A/N: Here's a lovely fluffy short for you guys. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own any portion of or ideas from Stephenie Meyer's books.
One Step At A Time
It all happened so quickly that there had been no time to prevent the events that followed. Without warning, the scent of several hikers wafted into the house on the breeze. It was disturbing in its own way to see Bella's eyes cloud over and blacken as they did before she took off through the door. She let out a horrifyingly fierce snarl for such a small girl as she left. I am quite thankful that I don't have to worry about sleeping, because that image would surely give me nightmares for years to come. It was one thing to see Bella hunting a meal she was supposed to eat, but it was another matter to see her tempted by something she shouldn't have. I never thought that my Bella could have such a vicious look cross her face, so blood-thirsty. So violent.
"Edward, follow her," Carlisle shouted at me on the way out the back door. "We'll cut her off at the river if you don't catch her first. The others followed him quickly out the door, as nervous and fearful as I was. What if we were too late when we found her? None of us were sure how long it would take for her to deal with a second time. If she dealt with it.
Jasper stopped beside me, putting his hand on my shoulder. His tawny eyes burned into mine, a deathly serious look on his face. "Find her," was all he said before taking his leave, but it was more than enough.
In all truth, if anyone truly understood Bella's state over the last three years, it was Jasper. I hate to admit that it is not me, but I can't lie about it. In the past few years since Bella has been changed, she's had a particularly hard time adjusting her blood-lust from maniacal to manageable. Jasper has taken her under his wing in a different way than the rest of us, giving her the encouragement that none of us really can. He knows what she's feeling more than any of us at this point, I suppose.
One year after she had been changed, Bella had been home alone while the rest of us had gone into town to register for school. When we got back, Bella was sitting in a corner sobbing, her hands covered in blood. There was no denying it the moment we walked into the house and, as much as we hated it, we knew that there was nothing that we could do about it. What was done was done.
Bella told us the story three months later, the first time that she spoke after that day. She had been sitting on the deck when she caught the scent, and suddenly every sense shifted into overdrive. She hunted them down within minutes, draining all three. When she came down from her high and realized what she had done, she broke down. We've come to believe now that her encounter with human blood is what is making it all the more difficult for her to adjust to living only on animal blood.
After that, Jasper started to take special care of her, talking her down when I couldn't, reassuring her that things would get better. It's nice to see him taking to her like that; he never was the most social chicken in the coop.
The sun was shining brightly in the sky for once, the heat beating down in surprising amounts. These were the days that we usually spent outside to soak up the heat we never felt anymore. But today was an exception; there were more important things to think about than the warmth of the sun.
Before I could take another breath, my feet were barely a blur on the ground. Her scent was not hard to catch on the wind, and even easier to catch was the scent of the hikers. Wherever they were, she was sure to be following them.
In a surprisingly small amount of time, Bella came into my field of vision. Her dark hair flew wildly behind her, and she turned for a split second in my direction. It was obviously just long enough for her to see me and pick up the pace. She cried out in anger, a disturbing sound to say the very least. I pushed myself harder, desperate to catch up to her now; we were most likely less than a minute away from the group of hikers at this speed. I needed to catch her now.
The venom flooded through my veins as I prepared to make a leap for Bella; she was less than twenty feet away now, an easy distance to cross if timed properly. To my surprise, Rosalie lept from one of the trees ahead and tackled Bella to the ground. Her arms locked around Bella, one around her neck, the other binding her arms behind her back. If it hadn't been for the fact that Bella had now lost much of, if not all of, her newborn strength, it was unlikely that Rosalie would have been to restrain her as she was just barely managing to now. When I reached them, skidding to a stop, the rest of the Cullen clan flew out of the bushes to meet us.
"Let go, Rosalie!" Bella screached, struggling wilding against Rosalie.
"Bella, just calm down," Rosalie said calmly, wincing as my wife managed to elbow her violently in the ribs.
"Don't tell me to calm down," she growled, continuing to thrash violently. "I want them. Just let me go!"
"Bella, please love, just listen to Rose. You have to calm-" Bella cut my words off with a violent growl and a venomous glare.
"Just shut up, Edward! Weren't you listening? I want them. I want them now." She thrashed even more violently this time, twisting violently in Rosalie's arms. Rosalie's screach of pain, as well as the sound of tearing metal rang through the air, a symphony of dischord, like nails down a chalkboard. By the time anyone had realized what had happened, Bella was trying to right herself, preparing to run. We had definitely underestimated her strength after all this time; it was like she had special reserves or something.
"She bit me," Rosalie gasped, her eyes wide with shock. There was a ragged wound on the inside of her arm, and the venom was now visibly pooling there in an attempt to heal it. Her hands were shaking violently as she winced while Carlisle examined it. Esme crooned to her as she took Rosalie into her arms.
I turned just in time to see Bella running, my eyes widening. "Bella, love, no!" Suddenly Emmett's hand was on my shoulder, holding me back. His eyes were dark now, and he was clearly livid. No matter how physically based his relationship with Rose was, he truly loved her more than anything else in the world.
"No, Edward. We do it my way this time," he said before taking off at break-neck speeds. We all followed him, and watched as he tackled Bella to the ground. She screamed again, and started to claw violently at Emmett's arms. My eyes widened as I saw him take a fistful of her hair to still her. If I didn't have such good vision, it would have been impossible to see him swing her up and pin her against a tree. A squeal of pain escaped her lips as he tightened his fist in her hair.
"Bella," he growled, his voice menacing. Thousands of threats were laced into his voice, none of them said aloud, but evident none the less. "Bella, you listen to me right now. That is enough, do you hear me?" I took a step forward, not enjoying the fact that my brother was causing my wife pain.
"Emmett," I growled throatily. "Don't hurt her. You know she didn't mean to hurt Rose-"
"Edward, he said, holding throwing me a vicious glare. "I don't like to see Bella like this any more than anyone else does, but right now, I need to make sure she doesn't hurt anyone else."
Bella gnashed her teeth violently, a snarl tearing from her throat. "Let me go, for God's sake, Emmett. I can taste them in the air. I need them."
"Enough!" he shouted with such ferocity that even Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie froze, the three people that never took anything from Emmett. "You need to calm down, and you need to do it now before someone else gets hurt."
The scent was weaker now, but it was still enough to make Bella crazy. She struggled against Emmett, trying to get close enough to sink her teeth into his flesh. I walked up to Emmett slowly, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Get them off our land. I'll take care of this," I said softly. Emmett glanced over at me, frowning. I didn't need to hear his thoughts to know what he was thinking. "I said I'll take care of this," I repeated. In a flash, he and I switched places. The rest of the Cullen clan watched intently for another moment before disappearing into the woods to do what was needed.
With Bella in my arms, I sank to the ground to gain more control. "Bella, stop, stop," I said sternly as she snapped at my hands. Her feet kicked violently against my legs, and she hissed.
"Edward, just let me go," she growled. "I don't care if I shouldn't have them. I want them."
"Bella, you do care. They're human. They're like Renee and Charlie and Jake and Angela. You don't want to hurt them," I cooed, pressing my lips to her forehead, an action that nearly cost me my nose. I pressed harder on her arms, the force enough to have broken her bones of she had of been human.
"I don't care," she said, her voice suddenly making the transition between screams and whimpers. "Please, Edward, just this once. That's all I want, just this once." Her eyes were still dark with thirst, but they were also miserable and full of pleading. "It hurts. I can taste them, Edward. I want them so bad it hurts." God, she looked so miserable. My heart broke as I stared down at her; she was so pitiful at this moment.
"No, Bella. I promised you that I'd never let you hurt anyone. I broke that promise once, and I don't intend to break it again." I held my breath as I prayed that they would find the humans soon. It was unbearably painful to see Bella in so much agony. And then, as if my prayers had been answered, a north wind blew into our small clearing, carrying away any trace of the human scent that had been so tempting to Bella. She shuddered violently for a few more minutes, and then she was finally still.
When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were a bright gold again, but still utterly miserable. "I... I would have... I could have..." she stuttered, looking for her words. "I could have killed them."
I leaned down and pressed my forehead to hers, closing my eyes. "Not in a million years would I have let you," I promised.
"Is Rose-" she whispered, her voice trailing off suddenly.
"She's fine, I'm sure," I answered, stroking her hair softly.
Bella closed her eyes, turning toward me to snuggle into my chest. She sighed, a single dry sob causing her body to convulse. "How did I get so lost?" she asked softly, fingers toying with the buttons on my shirt.
"Sometimes it happens, love. But you'll find your way eventually. We'll all help you." I leaned down to press my lips against hers. I smiled softly as I pulled away. "One step at a time, darling. One step at a time."