Chapter 4: The Princess and The Knight's Sister

"That's the living room and that's the kitchen, Anny can make some really good snacks when we get hungry. The bathroom is upstairs and so is our rooms. Come on, I can show you mine. I have a new bed and everything." Alicia hadn't stopped talking since we walked through the door.

As soon as the introductions had been made, Alicia had walked up to the stone faced Rosalie before grabbing her hand and taking her on a tour of the house. Rosalie's face had melted into a motherly grin as she was led around. It was a new side to the usually unresponsive girl.

I watched as Alisha pulled Rosalie up to a small table that she had in her room. She made Rosalie sit before putting a crown on her head and starting a tea party. I fought the urge to laugh, figuring that I would rather not piss her off. I moved to the kitchen, deciding that I would make some actually tea and get a few cookies so that Alicia could actually have her tea party.

Edward followed me as the other dispersed. Emmett and Jasper went to sit on the couch in the living room, looking rather odd. Alice went to join them. I put the kettle on the stove and grabbed a box of Oreos that we had. I grabbed a handful, setting them on a plate and turned to Edward. "Do you guys want anything to eat or drink?"

His lips twitched up into a small smile. "No thank you, we all had a big breakfast."

I shrugged it off and turned to the water that was heating up. I knew we had a small tea pot somewhere that Alicia liked to use, it was just the trouble of finding it. I quickly searched through the cupboards until I found it on one of the tops ones. I knew I wouldn't be able to reach it without climbing onto the counter or grabbing a chair. After seeing my luck today I think the chair would be the safer option.

I turned to grab it but by the time I turned back around Edward had the tea pot in his hands. I grabbed it from him, ignoring the grin he wore. Please, I wasn't even short, the cabinet was just really high up.

After the small snack was assembled, I carried the platter to Alicia's room and had to bite my lip to hold back another chuckle. Rosalie must really love kids. She was now wear a purple tutu, her hair combed and styled in two pigtails, not to mention the crown from earlier. Beside her, Alisha wore a cape and had a toy helmet on her head.

Alicia looked up, said helmet falling off as she saw the tray I carried. "Yayy, snack time."

I set it down at the small table in front of her. "Rosy, you need to pour it." Alisha told her.

Rosalie glanced up at me, slightly guarded before doing as she was commanded. "Of course Sir Alisha." She said, smiling. "But you know, Princesses don't take orders."

Alicia took the cape off and sat next to her as Rosalie poured the tea. "Well, then you won't be the princess anymore. You can pretend to be my mommy if you want."

Rosalie paused as I bit my lip, listening as she continued.

"I don't have a mommy anymore so I like to play and pretend I do again. Anny does a good job of being a mommy, especially when I have nightmares but now you can be my mommy too."

I felt like someone had grabbed my heart and was clenching it. It wasn't fair that she was only seven when mom died. She'll grow up without a mother, without the one I had. The tears started building up. I was no substitute, she needed a mother and I would never be one ans to top it off I wanted my mom back too.

I stepped back out of the room coming face to face with Edward no less. My hand shot up, wiping away any moisture that might have escape. "Do you need anything?" I asked.

He shook his headed so I walked around him, taking the stairs down to see the three others in the living room. Alice had pulled out a Wii and put in one of the few games we had. I walked in to see both Emmett and Jasper playing Just Dance, dancing to the song of Keisha's Tik Tok.

I couldn't stop the laughter this time and the earlier moment was forgotten. As I laughed, Jasper looked over, grinning. The pause was long enough for Emmett to break ahead. He whooped, alerting Jasper and they both went back to dancing.

Alice turned the corned, her smile still present. "You go against winner, kay?"

I nodded, still laughing to hard to speak.

Emmett won the round in the end, Jasper's lapse in attention causing him to fall behind too drastically.

Emmett grinned at me, showing his white teeth. "You ready to go pipsqueak?" He asked, trying to sound scary but there was a light in his eye that reminded me of Alisha. They both still had that childhood innocence.

"Hey, I'm not that short." I said, taking the controller from Jasper.

"Oh please, you're tiny as hell, especially compared to me." He said, gesturing to his height.

I rolled my eyes. "Everyone is short compared to you."

He boomed with laughter and I revised my earlier impression. He was more like a teddy bear than he was a grizzly bear.

"Your choice." He told me.

I smiled back, scrolling through the selection until we came to the song "Rasputin." I hit play and watched as the russian man came up. "You're gonna regret this." I told him.

He grinned. "As if I'd let a puny hu-person like you beat me!" He said.

The music came on then, too quickly for me to contemplate what he had meant to say. The next three minutes were spent doing my best to get ahead of Emmett. He really wasn't that bad of a dancer but he must not have played this game much because he didn't quite get the hand movements down so he was getting a lot of goods instead of perfects. Near the end I was able to get ahead of him when he missed one of the gold moves though.

As the song ended, it named me winner, much to Emmett's displeasure. "No way! I always win at games." He said, staring at the screen in disbelief.

"Oh please, it's dancing. Guys aren't supposed to be good at it anyways." I said, going to shove his shoulder.

Despite me pushing pretty hard, he didn't budge which he grinned at. Emmett was cold just like Edward and Dr. Cullen were. I also noticed that he was hard, it almost felt like I had touched a rock.

"Edward goes next!" Alice said, dragging him over from the bottom of the stairs. She grabbed the controller from Emmett and chose a song, too quickly for me to see which one. As it loaded, Edward took his spot next to me.

Alice grinned evilly and I looked warily at the screen. I'm not sure if I'm going to like this. The backdrop of an ocean and an island popped up and I could feel my face turning red. Hopefully they would think that it was because of the dancing. I am so going to get Alice in the future. She better watch out.

She had picked the song Sway, a duet that was a little too intimate.

I'm going to kill you, Alice!

Edward smirked beside me and the music started.

The beginning of the song wasn't too bad but I thought about fudging it on purpose just so that I wouldn't have to do some of the dance moves.

"Come on Annabell. Are you really gonna let Edward beat you?" Alice yelled.

I looked to see that Edward was in fact already a few points in front of me, getting perfect on almost every move.

"You can do better than that." Alice shouted.

I don't know how she knew, but those were just the words I needed. I wasn't usually competitive but the cheerleading part of me wasn't going to be beaten, especially at something like this. Okay, deep breath and just push it all away.

I could feel myself relaxing as I just focused on the movements, music and the rhythm. The others who were watching faded away and it was just the music, just me dancing. Well, Edward and I dancing.

I found that I couldn't look into his golden eyes during some of the closer dance moves, it made my mind seem slightly fuzzy, messing up my score for the next move. I kept my eyes glued to the screen and when the ended came up I could feel my heart speeding up. I knew what was coming. Okay, deep breath and hit.

I did the finishing move, standing in front of Edward, flipping my head to the side and sending my hair in a cascade behind me. His hand was resting slightly against my waist and I could feel goosebumps raising as he stood behind me, the cold of his skin emanating into mine. I paused and clapping ensued, mostly from Alice and Alisha. I looked to see Alisha and Rosalie, standing in the doorway, down from their tea party.

I looked back to the screen and stared in surprise to see that we had tied. How did that happen?

"Me next, me next." Alisha cried, dragging Rosalie forward. "She'll go against me. I want to play monster mash."

Edward and I relinquished the controllers as the song was selected. I stepped back and looked over the scene in front of me.

Rosalie and Alisha were playing their song, Alisha smiling happily like I haven't seen her do in a while. Losing our mother had been hard on her as well but here, in this place and with these people it was as if she had never had one to loose. She was happy with what she had.

Alice, Jasper and Emmett were squished together on the couch, Alice sitting partly on Jasper's lap. Edward stood off to the side, watching the event that was occurring. Seeing those five here, in my house seemed unreal. They sat and laughed together, a happy family, something we hadn't had since mom. The laughter was a new sound for this place and I realized that despite not knowing the Cullens long, or much at all, I liked that they had come and that they were here now. They had breathed new life into this place, allowing for happier times.

At that moment Edward looked up, his gold eyes meeting my own. He smiled, one side a little higher than the other, creating a lop-sided grin. I smiled back, meeting his gaze in a way that I wouldn't while we were dancing. He didn't look away and neither did I. As the eye contact remained, something seemed to be building. I could feel goosebumps form on the back of my hands and all the way up my arms. I felt the desire to move, to shift but I stood still, something telling me that one movement was all it would take to break this fragile thing.

His gold eyes seemed to be getting bigger, drawing me in. I could feel them engulfing me, loosing myself to the startling color. It was like being in a world of light, being surrounded by the sun. Despite the dreary weather outside I felt like it was summer, standing underneath the sun, engulfing the heat.

"Did you see? I won!" Alisha shouted.

I blinked and it broke. Edward looked away, clenching his fists and my own eyes were drawn down to my little sister.

"See, I did the song really good and I beat Rosy!" She told me, pointing towards the screen.

I gave Rosalie a small smile in thanks before turning back to Alisha. "Isn't that great? Is there another song that you want to play?"

The rest of the morning was spent playing Just Dance with everyone taking turns. Alice somehow got everyone to play against each other through out it so I was a little more acquainted with each of the Cullens and their style. While Jasper played he tended to be more reserved yet it was probably the most effect when it came to intimidating anyone. Emmett used his mouth which wasn't a big surprise. Rosalie, at least when she played against me used her looks and Alice used her energy. Edward was the silent one for the most part but it still effected most people to the point where almost everyone refused to play with him. Apparently they thought he was a cheater.

When lunch came around I excused myself from the activities, trying to come up with something that would be enough to feed seven people. Maybe I should just order a pizza or two. It would be a lot easier than actually making anything and I'm sure there was enough money in the jar of snack money to cover it. Just in case, I checked to make sure there was before I grabbed the phone.

When I walked back into the living room, they had all taken a break. I noticed that despite the past three hours we had spent playing the game, only Alisha looked tired out while the rest seemed to be just as rambunctious as before.

"Do you guys have a preference for pizza?" I asked as all eyes turned to me.

The thought of pizza revived Alisha and started listing off her favorite types to Rosalie. The Cullens though all seemed to be looking warily at me and at least Emmett was grimacing. Perhaps, they didn't like pizza.

"We could order something else if you guys don't like pizza." I volunteered as the silence stretched.

That seemed to at least snap Edward out of it. "Why don't you order whatever you want. None of us are really that picky," He supplied.

"Well, what do you guys like? Cheese? Pepperoni? Veggies?"

Emmett chuckled at that, seeming to find something funny about it. Rosalie shot him a glare and he smiled back, completely serene.

As I watched I felt like I was intruding in on something or more like I was missing out, like they were sharing a joke I didn't understand. In that moment I just had the urge to disappear back into the kitchen. Maybe I could make the pizza myself. That would give me an hour or so by myself. Even though the idea was slightly appealing I knew we didn't have all the ingredients to do so and going off from Edward's reaction this morning, he probably wouldn't much like the idea of me driving to the store to grab what I would need.

Delivery it is then.

I still hadn't gotten a reply from anyone about what they wanted. After a minute I sighed and walked back into the kitchen, giving up. I'd just order whatever and they would have to deal. I ended up ordering three large pizzas, one pepperoni, one half cheese and half veggie and the last a BBQ chicken pizza, my own secret pleasure. Okay, maybe not so secret but it was still amazingly good.

Just Dance was continued for about twenty minutes until the doorbell rang. I looked out a side window to find an old car in the driveway and a guy in his twenties standing at the door. I ran to the kitchen, grabbing the money from the jar. As I did so I could hear someone answering the door. I tried to hurry and that was the thing that always brought out my clumsiness. As I grasped the small roll of bills, I pulled out my balled fist. My arm dragged against the rim of the cookie jar and it toppled over. I reached for it with my other hand and if I had been a juggler, I would have saved it. Instead, it bounced from one hand to the other before hitting the floor, splintering with a loud crack.

"Shit." The word rushed from my lips as I stared at the pieces littering the floor. I'd deal with it later, I needed to get the pizzas right now.

I ran to the hallway and almost ran into Edward, something that seemed to be happening more and more. On his hand, the three pizzas were balance and I could hear the car outside starting up. "Did you pay?" I asked, straightening myself.

Edward smiled. "No, I told him I'd eat him if he didn't hand over the pizzas. He dropped them and ran back to his car screaming."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile at his teasing. "How much was it?" I asked.

His grin didn't falter as he walked to set the pizzas on the table. "I told you, I scared it out of him."

"Come on, how much?"

"Don't worry about it." He said, winking.

Now I glared, my hand going to rest on my hips. He wasn't going to get away with this. "I'm the one that ordered the pizza and it's my house. How much?"

He waved his hand in front of him as he spoke. "Don't worry, my family is going to be eating most of it anyways." He frowned at the end of his sentence as if he didn't like something that he had said.

"Edward." My voice was stern but at the same time I realized that this was the first time that I had said his name out loud.

He just smiled and I gave up on getting an answer. Instead I reached forward, grabbed his hand and shoving all of the money into it. Before he could object I turned to clean up the shattered cookie jar just to see that Alice already had it all in a pile and was sweeping it into the dust pan.

Instead I turned to the cupboard and pulled out plates for everyone. Alisha ran in and I handed her one, helping her to grab a piece of BBQ and a piece of pepperoni.

Slowly the other Cullens filtered in, each grabbing a plate and a piece of pizza. After everyone else had their choice, I grabbed two slices of the BBQ chicken pizza and headed into the living room. A movie was already starting to play and as I watched I realized it was Matilda. One of my childhood favorites that I had passed on to Alisha.

I sat on the floor, leaning my back against the couch as I ate my pizza, happily watching the movie. Half way through I got up to get another piece and noticed that hardly any pizza was missing. When I walked back to the living room, most of the Cullens still had their pizza on their plate, untouched. I cocked an eyebrow at that but chose not to mention it.

I sat back down and ate my pizza. By the time the movie was done, Alisha had passed out on the coach, curled up in Rosalie's lap. She held her arms loosely around the sleeping bundle and I smiled at the picture. "You can bring her up to her bed if you want to." I said, motioning to the stairs.

Rosalie nodded and stood smoothly, not jostling Alisha once. I followed the two up and watched as Rosalie tucked Alisha in.

"You know she hadn't had a nap in a while. You guys really tired her out this morning." I told her.

Rosalie nodded, not saying anything.

"I'm really glad you guys came. She hasn't been that happy in a while."

She smiled, happy with the news. "I'm glad I did as well. She is adorable."

I nodded, smiling back. "The cutest sister ever." I agreed. I looked between Rosalie and Alisha before approaching the subject. "Do you want many children yourself? You really seem to have a knack for being with them."

Something I said caused her to freeze. Her fist clenched and she seemed to be glaring at the wall. "I can't have children." She said, the words stinging as they came out.

Sympathy flooded through me as I heard that. "Well, have you thought about adopting? Or working in a day care? I know it's not the same but it's something. I think if you really love children you should look at all the options, not just shut down because of something like that."

Rosalie seemed to relax slightly at the suggestion. Perhaps it wasn't something that she had not considered before. She even smiled a little. "Maybe." She said.

I bit my lip, deciding whether or not to share, perhaps it would make her feel less alone. "It's something I've thought about doing." I told her, honestly. "I love my sister and I had always planned on having children, but it's not something I can do either."

Her eyes snapped up, meeting mine. There was surprise and a hint of disbelief.

"When I first got my period, there was a lot of pain with it. I was out of school it was so bad. After a few days my parents decided to bring me to the doctors. My uterus had grown into some of my other organs and when I had my period it caused infections and internal bleeding. The only option was surgery, to go in, remove my uterus and stitch up everything." I explained. "I was only 13 but already a huge decisions in my life had been taken away from me but I still have a chose. I don't have to give up my love of children just because I can't give birth to any."

Rosalie's gold eyes seemed to have a different light shining from them. We had a new understanding of each other, one that I felt would continue to grow and strengthen. I smiled and she smiled right back.

"You know you're not as bad as I thought you were." She said as she walked out past me and down the stairs.

I had a feeling that was the closest she came to handing out compliments. I rolled my eyes and closed Alisha's door as I left the room.