Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

As always, my beta The Real Teacher worked her magic on this chapter and made it look pretty. I did makes some changes to this chapter after she was done, though, so any mistakes you might encounter are totally my fault.

Grace

~ Part five ~

"I'm pregnant."

If I hadn't been so pissed off at him right them I would have cracked up at the sight of Edward, his mouth opening and shutting like a fish on dry land as he looked at me, wild-eyed and shocked to the core. "Y-you're…" He motioned his head in the vague direction of my stomach.

"Pregnant," I helped him out. "Yes."

"How?"

I snorted, rolling my eyes at his dumbfounded expression. "Well, when two people love each other very much, the man puts his penis….."

"Yes, I know that," he interrupted me, "but when did all of this happen? I thought…."

I swallowed, trying to gauge his expression as an uneasy feeling started to take post in the pit of my stomach. He would want this baby, would he? He wouldn't….

I clutched my stomach protectively. Since I'd found out I was pregnant (well, almost) there had been nothing I wanted more in this world than the baby that was rowing inside of me. The thought alone that maybe Edward…..

"Bella?"

I looked up, Edward's face still carrying the smooth, unreadable expression of E.A. Cullen, Attorney at law. "I….erm…..I think it happened that night…..you know….when we broke in the house?"

"Ah." I breathed a sigh of relief when his cocky smile broke through. "Yeah, that was a good night."

"It w-was," I stammered, "but I think that with the move and everything else going on I might have forgotten to take my pill and…well…..that's probably how this happened."

"Oh." He looked down, fumbling with his knife and fork.

Definitely not the reaction I'd hoped or expected. "Oh?"

When he looked back up, his grin was so radiant it made the breath stick in my throat and my heart speed up to dangerous limits. "You're pregnant."

I swallowed with difficulty. "Yes."

"We're going to have a baby."

"Yes."

"Fuck!" He slumped in his seat, though I had the feeling this was a happy 'fuck'. A very happy 'fuck' indeed.

"I'm going to be a father."

"Yep," I nodded. "That's usually what happens after you knock your girlfriend up."

His eyes were still huge with shock but brimming with love and happiness as he looked at me. "This is….."

"Good?" I offered.

"Awesome!" he cried, his face radiating happiness in a way I'd never seen it before. "Unexpected but awesome."

"Yeah," I chuckled. "You're right about the unexpected part. And the awesomeness by the way."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, the smell of long forgotten food wafting around us as we reeled from the news.

In the end it was Edward who broke the silence. "Your dad is going to kill me," he muttered, growing a little pale.

"Yep," I nodded. "I think he might."

"What are we going to say to him?" Edward asked, in a tiny voice. "How are we going to break the news?"

"We're not?" I offered. "We're not supposed to head up there before Christmas right?"

I waited until he nodded and shrugged. "I figure that by that time no explanation will be needed." I patted my stomach, which was still flat but wouldn't be for much longer. "Besides, by that time I will probably be big enough for you to hide behind should worse come to worst."

He didn't seem to think that was funny at all. "Seriously, Bella. What are we going to do?"

I sighed. "I don't know, Edward. I think you may have to invite Charlie over for that fishing trip and hope for the best."

"Yeah," he nodded, letting his fork drop back onto the table. "I think that may be a good idea." I could see that in his head he was already contemplating all the ways my dad could kill him with a fishing rod.

"So you're really happy about this?" I wanted to know. I knew he was, if his first reaction to the news was anything to go by, but I wanted to make sure.

I had to be sure.

"Baby," he sighed, pushing away from his chair and wrapping me in a tight hug. "I am so very, very happy right now." He shook his head, his nose rubbing along the side of my face before his lips pressed a sweet and tender kiss to my cheek. "We're going to have a baby, Bella."

"Yeah," I whispered. "We're going to have a baby."

His lips were on mine before I could even draw breath.

For the rest of the night we laughed and planned and made love, tears springing into my eyes as Edward kissed my bare stomach as we lay side by side in bed.

This was going so much better than I had expected.

Or not.

It was somewhere around two in the morning that I woke u to an empty bed and a whole lot of banging going on downstairs.

It appeared that Edward had entered the freak-out stage.

I groaned, dragging my tired body out of bed and schlepping it down the stairs to find Edward on the back deck.

"What the hell are you doing?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes as I took in the sight of a frantic Edward flittering all over the back porch with a toolbox in his hands.

"This thing…." He looked at the railing as if it had personally offended him. "It's a death trap."

I sighed deeply, trying to wrap my mind around whatever madness had seemed to take over my boyfriend's brain. "Huh?"

"What if she somehow manages to find a way to climb over the railing and fall off?" he answered, looking at me as if I was a complete dumbass for not figuring that out on my own.

Excuse me?

"Edward?' I sighed, barely resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "I'm giving birth to a baby, not a spider monkey."

"I don't care!" he cried, his hands pulling at his hair as his eyes shot from one place to another. "We've got to move, Bella. This place isn't safe!"

I was beginning to regret telling him about the baby.

"We're not moving." I crossed my arms in front of my chest, getting more pissed off by the minute. "And you're going to bed."

"But…."

I arched my brow. "Now."

Apparently I made an impressive enough show of myself to finally get him to calm down, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he gave up. "Fine. But if our baby girl comes to any harm, I know who's responsible."

I snorted, shaking my head as I patted his back. "We've got nine months to get this place up to scratch. I'm sure we'll manage just fine."

He grumbled something under his breath, probably about me being completely irresponsible or blind to his finer sensitivities as we made our way back upstairs to the bedroom. "By the way," I questioned as we slid into bed again, "what makes you think the baby is going to be a girl anyway?"

He shrugged, his arms wrapping around me; one hand around my shoulders, the other resting on my stomach, as he spooned me. "I just thought it would be nice, having a little girl with your eyes and your hair….."

I sighed, trying to imagine the little girl he'd just described. "That would be nice…"

"Then why were you thinking I'd rather have a boy?" he wanted to know.

I shrugged. "I just thought it would be easier for you, you know? You get to give them manly advice, which is something you're probably better at than I am, and you don't have to deal with the hassle of boys wanting to date her and stuff."

Judging from the way he went rigid against me, Edward hasn't stopped to think about that.

Crap.

Me and my big mouth.

"But I'm sure you'll make sure she won't get to date until she's at least eighteen years old," I offered, mentally cursing myself for betraying every feminist moral my mother had so dutifully instilled within me. "You'll protect her. Just as my dad protects me."

"Yeah," he nodded, his muscles slowly relaxing again. "Yeah."

He nodded his head as he turned onto his back, still mulling the idea over in his head. "I may have to take your dad up on those shooting lessons he offered, though."

I shook my head, suddenly feeling the strain of a day of nervous excitement. "Let's just go to sleep, Edward. You can buy a gun first thing tomorrow."

He kissed my hair, his arm around me as his arms slipped around me once more; one playing with my hair, the other wrapped protectively around my still flat stomach.

Crisis averted,

But not for long.

"Bella?" I groaned, my whole being protesting as it was brought back into consciousness. Edward's warmth had disappeared from behind me; the sound of his breaths coming from the other side of the bed.

"What?"

"I've changed my mind," he spoke, "we're having a boy."

I sighed deeply as I tuned onto my other side, my hand patting around blindly. "That's good to know, baby."

Seriously? If he kept this up, the only thing he was going to get out of this pregnancy was a divorce.

I hadn't even gone back to sleep when there was another nudge in my side. "Sweetheart?"

"For heaven's sake, Edward!" I groaned. "Give it a rest! It's two in the fucking morning and I want to go to sleep. I'm sure this baby will still be there for you to freak out over in the morning!"

"This wasn't about the baby, actually," he muttered, my treacherous body betraying me as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

"Oh," I hummed, contently. "What is it, then?"

"Do you want to get married?"

I snorted. "You're kidding, right?" but looking up at his face, I couldn't see any traces of the crooked grin I expected. "Please, for the love of all that is holy, tell me you're joking, Edward."

"Why would I be?" he scowled. "I mean….we're going to be parent's Bella. We'll be responsible for this baby's wellbeing. We can't let it be born in sin!"

I groaned, covering my eyes as I rolled onto my back, counting to ten before I did something that would have me end up in jail. If this was how Edward was going to be with the baby still months away of being born….yeah, I could see this pregnancy was going to be much harder than I thought it would be.

Poor Bella! Did Edward's reaction live up to your expectations? I think he and Charlie are going to have a lot to talk about. Don't you?

Thanks for reading! More next week.