I want to thank the usual suspects: Pien, without you this story wouldn't be here. Thank you for your time, ideas and mostly the friendship we've created from one quick conversation. Chandra, your red pen is mightier than the sword and I love it, thank you too.

SM owns Twilight, we just keep it alive.

Now I give you:

Chapter 09 – Going Home

The last couple of months have been wonderful. We ended up staying an extra month because there were things that Bella wanted to see and do again before we went home. As she said, though, "We have all the time in the world, Edward. Let's take it and enjoy being us." She was right, we did have time, so that's what we did.

We didn't spend every day going out and seeing all of Chicago; some days we stayed at home learning about each other and exploring each other's body more thoroughly than before. Though we still haven't made love, the time was coming. The mating bond was calling for completion. Things needed to be done before that could happen though.

During the time we've spent here, Bella and I have done all sorts of things together, not just playing tourist. We've gone to all sorts of classes, one of them being a cooking class. Bella wanted to learn how to use the kitchen, so we took a basic culinary class. After that, we took some others. Both of us have learnt to be decent chefs and we take the time to cook for and with each other.

One of the first things I did, though, was take her to Navy Pier and the Ferris Wheel. The best thing about playing tourist with Bella was her wide-eyed wonder at all she saw. It was innocent, it was beautiful, and it made me love her all the more.

We went to museums, parks, and shows. I made it a point to take her to Lincoln Park Zoo. That was a funny trip itself. The poor animals couldn't make up their minds about us. They wanted to come closer to Bella, but at the same time wanted to stay far away from me. In the end, though, we thought it best that they didn't get too near. Drawing unwanted attention from Bella patting the tigers would have been a bad thing.

Bella insisted on seeing a baseball game at Wrigley Field. That was due to the fact that I remembered my father taking me to see them when he was alive. Bella insisted, even going as far as saying "Your parents live on in your memory, Edward. Keep them alive by enjoying the things that they enjoyed." After that I couldn't argue.

We ran around like children though the Children's Museum, playing with the interactive exhibits and staring at the dinosaurs. Well, we did until some of the parents became uncomfortable with our presence when they realized we didn't have any children with us.

One of my favorite memories of our time there, however, would be just sitting at the piano with Bella by my side, her head leaning on my shoulder as I played for hours on end. She told me that the piano was one of the most beautiful instruments to her. It could evoke such emotional responses, and I did that. I made her laugh, cry, and fall in love all over again. The one memory she was loving, though, was when I sat down and played her lullaby for her. I'd written it while she was sleeping, first in my mind and then I'd get up and put it down on paper while practicing quietly. She was emotional and clingy after that day, and I loved her like that.

Charlie and Seth had pulled the resignation off without a problem. They'd walked into the school, spoken to the principal, and explained in as little detail as possible. The principal had also handed over a check with my last payment on it as well. The name on it was "Cash," but the amount was on there. They'd also spoken to Carlisle, Esme, and the others. Without mentioning where we had gone, they'd told Esme and Emmett that we were no longer where they thought. We'd be moving around, exploring the world, and enjoying ourselves. When Charlie had sent the dove he'd explained that Esme had been upset but she understood. She was still unhappy with the family and still communicating very little. She was spending time with them but wasn't participating as much.

Not long after that communication, we contacted Esme at the veterinary hospital. She was happy to hear from us. We told her that we were happy, that we were enjoying our time just being mated. Bella was wise when she told her to not stop living her life; it was okay to be mad at them but not to stop enjoying them. Esme sniffled but promised that she'd be more herself from now on.

We've called at least once a week from then on.

"Edward," Bella called, coming into the bedroom. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, love." I turned to look at her. "Just thinking about what we've been doing the last couple of months."

She smiled sweetly at me. "It's been fun. I've really enjoyed seeing where you grew up."

I hugged her to me. "I've enjoyed showing you. Now, though… now it's time to go home."

Bella absolutely beamed at me. She was just so excited to show me where she grew up and introduce me to the rest of her family.

"What do we need to take, Bella?" I asked.

"Hmm," she thought aloud, "Not a whole lot. Momma has probably already stocked some clothes up there for us. We may want to take some food with us, like chocolate, because it will be the angel food for us while there."

I laughed at her. "Of course you want to take chocolate. But we won't be taking too much. I want to experience life like you did."

She cupped my face. "Okay, baby. Just like I did. I love you."

"Love you too, my Bella."

~*~HS~*~

"Now, Edward, for us to get to Eden I have to fly us to the place where rainbows converge. You're going to have to behave!" Bella admonished with a cute pout while her hands were on her hips. "Maybe you should just close your eyes until we're in the air; if you can't see my wings then they can't affect you."

I pouted at her. "No, Bella, please. I'll try to behave but I can't promise anything. They just have this unknown effect on me."

She huffed, "Fine. But I need to give them a quick groom before we go."

I smirked at her. She wanted me to play with them, I could see it in her eyes. Huffing again, but with a cute little smile on her face, she turned her back to me. I watched again as the skin split on her back and her wings came out. It really is amazing that those things fit in there.

I started grooming her wings, but as usual her scent deepened and my lust for her exploded. I spun her around, placing my lips on hers, grooming down her feathers on the front. I pulled back to look at her before pulling apart her jeans and shoving my hand in the front of them.

"God, Bella, you're so wet. Is this all for me?" I rasped out.

She moaned, "Yes, Edward. Gods yes."

I cupped her warmth in my hands, spreading her with my fingers. I started rubbing her clit, hard, with my middle finger. It didn't take long to get her close. "Are you going to come for me, my Bella?"

She moaned again, with no coherent thoughts in her head.

I pushed a finger in her while continuing to rub her clit with my thumb. She was panting so hard I thought she was going to pass out on me.

"Come on, Bella. Come for me, love, all over my hand," I encouraged.

She came then, moaning my name loudly and collapsing against me as she came down.

"That's my good girl," I crooned softly to her. "I love you, my Bella, with all that I am."

When she gained her balance and breathing back she cupped me in her hand.

"Oh god, Bella. Love, we don't really have time," I breathed.

"Well, we're going to make time," she whispered, wrapping her wings around me as she knelt down on the ground. Undoing my fly she pulled me out and plunged her mouth straight down on my cock.

A growl rumbled up from my chest at her movements. She was moving so hard and fast with her mouth, using her hands to hold the part she couldn't fit. My hand moved into her hair to guide her where I wanted her.

"Oh, Bella, I'm going to come love," I moaned out.

Both of her hands grabbed my ass. 'That's it, baby, faster, finish in my mouth. You know you want to,' she thought. With a few more thrusts, I was moaning her name as I came down her throat.

Panting, I pulled away from her, bending down to kiss her and pulling her up as I did so.

"I love you, Bella."

"I love you too, Edward." She cocked an eyebrow. "Now can we finish grooming my feathers and then go?" she laughed.

"Yeah, baby, we can."

~*~HS~*~

Flying with Bella would never get old. It was so freeing to be up higher than the clouds, with the quiet and the view; it was beautiful.

But where we were landing was stunning. It was like a giant bowl in the earth, hundreds of feet deep, like a crater. Outside the crater was dreary, dark, parts of it dead or dying, but inside was alive. It had all manner of creatures, some I was not even sure had been discovered. There were plants, trees, and flowers. But what made this place stunning was the fact that it was the place where all the ends of the rainbows met. There were dozens of them.

"No pots of gold?" was the first thing I blurted out.

Bella looked at me, incredulous, before she burst out laughing. "No." She giggled. "No, Edward. Leprechauns are real but the pots of gold are a myth." She giggled again. "Made up by the leprechauns when you get them drunk."

I rolled my eyes at myself. "Of course." I sighed. "This place is stunning, Bella."

She beamed at me. "Thank you, Edward. We have this place hidden so that we can come and go as we need to. That's why nobody has found it."

She led me all around the place, showing me flowers and plants that weren't going to be discovered or had become extinct. The ones that had become extinct were for a reason, mostly because humans would have made them into a weapon against each other.

After a bit we made it to what seemed to be a central rainbow. This one had a cloud at the base of it.

"It's supposed to resemble an elevator. Before we leave we should probably call Esme and let her know that we will be out of reach," Bella advised.

"Okay, love. You do what you need to do and I'll call her." Bella nodded as I walked away to make the call.

I watched her move things around, call Merril, and look through the bags as the phone rang.

"Hello, Edward?"

"Hi, Esme. How are you?"

"I'm good, sweetheart. Things have been better around here. Are you calling to tell me you're finally coming home?"

"I'm sorry, Esme." I sighed. She'd been after this the last couple of weeks. "I'm actually calling to let you know that Bella and I will be out of contact for a while."

"What, why?" she asked. "Where are you going that you'll have no cell signal?"

I could tell that she was on the verge of panicking. I didn't know what to tell her.

"I can't tell you where we're going, Esme. But this is something that Bella and I have to do," I told her.

"Are you sure you can't call? Can't tell me anything." She sniffled.

"No, Esme. I'm sorry for that," I reinforced. "But know that we love you and as soon as we can we'll call, okay? Say hello to everyone for us."

More sniffling. "Okay, Edward. We love you too. Contact when you can."

"Goodbye, Esme."

"Bye, Edward." She sniffled again before she hung up.

I felt bad for hurting her like that, but after everything that had gone on, I'm not sure that I was ready, or would ever be ready, to go back to the way things were.

'She'll be okay, Edward,' Bella soothed while she was sending a message with Merril. 'I love Esme—she's like a second mother to me—but she needs to loosen the strings just a little. Let you guys fly.'

Merril took flight as she said this, going straight up following the rainbow.

I walked up to Bella, just needing to hold her. She wrapped her arms up around my neck, playing with the hair at the base of my neck.

'She will be okay, Edward. I promise that we can go back and see them soon. Okay?' she thought.

I shook my head. "It's not that, Bella. I feel bad that she's hurting, but I feel even worse that I'm not sure I want to go back. Being with you, being free of the constraints on me, has been wonderful. I can be me. I can bring back parts of me I thought were dead, my gentleman side for example."

'I know, my love. Those parts were always there, you just needed the right person to bring them out,' she whispered in my mind. 'I'm glad that it's me that gets them.'

"I just felt a bit… smothered I guess." I sighed. "Following the rules that Carlisle set forth was straining. I'm glad I can be free now."

She hugged me tight, nodded, then pulled back, kissing me quickly. "I understand, Edward. You were forced to hide a part of yourself; that is tiring. Being out in our own little place, with our own life, gives you a chance to be who you want to be, who you were meant to be. Now let's go to a place that will allow you to do that all the time. At home you won't ever have to hide, Edward, I promise."

I nodded into the crook of her neck, where I'd placed my head after she'd kissed me. I stood up, kissed her once, then let her go.

"Right, so how do we get home?" I asked.

"Just like this." Bella grabbed my hand and pulled me into the cloud at the rainbow's end where all of our bags were placed. She placed my hand and hers on the yellow stripe of the rainbow. "It's kind of like a palm reader," she explained. "Yours was added when we knew you were my mate. Everyone that is an angel or a mate of an angel will eventually be added."

'Weird,' I thought, 'but then they'd have access to everyone.'

"How do you get them?" I had to know.

She giggled. "Our little friendly cupids are not just good at love connections." She looked up at me smiling. "They're also all about stealth. They would have followed you without your knowledge and copied it from somewhere that you left it. Probably at the school after you'd gone home."

"Oh." Well then.

"I'm sorry, Edward, it's a little invasion of privacy, as you'd call it. It's something that could be asked, but they got it before we'd even met." She was adorably apologetic.

"It's okay, Bella. I understand it's something done automatically. Let's get this show on the road." When I said that the elevator cloud began to move. "Really, was that a password?"

She giggled again. "No, Edward. It just takes time for the information to get to Eden."

She turned me around to let me watch as we rose to Eden. The view was amazing. As a human you could see for miles, but as a vampire I could see much further. I could see where the decaying life around the crater stopped, and a jungle of sorts began again. It was in all directions.

Soon enough we rose through the clouds, the sky, and even the stars. Although after that we ended up in a little room, the same one I'd seen in Bella's memories from when she came to earth. Waiting there for us were Renee, Charlie, and Seth.

"Bella! Edward!" Seth cheered, hugging us.

"Hello, Bella and Edward," Renee gushed, grabbing us in a hug. "Welcome home."

"Hello, Renee, Seth," I said, returning their hugs. "Charlie. It's good to see you again," I told him, shaking his hand.

"Edward, you too," he replied, then grabbed Bella into a huge hug. "Missed you, baby girl."

"Missed you too, Daddy," Bella whispered. "Hello, Momma, Seth."

After another round of hugs we were led out of the room and into Eden.

~*~HS~*~

I'm not sure there is an adequate way to describe Eden.

It was beautiful, I wouldn't deny that.

Stepping into it was really like coming home. The peaceful feeling was second only to what I felt with Bella. It was like having the jungle, the beach, a jungle city, and a garden all in one. There were jungle trees, and tree huts. There were also huts on the ground with wooden pathways between them.

We walked between the huts on these paths, looking at everything. Well, I was anyway. The others were talking about all the things Bella had seen and what she had missed in the last couple of months. I could see the differences between the shops and the homes. Shops were similar to what we had on earth, with advertisements, plastic models, and prices shown.

While we walked further out, the houses got bigger, more beautiful, and more elaborate. They were suited for families rather than couples. Those that were higher up in the trees, the longer they've been around, the more elaborate they became.

The further out we walked, the more of nature was involved. There were natural gardens, waterfalls, pastures, and the animals. There were so many different kinds of animals. There were normal ones that are available on earth, and many, many fictional ones: griffins, unicorns, phoenixes, and dragons; all of them were there.

I couldn't believe this was real.

Charlie placed his hand on my shoulder, getting my attention. "Are you okay, son?"

I nodded. "Just overwhelmed, I think. It's… I'm not sure there are words for just how… yeah, absolutely overwhelmed."

He nodded, taking his hand back. "I can imagine it would be for someone from the outside."

We continued on until we came to this stunning octagonal bamboo house. It was two stories, with elaborate archways and guides. It had glass windows and a large door with a stained glass window inlet.

Walking inside, I was in awe. The floor was made of natural woods, the walls made of bamboo, as well as a lot of the furniture. Hammocks, as well as beds, cushions, blankets, and throws were laying and hanging all around. Everything was beautiful, relaxing, and peaceful.

Bella came over to me, grabbing my hands. "You okay?"

"Uh… yes, I think so. I'm overwhelmed, that's for sure, but I'm fine," I replied, continuing to look around.

Bella led me through the lower level with the kitchen, living room, dining room, and downstairs bathroom. Guiding me up the stairs we walked past Seth's room – which was a young boy's dream – the bathroom, her parents' room, and then we stepped into hers.

Her room was gorgeous.

It had a circular window with a bookcase that went all the way around. A beige circular mat in the middle of the floor and a reading nook was set off to the side. She had a dresser and a wardrobe, but what stood out to me was the cool looking bed that hung from the ceiling. It was a cane nest bed that was enclosed all the way around and only had a half circle opening to climb in, all done in earth tones. Her room opened up to a balcony that had some lounge chairs where she could relax and do her homework.

I looked down at Bella and noticed she was blushing and looking at the floor. This blush wasn't in excitement. I placed my fingers under her chin and tilted her head up so she was looking me in the eye. "What's wrong, Bella?"

She blushed a brighter pink. "I'm a little embarrassed about my bed," she whispered.

"Why?" I whispered right back.

"That there is my childhood bed. The bed of a single angel," Bella explained.

I looked at it again. "I happen to love it, Bella. Not only does it say that you left here a single angel, it also means that I am the first and only male to grace this room with my presence, except for Seth and Charlie." I kissed her quick. "I can't tell you how happy that makes the vampire in me."

"Really?" she asked shyly.

"Yes, love, really."

Bella beamed. She told me that I could place the few belongings I brought with me in the dresser, then we were going downstairs to have lunch before meeting the rest of her family.

Once we were unpacked, we went downstairs. Renee had called us to the dining room for our lunch. Bella was right, it was like the freeze-dried food the army used. It tasted just like the food Bella and I were learning to make, though, and it was filling. I never thought that it could be.

I insisted on helping Renee with the few dishes that were there.

"Edward, have you spoken to your family yet?" she inquired. I decided that while here I wouldn't listen to their thoughts if I could help it. I'd keep my talent switched off.

"I've spoken to Esme just about every week since Charlie and Seth went there. I spoke to her just before we came up. She keeps begging for us to come back, to live there with them, but I don't think I can. I love her like a mother but…" I trailed off.

"But you want to grow up. You want to leave the nest and spread your wings?" she suggested.

"Yes. I've been free the last couple of months. Free to be me and not conform to the standards set out by today's couples. I can be the gentleman I was raised to be and not play a part. Does that make sense?" I asked. It was nice to talk it out with another mother.

"Absolutely, Edward," Renee agreed. "You've been trapped, living how you were living for years. You are now tasting freedom as an adult, and you are doing it the best way because you have someone to share it with."

"Thank you," I whispered to her, kissing her cheek.

"You're welcome," she said patting mine. "Now let's go meet the rest of the family. Even poor Aunt Alida, gods help her."

I laughed at her put out face. "Someone is going to have to tell me all about why you say that."

She giggled. "Yes, I suppose we will. Just remember there is always one black sheep in the family, and as much as we love her, she's just that."

I nodded, knowing I would ask them about her later.

"Follow me, Edward. The rest are here and I know they are dying to meet you."

Renee and I walked out of the kitchen to see everyone gathered in the living room. Bella was being hugged by one of them. She was whispering and being loved on by the woman as if she was the most precious thing to her. Like she was to me.

When Bella pulled back she looked at me with a smile on her face. "Come here, Edward, I want to introduce you."

I walked over to her, linking my hand with hers as she guided me to two of the five who had arrived. They were a lovely couple, not looking much older than Charlie. The woman was about the same height as Bella, with blonde hair, cut shoulder length, and bright violet eyes. The man was a little taller than Charlie and had the same coloring, dark hair, dark eyes – only he had a moustache.

"These two here are my Gamma and Poppa. Better known around here as Alison and Amos. Gamma, Poppa, this here is my Edward." I shook Amos' hand and kissed the back of Alison's.

"It's lovely to meet you both, Bella has told me a lot about you."

"You too, Edward," they both said. "Welcome," they continued.

Bella towed me along to the other couple in the room, whom she was hugging earlier. "Now these two are my great-great-grandparents, known to me as Mimi and Papa. Outside of here, though, they are Father Death, better known as Samail, and Mother Earth, better known as Mikail.

"Mimi and Papa, this is my mate Edward Anthony Masen, part of the Cullen Coven."

"It really is a pleasure to meet you both. Bella has told me a lot about you—about all of you—but I cannot wait to get to know you all better."

Mikail reached out and cupped my cheek. "Yes, my Bella picked a handsome one," she commented, causing Bella to blush. "It's lovely to meet you too, Edward."

Samail shook my hand. "Welcome to the family, Edward. You are free to do as you please here in Eden. Be a vampire, move at your natural speed, jump how you want, just be. You will not be judged here."

I looked around the room to the other person who had come in with them, but she wasn't paying attention to anyone. She had a grouping of little balls in her hands that she kept switching between. She'd look, talk to one, then put it back for another and repeat the ritual.

"That is Daddy's sister, Aunt Alida. She's… different. I'll explain it to you later. Don't bother to introduce yourself now. We can do it later when she's finished what she's doing," Bella explained.

I nodded to her that I understood.

When we sat down to spend the afternoon getting to know each other more, or to play catch up, it struck me at just how much better I felt here.

I truly was home.

~*~HS~*~