A/N: So, in following with the staff of the Twilight Lexicon, this fic is officially closed until further notice. There are just too many obsessed people in the fanfiction world. This is an intervention.
April Fool's Day! Okay, here's the story.
Little Angel's Charm
Sequel to Dark Secrets. As the Cullens return to the US to begin their first 'real' life with Celia, they realize just how much their family life is going to change. Life with an eternal 3-year-old takes some getting used to.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Twilight.
States-Bound
Alice stifled the scream of frustration as Celia started throwing a fit again outside the locked door. Maybe if she threw a fit, she'd finally get further than pulling off Jasper's shirt. She felt like throwing the worst tantrum this family had ever seen. Two years, five months, three weeks, six days, twelve hours and thirty-six minutes. That was how long it had been.
Jasper groaned softly, resting his forehead against her neck for a moment. "Eventually…" he said helplessly. "Eventually…"
"We are going to have to leave the property," Alice muttered. "It's never going to work as long as she's in the vicinity." Sighing, she groped to find his discarded shirt. "Put your shirt back on. I'll go unlock the door for her before Edward picks the lock again."
"Jas-per!" Celia shrieked unhappily.
Alice made a face at the closed door briefly before she opened it, scooping the little girl into her arms. "Celia Whitlock Hale, you are going to drive me crazy," she said affectionately. "What do you want that you couldn't possibly get from –"
"Celia!" Rosalie exclaimed, appearing in the hallway.
"Never mind," Celia said happily, looking over Alice's shoulder as if searching out Jasper. "I found them."
Emmett skidded to a stop behind Rosalie. "Sorry, man," he said apologetically, looking at Jasper. "We tried to keep the little monster distracted." He grinned at Alice, who was glaring at him again. "She won't distract so easily. She's gotten wise to our ploys."
"I'm hungry," Celia announced, reaching for Jasper.
"You're hungry?" Alice asked in mock exasperation.
Celia nodded seriously, eyes wide.
"That's all right," Carlisle said as the rest of the family entered the living room. "We're just about ready to leave, anyway. Everybody can hunt when we get to the mainland."
Jasper winced with a barely-audible groan. In response, Alice laughed and passed him Celia at her loud insistence.
"Jasper, don't fuss so much," Alice laughed, holding him back as Jasper moaned slightly. "She's fine."
"It goes against every single instinct I have…" Jasper groaned in distress, cringing when the monster-sized jaguar snarled and wheeled around to face the miniscule little girl giggling in its direction.
"Try and catch me, kitty," Celia laughed, darting out of the way easily as the jaguar lunged for her. "You missed again," she taunted. The jungle cat let out a fearsome, unearthly shriek and charged for a fourth time. Giggling, Celia ducked again and rolled out of its path, scrambling to her feet to pounce on the cat.
The jaguar yowled in frustration and shook violently, sending Celia flying through the air and slamming into a tree. Momentarily stunned, Celia sat at the base of the tree, eyes wide with shock.
That was the last straw for Jasper. Taking off with a defensive growl, he took down the jaguar within seconds.
Celia wriggled her way under his arms to the jagged wound on the cat's neck. "You wreck all the fun," she grumbled to Jasper, putting her mouth to the dripping gash to drink.
"He does, doesn't he?" Alice agreed with an affectionate laugh and kiss to Jasper's cheek. "I told you not to worry," she murmured.
"Fine, you take down the next monster cat when I'm not around," Jasper muttered darkly. "Celia, share." Celia simply swatted at his arm crankily and kept drinking. "Celia –"
Alice kissed his cheek again. "I'm going to go hunt down something else. Be back in an hour."
"Come back sooner," Jasper called as she took off into the forest. Sighing, he turned back to the downed jaguar. Gently, he tugged Celia away from the wound. "Lee-lia, my turn."
"No!" Celia growled. "It's mine!"
"You're going to need to learn to share," Jasper said sternly, holding her back without much effort as he took a deep draught of the cat's blood. "This isn't going to be like Houston, where I could make something in the kitchen. Things can get very dangerous, very fast when we're hunting. You need to share your animals with whoever is hunting with you."
"It's mine!" Celia shrieked. "Let me finish!"
"Celia Eleanor Whitlock Hale!" Jasper finally snapped, turning her around to face him. "Why are you being so naughty all the time? What happened to the angel who used to listen to me?"
The little girl stamped her feet, frustration oozing out of her pores.
"Celia, tell me what's wrong," Jasper repeated, a little more softly. "I can't fix it if I don't know what's wrong."
"I'm hungry!" Celia spat out at last, revving up to a new tearless tantrum. "I'm hungry and I'm sleepy and I want Baby! I want to go back to Houston – it's too different here!"
Jasper frowned, wrapping his arms around her trembling body distractedly as she crumpled to the ground, burying her face against his front. 'Hungry', he understood. She always referred to her thirst as being 'hungry'. Wanting her doll, he understood. Wanting to go back to what was familiar, he understood. But 'sleepy'?
Sighing, he released her. "Finish up your dinner, Celia," he said quietly.
"Are you sure you've had enough, Jasper?" Alice asked softly as they entered the airport. "Your eyes aren't as –"
"I'll be fine, Lissy," Jasper murmured in reply, shifting Celia's weight to his other arm so that he could lean in and kiss Alice.
"All right…" Alice said doubtfully. "I still think you should've had one more…"
"I'll be fine, Alice," he repeated. "Celia, stop that," he continued, disentangling his little sister's fingers from his hair as she tugged his head away from Alice. "Behave for me, please."
"Jasper, I'm sleepy," Celia complained mildly.
"Close your eyes, then," Jasper finally replied with a sigh.
"It's too loud."
"Then stop whining."
"I want Baby."
"Celia Eleanor, what did I just say?"
The slightest twitch of a smile tugged at the edges of Alice's lips as she tucked herself against Jasper's free side, keeping an eye out for any of the others coming through the doors of the airport. "Edward, Bella, Jacob and Nessie should be arriving in a few minutes," she murmured. "Jazz, catch her."
"What?" Jasper said in momentary confusion, before Celia started to try and free herself from his arms to go after a man who had passed too close to them. "Celia, for God's sake! What have I told you?" he snapped, tightening his grip on the little girl.
"I want to go down, Jasper. I'm tired of being carried," Celia complained, settling back with a sigh of resignation. "Why can't I walk?"
"There's too many people here, Lee-lia. You know that," Jasper replied. "You watch for Edward and Bella, okay?"
"No, I want to go to sleep."
Alice frowned. "Jasper, what does she mean, 'sleep'?" she asked softly. "She doesn't actually…"
Jasper shook his head, rubbing Celia's back. "I don't know."
Celia let a huff of frustration escape, laying her head down against Jasper's shoulder as she closed her eyes. "He's coming in the door," she muttered darkly.
"Who?" Alice asked.
"The one who smells bad."
Jasper snorted briefly. "His name is Jacob, Lee-lia. Well, where Jacob is…"
"Oh, wow, you actually beat us here," Bella said in surprise as the group came to join them. "We thought for sure you'd be the last ones…" She stopped as she looked at Jasper. "Jasper, did you hunt at all?"
"Yes, I did," Jasper replied patiently. "Celia, keep your hands to yourself, and behave," he said, distracted by the little girl's unhappy snarl and swipe in Jacob's direction. The werewolf took a quick jump backwards, still eyeing Celia warily as Nessie intercepted her attempt to attack him.
Growling angrily, Celia took another shot at Nessie despite Jasper's stern reprimand. A warning snarl managed to escape Jacob's lips before Nessie shot a reassuring glance towards him. Edward stepped in smoothly, catching the little girl's hands before they dug into Nessie's more fragile skin: a run-in with a classmate one day almost thirty years ago had introduced them to Nessie's true fragility. Their initial assumption made at Nessie's birth had turned out to be tragically false – she wasn't impenetrable, the texture of her skin simply gave the illusion of granite. In reality… Nessie was just as susceptible as any normal human girl to injury. And flowing blood in a crowd of vampires in the airport wasn't such a good idea.
Edward winced slightly as Celia managed to puncture the palms of his hand. "That's enough, Celia," he said quietly, stern authority in every word. "It's not Jacob's fault that your mind is confused."
"What?" Jasper asked.
"Her mind hasn't caught up to her body's realities," Edward explained softly, rubbing his palms as Celia settled down into Jasper's arms again. "Even though her body is telling her that she doesn't need to sleep, her mind is still saying that it's dark outside, therefore she should be sleeping." He paused for a moment, studying Celia's angry frown thoughtfully. "There are good reasons why children aren't supposed to become like this."
Jasper and Alice both sighed in unison. Jasper set Celia down on the floor, kneeling in front of her so that he was eye-level with her. "Celia, listen to me. You cannot attack Jacob or Nessie because you're angry. You will hurt them very badly. Much more than you hurt Edward. They won't get better like we can."
"Celia, sweetie," Alice said softly, stopping when Celia clearly ignored her and reached instead for Jasper. The little girl's mood switched almost instantaneously from angry to repentant, golden eyes wide and lower lip trembling.
Sighing, Jasper scooped her back up into his arms and kissing her cheek lightly. "Are you going to behave for me now?" he asked gently. Celia nodded silently, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"We'll see how long that lasts," Jacob muttered darkly as he pulled Nessie into his arms protectively.