A/N: Well I'm sorry it took me a bit longer to get this out than it did the last two chapters, but I'm really trying! Thanks to ForeverLiz for the WC that got my ass working on this and for her encouragment and making me laugh!
Have you guys heard of the situation that a member of the fandom is going through? Her name is mostlyalurker and I discovered her cause on twitter and would like to personally ask you to check it out and see if there's anything you can do! Check it out by going to mostlyalurker (dot) blogspot (dot) com of course remove the spaces and put . where the (dot) is :) But y'all are smart right? You can dew eeet!
*Squee* Round two of the slash backslash 3.0 contest is in voting and my collab with MizzHyde made it! I'm so excited! Now, if you haven't already, go check out ALL of the entries and make sure to get your vote in for your favorite! There are a ton of amazing fics over there and it was hard for me to pick just one... because well, even my own wasn't my favorite! *giggle*
I have one more question for you! I'm thinking about writing for Fandom4Texas and Im putting a call out to you fabulous CL readers to ask you, what scene or chapter or situation from the story would you like to see in a different POV... or is there something that happened that Jasper didn't really talk about as much as you would have liked? Let me know in your review so I can figure out what it is y'all would like to have more of!
All that being said, I really hope you guys like this chapter... remember, it's all in the original plot and there's still more to come!
Chapter 21: Conflict Resolution
My heart literally dropped to my stomach when I heard the seriousness of his voice. What if something happened to Ava on the way home? A thousand different scenarios flooded my brain in the five seconds it took me to register that I needed to answer him.
"About what, Damon? Did something happen to Ava?" I asked in a near panic.
"Oh, no, she's fine, Jasper. She's in bed sleeping now, but we really need to talk about this situation; can you come over here tonight?" he asked me.
"Does it have to be tonight? It's getting pretty late and Bella and I were just about to head to bed."
Damon sighed deeply. "I think it has to be tonight, Jasper."
Bella looked questioningly at me and I covered the phone with my hand. "Damon says they need to talk to me and want me to go over there tonight, is that okay with you?"
"God, Jasper, of course!" she answered without even thinking. "Go!"
I kissed her quickly. "Thanks, Bella; you're the best!" I uncovered the phone and told Damon I'd be right over.
In less than half the time it normally took me to get there, I pulled up in front of the Wilson's house. I got out and nervously walked up to the door. It hadn't crossed my mind until just then that it could be a trap or set up of some sort and my heart was pounding as I knocked.
Katherine opened the door and silently gestured for me to enter. I walked over to the chair and sat down facing the couch where Katherine and Damon were sitting. It was awkward for several minutes and I was just about to tell them I was leaving when Damon began talking.
"Jasper, this situation is obviously very complicated and extremely hard on everyone involved. We know how horrible it must be for you to have missed out on so much of Ava's life, but I really hope you can understand where we are coming from, too."
I nodded, swallowing hard.
"We've discussed all of our options with our attorney, Jasper, and it doesn't look good for us. He says that with your rights as the biological father, no matter how many years we've spent raising Ava, you'll win this case. He insists that we can still fight and draw the process out, giving us more time with her, but in the end, the judge is going to award you custody."
My heart nearly leapt out of my chest in joy, although it was dampened by the fact that I knew there was a catch to this whole conversation. "So why are you telling me all of this, Damon?"
"We want to put an offer on the table, Jasper; it would save us all a lot of time and money if we can resolve this out of court and set some terms that are okay with everyone." Damon's voice shook a bit and Katherine continued to sit there silent as can be.
"But why do this now, Damon? I mean, why did I have to come over this late tonight?" I asked, still perplexed about his supposed change of heart.
"Because when Ava got home tonight, she was so excited and happy. She had a sparkle in her eye that we haven't seen since you've been gone and she told us every little thing about her visit, like how you made her favorite dinner and had a huge yard she could play in, then there's the fact that she seems to be completely infatuated with your girlfriend.
"Listen Jasper, we love Ava more than you could possibly imagine and the idea of losing her is killing us, but we'd rather do this on positive terms, than lose any possibility of getting to see her if we drag this out for years."
"I know how hard it is for you guys," I assured them, feeling any animosity that I might have been holding on to dissipate quickly. "I really hope you know that I would never take Ava away from you completely. She loves you guys and needs you just as much as I love and need her. I've been hoping that we could work this out amicably rather than dragging each other through the mud, too."
Katherine spoke up for the first time since I'd arrived. "Oh, Jasper, you have no idea how much that means to us. We can't lose her; we just can't."
"Okay, so what are your terms?" I asked hesitantly.
"We want a sort of visitation schedule set in stone so that we get some time with her. You already know that we take damn good care of her but we would like something along the lines of every other weekend and one night a week, possibly Wednesday nights just to keep the situation steady. We'd also like to be able to have her for holiday celebrations. We know we can't take her away from you on the actual holidays but we'd like added days to celebrate our own way here," Damon requested confidently.
I sat back quietly, thinking it over in my head. It didn't seem to be an unreasonable offer and it would be the sort of agreement that she would be in if it were a custody agreement between divorced parents.
"Of course I have to discuss this with my lawyer but I am almost positive that we can arrange that. I know this situation is unique to most custody disagreements and I absolutely want you to be a part of Ava's life still, a major part. I was also thinking that maybe during the summer, we could work it out so that you could take her for a week, like if you wanted to go on a vacation," I offered. "Then that would be the perfect time for me to take Bella on a getaway, just the two of us. Does that sound like something you'd want to work into the agreement?"
"That would be perfect, Jasper. We'd love to still be able to take her on vacations with us," Katherine agreed. "We have one final question for you and this is the one we've been dreading most."
Wonderful, I thought to myself.
"We were wondering what you were planning on doing about Maria. Were you planning on allowing her to see Ava still?" Damon asked nervously.
My blood began to boil at the mere mention of her name. "I should cut her out of the equation forever for what she did, but the truth of the matter is that she's important to Ava too. I've been thinking long and hard about this and I've discussed it with Bella to get a woman's point of view on the situation and I've decided that Maria can still be allowed to visit Ava but only when she's here on your time as I don't want anything to do with her."
Damon and Katherine were nodding during my answer and kept looking back and forth between me and each other.
"But I have ground rules for that whole situation. She is never to take Ava anywhere alone and Edward is not allowed near her ever. If I find out that any part of the rules were broken, I will not hesitate to have your visitation rights revoked, period." My eyes locked with Damon's and I knew he would agree because they were not willing to risk losing their time with Ava.
"That's completely understandable, Jasper," Damon agreed right away.
Katherine spoke up immediately after. "We'd never do anything to violate your trust."
I couldn't do anything but trust that they were telling me the truth. "Okay, well I'll call my lawyer tomorrow and get back to you, but if it all checks out, he'll get ahold of your lawyer and we'll set up a time to get together and draw up the paperwork. Does that work for you?"
"Sounds good," Damon agreed, standing up and extending his hand to me. I stood up and shook his. "Thank you for coming over tonight, Jasper; we were afraid we might lose our nerve if we didn't do it right away."
"It's not a problem," I assured them. "I'm glad we could agree on this and I'll get ahold of you very soon."
Damon walked me to the door and I left feeling very content in the situation.
Bella was asleep on the couch when I got home. I knelt down beside her and kissed her forehead, making her stir. "Hey, sweetie," I whispered. "Why aren't you in bed?"
"I wanted to wait up for you," she replied hoarsely. "Needed to make sure you were okay when you got home. Sorry I fell asleep."
"Oh, Bella, I'm more than okay but I'll explain it all upstairs. C'mon, let's get your gorgeous ass in bed!" I scooped her up off the couch, eliciting a tired giggle from her as she wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder.
I tucked Bella into bed and lay down beside her, recounting the entire conversation that I'd had with the Wilsons. It was late into the night when we finally fell asleep, clinging to each other and both elated over the impending end of this whole legal battle.
After Bella left for school and I before I went to work, I called Aro and laid it all out for him. I asked him if it was possible to work this out without a trial and he told me that as long as we could all meet up with their lawyer present also and outline the terms, that he didn't see why the judge wouldn't sign off on it. So I asked him to contact the opposing attorney and set up a meeting and get back to me as soon as possible.
After I got off the phone, I went to work where Paul and Jared were having a disagreement about the placement of some of the menus on a new account we were working on. We never really fight with each other, but of course we have creative differences of opinion. They asked me to help them settle the issue and once the page was laid out in a way we all agreed on and were confident that the client was going to love, we went to lunch.
Over lunch I told them all about the new developments in the case and about my late night meeting with Damon and Katherine. They were both beyond excited for me and it was refreshing to see the enthusiasm and support coming from people outside of the case and my family.
Paul piped up and asked, "So are you ready to be a full-time dad? Do you know when Ava is going to be home for good?"
"I'm so ready to have her home and be there for her full-time. I know it's going to be a huge adjustment and it's not going to be all roses and sunshine, but I can't wait and we'll just have to work out the kinks as they come. I'm not positive when she'll get to come home for good but I'm hoping it's really soon!"
"So, what are you going to do for daycare? I mean, she goes to school in the mornings, but what about after that? You have work and I know we're really flexible about working from home, but there are gonna be times when you have to be in the office and Bella won't be home. Are you just going to take her to a daycare around town or will someone you know watch her?" Jared asked.
"I haven't really thought about that yet. I guess I'd have to discuss it with Bella and see what she thinks, but maybe my mom could watch her in the afternoons after she gets out of school. I don't know yet but you brought up a good point, J." I smiled thankfully at him. I knew there were going to be things that I hadn't thought of and that was one of them.
We went back to work and finished up for the day. As soon as I got into my car, Aro called to inform me that we had a meeting set up for Friday morning and if we could get the judge to sign off on the agreement before three that afternoon, it was likely that Ava would be in my custody that night.
I thanked him profusely and drove home to make dinner. We sure had something to celebrate and Bella and I had some things to discuss. Friday wasn't going to get there fast enough.
What did ya think? Also, don't forget to let me know your preference for that outtake... Much love to you all! YOu guys are what keeps me going with this story! *muah*