Alice's POV
It had been a lot to take in today. Jasper and I laid snuggled on our bed. I snuggled into his chest and tried to radiate as much love as I could to him.
I knew that it took a lot out of him to talk about Karla. Hell, it had taken a lot out of me. We both reopened our wounds a bit as Jasper explained and apologized for his behavior towards Lilliana.
My mind wandered to that little girl. She was a ball of energy with a smart-ass remarks that could rival Emmett's. And yet she still held a sense of innocence that seemed expected from someone her age.
I thought of Jose and how much he loved his little sister. I was never offended by his behavior. He was only trying to make sure she was safe. He was her protector and he would do anything to keep her safe. Something that I couldn't do for my own little girl.
"Alice." Jasper stopped train of thought. Obviously sensing from my attitude what I had on my mind.
"I love you Jasper." I kissed the side of his neck just bellow his ear and felt the rumble oh his chest as he chuckled.
"I love you too Alice." He bent down and captured my lips.
"Where did you get this blanket from?" I heard Jose gasp.
"Alice brought it up with the rest incase you needed extras." Rosalie using my name pulled me further out of mine and Jasper's world. I heard someone running, some sliding, and then a knock on our door.
I could hear a heart beat and knew it had to be Jose. Lilliana would have just walked in.
"Come in." I called out. But not before Jasper and I separated and sat at foot of our bed. Jose walked in holding something behind his back.
"I'm sorry. But I needed to ask you something." Jose seemed hesitant.
"It's alright. What is it?" I smiled, hoping to calm his fidgety posture.
"I was wondering where you got this blanket from?" Jose pulled a small baby blue blanket from behind his back. I easily recognized it.
"That belonged to our daughter Karla." replied Jasper.
"Did you guys give it to her?" he grimaced almost as if we were going to laugh at his question.
"The truth is she found it on her own. She was really young so she couldn't really explain to us where she had gotten it." I said.
"Oh," Jose refocused his attention on Karla's blanket, "Sorry for disturbing you. G'night." He quickly walked out of our room, forgetting to close the door behind him.
I turned to face Jasper. His face showed about the same confusion as I had.
"He blocked me." Jasper sounded frustrated.
Esme's POV
It was Sunday morning, which meant that Nessie and Jacob were having breakfast with Charlie. So I only had to feed Lilliana and Jose. I pondered what to make them.
"Esme, dear, have you seen my black tie with silver stripes?" Carlisle walked in and kiss my forehead. I had almost forgotten that he was going to have a staff meeting today about some new surgery technique that has been going around.
"I believe I last saw it in Rosalie's room. I'll go get it." I kissed his cheek.
I dashed up the stairs and quietly opened the door. Jose and Lilliana were still sleeping. I had to stifle a laugh as I moved closer to the bed.
Lilliana was sleeping sideways, hugging a pillow; her head was hanging off the bed. Jose was in a semi-fetal position hugging a small blue blanket to his chest. There was a small smile on his lips. Remembering why I had gone upstairs in the first place, I rummaged in the drawers in search of Carlisle's tie.
Alice's POV
"Lilliana. Time to wake up. It's gonna be 12 in the afternoon already." I gently shook her shoulder. She rolled back and forth for a bit mumbling nonsense. I moved my attention to Jose. He was stretched out on his back; Karla's blanket clutched in his right hand. "Jose. Wake up. Time for breakfast."
I nudged the bed softly.
"Huh? Wuz...what's goin' on?" Jose sat up quickly.
"I'm so sorry Jose. I didn't mean to scare you. Esme just thought that you two would be hungry by now." I apologized. Jose held Karla's blanket to his chest as he tried to slow his breathing. I heard Lilliana mumble something else and then she rolled off the bed with a big thud.
"Lilliana!" Jose jumped off the bed to her rescue.
"I'm okay." Lilliana smiled.
"Are you sure? I could get you some ice?" I asked.
"No, really. I do that a lot." Liliana giggled.
Jose's stomach grumbled.
"Lilliana! Jose! Get your butts down here!" Emmett yelled from downstairs. Lilliana ran out of the room immediately. Jose and I were left in the room in an awkward silence. He sat there holding, Karla's blanket.
Emmett's POV
I watched my beautiful wife and mother make home-made french toast. Lilliana slid down the banister while I waited at the bottom to catch her.
"Nice pj's" I teased. She had blue bottoms with a pink top. Her shirt had a giant clown face on it.
"Thanks." Lilliana said, obviously not getting my comment, "I thought I was gonna have a nightmare about clowns. But I actually slept really well. I had a dream about my mommy."
I was really confused whenever she brought up her mother. According to Jose, her mother is a total bitch that wants them dead. But Lilliana always had a small smile on her face when she mention her. She had even told Rosalie that she looked like her mother.
"Oh. Really?" I felt awkward.
"Yup. We were playing dress up in really pretty gowns."
"Lilliana. Come. Sit. Eat." ordered Rosalie.
"Where's Jose? I sent Alice to wake you both up." Esme put her hands on her hips.
"He's a slowpoke." Lilliana shrugged and hopped onto the stool near the counter. "Where's Nessie and Jacob?"
"They went to visit Nessie's grandpa." Rosalie explained. Esme handed Lilliana a plate. Lilliana grabbed two pieces of french toast with her hand. Rosalie gave her a disapproving look.
"Morning." Jose stepped into the kitchen wearing a new pair of clothes. Most likely Edwards. This kid was so fast that I didn't even hear him come down.
"Esme, do you have any syrup?" Lilliana started cutting her toast in smaller pieces but seemed to be struggling. Jose walked over and took over for her. He was a good big brother.
"Here you go sweetie." Esme smiled. Lilliana poured it all over her toast.
"So Jose. How much longer are you gonna be around?" I asked. Rosalie smacked the back of my head.
"Emmett, that was rude. He didn't mean it like that." Rosalie apologized to Jose.
Lilliana's body language changed severely as she slumped and ate slowly. Jose pulled up a stool next to Lilliana.
"No, that's okay. I should be going really soon." Jose poured Lilliana a glass of milk.
"Will you at least stay for a proper breakfast?" asked Esme. Lilliana looked up hopeful. Jose smiled down at Lilliana and pulled up a stool next to her.
Alice's POV
After Lilliana and Jose ate, Jose gathered us in the living-groom. Rosalie took her upstairs to get dressed. We sat on the couches while Jose leaned against Edwards piano.
"I would like to ask you to not repeat what was said yesterday. Not a word to Lilliana." Jose looked at us with a semi-serious face. He looked at everyone in the eye except for me and Jasper. He had been acting weird ever since the whole blanket thing.
I looked over as Emmett raised his hand. I suppressed a giggle at Emmett's childlike behavior.
"So does Lilliana believe your parents still love you guys? Because you obviously hate their guts, but she smiles every time she talks about 'em. Or at least about her mother." Emmett asked, bringing up a good point.
"I tried my best to shelter Lilliana from our parents inevitable wrath; however sometimes I would be too late. I believe she is subconsciously blocking out those bad memories. But she was also very young and couldn't possibly remember everything. Still, they sometimes sneak up on her in the form of nightmares. She's never seen the faces in her dreams and seems to believe that's all it is." Jose started playing with his necklace.
"Are you ever going to tell her? I mean she seems to realize that there's danger in the world." I asked meeting his eyes.
"Just like the Volturi seem to be the bad guys in your world, we too have some not so nice vampires. Lilliana has always known that. I don't believe she's ready to know just how evil our parents are though. I will tell her. Just not yet." Jose admitted.
"Will you be alright on your own?" Esme asked—always the concerned mother. That made Jose smile.
"I'll be just fine. I'm not week."
"But won't you feel lonely?" Esme's question caught him off guard.
"I-I'll be fine. I've been traveling alone for a while. I just need to find my friend first."
"You guys must be best friends or something if you're willing to go through so much trouble to find someone." Emmett commented.
"I guess you can say that." Jose scratched the back of his head.
"Jose!" Lilliana slid down the banister again, landing gracefully.
She had a lovely white laced summer dress—probably Nessie's—and some pink sandals. Lilliana ran and jumped into Jose's arms. He held her close as her body began to tremble in what I figured could only be tears.
"Lilliana. You know that I have to go. Shh. It's okay. Don't cry." Jose sat down and pulled her onto his lap. "Come on Lilliana. I thought you wanted to stay here with the Cullen family."
"B-but I-I'm g-gonna miss y-you." Lilliana sobbed.
"I'm gonna miss you too, little one." Jose kiss her nose and wiped her tears. "Now I need you to be a big girl. Can you be a big girl for me?"
"I am a big girl. I'm ten years old for crying out loud." Lilliana remarked, making us all laugh. "Do you think you can really find-"
"Yes, I'll find him." Jose cut her off, "Then we can go back to being a family. The three of us."
"I love you Jose." Lilliana hugged Jose's neck.
"I love you too." He kissed her forehead one more time and Lillian got off so he could stand.
"Oh! I almost forgot." Esme rushed out of the room and returned carrying a knapsack. "I packed some lunch a few nonperishable items."
She handed the bag to Jose and he looked at it with cautious eyes. Then out of nowhere he hugged Esme. It was a very quick hug, but Esme still smiled.
"Um," Jose cleared his throat, "Thank you. I should go now." We followed him out to the patio.
I prayed in my head that he would be able to find his friend and return safely for Lilliana. This boy, had suffered so much, he had to grow up quickly in a home with no love. He had looked so peacefully earlier that morning when I went to wake him up; as he held Karla's blanket. I froze.
"Jose. Wait. Ill be right back." I got his attention as he gave Lilliana one last hug. I dashed upstairs, into Rosalie's room. Karla's blanket was folded neatly on the bed. I grabbed it without hesitation and jumped out the window, landing on the patio. "Here."
I handed the blanket to him and he accepted it hesitantly.
"Why?" he asked. I felt Jasper stand next to me and take my hand.
"It'll bring you comfort."
"I can't take it. It belonged to your...your daughter." he tried to hand it back. I shook my head and pushed his hand away.
"You can always just give it back when you return for Lilliana." I smiled.
That blanket kept most of Karla's nightmares away. I figured Jose would need it more, since it seemed that his own life seemed like a giant nightmare.
"Thank you. Again. For everything." Jose gave me a genuine smile. He turned his back to us and he was gone in a flash.
Lilliana broke down again and Rosalie tried to comfort her in her arms. It seemed to work as Emmett tried his hardest to make her laugh.
Edward and Bella returned with Nessie from Charlies'. We filled them in on what had happened. Nessie noticed that Lilliana still looked a little down.
"Mommy? Can Lilliana come over to play with me and Jake?" Nessie asked.
Bella's POV
I immediately agreed to have Lilliana over. Maybe playing with some closer of age to her could distract her.
I led the girls back with Jacob to our small cabin. Edward had stayed behind because Emmett wanted to challenge to a wrestling match.
"So the kid just left his little sister here for you guys to watch over her?" Jacob interrupted my train of thought.
"You make it sound so horrible. Jose couldn't take Lilliana. He said so himself that it'd be too dangerous." I made sure not to talk so loudly as Lilliana and Nessie skipped ahead of us, holding hands. I smiled. I knew that they would make good friends in the future. As long as Emmett didn't hog Lilliana. I sometimes felt bad for Nessie. Sure she loved Jacob, but she needed to play with girls her own age. Or at least her physical age.
We arrived at our cabin and Nessie quickly dragged Lilliana inside.
"What do you wanna do first?" Nessie asked.
"Lets play Godzilla?" sugested Lilliana.
"How do you play that?" Nessie tilted her head.
"I can teach you. It's pretty easy," Renesmee pulled Lilliana toward her room, "Wow. Your bed is huge."