Remember 9

Chapter 9

Bella s POV

I bolt upright in bed, the sheets a tangled mess.

The dream, it felt so real.

It was real.

I hate it! I hate seeing them killed over and over again and still I never see the killers.

Who are they?

The bed dips beside me, and I gasp, "Shh, it s all right," Edward, says. "I heard you in here; you had a bad dream."

"How?" I ask him, confused.

He pats the wall I always sleep next to, "My room is on the other side of this." He answers. "Are you okay?"

I untangle myself from the mess I ve made and curl up into a ball. "Yeah, it s just " I hesitate to bring it up since it isn t only hard for me, for him too. "I m sorry."

He nods, "Don t be. It s completely understandable."

I sit back again, relaxing as the dream somewhat fades. "I hate it, Edward," I tell him. "I hate not knowing who s done this. I wish I could help."

"You are helping, Bella," Edward says leaning back against the headboard with me. "Every bit of information that you can remember, it helps."

"You haven t figured anything else out yet?" I ask, hopeful.

Edward shakes his head, "Carlisle has made sure everything is running smoothly as if nothing ever happened. No one has been able to take over our territory. Things are quiet." I m surprised at the honesty he s showing me. Edward usually just shakes his head no; I think he tries to protect me or something.

I get a glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table, "I am so sorry." I tell him again, it s 3:12 in the morning. "It s late, you should go back to sleep."

"I m fine Bella. I m used to being woken at all hours of the night." His arm brushes mine. "Do you think you ll have that dream again?"

I shrug, "Maybe, sometimes it happens more than once in a night, then there are nights I don t remember anything." I say. "Sometimes I wish "

"You wish what?" he leans over on his elbow.

I shake my head, "Nothing, never mind."

"Bella." He says, reaching out and grabbing my hand. "You can tell me."

"Well, when I was little, I use to have terrible nightmares. They were so bad that someone had to stay with me, to wake me when they started. After a while, I learned how and when to wake myself without help. Of course, I always had to be talked into going back to sleep." I explain.

"I ll crash on the loveseat if that ll help."

I bite my lip. Just the thought of this nightmare plaguing my dreams again makes me hesitate. "I promise, I won t leave you, come on." He says placing his large warm hand over mine. Slowly I relax, watching and copying his movement until we re both lying down. "Get some rest Bella, you want to be wide awake tomorrow when we teach you to shoot." He says in a low voice.

"Thank you." It comes out as a whisper.

He gives me a crooked grin, "Goodnight."

"Night," I tell him as I relax further and fall into a dreamless slumber.

~oOo~

"What, no." I shake my head in disbelief. "I don t want to talk to him."

"Please, Bella? He knows he fucked up, he won t do that again." Edward says.

"Give him a chance, he s my dad, I promise he s not always that big of an ass," Alice adds.

These two have been trying to convince me to talk with Carlisle ever since I woke up this morning. "It s not happening," I tell them.

"He just wants to help," Edward says at the same time Alice chimes in.

"He s the best, honestly."

My stomach twists with nerves.

Carlisle Cullen makes me uneasy and to be alone with him in a room freaks me out. Last time I d talked to him, well, actually it was the first time I d ever talked to him, he yelled at me and accused me of things that I just don t even want to remember.

"You don t even have to say anything, just hear him out," Edward tries one more time.

I look back to Alice, just hear him out? Aw, crap Alice is pouting.

..

We sit across from each other at the breakfast table. No one talks; we just stare at each other. It s weird, but it s not awkward like I think it should be. I don t think Edward looks anything like his uncle. Thinking about it, I d say he looks more like his mother.

Carlisle clears his throat, and I sit patiently waiting.

"My wife says I should apologize to you for my behavior." He starts. "I always make sure there s nothing to apologize for. I know my facts and what I say I always mean. Always. I ve never had to apologize to my wife or family, but they all think I should apologize to you." He crosses his arms, and I copy his movement. "I don t do that. I never apologize " He almost looks angry, and for the first time, he looks away from me, down at the table. "But I am sorry for my behavior. I should have talked with Edward first; I jumped the gun, and like I said, I never do that." He looks back up at me, his eyes softening. "I m sorry Isabella."

I sigh and drop my hands down to my lap. "Okay," I say.

"Okay?"

I nod. "Yes, okay."

"Does that mean I m forgiven?" he asks.

I shrug. "Maybe, I ll consider it. You came here and screamed in my face, you called me names and accused me of things you knew nothing about. My forgiveness may take a while, but like I said, I will consider it." I tell him standing up from the table and walking away, something no one has probably ever done to him without being dismissed first.

I push through the door of the kitchen into the hall, and Edward and Emmett both straighten. "Are you all right?" Emmett asks.

I nod, "I m fine. Are we ready to go?"

Edward and Emmett look back and forth at each other for a good minute before Edward nods, "Yes, Alice and the others are waiting in the living room for you, go gather them and we can leave."

I step around them and head for the living room. He wasn t kidding; Esme, Alice, Jasper, and Jacob are waiting, and Esme is pacing.

"Oh, dear, how d it go?" she asks, rushing towards me.

"Everything is fine now, can we go?" I ask.

I don t like how everyone looks around at each other. Are they waiting for me to break down again or something? "Yeah, come on, let s go shooting," Jacob says bouncing on his toes and walking over to me. He wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me towards the front door.

~oOo~

"You have a firing range underneath your home?" I ask as we step into a lower level of the place.

Esme smiles, "Of course, it s a great way to blow off steam." She says walking over to wall full of guns and even bows and arrows. It s all too much.

"Aw, dude, I knew I left them some place here," Emmett says getting our attention.

He comes out of the stall wearing white plastic fangs. "Grrr." He holds out his hand like a claw.

I m trying to hold back my smile as everyone else looks at him as if he s lost it and maybe he has.

"I m a vampire; I m going to suck your blood." He leans towards Jake. His face scrunches up, and he tilts his head away, and my giggle escapes me.

"No, don t encourage him." Edward groans.

I smile over at Emmett, who snaps his fangs at me and then winks.

"All right, let s get started," Esme says clapping her hands together.

Everyone knew what they were doing; even Alice and Esme, but I, on the other, had no idea.

"Here, I brought you this," Edward says handing over a case. It s heavy, black, and has the letters SIG written across it. "It s a .357 Sig. It s small enough to conceal, but it does have a kick to it. This is what I want you to learn with; it s yours so that you can get comfortable using it." He explains.

I set the case down and open it up. It s all black, sleek and deadly looking. I guess any gun would look deadly but this one gives me chills. I pick it up, and a rush of adrenaline courses through me, mixed with a bit of fear. I look up at Edward for direction, and he smiles down at me.

"To conceal it, the best place is right here," Edward says pulling me closer as both arms wrap around me as he lifts the back of my shirt.

Alice is smiling and rolling her eyes before continuing to clean her gun. Everyone else is busy.

I feel his fingers skim just above my jeans before he pulls on them a bit and the cool metal of the .357 slides against my skin and into the waistband of my jeans.

A shiver courses through my body, and I don t know if it s from the cool metal sliding across my skin or if it s from Edwards touch; light as a feather against my lower back. I stare at his chest for a few seconds before finally looking up at his eyes. He smirks down at me. "How does it feel?"

"It s " I look back down at his chest. I m feeling confused over this, whatever it is. "It feels fine."

..

"Breath, relax," Edward says from beside me.

I ve gotten close, but I haven t hit the right area; the area that I m supposed to hit, and it s pissing me off.

"Come on, just loosen up," Jacob says on the other side of me.

I growl, "Maybe having you two hovering over me is what s causing me to miss?"

Both step back and around the two short walls into the other cubes. I close my eyes and mentally shake myself.

I can do this.

I open my eyes, breath and squeeze the trigger.

Jacob presses the button to bring the target closer so that we can look at it. I can feel the smile spread across my face.

I did it.

"See, I told you," Edward says.

"Let s try it again," I tell him.

This time, they stay with me as I empty the clip. When the target is brought back up, the center is gone.

I don t even know how much time has passed, how much time we ve spent downstairs shooting, but by the end of it, I felt like a pro.

I was just about to put away the gun when Edward speaks up behind me. "I d rather you keep that where I showed you." He says.

"Do you always keep yours on you?" I ask him.

He laughs, "Of course I do, always more than one." Okay, so it was a stupid question, and I should have known that.

"So you want me to carry this here?" I ask, touching my lower back, he nods.

I slid it into my waistband and turned around, "Is this right?" I ask him.

He chuckles, "No, here." He walks closer, and I feel the metal slide in where it should be. "Like this," He says, his lips right by my ear. His hands brush my skin, and I shiver again, as he pulls my shirt back down. "Always make sure your shirt is covering it."

"Hey, are you two staying for dinner?" Esme asks, walking towards us.

We both turn to her and the way her eyes look to us, it makes my skin heat. "Sure, we can stay," Edward says.

She smiles at us very kindly. "Good, the boys are upstairs; I think Jake and Emmett are having a sparring match." She says before turning on her heels and walking back the way she d come.

I take a step forward, but Edward stays put. "Are you coming?" I ask him.

He nods, "In just a minute, go ahead, I ll catch up." He tells me.

I hesitate, looking him over. He really is quite good-looking. I give him a small smile, nod and head for the stairs. Once upstairs on the main floor, I hear the rowdy laughter coming from outside.

I head for the door to find Emmett and Jacob shirtless and wrestling in the backyard. Even though Emmett is a big guy, bigger than Jacob, he is still holding his own pretty well. I step out onto the patio and go to lean against the rail with Jasper and Alice.

"Who s winning?" I ask.

"It s pretty even," Alice says.

Jacob looks up at us and then does a double take when he sees me, this distracting him, and Emmett takes the upper hand sweeping his leg out and knocking Jacob off his feet and onto his back, pinning him there.

"Ha, I win." Emmett hollers.

"That s not fair," Jacob says, jumping to his feet. "I was distracted. Hey, Bella, can you throw a decent punch?" He asks me.

Emmett laughs, startling us all. "Can she throw a punch? She broke my girlfriend s nose."

"I didn t know Rose was your girlfriend," Jasper says confused.

"I didn t know Bella broke her nose," Alice adds. They all look at me, and I shrug.

"Hey, come down here and let s box," Jacob says.

I don t get a chance to answer before Emmett speaks. "Jake, really, Edward will kill you if you hurt her."

"I won t hurt her, she can just box me, and I ll give her pointers and what not; self-defense." Jake motions for me to join him.

"It couldn t hurt, learning self-defense just in case," Alice says encouragingly.

With a sigh, I step down the stairs and join the guys on the grass. "We ll just practice on hitting for now." He puts up his hands and motions for me to come at him.

"I m supposed to punch your hands, right?" I ask, putting up my fists.

He smiles and nods, "Yeah, come on."

"Kick his ass Bella," Alice shouts down at me.

I smile and throw my first punch and Jake howls. "Damn girl, you can throw one! All right, let s do this."

Jake actually does teach me more than just hitting. I learned how to throw an accurate punch, the art of ducking, how to avoid a punch, and where to hit your opponent.

"All right, kid, it s my turn," Jasper says jumping down the last few steps.

I step back off to the side and spot a garden, so beautiful and colorful; I was immediately drawn to it.

I wander off a bit in that direction, running my fingers through the soft petals of the flowers. Esme sure does have a green thumb. The smell is intoxicating, calming. I can picture myself out here reading a book for hours.

"Isabella." A voice sounds out, making me jump.

I hadn t seen him, but he s here and already very close to me. "James." The name slips out of my mouth without me wanting it to.

"It s so lovely to see you again." He says, eyes roaming over me, making me squirm. "Is Carlisle home?"

He takes a step forward, and I take a step back. "I don t know, probably," I tell him.

His eyes flick past me, behind me into the woods. He squints and then glares. "Get down!" He shouts, jumping forward, grabbing my hand and pulling me to him, then down, just as loud thwacks hit the side of the house. "Crawl with me, Isabella," James growls and makes me move with him as he s acting as a human shield.

"It s them, isn t it?" I ask as I do some form of an army crawl through Esme s beautiful garden.

"Yeah, it is." He says.

"Now move!"

Authors Note; OMG...lol anyways I'd like to thank SunflowerFran for correcting my mistakes, she's totally awesome! I also want to thank everyone for reading, Following, favoriting and recommending this story and friending me on FB! You're all awesome! Tell me what you think about this chapter!