Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of Twilight, nor do I profit in writing this story.
Note: The final installment of this story is finally ready for all of you who have been following it. I never wanted to deviate from the real plot too much, only expand on the possibility of certain relationships. I hope I managed to stay true to Stephanie Meyer's vision while indulging in a tad bit of fantasy when it comes to the Cullen family and Bella Swann. Thank you for reading and please enjoy.
Chapter Three: El Futuro
"Class, please take care when handling those tadpoles; they are in a very fragile state. Mr. Murphy, please do not spill your petri dish on your lab manual…"
The monotonous sound of their Biology teacher seemed rather unimportant to Bella as she stared out the window, tapping her pen repeatedly on the desk. Suddenly, the pen was gone and all that remained was a cool sensation on the back of her hand. Looking up, she noticed an annoyed expression on Edward's face, her favorite pen in his hand.
"Bella, please. You know I don't mind doing all the work here but could you please refrain from being so distracting?" he told her coldly, before pressing a hazel eye to the microscope, his hand sketching the development of their specimen in long, swift strokes.
Clenching her jaw tightly, Bella sat still, hands gripping the underside of her stool, letting the buzzing sounds of her classmates and the light clinking of glass lab materials envelope her. Everything in front of her blurred and the chalk board was suddenly a milky green swamp, tadpoles squirming in the sunlight, their skin shimmering, eyes suddenly a deep crimson…
Bella jumped as the shrill sound of the school bell startled her from the strange day dream. Looking towards Edward, everything was cleaned up, microscope and petri dishes gone, even her own books in her backpack. Edward was past her, almost at the door when she finally caught up with him.
"Can we go home now? You know how I hate gym…" she pleaded, too tired and drained to stay any longer in the halls of Forks High.
"I can't miss Spanish, Bella. We have a quiz," he replied curtly before placing an empty kiss on her forehead. Pulling away from her, Edward adjusted his lapels before taking a couple steps away.
"Edward, wait!" she managed, grasping onto the zipper of his backpack in her weak grip.
With a confused look in his eye, Edward whipped around, suddenly at her side again.
"I love you," Bella whispered, placing a tender kiss on his cold, hard lips before tucking a piece of hair behind her left ear. Pay attention to me, she begged, knowing he couldn't hear her thoughts. Please.
"Bella, I'm late. I'll see in you in less than an hour. Meet me by the car after the bell," he responded, now visibly annoyed with her.
Tears welling up in her eyes, Bella noticed she was alone in the hallway before ducking into the girl's locker room. Sitting on one of the skinny benches, Bella opened her locker, staring at her sneakers and gym shorts. While all the other girls around her giggled and gossiped, she sat there motionless even as the piercing sound of the coach's whistle signaled the commencement of the grueling period of perspiration and humiliation. Today, she didn't have time to deal with running and things that involved her making a fool of herself.
Grabbing her bag, Bella slammed her locker shut and marched out of the locker room. Convinced that Edward was hiding something from her and unable to silence the nauseous rumblings of her stomach she leaned against one of the lockers for support. Suddenly, she could hear the whisperings of two male voices, both extremely recognizable. Quietly, she started down the hall towards the intersecting corridor, the voices growing louder and more angered. Out of sight, Bella crouched behind a large display of pamphlets outside the nurse's office to overhear a conversation that she would later regret ever having investigated.
"Jasper, this is crazy. You know half the time Alice sees things that never actually happen. She can only see the big picture," Edward whispered, his voice strained with annoyance.
"She's had dreams too, for a month! We can't deny this any longer. It is out of our hands, Edward," came the reply of his brother.
Bella's breath caught in her chest as she peaked through two of the rows of papers about teen pregnancy. Jasper was leaning against the lockers with Edward taking an unusually close stance, facing him head on. How could they possibly know about Emmett and me? Did Alice see a future for us? Has Alice been seeing my dreams? she wondered, cheeks burning at the possibility of Edward hearing about her sexual fantasies.
Just as her mind began to relive some of her actions in the janitorial closet, a sort of emergency alarm went off in her brain as the emotions in the hallway changed.
"Jasper, we can't, not here…" Edward whispered nervously, the two vampires' faces suddenly centimeters from each other. Their fingers were intertwined and suddenly their bodies were pressed up against each other; lips upon lips, one muscular chest crushing another.
Bella sucked in a breath audibly just as Edward moved to Jasper's neck, nibbling lightly at the stone cold skin. Their skin glimmered for a split second as the sun emerged from the clouds and shined directly through the skylight above them. They were beautiful, wrapped in each others' arms, scared and brave all at once. In an attempt to move her foot that was uncomfortable in her crouched position, Bella's shoe squeaked against the shiny linoleum floor.
Edward shot away from Jasper, practically at the other set of lockers, trying to look completely normal. The two boys looked at each other, knowing it wasn't even safe for them to be seen talking alone during class time. With fear in their eyes, they went their separate ways down the hall.
"Hiding from the coach again?" came a loud voice behind her that caused Bella to collide with the pamphlets, sending hundreds of them flying.
Emmett's boisterous laugh shook within her as he immediately started picking up bright blue fliers warning against the harms of crystal meth. Bella grabbed a stack of pamphlets about STDs and shoved them in the stand, too embarrassed to speak.
"I was bored in English and was about to come fake sick in the nurse's office. Seeing as we're both skipping anyways, care to go for a little joy ride?" he asked, suddenly standing extremely close.
Bella nodded and gulped loudly, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulder and following Emmett out to the parking lot. Fixing her hair in the reflection of a car window, Bella breathed a deep breath, trying to justify this as purely platonic. Nothing is going to happen. Neither of us felt like going to class or waiting for everyone else so we went to go get gas. Or milk from the store. Or have a hot affair in the back of Emmett's jeep? No…Bella. Stop.
Jumping up into his car, Bella buckled her seatbelt quickly, pulling tightly as she sucked in another nervous breath. Emmett smiled at her discomfort and quickly sped out of the parking lot and away from the school. Leaning her head back, Bella closed her eyes and before she knew it, the engine was quiet again. Pulling back her lids, she noticed they were at the beach, dark clouds looming above them as Emmett slid out of his seat and opened her door for her.
"What are we doing here? I thought we were just going for a drive…" Bella warned the large boy now taking her hand, her voice uneasy. She wasn't completely comfortable with this. It wasn't Edward she was worried about; she didn't even want to know if all she saw in the hallway was all there was to see. What if someone else saw the two of them walking hand in hand along the beach? How would this be explained?
"Well it's such a beautiful day, how could I resist?" Emmett responded with an eye roll. Pulling her down the sandy path, they strolled just at the shore line, the tide rolling lightly at their feet. They walked in silence for what seemed like years to Bella before his voice broke the silence.
"Do you believe it's possible to love more than one person? Truly love them both?" he asked somberly. His eyes were dark and serious, his face fixed in an expression that was impossible to read.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the sky ripped open and rain fell in violent sheets, drenching the couple instantly. Emmett quickly pulled her up into his muscular arms and sprinted to a small cove in a formation of rocks miles away. In the dry little space, he pulled Bella close to him, as the rain pounded around them.
Looking at each other in utter shock, they both burst out laughing simultaneously. Bella gripped her side, finding it hard to breath in the small space with the hilarity of the situation consuming her. She dug her head into his hard chest, and smiled as she watched a flock of birds fly away from the storm in fear.
"Yes," she responded, after their laughter subsided and the rain did not, looking up into his eyes, fingering the "e" at her neck as she spoke. "I think love is a very powerful thing. There are so many aspects to it that are so unexplainable, so mysterious."
Smiling, Emmett kissed her forehead, then her lips lightly. As he began to pull away, Bella caught his lips with hers, pushing harder against him, hand gripping his chest. Tears began to flow from her eyes as she wrapped her legs around his waist, pushing her chest into his. Taking his face in her small hands, Bella pulled away and locked her brown eyes with his.
"I do love you, but I love Edward. And he loves me. And that love has nearly torn your family apart and probably will continue to do so," she told him, trying to choke back her tears and keep the sadness at bay.
"I know, Isabella, and there's nothing we can do to go back and change that. We've all invested so much to try and keep the two of you together," he whispered, pain filling his normally jovial voice.
"If only…" Bella interrupted quietly, kissing away the single tear resting on his pale cheek.
"It would be unfair to Edward and to Rosalie…and everyone else for that matter. I would never want to hurt my family. Carlisle has done so much for all of us that this would seem like a slap in the face to him," Emmett finished, eyes darting away from Bella as he heard the rain reduce to a sprinkle.
"He has done far too much for me than I would have ever asked of him. All of you have; and I'm forever grateful. It's just too hard not to get attached to each of you in a different way…" she trailed off, digging her face into his neck.
"The storm's passed; I should probably get you home," Emmett whispered in her ear as he lifted her gently off his lap.
Bella crawled out of the small space and brushed the sand off her jeans and hair before Emmett's arm was suddenly around her shoulders. They walked in silence back to the jeep where Bella re-adjusted her pony tail to make her hair look less soaked than it actually was.
Charlie's cruiser was outside when they finally pulled up to the house and Emmett killed the engine. Fiddling around for her key in her backpack, Bella gasped when she looked up and Emmett's face was close to hers.
"I'm sorry, Bells, I didn't want this to hurt you," he told her quietly, just above a whisper. "I know you've gone through so much this year already."
Kissing him lightly, she murmured into his mouth, "You couldn't hurt a fly, Em, nevertheless a girl like me," pulling back with a smirk.
Emmett flashed a big grin and started the car again as Bella got out and headed towards the house. Rolling down his window, he called after her once more, and she was back at the car in an instant, a confused look on her face.
"You know, when Edward goes hunting with Jasper, sometimes I sneak into your room to watch you sleep. Just so you feel safe and that you know you're never really alone. Even when Edward leaves you, you're never alone," he told her softly, a mixed look in his dark eyes.
With a small smile, Bella managed to choke out a "Thank you" as his engine roared and Emmett sped off down the street.
Smiling, she greeted Charlie in the kitchen, grabbing an apple and a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Was that another one of those Cullen boys? How many times do I have to warn them about how fast they drive their cars?" Charlie warned from behind a newspaper.
Entering her room, she closed the door lightly behind her and turning on her desk lamp. Pulling back the curtains, Bella watched as a light drizzle began to fall in the dusk and a cluster of tears fell from her eyes. Wiping the salty water away, Bella reached up and unlocked her window, before settling down to do some homework.
Touching the "e" at her neck, she glanced back at the window with a grin. While the past year may have been filled with things she never could have dreamed of, she knew one thing certain about the future; that a Cullen boy would always be there for her to protect and love her.