Disclaimer: These characters belong to S. Meyer; I just use them for my vivid imagination on the short bus.

All chapters are pre-written, so there are no edits done by a beta. All errors are my own.

I'm keeping things short and sweet, so thank you for all the kind words…

On we go…

-Leslie

November 24, 1996

Dear Baby Bean;

Like your mother mentioned earlier in the month, the ultrasound appointment was at the beginning of this month.

Sitting there, in that chair, beside your mother's head with her hand clasped tightly within mine, it was truly one of the most remarkable moments in my life. At first the fears reemerged, but I quickly squashed those down. Then the moment became surreal, not that this wasn't surreal from the beginning. Seeing with my own eyes the amount that you had grown already, and then turning to stare at the remarkable woman whose body housed your tiny form, it truly was amazing. With knowing the hardships we had faced in the past to get to this point in life, all the suffering our hearts had dealt with; I admit, I cried.

Yes, I'm man enough to admit I cried.

Now I present you another story about your mom and me.

It was a rainy night in late August during that first year together. The day was filled with endless amounts of lectures about some famous off the wall case dated far back in history. The lectures were always tedious and boring, but now knowing that your mom was in most my classes, it really helped the boringness of them all.

We had had plans to go on a romantic date that evening, but by the end of classes, we realized it was undoable. We had reports to write and no time to actually spend a romantic evening together. With that class of the late afternoon being one we had to spend apart from the other, we parted ways in a literal funk.

After class, we usually met up in the common area so that we could part ways for the early evening with a gentle kiss. However, your mother never greeted me with that kiss that day. I was worried senseless, because it was unlike her to do such a thing. I repeatedly call her cell phone with worried messages left on her voicemail. I was panicked when she didn't answer, nor return my phone calls. My eyes searched above the mass of heads, hopelessly trying to spot her mahogany hair, but to no avail.

Remember this was before we had begun to live together, so all I could do was race to her room, hope above hope that she was there. Perhaps she had gotten sick and went back there in hopes of getting in a nap earlier. Once I had made it to her room, I pounded on her door only to have her gothic roommate to tell me that she hadn't seen her. You see, I never had a key to her room for fear that I would walk in on her roommate at the worst possible time.

I raced back to my room, still worried sick, hoping and praying that she would return my call soon. Once I had made it to my room, my hands shook as I tried to get the key in the knob. The smell of sweet honey filled my nostrils before I had even looked up to take in the room. All was silent when I looked up, taking in the soft glow of what seemed to be a hundred candles spread out around the room. My eyes roamed each flickering light before zeroing in on your mothers slender body tucked into her on my bed.

My anxiety quickly disappeared as I took her in sleeping form. I honestly hated to wake her, so I slowly undressed and slipped gently behind her form in the bed. Tucking her body into mine, I wrapped my arms around her protectively and sighed in relief; this was my home.

It turns out that your mother had skipped her class that day, refusing to allow our studies to come between the times spent between the two of us. Balance; that had been the word she had chosen. She had wanted us to have our romantic date, even if it was locked away in my dorm room studying. We had both taken turns reading over lecture notes and research material, while the other massaged the other's back.

So, I leave you with a bit of advice and wisdom at this point in the letter. Balance, it's one of the strongest points that I could stress. When two people are in love, in order to remain strong for the other, balance is the biggest role of all.

I love you…

Love,

Your Proud Papa

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