I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of my story.

Author's Note at the end.

Bella looks around the same coffee shop she last saw Edward in. She smiles a humorless smile. If she thought that she would feel better by the time she met with Edward again, she had another thing coming. She is no where near feeling better about anything that is about to happen. She takes a deep breathe and then holds it for a couple of seconds before she lets it out.

She does that a couple of times until she hears a voice tell her, "You beat me this time."

She realizes that while doing her breathing exercise, she closed her eyes. "I had nothing but paperwork back at the office. I got sick of it and decided to come here early."

"You are still working in landscaping, right?" he asks her sitting down.

She fights the urge to answer him sarcastically and nods her head and then he politely asks her, "You were traveling when I visited you place a week ago. When did you start doing that?"

"A year ago," she answers him pausing to sip from her coffee before continuing, "Initially, I only did local projects, but quickly they realized that I know what I am doing and they gave me big projects that are out of state."

He opens his mouth to ask her something but at the sad smile on her face he freezes for a second before he tells her, "I am stalling, aren't I? I just want you to know that whatever you choose I am not judging you for it. I haven't been an active parent of hers for years and I understand that my presence in her life isn't up to me."

Bella who listened to every word he said finds herself at a loss for words and averts her gaze from his face to her hands to figure out how to tell him everything. She went into this thinking that she will be tough, straight to the point, and cutthroat. She was prepared for him to be that. She doesn't know how to deal with a nice Edward. He is disarming.

"That's enough Bella. I understand the choice you are making. If I were you, I would do the same thing. I am sorry for taking so much of your time, but I knew that it would be worth the try. At least, I won't spend the rest of my life wondering if I could have done it." With that said, Edward gets up and walks to the door.

Bella's initial reaction is to tell him to sit down and not leave, but something in her whispers, Let him walk away and see if he does. Bella watches with baited breaths as be walks towards the door. She doesn't understand why it's important for her that he does so. Maybe it's because she wants to be sure that it's real and not him bluffing? Maybe it's because she wants to be sure that he understands that she is entitled to being angry and wanting him out of her life.

Once his hand holds the door handle, she tells him, "Edward, I am not done talking."

Edward tries to hold the smile that's dying to burst onto his face as he walks back to her. There are no guarantees that she will let him see Cece. Maybe she just wants to rub the salt into his self-made wounds.

She keeps a stern look on her face as he looks at her unable to hide his hopeful feelings and informs him, "Cece's happiness is my number one objective. As much as I hate to admit it, having you in her life will make her happier."

A smile bursts on Edward's face and he opens his mouth to thank her, but she raises her hand to stop him and says, "Not so fast, I am not done yet. I have some conditions and stipulations that I need you to agree on before we move forward."

"Anything," he tells her smiling widely.

"Dont get too excited too soon. You don't know what I am about to ask for," she tells him in a wary tone.

"I don't care. I will make it happen," he replies quickly almost tripping over his words in his excitement to reassure her that he is willing to do anything she wants. He never thought that she would say yes. He went into this thinking that she will say no. In a way, the drawn papers aren't insurance for her, they are insurance for him. Their presence in her hands means that be won't be able to sue her. He never thought that she will let him anywhere near Cece.

"First of all, you need to know something," she tells him paying to see the look on his face and his nodding makes her continue, "Marco is still in Cece's life."

She stops to see the expression on Edward's face. Frozen happiness; is the best word she phrase she would use to describe it.

He opens his mouth and closes it multiple times and she decides to have mercy on him by explaining to him exactly how things are, "She doesn't call him dad. She knows he isn't her father, but Marco is a huge part of her life and an important male figure in it. I am never going to take that away from her. She calls him Marco Polo, cause she thinks it's funny. They talk two to three times a week. Whenever she visits Dad, he is there to hang out with both of them, and she spends one weekend with him at his place every two months."

Bella stops to drink from her coffee and to give him time to process what she said, before she continues, "Before I let you into her life, I need you to promise that you will not try to take that away from her in any way, shape, or form."

Edward takes a moment to digest her stipulation. It's not that simple, to know that his daughter regards Marco highly. He was the person that got all of her first. He didn't. A part of him wants to fight her on that. He got to see so much of her and he isn't even her dad, how fair is it that he will get to do that for the rest of their lives?

But then that monster in him remembers that it's not about him, it's about what makes Cece happy, and seeing Marco makes Cece happy. "As long as seeing him will make Cece happy, I will never say a word."

Bella is surprised at his reaction. She expected something different. Not for the first time since Edward has reentered her life, she finds herself asking herself, if this is the same, Edward? Did someone clown him? Is this a cruel April's fool's joke? Will someone out of nowhere jump and tell her, you're punked?

"Is this your only stipulation Bella?" he asks her his voice bursting into her thoughts.

She shakes her head and tells him, "I have two other stipulations," at his encouragement, she continues, "This has to be done at my pace. I know Cece best. I know what she needs and how she reacts to things, and how long does she need to get used to people. We won't tell her that you are her dad from the get go."

He nods his head and tell her, "It goes without saying Bella. You don't need to tell me that. I assumed that was a given."

She nods her head and smiles weakly at him as she tells him, "Good, that's good."

"Okay, what's your last stipulation?" he asks her with a hopeful expression on his face.

Suddenly she swallows finding her throat dry. This is it. This will either make or break their peace. This will tell her if he truly has Cece's best interest at heart, or is here to take her away from her.

This is possibly the last moment of peace between us.

Looking at her coffee too scared to see his face, she tells him, "Before you see Cece, as a precaution, to make sure that she will always be safe, and I will never have to worry that you will try to take her from me, I want to file the termination for your parental rights."

Hello lovely people,

I would like to let you know that I will be posting a new chapter every 30 hours until further notice.

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