Caius

It was almost 4:00 now, and Isabelle should be here any minute. She had been coming by the Cullen house after school most days when she didn't have work. She would tell her father that she was at a study group and would be back to make dinner later that evening. It normally gave us a few hours to ourselves without interruption. We would play chess, talk about the day, and sometimes we would cook together. The fridge had a few Tupperware containers full of the various things that we had made together for after she would get back from school. She had helped me clean up the house. I had told her that I could do it myself, but she had insisted. She said that it was something she was good at, and that she wanted to help. It had taken us longer than I had guessed, but I didn't mind. It was really just another excuse for us to spend extra time together, and it gave us a goal to accomplish together as a team.

It had been a month since that night on the boat. Things were a little rocky for the first week or so, but that had to be expected. She had not touched me aside from hugging and holding hands. I know that she needed her time, and I had been as respectful of her boundaries as I could, but I was beginning to wonder if she still wanted me the same way I wanted her. We had not kissed since that night in Port Angeles. I yearned to talk to her, to ask her what she needed me to do so that she could trust me. I wasn't used to feeling so, insecure...so vulnerable. I was a king in Voltera, a ruler of the vampire race, and yet, Isabelle saw right through all of that, and only saw me for the man that I was, and I didn't know if she liked what she saw.

I heard the truck far before it was in front of the house. After a few minutes she turned off the loud engine and got out of the truck, the heavy door slamming behind her. I always left the door unlocked when I knew that she would be coming over. I heard her come in and go to the kitchen to fix herself a cup of tea. I made my way down the stairs to find her stretched up struggling to reach a box in the cupboard. I put a hand on her lower back.

"OH!" she yelled startled

"Sorry," I said, flashing a smile her way, "let me grab that for you."

"Thanks," she replied, taking a tea bag out of the box and placing it in her mug." How was your day?"

"It was fine. Same old same old. Eric is still bugging me to team up with him for the biology essay. I keep telling him that I like working alone better, but he just won't listen."

"Pity he can't take a hint."

"I really do like him, but he just drives me kind of crazy sometimes I just don't think we would work very well together. Jacob called me today too."

"Oh?" I couldn't help but feel a little jealous from all the male attention she was getting. I knew that she only thought of these boys as friends, but I couldn't say that having other men picture her in the ways that all teenage boys picture women didn't bother me.

"I haven't seen him in a long time now. He invited me out to La Push for a barbecue."

"And will it be just you and him?"

"Well Billy will be there too, and probably his friends. Maybe Sue as well. Why?"

"I'm just curious," I said, trying not to think of Bella surrounded by Jacob and his friends. I knew I had no right to tell her that I didn't want her to go, or that she couldn't have male friends just because I was seeing her.

"What's with you today? You're being weird."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, your acting weird. Is something going on?"

"No, there's nothing wrong," I couldn't tell her what I was thinking, lest she think it makes me seem weak.

She looked at me skeptically, "Okay...well you just let me know if you want to talk about this 'nothing wrong' then."

"It's really nothing you should worry about Isabelle."

"Okay..."she said turning towards the fridge and pulling out some pasta, popping it in the microwave.

"What would you like to do?" I asked leaning against the counter top.

"I chose last time, don't you want a turn?"

"I'm open to suggestions," I said with a smirk.

"Well," she thought, "There was this meadow that Edward brought me to once on a hike. I tried to find it a couple of times, but I couldn't figure out where it was. It was really pretty out there. I think you might like it. I've go the map in my glove box.

"You want to go on a hike?"

She nodded.

"In winter."

"Bad idea?"

"No, I'm just surprised. Sure, let's go on this hike."

"Okay," she said with a perky smile, "I'll go get my map."

She returned a few minutes later with a marked up map and spread it out on the dining room table.

"I know that we started at the end of this road, and that there was a trail, but we veered off this way instead," she said pointing at the map, "These are the lines I already tried, and these are the ones that I haven't."

It wasn't an activity I would have chosen, but she seemed excited that I wanted to join her in this search, so I was happy to go along. It also gave me the peace of mind that she wouldn't get lost out there by herself alone.

"What did this meadow look like?"

"It's almost a perfect circle. It was summer the last time I was there, so the whole place was covered in wild flowers. It took me a bit over an hour to walk there, and there was no path that we went across, so the trail maps aren't going to be much help."

"How about we start on this one then?" I asked, pointing to the shakily drawn line going north-east."

"Sure! I'll just finish eating and then we can go okay?"

It was dark and had cooled off considerably by the time we got back. Even though she was shivering, and I was dripping wet, she was still laughing.

"So what exactly was it you were saying about superior instincts again?"

I sighed. She was enjoying this far too much, "That I have them."

"And so it was these superior instincts then that lead you to to get hit in the face with that snow covered branch then?"

"Well..."

"Well?"

"You of course know I was aiming for you."

"Oh really then, superior instincts, but not superior aim?"

"That is exactly why."

I sent her a grin and she laughed.

"What's got you so cheery today Isabelle?"

"I just had fun, that's all."

"How about you go upstairs and put on a dry sweater and I'll bring up some tea? They're in the far left drawer."

"Sure, I'll see you up there in a few then?"

"Yes, I'll be up soon."

Tea in one hand, and a Tupperware full of reheated pasta in the other, I made my way up the stairs, through the hall way, and into my room. I found Isabelle laying in bed, the covers pulled up over her hips. Her jeans and top were hung up over the chair to dry, leaving her clad in just her undergarments and my grey pullover. I couldn't help but think what she was hiding under the sheets. The muscle of her soft smooth legs, and my hand trailing up them till I felt the delicate fabric of her panties and the trace of her hipbone underneath...

"What is it?" she asked, more self-contiously than flirtatiously.

"Nothing..." I answered quickly.

Her eyes dropped down to look at the sheets.

"That's the second time to day you've said that."

"Believe me Isabelle," I said with a humorless chuckle, "You do not want to know where the train of a man's thoughts leads to."

"Maybe I do," she said her eyes rising back up to meet mine.