Twilight Universe belongs to Stephenie Meyer (only 75 days left till breaking dawn)
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Chapter Six - Road Trip
Edward of course told Jasper no, he had appreciated our concerns and soothed our panic. He had to do this, he had to make it safe for Bella. He also explained that he had to keep himself occupied which was, to all of us, understandable. He left he next morning knowing that he would be able to scour the western coast of Mexico for Victoria, before she disappeared entirely.
We stuck around for another week. We knew how hard this had to be for Esme, and the empty nest syndrome would more than likely be ten fold if we had left the same time as Edward. It would be the first time that all of the Cullen 'children' were absent from the family home at the same time, and with Carlisle teaching at Ithaca during the evenings, Esme would suffer.
When we could no longer detain our inevitable trip, we loaded up into the Mercedes. Carlisle had almost insisted that we take his car because of the darker tint. We were going to be in the southern states, which meant sunshine, and plenty of it.
Esme had taken it better than we had thought she would, but I knew she was being brave, I knew when she had made the decision to be strong for us. I had to give it to her, she was doing phenomenally well, even though Jasper could feel her anxiousness seeping through. I tried not to mention this to her because she was trying so hard.
"Call me, okay." she begged as she hugged me and kissed my forehead. "If you see Edward doing something stupid, call me immediately."
I smiled and nodded, Esme had been this protective since the day I met her. I was sure that her love and concern went over and above any my human family had given me. This came from the knowledge that they had placed me in an asylum, when I was nineteen and quite simply sentenced me to die. Although I was sure the latter was something they hadn't factored into the equation.
I was interested to find our more about my history. "I promise, mom." I always called her mom when she was panicking like this it seemed to ease her worry a little.
"Oh, Jasper," Esme threw her arms around Jasper's waist and pulled him to her for the umpteenth time since we had explained where we were going. Jasper had never been very open with the Cullen in all the time we had lived with them. He had always been there because it's where I felt happy. But since leaving Forks he really seemed to be fitting in with the family more. This lifted my spirits in more ways than I knew were possible. We had, in this time of despair, become more of a family, and it felt nice, we just needed the others to come home so we complete the family again. I had checked a lot in the last week to be sure of decisions being made by the family members. Rosalie and Emmett were in Transylvania, where they were having fun researching the legends of Dracula that the humans there seemed to hold onto for tourism. Some of the things I saw were actually quite humorous and the both seemed to be in a very happy frame of mind.
Edward, was still tracking Victoria. He had seen her and was loosely following her when he could. She was more confident in her movements through the sub tropical paradise. He had never spend a great deal of time in those kind of climates, so his movements were more constrained. He was doing alright, which was all I needed to see and his decisions were being made in regards to the movements of Victoria.
We loaded ourselves into the car and waved to Carlisle and Esme. I knew we weren't going to be gone all that long but it felt like a loaded goodbye. I felt unusually, emotional at saying goodbye to my parents. I was wondering if this was how it was for children who were leaving for college.
As we pulled out of the driveway, I slid in my seat and took a deep breath. "That went a little better than I thought it would." I said turning to Jasper, who was smiling at me exasperation. "How was she really holding up?"
"She was nervous, and anxious. She had some dread thrown in there as well. It felt like she was saying goodbye in the truest sense of the word, like we were leaving for good. Almost like she expected us to never come home."
"That makes me feel terrible." I sighed turning to look out the back window. "I hope she knows we will come home, and it's just an empty nest thing."
"I'm sure that's all it is. We just need to make sure we call her every night, I'm sure she'll appreciate it seeing as no one else has extended the same courtesy."
I nodded in agreement. We hadn't heard from Edward since he'd left, if it hadn't been for my regular check ins we wouldn't know what he was doing or whether he was safe or not. Rosalie and Emmett sent postcards but never made an attempt to call. I wasn't too inclined to check up on them as much as the others because their decision nearly always included their intimacy to one another whilst on their honeymoon. It wasn't something I really wanted a visual on so I avoided that unless it was completely necessary. As far as what we were doing, I could see nothing but information, it was difficult to describe though because when it became a little clearer to read in my visions it would disappear suddenly because I had made a decision to not do that because I had seen the answer, it was becoming terribly frustrating. I had decided I wouldn't try and decipher what I saw in my visions anymore and wait until I followed that path.
The drive was scenic, we were driving from New York to Biloxi, Mississippi, a journey that would take any other human twenty-one hours, but would take us ten.
"So is there anything you want to see on the way?" Jasper asked and he inched the gas pedal further to the ground.
"I wouldn't mind seeing where Emmett's from, I hear the wildlife's pretty nice there too."
"That'll add a couple of hours to the journey, you okay with that?"
"Sure."
"Done beautiful." He smiled and adjusted the G.P.S. that Carlisle had installed in the Mercedes.
I sat back to enjoy the ride, I knew that I wanted to hunt as much as possible before we got to Biloxi, I would be spending a lot of time around humans, as would Jasper, and I wanted to be prepared. I hope he hadn't seen through my plan, and taken it as an insult, but I knew that he would tell me if he had. We had an honest relationship and we were open with our feelings. He would know how I felt but the sensitivity of his gift.
The sun moved across the sky with ease as our Journey moved ahead, Jasper and I never felt the need to talk too much, we were so at ease with each other there was really no need. Words tended to complicate things, especially when you made small talk. There was never any need for unnecessary words between us.
As we turned off Interstate 40 onto the Winnfield Dunn Highway heading toward Sevierville and Gatlinburg, I could almost see the beautiful forest that Emmett so lovingly described to us when he was retelling stories of his youth. I was sure most of the area had become so much more developed than when he was here, but I could see the hills on the horizon and the expansive green that covered it. It was breathtaking.
It wasn't until we reached Gatlinburg though that I truly lost my vocabulary. Emmett's Great Smokey National Park lay ahead of us. The mountainous peaks covered in deep mossy green could be seen from everywhere from Conner Heights and continuing to the heart of Gatlinburg. I was glad for once I had though ahead. I pulled out the digital Camera that I had bought before we left and started taking pictures of the beauty. I had the foresight to bring a laptop so I knew that I could send them to Esme, Carlisle and Emmett. I knew Emmett would be upset at missing the trip but I was sure that he and Rosalie would make the trip down here after they had returned from their honeymoon, simply because they hated to be outdone. Not only that but it had taken us less than six hours to get here, so it would also make a fantastic hunting sight. There were trees as far as the eyes could see with not much more in between. As we rolled into Gatlinburg we could understand Emmett's attachment to it. It was gorgeous, it almost looked like a painting rather than a real town. The mountains that lay behind the town were covered in a dark rich green and we couldn't resist taking Cherokee Orchard Road up to the trail heads. It would be a perfect time to feed, the sun was dipping into the horizon and a red tint held in the sky. It was perfect.
A/N: Sorry Short Chapter :)
