Chapter 6: Children's Games and Shop Assistants
A/N: So, I'd planned to do this whole story in Alice's POV, but a couple of people have asked me to do a chapter from Jasper's point of view...well, here it is! Let me know if it's okay, because I wasn't too sure about it...and let me know if you want another Jasper POV chapter in the future!
~Jasper POV~
Alice stirred in her sleep and rolled over, burying her head in my chest. I kissed the top of her head and watched as her steady breathing made her stomach rise and fall. Right there in front of me were the two things I cared about most in the world; my beautiful Alice and our unborn child.
Alice's eyes fluttered open and she looked up at me with that cute I-just-woke-up smile she'd adopted over the last few weeks. Her hair was slightly messy, and her eyes were hardly open - as if she would fall asleep again at any minute. She probably would. It had been hard to tell when she was a vampire who never grew tired or needed sleep, but Alice was definitely a big sleeper...which was probably because of the mass of energy she burned off with all her bouncing around and excitement. She'd gotten even more bubbly in the last week; the pregnancy was exciting her like mad. Her feelings, of course, rubbed of on me. Not that I needed any encouragement from Alice or my gift to be excited about our baby!
Just yesterday Alice had convinced Renesmee to teach her every children's game she could think of. Without being able to remember her childhood, Alice had flown into a panic that she didn't know any games to play with our future child. This had meant that the whole day had been filled with the running, screaming, and giggling of Nessie and Alice as they played every game I'd ever heard of; tag, hide-and-seek, British bulldog, hopscotch, Marco Polo, duck duck goose...when Alice grew too tired to run and jump anymore, she roped us all in to play Chinese whispers in the living room. Of course, Edward cheated by reading the first person's mind so he knew what the statement was (Jacob has smelly dog farts - because someone decided to let Emmett come up with it) and Nessie projected the image of the words rather than whispering them, which left no room for mishearing. Half way through, Alice had started giggling as she'd gotten a vision of the end result (Jacob likes smelling dog farts) and Rosalie decided she was bored and she took Emmett away - no doubt going to their own house for a slightly more grown up form of entertainment...
"Mornin'." I smiled down at Alice. A lazy smile spread across her face as she snuggled into me.
"Morning Jazz." She mumbled.
"You going back to sleep?" I asked her as her eyes began closing.
"Mmmm." She said, already half asleep.
"Did you want to go shopping today?" I asked, reminding her of what she'd planned last night. She shot up in bed, her eyes wide open and all sleep swept away.
"Oh yes!" She cried, clapping her hands in excitement, "You're still coming, right?"
I knew shopping with Alice was a dangerous thing to do, but how could I say no when she started fluttering her eyelashes at me? "Of course I am."
"Yay!" She said, kissing me on the cheek. She jumped out of bed and started throwing on some clothes. Well, it looked like she was just throwing them on, but I knew she had a strategically plan for exactly what clothes she would wear each day. If she put her organising talents to other uses, she could easily be a world leader someday...now there's a scary thought!
I watched her for a moment before getting out of bed myself. I went downstairs and put some waffles in the toaster, and poured a glass of orange juice. I got out the syrup as the waffles finished cooking and plated them up just as Alice walked into the kitchen. She sniffed the air and grinned at me. "You made waffles?" I nodded. "Love you Jazz!"
She gave me a peck on the cheek before grabbing the plate of waffles and digging in. She was 14 weeks pregnant now, and in the last few weeks she'd been eating and sleeping more and more. It didn't bother me; I liked lying with her while she slept, and the eating was fine as long as I didn't have to smell the food too much! It seemed to be annoying Alice, though. She kept complaining that she had not time to do anything. I didn't point out that half the time she did have was spent in front of the TV ordering things off the shopping channel. She'd only say that it was an essential part of her life and that she couldn't cut back on it - it was a life or death situation. We'd had the conversation multiple times before over the years.
By the time Alice had finished her waffles she was bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement. "Are you ready Jazz? Can we go now? Can we?!"
"If you want to." I said, smiling at her. Her excitement for today's shopping trip was affecting my own emotions and I was starting to look forward to our outing.
Alice let out a little squeal and grabbed my hand, pulling me down to the garage to her car. She'd pulled away almost before I was in the car. I couldn't help laughing, "Alice, the shops will still be there in ten minutes."
Alice didn't respond, and kept speeding down the roads. We made it to the mall in ten minutes, when it should have taken almost an hour for a human. She parked the car and dragged me into the mall.
"I want to start work on the baby's room." Alice was saying.
"I thought you wanted to wait until you knew the sex?" I asked.
"It's going to be a boy." Alice told me. I looked at her in surprise.
"You had a vision?" I asked. Why hadn't she told me sooner? Her visions had become less and less frequent recently, and she'd never been able to see anything to do with the baby - how had she seen this?
"No, not a vision." She said. "But I saw this cute little baby boy crib and I knew that it had to be a boy!"
"Are you sure you just didn't want it to be a boy so that you could buy the crib?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Alice tilted her head slightly to the side in thought, looking cute as ever. "Maybe."
She bit her lip. I rolled my eyes, "You bought it, didn't you?"
"Wait till you see it, Jazz!" She said, her excitement creeping up again, "It's just the cutest thing ever! If it's not a boy, we'll just have to find some other use for it!"
"Another use for a baby crib that isn't for a baby?" I asked.
"Mmm-hmm." Alice said, distracted by something. I followed her gaze to a shop window. "Isn't that just the cutest thing ever?!"
She was looking at a display of baby clothes; specifically at a teddy-bear onesie. "I thought the crib was the cutest thing ever?"
Alice ignored my comment and skipped towards the window. "Can we buy it Jazz, please?"
I couldn't resist smiling at my wife as she bounced up and down in front of the window, like a kid outside a candy store. "You can buy whatever you want."
"You could be more enthusiastic about it Jasper!" Alice told me, "This is for your baby too!"
She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the store. She'd only planned to buy the onesie, but that was all forgotten when we stepped inside. The store was brimming full with toys, clothes, cribs, push chairs, blankets, and prams. Alice's mouth dropped open as she surveyed the shop full of shiny things, just waiting for her to buy them. I groaned when I saw the sparkle in her eye; that meant that by the end of the day, this store would have bare shelves. It was a very dangerous look that I'd come to recognise over the many years I'd been married to Alice. It meant get her the hell out of here before she causes a riot. Which was, of course, easier said than done. She was already racing around the store with a shopping cart, piling things in without even looking at them.
"Alice, darlin', do we really need six baby baths?" I asked.
"That's what that is?" Alice asked, looking up at me for a second.
"Maybe you should only buy things that you actually look at." I suggested, as I started taking things out of the cart.
"There's so much to buy!" Alice said, gazing around the store.
"That doesn't mean you have to buy it all." I told her. Just then a shop assistant approached us, no doubt wondering why we were picking up then putting back so many items.
"Hello, can I help you at all?" She asked.
"Yes, actually." Alice said, "We need some help on what to buy."
"Is this your first baby?" The assistant asked.
"Yep!" Alice smiled. "And we want it to have everything; no expense spared!"
"Everything it needs, darlin', not everything in the whole mall." I told her. Alice pouted.
"I'm just trying to give our baby the best Jasper!" She told me. She turned away and started chatting to the assistant about the amount of bottle sterilisers that she had put in the cart. The assistant wasn't really much help; of course she was encouraging Alice to buy as much as possible.
I looked away when Alice paid for everything, not even wanting to know how much she'd spent, and we walked out of the store after giving our address for them to deliver our purchases to.
"I think you may have overdone it, a little." I told her, resting my arm on her shoulder as we walked through the mall.
"Josie didn't think so." Alice told me.
"Who's Josie, and why does she get a say?" I asked.
"The shop assistant!" Alice said impatiently. I hadn't realised they were on a first name basis. "She's a professional Jasper!"
"A professional shop assistant?" I asked.
"A professional when it comes to buying things for babies!" Alice told me, "We should listen to her advice!"
"She works there; of course she wants you to buy things!" I pointed out.
"See, this is why people like her are taking for granted!" Alice huffed, "I actually appreciate the work of shop assistants! What they do is very admirable!"
"You only say that because they help you do more shopping." I teased. She opened her mouth to respond, when she became distracted again. She was looking longingly at another baby store.
This was going to be a long day...
So...now that you've read the first Jasper POV chapter, what did you think?! Sorry it took me longer than usual to update, but it took me a while to get the JPOV right...anyway, next chapter will be back to Alice POV! I'm not sure yet whether it will carry on or skip another few months...let me know your thoughts!
Also, I've started a poll on my profile as to whether you want the baby to be a girl or a boy...go vote! Or you can leave your answer in the reviews if you'd prefer...
Next update soon :)