**Disclaimer-I do not own Twilight or the characters, only the story line.**
**Author's Note- Thanks again to everyone for sticking around. You all have my love!!
Chapter Seven
---BPOV---
Tuesday morning, I woke up to the sound of Vanessa's scream through the baby monitor. I looked at the clock and groaned. Four thirty. "Why is she up so early?" I grumbled to myself as I got out of bed. I walked into the bedroom across the hall and immediately smelled something foul. When I got to the crib, I saw that Vanessa was sitting up, red faced and crying, and covered in vomit.
"Great," I said. "Come here, let's clean you up." When I picked her up, I could feel how hot she was through her pajamas. "Ugh, throwing up and a fever. Nice."
We went into the bathroom and I got her out of her soiled clothes. I ran some lukewarm water into the sink, got a wash cloth and cleaned her up. Vanessa was still crying as I carried her back to her room. I found a onsie and a pair of cotton pajama bottoms and a diaper and got her redressed. Then I got out my thermometer and took her temperature. 103.4. I grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and measured out a dose.
"Here, this will help you feel better," I said and gave her the medicine. "Come on, baby." I picked her up again. I had some phone calls to make but I wanted to make her comfortable first. When we got to the living room I set her on the couch.
"Where blankie?" she asked.
"I'll get it in a bit ok. You need to cool off some first." I replied. "You want a movie on?"
"Fishies!" Vanessa loved just about any cartoon, but lately Finding Nemo was her favorite.
"Okay, here you go. I'm going to get you a drink, stay here." I went to the kitchen, filled her cup with some Pedialyte, and picked up the phone on the way back.
I must have woken her up because Jessica sounded like hell. "Hello," she moaned.
"Jessica, its Bella. I'm sorry to wake you so early," I said.
"Oh, you didn't. I've been up all night. I was going to call you soon anyway. I think I've got some kind of flu." That explained it all.
"Well, Vanessa has it too I think. That's why I was calling. Do your girls have it?"
"Maya was complaining about a tummy ache last night after you left. They're still in bed though. I'll let you know later okay." Jessica yawned loudly into the phone.
I laughed. "You should try to get some sleep. I'll check on you around lunch time okay."
"Thanks Bella. Bye" she yawned again.
"Bye," I said and hung up. I looked over to check on Vanessa and she had fallen asleep again. I sighed with relief.
I needed to call Alice, but I didn't really want to wake her up too. I also didn't want to wait until the last minute. What would I tell her? In the eighteen months I've worked there, I hadn't missed a single day of work. Alice and I were good friends at the office, but we didn't get together outside of work. I had never really been very open about my personal life, and Alice didn't know about Vanessa. I had thought about telling her a hundred times, but was never sure how to bring it up. Now I would have to. I waited half an hour until six and then, dreading her reaction, I called Alice.
"Morning, Bella," she answered cheerily. I didn't even know it was possible for someone to be so cheerful that early in the morning. "How are you?"
I dodged her question and went straight into my explanation. "Alice, I am so sorry for calling you at home so early in the morning. But I wont be able to make it to work today. Something uh, came up."
"Are you okay? Is there anything I can do ?" Alice asked concerned.
"I'm fine Alice. Um," I took a deep breath, " my daughter has the stomach flu." I braced myself for the worst.
"Bella, you have a daughter?" she asked, a hint of emotion in her voice. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" Alice sounded a little hurt. I should have known she would be.
"Alice I'm sorry. I did try, about a hundred times," I said. "It just never really came up. Will you forgive me?" I knew she would. It's not in her nature to stay upset long.
"Of course, don't be silly." she said. "Bella you have to tell me all about her," Alice said excited. This was more like the Alice I was used to, and I was glad telling her hadn't been as bad as I imagined it would be.
"Um, sure. Her name is Vanessa-" she cut me off.
"Oh, I love that name!"
"Thanks," I laughed. "She's two years old-" I was cut off again.
"Really?" she sighed. "Oh, I bet she's just beautiful. Can I meet her Bella? When she's feeling better I mean."
"Of course, Alice. Maybe we can reschedule the lunch we had planned for today to this weekend or something," I smiled.
"That sounds great!" she exclaimed. "We could have lunch here, I'll invite Rosalie. She just loves babies. It will be like a girl's day."
"Okay, you better invite Esme too though. I don't want her to feel left out," I laughed. "Anyway, I think Vanessa's waking up again. I should go. Thanks, Alice."
"Anytime. Why don't you go ahead and take tomorrow off too. Just to be sure." she offered.
"Will Edward be okay on his own if I'm gone two whole days?" I didn't want him to struggle if he needed help.
"Actually, Edward will be out the rest of the week. He had a rough night last night and we told him he should take a bit more time for himself," Alice explained.
"Oh, well okay then." I said, feeling a bit guilty. "I guess I'll see you on Thursday then."
"I'll call you if I need anything Bella. Don't worry, it'll be fine," Alice read the worry in my voice like a book. "You just make sure your baby is taken care of. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye Alice. Thanks again," I said.
"Sure," she laughed. "Bye Bella."
After hanging up, I turned back to Vanessa. She was rubbing her eyes. "You okay baby?"
She looked at me with her little angel's smile and nodded. Then looked back to her movie, which was now half over. I sat there for awhile, just watching her. The amazement on her face, that too cute smile, her little giggle. This little person was my whole world.
When her movie was over, she looked up at me expectantly. "Do you want another show on?" I laughed. This time I just put in a random princess movie off the shelf. "I'm gonna go make you a toast okay. I'll be back in a minute." I just hoped she would be able to keep it down. My weak stomach can only handle so much.
We made it through the morning with only one minor vomit issue. At lunch time, I called Jessica to check on how she was feeling. Unfortunately, both of the twins had woken up feeling ill as well. I reluctantly offered to make them something light for lunch, but to my pleasure, Jess turned me down. I didn't really want to worsen my chances of getting the bug too.
Vanessa had fallen asleep again so I decided to wait on fixing lunch until she woke up. I did have one more phone call to make, but I had put it off all morning.
"Better to just get it over with," I told myself as I dialed the number. A man's voice answered after the third ring. "Hey, it's me," I said. "Did I wake you?"
"No," he said. "I didn't work last night. I told you, I'm on vacation this week."
"Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot," I replied.
"So what's up?" he asked
"I just wanted to let you know that Vanessa is sick today. I thought you'd want to know," I said, bracing myself for the overreaction I knew would come next.
"What! What do you mean she's sick?" Vanessa's dad always panicked over the littlest things. "Is she okay? What does she have?"
"Damn, would you relax?" I answered. "She has the stomach flu. She's fine. "
"I'm coming over," he said.
"Seriously, she's fine. You don't have to-" he cut me off.
"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Okay, bye." No one could ever say he wasn't a devoted father.
"Bye," he replied and then hung up.
We met in high school. He was a senior while I was a sophomore and we knew a few of the same people. One night, at an after game party some of our mutual friends introduced us and we hit it off right away. We dated for the rest of that year and stayed together until shortly after I turned twenty-one. Our career plans were taking us in different directions, and we were drifting apart. I truly did love him, but if we had stayed together, it wouldn't have worked out anyway. We both knew it. We split on good terms and remained friends. Then, about eight weeks later, I found out that I was pregnant. He was worried, and I was actually excited. I had never really planned to be a mother, but the day I found out I would be, I knew that I was meant to be one. It took a lot of reassuring on my part, but after a few weeks, he relaxed somewhat. He was very supportive the whole time, calling almost every night, going to all the appointments. He asked the doctor more questions than I could even imagine having. The first few months were a little rocky, but we soon developed a good routine. Vanessa spends one night during the week and every other weekend at her fathers house. The only bad thing about him is his tendency to make everything a hundred times bigger than it really is.
As promised, within fifteen minutes, he was knocking on my door. The knock woke up Vanessa so I picked her up and walked to the door. "Someone came to see you," I told her.
When I opened the door to reveal her visitor, Vanessa's face lit up. She put her arms out for him to take her and squealed. "Daddy!" He reached over to take her and kissed her cheek.
"Hi Nessie. Your mommy said you don't feel good," he said to her. "She's hot Bella. Does she have a fever?"
"Yes, and it's time for some more medicine too. Come on in. I was just going to fix us something for lunch. You hungry?"
"Sure, I guess," he said and walked to the living room. I went to get the Tylenol and then met him in there.
I gave her the medicine, changed her diaper, and then refilled her cup. "Are you hungry sweetie?" I asked her.
"No," she sighed.
"Well, I'm going to get you some crackers." She was still shaking her head no when I came back. "Here, try one." I offered. After a few tries, I finally got her to take a bite.
"She really must not feel good. She loves those crackers."
"I know," I said. "But she needs something in her belly. I just hope this stays down better than her toast did this morning."
I made us some sandwiches while he continued coaxing her to eat the crackers. After we finished eating, he got up to leave. "Do you think she'll be feeling better by Thursday?"
"I would think so. I'll let you know how she's feeling tomorrow okay," I answered.
"Okay. Thanks. For letting me know I mean," he said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow then."
"I'm taking tomorrow off work too. If you want to come by again you can."
"Okay. Bye Bella," he replied.
"Bye James."