I'm sorry this was later than planned, real life has been kicking my butt recently.

Edward Cullen

Panic was running through me faster than I had ever felt it before, Lexi was only human, not one bit of supernatural in her, she was helpless and she was alone in this vast crowd. Once I was sure Bella had tight hold of Beth I concentrated on the thoughts around me, trying my best to pinpoint Lexi's mind.

"What is it?" I heard her voice through someone's head.

"Chocolate, have you never had chocolate before?"

"No"

"I have more if you want to come with me."

"Yes please it's really nice"

I managed to pinpoint her mind and I could feel her panic rising as she realised it wasn't a good idea to go with him.

Wait please let go of me, what is he doing?

I turned and followed Lexi's panicked thoughts and saw her with her arm trapped in a man's hand as he dragged her away. I was over there in a second, not caring who saw me move. I had moved so fast they probably thought it was wind anyway.

"Get away from my daughter" I growled in Portuguese to the man who had hold of Lexi. I was burning with anger. I pried his hand from her wrist easily and I could tell he was shocked at my strength; I pulled Lexi into my arms and away from the man's touch.

"He just wanted to give me candy, he said he had more" Lexi said innocently.

"I'm in the right mind to kill you right now. Go home you sick pervert" I told the man, It took me everything, and I mean everything in me to walk away from him. I couldn't kill him in front of all these people, someone would certainly notice. I walked away from the man with Lexi still in in my arms, I could tell she was confused. I walked over to Bella and Beth who were sitting on a bench, Beth was still wrapped tightly around her mother.

"Sweetheart, you must never ever talk to strangers." I told Lexi when I reached my wife and daughter. "Ever." I gasped in relief and hugged her tighter to me. I couldn't believe how close we had been to losing her. She hugged me back in comfort, but I knew she didn't know the dangers of our world. "Not everyone is nice, some people would hurt you and take you away forever" I tried to explain in a way that wouldn't scare them both too much.

"I knew this was a bad idea" Bella told me, I shook my head and sat next to her with Lexi still wrapped around me.

"The girls wanted to see the city; it was my fault for not telling them about strangers." I told her. Bella held Beth tighter to her. I knew Beth would be able to get away from anyone that tried to take her but Lexi was human, full blooded human and only a child. That man could have easily taken her away from us and he nearly did. Lexi had tears in her eyes as she hugged me. She refused to let go.

He must be so angry with me. I didn't know. I didn't know he was a bad man. I could hear in Lexi's thoughts.

"Im not angry at you" I tried to soothe her. I could tell Beth was scared too. "I don't mean to scare you both, I should have told you not to talk to anyone you didn't know. Even if they offer you candy or chocolate or toys, you must never ever take anything from a stranger and you mustn't under any circumstances go with them" I explained softly to both girls.

"Even if they say they know us. You must always ask a member of our family first. Our close family, only the ones you know." Bella added.

"Im sorry" Lexi said sadly her tears we still falling from her eyes.

"It's ok, you didn't know" I comforted her and kissed her forehead. "You're special Lexi and we don't want to lose you, other humans won't understand you like we do."

"I know" Lexi said sadly and looked to Bella. Was she angry with me? I heard her think.

"No Bella isn't angry with you" I answered her thoughts. Bella smiled softly at her, I knew she already loved her as if she was our daughter through birth; she was her daughter and would be crushed if something bad happened to her. I didn't realise until this moment that so would I. I hadn't bonded much with Lexi but the thought of losing her affected me as much as if it had been Renesmee or Beth. I did love this little girl, more than I even realised. I kissed her forehead again and wiped away her tears on her small face.

"Thank you for saving me" she said to me softly. I smiled at her.

"Always" I assured her.

"You're a really good daddy" she sighed softly as she hugged me again. I smiled slightly and hugged her back.

"I'll always protect you Lexi. You're family now"

I knew she didn't view me as her father in the way she viewed Bella as her mother. She had actually had a father in her life and he had protected her and had a special place in her heart but I knew that the events of today would bring Lexi and I a lot closer and I knew from her thoughts she already loved me. It made me happy that she knew she had people that would protect her and love her in this world too. I didn't mind what she thought about me or if she called me her dad, as long as she was happy. It had only been a few weeks; there was no way she would forget about her birth father in that amount of time like she forgot her mother, she had always wanted a mother to love her like her birth mother should have done and now she had Bella and I couldn't think of anyone more perfect to be her mother.

"I'm really glad I have you as my new mommy and daddy" she said and hugged me tighter. Nothing was said for a good minute or so, Lexi was holding me like a lifeline and I didn't want to move.

"Can we go home now?" Beth asked in the silence as Bella and I held our daughters.

"Yes let's go home" Bella said with a sigh and stood up, still carrying Beth. She tried to put her on her feet but Beth squealed and gripped Bella harder. I held Lexi to me with one hand; shuffling all the shopping bags we had to that hand and took Bella's spare with mine.

We walked hand in hand, carrying the girls back to the dock in silence. By the time we got there Lexi had fallen asleep on my shoulder and I gently passed her over to Bella once she was in the boat with Beth. Lexi stirred but relaxed again when she saw she was in Bella's arms and I drove us back to our island. The waves were strong as we headed back home, the sky was cloudy and dark and I could hear thunder.

"Edward" Bella said concerned as she held Lexi closer to her body.

"It will be ok love, we'll reach the island before the storm hits" I assured her, I could see it on the other side of Isle Esme. It would probably just hit the island as we docked on Isle Isabella. It was late when we arrived back and I had been right. The storm was quickly heading our way but we were safe on the island. We walked the few yards to the open area where the main house was. The foundations of the new houses were already up and as we walked to the main house I could see lights on. Lexi was asleep in Bella's arms and Beth was walking hand in hand with me. We entered the house and Carlisle, Esme, Renesmee, Jacob, Eddie and Chloe were all sitting in the living room laughing and smiling.

"Oh good you're back before the storm! Did you have a good day?!" Esme said happily, Beth skipped over to her grandmother and crawled onto Esme's lap.

"We did grandma! It was so amazing, all the lights and the people and the buildings and the shops! It was amazing" Beth said in a rant. She sighed at the end and placed her head on Esme's shoulder, Esme smiled and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. "The only thing was Lexi went missing and it scared momma and daddy" she added then.

"She what?" Esme gasped looking over to make sure Lexi was with us.

"I'll go put her to bed and we'll tell you all about it" Bella said and walked over to the stairs with Lexi still in her arms.

"At least you're all ok" Carlisle said with a smile. I smiled back and looked around the couches at my family; Jacob was looking at me intensely.

Can I talk to you? He asked in his head. I nodded and headed towards the back door. Everyone had begun talking to Beth so no one really noticed Jacob and I leaving.

"Everything ok?" I asked him. He rested his forearms over the patio bannister as he stared out at the ocean. I copied him at his side, just waiting for him to speak. I didn't read his mind, whatever he needed to talk about he would say out loud.

"It's Renesmee" he said softly.

"What about her?" I frowned to myself. Jacob rarely came to me about things about Renesmee. Sure we were best friends but his and Renesmee's relationship was so perfect, he didn't need to come to me about her.

"Our anniversary is coming up" he reminded me.

"Ohh" I laughed, I could see where this was going.

"I have no idea what to do. Normally we don't celebrate it anymore, I mean sure we say it to each other but we don't give gifts or anything. Shes been feeling sad recently, missing our kids and I wanted to do something for her, do you have any ideas?" he said and laughed at the end.

"Isle Esme?" I asked him.

"Like we haven't done that for the past 100 years?" he asked with a laugh.

"True" I smiled with him. "What about Sarah? You said shes missing the kids. Give Sarah and Nahuel a call and ask if you can bring her over."

"That's a great idea!" he exclaimed. "I'll take her shopping in Rio, have lunch then make our way to Sarah's." I smiled at him; he definitely needed to see Sarah. She had been to visit Bella and me not long ago. She had something to tell her parents, I was sure of it. "Thanks Edward" he added smiling warmly at me, "I can always count on you" he said seriously. I smiled back and I pulled him into a quick man hug. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better son in law. I hoped Elizabeth and Lexi would find someone like him, like Nessie had.

"You're welcome" I said and pulled away. I didn't know why he was thanking me; he seemed to have an idea planned already.

"Awww" Bella said at the door, we turned to see her smiling at us. "See, all those years ago I knew you could be good friends. I have to say it's so nice to see you two together"

"He's my best friend, so thank you Bells for bringing us together" Jacob smiled at her and pulled her into our hug. She giggled.

"If only the 16 year old Jacob could hear you say that" she said as she hugged both our waists. I grinned up at Jacob.

"I would have laughed for a week" Jacob told her.

"And I wouldn't have believed a word" I added. Jacob laughed.

"I knew what you meant all those years ago now Bella, I belonged in your family not by your side" he said and kissed her hair.

"If only you could have realised that back then" she giggled and pulled away from us.

"Yeah sorry about that, I guess stubborn is my middle name" he grinned.

"What are you guys doing out here?" Renesmee asked coming outside. Bella smiled and pulled her daughter into a tight hug; she laughed and hugged her mother back.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Im just so glad I had you" Bella told our daughter. Nessie laughed again.

"Me too mom" she said as if Bella was going crazy.

"Your mom is feeling nostalgic. If you were never born Jacob wouldn't be here now so your mom is grateful she got to keep her best friend. So am I." I said and my arm went around Jacob's shoulders. He copied and we stood there side by side. Renesmee smiled at us and Bella looked like she was almost crying.

"You're not pregnant again are you mom?" Nessie asked, Bella laughed.

"No sweetie im just feeling appreciative right now. I could have lost both of the girls today and it's suddenly made me realise how much I love all of you. We've been through so much, especially in your early life and Im glad we all made it through. Well most of us" she smiled bittersweetly. I knew she was thinking about Allesandra and her father Charlie and all the humans we knew that have died.

As we spoke the rain had started to pour down on the sand just below us. The thunder roared and the waves were well onto the beach.

"Let's get inside" I told them and pulled the shutters up around the patio. The only down side of living on an island was the storms. We entered the house and Bella and I went around storm proofing as we always did.

"Where is Beth?" I asked. She was scared of the storms, Bella and I would crawl up on the couch, Beth lying between us and we would tell her stories all night to distract her from the storm.

As if on cue Beth came running down the stairs, she was in her pyjamas, although her pyjama top was on backwards as if she dressed in a rush. She had her favourite stuffed animal and her bed quilt. Lexi followed behind her but she didn't look as scared, she just looked sleepy. The thunder came again and Beth ran to me, burying herself in her quilt and hugging my hips. I lifted her into my arms and carried her over to where Renesmee was sitting with Bella. The thunder came yet again and Beth flinched.

"Scared of storms honey? My youngest used to be scared of them too" Nessie said wistfully. Jacob was right, Nessie missed her children. Maybe seeing Sarah would help her. Beth nodded and closed her eyes tightly. I sat on the couch and she crawled into my lap. I fixed her pyjama top and pulled her into my chest.

"Are you ok Lexi?" Esme asked her as she came to sit next to Bella.

"I'm fine. Im used to storms, even though ive never experiences one when I was on land. We can control the weather and the sea…. Or I used to" she said and suddenly went quiet. Bella kissed her forehead and pulled her into a hug. Lexi relaxed and hugged Bella back.

"You don't have to be down here if you don't want. Do you want to go back to bed?" she asked her. Lexi shook her head.

"I can't sleep on my own, if Beth's down here so am I"

"Do you want me to come up with you?" Bella asked her. Lexi shook her head and cuddled into Bella more before closing her eyes.

"I'll be fine right here" Lexi said although her voice told me she was nearly asleep again. Bella smiled and rested her head on Lexi's. The thunder was loud and I knew the eye of the storm was close, the wind was howling louder than ever and the lights started to flicker.

"Looks like we'll lose the electricity for a few hours" I mumbled. I'd have to go check the generators in the morning. The solar panels would probably be half off the roof if this storm was as bad as I thought it was going to be.

"Where are the builders you brought?" Bella asked Carlisle.

"A hotel in Rio. I didn't want them staying on the island with us. Ive paid for a 5 star hotel for them, they are back in the morning. They weren't complaining im sure staying in a nice hotel is better than being here right now" Carlisle laughed.

"I like it. Its cosy and just us" Nessie smiled and she moved over to Jacob's lap.

"I agree" Eddie smiled at her.

"Well I didn't mean it would be better for us. I agree, it's nice to be with family but the builders are just human, they'll have much more fun in Rio than here with us" Carlisle corrected himself. Beth sighed as another thunder clap hit. I moved her to make sure she was comfortable, her quilt was separating us and she was trying to get closer to me.

"So Beth, do you sleep every night?" Eddie asked her. She nodded slightly. "All night?" he frowned.

"Most of the night yeah. I go to bed around 8pm but I wake up at about 2am. I normally read and then go back to sleep until about 9 in the morning. Why?" She frowned; she didn't know why he was asking.

"I just find that interesting considering I barely slept at your age. As a baby I slept but once I was about 4 or 5 I was down to 3 hours a night if that." He explained.

"Didn't you feel tired?" she asked him, she shuffled away from me now, still wrapped in her blanket and my arms but so she was facing her brother sitting on the other couch with Chloe.

"No, we don't need to sleep to survive" he told her. She frowned.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Beth asked me. I laughed.

"Because a few hours peace is nice" I winked at her and kissed the back of her head.

"In other words, momma and daddy need a little alone time at night" Jacob teased, clearly implying something Beth couldn't grasp. Beth took the sentence quite literal.

"But im never home in the day. They always get alone time" she told him. She was right, unless it was a school day she was out on the island, climbing, swimming, exploring and god knows what else.

"Sweetie you told me you liked to go to sleep every night. I didn't think you wanted to stay awake. Your father and I assumed that when you wanted to stay up all night you were ready to live without sleep like your brother does" Bella explained to our daughter.

"You don't sleep at all?" Beth asked Eddie.

"Not a lot, maybe once every few years. I hunt every day though to keep my strength up. For you to give up sleep you'd have to consume a lot more blood than you do at the moment" he told her. "Plus im 120 years old little one, do you realise how long it takes me to fall asleep?" he laughed, she giggled in response.

"Yeah, it must take a while to see your whole life every night" she smiled.

"It actually gets faster, I mean Esther is 3000 years old and she still sleeps occasionally but shes like me, she much prefers hunting."

"I miss Esther" Beth said in response to Eddie mentioning her. Eddie smiled at her.

"She loves you very much," he told her, Beth smiled at that and moved from my lap. I watched her walk over to Eddie with just her stuffed toy and climb onto his lap; he smiled and allowed her to lay on him.

"I love her too" she said in response to his statement. I moved Beth's quilt from my lap and over to the couch where she was with Eddie and Chloe. Beth had cried for a week when Esther left. They had bonded a lot but Esther had to leave to go back to Italy to be with her daughters. Esther called nearly every night though. I knew when Beth had grown up and ventured out into the world the two of them would become really close friends; being the only two females of their kind it was inevitable.

Beth fell asleep on her brothers lap, her conversation with Eddie had easily distracted her from the storm outside. I sat behind Bella, who still had Lexi in her arms and she rested her back against my chest, letting Lexi lie down on both of us as we cuddled up together. Lexi didn't wake once during the night as we all sat there chatting. Jacob and Renesmee left at about 2am to get some sleep but Eddie, Chloe, Carlisle and Esme stayed with Bella and me all night.

By the time the morning came the storm seemed to have settled. Beth woke before Lexi and was adamant she wanted to help me with restoring our solar panels. We left the house and started to climb onto the roof.

"The storm is still here" Beth said, her voice shook, not out of fear from being high on the house, out of fear for the storm.

"Beth it's not nearly as bad as last night, no wind, no rain, it's just the ocean." I told her.

"But it's really strong" she said with a frown as she looked out to sea. I had been too busy trying to fix the solar panels to look, when I did I realised how right she was. The waves were high and angry. The ocean was rocky and violent. It was something you expected to see with strong winds and dark clouds but the sky was blue and there was no wind. It was like there was another force controlling the sea.

"Daddy!" I heard someone screaming. I looked over the edge of the house to see Lexi running towards the sea. It's my daddy! He's calling me back!

"No Lexi!" I shouted, I jumped from the roof top and landed in the sand, I caught up to Lexi who was still running to the sea.

"Lexi!" I heard Bella calling as she too came out of the house.

"It's my daddy! He's controlling the ocean!" Lexi said happily to me.

"Lexi, you said every one of your kind could do that. How do you know it's your dad?" I asked her.

"Because he wants me back!" she told me. It has to be him. Was all she was saying in her head, she had no reason behind thinking it was him. I knew she missed him but it could be any of the Nelifia doing this to the sea.

"Sweetheart" I said softly reaching for her.

"No! It's my daddy!" she moved from my arms so I couldn't grab her and take her back to the house. She had to realise though she didn't stand a chance, I wouldn't let her go running into the sea, not when it was like that; no matter who was calling her.

"Lexi, come back inside" Bella told her, reaching us.

"But he wants me to come to him" Lexi told her.

"No sweetie you can't go into the ocean. You're not a mermaid anymore; you don't know how to swim properly"

"I'll always know how to swim" she argued.

"Lexi" Bella sighed.

"Lexi!" I heard Beth's sudden scream of excitement. "I see your sisters! Your sisters are here!" she called happily. I looked up to see her still on the roof, she was looking over towards mermaid beach; the part of the beach Beth had nicknamed because that's always where Lexi and her sisters had come from when they visited her.

Lexi took off running down the beach. Beth leapt off the roof and ran with her; out of our sight.