Mother's Comfort Chapter 2:
Second chapter
Esme checked the wirings in the volvo's engine before closing the hood. Everything looked fine. She narrowed her eyes at the remaining damage. It was true, neither she or Carlisle could stomach what Edward had said to Bella when they had been "forced" to leave her after her eighteenth birthday, but the damage that Jasper, Emmett and Alice had caused to her oldest "child's" car was making this job very difficult for her.
Shaking her head at the ripped open tire that she was guessing was the work of Emmett, she, with her bare, inhuman hands pulled out the tire effortlessly, bringing it quickly with the speed of any vampire over to the junk heap that had been accumulated in the Cullen's garage.
Esme held still for a moment when she heard the sound of the human, Bella who was staying at their house right now waking up. She had heard Bella's thrashing around under the sheets before, which was worrisome but also not unusual. Bella was known to have nightmares on and off about the Volturi and about the family leaving.
A horrendous feeling of guilt formed in Esme at that thought. She knew that she and her family had caused their Bella pain, and now they had to deal with the consequences. Esme waited a few moments. It just sounded like Bella was getting up, not much to worry about, for now anyway. Esme proceeded with what she was doing before.
Going over to where the spare tires were fast, Esme removed the four tires from the shelf that was supposed to be for the Volvo. Esme, with two tires under each arm, went back over to the Volvo, placing the four tires down onto the ground, then turning back to the car.
Once again, effortlessly, Esme reached under the usually heavy car and lifted it above her head, grabbing a tire to put it in place of the old destroyed one. Esme was about to attach the new tire, when she stiffened at a sound coming from inside the house.
Normally, all of the vampires here could hear any sound coming from within the house, but vampires were usually silent. Humans made much more noise than vampires. And right now, with the family's beloved human staying here, it wasn't any surprise to Esme when she heard the sound of the girl walking around the house right now.
Still, Esme found this a little troubling as she heard Bella whimpering a little, as if worried about something. She pulled the tire to the car so as to reattach it, this time still listening to any noise Bella might make.
It was a good thing she did too. After the first spare tire was attached, Esme heard Bella cry out painfully as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Esme, startled, put the car back down to the ground.
Had Bella fallen down from the top of the stairs? She would have heard that, and yet still there was the sound of Bella making a pained noise. Esme walked slowly past the other three spare tires, listening very closely, even more so than most vampires would.
The next sounds Bella made were heart wrenching. Her sobbing and screaming reached its peak, her crying and whimpering finally becoming non stop. Esme couldn't stand there doing nothing anymore; one of her children was in pain, she flitted forwards, faster than any human could see, out of the garage, up the porch steps and into the house.
Esme got through the front door and zoomed into the living room. Esme nearly gasped at what she saw. Bella was on her knees, cringing and screaming as she cried. Sobs wracked through her body in despair. Esme couldn't stand it anymore. Speeding over, she knelt down in front of the human and scooped her up into her cold arms.
Feeling Bella's body against her chest and head up against her stone throat, Esme stared down at the human as she heard a gasp spring from the girl's mouth.
"Esme." Bella whispered, still crying.
"Bella," Esme breathed, her grip tightening only a little so as not to hurt the girl, fear heightening, "Bella, what is it?" Esme felt her own fear practically control her actions she cupped Bella's face with one hand very gently and forced the human girl to look at her.
"Bella, what's wrong?" Esme almost begged, "Why are you sobbing so hard? Tell me, please." She decided that Bella might feel better if she was held sitting down. The girl needed the most comfort Esme could offer her. Esme kneeled down a little, but made sure Bella had as much contact with her body as possible. "Bella," Esme found herself completely desperate as she spoke, "Tell me what's wrong. Are you hurt? Did you have another nightmare? Bella, honey, what happened?"
Esme felt helpless right now. It was times like this when even the vampire part of her was also completely helpless. There was the mother part of her and then the monstrous part of her. The monster part of her, the part that was all vampire wanted to bite Bella as a twisted act of affection. Esme immediately calmed that part of her down. When vampires loved someone, their most primitive part also loved that person, but had a hard time restraining that oh so dangerous monstrous part of the vampiric instinct to bite their loved person to show that affection.
Esme knew that the monster part of her didn't really want to hurt Bella, but she quickly chained that part of her up before anything got out of hand, and once she was sure that the monster was back in its mental cage just growling at her through its bars, she locked her eyes with the sniffling Bella whose tears were streaming down her face and into Esme's clothes. As if the vampire cared. She watched in awe, almost sure that her heart would swell up if it wasn't for the fact it was dead, at the sight of the girl cuddling even closer to the vampire.
Esme's worry was the only thing that stopped her from smiling in delight. No matter how dangerous she and the rest of the Cullen family were or monstrous, Bella always opened her heart to them.
"It's just," Bella whimpered out, "It's just…..My birthday is coming up and…When you…..When you guys left…Before…,"
Upon hearing that, Esme's heart nearly broke. Bella thought they were going to leave her again?
"Oh, Bella," Esme found herself whispering, holding back any growl of anger at the thought that Bella would think this, and she pulled Bella closer to her, "No, no, we won't leave you again, I swear." Esme kept her hand firm under Bella's chin, making sure that they were making eye contact as she spoke, "Bella, we all love you. When we left, we made the biggest mistake our existences."
"Really?" Bella asked, her voice almost broken sounding, and yet so hopeful. Esme nodded as she said gently, "Yes, Bella. We were wrong to abandon you. So, so wrong. Both Carlisle and I love you and so do your brothers and sister. And you know what Alice feels for you."
Bella only gripped Esme harder at that. Esme watched, again, agony filling her as she watched her littlest child sob and hold onto her with abandon. Finally, Bella looked up again at Esme.
"You won't leave again?" Bella asked, clearly stunned at what she had heard Esme say.
"Yes, Bella," Esme repeated leaning in a little and kissing Bella's forehead gently, "We will never leave you again." Esme wanted to emphasize that she would not abandon the girl again either, "I'll never leave you again, I promise you."
Esme could feel Bella stiffening in her arms as she stared at the vampire before hugging herself against the vampire's chest and neck, but then nodded. Esme narrowed her eyes a little. Did Bella doubt her vow? She might have violated her right to be a mother to this girl before but it would never happen again.
She decided to reassure Bella again.
"We were so wrong to leave, Bella," She breathed into the girl's ear, "we had to be out of our minds to let you go." Esme pressed Bella even closer to herself. Not too hard though, she knew, perhaps even better than her mate Carlisle and Bella's Alice did, that Bella, as a human was far more frail than any vampire was, and any further pressure against Esme's stone body could cause serious damage. But she held Bella tightly enough that Bella wasn't getting away and that the vampire's stone skin seemed to practically meld with the human's warm flesh. Finally, Bella broke down and sobbed against Esme, crying for a few good minutes. Esme all the while stroked her daughter's hair, soothing her. Bella kept sobbing until finally, her tears slowly stopped and her cries waned.
Bella then looked up at Esme, causing the vampire to turn her attention to the girl. Bella asked, her voice a little shaky, "Where…..Where were you, Esme?"
Esme felt startled at that question. Her confusion then quickly transformed into heartache. She held back a whimper at the question that sounded so much like an accusation.
"What do you mean, honey?" Esme asked, ignoring the desire to flinch as the subject was brought up again, "you know when we left that we went to Alaska-"
"No, no, no," Bella suddenly laughed, shaking at this and startling the vampire as Bella then smiled, "I mean where were you just now? Even if you guys don't sleep, isn't it a little late to go out and garden?"
It took a moment for Esme to process this, and then she almost laughed herself, but instead just smiled, relief flooding her. "It's alright, Bella," Esme found herself speaking softly, so softly she wasn't sure that Bella would hear, "I was just moving some parts from Edward's car to the garage," Esme found herself smirking at the thought of Edward looking distressed at his almost destroyed Volvo, "It still needs to be fixed after what Alice and your brothers did to it, you know."
Esme's smirk was still strong as she felt Bella giggle into her arms. Obviously, she and the rest of the family weren't alone in condemning Edward for what he had done; telling Bella that she was unloved and shouldn't be with them. Bella clearly found his distress amusing too.
Esme pulled herself back from Bella's body as she said lovingly, "See? You just needed to laugh." Bella laughed a second time, bringing one of her hands up to wipe away her tears. Esme smiled as she continued, "Now let's get you back to bed. You need rest and you've upset yourself. Alice will be back soon. She, Rosalie, the boys and your father are out hunting. They'll be back soon." Esme watched Bella's face to see how the girl absorbed this information before Esme remembered Bella's very unhealthy habit of keeping her issues to herself and not allowing herself to be looked after and added, her expression worried, "Please Bella, don't do what you usually do. Don't hide your pain. When Alice comes back, please tell her immediately what's wrong. It'll only hurt you more if you're not honest with her."
Bella didn't look convinced. She raised her eyebrows at this statement. "What?" She asked, amused, "You don't think she'll be able to see this? You actually think I'll need to tell her? She can just see me in the future telling her, just by me considering it."
Esme smiled a little. It was true, Alice and Bella had a very strong, intense bond. Far stronger than the one Bella had had before with Edward. Bella and Alice seemed to be so bonded that Bella just considered a possibility and Alice was able to see it; more than she was able to see others' decisions.
"Of course she can," Esme stated, "But I still want you to talk to her. Even if she sees it coming and knows all you're going to say, I still want you to tell her. You'll feel better when you tell her." Esme finished her confident opinion, eyes still on Bella lovingly.
Bella nodded, but Esme could see some remaining signs of resistance in her daughter's eyes. Esme's smile widened. Bella was so stubborn because of how considerate she was. However, Bella suddenly had a huge smile on her face and nodded, as if confirming something to herself. And then to Esme's delight, the girl snuggled herself hard to her mother's chest, hugging Esme closely in affection. Esme hugged her tightly as well. She loved this human girl.
Words couldn't express how angry Esme had been when she found out what Edward had done in order to keep Bella out of their lives.
"We won't leave you again, Bella," Esme repeated as she nuzzled into Bella's hair, "Never. You are a part of our family. I mean it." Esme stopped talking and then, angrily thinking of Edward again she added, "Edward won't ever be able to get us to leave you again."
Esme noticed Bella smiling now and she could have sworn that her dead heart was warmed at the sight. Before anything else happened, Esme smelled the scent of her older daughter, Alice approaching. She heard the swift, speeding sound of Alice careening through the wet grass on the pathway to the house.
Esme's attention however, was caught when she heard Bella speak again. "I know you want to fix Edward's Volvo," Bella said quietly, "but can we wait here till Alice comes back?"
At that question, Esme found herself chuckling a little and looking at the door where Alice had just shot through and was now standing there, her face concerned and golden eyes panicked.
"There's no need, Bella," Alice's voice chimed through the room, "I'm right here."
Esme released Bella, allowing the girl to turn around and look at where her vampire lover was standing. Alice gave Bella a gentle smile, but Esme could easily see how terrified her second daughter was for Bella. Bella on the other hand got up almost immediately and ran over to Alice, thrusting herself into the little pixie's arms. This actually earned a laugh from Esme.
Esme watched as Alice gripped Bella. "I came as soon as I saw." Alice said, loudly enough so that both of us would hear and stroking Bella's back.
Esme smiled a little and got up. "It's alright now, Alice," She said, smiling at her daughter, "She missed most of all. You give her strength more than anyone else."
Esme saw Alice sniffing and knew that she was smelling Esme and Bella's scents being mixed together.
"I wouldn't be sure of that, Esme." Alice said, a look of satisfaction replacing whatever grim expression she had before. Esme looked at both Bella and Alice. She knew at that moment that if her heart could swell, it would probably explode. Everything was perfect now, as it was supposed to be. Alice would take good care of Bella. She was always there when Bella had nightmares or couldn't sleep, always there.
Alice spoke again, only this time, speaking in a voice that only Esme could hear and not Bella, "I'm going to take Bella upstairs so that she can get more sleep now." Esme nodded as she heard the words only a vampire could hear.
"Alright, but Alice?" Esme whispered back just as quietly, "I just fixed more of Edward's Volvo. Stop tormenting your brother for his mistakes, alright?"
Alice nodded, making Esme feel a certain level of contentment. She felt no enjoyment anymore than Alice or the rest of the family did for the act that Edward committed by tricking all of them and convincing Bella that she was unloved. However, things needed to be forgiven so that all of them could have peace, including Bella.
Alice then picked Bella up, completely scooping the girl up in her arms bridal style, startling the little human. And Alice speedily went passed Esme, up the stairs all the way up to Alice's room where Bella's bed was.
Esme chuckled when she heard Bella's gasp as she was dropped on the bed and heard Alice's rumbling purrs against Bella, in order to calm the girl down and soothe her back to sleep.
Esme walked off to the door to get back to Edward's Volvo. Everything was fine now. She had all of her children with her and her youngest would be joining them soon. Alice would change Bella into a vampire soon. Bella was right about one thing. Bella's birthday was coming up. And it would be her last human birthday she would have; after Bella turned nineteen, Alice's venom would replace Bella's blood and Esme and Carlisle's youngest daughter would be joining them forever.
With that, Esme closed the door and was sure this time that she felt her heart warm when she heard Alice purring and then heard the sound of Bella's moaning as she fell asleep peacefully.