A/n- It's Finial Exam time. Dun Dun dun. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I know I did. R&R
**One Week Later**
"Edward, look!" Bella exclaimed peering out the window of her bedroom.
I hopped up from my spot on her bed, carefully not to knock over our game of monopoly and joined her.
"What am I looking at?" I asked. Everything outside looked perfectly normal, animals running, snow falling, wind blowing, sun hiding.
"Don't you see it?" She asked scooting away from the window, to give me some room. The way her room had been set up, left the bed against the window sill. The walls were pained a deep burgundy color, almost like a deep wine, with gold finishing's with a curled pattern, some-what resembling a paisley.
"Well if I knew what I was looking for maybe I would see it."
"Trust me; you'll know what I'm talking about, when you see it."
"Bella" I started when I heard a quite rustle of papers from behind me, from where Bella had scooted off to. I turned around looking to see what she was doing, and smiled when I realized she had almost pulled a fast-one over on me. While I had been busy trying to figure out what she want me to look for, Bella had gathered up both of our piles of money and held them in her hands. She took the pile of money that had originally been hers and started placing it out on my side of the board, according to amount, like I had done with my money earlier. I smiled at her attempt.
"Bella…" I repeated. "Are you referring to the snow?"
"Nope!" she said, starting on her pile of money. "Keep looking!" I was very carefully not to make the bed shake as I moved closer to her, and started approaching on her turned back.
"The Birds?"
"Guess again." She said still working on her switch. I was close to her, now and I bent my head right next to her ear.
"Boo!" I whispered, sending her leaping into the air, along with all the money that had been in her hand. "Busted!"
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" she wined, hand on her chest.
"And you tried to tick me, please; did you honestly think I wouldn't notice?" I teased, playfully.
She giggled. "It's not my fault your impossible to beat at this game. This is what? The Sixth time you've beaten me in the last few days? You can't blame a girl for trying."
"Seventh." I corrected. "But who's keeping score?" I flashed her a brilliant smile.
She stared blankly for a moment, and then blinked. "You're supposed to let me win."
"Says who?"
"I don't know who, everybody just knows guys are supposed to let girls win. It's kind of a rule." She explained.
"I don't like rules."
"Okay, well if you don't like rules, I switching our money isn't considered cheating, so I'm just going to keep it." She used her arms to gather up all the money that had been thrown into the air.
"Oh no, you don't!" I yelled as I picked her up, making her lose the money once again. "I've got you now, that is an automatic win for me."
"No it's not!" She protested, wiggling in my arms.
"Ah, but I thought there was no rules? Therefore, I win."
"No-" Just then Esme walked in with a tray of lunch.
"Am I interrupting anything?" She joked, when she say our position. Me kneeling on the bed, arms locked around Bella, with her arms above her head so she couldn't reach the money, not that she would be able to get of my grip of stone anyways.
Bella blushed and I had to immediately release her to avoid tragedy.
"No, I was just showing Bella what happens to cheaters." Esme chuckled and walked over to the bed and set down the tray.
"Cheating? Against Edward? I wish you luck dear; I have yet to meet someone who can pull off tricking him. It's almost like the boy can read your mind." Bella laughed and I threw Esme a dirty glance. The mind reading thing was a secret, besides Esme knew I couldn't read the girls mind for some reason. "Well here's lunch, eat up while it's still hot."
Esme pulled off the lid, revealing something that looked like chicken over noodles with red sauce. I wasn't sure what the dish was called, but I gave myself props for knowing what chicken looked like.
Bella smiled "Looks Delicious." Smells like crap, I thought. The downside to having a human around, besides the fact I always wanted to eat her, was the food. It stank to high heavens. Usually when I was in school, I could hold my breath for an hour while the kids ate there lunch or I avoided the cafeteria. Now there was no escaping the stench. It lurked everywhere, in the kitchen, her bedroom, my room, I swear the smell traveled every time Esme fried something up. I no longer felt safe from the smell, in my own house, nonetheless.
"Well eat up while it's hot." Esme urged once again. She smiled one last time and left the room, while Bella thanked her.
"Mhhmm, this is so delicious." She exclaimed after she was done chewing her piece of chicken she had popped in her mouth. "Would you like some?" She offered, obviously feeling bad for eating in front of me.
"No, I'm not hungry." I denied politely.
"How can you possibly be not hungry when your mothers a genius in the kitchen? Plus you've been with me all morning, and you didn't eat breakfast."
"I'm still full from dinner last night." I admitted patting my stomach. It was true, last night I had gorged myself on many delicious woodland creatures. The second her head hit the pillow, her eyes closed, giving me the opportunity to peel out of the room and into the forest.
"You didn't touch your food much then either. For a guy you sure don't eat a lot. All the guy friends I've ever had gorged themselves on food the second it came into sight, you couldn't prepare anything fast enough."
Her guy friends? Does that mean she remembers her friends? I paused, waiting for her to pull forward a memory from some distant deposit of recollections, but none came. I sat expecting her to suddenly stand up and demand to know where her family and friends are, but she just continued to saw at her chicken with her knife.
"I'm more of a 'eat when no-body's around' guy" Which was true we could technically say. "I've always been that way. It makes me nervous when people watch me eat."
"That's really weird."
"You're eating THAT, and you say I'M weird." I bit my tongue. Once the words got out of my mouth I immediately regretted them. She gave me a confused look then asked,
"Are you a vegetarian or something?"
I looked down at the chicken, covered in sauce and melted cheese, which seemed like an odd combination to me.
"You could say that."
"Really? But your moms such a good cook! Her chicken is to die for."
"Doesn't matter that she's a good cook, in fact she is a vegetarian as well."
"Not uh! Are you sure? I mean, I'm sure you're sure, that's just hard to fathom." I mumbled. I stood up and started collecting money off of the floor.
"I've noticed." She had used a sharp tone, but I didn't suspect any malice in statement.
"Yeah, you do pick up on stuff quickly."
"She's not cooking meat especially just for me is she? I would feel bad if she's going against her own personal beliefs for me."
"No, she's more than happy to cook for you."
"But really, I can eat vegetarian food, I'm not picky."
"Bella, Its fine, she likes to cook for you and that requires giving you food you eat; besides you need your protein to get better."
"I am all better though. I'm just a little sore still, no big problems."
"Please, just take my word for it for once." I begged. She always had to fight me on things, but I knew her intentions were good.
After that we dropped the subject. She continued to eat her chicken and finished with a mighty yawn.
"Someone's sleepy." I noted. "Let's finish our game later and you can take a little nap."
"I'm not really tired, sometimes big meals just make me sleepy."
"Regardless, I still think you should rest now."
"Will you stay with me in here if I take a nap?"
"I guess I could stay for a little while." I mentally smiled at the fact that she wanted me to stay. She put her treys on the nightstand and nestled herself into her usually sleeping spot up at the top of the bed. When she slept she usually curled herself into a small ball, only taking up a fraction of the bed, instead of spreading out. When she was done scooting around and wiggling underneath the blanket, I asked "All nice and cozy?"
She poked her head out and smiled. "Very."
"Good." I sat down on the bed, careful to avoid disrupting her in any way.
I don't know how long I sat there, but I had guessed at least an hour had gone by. Her breathing had slowed which told me she was asleep and her snoring gradually grew louder. I sat up from where I had reclined myself and escaped to my room before her sleep talking started. Over the past week, I had heard her talk more and more about Jacob. It bothered me when she said his name, and I didn't enjoy hearing it so I usually tried to bail before the talking began. She would call for him in this sad voice, almost sounding pained. Her plea for him was more of a cry, or a wail for help Several times I shook her away trying to soothe her of her nightmare, but each time she woke up she could remember nothing of her dreams. Of course I could hear her from the other room still, but I cranked up my music trying to drown her out a bit.
When my music was turned up full blast, I went and sat down on my couch pulling out my phone. Three new text messages were in my inbox. Two of the messages were from Emmett reporting back to me about the wolves and their search party, and some huge grizzly he came across that put up a "real" fight and "refused to go down". Had to be the "Mother of all grizzly's" The last message was from Alice who wanted me to call her when I got the chance. She said it wasn't urgent so I decided not to bother and call right now. No, I wasn't too busy to call, as a mater in fact, I was actually very bored. I didn't get bored much, considering I could usually entertain myself, but this time I was out of things to do.
So I did what anyone would do when they're bored and started to make a list of things to do with my captive so she would not get bored. I chuckled to myself thinking that it sounded very messed up in so many ways. I don't know what was weirder, the thought that I technically had a captive or the fact that I worried she was bored.
I came up with several ideas of things to do
Show her the home theater. (I had meant to earlier but decided to wait.)
Show her the gardens when the snow cleared, even though nothing would be in bloom or planted.
Okay so I really didn't have anything to do with her, but at least I had the warmer weather to look forward too. Unfortunately due to Bella's intolerance to the cold, we were confined to the house, which despite its size, didn't have much to do.
"PLEASE!" a shrill voice screamed. Before the next scream could sound I bolted upright and down the hall to Bella's room.
"Don't TOUCH me! I don't want this!" Bella thrashed and failed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Bella!" I rushed to her side pulling her to me. "Bella? Wake up, please wake up."
She continued to sob and gasp "You're hurting me!" I loosened my grip on her arms unsure if she was talking to me or whatever was after her in her dream.
"Bella, please wake up, I'm begging you." I shook her lightly.
She opened her eyes and lurched forward, looking around rapidly.
"Edward." She sobbed when she saw me and I hugged her closely rubbing her head which lay on my shoulder.
I held her in my lap, just soothing her till she calmed down enough to talk.
"Bella, your nightmare, do you remember what it was about?" she shook her head against my shoulder.
"I'm scared." She admitted.
"Of what?" I asked, concerned.
"I'm not sure. I just am." I held her closer and tighter, not caring anymore that I might have been hurting her, I just wanted her safe in my arms.
"You don't have to be scared; I won't let anything hurt you."
"Promise?" she pulled away to look up into my eyes. Her face was tear-streaked and stained. Water filled her eyes giving them a glass look and her skin was flush.
"I promise." I vowed, and then I did something reckless. I bent my head down and kissed her on the forehead. The moment I came in contact with her skin, I could feel the heat from her body radiating on my lips. I could feel her pulse beating away so close to me. It took all of my might to stop myself from taking her life right then and there, by pulling away.
"Thanks." She whispered.
"No problem."
Then I realized something. There was more to the promise I had just made than I had originally thought. Whatever her nightmares were about were hurting her, and I had just promised to let nothing else hurt her. I have to stop EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that causes her pain; I have to stop her nightmares.
Only one thing stood in my way of fixing that, though. I wasn't positive, but I was pretty sure that her past, which she could not seem to remember when she was awake, was a part of her nightmares.
That night, I guess I was just thinking about what had happened previously in the day when Bella rolled over to look at me. We were on her bed and the room was pitching dark; I had thought she was asleep.
"Goodnight Edward" She said softly. "Thank you for protecting me from him."
"Nigh-" I froze. "Him?"
She hesitated. "Yeah, Him."
"Who is him?" I demanded. Who was he, and why did she need protection from him?
"HIM." She emphasized. With that she rolled over and didn't respond to me or my nudging and silently fell asleep.
There was something she was not sharing with me. Something she remembered. Had she remembered all along?
My phone vibrated with a new text from Alice. It read, No more need to call. I see you figured it out already.
If only I had actually figured anything out.
What was going on?
A/n- So what do you think? Let me know =] Thanks for reading!
-Race for the Clock Tower.