Have I ever told you all how much I love you? Because I do. You guys keep me going, you make me want to write this story, you make me smile with your reviews and messages when I sneak on at work. I wish I could hug you all, but then that would be weird. So, cyberhugs from Sapward for everyone, with a side order of Emmett bear hugs.
Warning: this chapter is lemony, twisty, turny, and musical-y.
Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, but I own a copy of US Weekly's The Sexy Stars of Twilight special edition magazine. For those who haven't seen it, it's nothing we haven't seen, but there are a couple of nice full-page pics of shirtless Rob in Italy. Sigh. After drooling over it, I suddenly feel like a dirty old cougar. ;)
When we last saw them, Bella had that horrendous nightmare about Ed Sr., a puking episode, and nearly gave poor Worryward a coronary. Bella made breakfast while Edward talked to Carlisle about it.
The sound of rain pattering on the roof was quick to lull them back to sleep after they'd eaten breakfast. It was a deep and dreamless repose, something they both needed after the night they'd just had.
Just before noon, Bella heard a knock at the door. Leah was standing outside under a garnet and gold umbrella. Bella let her in and gave her a hug.
"I'm sorry about what happened on the beach last night. Sometimes I have flashbacks and overreact when I'm startled. I didn't mean to freak you out."
"I'm just glad you're okay. We were really worried when we heard screaming in the middle of the night. We didn't know if we should come check on you guys or not."
Bella blushed. "I had a nightmare," she said quietly. "It's all good now."
"Good. So, I'm actually here on a mission. Do you guys have plans today?"
"No, it's so crappy outside there's not much we can do but stay inside. Why?"
"Do you feel up to a trip into town? It would be a great day to go to the conservatory or one of the music labs."
"Edward, honey, can you come down for a minute?"
He appeared shirtless at the railing. "What is it? Oh, hi, Leah. Let me grab a shirt, I'll be right down."
Edward was downstairs moments later. "What's up?"
"Well," Leah started, "I thought since it was raining that we could go into town, maybe go play some music."
His tired eyes opened wide, the smile he flashed reached beyond his eyes. "Really? Bella, can we? Please?"
"Of course. When do you want to go?"
Leah looked at her watch. "Can you be ready in half an hour?"
"Sure can," Edward exclaimed, unable to conceal his excitement. "Come on, Bella!"
He started dragging her upstairs.
"We'll see you in a few," Leah called out, as she chuckled.
Edward bounced like Tigger for the entire drive. They laughed at him as he became more and more excited the closer they got to town.
"Here comes Funward," Leah said, giggling.
They pulled up to the building beside the swan pond. Bella hissed when she saw the white monsters swimming in the water. "Stay back, foul beasts!"
"I just need a minute to grab the keys. Can you wait here for me?" Leah said as she pointed to the lobby.
Jacob hefted a bag over his shoulder and gave Leah a kiss before she ran off. "It's not that I don't want to hear you play, but I need to go to the gym. I'll be back over in about an hour."
Edward took Bella's hand in his and led her to a bench in the lobby. He pulled her onto his lap and hugged her. "Are you feeling okay, love?"
"Sure am, why?"
"I'm just a little worried still."
"About last night?"
He nodded, seriousness etched in his brow.
"Baby, I'm okay, we're okay. Let's just forget about it and you have fun making music today."
"I will," he said, smiling again.
Leah returned, jingling keys in her hand. "Let's go make beautiful music!"
She led them to an auditorium. It was small, but the acoustics were ideal. There was a grand piano in the middle of the stage.
"Please, go sit. I need to go grab a couple of things. I'll be right back."
Edward and Bella approached the stage. He lifted her up before jumping up himself. Reverently, he walked around the piano, trailing his fingers across its alabaster finish. When he reached the bench, he pulled it out, sat down, cracked his knuckles, and played some scales as a warm up. His fingers danced across the keys so quickly Bella had a hard time following them.
Once he was warmed up, he patted the bench, beckoning for Bella to join him. As soon as she was seated, he began to play her lullaby. She rested her head on his shoulders as he played and soaked it in. There were so many layers to it; the pain and fear, the sadness and joy, the love, the hope and the safety. So many nights she had fallen asleep to this song; she had walked down the aisle at her wedding to it, and she would hopefully hum this familiar melody to their child in a few short months.
Suddenly there another layer to the song. It was the low, rumbling of a stand-up bass. Leah had gone to get some other instruments and was trying to play along with Edward. It was beautiful; truly incredible. Bella had never thought for one second that the song could ever sound better, but it did. It made her heart break. Tears streamed down her face.
Edward sat beside her smiling like crazy. He played a little longer, and then faded out.
"Oh my God," Bella said, wiping her eyes. "That was...wow...I have goose bumps."
Leah looked over at them, smiling. "Edward, what was that song you were playing?"
"Bella's Lullaby. I came up with it when I first met Bella," he said as he looked at his wife lovingly. "When she was having horrible nightmares I'd spend the night with her, and hum this song to her when they got really bad."
"It's a stunning piece, Edward. Have you ever recorded it?"
"Yes," he said, shyly, "for Bella's iPod."
"Would you like to do it again, this time with the bass added? I could even call around to get someone to play violin if you want."
"No, this is fine. I never knew it could sound so rich with just a lower-range string instrument added."
"Can we run through it again a couple of times so I know what I'm doing?"
"Of course."
"I'm going to go sit in the front row and listen from there," Bella said, kissing his cheek.
"Okay."
Edward and Leah played, replayed, arranged, added, subtracted, and tweaked the arrangement until they had it just right. Jacob came back and sat in the front row with Bella.
"Wow, that song is haunting."
"It is, isn't it? I can't believe how incredible it sounds now. I didn't think it was possible to love it any more than I already do."
"Quiet in the audience, please. We're going to record. Jake, honey, can you go up to the control room and hit record?"
"Sure thing, Sweetcheeks."
After four recordings, they had it. Leah copied it from laptop to USB key and CD just to be sure she had a copy.
"I'll burn a copy for you tonight. Thanks for doing that, Edward."
"For what?"
"For sharing that incredible composition with me. Would you mind terribly if I played it for my professors? They'll be interested in hearing it."
"Be my guest. It's certainly not the most elaborate piece I've composed, but it's my favourite."
Bella hugged him. "It's my favourite too."
"Shall we go grab a bite before heading back? Joey's makes the best pizza in town."
"Sounds good."
They walked over to the restaurant and met up with some of Jacob and Leah's friends. Leah was telling them about the recording they'd done. When they begged to hear it, Jacob asked the waitress if they could play it on the stereo.
There wasn't a dry eye in the restaurant by the time it was finished playing.
"Edward, you need to think about publishing the sheet music for this, it's beautiful," a guy named Riley said.
"Oh, I don't know, it's kind of personal," Edward replied modestly. "It's just a song I wrote for my beautiful wife."
But Edward did think about it. He thought long and hard about it. Then he thought about how hot his wife was. Then he thought about going for a swim. Then he thought about bending Bella over the couch and breaking his promise to Peanut about not banging her so hard. Then he fell asleep.
The weather wasn't much better on day seven of their honeymoon. They slept until ten, had a leisurely breakfast, then did some work. Bella was feeling a little more inspired about the proposal and managed to get it mostly mapped out before Edward served grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch.
Jacob and Leah came over to play Scrabble in the afternoon.
"I'm sorry, but you can't use Drunkward as a word, Bella," Jake said, chuckling. "Nice try, though."
"Why not?" she whined playfully.
"Why not? It's a proper noun. You can't use proper nouns."
"Fine then, I won't."
Edward played the word dildo and made the girls blush. Jake played cock. Bella played come. Leah put down the word tease. Suddenly, their innocuous game of Scrabble had become a race to see who could play the best sexual word.
Bella beamed as she put down F-U-C-K on a triple word score. As she laid the tiles with her right hand, her left one was creeping up Edward's thigh.
Suddenly he jumped up and faked a yawn. "Boy, I'm tired out. Do you guys mind finishing later?"
Jacob smiled knowingly and nodded. "Yeah, I'm suddenly tired too. Leah, let's head back. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Have a good evening," he said, winking at them.
Edward locked the door behind them. When he turned around to look at Bella, his mouth actually watered at the thought of tasting her.
"What's gotten into you?" she asked, feigning innocence.
"You. You've gotten into me, and now I'm going to get into you. Come here," he growled at her.
Bella felt a familiar rush of wetness between her legs, as Edward spoke to her. He looked at her hungrily, his lustful eyes trained on her every move.
"You, come here," she said, as she leaned back against the table, spreading her legs. She beckoned him with a finger.
With a feral growl, he crossed the room, pinning her down as he ground his erection against her. He kissed her roughly as he lifted her onto the table, laying her down and peeling off her pants. He could see the wetness in her cotton underpants and his eyes rolled back into his head.
Bella reached down and touched herself through the flimsy cotton. "I'm ready, Edward."
"Oh, boy, are you ever." He reached over and slowly pulled the cotton barrier down her legs. He held them to his nose and inhaled deeply.
When she looked into his eyes she nearly came right then and there: they burned intensely, passionately as he looked at her sopping wet, and still very hairless mound.
He kissed his way up her thighs, parting them further as he reached the promised land. He licked her long and hard.
Bella cried out as he laved her, delving in and out, nibbling on her throbbing clit. She cursed, writhed, thrust, and cried out as he performed the most intimate and pleasurable torture on her. His long, talented fingers found their rhythm as he played her G-spot with more finesse and passion than he'd ever exhibited on the piano. Bella's cries became more urgent with each thrust, her walls clamping down harder and tighter just before she exploded.
Edward's mouth continued to work her through the first orgasm until she begged him to stop.
"I...I...uh, need to breathe...just...a...minute," she panted.
He helped her sit up, cradling her gently to him.
"Off," she said, tugging on his shirt. He complied without complaint.
"Off," she said, tugging on his pants. He dropped them as fast as he could."
"Off," he said, tugging on her shirt. Instead of waiting for her to do it, he pulled it over her head and quickly unfastened her bra.
"Upstairs?" Bella asked.
"Yes." He helped her onto his back and he piggybacked her up to the bedroom. He could feel her wet sex hugging the base of his spine, increasing his already intense need to take her.
Once they reached the bedroom, Bella told him to lie down on the bed. She rummaged around in her suitcase. "I would hate to have to tell Alice that this went to waste."
"What is it?"
She blushed. "Edible body paint."
"Oh, I'm intrigued, but I really need to fuck you right now," he said, matter-of-factly.
"Not yet."
"Please?"
"You had your chance. Now it's my turn."
Edward sighed dramatically.
"It'll be fun," she said, hopeful, waving the box in front of her.
"Okay." He didn't sound convinced.
"Ugh! Fine, Edward. I want this to be fun." She set the paint box down and bent herself, spread eagle, against the front of the dresser. She faced the mirror and looked back at him. "Fuck me, Edward. We'll paint later."
He didn't need her to tell him twice. He was across the room and inside her in half a heartbeat. "Thank you," he said, pounding into her.
"Oh, you owe...owe...oh my god...owe me...Big time." She cried out as she came.
Edward continued to pump into her wetness until she came again. Her legs were giving out, so he picked her up and took her to the bed where he finished off.
He lay, spent, half on her, half off her, panting. "Thank you."
"You already said that," she said grinning.
"I'm really thankful."
"You owe me."
"You already said that," he said, cheekily.
"You really owe me."
They lay entwined, sweaty, and smelling of sex until sleep claimed them both.
Edward woke up and swatted at a fly.
"Hey! What're you doing?" Bella said, slapping at his hand.
"What's going on?" he asked sleepily.
"I told you that you owed me. It's payback time."
Edward looked down at his body; Bella had begun painting a landscape on him. It was incredible what she'd done in such a short period of time with edible body paint.
"Wow, I'm a work of art. Wait, what are you doing?"
Bella had taken Adam in her hand and was stroking him. "I need Adam at full-attention. He's too hard to paint when he's floppy; no pun intended."
Once Adam was at full-mast, she began to run the brush up his shaft with deliberately slow strokes, prompting Edward's hands to fist in the sheets. When she reached the sensitive head, she switched colours. He was curious as to what she was turning his penis into.
Finally satisfied with her creation, Bella grabbed the camera and took several photos of her masterpiece.
"You're not planning on showing those to the family, are you?"
"Nope. Private collection only."
"You won't sell them to TMZ or Perez Hilton when I'm famous, will you? I couldn't bear for Perez to draw cum dripping from my mouth or hearts over Adam."
"Nope. You. Are. My. Work. Of. Art. MINE! I'm not sharing. Now, I should probably start at the top and work my way down to dessert, shouldn't I?
"Dessert?"
"The ice cream cone. The one with the hot, liquid, surprise at the end." She flicked her finger across the top of the ice cream, making him jump.
She started by licking his collarbone, slowly, savouring the sweetness. His chest was a Van Gogh-inspired night sky full of stars, the two biggest being his nipples. She suckled and nipped at them, cleaning the paint off them.
"Mm, mango," she said, licking her lips.
"Can I taste?" he asked.
"Sure can." She crawled up his body and kissed him hard, her tongue forcing its way into his mouth.
"Mm, mango indeed," he said, licking his own lips.
Bella kissed down to the horizon, cleaning a trail through the various colours, following the contours of his natural manscape: his subtle abs, his navel, the V to the P. What awaited her at the juncture of the V was a P harder than marble and glistening with pre-cum. "Well, it seems the ice cream is melting. I should probably take care of that now, don't you think?"
"Please," he croaked. Bella's delicious torment was going to kill him soon.
"I'd better start at the top, seems it's dripping." She locked eyes with him as she dipped her tongue down to lick up the drop of pre-cum pooling at the tip. His hips jerked at the sensation.
"Easy, Edward."
"Sorry."
Bella licked around the frenulum, before taking the whole head into her mouth, creating a powerful vacuum. As she sucked, her tongue dipped in and out of the slit in the top.
"Oh, God," Edward moaned.
Slowly, almost painfully slow, Bella pulled inch by sensitive inch of him into her mouth. Once he hit the back of her throat, she cupped his balls, which had been painted orange, and rolled them gently in her hand. Up and down her mouth went, pulling guttural sounds from deep within his chest with each over-stimulating pass she made.
"Bella, I'm..."
She released his testicles, running her fingers just behind, to massage his perineum, the patch between his scrotum and his ass. His hips bucked wildly and he cried out as his seed shot deep into her mouth.
"What was that?" He asked, breathless.
"A little trick I picked up in Cosmo."
He grinned. "Should I buy you a subscription?"
"Nope. I got what I needed out of it."
"I'd say you did. Your face is a mess. Come here and let me clean you up."
The sun finally showed its face again. Bella was sitting at her easel painting a portrait of the cottage. It would be a rush job, but she wanted to have something to give to Dr. Black to thank him. She also wanted to do something for Jake and Leah, but wasn't sure she'd have time. She could always ship one to them later.
Edward was dozing in the hammock. He sure enjoyed it. Hell, she enjoyed it as well. Many good times had been had in there in a short time, and she secretly wondered if perhaps they should offer to buy Dr. Black a new one or hose this one down before they left.
Jake and Leah had gone into town. They said they needed to do something for school and they'd track them down later. Bella was happy for the peace and quiet, as she hadn't done as much painting as she'd hoped to.
Bella's phone vibrated. She beamed when she saw who it was. "ROSIE!"
"Bella! How's my girl?"
"I'm good, but I miss you."
"Having a good time?"
"Oh, yeah," Bella said, huskily.
"Really? Oh, do tell! What dirty things have you two been up to in between sightseeing trips?"
"Home talk, Rose, home talk."
"Speaking of home, when are you heading back?"
"Thursday. Our flight gets in around noon."
"Oh, thank God. Your brother is driving me nuts."
Bella laughed. "God, I really miss you guys. I wish you were here."
"How's Peanut?"
"Fluttering. My belly is getting bigger. It was as if Peanut quadrupled in size overnight."
"It happens. Don't worry about it; I woke up one morning and your darling brother called me Goodyear."
"Oh, Rosie, he didn't! I'll kick his ass."
Rose chuckled. "Trust me, Sweets, Em learned his lesson the hard way."
"How's Bean doing?"
"Bean is active and growing like a weed. I can't wait for you to feel him/her."
"I can't wait either. As much as I love it here, I'm looking forward to getting home."
"So, shall I pick you up on Thursday?"
"No, the Volvo is at the airport. I'll call you when we get in, though. I can't wait to see you."
"Me too. Give my love to Edward."
"I will. Give my brother a kick in the ass, please."
"Consider it done."
Edward and Bella were walking through the woods, talking. It was starting to get dark and he feared they might be lost. "Bella, do you recognize anything?"
"No, where are we?"
"I don't know. We should really get out of here, it'll be dark soon and we're not dressed for a night outside."
"Why don't we head toward that light over there?"
"Okay, maybe it's the road."
They walked for what seemed like forever when they finally found a clearing, but it didn't seem like they were any closer to finding the road. Edward noticed a campfire off to the side and a person sitting beside it.
"Excuse me, sir? Hello? We're lost. Can you help us find our way out?"
The man turned around and Edward screamed. It was his father.
"Hello, son. I've been waiting for you."
Edward sat up, sweat pouring off him. He was panting and trembling. It was a dream. Thank fucking God it was only a dream.
What am I going to do? Why won't he leave me alone? It's bad enough he's trying to find me, but now he's haunting my dreams, Bella's dreams. Fuck! He needed to confront his father sooner or later and if he was going to find any peace, it had better be sooner than later.
Maybe he's changed. Maybe everything'll be okay? I can't just assume that it won't be.
"Edward?"
"Hi, love."
"What's wrong?"
"Come sit, please. I need you," he said, patting the spot beside him. She carefully rolled into the hammock and landed on top of him. When she shifted to lie beside him, he shook his head no and held her.
"Just like this. I need to feel you, and not in a I-want-to-bend-you-over-and-fuck-you-twelve-ways-to-Thursday way. I just want to feel your heart beating on mine, maybe feel Peanut fluttering. I need to feel your breath on my face."
"Sweetie, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"
"Would you be averse to leaving a day or two early? I have some business I need to attend to before going back to work."
"No, honey. If you need to go, we go together."
He squeezed her until she squeaked. "You're the best. Oh," he paused as he ran a finger across the line of her jaw. "We need to go to Forks first."
"Yay!"
He looked at her, confused. "You want to go to Forks?"
"I want to go see Carlisle and Esme," she said, smiling before she kissed his nose. "You make some phone calls while I pack and start cleaning."
"Aren't you going to even ask why we're going back?"
She shook her head. "You need to exorcise a demon, what else could it be?"
"Are you okay with this?"
She cupped his cheek and he leaned into it. "Baby, you do what you need to do make things better for you. You need to make the nightmares go away."
"Nightmares?"
"You've been having nightmares."
"How? I...I don't remember..."
"It's okay. They've only started getting bad the past couple of days and you calmed down so quickly that it didn't seem right to say anything, especially after the hell I put you through with mine. I'd just hold you and hum, like you did for me."
"I just don't understand why you didn't bother to tell me."
"Because they're really not all that bad, honey. Now you get our tickets switched and I'll get things sorted out here. Man, Leah's going to be disappointed."
"We'll have to invite them down for a visit. Okay, let's get rolling."
After a few phone calls, Edward was able to secure a flight out of Halifax the following morning. They had a lot of work to do to get ready to go. There was packing and cleaning to be done, not to mention goodbyes to be said.
Leah and Jake got home shortly after supper. They walked over and found Edward packing up the hammock and the deck furniture.
"What's going on? Why are you packing up?" Leah asked.
Edward sighed. "We have to go back. Something's come up and I need to deal with it before we go home. We're flying out tomorrow morning to go to Forks."
"No!" Leah said, reaching for Jake's hand. "We still had two more days."
Bella came outside, took one look at Leah and started to cry. "I'm sorry, Leah. We really have to go."
Leah walked over and hugged Bella. "Shit, I'm sorry. I'm being selfish. It's just been so nice to have someone here to hang out with."
"Will you come visit us next time you visit Jake's dad? Please?" Bella said, tearfully.
"Of course we will."
Edward sighed. "We should get back to work, honey. We have to leave early and I want to have everything cleaned up before we go to bed."
"Don't worry about cleaning, we'll do that when you go. Why don't we have one last bonfire?" Jake suggested.
"We can't ask you to do that," Edward replied.
"We insist," Leah said. "You two finish packing and meet us on the beach when the sun goes down. Do you want hot dogs and s'mores again?"
Bella shuddered. "No s'mores, but a big yes to hot dogs."
"Okay, we'll see you down there in an hour or so."
They were able to get a lot accomplished in the hour and a half before the sun went down. They sadly made their way down to the beach to spend one last night with their new friends.
Leah had brought a guitar down with her. In no time, she and Edward were singing everything from classic rock to old camp songs.
"May, I, Leah?" Edward said, gesturing to the guitar.
"I didn't know you could play. By all means, please."
Leah handed it over to Edward, who did a quick tuning and began strumming. He played In the Sun by Joseph Arthur. Bella smiled. It was one of her favourites.
I picture you in the sun wondering what went wrong
And falling down on your knees asking for sympathy
And being caught in between all you wish for and all you seen
And trying to find anything you can feel that you can believe in
May God's love be with you
Always
May God's love be with you
I know i would apologize if i could see your eyes
'Cause when you showed me myself i became someone else
But i was caught in between all you wish for and all you need
I picture you fast asleep
A nightmare comes
You can't keep awake
May God's love be with you
Always
May God's love be with you
'Cause if i find
If i find my own way
How much will i find
If i find
If i find my own way
How much will i find
You
I don't know anymore
What it's for
I'm not even sure
If there is anyone who is in the sun
Will you help me to understand
'Cause i been caught in between all I wish for and all I need
Maybe you're not even sure what it's for
Any more than me
May God's love be with you
Always
May God's love be with you
After a couple hours of songs, dogs, and tears, Edward and Bella said their goodbyes.
"I'm so glad I met you, Bella. Please stay in touch."
"Of course, Leah. I wouldn't dream of losing touch. I'm really going to miss you."
"Will you guys come back next summer? Bring Peanut with you? Stay a little longer?"
"We'll see. But we'll get together before then. You must come visit soon." Bella said, wiping a tear off Leah's cheek. "I can introduce you to Rose and Emmett, maybe even Alice and Jasper. You'd love them."
"I'd love to see Jake and Em go a round," Edward said, chuckling.
"Okay, one last group photo!" Bella said. Edward took the camera and set it up on a nearby rock, setting the timer on it. He ran back to the group just in time."
"I'll send the photos once we get home and settled," Bella said as she gave them each one last hug. "Thank you for everything."
"Thanks, Jake. It's been a great week."
"No, thank you, Edward. Seriously."
"Bye guys," Bella said as they ascended the stairs. She stopped at the top and took one last look at the dark beach and the dark figures comforting each other beside the dying fire.
It was true: parting is such sweet sorrow.
Aww, I know...it sucks that their honeymoon was cut short, but really, I couldn't handle writing any more honeymoon lemonade. Besides, Edward needs to confront his matricidal father so he can get on with his life, and so we can all get on with ours. :)
No promises, but I'll try to have something up on the weekend. I'm going to see Transformers tomorrow night (if I can score some tickets) so I won't have a whole heck of a lot of time to get anything written. Pray for a quiet day at work so I can get some writing done when I'm covering phones.
Again, you guys are amazing. The little experiment to see if anyone would like something I wrote has turned into something truly epic, and it's all because of you. Take a bow. Yes...even those of you who have yet to review. The fact that you read it and have favourited it makes you almost as wonderful as my loyal reviewers.
This chapter is dedicated to the special man in my life. Today marks the fourth anniversary of the day I adopted my ginger kitty, Mr. Frederick K. Knuckles Stinkbottom.