Brothers
A birthday drabble for my dear friend Bells. Just Bells, who has a birthday this weekend! Hope it's a BEAUTIFUL DAY, sweetie!
"Happy Birthday, Emmett!" my new ma said.
Kind of hurt my heart, not gonna lie. It had only been two years since I'd seen my ma, and I had been spending considerable time wondering how they were doin', lately. We had celebrated my birthday back in the woods beyond Gatlinburg, me and my brothers, and then I went hunting and –
And then my Rosalie found me. I was still getting used to her. To us. To being married. That my angel loved a man like me... Appalachian, rough, with an accent I just couldn't shake yet, she loved me and I knew that she wanted me to be happy.
I was, mostly.
"Family hunt," the good doctor said, going barefoot and rolling up his trousers at the ankle. "We can't provide a birthday cake, Emmett, but I daresay we might find a bear."
That sparked a fire in my head. "I owe the whole bunch of 'em," I growled. Something churned under my skin, thinking about the bear that damned near did me in. Quickly bending over, I still had to be careful in how I unlaced my shoes. Doc Carlisle – harder to think of him as "Pa" than it was to think of his wife as "Ma" – said that I was stronger than almost any other vampire he'd ever met. Almost. I had to be extra careful not to tear stuff up, in this shiny white body of mine.
Edward smirked and I shrugged. The boy who was older than I was knew what was in my head and that wasn't always a bad thing. He was my brother and it was good to have a brother. I missed mine.
Rosalie wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me. "Happy Birthday, sweetheart."
I did a swift, Superman move and pulled her into my arms. "Love you, Rosalie."
Sometimes, I wished she was the mind-reader. There were things I wished I could say to her but I didn't have the right words. But if she could just get into my head like Edward...
My brother laughed. "No, I don't believe you would like that. Not really."
I rolled my eyes. "It's my birthday, let me have my wish!" I said, laughing at him.
Edward closed his mouth and looked up into the starlit sky. "You get one," he promised quietly.
I didn't think about it for a little while, though, because Carlisle said it was time to "begin the celebration." We left our small house and ran into the woods.
I wasn't as fast as Edward, but I was stronger – even though my "newborn" strength was gone, I was still the strongest, and I decided to tease my brother by catching up to him before he got too far ahead of us, and tossing him into the air.
"I let you do that!" he called. I could hear him laughing. Sometimes, I thought he was glad to have a brother, too. "But don't do it again or you won't get your birthday present!"
I took a whiff of the air and smelled it. "Bear!"
Esme, all but flying to my right as she moved through the darkness, grinned brightly. "It's yours, Emmett. Go get it!"
So I did! I smelled it. Fur and blood. Richness. Strength. Edward was right there with me, though, his grin lighting up the darkness. "Race you!"
I laughed and the sound boomed everywhere. Scared some night-birds, but I couldn't drink from them, anyway. Ahead, the sound of the bear, crashing on its own, called to us.
It was like hunting with my brothers and I loved it.
Until.
We reached the great brown creature and Edward came to a halt, grabbing a tree trunk with ridiculous ease while I plowed into the beast. And suddenly, I felt as if I'd been gripped by a big hand, I couldn't drag air into my body. I kept seeing my brothers. Hunting with my brothers. Shotguns and rifles and stalking game through the woods and –
And it hurt. Deep in my chest. I stopped, hands at my sides, staring at the bear.
"Emm?" Edward called softly. He didn't move; the bear was mine and part of me held that in my mind. "You all right?"
"I miss 'em, Ed."
"Get your bear, big brother," he told me. "Then you can tell me about them." Again, he didn't say, but I understood him, anyway. They'd all heard about my family.
I missed my first family. Worried about them.
The roar of the bear – probably was all confused – shook me from my thoughts and I lunged at him. I thought of my brothers and how we used to hunt and I wondered – even as I fought off this bear's swinging paws, claws, and jaws – how they were managing, without me.
"All right, already! Enough!" Edward snorted and approached me after the bear's mighty heart had stopped beating. "What do you really wish for, Emm?"
The family slid near us; their bare feet nearly noiseless on the twig-covered ground. Rosalie's familiar touch soothed me and I inhaled again, deeply, smelling each member of my new family while my heart hurt for my old one. "What I'd really wish?"
Oh, I can't say it out loud. It'll never happen, I thought at Edward.
He actually chuckled and nodded, indicating I should go on like that, in my head.
What I really wish I could do would be to give them some hard money, you know? So I know Ma and my brothers and little Emmy are all right. So that they don't freeze. They're growin' up and they'll need new things and without me there, they might do without.
Entirely serious, Edward held out his hand to me. "Done. We'll make it happen."
The rest of the family looked expectant, their eyes shifting from Edward to me, but we shared a smile and didn't say anything. "Can't tell you," I told them, a smile in my eyes, I knew. "It's a secret birthday wish."
Rosalie slapped my shoulder. "Emmett!"
"What! I want it to come true!" I told her, pretending her smack had stung me – because she wanted to know she had made an impact so I always pretended she had.
She kissed my shoulder, telling me without words that I was forgiven, and Esme and Carlisle smiled at us like proud parents. I guess they were.
The next week, Edward went out for a bit, all mysterious. When he returned, he had a satchel under one arm. "C'mon."
Taking direction from me, we drove out to where my family still lived, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. "Here," Edward said, pushing the satchel into my hands.
I could smell leather, but not anything else yet. Then, I opened it and gaped, there in the front seat of Edward's automobile. "Edward..."
"Go on. It's for your brothers. Happy Birthday, Emmett."
Thanks, I thought hard at him, feeling my forehead crunch with my effort to make sure he understood that there was no way ever I could ever repay him.
He smiled a little and waved it off. "It's what brothers do," he said simply.
I ran into the woods, knowing Edward would wait in the shady spot he had chosen off the road. His timing, naturally, was perfect and the night was not even moonbright when I left him to run to my old house. I heard the quiet sounds of my family settling in, my gut clenching. I couldn't let them see me. I wanted to, so much, but I couldn't.
So I tiptoed to the stoop and put the satchel on the wooden step before running faster than the fastest deer back to the tree line.
Stay or go? Stay or go?
Blowing out a breath, I whispered, "I love you," to the house and all who lived there. It was time for me to go. I couldn't bear to see my family again and not get to see them. Besides, I had a new family now... A wife. A ma and even a pa.
And a new brother.
