4. Come Back Home

EPOV

My whole world stopped when those words fell from her beautiful lips.


I unconsciously tightened my already snug hold on her small body. “What?” I choked out, barely able to find my voice.


I stuck my nose in her hair and inhaled the beauty of her aroma while she gave another tired little sigh, just reassuring myself that she was, in fact, alive.


“I’m falling apart, Edward…help me,” was her small, whimpered plea.


I sighed into her neck and placed a cool, reassuring kiss there. “Baby, what do you need me to do?” I asked in her ear. “I’ll make it better for you, I swear…just-” I was cut off by my own whimper this time.


“Hold me, Edward…just hold me together,” she requested as she turned around in my arms and placed a soft kiss to my jaw. “Don’t ever let me go,” she whispered.


I nodded and relished in the warmth of her lips against my cold skin, telling myself that it was going to be okay. It had to be. She was here and she was awake and she was alive.


I kissed her forehead and rubbed her back while I reassured myself that she wasn’t going to die. That was ridiculous. I wouldn’t let her. She’s under the constant supervision of me and my coven…we wouldn’t let her hurt herself.


I ran my fingers through her silky locks as I reminded myself that she didn’t exactly say that she wanted to kill herself…she said, “I want to die”, and while I’m pretty sure those two statements are one in the same, she won’t get a chance to do anything to accomplish that goal.


I won’t let her.


She will die when I say, and it will be by my bite alone, and nothing else.


I will have her for eternity.


“Edward?”


I allowed a small smile to grace my lips at the sound of my baby’s soft voice and lightly traced the outline of her punctured skin, where the IV needle lay in her hand. “Yeah?”


“Rock-a-byes…” she softly requested.


I nodded and started a slow rocking motion with our bodies while I held her to me in the small hospital bed.


I couldn’t wait until all the IV fluids were in her system so that I could take that wretched needle out of her delicate little hand and take her back home, where she belonged. I never wanted to bring her here, but I was desperate and panicking because she wouldn’t respond to anything, not to mention eat or drink anything. The last time she ate was when I took Marie to Backyard Burger Thursday evening…and that was three days ago.


I kissed away the worry wrinkle that had formed on her smooth forehead and asked, “Are you hungry, baby love?”


She nodded. “Yah-huh, and Edward?”


“Yes?”


“Don’t wanna be in a hopistol…” Isabella pouted, her eyes beginning to water. She nuzzled her face in my chest and fisted my shirt in her small hand, mumbling into it, “Wanna go home.”


I gently ran the pad of my thumb under her left eye and caught a small teardrop, then kissed her little button nose. “I know, sweetie pie…we’ll go home as soon as that bag is done,” I told her, turning around a bit and pointing to the hooked half full bag of saline behind me.


Isabella flicked her chocolate eyes up to see what I was pointing at and subtly nodded. “S’almost done, huh?”


“Yeah…almost done,” I breathed my assurance, hugging her to me some more.


Isabella hummed and squirmed a bit, trying in vain to press her body closer to mine, as well. When she took her face away from the nuzzle spot on my chest and looked up at me, she gave me a small smile.


I smiled back and cupped her soft rosy cheek in my hand. “You’re so pretty…” I murmured to her.


Isabella giggled and I loved the sound of it, letting it relieve some of the anxiety that had been plaguing my body since Friday afternoon. She reached her IV hand up into my hair then, but I quickly took it in my own and kissed her palm, reminding her to be careful because the needle was in that hand.


She looked at it curiously. “Edward?”


“Yeah?”


“Don’t like needles…” she told me with worried eyes.


Aw.


I subtly nodded. “I know, angel…it can come out in a little bit,” I assured her.


She nodded and reached her hand back up, doing her best to be ‘careful’ this time. I smiled at the adorably concentrated look on her face.


Her warm fingertips traveled through my bronze hair then, trailing along my scalp and twisting the wild locks around, playing with it.


After a minute, she asked in her child-like voice, “Edward, you sad?”


I felt my brow furrow. “Why would you think that, baby love?


Chocolate met gold as she said, “B’cuz you have sad eyes…”


I stared into her warm chocolate depths, amazed at how perceptive my little girl could be sometimes.


Yes, I was sad. I was incredibly sad…my mate had just said that she wanted to die not ten minutes ago, and regardless of whether that would happen or not, it was still upsetting to know that she had come to that point…the point of being so ready to just give up. Of being suicidal.


But I didn’t want Isabella to worry about me. That wasn’t her job; I take care of her, not the other way around.


“I’ll be okay, sweetness,” I assured in a soft voice, not wanting to confirm or deny her correct assumption of my emotions.


Isabella stared at me for a few more seconds, seeming to contemplate something, before she slowly brought her face closer to mine and proceeded to give me a gentle Eskimo kiss with her warm little button nose.


I smiled and my dead heart melted at how adorably sweet she could be sometimes.


So precious.


When she was done rubbing noses with me, she laid her head back down in the crook of my shoulder and kept her gaze fixed on mine as she started to sing to me. Her warm little fingers never stopped their descent in my hair, and she kept gently brushing the bronze locks away and out of my eyes.


“You are my sunshine, my only sunshiiine…you make me happyyy when skies are graaay…you’ll never know deeear how much I love youuu…please don’t taaake my sunshine awaaay,” she softly sang, smiling up at me the whole time.


I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I kissed her smooth forehead and murmured an, “I love you,” against it.


She softly giggled. “Love you, too.”


I lightly pressed my forehead against hers and hugged her to me some more. “You’re so precious,” I told her, trailing my fingertips along her spine.


After a minute, she fractionally moved her head back from mine so she could look into my eyes. “All better?” she questioned with raised eyebrows.


I nodded and smiled for her, letting her know that she had successfully cheered me up. “Yes angel, I’m all better…” I assured her, kissing her forehead again, and running my fingers through her short, silky strands.


Carlisle came into the room then, his thoughts urgent and informing me to give my mate her antidepressant as soon as I got her home from the hospital this afternoon. He had heard the conversation between me and my Bella a minute ago, and he was telling me that her feelings of depression and hopelessness were quite normal, especially now since she had missed three doses of her daily medicine.


Apparently, we needed to monitor the affects of that Prozac, now more than ever.


I subtly nodded to him, letting him know that I had heard him, and that I understood.


I was even more anxious now to get her home now. Maybe she wouldn’t be so sad with that damn pill in her? I couldn’t wait to find out.


I noticed how Isabella’s eyes started to droop while Carlisle quietly moved around the room to check all the machines, but I didn’t want her going back to sleep, so I decided to sit her up and move us to the lounge chair beside the bed.


I didn’t know if she had actually slept peacefully in the past two and a half days, but she wasn’t responsive to anything, that was for damn sure. Her heart rate and breathing levels had only indicated to me that she was asleep a few times while we were here. Other than that, her vitals told me that she was awake and there were countless times that her eyes would constantly dance and move behind their closed lids. She would breathe heavily and whimper at certain times, and I just knew that she was seeing terrible things through her mind’s eye…having nightmares. It was heart wrenching every time I tried to comfort her because she’d be oblivious to my touch.


I situated Isabella so that she was sitting on my lap with her back pressed up against my chest. She sniffled and pouted while she sat there, cranky all of a sudden because I wouldn‘t let her sleep.


“Edward?”


“Yes?”


She whimpered a little while I clicked on the TV and reached inside the plastic Walmart bag by my side, wanting to retrieve a grape ring pop to placate my agitated little girl. I had haphazardly packed this bag on Friday afternoon before we came up here, and I had placed on the side table, ready fore use at a moment’s notice.


“S’nap tiiime. I got my jammies on, and everythiiing…” she pointed out in a whine, gesturing to the formfitting black gown I had put her in Thursday evening after her bath.


It was so incredibly skin tight, hugging her hourglass curves, and highlighting the fact that she was very thin and so very small. The tiny shoulder straps left her arms bare to my gentle fingertips and I took advantage of that fact, tracing her little elbow with my index finger.


“You need to stay awake and get dressed when we get home, baby girl,” I told her.


“Wanna go home nooow…” she whined.


I kissed her temple while I quickly unwrapped the candy and slipped it on her little thumb. “I know, angel…” I assured her, wrapping my arm around her waist and clicking the remote button with my free hand, trying to find the damn cartoon channel. “We can in a little bit. I think the bag’s almost done, sweetheart.”


She sniffled and looked up at the saline bag. “Baggyyy, hurry up!” she demanded of it.


I chuckled into her silky hair. “Spongebob is on, baby,” I informed her, pointing to the TV hanging from the wall in the corner near the ceiling.


She quickly turned her attention to the TV and mumbled along with the opening credits. “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea…Spongebob square pants…” she sang as she slowly brought the ring pop up to her softly puckered lips.


Carlisle came up to our side then, and started to gently place a black cuff around Isabella’s bare bicep to take her blood pressure. She turned her attention away from Spongebob and focused on him, watching him with guarded eyes as he gave her a warm smile and pressed the button on the machine to start the cuff-tightening process.


When she started to cry at the tight, pinching feeling on her arm, I shushed her and tucked her into my side, assuring her it would be over in a few seconds.


“Edward, owwwieee…” she cried, sniffling and glaring at my father.


I subtly nodded and kissed her forehead. “Shhh, I know…”


She reached for the black cuff, obviously wanting it off, but I grabbed her wrist, knowing that if she took it off, then we’d just have to do this process all over again. “No…” I trailed off in a firm, but gentle tone.


A squeaked “owwie” was her only reply before the cuff started to instantly deflate and relieve the pressure on my baby’s sensitive little arm.


I released her wrist and she immediately tore at the velcro cuff, then threw it at my father. “You’re a meanie. I hate you,” she told him, her eyes still watery, but her cries stopped.


I lightly patted her thigh in warning. “Isabella…”


She sniffled and kept her glaring stare on Carlisle, ignoring me and daring him to respond.


He sighed. “I apologize dear. I didn’t do that to hurt you,” he assured her.


“Oh, but it did - it did hurt me,” she quickly shot back, her anger beginning to shine through. “And you like that, don’t you? Is your dick hard?” she asked all of a sudden.


I tightened my hold around her waist and scolded her with a harsh, “Stop it,” but she continued to ignore me.


“You people,” she spat with disdain, looking at him in disgust, scrunched up nose and all, “…you stupid, yellow-haired people, you like hurting me, and I hate you,” she declared through a delicately clenched jaw.


“Isabella, that’s enough,” I told her.


She turned to face me then. “You let him hurt me,” she accused, her angry eyes portraying a hint of hurt and betrayal.


I was taken aback that she had come to that particular conclusion, just because of a simple blood-pressure monitoring. “Isabella, he took your blood pressure, he didn’t abuse you,” I pointed out before adding, “And I didn’t allow anything inappropriate to happen. I never have and I never will.”


We stared into each other’s eyes for a minute, and after she seemed satisfied with my assurance, she nodded and softened her features, bringing her purple candy back up to her mouth and relaxing against my chest once more.


I subtly shook my head. “You need to calm down, baby girl…you’re just cranky and tired. Haven’t you ever had your blood pressure taken before?” I asked, starting to rock her a bit in a placating gesture.


She nodded in response. “Yah-huh, but it still hurt, though,” she indignantly mumbled around her ring pop.


I sighed at my temperamental little girl and kissed her the side of her little ear. “I’m sorry that it hurt you angel, but you need to apologize to Carlisle right now for being rude to him,” I told her.


She narrowed her eyes at Spongebob, her glaring gaze never leaving the brightly lit screen. “Sorry,” she clipped in a hard voice, not sounding sorry at all.


I rolled my eyes and gave Carlisle an apologetic look, but he wasn’t paying attention to me. He was busy staring at Isabella’s side profile and wondering if she would ever get over her fear of blonde men so that she could begin to warm up to him.


I knew that she probably wouldn’t, but we could still hope. What we couldn’t do though, was force it. It just wasn’t possible to force something like trust, and my baby girl was extremely guarded and very fragile, and we had to treat her as such…let her come out of her shell on her own, so to speak.


I sighed, letting Isabella’s slight shiver bring me out of my reverie, and reached inside the Walmart bag for her pink blankie. I wrapped it around the front of us while I continued to rock her and stole another glance at the IV bag above my head, wanting to know when I could take her home and take care of a few things.


I had to feed her, bathe her, dress her, and give her that damn Prozac pill. I had been so focused on my Bella and wanting her to just wake up from whatever the hell she was zoning out on, that I hadn’t been thinking of the possibility that she could wake up in a depressed, withdrawn state because she hadn’t been taking that antidepressant regularly.


Isabella kept her fist pressed to her mouth, insistently sucking on the hard candy attached to the plastic surface on the ring around her thumb, but then pulled it out a second later. “Edward?”


“Hmm?”


“My baby kitty? My Tinker Bell?” she inquired curiously, pointedly ignoring my Sire, who was still standing off to the side, silently observing me and my mate.


I nodded. “She’s at home, sweetie. She’s fine,” I assured her.


“Edward?”


I lightly traced hearts and circles on her sore bicep and tiny elbow. “Hmm…”


“But I’m in charge… S’my re…uhhh, responsss…responda…um,” she sighed then, clearly frustrated and having trouble remembering the word I taught her.


“Responsibility…” I gently coaxed.


She immediately nodded. “Mm-hmm, yah-huh…respondability,” she chirped, mispronouncing the word, “and I’m sposta feed her,” she reminded me.


I chuckled. “Well, angel love, you know…you’ve been sick and in the hospital for a few days, so everyone back home has been taking care of that responsibility for you,” I informed her.


“Who?” she squeaked with furrowed brows. “And are they nice to my baby kitty Tinker Bell?”


I nodded, never stopping my slow rocking pace. “Mm-hmm…they are being very nice to Tinker Bell. Esme has been feeding her, Alice has been playing with her, and Emmett has been making sure her potty is all clean,” I told her, leaving out the part about the kitten being very wary of my coven.


Rosalie had called up here, to my Bella’s hospital room, and informed me of the kitten’s discomfort Friday evening…it seemed that the animal only wanted to hide under the bed, or stay snuggled up on my Bella’s pillow, but I assured her that the kitten is very young, and it should grow used to our presence sooner or later. It probably just missed the soft warm body of my Bella to cuddle up to. I had asked her if the kitten was a temptation at all, already knowing the answer, but she had just simply scoffed at me, telling me that if they could handle my human mate living under the same roof, then surely they could handle a tiny, domesticated feline.


“Emmy’s home?” she asked then.


“Yes.”


“But he’s not gonna hurt me, huh…”


I smiled and kissed her temple reassuringly. “That’s right, angel…Emmy won’t hurt you. Nobody will.”


“The ugly girl with the yellow hair will,” she immediately countered.


“No she won’t,” I insisted in a slightly hardened voice. “And if she tries again, then they will leave again, or we will,” I stated with finality.


“Move and live all by ourselves, huh Edward…just us, only you and me, b’cuz you’re mine, huh Edward?”


I nodded, realizing that she didn’t seem opposed to that idea at all. “Yes.”


“Kay.”


The Sponge bob song sounded then, signifying that the show was over, and Isabella started pouting and kicking her legs out again…whining some more about how she wanted to go home. I sighed and Carlisle and I both noted that the bag was almost empty just as another episode of Sponge bob started back up, effectively quieting Isabella’s cries and saving me from having to deal with an I’m-tired-and-I’m-mad-and-I’m-bored temper tantrum.


“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea…Sponge bob square pants…” she sang, before adding, “Edward, sing!”


Oh my god.


“Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish…Sponge bob square pants…” I mumbled along.


She giggled and I couldn’t help but to smile, glad that me muttering a few lines from that ridiculous song could incite the beautiful sound coming from her lips. My favorite sound.


“Edward, toys?” she chirped when a commercial came on.


I nodded and reached from the Walmart bag again. She watched as I lifted it up and plopped it down on our blanket-covered lap. I decided to just let her explore what I had packed in there, so she went ahead and moved around a pacifier, a Transformers toy, a My Little Pony, a Nintendo DS, a soft cuddle-bear, and a few lollipops, before she finally reached for a small Bratz doll and the little pink comb that had come with it. She handed me the doll, then dropped the bag back down on the ground before she took the doll from me and proceeded to brush it’s hair in silence.


“Gotta brush her hair b’cuz it’s bedtime soon, huh Edward?” she asked when her show came back on.


I nodded, watching her slow movements and glancing up at her tired eyes.


Okay, maybe she can take a nap after I get her home, and fed, and all cleaned up.


“Mm-hmm…”


“Son?” Carlisle called out then, getting my attention. I turned my head towards him and saw that he was nodding pointedly towards the saline bag. “I believe we can go ahead and take the IV out now…she needs to go home and eat and get some rest,” he told me.


I nodded to him and turned back to my little girl. “Alright angel, the baggy is done, so the needle gets to come out now,” I told her.


She nodded distractedly. “Kay.”


“Okay, give me your dolly so I can put her back with the other toys. Carlisle needs to see your hand.”


She handed me the doll and the tiny brush, so I quickly slipped both items back in the Walmart bag.


“Edward?”


“Hmmm?”


“Dolly’s back in the bag with her friends now, huh…”


I nodded and took her hand in my own, bringing it to my lips for a quick kiss. “Yes sweetheart, and she can stay in there until we get home,” I told her, letting her know that playtime was over for now.


She nodded. “Kay.”


I lightly traced the skin close to her wrist, where the needle lay. “I don’t think this is gonna hurt baby, but how about you watch your Sponge bob and Patrick while Carlisle makes the ucky needle go away,” I suggested, trying to keep my tone light.


She nodded to me, then shot a quick warning glare Carlisle’s way before she focused back on the TV.


I held my breath and took her wrist in a gentle but firm grip while I used my free hand to lightly caress her tummy and hug her to me.


Carlisle approached her side and peeled the tape from her hand’s skin as gently as possible, ignoring the agitated “mmm” whining sound that came from Isabella’s sealed lips. She furrowed her brow and looked away from her show to focus intently on what Carlisle was doing to her hand, but he remained oblivious to her scrutiny while he placed a small cotton ball on top of the puncture point where the inserted needle lay just underneath her skin.


“Isabella, dear…” he murmured, keeping his gaze trained on his work.


“Hm?”


“Can you count to three for me?” he asked.


“One… Two… Thr-ahhh,” she exclaimed as he pulled the needle out before she could finish her counting assignment.


He immediately strapped a pink Barbie band-aid on top of the piece of cotton and placed the bloody needle in a plastic container, ready to take it out of this room, away from me, so that I could breathe again, any minute now. “Did that hurt?” he asked.


She furrowed her thin brow and slowly shook her head at him, to which he smiled. “Good. Well, I’ll see you at home, dear. Eat something and get some rest,” he told her. “Doctor’s orders.”


She squinted her eyes up at him and sucked on her bottom lip for a second, seeming to think about something. “Don’t gotta listen to Doctor- orders, only Edward-orders…” she murmured defiantly.


He sighed and subtly shook his head while I laid my head back against the chair and rolled my eyes. “Right, well - they are Edward-orders, too. He’s going to feed you and put you down for a nap when you get home,” he clarified.


“Kay.”


He straightened up, ready to leave the room and take that delicious needle with him. “Alright, goodbye Isabella. I’ll see you later.”


“Goodbye-bye.”

**********

On the ride home, I stopped at Mcdonald’s and got Isabella a happy meal, knowing that their chicken nuggets were her favorite. She happily chewed on her fries and sipped her coke while I hurried to make the drive home. I wanted to get her cleaned up and in bed, even though she wasn’t all that dirty or anything…she just missed two nights of having a bath, and I knew that she wasn’t comfortable because of it.


“Edward?”


“Hmm?” I hummed, pulling into the driveway.


“Gotta potty,” she told me.


I looked at her, a bit surprised. Carlisle had told me that she probably wouldn’t need to use the bathroom until sometime tonight. “Okay, well we’re home, angel. Go ahead and go potty,” I told her, turning off the engine and nodding towards the door inside the garage.


“Kay.”


I grabbed the Walmart bag and Isabella’s sandals out of the back seat, since she always insisted on going everywhere barefoot for some reason, and followed up the stairs after her.


I had built Joey’s toy shelf and unpacked all of the toy bags Friday morning while he slept after the car racing session we had when I returned home from hunting, so all of the new toys were put away in their respective storage containers now. I went over to what I like to call ‘the toy corner’ by the window, which was next to ‘the kitty corner’, by the way, and unpacked the Walmart bag full of toys, one for each of my Bella’s alternates.


When I was done with that, I placed the neon green pacifier and four lollipops on the desk, then tossed a squeaky blue mouse toy the fluffy white kitten perched on the bed, and waited for my girl to come out of the bathroom.


After a minute, I furrowed my brow and turned my head to stare at the wooden door that was separating me from my mate right now. It had been six minutes and she still hadn’t come out. And I knew that she wasn’t in there actually using the damn toilet anymore because that little process had taken all of eleven seconds. I know this because I’m a fucking vampire.


What is she doing?


I waited two more minutes, then stood from the bed and walked over to the bathroom door, knocking softly when I got there. “Honey, are you okay?” I asked, concern laced in my tone.


The only response I got was a soft sigh, so I slowly turned the door knob and announced that I was coming in. When I opened the door I saw why she hadn’t come out of the bathroom yet. She was still sitting on the damn toilet. But she wasn’t using it.


She was the picture of calm and casual, relaxed back against the toilet tank, with the hem of her short black gown up around her hips, and her black panties down around her dainty little ankles. She was subtly kicking her feet out to the rhythm of her own tune, and when she saw me, she smiled.


“Hi,” she whispered.


I leaned up against the door frame and stared at my new two year old in slight confusion. “Hadassah…baby, what are you doing?”


“Sitting…”


“Why, though? Why are you still sitting on the potty?”


She subtly shrugged. “No potty paper…”


I sighed and walked over to her at this declaration. When I saw an empty roll beside her, I subtly growled in frustration and reached above her head into the cabinet for a new roll of Charmin. I put the plastic rod in the middle of the cardboard center and hooked it up to the dispenser for my ever-patient little girl. “There you go, baby girl,” I told her, placing a soft kiss to her forehead. “Next time there’s no paper, just yell for me and I’ll come fix it.”


“Kay,” she whispered, then reached for the roll to rip a couple of squares off.


I turned my back to give her some privacy, and left the room with the reminder for her to flush and wash her hands when she was done.


While I waited for her in our bedroom, Emmett informed me from his spot in the living room that the kitten had found the roll of toilet paper yesterday afternoon and it had apparently taken it upon itself to make a toy out of it. It used it’s front paws to drag all the paper from the roll, and then it proceeded to rip the paper squares up into little pieces with it’s claws and carry different fragments out into the bedroom with it’s mouth to set the pieces on it’s bed, as well as ours, and Esme had cleaned up the mess when she came up to feed and water it last night.


I rolled my eyes and turned my gaze to the mischievous little ball of fluff on the floor. It meowed at me and pranced around on it’s tiny paws, carrying the blue catnip toy in it’s mouth.


“Hey Edward…” Marie trailed off as she came out of the bathroom with a weird looking jar and a small bag of something in her hand. “I need you to heat this up in the microwave for me,” she told me, handing me the jar.


I furrowed my brow and stood from the bed, intently studying the jar in my hand.


GiGi Honey Wax.


What the…


I looked at Marie and saw that she was walking back towards the bathroom. When she hopped up on the marble counter and unzipped what looked to be a small make-up bag, I followed in after her.


“Marie, what are you doing?” I asked, holding the jar up for emphasis.


She took different looking strips of paper-like material out of the bag and a tiny tub of what looked like some type of lotion, along with a travel size bottle of baby powder. “Time to wax, Edward,” she told me as she lifted a bare leg up onto the counter. “Look, feel…” she encouraged, lightly running her fingertips along her shin.


I looked, already knowing what she was talking about, but felt anyway. There were a few small hairs that were beginning to sprout on her skin. It was identical to the tiny, soft hairs that had begun to grow on her arms too.


“I don’t shave, babe…I wax.”


I nodded, already knowing that she didn’t shave. I was the one that had made sure she didn’t have a razor because I didn’t want her to shave in the shower and risk an accident happening. A little knick could occur so easily, and it would turn into a disaster.


“What do you wax, love?”


“Legs, arms, pits, and puss,” she told me with a little nod, picking up the bottle of powder and shaking it. “Come on, sexy…I’m ready. It’s gotta be done every two weeks, and I‘m a bit late; hence, these fuckin annoying little hairs. Go heat up the jar, honeybunnnz - thirty five seconds, please,” she said, dismissing me from the room with a little wave of her hand.


“Alright,” I muttered, then went downstairs to the kitchen and stuck the jar in the microwave.


While I waited the thirty five seconds for the jar to finish heating up, I heard the loud thumping sound of my speakers upstairs. Emmett quirked his eyebrow at me as Nine Inch Nails ‘Closer’ began to play. Loudly. I just shrugged at him as the microwave beeped at me.


Taking the heated jar out of the microwave, I went back upstairs to my love, only to find that she was sitting on the bed with the hem of her black nighty rolled up around her waist. Her bare legs were on full display and her panties were still on…I just didn’t know how long they were going to stay on.


I placed the jar by her side on the nightstand and gestured to the stereo. “Closer?”


She nodded and grabbed the remote, pausing the music for a second. “Yeah, Edward, um, listen…this is something I usually do alone. Like, in private,” she told me.


I furrowed my brow. “I’m not leaving-” I started before she cut me off with a little shake of her head.


She smirked. “Alright then…suit yourself,” she said, clicking the loud music back on and grabbing the jar of stuff off the nightstand.


I watched as she applied the caramel colored substance to the skin along her shin bone and placed a strip of papery cloth on top of it. I furrowed my brow in confusion when she placed a rolled up blue wash cloth in her mouth and bit down on it, but her muffled scream a second later made perfect sense.


Waxing hurt, apparently.


I growled at the jar before I could stop myself.


Marie took the cloth out of her mouth and panted a little, trying to breath through the pain, I guess. “Still wanna stick around?” she asked over the music, rubbing a little bit of a white, creamy substance on the now reddened skin.


I just nodded and gently shoved her hand away so that I could rub the lotion on for her, hoping that my cool touch could provide some extra relief.


Marie took the popsicle stick-looking instrument and gathered some more wax onto it, then applied that wretched substance right next to where I had rubbed the lotion. She applied two strips this time, but forgot the cloth, so when she ripped the first strip, a string a profanities came out of mouth.


“HolymotheroffuuuuUCK!!!” she shouted, squeezing her eyes shut and panting heavily as a tear slipped through the corner of her eye.


Aw, my poor-


An ear-piercing scream ripped out of her throat then, completely interrupting my thought process as she relentlessly tore at that second strip.


Fuck!


I gasped as I felt the anxiety tighten in my chest. “Marie!” I yelled, leaning forward and enveloping her in my arms. “Baby, are you oka-” I started, but she cut me off.


“I’m not a baby, Edward,” she told me, clenching her jaw shut and holding back a whimper. It came out anyway.


Right. This is Marie, not Isabella.


I nodded. “I know that…I know you‘re not a baby, love. But are you okay?” I asked, concern etched all over my features.


She nodded and reached for that damn popsicle stick again.


Oh no…


And so it went on. She screamed and cried and bit down on that cloth while she applied hot wax to all her limbs and ripped the papery strips off with abandon. I held her when I could and wiped the tears away from her cheeks, doing my best to keep her vision clear while my stereo repeatedly pumped out “I wanna fuck you like an animal”. Yes, she had put the song on repeat. Why? I have no fucking clue.


Now she was laying on her back with her arms raised above her head. Her red rimmed chocolate eyes were pleading with me to do this. She wanted me to wax her armpits for her. I shook my head, saying that I couldn’t do it, like, four times already, but she kept insisting, saying that if I could spank her, then I could do this. She said that both actions intentionally caused her pain, whether I wanted them to or not, and that the only difference between this and a spanking, is that she wanted it to happen.


“Please, Edward?” she whispered.


No, not that word…


I was suddenly very angry. Why can’t I ever resist her? My mate can be so goddamn persuasive with that one little word. Fuck me and fuck my life and fuck Marie for making me do this!


I clenched my jaw and applied a thin layer of warm wax to her sensitive skin. “Marie, I love you…” I assured her when a quiet part of the song came on.


She sighed at the warmth. “Love you, too…”


Once the weird paper was placed on top of both patches of wax, I balled up the wash cloth and gently placed it in her open, awaiting mouth. Her white teeth bit down on the blue fabric as I brushed her sweaty bangs away, and leaned forward to place a cool kiss to her jaw. “Just nod when you’re ready,” I whispered to the shell of her ear, so she could hear me over the song.


After a second, she nodded, so I ripped, and she screamed.


I ripped both the small patches at the same time, wanting it to be over as soon as possible, but my efforts didn’t lessen her pain at all, apparently. I immediately applied the cool, creamy lotion to her skin, wanting to relieve her discomfort as soon as possible.


Seventeen seconds later, her breathing had calmed and she had lowered her arms back down to her sides. When she sat up, a tear spilled out of her eye and I wiped it away for her. She sniffled a little and went for the waistband of her panties, but I grabbed her wrists and stopped her.


“No.”


Mine.


She rolled her eyes. “Edward, I always do my-”


“Not this time,” I told her with a shake of my head.


She cocked her head to the side a bit and asked in a soft voice, “Why?”


I let go of her wrists and grabbed the stereo remote to shut the music off. Once the room was enveloped in a deafening silence, I gently cupped her sex through her panties, feeling ridiculously protective of this part of her right now, and said, “Because this is mine, Marie, and I don’t want you hurting it.”


Her breath rushed out of her lungs and that’s when I felt it. Her panties were slightly damp. I furrowed my brow and inhaled deeply through my nose, tasting the scent surrounding the room, only to find that it was permeated with the tang of my mate’s arousal.


What the hell?


This was the first time I was noticing it because I hadn’t been breathing before. The sounds of my mate’s distress had caused my chest to tighten with anxiety and I had stopped breathing like twenty minutes ago, wanting to hold my breath until her screams had stopped.


I kept my hand in place and leaned forward a bit to whisper in her ear, “Marie,
do you like this?”


“Yes,” she hissed out.


“Why?” I asked curiously in a soft voice, moving my palm away and replacing it with my fingertips.


She was silent while I let my fingers lightly trace the outline of her bare folds through her sheer, black panties. I sat back and stared into her eyes, wondering what she was thinking…how her mind worked…why this whole scream/pain fest had aroused her.


Was it the song?


Was it the pain?


Is my sassy seventeen year old a masochist?


She moved her right hand then, and put it on my wrist, and when I realized that she wasn’t trying to push my hand away, but trying to make my fingers press harder onto her sensitive skin, I subtly shook my head and scolded, “Put your hands to your sides and keep them there.”


She complied with a slight moan and I took this new piece of information in…what that moan could possibly mean.


She likes being scolded and told what to do when she’s…aroused?


I kept up a feather-light touch and started to trace her panty line on either side of her inner thighs. “Talk to me, Marie…tell me why you like this,” I demanded, since that whole ‘authorative voice’ seemed to be working for her right now.


Weird.


She bit her lip and my eyes zeroed in on the action. I used my free hand to cup her cheek and pull her bottom lip free with my thumb, before I leaned forward and kissed her. “Tell me, sweetheart…tell me why you like this,” I murmured against her lips, pulling away again to stare into her lustful, chocolatey eyes.


“Mmm…I’m not like my sweet, pretty Bell, Edward,” she told me in a breathy voice I’d never heard before.


It was sexy as hell.


“I like pain…the sound of a scream. To be able to cry and scream like that? It’s a fucking awesome stress reliever,” she informed me before asking with a smirk and a challenging eyebrow, “Can you make me scream?”


I smirked back and started circling her little clit with my fingertip. “I. Just. Did,” I reminded her in a soft, taunting voice.


She nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you did…and it was fucking amazing.”


A sudden feeling a relief mixed in with the confusion and apprehension I was feeling at the moment. I hadn’t really hurt her when I ripped the wax paper from her armpits. She liked it.


My beautiful little weirdo.


“Why this kind of pain though, love?”


Instead of answering me, she subtly pushed her hips into my hand, and I withdrew my fingers a little bit, not wanting to let her take control of this.


She scowled at me and I glared at her.


I‘m in charge; she should know that by now.


“It’s not just the pain of a wax, Edward,” she told me then with a little shake of her head before she squinted her eyes up at me. “You know, if you’d finger me while you were giving me one of those petty little spankins you seem to like so much, then those would be sexy as fuck, too,” she told me.


I raised my eyebrows at her. “You want a spankin, Marie? Is that what you’re saying?”


She was the one to lean in and whisper in my ear this time. “Only if you finger fuck me and pull my hair while you’re at it,” she told me, taking my earlobe in her hot little mouth and nibbling on it a little.


Fuck me.


I fisted the shoulder length hair at the back of her head and went up on my knees, bringing her limp body with me before she could take another breath. I actually felt a shiver of lust run up my spine when she nibbled on my ear like that. Just something about having her teeth on me…god, it is the most incredible feeling in the world.


Her next breath came out as a gasp of surprise, and I chuckled as I latched my mouth onto her neck. I growled against her skin and held her to my chest, keeping my fist tight in her hair. My instincts were beginning to take over and I needed to show my dominance over my mate.


My Bella had learned…and now Marie would too. And something tells me she’s going to like this side of me.


“You like that?” I purred, tugging on her hair a little as I began to gently suck on the delicious piece of skin outlining her jugular.


She made a throaty moaning noise that made my dick immediately harden in my jeans. “Ohhh, fuck…yesss,” she hissed.


I nodded and took her little earlobe in my mouth this time, then released it with a small pop, and increased the pressure of my middle finger as it continued to circle her tiny clit. “Your panties are in my way,” I whispered darkly in her ear, taking the opportunity to lick her neck, getting it ready for me to mark.


“Then fucking rip them off!” she demanded.


I chuckled and fisted the tiny string of fabric at the side and did just that, landing a firm swat to her left ass cheek when I was through. I immediately began kneading her warm flesh afterwards, wanting to rub the sting out as soon as possible because I didn’t want to actually hurt her.


I decided that I’d have to read up on the topic of erotic spankings as soon as possible, but I was pretty sure that I got the gist of it already.


She moaned. “Mmmm…have I been a bad girl, Edward?” she purred when she felt the resounding slap of my hand against her flesh again a second later.


Um, no. Not really.


“Yes,” I replied, playing along. “Naughty,” I growled playfully.


She giggled breathlessly. “Then teach me a lesson,” she challenged in a snarky tone.


I took my hand away from her ass and brought it back around to the front of her, wanting to tease her clit some more as my lips began to suck and mark that thin piece of flesh on her enticing neck.


I held her to me and kept her immobile while I dipped my middle finger inside of her. I delighted in the moans and whimpers that she breathed in my ear and rewarded her responsiveness with another finger, then started to circle that pretty little clit with the pad of my thumb.


Fuck, she is gorgeous.


“Good girl.”


Her aroused state just made her scent that much richer, and her blood rushed in her veins, singing to me…just for me, only for me. I licked at the sheen of sweat that had gathered on her neck by her shoulder and worked my fingers faster, pounding harder into her at her whimpered request.


When I felt her inner walls begin to contract around my fingers, I gave another little sharp tug on her hair and sucked dangerously hard on her neck, wanting to prolong the taste of her in my mouth, but I pulled back a second later, wanting even more to see her beautiful face as she climaxed for me.


I watched the goosebumps ignite along her skin at the sharp pull and even went as far as gently pinching her clit for added stimulation, since she appeared to like things a little rough.


I smiled and purred in content when that elicited a loud “Fuck!” and a satisfied moan from her, then slowed my fingers to a snail’s pace as she contracted and climaxed around them. Her once rigid, high-strung body, was now turning limp and soft as she relaxed into my touch. I kept my fingers slow, sliding in and out of her as she came down from her high. She let out a tiny whimper and a soft sigh as I lightly brushed my thumb over her now hypersensitive, wet little clit.


I chuckled and kissed my mark on her neck, then lightly peppered them all the way up to her ear, where I finally murmured, “You’re beautiful.”


“And you’re fuckin sexy,” was her blunt reply.


I chuckled again and kissed her forehead, removing my hand from her sex and bringing it up to my mouth. She stayed cradled to my chest and watched, entranced, as I sucked and slowly licked her juices from my fingers, savoring the sweet freesia taste of my mate.


Delicious.


She distractedly licked her lips as she watched mine and I smirked, deciding to let her have a little taste too. I leaned forward and placed a gentle, chaste kiss to her pouty lips and she moaned into my mouth, right before she let her warm little tongue peek out and glide along my bottom lip.


“Yummy,” she remarked in a whisper.


I know.


I smiled and smacked her ass again. “Go take your shower, love.”


She nodded and kissed me again before she hurried to break away from our embrace and hop down off the bed. She snatched her ripped panties from the floor, then skipped off towards the bathroom. “Be out in a minute!” she called before closing the door behind her.


I shook my head at her retreating form and quickly adjusted my pants before I got off the bed, as well. I cleaned up Marie’s waxing mess, and threw all the used strips, along with the empty glass jar, in the trash.


After I straightened out the covers, I grabbed a cat toy and tried to coax the little bugger out from underneath the bed. It had apparently went into hiding after Marie’s groans and screams started. After a minute, I decided that I sucked when it came to kittens because the damn thing kept cowering away in fear of me. And I guess that would make sense because I practically had a bright red neon sign on my forehead that flashed and screamed ‘Predator’ to it.


Oh well. My mate can deal with the feline.


I left the kitten alone then, and a minute later, I found that Marie had chosen to go soulful this afternoon when Alicia Keys ’When You Really Love Someone’ came blaring through the boom box speakers in the bathroom. The shower spray came on and I listened to her melodic voice sing along as I tried to pick an outfit for her to put on when she was done. I wanted it to be comfortable because I knew that my mate would be napping soon.


She was worn out when we left the hospital, and I’m sure a waxing session and an orgasm had only added to her exhaustion, no matter how much Marie wanted to hide it. I saw it in her soft, chocolate eyes while I was holding her limp body against mine a minute ago.


My baby was tired.


I ended up picking some soft cotton black sweat pants and a white Nike t-shirt that was one size too big. I double checked the tag, and it said Medium on it, so I knew that it would be loose fitting and comfortable on my small girl. I also grabbed a pair of socks out of the drawer.


All of my mate’s alternates, my Bella included, didn’t seem to mind wearing socks and shoes…it was only Isabella that had insisted on playing and walking around the house barefoot. I contemplated on her being the one to return to me after the shower.


Hmmm…


Yes, I would make her wear the socks, too. It was cool in the house and only 68 degrees outside today. She would need to keep warm.


It was still Marie in there right now, though, and she was singing her little heart out.


I smiled. She was just so care-free, and fun-spirited, and uninhibited. I loved her so much, and I was beginning to get excited at the differences between her and my Bella. Those were the two personalities that I could safely have a sexual relationship with, and while my Bella is shy and sweet, Marie is more blunt and adventurous. She gets straight to the point and she seems to want to explore things that are a little bit out of the norm. Her apparent needs call to the more natural side of me…she wants me to take control and to dominate…be a little rough with her. Granted, what I had shown her today was nothing compared to what I am capable of, but she seemed to enjoy it a lot.


Yes…I would have a lot of fun playing with her.


She came out of the bathroom then, wrapped in only a towel, and headed straight for the dresser.


“Marie, hun…your clothes are right here,” I informed her, pointing to the spot by the foot of the bed.


She turned and walked over to the bed, then snatched the clothes up in her small, damp hand. “Thanks. And it’s Joey,” she said, clutching the clothes to her chest, and turning to walk right back to the bathroom.


I widened my eyes. So Joey wants to come around now?


Fine. That’s okay. That fine.


The music cut off just as a loud, “What the fuck!” fell from his lips.


I furrowed my brow and stared at the door, wondering what had gotten him so upset in the past three seconds. I listened to the fabric of the towel furiously sliding over my mate’s skin, followed by the sound of her getting dressed. A minute later, Joey emerged and came right up to me.


“Does Bella own a sports bra?”


I bit my lip, taken aback by his sudden and abrupt forwardness. “Um…yeah,” I muttered with a little nod.


He exhaled sharply and looked up at me expectantly. “Well?”


I nodded. “Right. I’ll go get it for you.”


While I was rummaging through the drawers for the only white sports bra that my Bella owned, I listened to Joey’s hushed ramblings. Phrases like “When the fuck did this happen” and “This is so gross” fell from his lips before I figured out what he was talking about. I stared at the small piece of clothing in my hand and concluded that Joey was not happy about my Bella’s beautiful breasts.


With a little chuckle at the absurdity of the situation, I turned around and handed the bra over. “Here ya go-”


“Thanks,” he clipped, cutting me off as he scrutinized the white fabric in his hand. “This should do the trick…” he muttered, then jogged off, right back into the bathroom.


When he came out, I offered him the socks and he slipped them on with ease, but there was still a frustrated look on his face, so I decided to talk to him.


“What’s up, Joey?”


He scoffed. “Right, like you don’t know…” he muttered.


I sighed. “Do you wanna talk about it?” I asked.


He looked up at me and stood from the bed. “About what?”


“…whatever’s bothering you,” I hedged.


“Bella grew tits, that’s what’s bothering me!” he shouted, grabbing the left one in his palm before letting his hand fall back down to his side. “When the fuck did that happen? And who’s the dude with the yellow hair that hurt Isabella this morning? You let a strange man touch us?” he asked, getting more upset. “What the fuck, Edward - I thought we were friends!”


I furrowed my brow. “Joey, woah…calm down-”


“You calm down!” he shot right back. “You’re not the guy walkin around with tits on his chest!”


Oh my god.


I bit the inside of my cheek to fight a smile and went on as if he hadn’t said anything. “Bella is a girl, Joey, you know that. Her body just did it’s natural thing - and I’m sorry if that upsets you. And as for that strange man? Joey…that is your doctor. My father. He won’t hurt you,” I assured him.


He glared at me. “Whatever,” he muttered, before sidestepping me and going over to his toy shelf.


I sighed in resignation and sat down on the bed. I watched Joey play with his Transformers toys and remote control Hummer for twenty minutes before I spoke up again, wanting to give him some time to cool off. “Hey there, buddy…”


He looked up from his Lego house with raised eyebrows and smiled at me. “Hm?”


I smiled back, glad that he seemed to be in a better mood now. “We still friends?” I softly hedged.


He nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. We’re buds for life,” he assured me, then went back to his game with the green and yellow Legos.


“Good…” I murmured, satisfied with his answer.


“You love our Bella, huh?” he asked after a minute, not taking his eyes away from his project.


I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Yes.”


“You want to fuck her too, yes?”


I exhaled sharply. “Joey, I-”


His eyes flicked up to mine then. “I mean, do you want to fuck Bella as well, or just Marie…” he trailed off in clarification.


After a few seconds, all I could do was nod. “Yes…I want to make love to Bella, as well.”


He furrowed his brow. “What’s the difference?”


I subtly shrugged. “One is casual and can be between two strangers, while the other is done out of love and is between two soul mates.”


He rolled his eyes. “Gooey stuff…” he muttered in disgust. “Whatever. I just wanted to know if you only wanted to fuck Bella and Marie, or all of us.”


I widened my eyes and was quick to reply to that. “Joey, that type of relationship is only for me and Bella. I will not have intercourse with Marie, or any of you guys, for that matter.”


He nodded. “Fine by me,” he replied, then started putting his Legos back in the bucket.


I should hope so.


“Um…Joey, you saw that?” I asked, then clarified a second later, “You saw what I did with Marie?”


He nodded and closed the lid on the bucket.


I was suddenly very intrigued and very apprehensive, all at the same time. “Um…what…what did you do when I was intimate with Marie like that?”


He shrugged and stood up, putting the bucket back on the blue shelf. “Watched.”


“What?” I breathed, slightly perplexed and not entirely comfortable with this revelation…at all


“We all watch.”


Fuck my life.


I just nodded dumbly and watched his movement as he walked over to me.


I was going to have to rethink being intimate with my mate, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to have to think twice and hesitate when I got the urge to taste her pussy.


That’s my pussy, goddamn it, and I can taste it whenever I want.


But is it good for Isabella and Hadassah to watch? Are they scared? Disgusted? Confused?


Do they even care?


Isabella doesn’t seem to mind…but at the same time, she’s never brought it up.


When Joey and I were finally face to face, he said in all seriousness, “I don’t like people with yellow hair, Edward. I don’t like cameras and I’ll break your camcorder if I ever find out you have one. I don’t like racist fucks, and I don’t like Nazis. Isabella’s about to catch a beat down if she calls me a kike one more motherfuckin time. Understand? So just keep your Daddy away from me, Edward, and we’ll get along just fine.”


I furrowed my brow, concerned. “Joey, my dad-”


“Don’t make excuses for them, Edward,” he interrupted me, shaking his head. “I’ve had plenty of experiences to know that the yellow-haired fucks are racist Nazis, and that all dads are a bunch pedophilic pricks that get their nut by making me scream. Isabella doesn’t like them. And I don’t like them.”


I sighed and tried to explain again. “Joey, if you would just give him a chance, then-”


“Keep your Dad away, Edward,” he repeated, raising his voice over mine this time. He clenched his jaw and squinted his eyes into a slight glare, then said in a grim tone, “He looks like Jim. Bose.”


I subtly nodded, wanting to placate him but knowing that he couldn’t avoid my Sire forever. I was beginning to understand Isabella’s hatred for Carlisle more and more each day. It’s not just the hair…it’s that he has similar features to her abuser. This is going to be more complicated than I thought. “I’ll see what I can do…” I muttered in response.


He nodded in the same fashion, keeping eye contact with me for a minute longer before he turned to go downstairs. I followed after him and watched as he reached behind his head and quickly took the thin hair tie that had been around his wrist, and fastened it around the loose strands that were hanging over his shoulders.


Halfway down the steps, his pace slowed and he turned around to face me.


“Ed-ward?”


I smiled and picked up my baby girl, cradling her to my chest. “What’s up, baby?” I asked in a soft voice, kissing her rosy cheek.


“Hungry,” she whispered in my ear, like she was telling me a secret. She even cupped her mouth to my ear, and everything.


Adorable.


I nodded. “Okay, sweetness, let’s see about getting you a snack,” I told her while I walked through the living room, past Emmett and Rosalie.


Alice and Jasper were out hunting right now, while Carlisle was still at the hospital and Esme was up in her room. So they were the only other people in the house at the moment.


I sat Hadassah down on the countertop and pulled the purple pacifier out of my pocket, then handed it over to my little girl. She took it from me gratefully, and slipped it in between her puckered lips while I rummaged through the cabinets above her head to look for a light snack for my mate.


I eventually just grabbed a rice krispies treat and filled up her Disney princess cup with some apple juice and handed it to her.


She took the pacifier out of her mouth and happily chewed on the sweet treat while I opened the drawer to get a pill out of her small medicine bottle. I needed to get that dose of Prozac in her as soon as possible.


“Here, baby…” I said, placing the tiny pill in her outstretched hand. “Put this in your mouth and swallow it before you take another bite of your krispy.”


She nodded, but didn’t comply, only stared at it like she didn’t know what to do, so I decided to help her.


After I took the pill back in my own hand, I smiled encouragingly at her and said, “Show me your tongue.”


She giggled up at me and stuck her tongue out through slightly pursed lips.


I smiled, then remembered a common doctor trick and decided to put it to good use, so I congratulated her on showing me her tongue. “Good girl…now, can you open your mouth and say, ’ahhh’?”


She nodded and opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out a bit and breathed, “Ahhh…” in a soft voice.


Perfect.


“Good job!” I complimented again. “Now, I’m gonna put this on your tongue,” I told her, showing her the tiny white pill that I had pinched between my fingertips, “and you gotta drink your sippy cup until it goes all gone. Can you do that?” I asked in a light tone.


She nodded, waiting with a confidant look on her face and an open mouth to show me that she could complete any challenge I threw her way.


I placed the pill on the back on her pink tongue and told her, “Okay, now drink your sippy cup until the pill goes goodbye-bye.”


Yes, I had reverted to baby talk.


Shut up, it works.


She smiled at me and did as she was told, showing me an empty tongue when she was through, thoroughly proud of herself for completely those three tasks.


I put both my hands on the counter, on either side of her hips, and leaned in to kiss her soft rosy cheek. “Good job, sweetie pie…you did it. You’re such a good girl. I love you,” I told her in a soft voice.


“Love you too,” she replied with a mouth full of rice krispy.


I nodded and turned around to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge to bring back upstairs with us, but when I turned back around to face my little girl, I saw that she was slowly reaching for the electrical socket with a curious look on her face, and I acted on instinct…without thinking.


I reached for her wrist with a firm grim, then smacked the back of her hand. “No!” I scolded.


She immediately jumped, startled, and started crying. Loudly.

Damn it.


I sighed, thinking that a bit of baby-proofing around the house wasn’t that bad of an idea after all.


When Hadassah looked up at me with hurt and confusion in her sad, watery eyes, I pointed to the plug by the toaster, and said “That is bad, Hadassah,” I told her. “That will hurt you. Don’t touch it. It’s bad,” I reiterated.


Her only response was to cry some more, so of course, I immediately felt like an ass, and I picked her up off the counter to cradle her to my chest, then started shushing her. “Shhh…it’s okay baby. You’re okay,” I softly assured her in her ear. I kissed her cheek, and wiped some tears away with my free hand. “Shhh…”


I stood in the kitchen, holding her to me while we swayed and worked together to quiet her cries, and after a couple more sniffles, she pointed to the offending electrical socket and scolded, “No!”, yelling at it for it’s apparent ‘badness’, much like I had done to her a minute before.


I softly chuckled and kissed her cheek again. “That’s right, angel…those are bad.”


She nodded and fisted my shirt in her little hand. The hand that I had smacked. “Mm-hmm,” she hummed in agreement.


I grabbed her sippy cup with my free hand and took her back upstairs then, knowing that my mate still needed a nap. When we were in our bedroom, I moved her over to sit on my hip and let her hold her sippy cup while I wiped her face with a tissue and let her blow her nose into it.


After I got her all cleaned up, I decided to let her pick a movie for naptime, but then after she just silently shrugged at twelve movies, I threw that asinine idea out the window and picked one myself.


As soon as Prancer was loaded and playing on the flat screen, I sat down on the rocking recliner in the corner, and let my baby situate herself on my lap so that she was comfortable. She eventually ended up sitting next to me on the recliner, but kept herself tucked and snuggled into my side.


I lightly trailed my fingertips along her arm and occasionally played with her hair once I removed the hair tie that Joey had put in there a while ago. She sucked on her purple pacifier and sipped from her sippy cup while she quietly focused on the movie that I had picked out for her.


I eventually got the gist of it. It was a Christmas movie. And we were watching it in the Spring time. I was further reminded of how inappropriate my selection was when Hadassah piped up a second later with, “Santa’s comin, huh…”


I rolled my eyes and sighed, then kissed her temple, taking notice of her slightly puffy tired eyes and how she was relentlessly trying to keep them open. “Naptime, baby…” I trailed off the reminder.


She whimpered and twisted her body around, coming up on my lap to straddle me now, and bury her face in my neck. “Want Mommy…” she mumbled.


Aw.


“Shhh…” I shushed her, keeping up my slow rocking motion and rubbing her back.


“Want Daddy…” she mumbled in the same fashion.


Hmmm…


Well, this is new. Isabella and Marie hate my Bella’s parents…but Hadassah appears to miss them. I wonder how Joey feels about them.


“Edward?”


I decided to put that train of thought aside and deal with it later, so that I could focus on my little girl and her usual game of twenty questions. “Yes, baby?”


“You’re mine, huh?” she chirped.


I smiled and gently patted her back, rubbing small circles into it. “Yes, Isabella, I’m your’s.”


“Mm-hmm, yah-huh…and Edward?”


“Yes, angel?”


“I’m your’s, huh?”


Mine.


“Yes,” I assured her for what seemed to be the millionth time in the past three weeks.


“Edward?”


“Yeah?”


“My baby kitty’s mine too, huh?”


I looked at the napping cat in the corner. “Mm-hmm, she’s your’s and Hadassah’s, baby girl,” I confirmed.


She nodded and after a few seconds, spoke up again. “Edward?”


“Hmm?”


“Bella is sad,” she said simply.


I sighed. “I know…” I murmured sadly.


“Yeah…and Edward?”


“Yes?”


“What’s this movie?” she asked, twisting around slightly to look at the flat screen.


I gently palmed the back of her head and coaxed it back down to my shoulder. “Prancer,” I replied.


“And it’s got Santa in it too, huh?”


“Yes.”


“And Edward?”


“Hmm?”


“He’s comin to give me presents soon, huh?”


I chuckled. “At Christmas time, yes he is.”


“Mm-hmm…and Edward?


“Yes, angel?


“I love you.”


Aw.


I kissed her hair and ran my fingers through it. “I love you too, baby girl.”


She stuck her thumb in her mouth then, and fell silent, and I was thankful for that because she really needed to get some rest. Her body’s movements were slowing down and her speech had been slightly slurred.


I loosened her little hand’s grip on the princess sippy cup and placed it on the side table, then took the pacifier out of her other hand and stuffed in it my pocket for today’s later use. I lightly traced the pink-tinged skin on the top of her hand and brought it to my lips for a soft kiss, regretting having to smack Hadassah earlier today.


Ugh, will I ever get this parenting crap right?


“Mine,” came a soft whispered sigh as my little angel slipped over the brink of unconsciousness a second later.


I smiled and turned my attention back to the tv, resolving to rock my mate and watch the Christmas movie until she woke up and we did this all over again.

Bose = Evil