Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is owned by Stephanie Meyer. I don't happen to be her; therefore, I cannot possibly own it.
Rating: Rated 'T' for 'Teen'. May change later.
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Family, Fluff, Friendship, First Time, General, High School, Horror, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Supernatural, Vampires
Warnings: Adult Content, Blood, Discriminatory Language, Violence
Pairings: Jasper/Bella, Emmett/Rosalie, Carlisle/Esme, Peter/Charlotte
Summary: Your typical story. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. A baby is quickly made. What happens when the boy's a vampire? What happens when said vampire is killed before the baby's born? Renée doesn't know what's going to happen to her baby, but Nahuel promises to keep it safe from his father. Jasper/ Bella
03. Strangers
This was the first time I had Bella all to myself when taking her into town. Before, I had been accompanied by Rosalie. Even then, we had only taken Bella the once, and she stayed with me and Rosie went to get whatever was necessary. She figured I'd screw it up somehow. Such faith she had in me.
Since I was constantly with Rosalie, I had never gotten to experience the flirtatious behavior women exhibited when around a 'doting single father'. Apparently I was hot stuff.
"There's just something about big men and tiny babies," one woman said. At first, I had been confused. Shouldn't the fact that I have a kid be a huge turn off?
"I know!" her friend whispered excitedly. "You have to wonder where the mother is though. A man that good looking has to be married." The two of them sighed in unison. "To see a good father like that… A guy that wants to be with his kid, that's attractive."
I frowned. First, I didn't need this today. I was going to be much too busy dealing with my errands and hoping Rosalie would let me come back home. Second, why were these women looking at other men when they were taken themselves? Third, where were the damn pants?
As I looked through the racks of clothes, trying to find the proper size of something Bella might agree to wearing, the first woman approached me. After hearing how hot and bothered they were at the fact that I loved my child, I checked to see if I was wearing my ring. Yes, thank god.
"Hello there," she said, pushing her chest out more than necessary in an attempt to get my attention. "You seem to be a little lost. Are you looking for anything in particular? Perhaps I can help"
I gave her a sheepish expression, rubbing the back of my neck. Had to appear human after all. "I, uh, yeah. It seems that I can't find the baby pants." Immediately, she giggled. This was the moment Bella decided to voice her dislike of whatever disturbed her by whimpering. Quickly, I plucked her out of her carrier while wrapping her up in her blanket. "Hey there, what's wrong?" I cradled her to me, gently rocking her in one arm while trying to check her over with the other. "You're fine Bella. Nothing's wrong. You're okay."
"She might be hung-"
The woman didn't get to finish her sentence before Bella whined loudly. Apparently my baby didn't like me meeting new people. As the stranger, who was named Molly by the name her friend was calling out, tried to step closer to help me in dealing with Bella, I heard a low growl from my daughter's throat. It was too quiet for humans to hear, but that didn't mean their instincts didn't notice it.
"I… I'm sorry but my friend, I have to go." She quickly left to tell her friend, Lisa, about the ring she saw on my left hand. "Married," she complained.
Yeah, Hun, you wouldn't want me to take an interest in you if you knew what I was.
Once the two ladies shuffled off to the grocery store down the road, Bella began her giggles. "That wasn't very nice. Now how am I supposed to find you some clothes?" All I got were pleased laughs.
Finally, I found the pants and overalls. Now I had to go about getting some that could fit over her bubble butt and fit around her thunder thighs. At least she didn't have short legs to match her tiny torso. Eventually, I found a stack of pants that were long enough and didn't clinch her rear. I went ahead and stuffed all of the pants in that size in the basket because I knew we didn't have any this big. We hadn't been expecting to need them for another couple of months.
Why was she growing so fast? Would she always be this fast or was it just a temporary thing? More and more questions that were unanswered. If it weren't for the fact that Aro would most likely have her killed or captured, I'd go to the Volturi for the possibility of answers.
"So, do you want a purple shirt?" Her nose scrunched up in distaste when I showed her the mentioned clothing. "Alright, how about blue?" Nope. "Pink?" Negative. "Red?" Some lip smacks of hunger, so no. "Brown and green?" That's a smile! Seemed she really liked the color of dirt. Tossing the pile of different brown shirts into the basket as well, I set off to buy the selections.
Once we got to the car, I had to struggle to get her into the clothes I bought. She was never unwilling to take them off, it was just putting them on that I had problems. Her temperature was nearly one hundred ten degrees Fahrenheit and spiked another ten to fifteen when she slept. Honestly, I wasn't surprised that she hated clothes; it had to be stifling.
"You and me both. Next time I'm playing a card game marathon against Mama, we can just be in our underwear." She giggled and clapped at that, liking the idea of wearing next to nothing for the hours I could spend playing games. "When you get older, I'll teach you how to play too." There was even more pleased laughter.
Bella was a Daddy's Girl, that was for sure.
"Ban." Oh yes, I mustn't forget to tuck her in with the blanket before I headed off to my next errand on Rosalie's list of things to do.
"How do you feel about making a run to the bank?" She looked confused, not having been there before. "We've also got to go to the electric company and talk to the gas man." Bella got more and more frustrated, not knowing what these places were or the people I spoke of. "It'll be okay, just a little boring." That was the moment she began ignoring me in favor of staring at the passing scenery.
Lucky for me, these companies were next door to one another and were simple drop offs instead of the rigmarole that I had gotten into in Michelle's Clothing Boutique.
At the bank, a business filled with little old ladies, young mothers, and middle aged ice-fishermen, I was stared at yet again. The elderly women cooed at Bella and complimented me on how beautiful she was while the barely legal to drink females cooed over me at how good I was with my daughter and how their husbands were never this attentive to their children. The only time Bella got fussy was when I was being touched by the single women.
Well, until some thirty-something year old man came close to her, then she became a hushed frantic at trying to get away from him while still being held by me. I switched her to my other side, hoping that would settle her; it worked until he slinked over to that side. Bella became more and more unhappy when she was able to see him and him to see her. Once he was only a few steps behind me, she started that low growling of hers, but he didn't flinch away like the woman in Michelle's did. In fact, he appeared enticed.
Oh hell no. This wasn't happening to my baby. My own growls started up.
A few seconds later, Mrs. Heather, the head banker called me up. I swear, if he cornered me in the parking lot, I would be draining him on the spot. Or snap his sweaty neck. Just try me.
"Are we withdrawing or depositing today Mr. McCarty?" She was a kind woman in her mid-forties that lost her husband a little over a decade ago due to war.
"A little of both. Gotta get all my affairs in order with a new baby."
At the mention of the little girl in my arms, her line of sight immediately went to her, and a smile graced her face. "Wonderful, I'm happy for you and Mrs. Rosalie. Now, are we breaking the bank or are we going to leave a little left in the register?"
With a chuckle, I remembered how my visit went the first time I arrived here almost a year ago. Back then I hadn't been allowed to withdraw over five hundred in cash at one time. She moved us to the back, where her office was, to discuss the matters of my account and other such due to the sheer amount The McCarty-Hale Corporation had invested in this bank.
"Just to be clear, you want the entire five million transferred from the main account," she rattled off the account numbers to me, "to the new Isabella Fund?" Again, more numbers were said specifying the account I wanted.
Every time Bella's full name was mentioned, her nose scrunched up in distaste. "Yes. I'd also like to withdraw five thousand in cash from the main account." She nodded and got to work on my last request quickly.
"You know, one of these days I'm going to figure out what it is you do for a living," she stated as she came back with her arms loaded down in tens and twenties.
"Investments and real estate for the most part."
She sighed, leaning back in her leather chair. "Well, I don't think I could do all that. But, investment?"
"Yeah, I come from old money and I own different portions of property. If you already have a large sum of money, such as the five million I put aside in the Isabella Fund, it won't be able to be touched for fifty years. Put the interest on that at seven and a quarter percent on an increase? It doubles just after ten years. Already at ten million. Believe me, by the time it's able to be touched, it's worth much more than the five I put in there." Well, it wasn't a lie.
We shook hands and parted ways. As I left the bank, I saw that none of the original customers were still in the lobby. We had been in there for a little over an hour and a half. The parking lot was a bit different. The middle-aged man, probably about thirty-seven or thirty-eight, was sitting in his car, a slick looking deep blue from a new paint-job. I could smell the greasy wax he used on the interior and a heavy dose of lavender oil that hadn't been able to come out of the seats.
I could feel him watching as I strapped Bella into her seat and as I transferred money from Bella's diaper bag to the suitcase I had underneath the back seats just for this. Bella noticed him as well and became upset quicker than I had. Neither of us liked him much and I was sure Rosalie would hate him even more than the either of us.
Driving away from the building, took a few turns, I was aware his car was close by everywhere I went. Eventually, I turned down a deserted dirt road that was mostly used by teenagers during the Spring and Summer as make-out central and a quick place to get some ass in the back of a vehicle. Again, his vehicle was at the edge of what would be considered human vision.
Towards the end of it, I pulled on the side of the road, acting like I was having car troubles and couldn't figure out was wrong beneath the hood. It didn't take long for him to follow along, parking behind me and offering assistance. I watched him suspiciously, watching him eye my form for any concealed weapons and my distance from the car.
As soon as he thought it was safe, he pulled out a gun from the back of his pants underneath his shirt, demanding me to toss my keys into the ditch. I played along; I would have found it humorous if it wasn't my child he wanted. Very quickly I found out the reason behind all this. My daughter was much too pretty and would make for a high bid. In fact, he had his boss while I had been in Mrs. Heather's office. Desperate parents were ready to shell out a few thousand dollars to have her as their baby; so far, she was worth about a tenth of a million. Like in the movies, the villain talked too damn much.
Before he had time to pull the trigger, I had him slumped over with my teeth deep in his neck. He struggled for a moment as I quickly drank from him, taking long pulls of his life to flow down my throat. In my peripheral view, I could see Bella watching me; she was clapping her hands, thoroughly pleased with my draining of this… thing. He was no man; he was barely even a human being.
I wiped my mouth on his scratchy shirt, careful to make sure I didn't get any of his blood on my clothes. First things first, I quickly stuffed him into his vehicle before collecting my keys, and locating his . I had to destroy any evidence that this could require some form of investigation towards me or my family. Next up, I drove my car about a mile back towards civilization and ran back. Breaking open his trunk, I saw that he had no gas can or anything else for me to siphon out his gas easily. Instead, I tore his shirt up into one long strip and stuffed the majority of it into the gas tank to soak it. Then, I made a trail so that I wouldn't catch on fire; afterwards, I caused a small crack in his tank and it quickly created a small puddle underneath the car while still dripping. The final step was to take my lighter and set the strip of shirt on fire. Running away, about half of a minute passed before I heard the explosion of when his car shot up in flames. I drove away, making it the twenty odd miles to the beginning of the road before I decided enough was enough. Rosalie might have preferred it if I waited until tomorrow to come back, but I wasn't waiting any longer.
Ending Author's Notes: I have no clue if there's an actual Old Johnson Road in Canada or if a child trafficker was found on fire in his car in Canada. So, if these things have happened or exist, it is mere coincidence.
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