Elizabeth Rain Swan || A Paul Lahote Love Story

Chapter 40

We all let out a sigh of relief as Sam wolf whistled to let us know they were home. My nerves died down as I held the baby I'd rescued in my arms. We all got up and walked out to the porch, ignoring the small amount of snow that had somehow stuck to the ground. Paul and Jared were up the steps in seconds, and Quil and Embry were right behind. Claire and Morgan had fallen asleep on the couches, so their imprintees had gone to wake them.

"Babe," Paul started when he realized I was in fact holding a baby and not one of Claire's dolls. "Did something happen in the six hours I was gone?"

"Colin found this beautiful baby boy," I said, bouncing the child slightly as I talked to Paul.

"Sam," Paul whined. "Is this what you said for Lizzie to deal with?"

"Yeah, why?" He asked.

"She's gonna get attached and think we need to keep it," Paul said.

"Too late," I said before quickly ducking into the house.

"What do you mean too late?" Paul asked, following me into the house.

"Paul, he was abandoned by his parents," I said. "We've bonded."

"Over what?"

"Colin found him, and we saved his life," I said. "Besides, if you ask anyone else to hold him he gets fussy."

"Even Em?" Paul asked as the others started to file in.

"Yeah, watch," I said. "Hey, Em. Can you take the baby for a minute so I can talk to Paul alone?"

"Baby isn't going to understand what you're saying, but sure," she said, walking over to take him. Paul and I were barely out of the room when the baby started to cry. We stayed there for a minute, listening to the cries of the kid and laughing slightly.

Sam yelled for us all too soon though. "Liz if you don't get your butt in here and shut this thing up, you will be babysitting my future children for free."

"Coming, Sam," I yelled back before walking back into the kitchen. I took the baby back and cooed to him softly.

"Does he have a name?" Paul asked as he looked at the boy.

"No, because if you name things than you become attached," I said.

"You've gotta take him to Cullen," Sam said. I don't know what happened, but Sam actually said Cullen and not leech. "He's the only doctor who you can take him to."

"Alright," I said. "Call him up."

Sam did, and twenty minutes after the pack returned home, Paul and I were in his truck on our way to the Cullen's house.

I was subjected to the usual round of questioning as I sat in Dr. Cullen's office, holding the boy as he started to fuss. I relayed the facts of what happened to him and he went through the normal routine of looking at a patient.

"It appears to me that you have a fairly healthy two month old boy on your hands. His temperature is a little low, but he did spend quite some time outside today. Also, he's underweight, but with the proper diet he'll start to gain weight very soon," Dr. Cullen explained.

"Thank you for everything, Dr. Cullen," I said, adjusting my hold on the baby to shake his hand.

"Please, call me Carlisle," he said, shaking my hand and then Paul's.

Alice came running into the room just then, and started cooing softly to the baby before she spoke to me. "I need to talk to you in private."

"Paul, can you take the baby out to your truck? I'll be out in a minute," I said. He nodded and took the baby who, for the first time all day, didn't fuss when Paul left the room without me.

"So, you're going to want to go through the pack on this," she said. "His mom abandoned him like you suspect, and his dad is a pack member. You and Paul will get custody. If you go through the regular court system, he will end up in foster care."

"Alright," I said. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she said before I headed out to the truck.

"There's my favorite people," I said, climbing into the truck.

"We were just bonding," he said. Paul handed me the baby before he started the short drive back to La Push.