"The Indies First Time Writer Challenge" One-Shot Contest

Title: Special Delivery

Pen name: midnite serenade

Primary Players: Bella/Edward

Rating: T

Word Count: 3138

Disclaimer: not creative enough to come up with my own characters,

so I borrowed Stephenie Meyer's

To see other entries in the "The Indies First Time Writer Challenge" contest, please visit the C2: .net/community/The_Indies_First_Time_Writer_Challenge/74097/

Edward walked out of the NICU running his fingers through his hair and scratching his scalp. He sighed as the exhaustion that accompanied the loss of adrenaline began to overtake him. He was in his third and final year of residency at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Despite his growing exhaustion, Edward was walking on sunshine. Not only did he have a fulfilling and rewarding career, but he was married to the love of his life – his soul mate, and they were expecting their first child. He was lying down in the on call room hoping to relax and rest for just 30 minutes. Good luck, he thought to himself. His rotation in the NICU had him thinking about Bella and her pregnancy during any downtime he had. This was no exception.

His beautiful Bella is a humanities doctoral student at Northwestern in the process of writing her dissertation analyzing the representation of the divine feminine in the mythos of aboriginal tribes of the Pacific Northwest. When he referred to Bella as beautiful, he wasn't just meaning her body. She had a beautiful heart and mind, as well. He knew that she would be a phenomenal mother. Bella, a mother. The thought of it brought joy to his heart, while the accompanying thought of himself as a father scared him. Bella was due to deliver their first child within the next few weeks. Edward could hardly believe they were about to welcome a wonderful addition to their family. As he took the very few minutes he would likely have alone to relax, he reminisced over Bella's announcement to him that she was pregnant, feeling like it was only yesterday.

Edward returned home after having spent 36 hours on call at CMH. There was never anything better than having Bella in his arms after long hours away; he had to be with her. He found her in the den pouring over her research. Sensing him, Bella stood from the desk and jumped into his open arms. They stood holding each other and lavishing kisses upon one another for an indeterminate amount of time. Bella squeezed and slapped his backside telling him to take a shower then climb into bed. She would give him a massage to help him relax after he cleaned up.

He exited the master bathroom to find candles glowing and soft jazz playing in the bedroom. His beautiful Bella was sitting on the bed reading her tattered copy of Jane Eyre. She looked up at him and smiled. "You are so beautiful," she said taking in the sight of him wearing nothing but the towel wrapped loosely around his hips. She patted the bed instructing him to lie down. He approached, dropped the towel, and lay down on his side so he could admire the love of his life.

Bella leaned over and kissed him: on his lips, then his neck, his lips again, and then just in front of his ear, whispering "lie down on your stomach."

Although he could feel the beginnings of an erection and was more than willing to see where more kissing would lead, he acquiesced, kissing her as he rolled on to his stomach. Bella reached over for the warming massage oil she had taken from the nightstand while he showered. She leaned forward and began kissing him. First the back of his neck, his shoulders, down his spine between his shoulder blades, and on each of his shoulder blades. She moved her lips back to his spine, continuing to shower kissed down his back.

"Ahem," Edward cleared his throat. "Bella, beautiful, although I would love you to continue what you're doing, if you do, it will quite literally be impossible for me to remain on my stomach."

"Sorry Baby," Bella smiled into his back.

"Trust me love, there is absolutely no need to apologize. I'm quite enjoying it, in fact. But, if you'd really like me to stay here like this, you really should stop," he sniggered.

Bella leaned forward to kiss the back of his neck and behind his ear. "Okay sweetheart, let me massage away the past 36 hours."

She poured some oil into her hand, rubbed them together, and proceeded to massage the tension out of his shoulders. Once those muscles were relaxed she squeezed more oil onto her hands and rubbed his upper back along his spine, shoulder blades, and sides. She continued on to his arms and hands. Bella put another bit of oil on her hands and returned to his back. She slowly kneaded the muscles in his middle and lower back, paying special attention to his lumbar region when he called out as she began circling her thumbs along his lower spine.

"Oh, Baby!" Edward called out as she proceeded to put pressure on the exceptionally tight muscles just above his hips. "I had no idea how sore my lower back was until you began working it."

Edward was roused from his daydream by his pager as Angela, one of the NICU nurses, knocked telling him a two day old was about to be brought in.

Bella could no longer sit at her computer for long periods of time. After working for about a half an hour, she needed to get up and walk around for a little while. Her lower back could only take so much sitting. As she paced her home office rubbing her lower back and thinking about the baby, she recalled the evening she told Edward she was pregnant.

Edward had returned home after a 36 hour shift at the hospital. She remembered his reaction as she massaged his lower back. What she wouldn't do for a lower back massage right now. He moaned and sighed as she relaxed the muscles around his hips and lumbar region. As she continued down to his legs she realized he had fallen asleep.

Bella took that time to make dinner and prepare her announcement. She prepared Edward's favorite dinner – pot roast. Once it was in the oven she washed her hands and prepared the little gift she had for him. She cut off the end of the pregnancy test stick and wrapped the stick in plastic wrap making sure the positive result was easily visible. She then placed it in a gift box and covered it in wrapping paper decorated with storks.

Bella was pulled from her memory as she felt the baby moving around. She stroked her belly basking in the joy and excitement she felt about having a child with the man she loves beyond words. Bella was feeling tired and decided to take a short nap before returning to her research. A smile crossed her face at the memory of Edward opening his gift.

"What is this for, Love?" Edward asked as Bella removed his dinner plate and placed the gift before him. "Storks, huh? Are we expecting a special delivery?" he deadpanned.

"Just open it," Bella sighed, hoping to give nothing away in her tone of voice.

He continued to examine the wrapped box.

She stepped behind his chair, draping her arms around his shoulders, kissed his ear and whispered, "Just open it, Edward. Please."

Never being able to resist when Bella kissed his ear, Edward carefully removed the paper. His eyes popped wide and his jaw dropped when he opened the box to find a positive pregnancy test stick.

"Bella . . ." Edward was flabbergasted; he was at a complete loss for words. He had only been joking about the special delivery. Bella hadn't been off her birth control pills for very long. They had expected it to take a year or so for her to conceive, not a few months.

"Congratulations, Daddy. We're having a baby," Bella whispered while tears welled in her eyes.

"We're having a baby," he repeated.

He then took Bella in his arms, lavishing kisses upon her. They spent the night loving each other every way they could.

Bella was awakened from her nap by the sound of her phone on her nightstand. Seeing it was her friend Rosalie, she answered.

"Hey, Rose."

"How are you feeling this afternoon? Would you be up for a trip to Panera for a bagel and some tea?"

"That actually sounds good. Give me about a half an hour and I'll meet you there."

"See ya in a half an hour then. Oh, and Bella, I'll be bringing my new neighbor, Alice."

"Ok. I'll see ya both in a little bit. Bye."

Bella took a quick shower, towel dried her hair and put it up in a pony tail. She dressed in a pair of dark wash maternity jeans and a purple cowl neck maternity top. She then slipped on a pair of black suede ballerina pumps detailed with multicolor stones. Putting on some mascara and a little lip gloss, she headed for the door realizing she was running late once again.

Bella arrived at Panera about 10 minutes late. She got a bagel and a cup of water then scanned the room for her friend. She found Rose and whom she assumed to be Alice. Walking up to them she apologized profusely. "I am so, so sorry. I swear the harder I try to get out of the house on time the later I end up being. Please forgive me."

"Nothing to forgive," Rose smiled. "We understand your duck waddle slows you down."

Bella stuck her tongue out and Rose and laughed.

"Bella," the small dark haired woman called, "I'm Alice. We just moved here from Ohio. My husband, Jasper was just hired as an Assistant Professor of history at DePaul. I run a design business from my home. We are so excited to be living in the Chicago area. Having met Rose and with what she's told me about you, I'm sure I'm going to love it!"

"Nice to meet you Alice," Bella said.

"Well, sit down preggers and join the conversation. Alice was just telling me how she knew she was going to marry Jasper the first time she saw him." Rose stated. "You have to tell her about the first time you met Edward!"

"Ah, Rose," Bella blushed.

"What? Is it bad?" Alice asked.

"I just thought he was a major geek the first time we met."

"Oh come on, Bella, tell her the whole story," Rose prodded.

"Ugh!! Alright. We met at the very end of my junior year at Northwestern.

"My cousin Jake and I were sharing an apartment in Skokie. His friend Seth came over a lot. I had the biggest crush on Seth. He hardly knew I existed. One evening Seth stopped by to work on a bio-chem research project they had. There was a third member of their project group who came along with Seth: a certain auburn haired senior named Edward. All three guys were part of the Interdisciplinary Science Program at Northwestern. I mean just the fact that they're in that program makes them geeks, right!?" Bella snickered.

"Seth though, seemed mysterious to me. He was always fashionably dressed and he didn't speak nerd. On top of that he was cute as hell. So there's a knock on the door and I answer it. There stand Seth, whom I can't get enough of, and the new guy.

"They couldn't possibly look more different. Seth stood about 5'10"; he had short dark hair, deep dark brown eyes, and tan skin. He also had very well defined muscles. Edward, Edward, Edward. He was several inches taller than Seth, about 6'4"; his auburn hair was a mess of cowlicks and looked in serious need of a trim. He had bright emerald green eyes that peered out through his black framed coke bottle glasses. He was fair skinned and well toned, but not muscular.

"I, of course, was all smiles because Seth was there. He introduced Edward and I invited them in. The weird thing was I couldn't keep my eyes off of Edward. I watched him as he worked with Jake and Seth, while they were eating, and when they played GameCube. I kept telling myself he's such a geek, yet I couldn't pull my eyes away from him. It was ridiculous!"

"So how did you two get together?" Alice wondered

"Our place was supposedly the best place for the guys to get together and do their research, so they were over a lot. Edward always made an effort to talk to me. Over time we became friends. He would call me and talk about 'stuff.' Every now and again he would slip in some kind of innuendo; ('I'm lying here in my bed while we talk; you could always come join me.') I would either just ignore it or play along. Before long I considered him my best friend and things just progressed from there."

The three women had talked for quite a while when Bella noticed the time and excused herself to head home. She needed to get as much of research done as she could before the baby arrived.

Edward was doing rounds in the NICU taking time to talk to the parents who were there. He had spoken about Bella to Mrs. Newton previously, so he wasn't taken completely off guard when she asked how he and Bella met. Though he merely told Mrs. Stanley they met at in college through a mutual acquaintance, the question got him thinking about the first time he laid eyes on his beautiful Bella.

Edward loved Bella like no other. She brightened his life and lightened his day. He often wondered how he ever got so lucky to have found her. It was quite serendipitous that he was assigned to be part of the group her cousin, Jacob, was in during their bio-chem class together.

Seth, the third member of their group and an old friend of Jake's, met him just outside of the Jake's building – a four flat. As he knocked on the door, Seth mentioned Jake lived with his cousin Bella. The moment she opened the door, Edward knew he was in love. Ok, maybe not in love. But the beautiful woman who answered the door completely took his breath away. He turned to Seth and mouthed, "Wow." As he watched her saunter off to get Jake, he leaned over and told Seth, "I think I'm really going to like this project."

"The project or the company?" Seth sniggered.

"She's beautiful," Edward whispered.

"I guess so. She's a sweet girl, but not my type."

Jake entered the living room where the two guys were waiting. They sat around the coffee table talking about how they would go about completing their research. While Jake and Seth discussed the literature and research design Edward's mind kept wandering back to the moment when Bella opened the door. He was yanked from his thoughts by Seth and Jake's laughter.

"Hey Edward, you with us buddy," Seth laughed.

"I think Bella may have caught him in her stun ray," Jake guffawed.

Edward apologized and turned his attention to the research project. Although before doing so, he promised himself he would get to know the beauty who answered the door. And that he did. Each time they worked on their project at Jake's, Edward made an effort to have a conversation with her. He eventually felt bold enough to call her. Their conversations were easy and often laced with innuendo, on his part anyway, though she didn't seem to mind. (If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?)

Bella's abdomen had been aching all afternoon. She finally felt like she did enough work for the day and decided to spend the rest of the evening relaxing, in hopes that all she needed was a little rest. As she stood from desk she felt a sharp pain on her pelvic floor and felt trickle down her leg. Alrighty then, she thought. After calling her midwife, who told her to head over to the birthing center, Bella called Edward.

"Dr. Cullen speaking"

"Hey there Dr. Love, it's time to have a baby."

"What?! You're joking, right?"

"No, sweetheart, my water just broke. I'm about to call Rose to take me to the birthing center."

"Ok, I'm on my way as soon as I can get out of here."

"Hey, Edward."

"Yeah, love?"

"I'm scared."

"Oh, my love, you'll be ok. I just have to hand my cases off and I'll be out of here. I'm coming to you, love. You are a strong woman. You and our little girl will be well. Call Rose, honey. I'll call you back as soon as I get in the car."

Sitting in the birthing tub together was an intimate experience for Edward. He had never felt closer to Bella than he did at that moment. He sat in the tub with Bella leaning back into his chest, both of them rubbing their hands on her protruding belly. He hummed quietly into Bella's ear to help her relax.

"Do you remember our first kiss, baby?" Bella asked.

"Of course I do," Edward responded as he kissed Bella's shoulder. "I was terrified. I already knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I wasn't sure how strong your feelings were toward me. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hide the depth of my feelings when we kissed. I thought for sure I would scare you away; I worried that you would find me obsessive or something."

"I had been thinking about how it would be to kiss you from the first time you called me on the phone. Just the night before you kissed me, I started to wonder why you hadn't yet. I started to wonder if you didn't love me as much as I loved you. Then I had that 'Shoop, Shoop' song going through my head: 'If you wanna know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss.' I was determined that if you didn't kiss me soon, I was going to take matters into my own hands. Or maybe lips."

Bella paused and smiled. Gazing up into Edward's emerald eyes while tears began to fall from hers, she continued "when you did kiss me, I knew you loved me as much as I loved you. So much changed with that kiss. Once I understood that you loved me so deeply, I knew I could give every part of myself to you and trust you to care for me as I cared for you."

Edward lowered his head and sweetly kissed Bella on the lips. She leaned back into his chest and relaxed before she felt another wave of contractions coming on. Twenty-two hours after entering the birthing center, their first child Carlie Elizabeth Cullen was born.