A/N: Okay, so… my intention was to have this be a quick outtake. It's still quick enough that I don't want to make it its own story - though it certainly could be. However, it's long enough that I need to split up the chapters. Three parts, I think. I know, I know. Kris is a wordy beesh.

Edward had pushed up her shirt and was tracing the faded lines of her stretchmarks again. Bella sighed, her eyelids heavy with sleep. She yawned and idly scratched her fingers through his hair. "Why do you always do that?"

He scooted up the bed, lying beside her, splaying a hand wide across her belly. She was surprised to see his expression was serious. "Bella, do you want other kids?"

Bella started at that, her hands stilling in his hair. "What?" she asked, breathless.

His lip twitched. "I guess that answers my question."

"No!" Bella said, too loud. Grunting, she sat up in bed and waited as he sat up with her. "Damn. You have to ease a girl into a conversation like that." The words came out shakier than she wanted, and her heart was pounding like crazy. She rubbed at her chest as though she could get it to stop that way.

"I didn't mean to freak you out," Edward said, rubbing her knee."If it's not something you want, I'm okay with that." He grinned. "Besides, Katie loves being an only child."

Bella rolled her eyes. "She won't always love it." She drew her legs up and rested her head on her knees looking at him. "I've thought about it before. You know, Mom was an only child. Dad is too, but he has Karen. Karen is a good partner. James never was."

She still shuddered when she spoke her stepfather's name, but she was comforted by Edward's hand at her back. "When my grandparents were dying, my mother was alone. All their care, all the decisions, all the running back and forth between our house and theirs-she had to do it all herself. I was too young to be much help, but I remember one night, when I was trying to comfort her from a crying jag, she said, 'I should have had another kid. I shouldn't have made you go through this alone.'"

Edward snorted. "Oh, yeah. That's what she shouldn't have put you through."

With a sigh, Bella shifted and rested her head on his shoulder. "I didn't really get what she was talking about until I was with Charlie. I saw the way Angela and Mikey were together. They can fight like nothing else, but they-and Tyler too, of course-are the only ones who know what it's like to be raised in their particular family with their parents. They have this connection I can't touch because I didn't grow up with them.

"Anyway, the thing with that is it's already too late for Katie." She huffed. "It's definitely too late for Katie to grow up the same way any of her siblings would."

"Well, yeah. That ship sailed eight years ago."

"Yes, but I also don't want her to be the only one to have to deal with us when we're decrepit." She nuzzled along Edward's neck. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, yes, I want more kids. In fact, I want two, because if I can't give Katie the benefit of a partner to experience childhood with, then I'd want another baby to have that."

She was startled when Edward got up out of bed. "Where are you going?"

"Hold on. I need to go flush your birth control pills down the toilet."

Taken aback, Bella laughed. His comment had the desired effect. The somber mood that surrounded them lifted the slightest amount. "Come back here," she said, and she curled up in his arms when he did.

He kissed the side of her hair. "Can you have kids, Bella?" he asked quietly after a moment.

Bella's breath caught and shook as she released it. "I think so." What had gone so terribly wrong when Katie was born had been a matter of Bella being unable to take care of herself. She'd been starved and dehydrated, exhausted. Her body hadn't been able to recover from the effects of the severe beating she'd suffered at James's hands. In all honesty, they were all lucky she'd only had an abruption. They were lucky an unnamed person had called 9-1-1 and gotten help to her so quickly.

She always wondered if it was Sasha or if the person had seen Sasha take her baby. Unanswerable questions. The phone call had been anonymous and the person absent when help arrived minutes later.

Bleeding out the way she had, left to die in the streets, hadn't done her any favors. "I was… You know that whole time is fuzzy to me, and I didn't give a damn about other babies when my baby was missing." She shook, and he held her tighter. She took several deep, calming breaths. "I think I remember the doctor explaining that any other pregnancy I had would be automatically considered high risk, but that doesn't mean I can't try. High risk just means more check-ups so they can catch potential problems."

They were both quiet. Edward simply stroked the side of her arm in the silence.

Bella pulled away from him as the implications of the conversation sunk in. "You're serious. You want this now?"

"Well… yeah. I don't see the point in waiting."

"We're almost on our own two feet. Almost, but not quite."

Edward's lip twitched. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if you were to get pregnant tonight, kids take most of a year to bake. You're six months from finishing your program, and you have job prospects lined up. The whole reason you chose medical coding and billing is because you could do some of it freelance at home, right? So if you needed to chill out for a bit, we could still make ends meet. This isn't going to stop us from moving forward."

Bella cocked her head, thinking. "Oh my god. I can't believe I'm actually considering this." She looked at him. "This is what you really want?"

In a heartbeat, Edward had tipped them so Bella was flat on her back, him over her. He kissed her. It was a deep kiss but not one meant to initiate anything. He pulled back and looked down on her with adoration on his face. "Yes, this is what I want, but it's not up to me, Bella. Not really. I'm not the one with the uterus."

He kissed her cheek as he rolled to the side, propping himself up on one elbow. "Although, it's not the only option. If you did want more children and you didn't want to carry them, there are other options."

"Yeah. We could ask Emmett and Jasper about their adoption experience."

It had been two and a half years since Bella had been reunited with her lost baby and Edward. There had been a lot of strife, but for the most part, how could she see herself as anything other than lucky? The one regret she couldn't let go of, couldn't soothe by reminding herself her baby girl was home and whole, was that her joy had come at the expense of two loving, wonderful men.

Edward stroked his fingers along the line of her face. "You know what happened was a rarity. Adoptions work out just fine most of the time. It's not a bad way to have a family."

"No, you're right. It's beautiful. What Emmett and Jasper did for Katie was beautiful." She took a deep breath and blew it out again. "But that's not what I want."

"What do you want?"

She took his hand and pressed it to her belly, just to feel, to imagine for a moment. "I used to imagine you with me," she said in a whisper, watching him. Except for that one, awful argument, he'd never reproached her, never threw it in her face that he should have been there, but that didn't mean Bella didn't hear it anyway. "I would pretend there was some chance in hell you wouldn't hate me. That you could stand to touch me. That you were there with me, telling the baby stories."

It was a fantasy. They both knew that even if she had told him she was pregnant, it was highly unlikely they would have been so tender together. Not after she lied about her age. Not when it was complicated, and they were both just a little too young to deal with the situation with total maturity.

She moved his hand to her cheek and pressed it there, looking in his shining eyes. "Yeah, Edward. I want this with you."

His grin was blinding. He surged forward, kissing her hard. She laughed at his exuberance and kissed him back again and again.

Then he was over her, his hand up her shirt, his fingers at her nipple. She gasped, and her hips bucked against his. "What, you want to try right now?" she asked, giggling.

"Well. We can practice anyway."

~0~

Jasper rolled his eyes fondly, glancing away from the report he'd been looking over when Emmett began to use his stomach as a percussion instrument. He was only drumming with the pads of his fingers, so it didn't hurt. He tapped out what Jasper thought was a Metallica song. He put his report down and ran his fingers through his husband's curly hair.

When Emmett looked up at the end of the song, Jasper's breath caught in his throat. He had a look on his face that usually lead to trouble. Not the sexy kind.

"I want another kid," Emmett said without preamble.

Jasper winced.

It had been the first question on everyone's mind back when they first lost Katie. Their well-meaning friends had peppered conversation with that damning question. "Are you going to try again?"

Their therapist had been hard pressed at the time to convince them it wasn't a question they needed to answer immediately. They were in too much pain. Their grief had threatened to split them for a time, and so they had a lot of work to do on themselves and their relationship. They tabled the question, and brushed off their friends' concern.

Emmett had alway been brash and spontaneous. Often, he sprung into action the same split second he made a decision. Jasper knew this about his husband, and so he didn't have to ask if he was sure.

"Give me a minute, sugar," Jasper said, his voice trembling. Just because Emmett was ready didn't mean he was. Not that he hadn't thought about it. Of course he had, but every time, a terrible, painful fear had threatened to overtake him. He'd pushed the thought out of his head telling himself he would figure out the answer to that question later.

His time was up, and he needed to face this fear.

Emmett ducked his head, tracing soft, slow kisses along the line of Jasper's neck and shoulder. The gesture had a calming effect. Jasper closed his eyes and let himself bask for a few minutes in his husband's love. He sighed.

First, he let himself remember the early days. Those days when he'd told himself he didn't have time for a relationship; he had science to do. But then there was this big, beautiful man taking up space, demanding attention. He'd reminded Jasper there was more to life than his work. He'd made him a more lighthearted version of himself, a person he hadn't realized slipped away sometime between grad school and work at the lab. This grown man who saw no shame in roughhousing with his boyfriend in the park. The gentle giant who loved showering him with gifts and over-the-top surprises. He remembered that Emmett had tears in his eyes when they took their vows.

Jasper took several deep breaths when his trip down memory lane got to Katie. As always, his heart gave a painful lurch.

"She's not a Jane," Emmett said one day when they'd had her for almost a month. "I don't even like the name Jane. We should pick a name for her. I'm sick of calling her Baby Girl. She needs an identity."

Jasper had tightened his arms around the baby and ducked his head against her downy hair. "We shouldn't count our chickens. We might not get her."

Emmett had snorted. "Give me a break. Her mother's dead. An open and shut drug overdose with no foul play. You know damn well the father isn't going to answer the advertisement. They never do. Babe." His grin was huge, gleeful as he grabbed Jasper's hands. "Babe, she's going to be ours. Our daughter." He slipped his arms around Jasper's waist, pulling him closer. "And we should name her. The girl deserves a name. A good name."

Coming back to the present, Jasper put his arms around Emmett. His husband got the idea quickly. He shifted, cuddling him closer until they were nose to nose, brushing each other with Eskimo kisses. Jasper breathed in and out. In and out. He closed his eyes and tried to find his bravery.

Their journey started with a word: "How?"

When he opened his eyes, he found the world hadn't ended. In fact, the way Emmett was looking at him, his eyes lit up, Jasper found it easier to hope that they could still have a child, a unique person they could cherish and raise. There was every reason to believe this time they could have what so many people took for granted-a child to call their own.

Obviously, though, they needed help, neither of them possessing a uterus or eggs.

"You remember what Alice said?" Jasper said before Emmett could speak.

Surprisingly enough, it had been Edward's sister who'd done the most to bridge the gap between Emmett and Jasper and the Cullen family. The Cullens had always been more than happy to pull them into their fold. They were family. They made that clear over and over again. They just weren't Katie's daddies.

It was a rock and a hard place for them. They had to appreciate it on some level. Edward and Bella were under no obligation to cater to them, after all. Still, they would always be the people who had destroyed Emmett and Jasper's beautiful, perfect family.

Enter Alice. It was easier to be friends with Alice. Esme, Carlisle, and Charlie were all very nice people, but they were parents. It was different. Once, Alice had overheard Emmett and Jasper grumbling about the big deal Edward made about apologies.

"I know, right?" she'd said, making them jump. "Edward is overdramatic about absolutely everything."

She'd made it easier for all of them to be lighthearted and comfortable enough to speak their minds, within reason. Family get-togethers were easier when they knew they could always talk to her without any awkwardness getting between them.

About a year before, Alice had taken them aside.

"I know you're not ready to think about this yet, but it's pretty clear you two were meant to be daddies. I'd understand if you didn't want to adopt again, so I wanted to let you know. I have no desire for children, but I wouldn't mind being pregnant. If you wanted a surrogate-hell, if you wanted a donor-I'd say yes."

"Tempting, isn't it?" Emmett said, swiping his thumb over Jasper's jaw. "It seems right in a way. The baby would be related to Katie."

Jasper eyed his husband. "But?"

Emmett's lips twitched up and he met Jasper's gaze. There was fear there, but there was also certainty. "I want to get a kid out of the system, babe. The way we talked about originally. An older child. One of the harder to adopt ones."

Jasper's heart lurched, but he swallowed down his anxiety. "You don't want a baby?"

"I don't need a baby. We raised a baby. I want a kid now. A messed up kid like me."

"Sugar, I don't think there's a less messed up kid than you in the whole world," Jasper said, sealing the comment with a kiss.

Emmett kissed him back but then pulled away. "Hey. You just called me immature."

"Don't think about it too hard, big guy." Jasper winked at him. Then he sighed, his light expression falling. "You don't want to foster first, do you?"

Emmett shook his head vehemently. "No. I can't. I can't do that." He breathed in through his nose, calming himself. "One thing I'll say for all this damn therapy-I know my limits. I don't want to have to take a kid to visitation with a parent who just keeps fucking up. And then to take care of a kid only to have a chance that we have to give them back? No.

"I still want to adopt out of the foster system, but we're talking a straight out adoption. One where we know both parents' rights are done. Signed, sealed, delivered."

Jasper said nothing for a minute. He let the reality of what they were discussing sink in. He let it drift past the defenses that screamed for him to say no. No. How could he risk this? At least if they went with a surrogate and one of them was the biological father, the child could never, ever be taken away from them. No. There had to be another way.

But no. The choice was made, and knowing their kid, their son or daughter, was out there as they spoke made Jasper's arms ache to hold them. "I'll call the agency first thing in the morning," he said.

They were both silent. It was surreal. Weird. Good?

Emmett ducked his head, burying his face in Jasper's neck. He said nothing, but grabbed Jasper's hand and held on tight.

A/N: More gratuitous story soon! Thanks to MoH, Barburella, songster, and Packeh 2.0.

I'm off to Yellowstone, but I'm hoping to finish a chapter of Fly Away Home while I'm there.

Smooch!