Chapter 12: Bella's POV

*He called me 'love'!* I was stunned, but to hear that endearment roll from his lips felt so…right. *He called me 'love' and his daughter asked for a girl's day…just us girls. I'm so excited!* This whole thing is still so strange to me. As I sit here in my comfy reading chair, I think about the day. I was so surprised to see Jasper on my porch today, but I'm happy that he and Em have worked out their differences. I'd seen 'Enchanted' before and I loved it today as much as I did then. I'm so touched that Nessie wants to hang out with me. Edward went out with Jasper and Ben after dropping Nessie off at Maria's for her sleep-over and they'd invited Emmett to go as well. I'm glad my brother is making friends too.

The doorbell rings just as I'm drifting off to sleep. I pull away from dreamland and run down the hall. Did Em forget his key? Is someone in trouble? A hundred possibilities run through my mind as I look through the peep-hole. I don't see anyone around but a tiny female voice in the back of my mind tells me to open the door anyway.

As I pull the heavy door open, I feel something rush in and cling to my legs. Looking down, I see that it's Nessie. My heart starts to race. "Ness, honey, what's wrong? What are you doing here?" I ask, now wide awake as I take her into my arms.

"I got in a big fight with Annie and I didn't want to stay there, so I left. I only had to cross one street. I walk there sometimes with Daddy in the summer, so I knew how to get home, but Daddy's not home." She explains. "Do you know where he is, Bella?"

"Yeah, he went out with the guys. I'll call him. Did you tell Maria or Annie that you were leaving?" I ask as I put her into my bed.

"I told Annie, but I don't think she knew I meant it." Nessie says quietly.

"Rest here, I'm going to call your dad." I tell her as I pull my cell-phone out of my purse. Edward is on speed-dial so I punch the right number and hit send.

"Hello, Bella, what's up?"

He sounds happy to see me but I don't want beat around the bush. "Your daughter is here."

"What? She's supposed to be at Maria's house!"

I smirk grimly. "She and Annie had a fight. I don't have her number so I think you should call and tell her that Ness is with me."

"What do you mean, Bella? Doesn't Maria know? How did she get to you?"

"She walked…" I tell him.

"Oh my God…! She could've…! Oh my God…!" From his voice, it sounds like he's hyperventilating. "Keep her there, I'm on my way." The phone clicks and he's gone.

Edward's POV

"Hang on a sec, guys! I'm getting a call!" I yell as they start another round of pool. I'm out with Emmett, Jasper and Ben. With Ness sleeping at Maria's, I'm up for a night on the town. We've already had a couple of beers and played a round of billiards, but it's my turn to play and my phone is ringing. I look at the ID and see that it's Bella. "Hello, Bella, what's up?" I ask, happy to hear her voice again.

"Your daughter is here." Her voice is deadly serious, but her words take a moment to register.

"What? She's supposed to be at Maria's house!" I say beginning to panic.

"She and Annie had a fight." My girlfriend explains. "I don't have her number so I think you should call and tell her that Ness is with me."

My heart stops. "What do you mean, Bella? Doesn't Maria know? How did she get to you?"

"She walked…" Bella says.

"Oh my God…! She could've…! Oh my God…!" I start hyperventilating. "Keep her there, I'm on my way."

As I hang up, Jasper is the first to notice that something's wrong. I fill him in and he calls my dad to come get me. As I wait for him, I dial Maria's number.

"Hello?" She says, sounding sleepy.

"Maria, I'd like to know why my nine and a half year old daughter WALKED HOME from your house." I hear my voice shake with rage.

"What are you talking about, Eddie? Ness is in her sleeping-bag next to Annie in the living-room." She says.

"No, she's at my girlfriend, Bella's house. Maria, Renesmee not only LEFT your home…but CROSSED A STREET without supervision. She could've gotten hurt, lost or kidnapped!" I rant feeling only slight relief as my dad pulls up to the curb in front of the bar. "Have Annie put my daughter's things together in the morning. I'll pick them up myself." I hang up the phone and run out to the car. "Hi, Dad, did Jasper tell you what's going on?"

"Yeah, we're on our way to Bella's." He says, pulling away from the curb. "Your mom was sleeping when Jasper called, that's why we don't have a hysterical woman on our hands."

I snort. "Not until tomorrow when she finds out…" My knee starts bouncing in my nervousness.

"Relax, Edward, she's safe with Bella." Dad says reasonably. "She's not lost or hurt. The only bad thing that happened tonight is that she lost a friend."

"I'm still going to ground her for leaving Maria's house alone." I frown. *That is, after I go in there and hug the life out of her.*

"Yes, I would do that too. You're a good father, Edward, just stay calm." He says as we pull up to Bella's house where she's at her door waiting for me.

She hugs me as soon as I get to her. "Nessie's ok. She just needs to see you and then she can sleep. She promises to tell us the whole story in the morning. C'mon, she's in my bedroom."

My nerves calm as soon as I feel her touch and hear her voice. Bella's bedroom is one of the rooms I haven't seen yet. She leads me there and as I step inside, I notice that her walls are a lovely pale mauve color with a slightly deeper shade for trim. It's not girly but not manly either; it suits her. The curtains are actually drapes; nice and thick. They would definitely keep out the light from the sun or the streetlamps. The next thing I see is her king sized bed and the little girl staring at me from under the covers, so my perusal of Bella's room stops there.

I scoop Nessie up and hold her tight. "Nessie, baby, what possessed you to leave Mrs. Guardia's house all by yourself?"

"I'm sorry, Daddy…" She starts but then she yawns.

I sigh. "You will tell us everything in the morning, Ness…And by 'us' I mean: the whole family and Bella. You should sleep, now, baby. I love you."

Her eyes close instantly and she whispers, "I love you too, Daddy."

"I think we should keep her here for the night, Edward. Taking her home would jostle her and keep her awake longer. We can share my bed." She says softly. "It's big enough for all three of us."

I lay Ness back down and follow Bella to the living room. "Bella, thank you so much for doing this; you really took care of her tonight."

"When I looked out the peep-hole and didn't see anyone, I heard a small voice in the back of my mind…it told me to open the door anyway and so I did…" She tells me the whole story while I keep my arms wrapped around her.

"Nancy, thank you…" I whisper.

"Hmm…? What do you mean?" Bella asks.

I bite my lip. "The voice you heard…was it male or female?"

"It was female." Bella says.

"Then it was Nancy." I explain, having my hunch confirmed. "I hear her sometimes. She guides me to do certain things, like when she told me that I shouldn't assume Em was your boyfriend. She also reminds me of things that I forget…like the cop and his daughter who were with us when Nessie was born."

"Is that what she meant?" Bella asks, mystified. "When I met Ness the first time, and I asked if her mom would mind if you started dating, she told me you had permission to date and she also mentioned that her mom visits in her dreams."

I muse. "Nancy always had this…way…about her. She could convey her thoughts in just a look…and anyone would know what she wanted. I never had to guess what she was thinking."

"Wow…That's some gift…" She says.

"I mentioned it to my parents once and they insisted on therapy. Needless to say, I don't talk about it with them anymore." I tell her.

"But you do still hear her?" Bella asks.

I nod.

"When was the last time?" She inquires.

"Last week, Nessie had gotten a slight fever in the middle of the night. Nancy woke me up and told me to bring some children's Tylenol to her. I didn't question it, just woke up and went to the medicine cabinet. When I took her temperature, it was only 99.5, but I woke my baby up and gave her the Tylenol. It didn't go past 100 before it went down and back to normal." I tell her, looking into her eyes. "Ness didn't have to miss school and I didn't even tell my mom that she'd been sick."

"Wow…" She says. "That's amazing."

I nod and suggest we go to sleep. She agrees so we go back to her room and settle in on either side of Nessie. The next morning, as my eyes open, I smell food cooking.

Bella's getting changed and Nessie isn't here. "Ness is helping Em with breakfast." She says. "Your sister called and Jasper's bringing her, Hale and Rose over soon. Your parents are on their way also, and I met Angela; she and Ben are in the back yard."

This leaves me totally confused. "What?"

"Everyone wants to know what happened at Maria's that made Nessie act so recklessly." She explains.

"Huh…" I shrug. "So, what's for breakfast?"

"It's a surprise. Take Ness home and change, honey, it'll be ready when you get back." She smiles.

I stare at her. *She called me honey!*

"What, you can call me 'love', but I can't call you 'honey'?" She marvels.

"What are you talking about?" I ask as we leave the room.

"You called me 'love' yesterday, Edward." Bella whispers.

"Did I…?" I ask, thinking back to yesterday. I remember now…It was just after she told me about Jasper's apology and impromptu study session with Emmett. It had been totally unconscious on my part, but as I think about it, I realize that she may not know that I do love her. She and Nessie are all that I think about anymore. I pull her to a stop and look into her eyes. "Did it bother you when I called you that?" I ask as we stand in the hallway.

"Not if you meant it." She whispers.

"Do you want me to mean it?" I persist.

She bites her lip and looks up at me. Through her lashes, I see hope and fear.

"Shhh, baby…you don't have to say a word. I love you, Bella. I think I've loved you since you moved in here, maybe longer. I've been wasting time trying to find a way to show you that we're meant to be… I should've just come right out and said it: I love you, Bella Swan." I tell her, lightly taking hold of her shoulders. "I love the way you understand about Nancy and the way you knew just what to do last night. I love the way my nephew looked in your arms just minutes after you'd taken his father down a notch. I love the way you take care of your dad and your crazy brother. I love the books you write and the articles too. I love that my daughter hand-picked you for me and most of all, I love the way you look, right now, as I'm saying this to you." I brush her cheek with my thumb. "Your skin is flushed and your eyes shine with unshed tears. Your lower lip is trembling and I just want to kiss you so bad."

"Then what's stopping you?" Bella says and I see one tear roll down the left side of her face.

I cup her face and lower my lips to hers. The connection between us seems to triple and I pick her up into my arms. Our tongues dance and play together. Pressing her against the wall, I drag my mouth from hers to give her some air.

"It's happened so fast, Edward! I can't help feeling that way, but damn it, I love you too!" She says against my neck as she rains kisses on the exposed flesh.

We hear a cat-call and a throat being cleared. I look over to see Emmett glaring at me. Jasper, Ben and my father have their arms crossed and their eyebrows raised; each with a smirk on their face. My mother, sister, Angela, Rosalie and Nessie all have large smiles on their faces.

I lower Bella to the floor and she blushes as I keep hold of her. "Hi, guys…uhmmm…how long have you been there?"

"Long enough, Edward…Long enough…" Emmett answers.

"Long enough to know all the things you love about Bella, Daddy." Ness grins. "Bella, you love my dad?"

Bella blushes and nods her head.

"And me too?" My daughter whispers.

With a frown, Bella kneels in front of my little girl. "Yes, Nessie, I love you too…as much as your dad."

"Good, because I love you too and that's what Annie and me fought about; Annie says that her mom thinks you don't love both of us and that you'll leave when you get tired of us like my mom did." Ness says.

I see red. "Renesmee Carlie Cullen, your mother did NOT get tired of us, and you know that. Your mother loves us and watches over us from heaven. They only met her once, so Annie and her mom have no idea what kind of love Bella is capable of. Do you understand me? I'm glad you told us, Sweetie. I'll have a talk with Mrs. Guardia and…"

"WE will have a talk with Mrs. Guardia, Edward." Bella says.

Her eyes flash with 'mama-bear is protecting her cub' anger, so I nod and take Ness's hand. "Ness, let's run home and change, then you can stay here with everyone while Mama-Bear and I get your things from the Guardia's house."

The others look at each other and I can tell that they are all angry about what Maria had said to her daughter.

"We'll take care of it guys. I promise." I say as I take Nessie home to get new clothes. "Ness, I know you were upset, but I want you to promise me that you will NEVER do this again. When you left Annie's house without telling someone, you could've gotten hurt or lost or even taken away by a bad person." I give Nessie a big hug.

She starts to cry into my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Dad, I guess I didn't think about that stuff and when I said I was going home, Annie just laughed and said 'whatever'."

"We'll take care of it, honey, but you're grounded for two weeks. What you should've done is tell Mrs. Guardia that you wanted to call me to come get you. Do you understand for next time?" I ask as I throw on a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, hurrying to get back to Bella's so we can eat and go talk to Maria. To distract Ness, I try to wheedle out of her what she and Emmett made for breakfast but she stubbornly refuses to tell. We get back just in time to see the biscuits coming out of the oven and the eggs being served out. "Bella, I want to thank you for last night and, Emmett, thanks for letting Ness help with breakfast." I say as we dig in.


Thanks to hnwhitlock2000 for her mad beta-skills!