Chapter Six

Denali Cometh

After a whole miserable week, Allegra finally stopped crying. She wasn't quite back to her normal trouble making self, but she let Edward put her down and leave her side without getting hysterical. She was quieter and better behaved than before and even though she was a lot easier to manage this way, Edward would've given anything to have his baby girl back.

It had been two weeks since his last hunt. The first week he'd been too happy to think about it and the second week he hadn't been able to put his baby down let alone leave the house for several hours. Alice reminded him about the hunger gnawing at him and she silently offered to go with him. She thought wistfully about the last time they hunted together when Edward hadn't been sad about something. It had been awhile.

Edward sighed and looked down at Allegra. She was sitting on his lap practicing her letters. It was the first thing for her to take any interest in, in a week, so Edward encouraged her. He was wary of helping her too much. She wasn't even a year old and she wanted to know how to write. She would be one in two weeks. Esme, Alice and Rosalie were planning a small party for her and a few friends that Hannah was contacting. He wanted to give her the world, but all she'd asked for was a kitten and a trampoline. A disastrous combination to be sure.

But at that moment he wasn't worried about the very real possibility of a flying kitten in the near future. He was worried about how Allegra would react to him leaving. She would having Carlisle and Esme to comfort her, Jasper to keep her calm and Emmett and Rosalie to distract her. And he trusted them to care for her, but he didn't trust himself to be able to let her go.

He just wanted her to be happy. And being with him made her happy, or at least not weepy.

"You have to eat, Edward," Alice told him. She put her hand on his arm and showed him that Allegra would be fine while he hunted. She would be a little anxious the whole time he was gone, but she wouldn't be crying. And as soon as he got back she would reward him with a huge smile, her first smile in a week. It would be almost worth it to leave just for that smile.

"Allegra," he said, pulling her attention away from her work. "I have to go get something to eat." She blinked up at him, confused.

"If you are hungry, Daddy, we should go to the kitchen. There is all sorts of food in there."

"That's your food," Edward paused wondering how to word his explanation properly. "I'm on a very special diet. I need to go out for a few hours, so that I can eat."

"My Mommy says that when skinny people diet it's because they don't love themselves for who they are. You're not fat, Daddy," she said.

"Well," Edward struggled to explain, he knew that Allegra wasn't going to let him leave without understanding. "My diet is more concerned with nutrient, not so much with losing weight." Not that he could, but his daughter didn't need to know that yet. He knew she would figure it out eventually the same way Bella had and that he'd have to explain it, but today was not that day.

"Rosalie?" he called. Edward hoped that she could distract Allegra long enough that she wouldn't notice when he left. From the vision that Alice had shown him, she would only cry if she knew he was leaving. It wouldn't bother her so much once he was gone. Rosalie appeared by his side in an instant. "Aunt Rosalie's going to give you a bath, all right?"

"But why can't you give me a bath?" Allegra demanded.

"Because Aunt Rosalie wants to and I agree with her. You can take a bath and play with your aunt while Aunt Alice and I go get something to eat, okay?" Edward held her up to Rosalie, who plucked her out of his hands.

"But, Daddy, Daddy?" Allegra called as her aunt took her up stairs and out of sight. She continued to call for him, both verbally and mentally. He rubbed his hands over his face, hoping in vain to block out his daughter's anguished call. He needed to eat and that was that.

Alice grabbed Edward's hand, forcibly removing him from the house before he could change his mind about leaving Allegra. They ran for a few seconds before Edward pulled away from his sister and went after the first unappealing scent that he came across. Alice stayed close by, making sure that he ate enough. She knew him well enough to know that he would rush back to the house as soon as possible. She let him go back after an hour and a half of hunting.

Allegra was propped up on Jasper's shoulders, fast asleep, resting her cheek on his hair. Edward pulled her gently into his arms, careful not to wake her and went to the kitchen to fix her a snack. She woke up shortly after, pulled from a dream about him and Bella, when Edward heated up her cinnamon roll. She could smell its sweet scent even in her sleep.

"Ah!" she yelped upon seeing her daddy leaning over her. "Daddy!"

"Did you have fun with your aunt and uncles, Allegra?"

"Yup! Uncle Emem said that if it was okay with you, that he'd get me a teeter totter for my birthday! Can he, Daddy? Can he please, Daddy?!" She pushed herself up so she could look him in the eye. Her emerald eyes sparkled with excitement and Edward really didn't have the heart to point out that she already had a swing set, a slide and monkey bars. She didn't need a teeter totter but this was the first time she'd gotten excited about anything in far too long.

"Of course Uncle Emem can get you a teeter totter for your birthday," Edward said loud enough for Emmett to hear. Her smile was so perfect it made Edward's heart ache. He pulled her cinnamon roll out of the microwave and sat down at the kitchen table with her while she stuffed her mouth.

"Grandma and Aunt Wos-ah-lee helped me make list of all the people I want at my birthday party and all of the things I want for my birthday and all the stuff I want to do for my birthday."

"That's right, Allegra," Esme said, sitting down next to Edward. She handed over the list for him to look over. "We stopped writing down what she wanted after a while," she said quickly so that Allegra wouldn't hear her.

Edward looked over the list of presents. New dresses for herself and her dolls, a teeter totter, three new Barbies, a kitten, a trampoline. After that the list started getting vague. 'That teddy bear I saw that one time, the funny thing that Hannah had on her mantle piece, the pretty painting Harry made' and an assortment of other things she'd probably never get.

The list of people she wanted to invite was a bit uncomfortable for Edward. Matt Razzante, Mike Razzante, Joe Razzante, Ben Razzante, Vince Razzante, John Razzante, Bobby Razzante, Jim Razzante, Mark Razzante, Nick Razzante, Brianna Razzante, Camilla Razzante, Courtney Razzante, Maria Razzante.

According to Esme all of those Razzantes belonged to two couples and were all around Allegra's age. The list went on including Oliver Bell and Melanie Kopp. But most of the party would consist of the Razzantes. Edward didn't mind that much, it was just that most of the people Allegra wanted to invite were boys and he didn't know if it was okay for his little girl to like boys that much.

She wanted a clown and pony rides and pin the tail on the donkey and twister and a great big cake made out of cinnamon rolls and a ton of other things that seemed physically impossible.

"Did you agree to all of this?" He'd let her invite all the boys in the world but piggy back rides on an actual pig just seemed like too much.

"No, of course not," Esme insisted. "But you might want to talk to Rosalie about the limits you want to put on this party. They both seem very enthusiastic."

"Do you mind watching Allegra?" Edward asked getting up. Rosalie had gone to hunt with Jasper and Emmett as soon as he got back, she wasn't too far out, he could still hear her mind. She didn't want to go that far in case Allegra needed another bath. She considered bath time to be their time. She got to act out her mothering fantasies with his daughter.

"Not at all."

"Thanks."

He looked over the list as he absentmindedly ran to where Rosalie was draining a deer. It was about a ten minute run, so Allegra probably wouldn't even know he was gone. But Edward knew that if he didn't nip this in the butt soon, he'd never be able to rein her in. Rosalie wanted the world for Allegra and she wasn't too worried about limits. He wouldn't be worried either if he weren't certain that Bella would be upset if she came back to a spoiled child.

He'd finally reached Rosalie when he noticed what was going through Alice's head. In a few seconds the Denali coven would be walking through the door. A surprise visit that Alice had only missed because Edward had her focusing completely on Allegra. They would take one look at his baby girl and assume the worst.

An immortal child.

Sure she was immortal, just not in the way they thought. Making the worst assumption they could, they wouldn't wait for Carlisle to explain, they would hiss and they would growl and his tiny baby would scream and cry for her daddy who was ten minutes away.

Rosalie was talking to him, well bitching actually, but he wasn't listening. Without a word he took off. He could hear Carlisle letting them in, Allegra wobbling into the entry way curious about her Grandpa's guests. Edward pushed himself faster, he could hear the others on his tail, but paid no mind to them. In a few milliseconds the Denali would notice Allegra.

They did, they hissed, she cried.

Esme scooped her up and rushed her from the room while Carlisle told them everything. He could hear Allegra screaming, crying and begging for Edward. A few minutes later he burst through the door taking off the hinges in his haste to get to his daughter. Edward snatched her out of Esme's arms and rushed her up to his room for some quiet. He slammed the door shut, too upset to care about their guests.

All he wanted was for his daughter to go back to normal. She'd finally stopped crying about Bella and then his supposed friends show up, freak out and scare her into tears.

Edward pulled a feather soft tissue out of the box sitting next to the rocking chair. Very gently he wiped the tears from her eyes and snot from her nose. Not too long ago he would have found this act repulsive, but on his baby he couldn't care less. She needed him to wipe her nose, so he wiped her nose.

Tanya and her family were coming up to apologize. He locked the door, partly because he was feeling bitter about them making his baby cry, but mostly because she hadn't stopped crying and he didn't want her to start again upon seeing them. Any one of them could easily force the door open, but he knew they wouldn't.

"Edward," Tanya called. Allegra looked up at him with red eyes, her chin quivered as she sobbed. He wasn't in the mood to forgive and forget. They'd hurt his baby's feelings and that wasn't something he could just forgive. Edward figured he could be sad that Allegra was sad, or he could be pissed at the people who made her sad. He chose the latter.

"Go away, Tanya," he muttered darkly.

"Told you he'd be pissed," Emmett said from down stairs.

"Shut up," Rosalie suggested none to kindly.

"Edward, we came up here to meet your daughter properly," Tanya said, calmly ignoring his tone.

"And I told you to go away," he snapped. Allegra chose that moment to let out a single anguished wail that stopped all the arguing all over the house. She was mentally begging for her mommy. Edward pulled her to his chest and rubbed her back soothingly as he unlocked the door. Jasper barged in, touched her cheek lightly and put her to sleep.

Irina, Kate, Tanya, Carman and Eleazar formed a tight circle around him and Allegra. Laurent hung back by the door. His thoughts upset and unsure. He noticed her strange scent and lingered on it in a way none of the others had. But Edward didn't dwell on that, he was too focused on Allegra's dreams. She was whimpering, sleeping fitfully, dreaming of hissing and growls and tears.

Hopefully she would get over this faster than missing her mommy. Her birthday was in two weeks and he really didn't want her to be miserable on her special day. Tanya was apologizing profusely for all of them. The look of longing in her eyes hardly masked by her genuine apology. She wanted to hold Allegra. Kate wanted to hold Allegra. Irina wanted to hold Allegra. Carman wanted to hold Allegra. Eleazar wanted know first hand what was going on.

Edward wasn't interested in giving any of them what they wanted. Least of all Tanya, who hoped she and Edward could bond over his daughter. That wasn't going to happen. She made his baby cry.

And he still loved Bella.

A/N: To explain all of the Razzantes. I went to school with a Matt Razzante and he had like fifty brothers, this is my not so subtle way of making fun of him. He had a cute butt though.