A/N: Hey all. I'm baaacckkk =]
So while you all think I've been slacking I've really been doing quite a bit with this story. I've started editing and replacing the chapters at the beginning that I wrote before I had a beta to help me catch my mistakes. No major differences are going to be made to the plot. I'm just going to attempt to make things flow better. I'm also posting over at twilighted(dot)net. And if you really love me you will come find me on the thread. I made a playlist with all the songs for the chapters and there is a link to this in my profile.
I now have a twitter that I know how to use thanks to the beautiful Stavanger1, who also helped me so much with this chapter. You can follow me and find out when I am writing or even bitch at me when I'm not...it's totally cool with me. Just search for Sendmeonmywayy (with two y's).
Also I want to give a little shout out to the girls that got me into WC! I would not have gotten this chapter done and gotten so far into updating the next chapter of GTP without them. Thanks guys =]
And finally thanks to Unseen Wonder, who I miss deeply! Where you been babycakes?
And without further ado I give you Chapter 22 =]
Disclaimer: I own nothing except an unhealthy obession of Charlie and Tasers. They are just magic together ; ]
Chapter 22: Look After You
BPOV
I turned off the shower and reached out for my towel, swearing when I realized I had gotten my cast wet. Shit.
I threw the towel around my body and headed for my room to grab my phone, the one Alice insisted I get after she found out mine had perished in the accident. I moved slowly, stealthy, just quiet enough to ensure that the sleeping beautiful piece of man on my bed would be oblivious to my presence. He looked so at peace with his mouth slightly open, no drool in sight. I leaned over him, holding my breath and barely got a hold of my phone with the tips of my fingers.
I smiled in victory as my hands curled around the device and slowly, steadying myself on both feet, rolled my torso back to where I was standing. My progress was abruptly halted when two arms wrapped around my back and pulled me down onto the bed, before rolling so all his weight was on me, causing me to squeal.
"Where do you think you're sneaking away to?" his sleepy voice asked, while his eyes kept up the pretense of sleep.
"No where! And you are crushing me!" I whined trying to wiggle out of his steel grip.
"Bella, what did I say about keeping your thoughts from me?" he scolded, eyes still closed as if he wasn't even trying while I was putting forth all my effort into wiggling out of his grip.
"I don't know, Edward. What did your mother tell you about pinning women down against their will?" I retorted, still struggling to free myself.
"I asked first," he pouted finally opening his eyes to lay on the full effect of the trademark Cullen pout.
"I'm not falling for that. Besides I have something I really need to do before I lose my nerve and- God damn it Cullen, stop the pout!"
He kept on, knowing my reserve was breaking. It was only a matter of time before I-
"Fine, you win. God, I'm dating an overgrown five year old," I groaned finally stopping my struggle.
"Yeah, but you love me."
"I do," I added simply before kissing him gently.
"Okay no distracting me, tell me what's going on."
His face went serious as he let me sit up. I adjusted my towel and the sheet over his lap so I could talk without unnecessary distractions.
"I had an epiphany," I started. "And I finally realized that-"
*Ding*Dong*
"Are you expecting anyone, Edward?"
"No, are you….."
"No this isn't even my house. But what if….." I trailed off, not wanting to imagine a replay of what had gone down in this very house earlier today.
"Charlie." Edward finished all the blood draining out of his face.
"Open heart surgery…no problem. But as soon as the overprotective cop shows up you lose your mojo?" I teased.
"Last time I checked none of my patients were chief of police in their respective towns or strapped with guns," he cringed with a far off look in his eyes. "What? I think it a completely rational fear to be afraid of your girlfriends overprotective father. Especially when you are sleeping with her and he has a gun handy at all times."
"You're such a baby," I whispered.
"Why are we whispering? You're not afraid are you?" he whispered back flashing me his trademark crooked smile.
"No, I'm not afraid. I'm angry, and if I talk to him I'm going to freak out at. So I'd rather avoid it at all costs!" I whisper yelled back.
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
"Maybe if we ignore it he'll leave?" Edward whispered hopefully, grabbing my hand.
*Ding Dong*
*BANG BANG BANG*
I glared at him from my place across the bed, dropping his hand.
"Or not."
I gotta feel you in my bones again.
I'm all over you.
I'm not over you.
I wanna taste you one more time again.
I'm all over you.
I'm not over you.
This life is way too short to get caught up and all messed up.
When I, just want you to love me back.
Why can't you just love me back?
I blushed about ten different shades of red when my ringtone rang out, effectively breaking the silence of the room.
"The Spill Canvas?" he asked in a nonjudgmental tone.
"Yeah," I sighed willing my face to cool off as the ringing stopped.
"Do you think that was him?"
"No I have a different ringtone for my dad."
"What is it?"
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
*RATTLE RATTLE RATTLE*
I picked up my phone carefully, afraid that just touching it would make it go off again. I undid the keypad lock and was confused when the missed call box popped up.
"Private number?" Edward read over my shoulder just as quizzical as I was.
"Yeah." I responded staring dumbly at my phone before remembering my purpose for picking up the phone in the first place.
I turned down the ringer and searched through my ringtones until I found the right one.
Who's watching
Tell me, who's watching
Who's watching me
And (I always feel like)
(Somebody's watching me)
And I have no privacy
Whooooa-oh-oh
(I always feel like)
(Somebody's watching me)
Tell me, is it just a dream
Edward clapped his hands over his mouth just as a round of hysterical laughter was setting in. I threw a pillow at his face and shot him a disapproving glare, to which he maturely responded to by more laughter.
I tried to stop myself. I really did. But before I knew it I was laughing right along with him, all thoughts of Charlie and a gun completely out of mind.
*Creak, creak, creak*
The laughter was immediately cut off by the sound of angry steps pounding up the stairs at a fast pace. Edward looked at me. I looked at him. It was one of those surreal moments when you send a mini prayer up to the Gods, begging them to not let your father kill the guy you are head over heels in love with.
Edward grabbed my hand, squeezing it for comfort before the door swung open.
"Thanks for answering the door and the phone assholes! And I thought you loved me."
We started blankly at the door in shock before we each let out a breath of relief.
"I would have expected this out of Edward, but not out of you Bella. I thought we were sisters, I thought I meant something to you," Alice whined, placing her hands on her hips in agitation.
The adrenaline running through my veins from the anticipation of Charlie was at a loss of what to so when the grand build up turned out to be Alice. Needing an outlet, it burst from me in the form of hysterical giggling which Edward soon caught.
Alice, unfortunately not understanding the 'you had to be there' of the moment felt our giggles were some form of an affront to her hurt demeanor.
"Yeah, playing hide and go seek on Alice when she has something important to say is so funny guys. I only helped you get out of shit big time, but it's not a big deal. No 'thank you' necessary, I find being laughed at a much better thanks for all the trouble I went through. And, no, the terrifying dream/vision that I had wasn't traumatizing at all, but thanks for asking. Now I'll just get out of your hair so you can get ready for the party tomorrow. Besides Jasper is waiting for me anyway…." Alice trailed off from her heavily sarcastic rant before abruptly turning around to storm out of the room.
Her speech sobered us up a great deal and I flung myself of the bed and into her arms before she could even make it out of the doorway.
"Thank God it's you, Alice!" I sobbed, apparently my emotions had taken on a life of their own.
I belonged in a circus somewhere. Step right up ladies and gentlemen to see the amazing hormonal women. But don't get too close to the cage, you never know when she might have a spontaneous breakdown.
"Oh Bella, don't cry. I know you care. I'm sorry I teased you I guess I don't have the finesse that Emmett does in that department. Wow, who ever thought I'd say Emmett was better than me at anything other than eating contests and crudest displays of behavior?" Alice wondered aloud patting my back in a motherly way, which only made me cry more as I thought about my mom.
"She's had a long day," Edward hinted. "In all honesty it's been a rough week."
"Did you really miss the rest of us that much?" Alice asked, highly amused by the idea.
It was almost funny to look back at how excited we both were the day that the Cullen clan left us to ourselves in the house. Of course that was also the day that Lauren came back into my life. In fact, since they had left things had progressively gone from bad to worse.
"Is missing me really that funny of an idea Bella?" Alice teased.
Okay maybe it was funny, because the hysterical crying had changed back into laughter, but as soon as I thought I had hurt Alice it turned back into crying.
"Is she okay?" Alice asked getting more concerned by the moment.
"Se-se-date m-m-e-e" I couldn't stop crying long enough to beg Edward to sedate me already.
"What was the honey?" Alice asked in a kind caring voice.
"S-SEDATE ME G-GOD D-DAMN IT!" I sobbed out loud.
"Oh!" Edward said after a minute of confusion.
He run out of the room and I heard the stairs creaking as Alice continued to try and sooth me. The longer I tried to calm myself and the more I fail, the more I got upset which lead to more crying. Alice sensing it was getting worse yelled to Edward some expletives to get him to hurry up.
It took him longer than either Alice or I were hoping but he sprang back into the room with his hair all messed up and a ready needle in his hand.
"Carlisle had some in his emergency kit," Edward explained, at a loss for what he was suppose to do with our impatient stares.
"Good story, Emmett" Alice said sarcastically. "Now hurry up and sedate her before she hyperventilates herself right into passing out!"
"Oh, right!" Edward exclaimed far more flustered then I had ever seen him in my life. "I'm sorry baby, this will only hurt for a second."
I felt my towel being lowered from my body and a sharp prick in my hip before a welcoming darkness swarm in front of my eyes and total numbness shot through my body. I heard Alice's high voice let out a squeal before I felt my body falling and me with no way to catch it. I attempted to yell, but I only ended up making a small little whimper in the back of my throat.
Right before I thought I was going to hit the ground, a pair of strong arms caught me around the waist and I felt myself being hoisted up.
"Shhhh, sleep my Love. I promised I would never let you fall, and I won't break my promise."
His voice was the last one I heard before the sleep I desperately needed found me.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Are you sure she's okay? I've never seen anyone melt down like that." A high female voice was the first thing that broke through the complete numbness of my mind.
"Yeah, I'm sure. It was a classic Post-traumatic-stress symptom. Haven't you seen what Bella and I have been going through in the past couple of days? It's no wonder she's such a mess. With all the shit going on in her life right now I don't even know how she's functioning," A deep manly voice, sounding very tired and very stressed out responded.
I wanted to take his pain away. He sounded very worn out. I wondered why. Why was he so stressed? Why was I hearing this? Where was I?
But there was no hysterics in this questioning. I felt oddly as peace despite the fact that I was having trouble placing what was going on.
Before I could wonder any further the female voice, spoke up. "The visions that I have involving you two are unlike any other ones I've gotten before. They are less based on actual events and more based on metaphor. It takes me so much longer to realize what's going on when I have to riddle it all out. In the last one I was convinced for all of five seconds that you two were committing suicide somewhere, until I figured out-"
"Wait, hold on. You had a vision that Bella and I are going to commit suicide?!" The male voice whisper yelled.
I was touched that he still remembered my semi-sleeping, unconscious form even when dealing with an obvious crisis.
"If you'd let me finish…" She trailed off.
I could picture her short form glaring at him. That's when my brain had a click. Alice. The female voice was Alice. And the male voice was obviously…
"By all means…" Edward grudgingly retorted.
I could tell he was trying to be nonchalant after his little outburst, but he wanted to know more just as badly as Alice wanted to tell him about it. I found myself wanting to know more as well. I just had this feeling that not only did this concern me, but it was fundamental to my future with the two voices I now knew as Edward and Alice.
"The dreams, as I pointed out, are all metaphorical. So with that reasoning I figured that your suicide was not really a literal suicide of your bodies, but more of your spiritual selves." Alice continued.
The sounds of footfalls going back and forth on the floor made it easy for me to imagine her pacing back in forth in front of us, as she revealed what she had learned and gathered more as she revealed it.
"Our spiritual selves?" Edward asked incredulously.
I imagined him rolling his eyes and felt myself mentally smiling. I didn't think my facial muscles were in my own command yet, so I would have to settle for what I could do.
"Don't roll your eyes at me Edward Cullen. I'm not crazy!" Alice thundered, breaking the silence.
I could tell the question of Alice's sanity was obviously a soft spot and Edwards quick apology affirmed my suspicion.
"Alice, you know I don't think you are crazy. I'm just having a hard time thinking I have a spiritual self. It's a little too out there for me. You know I'm more of a clean cut scientific type guy. If I can't see it I'm less inclined to believe it exists."
"Do you love Bella?" Alice asked, catching both of us off guard.
I was Bella. I realized in a sudden moment of brilliance. Duh.
Edward recovered from the shock of the question quicker than I did, but his voice dropped to an intense whisper, "More than life itself."
I'm pretty sure in that moment a swooned a little. If I had been able to move my limbs I probably would have just melted into a puddle. If my mind already wasn't a jumbled mess I'm pretty sure it would have just turned into one.
"How do you know?" Alice asked.
Now I could sense that Edward and I were once again operating on the same mental frequency of extreme confusion. Why was she asking this? Did she not believe we were in love? Did she want me gone?
Before I could torture myself anymore, Alice cleared it up for both of us, "You can't see it can you?"
"I beg your pardon?" Edward asked still a little caught off by the last question. And I thought I was slow today.
"You can't see love, so how do you know it exists?" Alice pointed out.
"Touché."
"So if you can't see that, but you know it exists. Then isn't it possible that we also have souls? Even though we can't see them?" Alice continued on, driving her point home like the seasoned veteran she was in terms of the number of times she had schooled her brothers.
Edward took a deep breath, that I could feel against the back of my head, orienting me further and giving me a moment to rejoice in the new found feeling of, well, feeling. Suddenly I could also feel his hands running through my hair. It was an absentminded gesture that had such a soothing effect that I finally understood why cats purred so loudly when you pet them. It just felt so completely relaxing.
"Fair enough," Edward decided, pulling me out of my minor slip back into unconsciousness.
"Thank you. So as I was saying, I believe that if I had let you two continue to travel down the destructive path you were on, the outside world was going to crush your beautiful little bubble of existence. Bella tried to pull away, she was going to face the chaos all by herself, but as soon as she tried you went after her. You saw the crap below and you went anyway. To me this roughly translated as you realized she was carrying a crap ton of emotional baggage and that she was going to have a lot to deal with in terms of her family, but you stood by her anyway. Is this following current events thus far?" Alice stopped her pacing for a moment.
There was no answer, but when Alice resumed her thoughtful movements across the floor, I assumed Edward must have nodded.
"So after you decided to stick together you were both hurdling down the side of a cliff face ready to collide with the rough rocks below and I was falling with you, watching the whole thing helplessly. So instead of waiting for you to fall head first into Bella's crappy past and the questionably motives of her family, I decided to intervene a little, no need to thank me."
"Oh no, Alice. What did you do?" Edward moaned out horrified at whatever catastrophe was awaiting us in the real world.
He was no doubt imagining Charlie outside at a sniper's post watching us. I really shouldn't have let him listen to that ringtone, now he's going to be paranoid for the rest of forever and…..
Wait. Hold the phone. It was all rushing back to me at lightening pace. As my memories flooded my rested brain I felt the feeling returning to my numb appendages all at once.
"I'll tell you in about ten seconds when Bella wakes up."
True to her word, a couple of seconds later (ten to be sure), my eyes opened to the dim lights of Edwards room. I blinked a couple of times before I could fully take in my surroundings. Edward's concerned green eyes hovered above my face and his palm was cupping my cheek in a reverent manner. I felt my cheeks lift into a smile and a matching crooked one also lit up his own face. I noticed he was wearing clothes now and not just the sheets. My smile deepened at the remembrance of what his attire had been before Alice and my epiphany, and why it had been that way.
"Alright love birds you can make eyes at each other later. I changed you while you were out cold. I didn't think the towel look was working for you." Alice chimed in from across the room, striding over with an amused smile on her face as she watched Edward and I interact for the first time in a long time. "Feeling better, Bella?"
"Why ask when you already know the answer?" I teased, sitting up slowly trying to avoid the inevitable head rush.
She laughed in spite of herself and sat down next to me on the bed, taking my hands in hers.
"Well of course I know silly, but that idiot over there doesn't."
"Alice you can't use Bella as a human shield forever, and the second she's not in danger of being hit by my retaliation you'll be in trouble for that remark," Edward threatened, pillow in hand.
"Empty threats dear brother, besides Bella and I are best friends. We'll never be far enough apart that your retaliation won't hurt her as well," Alice retorted, squeezing my hand at the same time.
It was moments like this when Alice said something so deep that it was hard to believe it came out of her little four-feet-something frame. Alice and I were already extremely close that it was hard to believe we had know each other for so little a time, but just as anything that hurt Edward would hurt me, anything that hurt little Alice would be felt by me as well. Maybe not physically, but emotionally and probably even in the spiritual way that Alice had discussed before.
Edward, trying to keep the semblance of sibling rivalry, to lighten the intense mood that seemed to follow me around like a dark cloud of doom replied flippantly (and maturely), "We'll see about that."
"I've already seen it," Alice hinted in a psychics voice, making her gifts sound intentionally ludicrous for my sake, before getting up and walking to the other side of the room.
"Speaking of seeing and meddling, dear sister, what have you inflicted upon us now. Care to share it with the classroom Alice?" Edward said in a taunting tone, leaving me to believe that there was a story here for another day.
Alice turned to glare at Edward before continuing," Well I did a little digging dearest brother and found out that Bella here has been holding out on us."
Two pairs of eyes turned on me, one questioning and one knowing. Three guesses and the first doesn't count to figure out which one was which.
"I beg your pardon?" I asked in a meek voice, seeing to have lost my courage after the sedatives and the scrutiny.
"Bella, there's a certain special event happening next week….Why don't you fill lover boy here in on it?"
Edward's eyes stayed locked with mine through Alice's revelation, but the questioning glance now turned a little disappointed. He thought I was keeping secrets, when in actuality I had no clue what she was talking about.
I tore my eyes away from Edward's betrayed expression and looked at Alice questioningly.
"Check your phone, Bella. That should help." Alice said nonchalantly, picking her fingernails from her new place in the corner opposite us.
I grabbed my phone off its forgotten place on the bed and unlocked the keypad. I pressed the menu button and headed straight for the calendar. Just as Alice had predicted there was a date in red in three days. I clicked into the date without actually looking at the month before being mildly shocked by the words on the screen.
"Why don't you read it out loud, Bella, so Edward won't have to keep stopping himself from jumping the bed and ripping the phone out of your hands to find out what is going on."
"It says," I started clearing my throat and building reserve before spitting out the worst date known to man. "Bella's Birthday."
Edward let out a huge sigh of relief and before I could even begin to imagine what he thought was that day Alice had magically transported across the room and was pouting in my face, "How could you not tell me?"
"Well obviously you already knew," I snorted waving the phone out in front of her as evidence.
"Yes, but you didn't know that I knew."
"Alice, to be completely honest I forgot. I've just been so wrapped up in everything that the date slipped my mind. I'm sorry if I hurt either of your feelings. But just to clarify this changes nothing. I don't like to celebrate my birthday."
"Why not?" Alice pressed, seemingly oblivious to my obvious discomfort.
"I don't really want to talk about it right now…" I trailed off hoping she'd get the hint. Obviously her visions of me had yet to pick up this yet, and for that I was grateful.
"Well, I'm sorry you don't enjoy your birthday, but it's a little too late to back out now."
"Oh no, Alice. What did you do?" I asked horrified.
"Why do people keep asking me that today? It's like you don't trust me at all?" She waited for some denial of this point, but when she found none she huffed indignantly, "I get no respect from you people, no respect at all. Besides when have I ever led you wrong?"
She had us there. In the time that I had known her she had yet to steer either of us in the wrong direction.
"Fine, Alice. Just let me know how far out of my comfort zone you're dragging me," I gave up my fight and took a seat in Edward's lap, figuring I might need to sit down for this.
"It's not too bad really. I just invited everyone."
"Can you be a little more specific?" Edward spoke up before I could, securing his arms around my waist.
"Well, you know, just the family."
"Okay so you, me, Edward, Jasper, Rose, and Emmett." I reasoned feeling pretty okay with this so far.
"…and Renee, Phil, Billy, Sue, Leah, and Charlie. No big deal."
"No big deal?! Are you insane?!" I shouted, breaking out of Edward's hold into a standing position. "I haven't spoken to my family in a month! I can't just invite them and expect them to drop their lives and show up. Besides Charlie hates Edward. The only way he would come was if we were playing pin the tail on Edward with Taser guns." I cast an apologetic look over my shoulder towards Edward, but he seemed still speechless at Alice's reveal.
"Don't worry about it, Bella. I already called your family and they agreed no problem. Except Charlie. I didn't call him. No I felt it needed to be done in person so I visited."
"And….!" I trailed, barely containing myself from choking the life out of her tiny little body for putting me through this new hell.
"It was no sweat. He was putty in my hands. Your dad just loves me, and so do Sue and Leah. We had coffee and talked it all out. I can see why you are so close to your family, they are all very agreeable people."
That sent a little pang through my chest. What she should have said was that I used to be close to these people. Not anymore though. Not since the accident.
"So it's all set up. All you have to do is come shopping with me. Both of you!"
"What? Why?" Edward beat me to the punch this time.
"Because we need party clothes. Don't worry about the house, I'll take care of everything!" Alice cheered once again out to brighten the world one party at a time.
"For some reason that promise seems less than reassuring," Edward whispered into my ear as he pulled me back down onto the bed.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
PARTY!
What do you think about Alice's reappearance?
Does the vision make sense now?
Do you even remember the vision?
And do you really think this party is going to be the great miracle towards patching up Bella's family problems and her family's problem with Edward?
Review and let me know. I know it's been a while but the story is about to hit its climax and I am dying to hear what you guys want.
Pretty please with Edward on top?
RECOMMENDATIONS!
Determined by 88
Behind the Clouds by EchosOfTwilight
Living Backwards by ciaobella27
Make Me Believe by bellasunderstudy1
And if you want extra brownie points with me please go read & review my One-shot, 'Read My Mind'!
Xoxo- Sendmeonmyway