My Best Friends Father

Bella's been in love with Alice's father for years. Alice's father just might return those feelings. Will Alice's plan to bring them together work? Watch as they find each other and discover that there are no limits in love. All human, AU, AR

Disclaimer: SM owns Twilight.

AN: WOW!!! 43 reviews for Chapter 16! And lots and lots of votes for both pregnant and not pregnant. You'll just have to wait too see which one won! I'm not sure how quickly I'll bring that into the story. They still need practice making a baby. hehehe There are still a few things that will happen first, so don't look for it in the next chapter or so. :D

AN: So so sorry for the delay with this chapter. My one year old got extremely ill and as any other parents out there can attest too... when the baby ain't sleepin', ain't nobody sleepin'! She's feeling better now, very high fever...very scary for a mom.

AN: BobbyJo1975 - Thank you for your note and your concern!

Chapter 17

BPOV

My first stop as soon as I walked in the doors was to office to let the principal know that I had gotten married, and to find out what I would need to do to get my name and information changed in the system. She gave me some paperwork to fill out and told me that I'd need to inform the Superintendent's office as well, to make sure they got all of their information changed.

I told her that I planned on telling the other teachers at lunch, when Jasper would be meeting me. She nodded and said she wouldn't mention it until she knew I'd informed the other staff. After finishing in her office I dropped my jacket and bags in my room and headed to the teachers lounge.

I was right. As soon as I walked into the teachers lounge Angela spotted my wedding ring. Being the kind person she is she didn't tackle me as soon as she saw it. Her eyes brightened and she grinned at me and followed me back to my classroom, then she tackled me.

I'd told her early last spring about my interest in someone when she asked why I wasn't dating anyone. I hadn't given her any details, just telling her that I'd know him for years, but that there was no way a relationship would work between us. She smiled sadly at me, telling me she understood.

I knew she and Ben Cheney, the 6th grade History teacher up the hall, had dated for a few months, when suddenly she'd begun avoiding him. I have no idea what happened, but she looked miserable and pale and she even seemed to have lost some weight. They had worked to keep their relationship private, so I was never sure if I should say anything.

When I had finally broached the subject and asked if she were interested in Ben, she'd told me that he deserved more than she could give him. I had no idea what she meant or why she thought that, but she'd looked so very sad that I hadn't wanted to pry any further.

I was jolted back to the present when she said, "Alright, spill!" Laughing when I blushed.

"Do you remember last March when I told you about the man I was interested in?" She nodded, her smile growing. "Well, we've been dating for a little while and this weekend he proposed to me." I couldn't help but grin.

"Congratulations!! I'm so excited for you Bella!"

"Oh, there's more." She raised her eyebrow at me and waited, smiling with me when I laughed. "We flew to Vegas this weekend and got married." I whispered the last too her, waiting to see what she said about our elopement.

"Bella! Oh my Goodness! That's wonderful!" She pulled me into a hug. "I'm so happy for you. I remember how hopeless you felt when you told me about him last spring. When do I get to meet him?" She paused for several seconds before asking, "Do you mind me asking why you didn't think it would ever work out?" She bit her lip, watching my face for any sighs of being uncomfortable with her question.

"Well, you'll get to meet him at lunch, he's coming to have lunch with me and meet my class. As for me minding your question, no I don't mind. At the time, I was sure he would never even look at me because he's 17 years older than I am." I watched her face for her reaction. When she just smiled and nodded I continued. "And…he's my best friend's dad. I've loved him for years. Alice, his daughter; you've heard me talk about her, talked me into staying with him until my new apartment was vacated and ready for me to move into. While I was there we realized that we were in love with each other. He was sure I'd never look at him for the same reasons I thought he would never be interested in me."

"How did you finally figure out that that you were interested in each other?"

I glanced at the clock, we still had 20 minutes before the kids would be here, that should be enough time to tell her the story. "Do you remember the day I came in with the coffee burn on my hand?" She nodded, not saying anything, but waiting for me to continue. "Well, I'd been talking to Jasper in the kitchen, and was pouring coffee for myself and spilled it on my hand. He was very concerned so he was rushing around the kitchen making me an icepack." I smiled, remembering, "He'd told me to keep my hand under the cold water after he'd taken it out of the cold water." We laughed together.

"He held the ice pack on my hand, after a few minutes of us standing close together and just looking at one another, he told me he was going to kiss me." I grinned at Angela, "My heart was pounding, I was so nervous, but jeez, that man can kiss." I shivered remembering. She laughed at my reaction. "I was leaning on his chest when I accidently told him that I loved him. I was so embarrassed, I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me." I rolled my eyes at myself, causing Angela to laugh at my reaction.

"Well? What did he do?!"

"He leaned his head down to mine and said, 'As I love you, my Isabella."

"Ohhh." She sighed, then cocked her head and asked, "He calls you Isabella? Why?"

"I don't really know, I've never asked him. Looking back, the first time I remember him calling me Isabella was just after my college graduation. I hoped at the time it was because he was beginning to see me as a woman, and not just as 'Bella, Alice's little friend.' When he proposed, he said something like that. That he loved me as Bella, a little girl with pig tails, but that I'd grown into Isabella, the woman he fell in love with." I knew my smile was soft and loving, remembering his proposal.

"Well, I think it's romantic, Bella. And all this time, he's been in love with you too!

JPOV

Esme just smiled and waved me away, walking toward a group of workers and instructing them on where they would be working today. That was first thing this morning, now I was at Isabella's school.

I headed into the building and stopped in the office to check in. The secretary didn't seem too interested until I told her I was there to see Isabella Swan. I wasn't sure if she'd told everyone about our marriage yet, so I left off the Brandon. After I told her my name she had me wait in the office while she went to find Isabella.

After a few minutes, she came back and told me that Isabella wanted me to wait in the teacher's lounge for her. "She should be there in about 5 minutes; she was taking her class to the convocation in the gym."

I followed her to the lounge, where twelve people looked up simultaneously and watched as I walked in. Talk about all eyes being on you, I felt like a bug under a microscope. The secretary introduced me and explained that I was meeting Isabella for lunch. A lovely brunette came up to me and introduced herself as Angela. Isabella had talked a lot about her teacher buddy, Angela. She seemed like a good friend to my wife, and it was nice having at least one person who wasn't quite as much of a stranger.

"Bella said you'd be coming to lunch today. She told me how wonderful her weekend was." She grinned at me. At least Angela knew that I was Isabella's husband, even if the others didn't yet. At least two of the women at the table were eyeing me and fluttering their eyelashes. I always wondered why women do that, it makes them look like they have something in their eye. I feel like I should offer them eye drops.

Angela invited me to sit next to her at the large table in the center of the room. I nodded following her to sit down. Several of the ladies asked how I knew Isabella; I told them I'd known her for years, not really giving them any real information. One of the more flirtatious woman asked if we were dating. "Not exactly." I told her, I didn't want to say anything until Isabella was here with me, but we weren't dating anymore. Not since we'd gotten married, so technically I wasn't lying. They continued making conversation, one woman in particular, I began to think of her as "the flirter," was pointing out how 'nice it was for a friend of Bella's to visit her for lunch.' I wasn't sure if she was insinuating that we were more than friends or not, so I just smiled politely at her.

The door opened and there stood my Isabella. Her gaze swung around the room until she found me. A smile blossomed on her face as she walked toward me. The other teachers were avidly watching to see what we did. It was rather humorous, like being back in high school.

Before I could say anything the flirter spoke up. "Bella! You have to introduce your friend. We've been having a lovely chat, waiting for you to get here." I raised an eyebrow at Isabella, and rolled my eyes. She smiled and took my hand.

"Oh sure," Isabella smiled at the flirter, "this is Jasper Brandon, my husband."

The shocked silence went on for several seconds. One of the teachers finally asked, "You got married Bella? When?!"

I answered this question, "Just this weekend, actually. We decided we didn't want to wait any longer so we gathered our closest friends and had a small ceremony this past weekend." I winked at Isabella when she giggled at my description of our Elvis officiated Vegas wedding.

Of course everyone wanted to see her ring. When she mentioned that my wedding band matched her wedding set it started all over again. After the uproar of the news of our marriage settled down, lunch went pretty smoothly. I noticed that the flirter had left the lounge at some point, probably to spread this new juicy bit of gossip. People would wander in during their break, someone would mention that Isabella had gotten married and congratulations would be offered.

About 40 minutes later Isabella and Angela both stood and we walked to her classroom. The convocation would be over in about 20 minutes and she needed to take care of a couple of things before she went to get her class from the gym.

Angela came with us to Isabella's classroom. "I was so excited when Bella told me you'd gotten married this weekend! I think it's wonderful." She seemed genuinely pleased, smiling at both of us before she got up to leave the room.

Before she left, Isabella asked her if she would like to have dinner with us this evening. Isabella glanced at me since we hadn't had a chance to discuss it before hand. I winked at her, as long as she's happy, I'm happy. Angela accepted and we told her to be at our house at 6:00 for dinner.

Isabella checked the clock one last time, and kissed me quickly. Well, it was supposed to be quick, but when she parted her mouth, I had to dip my tongue inside to taste her. We finally separated when we heard the noise of the kids being released from the gym.

"Wait here, honey. I've got to go corral my class. We'll be back in just a few minutes." With that she was out the door and up the hall.

It really was just a few minutes before she came back into the classroom, leading a group of kids. It was fascinating to watch her in action. I stood behind her desk, just leaning against the wall, watching her. The kids were all vying for her attention, calling to her or tugging on her. Amazingly, when she simply raised her hand into the air, the entire class stopped, not another word was spoken.

"Alright, I know its fun to have these assemblies but I'd really like to have my wonderful class back now. My class knows to raise their hands if they have a question, and they always go directly too their seats when we come into the classroom. I'm going to count to 5 and see if my favorite class is back. 1…2…" The kids started hurrying around the room; it looked like chaos to me. "3…" One of the kids was crawling around under his desk. "4…" I blinked and it was as if they were all suddenly the perfect class, seated at their desks, well accept the one kid still crawling around under his desk. They sat quietly, all looking at Isabella like she was a fairy princess about to bestow a wish on each of them. I knew my mouth was hanging open. "5… I am so proud of you class. Martin what are you looking for sweetie?"

"My worm. He was in my pocket when I came in at recess and now he's gone." I immediately pictured the saber-toothed worm Isabella had told us about at Carlisle's house. When I snorted, Isabella turned and shot me a glare, knowing exactly what I was thinking of.

"Well Martin, lets see…did you come straight here or did you stop anywhere on your way to the classroom after recess?" She waited patiently for him to answer.

"I came straight here, and Fred was still in my pocket. I remember 'cause he was squirmy when I took him out to look at him. Then we went to the conocation." He'd named his worm, Fred. Gotta love little boys, I smiled at his pronunciation of convocation.

"Alright, I'd like everyone to stand behind their chairs. Now, everyone look on the floor around your desk very carefully. Raise your hand if you see Martin's worm."

"Fred." Martin offered.

"Raise your hand if you see Martin's worm, Fred." Isabella corrected.

It surprised me how quickly the worm was found. Martin's face fell when she told him he had to go "release Fred back into the wild." She convinced him when she told him that Fred was probably missing his family.

After the commotion of Fred's departure died down, she walked to the front of the classroom. "I have an important announcement to make. But first I'd like to introduce you to someone very special." She motioned for me to come to the front of the classroom. "This is Mr. Brandon, class. He is very special to me, because he is my husband. Can anyone tell me what is special about a husband?" One of the girls raised her hand.

"Yes, Shelby?"

"My mom said that a grown-up lady has to have a husband to have babies." I couldn't stop the snort that escaped. That's one way to explain where babies come from.

"Okay, anyone else?" A little boy raised his hand this time.

"Yes, Jeremy?"

"My dad said husbands are there to take care of spiders." He told us this very seriously. I chuckled and nodded to him, acknowledging the accuracy of his statement. Isabella elbowed me in the side.

"Mr. Brandon is my husband. So besides taking care of spiders, it also means that my name changes from Ms. Swan to Mrs. Brandon. I'll try to help everyone remember, and I'll remind you if you forget." I went to sit behind her desk while she went on with her daily schedule. She smiled sweetly at her class; it was obvious to me, why she was such a good teacher. Her students love her because she cares so much for each of them.

She would make a wonderful mother someday. I thought back to our conversation last night. Yes the thought of Isabella pregnant and rounded with my baby was a huge turn on, but then everything about her was a turn on to me. I loved the idea of us having children together. She would be a loving, caring, protective mother; taking an interest in every aspect of their lives. I almost hoped that we had gotten pregnant this weekend. Then again I realize that as a couple it would be nice to have more time as just the two of us before we start a family.

The bell rang, bringing me out of my thoughts. Isabella was ushering the kids out the door, to the buses or their parents. She was back before too long and stood looking down at me where I sat at her desk.

"You were wonderful with your class." I stood up, caressing the side of her face, "You're going to be a fantastic mother, someday. I almost can't wait." I kissed her softly before pulling back to see her bright smile.

"I told Angela that we'd come by her classroom before we left. Lets do that now, and we can come back here to gather up my stuff in a little bit. Oh, can you stay or do you have to go back to work?" She looked up at me to ask.

"I'm good for the day. I told Esme that I might not be back. She didn't seem too worried either way."

I leaned against the wall near the door, waiting for her to finish scooting in all the chairs. She'd finished and had just reached the door when I heard someone call for her down the hall. A man. She sighed and waited in the doorway for him to reach her.

"Coach Harris, what can I do for you?" She put her hand back, keeping me from stepping forward.

Coach Harris? The Coach Harris that keeps hitting on Isabella? That Coach Harris? Oh. Hell, no!

"Bella, I heard a crazy rumor during the convo. Evidently you got married this weekend. Unbelievable isn't it." He laughed; Bella just rolled her eyes, and then turned slightly, drawing his attention to me. He hadn't seen me standing inside her classroom.

I stepped forward, putting my arm around Isabella, locking eyes with the coach. "Hi, I'm Jasper Brandon, Isabella's husband." I couldn't help but stress the word husband when I introduced myself, clearly drawing a line in the sand, marking my territory. And if he crosses that line. Pain. Pain, and torture… The coach took a hesitant step back at the look in my eye. Yeah, buddy, that's what I thought. Step away from my woman.

"Jasper, honey, this is Coach Harris, he teaches PE here at the elementary school." Isabella told me, completely unaware of the nonverbal battle for dominance that currently ensued. I nodded once, never breaking eye contact with him. Finally relaxing when he nodded, dejected, and backed away, turning quickly and heading down the hall, a little quicker than was necessity.

She looked up at me, "What did you do to scare that poor man? Jeez, he practically ran away with his tail between his legs."

"I have no idea what you mean, love. I didn't do a thing." I shrugged as innocently as I could.

When she laughed, a beautiful joyful laugh, I couldn't help but kiss her, completely forgetting that we were standing in the middle of the hallway outside her classroom. It's a good thing the day was over and no little kids wandered past as I ravished my wife. That would have been hard to explain to a second grader.

When I finally released her, we had an audience. Several of the teachers I'd met at lunch were standing around smiling at us. Angela looked at us wistfully, glancing over at a male teacher that was leaning against the wall, who was rolling his eyes at us and grinning. He gave me the thumbs up, and I nodded back at him.

When I looked back, Angela was gone, walking quickly back down the hall with her head lowered. If she had looked back, she would have seen, umm, Ben I think his name was, watching her as she walked away, then sighing and leaving in the other direction. I'd have to ask Isabella what was going on with them before dinner tonight.

What could be the problem with Angela? Review to find out… My goal for this chapter is getting 25 reviews! You all are so wonderful with the reviews; I know we can make it!

AN: Jasper's reaction to the coach may seem a little over the top to some. However, according to my husband (whom I quoted for most of Jasper's thoughts with the coach) this was something like what was going through his head the when I got flirted with or hit on; especially after we got married. And yeah, at the time I was completely unaware of the "battle for dominance" (his words) as well. :D Just ask your significant other, see what they say…I bet you'd be surprised, I was. hehehe

AN: I have Chapters 18 and 19 outlined, and I'm working diligently to get them written and finished so I can post them for you. So keep an eye on your story alerts for the next day or two!

Angela will play a large roll in the next chapter or two while we find out what's going on with her. Maybe Bella can help her in moving past some things.

Constructive criticism greatly appreciated. Please Review. ;)