EPOV
"Sleep my Bella" I tell her as she lays her head against my chest. Not even a minute later her breathing evens out and I know she's asleep.
Suddenly Alice's thoughts are running through my head.
Edward I brought you some clothes. I saw that you might need them.
"Thank you Alice. You can just leave them outside by the tree. I'll be down in a minute to get them." I say quietly so I don't disturb Bella who is now snoring lightly in my arms.
Gently kissing her forehead I untangle myself from her arms and jump out the window. It looks like Alice packed me some sleep pants for tonight and an outfit for tomorrow. You gotta love Alice.
After reentering Bella's room and changing out of my sticky sweatpants, not bothering to put my shirt back on, I climb under the covers with Bella once again. As soon as she feels me lay down, her arm is reaching out for me. I love that she wants me even in her sleep. Gently I pull her onto my chest and nuzzle my nose into her hair.
"Mmmm Edward" she mumbles in her sleep and I grin.
The one thing that I miss most about being human is being able to sleep. It's a great way to occupy time, which as a vampire I have a lot of. It also separates day from night. Sometimes it feels like my life is just one really long day that will never end. I wish that I could enter the dream world and be completely worry free for a few hours a day. Humans don't know the luxury they have when it comes to sleep. It doesn't matter what worries or troubles you have, when you're asleep they all float away. As a vampire, when I'm worried about something it sticks in my mind forever. I never have any down time. I would love to just shut my eyes and escape the world for a little while although right now my reality is pretty perfect.
I'm broken out of my thoughts by Bella's mumbling.
"Raccoon…has the headphones"
I try hard to suppress my laughter.
Bella's sleeping face shining in the moonlight is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. She's so perfect, she takes my breath away. As I'm watching her, her lips turn up into a grin she starts mumbling again.
"Edward you're silly" she snorts and rolls over to her other side.
I let her go and then press my front against her back, throwing my arm around her waist and burying my nose in her hair. Closing my eyes and breathing in her scent, I let my body relax. It's almost as if I'm asleep. If only.
Around 5 am I hear Charlie bumping around in the bathroom. He's been working really hard on a case lately and unfortunately for him that means getting up and going to work on a Saturday.
I better check on Bella before I go. She's probably out cold.
I have just enough time to hide in the closet before Charlie comes into the room. He pulls Bella's blanket up a little more and tucks it around her shoulders. After brushing a piece of hair off of her face, he kisses her on the forehead and heads downstairs. Slipping out of the closet and back under the covers I can't help but wonder how Charlie will react if Bella chooses to become like me. Well I don't need to worry about that now. She's never even hinted at wanting to.
Charlie writes Bella a note and leaves it on the table for her before he heads off to work. He's going to be working all day so that means Bella and I will get to spend the day together alone. I'm definitely looking forward to that.
It seems like weeks before Bella begins to stir in my arms. She buries her face in my neck and I feel her mouth form a smile against my skin.
"Good morning love" I tell her softly.
"Good morning" she says planting a small kiss on my neck.
"How did you sleep?"
"I slept really well. Did I talk?"
"Oh yeah I got a pretty good show about raccoons and headphones. Oh and apparently you think that I'm silly." I tell her watching her face turn pink.
"Well you would be silly if you were trying to put headphones on a raccoon wouldn't you?"
"Yeah I guess I would" I laugh. "So what do you want to do today? Your father left a couple of hours ago. He had to go into the station today and he probably won't be back until dinner time. The whole day is free."
"Hmmm well we could just stay here." She suggests while kissing my neck.
"That would be wonderful, but I think you'll need to get out of bed at some point. You know to eat and shower, things like that." I tell her and she pouts, but her stomach lets out a loud growl and I laugh.
"Come on love." I tell her kissing her nose "You go shower and I'll see if I can find you something for breakfast."
"Alright" she grumbles and gets out of bed.
She's still wearing that sinful nightgown and I have to readjust myself when she starts walking away from me. Suddenly she turns around catching me ogling her behind. She just smirks and heads into the bathroom.
Changing into my clothes that Alice brought me, I head downstairs to start breakfast.
After looking at the contents of her refrigerator and cupboards, I have concluded that I have no idea how to make her breakfast. The shower shut off about five minutes ago so I start upstairs to ask for her help. Entering her room I almost swallow my tongue.
"Sweet Jesus" I mutter under my breath.
There's my beautiful Bella in just her bra and panties. Her hair is wet and dripping down her back. I hold in a groan. I want to follow one of those droplets with my tongue.
She still hasn't heard me come in and I know I should just turn around instead of ogling her like a pervert but I can't seem to move.
"Edward what kind of clothes do I need to wear today?" She yells out thinking I'm still downstairs.
I'm still in shock but I manage to mumble "Anything you want"
She screams and jumps across the room. Holding her hand to her chest she yells "You scared me half to death!"
I don't know about death, but I can definitely hear that her heart is pounding.
"I'm sorry love. I came up to ask for your help with breakfast. I never imagined I would be walking in on this." I say waving my hand to indicate her half naked, gorgeous body.
She looks down at herself like she doesn't know what I'm talking about; she squeaks and grabs a blanket to cover herself.
"Oh my gosh!" she mumbles "I'm so embarrassed. I was planning to lose a few pounds before you saw me like this."
"You have nothing to be embarrassed about love. Your body is gorgeous. Please don't lose any weight. I love you the way you are." I tell her completely sincere.
"I don't know. My hips are kind of out of proportion with the rest of my body; so are my thighs and breasts. Nothing a strict diet can't fix."
In two strides I'm standing in front of her with my hands on her still-blanket-covered hips.
"Your body is perfect. Please don't go on a diet. You're so mouthwatering that it's taking everything in me right now to stop from stripping this blanket off of you. Your body is gorgeous, please don't change it. It would be a sin."
"Okay" she says letting the blanket drop a little lower giving me a tantalizing view of her cleavage.
"I think we'll go out for breakfast" I squeak out. "Just dress comfortably." And with that I run down the stairs and desperately try to calm myself.
After breakfast, I tell Bella that we are going to be hiking a little bit today. I want to show her my meadow. I know she's going to love it. Plus it will give me an opportunity to show her what I look like in the sun.
Parking the car at the pull off, I get out and open Bella's door.
"Um Edward I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not really the hiking type."
"Hmm well I can run with you if you'd like. Give you a piggyback ride."
"You mean run at vampire speed? Like the last time when I almost threw up?" She almost threw up last time? I didn't know that.
"Don't worry love just close your eyes this time and we'll be there before you know it."
"Ooookay" she says wearily. Bending over I instruct her to get on my back and the moment she's secure with her arms around my neck and one of mine around her leg and the other on her backside, I take off. I stop just a few feet from the meadow to let Bella down.
"Are you ready?" I ask, slightly nervous.
"Yep. Lead the way." She says grabbing my hand.
Leading her into the meadow I stop just a few steps in and she wanders into the middle. Spinning with her face up towards the sun and her arms out grazing the top of the wild flowers, she is the most glorious thing I've ever seen.
"Hey aren't you coming out here with me?" She asks breaking me out of my admiring.
Taking a deep breath I head out toward her and into the sunshine. I hear her gasp when she catches sight of me.
"How..How is that possible?" She asks running her hand up and down my sparkling arm.
"Carlisle believes it is because when we are changed, our skin becomes hard like diamonds or granite. It is the hardest substance in the world and therefore, like those stones similar to it, we refract the sunlight. In other words, we sparkle."
"It's beautiful. You look like an angel." She says with awe in her voice.
"Believe me, I'm no angel, but I'm glad you're not scared." I tell her breathing a sigh of relief.
"Edward I could never be scared of you. You're my mate. Our souls are connected. Don't ever be afraid to tell me something. I love you. That's never going to change."
"Good" I say and plant a soft kiss on her lips.
"This place is amazing" she says after a few minutes of walking through the meadow.
"I know. This is my favorite place in Forks. Every time we move to a new city, I like to go exploring to find a place that is all mine that I can go to to get away. Having voices constantly running through my head can get tiring after awhile, so I like to come out here and clear my head. You're the only person that I've ever brought here or that even knows about it. I'm sure Alice knows somewhat but she would never invade my privacy by coming here without me inviting her."
"Thank you for sharing this with me, Edward. It really means a lot to me." She says placing her warm hand on my cheek. I take a second just to enjoy the warmth before turning my head and kissing her palm.
"Now do you want to go exploring a bit or just sit down and relax?" I ask her. I can see the mischief in her eyes and immediately know what she's going to pick.
"Lets go exploring." She says and I laugh. Taking her hand I let her lead me where she wants to go. I've pretty much been all over this land, but I tend to see everything differently when Bella is with me.
Walking through the brush together she tells me about her many fishing trips with Charlie and even one hunting trip.
"We were up in a tree. We'd been there all day and hadn't seen a deer yet. I didn't really mind. I like spending time with my dad and it wasn't too cold out. Anyway its almost time to go home when a deer walks by. It was so cute. I looked through my binoculars at it and saw its cute little twitching nose and immediately yelled 'NO BAMBI RUN!'. My dad fired off a shot and missed as the deer ran away. He never let me come hunting with him again."
By the time her story is over I'm laughing hysterically. No wonder Charlie never takes her hunting anymore.
We've been walking for about twenty minutes when we come up on a stream. It's September so it's too cold to swim in but still pretty.
"I just love the sound of the flowing water. Don't you?" Bella asks. I nod in reply as I watch her take off her shoes and roll her jeans up.
"Bella you probably shouldn't do that. You could catch a cold or slip and fall." I tell her worried. There are a million different ways she could hurt herself.
"Oh come on Edward live a little." She says stepping into the creek and wading in the water. "Are you going to join me or are you just going to stand there and watch?" she yells out. Well there's no contest there. I let out a sigh and start taking my shoes off. I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm over a hundred years old and this woman makes me feel like I'm seventeen again. I would never have done this before I met her. It just isn't proper.
Stepping into the water I can tell that's it cold, but it doesn't bother me. I quickly make my way over to Bella and pull her into me.
"You're a little troublemaker, love." I tell her and she just smirks at me.
"I know"
She steps her little feet onto mine which gives her the height she needs to kiss me. I want to drown myself in her kisses but right now I can't. After a minute or so I have to pull away.
"Come on love. You really should get out of the cold water. I don't want you to get sick. Please" I add on with a pout.
"Okay fine." She says and we wade our way out of the water.
Once we get to the bank we sit in the grass to let our feet dry before we put our shoes back on. I'm surprised when Bella lays down with the back of her head in my lap so she can look at the sky. She lays there watching clouds while I watch her. I memorize every freckle on her face and every expression that she makes. She's so perfect.
"Edward can I ask you a question?" She asks after a little while
"You can ask me anything love."
"Um last night. When I um you know." She says with a blush.
"When you had an orgasm?" I ask smiling
"Ugh do we have to use that term? Its so clinical." She groans
"Okay fine love. How about 'you found your release'?" she just wrinkles her nose
"Alright I guess that will do. Anyway when I came I noticed that you did too or it seemed like you did. I was just wondering. It didn't seem like you were close before so I was just curious." She's so cute when she's flustered and nervous.
"Just another part of being mates love. Of course we can feel each others emotions so last night we were feeding off of each other's intense desire. Another aspect of that is when one mate…finds their release the other one will too at the same time. It is after all the most intense feeling that the body has, so when one mate is experiencing it they both will. And I just want to tell you that that wasn't the only reason that I did. I was just as…excited as you were."
"Okay so how far does that reach? I've been wondering that about the emotions thing too. If I'm in Florida and you're here would you still feel my emotions? What about Seattle?"
"It does have a range. If I was at my house and you were at yours, we wouldn't be able to feel it. It's like my mind reading or Jaspers gift, it can only reach a couple miles at best."
"That's good to know." She says
"Are you planning on doing something that you wouldn't want me to know about? I would never invade your privacy Bella. I promise you that." I tell her sincerely.
"No um.. I was just wondering if I was to…satisfy myself if you would know about it." She says blushing.
"Um" I clear my throat "If I wasn't close than no I wouldn't know about it and it wouldn't affect me."
"Okay" she says softly as I try to think of anything to make my arousal go away.
Mountain lions…deer….Emmett in a dress….
Phew, okay.
"Bella it's getting pretty late. I think we should head back."
"Okay. It's my night to make dinner anyway." She says as she starts to put her shoes back on.
"Edward can we come back here sometime?" She asks as she climbs on my back.
"Anytime you want, Bella" I kiss her hand and off we go back down the mountain.
It doesn't take long for us to reach the car. After making sure Bella gets in okay, I get in and head to her house.
Charlie isn't home when we get there so we have time to make dinner. Bella decides on baked chicken breasts and starts making some kind of seasoning rub to go on them. I'm pretty useless in the kitchen so I just stand back and watch her. Believe me, it's a pretty good show.
Once the chicken's seasoned, it's ready to go in the oven.
"Bella please let me do that. I don't want you to get hurt."
"It's fine Edward I can do it. I've been cooking all of my life." She says grabbing the pan and putting it in the oven. As she pulls her hand out it hits against the side of the oven and she cries out.
"Bella!" I'm over to her in a flash and have her hand pressed against my ice cold skin. "We need to go to the hospital." I tell her and start pulling her to the door.
"Edward its just a small burn. It probably will be healed a few days. Just let me run it under some cold water and put some ointment on it. It's fine." She tells me. Looking at her hand I can see that she's right. Okay, I may have overreacted a little bit.
"Okay you go put it under cold water and I'll get the medicine." I say heading upstairs to the bathroom.
I'm back to her with the burn medicine in less than a minute. Taking her hand out of the cold water I pat it dry and very gently rub the ointment onto her red skin. She was right it is just a small spot.
"You're all done." I say putting the cap back on the tube.
"Thank you." She says smiling up at me.
She goes to the refrigerator and pulls out a bowl that has salad in it and some dressing. After putting it on the table she goes and gets plates and silverware.
"Here let me help you. I don't want you cutting yourself with that knife."
She mumbles something like "silly overprotective vampire" but hands me the silverware.
Once the table's set I hear Charlie's cruiser coming down the road. He knows me now so I think it will be okay if he finds me here. It's not like we're doing anything other than cooking. We save that for nighttime. But he doesn't need to know that.
"Hey Bells. Smells good." He yells as he comes in the door. When he sees me he stops in his tracks. "Hello Edward. I thought that was your car out front. Have you been here long?" he asks raising his eyebrow.
"No sir just long enough to help Bella with dinner." I tell him and he just grunts.
The timer goes off to the oven and Bella reaches over to grab an oven mitt.
"I don't think so." I tell her. "I'll get it. I don't want you getting burnt again."
"You burnt yourself B?" Charlie asks worried.
"It's just a little spot. I accidentally brushed up against the oven when I put the chicken in. It's fine."
"Are you sure? We can go to the hospital if you think it needs to be looked at." Charlie says and I smirk. Great minds think alike.
"I'm sure dad. It's fine. It will probably be gone by tomorrow." She says huffing.
Setting the chicken on the stove and taking off my oven mitts I say "Well dinner's ready so I think I'll head out and let you guys get to it."
"Edward you should stay. You helped Bells make it, its the least we could do to have you stay." Charlie says politely.
"Yeah Edward stay and eat with us." Bella says with a smirk.
"Okay thank you for the invitation." I head over to the cabinet to get myself a plate and silverware.
"So Edward how are your parents?" Charlie asks as we all sit down and Bella starts dishing out the chicken. She makes sure to give me a small piece, which I am grateful for.
"They're doing well. Dad enjoys working at the hospital and mom is working on redecorating our house. She is an architect but she decided to be a stay at home mom since my dad works so much, so every now and then she lets her creativity explode on our house." I tell him while alternating between putting bites of chicken in my mouth and some in my napkin.
"Huh I didn't know that about Esme." Charlie says while shoveling more chicken into his mouth. "This is really great Bells. You and Edward did a good job."
"Thanks dad." She says
"Believe me, sir, it was all Bella. I'm pretty useless in the kitchen." I tell Charlie. Well that's one thing that I can be 100% truthful on.
"Edward you can just call me Charlie, and I'll bet Bella will have you cooking like a pro in no time. She taught me and now I know how to make a lot of different things." He says proudly.
"Well, we'll just have to have some cooking lessons then" I say smiling at Bella
"Sure" she replies.
After dinner I help Bella and Charlie clean up and then say goodbye.
"Thank you for staying tonight Edward. I think it means a lot to Charlie to get to know you." Bella tells me as she walks me to the door. Charlie is long gone to some sports show on television.
"No problem Bella. I want him to be comfortable around me. He means a lot to you so his acceptance means a lot to me." I tell her honestly.
"Well I think you're well on your way to being accepted."
"Good" I say leaning down and kissing her lightly.
"I'll be back as soon as I take my car home." I tell her
"Okay, I'll be waiting." She says smiling up at me with love in her eyes.
Well if that's not incentive for me to get back quickly, I don't know what is.