Disclaimer: Don't own the characters…royalties are received by S. Meyer


"Routine"

Catherine Hunter woke up at 6 am like every morning. She prepared breakfast and lunch for both her kids and her husband. She woke her children and picked up the laundry from each room to put it in the washer; as Thursdays were laundry day in her house, a task she didn't like very much and therefore made her dislike Thursdays a bit; like every day, she kissed her husband goodbye and took a quick shower while her kids were getting ready for school. She told her kids, like every day, to remember to put their dishes in the sink when they were finished and brushed the hair of her little one, arranging her hair into a cute ponytail with a red ribbon.

She saw the clock and, like every morning, rushed her kids to brush their teeth while she collected her bag and fed the dog. Then she proceeded to drive her children to the Quileute Tribal School, her oldest boy was in elementary already, while her youngest daughter was in kindergarten. She dropped them off and drove towards the Health Clinic where she worked as a dentist; the drive was short, but she listened to the morning talk radio like every day. In reality she was just an assistant to the head dentist Dr. Reed, and living in such a small community she didn't have a lot of work to do most days; so she was able to pick up her kids when school was over, every day.

This was routine for Catherine, every day, except for the occasional Friday when her husband came home early and she could gather with her friends to play a nice game of poker. But she didn't know this Thursday was going to be a little different; what she did know, is that the brakes of her Toyota needed to be checked and made a mental note to tell her husband to take it to the local repair shop.

Then she proceeded inside the Clinic like every morning, greeting Darla, the receptionist, taking a coffee from the machine, and reviewing Dr. Reed's appointments for the day. Then she bumped into Sue Clearwater, or Mrs. Clearwater as she called her, which wasn't really a surprise, as both of them worked at the same clinic; she greeted the older woman politely and each enquired about the other's children, at which Mrs. Clearwater answered that they were both healthy and well, and was very happy with her grandchildren. Catherine didn't know much about Sue's boy, other that his name was Seth; Leah, on the other hand, she was acquainted with, in fact, she had seen the woman on various occasions at the school's kindergarten area, where both their children attended; they had exchanged a few hellos and the occasional chitchat but nothing more; she said goodbye to Mrs. Clearwater and kept going with her day at the clinic.

She went on with her routine and soon came the time for her to pick her children up at school. She said goodbye to Dr. Reed, organized the appointments for next day, grabbed her raincoat from the closet and left.

At the same time she was talking to Dr. Reed about his appointment for the next day with Mr. Coleman; a phone call was made a few miles away from where she was. The phone call was short, and it was received at the Forks Radio Station, the person who received it quickly walked towards the parking lot and started the engine to the black Jeep in the reserved spot. Then drove towards La Push.

As soon as Catherine got to the school, she spotted the usual group of moms that were talking and gossiping while waiting for their children to come running, she joined them, and started talking to them about the upcoming Spring festival. They all heard the bell ring punctually, and all prepared themselves for the soon-to-be-coming mass of running and screaming children out to greet their mothers.

But seconds later after the bell rang, a black Jeep parked in front of the school entrance, they all saw it, and would've paid no mind if it wasn't for the man that got out of it. They all stared at the epitome of masculinity that started walking towards them, dressed in jeans and a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, both not doing anything to hide the perfectly muscled body underneath. Some of them turned to look at each other, Catherine sure looked at Haley with a raised eyebrow. They were wondering who that man was, and what was he doing there.

But their moment of bliss was shortly interrupted by the swarm of kids that came out of the doors, and while they were stopped right there by the teachers in guard, each one joined their mommy as soon as she walked up to them. Each mother stared at the man while he crossed his arms and lifted his head to look at the children, and when he smiled at the teacher, Catherine melted, as well as the teacher, she could tell. Who exactly was this guy? The teacher in guard quickly recovered and nodded slightly, and motioned for a little girl to come to the door.

A little girl with short black hair adorned with a yellow headband and dressed in a cute little denim skirt with a purple hoodie cam out running carrying a drawing. Catherine recognized the girl as one of her own daughter's friends, she recalled her name was Nicky, and that she was Leah's daughter; she briefly wondered if that beautiful man was Leah's husband, and was about to communicate this to the other moms when she noted with worry the speed the kid was taking running towards the muscled man, fearing the girl would crash against the man or tumble him down. But all the mothers, including her, saw with amaze that as soon as little Nicky was a couple of feet away from the man, she screamed "Daddy!" and he bent his knees a little, picking her up with ease in a very swift motion, taking the grinning girl up in the air and twirling her. Yes. That was Leah's husband; and the father of that very nice girl.

Catherine saw her own daughter come up to her and bend down to give her a kiss. She had parked behind the Jeep that belonged to Leah's husband, and she briefly noticed she didn't know his name, therefore, nor Leah's last name. She walked her daughter towards her Toyota, to drop her backpack and drawing so that she could go play while both waited for her brother to come out in the other building; she saw Nicky on her dad's shoulders and heard her ask "Where's Mommy? Is she okay?" before he took her and swing her off to place her in the back seat of the car. Catherine didn't hear his voice answering his daughter for she walked further. Catherine's daughter, as they were making their way back to the playground, yelled "Bye Nicky" and Catherine saw Nicky wave goodbye "Bye Alison"; she turned towards the man in the driver's seat and smiled, nodding politely. It was then when she heard the smooth and deep voice "Good afternoon", and he drove off.

Curiosity got the better of her and had to ask. So she turned to her daughter and asked "What's Nicky's last name, sweetie?", to what her kid shrugged her shoulders, "she's cool" was the only response she got, then Alison ran off to play.

When Catherine reached the now less mothers outside the school, she was asked who he was, she said she didn't know, but that she knew he was the husband of Leah Clearwater, and that she didn't know his last name. Teresa Davis, one of the moms there, spoke aloud "I think he's the Black's son, Jacob". And so they started to speculate. The topic was soon dropped when they had to go, each one with their own destination.

What they didn't know was that Leah Black had called her husband early in the day, to tell him that she got caught up in work at the Rehab Ward at the Forks Hospital, where she worked, asking him to go and pick their daughter at school. He was an Engineer at the Forks Radio Station, praised for his amazing work with the antennas and improving the signal substantially; so he didn't have a problem leaving early. And so Jacob Black went to pick Nicole Black, the beautiful daughter he had with Leah; then had the idea to take her to eat some fish fry that his mother-in-law had cooked for his dad Billy, so at his house, the three of them enjoying the company and the food.

Catherine didn't saw the black Jeep passing through her house; its passengers making their way to see Leah Black and surprise her at work. She didn't see how a very pregnant Leah smiled at the sight of her family waiting for her outside the double doors of the Rehab Ward. Catherine also didn't see how Jacob kissed his wife passionately and as discreetly as possible, but that didn't stop the receptionist to see it and get a tinge of envy; nor she saw how Nicky rubbed her mother's stomach kissing it and greeting the twins nestled inside.

Leah Black had an appointment every other Thursday at 2pm from then on, so Jacob picked their daughter from school on those days. A welcome change of routine for Catherine, who never got tired of staring at the man that was Leah's husband. It was so that Thursdays just got a whole new meaning for her.


A/N: So I was trapped in the never-ending traffic of Mexico City yesterday...and while passing through a school I got the idea for this and started the outline on my notepad. Then, as I went out, forgot about it, and it wasn't until right now that I finished it and decided to upload it :) I hope you like this, and to those of you waiting for the Birthday Carnage update, it's coming!

So I take off! Leave a review if you like this...or even if you don't. Have a nice day and weekend!