Stephenie has it all. I just decided to play with her characters and add some of mine.
Beta'd by TeamAllTwilight.
This takes place before and during chapter 81...which I'll post on Monday.
Enjoy some Daddyward.:)
Being a dad was tiring. I had just gotten used to sleeping more once Cody grew up and I had to start waking up at ungodly hours again. I shuffled down the hall to the blue room. We had to re-paint it. If Bella had listened, Abby's room wouldn't have been blue. We should have at least waited for her to be born, or have the doctor tell us. But Bella was stubborn.
Opening the door, the wails grew louder and I quickened my pace, hoping they hadn't woken Bella up too.
"Hey," I whispered, picking Abby up.
She quieted a little, her wide green eyes watching my face curiously as her small hand came to my face.
"Shh, we have to be quiet. Mommy is tired."
She seemed to understand because she stopped crying and her eyes went to the doorway. So Bella was awake.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw her there, smiling at us.
"I was hoping I'd get here on time," I explained, leaning to kiss her forehead when she approached us.
"You know I can't sleep when she cries. Now, I think she's hungry," Bella said contemplatively.
Everyone had told us we'd figure out on our own why the baby was crying. It was more difficult than they made it look. It's been almost five months and I still had no idea why Abby was crying.
"Hungry, sweetie?" Bella asked, taking her from me.
That was a bad idea since Abby started wailing as soon as she was out of my arms. Bella rolled her eyes, putting my girl back where she belonged. I hugged her small body tightly, wondering why she was so fussy.
"I'm going to heat up some milk since she doesn't want me," Bella offered.
After she left, I decided to change Abby's diaper just in case. I never realized if it was full or not. Unless it smelled. Now it didn't smell, but I still put her on the special table making her almost scowl at me. Abby hated diaper change for some odd reason.
When I was finally done with the complicated process of changing her diaper, Bella had returned with the milk. Abby kept her lips tightly shut and started fussing when Bella kept nudging her lips with the baby bottle.
"She doesn't want!" I snapped.
"But she has to eat! Her last meal was six hours ago. We need to sleep. If she wakes us up in two hours again…I'm going to kill myself."
"I'll wake up," I said, rolling my eyes at Abby who clapped at me.
"I'm glad your idiot of father amuses you! Now, open up like a good girl," Bella said gently, finally sticking the rubber head of the bottle in Abby's mouth when she opened her mouth to smile.
After eating and being swung around a few times, Abby fell asleep and we made our way back to our room.
"Lucky it's Saturday. We can sleep in," I mumbled into the pillow.
"If she doesn't wake up again," Bella said, falling next to me. "Somehow, you manage to do it better."
I turned my head to her, raising an eyebrow. "Experience," I joked. Then I remembered an old memory I had tried concealing. "Actually, it is experience," I told her seriously.
"The few times you helped Bob isn't called experience, Edward."
"Not that. In high school," I said, snorting in laughter. "I should have thought of that."
"What are you talking about?" Bella asked confused, turning to me.
"Surely, you did it too. You know that week you had to take care of a baby…a…you know…doll-baby?" I asked, suddenly uncertain.
She laughed, shaking her head. "Sorry, I've never done anything like that. Must have been a Port Angeles thing."
"Stop joking! It was mind boggling at the time. It happened in junior year."
"You have to tell me about that, but now let's sleep. You can tell me over coffee."
"Sure," I agreed, gathering her in my arms and going back to sleep.
Next time I woke up, I heard Cody barking and as if on cue, Abby started crying. Was it that much to wish for a sleep in?
"Shut up!" I shouted toward the door. Cody quieted but Abby started crying louder just as Bella slapped me. "What?" I protested.
"Take him out while I take care of her."
I didn't even bother with the leash, just letting him out of the house as I trudged after him. Why did we buy the dog? He was another reason for my non-existent sleeping schedule. It had been even worse during play-offs, especially when I was trying to pay attention and my eyes kept closing or my feet didn't cooperate.
It wasn't fair. Why did only women get time away from work? We should have the same free time considering we were helping during the nights so they could be fresh in the morning. Life wasn't fair.
"Cody!" I shouted when he stopped in the middle of the street and just lounged there. As smart as dogs were, they didn't have the common sense of staying away from the road. "Get here before a car hits you!" His ears perked up but he didn't move. "Cody!" I hissed, hoping I wouldn't wake up my neighbors.
He finally came to me and I marched back home. When I stepped into the kitchen, the smell of the coffee assaulted my senses and I could almost taste it. After putting food and water down for Cody, I grabbed a mug and poured myself some coffee.
"Why were you yelling? I think the whole city heard you," Bella said as she joined me with Abby on her hip.
"He's such a dog. He stopped in the middle of the street," I complained.
Bella laughed. "Be happy he stopped marking your car's wheels."
I groaned, closing my eyes. "He's worse than a baby sometimes."
"Speaking of… Tell me about the baby experience from high school," Bella reminded me, sitting down.
I leaned against the counter, holding my mug of coffee with both hands. "Well…it was during the time I was with Sylvia," I started and stopped, just to make sure she was okay with hearing that. She nodded for me to continue. "One Monday in January, a week after school started again…we were all called to the gym. We thought it was that sex talk thing," I said laughing. "I remember joking with Emmett about it until we heard what it was about. It was worse than your normal sex talk. The headmaster said that the baby dolls would give us an idea of what may happen if we aren't being careful. Most of the girls were happy about it, another doll to play with." I rolled my eyes. "They wanted to assign us a partner, but then they decided to allow couples to do it, to understand better what may happen."
"How big were they? The babies?" Bella asked, a small smile playing on her lips.
"Uh, they didn't give us a specific age, but now that I think about it…they were around Abby's age. Five-six months old." I shuddered, remembering the awful experience.
"So?" Bella prompted me, looking too amused for my liking.
"So…" I trailed off dramatically. "After they pushed a button and made that doll alive…they thrust it into my hands since Sylvia was filling in some papers." I laughed at the memory. "And I dropped it…and God, did it wail! The headmaster started shouting at me while I picked it up and held it by an arm. It was a freaking doll! Everyone was watching me molesting the poor doll."
"You're joking! Now that I know what you did to that doll, I'm afraid to leave you alone with Abby."
"Oh, come on! I calm her down!" I said, somewhat proudly.
"Because she's got you wrapped around her little finger."
I smirked and walked to them, pressing my lips on Abby's small head. "It took a few hours until I realized that doll was acting exactly like a baby. It was hungry, it was peeing and pooping, it wanted a hug and stuff like that."
"And your mom didn't realize you were with Sylvia? Not even then?" Bella asked amused.
"Do you think we had time for anything? She had to move in the guest room. Besides, Mom thought we were assigned together." I shrugged. "Anyway, all the time was focused on that fucking doll."
Bella kicked me under the table making me bite my cheek. I just couldn't put a filter around Abby.
"Sorry," I mumbled.
"Sure, sure."
"All too soon, I was a walking zombie. Imagine that then I had to do homework, go to basketball practices and classes and take care of that thing. If we left it unattended, someone would call us and tell us to do it, taking points from our team."
"Did you leave the doll alone?"
"Once or twice," I said laughing. "The first time, I was sure it would be quiet for at least a few hours and you know…we were home alone and…honestly, I was seventeen. Let's say that we managed to take only our shirts off before our phones started ringing and we were informed that we were bad parents. I pleaded them to call the social services to take that blasted thing away," I explained, doubling over at how stupid I had been. "We lost fifty points because of that and Sylvia made me wake up that night to take care of the pooping machine. I thought it was just that doll, but it really stinks," I added, nodding to Abby who was watching me confused.
Bella was having a hard time stopping from laughing so I picked Abby in my arms, continuing my story. "The other time we left the doll crying for about an hour was purely by mistake."
"Do I want to know?" Bella asked.
"I went to buy some snacks and Sylvia was supposed to go home to grab some clothes. We didn't communicate well and the baby was left on my desk…"
"What in the world was it doing on your desk?"
"I might have thrown it away after changing it?" I said it as a question, snorting out. "The guy monitoring the babies called me and I told him the stupid doll was with mommy to which he told me that Sylvia had told him it was with me. It was then that I remembered about it. I rushed home and found Mom in the kitchen with the doll in her hands. It was an unusual purple color…you know how Abby turns when she cries for too long?" I asked. "It was so freaking real."
"It turns out that experience was good since you do so well with the real thing."
I poked my tongue out, squeezing Abby to my chest. "Want to know what Jasper did with his?"
"Tell me, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much but I can't pass on that." Bella shot me a grin, reaching for her coffee.
I leaned back in the chair, putting Abby on my lap. "Well, Alice needed a break and had left with Rose and Sylvia, leaving us guys alone with the crying dolls. After trying everything, Jasper shook the baby almost making its eyes fall out before sitting up and saying 'Watch this, you shit machine!' He opened the washing machine and threw it in there. It was a day before the project was over. Man, was Alice upset."
"They lost some points, nothing more, right?"
"Did I mention that Mom had clothes in the machine and she washed them right after Jazz threw the doll in?" I added, grinning.
Bella's hand went to her mouth as her eyes widened. "Now I know why Alice is reluctant to getting pregnant."
I laughed loudly. "It's not like I was better, dropping the thing on the head, but that happens all the time, right?"
"Uh, it doesn't, Edward. Unless, the parent wants to drop it on the head."
"As an accident…you know… it may be slippery after you bathe the baby?"
"Are you trying to tell me something?" Bella asked worried, looking scared at Abigail.
"No!" I shouted. "Honestly, I'd never hurt her. I was just saying."
I watched a sigh of relief leaving her body as she sagged against her chair. "How did the project end? Did you win?"
"After losing so many points?" I retorted sarcastically. "We were fifth place I think. Rose and Emmett were second place and some bitch was first place. She thought that doll was a real baby. As for Jazz and Alice…they were the only ones to lose the baby."
"You had to treat it like that, you know? Like the real deal," Bella insisted.
"But we were in high school! How could I think like that then? It was freaking me out."
"They showed you what could happen if you weren't careful," Bella said thoughtfully. "I mean, look at Bob. He was in college and he still was helpless."
I gave her a doubtful look. "You mean we know what we do? This is something you figure out as it goes." When Bella opened her mouth to say something, I continued. "Bella, you have tons of books about babies and you're still lost when she cries like last night and you have no idea what to do."
Sighing, she nodded, scooting closer to me and dropping her head on my shoulder, looking down at Abby.
"She should have her first word?"
"You heard Dad. Every kid does things differently."
"I asked Mom and she told me I talked for the first time at six months," Bella said sternly.
"And she's five. I talked with Liz and she told me I talked for the first time when I was one year old."
"You never told me that!"
"Because I just asked her the other day," I answered, rolling my eyes.
"What did you say? My first word was mama." Bella beamed at me.
"I had to be original, unlike everyone else," I started, chuckling. "She told me that she was having an argument with Ed about one of his co-workers. A female. And they kept using the words slut and bitch." I bit my lip to keep from snorting. "Liz said I was playing with my cubes one second and the next I was getting their attention and then I said 'bish' and started laughing."
"So it's a lost case to make you stop swearing."
"Apparently. We just have to be insistent with Abbs." I looked down at the small angel in my arms. "You have to say daddy, okay? Your first word must be daddy."
"Mama is shorter so don't listen to him," Bella said softly, getting Abby's attention. "If you say daddy, we might have to move out of the house because his ego would grow so big we won't fit in here."
Abby blinked and gurgled before clapping. I kissed her head praying she'd say my name first.
The next few months, passed rather quickly being too busy to even breathe. When Christmas was a week away, the tension exploded. I was on my three days break and Bella seemed to throw every possible chore at me while she was cooking and baking for the holiday. I had to clean the house, the guest room since Mom and Dad were going to sleep there on their time here, I had to make a list of what to buy for Christmas and above all, take care of Abby who had turned out into a mischievous little devil since she had learned how to stumble – I couldn't call it walking. I was considering using Cody's leash, but then Bella would kill me.
Once the tree was on its support in the right spot, I went to Bella.
"Can you keep an eye on Abbs? I have to bring the decorations from the garage."
She whirled around, seething, as if I had burned her. "I don't have time, Edward!"
"It will take like five minutes. You could use a break," I insisted.
"Put her down for a nap."
"She just napped while I finished cleaning around," I groaned. "Come on, woman. Five minutes."
"Edward! Why the hell do you think I left you to take care of her? She could hurt herself a hundred different ways in the kitchen! I have cookies in the oven and I still have to figure out how to defrost that fucking turkey!"
I opened my mouth then closed it again. I really didn't want to fight over such a small thing. I understood Bella for being anxious for our first Christmas with Abby and the family around, but there was no reason to go over the board.
"Bundle her up and take her with you. I'm sure she'd love to carry something," Bella continued when she realized she had the upper hand.
"What if she gets sick? While we bicker about this, you can keep an eye on her so I can-"
"EDWARD CULLEN!"
I closed my mouth and sighed.
"How hard can it be to multi-task? I do it all the time! While you're away, I cook, clean, walk Cody and take care of Abigail!" she shouted.
"Okay, okay," I mumbled, hoping she wouldn't scare Abby with her screams. But Bella wasn't done.
"So, now, Edward, you go back to Abby!" A second later, her brown eyes flashed. "She's alone! While you were busy whining to me, she could have killed herself!"
"Bella, calm the fuck down!" I yelled. "She was playing on the couch."
"On the couch? She could fall down, you idiot!"
Bella zoomed passed me and I followed, swallowing back my retorts. Of course, Abby was perfectly fine, torturing Cody, but fine. Bella picked her up and started inspecting every inch of her small body.
"See? Perfectly safe," I said, stopping behind her.
"You're such a…argh! You're so infuriating, Edward!" Bella snapped, turning to me.
"But nothing happened," I groaned exasperated.
"The cookies!" she wailed, thrusting Abby in my hands and running to the kitchen.
I shared a confused look with Abby, who looked somewhat worried after Bella.
"I think mommy lost it," I mumbled, arranging her in my arms and following my insane wife.
"I heard you, Edward!"
My eyes widened. Lucky I was holding the baby. Who knows what she could do when she was angry?
While Bella put the new round of cookies in the tin, I stole one of the freshly baked ones and broke a piece before throwing it into my mouth. It was delicious.
"Want some?" I mouthed to Abby. She nodded eagerly and I made sure Bella didn't see us. A second too late I realized they were still too warm for her.
"What did you do now?" Bella asked agitated when Abby started crying, her small hand touching her lips. She picked her from me and started cooing to her, kissing her head, all the while glaring at me.
"I swear I didn't think…" I started apologizing.
"That's your problem! You don't think! Shh, let me see," Bella whispered to Abby. I made to step closer, to see what had happened. I had finished pre-med, after all. "Stay away. I think you've done enough, Edward!"
"Bella, come on," I begged. Abby reached her small, chubby arms to me, opening and closing her palms. "Come here, sweetie."
"No!" Bella snapped, turning around. "You're so silly, Abbs. He hurt you and you want at him."
"I didn't hurt her!" I shouted. "I realized too late the cookie was hot."
"You got what you wanted. Me, alone with Abby. Go and do whatever you couldn't do because of your kid!"
I gritted my teeth, but turned to leave. Abby started crying harder, probably wanting at me since Bella's screams were scaring her.
"Bella, at least calm down. You're scaring her," I whispered, turning back to them.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Edward!"
I fisted my hands and stomped out of the kitchen. Just as I had reached the doorway, I heard a new voice. A voice I hadn't heard before.
"Edood!"
I whirled around and gasped when I saw Abby smiling at me, forgetting all about her tears. Bella was looking at her in disbelief. I covered the distance between us in a second and picked her up, kissing her soft face.
"It's not daddy, but it's still you," Bella said once the shock was over.
"Edood!" Abby said loudly.
"Yes, sweetie. Sorry for the hot cookie," I whispered. "Daddy didn't mean to burn you."
Isn't Abby adorable? :)
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