BPOV

Edward,

I've had many regrets in this life and now that you are reading this, it means I have left the earth with more burdens than I'd like to acknowledge. The day that your Aunt Esme came to me asking for guardianship of you, such a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders. I knew it was my opportunity to give you the life you deserved.

Though your aunt left here that day never looking back at the Masen family, her husband had contacted me a few years ago giving me your progress. I had sent a letter after your eighteenth birthday inquiring as to why your inheritance hadn't been touched. Carlisle was the one to respond with a call. The more I spoke to him, the more I could clearly see that he was a father figure in your life. The kind of man your father should have been to you.

I could never seem to shake the anguish I felt each time we had to take you out of your parent's custody. We could have stopped him if we just took you away from them sooner... more permanently. I can never express how sorry I am for that.

I never thought I would have a son, let alone a grandson. In truth, when I was arranged to marry Margo I had no idea what I was heading into. Her father didn't inform me of her episodes until we arrived back from our honeymoon and by that time we had already conceived your father. The doctors informed me of the baby's chances of having Margo's disorder. It took years until E.J. showed signs of manic behavior, but by then he was already into substance abuse. Elizabeth came along shortly after that.

There were times that I wish I could have sent her home to her parents. Told her to keep away; it would have been for her own good, but any time your father brought her around, he shielded her. That poor girl thought he had hung the moon. He dragged her into the darkness with him and then you were born…

Every year I update this letter, as your accomplishments seem to grow. Your uncle has informed me that you are expecting a daughter. I would like to offer my sincerest regards and well wishes to you and your beautiful Isabella. Expecting a child is such a precious gift to a young couple's life. He has gone on to tell me of how excited you are and how you sometimes question what kind of father you might be. If it's any indication of the man you have become, I believe you will succeed, as you have in everything else.

Please listen to what Jenks has to say. Next to your grandmother, you and your family are the only Masens left. I promise the stipulations to my will to be flexible to your needs and time.

Best regards,

Grandpa E.A. Masen

I sighed, finishing the letter Edward's grandfather had written to him. Edward was beside me talking to Jenks and the ASL interpreter. I only heard conservatorship thrown around back and forth about a dozen times. I wasn't sure completely what that was, but I could have sworn Britney Spears had one. Christ, I watch too much Access Hollywood.

"Edward, she is not suitable to handle that much money. Your great-grandfather appointed your grandfather as her conservator when they married," Jenks explained patiently.

I watched Edward tug at his hair. He glared down at all the documents spread out around him. From what Jenks kept repeating, Edward pretty much got everything, well technically. He got an insane inheritance of money, houses, and cars. He is also the new appointed conservator over his grandmother.

"She's a grown woman," he huffed, looking at me.

"She is not well. Your grandfather had to monitor her life."

"Mr. Jenks?" I asked, finally speaking up.

"Yes, Isabella," he smiled kindly.

"We live in Seattle. How will it even be possible to monitor Edward's grandmother? Edward has a job and I have school… we live there. This is a woman my husband hasn't had any communication with in almost ten years. I don't understand why he should have to deal with this," I frowned, squeezing Edward's hand.

We had been here over an hour and it seemed we were getting nowhere. Turned out Margo wasn't allowed into this meeting. Edward's grandfather had been sick for the last few years and had one of his judge friends sign off on Edward being the conservator of Margo if anything were to happen to him. He didn't want that money in Margo's hands for a second. We also learned Irina was Margo's nurse, not her assistant.

I stepped out in the hall earlier where Margo and Irina had been sitting in the waiting room. Margo didn't say anything. In fact, she looked sort of out of it. After what Edward vaguely told me what had happened at the house, I decided it was probably better to steer clear of her. Walking out to the elevator lobby, I called Carlisle. This whole situation was bigger than us. Edward and I were adults, but we needed a parental figure from home here to be the grown up.

Carlisle, in my eyes, was pretty much Edward's father and that was what my husband needed right now, his father. I booked him a flight on my phone and he would be here in a couple hours. When I went back in, Edward handed me the letter to read.

"This is why I've called you here to Chicago. Edward is the conservator, but Ed had also made him a list of candidates for a co-conservatorship. This way if anything were to happen to Margo, Edward will still get his rightful inheritance."

"I don't want anything from these people," Edward snapped.

Jenks and Laurent, the interpreter, glanced at each other and then at me. I sat back rubbing my belly. Em was moving something fierce after that outburst. She didn't like her daddy upset, that's for sure. I shifted in my seat and cupped his cheek so he was looking at me.

"Stop it," I told him. "Maybe we should take a breather. Go back to the hotel and wait for Carlisle. He can help us sort this out."

Edward stared into my eyes as he let out a resigned breath. "Okay."

"That sounds great. We can reconvene around three?"

"His uncle's flight should be in by two, so that sounds like a plan," I nodded with a smile.

With my massive stomach, I stood, holding out my hand for Edward to take. He smiled, but it was tight lipped as he slid his palm into mine. When we walked into the hall, Margo stared blankly at us just as she did earlier. Jenks called her and Irina back to speak with them. Just as we were waiting for the elevator, Edward tugged on my hand.

I don't know what to do. He signed. I'm sorry.

What are you sorry for? I asked him before putting my hands up. He knew this was my famous WTF gesture.

This is too much. He wants me to care for that evil… He stopped, shaking his head.

I knew this trip was going to have Edward facing his demons, but now I could see he felt he would be forever linked to them.

This is what we're going to do. We are going to wait for Carlisle and he will be the grown-up. You are going to let him take care of this. As your wife I'm telling you, I forbid you to take responsibility. Then for affect, I put hands on my hips, but kind of failed at it because I was too huge.

Edward's face scrunched up at me before he raised an eyebrow. "You forbid me?" he asked.

"See this?" I pointed at my belly. "Makes me the boss of everyone in our household."

He smirked, shuffling forward. "You're the boss, huh?" His hands reached for my face as he tenderly let them drift down my skin and rest on my neck.

"I've always been the boss," I closed my eyes, jutting my chin up.

"You've been the boss since I broke your nose."

My eyes opened at that. "You did break my nose," I sighed, shaking my head.

"That was the day I realized what I wanted to become," he admitted.

"And what was that?"

"The guy that was going to give you everything you ever wanted," he replied, giving me a sweet kiss that brought tears to my eyes.

"God, with the sappy and making me cry," I groaned.

Feeling his smile, I knew Edward was slightly better now. I felt accomplished because it was me that could bring him out of whatever storm he was headed into. He was a great man and sometimes he had to see that.

"Marcus should be waiting for us," he said as he guided us onto the elevator.

It was a couple hours later when the front desk called up and said Carlisle was here. I told them to give him a key and send him up. We had an extra bed anyway so what did it matter? I had been propped up against the headboard while Edward's head lay on my stomach as he watched Law and Order: SVU. He turned on the closed caption as soon as we got in the room and had been like this ever since.

I think he had some kind of Law and Order obsession because at home on his days off he watched the marathons. I wondered if that's what his job at the FBI was like. Shrugging at the thought, I brought my fingers through his hair, earning a kiss on my stomach. I looked up when I saw Carlisle walk into the room.

"Hey," I greeted.

He cocked his head at us and then the TV. "Watching anything good? Not porn I hope," he grinned.

"Ewwww," I cringed, feeling my face heat up.

"Leave her alone," Edward laughed, sitting up.

He lifted his arms up over his head, groaning a bit from the strain in his muscles. Edward then stood and hugged Carlisle tightly. For a few minutes, while Carlisle held him, I could see my husband was crying, which made me cry. "Get over here," Carlisle's gentle voice called as he waved me over. It took me a good couple of minutes to get up and waddle over.

"It's going to be okay," Carlisle reassured us in our group hug.

Edward had his face buried in Carlisle's neck and I buried mine in Edward's chest. I think that maybe we finally felt like we could breathe since arriving in Chicago.

"You're both lucky I made it here in time. I had two little stowaways trying to hide in my bag."

I laughed trying to picture Claire and Grace hiding in his bag. "I miss them."

"I know, Bella. We're going to go back to Jenks office and sort through everything so we can get back home. I promised your mom and Esme that I'd bring you both back in one piece. No baby will be had on this trip," Carlisle playfully glared at me.

"She doesn't like when Edward's upset," I explained. "He raised his voice earlier and she was bouncing like crazy."

"They say… Em can hear, maybe sense things. She can tell when Mommy is concerned," he said, giving me a pointed look.

I pulled out of our tangled embrace as Edward still clung to Carlisle. I knew this was all bothering him, but I didn't think it was to this extent.

"Go freshen up and I'll take care of our boy, okay?" I nodded, placing a quick kiss to Edward's jaw.

"He's worrying me."

"Bella, I got this," he said playfully, cupping my cheek.

I didn't want to leave him, but I knew we would be all right in the end. We just needed to leave Chicago. We would go back to living our lives in our studio apartment and have our girl very soon. That life was one I just couldn't wait for.

A/N: Apparently this was nominated for Fic of the Week at The Lemonade Stand, so if you want you can vote for it. This is part one and part two will be the last chapter… of course the will be an epi! This chapter was beta'd by Dolphin62598 and rainydays23 as always. Leave your thoughts!