Edward Point Of View-
I woke up on Sunday morning to the dreary weather or Forks and the mist that I had grown accustomed to, grown to accept as necessary to spend the day with Bella. One of my arms were still over Bella's waist, the other was above my head. My head was still buried in her hair. She had an arm over my waist and one still over my stomach, covering my bruise. She had her head pressed against my chest, her nose right over my heart, which was starting to beat faster as I became conscious of her closeness.
"Good morning." Came her greeting, making me smile.
"Good morning, how was your night?"
"Quiet, Alice and Jasper are still hunting, and Esme went for a quick hunt before Carlisle gets back. "
"That should be soon right?"
"Yes, Carlisle would of gotten home earlier but something happened to the car, flat tire or something." She snorted. "Rosalie would be so pissed if she knew."
"Well, she wouldn't dare yell at Carlisle would she?" Rosalie clearly loved her family and respected Carlisle, surely she wouldn't disrespect Carlisle like that.
"Probably just glare."
"Hmmm." I was thoughtful for a moment, thinking about the events of the past day. A few hours after we got back, we went back to the main room to talk with the others and to start to watch a movie that somebody from school had suggested to us. Jasper and Alice soon joined Esme, Bella and I. They started to talk about what they would do after their graduation, only four and a half months away.
"Well, Emmett and Rosalie will probably go on another honeymoon." Alice shrugged.
"And I will take the year off before we supposedly go off the college." Jasper remarked, wrapping his hand around his wife's.
"But what will you tell everyone about Emmett and Rosalie?"
"Either that they went to university or that they are traveling. Just depends."
"So, what are you actually going to do, after the year is up?"
"For now the two of us will stay here. But after you, Bella and Alive have graduated we will either move just after, or we will stay here another year because you guys want to take a year off, and I want to stay with Alice, and Emmett and Rosalie are waiting to go with us. All depends on when we change you really." Jasper shrugged and Bella tensed, but then relax into my side. I think that she is getting used to me changing. She wanted it to, or so she had told me. "You know that we are going to have to fake your death right?" Jasper looked at me. He seemed to be testing the mood with his unique gift. He would not feel any hesitation from me, only a slight guilt.
"Yes." That was still the hardest part, what to do about my mother?
"We would have to wait a little while after graduation till we change him, maybe we go to the same college and we are driving there together, then we get into a car crash or something. That way, we can all still move, because everybody will think that we were all planning on moving close to the university anyway." Bella said from my side, and I looked at her shocked. She was actively participating in planning my change. "What?" She said, looking up at me. "You know that I want you to change, I just want to make sure that you really want that too." I smiled so brightly that my face hurt. She giggled and leaned over to kiss me.
"That is a pretty good idea actually, we would just have to make sure that nothing else happened. Something could change." Jasper said again.
"Like what if we get accepted to different universities. Do you know where you will be going to?" There was no doubt in my mind that they would be accepted anywhere that they applied.
"Probably Dartmouth." Jasper said. "We haven't been there for ages."
"Oh." Could I get into an Ivy League university? Sure going to Dartmouth would be great, but would they accept me? I know that I wasn't actually going, but we needed the paperwork. Plus, maybe we could deter my entry and I could go some time after I was changed.
"I think that you could get into there." Bella looked up to me, correctly guessing the reasoning behind my short answer. I felt a boost of encouragement and belief get thrown up at me and looked up and at smiling Jasper.
"You think?" I asked her, feeling the smile grow on my face.
"Yer!"
"And besides, even if you don't go there, we can always pretend to go somewhere else, or even just forge the papers." Jasper shrugged.
"Do you just forge everything?"
"Yes." Jasper answered so seriously and straight faced that I laughed. "I'm not joking."
"You really forge everything?"
"Pretty much, we need to for the most part. Licenses and ID's we don't always need to fake but mostly passports, especially birth certificates, sometimes adoption and foster papers, we never need to forge marriage certificates but sometimes death certificates."
"Why death certificates?"
"For our parents, or for each other."
"Alright then." I said slowly, questioningly. But Jasper didn't elaborate.
"We had a lot of fun in the eighties." Bella sighed wistfully. Alice giggled with a far away look in her eyes and Esme sighed. I looked at her curiously to see that her eyes were tight.
"You don't want to know how much that we spent on bail that decade."
"So if Edward is a newborn, where should we go to?" Alice asked, everybody looked at Esme.
"We could go back up to the house near the Denali coven. There is plenty of space and wildlife up there, plus the house is very remote, no humans go near there and the house is huge." She nodded thoughtfully.
"Getting everything there was annoying though." Jasper said.
"Naww, army boy doesn't like the moving truck?" Bella teased her brother, who just stared at her blankly.
"I thought that you had gotten over calling me that."
I laughed quietly at the nickname, I hadn't heard Jasper called that before.
"Well the name suites you Major." Bella giggled, and before too long Alice joined in. Jasper just sighed and rolled his golden eyes.
"Edward, I'm stuck here, you have the choice, do you want to go yet?" He asked me wearily. At this my laughed broke from my chest, leaving me gripping my sides. Of course Jasper got a shot of my emotions and, grinning, sent them to everybody else. We spent the next ten minutes laughing and then trying to calm ourselves.
I came from my thoughts smiling, and tightened my grip on Bella, breathing deeply again. "What time is it just by the way?"
"Erm eight." I nodded against her head. "Are you hungry?"
"Not yet, I am comfy here." I tightened my grip again. "Do you want to do something besides laying there though? You haven't moved all night, aren't you bored? Don't you need to move?"
"I am not bored, I am with you. Besides, my kind can stand still for years without ever feeling uncomfortable. We don't have to fidget and most newborns need to constantly be reminded to move and sometimes to even blink."
Oh, well I hadn't known that. "Did you have any trouble with that?"
"No, not really. I was a massive fidgeted when I was a human so after I was reminded the first few times everything that I used to do came rushing back." I laughed.
"I can just imagine you as a human, all blushing and tripping and fidgeting." And looking absolutely beautiful, but whatever.
"Well that was pretty much all that I did." She giggled.
I was silent for a moment, contemplating the new information that I had gained over the past two days. Bella was definitely becoming more accepting of the idea of me changing; her helping us to plan what would happen afterwards was proof of that. But there was still so much that I didn't know, I wanted to be as prepared as possible.
"Do you really not have to move?"
"I was wondering when you would ask that." She giggled, running her little fingers up and over my chest. "No, we don't have to move, and we can stay perfectly comfortable that way. Eventually that will get boring, but we don't have to move."
"Is that how you can act like a statue?"
"Yes," She laughed. "I hadn't realized that I had done that with you."
"Just two times."
"Well, we are technically dead. We don't have a heartbeat, nor blood. We don't eat or drink things that would sustain a human and we don't sleep. We can't physically change."
I scoffed at her insinuation. "What does you being 'dead' have to do with you being still?"
"Well, dead people don't move do they, they become stiff. It is in our nature to stay still."
"Oh, well I still don't think that you are dead."
"Maybe not mentally but physically – "
"Stillness may be instinctual but you can still move and laugh and talk and breathe. You are alive Bella."
She glanced at me briefly, before changing the subject. "Do you think that your mother will be frightened that we aren't back yet."
I was shocked, I had barely thought about Elizabeth since…. Friday. The shock was followed be a wave of guilt, how could I forget about my own mother? She was probably worried that we hadn't called her, I hadn't spoken to her since Wednesday morning and she was probably lonely.
Part of me thought that she would have to get used to being secluded, I was going to be changing in little over a year anyway.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked me, cupping my cheeks with her hands, gazing into my eyes.
"She is probably worried, I hadn't even thought to talk to her."
"Well, call her and tell her that when we got home yesterday, but you thought that you might wake her." I nodded and before I could comprehend what was happening, Bella had flashed from my arms and was back again holding my mobile in her hands. I unlocked the touch screen and hit the speed dial, wrapping my arm round Bella again as she laid next to me.
"What time do I say that you will drop me off?"
"Did you still want to talk to Carlisle?"
"Yer."
"Great. I can hear him now, so maybe twelve?"
"Great." I nodded. As soon as we had finished speaking my mother picked up the phone, the tone of her voice doing little to disclose her panic.
"Edward!"
"Hey mum! How are you?" The guilt hit me ten fold, I forgot about my own mother.
"Oh, I'm fine, are you back?"
"Yer, we got back yesterday but I didn't want to wake you." Thankfully she didn't ask for the time that we arrived, I didn't like to lie.
"Oh, alright, what time will you be home do you think?"
"Probably about twelve, I need to talk to Carlisle about some things."
She didn't fight me.
"Oh alright then, I'll see you soon sweetheart."
"See you soon mum."
"Can't believe that I forgot about her." I muttered.
"Edward, that isn't your fault. You had a lot on your mind these past few days, and she wasn't in any danger."
"I should of at least thought about her, honestly, even on the time away, on the drive to Phoenix, I only thought about her once of twice."
"It's alright Edward, you had bigger things to worry about." She cupped m cheek with one of her hands again, I relaxed almost instantly, thinking about any empathetic power's that she might be hiding from me.
Oh well, this helps.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm alright Bella." I smiled at her, she worried more then I did.
"Alright, well do you want to take a shower? I'll try to make some breakfast and then we can go and talk to Carlisle." I nodded, kissed her forehead and headed to the bathroom after getting some clothes.
I got ready for the day quickly, eager for food, Bella and finding out more about Carlisle. I was still having difficulty wrapping my head around living for so many years. Had he lived alone, apart from the Volturi, before he had met Bella? That was a long time to be by yourself, I couldn't imagine being by myself, not being able to talk to anybody or get close to anybody for that long. Everybody needs a companion if you are going to live that long, even people with an individual attitude.
That all really explained his love for the family.
I basically jogged to the kitchen to find Bella glaring at the pancakes that she had just put on my plate. These ones smelt great, but the window near the stove was open and there was a broken pan sitting on the sink.
"What happened?" I asked warily.
"The first two batches didn't want to cook properly, so I broke the pan." She shrugged. "How can society frown upon my diet when they offer these as an alternative?" She asked, probably not expecting a reply.
"Well, I don't frown upon your diet."
"Yer, and if we told any of the other humans, they would all be too scared to talk to us to frown upon the diet." Jasper said off handedly as he and Alice walked past the kitchen and up the stairs. "Monring Edward."
"When did you two get back?"
"Just now." I shrugged and dug into the pancakes, almost moaning at the taste.
"You know, the fact that you can cook better pancakes then me when you haven't needed to eat for like, almost a hundred years, is just so unfair. Is there anything that you can't do?" I frowned at her, only half joking.
"I can't carve." She said.
"Carve?" Well that was a bit random, just a bit.
"Yer, Emmett tried to teach me woodwork and carving and all that, I just couldn't. After hours of failing I just threw the wood thru the wall and walked away, only to be made fun of for the next two decades. Never did I make fun of Emmett because it took him a month to be able to open a door, but no, just because I can't carve Emmett makes fun of me." She grumbled, and I found myself laughing loudly despite myself, and Bella. "Oh, you think that this is funny do you? Well I am not opening any doors for you when you change, nor am I helping you to play the piano when you are too strong." That stopped my laughter.
"I was only laughing at your expression, you looked so annoyed that you can't carve." I chuckled again but stopped upon seeing her glare. "Sorry." I was still smirking as I started to eat my pancake again. "So why couldn't Emmett open the door?"
"Because every time he tried to, he would crush the door handle."
"So I won't be able to play?"
"Well, you will probably have better control with your strength then Emmett, today he is still the strongest that I know of. The rest of us only took a little bit of time to control the strength. Just depends on what you are handling, you need to know who much force to use. The piano will probably be good practice for you." I nodded, my eating had slowed considerably and I tried to eat faster so that they wouldn't get cold.
"How did you learn to cook like this?" I asked her.
Shrugging, she answered me casually. "T.V."
"Ah the wonders of the twenty first century."
She grinned back at me and I rolled my eyes at her, Miss. I'm born at the beginning of the twentieth century.
She let me wash up my own dishes, she was almost as bad as Esme when it came to letting me do my own cooking and washing. We then walked together up the stairs to Carlisle's office. I didn't bother trying to hide my enthusiasm at finally being able to talk to Carlisle about his history and the things that he had done. I all but skipped up the stairs with this giddy grin on my face, practically dragging poor Bella along, who was all smiles and giggles at me acting like your average five year old. Age discrimination. Whatever. I can act like a five year old if I want to. I just looked over my shoulder at her and stuck my tongue out at her.
Sure, like that will help.
She giggled at me again and I just continued to pull her up the stairs to the second story. When we got to the door, I stopped and pointed at it, not completely remembering if I was at the right place. She nodded encouragingly and I knocked on the door.
"You can come in." I heard Carlisle's calm voice say quietly on the other side of the door.
I opened the door quietly and pulled Bella along with me. Carlisle got a note to mark the page and closed the book with a quiet thump. He smiled up at us. "Hello." He was always so composed, so calm and I wondered how he could always keep up such a cool façade.
"Hey Carlisle." I replied.
"Hi dad."
"Good night?"
"Of course, Esme and the others will be back soon."
"Was the drive nice?" I asked feeling slightly guilty that Carlisle had made the drive back by himself.
"Yes, I've never been to Phoenix before, a nice change of scenery." Of course he wouldn't want me to feel put out.
"I was wondering if.…maybe you could…." I was stuttering, why was I stuttering?
"You wanted to ask me if I could tell you more about my story?"
I smiled and nodded sheepishly. As retaliation he grinned back.
"Well, there is quite a lot to tell,"
"Understandably." I couldn't help but input. Carlisle didn't seem to mind.
"A lot has changed in three hundred and seventy odd years, so stop me if you need me to explain anything." I nodded again and Carlisle stood up from the desk, walking around to where Bella and I were standing. I moved backwards for him and he moved past me, pointing at the wall that the door was on. I turned and stood still, shocked at the painting that I had missed some how at first. The wall was full of them, some huge and colourful, some tiny and in sepias and black and white. I looked round the room and saw more paintings on the other walls, not so much story telling ones, but still spectacular.
"As you know, I was born in the sixteen forties, I was the only son of an Anglican pastor, and my mother died whilst giving birth to me." I rose my eyebrows, not only at the irony that the pastor's son had become a vampire, but at the fact that Carlisle's mother had died whilst birthing him. Knowing Carlisle, he had felt guilty for that - he had probably tried to make emends.
"That Cross over there," He pointed to the wall to the right, and I noticed the large, wooden Cross that was mounted on the wall. "was carved by the pastor, and hung above the pulpit where he preached. After he did, I want back and got it, I knew that he had always meant for me to get it, though he expected the cross to be kept in the Church." Carlisle smiled.
"Why?"
"Well, I was his only son, I was meant to take over from him once he got to be too old. And I was going to, certainly." He added after a light pause, looking thoughtfully back at me, than back at the Cross. "He led many hunts for creatures, werewolves, witches and vampires. We never found any real vampires but many innocent people were framed to be the monsters, and they were burnt. I could never stand watching that, but what choice did I have? I was the Pastors son, this was what I had to do, I had to help to set the example that the community needed." He pointed to a small, square oil painting. "This was the London of my youth, this roof here, that was the Church that we preached at." I looked at the small painting, the pointed roof tops and the winding river. I could see the Church that he had pointed to quite clearly. I looked up at the man standing in front of me, looking reminiscently at the painting in front of him, stunned that he was really telling me this, that he had really lived here, a life in this London, in this time. What a change society would be for him right now.
"Eventually, I took over leading the raids. I was, at first, a bit of a disappointment. I didn't accuse anybody, not believing that they were the monsters that we sought, and if anybody was brought to me, I would research much more thoroughly then the other men before me had, I spoke to more people then just who brought them to me, and found that they were not really the monsters. I would not kill an innocent.
"Eventually though, I stumbled upon a real coven of vampires. They lived with the sewers and only came onto the street at night to hunt. I was walking back to the house, late at night, I do not remember why, but I was the monster go back thru the sewer hole. I raced back home to tell the others, and we gathered enough men. The next day, well, the next night, we went back to the sewer. They emerged, and the one that had come called back to the other vampires, he was speaking Latin I thought, and the other vampires came to the street as well. We started to run after them and most of them continued to run at s slightly faster than human pace. Two of them were two hungry and they pounced on two of the party men. We kept on running, we had decided that we would chase them no matter what, no matter if one of us got hurt. The one that I was after was the one that had told the other vampires to come up to the street. The vampire didn't run very fast, to hungry probably, the scent of the blood was too strong, especially now that the other men's blood had been spilt. The vampire turned on me, attacked. We both fell to the ground and he paused just before he bit me. The vampire looked at the robes that I wore, the Cross round my neck and knew who I was, what I was. The vampire smiled and then bit me, I could feel the venom enter the blood system but pulled away just before I could die. Then I was alone, but I knew what would happen now. I had been infected, not just killed. I knew what they would do to me if they found my body, anything that had been infected by the monster would be killed, even if they were still alive. So, my self preservation kicked in and I tried to get up and walk. I ended up just crawling over to the alleyway. I buried myself in rotting potatoes and waited."
Ha gave me time to think about that, and my mind was spinning with all that he had just told me. He had actually managed to find the vampires, that was a feat, even I knew that. I still could not imagine going thru the change alone, waking up alone.
"You were changed because you were a Pastor, or almost at least?"
"Yes."
"Do you think that if you had worn something else, that you would of still been changed?"
"I don't know, but if I had not of been changed, I never would of gotten my family."
"Haha, vamily." Bella chuckled. Breaking the silence. I looked over at her with raised eyebrows, 'vamily'? Really? I had expected something like that from Emmett but not Bella. Her face was tense, her mouth tight and her eyes clouded with worry. Was she afraid that the story would scare me?
Carlisle gave her a pointed look with one eyebrow raised, before looking back at me, smiling lightly. "So, after three days, I was changed. I woke up at night, luckily, so no body was around. I realized what I was and was completely disgusted in myself, I had become what I had hunted, what we had spent so much time looking for – once the hunter, now the monster. I could feel the thirst and a man ran past the entryway of the ally. The thirst flared and I knew what I wanted to do, what my instincts where screaming at me to do. And so I ran, I left the city and went to the forest and hid for….well a very long time. I have no idea, the concept of time was all but foreign to me. I worried that if I strayed to close to the human population, that I would attack. I had tried to kill myself," I stiffened, what! Carlisle, good, Church going, Pastor….being Carlisle tried to commit suicide? Wasn't that a sin? That would be against the Religion. " I jumped off of the many cliffs, tried to drown myself, but of course rocks can't hurt us. I finally decided to starve myself, I could die and maybe I could still go to Heaven, I had not sinned, I had not killed. I had been waiting for ages, but I wasn't dying. I was weak, but not dying, just weak and thirsty. But eventually I found myself hiding up in a cave, when I heard a herd of dear go pass, and I got so thirsty and breathed in their scent, and without thinking, I attacked." Of course, that was how he had discovered the new and improved vampire diet. How had nobody else every gotten this?
"After I had fed I realized that I didn't have to be a monster, had I not eaten venison in my past life? I was determined to do something good with the life that I had been given. I had already become aware of the changes in my sensatory system, there had to be something that I could do with them to help the human population. I had unlimited time, and as I soon discovered, we remember everything, which proves to be very useful." His voice changed when he said that last part, becoming brighter, as if this were knowledge that he had to make sure that I knew. Obviously this was very important to him.
"And, so, that was what I did. I gained control and after a year or so I could go to the human population without danger of hurting them. I studied at night. Went to universities at day, but continued to hunt and read and learn at night. After a while, I swam to France and – "
"Wait you swan to France!" They both looked at me amused. "Sorry but…you swam to France!"
"People swim the channel all the time." Bella smiled lightly at me.
"Yes but….still, you swam to France!"
They both laughed, but he swam to France!
"Of course, but you need to remember that we don't get cold and that we do not need to breath, so the swim didn't take very long. I like swimming, I had never gotten the chance to do much as a human and find it quite enjoyable as a vampire."
"Is it much different? "
"Not really," Bella said. "but we can't go as fast because of the resistance of the water."
"Emmett doesn't like swimming, he doesn't like his strength or speed being taken away, no matter how little." Carlisle added.
I smirked, totally believing that. I could only imagine a frustrated Emmett cursing at the water from frustration.
"So, you swam to France? " I smirked.
"Yes, I swam to France and continued to study the sciences and art of the world, but after a few years there, I continued on to Italy. That was where I met the Volturi." I stiffened at the mention of the vampires that could kill Bella. Carlisle pointed at another picture, the biggest. There was an ornate gold frame and three men were featured in the picture, at the forefront at least, but in the background, there was another, a golden haired man that look quite familiar. "Aro," Carlisle pointed to the black haired man, standing at the front. "Marcus," The other black haired man on Aro's right. "And Caius." The snowy white haired man standing on the other side.
So the trio was complete, but still, that golden haired man.
"Carlisle, is that, is that you?" I pointed to the man that was standing in the background, looking angelic and royal in their seventeen hundred clothing. In looked over at Carlisle who was smiling sheepishly at me.
"Yes, I stayed with them for a few decades and they became quite fond of me, I was often allowed to view their hearings and painted with them, I didn't take very many with me when I left, and not all of them are here." Carlisle, of course, hadn't changed a bit since the time that the picture was taken, and stepping a step closer, I could see him all the more clearly. Still with golden hair and golden eyes, smiling angelically with hands clasped in front of him, leaning against one of the golden marble pillars.
"Wow." They let me mull this over for a few more minutes, and I was beginning to process that this really had all happened, that people could really live this long. My mind started to wonder, 'could I really live for that long, happily and content with everything?' But I knew that I could immediately. Bella was amazing, I could live for thousands of years and never be miserable with her. "What did you do then?" I asked them.
" Continued to live with the Volturi, only for about twenty more years after that picture had been painted. They continued to try to get me to sway my eating habits, but I would not waver. I tried to get them to at least try the animal diet but they continued to tell me that my diet was crazy, that I would starve and weaken with time, I was constantly disgusted with the amount of innocent life lost there."
"Why did you stay there?"
"Because they were civilized for the most part, apart from the human hunting. They were well educated and offered my plenty of opportunities to learn. They had fine arts and many libraries and they offered stimulating and intelligent conversation. I could learn how I world worked, though I often disagreed with their decisions about punishment."
"Bella told me that they kill the vampires that break the law."
"Yes, though sometimes these were newborn vampires that didn't know any different, I think that those should have been given second chances. They could have been taught, learnt the way that they were to conspicuously live and than set free." Well that made sense.
"But eventually you left the Volturi, what did you do that for?"
"I was sick of the death and sick of the pressure, plus I was frustrated that they wouldn't even think about trying the alternative. That they could ridicule my diet without even trying. So I left them to venture to the new world."
"How did you get there?" If Carlisle had all of these pictures then swimming was not an option.
"I hunted excessively and then caught a boat over."
"Oh."
"I started to practice medicine once I got here. I went back to university and would work with the human population when necessary, but could only work around open blood for one day without needing to hunt for the first two years. The training was grueling, but after I had graduated I would go back to a different school and try again. I did that for near enough two decades. After that time, I more or less had enough control to work in the hospital, but of course I went back to school every few decades because everything was changing, developing."
"Did you ever stay with any other vampires?"
"No, of course, I met them and let them clean up in the houses that I as staying at, but they never stayed for more than a few days. Some of them were curious about the diet but most of them thought that I was crazy and none of them ever thought about staying with me.
"I continued to travel and in the year 1910 I went to Ohio. Working the night shifts was becoming tedious by 1911, and I was growing even more lonesome. Then one day, Esme came in."
"Esme! But I thought that you changed her in 1922?"
"Oh I did, but I met her ten years earlier. She had broken her leg and had been taken to the hospital. The family farm was a few hours drive from the hospital and the local doctor for her town was unavailable. By the time that she got there it was night and I had started my shirt. I fixed her leg and she fell asleep. The next night when I got there she was still awake and we spoke for hours, she was having difficulty sleeping because she had spent the past night awake, it had been past one when we had gotten her leg just right. I learnt about her I fell in love with her. I thought that she felt something too, but she was human and mostly healthy and I could not take away her humanity. She had a human boy that wanted to court her and she had the possibility of a happy human life, though I wish that I had changed her now."
"So that you could spend more time with her?"
"Yes, that and for other reasons, but I will let her explain that to you." I nodded.
"Soon after the event, Esme left the hospital, and I went to Chicago. I had been working there for a few years when the influenza started." I stiffened with a sense of strangely placed excitement, that kind where your heart starts to best faster and you don't want to know but you also really need to know. I looked over at Bella but she was not looking at me any more, but looking back at Carlisle. "There was panic everywhere, we had no cure, no way to stop the dieses and many thought that a simple piece of cloth over the mouth would stop you from contracting the virus. The masks barely helped. In August, the elderly woman that ran the seamstresses and the man the kept the store next door brought in Bella. I was there that day, I had told them that I would stay the day, and we were so short staffed that nobody argued with me. I ended up working for thirty two hours that day and nobody told me to get home." I smiled grimly. "When they brought Bella in, I was the one that attended to her and took her to the cot. There was something different about her, so after I had done the rounds, I went to check up on her."
"And I woke up." Bella muttered, seeming to remember. I wondered if she had heard this part of the story since she had been changed. She had wide eyes that were seeing things that I could only imagine.
"Yes, you woke up and you thought that you had died." Carlisle chuckled whilst I stiffened, how could he be laughing at the thought of Bella being dead.
"I thought that you were an angel." She laughed, effectively making me relax. Well that was kind of funny,
She must of thought that Carlisle was very good looking. I thought. Biting back the jealousy that that thought brought me, I tried to remind myself that he was nothing more than a father figure to her. With a strange sense of déjà vu I was reminded of the night in Port Angeles, where my jealousy had eaten me up at the movie theater. Internally rolling my eyes at myself, I tried to concentrate on what was going on now.
"You were confused and I told you what had happened, but you didn't seem to mind that you were dying. I was confused, no other humans that I had met that were suffering from the disease were seemingly uncaring about what was happening to them. I was curious about you, and I couldn't help the feeling of….change, that I got around you. So I can back every night and spoke to you. You knew that something was different about me, and were irritated that I would not tell you. The third day that you were there I asked you who you were and you started to cry, you told me everything, and than I understood why the concept of death was somewhat inviting to you. On the eight day, I knew that if I didn't do something, that you would not be there the next night." Carlisle, who had been staring intently at Bella, who had been staring out the window, turned his gaze to me. His eyes softened and I could see how much effort telling this story put on him. To change Bella must have been very difficult, and having to see her go thru the change would have been even worse. Part of me suspected that he already loved her like a daughter before he had bitten her. "So, I told her everything, and gave her the option to change. She took it, and I ran her back to the apartment. Do you know much about the transformation?"
"Yes, Bella told me pretty much everything."
He nodded. "I bit her the way that I had been bitten, and regretted that later. I wasn't sure how to, and discovered that the way that I had done not only prolonged the change but made the initial bite all the more painful. We discovered the right way that the change is made with Esme, who of course I changed next.
"After three days Bella was done and after we went hunting we stayed in the forest for about three days. I told her everything and we kept on hunting. After we were satiated we went back to the apartment – "
"Though you only let go of me when we got to the bathroom."
"And with good reason." I smiled lightly at the two of us, standing side by side next to him. "After she got cleaned up we went to Ashland.
"For the first four years we worked on the gift and Bella got used to being a vampire. I didn't work for the first two years but I started to miss the hospital so Bella told me to go and get a job. I did, and two years later, I found Esme. She had been brought to the morgue but her heart was still beating. I recognized her scent almost immediately and realized how she was, even though she was badly hurt. I couldn't stop myself. I ran with her back to the house and asked Bella to help me stop if need be."
"After you managed to calm me."
"Yes were quite confused." He grinned. "I quite the job at the hospital and focused on my growing family. Esme change went smoothly and though she had difficulty with the blood lust, her compassion helped her tremendously. Soon, I grew tired of trying to resist her, so I told her how I felt about her. "He grinned boyishly, his eyes getting a dreamy mist to them.
"Soon," Bella muttered. "Yer right, took the two of you months, needed to meddle so much – "
"You meddled?" Carlisle looked astounded, and Bella's eyes widened before she looked away bashfully, playing with the hem of her t shirt.
"Only what was needed to be meddled with."
"How much meddling are we talking about here?"
"Just enough, I just gave you two a push in the right direction."
Carlisle started at her for a few moments more, before looking back up at me and continuing on with the story. "We stayed there until 1928, almost 1929, when we moved to Rochester, New York. Esme and I had actually married in 1923 and Bella was to be Esme's sister, as far as the humans were concerned. Rosalie, as you know, joined our family next. We found her in 1935, but I will let her tell you that story. Two years later Rosalie was hunting and found Emmett being attacked by a bear. She ran him back over one hundred miles to me so that I could change him, she was not sure that she could." He pointed to another painting. "We moved around for the next two years, but when we were living there in the fifties, Jasper and Alice found us."
"And what an entrance that they made." Bella laughed lightly.
"They knocked on the door and Alice all but tackled me when I answered. I hugged her back after a moment, Jasper got all tense and thought that I was going to attack her so she went back to him, but then Esme and Bella joined me at the door and she pushed past me and but tackled them too. "
"Then Carlisle got all defensive because he thought that Alice was going to attack us and then Jasper got upset at Carlisle. By the end me and Esme were shoved behind Carlisle, Jasper was standing protectively over Alice and she was rambling at two hundred miles per hour." Bella giggled.
" 'You have know idea how long we have been looking for you! Where are Rosalie and Emmett? Oh they are hunting! Well we can just meet them later! Oh this is so much fun but don't worry we aren't going to hurt you!' She just didn't stop. We still had absolutely no idea what was going on." I could imagine that all too easy. " Jasper got her to calm, and we invited them in. They explained everything to us and, after we couldn't deny that Alice could see the future they were welcomed into the family. We met the Denali coven soon after that. They live up in Alaska, Kate, Irena, Carmen, Eleazar and Tanya. We stay with them sometimes but there are to many of us, we are just too noticeable. Since then we have just moved round a lot." Carlisle told me with a light smile.
"Edward!" My mother thrilled as she threw her arms round my neck, practically chocking me.
"Hey." I gasped as she pressed against the bruise.
"Are you alright?" She asked me, concerned.
"Just a bruise."
"Oh I'm so sorry! What happened to your hand?"
"Fell over, that's what happened to my stomach too."
"Stomach?"
"That's where the bruise is."
"Oh." But she still looked worried.
"I am great mum, we had so much fun."
"Well that's good." She kissed my cheek lightly. "And Bella!" She threw her arms round my girl friends waist and Bella put hers gently round my mothers neck. "How are you dear?"
"I'm wonderful Elizabeth, did you have a good for days?"
"Yes, I had forgotten how peaceful that the quiet could be." A sly smirk in my direction. I rolled my eyes, we both knew that I wasn't that loud. We chatted for about ten more minutes before Bella went home, for a few hours at least.
"So how was the camping?" My mother asked me, avoiding my eyes contact as she started to make sandwiches for lunch.
'Well mum, I watched a vampire baseball game, proceeded to get stalked by a vampire, went to Phoenix and then the said vampire stalker ran me thru the city and tried to kill me, but don't worry, my girlfriend and her family killed him using their teeth.' For some reason I didn't think that that would go over to well. "It was great! I got to know Jasper and Alice a lot better." I went on to tell her stories from the 'camping trip', which was difficult because I hated to lie to her but she wouldn't let me get away with 'we went hiking, it was fun'. She 'hmmm' and nodded and laughed at all the appropriate times. She told me that she went to Port Angeles for dinner on Saturday night with Sue Clearwater and I could barely repress the frown that wanted to show on my face.
Sue Clearwater is fine, she may not like you, but she does not change forms to a giant wolf. Sue Clearwater is safe.
I think that my mother saw the disapproval in my eyes though, because she threw me a questioning glance before she started to clean the dishes.
"You don't like Sue Clearwater?"
"Mrs. Clearwater is fine, but she does not like me, I can tell." She gave me a look as if to say 'and?'. "Sam Uley is the one that I don't like." She didn't question me and I was glad about that. The less lies that I had to tell the better.
We spent the rest of the day talking and reading, but when mother got a call from Sue Clearwater I went upstairs to unpack. I probably sounded like an overprotective old man but she shouldn't be spending time at the reservation. For all that the Cullens said about me having a lack of self preservation, I knew that the wolf's were dangerous. The Cullens, on the other hand, were not dangerous to me. They didn't eat people and their compassion and acceptance of me into their family made them adverse to hurting me, particularly Bella (singer or not.). I was muttering about the reservation when I heard her angelic voice from behind me.
"You know, Sue isn't that bad, though her children, or at least one of them, faces the possibility of changing." I spun round to see Bella on my bed, her hands put together behind her head and looking up to the ceiling, as if she could still see the stars.
"How long have you been there for?"
"Long enough."
Than something that she said hit me. "Wait, her children could change?"
"Yes, her son Seth, and her daughter Leah."
"The women don't change, apparently." I told her as I went and sat on the bad, picking up her legs and putting them over my lap.
"How do you know that?" She looked up at me inquisitively.
"When they told me about the different legends."
"Oh, so just Seth."
"But why would he be more likely to change?"
"Blood line, his dad is a member of the tribe council, right?"
"Yes."
"Well those three men, and Sam Uley, know about the wolfs. Of course, their wives do too, but those three men actually saw their parents and grandparents turn into the wolfs."
"Wow. How long ago would they have been changing then?"
"I don't know, but I think that there had been a fair amount of time since Sam. The last that we were here there was a Black, an Uley and an Ateria."
"That's Jacob, Sam's and Quil's last names." I remembered the other two boys as the ones that told me the stories, Quil had wanted the legends to be true. He had thought that being able to be a warrior would be cool, and now he might just get the chance to. The irony was not lost on me, but I could only hope that he would still be happy with the ability if he did change. I liked Quil, he had been nice didn't see anything wrong with Bella, I wouldn't wish anything bad on him.
"They are the direct decedents, there is a good chance that they will change. I wonder…..." She looked straight up again, thoughtful.
"What?"
"Black was the name of the chief the last time, I wonder if, when The new Black changes, he will get the title of the chief or if Sam will stay the chief."
"But Sam changed first this time. The first changed would be the leader right?"
"Yer, but this is about blood. To be the chief would be The black blood line."
"Huh." This really wasn't the point of the conversation. "I still don't like her." Bella laughed at me.
"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" She asked me, leaning her head against my chest after a few moments of silence.
"Yes, but I have got to do that Trig assignment. Have you started?"
"I did it the day that we got it."
"Oh, well, you can do your in ten minutes." Plus she had done the course countless times.
"That's not the point." My plan from the other day was coming back to the forefront of my mind, I hadn't gotten the chance to speak to Alice but I thought that if I spoke to Bella, that she could give me an even better answer – even if this was now longer a surprise.
"I was thinking about maybe changing round my time table." I started quietly. She looked up from my chest urgently.
"What do you mean?
"I was thinking about changing my Spanish class to the time that you have French, that way we could get to be together – " She broke off what I was saying by kissing me passionately. Putting my hands round her waist I pulled her on top of me so tat I could feel every line of her body on mine I moaned at the feeling.
She pulled back, her eyes excited, bright and spilling over with love. She was breathing heavily, as was I, and leant her forehead against mine. "You'd do that?" She asked breathlessly.
"What?" I gasped, still trying to regain my breathing.
"Swap the classes to be with me?"
"Because spending more of my time with you would be such a burden." I rolled my eyes. Did she not understand my feelings for her at all?
"I'd love it of you did that." She kissed me lightly again. "Alright, now go and eat, I will be up here when you're done."
"Yes ma'am." I muttered as I walked from the room, grinning like an idiot. I would gladly change to French to if that was the kind of reaction that I got.