My Hero

Joseph.

I was a little on edge when Isabella decided to have Daniel over for dinner nearly a week after he popped up at her front door. The day after the encounter, Bella decided to discuss joint custody of the baby. She was convinced that this was going to work out and I promised to support her decisions. After all, the baby isn't mine, it's Dan and the baby deserves his real father in his life. So, I honestly have no say in any of this.

When the day came for Daniel to come over for dinner, I had to spend the morning golfing with my brothers to keep from going crazy. I just had this bad feeling about Dan, so in order to keep from bringing this to Bella's attention, I had to relax and get my mind off of things.

The dinner went well, I was silent the whole time, just monitoring the events playing out before me. Daniel was a little reluctant at first, still insisting that he should have sole custody of the baby, but Isabella finally got him to agree to joint custody. Now all they have to do is wait for the baby to get here.

It's now the end of November and Bells is nearly nine months pregnant, thirty-five weeks and two days to be exact. Thanksgiving is tomorrow so she had her family flown out and we are spending the holiday with our families as one huge Thanksgiving. This is also what we are planning on doing for Christmas seeing as Bella will be right at her due date by then.

A lot has changed between me and Bella this past month. First of which being, I officially moved in with her. I was staying over so often that we decided that I might as well. Another thing is that we've become very public with our relationship. I knew that she's the one for me and I see no reason to hide it. And with that, it brings me to the biggest change: I bought an engagement ring. With the help of her sister, Katie, I picked out the perfect ring and I'm just waiting for the right day to propose.

"Um, guys, I think the crib should go on this wall across from the window, and the changing table can go under the window next to the glider," I suggested, looking over the pale blue nursery.

Being that both of Isabella's brothers are here, we decided to surprise her by doing the nursery for her. So while she's out shopping all day, we are putting together furniture, painting walls, and folding clothes. Even my younger brother, Nick, came by to lend a hand.

"That way the sun won't be shining in the baby's eyes while he's trying to sleep," I continued. "So, me and Mark can start putting to closet organizer together while you two do that? Then, can you guys get the crib bedding from the laundry room?"

Nick and Elias nodded before moving the furniture cross the soft, sand colored carpet. I grabbed a screw driver and began looking over the directions for the organizer.

"I don't see why Bells just didn't buy a dresser," I groaned with a light chuckle. "This is going to be so much work."

"Joe, I do this for a living. We'll be done in fifteen minutes," Mark laughed. "Bring the pieces in here."

I nodded and began to move the main structural pieces into the large walk-in closet. "I'll start putting together the drawers."

"You do that."

As I began working at the front of the closet, Mark was working in the back. No baby needed a closet this size, but Jake was his mommy's first and was only going to get the best.

"My nephew is gonna be on spoiled little monkey," Mark chuckled after drilling a few shelves into the back wall of the large closet. "I heard that the girls are throwing Isa a baby shower next week."

"That's great," I groaned sarcastically. "Because we really need more stuff for Jake."

"Maybe some of the stuff can go to Dan's place. Did they figure out what they actually want to do?" Mark asked over the loud whine of the drill.

"Well, they decided that for the first few months, Jake will just stay here. Dan will get him during the day on weekends. Then after he's about six months old, Dan can get him on weekends being that Bella and I have flexible schedules we can do stuff with him during the week." I sighed and looked at Mark, "Once he starts school, we'll have him Monday through Wednesday, then Dan has Thursday and Friday with alternating weekends."

"That seems complicated," Mark pointed out.

"It is, but they've met with lawyers and have it in writing. They are waiting until after Jake is born to go to court. Bella said the only reason she's agreeing to joint custody is because she doesn't want Jake to end up like Dan, but she refuses to tell me that story."

"Joe, I have to thank you," Mark told me. "Most men wouldn't put up with this."

"I know."

But some times I have to question why I am...

***

Isabella

After a long day of shopping with Danielle, Layla, and Katie, we all decided to head over to Joe's parents' house where my parents were currently hanging out at.

It was pretty cool to see that my parents got along so well with Joe's and it was even better to see that our siblings got along so well. I knew that I wanted to be with Joe for the rest of my life and the fact that our families meshed so well was a good sign.

With Daniel's family it was more like two families being forced to get along, but with Joe's family it's like everyone has known each other for years. We aren't even engaged yet and my brothers already look at Joe's like they are their own family. The bond that our parents have is special too. Paul, Joe's father, and my father, George, are like the best of friends and our mothers-- oh, God our mothers --are in sync. They are like sisters and I think they are more excited about the relationship that Joe and I share than anyone else.

"Hey, Mom," I smiled as I entered the kitchen of the Jonas household while the other girls went to the living room. I quickly pulled my mom into a warm embrace before moving to Denise, "Hi, Denise. Is there anything that you two need help with?" I asked, noticing that they were cooking dinner.

"No, sweetie, but tomorrow it'll be a different story." my mother laughed.

"Joe is already working pretty hard on the turkey. Maybe he'll let me help him tomorrow," I told the two women as I took a seat at the kitchen table. "You know, I have barely cooked since Joe moved in? He let's me help with the dishes from time to time though."

"That's Joe for you," his mother grinned. "So how are you and that little baby of yours?"

I smiled widely and stroked my growing baby bump. "We are great. I'm so close to my due date now it's great. I'm only a month away. Jake is so big now, though. I feel bad for Joe because I'm always extremely cranky and he has to deal with it."

My mother smiled sympathetically, then asked, "How are things with Dan? Joe said that you talked to him yesterday night."

"They are fine, I mean, we are just trying to get everything together with our lawyers before Jake gets here, that way when I have him we can go to court and get everything settled," I explained with a sigh. "I never wanted things to happen this way. Everything is just so hard now and that's were I truly feel bad for Joe. As if his life isn't hectic enough, he has to deal with all my drama."

"But it's all worth it," I heard the infamously sweet voice, that I've come to love, whisper before familiar arms wrapped around me from behind, his beautiful smell engulfing me in pleasure. " I love you, baby girl, you should know that."

I grinned as I saw our moms watching our actions with pleased smiles on their faces. " I love you too. So what are you doing here?"

"I knew that you were going to be here so I decided to drop by and say hi to everyone before I left." Joe's hands began to gently stroke my belly before he kissed my cheek. "I wanted to see my favorite girls."

I then watched as Joe walked over to his mother after releasing me. He leaned over and kissed her forehead then hugged my mother. "How ya Momma Maria?" He asked my mother using the nickname he recently came up with for her.

"I'm good, Joseph. You?"

He opened his mouth to speak and I knew we were headed for a long conversation. "Joe," I whined, "we were talking. It's important."

"Alright, alright," he chuckled, holding up his hands as if surrendering. "I have to go anyway." Joe then walked over to me and gently pecked my lips, "Love you, sweetheart. And I love you too, Jake," he whispered, stroking my belly.

He kissed my cheek and then quickly left, leaving me with a grin as I looked at our mothers. They both had proud smiles on their faces after watching the small scene come to a close before them. I couldn't help but let out a small giggle as I looked at the two.

"Denise, you have surely raised a great man," my mom told her as they returned to what they were doing.

"Thank you. You have quite a young lady, too. I can see why my son loves her so much," Denise replied before shooting me a soft smile.

But I couldn't help but think about how much of a burden I really was. Not only on Joe, but on his family too. I'm just like a tornado hitting their small town. I'm their natural disaster... Before I knew it, tears were filling my eyes.

"Oh, my," my mom gasped. "What's wrong Izzy?"

Before I could even put words together, the barriers broke and tears were flooding my cheeks. Quiet sobs shook my body as I wept.

"Sweetie, calm down and talk to me," my mom begged. "What's bothering you?"

"I-I'm h-having a ba-baby a-and I c-can't even t-take care of m-myself!" I wailed. "I-I'm ru-ruining Joe's l-life and I'm go-going to ruin Ja-Jake's too!"

"Oh, Izzy, that's not true. Why would you think that?"

"Because! I'm doing to Jake what Dan's parents did to him," I confessed after calming down a bit. "Look at how Dan is now! And Joe, Joe doesn't need this! Why would he want to deal with baby-momma drama? He's twenty-one!"

"Isabella, let me tell you something," Denise said as she took hold of my hand. "I know my son and let me tell you, he loves you and your baby more than life itself. I'm not going to lie and say that he likes the extra stress, but he told you earlier: It's all worth it. Just talk to him."

That's what I would have to do, but I don't know how much he's going to like the speech that I was ready to deliver...