Disclaimer: I don't own squat. Damn, it all must have been a dream… :)
PLEASE, PLEASE RR! I love you guys!
A/N: well, this one came to me while I was studying for my Spanish final (me? Studying? It's been known to happen…) and I began to write it after my essay final for Critical Reading. Yes, this one is more BxJ oriented, please don't kill me for it if you don't like them together – I have others you can check out then! Ok, I'm done, enjoy!
"I didn't spend a dime," Edward assured me. He brushed a strand of hair from my face, leaving my skin tingling from his touch.
I inhaled deeply and turned to Alice. "Give it to me," I sighed.
Emmett chuckled with delight.
I took the little package, rolling my eyes at Edward while I stuck my finger under the edge of the paper and jerked it under the tape.
"Shoot," I muttered to myself when the paper sliced my finger; I pulled it out to examine the damage. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut.
It all happened very quickly then.
"No!" Edward roared.
He threw himself at me, flinging me back across the table. It fell, as I did, scattering the cake and the presents, the flowers and the plates. I landed in the mess of the shattered crystal.
Jasper slammed into Edward, and the sound was like the crash of boulders in a rock slide.
There was another noise, a grisly snarling that seemed to be coming deep from in Jasper's chest. Jasper tried to shove past Edward, snapping his teeth just inches from Edward's face.
Emmett grabbed Jasper from behind in the next second, locking him into his massive steel grip, but Jasper struggled on, his wild, empty eyes focused only on me.
Beyond the shock, there was also pain. I'd tumbled down to the floor by the piano, with my arms thrown out instinctively to catch my fall, into the jagged shards of glass. Only now did I feel the searing, stinging pain that ran from my wrist to the crease inside my elbow.
Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm – into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires…
The memory of Jasper's snapping teeth, glistening with venom, haunted me the entire ride home, and now I saw it in my head as I lay in bed. Edward had apologized over and over. Over and over I had to tell him that I didn't blame them at all for what had happened – after all, it's in their nature.
I blamed myself for putting them in such a position that they could have exposed themselves. Was I so selfish that I would risk ruining their eternal lives just to be with them?
I needed to seriously think about the future. That was why the window was closed tonight. He would ask what I was thinking so hard about, and I didn't know what I would tell him.
Almost a year too late, I realized why he had wanted me to stay away from him. Of course, I had known then too, but I had ignored the threat, ignored the warning. Love can make a person do stupid things. The control was there, but only just. Underneath, the monsters that he had always told me existed lurked, hidden behind the golden eyes.
I knew what I had to do. He had always saved me; now it was my turn to save him.
