My Hero

Joseph

It took all my power not to punch this guy in the face. It was the Daniel. The Daniel that hurt Bella, that broke her heart, that was the father of a child he didn't give a crap about.

And here he was, standing on our-Bells's- doorstep, asking to come in.

Who does he think he is?

"What do you want?" I muttered, crossing my arms across my chest.

"I want to speak with Isabella," he eyed me back, replying with a monotone. "This doesn't involve you. It's about me, her, and my child."

"Your child?" I scoffed. "Now you want to call the baby your own? Now you care?"

He let out a sigh. "I'm here for her to send her a law suit," he stated, holding an envelope up in the air. "Your girlfriend's not going to comply with joint custody. So I'm suing her for kidnapping. And if I'm lucky, child endangerment and neglect."

"Bullshit," I narrowed my eyes. "You're an idiot, you know that? You dumped Bella, better yet, you cheated on her! And then when you find out she's pregnant with your baby, you don't do a thing. You don't care. You just want to beat her, to prove her wrong."

He stared at me, speechless. When he recovered from the call out, he blinked. "Listen, you don't know me, okay? I don't know you. Maybe you should shut your mouth before it gets punched, huh?"

I said nothing. I was pissed. Pissed that this douche bag was here. And... Pissed that Isabella hadn't told me about this creep doing this. If she loved me, how come I found out by Daniel having to come over and not by her just telling me?

I swallowed my anger as if it were medicine, and let him inside. "Do or say one thing that I don't like and you're outta here," I muttered, grinding my teeth. "Got that?"

Daniel gave me a roll of his eyes, and I nearly hit him. But this was important. And it had to be settled.

"Isabella," Daniel breathed, his voice dry.

She looked at me, then to him. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded. Uneasily, she attempted to get off the couch, and I rushed to her side, helping her up as Daniel just stood and watched.

Did I mention he was closer to her than I was?

"Just gonna stand there?" I hissed at him once Bella was standing on her own two feet. "You make me sick, I hope you know that-"

"Joseph," Bella put a hand on me, looking at me with eyes that read for me to shut up. And that's what I did.

Biting my lip, I stood between them.

"Daniel... I'm not going to sign these papers. I'm not handing over my child. You must be on drugs if you think I'm going to do that," Bells snapped, her hands rubbing her stomach, her eyes flicking from him and I and back.

"You're stupid, you know that?" he hissed. I jumped up from leaning on the table, but she shook her head at me. "They're going to give that to me. You came here, to Los Angeles. You kidnapped my child! And I had to find out you were here, alone, dating this...this rockstar, from watching tv! You couldn't call?"

She scoffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "I've tried calling you so many times! I've only gotten answers from you now. Why is that?"

He opened his mouth, about to respond, but she ignored him. Snatching the papers out of his hands, she read them.

We all stood in silence and Bells scoffed, shuffling through the papers. Her eyes quickly scanned the suit, and her anger was more and more visible with each paragraph.

Isabella

Daniel was absolutely stupid. The law suit was ridiculous, and there was no way he'd win.

Smiling, I handed him the papers. "Whatever, Daniel."

"Whatever?" he snapped, his voice bitter and distasteful. What did I ever see in him? "You're going down, Isabella! You're nothing, got that? Nothing. Your baby will never love you."

The next thing I knew, I was crying. Dang hormones. A comment or hateful remark and I was a wreck.

Joe grumbled something, and grabbed Daniel by the collar, his fist centimeters from his face, ready to break any bone he could.

"Stop!" I screamed, the tears blurring my vision. "Just stop it!"

Joe looked at me, with Daniel quivering in his grasp. "You didn't just hear what he said?!" he shouted. "Bells, he just said-"

"I know what he said!" I cried. "Just let him go! Just let him go."

He sighed, and dropped his fist, hanging it on his side. He let go of my ex fiance's collar, and glared at him. "Lucky she's here," he muttered.

I bit my lip, tears silently falling onto my cheeks. He was right. Daniel was right. This baby would hate me forever and ever. He'd know Joe wasn't his father, that Daniel wanted to have me. That I resisted, that I told him no... He'd hate me for that.

"Just go," I whispered, directing it to the man I thought I loved. "Leave!"

"That kid'll be mine, Isabella!" he called, making his way to  the door. "I'll see you in court." And with that, he slammed the front door shut, leaving Joe and I in silence, excluding the sobs.

"Why didn't you tell me he wanted custody?" he demanded, his voice soft, but raspy. "Why?"

"Because..." I didn't know why. "Because I thought it'd go away. It's Daniel , Joseph. He flakes out-"

"He seemed pretty serious to me," he interrupted. "And he called too?" I nodded slightly. "When did you know he wanted to bring you to court?"

"Like... A month," I admitted. He held his arms open, and I fell into his chest, the tears falling more and more. "I'm sorry, Joe. I should've told you sooner. I'm so so sorry."

He held me gently, shh-ing me and rubbing my back. He began to hum "My Hero," and I felt so calm, so safe. Closing my eyes, we sat in silence, my tears dwindling until they were completely out of sight.

"There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He's ordinary."