-MAISIE-

Seth came before the morning was over, driving Gunner's car and bringing with him large boxes of Leah's things. I watched from Jasper's bedroom window as the Clearwater siblings hugged.

"What's the plan, then?" I asked Gunner, turning away from the window and bending over Jett's sleeping form. We—Jasper, Jett, and I—would be going to our parents' soon. Travelling from Alaska to Forks had messed up Jett's sleeping schedule; he wasn't usually still sleeping this late. I picked him up, rubbing his back to try to wake him.

"I guess Leah will move in with me, Derrick will just have to deal with it." Gunner shrugged, running a hand through his thick, red hair. "We'll take it from there. I know she wants to go back to school."

Leah breaking ranks from the wolf pack had come as a shock to all of us. Jett roused against my shoulder, yawning and smacking his lips before stretching his little body out. "Hey, good morning. You wanna meet your favorite uncle?"

I laid Jett in Gunner's arms. He was still waking, taking Gunner in through droopy eyes. Whatever criteria Jett used, Gunner passed. His face broke out into a bright smile, his legs kicking in excitement as he woke fully. Gunner smiled back at him, bouncing him a little the way he used to bounce Ava.

"Hey, buddy. He's a cute baby, Maisie, but you're right. He doesn't look anything like either of y'all."

"Yeah, I know. That's why we had to make up a whole backstory for him. You know, one that doesn't involve international overseas travel and murder."

Leah burst into Jasper's room, then, a bundle of her own clothing in her hands. Completely unabashed by my presence, she stripped off Rosalie's borrowed clothing and slipped into her own.

"Sorry, Maisie." She dropped her voice to a whisper, but it would be useless if she intended for Jasper and Esme not to hear. A whispered voice one story above was nothing for vampire hearing. "Esme's being really nice, it's just the smell…"

I waved her concerns away with a flick of my hand. "Don't worry about it. She won't take any offense, I promise. She wants you to be safe and comfortable while you sort things out."

Downstairs, Leah's brother wasn't so concerned with covertness. I could clearly hear Seth greeting Esme and Jasper, offering apologies for Sam's behavior. Leah turned to Gunner, noticing Jett in his arms for the first time.

She started, giving a little jump. Her hand reached out and then recoiled against her chest. "This is him? The baby?"

"Jett," Gunner reminded her. "Don't worry, babe, he's harmless. I've been holding him for, like, five minutes and still have all my blood."

His joke left Leah shaking her head at him. "Can you come to breakfast with me, Seth, and Mom? We…" She stopped herself there, and I stopped myself from speculating why. Gunner seemed to understand, though. He nodded emphatically, standing to give Jett back to me.

"Yeah, of course. You'll be okay at the house, right, Maise?"

"Yeah," I tried to reassure him, "me and Jasper can handle it. But if I text you an S.O.S. you better haul ass back."

Gunner and Leah left with Seth, to meet Sue somewhere in town—not La Push—leaving me with no more excuses to drag my feet. Pouting to myself, I grabbed Jett's blanket to wrap him in and ward off the cold drizzle the morning had taken on.

"Here goes nothing," I mumbled into the soft hair dusting the crown of his head.

Jasper was waiting downstairs with Esme, reading beside her on the couch while she was curled up with her sketchpad. When I passed by, I noticed it was Jett's face she drew. She mastered the sweet curve of his full cheek in one easy, confident stroke.

"Are you ready, mi amor?" Jasper asked, reaching behind him and finding purchase on my forearm, just below my elbow. He gave me a reassuring squeeze as he finished the page he was reading and slipped a bookmark into place with his free hand.

"As I'll ever be, I guess. I should've just gotten one of those greeting cards, one that says, 'It's a boy!', and handed it to them."

Esme tutted at me. "You're sure you want to take him? I wouldn't mind keeping him."

I smiled at Esme, but I was very sure. Just like I didn't think Sam would full comprehend if he didn't see Jett himself, I suspected my parents might be the same. Would they even believe me if I didn't have the proof in my arms?

Though my parents technically lived next door to the Cullens, a decent swathe of forest separated our houses. Not to mention that the Cullens' house was deep in the forest itself, whereas my parents' was closer to the road. On a warmer, drier morning, we might have used that patch of forest as a shortcut. As it was, I swaddled Jett into his car seat for the short ride there.

"No mood manipulation," I reminded Jasper. He held the passenger door open for me, but I turned to face him instead of ducking into the car. "At all."

The shadow of a soft smile flit across his lips. He cupped the back of my head, thumb trailing along my jaw. "Of course. I've already promised you as much."

It would hurt. God, it would hurt. I knew that, but I had to put my instincts for self-preservation aside. I wanted my parents to feel their true feelings, spared of Jasper's gift to smooth over the conflict we were about to walk into. I pressed a fleeting kiss to Jasper's lips, took a deep breath, and ducked into the passenger seat.

Just as I had told Jett, here goes nothing.

My mother sat in a silence that was a little more than angry. Understandably. I envied Ava, sent up to her room to play while the 'big people' talked. Mom looks like Gunner. Same warm, red hair. Same twist to their mouths when they were displeased with something. I expected this, yet it cut so deeply I felt like recoiling in on Jett's warm weight in my lap grounded me. His tiny hand flitted through my hair, gently tugging and playing with the strands.

I turned to my father. His utter confusion as he worked through his emotions was easier to handle.

"Maisie Daisy…" I had expected this, too, my father's old, teasing reprimand. Under the scrutiny of my mother's ire, the nickname almost made me laugh with relief. But Dad shook away whatever thoughts took residence in his mind and turned instead to Jasper. "When you came and asked…?"

Jasper had asked my hand in marriage? Of course he had. It was foolish of me to think our engagement had come as a surprise to my parents. Beside me, Jasper paused before giving his answer. Perhaps my parents assumed he was taking a moment to frame his response just right, but I knew better. Jasper had not taken a breath since we stepped foot in the house, though he was careful to move his shoulders carefully to evoke the contrary.

"Jett was a possibility then, yes, but I believed Maisie had the right to make her own choice and I told her the full details before giving her the ring."

Liar, I thought, but he was a good one. How silly of me to forget that Jasper's powers were based in his silver tongue.

"Why?" Mom burst out, throwing her hands up. "Why throw your plans away? This is not your child, Maisie."

My back stiffened, drawing me up as I narrowed my eyes. "He's a baby without a family."

"And you will make yourself his mother? At just nineteen?"

"Yes," I said, frankly. "I will."

Her mouth twisted again, but Dad laid a hand upon her arm. "Let them talk."

Wait until they find out Leah's moving in with Gunner. If Ava wasn't the favorite before, she will be now.

Jasper leaned in close to Jett and I, pressing a kiss first to my temple and then to Jett's forehead. But his tenderness served a dual purpose. He inhaled deeply and quickly, using mine and Jett's scent to cover that of my parents' blood just across the room.

"As you know, Esme is my aunt. She and Carlisle were gracious enough to take Rosalie and I in when our parents passed away. We have an older sister, but Lillian… she was too old to take in as a foster child, though Esme and Carlisle still offered her a place in their home. Lillian refused and cut ties with our family. She didn't take our parents' death well."

I leaned into Jasper when it became clear he planned on speaking for some time. My blood was tainted, not the pure human blood that called out to vampires. In the past, it had been enough to keep Jasper centered and focused when he needed it, and I hoped like hell the same would be true now.

"I won't try to guess at the machinations of my sister's mind, but she was very adamant in relinquishing her parental rights to Jett that he be placed with either myself or Rosalie."

Mom narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Jasper. "Rosalie and Emmett are already married, aren't they? Why wouldn't they take him in?"

This was a part that I had been dreading, having to lie about Rosalie. Having to paint her as not wanting Jett, when I knew how untrue that was. It felt like a huge betrayal, one that I was sure Jasper felt as well. I opened my mouth before he could, saving him the guilt of having to paint Rosalie in falsehoods.

"It was a decision we all came to, together." Once my lie started, I wasn't able to stop it from spilling from my mouth. Hopefully it was coherent, because I didn't give myself any time to edit what I was saying. "Rose is studying medicine, like Carlisle. That's already a big thing, you know?"

I started to babble, but I couldn't stop. Jasper had made up a name for their fictional older sister. Now I was making up Emmett's major—he didn't have one because he wasn't actually enrolled in school—saying he was on a fast-track business program degree plan so he could be done before Rose did residency, so he didn't have time to spare, either.

I hated how easy it was to tell these lies.

Jasper wrapped up our story with, "How could I not consider it, when I was so fortunate to have Esme take me in? How could I not do the same, when presented with the opportunity?" Which, in all fairness and perhaps a little bias, I thought was a great justification.

The only problem was that, in her ire, my mother didn't see it so.

"And if you come to regret it? When you're older and can see how your youth was cut shorter than you intended, and you come to resent that choice?"

She said it fiercely, angrily, with all the contempt of the self-righteous, giving me pause. Mom wasn't looking at me or Jett. Her blazing eyes were set on Jasper. My eyebrows shot up. This wasn't something I expected. To be mad at me, yes, but not Jasper. Again, that was probably my bias speaking.

I pursed my lips and made sure to meet my mom's gaze dead on. "Mom, are you insinuating Jasper is going to ruin my life?"

Laying it out so baldly like that threw both of my parents, jaws dropping and eyes widening in surprise. But Mom paused. A moment that stretched into two. That pause was enough.

"No, Maisie, of course not," she reached for Dad here, holding onto his sleeve. Her tone had cooled, but it didn't feel genuine. A farce. "I just want you to be sure that you're doing what you really want to do."

She would never know that I had no choice. It was this or Jett's death. Or my own and Jasper's, or all three. The stakes were higher than Mom would ever realize, through no fault of her own. She saw the possibility that I might not finish my degree in a timely manner, that I was foregoing making friends in college to raise a child. An active choice, more so than if Jett had been my natural child. I didn't have to take him in… except that I did.

They didn't know. And I couldn't tell them.

It dawned on me, then, that my parents no longer knew me. I bit my lip, hard, to distract myself from the heartbreak of that epiphany. I had to open the chasm eventually, the one that would come to sever the thread of my life from theirs in due time.

Jasper was as good a scapegoat as any, I suppose.

Sorry, love.

A deep breath. "I want this." My legs were watery beneath me, but I made myself stand on them. "I'm old enough to make that decision. And I'm old enough that I don't have to listen to you disrespecting my choice or the person I love."

Is resolve something that can be felt physically? Mine broke somewhere in my middle, sending shards to puncture my lungs and shoot down, stabbing and white hot, into my legs as I forced myself to stand. Was it an overreaction to walk out of my parents' house? Probably. I didn't know what else to do. How could I make them understand when there was so much I couldn't tell them? When the cover story Jasper and I crafted now felt so paltry and spare?

Jasper was quick to follow me out, opening the backseat for me so I could duck in and get Jett settled. I let him drive, folding myself into the passenger seat. Jasper took us past the driveway to his own home, charting a meandering path until Jett's sweet little coos from the backseat had dropped off and the motion of the car lulled him to sleep. Only then did Jasper turn to me.

"What was that?"

"I couldn't do it." Tears pricked hot and sharp behind my eyes, yet I found myself unable to cry. "I'm a coward and I couldn't do it."

"Maisie, you're the farthest thing I've ever seen from a coward." He reached across the console to rest his hand on my thigh. I had my hands bunched up in my sweater, holding so tightly to the fabric that the knit was pressing into my skin.

"I just… what the fuck am I supposed to say, Jasper? Like, I'm sorry y'all are confused and disappointed in me, but don't be mad because I didn't have a choice because a vampire mafia told me to take this baby or die?"

I shook my hands out from my sleeves. Tried and failed to take a deep breath. "I can't make them understand when all I can give are lies. This was a mistake. The biggest fucking mistake, I should've just faked my death immediately."

Jasper eased my car off the road, throwing it into park. Before I knew it, he was opening the passenger door and lifting me, settling me so that I was sitting in his lap rather than the seat. Somehow, I hadn't noticed the tears running down my face until my cheek glued itself to his shirt over his shoulder. I shuddered in his arms, gasping for that deep breath I so very much needed. It finally came to me in the midst of the sobs, helping me find my voice again.

"That was a good detail, though, giving the fake sister a name."

He scoffed, breath tickling across the crown of my head. "It's Rose's middle name."

"Jasmine would hate me right now. I'm botching this, and it's all she wants, closure with her human family. Rose, too, I'm getting everything she wants. God, I don't know how they haven't just killed me yet. Oh, and Tanya. I should have a whole hate club by now."

"Rose and Jasmine don't hate you," he murmured into my hair. "I can't speak for Tanya."

I pushed away from him, swiping at my face to dry it. "I really just want to run off and go home," meaning Alaska, "but we're in charge of a tiny person now so I guess we should be responsible or whatever."

"It's quite the shame, responsibility."

Rather than go out the door and walk around the car to get to the driver's side, I climbed over the console to plop myself behind the wheel. Jasper shook his head at me but obediently buckled himself. I fixed my smudged makeup in the mirror before starting the car again.

"Right? We have to be adults now, so I guess we should go back home and I should apologize to my parents later."

Apologizing to my parents wasn't what I did when we got back to the Cullens', though. Instead, I talked Leah into taking a nap with me. Gunner, bless him, was going through the boxes of things Seth had brought and properly organizing and packing them for her. Leah and I were both exhausted by our mornings of differing familial conflict.

"C'mon," I told her. "There's a futon in Jasper's room. I'm the only one who ever sleeps there." Not that vampires slept, but she caught my drift.

Laying next to Leah was like laying next to an open flame. Her heat was a comfort, though, soothing the aching chill that still radiated through my bones. I knew that Sue Clearwater was aware of the existence of werewolves, but I was careful to keep that my only known fact about her supernatural expertise.

"How'd you parents take it?" Leah asked, staring up at the dim, shadowed ceiling. I shrugged, rustling the blanket around me. She didn't sleep with one. I needed a blanket, always, even in the hottest of summers. Or with a heat-radiating werewolf beside me.

"I chickened out. I just…couldn't do the façade. So I left instead and let it look like I was making a scene over my mom being upset. Why wouldn't she be upset, though, you know? Even if what I told her was true, it would still be shocking. How 'bout your mom?"

"She was kind of expecting it," Leah whispered, then shook her head, clearing her mind. "She knew I wasn't happy. It was just a matter of time before I left, she said."

"Sue doesn't mind you moving in with Gunner?" That had also been a point of contention with my parents, my moving in with Jasper for college. That had cooled…hopefully the contention over Jett would as well.

"Not at all. She said she was just happy I wasn't making myself homeless by leaving. It's not like Sam could kick me out of La Push, but Mom knew I wouldn't want to stay, either."

I nodded and turned on my side, rolling myself into the blanket. "I'm glad she understands."

And I'm jealous, I added, trying not to feel too sorry for myself.

"Me, too," Leah murmured. She was already dropping off. I listened to the rhythm of her breathing until sleep pulled me under, too.

Jett was happy to see me, at least, when I got up. Leah and her warmth were gone by then. Jasper told me she had woken first, and she and Gunner had gone over to drop the second bomb on my parents.

When I took Jett from Esme, he smiled his gummy smile and patted a tiny hand against my cheek. "I missed you, too," I told him, catching his hand and kissing his fingers. It was still amazing to me that he had adjusted so well to being ours.

"Esme's had him entertained for hours. They took a walk through the yard and stopped to look at everything."

"He really is a sweetheart." Esme's hand trailed along Jett's blanket. She loved having him close, I knew. "I hope your parents will be able to see that before you're all back in Alaska."

"I hope so, too." I took Jett back upstairs to Jasper's bedroom to give him his, uh, special bottle. Though I drank blood every day, it was oddly unsettling to me that Jett required the same. Maybe it was the juxtaposition of a sweet little baby sucking down a bottle of dark, viscous liquid. With Jasper still not recovered from drinking my blood, though, I didn't want to leave the task to him.

Jett fell asleep while he fed, cuddling into my arms just as he took the last pull of his bottle. I sat holding him in the almost-dark for a while before pulling out my phone to text Gunner. I assumed he was still at our parents'; he and Leah never returned to the Cullens'.

How are they?

Rocking Jett occupied me while I waited for Gunner to reply. He sighed in his sleep, fingers searching for and clutching a lock of my hair.

Do they make problem child trophies? I'll get you one.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes at that response, halfway through typing out a snarky response when a second text came through.

Dad's really upset. Mom's sticking to her guns.

Of course. I expected nothing less from our parents. I tossed my phone and it landed with a soft thud on the floor. I was tired of looking at it. Instead, I eased Jett out of my arms to lay him in the spot I had napped. I took Leah's, and even now, there was some residual body heat in the sheets. Huh. It was a wonder my brother hadn't died of heat stroke.

Slanted eyes and golden hair. Olive skin, pink lips still puckered from eating. Long lashes brushing his cheek. This little face, I reminded myself. This little face is why you have to do all the rest. All the rest. Even the hard parts. Starting with my parents. But not until the morning, because I need to think—and over-think—what it was I wanted to say to them.

I decided to go early, and alone. Jett hadn't yet stirred when I left him with Jasper. Esme and Carlisle were there, too, which I was thankful for. Surprisingly, the locks hadn't been changed during the night and my key still slipped into the lock. I eased the door open, knowing it was likely Mom and Dad weren't even up yet—it was just after sunrise—and I was greeted with the sight of Ava sneaking through the post-dawn dimness.

"Ava!" I whisper shouted, causing her to freeze mid-stride, a jar of peanut butter in tucked under her arm and a stack of cookies clutched in her hand. "What are you doing?"

One of my old volleyball t-shirts constituted her pajamas, blonde hair mussed from sleep. The shirt fell to her knees like a nightgown. She cut me a glare at being caught. "I'm hungry. What are you doing? Mama said you're in trouble."

I ignored that last bit, easing the cookies out of her hand and taking the peanut butter. "C'mon, you don't need junk. I'll make you something."

"Bacon?" She asked, skipping behind me with all thoughts of me being in trouble apparently forgotten.

"Yeah, sure."

Ava retrieved some dolls that had been discarded near the TV, playing contentedly at the kitchen table while waiting for her food. Not even ten minutes later, Gunner wandered into the kitchen while rubbing his face. "Oh, hey, Maise. Leah was right. She could smell the bacon."

He went back upstairs to retrieve Leah, so I made more bacon. Then pancakes, per Ava's request, while she and Leah played dolls together and Gunner sleepily scrolled through his phone.

"Hey, make hash browns, too," Gunner threw in. I scowled at him.

"Why not? I love being a short-order cook."

"Might as well drop out of college, then, you don't need a degree for that." I should have thrown a potato at him, but as I was feeling gracious, I peeled and cut it instead. That graciousness extended to me plating and serving the food, prattling on as if I were a waitress in a restaurant.

It made Ava giggle, but Gunner pointed out I was a 'suck ass waitress' for not taking their drink orders first and insisting I deserved pennies for a tip.

I had made enough food that there was plenty left warming for Mom and Dad. Leah and Gunner offered to wash the dishes. Ava was yawning from her early morning waking, so I obliged her request for a piggyback ride back upstairs. She was asleep before I even tucked her into bed. I was sneaking back down the hall when I ran into my dad.

We both froze, staring at each other for a moment. Dad's hair was wet, dripping onto his shirt; he must have just gotten out of the shower. "Maisie Daisy."

He pulled me into a hug then, holding me tight. So much for all my overthought plans. Instead, my sob was muffled against his shirt.

"I'm not going to change my mind, Dad."

"I know." He gave me an extra squeeze. "You never have, not once you set your mind to something."

"You didn't hold him yesterday," I reminded him. "I swear you would get it if you did. You'd understand, then."

He nodded, chin digging into my shoulder where he was bent over me. "Your mom will come around eventually."

Dad said it like a promise, but I wasn't sure it was one he would be able to keep.

A/N: Ugh, so I actually have had this ready for a while, but I got sick (wasn't covid), was anxiously awaiting covid test results (why do they still take so long?!), and, well. I'm sure everyone, American or not, has seen the state of our country right now.

I'm thankful to have all y'all. I'm thankful to have a hobby that allows me to share and connect with people virtually since in-person connection is rare these days. I'm thankful for Maisie, because even when I'm writing hard scenes for her, she's still so fun. I'm thankful I only had a rudely aggressive head cold and not covid.

I hope everyone is healthy and well. I love you guys. (insert a million heart emojis here).