Disclaimer:

As you can see from the title; this chapter contains some light fluff/lemons. I always thought Bella and Edward needed to discuss their sexual relationship a bit more than what we´ve seen in the books. If you´re uncomfortable with the topic of sex, I´ve added a short summary at the end. After this chapter, the topic won´t ever come back.

However, keep in mind that this fic is T-rated, so nothing too graphic or vulgar is shown. I know that a ´T-rating´ differs across the world and I want everyone to enjoy this fic. In the Netherlands, all novels that are written for teens, DO contain the word ´sex´. Therefore, I chose to sprinkle that topic into this fic. However, it´s no smut!

So, you can choose for yourself if you want to read this chapter in detail, or not. No hard feelings :)

PS. I might re-write the lemon scenes into smut scenes in a different fic, it was kinda fun to write, honestly. What do you think; are they still virgins or not?

Chapter 27: Lemon

Edward POV:

The hours while Bella was asleep -or unconscious- were anxious to me. On one hand, I knew my family was safe. Victoria was outnumbered and we could easily win this. Even though we had a small disadvantage because Alice could not see the future right now, the battle was already won. And with Jacob´s help, Victoria had nowhere to hide. It would only be a matter of minutes before we found her and killed her.

But on the other hand, I was nervous since I didn't know what was happening right now. I knew I had to be here, in Bella's room, to keep her and Charlie safe, but a part of me wanted to rip Victoria to pieces myself. And now, I didn't even know who had the pleasure to put her to death.

The monster in me was furious. I needed to be the one to kill Victoria for what she had done to the woman of my life. I wanted to see the look in her eyes once I ribbed her head from her torso. I wanted the last thing she would ever see before I threw her lifeless body into the flames, would be my face. Smiling. I would have taken my sweet little time if it would be me that killed her. And I would have enjoyed it.

Probably a bit too much.

I shivered as I ran my fingers through Bella's hair. My brave, remarkable girl, who wasn't even scared for herself but was scared someone from us could get hurt. Not scared her own life was in danger but scared for ours. So courageous for others yet filled with indifference once it concerned herself. I frowned as I gently stroked her cheek.

She wasn't even mumbling something in her sleep tonight so Jasper's relaxation must have worked quite well.

My family members' cheerful thoughts quickly put an end to my own troubled ones. I made sure Bella was asleep and walked over to the window to meet them. Everyone came running back from the fight and hid in the trees. Each and every one of my siblings was overjoyed that Victoria was dead -finally!- except for Emmett. I did not know the reason why, but I quickly caught a mocking joke from Jasper. Apparently, Jacob was equally as strong as Emmett and being the strongest of us, that bothered him greatly.

You should have seen it, Edward. Emmett went in for the kill and boom, Jacob rushed over and snapped Victoria´s head off himself. Emmett's face was priceless! He could not believe someone could be faster than him and he's been down ever since! Try to mock him a bit, see how he reacts!

I chuckled. ´What did I hear, Emmett? Did the wolf beat you to it?´ I silently hissed at him. Jasper approved of this joke.

Yes Edward, poke the bear!

´Oh, shut up, Edward. I nearly got her,´ Emmett responded irritated. Rosalie put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down a little bit but we could all see she tried to hold back her laugh.

´Speaking of Jacob, where is he? I want to thank him for doing what I should have done a year ago,´ I asked my family as I now noted Jacob wasn´t present.

Carlisle responded. ´He needed some time to cool off before he could return home. You know, he was furious so it might take a few hours.´

I nodded. ´Understandable. How did it go actually? The only thoughts I hear are jokes about Emmett.´

I bit my lip, but a soft laugh had already escaped my mouth. Everyone started laughing, except for Emmett. His face was priceless, even now. His eyes widened as he turned around to face his family. His mouth even fell open.

´Even you, Rose? Et tu Brute? Thanks a lot, guys,´ he said, sticking his tongue out.

´Don´t be such a bad sport, babe. It was really funny,´ Rosalie said, planting a kiss on Emmett´s cheek to soften the blow a little bit. ´And even if you´re not the fastest or strongest in town, I still love you,´ she ended, serving him a compliment and an insult at the same time.

´I´m the fastest and strongest vampire in town,´ he mumbled.

´Emmett, stop now.´ Esme motherly ordered him. She then faced me. ´It all went according to plan. Jacob could lead us to Victoria. We found her and made sure she could not get away this time. We all went to tear a limb from her and Jacob went for her head. He was really furious as you can imagine. We then made a fire and threw her into it. We waited to make sure she was really dead. She's gone now, Edward. It's over.´

I felt relief pulsing through my veins. The threat was gone and Bella was safe again. ´Thank you all.´

´Bella is part of the coven, Edward. You know that,´ Carlisle assured me. Having my father say that to me strengthened my beliefs that Bella is part of my world now, even if I fought very hard against it half a year ago. We were tied to each other and when I tried to break that connection, it hurt us both more than necessary. She belonged to me, just as much as I belonged to her. I was hers. Truly hers.

´Besides, I think you will soon have to fight a bigger battle. Sorry again for putting Bella to sleep,´ Jasper said.

Alice gasped and angrily faced Jasper. ´You did what now? I was so focused on the battle, I hadn't even seen it. Why would you do that?´

Jasper held his hands in front of him. ´I felt how stressed she was. And I knew that stress wasn't really needed. So, I tried to ease her pain a little bit. But I have no idea how she will react to that, so good luck, Edward. Tell her to blame me.´ Jasper winked at me.

Alice pressed her lips together. ´Jasper! I can't even leave Bella alone for two minutes.´ She rolled her eyes. ´Edward, you have to tell Bella that we should do another sleepover. Without boys this time!´ Her angry glare was part for me, part for Jasper.

´I´m sure Bella will be agitated enough once she wakes up, so no need for all these unimportant messages,´ Carlile, being the perfect doctor and concerned for Bella´s health, stated.

His wife Esme quickly added. ´Yes, Edward. So you should invite her for tea tomorrow. I will bake something delicious for her. What about brownies? Or blondies this time?´

´That's… Not exactly what I meant, love,´ Carlisle said to Esme, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer to him.

´Still, invite her, Edward. She will love that,´ Esme said to me, ignoring Carlisle´s remark.

´Well, if we´re all going to leave a message, tell Bella that my ankle was hurt so, therefore, I could not reach Victoria quickly enough,´ Emmett said to me. Everyone gave him a disapproving look.

´What, I´m just saying…,´ Emmett held his hands up high.

´You're worse than a sulking child, Em.´ Rosalie jokingly pinched his arm. Her face fell when she turned to look at me. I saw she was trying to formulate the right words and even her thoughts, which were always clear to me, were foggy.

´Edward, you won't have to tell Bella anything on my behalf. I just wanted to apologize. As you know, Bella and I had a tough conversation not too long ago and she said something that was simply… right. Out of respect to you, I should have been more open to her and I haven´t. And I want to apologize for that.´ Rosalie said while her lower lip trembled and an unshed tear glinstered in her eye.

I did not know how to answer as this apology took me by surprise. So instead, I offered Rosalie a hug and opened my arms to welcome her. She jumped out of the tree and into Bella's room and hugged me back.

´You´re my annoying big sister, Rose. Of course, you´re going to look out for your dumb, brooding little brother.´

´I will ignore the word ´annoying´ and instead focus on the word ´dumb´, thank you very much,´ she smiled into my shoulder.

A soft sound escaped from Bella's lips and made us all look up. She rolled over to her side and quietly slept again. I smiled warmly at her and I noticed that my body missed the warmth of her presence already.

´We will leave you to it. Good luck son,´ Carlisle said. Everyone said their goodbyes to me as they jumped out of the tree and started running towards our house.

And I climbed into Bella's bed again. I held her in my arms until she woke up. I wondered how she would react to last night's events. Her eyes widened in surprise so I was sure she now remembered what had happened to her. I tried to explain to her why Jasper did what he had done.

I reached out and tried to stroke her hair but she wouldn't let me. That surprised me. She must be more furious about it than she let me believe. I tried to ask her how she slept as I had no idea how Jasper´s relaxation would work. Was it too strong for her? Was she scared? I did not hear a quickened heartbeat that could indicate the latter. She must have been scared about it, that must be it!

But then again, Bella's mind worked in mysterious ways to me. She indeed was angry. But not about the topic I thought she would be angry about. No, she was upset I did not immediately tell her about the fight. I blinked a couple of times as I tried to understand her words. She thought some of us died? She thought we were dead? I laughed. She had no idea it was over. Truly over.

Bella's forehead creased. She wondered why I looked so concerned at her just a minute ago. I stroked her hair. She asked why I tried to avoid the subject. That surprised me. Her physical reactions versus her words did not align.

Until I thought about Jasper's gift. That must be it. I can´t hear her quickened heartbeat because she is still relaxed. For the first time since I've known Bella, I said a curse word. How utterly stupid of me to forget that! She must have been so stressed right now. So I explained the fight to her, just as my family explained it to me.

Bella started laughing, and it was the most wonderful sound in the world. I was relieved with her reaction and I started kissing her softly. That awoke something inside of her. The blood rushed to her cheeks as she reached out and placed her warm hand on my cool skin. She placed one hand on my neck and with her other hand, she tried to unbutton my shirt. For a minute, I let myself indulge in the bodily sensations of her warm skin on mine before I started thinking. What was she doing? Charlie was sleeping right next door!

´Bella, Charlie is asleep in the next room,´ I said to her in between soft kisses. Surely, she would understand, right?

´I don´t care,´ was the only thing she softly moaned against my mouth.

But I did care. We couldn't continue. We shouldn´t. So I grabbed the hand that was trying to undo my shirt and made her stop. I hoped I had not upset her. Bella stopped kissing me and looked at me, her brow furrowed in surprise.

´What´s wrong?´ Bella innocently asked me. I could not believe my ears, had she forgotten what I was?

´Nothing. It's just that… I´m afraid to continue,´ I explained to her. I couldn't even think about continuing and she only wanted to unbutton my shirt! Pathetic.

´What do you mean?´ Bella used her finger to trace soft circles on my neck and I almost couldn't think straight.

I signed. ´I´m afraid I will hurt you in some way. I´m afraid to try new things with you because I´m afraid that it will end badly. Bella, please understand that I'm simply afraid of hurting you.´ I could only give her this pathetic excuse, even though it was my absolute truth.

´I trust you,´ she smiled at me. Of course, she trusted me. Hell, if only I had so much trust in my abilities to not accidentally hurt her.

´I would never intentionally hurt you, but I'm afraid to try… stuff.´ I had to be such a disappointment to her.

Instead of keeping more distance between us, she came closer to me and planted a quick kiss on the side of my neck. ´Relax, Edward. I was only trying to unbutton your shirt. I wasn´t trying to have sex with you. I´m not trying to go all the way, yet.´ She gave me a half-smile.

I was flabbergasted. ´Wait, so you weren´t trying to have sex with me?´

She chuckled. ´I mean, not now. If that makes sense.´

´But you would want that, someday.´ I noticed she hinted towards a future possibility of us two getting that close.

´Ideally.´ Bella confirmed my suspicions.

I felt tense in anticipation just thinking about that. ´I don't know how,´ I answered Bella truthfully. I had no sexual experiences as a human and as a vampire, I had no idea how to be intimate with Bella. Physically, I was so much stronger than her, how could I not accidentally hurt her in the process?

Bella´s cheeks reddened and once again, I felt myself wondering what she could be thinking off. ´We can… try other things?´ Bella mumbled. Had I heard her correctly?

´What do you mean?´

Bella rolled her eyes. ´I mean, sex is more than just intercourse. We could try other things and see what works.´ She quickly said, a little bit embarrassed.

I was taken aback by that answer. Never, in my whole life, had I thought I would be having this conversation with her. ´Bella, are we really having this conversation right now?´ I managed to stutter.

´I don't see why not.´ Bella confidently responded.

´Bella, I´m from a different time,´ I tried to explain to her. If I could blush, I would be scarlet.

´And you live right now. So buckle up, we´re going to discuss sex.´ She planted another quick kiss on my cheek. ´Unless it's really weird for you. I understand that. Believe me, I do.´ She looked into my eyes to see if I was very uncomfortable.

And I was. But I also wanted to have this talk with her to see where we both stood regarding the topic of sex.

´Alright. I´ll start if you don´t mind…,´ I looked at her and she nodded, allowing me to continue. ´First, I was afraid of kissing you deeply, but I'm happy to notice that it's easier than I thought it would be. So maybe I'm stronger than I thought. However, the idea of sex right now scares me, Bella. It absolutely terrifies me. And I don't know how that would change in the future.´

Bella nodded and softly kissed my lips. ´Okay. I can understand that. Thank you for telling me. Could you maybe elaborate more on things you think you're comfortable with?´

I smiled. ´I don´t know, Bella. Your turn.´

She thought for a second. ´Well, I would like to try first. I understand that the bridge between kissing and full-blown sex would be too far, so I would want to try things first and see how that goes. Ideally, we would have sex together but I mean, we never thought kissing would work and it works fabulously.´ Her face came closer to mine, to demonstrate how wonderful our kissing routine worked.

´It indeed does,´ I whispered before our lips were mingled together into a tender kiss. She opened her lips to welcome me and I kissed her back while playing with her hair. Way too soon for my liking, she pulled back.

´I have an idea. If it doesn't work or if it's too hard for you, please tell me, alright?´

I nodded. Bella got out of the bed and walked over to the farthest end of the room. I instinctively missed her. She turned around, a little pink blush on her face and I wondered what she was thinking about.

She then did the most unexpected thing ever. She started to undress herself. She removed her pants and sweater until she stood in her underwear. A mismatched black, non-padded bra and a pair of purple panties were the only articles of clothing she wore. And I thought I finally understood what she meant by her earlier remark. Because as much as I wanted to worship her, the scent of her blood was stronger now that her bare skin was showing. And that was it. It was stronger, but not too strong.

I smiled to let her know I had no problems with this, at all. ´It works, Bella. Your blood is not more appealing to me now than before.´

´Good. You think I can come your way or would that be too much, too soon?´

I winked at her. ´Let´s try.´

Bella slowly walked over to the bed. With each step, she stopped and made sure I was comfortable before she continued. And as much as I felt the vampire part in me loved the scent of her blood, the human part in me loved the sight in front of me a billion times more.

Her long legs, with a ticklish part just below her knees, were mesmerizing to me. The curve of her hips that swayed with each step she took. Her bare stomach that portrayed her lustrous waist. The swelling of her round breasts begged for my attention. Oh, how I had detested all the men that had fantasised about the most vulgar things and here I was, hypnotized by the sight of Bella in her underwear.

´That seemed to work,´ Bella said as she hopped back into bed. I had lost my voice so I only nodded. She took the covers of the bed and wrapped herself in it. Being this close to her while she wasn't wearing many clothes made me painfully aware of the fact that vampires, in fact, could get erections. I was shocked. I tried to lay a bit differently so that Bella could not notice it.

She then grabbed my hand. ´Edward, since that worked so well. Maybe we could try this.´ She had a little devilish grin on her face as if she knew exactly what she was doing to me. She placed my hand on top of her bra and put her own hand on top of mine. She then squeezed a bit, to let me know how much pressure I could apply to her breast. I felt her skin react to the cold touch of my hand. Her nipple rose and hardened and Bella showed me how I could pleasure her. She took one finger of mine and showed me how she liked to be touched there. Her heartbeat quickened and her breathing became heavier. Once she thought I had played enough with her nipple, she again placed my whole hand on her breast and squeezed a little bit harder than before. I mimicked her movements and she softly moaned. The scent of her arousal filled the air and it was even sweeter than the scent of her blood.

Oh, my God.

´And you can do my other breast some other day,´ Bella said with a wink. Oh, my God. I could only stare at her.

´Edward, are you alright?´ she asked, suddenly aware of my lack of speech. She looked up to see what was going on with me.

I quickly kissed her. ´It felt amazing, Bella. And surprisingly easy as well. It was way easier than I had ever expected it to be.´ I grinned, as I was extremely proud of myself. I didn't even have to fight the beast inside of me, he simply disappeared compared to the other beast in me; my human beast. I wasn't even hungry for her blood, as I was now hungry for something else.

She grinned. ´Alright. We have found a loophole then. You know what they say, slow and steady wins the race.´

She reached over me and kissed me on my neck. She then opened her mouth to softly bite me there as a joke. I chuckled as I softly kissed her neck and shoulder since her bare skin was literally begging me to kiss her.

Bella POV:

It has been a few weeks since that amazing night with Edward. My weekly visits to the Cullen household definitely became a lot more interesting since our Biology project ended. Speaking of which, we managed to score an A, not that I thought we would get any lower since we're both top students of our Biology class.

But anyway, since our night, Edward has put a bed inside of his room. He doesn't sleep so the bed is used for other activities. I´m sure he was mocked a lot by his brothers, but I wouldn't know for sure. I don´t know how Edward did it, but each time when I visit and we end up in his room, the rest of his family mysteriously vanishes. I'm hoping it doesn't have anything to do with Alice's vision of the future, but for the sake of my own thoughts, I´ve decided to ignore that.

Since Alice knows about the blurry future she sees each time I´m around Jacob, she has learned to search for clues to guess how the future will go. She is pleased with that and much to Edward´s displeasure, he still can't read Jacob´s mind.

Since the fight against Victoria, Edward and Jacob have mutual respect for each other. I don't think they ever will be friends and I won't ask that of them, but they accept that the other is a part of me and they are friendly towards each other. Having a mutual enemy brings people together.

And now, Charlie is fishing and I´m waiting for Edward. Since our talk about sex, we´ve been more open about that topic than ever before. I´ve even said to Edward that I don't want him to come to my room each night since I sometimes need a few human minutes - to masturbate. I mean, he was very stunned that I blurted that out and he took a few seconds to process that information. The devilish part of me enjoyed seeing him struggle with that topic, but I won't ever tell anyone about that.

A knock on my window made me look up. There he was. I opened my window to let Edward enter my room. His hands were on my waist as he pulled me closer to his body. Not that I needed the extra encouragement.

´I´ve missed you,´ Edward said as he placed a trail of kisses from the little soft spot beneath my ear down to my shoulder.

´I´ve missed you too,´ I responded as I shivered in pleasure. I heard him grin and I knew he loved my little physical reactions to him.

´Hunting takes way too long,´ he kissed my nose real quick. We´ve noticed that Edward could kiss me anytime and his hunger for my blood would not take over, but when we would engage in more sexual activities, it was harder to stay in control if he was slightly hungry. So, before he came over, he made sure to eat a little bit.

´Waiting for you takes way too long. Now come to bed.´ I ordered him. Enough with all this smalltalk, I just wanted him in my bed, right now. So I took his hand and led him towards the bed. He quickly sat down and I sat on his lap. He wrapped me in his arms.

´You wear way too many clothes,´ Edward whispered into my neck. My heartbeat quickened with how arousing his words were to me.

´I can say the same to you,´ I said to him, hoping I had the same effect on him as he had on me.

I leaned back and unbuttoned his shirt. His marvellous chest was a sight for sore eyes. I ran my hands over his torso and enjoyed the little grasps that left Edward´s mouth. Finally, I knew the physical power I had over him and I loved it. I swear I could stare at his abs for days but Edward had other plans.

He removed my shirt and let his hands run over my breasts. His hands quickly went behind my back to open my bra and he delicately cupped my breasts in his hands as if it were the first time he saw them. He played with my nipples, just as I had taught him to do and I started to breathe heavier. As a response, he firmly kissed me and the combination of his cold tongue in my mouth and his playful hands around my breasts made me moan.

I instinctively started grinding over his erection. I pressed my hips closer to his groin and cursed both our pants for blocking this friction.

Edward noted I needed to feel closer to him, or he felt the same. Either way, he placed his hand under my knee and softly lifted me up. He then rolled me over, so I could lay in the bed and he could lay next to me. He reached out and started kissing me again. With one hand, he traced a little road on my body which started at my breasts and slowly made his way down to my stomach. Arriving at my jeans, he looked up but I eagerly beat him to it. I had already opened up my jeans and tried to quickly wiggle myself out of them. Since I was such a klutz, my jeans got stuck and we both had to laugh.

´A little eager, are we?´ Edward raised an eyebrow at me.

´Oh, shut up.´ I laughed back at him. ´And don't you dare use that dazzling smile on me, right now. You´re not playing fair.´

´All's fair in love and war.´

´Oh, you want to play war? Watch me.´ I gave him a little evil smile as I returned the favour. I ran my hands over his chest and slowly made my way down to his stomach. Arriving at his jeans, I made sure to tease him a little bit. So instead of unbuttoning his jeans, which he thought I would do, I only traced my fingers around his hipbone and the little hairs on his belly. His eyes darkened once he understood what I was doing.

´Not a fair game, Bella.´

I slowly licked my lips. I then bit my bottom lip and softly moaned while I put my fingers inside of his jeans, making sure I would not touch his erection.

I batted my eyelashes at him. ´I´m not sure what you mean by that.´ I said innocently.

Now, it was Edward´s turn to smile wickedly at me. ´I might get my revenge later, you know.´

...

A few hours after I had fallen asleep, I woke up with a nagging feeling in my stomach. I recognised the feeling immediately and jumped out of my bed. I had to shake Edward´s arm off of me as he was surprised at my sudden movements. I didn't pay attention to that because I quickly ran to the toilet. I made it just in time, opened up the toilet seat and had to throw up.

Summary:

The chapter starts with Edward, who is waiting for Bella to wake up. His family returns from the fight and they fill him in on what happened. Emmett is sad since Jacob turned out to be faster and stronger than him. No lemons here, just some friendly family interactions.

Each family member has something they want Edward to tell Bella once she wakes up. Except for Rosalie. She just apologized for her attitude towards Bella. No lemons.

The family leaves and Bella wakes up. Bella tries to unbutton Edwards shirt but he stops her. Edward tells her he is afraid he will hurt her. They discuss their boundaries. No lemons, but they discuss the level of sexuality they are both comfortable with.

The weeks progress and they try some things, LEMON WARNING. Also, they ace their Biology work and Jacob and Edward are friendly towards each other. Not best friends, but they respect the other.

Bella gets sick - chapter ends