a/n: Thanks so much for the reviews! :D I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story. Inspiration struck, so here's another chapter already.

Chapter 6 – Cowboys

Big chocolate-brown eyes were staring at me again. The intensity of the look sent shivers down my spine, but I managed to stay still. It had become a ritual that occurred almost daily. Every afternoon as Bella walked into her room after her activities of the day, the first thing she did was turn to the dresser where I was sitting. Sometimes she'd just examine me from the doorway for a few moments and then move on. Other times, like today, she'd come over to me and place her head on her crossed arms lying before me. Those were the days she suspected something had changed about my position since she'd left me that morning. With eyebrows knit together, a scrunched up nose and pursed lips she'd stare at me for whatever time she needed to convince herself that her Ken was just an inanimate object.

It was nerve-wracking. I'd always doubt if I was in the exact same position with the same posture as a few hours before. In my head, I went over every little toe or hair that could be out of place. The first few days after 'the incident', as we'd come to call it, I didn't even dare to move when there were no humans around. Rosalie had told the others the whole story and Jake was more than happy to fill in the details. He'd probably had more fun from the whole ordeal than anyone, after he was sure that Bella was fine.

But worse than all that was the reaction from Esme. She'd been shocked frozen the first time we told her. Only when she found out that I had been saved by the appearance of Bella's teacher, she was able to breathe again. She had smacked me on the head and spent hours lecturing me on what could have happened. Her constant worrying still hadn't subsided and she insisted I didn't move in the morning until someone had seen my position so they could help me remember. It made my already substantial feelings of guilt even bigger.

Nothing, however, could have prepared me for Sam's rage once he heard the news. He had come barging at me with such force that I flew backwards into a corner of the room. With wobbling knees and my arms over my head, I had listened to him yelling all kinds of curses I never even imagined existed. Jacob and Carlisle eventually managed to calm him down, but I could tell he wouldn't be as forgiving as the others. He kept a close eye on me and barked orders like a true drill sergeant when his new, strict security rules had to be implemented. He was the reason I hadn't dared to move in those first few days. For a teddy bear, he could be pretty scary.

Seth had eventually made it up to my dresser to check on me and he'd told me why Sam acted the way he did.

"Hey Eddie, how's it going?" he said as his seemingly always smiling face appeared above the edge in front of me.

"Seth? What are you doing here? Go back before Sam sees you," I whispered between clenched teeth, my head still turned straight ahead.

"Just came to check on you. Haven't seen you in a while." He plopped down beside me and we sat there in silence for a few minutes until he continued in a quieter tone: "You know, he doesn't mean any harm… Sam. He's just a bit on the cautious side when it comes to exposure."

I sighed. "But why? All the others were able to move on from my mistake pretty quick. Why is he holding on to it?" His initial reaction had been a little extreme, but understandable given what I had done. However, besides Bella's scrutiny, nothing too bad had happened. The persisting grudge seemed completely irrational.

"I guess no one told you, huh?"

I made one last mental note of the angle my head was tilted in and turned a little in Seth's direction, but remained silent. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"You know… How Sam got here? Bella saved him from a trashcan. He was about to be garbage. Dumped like some insignificant piece of tissue you've blown your nose in… Maybe that's not the right analogy, but you get the picture."

"Wow… I had no idea. What happened?" It was the number one cruelest faith for a toy; ending up with the trash, all alone where no boy or girl would ever find you. Never again being the cause of a child's beautiful smile.

"Did you know he was one of the toys at Bella's preschool?" I didn't, but Seth continued before I had a chance to react. "One day, during a break when the kids were playing outside, some boy saw him wandering around the classroom through the window. The boy dragged the teacher inside before Sam had noticed. He was still standing straight, in the middle of the floor. He let himself drop to the ground immediately and thankfully the teacher hadn't seen him as she was still talking to someone outside the classroom. But it was too late for the boy not to catch him moving. The poor boy went completely crazy. He yelled and screamed and pointed until the teacher finally responded to him pulling the leg of her pants. He ran over to Sam and started shaking him around, yelling at him to move so the teacher could see."

Seth was so good at telling the story that I had forgotten I was supposed to be sitting still. My whole body had turned in his direction now, my mind completely captivated by the suspense.

"Sam had been terrified. He stayed frozen of course and the teacher eventually managed to pry him out of the boy's hands, but he lost an ear. The teacher took him away, mumbling about never being able to bring him back to the classroom now. Meanwhile, the break was almost over and Bella was getting back to class. She hadn't met Angela yet back then and pretty much kept to herself, so she was always the first one back inside. She was walking through the hallway as she saw the teacher toss Sam in a trashcan. First chance she got, she took him out and stuffed him in her little backpack. Renee sowed his ear back on and he's been here ever since."

I stared at Seth for a while without saying anything. I was stunned. He got uncomfortable with the silence after a while though. "So… Yeah… Sam was so grateful to Bella for his second chance that he vowed never to risk being exposed again."

After that I was able to move around freely again. Sam still gave me disapproving looks, but they didn't scare me anymore. I understood him better and frankly I only felt sorry for him, never allowing himself to relax. I complied with his rules as much as I could, but I wasn't going to live in fear the way he seemed to do.

So here I was, more than two years later, at another one of Bella's inspections. She closed her eyes eventually and sighed in frustration. "We went to the movie theatre today," she said. "Me and dad. We saw the new Toy Story. I told dad I was too old for that movie, but he wouldn't listen. I think he just really wanted to go himself."

It took all my effort to keep the smile off my face as she rolled her beautiful, little eyes. This was the best thing that the incident had caused. Bella had started talking to me. I mean, she'd always spoken to us, but now she was actually talking to me about her life. She told me about the day she'd just had or about some book or TV-show. I had become somewhat of a diary to her and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. It was endlessly intriguing to me what she was thinking or feeling. So I was a little disappointed when Charlie came in and interrupted her.

"Hey Bells," he said enthusiastically. "I know it isn't actually your birthday until next week, but I picked this up at the theatre and I couldn't wait to give it to you." He smiled bigger than I had ever seen him smile before and held out two puppets dressed as brightly colored cowboys. "It's Woody and Jessie!"

"Uhm, thanks dad," Bella said as she took the dolls from her father.

"Anything for my Bells. Your mom is almost done with dinner, so be downstairs in a few minutes, okay?" Charlie responded. He kissed her on the forehead and walked back out of the room. "We're having steak. Or that's what it's supposed to be…" he mumbled.

Bella turned back to the dresser and set one cowboy on either side of me. They were slightly taller than me, but they slumped down immediately until the brims of their enormous hats rested on my shoulders. Their bodies were made only of fabric and their proportions were a little off. It made me wonder how they could balance their enormous heads without the support of my shoulders.

"You see, Ken? Dad never listens," Bella said, rolling her eyes once more. It was one of my favorite expressions of her. She looked so stubborn when she did it; like she was about to cross her arms and stomp her feet to get her way. But she never went that far. As much as she would dislike something, she would never hurt her dad by saying it to him when he was this happy. Instead, she kept it to herself. And me, if I were lucky.

"Hmm, I guess we should give these cowboys some horses." She turned around and walked to her bed, climbed on and reached for the shelf with her stuffed animals. Standing on her toes, she was able to grab her horses and take them down. "Here you are, Woody. This is Seth. And Jessie, you'll get Leah." She set the two dolls on the backs of the horses and took a step back to look at the result. The cowboys were a little bit too big for Seth and Leah. Their boots easily touched the top of the dresser and their bodies leaned against the horses' necks. Bella's eyes scanned the scene and eventually rested on me. She tilted her head a little and raised her eyebrows. "Do you want to ride as well, Ken?" she asked. "But I don't have any more horses… Oh, I know!"

She ran back to her bed and took Jacob down from the shelf. "A wolf can be your horse! I'll just set Jacob over here and then…" She bit her bottom lip in concentrated as she tried to get me sitting on Jake's back. "There," she finally said. Apparently happy with the result, she gave us one more smile and walked out of the room to go eat dinner.

"Get off of me! I'm not a horse!" Jacob yelled as soon as we heard her footsteps on the stairs.

"I can't. What if Bella comes back?"

"Sam will warn us and you can climb back up. But in the meantime… Get… Off!" He jumped and shook his body. I tried grabbing his hair to get a little grip, but it only made him angrier. He moved too fast; I couldn't hold on and landed hard on the wood of the dresser. Right on my backside.

"Ouch! You didn't have to do that!" I yelled back. But Jake only turned around and growled at me.

"Guys, guys! Don't fight!" It was the cowboy, Woody, who came between us. Oddly, I immediately calmed down. He just looked so silly with his skinny legs.

"Fine," Jacob grumbled. "But don't ever mention this to anyone!"

"Fine. As long as you don't joke about the incident anymore," I said. I knew I had him there. Jake couldn't get enough requests to re-tell the story. He, Jared and the other monkeys had been provided with plenty of material for a never-ending marathon of jokes, it seemed. After a few seconds, he reluctantly agreed.

"Fantastic! I knew you'd make up!" the cowboy named Jessie said. She was practically dancing with joy, her voice higher and more chipper than any voice I'd ever heard. She held out her hand and helped me up. "Fighting is no way to welcome new toys. And we're so glad to finally meet you! I just knew we were destined for a good family. I'm Alice and this here is Jasper."

Check out the video in my profile of Woody and Jessie that made me think of Jasper and Alice during the wedding scene in BD1. LOL

One more Cullen to go… What do you think Emmett will be? Let me know.