Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N- Capricorn75 has bullied me into posting the rest of it. Thanks.
"I can't wait until they're old enough to sit up. I can put them in a glider like you did for Jeannie," Rose said, pushing the stroller through the aisles of the store. "Emmett?" she yelled. "Everything locked up?"
"Of course, Rose!" Emmett yelled from the back.
"I'm going to drive Bella home, I'll see you after poker," she said. "Hey Em, don't do anything too mean to the new guy tonight, alright?"
"I can't promise anything," Emmett yelled back. We smiled to each other. Poker nights had moved to Saturday night, finally, which I was grateful for.
Rosalie had taken to driving me home, I was so far along I could hardly fit behind the steering wheel these days. Taking Jeannie's hand, we went out to Rose's new hybrid SUV, where three car seats were stationed in the back.
"I don't know what I'd do without you, Rose," I said.
"Probably get sick of this store and sell it," Rose said as I buckled Jeannie in, first. We picked up the twins out of the carriage and put them in, next.
"Mommy home?" Jeannie asked.
"Yes, Mommy and Jeannie are going home," I said. "Rose, do you want to stop for dinner?"
"I've got forty-five pounds of baby weight to lose," she complained. "I really enjoyed being pregnant too much."
"You look great to me," I said. "Here's a secret, just eat a lot of meat, vegetables and breast feed like crazy."
"You know that when I breastfeed, I have to do both of them at once," Rose said. "Otherwise, I'd be nursing all day!"
The drive to La Push was the norm; Rose and I giggled at her stories about her mother-in-law, whom she hated and thought was a redneck. I was excited because I was going to meet Edward's parents tomorrow- we were driving up to Seattle and would pick up his parents at the airport, who were back from their mission trip and finally had a break. They'd be just in time to see the baby be born.
We laughed at Jasper's problems with parenthood so far- it took him 10 minutes to change little Syndey's diaper, and Alice wanted to do cloth diapers on her, like I had. Rose had even gotten in on cloth diapers, much to Emmett's disgust. We were the green mommy brigade of Forks- saving the world, one diaper at a time.
As I unlocked the door and walked inside, the lights turned on for me. "Surprise!"
"Hi Bella!" Alice popped up, holding her little girl Sydney. "Happy Baby Shower!"
I looked around- it was a small baby shower- Alice had only a few people there- Angela, Esme, Miranda and some of the girls from the station, a few of the teachers I still talked to from the high school, Lauren and Gabby, Jessica and her gay best friend, and most importantly, the grandmas-to-be; Renée and Liz.
"Hi!" I cried. "Mom, what are you doing here? Liz, I was going to pick you up tomorrow!"
"I caught an earlier flight," Liz said, smiling. "I can rent a car and work a GPS without my husband. Come here and give your mother-in-law a hug. I want to see this new grandchild of mine, too." She hugged me and reached for Jeannie. Jeannie happily went to Liz.
I took a moment to hug everyone and thank them for coming, individually.
"Wow," I said, seeing the pile of presents. "I hope everybody got lots of green and yellow. I don't trust ultrasounds."
After a few baby shower games and having dinner, I opened the presents. They all came with gift receipts, which made me smile. They were mostly clothes, towels, baby wipes, diaper ointment, cloth diapers, and novelty things, like a wave noise machine, since Edward and I had already acquired everything else ourselves. Alice took notes so I could write the Thank-You cards.
After the party, Rose, Angela, Alice and I started to clean up while we put Newt, Hale, and Syndey in the new crib to break it in and tried out the wave noise machine. Angela and I put Wendi and Jeannie in onesies and they toddled around with their bottles. Will was having a father-son night at home. We wouldn't allow Esme, Renée or Liz to leave.
"This is our tradition," Angela explained. "After every baby shower, we have a slumber party- just the four best friends. Since we started having babies, we expanded it to the kids, too."
"Oh, that's nice!" Renée cried.
"We're going to include you, too, since you came all this way to be here," Angela said.
"So, what do you do on your slumber parties?" Liz asked.
"We watch movies, order pizza and crank-call the boys," I said. Renée and Liz laughed- Esme just rolled her eyes. She had heard it all before.
"We've got Casino Royale," Alice said. "The one where Daniel Craig is wearing that little speedo-"
"Ooh!" Rose cried. We all giggled.
"We'll get Wendi and Jeannie to bed before then," I said. "Of course."
We finished the clean up and sorted the recycle.
"Bella, are you happy, now?" Renée asked me, wrapping an arm around me.
"I've married the man of my dreams, I've got a baby on the way, and I've got a job that'll keep me occupied," I said. I had walked through hell in the past year and a half. And come out a little battered and bruised, but OK in the end. "I'd say I'm pretty happy, Mom."
A/N- By now, you should know reviews are like cookies to writers! Leave me some!
