This is my first story, so please tell me what you honestly think. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series. No copyright infringement is intended.
Shrine
"Truth," I sighed as Alice flicked the brush over my big toe.
"How far have you and Edward gone?" She finished the nail and proceeded to torture the rest of my foot.
Rosalie had gone to a car show while Esme and Carlisle went to a class in Seattle called "Controlling Your Uncontrollable Children." Edward and his brothers had been forced by Alice to go to Olympia to get their "old fashioned" tuxedos (to match the dresses of us girls) for the wedding. Edward was upset and had begged her all morning to let me go with them. She had flat-out refused.
"Alice," he had groaned yet again. "You know how much it hurts me to be away from her! Why can't Bella come?"
"Tradition," she had snapped yet again.
"I don't care about tradition, Alice," I had complained. I hated tradition (mostly), and loathed being away from my Edward even more.
"Well, you'll both just have to get over it," she had sighed before turning to me with puppy dog eyes and a full-blown pout. "Don't you love me at all, Bella? We never get girl time anymore!"
"Stop it, Alice!" I had cried. "I'll stay! I'll stay!" I knew I was being manipulated, but seeing those eyes and lips had made me unable to care.
"Bell-ah," Edward had glared at me amidst Alice's cheers, before making his gaze soften and his eyes smolder. "Please don't do this to me, love."
"I really do think Alice and I need some girl time," I had said, while purposefully avoiding his tantalizing gaze. "And I'm sure Emmett and Jasper want guy time with you."
"If 'guy time' means 'torment Edward time'" he had muttered, and then said with his trademark crooked smile, "if that's what you want, my love, how can I refuse?"
Of course, I would rather have stayed with Edward, but I knew Alice and our brothers would never let me live it down if I had made Alice loose her girl time and Jasper and Emmett loose their "torment Edward" time, as he had so eloquently put it.
Just as I had finished my musing, a loud horn blew and Emmett shouted, "stop ignoring our thoughts and get in the jeep, Eddie!"
Edward had sighed before giving me a wistful glace and pressing his lips to mine. Next, he growled at Alice, saying, "If she says stop, you will. If she wants to call me, you will let her."
"Sure!" She had squealed in reply.
"Goodbye, my love, my Bella," he had purred, pressing his lips to mine again before striding out the door to his brothers as I gasped for breath.
"Earth to Bella! That requires an answer, you know," Alice called, bringing me reluctantly back to the present.
"Sorry, Alice," I sighed, not entirely sorry. "What are you talking about?"
She rolled her eyes. "Your 'truth': how intimate have you and Edward been?"
That brought me back to the present. Flushing, I said, "I don't see how that is any of your business, Alice."
"It's a 'truth,' Bella. You have to tell me."
"Just kissing," I sighed, both at her prying question and at my virtually empty physical love life. I may have decided to wait for the wedding, but that didn't stop my body from craving Edward's.
"Deep kissing?"
"Rarely. Enough! Truth or dare, Alice?" As soon as I asked, I had a brilliant idea: the next time Alice picked 'dare' I would dare her not to play truth or dare with me for the next hundred years. By her own rule, she would have to obey.
"Nice try, Bella. I pick 'truth.'" Stupid, annoying, psychic vampire!
"Hmpf!" I pouted. Then, inspiration struck again. "Tell me something about Edward that I don't know."
Her eyes briefly narrowed in thought, and then shot open in what could only be inspiration. "Well, he'll kill me when he finds out. I don't need a vision for that. But, I want to show you something of Edward's"
"Okay?" I said, unable to fathom Edward hiding from me what obviously was a big secret.
"Come on!" she giggled. "Your toes are dry enough."
I climbed out of my armchair and followed her out into the hallway outside her room and up the stairs to the third floor. She quickly danced through Edward's room and swung open the door to his huge walk-in closet.
"I've seen Edward's closet before, Alice," I sighed, almost ready to demand the phone so Edward could rescue me from his insane sister.
"Sure, you've seen his closet, but you haven't seen the back." She proceeded to a section of long dress pants and shoved them to each side with her tiny arms.
Behind the pants was an alcove. But the interesting part was what was in the alcove.
There was a long, narrow wooden table covered in a deep blue cloth. On it were some candles (which were obviously much used), a rather large bundle of brown hair, and ten or so framed pictures of myself. Below was a boom box, which I would later learn contained a CD with my lullaby on it.
Above everything was a giant, thirty inch by thirty inch photograph of me. It was taken the night Edward had taken me to see West Side Story in Seattle earlier this summer. I stood posed in the deep blue dress with a plunging neckline out side the Cullen's home as I waited for Edward's brothers to stop teasing him about his tuxedo and let us go. I had no idea the picture was taken and even less idea how I had agreed to wear such a revealing dress.
"He built this soon after you agreed to wear his ring in your meadow," Alice said softly. Then, more loudly she said, "He spends almost every moment --that is not with you-- in here. He threatened my beauty supplies and Jasper's precious Civil War books if I told you. Make sure you forbid him from doing so. Jazzy's just plain awful when his precious books are damaged. Edward wouldn't dare destroy anything if you told him not to." Alice would more than hesitate if her husband was at risk of being upset.
"Why? Why did he build this?"
"He never really gave me a straight answer. He just said –and I quote—'so that I can revere Her more properly" while he got a dreamy look in his eyes. He obviously was capitalizing 'Her' in his mind as he said it." Alice took the whole situation with as a mix of amusement, pity, and slight admiration.
I was too stunned into silence to think of a proper response, so she just continued.
"When he's here, he never stands up. He always crawls across the floor with his head bent down. When he gets to the 'alter' he stays down for ten or so seconds, lights the candles, they're freesia and strawberry, by the way, and bows down again. If it's a good day, he'll stare up at those pictures and that clump of your hair. On a great day, meaning he doesn't think he he's displeased you at all, he'll turn on the boom box. If he made you upset, or you mentioned Jacob Black or last September at all, he'll stare at the floor for hours. It's really quite creepy. One time, I came up here to borrow a CD and he was flat on the floor whimpering 'my goddess, my goddess' over and over again pitifully. Needless-to-say, I didn't ask for the CD. I'd sign him up for therapy if I thought it would do any good."
I couldn't believe it. This was just too strange. Edward, my Greek god, had built a place in which to worship me?
"You're obviously in shock," Alice said sympathetically. "Here, let's go outside." She picked me up one handed and walked back to the door to turn off the closet light. When she got to the bed, she set me down and plopped down next to me.
"Why? When?" I managed.
"I already told you: he worships you, and he built it to do so right after you agreed to wear the ring in public. I've had visions of him contemplating building it since we got back from Italy. Here, I'll go get you a glass of water. I didn't think you'd be this stunned!"
She disappeared briefly, and then appeared in the doorway with a glass in hand. She sat down and wrapped my unresponsive hand around it.
"Drink," she ordered, pushing the glass to my lips.
I blindly obeyed, and, like a spell being broken, I could finally function.
"This is really weird, Alice. Edward doesn't seem like the type of person who would make that, let alone 'worship' me. He's always so cool and collected."
"Edward's very good at hiding his emotions and thoughts, Bella. It's a job requirement if we want to live this close to humans. And anyways, he hates showing you how weak he really is. He thinks that if you think he is less 'perfect' than you do, you'll find one too many faults and leave him. Trust me, he absolutely, literally worships you. He would build a fifty-thousand square foot temple to you if he thought he would let him."
"O-kaaaay," The idea that I could have this much effect on Edward seemed unreal. "Alice, can you give me a few minutes alone with my thoughts?"
"Sure," she said sympathetically. "But make it quick. The boys will be here in—let me check… twenty minutes. Edward was such a pain to them that they agreed to hurry up their tr—OH! Scratch that. Edward's heard my thoughts. He's abandoned the jeep and is sprinting for the house. Oohh is he ticked at me. Got to go, Bella. He's considering damaging my poor 911 Turbo." She danced out the door.
"Thanks a lot, Alice," I said sarcastically. She just laughed and went to guard he precious Turbo.
I was sitting on the bed contemplating what I would say when he flitted in.
He came to a graceful halt about two feet into the room. He was staring pointedly at the floor, but I could see that the ochre, almost onyx, of his eyes was filled with fear.
After a long moment, he whispered, "I'm sorry."
I took a deep breath and, acting more courageously than I actually felt, I stood up and walked over, wrapping my arms around him as I looked up at him.
He was avoiding my gaze so I whispered, "Edward, look at me, please." I knew playing the 'please' card was underhanded.
"I'm sorry," he repeated finally meeting my eyes.
"Why exactly are you sorry? And why did you build that… well, whatever it is?"
"It's… it is a temple—well more accurately a shrine since it is hardly big enough to be a house of worship. I… I worship you. I really do think you are a goddess—no, not in the 'you created life' way, but in the 'you have given me life and redemption' and the you are literally perfect physically, mentally, and in your soul' sort of ways. As for saying 'I'm sorry,' it was, well, a blanket response. I know you hate gifts and outlandish shows of affection, so in that way I feel guilty that I might have upset you. But, also, the spiritually, divinely worshipping part of me is screaming at the rest that that is not a large or grand enough temple for your celestial self. In that respect, I'm apologizing for not making a great enough house of worship for you," he laughed humorlessly as he concluded his babbling. "I'm pulled between wanting that proper temple and feeling mortified and awful for displeasing and failing you."
"Oh, Edward," I sighed. He just continued reluctantly meeting my eyes.
"Please, B-Bella, I… I need to know your thoughts. How much have I upset you? In which ways are you upset with me? Are you angry that I did not tell you about it? What can I do to make it be-?"
"Edward, I'm not angry or upset. Admittedly, I'm very shocked: I know you adore me, even if I don't fully understand why, but this seems so out-of-character for you. The clump of hair is a bit disturbing, I will admit…." I wrinkled my nose at the thought of how he could have gotten that much hair.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you! I hate disappointing you." His face was ecstatic as he wrapped his previously limp arms around me more tightly. "If I may, Bella, was that too much or too little?"
I smiled, all tension relieved with his returned grin. "Both," I said. "It's strange that you 'literally' worship me, but since it's you, how can I be upset?"
"And the too little part?"
I giggled. "As much as I resist presents, I do honestly love it when you show me how much you love me. If I think of it as a show of affection, it's rather flattering… well not the hair part, exactly. How did you get that much hair?" I had a disturbing mental image of him taking a pair of scissors to my head.
"Don't worry, my love. I took it strand by precious strand from your brush." He seemed a bit apologetic. "I can put it in the trash if you would like."
"Yes, please," I squeaked.
"Can I kiss you now?" He asked, his eyes shining in hope. "I missed you so much!"
"You can always kiss me," I said, He instantly leaned down to give me a deep, heart-stopping kiss. For a moment, I swore I even felt his tongue brush against my lower lip, but I couldn't be sure.
"Can I ask another favor?' he said, many, many kisses later. He was a millimeter from my lips.
"Sure," I breathed, my brain fogged with his exuberant, normally off limits, kisses.
"Can I call you 'goddess'?" He was blunt, but I could hear the pleading beneath the surface.
"Only if we can always kiss like that," I said, tilting my head further back for better access to his lips. Much to my horror, my neglected stomach chose just that moment to make itself known.
"Didn't Alice feed you?" he asked, murder in his eyes.
"Shh! Relax!" I soothed. "We got a bit distracted with my nails and hair. Oh, and Edward, how dare you threaten her or her husband's things just to keep her quite about that shrine!"
"I- I wouldn't really do anything," he mumbled. "I was just terrified that you would be furious with me if or when you found out."
"Silly Edward," I teased. "Come on, my stomach won't stop until it gets what it wants."
His grin returned as he adjusted his grip around me to flip me into bridal-style in his arms. Seconds later, my eyes adjusted and I found that we were in the kitchen.
"What would you like to eat, my goddess?" he asked, taking advantage of his new word.
"Just some tomato soup, please." I leaned against the counter after he set me down. I knew I had zero chance of making my own lunch.
"Coming right up, goddess." Edward strode at a pace much too fast for a human over to the pantry, to the drawer where the manual can opener was, and over to the rack where the pots and pans were hung from the ceiling. He then flashed to the stove where he expertly opened the container, dumped it, turned on the stove, and threw out the tin can.
Luckily for me, even vampire speed cannot make a stove cook faster. My lips were already feeing the painful absence of his own.
"Just 'cause my stomach complained doesn't mean I'm done kissing you," I said slyly.
"With pleasure," he purred, wrapping me in his embrace again. As he molded his lips to mine, he bowed me back over the counter so far that I felt my head brush the granite countertop.
After several extremely delightful moments of pure kissing, he began murmuring, "my goddess, oh, my goddess," in the brief instants when he allowed me to breath.
"'My goddess'? Eddie, come on, at least have a little dignity!" The boys were home. "And what's with abandoning us like that? Isn't there some law, or at least some rule in the code of brotherhood about slamming on the breaks and taking off?!"
"Hello to you too, Emmett," Edward said bitterly, leaning back slightly to give me some room.
"What are you yelling about, you big lug?" Jasper entered and took a step back as the rush of emotions hit him. "Oh, Edward, very mature leaving us like that."
Just then, a very perky Alice danced into the kitchen. "He was yelling because Edward was referring to Bella as 'his goddess'. He actually built a shrine to her in his closet." She giggled as she danced over to the stove to remove the soup. "Esme won't be happy if the kitchen gets burnt down by some abandoned food on the stove." The soup had started to boil over as the boys (and the kisses) had distracted us.
"He built a shrine? Eddie, you're even more of a pathetic stiff than I thought." As the room filled with laughter, I turned as red as the tomato soup Edward had just cooked for me.
"Edward, will you take me out to lunch just this once, please?" I needed to escape our crazed siblings.
"Of course, my goddess," he said, and the peals of laughter grew even more deafening.
"I suggest we stop at Charlie's on the way. I have a feeling we'll need to leave town for a couple days until this dies down, Bella, love."
In reality, we had to stay away for almost nine full days before even Carlisle could calm them down enough for us to return. We did a lot of passionate kissing in that penthouse suite, much to the immense pleasure of both of us.
Yes, I know Edward was a bit out of character. I was trying to emphasize how he was letting down his walls around Bella. In reality, Stephenie would never have him build a temple to Bella.
Again, please tell me what you thought. Oh, and if anyone wants me to do this from Edward's POV, just review and tell me.
June