Look who's back? Missed me? :D It really hasn't been that long, has it? Just 8 little days :). Here we go again, into Emmett and Bella's crazy world. As usual, I don't own them, just like playing with SM's babies :)

Chapter Twenty-Three

BPOV

The next month flew by, Emmett and I hardly got anytime alone, but at least when we did meet in the middle, we were pleasant to each other.

I was presently having lunch with James.

"When is your next doctor's appointment?" he asked around his sandwich.

I made a disgusted face, "For fuck's sake Jay, can't you at least wait until you swallow to talk?"

"Sorry," he mumbled wiping his mouth with a tissue. "You're not eating," he said giving me a frown.

"I ate already," I said snappily, "Besides this child has very selective tastes."

"I don't envy you," James said eyeing my stomach, which was still flat but a bit more rounded than normal. "How far along are you?"

"Almost three months," I replied unconsciously covering my stomach with my hand. "Why?"

"Your tummy isn't getting any bigger," he said the frown deepening. "And have you lost weight?"

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes, I knew he was only concerned, "Some women lose weight during their first trimester, quit worrying."

"If you say so," he said not looking convinced. "So the doctor's appointment?"

"Monday," I said sipping my juice.

"Have you told Emmett?" he asked.

"No," I replied.

"Why not?" James asked giving me yet another frown.

"I didn't think he'd want to go," I told him, I honestly didn't think he would.

"Maybe you should try throwing it out there," James said. "Try not to be selfish."

Why did everyone think I was being selfish?

Because you are, the voice in my head said. I flipped it the bird.

"I'm not trying to be selfish James," I said using his given name. "I just didn't think that he would have the time for it, or be interested."

"He wants this baby Bella," James said giving me a reassuring smile. "Even if he doesn't say it."

"He wanted a mean to an ends," I protested. "This was not a planned pregnancy on his part. He did this for whatever his grandfather was threatening to take away."

I could see James thinking, and I wanted to hear him out. I didn't want to come across as the bitch not giving the guy a fighting chance.

"You have a good point, but you have to give him a chance," James said. "This is more new to him than it is to you."

"I'm hearing you," I told him. "I'll try to do better ok?"

You would think I had just told him he'd won a million dollars. He stood up, his body half across the table and threw his arms around me.

"Thank you," he said squeezing me tight. "You guys can do this."

I was glad he had that much faith in us, because I sure didn't.

We finished lunch and did a little shopping before he dropped me off at Emmett's place.

I flashed him an irritated look, he did that shit on purpose. I didn't have my car, so I couldn't even protest when he turned into the McCarty grounds.

"I'm going to fucking kill you," I hissed as he brought the car to a stop.

"No you won't, because no one gives better foot rubs than I do," the devil said with a smirk.

"I will not want any foot rubs," I said trying to stay mad at him. "Especially from the likes of you."

"We'll see," he said with a wink. "Now get your cute little ass out of my car, I have more of my adoring public to get to today."

"Bitch," I said getting out the car and shutting the door with a solid slam.

"If you break this car your baby daddy is just gonna buy me another one," he said and drove off with a laugh before I could say anything else.

I wrapped my jacket around me tighter against the cool wind, and headed over to Emmett's place.

EmPOV

I had just finished finalizing plans with the contractor, when there was a knock on my door.

I couldn't remember anyone mentioning they were stopping by. I didn't have much visitors at home and the few that came by had a key.

I made my way to the door, humming a Maroon 5 song.

I pulled open the door and froze. Standing on the other side of the door was the last person I had expected to see.

Bella.

She had been looking down when I opened the door, and when her head came up I almost fell back from the smile on her face.

"Hey," she said softly.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out.

The smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown.

Way to go Emmett, I chided myself.

"I'm sorry," I said tripping over my words to apologize. "I just wasn't expecting you. Come in."

I stepped back to let her through, she hesitated a moment before accepting my invitation.

"Are you busy?" she asked. "I can always go."

"No," I rushed to reassure her. "I wasn't doing much. Stay."

She looked at me, then nodded. "I have a doctor's appointment coming up, would you like to come?"

I was actually taken aback. I didn't expect her to openly offer me the option to be involved in this at all.

"You don't have to..." she said when I didn't answer after a few moments.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts, "I'd love to go. Thank you for asking."

"This is your baby too," she said quietly. "The appointment is Monday at ten o'clock."

I nodded, "I'll be there."

"So..." she said looking around, fishing for something else to say.

"There's still a few things we have to work out," I told her.

She nodded, "I know. There's a few things I wanted to ask you too."

I sat down on the couch and she sat opposite me in the single-seater. "Go ahead."

"Well my friends want to meet you," she said in a rush. "They're really excited about the baby."

"I want to meet your friends too," I told her.

She looked over at me, shock written on her face, "You do?"

"Can't see what it would hurt," I told her with a shrug.

"Oh."

I could tell she was a bit shell-shocked. Did she really think I was that cold?

"They'll be really happy to hear that," she continued. "I have to warn you though, they can be a bit much."

I chuckled, the way she said it made it seem as though they were aliens or something. "I'm sure I can handle them. I've survived James."

She frowned, "Speaking of James, I think you had better start looking for a new best friend."

I was curious. "Why? What happened?"

I listened as she told me what James had done, I tried not to laugh, but the expression on her face was priceless.

"I'm glad you think it's funny," she said dryly.

"I'll take you home when you're ready," I said with another laugh at her expense.

"I swear, if he weren't so cute, I'd strangle him," she said, a tiny smile on her lips.

"You think James is cute?" I asked, trying to ignore the jealousy I felt when she said that.

She looked at me curiously, probably trying to understand the edge in my voice.

Be cool Emmett.

"He's a nice looking man," she said, still watching me.

"I guess if you're into the pretty boy look," I said, trying to act nonchalantly.

"I'm not," she said.

"Pardon me?"

"I'm not into the pretty boy types," she said.

Oh? What is your type Ms. Swan?

"I like the rugged, sporty types," she said looking away from my face.

"Really," I replied with a nod.

There was moment of awkward silence and I bit the bullet, choosing to ignore the elephant in the room, for the time being.

"I was thinking," I said, "Maybe I could host a party, for your friends."

She blinked a few times, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Such a cute look for her.

"Bella?"

"You'll never get rid of them if you do that," she said with a laugh.

"Then it's settled, I'll host a meet and greet party," I told her.

"May God be with you," she said with a laugh.

I wanted to hear that sound more.

**TA**

BPOV

I was lost in my thoughts when the doctor came in the room, Emmett had to nudge me to get my attention.

"Isabella, how are you?" Dr. Gerandy offered a smile.

"I'm fine thanks," I replied.

"Mr. McCarty," the doctor went on.

"Emmett, please," Emmett said from his seat next to me.

The doctor nodded, perching his glasses on his nose and looking down at my file.

"Hmm," he said turning the page.

Was something wrong?

"Is everything ok?" Emmett asked, beating me to it.

The doctor looked up at as and smiled, "Everything's fine," he said putting my mind at ease. I could swear I heard Emmett sigh beside me.

"I see you've lost some weight," the good doctor said.

I spared a glance at Emmett before nodding. "Nothing stays down."

"Hopefully that will pass soon," Gerandy said.

"Does the sickness last long?" this from Emmett.

"It varies with each pregnancy," the doctor replied. "I'll give you something to help with the nausea Bella, we need you to gain a few pounds."

Great, he wanted me to get as fat as a cow.

I nodded, refraining from speaking my thoughts aloud.

We spent a few more minutes in the doctor's office. I was healthy all to the weight issue, so we just chatted on a few concerns that I had, and a few Emmett bowled me over by having.

I hadn't expected that he would be so interested.

James, the little worm, was right.

Not that I'd tell him that, the slick fucker would gloat til the end of the world.

When we left the clinic, Emmett asked me to join him for lunch.

I could tell he was nervous about my answer, I had turned him down the last few times he had asked over the past month and a half.

"Sure," I said, deciding that it couldn't hurt.

His response was a huge smile, that showed his dimples.

Wow.

"I know this great Italian place," he said.

"Sounds good," I told him. "I'll follow you."

We made it to the restaurant in one piece and sat down to our meal. Emmett ordered, in fluent Italian much to my chagrin and the delight of the young waitress.

She stood there rattling off in Italian for a moment after he had placed our order.

Did she not have work to do?

I cleared my throat, loudly. She turned and looked at my frowning face, excused herself and went to see about our meal. I looked over at Emmett, who was wearing an amused expression.

"What?" I asked grouchily.

"Nothing," he said with a shake of his head, ducking it to hide the smile that I still saw. I resisted the urge to kick his shin under the table.

Halfway through the meal, my phone rang.

"Sorry about that," I said checking the caller-ID. Edward was calling.

"It's Edward," I told Emmett pressing the answer button without waiting for his approval. I did notice the way his jaw tightened when I said Edward's name. I smiled at how funny that was.

"Hey Eddie, what's wrong?" I said into the phone.

He was talking really loudly, his voice high and panicked.

"Slow down buddy," I said. "I can barely understand you."

I listened again as he tried to slow down.

I could feel the blood drain from my face, and Emmett noticed because he sat up, "Is everything ok?" he asked.

I put down the phone on the table, my hands shaking.

"Bella," Emmett said sharply. "What's wrong?"

"Our apartment building's on fire," I said numbly. "We lost everything."

A/N: Yes, I know. Another cliffy...I can almost hear your groans, and I gotta tell ya, they make me giggle with glee. I'm a sadistic pixie, sue me *shrugs*. Up next how Bella and Edward deal with being out of a home, what will Emmett do to save the day, and the party. He gets to meet Rosalie and Alice. Poor guy. There will be a few surprises thrown in along the way *rubs hands together gleefully* I'm on vacation and my brain is cooking up all sorts of intrigues. So hold on to your knickers girls! (*Note to self, stop watching Spice World.) lol. ~ Riney

Oh, I almost forgot. I started a new story (blasted plot bunnies). Picture Perfect, Bella/Peter pairing. Go check it out. Thankies :)

rrrarkansas: Glad you love it babe, here's a chapter just for you :)

KimberlyAnnT: Rose is with Jake. :)

teamhotmen: I don't think they were consciously ignoring her. They're all just pretty excited about the baby. This Bella isn't one to sit and take crap from anybody, I think we noticed that early on, she just didn't have it in her to fight a losing battle. Also, Rose isn't going to be the ice-queen in here. I like to take my characters and put them out of character from SM's version, at least some of the time :D

Chey: You can stalk my profile whenever you feel the need, I don't mind at all :)

To all the rest of you lovelies, MWAH! Love you all :)