I feel really terrible with how I am writing this. It's months in between updates and it makes me feel like a total b!tch for making you guys wait so long. I'm sorry, you guys, I was busy with college stuff (Preparing to start and then starting.) and was busy with other stuff as well. I hope you all don't hate me, I got it done in the end, at least.

This chapter is dedicated to carpe-diem-1299 and Larynn for their awesome gift ideas. Other people gave us some good ideas as well, but we either already had that idea (For example, several people gave us ideas for what Edward should give her when we had already decided on that. :P) or someone else (Probably Larynn, a lot of people suggested that one.) had already suggested it. Thank you guys for the help, though. And my friend Shawnna for helping out with stuff.

Enjoy. :)

"Took you long enough," Alice said when they pulled into the garage,

"Sorry," Edward said as he climbed out of the car holding Bella, "Bella's a very indecisive person."

"It took her fifteen minutes to pick out a name," Jasper explained, "God only knows how long the outfit choosing took place, and you do not want to hear about the fluff machine."

"Fluff machine?" Alice asked, amused, "You're so telling me later." Then she turned to Edward. "Ok, now, cover her eyes and change her into the party dress I picked out for her. Then you can bring her downstairs." She turned around and ran back into the house to put the finishing touches on the decorations, practically shaking with excitement.

He changed her into the dress and carried her over to the stairs.

"What do now?" Bella asked curiously as they walked down toward the living room together.

"Well, I'm sure Alice has something planned," he said, semi-feigning innocence. He knew Alice had a party planned, he just had no idea what that party entailed. Bella reached up for the door handle to the living room and began to enter. The second she had a foot in the door the other five jumped up and yelled "SURPRISE!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs, turned around, and ran up the stairs.

"Awesome," Rosalie said sarcastically and Edward shot her a dirty look before running after the toddler. "Ok, no more surprise parties," he heard Alice murmur to herself.

He found her hiding behind the first door on the second floor, which was a bathroom. He walked in and glanced around the room before walking over to the tub, where he found the girl curled up, hugging her bunny.

"Bella, what are you doing?"

"Hiding," she whispered.

"Why?"

"Scawy."

"Bella, that was just everybody else throwing you a surprise party."

She stared at him.

"Pawty?"

"yeah."

"What dat?"

"It's when a bunch of people get together and hang. There are games and cake and you get presents."

"Pwesents?"

"Yeah."

"Ok." She stood right back up and climbed out of the tub. Edward picked her up and carried her back downstairs to where everyone was gathered in the living room, looking worried.

"I am so sorry for scaring you, Bella," Alice said as soon as they entered.

"Yeah, sweetie," Esme agreed, "We didn't mean to scare you."

She hid her face slightly in Edward's shoulder, not liking being the center of everyone's attention.

"Ok!" Alice exclaimed, "It's time for games!" Every stared at her. "What? It's a party. All parties have games. And everyone will play." She glared pointedly at each person, as if daring them to argue with her. "The first game is Pin the Tail on the Donkey." She held out a blindfold in one hand and a "tail" on a tack in the other. "Ok, who's first?"

Jasper was the one to finally man up and allow Alice to tie the blindfold on him-a little too expertly.

"What?" she asked after Edward twitched slightly at the mental assault he got from the two of them.

"Nothing."

Alice spun Jasper around several times and then stood back. "Ok, go."

He took a step forward and bumped into the table that was directly in front of him, stumbling slightly. Bella started giggling.

"Alice, why is there a table in my way?"

"Well, it's not very fair for all of us against Bella. She's a three-year-old human and we're all vampires, so we get obstacles."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. And the second you touch the wall, you stick the pin. It's not fair to feel around for where the poster is and guessing whereabouts the tail would be."

Edward was pretty sure Jasper would've been giving her a very disbelieving look had he not been blind folded. But he sucked up whatever response he normally would've had and attempted to navigate his way around the living room. He ended up pinning a decorative mirror and Esme winced slightly as the glass shattered.

"Oops." Jasper whipped the blindfold off. "Sorry, Esme."

"It's fine, I'll just buy a new one." She did a good job at hiding her dismay.

One by one they all took their turns with pretty much the same disastrous results of hitting furniture and pinning everything but the donkey. Emmett ended up pinning Rosalie on what he claims was an accident, but she suspects otherwise since he followed her whenever she moved. The only two who managed to actually pin the poster were Carlisle (who hit the upper right corner) and Alice (obviously) who hit the leg. Edward almost hit the poster, but moved to the left last second and missed it, not wanting Bella to lose. Rosalie had basically refused to play the game the only way she could-by walking straight through the furniture and slapping her tail onto the wall before taking the blindfold off and sulking on the couch.

"Ok, Bella's turn!" Alice exclaimed and she shoved the furniture remnants out of the furniture out of the way and blindfolded Bella before spinning her around.

"Alice, what are you doing?" Edward asked worriedly.

"I am preparing Bella to play the game."

"Why did you blindfold her?"

"Because that's how the game is played. If she can see, there's really no point to the game."

"But did you have to spin her, too?"

"What's wrong with spinning her?"

"She is now blindfolded, dizzy, and carrying a pointy object. You don't see a problem with that?" As if to prove his point Bella held her hands out awkwardly, wobbled slightly as she took a step, and fell down. Everyone jumped up and ran to her, except Rosalie who rolled her eyes from her spot on the couch.

"Ok, maybe the spinning is a bit much," Alice admitted as Bella exclaimed "Can't see!" while flailing her arms around wildly on the floor. They took the blindfold off and let Bella's dizziness subside before re-blindfolding her and letting her go again.

She began tentatively taking steps waving her arms out in front of her. Edward took a tentative step after her, wanting to catch her if she fell.

"Edward," Alice said reproachfully, "Let her walk. She can do this. Come on, Bella, you can do it!" she then cheered.

Bella continued to maneuver her way cautiously across the room, but was veering to the right of the poster. Then Edward realized she was heading for the window. She was just about to talk into the glass when everyone jumped up in a panic and ran at her. Even Rosalie stood up from the couch. Edward got there first and snatched her up.

"Hey!" she suddenly shouted, looking around as if changing the position of her head would make the blindfold more see-through.

"Uh….We realized that you're too short, so I'm lifting you up to the poster," Edward covered quickly and he walked over to where the poster was and stood in front of it. "Ok, there you go." She brazenly slapped the tail onto the poster (Which wasn't exactly where the tail should be, but was much closer than any of the others.) and everyone cheered for her as Edward took the blindfold off. She smiled hugely and clapped her hands together like everyone else, although Edward wasn't sure she knew exactly why she was cheering.

"Ok, let's play musical chairs now," Alice said and she ran into the kitchen, dragging some chairs back with her. Once the chairs were set up she declared that someone had to work the music and Rosalie volunteered, not wanting to take place in whatever ridiculous game they were playing. Alice turned to Bella and got down on her knees so they were face to face. "Ok, Bella, the way to play this game is when the music plays, you walk around the chairs and when it stops, you try to sit down before anyone else does, ok?" She nodded and everyone took their places around the chairs.

Rosalie hti the play button and everyone walked around the chairs, having to do so slowly because of Bella's shortness slowing everything down. Rosalie hit the stop button and everyone scrambled for the chairs. Esme was the first one out, and Edward suspected she wasn't trying as hard as she normally would've, due to the fact that she wanted to take pictures. The next time around Rosalie let the music play for almost two whole songs.

"Rosalie, you have to hit stop eventually," Jasper said.
"I know. I just wanted to see how long I could make you guys put up with this," she smirked. Carlisle opened his mouth to reprimand her, but she quickly hit the stop button. Taken off guard, he was the next one out.

"That wasn't very nice," he said to her as he went to join Esme, but he was smiling.

"I was never told I had to be nice."

The next round, she hit the play button and then almost immediately hit the stop button. Bella was the only one who scrambled into a seat. Everyone else glanced at Rosalie.

"I hit stop," she said and the others dove for the chairs, Emmett managing to just squeeze past Alice, making her the third one out. She huffed, crossing her arms and walking over to Carlisle and Esme, who were trying hard not to laugh at her.

Edward was the next one out, although he did it on purpose, wanting Bella to stay in the game. Alice gave him a look as he walked over to them. Did Edward Cullen just throw a game? "It's her birthday."

In the next round, Jasper barely beat Emmett out and as the two practically wrestled over the chair, Bella was free to climb onto the other one that the two had apparently forgotten existed. She just sat there, watching the two shove each other and Edward was about to pull Bella away from the area when Emmett finally gave up, grumbling about Jasper cheating.

When Rosalie hit the stop button for the last round, Emmett ran forward and snatched the chair away as Jasper went to sit in it. He fell backward onto the ground and Edward picked Bella up and set her on the chair, laughing with Emmett as they exchanged hi-fives. Bella sat there, looking dazed for several seconds, but started laughing after she noticed everyone else doing so-even Rosalie.

"And you said I cheated," Jasper complained, yet unable to keep the smile off his face.

"Anymore games, Alice?" Emmett asked, looking like he wanted to play games more than Bella did.

"I have a piñata. But we have to go outside for that." She looked excited to go outside, but like she didn't want to be the one to suggest it.

"Alice…" Edward said cautiously, "What did you to do the yard outside? You know we technically don't own it, right?"

"Yes, which is why I went to the city for permits for it. Don't worry, we won't get arrested or anything."

He rolled his eyes, but picked Bella up and headed down the stairs. He froze the second they walked out the backdoor and stared, wide-eyed at what used to be just a bare stretch of land behind their house but now looked like a carnival. There was a ferris wheel, a carousel, a petting zoo, one of those moon-bounce things, a machine for every carnival treat you could imagine, a small ridable train that snaked around the entire yard, and a giant ball pit complete with twisty slide. Bella let out a squeal of delight and began squirming to get down.

"Alice, who's going to run all the machines?" Edward finally choked out after he set Bella down and she scampered off to the nearest attraction-the ball pit.

"We will. Oh, come on, we are perfectly capable of making those things move. You just push a button."

"Whee!" They whipped around to see Bella flying down the twisty slide and into the ball pit, Esme snapping a picture just before she hit them.

For the next few hours, Bella rode and played on everything they had set up, breaking occasionally for a treat from one of the machines. She seemed to be having so much fun and was so happy, Edward was a little disgruntled at Alice when she announced "Ok, time for cake!"

"But I want wide dat!" Bella announced, pointing at the carousel, as Edward picked her up and carried her over to the little table.

"Bella, you already rode that and you can ride it more alter, I promise. Right now, though, Alice wants you to blow out the candles on your birthday cake, so we're going to do that first, ok?" He set her down on her chair (It had a Happy Birthday balloon tied to the back.) and she crossed her arms in defiance.

"And after the cake, you get the rest of your presents, Shrimp," Emmett said. That perked her up. Now she couldn't wait to get her cake.

Esme had put a lot of effort into making the cake, wanting it to be perfect. First she spent days researching different cake designs and flavors, wondering which one Bella would like best. She finally decided on a carousel design-like the one they currently had in their yard. The cake had several layers and on top sat a carousel with four horses on it carved out of chocolate-hand carved by Esme, in fact. The icing was in various bright colors. She had spent days putting the cake together.

"Ooooh," Bella marveled as the cake was brought out and set in front of her. They sang Happy Birthday and she blew the candles out and despite all the treats she had already ingested, was able to eat two slices of cake with a scoop of ice cream each. There was an interesting moment where she absolutely insisted on Edward having a bite of the cake. Despite him trying to politely turn her down and direct her attention elsewhere, he eventually had to cave when the threat of tears came. He took a deep breath and then quickly chewed and swallowed the bite of cake Bella offered him, not even making face. Although, he did glare at Emmett who was snickering once Bella had turned back to her cake.

After the cake Alice demanded Bella opened her presents.

"Ok," she said quickly picking Bella up and walking her over to the petting farm area, "Mine first."

"Alice…" Edward followed her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm giving Bella my present."

"Your present is by the animals?" Emmett asked, amused again.

Alice set Bella down on the ground then walked over to the small stable that was set up. She walked inside and then reemerged with a pony attached to a rope and with a big red bow on it. Bella let out a squeal of delight.

"You got her a pony?" Esme asked in shock, but lifting the camera up to take a picture of Bella by the pony.

"Yeah. Every kid wants a pony."

"Alice, we can't keep a pony here," Edward said, trying to be firm, but the look of excitement and happiness on Bella's face as she stared at the pony was making it hard.

"I know," she said as she picked Bella up and set her gently on the pony's back, eliciting another squeal of delight from the child, "That's why I bought some stables in the Hamptons."

He gaped at her as she lead the pony around the area a bit, instructing Bella to hold on tightly so she wouldn't fall. She rode the pony around for a bit before Alice made her get off so she could open the rest of her presents.

"Ok, who's next?" Alice asked. Bella reached across the table and grabbed at a rectangular shaped package, pulling it toward her. "Ok, I guess whoever gave her that one."

"That's mine!" Esme exclaimed, delighted and adjusting the camera again. Edward picked Bella up and set her on his lap as he sat in the chair and helped her tear the wrapping paper off. It was an arts and crafts kit with paint, crayons, glitter, clay, sequins, ribbon, and tons of other crafty things, including instructions on different projects to do.

"Oooooh," Bella breathed as she took in everything that was on the picture on the front of the box.

"It's an art kit so we can do fun crafts together," Esme explained.

"What do you say, Bella?" Edward asked. They had been working on her manners for the past several weeks, but he often had to remind her when to say things.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, sweetie." She snapped another picture and Edward grabbed the next nearest packed, a bag with tissue paper coming out of it, and handed it to Bella. She pulled the paper out and lifted the object out, letting the bag fall to the ground.

"Pwetty……" she said. It was an old, antique porcelain doll wearing a red satin dress with a matching bow in her black hair.

"That doll belonged to my youngest sister," Jasper said, explaining more for Edward's benefit so he could repeat this to Bella when she was old enough to understand the significance of why Jasper gave her a porcelain doll when she was three, "When I returned to my home years after what happened, that was one of the few things that had been left behind."

"Oh, Jasper," Alice said lovingly, reaching up on her toes to give him a kiss.

"That's really thoughtful Jasper," Edward agreed, slightly stunned that he had given her such a sentimental gift-everyone knew he didn't have much of his old life left.

"Thank you," Bella said, sensing her cue to speak now.

Next she unwrapped a large box-shaped present which turned out to be a trunk full of old children's books and novels-all first editions-from Carlisle.

"She always seemed to love those books you read to her, so I decided to give her some more reading material," he explained.

"I told you," Esme said, "That girl is a reader."

The last package was a small gold locket in the shape of a heart. On the outside was the inscription "You are my life." The inside had a picture of the two together. He knew it wouldn't mean much to her now, but he had wanted to get her something that showed her how special she was to him and a mere toy or plaything wouldn't do that for him.

It had started getting dark as they opened the present and Bella started yawning, so they began cleaning up the wrapping paper and preparing to clean things up. Edward picked Bella up to take her inside and get her ready for bed when Rosalie, who had been standing off to the side walked over to him.

"What about my present?" she asked. Everyone stared at her shocked; no one had expected Rosalie to get her anything. She took their staring as permission and handed a small wrapped package to the toddler.

"Happy Birthday," she muttered then walked over to the table with the cake on it and began packing it up. Bella ripped the paper off and revealed two shiny silver metal combs encrusted with blue jewels in ornate patterns.

"Ooh," she exclaimed, entranced by anything pretty. Edward wondered why she would have gotten Bella combs, since they wouldn't stay in her hair while she was at this young age, but had Bella thank her anyway.

"Did you have a good birthday?" Edward asked as Bella snuggled under her blankets, clutching Bun-bun in one arm and Bear-bear in the other. She nodded enthusiastically and he smiled. "Well, I have one more small present for you." She perked up at this and he handed her a small, rectangular present. She tore the paper off revealing the picture of her and her parents that Edward had taken from her house, now in a knew frame. She stared at it then looked up at Edward then back at the picture.

"Mommy and Daddy…" she finally said quietly.

"Yeah, that was at your house when I got you." She stared at it for a little while longer before he noticed tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh, no, Bella don't cry." He gathered her in his arms and held her close to him, rocking her back and forth, shushing her. He felt terrible, he had just wanted to give her something of her parents and now she was crying. Finally she settled down and he was able to lay her back down on the bed as she sniffled. He grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose and the tears off her face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."
"I miss Mommy and Daddy."

"I know. I wish I could bring them back for you."

"Whewe awe they?"

He tried to think quickly, not sure what to say.

"Bella, they….Went away…And they can't come back. It's not that they don't want you, because they loved you very much and I bet they miss you tons right now, but they can't."

"Because of the man wif the wed eyes?"

"Yes." He hoped this conversation wasn't going to bring the nightmares back. She had been sleeping fairly well lately and he didn't want this to ruin that.

She thought this over for a while and then looked at Edward.

"You stay?"

"Yes."

"Fowevew?" He smiled sadly, knowing that meant different things to the two of them.

"Yes." He lay down next to her, pulling her closer to him. "Forever." She smiled and snuggled closer to him, hugging her stuffed animals.

Edward spent most of the night thinking. Was keeping her the right thing? It hadn't ever really occurred to him before then, but she was going to get older. And older and older and older….Eventually, she was going to die. He didn't like that thought, but it was still going to happen. It wasn't fair to bring this human girl into his family, have everyone get attached, only for her to grow up and die. But, he supposed, it was probably too late for that-everyone had already gotten attached. Everyone had been so happy for her and made sure that everything was perfect for her birthday, even taking care to get her presents that weren't just something simple you could buy in a store. Even Jasper had given her something special. So, they would have to just keep going the way they were and they would deal with things when they happened; it probably wasn't the best way to go about things, but it would be less painful in the short run to just live in the short run.

It wasn't until long after Bella had fallen asleep and Edward's thoughts had gone around in circles multiple times about Bella and the future and his family that he remembered something about the combs Rosalie had given Bella. Years after Rosalie had been changed, she returned to her home like Jasper had, to see what was left of her family. She had managed to salvage several things from her aged brother-things he kept because they were family relics and nothing more. One of the things she managed to get was a jewelry box filled with different pieces of jewelry and such she had worn. In the box was three set of combs-one of which she had just given to Bella for her birthday.

To entertain you guys in an effort to get you to forgive me, I felt like sharing some ideas my friend Shawnna came up with to write on the locket when we asked her for help (She did give some good ones, these are just the ones that made us laugh. :p):

"I sparkle."

"You will have my baby."

"We shall not name our first kid Renesmee"

"As you grow, so will our love." ---Made me think of child grooming.

After we made fun of her for constantly using "light" in her suggestions:

"You will always be the shadow of my life."

"You colored my life.....With light."

"Maybe we should just be friends."

"I will never leave you...Maybe.....Right now I have no plans to, but, I mean, that could always change so don't exactly count on it...."

Ok, one last note before I stop. I'm thinking of maybe starting a thread for this story on twilighted. If I do this, would any of you care and/or visit the thread and post? Let me know, because that site is pretty good for the author and readers to interact and such.