Enjoy :)

Beta'd by SarcasticBimbo

O… O

"I'm sorry, but I can't find a heartbeat."

Bella's eyes snapped open and she glanced around the dark bedroom, her heart racing inside of her chest. She realized she was safely tucked away inside their bedroom and laid back down, trying to erase the memories of her dream. Edward stirred next to her, his eyes slowly opening.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his voice thick with sleep. Bella nodded, pushing the blankets from her sweaty body.

"Yeah, just a bad dream." She needed to get out of bed and figure out what had gotten into Seth. Why would he cross her like this? Did their friendship mean so little to him? Sighing, she walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower to cover up the sound of her phone call. Bella took a chance and dialed the number that was deeply ingrained in her memory.

It rang four times before clicking over to the voicemail.

"You've reached the voicemail of Seth Clearwater-" Bella tapped the screen, ending her call. She needed to put this in the back of her mind. Today was Addy's birthday celebration and she was going to do her best to make it as normal as possible.

O...O

Bella checked on Addy, seeing her tucked away among a mountain of stuffed animals and pillows, still soundly sleeping before walking downstairs, her bare feet soundless on the steps. She had rounded the corner into the kitchen when she stopped abruptly.

"Um..." Bella took in the scene in front of her. Pink and gold streamers decorated their kitchen, swooping from cabinet to cabinet, all evenly spaced apart. A huge gold balloon in the shape of a 5 was tied to a chair at the table. Gold and pink confetti with the number 5 mixed in adorned her counters and table. There was a collection of balloons in the corner all fitting the color scheme and a pile of presents were stacked in the dining room.

"Butler?" Bella called, moving towards the dining room. She found Winston bent over a three-tiered cake, placing swirly candles around the top.

"Madam." Winston looked over at her as he straightened up, correcting his suit jacket.

"What is all of this? Did you do this?"

Winston shook his head.

"No, I assisted. Mrs. Alice dropped by around 5:30 this morning with all of the supplies."

Bella glanced at her watch, seeing it was approaching 8.

"Where did she go?" Bella was still surprised at the generosity that Alice had been showing her lately.

"I believe she left to go get a dress she had made for the birthday girl. People will be arriving at 9 for the birthday breakfast. I'll put the cake in the fridge."

"Birthday breakfast...?" Bella's question hung in the air as Winston left to put the cake away.

"Oh yes, birthday breakfast," Came a melodic voice from behind her. "It's a Cullen tradition. Birthday breakfast, it kicks off a full day celebration." Bella turned around, finding Alice standing in her dining room.

"I wish someone would've told me about all of this." She found herself struggling with the sudden irritation at having her entire day thrown off. And at her husband for failing to mention this tradition his family apparently had. Alice smiled and handed Bella a rectangular box.

"Here's the birthday girl's dress. If you want to go get ready, I can handle the rest of this."

Bella looked down at her jeans and long sleeve shirt. She was under the impression she was ready. It was only then that she noticed Alice was wearing a fitted dress and heels.

"Sure." She nodded. "What else needs to be done though?"

Alice's eyes widened for a second before looking behind her.

"Well the bounce house will be here soon and it needs to be set up in the backyard. Esme will be arriving with the food which will need to be heated, prepared, or arranged. We also have a carousel coming and people should start filtering in around the time that's up and running."

"Alice," Bella could feel herself paling. "Isn't this a little excessive? It's just going to be Addy and Emmet's boys. There are no other children."

Alice's eyebrow lifted for a second as a slow smile spread across her face.

"Oh, Bella. He really didn't tell you anything." She took a deep breath and ran her hand over Bella's shoulder. "Don't freak out, but this is a party for the entire family. There will be many people here who work for Carlisle, most of whom have several children. I think at the last party, if my memory serves correctly, there were 21 kids. That wasn't family, that was a birthday party for the child of a guard. This is the Princess's party and everyone will be here to impress Edward."

Bella's stomach turned.

"I think I need to go get Edward."

Alice nodded and disappeared into the kitchen just as Esme came in through the back door.

"Hello dear!" Bella heard her voice float through the house as she greeted Alice. She took the chance to disappear upstairs in search of her husband.

Once she was safely in their bedroom, Bella placed the dress box on their dresser and walked to the bed. Edward was still soundly sleeping on his stomach, his arms under his head without a care in the world. Bella had the sudden urge to drag him out of bed and toss him out the window.

She looked at the scars on his back feeling a tug at her heart. How could she do this with him for the rest of her life? Constantly be in a state of worry every time he walked out the door. Her fingers traced the marred flesh, moving over the raised scar from where she stitched him up the first time years ago.

Edward rolled over onto his back, smiling up at her.

"Good morning."

She could feel herself smiling and the irritation melting away from her body.

"Good morning." Her voice was light and she glanced over the scars on his chest, her smile faltering a little. Edward pulled her onto his chest, kissing her forehead as she relaxed into his body.

"You're up early."

"Yes, well I guess we're getting too comfortable because your sister-in-law and butler were moving all around the house this morning getting ready for Addy's party."

Edward tensed beneath her.

"Yeah," She nodded, looking up at him. "Did you forget to mention something about the Cullen birthday bashes?"

Edward laughed.

"Well," His green eyes moved from her to the door and back again. "Possibly. But in my defense, I had no idea they were going to do this given the unique situation we're in."

"And you didn't think to ask?"

"It never occurred to me, no." He shook his head and Bella groaned, dropping her head to his shoulder.

"Edward, what am I going to do? I have no idea how to do … this."

"It's just a party, love. You'll do fine."

"A party where everyone is going to be sucking up to you because you're the next in line and where the current head of your family, your father, hates me."

"Ah, don't worry about Carlisle. He'll get over himself soon." Edward stretched beneath her, groaning softly as his muscles pulled.

O...O

"Addy, I need you to sit still so I can finish your hair." Bella smiled, trying to contain the bouncing of her very excited daughter.

"I wanna go downstairs now!" She pouted, crossing her arms as her big eyes glanced out the window, the top of the bounce castle visible to her young gaze.

"You can't go until your hair is brushed, so if you'd sit still, we could get done faster."

She huffed, showing signs of her father as she begrudgingly agreed to sit. Bella ran the comb through her curls, watching as they pulled straight and then sprang back into form. She pulled some of her hair back and secured the matching bow Alice had brought over. The dress was nothing short of girly, a pink glitter top with a gold, flowing tulle skirt. Addy was in love the second Bella had opened the box to show her.

"Make sure you thank your aunt Alice for the dress." Bella called after Addy as she took off down the stairs.

Aunt. The word sat heavy on her tongue.

Bella could hear the sounds of people chatting and laughing downstairs, their joyous voices carrying up the stairs. Edward walked out of the closet wearing a light gray suit and a white shirt, the vest sitting tightly against his toned body as he attached his cufflinks.

"You didn't want to wear pink?" Bella smiled.

"Unfortunately, there is no pink in my closet." Edward laughed. "But I did find a tie with gold accents." Edward picked up the suit jacket and pulled it on, his eyes moving over the form fitting dress Bella had put on.

"You know, the party is just about Addy, we could be late." His hand drifted up the back of her thigh, disappearing beneath the hem of her dress.

"And have your mother come in during the middle of it?" Bella laughed and pushed his hand away. "No thank you."

"You had to ruin it by talking about my mother." Edward grimaced, straightening his jacket.

"Maybe we can sneak away at some point." Bella smiled, lifting up to place a kiss on his mouth.

O...O

Bella stood on the patio watching the small frame of her daughter bounce up and down, left to right, and back again as she squealed and laughed. She was momentarily worried that Addy would lose the eggs and pancakes she had earlier consumed.

There were so many people in her house that she'd never met. Men older than Carlisle who had slicked back hair, thousand-dollar suits, and pinky rings; fitting the stereotypical idea of a mafia man. Boys as young as 14 with messy hair and ill-fitting suits, fighting over each other to talk to Carlisle and Edward.

"How are you doing, dear?" Esme's voice came from behind Bella. She turned and smiled at the woman before turning her attention back to Addy.

"I'm well, Esme. How are you?"

"Oh, I couldn't be happier." Esme was radiating next to her, the smile permanently in place on her face. "My family is all together for the first time in years." Esme looked over the yard where children ran and laughed, jumping in and out of the bounce house, riding the plastic horses of the carousel. Everyone seemed so happy and Bella also felt that happiness somewhere inside of her. It had become easier since "coming out" with Edward in the paper. She knew there were FBI agents crawling over every bit of evidence they could find, trying to turn it into something. She knew Jacob was out there somewhere, plotting. But she couldn't find it in herself to care in this moment.

"Let's go get lunch started, shall we?" Esme asked, taking Bella's hand and leading her inside. The smell of a tomato sauce simmering on the stove hit Bella as she stepped into the house, causing her stomach to churn. She took a deep breath, her skin breaking out in a sweat as she turned away, trying to get a breath of fresh air.

"Isabella, are you okay?" Esme's hand pressed against her cheek and Bella nodded. "You look positively ill, dear." She directed her towards the stairs, stepping into the powder room situated by the front door. Bella leaned over the sink, running the cold water over her hands as she tried to keep her breathing even. "Oh dear, have you told him?"

Bella's eyes shot up to meet Esme's smiling face in the mirror.

"No." She shook her head, pressing her wet hands to her face.

"Was this planned?"

Bella laughed.

"I would not plan for this right now. Not in the middle of everything going on."

"Love, life cannot be put on hold forever and this isn't going to change. There's always another investigation, another family, another person trying to make thier way. We just move on and live our lives, and trust that our husbands know what they're doing to keep the family safe."

Bella nodded.

"I know with what happened you don't want to get him excited, but you know Edward will be over the moon."

"I know." Bella smiled. She had never been worried about how Edward would react. The man wanted a lot of children. He once told Bella he'd have ten kids if he could, which she immediately shot down.

"Let's go, I have something that will settle your stomach for the day."

O...O

Bella stood next to her husband as Addy tore into her presents, squealing and saying thank you with every tear of the wrapping paper. Tissue paper and destroyed wrapping paper sat around her like a throne. Bella smiled watching as Addy jumped up to climb into the chair at the head of the table where her massive cake sat. Winston lit the candles and they all sang Happy Birthday to her while the flames bounced off her skin. Addy's smile never left her face, blowing out the candles in one breath and sticking her fingers into the frosting as she pulled them out. Winston cut her a large slice and then disappeared to the kitchen to divide the rest of the cake onto plates.

The kids all crowded around the table eating cake and touching all of Addy's new toys, excitedly exclaiming what this one does or how that one lights up. Bella and Edward disappeared into the living room with most of his family. Rosalie was sitting in a chair by the door, bouncing her sleeping son as she scrolled through her phone. Emmett and Rosalie had a son who was four years older than Addy, the age Bella and Edward's first child would've been. They had a second son three years later, and then two years ago Rosalie found out she was pregnant again, with another boy. Carlisle often asked Edward when he was planning to have another child.

The Cullen men were nothing if not fertile and between Edward, his brother, and six cousins they had at least 18 kids. That first night that Bella told Edward she was pregnant she thought she'd be okay; it was just her ribs that had been kicked. But the following day they rushed to the doctor and found out that there was no heartbeat. Bella threw herself into work, not wanting to focus on the grief that would eat her alive. She hadn't even wanted to be a mother, but now the option had been ripped away from her. It took almost four years for Bella to come around to the idea and they had only tried for a month when she found out she was pregnant with Addy. Fearful that it would end the same way, Bella hid the pregnancy from Edward for almost four months. She didn't want to keep this one from him, but she had just found out two days ago and was still processing the idea of having a second child. Bella knew it would be different though; this time she wouldn't be so alone, the baby would be surrounded by family and she'd allow herself to be happy. She'd let Edward be excited without trying to tear him down for his elation.

Edward sat next to Bella, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and she melted into his side, smiling up at him. He leaned down, pressing a kiss to her lips before directing his attention to the man standing in front of them. The man smiled, holding out a pink envelope with Addy's name across the front. Edward took it, speaking in Italian as he placed the envelope next to him on the couch. The man leaned down and kissed Bella's cheek before walking away.

"What just happened?" Bella asked, glancing at her husband.

"It's just a gift for the family." Edward smiled and started to talk to his brother. Jasper was sitting to his left, his legs stretched out across the floor as he laughed. Bella watched as Alice came in and sat on his lap, leaning into his chest. It was odd to see so much affection between Edward, Jasper, and his father with their wives, but she never saw so much as a long glance from Emmett towards Rosalie. She was beautiful and came from a good family, she seemed to love Emmett, but Emmett never seemed to return the affection.

Addy came running into the room with Emmett's sons Vincent and Leo.

"Can I stay the night with Vinny and Leo?" Addy asked, climbing up into Edward's lap.

"I think you're all staying with Nonna and Papi tonight." Edward smiled, hugging her small frame. Her eyes lit up as she looked at him.

"Really?"

"What?" Bella asked, tensing up against him before sitting up straight.

"It's tradition, baby." Edward replied easily and Bella could feel her irritation at continually having these 'traditions' sprung on her. Bella looked over at Esme who was carefully watching her, a small smile on her face.

"It'll give you and Edward some alone time." She whispered and Bella knew what she was hinting at.

Bella nodded, leaning back against the couch as more men stopped by, giving Edward envelopes with Addy's name written across the front, speaking in Italian too quickly for Bella to catch it. It didn't take long for her to realize there was money tucked away in the envelopes. These men were trying to stay in Edward's good graces for when he took over. Bella looked over at Rosalie, seeing the way she stared at Emmett made her heart skip a beat. Emmett was completely oblivious to Rosalie and had she not been a complete bitch to Bella over the last several years, she might've felt worse for her.

Bella stood up and walked out the front door, standing on the porch to take a deep breath of fresh air. Their new house was tucked away in the woods, miles from the city with cameras and motion sensors installed all around the house. Bella took note of the countless cars decorating their drive and the surrounding area, her eyes scanning the tree line out of habit. Maybe one day she could relax, she could feel at peace as Esme does. Maybe one day she could forget about the danger awaiting her family at every turn, but that day was not today.