A/N: Anon asked what an AA is. Community colleges offer associate's degrees. You can get them in individual subjects—like I was two classes off from having an AA specifically in Sociology—but more often, people get a Liberal Arts AA. Essentially, it means they've completed all the general education coursework, and when they transfer to a university, they will (more than likely) be able to choose only courses in their major.

A month went by like nothing. Bella's first priority was getting to know her new town. She was pretty sure her career with the Volturi Media Group was over, but until she figured out how to move on, she was going to do as she always did—her best.

Then, there was Edward.

Bella felt for the guy. He'd obviously always had a clear path to follow. It was so ironic. A surprise baby at his age tended to make a person grow up quickly for all the wrong reasons—scrambling to figure out how to support a helpless life before they figured out anything about what they wanted for their own lives. Their baby's life didn't depend on Edward maturing so fast, but his own parents had yanked their guidance away and left him with not much more than the clothes on his back.

It frustrated Bella to no end, but she knew better than to try to fill the mother role in Edward's life. They had to be friends, partners in raising their child. She didn't mind that he hadn't moved out of her place—he was a surprisingly good roommate. She was there when he needed to vent or bounce ideas off someone. But she wasn't there to guide him. She had her own life to put into some kind of order and sense.

Luckily for both of them, Charlie had stepped into the role Edward's parents had vacated. Unlike them, he understood Edward wasn't bucking parental guidance—which wasn't exactly atypical for a twenty-year-old in the first place. He was barely more than a kid who'd made enough mistakes to understand how close he'd come to sending his life off the rails. He was already more mature than a lot of twenty-year-olds in that way. He was trying to figure out how to deal with the fact maturity didn't mean he wasn't going to make different mistakes.

And Bella was proof that having sixteen years on him hadn't prevented Bella from making mistakes either. Which was exactly the topic of conversation when her friends came to visit for the first time.

"Saying the pregnancy destroyed my life is an exaggeration," she said with a sigh. "I chose her. Free and clear, I chose to have her. And it's not that I regret that choice. I just wonder what would have happened if I'd had all the information; if I'd known everything I know now about Edward."

She cupped her bump, rubbing her hands over her changing body. "This was a future I was okay with. And I'm still okay with this part. I'm…" She shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it. Every day she gets more real to me, but I have no hard information about what my life as a mom is going to look like. It's not something I can touch."

"It's always an abstract thing until you live it, I'd think," Jessica said. "I think about it all the time. Clock's ticking and all that. And it sounds nice sometimes. It sounds damn nice."

"But you like drinking too much?" Alice suggested, winking at her.

Jessica grinned. "And I don't play well with others. Can you imagine me having to deal with other parents? Good god."

"Yeah, well, that's going to be interesting," Bella muttered.

"But, you don't have hard information about anything in your life really, right?" Jasper said. "You wanted an anchor's desk your whole working life, but it was never a guarantee. And if you'd gotten it, you can't know for sure what your life would be like. It might have made you miserable."

"I know," Bella said with a sigh. "I hate this tailspin thing."

Alice rubbed her shoulder. "Is it really that bad?"

"Bad isn't the word. It's…" She scoffed. "They're news people, and I'm the newbie. It didn't take long for them to figure out I was pregnant. I didn't give them any part of my story, and they haven't said anything outright. But they know I'm not married. They know that I came here alone, without even a boyfriend. And it matters," she said through gritted teeth. "Here, in this station, it matters. My direct boss is more like Aro than my old boss. Not quite as bad, but bad enough."

"So for you to impress them will take a lot more effort," Jasper said quietly.

"But not impossible. You're amazing, Bella," Jessica said.

Bella smiled. "Thanks, Jess. And I know I can do it. And I know I have the option of looking into one of the other organizations. That could work too. But even then, I wouldn't look until after the baby was born. Twenty-two more weeks before I can rationally even begin to look elsewhere, or else face another change of doctors." She stared up at the ceiling. "I guess I'm wondering if it's time to think about other options. Out of the broadcast news world anyway. I'm not old. I know that. But I'm getting old for this business." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't know."

Jasper squeezed her knee. "You'll land on your feet no matter what you decide."

"And in the meantime, you have a live-in sex stud," Jessica said, grinning.

"Ha. He wishes."

"Still?" Alice asked.

Bella sighed. "Honey, that poor guy doesn't know which way is up right now, which is why I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't get it up right now." She pursed her lips, considering. "You're going to have to take my word for it that he's incredibly charming when he wants to be, and I think he's genuinely sweet. When he gets his feet back under him, the straight or bisexual, female population of the Pacific Northwest are going to be hit like a tornado."

"But not you?" Jessica asked.

"Why? Are you fishing?" Bella teased.

The unmistakable sound of the key in a lock brought the conversation to a halt. Jessica's eyes lit up, and before Bella could even process what was happening, she'd darted to the door. "Dammit," Bella said under her breath as she pushed to her feet.

Edward had managed to miss her friends to this point. They hadn't been able to arrange a meeting in the two weeks she had before she moved. They'd arrived for this visit while Edward was at work. They'd been chomping at the bit to meet him for months, so she should have expected they would pounce.

"Jesus damn," Edward said, jumping as he stepped inside the house and came face to face with Jessica Stanley and her best maneater grin.

"Mm. Jesus damn is right." Jessica looked him up and down, stepping around him in a dramatic move Bella had only seen on television shows. "I saw you that night, but not up close, which was obviously my loss." She leaned a hand against the wall and leered at him. "So, I hear you're good with your hands."

Edward's eyes went wide and he took a step backward. Bella rolled her eyes. "Holy hell, can you please go easy on him?"

Jessica smirked at her. "Did you go easy on him? Because if it was me, I'd have ridden him—"

"Ooookay." Alice ducked between them and took Edward's hand. "Come with me, young padawan. I'll protect you."

Edward glanced between Bella, Alice, and Jessica with a look so bewildered, Bella couldn't help but laugh. Alice, as she lead him toward the living room, was talking a mile a minute. She introduced herself, Jessica, and Jasper. She assured him Jessica was just trying to make sure he was an honest man.

"Hey. Last I heard, which was like, two minutes ago, he's single," Jessica said.

Edward wrinkled his nose. "You were talking about me two minutes ago? And whether I'm single?"

"Don't pay attention to her. Sit here with us." Alice gently pushed Edward down on the couch between her and Jasper.

Jasper offered him a friendly smile and a shot of whiskey. "It'll help."

Edward, looking distinctly pale, glanced at Bella. "Why are your friends more terrifying than your dad?"

"Because my dad figured out roughly half my life ago that I didn't need to be protected." She folded her arms over her chest and glared at her friends.

"We just have questions. That's all," Alice said with faux innocence. "Don't be naive, Bella. You don't think it's creepy that this guy showed up, wet and pathetic, on your doorstep, having crossed what? Three states? Four? To get to you? He couldn't call all that time so you might have a choice whether or not to keep him."

"Whoa. Whoa." Edward got up, and for once, he didn't look like an uncertain puppy. He narrowed his eyes at Alice. "Look, I know you all think I'm a stupid kid, and that's okay. I'm a lot of other things too. But I'm no predator. My brother and I both are fuck ups, but that's one thing neither of us ever were—assholes to women. I'm good to the women I'm with."

Jasper started chuckling. "They were giving you a hard time, hoss. I think you passed."

Edward blinked, the fury draining from his features. "I just...I want to be a man you can trust," he said to Bella. "And I want to be a man my baby can be proud of."

Warmth spread through Bella's chest at the earnestness in his voice. "You're good people, Edward."

~0~

Another couple of weeks went by. Bella finally decided the queer feeling inside her wasn't gas but was, in fact, her alien unit.

"People say this feels like butterflies. It doesn't feel like butterflies. That's why it took me so long to figure out for sure if it was her," Bella said, sitting next to Edward on the couch.

"So what does it feel like?" he asked, his eyes on her belly as though he expected the baby to claw her way out any moment.

"I don't know. Not butterflies. Sometimes...painless grinding."

Edward's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Grinding?"

"Doesn't hurt." She smirked at the dubious look on his face. "Creepy though, right?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Just...Yeah." He laughed. "Why would you want your insides to move?"

"I really don't." Bella shook her head. "It's a relief in some ways. When she moves, I know she's okay in there. It kind of drives me nuts not to be able to see something with my own eyes."

"Yeah." He tilted his head, giving her a cautious look. "I think… It's weird. Obviously, I know she's there. I know she's growing. I know I don't want to forget she exists, but I don't feel a pull toward her. I don't feel a connection."

Bella laughed, and shook her head quickly at the look on his face. "Sorry. You can't know how relieved I am to hear someone else say that. When it comes to babies and pregnancy, everyone is all about the magic, and the miracle of life. Which, if that's how you feel about it, fine. I don't begrudge anyone that. But I wish people wouldn't begrudge me the fact I don't find it a miracle. I don't find this process magical.

"And as for a connection…" Bella waved a hand in the air. "People talk about how mothers know. Mothers love their babies from the minute they're conceived, from the minute the two blue lines show up. I don't…" She chanced a glance at him but quickly looked away. "I don't feel anything for her right now. I'm taking care of myself. I want her to thrive. I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do, but I don't feel like a mom.

"You know what? I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I don't feel guilty about it. I think I'll be okay. I think when I see her, know what she looks like and sounds like, I'll have that connection. I'm not worried." She hated the edge of challenge that rose in her voice. In her, admittedly limited, experience, everyone had an opinion about what she should be feeling or doing. She was almost a hundred percent positive none of them actually cared what her experience was. This, apparently, wasn't about her.

"She's an idea." Edward didn't look startled or aghast at her outburst. He leaned forward, his expression open. "We know she's going to be here, but there's no, what's the word? Context maybe? I don't know if I can say I want to be a dad. Not now, anyway. But, I think when she's real, I'm going to want her. I'm going to know I'm her father. I don't know what that's supposed to feel like, but I'll find out. We'll find out."

Bella put a hand on his knee and squeezed. At that moment, there wasn't a person in the world she felt closer to. At least in this—this monumental part of their lives—they were on the same page. They had the same level of experience in the parenthood arena. That was what she hadn't been able to explain to Jasper. It wasn't the same as not having a guarantee about any aspect of her life. She knew how to work. She didn't know how to be a parent.

"Hey, I have to ask you something," Edward said a few minutes later. He ducked his head.

"Okay."

"I'll understand if you say no."

"Out with it," she said with a smile.

"My brother wants to see you."

"See me?" Bella's eyebrows shot up.

"I mean, me too. But he wants to meet you." The light in his eyes dimmed. "My parents let him pick up some of my things."

A familiar rush of irritation tinged with sadness went through her. Except to let him vent when he needed it, Bella tried to keep out of Edward's business with his parents. There wasn't anything she could do, and they had cost her too much as it was. To an extent, she could understand that. She was a threat to their baby boy's future. But the fact that they were actively making his life harder drove her up the wall.

Swallowing down the choice words she had for Esme and Carlisle Cullen, Bella concentrated on parsing Edward's request. "Is there a particular reason I wouldn't want to meet your brother?" Edward had never gone into the specifics of what Emmett had done to use up their parents' patience.

"He has a drug problem. He's supposedly clean right now, but he's been clean a bunch of times."

Edward held his hands out, fingers spread wide. "He looks a little scary too. I don't want you to think he's dangerous. He's never been dangerous even when he was using. I wouldn't ask it at all if I thought he was going to do anything. He's a good guy, and he's on our side."

It was a daunting request. Bella knew from reading between the lines of what Edward had said that the eldest Cullen son had been in and out of prison. She wasn't naive enough to believe she could trust Edward, a young man who naturally loved his older brother, to be a reliable judge of whether Emmett was dangerous. But that was also a good reason to meet the man now.

Edward had as much right as she did to decide who was going to be around their daughter. She needed to know if there was a reason to fight to keep this man away from her child.

"A short visit?" she asked carefully.

"He'll be in town a couple of days, but he has a hotel room."

Bella nodded. "I'd like to meet him, but I don't want him here unless I'm here. Is that fair?"

Edward nodded back, his look serious and not insulted. "I get that."

~0~

Edward wasn't kidding. On first glance, knowing damn well he was a hardened criminal, Emmett Cullen was a walking nightmare. For one thing, he was huge. Edward wasn't a short man by any stretch of the imagination, and his brother towered over him. He was also broad—wide across the shoulders and muscular. He cut an intimidating figure, filling almost her entire doorway.

For another thing, he was covered in tattoos. His face was relatively clear, though he did have one on the side of his neck. But his arms were decorated with full sleeves. Bella had no personal problem with tattoos, and she would have liked to stare in admiration at several of his. It was just, on a man like Emmett, it upped his intimidation factor by a thousand.

To his credit, it took all of fifteen minutes for the man to dismantle her first impression. He had a disarming smile—decorated by a snakebite piercing, but still somehow charming and attractive. His eyes were clear, and his demeanor calm, even gentle. It also soothed something in her heart to see him so easy and affectionate with Edward. He didn't hesitate to hug his little brother, and gave him more than one healthy thwack on the back, grinning an endearing, playful smile when he did. He teased his brother, but offered his unwavering support, such as it was.

Most importantly, he believed them. After introducing himself and shaking her hand, he'd looked down at Bella's little bump and asked how his niece was doing.

It didn't take long for them to get down to the conversation about Edward and Emmett's parents and exactly what the fuck their problem was.

"I'm not making excuses for them, because they're doing a shitty thing," Emmett said. "But at the same time, I kind of get it. I've spent so much time in the therapist's office, I think I can tell it right. The story goes like this. Two high school sweethearts get pregnant before they're out of high school. Their parents are dicks about it. They sign the consent to let them get married but tell them constantly they'll crash and burn.

"They have the most precious, beautiful, smartest baby in the world—"

"Gag me," Edward muttered.

Emmett didn't even look at him, but cuffed him playfully upside the head as he continued to speak. "—named Emmett Alexander, of course." His lips quirked. "And because their parents were such dicks, they were determined baby Emmett was going to be perfect. He was never going to cry or scream or step out of line."

"Oh, jeez," Bella said.

"They were kids themselves, and they never raised a hand to me. It wasn't like that." Emmett shrugged. "But it was a lot of pressure. I was an anxious kid who thought he had to be perfect. Locked myself in a bathroom once and cried and cried when I got a B, and then cried some more because I was crying. Big boys don't cry, you know. That was courtesy of my mother's mother."

He ruffled Edward's hair. "Ten years later, Mom and Dad were thriving. They were doing well at work. They had all their ducks in a row. Had a prim and proper little me. Mom's parents had backed off. Grandpa Cullen was still being an asshole, but that was who he was. He was an asshole. Beat my father black and blue when he was growing up.

"So, long story short, they decided to have this little shit." He gestured at Edward. "And things were different for the second child."

"He got away with things you wouldn't dream of?" Bella guessed with a small smile.

"Jesus Christ, you have no idea." Emmett shrugged, his bright smile fading to a more sad one. "Right around that time the emo teenage years struck."

"You rebelled," Bella said.

Emmett nodded. "Hard. And big." He sighed, looking serious then. "I don't think my parents are assholes, Bella. Not like my father's father was. They did everything they could to dig me out of the holes I was digging myself into. I broke their hearts so many times. I trusted all the wrong people. I always fell back into bad habits and bad things. And I lied about it. Every time I told them I was clean when I wasn't. Every time I told them they didn't have to worry about this friend or that girlfriend. The stories I spun about the people in my life, and how they had to trust me when they thought I was about to do something stupid.

"And while they were busy with me and my messes, they didn't notice this kid had found a few nasty friends of his own." He patted Edward's shoulder. "Not until it was too late, and he'd scampered off to parts unknown, only to come back in handcuffs. Edward was a good teenager up until the very minute he wasn't, you know what I mean? I had a spiral. An escalation. He was just there one minute—honor roll student, all around nice young man—and gone the next."

"They still gave me a chance," Edward said softly.

Emmett nodded. "And all the strict rules I had when I was a kiddo. Which, in this case, might have worked. Except you done fucked up in this, ah… I mean, not that a trick baby is no big deal, but it's not petty crime, prison, and drugs level of fucked up. I know that, and they know that."

"But they don't believe it's justthat," Bella said.

"They gave me a million chances before they cut me loose to deal with my own shit." Emmett winced. "It almost broke them. They've been burned, and I don't think they can face going through it all again."

Emmett blew out a breath and, despite the heaviness to the atmosphere, his grin grew wide again. He pivoted on the couch, looking at his brother. "But tell you what, kid. You never got as deep as I have. I know you're in over your head right now, but you got this. Your baby momma is all kinds of cool and smart." He winked at Bella. "And a hottie too." He ruffled Edward's hair again, not letting him duck away when he tried. "And you're smarter than you look. If I can still have a beautiful life—and I'm working on that part too—so can you."

A/N: Hope you're having a good weekend, lovelies.