"Mom! Let me do it!"

I could hear Edward's frustrated voice coming from the kitchen accompanied by the sizzling of bacon and frying of eggs. This was the third time this week that I had woken up to the sounds of cooking and arguing, and it was also the third time I woke up with a big smile.

I carefully sat up and reached for the bottle of water on the bedside table and picked up the prenatal pill resting beside it. This was part of my daily routine...well, for the last three days it had been. Each morning I would wake, take my pill, eat my breakfast and then Edward would join me back on the bed and we would watch a movie.

We were walking a fine line in our current living arrangement. I could tell that he was nervous with having me here, but at the same time he seemed to be enjoying it. We hadn't really been talking a lot, and that was normal...but it was weird. It was weird because I was living here...and I was pregnant with our son. But still...we didn't talk.

I let myself settle in, and no sooner than I had on Lifetime, Edward came in with a tray holding my breakfast and a glass of orange juice.

"Good morning, Isabella, did you sleep well?" Esme was right behind him, and with her, she had a few bags from what seemed like a baby store.

"Good morning, sweetheart. I went out on a few errands for Edward yesterday. He asked me to pick a few things up for you." She settled onto the bed and began pulling out different items and I watched her with a true curiosity. I couldn't imagine what I would be needing right now.

"This is a pillow that supports your belly and your legs while you sleep on your side, it's supposed to be really good for your back." I turned to see Edward and found him with a nervous look as he was watching me right back. All I could do was smile and then I turned back to his mother.

Then next thing she pulled out were some books on pregnancy, lotions for my skin, and then finally a little bundle of something that looked to be an old fashioned CD player.

"What is that?" I asked with a chuckle. Edward stepped forward then and Esme was off of the bed. I watched as Edward took a seat right next to me and began fumbling with different settings on the white plastic circle in his hands. Before I knew what had happened, he was placing headphones over my ears and placed the object gently over my stomach. In that instant I heard the familiar swooshing of my baby's heart beat.

"Oh my goodness..." I sat there in bed looking down at my stomach and appreciating the simple gesture he had just made.

"I wanted you to be able to hear his heart anytime you wanted to." I couldn't find words to thank him with, so instead I took off the headphones and placed them over his ears and watched an angelic smile wash over his face. With eyes closed, he leaned over and kissed my belly softly while rubbing soft circles.

"I love you, little baby boy... I love you."

"I'm going to go now. You two have a good day and call me if you need anything... okay?" I smiled and nodded at Esme as she made her way to the door and gave me one final wave before leaving altogether.

When it was just the two of us, Edward spent a few more minutes enjoying our son's heartbeat, and then shut off the device and handed me my breakfast.

"Eat" he said while getting up and arranging the tray so that it was within perfect reach for me. I didn't argue, and dove right in. My food was delicious and I ate every last bite. When I was fed and done with looking at my new goodies, I got up and went to take a shower.

This had been a battle at first. Edward was hell bent on me being in bed 24 hours a day, but Dr. Scance said I was able to move around a little but that only for showers, to go to the bathroom, or even a little light cooking. Only after we called him and asked him did Edward let me get up on my own for the shower. I think he just wanted an excuse to see me naked and wet, but he vehemently denied that was the case.

As I finished up in the bathroom, I heard my cell ringing in the bedroom. I wrapped myself in a towel and went to grab it, but when I walked out into the room, I saw Edward holding it in his hands and looking as pale as a ghost.

"Who is it?" I asked. I couldn't imagine who or what was on that screen that would make him look so horrified.

He snapped out of his daze and tried to recover while I approached him. "Oh, um... sorry! I was just going to bring it to you but I guess I just got a little... um, never mind, here ya go..."

He handed me the phone but it had already stopped ringing. I immediately looked to the screen and saw that it had been Jake. I frowned as I continued staring at the screen, I had no idea what he could be wanting right now... or even why he was calling me. It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that he was calling because of all the media coverage. I groaned out loud and sat on the bed while still looking at the screen.

"So that was Jake Jake?" I heard Edwards voice break through the silence and it pulled me from my wonder wall.

I nodded my head and took a deep breath, "He's probably just calling because of what's been on television... he wouldn't be calling for anything else."

We were both silent again and just as I was about to ask him what he was thinking, my phone rang again. I noticed Edward's head snap down to the screen and he saw as well as I did that it was once again Jacob. This time I answered.

"Hello?"

EPOV

Is this what it feels like? This absolute wretched, sick and ungodly emotion? Was this jealousy?

I could barely comprehend anything that had happened in the time that Bella walked out into the room looking for her ringing phone to this point right now. He was on the phone with her...with my girl...I didn't like it, I didn't like it at all.

It took every ounce of patience I had to not grab the phone and tell him to piss off and never call again. I didn't want to share her, I especially didn't want to share her with him. I had learned about Jacob around the first month I had been seeing Isabella. I was looking for a phone book to order from a place in her neighborhood, and when I pulled the book from her shelf, a picture of them had fallen to the floor. I picked it up and examined it for a moment, but then it was snatched from my hands and she threw it away.

I remember giving her a hard time about it and teasing her, but she didn't respond the way I had expected her to and I realized that he hadn't just been a passing point in time...he had been important. Even then I was jealous, but it was nothing compared to what I was feeling right now.

I made myself get up and give her some privacy. I wasn't sure if I actually did it to give her privacy, or if I merely needed a moment to calm the flames that were licking through my body. I went to the kitchen and began scrubbing at the pots and pans I used to make breakfast this morning, but I found that I was entirely too jittery for that. I tried to go around my home and spot clean, but Esmeralda was an outstanding house keeper, so that left me with nothing to do.

I found myself inching my way back toward the bedroom, but I didn't go in. I could hear her in there still talking and at one point she laughed a glorious laugh, the kind you see people double over from. It should have made me happy, but instead it made me sick. What could Jacob have said that was so damn funny? He didn't seem all that funny to me... I was funnier than him.

I rolled my eyes at my juvenile behavior and promised myself I would behave. Besides, it was just a phone call. Bella had to see all those horrible pictures plastered on the television of me with other women, and I couldn't imagine what that felt like if just this phone call was giving me issues. However, my rational thinking went out the window when I heard her tell him she would call him later.

Why would she want to call him back? Wasn't this call enough? What was wrong with talking to me? Wasn't I good enough? What did Jacob have that I didn't have?

I was still pondering these thoughts when I heard her up and moving around again. I didn't want her exerting herself too much so I went in to see if I could help her.

I should have called out to ask her.

She was naked at her dresser and pulling on some underwear with her back turned to me. I immediately turned around and thudded my head against the wall. She was fucking glorious...magnificent, a veritable goddess. I repeated the doctor's orders over and over in my head like a mantra until I had it engrained that I would not and could not be touching her right now. When I was sure I was in control, I went ahead and walked back in. This time she was fully dressed in her yoga pants and a t-shirt. I wasn't sure if I was more relieved or upset.

"Hey" she said as she took up residence in the bed once more and toweled off her hair. I just gave her a half-smile and went to the DVD player.

"What will it be today?" I was trying to sound carefree, to sound unperturbed... but I could hear myself failing. She didn't comment on it though. Instead, she picked her movie and when the disc was in, I went to the bed and settled in alongside her. However, I kept my distance. I always kept my distance.

About three minutes into the movie I found myself asking her the one thing I told myself I wouldn't. "So what did he want?" I kept my eyes focused on the screen as I said it, but I could feel her eyes on me.

"Um, well he was calling to see if the baby and I were okay... he um, well he was worried about me being alone through this." My stomach was in knots at that comment. He was worried about her being alone... he had seen the footage... along with every other person that Bella was important to. I was a fucked-up person and FUBAR just didn't cover it.

I nodded my head and kept silent but again I could feel the flames licking through my body once more. I should have just left it at that, but I didn't. "So what was he going to do if you... I mean... If you didn't have me?"

She was silent for the longest pause she had ever had, and the suspense was killing me. I gave up my feigning of nonchalance and looked at her. She was silently crying as she looked at the screen.

"Baby? What's the matter?" I crawled over to her and took her into my arms gently. I didn't want her hurting, I had done far too much of that for her to go through anymore.

"I... he... he said he would be with me... that he could be a father..."

I was shaking at those words. I wanted to get out of this bed right now and beat the living shit out of him. This was my son! Mine and Isabella's! Not that nitwit's!.. If he wanted to play daddy then he'd better start looking elsewhere, because I was not going to be giving him my son!

I was still yelling all this in my head as I held Isabella in my arms. "Don't cry, Bella... I'm here, love... I'm here for you and our son, I will never leave you. I will never go a day without you beside me again. We're going to be a family." I wasn't sure if I was saying this more for her or for me.

Jacob was threatening to take her... to take my son away from me... I couldn't ever make it so that he would have a reason. I was going to do this right... no more mistakes.

"I'm just scared, Edward... " I held her impossibly closer and kept kissing her head, cheeks and nose... anywhere I could reach without disturbing her body from its position. "You need to tell me, Edward... right now... tell me that this is really what you want, that you're not settling. Because what if...

"No more what if's Bella... no more. All we have is now. We're here... look around you, love. We're together right now. I am yours, I am in this, my family is in this. No more mistakes. I promise you, love, no more mistakes."

I wasn't kidding when I said that either. This was the most sure I had ever been in my entire life. I was in this... I wanted this. As I held her in my arms and calmed her crying form, I let myself absorb the reality of all that was happening. She was here... with me. She was in my arms, in my bed and carrying our child. She had been through so much because of me... for me. She didn't deserve all this pain. She didn't deserve to feel as if I would leave her. It should have never happened in the first place. I stopped my thoughts when I felt her pull away from me and lay back down. I joined her and kept my arms around her body while she calmed her breaths.

"Sweetheart, we really gotta just take it easy, all this..." I wiped at her tears to show her what I meant. "This isn't good for you, love. We need to work on keeping you happy." She didn't answer, but instead just nodded her head.

After a few minutes, her tears stopped and she was very quiet. I thought maybe she had fallen asleep, so I took that opportunity to really hold her. I scooted forward and very gently wrapped my hands around the place they always longed to be... around her full stomach. I smiled a content smile when I felt my little boy kicking against my hands. He was quite active at this time of day, and especially right after Bella ate anything. He kept moving and I kept smiling. I chuckled at one point and then Bella turned in my arms with an amused expression.

"What's so funny?" I froze when I saw that she was awake. I wanted to tell her that I was just amazed by the little one, but I couldn't get past the pain I saw in her eyes. She looked so sad... even though she was wearing a smile. Her pain was much deeper than any smile she could put on right now. It broke my heart.

I just shook my head trying to tell her it was nothing, but I couldn't pull myself together to keep going. Instead I stroked her cheeks and combed back her hair with my fingers. I couldn't stop watching her... I didn't want to. She solved my problem and closed her eyes then tucked herself into me further.

"Nothing is quite the same now, Isabella... you have stolen my world. I don't even belong to myself anymore... I have no free will." I was amazed at how strong and right the words felt as I said them. I was doing it... doing what I had struggled with for the six months that I had been seeing her, I was letting myself be vulnerable. "It might take some time, love... but I can wait... I will wait for you to trust me, to want us again. As long as you tell me there is hope... I will be here. I won't do the things I did to you before... I won't be with anyone. I'll wait for you, Isabella."

She opened her eyes up to me and I could see the question in them. I kept my gaze firm and only on her. This was the moment we had been working toward... the moment she had been fighting for... the moment she deserved months ago.

"I love you, Edward." My breath caught as I let those words wash over me. She truly meant it.

"As I love you, Isabella..." When we kissed it was like no other kiss we had ever shared. It was patient and soft... it was everything she was. I was sure that no matter how much time passed, that I would never forget this moment. Her lips slowed and she took a deep breath before reopening her eyes to me.

"I guess it's time we have the talk that we have been putting off." I could only nod my head and sit up straight. I prepared myself for what may come... what may not.