A/N: Alright I know I kind of am slacking on my updates and I'm sorry. Seems life kind of got away from me and I didnt really realize until a friend mentioned it and started to bug me. So sorry, and hopefully the next update will be up sooner. But the good news there isn't that many chapters left, and you will all have a conclusion to the drama that is Edward and Bella...enjoy...
Chapter 8
As the two sat in the meadow, they both just enjoyed the silence. Bella moved to sit in front of Edward and just leaned against his chest. The silence for once wasn't uncomfortable, it allowed them both to regain their thoughts. But Bella eventually broke the silence, knowing they couldn't hide forever.
"We should get back, Esme is a mess." Bella said and Edward nodded.
"I should have known this would be hard on her."
"Carlisle I am sure is going to want to speak to you, she refused to come out of her room until I came to talk to her and even then I had to break the door to get in." She said and felt him tighten up at the thought. "Edward don't do that, we are going to go home and deal with it. I should warn you, Alex is there. Seems Alice took a liking to him, and she seems to think he can handle our secret. I know its unusual, but he has always known something was off and just wants to understand."
"I'm sure he's going to love me." He said sarcastically and Bella laughed.
"Lets say he's intrigued by you. No one was allowed to say your name when he grew up." She said and he caught the hesitation in her voice. "It just upset me to talk about you, and now he kind of understands why. He's still confused by it all, but I promised to talk to him when I got home."
"After you came after me." He said and she nodded.
"You would have heard anyone else coming, and never would have stayed for them to talk to you. Alice is still amazed you didn't give off your location." She said and Edward got confused, something didn't add up to him.
"Wait, if Alice didn't tell you where to find me, then how did you figure it out?"
"You weren't exactly hiding. You just wanted to be away from everyone. I mean your car was by the path," she said and he nodded. "But after I talked to Esme, I went into your room. I just wanted to feel close to you, hoping it would help me find you and it did."
"How?"
"I went to put on your Debussy cd." She said and he smiled.
"The picture fell out." He said and she nodded. "I've had to reprint it a couple times."
"I wondered why it looked so new." She said with a smile. "I guess we both were holding on."
"Of course, I couldn't let go any easier then you could." He said and pulled her tighter against him. "I love you Bella and I'm going to make this work. I know that doesn't mean much coming from me. But I'm going to do this the right way this time." He said and kissed her forehead when she turned to face him. Trying to offer some comfort to the mess they knew they would find when they returned.
"Ready to face your family?" She said as she started to get up, but he just pulled her back down.
"No, lets stay here." He said and wrapped his arms around her.
"Not going to happen. I promised I'd bring you back and I have a very anxious brother that I'm sure your mother is fussing over."
"Oh I'm sure she is, she always did love to take care of you."
"When you weren't hovering." She joked and he just shook his head. "You were horrible sometimes, I wasn't allowed to do anything."
"I wanted to protect you."
"I know you still feel this need to protect me, but you also need to let go. I'm not that fragile, I am capable of taking care of myself. I love you, and I love that you want what is best for me. But you need to let me make choices for my life and stop taking them away from me. If you would just stop and talk to me you would save everyone a lot of headaches."
"Vampires can't get headaches."
"Oh really?" She challenged, and he nodded. "Well then I'd love to know what that nagging pain is when I'm frustrated with you or angry. Because it certainly seems like a headache to me." She said and he laughed. "Now come on." She said and got up, pulling him with her.
"Fine, but after that me and you have a lot of talking to do."
"Deal," she said smiling honestly for the first time. As they made their way back, they could hear laughter from the house.
"You brought our family back to life," he whispered in her ear as they made their way up the stairs.
"I'm not even in there, and its your family and my brother." She corrected and he shook his head.
"You came back and filled the void in our family, its been there ever since we left you here all those years ago. It's always been our family. From the moment I met you, I knew you belonged with us." He whispered and opened the door. "As for your brother, he's just another edition, that I can assure you is very welcome." He said and she turned around to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning in to kiss him.
"Edward Anthony Mason Cullen," they heard and both turned to the voice.
"Isabella Marie Swan," her brother added as he stood in the door way arms crossed trying not to laugh.
"What?" They both said at the same time, facing their family -- together.
"Dining room," Esme said and they both headed there. Neither saying anything to anyone just heading into the dinning room and sitting at the table.
This is going to be fun, no one ever gets yelled out in front of everyone. Talk about normalcy, we are really having a family meeting. Alice thought and Edward couldn't help but straighten up, knowing from her tone that it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"Edward you have a lot of explaining to do." Carlisle said and Edward stood up.
"Look, I know everyone has their own thoughts about me. Trust me I can hear them and its really not helping anything. I'm an idiot, I get that. I screwed up again and let down everyone I care about -- again!" He said and everyone nodded. "But first," he said and went over to Alex who was next to Alice across the table. "I'm Edward Cullen, the man that broke your sisters heart -- twice." He said and Alex burst out laughing.
"Oh trust me man, you don't want to say that. That's straight admitting your crimes, I'm her brother. You're suppose to deny all you can. But nice to meet you, I'm Alex Dwyer." He said and shook Edward's hand. Edward had to smile, hearing his thoughts just was too much and he almost burst out laughing.
"Edward," Bella said and he turned to face her.
"Sorry but you can't hear what I can." He said and she glared. "Right, not the time." He said and we back to her side. "Ok, so who wants to tell me I'm an idiot first?" He said and Emmet's hand shot up.
"I vote me and I have to say I'm quite disappointed in you Bella. You didn't even hurt him."
"He was hurting enough, me beating the crap out of him again would have just been overkill. He already put himself through the ringer. But, we do have a talk to finish that I'm sure won't go over so easily." She joked and Edward shook his head.
"You know you should be on my side, you are my brother." Edward claimed and Emmet laughed.
"Ya right, I always liked Bella better, and Alex here is just too much fun. So sorry but you are officially the least liked in the room." Emmet said and Rosalie hit him. "Rose what was that for?"
"Behave." She said and then turned towards Edward. "And you, if you even pull a stunt like that again, I can assure you I won't take it easy on you. I don't care what condition you are in, I'll rip you apart myself." She said and he nodded, hearing the rest of her thoughts.
"Got it, don't screw up again or my car is toast." He said and she just glared while Bella elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow, what was that for?"
"Conversations are for everyone," she said and looked at Esme who was smiling.
"Sorry," he said and put his arm around her shoulders. "Ok, who's next? I'm sure everyone else has an opinion." He said leaning back in his chair next to Bella.
"Edward we all love you, especially Bella, trust me on that. But you can't keep doing this, running away isn't going to do anything but put that void back into our family. We're whole again, and all the tension is finally gone. Don't bring that all back over something you don't even understand. You need to stop overreacting and just live in the moment. You take things too seriously and then overreact." Jasper said and tried to calm every down, feeling the tension start to rise.
"I get it, I overreacted and I know I shouldn't have. But there was a reason I ran…" he said and now Bella turned to him waiting his answer. "I was afraid she was going to leave me.." before he could finish Bella jumped up.
"I was going to leave you?" She nearly screamed and everyone jumped back but Alex. "I have never left you, not once. But you, you left me three times!" She said and he reached for her, but she pushed his hand away. "What's wrong, you don't remember? Here let me refresh your memory, we first meet that day in biology and you act like I'm the plague and then beg to be put in any class that's not mine. Only to then run off to Alaska because you couldn't be near me even though you know you belonged with me. Oh and the day you saved me from that damn van, only to refuse to speak to me, unless it was stalking me to Port Angeles, then I was worth your time. Oh and then the best, the day you left me in the damn woods. You knew I'd never go right home, but you still left, only to break into my house and take every reminder I had of you. The cd, the picture it was all gone when I finally made it there." She growled and he just stood there and took it. "Then you come here and just run off because you get the wrong idea when you see me with Alex." She said and went to walk out but Alex grabbed her.
"Oh no you don't, I know that look." He said and went to push her but she didn't budge. "You are being ridiculous, besides you owe me an explaination." He yelled and she pulled away from him, doing her best not to hurt him.
"Look, you want to have that talk? Fine we will have it, but you aren't going to tell me what to do."
"You're right, I can talk and it just goes in one ear and out the other. You are so damn stubborn. Now stop your tantrum and sit down and finish this. He obviously loves you, although I can't figure out why. You're frigid, and cold. You pull away from anyone and everyone that tries to get close to you. Jake's he only one you even half let in and that's because he knows this damn secret you hide from us all."
"Fine, you want to know, I'll tell you. I'm a vampire, I don't sleep, I kill animals for food and never age. I was turned when I was 17 and now will be seventeen for eternity." She said and watched the shock cross his face. "There, you know all my dirty little secrets. I was a human that fell in love with a vampire, and then he left me like I was nothing. So I moped around, and wandered off. I got lost heading to a meadow in the forest and was attacked by a vampire Victoria. Jake and his pack, who are werewolves by the way, tried to stop it but it was too late. They never had it in them to kill me so here I am." She said and went to leave but this time Esme stood up next to her. "Please," she said and Esme shook her head.
"No, you made me deal with what was happening and now I'm making you." She said and Bella tried to shake her head but headed back to the table, this time sitting across from Edward and putting her head on the table.
"Told you vampires get headaches." She mumbled and Edward started to laugh. But the moment her head shot up to look at him he froze.
"Sorry," he said and then stared down at his lap, no longer looking at her. "Alex I'm sure you're wondering about us?"
"Vampires?" He asked and everyone nodded. "Ok." He said and went to sit next to Alice where he was before.
"You're not afraid?" Edward asked and Alex shrugged.
"Not really, I mean if you wanted to kill me I'd be dead by now. And, if you were dangerous Bella never would have left me here alone with you guys while she ran after you. Plus, you won't kill me if you ever want to get on Bella's good side." He said with a smile.
"Your family is severely screwed up." Emmet said and started to laugh. "Bella was the same way, and two vampires attacked her and yet she still wasn't scared."
"Technically three but whose counting." Bella said, still not moving her head from the table.
"Bella please talk to me." Edward said as he made his way over to her. "I'm trying, and I know it doesn't seem like it. But I honestly don't know what to say to you. Every time I try it just comes out wrong and you get mad at me."
"Stop pretending like it didn't happen, like it was no big deal. Stop running away from me, can't you just stay with me. Let us try to put us back together? For once just give us a chance." She practically begged, still refusing to look at him.
"I know it happened, trust me I'll never get that day out of my head. I remember everything from that day, it took me days before I could even do it. Its tortured me for thirty years, remembering all the details. It will always be there reminding me of what I did to you, of the pain I put you through. I just want you back, I want us back." He said and she shook her head.
"I need air," she said and started to walk away but he grabbed her arm. "Stay! Make an effort to stay. Not for today, and not for tomorrow but forever. Give me eternity -- with you. But don't stand there and claim to want this to work when you are planning on leaving. Dont stay for me, stay because you want me, you want us. Not because you dont want to hurt me. I lived without you for thirty years, I can figure out how to spend the rest of my time without you. I would do it, if it was what you really wanted. But stop playing this both ways. Make a choice and stick with it for once." She said and took off through the back door.
Edward just looked at her, watching her retreating form. He stood there frozen, trying to figure out what she was saying. Trying to gauge her words and see what she wasn't saying. He wanted to fix it, but he wasn't sure if it was even possible anymore. Then he let down the filter in his head and started to listen to his families thoughts and then what Alex was thinking. He finally seen what he had to do, what would make it all ok again. He turned and faced Alice who was smiling.
"Its perfect, I can't wait." She squealed and ran upstairs while he stood shaking his head.
"Hey Alex, want to go for a drive? There's something I need to ask you." He said and headed for the door while Alex stood there confused, but ultimately followed him out of the door. Alex was intrigued by Edward, and curious as to what he wanted to talk about.
