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Chapter 21 (2507)

Hearing both the good news and the bad news from both Edward and Alice has caused me to not be able to sleep that night. This is why I was currently lying in bed running my fingers through Edward's copperish strands as he snored gently beside me. I knew from Edward's information that the raid was taking someplace tonight but would most likely try to be done quietly because of their baby that was just a little over one month old but it was still nerve wracking to know that we had such dangerous people living so close to our entire family. Then Alice's mind blowing news that country superstar, the king of country, wanted to come look at our equipment and stock as well as Edward's grandparent's house.

"Baby, what's wrong? Why aren't you asleep?" Edward asked as he blinked open his sleepy eyes and reached to pull me against him all at the same time.

I sighed. "I'm just anxious for this night to be over with already. I'm worried about what will happen to the baby. That little girl doesn't deserve to have parents like that. She's so precious Edward, too precious to suffer like this." I told him quietly as I snuggled into his side.

"I know baby, sometimes life just isn't fair but there is nothing we can do about it. Hopefully she will find a nice home to be raised in." He told me quietly.

A wicked thought popped into my head but I kind of leery to speak it out loud for Edward may think me crazy when he hears it. I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face as the thought took root and blossomed in my brain.

Edward groaned. "This idea you suddenly have is going to cost me a shit load of money isn't it?"

I shook my head because we already had almost everything we needed to make it possible. "I don't think so."

He sighed and pushed us in bed until we were situated against the headboard and he flipped on his lamp. "Just spill it so I can call you crazy and then give into you already so we can get some sleep."

I giggled and turned to face him. "I don't think we will be going back to sleep tonight, Romeo." I hinted.

He cocked an eyebrow at me but otherwise remained silent waiting on me to get my idea out there. I took a deep breath and just spilled it all out really quickly. "Whydon'twetaketheirbaby." I spewed before ducking my head so he couldn't see my face.

He cleared his throat. "Come again."

I raised my head and prepared myself for his reaction. "Why don't we adopt their baby, Edward? We have the space, the money, the ability-" I rambled trying to come up with feasible reasons of why we could do it but Edward stopped me by placing his lips against mine.

I sighed against his lips because I knew he was in agreement. "You are crazy, woman but let's do it." He said between kisses shocking the hell out of me.

I pulled back to make sure he was serious. "Really?" I asked him as I felt myself getting giddy inside at the possibility.

He nodded and reached over to the side table and snatched his cell phone. "Sam is supposed to be here tonight to take part in the raid. Let me give him a call and see if it's possible that we foster her until we can see if the adoption is feasible." He explained when I looked at him like he was crazy.

I nodded and snuggled into his side while he made his phone call. "Sam, this is Edward Masen." I settled in to listen to the one sided conversation.

"How did the raid go?"

"That's great, Sam, really great. I'm glad nobody got hurt. How is the baby?"

"I understand. Really? Why would she request to speak to us?" He piqued my interest when he said that.

"Yeah, we can be there in about twenty minutes or so." I tried to scramble from the bed to get dressed but Edward held me tight so I couldn't.

"Sure thing Sam, we will see you soon." Edward said before pulling the phone away from his ear. I didn't even wait until he had the phone placed down before pouncing.

"What did he say? How's the baby? Who wants to speak to us?" I fired rapidly.

Edward laughed and tugged me from the bed swinging me around in jubilation before answering any of my questions. "Edward Anthony Masen!" I laughed as I held on tightly.

"Isabella Marie Masen if you want that damned baby you best get dressed so I can get us to the jail house to sign the damned adoption papers!" He told me as he sat my feet back on the floor..

"How are we getting her so easy?" I asked Edward as I tugged my leggings up my legs and my sweater over my head.

Edward laughed as he buttoned his jeans shrugging into his t-shirt and flannel shirt over it. "Victoria actually requested us when they got to the police station. She wants to sign custody over to us so that her daughter can have a good life, according to Sam." He explained as he stomped into his boots.

I nodded as I quickly ran a brush through my hair before tugging on my own boots. This is the best it got at two o'clock in the morning.

Twenty five minutes after making that phone call we were walking into the police station to absolute chaos. Victoria was screaming and kicking against three police officer's holds as the baby screamed her head off in another officer's arms across the room while James was pounding against the glass of the inner office and screaming profanities at everybody. I quickly shed my coat and headed straight for the officer who held the screaming crying baby. "Give me that baby." I demanded as I snatched the crying baby from the officer's arms without giving him a chance to say 'no'.

I tuned out everybody and everything else as I rocked the baby and talked soothingly to her to no avail. After a few minutes I stuck my hand beneath the blanket and into her pants to check her diaper and found the reason for her fit throwing. Hearing Victoria still screaming at the officer's in the background I turned around and faced her as I dug around in the diaper bag. "Victoria you have got to quit screaming. You are upsetting the baby. Please." I begged her as I laid a blanket out on a desk and began changing her diaper.

Victoria calmed down and so did her daughter once I got her butt changed and a bottle popped in her mouth. I heard Victoria spit at one of the officer's and then I heard the officer groan in pain. "Dammit woman, I want to have more kids in the future. That shit hurt." He seethed at her. She had apparently kicked him in the balls for keeping her away from her daughter.

Once I had the baby calmed down I looked around and spotted Edward standing in a corner talking to a tall dark headed plain dressed officer whom I assumed was his friend Sam. I walked over to them with the baby propped in one elbow sucking greedily on the little bottle I had fixed her. "Edward…" I said but trailed off not wanting to sound rude or ungrateful.

Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulder and tugged me into his arms. "Sam this is my beautiful wife, Bella. Bella this is Sam Uley a good buddy of mine and Emmett's from college." Edward introduced us.

I nodded but didn't shake his hand because I was feeding the baby. "It's a pleasure to meet you Sam even though I wished it had been under different circumstances." I told him honestly as I turned my head into Edward's shoulder to hide my yawn that was escaping despite my efforts. This was a heulluva time for my body to remember it hadn't been to sleep yet.

Sam laughed. "It's always a joyous occasion when a good friend of mine becomes a father for the first time." Sam said as he clapped Edward on the shoulder.

Edward smiled affectionately at me and the baby in my arms. "Let's get on with this so I can get these girls home." Edward said prodding the situation along nicely.

Sam nodded and led the way into the inner office where Victoria was handcuffed to a chair while James had been removed to a cell away from her. "Victoria." I nodded because even though that wasn't her real name it was the only name I had ever known her by.

She smiled and nodded as she gazed at her sleeping daughter that I was attempting to burp on my shoulder. "Bella. If you lay her across your arm and pat her back she burps a lot easier." She said quietly.

I nodded and did just that and low and behold a loud man burp sounded from the tiny infant causing us all to chuckle. Even Victoria chuckled. "She has no scruples." She said before taking a deep breath and hedging forward. "But I know you guys will instill them in her despite of where and who she came from."

I nodded and leaned into Edward's side. "We will, you have my word on that. Are you sure about this?" I asked quietly.

She nodded. "We are both going away for life without parole. I'm certain of it and I don't want my mother or father to have anything to do with her and James was an orphan until he aged out of the system. She's better off not even knowing about any of us. I've already signed the papers and so has James. Not like he ever cared about her to begin with." She said fiercely.

I nodded but otherwise remained silent as she continued on. "Her birth name is Mia Leane but you are more than welcome to change it if you want. She will be your daughter from now on." She said with tears in her eyes. "If the police and feds don't mind you can have everything out of her room in the house. I will understand completely if you don't want any of it but it's yours if you need it just temporarily or decide to keep it permanently." She said looking at Sam for confirmation or denial of allowing us in the house.

He waved his hands. "I don't see a problem with it after CSU gets finished processing it to make sure none of the stolen money is stashed in it." He said with a nod at Victoria.

"I just wanted her to have a fresh start without all of the violence following her throughout her life. I want this adoption final and hid. I don't want her to ever know about me or James or what we chose to do in our lifetime. I will always regret what happened in Miami because it can come back to haunt her but I can't take it back now. Becoming a mother changed all of that for me. Before she came along I had no regrets and now I regret everything." She said hanging her head and I spied a few tears spilling from her eyes.

"Do you want pictures of her as she grows up? I can send them without her ever knowing about either of you." I asked her quietly causing Edward to jerk his gaze to me and Victoria to rear her head up in astonishment.

She slowly nodded as a small smile crept across her face. "I knew I was making the right decision by requesting you to take her, Bella. Yes I would love whatever you are willing to share. Please take care of her and be a good mother to her. That's all I ask." She said before nodding at Sam who took over the room.

"Okay. Bella, Edward, all you guys need to do is sign on the dotted lines and take that precious angel home with you." He said showing us where to sign and we did.

He flipped through the pages one last time before nodding at Victoria who openly began crying now. "I really do love her and regret everything I ever did that put her in any kind of danger. She was my saving grace."

I nodded and felt tears begin to prick my own eyes. I walked over to her and let her kiss the baby on top of the head to say one final goodbye. "You can kiss her and tell her bye, Victoria. I will send pictures of her often. I promise." I told her as I leaned the baby down to her reach.

She gently kissed Mia on top of the head. "I love you, sweet girl. You be good for your momma and daddy now." She said as she jerked her head away and began sobbing.

I took a deep breath, stood up straight, and walked out of the room with my husband and our new daughter. We stopped a few feet out of the office doorway to take a breath and make sure nothing else was needed of us for tonight anyways. "Sam?" Edward asked as I bent down to fasten baby Mia into her car seat.

I tuned them out as I concentrated on fastening baby Mia into her car seat and making sure she was covered good enough because it was early march and still very cold outside especially at night time. I was startled by a warm hand on my lower back as I folded the little flap down to completely hide the baby from the cold weather outside. It had taken me a minute to figure out what the leopard print and pink thing was but I finally realized it was a car seat cover to keep Mia snug and warm while we were outside. It had a little flap over where her head would be so we could have easy access to her.

"We're good to go. Sam said Judge Conners has already approved the adoption considering the circumstances so she is all ours. I have the base to the car seat so we are allowed to take her home now, momma. If we want to make any name changes or anything we would just have to submit the paperwork to the Judge Conners and she will sign off on it." Edward told me softly. I smiled at hearing him call me momma because it was true I was now a momma to a very tiny human being. I had been a mother since I was sixteen but now I had something tangible to hold onto and cuddle to make me feel more like a mother instead of just a bad memory.

I nodded and stood up slipping the diaper bag over my shoulder while Edward grabbed the car seat. "Let's go, daddy, our girl needs some sleep in our bed." I told him as I wrapped my hand around his arm as we walked out of the police station as a complete family.