Edward had to come, didn’t he?

I sighed as I sat in the corner of the big room that teemed with kids. Kids were everywhere. Then again, what else did I expect from an orphanage? The only reason we were here was because Edward thought that he had caught a whiff of something suspicious, so he wanted to see. Now I suspect he may have used that as an excuse to go mess around with some kids -- but he didn’t exactly get the opportunity to do that all the time, did he?

Of course, there wasn’t anything suspicous, and we ended up staying here because Edward... well, seemed to be having fun with the kids.

It was an odd sight, really. I had never imagined my pale, bronze-haired, predator, vampire boyfriend Edward to be so... well, kid-savvy. He seemed to know exactly the words to say to them, exactly how to make them cooperate. He was patient. Edward had just mediated three spats, anyways.

I couldn’t deal with kids for anything. I never really knew what to do around them, since they were always so awkward and I couldn’t think like them or really know where they were coming from. Even though I’d been a kid once -- much more recently than Edward had been -- well, did I remember?

Then again, Edward was patient, which I wasn’t. It made me dislike kids. Well, not dislike them, just dislike being around them, because I never knew what to do.

I snapped out of my train of thought when I heard Edward’s velvet voice become clear and discernible in the air.

“But Bella and I have to leave,” he insisted to a particularly clingy kid.

“Will you come back, Edwawd?”

“I’ll try,” he said with a chuckle.

We managed to escape a few minutes later, and I breathed a sigh of relief the moment we stepped out.

“You didn’t seem to like in there at all,” Edward commented.

“Not really,” was my reply.

Edward paused, musing for a moment. Then he asked, “do you dislike children?”

“Well,” I began tentatively. “Sort of. I guess it’s just awkward to be around them because I don’t really know how to relate to them right, and I don’t know how they think. They never cooperate with me... I guess I get a little impatient. I don’t know. It depends?”

“If we could, Bella, would you have children with me?”

That caught me off-guard. The prospect of having children with Edward never really crossed my mind. Sure, we were going to get married so that I could be turned into a vampire, we’ve discussed sex, but... actual children? The thought of starting a family with Edward actually painted my cheeks red with some color.

“W-well,” I stammered. “Can vampires actually --”

“I’m not sure,” Edward said, cutting me off. “But if we could, would you be against it?”

“I’m not that uncomfortable around kids,” I sighed. “I don’t really know. I guess it would depend on if that situation ever came up. I don’t think I should have a problem with creating miniature Edwards, though.”

There was a hiatus in the air before my vampire boyfriend threw his head back and burst into peels of laughter.

“What?” I demanded. “What?!”

He laughed for at least a good two minutes before he finally managed to get himself under control.

“I love you, Bella,” he said, placing a gentle kiss on my lips before we continued walking.

I still couldn’t see what was so funny.