Part 2

EPOV

Arriving at the zoo, we manage to make it just as they were opening the gates to let people in. After paying for our tickets and grabbing a map we set off. Ethan decided he wanted to see the Elephants first so we went right to the Asian Forest Sanctuary. We slowly made our way around the park. Workers were around with various animals that we could touch and pet, to say Ethan was excited would be a severe understatement. Glancing at my watch I noticed it was around lunch time so we decided to take a break and eat. We decided on something indoors seeing as it was getting quite hot, we ordered our food and Ethan found us somewhere to sit. Just as I was about to bite into my cheeseburger my phone went off. Grabbing it out of my pocket, I glanced at the screen and found myself glad I hadn't taken a bit; it would have been making its way back up. Taking a shuddering breath I hit accept and answered with a hoarse, "Hello." God how could I have been so stupid? I was so wrapped up in all of this that I neglected to tell my parents I had a child! My mother is sure to skin me alive.

"Edward! How are you dear? Your dad and I have decided to cut our trip short, we should be home in a few days. How are you settling in? Is everything ok at yours and Emmett's practice? What's that noise in the background?"

I glanced up at Ethan who was still munching on a french fry but his eyes were trained on me. He had one eyebrow cocked; silently asking for an explanation as to why I suddenly look liked I might just shit myself. Running my hand through my hair, I hold up one finger and walk a few steps from our table, I face Ethan still so I can keep an eye on him, but I also am further away so he can't hear.

"Mom, I'm fine, I'm all settled in and mine and Emmett's practice is going great, we should be starting work her in a week or so. As to that noise, well I'm at the zoo in Tacoma today." Knowing my mom she wouldn't leave the zoo comment alone but its not like I can really lie to my mother.

"The zoo? Why are you at the zoo? Isn't that for kids? Who are you there with?" See? Told you she wouldn't let it go. Seems like I might just have to have this conversation on the phone. This will not go well.

"Uh, well mom you see, I um, well ok, you remember Bella Swan right? Of course you remember her, what I'm trying to say is we….she and I…We maybe sort of have a child together." Fuck my life. Smooth Cullen, real smooth. Only my mother could reduce me to a stumbling idiot. So not the way I wanted to tell them, but there it is. I waited what seemed like hours for her to respond but after a few minutes of nothing, I looked down at the screen to make sure the call was still connected, yep, still there. I decided to speak maybe if I get this all out quickly she might spare my ass.

"Mom, look I know how it sounds and I want you to know that I didn't know, I swear I didn't. I know it's not a good excuse and I'm working on fixing it right now. Bella and I have come up with a plan and we're going to do what we can to raise him together. Not together, together…but we're friends, and shit Mom would you please say something I'm going out of my mind here!" Grabbing a fist full of hair, I glanced quickly at Ethan he was still eating and staring at me.

"First of all, Edward Anthony watch your mouth. Second, did you say him? I have a grandson? How old is he? What's his name? How could his mother not tell you about him? I'm assuming you two were…together after graduation seeing as how you haven't been back to Washington since. Oh, Carlisle come quick, Edward has something he wants to tell you!" Damn it all to hell. Way to throw me under the bus mom!

"Edward, is everything ok? What do you need to tell me?" Well, I've already done it once lets try and not sound like a complete idiot this time.

"Well, when I got back here, I found out that I have a son." Again, the line went silent.

"Well, son, that's good news, I'm guessing? Not to sound like a complete, sorry Es, ass but are you sure he's yours?" I had a feeling he'd be the one to question it. I quickly found a solution though that would leave no doubt in there minds.

"I'll prove it right now. I'm going to hang up and send you something, then when you get it call me right back, ok?" They agreed and then hung up. I went back over to Ethan, he had finished his mean and was finishing up his drink.

"Hey, Eth, I want to get a picture of us to send to my parents, your grandparents, will that be ok? They want to meet you, so I thought I could send a picture of us." He agreed, after wiping his face on a napkin we posed, faces side by side. After sending the picture to my parents I found myself looking at it still. Hitting a few buttons it became my new background for the phone. Best. Background. Ever. It only took two minutes for my mom to call me back.

"He's so gorgeous Edward! There's no doubt you're his dad, he looks exactly like you! Tell me about him!" Holding the phone away from my ear and coving the bottom half I leaned towards Ethan.

"Hey, how would you like to say hi to Grandma Esme? You don't have to really talk to her if you don't want, but maybe a quick hello?" He looked unsure for a second before shrugging his shoulders and reaching out for the phone. Putting it back to my ear quickly I told my mom, "Hey why don't you ask your grandson those questions?" I handed him the phone and he slowly put it up to his ear.

"Hi. This is Ethan." He looked at me, I nodded encouragingly, I could hear my mom on the other end chatting away, after a few Ethan seemed to relax so I went back to my side of the table and picked at my food. Five minutes later and Ethan was still on the phone only, it was hard to tell who was talking more, him or my mom. It seems she wanted his life story and was attempting to get it right then and there. He finally handed me the phone back after a bit, grabbing it, I went to say goodbye to my mom.

"Oh Edward, he sounds so perfect! I can't wait to meet him! I'm not so sure about his mother though, I mean why would she keep him from you, from us for so long? Nine years! Nine years have been wasted!" I needed to nip this one in the bud quick.

"Mom, don't be mad at Bella, ok? She had her reasons, I know them and we're working through it, we're doing what we can to raise Ethan by ourselves and we don't want or need any interference from anyone, ok?"

"Ok, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this. I just hate to think about all we've missed out on that's all. We'll see you in a few days dear. I can't wait to see you or my sweet grandchild. Take care Edward, love you."

I smiled, yea I'm a momma's boy and even at the age of 29 hearing that my mom loves me makes me grin. "Love you too mom, see you soon."

After that, we wound our way through the rest of the park, leaving around 5:30. I called Bella to let her know we were on our way home and to tell her about my phone call from hell. OK so maybe it wasn't that bad but still, my mother is the only one that can make me still cower in fear. We agreed to talk about it when we got back, she offered dinner to me and being a sucker for home cooked meals I readily accepted.

We had made it back a little after 6:30. The ride home had been quiet; Ethan fell asleep as soon as we hit the highway. I gently shook him to get him to walk upstairs. When we got to the door, Bella opened it and Ethan went straight to his room and back to sleep. We both stared at him as shut his bedroom door. Now what? I was alone…With Bella. I glanced at her only to see her staring back at me with the same expression. She cleared her throat,

"So, I have dinner made, I think he's down for the night. You're more then welcome to stay and eat with me, if you want that is." She seemed so unsure of herself. Like if she said one thing wrong I was just going to strike out at her, this needed to be remedied, fast.

"Bella, I'd love to, plus I wanted to talk to you about my parents." She nodded and we headed into the dinning room.

Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs. We ate in silence for a few minutes. I was just about to say something when Bella spoke up.

"So, your mom called you while you were at the zoo today?" I'm still shuddering from that phone call.

"Yea, I had completely forgotten about them coming here in a few days. I was so wrapped up in everything that's been going on, I guess telling them kind of slipped my mind." I admitted sheepishly.

She nodded, and continued. "It was a lot to take in, I'm sure she'll understand why you forgot, they know everything now though, right? I mean, do they completely hate me for not telling you sooner?" She looked down at her plate.

"I'm not going to lie, she's wondering why you waited so long to tell me. But at the same time, I told her we were working it out and that we didn't want or need any outside interference. She talked to Ethan on the phone today and they seemed to get along real well, I think overall she's just glad she finally has a grandchild, the woman's been begging for the past few years for them. I do have to tell you though, my dad did question at first if Ethan was really mine. I shut that one down quickly though. I snapped a picture of us together there and sent it to them." I held my phone up to show her my new background. She smiled and said;

"You two look so cute together." I decided to mess with her a bit.

"So, you think I'm cute, huh." I gave her my crooked grin to know I was just playing. It still made her blush though.

"I meant that Ethan looked cute, and together you look cute not that you're cute, that's not to say you aren't either." She kept on rambling till I held a finger to her lips.

"I was just messing around with you Bella. Besides, I already know I'm cute so, no worries about damaging my ego!" She rolled her eyes and shook her head. We fell back into silence as we finished eating, it was comfortable though. I don't think I've ever really had that with someone, and I found that I liked it. I liked it a lot.

We finished up dinner and I offered to help with clean up, she agreed only after me insisting at least ten times. We worked together nicely, I rinsed and she put it in the dishwasher, after everything was cleaned off, she walked me to the door.

"Thanks for dinner Bella, if it weren't for you I'd be stuck eating frozen meals every night so I greatly appreciate it." She blushed slightly at the compliment, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful that shade of pink on her cheeks looked.

"Your welcome Edward, anytime you want to eat you're more then welcome to come over, its usually just Ethan and I, at least this way you can see him more often, just let me know when you want to come over."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you. Goodnight Bella, pleasant dreams." I chastely kissed her cheek and made my way out the door.

"Goodnight Edward."

I looked back to see Bella chewing on her bottom lip. Damn it to hell, she used to do that in high school. I remember it being a turn on for me for some reason, now I remember why. I wanted to be the one nibbling on that lip. Yea, yea, I'm a guy we're always in some state of horny, deal with it. Shaking my head quickly I gave her a quick wave and was out the door and headed home, funny thing is, my condo doesn't really feel like a home to me, not after spending the time I had at Bella's, I had a feeling though that it had less to do with the building and more the people in it.