Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to S Meyer
Thank you to all who are reading this story, apologies for some of the grammatical errors, I don't have a beta so you get stuck with a few errors here and there. Also I'm not American, so my spelling is the English way for some words.
Edwards POV
I didn't have a clue where to start looking. Hell I was 27 years old and had had more one night stands than I cared to admit. It wasn't like I went out every night looking for a new girl, it was just the whole relationship thing never appealed to me. I was a guy and I had needs that needed to be taken care of. I preferred to swoon them, reel them in with my Cullen charm, stroke their egos (and mine) with a few compliments, buy them a drink or 2 and then spend the night. Their place. Not mine. I usually left before they woke up. I did not want to deal with the morning afters. That was just too personal, it made them think and hope for more. Edward Cullen did not do more.
This was the only time I regretted not getting a number and keeping a little black book. Dammit if I had only kept a record, of who I had been with, tracking down Katie's mother would be a piece of cake. I knew that trying to find her would take time, but in the meantime what the hell was I meant to do. I couldn't look after a baby. I new just enough to take care of myself sometimes let alone another human.
"Mum? Alice?" I said looking over at my mother and sister who were sitting on the sofas talking and staring at the baby.
"Yes Edward dear" my mother replied not looking up at me
"What are we going to do? Who's going to look after the baby? How are we going to find her mother?"
"One questions at a time Edward"
"Sorry. What are we going to do with Katie?"
Alice interrupted "First we need to go shopping Edward. You need to buy a cot, and a change table, and some decorations for the nursery, and some clothes, toys, diapers, a car seat………." her voice went on and on getting faster and faster as she rattled off a hundred things that apparently I needed to buy.
"Wait, why do I need to buy all of that? And what do you mean my setting up a nursery!"
"She's your daughter, she needs all of this. What kind of father are you?"
"Obviously not a very good one" I huffed. "but she's not going to be staying here. Is she?"
"Well of course she is Edward" Esme replied " Where else would she go. Alice is right, we are going to need to set up one of your spare rooms as a nursery for her."
"Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? I mean we don't even know how long she is going to be here. For all you know her mother might be back at any second now taking her away again. And then what, all that shopping would go to waste!" I yelled. This conversation was getting us nowhere. I could see that Esme and Alice had already fully accepted that Katie was my daughter and were already planning on how our lives would run from now on.
"I can't do this right now" I said "I'm going to go and take a shower". I had to get out of the room before Esme and Alice had me turning into a girl with all their talk of babies and shopping. I made my way upstairs and went through my bedroom into my en suite. It was times like this I was grateful a had spent a fucking fortune on my bathroom. I had a dual head shower with faucets also on the walls and sides that spayed water over your whole body. I turned the water on, making sure it was hot, stripped off my still clean running clothes and stepped into the streaming heat. I turned the switch on to the massage setting and let the water pummel at my body, trying to erase the stress that I could feel building in my muscles. I don't know how long I stood there, trying not to let my mind wander to the problems that were downstairs, but as the water started to run cold I knew I had to get out and face the 2 woman and the baby.
I towelled myself off, dressing in blue jeans and a t-shit, leaving my feet bare. I grabbed my blackberry out of the pocket of my running shorts and placed it in my jeans pocket. I ran my fingers through my wet hair, trying to tame my dishevelled locks and made my way back down stairs.
I hadn't even made it into the lounge room when the most awful smell hit my noise.
"What on earth is that stench?" I cried holding my noise as I walked the last few steps of the hallway and into the entrance of the room.
"Oh we are just changing Katie's nappy" replied Alice who was kneeling on the floor with Katie lying on a towel as she proceeded to wipe gooey brown stuff off Katie's bottom.
"It stinks!" I exclaimed, still holding my noise so that I didn't pass out from the fumes that were making its way over from the dirty diaper.
"Get used to it" my mothers laughter floated from the kitchen. "Soon it will be your turn to change her!"
"Oh no, there is no way I am getting with 10 feet of a dirty diaper!" I said, from my spot in the doorway, not wanting to get any closer than I had to.
My mother came back into the room from the kitchen then carrying a bottle in one hand and a towel in the other. She walked over to Alice who had now finished changing Katie's diaper and was redressing her in the same outfit she had on before. Alice picked Katie up and handed her to my mother, who proceeded to feed her with the bottle.
"I'm not sure what her eating patterns are like" my mother said to no one in particular "but her mother left some milk formula and bottles in the bag so I thought I better feed her before she starts crying again."
I made my way further into the room, with the smell having cleared, it was now safe to enter. I walked over to my mother who was still standing with Katie in her arms rocking her softy as she fed her the bottle. I had seen babies feed before but looking down at the little girl, she actually looked a little bit cute. Her eyes were focused on Esme staring up at her from what I thought were surprisingly long lashes for a baby, but then again I hadn't ever looked that closely at babies before.
One of her little hands was holding on to one of Esme's fingers, clenched tightly around it, whilst the other hand looked like she was trying to help Esme hold the bottle. Her little mouth was busily sucking away on the bottle, whilst her little legs were slightly kicking in Esme's arms. Esme looked up at me, noticing how intently I was watching the two of them.
"Do you want to have a go?" she asked smiling back down at Katie.
"NOOOOOO!" I said emphasising the "o" "I don't think that's a good idea right now, and besides, she looks happy where she is" I said flashing my mother one of my famous grins.
"Okay Edward. But you will need to learn this soon enough" She smiled back
"Edward?" Alice interrupted "Can I have your credit card?"
"Why Alice?"
"So I can go shopping of course! We already went through this" she exclaimed waving two pieces of paper at me "Here is the list of everything we need to buy. I'm going to go over to Baby World in a minute to get everything, but I need your card to pay for it. Unless you want to come with me?" She said trying to bat her lashes and smiling sweetly at me.
"No, no that's fine" I replied walking into the kitchen to grab my wallet of the kitchen bench. I opened my wallet and took out the one card that I knew didn't have a limit on it. Not knowing how much Alice was planning on spending, and frankly at this point I didn't really care.
"Here" As I gave her the card. Her eyes lit up as she realised which credit card I gave her. She looked like a little kid on Christmas morning who had just been given everything she ever wanted. "Yay" She clapped her hands as her body bounced up and down "I'm going shopping with Edward's Black Amex!!!""Alice" I warned " That card is for the baby list, not for you to go running off to Saks and buying clothes and shoes for yourself!"
"I know" she replied back at me "But you may just be buying me a nice present on this card today. A "Thank you Alice" gift for all the things I'm going to do for you. Oh, and I've decided I'm going to move in with you for a while. At least until you have found the mother. You are going to need the help, and it looks like Katie is going to need her Auntie Ali!
On that note she picked up her bag, shoved the card and the two pieces of paper in her pocket, walked over and kissed Katie on the forehead and headed out the front door, skipping as she went.
I just stood there gaping at her as she disappeared out the door. Alice was going to move in with me? Don't get me wrong, I loved my sister, but she could be down right annoying at times. She was always energetic and very much an "in your face" girl. She was like one of those energizer bunnies, that never ran out of energy. I good thing was, she was a great cook, and after living on mainly restaurant food and take out, I knew her home cooking would be a nice change. Plus she was a OCD like myself and would always clean up after herself as she went. However I knew that once Alice made up her mind, there was no changing it. She was a stubborn little thing, so I knew it was futile arguing with her. Looked like I was getting myself a room mate.
I did feel though that Alice and my mother were getting ahead of themselves. We hadn't even had her tested to see if she was my flesh and blood, or spoken to our family lawyer and already I was going to be spending thousands of dollars on her. I guessed that if Katie's mother turned up in the next day or two, I could always return the stuff or donate it to some charity.
"Edward are you listening to me" my mothers voice broke through my day dream.
"Sorry what?" I replied
"I said, your father just texted me and he is going to pop by in his lunch break. When he gets here we can sit down and chat about what we are going to do" She said smiling as she spoke. I could see she was trying to keep a positive outlook on this whole situation.
"Okay" I nodded. Settling myself down on the sofa as I switched on the TV, determined to do something normal to keep myself occupied whilst I waited for my dad. Esme had apparently finished feeding Katie and was now sitting with her on her lap playing with her and some small toys that must have been in the blue bag. I glanced at the clock on the TV and noticed that it was already 11.45am. The morning had gone by quickly and for that I was relieved. I kept my eyes focused on the TV, switching channels between morning talk shows, some soap re runs and some old football games, not really absorbing anything that was on the screen.
Esme had placed a now sleeping Katie in her basket and was in the kitchen pottering around and making something for lunch. She had just finished bringing a large plate of sandwiches with some bottles of soda into the room, when the door bell rang.
I jumped up going to answer it and hoping that it was my dad and not another baby lying on the door step. I opened the door to find my dad, Carlisle, standing on the door step, dressed in a large black coat over his hospital scrubs and carrying what looked like his medical bag.
"Edward my boy, what situation have you got yourself into now?" He exclaimed with a chuckle. The amusement dancing in his eyes as he walked into my house. Carlisle had bailed me out of many a situation when I was growing up and going through what my parents liked to call my "experimental stage". I was a rebellious teenager, and although I had calmed down a lot over the years, every now and then my parents liked to remind me of some of the stuff I had done in my younger years. I had never however ever gotten a girl pregnant before, so this was a first.
He continued to laugh as we walked into the lounge room where my mother was busy putting the sandwiches onto plates and pouring everyone a drink. He placed his bag on the floor and then bent down and kissed my mothers cheek as she handed him a plate and a glass, before settling into one of my arm chairs. Esme handed me my own plate before sitting back with her own lunch as we all started to eat. It was obvious that everyone wanted something in their stomachs before we attempted to talk about the little problem that was now fast asleep in her basket.
"So where's Alice?" my dad asked as he set his now empty plate and glass on the coffee table " I thought she would be here."
I thought it was odd that dad asked about my sister before he asked about Katie, but he was a clever man and obviously had his reasons for how to approach the conversation that was the pink elephant in the room.
"She's taken Edwards credit card and gone shopping to get some things for the baby. There were only a few things left behind, and she decided that if we were going to look after her we needed to be prepared" My mother responded.
"Ahh, typical Alice. No matter what the situation, she finds a reason to shop" my dad said nodding as he spoke. "So, Edward. Are you going to tell me what happened this morning, or am I going to have to try and figure it out for myself?" he said gesturing towards Katie.
I relayed everything to him, from finding the baby on the door step, to the note, to calling my mum to the smell of the dirty diaper and mum feeding Katie. Carlisle kept quiet the whole time just nodding and absorbing everything I said to him before he responded. I finished telling him everything I knew and sat back, rather exhausted with having to re live the stressful morning that I had had.
"Can I see the note?" He asked. I handed him the two pages that told us all we really knew about the baby. He sat there for a few minutes re reading the two pages over and over again. Before placing them down on the table and walking over to Katie's basket and to look down at her.
"Well she certainly does have your hair Edward, and she does look a lot like you did as a baby. Even if she is a girl" He said with a smirk on his face. I wasn't sure if he was implying that I looked like a girl when I was a baby of that Katie looked like a boy. Though guessing by the look on his face it was the former.
"You should see her eyes too Carlisle" exclaimed my mother "they are identical to Edwards. She looks so much like him, she just has to be his baby" she smiled.
"Well there is only one way to find out" He said, picking up his medical bag and opening it to remove a large envelope. He reached in and removed two little plastic tubes, each containing what looked like a cotton bud. He placed rubber gloves on his hand before opening one of the tubes and walking over to me. "Open your mouth Edward" he said
"What why? What the hell are you doing with that thing?" I asked
"I'm going to take some of your DNA so that we can find out if you and Katie are in fact father and daughter. Now do as your told and open your mouth."
I opened my mouth and Carlisle placed the cotton swab in my mouth, running it over the inside of my cheek before removing it and placing it back in the plastic tube.
"Is that it?" I asked. It appeared a bit simple.
"Yes" he replied. "Now we just need to get a sample from Katie, I'll send them off to the lab for them to run the tests. I spoke to our lawyer and he is going to take care of all the paper work. It may be a little bit unconventional this way but there isn't much else we can do at this point. He is also going to speak to the authorities and report that we found Katie etc just so that we are following procedures. He is also going to recommend our family is granted temporary custody of Katie until we can find her mother and sort this out." He got out the next swab and carefully placed it in the sleeping baby's mouth, repeating the process as he had done with me. He then placed the two tubes back in the envelope, putting it back into his medical bag and closing it back up again.
I didn't know how my dad had organised all of this in the morning, whilst he was supposedly working. He was a well known man with connections all over town, and it was obvious that he and my mother had spoken this morning whilst I was in the shower or otherwise preoccupied as he appeared very much in sync with what was going on.
"Thanks dad" was all I could managed as I realised once again my father was coming to my rescue.
"Not a problem. If she is indeed my granddaughter, I only want what is best for her. And right now by looking at her features, I'm pretty sure she is your daughter." He smiled. "Now what are you doing about finding Katie's mother?"
Damn I had hoped he would forget about that part for the moment. It was bad enough admitting to myself that I had no idea who the mother was, let alone to my parents. Although they were aware that I was no Saint, I didn't think they realised just how many women I had been with.
"I have no fucking clue!" I exclaimed
"Edward! Language there is a baby here!" my mother scalded me.
"Sorry Mother. I have no effing clue!" I repeated trying to tone down my profanities, even though I was sure Katie was still asleep and had no clue what I was saying.
"Well son, I think you better start trying to work it out. The more information you can gather, the quicker we can look for the baby's mother. She is obviously in need of some sort of help by the words in her letter. I would hate to think what she is going through in order to have given up her baby, and to a complete stranger. She must be in real trouble as it's not something that anyone would normally do. The quicker we find her the better we can sort this whole situation out" Carlisle lectured me.
"I know that. I read the letter too. I just don't know where to start. It would have been a year ago that I met her, and I can hardly remember what I did last week, let alone a year ago." I replied
"Its okay son, we will sort this out. I'm also going to set up an appointment with a paediatrician at the hospital to check Katie over. We have no idea how healthy she is, and although on the outside she looks okay, I would at least like someone to check her over."
"Well in the meantime we need to get to the bottom of this. Edward, why don't you call Emmett and see if he can help you. You two spend that much time together, maybe he can help remind you what you were doing around that time." Suggested Esme.
Emmett. Shit. He was going to have a field day with this whole situation. I could almost hear his laughter now. That conversation was not going to go well.
"Okay" I grumbled, "I'll call Emmett and see if he can help."
"Well that sounds like a plan. Thanks for lunch, but I need to get back to the hospital. Edward it will take a few weeks for them to run the tests so in the meantime it looks like you are going to have to play daddy. Congratulations it's a girl!" he said laughing as he picked up his bag, bending to give my mother a kiss before walking out the door.
Esme picked up all of the dirty plates and glasses, carrying them in to the kitchen to wash up and leaving me alone in the room with a sleeping Katie. I sighed not finding my fathers jokes funny at all. I took my phone out of my pocket, pressing the speed dial and lifting it to my ear.
It rang a few times before going through to voicemail.
"Hey Fucker its me. Can you call me as soon as you get this message? I have a little problem and I really need your help."
I hung up the phone, wondering what to do now. I sat back on the sofa picking up the remote and as I started flicking through the 600 channels the phone started to ring
I make them good girls go bad I make them good girls go Good girls go bad
I grabbed the phone answering it as quickly as I could as Emmett's ring tone sounded through the room.
"Eddie" came the booming voice down the phone before I had a chance to speak
" You have a little problem hey, well I could certainly hook you up with a girl or two who could sort that out for you!"
"Shut up you idiot. It's not that type of problem. Can you come over, I have something to show you." I said pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Sure dude, I can be over in half an hour?"
"Perfect, I'll see you then. Oh and Emmett bring some beer, I have a feeling we are going to need it."
I hung up the phone, leaning my head back on the sofa and closed my eyes. Now all I had to do was wait until Emmett arrived, hopefully with a few answers as to what and who I was doing a year ago.
Song Lyrics: Good Girls Go Bad Cobra Starship
Please note that running a paternity test isn't as easy in real life as it is in my story. I have chosen to ignore some of the legalities to make it easier to write. it's the same with the legalities of finding a child. All of this is not possible in real life, but this is the law in my world so I'm sticking with it!
My aim is to have a new chapter up every 1 - 2 weeks, however I have a few busy weeks ahead in real life so apologies in advance for any delays.
We will get to Edwards search for Katie's mother soon, but coming up next Uncle Emmett comes to visit…..
Please review J
