A/N: My computer died...again. Thus I am forced to work on my work computer until I can get a new computer soon. I had the sneak peeks ready to go but then I decided to post it instead of making you all wait. I really hope you don't mind. This story is winding down fast, so look out for my other story that will be posted soon!

Disclaimer: I own nothing...

Edward POV

The tension in the air was almost palpable as I walked Bella towards the bus that sat idling in the hotel parking lot. I could feel the ache deep down in my bones from the way she kept moving farther and farther away from me. She had fought tooth and nail with me about carrying her luggage and though I had won and ended up carrying hers and mine, it still didn't feel like enough. I wanted to be close to her. I wanted to touch her and feel her beneath my fingertips. To relish in that electrifying feeling she would no doubt illicit from somewhere deep inside of me. I wanted to run my fingers through her soft, mahogany hair and feel her plump lips on mine. I stopped my thoughts abruptly, knowing that I had two options. One, I could act on my feelings again and risk hurting her more than she already had been with my insensitivity and crassness. Or two, I could think of other things and keep the thoughts of Bella's skin on mine at bay and pretend that her presence didn't have a profound affect on me.

I had thought about my options all night. Weighing the pros and cons of what I would undoubtedly have to do. The former would more than likely, hurt her. The latter hurt me, and only me. I chose option number two.

I watched her carefully as we reached the bus, making sure to stay alert and on my toes lest she fall down on the snow swept sidewalks. And though she stumbled a couple of times her feet stayed firmly planted. For which I was thankful. I had a feeling that as soon as our skin came in contact I would once again lose any sense of right and wrong and completely violate the agreement I had made with myself.

Bella's silence however, was cutting me deeply. As was the way she continued to ignore me. She had pulled her hair around her shoulder, hiding her face from view and her eyes never strayed from her feet or our insipid surroundings as we walked. She hadn't said a word when I had returned to change my own clothes and only spoke to me when I insisted on carrying her bags. Something she had demanded she do herself. As soon as she had realized I was stubborn enough to carry her and our bags at the same time she had relented, only to fall back into her quietude.

We had just reached the bus, the long line of passengers were scurrying to make their way into the warmed bus and out of the frigid December weather. It was as that thought crossed my mind that Bella shivered violently from in front of me. I looked down at the bags at my feet to see my leather jacket discarded on top of them. I rolled my eyes and picked it up, slinging it around her shoulders and holding on tightly, knowing she would push it off if given the chance.

"Please Bella..." I whispered close to her ear and I felt her tremble beneath my hands.

She didn't respond but she didn't argue either so I took that as a concession and slowly removed my hands from her shoulders and my jacket.

We were the last ones to board the bus and I heard Bella groan quietly when she realized that the only two seats were in the very back of the bus, and they were together. We passed everyone as we made our way to the seats, Lauren's cold blue gaze was burning into us as we passed and I had to fight the almost uncontrollable urge to shield Bella from it.

Reminding myself that it wasn't my job. That it couldn't be my job, I sunk down into the seat next to her and rested my head against the headrest, settling myself in for a long ride.

Bella continued her vow of reticence as the bus lurched forward, crossing state lines and blurring the lines of trees and grass. Town after town passed and every time I would garner the courage to open my mouth and just say something, anything, I would lose it as soon as my lips would part.

So I gave up trying and instead focused on the window across the aisle from me, past the old couple with gray hair who held hands while they slept. To the old farmhouses we passed somewhere in Kansas. The fields of corn and the gentle rolling hills. I let my attention be kept by them so that my mind wouldn't wander to the woman beside me.

I had been doing good too, until I heard it. The faintest of murmurs, the small weak, intake of breath. I turned my head to see Bella shifting uncomfortably in her seat, her eyes still closed from the deep sleep she had succumbed to hours before. There was a little crease on her brow and I resisted the urge to reach out and smooth it out with my fingertip. It was as I was watching her, not sure whether I had heard right, that she said it again. A little louder than last time, but still not loud enough for me to distinguish between whether I was actually hearing her or just hearing what I wished I would hear.

Before I could ponder too long her body shifted in the small seat and her hand probed around on the armrest, searching. "Edward."

This time my breath caught in my throat, because though it was still a whisper it was more discernible than the last two times and I was sure she was saying my name. Searching for me.

"Edward...Edward please." Her voice was growing louder, more incessant and I started to panic.

There was a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, and her body began to move more and more in the tiny seat. My hands fluttered uselessly above her tiny frame. I was completely out of my element, inept, and I had no idea what to do to ease her discomfort. So I did the one thing I could do. I grabbed hold of her hand.

Her grip was tight despite her unconsciousness, but she seemed to relax with my touch. Her body stopped jerking around in the small seat and her face loosened from it's intense expression though I could still see the tiny fold between her eyes.

And oddly enough, with her touch, I began to feel better. The dull ache that I hadn't even noticed was present slowly began to recede and the light pressure that had been present in my chest for four years now was suddenly gone. It was like I could breathe again and all because I held her small delicate fingers in my hand.

I don't know how long I sat like that, holding her hand. The bus stopped a few times, but mostly kept moving, trying to make up the time we had lost on our delay. It was at one of those sparse gas stations where we stopped that I saw the date in the window. December 24th.

I knew my family was probably having a conniption about my absence from the annual family dinner but I didn't care. At the moment, there was nowhere else I would rather be. Even if it was only for a few more hours.

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The smoke was thick and dense and it hurt my lungs to breathe. I looked around me, searching wildly for the one person I needed. The one person I couldn't see.

She had been right beside me. Her hand was clasped in mine. She should have been here. Where was she? I curled my fingers and tried to move my fingers around her hand, but I couldn't find her. She wasn't here.

The pain however was. The searing, burning, ripping pain that radiated from my shoulder to the tips of my fingers with any slight movement.

"Hold on son, we'll get you out of here." I turned my head again, to the opposite side and saw a firefighter, his yellow suit glowing in the black haze that was beginning to smother me.

"Edward..." I felt my blood drain cold as I heard her weak voice coming from somewhere near me. But I couldn't see her. "Edward, you're going to be okay."

"Where..." I rasped but I couldn't continue as a fit of coughs overtook my lungs and my eyes started watering as I clung desperately to the little bit of oxygen that I could still feel inside of me.

"Oh my god. We've got another one." The same firefighter was back. He pushed an oxygen mask against my face as another set of hands put something hard and cold around my neck. A brace, my mind told me as the rest of me tried to catch up to everything that had happened.

We were going home. We were flying and everything was alright...until it wasn't.

"You're...going...to...be..." My eyes wobbled around in my head, seeking her face. "okay."

My eyes shot open. It had been years since I had had a dream like that. I had gone through years of therapy, trying to keep the memories of that day at bay.

"Edward..." Bella's voice was in my ear and I put my head in my hands as I leaned forward, trying to rid my mind of the memories that were rushing back to me. "Edward..."

I looked up then, noticing the different pitch in her voice. Her brown eyes were wide and her lips were set into a deep frown. Her hands were on top of her stomach and there were tears in her eyes.

"What is it?" I asked quickly, turning in my seat to pull her hands into mine. "What's wrong?"

She bit her lip, so hard that I could see the pink turning white from the pressure her teeth were exerting on it.

"It hurts." She finally breathed and I saw her body visibly relax a bit.

Shit. "Bella, where does it hurt?"

"My back...my pelvis..." She breathed.

A piece of her hair moved into her face and I reached up to push it back behind her ear. "How long has it been hurting?"

The tears fell down her cheeks again and she used her pointer finger to wipe them away before looking up at me.

"Since last night... when you left." Her lower lip trembled and the tears fell hard and fast down her face. "You don't think I'm in labor... It's too early."

"Shhh...Bella, I know." I soothed her as I pulled her into my arms with one hand and dug my cell phone out with my other.

I pressed the speed dial on my phone marked 'dad' and prayed that he would answer, cursing when it went straight to voicemail.

I was tempted to just put the phone away and yell for the bus driver to pull over or but we were in the middle of nowhere and snow was falling, already covering the ground. Swallowing back my pride I dialed Alice's number and held my breath.

"Edward, where are..."

"Not now Al. I need to talk to Jasper. Now."

"Jasper?" She asked uneasily.

"Yes, Jasper, your fiance, the doctor. Now please." She must have heard the urgency in my voice because I heard her move the phone away from her mouth as she spoke softly. The rustling sound of the phone being shifted was loud before I heard a soft breath on the other side.

"Edward?" He asked in what sounded like disbelief.

"Look, I'm sorry to bother you... I'm on the bus and a woman here is six months pregnant. She's experiencing pain in her abdomen and back and please tell me she isn't going into early labor." I breathed out in a rush.

"Okay, first calm down. You say she's six months along?"

"Give or take a few days." I pushed the hair out of Bella's face as she looked up at me.

"Alright, I need you to listen closely to me. First I need you to place a firm hand on her stomach. Can you do that?" I mumbled a quick yes as I positioned the phone on my collarbone and held it down with my ear, pushing Bella gently back as I rested a hand on her stomach. "Can you feel the heartbeat?"

I pushed around a bit before I located the rhythmic drum drum drum. "Yes."

"Good. Now, I need you to count them until I tell you to stop."

I did as he said and quickly rattled off the number to him, waiting as he counted it out to himself and then sighed. "Edward, when was the last time she used the restroom?"

"I...I don't know."

"Let me speak with her please."

I contemplated for a moment before passing my phone to Bella and biting down on the tip of my thumb as I watched her converse with my future brother-in-law.

"Thank you." She finally said quietly and handed the phone back to me, before motioning for me to move. I did as she asked and watched as she walked into the bathroom right next to us and closed the door behind her.

"Edward?" I looked down at the phone still grasped tightly in my hand before I realized Jasper was still on it.

"Yeah sorry. I'm here, is she okay?"

"I think so. With what she told me it sounds more like Braxton-Hicks than real labor. They're often brought on by stress or sometimes even a full bladder. So far she says the contractions are sporadic and not that bad. But you need to watch her and call me if anything changes." I almost smiled at how quickly Jasper could go into "doctor mode."

"I will. Thank you Jasper."

"That's what I'm here for...and Edward..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you called."

"Me too."

Bella returned shortly after I hung up, a sheepish smile on her face as she slid back in the seat beside me and rested her head back against the headrest as I had done earlier.

"I feel so stupid." She laughed humorlessly.

"Don't. It's perfectly normal to get scared..." I assured her. "I was terrified."

"Why?"

"Because..." I looked down to where my hands laid in my lap as I thought about how to phrase this next.

What do you say to someone you met three days ago? The same someone who makes you feel more alive than you ever have before, and takes down every single wall you had carefully constructed around you. What do you say when you've gone and done the one thing you've promised yourself you would never let yourself do ever again?

"Edward?" She asked hesitantly just as the bus rolled to a stop, making us lean forward slightly before hitting the seats behind us again.

Because I'm in love with you. "Because... I don't know how to deliver a baby."

A/N: I don't even want to know what my family doctor thought when I called him up at home to ask him what Braxton-Hicks contractions were like and how to distinguish between false and true labor. That will be a fun conversation with mom later...
Besos.