Sam quickly reached out and slapped the back of Seth's head before the kid could even finish cursing in shock. Regardless of how surprised they both were, Sam wasn't going to allow the language. It wasn't just for Sue's sake, whom he knew didn't appreciate the influence the pack had on her son when it came to cursing, but for the child in the room. Sam had to admit that the same words were on the tip of his tongue. Never in a million years would he have guessed that Bella Swan would one day return to Forks alone, still be human, and arrive with a baby that he knew without a shadow of a doubt, belonged to Jacob. The idea was just too far fetched to even consider, especially given the finality within the letter that Bella had left behind for Jacob.
But here she was.
As Bella turned upon hearing Seth's partial exclamation and subsequent yelp from the slap to the back of his head, Sam's eyes locked on the little boy. The baby resting his head against her shoulder stared back at him, his brown eyes inquisitive, yet with a deep pensive expression that nearly mirror'd the seriousness he'd seen on the face of Billy Black. Although the baby seemed to have Bella's brown eyes, behind them he could easily see the rich Black heritage.
Within seconds, Sam's looked at Bella, his wolf compelling him to ensure that she was indeed human. He could hear her rapid heartbeat and her breathing. One thing that still concerned him was the fact that both Bella and her baby carried the nauseating stench of leeches. It was so strong that they must have been dangerously close to vampires within the past day. To know that Bella had Jacob's child dangerously close to leeches caused an anger to rise up within Sam. He began to wonder if perhaps Bella's declaration that she had left Edward Cullen was even true. Perhaps the Cullen's had come with her. The pack had no reason to trust Bella, especially after being aware of her past aquaintance with the vampire family and her sudden change of heart when it came to her feelings for Jacob.
Sam crossed his arms and stared hard at Bella. Ironically, he was met with the same intense glare from Bella. He knew that she recognized him and certainly still accused him of sucking Jacob into his 'cult'.
Beside him, Seth smiled. He was happy to know that Charlie's daughter didn't succumb to the fate that the pack had envisioned. He was excited; no, elated. Sam could feel the waves of happiness pour off of him. Seth couldn't wait to tell Jacob the news. Perhaps then, his friend's persistent anger and crappy mood would finally come to an end. No one could be upset to find out that they were a father and the girl whom he thought left him for someone else has returned alone...could they?
"Hey Bella," Seth said, gaining her attention as her eyes softened upon looking at him.
Sue smirked at her son's exhuberance, but was somewhat concerned by the hard glare that Bella had been giving Sam. She cleared her throat.
"Bella, you remember Sam Uley and my son, Seth."
While Sam simply gave her a curt nod in greeting, Bella's attention turned to the shorter man standing beside him.
Oh my god. This was Seth?
This wasn't the little fourteen year old that she remembered. The last time she had seen him at Billy's house was for spaghetti night. Bella remembered Seth as being the kid who would hang off of Jacob's every word. He had idolized him as the big brother he never had. Since that time, he had certainly grown. Although Seth had physically gotten bigger and taller, his boyish smile had remained the same. But her heart sank when she noticed that Seth was dressed exactly as Sam standing stoically beside him - barefoot, cutoff shorts, hair cut short. Seth had gotten himself tangled within Sam's gang just as Jacob had. Bella smiled sadly at him, wondering how Sue could sit back and just let it happen. If he was Daniel, she would have fought tooth and nail to keep him from slipping into Sam's clutches.
"Of course. But I remember you being a whole lot shorter. What are you, like 16 now?"
Even as she said it, she couldn't believe it. Seth looked to be at least 22. He wasn't a teenager - she was staring at a man.
"Not yet. My birthday is next week."
"Happy birthday. Any big plans?"
"Some friends are throwing a bonfire for me next weekend." Seth paused and smiled as a thought came to his mind. "Why don't you come."
The sound of Sam suddenly clearing his throat beside him caused the smile on Seth's face to fade. The kid bashfully rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, glancing quickly over at Sam as though waiting for some sort of authorization to speak any further. Except Sam wasn't going to give it to him. As far as Sam was concerned, Bella was a Cullen and she wasn't welcome anywhere near La Push. Sam knew that Billy had made that clear with her when she had called a year ago. At the same time, Sam was certain that Billy was unaware that he was also extending that same exclusion to his grandson. The child in Bella's arms was from his tribe; as young as he was, Daniel was pack and Sam's Spirit Warrior could feel that connection to him. Unfortunately, because of Bella association with the Cullen's, the child ultimately wouldn't be able to come onto La Push land if he were accompanied by her.
This was one big fucked up mess.
"Thanks for the invite, but I think it's best if I don't," she replied, looking back to Seth, sensing that she wouldn't be a good idea based on Sam's expression. There was no doubt that he shared Billy's feelings when it came to her not being welcome in La Push. Bella ran her hand over Daniel's soft hair, holding him a little tighter to her. "Besides, I'll have this little guy to look after."
Seth stepped away from Sam and walked towards Bella, his eyes on Daniel who stared back at him from where he rested his head against Bella's shoulder.
"His name's Daniel, right? How old is he?"
Bella nodded, guessing that Sue had told them that she was there with her son when they arrived at the door.
"He's almost 14 months. He turned a year in February."
A smile grew on Seth's face before he held his hand out towards the little boy.
"Can he high five?"
Bella nodded. "He's not feeling well right now, so I don't know if he'll..."
As she spoke, Daniel lifted his head off her shoulder and reached out with a fisted hand, tapping Seth's open palm bashfully.
"Whoa! What a hit!" Seth joked, rubbing his palm with his other hand. "Do it again."
Seth held out his palm once again and Daniel gently hit his hand, this time with his hand open.
"Ouch!" Seth feigned pain, causing Daniel to giggle behind his pacifier, his tired, congested eyes scrunching up in amusement. "Nice high five!"
Sue chuckled beside where she stood Sam, watching her son bring a smile to Daniel's face.
"Seth's a natural when it comes to babies and kids. Leave it to him to get Daniel to laugh when he's sick and over tired."
Bella laughed, watching as Seth covered his own eyes with his hands. Daniel reached out and grabbed Seth's fingers, trying to pry them from his face. Seth quickly uncovered his face and let out a loud 'boo', causing Daniel to giggle.
"I can't get over how much he looks like Jake when he laughs," Seth said, causing the smile on Bella's face to slip away. She didn't expect anyone to notice so quickly.
"Wait...how...how did you know that he was Jacob's?"
Seth shrugged and grinned.
"It's kinda obvious, Bella. Daniel looks just like him when he smiles."
It was the main characteristic of Daniel that looked so much like Jacob. Bella looked at Sue and Sam, finding neither of them seemed surprised by Seth's words.
"You all knew?"
"I recognized it the moment I saw Daniel," Sue answered with a soft smile. "He does have your eyes, Bella, but everything else screams Jacob Black."
"Those Quileute genes can be pretty strong," Seth said, as he continued to interact with Daniel. "It's amazing to see Jake's smile again though. It's been so long since I've seen it."
Bella's heart fell with his words.
"What do you mean?" He heart suddenly began to pound in her chest at the thought that something terrible had happened to Jacob. "Where is he? Is Jacob okay?"
"He's..." Seth began before looking back at Sam. He let out a sigh, seeing the look on Sam's hard face, knowing that his Alpha wasn't going to allow him to say much more. Bella wasn't in Jacob's life. According to Sam, she had no right to inquire about him as though she cared. Seth took a deep breath and pursed his lips.
"Jake's fine."
"But you said..."
"Bella, why did you come back?" Sam interrupted, purposely diverting the conversation from Seth but he was also wanting to know the answer behind her sudden arrival.
"This is my home," she stated as a matter-of-fact. If he was going to be blunt and rude, so was she. "I don't think I need a reason and if I did, it would be none of your business."
Sam sighed deeply, his chest rising beneath his arms.
"Are the Cullen's coming here as well?"
Bella snorted, suddenly remembering the old stories that Jacob told her that the Quileute's had regarding the 'Cold Ones' and the Cullen's.
"Is this about your superstitions? I thought you'd be too old to believe in ghost stories."
"Indulge me," Sam told her, through clenched teeth.
Bella let out a curt sigh.
"For your information, Daniel and I came alone. As for the Cullen's, I don't know where they are."
"I find that hard to believe. What about your precious, Edward Cullen?"
Bella scoffed at Sam's words, finding herself becoming angry at the insinuation behind them. Never again would he be her 'precious' anything.
"I could care less where he is. I'd be happy if I never had to see him again." Bella paused, looking at Daniel, giving him a light kiss on his head while bitter tears coming to her eyes. "He wanted to raise Daniel as his own. I couldn't do that to my son. I missed home so much and Daniel deserves to know his father and the tribe in which he comes from. I would've come back sooner but I couldn't until now."
Sam felt bile rise in his throat at the thought of a bloodsucker raising Daniel. Based on the expression on Bella's face as she looked lovingly at Daniel, there was no doubt in his mind that Bella wouldn't have allowed that to happen. Because of that, Sam was starting to find it difficult not to believe Bella when she spoke so passionately against Edward Cullen. As convincing as she was, he just couldn't take her word; at least, not yet.
"Why did you even leave in the first place?"
It wasn't safe for anyone with me here. I had to protect my family from a blood thirsty vampire who would hurt anyone I was close to.
If she had said it aloud, they'd think that she was crazy, not only for her reasoning behind staying away for so long but also for the fact that she believed in the existence of vampires.
"It's a long story," she replied with a sigh. "But I will tell you that it had nothing to do with Daniel. I had no clue that I was pregnant with him when I left Forks. Now that I'm back, I want to set things right, especially with Jacob."
Seth looked back at Sam, almost pleadingly. He wanted to tell her the truth about what Jacob had gone through. Finally, Sam nodded.
"Bella, he didn't take your break up well. He's not the same guy that he was before. He's changed; bitter and angry at everything." Seth answered, solemnly.
Bella let out an uneasy breath, and lightly rubbed Daniel's back. She felt the tears threatening to come to her eyes as she imagined how Jacob had reacted to the letter that Alice had left for him. She knew it would be bad based on what Charlie had told her in that short phone call after she left, but to hear it from someone else, pulled at her heart.
"This is all one big misunderstanding," Bella said softly. "I need to explain it to him."
Sam shook his head. "You really hurt him with the letter you left behind."
"That damned letter," she cursed under her breath, holding Daniel close to her. "I didn't even leave it."
That revelation caught them all by surprise.
"I don't understand. You didn't leave the letter for Jacob?" Seth asked.
"I did," Bella admitted contradicting what she had just said. "But it had nothing in it that implied me wanting to break up with him. I still love him. Alice switched it for the one that she wrote."
"Alice? Who's that?" Sue asked.
"Edward Cullen's sister."
Sam began to connect the dots. While it still didn't explain why Bella had left Forks, he had a suspicion that that same leech was somehow involved in her leaving as much as the letter that Bella claimed was left behind on her behalf.
"Did she know who Daniel's father was?"
Bella snorted.
"I don't know. I'm pretty certain that she knew that Jacob and I had been together. She came over to visit and was quite insistent about trying to convince me that Jacob wasn't safe to be around."
Seth looked over at Sam, calculating and speculating in his unspoken conversation with Seth. Bella noticed their shared expression before she continued.
"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not upset about how you sucked Jacob into your gang two years ago, but if you have any kind of decent bone in your body, you'll let him talk to me...if only to clear things up with him and to let him know about Daniel. He deserves to know that he has a son."
Sam took a deep breath and crossed his arms at her insinuation that he had some sort of control over Jacob's when it came to his desire to speak with her.
"Bella, there's a possibility that he may not even want to speak with you. He wont admit it but he's still pretty upset."
"Even if he'll just listen, I'll take my chances."
After a beat, Sam nodded assuring her that he'd get ahold of Jacob while Bella let out the breath that she wasn't even aware that she was holding. She had been waiting for the opportunity to talk with Jacob for months.
Knowing that it would still take time, Sue insisted that Bella get some rest. While Seth offered to look after Daniel while Sue helped her get settled upstairs, Sam slipped into the kitchen and picked up the phone to call Jacob. He knew that he kept his cell phone on vibrate when he was running in the woods in the event that Billy would need to get ahold of him. When Jacob's automated voice came up, Sam wasn't surprised. Jacob tended to avoid calls coming from Charlie's. He had nothing against the man, but Sam knew that any interaction with Bella's father brought back too many memories. Regardless, he left a message telling Jacob to call his cell phone as soon as he could. And he left it at that.
With Daniel resting comfortably against his shoulder, Seth walked into the kitchen just as Sam hung up. A smile pulled at Sam's mouth seeing the youngest pack member with a small baby wearing only a diaper and a shirt sleeping soundly against him. Sue was right - Seth was a natural when it came to children and babies.
"Did Jake answer?"
Sam shook his head.
"We're going to have to keep all of this between you and I for the time being. Jacob needs to hear about his son from Bella herself before the entire pack does."
"She's still in love with him," Seth said happily. "Bella wouldn't have come back if she didn't. I can't wait for Jake to find out that she's back. He'll be so happy."
Sam looked at him warningly.
"Don't get your hopes up. That chip on Jake's shoulder is big. I really do doubt that he'll be happy to see her. I'm hoping that I can at least convince him to talk to her."
"What if he doesn't want to?"
Sam sighed. "We'll cross that path when we get there."
He paused and looked at Daniel. The baby's lips were parted as he slept and he could hear him breathing through his mouth.
"Do you believe her about what she said about that Cullen leaving the note?" Seth whispered, not wanting Bella to hear or Daniel to wake up.
"I don't know. I'm finding it hard not to believe," Sam admitted. "It's like she's finally seen them for who they really are. If only for that, I'm glad she's finally come to her senses."
"Do you think she knows about us? I mean, there's no doubt that she can't not know that they're vampires. But do you think that maybe they mentioned something about us, especially if that Alice was trying to convince Bella that Jake was dangerous?"
"I don't think so," Sam replied, glancing up at the ceiling, hearing the footsteps in the rooms above them. "She still believes like Jake, Quil and Embry once had, that I've sucked him into my own personal cult."
Seth smirked before Sam sighed, looking at Daniel as the baby reached up and rubbed his stuffed nose before settling back once again.
"I'm going to head back to La Push. We have Claire's old playpen at home. If Bella's sticking around, he'll need something to sleep in and Daniel will probably sleep better in that than on you."
Seth nodded, his warm hand covering Daniel's small back.
"In the meantime, I want you to stick around here and watch over the house, just in case that the Cullen's happened to follow Bella back to Forks."
Seth didn't seem upset about having to stick around Charlie's house. It was no surprise to Sam that he was enjoying Daniel's company even though he was asleep. Just like Jacob once was, the little boy was a ray of sunshine no matter the circumstance. Sam shook his head in amazement and chuckled before heading out the door.
Bella had only slept for 2 hours, but it had felt like 7. As short as it was, she hadn't had that good of a sleep in months. She wondered if it was the familiar surroundings, or the knowledge that Victoria was no longer a threat to her and her family or maybe it was because she was no longer in the company of someone who had the tendency to watch her as she slept. Whatever it was, Bella was thankful for it. She felt refreshed.
As she sat up, she suddenly heard the happy sound of Daniel giggling until he screetched loudly in excitement. Concerned that he was possibly disrupting Sue and Seth's day, Bella quickly stood up. The rich smell of bacon and eggs hit her the moment she opened the door. It only got stronger as she got closer to the kitchen. Rounding the corner, Bella was greeted by the most adorable sight that she had seen in a long time.
Seth and Daniel were sitting on the kitchen linoleum floor with dishtowels around their foreheads, passing a ball back and forth. Sue stood smiling at them, with her back towards the stove while the bacon sizzled on the pan behind her. She noticed Bella walk in and smirked at her son's antics.
"They've been at this for a good fifteen minutes now - doing the same thing over and over."
Wearing only a diaper and t-shirt, Daniel pushed himself up onto his unsteady legs and slowly walked barefoot across the floor with the ball in his arms. He had a huge smile on his face before stopping a foot in front of Seth to throw it at him, bouncing it off his head. Seth slid sideways onto the floor and feigned passing out, causing Daniel to burst into a fit of giggles, coughing every so often. He laughed so hard that he knocked himself onto his diapered bottom. Still not noticing that his Mom was watching their play, Daniel crawled over to Seth and leaned down onto the ground so he was looking at him, face to face. With his finger, he poked Seth's nose causing him to suddenly open his eyes. Squealing in excitement, Daniel quickly crawled away before his eyes noticed Bella at the door.
Forgetting their play, he crawled over to her. Bella picked him up, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Were you playing with Uncle Seth?" She looked to Seth and Sue. "Daniel hasn't been too much trouble, has he?"
Seth beamed at the moniker she gave him as he pushed himself up to stand.
"Oh, he's been wonderful," Sue told her as she turned down the stove and covered the frying pan with the lid. "I think the bit of sleep he got helped him feel a bit better. He woke up without a fever."
Bella took the dish towel from Daniel's head and felt his forehead, feeling the coolness of his skin against her palm.
"How did you sleep?" Seth asked, pulling the dish towel off his own head. "You weren't in bed for all that long."
Bella shrugged. "It was fine. Better than I've had in a long time actually. How about this little guy? I hope you didn't have to hold him the entire time while he slept.
Seth shook his head. "Sam came by with a playpen. We set it up in the living room. Daniel slept in there for a little over an hour before he woke and then the two of us hung out for a bit while Mom started making breakfast. He's still been coughing a bit but his fever was gone when he woke up."
Bella told them about the antibiotic that she had given him last night during their trip back to Forks. She had hoped that it was finally kicking. A few more days and he'd be back to normal.
She had asked about whether Sam had mentioned anything about Jacob. While Seth explained that it was still early in the day, he knew that when Sam finally did track him down, he had his work cut out for him when it came to convincing Jacob to even consider talking to Bella. As happy as he was for his friend, he was concerned that Jacob would avoid her. Regardless, it was obvious that Bella was eager to talk to him.
That wasn't the only thing on her mind.
Bella spoke of what she would tell Charlie when he would soon return home. As hopeful as she was, Sue could see an anxiousness within her. Sue could understand that worry - she, herself wasn't certain how Charlie would react to his daughter being home and he, suddenly being a grandfather.
They didn't know then that they wouldn't have to wait long to find out.
Wanting to keep her occupied, Sue had encouraged Bella to take a shower since breakfast wasn't ready yet while Seth eagerly volunteered to keep an eye on Daniel. He enticed the little boy with the ball, easily luring him away from Bella. She watched Daniel for a moment, as he walked unsteadily on his feet, reaching out towards the kitchen chairs before dropping to the ground in favour of crawling towards Seth. Bella took that opportunity to slip away and quickly headed upstairs.
Only a few minutes had passed between when the shower started up above them and when Sue suddenly noticed a familiar cruiser pull up in the driveway.
"Oh no," she said, quickly wiping her hands on the dish towel on the counter.
Seth heard his Mom and he looked up at her, concerned.
"Mom?"
She turned. "Charlie's back and he has Billy's with him."
They weren't expecting both of them.
"Mr. Black is here too?!"
Seth pushed himself up to stand and picked up Daniel before he peered out the kitchen window. Sure enough Charlie was in the process of pulling Billy's wheelchair out of the trunk before he met his friend on the passenger side of his car.
"What do we do? Bella's still in the shower," Seth said, watching as Billy settled himself in his wheelchair before Charlie closed the door behind him.
"Stay in the kitchen with Daniel," Sue said firmly, turning off the flames on the burners for safety sake. "I'm going to stall them until Bella comes down."
Sue only hoped that Bella took shorter showers than Leah did, otherwise it could get awkward in Sue's attempt to keep the two men from coming into the house. Seth gave her a nod before she walked out of the kitchen. With a deep breath, Sue opened the front door just as Charlie was pulling the wheelchair up the front steps.
"You guys are back earlier than I was expecting," she said with a friendly smile. Neither Billy or Charlie noticed her anxious tone nor the fact that she seemed to stand protectively in front of the closed screen door.
"Well, the dock out at the lake was getting full as the morning went on. We decided to head back sooner and have breakfast together."
"So you didn't catch anything?"
"Between the two of us, we caught six but we had to throw them back," Charlie replied, groaning as he pulled Billy over the last step. "It would be nice if I could get the boat motor back from the repair shop in town. We would've been able to head further out."
Sue smiled. "Charlie, it's only been a week. This is a busy time of year. Gus told you three weeks minimum to get it done."
Billy chuckled as Charlie turned him on the porch to push him forward toward the house.
"And I heard that's only because you decided to fiddle with it when you got impatient."
Charlie pursed his lips. "Well, I would have called Jacob on this, but he's still not returning my calls."
Billy sighed.
"Don't take it personal, Charlie. The kid's been going through a rough time."
"Hey, I get it," Charlie admitted. "He's not the only one."
Sue smiled and walked up to him, slipping her arm under Charlie's.
"And just like Jacob, you're never alone."
The sudden sound of pots crashing onto the floor was loud enough that they could hear it out on the frot porch. Concerned, Charlie turned, prepared to head into the house when Sue sidestepped him and stood between Charlie and the door. Billy was equally worried and turned his chair.
"Oh, that's just Seth making the noise," Sue explained to them with a chuckle. Still, Charlie looked past her, sensing that something more was going on.
"Seth's here?"
Sue nodded. "He came over for breakfast this morning. We made quite the spread. If you'd like, I can bring some out here for you two and you boys can enjoy the morning air together."
It was Charlie's turn to chuckle.
"Sure, that is if there's anything left to eat after Seth's gotten to it."
While Billy shared in the joke, Sue simply smiled and nodded.
"I made sure to put some extra aside."
"Well then, let me help you," Charlie said, reaching over her shoulder to open the door.
"No," she stated, a little sharply before smiling apologetically. She raised herself up on her tiptoes and kissed his lips. The kiss seemed to linger a little longer than any other kiss she had ever offered him in public. "Let me do this for you two."
Sue quickly turned and headed back inside before Charlie could argue with her, leaving him staring after her in surprise. She quickly made her way into the kitchen to find Daniel sitting on the ground with some plastic containers while Seth was in the process of refilling a cupboard.
"What happened?"
"I put him down for just a second and Daniel opened the cupboard, pulled out one pot that sent them all falling onto the ground. I had to give him those," he said, gesturing to the plastic lids and containers around where Daniel sat, "so that I'd be able to clean this up without his help."
Sue sighed, stepping over the pots while Seth continued to clean up. She quickly filled up the plates to nearly overflowing, preventing any chance of either of the two men from having to come in for seconds anytime soon. Sue was just about to turn when she heard the sound of the shower turning off above them. Silently, she thanked God.
Picking up the plates, she looked back at Seth pleadingly. "Try to keep him out of trouble. When Bella comes down, tell her what's going on."
Seth nodded, continuing to pick up the pots while his Mom headed back outside. She pushed open the screen door while the two men were in mid-conversation. She didn't catch their conversation as she handed each of them a plate full of eggs, bacon and hasbrowns.
"This smells wonderful, Sue," Billy admonished.
Charlie nodded, "It certainly does. You really..."
His words were cut short as a sudden bang followed by a loud baby's scream echoing from inside the house. Feeling that piercing cry scare the crap out of her, Sue gasped and quickly turned, before racing back into the house. Daniel's cries only got louder as she approached the kitchen. She rushed in to see Seth holding Daniel, bouncing him lightly as his hand ran gently over the back of his head, searching for a bump or evidence of blood.
Seth expression was frantic. He couldn't help but panic that Daniel had really hurt himself and it was his fault for not watching him close enough.
"Mom, I don't know what happened. He must have pulled up on the chair and pulled it down on himself. I didn't even see him crawl over to the table," he said quickly and loudly over Daniel's sobs. "There's a bump on the back of his head."
Hearing his explanation, Sue quickly rushed to the fridge freezer and searched for an ice pack, before suddenly remembering that Charlie had taken them with him in the cooler to the lake. All the while, Daniel continued to cry, big tears running down his cheeks as he sobbed.
"What's going on? Is everything okay in here?"
Charlie's voice rang out loudly over the chaos in the kitchen, looking confused and concerned. His eyes zeroed in on the unfamiliar baby crying in Seth's arms.
"I need the ice packs from the cooler that you brought with you to the lake," she told him, ignoring all prior concerns in keeping Charlie out of the house. Her medical training had kicked in and Daniel had become her priority. "He hit his head off the floor."
Not knowing who the child was, but seeing the seriousness on Sue's face and hearing the baby screaming, Charlie nodded and quickly turned to head back out the door. He had to step around Billy who was holding the screen door when Charlie pushed it open.
"What's wrong?"
"The baby hurt himself and needs an ice pack."
Billy was confused and looked on while Charlie raced out to the cruiser's trunk . "Baby? Whose baby?"
His question was answered as Billy pushed himself over the threashold and came into the house in time to see a woman rush into the kitchen. He had seen her for only a brief second but in that time, his mind couldn't believe who he had just seen. Quickly, Billy rolled himself further down the hallway to find out for certain. He could hear Seth's worried tone and the baby begin to calm slightly as he approached the kitchen.
"Bella, I'm so sorry. It was an accident. I think he was using one of the kitchen chairs to pull himself up to stand and he pulled it down on himself."
"He has a small bump on his head. But he'll be fine," he heard Sue say.
"It's okay, baby. Momma's here."
Billy recognized the voice but simply couldn't believe that he was actually hearing it.
"Is there an ice pack in the freezer?"
"Actually, I just asked Charlie to get one from the cooler in his car."
There was a pause.
"Dad's here?"
As Billy came around the corner and saw her with his own eyes, he knew that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Bella was in the kitchen; alive and appearing to be holding a toddler tightly against her chest. Confused and suddenly finding he had more questions than answers, Billy quickly looked to Seth, finding the young man's surprised eyes had locked on him the moment he had appeared in the doorway.
"Uh, yeah," Seth replied, awkwardly. "But he's not the only one."
Hearing something unusual in Seth's tone, Bella looked to him to see Seth gesture towards the doorway of the kitchen. Slowly, she turned, her eyes widening upon seeing Jacob's father sitting in his wheelchair, staring at her in surprise.
"Billy."
Bella wasn't even certain if she had spoken it aloud or simply breathed his name in shock.
"Hello Bella," he said equally surprised.
Billy looked at her in disbelief, before his eyes were drawn to the little boy who suddenly turned from Bella's shoulder to look at him. The baby seemed curious about the new deep voice he had just heard.
For a brief moment, Billy assumed the child belonged to someone in La Push, given his Quileute features but then he saw it - the similarity between the two pairs of eyes looking at him. He simply couldn't believe it. As much as he wanted to curse out in shock, he smiled for the baby's benefit, who finally appeared to have calmed down.
"Who is this?"
"Daniel," Bella replied softly, as the toddler wiped his runny nose with his hand and hiccuped a few times.
At the same time, Charlie's heavy footsteps sounded up the front step and he quickly opened the front door.
"Sue, I got them! You're gonna want to wash them off first, they've got..."
Charlie's words were lost to him the moment he came up beside Billy and looked into the face of his daughter, whom he hadn't seen or heard from in nearly two years. Charlie felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him and he dropped the ice packs to the ground. Startled, Daniel quickly turned, whimpered fearfully at the sudden loud noise and wrapped his arms around Bella's neck while she gently rubbed his back, her eyes still locked on Charlie's.
"Hi Dad."
Edward had never been so livid.
Not even when he had seen James crouching over Bella, his fangs plunged into the flesh of her arm had he been so angry. Carlisle and Esme had ruined everything he had worked for; everything he had hoped for.
After getting a phone call from Alice, Edward had run back to Pubnico, his feet moving swiftly over the land. He pushed himself faster than he ever had before. Although he kept to the shadows, the woods and the unpopulated areas of Nova Scotia, it had taken him nearly three hours to get back from where he had been hunting. Even as he neared the white-sided house that he and Bella had lived in for nearly 22 months, he knew that what Alice had told him over the phone was true.
Bella and Daniel were gone.
He searched through the house, going room by room and found a portion of Bella's clothes, Daniel's clothes, his car seat, some diapers, the photographs that Bella kept near her bed and the old dreamcatcher that she had insisted they hang above Daniel's crib were all gone. Silence was the only thing she left behind for him and it was consuming.
Defeated, Edward fell back onto the couch and ran his hands over his face before he let out a frustrated groan. This wasn't what he wanted to have happen. Daniel was his son and Bella was in love with him, no matter how much Bella denied him.
Pulling out his phone, he dialed a number, waiting impatiently for the call to be picked up.
"Edward."
Carlisle sounded like he had been expecting a call from him.
"How could you take my family from me?!"
He sighed.
"They aren't your family. Bella is not your wife..."
"Carlisle, she loves me."
"And Daniel is not your son. It was only fair to send them back home to where they belong."
Edward scoffed, squeezing his hand slightly over the small cell phone.
"They belong with me. I'll just go back to Forks and get them."
The way Edward spoke made it sound like it was going to be easy.
"Edward, please don't go back. You'll just make things worse. Let Bella live her life the way she wants. That was the reason why you left her in the first place two years ago - you wanted her to live a human life, remember?"
Edward didn't seem to hear Carlisle's reasoning.
"I can't believe this. You're supposed to be on my side."
"We are on your side," Carlisle stated. "If you try to take Daniel or Bella, I fear that the wolves may retailiate against you."
"You mean, Jacob Black. He is a danger to Bella and Daniel. The wolves have no control and will end up killing them," Edward growled, imagining Jacob's head being ripped from his body.
Carlisle tried to plead to Edward in the seconds before he hung up the phone on him. In his anger, Edward crushed the phone within his fist, before slowly loosening his grip, dropping the pieces onto the couch beside him.
"I wont let that dog touch my family."