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.

Here's the ifrst half of the meet the parents trips for Edward...so grab some egg nog and settle in for Charlie's reaction.

BPOV

This Christmas was going to kill me as sure as I was about the fact that I'd be paying homage to the porcelain gods every morning. With only eight days left until Christmas day, Edward and I had booked our tickets to Florida for New Years and I'd called Charlie to tell him I was bringing someone with me to his place for Christmas. He was pissed when I told him I'd dumped Jake, the two of them got along talking about sports and cars in a way I knew him and Edward would never bond. I just hoped he wouldn't go all Chief Swan on him, because I wanted the father of my child to survive the day.

Shopping had been the easy part, and now I was just working on my last review before the magazine went to press. Dinner with Edward's parents Christmas Eve would be easy now that we had gotten to know each other and all of their worries had been calmed. I knew better than to hope for something like that with my parents.

I heard the door open and sighed as Edward came into my bedroom to find me fighting with the wrapping paper that was trying to destroy me. "Hey, how are my two favorite people?"

"Bleeding to death, one paper cut at a time." I joked and Edward helped me wrap the last present for my dad before pulling me up from my comfy position on the bed.

"Come with me, I want you to eat with me at the restaurant."

I looked at him a little warily. "You're there four days a week, why would you want to be there on your day off?"

"Because I want to show you off. Please?" He smiled and I laughed slipping on my shoes and agreeing to go to his job.

Twenty minutes later, we were being showed to a table and I looked over the menu for the 'safe' fish, quickly deciding that I'd have the Cajun Shrimp, as I seemed to be craving spicy food at the moment.

Placing our order with Jeff, the waiter who was a little too enthusiastic to meet me, I turned to Edward. "Do your co-workers know that I'm pregnant?"

Edward looked up, shaking his head. "No, I just never shut up about you and I usually work with Jeff so he's wanted to meet you. Just forget about him, he's harmless."

I nodded and settled back into the easy conversation that Edward had been using to distract me from the fact that I was nervous about dinner with my dad.

Once the food came I was far from social as I dug in, much to Edward's pleasure. I devoured my dinner and ordered dessert, only to see Edward smirking at me when I met his eyes. "What?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad you aren't one of those women who'll try not to gain weight while you're…" I knew what he meant but I couldn't help but react the old way and he caught himself immediately. "Oh shit, baby, I didn't mean it like it sounded. I just meant-"

"I'm eating for two now and shouldn't be ashamed of it. I know it wasn't an insult, so please just relax. It'll be a little while before I'm that hormonal."

Dessert came and passed and Edward brought me home before he went to his dorm so he could cram for the rest of his finals. Now that we were in agreement about the living arrangement, Edward was okay with keeping his room. He'd eventually be staying with me more often as the pregnancy progressed, but nights like tonight he saw my logic.

EPOV

The day my finals ended, I had the guys help me move the items that had to leave over break to my parents before I brought all of my necessities to Bella's. With the travelling and my work schedule, it made sense for me to just stay with her and 'test the waters' as she put it.

I know that she dated Jake for almost three years, and they hadn't lived together, which was probably his decision, and although I really wanted to know the details of that relationship, if for no other reason than to keep me from going fucking crazy when I did something Jacobish without knowing it. It was like going into a fight blind, but it would be worse to hack through it with Bella, so I either had to get Rosalie drunk and persuade her to tell me, or just suck it up.

Since then it had been relatively calm. Her mother called a few times making sure she was okay, worried that Bella was coming for New Years when it was Charlie's Christmas with Bella, assuming the worst. After calming her mother for the third time four days we settled in to watch those old Rankin/Bass specials on TV.

The morning of Christmas Eve wasn't as hectic as I had feared. Bella was feeling better and was excited about what would most likely be the least stressful of our holiday trips. Packing our presents into my car, we drove to my parents' house and climbed up the stairs to see my mom waiting for us.

"Bella, how are you feeling?" My mom hugged her and led us into the living room which she had decorated to her normal perfection.

"I'm feeling better…wow Esme this place looks amazing!" Bella looked around in awe at the room.

"Thank you dear, now sit down and relax and I'll get you something to drink. Edward, come in the kitchen with me for a minute?"

"Sure." I followed my mom in and she stopped in front of me as soon as we cleared the threshold.

"Edward…I did something, and I'm a little nervous about Bella's reaction."

Oh shit, I'm not sure I want to know. "Mom, what did you do?"

"Your dad got your old baby furniture out of storage and I turned one of the guest bedrooms into a nursery." She sped through the sentence, but I caught it and almost hit the floor.

"Mom! Bella's going to freak out! She's so skittish right now, the last thing she needs is to feel any pressure."

"Sweetheart, that isn't my intention." My mom started to tear up and I quickly ran to hug her.

"I know Mom, but Bella's just so nervous about tomorrow, I don't want to upset her."

"That's why I did this. I reacted so badly at first, I want you both to know that we're behind you 100%."

I sighed and nodded, it may help out with her nerves to know one set of grandparents are in our corner. "Okay, but can we do it early, so that way if it goes badly my present has a chance to cheer her up."

"What did you get her?" Now that she knew I was onboard with the surprise, she was all about trying to figure out mine.

"Nope, only dad knows and that's how it's going to stay until Bella sees it."

Done with our little pow-wow, my mom and I returned to the living room with drinks in hand to cover the tracks of our discussion.

"So, are we ready to open gifts?" My dad descended the stairs with a smile on his face and I looked at my mom, who grabbed Bella's hand.

"Yes we are. Bella, I hope you won't mind, but Carlisle and I would like to go first."

"That's fine." As soon as the words were spoken, my mom had Bella by the arm as she led her to the guest room closest to their bedroom.

"Bella, we wanted to-" my mom caught herself from including my father into it and continued. "I want to apologize for my reaction when you both first told me the news. Open the door."

Bella looked to me and I nodded, so she pushed open the door and gasped. The entire room was decorated in teddy bears, the walls painted a light yellow and all my nursery furniture placed carefully around the room. Bella walked in quietly, running her hand along the top of the crib before stopping at the rocking chair. She sat down and curled her feet under her, resting her hand on her stomach. When she looked back at us, there were tears in her eyes. "Thank you both so much."

I walked over to her, kneeling in front of the chair and took her free hand. "Baby, that's not all, this will be going back to your place, but I think now's the right time to show you."

My dad came back into the room carrying an antique looking wooden rocking chair. As soon as my dad sat it down, Bella started crying harder. "How in the…"

"I had Alice tell your dad that you finally had room for it and that she wanted to have it refinished as a present for you. We figured it would be better than me going to ask for it. And I didn't want to chance you not having it."

Bella climbed out of the chair and joined me on the floor. "Thank you. This is the most amazing Christmas I've ever had."

"It's only the beginning, love." I kissed her and then helped her stand before we left the room with my parents and headed downstairs to open the rest of our presents.

We ate dinner around 3pm and then spent a little more time talking with my parents until we left for home to get some sleep before heading out in the morning.

I woke up just after 6:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. I rolled over to see that Bella wasn't sleeping soundly next to me, so I got up to find her.

Walking into the living room, I saw her sleeping in the rocking chair and frowned, that couldnt' be comfortable. Walking over, I brushed my hand down her arm and called her name. She opened her eyes and smiled up at me. "Why'd you sleep in the chair?"

"I didn't mean to. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so I came to relax and I guess my old chair did the trick. Thank you again for that."

"I'd do anything to see you smile like that. Now your dad wants you there at 11am right?"

Bella nodded, "Yeah, so we better be out of here by 7:30, just in case." She stood up and stretched, her shirt lifting up to reveal a sliver of skin, causing an involuntary moan to escape my lips. "Don't worry, a few more weeks and we can start that again."

I looked at her for a moment before it clicked. "You asked Doc Carmen when we could start having sex again?" I personally was happy, but I didn't want her to feel like she had to do it to keep me interested.

"Yes. Do you know how hard it is to lay next to you in bed all night and not be able to be with you? It doesn't help that all of these hormones are driving me crazy." Bella winked and I nearly jumped her. Fuck I loved her.

Bella had decided that she was going to wait until we got back from Charlie's to give me my present, especially after the rocking chair I gave her yesterday.

"Okay, well on that note, why don't you get in the shower?"

She laughed and padded off to the bathroom as I made myself a bagel and some toast and tea for Bella. When she came out, she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue sweater. Bella told me not to dress up; because Charlie wasn't that type of dad and he'd sense something was up if we were overdressed. Joining her in the living room, we got in the car and started the three hour drive to Forks.

Bella fussed with the radio for a while before I put on a CD she had leant me and took her hand. "Breathe, this is your dad, I'm sure it'll be fine."

Bella shot me a look and then focused on the scenery. "You don't know my father."

We drove up to the house and as we were getting out a young guy ran over and picked Bella up as she got out of the car. Setting her down and looking at me, he froze. "Where's Jake?"

Bella and I stiffened at the mention of 'he who should not be named' as she referred to him and then she spoke up. "Rotting in a ditch if there's any justice in the world. This is my boyfriend Edward; he's who I was bringing to Christmas."

"Oh shit." The tall tan kid looked back to the house and then at Bella.

"He thought Jake was the big surprise?" Bella looked genuinely worried at the idea.

"This is going to be awk-ward."

I cleared my throat and Bella spun around. "Jesus, I'm being so rude. Edward this is Seth Clearwater, my step-brother. Seth, this is Edward Cullen…the anti-Jake."

"Good, I hated that tool. He never treated you the way you deserved. I know everyone else liked him, but he could kick rocks for all I cared." We turned to see who I was assuming to be Seth's sister by the family resemblance. "I'm Leah, Seth's older sister."

"Edward, nice to meet you." She raised an eyebrow at me and then turned to Bella.

"We'll sneak some Kevlar into the bathroom so he can change before dinner, because I can see the fireworks are getting set off tonight."

"Kids, what's taking so long to-" Bella's father stepped into the doorway in all his flannel shirt wearing, seventy's porno mustache sporting glory. "Who's that?"

Bella walked over to me while Seth and Leah carried in the bags of gifts. "This is my boyfriend, Edward."

His mustache twitched and he stared me down. But before he could burn a hole in me, Seth and Leah's mother came around his shoulder and swatted his arm. "Charlie, be nice. It's always nice to meet someone who is close to Bella."

I smiled and shook her hand and extended my hand to Charlie next, but he just turned and walked into the house. This was going to be interesting.

We sat down to open presents and even though he was polite as he opened the fishing equipment from Bella and me, he knew something was up. Leah was watching us, waiting for whatever was coming and Seth and Sue, as I had learned soon after entering the house, were just waiting to run interference. It was excruciating. It was only noon and we had a full two hours until dinner so in an attempt to break the tension, Seth asked Bella how she liked her present from Alice, but when Bella blanched, Charlie jumped on it.

"All right, that's enough. I know something's going on so how's about we just have at it?"

"Dad, I really don't want to-"

"No Bells, I want to know, what's with this pup you've got here. You were with Jake for three years-"

"Jake cheated on me, dad, so it'll be a cold day in hell before he walks back through that front door."

"Still doesn't explain Edwin-"

"Edward!" She corrected, but he kept going.

"Whatever, why is he here, you couldn't have been dating him more than a few months so why's he here?"

"This is why he's here!" And before I could stop her, she slammed the ultrasound down on the coffee table and there it was, our baby, on display for her entire family to see.

"I don't want to hear that." Charlie was shaking his head violently and for the first time I was wondering if it was too late to take Leah up on the offer for Kevlar.

"Well you better…I'm pregnant dad." Bella was smiling, but Charlie had just shifted from red to purple.

"This wasn't how I raised you…this was your mother and the loose example she set for you."

"Dad, that isn't fair-"

"I expected better from you!"

"Better than what? You don't even know Edward, he's been better to me in the past few months than Jake was in three years."

"So you run off and get knocked up. That's just great Bella, my first grandchild's gonna wind up a bastard."

At this point I was through standing by and letting him rip into her. "Don't talk to her that way!"

"Watch it boy, I was her father long before you came around, and I'll continue to be her father long after you're gone." He didn't yell that one; he said it stone faced as the entire room fell silent. I was frozen for a minute before I was able to respond.

"You may be her father, but I won't let you upset the woman I love, or insult my child."

The silence only got worse until Charlie went storming off and Leah grabbed my hand. "Okay, Edward it was nice meeting you." Seth called out as Leah continued to drag me and push me into the passenger seat of one of the cars parked out front.

"What are you doing?" I yelled as she got in the car and sped off.

"Saving your damn life! I'm pretty sure he was going for his gun. Don't worry, Bella will calm him enough to say good-bye and then meet us in your car. She does have the keys to that, right?" I nodded as we pulled into the Lodge.

"What is this place?" I looked around.

"It's the only meal we'll get today, unless you want to drive to Seattle on an empty stomach."

I shook my head and we got out. Walking inside, Leah got us a table for three and we sat down across from each other. "I know he's your step-father and everything but-"

"Please don't bite your tongue for me, if I hadn't had to save your life back there I would have told him off next." Leah smiled and I grumbled.

"How could he be so hateful to his only daughter?"

Leah sighed and looked out the window. "Bella was born when Charlie and Renee were pretty young and they didn't survive it. Until Bella moved here in high school, Charlie had lost his entire family. He liked Jake, so I guess he felt safe with them together because they related…I think his biggest issue is that you could take her away and he'd lose her all over again. That and you look like you belong in a boy band so he's flipping out that you won't be able to support this instant family."

Watching Leah cut through all of Charlie's bullshit, I was amazed at how insightful she was. Not that I thought she was stupid, but she seemed to have an intimate knowledge of what caused his flip out. "You seem to have a pretty good handle on Charlie."

"Don't tell Bella, but I got pregnant last year with my ex-boyfriend Sam. He wasn't looking to play daddy, at least not with me and when Charlie found out he lost it. I ended up having an abortion because I couldn't support it on my own since I was still in school at the time. I was scared out of my mind when I found out, but now…I could have made it work and that decision is something I will regret every day for the rest of my life."

I was shocked that she was telling me all of this, but not too surprised, because this was the kind of stuff that would help me help Bella through this. We sat there for another few minutes before she asked. "Do you want to marry her?"

I nodded and she smiled.

"Good. Just give her time, she'll get over the article shit and realize that you aren't anything like Jake. I can tell you're good to her. And standing up to Charlie like that either means you have a death wish or you love her, so we're cool."

I was happy to have Leah on our side, but something she said threw me off. "Thanks…but what article are you talking about?"

Leah's face blanched and she looked down. "Fuck. Okay, I'll take full blame for this when you tell Bella that I let it slip. You know she was with him for year's right?"

"Yeah, three."

"Right. Well, when you're a woman and you've been with a guy that long, you expect it to go places and Bella was working on an article for the magazine's bridal issue last May. She spent weeks going to boutiques and trying on dresses and looking at flowers and tasting 15 different types of cakes so she could write about some of the best places to go in Seattle. After that she was kind of waiting for a ring from Jake. She'd been hinting that she could see a future for them and that they'd been together for a while. So when she caught him cheating in October it shattered all those months of planning a wedding with him in her head."

I grumbled and then looked at Leah. This was why she was so guarded with me, because she had already had one future stolen from her and she couldn't bear to lose another, especially now that there was a baby involved. "I'd like to say I'm sorry that he fucked it up, but I'm not. I'm sorry that Bella was hurt, but I could never regret what caused her to go to that bar that night and walk into my life. The two of them mean the world to me, and the baby's only a peanut on an ultrasound."

Leah smiled and looked me dead in the eye. "You two will make it, just keep her calm with all this Charlie stuff…and don't mention marriage around Renee. That's the kiss of death with her."

Just then, Bella walked over and slid in beside me. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. He shouldn't have gone after you like that."

I took her face in my hands and kissed her. "Don't worry about me, how are you?"

"Fine. He calmed down a little and seemed slightly impressed that you had stepped up, but we'll see how it goes."

I nodded as the waitress came over and took our order. We ate quickly and quietly before Leah headed home and Bella and I set out for the drive home.

Making good time to Seattle, we got to Bella's place and I went to grab a drink as she disappeared into the bedroom to change. She reemerged a few minutes later with a box and it wasn't until then that I realized I hadn't gotten my Christmas present yet.

Bella placed it in my lap and then sat facing me as I opened it. When I got the paper off I saw that it was an expensive pair of noise cancelling headphones. I smiled at her, but she frowned. "You don't like it."

"No, they're great-"

I was about to reassure her when she continued on, cutting me off. "I just thought that you could use them on your keyboard so you could write here without all the distractions."

Hearing her explanation turned a great gift into the perfect present. She had thought about me being here often enough that I'd bring my keyboard and had given me something to support that. There was nothing she could have given me that I would have liked more. "Baby, they're perfect. Thank you."

"Really?"

I nodded, laughing at how happy she was that I liked them as I carried her into the bedroom to relax after our stressful holiday, ready to do it again in a week.

Chapter End Notes:

Please don't be angry about how Charlie reacted. I know I tend to write distant Charlie's, but I promise, this is more shock and fear for Bella than anything. He'll be better behaved next time, I promise. Thanks for the support and I'll see you next chapter!