A/N: Ok, there seems to be some confusion about this story. ~MOST OF YOUR QUESTIONS ARE EXPLAINED IN THE BEGINNING AUTHOR'S NOTE IN CHAPTER 1~ Bella has only received her inheritance when she was 18 because that is how most legal systems do it. Otherwise, you are considered a minor. However, she was allowed to live on her grandmother's estate by herself in Forks because of emancipation. She has been living there since she was 16, not 17. So that is a minor change from Twilight. She is obviously 18 now, because of the whole Edward leaving because of her 18th birthday party and then came back.
EPOV
Surreal. That is the only way I know how to describe how I felt right now. In this moment, looking down upon a sleeping Bella in my arms, I truly felt I had found my meaning. It was to love and be loved by this beautiful creation. She has been everything, has shared every emotion, and now I was living with her. This house was hers- but this home was ours. I couldn't believe it.
She started to turn over in her sleep so now her back was on my chest, and the sun was streaming in through her window at such an angle that it must have woken my sweet angel up. She rolled over slightly again, so now she was on her side still on top of me. After five minutes of trying to fall back asleep, she opened her left eye and groaned. I couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"Hey, roomie. Sleep well?"
She smiled and let out a small chuckle at my words.
"I did, thank you very much. Did I say anything amusing?"
"Not really amusing, just…interesting." Her face blushed the most beautiful shade of scarlet, and her eyes widened. Apparently she didn't detect the teasing tone in my voice.
"Relax, Bella. I was just joking around. All you said was that you love me, and believe me when I say that is nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Oh, that's all?"
"Yep."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
She gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek before heading off to the bathroom for some human time. About thirty minutes later I heard the water shut off, and another thirty minutes went by before she walked into the room again. She was absolutely gorgeous. She was dressed exactly like how she used to. She was wearing a pink tank top, dark wash jeans, a purple hoodie, and a pair of black flip flops. Don't get me wrong, I loved how she dressed now. Maybe I loved it a little too much. But seeing her like this reminded me that she still was my Bella. Her hair was in loose, natural waves down her back and over her shoulders.
"Hello, beautiful."
"Hello, handsome."
I walked up to her and grabbed her by the waist, then swung her over my shoulder and sprinted downstairs to the kitchen. "Edward, put me down!" she kept screaming on my way down the stairs, but her uproarious laughter made the demand less effective.
"Do you want to be put down?" I asked, more than reluctant to do so.
"Yes, please. Although, I am enjoying the view." We both giggled at this as I placed her on the white marble floor.
"Okay, well, could you avert your eyes long enough to have some breakfast?"
"Edward, I'm not even hungry right now."
"You're a human. How can you not be hungry?" I raised an eyebrow at her and she just gave me a look that said 'isn't it obvious'.
"Hmmm…maybe because your mother made me a ten course meal last night and you wouldn't let me stop until at least half of it was gone?" Oh, right, I forgot about that.
"Okay, fine. I'll let it slide just this once, but you'll have to double up on lunch."
She just rolled her eyes at me so I decided to change the subject.
"So, any plans for today?"
"Actually, I was thinking last night about how you have only ever seen three rooms in this house. And trust me, there are a lot more than that. So, what do you say I take you on a little tour?" I thought about that, and realized that she was right. I really only ever saw three rooms on this entire property. It stretched out for acres upon acres upon acres, and I never even saw the inside of the pool house or even the inside of the pool that was attached to the house itself.
"That sounds perfect. I guess it would be a good thing to know where stuff is in my new home, huh?"
Her eyes lit up as soon as the words were out of my mouth and the tour was about to start when there was a knock on the door. She insisted on opening it, so when she finally did, I heard Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper greeting her.
BPOV
"Hey guys," I said in a very cheerful voice. I really was excited to see them.
Edward decided to come over and see what they were up to.
"What's up guys?"
"Hey, Eddie. Nothing much, the girls went out hunting so we thought we would come on over and see what you two lovebirds were up to. We're not interrupting anything, are we?" You gotta love Emmett-always so straight to the point.
"Nope. Actually, Bella was just going to give me a tour of the house." Edward put his arm around my shoulders as if indicating who I was. He sounded slightly apprehensive to invite them into our new home, so I took it upon myself.
"Yeah, do you want to join us? I'm sure Edward wouldn't mind. Right, Edward?" I gave him a look that said 'you better be nice' and he nodded his head yes.
"We'd love to!" I was surprised to hear Carlisle's voice sound so excited. It wasn't far from that of a little boy in a candy store. They all rushed through the door. All but Jasper, that is. He was standing a couple feet from the doorway, looking slightly sad and- embarrassed? Then he started to walk away. Edward was showing off his "piano room" to Carlisle and Emmett, so I decided to ask him what was wrong.
"Hey, Jazz, wait up." He stopped and turned around with a surprised expression on his face.
Once I caught up to him, he seemed confused.
"What's wrong, you look like you want to hide behind the tree over there."
"Bella, ummm…no offense, but why are you talking to me?" His slightly southern accented voice had a hint of confusion within it.
"Why wouldn't I talk- oh." Now I understood. Jasper still felt like I was angry at him for my last birthday. He thought I hated him and blamed him for Edward leaving.
"Jasper, you don't really think that, do you? You don't think I'm mad at you for what happened, right?"
"Aren't you?"
"No, not at all. I can't believe you would think that. If anything, I want to apologize for making you feel that way. I mean, Jazz, I know we don't really talk to each other that much, but you have to know that I love you just as much as I love Em and Alice. I mean, you're all like brothers and sisters to me. And, can I tell you a secret before Emmett hears this?"
"Sure."
"You're my favorite. You're the only one I feel like I can talk to without either being glared at, tackled, or forced into a shopping spree by."
The smile that lit up his face was one I had never seen on Jasper before, and suddenly I was brought into a big hug by him.
"Thank you, Bella. You have no idea how much that means to me."
"No problem."
"And can I tell you something?"
"Sure."
"You're my favorite human."
"Thanks, Jazz."
"Anytime."
"So, do you want to come on in or stand out here in the driveway?"
"Would you mind if I tagged along? Because between you and me, I have been dying to see the inside of your house. It's so beautiful on the outside; I can't wait to see its inner beauty."
"Come on in." We walked into the house, where Emmett and Edward were in a heated argument and Carlisle was watching amusedly.
"Okay, well, before you two end up breaking something in here-at which point you will both receive a massive scolding- what would you like to see first?" Carlisle and Jasper gave this a chuckle while Edward and Emmett looked at me apologetically.
"How about we start from the main floor and work our way up?" This was Emmett's idea, and, surprisingly, it wasn't a bad one.
"Sounds good. I see that Edward has already shown you his room here."
"Yes, and I must say Bella, you've done a fabulous job decorating this place."
"Thanks, Carlisle. So next would be the kitchen, I guess."
I showed them the whole first floor. I showed them the kitchen, the other main entertainment room, and even the bathroom. Next up was the pool that took up half of the main floor.
"That's all on this floor that qualifies as an actual room. Follow me and I'll show you the pool."
"You have a pool?" All four of them questioned at once.
"Yep. Two, actually. The other one is separated though." I brought them through the double doors and then through the glass doors that led to the pool area.
This was my favorite part of this floor, I must say. It was gorgeous and very calming. A giant mural was painted on the ceiling and a beautiful waterfall like structure stood at the end of the pool, which had a magnificent marble design on the bottom. Surrounding it were several white, long, comfy lounge chairs.
"Whoa, Bells. How the hell did you get this?" Emmett sounded as if I was keeping a buried treasure in here.
"I have my ways."
"How is it that I never knew about this?" Edward's questioning voice was induced with wonder.
"I don't know. Slipped my mind I guess. Want to move on or do you want to take a swim?" I was joking about the swim part, but apparently Emmett thought I was serious, because Edward was soon yelling "No, Emmett!", which thankfully stopped him before he was about to make a huge jump in my pool.
"Dude, come on, she said-"
"She was kidding, Em. Now let's go upstairs before you break her house by doing a cannonball." Edward laughed with his brother at this last statement, and soon we all joined in. I showed them all the next two floors and Edward chose the room I knew he would to be his. When I showed them my office, they all seemed very surprised that I worked at all. "But, why?" was the common question among them. I explained that I didn't just want to not do anything with my life, so that's why I created Lyra, my own fashion design company.
"Don't tell Alice about that, she'll try to buy it from you and make it her own." Jasper laughed at his statement and I did too, although he probably wasn't wrong.
"There is still downstairs to go to."
"There's a downstairs?" it was amazing how little Edward knew about this place.
"Yeah, it's just a basement but I tried to make it into a halfway decent game room."
"Let's go." And with that, Edward ran me through the house looking for stairs leading to the lowest floor, but when none were found, he gave me a baffled look; it matched his family's expression perfectly.
"You know the hallway between the doors that led to the pool? The stairs are at the end of that hallway." We were soon downstairs and in the sad little game room that had a pool table, a foosball table, and a couple chairs here and there. There was also a portion of it dedicated to chess. Now that I was looking at it, the huge bookcase on the wall that was completely filled made it feel like more of a study. The room was technically under the foundation of the house, but light still shone in because it wasn't actually underground.
It was hilarious to see the disappointed expressions on Jasper, Edward, and especially Emmett's faces. Carlisle, however, seemed pleased to see that his favorite game was a part of this room. No, not chess: billiards. He was an excellent player. As he studied the pool table carefully, the others looked extremely disappointed- and bored out of their minds.
"Don't worry guys. I have a surprise for you. This is the game room for grown-ups." Carlisle laughed at my patronizing tone.
"I decided that this was a good room for adults, but since you all tend to have the mindset of a twelve-year old boy when it comes to games, I made another. Go through the door over there and you'll find it." They all darted inside, and when they saw it, I could've sworn I heard them sniffle as if trying not to cry.
"Awww, Bella, you're AWESOME! You are the best sister EVER!" Emmett sounded like a little kid that just got ten bucks from his big sister. However juvenile the statement sounded, his tone was full of mature sincerity.
This room was a little less mature. It contained multiple pinball machines, more pool tables with overhead lamps, car racing games, dance games, and various others that you would find in any arcade across America. While they were all in there, Jasper and Edward playing air hockey and Emmett taking a shot at skeeball, I decided to stay in the room with Carlisle- where it was nice and quiet. Knowing it would be a while for them to finish up and not wanting to get a headache from the excessive amount of noise, I shut the door and sat down.
"Thank you Carlisle."
He looked up from where he was studying the antique carvings in the wood of the table, and with a surprised expression asked, "For what, Bella?"
"For accepting me."
"Why wouldn't we Bella? You were so accepting yourself, it would be an impossible task not to."
He walked over to me and sat down next to me. We silently started playing chess, and then he spoke about two minutes later.
"You know, Bella, I should be thanking you for that. I mean, you accepted us so easily. You didn't run or ever demean us in any way. You accepted our life even though you may not have understood it. I can't even begin to express my gratitude for your compassion towards me and my family. I have to admit, and I am even ashamed to say that when Edward told me he was in love with a human, I thought he was crazy. I lied to him and told him that I was okay with it, but I wasn't. I knew that he could hurt you, and that humans don't have the same perceptions of love that we do. I more or less thought you were just a girl, and I am deeply sorry for that. Because when Edward brought you home to us, and I saw you looking at him and him at you, I couldn't believe the amount of love that was there. You were just projecting love from every pore. Jasper even took me aside and told me what he felt from you two. When he explained that he had never felt feelings so strong from a single human being before, I was in shock, but it was a happy shock. From the moment I turned Edward, all I wanted was for him to be happy. After the first ten years, I started to get worried that he hadn't found anyone. I even started forcing him to be more social in the vampire community, and I think that was the reason for his rebellious stage. Then after Esme was turned, she wanted him to do the same thing as I had- find someone that he wanted that was dying and change them. He wouldn't hear any of it, of course. He said he was complete and content with being a loner. He has always been the brooding type, as you must know from that first day." I laughed at this as he gave me a knowing smile, but I was too involved in his story to interrupt with words, so I let him continue. "I thought that was just his personality. When he came home from the day he first saw you, he came home and called me into his room. He started saying that he didn't know how to tell me and he couldn't explain it himself-that it was just an impulse. I thought he was going to say that he had killed someone. But then a smile that would make even the sun go blind lit up his face and he said 'Carlisle, I'm in love.' From then on, he couldn't stop smiling. It was like he was a new person. He was happy all the time and always gave off this elated energy. And now, after all you have been through, you still accepted him. For that I thank you, Bella. Thank you for giving me the son I always wanted. And most importantly, thank you for giving me a new daughter that I can be proud of."
I couldn't help it- I had to fight the tears in my eyes and I hugged him with as much strength as I could muster.
"Thank you, Carlisle. Thank you for giving me a family," I whispered into his ear.
"What do you mean, Bella? You had a family in Phoenix, didn't you?"
We were both standing now, I was leaning against the wall and Carlisle was doing the same next to me.
"Well, it's just that my parents never really acted like parents. That's why I moved here. They never were okay with what I wanted to do with my life. Now they're ashamed of me and I know that. They treated me like I was a client and they were trying to negotiate a business deal. I was never their child, I was always their trophy. I was just something they showed off to their friends and then forgot about. They always bought me stuff, thinking it would be enough to keep me around. All they wanted was my inheritance, and I knew that. They always said, 'we'll buy you this and then you can give us what grandma gave you'. They thought I was young and stupid enough to trade the one thing my grandmother left me as a symbol of her love for me. She always called me her favorite grandchild. She said my cousins were all superficial but that I didn't let being rich get to me and that I still had my morals, and that's why she was going to make me rich when I got older. So to stay true to that, I give two hundred grand to charity every year. That way, I don't feel like I'm betraying her with all of this." I waved my hand around the room to emphasize my point.
"I don't know, I guess I just want to let you know that it means a lot to me that you would call me your daughter. Let alone be one you're proud of."
He gave me a sympathetic smile and brought me into a hug as I opened up to him. I had never told anyone that story before.
"You're welcome, Bella. If you ever need anything at all, just let me know."
"Thanks."
"No problem. Now what do you say to a nice ol' game of pool?"
I smiled and took a pool stick out of the holder and he did the same.
"Do you know how to play?" He asked this as if anticipating negative answer. If only he knew what he'd gotten himself into.
"Yep. Been playing since I was five." His face dropped into shock and his eyes widened.
"How could you play when you were so young?"
"I watched my dad play it all the time. I didn't actually start playing until I was seven when I was tall enough. So that gave me enough time to work on strategy."
We started playing and I was actually winning by a little.
"So, Bella, what have you been doing all this time up here in Forks. I know you didn't have to attend senior year since you got your diploma already, so you must have had a lot of time on your hands."
Carlisle's sudden question was spot on. I knew he meant after they left and when they did, I had so much time I didn't know what to do with myself.
"Well, first I decided to decorate this place. That only took about a month to get the whole house done though. It only took a week to draw up the plans, so I had three weeks to do something that I couldn't be in the house for. So I decided to finish up getting my PHD in medicine. I had been working on it since I was fourteen, some kind of young doctor scholarship program. So, technically, now I'm a doctor. If you ever need any help at the hospital, you know where to find me."
His eyes lit up and a bright smile took up his face at this. Then something else crossed his features and he asked, "Why did you decide to go then and not finish immediately?"
"Well, when you guys left, I wanted to stay close to you. I didn't want to forget you. So I took up all of your favorite hobbies. To keep close to you, I got my PHD. The interior design was for Esme. I took up gaming, as you can see, for Emmett. I think I've mastered every single game in that room. I started my company for Alice, although I have always been interested in fashion illustration. I read up on the Civil War for Jasper. I even know how to be a pretty decent mechanic for Rosalie." Yes, I kept myself busy. If I didn't
"Wow, you did all of that for us? It seems like a pretty busy schedule," he sounded as if he had just realized how very much they mean to me.
"Yes. Like I said, I didn't want to forget. I also found that if I had something to keep my mind occupied, it didn't hurt so much. But then when I would finish a task, the pain would come back multiplied by ten."
"What about for Edward?"
I let out a sigh. I didn't know if I could say this without turning into a sobbing mess. I guess I would at least have to try.
"For Edward…," my voice cracked already, "for Edward, I…I learned to play the piano. Once I was really good, I mean really good, I started to play the song he wrote for me. If I ever missed even one note, I would start completely over from the beginning. Sometimes I would just play it for hours, thinking about him. I kept asking myself why someone would leave after composing such an intimate song for another person. It just conveyed so much love in every note; I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that he was actually gone. Soon, I found myself playing my lullaby every night before I went to sleep. I pretended he was the one playing it. But then when I stopped, I would cry. And every time I played, the tears would come faster, until I started crying through the entire song." I looked up to see if Carlisle was still there since I hadn't heard one sound come from him. But there was anger in his eyes, which were staring behind me. I turned around, and standing there in front of the door was a very heartrendingly anguished and very shameful-looking Edward.
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