Cakewalk
Disclaimer: First of all, not mine. Not in the least. The only things I own are a nice little townhome, a dog, and hopefully a truck by the end of the week. The one I want is yellow. I'm so naming it Alice.
Summary: Pure fluff. With extra fluff. This is slightly out of sequence with the stories but it basically somewhere in Eclipse. I wanted to do a Mother/Daughter fluff scene with Bella and Esme making a cake. The only reason I could come up with for Bella making a cake was to have a fund raiser of some sort so...hence the Senior Trip that never happened in the books!
It's slowly turning into an entire Family Fluff scene. What was supposed to be two chapters is starting to look like it will be six or more. Me and my silly ideas…
Chapter 4
I buried my head into Edward's chest, savoring the last few seconds I would have before I had to go play beauty shop. I knew what would happen. Alice and Rosalie would come upstairs and put their bags away. Alice would, a minute after they arrived in the house, come up to Edward's room, kidnap me, and dress me up like her favorite doll. It was pointless to even try and put up a fight. I'd pout anyways.
Edward whispered into my hair, "I won't let her take you." I just pouted in response. I knew that even Edward could not save me from Alice. She'd guilt trip him just like she'd guilt trip me. She was very good at that. I think it was a secondary talent.
"Damn right! We will save you from the clutches of evil Alice," Emmett announced. I turned slightly just in time to see Jasper punch Emmett on the arm. "Hey!" Emmett said to his brother. "I'm just saying…"he continued, now re-taking up his interest in the floor.
Jasper seemed to think for a moment. At this point, even I could hear the sounds of the car pulling up the gravel road. As a smile slowly spread on Jasper's face, Edward gently released me and went over to his two brothers. "Gentlemen, I believe we have a mission," Jasper said. Edward and Emmett both looked like two good little soldiers suddenly in front of Major Jasper Whitlock Hale. I felt a small smile pull at my lips as I sat down on the floor to watch this unfold.
Jasper paced, slowly, in front of his two brothers. "Our mission," Jasper started. Emmett had to pipe in "If you choose to accept it!" That got him an elbow from Edward. Jasper ignored them. "Is to protect Bella from the enemy," he said before turning to his…er…men.
"I realize that the very beloved enemies in this case will cause us more problems later on," he said sadly. Looking at Emmett –who was hanging his head- Jasper put a hand on his shoulder. "I know this will be hard on you, given that one of the enemies is your own wife," he told him softly. "It will be hard on me too given my relationship with the other little imp," he said, releasing Emmett's shoulder. Edward grinned. I let out a small giggle…until I heard the car doors closing.
Worriedly, I looked towards the windows. Not that I could see anything given that I was still very much on the floor. In fact, I was sitting down on the third floor so I could only see the very green, very wet leaves of the trees outside the window. Alice would be here any minute.
Jasper continued, "We will not allow either of the enemies to capture and torture Bella. We know our enemies tactics. We know the stubborn will-power that feeds Rosalie and we know exactly how Alice will attempt to use anything she can to her advantage. We must remain strong, men, in the face of these two exceptional adversaries."
I watched as Jasper slowly walked over to me. "Don't worry Bella. We will protect you from curling irons and charmeuse silk dresses," he told me, a smile clearly playing behind his serious façade.
"Thank you," I whispered. It was Edward who gently pulled me up from the floor and pulled me behind him. I knew that the girls had made it into the house by now and was scared that, despite the words, Major Jasper and his men would crumble at the site of Rosalie's glares and Alice's guilt trip. Of course, that was assuming Rosalie would help Alice in her mission. Something told me she would if for no other reason then to annoy me.
The boys…err…soldiers gathered in front of Edward's doorway. I stayed behind them. In all honesty, I wasn't that scared of playing dress up. I did like how I typically turned out. Also, I didn't want the Emmett or Jasper to suffer for going up against their wives but at the same time, the boys seemed to enjoy playing war…a lot. And who was I to put up the white flag and hand myself over to the enemy? I couldn't ruin their fun.
It was incredibly quiet before a small blur of white danced into Edward's room. Another blur stopped at the doorway. Rosalie looked directly at Emmett and glared. Alice, on the other hand, attempted to break through the front line by simply going around them. It was a futile attempt. Jasper, who was closest to her, stepped quickly in front of her.
Alice looked up at the blond Cullen boy confused. "No, Alice," he told her firmly. Those were two words I never thought I'd hear out of Jasper's mouth in the direction of Alice. It was shocking to say the least.
Alice's eyes narrowed. She knew our plans. She knew the decisions we had all made…and probably a few we were going to make. She looked to me and then to Edward, and finally to Jasper. Her eyes went from a menacing stare to sweet and forlorn. "All I want to do is play with Bella," she said sadly.
Those doe filled eyes turned to me. I swear, if she could, she would so be cranking out the tears. "Don't you want to play with me, Bella?" she asked with such pain written across her face, I almost surrendered right then.
"Aww, Alice," I started. Jasper turned his head to me. "Don't give in Bella! Stand your ground!" the Major ordered. Immediately, I stood a little straighter. My guess was that Jasper was playing with my emotions and sent a slight bit of confidence my way. I'd have to thank him later.
I tried to think of a way out of this without getting random glares from Alice for the next week. "I need to make cakes today. They aren't anywhere close to done," I told her. Her eyes began to narrow. There had to be a way out of this! I smiled to myself as I thought up the perfect excuse; or at least, I thought it was perfect.
"Alice," I started. I looked at her sweetly. Heck, it worked on everyone else it seemed when I tried really hard to be well, cute. "I just don't want to ruin all your hard work when I just have to go back downstairs and finish the other cakes," I told her. "I'll get flour all over the place and icing too." That should do it. The front line smiled as Alice scowled.
"Fine, you four win this battle," Alice said angrily. "But this is so not over," she told them. She stormed out of Edward's room motioning for Rosalie to follow. Rosalie had stood in the doorway the entire time, glaring down poor Emmett. Now that the battle was over, Emmett only hung his head, refusing to meet his wife's gaze. Rosalie turned and humphed down to the second floor.
Three pairs of golden eyes turned to me. Rather than being worried about the wrath of Alice and Rosalie, they all looked to be smiling. "Don't worry, Bella. Alice is going to go plan and then try to kidnap you. She isn't mad," Edward told me, his eyes dancing.
"Mad? She's wants to play as badly as we do!" Jasper informed us. This got a determined grin from Emmett.
"We are going to win this!" Emmett stated triumphantly.
It was about that time when their heads all turned back towards the door. I was worried until I heard Esme's voice call up "Bella?" I kind of heard something along the lines of "the cakes are done" but I wasn't sure. I managed to get out of Edwards grip on my hand and head at a hurried human pace to the stairs.
Honestly, I am surprised. I managed to make it down the first flight without a single problem. I almost made it down the second flight until that last stair. I tripped, on air of course, and fell face first into a….wall? I felt two familiar hands grab my elbows. "Hello, Bella," Carlisle said, amused. Once he was sure I was righted and wouldn't fall down, again, he let go.
"Hi, Carlisle," I mumbled, blushing. Emmett, of course, laughed.
Carlisle took in the scene before him. Myself and three of his children heading down the stairs to the kitchen. He raised an eyebrow in question at all of us. "We're making a cake!" Emmett stated.
"And we are conducting a reconnaissance mission," Jasper told him seriously. I'm pretty sure Edward just shook his head and smiled at the unheard questions Carlisle had in his head. I sighed, exasperated. I did not like the conversations that I couldn't even hear.
After only a few seconds, Carlisle looked back at me, a smile tugging at his lips. "Go on, Bella. Esme is waiting," he said trying very hard not to laugh.
I quickly went around him and managed to enter the kitchen. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett were hot on my heels. Esme was just opening the oven to take out the cakes. "Did you check them?" I asked as I went to hop up on the barstool.
"Check them?" Esme questioned, stopping herself from pulling out the two very yummy smelling cakes.
"Yeah, you have to stick a toothpick or a knife into the cakes first to make sure they are done all the way," I told her as I hopped back down and managed to move through the boys, around the island, and over to the oven.
Esme moved to let me stab the two cakes carefully. The chocolate was done but the yellow still had a few more minutes. "The chocolate is okay but we should leave the yellow in," I told her as I looked for an oven mitt. I wondered if vampires even needed oven mitts. They probably did given the whole fire/burnt to a crisp kills a vampire thing.
Esme had an oven mitt already on her hand. She quickly pulled the chocolate cake out placed it on a hot plate on the counter. I closed the oven door and turned to the cake before me. Esme gently squeezed my shoulders. "What kind of icing do you want to put on it?" she asked.
"Probably the vanilla but we need to wait until the cake is room temperature," I told her. She nodded in response.
"Do you actually eat that?" Emmett said, his nose all crinkled up.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Chocolate cake is a great human food," I informed him. He just looked at me as if my hair had suddenly turned neon pink with green stripes.
"You are not going to survive this," Jasper said to him. I looked at Jasper, and then Emmett. My mind went back to the fact they wanted to make their own cake with me helping. There was still something else going on here.
"I will pummel you, Jasper," Emmett replied.
"Boys," Esme warned. She gave the mother stare. I know that stare. Every child knows that stare. It's the I-am-Mom-and-can-make-your-life-miserable stare. Renee gave it to me a couple of times, or at least tried. It's not fun to be on the receiving end of that stare.
They both got quiet for all of a second. Then Emmett started to very gently touch the cake. "Emmett!" I yelled at him, getting a couple of giggles from the others in the room.
"What?" he asked back, still bouncing his finger lightly off and on the cake.
"Stop that!" I automatically smacked his hand away. Of course, all it got me was more laughter and a throbbing hand. I shook it and glared at him. Emmett did move his hand away from the cake, but only to grin playfully menacing at me.
"Emmett! Bella! Remember our goal here," Jasper said back in Major mode. I just looked at him and Emmett sighed.
"We need to keep the enemy at bay," Jasper reminded me. Oh, right. Alice just finished shopping and wants to dress me up like I'm a paper doll.
"Enemy?" Esme whispered worriedly.
"Alice and Rosalie," Edward told Esme off-handedly. "They want to kidnap Bella," he said as he picked up one of the spoons that was still on the counter to play with. Esme visibly relaxed.
"They are going to torture her! With hair dryers!" Emmett told Esme, trying his hardest to sound alarmed.
"And they are going to force all sorts of paints on her face," Jasper told his mom solemnly. Esme bit back her laughter.
I crossed my arms and huffed. "It's not funny," I grumbled, not at all amused by this. Edward quickly came around and wrapped his arms back around me. "Don't worry, love. We won't let them get you," he told me. I relaxed instantly thanks to Edward. Jasper smirked again.
I glared at him and Emmett again. "If you two think it's so funny," I started, still in the safety of Edward's arms. "Then you can bake your cake yourselves with no help from me," I told them. Leverage, ha!
Both their faces fell instantly. "Please, Bella, you've got to help us!" Emmett begged me.
"We'll protect you from Rose and Alice," Jasper told me. "But we really do need your help," he added.
I eyed the pair warily. "Fine," I told them. They both instantly smiled again. Jasper looked to Edward. "Edward, I need you to search and hold on to Alice's position. See if you can find out what she's planning," the Major began. Edward was clearly conflicted on leaving me. "We've got her," Jasper told him.
"Yeah, besides, Esme will help us! Right, Mom?" Emmett asked her, trying to persuade her to join our side of this mini war.
Esme thought for a moment. We all looked up to her, hoping she would join us. I really hoped she wouldn't remain neutral, or worse, join the other side. This was too important to me and I needed my second mother on my side. I would not play Extreme Makeover today. I just wouldn't!
"If it's to protect Bella, yes," she said carefully followed by a bunch of joyous shouts.
"Thanks, Esme," Edward said before kissing me on the forehead and going to find Alice. I watched after him longingly getting another roar of laughter from Emmett and another smirk from Jasper. Esme simply put her arm over my shoulders. "Do you want to start on the white cake?" she asked.
"Can we start on our cake?" Emmett asked hopefully. I bit my bottom lip, trying to decide. Should I work with Esme on the cake I need to get done for the cakewalk or should I work on the cake that my two soon to be brothers so want my help with?
"Why don't you work on the cake with the boys?" Esme mused. "We can always work on the white cake tomorrow. The fair isn't until Friday, right dear?" she asked to make sure.
"Thanks, Esme," I told her sincerely. I didn't have to decide. I'd help the boys and still get to spend time with Esme tomorrow.
"That means you'll help us right now?" Emmett asked hopefully.
"Go get the powdered sugar for the icing. I don't want to forget about it," I told him, nodding in response to his question.
"Yes!" he boomed and bounded out of the kitchen. He was up the stairs in a flash.
I turned to Jasper. "Where's the cake mix you got?" I asked him.
"Right over here," he said, going to the pantry to pull the solitary box of cake mix out. The pantry was pretty bare given that the only other thing in there was my instant hot chocolate and a bag of chips. Jasper placed it on the island across from me.
Esme got out a new mixing bowl. I wasn't sure but it looked older than Charlie, which meant I wasn't about to touch it. It would shatter, I would get cut, it would cause chaos, and Esme would be devastated that one of her antiques was gone forever. I couldn't do that to Esme.
Emmett came back with three boxes of powdered sugar. "Is this enough?" he asked me.
"We really only need one box so that's fine," I informed him. I looked both of the Cullen boys before me. "Okay, do you two really want to make a cake?" I asked them just to make sure.
"Yes'm," I heard Jasper say.
"Duh, Bella," was Emmett's reply. That got him a stern look from Esme. "Emmett!"
He looked back at me sheepishly, "Sorry, Bella."
"Well, then you two are going to make the cake," I told them, holding back a smile. "I'm simply going to give you the instructions and you'll have to do all the mixing, stirring, and baking."
Emmett looked a bit surprised but Jasper immediately went into Major Whitlock mode. He was going to take this as a soldier getting orders. Emmett picked up on that and straightened up too.
"So ummm, what do we do first?" Emmett asked.