Same disclaimer applies-Twilight belongs to S.M., but the idea of this story is mine.
Many thanks to my awesome betas and friends - TeamAllTwilight and m0t0b33.
"Edward, don't you have work to do?" I protest, trying to ignore his presence. He's kneeling at my feet, stroking my stomach, talking with the baby. "Maybe he's shy," I add, mumbling.
"Hush, Bella." He pats the side of my stomach. "You've got to turn and show us what you are in a few hours at the appointment," he says seriously, sounding like a shrink. He keeps whispering and kissing my stomach, effectively distracting me from looking over the commercial my team did.
"Edward!" I whine. "I've watched the first thirty seconds over ten times now. I can't concentrate."
"But don't mind me. I'll get you whatever you want to eat if you turn around at the ultrasound."
He's back to square one.
We're soon headed for my ultrasound and check-up if everything is okay for my sixth month of pregnancy. Every previous time we had an ultrasound, the baby didn't show us their gender. This seems to be Edward's goal—to make the baby show us if they're a boy or a girl.
There's a knock on my door, but my husband doesn't move.
I clear my throat. "Come in!"
"Hey, Bella! You done with the commercial? Mr. Brown wants them by lunchtime," Jacob tells me. "He sent me to ask if…" His eyes widen when Edward gets up, scowling. "Mr. Cullen…"
"Hello," Edward says curtly to Jake, then turns to me. "I want the sex! Have a talk with…" He gestures to my stomach. "We need to know what color to paint the room, what clothes to buy, what—"
I roll my eyes. "I'll see what I can do," I tell him, just to get rid of him and finish my job. It's not like the baby is going to listen.
He narrows his eyes at me—more exactly my stomach, before storming out.
The whole situation is funny as hell, but it's getting annoying when he thinks it's my fault the baby shows us their cute little butt every time. We even had the ultrasound at different hours, hoping the baby wouldn't be asleep so they'd be moving. No such luck. Even awake, there's no clear view to the sex.
"Problems?" Jake pulls me out of my thoughts.
"We'd like to know the baby's sex, though the little one makes it difficult." I giggle, rubbing a hand over my huge stomach.
"What's the big problem? Not all parents know what they're having." He shrugs.
I look at him amused. "Have you met my control freak husband?"
Jake laughs, shaking his head in amusement. "I'll leave you to finish that."
"Yes. Thank you."
By the time I'm done looking over the commercial, I see it's time to get ready for our appointment. Transferring the file on a flash memory, I pack for the day, dialing Edward's number to see if he's ready. He's not answering, but maybe he's not in his office.
I take the flash memory stick to James.
"At last!" he exclaims when I put it on his desk.
"It's Edward's fault," I joke. "He kept me from working by bugging the kid to show us the sex at the appointment. Which turned in different punches and kicks of my intestines and organs. Not funny," I mutter.
"I wish we didn't know," he tells me seriously.
I give him a sympathetic look. Their appointment has been a couple days ago, and the first thing they did once they left the doctor was to come over at our place. They both looked white as ghosts and clearly shaken. It took them a few tries to tell us the news—they were having twins. One of them was a girl, the other was hidden from view.
Of course, Edward huffed and started scolding them for scaring us. It was true—we thought something was wrong with their baby, or something like that.
But I understand them. Twins are going to be a challenge.
Victoria is just five months pregnant, but she looks much better than me…and she has two in her belly. I hate my body—I'm starting to look like a baby whale. I run out of clothes every couple weeks. The other day, I joked with Edward that I'll buy togas.
Speaking of him… "Did you happen to see Edward?" I ask James.
"No. I only saw him once today, during our ten o'clock meeting."
"Damn. I'm going in search of him."
The first I ask is Tanya, and thankfully she has an answer considering she sees everyone. She points to the smoking room.
Well, that's fabulous!
It's been really difficult for me, and I've been understanding about Edward still having an odd cigarette as long as he didn't rub it in my face.
I storm in the smoking room. There he is! Laughing and talking with a group of other smokers. They sense my foul mood and scatter away.
Edward sticks the cigarette between his lips and wraps his arms around me. "Hey, baby."
"Are you kidding me?" I hiss, taking the half burnt smoke from his mouth and tossing it toward the bin. Fisting his jacket, I drag him out of there.
"Whoa! What got into you?"
"What got into me?" I shout, turning to face him once we're out of the smoking room. "Your little troopers did! Disabling me from smoking! You're no longer allowed to smoke! Ever."
His eyes widen—fighting between amusement and fright. Fright wins as he sticks his hands in his pockets and ducks his head. "Sorry, baby. I'm nervous as fuck. I needed a smoke."
"And I'm not nervous!? Find another vice," I mutter.
"I just can't give up this…"
I narrow my eyes at him. "I did it. You have no idea how hard it was, but it didn't say anything. Every time I needed a ciggie, I distracted myself by doing something else that took my mind off it. Have some respect, dear husband of mine! I can't smoke, so neither can you!"
He huffs. "I don't want to fight over something as silly as this."
"It's not silly! Our baby's health is at risk."
"Seriously? I never smoked in front of you. And just now…you came in there after me."
I purse my lips, refusing to keep arguing about this. I storm to the elevator which thankfully is on our floor.
I'm having a strong sense of dejà-vu as the doors slide closed and Edward's staring at me—this time shock written all over his face.
When I arrive in the garage and the doors open, it's my turn to be shocked. Edward's already there, gasping for breath, holding his mid-section.
He took the stairs.
"Let's not fight. I'm sorry, Bella," he gasps out, approaching me and hugging me tightly. "Forgive me. I never thought of how difficult it was for you."
He's more than forgiven, but right now I can't talk. All I can do is wrap my arms around his neck and sob in his shoulder. I play with the hair at the nape of his neck, trying to apologize silently.
I'm such a bitch lately. It's the third time this week we're fighting. Nothing seems to please me.
Half an hour later, when we step in the doctor's cabinet, we're holding hands and no one can tell we just had a major fight…over smoking.
During this appointment, I'm the one asking the doctor if he can see anything, to which he just shakes his head, clearly amused.
"I think I know what the problem is," he says contemplatively.
"Is there a problem?" Edward asks, panicked.
I don't think it was a good idea to scare him earlier.
"Not a real problem, per say," Dr. Bromer explains. "It's common for some women to have a small uterus. Do you feel the baby moving often?"
"Yeah, a few times at day… Especially at night when I'm ready to fall asleep."
"That's because your muscles relax at night. We've seen at the last ultrasound how it moved, and I still sustain my idea. There's not enough space for the baby to actually turn around. It's nothing to worry about, Edward," he adds quickly when my husband pales.
Jeez. If he's like this now, I'm afraid to have him around when I actually give birth. We still need to discuss how I'll do it.
I'm relieved that I know why the baby won't turn, because it was worrying me, too. Dr. Bromer tells us not to worry, because he has enough space to develop correctly. And not being able to turn may be because the baby is big.
That kind of seals the deal in my head about giving birth naturally. I'll have to ask around more, but I'm thinking strongly of having a C-section.
In the car, we're discussing what to get to eat, because I don't feel like cooking. That's when my phone beeps in my purse.
I extract it, and frown at the text message my Mom sent.
I just heard that your great aunt Tessy passed away last week. That stupid cousin of yours from Vermont didn't think it was necessary to inform us. LOL
I was never exactly close to great aunt Tessy, but it's sad to hear it.
"What the hell is funny about this?" I mutter, tilting my phone's screen to Edward.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you close?"
"Not really."
That's terrible, Mom. But nothing is funny about it…not even Netty not telling us. I reply to my mother.
"Can we get pizza?" I ask Edward.
"Again? I'm getting sick of it."
"I want." I pout. "You can buy whatever you want for yourself. I want pepperoni pizza."
Nothing is funny. I didn't say that!
I snort out. What do you think LOL means, Mom?
"Parents and technology…" I giggle.
"It's obvious she got it wrong," Edward says amused.
Lots of love. Why? Mom's reply makes me laugh so loud, that Edward turns to look at me funny.
"M-om! Gosh! She thought it meant lots of love."
Mom…LOL = laughing out loud. Anyway, I'll call Netty later.
"Like my parents are any better around technology," he jokes. "Remember the time I gave Dad my phone to snap a picture of us?"
I cringe, shaking my head. After making us move to the left then to the right, the slightly backwards, Carlisle took the picture—the result was beyond funny. He managed to catch us without our heads.
Mom replies me promptly. Oh God! I sent that to your dad too!
Don't worry, I bet he thinks the same as you. I'll catch you up later…I'm getting food now.
Edward parks in front of Pizza Hut, and we make our way inside. I'm in pizza heaven, suddenly.
When we arrive home, Edward heads for a shower, and I insert a DVD in the player. While the movie starts, I decide to call Netty and hear for myself why she didn't think to announce us of her mother's death sooner. It's not like we're super close, but we're family.
After we hang up, I start eating my pizza. At some point, Edward sticks his head in the room saying he's on the phone with Jasper…and that's about the moment when I lose track of time…managing to fall asleep.
