Chapter 1:

Jobless

I tried to brush away the tears before my little Kailee could see them. She was already put under so much pressure, pressure a six-year-old girl should never have to carry, and I knew that whenever she saw my tears, it only made it worse for her. She was so much stronger than me, my little Kailee.

But the tears I was crying weren't without reason. Because I'd lost it. Again.

My fifth interview in two weeks for a job, and I got the same answers I've been hearing since I was a seventeen year old mother with a newborn baby girl.

"I'm sorry; all the positions have been filled."

"You're just not what we're looking for."

"If only you had come in sooner."

And today's; my favorite: "A twenty-two year old mother isn't the best for our campaign. What kind of message will that send to young people?"

I sighed and sniffed, running a tissue under my nose as I turned the steering wheel and parked in the driveway in front of Kailee's cheap daycare center. Taking a deep breath, I shut off the engine and tucked a stray piece of hair back behind my ear, which looked like a mess piled on top of my head, held in by my most expensive belongings; topaz encrusted pins. My only nice pair of pantyhose had runs in them up the thigh and the business suit I was wearing was at least a decade old that I'd purchased from a consignment shop for less than five dollars.

I glanced in the rearview mirror of my clunker and swiped away the inexpensive mascara that had started to run a little with my tears.

"Hold you head up, Bella," I told the reflection of my disheartened eyes, which peered back at me with hopelessness.

When I looked back out the scratched windshield of my old vehicle, I saw Kailee's beautiful face beaming at me from behind a wide expanse of dirty glass that was the front window of the house.

I smiled back at her and waved, gathering my things and stepping out of the car. The door creaked as I shut it and I tried not to let the sound add to my worries and dismay as I walked away from it and to the front doors of Black's Daycare Service.

I opened the creaky door of the building and stepped over the threshold. As soon as both of my scruffy, high-heeled feet were in, a pair of pale, thin arms wrapped around my thighs and I looked down to see my little girl hugging me enthusiastically.

"Hi, Momma!" she cried happily as she looked up. I was glad that Kailee didn't look like her father. He'd been my boyfriend, the love of my life, back in high school, but when I called him and told him…about how we had conceived a child…he broke up with me. Never heard a word from him again. I've harbored anger at his indignation and cowardly actions for years and I never asked for child support money from him. Though it would have come in handy sometimes, I wanted to raise Kailee without help from blonde-haired, blue-eyed Mike Newton.

Kailee had her father's big, bright blue eyes, but her hair was as dark as mine and even had the crazy, wavy personality that my hair had been born with. Her lips had my imperfect curve; the bottom lip too full for the top. Her cheeks were round on her cherubic, heart-shaped face, and to me, she was the most beautiful person in the world. I loved her more than life, more than money…more than anything.

"Hey baby, have a good day?" I asked, my voice bright with false cheer as I pried her gently away from my legs and picked her up from under her armpits. I rested her weight on my hip and held onto her tightly.

"Aunt Nessie let me use her art pencils to make you a picture!" she exclaimed, eyes blissful. Though the dreary layer of defeat at losing another shot at a job settled over me heavily, it was easy to shed the weight for a few joyful moments with my little girl looking at me like that.

"Her good art pencils?" I asked, unable to hide my smile. The reason Kailee's daycare was so inexpensive (free) was because my sister, Renesmee, ran it with her part time mechanic husband, Jacob Black. Nessie was two years younger than me and married, and she was an incredible artist, but our parents had never disowned her for teenage pregnancy. She was the only connection I had back to Charlie and Renee, a chief of police and a kindergarten teacher, who seldom even called on mine or Kailee's birthdays.

Kailee nodded ardently. "Yeah! And I made a picture for you!" She started kicking her feet, her signal she always sent me when she wanted me to put her down. I smiled knowingly and slid her down my hip, placing her feet on the floor firmly before I let go. She grabbed my three central fingers in her little grasp tightly and tugged me down the hall. "Come on, Momma!"

A few other children darted in front of Kailee, playing tag and screaming gleefully, giggling as they scribbled on the paper-covered walls with an assortment of crayons. My daughter led me bravely through the mayhem, shouting responses at the little boys and girls that called her name out. I knew some of the kids; for a little extra money, I sometimes helped Nessie run the daycare, and Kailee wasn't the only regular child to attend here.

"Aunt Nessie! Momma's baaaaaack!" Kailee cried as we emerged into the kitchen. Nessie was seated on the floor of the living room—openly connected to the small kitchen—reading to the six or seven kids squished onto a tacky blue-green sofa. All of the children jerked their gazes away from Nessie at Kailee's declaration and my sister twisted her head around to smile at me.

"Hey, Bells," she greeted me warmly. Nessie was, to our parents, the perfect child of the family. She was born with naturally straight white teeth where I'd cost my parents five thousand dollars for braces in my freshman year of high school. She married before having sex, where I'd gotten carried away just once with my one-month boyfriend. She chose a profession that Renee and Charlie adored—art and babysitting—where I was still struggling to find my place in this world, with the added weight of another stomach to worry about on my shoulders. She had a husband who could support her, where I relied all on me, myself, and I. She was beautiful where I was the essence of complete and ordinary average-ness.

"Hey, Ness," I responded with a smile. Even though the rest of my family never kept contact, Nessie and Jacob were two solid people that I could count on, trust, and talk to whenever I needed. Charlie and Renee hadn't been my parents in six years; my sister, her husband, and my little girl were the only three people I considered my family out of all my relatives.

She turned back to the little kids and picked up reading some children's book where she'd left off. Kailee dragged me to the kitchen table—smeared with handprints and splashes of marker colors—where a single picture rested on the wooden top.

"Oh, Kails…you drew this?" I said softly as I slid my finger down the colorful paper.

Kailee nodded confidently. "Yep, Momma."

The picture was the typical little girl drawings you saw in the movies, you know, the ones with the mother holding the daughter's hand, except that Kailee had written—in her own, developing handwriting—"My momma's my best friend because she makes sure that I'm safe all the time".

I felt tears forming in my eyes and I tried blinking them away quickly, but Kailee's eyes were sharp, and she caught them.

"Why are you crying, Momma? Are you sad again?" she asked, her voice desperate as her wide eyes stared up into mine. My little girl knew more grief than she should. With no father and a jobless mother…I prayed to God every night that her life would be better than mine.

I smiled at her as a drop of water escaped and rolled down my cheek. I sat on the pulled out chair and hefted her onto my lap. "No, baby, I'm not sad. I love your picture."

She eyed me hesitantly, but nodded. "You'll hang it on the fridge when we get home?"

I laughed and Eskimo kissed her nose with mine. "Of course!"

She giggled and started to swing her legs again. "I'mma go get my coat."

I shook my head. "I wanted to talk to Aunt Nessie for a little while. You go ahead and play with Caleb and Shayla."

Kailee grinned. "Okay!"

I smiled as I set her back on her feet and watched her take off, running back down the hallway she'd first towed me down, until she was gone from my sight. Then I sighed, propped my elbows on the loved table and cradled my head in my hands.

"That was our project for today."

I looked up from my position to see Nessie sitting down in the chair next to mine, the little ones that had been on the couch rummaging through bins of toys.

"Huh?" I asked, confused, my voice dreary.

She gestured to the picture Kailee had drawn. "We were drawing pictures of our best friends and why they were our best friends. Kailee is much more mature than the other's her age."

I sighed again and dropped my eyes to stare at the messy marker scrawls on the table. "You say that every day."

"It's true, sis. Um…how'd the interview go?" she asked kindly, scooting her chair in closer to mine as she folded her legs in under her.

I bit my lip and looked back up, hoping the tears could wait until tonight when I was alone in my bed and Kailee was fast asleep. I had to be strong now. "No good. They told me that single mothers my age would send a bad message to other young people."

Nessie snorted and reached out to take my limp hand. "They're just jealous, Bella."

I looked into my sister's eyes. "I wished that that was my only problem, Nessie, but it's not."

"Are you falling behind on your payments again? Jake and I can—"

"No, Renesmee, I will not take any more money from you," I cut her off, yanking my hand away.

She frowned. "We don't want you to get into any trouble, Bella."

"Too late," I muttered.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I got another eviction notice today from the landlords," I told her, swallowing the thick emotion in my throat. Just another thing that had put me under too much pressure today.

Nessie groaned and rubbed her face with her hands as the happy screams of toddlers continued to surround us. "Bella…why didn't you tell us you weren't getting your rent paid?"

"I didn't want to have to refuse your money," I snapped lifelessly as she took my hand again.

"Why won't you take it, then, if you're getting so sick of saying no?" she demanded, then her voice grew soft and sad. "Bella, you've lost so much already…I don't want to see you lose Kailee too."

"I won't let that happen," I said, my throat constricting even more at the mere thought. I was nothing without my daughter. If it weren't for her, I would have given up by now, been living on the streets. But she kept me going. If Child Services were to ever tear her from me, not only would there be hell to pay, but I would literally lose all meaning of my life. Nothing was more important than Kailee.

"Yeah, well, it's gonna happen if you don't—"

"Aunt Nessie!" Kailee cried from a room over. "Someone's at the doooooor!"

Nessie sighed and unfolded her legs, standing up. "It's pickup time. But we will talk about this when the kids are gone."

I nodded morosely and went back to cradling my head in my hands. I somehow kept the tears from falling in my ten minutes of silent, hopeless solitude before I felt the familiar touch of my daughter's hand on my leg.

"Momma?" she said quietly.

I lifted my head up and smiled tightly at Kailee. "Yeah, baby?"

"Did you get your job today?"

I hesitated, unsure of how to tell my baby girl that we'd be struggling and striving to live off of scraps of money for another couple weeks since I didn't have a steady income. Her face expectantly and intensely peered into mine as I fumbled in my mind for a way to tell her the bad news.

"Kailee, sometimes things don't work out," I said slowly and deliberately, thinking the words individually before letting them roll off my tongue.

Her eyes started to mist up and my gut twisted with guilt, shame, and agony. "It works for Shayla's momma. It works for Aunt Nessie and Uncle Jake all the time. How come it never works for us, Momma?"

I felt my own eyes start to swell. This wasn't even all the news; I had yet to tell her we had to find another place to live within the next three days. My poor baby girl. She shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes, any of them. I smoothed her hair back and reached up to tuck the same stray piece of hair from earlier into my topaz pins again.

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry," I murmured as I picked her up and held her tightly. I felt her tears start to make the shirt under my suit jacket salty and wet, though her body wasn't shaking with sobs. "Things will get better," I promised, running my hand through her hair. In truth, I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out—but I promised myself a long time ago that I was going to give Kailee a good life, and that's what I planned to do, no matter how hard it was or how long it took.

I wasn't quite sure how much time had passed. Kailee and I just sat there like that for a long time. I was barely aware of the sound of parents coming and going and children saying their goodbyes to one another; my thoughts were a jumbled mess in my head, it was too hard to concentrate.

"Come on, Kails," a familiar deep voice said, placing a hand on my shoulder and then on my daughter's. "Let's you and I go and play while your momma and Aunt Nessie have a talk, hm?" Jake said, his dark brown eyes looking down at me with sympathy before turning to stare down at my little angel.

Kailee grinned, wiping all traces of tears off her face. "Okay, Uncle Jake! I didn't hear you come in." She said, placing her small hand in his big one as he led her out of the kitchen to go play with whatever toys were scattered around the floor.

Nessie smiled as she passed Jake, but all too soon her calculating eyes were back on me as she moved into the kitchen to make some tea—she'd never been much of a coffee person; only on occasions when she needed the energy boost. "How long?" she asked, fixing the stove and setting the kettle full of water down.

"Ness—"

"How long?" she repeated more firmly, turning to stare at me. I looked down at my hands, ashamed to have kept a secret from her. Being one of the few family I had, I told Nessie just about everything; but she had to understand that this…with the way things were going—I had to keep this a secret. I can't keep relying on her and Jake when they had to worry about themselves. Especially with the way the economy was going…

I sighed, letting out a long breath. "A while," I mumbled.

Nessie sighed, sitting down across from me, pulling her reddish/brown bangs back with her hands as she stared at the table top. "This is terrible, Bells…" she murmured, shaking her head slowly. She sounded close to tears. "And you wouldn't tell me what was going on…"

I shook my head, reaching out to take on her hands in my own. "Ness, you listen to me." I said firmly, squeezing her hand. "This is my trouble—not yours. I've already taken so much from you and Jake—I might never be able to pay you back for everything that the two of you have done. I can't keep relying on the two of you to pull me out whenever I need you to."

"Bells, we're not doing this because we feel we have to. We want to. Your family—and our best friend!" she said, looking at me with tears welling up in her brown eyes, squeezing my hand back. "We want to see that you and Kailee are safe—hell, if we could, we'd have the two of you move in with us so we weren't so damn worried all the time!" she said.

I smiled sadly. "I appreciate it, Ness. I do, really. But I have to do all of this on my own." I said.

"You're not invincible, you know." She said, pulling her hand away from mine as the kettle started to whistle. "You can't do everything on your own. Haven't you always told me that it's okay to ask for help? Bella, this is your life we're talking about." She said, whirling around to face me once more. "And not just your life—Kailee's, too!" she said, keeping her voice low so Jake and Kailee wouldn't hear from the playroom.

"You think I don't know that?" I said, getting up from my seat at the kitchen table, staring at her with a look of disbelief and anger. "Kailee is the reason I keep trying, Ness. She's the reason I'm working so hard—because I want to provide for her. I don't have the luxuries you have! I don't have a permanent home. I don't have a husband to help take care of things."

Nessie frowned at me. "I know you don't."

"You sound like you don't know." I snapped.

"How can I send you back out there if I'm only going to be in my bed, wide awake with worry, hm?" she asked, pushing past me to get the tea bags and the cups from the cabinet. "I can't not worry about the two of you—all alone in that crappy apartment in the crappiest part of Seattle with no one to protect you…Wasn't some woman in your apartment just robbed three weeks ago? What if that ends up being the two of you next, only you're not just robbed? How do you think I'll feel then?" she exploded, forgetting all about the tea.

"I know that too!" I shouted right back. "I live in constant worry that something's going to happen and everything I'm trying to do right for my daughter is gonna go wrong and we're both gonna be miserable for the rest of our lives!" I said, feeling the anger well up in me. "I can't get a job to save my ass, I'm probably going to end up homeless here, and worst of all—they're probably going to take my daughter away because I'm not a good enough mother! You don't think that keeps me up at night?"

"You should've asked for the money!" Nessie exclaimed. "It would've taken some of the stress off your mind! It would've taken some of the stress off of all our minds! You're not the only one who goes crazy when something bad happens, Bella." She said. "Jake knows, I know—for God's sake, Kailee knows! You have to let us help you." She was pleading now.

I shook my head, covering my eyes with my hands to keep from crying. "That's not how this is supposed to go." I said quietly. "I should have everything all ready and planned out and prepared and secure. I should have a house, a job. I should be able to provide for my daughter. It shouldn't be like this…"

Nessie wrapped her arms around me. "Oh, Bella…" she murmured. "Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry…I shouldn't have yelled at you—this isn't how I wanted this to work out."

"But it is, Ness." I said, pushing away from her and wiping my eyes. "And that's how it's going to be until I do something to make it better." I told her.

"Uh, guys?" Jake asked, stepping into the kitchen. "I know this is conversation is important—all your conversations usually are—and you know how I hate to interrupt them and stuff—"

"Get to the point, Jake," Nessie sighed, an adoring look in her eyes.

"Erm…Kailee's puking in the fern pot."

"What?"

I moaned. "Oh, God…"

Quickly, we forgot our conversation and focused on the most important thing at hand now; Kailee. Hurrying out of the kitchen, we moved into the living room. Kailee was lying on the floor, shivering and all curled up. I couldn't see it but I could smell it, and I knew whatever she'd eaten for lunch was sitting in the fern pot.

I rushed over, ignoring the bitter essence a la puke as I picked my baby up. "Kailee, baby, are you okay?" I asked, grabbing a tissue to wipe the corners of her mouth. I pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. "Sweetie, you're burning up."

She sniffled, still shivering in my arms as she reached up to brush her bangs out of her face. "My tummy hurts, Momma." She mumbled, looking paler than normal.

"Why didn't you say something, Kailee?" Nessie said as Jake carried the fern pot out of the room—no doubt to toss it. What good would it be with puke inside of it?

"I thought it was just a tummy ache—like you and Momma get." She said.

We both cringed, knowing she was talking about the cramps we got once a month. For four long, painful days that seemed to never end. Getting pregnant at sixteen had few benefits, but those nine months of zero, painful bloating sure felt like heaven.

"Oh, no," I said, helping her sit up. "Kailee, you might have that twenty-four hour stomach flu going around. Oh, Kailee. You should've said something to me," I said, picking her up and carrying her over to the couch.

"I'm sorry, Momma." Kailee sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes as Nessie pulled a blanket over her. "Are you mad?" she whispered.

I smiled, pushing her bangs out of her face. "Never," I replied, kissing her forehead before turning back to Jake and Nessie. "I'm gonna run to the store—get some cold medicine. Would you mind watching her for me until I get back?"

Nessie shook her head, smiling. "Not at all," she said.

Jacob nodded, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "We'll be fine, Bells. We deal with kids every day." He said with a wink. "One little monster is nothing." He said teasingly to Kailee, who gave him a weak smile before closing her eyes.

"Thank you," I said. "Be good, Kailee. I'll be back real soon, okay?"

"Bye, Momma." She mumbled.

"Oh, shoot. Bella," Nessie said, hurrying into the kitchen, "while you're out, you wouldn't mind picking up some more kids medicine for me, would you? Anything will do, really." She said, coming out with her purse and reaching into her wallet for some money. "Just get anything and everything—kids Tylenol, ibuprofen, whatever." She said, handing me forty dollars.

I nodded, shoving it into my own purse. "Okay. Bye, Kailee!" I said before hurrying out the door, fumbling through my purse for my keys.

*

"Dammit, dammit, no, no, no," I chanted to myself angrily as the engine sputtered and died with the flick of my wrist as I tried starting it for the twentieth time in five minutes. The only noise that I could hear in my car was the relentless pounding of rain on my windshield and it abruptly vexed me. I banged on the steering wheel, forcefully spitting out a choice four lettered word that my very sick little girl would be scolding me about if she were to be sitting next to me right now.

Shoot. Kailee.

"No, no, no!" I yelled at my piece of crap car, slapping the wheel a final time before slumping back against my seat with a frustrated half-shriek. My poor baby was probably in so much pain right now, and here I was, ten minutes drive from the day care with dusk falling in a bad part of Seattle, with a vehicle that I depend my life on.

It had taken fifteen minutes alone just to find the right medicine for Kailee, then I had to pick up the several bottles for Nessie, and then of course the check out register had to be longer than usual. My typical luck. Hell, I'd gotten an eviction notice today and lost my shot at a job that I'd have excelled in. I should have known that my car was going to break-down. It was older than Charlie, which said something, so why was this such a surprise?

Oh, wait; it wasn't.

I groaned with frustration as I calculated my possible options.

One; I could just grab the bag of medicine and walk the distance back to Nessie and Jake's. It wouldn't be such a long hike, but I was still in my heels from the interview and this was my only good business suit. Besides, walking around this part of Seattle after four o'clock in the afternoon in winter wasn't such a great idea. You know, unless you wanted to get mugged or something.

Two; I could go back into the store and ask for some help. It wouldn't take much, I'd just ask someone if they could give a perfectly stressed out stranger a ride to a child's daycare center with a bag-full of medicine. Well, that's not suspicious at all.

Three; I could flag someone down in the street. Taxi's rarely come this way, but maybe there would be a kind person? Of course, it would be my luck to end up attracting some freaks attention, where I'm dragged off to their lair, raped, and left for dead. And on top of everything else that has happened today, that's the last thing I need.

Honestly, none of these options were very appealing, but Kailee was in dire need of some flu medicine, and I had to get it to her as fast as possible. I decided that I would go with Option 2, but if my search was fruitless, I'd be stuck with 3. There was no way I was walking alone to the daycare; that's just asking for trouble.

With a frustrated, disheartened sigh, I shoved my door open, trying to avoid the stickiness that sometimes glued it shut no matter how much I pushed on it. But it swung freely this time, having zero inertia, and I grimaced as a person who had been walking by got the full force of the door in the crotch.

When the person grunted and dropped their bags, staggering back and to the side, I realized that this innocent bystander was a man.

"Oh…God…I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed as I jumped out of my car and slammed the door shut again, standing in the pouring rain with my hood around my shoulders. "I didn't see you there! Oh my God! Are you okay?"

I really never had good experiences with men, obviously. My first boyfriend got me knocked up then ditched and my dad threw me out into the streets at the ripe old age of seventeen. There were other instances like the sexist men who interviewed me for my countless attempts at finding a job, or the boys who teased me all through my last two years of high school because I was a mother. I didn't hate them, but I'd never met any who could give me hope. Not one.

The man I'd whacked was leaning against my car, his leg pressed against it as he tried to straighten. Even over the loud rain, I could hear him drag in a breath. "If you give me a minute, I'll be fine."

"God, I'm sorry," I apologized loudly.

It was dark in the parking lot, but the drugstore lights burned through the windows behind him, only dampened by the rain. He could see my guilt-ridden, embarrassed face, but I was glad I couldn't see the pain on his.

After another moment or two, he straightened up completely with a short little grunt. "I'm fine."

I frowned. "Are you sure? I'm such a klutz; I can, you know, pay for…um, damage?"

He barked out a laugh, and I felt my high-school instincts take over, making me blush at the sound. "No, no, I don't want to take any of your money," he chuckled as he patted my vehicle's hood a couple times. "And no worries; no damage. At least, not permanent damage." He laughed again.

"I'm still sorry," I told him. "Need any ibuprofen? I have a ton in my car if you—"

"Really, miss," he replied, a smile in his voice—which I now realized was alluring and warm, smooth like butter—over the rain, "I'm fine."

I nodded slowly. "Uhm, okay then."

"Thanks though." He bent down and picked his plastic bags back up, shaking them slightly to dispel any rain—pointless since it was coming down so hard. I flattened my back against my car to give him room to pass me in the small space between my vehicle and the van parked next to me, biting my lip when his body brushed against mine lightly.

As he started to walk away, it suddenly hit me that I realized he wasn't some creepy old man, and that I still needed a ride back to Nessie and Jake's.

"Wait!" I called out. The man turned and as the light fell on his face, I felt my expression become even more embarrassed. He looked like the kind of man with a high-paying job, with a perfect, blonde haired girlfriend or wife, with a family that raised him with love and discipline. His dark copper hair was pasted to his forehead from the rain and the light shone off his emerald eyes. His eyebrows were posed in a puzzled expression, but his full lips were quirked to the side slightly, as if they were ready to give way to a smile.

"Did I drop something?" he called. His voice was suddenly even more appealing than before.

I bit my lip again. "No, but, um…" How was I supposed to ask him for a ride to a strange part of town after shoving my door in his sensitive area and making a fool of myself for offering to pay for 'damage'? Ugh, it sounded ten times worse when I replayed the question back in my head.

"Yeah?" he asked after a few moments.

I took in a deep breath, practically drinking in the water with it. "My car is—"

"You need a ride," he said, grinning crookedly at me. It wasn't a question; it was a statement.

I nodded shamefully. "Could you…?"

He gestured with his head for me to follow him. "I'm over here."

I let out a breath of relief and reopened my car door, reaching in to pull the keys out of the ignition and grab the bag loaded with medicine. Then, I shut the door and locked the piece of crap up. I turned on my heel and followed the man to his car, which he was already sitting in. I opened the passenger side door hesitantly and slid in.

He looked at me as I put my seat belt on and smiled. "Where to?"

Taylor: OMG! Nicole and I are starting a new story! We're so pumped, so excited that it's not even funny. Lol. I guess I don't have much to say except tell us if you hate it or love it. Because I want to know how you like this idea. We both do. Come back for more!

Nicole: Hmm…she basically took the words right out of my mouth. Haha, anyway, this was Taylor's brilliant idea, and I must say, I was quite honored when she asked me to write it with her. I'm so excited to see how this story will progress—and I hope that whoever reads this will be too. So, leave a review and tell us what you think so far. Peace out, dawgs. xD