Settled In!

Disclaimer: I have no excuse for this one… It's just here cuz Cae told me she wanted it. I own nothing but the OC and the plot… All this is still dedicated to Cae just… because. Enjoy!

~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~

When they returned to the Cullens' house in the woods back in Forks, Cae immediately skipped around as she started to explore with her new vampire abilities. She'd been ready for this her entire life, which was the decided reason for why she wasn't the usual blood-thirsty newborn.

"Cae," she heard a gentle voice from behind, making her turn to face Esme, "You must be thirsty. Don't you think you should have Edward take you out hunting?"

Cae did feel a slight burning in her throat, but she was still curious about what else these vampires had around their home. "I'll be fine," she assured her before remembering something, "Do my parents know about all this?"

Carlisle quickly appeared at Esme's side with a gentle smile as he wrapped his arm around her waist. He looked at Cae in a way that made her feel relaxed. "We told them we were taking you on a hiking trip for the weekend when Alice told us about her vision," he explained calmly, "You really should hunt now. We know you're in control now, but we can't be sure it will last long."

Cae sighed before shrugging and skipping away to find Edward. "Eddiepoo, where are you?" she called, knowing he would show up. Just as she reached the garage, she heard arguing inside, a strange clashing sound, and quiet muttering as if bets were being made. Still feeling slightly curious, she headed inside, following the sounds through to the kitchen. Stopping when she got there, she saw Edward pulled a knife from the knife rack on the counter, but quickly remembered it wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Are you sure you want to argue with me?" he demanded, waving the object swiftly in the air, clearly asking for a fight.

Emmett just let out a laugh. "Try me," he retorted, grabbing the handle of something else from the knife rack and pulling it out in front of him like a sword.

Cae almost laughed as she noticed it was a knife sharpener. Though neither of their "weapons" would do any damage, they would both be deadly to anything living within throwing range. Silently, she wondered if that was a good or bad thing.

Pros: it would save her a hunting trip

Cons: it might accidentally be a human

When she finally noticed the two had gotten into what looked like a kitchen version of a sword fight, she realized she should probably stop them. Carlisle and Esme were still outside and the others were betting on who would win – well, everyone but Alice. If there was no one who could stop them, then how could she do that by herself? She thought for a moment. Doi! She was a vampire now. Twitching her fingers slightly, she watched as Edward and Emmett were pulled through the air to the opposite sides of the room and pinned to the wall by the object they'd been holding. The two were silent for a moment as everyone turned to look at Cae.

Alice grinned almost smugly. "I win," she said, turning to the others, "You owe me." Jasper sighed, looking almost annoyed as he turned swiftly from the room and Alice followed him to the door.

"Eddiepoo…" Cae called to the auburn-haired vampire with a slightly childish tone, "Will you take me hunting?"

Rosalie went over to Emmett to help detach him from the wall.

"Well, I would if I wasn't stuck," he replied, rather annoyed at the fact the knife would not budge from where it pinned him to the wall by the shirt. Rosalie also seemed to find it annoying, but that was a perk.

"Fine. Ruin my fun," Cae said just as Alice dragged Jasper back into the room in time to see Edward and Emmett fall to the floor due to their sudden detachment from the wall. They soon knew why as Cae held the knife and sharpener in her hands.

"Okay, I just had to make you watch that," Alice twittered to Jasper, who seemed amused that Emmett would lose the bet.

Rosalie helped Emmett up and then spotted the two large holes in the wall. "You broke Esme's kitchen," she scolded Cae, who had been staring at Edward, who hadn't budged an inch from where he lay on the floor beside her while she towered over him.

Cae looked at the walls. "Oh, I guess you're right… Well, at least it's only two," she said, touching a hand to the hole in the wall next to her to examine it, "I'll find a way to fix it. I mean, it can't be that hard."

She glanced over at Rosalie, who rolled her eyes as Emmett tried to get her attention by tapping her shoulder. "Yeah, good luck with that. You'll probably just make it worse," the feisty blonde stated under her breath, ignoring Emmett.

"Cae?" Edward asked her as he propped himself up on his elbows.

She ignored him, still keeping her hand on the wall. "I will not," she retorted to Rosalie's comment, "I'll bet I'll fix both walls better than you could… and then you'll be sorry I proved you wrong."

Rosalie didn't respond as Emmett put a hand on her shoulder. "What?" she asked as she looked at him impatiently.

Emmett pointed at Cae. "Look," he said and Rosalie looked over, taken off guard.

Cae looked down at Edward in confusion, but he just shook his head. "Your hand, Cae," he spoke, making her wonder what he was talking about.

Curious, she looked over and noticed the hole beneath her hand was repaired as if it had never been there. She blinked before glancing over at the two in the doorway – Alice wore a smirk as she watched Jasper, who was sulking. "Fixed it," she said to Rosalie, who glared at her as she skipped across the room to fix the hole where Emmett had been stuck.

"Come on, Emmett," Rosalie muttered, pulling him by the hand, "I bet you'd win and you just had to lose to Alice. We have to pay up now."

Alice and Jasper followed them out of the room, leaving Cae to dart back over to Edward and look down at him.

Edward looked up at her smile, guessing what she wanted. "You are one scary little monster when you play with knives," he said, still lying on his back, propped up on his elbows.

Cae smiled innocently at him. "Hunting… now," she begged him.

Edward rolled his eyes at her as he attempted to get up. "Whatever you say," he caved and she clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Yay," she said with a big smile.

~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~

"Okay, find an animal smell you like and let your instincts kick in," Edward explained when they were in the woods, "Don't worry about any humans. I'll make sure you don't hurt anyone."

She turned to him and rolled her eyes. "I know that," she replied before glancing around at the trees. Just then, she caught onto the scent of a strange animal behind a large tree stump. Heading over to it, she looked around until she finally saw it was a small hedgehog caught by a few roots of the tree.

"A hedgehog?" Edward asked, shaking his head, "Surely, you can do better than that."

Cae grabbed his arm and tugged, feeling satisfied for once that she was strong enough to throw him off balance for even a fraction of a second.

"But look, Eddiepoo… It's stuck," she pointed out, "I can tell it's scared." – she gasped in realization – "We should save it!" Her grip on his arm suddenly increased along with her excitement.

"Cae… I do not mean to burst your bubble, here, but… you are starting to hurt me," Edward explained politely, trying to pull her hand away, "This is possibly the first time in over 100 years that I'm the one worrying about being broken."

Cae finally released her grip and pouted as she kneeled down to try and free the hedgehog. "Aww, you're no fun," she told him as she started breaking the roots that were stuck around the tiny terrified creature, "Just give me a minute to figure this out and then we can continue hunting."

"You are the first and only newborn who won'tfeed," Edward muttered before noticing the limp creature the vampire girl was holding in confusion, "You killed it."

She looked down at the creature – it had mostly terrified itself to death – and sighed. "No, I didn't," she stated before pausing over an excuse, "It's just… sleeping." Edward rolled his eyes in disbelief, watching as she poked it. "Wake up, little Sonic," she told it and slowly the blue-tipped hedgehog lifted up its head and looked around before sitting up, "Told you."

Edward stared in shock. "You resurrected it?"

Cae shrugged in response. Just then, from somewhere off in the distance, they heard a loud crash and Jasper's voice calling out, "Aww…come on!"

Edward chuckled slightly and Cae looked over at him as if to ask what had happened. "He's been listening to see what else you do," Edward explained with a smile, "He's just tired of being the weakest link… and he's just frustrated, so my advice is to ignore him if he accidentally stamps his foot down on another boulder."

Cae paused as if she was looking for an appropriate thing to say. "Oh, good. You're done talking," she finally snapped out of it, "Can I keep Sonic?"

Edward sighed, obviously being ignored. "Fine," he agreed with a nod, "Now, give it to me to hold while you hunt."

"Are you going to eat him?" Cae questioned, holding her new pet protectively.

"No," Edward stated, reaching his hand out patiently.

"Yay," Cae smiled before handing Sonic over to him, "Be careful and I'll be right back." With that, she pranced off to find an animal worth feeding off.

~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~Caeward~

When they finally returned to the house, Cae ran up to Emmett to show him her pet. "Guess what?" she questioned excitedly and Emmett looked at her questioningly, "I got a pet hedgehog."

"A hedgehog?" he asked just to be sure.

"I know," Cae said, holding out the blue-tipped hedgehog for him to see, "I named it Sonic."

"Sonic? Didn't Edward tell you not to name your food?" he teased and Cae pouted.

"It was either this or a puppy," she informed him, "Which would you prefer I bring home?"

Emmett chuckled to himself. "Okay, then… Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked.

Cae stared at him thoughtfully. "That depends," she told him before turning and called, "Edward, how do you check to find the gender of a hedgehog?" With that, she skipped off to find him.

"Go find Carlisle and ask him," Edward replied from the living room, "He's the doctor."

Pouting, she skipped off to find Carlisle instead.

Moments later, she returned to Emmett and smiled. "It's a boy!" she spoke excitedly, receiving confused glances from the others in the room.

Suddenly, Emmett jumped up and grabbed the hedgehog from her hands before darting away in an attempt to hide it. Crying out in surprise, Cae jumped after him and tackled him to the ground, in the process launching the blue-tipped hedgehog into the air. Edward, being the true gentleman he was, responded to the girl's pleas for help and made a dive to catch the small creature, which safely landed in his cupped hands. Cae got off the large vampire she was pinning down and scurried over to her pet, picked him up, and softly stroked his head.

"Sonic, you lived!" she stated happily before looking down at her auburn-haired hero, "Why, thank you ever so much, my knight in sparkling armor. How ever will I repay you?"

Just then, a loud noise broke the silence, creating a sound like a distant scream. It went on for a while before they realized it was coming from the stairs. Looking over, they saw Alice standing there with a deflated balloon in her hand.

"Let's have a party," the pixie-like girl suggested with a perky smile, "I mean… we always thought Rosalie was the only girl who could hold Emmett down, but hey… someone beat him in a match of strength, so I think that's reason enough if any reason to throw a party. So, who's with me?"

Cae, who had been blowing up one of the balloons she'd taken from Alice, released her grip on it and watched as it zipped around the room, making the same noise they'd heard earlier until Emmett grabbed it.

"I like parties… They're fun," Cae stated randomly, "Who are we inviting and why?"

Emmett blew into the balloon and Edward glared at him as he got to his feet. "Don't you dare. If you do…" he began, so Emmett slowly released the air from the balloon and plopped it in Edward's open hand, "Thank you."

"So… who wants a balloon hat?" Cae asked with a childish smile and Rosalie rolled her eyes from where she sat next to Jasper on the couch.

"Fine," she sighed, "You can have your party. Just don't expect me to wear anything stupid for you."

"Aren't you glad they're getting along?" Carlisle stated sarcastically to his wife.

"First one to blow up the most balloons is the last one to get tossed into the river," Emmett challenged as he and Cae made a lunge for the box of balloons Alice had left at the foot of the stairs.

"And you thought they'd be a handful," Esme replied with a small grin.

(A/N) Okliedoklies… This is the 3rd chappie I meant to post ages and ages ago… So, yeah… Did you enjoy it? Hopefully, you did. If I get reviews… you'll see the next one up as soon as I can finish it. I'd promise, but I have no idea what my schedule is like, so yeah… I'll do my best to promise, but that's all up to you peeps. To review or not to review? That is the question…

Ah, Shakespeare…

So yeah… review. It's not that hard to click the button at the bottom of the page and type in a sentence on whether you liked it or not. Should I quit writing this story or should I keep going? It's up to you…

And for the record, I know what Cae is going to say… She's going to say that I can't stop writing this or else she'll get Vampp to kick me… or do it herself. Or at least, she would've said that several years back when I finished the chappie. I thinks he's lost interest in this story by now…

But I really do want to know what everyone else thinks about it.

REVIEW! Pwease? *Begs*

Note: By the way… In case you didn't know, I've updated the previous chapters, so if you want, you can go back and reread them. Nothing serious was changed, but… yeah… In case you feel like you might be missing something (which you won't be) if you don't go back to it, feel free.

Posted: 10/30/11