A Rough Start

Chapter 29 – Girl Fight Tonight

Bella resembled a guppy as she opened and closed her mouth in succession. Edward was standing before her expectantly, but she just couldn't stop the loop of indecision that was running through her mind.

Originally, she had been firm in her decision not to tell Edward what his mother had said. She'd felt it was imperative that when Edward found out the truth about his childhood, his mother should be the one standing in front of him providing all the details.

However, Edward, in all of his stubborn splendor, had proven that if Bella didn't tell him what Esme had said, he'd most likely never find out. So it was for that reason that she was seated on Edward's sofa swallowing her conviction and waiting for him to return from tucking Anthony in for the night.

When Edward arrived back downstairs, he sat down next to Bella with his clasped hands lolling between his knees.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" he asked, his eyes on the carpet beneath his feet.

"I'll tell you," Bella paused when she saw the shocked expression on Edward's face. "But I'd like you to agree to one thing."

"I'm not calling her, Bella."

"Edward," Bella threw her hands up in exasperation. "There are going to be things you don't understand and instead of dismissing them, or asking me to try to explain, I think you should at least be open to letting her clarify things for you."

"Fine," Edward relented. "I'll be open to it." He wasn't agreeing to call his mother, but Bella knew it was the best she was going to get from him.

"Okay, so…I don't know where to start. Why don't you just tell me what Leisel said that got under your skin," Bella suggested.

"She said that my parents' conviction caused our separation, or something like that. But my parents weren't actually convicted of anything…right?"

Edward looked so hopeful, but for what, Bella wasn't sure. Did he want to be wrong or did he want to be right?

"Edward, have you ever heard of the Adoption and Safe Families Act?" When Edward indicated that he hadn't, Bella continued. "It's a law that basically emancipates children from their parents once they've been in the foster care system for over fifteen months." Bella felt like she was starting in the middle of the story, but her mind was racing for a way to tear down all of Edward's defenses to what she was about to say before they'd even had a chance to form.

"Your mother says that you were never actually on trial," she said.

"That's not true," Edward interrupted. "I remember sitting in that courtroom with the judge and the police officer in the tan uniform…"

"That was a hearing. They were just presenting facts and evidence for the purpose of charging the guilty party. And as a result of that hearing, your parents were charged with third-degree murder, neglect and negligence."

"That's bullshit," Edward said, but it didn't sound like he believed it.

"This is what your mother told me, Edward," Bella reminded him. He backed down under her gaze, and Bella went on. "Fortunately the third degree murder charge didn't stick, but in the time it took to sift through that and the other charges, you had been in the foster care system so long that they terminated your parents' parental rights. Your parents had no choice."

"That doesn't make any sense," Edward protested.

Bella kept speaking. She knew there was no better defense than the facts of the situation, as she knew them.

"Once you became a ward of the state, your parents were locked out of getting any information on you. And then you were moved out of state." It was something that Bella hadn't heard him speak about, so she inquired. "What state did you move to?"

"Oregon," Edward answered softly.

Bella sat back against the back of the couch and watched Edward closely. "Like Anthony?"

Edward shook his head. "I was just on the other side of the border and I didn't stay there long. A few weeks, maybe."

Bella could tell that though Edward wasn't taking in the information with an open-arms reception, he was listening, and so far, he hadn't been able to find any large holes in Esme's explanation.

"So I'm supposed to believe that in all the time I sat rotting in that cage of a house they had me in, my parents were, what? Locked up?" he asked.

Bella shrugged. "I don't know; I didn't ask. I do know that it takes a long time for a case to actually make it to trial. Maybe they were on some type of house arrest or something while they were waiting?" Bella suggested. "See, this is why I wanted you to ask your mother yourself. You're going to have all these questions that I can't answer."

"I just want to know what she told you. That's all. You don't have to fill in the blanks," Edward told her.

So that is exactly what Bella did. For the next forty minutes, she sat beside Edward and told him exactly what Esme had told her, pausing only when Edward needed her to repeat something, or when he simply needed a moment to absorb it all.

"My dad," Edward stated softly after a lengthy period of silence, "is crazy?"

"Not crazy," Bella said, remembering what Esme had said of her husband. "He just hasn't spoken in over a decade…well not until he saw you that day. Your mother said that he'd never spoken about you in that way, though. I can't remember the term she used but she said that therapy, medication, and begging have no effect on him. He simply doesn't talk."

In all the time that Bella had been holding on to the nuggets of information concerning Edward's past, she'd imagined what Edward's reaction would be once he discovered what she knew. She'd imagined him being overcome with emotion, breaking down into sobs at knowing that he hadn't been voluntarily rejected by his parents. She'd imagined him rushing to his mother in a monumental reunion, welcoming her into his life and grasping at opportunities to make up for lost time.

Of course, realistically, she knew the Edward that she'd come to know and love was not the sort of man to display dramatic emotional reactions, but she had expected something beyond the complacent man that sat before her.

"Edward?" she leaned down to look into his downcast eyes. "Are you overwhelmed?"

"Huh?" he shivered, as if shaking off a bad thought. "Uh, no. No, I'm just…listening."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Bella was immediately dazzled by Edward's sly, sideways grin. "Isn't that what we've been doing for almost an hour?"

"Edward, you know what I mean," Bella playfully swatted at him.

He let out an utterance of disingenuous laughter. "No, I'm good."

He'd just found out that everything he'd known about his childhood wasn't true and he was good?

"Are you sure?" Bella asked as she rested her hand on his thigh.

"Yeah." Edward stood up, effectively removing Bella's hand from touching him. "Man, I'm beat."

She watched him closely, trying to decipher if he truly was tired or if he simply wanted to distance himself from her.

When she asked him if he wanted her to stay, and he responded with, "That's okay. I'll just see you tomorrow," Bella knew that he needed to take the time on his own to process things in his own way.

And she was completely fine with that.

So the next morning, when he dropped Anthony off at five-fifteen in the morning, his last day of work before his vacation officially started, Bella greeted him with no hard feelings.

"I'm taking Anthony shopping with Alice and Rosalie today in Port Angeles. I'll give you a call if we're going to be late," Bella said after Edward had kissed her hello.

Edward nodded but made no indication that he had a problem with anything.

"So we're taking off early tomorrow morning, right?" Bella asked, searching for a signal as to how Edward was feeling that morning.

"Yeah. I just need to get some sleep after my shift and then I'll swing by?" Edward asked.

"Oh…right," Bella answered, wondering why he just didn't want her to stay the night.

"Is that okay?" he asked, seemingly reading her mind.

Bella rushed to hide her disappointment at spending the evening without Edward; instead she forced herself to focus on the time they would have together during their upcoming trip to Oregon.

"Yeah, that's great," she said.

Edward leaned in for one last kiss, reaching around and pinching her on the bottom as he did so.

Bella was happy to see his playful side return, and therefore, she made sure to make no mention of what they'd talked about the night before lest it catapult him back into a sour mood. Instead, she focused her attention on Anthony – getting him rested, fed and dressed before Alice and Rosalie showed up a few hours later to whisk them off to Port Angeles.

"Do you have to go potty?" Alice asked Anthony just as she, Bella and Rosalie were ready to depart.

"I already went," Anthony scowled at being asked what he felt was a personal question.

"Oh. Good. Well, do you need snacks or…something?" Alice looked over at Bella for assistance.

"We're ready," Bella simply said. "Let's go."

Yet Bella noticed that Alice's misplaced doting didn't end at the door. Once they were safely seated in the car, Alice fretted over the placement of the booster seat, the seatbelt and whether or not there would be too much UV exposure through the back window.

"I swear, if you don't relax, I'm going to open this door and throw myself out of a moving vehicle," Rosalie told her.

"Well excuse me for caring about child safety," Alice hissed.

At the utterance of Alice's words, Rosalie threw her back and let out a boisterous guffaw. When she saw how hurt Alice looked at her laughter, she offered an apology of sorts. "I'm sorry Alice, but aren't you the same person who fastened that pacifier clip to Jasper's cousin's baby's skin?"

"Her mother said to clip it to her so that it didn't fall off! How was I supposed to know it didn't go on skin?" Alice asked in frustration.

"How were you supposed to know…" Bella let out a flustered sputter. "Seriously, Alice? You pinched the baby's skin?"

Rosalie and Bella were laughing, and they expected their friend to join in as well. Surely Alice could see the absurdity of not knowing that adhering a clamp to a baby's tender skin was certainly going to hurt. But instead of seeing the humor in the situation after the fact, Alice burst into tears. In fact, she began crying so hard that she pulled over on the side of the road and leaned over to rest her head on the steering wheel as she sobbed.

Rosalie turned from her place in the front seat and looked back at Bella, who was sitting in the rear with Anthony.

"Alice?" Bella asked softly. Maybe she hadn't yet recovered from the notion of making a baby cry. Perhaps it was too soon to make jokes?

"You're right," Alice said silently. "I'm horrible with children."

"I didn't say you were horrible," Rosalie said as she nudged Alice's arm in a gesture that hinted for her friend to lighten up. "Just…a little shallow in the knowledge department. And you know I'm not being critical, Alice. I think I bought Anthony dog toys instead of kid toys when I first met him. I'm no better."

Alice shook her head insistently, refusing to accept Rosalie's sentiment. "No. You're right. It's true. I'm going to be a horrible mom," she cried.

"No you won't," Bella said as she leaned forward to pat Alice on the shoulder.

"I will," Alice wailed. "I told Jasper I can't do this. I told him!"

Rosalie and Bella exchanged curious glances, until finally Alice clarified the matter for them.

"I'm pregnant," she announced unenthusiastically.

Rosalie gasped in shock as Bella squealed in delight. "That's great, Alice. Congratulations!" Bella praised.

"Are you serious?" Rosalie was dumbfounded.

Alice nodded as she wiped her nose. Before Alice offered to tell the story of how she found out, Rosalie talked Alice into letting her drive, in order to give Alice the leisure of talking without trying to focus on the road.

"About three months ago," Alice began as Rosalie maneuvered them back onto the highway, "I started feeling really tired all the time. I mean really tired. Then came what Jasper calls 'the weepies'. I just couldn't stop crying. Every little thing he did or said – waterfall of tears," Alice gestured to her face. "Anyway, after I was late, I tested and viola! Pregnant."

"Is Jasper excited?" Bella asked, beaming.

Alice shrugged. "He says he is, but I think he's just as freaked out as I am. Every so often I catch him sitting in front of the television watching those baby delivery shows on the Discovery Channel. He looks as horrified as I feel."

"So you're not happy about it?" Bella frowned. She was wary of how Alice would answer the question with Anthony in the car.

"No, I am. I mean, when I think of having this little bundle that is part Jasper and part me, it's amazing. But then, when I think about everything that's going to change…I don't know…I just feel like there's no way on earth to feel prepared for this."

"So wait," Rosalie called out suddenly. "You're three months pregnant?" she stole a glance at Alice's abdomen with the roadway was clear.

"Everything I read said that you shouldn't tell anyone until you've completed the first trimester, so that's what I did. I've read everything I can get my hands on and I still feel like I don't know anything. It's so overwhelming," Alice complained.

"But isn't that the fun of the journey?" Bella asked. "That's the adventure of parenting."

"Spoken like a woman with no kids," Rosalie muttered.

Before Bella could protest, Alice looked over the seat at Anthony, who was watching the women around him with keen interest.

"I'm trying to learn all I can, but Edward is the only person I know with kids. I mean, there's the people I work with, but I don't really know them. And you know how people act all fake and shit with people they don't know. Everyone wants you to think they're mommy of the year. Nobody tells you about the days they feed their kid cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or when they turn their kids underwear inside out because they didn't have time to do the laundry," Alice said.

"Okay…that's gross," Rosalie grimaced.

"I like cereal for dinner," Anthony added. And then he looked confused when all the women around him started laughing.

Once Alice's secret was out, the atmosphere inside the car turned much lighter. Alice recited her joy at being able to eat whatever she wanted at the holidays and having an excuse for weight gain and how she could use Christmas and a baby shower to get necessary items for the new addition to her family.

"How come you haven't gotten a Christmas tree yet?" Rosalie asked Bella suspiciously as she eyed her through the rearview mirror.

Bella shrugged. "My apartment is really small and the one I picked out fit well in Edward's house. I didn't see the importance in getting another one."

"Wow. Things sound really…serious between you two," Rosalie hinted.

"Why, because we're sharing a Christmas tree? Maybe we just want to conserve waste," Bella stated, but the smile she wore hinted that Rosalie was perhaps more correct.

"Hey, if you think your apartment is small, you might be interested to know that my across-the-street neighbor said that she's going to be selling her house after the first of the year. She's moving to Florida to live with her sister," Alice said.

"Don't even bother. I've been trying to get Bella to buy a house for as long as I've known her and she won't do it," Rosalie said sourly.

"I didn't say I wouldn't ever do it. I just wouldn't do it just for the sake of doing it. But I really like the neighborhood Alice lives in, and there are some great first time buyer incentives for teachers…" Bella thought out loud.

"Are you kidding me?" Rosalie pounded the steering wheel. "The minute I get out of real estate, you decide to buy a house?"

"I told you I liked that neighborhood, and besides, nobody said you had to move. That was your decision." Bella tossed her hair over her shoulder.

Surprisingly, Rosalie had no immediate comeback to those words. Then, before switching on the radio, she silently lamented, "I think I've just had that moment where you realize all of your friends are grown up and moving on and leaving you behind."

"That's not true," Alice argued, touching her friend's arm with empathy.

"It is true." Now it was Rosalie's turn to be insistent. "You're going to be somebody's mom and Bella, for all intents and purposes, already is. You guys are working and making strides in your lives and I'm just going backwards."

Bella wanted to be more encouraging to Rosalie but she was distracted by what her friend had just said about her being somebody's mother, or more specifically, Anthony's mother. Though she loved him more than she ever thought she could love a child that wasn't her own flesh and blood, it had never been her intent to take the place of his mother, and especially not so early in the loss of his lineage. It frightened her that Anthony thought this was what she was doing; that she was trying to fill a spot that he wasn't yet ready to see the vacancy in.

Suddenly she wondered if her decision to tagalong to Oregon was a good one.

Fortunately, the hustle and bustle of the holiday shopping crowd was enough to temporarily shelf all of Bella's insecurities and doubts on the matter. She had to be sharp and focused if she was going to keep up with Anthony, who kept running off every time he saw something new and exciting.

"That boy needs a leash," Alice said, then immediately covered her mouth in horror. "That's a bad mommy move, isn't it?"

"Not if it means the difference between losing your kid and keeping him safe," Rosalie answered. "Even I know that."

Bella didn't agree, but she kept her comments to herself. Instead, she admonished Anthony to hold her hand at all times and then promised to reward him by taking him to the toy store if he was able to comply.

That seemed to work just fine.

Anthony was happily moving from action figure to action figure when he looked past Bella and froze. Worried, Bella glanced over her shoulder to see what had stopped Anthony in his tracks. All she saw was Alice trying to convince Rosalie to buy her an early baby shower present.

"What's the matter, buddy?" Bella lightly touched Anthony on his arm.

His eyes shot to hers frantically and he quickly flew to her side and held up his hands for Bella to pick him up.

Anthony was definitely the smallest kindergartener in her class – and in the entire school – but he was still a five-year-old boy, and therefore not the lightest person to carry. But from the shuddering movements of his body, Bella could see that it wasn't the time to point that out.

"What is it?" she asked instead as she scooped him up in her arms.

"I wanna go home," said his small voice, muffled into her shoulder.

By this time, Alice and Rosalie had caught sight of Bella struggling to hold Anthony steadily and they walked over to see what was going on.

"Did he get hurt?" Alice asked.

"I don't know," Bella stated, perplexed. "He was just standing there looking at the toys, and then the next thing I know, he's running over wanting me to pick him up."

"He's shaking," Rosalie observed when she placed a hand on his back.

Bella knew what was coming next and she immediately began moving toward the exit. "Anthony, I think we should go potty now, okay? We had that bottle of water in the car so it's probably time to go."

Just as she made it towards the front, there seemed to be a mad dash to the cash registers and Bella had to stand idly by for a moment while she waited for a clearing so that she could leave.

All off a sudden, someone bumped her hard from behind – so hard, in fact, that she almost dropped Anthony.

"Excuse me!" Bella exclaimed as she turned to face the impatient person.

And then everything suddenly made sense; for there, behind her, was Vicki.

"Yeah, excuse you," Vicki said snidely. "You're in my way."

Anthony began to fret and fuss that he wanted to go home as he tightened his grip around Bella's neck.

"I see Edward still has you working your way onto your back," Vicki said spitefully as she nodded in indication toward Anthony.

"Bitch, you'd better be glad my hands are full," Bella told her, nearly choking from how tight Anthony's hold was. She tried to put him down, but that only made him latch on more forcefully.

A hushed silence fell over the store as patrons moved away from what looked like a brewing brawl. Vicki had just enough time to scoff at Bella's quasi-threat before a store manager came over and sternly required them to leave her store. And of course, since an Anthony-clad Bella was walking in the same direction as Vicki, Anthony nearly had a panic attack. Thankfully, he'd managed to remain dry thus far.

"Sweetheart," Bella said once she was finally able to pry Anthony off her, "you're fine. I'm not going to let her anywhere near you, okay? She's not going to hurt you."

But then Bella looked up and saw that Vicki actually had the audacity to be standing nearby. When she saw Bella glance her way, she sauntered over in a threatening manner.

"I just want you to know that that little stunt you pulled about calling my client's family and telling them I was abusing their mother nearly cost me my job. Luckily I was able to convince them that it was the ramblings of some bitter and jealous harpy trying to blame some retarded kid's problems on me-"

Vicki's head snapped backwards from the force of a fist connecting with her mouth.

Bella looked down at her fist and opened and closed her hand a few times as she tested the muscles, almost feeling the force that had overpowered Vicki. She'd wanted to punch Vicki for so long; daydreamed about it, even.

Only, she hadn't.

Bella glanced to her left to see Rosalie standing next to her wringing out her hand from the sting of the contact.

"What are you doing?" Bella hissed at her.

"What you can't," Rosalie said back. "You really want her to be able to call you on fighting in front of one of your students?"

Before Bella could answer, Vicki had regained her footing and made a dash for her, as if she hadn't yet realized that it was Rosalie who had assaulted her, and not Bella. Rosalie again interceded and grabbed Vicki by her hair. Vicki clawed at the air aimlessly but only managed to grab Rosalie's shirt and rip it, causing it to hang in a rather revealing matter.

"What should I do?" Alice asked Bella. "I can't pull them apart. I'm pregnant!"

"Get Anthony out of here," Bella said as she pushed up her sleeves. She needed to get at least one shot in with Vicki. She had to, for Anthony.

"Bella, you're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?" Alice asked cautiously.

"What? Let Rosalie fight my battles for me? No, I'm not," Bella said as she stepped forward.

Alice grabbed her forcefully and pointed to Anthony who was cowering down near a large potted plant with his hands covering his eyes. "What's more important?"

One look at Anthony and Bella needed no more convincing. She quickly pulled him up and held him tightly.

"You're okay, Anthony. Sssh…I'm right here," she consoled him.

But Anthony wasn't crying. He was watching the mall police arrive and pull apart the two warring women.

Everything suddenly seemed to shift into slow motion. Bella shielded Anthony from listening and watching as Rosalie resituated her blouse and Vicki spit out a bloody tooth before being cuffed and led away by two uniformed officers.

People began to point at Bella and Alice and before long, they were summoned to the mall security station and questioned about what happened. Bella was pleased to find out that a few of the shoppers in the toy store had corroborated her story about how Vicki had purposefully pushed into her when Bella had had her back turned.

Unfortunately, Rosalie wasn't as lucky. Though there was no merchandise ruined during the course of the scuffle, it was pretty clear that Vicki had every intention of pressing charges against Rosalie. Over and over Vicki kept spouting off that Rosalie shouldn't have even been involved, that the issue was between herself and Bella.

And for that reason, four hours later when two members of the Washington State Patrol showed up on Bella's front porch, no one was really surprised. Since Rosalie no longer had a residence of her own due to her imminent move, she had given Bella's apartment number as her own. And that was exactly where she was when the law enforcement came looking for her.

Bella racked her brain trying to figure out the best way to help Rosalie, who seemed unscathed by the fact that the recent turn of events most likely meant that she couldn't leave the area, and therefore wouldn't be able to start her new job.

"I don't think she really wants to go," Alice said later after Rosalie was gone.

"You don't think she sabotaged her job on purpose, do you?" Bella wondered.

"No, but sometimes our subconscious has a way of overpowering our actions, I guess," Alice shrugged.

Alice profusely apologized for not being able to stay. She said that she needed to get home to make dinner for Jasper, and to have what she called her "first dinner", but moments after she left, Edward called and alerted Bella that Alice had been up to something else as well.

"Sounds like you've had a busy day," Edward said when he'd called her just minutes after his shift ended.

"You could say that," Bella said, assuming that he listened to the variety of messages she'd left on his phone since Rosalie was carted off by the police. "I feel like the biggest shit. I didn't do anything."

"What could you do, babe? If anything would've happened to you the consequences would have been far worse for you than for Rosalie."

"How can you say that? Rosalie is in jail because she hit Vicki unprovoked, but there were witnesses who could testify that Vicki pushed me – she started it."

"Well, she still started it. Rosalie told the cops that she stepped in because you were carrying Anthony and that Vicki was acting like she was gonna go for him as well. I don't think the charges will stick."

"I wish I could get a hold of Rosalie. I just need to know if she's okay. I can't leave town tomorrow without knowing, and she hasn't called me," Bella said frantically.

"Well…," Edward hesitated, "I told Emmett I'd go up to Port Angeles with him tonight to bail her out."

"Emmett is bailing Rosalie out of jail?" Bella couldn't believe her ears.

"Alice called him crying about not knowing what to do. Emmett tried to act like he didn't care, but when Rosalie called him about an hour later, he gave in and said he'd pick her up," Edward explained.

"How much is her bail?"

"Five hundred."

"Okay. I think I should pay at least half."

"No way! Nobody told Rosalie to go full throttle in front of a bunch of witnesses. She could have used her head like I did and reported her to her employer, but no, Rosalie had to go all Rambo on her ass. That's her own fuckin' fault. She can pay her own two-hundred and fifty. I'll pay the rest."

"Edward?"

"I'll gladly pay two-hundred and fifty for the shot to the mouth Rosalie handed her for takin' a shot at you and Anthony. But for five hundred, I would have at least wanted to see it," Edward laughed.

The conversation was cut short when Edward made it to his car, but because he didn't want to leave for Port Angeles without first spending a little time with Anthony and Bella, he agreed to meet Emmett at Bella's apartment and they planned to leave from there.

"You're going to be so tired," Bella told Edward later when he was standing in front of her in her kitchen. She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his lips. "You won't be back until midnight, if not later."

Edward nodded in agreement. "Do you mind if we leave a little later tomorrow for Oregon?"

"We can, or I could drive the first leg of the trip," Bella offered.

Emmett burst through the front door and overpowered Edward's answer.

"A little ho-down throw-down in the 360, eh?" Emmett boomed upon entry.

Bella rolled her eyes. "If you mean that Vicki is a ho and that Rosalie threw her down, then yes, there was a ho-down throw-down."

Emmett laughed. "So tell me what happened. Alice kept cryin' and shit and I couldn't understand what she was sayin'.

So Bella recounted the entire story from when Vicki accidentally on purpose knocked into her until the police came to her door and took Rosalie back to the jurisdiction of the crime.

Emmett let out a low whistle when Bella had completed her narrative. "Bitches be crazy." And of course he said it just in time for Anthony to emerge from his late afternoon nap. Thankfully the little boy wasn't aware of what he was hearing.

"Hi, Daddy!" Anthony's face lit up when he saw his father leaning against the entryway wall.

Bella watched as Edward leaned down so that Anthony could climb up on him.

"Hey, buddy," he greeted his son. "I heard you had kind of a scary day."

Anthony nodded. "Rosalie loosed Vicki's tooth," he whispered.

"Yeah, I'm sorry you had to see that, but remember I told you that Vicki would never hurt you again, and she didn't, did she?" Edward asked.

Anthony shook his head vigorously.

"That's because you have a bunch of people surrounding you that would never let that happen, okay," Edward said.

Bella sighed wistfully as she watched the scene unfold before her. How could Edward ever doubt that he was a good father?

"I'm gonna take a ride with Emmett for a little bit. Do you want to stay here with Bella?" Edward asked. He looked over at Bella and his eyes said what his mouth did not. He was visually apologizing for not asking her first if Anthony could stay.

"I want to go with you," Anthony stated, fully prepared to pout.

"You can't, bud. Not this time."

"But, Dad, I hardly see'd you today."

"He can ride along. It's not like he has school tomorrow," Emmett piped up.

Edward swore under his breath as he turned and looked over his shoulder at Emmett. "I'm not gonna take my kid to go bail someone out of j-a-i-l," he spelled the last word.

"You guys don't even have to come inside. You can drop me off and then circle back around and come pick us up," Emmett suggested.

Edward looked over to Bella for her approval, and though she never in a million years would have thought she'd suggest such an excursion for a young child, she couldn't deny a little boy time with his father – especially when he had already missed out on so much as it was.

"If you guys stay in the car…" Bella shrugged.

Edward rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "This is so Jerry Springer," he said before telling Anthony to go put on his shoes. "I swear, if either of you give me shit about this later…"

"This entire day has been Jerry Springer worthy. What's one more thing?" Emmett chided.

Edward was about to change his mind based upon Emmett's comment but Bella pulled him in and kissed him on the mouth. "He just wants to be with his daddy," she said softly.

"Either you take him along and show him that you're there for him when he expresses how much he needs you and you show him what it looks like to be there for a friend," Bella pointed out, "or you can stay home with him, but if you leave him behind-"

"It'll crush him," Edward finished.

Anthony speedily re-appeared with his shoes untied and on the wrong feet. "I'm ready!" he announced.

"Come on," Emmett led Anthony through the front door and toward Edward's car. "Let's give these lovebirds a minute."

"What's a lovebird?" It was the last thing Bella and Edward heard before Emmett and Anthony disappeared behind the closed door.

"Sorry to run off like this, but I have to go," Edward said.

"Yeah, you do," Bella agreed. "Rosalie did a great thing for Anthony today, even if it probably would have been better if he wasn't there to witness it."

"You know I'm crazy for taking him to the jail."

"So don't take him to the jail, take him by the jail," Bella grinned. "As far as Anthony is concerned, he's just going for a ride with his dad." Bella tilted her head slightly as she wrapped her arms around Edward's neck. "His wonderful and awesome dad."

"You know I wouldn't know half of what I do if it wasn't for you, right?" Edward asked as he held Bella close. "I'm so glad you're coming with us to Oregon." Edward stared into Bella's eyes for a long while as if he were going to say something else. Finally he smiled and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Bella returned as she snuggled against him. "And I'll be all packed and ready to spend the entire week with you starting tomorrow."

Edward shook his head as he leaned in for a kiss. "Starting tonight. I'll be home in a few hours. Use your key."


360 is the area code in Port Angeles, WA.