A/N: Hello, everyone! How are you? I'm trying to post this earlier but it didn't work out as planned. Anyway, I ended up trying to sleep early for Lent. It was hard but Lent was supposed to be the time you train yourself to be a better person, right?

-FTP-

I came to Jacob's house early to pick up Vanessa. I had her backpack and a change of clothes. The moment I got there, Vanessa opened the door and gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry for acting out, Mom!" she said.

"We have a lot to talk about," I agreed. Then I smelled bacon and fried eggs.

"Breakfast?" Jacob asked.

"Sure," I answered.

Vanessa, Jacob, and I ate breakfast. I had a couple of pancakes, two pieces of bacon, and a fried egg. Vanessa contented herself with two fried eggs and five pancakes. Jacob ate five pancakes, three pieces of bacon and one fried egg.

"Vanessa, isn't it a bit too much?" I pointed out.

"What about Uncle Jacob?" she retorted.

"Uncle Jacob is a huge man," I answered.

"Well, I want to grow as big as Uncle Jacob," she said.

I looked at Jacob and shook my head. He mouthed "sorry" to me. I would have to show Vanessa how to eat healthy because if she keeps her eating habits, she's going to regret it when she's in her forties.

Vanessa hurried to get ready. It takes her a while so I used that time to talk to my best friend.

"How was she?" I asked.

"Honestly? She's just in shock. I'm sure she'll be fine," Jacob said.

Everybody overreacted yesterday. We were so confused with what to do so we were all on our fight-or-flight mode. Today, we were all calmer and had a better idea of what to do.

"I hope so," I said.

"Remember when I asked you what you'll do if Edward comes back to your life?"

It made me chuckle. "I told you that I would slap him in the face and tell him that he has a daughter. I didn't know it would happen," I said.

Jacob laughed too. "Now that he's back in your life, what do you want?"

"I want him to be there for Vanessa. I don't care about me so much but Vanessa needs to have a relationship with her father. Edward and I need to work out the details now that Vanessa knows that she's his daughter. Other than that, I really don't know how to deal with it," I admitted.

"You know that a lot of people wanted to have the problem that you have, right?" he pointed out.

It was true. Most women wanted their children to have a relationship with their fathers who left when the children was born. My problem was the opposite. We were trying to figure out how to incorporate my child's father in her life AFTER he found out that he had a child.

"You're right, Jacob," I said.

"I'll do my best to help you and Edward," he said.

"Thank you for everything, Jacob."

"Anything for you and green eyes," he said.

After bringing Vanessa to school, I did my best to do my work. Not that it was helping. My mind was at my upcoming lunch date with my ex/present boyfriend.

When it was noontime, I dashed straight to the restroom and did my best to put on makeup. I then left for La Bella Italia where Edward had a reservation for two. We ordered mushroom ravioli-what we ate on our first date. It wasn't really our favorite food but it was the first main dish on the menu.

In that moment, I had a lot of questions to ask but I didn't know where to start. I was sure he was feeling the same thing.

"So, can you tell me about your life?" Edward asked.

"Well, we had a daughter but you already knew that part. I also own my own business."

"Oh yeah! I didn't know you own Swan Song Jewelry. Alice was crazy for those things," he said.

"That's awesome! I design that line myself," I said.

Swan Song Jewelry was only one line of many in my fashion empire. There were several others-accessories, clothes, shoes-that belong to my company. My two siblings were running several lines. Jacob ran part of them too. They knew what I want in terms of quality but they design the line themselves.

"How did you get into the fashion business?" he asked.

"I needed to have a job to take care of Vanessa. However, I didn't have the education to do a lot of things. That's when I decided to make jewelry and sell them. I started selling some of them online. I sold a few of them first. Then, there were an increased demand. I needed a loan to expand. I didn't have good credit then-I was living in credit and I couldn't hold a job for very long since I couldn't find a good babysitter for Vanessa on such short notice. I was afraid to ask for help. Finally, I realized that I couldn't do it on my own.

"When I told my family about my plan, they got behind me. Jasper took out a veteran's loan for me. Dad and Jacob also opened a credit line so that I could borrow money when I was short. I used the veteran's loan first. I ended up repaying my loan to Jasper after a year and gave him some profit. Whenever I was short, I used Dad's and Jacob's credit line and made sure that I paid it back as soon as I had the money. I eventually got my own credit line and had created what was now my business," I said.

"I was so glad you had gotten successful in terms of your business," he said.

I smiled. "I know. I had help. When I was taking off, I offered my dad a position but he likes his job. I gave the same opportunity to Jacob. He's in charge of the male line. He's doing well. I know how to be grateful, you know."

I asked him how he ended up becoming a doctor. He told me a few words here and there but Alice gave me more details about Edward's life than he did. I understood. There were some things he didn't want to tell me because he was either embarrassed or was afraid that I would get hurt. We would have more time to talk about them at a later date.

We talked about our present after that. I asked him about his work at the hospital. He talked to me about my sisters. It was a good lunch. I liked the company.

We decided to take a stroll. That was when we saw Emmett and Rosalie. Rosalie's hair is a little disheveled and Emmett seemed to be grinning from ear to ear.

I hugged my sister and my brother-in-law.

"I didn't know you'll be here," I said to Rosalie.

Rosalie and Emmett looked at each other and laughed. "Lunch time is a romantic alone time when you have more than two kids. We still want to spend some alone time without the kids," Rosalie answered.

"What are you doing here?" Emmett asked.

"I'm glad you asked. Bella and I just went on a date," Edward answered.

"So you two are back together?" Rosalie asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"Bella, Edward, nice to see you two. We should go on double dates soon and have Tanya babysit," Emmett joked.

Everyone except Edward laughed. Emmett's kids liked to play a prank on Tanya much to her annoyance.

"I think it's better to have mom and dad babysit," I pointed out. I cringed at the thought of the kids being asked to kneel for two hours on the floor.

"Good idea. See you at the office, Bella!" Rosalie said.

Emmett and Rosalie left leaving me and Edward alone. I realized the time.

"Edward, it's already 1:30! You said you had to be back in the office by two," I pointed out.

"You're right. I have a surgery in two hours! I need to prep," he said.

Edward walked me to my car. He kissed me on the lips and left. I drove back to the office where Tanya and Rosalie were ready to grill me.

-FTP-

Closing notes: How would you handle getting back with your ex? Bella and Edward had a long road ahead of them. Although they got back together, they start by going on a lunch date and getting to know each other again. Ten years is a long time. A lot of things had happened that the other wasn't aware of-a lot of which had created a huge impact in each other's lives. They're taking things slow.

As for Vanessa, Jacob had been there before she was born. In an essence, he protected her by being supportive of Bella along the way. Remember, Bella was a teen and didn't know what to do. Having Jacob and her family helped her make good decisions. In an essence, he had been Vanessa's father since before she was born. Edward, through no fault of his own, wasn't aware of her existence. He's getting a crash course on how to take care of his own child. All of my characters-Bella, Edward, and Jacob-they had been trying to do their best but are falling short.