Chapter 38: Life's Crazy Twists and Turns

"Your turn." I groaned.

"She's usually good about sleeping through the night." Edward whispered.

"Not tonight she isn't."

I felt Edward get out of bed and shuffle across the room.

I woke up the next morning to sucking noises, my face scrunched as I opened up my eyes.

"Mommy is awake!" Edward cooed at Carlie as he fed her the bottle.

"Well, if that's not hot I don't know what is." I smiled.

"What's hot?"

"Waking up to your husband feeding your baby." I giggled.

He smiled at me.

"Did she go back down last night?" I asked yawning and sitting up.

"After an hour or so."

I nodded.

"I should really get up for the day." I said.

"Any big plans?" He asked.

"I told Charlie I'd bring Carlie over today while you are at work."

He nodded and looked down at Carlie.

…

"We're at grandpas! Yeah!" I picked up the car seat out of the holder.

I walked up to the house while fumbling with my keys; once I finally found the key I unlocked the door and walked into the house.

"Dad, I'm here!"

He walked out of the kitchen and smiled.

"Hey Bells." He said walking over and hugging me.

"It's so good to be home." I said as we broke apart.

"It's nice to have you home."

I looked around, I half expected to see a mess but the house was neat and tidy.

"This place looks good!"

"Thanks, I've been keeping up on it. Not much more to do after work." He said scratching the back of his head.

I just smiled unsure of what to say.

A Few Hours Later

"I was thinking I'd cook tonight." I told him.

"No, you don't have too. There's a menu on the fridge, we can order a pizza." Charlie said looking at the clock like he was expecting something.

The door bell rang.

"Okay, I like pretty much anything so if you want to order it." I said heading for the door.

I opened up the door and was surprised at who I saw.

"Edward?"

Edward stood there in a nice button down shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He was holding a bouquet of colorful flowers.

"I know this is out of the blue, but I was wondering if you were free tonight." He said smiling.

He handed me the flowers, I took them slowly.

"I guess I am free, but I don't have enough diapers and formula for Carlie. Can we stop at the house?" I asked.

"No no, this is a child free invitation. I was hoping we could go on a romantic date."

"But, Carlie."

"I can watch her." Charlie said walking up to us.

"Thank you Mr. Swan." Edward said using his charm.

I smiled, "Are you being serious?"

"We haven't been alone since Carlie was born, and with work it's been even harder. So I asked Charlie if he would mind helping us out."

"You were in on this?" I asked.

"Guilty." Charlie said.

I looked at the flowers, "Okay."

…

Edward pushed my seat in for me.

"I hear the steak is really good here." He said sitting down across from me.

"Maybe I'll have that."

He looked at the menu.

"Good evening, my name is Sarah and I will be your server tonight. Can I start you guys off with something to drink?"

"Your finest bottle of champagne please." Edward smiled.

"My my, look at those eyes." She commented.

I gave her a death glare.

"Hi." I said.

"Well hello."

"Yeah, I'm his wife. Sorry to bust your bubble but those eyes, along with every other part of his body, belong to me."

"Right, my apologies."

She walked away.

"Easy tiger." Edward laughed.

"We always get a female server, and each time she flirts with you! I'm sick of it."

"Bella," He said taking my hand, "Let them flirt, I don't pay attention to them. There's already a girl who holds all of my attention and she is sitting in front of me."

I blushed.

"First blush," He mentioned looking at his watch, "Only took me ten minutes into the date."

"Oh shush."

He laughed.

My attention caught on a nearby baby who was crying. I smiled as I watched the mother tend to her.

"You miss her already don't you?" Edward asked.

"Yeah."

"We can leave if you'd like, go back to your father's house." He offered.

"No, because as much as I miss her I need a night alone with my handsome husband."

He smiled.

"Here is the champagne and it is on the house for my rude behavior."

"I fear an apology is in order from me too. I get a little territorial when it comes to gorgeous women flirting with my husband." I smiled.

"Well thank you and you have every right to be territorial when you have such a good looking man. So hold onto him with a tight grip and enjoy your champagne."

We put our orders in for two of the steaks. It took about a half an hour for the food to arrive and there wasn't much talking during it because the steaks were too delicious. We finished our food and headed over to the dance floor.

"I don't understand why you insist on dancing, I can't dance." I grumbled.

"Because I want to dance with my wife, is that so bad?"

I sighed as we started to slowly dance.

"You're beautiful."

"Am I?"

"You are."

I smiled.

He bent down and slowly kissed me; I closed my eyes and ran my fingers through his hair. He groaned as we broke apart.

"I miss you."

"I miss you too."

…

"That was amazing."

I laughed and then groaned when Edward's phone went off. He wrapped his sheet around his waist before getting up to answer it. I grabbed my sheet and wrapped it around me before sitting up.

"That was Alice; she picked Carlie up from your dads."

"Why? What's wrong?!"

"She has a temp of 101."

"What?!"

"Calm down, Carlisle is looking at her right now. She says that we don't have to worry."

I sighed.

"We should get home." He said.

"Yeah." I sighed.

We got dressed and then headed home to our sick baby.

A Few Weeks Later

I was extremely nervous. I received a phone call from the school saying that I needed to come down for a talk. I pulled into the parking lot and parked in my normal spot, walking up to the office was the most nerve racking thing I've ever done. I knocked on the door to my boss.

"Bella, please come in."

I smiled and sat down.

"Sorry to have called you down here, just figured something like this shouldn't be discussed over the phone."

"It's fine."

"The school board and I have reviewed your file recently."

"May I ask why?" I asked.

"It seems you have taken a lot of time off recently."

"I just had a baby."

"We know that, however you took off a lot more time than we normally allow for maternity leave."

"I was in a coma!" I said getting annoyed.

"Again, we understand. However, we feel that it's best for the children to have stability and a routine. We feel it is best for the children if they have a teacher with full availability."

"I don't understand."

"I'm sorry Bella, but the school board feels it's best if we let you go."

I stared at him like he had three heads.

"What?! You can't do that!"

"Believe me Bella; I don't want to lose you. If you find you need a recommendation I will be more than happy to write one for you."

"What about the kids? They are used to me, they love me!"

"We have a teacher lined up; she has been their substitute for the past month. The kids really seem to like her."

"So, you knew about this for a month and you are just now letting me know?"

"I had to wait for the board to review your case."

"What case? I had a difficult pregnancy and a difficult labor!"

"I've went over this a million times with the board and lawyers, legally they can do this."

I huffed and shook my head, "I don't believe this."

"I'm sorry Bella."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are."

I got up and stormed out of the school.

Back at the House

Edward rubbed my back as I sobbed into his shoulder.

"He wouldn't even let me see them!"

"I know."

The doorbell rang; Edward sat me up before getting up and walking over to the door. I sobbed into my hands not even caring who was at the door. I heard whispers before someone sat down next to me, I looked up to see Jacob. I started crying harder as I fell in his arms; he rubbed my arm and whispered calming words.

Edward's POV

I watched as Bella slowly cried herself to sleep in Jacob's arms. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't still jealous of Jacob. I knew I had nothing to worry about, Bella would never even think of leaving me for him. He was like a brother to her, and he was her best friend. That still didn't make me trust him.

"She's asleep." Jake whispered.

"Can you carry her?"

"Yeah."

He slowly lifted her into his arms and followed me upstairs to our bedroom. After she was settled into the bed we walked back downstairs.

"Thank you, I know this isn't why you came over. But I think having her best friend here helped."

"No problem, I came over to see how she was doing."

I spent the next few hours cleaning up the house while Carlie was down for her nap. After I was finished I walked upstairs to make sure Carlie was okay. I walked into the nursery and saw Bella in the rocking chair with Carlie in her arms.

"I thought you were sleeping?"

"What are we going to do Edward?" She asked.

"About what?"

"Money, I lost my job remember?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

I smiled at her, "It's perfectly fine."

Bella's POV

"I just want her to have the best life possible."

"She will Bella, we are doing fine."

"Yeah, we are doing fine now but what happens if I can't find a job for a few months?"

"Then I do some overtime at work, I was actually thinking of doing that anyway."

"It's not fair for you to pick up all the slack."

"Bella! It's not like you'll be home sitting on the couch watching TV and eating all the food! You'll be home taking care of our daughter! That in itself is a full time job!"

"I guess you are right, maybe this happened for a reason. Maybe I'm meant to stay home with her for a little bit."

"See, that is what I love about you."

"What?"

"You always seem to find the positive in a negative situation."

I smiled.

"I don't want you to feel rushed into finding a job. We are doing perfectly fine."

I nodded.

I was still in shock over losing my job, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to being home with Carlie. Edward seemed pretty sure of us being okay financially so until I had to find a job I was going to enjoy my little family. Things were looking up for us, and it was about time.

Where did the time go? I hope everyone who reads this story is doing okay! I've hit a rough patch with my depression and add that on to the normal busyness of life it's been difficult to write! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, not a lot of drama happening. Don't you worry, I have something up my sleeve =P Just have to find the right time for it to happen, maybe next chapter or the one after that! Let me know what you think! =]