Chapter 43: A little Time

~Bella~

Moving back to the old house happened a day after our meeting with Jacob. We knew at least for a while, staying in Forks and near La Push was what we needed. The decision to move back to the old house was simply to keep the people of Forks safe and to keep our privacy. Esme had done a little digging and found that the people who had bought the house from them a few years ago had put it up for sale. She and Carlisle were in the process of signing the final papers to buy the house back. They had already determined to keep it for future need and just rent it out when we finally did leave. It hadn't taken long for them to refurnish the house with new furniture including getting a Baby Grand for Edward to play on. The music from the piano played as I finished cleaning the kitchen from breakfast for three hungry children.

Being here felt safe and for the moment I was letting that feeling overtake any other feelings of worry or uncertainty I had.

"Arf Arf." Renesmee crawled in on her hands and knees with Anthony walking behind her grinning nearly from ear to ear.

Once my hands were dry I knelt down holding out my arms as my little boy toddled over. "What is sissy doing?"

"Arf." My daughter crawled closer tugging on Anthony's pants leg with one of her hands, causing her brother to giggle. "I a dog now."

"You are?"

"Uh Huh. Jacob and Seth are big dogs, I going to be a dog too."

It was very difficult not to laugh, and I'm not sure how Edward continued to play without messing up. He had heard her thoughts in his mind; it was the only explanation for him not being distracted by this.

"Arf arf." My little girl turned around and crawled out of the kitchen.

For a second I thought Anthony would go with her, but as he continued to remain in my arms I had a feeling that he was tired. As I stood up my son rested his cheek against my shoulder yawning. It had been a long few days with us moving around so much and Anthony's normal routine was way off balance.

In the front room Edward had stopped playing the piano and was on his hands and knees with Renesmee on his back. The second Anthony saw them he perked up. "Is your daddy pretending to be a horse?"

Edward crawled over to us and I put our son on his back in front of Renesmee. Our little girl wrapped her arms around Anthony as her daddy began to crawl across the room. Instantly that drew giggles from our babies and I couldn't help but join in.

"Faster daddy, go faster." Edward began to bump around causing more laughter while he crawled back toward me.

Our children laughed until they were out of breath, continuing on as I helped them off of their father's back.

"Was that fun?"

Renesmee nodded while tears rolled down her cheeks as Anthony sat down on his daddy's lap, still giggling a little. It had been a long time since we were afforded a chance to relax and do the simple things like laugh and get down on our hands and knees to play with our babies. As I sat down across from my husband, Renesmee walked over and settled on my lap giggling a little more before she settled down. "Mommy, when is everyone coming back from hunting?"

"Pretty soon I think. Are you ready to go with us?"

My baby nodded and yawned, causing her brother to yawn as well. "The bad one isn't here is he?"

I looked at Edward and wrapped my arms more securely around our daughter. "He won't get you. None of us are going to let that happen."

"He scary mommy. He laugh and he see sometimes where we go."

This was news for both of us and I gently turned my daughter so we could look at one another. "Do you know how he does?"

My little girl looked down. "Not posed to tell."

Anthony was nodding off so Edward left for a moment, returning just a minute later to sit next to us on the floor as we leaned against the sofa in back of us.

"Is she afraid we will be angry?" He asked.

Our baby sighed. "Not mad you. Him mad if she tell. Him mad her for telling me. She see here." Renesmee touched her eyes.

"Lily sees?"

"Lily see this, and she see it too." Renesmee held out her hand to show us what she meant, though I was still confused.

When Edward reached for her, Renesmee went willingly into his arms. "Who is she?"

"Lily Mommy, not Aunt Rose mommy. Lily have nother mommy."

It had to be Alice's sister, and now it was starting to add up. Our baby was unwilling to tell us anymore, and ran over to the new doll house she and Lily were sharing leaving Edward and me to ponder this new information.

"If she can see, it explains a lot."

My husband wrapped his arms around me while we stood close to our baby. "Yes."

"What do we do?"

"If we move, when we move again, we need to find a way to cover Lily's eyes or not talk about it." The sound of some cars pulling off the driveway ended the conversation for now. We had a lot to talk about with the others but now was not the time."

~Edward~

Hunting with Bella and Renesmee gave me time to concentrate on being with them. We let Renesmee lead the way while Bella and I kept pace just a foot or so behind her. Renesmee soon led us to a deer just a few yards away. As Bella and I stayed behind our little girl moved slowly forward until she was inches away from the doe. A moment later it was laying on its side and as I was ready to get up to help our baby, Renesmee moved quickly biting into the deer's neck. The animal made a sorrowful sound, but didn't try to run from our baby and was dead within a few seconds.

"You go," I told Bella.

My wife nodded running opposite from where our daughter lay feeding next to her kill. Renesmee didn't seem to notice me as I walked over to her not even when I knelt down behind her. What Renesmee told us about Lily's biological mother being able to see through her eyes, if that was what she meant truly was something for us to be concerned with. Alice had a powerful gift with her ability to see the future and it sounded like that gift ran in her family. A mile away I heard my wife take down a mountain lion and listened to her as I pondered all the things Lily could do. Tomorrow Eleazar and Carmen would be here. Perhaps then we could begin to understand just what sort of gift Lily had and if there was more that we didn't understand or know about.

"All done daddy." Renesmee stood with a few smudges of dirt on her pink shirt.

I reached out dusting them away before drawing her into my arms. "Are you full?"

My daughter nodded. "Tired too."

"Would you like me to take you home?"

Her head shook. "Have wait on mommy. I stay with Mommy while you hunt."

Bella was finishing up and once she came back I left carrying the dead body of the deer Renesmee had killed to the body of the mountain lion. Finding my catch was not as simple and I had to run further away from my wife and daughter than I wanted. Once I had my mountain lion, I fed quickly still thirsty though not willing to hunt anymore until later.

Back at the house everyone was sitting around talking. I carried Renesmee up to the third floor laying her in the new bed Esme had put in my old room. As I did I heard my mother's thoughts on what to do with the house. She was already planning on painting all of the rooms, making my old room into a room for all three children to sleep in. After tucking my daughter in, I turned finding Anthony sitting up in his Pack N Play watching me. My son smiled when I picked him up. "Did you sleep well?"

He patted my cheek bouncing in my arms so I carried him downstairs not wanting to wake his sister. When we joined our family Anthony was struggling to be let down and once he was on his feet my little boy toddled quickly across the floor to his favorite toy, a big plastic yellow dump truck.

Lily was still playing with the doll house. As I walked over to where Bella sat talking to Alice I picked up on her worried thoughts over what Renesmee had told us. Her thoughts puzzled me.

What is it. Bella had dropped her shield and I glanced over at Lily.

Is she hearing him?

Very slightly I turned my head, looking over at Jasper who was watching us, then at the TV on the other side keeping the movement of my head to a minimal, trying not to be nervous or worried.

For now we let the topic of Lily slide as Carlisle walked in. "When will they be here?" I asked

While Carlisle answered I walked over to Anthony's diaper bag and carried it over to my son.

"Sometime this evening. They got a head start."

That was news. "Did they say anything to Tanya Kate or Irina?" Bella asked

As I laid Anthony down in front of me, Lily walked over handing him a smaller car glancing at me before running back to the doll house. Since he was only wet, getting Anthony clean was a simple task and once he was free I took his wet diaper to the kitchen putting it in the garbage, hearing my wife walk up behind me.

"What is it?"

"She seemed to know Renesmee told us." Our voices were barely over a whisper, not loud enough for Lily to hear us.

"How?"

"I'm not sure." More than anything I wanted to talk to Lily, but Rosalie wasn't letting any of us question her, worried that we were putting Lily under too much stress.

Later that evening while I sat on the front porch watching my children play in the yard, the door opened and closed before Lily sat down next to me. Rosalie and Emmett were off for a little alone time at Esme's urging, and Lily's thoughts had been a jumbled mix of the conversations she had with her parents, with Renesmee and everyone else in the past few days. "She told you."

I looked beside me at Lily as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"That is a lot for her to keep secret, and for you."

"It doesn't happen as much. Most of the time I don't really know she does it. Momma doesn't want to see where I am. She fights them all the time, but they hurt her until she listens to what they want."

"What do they want?"

"Too much."

"Lily play with me." Renesmee ran over holding her doll and Lily grinned taking my daughter's hand. For a few minutes there was nothing on either girls mind other than playing with their dolls. Anthony sat close by pushing his dump truck on the ground all of them glad to be outside even if it was cool and damp. The door opened and closed again before my wife was at my side.

"I love watching them play."

Just as I was about to answer Bella, Lily's thoughts formed into one single word. I flew to her side and picked her up putting my hands over her eyes while Bella ran to Renesmee holding her too. There was screaming, though not from our children and a voice deep and menacing, muttering in German before it went away. Lily clung to me while my daughter began to cry.

The door opened and Esme came out along with the rest of the family. Rosalie ran to us and I let her take Lily, kneeling down to hold my son, the only one who didn't seem worried about what happened.

A car turned off the main road as Emmett led his wife and daughter into the house and perhaps now we would start to get some answers before a war started that none of us were ready for.

AN: Alright another Small chapter. This is easier than trying to write a longer one, though I hope to have more content in following chapters, just getting back in the groove with the story and wanted to get some 'Daddyward" Time in with the kiddies, well a little at any rate. I'm very happy eveyrone still likes this story, More soon.

~Ella~