Chapter 2 - Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

"Hey guys. This is Edward. Edward, meet the gang."

"Good morning. It is nice to meet you all."

Sam came forward first. He was a typical teddy bear with a blue ribbon around his neck. His fur was dark, almost black, and he was twice as tall as me. Truth be told, I was a little intimidated.

"It's nice to meet you too, Edward. Make yourself at home and get to know everyone."

"Yeah, welcome to the Swan residence! But where's your girlfriend, Ken? I'd love to make her feel at home." It was the big monkey who spoke next. He had light beige colored hair and his arms and legs were much too long for his already tall body.

"Play nice, Jared. He only just got here. Quil, Embry, stop snickering." Sam spoke with authority. It was obvious that the others had great respect for him, because they immediately stopped laughing. "You'll have to excuse the monkeys, Edward. They like to make people feel uncomfortable with their jokes. Now, please excuse me, but I have to keep watch in case one of the kids decides to explore the upstairs area. I'm sure the others will give you a warm welcome though."

Sam climbed down from the shelf and the lion took a step forward.

"Don't worry about Sam. I'm Paul.". He was quite a bit shorter than Sam and his mane made him look cute and funny rather than the king of the jungle. "I want to get to know you. Jared may have been joking, but it says Ultimate Boyfriend on your shirt so what's the deal?"

It was true; my shirt did say Ultimate Boyfriend. I wasn't very fond of the whole outfit. It consisted of a simple pair of jeans and a light blue t-shirt, but it felt way too casual for me. I was a little jealous of my brothers who came with a cool beach outfit or a handsome suit.

But the worst part of the ensemble were definitely the letters and the bright pink heart on my chest. Come to think of it, that did explain Charlie's reaction earlier. He didn't need to worry. I didn't even know if the statement was true. I couldn't remember anything from before I'd been put in that box and I certainly hadn't had a girlfriend since then. It's hard to talk to other toys when you're separated by layers of cardboard and stacked on shelves.

"Ken may be attached to Barbie's hip, but Edward is still single."

Jared started laughing. "Too bad. As Sam already told you, my name is Jared. These are Quil and Embry." He pointed to the two smaller monkeys. "Come on guys, let's go find Ken here a welcome gift."

I watched as Jared leaned forward and fell of the edge of the shelf. I gasped and reflexively took a step forward trying to grab him. But to my surprise the others started laughing.

"He does that all the time," Jake said.

They hadn't really eased my worries, but a moment later Jared came back into view. He was hanging from a cable with little paper lanterns that was stretched between the bed and the window.

"Are you coming or not?" he yelled. Quil and Embry quickly ran to the edge, greeting me as they passed, and let themselves fall as well. Jared grinned widely at me before he turned around and swung further down the wire with ease. He jumped to the windowsill and climbed down the leg of a table before finally reaching the ground. I stared with amazement while Quil and Embry followed him down the same path.

"Boys... What can you do? I'm Leah, by the way." The beautiful gray horse turned to me. "This is my brother Seth." She nodded to the slightly smaller horse beside her. Unlike his sister, Seth had a black colored coat with a white star marking on his head.

"I'm going to watch the party in the backyard from the window." Leah climbed down the shelf the same way I had come up; along the bedpost.

Seth came closer and whispered: "Leah's a bit bitter 'cause she's the only girl around here. Well, aside from Bella. Don't tell her I said this, but I think she wishes you brought Barbie with you even more than Jared does."

He snickered and I couldn't help laughing with him. His laugh was contagious.

Jacob was now engrossed in a conversation with Paul. I sat down and let my legs dangle form the shelf. It was the first time I was able to really take in the whole room and the view from up here was perfect for doing so. The walls were painted a dark turquoise color. Not the kind of color you would expect for a six year old girl. The light furniture, however, made up for the darkness. I now recognized the table under the window was in fact a desk with a coloring book and crayons scattered on it. Against the opposite wall stood a dresser and a large bookcase. The room was surprisingly well organized and clean. It had a peaceful atmosphere and I instantly felt at ease.

Seth came to stand beside me. "Like what you see?"

"I do, actually. Does Bella like books?" I pointed at the bookcase. It was overflowing and the shelves were bent under the weight. There almost wasn't any open space left.

"Yeah, she's big on stories. She can't read a lot of them herself, but Renee loves reading to her. Her favorite's The Wizard of Oz. The others get bored when Renee reads that one to her again, but I like it."

Someone screamed through the room then. "Hey guys! Look what I found!"

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice near the dresser. Jared came crawling out from behind it and when he lifted up his head I almost fell down to the bed from laughing. He had a big plastic mouth complete with moustache in his own mouth. The big toothy grin bobbed up and down while he yelled out to me.

"Hey Edward, I found your welcome present!"

We all climbed down to examine the piece more closely. It had a small pin in the back which Jared had used to hold the mouth between his lips.

"Go on, try it Ken," Jared said. "I bet it looks great on you,"

"You can't be serious. It's almost bigger than his whole head," Leah added. She was right, I couldn't possibly wear that around, but I had to laugh at Jared's enthusiasm.

"I remember this," Jacob said as he examined the mouth. "I believe it's a piece of Mr. Potato Head. Sam! Doesn't this belong to the Potato Heads?"

With one last look through the door, Sam turned and walked over to the group. He seemed reluctant to leave his post and almost a little annoyed that Jake had disturbed him in his task.

He turned the piece around in his paws and confirmed Jake's assumption. "Where did you find it, Jared?"

"Right here behind the dresser."

"Should we return it to Mr. Potato Head?" I asked. "He must be missing it."

"I bet Mrs. Potato Head doesn't miss it. Finally some peace and quiet for her," Jared joked.

"I think that's a fantastic idea, Edward!" Seth enthused. "They've been gone for way too long. We should find them. Anybody have an idea where to start looking?"

"All I know is that Renee must have cleaned the room while Bella took us to stay at her grandmother's house. We haven't seen them since then." Sam explained. "Good luck searching, but please don't make a mess. We can't leave the room in chaos when the humans come back."

He strolled back to his post by the door. I wondered why he was so careful about the exposure to humans.

"I bet she put them in a box somewhere," Paul chimed in.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go look for boxes." Seth stared for the bookcase.

"You guys go on your hopeless mission. I'm going back to watching the party. Bella was just about to blow out the candles," Leah said.

Everyone else started going off in different directions. I ended up at the bookcase with Paul and Seth. Paul was convinced it must be on the top shelf, but all I saw were more books. Regardless, it was as good a guess as any so we climbed up. It wasn't an easy climb as we couldn't use the books to grab on to for fear of knocking them out of the case. My stiff, plastic knees and elbows weren't really helping either. If I had to keep up with all the climbing in this room, I would be exhausted at the end of every day.

Paul was the first to reach the top. "Jackpot, guys! There's a box behind these books with a lock on it. Help me get it out."

We moved the books out of the way, but we couldn't open the lock.

"What are you guys doing up there?" one of the monkeys yelled.

Seth took a step forward to see who was calling us, but he bumped into the box and it fell down the side of the bookcase. The contents rattled as it crashed to the edge of the dresser and eventually reached the floor.

"Oops. Sorry."

We quickly climbed back down to where the others had gathered around the mysterious container. Even Sam had left his post, but he looked furious.

"What did I say about not making a mess? Look what you did! How are we going to get it back up there, huh?"

"Relax, Sam. It was an accident. We'll clean it up before anyone notices," Jake said.

"Look, you guys. The lock broke." Paul swiftly removed the lock and lifted the lid, while everyone came closer to see what was inside.

"Goodness me! What happened?" a female voice asked.

I worked my way to the front, anxious to see what the mysterious box contained and if I would finally meet this Mr. and Mrs. Potato head. When I looked inside, I could clearly see the two large brown balls. The rest of the box was filled with countless plastic parts, scattered in complete disarray. There were arms, shoes, eyes, ears, noses and mouths in all kinds of shapes and forms and they were definitely similar to the mouth Jared found earlier. One of the brown balls only had one ear attached to it, but the other still had a mouth and eyes.

"Jake? Sam? It's good to see you guys. All of you. Would you help me and my husband back up, please?"

Jacob lifted Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head out of the box, while the others grabbed random pieces and started putting the two back together. I grabbed a white hat with a flower and placed it on top of Mrs. Potato Head.

"Thank you, son. I don't think I've seen you before."

"I just arrived today. My name's Edward. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Potato Head."

"Nice to meet you too, Edward. But please call me Esme. And this is my husband, Carlisle."

We spent the rest of the day talking. The others told Esme and Carlisle what had happened since they were put away and Carlisle explained that Renee had indeed put them in that box. She'd said that Bella was to old to play with Potato Heads.

I enjoyed listening to everyone's stories and was extremely disappointed when Sam finally informed us that Bella was coming up to get to bed. I returned to the place where Bella had left me earlier in the morning. We decided to leave the box laying on the floor as if it had just fallen down the bookcase by accident, which essentially was true. It worked out better than we'd hoped, because as soon as Bella spotted the box and it's content she was ecstatic. She had missed the Potato Heads and begged Renee to let her keep them this time. Renee gave in and placed the box on the desk, ready to be played with in the morning.

Renee read Bella's favorite story and I could see why Seth liked it when she read it. It was written all over Bella's face how much she liked the story. I smiled from my place on the dresser where Renee had put me, as I saw her laugh at the funny parts or bite her lip from anxiety when the story turned scary.

When the book was finished, Bella was tucked in by her mother and she snuggled up with Jacob in her arms.

"Good night, mommy."

"Sweet dreams, honey," Renee said as she turned off the lights.

I will put a link in my profile for a picture of the Ken doll. I'll introduce more of the Cullens along the way. Maybe you can guess what toys they'll be? ;)