Chapter 35 - Countdown to Armageddon – Week Three

Disclaimer I do not own Twilight. All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. All songs used in this story belong to the writers, studios, and artists. No copyright infringement intended

BPOV

I was in a state of semi-wakefulness. I felt Edward's fingers trailing over my skin, and that brought up memories of last night. I snuggled closer to him, pushing my ass into his groin and let the memories flood my mind.

His lips rubbed against mine creating a delicious friction. I melted into his arms, giving myself over to his kiss. He licked my lips, causing a shiver to run down my spine. He playfully nipped and sucked my lips leaving me gasping for breath. I wrapped my arms around his waist, needing to hold on to something.

Our tongues danced together, stroking, tasting and teasing each other. As we kissed, one of his hands held my head in place while the other gently caressed my neck. His touches were slow and sensual; light butterfly strokes which moved up and down my neck. My body responded to his gentle coaxing. Goose bumps broke out all over me. The kiss went on, setting my blood on fire. I was mindless with lust. It didn't matter that we were in the parking lot of a fancy restaurant. It didn't matter that we could be discovered if anyone drove in our direction, and although I knew that Edward would whisk us away before he allowed anyone to watch us have sex in this parking lot, the thought of being discovered added to the excitement.

Eventually, I broke away, gasping for air. He didn't stop. His lips scorched a path along my jaw and down my neck. He dragged his teeth lightly along my neck; following the path his fingers had taken moments before, stopping to place a kiss at my rapidly beating pulse at the base of my throat. My heart race faster; the sound of my blood rushing through my body was like a roaring river. His taste, his touch, his scent and the feelings they created, had my senses reeling.

My knees were getting wobbly. As if he sensed this he moved in closer; pressing his hard body into me. I felt his erection pushing into me. I squirmed against him. Anticipation built. My arousal spiraled to new heights. My heart raced faster; taking my lust infused blood to every cell of her body. He pushed the spaghetti straps off my shoulders, placing kisses on each, then moving lower to rain kisses across my chest. He caressed my breasts, teasing my nipples through the thin material; increasing that ache inside me. I moaned. Taking that as encouragement, he impatiently pulled the material down to expose my breasts.

I was mesmerized as I watched him move back and forth from one breast to the other – licking and sucking. He put a nipple between his teeth and gently pulled it out. I thought I would explode from the pleasure. When he did the other one, I actually started to shake. Luckily I was trapped between he and the car or I would have collapsed. He sucked my breasts with renewed force, the feel of his pulls made a direct connect to my pussy.

I begged. "Please…, please… Edward…"

He emitted a growl. The sound stripped me of the last bit of restraint. I couldn't hold back the moans. I didn't care who heard us. His hand slid down my body – lifting my dress. He rubbed me through my damp panties, then his fingers slipped past the elastic to touch my moist lips. The fire in me raged, threatening to consume me with each brush of his exploring finger.

"Fuck."

Yes. Fuck me. Here. Now.

"Someone's coming."

"Fuck." I couldn't believe it. I wanted to cry. Then I wanted to drain the cock blocking bastard. I turned and pounded my fists on the car.

"Don't worry sweetheart, we'll finish this at home." He leaned against me, and shielded me from the headlights as the car passed us. Then he fixed my dress.

"Why didn't you just whisk us away? I know we were in the city, but we could have gone to a rooftop or something." I was extremely frustrated. My emotions were all over the place.

"I'm sorry about that. I was wrong to let us get that carried away given where we were. I was so into you I hadn't heard them until they had already spotted us. It would have been too risky to take off with you in my arms."

The moment had been ruined, and neither of us had suggested stopping on the way to continue. At the time, I had wanted to kill someone, but looking back at the incident, I could see the humor. There were times when I had deliberately pushed him to the limit, wanting him to lose control and be driven mindless by lust as I was, but last night, I had not even tried, and he had readily admitted that he had tuned out everything in our moment of passion. I was sure he had chastised himself all the way home for not hearing the people in the parking lot, but he had been under a lot of stress lately, so I could understand if he had wanted to tune everyone or everything out to enjoyed an illicit moment with me. We never got the chance to finish what we had started in the parking lot, because when we got back, the house had been in an uproar. By the time we had left for the cottage, sex had been the last thing on my mind. I had been coiled as tight as a spring and I had been close to a having a meltdown. Sensing my emotions, Edward had suggested a race.

Running had been the perfect outlet for the stress that had been turning my insides into knots. It had provided me with the distraction to get my mind off all the things that had been going on over the past month. As we ran, I had felt the layers fall off me; mother, wife, daughter, powerful vampire. I had become a child of nature, a sprite of the woods and by the time we had stopped, I had been euphoric.

"This is exactly what I needed. I feel as free as a bird." I started spinning around with my arms stretched out. Edward had laughed and pulled me to him, but our momentum sent us crashing to the forest floor. We had simply stayed on the ground. I had used his chest as my pillow. For a long time, we remained in companionable silence; letting the natural sounds and smells of the forest surround us.

Eventually, I had sighed and said. "I want to stay like this forever."

"I can't promise you that, but we could spend the night here if you want."

I had raised my head and grinned at him. "That's a great idea. I think I married you for your brain. First you suggested a run now a night alone under the stars." I had trailed my fingertips along his jaw and stared into his golden eyes, "I love you," I had said and placed a tender kiss on his lips.

"I love you more." I had rolled my eyes and slapped him playfully before settling my head back on his chest. He held me tightly and began to sing. It had been a long day and night. It had been an even longer week, so I didn't try to fight the sleep. We had a lot of things to accomplish in the next two weeks, so I needed to be well rested.

What a night. I knew we couldn't stay here forever, so I turned around in his arms.

"Morning Sweetheart, what were you thinking about?"

"Last night." I said, and pressed my lips against his for my morning kiss. The kiss started slowly, and built momentum, but he stopped before it got too heated. With the memories of our aborted parking lot sex still fresh in my mind, it would be easy to forget everything and continue where we had left off.

"The kids would be waking up soon," he said.

As always, he's giving me a choice. I could leave the kids for Charlie a little longer, or I could leave here now to pick up them up. I licked his neck. He growled, and the rumble the sound vibrated in my chest. My nipples became hard instantly. That animalistic sound always turned me on, but we had to prioritize. Kids first. Sex later.

"After our interruption last night, the next time we made love, there has to be a door with locks and God help anyone who disturbs us."

He jumped up, and held his hands out to me, "Come on, we have to hurry if you want to have breakfast with the kids."

I thought of the kids. Thank God they were resilient because I don't know how much more they would have been able to take. I guess they're like me in that sense; I'm good with weird, and so are they. They went from no knowing anything about the supernatural to being told most of their family were vampires, we had told them they were vampire hybrids, they had learned about werewolves and the Volturi all in a week. Now we have to prepare them for a meeting with the Volturi. This I had hoped to spare them, but I have to concede to Edward. I knew there would be no way to choose one, so all four of them would be with us on that day of reckoning.

"Let's run through the woods to pick up the kids," I suggested.

I agree that it would be worth a try to have the kids show Aro their pictures, but I wanted to plan an escape for them if things go badly. Whatever I plan, it would involve the kids getting to Charlie's house safely. I wanted them to know how to get there on their own, and going through the woods would be the quickest way. They were already fast runners, and they were getting stronger and faster every day. Then after Alice pinpoints the location of the meeting with the Volturi, I'll show them how to get to Charlie's from there too.

He looked at me intensely. Searching my face and eyes for a clue as to what I was up to. "I wish I knew what was going on in that mind of yours." He muttered.

"Nothing much; I want to take the kids hunting after we pick them up." I hated to lie to Edward, but if I wanted to keep secrets from Aro, I couldn't tell him my plan. He gave me a rueful smile. He probably knew I wasn't telling him everything, but he didn't push for more information.

~~~~~HEA~~~~~

As soon as we opened the door, the four of them started.

"Momma, Daddy you missed all the fun. We ate tons of food and snacks and played games."

"And we played dress up in your clothes and had a fashion show for Grandpa Charlie, Auntie Sue and Leah and Seth too, and Leah braided our hair with beads. See Momma, doesn't it look pretty."

"Grandpa Charlie showed us some pictures of when you were little, and there were pictures of Jacob's daddy, Mr. Black."

"He lives next to a beach. Did you know there was a beach next to Seth home? Can we visit their beach?"

"Seth said the beach is not like our beach, because the water is cold, but can we go, can we, please."

"Seth said he'll teach us to light a fire to stay warm on his beach."

"Did you know if you light a fire with driftwood the fire is blue?"

"We learned how to cast a fishing line, and Grandpa promised to take us fishing. Can we go fishing? Are there fishes in our river?"

"And we watched baseball. Grandpa showed us pictures from when you took him to a game in Seattle. Can we go to a game?"

"Whoa. One at a time." Edward said.

Edward started laughing. I knew he was being bombarded with much more than I was. I was grateful he put a halt to the chatter because I was getting whip lash trying to look at whoever was talking. It was like a bunch of Magpies. Charlie just shook his head and continued warming waffles in the toaster oven.

"First, let's help grandpa with breakfast, and then you could tell us about all the fun on the way home." Poor Charlie probably needed a day of fishing to recover, but he had a big smile on his face. I was happy he enjoyed having them around.

"Hi Dad, so your day was a big hit. I might have to bring them over more often."

"They had fun. Seth and Leah helped and Sue cooked lunch and dinner, which they demolished."

Edward helped the kids set the table. They only had waffles and milk because I was serious about taking them hunting on the way home. "Are you sure that's enough for them?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, for now, they'll be eating again soon."

We helped straighten up the house, and then said our goodbyes. Charlie walked us to the door.

"Where's your car?"

"They love the animals in the park, so we're taking them hiking in the woods. If they get tired, we'll call Alice to come meet us."

We waved goodbye and Charlie watched us as we entered the woods, behind his house. All the way to the park, the kids regale us with their activities of the previous day. Besides what they had already told us, they had made cookies with Sue and Leah, told stories, watched movies, and outside they had played with bubbles, and ran around. I was glad Charlie had help with them, but I knew if he had been on his own, he could have called Esme or Alice to come over. I was happy things turned out so well, as it made me feel better about the plan I had come up with. After they had told us every detail about their visit, we raced through the trees. We played hide and seek high in the branches of the lushest trees or behind the thickest trunks. Then we found a group of deer to hunt. They were much better at hunting; the stronger they get, the easier it was for them to subdue their prey.

~~~~~HEA~~~~~

Now that a fight seemed inevitable, Jasper had set up a training session with the wolves. After everyone had gathered, he took a step into the empty space between the vampires and the wolves and he began his lesson.

"The two most vital things you'll need to remember are, first, don't let them get their arms around you and, second, don't go for the obvious kill. To be effective, you should go at them from the side and keep moving. Vampires are fast and strong. Ripping their heads off is the only way to stop them. You could rip their arms out to gain an advantage, but nothing will stop them until their heads are off their shoulders."

"Got it; don't let them get their arms around us and rip their heads off." Jacob said, looking at each member of the pack.

"Let me demonstrate." He waved Emmett forward.

Emmett stepped out of the line with a huge smile. "I'll try not to break anything," he muttered.

Jasper grinned. "Emmett relies on his strength. He's very straightforward about the attack. Just go for the easy kill, Emmett."

Jasper backed up a few more paces, his body tensing.

Emmett charged him like a bear, grinning while he snarled. Emmett was impossibly quick, but not like Jasper. Any time it seemed Emmett's big hands had him for sure, Emmett's fingers clenched around nothing but air. Besides me, Edward leaned forward intently, his eyes locked on the brawl. Then Emmett froze.

Jasper had him from behind, his teeth an inch from his throat.

There was muttered appreciation from the pack.

"Again," Emmett insisted, his smile gone.

"It's my turn," Edward protested.

"In a minute." Jasper grinned, stepping back. "I want to show Bella something first."

I watched with anxious eyes as he waved Alice forward. If Emmett couldn't beat him, how could she? I wanted to protest, but Jasper's next words stopped me.

"I know you worry about her," he explained to me as she danced blithely into the ring. "I want to show you why that's not necessary."

Though I knew that Jasper would never allow any harm to come to Alice, it was still hard to watch as he sank back into a crouch facing her. Alice stood motionlessly, looking tiny as a doll after Emmett, smiling to herself. Jasper shifted forward, then slinked to her left.

Jasper sprang, disappearing. Suddenly he was on the other side of Alice. She didn't appear to have moved. He did this a few times. Alice would close her eyes and Jasper would attack, and although it seemed that she didn't move, she'd take a small step forward at the exact second that Jasper's body flew through the spot where she'd just been standing. I breathe a sigh of relief. She was using her vision of what Jasper intended to do, to sidestep him.

Jasper closed in, and Alice began to move faster. She was dancing - spiraling and twisting and curling in on herself. Jasper was her partner, lunging, reaching through her graceful patterns, and never touching her, like every movement was choreographed. Finally, Alice laughed.

Out of nowhere she was perched on Jasper's back, her lips at his neck.

"Gotcha," she said and kissed his throat.

Jasper chuckled, shaking his head. "You truly are one frightening little monster."

"My turn," Edward said. He squeezed my hand, reassuringly.

Alice came to take his place beside me. "Cool, huh?" She asked me smugly.

"Very," I agreed, not looking away from Edward as he glided noiselessly toward Jasper, his movements lithe and watchful as a jungle cat.

Edward closed in on Jasper, and this fight was more even than either of the others. Jasper had the century of experience to guide him, and he tried to go on instinct alone as much as he could, but Edward was able to read his thoughts just before he attacked. They came at each other again and again neither one able to gain the advantage, instinctive snarls erupting constantly. Eventually, Carlisle cleared his throat, and they stopped.

Jasper laughed and took a step back. Edward straightened up and grinned at him.

Jasper consented. "We'll call it a draw. Now back to work."

Everyone took turns, Carlisle, then Rosalie, Esme, and Emmett again. I squinted through my lashes, cringing as Jasper attacked Esme. That one was the hardest to watch. At times, he slowed down and gave more instruction.

"You see what I'm doing here?" He would ask. "Yes, just like that," he encouraged. "Concentrate on the sides. Don't forget where their target will be. Keep moving."

Like the pack, I only watched, hoping to gain enough knowledge so my first lesson wouldn't be a total failure.

Edward was always focused, watching and also listening to what others couldn't see. A couple hours later, Jasper concluded his instructions.

"We'll continue this tomorrow."

"We'll be here." Jacob answered, and he and the others left.

~~~~~HEA~~~~~

I insisted on learning to fight, but my first attempt did not go well.

Edward had me pinned in about two seconds. But instead of letting me wrestle my way free. He leaped up and away from me. I knew immediately that something was wrong; he was still as stone, staring across the meadow we were practicing in.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he said.

"No, I'm fine," I said. "Let's go again."

"I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't? We just started."

He didn't answer. Playfully, I sprang at him. He made no defense at all, and we both fell to the ground. He was motionless as I pressed my lips to his jugular.

"I win," I announced.

His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"Edward? What's wrong?"

A full minute passed before he spoke again.

"I just can't... bear it. Emmett and Rosalie know as much as I do. Tanya and Eleazar probably know more."

I was about to plead with him, when he started speaking again. "Looking at you that way, analyzing you as a target. Seeing all the ways I can kill you ..." He flinched. "It just makes it too real for me. We don't have so much time that it will really make a difference who your teacher is. Anyone can teach you the fundamentals."

I scowled.

He touched my pouting lower lip and smiled. "Besides, it's unnecessary. The Volturi will stop. They will be made to understand."

"But if they don't! I need to learn this."

"Find another teacher." He insisted. At first I didn't understand, but after a few rounds with the rest of the family, trying to think of them as targets, I understood how he felt, and I respected his feelings. I also think fighting with me made it too real for him. The thought of me fighting against any of the Volturi guards, and being killed, was more than he could take.

The only person who went full out with me was Emmett, but his lessons left me with bruises. At the end of my session with him, I was purple from head to toe. Luckily I was half vampire, so in a matter of hours I felt and looked normal again.

I practiced with Jasper, Rose, Tanya, and Eleazar. They were all patient and supportive. Some of our allies found my education entertaining, and some even offered assistance. Garrett took a few turns - he was a surprisingly good teacher. I even fought once with Zafrina. I learned many things from my teachers, but I had the sense that my knowledge was still extremely basic.

From the first day of training, I realized that I was not going to be as good physically as the others, so I gave up on learning to fight, and concentrated on my shield so I could hold off an assault from the talented guards while the members of my family and our allies took care of all the physical stuff. Edward encouraged me in this training. I knew he hoped I would find a way of contributing that satisfied me while also keeping me out of the line of fire. Kate thought me some mental exercises, which I began practicing.

To keep an advantage, I started working away from Carlisle and Edward. Even the kids were off limits. We had not decided which of them we would have demonstrated their gift, and even if we had decided, they often shared their thoughts with each other, so I had to keep my progress away from all of them. Each day, I went to the middle of the forest alone. I concentrated on strengthening and manipulating my shield. I used the animals and the trees around me as test subjects. Sometimes Kate or Benjamin worked with me, but I mostly worked alone. It was hard work, but I saw a drastic improvement. I wanted to celebrate, but this was my secret. I glowed on the inside, knowing that I would not be dead weight if it came down to a fight.

A/N: Part of this chapter was taken from:-

Eclipse Chapter 18. INSTRUCTION_Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn Chapter 32 Company_Stephenie Meyer