Chapter 17: Fondling is the Best Gift

"If I beg, will you eat it?" I asked, moving the spoon of rice cereal over Little One's lips. "Please?"

I had started a few nights ago, trying to get Sofia to eat this shit, but we weren't having much success. She'd let me get it in her mouth a few times, but it'd quickly come out, dribbling down her chin. I figured maybe I'd try in the morning and see if she'd eat some, but again, it just wasn't happening. She probably wasn't ready, but I sort of thought she was taunting me. She'd laugh at my attempts — full out belly laughs, actually.

I sighed, putting the spoon back in the bowl. "Fine, no more rice cereal. But it is Daddy's birthday. You could have at least pretended to like it."

She giggled and slammed her hand down on the spoon, sending it flying through the air, covering me in blobs of the disgusting cereal. She continued to laugh as I wiped it from my eyes. I was trying very hard not to get mad. I kept telling myself she was a baby, and she didn't know any better, but part of me went back to the taunting thing.

"You . . . are going to be the death of me," I said, wiping her mouth off. "And you're very lucky Bella offered to watch you today, otherwise, I'd be late, and I'd really be upset."

After cleaning up the mess, I quickly ran across the hall with Little One and her bag. Bella had offered to keep her today, so I didn't have to rush from work, to the daycare, to my apartment, and then to the restaurant tonight. I'd just get off work, come home and change, and then we'd met my family for dinner. Truthfully, I believed Bella just wanted to spend time with my daughter, and that was perfectly fine with me. The only thing I worried about was her not having a car to drive Little One in, in case something happened. There was no way in hell my kid was going in that truck. Bella assured me the hospital was only five minutes away, so if anything happened, she'd call, and I could get here quickly. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it worked for now.

"Hello, sweetheart," Bella said, holding her arms out for Little One after opening the door.

"Hello to you, too," I said, smirking.

"Yes, good morning and happy birthday, Edward," she laughed, carrying Sofia inside.

"Thanks. So, everything is in the overstuffed bag, but I'm also going to leave a key to my apartment, just in case." I sat the bag down on her couch and pulled out the key, handing it to her.

She took it and nodded. "Got it. Oh, you have something right there." She pointed to my head.

"What?" I ran my hand through my hair, feeling nothing.

She laughed, reaching up with her free arm. She yanked my hair a little and showed me a blob of the cereal. "This."

I groaned. "Fuc—uh, great. She decided to play throw nasty crap at Daddy this morning."

She laid Little One down in the portable crib I had brought over last night and wiped her hand off on a throw-up bib. "Still no success?" she asked.

"Not even a little."

"Just . . . keep trying. She'll eat it when she's ready."

"I hope so," I sighed. "Well, I'm going to go grab her bouncer."

"Okay." She smiled. "And you might want to check for more blobs," she laughed softly.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Yeah, because it's funny."

I shook my head, walking toward the door. "And I thought you were on my side."

After coming back and setting the bouncer in her living room, I picked Little One up and kissed her cheek, telling her I loved her. I laid her in the bouncer, making her all kinds of happy as she enjoyed the toy attachments.

"I'll be here after seven," I said, turning toward Bella. "I'll get a quick shower then we can leave."

She nodded. "I'll be ready, and so will she."

I lowered my head, kissing her as my thumb caressed her cheek. When I pulled away, I noticed her peaceful smile. "Thanks, Bella."

"Of course. Thanks for letting me watch her."

. . . . .

Jasper was a dick. Plain and simple. Fucking dick. He spread the word around the hospital about my birthday, so though I didn't want to believe I was now thirty, I was reminded over and over again throughout the day. There were even cupcakes — baked by Cupcake Nurse — in the lounge. Not gonna lie, I ate a few, and of course she noticed. I still needed to learn the woman's name, so I took a quickly glance at her badge as she spoke to me. It was Becky, by the way.

"You do not look thirty!" she said, grinning. "Are you having a good birthday?"

I took another bite from the cupcake and nodded. "Great," I mumbled.

"Are you . . . celebrating tonight?" She fluttered her eyelashes. "You know, with anyone special?"

"My family, actually."

"Oh, that's it?"

"Well, my daughter is going to be there." Where was a gun when you needed it? Or a scalpel. I'd cut my own throat right here if it'd get me out of talking to her.

She smiled. "Aww, how is she?"

"She's fine."

"Well, I was wondering, since you have plans tonight, maybe we could have a little celebration of our own this weekend?"

I about gagged on the cupcake I had just taken another bite of. I quickly shook my head, coughing a little. "I . . . you know, I have a kid. It's not the right time."

I didn't want to just shoot her down. I had to work with her sometimes, after all, but dear God, even if I didn't have Little One, I wouldn't sleep with her. The thought had crossed my mind before, but now it was clear I didn't want shit to do with her. She wasn't . . . I didn't know. She just wasn't what I wanted anymore.

Her face fell. "Oh, okay," she said. "Maybe some other time."

Suddenly, the best thing that could have happened, happened. My pager went off. "I have to go," I said before turning around and jogging down the hall, pulling the pager from its clip on my hip.

I shouldn't have been so happy for a car accident. It was kind of horrible of me, actually, but holy shit, I was. When I got downstairs, I found a splenic laceration, so I spent the afternoon in surgery, trying to save the patient's spleen. All turned out well, so that put me in a better mood and almost made me forget I was pissed at Jasper. Almost. But when he come up next to me as I worked on the patient's chart, I quickly remembered.

"You're dead to me," I said. "Go away."

He laughed and patted my back. "It's not that bad. You got delicious cupcakes and people giving you attention. Two of your favorite things."

"Oh, yeah, it was great. Except Cupcake Nurse also asked me out, and I blame you for that."

He grinned. "Oops."

"Fuck you," I said, going back to the chart in front of me. "I told her no because of Sofia, so she said maybe some other time. Thankfully, my pager went off before I had to tell her I would never,ever go out with her."

"You're so grown up. There's a tear in my eye, just so you know."

I looked up and narrowed my eyes. "Again, fuck you."

He laughed more as he read the chart over my shoulder. "Looks like you had a fun day."

I smirked. "Pretty damn good, actually. I think we should amend my favorite things list. I do like cupcakes and attention, but this is much higher up on the list."

"Duly noted. Ways to make Edward happy, surgery. The more difficult, the happier he is."

"Damn straight."

He came around the counter and flopped down in a chair, picking up a stress ball that belonged to one of the nurses. "So, dinner with Bella and the family tonight. Did she tell you how lunch was with your mom?"

"She said it was nice. Rosalie went, too. It must have gone all right because she's still talking to me," I chuckled.

"Talking is good." He nodded. "So, you want to go out this weekend? Alice is going up to Seattle to see her mom."

"Can't, I'm on call."

"Damn. Well, we need to figure this shit out because we haven't hung out in a while. Batting cages one night?"

I loved Little One, and I liked Bella, but I could have used an evening of downtime with Jasper. He was right; we hadn't hung out in a while. Actually, we hadn't hung out since that night I met Alice.

I nodded. "One night next week after work?"

He tossed the stress ball at me, and I quickly caught it. "Sounds good," he said. "And, you know, happy birthday, man."

"Thanks."

. . . . .

I rushed out of the hospital as soon as my shift was over. I didn't even change, since I'd just jump in shower the second I got home. Before going to my apartment, I went to Bella's, making sure Little One had done okay. Bella already had her in a little dress with a bow in her hair. It was perfectly straight, unlike when I had done it a few weeks ago.

"We're ready when you are," Bella said, eyeing me. "I take it you're going to grab a shower?"

"What?" I smirked. "You don't like my scrubs? I've been told my ass looks great in them."

Her cheeks flushed as she tried to hide a smile. "Don't we need to hurry? You're wasting time by showing me your ass."

"Well, I wasn't showing it to you, but if you avert the little one's eyes, I could," I said, winking.

She picked up one of Sofia's toys and threw it at me as she laughed. "Go!"

"Fine, no ass for you."

I showered quickly and changed into something decent for the restaurant we were going to. By the time we finally got there, everyone was already seated.I laid Little One's car seat down in the upside down highchair before pulling a chair out for Bella. She smiled and sat down, moving her hair over so it came off one shoulder. Not surprisingly, she looked beautiful tonight.

"Happy birthday, honey," Mom said, smiling as I kissed her cheek before sitting down between Little One and Bella.

"Thanks," I said, popping the pacifier in Sofia's mouth.

The conversation flowed like usual for my family, and Bella seemed to fit right in. Dad, Emmett, and I discussed work — as usual — while Mom, Rosalie, and Bella talked about Ben, who was currently in Bella's lap. Rosalie went on and on about her son, and Bella seemed to listen intently.

"I heard you had a good day, son," Dad said, lifting his scotch as I drank my beer.

Since Mom had volunteered to keep Little One tonight, I was indulging. Not a lot or anything, but it was nice to just enjoy a beer, which I hadn't done in well over a month.

"Yeah," I said. "And at one point, I was so sure I was going to have to remove his spleen, so I have to say, it felt pretty good that I saved it."

"Hey, have you heard anything about that trauma fellowship in Seattle?" Emmett asked. "You applied, right?"

I shook my head. "No, I figured it wasn't a good time. Besides, I'm happy here."

"Another job?" Bella asked, passing Ben back to Rosalie.

"Uh, specialized training, actually," I said. "I had applied for one in New York, to do right after residency, but I didn't get it. It didn't matter anyway because I wanted to come back here."

"Sure you did," Emmett laughed.

I glared at him. To be honest, I did want that fellowship. After I was turned down, I told myself that it didn't matter because Dad had already offered me a job here, but it did matter. I hadn't failed at many things in my life. I excelled at just about any sport, I got into the college I wanted, and, of course, I didn't have issues with women. So, being rejected wasn't something I was used to. It wasn't something I wanted to be reminded of, let's just say.

Bella must have noticed I didn't want to talk about it, so she changed the subject. "I think Sofia might be getting a tooth," she said.

"What?" I asked.

She smiled. "Haven't you noticed her drooling more than usual? Also, her gums on the bottom are redder than they had been."

I hadn't noticed it actually, but now that she told me, it made sense. "Maybe that's why she's been having issues with sleeping through the night."

"I bet," Mom said as Rosalie nodded in agreement.

"Ben actually didn't do too bad," Rosalie said. "He was a little more fussy, but compared to the stories I've heard, he pretty much sailed through it. Maybe Sofia will, too."

I ran my fingers over Little One's cheek. "Let's hope so."

The moment dinner came and I started to eat, Little One made it known her diaper was dirty. I probably should have been suspecting it, to be honest. I carried her into the men's bathroom with her diaper bag and realized there wasn't a changing table. Fantastic. Not that it was surprising, though. Instead of interrupting Mom or Bella's dinner, I snuck into the women's bathroom. I made sure no one was watching before ducking in and rushing into the handicap stall that had the logo on it.

"If I get in trouble for this, I'm going to use your cuteness to get me out of it," I told Sofia as I laid her down. "Seriously, I'll hold you up in front of me like a shield."

Once the shitty diaper was off and she was clean, I fastened the new diaper and her onesie before tucking everything away in her bag.

I picked her up and kissed her cheek, making her giggle and kick her legs. I held her to my chest with one arm as I picked her bag up and headed out. When I opened the stall door, a woman was putting lipstick on in the mirror. She noticed me and turned around, gasping with a horrified look on her face.

"Baby," I said, lifting Little One up. "Blame the restaurant."

I quickly left the bathroom before she could throw something at me. She seemed to be clutching that lipstick tube with intent. I was laughing a little by the time I got back to the table. Everyone looked at me, questioning what the hell was so funny.

"Well, Emmett, you were right," I said. "The women's bathroom is much nicer."

"Oh," Rosalie said, smirking. "Men's didn't have a changing table, huh?"

"Nope," I said, laying Little One back down in the car seat, giving her back the pacifier. "And women really don't like seeing a man come out of a stall."

"Please, tell me she screamed," Emmett laughed.

"Nah, but I'm pretty sure she was about to throw a lipstick tube at me."

Luckily, Little One fell asleep quickly, so I could finish eating. Somehow, Mom and Bella got on the topic of me, during my childhood. Bella was laughing so hard at the things Mom said, she snorted. Apparently, the story of finding me trying to drink out of the toilet with our dog when I was four was just that funny.

"I miss Snickers," Rose said. "That dog followed Edward around everywhere."

I laughed. "I thought you hated him? Didn't he eat your favorite pairs of shoes?"

She huffed. "You're right. I did hate that dog. He just got you into trouble, and that was hilarious."

"Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, didn't he die soon after the shoe incident?" Dad asked.

"Rose probably poisoned him," I said.

She scowled. "No, I didn't. He was just old."

"Bella, honestly, Edward and that dog were so cute together," Mom said. "I'll have to get some pictures out and show you."

I groaned. "Childhood photos . . . great."

Bella laughed and patted my arm. "I'm sure you were adorable."

I shrugged. "Well, yes, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with it."

Suddenly, I heard clapping, which was followed by singing and being surrounded by the waiting staff.

"Really?" I asked Mom. "You really had to do this?"

She laughed. "I couldn't help myself."

I was wished happy birthday and a cake was set down in the middle of the cleared table. Thankfully, there were no candles. The cake was actually pretty good, so I wasn't that pissed, though I found that to be extremely unnecessary. Once the leftovers were boxed up, I picked up Little One's car seat. She quickly started crying, probably from being woken up suddenly.

"Here," Bella said. "I'll take the car seat and you take her."

I set the car seat on the table and picked her up, holding her to my chest and hushing her softly as I kissed her forehead. Bella carried her car seat out for me as we met everyone out front.

"I hope you had a good birthday, son," Dad said, reaching his arm out and patting my back.

"Yeah, thanks for dinner." I smiled. "It was nice."

"You all right to drive?"

"I'm good," I laughed. "Only had two beers."

Mom put her arm around me, hugging me softly. "Happy birthday, honey. My baby boy is thirty," she laughed.

"Thanks. Does that mean you won't call me 'baby boy' anymore?"

She patted my cheek. "You wish." Her arms went out for Little One. "Ready?"

I kissed Sofia's cheek a few times. "I love you, Little One. Be good for Grandma and Grandpa." I passed her over, letting my hand capture her tiny one. She looked up and smiled as I smiled back. "Bye, baby girl. See you tomorrow."

. . . . .

It surprised me a little that Bella didn't go to her door when we reached our floor. I opened my apartment door, and she walked in as I followed behind. She dropped her purse on the end table by the door and toed her shoes off.

"You know you have an awesome family, right?" she asked, sitting down on my couch.

I laughed, kicking my shoes off as I sat down next to her. "Embarrassing, yes. Awesome? I don't know if I'd call them that."

A smile was on her lips, making her look . . . just beautiful. Her hands came up and undid the first few buttons on my shirt.

"I did get you a gift," she said. "It's in my purse."

I smirked. "A gift, huh? Anything good?"

She shrugged a little. "I think you'll like it."

"Are you going to give it to me?" I laughed.

She nodded, moving off the couch. She walked over to the table and pulled a square box out of the massive purse. She handed it to me before sitting down again and folding her legs under her.

It wasn't big, but it wasn't tiny, either. A perfect square about six inches wide and two deep. I pulled the bow off and stuck it to her shirt, making her laugh. I quickly tore the paper off, revealing a white box. Lifting the lid, I moved the tissue paper and found a picture frame.

"You don't have pictures of her around here," she said as I lifted the framed photo of Little One. Along the bottom of the frame it said "My Baby Girl". "I thought you needed one."

I smiled, looking at my sleeping daughter in the photo. "It's . . . perfect."

"I took the picture today. Honestly, I didn't know what to get you, but your mom helped. She mentioned how she didn't like it that you had no pictures out. She guessed you just hadn't seen a reason to, so I figured this would be a good start."

I nodded. "I love it. Truthfully, it is perfect."

She smiled and brushed her finger tips over my jaw, sitting up and moving closer. Her lips touched mine and our tongues entwined for a moment before we parted.

"Happy birthday," she said.

"Thank you, Bella."

Her hand went to my head, running through my hair. "Can I ask a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why didn't you apply for that fellowship in Seattle?"

I sighed, looking away. "Because I wouldn't have gotten it."

She pressed her other hand against my cheek, moving my face back to hers. Her eyebrow were creased. "Says who?"

"I don't do well with failure," I said. "I'm not going to put myself back out there, just to be rejected again."

"So that program didn't accept you, oh well. If it's what you want, you shouldn't give up. Rejection is normal, Edward. It happens to everyone."

I shook my head. "Not me. I got into the college I wanted, to the med school program I wanted . . . I don't get rejected."

"Is that really why you moved back here?" she asked, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Because you didn't get that?"

"I was sure I would have gotten it. I actually laughed at my dad when he first offered for me to come back here while I was waiting to hear. I didn't want to tell him, you know? Carlisle Cullen's son didn't fail at anything."

She sighed, smiling lightly. "How did he take it?"

I laughed softly. "He said, and I'm quoting 'I'm sorry, son, but it happens. What are you going to do now?' He wasn't upset."

"Of course he wasn't. So, why don't you try again?"

"Well, Sofia kind of needs me. I can't do a fellowship with her now. The hours would kill me and leave no time to take care of her."

"Get a nanny."

"I'd have to move to Seattle. And you know what? This is moot. The deadline has passed, so it doesn't even matter."

"Then try again next year. If it's what you want and would make you happy, you should do it."

I shook my head as her hand found mine. "I'm happy where I am now. I love my job here. I have family here and . . . you. My life is here."

She moved, lifting her leg over my lap, bringing us face to face. Her hand caressed my cheek as she smiled. "You know, you seem a little more . . . human now," she laughed.

"What?" I chuckled.

"You're not perfect. It probably sounds . . . insane, but you're a little intimidating. Knowing you've . . . failed, I guess, makes me realize you're just like everyone else. Only much more beautiful, of course." She smirked.

"So my failure makes you like me more?"

She giggled. "Okay, we'll go with that."

"I have more flaws. Like, that toilet seat in my bathroom is usually up, I can't cook, as you know, and I get absolutely pissed when something doesn't go my way. If I can't figure out what's wrong with a patient, I've been known to throw things."

"Oh, you're so flawed," she teased.

"My feet smell, too."

She kissed my lips, laughing around them. "Remind me not to sniff your feet."

Her fingers unbuttoned my shirt the rest of the way as we continued to kiss. My hand went to the back of her dress, unzipping it. I lowered the small straps as we broke the kiss. She moved her arms out of them as I pulled the dress down further. I kissed her neck softly as I tried to undo her fucking bra clasp. Jesus Christ, was it sewn together? Her hands moved to her back, helping me. Finally, it was undone and she tossed it to the floor as I looked at her.

"Gorgeous," I whispered, taking her nipple into my mouth.

She moaned softly as her hands gripped my hair, tugging softly. I kept one hand on her back as the other caressed her breast. My cock was hard. I had to restrain myself. This was probably all I'd get tonight, but, fuck, at least it was something. Her hips ground against me, and I heard her gasp. She did it again, though, and slower this time. She was so close. So. Fucking. Close. I could feel her against me, and I just wanted to fuck her, make her scream my name.

"That . . . oh, that's nice," she whispered.

I moved, laying her down on the couch as I hovered above her. Her hands went to my jeans, unbuttoning them and pulling the zipper down. Jesus Christ. We were going to do it, weren't we? She palmed me through my boxers as I sucked in a breath. It had been a long time since a woman touched me, and I fucking missed it. My lips found hers again as she continued the motion that was sure to kill me. I wanted in her so badly, but when my hand slipped under her dress to her panties, her other hand stopped me. I clasped mine around hers and pulled it up over her head.

"Bella, if you don't stop that, I'm gonna come," I said, groaning.

"That's the point," she said, capturing my lips again.

Yep. She was trying to kill me. Her hand moved and went down my boxers, grasping me. She slid up and down, slowly, a few times before I lost it. I grunted her name as my lips moved to her neck, sucking her skin.

Happy fucking birthday to me.