled. I was getting sick of her complete lack of support. "Why don't we take this to the warehouse? We have setting up to do, anyway. Alice, look after Bella, would you?"

"Like I have a choice," she said crossing her arms angrily.

Jasper leaned down and kissed her lips. "Don't be like that, baby. He's your brother."

"My stubborn idiot brother, who absolutely refuses to listen to anyone!" she yelled at me over his shoulder.

"Yeah, love you, too, sis. I'll see you in the morning after this is all over, and we're done talking with the papers about how us regular Joes were able to take down the damn Mafia," I said brushing past her and went out the door. I would let her apologize in the morning.

BELLA

I woke up to Alice crying. I stumbled out after using the bathroom and sat down next to her, not sure what to say. I didn't know why she was crying. "Are you okay?" I asked not really sure how to broach this.

"No! My stupid brother is going to get himself and Jazzy killed!"

"What are you talking about, Alice?"

"Didn't Demetri tell you?"

"No, he never talks business with me, and I'm fine with that, because I think I'd rather not know."

"Well, you'd want to know now. They're trying to set up a mob boss, Big Boss Barone, and get him caught saying incriminating stuff, so he can be taken down."

"WHAT? Is he insane? What the hell is he thinking?" I shouted.

"He originally started this, so he could go home to you."

"What does taking down the mob have to do with me?"

"Hell if I know. Those stupid boys are trying to play superheroes, and I just know it's going to go horribly wrong, Bella, I can just feel it in my bones. I'm going to lose my husband and my brother, because he's being a stupid idiot and won't listen to anyone warning him that this is too dangerous."

"Well, I haven't told him it's too dangerous. Where are they doing this, Alice? We've got to stop them now, before it's too late!"

Alice called for a cab to come get us. She gave them the address and told them to send someone with balls who could handle being in the warehouse district. When I asked her about it, she said she didn't want the cabby to wuss out on us, when we gave him the address after he got here. I pulled up "Big Boss Barone" on my cell phone and started doing some research. I had to come up with a plan fast.

A big tough-looking guy pulled up in a tiny yellow cab. "Why are you broads going to such a dangerous place in the middle of the night?"

"To get our stupid men," Alice said firmly.

He glanced back and saw that we were both wearing wedding rings. He didn't know mine was a fake that D had given me, and it was none of his business. I didn't bother to correct his assumption, either.

"Wait here," Alice ordered the cabby, "and don't be alarmed if we're dragging men out by their ears." She spun on her heels and headed into the warehouse. It was dark, and we heard moaning.

"Come on, Son, if you're going to play with the big boys, you need to be tougher than that."

We heard the slapping of skin, and I cringed. I realized our men were probably getting the crapped beat out of them.

"Alice, we have to do something!" I squeaked.

Then the big thick hand of our cabby landed on our shoulders.

EDWARD

Everything was going smoothly, we were ready for Big Boss Barone to come in and hang himself. He arrived a few minutes earlier than I expected, but it wasn't a big deal. He came walking in like he owned the place. Turned out he did.

"Whose do you thinks you are, setting up shop in my house? I didn't gives you no permission," he snarled in a deep Bronx accent and snapped his fingers. His guys went around, knocking stuff off the shelves. I hoped it didn't break, that shit was expensive.

"I think we need to call the insurance company, don't you, Frankie? It seems that a fire broke out in my house, killing a couple of bums," Barone said, and Frankie cracked his knuckles.

Demetri had the worst timing in the world. "Hey, boss," he said pulling up in a black Cadillac with tinted windows. "You should see this ride I found parked outside just ripe for the picking."

"Yous would steal from me?" Barone snapped. "It's one thing to be where you shouldn't, but it's another to take what's not yours." I somehow found this ironic and couldn't help the stupid smile that was promptly punched off my face.

I watched as they snagged Demetri and worried that they would hurt him, too. "You jacked my ride?" a guy asked.

Demetri just shrugged.

"Where were the guys who were supposed to be watching it?"

"They were having a smoke with their backs to it. You should've seen their faces when the car started moving away and they fell over!"

Barone actually smiled at that one. "I like this kid, he's good. Johnny, we got some work for him in the shop?"

"Yeah, boss," said the guy holding Demetri.

"Good, you work for me now," Barone said putting his cigar out on the support beam next to him. "As for you, I don't have a place for a troublemaker."

"Hey, boss," a big man came walking out, and my heart dropped when I saw he had Alice and Bella, "These chicks came to take their naughty boys home."

Barone looked them up and down. It didn't escape my notice that his eyes rested on the rings on the girl's hands. "You boys married?" he asked me.

"Yes," snapped Alice defiantly. I wished she would just shut up and get the hell out of here.

"Which one is yours?" Barone asked me.

"I am," Bella said in a strong voice. "I'm here to take this idiot home, out of your state and out of your hair. I don't know what he was trying to prove, but it stops now!" she snapped and pulled away from the man. He let her go, as she stormed over to me. "You stupid son of a bitch," she said and slapped me. "What the hell are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed!" She shocked me by turning to Barone. "Mr. Barone, I can't tell you how sorry I am. I know there must be some sort of mix up. I know you're an honorable businessman and even donate to several charities that I favor. I'm going to school to be a veterinarian, and that donation to SPCA was just, well," she said gushing, "It was more than generous. I don't know how to thank you for that."

Barone smiled at my girl. "Well, the pound is the best place to get guard dogs you know. I like 'em feisty."

She giggled at him. "See, I knew I liked you." She turned to me. "Edward, what am I going to do with you? You're going to make a complete fool of yourself. Don't you know Mr. Barone here is very respected in not only the business community, but in the law enforcement one as well? He helped bring down an illegal shipping trade last year. There's no way they'd let you tarnish his reputation with this crap you're trying to pull."

It was true; he had helped bring down an illegal shipping trade, but only because it was his competitor.

"What's your name, my dear?" Mr. Barone asked my girl.

She turned and smiled at him. "Isabella, but you can call me Bella. It's such an honor to meet you, Sir." I didn't know what the hell she was up to, but it seemed to be working.

"Bella, beautiful," he said walking over to her and kissed her hand. She blushed. That was my blush. "It seems you've done your homework on me."

"Well, when Alice told me they were trying to incriminate you, I looked you up right away. I was furious, I mean, can't they see all the good you do?" she said looking into his eyes. "I knew I had to stop them. I swear, Sir. I didn't know anything about this, or I would've stopped them long ago."

He brushed the hair back from her cheek. "I like you, Bella, I like you a lot." He ran his hand down to her belly, and I watched as her baby shifted. My baby, I corrected in my head.

"This is Edward's?" he asked.

She nodded yes and blushed again. He smiled at her. "Look at this, look at this beautiful girl," he said to the others. "Okay, I've changed my mind." He snapped his fingers, "Marco, bring out the other guy."

Another man came walking in holding Jasper. Alice ran to him, throwing her arms around him. Marco just looked confused at the small woman attacking the guy he was holding. Barone started laughing. "Look at that, that's so sweet." He turned to Bella and smiled at her. "You've put me in a good mood," he said taking her hand and kissed it. "You said you and your boys would leave town. I'll let you go, and keep in mind that we'll be watching." He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just nodded her head yes and threw her arms around him, startling him and everyone else.

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thank you. I promise to keep him in line on the other side of the continent."

He laughed. "Alright, beautiful." He clapped his hands. "You got the bugs?" he asked Marco, and I noticed he was holding up both kinds of them. We would have nothing. He patted my cheek hard. "Nice try, Sherlock, now you take care of that girl or…" He made a motion at his neck like he would slit my throat.

"Yes, Sir," I tried not to stutter but failed.

He patted my shoulder and walked over to the car that Demetri had driven in and smiled at him. "You know where to find me," he said pointing at him and then he was gone. I was left standing there speechless, dying to know one thing.

What the hell had just happened?