Disclaimer: This story is based on the characters created by Stephanie Meyer in the Twilight Saga. I do not own any of these characters.

Garrett

Six Months Later (1990)

Isabella sat on the carpet of our little suburban home. I had been watching her play for almost an hour, setting blocks up just to turn for another piece and knock them down again. Her concentration was unmatched and I tried to understand the wonder in her little brain as she continued to build her towers.

Thankfully I'd found shortly after taking her in that she was nearly all the way potty trained and the diapers had stopped after a month or so in our new home. She was a quick learner, and she was possibly the easiest child in the world. She rarely threw fits, and when she did they didn't last long. She was easy to entertain, and when she was tired of interaction she seemed to find it easy to busy herself with something.

I'd adapted into this human life much easier than I'd anticipated. The one piece of advice I'd listened to Carlisle about was keeping money in a bank somewhere. I'd updated my info every once and a while and previously I'd only ever used it for nights at the pub. I'd had much more than I thought saved up in my accounts, and with that I was able to buy a house, a car, and get Isabella and me papers so that we could step into society as a human family.

It had been strange how the name J. Jenks had fallen into my lap shortly after making it to Seattle. I'd been introduced by someone who recognized me as a relative of the Cullens and it was easy to get things situated after that. I'd also been keeping a close eye on the news down south. Bella's mother's death had been reported in California and there was a missing report for Isabella. On the report was her birthday, so I was able to find how old she was, and though I had to change the date of her birthday, it made it that much easier to create our new papers. I had tried to be careful with her name when getting things in order and enrolling her in day care. I decided to put Bella down as her full name and use a former surname of mine - Sawyers. Though she was young, I didn't want to change her name entirely, even if that would have been the safest option. I began calling her Bella around the house, and she didn't seem to mind the change or really notice it at all.

After a few months on the vegetarian diet my eyes had changed to an amber that was passable to humans and I no longer needed to hide behind sunglasses when interacting with others. Bella went to day care for a few hours each day and there was a young girl in the neighborhood named Louise who was able to watch her on nights where I needed to hunt.

I stood up and headed to the kitchen, ready to prepare her dinner. In order to properly feed her I'd watched hours and hours of cooking shows. Since we'd been north I also brought her on weekly outings to the library where Bella would have circle time. As she was read to and spent time with children her age, I read through pretty much anything I could find to help me better care for her. I'd read everything in the parenting section within the first two visits and when I was finished I moved to nutrition and cook books.

Bella was an easy child over all, the only struggle I faced were her nightmares. She had been fine for a while, but as we adjusted here, I think she'd began to feel more comfortable and less distracted. Occasionally the word Mama would come up in her broken sentences, and not long after that was when she started her restless sleeps. Just recently I had moved to psychology books and decided it would be in both of our best interests for me to enroll in school so that I could help her move through the trauma she experienced.

I was also working on getting a job, though we weren't short on money, I was spending often and wanted to make sure we would have enough for Bella to do whatever she wished as she got older. Whether that would be continue life as a mortal and experience college and the world that way, or become a vampire and travel with me.

I had decided that it would be easiest for me to start with something I knew, like booze. Bartending was an easy starter point for me, but that meant more nights needing a sitter. Louise was only sixteen and still in school so she would not be able to watch Bella for extended times on weekdays. This would mean I'd need to look for a full time sitter as well.

There was much to plan and get done, and knowing this made me feel better about the fact that I had taken Bella in. Because I didn't need to sleep, I could do much more with my time to get things in order and still have plenty of time to be with her and care for her. A single human would not be able to get off to this sort of start, let alone continue to figure everything out at the pace I had.

I turned the TV off and pulled Bella up to the table I handed her a small plastic fork and sat down next to her as she carefully stabbed a piece of food and brought it to her mouth. I watched me as she chewed and after a moment her brow furrowed. She stabbed another piece of food and offered the end of the fork out to me.

"Pop eat" She said, determined. I sucked in a deep sigh. Eventually when she was able to comprehend secrets I would tell her that I don't eat food and what I am, but until then I would swallow the slime that human food was to appease her.

I took the fork from her and put on my best polite face, I popped the bite into my mouth and forced myself not to make a face as I chewed and swallowed the disgusting lump.

"Mmmm," I said, handing her the fork back. "Pop's a good cook huh Bella?" She giggled and continued eating, thankfully only offering me one more bite to which I was able to avoid by telling her that it was her food to finish and I would eat later.

I spend some more time with her in the living room after dinner, before I ran her a bath and got her ready for bed. As I prepared her bed, she grabbed one of the books we had checked out from the library and toddled over to me. I picked her up and pulled her into my lap. I read her the story twice and she began to close her eyes midway through the second reading. She was out by the time I was done, and I stood up and moved her into bed. I shut off the lights and smiled to myself as I carried the baby monitor to my study.

Bella was on a relatively normal schedule, and though by nature I had never been one for routine, it was something I appreciated about being Bella's dad. I found that I was often happy or content when she was, and that made this life adjustment worth it for me. It also helped that I knew this was a fleeting thing. Bella would only need this sedentary lifestyle for a little over a decade which was nothing in comparison to the time we would have afterward especially if she chose to become like me.

I finished typing out job applications and my enrollment to the University of Washington before Bella began to toss and turn. I moved back to her room and calmed her before returning to my nightly tasks, finding myself thankful to have all that I had to do. I hadn't become bored yet, and truly hoped that keeping myself busy with studies and work would make it so that the decade went by quickly. Though hopefully not too much so, as I enjoyed the stage of life Bella was in and wanted it to last some time.