A/N: I've gotten behind in posting these in a timely fashion. I have been writing them, just not posting... I'm up to 9 or 10... I forget which.
Disc.: I didn't create it... just manipulate it...
The twins were growing fairly quickly, though Carlisle couldn't be sure by how much. Neither seemed willing to cooperate with him when it came to measuring. They'd howl and fight him tooth and nail, though they didn't have any teeth. By three months old, they were sitting up. They were content sitting facing each other, staring for hours on end. The adults watched curiously as the two stared, blinking and not moving like two little squat statues.
"Maybe they're talking to each other with their minds," Jacob teased. The twins looked at him and scowled. Jacob stopped laughing. "I don't think they like me very much."
"Of course they do," Nessie said as she scooped them up in her arms. She snuggled them against her and carried them up to bed.
"Yeah, well, Masen keeps glaring at me," Jacob grumbled. He swore he saw Masen roll his eyes. "Do you think that they understand us?"
"Of course they do," Nessie said as she ran the bath water. Jacob sighed as he heard Seth bound up the stairs. "Hello Seth."
"Hi, Nessie," Seth said as he reached for Sarabella.
"You know, you shouldn't feel obligated to help out," Nessie said. Jacob snorted.
"Do you remember how much we hung out when you were this small?" Jacob said. "He can't help it."
"What can I say?" Seth said shrugging.
"Maybe you can get Sarabella to be still when Carlisle's trying to measure her?" Nessie asked him. Seth nodded and brought Sarabella close to him so that they were practically nose to nose.
"Sarabella, will you please let Carlisle measure you?" Seth asked quietly.
"No," Sarabella said. Seth nearly dropped her, shocked that she had talked. They all looked at Masen, who was laughing from the floor where he was now sitting and looking pretty smug.
"Did you say 'no'?" Seth asked quietly. Sarabella rolled her eyes and kicked her legs out at him.
"Haha, harder to keep someone you imprinted on if she won't play nice with you," Jacob said. Seth laughed, his barking laugh startled Sarabella who was only inches from his face. He bottom lip stuck out and quivered before she burst into tears.
"Sara, I'm sorry," Seth said gathering her against his chest. She felt cool to him, but it was an odd sort of cool. "Is Sarabella sick? She feels awfully cool to the touch."
"She does," Nessie confirmed as she looked at Jacob in alarm.
"I'll get Carlisle," Jacob said as he sprinted off. Nessie immediately abandoned the attempt at a bath and instead took the twins into her room. Masen felt cool to the touch, too. Not as noticeably so, but cooler none the less.
Carlisle headed into the room before Jacob could even hit the stairs to look for him. Edward and Bella were there, too by his side. Seth held Sarabella in his arms, concern easily read on his face. Sarabella looked at Masen almost in frustration. Carlisle smiled at the tot in Seth's arms.
"Hello Sara, can I take a look at you and see what all the fuss is all about?" Carlisle said as he looked at her. Sarabella looked to Masen, who shrugged his tiny shoulders. She crossed her little arms and looked at her great grandfather.
"No," she said in a very clear if not small voice. She turned away from Carlisle and twisted in Seth's grasp to be free. Carlisle eyes widened slightly but he didn't say anything.
"Are you feeling well?" he asked her. Everyone looked at her and she looked at Masen.
"Mace, how do you feel?" Sarabella asked him. He shrugged.
"Good," he said with his voice a little louder than hers. The others looked at the two of them warily and the babies laughed.
"Please put me down," Sarabella said curtly.
Seth quickly placed her on the blanket next to Masen and stepped away slowly, as if she was some ravenous and riled beast. She and Masen went back to sitting face to face, not saying anything. It was unnerving the way they were so still. Carlisle had no words of wisdom. Who knew what was supposed to be normal when it came to the mortal children of two abnormal creatures, a human-vampire and a werewolf. Perhaps their behavior was meant to be that way, and perhaps their temperature was supposed to be as well.
No one really knew anything.
They truly were a pair of strange little tots.