Chapter 10 Love is in the Air

EPOV

It's been a month since the incident and things have been good and bad. The Denali's were upset of course but they understood. They thought Tanya was getting better, she told them she found a mate and wanted some time alone with him. Irina said the week we went to Paris, Tanya took off saying she was going to travel the world. Irina thought it would be ok since Tanya didn't know about the Paris trip. We found out Tanya was actually stalking us and waiting for us to leave Bella alone.

Bella's injuries have healed and she's good as new again. It only took about two weeks for her arm and three weeks for her leg to heal.

She and I have never been closer to each other. We now hold hands in public and I give her chaste kisses every now and then. I still tuck her in bed but we usually will cuddle before she falls asleep. For our first date, I took her back to Paris and out to a nice restaurant. I made sure it wasn't too fancy since Bella would hate that.

We're getting ready to move to Forks, Washington. Bella's growth has slowed enough she can go to school with us. She now has several degrees but she wanted to experience high school. I'm really excited about this. My siblings and I have gone to school before but they have always had each other while I was alone but now I'll have Bella with me.

It was tough deciding where to move to but the Forks General Hospital offered Carlisle a great position as Chief of Medicine so we couldn't pass it up. He was a little worried since the last time we were in the area we ran into a pack of shape shifters. We were able to draw up a treaty between us that said we wouldn't bite any human unless they wanted to be changed. We were also not allowed on their land. I reminded Carlisle that Esme wanted to be changed and that fell within the allowances. We decided to just be careful.

I was tired of packing my room so I decided to help Bella. I walked into her room and it looked like a tornado went through. There were clothes everywhere!

"Love, you do realize you're supposed to pack the clothes not have a war with them right?"

Her head popped out from her closet, "Hardy har har, aren't you a comedian? I have no idea where these clothes came from. That's not even all of them. I swear this is like a magical closet that never ends."

I went to look in her closet and she was right. I couldn't find the back of it. This had Alice written all over it. I finally found the back of the closet and I found a door there.

"Love, why do you have two doors leading to your closet? Where does this go?" I opened the door and found a stairway. I went down it and it lead to Alice and Jasper's room. Alice was sitting there with a sheepish look on her face and I realized she built this secret stairway to Bella's closet so she could stuff more clothes in there. I just laughed and shook my head and went back up the stairs.

Bella was standing there with her mouth gaping open. "What in the world is that?"

"I found out how you keep getting more clothes. Alice built a secret way into your closet so she could put more clothes in it." Bella just shook her head and laughed like I did, there really wasn't much else she could do.

I helped Bella finish with her clothes and she decided to take about a third of them, the rest would be donated. That week was spent packing and when we finished we shipped everything.

~*~

We landed in Seattle and Bella was surprisingly wide awake. Her medicine wore off right before we landed. I really wanted to pick up my new car and Bella offered to go with me.

I purchased a brand new Audi TT. It was late in the year so they have 99's available. Bella loved it and we raced home in it. It drove well on its own but I would have Rose tune it up for me.

We got home and unpacked. It took Bella and me a couple of weeks before we had everything put up. We kept going out. I took her to Seattle a couple of times and Port Angeles.

She's been craving blood more lately so I took her hunting. I was worried since she wasn't as strong as I am so I would catch her prey and snap its neck and then let her drink. She didn't like it but she understood. Ever since Tanya I've been more protective of her. We had a long talk one night and I explained my feelings and point of view. She was more understanding than I imagined and proceeded to tell me that she could take care of herself but would allow certain things, like me catching her prey. We want to have a good, solid relationship so we're determined to work things out as they happen.

~*~

Tomorrow is the first day of school and we're having a family meeting to discuss our story. We have to figure out how we all came to be "adopted."

"Rose and Jasper can be twins again and Bella you can be their younger sister. You're Esme's cousins we adopted after your parents died in a car accident four years ago. Emmett, Alice and Edward will be siblings we adopted eight years ago. Alice and Edward, you will also be twins. Now what last names will you use?" Carlisle asked.

"Daddy could Alice, Edward and Emmett use 'Masen?'" Bella asked with a blush. I was curious about why she wanted me to use my human name.

"I don't see why not, but is there a reason?" I think Carlisle already knew the answer but blocked it from me.

Bella was blushing harder now. "Well if we get married while we're here I want to take his name." She said in a whisper. I couldn't believe that she wanted to take my name. I was filled with so much pride I thought I could burst. I smiled at her and hugged her close to me.

"I promise when we marry, you will become Mrs. Masen."

~*~

"Hurry up, Bell! We need to leave in an hour and I still have to dry your hair!" Alice was trying to doll Bella up for her first day. Bella was trying so hard to be brave but she was nervous. I promised I would be by her side and even made sure we had every class together. We were going to be sophomores while the others were juniors.

I decided to play video games with the guys while we waited for our girls. When they finally came down stairs, I was speechless. Bella's hair was down with loose curls and she was wearing a simple jeans and t-shirt but she was stunning. I'm glad Alice didn't force her too much out of her comfort zone today.

Bella and I rode together while our siblings took Rose's car. "Are you ready, love?"

"I guess." She answered timidly.

"Don't worry. I'll be right beside you. I'll never let anything happen to you, ok?"

"I know. I love you." Hearing her say those three little words, never fails to make me smile.

"I love you too." I gave her a quick kiss and we were off.

When we arrived at the school, most of the student body was in the parking lot, catching up from the summer. As expected we gained a lot of attention as we walked to the office. There were the typical thoughts I was used to and ones I would never get used to.

"Those must be the new students. I hope the guys are single, even if they're not they'll still ask me out."

"That blonde chick is hot!"

"Wow, they think they're so cool with their fancy cars and clothes. Whatever."

"It is my goal to bang that brunette chick by the end of the year. O yeah Mike, she won't be able to resist."

I was ready to kill this "Mike" fellow. I will make sure he stays away from Bella.

I felt Bella tug on my hand as we walked inside "Is it always like this?" She looked terrified.

"For a while it will be. We're new in a small town where nothing happens but they eventually get over it. Don't worry, I'm right here." She gave me a weak smile but started pulling me towards our first class, English.

We both got our slips signed and took seats in the back. She was getting more excited and I knew she was going to like this class.

As more students came in, I was again bombarded with thoughts. The girls were thinking of ways to seduce me, while the boys kept thinking of doing things to my Bella I will kill them for. It got so bad I couldn't control my growl any longer.

"Edward, are you ok? Do you need to go home? Are you thirsty?" Oh, my sweet Bella. I love her so much.

I scribbled on a note, "You are too beautiful for you own good and these boys are noticing. Their thoughts are less than gentlemanly about you. I promise to try to control it better."

She giggled when she read it and thought, "You silly man. Just ignore them. Remember, you're the one guarding my heart so they have to get through you first."

She was right. She loved me and as long as they didn't act on their fantasies I wouldn't hurt them too badly. It was really hard to ignore them but finally I just settled on thinking about Bella. She was my world and I would protect it at all costs.

The rest of the day went by in a similar fashion. More crude thoughts about both of us but we focused on each other and made it. By the time we got home, we both just wanted some peace and quiet. We went up to her room and cuddled in bed. We didn't talk except quiet whispers of our love. It was then that I decided I needed to make this more official. Tonight was going to be a big night; I was going to talk to Carlisle.

~*~

Once Bella was sleeping soundly, I got up and went to Carlisle's office. I knocked lightly on his door. He knew it was me so he thought "Come in Edward."

I walked in and sat down and ran my hands through my hair. I was gathering my thoughts when Carlisle thought "I have a feeling I know what this is about." He smirked at me.

I chuckled and nodded, "Yes, I think you do too. I uh, I wanted to ask you for Bella's hand in marriage." I heard squeals come from downstairs and smiled.

Carlisle was deciding if he should give me a hard time and thankfully he decided not to. He stood up and stuck out his hand; I also stood and shook it. "Edward, you are a good man and will make a wonderful husband. I know you will take care of her. Now, how are you going to ask her?" At this time the door to his office flew open and everyone came into the room eager to hear my plans.

"Oh Edward that is perfect!" Alice already saw what I had in mind.

"Well while I was hunting a few weeks ago, I found a meadow I want to take her to. I'm going to pack a picnic for her and give her the claddagh promise ring I got her while we were in Paris." The girls ooh'd and ahh'd about it while I continued. "I don't think she's ready for marriage yet but hopefully she will be soon. I want to do this first."

"That is a great idea. You should do it this weekend." Esme said.

The rest of the week passed by the same way. The students were slowly realizing we were all paired off and that brought up more rumors. They started saying rude things about Carlisle and Esme but we just brushed it off. Bella would get upset sometimes but I always calmed her down. Even though it was obvious Bella and I were together, people still asked us out. Everyday Mike Newton would approach Bella about doing something together, from tutoring to going to La Push beach to working at his parents' store. Bella laughed at the last one, who really tries to make someone date them by offering them a job.

The weekend finally came and I woke Bella up with French toast again. She smiled and gave me a quick kiss and then devoured her breakfast. "Love, I have a surprise for you today." She groaned.

"Stop, you'll like it I promise. Get ready and dress casual, I'm going to prepare a few things." I left her to get ready and I packed the backpack. I had a flashback to right after she turned eleven and I smiled at the memory. She loved that lake and it became a special place for us. The meadow would become another special place for us.

I gave her the backpack again and she grumbled something about "heavy lifting." I smiled and swung her on my back and took off into the woods. Again as we neared I pulled her off and we walked hand in hand to the meadow.

This time she didn't gasp when she saw it but her mouth was hanging open. I closed it and said, "I don't want you catching any flies."

She smiled and said, "Edward this is so beautiful. It's even better than the lake."

I smiled; I knew she would love it. "The lake was a special place for us and when I found this I knew it would also be special." I walked to the middle and pulled out the blanket. We lay down and cuddled and kissed for a while. "Angel, I have another surprise for you." I was nervous about her reaction but I hoped she would understand.

I pulled out the ring box from my pocket and her eyes got really big. I chuckled and said, "This is not an engagement ring, but it is a promise from me that someday I will get down on one knee and beg you to be my wife. I also promise to love you forever and always take care of you. I will do anything to make you happy. I love you so much." I opened the box and she gasped. She was already crying softly and I was worried she didn't like it but she stuck out her right hand for me to put it on. I put it on her with the crown pointing away from her and then kissed the ring on her finger.

When I saw the ring on her finger, a feeling of passiveness went through me. I realized I was marking her as mine. I think she realized it too and her allowing me to do so made me so happy.

I leaned forward and kissed her softly but she had other plans. Her hands came up and tangled in my hair. I responded immediately and started kissing her deeper. We have never been like this and it was an amazing new experience.

We made out like two teenagers all afternoon. We'd take a break and just stare at each other or close our eyes and relax then we would pounce on each other and make out some more. I have never felt more alive even when I was alive.

~*~

"Please, please Edward? Don't you love me?" Bella was giving me her pout. I'm so not ready for this. How can she be ready for it?

She wants me to… gulp… teach her how to drive… in my car. It's the summer after our first year in Forks. She's not technically old enough but she looks about sixteen now and Carlisle already had Jasper get her a drivers license. Now she just needs to learn. I don't know if I can do this though. It was bad enough teaching her to ride a bike when she was four.

"Ok, sweetie, I'm not going to let go, I just want you to pedal and get a feel for the bike." She was perched on her little pink Barbie bike. I was surprised but she actually loved that bike.

"Come on, Edward. Let's go!" She was so impatient. I was getting ready to push her a little when she took off.

"Bella, no! Wait for me!" She was doing pretty well considering she left me in the dust but when she realized I wasn't holding on to her she panicked and crashed in the driveway. She sat there shocked and then noticed her knee and elbow were scrapped up and started bawling.

"Oh God, Bella, did you break anything? Where does it hurt angel?" I was frantically searching her body for injuries.

The rest of the family was alerted by her screams and ran out of the house. By the time they reached us though I had her in my arms ready to take her inside to tend to her wounds.

"She's ok, just took a spill, nothing's broke." I answered all of their frantic thoughts.

I got Bella inside and put her on the counter in the bathroom. She stopped screaming but was still crying. I got a washcloth wet and started cleaning her scrapes. When I reached for the antiseptic she flinched. She knew it stung. "I know love, but I need to use this." I was as gentle as I could be and then blew on it to take some of the sting out. I put on a band-aid then kissed it. "There all better." I gave her my crooked grin and she smiled back. I wiped her tears and kissed the top of her head. "Now, next time wait until I say you can go. You did really well until you panicked."

"I thought you were holding on. You said you wouldn't let go."

"I know love, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let go, you just surprised me. It's ok; we'll get it right next time." And we did, the next day her scrapes were healed and by the end of the day she wanted to try doing the tricks Jasper and Emmett were doing.

"Edward, I need to learn and how can I learn if I don't practice. I already passed your written test with 100%!" She was right, I made up a test for her to take and she did excellent. I was still terrified though. Everyone in our family likes to drive fast, even Esme so we're really not the best role models.

I knew I wasn't going to win when she started the tears. "Alright, I give up. I'll teach you how to drive but not with my car. We'll go pick out a safe car for you to learn with. I wonder if I can find a closed track somewhere." She started jumping up and down squealing. She was spending too much time with Alice.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! When can we go?"

"Let me do some research but I'll try for this weekend." This time she pumped her fist in the air, too much time with Emmett.

I was able to find a closed track in Seattle for her to practice on. I wanted her comfortable with the car I pick out before she takes it on the road. I also found a 99 Subaru WRX. It was safe and with the all wheel drive it would handle the curvy wet roads around Forks. I almost bought a Volvo but I knew she would have more fun in the Subaru.

"Edward, I can't believe you rented time at a closed track. Why can't I have one normal teenage experience?" She was trying so hard to break me.

"Bell, I just want you to be safe. I love you so much. Can we please just do this my way?" There was no way she was going to win. This was the safest way.

"Fine, since you bought me a car that was actually kinda cool, we'll do this your way. I do not want to see how you'll be with our kids. Let's get this going!" Holy crap, she just mentioned having children with me. I stood there shocked for a moment before I shook myself out of it. Thankfully, she didn't notice since she was jumping into the car… on the driver's side. Now I'm even more stressed. I got in the car and she started it.

"Wait!" She jumped and threw her hands up like I was pointing a gun at her. "Don't start the car until you're ready. First, you need to put your seat belt on and if I EVER see you not wearing it, you will never drive again. Second, adjust your seat and check your mirrors. Now, this car is a manual so you have the clutch as well as the brake and the gas pedals. The car is currently in neutral but before you put in it first you need to hold down the brake and the clutch." She was giving me a weird look now. "What? Do we need to go over it again? First is seat belt." I started to repeat the rules when she interrupted me.

"No, I get it Edward. I know how to drive a manual. Emmett has let me drive his Jeep before. I know about the clutch and shifting. Can we just go?"

"Whoa, Emmett I'm going to kill you when we're done!" The family was sitting in a viewing area and I knew they could hear everything going on. When Bella confessed about Emmett's Jeep, his thoughts panicked and Rose's thoughts turned murderous. Rose doesn't want her driving as much as I do. She even installed extra safety features on the car.

"Sorry, Emmy Bear." Bella looked remorseful for letting their secret slip.

"Alright, well since Emmett already took the liberty to show you, why don't you show me?" She put on her seat belt and adjusted her mirrors. After giving me a look, I nodded my head for her to start the car. She started it and shifted into first and slowly took off.

I have to admit, she was doing really well. At first her shifting was a little shaky but once she got used to it, she did fine. She handled the curves perfectly and after an hour I relaxed. That was until she got brave and started to go faster and took the curves faster.

"Bella, you need to slow down."

"Edward, I'm doing fine. You would be going so much faster."

"Love, you can drive faster after you've driven for, let's say 50 years. Yea, I think that sounds good. Actually how about I drive us everywhere if you want to go fast." I didn't want her driving over 30 mph.

Suddenly, she stopped the car and turned it off and got out. I didn't notice we were so close to where the family was. Alice saw what Bella was doing and she was hiding it from me.

"Dad, Edward is being ridiculous! You will please, teach me to drive so I can get my license?" What!? No, he's too rational. He'll let her drive how she wants.

"Edward, you are being a little overprotective. I promise she'll be fine. I go with her for a while and then I'll go with her when she drives home." I couldn't believe Carlisle. There was no way she was driving home from Seattle. She's driven for an hour that's all she needs for her life. Before I could protest, they were back in the car and continuing on the track.

I sat down with the rest of the family and put my head in my hands.

"She'll be just fine, Edward. You can't keep her in a protective bubble her whole life. She needs to live and make her own mistakes. Do you remember when she ate so much cake she was sick the whole night? She didn't eat cake for years after that." Esme was right; she needed to learn from her mistakes. I could only make sure she didn't do anything too stupid.

I sighed and turned to her, "You're right. Do you think she's mad at me?"

Jasper laughed, "Nah bro, she's too excited to be mad at you."

We spent another hour at the track and as Carlisle said he let her drive home. Alice and Jasper rode with them since I was too much of a wreck to ride with them. I was really trying but it was hard. She did great though and that night while we cuddled in bed I talked to her about it.

"Love, I'm sorry about earlier. I know I need to let you live your life, I just get a little overprotective sometimes." I decided to try to give her the pout, she just laughed at me.

"Oh Edward, don't do that. You're not as good as me." She was teasing me now. "And a little overprotective? Today was a lot overprotective; I'm a big girl now. I know you do it because you love me and I love you for it but please understand that I don't want to live under a rock. I will always be careful and I will never do anything intentionally dangerous. I love you so much." She kissed me and I was suddenly reminded of her comment earlier in the day.

"Love, have you thought about us having kids?" She stiffened and started blushing hiding her face in my chest.

"I was praying you would miss that." She sighed but didn't continue. I gently pulled away so I could look her face.

"I was thinking, if it's alright with you, that after we get married we could maybe try and see what happens. It's completely up to you though. I don't want you to feel pressured. I just know we need to at least talk about it." I was rambling now. She stopped me by giving me a sweet kiss.

"Edward, I want to have as many babies with you as I possibly can. I've been having dreams of a beautiful boy who looks exactly like you. I also agree we should wait until we're married though." I couldn't believe it. Not only did she think of it, she's dreamt of our child.

I kissed her hard and wanted so badly to make our baby right then but knew we needed time. "Thank you so much, love. You've made me so happy!"

We continued to talk about our future. Bella will be fourteen soon and even though Naomi said she had cycles until she was eighteen, we want to have our children before she's seventeen. We decided to start trying when she was fifteen and if she gets pregnant right away, we might be able to have more than one. I already decided to propose to her soon so that would give Alice a year to plan a wedding. We would obviously keep the wedding out of the public view but if she got pregnant right away she'd be pregnant during our senior year. We decided to deal with that if and when it came up.

We were arguing about whether we wanted a boy or a girl, she wanted a boy and me a girl, when she finally passed out with a small smile on her face.

81% voted yes in the poll, so they will have a baby. I think I'll make it into a sequel though and this story will end at the wedding. So far this chapter was the hardest to write even though not too much happened. Please review!