Practicing—With Emmett (v 2.0)
"You can do better than that," they both said at the same time. I was becoming exhausted, a hard feat for a vampire with their own human blood still running through their system. My arm ached and my head hurt even worse. The elastic band of my protective power snapping back into place over and over again was wearing down my insane determination to conquer it. I rubbed at my temples, when that failed to ease the pain I laid myself upon the boulder as if offering myself up as a sacrifice to the Gods.
Little Nessie sat in the corner, frowning at me, looking not so little in the jeans and couture top Alice and Rose had forced upon her. Those two had gone ballistic when Renesemee had grown tall enough to wear one-of-a-kind designer apparel. My sweet Nessie had no preference for what she wore, but amused the two anyway. In most ways she acted far beyond her one year of age, but in some ways, a few really, she acted just like a one-year-old discovering new things every day and being excited by small reactions in people. Alice and Rose's smiles while playing Dress-Up Nessie were one of them. Nessie got off her pedestal and placed a warm hand against my tired arm, no message was sent to me, the motion itself was meant to be calming.
I smiled and smoothed her hair with my hand, "Mommy will get it this time." She giggled but said nothing, I wondered idly if she was scheming with Alice during their dress-up parties. "Okay, you two, let's do this." I put my arm back up in position and Emmett grabbed my hand firmly in his, Kate placed her hand lightly on my jeans. It had taken awhile to figure out the least painful way to practice this, we had been practicing nearly every day since we had all arrived in Alaska and the first few days had left me fatigued to the point that Edward started to catch on and realize that this time wasn't used for some family game or another. I could only imagine how tiring it was for Emmett and Kate to keep their minds protected from Edward, Kate especially since she had very little practice of doing it.
"Are you ready?" Kate asked calmly.
"Yep," I nodded. "One."
"Two," Emmett said with a mean gleam in his eye, even though the human blood in me had thinned considerably he had no guilt of using his entire brute force against me.
In synch we whispered, "Three," and with that we began pushing against each other. With the exception of not using both arms, Emmett and I played with very little rules. We had no problem of using the stone for leverage or trying to distract the other player. Alice had refused to tell the three of us anything, although it was less of a game for Kate than for Emmett and me. Kate had only begrudgingly agreed to help us after I had pleaded my case to her during a hunting trip I had taken with her and Garrett. He had gone off in a different direction from us in order to find himself a challenge, although his transition from human to animal blood was a challenge in and of itself.
"Kate, I know it's a bit reckless, but you're the only one here who can help me. You're the only one besides Edward to not have an effect on me," we had already fed and we were only walking around the wooded area to wait for Garrett to show back up. My hands were brushing against trees and with a soft tug a small twig with leaves came off. I brushed the leafy end against the bark of the trees, enjoying the sound that played around in my ears.
"Bella, please understand, it's not that I don't want to help. It's that I don't like the idea of having to hurt you for no reason," she kicked a stone and sent it flying miles into the woods.
"It's not for no reason!" I complained. "And you seemed to have no problem with it last year when you were shocking Edward. Do you hate him or something?" I asked mock-seriously.
She smiled, her bright teeth matching the snowy surroundings. "I don't hate Edward, Bella. I just don't like the idea of hurting you when the need is something so small. Last year was different; lives were on the line. Why can't you just practice with Edward?"
"Because I want it to be a surprise. A present. For his birthday, his human birthday. He doesn't know I know when it is and I just want to give him a good present. He has everything he desires and then some, but I haven't been able to connect with his mind for more than a few milliseconds while we're doing—anything. I just need you to shock me while Emmett and I arm wrestle. He's going to provide the distraction and you're going to shock me until you get through my shield, mmm, or rather until I let you get through my shield. Please, Kate? If it's too much for either of us after the first few times you don't have to do it anymore."
"Come on Kate," Garrett goaded from somewhere on the right. He appeared out of the white woods, his white pants and sweater making him look like a floating head.
"Garrett, don't." Her voice wavered. "Stay out of this."
Between the two of us, Kate had been persuaded by the time we had reached the house.
Emmett had moved a large boulder closer to the house so that we would not have to venture too far away lest someone need us for something. After two weeks of practicing my shield was becoming stronger and more reliable. In the past two days I had even been able to wrap the shield around each of Kate's fingers, feeling only a tingle from one digit at a time. I had learned to smile through the pain since my calm face had wavered the first time my shield had gotten through and Kate had been all too close to forgetting her promise.
Edward's birthday was tomorrow and I felt far from confidant about being able to have a one-way conversation with his mind the next day but with Kate and Garrett leaving for a holiday in the morning I had no more time to practice. Edward had only promised not to pry and ask questions if we were back in the house by nightfall. The danger of the Volturi had passed and yet he still had Alice scanning the future daily and was keeping a tight leash on his family. I felt a fine mixture of irritation and adoration towards his over-protectiveness.
"Momma?" Nessie's pitch perfect voice came from the corner and caused me to lose all forms of concentration. Emmett slammed my hand down into the stone, Kate's painful touch ended instantly. I collapsed, completely defeated.
"You did great, Bella," I could tell from Kate's voice that she was smiling.
"Really?" I turned towards her. Renesmee crawled into my lap and placed her hand on my shoulder, I felt the tingles of a message being sent but pushed her hand away. "Don't interrupt, Nessie." Her frustration shot through me and I bit back my smile. Her temper was so much like her father's, she always needed to have the final word.
"Really, Bella. You didn't block me until the very end, right?" I nodded. "That was almost a full minute. That's wonderful, so stop being so hard on yourself." Garrett called for her from off in the distance, "Excuse me," she smiled sweetly and then left the area.
I looked at Emmett who appeared to be particularly proud of his self for beating me. Again. "It's not exactly a big deal anymore, Emmett." I rubbed my wrist, thankful for the stone casing that surrounded my bones now. Nessie showed me an image of the fall she had taken last week; it was the last time Emmett and Jacob babysat alone. I nodded at Nessie, but smiled, hoping she would understand that it was okay. A foreign feeling of understanding went through my mind, another thought from Nessie. She seemed to understand things better when they weren't verbal, even the smallest cues from someone's thoughts or feelings were generally picked up by her.
"Aw, come on Bella! I was beat by a girl. You were as clumsy as a one-legged flamingo in real life and you kicked my—butt," he smiled bashfully towards Nessie. She giggled.
"Rose said if you say one more bad word she's going to wash your mouth out with my apple juice!" Emmett groaned at the little girl's perfect memory, but she just kept on smiling and giggling. Her smile and giggles combined with the happy feeling she was absentmindedly sending through me caused me to grin as well.
"I'm so glad you can find pleasure in my pain."
"Oh, Emmy," Nessie sighed; laughing again as his face turned sour at the mention of the nickname Jasper had convinced her to use.
"I'm leaving," he said after getting up from his position.
"Bye Emmy!" Nessie and I said in unison, causing her to go into a fit of giggles. After Emmett was in the house I picked her up, her 10-year-old body had to look awkward being held by my 19-year-old one, but she still felt light as a bag of apples and still enjoyed being held by everyone. It made it easier to communicate with us. "Momma?" Nessie asked again.
"Yes Renesemee?"
I could see Emmett and me arm wrestling and Kate sending pulses of electricity through my thigh, a feeling of confusion ran through me.
"Nes," I twisted her from the side of my hip to my front so I could see her face directly. "What if you couldn't communicate with someone? What if your gift didn't work on Jacob? Wouldn't you want to do anything in order to try and communicate with him the way you do?" It was terrifying to see how finely tuned she and Jake were to each other, just the smallest brush from Nessie was all Jake needed to understand almost everything she was thinking about and Nessie was becoming a pro at understand what Jake was feeling or thinking about. Of course, the entire relationship still concerned Edward and I. It had been Edward's job to talk to Jake about all the rules and boundaries that he was going to enforce on him once Nessie cared for Jake romantically.
She scrunched her nose, not fully understanding what I was going through. I couldn't blame her, there had never been a point in her short life where she had not been able to communicate with people. Normal newborns weren't able to communicate that they were thirsty or missed their mother, father or imprint. Most newborns also didn't have an imprint or a vampire family. Nessie was a special, lucky girl.
"There're my two favorite women," Edward said from the doorway.
"Honey, I'm home."
I reached up on my tiptoes for a kiss, Edward bent down but before his lips reached mine he spoke, "So when am I going to find out what you four have been doing out there? The curiosity is killing me." I shook my head, refusing to respond. I waited for my kiss but it didn't come. I gasped, shocked and appalled at his refusal. It didn't matter though. I'd get him tonight.
"I know Momma's secret, Daddy," Nessie said in a sickly sweet voice. Edward's eyebrows rose up and he smiled, I let him take her out of my grasp and he held her tightly against him.
"And what I can I do, ma petite chérie, to get you tell me what this little secret is?" Edward didn't need any motivation to give into her wants and needs, though. Nessie looked back at me, she knew that Edward needed no prodding when it came to giving her what she wanted, but messing with his mind a bit first would be fun for her. Nessie placed her hand on his forehead and closed her eyes, she laughed and blindly tried to flatten out the wrinkles that creased his head when he frowned from the vision she was giving him. "Ah ma petite menteur," she caught on quickly to the meaning of his French, but still laughed, "You were not making ice cream in the garage. Who would eat ice cream in this house?" Nessie pursed her lips and titled her head to the side, sending him another message. "Jacob wouldn't eat ice cream, Nessie, it'd melt!"
She laughed again and clapped her hands together at Edward's cleverness. "So you will tell me nothing?" Nessie placed her forehead against her father's, looking directly into his eyes. She shook her head while her father laughed at her.
"And you will tell me nothing?" he asked, consulting me.
"You'll find out tonight," I said quietly. Nessie had rested her head on his shoulder and was nodding off to sleep. "Let's get her to bed."
&
"So," I was straddling Edward in the bed that night, "Carlisle told me a secret."
"So I've come to realize. You seem to be quite fond of secrets in your new life. Is that because you can hide them better?" He drummed his fingers on the back of my hips.
"Nope, it's just cause I have better secrets to keep." I bent down and kissed his bottom lip. He lifted his head up as I pulled away, trying to prolong the kiss.
"Mmm, so dear Bella, when am I going to find out about this secret?"
"Well…. I heard that someone is having a birthday tomorrow."
He frowned with confusion but his lips were slowly drawing up into a smile. "I hope you didn't get me anything."
I took his hands from my hips and placed them on his chest, "Pot," then placed them on mine, "meet kettle."
He let out a loud, throaty laughed, "No, seriously, Bella. I really don't want anything," his hands went up to my shoulders and neck, "Or need anything. I have you and I have a daughter, something I never though would happen. Both of you. I never thought I would get either of you. I am content for the rest of my life."
"That's good, but I can still wish you a happy birthday." I smiled and rubbed my lips together; I was scared that after this sort of build up my idea would fail due to my nerves. It simply wasn't fair that as a vampire I could still get nervous butterflies (or seagulls) flying around in my stomach.
I bent down and began kissing him again. "Well, I like this kind of birthday present." He rolled me over so he was on top this time and soon I was consumed in Edward's kisses.
I love you Edward.
He pulled back, surprised. "You've gotten better."
"I've been practicing." He raised an eyebrow. "With Emmett—" his eyes bugged out of his head—"and Kate. Arm Wrestling." Realization hit him. "It's getting harder. He's winning more."
"You'll be the death of me."
"I really hope not."
He began to kiss me again.
Happy birthday, Edward.
AN: From 55 to 2,570. I'm pretty proud of myself! If any of my French is incorrect and you are a fluent speaker feel free to correct it. I'm just using my two years of French from high school and an online translator.