Three Vampires and a Baby

by Kristylized

Immortals and perpetual bachelors Emmett, Carlisle and Edward find themselves the guardians of a mischievous human girl after she's abandoned on their doorstep. With the unexpected help of one of Edward's classmates, they navigate the tricky landscape of raising a child, learning lessons in love and parenthood along the way. Strong AU.

10. Chapter Ten

Title: Three Vampires and a Baby

Summary: Immortals and perpetual bachelors Emmett, Carlisle and Edward find themselves the guardians of a mischievous human girl after she's abandoned on their doorstep. With the unexpected help of one of Edward's classmates, they navigate the tricky landscape of raising a child, learning lessons in love and parenthood along the way. Strong AU.

Pairings: Canon

Rating: M

POV: Edward

AN: The good news? This is the longest chapter yet and it's nearly 100% fluff. I think we all need that right now, no? This story was never intended to be about prolonged angst, so rest assured this was always the plan. Happiness and love to everyone in the fandom :)

xx

There were a million things fighting for space on the tip of my tongue. Somehow, the words that made it to the top of the pile were probably the worst ones I could have said.

"I really am a vampire."

I wanted to hit myself for that slice of genius.

To my surprise, Bella didn't slam the window shut in my face. She crossed her arms and her beautiful features set into a stubborn line. She seemed willing to hear me out, at least, which was a step above anything else I'd achieved this week.

"Prove it. You said you could show me."

I was more than happy to fulfill that request.

I did a back flip out of the tree, landing in an easy crouch in the grass fifteen feet below. I was showing off, but I figured it couldn't hurt. If I had to prove myself, I might as well do it thoroughly.

Bella squeaked, thinking I'd fallen.

I chuckled, calling up to her, "I can't die, Bella. That's what I've been trying to tell you."

In a fluid movement, I leapt back into the tree. Bella's eyes widened as I made the inhuman jump. She glanced at me worriedly. I couldn't help my smile, pleased to have a sign that she still cared about me.

"Your ankles…"

I shrugged. "Are perfectly fine." I yanked up one of my pant legs to show her. "No damage. There won't even be a bruise. It wouldn't matter if I jumped 200 hundred feet."

She bit her lip, a trace of doubt remaining.

I hopped back out of the tree, darting to the other side of the yard to grab a decorative stone that had to weigh nearly a ton. I lifted it up with ease and walked over to the window.

I waved up at Bella, balancing the rock above my head with one hand. She was looking on with the same bewildered expression as before.

"Pretty cool, right?" I called up to her. "If I had two more, I could juggle. Emmett's better than I am, though. He can throw them really high."

"Put that back and come here," Bella hissed, glancing over her shoulder.

"Esme can't hear us, she's watching TV," I explained, but did as Bella requested.

When I reached the window ledge, she tugged on my shirt, dragging me into her room. I followed her inside, hopeful that it was a sign she would forgive me.

"So you believe me?" I inquired, as we sat down on her bed side by side, half a foot of space separating us. I tried – and failed – not to recall the things I'd done with her on that bed. I could only hope we would continue to make memories like those.

She exhaled shakily. "Does that make me crazy?"

I turned to face her, stroking her cheek, amazed that she was letting me touch her at all.

"No. It doesn't make you crazy. Humans are taught not to believe we exist. I always expected telling you would be difficult. I never expected you to think I was doing it to hurt you. I never want you to be hurt."

She covered my hand with her own. Her skin on mine made my soul hum with contentment. It was exactly what I'd been craving the last four days.

"I didn't know what else to think. You were asking all these weird questions and I was overwhelmed. It seemed like the most rational explanation."

I rubbed a thumb over the pink apple of her cheek, soothing the flushed skin.

"Sometimes what seems the most irrational is the most real. This is who I am."

She nodded, peering into my eyes.

"I believe you. I'm sorry I was stubborn. I knew you were different… really, I did. I just never expected the reason to be something so…" she paused, searching for a word.

"Terrifying?" I suggested.

She shook her head, a hint of a smile softening her features.

"Not exactly. You've never scared me. I guess that's it. You're so… sweet, for lack of a better description. The way you are with Alice and Jasper… and with me. I couldn't picture it. It doesn't make sense. Vampires are cruel and vicious. That's not who you are."

I caressed her hair, rejoicing in being able to do so. Now that I'd started, I couldn't seem to stop touching her. To my great relief, she didn't ask me to stop.

"Books and movies aren't the best place to obtain factual information," I pointed out. "Vampires aren't as humans portray us, at least not entirely. Most vampire myths are as fictional as humans perceive us to be."

"So you don't drink blood?" She asked.

"Not human blood. There are other vampires that do, but my family prefers not to live that way. We enjoy the company of humans and killing them would put a damper on that."

Bella's lips quirked. "Never? Not even a drop?"

I nodded, proud to share the truth. "Not a single one. Carlisle is the same, unless you count him changing Emmett. Emmett… he does his best, but it's more difficult for him. Our ability to resist temptation varies," I admitted. "His last relapse was decades ago, though. He hates feeling like the weakest link, but he's a good person. He would never intend to harm anyone."

I peeked into Bella's eyes, worried I might find judgment there. As much as I adored her, I couldn't stand the thought of her looking down on my brother for his momentary lapses in control. He was the most big-hearted person I'd ever known.

Bella was impassive, her lip between her teeth again.

"Then what do you eat… or drink?" she whispered, her eyes still scorching mine.

"Animal blood. Apparently it doesn't taste as good, but I'd rather settle for something less appetizing if it means sparing lives. It's all I've ever known, so I'll never feel like I'm missing anything."

Bella nodded, as if she was mentally connecting dots in her head. "I guess that explains why you hate cake."

I chuckled, amused that was what she had taken from our conversation.

"I tell you I subsist on animal blood and you're relieved I have a legitimate reason to hate cake?"

Bella chuckled, too. "I'm sorry. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this. It's going to take some time to sink in. I have so many questions. I don't know where to begin."

I threaded my fingers through hers, pleased when she squeezed my hand in return.

"I've got forever. Ask away."

She nodded. "Okay, let's start there. Forever? When you say that, do you actually mean forever? In the legends, vampires live for eternity, right?"

I nodded. "It's true as far as we know. No vampire has reached the end of his or her lifespan yet. It's possible one exists, but if it does, it's millennia upon millennia. The oldest vampires in existence are over ten thousand."

Bella's eyes widened. "That's…" she shook her head. "How old are you?"

I smirked. "I'm relatively new. I was changed in 1930, by Emmett. He's my biological brother. He was changed by Carlisle after he was attacked by a bear. He insisted on coming back for me."

Bella smiled. "That sounds like Emmett. So, if you were changed in 1930, that makes you at least eighty-two," she calculated.

I was impressed by her quick math, though she hadn't added my human years.

"Ninety-nine, actually. I was seventeen when I was changed. We're frozen in the bodies we had at the time of our transformation."

Bella choked on thin air, her eyes widening comically. "Seventeen? You're practically a child! I'm five years older than you! That isn't weird to you?"

I snorted. "Actually, I'm 77 years older than you. I was an adult when you were born. And no, it's not weird. Age means very little when you live forever."

"Seventeen," Bella repeated. "I'm in love with a seventeen-year-old vampire."

Hearing her say that she loved me, while admitting that I was a vampire, no less, sent white hot warmth surging through my frozen veins.

Bella glanced at me when my head shot up, seeming to realize for the first time the significance of what she had blurted out.

Her mouth dropped open, silently fumbling for words. She eventually settled on, "Shit."

"You love me?" I was grinning like an idiot. I didn't care. My joy was inescapable.

Bella shrugged, her gaze defiant. "You said it first… in the hallway after class, remember?"

"Yes."

"Did you mean it?"

I'd never seen her look so nakedly apprehensive.

If admitting that I loved her was what it took for her to admit her own feelings, I would do it gladly. There was no way I could pretend what I felt for her was anything but love. I didn't want to, anyway. I wanted the world to know I was hers.

I was done lying to her, and myself, so I nodded.

Her smile was blinding. "Really?"

I gripped the hand still in mine tighter. "Yes, really. I don't know how anyone could resist. You're beautiful and intelligent. You're passionate and stubborn and endlessly entertaining. You have the most adorable laugh. You're everything I never thought to hope for. If only you didn't have the most awful taste in food… I might be tempted to say you were perfect."

Bella scooted closer to me, her eyes glassy, even as her face threatened to split with the enormity of her smile.

"I meant it, too," she admitted shyly. "I love you."

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into my chest, reveling in the nearness of her scent. I'd never thought I'd miss the burning ache of a human scent, but it wasn't just any scent, it was Bella's.

"Even though I'm a vampire?" I asked, the familiar insecurity resurfacing. I needed to hear her say the words.

She combed a hand through the hair that had flopped onto my forehead. "Even though you're a vampire. Before you distracted me… I had some questions about that."

"I distracted you?" I snorted. "You're the one who said you loved me. But okay, I'm listening."

We spent the next hours rehashing every single thing, fact or fiction, that Bella had ever read about vampires. More often than not, her information proved to be groundless, though a few of the legends she recounted were loosely based in fact, such as the belief that we couldn't go out in daylight.

"You sparkle?" Bella asked, tilting her incredulous face up to mine. "Like you've been dipped in glitter?"

I laughed at her adorable, scrunched expression, holding her tighter. During the course of our conversation, she'd gradually migrated closer and closer, until she had wound up curled in my lap, her head pillowed on my chest.

"Not exactly. More like the way light refracts in a gemstone. Only sunlight penetrates the pigment in our skin, for some reason. Carlisle's done some experimenting, but he's never been able to determine why different sources of light react with our skin differently. The same with our eye colour. I suppose some things are just not meant to be understood."

"I think that's something I'm going to have to see to believe," she admitted, touching my face. "You look so normal. I can't picture it."

"You noticed my skin was unusually firm," I pointed out. "That's because we're made of almost pure carbon, with very few impurities. It makes us virtually indestructible."

"Pure carbon? Like diamond?" Bella asked, confused.

I shook my head. "Close, but not quite. The impurities are important. They change the cell structure entirely. One of them is a new element, something that doesn't exist anywhere else on earth. It's what makes us so flammable and allows us to move and think. I don't really know much about it, actually. The science of being a vampire has never really interested me. Carlisle would know better."

Bella tucked her head under my chin, pressing her face against my chest. "This is still so surreal. My boyfriend is a vampire."

I kissed her head, loving hearing her refer to me as hers. I was, completely and totally.

"I've been thinking and you know how you told me that you had never been with anyone else?"

I nodded.

"Is that actually true? I mean, if you're ninety-nine… that's a long time to wait."

"I was telling the truth," I confirmed. "Vampires love differently than humans do. We only fall in love once. If we do, we're mated to that person for the rest of our existence. It's irreversible. Even if a mate is lost, a vampire will never love another person. Vampires who have lost their mates are inconsolable. If their mate was harmed by another, their entire existence becomes centered on revenge."

"Love and sex aren't necessarily connected," Bella pointed out rationally. "I mean, assuming that vampires have needs the same way humans do?"

"That's true. Some vampires have casual sex with other unmated vampires. As long as they're not in love with one another, there's no mate bond and they're free to move on without attachments. That's never been something that appealed to me. Carlisle is the same way and he's nearly four-hundred. Emmett is more liberal, though he stays away from humans. He loves to flirt, but he's too worried he'll hurt them to do anything more."

Bella blinked, recognition dawning. "So that's why you were so worried about Emmett and Carlisle? If they fall in love, they don't get another chance?"

I nodded. "Exactly."

She tilted nervous eyes to mine. "So, you and me…?"

"You're the only person I'll ever love," I admitted, my own nerves bubbling. "It's biologically impossible for me to love anyone else the way I love you."

Somehow admitting that was scarier than the "I love you" itself. What if she decided she wasn't done sowing her wild oats? I wasn't sure how well I would handle rejection.

She smiled. "I think I can live with that. It's comforting, in a way."

I knew she was thinking of the ex-boyfriend who she had quietly confessed had cheated on her. I hated that the dumbass had been allowed the privilege of her love. Anyone who would squander such a precious gift from someone like Bella didn't deserve it in the first place.

I ran my fingers through her dark hair.

"I will never hurt you, at least not consciously," I vowed. "You have no idea how much it killed me, knowing that you were upset these past four days, and that there was nothing I could do to change it. I've never felt more helpless."

Bella's arms tightened around my neck. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I wish I could say that that those four days were a waste, but I needed them. I spent a lot of time thinking about everything you said. You were right. I did recognize that you weren't normal. I was just too stubborn to set aside my pride and admit it."

"We're done with that." I kissed her forehead. "No more apologies, okay?"

She gave me a bright smile. "Deal."

I kissed her, unable to hold back any longer. Now that the apologies and explanations were behind us, I wanted nothing more than to indulge in the intoxicating feeling of softness and warmth I'd missed so much. She kissed me back just as fervently.

"I missed you," she admitted, her breath hot against my lips.

It was amazing how easy it was to slip back into the familiar motions. The torment and confusion of the last few days seemed like ancient history. We toppled backwards onto Bella's bed, still intertwined and kissing like teenagers.

"I like making up with you," Bella sighed breathlessly, her fingers curling into my hair as my lips traversed a path to her ear.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," I murmured. "I don't want to have to make up ever again. We'll be one of those sickening couples who never fight, ever."

Bella giggled, hooking a leg over my hip so our bodies were pressed together in the most delightfully sinful way possible.

"Sounds good to me," she agreed, a huge yawn splitting the sentence in half.

A second glance revealed just how tired she was. Her eyes were droopy and the dark circles I'd noticed earlier were more prominent than ever. She desperately needed rest.

I'd been so happy to be reunited with her, I hadn't realized it was almost four in the morning. We'd spent more than four hours talking. No wonder she was exhausted. Soon morning light would be peeking through her curtains.

I disentangled myself from Bella, amid her protests.

"What are you doing?" She canted herself on her elbows to glare at me balefully. "You cannot keep doing this to me. This is cruelty to… to… women."

I chuckled. "Not women. Just you." I ignored her menacing look. "You're about to pass out on me. I'll be here tomorrow, but for now you need rest."

She nodded, another yawn tearing through her. "Ugh, I didn't notice how tired I was until just now. Now I can't stop yawning."

I lifted her easily, pulling down the covers so I could deposit her under them. She clutched my sleeve when I made a move to pull the comforter over her.

"Stay with me?"

I smiled at her. "I'm not leaving… but you don't want me under the covers with you. You'll be cold."

She shook her head, stubborn even when she was half-asleep.

"Don't tell me what I want."

She pointed at the bed, a silent command for me to join her under the comforter.

I shrugged, crawling in next to her. I wasn't about to fight with her. We'd done enough of that for a few lifetimes at least. I was more than happy to comply if it was cuddling she wanted.

"I usually toss off the covers at night," she continued sleepily as I spooned against her, wrapping her in a snug embrace. "I get hot easily. Esme hates air conditioning, so this is perfect. She gets her heat, I get my cold."

The rest of the house was silent, with only the soft, measured breathing of people sleeping disturbing the quiet. In the adjacent rooms, Jasper and Esme were sound asleep. It wasn't long until Bella joined them, her body succumbing to sleep.

When her eyes opened in the morning, the raw red of the previous evening had been replaced bright, shining brown. She stretched, burrowing deeper into my side.

"Good morning," I greeted her.

She echoed the phrase sleepily, still fighting the remnants of sleep. "What are we doing today?"

I smiled at her sleep-ruffled appearance, wishing I could stay here for the rest of the day. Unfortunately I had to get back to relieve my brother from babysitting duty.

"I have Alice. I have to be back before ten, so Emmett can go to class. I was thinking about taking her out to the pool. You could bring Jasper?"

Bella frowned at the strip of daylight peeking through her curtains.

"The pool? Isn't that a little public? You sparkle in the sun, remember?"

"Our pool, Bella," I chuckled. "Didn't you see that huge fenced off structure in our yard? That's a pool. Emmett had it custom built when we moved here. It's half-indoors, half-outdoors, surrounded by ten foot fences on all sides."

Bella giggled. "Vampires swim?"

I chuckled too. "Yes. Vampires love water. It's fire we don't like. Vampires love hot showers. Swimming isn't all that much different. We don't like the scent of chlorine, though, so we have a salt-water pool. Since we're heavier than we look, it helps us float, too."

Bella flopped onto her back. "It's been so long since I've been swimming… probably not since we lived in Arizona. I don't know if I even have a swimsuit."

"You do. I can smell the chlorine."

I slid out from beneath the covers, heading for the bottom drawer on her dresser, from where the faint chlorine smell wafted.

It only took me a second to locate a few scraps of material that I supposed might qualify as a swimsuit. I fought against the now familiar possessive urge to locate and shred every man who had seen her in it.

I held up the garment. "Look familiar?"

Bella groaned and buried her red face in her pillow. "Oh god, I forgot about that! My mom bought it when I went away for spring break freshman year. She tossed my one piece and snuck that in my suitcase instead."

I chuckled. "You mom sounds–"

"Mean?"

I laughed. "I was going to say entertaining."

Bella smiled, rolling onto her stomach and propping herself on her elbows to face me. She was rumpled and adorable; her hair was a tangled mess, last night's pajamas wrinkled and gathered mid-way up her calves.

"She was. She was exactly what I needed. I was quiet and reserved. She was wild and spontaneous. She kept me from growing up too fast. I kept her grounded."

I tossed the swimsuit at her. "I guess you have to wear it then. It's what your mom would have wanted."

Bella chucked her pillow at my head. "I wouldn't wear that if you paid me."

I laughed. "If you change your mind, I have a little pocket change to spare."

Bella rolled her eyes.

"You've worn it before," I pointed out. "If you hadn't, it wouldn't smell like chlorine."

Bella stood, snatching the tiny garment from where it had landed. "I told you, my mom stole my other swimsuit. It was either this or naked."

I sobered at the mental image she had painted. Either way there was a lot of visible skin. I suddenly really, really wanted her to wear that swimsuit.

"You can wear a shirt over it," I offered, willing to compromise if it meant spending the day with her. She nodded and pulled a tank top from her closet.

"We better get moving," she suggested, "Emmett's going to wonder where we are. It's already nine thirty and I still have to get Jasper ready. He's probably hanging out in his crib waiting for me to come get him. He's the most patient three-year-old you'll ever meet."

Emmett was still feeding Alice breakfast when Bella, Jasper and I trekked in the door with a bag full of pool-wear half an hour later.

Emmett grinned at Bella. "Did you and Edward kiss and make up? Thank god. I was starting to worry about my little brother. He does enough moping when he's not miserable."

I grabbed the spoon from his hand. "I'll feed Alice. You can leave now. Good riddance… I mean good bye."

Emmett chuckled, grabbing his keys. "I can tell when I'm not wanted. You kids have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"That doesn't leave much," I muttered.

Emmett laughed and raised an eyebrow at Bella. "See what I mean? Grumpy."

He kissed her cheek. "We missed you around here. Make my little brother happy, okay? But not too happy. The rest of us have to swim in that pool." He winked.

Bella rolled her eyes, but stood on her toes to hug him. "I missed you guys, too. I'm sorry I was so stubborn. Edward explained everything to me and I'm doing my best to keep an open-mind."

Emmett patted her on the back, a little too roughly if Bella's wince was any indication.

I shoved him out the door.

"Go bother Rosalie and leave my girlfriend alone."

Emmett said something about not keeping tabs on Rosalie's every move, but I'd already closed the door behind him, past listening to his whining about me and his attempts to embarrass Bella.

Bella snorted. "Well, that's one way to get rid of an annoying sibling, I guess."

"You wouldn't understand, you're an only child," I claimed primly as I helped Alice polish off the last of her oatmeal. I'd thought chocolate was bad. At least chocolate looked somewhat appealing. This stuff looked like lumpy glue.

Bella shook her head, amused by my distaste.

"You make this face when you're around food, like it's the most awful thing you've ever seen. It should have been obvious you don't eat. I can't believe I didn't notice before. It's kind of cute."

I didn't want to rehash our lengthy conversation, especially with the kids present, so I changed the subject as I rinsed out Alice's bowl and put it in the dishwasher.

"Ready to go swimming?"

"Swim!" Alice proclaimed, recognizing the word. Emmett had taken her out last week, and she'd had the time of her life.

Bella took the bait, eagerly shuffling Jasper off to dress him in the tiny swim trunks she'd miraculously pulled out of a drawer. Esme must have taken him swimming recently, since they still fit.

Once I was sure Bella was occupied changing herself and Jasper, I whisked Alice off to the pool house, where Emmett had separate change rooms installed.

I didn't know if I would be brave enough to let Bella see my sparkling skin. She was still getting used to the idea of me being a vampire. I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize our reconciliation. As long as she didn't spot me walking out to the pool house, I could stay in the covered half of the pool while we were outside, and she'd never see me exposed to sunlight.

Searching in Alice's drawer in the change room, I found she had amassed no fewer than seven swimsuits. I selected a blue one with baby hippos, making a mental reminder to tell Emmett to cool his spending habits before we were stuck with credit card payments the size of the national debt.

I was just dipping Alice into the shallow, shaded end of the pool when Bella strolled in with Jasper in her arms. I had to blink twice before the sight registered. She'd put on the tiny bikini, neglecting to wear the cover up she'd insisted on bringing.

"Holy…" I managed to spew oh-so-eloquently.

Bella smiled at me, her expression coy. "You like it? I figured, since it's just you and the kids… it's not a big deal."

I nodded numbly as she waded into the water with Jasper, sitting next to me on the top step. The Swans were the cautious type who liked to adjust to the water slowly.

Alice was more of a daredevil. She didn't mind jumping right in. I'd outfitted her in enough water wings and tubular devices to keep someone three times her size afloat. The second she'd hit the water, she had floated off like a buoy, her erratic paddling sending her bobbing from one end of the pool to the other. I kept a watchful eye on her as she floated about.

"Japper! Come!" she called, grinning gleefully at her best friend, her little arms flailing in the water.

Jasper shook his head at her. He was perfectly happy where it was safe. Unlike Alice, he seemed to grasp that water could be dangerous.

"Swim fun!" Alice added persuasively, but Jasper refused to budge from his safe haven in Bella's arms.

Alice flapped her way back to us. Her motor skills weren't quite up to the task, so I dived in to tow her the rest of the way once she'd bobbed back into the shaded area. I couldn't resist playfully kick splashing Bella and Jasper as I left. Jasper giggled, but Bella squealed, complaining about the cold.

"Me!" Alice cried, wanting to participate in the fun, so I showed her how to use her arms make a big splash, inciting an all out water war.

It wasn't too long before Jasper decided he was okay with the water after all. He let Bella zip him into a lifejacket and water wings and bobbed along behind Alice.

Bella and I slicked the water from our hair, content to watch them drift around as we relaxed on the edge of the pool.

She giggled, her eyes on them. "They're so cute."

I pulled her into my side, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You look pretty cute, too," I informed her.

Bella turned intense chocolate eyes on me, her cheeks three shades deeper than they'd been a moment ago. "Just cute?"

"Sexy as all hell," I corrected, running a hand up her water-slicked skin, from her hip to the small of her back. It was even softer slippery wet.

I'd just pressed my lips to hers when an all-too-familiar voice cut through my dreamy Bella-haze.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Rosalie had perfected the art of the silence. If not for her thoughts, I wouldn't have heard her approach at all.

She hovered over us with her hands on her hips, making me feel like a teenager who had just been caught doing something naughty on his parents' couch.

"We're just swimming," Bella explained with a smile, putting a few inches of space between us. I grimaced at Rosalie's intrusion. We had just been getting to the good part.

Rosalie smiled, her tone nothing but sugary sweetness. "Someone should watch the kids if the two of you are going to make out."

I glanced at the kids who were perfectly safe, kicking and splashing as they bobbed around the pool in their flotation devices. I'd even lathered Alice with copious amounts of sunscreen so she wouldn't get sunburned. It wasn't like we wouldn't hear if something was wrong, anyway. Our bases were covered.

I rolled my eyes. "We were watching them, but please, feel free to join us."

Rosalie grinned, tugging her long hair into a knot, taking my sarcasm as an invitation.

"I think I will," she agreed, heading for the change room. She stopped mid-stride and turned to appraise Bella with a wink. "Nice body... for a human."

She was gone before Bella could even begin to formulate a response.

Bella turned wide eyes to me, aware how rare genuine admiration was from the glacial blonde. "Did she just compliment me?"

I nodded. "Seems that way. Even Rosalie can't deny the truth when she sees it. You look hot."

Bella curled an arm around my neck, smiling into my neck.

A splash sounded on the other end of the pool as Rosalie dove in with a perfect swan dive, done changing already. She was wearing a garment every bit as tiny as Bella's. I hoped that didn't make Bella feel self-conscious. There was no reason for her to feel inadequate. She was perfect.

Rosalie surfaced a few feet away from us and raised a challenging eyebrow. "You couldn't wait until I got back? Seriously?"

I shrugged. "What we do is none of your business. You wanted to watch the kids… they're over there."

Rosalie smirked. "Whatever. Just keep the pool clean. I will not share a pool with your spunk."

I snorted, amused that Emmett had said virtually the same thing. They were almost too alike. They shot the whole opposites attract theory to hell.

Bella's eyes widened in shock as Rosalie paddled smoothly to the other side of the pool where Alice and Jasper were floating, her marble skin sending dappled light shimmering across the water wherever sunlight hit it.

"Wow."

I'd been so worried about not exposing myself to sunlight that I hadn't even considered that Bella seeing another vampire might have the same effect.

I glanced at her worriedly, trying to determine if that was a good or a bad wow.

"It doesn't freak you out?"

Bella shook her head, her eyes glued to Rosalie's shimmering form.

"No. I think reality just hit home, though. It's hard to deny that's supernatural. I live in a world where vampires exist… for real."

I nodded, understanding that seeing a vampire in the sunlight for the first time would be something of an epiphany for non-believers. The idea that vampires were real was still new to Bella.

"The first time I saw a vampire in the sun, it was myself," I admitted. "Emmett didn't tell me what to expect and I freaked out. I thought I was dying. You know those movie exorcisms, where the evil spirit literally bursts into rays of light and dies?"

Bella snorted. "You thought you were an evil spirit?"

I shrugged. "Something like that. Emmett had just informed me I was a vampire. He said sunlight wouldn't hurt me, but he didn't explain what would happen. I assumed being a vampire was bad enough."

Bella tore her gaze from Rosalie to glance at me. "You're not bad."

I nodded. "I know that now. It took me a few decades to understand that. A vampire is what I am, not who I am. I'm not inherently good or evil. Who I am is based on what I do, not the body I exist in."

Bella hugged me, planting a tender kiss on my chin. "That about sums it up."

She tilted her eyes to mine, curiosity brimming in them.

"So… are you going to show me what you look like in the sun? Pleeease?" She dialed up the charm, capping it off with a heartbreaking smile. I couldn't deny her a thing.

My stone heart squeezing with the pinch of nerves, I agreed. Not wanting to prolong the spectacle, I ducked under water, resurfacing just outside of the shaded area.

Bella's eyes met mine across the short distance, her mind ever silent. More than ever I wished I knew what she was thinking.

She closed the space between us, reaching up to touch my face. Light refracting off my skin danced across her fingers.

"You're beautiful," she whispered, her fingers skimming my jaw.

I repressed a smile born out of relief more than anything else. That quickly disappeared at the look on her face. We stared at one another for a few intense moments.

Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "Now that that's over with… can we make out? I think we're past our daily quota for sentimental declarations."

"You are," Rosalie muttered from across the pool. "And your quota for making out, too."

Despite her wry outward attitude, she was pleased for us. Genuine happiness shone through the tenor of her mind, even though she tried to mask it with indifference.

Bella pulled me close, holding onto me so she didn't have tread in the deep water. I held her back just as tightly, happy to have her in my arms. It didn't hurt that she was nearly naked.

Bella had just pressed her lips to mine for the second time when we were interrupted by Jasper and Alice sending a torrent of water our way.

"Plash!" Alice exclaimed with a gleeful giggle while Rosalie cackled in the background.

Bella wiped away the water from her face, growling playfully at Alice, who seemed to realize she was in trouble. She paddled fruitlessly, scrambling to hide behind Jasper who was just as panicked to get away before Bella reciprocated.

Rosalie came to their rescue, tugging the pair of them out of the danger zone. Bella and I chased them around, pretending to be unable to get them wet.

By mid-afternoon, the kids were exhausted and had gratefully succumbed to naptime. Rosalie had taken them inside to rest.

Bella and I were finally left alone, though we decided we'd had enough of the water, choosing to laze on one of the pool-side lounge chairs together, kissing and making up for the last few days.

"I'm glad I didn't miss out on this," she told me, nuzzling into the crook of my neck.

I hummed my agreement. "It's definitely made everything we've been through worth it."