Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or Twilight!
Cookies
"Come on, Bella!"
Edward Cullen was Bella Swan's best friend. The two were five-years-old and had known each other literally since birth. They were born in the same hospital on the same day in a little town called Forks, Washington. In fact, their basinets were right next to each in the hospital nursery. It was outside the nursery window that Charlie Swan and Carlisle Cullen met and doted over their tiny bundles of joy. Bella and Edward's fates were pretty much sealed from the moment the two dads said, "Which one's yours?" striking an instant friendship between the Swan and Cullen clans.
Although the town was small, Bella and Edward's parents only knew of each other. Both sets of parents were fairly well-known in the town. Bella's mom, Renee, was a kindergarten teacher and her father, Charlie, was the chief of police. They lived a fairly modest but comfortable life in a modest three-bedroom house complete with a white picket fence. Edward's mom, Esme, was an interior designer whose influence was evident all throughout the small town and his father, Carlisle, was a world-renowned doctor who wanted to give back to the small town in which he grew up. While Renee and Charlie had not seen much outside the state of Washington, Esme and Carlisle had traveled the world. Esme's eye for interior design made her sought-after by some very famous and influential people, and Carlisle having graduated at the top of his class from Johns Hopkins made him the toast of the medical community. However, it was in Forks that the two decided to settle, albeit very lavishly, in a secluded home made of glass windows, rooms galore, and plenty of open space outside to roam around.
It was outside the Cullen household that Edward and Bella were currently playing tag with Bella's older brother, Emmett, and Edward's little sister, Alice. Bella, not being exactly athletically inclined, was lagging behind Edward trying to get away from Emmett. Emmett was the complete opposite of Bella. He was one year older than her and all brawn. Charlie Swan knew that Emmett would make him a proud parent of a natural-born athlete. Pure instinct told Emmett that Bella would be his easiest target. Edward was scrawny, but the kid could run fast. Alice was the tiniest person he had ever met, but she was tricky and could dodge Emmett in a split-second. Bella, however, was just clumsy – pure and simple.
"Edward! He's gonna get me!"
Little Alice giggled from across the lawn while Edward yelled out encouraging words. Then, just like that, Bella tripped on air. Bella was sprawled out, face-down. Emmett had to stop quickly to avoid running over her.
"Tag, you're it, Bella! Ha-ha!"
Emmett bent down and tagged his little sister lightly on the head while chuckling.
"I knew you'd fall down some time, Belly! I'm almost embarrassed by how easy it is to get you. Are you sure you're my sister? You'd think we weren't related. You're such a klutz!"
Bella rolled onto her back, twigs in her hair, face red, and gasping for air.
"Emmy, why do you always have to pick on me? Pick on someone your own size. Oh, wait. There's no one here your own size because you're as big as a grizzly bear!"
At this Emmett growled, pretending to be a grizzly bear and attacked Bella.
"I'm gonna eat you, Belly Bean! I'm hungry for some Belly Bean! ROWR!"
Alice giggled lightly, prancing over to Edward.
"Are we playing a new game now?" Alice asked in her tinkling voice.
Edward was staring at Emmett and Bella slightly worried that Emmett would crush Bella to death.
"Umm…I think we're done playing tag at least. It's probably time for a snack. Mom said she'd make cookies."
At the mention of cookies, Emmett's head shot up.
"Cookies! Well, what are we still doing out here? Come on, Bells! Get up! COOKIES!"
With that, off Emmett went without bothering to help his little sister up and definitely without even a second glance at her. He was already by the front door chanting the word "cookies" over and over again. Bella was still lying on the ground trying to catch her breath when Edward and Alice wandered over each grabbing one her arms and hauling her up.
"Gee. I see now what's more important to Emmett than his own sister. Cookies!"
Bella actually looked shocked, but Edward and Alice just looked at her like she was naïve.
"Belly, it's Emmett," Alice said in between giggles. "He loves his cookies."
For a four-year-old, Alice was pretty darn observant. Alice skipped off towards the house looking like a tiny pixie.
"Alice likes her cookies, too, I guess," Edward said while pulling some twigs out of Bella's hair. He looked her over making sure she was bleeding anywhere. Rarely did a day go by when Bella didn't need a new band-aid. The sad thing was Bella fainted at the sight of blood. Heck, she fainted at the smell of blood. For her, it was pretty ironic considering how often she bled.
"Um, Bells, you might not want to look at your arm. And…uh…hold your breath."
Because Edward told Bella not to look at her arm, obviously Bella looked. With that, Bella's legs gave out.
"You might want to get my daddy, Eddie," Bella whimpered.
Edward helped Bella lay down on the ground and ran off to find Chief Swan while muttering, "I'm going tie Emmett down, make him watch me and Bella eat all of his cookies, and then kill him! The dummy. If he were still out here he could help me carry Bells back inside. Cookies! He's supposed to look after Bella! He's her brother!"
As Edward entered the house to the smell of cookies, he looked over to the living room and was completely baffled. His father, the normally graceful and classy man, and Chief Swan, the normally reserved and shy man, were playing Dance Dance Revolution! And badly! They were both stumbling over their feet while his mom and Mrs. Swan were shaking their heads and laughing at the two men. Alice was skipping in circles around them giggling while nibbling on a cookie, and Emmett was of course stuffing his face with cookies completely unaware of what was going on around him in complete and absolute bliss. Edward wished Bella were here to see this. Aw, man. Bella!
"Erm…Chief Swan?!? You might want to carry Bella inside. She cut her arm and she's bleeding. I would've carried her in, but I'm not really strong enough, yet."
Edward seemed almost embarrassed at admitting this. It wasn't that Bella weighed that much. Edward was just really scrawny and short, but what do you expect? He's five!
"It's ok, son," Charlie said and patted Edward on the head. "I'll get her," he said as he was already heading out the door.
"I'll go get the first aid kit," Carlisle said.
"Oooh! Maybe you should use the Sesame Street band-aids, daddy!" Alice said laughing. "You can put a Cookie Monster band-aid on Belly's boo-boo! It's Emmett's fault anyway!"
Everyone looked over at Emmett who was still stuffing his face. After a full minute went by, Emmett finally noticed that everyone was staring at him and said, "What did I do?" through a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie. Edward just shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose while thinking, "This is the guy that's supposed to be setting an example for us younger kids?"
Esme and Renee just shook their heads while smiling, and Renee very quickly removed the plate of cookies from Emmett's reach. She took one cookie from the plate and handed it to Edward while Emmett looked at the cookies longingly.
"Hey! Where's Bells?" Emmett suddenly yelled just now realizing that his little sister was missing.
"Outside bleeding all over the place, Emmett," Edward said in disdain.
Finally, a guilty expression clouded Emmett's face as he realized what all the commotion was about while he was eating his cookies. "Mmm…cookies!" Emmett thought, and just like that all thoughts of Bella's injury were out of his mind again quickly replaced by cookies dancing in his head.
Chief Swan entered the warm house carrying Bella whose face was buried in his shoulder trying to smell anything but blood. He gently set Bella down in a kitchen chair next to Emmett while chuckling and said, "No worse than normal. Just a cut!"
Edward took the chair on the other side of Bella and watched his father clean the wound and gently place a Cookie Monster band-aid on it. With the blood out of sight, Bella looked over at Emmett and yelled, "You left me outside! For cookies!"
"Aww, Bells! Cookies! What did you expect?"
Emmett only looked slightly guilty when he said this. The adults and Alice giggled and Edward once again shook his head in disgust. Bella looked down at her arm and saw the Cookie Monster band aid. Alice noticed and said proudly, "It was my idea, Belly!"
Edward grabbed a couple of cookies from the plate, took Bella's uninjured arm, and led her outside to the porch swing. They sat in the swing with their cookies in their tiny hands while gently swinging back and forth.
"Thanks for getting my daddy and getting me a cookie, Eddie," Bella said quietly.
"No problem, Bells. You're my best friend," Edward said.
"Forever?" Bella questioned while looking over at Edward shyly.
"Forever," Edward said with a nod.
