A Rather Difficult Obstacle

Author's Note: Told you!! Here I am! Updating! It's a modern marvel, I know. But I'll stop yammering and get to the rest of the story. If you forgot, Bella and Edward have started their running away. Ready...and...ACTION! (: Read it, it's good. lol d:

Bella's POV

"I love you. I just wanted you to know how I felt." Edward said quite obviously. I couldn't process what he was actually saying. I mean, I'd obviously fallen quite hard for him. I enjoyed talking to him everyday, something I didn't really enjoy with other people. His annoying mannerisms, like the way he clenched his jaw and stopped talking when he was annoyed, or how he constantly ran his fingers through his already messy hair making it messier and less manageable, didn't bother me in the least. And he had been quite nice to me. I really couldn't think of one reason why I should be alarmed, disturbed, annoyed, or even surprised in the least.

And yet...

I couldn't really place it. I didn't know how I felt about him. About him saying he loved me. About him actually loving me. I wasn't a very good candidate for his love. I was just a regular human, with an unfortunate circumstance, I wasn't special or unique. There was nothing that could hold him to me. I know he detested when I said things like that, but it's true. I have absolutely no hold on him.

He said something else, but I was far too occupied with my thoughts to make it out, then he grabbed my hand and started tugging gently. He was leading me away in the night.

That was kind of cool, I guess.

We were running away together.

Oh.

My.

GOD.

We were running away together. Edward was running away with me. I was running away. With Edward. Edward was running away. With me. We were leaving everything I had ever known, a significant amount that Edward had ever known, Victoria, James, all my memories of this place would fade, and I would be left with nothing but Edward. And I could not find anything negative about that at all.

Before we got to the main gate, everything in my mind clicked together. Edward Anthony Cullen, a pure gold fire-blooded being, was running away with me, Isabella Marie Swan, a plain, regular sort of human. Edward Anthony Cullen was running away with me because Edward Anthony Cullen loved me.

I started laughing. Quite loudly. I couldn't help myself. This was just too good. I got Edward. Somehow, some insane twist of fate had allowed me (a mere human) to have the love of Edward Cullen (a fire-blood) and I had never been more convinced that a) I didn't deserve it, b) Edward didn't agree with that, and c) I didn't really care. I got Edward. AND I got to run away with him. In the dead of night. How romantic.

However-- it's not nearly as romantic when one of the vile creatures you find yourself running away from is standing directly in front of you, and you are silly enough to run directly into him.

No, not so romantic at all.

It's actually quite painful. And very annoying. Such a buzz-kill.

"Well, well, well." James said smoothly, grasping my shoulders and steadying me from falling on my face. "What do we have here?" I flinched as his hands tightened around my upper arms. Edward growled, a warning thick in his throat. It didn't deter James, however. He just smirked lightly. If he wasn't such a horrid creature, I thought absently, he'd be quite handsome.

"James." Edward said, his voice full of hostility.

"Edward." James said, nodding in his direction. "Out for a moonlight walk with your servant, I see?" James sneered. Edward grimaced. "Huh." James let go of my right arm, only to tighten his right hand on my left arm, and stroke his chin carefully. My left arm was getting steadily more numb by the second.

"What?" Edward spat.

"I just wonder if Victoria would be pleased. How many times have you taken her on a moonlight stroll?" James said, his voice as smooth as glass. "And you know she would want to know why you are treating your servant so kindly." a hint of a threat hung in James' voice.

"There is no need to tell her." Edward said swiftly. "We're just going inside, so if you'll excuse us--"

"Planning on a picnic first?" James said, his eyes narrowed on the bag over Edward's shoulder. There was a moment of tense silence, where Edward and James must have communicated silently, because James' face turned suddenly, and started glowing in victory. At the exact moment, Edward pounced, a growl ripping from his throat.

Not a half second passed before I heard quite clearly an audible snap. Looking for the source of the sound, I saw James' left hand wrapped around my leg. And then the pain hit.

And did it hurt. I couldn't tell what was wrong with my leg, but I couldn't move it without feeling a pain of the most acute kind. It was hanging at a funny angle, like I had two knees instead of only one. I fell down instantly, and grasped above the new knee, wrapping my hands around my leg as if to block the pain from reaching my brain, so it would remain unprocessed. My vision was blurry, but I could see quite clearly the action occurring right before my eyes.

James lost his left arm very quickly. Edward had simply taken hold of his torso with one hand and James' arm with the other, and then tugged effortlessly. Blood spurted out of James' shoulder, and landed on me. It was significantly gross.

James countered with a swift kick aimed at Edward's mouth. I wasn't completely positive, but I thought I might have seen a tooth fly out of his mouth along with the blood that was drooling down his face.

The growling alone would have been enough to wake up every single creature that had ever existed in a ten-mile radius, but the growling paired with the screams (both mine and James') it was difficult to believe that either Edward or I had a chance of leaving this hell.

I could see in the distance the house lights flicker on. I called to Edward to get his attention. He looked up, saw the lights and snapped into action. James' head was on the ground in a second, along with his extraneous limbs and defiled torso. I was in Edward's arms a second later. He cradled me carefully, watching my leg. I thanked him silently and wrapped my arms around his neck. People were yelling and running across the yard, their lamps swinging from their outstretched arms as they aimed to see the scene that lay before us. I shivered.

Edward pulled me closer, and with one last glance at James' mangled body, he sprinted directly for the exit.

(A/N: I'm just curious what would happen if I stopped here as far as the Edward/Bella story goes. Who would hate me?? lol. Well, I have to admit that we must return to Renee and Christopher and Charlie. There's got to be something up there. Last time we were with them, Renee admitted that 1) Christopher doesn't know how to do math, and 2) Christopher the non-math whiz is not the daddy of her baby. So let's see what's going on at the Barrie household, shall we?)

As far as Renee was concerned, lunch was no longer going to happen. It was obvious that Janice wanted her head on a platter, and she assumed that both Christopher and Robert would feel quite the same way. So, she walked quickly out of the room and into the vast yard behind the house. There she hid in the playhouse that Robert had built when she and Christopher were in third grade. She sat down on the floor, crossed legged and rested her head in her hands and promptly started to cry.

How could she deceive Christopher like that? She loved him, dearly. He was her husband. Yes, she rushed it-- seduced him and then tricked him into thinking it was his child. She took advantage of the fact that he trusted her completely, and she should burn in hell for doing such a thing.

After ten minutes of crying her eyes out, Renee felt a draft. She didn't bother to look up, she wasn't concerned about anything anymore, not herself, the baby, Christopher, Charlie... damn, she should probably tell Charlie that he was going to be a father. He would certainly be happy. He loved kids.

Quiet footsteps crossed the floor, stopping when they were right in front of her. Then she felt a warm figure bend like a pretzel, sitting down in front of her. Between broken sobs, Renee peeked through her hands. Not because she cared, she was just curious.

Christopher was looking at her the way that only Christopher had mastered. His head was tilted to one side, and his eyes were narrow, like he was making his line of sight smaller so it could squeeze through Renee's eyes and all the barriers she put up, like he was looking directly into her soul. The only difference between the way he looked at her when he was announcing his love for her and now was that his facial expression was calculating, not endearing.

It was scary. He had never looked at her like she was a Rubik's Cube.

Christopher took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. It seemed like he was preparing himself for battle. Like he was coming to terms with the fact that he might not make it to the other side.

"When you and I--" he cut off. "Did you know then?" he whispered.

Renee didn't really want to answer that. So she kept crying and pretended like she didn't hear the question.

"Renee." Christopher said slowly, testing each syllable on his tongue, "Did you know that you were pregnant when I..." he coughed, took a deep breath again and let it out with the air of someone positive they weren't going to survive much longer. As if he were speaking his last words, and he wanted to make sure they were good enough to last forever. "when I made love to you the first time?" he whispered.

Renee continued to cry, shaking a little each time a tear dripped down her face, but she decided that she might want to look at Christopher. That perhaps his face would be different than his voice. Maybe better.

It wasn't.

Christopher's eyes were saturated. He wasn't crying, but the floodgates seemed to be strained. They were bloodshot, like he had been rubbing his thumb and forefinger across them while they were open. There were small scratches running down the length of his throat. Christopher only took to rubbing his throat as if it were on fire when he was truly upset about something. His lips were a hard line, and his jaw was clenched tighter than Renee had ever seen it in her entire life.

She felt a sob escape her lips just by looking at him. She felt so very torn. She didn't want to hurt him anymore, he had obviously been through enough pain and it was her fault, telling him the truth would only confirm his pain and magnify it soundly. But lying felt so wrong. So she kept her best poker face, and avoided his eye contact. She didn't say anything, simply sat there limply. She had stopped crying at this point. It was if she no longer existed outside of herself.

"I need to know, Renee." Christopher said, his tone hard.

After a most painful pause, Renee nodded slowly. She felt Christopher's heart start pounding, and she knew that nothing could save him from her and the pain she had caused.

"So tell me, Renee, do you actually love me or was I just some tool so you could stay safe?" Christopher's voice was scornful, and though she deserved it, Renee felt a pang of self pity. Christopher stood and turned to leave the playhouse when Renee didn't answer immediately.

"I guess I know." he spat under his voice. Turning on his heel, he wrenched open the door and walked quite firmly in the direction of the main house. Renee spent half a second pondering his statement, and though in the beginning he had only been a dear tool... she loved him now. That had to count for something, right?

"Chris!" Renee shouted, standing quickly and running as quickly as she could across the lawn after him. "Wait, please!" There was a stutter in his step, and he slowed only slightly. Renee doubled her efforts to reach him before he got back into the house.

"Christopher!" she shouted again, sprinting fully to catch up to him. "For the love of God, would you please slow down?" she spat at him, running out of breath quickly. He stopped and turned around.

"What, Renee? What else could you possibly have to say to me?" he said, anger flaring in his eyes and colouring his cheeks.

"I love you, damn it!" Renee shouted back at him. She could feel her own temper rising.

Christopher blanched, but only for a second. Then he strode back to her and stood an inch away.

"You love me?" he whispered. "What the hell makes you think that you even deserve to love me anymore, Renee? You used me."

"I'm sorry." Renee said. Christopher backed up suddenly, the space between their bodies quickly filled with everything that Renee could have done to keep him. Those things seemed to push him back away from her even further.

"That's not good enough." Christopher said, turning again and walking back to the house.

(A/N: Worth the pause with Bella and Edward? I hope so. I'm sorry for cutting it off at such a place... but let's get back to them now, shall we?)

"Edward," I said through clenched teeth, "my leg..." I held in my scream from the spasm of pain. I could hear the shouts of the fire-bloods still on the grounds. The shock and fear that was rising potently through the air made it obvious that they had reached James' body. "Edward," I said urgently, "they're catching up!" I couldn't hold back the squeal of fear as I thought of what would happen to me, and more terribly, Edward, when they caught up to us.

He deliberated for only a second, pausing slightly in his sprint away, and then stopped entirely.

"Edward?" I asked, confused at the lack of running away, which seemed to me to be rather important at this point. Extremely necessary.

"I need you to trust me, Bella." he said. Then he set me down. I hobbled on my good leg, trying to keep the other from touching anything, so it wouldn't be inclined to move at all. Edward quickly grabbed both of my arms and wrapped them tightly around his neck. Then he pushed his mouth against mine feverishly. I assume a great amount of confusing might have passed through my mind, a mild nagging of 'why is he kissing me right now?' would have perhaps run through my thoughts, had they not been completely overrun with the thought of Edward at that instant.

If there is ever a doubt in the world, it should not be whether or not Edward Anthony Cullen knows how to kiss. His lips moved against mine smoothly, and then slid quite smoothly down my throat. My hands, already around his neck, fisted quite tightly in his hair, and I had the sudden urge to jump up and wrap my legs around his waist. As if he anticipated my desire, Edward lifted me by my thighs and wrapped my legs firmly around his torso. His lips returned to mine and I felt somewhere in the crevices of my mind, a small annoyance. I focused on it for half a second, and the acute pain of my broken leg returned to me.

I whimpered.

"I'm sorry, Bella. We have to travel very, very quickly. I can't do that if you're not... quite close." He kissed me again, as if he were trying to kiss the pain away. It worked marginally. I felt significantly better.

Edward's lips felt like fire, I didn't know if it was him or me, but either way, I'm not entirely sure I minded. And then, my entire body felt like it was on fire. I opened my eyes slightly, and what I saw was rather scary. I was engulfed in flames.

"Oh my God!" I screamed. "What is happening?" Edward was just as covered in the flickering lights, and I felt lightheaded just thinking about what could possibly come out of this.

And then, just as suddenly, the burning stopped. And I was looking at a rather pleasant face.

End Author's Note: Now I have to make sure you keep reading!! Don't hate me for stopping there. I just wonder if you know who the face is. Send me a review with a guess, I'll love you forever! I've been thinking... I think I'm getting a little greedy, and I'd like some more reviews (greedy greedy)... I dunno if I really have rights even proposing this, but since you know the story is done and I will be updating... I'm thinking that maybe I should offer a quicker update with the more reviews I get. Like, I'll update next week probably, and sooner if I do get some... perhaps. It's just a thought. I'll think on it, but just in case, you might want to go ahead and send me a review if I decide to do something like that. It wouldn't hurt!! (: I know, I have a question time... so, in honour of graduation (I graduated! lol)

What are your plans for the summer?

Mine are so unique, btw. Work. I need money for college. (: Tell me what you plan on doing this summer in a review or a PM!! (:

Until next time,

BrokenTopaz