Bonding time
The rest of the evening passed reasonably fine. I still cried every now and then but what do you expect. Edward was there for me the whole time with his arms wrapped around me in a protecting sort of way. Leah, Jacob and Seth fell asleep eventually. The Cullen's stayed with us for a while just talking about various things before departing to their rooms. Edward carried me up the stairs to his room on the top floor.
It was quiet bleak and bear to be honest. There was the familiar glass window with the deep forest stretching for miles. The walls were empty; there wasn't any music or books. Just a small bed and door leading to what I assumed was a bathroom.
He lay me on the bed and took my shoes off. He lay next to me and pulled me into his side. We just lay there all night, cuddling and kissing each other.
When the sun rose I heard Lizzie's voice ring out.
"Momma."
I pulled out of Edward's embrace and climbed from the bed.
"I'll be back in a minute."
"Okay. Love you Bella."
"Love you too Edward."
It took all of five minutes to get Lizzie, Mason and Nessie dressed and downstairs and eating breakfast. Rose had Nessie sat on her lap, Alice was with Lizzie discussing clothes, whilst Emmett was with Mason. Jacob, Leah and Seth were on the other side of the kitchen island eating their breakfast talking to Carlisle about the wolves. Jasper was with Edward and me, both of them questioning me on my abilities and new born-inity.
"So let me get this straight, you woke up a new born hours into your transformation, walk into a room with around ten werewolves two of which were awake and a human, you then are in a small room in close proximity of blood and had no urge to drain anybody- even if they smell, then on your first hunt only drain half a deer, go home, talk to Charlie, go to Port Angeles, interact with lots of humans, still without a hint of thirst, go home, end up in an airport with no windows to vent the scents, sit on an aeroplane for a couple of hours, hunt one mountain lion, stay in a hotel full of people and go to a diner with repulsive smelling food. You have a mental shield, can read other people's thoughts and show them your own thoughts."
"That's right."
"Wow."
"I thought I told you to stop saying that Edward."
"I know, the moment needed one though."
"Whatever."
After breakfast was over Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Esme and Carlisle took Mason and Lizzie hunting. Rose was with Nessie and Leah. They were getting on considerably well considering the whole natural enemies thing. Edward was talking to Jacob and Seth about who knows what.
When the others came running into the room after their hunt I gave Edward a quick kiss and went to get Mason and Lizzie from Alice and Esme.
"Hey babies, did you have a good time?"
"Yes momma. Auntie Alice found me a grizzly bear. It was delicious."
"I'm glad to hear that Lizzie. What about you Mason? Did you have a good time?"
"Yeah. Uncle Jasper held me take down a Lynx. I had so much fun."
"It's good to see you having fun my boy."
"Momma can I go shopping with Auntie Alice this afternoon? Please."
"Of course you can baby."
"Thanks momma. I love you."
"I love you too Lizzie."
I sat down with Lizzie and Mason next to Edward who took Lizzie into his arms. Nessie ran over to us, jumping onto the couch between us. Everyone else went off to different parts of the house. Jacob, Seth, Emmett and Jasper turned the x box on, Esme and Alice joined Leah and Rose and Carlisle went up to his office to sort the families return to Forks.
We spent the morning as a family, spending time together. Edward is amazing with our children. He's the best father I've ever seen. He cares for them so much.
After lunch Alice, Esme and Leah went off to the shopping mall with an excited Lizzie. Esme kept asking if I wanted to go with them but I politely declined saying that I'd stay home and look after Mason and Renesmee. Once they were gone Mason asked if he could play with Jasper, Emmett and Seth on the x box. They were ecstatic that Mason wanted to be one of the boys and spend time with his uncles. Jacob and Rose begged if they could take a look at my Lambo and maybe put some upgrades on it to make it even faster. I let them and said they could take it for a drive after having them promise they wouldn't have a race. Rose seemed offended that I'd even suggested she would race my car without real reason. My only response was. "You never know Rose, you never know." They quickly left to the garage discussing what they could do to my car.
Carlisle was sitting with Edward, Renesmee and I whilst we talked about their growth and development in the last four days and what we'd do in the coming weeks. Edward and Renesmee were having one of their silent conversations and I wanted to know what they were talking about but let them have their privacy. If I was to know they'd tell me.
"Bella, Nessie and I will be at the piano."
"Not you too."
"What?"
"You call her Nessie as well. Her name is Renesmee."
"I think Nessie's kinda cute. Any way she asked if I could call her that."
"Fine then. Go have fun at the piano. She may surprise you by the way."
"We'll see."
Edward lifted Renesmee into his arms, gave me a kiss and walked over to the piano, sitting them both down on the piano stool. Nessie raised her fingers onto the keys and began playing Debussy's Children's corner much to Edward's surprise. He looked at me confused but I nodded at him smugly. As her turned back to the piano he raised his hands and began an accompaniment with Nessie.
"So Bella, I was thinking if we monitor their development from now on we can attempt to figure out their development in the future."
"It's a good idea but I don't know if I want to. What if we find out they'll only live a few years? I don't want to know how long they'll live."
"I can understand that Bella. I won't tell you, but I think it's better if we know. We could help them."
"I know. If we start tonight then we can compare how much they grow over night and during the day. From what I've seen they do grow more overnight than during the day. I believe it's to do with them not using any of their energy."
"You may be right. Yesterday they looked around twelve months maybe thirteen. Today they look around fifteen months."
"Do you think their growth will slow? I mean, they grew a good five or six month's on Wednesday, then four months on Thursday, and three yesterday. I know it's not much to go on but, it seems to be slowing even if it's only slightly."
"It is a possibility. If we give it around a month maybe two we can see their growing pattern. It could be that on some days they will grow more than other days. Let's just take one day at a time for now. From what I can tell we have time on our side considering they are half vampire."
"We'll see."
"Can you tell me more about how you changed so fast? It's unheard of. Even when I was with the Volturi the quickest someone changed was two days 18 hours. How long did it take you to change?"
"My change started as soon as Renesmee was born at 1:24. I then woke up around 4:00."
"So you changed in 2 and a half hours?"
"Yes."
"Can you explain how you did that?"
"Like I said before I didn't fight the fire. I knew I didn't have the time to lie there for three days burning. I had to get here yesterday or I would have lost Alice's trust. Who knows how long it would have taken to find you all if I hadn't arrived yesterday. I remembered Edward telling me about the venom flowing through your body and how you wish it wasn't there. I realised that because of the pain everyone fights the venom trying to stop it. Instead of fighting it, I used its power to propel it even faster through me. It hurt a whole lot more this way. I felt I'd explode. Trying to distract myself from the pain, I thought back over my life, reliving every moment. All the good and bad memories ran through my mind again and again in an attempt to remember everything. My life may not be the best but it has made me who I am today and I couldn't have asked for anything more. There are moments I would change if I could like my mom leaving my dad, or the death of my sister, but then I realise; I may not have met you, Esme, Jasper, Emmett, Rose, Alice or Edward. I don't think I could have properly lived without any of you. When you left, when Edward left I fell apart. Charlie couldn't deal with it. He admitted me to the hospital for a week. I spent the whole time sitting on a chair staring at the white walls. I think I had gone crazy for a time. I'd see scenes of times I'd spent with you all. I'd pretend I was in the Cullen home sitting on the couch with Alice arguing about shopping or something stupid. I imagined watching another baseball game and seeing Emmett's annoyed face when he would lose. The worst was when I'd imagined Edward and me in our meadow. I'd be lying in his arms enjoying the peace and quiet. It made me happy at the time of remembering but it just made it worse for me after. When I'd go to sleep I'd remember that you were gone, that Edward was gone and you weren't coming back. Each time another piece of me would die inside."
I felt Edward's arms wrap around me as I pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my own arms around them.
"The nightmares got worse as time went on. I could feel Edward getting further and further away. I refused to eat; I couldn't find it in me to care for my health. My thoughts only ever revolved around you guys, Charlie was terrified, I lost 20lbs in a month, three weeks, six days. After that I started eating again to appease Charlie but couldn't eat more than a bit of food. Even that killed my throat. I hadn't spoken in a month, two weeks, four days and it affected my throat quite badly. At first my words came out whispers, then they got louder until I could speak normally again, but I couldn't shout very well. Charlie was pleased with my little bits of progression and stopped threatening to send me to Renee's. He could see I'd never leave willingly. I didn't want to leave in case you'd come back. Even if one of you came back I would have waited my whole life."
"I'm so, so sorry Bella. I didn't want to leave, please believe me. I love you so much Bella. I'll never leave you again. I promise. I could never leave you again. You've given me so much. You've given me a reason to live, you've given me a reason to be happy, you've given me a reason to love, and you've given me a family- a beautiful family. I couldn't ask for more and I'll spend eternity thanking you. I could never leave you again Bella. You're stuck with me forever. I love you so much."
"Forever Edward. I'll love you forever."
His lips descended upon mine in a long, gentle, loving kiss. When he pulled back he had a huge smile on his face as he pulled me into his lap. Renesmee came running over and jumped onto my lap, snuggling in between me and Edward. I rested my head against his shoulder as my fingers played with my daughters curly, bronze locks. Edward's arms circled both of us keeping us in a protective but loving circle. We heard the door opening and Esme and the others had returned from shopping.
"Momma, daddy."
"Hey Lizzie. Did you have fun with Auntie Alice, Grandma Esme and Leah?"
"Yes momma. They helped me find lots of new clothes and shoes. We got some things for the others as well momma."
"That was very nice of you Lizzie."
"I want to show you something momma."
"What is it baby?"
She smiled up at Esme, who was holding her, as she placed her on the ground. To my surprise she climbed to her feet and ran over to me, Edward and Renesmee.
"Baby, I'm so happy. You're amazing Lizzie. Come here."
I lifted her onto the couch so she was sitting on my lap next to Nessie. Edward's arms wrapped around us all again as he nuzzled his face into my hair, my hand wrapped in his hair, massaging his head. The next thing I know Mason is running into the room and jumping in my lap next to his sisters.
"Don't forget me, momma, and daddy. I'm still here."
"Of course you are Mason. How could I forget my son? You're all so precious to me, just like your momma. I'll always love you."
"I love you too daddy."
I looked up into Edward's face to see him smiling down at our children.
"We have amazing children Edward. Thank you."
"For what?"
"Giving me these amazing children. Trusting yourself to give me what I wanted. For loving the clumsy, human girl that never fit in."
"You fit in now though Bella. I see now that you were born to be a vampire."
The rest of the day passed calmly as everyone did various activities round the house, whether that was working in the garage, playing on the x box, shopping on line, gardening, reading or just sitting watching everyone else. The evening came and went with Lizzie and Mason falling to sleep quickly. Nessie didn't seem as tired and she convinced Edward to play piano with her again. The house was filled with calming tunes for half an hour before Nessie dropped asleep. When I say dropped, I mean she was in the middle of a song and fell asleep on the keys. Edward carried her upstairs, putting her to bed despite my protests. We spent the night with the rest of the Cullens watching movie after movie, some Disney classics like Pinocchio, or Dumbo, others were adaptations of the classics, Pride and Prejudice, or becoming Jane, then there were the action films, like the Hunger games and Hanna. Overall, I had an amazing evening curled up with Edward and the rest of my family.
