OMG, I'm soooooooooooooo happy (enough o's for ya ;)
You guys are awesome, and I got like almost ten reviews for just one chapter. I don't care if they're anonymous (Robyn C - I love you) I just love reviews so much.
Your love made me decide to update, see how this works - I get lots of reviews, I update faster, you read faster, and can review again faster :)
Okay, this is still a little longer than usual for this story.
So without further a due (a.k.a. rambling) here is the chapter
2. Carlisle
I woke, and Edward was there, smiling. He gave me a peck on the cheek before climbing out the window to run back to his house.
I yawned in my bed, completely content, and supremely happy.
The day past, with nothing happening other than me taking the camera to school and having many embarrassing shots taken. I even got one of a teacher sniffing something. No, I don't know how a teacher's pay check could pay for that white powder. I gave that one to Jessica, Renee didn't need to see it.
I got home, snapped a photo of my room, my ancient computer, the tiny bathroom, the street, my truck, all in about two minutes. Edward followed, and when I was sure I had a sufficient amount of photos drove me to the local shop where I could get the photos printed. It only took a few minutes so we waited together in the back aisle, trying to make words by covering letters on one of the signs. Edward looked his head at my immaturity when I spelt, penis, bum, and doodle. I shook my head at his nerd-ish-ness, when he spelt words that were so long I can barely remember them. I told him he was cheating when one of the words was backwards.
We picked up the photos, in a nice envelope and chucked in the back seat as we went to their house. Edward drove my chuck, not bothering to comfort it as it squealed at the turn. He laughed when I stroked the arm rest. I glared at him, producing more rounds of laughter.
We arrived at the house, and Esme bustled us inside. Edward carried the huge stack of takeaway containers, somehow managing to hold them all without one or two slipping. It looked very precarious. I still had the camera, so I snapped a photo of him in this position. Esme laughed, and it filled me with warm, love and comfort.
Esme took the huge cake out of her fridge; she'd taken all the shelves out to make room for it. She handed me a knife wearily, and I laughed at her expression. "Don't worry Esme, I cook all the time at home, I won't cut you, or your nice table."
"I trust your knife skills Bella, I just know this wood shows the tiniest scratches," she patted the table. Then she hurried to a cupboard and produced a very large, heavy looking and scratched chopping board. I knew this one; she'd bought it when she started cooking for me.
"Okay kids, no scratching the table," she pointed to us with a mothering I-don't-trust-you-but-I-need-to-go-anyway look. "I'm going hunting, and if I find a single scratch, god help me will give you both medicine and wash your mouths out with soap."
I kind of wished I hadn't told her about those mothering threats she could use on her teenage vampires when they misbehaved.
So the next hour I spent chopping the cake into sizes to fit into the takeaway containers. Halfway through the pixie came in, and watched me, chatting lightly and clinging to her mate, who still looked stiff.
I was done soon enough, and licked the icing off the knife. Edward gave me a look that said that's-not-very-lady-like. I giggled.
"Is that the little acrobat I hear?" boomed a humorous voice.
"Is that the teddy bear?" I countered. The big vampire swept me in a hug, I let the knife go on the table, and it spun almost as fast as Emmett span me. I felt dizzy, and put one hand to my head and the other searched behind me for a hold to steady myself.
"Fuck," I pulled that hand back, instantly losing my dizziness. My hand had found the knife. Blood flowed from the deep cup, the knife clattered to the ground as it released from my flesh with a terrible squelch.
I looked up, just in time to see the blur that propelled me back to the wall. My head hit the fridge door, banging with a metallic boom, too loud to sound good. I looked up when I heard a growl.
Jasper was fighting Edward, his eyes animal-like, devoid of thought and completely ruled by thirst. He was straining against Emmett's hold.
Edward was in front of me, crouched protectively in front of me, with arms spread behind him. His growl was deep and menacing, but almost inaudible, drowned out by the shrill, inhuman snarling that was emanating from Jasper.
Alice was on her tiptoes, I managed to wonder how through my fuzzy head as she was wearing heels. She was trying to get her face in Jasper's vision, trying to calm him down. He still struggled, almost breaking free of Emmett's grip. Rosalie was suddenly in front of him, adding her strength to Emmett's to push the snarling vampire outside. Jasper snapped his jaws in front of her face, razor-sharp teeth and inch from her flesh. She didn't flinch, just pushed him harder.
When the threat was gone, Edward stopped growling. He still stayed defensively; ready to defend me against Alice and Esme. Poor Esme had a hand on her mouth, eyes thirsty but supremely shocked.
Alice was very still, obviously not breathing. "Esme, call Carlisle, unless you want to go to the hospital," she turned to me. My head hurt from the impact with the fridge, there was no pain in my hand. My body had gone into shock. I could barely understand what she was saying, and tried to moan my reply through unresponsive lips.
"Oh my, Edward, check her head, you have more experience with medicine than me. I hope there's no brain damage."
Suddenly cool hands were on my head, lightly pulling me from my leaning position on the fridge. I winced as the hands found the area of impact. I looked to the golden eyes of my examiner, Edward looked relieved.
"There are no fractures; I highly doubt there's brain damage, just bruising."
Alice was getting, if possible, stiffer. Her voice was too fast and quiet to hear now, but I bet she was running out of air.
Edward looked into my eyes. "I'm going to try and stop the bleeding now Bella," he told me, and a burst of told me he'd started. I looked at my hand; his white hands were covering it with a towel. I bit my lip, hard enough to draw more blood, so as to stop myself screaming in pain.
My hand wasn't numb any more. "Do we have any morphine?" Edward asked.
Alice didn't respond, but with a blur returned with a syringe filled with liquid. She hurried to me, injecting it in my arm. The numbing started, and soon I could think semi-coherently.
"I'm really sorry," I apologized. No one replied, and Esme slipped out of the room with an apologetic look.
A few tense minutes later Carlisle stepped into the room, calm and professional. Alice smiled sadly at me, and followed Esme's lead. Edward hung beside me, eyes pained with the inner turmoil combating inside him.
"Go Edward, you're the only one Jasper will listen to," Carlisle instructed. He stared at me for a long while, many emotions flickering across his features. Then he turned and was gone.
"I sure can clear a room. I'm sorry you had to leave work Carlisle."
"No problem, if I hadn't I'd probably just be operating on you there. And then we'd have to fill out forms and make up stories..." he shook his head, picking me up and sitting my on a chair beside a table draped with white fabric. "It's much easier here Bella."
He had a tool bag in hand and started rummaging in it, I cringed and look away. "It'd be just my luck that I've sliced through a bunch of nerves and tendons."
He removed the towel from my hand and examined the cut. I peeked at it; it was deep and gaping and mottled looking inside. I looked for anything that seemed important.
"It's best not you look at it Bella, I don't think Esme is particular excited about the prospect of cleaning up vomit. As far as I can tell Bella, you're very lucky, I don't see and tendon or nerves."
I felt a bit relieved, but that feeling faded quickly, replaced by panic. It'd happened, not on my birthday but today. I started breathing faster, wondering what I could do. Carlisle watched my reactions warily, cleaning the wound without needing to watch. I hoped I got no cake icing in my veins. I laughed hysterically at the thought.
Carlisle continued working, ignoring my burst of maniacal laughter.
Then I thought. I thought about Carlisle, about him being so influential, the leader of the coven. I had alone time with him now, with no one to argue against my thoughts. "Carlisle, Edward won't... do something silly... because of this," I inclined my head towards my hand, "will he?"
"I don't know Bella; I'm not blessed with his gift of mindreading." He paused, getting new tools, probably a needle. I shivered at the thought of it entering my flesh.
I had to distract myself. "Doesn't it bother you, my blood? I mean, even Alice told me I smelt good."
Carlisle laughed, "No Bella, though your blood has a very beautiful scent, it's appealing to me as the scent of pine, or lavender, or perfume. I turned myself off blood years ago."
So I got him talking, about his struggles, about changing Edward and his mother, and eventually, we reached the topic of Edward's faith.
"But I don't care about my soul," I explained when he told me that was probably the reason behind Edward not changing me. "I've never been very religious; actually I've not even been religious. I believe in god but that's as far as my religion is. I don't even believe in heaven," that was a lie, "so why would Edward not change me?"
"Think of the situation reversed, would you take away Edward's soul, if you believed as he does."
"That depends on how good of a fighter I was," I joked, he didn't smile.
"Think about it Bella," he said, and cleaned the bench and burnt all of the fabric my blood had contaminated.
"I am, and what I think is I'd give Edward whatever he wanted, at all, in the world, I would find a way to give it to him."
"You're being unreasonable Bella."
I huffed, but then felt guilty; Carlisle wasn't the one I was put out with after all. "Maybe you're right. Actually you are right. I'm happy that I'm with Edward at all. I couldn't live without him, him being with me is enough," I spoke each word with ferocity, and all the love I could muster, looking deeply into his eyes. I hoped he had a good memory, and I hoped Edward would see this and decide to stay, to not leave because of a simple cut on my hand. "Well," I added, seriousness gone, "until I get cancer or something."
"Ah, cancer, I will find a cure to it one day," he seemed to be talking to himself as much as me.
I patted his arm. "I promise you, if I ever get cancer, you're allowed to experiment on me." I grinned at him. He smiled.
Esme was back, cleaning the floor, the stink of bleach cleared my morphine clouded head. Edward was back too, a painful distance in his eyes.
Shit, I screamed in my head.
Carlisle threw me a little bottle.
Edward led me to the truck, his hand ghosting on my back. He didn't talk, didn't hold my hand, and didn't joke with me or anything. The air was thick between us. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but the distance seemed too far.
I hopped into the car, and Edward turn the new radio up so high in the car that conversation was impossible. I felt like I'd already given up by the time we were home. I steeled myself in the few seconds it took to get to the door. I was so determined I would keep him here, with me I had to stop myself glaring as I walked, had to refrain from holding his arm and pulling him inside after me.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," Edward started walking away.
"No," I plastered a smile on my face, even though I wanted to yell at him. "I'll see you tonight; I'll even wear my present." His emotionless expression wavered for a moment, and I caught a hint of embarrassment, and lust. My smile turned more real. "Unless, of course, you've decided to stop being a stalker and watching me while I sleep."
He smiled at the joke, and it was so fake, so stiff, that I almost cried over my fake smile. "No, I um... can't tonight. I'll see you at school." He walked away so fast I couldn't stop him, faster than human fast.
I stared after him for a while, until it started to rain. The cool water broke my facade of happiness, of still being light hearted. I stormed into the house, and ran to my room, not bothering to fix Charlie dinner, or do anything but grab my pyjamas and have a shower. The warm water calmed me, but fuelled the part of me that was annoyed at Edward. With the only sound being the water from the shower it was easy to think, to bitch in my mind. I got out of the shower, and growled at my burning hand, my splitting headache. I took some of the pain meds Carlisle had given me before Edward had pushed me out the door. The drowsiness soon took over, and I stumbled to my bedroom, crawled under the covers, and let the drugs pull me over.
Oh no, what will Alexis do *evil grin* You won't know unless you review
