Summary; It had been one night, one night she had let her friends persuade her to let loose and have fun, a little to much fun. She didn't expect herself to wake up the next morning in Edward Cullen's bed, nor did she expect to find herself standing in front of him with life changing news a month later. Life was about to get interesting.
Chapter One
Sunday October 16, 2013
Edward
After a weekend sweep I wasn't looking forward to the conversation that I had to have with Bella. Despite my parents being around for the weekend I hadn't told them anything about this situation. Hell, how could I tell them that my senior year of college I managed to fuck up and get a girl pregnant?
Granted I was twenty-three and not twenty-one, having played two years in juniors before being asked to play college hockey, but still I was having a kid out of wedlock, something I knew they wouldn't exactly be happy about. But it was happening, and somehow, I would have to find a way to support this kid before graduation.
I knew nothing about Bella, we had barely known each other five minutes before getting in bed together. I didn't know how old she was, where she was from, what year she was in, her hopes and dreams, I knew none of it, and here we were, having a kid together. This situation was fucked up.
We had made the decision to meet up at a coffee shop in town, and as much as I knew it was impossible, there was still a part of me that wanted to avoid responsibility for a while longer and not do this. But the logical, sensible, more driven part of me knew that I had to. I had fucked up, and now I had to deal with the consequences. Was I supposed to look at a kid as a consequence?
By the time I ordered a small coffee Bella had arrived and was sitting at a table. Her eyes were red from crying again, and the look on her face had told me that her family knew everything.
"Hey" I said quietly as she waved, wiping a fallen tear from her nose. "You told them, I'm guessing?" she nodded, "What happened?"
Biting her lip she looked out the window before turning back to me. "They weren't happy, my mom and step-dad were absolutely furious, told me I had ruined everything I had spent the last four years working toward and that I was stupid if I really thought I was ready to be a mother. My dad and stepmother were a little bit more cavalier about it all. He was still angry, but not as hurtful as my mom."
I nodded, what were my mom and dad going to say? My parents were good people, but I didn't know how they were going to react about becoming grandparents so soon. "I'll take it you haven't told yours?" she asked me as I nodded.
"No, I didn't know what to say to them. They're going to ask me all these questions, questions I don't have the answers too. I mean I've know I'm going to be a father less than two days, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."
"Tell me about it. I have no idea how I'm going to be a mother, I had no job, no money, and I'm a senior in college, I'm not ready for this."
"You can say that again."
The silence was awkward, but I made quick work to make sure that it didn't stay like that for long. "Bella, I know that this situation won't be easy, but I think we should at least try and get to know each other. This is just the beginning, we have eighteen more years of all of this."
Letting out a breath she nodded. "I know, and I feel horrible for not saying that first. It's just, I'm scared, and getting to know you may be the only silver lining to this whole situation."
"I'm scared too Bella. This wasn't something I had planned for, and I don't know how we're going to do it, but we'll figure something out. And you're wrong about this being the only silver lining. I know right now the idea of everything sucks, but in eight months you'll be holding a little boy or girl, someone to call you mommy and me daddy, I can't imagine a better feeling than that."
Bella
He was a lot different than I thought he would be. He hadn't denied me the opportunity to speak to him Friday night despite the fact that I had snuck out in the early hours of the morning nearly a month before. He hadn't yelled or screamed, or told me that he wasn't the father, he took my word for it, and I was relived. Here he was comforting me, telling me that everything was going to be okay, that we would get through it all.
Didn't he have hopes and aspirations? Dreams? I had so many thins I wanted to accomplish before I got married, had children, and now I would have to put those things on hold.
"Alright, so lets get to know each other then" he said, pulling me from my thoughts.
"Alright, what do you want to know?"
"How about the minor things first, like your last name and age."
I couldn't help but laugh; we had done everything so backward. Hell the only reason I knew his last name was because he was a hockey player, other than that, I knew absolutely nothing about him.
"Probably a good idea, but I want to know the same things about you afterward!" collecting my hair I pulled it over my left shoulder before looking at Edward. "My full name is Isabella Marie Swan, but if you ever call me Isabella be prepared to get punched in the shoulder, only my mother calls me that. I'm twenty-one, so I graduate this may, and my major is actually sports management."
He looked at me, impressed before smiling. "Sports management, eh?"
"Following in the footsteps of my dad. After my parents divorced I lived with my mom until I was sixteen, then spent my last two years in Vancouver with my dad. My dad isn't in sports management he's actually a coach, but I want to look at the management side of things."
"Wait you said your last name was Swan, and you spent two years in Vancouver. Is your dad Charlie Swan? Coaches the Toronto Maple Leafs now?"
I nodded slowly. People didn't usually put two and two together, and now that he knew who my father was I was really worried that his primary focus would be to impress my dad.
"That's really cool." He said nonchalantly before I motioned for him to continue with the same information. "So full name is Edward Anthony Cullen, I'm twenty-three. I spent two years playing juniors after being drafted before signing to play here. Like you I graduate in may, and I made the decision early on to major in pre-med. I've spent my entire life running around a hockey arena because my dad, like yours, works with NHL teams. He's the team doctor for the Bruins."
"Is that the team you're drafted too? The Bruins?"
He shook his head before continuing. "Nope, the Blackhawks. We lived in Chicago until I was fourteen, dad started working for the Bruins around that time, and actually still have a house there. So hometown team for me."
"Hometown hockey too, well kind of" I laughed. "Boston University, dad is a team doctor for the Bruins, you don't stray far from home do you?" I laughed as he rolled his eyes.
"Boston just seemed like the best fit. There were quite a few other teams, but B.U. was the best fit. But what about you, why aren't you in Toronto?"
I shrugged; I honestly didn't know why I was here. "I guess ever sense my parents divorced I've wandered around a lot. My mom didn't stay in one place for long, and my first real sense of home was when I lived with my dad. But then they had the twins, and while I love them, I didn't want to have to deal with babysitting for them when they needed me on top of going to school. B.U. was the closest school to my mom, and had the best sports management program."
Edward
Listening to her to speak made me realize how much she had really missed out on. Her parents had divorced when she was young, and her mom had moved them around a lot. Her dad, while she saw him as often as she could, she didn't really have a relationship with until high school.
It made me want so much more for this baby. I had been lucky, two parents who loved each other from the day they met, who had been together for more than twenty-five years. While yes, we had moved at one point in time, I was still able to have friends, keep friends, without having to worry about when the next move was.
"Bella, how do you want to go about this?" I asked her, basically interrupting what I really wasn't listening to at that point and time.
"What do you mean?"
"How do you want to go about his? Do you want to go in raising the baby as friends, who are allowed to be mutually exclusive with other people, or do you want to try a relationship? Look I know that we don't know each other very well, give or take the few things we've learnt about each other today, but I'm willing to try are relationship if you are."
She hesitated for a moment before looking around. "Look I get it, you're hesitant, but you said it yourself whether you realize it or not, that you always wished your parents had stayed together for your sake. I think that we should try, to give this baby a better life than you had, it deserves that much."
I wasn't sure whom I was trying to convince, her, or me but all the same, it didn't matter. I knew the first thing my parents would ask was why we weren't together. They would push for this, but they weren't the reason I was asking her this question. I wanted this baby to have a chance at really having one family.
"I get what you're saying Edward, I do. But I don't want us to fall into a relationship because I'm pregnant. What happens if things don't work? I don't want to be angry at you for the next eighteen years because you broke my heart. I don't want our relationship to be shotty because the reason we got together was because I was pregnant."
Looking down at my hands I gulped, "you know if you wouldn't have left that morning things would have been different." I said quietly.
"Yeah, okay" she snorted as I looked up at her.
"I'm not kidding, Bella. I had wanted to take you out to breakfast, or lunch, or whatever meal that next day. I spent the next two weeks looking all around campus for you but I couldn't find you anywhere."
She didn't say anything after my statement; she bit her lip and turned to stare out the window. "Why me?"
"I had seen you from a distance that night, you were beautiful. When I first approached you I wanted to have a conversation, get to know you better. Nothing went the way I planned, but somehow we still ended up together."
"I have to go," she said quietly, picking up her bag and leaving me sitting there. What the hell had just happened?
An hour or so later when I finally got back to the house I was still beyond confused. Here I was, twenty-three years old, about to be a dad, and I still don't understand women.
As I walked into the house I realized that I wasn't going to get the peace and quiet I wanted. "Yo Cullen what's up?" one of the freshman yelled as I nodded in their direction, avoiding being drawn into the masses completely.
"How was your date?" Jasper sniggered as I glared at him.
"It wasn't a date Whitlock"
"Right, I forgot you don't do that. You just love 'em and leave 'em." He said as I rolled my eyes walking into the kitchen for a beer.
Sitting on the counter and chugging back a can Emmett walked into the room. "What are you doing with Bella, Edward?" he asked me quietly, leaning down to look in the fridge, avoiding my eyes.
"You know her?"
"We were friends growing up, before her parents divorced, and her mom started moving her around."
"Oh, nothing, Em." I said as he looked at me.
"She doesn't hang around hockey players like Lauren and Jessica, she never did. So I repeat what are you doing with Bella?" his voice got louder causing me to flinch. Em and I had been pretty close since freshman year, but he had never yelled at me in the way he was now.
"It isn't any of your business Em." I said, finishing the rest of my beer and heading in the direction of my room.
"I'm talking to you," he yelled as I passed the living room, causing me to freeze.
"What are you doing with Bella?" he yelled, causing the rest of the boys to stop and pay attention to our conversation rather than the TV.
"Can't we talk about this some other time Emmett, I'm tired, and I just want to go sleep." I said as he left the kitchen an advanced toward me.
"No we can't. Don't fucking mess with Edward, she's a good person and deserves a hell of a lot better than you."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you treat girls like shit and you wouldn't know a monogamous relationship if you saw one."
"Fuck you Emmett, just because I don't follow her around like a lap dog like you do with Rose doesn't mean I don't know how to be in a relationship."
"Excuse me?"
"Don't play dumb, we all know you're a fucking lap dog."
"Fuck you Edward"
"Fuck you too Emmett." I said as I tried to walk away before he grabbed my arm and pushed me up against the stairs.
"Want to tell me why the hell you're messing around with her now?" he said menacingly as I pushed him off me.
"This isn't any of your business. You may have been her friend at one time, but in the last four years I've never once seen you talk to her. Don't act so high and mighty Emmett, and stay out of people's business."
"It is my business when her dad asked me to watch over her. She doesn't need some prick who only wants a play toy in her business."
"You know what Emmett, you want to know what happened? We hooked up at a party about a month ago, I wanted to talk to her, get to know her, maybe have a relationship with her once I got to know her. She crawled out of my bed in the middle of the night with no word, I hadn't heard anything from her until Friday."
"Why the fuck was she waiting for you, in tears none the less, after our game?"
"For now, that's none of your business." I growled as he pushed me up against the wall again.
"Fucking tell me." He yelled.
"Christ almighty Emmett" someone said as everyone turned to see Bella standing in the open doorway. How had no one noticed her?
"Bella" he said sheepishly as she glared at him.
"For four years you've ignored me at every turn, and now that I decide to talk to Edward you want to be all up in my business? Whether my dad asked for you to watch over me or not you have no business in our business, our relationship." She said matter of factly.
"I just don't understand why you're interested in Edward all of a sudden. I remember you telling me that you would never date a hockey player."
"I was ten Emmett, things have changed in the last eleven years. Even if it hadn't it still isn't your business." She said as I stood there, looking between the two of them.
"I'm just trying to protect you"
"Well it's a little late for that." She glared at him before turning to me. "I'm sorry I walked out on you, would we be able to go somewhere more private and talk about this situation?"
"What situation?" Emmett stupidly asked.
"Fucking hell, just back off Emmett." I yelled.
"Just fucking answer my question and I'll back off." He said as Bella turned to glare at him.
"You want to know why I need to talk to Edward, why I showed up in tears at the game, why you feel the need to get all protective now?" she glared.
"Yes" he said throwing his hands up in the air.
"I'm pregnant Emmett, that's why." She said before grabbing my hand and dragging me upstairs leaving a shocked Emmett behind.
Closing the door to my room we were both silent for a couple minutes before anything was said. "I'm sorry I said that, and in front of your entire team, I just need him to get the hell off my back, off our backs."
I shrugged, I wasn't mad, hell I was relived that I didn't have to do it now, but it did mean that I was going to have to deal with the parent situation sooner rather than later. "I'm not mad"
She nodded once before sitting on the edge of my bed. "I'm so sorry" she said as she let out a sob, confusing the fuck out of me. "I'm ruining everything for you, putting a wedge between you and your friends, making you be ready to be a dad before you are, I'm so sorry." She cried.
Scooping her up so her body was curled against mine I laid the both of us on my bed, her head cradled into my chest, letting her cry. "I told you Bella, I'm not angry, not at all. It took more than one person to get us into this situation, and we're going to have to deal with it. Emmett was the one who decided to put the wedge there, he pushed me, pushed us, it isn't your fault."
"I'm sorry I walked out on you earlier." She said quietly, her beautiful brown eyes staring into my green ones.
"It's okay." I said before adding, "Why did you walk out on me?"
It took her a minute to answer before she looked away from me, "Same reason as everything else, I was scared. I've never, well I've never been in a seriously relationship before, and now I'm pregnant, and you said you want to try being together and I just, well I got overwhelmed, so I left. Look I'm not good at, well feelings, and being pregnant is making my emotions go everywhere, I can't form a coherent thought, and I just, well quite possibly, want what you offered."
I laughed; she was very 'eloquent' when she was frazzled. Catching her off guard I leaned down to kiss her softly before pulling away to look in her eyes. "Bella Swan are you saying you want to be in relationship with me?"
"Don't be an ass you know what I mean." She said, swatting my chest.
"Apologies Madame" I joked, leaning down to kiss her.
In a matter of days I had gone from being a single college senior, to a soon to be father and in a relationship, I guess life really does change quickly.
Authors Note: Okay people, sorry this took so long to post, but things have been crazy. I'm right in the middle of my semester, and midterm exams are coming up, so posts may be few and far between. Good news is that spring break is two weeks away so I can write then.
Now this story may not turn out to be what a lot of people think. I have things planned for this story that people may not like, so don't be surprised if things eventually take a turn.
I don't plan on this story being long, maybe nine or ten chapters, just something to keep me occupied for the rest of the semester when I need a break from studying.
3 Lauren