Disclaimer: Again, Stephenie Meyer owns the characters other than Anya and Killian.
You guys are actually amazing. You're all trying to work everything out and a couple of you are right. The answer to the main question of 'what's the thing with Killian?', will be answered at the end of this chapter. Again, it might not be some of yours cup of tea (or drink of choice (never understood that phrase to be honest but there we go) but the story focuses on the now rather than the then. Of course, there are going to be references to the past, but it's not the main focus of the story.
I've also noticed how a lot of you guys are more focused on why Anya calls Edward 'Rogers'. I thought that was quite funny myself and definitely not something I was expecting. In answer to that, yes his name is Edward Cullen, which Anya knows but 'Rogers' is just her nickname for him. The answer to why that name will come soon.
Update to Cold Comfort is up next.
I grabbed my robe, carefully getting out of bed, not wanting him to wake up as I quickly and quietly made my way out of the room, wanting to find out who the hell was banging on my front door at – I checked the clock in the living room as I walked downstairs – two am.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming." I muttered as I walked over to the door, opening the door, freezing as I saw the person standing on the other side of the door, looking extremely pissed. "What the hell do you want?"
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I glared at him and he stared straight back, his eyes not leaving mine as we stood there. I stepped to the side, blocking any view into the house, closing the door slightly in front of my body.
"Well, that's not really the welcome I was expecting." He scoffed and I snorted, rolling my eyes.
"Really?" I narrowed my eyes as I took in his appearance. He was still wearing the suit he had been wearing when I'd run into him earlier. He had his hands in his pockets, relaxed as he stood there. "What did you expect, huh, Jasper? What did you really expect?"
"We need to talk." He stated, completely ignoring my words and I chuckled, shaking my head, glaring at him.
"No."
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, his expression becoming frustrated. "Look, we need to talk and I don't really want to do it standing here on your porch."
"So, let me get this straight." I leaned on the doorframe, still keeping the door mostly closed in front of me. "You come to my house at two in the morning, demanding that we need to talk, even though we haven't actually seen each other in five years and you think I'm actually going to let you into my house? You've lost your mind."
"You don't think we need to clear some things up?" He stared at me, his expression set in stone. There was nothing there to indicate that he felt anything at all.
"I think you said everything you needed to say when you disappeared. Goodbye, Jasper." I closed the door, locking it quickly, leaning against it as I let out a shaky breath. I ran a hand through my hair, closing my eyes as I silently cursed myself. I moved off of the door, turning and looking through the peephole, seeing that he was still standing there. He was on his phone and I rolled my eyes, making my way back up the stairs, grateful that I hadn't turned the light on when I came down. At least he wouldn't know that I hadn't gone straight upstairs. I was able to see where I was going from the light from the streetlights outside.
I walked back into my room, smiling when, again from the lights outside I was able to see Killian curled up in the middle of the bed, his arm stretched out, his tiny fist clenching and unclenching as though he was trying to find me. As I walked around the bed, taking off my robe and throwing it over the rocking chair that I'd had in the corner.
I climbed back into bed, chuckling gently as Killian immediately curled up into my side. I pulled him close to me, letting out a sigh as he relaxed into me. I ran my fingers through his hair gently, wondering if Jasper was still standing outside. We lived on a relatively quiet street and I hadn't heard a car pull away. I hadn't seen one behind him but then again, I hadn't been too focused on his method of transportation.
I turned on my side, pulling my baby towards me as I closed my eyes as I pushed Jasper out of my mind again, knowing that I needed to get as much sleep as possible. Especially seeing as Anya had new clients coming in tomorrow and she had strong armed me into helping her prepare. Apparently they were quite high profile. She rarely asked for help with clients but I knew that if she was asking for it, it wasn't a plea made lightly.
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"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up!" I groaned, rolling over onto my front, facing away from where I knew my little nightmare was bouncing on the bed. "Daddy!" He whined, nudging me and I smiled, burying my head in my pillow. "Time to get up, Daddy!" He flopped down on top of me and I moaned, feeling his elbows digging into my back. Who needed an alarm clock with a four year old around? "I know you awake, Daddy!"
"Yeah?" I smirked to myself before quickly turning over and grabbing him, revelling in his squeals as I tickled him, avoiding his kicking feet as he giggled. I pulled him to me, flopping back on the bed as he continued to giggle.
"Silly Daddy." He giggled and I hummed.
"Yes, silly Daddy." I mumbled and he tried squirming away from me. "No." I held him tighter and I knew he'd give up in a minute. This was a regular routine for us. "Stay with Daddy."
"Okay." He burrowed down slightly, covering himself with the comforter again and I smiled. My kid was so laid back. He was awesome.
It must have been about half an hour later when my actual alarm went off. Killian was sound asleep again which was normal.
"Come on, Peanut." I shook him gently, moving him off of my chest. He stirred and rolled over, copying my exact movement from earlier on. "Come on, up we get." I went to pull the comforter off, hissing as my hand throbbed from the coffee burn that happened yesterday.
It was swollen and throbbing and it didn't look good. I knew that I would probably have to go to the hospital to get it sorted out. And I knew that Anya was going to give me her famous 'I told you so' bitch brow.
After I showered, took a Percocet, a prescription I'd needed since an accident when I was seventeen. I didn't take them often, mostly when my back seized up and I couldn't move properly. I'd been taking it on and off since I was seventeen so I knew how much of it I could handle and I hoped that it would knock out some of the pain of my hand and got myself ready, mindful of my hand, I got started on the task of getting Killian ready for day care. I set out some clothes for him to wear, letting him get dressed on his own. He'd started becoming more independent and it hurt a little. He didn't need me to get him dressed anymore and I missed the little bonding we had. Well, I didn't miss chasing him around the house when he decided he didn't want his underwear on that day.
I smiled as I left him in his room, walking down into the kitchen. I made quick work or making some scrambled eggs for him, helping him up onto his booster seat as he rubbed his eyes. He grinned when he saw the plate in front of him. I put a small blob of ketchup off to the side of the eggs and he quickly devoured them, getting most of the food around his mouth.
I wiped his mouth off and told him to get his jacket and backpack while I loaded our plates up into the dishwasher. He ran back into the kitchen, his jacket and shoes on – again, the Velcro shoes – and grinned up at me.
I laughed, shaking my head as I steered him out of the door. He pouted again, like he normally did when I opened up the back door. I raised an eyebrow at him and he quickly complied, scrambling in and I strapped him in. When he was safely in the backseat, I closed the door and made my way back up to the house, making sure that the front door was locked before jogging back to the car and climbing in.
When we were moving, he was perfectly happy, chirping on about what his day care teacher said that they were doing today. All I really got was that there was going to be painting and I was glad that I made sure he always had a change of clothes at daycare.
He sat there, practically buzzing as I walked around the car and unstrapped him. He jumped out of the car and waited as I grabbed his backpack, kneeling down and linking his arms through the straps.
I stood up, holding out my hand and he grabbed it. I could see that he wanted to run off to see his friends but he wouldn't, knowing that he had to stay with me up until we were in his classroom. It was more to set my mind at ease more than anything else. I didn't like the idea that he was wandering around without holding my hand or another adults.
"Alright," I knelt down in front of him., running my fingers through his hair. Unfortunately, he had inherited my fucked up mess of hair. He made it work, though. "Be good for Miss Carson, okay?" He nodded, grinning and wrapping his arms around me.
"Love you, Daddy." He said softly and I smiled, hugging him back.
"Love you, Peanut." I pulled away from him and he giggled. I knew that moments like this wouldn't last much longer, so I would be taking as many of them as I could get. "Alright, go on." As soon as the words were out of my mouth he took off, straight towards his cubby and his friends. I chuckled, shaking my head as I stood up.
I nodded towards the other parents, exchanging greetings with several of them that looked as tired as I felt. I couldn't fault any of them for not being too talkative. Eight thirty on a Monday morning was not the best time of anyone's week, I'd wager.
As I walked out of the building, I pulled out my phone, dialling Anya.
"Rogers!" Uh-oh, someone was not happy this morning. "What's up?"
"How urgently do you need me this morning?" I asked and she sighed. I could practically hear her rolling her eyes at me.
"Clients not in till two and I know you don't have anything else urgent to work on this morning." Who needed a diary when I had Anya to tell me my schedule?
"I'm going to be in a little later today."
"Your hand?" How the fuck did she know this? I shook my head, not even bothering to wonder any more.
"Yeah. I told you if it wasn't better in the morning, then I'd go to the hospital and it's not better so I'm going, so you can wipe that look off your face." I smirked as she made a noise on the other end of the phone.
"How do you know what look I have on my face?" She asked and I laughed. "Wait, don't even bother to answer that. What time will you be in?"
"I don't know. I'm at Killain's day care at the moment and I'm going to head straight there. Depending on how long the wait is, I should be there about ten o'clock or so."
"Alright, well, I'm already in the office, so I'm going to start on the Hale file. I'll catch you up when you come in." Okay. We hung up and I climbed back into the car, avoiding eye contact with some of the mothers of the children here. Apparently, some women didn't really care about the fact that they were married or in long term relationships. Or they didn't care how their behaviour might affect the child that was standing next to them waiting to say goodbye before they spent the day away from their parents.
I couldn't understand those people.
Not that they have a chance anyway, no matter how much they tried.
Missing something vital, they were.
After arriving at the hospital, I had to wait for around forty five minutes before being seen. Filling out the forms had been interesting. I was still able to write but it fucking hurt and I was sure that my handwriting left something to be desired but I didn't care. All I wanted to do was find out if there was anything I could do to ease the throbbing of my hand and get into work. I was in with the doctor for about fifteen minutes before she quickly treated and wrapped it in a bandage, advising me to invest in some more before the end of the day before prescribing some codeine and some burn cream and sending me on my way. I expected as much and can't say that I wasn't too upset about the fact that I was in and out quite quickly.
I hated hospitals so I quickly made my way down to the pharmacy to have my script filled. I texted Anya, letting her know that I would be in shortly while I waited, relieved when it didn't take them long to call my name out.
"Yo, bro!" Anya laughed as I walked into the office fifteen minutes later, pharmacy bag in my hand. "My office, two minutes." I rolled my eyes, nodding at her. I made my way over to my office, greeting my assistant Bella as she relayed any messages I had.
"So, when are you bringing the Monkey round again?" She asked, making me a cup of coffee and I frowned at it before looking back down at my bandaged hand. I sighed, picking up the coffee with my free hand and she frowned at the bandage. I explained what had happened, leaving out the fact that it was my ex that I'd realised I was still in love with I'd run into. She gave me a sympathetic smile and I knew that she knew how I was feeling as she grabbed me a bottle of water from my small fridge and I took a drink, looking at the clock to judge what time I could take some of the painkillers the doctor had prescribed, not wanting to do myself any damage. "So?"
"After the devastation he caused last time, I'm not sure I will." I laughed and she giggled, her eyes glittering. I knew that she loved Killian, wanting to see him as much as possible. "Right, the dictator has called me."
"I heard that!"
I laughed, rolling my eyes. "You were meant to." Bella laughed, shaking her head. "Hold my calls unless it's urgent." She nodded and I grabbed my coffee and walked through to Anya's office.
"And he's finally here." She exaggerated her movements as though she'd been waiting on me for hours. I looked at my watch and saw that I'd only been a minute longer than she'd wanted me to be. I couldn't help but grin at her dramatics. She knew that she was being silly, shaking her head. "And what did the doctor say?"
"Cream, painkillers, bandage." I shrugged showing her my hand and she chuckled, shaking her head as she sat down. "How are you feeling?"
"Whoever called it morning sickness must have never been pregnant. All day sickness is more like it." She moaned and I nodded, knowing what she meant. "How did you cope with it?"
"Crackers and ginger ale." She scrunched up her nose. She hated ginger ale and I laughed, sitting down in the chair she'd pulled around her desk next to hers. "I know you hate it but it works."
"Anyway, enough talking about the icky stuff and let's get to it." She waved off the idea of ginger ale and I rolled my eyes.
We sat there, going over the papers that she'd had drawn up for the clients she had coming in at two o'clock. They were high profile, medical technology experts looking for legal representation and Anya was determined to make sure that she had everything gone over with a fine toothed comb when it came to their contracts.
I couldn't help but smile when I thought of our firm. WCJ Ltd was a combination of me, Anya and another lawyer called Jason Jenks. We each had our own specialities within the firm, though we all had a broad knowledge to help each other out with putting a case together and proof reading over what the others were working on. Anya was our resident corporate lawyer, dealing with businesses large and small, hence the fact that she was dealing with this business client and I was just there to make sure that nothing was missed. She was a perfectionist though, and I had a feeling that nothing I would be doing here would be any consequence at all and she would just wave me off at the end of it anyway. Jenks specialised in divorce. He and I had worked together on a few cases more than we worked with Anya on hers, considering I had specialised in family law. Some of the cases the both of us had had were messy. Not pleasant at all but they were all resolved with very little injury. The messy ones generally revolved around kids. It was never pleasant trying to sort out a custody hearing but you always had to put the welfare of the child first. Of course, the parents don't always agree with your opinions.
But it is what it is and there was no changing that.
It had worked for us for the last three years and we were all living comfortably.
"Hey," we looked up, seeing Jenks standing in the doorway. "Need any help?"
"Nah, Jase, I think we've got it covered. Thanks anyway." Anya smiled up at him. "Don't you have that lunch meeting to get to?"
"Yeah, but I'm trying to put it off for as long as possible." He moaned and we laughed. We knew that he didn't want to deal with the client he had a lunch meeting with. The woman was always trying to get into someone's pants – mostly his since she had discovered I was gay – not caring if her husband was sat there. Even though Jenks was clearly married, referencing his wife and child whenever he could, it didn't seem to put her off. We laughed about it as he sat there pouting, not caring for our jokes.
After making fun of Jenks until he left, grumbling about having no sympathy, we turned back to the files in front of us.
"I think we're all done." I sat back, smiling at Anya and she grinned. "So, when is Hale coming in?" I wondered when the man that we'd been combing through contracts for was arriving.
"Oh, Hale is the name of the company." She opened the file up again. How had that escaped my notice? I nodded, seeing that the name was indeed Hale Medical Services Ltd. "The CEO of said company, who will be arriving in the office in," she checked her watch, "twenty minutes is a Mr J A Whitlock."
My mouth went dry and I froze. "J A Whitlock?" I asked quietly and she nodded, looking confused. "Jasper Andrew Whitlock?" She scanned the pages of information we had on the CEO of the company and nodded again, looking up at me, still clearly confused. "That's Jasper." I whispered, closing my eyes, swallowing. "The Jasper."
"You're kidding me?" She snapped the file shut as though it was a poisonous snake that might bite her. "So that's him?" I nodded, leaning forward, running my hands through my hair and resting my elbows on the desk in front of me. What the hell was going on? Why was he popping up everywhere now? Why did he have to come to my house at two am and why did he have to choose my law firm to represent him?
What the hell was going on?
"Anya," I looked up at him. "You can't let this blow this. He'll still be a valuable client and you can't let what happened between him and me affect that."
"I can't let it go." I looked at me with a hard glint in her eye.
"You have to. You really want to let it affect something you've worked so hard on? Think of what it could do for the firm." I tried to reason but she laughed, rolling her eyes.
"I care more about you than I do about the firm, Rogers." She shot back and I knew that I wasn't going to get anywhere trying to reason with her. "You really think I want to represent someone that hurt you so badly?"
"It doesn't matter what he did. It happened a long time ago. He's clearly over it and this is business. It shouldn't affect what happens in this office." I turned in my seat, facing her more. "I want you to promise me that you won't say anything or act any different to how you would with any other client." She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest and I sighed. "Promise me."
"Fine," she sighed, "I promise."
"Thank you." I whispered, standing up. "I can't be in here when he gets here. I don't want to see him again. I can't handle seeing him again. Not without some kind of time to prepare."
"See, this is why I don't want to play nice with him." She stood up, gesturing towards me. "Look at how this is making you feel, Edward. He hurt you. He's still hurting you. I can't let that go."
"Well, then maybe you can say something about it in a social setting. But not when it comes to business." I reasoned and she huffed again.
I loved my friend and how loyal she was but she was so stubborn sometimes and I knew that it was going to get her into trouble at some point soon.
I left her office, letting Bella know that I was going to catch up on some paperwork and may need her assistance at some point soon. She nodded, smiling, asking if I wanted any more coffee.
"You had a call from James Harper at Volturi while you were in with Mrs Walker. He insisted you call him back right away." I smiled at the fact that even though she called me Edward, she insisted on calling Anya and Jason Mrs Walker and Mr Jenks.
I let out a silent moan, hating dealing with James Harper. The guy was insufferable, trying to cover for his boss's nephews almost every week. It kept my pockets lined but it was aggravating to say the least. They were always getting themselves into trouble.
At least I knew that it would keep me busy while Jasper and whoever else was with him was here. "Felix and Amun again?" I asked and she grinned at me, knowing that it would be. She hated dealing with James Harper as much as I did. He was one of those guys that thought that he was gods' gift to women, not caring what their relationship status was. He constantly came on to Bella, not caring for the giant diamond that decorated her ring finger on her left hand. She couldn't stand him and I knew that it was only a matter of time before she hit him. And I would be cheering her on from the sidelines. Being the daughter of a police chief, she knew how to handle herself and her fiancé, Alec and I wouldn't interfere if she decided to take James down.
He was a creep. Plain and simple.
I stiffened slightly as I heard the soft southern twang of Jasper's voice filter through the office lobby, floating through into the small office area that led through to my office.
I thanked Bella and quickly made my way into my office, closing the door, hoping that he hadn't seen me. I knew that Anya wouldn't give away the fact that I was here. She wouldn't make any mention of me but I still didn't want to risk being seen.
It only took Bella a few minutes to follow me into the office as I knew she would, a worried look on her face.
"What was that about?" She asked, standing in front of my desk. "Some history with one of the hotties?" She asked, a smirk on her face. The smile quickly vanished when she saw the look on my face. She sat down on the chair on the other side of my desk, reaching towards me. "What's wrong?"
"Well, let's put it this way. The blonde man out there?" She nodded, knowing who I was talking about. "He's the other half of my son's gene pool."
"What?"
Of course, Bella knew about how Killian had come into the world. Not everyone accepted the fact that there were some men out there – a miniscule percentage, mind you – that had the ability to get pregnant but I was one of them. And I had been when Jasper had left.
I even had the stretch marks to prove it.
"What are you going to do?" She asked and I shook my head, looking up at her.
"I don't know."
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