Protecting Maddie
By BetterInTexas
Chapter 37:
So we were back at the Casa. Jasper and Alice had confirmed what Maddie learned on the ship. The Volturi were screwed. The castle was destroyed. The Romanians had them running to the bottom of the earth. Now with no boat and no food, it wasn’t looking to well for them. They had a long swim ahead of them and that is after finding Aro’s body parts at the bottom of the sea.
Bella stormed into the house, door slamming behind her without her physically touching it. She thinks she is so cool. Right now she is not happy.
“Problem darlin?” I asked putting down the rancher’s quarterly I had been enjoying reading.
“She won’t let me do anything. She brings a baby home. She reads a few books in a minute and now she is an expert.”
“Maybe she just wants to do this on her own.”
“Apparently. All that we are a team, Mom, crap was a bunch of bullshit.”
Maddie had quite taken to the little girl she now called Adriana. I don’t think she was trying to be rude to Bella. She was just taking responsibility for her. Bella thinks Maddie is still a baby and incapable of taking care of herself, much less another baby.
“She did raid an air craft carrier full of vampires and kill one half of the witch twins and all the Volturi on board. Maybe you should cut her some slack. She did good Bella. She took responsibility for that baby. It would have been easy to leave the kid with one of the humans.”
“Yeah and why? Why didn’t she do that? How stupid…”
“Bella come on…”
“She is still a damn newborn!”
“She isn’t acting like one.”
Truth be told I agreed with Maddie’s reasoning. If the Volturi already picked up on this kid, an orphanage or adoptive family wouldn’t be able to protect her the way we could. The way she and Alexander could.
“Why do you take her side all the time?” Bella was getting frustrated.
“Why won’t you?”
“I do! All the time!”
“No, you take her side when she is doing whatever you want her too. When she isn’t, you bitch that she isn’t doing what you want. She won’t leave you Bella. But you need to let her grow up to be like you.”
“Peter, you will never understand.”
Okay, now I was getting pissed off.
“Your right, Bella. I guess I never will understand what the hell goes through your head. I guess I missed 4 years of nightmares and holding her. Only 11 years since isn’t near enough to catch me up to the point that I understand. But if you way is so right why did the nightmares never stop? Because you let her feel weak!”
“Fuck you Peter!”
I got up to walk next door.
“Where are you going?” She asked.
I turned and smiled. “I guess I’m going to check and see how my daughter and grandkid are doing.”
Without another word I walked out leaving Bella stewing in her own pot of pissed off.
I walked into the house next door. Bella had insisted that Maddie’s house be between Alice and Jasper and ours.
I saw Maddie covered in what looked and smelt like spit up and formula holding Adriana.
She smiled when she saw me.
“Hey kid.” I walked up and hugged her gently, making sure to keep my shirt away from her. I didn’t want that crap on me.
“Oh thank God. She has a dirty diaper and is a mess. Could you hold her while I get a clean diaper? Alexander is in San Antonio buying her… things.”
Oh shit. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea. I haven’t fed or anything lately.”
“You fed as soon as we got back. Stop being a wimp and hold the baby.”
Before I had a chance to come up with another excuse I found the foul smelling creature in my arms. She smiled at me. I guess I can deal with the smell okay. She was going to have jet black hair. She already had the most beautiful deep blue eyes. Now she was blowing bubbles. I hope that’s not bad. Maddie came in a bit slowly if you ask me. She must have been enjoying my discomfort. She took a picture of the two of us.
“Maddie, could you change her already?”
“Yes, let me have her. I have to do this slow. Make sure I don’t lose control with my touch or anything. It may take me a bit. Have a seat.”
I sat as instructed.
“So how come you won’t let your Momma help?”
Maddie never stopped but I saw her shoulders slump.
“She played with Adriana.” She whispered.
“Yeah…”
“Then proceeded to try to mix her bottle warm it and feed her. I got no problem with that eventually but Peter I took her. I decided to make her my responsibility. That baby’s parents are dead. She belongs to me now. I won’t let her or her parents down. I’m not letting Mom do this for me.”
“She may want to do it with you, not for you.”
“I’m being possessive, aren’t I? But you know how Mom can get. She can kind of take over things.”
“Maybe you just have to make sure she doesn’t. But you should still let her feel like she is involved a little. You know your Momma will do anything for you. She only wants you happy.”
The baby started crying. Uh oh.
“What happened? Did you break her?” This was not good. Bella would never let either of us live it down.
“No.” Maddie laughed. “She didn’t get to finish her bottle and is still a little hungry.”
Maddie placed the bottle in her mouth and shut the kid up. She kind of fed like a vampire. Bite and drink.
“I will do better Peter. I just… these books don’t tell you everything. I mean I got the basics but… it’s different. It’s real.”
“You regret it?”
“Nope.” She answered without hesitation.
“Didn’t you figure you did. Now if only you had a person who has gone through this who you could ask basic questions of without getting defensive. A person you trust not to try to take your baby away from you. Who could we find like that?”
Maddie grinned. “Is she super pissed at me?”
“Frustrated is more like it. You attacked that ship without waiting for Alexander.”
“There were children on board.”
“Children had been aboard. They wouldn’t have been hurt in the next ten minutes. But if Alexander had arrived he would have wiped them out easily. There was no hurry. You could have waited. No, going after that ship was your plan from the start. You never intended to wait. You were going to be the one to save those people by yourself.”
She finished changing Maddie and placed the dirty diaper in some sort of tube thing. It may have killed the smell for humans but not for us so much.
Without looking at me she asked the question that had worried her. She knew her Mom was upset. She didn’t know about me.
“Are you pissed at me?”
“No. I’m proud as hell of you. Your Mom is too whether she wants to admit it or not.”
She turned to look at me finally. A clean baby curled up in a blanket in her arms.
“You’re proud of me?”
“You needed to do that. You needed to stand on your own. Without us there protecting you. You did exactly what I expected you to do. So yeah. I’m damn proud of you.”
“Thanks Peter.” She whispered.
Alec walked in about that time with a smiling Alice carrying something large and gold.
“What the hell is that?”
“This is Adriana’s bed.” Alex smiled. Alice was right behind him with numerous bags.
“You got her a gold colored bed?”
“Of course not. I got her a gold bed.” He responded smiling bigger.
“He has such good taste Peter. We had so much fun!” Alice was in Heaven.
“Alexander she did not need a golden baby bed!”
“Why not? I lay in a golden bed when I was born.”
“Take it back! I told you I wanted you to pick up one made of Oak. Not Gold. Oak.”
“But darling. Look how it shines. She will love the gleam.”
“When she starts teething she is going to be chewing on the side of the bed. Do you want to be the one who explains to her later that she has no teeth because you got her a gold bed?”
“Can’t we use it until she starts teething?”
“That will be soon, Alexander. She is already starting to crawl around.”
“Are they supposed to move so soon?” I asked.
“Yes. She is eight months old. Not an infant. If you two want to help, start baby proofing the house so she can crawl around.”
“I’m sorry. Did you say baby proofing the house? Why make the house impervious to attacks from babies? Especially considering one is already here.” Alex asked. This is gonna take some work.
“You have to make… never mind. Alice can you show him?”
“On it Maddie. But first we have to decorate Adriana’s room.”
“I decorated her room.”
“Yeah, about that… nevermind. Just let me do my thing and if you don’t like it we can put it back to the way… you had it.”
“Alice…”
“Pick your battles Maddie. Pick your battles.” I whispered to her.
With a deep sigh she walked out heading to my house. I made to follow but decided to go visit Jasper. The two ladies in my life, three now I guess, needed to have a talk.
BPOV
Ungrateful brat. Impulsive, reckless, idiot child. Why the hell did I work so hard to keep her safe for AJ for her to act so damn stupid?
“Hey Mom.”
Damn. She snuck up on me. She has gotten quiet.
“Maddie.”
“Can we talk?”
“You can always talk to me baby.”
Maddie sat in the chair in front of mine. Adriana was feeding from her bottle.
“Mom, you know I love you more than anyone on earth right?”
I sighed. This sounded like she was breaking up with me for some reason. I had to laugh a little at the analogy. This must be where she tells me it’s not me, it’s her and she thinks we should just be friends.
“Of course Baby.”
“I don’t want you not to be involved in this. But I want to do this.”
“You are doing it.” I pointed out.
“You told me once that Edward Cullen, when you two were a high school item, treated you like a delicate glass and he was afraid to let you do anything on your own right?”
Shit. Why did I tell her about that?
“Yes.”
“And one of the reasons you loved Dad so much and Peter is because they don’t try to protect you from everything and treat you like you are capable and strong, right?”
“Yes.” I admitted with a sigh.
“Mom you have treated me like breakable glass my whole life.”
“Now wait just a…”
“Wait. Please? Let me talk.”
I nodded my head. I felt like crying.
“I have loved that you treated me like that for most of my life. It made me feel safe. I knew no matter what I did, I had you watching my back and you wouldn’t let me get hurt. But now, I don’t know. Maybe I don’t want to rely on you to feel safe anymore…”
“You have Alexander now right? He makes you feel safe?” Yep. Let’s be friends Mom.
“No. I don’t want to feel safe now. I want to feel alive. I want to rely on myself. You know what Alexander told me when I was on that bridge? He congratulated me on remembering to keep the flames down and not allow a fire to start. He didn’t yell at me for rushing in.”
“He should have.”
“Why? You have known me literally my entire life. Why can he see that I am not helpless but you can’t.”
“I know you aren’t helpless Maddie. Is this about warming the damn bottle? Because believe me I won’t.”
“No Mom. I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I just, I’m scared.”
“Baby, I can raise her.” Finally she has some sense.
“No Mom. That’s exactly what I am scared of. I want to do this. I need you to support me. Not do it for me. For once I need you to stay behind me and help me instead of staying in front of me and protecting me. Please Mom. Please do this for me. I want you involved. You have to swear not to take over. I need to do this Mom. I want to do this.”
Shit. She is a baby herself. Right? She hasn’t turned 19 yet.
I did it when I was 18. Damn it Peter.
“Do you think I am weaker than you were when you were my age?”
“No!”
“Then why don’t you trust me? You love me. I know you love me and you know I love you. I can’t live without you. But I need you to trust me.”
I stared at her for a few minutes. Neither of us saying a word. There she was. My baby sitting with a baby. Honestly I never thought I would see it. I never thought I would see the day she grew up. I once thought that I would get to keep my baby forever when she turned. I was wrong.
I get to keep my daughter forever. Not my baby. She grew up over her honeymoon. It had nothing to do with sex either. It had to do with a goddamn aircraft carrier. She went in and saved those people. She would have killed the other three Denalis if Alexander had not gotten their first. She did it not because she loved killing. She did it because it had to be done. She grew up in that ship.
“I can’t promise never to be overbearing. This won’t be easy for me. But I will try. I really will try Maddie. I have your back. But I don’t want to be called Grandma.”
She smiled her gorgeous smile. Her eyes lit up when she smiled. I lived for that.
“Too bad. Unless you prefer Nana?”
Shit.
“I guess I will stick with Grandma.”
She reached over and hugged me gently, the baby between us. “I love you Mom.”
“I love you too, Maddie.”
We sat back and she placed the baby on the floor.
‘What are you doing?” I asked before I could stop myself.
She grinned at me. “Eight months. Babies need to develop their muscles. Soon she will be able to pull herself up on furniture.”
“Why don’t we take her home to do that? Peter has been stomping through in his boots for the past day. There is probably horse shit buried in the floor.”
“Fine. I do actually need your help with something.”
“Anything.”
“I decorated her room but Alice has taken it on herself to redecorate it. Could you make sure that she doesn’t go overboard? You always know how to handle her.”
I had to laugh. She should have seen this coming. “Yeah, I think I can handle that. What theme are you using?”
“I wanted Noah’s Ark. It seemed appropriate Also they both are going to need help baby proofing the house. Alexander doesn’t seem to get the concept.”
“How is he doing? With all this?”
“Well he seems very happy. He is always so happy it’s hard to tell but he has been holding Adriana and telling her bed time stories. He even changed a diaper last night.”
“So no problems?”
“Well he just bought a solid gold bed. I had to stop him from placing an ad on Craigslist for Servants/Attendants. Apparently he had ten as a child and his son had 20. He was a bit spoiled. It’s a miracle he grew up to be the warrior he is. The baby has cut down on his plan to keep me in the bedroom for the next decade. Other than that he has been really good. He is trying. The bed time stories he tells are a bit nightmare inducing for a baby, but thankfully as long as I can stop him from telling them when she is two, I am hoping to avoid nightmares.”
“That bad?”
‘”All his stories end with him standing on a battlefield covered in blood and soaking in the victory while gazing at the slaughtered army he had just defeated. Not exactly Mother Goose. Tonight we may enter Egypt. If she can stay up that long tonight.”
“We better start baby proofing and Alice proofing the house. Let’s go.”
“Thank you Mom.”
“Anything for you Maddie.”
My little girl was growing up. Now I had to let her. Something told me this was going to be tougher than bloodlust.
Four months later
We were celebrating Adriana’s first birthday. Jasper found her records finally online so we knew the exact date. Her parents were killed in a car wreck. The car flew off a bridge and the baby was believed to be missing in the water and had been declared dead. No other family was alive so no one looked into the case or the search for the baby to closely. This occurred in Serbia. We were all she had. But she had Maddie and Alexander, who I admit had grown into spectacular parents. I was a phenomenal grandmother. Peter was enjoying himself too much. He wanted to sign her up for horse riding lessons. I had to remind him that she was one. He bought her the cutest little pink cowgirl hat. We made her a cake with sugar free icing which she got all over us, her face and the golden high chair Alexander insisted on as a compromise for getting rid of the golden bed. At least the seat was cushioned.
We were sitting patiently as Adriana tore open her gift wrapping with Maddie’s help. She was way more interested in the paper than in what was inside. We were having fun. Life was good.
I should have been expecting the call.
I looked down and didn’t recognize the number. Washington area code.
“Hello?”
“Bella?”
“Speaking. Who is this?”
“This is Jacob Black.”
“What’s wrong Jacob?”
“Everything.”
“Is Charlie okay?”
“Yeah he is fine. Bella they took our imprints and kids!”
“Whoa there Jake. Who took your kids?”
“Vampires from Romania. The Cullens sold us out. They told us that we had to help finish some Italian vampires and fight for them if we wanted to save our women and children. They distracted us. They attacked us from the front. There were so many. They retreated even thought they had us. We ran back to La Push to regroup. The wolf we left to protect the imprints and our children, was knocked out. They… they were gone. We got a phone call from a guy with a thick accent telling us to be in Seattle and prepared to go to Antarctica or they all died.”
I looked around the room and saw everyone was standing completely still listening except Adriana who was playing with her wrapping paper and licking the icing on her fingers.
“Jake do you know where they are holding your children?”
“Yeah. The asshole called after they did and said our children would be completely safe so long as we did what the vampires asked.”
“What asshole Jacob?”
“Carlisle Cullen.”
Peter just got very angry.
“Do you know where they are being held?”
“He said they would be returned home after the battle but if we came near the Cullen Mansion he would be forced to kill them. At least the wives.”
Carlisle Cullen. The fucking Cullen Mansion. The glass house. Would they do it? I would have said no in the past, but Carlisle sold Garrett out to protect his families asses.
“Jake stay by the phone. I will call you back in 2 minutes.”
“Okay.”
I ended the call and looked at my family.
“What about it guys?
“It can’t be avoided.” Alexander spoke up.
“What can’t be avoided?” Jasper asked with a strange look. Something told me he already knew the answer. We all did.
“We will have to police the vampire world. Neither side can handle it. They have to be destroyed.”
Silence. I looked at my family. We never wanted this. We could wish them luck and tell them to fight well and do as the Romanians told them too.
No. We can’t. That has never been an option for us.
I took a deep breath.
“What is the plan?” Alexander spoke up
“We need Garrett and Charlotte. Garrett will need to fight with us. There may be two hundred vampires there and who knows how many werewolves. We have the power on our side. But we certainly don’t have the numbers. I can take one hundred myself but the rest of you will be attacked while I am doing it. I am only so fast. Peter and Jasper can take the others. Maddie can blind, paralyze and take the senses away from as many as possible, making it easier. The Wolves of La Push will help us. It is doable. But once they are dead it will be our responsibility.”
“It seems everything is.” I said quietly.
“Why would the Wolves help us with their families threatened? Where is Bella going to be?” Peter asked.
“Easy Peter. The Wolves will help us because their family will be safe. I will text you when they are nad all of you can attack.”
“You mean?”
“Yep. I’m going back to where it all started. This time I am finishing what I should have done a long time ago. I’m going to kill the Cullens.”
Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction 
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