Chapter 124

Peter

Kat was driving me mad waiting for Bella and The Major to get back, I was beginning to think I should have kept my mouth shut. If she'd asked me once she'd asked a thousand fu…...flaming times when they were due to arrive. Ever since she'd gone to see them in their new home she'd been dying to see Bella again, she'd even done a painting of us all to give her as a house warming present.

Personally I was disappointed they weren't coming to live with the rest of us but as Charlotte pointed out they were newly married! As if Kat weren't excited enough Skye had picked up on it and kept running around from one person to another shouting "Ella, Ella" and clapping her hands. Of course neither of them slept the night before Bella's arrival so Kat was tired and lippy while Skye just grizzled. There were times I could understand why some people never wanted kids….well no, that was a lie, but I found Kat hard work sometimes especially when she got it into her head to argue or question everything I said.

"Why do I have to go to bed? I'm not tired."

"Because if you don't you'll be tired in the morning when its time for lessons."

"Well I can have my lessons later."

"No, you'll have your lessons at the usual time."

"But why? I'm not in school I can do my lessons any time. You change the times if you want to do something else."

"That's because I'm the adult and you're the kid and I'm allowed to change things you aren't."

"But why? That's just plain silly."

This could go on for hours until she got tired and I got grumpy but she soon found out just how far she could go without tipping me over the edge or overstepping the mark herself. Charlotte had the same arguments with her over different things, high heeled shoes, short skirts, a sparkly tee shirt with "I'm a sex kitten" scrawled across it, that one would be over my dead body! Make up, and list was endless, why did young girls always want to get dressed up like hookers? Was it something in their genes? I watched Emmett sniggering and thought to myself, you've got all this to come buddy!

Kat ran past me out into the driveway having heard the car and I almost didn't recognize her. Then I reacted,

"Hey Kat, get your ass back here right now."

She stopped looking back at me to see if it was worth ignoring but seeing my face she came slowly back,

"I'm going to miss saying hello to Bella and Jasper."

"Yes you are young lady. Who told you that it was OK to dye your hair purple?"

She looked at her feet,

"No one but it washes out after a few weeks."

"Good, then guess whose grounded for a few weeks?"

"Peter, that's not fair."

"Did you ever hear me say life was fair? I don't think so and tonight you and I are going to have a conversation about getting permission before doing anything drastic again."

She stood looking at the ground kicking her toe against a stone and chewing her lip,

"Go on then, say hi to Bella."

She looked up and smiled before running out to join Skye and Edward at the car door.

Bella

I couldn't help a smile when I saw Kat's bright purple hair and Peter's disapproving look, I guess she hadn't bothered consulting him on her choice of color. Now he would find out what it was like to be a parent, Jazz had told me Peter was the last person he would have expected to take on a child, especially an adolescent but I could see he loved my friend from the cellar and that made me happy.

Skye was looking down on me from Edward's shoulders calling out my name, or the closest she could get to it,

"Ella, Ella, look"

I smiled up at her,

"Wow! Look how much you've grown Skye, you're bigger than me and daddy."

She giggled pulling Edwards hair she held in two chubby fists and he appeared extremely happy.

"Hello Bella, you're looking good. Jazz told us you were an unusual newborn just like your dad and I can see he was right. Have you heard from him lately?"

"Nope, I think he and Jenna went on a trip around the country so he could show her the sights and then she's going to take him to England. I'm just glad he's happy at last."

Jazz and I spent the next few hours catching up on the gossip, how Felix had to return to Volterra soon and Kat was going with him along with Peter and Charlotte for a holiday. Not that I could see Peter enjoying the stay much but Kat had begged them to let her go, she and Felix were inseparable now and from watching the two of them I thought I saw the first inkling in Kat's mind of what he meant to her although she was still too young to fully understand. Skye's relationship with Edward was more problematical. While he wanted to be with her he understood that at least for several years he would only be on the periphery of her life. For now Rose and Emmett were the most important people in her world, Edward was just someone to play with and she had plenty of playmates around including Carlisle and Esme. It seemed to me that Esme was in her element with two children in the family, watching them develop and being a grandmother to both. She would have made a wonderful mother herself, I could see that plainly enough.

The only two people missing were Alice and Garrett, they had been married soon after us and were now on a world trip, taking in all the major fashion venues I was sure. They were coming back to join the family at Christmas and plans were that they built a house in the grounds, just like Peter and Charlotte had so the family would still be united. I guessed we would join them too eventually but for now it was fun and much more liberating to be living on our own without vampire hearing inhibiting our actions! There was of course the trip to Volterra still ahead of us but now I was a vampire, and a well controlled one, we had brought that forward much to the Volturi's astonishment. In fact we were going straight from here to the airport where the Volturi jet had been sent to fly us to Italy.

Kat begged Peter to let her go to the airport and see us off,

"You might still be there when we visit Bella, that would be really cool. They're sending the jet for us too, its like royalty."

"Well Peter calls you Princess so maybe he's right."

She shook her purple head and smiled ruefully,

"Not now, I'm in deep trouble for dyeing my hair but its a cool color don't you think? I wanted my ears pierced too but Peter said if I do that he's gonna lock me in my room for a whole month and feed me through the window…..and I won't be able to see Felix or do any painting so I decided against it."

"A wise move, poor Peter. Well if we are that will be great, if not enjoy your stay."

"I will, I'm painting a picture to take as a present for Aro. Felix says he likes art. Do you think he'll hang it on his wall?"

"Well, I would, I'm going to hang the one you painted for us in our lounge when we get home."

In the end both Kat and Skye came to wave us off, Skye sitting on Emmett's shoulder this time beaming and waving madly while Kat, still under notional house arrest for her purple hair stood between Peter and Charlotte waving more sedately.