It was another cloudy day and the light rain resembled a veil of haze, giving the town a kinda eerie look. Edward was on his way home from school and he was not in the best of moods.
Today it was his turn to take Emmett hunting again, and he slowly dragged his feet across the pavement to gain a little more time to himself before he would have to waste the rest of his afternoon watching his brother.
Due to his ability and the fact that Emmett was slowly losing his extreme newborn strength and his impulsiveness, Carlisle and Esme had figured that he could just as well take Emmett for a hunt sometimes as they were all taking turns.
Rose and Esme usually went together with Em, because they felt safer to have someone with them in case he would pick up an interesting scent and needed to be dragged away from the source – but Edward wasn't a girl and he claimed that he could handle the boy on his own.
Carlisle also went alone with Emmett as he had experience in dealing with newborns and controlling them, and he enjoyed spending some alone time with his son in order to get to know him a little better. It was always a joy to see that he was feeling comfortable around his brother and mother and how much he loved Rose, and Carlisle was truly happy that Emmett was happy.
Edward walked down the street and passed the last few shops and houses until he was out of town, following the way for a little longer until he reached the muddy path through the forest that would lead him to the hidden entrance to their property. He liked living so secluded and he could already perceive the distinctive sweet smell of their house and the people who where living there.
The smell of home had changed a few months ago when Rosalie had brought home a wounded young man who got mauled by a bear and nearly killed in the process.
He would have to get used to it, he figured, just like he had needed to get used to it when Esme joined them, followed by Rose a few years ago.
Emmett was his brother now.
Emmett was sitting by the window, his eyes wide while he scanned the path leading to their house for his brother. He knew that they would go hunting soon and he had been excited all day. Why the little one had insisted on attending classes and study was beyond him - he had finished school already and it wasn't like they really needed to learn human stuff anymore - Rosie had refused so she could stay home with him, and maybe Edward should have done the same. He felt that Edward was wasting precious time that he could spend with him going on bear hunts and just having fun.
They were always having so much fun together... so why would he choose to sit in school where he would be bored to tears and miss out on all the fun? Fun was the most important thing in life, and then came love as runner-up.
He looked over his shoulder to glance at the clock on the wall, then started drumming his fingers on the window sill.
"Emmett," Rose sighed while dipping the tip of her fountain pen into the inkwell that was standing on the coffee table in front of her. "That won't make him come home any faster."
"But all the good bears will be gone if we don't leave soon!" he complained.
She chuckled and continued to write the letter she was going to send to Tanya and her family. "Emmy, in this area we are the only ones of our kind and we are the only ones who chose this particular diet," she said over the loud scratching sounds of the pen on the thick paper.
"I want a big bear, a really big one, no, a huge one! Just imagine what the blood must taste like...," he muttered musingly as venom pooled in his mouth that he had to gulp down quickly before he could direct a huge smile at his wife.
She smiled back at him, enjoying his good mood and his refreshing excitement that always rubbed off on her and put her in a state of almost constant felicity.
But at that moment his face fell as a thought struck him. "Uh-oh...," he uttered, "what if we won't be able to find any bears at all?" He stared at her with a look of panic in his eyes.
She sighed and focussed back on her letter. "You'll have to make do with what you find, darling."
He approached her and slumped down next to her on the sofa, folding his arms while his face formed into a pout with his cheeks puffing out.
"The most important thing is that you don't go hungry. You have all eternity to hunt down bears."
All of a sudden his face lit up again and he sat up straight. "I think I heard something!" he exclaimed and jumped up, his knee bumping against the edge of the coffee table when he sped towards the window.
The little ink bottle on the table fell over and spilled a good portion of the dark liquid over the letter Rose was currently writing. She lifted the paper up in the air to save it from further damage and she managed to pick the bottle up before all the ink could run out.
The upper quarter of the letter was ruined and she sighed. Accidents like that happened all the time around her mate. Well, at least he would grow out of it soon and honestly, she couldn't even be mad at him. She chose to write at the coffee table in the living room instead of at the desk in the office, so she really had no one else to blame but herself for having to write the letter anew.
Emmett was standing by the window again, looking out in hopes he would finally be able to detect his brother coming home.
"Oh, there he is!" he called, then ran from the room and through the house until he reached the foyer. Wrenching the front door open, he took a step onto the front porch, a huge smile plastered across his face when Edward rounded the last corner and walked towards him.
Bolting over to his brother, Emmett flung his arms around him, embracing him in a big bear hug, then lifted him off his feet and tightened the embrace.
The air was knocked from Edward's lungs, and the only thing he managed to do in this constricted pose was to tap his brother lightly on the back, indicating that he would like to breathe again and have some room to move.
"Oh," Emmett mumbled, then set him back on his feet and beamed at him. "Are we going hunting now? If we find a bear, it's mine, all right?"
Edward inwardly groaned - he didn't even get a few minutes of reprieve after having spend hours being surrounded by inane students.
"I told you not to come near me when I get home from school. Go find Rosalie while I get changed," he told the exuberant boy, then walked past him and into the house.
"Emmett, inside," he said and pointed into the house when he had reached the foyer, all the while holding the door so his brother could enter and he could shut the door again.
"Sorry, Eddie," Emmett uttered with a smirk and rushed past him, ruffling his hair when he did so.
Edward let out a silent growl, then fixed his hair with one hand while he closed the door with the other.
God, newborns could be so annoying...
He stomped up the stairs and vanished into his room in order to change into some old clothes that he could wear for their hunt. He never spilled anything, that was something he had managed to master pretty early as he didn't like running around in stained shirts, but with Emmett you never knew what would happen to your clothes. He liked shoving him or wanted to wrestle, he threw leaves and dirt and rocks at him while he fed, and sometimes he fought so much with his prey that he - as the onlooker - got sprayed with blood from the poor, scared animal.
Another reason why he as well as Carlisle always changed right after they came home was that the faint smells of humans that surrounded them might be trapped in the fabric of their clothes which could set the newborn off. So they didn't want Emmett to get too close to them when they returned home from school or from work. But Emmett tended to forget that he needed to wait for them to come find him after they returned and not the other way around.
Yes, he was just full of joy and extremely excited - quite wondrous attributes for a newborn. Edward was sure that he hadn't been like that when he was still that young, and Rosalie had been anything but excited and happy. More like hateful and spiteful and downright horrible.
He took off his trousers and shed his shirt, dropping both items onto his bed before grabbing a clean smelling pair of pants from his closet.
He heard Rosalie giggling and taking a glimpse into his siblings' heads, he could see that Emmett was feeling frisky again. Rose wanted to go into town with Esme today to get new clothes for her mate, and so she needed to distract him from his sudden urges - she did so begrudgingly, of course.
With a shudder he pulled out of their minds again, then slipped into his clean trousers and reached for a shirt. He was just in the process of putting it on when he heard Esme emerge from the master bedroom and make her way down the hall to his room.
Quickly sliding his arms into the shirt and buttoning up, he then opened the door before Esme even had a chance to knock.
She stood there with her balled hand in the air, ready to rap her knuckles against the wooden door, but lowered it when she saw her boy standing in front of her.
"Edward, you're home," she said with a warm, motherly smile and hugged him. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in." When she pulled away again, she looked him over, then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you taking Emmett for a hunt now? Rosalie and I-"
"You are going into town, I know."
She nodded. "He has been looking forward to it all day, he's always so excited about going on a hunt with you, Edward. I'm sure he won't give you any trouble."
"I can handle him."
"All right, dear," she said and rubbed his upper arm for a moment to show her gratitude, before looking in the direction of the stairs when she heard Rosalie calling for her.
"Let's go, hm? Or do you need a moment to yourself? We can stay for another hour to keep an eye on Em while you rest."
"No, it's quite all right. I'd like to go hunting before I get started on my homework."
He stepped out into the hallway and pulled the door to his room shut, then let his mother put an arm around his shoulders to walk downstairs with him.
Rosalie and Emmett were standing in the foyer, and it looked like they were right in the middle of a heavy make out session.
Esme cleared her throat, and they broke away from each other like they hadn't expected anyone to walk in on them.
"Stop that, Rosalie, I told you before that this is inappropriate," Emmett chided her and pulled at the hem of his shirt to straighten out the fabric, then cleared his throat loudly, which only made Rose snort with laughter.
She put a hand on his chest, then got up on her tip-toes and placed a soft kiss on his lips before pulling away and turning to look at Esme.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Yes, dear... are you?" Esme queried with a frown when she saw Emmett trying to be really inconspicuous as he put a hand on his mate's butt, squeezing it.
"Emmett," Rose said and slapped his hand away. "I thought you are thirsty. Edward would like to take you for a hunt now, remember?"
Yes, he remembered.
The boy turned his head and when his eyes found his brother standing on the bottom step of the stairs, he started grinning.
"Great, let's go!" he exclaimed, then bolted from the room and out of the house.
Edward rolled his eyes.
He quickly waved good bye to his mother, then took off after the impulsive newborn to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.
With ease he caught up with him, seeing that he was exceptionally fast and always knew beforehand where Emmett was heading and what he planned to do. The sound of Emmett guffawing when he detected him running next to him distracted Edward for a moment, and he suddenly got pushed into a tree by the insane newborn who immediately took off again.
Always the same...
Picking himself up off the ground and brushing splinters of wood and bark from his clothes, he rushed after him again, now regretting that he hadn't accepted Esme's offer to rest for a while before taking crazy Emmett for his walk.
This time he was with him even quicker, because Emmett had stopped running and was now standing in the middle of a clearing, stock still. He whipped his head to the side, sniffing the air, then turned it to the other side and did the same, all the while listening for the distinct sounds of movement in the thick woods. He turned around and as his eyes met Edward's, he just put a finger to his lips, then winked before heading for the river nearby. Despite the loud rushing sounds of the water, he must have heard something that caught his interest.
Yes, the Hoquiam river held salmon, and bears liked salmon... Emmett wasn't as stupid as he looked like.
He bolted after him so as to not leave him out of his sight, pushing branches and ferns out of his way while the sounds of the river grew gradually louder. An enraged roar filled the air, accompanied by excited laughter.
Edward pushed through the undergrowth until he reached the riverside, then halted and leaned with his back against a tree, crossing his arms. Before his eyes a wrestling match took place between an angry male cinnamon-coloured black bear and... Emmett.
Well, at least Em was busy now and all he needed to do was to make sure that there were no humans nearby to witness this bizarre play or distract Emmett from one of his favourite pastimes. He really did not want any dead humans on his watch. He would have to dispose of them and get Emmett under control, then they would have to move,... no, thank you.
The first half of the fight played out in the water where the bear had been standing to get a drink of water or catch a fish, until Emmett decided that it would be fun to see how agile the tasty omnivore would be on land.
The bear swatted at him and let out threatening snorts before roaring loudly, revealing his dangerous teeth. Emmett grinned and ran around the bear, pushing him from behind and jumping onto his back just to get him riled up even more. He slapped the beast on the nose and tickled his belly - and Edward groaned while he watched.
This could take forever...
"Emmett? Would you mind getting a move on?"
Emmett looked up at him with a questioning facial expression, and the bear used that moment of distraction to grab him from behind and drop his weight on him to push him to the ground while biting into the back of his head and neck. Too bad for the bear that Emmett was strong and his skin was harder than the bear's teeth. The boy's laugh rang through the air, and he grabbed the bear's front legs and swung him over his shoulders only to slam him onto his back on the muddy earth.
An angry bellow escaped the bear while he struggled to get back to his feet in order to fight his attacker and hopefully kill him. Em crouched low, giving the animal as much time as it would need to attack again, while he bared his teeth and hissed in an attempt to provoke the bear some more - and for the simple reason that he enjoyed hissing and growling.
Edward looked up to check the sky for more rain, then wondered if Esme would bring him some sheet music to play on his beautiful Kimball baby grand as soon as it would be delivered. They had to leave it behind in their old house when they moved here, and he had to admit that he missed it more than anything. Carlisle and Esme got him a used upright piano once they had settled into their new house so he would still be able to play, but it sounded horrible in comparison and that's why he only used it for practice. It just wasn't the same.
The next time he looked up he was delighted to see that Emmett was finally having more physical contact with the bear now as he was holding him in a tight headlock and rubbed his knuckles briskly over the animal's head. Soon the musky odor of the bear and the sound of the rushing of the hot, adrenaline-laced blood in the bear's veins would be too much for him and then he'd finally sink his teeth into its neck. As soon as he had fed they could go home again.
The sounds of them fighting turned into mere background noises as Edward thought about how everything had changed since Emmett had joined them. Weirdly enough Rosalie was less bitchy when the newborn was around. Unfortunately now she and Em annoyed him together, but it wasn't as hateful as before when it had just been Rose.
So except for having to play the nanny once again, he had the feeling that the situation at home had improved a little bit. Well, except for having to make do with a crappy piano instead of his little beauty.
Seeing that Emmett had finally managed to roll around on the ground with this huge beast, he was breathing a sigh of relief that soon they could leave again. He guessed that enough time must have passed already.
The fights always took a while, but he wasn't allowed to rush his brother because newborns needed to work all the stress off, satisfy their hunting instincts and take their time testing their control.
Em's wasn't too bad, he figured, and when he heard an anguished roar and gurgled growling, he knew that Emmett hadn't been able to prolong this any further. He was feeding now, swallowing mouthfuls of bear blood and spilling part of it as he kept on growling and hissing throughout the drinking process. What a nasty habit...
The gurgling went on for another minute, until the bear sagged to the ground like a lifeless meat puppet. Emmett burped after he had finally managed to dislodge his lips from the ragged wound he had inflicted on the neck of the animal, and there was a satisfied, red-toothed grin on his face.
"I won," he said happily and nodded at Edward, who just distorted his mouth at seeing the mess his brother had made. The blood of the bear was smeared across his lips and cheeks, blood was dripping from his chin onto his clothes that looked ripped and dirty and covered in bear fur. There was no way Esme would be able to get them clean again.
Taking a deep breath while pushing away from the tree, Edward stretched his back and walked towards him. "Ready to go home again?"
Emmett shook his head vehemently, then headed towards him and grabbed him by the hand. Pulling him over to the dead bear lying defeated and dead on the ground, he led him to its front and pointed at the head.
"It's huge, isn't it? Oh, he was so angry and aggressive, I've never had that much fun before! Next time we'll go look for two of them so you can fight as well!"
Edward pulled his hands from his brother's grip and looked at it, wrinkling his nose at the blood smears and dirt stains that were now soiling his once clean skin. "No, thank you."
Without looking at him again he just walked on until he reached the river, and he squatted down to wash the grime from his hands in the cool water so he wouldn't accidentally soil his clothes.
A glimpse at his brother's mind made him pinch his eyes shut and hang his head.
He saw the boy on top of the animal with his knees pressed firmly into its back to keep its shoulders flat on the ground while he grabbed the head and then broke the neck and tore the skin, sinews and muscles in one swift motion, effectively decapitating his prey.
This was the second time he had to witness his brother beheading a bear, and it was just as gross as the first time had been. He looked over his shoulder when he heard Emmett's heavy footsteps heading toward him, and suddenly he was kneeling next to him, holding the mauled head on one of his dirty palms like he wanted to present it to him.
"Emmett, what are you doing?"
"Now that's a great one, don't you think?" he asked, giving him a triumphant smile that practically let him feel his brother's pride and the joy that currently surged through him.
"You cannot keep it."
"Yes, I can. It's mine," he replied petulantly and hugged it to himself, soiling his shirt even more.
"Do you remember what Esme said? She doesn't want dirty bear heads in the house."
Emmett's face scrunched up at the memory, feeling quite dispirited by his brother's words. But that didn't last long as he looked around and got an idea.
Edward knew what it was even before Emmett said it out loud, and he could have groaned in frustration.
"I'll wash it now, then it's all right."
"Emmett," Edward admonished, "let go of it. Just drop it."
"No."
"This head will stay here in the forest, do you understand? You will not bring it home."
Emmett's thoughts alone told him that he wasn't going to obey him. The newborn was desperate to hold onto his prize, and he was giddy with excitement to be able to show it to the rest of the family. "Okay," the boy lied, nodding his head but didn't stop dunking the bear head into the water again and again in order to clean it of any excessive blood and goo. "I just want to carry it for a little while to say good-bye."
What a horrible liar... "A dirty bear head does not belong in the house, leave it here."
"It looks clean now, doesn't it?" he queried, holding it up again, this time by one of its ears. The other one had apparently 'gone missing' during the fight.
Little pink droplets of water and mud were dripping from the severed head, and it was so abysmally ugly with its dislocated jaw and the missing ear. The bear had a huge cut on its cheek, making the skin hang down from the bone and revealing its large teeth. It looked like he was giving them a weird, lopsided grin. And it looked like it might fall apart any second.
"Emmett," Edward said and buried his face in his open hands, groaning loudly now. "The bear will stay in the forest."
"Yes," Emmett said, nodding his head slowly, "and you still need to hide him. Carlisle wouldn't like it if you left him here for everyone to see, you know that."
Getting lectured by a newborn was quite infuriating, but he had learned to be patient with these crazy idiots.
Clenching his jaw and exhaling an angry breath, he pushed himself up into a standing position and stalked over to the huge body. He grabbed it by the right hint foot, then pulled it into the direction of an old tree, which he pulled from the muddy ground with ease. He kicked the dead bear into the big hole he just created, then placed the uprooted tree on top of it again, stomping down on the loose earth to give it some more foothold and make it look like nothing unusual had ever happened here.
Turning around and brushing his hands off against each other, he saw his brother standing there by the river, both of his hands behind his back and from this position forty feet away it looked like something dark and dripping wet was dangling between his legs.
"You cannot take a bear head with you."
"I know," Emmett replied, nodding his head to show him that he had understood. "But what bear head?"
Okay, I am so not in the mood for this now...
"Are you ready to go home?" Edward asked with annoyance in his voice that he just didn't manage to suppress, looking at his brother with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure am," Emmett replied with a grin. "I'll follow you."
Great, he really thinks I'm stupid enough to not notice...
But if Emmett refused to listen to him, Carlisle and Esme could take care of it. He really didn't care.
All Edward wanted was to head back home and get started on his homework. It would help him relax, and he would finally be done with this tedious task of taking newborn Em hunting. The boy had fed, he had a lot of fun, and his job was done.
They ran in silence, only picking up their pace when the smell of home wafted over to them. Emmett's thoughts were a jumble of excitement and triumph, of joy and giddiness. There was absolutely no stopping him.
And he wasn't in the mood for discussing this with an undiscerning, stubborn vampire trainee or yell at him and maybe end up provoking a fight. Let him head for his doom, that's the only way he would learn.
"You don't bring this inside, am I clear? Not inside the house, just put it somewhere else, but don't bring it inside, all right?" he demanded one last time, keeping his voice soft in order to make his brainless brother see reason.
"Yes."
Of course he would say that.
"All right, I'm going inside now. Follow me, will you?"
"Sure," Emmett said with a smile, getting more excited by the second that his incredibly great plan was going to work out and he had successfully fooled Edward. As soon as he would step into the house he had basically won, he thought.
Dear Lord...
But when Edward suddenly saw what his brother was planning on doing with it, he stopped worrying. This wouldn't be too bad, and Esme would be able to take care of it on her own, no problem.
"Let's go."
Edward entered the house through the side door and stepped into the kitchen. He held the door for his brother who still had his hands behind his back and was walking sideways as he moved past him, all the while grinning like a little child that had trouble containing his mischievousness and excitement.
Well, Edward really did not care anymore.
He closed the door, then looked at his brother, telling him to stay inside until the others would come back home. Emmett's thirst was satiated, he was feeling comfortable and happy and Edward was sure that he could leave him alone for a few minutes without having to worry that he'd do something stupid. Well, not any more stupid than what he already had in mind.
And just like expected, Emmett gave him an innocent smile and nodded.
"Good."
Closing the door and bolting it just for the heck of it, Edward left the kitchen and headed for his room. Now he was free to do whatever he wanted - someone else could take care of Emmett's mess.
Esme and Rose came home when it was already starting to grow dark outside. Carlisle still wasn't home as he was working double shifts, but they knew that their two boys would be waiting for them. They had purchased quite a few clothes for the newest addition to the family, but couldn't go overboard as despite being able to save a lot of money due to their exceptionally cheap vampire diet, Carlisle still didn't earn enough so that they could spend it on whatever they wanted.
But the big boy needed something clean to wear, and so this was mostly the reason why they felt the need to head into town for some shopping.
Esme picked up a faint musty smell when she opened the front door to step inside. At first she didn't think much of it as she knew that her boys had been hunting, but the vivid memory of a gross bear head that had soiled her house just a week ago was pushing itself into her mind.
"Do you smell that?" she asked her daughter, looking at her with uneasy eyes as she stepped into the house and lifted her head a little to sniff the air. She set one of the bags down, but kept the ones with Emmett's clothes in her hand.
"Emmett went hunting, you know that," Rose answered and shrugged her shoulders, not deeming the smell to be a cause for alarm.
"Let's show him what we got for him," she suggested, beaming up at her mother. She was so looking forward to seeing her successful hunter again and maybe even take a bath with him in case he hadn't bathed already. And then he could show her how handsome he looked in his new clothes.
"Yes, but I'd like to put one of the new shirts in our closet... just in case," Esme uttered, making Rose turn back to look at her and nod her head. Couldn't hurt, after all.
They headed upstairs while Esme's nervousness peaked until the upper corridor came into view.
It was clean.
It was stench-free.
It was... perfect.
A loud sigh of relief fell from her lips, and Rose frowned at her for a moment before continuing to walk over to her and Emmett's room. The door was ajar, and when she was in the process of pushing it open, Emmett was already standing in front of her.
"You're back!" he exclaimed and reached out for her, then enveloped her in his arms and spun her around like he always did. He kissed her lips before he set her back on her feet again, and her eyes twinkled when she looked up into his smiling face.
"Hi, darling."
"How was your hunt with Edward?" Esme asked him.
He took a step towards her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before his smile grew even wider. "We had so much fun!"
"That's great, dear," she said and smiled before she took a step back. "I'll go talk to him for a moment."
"No!" Emmett called, then suddenly lowered his voice to a near whisper. "He's studying right now because he wants to be really smart one day."
When they just looked at him, he lifted his right hand and put his forefinger to his lips. "Sshh."
"Well, I'm sure he'll come find us as soon as he's done," Esme whispered back and Emmett nodded his head at her.
"I'll wash out the new vase, Rosalie, maybe tomorrow you can help me pick a few flowers to put in there?"
Rosalie slung her arm around her mate's waist and looked back at Esme. "Of course, mother, I'd love to."
Esme watched them for a moment as she enjoyed seeing them so happy together, then handed her daughter their purchases before she turned around and headed back downstairs. Her nose wrinkled while she descended the steps - she didn't like the lingering smell of bear in the house, and it was quite peculiar that she could smell it even though Emmett had seemingly washed his face and hands and had changed into some clean clothes.
She stopped for a second and grabbed the bag with the vase in it from the bottom step of the stairs, then made her way into the kitchen. Placing the bag onto the kitchen table, she reached inside and lifted the cardbox out of it, putting it on the table next to the bag before she opened the lit to reveal the beautiful vase within. She knew that she probably shouldn't have bought it as they really needed to watch their money during difficult times like this when they were always running the risk of having to pack up and move again. But she truly fell in love with this pretty Fiesta bud vase in old ivory and so Rose had encouraged her to buy it, telling her that she should get something nice for herself once in a while... and so Esme had taken it to the counter and paid for it, feeling guilty and happy at the same time.
With delicate fingers she slowly pulled the beautiful glazed vase from the box, looked it over again with a little smile and then turned and headed for the sink.
With one hand she reached over to open the tap and when she looked down a loud shriek escaped her lips and the vase dropped from her hand, crashing onto the tile floor and bursting into a hundred pieces.
Her eyes were wide and she covered her mouth with one hand, while she braced herself against the kitchen counter with the other, breathing heavily.
There was a big and absolutely nasty bear head lying in her kitchen sink. It was mauled and wet and she wanted it out of the house.
She figured that she needed another moment to collect herself and calm down, and so she closed her eyes only to rip them open again and yell, "Emmett, Edward! Kitchen, now!"
Calming down had not worked.
Her big, dark-haired son walked into the room a few seconds after she had called for them and he was smiling broadly. He noticed the shards on the floor that were obviously the result of the loud crashing sound he had just heard. "Do you want me to help you clean this up?"
She took a deep breath while folding her hands in order to keep them still. "No, honey, I want you to explain to me what that thing is doing in my sink."
"I put it there," he told her proudly. "Do you like it?"
"Emmett, no. No, I do not like bear heads. NO. And I like them even less when they are dirty and inside our house where they clearly don't belong."
Emmett frowned at her. "But it's not dirty. I washed it."
She glanced at the wet head and shuddered before looking back at her boy again. "I can see that, Em, but that will not keep it from rotting."
He scratched the back of his head. "But... it's clean. I washed it and put it in the sink right away."
She could see how that would make sense to her boy, and she had to admit that she was feeling a little proud of him that he understood what had bothered her the most the last time he had brought a very similar surprise home. It wouldn't soil anything as long as it was lying in there as all the dirt and blood would go down the drain immediately. "I can see that, dear."
Her words brought the smile back to his face. "It'll stay there until it's dried."
Oh no, it won't.
She slowly shook her head at him, then told him in a soft voice that she hoped would help him understand and see reason, "That would take a long time, honey, and it would stink even worse then. And how would we use the sink when it's lying in there?"
He thought about that. "We have a sink in the bathroom."
She leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "It has to go, Emmett."
"But... it cannot go, Mom, it's just a head!" he laughed, making his mother clench her teeth in annoyance. She really tried to be patient with her baby, but he was making it exceptionally difficult for her at the moment while she was surrounded by the wet and filthy smell of a dead bear head that was starting to decay in her kitchen sink.
"No severed bear heads in the house, Emmett."
"But-" "No."
He looked so very sad at that moment and had this been about something different she would have been half tempted to change her mind just to see him happy again. But right now it was just not possible and completely out of the question. She pushed away from the counter and took a step towards him, placing a hand on his upper arm. "Go upstairs to your room, Emmett. Rosalie has some new clothes for you to try on."
He distorted his mouth, but then nodded his head and shuffled from the room.
From the corner of her eye Esme detected Edward peeking into the room, and she turned towards him and folded her arms.
Dispose of it and then I'd like to talk to you.
He groaned inwardly, knowing exactly what his mother wanted to talk about and what she would have to say to him.
While she kneeled down to pick up her brand-new and already broken vase, he walked over to the door and opened it, keeping it open with one foot while he reached into the sink and grabbed the head with both his hands.
Moving quickly to get it outside before it could drip some nasty goo onto the kitchen floor that would only serve to infuriate his mother, Edward walked outside with a sour expression on his face and came to a halt in the middle of their backyard. He held the head up, then drew his right leg back and kicked the nasty thing hard, sending it flying through the air and into the forest. He had to restrain himself not to use all his strength because that would have only shattered the stupid head and he would have had to clean up even more.
Turning around and walking back to the kitchen door, he perceived a loud thud in the distance and then the sound of branches breaking as he must have hit a tree with it. He shrugged his shoulders, then took his shoes off at the door and stepped back inside.
Hello! Thank you so much for your reviews and adding this story to your alerts and favourites, I hope you won't regret it o.O
So now you know that Esme tends to drop things when something shocks her and newborn Emmy is basically a horny child... with vampire-ADHD or something. He's a full-time job. Well, at least he is happy - completely demented, yes, but happy.
And I don't know about you but I think this story is lacking some Carlisle. I made him promise me that he'll appear in the next chapter, so all we have to do now is wait :-) I really don't want Edward to become the new focus of the story... LOL
Thanks for reading and feedback is always welcome!
