Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Protecting Maddie

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 03:

BPOV

The ride to Peter’s place was spent in awkward silence. Even Maddie didn’t seem to be full of her usual chatter. She sat in the back of Peters large double cab truck. After driving for 15 minutes it became apparent that Peter did not live within city limits.

“How far away are we?” I asked quietly.

“Uh, about another mile or so. I live on a ranch up the road. Kinda out of the way. I like to keep to myself most of the time.”

Without another word he drove us to a gate. Peter pressed an electronic opener and the large gate spread out granting us access. We drove to the back behind some trees to a large one story house. It had a complete wrap around porch. It was a beautiful ranch style home.

“Wow.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s home I guess.”

We got out and Maddie followed me as I followed Peter inside. The inside was beautiful. I didn’t know what to expect. But it wasn’t this.

“Wow.”

“You like it?” Peter asked. For once he wasn’t giving me his cocky grin. He looked serious. It was kind of sweet. Like he wanted to impress me.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful. I hope…”

“What?”

“I was just thinking I hope to get Maddie a place like this one day. Not as big you know, but something like it.”

“You want this? You can have it?”

I laughed and turned toward him. My laugh died when I saw he was serious.

“Uh, no thanks. I don’t take handouts, no matter how extravagant. I would never be able to deal with Alice if I did. But I appreciate the offer.”

He nodded. I guess he kind of expected it.

“Offer’s always open. Never know when your place might have plumbing problems.” He winked at me and turned to walk in the back.

“Make yourselves at home. I’m gonna pack a bag and then we can get out of here.”

I turned to see Maddie’s reaction only to find her walking out of the kitchen.

“Maddie! Come here! What are you doing?”

“His water is running. Strangely enough though his refrigerator is empty and has nothing in it. His cabinets don’t have any food in them either!” she whispered.

“Maddie, we haven’t been here a minute and you are snooping?” I whispered back.

“Well Mom, I lay down last night and then get up to see who you are talking to and a strange guy who looks like he has the same skin condition Aunt Alice has, is standing in our living room. And this morning you tell me he is going to be here a while with us. What do you expect me to do? What do you know about this guy? Don’t you find it weird that he has no food or drink of any kind in this house?”

“Maddie, mind your own business.”

“Mommy, he is staying with us. Doesn’t it kind of make it your business?”

“Maybe it does but it is not yours. Now stay out of his stuff.” I scolded her. Damn that girl is too smart for her own good. Too observant. I used to be observant. And it got me a scar on my wrist. It did bring me my best friend though. Guess you take the good with the bad. Peter appeared behind me without warning.

“You two ready to hit the road and get this pretty lady’s hair done?”

I jumped. Still not used to vampire movements. Alice always moves nice and slow for me.

“Peter?” Maddie asked.

Please no Maddie. Keep your mouth shut.

“Yes little darling?” I give Peter credit. He tried to charm her as much as he did me. I’m not sure why he bothered with either of us if he was just doing Alice a favor, but I was glad. At least he wasn’t scaring her.

“Can I have something to drink?”

“Uh….” Peter looked at me in a slight panic.

“I’ll take anything you have. Soda, tea, orange juice, you know, whatever a normal person would have in their house.”

“Uh, actually I’m sorry Maddie, when I found out I was staying with ya’ll for a while I emptied my refrigerator.”

“Oh that’s no problem, Peter. Can I have a glass of water?”

“Sure, let me see if I can find a glass.”

“No wait! You said you had plumbing problems. I’m sure the water is not good. Wouldn’t want to catch anything.”

Shit. Why does she have to be like this? Where the hell does she get all these questions from? Where the hell did I? She obviously has AJ’s brains. I guess she kind of had to grow up fast as well.

“Why don’t we go to the Mall? If we get there before your appointment we can grab you a drink and then have dinner in the food court after you have your hair done. Does that sound good baby?”

“Of course Mommy.” Maddie smiled. That smile can’t be good. She isn’t going to let this go. But she will not find out about vampires. Not if I can help it. She won’t figure it out. I mean she is 7 right? She can’t figure this out. Why the hell does she have to be so observant?

Damn Peter’s ass looks good.

STOP IT BELLA!

Vampire! Bad! No relationships with vampires! Bad girl.

No relationships period it seemed.

I miss my husband.

Peter must have noticed my sudden mood change. He nudged my shoulder.

“How you doin there champ?” he whispered, I guess so Maddie wouldn’t hear him.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” Guess Maddie isn’t the only one who is observant.

“Just got a lot on my mind. It happens when your psychic best friend has visions of your impending death.”

“Bella, no one, vampire or human or anything else will harm you or your daughter. They would have to go over my dead body and I don’t die easy.” He said with an intense look that made me believe him.

I don’t understand Peter. Most of the time he is smiling like he doesn’t take a thing in the world seriously. Then he will say something that makes you pause and wonder at his seriousness.

We reached the mall in relative silence. I looked back and saw that Maddie had dozed off on the way to the mall. I opened the back seat door and gently woke her up. She wrapped her arms around me and I picked her up out of the truck. She was small but not as small as she used to be. A little big to be carrying.

“Wake up sweetie.”

“No momma.”

“You want me to carry her Bella?”

Maddie’s head popped up.

“No, I’m good. Let’s go get my hair done.”

Maddie hopped to the ground and led the way. I looked at Peter who seemed a bit disappointed. He shrugged his shoulders and we followed her in.

---

So the trip to the house was sort of a disaster. Bella seemed to really like the place but Nancy Drew’s investigation led to some uncomfortable findings. Skin condition? Like Aunt Alice? What the hell? So I don’t have a tan. Big deal. It’s not like Bella is a model for a tanning salon either. So we don’t like the sun. Kid needs to mind her own business.

Still I had to respect her efforts to protect her mom. She wasn’t gonna be easy to win over. Maybe I should stop kissing her ass and give her back a little of what she is dishing. See if she likes that.

Bella and I followed her to the hair salon. Apparently all the girls on her team have their hair done here because there were several of the little demons running around and all seemed to know Maddie. Bella walked her to the chair and got her settled. A kind of less say less than masculine guy walked up and talked to Bella in some sort of bad fake accent. Poser. Apparently Maddie was going to have several hundred curls placed in her hair. This could take a while.

I decided maybe I should take my bodyguard duties a little more seriously and started checking out the crowd. Not that I expected to find any vampires in the San Antonio Mall but still you never know. There were skylights in some areas of the mall meaning I had to be careful and keep my hands in my pocket and my head down in certain areas. At least on the upper levels.

“What are you doing?” Bella asked me, walking up.

“Just checking things out.”

“Oh. You think a vampire might attack me here.” She grinned.

“You never know. So how long do we have?”

“About thirty minutes. She will have rollers in her hair the rest of the night and I will take them out in the morning.”

“Oh. That’s not so bad. So you want to get some movies or something while we are here. We can stay in and watch TV tonight.”

She smiled at me. I was starting to like that.

“Yeah, I guess that would be nice.”

“Great. We can run and get some as soon as we are done here. I’m sure there is some video store in this joint.”

“So tell me about yourself Peter.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I guess whatever you feel like talking about. How do you know Alice?”

“Jasper turned me into a vampire.”

“Oh. Were you dying?”

“No. I was a soldier in the Confederate States during the Civil War, like Jasper before he was turned. Did he ever tell you about his past?”

“Not really. Alice told me some. I know it involved vampire wars.”

I spent the next thirty minutes telling her everything about me from the time I was turned. I showed her some of my scars on my arms. I got pissed off when I saw the one on her wrist. She told me about high school and her brief fling with Edward fucking Cullen. Alice either didn’t know or wouldn’t say what the Cullens were up too. She got pissed they left Bella and left them. That was her last contact with them. Edward Cullen tried to come to Forks once and make her leave Bella alone. Jasper sent him packing and express mailed his right arm to him a month later. No word from the Cullens since then. Bella had no idea that happened and got a good laugh out of it. I wasn’t sure if I should have told her but it was worth it to hear her laugh.

Before we knew it Maddie was pulling on Bella’s sleeve.

“My, my, don’t you look pretty.”

“Thank you Peter.” She smiled.

“Let’s go get something to eat Maddie.” Bella said walking towards the food court. I looked at Maddie and whispered.

“I was just kidding. You look like a freak with those rollers in your hair. Like one of those old ladies from a 1970s sitcom.”

The look on her face was priceless. Yeah I can give it too, kid.

“Mom can we go to the wax museum after this?”

“I don’t think we will have time sweetie.”

“Oh that’s too bad. I like the pale freaky looking statues. They kind of remind me of someone.” She replied looking at me and grinning.

Bella turned and glanced at her. I think she caught that dig. Better be a little sneakier Maddie. Momma’s gonna catch on to your game. Can’t have her finding out you’re not the sweet angel you play at.

We followed Bella while I tried not to stare at her ass in those jeans. I wasn’t an ass man but she was quickly turning into one. Step by step.

“Looking at something there cowboy?” I heard the little devil ask from the ground.

“Just following your mother kid. Does it hurt to have your hair wrapped so tight around those plastic things?”

“Yeah a little.”

‘Good.” I smiled down at her tiny evil self.

We sat at a table and Bella decided she would go get food for Maddie. That left the two of us alone. Staring at each other.

My nemesis.

“Bella, how are you? I have been wanting to talk to you. I have some questions about Bridget’s makeup for tomorrow.”

I turned to see some blonde clean cut pussified looking guy around his mid thirties talking to my woman at the Chik Fil A stand. Maddie sighed. I looked at her.

“Who is that?”

“Brandon.” Maddie did not look impressed.

“And who is Brandon?”

“He’s a lawyer. He’s also a single dad. His wife left him a few years ago, probably from boredom and she left their daughter with him. Her name is Bridget and she is on my cheer team.”

“You don’t like him.” I told her. It wasn’t a question. I was well aware of her not liking someone.

She sighed again. “He’s okay. It’s just he’s always up in Mom’s grill. Bridget told me once how cool it would be if we were sisters. I don’t like Bridget. I mean she’s not horrible. But she is very vain. You know what I mean? Her Dad is like a lawyer or doctor or something. He has asked Mom out a few times and she always turns him down. But every time I turn around he is up in her face. He can’t take a clue.”

I already knew Maddie was observant. I didn’t realize how observant. And I was relieved that Bella turned this guy down already. But still he didn’t seem to be giving up. I hope he is a lawyer. That falls in my personal code of people I can eat. Still he does have a daughter. Dammit.

“You sure do know a lot about your Mom’s life for a 7 year old.”

“Of course. She’s all I got.” Damn, Maddie looked genuinely sad.

“What do you mean? You have all kinds of family don’t you?”

“Yeah, I mean I have my grandparents and Aunt Alice and Angela is cool. But they don’t understand.”

“Understand what?”

“What it’s like to live without Dad. I was only three but I remember him. I remember how he used to tickle me in the morning to wake me up. I remember talking to him on the computer. I remember Mom crying and telling me he wasn’t coming home. I remember it. And I don’t want a dad. I want my Dad. And he isn’t coming back. So yeah, Mom is everything to me.”

Okay.

Damn.

Okay.

Bella finally walked over, having blown off the clean cut yuppie asshole.

“Sorry about that. Brandon had some questions about Bridget’s makeup. I told him I would help him in the morning.”

“Doesn’t he have trouble every competition Mom? You think after two years he would figure it out.”

“Maddie you know he is doing this on his own. Give him a break.”

Maddie rolled her eyes and started in on her chicken nuggets.

Bella looked up and smiled at me.

“You two been having fun?”

“Yeah, great time.”

“So what kind of movies do you like?”

“I want to see to see Brave Mom.”

“Uh okay. Well Peter gets a say too Maddie.”

“Brave sounds great Bella.” I said giving her a grin.

“Do you even know what it is Peter?” Maddie asked glaring at me. I guess the bitch is back.

“Yes, it’s a movie about a princess from Scotland.” I replied glaring right back.

“Oh, you’ve seen it?” Bella asked surprised.

“I have a lot of time on my hands. I watch a lot of movies.” I smiled. She would get it.

“Oh that’s right Peter. I almost forgot you were unemployed.”

“Maddie!”

“It’s okay Mom. We had this talk already. Peter told me all about what he does. He is an unemployed body guard. Maybe he could get a job at the Mall! Don’t they hire those guys with badges who walk around in the funny hats?”

“Don’t worry about me Maddie? I do alright for myself.”

“You say so.” Maddie replied rolling her eyes.

Bella had her head in her hands.

“I’m so sorry Peter. I don’t know what has gotten into her today? But she will stop it, won’t you Maddie?”

“I guess Mommy. I don’t know why it was wrong to point out that Peter is unemployed. But I won’t mention it again. I promise. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad Peter.” She gave me the saddest look.

This little girl was good.

I smiled at Bella. “It’s really not a problem Maddie. And I appreciate you suggesting a job I could apply for. But I think I will keep my present occupation.”

We drove home in relative Maddie silence. It was nice. Bella and I made small talk. We talked about the city. We talked about other places I have lived. She told me about Forks and all the rain there. Sounded depressing. What’s the point in going out during the day if you were just going to look at rain? Oh yeah, to go to high school over and over again. Fun. At least Jasper and Alice don’t do that crap anymore. I can’t believe the crap they let the Cullens put them through. I mean I get the whole animal eating thing. I’ve thought it over myself before. But still, high school?

We reached Bella’s door and I could smell it before we even walked in. I held her back and gave her a look she understood immediately. She picked up Maddie and stood back. Maddie didn’t say a word. I wondered if she sensed something was wrong. I took her key and opened the door. The smell was strong but they weren’t here. I ran to her bedroom and saw the window open. There had definitely been two of them. We were on the seventh floor so they scaled in the middle of the city, admittedly at night. They wanted in. But why? I walked into the hallway and nodded. Bella walked in and sat Maddie on her feet but held her close. Bella was scared. Maddie looked nervous and was looking all over the place. Damn it.

I walked up to Bella and whispered lowly in her ear a large part of me enjoying her scent.

“I need to call Jasper. Don’t worry. You are safe. You will both always be safe with me.”

Bella nodded.

“I uh, I need to go to the bathroom.”

I heard her run down the hallway and close the door. It sounded like she made it to the toilet before she vomited. I felt a small hand pulling at my shirt.

“Peter?” Maddie whispered.

I looked down at her. She looked like a scared little girl. It broke my heart. I would rather see bitch Maddie than scared Maddie any day.

“Yeah sweetheart?”

“You’re here to protect my Mommy aren’t you?”

No point in lying. I got one a knee and looked her in the eye.

“I’m here to protect the both of you sweetheart. And nothing is going to hurt either of you while I am around. I won’t let that happen.”