Chapter 8

Grace age update: 1 year

The house was up and early as everyone was put to work on this important day. Calculating the number of months little Grace has been with them, minus the four before they found her, Carlisle managed to predict more or less when her birthday was. And on this day everything had to be perfect.

Grace was still too young to understand the meaning of birthdays, cake, and presents, but Alice insisted that they get her some new toys and clothes and also invited a few guests over. Speaking of guests, the doorbell just rang. The pixie happily skipped over to open it, revealing Jacob, Paul, Seth and Quill.

"Hey, guys, guess who's here!" she announced cheerfully.

Renesmee was the first at the door and nearly attacked him with a hug, "Jake!"

Paul, Seth and Quill could only smirk and wolf whistle behind them.

Nessie didn't wait for them to respond as she nearly drowned him with her questions, "What are you doing here? I thought you were still checking up on Charlie? Did you fly here? Where's Sam and the rest?"

"Okay, okay." Jake smiled, "I missed you too. Charlie's fine, he's on a fishing trip with Sue. Yes, we flew and I hated it. And Sam's back in Forks. He needs to train a few newly shifted rookies and only allowed some of us to come. You should've seen the argument they had on who gets to visit first."

Paul butted in, "Nice reunion and everything, but let's get down to the real business. Where's Grace?"

Renesmee and Alice led them through the house to the family room where the real party was. The Denali's were one of the two covens to show up. The Egyptians didn't like the sound of three Volturi members being present and politely declined.

Everyone greeted everyone. That was what made the other vegetarian vampires great, they were always there no matter what the situation was, a war or a party. Carmen was currently sitting with Grace on her lap with Eleazar next to her, making googly eyes at the tiny person. Kate and Garrett were chatting with Emmett and Rosalie, mostly because Emmett was trying to get him to like The Beatles. Last but not least, Tanya was close to Carmen, still waiting her turn to hold little Grace. The rest of the Cullens were either catching up with Kate and Garret or preparing brunch while expecting the wolf pack to arrive.

Felix was slowly starting to socialize with the Cullens and joined a conversation with Jasper. Marcus sat silently in his armchair, as usual, and Demetri was staring at Grace like a guard dog, in case one of the new guests tried to harm her.

Carlisle got up to greet the boys as they entered the room, "Jacob, boys, pleasure to see you could make it. How was your flight?"

"Yeah, awful." Paul commented, "Wolves aren't meant to fly. I couldn't go through at security because their intelligent technology picked up dirt under my shoes. I was almost arrested because they thought I was smuggling sand!" he rolled his eyes and they landed on Grace for three seconds, "Grace!"

Paul pushed the pack aside and scooped Grace up, beyond caring if Carmen was still holding her.

"And that's how you get Paul to shut up." Seth chuckled.

Esme and Bella came from the kitchen with two trays stacked with cupcakes. The boys dug right in, complimenting Esme on her baking skills and her nice touch of decor to the new house with stuffed mouths. It was earlier decided to let Grace start eating baby food. Renesmee, knowing how well it went the first time Paul fed Grace, handed him a small cup of baby food.

"Yes!" he cheered and made Grace sit in her high chair, "Hmmm, lookie here, Gracie. Yummy food. Paulie loves food. Open up... That's it! Nom nom nom nom." he sniffed the food and discovered it was berry flavoured, "Ooh, you like berries? Another bite? Here comes the train, here comes the train! Choo choo! Yes! Chew that train, Gracie, nom nom nom nom."

He hasn't even noticed the whole room going silent at his little performance, while Quill filmed it all on his phone. A moment ago, even Demetri was jealous of all the attention Grace was receiving from the wolf but had to admit it was quite an amusing sight to see. He kept reminding himself that wolves imprint and as far as he knew, Grace wasn’t any of their imprints.

The rest of the day went by smoothly. The Denali's made small talk to Marcus, who told them about Grace being Demetri's blood singer. Carlisle mentioned it but didn't give them the full details, only saying that it's Marcus's story to tell. Demetri and Felix socialized with the wolves a bit before moving over to Garrett and Kate. However, Felix did most of the talking, for Demetri's attention was on Grace, as usual. No one knew exactly whether it was the bond talking or that he just craved her blood, but nobody dared to ask.

At the end of the day, the Denali's bid their goodbyes to fly back to Alaska.

"It was a pleasure seeing you again, Carlisle." Eleazar said and bent down to Grace, "And it was nice to meet little Grace. We'll visit you again soon."

The wolves, on the other hand, remained at the Cullen residence until the end of the week, before Paul, Seth and Quill had to return to Forks. Speaking of returning, it was decided that Marcus and Felix would stay at the Cullens for the next few months before going back to Volterra, and switching places with the next to Volturi members…

Caius and Jane.

Alice was giving Grace her usual bath after a long eventful day…

She's walking through the entire house now, however, she wasn't allowed close to the stairs, just in case she might fall on her head. Everyone had to search the house when she got lost. One moment she was playing with her plush toys and the next thing Renesmee (who was supposed to watch her) knew, she was gone.

The vampires were too freaked out to think about using their strong sense of smell to track her. In the end, it was Quill who found her on the patio, admiring the great outdoors. That's when Carlisle realized that Grace has never been outside the house before, and decided right then that everyone should spend the day outside. Luckily for them, it was an overcast day, like most days in England. They really had no excuse to stay in.

Emmett thought it'd be the perfect time to try out a miniature bouncy castle they bought Grace for her birthday. After the castle was pumped, Seth took Grace on it since he was the lightest out of all the others. She seemed confused at the sudden change of surface, but as soon as she started bouncing she couldn't stop. After she grew tired, Esme let Paul feed her since he made it his job while he's still visiting. And yes, he made funny faces and noises to get her to open her mouth. What he didn't know is that Quill sent every video he captured to Sam, who will eventually use it to blackmail Paul.

Grace managed to waddle over to the grass in curiosity. Her crystal blue eyes widened when she stepped on it and felt the new tickling sensation under her feet.

Thinking back to the day's events, Alice couldn't help but smile. So many 'first times' took place since they've gotten Grace that she won't possibly be able to remember it all. She has been snapping pictures of Grace since she arrived at their house in Forks with Carlisle and Esme, so she had more than enough memories to start a scrapbook, which will make the perfect gift for Grace when she turns eighteen one day. Alice finished giving the tiny person her bath and took her to Esme, whose turn it was to put her to sleep.

"Come, my Grace." Esme smiled and carried her to her and Carlisle's room.

She sat down on the sofa next to the door that led to the balcony, so she had a perfect view of their enormous backyard that stretched into the dark forest. If Grace was to be a vampire one day, she'll roam those same woods at night in search for prey. Her vampire form will be breathtaking, even more than Rosalie's.

It made Esme excited to see the day that her little girl become one of them; immortal, together forever. She knew that they would've given her the choice whether or not she wanted to be turned, but being Demetri's blood singer she's bound to become a vampire to be with him. Some part of Esme still wanted her to grow up, grow old and have children and grandchildren, to tell them stories about her young life. That's what life's about for humans. Grace's fingertips grazing her chin snapped Esme out of her little daydream.

"Stories, huh?" she recalled from her daydream, "That is not a bad idea... Once upon a time, there was a little girl, called Grace. She was a princess, lost in a deep dark forest and couldn't find her way home. Just when she thought she'll be lost forever, her mother and father found her and couldn't be happier to see their little girl safe. They brought her home to her kingdom in Forks, and she was reunited with her family. One day, a very mean and bad king visited them to see if they've been good all these years. The king had two brothers and a son. When the son saw princess Grace, he immediately fell in love with her and promised to always be hers. She loved him just as much, despite his bad family, and promised to forever be his. Years later they got married and lived happily ever after."

Grace's eyes were still open at the end of the little fairytale as she stared at Esme as if she understood every word of the story. Esme was about to try another method to get her to sleep before...

"Mama."

Her head snapped down to the little bundle in her arms. Did she hear it correctly? Did Grace just call her 'mama'? Did she talk?

Grace's fingers grazed Esme's chin again, "Mama."

Words couldn't describe her happiness as she heard it again. She let a laugh slip past her lips as she brought Grace up to snuggle her in a hug.

"That's right, sweety, mama's here." she laughed as Grace cooed, "I love you so, so, so much, Grace. Mama loves you so much."

That moment Carlisle opened the door with a bottle of warm milk in his hand.

"I thought this might help with getting her to sleep." He was about to hand Esme the bottle before...

"Dada.”