A/N: Hope you all had a peaceful weekend!

Edward woke and immediately ducked his head out his door, checking to see that his quiet guest hadn't slipped away in the night. She still seemed so skittish, he was always amazed when she didn't just disappear.

Her room was empty, but the bed was rumpled. That made him oddly satisfied that she was still around, just somewhere else in the house. She struck him as the type to make her bed before she left.

Curious as to where she was, Edward ventured out of his room, padding down the hallway. When he neared the top of the stairs, the mouthwatering smell of breakfast nearly bowled him over.

His step, as he descended the stairs, quickened.

He followed his nose to the kitchen where he found Bella perched on a chair, humming and cutting slices of strawberry while she watched a waffle iron - Edward hadn't realized he owned a waffle iron - out of the corner of her eye. On the stove, the bottom of a frying pan was lined with bacon and sausage, sizzling and sputtering and giving off the most tantalizing smell. Another frying pan held eggs - scrambled - the heat on low.

"Did you stumble on an army you needed to feed?" he asked, chuckling.

Bella yelped, dropping her knife. "You scared me!" she exclaimed, hand to her heart. He was about to apologize but got distracted when her eyes raked over him and her cheeks tinted red as she looked away.

It took him a minute to realize that he wasn't wearing a shirt - which wasn't unusual; he slept in only pajama pants typically.

Edward's lips quirked up when he realized she'd been checking him out.

"I, um... I didn't know what you'd like, and I didn't want to wake you," she explained, adding her pile of strawberry slices to a small platter that looked like it already had peaches and blueberries. "I kind of made a little of everything."

"I can see that." He sat down and reached across, plucking a blueberry from her little pile and plopping it in his mouth. "I'm not typically a breakfast person, but I think I'll make an exception for this feast."

She frowned at him, her nose scrunching adorably. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," she lectured. "And besides, if you don't eat breakfast, why do you have breakfast food here?"

Edward looked at her from underneath his eyelashes, knowing she wouldn't like the answer. "Leah doesn't have time to stop for fast food breakfast, so I let her keep things here."

As he'd predicted, Bella made a face. "Oh, crap. Just tell me where the store is. I'll replace everything."

"Calm down, Bella. It's not a big deal."

She rolled her eyes at him.

Before he could tease her, the doorbell rang.

Instantly, Edward's stomach did a sickening roll. He did his best to put on a reassuring smile to soothe Bella's obvious trepidation. "Stay here a moment," he asked softly. "If you hear arguing, don't worry. It will be fine."

"Edward..."

"It will be fine," he repeated.

He stood, taking a deep breath, summoning his patience in advance, and walked to the door. The bell rang again before he got there, making him bristle.

Fully expecting to see his grandfather on the other side of the door, Edward was taken aback when he found instead his brother and Alice. He let out a breath, unable to hide his relief. "Oh, it's you."

Jasper eyed him significantly. "You thought I was Grandfather, didn't you?"

"Possibly," Edward said, slightly defensively.

Alice rolled her eyes at both of them. "Oh, Jesus." Shaking her head, she stepped inside, enveloping Edward in a hug. "Hey, hon."

"Hey," he greeted, smiling genuinely.

Stepping back, Alice eyed her boyfriend, folding her arms expectantly.

Jasper sighed, looking disgruntled. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday. Not that I don't have my doubts," he said quickly. "But I could have chosen a much more tactful way to express them."

"Yes, you could have," Edward agreed. "Thank you for saying so, though." He folded his arms across his chest. "To answer the question you posed, the only person who need be concerned about the baby's parentage is me. I trust Bella. That's all you need to know."

Though his little brother didn't look comfortable, he nodded his acceptance.

"Good," Edward said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Are you hungry? Bella apparently thought my appetite more closely resembled Emmett's. There's plenty of food."

"Oh, yes!" Alice enthused. "I can't wait to meet Bella!"

"Your wife made breakfast?" Jasper asked, his voice squeaking a little.

Edward had to smirk. While his brothers had had a very different upbringing than he had, Esme and Carlisle Cullen were no better cooks than he was. Additionally, neither Rosalie nor Alice showed much aptitude in the kitchen.

He hadn't been joking when he told Bella she could pay him back easily by cooking for him. Maybe the old adage was true. The way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Bella had expressed a desire to smooth things over with his brothers. Breakfast for Jasper would definitely be a start.

"Come on. If you're going to be a little nicer, I'm sure Bella is amenable to sharing." He tilted his head, looking at his brother sternly. "Your apologies will extend to her, I assume?"

Jasper gave a short nod. "I think that's fair, sure."

Edward nodded back. "Good."

~0~

The next day, Sunday, Bella slept in until nearly noon. She was still blinking blearily as she stumbled down the stairs, flopping onto the couch opposite where Edward sat reading an architectural journal. He chuckled, and she knew she must have looked like a big kid, rubbing her eyes the way she was.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked solicitously.

"Like I wish I could drink coffee," she mumbled.

"I don't think I own a coffee maker," he mused.

"That's probably better," she admitted. "My willpower isn't at its highest right now."

"Did my family wear you out that much?" he asked, putting his journal aside. The evening before, the whole family had gathered for dinner - ordered in. It was a 'getting to know you' type of ordeal that had been, while a little awkward, mostly fine.

There was no bloodshed, anyway.

"It's a bit much for me," she admitted softly. "I'm an only child, you know? I didn't grow up with that many people around."

"Neither did I."

She looked up at him, confused for a moment, before she nodded. "Right. Big age gap."

"It wasn't only that," he said, his voice quiet and, she thought, also a little sad. "I didn't see them a lot when I was a kid - when they were small. I didn't see them with any degree of frequency until I was almost the age they are now."

The far off tone of his voice, the way his eyes tightened at the corners as he spoke, made Bella's heart ache. Her instinct was to go to him, folding him in her arms to take away his pain, but she resisted, feeling somewhat out of sorts.

"I don't understand," she said when he didn't speak.

He seemed to come back to himself then, looking at her with a somewhat apologetic expression. "It's a long story; nothing you need be concerned about."

Bella frowned, a flicker of irritation passing through her. For a minute, she wrestled with herself, wanting to remind him that this wasn't a one way street. Though they had only known each other these very few days, she cared about him. She wanted to know his aches so she could help if it was possible. Maybe she couldn't do for him what he was doing for her - Edward wasn't in trouble, after all - but she could be there for him.

But then, that was assuming Edward wanted her to be his friend.

Their relationship, such as it was, was the antithesis of clear.

Before she could break the silence that had descended over them, Edward's phone chirped. He answered without looking

As Bella watched, the blood visibly drained from Edward's face. "Grandfather, I-" He frowned, obviously having been cut off. "Well, no, sir, I... Yes, sir, I apologize. Yes. That's-" He held the phone away from him, glaring at it with a disgruntled, nervous expression on his face.

The sight of him obviously a bit unhinged had Bella freaked out. Edward generally held himself with such unerring self control, it was disquieting to see the expression on his face. He looked like he had just bitten into a moldy lemon and was being made to hold it in his mouth.

"What is it?" she asked anxiously.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing in through his mouth. "My grandfather will be here shortly."

~0~

Bella thought if this confrontation lasted any longer, she was going to grind her teeth straight down to dust.

After Edward's announcement that his grandfather was on his way, Bella felt pulled in several directions at once. Between Edward's reaction and the way the other Cullens talked about the man, Bella found herself almost as terrified of him as she was of her baby's father and his friend. She wasn't all the way awake; she wasn't dressed... she wasn't prepared.

Edward had snapped out of his own fear to calm her.

"Take your time getting ready. In fact, it might actually be better if you stay out of sight until... well, until he's had a chance to get his initial reaction out of his system."

Edward Cullen the First's initial reaction was horrendous.

By the time Bella was done showering and getting dressed, the conversation had already escalated in volume. She could hear a furious raised voice though, from the top of the stairs, she couldn't discern the words. It chilled her greatly because the smooth, velvety tone was familiar.

This was exactly how Edward would sound if he was livid; perhaps slightly rougher.

The thought made her shiver.

She'd gradually crept down, ending up in the dining room, hidden from the open entryway to one of the home's living rooms. She could hear everything that was being said.

And she. Was. Pissed.

Grandfather Cullen was raking his eldest grandson over the coals. This was more horrific than Bella ever could have imagined. The elder Cullen was not only mean, he was downright cruel. That his venom was aimed at Edward - who was one of the kindest people Bella had ever met - was nothing short of maddening.

Bella was torn. What she wanted, more than anything, was to go in guns blazing. Edward didn't seem to be defending himself at all, but demurring to his grandfather's opinion that he was the biggest idiot who'd ever graced God's green earth, that he was a sinner, a whore consumed with vile lust. When Edward had to admit how old she was, his grandfather had further called him a pervert and a corrupter of the innocent.

What she wanted, desperately, was to argue. Edward hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe he was too trusting, but wasn't that closer to a virtue than a vice?

But, seeing how obstinate and irrational the man was, she could imagine that Edward's grandfather probably wouldn't react well to some little girl getting in his face. She could only make things worse for Edward.

So she sat at the dining room table, her hands in fists, crying frustrated, furious tears.

"Your point is well made, sir, but this is my life, my choices," Edward said, his voice straining for calm.

"You're just as big of a disappointment as your father. Bigger because you actually could have been something," the old man snarled. "I can't believe you would be so stupid as to throw it all away over some child!"

"I beg your pardon, but don't you think you're overreacting? What precisely is it that I'm throwing away?" Edward asked, exasperation melting into his tone. "I'm over thirty, not fifteen. I've earned my degree, and my job is steady. Most people my age have been successfully managing marriage and their work for years."

"Don't you raise your voice at me, boy," Edward senior snapped. "You have nothing that I didn't give you. You've earned nothing. The only reason you even have a job is because I asked your cousin for a favor."

Bella bit her lip, wondering again at how she'd found herself in this situation. There was so much she didn't know about Edward - her husband.

"Tell me this, Edward, did you at least have enough common sense to sign a pre-nup?"

"No, but-"

"You irresponsible ass!" The man sounded so disgusted. "I should have known better than to trust our family's money to my idiot son's bastard. I should have known you could never be anything besides a mistake."

Bella clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. It was all she could do to keep herself in her chair. Over and over again, she chanted in her head that she couldn't make things harder on Edward by screaming at his grandfather.

Edward was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was tight - whether with rage or hurt, Bella couldn't tell. "I realize you're disappointed in my choices, but I'm not sure what you're talking about. What does my marriage have to do with the family's money?"

"Maybe you can be naive to the world, Edward, but you can bet your whore of a wife -"

"Now, hold on!" Edward interrupted, anger seeping into his tone for the first time.

"Don't you interrupt me!"

"I will interrupt you on this point, sir," Edward returned. "Say as you will about me. That's your right. But Bella has done nothing to you. She doesn't deserve your ire."

His grandfather laughed, the sound scathing and condescending. "It amazes me that you can be such an idiot child. Maybe you don't realize. If she opened her legs for you without the intention of marriage - and from your story, I have no doubt that was the case - then, with you so far away, I'm sure you were not her only conquest."

"You know nothing of my wife," Edward said furiously.

"And what do you know, Edward? What do you know of her background or her family or her situation, that she would throw everything away to follow you here? How can you be sure that she didn't do this to trap you - to trick you out of your money? A girl like that, one way or another, makes her living on her back."

"Enough, Grandfather. That's enough." Edward blew out a sharp breath. "All my life, I've done everything in my power to please you, to gain your trust. I know Bella; I trust her. That should be enough for you. Besides, what's done is done. What would you have me do? Would it please you if I offered to divorce her now? Renounce the baby?"

Bella couldn't breathe for a few heartbeats, waiting for the old man's answer. There was only silence.

"I thought not," Edward said, his voice quite a bit more steady. He sighed. "Can you not see it in your heart to treat her with kindness, as a fellow human being ought to be treated? Can you not give her some respect if only because she is your great-grandchild's mother?"

"Maybe, if I was as big of a fool as you, I would believe that child is my blood," the older man hissed. "But you're right. Done is done and you married the girl. Mark my words, it'll be you who pays the consequences, not me."

There was the sound of footsteps across the wooden floor. The door opened and then slammed, echoing through the house and making Bella jump.

The silence in the house was deafening.

Feeling shaky, Bella quickly wiped her tears away, trying to calm her sniffling. She stood on fawn's legs and carefully peered in the living room.

Edward was sitting on the sofa, hunched forward, his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. She padded across the room slowly, wondering if he could even stand to look at her after that.

When he became aware of her presence hovering near him, Edward sucked in a breath and straightened up slowly. He smiled, or at least, he tried. It was a vague approximation of the grin she knew he was capable of - heartbreakingly twisted and thin.

"You heard that, didn't you? Of course you did," he answered his own question. "I'm sorry you had to hear that."

Bella stared at him, incredulous. "You're sorry?" She shook her head fervently. "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you had to go through that because of me. It doesn't make any sense. In the last two days you've fought with your family over me..." She sat down beside him heavily. "I'm not worth this."

Edward snorted, shifting so he could face her. "That's not true. You know, if anything, it's him who's not worth this," he said, carefully wiping away a stray tear from under her eyelashes. "Grandfather... he pretends to be so pious, but this is what he does. He sits on his high horse and self-righteously tears apart everyone around him. No one is good enough, smart enough, for him."

For a moment, his expression betrayed an anger so unfathomably deep, it frightened her, but he tempered it carefully. "This was bad, it's true. It makes me all the more sympathetic toward my father. Can you imagine? This is how he reacts when his grown grandson brings home a wife unexpectedly. Can you imagine being a fifteen year old boy trying to live up to his expectations like my father was?"

Bella was quiet for a long moment, deep in thought. The faraway look in his eyes didn't escape her notice.

After all, though he hadn't brought home a pregnant girlfriend at the time, Edward had been a fifteen year old boy under his grandfather's roof, too.

Looking back over the conversation and what little she knew of Carlisle Cullen, Bella could see the difference and frankly, she sympathized more with Edward than with his father.

Although whatever had happened between Carlisle and his father had doubtlessly been messy and traumatic, Edward's father had escaped Edward the First's tyrannical reign. Oh, it was true, his house wasn't nearly as big as Edward's, and he had probably struggled a great deal more than he would have, but he was out of his father's influence.

Edward, it was increasingly apparent, was still very much under his grandfather's thumb.

Acting on impulse, she put her arms around him, kissing his cheek . He seemed surprised, but when she didn't let go, he ducked his head down, laying it on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her and letting her hold him.

A/N: Ah, my kids.

Thank you so much to TwilightMundi for stepping in to beta. Thanks as always to barburella, jfka06, and GinnyW

And really, thank you all so much for your thoughtful responses. I adore each and every one of you.