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

1991

The back yard of our home was mostly grass, with a large cement porch surrounding the sliding back door. I'd built a gazebo around the porch so that even on sunny days I could come out and watch Bella play without being in direct sunlight. The fencing around the yard was high, but I couldn't take any chances when it came to peeping neighbors. Bella ran through the sprinkler in the grass squealing as the cold water met her skin. I smiled as I watched her play.

She didn't seem to remember the way my skin reacted to the sunlight, at this point in her life she only knew that I couldn't go out in the sun. What she was allowed to tell people was that I was allergic. Her teacher was the only one who'd ever asked me about what that meant, and it had been easy to write off the fact that I had a sensitivity to sunlight that could cause several other issues, so I did what I could to stay out of the sun. Since that conversation Mrs. Dailey had been kind enough to walk Bella to the car during pick ups on particularly sunny days, and on those days I covered up with gloves and hats as best I could.

Each time I arrived at pick up I was surprised by the end of it that I'd survived the encounter without anyone noticing anything strange. I was looking forward to the day that Bella no longer needed to be accompanied by her teacher or another member of staff to get to the car.

Bella ungracefully ran back across the sprinkler giggling, and as she turned to do it again her foot slipped and she slid forward landing on her hands and knees over the sprinkler head. In a blink I picked her up and brought her back to the porch. It wasn't until she was already sitting in one of the chairs in front of me that she registered her fall and began to cry.

Just as I was about to comfort her I was hit with the scent of fresh blood. My throat stung and my mouth pooled with venom. I blinked rapidly trying to maintain my focus and stop breathing. Bella continued to wail while I took several moments to control myself. This was the first time she'd fallen hard enough to break skin, and only the second time since I began the vegetarian lifestyle that I'd been met with fresh blood. The woman from before hadn't been lucky that I was so new to animal blood. This time, I couldn't afford an unlucky incident.

I sat in front of Bella, not breathing, trying to push the thought of that woman's blood from my mind. That had been less than a year into the lifestyle, and after the encounter I had panicked about how well I would do as Bella's stand-in father when I couldn't control my thirst with strangers. I knew children fell, and I knew there would be a day like today where I would need to control myself. I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them again to Bella's face. I could not slip up now, this was my daughter, my baby. I pushed the waft of blood from my thoughts and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"It's okay doll, accidents happen." The tone of my voice sounded strained and Bella seemed to notice it as well. The tears stopped with one last hiccup and she lifted a scuffed hand to me. I clamped my jaw closed and tried my best to compose my face so I didn't scare her. She didn't buy any of it. Her brow furrowed again and she looked down at her hand.

"Owie?" She asked.

I was running out of air from the shallow breath I'd stopped, but with what I had left said, "Bad owie, pops will be back to make it better." I stood as slowly as I could and moved back into the house, once inside I sucked in deep breaths of non tainted air and pushed myself to focus through the thirst. She's my baby, human, but my baby. I thought to myself as I paced to the bathroom to grab a wipe, some ointment, and bandage. It was one of the few times I was grateful for the excuse to move at a humans pace so that I had time to breathe and reset.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror for a moment offering one more pep talk before I walked slowly walked back to the yard. When I got there Bella was standing over the sprinkler, her hands over the water. When she noticed me the turned around and teetered back to me. "Owie better," she hollered as she got closer and pulled herself onto the porch.

When she held her hands back out to me the small cuts were rinsed and the little blood that was left was diluted. I stared at Bella in shock as I knelt down and cleaned her hands off again, adding the cream and bandage to the scratches. When she was patched up she told me she was done with the sprinkler so I turned the hose off and followed her back inside. I enclosed the wipe in a couple plastic bags before dropping it into the trash can and lighting a candle. As I inhaled, the scent was almost non existent but not entirely gone. I decided to leave it so that I could train myself to ignore the scent but making a mental note to move my hunting trip up a week.

I met Bella in her room with a towel and helped her dry off and get in to clean clothes. When she was done she gave me a kiss on the cheek and asked to watch TV. We moved back into the living room where she busied herself with a children's program. I sat back on the couch and watched her in her tiny-human sized chair wondering how lucky I'd gotten to have such a bright, observant, and thoughtful child. Though the circumstances in which I got get were far from ordinary, each day I thought more of it as fate.

Never in my existence would I have thought a four year old would be so keen to see that the smell and sight of her injury would make me uncomfortable, let alone do something to make it easier for me to deal with. Though I was preoccupied with pushing away my instincts, I had expected her to become more upset that I had a hard time cleaning it up and making it better. In no way did it cross my thoughts that she would take it into her own hands to help me. She never ceased to amaze me.

After a moment she turned to look at me, likely sensing my eyes on her. I could feel my already present smile grow and she returned my smile with a shy one of her own.

"I love you, pop!" She said quietly.

I was surprised at the sudden affection, but beamed at her words. "I love you too Bella." I told her. It wasn't often that she expressed her feelings towards me. I had offered up those words a few times, doing my best not to push the way she should feel about me. Though in her conscious mind I was the only father she'd known, I also knew that there would come a time where I would need to be honest with her about our relationship and give her the option to find more information out about her biological family.

When that time would come was something that never left my head. She was still young, but I wondered often when I should tell her. Whether sooner would be better than later, but each time I thought about it I knew I would choose later. Perhaps when I was ready to talk to her about my secret is when she would learn about her biological parents. It only made sense as I would have to explain to her that I could not have children which is why I adopted her. I winced at the thought. Adoption was a loose term.

For the rest of the evening we fell into our normal ritual, and once she was read to and tucked in I headed into my study to work on a paper for school. I knew it wouldn't take me long and soon the baby sitter would arrive and I would head to work.

I'd only worked as a bartender for a few months before I found a security position for the airport. The hours worked out well for me and filled my night. Bella liked it better too, when I was bartending Jeanie - her sitter - would have to put her to bed, but this way I was only gone while she was asleep. As far as conventional jobs went it wasn't so bad, but definitely not something I would want to make a career of.

About an hour later Jeanie knocked lightly on the door. I was met with her smile as I moved to the side to let her in. I slid my coat on and gave her the baby monitor as I headed out for the evening. There had been a short period of time where Jeanie made small talk, but I appreciated that we were in a no nonsense routine. It was a relief after the four flirty sitter's before her.

I slid into the car, and after one last look to Bella's window, pulled out of the driveway and headed to the airport.