Chapter 16: Princesses Live in Castles
(2 months later ~ 3 months old)
The Volturi let us go, but we knew that it was far from over. It had been too easy. Aro had been too happy. I couldn't see the Volturi in our future, but that just meant they hadn't decided yet when to strike.
Our trip to Volterra had been two months ago, and those two months had sped by faster than we'd realised. Daisy was growing at a normal, human rate physically, but mentally she was developing much faster than any human baby. At this age, a human baby would be able to wave their arms and legs around, and follow you round the room with their eyes. Daisy was already sitting up and reaching out to us with her arms, grabbing onto her toys and mumbling happily to herself. Carlisle said it was because even at this young age, her vampire brain was able to process so much more than a human, so she was learning to do things a lot faster. He compared it to the time that I'd asked Jasper to teach me guitar. By the end of the day I'd been playing pieces that would take even master musicians months to perfect had they been human.
Whilst having such a talented daughter was a blessing, it also made her all the more challenging. She already knew exactly how to get her way.
"Jasper, where's Ra-Ra?!" I asked, raising my voice over the sound of Daisy's wailing. He appeared by my side with a frown on his face.
"Doesn't Daisy have him?" He asked.
"No, Daisy doesn't have him, or I wouldn't be asking where he was, would I?" I ask in an irritated tone.
"Is that why she's screaming?" Jasper asked.
"No, actually she's screaming because the country's economy is declining." I said as I threw blankets and bottles on the floor in an attempt to find Daisy's toy.
"Hey, relax." Jasper said softly, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my forehead, "We'll find it and get her gorgeous smile back."
Daisy realized then that we'd stopped paying her attention, and her screaming got louder. With a groan, I pulled away from Jasper and began searching again.
"Someone missing this?" Emmett asked, strolling into the room with a stuffed lion in his hand.
"Oh thank God, where was it?" I ask as I snatch the toy from Emmett and sit it down next to Daisy. She grabs it and stops crying, blinking up at Emmett with innocent eyes.
"Under the sofa in the library." Emmett said.
I frowned. How in God's name had it gotten there? And how had Emmett found it there? More importantly, what was Emmett doing in a library?
I pushed questions out of my head and decided to take advantage of the fact Daisy was happy. I scooped her into my arms and put Ra-Ra the lion on her belly.
"Rrrrr." Daisy said, which was actually what she called the toy. I'd insisted that it was her first word, but everyone else told me it didn't count, as it was more a noise than an actual word. Either way, we'd named the toy Ra-Ra and Daisy didn't go anywhere without him. Unless of course, he'd somehow ended up under a sofa in the library.
Outside, the rain had stopped and the sun shone through the window, bouncing off our diamond skin. Daisy's skin mimicked ours, but it was much much duller. Carlisle had said that she may even be able to blend in with humans in the sun.
Daisy dropped Ra-Ra and her face screwed up, her mouth opening ready to start screaming again. Before Jasper could pick up the toy and give it back to her, clouds covered the sun and the rain started again.
"Hey Jazz..." I said, watching as the sun came out once again when the toy was placed in Daisy's arms, "Have you noticed that whenever Daisy's upset, it rains?"
"And whenever she's happy, it's sunny." Jasper agreed as both our eyes fell on our daughter.
"She can control the weather?" Emmett asked, "That's so cool! Now she can make a storm so we can play baseball!"
He looked at Daisy expectantly and I frowned, "Uh, Em, she doesn't know what baseball is?"
"I don't think she's controlling it exactly." Jasper said, "Her emotions are just influencing it. Maybe when she's older she could develop her gift, like Bella has with hers, and then she really would be able to control it."
This was the third gift we'd discovered that Daisy had, after seeing the past and making people see images. Dana had told us that she'd have multiple gifts, but each time we discovered one it was a joyous surprise. Last month we'd taken Daisy to Eleazer, hoping that he could use his own gift to work out what talents Daisy could have. He'd tried, but had eventually told us that he thought she was too young to detect her gifts. He said that some of them may not appear until she was older, maybe not even until she was fully matured at age eighteen.
That meant that we had an exciting and probably long road ahead of us before we found out the full extent of our daughter's brilliance, but that was okay. We were willing to wait, because we knew that it would be worth it.
There was a beeping outside as a truck backed up the driveway. I squealed and passed Daisy to Jasper, "There's my delivery!"
"What did you order?" Jasper asked, the 'this time' implied, as I hurried past him. I raced out the front door and greeted the delivery man on the doorstep.
"Miss A Cullen?" He asked.
"Alice, that's me." I said with a smile.
"Sign here." He said, holding a form out towards me. I grabbed the pen and wrote my name with a flourish, grinning as two more delivery men took a large box out of the truck.
"What is that?" Emmett asked as he appeared beside me. The box was taller than him.
"A life-size Barbie princess play castle." I said as I ripped open the box, "With two floors and a real slide."
"Awesome!" Renesmee said, racing forward to help me tear up the box.
"For Daisy, silly." I told her. Her face fell, so I quickly added, "You can play in it too, obviously."
"Really?!" She asked.
"Of course!" I said, "You girls can share, right? Besides, I need someone to test it out first!"
"Alice what..." Jasper trailed off as he looked the castle up and down. The castle was wooden, with painted pink turrets and pretty white window frames. The door had a golden knocker and a real working doorbell. Through the plastic windows, you could see the pink and white themed furniture. It was a little girls dream. "You realise that's not safe for a three month old baby, right?"
"I know!" I said, "But they had a super good deal on it, and I just knew she'd love it when she's a little older! Until then, Renesmee can play in it."
Renesmee squealed, "Can I go in it now? Can I?"
"I think you have to-" I began, but she was already inside.
"Omigod!" She shrieked from inside, "There's an easy-bake oven in here! And a plastic kettle...and teacups!" She let out a gleeful cry, "There's a princess teddy bear in this bed!"
"How adorable is this?" I asked Jasper, "Just imagine Daisy when she's that age!"
Jasper smiled and put one arm around me, the other securely holding Daisy in his arms, as we watched Renesmee race around the castle, sliding down the slide and running back to the top over and over again.
Jasper frowned for a moment, "Just how 'super good' was this deal?"
"Okay, before I tell you how much it cost, just imagine the years of fun our daughter and niece are going to have with this!" I said.
"Alice..." Jasper said wearily.
"They can bond through playing in it! It can be their secret club house!" I continued.
"How much?"
"It will teach Daisy the importance of sharing and playing nicely-"
"How much did you spend?"
"$2000." I confessed.
"$2000?!" Jasper asked, "You spent $2000 on-"
"Shhh." I said, placing a finger on his lips, "Only the best for our daughter, right? Princesses live in castles! And it's not like we can't afford it!"
Jasper just rolled his eyes and smiled at me, "You know you're totally screwed if she doesn't like pink."
"She's a little girl! She's my little girl! Of course she'll like pink!" I protested.
"I'm just saying...about ninety per cent of the things you've bought her are some shade of pink." Jasper said.
"Because pink is awesome!" I said, "Right Ness?"
"Right!" Renesmee said as she poured "tea" into the pink plastic cups.
"Maybe next time we discuss before you spend so much money on a pink playhouse our daughter can't even use for years?" Jasper asked.
"Whatever," I said, sticking my tongue out at him, "Just move it to the bottom of the garden." Jasper raised his eyebrows, "Please?"
Jasper sighed and put Daisy in my arms, "Ness, you might wanna get out before the earthquake starts."
Renesmee jumped out of the castle, "An earthquake?"
Jasper picked up the castle and carried it across the garden, tea cups rattling inside.
"Be careful!" Renesmee squealed as she chased after him.
"See how strong your Daddy is?" I asked Daisy as I watched Jasper place the castle at the bottom of the yard.
I watched as Jasper opened the door for Renesmee. She raced inside and tutted when she saw that the water in her teacups had spilt. "Naughty uncle Jasper! I'd just made that tea! Now I have to boil the kettle all over again!"
Jasper peered through the window pretending to be a giant and telling her that he stole princesses who lived in pink castles. Renesmee was squealing and running around the playhouse, trying to hide from the 'big scary giant' who kept appearing at every window.
I smiled and imagined him playing with Daisy that way. I imagined her squealing and laughing as he played and pretended with her. Bouncing her up and down in my arms, I smiled, knowing that our future was bright.
A/N: Heya :) This was kinda a filler chapter and also to introduce her third gift (Thanks to Debbie93 for the idea!)
Next chapter will probably skip to around 9 months...I'm gunna do like a few chapters at each stage of her childhood so you can see her growing up and Alice and Jasper being parents :)
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Pleeeease review, it seriously makes my day :) Anyone who reviews this chapter will get a sneak peak of the next chapter before I update ;)