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LVII .. like father, like daughter
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IT WAS BELLA'S first day back from maternity leave and it was safe to say that she was nervous. she walked over to the mirror in the bedroom and stared at her reflection as she fixed her dress. while bella got ready for work, johnny was in the living room, having breakfast with stevie. although bella was a ball of nerves, her only consolation was that johnny had managed to get the day off to stay home and take care of stevie.

bella walked out of the bedroom and into the living room where she found her husband laying on the sofa. "aw, look at you two." bella smiled as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl. "she's really taking a liking to mtv, huh?"

"it's part of our morning routine." johnny smiled as he sat up with stevie. "you look beautiful, by the way."

bella smiled and softly giggled as she served herself a bowl of cereal. "i'm serious." johnny smiled as he turned to stevie, who turned to look at him. "your mommy's really pretty, right stevie?"

the little girl smiled and let out a small giggle while bella chuckled as she grabbed a spoon. "i'm gonna miss you both." she sighed as she began to eat breakfast.

"and we'll miss you too." johnny smiled as he placed stevie down and walked over to where bella was. as bella ate breakfast, johnny placed his arms around her waist as he softly hummed the tune to heaven by warrant, which was playing on mtv.

bella chuckled as her husband softly sang the lyrics to the soft rock ballad. she laughed and turned to softly peck his lips. "you seem very happy this morning. are you drunk?"

"you're so pretty." johnny smiled as he placed a kiss on her temple. "don't sweat it, you're gonna be fine."

"are you two gonna be okay?" bella said as she finished eating breakfast.

"we're gonna be okay." johnny smiled as he placed a small kiss on bella's temple. "don't you worry your pretty little head, she'll be fine."

"thank you." bella smiled as she pecked her husband's lips as she grabbed her keys. she grabbed stevie out of her bassinet and held her, as she said good-bye. "i'm gonna miss you, baby. have fun with your daddy, alright? i love you very much."

stevie smiled as bella placed a small kiss on her forehead and handed stevie back to johnny. "alright, i will see you two for lunch. behave, okay?"

"bella, she's a good girl." johnny laughed as he held stevie.

"i was talking to you." bella smirked. "i love you both."

bella walked out of the apartment and as she got into the car, she walked back up to the apartment and opened the door. "i can't do it." bella sighed as she grabbed stevie. "i'm gonna miss her too much. maybe i should get the day off–"

"isabella, she'll be okay." johnny said. "go to work and go do your fashion stuff. i know you've missed it, so get outta here."

"fine." bella sighed as she placed a kiss on stevie's temple and handed her back to johnny. "i'll see you two later. i love you."

"love you too. i'll see you for lunch, alright?" johnny smiled as he walked bella to the door. "you're gonna be okay."

bella softly pecked his lips as she walked out of the apartment and into her car. she took a deep breath and started the car, turning the radio up.

she's gonna be fine, isabella, she's with her father.

she's gonna be okay.

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

"she doesn't do much, does she?" tommy chuckled as he held stevie close to him. "i still can't believe you have one of these."

"how's bella doing? jen told me that she went back to work today." jimmy said as he opened up a beer.

"she was nervous and kinda had trouble this morning. i think she's doing okay." johnny said as he grabbed a beer from the fridge, along with stevie's bottle. "i'm meeting her for lunch."

"where are we eating?" dutch joked as he played with one of stevie's toys.

"we? i'm only having lunch with bella and stevie." johnny said as tommy handed stevie back to johnny.

"it's cool, we weren't gonna invite you to come have drinks with us anyway." tommy joked as he walked over to the fridge to grab a beer. "we know you need your 'girl time'"

"girl time?" johnny laughed.

"you know, your time with girls." tommy smirked as he opened up his beer. "now that i think about it, you've been around girls your whole life; laura, now bella and stevie."

"he's always been a ladies man." dutch smirked as he sat down on the edge of the recliner. "your daddy's a stud, stevie."

stevie looked up at her father and fluttered her little green eyes at him, as he smiled. "you look like your mom when you do that." johnny chuckled as he reached over to grab stevie's bottle. "always batting her eyelashes at me."

"her eyes are all bella's." bobby said as he took a swig of his beer. "it's like looking at her eyes."

"y'know what i just thought of? now that johnny has a kid, if we all have kids, we can form our little army of babies." dutch said as he got up to throw his beer bottle away.

"you? having kids?" bobby laughed. "i just can't see it."

"hey, never say never, man. just look at blondie holding baby blondie." dutch said as johnny tossed a bottle cap at him.

"he's right." johnny sighed as he held stevie's tiny hand between his fingers.

"you see?" dutch smirked.

"no, i meant that i agree with bobby. i can't see you with kids either." johnny laughed as stevie let out a small giggle. "and stevie agrees."

the guys laughed as they all took a swig of their beers, while stevie drank from her bottle as well. as the guys continued watching mtv, stevie let out a small sneeze.

"bless you!" the guys said in unison as stevie giggled.

"hey jim, it's your turn to have one of these." tommy chuckled.

"not so dutch can use them for his baby army." jimmy said as he finished up his beer.

"it was just a thought." dutch said as he drank his beer. "geez, you make one suggestion."

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bella sat in a meeting and although she seemed focused, her mind wandered off. she missed staying home with stevie and taking care of her along with johnny. she ran her hands through her hair as she turned her gaze to the clock and back to her notepad, impatiently waiting for it to be lunchtime, where she would see her husband and daughter.

once the meeting was over, bella walked over to her office, followed by jenna. "you miss them, don't you?" jenna softly smiled as she sat down on one of her chairs.

"like you wouldn't believe." bella sighed. "i know she's okay because she's with johnny, but i just miss them both. i kinda miss the mornings where we would just stay in and take care of her."

"on the bright side, it's almost lunchtime." jenna smiled. "they're gonna be okay, they have the guys to keep them company."

as if on cue, the phone began to ring as bella let out a frustrated sigh and picked up the phone. "yes, anne?" she said.

"bella, hubby's on line 2." anne said, on the other line.

"thanks anne." bella chuckled as she picked up the phone. "speaking of, huh?"

jenna took a sip of her diet coke as she flipped through a folder on bella's desk while bella answered the phone. "hello?"

"hey beautiful, how's it going?" johnny smiled as he placed stevie down.

"faster than usual, but busier than usual." bella chuckled as jenna handed her a folder of paperwork. "how's stevie?"

"she's doing great. she's having a lot of fun with her uncles." johnny chuckled as he turned to check on her daughter.

"please tell me stevie's still in one piece." bella chuckled.

"she's okay. she's watching them argue over her dolls, but she's doing fine." johnny laughed as he looked over to his friends who were sitting around the floor with stevie. "about lunch, i was thinking the diner? unless you want to eat someplace else–"

"no, the diner sounds perfect." bella smiled. "i'll see you in a little bit?"

"alright, i'll see you soon babe." johnny smiled as he hung up.

bella hung up as jenna smirked at her. "you'll understand when you're married." she teased as jenna laughed.

"seeing you two with the baby makes me wanna have one." jenna sighed.

"we keep telling jimmy that it's your turn." bella laughed.

"yeah, we'll discuss this later." jenna laughed as she stepped out of bella's office.

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

"hey baby girl!" bella smiled as she grabbed stevie and held her close while stevie smiled at her mother. "oh, how i've missed you."

"and you didn't miss me?" johnny said, playfully placing a hand on his chest as if he were hurt.

"oh please, don't act so hurt." bella chuckled as she softly kissed her husband's lips. "you know i missed you."

the couple sat on opposite sides of the table as they ordered their usual. bella held onto stevie as she placed her on her lap. "so i heard you had a fun morning with your uncles." bella smiled down at her daughter as the little girl returned the smile.

"oh yeah, her uncles sat around the floor with her and played with her dolls." johnny laughed as he took a sip of his soda glass.

"the guys really sat down and played dolls with her?" bella chuckled. "i would've loved to see that."

"yeah, you also would've love to see the argument after they played dolls." johnny laughed. "you feeling better?"

"a little. i kinda miss staying home, but i also did miss the rush of work." bella smiled as she took a sip from her cherry coke.

"you see? i told you you'd miss your .. fashion stuff." johnny chuckled. "i was right."

"yeah, yeah, whatever. i guess you were." bella laughed as she poured some ketchup on the side of her plate. "so where are you both heading next?"

"the guys wanted to take her out to the beach." johnny said.

"you two are heading to the beach without me?" bella playfully frowned as she looked down at stevie who was messing with her necklace.

"you could skip work and head to the beach with us?" johnny smirked as he interlaced his fingers with hers. "i can ditch the guys and head to the beach with my girls."

"mmm, sounds tempting and the beach does sound nice right about now." bella smirked. "but i have a meeting after lunch."

"i know, you do what you gotta do." johnny said as he looked to stevie, who was looking up at bella. "i take it she missed her mommy?"

"yeah, just like her daddy, huh?" bella smiled as she held stevie in her arms, as the little girl smiled at bella.

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

it was now 10:45pm as johnny sat in front of the television, nursing a banquet. bella finished brushing her hair and changed into a short white satine nightgown before walking to the kitchen to grab a beer.

"i guess her uncles got her tired. she's been out for a good 2 hours." bella chuckled as she took a seat next to her husband on the couch. "so what are we watching?"

"not sure." johnny said as he wrapped an arm around bella. "how was your first day back?"

"it was alright. nothing new, same old routine of meetings and stacks of paperwork." bella sighed as she took a swig of her beer. "how was your day with stevie? i heard you two had a lot of fun."

"it was a good day. i did miss having you around but i know you had to get back to your routine and because you had to go back to work, i got to spend some time with stevie." johnny smiled as he looked down at bella. "and now that she's down, i get to spend some time with you."

bella softly chuckled as she pressed her lips onto his. "i missed you too." she smiled as she bit her lip. "i know you enjoyed your daddy-daughter time with her."

"i did." johnny smiled as he played with bella's hair as she laid on his stomach. "but now, i get to enjoy some daddy-mommy time."

bella softly placed her lips on johnny's as he softly pulled bella closer to his body. "i could really use some mommy-daddy time." bella smiled while running her fingertips through his torso. "isn't she gonna wake up though?"

"she's out and this won't take long." johnny smiled as he tucked a strand of hair behind bella's ear.

"that's ambitious." bella chuckled before placing her lips on his once more. the couple pulled away as bella grabbed the remote and raised the volume on the television. "make it quick."

"that's my girl."