Chapter 19

You never saw coming.

I'm the reaper outside your door.

You took everything made me feel less than nothing.

I'm getting what I came for.

~The Reckoning- Halestorm

Light slaps tapped the sides of Bella's cheeks. She couldn't figure out why, but she was having a hard time opening her eyes. Suddenly something cold and wet was touching her forehead and she finally gathered enough strength to open her eyes. Bella found herself sitting on Charlie's floor. Her back was against the fridge and her shirt had ridden up exposing her belly. She noticed a bag of chicken nuggets on the floor and many animal shaped nuggets had made it's way to the floor rendering them inedible. "Oh darn." She muttered, causing someone to exhale loudly next to her. When she turned her head, she came face to face with Demetri who was on his knees and holding something against her forehead. "What are you doing?"

Demetri removed his hand that was holding a damp cloth and sent her a concerned look. "Bella, are you alright? I came in here to check to see if you needed any help and I found you collapsed and passed out."

"Oh." Bella had a mild lapse in memory and barely remembered why she was in the kitchen. "I guess I slipped." She threw out the idea then pointed to the nuggets. "And dropped the food." Bella smiled apologetically at Demetri then attempted to stand. She ended up needing her coworkers help as she was still feeling lightheaded. "How long was I passed out?"

"Maybe a couple minutes." He replied after she was steadily standing on her own. "But don't worry about the food. I also came in to tell you that Jacob wants you to bring out the cake. It's time." He flashed her a smile with which she returned.

Bella stepped over the fallen nuggets and opened the fridge. Renesmee's large rectangular cake sat in the midst of Charlie's beer and half eaten leftovers from restaurants. It was a cute cake with white frosting and a purple rim. In the middle of the cake was a puppy that very much resembled Midnight and the words 'Happy Birthday Renesmee' was written above the dog. Bella grabbed the cake gingerly then began making her way out of the kitchen. "Demetri, the candles are on the counter. Can you bring them out for me?" She asked before leaving.

"Sure thing Bella. I'll also clean up the mess." He told her.

"Thanks!" Bella made her way into the backyard and noticed all the children running around and having a good time. They didn't pay attention to her as she made her way over to one of the tables that originally held snacks. By this time, most of the snacks were gone so she was able to make room for the cake quite easily.

Jacob suddenly morphed to her side and was wrapping an arm around her. "It looks great. This has been a good party." He kissed her cheek just as Demetri returned with candles, matches and ice cream. "I'll get the plates and silverware." Jacob disappeared into the house and Bella started sticking five candles into the cake. By the time she had finished placing the candles into the cake, Jacob had returned and set down his things beside the cake. "It's showtime!" He turned to face the yard and called the attention of all the kids. "It's time to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Renesmee. Come over to the table."

His words were barely out of his mouth when a stampede of children herded their way to the table. Leah and Renesmee ended up being at the back of the crowd. But Leah rectified this by pushing some of the kids out of her way and towing Renesmee towards the front. When they made it to the front, Renesmee looked at her cake in awe. Jacob was standing off to the side, leaned over and lit each of the candles quickly. Then the whole crowd burst into song.

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Renesmee!
Happy birthday to you!

Once the song was complete, Bella locked eyes with her daughter. "Make a wish and blow out the candles."

Renesmee smiled brightly then closed her eyes. She muttered something to herself quietly, then drew in a big breath and blew out the five candles in one blow.

"Yay!" Everyone cheered happily and began to line up so that they could get a slice of the cake. Of course Leah made sure that she was right behind Renesmee so that she could get the second piece.

Bella grabbed the knife and positioned it in Renesmee's hand. Keeping with tradition, she aided her daughter in cutting the first slice, then placed the slice on a plate and ushered her towards her father who was scooping out ice cream. Bella cut a piece of cake for all of the children and after getting their ice cream, they sat on the ground with the tired puppies resting beside them. Once everyone had cake, it was the grown ups time to dig in. Bella, Jacob, Demetri and Charlie each claimed a piece of the cake and stood by the tables while they ate. "I think it's safe to say that this party was a success." Bella murmured while taking another bite of cake. Something was nagging at her memory and she couldn't quite place her finger on it. But there was something she was forgetting.

"I must agree." Demetri looked at the puppies. "I'm glad they're tired. On the way here they wouldn't stop barking. But it would seem the kids have worn them out."

"Kids can do that." Charlie joked. A car honked in the driveway, and he peered around Demetri's vehicle to find a couple cars waiting idly. "Ah, some of the parents are here to pick up their kids. I guess we should start wrapping things up." Charlie set down his empty plate and rounded up the kids he knew belonged to the parents in the cars.

"Maybe we should lead everyone inside so that Renesmee can open her gifts." Jacob suggested to his wife.

"Oh right. Presents. That's a good idea." Bella placed her half eaten cake beside Charlie's empty one, then ushered the kids inside. All of them had finished their cake and ice cream and were ready to see Renesmee open her gifts.

Once all of the kids and adults were inside, Jacob walked over to the mound of gifts and passed Renesmee one on top. It was a small box wrapped in the comics from newspaper. She ripped off the wrapping paper quickly and pulled out a box that held three brightly colored bows. "Ooo! Pretty!" She exclaimed happily. One of friends, who gave her the gift, hugged her and she set it aside before opening more gifts.

Once Renesmee had opened all of her gifts from her friends, most of them had been picked up by their parents. Eventually the only person left was Leah. "Let's watch your movie." Leah suggested once everyone had gone. One of the gifts Renesmee had been given was a Blu-Ray copy of Big Hero 6.

"Can we watch it?" Renesmee asked her parents.

Bella looked at Charlie for confirmation. "I don't mind. Do you?"

Charlie pointed to his TV. "I don't see why not. While they watch the movie, you can clean up the backyard." Charlie took the movie from Renesmee's hand and put the shiny disk into the player. Once he had the movie up and running, the two girls got comfortable on the couch and soon were absorbed into the movie. Charlie took a seat on his recliner and relaxed his body.

"Let's go." Bella told her husband and Jacob. "Hopefully it won't take too long to clean up."

When they reached the backyard, they looked at the wreckage of the birthday party. While the kids hadn't been malicious during the birthday party, there was still destruction everywhere in the form of art supplies everyone, dog toys to and fro and candy littering the yard. "Well we have our work cut out for us."

Demetri's phone began to ring and he answered it in private, walking away from the couple.

"Jacob, help me take down the streamers." Bella called to her husband as she reached the fence. "We could've given some of the balloons to the kids. Too bad most of them are gone."

Jacob was soon by his wife's side and was untying the balloons from the fence. "That's okay. We can just let them be free." He told her as he released the balloons and allowed them to float away into the sky. A gentle breeze had kicked in and took the balloons for an adventure far far away. "See?"

Bella laughed lightly as she watched the balloons disappear into the rare, cloud free sky. "I guess that's easier than popping them." She replied while allowing more balloons to find a new home in the sky. After they had released all the balloons, they set about the task of removing the streamers. While they were doing this, Demetri returned and collected the puppies.

"Sorry I can't stay. My neighbor called and wants his dogs back." He smiled ruefully at Bella then picked up the last of the puppies and placed them in the bin he had used to transport them. "But maybe we could do something again soon? I enjoy hanging out with you."

Bella made a face at Demetri. "Is this code for, 'let's invite Max to more things'?" Bella had been teasing Demetri and couldn't help giggling as her coworker's cheeks took on a pink twinge. "I'll see you in school, Monday."

"I hope you feel better." Demetri looked at Bella with an unreadable expression. "Try not to faint again. That was scary."

Demetri left and Bella was whirled around by her husband who was looking at her with concern marring his usually carefree face. "You fainted? When? What happened?"

Bella looked away from him and at Charlie's house. "When I went inside to cook the nuggets."

"Why did you faint? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Bella embraced Jacob and rested her head on his chest. "He's gone." She murmured absently and shuddered as she remembered what caused her to faint. "Edward stopped by." She tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal, but Jacob's arms tightened around her.

"What?" He asked shocked. "Did he hurt you?" Jacob released his wife and checked her body for signs of bruises or injuries.

Bella shook her head fiercely. "No. He didn't hurt me."

Jacob took a step towards the house. "What was he doing here?"

"He wanted to talk."

Jacob's face contorted into one of disbelief. "About what?"

Bella bit her bottom lip nervously. "He's angry at me. He thinks I ruined his life."

"That's rich!" Jacob snorted. "What about you? The woman he abused-" His words were cut off at the wounded look on Bella's face. "I'm sorry." He wrapped his arms around her and drew her near his body. "I can't believe he was here. How does he even know where Charlie live?"

Bella shrugged slowly. She hadn't really thought about how Edward had known Charlie's location. Although, when she continued to ponder, one thing stood out about Edward. He was rich. It wouldn't be hard to do a little digging. After all, Charlie worked for the Forks Police which could easily be traced through google. Surely his address was somewhere online.

"And how did he know you would be here today" Jacob looked around them nervously. "Do you think he's stalking us?"

Bella hadn't wanted to consider this to be a possibility. "Well he said he wanted to ruin my life just like I ruined his." Bella gulped at the thought; It was like Edward didn't think he hadn't already ruined her life. "And he said that he had eyes and ears everywhere."

Jacob scowled at nothing but looked around the yard. "If he comes near you again, I'll kill him." Jacob held Bella's waist protectively and looked at his wife sadly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

Surprise flickered across Bella's face. "How could you have known? Jacob, I don't blame you." Even though Renesmee's birthday party had been crashed by Edward, she still deemed it a success. "I love you." She leaned up on her tippy toes and kissed his lips gently. Jacob deepened the kiss and Bella wrapped her arms around her neck. He lifted her so she wouldn't have to stretch and the brunette wrapped her legs around her husband's waist.

"If he is watching us," Jacob spoke breathlessly. "Might as well give him a show."