I feel her relax a little so I go back to working four fingers into her.

"But my ass isn't as tight as it used to be before you started sodomizing me on a regular basis."

I can't say if she's already convinced and just teasing me, or if she's still working through this, so I don't crack any stupid jokes right now although several come to mind.

"And that bothers you?"

She thinks about it for a moment but then shakes her head, and I can feel the physical resistance give a little more. Adding my thumb again I push on, while I start rubbing her clit in turn.

"Just relax and let me in. If you feel like it's getting too much you have to tell me, but we have all the time in the world."

Bella nods again, determination now replacing the stubbornness from before, and slowly but surely I feel her relax and open up to me. When I'm sure she can take it I push a little more, not harder but more persistent, and after a minute or two the worst of the block suddenly disappears.

A loud gasp that's probably more surprise than pain leaves her when my hands slips into her up to my wrist, and I force myself to keep absolutely still. My fingers are already starting to tingle from the pressure but I know that even the smallest motion can unbalance her now. She needs time, and time is what I'm more than happy to give her. After all, once she gets over the initial intense sensation I might actually get to the part where I can do with her whatever I want to.

Her ragged pants finally quiet down but her eyes are still huge, and I can see her arms straining where she's inadvertently trying to free her bound wrists. Beth is suddenly there right next to her, her voice obviously soothing Bella even more as she keeps talking to her softly.

"Like it?" I finally have to break the tension, and bastard that I am I wriggle two of my fingers ever so slightly. Bella's answer is a loud shriek followed by her jerking her hips – although towards me and not away – which of course causes way more friction than I've intended. A rather emphatic

"Holy fucking shit!" leaves her while her whole body seems to buck as much as it is capable, before she goes slack once more. Catching my gaze she grins at me, her whole face aglow.

"Fucking amazing!"

I chuckle darkly while Beth and I share a smile, before I turn my full attention back to my beautiful sub.

"Want me to continue?"

"Please!"

And so the real fun begins.

Some women have problems climaxing the first few times getting fisted, but Bella clearly doesn't belong to them as I find out the moment I get a chance to resume a very shallow, extra gentle pace of thrusting inside of her. I immediately still when she clenches hard around me, but realize quickly what's going on when a near incoherent string of profanities alternating with apologies answers me.

I can't really punish her for being so wonderfully responsive – not that I ever planned to – so I tell her to come at will without having to ask for my permission, before I set a slightly faster pace.

What follows is one of the most amazing sessions of my life.

Not only does Bella like the sensation of my whole hand inside her, she can take it rather well, too. Before long her hesitant moans turn loud and needy, and more often than not it's her demand that makes me increase my ministrations, not my own. For once I'm happy to let her set the pace, although things get pretty scrambled once Beth and Bella start kissing again while Beth peels the rubber bands from Bella's tormented tits. I'm quickly losing count how often she's come yet, and just keep on fucking her when her cunt is relaxed enough to let me.

By the time I withdraw my hand completely for the last time Bella is a complete mess, lube and her own juices covering her sweat slicked body all over. She's happy and she can't seem to stop smiling, but as wonderful as it feels to have been the one causing all that, my balls are so blue it's a miracle they haven't fallen off yet. While Bella seems oblivious Beth of course notices the painful erection in my pants, and with a chuckle she nods over at the mats on the other side of the room.

"How about we take care of that with a nice Bella sandwich? After all it's always best to show her first hand just how much her sweet little pussy can still strangle your cock. Particularly after that workout. Don't wait for me, I still have to get my strap-on."

I'm not sure Bella is still able to walk so I just pick her up and carry her over to the mats once she's freed from all the restraints. A simple look into her face confirms that she's still horny as hell, and when I flop down onto my back her fingers are already working on the fly of my pants. I quickly kick the leather off my feet, then just lie back as she straddles me.

"Fuck yourself on my cock. Show me that you can make me come without the help of your mouth and hands."

I only need to grab my cock long enough so she can align herself properly, then I feel her hot, welcoming cunt envelope me. True, she might not be too tight right now, but even before she's fully impaled on my dick the walls of her pussy grip me hard, and with the friction of her moving up and down fast I'm instantly in heaven.

Beth joins us a short while later, after she has ditched her skirt and donned her strap-on. She laughs when I have to grab Bella's hips to keep her still enough so Beth can ease the thick, dark blue dildo into her ass, the sensation making both Bella and me moan loudly.

Fuck, but I've missed this. And judging from the way Bella is leering down at me, I'm not the only one.

Without much command from my brain my hands reach up to cup her face gently for a moment, and her answering smile nearly takes my breath away. Then I'm reaching behind her body where I can catch both of her wrists in one of my hands to keep her retrained, before I pull her down and devour her mouth. And once I feel Beth getting a good hold on Bella's hips, I start fucking her in earnest.

Tension is building up fast inside of me, and for once I don't feel bad about the added something about the sensation of my cock rubbing against another one through the walls of Bella's cunt and ass. The way she's bucking against me and moaning into my mouth only add to it all, and I feel myself start to come – when Bella grows stock still above me, a second before her whole body starts to tremble.

I have a split second of time to decide what to do, but the realization that Bella is crashing makes it easy for me. My own orgasm all but forgotten I let go of her, just when a strangled "Red!" somehow makes its way over her lips. Beth is only a little slower to react than me, and moments later Bella is huddled wrapped in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably against my chest.

Beth and I share a partly frustrated look over Bella's head, but she doesn't seem half as concerned – or surprised – as I am.

My eyes narrow at her just as Beth straightens and comes to her feet, but Bella's voice shifts my attention to her.

"Shit, I'm okay, really, I just can't

stop

fuck!"

She obviously wants to say more but the rest is swallowed by her sobs. I keep holding her while I stroke her back, murmuring to her that it's okay and that she should just let it out. Meanwhile I follow Beth with my eyes as she leaves the room, and I can't help feel a certain amount of resentment towards my former Mistress.

My brain is, quite frankly, too fried to really make sense of all of this, but I can't shut up the voice inside my head that tells me that this was, in a way, a different test for both of us. Only that I'm not sure I've passed. And the sinking feeling in my guts tells me Bella hasn't done too well, either.

I don't really get a chance to fully develop those thoughts, though, as Bella needs my attention now, and in the end she's all that counts. So I do what I can to comfort her while she bleeds off tension the only way her body and mind are able to, and after a while she stops crying. I repeatedly tell her that I understand her reaction, that it has happened to me before, that crash when everything suddenly becomes too much and is simply overwhelming, but I have no idea if my words change anything. I'm just happy she lets me comfort her and doesn't try to take off like the first time this has happened in our first week together, and after a while even the voice inside my head shuts up.

Showering together helps Bella ground herself more, although she seems oddly terse when I try to be more of a gentleman than I usually am. Beth is waiting for us when we come back out of the changing room, and as she acts as if nothing has happened, I don't approach the subject, either. We chat about what we've done, Bella even tries to crack a few jokes, but the whole atmosphere is weird and after a while we all decide it's best to leave it at that.

At least until we're in the car.

I know for sure something is up when Bella withdraws from me further once we're just the two of us again. She's fiddling with the radio, and after she tunes in to a pop music station – something Bella normally never does –

I'm finally having enough.

"We need to talk about this."

Out of the corner of my eye I see her grow still, but when I turn my head and look at her, my fingers tight around the steering wheel, she's all innocent wide eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what just happened."

She's still playing dumb, but the suddenly haunted look in her eyes gives me the creeps.

"I'm okay now. You said so yourself, sometimes you drop, and that's it. And it's been an awful long time since my body got such a thorough workout from all sides like that."

I don't respond to that – I don't think I need to when she bites her lip hard –

but just when I'm about to give voice to the thought clamoring around in my head my phone rings. I try to ignore it but then realize that it's Rose's ringtone, and after a long look at Bella I pick up.

"Yeah?"

"Edward? Get the fuck over to the hospital right fucking now, my water just broke and I can't reach Em, he's at the motherfucking gym where the reception is crappy and I need you right fucking now! "

That pretty much puts an end to our previous conversation, and after making sure that she has already called an ambulance I hand Rose over to Bella so I can take a U-turn at the next intersection and speed right back the way we've come.

Part of me is glad that years of medical training pretty much wipe my personal issues from my brain, but I know that this isn't over yet. Strangely enough Bella doesn't look as relieved about the unexpected reprieve she gets, but instead seems downright miserable. Which in turn makes me wonder again if I'm not just projecting my own insecurities onto her, and this is really about something else entirely. I don't know if that's a good thing, or not.

Chapter 18

It takes us only fifteen minutes to reach the hospital, but to me at least they seem endless. Even more so that dividing my attention between the light traffic and Bella doesn't help things much.

I have no clue what is going on inside her head – of course I can guess, but I've been wrong about things that squick her before so I try to keep myself from assuming anything. I'm still glad that halfway into the trip she visibly draws herself up and gets her phone out to place a few calls. After trying and failing herself to reach Emmett she calls Rosalie's parents who live on the East Coast to fill them in that they can reschedule their planned flight from in three weeks to now. Next is Alice, a very brief call as Alice seems to be itching to get going herself. But then I see Bella hesitate, and she stares at her phone for at least a minute.

"Do you need to use mine? I think my batteries are still more than halfway full."

She nearly jumps at the sound of my voice, her reaction weird enough for me to consider turning around again and letting all the other professionals deal with Rose having her baby, but Bella sounds calm when she answers, if a little reluctant.

"No, it's fine, I was just thinking." Then she looks away from me, ahead at the road. "How much longer?"

"Maybe five minutes."

"Good."

She drags her fingers across the display, probably looking for a name in her call list, before she puts the phone back to her ear.

"Jazz? Hi, Bella here. Yes, I figured Alice would have called you by now.

Are you in the area? We can't reach Emmett on the phone, Rose said he was at the gym and I don't have their number. Can you maybe

?

Awesome, see you there."

This must have been the shortest and most cutoff conversation I've heard them have ever, and the way Bella keeps staring at the display after ending it is even more disconcerting.

"Bella?"

Her eyes flit to me but she's shaking her head in answer, a gentle but obvious rebuke. I try to decide what to do, but then keep to just trust in the strength of our relationship. She will come to me when she's ready to talk, and with a little luck we'll be out of the hospital soon anyway.

When we finally get there I take Bella around the building through the less used side entrance – sometimes it pays to have an access card – and we get to the right floor just as Rose arrives. She's hard to miss, arguing at the top of her lungs with one of the nurses already, and I have to hold back a grin. Even distressed as hell and clearly in pain Rose is a force to be reckoned with, and today she doesn't look like she's taking 'no' for an answer. I step in when things seem to take a turn for the worse, and dropping my name suddenly gets a room free where none has been ready before. I normally don't pull that card, but Rose's grateful smile when she can finally get out of the wheel chair and into a proper bed tells me it was the right thing to do this time.

"Thanks for coming so quickly. I was really losing it when I called you."

I hug her softly, then step aside so Bella can do the same.

"You're welcome. And trust me, no one really expects you to act all rational today of all days."

I get a wan smile for that, but then a wave of contractions hit her, and Rose is busy alternating between gnashing her teeth and cursing for a while.

Meanwhile her doctor enters, a woman I know from passing in the cafeteria but we've never exchanged words except for greetings. She nods at us, then starts talking to Rose in a calm voice, radiating confidence and professionalism both. I follow their exchange with only half my attention, while the rest is on Bella. Except for what I had to learn at med school about the whole birthing process I'm at a loss here anyway, and right now I'm more concerned with Bella than Rose. Eventually she notices my scrutiny and gives me those same fake innocent eyes as before. Not much I can do about that now anyway.

Rose's doctor leaves again after sending for a nurse, and we have a few moments for us.

"How are you feeling?"

Rose glares at me pointedly.

"Like I'm giving birth to an elephant! And did you hear that bitch at the reception, she told me I should stop throwing such a tantrum as I'm still in the early phase – shit!"

Even without recording the time between contractions I can tell this is less than seven minutes, and while it is entirely possible that Rose is acting a little on the dramatic side, I have to agree that she seems farther along than said Nurse estimated.

"When did your contractions start?"

"Did you even listen to any of the shit I told Dr. Holt?"

"Obviously not," I try to pacify her, and am surprised when it seems to work.

"This might sound weird but at first I didn't realize what it was. I mean I'm three weeks early, and I've been having insane back pains for days, I kind of thought it was just more of the same. I even sent Em to the gym myself because I wanted some time alone so he wouldn't get all concerned over every groan. See what good that did me?"

I keep smiling at her, and after a moment she reciprocates.

"Don't worry, Em will be here soon. Bells called Jasper and told him to pick him up and bring him here. In no time you'll be able to curse him at the top of your lungs for getting you into this."

I half expect Rose to just shrug the news off but she smiles at me mentioning Em knocking her up. Then she cranes her neck and reaches out to Bella, who takes her hand after a second.

"Thanks, B. Really, thank you."

For a moment Rose looks ready to start crying, but then she huffs and rolls her eyes, probably at herself.

"Gah, just look at me, a raving lunatic one moment, a crybaby the next! I can't wait when this fucking cocktail of hormones is out of my blood stream!"

"You're handling it pretty well. I don't even want to think of what a mess I will become when I'm pregnant," Bella replies, even offering a light snicker that sounds real.

Rose huffs as she draws her knees as close to her belly as she can manage, lying on the side as she is, and for a moment her eyes scrunch close, her shoulders shaking as she's trying to ease the discomfort.

"You'll never know! But one thing is for sure, when it's your time to be lying here I'm sure you'll manage the physical side a lot better than I do."

I inadvertently hold my breath at Rose's retort, hoping that Bella will just laugh it off, but no such luck. If I weren't so concerned about her, the way her cheeks literally drain of color would be plain comical, but as it is there is nothing funny about it. Her lips open as if to offer an answer but she only heaves two shallow breaths, then she's suddenly running from the room and I'm quite frankly too perplexed to react.

While I still try to decide if I should run after Bella or give her some time Rose clears her throat, drawing my attention back to her. She's frowning, but mostly looking confused.

"Seriously, you know how much I love insulting people but I have no idea what this is all about."

"It's nothing you did." And well, it really isn't.

Now her frown is close to that harpy look she has perfected years ago, and I give up with a sigh.

"It's something I did. Happy?"

"You sure? Because I've made the same lame joke at least ten times over the last months and she always laughed it off. I mean obviously this doesn't translate in any way to what you kinky fluffybunnies do in your free time."

I try to decide just how much I should tell her, but the longer I hold my tongue, the more she seems interested. Knowing Rose she will keep asking, never minding the company, and it's probably for the best to tell her now with just us in the room.

"I don't think she freaked because you were joking about her pain tolerance."

"But?"

It has never before occurred to me that the day would come where I feel weird about any of the things I do in the playroom, but right now, looking down at the very pregnant woman before me, something close to unease is creeping up and down my spine.

"Earth to Edward? I can't really get up and slap some sense into you right now, but I promise you, I'll find a way to get you to talk to me."

Offering a slight smile at her reproachful tone, I shrug.

"I think she's more squicked about the fact that an hour ago she had my whole hand where your kid will soon cry its way into this world."