Bella's POV

Inside my daughters room that's decorated for a princess with elegant pink curtains and matching bedding on her canopy twin bed. I carefully leaped over numerous piles of naked Barbies. They were all scattered in fairly large piles on the floor like land mines. There were also clusters of Barbie shoes and clothes tossed around the floor too.

Trying to get over to the long off-white dresser that was on the other side of the room was proving to be a bit of a challenge and I was glad I was no longer a clumsy human. Otherwise hopping and leaping over Nessie's beloved Barbies would have not been possible without breaking something. Or injuring myself.

Finally I made it to my destination and opened the bottom dresser drawer on the right. Which housed her pajamas, I searched for the ones she requested which was her silky Rapunzel nightgown. Holding that garment in my hand and shutting the drawer, I shook my head. I'm sure I have the only five-year-old in the world that insists on wearing silk pajamas to bed instead of comfy cotton ones. But then again, no other five-year-old on the planet has Alice as a fashion influencer like Nessie does.

With the silky nightgown in my hand I turned back around, leaping over the toys once again. Completing my odd Barbie obstacle course without damaging any of her toys I let out a happy shout as I got to the finish line which was really her door. I heard Edward, who was in the dining room chuckle but didn't say anything. He was going over Nessie's suspension homework packet that had to be turned in tomorrow when she went back to school. So while I got Nessie ready for bed he was making sure everything was complete and correcte.

Walking through the hall and to the bathroom where Nessie was taking a bubble bath, I listened. I heard the usual bath time noises of her splashing water and happily talking, just making up games with her mermaid Barbies that she always takes a bath with. But one sound stood out from the rest. Which was the sound of her sweet voice saying something I wasn't proud of.

"KFC! Kids fight club." Nessie's cute little voice echoed in the bathroom. By the high pitch tone of her voice it was obvious that she was speaking for one of her Barbies. "First rule is you don't hit first. You just finished the fight and you must win."

Entering the bathroom I groaned. Nessie had her back toward me and wasn't paying attention that I was there. Otherwise she wouldn't have said that since Edward and I told her not to repeat it after Emmett "accidentally" mentioned that stupid rule of kids fight club in front of her yesterday. And since he said it, she was too happy to repeat it fifty-four times in a row. Honestly, sometimes Emmett doesn't think about what is appropriate to say in front of a young child. It gets on my nerves.

"Nessie, that's not good to say." I said.

With a scared yelp Nessie jumped and spun around so fast that the rainbow Mermaid Barbie with the light up tail flew out of her hand, soaring in the air. In a way it looked funny and made me laugh. I caught the Barbie in mid air and gave it back to her.

"Mama, you can't do that." Nessie complained. She was out of breath with a startled look on her face and her little hands over her heart. "Scaring people is rude."

"I didn't mean to scare you, Squeakers." I said honestly.

"But you did and that wasn't nice." Her bottom lip stuck out in a pouty way. She then looked at my hand that held her pajamas. "Did you remember to get my silky Rapunzel nightgown?"

"I did." I held it out in front of me for her to see.

"Yay!" Nessie squealed happily, clapping her hands.

"Ready to get out?" I asked and she nodded.

Immediately I put her clothes on the counter and grabbed her towel that hung on the hook behind the door. While I washed her hair and raised her off we had a deep conversation about why Uncle Emmett's rules for KFC were not logical and shouldn't be said at school. She listened since she didn't have much to say about that. Soon I had her washed and dry and out of the tub. I helped her put her clothes on and grabbed her blue brush. Before I could even start brushing her hair I heard Edward's soft footfalls heading toward the hallway.

"Bella," Edward said as he walked into the bathroom. He had his right hand behind his back and a mischievous twinkle in his gorgeous golden eyes. "By any chance did you check Nessie's Social Studies assignment?"

"Um, today's or yesterday's?" I wondered, running the brush through Nessie's beautiful bronze hair.

"Today's assignment." He replied in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Daddy!" Nessie shrieked. "I did all my homework. Now I get to go back to school tomorrow."

"I know, Princess." He sweetly said to her, patting her check. His eyes then meant mine and he said, "Well, did you check it?"

Nessie giggled.

Still brushing Nessie's hair I looked up at my seventeen-year-old husband. His lips were curved into a smudged smile and the expression he wore on his face was teasing and very immature. He looked like a sneaky teenage boy with a secret instead of a century old vampire, and that's exactly what he was, a cheeky teenager at this very moment.

I had no idea what he was getting at. I had checked all her work and he had just double checked it. Everything was complete. Yet, he was here asking me silly questions.

"Yes." I simply answered and he laughed.

"Oh I doubt that you did, love." He said in a teasing way.

Running the brush through Nessie's hair one last time, I stared at him, expressionless. I had no idea what he was getting at.

Putting the brush inside the draw beneath the sink I let down my shield showing him my memories of checking Nessie's homework. All of it. Even the eight pages of her Social Studies assignments today's as well as yesterday's.

When my memory came to an end he let out a laugh. His laughter made him sound like a kid on a carnival ride, he was having too much fun with this. Whatever this was.

I eyeballed him hard, wondering what the joke was. Nessie was looking at him too. Neither one of us said anything as his laughter carried on.

"Care to let me in on the joke?" I asked him after a while.

"I want to hear it too." Nessie chimed in.

"Read this." Edward spoke in between laughter as he handed me Nessie's homework. Before I could take it from him Nessie did.

"That's mine. You can't keep it. I need to give it to my teacher." She held her paper protectively, cradling it to her chest.

"I know. I just want to read it." I reassured her.

Making one eyebrow go up she eyed me. "Why?"

"So I can understand what Daddy is laughing at." I explained. "Can I have your worksheet?"

Nessie shook her head. She didn't want to give it to me.

Edward went over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She leaned her back on him. The expression on her little face was profound while his expression was teasing.

"Why don't you read it to Mommy?" Edward asked, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze.

"Oh alright." She let out a theatrical sigh.

I stood there trying to process what was going on. Nessie was acting normal while Edward seemed to be treating this - whatever it was - as a prank.

His behavior didn't make sense to me since this was about her worksheet that was labeled Important People Of The Past. Knowing that I had already looked at that paper earlier in the day which was about a historical figure of the past that she would like to talk to and what year they were born, I gave little thought to the paper itself. After all, she picked Abraham Lincoln so I had no idea why that would make Edward so amused.

Nessie cleared her throat for dramatic effect as she held up her paper in front of her face. Edward snickered and I silently waited.

"The person from the past I would want to talk to is," Nessie read, pausing for another dramatic effect. She looked up at me with a smile on her face.

"I know it's Abraham Lincoln." I said.

"Far off the mark, love." Edward laughed.

Nessie shook her head. "That's wrong, Mommy."

"Uh?" I didn't hide my confusion.

"I changed it." She happily announced.

Edward chuckled. I ignored him and looked at Nessie.

"Well, okay. Who did you change the person from long ago that you would like to talk with?" I wondered.

"It's you!" She shouted with excitement.

"What?" Was my only answer.

Edward howled with laughter. Clearly he found our daughter's misunderstanding of her assignment funnier than it was. I wasn't seeing the humor in it.

With a big smile on her face Nessie nodded her head.

"Yeah," Edward said between laughter, pointing to her paper. "According to what she wrote you are older than Carlisle!" He cracked up again. "I never knew you were so old."

"What are you talking about?" I wondered. What he said did not make any sense. Nessie knows the years Edward and I were born as she is aware of the ages we were frozen at as well as the ages we actually are.

"I remembered your birthday and wrote it down all by myself." Nessie happily explained handing me her worksheet.

I took the paper from her. My eyes scanned it immediately, landing on the year in question. At once I realized what my husband was laughing uncontrollably like the Joker at.

"1287. Really? Nessie, do you actually think that's the year I was born?" I wondered, keeping my eyes on her as I said this.

"Yes!" She said a little too loudly.

I sighed but didn't say anything.

Edward was cracking up. He was laughing so hard that if he weren't a vampire he probably would have busted a gut. I glared at him. He was annoying me.

"Isn't that when you were born?" Nessie wondered, looking a little worried.

I shook my head. "No. That's not even the right century."

"Oops." Is all she said.

"I hate to break it to you but that's your birth year now, love." Edward snorted. He sounded every bit like a teenager that was having fun and wouldn't let go of a joke. "And all this time I thought I had been a vampire longer than you have. Obviously you kept secrets from me."

I rolled my eyes. He continued to keep laughing.

"It's the wrong year." I said to him. To Nessie I said as I took her by her hand, "We need to erase these answers and put different ones."

"Okay." She agreed.

Nessie and I walked out of the bathroom. Edward laughed again and I let out a deep sigh. It really wasn't that funny but I had the feeling that he would bring it up again.

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