Disclaimer: I own nothing. Also, you don't know the amount of research that goes into the legal aspects of convictions, jails and all of this. Sometimes it's why it takes me so long to update. Other times it's because I get so excited writing a scene like three chapters away I forget to write what's in between.
He didn't think he'd been born a bad man. This was pure speculation though, because he couldn't remember a time when he hadn't had dangerous urges. They'd always been urges related to his need for power. This he'd been born with, he was sure: an undying thirst to stand on top of the world, have incontrollable power in his hands and emerge, always, a winner. Things had never come to him easily, but he also didn't think he'd ever lacked for things he truly wished for.
Then that woman came along.
Shaking her hips, flashing smiles, touching his arm, showing him love. She'd made herself unattainable at times and too easy at the most unexpected moments.
Some days he wanted to kill her.
Other days he just wanted her back.
Emmett paced.
He'd been pacing for the last half an hour, and he knew that he was bound to get caught any moment. It wasn't normal for a person to be pacing in front of an apartment's front door, and he doubted he was being inconspicuous. He was always being told how obvious everything about him was, after all, and he was confident that such a sentiment applied to situations like this, too. He knew that all people saw, probably, was a big man in a suit impatiently waiting.
"Emmett? What are you doing here?" Isabella Swan's cold voice greeted him.
Turning with a sheepish smile, Emmett saw the woman in front of him holding hands with a toddler. His heart squeezed; yeah, Flynn was all Edward alright. He'd caught a glance only once when he'd followed Bella to the pre-school, and it'd been enough confirmation. Flynn was most definitely a Cullen.
"Hey, Bella," he greeted nervously, glancing down at the boy that was staring up at him curiously. "Hey buddy."
"Hi," Flynn replied, hiding behind his mother's leg.
"Emmett." Bella's tone sharpened even further. "I asked you what you're doing here, in front of my apartment, when clearly we've got no business."
He hesitated. He thought maybe he could get himself invited into her home, but one look from her and he knew there was no fucking way in hell she'd let that happen as of this moment. The pause was enough; Bella opened the door and instructed Flynn to go watch TV, reminding him where the control remote was.
Bella shut the door, crossed her arms in front of her, and waited for the oaf of a man to talk.
"I'd ask how you got my address, but that's be a wasted question, wouldn't it?"
It would've been. Emmett might've gotten her phone and address from Rosalie (you know, his ex who happened to be a preschool teacher in Flynn's school), but truth was, he'd had them for a long time. He'd just been unable to pluck up the courage to come here. So instead of answering that question, Emmett said what he needed to say.
"I want to be involved in Flynn's life," he blurted out, and then he barreled on despite the sole raised eyebrow he got in response. "I mean, I only found out last year, really, and I've given it a lot of thought. He's my blood nephew, and I'll be damned if I can't be in his life."
Bella was an unmoving stone.
"What makes you think I'll let you be in his life, and not Edward?" Bella asked, undoing the tight ponytail her hair was in. "You're probably even more dangerous because of your job. Besides, I can't know you won't tell Edward anyway about Flynn."
Emmett sighed in frustration.
"Would that be so bad? Edward's a great guy, despite his mistake. That's not even the point; I could also tell him right now, and you know I don't out of respect for you. He has the right to know he has a son. And I should be able to visit my nephew."
It wasn't that Bella thought he was wrong. She knew the present Cullen was right; she had arbitrarily decided to hide Flynn from the world, albeit to protect him from Royce King, from Tanya Denali, from a world of danger. Maybe, even a bit, to protect him from Edward. She couldn't be sure how angry Edward would be about... Well, about being in jail because of her. It had been three years, and-
Something occurred to her.
"Emmett, where is Edward now?"
She spoke slowly, looking pointedly into his eyes. She wanted the truth. She needed to know he wouldn't just show up at her doorstep and kill her.
"Staying with my parents. He's... getting used to life outside of prison. Mom and dad are helping him out."
Of course. Of course Edward needed to adapt again to the life of a free man, Bella thought furiously. She was angry with herself; for a whole week she'd harbored the hope that, well, that maybe she could just show up at Edward's doorstep and announce he had a son. A beautiful, mischievous son who looked just like him. But reality was cruel; she couldn't just spring up such a truth to a man who'd barely gotten a taste of his old bed. She couldn't just show up and tell him that while he suffered incarceration she was suffering childbirth, and that now he was also responsible for the life of another human being while he'd been deprived of taking care of his own life for years.
"Oh," Bella muttered, shoulders shrinking a bit into themselves. "I see. Have you... talked to him?"
Emmett looked down, and despite his size, he looked smaller than her.
"No. He's not my biggest fan, as you might guess. I tried visiting him on the day he came back, but he'd already gone to hide in his meadow."
The meadow, Bella thought, feeling the air go out of her. There were such happy memories there, but now they just seemed bittersweet. She wondered if they could ever go back to the easygoing feeling that had once surrounded them, back when Bella had forgotten she'd betray Edward eventually and had simply decided to enjoy the time she had getting to know him.
"Do you think he's angry?" Bella wondered out loud. "I mean, truly angry with us. Like, would-murder-if-given-half-the-chance angry."
Emmett scoffed.
"Angry? No. I was there when he was released, albeit hidden. He seemed tired, maybe even withdrawn. But mom told me Edward's just lost. She visited him constantly in prison and whenever the subject of you and I was brought up he seemed less betrayed the more time went by." Emmett offered the information easily enough, glad that Bella was finally asking. He'd expected to be bombarded with questions like these when he arrived unannounced in her office last week, and had been surprise by her fearful reaction. Now, it was starting to make sense. "If you're concerned Edward might harm you, I can vouch for my little brother. He's not a violent person, and this hasn't changed."
Bella crossed her arms over her chest.
"How do you know? It's not like you've talked to him, either," Bella accused, feeling like she was being told she didn't know her ex-boyfriend (could she call him that?) as well as his brother. This was ridiculous; obviously, thirty years of knowing someone trumped three months of dating them.
"No, but I pulled some strings to know of his behavior in prison, and together with what my parents have said I can tell you that my little brother would never hurt you, Bella. Not you, and certainly not Flynn. He always wanted kids, and he'll be thrilled when he finally learns he's a dad."
Bella chewed on her lower lip.
"Alright, fine. You can come over the day after tomorrow and hang out with Flynn. You better bring with you your best behavior, you hear me? If you so much as breathe the wrong way near him I'll run my heel through your foot. Clear?"
Emmett flashed her a wide grin, then proceeded to crush the life out of her.
"Crystal."
"Are you sure about this, Bells?"
Bella sighed, hearing the giggles coming from Flynn's room.
"Not really, mom. But you were right that Flynn does want an uncle, and I'm kinda glad Emmett's a willing one." Bella supplied, eyeing the duo through the open doorway. They were on the floor playing with cars, action figures and stuffed toys. Em was playing the bad guy, the good guy, the dragon, the prince... Whatever Flynn instructed of him. This made her feel incredibly grateful because sometimes it was much too hard for her to keep up with her son's petitions when playing.
"How is Agent McCarty? He'd seemed like a nice guy," Renée wondered out loud, half curious, half wanting to spite her daughter.
"Cullen, mother of mine. Emmett Cullen."
"Whatevs."
Scowling, wanting to hurl the phone across the room, Bella chose to ignore the woman who gave birth to her.
"He's fine, I think. Not on good terms with Edward, so we pretty much know the same about how Edward's doing."
"Single?"
"I hope you're asking for a friend."
"For a daughter -yes Isabella, I know. You're my only daughter. Is it so wrong for a mother to look for a potential son-in-law?"
Bella stared in disgust at the phone.
"That's the brother of the man whose child I gave birth to. That's wrong on so many levels I can't even begin to explain my horror to you," Bella felt a wave of nausea hit her but didn't mention it. Her mother would just call her dramatic and then hang up. Actually... "I'm gonna be sick."
Renée, on her end, rolled her eyes.
"Oh don't be so dramatic. I was just thinking out loud," Renée muttered in annoyance. "Bye, creature of the night."
"Love you, my overbearing mother."
They hung up.
Ok, so I seem to have made a teeny weeny little mistake. Um, for Flynn to have been in pre-kindergarten for a year, it would mean he'd have started when he was like one, and just no, because he's just two this year. So, to clear things up: he goes to a daycare. Said daycare is adjoined to the preschool, and Rosalie works in the pre-K, so she's not directly Flynn's teacher. And, also, this means Bella is actually gonna be twenty-three, but isn't yet at this point. This is because of my stupidity; Edward can't have been three years in prison and return to a three-year-old son because pr- Oh, well, I can't say anything else, oops. Forgive me. Also I'm super sleepy so if you notice lots of mistakes blame it on the sleepy-head.
Leah.
P.S. Thank you so much for every favorite, follow and review! They mean the world to me, and I try replying to all of them, but sometimes I'm not logged in and I'm in a rush so stuff happens and I forget. Nevertheless, I read ALL of your reviews and literally thank y'all in my mind every time I notice a notification from one of you.