Beta: RandomatGedz

Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer, but everything else is all mine :)

Living Royal

Chapter Thirty Nine

Seven Months Later: Edward and Bella's cottage

Bella slowly got out of her new car after parking it in their driveway. Getting out of the car had become a challenge for her lately, what with her protruding stomach. She was nine months pregnant and although she had breezed through the pregnancy with minimal problems, moving around was her only dilemma. She waddled her way to the front door and unlocked it, got in and threw her bag on the floor next to the door.

She was finally done.

She'd finally taken her very last exam and now she could simply relax. She'd talked her professors into letting her take them early so she'd have enough time to prepare for the birth and she was very thankful that they had agreed to let her do that.

They had both started their new year at college six months ago and what a year it had been. On their first day, they were bombarded with congratulations from their fellow classmates. They'd all watched the wedding on TV, of course, who hadn't?

The stares and whispering had gotten worse than before when they were just dating. Now she was the Princess, next in line to become Queen, someone infinitely more interesting all of a sudden. It had annoyed Bella to no end, so much that Edward suggesting transferring schools, but she'd refused, saying it would probably be the same no matter where they went.

To alleviate some of the stress she'd been going through, her friends decided to throw her a baby shower. Her friends, meaning Alice, who had organized the whole thing down to the very last detail.

They'd surprised her one day as she came back from a full day of classes. Edward had been there as well, protesting when they tried to kick him out saying that he didn't want to miss anything from the whole experience, even of it meant sitting in a room full of squealing women discussing the best methods of breast feeding.

The gifts that her friends brought varied from cribs and baby carriers to clothes and toys. The clothes, of course, had to be in neutral colors since they still didn't know the sex of the baby. Bella and Edward had decided to wait until the baby was born to find out, although it was extremely difficult to wait, they still wanted to keep it a surprise.

Another reason for not wanting to know was that they didn't want any pressure from the public or too much talk about the baby before it was even born. They wanted to keep a small part of all of it to themselves.

They had announced the happy news when Bella was three months along. People in England and a lot of people around the world, for that matter, rejoiced in the joyful news and the happy couple were flooded with well wishes from royals, officials and dignitaries from all over the globe. Those well wishes also included gifts that cost more money than Bella could possibly imagine, like a pacifier made of pure gold. Now, what on earth would a baby need a gold pacifier for?

At least, the well wishes were a step up from the hiding and lying they had had to do before they announced the pregnancy. Secret visits to the hospital in the middle of the night to check on the baby were not her idea of fun.

On the other hand, Esme had been a godsend. She helped Bella through everything starting from morning sickness to Braxton-hicks, since Renee was not right there to do it, not that she didn't want to be. Renee had called Bella more than once crying about how she was missing her baby having a baby. Bella had had to calm her down more than once, telling her she knew that she would be there if she could.

Edward had been dealing very well with the pregnancy so far; he pampered Bella to no end. Things got really intense, though, when one day Bella thought she was having a miscarriage. It was almost four months into the pregnancy when Bella woke up to find some spotting in her undies. She started screaming frantically for Edward to wake up. He was startled awake and immediately ran to the bathroom, his heart in his throat. They drove to the hospital in a mad dash and were ushered into an examine room quickly. Thankfully, the spotting turned out to be a regular period. The doctor explained that it happens to some women during the pregnancy, she also told them not to worry about having a miscarriage unless the blood is accompanied by abdominal pain.

Although Edward and Bella were immensely relieved, Edward became even more protective from that point on. He barely let Bella do anything, forcing her to say in bed all day and bringing her food to their bedroom. Bella was relieved that at least they were in their own home now; otherwise she'd have Esme's protective nature to deal with as well. It wasn't like she didn't appreciate what they did for her; it was just that she needed some space.

When Edward noticed that Bella was getting frustrated from staying at home all day, he decided they needed a day out.

He prepared a picnic basket and took her to the meadow where he played with his brother as children.

"Father used to actually take some time off from his busy schedule and bring me and Em here to play once a week." Edward told her as he laid back against the grass with his head resting on Bella's lap.

"Really?" Bella asked, astonished. It was hard for her to imagine Carlisle as anything but the rigid, uncompromising ruler he was. Then again, he did seem to change a lot since Bella's pregnancy. The thought that he would be a grandfather actually did wonders for his attitude towards them. He became more caring and more attentive to both Edward and Bella.

"Yes, it's hard to imagine, but he wasn't always like he is now." Edward went on. "I want us to bring our baby here and create our own memories."

Bella looked around the beautiful meadow and imagined bringing their child here and playing with him or her. She could see clearly their little copper haired babies running around freely and having the time of their lives.

The other thing that was great about that particular meadow was that it was away from prying eyes. There would be no paparazzi and no hoards of people trying to catch a glimpse of them. They'd be able to act freely and be a normal family.

Not like what happened last Christmas when Edward and Bella were simply trying to buy gifts for their friends and families and were instead accosted by photographers. At the end, they simply resorted to shopping online.

That incident, however, didn't put a damper on their festivities. Bella's family was flown in from Forks and they spent the holidays with the Cullens. Even Emmett was on leave, which pleased Esme to no end. She'd missed him a lot and worried about him every single day.

Everything seemed to be going great until after the New Year, January fifteenth to be exact. Bella was two weeks overdue and feeling incredibly uncomfortable and overly hormonal, more so than usual.

She was driving poor Edward crazy.

One second they'd be having a quiet romantic evening together and the next moment she'd be in tears accusing him of thinking that she was fat. Poor Edward had no idea what to do in order to reassure her except with warm words and bear hugs.

Fortunately, those two things combined calmed Bella down.

Until her next tirade.

"Bella? Is that you?" Edward called out as Bella came into the house.

"Who else would it be?" She replied snappishly as she made her way into the living room where he was working on an assignment for school on his lap top.

"Bad day, huh." He predicted, knowing immediately through her tone.

"Yeah." Bella sighed as she plopped down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

Edward put his arm around Bella and started massaging her neck. Bella moaned contentedly.

"You're an angel sent from heaven, I swear." She exclaimed.

"Yesterday, I was evil incarnate for putting you through this misery." Edward grinned playfully.

"Well, that was yesterday." Bella stated as though that explained it all.

Edward chuckled lightly. They snuggled together enjoying the peace and quiet for a few minutes until Bella started suddenly and clutched her stomach.

"Oh!" She exclaimed.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Edward asked frantically.

"I don't know. It's probably nothing. The baby could just be moving around."

"How do you feel exactly?" Edward asked.

"Just some tightening around my stomach, but it's probably nothing Edward, calm down." Bella rubbed her stomach as she spoke attempting to alleviate the sudden pain she felt.

"How long have you felt that?" He asked seriously.

"A couple of hours." She admitted.

"Bella! Why didn't you say anything?" He got up, headed for their room and immediately started gathering things and putting them into a bag.

"What is it Edward? What's going on?" Bella asked worriedly, she was close to tears herself.

"It's alright, sweetheart." Edward was back at her side in an instant. "I just think the baby's coming."

"Right now?" Bella asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes, right now. It's alright, I've packed a few things, let's get you to the car so we can drive to the hospital. I'll call the doctor on the way to let him know we're coming."

Bella nodded mutely as Edward led her back outside and helped her get into the car. After he had got into the driver's seat, he reached out and grabbed her hand, Bella looked up at him.

"The baby's coming. Our baby's coming, Bella." He grinned.

Edward sounded so excited that Bella couldn't help but grin back at him despite the pain that was increasing by the minute.

Edward couldn't remember driving that fast in his life. They arrived at the hospital in twenty minutes and were quickly ushered into the VIP room. That was probably the only time that Edward and Bella were thankful for having any kind of influence.

The doctor came in and examined Bella and declared that she was almost ready to deliver since her water broke on the way to the hospital. They finally gave Bella an epidural a few minutes later and she decided that she was never more thankful for drugs in her life. The pain had been unbearable.

Unfortunately, the pain came back as soon as it was time to push. Edward remained by her side and held tightly onto her hand as she squeezed it back with all her strength.

"Ugh, I can't take this anymore." Bella moaned weakly.

"You're so close, sweetheart." Edward encouraged her. "I can almost see the baby. Come on, just a little bit longer."

Two more hard pushes later and it was finally over.

Their baby was finally here.

The delivery room was incredibly quiet for a second before a piercing wail interrupted the stillness.

"Our baby's here, Bella! You did a great job sweetheart!" Edward kissed her temple enthusiastically.

Bella nodded tiredly while a radiant smile spread across her face.

"Congratulations, your highnesses." The doctor smiled. "Your son would like to say hello to you both." He carried the bundled baby to Bella, handing him to her slowly.

"A boy." Bella whispered reverently. "We have a boy Edward." She looked up happily at her husband, who was grinning like a mad man.

"Yes, we do sweetheart. Yes, we do."

They both looked down at their beautiful baby as he opened his eyes for the very first time.

"What will your highnesses name him?" A timid nurse asked.

Bella nodded giving Edward permission to say the name they'd decided upon incase their child was a boy.

"Andrew," Edward said as he lightly caressed his son's head. "His name will be Prince Andrew Cullen."

(A/N): First of all, I can't apologize enough for the delay in posting, but I hope that this chapter has made up for it, and I hope that you weren't disappointed with it. I know most of you wanted Twins, but while writing I just felt that I had to be a boy, like the characters were leading me in that direction. And what the characters want, he characters get :D That also applies to you guys by the way !

Thank you so much for everyone who has helped me with suggestions for this chapter when I was suffering from a horrible writer's block, I used most of them :)

I just hope you've enjoyed this chapter and didn't think it was too cheesy :D

Tell me what you think!

Only an epilogue left :)