Twilight – not mine, sadly enough...

Chapter 2

I waited by the window, watching as she left through the front door, leapt over the brook and took off through the forest. We'd purchased a house with 30 acres of land on the end of a mile long long winding road off Lahaye Dr into the middle of the forest. The only thing nearby was a water treatment plant and yet we were within a few minutes of the Medical Centre. It provided convenient access to our chosen food source and enough space that Bella and I could build our own "visitor's cottage" on the property, twenty feet from the main house where Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett and Nessie were currently staying and Alice and Jasper would join them once they returned. It was a gift – the gift of privacy, something I greatly appreciated since our first months of married life consisted of two significant threats on Bella's life – first with the birth of Renesmee and then the threat of the Volturi, the busyness of hosting a house full of vampires to bare witness to our daughter, and maintaining ongoing appearances with Bella's father, Charlie. We had the cottage, but still, it hadn't been enough time and I'd been so thankful for when we finally decided, the second week of January, to take up Dartmouth's offer of a second semester start for Bella.

Once her figure disappeared into the forest, I turned and completed getting ready myself, pulling on a jacket (keep up appearances – it was January after all) and my shoes and taking off through the forest after her.

I thrilled as the scent of pine mixed with cedar hit my nose with the crisp air whipping through the flimsy material that covered my body, unaffected by the cool air. The distance to the main house was far too short. I always loved to run, but now that my life had become so full – with a wife – a mate and a daughter who'd I never thought was possible, every action, even one as simple and pleasure filled as running, seemed somehow amplified.

"Dad!" Nessie shouted excitedly as I passed through the back door off the dining room. I opened my arms in time to catch her as she launched herself from the table. "Auntie Rosy and Uncle Emmett are taking me to Montshire Museum of Science."

I momentarily hugged her close to my chest before she started to squirm uncomfortably. She was growing so quickly. Though her growth patterns had slowed, she was already over five years of age in development and not interested in sitting still for long.

"The museum over in Norwich, Vermont?" I glanced over at Emmett who was standing in the door way to the kitchen, leaning against the frame, arms folded, grinning. "I thought you were going hunting with Jacob."

She immediately replayed the arrangements in her mind.

"Hey Nessie, what do you think about going to a science center?" Rosalie asked as she got Nessie ready.

"A science center? What's that?" Nessie asked as she watched Rosalie put her curls up in barrettes.

"Well, they show you how things work, how the earth works, how the body works, how computers work, what the universe is made up of…." Rosalie began to run off.

Nessie started to swing her legs in excitement. "Really, it has all that? And it's where real people go? Will there be other kids there?"

"Yes, I imagine so."

She leapt up into Rosalie's arms, "Yes, yes, yes – I love the science center!"

Rosalie laughed, "Alright. Now all we have to do is make sure Jacob is okay-"

"Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure it's okay!" She jumped up and ran to find Jacob.

He was pacing the living room waiting for Nessie to be ready.

"Jakey, Jakey, guess what. Auntie Rose is going to take me to the science centre. We can go hunting later right?" She said, eyes shining, bouncing in his arms.

"Uh…" Jacob looked from her to Rosalie and Emmett, a frown crease appearing across his brow. He was about to object, then he looked back at Nessie, so full of excitement and hope. And suddenly his shoulder slumped. "Yeah, we can go when you get back."

"You still should have asked me or Mommy first." I said with a warning glance at Emmett. Bella wouldn't like Rosalie playing Renesmee against Jacob like that.

Hey, it's only, five minutes away…besides, it's educational! Emmett argued as Nessie added, "They said it would be okay. They said that you'd be busy today anyway."

I looked back up to Emmett whose grin just became infinitely larger. "Alice." He chuckled.

"Wha-"

Heard you got rejected… He teased. Guess the honeymoon's officially over.

He ducked out of the door and was through the back door before I could put Nessie down and go after him. Suddenly I saw the fierce eyes, the set of my jaw and the tight line of my lips as reflected in the mind of my daughter. I carefully rearranged my features. "It's okay, honey. Uncle Emmett was just teasing Daddy." I reassured her. "Yes, you can go."

Jake glowered down at the huge meal he'd just finished setting on the table – a stack of pancakes, sausages, eggs, hash browns, a glass of orange juice and milk.

"You know, you can't eat your girl problems away."

He looked up, a faint smile ghosting his lips. Girl problems? From what I hear you've got it worse then me.

Had everybody heard about this morning's escapades? I shook my head and headed up stairs to the study. Clearly I wasn't needed down here. Besides, I had a little research I wanted to do before Bella got back. I wonder, how much would I need to pay to have two Ducati Superbike 848 delivered before her return. I sighed – even with our resources, there were some things that were simply not doable. Beside, I wasn't completely sure I wanted the Superbike. Perhaps something lighter like a Streetfighter that may handle better on backroads. Or did I want to go bigger – to the 1198 if we were going to do more highway riding? It was, at least, worth a bit of research to see what else was available.

The cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I slipped it out, checking the caller id. Alice again. Annoyance flared up. How dare she call me after she'd shared my personal matters with the family? I just about didn't answer but then I thought, could they already have news?

"Alice!" I said tersely as I flipped open the phone.

"Don't bother yelling me out. I already know you're annoyed, but I did it for your benefit." She started.

"Fine. What do you know?" I barked, not wanting to get into an argument now.

"That you're on the right track, but you're about to totally screw things up." She replied in annoyance.

"What?" What did this have to do with hybrids?

She sighed heavily, "Edward, you're doing it again! You're doing everything for her, not with her."

"What are you talking about?"

"The motorcycle… trying to reconnect with your wife…"

"Alice." I warned. This was private and she' already intruded quite enough.

"Listen, Edward. How much do you enjoy shopping?"

"No much." I rolled my eyes. What was she talking about?

She growled into my ear. "I mean – how much do you enjoy doing research on a potential purchase – looking at all latest models, checking out the specs of each, comparing performance."

I didn't know what to say. It was only prudent to do research before such a purchase. Though the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I truly enjoyed that part of it, trying to figure out what was the best for what I wanted, what was going to give me the biggest pay off for the investment.

She took my silence as acknowledgement. "You see – don't you think Bella might like to participate in that part as well. That maybe she'd appreciate the results better if she was a part of the purchase?"

Hmmm. Was that what it was with her and that first peace of crap bike with Jacob? She'd found it, watched him rebuilt it from basically nothing… she'd been a part of it.

"Ah, yes." She said, "You're changing your mind… Hmmm…"

"What is it?" I asked, frustrated I couldn't see her visions from here.

She laughed, "Oh, you'll see… you can thank me later." And she hung up.

I clicked the phone shut, frustrated that she wouldn't tell me.

After bidding Nessie a good day and warning Emmett and Rosalie and Jacob to take care of my precious daughter, I went for a run in an attempt to burn off my nervous energy. Now that I'd decided to shop for a bike with Bella, I was anxious to get started. It was sort of exciting, looking for something together. A flush of pleasure ran through me as I anticipated discussing the finer points of engine size, torque, ride and comfort. Perhaps we'd try out a few models. A weekend trip to Italy was out of the question – too close to the Volturi. But we could easily have several different models delivered: the entire Ducati line, a BMW or two, one of the larger Husqvarna if we were looking at doing only off-roading.

I briefly considered calling ahead to find out how soon they could be delivered, but my phone immediately rang.

"No!" Alice shouted at me.

"Aren't you on some sort of important mission right now?"

"Yes, and your being stupid isn't helping me focus."

"What are you talking about?"

"Edward, just relax and wait for Bella… and try to not be your normal controlling self. Let her take the lead a bit."

I clicked the phone shut. Annoying little pixie.

The time passed slowly, but finally I heard her car turn off the road and start down our driveway. I put the book down I'd been reading to meet her at the front door.

"Hey Edw-" she got out before I pressed my lips to hers. Even without the drastic difference in temperature, her touch shot electricity through my lips and down to my core. Just her presence evoked a response from me, and, at times, I was powerless to fight against it. I wanted her… I would always want her.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, tangling her fingers in my hair as she kissed back. I didn't have to hold back now, and I wouldn't. Over and over I touched her lips, tasted her mouth, wanting more.

"Nessie?" she panted as she broke away for a fraction of a second.

"Out." I replied back.

"Mmm…" she moaned against my lips and I felt her legs wrap themselves around my waist as her fingers began to pull my shirt from the back of my pants.

I reached around and cupped her backside, holding her even closer to me, and pushing her up so I could descend from her mouth to her jaw and down to her clavicle, the very place I left off with this morning. Only the plans that I was so excited to share with her kept me from running back to our cabin in the woods and continuing in the direction I'd so desperately wanted to go in earlier.

"Is there a reason we're still in the entry way?" She asked as I grazed my nose along her neckline to her shoulder and then back up to her ear where I nipped playfully.

"We have plans." I replied, smiling against her neck.

"Uh yeah, I know… so what are we doing here?"

I chuckled, "Different plans…"

She growled and I almost set aside my thoughts of shopping for a motorcycle as the vibrations sent a very different suggestion through my body. "But I liked the plans we made this morning." She moaned into my mouth and started running her hands up my back.

So did I. And we could return to those plans, just as soon as we had what could be a very brief discussion and put in our order. I didn't want to risk wasting another delivery day for our samples to arrive. I slowed my fevered kissing and pulled back a bit as she set her feet back down on the ground, a pout on her lips.

She sighed, "So, what exactly are we doing this afternoon that's so important that we're wasting our alone time?"

"Well," I started, trying to put together the best way to introduce the topic, "I've been thinking."

"See, that's your problem," she pouted, "You think way too much."

I smiled. I didn't disagree. "That may be true, but I think you might like what I've come up with… at least, I hope so…" I replied, now a bit uncertain. I'd become so enthralled with the idea, I hadn't considered that she might not be as excited about this as I was.

"So…" she said, her hands now on her hips, "what is it?"

"It started with something you said this morning – about your sudden interest in extreme sports before you were changed."

"We're going cliff diving?" she asked, the crease appearing between her eyes just as it had in her human days.

"No – though, that might be fun some time." I teased. "Actually, I was thinking about another attempt at motorcycling."

"Motorcycling?" she stared back, shocked. "You want to go motorcycling? But I gave my bike back to Jake and he left it back at La Push."

"Your old bike." I pushed.

She groaned, "You bought me another bike." She threw her head into her hands.

Okay, Alice was right. Going ahead and buying her a bike would have been a mistake. I'd have to thank her… eventually. "No, I didn't buy you a bike. But I was thinking – maybe we could go bike shopping together." I raised an eyebrow, prepared for her to shoot down the idea.

"Huh." She replied, as she retreated back into her mind, deep in thought.

Huh? What did that mean?

"So you want us to shop for bikes together? As in, we'd get the same bike?"

"That depends. I mean I think it makes sense for us to at least get compatible machinery. I remember how you felt about it before – my powerful bike compared to the…" embarrassing disgrace of nuts and bolts. "smaller motorcycle you were riding."

"So, if I wanted a smaller bike, you'd be willing to get something smaller as well?"

I swallowed. "Er.. well… I suppose." Within limits. "If that is what we decided was best for what we wanted to do." I mean, how much smaller could she mean?

She raised an eyebrow, "And by 'we' you mean?"

"That we'll make the decision together. We'll discuss our needs, do the research, try out some different models, compare the options and make the decision together."

"Wow."

"What?"

"Well, it's just… in the past you've sort of… just taken over and done things." A huge smile spread over her face, "I kinda like the idea of doing it together." Something flashed through her eyes. "In fact, that sounds like fun."

"Really? I mean, I didn't think you were into cars."

"I'm not. But it would be sort of fun to learn about it with you. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to get to the point of discussing… well… engine thingies with you. But to go look at a couple different bikes, take them for a test drive, and make a decision. Yeah, that sounds like fun – if it's with you." She threw her arms around me then and planted a huge kiss.

"What was that for?"

"For including me in this. For doing it with me!" She grinned.

I felt a silly grin grow on my face. This was going a lot better then I had guessed. "So, do you want to get started?"

"Now? Uh, sure, yeah… We have time." She pulled out her iPad and sat down on the nearby armchair. "So, where do we get started? Should I look up the classifieds on line and see what's out there? Maybe we can find a good deal on a newer model…"

I cleared my throat. Before we got too carried away I had to make something very clear, "We are not buying a used bike."

"We're not?"

I laughed, "No, I don't think so. I mean that's fine for some people, but…"

She smiled, "But you would want to order one with a few custom changes and special touches?" she guessed.

"To start with." Besides we'd be unlikely to find a Ducati anything in the classifieds.

She shook her head. "Fine. I can go with new." She rolled her eyes as she taped on the screen of her iPad. "Well, there doesn't appear to be any dealerships in Hanover, but…" her fingers taped the screen a few more times, "there are a few dealerships in Lebanon… Lebanon Motor Sports selling motorcycles form Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki…" she read off. "Oh, we could get Goldwings!"

A panicky feeling started to rise in my chest. A Goldwing? A Honda Goldwing? A touring bike? Did she not know me at all? I took a few deep breaths as she continued.

"Budget Biker – oh, they're just for parts… Shaker Valley Victory Motorcycles – that's over in Enfield… Granite State Harley Davidson."

I'd managed to arrange my features into a carefully placid expression, so when she looked up she didn't catch the pained scowl that I'm sure was on my face as she read out the suggestions.

"I was thinking that, perhaps, we'd have some better options if we looked… further a field." I tried to suggest tactfully. "Perhaps we could have a few models delivered."

"Jake's bike was a Harley Davidson and I liked it." she smiled brightly. "And they're right here. What do we need delivery for?"

My heart sunk. A Hog. She wanted me to ride a Hog. How did I explain that there was no way on God's green earth that I would be spending any amount of time on one of those noisy, uncomfortable, testosterone replacing status symbols? Hogs were for football players and fist slugging bikers and guys who were trying to prove they weren't middle aged when, in fact, they were well past. Hogs were for guys like… Emmett.

I took another few breaths. Alice had told me to let her take the lead. And perhaps Bella didn't understand the difference between a rough riding, status bike and a finely tuned, smooth riding piece of Italian craftsmanship. She probably didn't know that only Ducati's had Desmodromic valve control that ensured no loss of performance at higher speeds. How could she? Her only experience had been on that resurrected puddle jumper.

That thought gave me some relief. Yes, we'd go visit her beloved Harley Davidson dealership, take a bike for a test drive and, when she compared that to the Ducati, she'd understand the difference. In fact, we'd probably laugh about it later.

"You want to check out Granite State Harley Davidson?" I asked.

"Yes." She smiled, "Let's go."

"Great!" I replied with false enthusiasm. We're going to look at Hogs. Wonderful.

WOW! Thanks for all the reviews so far! I really appreciate them!

And, a big huge thanks to those of you who also read Cullens to go Hogwarts. I just found out I won a Twi-Award for best Twilight/HP Cross-over.