All normal disclaimers apply. Special thanks to a great bunch of girls who help make us readable: Jess2002, Sarah, Anna and Savannavansmutsmut

Family Services

Chapter: 4

After what happened last night, I am moving all my stuff into Bella's today. I have already called both Mrs. Cope and Jessica. I informed them both of Renee and James turning up, and my immediately moving in.

Between the three of us we have a plan set up already. Jessica will be taking Bella and River to the same place her drug test was performed, where a DNA test will be done. We are well aware that James is the biological father of River, but we need him to implicate himself. DNA testing set up through DHSH can take a little longer, and during this time James will not be able to come into contact with River.

It will also give us and Charlie time to set up criminal charges against him. Thankfully the state of Washington does not have grandparents' rights. That means it's fully at Bella's discretion right now, as to who has contact with River. Renee and Phil won't be able to gain the ability to see River, even through the court system.

The only thing that's at the back of my mind is the fact Renee was so sure of herself. I am pretty sure she has something up her sleeve. I'm just not sure what.

"Dada."

I smile looking down at River. "Hey, baby girl."

"Nana," she says, giving me a smile and gripping her hand repetitively at me.

I chuckle and nod my head at her. I pick her up and walk with her into the kitchen. I put her in her highchair and pick up a banana. I peel it and cut it into chunks and place it on her tray. "You eat any more of these, and you're going to turn in to a monkey."

"Mo—kee," River giggles.

I chuckle and nod again. "Yes, a monkey, ee-ekkk-aaahhh-eee-eekk-oooh-oooh," I say. She looks at me strangely as I make the monkey noises. I smile and start acting like a monkey as I make noises at her again. I laugh when River starts to giggle.

A flash of light makes me turn my head, and I see that Bella is holding up my cell.

"You did not just take my picture, did you?" Bella gives me an innocent look and shakes her head. I raise my eyebrow at her and cross my arms over my chest to show I am not falling for it.

"Okay, I recorded it and sent to your mom and Emmett."

I pale and look at her.

"Mo, Dada, mo—kee, Dada," River chants.

"Please, Bella, tell me that was your attempt at a joke?" As I ask my cell starts to chime, and I close my eyes before slapping my hand over my faces.

I hold out my hand for my cell, Bella places in to my hand. And I look at the text from my mom.

My boy really does make a good monkey. Make sure that he does not start picking through your hair.

I look to Bella as she tries to hold in her laugh.

"Din, dada, mo mo—kee." I look to River.

"I would, but mommy will just take more pictures of me." My cell chimes and I open a new text. This time it's from Emmett.

Ha-ha! That's golden, and so going on YouTube!

I shake my head and quickly text him with a threat if he does.

"I'm sorry, it's just that ... well you made such a cute monkey, and I wanted to keep it?"

I nod my head and take a step to her. "And where did showing my mom and Emmett fall into you keeping it?"

Bella bites her lip, as she looks at me. "Well, it was so good, I had to share. I had to show everyone what a great father River has." I smirk and take another step to her and this time Bella moves too.

She doesn't move away from me, she moves closer to me. "You, my lady, are so lucky I love you so much." Bella nods her head at me and steps into my arms.

"Believe me, I know how lucky I am that you found us."

I nod my head and kiss her lips. I pull back and smile down at her. "Are you okay?" Bella nods her head, but I can see the worry over what happened last night is back. "Don't worry. I won't let them hurt you. James won't get anywhere near her or you."

Bella lets out a sigh and places her head on my chest. "What if a judge thinks she'll be better off with him, because he's older?"

I shake my head. "Older doesn't mean better." I rub her arms and she moves to clean River up.

"Do you want my help today with moving things?"

I look at her and shake my head. "No, you spend time with our girl, before you have to go back to work tomorrow." Bella nods and kisses my cheek. I watch as she picks River up and walks into the other room with her.

Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper all arrive to help me as Esme, Alice, and Rose go with Bella and River to the park.

"How long do I have to wait to take care of James?" I turn my head and look at Emmett who looks all keyed up to fight. I shake my head at him.

"We have to do this the right way."

Emmett pouts at me sadly. "But, the right way's no fun! I mean, the bad people don't care about the law or who they hurt, but the victims have to go about it the good way, the right way. I don't want to be told 'he's human, he has rights too' that's all a bunch of malarkey. You know he didn't give a shit about Bella's human rights when he was hurting her, why should we care about him? Why must the victims always get the shit end of the stick?" Emmett rants out as he packs up my stuff.

"I know, Emmett, believe me I know. I'm pissed off too. It angers me how Bella has to now fight and he is a scum-bag. Beating the crap out of him will make you, me, everyone feel better, but it certainly won't help River, Bella or the situation. Besides, Bella would feel guilty and worry about us and James, not to mention blame herself."

Emmett rolls his eyes. "We really need to work on that. She needs to be able to say, fuck you, asshole and the bitch you rode in here on, too. As for that Renee, I can't even begin to say what she should tell her. Even if you, Charlie, me or anyone hurts her, she needs to learn how to not just forgive. I think that if given a chance, Renee would be able to talk Bella round and get her to let her in."

I nod my head at him. I'm not going to give Renee the chance to get Bella alone, and I'll make sure that Bella understands that keeping Renee away is the right thing for her and River. "River is Bella's key, to make her stand up to people. Bella will do anything, to keep her safe."

"From what Alice says, Bella is amazing with River."

I turn and smile at Jasper who up until now has been really quiet. "She is, she's a great mother. She's as good of a mother as Esme is, just not as experienced."

Jasper smiles at me, and we share a look, saying he understands how much I care. "Not that I want to put a damper on things, but we need to find out what they are after. I mean from what Bella told you, it seems unlike them to just turn up. What's their agenda? Why raise a child that they didn't want in the first place? The key to getting this over and done with is to find out what that agenda is. And I am afraid the only person they're going to talk to is Bella. So this whole—keep them away from Bella—is going to keep us in the dark longer. I say, 'the best defense, is a good offense,' thing is out of the question."

I look to Jasper pissed off, not because of what he's said, but because I know he's right. "I don't want her hurt and Renee seems to know how to kick Bella when she's down with just a few words."

"We'll be close by. I mean, we could get one of those nanny cams. You know Renee might not know what it is. With one of them, we can set it up to not only record, but to show us what's happening, like closed-circuit-television."

I think about what Jasper said and nod my head. "That sounds good, but we have to find a way to make us alerted immediately."

Jasper smiles at me and nods his head. "I agree, I'll get on that and should have the house set up well before the year end."

I chuckle shaking my head, since we have less than a week before then.

It doesn't take us too long to pack up and load my stuff. Uncle Charlie joins us right before we're done. He seems to be getting used to the idea of Bella and I being a couple as each day passes. Emmett had come up with the great idea to make dinner for the girls, so we all went over to Esme and Carlisle's house. We send a text to the girls telling them to come here, when they get back. We're all still in the kitchen when they arrive back.

"What the hell is going on in my kitchen?" We all turn looking at Esme, who is standing with her hands on her hips, with the rest of the girls behind her.

"We're cooking dinner, Mom," I say slowly, since it's pretty obvious what we are doing.

"What! What do you mean, you're cooking dinner?" Esme gasps out. Again we all turn to look at her, and I see that she, Rose, and Alice are all looking at us horrified.

"Well, we," Dad motions among us guys, "thought that we would make supper tonight. We wanted to give you a night off," Carlisle says.

"Why, what did I do wrong?" Rose says, as she looks at Emmett.

I faintly hear a snigger making me look at Bella and I wink at her.

"What, why do think you done something wrong? It's only supper. I mean, it's really not that hard. The reason we're doing this is because we love you," Emmett says using his best you hurt my feelings voice. Emmett plates it up, as Esme, Alice, and Rose look on. I look to River who just looks impatient on how long it's taking me to come to her. Bella looks amused at what is happening around us.

Jasper starts to hand out the plates of pigs in blanket and cheese-fries. I stand at the window cooling down River's food. "My! my!" she says to me grasping air to reach for the plate.

"Yes, baby, but it's hot. Too hot for my baby girl, dada is cooling it down," I say soothingly. I look to River whose lip starts to quiver and then she busts out crying. As I keep cooling it down, Bella tries to calm River down. I smile as Emmett hands her a slice of cheese like we wrapped up in the crescent rolls with the hot dogs.

I dip my pinkie in her food and feel that it's cool enough so I take it to her. "Here you go, baby," I say, as I sit down.

"Well, come on, start eating," Carlisle says, as all the girls are just looking at their plates. River on the other hand is eating away happily.

"See, River likes it," Jasper says, as he points to her.

"Well, I've tasted the baby food she eats, so that mean absolutely nothing," Alice says looking at her plate as if it's about to kill her.

"Hmm, this is really good guys." We all turn to see Bella has started to eat hers. "I've never had these before. You'll need to show me how to make it," Bella says as she looks at me taking another bite.

I smile at her and begin eating my own. I'm pleased that at least my woman trusts me enough to eat my cooking. It's another few moments, before the other girls join in and begin eating. They seem to enjoy the food. Once they were done eating, they said it wasn't as bad as what they thought it would be. Esme brings out a cake and Carlisle makes some coffee and we all begin to chat.

"Hey, Dad." The whole table goes quiet hearing Bella call Charlie, dad instead of Charlie.

"Wh ..." Charlie stops since he is a little choked up and clears his throat. "Yes, honey?"

"I was wondering when you were off tomorrow afternoon?" Charlie nods his head. "Just ... I want to take River to the park again. I wanted to know if you would like to join us?" I watch as Bella bites her lip waiting for him to replay.

"Yeah, I would really like that. I could make a picnic basket to take with us. Will it be just be us four?" Charlie asks as he looks at me then to River and Bella.

Bella shakes her head at him. "No, Edward has to work, so it will just be us and River."

Charlie nods his head again and smiles bigger. "That sounds really good. I'll make the picnic basket for three then." Bella nods her head and goes back to her cake. I watch as Esme places her hand on his back and gives it a rub.

I lean over and kiss Bella's temple. "I love you," I whisper in her ear and she looks at me and mouths the words back.

The rest of the night goes by quick and I can't hide my smile as each time Bella talks to Charlie, she calls him dad, and we could all see the effect that had on him.

After we say our good nights, I walk home with Bella. I unlock the door, before sweeping her and River up in my arms.

"What are you doing?"

I look at her, as I walk into our home. "I'm carrying you over the threshold." I feel Bella chuckle, and I put her back on her feet. "Go get changed for bed, and I'll take this one to get settled for bed," I say taking a sleeping River from her.

It only takes me a few moments to have River changed and put to bed. I kiss her softly and make my way to Bella. When I can't find her in the living room, I head back to our bedroom finding her in bed.

"Lil' Mama, are you tired?" I watch her shake her head and pull the covers away. I see the she wearing a cute, but sexy pink baby-doll nightie. "I'm not tired, but thought we could go to bed early"

I start to undo my shirt as I smirk at her. "Hmm, I think I like this idea," I say, as I kick my shoes off and remove my pants.

"I want you to show me how to please you more. Teach me more about the things we can do together."

I nod my head at her and start to kiss her body as I crawl up the bed. I spend a lot of time lavishing her with kisses, licks, and even a few soft nips. Once I reach the areas covered by the silky lace, my sweet girl is already panting for more. I reach for the bow tied between her breasts and pull it slowly letting the soft fabric pool to each of her sides.

"You are so beautiful," I say leaning down to feather kisses across her skin.

"Edward, I love you. Make love to me," she moans, as she threads her finger through my hair.

As she tugs lightly on my hair, I let her pull my mouth to hers. Soon the only thing between us is her little panties. I rub my hand down her side and when I reach her hip I can feel another tied string. I pull the tie and realize it is for her panties. I make quick work of the other side and within seconds I am deeply seated inside my sweet girl.

We move together, building our pleasure. As her body starts to quake in her climax, I fall over the edge. After we both slowly come down from our orgasm enriched high, I move to the side pulling her with me.

"I love you so much, Bella, and I always will."

"I love you too, Edward."

I eventually roll onto my back and rub her back as she lies on my chest. "Can I ask what made you call Charlie, dad? I've never seen him as happy as he was when you did."

"I thought I should, since he was trying to accept us and let us be a couple. I guess I should try harder to accept him being my dad. I believe the first step would be calling him dad. I actually kind of liked it. It was nice to acknowledge I have a dad."

I can feel Bella's tears hit my chest and I pull her up and kiss her. "I'm glad, and he really will only want what's best for you." She nods her head and continues to lie on my chest.

The days pass us by and Renee has tried to talk to Bella every day. She has popped up at her work, River's day care, our local supermarket, and the park. Thankfully, each time Bella wasn't alone. James has played the whole 'I'm the victim in this rotten mess.' The DNA has been set up for next week as well. We set the appointment up knowing if we went through the state agencies it would take a little longer, because everything has to be done by state protocol.

Both Renee and James were not happy about the length of time, but Mrs. Cope explained that with being the New Year and holiday they were closed, and that was the first date we could get. James was set to go in on the fourth, and River and Bella would go in on the eighth.

"We need a backup plan." I turn and look to Jessica, as she flops down on the chair next to mine. I watch her rub her head and I am confused to what she's talking about.

"A back up plan for what," I ask when she doesn't keep talking.

"James. We need to have a backup plan. We can't let him be near River."

I look at her in shock this time. "Has he done something?"

Jessica shakes her head and lets out a sigh. "Edward, I get a really bad feeling when I'm around him. He put me on edge instantly and I have alarm bells going off. I swear, looking at him is like looking at the brightest red flag whipping in the wind. But you know as well as I do, we can't use my gut feelings as a reason not to allow a father to see his child. Even worse, we have nothing saying he will be or could be a danger to River." I watch her pick up her cup of coffee and take a big drink.

She looks me back in the eyes and lets out a sigh. "I swear, Edward, out of every parent that I have ever come into contact with, he has given me the biggest negative reaction. I know he will hurt Bella and River. I don't want to wait until it happens, or it is too late."

I rub my face as I look at her. I know that she's right. We can't go to the meeting and say they can't see River or be with River, because they give us a bad feeling. We need proof.

"Okay, I'm going talk to Mrs. Cope about this. I'm hoping to have her come along the next time. More so, because he flat out scares me and gives me the creeps. I don't feel safe around him. She may pick up on other stuff. Good luck with your interview. I am just heading to see Bella, any messages you want me to give her?"

I shake my head and watch her walk away. I sit there and stare at my screen saver and think. My mind seems to keep going back to what Jessica said. Even after I leave for my interview, I rethink it all. I just hope that I did well enough in my interview to get the job. Thankfully I did, and an hour later I get a call saying that I got the job. I've been asked to start on the 8th of January.

Bella and I celebrate the new job in bed together. We have slowly been getting to know each other's bodies. I love every part of her, even the small stretch marks that are left behind from when she was carrying River.

"These are beautiful," I say, as I kiss them.

I feel Bella chuckling. "Yeah, yeah," she says.

I look in to her eyes. "They are, and they remind me that my baby girl was once in there," I say, as I stroke my thumb across her tummy.

"Do you think I am a bad mom?"

I stop my kissing and look at her. "What?"

I can see that she has tears in her eyes. "Renee cornered me today at work, and said that I was a bad mom."

I try and keep my anger down. "What else did she say?"

"That I should know what it's like, not to have a dad in my life. How I felt grow up thinking my dad didn't want me or love me. She said that she couldn't understand after feeling all that pain and hate, why I would do that to River. She said that all I was doing was hurting River. Even if I thought it was for the best. She said River will hate me when she's older, like I hate her. Then she told me that just like me, River will find her dad and leave me all alone."

I let out a sigh. Renee is one fucking cunning bitch. "This is different Bella. James doesn't really want to be in her life, and Jessica and I believe he will hurt her. Renee is trying to use your weaknesses against you. She never told you about your dad, and when she did, she lied to you. If River asked about her dad, what would you tell her?"

Bella looks at me. "That I was with him for a short while, but we didn't love each other. Then I would say that he was not ready to be a dad. I'm sure I would tell her that if he knew her, he would love her very much. I can't imagine anyone not loving her, she is too sweet."

I nod my head at her and smile. "See, telling her that, would be what's best for a young child to hear."

"Why can't she belong to you? I mean, she does…to me and to her you are her dad. Why can't it be for real?" I sigh and rub her back as I kiss head. "Edward?" she sighs out.

"Yeah, Lil' Mama?"

"When we get this sorted, can we ... I mean ... I would like if you could ... Can we make you her dad, like legally, like can you adopt her? I mean, I can't change her DNA. I wish I could, but I would really like for you to be her dad, even if we're not together, anymore. She loves you so much."

I roll on top of her and kiss her with all my love. The feelings I have for her and what she just said make my heart happy. "I would love to adopt her. I will do everything in my power to make it happen."

I look to see Bella's smiling face. I hug her tighter to me and begin to make love to her all over again.

I have settled well into Bella's home and life. It has quickly become mine too. After Renee had corned Bella, Charlie was able to get a restraining order against her. It covers everywhere Bella may be. There are three places listed that Renee must stay at least 500 feet from her and that is Bella's work, River's day-care center, and our home.

We still don't leave anything to chance. Like when I was called away in the early hours of New Year's morning, Esme kindly came to sit with Bella. Charlie drove me to the hospital, since Carlisle had also called the police. It was a very sad case involving a young child only a few months older than River. Carlisle called DSHS, because the child was beat up by the mother's boyfriend. The child had a lot of cuts and some broken bones.

The mother, who was also hurt, but not as badly, was in the emergency room too. Upon looking into x-rays on the child and past scars, it was clear this was not a first time issue of abuse. It seems the mother only brought him in, because she called the EMT for herself. The EMT's reported they had found him whimpering in a dirty crib. I spent all morning in the hospital and then went with Mrs. Cope to get the court order to remove the child.

When I handed the mother the court order, she flew into a rage and start screaming. Everyone around was watching her break down and cry about me being the bad man that was taking her child away. Of course that led me to be on the receiving end of a lot of dirty looks from people. I am sure they only saw a young woman that was beaten up crying for her baby. When I got home, I went and held River close to me thanking God that she had a mom like Bella. It's one of the things I won't miss, now that I've officially started my new job.

Jasper had also set up the CCTV cameras in our home. The cameras made me feel a little safer even though Bella refused to be with me the first night they were there. I couldn't stop laughing when she said she thought that other people would be able to see us having sex. After I explained that it would only be us that would have access to them, she caved and allowed me to shower her body with affection the next night.

My new boss, Aro, has been showing me around all day. He's aware of what is and has been going on in my personal life. I thought it was better this way. If he knows, then things will be okay if I need to leave in a hurry. He has already informed me that I'll be able to leave immediately if needed at any time.

I meet Bella at Alice's shop and take her to the park, so we can have lunch together. "How is your first day going?"

I smile as I look at her. "It's different, but it has been good so far. I look forward to meeting the kids later on today. How about you, Lil' Mama, how is your day going?"

Bella sighs. "It's been going really well. I made some great sales and Alice is over the moon about how well I'm doing. She asked me if I'd take a sample range of clothing home to try them. She's thinking of stocking, but before she does, she wants an honest opinion of them first."

"Okay," I say, raising my brow for her to keep talking.

"It's kids clothing, so it'll be River that will be wearing them. She showed me the stuff and it's all lovely, but there's like, more than a thousand dollars worth of stuff. She said as River is the only child she knows, that the clothes would fit. She says we can't pay for them, because they're like free samples. She says normally she has to pay someone to wear stuff. She can't wear or find someone to wear them. All she wants is our opinion of the clothes."

I chuckle knowing that Bella's still not really comfortable taking gifts of any kind from people. "How much did the lot of clothing cost Alice?" I ask.

Bella rolls her eyes. "She said it was nothing, because it was coming from a friend. I think she said Peter, and it was free samples."

I nod my head. "Jasper's friend, Peter, is a high range kid's clothing designer. His clothes are great and he does give a lot of shops free sample things, in order to get feedback, and additional sales."

Bella sighs. "So we should accept the free clothing for River then?"

I smile that she is including me in this. "I think we should. I mean, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Bella smiles at me. "Okay, I'll tell her we will take the stuff."

I look to my watch seeing that I need to leave to head back to work. Bella helps me clean up and I drive her back to Alice's Shop. "Call me, when you get home after the DNA has been done, okay?"

Bella nods her head at me, but I can see that she's still scared about it. "Remember that Jessica will be there for you, okay?" Bella smiles at me, and I kiss her lips. "I really need to go, love." I kiss her one last time and wave bye to her.

The afternoon goes fast and I meet some of the kids that I'll be looking after. I'm just writing up some notes, when my cell rings.

"Hey, Love," I say without looking at my cell.

"Edward, get home now!"

I frown and pull the cell away from my ear see that it says Jessica. "Why, what's wrong?" I ask, as I stand up.

I freeze when I can here yelling in the back ground. "You fucking bitch! You're dead! You hear me? You too, you fucking nosy bitch!"

"Edward, you really need to get here, NOW!" I look to Aro and he nods his head at me.

"I'm on my way, have you called the police?" I don't hear anything back and I see that the call has been disconnected. As soon as I am in my car, I call the police and report a disturbance telling them that it's at Charlie Swan's house and that his daughter is being harmed.

I pull up to the house and see James is still trying to get into my home. "Move away, I have already called the police."

James just looks at me and then start to laugh at me. "I only did what she asked for."

I frown at him and look to my house. "If you have harmed her ..."

James chuckles and licks his lips. "She likes it rough! That first night was fucking heaven. She was so tight and I got to slam righ ..." I cut him off by punching him hard on the jaw, which makes him come after me. We both tumble down the stairs. I can feel him hitting my side hard, but all the anger I have for this guy starts to come out and I hit him twice as hard.

"All right, break it up." I don't stop as the anger over comes me and I feel like I'm losing control of it.

"Edward," I hear as Charlie yells and pulls me away. I fight him a little.

"Jessica said he hurt Bella. She needs you, go. I'll deal with him." As soon as he says Bella's been hurt, the anger leaves my body only leaving worry and fear. I jump up the stairs and use my key. As the door opens I see the living room has been trashed and I move into the house calling out to Bella.

"We're in the bathroom," Jessica calls. I move to there as fast as I can. I look in seeing that Jessica has a red cheek and is hugging Bella who is covered in blood holding a crying river.

"Love," I say falling to my knees when she looks up at me. I close my eyes feeling the anger slowly come back.

"I swear, I didn't let him in." I hush her and peek at River who thankfully seems to be physically unharmed.

It takes another half hour for us to head to the hospital for Bella and Jessica to get checked out.

I'm in the waiting room as the police have just gone in to talk to Bella.

"What happened?"

Jessica lets out a sigh. "River was playing with my ID card when they were doing the DNA test. Everything was fine. I walked them both into the home. I had only left when Bella texted to say River still had my ID card. I was five minutes away, so I turned around to get it. When I arrived back at the house I heard shouting.

"When I walked in, James was on top of Bella. It looked like he was going to rape her, so I pulled him off her and told him he had to leave. Bella ran away with River and he hit me. He looked as if he was going to ... you know. Well, the next thing I knew, Bella was back trying to stop him."

"I knew we needed help, so I called you. He got my cell before I could call the police, but I knew you'd call them, and I also hit my panic button. He called her a bunch of names and then just started hitting her. I picked up your golf club and hit him on the head as hard as I could. Bella helped me drag his dazed ass out of the house. We locked the door and we hid in the bathroom."

I rub my face and pull Jessica to me knowing that she did everything she could. "Thank you for protecting my girls," I say placing a kiss on her head.

"Fucking wish I did more to the ass. He was completely out of it. I asked them to take blood samples." I nod my head at her. "I have a feeling he wanted her to sleep with him, so you would dump her ... even if it meant raping her."

I start to feel the anger coming back over me. "Someone please tell me where my brother-in-law is?"

I turn seeing Renee at the same time she see me. "What did you do to my James?"

I chuckle and stand up to her. "Your, James? Shouldn't you be more worried about what he did to your daughter, Bella?"

Renee shakes her head. "Oh, that girl, I swear, she called him to come over. She's been texting him most every day. She's been begging him to fuck her. Seems you must be lacking in that area, huh, stud?"

I raise my brow at her and she just grins at me. "He beat her, not fucked her, you stupid cow."

Renee shakes her head. "No, she was like that when he got there. Then that crazy women hit him, he was defending himself."

I chuckle again. "Well then, I guess it's lucky for him we have cameras installed throughout my entire home then, huh?"

I watch as Renee's face pales. "What?" Renee asks looking at me.

"When your scary, crazy, wacko ass showed up, I got nanny cams installed all over my home. That not only pick everything up that is being said, they also allow us to see everything that happens inside the house. And as for the scary lady, that's Jessica and she works with children services and is well known to most all of the courts in the state for the work she does."

Renee controls her face a bit better. "Walk with me, Edward?"

I look at her and she smiles at me. I walk down the hallway a little, but not far and stop. "What is your game Renee, what do you want?"

Renee sighs. "The girl is really not worth all of this. It was somewhat okay when Charlie boy was giving me money for her lazy ass. First I get a call from children services about her. Then some woman, Tanya, calls complaining about the mess she left in her home, saying she was taking me to court for the money. To top it all off, Charlie stopped giving me my money, and said I would get more after he saw Bella.

"So I came to teach the little bitch a lesson. Make her think that if she did not do what I asked her to do, I would take River from her. I knew I could use that dickless-bastard Charlie against her, because she always wanted a daddy.

"When I got to Seattle, Tanya kindly gave me, Bella's forwarding address and I was surprised to find her with you. Well, that's when I saw Charlie was there, I put it all together.

"So here's the deal. I want half a million dollars and we will disappear into the night. You'll never hear from us again. If you don't, well then, I will continue to do what I've been doing. I'll make Bella's life nothing more than misery and I'll damn well make sure she loses River too.

"Think about it and get back to me. But know that I've taken down bigger and harder men than you'll ever be. So you and your stuck-up, goody two shoes family better not fuck with me!"

Renee leans forward, kisses my lips, and I push her away.

"Oh, Edward, you're such a charmer, but I couldn't be with you. After all, isn't my daughter in love with you?"

I frown at her and her eyes flick behind me. I turn and see Bella standing there with tears in her eyes.

A/N: Well we already know that you will all be wanting the next chapter RIGHT AWAY. We are already working on it, it is outlined and Nikky has already started to write it. The wait will nto be long at all. We want to say an extra special thank you to all of our loyal readers who did not give up on us on this story. Nikky and I will always finish what we start, we just had NOTHING to go with the one shot when we submitted it. Everything we have added has all be straight off the cuff. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and see what you think will happen next.