A/N: Sorry for skipping a week and then giving you a short chapter this week, but RL was a b*#$& last week and I need to get the ball rolling on this story. Time to get our boy and girl together and to do that, I give you a short transition chapter. I hope you like it, I will respond to reviews, really really I will!

Chapter 8

I swear the gods were conspiring against me. It's the only way I could explain how the evening with Bella went. Things started out fine. She showed up at Em's room at 7:30, just like she told me she would and the walk across campus from the dorms to the performing arts center, while quiet, was uneventful. Once we got inside the theater though, it was like I had entered into a parallel universe, a universe in which Bella liked me and I did everything in my power to try and dissuade her.

We sat next to one another, kind of a given considering out seats were side by side. Bella was friendly, chatting lightly while waiting for the play to start but my mouth wouldn't cooperate.

"So, a girl," Bella started.

"I wish it was a boy," I muttered, earning me a hard stare from Bella. "I have no idea what to do with girls," I said quickly, trying to wipe the frown off her face. "I'm a boy, Emmett is a boy, there are no girls in my family."

Bella sighed and nodded. "Well, yeah, I get that, I guess. You did manage to get my pregnant though, so girls can't be that foreign to you."

"Seriously, I'm lucky that you let me do that to you, and now the universe wants me to be a father to a little girl?" I said.

"You don't have to be," Bella reminded me softly. "You can simply be an absentee father. It happens all the time."

I shook my head quickly. "No way in hell. Besides, my parents wouldn't let me."

Bella's mouth opened to say something else, but the lights in the theater dimmed and the play began.

Shakespeare wasn't a favorite of mine, though from the watching I was doing of Bella from the corner of my eye, it was of hers. She grinned all along, laughing as soon as something funny was said. It was more entertaining for me to watch her than the action on the stage. At intermission, Bella called me out on it.

"Not your cup of tea?" She asked, gesturing to the stage.

"Not really, but you seem to be enjoying it," I remarked.

She nodded, pushing her hair behind her ear. She grinned at me and started talking about the play. She talked about the dynamic between Viola and Orsino and I just watched her lips move.

"You aren't listening to a word I say, are you Edward?" She asked.

I nodded, then when she started laughing, I was brought back to paying attention.

"No you aren't. Tell me what I said about Malvolio?" Bella demanded.

"Uh, he's the guy that the other two are trying to make look like a fool, right?" I asked hesitantly.

Bella nodded, grinning encouragingly, then she froze and her eyes went wide. She grabbed my hand and pulled it over to her, placing it on her stomach.

"Can you feel that?" She asked excitedly. I held still, waiting to feel whatever it was that Bella wanted me to sense.

I felt a soft fluttering movement under my hand and I quickly moved my eyes up from looking at my hand to look at her. "What does that feel like to you?" I asked.

"Kind of like a tidal wave, moving across my stomach," she explained.

"Wow," I said. "It's not that strong to me, but still, wow."

Bella nodded quickly, smiling once again. The lights dimmed once more and when I went to pull my hand back from her stomach, Bella grabbed onto it, covering it with her own and held it in place. I relaxed and let my hand rest on her, waiting for another movement from the baby, but my mind was focused on the fact that Bella was holding my hand. Granted it was really her hand on top of mine, but still, hands were touching. I was ecstatic.

The play ended and Bella removed her hand from mine, allowing me to move mine off her stomach. We rose and exited the theater, slowly walking back across campus toward the dorms that housed her and my brother.

"Thanks for coming with me tonight, even though I know you didn't really enjoy it," Bella said as we walked.

"I had a nice evening, since I was with you," I explained.

She grinned and slowly nodded her head. "Thanks for coming out here today, to go with me to the appointment. It really meant a lot."

It was my turn to nod and we grew silent once again.

"When do you get out of school?" She asked suddenly.

"In a month," I answered. "How about you?"

"Three weeks," she answered. "Em is going to help me move my things to your parents' house next weekend."

I suddenly got this sick feeling in my stomach. She was going to live with us, for the summer at least and Emmett was helping her move. That should be me, she was my responsibility, mine, not Emmett's.

"I could help you know," I muttered. "We could go tomorrow, take some things-," I started.

"I have to write a paper, on the play we just saw. I can't," she replied.

"Yeah, right," I grumbled.

"Edward? Are you okay?" Bella asked. She stopped walking and just looked at me. I turned to look back at her and found her frowning, with her arms folded over her chest.

"Yeah, fine," I answered petulantly. I was acting like a spoiled child, part of me knew this and yet, I couldn't stop it from happening. "I just don't understand why Emmett is helping you," I told her.

"Why wouldn't he? He's my friend and he's here," she said simply.

"Yeah, he is here," I agreed reluctantly. Bella must have picked up on my feelings based on what she said next.

"I would ask you but I don't want to have you fly out here again just for a weekend. That is too much to ask," she told me. "That is why I asked when your semester ended."

"Oh," was all I could reply.

"Look, I am tired. I need some sleep. Thanks for coming to the appointment with me and I'll see you soon, okay?" Bella said, looking over her shoulder at the dorms behind her.

I nodded and watched as she gave me a small smile, then walked toward the building where she lived with Rosalie. My eyes followed her all the way into the building, until I couldn't see her anymore. I was a idiot, plain and simple. I let my jealousy of my own brother ruin a perfectly nice evening and now, I was back to square one. Any progress I had made with Bella was gone and it was all my fault.

I spent the next day with Emmett and his roommates playing video games and drinking. I saw Bella in passing but Rose let it be known that Bella was 'swamped' with schoolwork and couldn't hang out. I knew the reason was me, I was sure of it and the trip back to the airport, this time in Emmett's car was much different than when I first got there on Friday.

"Take care of them," I told Emmett as I was leaving.

"You know I will Ed, don't worry," Emmett reassured me. He patted me on the shoulder in a comforting gesture and with a nod, we parted ways.

The flight back to New Hampshire was long and boring. I had nothing to look forward to, just finishing out the semester and then heading home. I did have a lot of time to think though. I was transferring to U Dub for the spring. I would take the fall off, it was too late to apply for a transfer at this point anyway and then when Spring rolled around and the baby was born, I would be close by, close to my girls, as I started thinking of Bella and the baby. Because even if Bella wasn't mine yet, I had every intention of making that happen once we were together in Forks.