Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters created by Stephenie Meyer.
Beta'd by the wonderful Little. blue .pen
Bree POV
"They're back." Edward interrupted Rosalie's tirade and the altercation came to an abrupt end.
I didn't rate my chances of finding out what that was all about. Maybe Edward wasn't happy about us using the cottage. That didn't bother me, I'd willingly give up that hovel of a house; he was welcome to it. I went along with Alice's plan as it got Fred to come with us, and I'd happily keep up the façade if it meant he would stay. That didn't explain Rosalie. What was she so cross about? Even if her brother didn't want us in his love nest, that shouldn't make her so angry.
I was just wondering if we should knock when Carlisle opened the door, moving back to allow us to enter. Once again, Fred just cleared the doorway and stood with his back to the wall. Only Rosalie, Emmett and Edward stood near the entrance. I could tell from the soft footsteps that Alice, Jasper, and Esme were upstairs.
Edward was closest to the door and Carlisle made the introductions. As Edward took Fred's outstretched hand, his face grimaced slightly. I looked at Fred, why was he messing about with him? Edward hadn't done anything.
"Emmett, will you stop that?" Edward growled, releasing Fred's hand.
"Told you it was gross." Emmett's smirk vanished as Rosalie delivered a sharp dig to his ribs.
My head turned from Edward to Fred, then to Emmett, and then back again.
"Em was just remembering his initial meeting with Fred," Edward explained. "That's quite some gift you have there."
"Not as powerful as yours though," Fred countered.
"Oh, I don't know about that. Being able to anticipate your opponents move is handy when playing chess, but it's not much use in combat if you're rolling around clutching your stomach." I could only assume that Edward was trying to make Fred feel less threatened.
"So, it really doesn't switch off, you hear all of our thoughts, all the time?"
"Yes, pretty much." A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Right now they are all angling to get me on my own so I can let them know what you're thinking."
"Snitch." Rosalie's comment was almost inaudible.
Edward's honesty surprised me. I guess by the look on Fred's face, he was taken aback too.
"You must be a popular guy," Fred teased, the sarcasm clearly evident.
"I try not to be intrusive, and don't usually share the thoughts of others. The exception being when my family's safety is at stake." Was that meant to be some kind of warning?
"You can't keep me out, the family have all learned how to conceal their thoughts from time to time, but it takes a while to get any good at it." Fred must have been wondering if there was any way of blocking him.
"So how do you like the cottage, Bree?" The corner of Edward's mouth twitched again as he asked. He'd obviously picked up on my thoughts, but he'd said he didn't reveal them to anyone, so I determined to see if that was true.
"It's fine. I'm sure it will be lovely once it's finished," I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. "I know this was all sprung on you, so if you don't want us to stay there, I'm sure we could "
I didn't get to finish my sentence as Edward raised his hand saying. "Bree, its fine, really." The twitch turned into a full on smirk. "Make yourselves comfortable over there."
I could and I would if it made Fred stay. Edward glanced at Rosalie; he seemed concerned. What had she been thinking about? Maybe she wanted the cottage; she didn't want to help us clear up the place. Could that be what they were arguing about?
"Well, it's been good to meet you at last, Fred, but I need to get back to Bella. She had a very difficult day yesterday," Edward said, slipping his keys out of his pocket. I guess that was partly our fault, but he didn't sound accusing in any way.
He stopped in front of Carlisle as he moved towards the door. "Thanks for going to see Jacob earlier. Bella will be relieved he's improving."
"Any time son, any time." Carlisle rested a hand on Edwards shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You go ahead and take care of Bella; we'll take care of our guests."
Edward headed out of the door calling out to me as he jumped down the steps. "No one will mind if you have another shower, Bree. Alice already has fresh clothes laid out."
Damn, those two were going to be a pain to live with. I hoped he wasn't still eavesdropping, but the faint chuckle I heard as he raced down the drive told me he was.
-00-MC-00-
We had been there for almost three weeks. When we left Vancouver, I couldn't imagine Fred staying for more than three days. As the days turned into weeks, I waited for Fred to indicate he was ready to move on, but he never did, so I didn't bring it up either. Surprisingly, but thankfully, we spent most of our time at the main house. Rosalie and Alice had spent hours with me ordering clothes online. Everything cost a fortune, but they kept insisting it didn't matter. Alice tried to engage Fred in our activity, but he had little interest in clothes and would happily wear whatever we purchased.
Alice's horrified shriek the first time I tried on a skirt will be with me forever. The sound brought Jasper and Emmett barrelling into her bedroom only to discover that the blood-curdling scream was a result of witnessing the hair growing on my legs. Mortified, I fled to the bathroom. I tried my best to keep clean on the streets, but it wasn't easy. Did she really think I could pop into a spa for wax every couple of weeks? I jumped out of the bathroom window and ran, but I soon became aware of footsteps immediately behind me. I easily recognised them as Rosalie's and Fred's. It was pointless to keep going; I was faster than Rosalie but Fred could easily outrun me.
They caught up to me in seconds. "Sorry about Alice," Rosalie attempted to console me. "There's nothing to panic about; we can get rid of them." Was that what she thought I was worried about? The hairs weren't great, but they didn't need an audience.
"Get rid of what? What happened? Why was Alice screaming like that?" Fred was checking me for any signs injury as he fired his questions. The look he gave me as I explained about the offending hair was one he usually reserved for Alice.
"Really! Alice screamed like a banshee and had you bolting into the woods over a few hairs!" he exclaimed, before turning abruptly and heading back to the house shaking his head.
Rosalie and I followed and she explained that neither shaving, creams, nor waxing would work. The only way to be rid of it was to pluck each one out individually. When we got back Alice confirmed it would hurt, but I would only have to do it once and it would never grow back.
"Dude, I think we should take a short walk until it's all over," Emmett suggested to Fred.
"I'll stay, thanks," he replied. He sat in the nearest seat and leaned back, making his intentions clear.
"It should take half an hour, tops," Alice informed me. "That includes underarms."
Did she have to say that out loud? I was already embarrassed beyond reason. The guys didn't need to hear all the details.
I lay on the bed in my underwear and braced myself. Alice and Rose took a pair of tweezers and a leg each and started to work. The initial shock made me cry out and the house vibrated as a wall was hit downstairs.
"Get a grip; she'll be fine," muttered Emmett.
"Don't worry," Alice said, not even looking up from her task. "Fred was about to come and rescue you. Emmett and Jasper had to restrain him."
"I'm okay," I called out, hoping that would calm him down.
"I don't get it, why would she let them torture her like that?"
I wasn't sure who Fred's question was directed at, but it was Emmett that answered.
"Dude, you don't know much about women do you? Let's take that walk and I'll educate you."
True to their word, my legs and underarms were completely hair free within half an hour. They'd offered to take care of my bikini area, but I'd had enough. "It will be sorted soon," Alice reassured Rosalie as she started to protest. I did let them take care of my nails and hair though, and to be honest I felt truly pampered by the time they had finished.
One week later Emmett took Fred for another walk and my bikini area was tidied to Alice's satisfaction.
I still hadn't met Bella. When she came to the house, Fred and I went to the cottage. The scent in the house and on their clothes when we returned was overpowering sometimes. Despite Alice's tale that they would be too busy to be at the cottage with me, one of the family would usually come with us. Rosalie would be there more often than the others. I didn't know why, as she didn't really get on with Fred. If she stayed and visited with Bella, she always changed afterwards and Esme would open all of the windows. I wasn't sure if she did that for my benefit or if it made it more comfortable for all of them.
I was still hunting every four days, sometimes three if Bella had visited. Fred always came with me, making sure we were well out of the surrounding area and always discrete. We had been invited to hunt with the members of the family a few times, but had declined. One or two of them kept us company, but left us when we got closer to a town. I liked hunting. Not just because it eased the nagging ache in my throat, but because it also gave us time alone. Fred was more relaxed when it was just the two of us as he was still suspicious about the Cullens.
He probably got on best with Emmett. I didn't know if that was because he and Rosalie seemed to spend more time with us than the others, or because he didn't have any abilities to worry about. He had come to a neutral state with Jasper, but they were both still wary of each other. This was not helped by Alice's bouncy nature. Her sudden movements still alarmed me. Fred would react to my alarm and Jasper would react to Fred. Thankfully this mostly consisted of hisses and the odd low growl. We hadn't been treated to the 'pissing contest' again.
Edward bothered him most, despite his warm welcome on the first day. He was hardly ever home and when he was, he reeked of Bella, making it difficult for me to carry out a conversation with him for any length of time. The scent didn't seem to bother Fred as much, but the mind reading did. He felt he couldn't let his guard down. He didn't get the point of his relationship. Edward had explained how he had studied medicine but didn't practice because of the blood. Why did he then choose to date someone who was his 'singer'?
"I just don't understand this whole marry her and keep her human nonsense." He remarked during one of our hunts. "Why doesn't he just drain her or change her? She's not a bottle of wine, I doubt if she will improve with age."
These were the kind of thoughts he tried to keep from Edward, but I knew he let them slip sometimes. Edward would throw him a look or simply leave the room, causing Fred to roll his eyes. He actually laughed out loud when he found out that Fred thought Carlisle was changing his mental patients. This led to Alice explaining the circumstances of her change to us, and Fred immediately regretted his choice of words during that first meeting.
The cottage wasn't so bad. Once the roof had been replaced, and new beams and windows fitted, we were able to clean it more effectively. It was still essentially a shell, but Esme had found us a couple of armchairs, a tiny sofa, a small coffee table, and even a bookcase. There were only a few books in it though. Books were usually borrowed from the main house, and then returned once we had finished with them.
Esme said she had plans to connect the water and electricity supply, but we didn't really need it; we could see perfectly well without light. The candles Alice had placed around the main room merely added a warm glow if we were there in the evenings. Esme even found us a small battery operated TV and radio. Emmett looked on it with disgust every time he was there, but we didn't use it much, so it didn't bother us.
Fred had taken to spending a lot of his time in Carlisle's study, pouring over his books and journals. He wasn't into medicine as such but he found his science journals riveting. It also gave him time to himself. While I was happy to be in the company of the family, Fred needed his alone time.
The day Carlisle received his latest journal with an article about some seaweed-based cure for something or other; he said Fred was welcome to read it before him, as he would be at work. He retreated into Carlisle's study and I didn't expect to see him for a while.
Alice, Rosalie, and Esme had taken Bella into Port Angeles to do some wedding shopping. Bella had apparently been reluctant to go for some reason, but Emmett seized the opportunity to hunt with Edward. He had invited Fred again, but he politely declined, citing the very article he was reading.
That left Jasper and me at a loose end. He wasn't so bad, and the growling had almost stopped. Even when I lost control, he didn't growl every time. I think he realized that it just annoyed me more. If Emmett wasn't around to restrain me, he would just zap me with his personal Prozac to make it easier for someone else to do it. In all honesty, if I had to be alone with anyone, I would not choose Jasper.
I wandered out onto the porch. The breeze was warm and gentle, and it barely stirred the trees, so I opted to sit out there and read. I went back into the house to retrieve the book I had been reading, before realizing that I had left if at the cottage.
"I'm just popping over to the cottage to get my book," I called out.
"Okay, come straight back," Jasper instructed. Jeez, that was so annoying. At least he didn't insist on coming with me.
As I wandered along the path, I realized it was the first time I had been alone since I got here. I wondered how long it would be before Jasper came to look for me. Deciding to extend my solitude, I took a short walk. I didn't intend to go far; I just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet for a while.
I heard the heartbeat first. Oh crap, I'd hunted the day before, but the sound still made my throat ache. I froze, holding my breath. I couldn't attack anyone here, all hell would break lose. I knew I should run back to the house, but I couldn't make my legs work.
As the stench hit me I knew who, or rather what, the heartbeat belonged to. Why was it here? Carlisle had shown us the Quileute border, and I was nowhere near it. Seconds later the sandy wolf appeared through the trees, stopping about fifteen feet away. We both stared at each other. We didn't growl, snarl, or adopt threatening positions, we just stared. After a few moments he retreated back into the trees. My brain reconnected to my legs and I turned to head back. The strange sound coming from the trees made me cringe. It was like a cross between a pop and a crack and was accompanied by a shift in the air.
I spun around when I heard the voice. "Hey, hold on a minute."
A/N: Let me know what you think.
Yes they are still hunting humans. The Cullens diet is their choice. It is a rule the family live by, but not one that they force on others. Bree and Fred are not part of their family, they are guests. The Cullens have had human blood drinking guests like Peter and Charlotte stay with them before.
I just thought I would add that as I know the human blood drinking would bother some people.
