"Better?" I asked Bella as she stopped crying.

"Yeah." She answered, her voice wobbly.

We were still in my car outside the Pancake House. Our infant was fast asleep, and our comforting hug had finally ended. She sniffled as she attempted to dry her face with her shirt sleeve. I couldn't help myself as I moved her hand and replaced it with mine.

Our souls were in the right place. That much was evident as I cupped Bella's face in my hands and wiped her tears away with my thumbs. I gently brushed underneath her eyes, down her cheeks, and along her chin. My left thumb grazed her ruby red lips, she closed her eyes, and parted her mouth ever so slightly. I froze for a minute. She opened her eyes, and her gaze was on me.

Her eyes locked with mine were too much. I dropped my stare, letting my eyes linger on the sensual curve of her lips. The thought of leaning forward and kissing her was at the forefront of my mind. Why was I focusing on her lips and having these thoughts when I was trying to be good? I didn't know.

Never before her had I ever known how it felt to be so powerfully attracted to someone.

Gathering up all my willpower - which didn't feel like much - I dropped my hands from her face and straightened up in my seat. I sat there raking a hand through my hair. I was trying to figure out how to form words again, so I could suggest we go have breakfast before I did anything she didn't want. I was so overwhelmed with the urge to kiss her that my mind had forgot how to string words together and command my mouth to open and speak. I couldn't do anything other than stare out the window, while running a hand through my hair to calm me down.

Bella's heart was racing and so was her breathing. She seemed to be nervous, but I wasn't sure why. When I turned to her to see if she was all right, it happened. Bella leaned over and kissed me!

Caught off guard, I didn't move. Her lips were soft, warm, and covered in cherry lip gloss. It didn't matter how long we had been apart; her kiss was familiar and something I craved. So was the feeling of her fingers in my hair, my hands wrapped around her waist as I kissed her back. Gently at first, then more urgently. Before we could get lost in our kiss a thought popped into my brain, making me question things I didn't want to. Coming back to reality, I reluctantly withdrew my lips from hers and held her at arm's length.

Bella sat there, a bewildered expression on her face. "I thought you wanted to kiss me." She said, sounding hurt.

"More than anything." I confessed.

"But…?" She sensed it was coming.

"I don't want to take advantage of a damsel in distress." I half joked.

Bella laughed. "You wouldn't be taking advantage of me." She rolled her eyes. "Because I want this too. I want you."

My dead heart soared with her spoken words. After all the pain and suffering I had caused her, she still wanted me. Peering into her chocolate brown eyes, trying to not to get lost in them; I searched her irises for what words could not say. Thankfully, I found honesty and no hesitation.

"What changed your mind?" I had to know. Then quickly, I added, "Don't get me wrong, I want you too. I love you and always will, but what changed your mind about us just being friends for now?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's too difficult to be friends with someone I love the way I love you. That's why I decided to press my lips to yours. I'm hoping to continue from where we left off in Forks before you called it quits, I mean. I miss that. I miss us. So, do you want to stop being 'just friends' or what?" She asked.

I answered her with a sudden wide grin.

"The truth is I wanted to kiss you last night when we were in the woods, but I resisted. I needed time to process everything." She explained rapidly.

"Understandable." I nodded in agreement.

Bella bit her bottom lip, then released it. "I wasn't sure how much time, but I did plan on trying to hold off for six months at least and–"

"What a horrible plan." I interpreted her with a laugh. I had my doubts she could have resisted me for that long.

Bella gave me a mock scowl. I laughed again.

"Well, that was my plan." She continued, fiddling with her thumbs. "But being around you isn't easy. It's too difficult to say you're my friend when I want you to be my boyfriend just like old times. I hope I didn't wait too long though."

I saw the fear in her eyes and knew words would do little in this moment to reassure her. I would have to show her how I felt. Therefore, my only response was to cradle her face in my hands. Her heart was pounding as she shut her eyes.

Silence washed over us as I moved forward. My lips pressed lovingly to her forehead, then each brow, her nose, and each cheek. Her breath was shaky as my lips found their way to her right ear, I whispered, "Bella, I love you. Always." She shivered from my cold breath, and she sighed at my words. I pressed my lips under her ear, kissing down her jaw line, skipping her mouth and working my way up the left side of her jaw. I treated this - kissing her face - like it was an art form, and maybe it was. Or at least it should be.

Her pulse was rapid when my lips finally found hers. Her fingers wove in my hair, and it seemed she was trying to keep me there; though I had no plans to move. Kissing her again was Heaven on Earth. I wanted this to last for a long time.

Our kiss began real slow and sensual; I was conveying all my love for her, and she for me. I could feel all the love she was pouring out to me. She pressed her chest to me in an attempt to get closer as I devoured her. Between our passionate kiss and her body so close to mine, my pants were becoming tight.

Enjoying every minute of this I began to deepen the kiss. I parted her lips with mine. A soft moan escaped Bella's lips and landed in my mouth. I groaned, deep in my throat as my tongue softly stroked hers. This felt so good and true. It also gave the illusion that no time had passed, that we were never apart.

The feel of our kiss, is the way I remembered it. The way it always was.

In no time at all my hand found its way to the hem of her shirt; my other one rested on the small of her back. Slowly my fingertips trailed up her abdomen, passed her rib cage until they sneaked under her bra. She moaned and shivered in pleasure as my hand cupped her breast. I gently squeezed it and felt liquid spray out of her nipple. Not wanting to pull back or stop kissing her, I used my shirt sleeve to dry the liquid before she pushed my hand away. Seconds later, my hands were roaming her back and sides. She was thoroughly enjoying everything I was doing, I know because I caught the first scent of her arousal. Everything but her disappeared. She eagerly moved her lips with mine as one of her hands left my hair and went down to my lap. She cupped the bulge in my jeans in a very sensual way as she moaned and frantically kissed me. Her actions earned a growl of pleasure from me. It was low and deep in my throat; much more animalistic than human, because I'm not human.

A noise, a cry from the backseat jolted us out of our lustful state. Immediately, we parted and looked at one another. Both of us were breathing hard.

"Baby, what's the matter?" Bella said to our son without turning around. She took a deep breath and smoothed out her shirt. She was trying to compose herself, though it wasn't working well. Her breathing was too fast.

Anthony cried and his thoughts filled me in.

"I woke him up when I growled." I began to explain to Bella. My inessential breathing was fast, and my words were rapid. I wasn't sure she was able to understand me. I took a deep breath, trying to slow my unneeded breathing and continued to speak. "He was scared and spat out his pacifier. It fell and he isn't able to see it. That pacifier is all he's concerned about."

"Oh." Bella said.

After apologizing to my baby son for waking him up, I turned around and searched for what he needed. It didn't take me long to see that his pacifier had landed outside his carseat next to the seatbelt. I grabbed it and put it in his mouth. He began sucking on it like there was no tomorrow. He really loved that thing. Seconds later, he was sleeping.

"Do you realize we were back where we started?" Bella asked as I sat back in my seat.

"What do you mean?" I wasn't following what she was getting at.

"The night I think Anthony was conceived, we had started making out in your car, in the front seat. Our actions were almost identical to now. The only thing that's different is we didn't end up in the backseat. And well, it's daylight." She cleared up what she had meant. "Remember that?"

"How could I forget?" I answered her question with one of my own. My hand found hers and our fingers interlaced.

"I think Anthony and his misplaced pacifier helped us out before we could get too carried away." She said as a blush quickly colored her cheeks.

"Saved by a baby." My words were sarcastic, making her giggled.

Great. We had an infant and yet, we both wanted each other intimately. How could this not get complicated or result in another pregnancy? I didn't know. But according to my father -who told me the night before- birth control of any kind was no match for the venom-based sperm we male vampires have. Feeling that wasn't something I should keep to myself I told Bella everything I knew on the topic. Right when I was finished explaining it to her she let out a horrified gasp.

"What? Was it something I said?" I wondered.

"No." She shook her head. Her hand cupped my cheek trying to turn my face.

She wasn't strong enough to move my head so I turned to where she wanted me to look. My breath got caught in my throat as I took in the sight she wanted me to see. Across the lot was a middle-aged couple, a man and his hugely pregnant wife and their children. Four boys and two girls, all under the age of six, was my best guess.

"Six children and another one on the way?" I heard myself say. My words were panic stricken as my mind processed the hard and fast truth, without a way to prevent pregnancy that could be us.

"I can't do that." Bella sounded terrified. Her thoughts seemed to be on the same wavelength as mine. "You have to think of something because I don't want to get pregnant any time soon. And I definitely don't want that many kids." Her eyes stayed on the huge family as they walked in front of my car and toward the restaurant's entrance.

"I couldn't agree more." I swallowed hard.

Seeing that big family was frightening to us in a way. Maybe it was because we had almost reached the point of no return only minutes ago; just as we had eight months ago. However, one thing was different than it was back then; the backseat was occupied. We are parents now.

Bella's stomach rumbled. She had human needs and the longer we sat here they weren't being meant.

"Love, let's go get breakfast." I said, letting go of her hand.

"Sure." She agreed.

I got out of the driver's seat and went around to her side. I opened the door for her, then I opened the backdoor and released the the seatbelt from carseat carrier, and hoisted it out. Bella grabbed the large diaper bag, but I insisted on carrying it. She handed it to me as she shut the doors.

Hand in hand we walked across the parking lot, and into the restaurant with our sleeping child in his infant seat that I held. A friendly waitress at a wooden podium grabbed two menus and showed us to a booth. A second later she brought a wooden highchair over and set it upside down. I was clearly confused as she explained I was supposed to set the baby seat on top of it. Even though I was able to see the image in her mind of what she was instructing me to do, it didn't make sense to me.

"Is it safe?" I asked, not about to place the infant seat on the highchair until the safety was confirmed.

"Yes." The waitress's tone was reassuring. 'He's a very protective father. Like a lion with a cub'

Her unspoken words were on point. The more time I spent with my son, the more I felt my protective instincts kick in. They were heightened, as were all of my other feelings due to my vampiric nature. Maybe in some ways I was more like a lion with his cub than a human with his child. The hard and fast truth was, I wasn't a mortal, even though I pretended to be.

Bella took the diaper bag from me and placed it and her purse on the bench seat of the booth and came over to me. Her hand caressed mine as she took the infant seat out of my hands. She placed it on the upside down highchair.

"He'll be fine." She placed a kiss on my lips and sat down.

"He won't fall?" I had to ask before my anxieties were able to get the better of me.

"No." Bella and our waitress answered in unison.

I sat down, scooting the highchair next to me. They seemed to be so sure he wouldn't fall, but I wasn't. Therefore, if anything should go wrong I wanted to make sure I was right there to catch him. After all, I had quicker reflexes than Bella.

Our waitress took our drink order and quickly brought us two glasses of Mtn. Dew. They were both for Bella, but no one needed to know that. Nor did anyone need to know I ordered a similar plate of food as Bella; just in case she wanted to try what I ordered. I hoped she would, since I didn't want to pretend to eat it all only to have to cough it back up later. However, I did plan to play human and eat a little since I was out to breakfast with the most beautiful girl in the world.

Over pancakes and Mtn Dew, we talked and laughed for hours as Anthony slept. Bella told me about their sleepless nights, and how she filled the time when she was forced to be up; reading. She read a lot of children's books aloud to our son each night. Not just picture books such as Good Night Gorilla and Love You Forever, which were two of his all-time favorites. But she also read chapter books such as Charlotte's Web and Because of Winn-Dixie to him. She said was currently reading The Littles series to him. Due to their sleepless night last night, she was already on the 5th book she had borrowed from the shelter's library. As she lifted her fork to take a bite of pancake, she explained she brought the book along. She had it in the diaper bag in case he became bored, and she needed to read to him.

I was in awe of her impressive choice of literature for our son. Where most would stick to picture books for an infant, she did not. Her philosophy was: reading to children even before they are able to understand words teaches them how to associate books with love and affection.

It was a good philosophy, one that I shared too. As I thought of books to add to our son's reading list our conversation changed. It weaved in and out of a few topics before landing on one that tugged at my unbeating heart; Bella finding out she was pregnant. She had told me the night before she was thirteen weeks along when she finally found out, but I needed to know more than that. Thankfully, she agreed to tell me everything I asked. The reasons she told me she had suspected she might be pregnant was more than one missed period, a swollen belly, not feeling hungry for food but craving blood.

I cringed at the thought of Bella drinking blood. She saw my reaction and reached out for my hands.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." She reassured me.

My eyebrows knit together. "Of course not." I tried to keep the sarcasm in my voice.

Bella rolled her eyes and let go of my hands. "It wasn't. Now, is there anything else you wish to know about my pregnancy?"

She was kidding right? There were about a million more things I wanted to know.

"Yes." I hurried to say.

"What would you liked to know?" Bella asked, grabbing her soda. "I'm an open book. Ask me anything." She took a drink and set it down, then leaned back and wanted for me to speak.

Thoughts were swirling around in my head. I wasn't sure what to say, there was so much to ask, so much I missed. Playing human, I picked up my glass and took a small sip of Mtn. Dew. Bella's eyes were on me when I removed my mouth from the straw and placed my glass on the tabletop. I looked at her, we were silent. It took me a minute to compose my thoughts into words.

"When your suspicion about being pregnant was finally confirmed. How did it feel knowing you were carrying our love child?" I wondered.

Bella stared at me deadpan. A second later she said, "Love child?"

Her tone made the words sound foreign. I nodded my head.

"Edward, what decade do you think we are in?" She stared at me like I was a six eyed alien. Slowly, she shook her head. "You know it's not the 1960's, right? No one uses that phrase anymore."

I chuckled nervously. "Guess that makes me sound old, but it's something I want to know. What were your thoughts when you were aware you were going to have a baby out of wedlock?"

Bella blinked, but didn't speak.

Guess that statement made me sound older than Bella too. But in truth I was. As best as I tried, I didn't always know how to sound like a modern-day teenager, because I simply wasn't one. Luckily, I didn't have to pretend with Bella. Nor did she pay any mind to my old-fashioned speech.

"Honestly?" She asked and I nodded. "Scared. I was scared."

Not knowing what to say, I froze. Picturing her frightened had me feeling horrible. It was my fault she had felt like that in the first place.

"Don't worry," Bella said, registering my facial expression. "Even though I felt that way I was happy to have a piece of you with me. It made loving you more real."

"It did?" I swallowed hard.

"Yes." Her eyes filled with emotion. "It also made me scared to death. I didn't know it was possible, and I sure didn't know what to expect. I was also frightened to tell my dad. I never thought he, Billy, or Billy's wife Sara would act the way they did. The way everyone was so against me having your child, I became even more protective of our baby. I wanted to do everything I could to make sure I had a healthy baby, even if it killed me."

"Killed you?" I repeated.

Immediately, I guarded my reaction as I thought of the horrible, false legends of hybrids. The ones where the fast growing baby actually did kill the mother when he or she was born. I was thankful those stories weren't true. I was more than aware she'd die for a child if the pregnancy was too much for her. Her not living wasn't something I wanted to think about.

"Okay. I may have over-exaggerated on that part, but you get the point." She smiled so easily.

Her smile lit up her face, making her appear as beautiful as ever. This amazing woman had been through a lot, yet, she took it all in stride. What's more, she was willing to fill me in on what I missed.

"Since he is my child," - I avoided saying 'not human' or 'vampire' since we were in a public place - "were you nervous he would be more like me, than you? That people would somehow know there was something different about him?"

Her eyes danced between Anthony and me. "Of course, the thought crossed my mind more than once. Especially after I was in Nevada and the dreams started coming."

"What dreams?" I wanted to know.

Bella smiled at me thoughtfully. "Well, first, I started remembering little details that Carlisle told me about you. How you were before he adopted you."

Oh! She meant when I was human.

"And?" I prompted, wanting to know more.

"Well, he had told me you had red hair with brown highlights and green eyes. Instead of your copper hair with red streaks, and golden eyes you have now." She continued and I nodded. Even though I don't remember my appearance before I was turned, she was correct from what I've seen in my father's mind. "So, I kept trying to picture a baby, who looked like you might have back then. I think I just kept focusing on it day and night without realizing it. Then, the dreams came not long after that."

"This is fascinating." I said with my eyes on her. "What did you see in your dreams?"

A bashful look appeared on her face. "A very cute and cubby, bright red haired, green eyed baby…girl."

"Girl…" My voice trailed off, making it sound less like a question than it was.

"Yes." She said slowly. "In my dreams my… I mean our baby was always a girl. She would often sparkle in the sunlight." She dropped her voice on the last part.

I felt my eyes grow wide. "Does…he?" I asked, struggling to get out the words.

"I'm not sure." Bella shrugged her shoulders.

Well, that wasn't the answer I was hoping for. Truthfully, I was hoping for a simple yes or no.

"How come you're not sure?" I eyed her suspiciously. This seemed like something she should know. After all, she had cared for him all his life, while I, on the other hand, was just getting to know him.

"We avoid the sun." She simply answered.

"You've never taken him out in the sunlight? Not at all?" I wondered in disbelief.

Bella was shaking her head. "No. Not once in case he's more like you in that way. That's also why I stopped traveling to California and Nevada, those places are too sunny for us."

I turned to Anthony, who was soundly sleeping in his carseat. Curiosity invaded my mind. Did hybrids sparkle in the sunlight? I wasn't sure, but Carlisle would know the answer. I'd have to ask him later.

"So," Bella pulled me out of my musings. I turned to her. "Anything else you want to ask?"

"Yes." I answered automatically. "Did you see a doctor during your pregnancy?"

"Of course, I did." Bella's tone was defensive. For some reason she looked hurt.

"I didn't mean anything by that." I clarified. "I only asked because he's half of me. Were you worried that if you went to a doctor suspicion would arise and you'd have to answer questions you weren't prepared for?"

Understanding flickered across her face. Ah, yes, this was something that had crossed her mind.

"Yeah. In the very beginning." She admitted. "But with each doctor's appointment I went to, everything looked fine, I was told. Even my ultrasounds were normal. So, that was good. However, when I was twenty-two weeks along my doctor, whom I just started going to after I moved, assumed I was closer to forty weeks. He thought I missed the calculation when my last period was. I didn't want to argue with him so I just went with it."

"Why did he think you were further along than you were?" I wanted to know.

"Because Anthony was fully developed and into the birthing position with little wiggle room in my belly. Poor kid had no room to move and wanted out." She explained.

"When and where did you give birth?" I asked, wishing I could turn back time.

"Believe it or not, three days after my appointment. I was using the bathroom and all of a sudden my water broke." She blushed.

"Were you nervous you were about to give birth on a toilet?" I asked, my tone making me sound younger somehow.

"No." She admitted. "I was in a state of shock. At that point, I didn't know my water broke until I realized I was leaking water. I had heard a pop, but just assumed he bumped my pelvis with his hard head."

"That happened? His head would hit you?" I asked in bewilderment.

"Yes. Head, hands, feet, elbows and knees." She clarified so easily. "It wasn't until after my water broke that the labor pains started. Then, I knew that pop wasn't a part of his workout routine."

"Oh," I blinked.

That wasn't how I had expected her to go into labor. Well, I supposed with Bella there could have been other - unconventional ways - this could have happened. At least, this wasn't anything that put her in the line of danger.

Bella broke through my thoughts as she told me the next part; her going through childbirth alone. Well, she wasn't all alone. There was a worker from the shelter she had been staying at during that time, as well as a resident, a girl a couple years older than Bella. The girl who had a two year old and a four month old had become good friends with Bella and was the one to talk Bella into getting an epidural when no one else could.

"Why didn't you want an epidural?" I asked. At this point our waitress cleared our nearly empty plates away. "Isn't that necessary for labor and delivery?"

Bella gave me a sheepish smile. "Guess you forgot, I don't like needles." She reminded me.

I let out an exasperated sigh and refrained from rolling my eyes. "That's not something I forgot about you. You've always disliked needles."

"And the one they use in this case is HUGE!" She explained. Using her hands to demonstrate the length of the needle, she placed them in front of her about 12 inches apart. "It was massive. One that I did not want anywhere near me, but I finally gave in."

"How long did it take you to give in?" I wondered, wanting to know every detail of this topic.

Anthony snorted in his sleep. Both of us turned to him, despite him sounding like a bull for a second, he was sleeping peacefully.

"Well, I was sort of preoccupied and wasn't keeping track of the time," She said with a musical laugh. "I was in labor for 18½ hours. I'm told I went through half of that naturally."

Imaging Bella enduring intense pain, even for a second, made my throat go dry. How I wished I could have been by her side for those long excruciating hours and witness the birth of our son. But I couldn't because I left her all alone. Although all of that was in the past it hurt me.

"Of course, you did." It took effort to keep the tone of my voice light, as well as my mood. I didn't want to brood over things that already happened and couldn't be changed.

"I was determined to have a natural childbirth experience." She took a drink of her soda and set the glass down. "One of the nurses told me 'good for you' though I'm sure she thought I was nuts. Either that, or she had a memory problem because she left the room not long after that and returned a few minutes later to check to see how much I was dilated, and she asked if I would like an epidural. I was in pain and snapped at her. I really wanted to do it without any medicine."

"You're so stubborn. Of course, you'd be willing to endure childbirth without pain meds." I smiled and shook my head.

Bella narrowed her eyes at me. If there was one thing she disliked more than needles, it was me pointing out how stubborn she was. I couldn't resist, I teased her again.

"You know, your flirting is sometimes more like schoolyard teasing." Bella's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"What can I say? You bring out my inner child." I couldn't help but laugh.

"That's unfortunate." She rolled her eyes.

I guffawed. She frowned.

"Anyways," She said in a faraway tone. "He was born on the 5th of October. He weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and was 19 inches long. He was perfect, even though he had a conehead; his head got stuck in the birth canal. The doctor had to use a plunger type thing to help him out." She reached out to Anthony and rubbed his head lightly. Then she touched his foot. Still asleep, he kicked her hand away. He didn't want his feet touched.

My eyes were on my sleeping son. His head was in a perfect shape now. So how could it have been oddly shaped at birth?

"He had a cone-shaped head?" I asked in disbelief as my eyes met Bella's.

"Unfortunately." She sighed, her lips creeping up in a playful smile. "For the first two days of his life beanies didn't fit him correctly. More or less he resembled a traffic cone. Thankfully, his head rapidly molded into its normal shape and size."

"That is very good his head didn't stay that way." I said and quickly added, "By any chance do you have pictures from when he was born and when you were pregnant?"

"I do. Just not on me." She replied. "They are with my stuff in my room. I will show them to you later. Just remind me if I forget. Okay?"

"I won't forget." I promised.

"Great. I'm counting on your long lasting memory." She grinned.

I gave her my lopsided smile and her heart raced. I felt the need to touch her and I guess she felt the same. Looking into each other's eyes everything seemed to disappear. I leaned over the table at the same time she did. Like two magnets we pulled together until our lips met. It was just a peck, but it was so meaningful.

When our kiss ended and we settled back into our seats my eyes darted to Bella's enlarged breast. Right away, I remembered Anthony attacking the bottle when I fed him his breakfast. As adorable as that was, in a vampire kind of way, I knew it wasn't a normal human response. Normal human babies didn't attack their meals, which made me think of something else to ask about my son.

"Since his birth have there been any changes that would make anyone raise an eyebrow?" I asked as gently as I could, avoiding any key words.

A thoughtful expression flickered across her face. Her eyebrows pulled together and I could tell she was deep in concentration. Even though I couldn't imagine what she would need to focus on for so long, I gave her time. I sat quietly, waiting for her to answer my question.

"Not at first," she finally said, "but when he was three weeks old, and we were at the other shelter that's about three hours from here, he did something out of the ordinary."

My mind exploded with endless possibilities as my throat went dry. "What happened?" I choked out.

"Well," She began a little hesitantly. "I do my best to care for him, even though I'm not like you. Therefore, I treat him like a normal baby." She paused.

"I wouldn't expect anything less." I reassured her and urged her to continue.

"Nevertheless, there are some differences," she went on. "Such as his strength..."

I nodded my head. "Yeah. I noticed he's able to hold his head up on his own and reach for objects. He actually honked the horn in my car when you were in the shelter."

"He does stuff like that a lot." She said, her heart pounding. "It's impressive to me, but odd to other people. I try to avoid him having contact with everyone because of that."

"That's understandable." I took a deep breath. "So tell me, what made you leave the previous shelter?"

"One of the staff members was holding him. We were in the TV room. I was on the couch talking to a younger girl, who was asking for my advice on something, I can't remember what. Anthony was in the arms of the staff member, who was rocking him in a rocking chair. Everything was fine until he started playing with her hands."

I got getting a sick feeling in my stomach on where this was going, I gasped.

"His little hand gripped her fingers and squeezed too tightly. I remember hearing her knuckles popping and the unmistakable sound of bones crunching before she cried out, and so did he. Immediately, I jumped up and ran to them. I unwrapped his hand from her fingers and grabbed him. She was crying and I apologized to her as other people started coming over to her to see what happened. I'm sure he broke two of her fingers, but I didn't stay around to find out." She squeezed her eyes shut. "She went to the hospital for an x-ray. We left before anyone could question me on what happened."

"Oh gosh. That poor woman." I heard myself say.

"Yeah. She was a really nice lady. I'm so sad about what happened to her." She said in a regretful voice.

Not sure what else to say, I ran a hand through my hair.

Bella sat quietly for a moment. Soon enough she collected her thoughts. When she opened her mouth to speak Anthony began to cry, softly at first, then very loud. He was awake and needed everyone to know it.

"It's okay, baby, Mommy's here." Bella said in a soothing tone to Anthony. She quickly scooted out of the booth, standing in front of Anthony she unbuckled him, and picked him up.

Anthony loudly cried in protest.

Not knowing what to do, I watched as Bella felt his diaper and understanding flicked across her face. "We'll be right back." She grabbed his overfilled diaper bag and headed to the restroom.

I sat there in the booth, my mind on everything I just learned. I twirled the straw around in my drink, making the ice clank. My stomach was uncomfortably full, and so was my dead heart and mind. I had only been planning on taking Bella to breakfast, and spending the day with her and our son. I did not plan on making out with her in my car or rekindling our relationship. Nevertheless, that's what happened. There was no regrets or complaints as I thought about the whirlwind my life was becoming: a 10th grade vampire with a massive homework load, more weekly counseling sessions than one should be allowed to have, a forced spot in the Drama Club with rehearsal three days a week, and a tight-knit family, who worried about me. Plus, a girlfriend and a baby to complete my existence.

Beautiful chaos was a term that popped into my head when Bella returned to the table. Anthony was still crying and Bella appeared out of sorts. She was also wearing a different blouse and Anthony was in different clothes, too. This baffled me and had me inquiring about the wardrobe change. Bella explained the reason our son was now dressed in a sailor outfit was because his diaper was soaked and leaked on his clothes. Though she was more hesitant to reveal her own reason for a fresh blouse.

"Remember what happened in the car before we walked in here?" Bella whispered after a while. She was patting Anthnoy's back and bottom at the same time to calm him down. It wasn't working.

Being blessed with my perfect vampire recall, it was easy to remember. A smile spread across my face at the memory of us falling back into each other's arms as we kissed.

Over the cries of our child, Bella let out an exasperated sigh. "Not about us falling into our old selves." She said as if she could read my mind. "I have too much milk and it's coming out. It happens a lot."

"Oh." I tried to hide my surprise. I didn't want to draw attention to that and embarrass her.

"That's why this," – she patted the bulky diaper bag – "It's so full. Knowing we'd be out all day I brought extra shirts and a sweatshirt for me for this very reason. I also brought extra clothes and diapers for Anthony as well. Changes of clothes for him are always a must."

"That's understandable." I nodded. I didn't say anything more about her changing tops though my eyes lingered on her breast. They were engorged and I couldn't help staring.

Anthony fussed and cried. Bringing the attention back to him.

"What's the matter?" Bella patted and bounced him as panic was clear in her tone. Her eyes met mine and she said, "He's not going to quiet down, I think we should leave."

It was at this moment, I felt a tickling at the edge of my brain. It wasn't an image or a spoken thought - no definitely not either of those. This was more of a mental feeling of knowing what someone else needed. Maybe intuition might be the right word.

"I think I know what he wants." I blurted out.

Bella looked relieved. "What?"

Anthony cried, louder this time. Several people mumbled, not liking the racket he was making as he expressed his needs the only way he knew how.

I didn't answer Bella right away, I couldn't. Not yet anyway, when I wasn't sure if what I was thinking was accurate. All I could do was stand to my feet and go over to her. I held out my hands, silently asking to hold Anthony. She didn't hesitate to hand him to me. I brought him to my chest and his crying ceased.

"He wants me." My eyes locked with Bella. I couldn't help feeling amazed by the fact he wanted me.

"I see." Bella looked at me with love and gratitude.

Anthony was quiet with his head on my chest, and I was overflowing with love and protectiveness for him. He had no idea how much he had changed me since the time I met him less than 24 hours ago.

We decided we'd spent enough time in the restaurant. I grabbed the infant carrier and the check in my free hand. Bella gathered up her purse and diaper bag and we strolled to the front to pay for our meals.