A/N: hey guys, it's really me and this is really an update! I'd say I'm sorry about the lack of updates recently, but honestly, I got sucked into the Black Dagger Brotherhood books and I am not sorry about that at all I'm still not finished with the series but I've been reading so much I just plain haven't had time to write. I really do hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I've had it planned out for a while, I just had to get it down! So to recap, Jasper just got custody of Ava and this would be part of their first full week together.
Chapter 25: Halloween Surprise
"What do you wanna be for Halloween?" I asked Ava as we strolled down the holiday aisle at Target, browsing their selection of toddler costumes. Halloween was that upcoming Friday night and we'd only had Ava for the first weekend and I'd completely forgotten about getting her something to wear for trick-or-treating.
"A princess!" Her face lit up as it landed on the brightly printed princess costumes.
"Which pretty little princess do you want to be?" I asked her, holding up several different dresses in all different colors.
"That one!" she pointed to the rack at the green costume with the wings. I sorted through them until I found one in her size. "This one?" I asked her as I held it up.
"YEAH!" she answered very loudly, which I'd come to learn was pretty much her normal tone when she was excited about something and that was a lot of the time. Ava was a very happy little girl in general.
"Okay, so Tinkerbell it is." I tossed the costume into the cart and quickly finished up my shopping, grabbing a few things to decorate the house for the party on Friday night. I'd already decided to have a Halloween party that year at the house since I hadn't been aware that I would have custody of Ava so soon, but it happened to fall on the Wilson's weekend with her so it worked out.
Bella and I were going to take her trick-or-treating and then they would come to pick her up for the weekend and the party would start around nine. Friday was going to be a super busy day for me if I wanted the surprise I had planned to work out perfectly and stay a surprise.
As soon as we arrived home from our shopping trip, Ava tore through the house to find Bella so she could show off her princess costume. "Bella!" she yelled out. "Bella, where are you?"
Bella descended the stairs and peeked around the corner. "Boo!"
"AAAAGH!" Ava cried out and then giggled as she ran into Bella arms. "Come look at my Ha-wo-ween costume!"
"What are you going to be?" Bella asked in an exaggerated curious tone.
Ava ran to grab her costume out of the sack and took it over to a waiting Bella. "She wanted to be a princess," I told her. "So we picked out Tinkerbell."
Bella busted out laughing and Ava looked confused. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked.
"It's very pretty," Bella assured her. "We should try it on you later and take some pictures!"
Ava agreed happily and ran to her room to play. "What was that about?" I asked her as I pulled her in close to me.
"Tinkerbell isn't one of the princesses, doofus, she's a fairy," Bella explained as she giggled at my lack of Disney Princess knowledge. "You better study up, cowboy, if you wanna keep up with us girls," she teased me.
We spent the rest of the night playing with Ava in her costume and snapping goofy pictures. I never imagined life could be so great.
On Wednesday Ava had her first weeknight visit with the Wilsons and decided she wanted to stay there that night, which I had known was going to be a possibility when I dropped her off and to my surprise didn't make me feel bad. I guess I had come to the realization that in her eyes, she had two houses now and it wasn't fair to take that away from her. Plus, Bella and I took advantage of the time alone and went on a dinner date, which was a bonus.
By Friday, I had made all the necessary arrangements for my surprise to happen and after work I went straight home to find Bella and Ava, who was already in her costume, waiting for me on the porch. She flew across the yard as soon as I had turned the ignition off as was pulling me out of the car. "Daddy Jap-ser, can we go now? Bella said we had to wait 'til you got here and you're here now!" She was jumping up and down excitedly and looked absolutely precious in her green dress.
"Let me go change really quick and then we'll leave, okay?" I assured her and hustled into the house with a fairy on my heels.
"Hey, Jake," I called out as I got in the door. "We're leaving in a few minutes if you wanna get ready to hand out the candy."
"Be right there…" I heard him holler back and I took the stairs two at a time in order to get changed faster.
We were out the door less than five minutes later and Ava had a blast as we went door-to-door around our neighborhood. She got complimented on what an adorable little thing she was more times than I could count and it made me the epitome of a proud daddy. I was beaming so big I couldn't help it and my face started to hurt.
Bella slipped her hand into mine as Ava ran up to another door. "I love how happy you are," she commented so quietly I almost didn't hear her.
"I love how happy I am too; if someone would have told me six months ago that I could be half as happy as I am now, I'd have laughed in their face." I squeezed Bella's hand. "You were the force that got all of this started, so I think I can safely say you are my saving grace."
I leaned down and kissed her before she could argue with me. "Ewwwww, Daddy, quit that!" Ava squealed. "Look I got more candy!"
"That's great, princess," I told her. "Are you ready to go home? Katherine and Damon will be coming to get you soon to go spend the weekend at their house."
"Yeah! Let's go!" She handed me her bucket and squeezed in between Bella and I, grabbing each of our hands and pulling us toward the house.
Damon and Katherine were already out front talking to Jake when we rounded the corner. The way their faces lit up as they saw Ava was nearly priceless. I couldn't imagine going from full-time caretakers to part-times visitations with Ava but unfortunately that's the way things had to work out, thanks to Maria's carelessness and lack of conscience.
"Momma!" Ava cried and ran to Katherine.
"Hey, baby, you look so cute!" she told her.
"I know, Daddy Jap-ser says I'm a princess."
"You are a princess," Damon cut in. "C'mere sweetheart!" She jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly.
"I'll go get her bag," I told them as I took her bucket inside and grabbed her Dora bag from the living room and took it back out to the porch. Ava hugged and kissed me, Bella, and Uncle Jakey and then took off to the car with the Wilsons.
It was already eight o'clock by then and I still had to shower before people started showing up for the party. I left it up to Bella to pick out our costumes and I gave her props for picking something that really made me look good. I walked downstairs to find out what Bella was going to be wearing because of course she kept it a surprise from me.
I whistled low and loud when I saw her in the corner filling up the snack bowls. She had on skin tight jeans, cowboys boots, one of my plaid button down shirts tied above her belly button and a bright pink cowboy hat on top of her hear. She had her hair braided in pigtails that fell over her shoulders. She was the perfect cowgirl to my cowboy getup.
She looked up at me, blushing profusely. "There's my handsome cowboy," she said seductively as she strutted over to me, looking me up and down.
The doorbell rang before she could pounce and people started to show up. I turned the lights down to increase the ambience, there was music playing in the background and we had shoved the furniture against the walls to make more room for the makeshift dance floor.
All of Bella's friends from work showed up as well as Paul and Jared; Emmett and Rose even decided to get a babysitter and come enjoy the night with us. Everyone brought dates or friends and the house was packed. People were mingling and laughing and dancing and that's when I noticed Jake sitting on the couch with his phone in his lap. He'd come dressed as Zorro with a mask and a cape and everything, but he just looked so lonely.
"Go ask Jake to dance, baby," I suggested casually to Bella, who turned her attention to him.
"Okay," she agreed and sauntered over to Jake and pulled his ass up off the couch.
My phone vibrated in my pocket so I took it out and read the text.
Almost there, be ready.
I shot off a quick text in reply.
Great, can't wait to see the look on their faces.
I was dancing with Tiff who was very visibly pregnant by that point and we were talking about some new vampire movie when I noticed someone I hadn't noticed before. I assumed it was a female because she was dressed as Catwoman in a black shiny leather suit and the cat face mask. She walked up to where Bella and Jacob were dancing and had to stand on her tip toes to tap him on the shoulder.
Bella graciously gave up her spot to the mystery guest and came back to dance with me. "Who's that?" I asked curiously, nodding in Jake's general direction.
"Catwoman?"
I rolled my eyes at her. "I meant, who is under that Catwoman costume?"
"Oh, I have no idea; Jake seemed just as baffled but you know he's nothing if not polite."
I checked the clock again and realized that it had been twenty minutes since that text and my surprise had yet to show up at the door. "What are you looking so anxious about?" Bella asked me. Of course she would notice the change in my behavior.
"Oh, nothing…" I tried to play it off but Bella kept pestering me. "I'm thirsty; let's get something to drink," I suggested, changing the subject.
We walked into the kitchen to find Jake pouring some punch for his new dance partner. I raised my eyebrow at him in question and he just shrugged but continued with his conversation. Bella and I grabbed a drink and watched cautiously from the corner.
Pretty soon, Catwoman turned her head slightly and I saw her wink at me. That's when the light finally went on inside my head. My surprise had arrived safely.
"So, Catwoman," I cleared my throat as everyone turned toward me in shock for speaking up. "How great does Jake look as Zorro?"
"He's gorgeous, I just wish I could see his face a bit better," she sighed.
"Jasper, what are you doing?" Bella hissed at me, her elbow colliding with my side hard.
"I'm just trying to hook a brother up," I told her, loud enough for them all to hear me.
"Jasper, you know I'm not exactly available…" The pained tone in his voice told me everything I needed to know.
"I know, but she's smokin' right? I mean, how can you resist anyone dressed like that?" I goaded him and I could tell Bella was becoming extremely agitated with me. It was a lot of fun, actually.
"Of course she's gorgeous, bro, but c'mon, you know I'm sort of with Alice already." He offered a half-smile and a shrug as an apology to our mystery guest.
Just then, Catwoman wrapped her arms around Jake's neck and pulled him down into a kiss that left even me blushing. Bella was about to launch herself at the kissing couple when Jake pulled away as if finally realizing what was happening. "I… I'm sorry… I can't do this to her…" he stuttered.
That's when Catwoman pulled off her mask, revealing my big surprise.
"Oh, my God," Jake whispered as Alice stood there before him, in the flesh.
"SURPRISE!" Alice shouted and then jumped into Jake's arms. They held each other tight for several moments and I found myself having to look away, as not to intrude on their private moment.
"I can't believe you're really here," I heard him murmur.
"It was all Jasper's idea…" she told him. "I was just going to come at Thanksgiving like we planned but he suggested we surprise you and I thought it was a great idea!"
Bella was looking up at me, smiling from ear-to-ear. "I love you."
"I love you, too," I told her. "Now go hug your friend!"
As I stood there and watched how happy such a little gesture could make my best friend and my girlfriend, I knew it was totally worth it. I also realized there wasn't anything I wouldn't do for either one of them; they were two constants in my crazy little life and I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world.
End Note: I've been wanting to give Jake some happy in his life for a while but there was never a good place. Now, this was the perfect place and the next chapter will be from Jake's point of view, so you'll get a better view of his relationship with Alice! Thanks for sticking with me through my absence and I promise you, no matter what happens, I will finish this story. There aren't a whole lot of chapters left, so the story is winding down. Much love to all of you! Don't forget to let me know what you think!