Hi there. Stephenie owns all this stuff, you know?

Thanks a million to oscar519 and laurnorder for prereading/betaing for me and agreeing to work on this silly thing. Love you ladies!

This story is mostly written and will hopefully post on Wednesdays. The next chapter will be up tomorrow night, but weekly after that.

Happy reading!

Out of Captivity

Chapter One – This Life's a Zoo

"Good morning, it's a beautiful day here in Seattle and we -" Edward's hand hit the hard plastic of his alarm clock and he groaned quietly. He rolled over slowly, knowing what would meet him - the same thing that had met him every morning for the past two weeks.

Blonde curls covered her face, her soft snores the only sound in the room. Edward had to smile. Ever since they'd made the move to the three-bedroom condo across town from their old home she'd ended up in bed with him. Each morning he was greeted with a different excuse.

"My room is too cold."

"It smells too new."

"Elizabeth doesn't like it." Edward had to explain that Elizabeth was a doll while his daughter frowned, shrugged and stalked away saying she knew that Elizabeth was a doll but that didn't mean she didn't have feelings.

He brushed her hair away to reveal wide green eyes.

"Hi, Daddy." she grinned toothily. Edward sighed.

"Again, Rae?"

"I told you Daddy. There's a shadow of a scary man trying to grab me." She stuck out her signature bottom lip and he frowned.

"No one is trying to grab you, Reagan." He yanked the covers off of both of them and swung his feet over the side of the bed.

"Can we have French toast for breakfast?" she called as he made his way down the hallway.

"Anything you want, baby girl." Edward replied. He started his coffee and began taking out everything to make breakfast for his daughter. They'd had French toast practically every Saturday since Reagan could eat solid foods. It used to be Rosalie's job to make French toast. It was Rosalie who would lie in bed with their daughter when she had a bad dream. Rosalie picked out Reagan's clothes and got her dressed for school.

Now Rosalie worried about her new boyfriend. These days Rosalie saw her daughter on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Edward bought clothes and kissed boo-boos. He held his daughter when nightmares brought her to his bed in the middle of the night. He wiped her tears when she cried for her mother, and he shed his own while he watched her sleep.

Edward balanced a carton of eggs in his hand as he reached for the tub of butter. And, as the eggs tumbled from his grip, he realized there was a reason he was a Mathlete instead of a football player. They cracked spectacularly on the tile floor of his kitchen and he sighed deeply

Maybe they'd go out for breakfast today.

xXx

"Daddy? Can we go see the monkeys?" Reagan held her father's hand tightly as they strolled through the Woodland Park Zoo.

"Sure. Can we have lunch first? Daddy's starving." Edward said and rubbed his stomach for full effect. Reagan laughed and leaned into her father's side.

"I know. I could hear your tummy when we were watching that stupid movie."

"Hey, not nice," Edward scolded softly.

"Okay, it was boring," she said, rolling her bright green eyes. Edward laughed and pulled his daughter into the little restaurant with the view of the butterfly garden. She nibbled chicken nuggets and watched butterflies flitter back and forth. He watched her.

It had been six months since he and Rosalie divorced. When the initial separation came about, Edward moved out of the house and into a large condo across town. He wanted to make the transition for Reagan as comfortable as possible. It wasn't long after he moved out that Rosalie had called him in tears. Edward had immediately thought that she wanted him to come home and part of him really wanted to.

She didn't want him to come home.

Rosalie wanted Edward to take full custody of their daughter so she could find herself.

Edward agreed. Of course he agreed. Ever since he'd found out he was going to be a father, Edward couldn't think of anything else. He and Rosalie were married just before Reagan was born in a small, intimate ceremony. After graduation, he went straight to work for an up and coming accounting firm. He worked long hours and earned good money, sometimes at the expense of nights with his family. Those nights are part of the reasons he blames himself for the divorce. If he had been around a little bit more and worked a little bit less, maybe Rose wouldn't have done what she did.

Then again, Edward thought as he watched his daughter's mesmerized face, Rosalie should have thought of their family and not herself.

"C'mon monkey. Let's go see the monkeys." Edward cleaned up their trays and held out his hand. Reagan smiled winningly and led her father through the zoo.

"Oh! Daddy can we go see the penguins first?" Reagan stopped suddenly and changed directions causing Edward to stumble a bit.

"Whatever you want," he sighed and followed her into the man-made stone cave. She immediately walked to the big window into the aquarium and pressed her face against it, mesmerized. Edward smiled as he watched her. She was completely enthralled with how the penguins moved, gliding smoothly through the water, almost chasing each other.

"Daddy, are these penguins from the Arctic?" Reagan tugged her father's shirt impatiently.

"Actually, these penguins are from Peru," a voice said from behind them. Edward and Reagan turned to find a young woman carrying two large buckets toward a side door in the exhibit. She set the buckets down and joined the two of them at the window. "They like the rocks on the coast of Peru so we recreated it here for them."

The woman smiled down at Reagan who was once again mesmerized, only this time by the person in front of her.

"What do they eat?"

"Fish, of course!" The woman laughed and pointed toward her buckets. "Lots and lots of fish. I'm going to feed them soon, you can watch right here." She pointed to another observation window where you could see above the surface of the water. Reagan ran to it quickly, leaving Edward and the woman alone.

"She is gorgeous," the stranger said. Edward wanted to agree with her, he did, because he felt the same way about his daughter. But he was having a terrible time tearing his eyes away from the woman's face, pale and heart shaped, framed with dark brown hair and wide brown eyes.

"Oh. Oh, thanks," he finally muttered as they took off toward where Reagan had gone.

"How old is she?"

"Seven," Edward answered. "Going on seventeen, I think," he added.

"I'm Bella." The woman held out her hand. Edward took it, quite willingly, and smiled.

"Edward. And that's Reagan. We're very pleased to meet you and your penguins."

"Oh, I just borrow them from the zoo," Bella grinned.

"Do you have parties with them?" Reagan asked, clearly understanding Bella's joke more than Edward.

"Of course! They are horrible dancers though." She stuck her hands on her hips and shook her head. Reagan laughed.

"Well that's because they can only waddle!"

"Not like you and me of course!" Bella took Reagan's hand and spun her around gracefully.

"You're a good dancer," Reagan giggled and fell into Edward's side.

"I have a good partner," Bella tapped the little girl's nose and smiled. "I've got to go feed my friends. Come to the window, okay?"

She gave Edward a soft smile as she straightened herself up.

"It was very nice to meet you, Edward. And you, Reagan."

"Bye Bella!" Reagan called as her new friend walked away.

"C'mon baby girl, let's go watch," Edward said as he led her back to the tank. They could just see Bella on the makeshift rocks inside the habitat. Edward couldn't help but smile as they watched her interact with the birds. He could tell she was talking to them as she fed them; tossing fish to them and watching the birds scurry around each other.

"Bella's pretty." Reagan's eyes focused on Bella through the thick glass. Edward followed her gaze.

She was right. Though the khaki colored uniform was extremely unflattering, on Bella it wasn't so bad. Her long, dark hair was pulled into a messy ponytail at the base of her neck; long, pale legs were wrapped up in high-topped hiking boots.

He watched how she laughed, carefree and oblivious to anyone watching her. She was beautiful, innocent even. Watching her, seeing how she interacted with Reagan, the enjoyment she got from her job and the sheer happiness she seemed to exude, made Edward feel things he hadn't in quite a while.

He was intrigued.

He was happy that his little girl was smiling.

And most of all, he was hopeful.

Can't wait to hear what you think! :)