Disclaimer: I do not own any of this, I just like to mess with things. Thank-you for anyone who has reviewed, you all are the reason why I continue to write.
I received the call no celebrity parent wants to get when I was just finishing up a photo shoot.
"Bella, I don't know how it happened; they must've got through your gate somehow." Angela sounded breathless; my mind reeled with all of the worst case scenarios as I waited for her to go on.
"I was in the kitchen when I heard Eli say something about cameras, I got him away from my windows as soon as possible but who knows how many photos they took before I could get him away."
"Shit." I knew it was all about to hit the fan, as soon as Eli's picture got out it would only take moments before somebody close to Edward saw it. I took a breath to try and calm myself down while convincing myself that if I was hysterical everything would just get worse.
"Have you called the police?" Angela and I did have a plan in place in case this ever happened but she and Eli were sitting ducks until the cops rid my property of paparazzi.
"Yes, of course. They said that they'll be around 10 minutes and I called them just before I called you."
"Okay Ange, I need you to get the go-bags and have them ready. As soon as the police say the property is clear you can head down to the hangar. I'll call the plane company and Jacob so he doesn't think we've disappeared. Mike's here so I'm going to get him to try and soften the blow as much as possible."
The plan was simple; I was going to disappear for a while with Eli until Angela told me it was safe to come back. Being in Hollywood during a scandal is like swimming in shark infested water with a target carved into your back. The last thing I wanted was even more paps following me through my daily life screaming at me about whom Eli's father might be.
I spoke with Mike first and had him agree to call my publicist and start planning a counter attack to the oncoming storm. Once I had called the airplane services and they told me they could get me out within three hours I was faced with my hardest call. I had to figure out how to keep calm while speaking with Jacob on the phone so he wouldn't try to drop everything and come with me.
"Hi Bella, don't you have a photo shoot right now?"
"Jake the paparazzi got onto my property, we don't know how but they did." I could hear a sharp inhale on the line and it was quiet for a moment before he spoke again.
"How bad is it?"
"They got photos of him."
"Fuck Bells." He trailed off so I took the opportunity to speak again.
"Jacob I'm leaving with Eli soon, we're going to lay low while this all happens. I'm hoping if we stay out of the spot light the media will forget about us quickly."
"Ok, all I need to do is pack a bag and-"
"No Jake…" I cut him off "You have a lot of important work to do this week to prepare for your album release, you can't come with us."
"Bella, are you fucking kidding me? Of course I'm going to come with you, I'll just get Sam to delay everything."
"I don't want you to do that Jake, just think for a moment how much worse everything will get if the press find out you're M.I.A during all of this." There was silence for a couple minutes and just as I thought he might've hung up, he spoke again.
"Bella, it's my job to protect you. Why won't you let me do my job?" His voice sounded broken, so much that I almost gave into him at that moment.
"It may be your job to protect me but it's my job to protect Eli and I can only do that if you let me go through with my original plan." He was quiet again and probably pissed at me but I could handle that.
"Bella, forget the media for a second. How are you going to deal with the Cullen family when they figure out the inevitable?"
"I can only handle one crisis at a time Jake, now I'm going to go. I'll contact you when Eli and I are in our hiding place."
"Please take me with you Bells, I'm begging you. I can't keep my promise to stop the nightmares if you don't let me." My breath caught as I struggled to end the phone call as planned.
"Good-bye Jacob." Hanging up was extremely hard to do but I did it before he had time to say something more.
By the time I left the location for the photo shoot the big paparazzi websites were promising to reveal something big in the hours coming. I took a taxi straight to the private airport I had rented the plane from and was relieved to see Angela's car was there already. Sure enough, once I walked inside the little building I was greeted with giggles from Eli who raced over to me.
"You see Mama, planes!" Eli pointed towards the far side of the building which was made completely out of windows.
"Yes Eli, we're about to go take a ride on one of those." He squealed in delight.
"You can go look out the windows Eli, Mama will stay right here." He was a good 15 feet away from us when Angela started to talk.
"Jacob has called me four times asking where you're going Bella; he's beyond desperate to find out. Can't you let him come with you?" I shook my head.
"Ang, I'm trying to keep the scandal as small as possible. You know the press will link two and two together if Jacob isn't in the area."
"Is that what you're afraid of, the press finding out that you're an item? It's been three months Bells; you know they'll find out sooner or later."
"I just don't want my drama dragged into Jacob's life."
"Bella, it's not like Jacob isn't used to being hounded by the paparazzi, give him credit where it's due. Jake loves you too much to flee at the first sign of trouble." I was going to say more to her but I could see the pilot waving me over from the strip outside. I turned to her after handing off my luggage to the flight attendants.
"Hold the fort down while I'm gone Ange, I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too Bells, give Eli a hell of a lot of kisses from me and call me when you reach the cabin."
I wrapped my arms tightly around her before gathering Eli in my arms.
"Come on Superman, we have quite the adventure ahead of us." He babbled in my ear as I walked us out onto the landing strip and towards the plane.
"Mama, Angie no come?"
Sorry Superman, Angela has to stay here but maybe we'll see Popo." I called my father by what Eli lovingly calls him.
"I like Popo."
"I know you do Eli, I'll talk to Popo once we get into Washington and see if he has space in his schedule to see us."
We climbed aboard the small jet and I got Eli settled into his seat before I took mine.
"Ms. Swan, the plane is set to take off whenever you're ready."
"We're all fastened in and ready to go." I told the flight attendant.
Take-off went smoothly and as soon as we were at cruising level I put Eli in my lap so we could color together, once we had colored a picture of the forest I pointed to it.
"That's called the forest Eli, that's where Mama and Eli are going to be staying."
"The forest." Eli repeated contently before continuing on with coloring.
The cabin we're fleeing to lies in a remote area of Washington where you can only find it if you know what you're looking for. Originally a seized property, I bought it at a police auction when Eli was just a couple of months old. Before I arrived at the airport I called a friend of the family and asked if she could ready it for our arrival.
"Ms. Swan, the plane is about to start descending." I nodded to the flight attendant and put Eli back in his seat. With the time already I've spent unplugged from the world I'm sure the photos of Eli have been released. I looked over to my little hero who had become mesmerized with his window view and sighed; hopefully he would just treat this as a vacation and be oblivious to the collapsing world around him.
Waiting for us on the landing strip was a rental car that I happily let the flight crew pack the luggage into.
"Mama, that's not ours." Eli piped up from my arms as I tried to load him into the car.
"It is for now Superman, I'm borrowing it." His lips formed an "O" as he accepted my answer.
The drive to the cabin was a long but scenic one. Eli commented on everything he saw out the window and chatted along with me until his eyelids became too heavy to stay open and he dozed off.
When I finally reached the cabin as the sun was almost set leaving a red glow on the cozy two bedroom cabin. I picked up Eli slowly as not to jostle him too much and as quietly as possible carried him into the master bedroom. I tried to convince myself that I was letting him sleep with me so he wouldn't be scared when he woke up when in reality I just didn't want to be too far from him.
After laying Eli down I walked back outside so I could call Angela and Jacob without disturbing my little prince.
"How are things back at the fortress Angela? Has the security company come by yet?"
"Bella, don't worry I have everything under control. You just worry about laying low for a while."
"How bad is it Angela? Be honest with me." I had made a promise to myself not to check any online sites before tomorrow but I wanted to know what I was facing.
"I'd be lying if I said the photos weren't posted everywhere."
"Fuck!"
"I know that tone of voice Bella, you're getting stressed. Remember our talk from earlier today."
"Ang, I'm not having him put off his life so he can come out here."
"Just think about it Bella, that's all I'm asking." We said our goodnights then hung-up. I had to call Jacob next but first I wanted to think about what Angela had said. It wasn't that I didn't trust him to stay; I just didn't want to scare him away. Okay so the more I thought about it the more the two suspiciously seemed like the same thing. Finally I came to a conclusion about what I wanted to do and dialed his number.
"Bella?"
"Hi Jake, I arrived safely."
"Bella please, please don't face this alone. Please just let me come be with you." The level of desperation in his voice tore straight to my heart.
"Jacob I don't want you to miss work but I've talked to Angela and I've decided I'm willing to compromise."
"Go ahead."
"If you would still like to come down then you can on the weekend, I don't plan on talking to anyone I don't want to until next week anyways." There was a pause before Jacob responded.
"I'm coming down on the weekend then… Bella, I don't see how this is a compromise."
"It's a compromise because next week if the Cullen's request time with me, I'm going alone." Jacob wasn't happy about this but in the end he agreed to my terms and we ended the conversation in better moods then it had started.
It was almost midnight by the time I had unpacked the car and readied myself for bed. I tip-toed back into the master bedroom and lay down facing my little angel who was smiling contently in his sleep.
"Good-night Superman, Mama loves you." I kissed his forehead before settling into sleep, trying to forget everything I was going to be facing in the next days.
Next up, be prepared for a glimpse into Jacob's mind.