Chapter 9

Devotion

30 weeks…

Looking back over the last four weeks, Renesmee and Jacob both concluded that they had gone by on a blur.

After that night at P.F. Chang's, Renesmee and Jacob's relationship began to change. They began sleeping together, and really getting to know each other. They had gone from the awkward stage of their relationship, straight to acting like a married couple. They were so similar to a married couple, in fact, that they had been asked several times how long they've been married.

Jacob and Renesmee were also looking into buying a house, because they had both agreed that the apartment was too small to be raising their son. In the last three weeks of searching, they had come across a house in Cedar Heights, which was ten minutes from Children's, and twenty minutes from the station where Jacob worked. It had a big backyard, four bedrooms, and 2.5 baths, among other things. Jacob and Renesmee had fallen in love with the house. They had paid a down payment, and now they were playing the infamous waiting game of buying a house.

Time just seemed to fly by. With the speed of the last thirty weeks, Renesmee knew that the next ten, although seemed so far away, would come and pass. And then…

They would have a son. They would be a family.

xXx

"Week thirty of the Cullen-Black diaries!" Alex announced, moving her video camcorder around her pregnant friend.

The two were out at Babies 'R' Us, shopping for cribs, nursery furniture and decorations, and clothes. Alex had insisted on filming the week-to-week development of her friend's pregnancy, and Renesmee had reluctantly agreed.

"This week, you're just a little over fifteen inches, and you weigh nearly three pounds. Your eyesight is still in development, although it's not very keen yet. You'll have a twenty-four hundred eyesight when you're born, little dude."

Alex followed Renesmee as she walked around the clothing section.

"Oh, Nessie, you should get this little outfit," Alex held up a blue and brown onesie that had a monkey stitched into the front, holding it in front of the camera, and showing it to her friend.

"Cute," Renesmee smiled, and added it to the cart that Alex was pushing with one hand.

"Now, let's see…where was I?" Alex muttered, as the two once again started moving through the store.

"Oh, that's right!" She exclaimed. "Well, so little baby, we've gone over your eyesight, and your height and weight…" Alex thought for a moment.

Turning the camera around, she started filming herself. "Let's see if Mommy and Daddy picked out a name for you yet." She whispered. Giving the universal signal for 'be quiet', she started walking towards her friend, who was looking over crib toys.

"Have you and Jake thought of a name yet?" She asked. "Or are you going to keep us in suspense for the next ten weeks?"

"Won't he, by default, already know his name by the time he watches these videos?" Renesmee asked, looking over at Alex.

The short woman shrugged. "So? What if he wants to know how he got his name?"

The pregnant woman rolled her eyes, but smiled. "We have, actually."

"You have?" Alex asked excitedly. "What is it? Did you name him after your best friend?"

"Why would we name our son 'Alexandria'?"

Alex gasped, and stopped recording. "I thought I made it clear when we were five to never call me that. Ever." She narrowed her eyes at her pregnant friend.

"Well, you're the one who wanted to know if he were your namesake. And Alexandria is your name."

"Well, of course you're not going to name him 'Alexandria'. It's a chick name, for one, and two, it's a god-awful name. Too princess-y."

"I think it's a beautiful name." Renesmee countered.

Alex rolled her eyes. "I was thinking you'd name him Alex."

Renesmee shook her head. "Nope."

"Damn."

"Good afternoon," Renesmee and Alex turned their attention to the overly perky teenager that came down the aisle.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" She looked between the pregnant woman and her short friend, both of which were wearing light blue scrubs.

Alex and Renesmee did not want to interact with the overly perky sixteen- year old, but it seemed as if the only way to get her to leave would be to ask her something.

"Uh, yeah, you can…" Alex started. Knowing where she was going, Renesmee stopped her.

"Alex," Renesmee muttered.

"But…"

"Alex," Renesmee said sternly. Alex instantly shut up.

"Uh, yeah…" Renesmee turned her attention to the teenager. "Do you have….um…?" Renesmee racked her brain for the first baby item she could think of.

"I don't know…maybe those little socks that look like shoes?"

"Oh, we have those!" The girl's face lit up. "Those are just the cutest things, aren't they?"

"Uh-huh…" Renesmee nodded, not really interested.

"They're just so tiny, and cute…and they have these cute little designs that are just to die for. When I have kids, I'm going to, like, buy a million of these cute little things."

Alex murmured something incomprehensible to anyone but herself.

"So, a boy, or a girl?" The young girl asked, as they walked over to the booties.

"Boy." Renesmee smiled, running a hand down her stomach. She felt his fist drag across her stomach, and she smiled even more.

"Awwww," The worker smiled. "Boys are the best. In my opinion, they have the cutest little clothes. Especially those suits. The cutest."

Alex mimicked the girl's hand motion, and face, as she lipped "The cutest." She and Renesmee both snickered.

"Well, here they are," The girl smiled. "I should probably go help another couple." She turned, and began to walk away.

"You two are the cutest couple; I bet you'll be great moms."

She walked off, completely unfazed by her comment. Renesmee and Alex looked at each other as the girl walked off.

"Did she just…?" Alex started.

"…Say we're lesbians?" Renesmee finished.

After looking at each other for a few more moments, they burst out in laughter.

"Oh, that's gold!" Alex exclaimed, clutching the shelf, as she doubled over.

"Oh, God, that was good." Renesmee smiled, wiping her face.

"Oh, I should have had my camera on for that…." Alex murmured.

"I think he would have liked watching that." Renesmee said, as the two women sobered up from their fit of laughter and continued their shopping.

xXx

Renesmee sat on the couch, lightly caressing her abdomen and stared into space. Jacob strode in, stopping to gaze at how beautiful and peaceful she looked. He came over, sat on the couch and trailed his hand down her cheek.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked softly.

She jumped slightly, startled as she hadn't noticed him there. "Where did you come from?" She frowned.

"The front door." He smirked at her. "What's got you thinking so hard you don't even notice me?" He pouted while she laughed at him.

"I can't believe that in ten weeks, we'll have a son…that we'll be parents."

Jacob smiled, and rested his hand over her stomach. "I told you that we would have everything figured out before he came."

Renesmee laughed. "I guess we did."

Jacob smiled, giving Renesmee a kiss. As they left, Jacob noticed that there was a receipt on the coffee table.

"What's this?" He asked, leaning over and picking it up. The bottom of it fell to the floor.

"What did you do today?"

"I had the day off, and Alex took me to that baby store. You will not believe what one of the workers thought…"

"You spent five-hundred dollars on clothes?" Jacob asked, raising his voice slightly.

"He needs clothes, Jake; we can't have a naked kid running around."

"Don't you think that five-hundred is a bit much for clothes?"

"When we didn't have any for him?" Renesmee's voice also rose slightly.

"What about baby showers? Women have baby showers, they get stuff."

"I had a baby shower. You don't remember when I came home with the stroller, playpen, bassinet, and all that other shit? I got, like, maybe one, or two packages of onesies. He's going to need more than that."

"Six-hundred and thirty dollars on a crib…"

"You can't argue with that one,"

"One-hundred and eighty on a changing table…" He looked down at the total cost.

"You spent over thirteen-hundred dollars at the baby store?" He looked over at Renesmee in disbelief and frustration.

"Do you know how much that down payment was?" He stood up, throwing the receipt to the ground, trying not to yell.

"I'm well-aware of how much that house is going to cost, Jacob." Renesmee also stood up, keeping her voice even, professional.

"Do you not trust me?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Is that it? Do you not trust me to handle money?"

"I'm just worried over the fact that you're still paying off medical school, and we don't make a hell of a lot of money." Jacob countered.

"I'm not paying off medical school, Dad paid for it." Renesmee muttered.

"Well, even if you're not paying school back, we're not making a whole hell of a lot of money. You, being an intern, and I'm not the highest ranking cop out there."

"Okay, so we don't have a lot of money," Renesmee said. "But kids cost a lot, Jacob, if you haven't noticed."

"You could have told me that you were going to spend thirteen-hundred dollars,"

"I didn't think that it was going to be that much," Renesmee said.

"Well, maybe if you thought before you acted…" Jacob started.

"If I thought before I acted?" Renesmee felt her cheeks getting hot, as her anger grew.

Her hands flew her stomach. "What about you?" She accused. "If you thought before you acted, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess." She spat.

Renesmee fought tears as she pushed passed Jacob and waddled down the hall.

"Mess?" Jacob asked, following her. "What mess?"

"What mess do you think, Jacob?" Renesmee turned around, and brushed a hand over her stomach.

"If you thought before you acted, we wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have spent that goddamn cash at that stupid baby store. I'd actually be doing stuff at work, instead of running around doing charts all day. You wouldn't have to be doing this. In fact, if I acted after thinking, we still wouldn't be here."

"Oh, so this pregnancy's now my fault?" Jacob's voice rose again. "Last I remember, you were the one who wanted it."

"Like you didn't," Renesmee crossed her arms.

"So then what's the big deal?"

"The fact that you didn't think about wearing a condom, Jacob." Renesmee said.

"If you had thought before even going to the bar that 'hey, maybe I'll get drunk tonight. And hey, maybe I'll meet another drunk chick. And hey, maybe we'll go back to my place, and maybe we'll do the McNasty.' Then maybe, you would have gotten some goddamned condoms, Jacob, and we wouldn't be in this mess. Hell, Jacob, if I had thought about what this pregnancy would bring, we still wouldn't be here."

"Do you honestly think that I choose not to wear a condom? Skyla carries them with her, because I told her to never have sex without one."

"And you don't?"

"We were drunk!"

"That's not an excuse, Jacob."

"I know that!"

"Well, you seem to be using it as one."

Jacob sighed, and shook his head. "Look. I'm done. Maybe we should take a break from each other."

"Fine!" Renesmee shouted, following Jacob as he walked down the hall, towards the stairs, and out the door.

"I don't need you anyway," Renesmee felt tears sting the back of her eyes.

She walked into the small living room, lowered herself on the couch, and began to cry.