what a woman! i.

trente quatre

●○●

Tatum sits on the Cullen's couch, sitting with a cup of chamomile tea. Her body covered with maybe the fluffiest blanket she has ever felt. Her company consoles her while she blankly stares into the tea. She doesn't know how to feel about her current situation. She flicks her visions from the tea to the clock. It was 3:15 p.m.

Tatum looks back down at her tea before she remembers. Avery. Her eyes widen and she attempts to get up but the Cullen pulls her back, questioning what she was doing.

"I forgot about Avery!"

"Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper are picking him up. Relax, everything will be okay."

"Thank you, Esme."

●○●

Tatum and Esme listen as two cars pull into Cullen's driveway, the latter can feel Tatum tense up as she waits for the babbles of her nephew. As soon as the door opens, she can hear them. 

"Auntie! Auntie! Auntie!" the 3-year-old shouts as soon as the door opens. Tatum can hear Rosalie's failed attempts of stopping the child from trampling into the living room. The little mumbles of 'Avery, hold on' and 'baby, not now' silently cracks Tatum up, as well as Esme. 

Esme quickly and swiftly grabs the tea from Tatum's hand as Avery launches his tiny body into his aunt's arms. Tatum hugs the kid as he snuggles himself into her chest, the five siblings following right after him. Jasper sits in the open seat next to Tatum, throwing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. 

"He was babbling non-stop the whole trip and now Alice, quote, wants one," Jasper tells her, leaning towards her to poke Avery's growing tummy. The toddler giggles loudly and grabs Jasper's pale finger, playing with it fascinatingly. Jasper smiles softly at him as the youngest investigates his knuckles before muttering, "Now I kind of want one too."

The room goes silent and everyone just kind of...stops.

"Jasper..."

"Yes, Alice?"

"You have five seconds to run before I murder you."

"Give him seven, at least," Tatum says, trying to stop her laughs from becoming too loud. Alice looks at the human before simply nodding. 

"Thank her, you now have seven seconds," Alice says, letting a blank look cover her features. Jasper shifts nervously in his seat. He didn't know if she was kidding or not.

"Thank you so so so so-" he says, kissing Tatum's cheek.

"Six-"

"AHHHHH!"

●○●

After a few hours of entertainment, Jasper finds himself staring at Tatum and Avery as they sleep on the couch. The two were covered in a fluffy blanket with Avery laying ontop of Tatum's chest, his face smushed to the side. He couldn't believe how complete he felt at that very moment.

"Do you think she could be it?" Edward says, sitting down next to his brother.

"I'm almost 100% positive she is. I've never felt this way before and I wanna keep feeling this way," Jasper says, flicking his attention from his brother to the loves of his both mortal and immortal life. "Can Alice see her future yet?"

"No, she's theorizing that she'll have another encounter with Uley before it comes back," Edward says, repeating his sister's words from a private discussion a lot earlier in the day. 

"Him again? Why can't he just leave my-"

"Ja-per?"

Jasper snaps his head to the small, tired voice ontop of Tatum. Avery looks similar to his voice; small and tired. Jasper strides over to Avery and carefully picks him up, cradling him to his cold flannel-covered chest. Avery sniffles into Jasper's chest, worrying the older man immediately. 

"What's wrong, little one?" Jasper asks concerningly, softly stroking Avery's flat hair. Avery's sniffles turn into small tears streaming down his face. Jasper attempts to rock him back and forth while stroking his hair soothingly.

"I want mommy."

This statement made Jasper realize, Bailey's disappearance wasn't just someone missing their sister or daughter. Someone was missing their mother. If no one finds Bailey, Avery will grow up without a mom. He'll only know flashes of her. He'll only hear stories of her, he'll never get to spend any more time with her. 

Jasper sees his brother's pitied gaze and lets out a sigh before sitting down next to the sound asleep Tatum. Jasper wipes Avery's tears from his cheeks and wraps the two of them within Tatum's blanket. 

"Everything will be alright. We'll protect you, little one."

●○●