(All characters are the intellectual and legal property of Stephenie Meyer. No plagiarism or copyright infringement is intended. She's just a genius who created a world that I love to explore.)

After I finished dressing and had brushed out my hair Edward still hadn't come into the bedroom. I fished my phone out of my purse and lay on the bed to text Alice.

Me: Hey preggo
Alice: FINALLY! Jasper told me not to bug you, I've been trying so hard not to text you all day!
Me: LOL! Alice you can always text me.
Alice: You're coming Sunday, right?
Alice: You better come.
Alice: Like seriously!
Me: Umm…
Alice: Rose already texted to say she's in. Emmett's ecstatic to show her off *eye roll* ;)
Me: What time?
Alice: Guests are supposed to arrive around 2 o'clock but we'll be over at the house around 11 if you'd like to come :) I don't know if Edward will be working that morning or not but you're welcome to ride with Jazz and I!
Me: No that's okay, thank you. I'll see you there :)
Me: Should I bring anything?
Alice: Just your little cute butt!
Alice: and a gift
Alice: JOKING!

I laughed and turned my phone off, plugging it in to charge and placed it on the bedside table. When I rolled onto my stomach and rested my good arm under my head, I heard the bedroom door open behind me and I couldn't help the smile on my face. The bed dipped and I felt Edward's heat as he straddled my legs, his hands coming down on either side of my head and he ran his nose along my jawline.

"Are you hiding from me, beautiful?"

"Maybe," I said honestly, closing my eyes as he placed tender kisses across my cheek.

Edward sat up and began caressing my shoulders softly, using his thumbs to knead my flesh. "And why would you be doing that?"

I sighed, feeling the tension that I didn't know I was carrying release with his touch. "I'm just thinking about everything, it's been a crazy few weeks."

He chucked. "Understatement." I giggled. "Is it too much?"

I bit my lip, unsure how to answer. Was it too much? Sometimes, maybe, but I didn't know if it was really too much or if it was all in my head. Like Rose said, he's not James. So what was I scared of; why couldn't I talk to him about this? Maybe I was scared he would leave, or maybe… maybe I was scared he wouldn't? If I opened up to him, really communicated the way we should, and he stayed… then it was real. We weren't just pretending anymore.

Edward stopped rubbing and moved to lay down beside me, mimicking my position on his stomach so that his face was near mine. "I would give anything to know what's going on inside that beautiful head of yours," he confessed and I opened my eyes to stare at him.

"I'm scared," I admitted and his eyes surveyed my face carefully. "I'm in uncharted territory here, Edward."

"As am I."

"Alice has invited me over this Sunday… for her baby shower… to meet your family."

"I know, my mother called to ask if you were coming," he gave me a small smile and lifted one hand to brush my hair softly with his fingertips.

"Do you— Do you want me to come?"

Edward blanched for a moment, his fingers pausing their movement, and he looked at me with confusion in his eyes. "Bella," he paused, his fingers resuming their gentle motion through my hair. "Why would you even have to ask me that? Of course I want you to meet my family, you're my girl."

I felt myself blush with his words and he leaned over to kiss me softly on the lips. "I love you," I whispered and he smiled; I suddenly became unsure of whether I'd said it back to him since the first night we confessed our love to each other. Edward had made his feelings clear time and again, but had I? "I bought presents," I blurted, my brain going on the defensive and quickly changing the subject.

Edward laughed, "good, Alice loves presents." I smiled at him and then pushed myself off the bed, wincing as I tried to put weight on my hand. Edward watched as I walked over to the closet to retrieve my bags from the baby boutique and sat them on the bed. "Jesus, you definitely meant presents - plural." I stuck my tongue out at him and climbed back on the bed to sit next to him.

I carefully pulled out all of the onesies and little shoes I'd bought for the baby. "I wanted to get something unique, like a monogrammed blanket or something, but your stubborn sister won't tell anyone the name they have picked out so I'll have to wait on that. But I did get him this," I reached into the bottom of one of the bags and pulled out a thin, folded blue blanket and laid it out in front of us. Edward's fingers touched the white stitching where, in the right corner of the blanket, Whitlock was written.

"The lady at the story said that it hangs over the side of the crib and ties on with these," I said, referring to the discrete ribbons on the back side of the blanket. "I don't know she'll use it or not, but I thought it would be a neat keepsake." When I looked up to him Edward was watching me with adoring eyes and I blushed self consciously. "What," I asked.

"I'm just remembering how much I love you," he smiled, leaning over to kiss my cheek. "She's going to love it Bella, I'm glad that you're excited about the baby. Alice doesn't have a lot of friends and I'm glad that she has you and Rosalie to think of things like this," he gestured to the gifts I'd spread out.

I looked at him, confused. "Alice doesn't have a lot of friends," I asked, skeptical. "How is that even possible?"

Edward shrugged, his concern for his sister obvious in his eyes. "Alice has always kind of been a lot to handle," I chuckled when he said that, understatement! "She always had trouble making friends in school. First in Chicago because we had money and, even though Alice never acted like we were better than anyone, everyone sort of treated her like a snob or something. Then when we moved here she started going to a wealthier school and she didn't fit in because she was much more down to earth than those other girls." The way Edward said "those" made me sad for Alice, the disdain in his voice almost palpable.

"Teenage girls can be bitches," I acknowledged and Edward half smiled.

"Alice dropped out of High School halfway through her Junior year to do homeschooling and Jasper moved here that Summer. Mom and Dad let him live with us for a while, with strict stipulations obviously, and she was a lot happier after that. We were all really worried about her for a while before Jasper came here. Even after she started homeschooling she was really depressed, didn't talk much, she lost a lot of weight. I guess in Chicago it was hard for her but she was in school with Emmett and I, plus it was home, and she had Jasper. When we moved here Emmett and I went to a different school than Alice and she was alone there, sometimes I remember how sickly she looked at her lowest point and I hate myself for not being there for her."

I sat silently, listening to Edward's dark memories. His eyes were sad, far away, and I saw him tense as he mentioned Alice's lowest point, the memory obviously causing him physical pain. "She has you now," I whispered, feeling like I needed to tiptoe around his confession. Edward nodded, closing his eyes against the memory and inhaling deeply. I was jealous of what these people had, a family that I never knew for myself. In my early years I had longed for the company of a sibling and now, watching Edward, I longed for the love and protection of sibling bond. Would things have turned out differently in my life if I'd had a brother or sister to share the burden with?

Without speaking I quickly picked up the baby items spread on the bed and placed them back in their bags before placing the bags on the floor. When Edward opened his eyes, I lay down on the bed and pulled him with me, allowing him to wrap his strong arms around me in a comforting embrace. We didn't talk, we just held each other until I heard his breathing slowly become more even. Then I closed my eyes and allowed myself to fall asleep in his arms, feeling closer to him than I'd ever felt to anyone. In a private moment he'd shared his past with me, his pain, and I felt that I had brought him some comfort. It was small, but it was a step forward in our relationship. I sighed contentedly as my mind drifted and I fell into a dreamless sleep.

A/N: Hi Guys, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I wasn't sure if I had assigned the baby a gender yet, but as far as I could tell from skimming (because I'm up to 58 pages on google docs now. WOW! Right?) I hadn't. So I decided to make him a beautiful baby boy! Cause Jasper and Alice with a son is too adorable, right? Give me some thoughts and love please, I hope you noticed that I've taken this off of Hiatus! Please y'all, if you ever notice any discrepancies in my story, let me know. Preferably in a nice tone ;) I've been trying to get better but a reader pointed out my mix up in Chapter Three between Seattle and New York and I was all too happy to fix it. (This story takes place in New York, btw, just to reiterate)