Many thanks to EvilPumpkin and Angel eyes1 uk for the great beta job, as usual - great idea for the card game EP, hope I did it justice. Thanks to everyone who reviews, I appreciate every one.

.

No I'm not Stephenie Meyer, so unfortunately I don't own anything but Daisy.

.

Chapter Twelve. Hunting.

Alice's POV

Jasper told me what happened with Rose, and I was very glad when Esme went up to talk to her. I was curious where Emmett had gone, myself, so I concentrated until I had a vision of him sitting with Daisy on his knee. I couldn't tell where he was exactly, but they both looked very peaceful. Eventually Rosalie rejoined the party and we all tried to make sure she wouldn't miss Emmett too much.

Bella, Rose and I had been giving the boys a lesson in dance techniques to The Macarena, The Time Warp, Grease Lightening and all the other mad dance tunes Edward played for us, when I observed that Carlisle and Esme had snuck away. We turned the tables on the boys, insisting Jasper and Edward do some breakdancing. When the party began to lose momentum, I knew we couldn't start playing slow numbers, much as I would have liked to snuggle up to Jasper for a smooch.

Rosalie was being a good sport, but she didn't need reminding that she was a spare leg tonight. She still needed distracting, so I fetched a couple of decks of cards. I started us off with one of my favourite games, Twenty One. I dealt the first hand; Rose kept to her two cards, Jasper had me hit him with one more, Bella kept asking for more until she went bust and Edward took two hits. Turning my cards up, I had a ten and a seven. I debated standing with seventeen, but I could see I would be paying out to all three of the others. I decided to take another card, and saw it would be a three, so turned it up with a smile. Rose had a king and nine, Jasper had an eight, four and six, and Edward had seven, two, four and five. I beat them all. Edward groaned as he would have had twenty one with my three. As I won the next three rounds, the others refused to play Twenty One any more, and Bella suggested Cheat. I swear Edward put her up to that, but if he did it backfired as Bella wiped the floor with us. We all had a good laugh at the frustration on Edward's face that he could not read Bella's mind.

We played until morning when Esme and Carlisle crept back in, thinking no one saw them. Carlisle was somewhat dishevelled and Esme had lost her shoes. Of course we were raised too politely to let on that we saw them.

Emmett's POV

Daisy woke with the sun again. While I was feeding her, I realised I could do with feeding myself. I went in search of Jasper and found him playing cards with Rosalie and Alice; Rose glared at Daisy then lowered her gaze to the table. Before I could gather my wits, Alice piped up.

"Sorry, Emmett, no can do. We've had a long night and Jasper needs to hunt, too."

Rose's head snapped up at that. "You're going hunting, Emmett?"

"I hope so-I mean, I need to." Oh boy, I hope so. I'd seen the twinkle in Rose's eyes.

"Edward and Bella took off a couple of hours ago, but Carlisle and Esme are upstairs," Alice offered.

I found Carlisle and Esme in their room perusing some catalogues. "Jasper and I have to hunt, could you cope with Daisy?"

"How much trouble could she be, Emmett?" Carlisle asked looking up from a wallpaper catalogue, as Esme stifled a giggle behind her hand. "It will be good for her to spend some time away from you."

Esme dropped the fabric books she'd been engrossed in and jumped up, reaching toward me. "Of course you must hunt, dear. Give her to me."

I placed Daisy in Esme's arms. She was happy enough until I reached the door, when her tiny whimper had me turning back.

"Go. She'll be fine, son, go." Carlisle appeared confident, so I left quickly, recalling the way Rose had looked at me.

Rosalie's POV

Today was looking up. Emmett was still in his suit, and soon I would join him to hunt-I waited by the stairs. Alice and Jasper had left already and I wanted to get Emmett away from the house and her as quickly as possible. I heard his footsteps heading for our room."Emmett."

"I'll be there in a minute, Rose."

"You're not taking that suit off are you?" Well, not just yet-soon. "I want you to keep it on." At that he appeared at the top of the stairs.

"We are going hunting. It may get ruined." It may get ruined anyway.

"Please, Em," I said, looking up at him from under my lashes. "For me." A huge smile lit up his face as he finally cottoned on.

"Come on then-what are you waiting for?"

I managed to slip through the door ahead of him, but he was soon streaking past me. This felt fantastic, it seemed like ages since we'd done anything together. I followed his scent, knowing I would catch up with him soon. Eight or nine miles away, I entered a small copse and paused to get direction.

"Looking for something?" I jumped as Emmett dropped from a tree right behind me, tapping my shoulder.

"Not anymore" I said and spun round to face him as he pulled me into a bear hug, claiming my lips with his. I melted into his arms, and then we both took off after the scent of deer. Emmett hunting in his suit was magnificent; thirsty or not, I wasn't going to wait much longer to open that present.

Carlisle's POV

I was relieved when Emmett and Rosalie finally left the house-I don't think that boy had realised quite how much he needed to hunt. Despite what I'd said to Emmett, I wasn't at all sure if we could cope with Daisy, and if she'd started crying before Emmett left we would have had trouble. But however this went, I was sure we'd all live through it. Daisy was letting Esme hold her, but every few minutes she looked towards the door and gave a small whimper.

"She's going to need plenty of distracting, Carlisle. Maybe you could get some of the toys from her room."

I picked up a drink of water for her on the way back, and we both put a lot of effort into keeping her occupied and as calm as possible. Every time we thought we were winning, she looked at the door and the whimpers became squeaks. When Edward and Bella returned, Edward knocked on our door.

"Daisy's really missing Emmett. She quite liked my playing the other day-shall I play for her now?"

I glanced at Esme. When she nodded in assent, I replied. "That would be most helpful, Edward. Thank you."

We were sat on the couch listening to Edward's delightful music when Jasper and Alice came in. Daisy had been getting steadily more agitated until they arrived. Jasper spread his calming influence through the room and I threw him a grateful look. Unfortunately Daisy was determined to work herself into a frenzy. Even with Jasper's hard work she was in quite a state by the time Emmett returned.

.

AN. So. Rosalie's a little happier. How long do you think it will last?