A/N: I do not own Twilight or its characters.
Chapter 9 - Restlessness:
APOV:
Bella is restless in sleep for the first few hours. She keeps mumbling my name with a pained expression. I hear her mumble Valerie once as well.
I can't stand seeing her in pain knowing I can't do anything about it. All I can do is stroke her sides and whisper it would be alright.
After that didn't work I dare to kiss her cheek, then her jaw, and down her neck to her shoulders. I laugh to myself as she immediately relaxed. She's probably thinking of Valerie. Don't get full of yourself.
I sigh sadly once again won over by my inner voice's logic. I snuggle closer to her as I close my eyes and listen to her sleep for the next several hours.
I let her sleep until 11 then softly wake her.
"Bella," I whisper in her ear. She moans and pulls me closer to her.
"Bella, sweetie, it is past 11. You probably want to get up. Charlie left," I laugh as she snuggles even closer. She turns around and faces me.
"Hey," she mumbles, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey, are you ok? You were tossing a lot at first," I ask hesitantly.
"Yeah just a bad dream. I dreamed about Valerie. I also dreamed about you. Both unfortunately unpleasant," she answers. I did not miss her other meaning in what she said but I did ignore it for the time being. You mean what you wanted it to mean. Tsk tsk.
I lean onto an elbow and look down at her. I then lift a hand to her face, tracing a finger down the side.
"I'm sorry," is all I can think of. She puts her hand over mine and smiles.
"It's not your fault. In fact I think you helped to stop them after a little while," she answers, blushing. I smile again, holding in a laugh as I remember what stopped her tossing.
"So do you have any homework?" I ask, regretting it immediately. What a dull subject to bring up at this peaceful time! Good going idiot.
She raises and eyebrow and then laughs. Moron 5, Grace 0. At this rate you'll be up to a thousand in less than half a year.
"Nope I did it all Friday night before you came," she answers happily.
"Good so that means I have you all to myself again," I joke.
"Looks like it," she raises an eyebrow suggestively. I pretend to gasp. She grins, goofily.
"So why don't you take a shower and I'll make you some breakfast?" I offer, breaking the silence. I kiss her on the cheek and get out of bed before she can disagree. She groans and reaches out too late for my hand, almost falling out.
I walk to the end of the bed and yank the comforter off. She shivers and then leans up to throw me a death glare. I smirk. She gets up and stomps out of the room to the bathroom.
I worry that I actually upset her so I walk into the bathroom and hug her from behind tentatively. She turns around in my arms and throws her arms around my neck, forcing her face into my shoulder and inhaling.
"I wasn't mad, just trying to make you feel guilty," she smirks, leaning up to look in my eyes at the end.
"Well you accomplished your goal," I answer pouting.
I leave her to shower, ignoring how much I want to stay. I float down the stairs and start breakfast.
By the time I have cooked pancakes, eggs, and bacon, and even found a grapefruit half, she emerges from around the corner. I pour her some orange juice and milk as she sits down. I join her in the seat next to her.
"Why do they have both milk and orange juice in breakfast commercials? Don't people usually drink one or the other?" I ask before she had time to complain about all the food I made for her. I was actually curious about the answer nonetheless.
"That is a mystery to most of the human population actually. All I know is that it is customary to do so. It might be because there's quite a few people who are lactose intolerant and they don't want to disregard one or the other," she answers sounding very pleased with her explanation.
"Have you not ever thought about it before?" I ask further, wondering if it was an odd question. She swallows the bite of pancake which she seems to enjoy.
"I have but I kind of just gave up because there didn't seem to be one definite answer," she replies, still appearing to enjoy the topic.
She looks up at my still curious face and smiles widely at me.
"What?" I question.
"You look so cute when you are baffled," she answers smiling wider, after she swallows another bite of pancake. She then moves to the eggs. I return her smile.
"So what are we doing?" she asks after finishing her eggs.
I pick up her plate and take it over to the sink to wash if off, smiling slyly.
"What? Come on," she urges.
"No it's a surprise," I answer, sighing happily.
She comes up behind and wraps her arms around my waist. Oh my God. She's way too close. I know I was this close before but her scent is refreshed from the shower. I also haven't hunted in a few days. She nuzzles her face into my shoulder. Yeah definitely way too close.
"Please," she pleads seductively, I think.
I unwrap her arms from me and bolt to the other side of the room in a fraction of a second. I am not facing her while I breathe in deeply a few times, concentrating only on it.
I finally turn to look at her and she is crying.
"Bella, I'm sorry I just couldn't have you that close right now," I answer, looking at her with black eyes.
She sniffs and wipes her tears. She nods gently. I step forward slowly to comfort her.
"Please go hunt. I don't want to be a burden," she mumbles, stopping me in my stride.
I drop my head ashamed and then turn.
"You're not a burden, you're my beautiful yet intoxicating curse," I say before I run out the door.
Shortly After …
After I hunt I had trouble going back to Bella. I don't think I can handle it if she's just like this with all girls that she is friends with. What if she doesn't like me the way I like her? True she told me she was a lesbian but it was important to the story that I wanted to know. It didn't necessarily mean that she wanted me to know otherwise.
I ponder this for a moment outside her back door then I jump slightly when she opens it.
She is equally surprised but the sadness from earlier remains as well.
I look into her eyes for a moment. I think I see a glimpse of the want that I was no doubt emitting from my own eyes.
A vision struck. My eyes glaze over. My body stiffens.
"Alice? Alice, Alice!" she urges. Bella stood in front of me clasping my arms.
I threw my arms around her and nuzzle into her neck, inhaling her scent deeply.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I have another surprise before the one I was originally planning," I answer smiling against her.
"What is it?" she asks pulling back to look at me.
"Can I pick you up?" I ask in return, unable to contain my wide smile.
"Sure," she answers, hesitantly.
I scoop her up bridal style before she finishes. She grabs my shirt in surprise. I force it out of my mind. I rush off to the house.
"Alice what did you see?" she asks as I run, holding her.
"I told you it's a surprise," I answer playfully scolding.
"Not even a hint?" she asks, looking at me with pleading eyes.
"Fine if you want to ruin the surprise. There's going to be a lightning storm," I answer, as we reach the house and Edward comes out the front door. I beam at him. He smiles in return and gathers everyone else.
We rush off to the area.
"Alice, I don't get it. What's so great about a lightning storm?" she asks as we reach the field.
"We're going to play baseball," I answer gleefully. I set her down, regretfully. It felt so nice.
"Why do you have to wait for a lightning storm?" she asks, cutely confused.
"Because we hit so loud that it sounds like thunder. But don't worry you don't have to play. You can watch, if you can keep up," I answer smirking.
She fakes being upset then smiles. I leave her with Esme, the referee. I walk over to the pitcher's mound and the lightning fast baseball game begins. Emmett, Jasper, and I versus Rosalie, Carlisle, and Edward. It wouldn't be fair to have all gifted on one side.
Of course there was cheating but it was to be expected and it's all in good fun. However Emmett and Edward always manage to get in a fight. I steal glances over at Bella when I can. She seems to be enjoying herself.
It was our turn to start hitting when I froze. Eyes glazed. Body stiffened.
The smile dropped from my face. The ball flew past me. Everyone looked strangely at me.
"Someone is coming," I comment shortly. Soon after everyone picks up on the scents of the three approaching vampires I had just seen.
We all move in around the pitcher's mound, waiting.
"They drink human blood," Edward mutters softly, just before they appear.
One blond, one red, and one dark haired. All with blood red eyes. Just as I saw.
"Hello," answers the dark-haired one.
"Hello, we are the Cullens. I am Carlisle, my wife Esme, my sons Edward, Jasper, and Emmett, and my daughters Alice and Rosalie," Carlisle answers politely, gesturing to each of us in turn. The air is tense.
"I am Laurent and this is James and Victoria," he answers in return gesturing to the blond first and then the red head.
"We must ask that you please not feed in this area," Carlisle continues.
"That's alright we just fed the other day. What are you all doing here?" Laurent replies.
"We were playing baseball," Carlisle answers.
"May we join you? Just one game," he asks egging us on.
"I don't know," Carlisle answers hesitating.
"Just one and then we will leave," Laurent insists.
"All right, just one," Carlisle caves out of politeness, however everyone is still tense.
"Hell yeah, let's kick their asses," Emmett booms. A tense smile graces everyone's lips but mine. I'm not letting my guard down with Bella here. I wish Carlisle wasn't polite and told them to "Fuck off". He can't help it though. It's just not who he is.
"We'll see," Laurent jabs.
Everyone turns to take various positions on the field. Suddenly there is a breeze. James' eyes shot over to Bella after catching her scent.
"You brought a snack," he replies, eyes growing in thirst.
A what?! I immediately crouch down and move in front of Bella, protectively letting a roar erupt from deep within my chest.
"No you mustn't. This is Bella, one of our friends," Carlisle answers quickly.
Disgust clouds their features and I feel the red head glaring vehemently at me. My eyes are locked on the blond, waiting for any slight change of movement.
"We will be back," the blond finally manages before he bolts off. The red head soon follows but Laurent remains.
"This is bad," he mumbles after a moment. I remain crouched in front of Bella, lips pulled back from my teeth.
"I'm sorry but you must keep him away from Bella. He can't have her," Carlisle answers forcefully.
"I can't. This is not my coven. It is his. Worse yet, he is a tracker and deadly one at that. He will not stop hunting her until he has her or you kill him," he answers softly.
"You must help us then," Carlisle urges.
"I will not. He is far too dangerous but I do wish you luck," Laurent replies. With that he dashes off into the forest in the opposite direction that James did.
I still remain crouched in front of Bella as everyone exchanges worried glances. I reluctantly rise from my crouch.
"What are we going to do?" I am the first to mumble what everyone is thinking.
"We must find a way to take out James. That is the only way. His thoughts were utterly transfixed on different ways to kill Bella. So many different ways. It is true what Laurent said. There is so much fixation that there is no way he will stop," Edward replies softly. I cringe as I am hit with visions of all the ways that had gone through and continue to go through James' mind.
I turn around and look at Bella. Terror has engulfed her eyes.
"I am so sorry, Bella. I promise I will make you safe again at whatever cost," I answer, pulling her into an embrace. She grips me tightly.
"It's ok, Alice. It's not your fault," she answers against me. I am about to argue that it is completely my fault when Carlisle speaks.
"Let's go home and make a plan. Edward and Jasper stay close to Alice and Bella," Carlisle proposes. They nod in acceptance.
I lean over while still in our hug and sweep Bella's legs out from under her. I give her a timid smile and we all turn to head back to the house.
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A/N: Reviews are considered and I love to hear your feedback.
