In case you missed it - I updated twice on the weekend.

Once again, thanks to everyone supporting this story. When I posted it I had no idea it would get the response it did. I owe you lovely readers the best this can be. The darling Sri has taken on the task of being my pre-reader. But, I need a beta. I'm currently looking for someone.

Bella sat in the little coffee shop across the street from Newton Outfitters. Angela had called Bella and asked her to meet her after she closed up. Bella was eager to see her best friend and return to a little normality. She needed some light conversation after an intense few weeks.

The opening door created enough of a wind current that the papers on Bella's table fluttered, breaking her concentration. She laughed and gathered everything up as she watched Angela struggle through the door.

"I know, I know! This is getting ridiculous." Angela pointed at her belly, "I swear it's twins."

Bella continued to laugh at her friend. "You've had a scan; it's not twins."

"Honestly, at this point I don't know what would be worse, actually having two babies, or the size of this one." Angela manoeuvred her body into the booth across from Bella.

"Angela, you're not that big. I swear."

"I think I was this size when I had Adam. I have more than a month to go. I feel like I'm going to pop!"

"You're beautiful and you know it."

At that Angela smiled. "Thanks to you and Ben telling me all the time." She nodded towards the files in front of Bella, "Which job?"

"The store. I was just going through the books."

Angela winced. "How's it looking?"

"Better. A lot better."

"Really? What's changed? Last time I talked to you things were looking pretty bleak. Ben mentioned Mike didn't get that loan. I thought that was your last chance to fix things."

Bella tapped her fingers against the table, before picking up her tea and taking a sip. She was buying time; nervous about her friend's reaction. "It was. But then the Cullens got involved."

"The Cullens?" Angela tilted her head down and looked at Bella through squinting eyes. "Explain."

It was this suspicion Bella was nervous about. She didn't quite know how to explain. "Emmett started volunteering with kids in Chicago."

"Chicago Bella?" Angela raised a single eyebrow. "When were they in Chicago?"

"After I left."

"Is that a coincidence?" Angela's expression hadn't changed.

"That Emmett and Rosalie moved there years after I went to school there? Yep, total coincidence." Wording it that way was true. Bella, on the other hand, went to Chicago with ulterior motives. "Anyway, long story short, they are purchasing a large amount of equipment from us."

"Is that a coincidence?"

"No." Bella sighed. "They obviously came back here for a reason." Angela opened her mouth to interrupt, but Bella held her hand up. "Think about it. All the money they put into the library. Now they are helping us out. This town hasn't exactly prospered in the past ten years. How many businesses have we lost? Our down town is mostly abandoned retail space. They loved it here. I think they've come to revitalize our community."

"They didn't just love this community did they Bella?"

"Angela." Bella warned softly.

"Have you seen him? Other than the opening night of course."

Bella nodded. She wasn't sure how much she wanted to reveal to her best friend. She had grown so used to sharing everything with her. But this had always been the problem with discussing Edward; it was hard to say anything about him that didn't give away what needed to be hidden. "He has been around while we worked out some of the details with Emmett's foundation."

Angela's eyes grew round. "With Mike?" She whistled. "How'd that go down?"

"It was fine." Bella shrugged and played with her tea cup. "I think at first Mike wasn't very keen about the idea. But you know Mike; he's so easy going. As soon as Emmett got talking, Mike totally got into the whole thing. Anyway, what's going on with you?" Bella was eager to change subjects. She still didn't know what to make of Edward appearing at the library today, she certainly wasn't ready to discuss it with anyone.

"Not much. We've been busy getting little Adam ready to be a big brother. I'm not sure how much you can really prepare a two year old to welcome a baby into the house. Ben's been really busy at the church. We're really enjoying the youth group we started, it's crazy to think we used to be teens struggling through life not that long ago." Angela hesitated before she spoke again. "One of the girls in our youth group is pregnant. She's due this summer."

"Mmmhmmm." Bella responded noncommittally while sipping on her tea. Bella's lack of desire for motherhood was the only contentious issue shared between the two friends. There was something in Angela's tone of voice that hinted this wasn't really about that girl.

"Bella, you know Mike desperately wants a baby."

"Yes Angela, but you also know that I can't have a baby. Mike knows this too, he's accepted it." Bella leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest.

"But what if you could have a baby?" Angela leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table.

"Ang, you know that I don't want a baby either. I have no desire to become a mother."

"Maybe you just feel that way because you don't have the hormones."

"No, Angela, I feel that way because I don't want children. I never have." Bella closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Angela noted it wasn't her usual response to frustration.

"But what if you could become a mother?" Angela pressed on, "Think about Mike as a dad, wouldn't he be amazing? He's so attentive and loving with you, imagine him with a child of his own!"

"Angela, I think we need to drop this, we are never going to agree. Yes, Mike wants children. But he knew when he married me that I couldn't. He's ok with that. I don't know why this seems to be an issue for you." Bella relaxed her posture and picked up her teacup once again.

"Sorry. You are just so great with Adam. Are you sure you don't just feel this way because you can't have kids? Is this just how you deal with infertility?"

"I'm great with Adam because I love being his almost-auntie. Thanks to you and Ben, Mike and I have children in our lives. We don't need to be parents." Bella smiled and sipped her tea, hoping this was the final word on the subject.

"I don't think Mike agrees with you on that. I think if he could be a dad, no, I know if he could be a dad in any way, he'd go for it. It's not like you to be so inflexible Bella. This is something Mike wants desperately, I think you need to consider him in your decision." Having made her point Angela leaned back and watched her friend.

Bella could feel the anger bubbling up inside her. "We did talk about this, before we were married. He knew my position, it obviously wasn't a deal breaker. I think he would rather be with me, than have us end up like Renee and Charlie. She knew she didn't want kids, but had me because that's what Charlie wanted. It destroyed them."

"But she loves you, she doesn't regret having you."

"No, but she didn't really know how to mother me. I know I'm enough like her that I'd make the same mistakes. And before you start, it's not even that I have some sort of insecurity because I needed to be nurtured. I just really don't want kids. Come on Angela, all of this is moot anyway." But the guilty way Angela held Bella's gaze told her that maybe it wasn't. "What?"

"That girl I told you about? She wants to give her baby up for adoption. Ben suggested you and Mike."

"Really? You both know me, and how I feel about having children, and you suggested us?" Bella failed to keep the edge out of her voice.

"I also know you and Mike. You have so much to give to a child. I really think, if you look deep inside, you'll find that you want to be a mother."

"No Ang. I really don't." Bella tried to swallow her anger. "Look, I guess it was really nice of you guys to think of us. There are lots of people out there who would love to adopt this baby, but they're not Mike and I."

"Actually Bella, Mike asked me to bring you out, to talk to you about this."

"What? You went to Mike first?" Bella raised her voice enough to attract a look from the counter patrons. "I can't believe you," she whispered furiously. "You're supposed to be my friend, I thought you would respect me. We've talked about this so much. I can't believe you would just discount my thoughts and feelings about this, just because you can't relate. That was pretty fucking sneaky of you to go to Mike first." Bella never swore at Angela in her life, but she couldn't censor herself now. "You had no right to go behind my back, any of you! How long has Mike known about this?"

"We talked to him last week, on Tuesday." Tuesday; the day he came home and made her dinner. He did want to talk to her about something that night. Her news derailed the conversation. "At first he declined. Said that you didn't want children, and you guys weren't in a place in your lives to consider adoption. Then he called me on Wednesday and asked me to talk to you."

Wednesday.

Once he knew things were going to be better with the shop.

Bella thought about his reaction, from his initial hesitation to his later enthusiasm. Bella thought he had just come around to the idea of them helping the business. But that wasn't what had swayed him at all. He wasn't really fantasizing about them going back to school or taking a holiday. He thought the Cullens were giving him the opportunity to be a father.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Bella thought she was going to throw up.