Chapter 6: The Pink and Blue Elephant

A/N: Sorry about review replies. I got so behind. SIGH. For the record, pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup dish. I eat mine with flank, rare steak (it cooks in the water) and brisket. It. Is. FABULOUS.

Disclaimer: Not mine. I donut own them. I do own a hankering for cake though.

~0~

Copious.

The Tower of Learning - Rufus Wainwright: I'm looking for the copious prize

SoCal.

Inside Out - Eve6 : SoCal is where my mind states, but it's not my state of mind.

Appropriate. Antidisestablishmentarianism

Almost Famous, Eminem: Get off my antidisestablishmentarianism, you prick.

I'm amazed.

Amazed - Lonestar: Every little thing that you do, baby I'm amazed by you.

Alright! I give in. You win!

Ever since Edward had found out that Bella had an unnatural talent for remembering song lyrics, he had been trying to stump her. At first, Bella had been unsure if she wanted to play this game. But then, she was, perhaps stupidly, proud of her hidden talent, and naturally competitive. She'd played back.

Suddenly, Bella's phone disappeared from her hands. "Hey!" she protested, reaching for it. Jasper held it out of her grasp, peering at the screen. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Bella," he turned to grin at her, "You're texting with Edward?"

Scowling, Bella yanked her phone back. "You're nosy, you know that?"

Her friend chuckled and looked back at the clipboard he was carrying. "You were smiling at your phone," he informed her nonchalantly.

Bella sighed. "Aren't you the one who said I should try to get along?"

Jasper pursed his lips and didn't answer. He looked entirely too amused at the thought. Bella bristled in irritation and crossed her arms, leaning tiredly against the wall of the supply room they were in.

Occasionally, Edward made it easy to forget that she wanted to be angry with him. Oh, she knew that she shouldn't be trying to hold onto her vexation with him, but it seemed like digressing a point she wasn't ready to concede yet.

Unconsciously, her hand moved over her belly. For the millionth time she tried to sort out what could possibly be going on in Edward's head. In theory she understood what he was doing. What she was having a problem getting over was the idea that her baby was a theory, a principle. She didn't give a damn about his principles when it came to her child's life.

She would never have let someone be a large part of the baby's life that thought of it as an obligation. The idea that Edward was trying to claim fatherhood because of a mix up that neither of them could have ever planned for was abhorrent to her.

In Bella's opinion, simple biology did not a parent make. One of her good friends, Jessica Stanley, often scathingly referred to her father as her sperm donor. She had endless amounts of resentment for having been repeatedly exposed to the man who'd told her repeatedly that she was not his choice. Responsibility had made Mr. Stanley stay with Jessica's mother for the first seven years of her life only to abandon her almost totally.

Frustration swept over her again.

Jasper cleared his throat, noticing the sour look on her face. "So, is that outfit new, doll?" he asked lightly.

"No," she answered with a small smile. It was true – the outfit wasn't new. However, it was one that she'd had in the back of her closet for ages, and she'd never worn it. It had been a size or two too large for her, and she'd only kept it because she kept forgetting to return it. That morning when she was getting ready for work, she'd discovered that her pants were getting far too tight for comfort.

Her discovery had prompted her to stand in front of her full length mirror in only her underwear. She'd examined herself slowly, twisting to a side profile.

The bump she'd been able to feel when she pressed hard enough before was visible now, though only barely. With loose fitting clothes on, no one would notice, but nearly naked, it was obvious to Bella. That morning, she had grinned at herself like an absolute idiot. There wasn't a lot about pregnancy so far that she'd enjoyed, but the new curve of her body was, she felt, inherently beautiful.

Impulsively, she reached out and tugged Jasper's hand toward her. She wasn't looking forward to that part of pregnancy where people thought her belly was fair game for petting, but to that point no one had touched her bump besides her. She guided Jasper's hand, pressing it against the slight bulge.

He whistled and looked up with a huge, enthusiastic grin on his face. Bella grinned back at him, but then Jasper said exactly the wrong thing. "You're going to let me take you shopping for maternity clothes soon, aren't you?"

Bella's grin faltered. She stepped away from him, coughing to cover her disappointment. "Um, I think I'm putting that particular torture off as long as possible."

Jasper smiled, amused, and shook his head. "I'd probably be better off getting them myself. Who knows what you'll resort to before you go," he made a wide, frightened face, "shopping."

"I have some potato sacks that I can work with," she threatened.

"Why do I believe you'd actually do it?" Jasper rolled his eyes and turned back to his task.

Once he'd turned away Bella allowed herself to slump against the wall again, finding a nice box to sit on. She tried to sort out just how much of the disappointment she felt was hormonal. But no, once she thought about it, she had to acknowledge that she was legitimately crestfallen at Jasper's reaction.

Her joy over her pregnancy felt so muted. With the whole situation with Edward, it felt eclipsed. While she cringed at the thought of people fawning over her distended belly, she wouldn't have minded a close friend's personal happiness for her. Maybe a little giddiness over the baby?

She closed her eyes briefly, thinking about her parents. Charlie wouldn't fawn, but he would smile. He would smile at the thought of a grandchild to bounce on his knee and spoil rotten. It wouldn't even occur to him to think about maternity clothes.

Her mother, Renee, might get a little touchy-feely. But then, Renee was in Florida. Bella was sure she'd fly over for the birth, but until then she didn't expect much.

"So what are you hiding from anyway?" Jasper asked, breaking into her thoughts again.

God, she got distracted easy these days. She wondered briefly if this was the pregnancy brain that she often heard of.

"Well, I came in here for something specific, but hell if I can remember what that was," she responded wryly.

Jasper studied her carefully and chuckled. "You know that glow you wanted so badly? You got it, doll. You are alight this fine morning."

Blushing lightly but pleased, Bella opened one eye to look at her friend. "Oh, really? Then why are you laughing at me?"

"Because, you also have bags under your eyes," he chuckled. "It's like your body doesn't know whether to be alive with giddiness or dead tired."

"I'm exhausted," Bella admitted. "And I still get sick every once in a while. How fun is that?"

"All the tiredness and sickness is supposed to go away in the second trimester, isn't it?" Jasper asked.

"Supposedly."

"Well, you're almost there," he comforted.

Bella closed her eyes again, willing away the ridiculous disappointment. "Officially, I entered the second trimester three days ago," she said as disinterestedly as possible. Suddenly she was like those irritating women who pouted when their boyfriends didn't remember important dates. He'd been there when the baby was conceived after all. Technically speaking, his baby had been conceived that same day. How hard was it to remember?

Her phone chimed then. Bella dug it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. "Shit." With a groan of dissatisfaction, she dragged herself to her feet. "I am urgently needed apparently."

"That woman urgently needs to take a long walk off a short pier," Jasper groused, correctly guessing that it was Victoria who was summoning her away.

Bella made a vague noise in answer and walked away.

That evening, when work was finally over, Bella had almost gotten to where her car was parked when an arm wrapped around her waist, yanking her back. She shrieked and instantly brought her elbow backward into her attacker's stomach.

"Fuck! Bella!" Jasper wheezed.

Bella whirled, hands to her mouth, to find Jasper doubled over, trying to catch his breath. "Oh! Jesus, Jasper you scared the living hell out of me!"

Despite the pain radiating through his chest, Jasper started laughing. "I suppose I deserved that," he said, straightening up. "You looked so spaced out; I was trying to startle you."

"Well, you succeeded. What's wrong with you? Don't you know you shouldn't frighten someone in my delicate condition?" she smacked his shoulder lightly.

He snorted. "Delicate my ass," he said, rubbing the spot on his chest where she'd hit him. "Now, come on," he gestured with his head toward his car.

Bella was about to argue that she was dead tired and just wanted to go home, but her heart was still racing. Adrenaline was better than the caffeine she couldn't drink, apparently. "Where are we going?" she asked, following after him.

"Patience, young padawan," Jasper admonished as he started the car.

They made small talk about the rest of their day on their way to wherever it was they were going. "She's gotten worse lately," Jasper noticed.

Bella shrugged. "I suppose. I don't know. Does bitchiness have levels?"

The conversation was interrupted when Bella finally realized where they were going. "Oh! Electric Lotus," she all but squealed, suddenly giddy. "What's the occasion?"

Electric Lotus was their favorite Indian food restaurant. The problem was, no one else in their crew liked Indian food. Plus, it was far enough away from their home and work that they didn't go there often.

Jasper snorted. "Doll, I may have a very pretty boyfriend, but I still have the man-gene that lets me know when I'm in trouble. I made you upset earlier today. Now, I'm entirely clueless as to what I did, but I know I did something."

Bella grinned sheepishly as they drove up to the valet, but said nothing. "Aren't you going to tell me what I did?" Jasper asked as they walked in.

"It really wasn't your fault," she assured, not wanting to get into how she felt. She'd spent the afternoon convincing herself that it was ludicrous to feel bad that someone didn't automatically ooo and aww over her burgeoning little bump.

Jasper was amused, however, when she ordered the chicken Jelfrazzi. As a rule, Bella normally disliked bell peppers. However, currently, the thought of bell peppers cooked with onions, tomatoes, chilies, spices and curry was making her mouth water.

"I thought bell peppers gave you heartburn."

"They do. But I want them," she shrugged. "Baby is obviously trying to torture me."

"Kids today," Jasper shook his head. "No respect, I tell ya."

The discussion inevitably turned to work again "Can I ask you a question, Bella?"

"Another one?" she raised her eyebrow.

Jasper worried his napkin between his fingers, instantly alerting Bella to the fact that he was probably going to say something she wasn't going to like. "Here's what I don't get, Hells Bells. You're not a woman to be trifled with. I mean, you beat a man up just for scaring you-"

"Hey! We established that was your fault," she protested.

He smirked. "And lord knows you aren't making Edward's life any easier – which I understand entirely," he placated quickly. "So tell me, how does that same Bella let a woman like Victoria walk over her?"

"I don't-" Bella cut off, knowing that wasn't entirely accurate. "She's my boss, Jasper. I'm supposed to be doing what she says. I'm not getting paid to like her."

"Yes, she's your boss, but she only treats you like dirt because you let her."

"That's what it's all about isn't it? Paying your dues?" Bella aggressively stabbed her chicken. "I work for a tyrant like her now so I don't have to do it down the line."

Jasper covered his face with his hand. "Oh Christ, is that what you're doing? All this time…" He shook his head, muttering to himself. "I should have known."

"What are you talking about?"

Not speaking right away, Jasper shoved his food around his plate, gathering his thoughts. "Bella, you know at this point you can practically walk into the writer's room of any show on this network or any other for that matter? Hell, you could probably get a movie job if you talked to the right people."

"Not this again," she muttered, but, as usually happened when Jasper brought this topic up, Bella could hear his absolute faith in her.

"Look, I understand what the whole thing with Royce did to you, okay? But you earned your promotion. Who cares what other people think? It's true that not everyone gets what they earned. In this business, luck counts almost as much as talent and hard work," he conceded. "But that doesn't make you less worthy of your job."

Bella bit her lip and didn't answer. The thought of getting away from Victoria was tempting...

"Just promise you'll think about it. Now," he straightened up from the way he'd been leaning across the table, "the baby demands dessert."

Her smile flickered. "How do you know that?"

"Tell me it's not true," he challenged.

Bella pretended to sigh in defeat. "Yes, it's true. Demanding child." She shook her head mock-mournfully.

~0~

"Explain something to me."

Edward started and looked up to find his sister-in-law sliding into the booth opposite him. He looked around for his brother, but Emmett was no where to be found. "I'll tell you what, Tanya, you explain how you found me here, and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

She rolled her eyes and ordered an iced tea from the waitress who meandered over then. "I just pay attention. I know you like to get out of the house when you have an article due. You've only mentioned a hundred times, 'The Alcove on Hillhurst has free wi-fi and the best cake in the known universe'. Which, you're buying me a slice of whatever that is," she pointed to his plate.

"This," Edward gestured with his fork, "is a St. Honore cake. It is everything that's good in the world in one cake. Chocolate mousse, vanilla sponge cake, rum liquor..."

"Oh, my god. Stop it. I'm going to start drooling," she protested. "Go get me one already."

She reached out and snatched the pastry that decorated the top of Edward's cake before she could help herself. "Hey!" Edward protested. "That was mine."

"Mmmm," Tanya's eyes fluttered. She held up the little pastry, grinning at him. "What? You're already enough of a cream puff. You don't need any extra."

Edward glared at his sister-in-law. "It's called a profiterole."

"It's a cream puff," she repeated. "Now go get me a piece. Please." She smiled sweetly.

He rolled his eyes but stood and ambled over to the counter. He came back a few minutes later, sliding a plate of what was definitely not St. Honore cake in front of her. "What's this?" she eyed the dessert with half a pout. On the one hand, it wasn't what she asked for. On the other hand, it looked simply divine.

Edward smirked. "It's a Chocolate Hazelnut tart."

"Ha," Tanya laughed. "Tarts for the tart, touche, Edward."

He slid a to go carton over to her as he sat in his seat again. "And Princess Cake for my princesses."

"My, my they do think of everything. Emmett is going to be beside himself."

They sat in companionable silence for a moment before Edward finally gave in. "Alright, why am I buying you cake?"

"It's actually quite a bargain. My typical rates, even for a consultation, are quite a bit higher," she said, nonchalantly tucking in to her tart.

With a sigh, Edward closed his laptop. "Tanya," he started.

"No, you need to hear this, Edward," Tanya interrupted him. "A lot of law is all about precedence, okay? I know you're trying to play the very patient good guy. Maybe that will work, maybe it won't. If it doesn't, your involvement in your baby's life even now can be a mitigating circumstance if you want some level of custody."

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed deeply. This was why she'd tracked him down alone, no doubt. These conversations in front of the family tended to end with his parents urging him not to push Bella and to give her the benefit of the doubt, Rosalie snarking about how that would just bite him in the ass, Alice glaring at both of them and Emmett trying to make light of the whole situation.

"Bella's just beginning to let go of some of her anger at everything," he said calmly. "Right now, if I so much as allude to the baby, she gets tense. She's never going to let me be involved with anything in her pregnancy."

To that point it had almost been a relief to Edward. Bella wasn't trying to shut him out of her life completely, but she wasn't inviting him in either. He had no clue what he was supposed to do in regards to the whole pregnancy thing. The websites he had visited had many suggestions for dad, but most of them assumed that dad and mom were together. He doubted she would be open to a nice foot rub from the likes of him.

"You need to try," Tanya urged. "If this thing ever had to go to before a judge, you have a very good chance of being awarded some level of custody. But if it does get that far, she'll argue any point she can, and your actions now can either help you or harm you."

Edward continued to pull in deep, even breaths. His head was spinning. While he was trying to gain Bella's trust he hadn't really thought much about the baby. On some level he knew he was compartmentalizing without really looking at the whole picture.

For a moment, he made himself think about having custody of a baby. The concept of being a father when he'd made the distinct decision not to be was still so foreign to him. One of the reasons why he was being so patient with Bella is because he completely understood her anger. When he thought about the choice being taken away from him - the choice to not have a baby - he was more than a little bitter.

A little voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he could walk away.

But no. For so many reasons, he couldn't.

So, he just kept on taking the next logical step. If he couldn't let her disappear, he was trying to befriend her - get to know her.

Of course, logically, what Tanya was saying made sense too.

~0~

That was how Edward found himself in the waiting room right before Bella's first ultrasound appointment. He'd gotten the information from Jasper by telling him the same thing that he told Bella.

"We can't keep not talking about this forever. I want to be a part of this."

To say Bella was pissed off was an understatement of epic proportions. For long minutes, she couldn't even see straight. She had to force herself to calm down, not only because her rising blood pressure was bad for the baby, but because she knew, in her heart of hearts, that he was right.

This problem wasn't just going to go away.

So they made small talk. Edward tested the waters by asking if she'd experienced any morning sickness. It seemed like a benign enough question he might ask any pregnant woman.

"Oh, no," Bella had answered. Before he could comment how that must have been refreshing she added, "I usually got sick sometime afternoon. Well, I suppose two A.M. counts as morning, but dark o'clock is still night to me," she said wryly.

Edward chuckled in sympathy.

There was one thing Edward was especially curious about. He took his time, trying to find the right way to put it that wouldn't sound too intrusive."It's weird what different doctors want, isn't it? Alice's doctor ordered an ultrasound for her at nine weeks, but this is your first at 13," he said easily. Then he shrugged.

Bella cleared her throat, feeling unreasonably guilty. "Actually, my doctor wanted me to come in at 10 weeks."

Why Bella kept telling unnecessary truths in Edward's presence, she would never know. She was starting to irritate herself. Then, it might have had something to do with the warm sensation that radiated in her chest that he knew how far along she was.

She didn't miss the disapproving look that crossed his face. "What?" she demanded.

"Nothing." He looked down at the magazine in his lap.

"Just say it."

He breathed deeply, knowing this wasn't going to go over well. "It's just that...with the way the baby was conceived, your doctor might have had legitimate concerns."

"I don't understand why you care," she snapped, her temper getting the better of her. "If I miscarried it would take care of all your problems."

"Bella," he said quietly but firmly. Stubbornly, she refused to look up at him. Without another moment's hesitation he got down on his knees in front of her so he could look her straight in the eye. "Regardless of how I may have felt about having a child of my own, I would never, ever, ever wish that for you. And I didn't mean to imply anything... I was just concerned, that's all."

Completely taken aback by his response, Bella didn't say anything at first. Before her brain had started working again, a nurse appeared in the doorway, calling them in.

Edward and Bella were mostly quiet after that. They smiled awkwardly at the nurse who asked if this was dad and commented on what a beautiful baby they were baking.

All too soon they were alone again, waiting for the ultrasound technician to arrive.

"Alice is slight," Edward murmured into the heavy silence.

"What?" Bella narrowed her eyes, her hands self consciously traveling to her stomach, wondering if he was commenting on any excess weight.

"Oh, no. Bella. You're fine. I mean, you're beautiful, I mean," he stumbled. He growled slightly and tried again. "I mean, that's probably why her doctor wanted her to come in earlier, at eight weeks. She's just so tiny. I'm sure if it were important for you to go at ten weeks, your doctor would have told you that," Edward reasoned.

"I wouldn't put this baby in danger knowingly," Bella muttered back fiercely.

"Believe me, I know that." He'd experienced, was currently experiencing, first hand her mother-bear protectiveness. Rather than be annoyed by it, he couldn't help but find it a positive factor. Children were simply not something their parents should be careless about.

The technician came in then, introducing herself and talking them through the process. A little shy, especially in front of Edward, Bella lifted her shirt. Trying to give her privacy, Edward kept his eyes trained on the monitor.

The technician moved the wand over the gentle swell of her belly, and abruptly the room filled with a quick, whirring tempo. Though she had been expecting it, Bella felt her throat get tight. It was her baby's heartbeat - fast and steady. On the monitor the odd, undulating image she'd been waiting for appeared.

"There's a head. Body. And these little spec like things right here," the technician pointed to a a vaguely defined bit on the monitor, "are hands."

The emotion that welled in Bella then was almost painful in its intensity. Her heart felt full - close to bursting.

A small, quick intake of breath drew Bella's eyes away from the blurry image of her baby, nestled safe inside her. She looked up to the source of the noise, finding Edward's eyes wide and glued to the picture on the screen. His lips were parted as if he were soundlessly whispering the word 'wow'. Feeling her eyes on him, he looked down at her.

In that moment, everything they had been to each other to that point fell away. He wasn't an unwelcome intruder in her and her child's life. She wasn't the antagonistic woman who was trying to keep him from doing the right thing. It didn't matter that they both held some resentment at their carefully laid life plans gone awry. In that moment they were connected by a shared awe at the life they - however unconventionally - had created. Hearing and seeing it, proof positive - they were immersed in something more powerful than they could have predicted.

Edward smiled - a soft, tender quirk of his lips. Bella found herself smiling back and laughing quietly as she looked back to the monitor in time see the barely discernible, little arms move.

Tentative, Edward put a light hand on her shoulder. Bella felt a warmth go through her. This was the connection that she had missed - someone to marvel with her. A tear trickled down her cheek and for once she didn't try to push the emotion away. Instead, she just reached her hand up, putting it over his, and she basked.

A/N: The Alcove is a real place. I don't know if they have wi-fi, but they do have cake. Oh. My. GODBERRIES, do they have cake.

I'm hungry.

Thank you to josieswan - beta of supreme excellence. She even corrected a comma in my A/N... now that's dedication!

How did your first ultrasound go? Did the baby wave at you?