First Steps

A/N: Happy Birthday, Zeewriter! We hope you have a wonderful day.

As ever, we do not own Twilight - it owns us.

ooOoo

Change

For what feels like weeks, we've watched Tanya trying to walk by herself. She's taken steps while being held up, but going on her own?

I'm beginning to wonder if she's deliberately holding out on us and walking only when someone – Nana, Grampa, Edward, or me – is holding onto her.

As if she's waiting for... something, though I have no idea what.

Today, however, something seems different. Tanya's sitting at the coffee table, holding on with both hands as she tries to lift herself up. When she makes it, she giggles and looks at me triumphantly.

“Da!” she cries out.


Promise

I smile and nod encouragingly, holding my hands out to her. “Come on, Tanya, you can do it.”

She bounces up and down a few times, giggling. Her eyes twinkle as she gauges the distance between her and the dining room table where I'm working.

Holding my breath, I watch as she lets go of first one hand, then the other, and just... stands there.

C'mon, baby girl, you can do it.

I can hear Edward in the kitchen. Not wanting him to miss our little girl's first steps, I call out softly, “Ed, babe, come here real quick. Quietly.”


Pause

Tanya's distracted by a toy, and for a second I wonder if she'll stop again. She bends over, touching the stuffed unicorn from Rose. She surprises me when she pushes it out of the way and straightens up unsteadily.

Edward slips his arms around my neck from behind, whispering, “Did I miss anything?”

I shake my head, my eyes never leaving Tanya as she starts to wobble, grabs hold of the coffee table, and then tentatively puts one foot in front of the other, moving herself along until she can get no further.

She looks at us, grinning widely. “Da!”


Triumph

“Come on, Tanya,” I hear Edward murmur, echoing my thoughts.

She bounces twice again – then, almost in slow motion, takes that first step without any support.

Two, three, four, five, six steps, and she's almost to us.

Edward's arms tighten around me, and we both glance at each other with pride and glee at seeing our little girl take her first steps.

“Da!” she cries again, her little hands opening and closing demandingly.

Laughing, Edward's arms slip from my neck as I lean forward to reach for Tanya. She practically launches herself at me, squealing when I hoist her up.


Celebrate

Edward and I both hug her, alternately kissing each other and Tanya's cheeks, forehead, crown, hands – anywhere we can reach.

All the while, she's giggling up a storm, pleased as punch at her victory.

After a few minutes, Edward squats next to us, running his fingers through Tanya's hair as he says, “This calls for a special treat. What do you say, Princess?”

Her eyes go wide as she claps her hands together. “Ice cweam, ice cweam!”

Ruffling her hair, he grins. “Should've known.” He disappears into the kitchen.

Minutes later, we're all seated around the table, enjoying ice cream.


Content

After she's cleaned up, Tanya goes back to playing with her toys, babbling away at her unicorn.

Edward slips his arms around me again and kisses my temple. “She's growing up so fast,” he murmurs with a sigh.

“I know,” I groan.

He smacks my chest, chuckling. “Starting to feel old?”

I grin up at him. “Maybe just a little,” I admit. “I'm grateful, though, that we're able to work from home. I wouldn't miss this for the world.”

“Me, too, Jazz.” Putting his finger under my chin, he tilts my face to his, kissing me lightly.  We’re so lucky.”