A/N: kay here's chapter 11....one of my longest chapters yet :) I'm hoping now that the other characters are slowly getting involved they'll be around this length all the time...but who knows...I do have to be honest, though, I'm surprised I have this done....things are really crappy right now in my life and my writing is usually effected by that...with this chapter it wasn't....don't know about the next chapter though.
enjoy :) KT
also-I do not own Twilight!!! Stephenie Meyer has the joys of claiming that, not me...
Chapter 11: Meeting the Family
Edward stayed sitting close to Bella on her bed, their hands still grasped together, the two of them sharing headphones listening to Edward's iPod. They had talked for a little bit before Bella got too nervous about the upcoming meeting and had clammed up. So, Edward had pulled out his iPod and put on his favorite classical playlist and put it on shuffle, hoping it would help placate Bella somewhat. He had been very shocked, to say the least, to discover that Bella loved classical music, possibly as much as he did. Also, incredibly, the music had calmed her down considerably, and she relaxed next to him, playing with his fingers. When he asked about it, she said it was because it relaxed her somehow, and she had swiftly changed the topic, saying how much she loved the piece that had just started and asking about it, as she had never heard it before.
'Of course, she's never heard it before, it's one of mine...' Edward thought, hoping Esme didn't ask which one it was, and embarrass him.
"What song is it Edward?" Esme asked, 'damn it, my luck sucks' Edward thought as he turned the iPod to show her it was her song playing. Esme grinned, and Edward knew his last thought was so true, "that's my favorite, too, Bella...and...you want to know a secret?" She smirked at Edward as Bella nodded, "Edward wrote it."
Bella whipped her head around, her brown eyes wide, as if to ask 'seriously?!' At Edward's timid nod and blush, she smiled and whispered, "it's beautiful, Edward, absolutely wonderful." He grinned at her, although inwardly cursing that damn slight blush that seemed to be common when Bella's involved.
When Bella noticed Esme's loving gaze on the two of them, she flushed bright red and hid her face in Edward's shoulder. He grinned, but rubbed soothing circles on her hand with his thumb. Bella seemed so content, despite her embarrassment, he could only wonder how long it'd last.
A knock on the door answered that, as Bella tensed immediately. Edward pulled her closer, whispering reassurances in her ear, and she hid slightly behind him, but calmed down slightly as she did. Esme got up and opened the door to let the others in, as soon as she saw Bella wouldn't panic, yet at least. However, Emmett bounded in the room in true Emmett style...scaring the living daylights out of poor Bella who hid even more behind Edward. "Emmett!!! Damn it!! Chill some!! Indoor voices remember?"
"Oh shit Eddie! Sorry Bella!" Emmett looked and sounded truly remorseful.
However Edward was glaring at him, "think first Emmy. and Don't. Call. Me. Eddie!"
"Chill Edward, chill" Jasper teased, ever the empath of the group.
Edward laughed at the stern look Esme was giving Emmett, and looked to Jasper, "I'm chill, you know how much I hate that f--reaking...nickname though!"
Alice laughed lightly, staying slightly back with everyone else, holding Jasper's hand, "Nice catch there Edward."
Edward winked at her and then noticed Rosalie who had been staying quiet, but was smiling softly at the two of them sitting on the bed. Edward figured she'd be the safest one to start off introducing Bella to so he turned slightly to Bella, motioning Rosalie slightly forward, "Bella?" she looked up at him, "let's start introducing you to people shall we?" Bella's timid nod encouraged him to continue, "this is Rosalie."
Rosalie stepped forward and softly smiled at Bella, "Hey Bella"
Bella looked up at Edward, and then looked into Rosalie's eyes, and as if sensing she was safe, stuck her hand out and smiled back. As the two shook hands, Alice stepped forward slightly. "Hey Bella, I'm Alice" surprisingly she was able to sound like she was an actual calm, sane person, instead of her normal hyper, pixie self. She too, after a moment, got a soft smile and a handshake.
Edward could tell though, by the tenseness in her back and the strength of her hold on his hand, that she was not comfortable enough to shake hands with the guys, let alone have them too close to her. He motioned for them to stay back before introducing them, "Bella, the loud, sometimes brainless oaf is Emmett, and the ever cool one is Jasper." As she waved at both of them, Jasper smiled reassuringly, while Emmett-again in true Emmett style-waved at her like a crazy person, a huge grin on his face to match.
Esme rolled in a couple of the portable tables and had Jasper and Emmett help lay out the spread of food they had brought in. Edward, meanwhile, had pulled Bella close and had an arm wrapped around her shoulder, rubbing soothing circles to help ease the tension, holding her hand with his other hand-as she had immediately grabbed for his other hand as soon as he had moved. He was whispering to her, as Rosalie and Alice smiled at her. Rosalie decided to be the one to speak up, hoping that her relaxing voice would help soothe Bella more than the others' would (besides Edward of course). "Bella we weren't sure what you wanted, but we all love everything here so why don't you go ahead and pick what you want first, and we'll all chose from there."
"Fight over everything else, you mean," said Alice as she threw a teasing glare at her boyfriend and older brother, who both made motions, as if to say 'hey, we can't help it!'
This had Bella smiling a bit as she looked up to Rosalie and pointed to the orange chicken. Everyone laughed, and at Bella's confused look, Edward explained, "orange chicken has always been my favorite as well, they always make fun of me for it because no one else likes it." Bella gave him this helpless look and motioned 'no' and then pointed to Edward. "Bella! No, if you want it, you can have it, I'm sure they have plenty for both of us, and even if they didn't I want you to have it!" Bella looked at him, and adorably raised one single eyebrow as if to call him on some supposed bluff. "Seriously, Bella, we just had Chinese approximately two nights ago...we have it all the time, I can live without orange chicken today, and from now on we know to have at least two orders for both of us." Edward made sure to grin at her to reassure her he was in no way whatsoever upset by her having the orange chicken and to help ease whatever tension had formed again by this incident. Edward wondered if it was because of Bella's past, maybe she felt like she was a burden or something. 'Mental note to self' Edward thought 'talk with Bella about this later, if she'll let me.'
Everyone grabbed their choices and settled in to eat. Esme decided to spark up conversation, apparently her, Rosalie and Edward were the only ones to realize Bella's tension with the awkward silence that had fallen. "So, Emmett, I hear you decided to torture your poor little sister again last night. At least you didn't subject her to an all nighter of Halo tournaments again."
Emmett burst out laughing and exclaimed, "hey!! that night was awesome!!! I'm NEVER gonna forget that night!"
Rosalie hit him upside the head for his loudness and Alice scoffed, "of course you won't, you turned it into full-contact gaming somehow and managed to break mom's favorite couch AND the TV somehow."
Jasper was laughing with everyone as well, "he got a bit too enthusiastic when throwing grenades remember?"
Edward laughed, rubbing Bella's back, hoping him getting involved and showing how relaxed this all was would help her, "yeah!! he chucked the XBox controller at the TV and it splintered and then fell down and shattered on the ground."
Emmett groaned and more timidly said, "still was f--reaking awesome! and totally worth it."
Bella tugged on Edward's hand and looked at him, her eyes clear as day asking 'how the hell did he turn a video game into a full-contact sport?' Rosalie saw the look too and asked Edward, "Edward mind me explaining the insanity that is the inner workings of your brother's mind?"
"Heck yeah Rosalie," Edward said, relieved slightly, "I try as much as I can to not think about how my brother's mind works..." Edward fake shuddered and smiled at Bella, who was finally smiling again. It was very apparent on her face she was glad that she had gotten to know Edward and he could figure out what it was she was trying to ask without her forcing herself to speak, even if it would only be her whispering to Edward.
Rosalie laughed before explaining, "Bella," Bella turned and looked at Rosalie, "Emmett may have the build and braun of a 30-year old body builder, but he has the mind and heart of a 5-year old...combined makes him one scary combination." Emmett tried exclaiming his indignation with that statement, but was very swiftly silenced with a look from his stern girlfriend, "I can reign him in sometimes, as well as his mother, but he's such a big goof-especially with his little siblings-that sometimes he just lets his inner kid take over and there's not much we can do except attempt to keep him away from anything too breakable."
Everyone was laughing at this point, and Bella was even smiling, Edward noted with some hidden satisfaction. Rosalie and Alice must've noticed as well and encouraged everyone to add to the tales of the insanity that is their family (significant others included in the 'family part). Stories from things as simple as the first time Alice tried to fill her car up with gas-spilled all over the side of the car, ruining Rosalie's previously perfect wax job; to things as crazy as the time Emmett and Jasper decided it would be funny to play baseball in a thunderstorm-wound up with the 5 of them lost in the woods, "narrowly escaping an evil grizzly bear" Emmett exclaimed. Of course it really had just been Emmett hiding behind a tree, jumping out and scaring the girls, who forced their 'boys' (as they were dubbed for a month after) to carry them the rest of the way home, and did not allow them to 'properly' apologize for a week. The girls had gotten their revenge, in turn, by going through all of their games-taking the discs and replacing them with the girliest games possible-just covering up the logos on the discs to make them look like the real games. Emmett, Jasper and even Edward hadn't been able to find the real games, so they retaliated and went through the girls' stuff and took their favorite pairs of shoes-one pair for each game. Considering there had been a lot of games taken, there were, needless to say, a lot of shoes taken. It was all evened out when both of the girls needed (emphasis on the need part...) shoes that the guys had stolen, and they reluctantly returned the games in exchange for the return of their precious shoes.
Bella had actually laughed out loud at various points in the stories, and it was clear to everyone that she was starting to feel comfortable with them. This warmed Edward and Esme's hearts more than they could ever express in words.
Carlisle had come in as they were telling the most recent story, and pointed out to them that Bella was starting to look tired, and suggested that everyone leave for the day. Bella looked at Edward questioningly, and he reassured her that they would all come back the next day. She seemed a little reluctant to let go of Edward's hand, however, but some quick thinking on Edward's part was able to help her relax. He pulled out his iPod and handed it to her, "here, feel free to look through everything-the playlist we were listening to is called 'my favorites'" Bella snickered at this, and he teasingly poked her in the side, "hey no laughing! no one said I had to be original with the names!" Bella stuck her tongue out at him, still laughing, her eyes sparkling more than they had since they had met her. "I'll be back as soon as I can tomorrow, I promise." Edward ran his hand through her hair a few times, staring into her beautiful eyes, making sure he memorized the sparkle and the look of pure content that had settled in her face and body, part of him was sure that she wouldn't look this way after another night alone in the hospital.
She smiled up at him and said quietly, as she was definitely getting sleepy, "thank you so much. Can you tell everyone else thanks too? It's....it's been a while since I've felt this happy and welcomed." Seeing her tears, he sat back down next to her, holding her hand and gently shushing her. He helped her get one earphone in and set the playlist to shuffle again, Esme's song starting first. He ran his fingers through her hair as she laid back and slowly started closing her eyes. He stayed with her, soothing her until he was sure she was sound asleep. He slowly, regretfully got up to leave.
"Edward that was the first time she's fallen asleep without the help of sedatives," his dad told him, amazed.
"I....I don't really know how I did that, I just did what I felt would help the most, I couldn't leave her when she was that upset," Edward said, hoping his parents weren't upset by it for whatever reason.
"Oh, Edward, no...we're so happy that you were able to help so much! Luckily there's that extra sound system we have, maybe we can set it up and you can help her find her favorites to put her to sleep every night once we bring her home. We'll come back first thing in the morning Edward, I promise, but now the three of us need sleep." Esme pointed out, and the three of them walked out of the hospital together, hoping they wouldn't need to come back there any bit sooner than the next morning, praying that Bella would be able to sleep through the night without problems. Something told them that that was just wishful thinking on their parts, and they were prepared for whatever would happen, and the aftermath of that.
(I was just going to leave this here...*evilgrin*...but I'm really not that mean :D)
Edward was content with the knowledge that Bella had at least one fun-filled day, and he was able to drift off to sleep finally with the same playlist Bella was listening to filtering through his speakers, and the picture of Bella's sparkling, content face filling his mind.
A/N: again...let me know what you guys think :) if you want...lol none of the things from the stories have actually happened to me...but I can see the Cullen gang doing things like that....and myself too :D lol I am a prankster, what can I say? *evilgrin*
