Jasper led me into J's office. His secretary April was staring at us, wondering, from her blush when I caught her at it, whether Jasper and I were together. I supposed it was the obvious conclusion as he'd introduced himself as Jasper Cullen and she knew I was Bella Cullen; it just wasn't hard to imagine the leap. Jasper and I had clothing on that had met Alice's standards and had passed inspection with flying colors. Jasper had dark slacks on with a cream colored turtle neck, partially concealed by a pale gray jacket. I had untraditional Cullen clothing on. I had dark slacks on, like Jasper, but that was where the similarities ended. My crisply pressed white button down shirt was covered by my hyacinth blue sweater, very close to the shade of blue of my Junior Prom dress. Edward loved me that color, so I wore it whenever I could. My white trench coat was folded over my arm and I fiddled with the pearl necklace I wore, another hand me down from Edward's biological mother. The secretary marveled under her breath over our perfect pale skin, while probably wondering what we did that made us look like we needed a solid week of sleep. Jasper and I had hunted yesterday in preparation of our trip, but we already had lovely bruises under our eyes.
"Mr. Jasper," J said, beads of sweat immediately beginning to trickle down his face, his heart rate increasing.
Jasper nodded courteously, and said, "I'm sure you remember my sister in law, Bella."
"Hi ya, J," I smiled; J had helped me with some of my emergency plotting…planning. I held out my hand and shrinking under Jasper's stare, he shook it. Jasper settled himself into one of J's armchairs, and I took the seat at his side.
"Bella," J began. At Jasper's glare, he corrected himself; sweat now pouring from every pore on the poor man's face. "Mrs. Cullen, it is a pleasure to see you again."
"J, I have no problem being called Bella," I smiled mischievously at Jasper and he shook his head in mock disapproval at me. In a tone too high and soft for J's human ears to hear, I added, "Soothing," to Jasper reminding him of my description of him to J. It got on Jasper's nerves still, I knew, from the scowl he sent my way.
"J," Jasper began, "Bella and I are here because we need three new passports and two new driver's licenses. We'll pick them up in two weeks."
J calmed slightly with business to do. "Yes, Mr. Jasper, Ms. Bella." I thought that it was a reasonable compromise; Jasper seemed to find it more appropriate.
"The first will be Jacob Ephraim Black, the same as for Jacob Wolfe. The second is Renesmee Carlie Cullen." He spelled her name out for J who was writing furiously on a legal pad. "Same details as Vanessa Wolfe. The third is for Bella. Isabella Marie Cullen. Age Nineteen." I shot him a look; I was not nineteen, I died and was re-born at eighteen, as I constantly reminded my family. J gave me a calculating look. I could almost see the thoughts turn over in his mind, 'if Bella is nineteen and her daughter is five, she must have been fourteen when she had her'.
Jasper finished his monologue after twenty more minutes of dictation. J's hand had to be cramping up, and I gave him a look of sympathy. I was anxious to get back to Edward and my baby. "Bella," Jasper murmured, reading my emotions. He calmed me down and waited for J to finish.
I'd told Jasper in the car that I needed a private word with J, so we'd agreed he would get the car while I said my piece.
"J, Bella and I decided that she would be in charge of our further interactions with your practice, due to how well she says you cooperated." We'd gone rounds over this until he'd finally given in. He was very cross about it, muttering things like "it's your funeral" and "Volturi". "Do not try to pull anything over on her or there will be…" Jasper paused as he considered how to word his threat, "very unpleasant consequences." The words were vague enough that J wouldn't guess what Jasper meant. "J, do you remember the stats on Emmett?"
"Yes, Mr. Jasper."
"Well," Jasper said, shifting to stand, "Bella beat him at arm wrestling." J looked at me in absolute shock. I pursed my lips; very annoyed with my brother. "I'll bring the car around Bella. J." Jasper nodded at our unscrupulous little friend and left. The relief on J's face would have been the tiniest bit funny if it wasn't entirely sincere.
"Now, J. I want you to forget all that Jasper just said about the arm wrestling. It is completely unnecessary information. Anyways," I sighed and pinched the bridge of nose. It was a habit of Edward's I'd picked up. "J, I…I am tremendously grateful to you for your help. I hope we can work well together in the future."
"Of course, Ms. Bella."
"Bella is perfectly fine with me, J." I smiled serenely and placed my purse on the chair as I slide my coat on. Retrieving it, I put my hand out for J to shake. "See you soon J," I said as I left. I glided gracefully out of J's office and got into the passenger seat of my birthday/turning present from my husband, a cherry red Ferrari. I didn't usually drive it; the good people of Forks would be all aflutter. As my father, Charlie, was the chief of police, it wouldn't do for him to hear from the town gossipmonger, Mrs. Stanley, the mother of my former classmate, Jessica, that she's seen me driving a Ferrari. Charlie would ask me whether I let Renesmee in the Ferrari, to which I'd have to answer yes. I was never a good liar, and I'd only gotten marginally better after becoming a vampire.
"Have a nice chat, Bella?" Jasper asked as he maneuvered the car out of the parking lot.
"Yeah, he's a nice man, but a little misguided I think."
Jasper chuckled.
I smacked his arm, lightly, and said, "Stop laughing at me! It's not funny." I pouted.
"Bella, you're treating a hardened criminal like he's a wayward puppy. I don't know if Alice could have predicted it." He laughed some more while I slumped in my seat from embarrassment.
We passed a store and a little blue dress caught my eyes, "Jasper pull over." Quickly doing as I requested, Jasper pulled to the side of the street into a rare parking spot.
"Bella, why'd you want me to…?" He trailed off as he caught my emotions. They were probably the same as Alice on a shopping spree, because he groaned and tapped his head against the steering wheel.
"Five minutes. Promise, cross my heart," I informed him. "Just looking to see if they have something for Nessie." I walked in, careful to cover my neck with my hair. Walking into that store, I imagined I looked like a business parent. I went to where I saw a cluster of blue dresses from the window. I quickly flicked through them looking for a 4T or 5T. Renesmee could wear either, though whether she'd get much use out of it was the question. I looked at the price tag and grimaced. It wasn't at all bad by Alice or Rosalie's standard; I'd probably spend less than a tenth on this dress than they'd even consider spending on a single shoe. I brought it to the counter and the sales girl rang it up.
"That'll be two hundred seventy five dollars and sixteen cents," announced Kara. I wordlessly handed over my petty cash credit card. I signed for it and took the dress, sliding the card back into my wallet. I rushed out and slid into the car as Jasper counted under his breath.
"290…291…And Bella is back in the car. Under five minutes, Bells, that's impressive." I smiled as he peeled out.
He looked like he was concentrating hard on something. "What is it, Jazz?" I'd quickly picked up his nickname.
"I was wondering whether I could borrow Renesmee tomorrow or Sunday." I knew it was supposed to be a question, but it didn't sound like one.
"Ahh… She's going to La Push to spend time with the packs and the girls, along with Charlie, Billy, and Sue tomorrow, but she's free on Sunday." I trusted my family explicitly. Jasper wouldn't let anything happen to my baby or he'd be facing my wrath…along with Edward's, his wife's, my in law's, Jake's, Rose's, Em's, Charlie's Billy's, the Clearwater's, the Uley's, Quil's, and Embery's, not to mention Jake's sister, Rachel, and her fiancé Paul. If Jasper didn't do a bang up job protecting my baby, there would be hell to pay. "Why?"
"I want to get Alice something for Valentine's Day, and I know she'll peek. I want to surprise her." I saw the love in his eyes and made a mental note to tell Alice that she was a lucky girl, just not lucky as me. I had Edward, and that had been more blessing than my insignificant self deserved. Having Renesmee was whipped cream and a cherry on an already wonderful future. Now, I don't know what I'd do without my baby. Jasper continued, "Renesmee is a blank spot for Alice and while I know it frustrates her, it might be the only way for me to surprise her. If you wouldn't mind lending me Nessie for the day, I could really work her blind spot to my advantage. I'd take her out for ice cream after," he added, inspired.
Nessie still didn't know what to make of ice cream. She preferred a more traditional vampire diet, but Edward and I had started the crack down last week. No more human blood; she was going to drink what everybody else in the Cullen family did. Charlie had given her the first ice cream cone, and the look on her face was priceless. I wish I'd had a camera, so someone other than Edward could see it. She took a taste to be polite and she blinked, trying to figure out what tasted good about it and what didn't. She didn't like strawberry, too fruity, but she did, for reasons that escape me, love this cotton candy ice cream that had made me sick even when I'd liked ice cream. I'd shared the story with the family, and we'd laughed while sighing with the tiniest bit of envy. If we had stomachs that accepted human food, and we'd gone to an ice cream factory, the place would be cleaned out in less than ten minutes. Nessie had dared Emmett to eat some and being Emmett; he tried it and shuddered in distaste. He'd spent hours feeling like hell.
Jasper refocused me, "So Bella can I?"
"Yes, of course. But make sure you get her cotton candy." She'd vomited some of the other flavors up, and Edward and I had been out of our minds, convinced she was dying even when Carlisle had told us not to be worried.
"Thank you Bella," he said, fervently grateful.
I shook my head, "Just don't forget the ice cream, or she'll spill the beans to Alice."
We drove home in companionable silence, each of us thinking. I didn't know what Jasper was thinking, but I was thinking of Edward and my baby. I'd been so happy since I was turned, right before had been very stressful, except for the month we'd though the Volturi were going to slaughter us after Nessie was born. Jasper was smiling, so he was probably thinking of Alice, which always made him happy. How could thinking of Alice, my beloved sister, ever make somebody unhappy? Unless of course she was trying to drag you on a shopping trip, then it's every vampire for herself. The happy principle could be applied to every member of my family.