I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.
Chapter 9: Jinxed!
It was a Wednesday afternoon, and Bella and Edward were watching a movie at her place. He was playing idly with her hair while Sebastian snoozed beside him on the couch. The cat had decided that he liked Edward, whether Edward wanted to be liked or not. Luckily, Edward liked animals, though he'd never thought of himself a cat person. Sebastian, apparently, had declared that he was and was set on proving it to Edward.
"Hey, you're not working on the 4th of July are you?" he asked quietly.
Turning from the television, she shook her head. "No, why?" It was one of her first holidays off for the year. Emmett and his daughter had already made plans to be out of town, so she was left on her own. Well, unless she could talk a handsome history teacher into sharing such a historic day with her.
"Well, my family is having a thing on Saturday," he said.
"A thing?" she teased. "What sort of thing?"
He rolled his eyes at her. "A family function, a get-together type thing."
"Ohhh..."
"And I'd like it if you went with me," Edward said softly. "I'd like you to meet my parents and my sister."
She smiled widely up at him. "I'd like that," she answered. That was even better than hanging out at her house, or his. She was curious about his family and it was obvious that he was very close to them.
He shot her a relieved grin and nodded. "Good, good, then it's a date."
With a sigh, she snuggled up against him. "You're too cute when you're nervous, Mr. Cullen."
"And you're adorable when you're being a pain in the ass, Nurse Swan," he returned.
He allowed his hand to travel up from her arm to her neck, where he moved her hair out of the way and began kissing up her neck. "I thought we were watching Shaun of the Dead," she murmured.
"Hmmm...cinematic history, no doubt," he whispered as his teeth worried her earlobe.
Bella flung her head back. "Simon Pegg...the man's a genius," she muttered as his fingers found her breast and began circling her nipple. "Oh God..."
"Of course," he whispered against her collarbone. "I also really liked him in Run, Fat Boy Run..."
Her hands came up to grip his hair and she moved him toward her breasts. Sebastian gave a little meow of discontent when they inadvertently shoved him off the couch and took up a perch on the chair beside them. He blinked at them and Edward had to turn his back on the feline.
"Your cat knows I'm going to do lewd and nasty things to your body," he whispered.
"He'll get over it," Bella promised.
He laughed then and began kissing a warm trail down her body. He pushed her tee-shirt out of the way and then shoved her shorts and panties down to get to his goal. When his tongue first swiped against her, she gave a little moan and buried her fingers in his hair. "...you're pretty much a genius yourself, Mr. Cullen..."
~~AATG~~
"Did you hear from Edward yet?" Rose asked her mother.
"You mean about him bringing Bella on Saturday?" Esme asked casually. "Why yes, I believe he mentioned it."
"I'm surprised you're not out looking at wedding invitations," Rose teased.
Esme sighed dramatically. "Honestly, I'm in no hurry to get you or your brother married off and reproducing."
"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Rose sang out.
"Think what you like," her mother said.
"Well, you'd better hope that Eddie is serious about this one, because I'm not settling down for ages and ages," Rose assured her mother. "He's your only hope at this point."
Esme began laughing. "Oh, dear, I think you've just jinxed yourself."
"What? No way," Rose protested. "Besides, I never meet anyone I'd want to spend more than an hour with, and I'm pretty sure that extended periods of togetherness is part of marriage - unfortunately."
"All right then," Esme soothed. "You just go on thinking that, and then when you least expect it, there he'll be and you'll be the one looking at wedding invitations."
Rose snorted. "As if."
"Don't you want kids?" Esme pushed.
"Sure I do," Rose replied. "But the last I checked, I didn't need to be married for that." She grinned cheekily. "See, there's a special part on a man and he puts it into-"
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, young lady," her mother interrupted. "In fact, I'm going to continue to pretend that neither you nor your brother has ever, ever had sex."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Mom."
~~AATG~~
Bella had expected to be nervous at the thought of meeting Edward's family. However, his descriptions of them had been so overwhelmingly positive and warm that what she mostly felt was a keen sense of anticipation. She wanted to get a look at the people who had been a huge part of his life. Everything thus far had been effortless with them, and they had slid into a relationship so easily that at times, she felt as if the world had to come crumbling down. Then her natural optimism would shut out the negative voices and she would relax. Sometimes fate kicked you in the teeth, that was true, but sometimes it gave you something wonderful. If you had to take the bad, you might as well enjoy the good.
They pulled up into a long driveway that led to a house that couldn't be described as a mansion, but it wasn't the run-of-the-mill suburban ranch house either. It was large and sprawling and somehow inviting, even from the outside. Edward stopped the car and turned off the engine. He pointed to a tree to Bella's left, almost hidden from view. "See that tree?"
She nodded.
"My dad helped Ellis and I build a tree house in that tree," he explained with a smile. "We used to drive Rosie crazy by pulling up the rope ladder and telling her that girls weren't allowed." He chuckled. "She would stand at the foot of the tree and howl about it for hours."
Bella snickered, imagining how much of a trial twin older brothers must have been to their sister. Then she studied the tree. "Where's the tree house now?"
Edward shrugged and looked sad. "After the crash, I went a little crazy one day and ripped it to shreds."
Instead of giving him sympathy or pity, Bella just quirked one brow at him and smiled crookedly. "You went Hulk on its ass then?"
He grinned. "Yeah, I went Hulk – turned green and everything."
She licked her lips. "Uh...actually, I find that kind of sexy."
"Good to know," he whispered and kissed her. "Now, let's get inside before my mother uses up her very small quota of patience and drags us inside."
He got out of the car and walked around to open her door, a move that never failed to charm her. They were holding hands as they walked in the front door. "Mom! We're here!" he called out and an attractive older woman immediately popped out from a doorway.
"Oh, there you are!" she said, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "I was beginning to wonder if you had scared her off." She gave Bella a swift hug and then stood back to study her. "You're even prettier than he described."
"I see where he gets his charm then," Bella teased.
"Oh, I like her," Esme said. "Come on in, Carlisle's at the grill. He's probably cursing, just to warn you. He thinks he's the grill master of the universe and none of us have the heart to tell him otherwise."
"Male egos are such fragile things," Bella confided in a loud whisper.
Esme laughed and nodded. "You do understand."
"Hey! Did I hear my annoying older brother out there?" a feminine voice called.
A moment later, a stunning blond was gliding toward them. First she hugged and kissed Edward and then she hugged Bella. The Cullens, Bella decided, were obviously huggers. "Well now, it's certainly nice to put a face with the name I've been hearing so much about from my brother."
"And you're the infamous little sister who kicks his ass when needed?" Bella asked.
Rose beamed. "That would be me! One ass kicker extraordinaire, just ask Edward's ass."
Bella snorted with laughter. "Please don't bruise it; I'm rather attached to its current condition."
Even his mother laughed at that one, and he could tell the moment Bella realized that she'd just said something kind of dirty in front of his mother. Esme patted Bella's arm. "Don't worry, dear. I raised them. I know what they're like."
"Yeah but..." Bella bit her lip and then broke into laughter. "Oh hell, you might as well know that I'm no better. I tried putting on my company manners, but obviously that didn't last too long."
Rose took her by the arm and began leading her outside. "I can already tell that you and I are going to get along just fine. And just so you know, I'm perfectly happy to share ass kicking duties. It'll give my foot a rest."
"Team work, it's what keeps America strong," Bella confided.
Edward watched them walk away and then turned to find his mother smiling at him. "She's something else, isn't she?" he asked.
"She most definitely is, Edward. I'm so glad you brought her home for us to meet."
~~AATG~~
Carlisle and Edward were discussing some changes that were coming for him in the new school year. Esme was in the kitchen getting the dessert together, having declined any offers of help. So Rose and Bella were left to their own devices, which suited them perfectly.
"Okay, so Edward told me you're a nurse," Rose said. "You work in the ER, right?"
Bella nodded and swallowed her last bite of cheeseburger. "It's great, and yeah it sucks sometimes too, but mostly I love it. I love the fast pace; I love the fact that no two shifts are the same. It's exciting. I guess the only downfall is that I don't really get a chance to connect with my patients because of the setting, but all in all, I'd say it suits me perfectly right now."
"Edward said you worked at a rehab facility before this job?" Rose seemed genuinely interested and Bella was happy to oblige. She loved her job, and it was a big part of her life.
"Yeah, it was rewarding too, in a totally different way, but it was just too much emotionally after a while. It wore me down. Mostly what you see are the hopeless cases, the ones that really aren't going to get better. There are success stories, of course, but more often than not, there's no happy ending for anyone."
"I don't know how you do it," Rose said, shaking her head. "I thought my job was depressing sometimes, but even the bad spots are few and far between. So mostly, I get a charge out of it."
"Your brother neglected to tell me what you do," Bella said, grabbing a few more chips.
"Just like a man," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I work for a non-profit organization that matches up at-risk kids with mentors. Sort of like a local Big Brother type thing. I secure funding, which means I make grown men cry and open up their wallets. I visit schools and make sure that teachers and staff are looking for the kind of kids that would benefit from our program. I find places for our kids to hang out and be safe, stuff like that."
"Very cool," Bella said. She looked at Edward, deep in discussion with his father. Edward must have sensed her gaze, because he looked up and gave her a quick smile. "It seems like your whole family is into giving back in way or another."'
Rose shrugged. "We just kind of grew up that way," she said. "When we were little, there were always service days at schools or church. We volunteered at summer camps when we were teenagers, that sort of thing. Then after we lost Ellis, we stopped for a while, but the past several years I think we all realized that Ellis wouldn't have wanted that. So..." She smiled. "That's one of the reasons I love my job. It's very rewarding to go to work every day and feel like what I'm doing is making a difference." Rose nodded her head toward Edward. "That's what he does in his classroom. That's what you do as a nurse. So I think you can understand exactly where I'm coming from."
Bella nodded. Then she looked thoughtful. "So, uhm, are you dating anyone?"
"Well usually I don't date women, but you're pretty cute so I might give it a shot," Rose teased.
Bella looked up with wide eyes and then noticed the laughter in Rose's expression. "So not cool, to scare me like that. And all I could think was won't that be like incest?"
Rose laughed. "I like you."
"Well, I like you too, but not enough to date you. I don't roll that way, though like you said, you're pretty good looking so..."
"Why were you asking?"
Bella leaned in. "Are you opposed to dating someone with a child?"
"Is this child a criminal?" Rose asked.
Bella grinned. "No, she's an adorable six-year old."
"No history of setting fires or stealing cars?" Rose pushed with a wink.
"Not so far, but she's young. There's always hope," Bella replied. Then her expression grew more serious. "But I do have to tell you, this little girl? She's special. She's been through a lot and still has a lot more to go through. I won't tell you everything, because I think Emmett could explain it better than me."
"Emmett?"
"Emmett's her father," Bella said.
"Divorced?"
"His wife died in a car accident three years ago," Bella replied. "And he's as great as his little girl is – just a real teddy bear if you know what I mean."
"And you're telling me this why?" Rose seemed amused.
"Well, I'd like to give him your number," Bella said matter-of-factly. "I have this feeling that the two of you would get along just great. I don't normally play matchmaker, but I just have this gut feeling about you two." She shrugged. "Which is really weird because I just don't-"
Esme walked out at the moment, bearing a huge chocolate cake. "Dessert anyone?" she asked.
Rose looked at her mother for a moment and then groaned. Bella gave her a curious look and Rose shook her head. "I think my mother jinxed me," she said enigmatically. "Balls..."
