Chapter Seven—Defending Yours

When I originally sent out the friend request on Facebook after finding Jasper on there, I half expected him to ignore it with the way things had been left off between us. It was the first step in what I was sure was a long road to actually coming in contact with him again.

Imagine my surprise when I actually got added with a response from him two days later.

Jasper Whitlock

Hey. Never expected to hear from you again. What's up? I heard you had your kid. Congrats.

Jas

I glanced over to Edward, who was sitting beside me on the couch. Jasper was actually being somewhat congenial, and it unnerved me. If he had changed at all in the time he was away, to the point that he would even be this pleasant to me in a message, the rest of the conversation we needed to have made me very nervous. Would he actually want Carlie now once he was told he had a daughter? I took a deep breath and Edward gave me a nod of encouragement, leaning over to gently kiss my cheek before I turned my eyes back to the laptop screen.

Isabella Swan

Hi, Jasper. Yes, I had the baby and that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. If you still have my cell, can you give me a call?

Bella

There, it had started. My stomach was tied up in knots as I awaited his response. Even Edward's hand massaging the back of my neck wasn't helping—I was a complete wreck. How would Edward and I get through this if Jasper refused to sign over his rights? If he decided to be involved in Carlie's life? Knowing it was the right thing to do, since Jasper had the right to know that he had a daughter, did not help in settling my nerves at all.

I was just about to set my computer on the coffee table when I received notification of a new message. Was it okay to throw up yet?

Jasper Whitlock

I don't. I got a new phone and didn't save your number. And rehashing the past with you is not something I am all too eager to do. Sorry.

My hands went to my hair and I clenched it in my fists, releasing a groan of frustration. So much for him having changed, but I needed to go through with it. For Carlie, for Edward, and even for myself.

Isabella Swan

Please, it's very important that I talk to you. Here's my number, please call me as soon as you can.

I typed in my cell number and sent the message off, sliding the laptop onto the table before I threw it in a fit of agitation and leaning back into Edward. His arms encircled me and my hand rose to hold them to my chest, closing my eyes in an attempt to lose myself for a moment in the peace I found in his embrace. "I can't do this, Edward."

Edward's fingers lifted to trace along my jaw, turning my face toward him to brush a soft kiss on my lips. "You're not in this alone, baby. I'm right here."

I sank back more into his chest and even managed a small smile. He didn't call me that often, and in fact, had only said it for the first time only two days before, but it made the instances he did just that much more sacred and special. "I know. I'm just scared, that's all."

"You don't need to be. I won't let him hurt you or Carlie. Ever," Edward replied seriously and I gently palmed his cheek, pressing a soft lingering kiss to his lips before looking back to the screen of my laptop.

Another message from Jasper.

Jasper Whitlock

I don't know what kind of fucked up mind game you and lover boy are up to, but I'm not playing along. Fuck you and have a nice life.

I knew it couldn't wait any longer. I needed to get the message to him before he unfriended me, since it was obvious I wasn't going to be able to do it as close to in-person as I could, with him halfway across the country.

Isabella Swan

Carlie is yours, Jasper.

The words were painful to type, and even more so to send, but it was done. Edward pulled me to sit on his lap as I started taking calming breaths, determined not to cry. I knew the words didn't change anything that truly mattered—I loved Edward and he loved me, and we both loved Carlie. She would always be more Edward's than Jasper's, and Carlisle's words circled through my mind again. Love isn't biological, and that bond between Edward and Carlie as father and child was unbreakable.

My phone suddenly chimed beside us and I glanced over to it—a new text from an unknown number with a 682 area code. However, I didn't need to look it up or even ponder for a moment who it was with the words inside.

That's really fucking low, even for a skank like you. If your baby daddy isn't hacking it, that's your problem, not mine. Should've kept your legs closed.

I dropped my phone into my lap and clenched my fists, my jaw tight in anger, and I could tell from the slow breaths through his nose that Edward was also barely reining himself in. Jasper's words were meant to be acidic and hurtful, but instead, it only fueled my need to get it over with—I wasn't hurt, I was pissed.

You're right, I should have. Since there's only ever been one person between them EVER.

A soft gasp behind me forced me to look at the message I had just sent. I groaned and shook my head, tears starting to form in my eyes. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," he whispered, his arms tightening around me.

"It should've been you, never him. But –"

"I know what you meant and you're just angry." From the tone of his voice, he was, too.

My hand came to my chest, rubbing against my breastbone. Nothing in the world could ever make me regret having my daughter. I loved her more than anything in my life, and I'd never been happier than I was with Edward and the family we'd made with the three of us. But Jasper always brought out the worst in me; just remembering a few of our fights from when we were together was enough to set my blood boiling, even nearly a year after our relationship ended.

Within seconds of sending that text, my phone began to ring, and before I could utter a single word upon answering, Jasper started in.

"Bella, everyone knows you were fucking around on me with that so-called best friend of mine. All of Forks fucking knows it, with the way you've been up there playing house with him. So don't try pinning that little bastard of yours on me. I know she's not mine. You got your fucking period, remember?" he snarled, his tone full of vitriol, and I stood from Edward's legs with white-hot fury raging through me.

"You wouldn't get off my fucking case about it, so I told you I did to shut you up!" I hissed through clenched teeth, angry tears welling in my eyes. "Pretty damn convenient that, after the one time we have sex without protection, I miraculously give birth nine months later. You don't believe it, take the paternity test. DNA doesn't lie. And say whatever you want to or about me, but don't you ever call my daughter a bastard again."

My entire body was shaking as I spoke, but everything stilled as if an arctic wind shot through the room, rendering everything frozen as Edward stood abruptly beside me. He whipped his glasses off, tossing them onto the table, and his eyes were the deepest jade I'd ever seen them, nearly blending with his pupils. His neck was taut and the vein in his forehead began protruding. I'd never seen him that way—he was furious.

"Mother fucker," Edward snarled and took my phone from me, and in the span of the first ten seconds as he told Jasper what we wanted from him, I heard more profanity leave his lips than I had collectively in ten years. I was so relieved that my mother had calmed significantly in the days since we'd told her about Carlie, and she had taken the baby for the evening.

Even I was a little bit afraid of Edward's anger at that moment; I couldn't imagine seeing it through a two month old infant's eyes. And I would hate to have seen anything jeopardize the security she felt with him, but I'd vocalized the worst thing I possibly could have in front of Edward.

"You leave them both out of this, and you fucking listen for once. It's my turn. I never fucking touched her. And it still amazes me to this day that you'd take the word of Heidi fucking Adams over your best friend. You never asked me about it, you just assumed and punched me without any proof, and dumped your pregnant girlfriend in the middle of a goddamn parking lot. Trust me, if I'd thought I had even a miniscule chance with Bella, I would have been the one dating her and would have been Carlie's real father. And God, I fucking wish I was, because she is an amazing, beautiful little girl, and you're the one that's fucking missing out," Edward yelled so loudly that even his mother had made her way down the stairs, gazing at him with wide eyes. "You don't want to step up and claim her, that's fine by me. Do us all a favor and get the goddamn paternity test done and sign the fucking papers. I don't want your child support or any more of your time than it will take to swab your cheek and swipe a pen along a line. I only want my daughter. Because you sure as hell don't deserve her."

My shaking hands came up to cover my nose and mouth as unbidden tears slipped down my face and I stood there stunned. Edward had never stood up to Jasper before in all the time I'd known them. He'd been talked down to, punched, screamed at, made fun of, and he'd just laid back and taken it every single time. Edward had changed a lot since becoming a father, but that was, by far, the most staggering difference I'd witnessed.

Edward hung up the phone and tossed it on the table, clutching his hair tightly on either side of his head and growling in frustration. The action pulled me abruptly from my daze and I hurried over to him, taking his face between my hands and trying to get him to look at me. "I'm an idiot. I'm a goddamn fucking idiot. He's such a pompous, arrogant asshole. She's a baby. An innocent child. And he talks about her like she's…"

"Shh, it's okay," I hushed him, attempting to calm him and slow his breathing, finally brushing my lips against his to stop him from muttering. "Edward, you said it yourself. He's the one missing out. It's not worth getting all worked up over like this. She's better off without him, right?"

Edward's eyes came to meet mine and they were hard as stone. I almost shrunk back from him until it appeared as if something snapped inside him and his body began to tremor slightly, his shoulders falling. "He won't sign."

I froze but still held his face in my hands as he began repeating apologies to me over and over, trying to lower his head. "What do you mean?"

"He said…that if the paternity test confirms that he's the father, he'll see us in court," Edward continued, bringing his eyes back up to mine with tears flowing freely down his face. "He won't sign over his rights. God, Bella, I'm so sorry."

I stood perfectly still as he sank to his knees in front of me, wrapping his arms around my waist and crying into my stomach, and my eyes met his mother's. She appeared so torn and heartbroken, watching her child fall apart and knowing that she was the last person he would ever want to comfort him anymore, with as strained as things had been between them. Just her coming over in the evenings to visit with Carlisle was enough to send Edward up to his room and closing the door behind him. I brought my hand to his hair and stroked it gently in silent reassurance that I would take care of him, and she nodded, turning to head back up the stairs.

Once I heard the door close upstairs, I brought myself down level with Edward, but he turned his head further away from me. "Why the fuck did I have to do that? I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. I fucking instigated him!"

"Edward," I said, but he still wouldn't look at me, so I tried again. "Baby?"

Edward finally stilled at the whispered word I'd never uttered before to him, slowly turning his head to look at me. "Why would you call me that now?"

I brushed away one of the wet trails on his cheek and brought my lips to his tear-softened ones, kissing him gently and sliding my arms around him. "Because I love you, Edward. I don't blame you for this, so please stop apologizing. I've never loved you more or been more proud of you." He looked away disbelievingly and I brought my hands to his face again, holding him still. "You were defending and protecting what is yours. Your family. And you are part of that family, and you were standing up for yourself. There is no shame in that. You were being a man and a father."

"We could lose Carlie because of me. He could take her away from us. He's her father. Blood outranks a name on a birth certificate, and love, for that matter," Edward replied, his voice growing more distraught with every word again. "I love her so much, Bella. If he took her…"

"He won't. No matter what, I am still her mother, and I won't let anyone take her away from her father, okay? I promise you," I said as steadily as I could while staring into his gut-wrenching eyes and watched as his body curled forward to lower his head onto my lap.

A sharp knock came to the front door and I looked up, relieved when Carlisle made his way downstairs to answer it so I could remain where I was, holding and comforting Edward. I was surprised, however, when it was my father who entered the house, with concern etched on his features as his eyes found me. "Your mother called me at work, said she heard some bad yelling over here. Everything all right?"

I pressed my lips together as his gaze moved to Edward with a hint of suspicion. I shook my head, guiding the sobbing man in my lap with me onto the couch and hugging him to my chest, running my fingers through his hair. "We got in touch with Carlie's father. And he won't sign the papers."

My dad's expression shifted again as his eyes moved again from me to Edward, whose arms clung around my waist tightly in response. "Is that so?"

I merely nodded as I leaned forward, kissing the top of Edward's head while he attempted to hide his face in my shirt. I knew he was no doubt embarrassed to be seen crying in such a way by both of our fathers but there was no mistaking the heartbreak and fear, mixed with guilt, in his trembling form. "Nothing is going to happen, Edward. I promise."

My reiterated assurance only allowed him to relax minimally and my gaze moved across the room, where our fathers were murmuring amongst themselves. However, since I knew Carlie was still in good hands with my mother, I returned my focus to my only concern at that moment, and that was Edward and attempting to calm him.

What seemed like moments later, I found myself waking to the sensation of a pair of hands shifting me. I opened my eyes to see Carlisle standing beside the couch, laying me down gently beside Edward. As he covered us over with a blanket, he leaned down to kiss my forehead and whispered, "Carlie is staying with your mother tonight. We didn't think Edward would want her to see him like this, and he needs you right now, Bella."

As if responding to his father's words, Edward's embrace tightened around me in his sleep and pulled my back into his chest more, his face buried in my hair. I closed my eyes again, resting my hand on his other arm, draped around my middle and sliding my fingers between his under the blanket. "I won't leave him, Carlisle."

Yeah, ericastwilight called me several colorful names and I believe even birdflipped me after this, and cursed Jasper throughout most of it. I don't hate Jasper, as a rule. Canon Jasper, anyway. HONEST! The last few chapters of this should be posted over the next couple of days and there's only a few more. It's a very short story, as I said at the beginning, though it did turn out much longer than I'd originally intended because, well… I guess Bella had a lot to say.

See ya soon. :)