Chapter 2: She's Having a Baby

Disclaimer: I donut own them. Stephenie does, and I'm so glad she shared them with us.

Bella was having a bad day. It was just one of those days where nothing could go right; she should have ignored the snooze button, turned the alarm off all together and just gone back to sleep. Then again, it was missing her snooze button that had started this mess of a day in the first place. She should have slept for an additional five minutes, instead she woke up two hours later. The freeways, as could frequently be depended on in Los Angeles, were jam packed.

When she arrived at Studio 13, where she worked as a production assistant for the entertainment news show, Access Entertainment, there was chaos all around her - more than the usual amount, which was saying something.

"Where the fuck have you been, Swan?" Her boss, Victoria Glenn screeched at her the second she came in the door. She proceeded to fill Bella in on the situation - one of their big stories had fallen through and they had a gap that needed filling yesterday.

It was harder than usual to bite her tongue and not respond. There were not a lot of people who could get away with talking to her like that but, unfortunately, Victoria was one of them. What pissed Bella off even more about the whole situation was that, by necessity, Victoria was not only one of exactly four people who knew that Bella was trying to get pregnant - and how - but she was also the one person that Bella had to keep in good graces.

Knowing full well that her question was not going to be taken well, Bella resigned herself to hear more screaming. "I'll do what I can while I'm here, Ms. Glenn, but I have an appointment today at three," she said in a rush.

As predicted, Victoria hit the roof, but there wasn't much she could do. One of the reasons that Victoria was fond of screaming at Bella was simply because she felt threatened. A couple of years previous, Bella had been the lowest of the low - one of the office assistants whose job it was to basically run where she was told to run and jump when she was told to jump. Put it this way - Bella Swan knew every conceivable drink combination in Starbucks by heart. Then Bella had accidentally stumbled onto a big, big story and the president of the studio himself, Aro Scarpinato, had promoted her to her current position. His daughter, Jane, had submitted a segment script for the studio's comedy show, Friday Night Delayed, where Jasper worked as a producer. After Bella had cleaned up -not to mention actually made funny- the aforementioned script, she was all but untouchable... and Victoria knew it.

Of course, Victoria spent the next several hours making Bella's life a living hell.

It was all the worse because, in preparation for all the restrictions pregnancy would put on her, Bella had already stopped indulging in things like caffeinated beverages. She would have killed for a strong coffee or a Red Bull to get her through the morning.

Time passed, both too slow and too quickly, and finally Bella had been sent to retrieve a celebrity who had agreed to a spur of the moment interview. They couldn't get back to the studio soon enough. Bella was about to become Access Entertainment's hot news item as she was this close to pushing a celebrity out of her car.

Knowing she was just going to be a minute, Bella parked in front of the building. She unloaded her thoroughly irritating passenger, and got her safely to the studio. Finally, it was time to leave.

Sending a text to Jasper to meet her outside, Bella stepped into the main hallway of the Studio. As soon as the doors opened, a furious voice assaulted her ears.

Sharing the studio with Access Entertainment and Friday Night Delayed was the daytime talk show Rose! Rosalie Hale was a former model turned talk show host in the style of Tyra Banks. Rosalie Hale was a complete and utter diva.

Rosalie Hale also had completely legitimate reasons to hate Bella. It wasn't Bella's fault, but Rosalie had never stopped to listen to her side of the story. Hence, Bella tried to steer clear of the talk show vixen if at all possible.

It looked like it wouldn't be possible today. It seemed that someone was blocking Rosalie's car, and she was not very happy about it.

"I have a very important appointment!" Rosalie was yelling to two of her wide-eyed, completely frightened looking assistants.

Probably her masseuse or her pilates instructor, Bella thought bitterly. Like most divas, it seemed to Bella that Rosalie thought everything about her life was more important than everyone else's. She rolled her eyes and cleared her throat reluctantly to get the other woman's attention. "Um, Ms. Hale?"

Rosalie's head snapped toward her and the temperature in the room seemed to drop perceptibly. "What do you want?" she snapped.

Bella took a deep breath, already at her limit of people screaming at her for the day. "It's my car that's parked behind yours, I'm sure. I'm just leaving now, so -"

"What?" Rosalie yelled, furious.

"I apologize," Bella said sincerely. "I knew I wasn't going to be gone for more than a minute and..." she cut off, noticing that Rosalie was turning an unhealthy shade of puce. "Uh, anyway. I'm moving it now."

Before the ex-model could say another word, Bella pivoted and made her way to the door as quickly as she could without breaking out into a run. She was annoyed with herself for being intimidated by Rosalie. Even though she knew it was frustrating to be blocked in, Bella hadn't been gone for more than a few minutes - five at most - so Rosalie couldn't possibly have been that inconvenienced.

Luckily, Jasper was already waiting by the door of her car when she exited the building.

"Sugar, we are going to have to rename your car if you insist on missing parking spaces completely," he quipped.

"Not a good time, Jasper," she muttered, hitting the unlock button on her keyfob.

To his credit, Jasper's grin immediately turned serious as he read the harried look on Bella's face. "What's wrong?"

Bella just shook her head, not wanting to put her fears into words. Instead she asked Jasper if he was hungry as they still had time for fast food before they had to be elsewhere.

Her fear and her frustration were running parallel right about then. Her fear was that on this Murphy's Law day - if anything that could go wrong, would go wrong - there was no point in going to the clinic where she and Jasper had their appointment today.

Therein lay Bella's frustration. Logically, she knew that her chances of conceiving were 20% or less each time they tried. They had only tried twice so far. Two months. Still, she just wasn't used to not reaching a goal she'd set. She was frustrated by the uncertainty of it all, but she preferred this method to the more intrusive, more complicated, in vitro fertilization.

It was, regrettably, more inconvenient to Jasper, which frustrated her to no end.

"Bella," Jasper said, exasperated as they walked into the clinic, "Will you quit apologizing? You act like you should have some control over your uterus."

"I just... I hate cutting into your day on such short notice," she explained.

He sighed and turned, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Sweetheart, I'm just going to say this once so pay attention, okay? When I agreed to do this for you, I agreed to every part of it. I'm in it for the long haul, Hells Bells. I read all the fine print. I knew what I was signing up for. So cut it the fuck out with the guilt, you got it?" He tilted his head, looking her in the eye warningly. "I'm serious, Bella. You have enough on your plate. Don't worry about me."

At that she had to smile, and Jasper stroked her cheek once tenderly before releasing her. They checked in and got settled down to wait for their turn. Jasper shrugged out of his coat.

"I thought Peter was out of town," Bella said, looking confused.

Jasper furrowed his eyebrows. "He is."

"Then why are you wearing your 'I'm getting lucky date-night shirt?" Bella asked disapprovingly, looking at the sleeveless, faux-leather number that showed off Jasper's muscular arms and the tattoos that decorated each shoulder.

Understanding lit his face as his lips quirked up in a grin. He raised an eyebrow indicating she was missing something obvious.

It took a minute, but then Bella got it. She blushed scarlet and quickly looked away. "I can feel it, doll. My boys are going to score tonight," he assured her, squeezing her hand comfortingly.

Unbeknownst to the friends, Edward Cullen was eavesdropping on their conversation. It wasn't something he meant to do - it's just that he was sitting right behind them, and their conversation had piqued his interest.

The people who came into this clinic always interested Edward with their varied and mixed stories. Some were like his sister and her partner - same sex couples who were looking for a way to have a child of their own. Some were couples who were having trouble conceiving and needed help that nature hadn't given them. Some were women going at it alone with frozen samples of men they'd likely never meet, whose profile they'd chosen out of a book.

It seemed to Edward that every person's story was different and fascinating. He was amusing himself, as he waited for the doctor to call him in for his part, by trying to figure out the story of the couple he was eavesdropping on.

They seemed close. The man teased the woman about the ability to knock a woman up being the essence of manliness. She quipped dryly back that maybe that's why it hadn't worked so far. Edward couldn't help but smirk at her quick responses. This woman was witty and funny. He was struck by a curiously warm sensation at the sound of her laughter... that he pushed away quickly, dismissing it.

Still, their closeness seemed to be on a friend level. They were comfortable with each other, but not intimate as lovers would be.

Edward was interrupted from his musing when a door opened and the nurse called, "Isabella Swan." Curious, he craned his neck as discreetly as he could.

Isabella Swan turned out to be a petite woman with long brown hair and, well, a very nice ass. She turned, right before she walked through the door the nurse was holding open. She was, in Edward's estimation, very pretty. Her smile was shy as she looked back at her male companion, as if for encouragement. Then she was gone.

It didn't occur to Edward until a few seconds later that his breath had caught in his throat, and then he was choking and gasping for air.

Strange.

Shaking off that odd sensation, Edward stood and quickly crossed to the water cooler in the front corner of the room. He filled the little paper cup with water and gulped it greedily, wondering what had just come over him. When he sat again, he opted for a seat closer to the door - directly opposite Isabella's companion.

"Are you alright?" the honey-blond haired man asked solicitously.

Edward nodded. "Just trying to breathe through the wrong tube, I suppose," he said, his voice scratchy from his coughing fit.

The other man chuckled. "Happens sometimes."

There was silence between the two for a few moments before the other man spoke. "So, tell me to fuck off it it's too personal, but what are you in for?" he asked, gesturing around them.

Edward raised an eyebrow, "That is pretty personal," he said, not unkindly.

The other man shrugged, smiling apologetically. "It's amazing to me, you know? I mean, it doesn't matter how you go about it - we're creating life here, or trying to anyway."

"I know what you mean," Edward agreed. He thought carefully, trying to figure if he was betraying any confidences. Then he looked up, "I'm trying to help my sister and her partner have a baby," he said finally.

The blond man grinned - a wide grin full of teeth. "See - now that's beautiful." A curious expression came over his face. "That fuck with your head at all? I mean, technically you'd be your baby's father and uncle, right?"

Edward pursed his lips, wondering if he wanted to go into this with a perfect stranger. "It's not my baby, man. It's theirs. I'm just contributing a little DNA. Essentially the same amount of DNA, technically, as if my sister could be the father, you know?"

"I'm with you," the other man said, nodding. "You have little ones of your own?"

"No," Edward answered, amused rather than irritated at the stranger's inquisitiveness. "I'm a perpetual uncle. I don't want to be a dad."

The stranger tilted his head, his expression still curious - thankfully not the sad or pitying expression that so many others had worn when Edward made this declaration. "Why? If you don't mind me asking."

"Oh, it's a pretty complicated thing, raising a child. You know, we're past the point, in our timeline, where it's a necessity for everyone to breed. Then, of course, you're contending with not only your own opinions but the opinions of the other half of the kid. Not for nothing, but I don't happen to agree with 99.9% of people on much of anything - I wouldn't want to put a kid through that. So, between the fact that you're making a lifetime commitment, and the added complication of having to raise the kid with someone else..." Edward trailed off and then looked up at the stranger. "I made a decision a long time ago to take myself out of the Dad-pool."

Surprisingly, the stranger gave an amused laugh. "You remind me a lot of my friend…the woman I'm doing this for," he explained. "She thinks similarly to you - that's why she wants to have a baby on her own. She says that relationships are really hard work and not a lot of people understand that. The way she figures, she's got enough on her plate working at her job, and issues with her family."

"It's a strange thing," Edward mused after a moment, briefly wondering what he would do if he could have a child on his own. "How do you choose who you want to ask?"

"Well, we've been friends forever … she knows she can trust me." He rolled his eyes then, an adoring look coming over his face. "Plus, and if you knew her you'd understand, she wouldn't ask anyone if she couldn't return the favor. She's told me time and again she'd be the surrogate if ever Peter and I wanted to. If you ask me it's not the same thing at all. Pregnancy doesn't seem pleasant where as this," he gestured around them again, "this is not going to be painful at all."

"Plus it's over in a few minutes," Edward agreed.

The stranger leaned back in his seat, feigning insult. "Speak for yourself, buddy. My performances have been known to run all night long."

At first, Edward was shocked. Then he couldn't help but laugh. Before he could come back from that, the door behind them opened again. "Jasper Whitlock and Edward Cullen?"

They both stood. "Good luck," Jasper said, offering Edward his hand.

"Same to you," Edward returned sincerely, shaking the other man's hand firmly.

~0~

Almost Two Weeks Later

Bella had wanted as few people to know she was trying to get pregnant as possible. Unfortunately, Jacob Black, her other best friend, knew her entirely too well.

He certainly knew that for her to be turning down sushi, something had to be wrong. Bella loved sushi. So he had prodded until she had finally blurted out the truth.

"Come on, Jake, say something," Bella pleaded.

"No, I'm just… thrown," Jacob admitted. "I mean, you're so young to go at it like this. Since when are you so desperate to be a mom?"

Bella sighed and slumped a little in her seat. "I'm not…desperate. I just don't see any reason why not right now. I make good money; I can support a kid. I… I want to be a mom."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Why do you sound like you're trying to convince yourself?"

"Ugh," Bella growled "Look, Jacob don't go there, okay? Done is done, and it's too late to change my mind even if I wanted to- which I don't. We went in for the third try almost two weeks ago. If you can't be supportive right now, can we just change the subject?"

"Easy, Bells," he placated, looking apologetic. "You just surprised me is all. Of course I'm here for you. I think you'll be a great mom; I just wasn't expecting it."

Bella relaxed a little, and then almost laughed at the perplexed look on his face. "What is it?"

"Well…how did you choose the frozen pop?" he asked, tactless as always.

Then Bella really did laugh. "No frozen pop," she said. "It's all done live in this case. I have to come in within twenty-four hours of…. Jake, are you sure you want to hear this?"

"No," he admitted, "But I'm curious."

"We go in within twenty-four hours of ovulation. He … you know, contributes a semen sample," Bella mumbled quickly, blushing furiously. "The doctors 'clean' the sample and then they insert it in me – via catheter."

"Oh," Jacob said, thinking it over. "No turkey baster then, huh?"

"Jake!" she protested, covering her face with her hands.

Jacob laughed. "No, that's… well, who's 'he' then?"

There was a pause as Bella took a breath. "Jasper," she admitted, putting her hands down on her lap. "You know – I just figured that would be less complicated. There's no one I trust and love on the planet more than you and him. But I figured you and Lizzie… well, I figured that could get weird when you and Lizzie have kids. Plus, when Peter and Jasper want to have kids I could totally be a surrogate for them – you know, fair play."

"No, I get it," Jacob said sincerely. He smiled thoughtfully. "I think I'm glad you didn't ask me. I would have had to say no."

Bella raised an eyebrow, surprised and a little hurt. "Really?"

"Nothing to do with you, Bells," he assured. "Just… I don't think I could have a kid out there and not … be a father to him. You know?"

She nodded. "No, I get that. Not everyone can be a donor." He nodded and she grinned. "Just as well, anyway. I wouldn't want kids with your ugly mug."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure. You know Bella, you've always been a horrible liar."

The two continued to talk, and Bella found herself relaxing more as Jacob got more excited about the prospect of being an honorary uncle. He was already talking about taking the little boy- or girl-to-be with him to the car shows he frequented.

Jacob was an intriguing soul in Hollywoodland. He had grown up on the reservation in La Push, very near the tiny town of Forks where Bella was born. They had known each other since they were little kids but, since Bella had actually grown up in Phoenix with her mother, they hadn't gotten to know each other well until Bella had spent her last year and a half of high school in Forks with her father.

They spent so many long afternoons talking about leaving the Olympic Peninsula. Eventually, they had further honed their interests, and decided to take on Hollywood. For Bella, who had grown up jumping from one adventure to the next with Renee, it offered a sort of familiarity. Life was hectic here, and hectic was something that Bella found she could deal with well. For Jacob, it was a chance to see a world he previously hadn't imagined. With his meticulous hand and flare for attention to detail, Jacob had actually fallen into the make-up department. He travelled frequently with the make-up teams to sets all around the world.

They had been talking in the make-up trailer on his latest, thankfully L.A.-based, set. Jacob had been called away by his boss, and Bella was about to leave when she was stopped by one of the other make-up artists.

The woman looked to be a little older than she was - beautiful, but scowling as she cleared her throat. "I didn't mean to overhear your conversation but, well, I did. My name's Leah Clearwater and I really think that the whole artificial insemination thing is a bad idea."

Bella was taken aback. "I really don't think-"

Leah interrupted, looking uncomfortable. "Look – it's none of my business what you do, okay, I just…" she grumbled, obviously frustrated with herself, and looked up at Bella with hard, but sincere, eyes. "Let me just tell you my story?"

Uncertain, and just as uncomfortable as Leah seemed to be, Bella gestured that the other woman should continue.

"I married my high school sweetheart when we were both 21. Sam," she all but growled the name, "and I wanted to start a family right away. When it didn't happen after a year, we went to see the doctor...and found out that I'm sterile."

"I'm sorry," Bella said instantly, and she meant it.

Leah just nodded and continued her story. "So, we looked into everything and decided to try surrogacy. Of course, we needed a surrogate egg and someone to carry the baby. Well..." Leah trailed off, visibly upset. She took a deep breath.

"My cousin, Emily," she all but spat the name, "volunteered for both. Emily and I had always been close, so it seemed ideal. And for many months, it was. Emily really went out of her way to make me feel like I was a part of the pregnancy."

If it were possible, the scowl on Leah's face deepened even more. "Then, around the eighth month of pregnancy, Sam and Emily announced they were in love. They said that it was their baby."

"That's horrible," Bella said, completely aghast that anyone would do that.

"I mean - technically they were right. I can't have children. He wasn't ever really mine," Leah said, sadness breaking through her harder exterior. She straightened up. "I just... I know every person's story is different, but if I couldn't trust my husband and my cousin, how do you know you can trust this guy?"

~0~

"Bella, you know what they say," Jasper said a few days later after Bella relayed the conversation she'd had with Leah. He and Peter had invited her over to their place for dinner. "Opinions are like assholes - everyone's got them."

"'Course," Peter interrupted, setting a bowl of salad on the table and sitting down next to Jasper, "some are a lot better than others but that's neither here nor there, is it?" he chuckled.

"Perv," Jasper admonished, leaning in to give him a quick peck on the lips. He turned back to Bella. "What it all boils down to is that life's messy. No way around that babe. No how. You take a chance with every day of your life. Sometimes it's going to work out, sometimes it isn't.

"Now, I can tell you with all sincerity, when you get pregnant, it's all you babe. I will love and adore that little boy or girl, and I will be the best, most awesome Uncle ever - but I know I'm not their father. That's all you, doll. I'm never going to try to take that away from you," he said quietly, putting a hand over hers.

"I know that, of course I know that," Bella said quickly. "It was just a hard story to shake."

"There's going to be a lot of that," Peter grimaced. "There are a lot of scary stories out there, hon. A lot of people have done bad things to each other. You're probably going to hear about a lot of things that can go wrong during pregnancy too. Don't let it affect you, Bella. People are going to want to tell you their horror stories, but you know you've got some pretty fuck-awesome people behind you. I mean," he grinned incorrigibly, "I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I'm amazing."

Jasper and Bella both rolled their eyes, but Peter's antics had the desired affect. Bella grinned, and the tension eased considerably.

By the time Bella left she was feeling a lot more relaxed. Jasper drew her into a hug, pressing something into her hands as he held her. "Don't open that until you get home. And call me, okay? No matter what," he said against her ear. Then he kissed her forehead and released her.

Bella looked down to find a small paper bag in her hands. She looked up at Jasper, curious, but he just waved her toward her car.

Following his instructions, Bella didn't open the bag until she was at home. Inside she found three different pregnancy tests - the kind that were supposed to work within the first two weeks of pregnancy. She almost dropped them as if they were on fire.

After the last two months, Bella had found she hated this part. She hated the feeling of failure when the words 'not pregnant' appeared on the screen. It was why Jasper had sent her home to take these tests. He knew she would want to rein in her disappointment without an audience. Still, it had to be done. Setting her shoulders, Bella went into her bathroom. She peed. She waited.

Her breath caught when she looked at the first test. She bit her lip at the second. By the third she was feeling the beginnings of tears prick at her eyes. Bella fumbled for her phone, hitting Jasper's name. He picked it up on the first ring.

"Bella?" he prompted.

A huge, deliriously happy grin spread across Bella's face. She didn't realize until that very moment how badly she'd wanted this. "I'm pregnant."

~0~

Across town, the majority of the Cullens were lounging together, post-dinner. Rosalie and Alice were conspicuously missing, but that was to be expected. They all knew why they were gathered, but no one was saying it in case there was no call tonight.

Carlisle and Emse sat on the loveseat, their heads bent toward each other in quiet conversation. Emmett held Tanya on his lap in the large recliner, managing to find dirty humor in the family friendly film they were watching. Every once in a while Tanya would smack him on the chest and he would say, "Honey, you're being a bad influence to our dear, impressionable girls," and she would smack him again because the girls weren't paying any attention to them.

She was right. Irina was entirely engrossed in the movie, occasionally bouncing her butt on the floor in time with the music while she drew haphazardly on a coloring book that had been set in front of her. Katrina was draped across Edward's body as they both lay on the couch. The little girl was sleeping peacefully as Edward twirled her long, blond ponytail between his fingers absently.

The peaceful night was interrupted when Emmett's phone indicated he had a text. Excitedly, he fumbled for his phone. He read for a second and then grinned, the dimples on his face so deep that you probably could have fit dimes in them. He let out a whoop that scared Katrina awake.

"We're having a baby, kids!" He cried happily, holding the text message out for the family to see.

A/N: Oh, everyone's happy. I wonder how long that will last. Hmm.

Anyway – thank you so much for all your well wishes. The cruise was fantastic. I'm enamored of Mike Welch now. He's hilarious. And my birthday was, well, fuckawesome.

Thank you to josieswan for beta work. I still don't know why she puts up with me. MWAH.

Thoughts? Questions? Guesses? Hit the button!