FAGE 11. Are You In...? Title: Sit on Your Hands Written for: Razztaztic Written By: Rebadams7 Rating: E for everyone!
Summary: All he wanted was a quiet dinner...
Prompts:
"Is that a UFO
Dine and Dash
Babysitting fail
Lost keys
If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the Facebook group: Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps, or add the C2 to get all the stories direct to your inbox.
Beta - EdwardsFirstKiss
Banner - MarieCarro
With great thanks to both of them
Stepahnie Meyers is the creator and owner of these characters...I'm just trying them out for a bit
Some days, it doesn't pay to get out of bed in the morning, well; it would be if he observed that custom for the obvious reasons. Edward Cullen was used to being in control of his world. His cage had been rattled, as Emmett would endlessly comment, by the arrival of the Chief's daughter. Not a Quileute princess, but the local constabulary's pride and joy; Isabella Marie Swan. Her face or really just her eyes had been lurking in the murky corridors of Edward's mind ever since they had arrived for their present turn in Forks. She had been the source of his current exasperation. Even if he didn't get out of a bed, he still sat on its edge to put on his shoes.
It began even before they had been assigned together for a biology project. The project that started it all was the flour sack baby challenge, an annual event. Students in their junior year were randomly assigned to a paring and then given a baby (aka Junior) - a five or so pound sack of flour that may or may not have been patched up by the previous foster parents. The goal was to return the flour baby in good shape, with photographs to prove you had provided a few enrichment exercises as well as good care. Mr. Molina and Mrs. Parks were shrewd enough to ferret out any photo shopped entries or suddenly brand new sacks.
He had been paired with Angela Webber. Probably the kindest mind in the entire school and that goes all the way down to the junior high section - the schools shared the auditorium and he came across those students when he completed his volunteer hours by playing piano for their current musical rehearsals. This year the musical was the Sound of Music, and Angela's twin brothers had been cast in the show. The music had almost entered the seventh circle of hell for him, but he persevered as he knew Emmett had it worse. Emmett was a gym office aid, and his frustration over the activities and attitude of the males of both the Junior and Senior highs were slowly driving him crazy.
He would have to take him for a good long hunt, soon. Maybe a boys weekend to Goat Rocks...and if he could have been lost in his thoughts, he might have preferred that possibility of obliviousness to what he had caught out of the corner of his eye.
You see, as a bribe for good behavior, to be kind to Angela, and to provide one of those enrichment moments for class, he had brought the flour baby over to the Fork's Fine Fork - aka the diner, for dinner, with the good Reverend's approval for good measure. The group, complete with Felicity (Angela had chosen the name) in a high chair, was at one of the larger back booths. Claiming he felt a bit of a bug coming on, he'd gotten away with a bowl of split pea and bacon
soup, along with a cup of hot tea. How anyone could find the green goop appetizing was beyond his comprehension, but even the twins had gobbled up a pair of bowls, and were now plowing through the rest of the night's special - meat loaf, mashed potatoes and green beans, with a choice of rice, chocolate or banana pudding as the included desert. Angela had ordered a BLT on wheat, with Cole slaw, her favorite. He focused his attention away from the table and on Felicity, when he noticed the panicked look on Isabella's face.
Out of the corner of his eye he spied Mike Newton, the town's idea of a golden boy, (quarterback, class president, son of the mayor's sister and he had a mop of golden blonde hair to boot!) playing catch with his "flour baby" in the parking lot of the diner. Isabella was frozen in place, and there was no way he could use his strength or speed to avert the imminent disaster. Mike crashed into his classmate Ben, Ben's eyeglasses went one way and "junior" headed straight for a puddle. It was a fair shot to say Isabella's chances of her 4.0 and a scholarship were now smashed and dripping...if it weren't for Alice.
She had just happened to be walking past them, on her way inside to pick up a dinner order she knew her father would call in after he made a house call on the way home (yes, Dr. Cullen was THAT nice) to get dinner for an elderly patient and the wife who was showing early signs of dementia.
Alice somehow managed to daintily scoop up the flour baby, barely getting the bag damp, give a scathing look to Mike and answer her phone at the same time she was entering the diner.
"No worries dad, I got this. Two specials, one rice and one chocolate pudding, an extra order of chicken noodle soup and orange juice. I'll have it over to you shortly." She put her phone in her pocket as she handed the sack of responsibility to a bright red Isabella.
"Here Bella, I don't think Mike is a fit babysitter for a teenager, much less a precious little one." Alice turned and gave her charming smile to Frank at the counter who was putting her order together. She turned toward her brother, wrapping her arm around Isabella and the action again rendered her scent diffused. There was something on the tip of Edward's tongue but it wasn't something he was ready to acknowledge, just yet. It was almost like a temptation, but then it was gone. So was Alice, taking Isabella and her 'junior' with her. Frank gave him a hard stare.
"Alice didn't settle her to go order Edward...neither did Miss Swan or Mike Newton."
Edward heaved out a sigh opened his wallet and found it was full of twenties...He looked over to where Angela and her brothers were finishing up. Sometimes he had to thank the powers that be for his sister's talent. He counted out enough for his table, his sister's order and, in order to spare Isabella any further upset, Mike's bill as well. Surprisingly lighter in spirit than just his wallet, he gathered up the twins and Angela , scooped up Felicity in her pink blanket, and headed out into the rainy night.
After dropping the twins, Angela and 'Felicity' at her house, Edward enjoyed the quiet of his car for a few moments, wondering what else might transpire before the night was over. He asked Siri to play his jazz playlist as he turned his car toward home.
The bright lights of the house glowed warm and welcoming through the rain. He found his sisters and mother crowded around the dining room table which was seeing more action than ever before. Alice had her sewing machine on one end, Rosalie was cutting a bright, child friendly print fabric while Esme was using a hair dryer on one side of Isabella's 'junior'. A large portfolio of professional markers was open and spread over the center of the table. It was a highly organized chaos - a sort of emergency room for a sack of flour. Isabella was seated next to Alice, holding the longer pieces of fabric as Alice worked the machine. Edward envisioned the cozy enclosure for Isabella's flour baby, strong enough to withstand even Mike Newton's horseplay.
He was unable to hide his surprise from Rosalie. She smirked at him, as if she had a huge secret and her mind was going over Alfa-Romeo transmission schematics. Something was going on, but nothing that was obvious. They were joined by his brothers, carrying on about the video game they had just completed. Isabella looked up and smiled, her eyes were bright when she looked at him. He was still confounded why he could hear nothing from her except when she spoke. Her smile widened and joined Esme's as Carlisle entered the room.
Something about this felt right, even though there was only one heartbeat in the room. He watched as everyone came together to zip the contraption around the flour baby called Junior. Suddenly the lumpy sack now became a cute bundle of pink elephant and alphabet print that resembled a nice pillow. It was odd to see Isabella cuddle the sack like a baby, but then the room erupted into laughter. Rosalie let out her secret. She had lined the soft fabric with Nomex from an old racing suit.
"Annabelle is cozy and protected now. I don't think Mike can mess up again, but I'm not taking any chances. Luckily we only have one more day to go." Alice grabbed her hand and smiled as she whisked her toward her car and home.
Edward felt like he was the middle of an old 45 rpm record. Everything was spinning around
him and he was just watching. He shook his head and headed for his room. He climbed out of his window and onto the roof, where he watched the car head up the long drive, toward town.
Edward's nights were usually filled with music, sometimes hunting or a good long run. Tonight he was drawn to his father's library. Carlisle hated to get rid of his texts, and had a great collection of biology books. He wanted to find something he could work on with Isabella. There is something that Edward could not put his finger on, but he desperately wanted to figure out why Isabella seemed to have his whole family entranced. She is a puzzle that he needed to find the edge pieces to.
Eight AM found him back in the biology classroom, sitting next to an empty chair. At the last peal of the bell, Isabella skidded into the classroom, setting Annabelle on the table as she drew a deep breath.
"Sorry Mr. Molina. I lost track of my keys last night." Mr. Molina merely nodded and began to take roll and possession of the "flour children" with only a few groans over his joke. The grades would be announced at the end of the week. Isabella let out a big sigh as she placed the snug pink package on the cart. For the first time, Edward got the full impact of Isabella. Delicious Isabella...
He turned to his table mate, and unleashed the full impact of his charming smile on her. "Isabella"
"I prefer Bella"
"Bella, it suits you. I'm Edward, Edward Cullen. I am sorry I didn't introduced myself properly before." He slid a slim volume across the table toward her. "I know there is another project for the class and I thought we would make good partners."
"Edward, we've been at this table for over two weeks. I was beginning to think...well never mind." She picked up the book and began to thumb through the pages.
Edward enjoyed watching her scan the pages. He especially enjoyed her scent. He realized that his whole family had come together to mask her scent to allow him to acclimate to his singer. Alice's thoughts circled his head like a UFO.
Oh brother of mine... Trust me! If you'd scented her too quickly, I saw two outcomes. First I saw a massacre. Second, I saw you running off... so, I had to give you a small taste of her. You two are going to be great...
Edward was torn between being upset with all the chicanery and delight in finding such a perfectly quiet mind to be around. He thought to Alice. Ok, you win this round. He'd tell her later...much later.
Now he found himself, several weeks later, driving so fast down the I5 that he was little more than a blur against the trees. Alice had warned him that Bella wasn't going to have a good time with the girls in Port Angeles, and true to her vision, he found her surrounded by minds that made a coal slag seem sanitary. It took all of his restraint to merely incapacitate the men and instead, arranged with Carlisle and Emmett to bring them to justice. In the meantime, Bella looked like she could use a sandwich and a half - as Carlisle had often remarked over a patient. He pulled up to the nicest restaurant in the area which was Italian to boot.
Bella was so lovely, such a delicious scent and such an oasis of quiet in a loud mean planet of thoughts. His family knew him so well, that he would deny himself this place of joy in an often dreary world. He looked at her, sitting huddled, even in the warmth of her heated seat and he knew he would offer her the world, give her every choice that he could. He'd learned via Alice's visions that his happiness, his entire family's happiness rested with her being given choices. He
nearly needed to 'sit on his hands' as his father would gently chastise him in Chicago a long time ago.
He opened Bella's door and placed a hand at her back as they ascended the steps into the restaurant. As they were led to their table, he sent off a quick text, so his brothers could settle things between them.
As they chatted while they waited for their dinner, Bella surprised him with her questions. He was startled when she slid her fingers over the cloth and covered his hand with her own.
"Your skin is cool, and firm, almost like marble. I've seen how fast you move and how strong you are. You don't eat and I'm sure there is more, but it became clear when you gave me the book." She played with his fingers as she spoke.
"The book? Investigations in Biology of the Northwest Americas?" He spoke with true surprise.
"Edward, you gave me Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
He closed his eyes and drew a deep, though unnecessary breath. Alice? His brothers? Rose?
"So, for now I'm really good with weird. I'm even good if you are a mind reader, but I do have one last question. Exo biology? UFO's?"
Edward scooted to her side, wrapping his arm around her and kissing the top of her head. "For that, my Bella, we will have to search together. It might take a long, long time, and later, let's talk about how to give you all the time you'll need. Want and need."
Some may have been thinking about their dinner, their bills, and heck even their cats that night, but no one had a happier thought of the future than this pair.
~FIN~
Thank you so much for reading this little flight of my imagination...It would be wonderful to find out your thoughts on this and all the FAGE Exchanges. Who knows? Next time I might write a story for you
