Bella The Babysitter: Chapter 23

Bella the Babysitter

Chapter twenty three

Bella Swan POV

Edward was acting strange.

Of all the times to start acting strange he chose the week of Christmas, one of my favorite holidays.

He seemed a million miles away during Christmas Eve dinner and I often found him alone staring off into space. He barely spoke to anyone unless a question or comment was directed towards him and he barely touched his food including the coveted cranberry sauce.

I was starting to get nervous.

I had opted out of hanging out in the living room with the family while they ate their pie and instead chose to start tackling the dishes despite their pleas. Edward was so far away in his thoughts that he wasn't one of the people trying to get me to join the family for dessert.

Scrubbing dishes was something I found relaxing as weird as that may sound. I was able to lose myself in the scent of Esme's expensive dish soap and her fancy scrub brushes and sponges while the family-Edward's family laughed and enjoyed themselves in the living room. I could hear Lucas laughing and gabbing away having just woke up right after we were done eating, he was now enjoying small bites of everyone's dessert as he walked from plate to plate.

"Bella if you scrub that plate anymore you're going to take the hand painted snowflakes off." Alice said hopping up on the counter beside me and grabbing a drying towel. "Esme paid a hefty penny for those."

"Sorry." I blushed rinsing the plate and handing it over to her.

"No problem. I've got your back." she shrugged. "So what's wrong with you tonight? You seem a little distant."

I couldn't help but snort at her accusation. "I'm sorry, you're saying I'm the one acting distant? What about your brother in law?"

"Edward is a weirdo. Always has been. He has his bouts of temporary depression all the time." she explained. "But I can tell something is bothering you. You never say no to something sweet and my triple mint chocolate pie is the mother of all deserts. I made it especially for you."

"I'm sorry Alice. I just don't want to be in there. He's being weird and distant with me lately and I don't want to smother him or anything." I turned towards her. "You don't think he's planning on breaking up with me do you?"

"Oh god no Bella." she laughed. "How could you even think that? He loves you with all of his heart."

"I know but he's been pulling away and out of it for the past couple of days. What if he's just forcing himself to spend the holiday with me and then he's going to dump me or something? Did I do something or cross a line trying to make this holiday perfect? I mean it's our first Christmas together and I'll admit I might have gone a little overboard."

"Hey you can never go overboard for Christmas. I resent that comment." she chided. "You're worrying about nothing Bella."

"Am I? I mean if he didn't want to be with me anymore, would you tell me? Or would you have some kind of loyalty to him because he's your brother in law and you've known him longer?" I paced the kitchen. "Why am I even asking you this? I can't question your loyalty. Family comes first."

"That's it." she stopped me mid rant she leaned over and grabbed my face in her tiny hands. "Think about it Bella. There are two people missing from this holiday that meant an awful lot to Edward. He has never had time to mourn the loss of Vicky and James because his focus was based solely on Lucas."

My heart fell into my stomach and I immediately felt guilty. "Oh god. I'm such a dumb ass. Oh I'm such a bitch." I face palmed.

"You're neither. I could see how you could misconstrue the way he's been acting but you've got to realize something Bella. That boy loves you, more than the world. He won't ever push you away."

Tears sprang to my eyes. "I love him too. I was just scared. I've never felt this way about anyone Alice."

"He hasn't either so you're sort of perfect for each other really. It's like trial by error or some shit." she giggled. "Now let's leave the rest of the dishes for the guys to do and you come in the living room to enjoy some of my pie? You won't regret it." she sang jumping off the counter and reaching up to wipe my eyes.

"Thanks Alice." I sniffed. "I'll be there in a second."

"Alright I'll cut you a huge slice." she flitted back to the living room and I took a second to collect my bearings.

~BTB~BTB~

"Oh god I regret it." I moaned later that night while I writhed in pain.

"I warned you that the third piece of pie probably wasn't a very good idea sweetie." Edward chuckled. "Hell the second one was probably a bad idea."

"But it was so good." I groaned. "Now I'm having to pay for my bad judgment. My stomach feels like it's going to explode."

"Well yeah you crammed like three days worth of food into one sitting." he joked.

"Shut up Edward. I don't need you making fun of me." I cried as my stomach cramped again.

"Just lie down and relax. I'm sorry." Edward soothed handing me a dose of milk of magnesia.

I was about to refuse because my stomach couldn't take any more but decided to brave it hoping it would bring comfort. I took the dose like a shot before lying back against the pillows on the bed.

Lucas had fallen asleep on the way home so he was down for the night leaving a whiny me and Edward alone.

"You better feel better soon we have to go play Santa." He smiled climbing into bed next to me and rubbing my stomach soothingly. "Your stomach is rock hard."

"Yeah. At least I know how it will be if I ever get pregnant." I laughed until I felt Edward stiffen against me, his hand freezing on my abdomen. "I was joking Edward."

"Really? You mean you don't want kids?"

"I never really thought about it before. If you would have asked me a year ago I would have probably laughed in your face." I giggled resting against his chest.

"And now?" he asked curiously.

"Now that I have Lucas and I've watched him grow I can't help but want to have one of my own someday. I love that Lucas calls me momma and I can't wait to have children." I kissed his chest.

It was weird. Just this afternoon I thought he was going to leave me and now here we were talking about the possibility of more children in the future.

"What about you?"

"Lucas is my son in every sense of the word. I would love to make him a big brother. Growing up with Jasper was always fun even though he bugged the hell out of me, but I would never want Lucas to be an only child." he kissed the top of my head and began to rub my stomach again. "How many?"

"Hmm?" I asked starting to feel a little groggy in my food induced haze.

"How many children do you want?"

"Oh, I don't know maybe two or three. I was an only child and it sucked. Now that I think about it, it would be kind of awesome to have them close in age so they can play with each other and stuff. What about you?"

"I never put a number on it, I have always known that I wanted a family though. Your right about the age thing though." he rubbed my stomach. "I think you would make a cute pregnant woman."

I snorted. "Really Edward? What a way with words. Is there such a thing as a cute pregnant chick? I heard they are like hormone crazed bitches with heat flashes and cankles." 

"Vicky was a cute pregnant chick." he stated burrowing his nose into my hair. "She was tall so she didn't show for almost the first six and half months but then one day she called me wailing that she was the size of a house. She bought the cheesiest maternity shirts when she started showing, the ones that have the arrow pointing to her bulge and shit."

"Keep talking." I whispered.

"She had heat flashes. James would joke that their bedroom was like an igloo after she made him buy and install a window unit. She ate the weirdest stuff though. I remember coming over for lunch one afternoon towards the end of her pregnancy and being served peanut butter on crackers with bean sprouts on top." he chuckled. "James was trying to be supportive so he would eat the things she craved but I couldn't do it. I ended up ordering a pizza that she ate half of."

"That sounds disgusting. If I'm ever like that I promise I'll never force you to eat my disgusting concoctions." I giggled and noticed that he stiffened again.

"You want to have my babies?" he asked softly still burrowed into my hair.

"No I want to have the hobgobblin's babies." I laughed. "Why are you acting so weird. I love you. I could only picture myself with you. I could only picture having your babies."

"I love you too." he whispered pulling away. I could tell he was feeling a little emotional from his red rimmed eyes so I leaned up and kissed him before hugging his body to mine tightly.

"We'll have it all Edward. I promise, we'll make them proud."

~BTB~BTB~

Edward held onto me all night. I'm not sure but I think he might have cried at some point. When I woke up, the neck of my shirt where he always nestled his face was a little damp and not from drool. I didn't push him when he became a little distant once he woke up. He ran downstairs to put out the rest of Lucas's presents and requested that he be the one to go get him when he woke up and started calling out for the two of us.

Instead I went downstairs and started a batch of muffins for us to munch on before we headed over to Esme and Carlisle's house. I also started a pot of coffee and made Lucas some fresh orange juice before I heard them making their way down the stairs.

I gave Lucas a kiss good morning and handed him his sippy cup (We were starting to transition him away from his bottle) before we made our way to the living room.

Most of the presents were at Edward's parent's house, but we wanted to have an intimate Christmas morning just the three of us before heading over there. Lucas's eyes were wide and he started gabbing away at the sight of the Christmas tree, something he did every time he saw it. Edward and I had went a little overboard on the first Christmas tree, a huge eight foot tall monstrosity covered in bright almost fluorescent colored bulbs and blinking lights complete with a giant star on top.

"Merry Christmas baby boy." I cheered giving him another kiss as Edward set him on the floor.

We sat next to the tree and watched him tear into the gifts furiously giggling when he uncovered what was inside all of the wrapping paper.

All together it lasted about ten minutes before all of the gifts were unwrapped and the living room was covered in wrapping paper confetti. I snapped about a million and one pictures of Lucas riding around on his tricycle. He turned in circles like a pro before running over Edward's foot and we decided to show him something else until we could take him outside.

I gave Edward one of his gifts, a specially made notepad with the picture of Lucas that was on the cover of his first official article for the magazine. Each sheet of paper had Lucas's bright face smiling behind his pacifier, his big eyes shining brightly. I also found an antique fountain pen and thought I would add that to the gift even though Edward did the majority of his work on his laptop.

Edward gave me something that I would never willingly take off. A thin white gold chain with a small pendant at the end with Lucas's birthstone nestled inside. He told me that it was a mother's charm necklace and that as our family grew he would add new charms to it. I was the over emotional schmuck as he fastened the chain around my neck.

We didn't change out of our pajamas before bundling up and heading over to the Cullen's. Apparently it was a tradition that everyone just stayed in their pajamas while we had Christmas lunch and the present exchanging. After that the family would go off and do their own things. Edward and I hadn't made any plans so we were probably going to just come back to the house and watch Lucas play with his new toys.

Alice was out of the house and at the back passenger door before Edward put the car in park.

"Wow déjà vu much?" I laughed.

"Shut up. Merry Christmas Lucas." she squealed pulling him into the house while Edward and I just followed her.

Everyone was sitting around the living room surrounding the Christmas tree. Lucas immediately started fighting against Alice's hold at the sight of the Christmas presents underneath the tree.

"Edward restrain the baby." Esme directed. "I have a special present for him so that we can have time to uphold tradition and open the ornaments."

She handed me a large heavy box that was beautifully wrapped and I passed it to Edward who set Lucas on the floor with it. He immediately tore into it only to find another layer of wrapping paper that had bunny rabbits on it. I turned to Esme.

"I decided that would buy us some time it's all of the wrapping paper I've accumulated over the years. There's even some millennium happy 2000 in there." she laughed. "I keep everything."

She handed out small boxes to everyone except me and I started to think that maybe I wasn't part of the family or something but didn't want to say anything. Carlisle opened his, a shiny silver stethoscope with his name and the year engraved. Alice got a shopping bag, Jasper a toy soldier, Edward a quill and Esme got a small heart from Alice.

"Oh Bella, here you go." Edward said casually as he handed me a small box.

For a second I felt a little embarrassed and hurt but swallowed the feelings. I tore open the paper and opened the small box gasping at what was inside.

A clear, hand-blown glass ornament lay nestled inside the tissue paper with the words MARRY ME painted in Edward's elegant cursive. I lifted the fragile ornament with shaky fingers and saw that sitting inside the glass was a diamond ring.

Edward took the ornament from me and popped the top off, his eyes swimming with tears while my tears poured down my cheeks.

"Last night you told me that you wanted it all. Here's your chance to back out baby." he choked out. "What do you say?"

"YES." I sobbed as he slid the ring onto my finger and kissed it. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Lubvoo." Lucas squealed from where he sat with his box.