For those who asked- Halley is pronounced Ha-lee, not Hay-lee. Sorry, I probably should have said something :D And there's a long and fairly important AN at the bottom- so don't think that this chapter's ridiculously long- sorry :(
WARNING: This chapter isn't dirty-dirty, but there are references and I'd say if you're younger than… ten, skip most of the EPOV. But, technically, a ten-year-old shouldn't be reading a T rated fic ;) Basically, if you're uncomfortable with that kind of thing, skip down to Bella's POV.
Chapter Playlist- Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings (Liking it already, Talli ;))
Previously…
I untangled myself from his arms and quickly scooped the baby out of her makeshift bed, ready to do whatever was needed, but all the while plotting inside of my head. After all, sooner or later Edward would have to start looking after his daughter. And, when that time came, I was going to make sure that he enjoyed being a Daddy, because I sure as hell wanted to have his green-eyed, bronze-haired, drop-dead-gorgeous children someday…
The Hard Way To Learn A Lesson
Chapter 37- Night Feeds and Frozen Peas
Edward POV
"Take the baby," Bella mumbled. I could see her eyes drooping in the dim light that my digital alarm clock gave off.
I shut my eyes again. "Throw it out the window."
"Edward," Bella moaned, the bed moving as she sat back down on it. "Please help me."
I sat up and wearily rubbed my eyes. "But this is like the fourth time she's woken up already!" I complained.
"Exactly," Bella said. "Don't you think it's about time that you took a turn?"
I held my arms out and Bella put the doll in my arms, swinging her legs back under the duvet and sliding up next to me.
"What does she want?" I asked her.
"Just stick your key in and she'll shut up. Just wants attention…" Bella's speech was getting a little garbled due to her lack of sleep now, as she snuggled back under the duvet again.
I stuck the key on my wristband into the computer in the back of 'Halley Swan-Cullen-or-Cullen-Swan' as Bella called her. Somehow, she was still doting on her 'daughter' even though she was the one that had gotten up every couple of hours through the night to feed her. I hadn't even gotten up and I was about ready to hit the stupid thing with a sledgehammer. I knew that Bella would probably kill me if I did anything like that, and then go on about how that doll represents our potential future children and would I kill them with a sledgehammer as well? Maybe I could accidentally somehow leave the computer out tomorrow. Mr Marshall had said that if you left the computer out, then the baby would 'die' hadn't he? No, Bella would never forgive me if I killed our baby.
"Jeez, you're a fat lot of work for a doll, you know," I muttered and then I realised how stupid I sounded. "Great. Talking to a doll that can't even hear you. Now who's cracked up, Cullen?"
"Talking to yourself is worse," Bella muttered, making me almost literally leap six feet in the air in surprise.
"I thought you were asleep?" I said accusingly.
Bella giggled sleepily. "Aw, did I scare you?"
"No. There's a difference between scared and surprised, you know."
"Talk to the baby. She cares more."
I kicked her under the duvet and she yelped quietly. "Ow!" she exclaimed. "Edward, that's an abusive relationship!"
"Better abusive then non-existent," I shot back.
Bella let it slide, probably because I was holding Halley, and sat up next to me.
I groaned. "At least pretend to be asleep!"
"Why?" Bella asked, bewildered.
"Because at least if you're asleep, there's a point to me being awake," I pointed out. It was logical, when you thought about it… well, when you thought about it in a sleep deprived state at half three in the morning.
"But I can't sleep now; I've already been woken up."
"You should have left me to sleep then, because now I am in the same predicament," I complained.
Bella opened her mouth to reply, but Halley gurgled then and started to make some noise that was supposed to mean that she was asleep. I twisted the key and pulled it out, before muttering, "Hallelujah," and getting out of bed again to lay Halley back in her 'bed'.
Bella smirked at me from my bed and said, "If neither of us can sleep now, what are we going to do, smart-arse?"
I crawled back in beside her and ran my hand up her leg, over her waist and up her back, under her too-sexy-and-provocative semi-lacy camisole. "I have a few ideas," I whispered.
Bella's breath caught in her throat nervously. "What, you think your parents approve of sex in the house?" she asked sarcastically, though her voice broke, marring the sarcasm.
"Well… they don't disapprove…" I replied truthfully, but somehow still sarcastically.
She surprised me then, muttering, "Stuff it," and pulling my mouth down to hers, moving her lips against mine almost violently. Her hand came down to my left hipbone, sending an electric shudder through my body and making Bella smile slightly vindictively against my mouth. Without breaking our lip-lock, I swung my leg over her so that I was straddling her as I had the night before in the car, and pulling her against me desperately.
The hand that wasn't stroking seductively along my hipbone came up and cupped my chin, turning the kiss more romantic, more trusting. I presumed that this was Bella's way of telling me that she did want this, she trusted me enough.
I broke the kiss and yanked up the bottom of her camisole. She understood what I wanted and slipped her arms through the holes. I chucked the top across the room, pinged her bra and said, "You have no idea how much I want you."
"I know how much I want you," she said breathlessly, "so I think I have a fair idea."
"Nope. You compare one small tree to an entire forest."
"Impossible." She recaptured my lips before the mood could be lost in another round of playful banter. I gave in gladly with an involuntary groan as her hand slid down over my bare chest and then round my waist to rest on the small of my back. I felt her squirm underneath me, her back arching in pleasure and I grinned against her lips, before pulling away and gasping for breath.
I slid one hand down her side and over her thigh so that it was resting just underneath the hem of her tiny black boy-shorts.
"Edward," she gasped, burying her head in my shoulder. Her breath escaped in short little gasps as my hand moved slowly, agonisingly upwards. I slid my hand under the fabric and gently traced circles at the very top of her thigh. Her hands tangled in my hair and she groaned encouragingly.
But, despite how much she was clearly enjoying this, despite how right it felt to her, despite how much I wanted to… it didn't seem right to be doing this. Bella had told me that she had never even had a boyfriend so there was no doubt in my mind that she had never done this sort of thing before… ever. Her first time should be special. It shouldn't be now because we have nothing better to do. It shouldn't be spontaneous and it shouldn't be at four thirty in the morning. It shouldn't be anything like mine. She shouldn't sleep with the first person she gets romantically involved with. And she definitely shouldn't do it because she wanted me to be happy.
I gave into my good side with a sigh and brought my hand out of her pants before swinging my leg back over her and lying next to her silently.
She was silent for a moment and I could hear her shock and surprise in the silence. "What… why…?" she stuttered in a whisper.
I bit my lip, trying to think of a way to word the thoughts that had stopped me.
"I'm sorry," Bella whispered then, and I could hear the tears in her voice.
Her words made me instantly angry; why did she always take things on herself? "Sorry?" I fumed. "Why are you sorry?"
She was quiet for a moment. "You mean… you didn't stop because you thought that I wasn't going to be…good?"
I groaned and sat up, pulling her up with me. I cupped her chin fiercely in my hand. "You thought that you won't be good? God, Bella, I hardly stopped because of that!" I scoffed at the idea. Then I sighed. "Look, Bella, you're still… you're still a virgin, aren't you?"
She blushed at my use of the word that I presumed was taboo in her head and nodded.
I made my tone softer and captured her eyes with mine. "Bella, I'm sorry but… I just… Ugh!" I exclaimed. Why were the words so hard to say? "I want you, Bella, so, so badly, but… I can't do this to you now! It just doesn't feel right to make your first time be… spontaneous and… now. It's just not the right time, Bella."
She nodded slightly, but I could see through the disappointment in her eyes to see that she didn't really understand.
I bit my lip again. "How can I explain this right?" I wondered. "It's like… I don't know, Bella, but… look. You're special. You're different from everyone else. I don't want to be with you to just… play tonsil tennis and have sex every night! I love you, Bella, and I will prove it to you before doing anything like this!"
Bella nodded again and said quietly, "Okay." There was a pause and then she whispered, "But… one day…?"
I looked into her eyes for a long moment and then I said, "If you still want to then yes. I promise."
She smiled slightly and then added, "So long as Charlie never finds out. If you want to avoid being shot, that is."
I laughed.
"And you think I'm joking," she muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Maybe we should go to sleep?" I suggested. "Seeing as we'll probably be woken up again in an hour."
We lay back down again and I pulled Bella back into my side, holding her against me. I kissed her neck and whispered, "Goodnight. Love you."
"Sweet dreams," she whispered back.
I smiled because I was pretty damn sure that my dreams would be slightly more than sweet, seeing as she starred in every dream that I had…
Bella POV
When Halley woke me at half seven (later than I would've guessed), I was unbelievably still hot and bothered from Edward and I's early morning… 'teasing'. Edward didn't wake so I got up and stuck the key in Halley's back as quickly as I could so that she wouldn't wake Edward up. I grabbed my dressing gown from the back of the door and the bottle from the bedside desk, before tip-toeing along the corridor and down the stairs.
I sat at the dining table with Halley balanced on my lap, the bottle in her mouth. I felt my eyelids drooping and forced them open again. Sheesh, if this was what babies were like, I was never having one. Ever.
A buzzing noise made me jump then and I looked up to see that I had left my phone on the table. I reached over and picked it up. The screen flashed with a new message from an unknown number. I opened it and scanned the words: Hey Swan. Guess who? Tell Edward to switch his phone on, will you? Our baby's on drugs and wakes us up at shit-early times in the morning. It's only fair that he gets woken up too. I rolled my eyes. Only one person would ever say that his baby was on drugs.
I replied: Mason. Bet you're not awake already though. And Edward's still asleep, the lazy ass. He did ONE of the four night feeds :( B
His reply was almost instant; I hadn't even saved his number to my phone when it buzzed. Not awake yet? Yeah right. Well, I'm a better Dad then Cullen :P M
That's really not hard. B I sent the text and then I heard the door click open. I looked up in time to see Esme come in.
"Oh!" she exclaimed when she saw me. "Good morning, Bella."
"Morning," I replied groggily.
Esme chuckled at my tone. "No sleep?"
"Not really."
Esme switched on the kettle and took the seat opposite me. "If you think that's bad imagine having two."
I winced.
"And then make one of them Alice."
"And the other Edward," I muttered.
Esme's eyes were alight with curiosity. "How is he coping with a baby?"
"He told me to throw her out the window at four thirty," I told her.
Esme laughed. "Ah, Edward." We were both silent for a moment and then Esme spoke, soft and sincere. "Thank you, Bella."
"For what?" I asked, honestly not knowing.
"Since you two started this project, Edward has been acting… differently. He and Alice get on better and he smiles more. The light is back in his eyes and I haven't heard from Mr Hudson in two weeks." She smiled softly. "I think it's down to you, dear. I don't know what you do to him, but thank you for doing it anyway."
I blushed. "I don't do anything…" I mumbled.
Esme just raised an eyebrow at me.
I bit my lip, wondering whether to ask the question that had been plaguing my thoughts for ages. It slipped out before I could stop it. "I don't suppose… you'd tell me what happened between them? Edward and Alice, I mean?" Damn! Why didn't I have a suitable filtering system?!
Esme's eyes were sad now. She sighed quietly. "I would ask you the same question," she murmured.
"You don't know?" This question slipped out too, my tone surprised.
"No." Esme shifted in her chair and looked directly at me. "They were good friends, very good friends. They were unbelievably close, even for twins, up until they were thirteen. I…" She hesitated, and her voice cracked when she continued, "I was ill. Very ill. I was in the hospital for a while and…" She stopped again, obviously hurting from repeating this to me.
I instantly felt guilty. "I didn't mean to pry…"
Esme smiled softly. "I know, Bella. But you're fixing my family, so I think that you deserve to know at least as much as I do." She cleared her throat again. "When I came home… Alice was unbearably sad. Edward wouldn't speak to her. Not even Emmett smiled anymore. Then, one day, I had to go back to the hospital… and when I got back… Alice was gone." A single tear stained Esme's perfect cheek. "My only daughter had moved away without saying goodbye. I thought it was my fault. And then Edward started to play up. He got expelled from school. He said it was a good thing; that his school reminded him too much of Alice anyway. So we put him in a different school. He was expelled from three different schools in two years before he ended up where he is now."
I nodded, remembering when Edward first joined our school. I knew that he was here because he had been expelled from his last school, but from three other schools before that?
"Alice came back only at Christmas and in the Summer. I never saw her and Edward share a word. I don't think they ever did. But Alice had been getting trouble at her boarding school from the start. I don't know what happened – Carlisle didn't want me to get worried – but something bad must have happened to her because… she came back."
"Maybe she just wanted to come back- maybe she missed you?" I suggested, taking the bottle out of Halley's mouth when she cooed.
Esme shook her head. "No. That's what I thought at first… until I saw the bruises."
My eyes widened. "Bruises?"
"She came back at the start of Spring break and, after she refused to tell me where she had gotten the bruises from, hid in hoodies and sweats throughout the whole holiday. I knew when she wore hoodies that there was something wrong," Esme joked feebly. "She and Edward didn't speak still. Of course, Carlisle and I had long talks about them at night, but neither of us knew why they had suddenly fallen out. I think that Carlisle knows more than he's letting on though. He was here when…"
There was a sudden loud bang from the other side of the door that made both of us jump and Esme instantly shut up. I looked up as Edward came in, hobbling.
"What happened?" I asked curiously.
"Fell down the stairs," Edward replied stiffly, sinking into the chair between Esme and I.
I snickered and stood up, holding Halley out toward him. "Take your daughter."
"But I'm an invalid!" Edward protested.
Esme rolled her eyes and said, "I'll take her, Bella."
"Thanks." I handed the doll to Esme and pulled a face at Edward, before heading over to the freezer. "Is it okay if I borrow your peas, Esme?"
"Of course."
I pulled the bag of peas out and wrapped them in a tea-towel before going back to Edward's side and putting the make-shift ice bag on his ankle. "Better?"
He flinched. "Not really."
I pulled my chair closer and lifted his foot up on to my lap, thanking God that he had taken a shower the night before. I kept the ice pack on his swollen ankle and traced circles on the other side of his foot. My face turned red as images from a few hours earlier flicked into my head from when Edward had done the same thing… in a completely different place.
"Did you have anything planned for today?" I asked Edward, trying to take my mind off of the intimate moment when he had almost given in and… no! Stop it, Bella!
"No," Edward replied. "Well, I did, but we can hardly take a baby sky diving, can we?"
I felt the blood drain from my face. "What?!"
Edward laughed. "Joking, Bella."
"That wasn't funny," I retorted angrily. "I swear, if you ever try to take me sky diving, I'll push you out of the plane without a parachute."
Edward took my hand and squeezed it with a smile. "Never, sweetheart."
I practically melted as he said 'sweetheart'. Jeez, Edward was turning me into a pile of mush.
"Why don't you guys take Halley to the park?" Esme suggested.
"Um… thanks, but no thanks," Edward said, gesturing to his ankle.
"Well, it's either that or go shopping with Alice to buy baby grows for a doll."
Edward practically jumped up from the chair, without actually standing. "Let's go now."
"Where, shopping?" I teased.
Edward scowled at me. "You need to get changed."
"Okay, then, but you have to look after the baby." I gently pushed his foot off my lap and thrust the ice into his hand, before heading up the stairs to find some clothes.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
And that was, as promised, your Sunday update :D
Hey guys :D Well, I fear a fairly long A/N but it's also quite important so… sorry- I know some people hate my rambling, but it is kind of necessary here :(
Firstly, about Edward and Halley- he WILL come round to her. He's just a bit annoyed at the baby for stealing away some of his alone time with Bella. But don't worry, by the end of the weekend, you'll be seeing a different Edward ;)
Second, I hope that Bella's conversation with Esme gave you a little more insight into Edward and Alice's past. The next chapter is going to be one of the pivotal ones regarding the whole 'Edward-revealing-past' thing, but I wanted Esme's side of the story out there as well because, as you might guess, Edward and Alice's falling out involves her, though she is unaware of it. Hmm… make what you can of that ;) lol
Thirdly- a lot of you are saying that you think Edward is being stupid with the not telling anyone that he's with Bella but give him a chance guys! I know it's been about six chapters since they got together, but really they've only been officially together for two days, so give him a bit longer to be brave. And Bella understands because she doesn't really want to tell anyone either because she knows that she'll be hated by every girl in the school- she knows what it's like to have your reputation torn apart. Also, remember that Edward was a player. If he showed her off to the whole school, Bella might get insecure and think that she's just a 'trophy-girlfriend'. And, on top of all of that, their relationship being kept a secret is much more exciting, both for them and for us ;D
Now. Calling all artistic and creative people! I love fiddling around with computers and stuff and making banners and videos and that but, to be quite honest, I'm dreadful at it. I really want to try and make a kind of trailer thing for THWTLAL as if it were a movie, but I don't have the right software/ video format/ skill/ whatever so I was wondering if any of you guys are up to the challenge? If you love making videos and spend half your life on youtube or something, you know. If you want to have a go, I'm thinking of doing a kind of competition. Not a real competition or anything, but if you want to make a trailer or a banner, send me a PM with a link to whatever you've made (though you'll have to change the .s to (DOT)s) and I'll put links to all of them on my profile and pick my favourite. It's not a proper competition or anything, it's just something you can do if you want. There's no deadline but I'll check them out when I get back from holiday and post links on my profile next Saturday. But, even if you're reading this when it's complete, feel free to still submit videos because I'd love to see them. I really want to do it myself but I can't :(
So, if you're up to that, please say so and then PM me when you're done :D Thank you :D
If you want a new story to read, check out 'Everywhere I Go' by MrsJakeBlack. I'm beta-ing it and it's fantastic! Link on my profile! :D
Told you about the long AN. And because I'm in a nice/ evil mood, I'm going to give you a bunch of snippets from the next chapter…
………
I changed my question. "Alice said that you used to play piano. What sort of things did you play?"
He shrugged, though his shoulders were tense. "This and that."
"Do you think that… I'd get to hear some? One day?"
………
"Oh no!" Edward muttered sarcastically. "Psycho Grandma wants to beat me to death with her walking stick."
………
"Will you do something for me?"
She nodded slowly and I got out of bed and opened one of my drawers. I pulled out a black scarf and wrapped it around her face, tying it round her eyes. She didn't ask what I was doing and I was thankful for that.
I slid off the bed again and helped her off too. "Come with me," I whispered, taking her hand and leading her to the door.
………
Ooh! XD Lol I'm so mean :D So there are three bits from chapter 38, not necessarily in the right order. Feel free to have your guesses ;)
I really hope you liked that chapter :D Chapter 38 will either be up Tuesday or Friday/ Saturday.
PLEASE REVIEW!!!
Thanks
Steph