Many thanks to Birdee for filling in as my emergency beta.
After I posted Just Call Him Chuck, Staysa (check out her AxJ fic To Love Again!) and I wondered what Rob Pattinson would look like in a cheesy ass powder blue tux. After a little time googling and some time in PhotoShop, I created a little manip. If you want to see what Rob would look like in a powder blue tux - complete with ruffles, top hat and cane, check out my profile.
I also made some Legacy ads if anyone wants to use them. Check 'em out - on my profile.
FYI: I will soon be posting a long Twilight one shot soon tentively entitled Drunk Redneck Wedding. It's purely crackish and fluff. Be on the look out for it!
Also, thanks to all of you who responded after the last chapter. I loved all the reasons why you told me you liked my fic even though you don't normally like AH/AU stories. You're all too damn sweet to me.
Oh, before I forget! A user named Hollow created a thread for Legacy over at Twilighted. The link for it is, of course, on my profile page.
Disclaimer: Sigh... I still don't own Twilight or Dawn. Instead, I give thanks to Stephenie Meyer and V.C. Andrews for characters and plot inspiration. I'm just playing with them.
Chapter 7: When We Were Young
The next morning we crawled out of our respective beds and took turns showering before heading downstairs. Carlisle and Esme had eaten hours before and were puttering around the house.
Bella happened to be hogging the bathroom on the second floor. I wandered upstairs because, as we all knew, girls took forever in the bathroom. I didn't know what the hell females did in the bathroom that took them so long. Shit, it took me a minute to piss and another seven to shower. What else was important? It must be all that hair and make-up crap. I was damn glad that I had the opposite equipment. My stocking feet quietly padded down the carpeted hallway toward the stairs. I always felt that I had to walk quietly and carefully around the Cullen house. It seemed as if I was in a museum and was going to get yelled at by a security guard. It didn't matter if there was nothing breakable within a ten-foot radius. I was about to take a step down the stairs when I overheard Alice and Jasper's voices from her bedroom and shifted my position to eavesdrop.
"I don't care what kind of excuse you give him." Alice was insistent. "You and Edward are the same size. Take him to your house and let him pick out some of your clothes. He made me promise not to shop for him. You need to help me help him. Does that make sense to you?"
"Yes, honey, but don't you think Edward will get mad at you for this?" Jasper asked exasperated. "The guy's not dumb, you know. He'll figure out you're still trying to give him a new wardrobe, even if it's my hand-me-downs."
I started to back up when I bumped into a hard, solid object that I knew wasn't a wall. Turning, I glanced up to see Emmett standing behind me. "Alice is always up to no good." He whispered and motioned for me to head back down the stairs. Once we reached the second story, Emmett tried to apologize for Alice's overbearing ways. "Maybe I should reword that. Alice is always trying to do good things. She's always trying to be helpful, even if the person she's trying to help doesn't want the attention."
"I can tell." I said matter-of-factly. "The girl does not give up."
We snuck our heads into the study to say hello to Carlisle. Esme, who looked more cheerful this morning, was in the laundry room folding clothes. Emmett and I were waiting for the rest of the gang to head downstairs. I had been eyeing the piano the Cullens had tucked away in the corner of the living room. I finally dared to ask Emmett if I could play it.
"You play the piano?" Emmett asked surprised.
"A little," I confessed shyly. "I haven't had any formal training, but I've picked things up."
"I don't see why not." Emmett motioned to the instrument. "It's Mom's, but I don't think she'd mind if you played."
I sat down and lightly ran my fingers over some of the ivory keys. As was expected, it was in tune. Or at least it sounded like it. What the hell did I really know about pianos? About a year ago I had tried to read music on my own but wasn't too successful. I never took a music class in school because I knew it wasn't something I could pursue. Why torture myself with knowledge I could never use? I found that if I listened to something enough times, I could reproduce the sound if I practiced enough. Sometimes my efforts sounded better than others. My best effort so far was a piece called Clair de Lune so I tried to recall where my hands should go on the keys. I started out slowly until I got into the correct rhythm and knew I was on the right track. Then the melody flowed perfectly and effortlessly.
"I thought you said you only play a little," Emmett inquired.
I spun around on the piano bench to find that Bella, Jasper, Alice and Rosalie had joined us. Esme had stuck her head out from around the corner. As soon as I noticed her there she disappeared, presumably back into the laundry room.
"That's the best I can play," I explained sheepishly.
Bella still looked awestruck while she spoke. "I don't know, I think that was pretty damn good."
I didn't like it when I was the focus of attention so I changed the topic and brought up the subject of food. We were famished, so it was Emmett's idea that we all pitch in and make brunch for ourselves.
Emmett handed me a cutting board with a knife and block of cheddar on it. "Here, Edward, this is the only time that I give you permission to cut the cheese."
"Hardy har har, nice one smart ass."
He pretended to bow. "Glad you enjoyed it, King."
"Who the hell is in my kingdom?" I found a clear space on the counter to put the cutting board. I went to the sink to wash and dry my hands before heading back to my prep area. "I'd like to know who I'm ruling."
Bella was standing next to me and cutting some oranges. "You can rule me, Edward."
That's when the shit hit the fan. Or, more accurately, the knife sliced my finger. My horny teenage brain immediately registered ruling Bella as equal to fucking and my hand that held the knife slipped and now I was bleeding on the cheese.
"Crap, I cut myself!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Do you have a first aid kit, Emmett?"
Emmett grabbed a paper towel and passed it to me. I pressed it against the nasty little cut that wouldn't stop bleeding. "Yeah, but we just call it Dad."
Alice ran upstairs to fetch Carlisle from the second story. When he arrived downstairs he inspected my mangled digit. "It doesn't appear to be a too deep of a cut. You should be fine. Let's get this cleaned up so it doesn't get infected."
He took the paper towel from me and threw it in the garbage. Carlisle applied some antiseptic to the cut which burned like a son of a bitch. I pressed another paper towel to the cut until it stopped bleeding and Carlisle applied a simple band-aid. After he finished tending to me, he returned upstairs to his study.
When I went to throw out the second paper towel, I didn't see the first one in the garbage. I could have sworn that it was in there earlier when Carlisle had thrown it out. Eh, maybe something else was thrown out and covered it up. We salvaged the cheese that I didn't bleed on and continued on with making our brunch. Esme came downstairs in time to help us clean up. I had a feeling she liked her kitchen ordered in a very specific manner. It didn't seem like Esme was OCD about it, but she just wanted to know where to find everything. It made sense since she was the one who cooked ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. Emmett popping popcorn for a midnight snack didn't qualify as cooking, as much as he'd like to think otherwise.
We were sitting around in the living room when my eyes landed on a picture of Emmett and Alice when they were younger. I guessed they were about six and eight years old. His hair was curlier and darker than it was now. It was strange to see Alice with such long hair. I picked up the picture to study it. "Hey Midg, how long was your hair here?"
"It was almost down to my ass." She glided over to where I was, stood beside me and snaked her left arm through mine. "My hair used to be a little curly too but it never grew back the same after Emmett set it on fire."
"Emmett did what?" I asked and turned to Emmett. "You set Alice's hair on fire?"
"It was an accident!" he exclaimed from the other side of the living room. "I wanted to see if Smokey the Bear would come and put out the fire."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Smokey is all about forest fires! Does Alice look like a fucking forest to you?"
"Yeah! Do I look like a damn forest to you?" Alice firmly placed her right hand on her hip.
"What? I was like eight! I don't even remember how I caught her hair on fire."
Alice took the picture from me, put it back on the end table and touched the ends of her hair with her fingertips. "It never felt right having long hair after that. I can't stand to use a curling iron. The smell reminds me of burning hair." She glared at Emmett.
"I put you out, isn't that the important thing? You should show Edward your baby book where you have a head full of curls." He was trying to turn the spotlight of conversation off of him. Emmett crossed the room to the coffee table and was about to reach down to remove an unlit candle from the top of it.
"Let me take that," I said as I grabbed it off the table. "It might spontaneously combust around you. I'm sure you're parents wouldn't welcome you burning down the house."
Bella started giggling from her chair at the counter. "Good one, Edward!"
"The candle isn't lit," Jasper observed.
"No shit, Sherlock. I'm guessing neither was Midg's hair before he managed to set it ablaze." I turned to Alice, who was watching with amusement. "Don't tell me he tried to 'stop, drop and roll' you, too."
"Well, now that I think about it," Alice tapped two fingers over her lips in concentration. "I think had a concussion and burnt hair."
"I cared enough to put you out! Does it matter how I did it? You're alive! Listen, Edward, I thought I was the smart ass of this bunch." Emmett sat on the couch and removed the intricate cloth that covered the coffee table. He opened up the lid to reveal a small storage compartment, but what he was seeking wasn't inside. I placed the candle back down after he rearranged the cloth in its spot. "I'll go check with Mom." Emmett rounded the corner to go upstairs when he heard him pretend to pout. "Mommy, Edward's pickin' on me again!"
Rose decided to get in on the act. "I think someone needs a diaper change."
We were all still laughing when Emmett came back downstairs with Esme in tow. "Mom knows where the baby books are," he proclaimed.
"I moved them into the TV cabinet with all the photo albums," Esme announced. She went to the left hand side of the cabinet and knelt down in front of it. Opening the lowest cabinet, she retrieved two books. Esme passed Alice's pink book to her, and she opened it. I sat next to her, and we read through it together. Esme had kept a sonogram, a baby tooth, and a curl of Alice's hair in the book. She had meticulously written down information such as the time Alice was born and her length and weight. I'll be damned if Alice didn't have curls in a picture that was taken when she was one year old.
We looked through Emmett's book together also. I laughed out loud at a picture of Emmett sitting in a high chair with birthday cake smeared all over his face. As expected, Esme had written a few more details in Emmett's book than Alice's. I suspect a lot of parents did that with their first born.
Rosalie and Jasper were the first to head home. Their parents were going to Port Angeles to visit some relatives, and they were being dragged along. Bella was taken home by Alice, who I found out was a speed demon. I didn't even realize that she had her license since she was always in Emmett's Jeep. Emmett was about to grab his keys when Carlisle announced that he'd give me a ride. It seemed as if Emmett needed to mow the lawn since it was a clear day. That didn't happen very often in Forks. Emmett wasn't very happy about it, but Carlisle insisted that he do his chores. It turned out that Carlisle also had been called into work. In his mind it made more sense for him to give me a lift home since it was on the way.
Before we headed to Carlisle's Mercedes, Emmett handed me a back pack. "Here, take this. It's from last year but it's still in good condition. Yours looks like it's going to fall apart soon." I begrudgingly accepted his offer.
On the way home Carlisle tried to make small talk with me. He asked what I was interested in and what I wanted to do after high school. I told him that truthfully, I had no clue what I was going to do. I always knew what I dreamt of doing but it was out of my grasp. Carlisle seemed engrossed in what I was confessing to him and asked me to explain. I informed him that I was always interested in the medical field and music. Biology was my favorite subject. I liked to go to the library and check out specials from the Discovery Health TV network. To me, it was fascinating to watch a surgery taking place. Carlisle asked if I was the one who had played the piano earlier at the house. I confessed that it was, and he congratulated me on my little impromptu recital.
Since I had gone straight to the Cullens from school the night before, I had my back pack with me. As I was making my way to the door, the bottom of my bag gave out and littered my books across the lawn. Damn, Emmett had great timing. I don't think he knew that I had duct tape on the inside bottom of my bag, holding it flimsily together. I transferred my books to the bag that Emmett had donated to me and threw the old one in the trash.
When I walked into the house, Dad was on the couch watching a football game. "Hey, son, how was last night?" His eyes darted back to the TV. "Ah! How could you fumble that? Talk to me during a commercial, k?"
Laughing, I headed to the kitchen to where Mom was stationed. "Whatcha doing Mom?"
"I'm making your favorite cupcakes—Boston Crème." She turned off the old mixer, ejected the beaters from it, and handed me one. "It's the filling."
"Thanks, Ma." I slowly licked the vanilla pudding from the beater, savoring the taste and then placed it in the sink. In between licks from the other beater, Mom asked me how Halloween had gone, and I told her about the haunted maze. Dad seemed to half listen during commercials. He laughed when I mentioned Mike Newton pissing himself. I'm not one hundred percent certain he was laughing about Mike or something on the TV.
"Hey, Ma, do you have a baby book for me?" I asked warily. "I saw Alice and Emmett's today and it got me to thinking that I don't think I've ever seen one for me."
"Of course I made one for you, Edward! What kind of mother would I be if I didn't?"
Curious, I asked if I could see it, and Mom told me it was in the TV cabinet. What was it with storing pictures and baby books in a TV cabinet? I guessed this was more of a common occurrence than I originally thought. I easily found what I was looking for and returned to the kitchen with it. Leaning against the counter, I leafed through it, taking in the information about myself. My little hospital bracelet was taped to one of the pages, the plastic ripped and the typed words smudged on the worn paper insert. Mom had kept the birth announcement from the newspaper, and I learned that I was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She wrote down all the little details like my weight and length. I joked that I was a convenience store—I weighed seven pounds and eleven ounces. My eyes lingered on the pictures of me when I was younger. It seemed as if even Mom couldn't control my hair way back then. Later on in the book I learned my first word was 'Ma' while my second word was 'choo choo'.
"Wait, when did I say Dad?" I asked curiously. "I said 'choo choo' before some form of Dad?"
"You said 'da da' for your third word," Dad proudly proclaimed from the living room. He was still clearly engrossed in the football game as his eyes never left the set. "I still can't believe a damn train came before me!"
"Sorry for that, Father." I said apologetically.
"Touch down! Yes! Whooo!" he screamed at the TV. "What, Edward?"
"It's nothing, go back to your game." Mom and I laughed at Dad's obliviousness.
I finished looking through the book and put it back in the TV cabinet. The game went to a commercial so I quickly filled in Dad with highlights of Halloween night. Afterward, I headed to my room to do some home work.
Some time later, Mom knocked on my door and walked in with a Boston Crème cupcake for me. I made sure that I didn't drop any crumbs and left to throw out the napkin in the kitchen garbage. I didn't want any pets at this time. My bedroom was mouse-free, and I was determined to keep it that way.
In the middle of my calculus homework I found my eyes drifting shut. I let in to my sleepiness and moved my pencil out of the way before I poked myself in the eye. My mind shifted to thoughts of Bella. I dreamt of the smile on her face when she told me I could rule her.
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