Disclaimer: Do I really have to? (Looks at lawyer with puppy dog eyes; lawyer nods; I sigh sadly) I - I do not own the Twilight saga and its characters, unfortunately. It all belongs to the majestic Stephenie Meyer.
The Lemonade Bottle
"Are you done packing?" I asked, as I reached his side in a moment.
"Almost, love," he told me with a light smile on his face. "You're the one who told me to bring them so don't be so impatient."
"I am not impatient," I complained, shooting him a glare. "I was merely asking."
He dropped the CDs he had in his long, white hands on the table and encircled them on my waist. He whispered in my ear. "Don't be so mad, Bella. You have to relax." And I did just that. What with his skin in contact with mine and his mouth just above my ear. If only I could have the swiftness to turn slightly and capture his lips before he pulled back…
He seemed to read my mind, even though that was impossible, of course. He quickly withdrew himself just as I turn my head. I heard the giggles and guffaws of my other family members as they, too, packed their bags up.
There seemed to be a buzz of excitement in the Cullen mansion. Alice made a secret move of renting a whole island in Fiji for the next week, just for us family. She said she picked the most secluded island and it was perfect and everything was settled. All we had to do was pack.
It seemed like this was the first family outing of the Cullens. I saw Emmett and Jasper exchanging meaningful glances as the rest of us busied ourselves. Rosalie and Alice giggled amongst themselves, probably plotting something. Even Carlisle and Esme had excited smiles on their faces that made them look more years younger. Renesmee was the one who was vibrating the most with the amount of excitement she felt. Jasper had to stay with her so she can calm down. They were now both in the living room, watching television as we scurried around with our things.
I asked Edward to pack some of his classical CDs since I accidentally peeked at the bag Rose and Alice had prepared, only to find it filled with tapes of modern songs. I didn't want to hear the endless shrieking and shouting of the things they called music. Modern, schm, modern.
I pouted at my gorgeous husband, clad in a white button up shirt and loose jeans. He had the two top buttons opened, revealing his perfect marbled chest. I felt a shot of desire and heard Jasper groaned, Alice, Rosalie and Emmett's laughter, Carlisle and Esme's soft chuckling and Renesmee's deep sigh.
Edward raised a perfect brow at me, a smile playing on his face. I just looked away, embarrassed. Thank goodness I was a vampire. I didn't know what would happen to me if they saw my infamous blushing.
"Hey, stop it, both of you. If you continue that, we're going to be late!" Alice screeched from the second floor. With our eyes rolling and a unified, 'yes ma'am', we both finished our packing and ran down the stairs, joining my physically five year-old daughter and Jasper on the couch while waiting for the others.
After losing against Renesmee at chess (I told you, she got it from her talented father.) for the fifth time, Alice finally made her appearance. She was the only one we were waiting. Rosalie, Emmett, Esme and Carlisle already arrived minutes before her. Jeez, that girl surely was something.
We all went in our own cars. Edward, Renesmee and I took the Volvo, of course, Rosalie and Emmett rode with Carlisle and Esme in the black Mercedes and Alice and Jasper inside the Porsche. Alice wanted to bring her car, complaining her stuff wouldn't fit in Carlisle's Mercedes; we just rolled our eyes at her.
Renesmee was literally shaking with anticipation. We couldn't blame her; it was her first time out of the state. I remembered mine and shuddered, immediately regretting it though that memory was almost foggy. I didn't want to be reminded of the events in Volterra.
Edward noticed, even though he was looking straight ahead. He looked at me with concerned eyes. I just smiled at him innocently from the passenger seat. His eyes narrowed and the concern still didn't waver.
"It's nothing," I sighed in defeat. "I was just… I don't know, excited that we will finally have some family outing." I shrugged indifferently.
He didn't make a comment but his expression said that he would press the answer out of me soon.
"Momma, check this out," Renesmee said from the back seat. I angled myself in her direction and smiled as she pretended to play piano on her lap. "I think I have hit the exact notes. What do you think, Daddy?" She looked up and gazed at her father through the rearview mirror, biting her lip in anxiety. (Yup, a trait from me. Great.)
"You just missed a sharp, sweetheart, but nevertheless, you've got it all correct." He gave her a crooked smile from the mirror. She smiled brightly at him and continued with her imaginary playing.
I was confused. "What piece is she trying to play?"
"The music you're listening right now." He smirked.
My eyes grew wide as I recognized the music. "Élégie Adagio? But, that piece…" I trailed off.
"Is a bit complicated," Edward finished. "Yes, I know, love." His voice was smug and triumphant.
"Well," I said, after a few minutes of listening to the powerful song. "It's good to know she's as talented as you."
He just grinned.
We finally arrived at the airport in Seattle after a while. Almost everyone gawked as our family entered the not-too-crowded airport. I tried to ignore them as I observed the others ignoring them as well, but it was hard when you got the feeling of someone's eyes on you.
Attention wasn't the most uncomfortable event that could happen to us while we await our flight. The numerous amount of humans in one place made my throat burned with thirst but, I resisted. Luckily, Renesmee was currently trapped with the wonder of piano playing to even notice anything, even her own thirst. Good for her.
When we heard our flight being called, we all stood up gracefully and headed to the terminal, all the while having pairs of eyes burning on our backs. We handed turned over our tickets and made our way inside the plane.
Of course, having excessive amount of money required having the best among the rest. We were seated at the first class section; its seats still looked clean from the few amount of passengers aboard. I sat on the window seat and Edward followed me, sitting to my left. Renesmee also sat on the same row as we do, listening to music with her Ipod.
"Aren't you all excited?" Alice suddenly squealed from behind us.
"What do you think, Alice?" Rosalie tried to sound casual and irritated, but we could all hear the underlying current of enthusiasm in her dulcet voice.
"Hmm," Alice hummed, playing dumb. I was about to ask why she even bothered playing dumb, what with her gift and all, when she suddenly explained. "I saw you all asking why I have to play dumb when I have a gift and all, and I will answer know: I want to keep up the 'charade.' Isn't it a good plan?"
"Alice!" Edward hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If I should've known you will be this hyper, I wouldn't have to agree to this!" Apparently, Alice was irritating my husband with her mind. Poor Edward, silly pixie.
"Always the killjoy, aren't you, Edward?" Emmett interceded. "I mean, you could at least bear with innocent, little Alice here," – he grinned when we all snorted – "and have a stupendous vacation with us. It's time to go under the sun, don't ya think, bro?"
"Yeah, right," Edward muttered, and before anyone could say anything, we heard the announcement of our take off. I lay back on my seat and gazed in wonder as we ascended. My first time riding a plane, without anything worse happening, and I was able to appreciate the beauty of the sky. It was like you could actually fly, but you can't feel it. Of course, running was still higher on my exhilarating list than this.
I felt his warm – well, warm to me and other vampires – hand held mine that was resting on my lap. I looked at him and smiled radiantly. He took my hand and brought it to his lips to kiss it, I sighed in contentment.
The rest of the plane ride was uneventful and we changed planes a few times until we were on our way to the Pacific in one hour.
I continued my pastime: gazing at the sky. It was now dawn and the bluish purple hue of the sky was such a picturesque scene to behold. Renesmee was cuddled on my lap, preferring to sleep in my arms rather than the plane seats. I couldn't blame her; being in a houseful of vampires made you dream of cold arms.
Edward was still humming a lullaby for her. My heart inflated with joy as I stared at the two of them. How lucky am I to deserve two wonderful persons in my life?
I was rubbing soothing circles on my daughter's back as we finally landed. As if on cue, Renesmee opened her eyes, revealing the exact shade of eyes I had when I was a human. Her pink lips curved into an 'O' as she yawned and I smiled at her. "Good morning, darling." I kissed the top of her head, feeling her soft, curly and bronze tresses.
She smiled. "Morning, Momma," – she turned to her smiling father – "morning, Daddy," – then she turned to the back part of the plane – "good morning, Aunt Rosalie and Alice, Uncle Emmett and Jasper and of course, to you too, Grandpa and Grandma."
A chorus of 'good morning, Renesmee!' rang out and she turned back to us, still a bit groggy from sleep.
"Renesmee, we're almost here, so save up your energy for today's activities. I'm pretty sure your aunts are already planning something." Edward rolled his eyes at his words, hearing their thoughts, no doubt.
"Too late, Edward," Alice chirped. "In about five minutes, we're in that island and we're going to have fun!"
We boarded out of the plane, grabbed our luggage and exited the small airport. The temperature was warm here but luckily, the sun was hidden by the white, fluffy clouds. Alice probably had a vision about this, already.
We saw huge, green trees from the car and honestly, it was larger than what we had back in Forks. There weren't moss covering the branches. It wasn't anything like Arizona or Forks, the vegetation here was one of a kind. It was exquisite.
Using a speed boat (Again, Alice never failed to surprise us.), we reached what she claimed was the island she rented. The sole guard patrolling the area gave us a tour and we just stared in awe at the beautiful surroundings.
In the eastern part of the island stood a three-story white mansion, almost identical to the Cullen mansion back in Washington. It had a wide porch that complimented the house perfectly and the house was a place of serenity.
The front part of the house was the beach and it was breathtaking. The sand was almost the same shade as our skin in its whiteness and the water was a very clear mass of blue. There were parasols on the side of the house and the benches were already set up on the front.
The officer left us to ourselves before giving us a number to call in case of emergency. We all snickered as soon as he was out of hearing range. We didn't need protection from humans.
I noticed that everyone seemed to be taking time. Nobody bothered using vampire speed as we piled our things inside the magnificent house – it was as beautiful as the outside. Really, it was.
Emmett and Jasper wanted to swim already and so were Rosalie, Alice and Renesmee. Carlisle said he was planning to look into some things and Esme volunteered to come with him. They left the place, holding hands and enjoying each other's company. Edward said that he would arrange his CDs, expressing his thoughts of hearing something cracked as a careless employee at the airport dropped his bag.
"I'll help you with it," I said and in an instant, we were in the room assigned for us in the third floor. The others already took off earlier and I heard them laughing with delight as they splashed the cool water against themselves. "Oh, wow, there's a piano," I mused, as I saw a one at the corner of our room.
"Hmm," Edward replied. "I guess that explains why Alice kept on screaming in her head, 'the first room on the right.'" He snorted.
I laughed. "I guess so." And I started taking out some of his precious CDs, placing them on a lengthy shelf.
As I carefully handled his tapes, I heard something like a CD hitting a metal inside. Edward was busy tuning the piano to even notice what I was doing. Slowly, I put my hand inside. I felt something like a bottle. Curiously, I pulled it out.
I gasped, which made Edward turned his head in my direction in a flash. The lemonade bottle I was cradling in my hand was vaguely familiar. It was like something I had seen when I was human…
Edward suddenly took the bottle from my hands. I didn't even notice him standing beside me. His face was slightly embarrassed.
Now, I was totally curious. "What is that?"
"What?"
"That?" I tried again.
"What that?"
I rolled my eyes at him and repeated, "Edward, that lemonade bottle looks familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before. Where did you get that?"
He sighed. "Remember the day when we were juniors, the day of blood typing at Biology?"
I tried to find that memory and surprisingly, I did. "Yes, I do," I said, slowly.
"You only bought lemonade at lunch, yes the first time you sat with me," he confirmed, as he saw the look of recognition in my face.
"And then, you ditched class but I left, feeling irresponsible to skip it," I laughed quietly. "And then, you were playing with it." I finally recalled, as I looked at his beaming face.
"Yes, I did, love," he replied. "I also brought it at home. Did you know that it helped me compose your lullaby?" he revealed, putting the bottle on the table and spun it.
I felt a smile on my face. "Really? Can you show me the exact thing you did as you use this as an inspiration? Please." I pleaded in a way I knew he couldn't resist.
He sighed once more. "Fine." In a blink of an eye, he was sitting on the chair, the lemonade bottle in front of him. I followed him and observed.
He played beautifully, as always, but there seemed to be something new with the inspiration present. There was depth and there was something I couldn't quite point out. I listened with my eyes closed until it was finished.
I felt his hands on my cheek and I opened my eyes to see his topaz eyes filled with love. "No matter what it is, you'll always be the central inspiration of my music. You and Renesmee. I love the both of you. Forever." He smiled and I leaned forward to give him a passionate kiss.
When I pulled back, I placed my head on his chest, too content to consider moving elsewhere.
"Love?" He asked.
"Hmm?"
"Can you tell me why did you shudder yesterday in the car?"
Darn him and his perfect memory. Oh, well. I guessed whatever happens, it will always be like this…
Bella and Edward… Forever.
A/N: I'm back in the fanfiction world! Aren't you glad? ;P
I made this one-shot since I was currently having problems with betaing in Brought to Life By Love. I hope you guys love it and thank you for reading. :D