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Chapter 9

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Of all of the possible reactions I thought our request would illicit from my Jacob, having him burst into laughter was not one I had anticipated. Perhaps I should have; laughter did seem to be his default setting.

He did it in the face of both me and my mother and it took him a moment to collect himself, a moment where both Mommy and me could only wonder what was wrong with him. Our request was not terribly outlandish, rather small in comparison to the favors we often asked. Less ridiculous, too, than prior requests.

That is why I asked: "What is so amusing?"

"Nothing," he dismissed. "Let me make sure I understand the situation first, okay?"

"We've already—" His demeanor suggested he understood perfectly, perhaps more than we had. I would run through his hoops for now.

"Yesterday I received an invitation from Naomi, for her ninth birthday party. It is to be a week from this Friday."

"And it's a sleepover," my Jacob supplied. "You're not sure how it'll go and you want me to help you prepare so you don't run into any unexpected problems."

"Edward and I would be a lot more comfortable letting her go if we didn't think something would catch her by surprise. We're going to be just outside, monitoring the situation at all times, but we thought you could help her too." Mommy did not move but something in her tone shifted. "We are asking you for your help this time."

The amused look didn't go away, though it did harden almost imperceptibly. "Why can't any of you help her?"

"Only Mommy was human in the last fifty years, when children shifted from a source of labor to human beings," I informed him. "None of the others would have experienced the situation first hand."

"What about your Mom?"

"She doesn't remember," I shrugged.

That stopped the smile completely. "Is that true, Bells?"

"I've told you before that our memories fade after we're changed unless we concentrate on preserving them. I...I wasn't much of a sleepover girl back in Phoenix and didn't bother remembering much of that life, anyway."

"Nothing but Edward."

He looked so hurt I wanted to go hug him, though I didn't. It wasn't me he was thinking about; he would never have directed such a look of disgust or betrayal my way. It wasn't me he wanted a hug from.

"And you," my mother said quietly.

They looked at each other for a long moment, a very long moment, before Jacob started laughing again, much different than before. I suddenly wished Leah had been punctual today—she would have known how to get the two of them to stop...whatever it was they were doing. I doubt she would have liked it any more than I did. Once Jacob had finished, he turned to me and gave me a real smile.

"So none of the vamps can help. What makes you think I can?"

"You are very good at playing human," I reminded him.

"That's because I am," he reminded me. I nodded, silently apologizing for my mistake. My Jacob didn't mind, just leaned back. "As much as I'd love to help, you seem to have forgotten something."

"What?" Mommy asked. She was just as confused as I was and it was nice not to be alone in puzzlement for once.

"I'm a guy."

"I don't—oh." Mommy must have understood for she frowned. I did not. My Jacob sensed that, since he further explained:

"I have no idea what ten year old girls do at birthday parties. No idea at all. No, you need something else."

"You have a suggestion?" Mommy accused him.

"Of course. Anything for Nessie." He was grinning like a maniac again. "Now, what you need, Nessie, is a woman. One who's willing to explain this to you, even if she isn't always polite about it. You need someone who remembers the experience clearly because she's a girlie-girl, even if you shouldn't actual say that to her face if you don't want to be attacked. You need someone well versed in high-pitched squeals and makeup, who likes playing dress up and watching chick flicks. You need—"

"You want me to ask Leah for help?" I interrupted. Jacob looked like he could continue talking all night.

His grin got wider, if that was possible. "That won't really be necessary. I'm sure your Mom can persuade her to help you."

"What did I ever do to you," Mommy grumbled. "Isn't there anyone else?"

"We've already established that there isn't. Anyway, what's wrong with Leah?"

"We don't have that much time."

Both of them turned to look at me and I blushed. I hadn't meant to say that out loud, exactly. Jacob laughed while Mommy frowned.

"There's no need to resort to that, Nessie," she scolded lightly. "Even if she does constantly abuse you."

"Bull," Jacob said easily, even as he sat up to his full height so that he now towered over Mommy. As calm as he sounded, it was very clear he didn't want to hear her ever say that again. "I wouldn't let her near Nessie if I thought Nessie couldn't handle it."

"Thank you," I said, even as Mommy complained, "My daughter shouldn't have to put up with her crass comments, Jacob."

"Think of it as expanding her vocabulary," Jacob said, standing up. He held his giant hand out to me and I took it. "For Nessie's sake, you should ask her, Bella. Think about it. Nessie is going to show me how well she can play the piano now."

"I'm not very good," I warned him. "I only started playing yesterday."

"And yet somehow I'm sure you're still incredible."

I was nowhere near close to prodigious, even if I played as if I had been practicing for years. It was always effortless for me to imitate activities, once I took it into my head to learn them. Imitate, but not duplicate. I was nowhere near Daddy's incredible standard. There were hours of practice in my future if I wanted to be as good as him.

I did. The pianoforte was a beautiful instrument, ours especially. My Jacob sat down on the bench beside me as I positioned my hands over the gleaming ivory keys, trying to emulate Daddy. I took a deep breath to prepare myself. A brief introduction—"This is Clair de Lune, a favorite of my parents"—and I began.

My hands had not yet developed completely, which made it troublesome to allow for full expansion across the keys. I managed Debussy well enough, despite my limitations; well enough for Jacob, at any rate. The sheet music was open in front of me; I referred to it twice. It was rather embarrassing. My vampiric memory should have served me better. I had read the song over right before my Jacob came. I should know it.

"I will not tell the other girls I play the piano next Friday. Is that correct?" I asked once I was finished and he had stopped his effusive praise.

"That's probably a good idea. Or just complain about trying to learn. Kids don't like sitting still."

"How can they not love learning? Or creating art?"

He shrugged. "It's boring. And when you're ten, it's not really art." He sat up straighter. "Do you hear that? Leah's finally here. Play another song so we look busy."

I did his bidding as the sound of moving tires was replaced by the sound of bare feet walking up my family's porch.

"Sorry I'm late," Leah called as she entered. "Thank you both for getting up to come greet me. You always make me feel so welcome. What are you doing here?"

The last was directed at my mother who maintained her calm and invited Leah to her side, requesting the opportunity to discuss an important matter with the female werewolf. Leah acquiesced without a fight, though she did glare a particularly malevolently glare at my Jacob before stalking towards the other room.

"I have to see her face," my Jacob apologized to me as he slipped from the seat. I sighed and began playing louder, just in case he needed me to hide his footsteps from Mommy and Leah. He gave me a thumbs up but I just rolled my eyes at the twenty-two year old man slipped along the wall like a five year old child, snickering to himself.

He made it just in time. No sooner had he peeked around the corner than Leah's voice carried into the room:

"Seriously?"

Mommy repeated the request as I began a different song. It was pages and pages long and I was playing larghissimo and still I finished before they did. Leah could be most impolite when she chose to be. Even my Jacob grew bored of listening to them.

He had returned to me by the time Leah stormed back into the room. She stood behind me on the bench and hit my imprint in the back of the head. He flinched, even more so when her hand came to rest on his shoulder and her nails started digging into his flesh.

"I better not be the only who got roped into this."

He reached for her hand, took it and led her around so that she was standing beside him instead. "Nope. We'll all be there. You can explain to the whole pack how to be a little girl."

She tried to pretend she wasn't laughing. "They are going to kick—they aren't going to like this."

"It'll be worth it."

"Embry would look better with a little lipstick," she admitted. The two of them grinned at one another, still holding hands. "Edward's gone for the day?"

"Out hunting," my Jacob confirmed.

"Good. You should make sure Bella's okay. I don't mean to yell at her, but I just can't resist."

My Jacob stood up, standing much closer to Leah than was necessary to deliver his message, hands still together. Neither noticed how I was fudging my way through the song, too busy watching them to watch what I was doing. "Try not to abuse Nessie while I'm gone."

"She said that?" By the time she stopped being too furious to hit him, my Jacob was gone. With him out of the room, she plopped down in the seat beside me. "I really can't stand your mother."

"She is simply worried that your overt dislike of her will inadvertently influence me, creating a detrimental effect on my daughterly devotion," I told her.

"Really?"

"Oh yes. That's what Uncle Jasper said to Aunt Alice when I wasn't supposed to be listening."

"You little sneak." Leah couldn't seem to decided whether she should be proud or amused or serious and so ended up choosing a strange facial expression that I couldn't identify at all. "Do you actually listen to me when I say your mother's the worst thing to happen to the planet since the Bubonic Plague?"

"I listen; I just disagree. Don't worry, Leah, I am far too intelligent to simply accept what you say without any evidence. I have long concluded that you are far too biased to have any sort of accurate assumptions about Mommy. I'm not going to start hating her just because you do."

"Well...good, I guess. Since when did you play the piano?"

"My father began giving me lessons recently," I told her. My Jacob would tell her the truth later, but for now it was better to keep the peace. She was going to help me, after all.

"You're pretty good."

"Thank you."

Both of us watched as Mommy walked my Jacob to the doorway, giving him a long hug before she turned to go back to our house. They were still talking, laughing, chatting. I turned my head towards Leah so I wouldn't have to watch.

"It is freaky how my Jacob used to love Mommy, isn't it, Leah?"

It was one thing for Leah to wish for my Jacob. It was quite another to know that my Jacob had wished for Mommy. When I was little, I had not thought it mattered. It was over. It was finished. When you put feelings to rest, they no longer existed. Except our truce had not negated my feelings for Leah. Therefore, my hypothesis had not been correct. Feelings did not stop when you required them to. What did that mean for Mommy and Jacob?

"Freaky, twisted, creepy, weird..." Leah smirked, a little. "There are just too many choices."

"I don't like how he used to belong to her. He shouldn't...I don't like it."

"Because it's messed up."

"Distasteful."

"Bizarre."

"Grotesque."

"Kooky."

"Unnatural." I frowned. "Am I always going to be unnatural, do you think?"

"You're always going to be you, Nessie. You're a vampire; you can't help it. I don't know how they don't start boring themselves after twenty years."

"I'm just as much human as you are."

"I'm not part dead. Is that why you're so interested in seeing this Egyptian thing? Do you want to make friends with the corpses? Do you relate to the mummies?"

"This is why Mummy doesn't like you near me. You are quite tedious, sometimes, Leah."

"Did you—never mind." But she was smiling again. Perhaps because Mommy was finally out the door and my Jacob was returning to us. At least his smile grew wider as he approached us. Good.

"We ready to go?" he asked, leaning against the instrument.

I stopped playing, rising up. "I just need to say goodbye to Aunt Rosalie." She was off hiding somewhere upstairs so she wouldn't have to speak to my Jacob; she had not liked realizing there was something he could do for me that she could not.

Jacob helped Leah up, saying, "I told you she would play great. She's brilliant."

"Almost perfect," Leah agreed.

For once, I don't think she was trying to insult me.

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TBC...