Leaving Alaska

I ran through the forest, quick and lithe as a cat. I could hear the distant pursuit behind me, but I pushed it out of my mind as my muscles bunched and pushed me ever faster. Spotting my favourite tree, I jumped into it quickly. I reached the top, and leapt into the neighbouring tree. I continued jumping from tree-top to tree-top for about a mile. All of this had taken no more than a minute to accomplish.

A tree branch quivered beneath me, and suddenly I saw a pair of hands reach up and grab me. Free falling down to the ground now, I only had time to think "damnit, not again" to myself before we landed on a soft pile of leaves at the bottom.

Not even the least bit winded, I glanced up beneath my lashes and saw the familiar messy, bronze hair and topaz eyes peering intently at me.

"Bella..." The voice always made me breathe in slightly faster, even though I didn't need oxygen anymore. "Love, we were supposed to be hunting." The tone was slightly reproachful, but it didn't match up to the expression in his eyes, which was playful, loving, and even a touch of lust in there.

"I know," I replied, "but I just had the sudden urge. You know how it is." Sixty years of marriage had not even remotely diminished the passion I felt for my husband and soulmate. If anything, the love I felt for Edward had increased, something I never thought possible following our wedding.

His lips found mine in an explosion of passion, and all thoughts of hunting were pushed to the side as we explored eachother again. Every time we touched I immediately felt as though I was home. Wherever he was, there I would be.

A rustle from ten metres away caught my attention, but it didn't distract me from the patterns I was tracing on Edward's chest, and the incredible things he was doing to my lips, cheeks, neck...

"Ew, mom, gross!" Nessie's voice washed over me, and I pulled away slightly from Edward, but not before I murmured "later" against his lips.

"I thought you'd smelt a bear mom, so I ran after you. You guys run too fast for me." She admonished us both making me feel slightly guilty about running away without any warning.

"Ness, you had Jacob to keep you company, you could've given us a little more... time," Edward replied, winking at me on that last word.

At that point, a huge russet wolf came into view looking rather sheepish as he spotted Edward's and my tangled limbs on our soft bed of leaves. Edward tilted his head slightly and tried to repress a smile, obviously having heard Jacob's thoughts.

"Ugh, anyone else coming?" I moaned laying my head back down.

"Love, I think we should get back to hunting," Edward nuzzled my neck as he muttered these words to me, "we're going to need it if we're leaving tomorrow."

Leaving. The words would have stopped my heart if it was still beating. Tomorrow we'd be heading back to Washington, a place we hadn't been in over fifty years for any length of time. We'd been back for Charlie's funeral thirty years ago, but still looking like I was 18 when I should have been 48 I'd had to hide my face. The four of us had returned for the funeral so we could say a final goodbye to my caring, loving father. As I thought about it a wave of sorrow washed over me, and I buried my face into Edward's shoulder again.

"Hey, Bella, we don't have to go back if you don't want to." Although Edward couldn't read my thoughts unless I wanted him to, the years we'd been together had made it so he could make a very educated guess what I was thinking anyway.

"No, we should go. Forks means a lot to me, and besides, the house is just sat there empty." I made my little attempt at humour, and received a wry grin back for my troubles. "Ness wants to go back there anyway, and besides, it'll be fun to go to High School again." I said, my tone not matching the words.

Edward chuckled to himself, "I just hope no one notices how much Ness looks like you Bella, she's supposed to be my sister this time," he said. "I don't quite know how we'd field that question."

Since almost the entire family was heading back to Forks for another foray into the world of High School we had had to review the sibling story. Edward, Alice and Ness were to be siblings, Emmett was my older brother, Rose and Jasper were twins this time, and Jacob was, well, the odd one out. Ness definitely looked more like Edward with his bronze hair, but there were a few similarities between myself and her that would hopefully go unnoticed. The easiest solution would have been to pretend all three of us were siblings, but I just couldn't hide my passion for Edward that well, and we didn't want that sort of attention.

With a sigh, I lifted myself back up, and turned to go hunting.

"Forks," was my only response as Edward raised an eyebrow at me.

"Forks," was the responding chorus from the three beings in the little clearing.