Days Like This

Chapter 33

BPOV

"Dad… I don't know if this is such a good time. I'm literally engulfed with boxes and Juliet's cutting her top teeth. She's cranky. I can't deal with taking her out for lunch like this." I felt like the biggest shit putting my dad off, yet again, but I really was swamped. The purchase had gone through and we took possession as soon as all the legalities were finalized. It was all happening so fast.

"Tell you what, I'll pick up lunch and come give you a hand with whatever you need. I know you've got a lot on your plate, but I can help with that you know. I'm not completely useless. Whatever you need… I can move boxes, set up furniture, paint, clean, babysit…"

I smiled, wiping the sweat from my brow. "You know what? That sounds great. When can you get here?"

We had been gradually moving for over a week, kicking it off with a painting party. Esme took Juliet to her house for the day while Edward and I put Emmett, Rose, Jasper, Alice and Garrett to work. Edward's condo was still ours, awaiting its sale to be finalized, so we had the luxury of starting fresh and leaving it to dry and air out for a few days. That's where luxury seemed to end. Otherwise it was horrible timing and incredibly frustrating. I had found myself, on a few occasions, simply collapsed in the midst of boxes, weepy and feeling useless. I knew I was nearing that stage again when Charlie called so he was rescuing me from even more than he was aware of.

"I'm ready to be put to work!" Charlie announced with a grin when I returned from putting Juliet down for a nap.

"Thanks for bringing lunch, Dad. It was great." I gave him a hug. He had always been awkward with random displays of affection but he wrapped me in his arms without hesitation. It felt good. It felt safe. And I got weepy, dammit.

"Hey hey hey… what's going on, Bellarina?"

I snorted out a laugh through my tears. I hadn't heard him use that nickname in years. "I'm just overwhelmed. There's so much to do and Edward is under a lot of stress. He started at his practice this week too… and he's still doing hospital shifts. We haven't even seen each other in the past two days. He's crashing at the condo between shifts there. Juliet misses him. She's not feeling well and she's only content with her Edward when she's like this. We need him. I need him. I miss him…"

"Shhh, it's temporary. You'll get through it." Charlie stroked my hair as another wave of tears hit. "The start-up is always a bitch, but once you get settled, it'll all smooth out and you'll forget all about this craziness. I have some time owing… I can take it anytime Bella. I know having your old man around is probably more of a hindrance than a help, but I'll do what I can. Whatever you need."

"Dad!" I clung to him, sniffling against his chest as he rocked me. I had to admit that it felt really damn good to know that I could rely on him. It felt really damn good to be aware that I appreciated him more than I ever realized. He was a good guy and a great dad. And I never told him. I looked up at him, his chocolate eyes a mirror image of my own. "I really need you, Dad," I whispered. "I know I've never told you that, but I do. You're my rock."

His lips disappeared beneath his moustache and he gave a curt nod. "Let's go have a good talk. The boxes can wait."

We currently had Edward's balcony furniture in the living room of the new house. The bed had been moved while we had the use of a van and Emmett's girth to help move it, but Edward still needed something to sleep on at the condo so the couch was still there. I started to apologize and explain that fact but Charlie cut me off.

"Comfort is not a concern. My baby girl is. Bells, I know that you're more than capable of handling this on your own. I just want you to know that you don't have to. I can stay here and help or you can bring Juliet and come home with me until things settle down for Edward and you can get working on this together. You're not alone."

I offered him a grin as I wiped the stray tears off my cheeks. "He's done his hospital shifts for the week. He'll be home tonight. But thank you."

"I can take Juliet if you want some time…"

Hot coals seemed to appear under my skin as my cheeks caught on fire. "Uh… thanks… but Edward will want his Sunshine here. He suffers withdrawal when he doesn't see her." I bit down on my lip as I debated opening up to my dad about Edward's fears. I didn't want to break his confidence, but it had been gnawing at me and I felt like it would continue to do so. We would have to face this eventually and resolve it or deal with whatever it brought. I would hate having to share Juliet even for a few hours at a time, but if that's what it came to, we would have to deal with it.

"Dad, Edward… he's… he is so great with Juliet. She adores him."

"I see that," he smiled broadly. "It's evident who that little girl looks to for love and comfort. She knows who's there for her every day and it's natural for her to adore her Amom and her Edward. Her Momma and Daddy."

Aw, Dad! "He worries… a lot, I think… that one day he'll have to share that position." I confessed in a low voice, shredding the tissue in my hands; focusing on that to avoid looking at my dad and breaking into tears again.

Charlie cleared his throat, coughed and then cleared again. "You know, I've been wanting to talk to you about just that for some time now…"

My head snapped up. "Did Edward say something to you?" I knew they talked, but had he told Charlie about his fear?

"No no… Bells, look…" A frown appeared on his forehead and he stroked his moustache as he did when he had something important to say. "Like I said, anyone can see the bond those two have. Blood hasn't made them father and daughter, but love and nurturing has. It's also natural that he would be concerned about the sperm donor reappearing at some point."

A snicker escaped at Charlie's blunt description for Jake. "I thought I was doing the right thing for Juliet, naming him on her birth certificate. All it did was fuck things up for Edward."

"You couldn't have known what was in store for you, Bells." I caught Charlie's smirk – he had caught that my language filter was turned off. "You didn't completely fuck it up for Edward. There are ways around it. It's not as easy as it could be, but it's not a total fuck up. We can fix this."

My eyebrow shot up in interest and I sat on the edge of my chair. "Dad? What do you know about this? How do you know about this?" I focused very hard on not sounding like the bratty teen who had repeatedly accused him of not knowing anything! Clearly, he did. And I wanted his advice and wisdom.

His moustache twitched on one side. "Well, you see, months ago this young man came to me and professed he had a plan…"

"Oh my god!" My hands flew to my mouth, remembering the unusually long chat they'd had after the ballgame. Had Edward told him then? Had Charlie been digging up information for us since then?

He smirked and carried on. "A young man these days simply does not go to a girl's father and tell him of the things he has planned if he's not completely committed and utterly in love. In this case, that extends to two girls. Bella, I really hope you're not gonna get pissed, but I took this to Harry…"

My eyes widened. This was why Harry hadn't been shocked when Edward and I showed up for his help with the house. Charlie had been working on this! "Go on…"

"There are ways around this. Jacob does not have to be her legal father forever."

"I know that… I could take him to court… we really don't want the mess of that right now. We really don't want the mess of that ever." I sighed heavily. "The thing is, right now, Jacob's not interested, not involved. What if we take him to court and he suddenly becomes interested and wants to be involved? Better the devil you know…" I used one of my dad's favourite terms from over the years.

He nodded his full understanding. "What if those worries could be quashed? Would you pursue a legal termination of his rights?"

"I don't know how I'd…"

"Bells, don't be pissed. I had a little talk with Jake. Actually, Harry and I had a little talk with Jake."

I was developing a headache from my eyebrows being extended so much. "Dad? What the…" I gave my head a shake and suppressed the giggle that was forming. Jake would have been shitting himself. "Go on…"

"Harry filled me in on how we would go about replacing Jake with a real dad for Juliet and I've been trying to talk to you about it but it's difficult to get you with free time and on your own."

I loved how he phrased that first part. My heart swelled with love and respect for my dad. He knew all about what made a dad 'real'. My smile encouraged him to continue.

"I'm sorry Bells, I felt it was worth risking you being pissed that I did this behind your back – because I didn't intend it to be that way."

"I know! You've been trying, I know that. Tell me what happened!" I knew it couldn't be bad. Charlie wouldn't be so calm.

"I knew from the get-go, when I went to see him on the Res, that he wasn't going to step up. You were right to go with your instincts – this guy is not ready to be a father. Not interested in the least. I offered him a way out and Harry set it all up so you can move on when you're ready." He smiled affectionately at my befuddled expression. "Bells, your face will stay like that if you don't change it up. Here's the deal, Harry gave him two legal options: step up a child support payment plan and arrange back payments due or sign a form relinquishing his rights as a parent and move on with his life. I'm assuming his tribe doesn't know about Juliet. They wouldn't embrace a leader who abandoned his own child and Harry mentioned that the elders are pressing him to marry and start a family within the tribe. He's been dating a young lady that meets their approval, apparently. You know how important this honour is to him… tribe leader. Given these options, you can guess what he chose."

I squealed and jumped from my chair. Yes, I knew what he would opt for. "He signed it! Dad? What does this mean?"

"It means that when you're ready to have someone… oh, let's say the guy who's been by your side, helping you raise your daughter all along… adopt her, legally, Harry has already got the hardest part done. Jacob voluntarily revoked his rights as her father. However, the laws state that he's not entirely off the hook for her financially. If there comes a time where you couldn't support her and needed state assistance, they'd go after him for payment."

"And bring him back into the fold… oh, Dad! Is Edward right? Will we always have to worry about him being involved?"

Charlie shook his head, wearing a Cheshire grin. "Not if he's her legal father through adoption. Get it? Jake's out. He signed away his rights. If Edward agrees to be responsible for her financially along with you, the courts will finalize it. How do you think he'd feel about adopting our sweet Juliet?"

My body shook with hysterics and nervous ticks. I hovered between laughter and tears and disbelief. "Are you serious? He can adopt her? And it's done? Forever?"

"We can go talk to Harry about the legal aspects of the adoption with your current living situation. There may be a time frame they're looking for. If you were married, from what I understand, you would see a family court judge and they would finalize Jake's relinquishment of rights with Edward's adoption and it would be that simple. We'll check out the laws for a common-law arrangement and see if it's the same. Or…" The Cheshire returned. "You could get married."

I headed over to hug him, which I did, after a shoulder slap. "Don't put the pressure on, Dad," I teased.

"You're not pissed that I went ahead and did this without getting to talk to you?"

Squeezing him tighter than I ever had, I gave his cheek a big kiss. "You're the best Dad in the world. Do you know that? I'm not pissed, Dad. I love you so much for doing this for me. For us. Thank you."

If I'm not mistaken, Charlie cried. Again. That would be twice in my lifetime that I was aware of. I'm sure there were tears when my mom had died, but I didn't remember any of that. Charlie was always just as he was… Charlie… Dad. I didn't draw attention to it and let him have a few moments to collect himself while claiming I needed to go splash my face with cold water. He was ready to work when I returned. And I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

EPOV

I considered going back to the condo after a rough double shift, but my heart pulled me home. Home was where my girls were and that was no longer at the condo. I called Emmett to beg a ride and showered off at the hospital while I waited for him. This was the last of my regular shifts. I had agreed to stay on staff part-time, offering one ER night a week and a half-day of clinic with a half-day of tending to my patients in-hospital. They obliged and wished me well knowing that I wasn't destined to stay on staff full-time forever. And there was no way I could keep up the pace of both indefinitely. I missed my girls.

I was also feeling a huge amount of guilt, abandoning Bella on the week we were moving. I knew she had just as much stress and exhaustion as I did, but she still had Juliet to tend to all day and night on top of it. Alone. I needed to get to them as quickly as I could and I was never so glad to see Emmett's goofy grin as I climbed in.

"Your sister told me to offer us for the weekend. If you need help moving more stuff, or a babysitter… whatever."

"Thanks, Em. I think we need a lazy weekend, the three of us. But I'll take you up on both another day. Actually, if your buddy would loan you the van again, maybe we could finish moving the living room furniture some day after work? Maybe next week? I'm half dead right now and I still have two days to go before a break."

"You're gonna burn yourself out man…" He clucked his tongue at me.

"It's temporary. Nothing I can't handle. I'm more worried about Bella. She's been under a lot of stress lately. She cries a lot."

He grimaced. "I hate that. Does it make you feel completely useless? Or is that just me, 'cause I am?"

"Nah," I laughed. "I feel it too. She was crying when we were talking on the phone this morning. I had to cut her off because I got paged to the ER. I felt like a total dick leaving her like that. Thing is, I never know how to handle it when I go home. I know with Rosalie, she'd rip you a new one right off the bat so you'd at least know you were in shit and go from there. Bella doesn't do that. And I don't know if she is mad, or upset with me or if I should be doing something…"

"And if so, what… Yeah, I know. Even though Rose bites my head off and I fear one day it'll be my balls instead, I still feel like I need instruction on how not to fuck it up further. She's pretty good with telling me what to do though." His smirk mixed with the fear it didn't quite cover made me laugh.

"I did warn you about that."

"Yeah yeah. Honestly, between you and me… I like it. It makes life much more simple when she just tells me what to do. The only time I seriously fuck up is when she's 'hormonal'. Jesus, there should be a guidebook. Not that it would do any good – one day I'm the worst fucking husband because I didn't know that a long bath meant she was achy and I should offer to massage her back and the next time I recognize the signs and do that, she gets all pissed off. She's all, 'Get the fuck away from me! Can't you see I'm not in the mood?' Whatever. I can't keep track and I've given up trying. She'll drive me fucking insane when she's pregnant. I know that for a fact! You're lucky you got Bella after the fact and didn't have to deal with that."

"Post-partum's no better dude. And it can drag on." I had worried about Bella having an imbalance for awhile but then she seemed to just snap out of it. She'd been great until the stress of the past couple of weeks caught up with her. Stress or hormones? It was a new worry and suddenly Emmett had put yet another theory into the pot. If it was hormones, was it post-partum still unresolved or…

Shit. Could she be pregnant? It was possible. It wouldn't be catastrophic, but it could be timed better. That was later on in Plan Bella. I would like us to be married before we had another.

"What are you grinning about?" Emmett asked as he pulled up in front of my house.

I chuckled, keeping my thoughts to myself. Anyone who knew us could see the writing on the wall. We would be married one day. And anyone who knew me, knew that I had a lot of patience and a tendency to wait things out for the perfect time. I had done that with Tanya, but Bella was different. My impatience to get The Plan in motion and make it right was growing rapidly. No one needed to know that part. "The future. Particularly the immediate future. It involves loving up some pretty girls and a full night's sleep in a bed! Thanks for the ride. Give my sister a pinch for me."

"Will do. But the location is strictly my prerogative."

I entered our home with trepidation, not knowing what to expect from Bella. She surprised me with a cheerful greeting of surprise herself.

"You're home early!" Her arms were around my neck and her mouth covered mine with two days of missing kisses.

"Em gave me a lift. Blame him."

"Hmm. I'll thank him and kiss you some more. Come here." Her kisses were the best reward for a hard day's work. All tension left my body as I returned them. "Dinner won't be ready for another hour. Why don't you go lay down in the meantime. I know someone is very anxious to see you. She won't mind a prolonged cuddle. Be careful though. She's cranky and she bites."

"She gets that from your side, you know," I teased her playfully as I went to find my Sunshine.

"Uuuhh!" Juliet cried out when she spotted me. Her face lit up and she extended her arms for me to pick her up. I scooped her up and covered her with kisses. Bella rolled her eyes at the giggles I got in lieu of crankiness, and then she laughed at the face I made, gloating.

"I've missed you too, Sunshine! Come on, we'll go have a talk. I hear you've been biting Mommy? That's not very nice. You wouldn't like it if she bit you when she got cranky. Right? Tell me, what's the problem…" I laid back on the back, sighing with relief and placed Juliet on my chest. She got her little fingers busy exploring my face. "Well? What's the issue? Teeth?"

She smiled proudly, showing me her teeth.

"I know. You have two teeth. They're lovely, Juliet. But they're not meant for biting Mommy. Are you sore?" I put my pinky in her mouth to rub along her top gums and sure enough, she chomped down. "See? Now that kinda hurts, Sunshine. Hmm. Must be sore for you up there too, huh? Does it feel better to bite down?" I reached for her teething ring at the side of the bed. Bella must have had her sleeping with her. She preferred my finger, clearly, but settled for the hard ring. I turned on my side and tucked her in beside me as she chewed.

"So, what did you do today?" I yawned widely and she gaped at me in wonderment. "Sorry. I am really sleepy." The next yawn was bigger still and it made her giggle. "Mmm. I love that sound. I've missed it. I've missed you! I thought you'd forget all about me while I was at work and there I was, consumed with thoughts of you and Mommy. I think we need a vacation. Of course, I can't possibly get time off to go on one, but we need one, none-the-less. Maybe I could convince them I need time off for a honeymoon. Would you like to go on a honeymoon? Where would we go? Hawaii? Spain? Nana's beach house? I wouldn't care as long as I was with my girls."

I stroked her cheek as I mumbled out my nonsense. She didn't seem to realize I was rambling; she hung on every word and her eyes examined the way my mouth moved.

"You want to talk, don't you? You're learning, storing it all up so that when you feel confident, you're just going to start off in full conversation. I wouldn't doubt it one bit. You tackled 'Momma' really well."

"Ammomm."

"Mm-hmm. You know what else is simple? You can say it, no problem… 'up'." She stared at me in interest. I put my arms out, as she did when she wanted picked up. I had noticed her grunt resembling an 'up' when I came home. I repeated it over and over in between the remainder of our conversation.

Bella cleared her throat from the doorway. "If I'm not intruding, dinner's ready."

"We're learning 'up'," I announced, climbing off the bed. "Uuu-pah." I made a pronounced 'p' sound as I put my arms out for Juliet.

"Uuhhh!" She grabbed onto me.

"Not quite, but you'll get there. Pah… pah…" I got giggles and nothing more.

After dinner, I caught her moving her lips to mimic the 'pa' movement. "Jesus, she could be an expert lip reader by kindergarten. She's really attentive to mouth movement. It's great!" I loved watching the progress she made daily. It made Bella really happy when I'd point out things Juliet did well with, too. I pulled her off the chair she sat on at the table and onto my lap. "You look much more relaxed today than the last time we saw each other. Did you have a good day?"

Her smile lit up her face. "Charlie was here for awhile. He came to help but we didn't get much done. Sorry about that."

"Pfft! I can't believe how much you've managed to do! You deserved a day with your dad. How is he?"

"Great. Awesome. My dad… is awesome." She had an odd expression on her face, but it was a happy one so I didn't question it. "He brought lunch, we talked. He offered to babysit!"

I chuckled. "So did Em. No one seems to understand that we like spending time as a threesome."

Bella bit down on her lip as she stroked my cheek. "I do. I get that. You've missed her as much as we've missed you." Her voice was soft and full of admiration. "I love that about you. And, I love that you're home!"

I did, as well. The problem was, it wasn't the actual home I was so happy to get to, but the people in it. And being so content made me relax. Being relaxed made me drowsy. I made the mistake of taking Juliet for her bedtime feeding, giving her a bottle in bed. That was the last thing I remembered before the alarm woke me at 6 the next morning.

"Shit…" I grumbled, waking and realizing I wasn't alone and I had missed a whole night with Bella beside me. I rolled over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead before climbing out. Two days apart and I didn't take advantage of our privacy. We hadn't even had a chance to talk.

I showered and dressed before I peeked in on Juliet. She was still sleeping soundly so I stood and admired her a little longer. She looked so much like Bella. Her hair was starting to fill in more and it was turning from the soft, light down she'd had to a darker shade closer to her mom's. Her eyes were identical. I wondered if she'd have the same fidgeting habits Bella did.

"She's been sleeping well here." Bella appeared at my side and whispered to me.

I pulled Juliet's door over and wrapped my arms around my girlfriend. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you last night. You made a wonderful dinner and I didn't even get to thank you. You could have woken me up."

She smirked and squeezed my sides. "Could I? Really? If there's a way to wake the dead, please fill me in."

I slapped my forehead. "You tried to… I'm really sorry."

"Dr Cullen, you were exhausted! I know how you are after a double, but that was more like a triple. You only had a few hours between the office and the hospital. Don't apologize. I understand."

I appreciated her understanding, but it didn't lessen my guilt. And my guilt grew and extended through the weekend when every time I sat down, I dozed off. I wasn't even seated one time – merely leaning against the counter in the kitchen. Her patience would wear out quickly, I figured. But at least her overall mood had improved. I determined it was silly to consider pregnancy hormones and didn't even bring it up.

It was stress.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to kick Plan Bella into full gear at any time. There was a ring I'd had my eye on and I made a note to go check it out again to see if it was what I remembered. I had to write everything down these days. With all the changes and meeting of new people, I retained absolutely nothing. If it wasn't in my Blackberry or on a sticky note, it was lost forever. Bella's ring went on my Blackberry and a sticky kept in my wallet for good measure.

A/N ~ Thanks to all the Charlie lovin' readers who came out to review his outtake. Your responses blew me away! And to thank you, I shall not be doing any more outtakes. ;) All straight story from here to the finish line. Hope you enjoy.

A deep bow to my more-than-patient pre-readers, who somehow ignore my insanity and keep me going down the path I want to be on. GinnyW_31 and sshg316 - *mwah* XX ~ SR