Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters mentioned in this story, except for little Leilah Anne, she's mine, don't steal her. I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I don't own any piece of musical genius that make pop up from time to time either.

Author's Note: *hangs head down* I'm really sorry guys. I know it's been awhile, but it's been a really crazy few weeks. I feel really horrible for not updating sooner, but I mean life happens right?

I won't take too much time here. Don't forget to check out the Holiday Edition of Nine Months for the full Valentine's Day festivities, it's posted.

Huge thanks to my vamptastic beta katiemcullen, I'm gonna say it too, check out our collab. :D Thanks for everything hun! What would I do without you? Really though? My day is empty when I don't talk to you. Which I've noticed has been happening a lot…this is a problem. :D

I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to kaiserin1792! Thanks hun for all the love you sent me. I understand what it's like to fall asleep at your computer or stay up until the wee hours of the morning all because you just can't stop reading. I know the feeling, I really, really do. :D Also a bit of love thrown across the world to miztrezboo! Mana mīla (I just couldn't resist), you're the queen of recommendations. I should always listen to you when it comes to that stuff…ALWAYS!


EPOV:

I slumped down on to the piano bench. It had been a long day for me. Part of my Valentine's Day treat for Bella was a full day at the spa. I took Leilah for the day allowing Bella to have a day to herself. So, on Valentine's Day I had a four year old as a Valentine and I went to the zoo.

Who knew the zoo could be so tiring?

"We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too. We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo," Leilah sang excitedly, her entire frame bouncing with excitement.

"So what's first Leilah?" I asked looking at the giant map of the zoo.

"Uncle Eddie, I wanna go visit the monkeys and the gorillas and the chimps and the alligators, and the penguins, and the sheep, and the lions and the flamingos, and the giraffes, and the ducks! Oh, Uncle Eddie, can we feed the ducks? Please, pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?!" Leilah exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Alright, alright. One thing at a time, sweetie," I chuckled. I had a feeling I was about to have a full day of excitement. "Why don't we start at the primate house and work our way around the zoo? How does that sound?"

"Can we feed the ducks later?"

"Sure Lei, we can feed the ducks later."

"Yay!" she jumped up and down in excitement. "Let's go visit the monkeys!"

She grabbed my hand and dragged me in the direction of the monkeys.

"Come on Uncle Eddie," she yelled as she let go of my hand running towards the entrance.

"Sweetie, slow down. Stay with me, please," I pleaded as I ran to catch up with her. That was the last thing I needed, to lose her.

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to look at me.

"Hurry up!" she giggled.

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

When I finally caught up to her she dragged me into the exhibit.

"Look Uncle Eddie, gorillas!" she exclaimed pointing at the group of gorillas on the other side of the glass.

"I see them."

"What does it say? What does it say?" she asked pointing to the sign just on the outside of the window.

"Well, it tells you about the gorillas," I stated looking down at her. She looked at me, waiting to go on about them, "They're Western Lowland Gorillas. They come from Africa it says they live about thirty to thirty-five years. Boy gorillas can grow up to be six hundred pounds."

"Wow! That's really fat, Uncle Eddie. Do you think I could ever get that fat?" she asked curiously as she pressed her nose against the glass. She brought her hands up to cup around her eyes, giving herself a better look at the gorillas.

"Um, I'm sure it's possible, Lei. Oh, look, it says boy gorillas eat about seventy pounds of food a day."

"Really?" she asked running over to the sign, ducking under my arm that was resting against it. "What else does it say?"

"Um," I paused as I continued to read the sign, "It says Gorillas make twenty-two different kinds of sounds. Each sound means something else."

Just as I said that one of the Gorillas in the habitat let out a loud grunt startling Leilah.

"What do you think he's saying?" she whispered.

"I don't know," I laughed, "He's probably saying 'Leilah, I want to eat you'."

"You're silly, Uncle Eddie. Gorillas don't eat people, they eat bananas," she said matter-of-factly.

"Do they? And how is that you know this?"

"It says so. Right here." she stuck her finger up on the sign pointing to a random paragraph talking about life cycles of gorillas.

"Why look at that, Leilah, it does say that."

"Of course," she said with a smile.

Her smile always reminded me of Bella's, full of life and joy. Leilah was really growing up to be a miniature version of Bella.

Stuffing my hand into my pocket, I pulled out the black velvet box that was starting to burn a hole through my pocket. Flipping the top open I marveled at the sparkling piece of jewelry staring back at me.

I had this amazing night planned for Bella. I made arrangements for my parents to, once again, watch Leilah for the night and tonight would be the night. The night I took one more step towards completing my life.

I'd already asked Charlie for permission.

I stood on the doorstep of Charlie Swan's house. I was beyond nervous. To say I was nervous was an understatement. In fact, nervous didn't even cover what I was feeling right now.

And whatever it was that I was feeling, I had every right to be feeling it. I was asking the father of the girl I loved if I could marry her. This being the same guy that looked over me like he was my very own father growing up. The same guy that I sat with at the dining room table cleaning a shot gun, along side Emmett and Jasper, while Bella brought home her first date to meet her dad.

Hell, if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right.

The door flung open. Charlie stood at the door, dressed in his signature flannel shirt donning a surprised look on his face.

"Edward," Charlie said, surprised. "Surprised to see you here."

"Is this a good time? Sorry, I didn't call before coming by. I was in the neighborhood…"

"Nonsense, it's fine. Come on in," Charlie said motioning for me to step into the house. "I was just watching the game. You wanna beer?"

Charlie shut the door behind us.

"Um, sure," I said following him into the kitchen.

He opened the fridge pulling two beers out, handing one to me.

"Good 'ol Vitamin R," he smirked popping the tab of the beer can, "How are you doing, Edward? How's work?"

"It's good. Pretty busy, I've been working rounds in all the different departments trying to find a specialty. But, that's not why I'm here. Listen Charlie there was something I wanted to talk to you about," I said sitting down on the couch in the living room.

"What's on your mind?"

What's on my mind? There are thousands of things swirling around up there. I don't know if I could even begin to explain what's up there.

"Um, it's Bella."

"Is everything okay?" Charlie asked worried, his fatherly senses kicking in. "Did something happen?"

"Everything's perfect. It's just…" I paused sticking my hand into my slacks, to pull out the velvet box. I quickly tossed it over to Charlie.

He caught the box, setting his beer down. Flipping the top open he smiled. I could've sworn I heard him whisper "finally".

"Charlie…" I took a deep breath. "I'd like the permission, your blessing, to marry your daughter."

"You'll take good care of her?"

"Of course, sir."

"My granddaughter, she means everything to Bella. Not to mention she means a whole lot to me. You hurt her, you hurt me."

"I'll raise her like she was my own."

Charlie smiled. "And future grandchildren?"

I gulped.

This is definitely something I looked forward to, something I planned. But there was just something about the father of the woman you love asking about children, implying you're having sex, that brings you back to high school. Being the person on the opposite side this time was a bit intimidating.

"I'll do my best, sir," I chuckled. There wasn't anything that I wanted more than to have little replicas of Bella and myself running around the house.

"Well, then. I know you'll do everything in your power to provide for Leilah and Bella. I know you'll take care of them, put their needs before yours."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I said confidently.

"Then you have my blessing," Charlie said getting up from his recliner and walking over to me.

He set the ring box on the couch next to me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. "Make me proud, son."

"I'll do my best, sir."

I stood up and started to walk towards the door.

"Oh, hey Edward," Charlie called out from the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"Take care of my girls."

I would do exactly what Charlie asked of me too. I would take care of Bella and Leilah as if my life depended upon it. Bella's raised Leilah by herself the past two years it's about time she gets a break.

Everything was ready for tonight, except one more thing.

There was just one other person I needed ask.

The door to the room creaked open and Leilah poked her head in. Her arms cuddled around the rusty brown colored stuffed wolf I'd gotten her at the zoo.

"Uncle Eddie?" she giggled.

"Come on in, sweetie," I said patting the empty spot next to me on the bench.

I quickly snapped the ring box shut and set it on top of the piano. Leilah skipped over to the bench and climbed up.

She placed her small finger on one of the keys and pressed the key down.

"Will you teach me to play the piano one day, Uncle Eddie?"

"Of course, Lei. When you're a little older I'd be more than happy to teach you," I said pulling her onto my lap.

She stared at me, her big brown eyes full of love and happiness. She leaned over to give me a huge hug.

"Leilah, I need to talk you. This is serious, grown up talk," I chuckled.

"Okay, Uncle Eddie. Let's talk. What's on your mind?" she asked placing her hand on her small hip.

"You know I love your mommy very much, right?"

"Of course. You love Mommy, you take care of her, make her happy. When you were busy working mommy wasn't happy, Uncle Eddie," she explained her small fingers drawing circles on my arm.

It killed me to know that even Leilah knew something had gone wrong between Bella and I.

"I know. I was very busy and your mommy was sad. If I could I would have changed things." I tried to explain.

"Of course. You love mommy. All you want is to make Mommy happy," She stated matter-of-factly.

"I do. I'd like to make your mommy even happier."

"How? I want to help," She asked. "I want Mommy to be happy."

I reached over to pick up the velvet box off the top of the piano and held the box out for Leilah to pick up. Carefully she lifted the box out of my hands and flipped the box open.

"Oh, this is very pretty, Uncle Eddie. Are you going to give this to Mommy?" she asked her finger tracing the facets of the diamond.

"I am. Leilah, sweetie, I want to ask your mommy to marry me. But before I do, I had to make sure it was okay with your Grandpa Charlie. He said it was okay. Now I have to ask one other person…you," I explained.

"Me?" she asked pointing to herself.

"Yes. Sweetie, if I marry your mommy that will affect you too."

She thought for a second and smiled.

"If you marry my mommy, will that make you my new daddy?"

"Leilah," I sighed. It was never my intention to take Jacob's place as Leilah's father and I would never want her to feel like I was trying to. "…sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I know you probably don't completely understand this, but I want you to know that I would be happy to be your daddy. Although, I wouldn't ever want you think that I was replacing your dad," I said tucking a loose lock of hair out of Leilah's face.

Every day she grew older, more mature. And everyday she was looking more and more like Bella and less like Jacob.

"Mommy said that daddy died, but that he's always watching over me. That he loves me."

"He does love you very much. I want you to never forget that."

"I won't. Uncle Eddie?" she questioned.

"Yes?"

"I want you to marry my mommy, to make her more happy," she sighed.

Just as I was about to say something she started to talk again.

"I also want you to be my daddy. If you marry Mommy, you become part of our family. My family is missing a daddy, I want you to be my daddy," she explained a smile on her face.

At that moment in time I felt like I was on top of the world. To hear Leilah accept me as her father was more than heart warming.

"I'd like to be your daddy, Leilah. I really would and thank you for saying it's okay for me to marry your mommy."

"You're welcome. Thank you for being my Valentine today," she smirked.

I smiled and began to tickle her sides. Her laughter filled the room.

"Alright, young lady, are you going to be good tonight for Grandpa Carlisle and Grandma Esme?" I asked.

"Of course! Are you going to take Mommy out to a nice dinner now?"

"Something like that."

She looked up at me and smiled, her big brown eyes staring up at me.

"Will you play me a song?"

Her little fingers traveled along the ivory keys again.

"Do you want me to?" I asked her.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, okay," I laughed. "Let's see what I can do."

I shifted Leilah in my lap so that I my arms could be free. Leilah nestled her body against my chest. Her head rested on my chest, raising up and down with every breath I took. Her hands clutching around the small black velvet box and stuffed wolf.

My fingers danced along the keys. The soft melodic sound echoed through the room.

"Alright, Leilah Anne, this one's for you," I smirked. "This is one of your mommy's favorite songs. She used to bug me to play it all the time when we were in high school."

I took a deep breath and placed my fingers on the keys softly.

"She's got a way about her I don't know what it is but I know that I can't live without her.
She's got a way of pleasin'. I don't know why it is but there doesn't have to be a reason
anyway. She's got a smile that heals me, I don't know what it is. But I have to laugh when she reveals me…" I began to sing softly.

I looked down at Leilah and noticed her eyes were slowly starting to droop. She had a long day at the zoo, I would be surprised if she wasn't already tired.

"She's got a way of talkin' I don't know what it is. But it lifts me up when we are walkin'
anywhere. She comes to me when I'm feelin' down, inspires me without a sound. She touches me and I get turned around. She's got a way of showin' how I make her feel.
And I find the strength to keep on goin.."

My cell phone vibrated from on top of the piano. Carefully trying to shift Leilah in my arms I reached up grabbed it.

Bella.

"Hey, love. How's the spa?" I answered shifting Leilah in my arms.

"It was great Edward, but I need a favor," she huffed. She sounded stressed out. "I was just getting ready to leave and when I went to start my car it wouldn't start. I have no idea what's wrong with it."

I smiled.

Perfect.

Little did Bella know, I asked Rosalie and Emmett to stop off at the spa before heading into Seattle for dinner to tinker with Bella's car a little. I needed to keep Bella away from the house until later, this was the only way I knew I could get her to stay away.

"Do you need me to come pick you up?" I offered. "I can just swing by and pick you up. we can leave your car there overnight."

"Well, I don't want to leave my car here over night. Unless, you think it'll be okay."

"Love, I wouldn't have made the suggestion if I didn't think it was okay," I smirked.

"Okay, well if you think it's okay."

"It'll be fine. Go inside, let them know and I'll come by and pick you up."

"Are you sure? I mean I'm sure I could just get Alice to come get me. I know you're supposed to be spending time with Leilah today."

"It's fine Bella. besides I think she's sleeping," I said glancing down at Leilah. Her breathing had slowed down to a steady pace. The sounds of her soft snores could barely be heard. Her little hands still gripped the velvet box.

"You wore my little girl out, Cullen?"

"Hey, in my defense the zoo is a tiring place!"

Bella laughed.

"It's not funny. That little girl can run around like there's no tomorrow. Besides I serenaded her with my beautiful voice," I boasted.

"Your beautiful voice? Psh! I beg to differ," she teased.

"It's true. She wanted to hear me sing. So I sang her your favorite."

"My favorite?"

"Yes, you're favorite, Bella Swan. Listen," I said putting the phone on speaker phone and setting it on the top of the piano.

"Serenade me, Edward," Bella teased.

"She's got a light around her. And everywhere she goes a million dreams of love surround her, everywhere. She comes to me when I'm feelin' down inspires me without a sound. She touches me and I get turned around…" I sang softly.

Bella's heavy breathing was all that could be heard from the other side of the phone.

"Bella?"

"Edward…" she whimpered, "you know how much I love that song."

"I know you do. Listen, let me get off of here, put Leilah down and head out to pick you up. Give me thirty minutes or so?"

"Okay, I'll see you when you get here," she replied, "I love you."

"I love you more, Bella," I whispered before hanging the phone up.

"More than you know," I added softly.

Carefully I stood up trying not to wake Leilah up. I walked over to the living room to find my mother sitting in her chair reading a book.

"She sleeping?" she asked putting her book down.

"Yeah, she's had a long day," I replied, setting Leilah down on the couch.

"Huh?" Leilah grumbled, rubbing her eyes a little.

"Ssh, go back to sleep, Leilah." I whispered sitting down next to her. I softly rubbed her back in attempt to sooth her back to sleep.

"Okay. Tell Mommy I said hi," she cooed as she shut her eyes, letting the sleep take over again.

"I will," I whispered carefully taking the box out of her hand.

I slowly got up and turned to Esme.

"Thanks for watching her again, Mom."

"Oh, it's no big deal. Leilah's an angel. Your father is working late anyways. I was planning on having her help me make dinner." She paused, looking down at Leilah. "That is if she wakes up in time."

"I'm sure she will. Don't let her sleep too long. Then she won't sleep tonight," I said glancing over my shoulder at Leilah.

"Oh, Edward stop it. I was a mother once too you know."

I just smiled wrapping my arms around Esme.

"Good luck tonight, son," she said.

"Thanks, Mom."

"Daddy?" Leilah's small voice questioned from behind me.

My heart raced as Leilah muttered those five letters.

Daddy.

It was the first time she called me Daddy. Ever.

I pulled away from my mom who looked like tears were starting to form in her eyes. Her hand was covering her mouth in awe.

"I know, Mom," I whispered in her ear giving her one final hug.

When I turned around I saw Leilah's deep brown eyes looking up at me. A smile was on her face.

"Daddy, thank you for taking me to the zoo," she mumbled.

"You're welcome, Leilah." I sat down next to her on the couch again.

"Go make Mommy your wife, so we can be a family," she whispered.

"I will," I chuckled.

"I love you, Daddy. Happy Valentine's Day!"

I bent down to kiss her forehead.

"I love you too, Leilah Anne."

Shiny things…daddy calling…this was a productive chapter don't you think? I think so...

Obviously, we've got a pretty big chapter coming up ahead of us. Something that's been in the works for quite some time now. I'll try to get it up as soon as possible.

On a side note. Does anyone know anything about poker? Like anything at all. I've got this idea and yes…I know NOTHING about the game. I wiki-ed it…googled it…and all the website and information I got in return made absolutely no sense to me. it was like a totally different language. I just need a general idea of the game, you know? Anyone willing to help? PM me…I'd appreciate all the information ya'll could give to me.

You know the drill….

Reviews make the world go round…