Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is the property of Stephenie Meyer. 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.

Hey everyone! I'm sorry it took you so long to get your "Good Sex" fill, but life's been pretty hectic lately. Sorry for the craziness and I will try to be more regular now that the insanity has calmed down. Now, back to the show.

EPOV

Bella had spent the last two days utterly miserable waiting to pass the kidney stones. She was tired and irritable and giving me a glimpse into what she might be like in a few months when she's yelling about her clothes and the fact that she can't go out, but I couldn't help but be grateful. Because I would get to see it.

That night, after my dad had left, Bella and I had a serious conversation about everything that had happened between us.

"Edward, will you please just let me finish. A lot of things have been said, and I just wanted to let you know I'm not going to hold it over your head."

"Hold what over my head?" Her mind was flying in ten different directions and I honestly didn't know what she was talking about.

"The 'love' thing. I know you said it in the heat of the moment, so I'm not going to flip out if you want to take it back."

I stared at her like she was insane. "Do you want to take it back?"

"That isn't the point." She fired back quickly, so I knew she didn't.

"Bella, I meant it when I said it. I've felt it for a while…probably all along, but when you walked out and I realized I could have lost you forever, I was sure of it. Baby, I love you."

Her face lit up and I couldn't help but smile at how happy it made her. "Really?"

"Yes. Now I wanted to talk to you about telling my mom."

"What do you think would be better, your parents place, or mine?"

I thought about it for a minute, but I already knew the answer. "Yours. That way you control it. Plus if she sees that you're a professional, with a nice place and a good job she'll probably freak out less."

"It's going to be that bad?" Bella was instantly worried.

"You said your parents are going to be a hard sell, right? Well my mom always had high hopes for me and she had me around your age, so she was settled, her biggest issue is what this will do for me as far as college and getting my business off the ground."

"Business? Aren't you going to school for music composition?"

I nodded, but continued on. "Yes, but that's mainly so I wouldn't get lazy with my writing, but I want to teach piano. I know I'll probably have to teach music appreciation at some middle school or something to pay the bills from time to time, but if I could get enough students that I could live off it…that's the dream."

A tear escaped Bella's eye as she reached for my hand. "Its things like that that are the reason I love you."

"Edward?"

I shook my head to see Bella staring at me. "Sorry love, what'd I miss?"

"I passed the stones; I can finally get out of here."

I laughed at her enthusiasm and then looked around the room. "What do you want to wear home?"

"There's a pair of yoga pants and a 'The Pulse-Seattle' shirt in the bottom drawer."

Reaching into the drawer, I pulled out her change and finished packing up her things as the nurse came in an unhooked her IV and let her go into the bathroom to change. Handing me the bag with her dirty clothes, Bella sat on the edge of the bed until they came back in with her discharge papers.

Two hours later, I was sitting Bella on her couch and running to get her some juice before I settled in next to her. "Edward, there's something I want to talk to you about, and I know it is going to come up at dinner with your mom, so I wanted to have my feeling out in the open."

I nodded, a little worried about what she wanted to talk about now. "Edward, I don't want to get married, at least not right now."

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

"No. My parents got pregnant with me young and then got married. They loved each other, but it wasn't enough and they didn't even make it to my first birthday. I spent years only seeing my dad for two weeks every summer and then moved in with him as a teenager and then graduated high school and went to college. I never balanced time between them and if we didn't work out, I want our child to have two parents in his life at all times. I think it'd be easier if we were dating. If someday it felt right…if we were getting married for the right reasons then I'd say 'yes,' but not because of the baby."

I nodded again. "That's smart. And thank you for wanting to keep me in her life even if we don't work out."

"Her?" Bella smiled as I had taken to refer to the baby as a girl the same way she referred to the baby as a boy.

"I have to balance it, or you'll give my girl a complex."

Bella burst into a loud cackle and I loved seeing her so happy. We'd had a crappy time of it and now we were finally getting back on solid ground.

My mom and dad agreed to have a family dinner with my new girlfriend at her place the Monday before Thanksgiving, as Bella was about 6½ weeks along and didn't want to keep this from my mom much longer with my dad already in the know.

I got out of class at 4pm and headed over to her building to help her out before my parents showed up at 5:30. Using the key Bella had given me, after making me promise not to abuse it; I walked into an immaculate apartment and a frazzled Bella.

"Baby, breathe. You can't let yourself get worked up like this; it isn't good for you or the baby."

She melted into my chest and I hugged her tight. "Everything's done but the salad and the bread. Can you please watch it while I get ready? I'll be out to fix the rest and pull it out."

"Sure. You just try to calm down and I'll make sure the food behaves." I winked at her and she just shook her head, muttering to herself as she headed to the bathroom.

I sat there, staring at the stove until I heard the chuckle from behind me. "You didn't have to literally watch the food, you know."

I turned to see her in a belted, blue button-down shirt and black skinny jeans. "You look beautiful."

She smiled. "Do you think your mom will like me?"

"She'll love you. This'll just be a bit of a shock."

Bella finished making the salad and threw in the bread while the lasagna cooled on the table. I got some soda for us and Bella took out a bottle of wine in case my parents wanted some with dinner…or the news, just as the buzz signaled that they were here.

I buzzed them up and Bella fussed with her shirt for another minute before there was a knock at the door. Taking Bella's hand, I walked her to the door and we greeted my parents.

BPOV

"Sweetheart, it's so nice to see you." Edward's mother hugged him, taking away his hand and with it, the one thing keeping me calm. "You must be Bella; it's so nice to meet you." She hugged me as well and I began panicking, thinking she'd be able to feel my non-existent bump and would accuse me of trying to trap her son.

"It's nice to meet you too."

"Bella, it's good to see you again. How are you feeling?"

Edward and Carlisle decided that letting Esme know he had met me while I was in the hospital was the best way to explain the 'meet the parents' dinner happening only a month into the relationship. "I'm well Carlisle, thank you. Dinner's ready, if you'd like to sit down?"

"Punctual with her meals, I like this one, Edward."

"Bella can hear you mom." Edward smiled at me as I went to bring out the garlic bread and salad and settled in at the table with them.

Dinner was going well, but then the normal, getting to know you discussion began. "So, Edward says you're a little older than him. You've graduated college then, I guess."

"Yes ma'am. I'm a lifestyle columnist at The Pulse."

"That's impressive. And that would make you…?"

"24."

Esme choked a little on her wine and both Cullen men shot me apologetic glances. "My, that is a little older, not too bad though. You enjoy your job?"

"I love it. They give me a few smaller assignments for reviews of clubs or things like that, but I get to choose my feature every month. There's a male lifestyle's editor and then me, so between the two of use our readers get an unbiased view of the city. Plus there isn't a lot of office space, so we all work from home, which means I don't punch a clock, I get paid for the articles I turn in."

"So you're like Carrie in Sex in the City?" Esme questioned, but I couldn't help but hear the hidden question.

"In the fact that I'm a columnist writing in a metropolitan city, yes. But my view of the world isn't that jaded."

She nodded and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay Edward, what's the bomb. I know this isn't simply a getting to know you dinner, so you two either eloped or Bella's…"

Apparently that sigh of relief was too soon.

"Oh my God, you are pregnant." It wasn't a question, it was a condemnation. "Edward?"

"Yes, I am."

"And the baby's his?" I was suddenly feeling sick and ran from the table. As I got sick, I heard the argument happening in my living room.

"Mom, how could you ask her that? Of course it's mine."

"I'm sorry, but you two haven't been together that long-"

"That doesn't mean she was sleeping with someone else when we started. She's only six weeks or so along and she broke up with her ex weeks before she could have conceived this baby."

"Edward, you're so young. How are you even going to take care of it?"

"I have a part-time job, and Bella has a great job. I'm going to lighten my load at school, but take summer classes so I can graduate on time next year and we're going to work together."

"What about marriage?" Esme was firing questions as soon as Edward finished talking.

"Maybe someday. Bella doesn't want the baby to be the reason we rush into it and I agree. I love her, and we could be together for the next sixty years, but if we do it for the wrong reason, it won't matter. And we don't want to do that to our child. Bella grew up with her parents thousands of miles away and she doesn't want our baby to see me two weeks a year. She wants me to be there for everything."

There was silence in the next room and I rested my head against the toilet as I waited for more fighting. Fighting I was used to; it was how my parents communicated half the time.

The bathroom door opened and I gasped as Esme came and sat on the floor next to me. "I'm so sorry dear. I shouldn't have attacked you like that, I was just taken aback."

"It's all right, you're worried about Edward. I think I'd be more worried if you didn't react like that." She laughed and began rubbing my back.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm scared. I know my parents are going to freak out and I was planning on seeing them for Christmas and New Years and telling them about the baby. I've wanted to be a mom, but this isn't how I pictured it. But your son is the type of man I pictured as being the father. He's a good man and I love him. Please know that."

Esme hugged me and took my face in her hands. "I do. And it is obvious my son loves you too. Now can you forgive my bad behavior and come finish dinner with us?"

I laughed and nodded and then let Esme help me up as I went back out to join our men, the bullet officially dodged.