Chapter 25: Forks

I was a fucking moron. Plain and simple. Why the hell did I actually want Little One to start crawling? In the short time she had been mobile, I lost her for a good minute under the kitchen table and she about bumped her head into the coffee table. Obviously, I now kept her away from tables and paid even closer attention. The kid was going to be the death of me.

Since she was now crawling — and since walking wouldn't be far behind — Bella and I spent a Sunday baby-proofing my entire apartment. I couldn't even remember half of the shit we did to it. The cabinets had locks on them, the furniture was secured to the walls, tables had edge guards, electrical sockets had covers, and fuck, even my toilet had a trick to get it open. At three o'clock in the morning, the damn thing was near impossible to open. But at least now Little One was safe, which was all that mattered.

Other than crawling, Little One was learning new tricks every day. Hell, she had even started clapping. It was so fucking cute. She'd grin and giggle, clapping her hands together when we played at night. My favorite game was hiding something from her under a blanket. The kid knew and would push the blanket off, grabbing the toy. She had this victorious laugh, which was the funniest thing in the world.

"Oh, look who's home!" Bella said as I came into the apartment and closed the door behind me.

I looked down at the floor and found Little One crawling toward me. She smiled and babbled something that I wanted to interpret as words as I laid my bag down and picked her up. I kissed her cheek a few times, causing her usual giggle.

"Hey, Little One," I said. "Did you miss me?"

She stuck her fingers in my mouth, and I nibbled on them before she pulled away. I sat down on the floor next to Bella and put Sofia back down, so she was sitting across from me. Of course she didn't stay like that, though. She crawled over to a few toys and played, banging on the thing to try and get it to pop up.

I leaned over, kissing Bella as I moved my hand to the back of her head, caressing that spot behind her ear. "What about you?" I asked, smirking. "Did you miss me?"

She pressed her lips to mine again, and then said, "Of course I did. How was work?"

I shrugged. "Normal, I guess. Emmett rescheduled another one of my surgeries again without telling me first. You know, if he's going to be chief, he needs to fucking communicate. It's kind of shitty when I have to explain to my patient why he's not going to the OR for another few hours."

She frowned, moving her hand to my neck and rubbing it. "I'm sorry. He's learning, though. Maybe you should talk to him."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess. So, how was your day? Anything interesting?"

"No, not really." She smiled. "My kids are pretty good for the most part. I do have something to talk to you about, though. How about after dinner? I made chicken enchiladas."

"Sounds amazing," I said, patting my stomach. "I'll grab the kid."

She laughed as I stood up and held my hand out for her, helping her up. I picked Little One up off of the floor and brought her to her high chair before getting my plate and her puréed shit. Tonight was chicken and gravy, which looked as disgusting as it sounded. As Bella and I ate, I fed Little One her goop, which she seemed to enjoy. Why? I had no clue.

After dinner, I bathed and changed Sofia into pajamas and put her in her swing for her to wind down some. It was our usual nightly routine, which worked wonders. If we deviated from it, she'd be cranky and wouldn't sleep.

"So, what's up?" I asked, sitting down on the couch and putting my arm around Bella.

She bit her lip, taking a few seconds before responding. She was clearly nervous, which made me nervous. "I know your family pretty well, right? I talk to your mom and sister all the time."

I nodded, confused. "Yeah, and?"

"I talked to my dad today . . . about seeing him again, and he mentioned you. He um, wants to meet you because, apparently, we sound serious."

Uh, shit? I knew this would be coming up eventually, but meeting Bella's dad kind of scared the shit out of me. I never met parents before, obviously. Plus, the dude was a police chief . . . with a gun, and I was, well, me. "Okay, so do you know when?" Please, let it be Thanksgiving or some shit. I needed time to prepare.

"Well, you have next weekend off, right?" she asked, looking hopeful. "I was hoping we could go for my birthday."

Fuck, not only did this mean I had to face the man soon, but I also couldn't spend Bella's birthday in my bed like planned. Great. "Yes, but . . . what if he doesn't like me, and then your birthday is ruined?"

She kissed my cheek, laughing. "Aww, you're nervous!"

"No, no, I'm scared shitless. You haven't told him about, you know, how I was, have you?"

She looked away, biting her lip again.

I sighed and ran my hand over my face. "Well, he doesn't keep a gun in the house, does he?"

"Of course he does. He's a cop, Edward. Look, I may have told him some things, but I've told him how you are now, too. And when I told him that stuff, it was before I knew you . . . and when I was mad at you." She sighed. "This is sounding bad, isn't it?"

I nodded. "Kinda, yeah. So he already hates me, doesn't he?"

"No, of course not. It's just a few days. We'll drive down Friday night and leave Sunday evening. I swear he won't shoot you."

I cocked an eyebrow. "If Sofia met someone like me, and I had a gun, I'd shoot him."

She laughed softly. "It'll be fine, okay? I've told him about you now, which is all that matters. You have to meet my dad sometime, Edward. Can we please go? I miss him."

Swear to God, she batted her eyelashes. She just looked so damn hopeful, so I couldn't have said no. Besides, if we brought Little One, chances were good he wouldn't kill me. "All right, we'll go, but Sofia has to come. We're not leaving her with my mom. I might need her in case your dad gets any ideas."

She laughed, hugging me tightly. "Thank you, Edward. And I'm sure he'll be even less inclined to kill you in front of your daughter."

. . . . .

When Friday rolled around, I seriously fucking considered asking Emmett if I could take his shifts for the weekend, but Bella was so excited and there was no way in hell I'd miss her birthday tomorrow. I didn't know much about her relationship with her father, but I knew they were close since he was all she ever had. I worried about how he'd react to me, especially considering how her first and only relationship ended. Fuck, would he take that out on me? I could understand it, I guess. He wouldn't want her to be hurt again.

"So, your dad's not working this weekend?" I asked, driving down the 101 toward Forks.

"Nope." She smiled. "Oh, and he asked if you'd want to go fishing with him on Sunday. You know, just some time alone. I swear he won't try to drowned you or anything."

I looked over, cocking an eyebrow. "How sure are you about that exactly?"

She just laughed, shaking her head. I didn't find the humor. "If you don't want to go, that's fine. You can use Sofia as an excuse. By the way, she's still passed out."

I looked in the rear view mirror and smiled. "Car rides, I guess. And yeah, I need to stay with her, you know? I don't want you to have to take care of her, and your dad think I'm taking advantage of you or anything."

"Oh, he knows I love her, but I'll let you use that excuse."

The GPS told me to take a left on Calawah Way, and I felt a lump in my throat. We were almost there and panic flooded through me like never before. "Is there anything I should know?"

"Like what?" she asked.

"Um . . . is he okay with you . . . dating? You know, since what happened with Jacob?"

"Oh, don't bring up Jacob. That's a sore spot for him. But he understands I'm going to date, Edward. He knows I'm a big girl."

I nodded. "All right, no Jacob talk." I turned down another road and looked for the house.

"Right there," Bella said, pointing to the house with a cop car in the driveway.

Yeah, dead giveaway. I pulled in beside the car and shut off the engine, taking a deep breath. "I've never met someone's parents before, Bella. If it starts to look like I'm going to fuck up, stop me, please? I'd rather not embarrass myself."

She put her hand over mine and smiled. "You'll be fine, but I'll try to keep you from embarrassing yourself. I think my dad's going to like you."

I scoffed. "Sure, Bella. I'm guarding myself with Little One, though."

We got out of the SUV, and I pulled a still sleeping Little One out in her car seat and threw her bag over my shoulder. From the smell of it, a diaper change was going to be needed as soon as possible. We left our bags in the car for now, and I followed Bella up the few porch steps of the small, two-story house. Before she could open the screen door, the front door opened, revealing her father.

He was average height with dark hair and a . . . a fucking pornstache. I swear to God, I had to keep myself from smirking. He was wearing a flannel shirt, which just added to it.

He's a cop, I reminded myself. And Bella's father. Don't laugh. You can laugh with Jasper and Emmett on Monday.

"Bells," he said, pushing open the screen door and inviting us in. He quickly pulled her into a hug and told her he missed her.

Bells, huh? I wondered if she'd kill me for using that.

"Hey, Daddy," Bella said, smiling and taking a step back to me. "This is Edward. Edward, this is my dad, Charlie."

He nodded, looking down at the car seat in my hand. "It's nice to meet you, Edward," he said, holding his hand out.

I shook it, and he squeezed my hand a little harder than what I thought was necessary. "You too, Sir."

"So, Bells, I'm guessing that's the little girl you're in love with?" He pointed.

Bella nodded and moved behind me. I laid the car seat down, and she picked Little One up, causing her to fuss some. Once she realized it was Bella, though, she laid her head on Bella's shoulder and yawned.

"This little stinker is Sofia," she said. "And we should probably take care of that." She laughed.

"I caught a whiff of it when I got her out," I said. "Why don't I change her while you and your dad catch up? I'll grab the bags in a few minutes."

She nodded, passing Little One over. Of course it was then she started crying. Great. Bella told me to go upstairs to her old room, which was the only door on the left, so I grabbed the bag and carried Sofia up. I looked around the room a little, finding it pretty bare except for the usual furniture. The walls were green and there was a large window facing the woods. I laid Little One down on the unmade bed and pulled a blanket from her bag to change her on. She was still crying, so I rubbed her belly softly.

"I'm getting to it, Little One," I said, pulling her pants off and undoing her diaper. "I need you to be good this weekend, all right? You have to keep the crying to a minimum at night because I don't want Charlie to not be able to sleep."

I cleaned her up and put the dirty diaper in a plastic bag before putting a new diaper and her pants back on. She was calming down and sucking on her hand, so I pulled it out and popped her pacifier in. I picked her up and swayed, soothing her more as she put her hands in my hair and tugged.

"That's a good girl," I said, kissing her cheek. "So, did the guy with the pornstache scare you, too? Because Daddy's pretty freaked out right now. That's Bella's daddy, and I'm afraid he doesn't like me. She told him how I was before I had you, which is pretty much every father's worst nightmare," I sighed.

She spit her pacifier out, but thankfully, I remembered to clip it to her shirt. "Ba da," she babbled.

Why did that kind of sound like bad daddy? Okay, maybe I was reading too much into it. "Let's go downstairs and get to know Pornstache. Shit, I really hope that doesn't slip out," I laughed.

. . . . .

After passing Little One off to Bella, I grabbed the bags from the car, and then went back downstairs to the living room. Charlie was sitting in a recliner, bouncing Sofia on his lap as he smiled and Bella told him things about her. Obviously, bringing Little One was the best idea in the world. How could someone not love her?

"She a cutie, Edward," Charlie said as Sofia reached up and tugged on his mustache.

Fuck. "I'm so sorry," I said.

He pulled her hand away and laughed. "Don't worry about it. All the ladies love the stache."

"Dad!" Bella said.

"Kidding, Bells. Do you want her back, Edward?"

"She needs a bottle soon," I said, looking at my watch. "Do you want to give it to her?"

"Oh, no." He shook his head. "This is about as much as I can do with babies."

"I'll go make her a bottle," Bella said, standing up from the couch.

Suddenly, I was alone with her father, and I didn't know what the fuck to say. He continued to talk to Little One, making her giggle as I sat there awkwardly.

After a little while of silence, I said, "Thank you for inviting us for the weekend."

Yeah, that was a good way to start it, right?

"You're welcome," he said. "Bells talks about you a lot, so I figured it was time. She tells me you're a surgeon, right?"

I nodded. "A general surgeon."

"I have no clue what that means, son."

"Oh, um, my focus is mostly on the abdominal organs."

"Ah, so no brain surgery, I take it?" he laughed.

"Not since residency. I actually followed in my father's footsteps."

"Good. I'm sure he's proud."

And then there was more awkward silence between the two of us. Bella seemed to be taking her sweet time with that bottle.

"So, you're Bells' next door neighbor," he said. "She saved your ass with this one, right?"

I chuckled lowly, rubbing the back of my neck. "Uh, yeah, she did. I don't know what I'd do without her."

"She's a great girl, though I'm pretty sure I didn't have a thing to do with that. You love her?"

Cutting right to the chase, huh? "I do, sir. She's kind, smart, funny, and just amazing. I'm not sure how I got lucky enough for her to even talk to me."

"Me neither," he said, bouncing Little One. "You're just the happiest baby in the world, aren't you?"

Well then, that solved that. He didn't think I should have been with Bella, and I couldn't blame him. That did fucking, you know, hurt, though. Would he hate me forever? If he told Bella he didn't like me, would she break up with me? Shit. I knew coming here was a bad idea.

"She tells me you're a great dad, though," he said, looking up at me. "That's important. You changed your life for this little one and took responsibility. You know, that says a lot about a man, and I can relate."

I blinked, confused at what the fuck he was getting at. So . . . he didn't hate me? "I love my daughter with all my heart, and I couldn't imagine my life without her now . . . Or without Bella. I know you know about my past, but I swear I'm not that guy anymore."

He nodded. "I believe in second chances, but if you hurt my daughter . . . well, you'll pay for it." He smiled, and I swear to God his pornstache twitched. I may have gulped.

"Here we go!" Bella said, coming in with the bottle. "Can I have her, Dad?"

"Sure thing, Bells," he said, lifting Little One for her to take.

Bella settled back down next to me and laid Little One in her arms for the bottle. I found Charlie watching her with a smile as she cooed at Sofia and cleaned the dribble from her chin. It was a sight, so I couldn't blame him. I wondered what he thought of seeing Bella like this — like a mother. I mean, she basically was Little One's mom, even though we hadn't talked about it much — except for that time at the grocery store. I knew it was soon, but I hoped maybe one day Sofia would call her mom.

Yeah, way too fucking soon.

"You're a natural, Bells," Charlie said, grinning. "Is that all she eats?"

Bella shook her head. "No, she eats baby food, too. We already gave her dinner before leaving, since we got in so late. Her favorite is chicken and gravy, but she eats everything pretty well."

"Except carrots," I laughed. "She manages to get them on me every time, so we've stopped trying."

He smirked. "She throws her food at you?"

"Spits it up on him, too," Bella laughed softly. "I've found all kinds of things in his hair."

"That's hilarious, but not you?"

She shook her head. "No, she eats pretty well for me. I don't know why, though. I've only had to clean myself up a handful of times."

"Like I said, a natural. So, is there enough room up there for her crib?" he asked, changing the subject.

I nodded. "I already set up the portable. She'll probably go down in an hour or so, but she has to play more first. She took a late nap in the car. Hopefully that won't cause issues."

"Well, feel free to do whatever you have to. I'm gonna head upstairs soon, if that's all right."

"Of course, Daddy," Bella said, smirking. "I know it's almost past your bedtime."

He laughed. "After nine, then yup." He stood from the recliner and came over in front of her, leaning down and kissing her cheek. "Happy almost birthday, honey. Thank you for coming to see me."

"You're welcome. Good night. I love you."

"Love you, too." He moved his hand to Little One's head, rubbing it softly. "Night, pumpkin head."

Wait . . . Did he just call my kid pumpkin head? I mean, sure, she had red hair and all, but that was kind of . . . rude. I didn't like it, but Bella laughed and called it cute. Fuck no, it wasn't. My kid wasn't a damn gourd.

Once Pornstache went upstairs, Little One finished her bottle and we played for a while. She wasn't tired in the least, which wasn't good. Her schedule was all fucked up now. She had a late nap, a late bottle, and the environment was new. For some reason, I just knew it all spelled disaster. I was right, too. Nothing we did made her want to go to sleep. Bella swayed with her, I swayed with her, but she was wide eyed and playful, giggling loudly and babbling her usual nonsense.

Around eleven, Bella went upstairs and got a children's book. We hoped reading to her would do the trick, so I held Sofia in my arms as Bella read from it. It had pictures and even textures, which Little One touched with joy. It only seemed to wind her up more.

"What about one of your books?" I asked, sighing in defeat as Little One squirmed in my arms.

"I brought Sense and Sensibility with me," she said. "I can try it."

I shrugged. "It's worked before, right? At this point, I'm getting desperate."

"Okay, I'll go get it." She smiled, leaning down to kiss Little One's forehead before getting up.

When she came back down, she started at the beginning and spoke softly as she read. Truthfully, I didn't give a shit about the book and had never read it before. From the look of its binding, I guessed this wasn't a first time reread, or even second for Bella. A few pages in, Little One yawned and started to blink slowly. She had stopped squirming and just laid still in my arms. Holy shit, Bella was magical. I didn't know if it was her voice, or maybe that Sofia just found the book as boring as I did, but it worked like a charm. Within twenty minutes, she was out like a light.

I stood up carefully, and we walked upstairs to Bella's old bedroom. I had gotten the crib all sorted out earlier, so I gently laid Little One down as Bella made our bed. I was scratching my head a little at the fact that Pornstache was all right with us sharing a bed, but nothing had been said. I figured he'd care about that.

Once we had changed, Bella and I laid down in the small bed, and I pulled her into my arms, kissing her. I wasn't going to be able to actually touch her all weekend, so I took what I could get and moved my hand to her ass.

She pulled away from me, laughing softly. "You're terrible. In my dad's house? Really?"

I smirked. "I was going to go for your boobs, but I know how you get."

She rolled her eyes and kissed me again. "Only you, Edward. Only you."