Author's Note: Hey guys, as always, thanks for being so patient and understanding while you waited, I promise I'm not giving up on any of my stories, I'm just having a hard time. As always, thanks for reading.


Chapter 9

Bella had fallen asleep quite a few times as time passed in the Cullen house, and it was starting to get a little late when Bella was woken up once more by Esme. The maternal woman managed to convince the half asleep girl to follow her into the kitchen after a few minutes, and Tanya was still so focused on her brunette that she nearly followed. Thankfully she was stopped by Irina, but even then, Tanya felt anxious with every second that Bella wasn't in her sight. The human came back, clearly unharmed, a few minutes later with all sorts of food stacked high on three plates, one in each of Bella's hands, and another balanced precariously on Bella's head as Bella tried to rejoin the family in the living room. Esme had tried to convince Bella that she could take a tray or two, but Bella adamantly refused each time. For some reason, she seemed determined to do it herself.

Immediately, Tanya jumped up to help her, but Bella stated in a firm, no-nonsense voice, "No. You stay."

A little confused, Tanya sat back down, and Alice hopped up to help Bella with the plates instead. They had a little tug of war moment, as Bella refused to relinquish the food, until Alice rolled her eyes and said in fond exasperation, "I'm just making sure nothing falls, Bella. It's still all yours."

"Okay," Bella said, and allowed Alice to take the food. The smaller pixie had to hop up while standing on her tiptoes so she could reach the plate on Bella's head, but she eventually managed it. As she glided over to put the plate on the center table in the living room, Bella followed her, putting the other two plates down as well. Then she hopped up back on Tanya's lap, took both of Tanya's wrists and wrapped Tanya's arms around her waist, and then grabbed some chicken. "Thanks sexy lady," she mumbled, having already stuffed the chicken into her mouth.

Tanya smiled and tightened her grip. "No problem."

Bella then paused, mouth still stuffed, as she suddenly remembered her mom and dad's lessons on manners. So she grabbed another piece of chicken, turned around in Tanya's arms, and tried to shove the piece of food into Tanya's mouth. After poking Tanya in the lips several times, Tanya caught her wrist.

"I'm fine, Bella. I'm not hungry," Tanya assured her human, and Bella paused, visibly confused. How could anyone not be hungry? But she decided the best thing to do was move on, so she reluctantly tried to stretch as far as she could without leaving Tanya's lap, trying to put the food in Jasper's mouth instead. Tanya, of course, was busy hanging on to the human to make sure she didn't fall. Kate, however, was busy stifling her laughter, and Irina was repeatedly smacking her to try and get her to shut up. Everyone else was watching this happen with a sort of curiosity.

"You don't need to do that. I'm not hungry either," Jasper said, fending off the hand as Bella tried to shove the food into his mouth while talking.

Letting out a sigh of frustration and annoyance, Bella then turned to her other closest victim, Eleazar. However, before she could try giving him the food, Carlisle cut in.

"I'm sure if any of us are hungry, we will ask you for some food, okay?" he said, not wanting her to go around trying to feed everyone.

Bella stared at him for a moment, blinked slowly, then put the food in her own mouth. She settled back into Tanya, grabbed some more food, and went about stuffing her face once more as she chose to stare at random people in the room. But mostly, she stared upwards at Tanya, who at one point had absently began to stroke Bella's arms and sides, even catching a hand to play with every once in awhile.

"Hey, Bella-" Rosalie started, reaching towards the human as she was almost done finishing her third plate.

Bella's hand shot out, cutting off the path of Rose's hand in a karate chop like movement. She gave Rosalie a look and said, "You had your chance."

Rosalie's eyebrows arched, the vampire both shocked and confused, but then she realized Bella was talking about the food. Of course the strange human would get more possessive when there was almost nothing left. "No, I'm not hungry. I was just trying to get your attention to tell you it's getting late. What time are you supposed to be home by?"

Bella's brow scrunched in confusion. "What even is home?" she asked in a confused, yet philosophical tone. "What is time?" Then she got distracted by Tanya, who shifted in her seat-as she had done many times over the hours to try and seem more human-and Bella seemed to have completely forgotten the conversation.

"Did you even talk to your father about coming over?" Esme asked worriedly, to which she received a blank look.

Seeing that Bella seemed to have no idea what was going on, Carlisle cleared her throat. "I believe we should get Bella home for the evening. I would hate to have worried Charlie any more than he most likely already is."

"Huh?" Bella asked as Tanya sighed, realizing that Carlisle was right. She really didn't want to leave her mate, but it seemed she had no choice.

"Come on, Bella, it's time to go home," she said, picking the girl up. Tanya stood, placed the girl on the ground while making sure Bella would stay on her feet.

"No," Bella said, and surprised everyone by hopping up onto Tanya. Tanya caught her automatically, and Bella used that to her advantage, clinging onto Tanya with her arms and legs. "I'm staying here."

"Bella, your father-" Tanya tried to explain, but Bella buried her face in the blonde's neck and tightened her grip, making it hard for Tanya to remember why she was trying to make her mate leave her.

"Hell, why don't we just call the man and ask her to stay the night?" Kate asked. She grinned, a little evilly, and added, "That way we can all have some fun, am I right?"

Bella looked up at Kate's words to stare at the woman, and her eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement. "Comrade," Bella said, giving Kate two thumbs up, only to nearly fall backwards. Thankfully, Tanya simply changed her grip, stopping Bella from hitting the ground, and Bella quickly clung to Tanya again before Tanya could try and put her down. "I agree with the comrade," the human added.

"Tanya, just keep holding onto her and come with me. I'll drive her home," Edward said as he got up, wondering just what was going on in the strange girl's head. It was the first time a human actually wanted to stay in a house full of vampires; their instincts just told them to always run. It was interesting that the one girl's mind that he really wanted to read was the one mind that he just couldn't get into.

"Okay," Tanya murmured, stroking Bella down her spine once before following Edward out of the house. "I'll be back soon," she added, just because that was an assurance a human would say to her family.

Bella didn't complain once about being carried away, but she didn't let go of Tanya either. The vampire ended up holding onto the brunette for the entire drive, and while her mind was mostly focused on her mate, she also found herself wondering what exactly she was supposed to say to her mate's father to explain her situation.

However, soon they had run out of time, and Tanya found herself at Charlie's front door as Edward waited safely in the car. She rang the doorbell and waited, but she didn't have to wait very long before the door opened, revealing her mate's father.

"Oh," Charlie said, a little surprised to find a gorgeous blonde cradling his daughter so easily while standing on his porch. "Thanks. Please come in." He didn't ask about anything or say anything; instead, he simply stepped aside and let Tanya in.

"She's my dream girl, Dad," Bella announced at one point, but neither father nor Tanya said anything in response.

"I'm sorry for bringing her by so late, we had thought-" Tanya started.

"No, it's fine. I know how she is," Charlie said, getting over his surprise long enough to offer an awkward smile.

"Right." Tanya focused on her mate, whispering, "I'll see you tomorrow, Bella." She tried to put Bella down, but then found the human was still stubbornly hanging on. She gave Charlie a helpless look and said, "I'm truly sorry, it just seems she won't let go."

"Because you're my dream girl," Bella said, like it was the most obvious reason in the world.

"Really, Bella," Charlie muttered with a sigh, although a part of him was happy she was getting along with another person so well. He scratched the back of his and added, "Uh, sorry to do this to you, but do you think you can take her upstairs for me? She seems to like you quite a lot, after all."

"Of course," Tanya said, trying not to sound too grateful for being given a little bit more time with her mate. "I'll be happy to."

"As will I," Bella replied, once again sounding quite serious, although her voice was muffled due to her face being buried in Tanya's neck.

And so, Bella was carried up the stairs, humming some kind of happy tune under her breath as she went. They made it to Bella's room, and Tanya closed the door with a foot before sitting on the bed, with Bella in her lap.

"Bella, you need to let go now," Tanya said gently, taking a hold of one of Bella's hands to try and pull it off of her.

"But then you'll leave," Bella said, staring up at Tanya. "You need to stay."

"I can't," Tanya whispered, and she felt her heart ache at the words. It was stupid that such a brief separation could hurt her so much, but it did. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I'll pick you up from school and we can go do something together. But how about you tell your dad first, okay?"

Bella stared at her for a long time and didn't say a word. Then she looked away, muttering something about macaroni and cheese that only confused the blonde. But Bella did let go, although reluctantly, and flopped backwards off of Tanya's lap and onto the bed. It nearly sent Tanya into a panic, as Bella fell a little too close to the edge of the bed for her liking, but thankfully, nothing bad happened.

Tanya stood up, knowing prolonging her time in Bella's room would only make it harder on her and possibly seem suspicious to Bella's father. "Tomorrow," she said, brushing Bella's cheek with her fingertips. She thought she caught Bella give a little smile, but by then, Bella had already fallen asleep.

For a moment, Tanya stared at Bella, memorizing Bella's features, before reminding herself that she really shouldn't hang around much longer. So she forced herself to look away, heading for the door.

Behind her, Bella mumble, "Yes, praise the booty! Booty, booty, booty…bootilicious...all the booty in the world...booty...BOOTY."

Tanya paused with surprise, and glanced behind her, back at her mate, but found that Bella was still asleep. So she left, walking downstairs, stopping only to thank Charlie, and then getting thanked in return before she left.

The entire time, Bella's talk about booty didn't stop. A part of Tanya wanted, so badly, to know just what Bella was dreaming. But even she couldn't have guessed that Bella was dreaming about a certain dancing blonde dream girl.

And potatoes. For some reason, there were a lot of potatoes wearing top hats in that dream as well. But Bella didn't mind. To her, it was just part of the fun, although Tanya always remained the center of her attention.

She had always loved her dreams, but she loved her dream girl so much more.