what a woman! i.

cinquante quatre

April 5th

Tatum was shocked. Somehow, she had missed all the action. 

She was there for Alice's vision and Bella's disappearance. She knew Bella wasn't the smartest, but she didn't realize she was that stupid. She was handed off to Esme and the two headed home. Jasper was given the horrible task of making her want to leave. So, he made her feel unsafe. It broke his heart when he saw the fear in her eyes. 

"Tatum, dear, why don't we go home?" Esme offered, pulling Tatum towards her in a side hug. The human nodded and said goodbye to the family. The six remaining members watched as Esme drove off.

"Jasper, I'm sorry but it had to be done," Carlisle says, placing his hand on the taller boy's shoulder.

"I couldn't let her stay here," Jasper says. "It'll be okay once we're back."

Then they went off to save Bella. 

●○●

Jasper and Emmett had teamed up to take down James as Carlisle and Edward 'saved' Bella. Alice couldn't take the blood and decided to take a breather. Jasper now stood, watching James' body burn in a pile of limbs. 

"Has Tatum texted you yet?" Emmett suddenly asks, his eyes still trained on the building fire. Jasper grabs his phone from his pocket and checks it. He nods and looks through the text messages she had sent him. It had been about a few hours and she was just telling him where they were. 

"They're just entering Nevada and Esme's telling her embarrassing stories of us," Jasper cringes, sending her a quick 'be safe' message and putting his phone away. "I have a feeling she might be staying over tomorrow. They still have about twenty hours left. We'll beat them home."

"I don't know why we didn't take a plane," Rosalie says, walking up to her husband.

"Where's Edward and Carlisle?" Emmett asks.

"On their way to the hospital, they're making up a story on the way," Rosalie says, looking at the "flames. "You can't tell her about the burning body, Jasper. She'll be horrified."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Now, we just have to make sure Bella doesn't tell her about it," Emmett says.

"But if we tell her not to say anything, she'll definitely tell," Rosalie grunts. "Why can't she be as...understanding as Tatum. At least she knows when to back off and when to raise hell."

Everyone's attention turned to Jasper's butt when his phone started ringing. They swarmed around the phone and saw a picture of Tatum as his back screen. Rosalie and Emmett smirked up at Jasper and he swatted away their faces from the phone. 

"It's her dad?" Jasper asked more than stated. "Why's he calling me?"

"Answer it!" Rosalie says, grabbing his phone and clicking the green 'answer' button.

"Hello?" Jasper asks, putting the phone to her ear.

"Why in hell's name is she on her way back home with your mother and you're still in Phoenix?" 

"She didn't feel comfortable and I wanted to make sure she was safe, I had to stay here for my dad."

"Let me talk to him."

"He's not here, but my sister and brother are."

"Why isn't he there?"

"Edward had an accident and is at the hospital, my dad's with him."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just...tell her that she needs to come home right away."

"Yes, sir. Have a nice night."

"You too, Jasper."

●○●

Mr. Fernsby hung up his home phone and sat in the kitchen, looking at the will on the counter. He sat down in the chair with a groan and grabbed it. On the top, it held her handwritten name. Mr. Fernsby traces her letters with his chubby finger. Bailey Lou Fernsby. 

She had hated her middle name. She thought it sounded too "odd". Her dad had never told her that it was actually his dad's name. She never got to meet her grandpa, he had died when Mrs. Fernsby was pregnant with Bailey. 

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey. She was always the attention seeker. Always, always, always. She could never go a single day without getting upset. Mr. Fernsby knew it was horrible to think that, but he was honestly scared of his eldest daughter. He was a parent, but he was also scared. 

He kept looking at her will, reading everything. The family had decided to write their wills when Bailey had gotten pregnant. They did a lot of things. Put the girls on birth control, got guardianship clarified, started an emergency bank deposit, wrote wills, had emergency phones, and many other things. He just wanted his family to be prepared. 

Looking down Bailey's will, he noticed something odd. He had been with her when she had written it, he was 100% positive that he and his wife should have guardianship over their grandson. Now that he is reading is after her death, it stated that Tatum was the rightful guardian of Avery. 

"What in hell's name?" 

●○●