Chapter 26: The G Word

Alice POV:

I'd never seen Bella sleep to peacefully before. She did not have one nightmare. I had floated off into a nice trance which made the morning come in minutes. Bella's eyes started fluttering in that way I knew meant she was about to wake, so I kissed her eyelids to bid her a good morning. She smiled and opened her sleepy eyes to look at me.

"Good morning." I whispered into her ear. I have never been this happy, or let alone even close to being this happy. She groaned slightly and stretched her limbs out.

"Good morning to you too." I put my head back on her chest were I had been laying, and relaxed against her while she played with my hair. There was really no rush to start the day.

"Do you always have to wear these?" I asked her while I played with the dog tags that she was still wearing.

"Well yeah I guess. It makes it easier if I'm killed or something so they know not to mess with my body. Or where to take me. That sort of stuff." The way she talked about death so nonchalantly didn't sit well with me.

"So how does that work? Liam said you kind of come back to life after some time. He also mentioned it was quite painful." If her dying was a painful experience, I didn't want her doing it at all. Plus there's something instinctual about not wanting my mate to die in the first place, even if I know she can't really die. What if she has a limited amount of lives or something? I don't know. One can never be too careful.

"Yeah pretty much. It's usually about a few hours or so." I noticed she didn't expand on the painful part. But I'm not going to spoil our perfectly good morning, so I continued to play with the tags around her neck, thinking.

"Do you want some breakfast?" I asked getting up, realizing I was neglecting my wolf. "I can go make something for you."

"Since when do you cook?" She sat up looking at me with a sly grin on her face.

"For you information, I asked Esme to start teaching me how to cook for you. For mornings just like this."

"Well now that was a little forward of you." She teased at me. I rolled my eyes and grabbed one of her flannels to put on, like any cliché overnight visitor.

"Oh be quiet. You stay there. I'm bringing you breakfast in bed." I kind of knew what she liked as a human so I figured it hadn't changed much. So I made a stereotypical eggs and bacon breakfast with toast and coffee on the side. The toast got slightly burnt, and I'll admit I'm not really sure how to make coffee. But it looked good. I think.

"Wow." Bella exclaimed when I ran it all up to her. I was eager for her to taste it. She took a very hesitant bite.

"Well? How is it?" She pondered me for a moment.

"You know maybe I should do the cooking from here on out." Oh no.

"Is it really that bad? I've only had a few lessons with Esme, but I really thought I was learning stuff!" My dreams were shattered.

"They say it's the thought that counts."

"Ugh oh shut up. I've ruined it. I'm Charlie Brown." She started chuckling as I plopped face down on the bed in defeat.

"Aw come on Alice! I think it's really sweet that you're trying to cook. But really, you don't have to. I've been cooking forever and am perfectly capable of feeding myself. And of course Esme is feeding me every chance she gets as well. Trust me, I'm not going to starve to death." I was being a little dramatic. It's just I've had this morning on my mind for a while and I wanted it to be perfect. Almost as if she read my mind, she leaned down and whispered to me. "This morning is perfect. You could never ruin anything."

"How about making it even more perfect?" I asked while propping myself up and arching my eyebrow. Bella laughed once again.

"Oh no I've made a monster haven't I?"

"Oh yes you have." I purred.

The next hour or two were spent in the bedroom. Her joke about me turning into a monster may be true. I didn't ever want to leave her side. Eventually we got up to get some proper food for my mate. After all the various activity, she needed some fuel.

"Oh by the way, I forgot to tell you I'm going to be out of town next weekend." She told me casually while eating her breakfast.

"What? Why?" I didn't like her leaving. She was my mate. Vampires tend to get very territorial after having sex with their mate for the first time. I would have mentioned this to her, but I figured she already knew since she was half vampire and all. Apparently not if she was leaving.

"Just an assignment. Some forces are being backed up by the Volturi to defend their land. Yada yada. It's just a weekend though." She looked up at me confused about my sudden mood change.

"No."

"Sorry?"

"No! I don't want you going! You'll be in danger or get killed or worse. No. I can't think about you being hurt or even being captured again." I was getting angry at how she wasn't taking this seriously.

"What the hell Alice? When did you get all clingy? I can do whatever I want. We've already had this discussion, have you forgotten?"

"That was about fucking other people! And we weren't even in a relationship then!" I had gotten up to yell. It was heated now. "This is about your fucking safety! I think I have some say! It's not like you need a job or anything for financial reasons!"

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Bella had gotten up as well, obviously seething. "First of all I have this job because I like what I do. It makes me feel like I'm actually doing something right in the world! You of all people should support me with that. Trust me, I don't need this job. But to me it's not a job, it's my life. So you need to deal with that. And secondly, what relationship? I told you I don't want a relationship! What part of commitment issues did you not understand? So stop telling me what to do, I am not your girlfriend!"

It was as though someone had stuck one knife in my back and another in my un-beating heart. I couldn't even stand to look at her right now, I needed to get out of here. She obviously realized she had crossed a line because she started trying to apologize right away. I wouldn't hear it though. She kept calling me as I ran out the door, so I turned to face her.

"Glad to finally know how you actually feel."

A/N: Oh Bella. I swear you're like Gilligan, always messing shit up. But Alice you gotta cool down too. I'm so very tired. New chapter should be up tomorrow night. Probably another lemon. Everyone loves make up sex. And that wasn't a spoiler ok? They're mates. Not like they can sulk forever.