Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I only let her characters grow up and add some children in the bunch.
Summary:What do you do when you no longer have your children under control? Join Bella, Edward and their four teenaged children for one intense week of ups and downs. AllHuman story.
A/N: Welcome! After reading FanFictions for quite some time now I decided to write my own one. So, this is a first attempt. I'm not really sure about the rating so to be on the safe side I put it up as a M rating but it maybe could also be a T story, I don't know.
This will be only a short fic, ten chapters at the most.
But now, enough of my rambling, enjoy reading!
Letting my head fall back on the headrest of my seat I closed my eyes, thinking back to the two weeks I spent away from my family. I had to attend a short book tour for my newest publication, signings, interviews and conventions. Which let Edward to stay home alone, in charge of the children.
I had met Edward in my junior year of college, when he had just started medical school. It was love at first sight and we were together ever since.
I wanted to surprise my family, coming back a day earlier than planned so I wasn't expecting anyone to pick me up from the airport.
Grabbing my luggage off the conveyer I headed to find a cab to bring me home.
Stepping out of the airport I inhaled the clear scent of the Seattle night, letting the slight drizzle moisten my face. I had missed my family and was glad to be back home.
I hailed a cab, telling the driver my address. Driving through the night I thought about how Edward handled our four children. I normally wouldn't spent two weeks away from them but I had no other choice. This schedule was set in stone and couldn't be changed for a later date.
When the cab drove into our driveway I could see that the cars of my two eldest children were missing. Only Edward's blue Maybach sat in the driveway.
There was no light on in any of the rooms and I wondered if anybody was still awake. Glancing at my watch I saw that it was just past 12:30 in the morning.
After paying the driver and grabbing my all my bags I made it to the front door. Unlocking it and trying to be as quiet as possible so that I didn't wake anybody I made it inside. Leaving my suitcase in the foyer, I would take care of it in the morning, I only took my carry-on upstairs, noticing for the first time just how quiet my house was. Normally, with four teenagers running around it was a lot louder even at such late timed of the day.
I silently opened the door to our bedroom, glancing inside I could see Edward's head shooting up from his pillow.
He looked at me sleepily "Bella?"
"Hey sweetheart." Letting my bag fall on the floor near the door I made it to the bed, pressing my lips to his. God, how I had missed him. Even the countless calls didn't help much in wanting to be back in his arms as soon as possible.
After a long kiss he looked at me with his trademark grin on his lips.
"You're home early."
"I couldn't take being away from you for one more day." I made my way back to the bag I had abandoned earlier but was interrupted by my sweet husband.
"You look tired. Leave everything for the morning and come join me." He lifted the duvet in an inviting gesture.
Stripping out of my clothes, leaving my in only my bra and panties, I snuggled into Edward's side. He promptly started to brush his hand over my hair.
"It's quiet." I noticed this the first step into the house.
"Yes, it is. Tony and Danielle are out with friends, partying and Tara is staying at a friends house. Aaron is home but I haven't seen him since dinner."
Lately Aaron barricaded himself in his room even more regularly. I didn't know what I could do to counteract his behavior. I tried speaking with him but every time I tried that he either ignored my advances, left the room or changed the topic.
"Why are our teenaged children out partying at this time of the night?" I glanced at the alarm clock on Edward's nightstand only to see that it was nearing one am.
Edward throw a sheepish glance my way. "Because they are young, it's the weekend and there is no school tomorrow?" His answer sounded more like a question than anything else.
I didn't like the idea of my 17 years old son and my one year younger daughter being out in the city without supervision that late.
"They shouldn't be out that late. They are too young. You're allowing them way too much."
"Relax, angel, we were young too once, remember? Just thing back on what we did when we were their age."
I looked him in the eyes, wanting to confirm if he was serious.
"That's what scares me." I answered him with a smirk.
Edward place a last kiss on my hair before we both drifted off to sleep.
I was abruptly woken by the doorbell. Begrudgingly I opened my eyes and glanced at Edward. He was still snoring softly which let me to think that I was only dreaming.
The doorbell rang again which woke me ultimately. Glancing at the alarm told me it was 3:55 in the morning.
Rolling over onto my side I softly shook Edward's shoulder. "Baby, wake up."
He raised his head from the pillow to look me in the eyes. "What's up?" He looked sleepy.
"There's someone at the door, Edward. He already rang twice."
"Then this someone should come back in the morning. It's the middle of the night for Christ's sake." He closed his eyes again and was back to snoring.
When the doorbell rang a third time I lightly punched Edward's shoulder.
"What?" he asked frustrated.
"Go look who's at the door," I commanded him. I couldn't believe that I had to nearly jostle him off the bed.
Reluctantly Edward got up from the bed and made his way downstairs. I quickly slipped on my bathrobe and followed him.
Stopping mid-stairs I could see a police officer and a provocatively dressed young woman standing on the porch. The woman's skirt wasn't nearly long enough to cover her behind, more resembling a belt than anything else, and her top didn't leave much for imagination.
"Danielle!" I shrieked, which in turn woke up Edward completely.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cullen?" the officer addressed us both. Edward nodded in confirmation.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your night. We found this young lay in front of Trinity Nightclub, drunk. As she isn't of legal age ..." The officer tried to explain.
One look at the cruiser told me that Rachel and Samira were sitting in the back of the car with their heads hanging low. But what was really shocking was seeing my niece Alexis, who wasn't even 15 for long sitting between the other two girls.
"Thanks for bringing her here officer."
After assuring that we would take our parental obligations seriously we closed the front door.
"I'm off to bed," she slurred while trying to get out of my tight grip.
"Not so fast young lady!"
I knew that my oldest children as well as nieces and nephews gained access to clubs in the city, but never has any of them come home drunk or was brought home by the police. And now that was really pissing me off.
"What were you thinking? You are 16 years old, Danielle! It's bad enough that you get into such establishments but that they sell alcohol to you, too! Since when do you actually drink alcohol? You've got to be kidding me!" I screamed at her. I was furious now, couldn't believe that one of my children would actually act that way.
Edward was standing in front of the closed door, taking in me screaming at our daughter with a pained expression on his face.
He placed one of his hands on my shoulder. "Let her got to bed, she's drunk. She probably won't remember this conversation in the morning."
Edward was a real softy when it came to our children. In his eyes they could never do wrong. They all had him wrapped around their little fingers and especially Dani was his princess.
Danielle was already up the stairs when I interrupted her.
"Where is Tony?"
She didn't even look back when answering me. "How should I know? He took off hours ago."
Irate and anxious about my son I stormed off to the kitchen boiling some water for tea. I was followed by my husband while he was trying to get a hold of our eldest son. I could faintly hear his voice mail picking up and clearer now Edward's huffy message for him.
"Where are you going?" I was interrupted by Edward. Still fuming I took my cup of tea and left the kitchen.
"I am going to the family room, waiting for your son."
"So now he is my son?" he asked with a small smile on his lips. I could hear him following me, sitting down on the couch next to me and cuddling into my side.
From upstairs we could hear the vomiting sounds from the girls bathroom. "I really hope she feels bad tomorrow," I ranted. Looking back at Edward, he was asleep again. I swear, this guy could sleep anywhere. I kissed his head and waited for our son to come home.
I woke from my nap on the couch at seven am. Hearing a car coming to a halt in our driveway I made my way to the front door, investigating. Glancing out of the foyer window I could see Tony getting out of a red convertible. He bid the considerably older, scantily-clad woman goodbye with a long kiss and made his way to the front door, while the convertible took off from the driveway again.
Opening the door, I greeted my son with a glare.
"Where have you been? And who was that?"
"Good morning mom." Before heading up the stairs he left an innocent peck on my cheek. I could faintly smell alcohol on his breath mixed with the minty smell of chewing gum. Tony continued his way into his room, locking his door for some privacy.
I couldn't believe my son went out with an older woman. Not just a girl one or maybe even two years older than him, that I would understand. But the woman who brought him home was at least in her mid twenties.
I could hear Edward slouching into the foyer.
"Who was that?"
I decided not to tell Edward about our son's escort, in the end he would be proud of him.
After taking a deep breath and without gracing my husband with an answer I went back into our bedroom. Letting myself fall back onto the mattress and enveloping into the duvet I stared at the ceiling.
"That's all just a bad joke. I'm just imaging things," I said to myself while closing my eyes.
When I wake up in a moment non of this has ever happened, I thought before drifting back to sleep.
When I woke up again the alarm clock told me it was shortly after ten am. Rolling on my back, I thought back to the previous night. That wasn't a nightmare I dreamed, last night was real and now I had to deal with the consequences.
Placing my hand on my forehead, shielding my eyes from the soft light, I could feel the beginning of a light headache.
I stood up with a sigh and made my way into the en suite bathroom.
I didn't imaging when I made the plan to come back early that I would walk right into hell. I selfishly thought it would have been better to stay away for another day and have Edward deal with the children. For a brief moment I thought about not stepping out of the bedroom at all today, that would be as close as I could still get to not coming home.
On my way down the stairs I ran into Edward in the foyer.
"Where have you been?" I asked him, maybe a bit too reproachful.
"I went to pick up Tara."
"Okay, and where is she?" I tried to steal a glance at the still opened front door, trying to find my daughter but Edward's frame stood in the way.
"She's coming. She just wanted to check on her tomatoes." A few month ago Tara started to grow her own vegetables in our garden which no one was allowed to touch.
Edward handed me a bag with croissants and a big cup of coffee. "I brought some breakfast," he announced.
Taking the offered goodies I took off to the kitchen, Edward following me.
This was going to be a tough day and it was only 10:30 now.
I flopped down on one of the chairs at the kitchen table and absentmindedly nibbled on one of the croissants.
The door to the deck was being opened and I was greeted with a cheery "Top of the morning, Mom!" by my daughter. I huffed in acknowledgment, fruitlessly searching for the great things about this morning.
Absentmindedly I let my gaze wander up and down her body before softly shaking my head.
With her nearly 15 years she looked a lot like her dad. Out of all our children, Tara was the one resembling Edward the most.
Taking in her clothes I could only shake my head again.
When I was her age there were no holes in my jeans and my sweaters were maybe a bit unraveled at the seams but nothing like Tara's. She wore old, washed out corduroys combined with a dirty, brown wool sweater featuring a smiling sunflower face on the front.
With shock I took in her hair. The hair that only two weeks ago was long and hanging down her shoulders was now matted into dreadlocks that were bound into a ponytail with a colorful scarf.
I wrinkled my nose in horror, not believing that Edward would ever allow something like that. But before I could say anything, Tara, with a cup of freshly brewed tea in her hand, disappeared into her room.
Edward came at me from behind, startling me slightly. He placed a soft kiss on my neck whispering into my ear. "It's only hair, darling. Don't worry. Cut it and it'll grow again."
With a rejecting flip of my hand I signaled him that I really wasn't in the mood to discuss my daughter's hair right now, if ever.
Right then Aaron entered the kitchen and, without a word of greeting to any of us, planted himself at the kitchen table, grabbed the cornflakes box, took some out with his hand and threw them into a bowl before drowning them with milk.
Disgusted I commented his behavior with a "Well, isn't that just yummy." before taking a big mouthful of my coffee.
Edward sat in the seat opposite mine, took on of the croissants for himself and devoured it with pleasure.
"So, did you plan anything special for later today?" With Edward's job at the hospital and the kids busy schedules at school it was very rare that everybody was home at the same time. As a family we tried to utilize this time to the max, finding something fun to do each time. But lately the children would mostly stay clear from family activities.
"I thought we could go visit your parents, leave the kids with them and take your father's yacht out for a bit of alone time..."
I couldn't even finish my thought before I was rudely interrupted by Aaron.
"Eew! That's so disgusting. You aren't alone if you haven't noticed!"
I had to grin at his comment before throwing a seductive look Edward's way.
"Then we make love to each other the entire afternoon while we are exposed to the rough sea."
Aaron slammed his spoon onto the table while making gagging noises and standing up from the table to leave the room.
"Then we can make another baby who gets Aaron's room because he is going to be send to military school where they teach him some manners." I yelled the last part after my son who already was on his way back to his room.
Edward laughed at the scene but shut up quickly after to threw a glare his way.
"No, seriously. We have to talk to Danielle and Anthony. It can't go on like this, partying is one thing but getting drunk and being brought home by the police is an entirely different matter."
I refrained from telling Edward about the woman in the convertible. Wanting to avoid that my husband would be proud of Tony's behavior in the end.
He just nodded in agreement.
I was standing in front of the stove cooking dinner. Maybe it would be possible to at least have a family dinner on this most chaotic day.
I hadn't seen either Dani or Tony at all after I woke up this morning. They were probably both sleeping in their rooms, recovering from a night of partying. Aaron was also in his room, right after he left the kitchen table this morning he went back to his room and I haven't seen him since. Edward was in his office, taking care of some paperwork he had to bring home this week in order to be there for the kids. Only Tara was not barricaded into some dark hole and sat at the kitchen table reading a book called 'Eating Animals'.
"Tara, could you please go wake up your sister, dinner is nearly ready."
I was startled by her screaming her sister's name. "DANIELLE!"
"Thank you very much. I could have done that myself. Could you go upstairs to make sure that she really gets out of her bed. And tell your brothers to come down, too."
"Jeez, why does it always have to be me?" she complained. I didn't let her get far with this kind of attitude and threw a look her way.
"Go!"
I could hear Tara making a lot of noise as she stormed up the stairs, ripping the door to Danielle's room open.
Taking my focus back on the meal I was preparing I checked the meatloaf in the oven and stirred the amazing carrots.
I was interrupted by my daughter's scream again.
"MOM! DANI DOESN'T WANT TO GET UP!"
I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath to compose myself.
Turning off stove and oven I made my way down to the ground floor where Edward's study was located.
Tapping at the door of Edward's study I told him to come upstairs for dinner.
After the birth of the twins we had some remodeling to do. First only relocating Edward's study and turning it into a nursery but as soon as Aaron and Tara were old enough we wanted to get each of them their own room, so we had to remodel the guest room too. Now Edward's study could be found on the ground floor. For this we had to get rid of our gym but as it was hardly used by any of us any longer, this wasn't a hard decision to make. With the help of Esme and Alice the plans were put into action nearly as soon as everything was planned. Alice even flew out from Dallas for a week, overlooking the remodeling and leaving her 18 month old girls alone with Jasper.
Back in the kitchen I set the table. Our dining room was hardly used, only when there was a bigger amount of people to be fed, when we had guest or on holidays.
I sat down at the table and was soon joined by Edward. Together we waited for our children to show up in silence.
We could hear one of them storming down the stairs. Shortly after, Tara flopped in the seat next to me and glanced at the food.
"You don't really think I'm going to ear this, right?" she asked with an accusing voice.
"But I thought you liked meatloaf."
"Mom! Don't you know anything about me? I'm vegetarian since two years."
Had I really not noticed what was going on in her life?
"Well, that shows how long this family hasn't sat together at the table and had dinner."
The angry mood in the kitchen only increased when Dani, still in her nightshirt, entered the kitchen and took a seat next to her dad, trying to hide behind his big torso.
"You could have at least dressed in something a bit more appropriate." I chastised her.
"Not so loud!" Danielle rubbed her forehead.
I could only imaging the headache my daughter was suffering from. The last time I woke up with a alcohol induced killer headache was the day of Rosalie's bachelorette party.
Taking pity on her I stood up to get her some water and Aspirin, placing both in front of her.
"Don't think we won't talk about what happened last night, madame!"
"Wait! What did she do now?" In a good mood Tony entered the kitchen, interestingly watching the confrontation between his sister and me.
I turned in his direction, but because he grew so much in the last years instead of being at eye level with my son I was facing his chest.
"Maybe we should talk about what you did last night?" I took a step back to look into the eyes of my son.
"Me? I was just hanging out with some friends. All was harmless." he tried to diffuse the situation.
"And who was the woman in the car this morning?"
That question got Edward interested.
"Just a friend. Really mom, nothing special."
With a grin like the Cheshire Cat and a raised eyebrow he took a seat next to Tara.
Meanwhile Aaron came down the stairs too and silently sat at Danielle's site, leaving his gaze at the plate in front of him.
Now that all out kids were sitting at the table I could start serving dinner, which was eaten in complete silence. All of us lost their own thoughts.
After everybody finished dinner I collected the dishes to put them in the sink. Turning back to the table to appoint tasks that had to be done after dinner to my children, I found they already left the room again. Only Edward was still there, with a sad smile for me.
I went back to the table, doing the stuff myself. Wanting to put the rest of the dishes in the dishwasher I was interrupted by Edward who pulled me on his lap.
"Calm down." he soothingly caressed my back and I placed my arms around his neck, looking deep into his emerald eyes.
"Edward." I sighed while he place small kisses all along my neck.
"How can I calm down when my house is ruled by a herd of spoiled, pubescent teens? They don't have any respect left!"
Edward swayed his head, surly thinking about my words. His chewing on his bottom lip was a sure giveaway.
"And? How do you think you should counteract this?" he looked at me questioningly.
I couldn't believe my ears! Was he serious? Was he really thinking he would get away that easily? Let Bella cope with the situation? I could only cross my eyes at his words.
"Why me? Why do I always have to be the bad parent? Why can't you say something? What's wrong if the children get mad at you for once?" I was silenced by Edward putting his index finger on my lips.
"A suggestion. We take a walk. You can get rid of your mood and I think about some punishment for the children. Agreed?"
I could just nod my head and stand up.
We walked hand in hand neither one of us saying a word. I could feel Edward's thump lovingly caressing the back of my hand.
Letting my mind wander I tried to think back to the one moment when my children slipped through my fingers but I couldn't find it. Their quirks crept in slowly with time, so that nobody could notice them right away.
Just yesterday they were my sweet, cute, polite angels and now they were on their best way to grow up. And each of them had different goals but all tired to reach theirs with the same ambition, which they sure inherited from their father.
Anthony would start his last year of high school next month and then wanted to follow his cousin Ethan to Berkeley for college, to study law, not continuing the family tradition and study medicine like his father and grandfather. A lot of times, it seemed to me, the only thing he really took serious was his sports and his girlfriend. He was the quarterback for his football team and enjoyed the popularity which came with such a role a little too much.
Danielle, just turned 16 and at the moment it seemed that her main reason for living was so that she could party with her cousins and friends all the time. I didn't really like this kind of lifestyle but felt that as long as Dani's grades didn't suffer I could turn a blind eye to her partying.
14 year old Tara was quite the opposite of her older siblings. She wasn't into the obviously popular folk. Her heart belonged to the animals. And I highly believed that she would turn into a vet someday.
Aaron was acting differently lately. Completely isolating himself from us. I didn't know whether he was at least talking to his brother or one of his sisters but I slowly started to get really worried about his behavior. No one of his siblings had ever acted this way.
Back home Edward called in a family conference. This amused me to no end because there never has been such a thing as a 'family conference' in this household before. But sure enough all four of our kids were sitting on the family room couches mere minutes later. I had to say, I was impressed.
After a short moment in which Edward comped through his hair relentlessly he started to talk. "It seems to me that lately the way your lives are going seems a bit off way. I know..."
Did he really know what he was going to say next?
"... you are teenagers and want to go partying." He let is gaze wander to Tony and Dani. "But you are minors. You have no business going to nightclubs and especially not drinking there. So Danielle … your behavior last night has to be punished. You are grounded for two weeks. Which means no parties and no hanging out with friends either. Me or your mother will take you to school and pick you back up."
I was positively shocked by the serve way Edward was punishing his daughter. And also Dani's reaction was predictable.
She listened to her punishment and looked at her father with teary eyes.
"But Dad!" she was sobbing loudly. "You can't do this to me."
Bella wasn't the least bit captivated by her daughter's acting talent. She was more interested on Edward's reaction. Would he stand by his words or would his daughter's tears break him down. His expression changed to one of sympathy but after taking a deep breath he stood firm.
"Yes, I can. Furthermore you are going to give me both your cell and credit card for the time, getting it back in two weeks!"
That caught me by surprise. I didn't think Edward could be this consequent with his princess.
Dani's mouth was hanging open. Then she stood up and threw an angry stare at me.
"I HATE YOU!" sobbing once again she went up to her room.
I wasn't fazed by Danielle's reaction but the sad look in Edward's eyes showed just how upset he was of his daughter's behavior.
I honestly had been waiting for this sentence. Normally I would get to hear it at least daily.
Edward looked back Dani's way one last time before shaking his head and turning to his three remaining children.
"Why are you looking like that? Are we getting grounded now too just because she was drunk?" Tara grumbled from her seat between her brothers.
"No, you aren't grounded. Nevertheless I want you all to act with a bit more respect, especially towards your mother. Also I ask you to take this seriously otherwise I will take your cells and credit cards away too."
With this he dismissed his children and got out of the room himself, probably to digest his oldest daughter's behavior.
This was not how I had imagined this day. A little sad I crept under the duvet, laying in bed alone. I thought back to the sad look in Edward's eyes when Dani started to scream at me. That was concerning me the most.
That's it for now. So, did you like it?