CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
"Why isn't he awake yet?"
Bella had either been sitting or lying on Edward's bed for nearly twenty four hours but he was still completely under. She had come round the previous afternoon and the first sight that greeted her was Molly curled up next to her on the pillow. She leant over to stroke her fur and as she put her hand on Molly's head, she noticed a flea next to her skin.
"Urgh" she cried and pulled her hand back instinctively, only to hear Alice laughing at the end of the bed.
"You'll get used to it," she chuckled.
"Used to what?"
"HD eyesight; you can see absolutely everything."
"Oh great," Bella replied. "Where's Edward? I may have HD eyesight now but I can't see him. Is he awake yet?"
"No, he's still out for the count over there." Alice pointed to a bed by the window where Edward was lying flat and absolutely motionless. "He's a couple of hours behind you, Bella. He insisted on watching me administer the venom to you, then he monitored your heart rate and breathing for a while before he let me touch him."
Bella was still lying flat on her back and as she looked around the room she felt slightly detached from reality as she took in her surroundings. The light coming through the window was more intense than usual; edges seemed sharper and colors were brighter. She tried to sit up but felt disorientated, as though the bed was moving below her.
"I'll help you," Alice offered and pulled her into a sitting position, then made her wait while she got her a drink.
"What's this?" Bella asked, when Alice returned with what looked like a child's beaker.
"Animal blood. Just take small sips to start with."
Bella instinctively pulled a gagging face, then smelt it, then sipped a small amount. It tasted okay, so she drank about half the cup very slowly and quickly recognised the anesthesic effect the blood was having on her throat. After a few minutes of sitting quietly she felt less dizzy, so she got up and moved around for a while regaining her balance.
She carefully made her way over to Edward's bed and bent over him to brush his hair away from his forehead, then she stared in wonder at the tiny movements on his face that would have been invisible to her before. Now she could clearly see his eyeballs moving rapidly under his eyelids, and the minute twitches of his lips that made him look as though he was talking in his sleep. She could hear his lungs expanding and contracting in his chest, and the slow but steady beat of his heart. But above all, she couldn't take her eyes from the beauty of his face, now clear of the acne blemishes that had permanently marked his skin from when he was a teenager. Lying on the bed like this, looking totally serene and in the deepest of sleeps, Edward resembled a fairy-tale prince, waiting for a princess to wake him up with a lingering kiss.
As she watched him breathing his last compulsory breaths, she realized with sadness that this was probably the last sleep he would ever have, but she couldn't wait for him to wake up. She kissed him gently on the mouth, but unlike Sleeping Beauty there was no reaction, so she climbed on the bed and lay beside him holding his hand.
Twenty four hours later she was still there. Alice had called Jasper in New York for advice and he told them not to worry. "Edward probably put up a stronger fight against the process than Bella, so his transformation was taking longer. He would be awake soon," he assured them both.
Bella could hear Edward's heartbeat gradually slowing and she laid her head on his chest to listen to the sound, but also she was relishing feeling the last remnants of human warmth that still radiated from his body. After about another half an hour his heart was only beating about once per minute, and then, after a final burst of activity, it stopped completely. As she waited for him to wake she ran her fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp which she knew he adored, and whispered words of love into his ears. After a few more minutes, he slowly opened his eyes and saw her sitting beside him on the bed.
"Hello handsome," she whispered, and kissed him on the lips.
"Hello, even more beautiful" he replied and laughed. He held out his hands and she placed hers in them, then he drew them up to his mouth and kissed them.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he stared in wonder at the subtle changes in Bella's face.
"Now that you're back with me, yes. I was starting to worry but Jasper said not to. Some people take longer to change and you took over three days."
"Where is Jasper. Is he back yet?"
"He's still in New York. Alice said he should be back soon."
Bella helped him sit up and have a drink, and within a few minutes he was on his feet, walking around the room and getting used to his new body and enhanced senses. Alice had left them on their own as she didn't want to intrude on this special time together, but she was not far away just in case they needed help.
Bella put her arms around his waist and laid her head on his now silent chest. "How was it for you?" she asked, referring to his transformation.
"Long and painful. How about yours?"
"Same. I thought I was dying; in fact I wanted to die several times, but then it was just like a weird dream, like an out-of-body experience."
"I know what you're saying; like a bad drug trip I imagine."
Bella turned her face up towards his and they kissed, gently at first testing each other's reactions, then the kiss became more passionate as the feeling of relief that they had come through their transformations without harm sunk in and that this was the start of their new life together.
They eventually left the room and made their way carefully down the stairs to where Alice was waiting for them. Molly had totally made herself at home and was now stretched out on the sofa with her feet in the air and she didn't bother getting up to greet them. But Alice was hopping around in delight, as she had foreseen that the four of them were going to be the greatest of friends in the long future that was stretching ahead of them. Even though Bella had informed her that she absolutely hated shopping, Alice thought she had plenty of time to work on that and other things lacking in Bella's make up, and eventually she would bring her round to her way of thinking!
Edward and Bella headed straight for the open glass doors. The sun was shining and they wanted to feel warmth on their skin after being indoors for days. They stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the river, straight into a beam of sunlight that lit up their skin like a million diamonds.
"Wow!" they both exclaimed together and laughed.
They had made it through the transformation, and life from now on was going to be good, really really good.
Alice had stocked up on supplies of animal blood to keep them sustained until they felt ready to go out into the forest, so it was another four days before they felt ready to go on their first hunt. Alice had given them lots of advice beforehand about where to bite an animal to cause it the least amount of suffering, but she assured Bella it would feel natural once she got out there. Bella was still a bit squeamish, but Edward was raring to go. The dormant cave-man instinct had suddenly reared its head as the idea of hunting for food appealed to him greatly and he was looking forward to Jasper returning home so they could have a boys-night-out in the forest.
They went out to hunt when it was twilight. The canopy was full of the noise of birds roosting for the night and the forest floor was alive with insects and rodents, many of whom dived for cover when they sensed the approach of the three hunting vampires. Alice was concentrating intently for the unmistakable sounds and smells a herd of deer would generate, and after about fifteen minutes of stalking she could sense what she was seeking. They silently approached the deer when they were drinking at a stream, and in a flash all three vampires had each captured a deer of varying sizes with Bella catching the biggest one, which she was exceedingly smug about.
After feeding they went for a run in the forest and found themselves in the same clearing where Peter's arm had been found less than two months ago. By this time it was pitch dark, which wasn't a problem for them as their night-vision was better than anything the military had invented yet. The three of them lay down on the ground and stared up at the millions of stars wheeling above them in the sky. The air was crystal clear as it had rained earlier in the day, but now there wasn't a cloud in the sky to mar the view of the cosmos glittering above.
Edward was holding Bella's hand and he pulled it up to his mouth and kissed it. "Are you happy" he asked.
Bella shuffled closer to him and laid her head on his chest. "Blissfully" she replied. "I've got you forever and ever, why shouldn't I be happy?"
Edward stroked her hair as they lay there. Much as he was enjoying their first few days of being vampires, his father's illness was in the back of his mind all the time. Even though he had spoken to him on the phone today, and his father had assured him that his pain was under control, he knew that time was running out for him and the end was approaching as fast as an express train. Also, he needed to get back to the lab and start setting up a management group so that he could run the business from Seattle. It was just over four weeks since Anthony's death and the lab wouldn't run itself, so he had to work out how he was going to manage to do this without raising suspicions about his change of species!
The other problem that had been preying on his mind was that there was someone in his IT department willing to sell their discoveries to the highest bidder. Even though the crime of selling his uncle's research on Peter's arm hadn't been committed, Alice's vision had alerted him to the fact that there was a spy in the camp. He would have to find out who this person was immediately, and whether they had sold other information in the past. He knew most of the IT staff well, but where there was money involved he didn't trust anybody. If it came to it, he may have to terminate the contracts of the whole department just to get rid of the mole, but he sincerely hoped that wouldn't be the case.
Bella looked up at him and saw the frown on his forehead. "Penny for your thoughts" she said and smiled.
"I'm just thinking about the lab and what to do about it, Bella."
"I was thinking about it as well earlier in the day. Would you like me to leave Seattle and CSI permanently and work at the lab with you?"
"Would you do that?"
"Why not? One of us will have to move from one coast to the other, so why shouldn't it be me? If you gave me my own lab or we worked together, there would be less chance of our 'differences' being noticed."
"Do you want to work?"
"Of course I do, Edward. I'm not going to be a mom, so I'll have to find something to do for the next thousand years!"
Edward laughed at that and hugged her.
"Won't you get bored, Bella, just working in a medical science lab?"
"Possibly, as it's not really my field. Maybe I could have a sideline and be an independent forensic scientist."
"And I could be a private detective!" Alice piped up. "I've always wanted to do something like that, but Jasper thought it was a silly idea." She had been listening to their conversation but had already foreseen Bella moving to the other side of the country, so wasn't surprised when Bella suggested it.
She had discussed with Jasper the possibility of moth-balling Cullen house and following Edward and Bella to the East Coast. They had been in Seattle for over ten years now, so it was getting near to the time when they would have to move before people started to get suspicious about their appearance, so a change of location and identity was going to have to be arranged again in the very near future anyway.
Jasper liked the name of their house, and they had already decided to adopt it for themselves when they relocated. Their business was already called Cullen Finance Consultancy, so they would become Mr. and Mrs. Cullen for their next makeover and Jasper and Alice Whitlock would disappear without a trace, again.
Bella was mulling over the idea of Alice being a private investigator and she broke out into a huge grin. "But that wouldn't be fair on the criminals, Alice. You'd be solving the crimes before they were even committed," she said, then they burst out laughing at the thought of Alice apprehending would-be criminals, and frightening the living daylights out of them before they robbed a bank, or mugged an old lady.
Edward sat up pulling Bella upright.
"That's not a bad idea," he said.
"Are you serious?" Alice responded after she stopped chuckling.
"Well it would give you two something to do. Jasper could transfer your financial office out East without any bother and could carry on running that. I could run the lab, and you girls could run a detective agency."
"What would we call ourselves," Bella said, grinning like a Cheshire cat at the thought.
"How about Cullen Special Investigations" Alice suggested.
"That spells C.S.I."
"I know! Original, isn't it!"
Edward and Bella had been practicing walking and acting like humans so they could venture out to where the general public congregated. After ten days as vampires, they left the house on a dull day wearing long sleeved clothing and dark glasses, and tested their restraint when they walked hand in hand through a picnic spot in the national park. Thankfully, neither of them was tempted to attack a human, even though they experienced the burn in the back of their throats and venom pooling in their mouths. They found it was more difficult to resist the scent of some of the humans they encountered than others, but they were not affected to such an extent that they felt as though they had to leave the area before an accident happened.
Alice was amazed at their self-control, but put it down to the fact that they were supporting one another. Also, they had never tasted human blood so didn't know what they were missing, which was why she also found humans easy to resist. Edward and Bella were now hunting without supervision, so for all intents and purposes they were completely self-sufficient as vampires, which was astonishing progress after less than two weeks.
They had made love many times since their awakening and had discovered by themselves why Alice had said that the 'sex was great'. Also, they didn't get tired, but could just keep on going if they wanted to! They had tried to restrict their activities to when Alice was out of the house as sometimes things got a little out of hand, but they couldn't resist each other as their physical relationship was still relatively new, and their libido was off the scale.
After their second hunt without Alice, they broke a few trees in the forest having some outdoor fun and came back to the house with ripped clothes and twigs and leaves in their hair. This had made Alice chuckle, as it brought back memories of when she first encountered Jasper and they had been physically inseparable for months. She was missing Jasper as he had still not returned from the East coast and they had now been apart for nearly five weeks, but Alice had been keeping him informed of their progress and he was also amazed to hear how Bella and Edward had adjusted to being vampires so quickly.
A few days later, and just over two weeks after their transformation, Edward got a call from his father to say he wanted to see him urgently, but he wouldn't discuss over the phone why. Edward had promised they would go and see him as soon as their transformation was complete and they felt safe among humans, and even though he still considered they were on a steep learning curve, he considered they were capable of making the journey.
Edward presumed that he had been called as his father was ready to say his final goodbye. He had told Edward how he planned to end his life and that he wanted to be on his own when he did it, and Edward agreed to respect his wishes. The last two weeks had been the happiest of Edward's life so far, but all the time the fact that his father was dying had hung over his head like a black cloud.
They flew to Connecticut the next day even though Alice wanted to run, but Edward was insistent that he wanted to act 'human' whenever possible, so they caught the early morning flight from Seattle like before. Carlisle had chosen to spend his last weeks at the isolated beach house where he was born rather than his impersonal apartment that he moved into ten years previously when Edward started at Yale. Edward hired a car at the airport and they set off for the coast, dreading what was waiting for them. Crying wasn't an option for Edward anymore, but as he drove towards the sea his now redundant heart was breaking.
They arrived at the house just as the sun was just starting to drop towards the horizon. Edward pulled up next to Carlisle's car which looked as though it hadn't been driven for weeks as it was covered in sand. The wind was blowing across the dunes, sea birds were circling in the sky and the weather spoke of a storm on the way, but the light on the sea and the sand was spectacular.
Bella walked over to him and put her arms around his waist. "Are you ready?" she asked, and he nodded, unable to speak.
They walked up the wooden steps hand in hand. Edward was just about to push open the door which he knew wouldn't be locked, when Jasper appeared in the doorway. "Hello" he said cheerily and beckoned them inside. Alice leapt into his arms and he spun her around several times, then planted a kiss on her lips and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. If the situation hadn't have been so somber, Edward and Bella would have laughed at their reunion.
"What are you doing here?" Edward asked when Jasper had prized himself apart from Alice. He was surprised and puzzled because Alice had said he was still in New York on business.
"I've been here for nearly five weeks, Edward, looking after your father while you prepared for your transformation and recovered from it."
Edward was taken aback by Jasper's thoughtfulness but also wondered why he had kept this quiet. "Thank you, Jasper. That was very kind of you; where is he?"
"He's through here," Jasper replied and ushered them through the house.
They walked into the main living room where Carlisle was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace. As they entered the room he stood up and walked over to Edward and hugged him. Then he bent down and kissed Bella and Alice on their cheeks.
"Hello everyone," he said brightly and gave them all a face-splitting grin. Edward was surprised to see his father standing and looking so well and he looked at his eyes closely for signs of excessive drug use. But instead of the sickly pallor he was expecting to see, he instantly recognized with shock and sheer delight that the eyes staring back at him were not his father's bright blue eyes; they were the golden eyes of a Vampire.
"Dad!" Edward cried, and hugged him as tightly as he could. Bella felt Jasper and Alice's arms slide around her shoulders as they stood and watched father and son delight in a reunion that was totally unexpected.
"Thank you," Bella whispered to Jasper, and she squeezed his hand.
After the hugging and back slapping and pure joy had concluded, Carlisle looked at Edward earnestly and placed his hands on either side of his face.
"Son, you had a tough childhood and for that I am so very sorry, but I'm going to make it up to you now."
"Dad, you don't need to do that. I've got you back and I've got you forever, that's the most important thing."
Carlisle chose not to respond to that but said, "Come with me, Edward; there's someone I want you to meet."
Carlisle took Edward's hand almost like he was a child again, and they walked through the house to where there was a spacious glass conservatory that overlooked the sea. Jasper, Alice and Bella followed just a little way behind.
Sitting in a brightly coloured armchair facing away from the door was a woman reading a book, but Edward could only see the back of her head. She had shoulder length auburn hair, slightly lighter than his, and as he took in what he was seeing, Edward felt a thrill shoot through his body and a shiver slide down his back as he recognised who this woman was.
Carlisle let go of his hand and walked around to where the woman was sitting and whispered in her ear.
"Esme, darling, he's here."
The tall, elegant woman slowly stood up and turned around to look at the young man who was standing in front of her. Her mouth broke into a radiant smile and she opened her arms to greet him.
"Edward," she stammered, but her Vampire eyes blazed when she recognized her son for the first time in nearly twenty years.
"Mom?" he cried and flew into her waiting arms, and as he laid his head on her shoulder her hand instinctively moved into his hair, and her delicate fingers massaged his head to comfort him for the first time since he was a little boy.
Sorry (reaching for the tissues). I hope that wasn't too corny.
Before you review this chapter, please read the next chapter, then if you still think it's still too corny, you can hurl abuse at me through your reviews after that.
