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Chapter 126
Home Again
Edward
At my urging, which of course earned me an Emmett style quip, we had left a little earlier than we had planned.
I just couldn't wait to be with my family again. Even though it was actually the middle of the night, and they would all still be asleep.
I hurried the last miles to Saco to our house while probably setting new personal best times.
The trip with my brothers had been really fun, even if my beloved was so far away. Thereby I only had happy memories with my family in my head or imagined the reunion. It was a little like it used to be with Jazz and Em. We goofed around, annoyed each other, came up with stupid ideas that would cost us our heads as humans, but also had more or less profound conversations when the actual hunt was paused.
Bella and the children were omnipresent in my thoughts and the desire to see them again as soon as possible grew with every hour. Nevertheless, I had enjoyed the trip as soon as I had managed to detach myself from Bella. It was strange. I had had the feeling that I was not allowed to go. May! Not could. As if something forbade me to leave her alone. But she was not alone. She was with our children. With our friends. I would have preferred not to leave either. To separate from Bella, even if it was only for two days, caused me almost physical pain. To me it would be just fine if I could always be with my angel. Day and night. Every minute. However, she was absolutely right. This fundamental desire that we both had, we would not be able to realize forever.
My promise in all honor, but the reality looked different.
The trip with Zoey to Atlantic City next spring really posed a problem for me in that regard. They had already booked hotel rooms, but the ladies would share them. Since it wasn't just Zoey and Bella who would be driving alone, I couldn't sneak in with her at night. That is, if they found their way to bed at all. Esmé was also invited, so at least I wouldn't have to worry about Bella. Alice and Rose wanted to go Christmas shopping in New York with Bella. Without men! I would have to endure a bachelor's party, as I had gathered from my brothers' thoughts. Just like Bella.
A visit to the Denalis. They already knew that I had found my soul mate again and would never let her go, but except for Carmen and Eleazar everyone else were not very enthusiastic about it. Irina had a problem with the wolves that had destroyed her mate Laurent. It had not been Jake and Leah, but that represented no difference for her. And Bella was the mother of these two wolves. Tanya was jealous because she had never given up on me. I would not give her an opportunity to behave improperly toward my angel. Kate, on the other hand, just found it generally questionable that I was sharing my life with a human.
All in all, they were little time-outs that every couple had and that we would also have to live with. Or should be able to live with.
I had studied Jasper's and Emmett's thoughts on this matter.
For our kind it was natural never to want to do without their mate. So I heard it also from their thoughts. They thought a lot about Rose and Alice, missed them, but it didn't seem as intense as it did for me. At first, I thought it was just my subjective perception, because it was my own grief after all. However, Jasper confirmed that for him my urge was different from Emmett's in intensity. We even found an explanation for it. I missed not only Bella, but also my children. In addition, there was the constant worry about Bella, because she was only a tender human being. With each passing hour, the desire to see my family again as soon as possible became more engaging. Among my brothers, the need did not go that far. Nor did they feel physical pain the longer they were separated from their wives. I did.
When Jake called me in the morning, I was terribly worried and was already quietly discussing with my brothers that I would run back. Bella sounded so depressed that I had images in front of me how I had found her one Saturday night in her emotional abyss. But with every word, her mood seemed to change. Cheerfulness and joie de vivre penetrated more and more through her words, and I knew that I would be able to endure this further separated day. Her ultimate cheerfulness inspired me and let me actually experience the hours alone with my brothers a bit more liberated.
In the evening, all three of us talked on the phone with our loved ones.
I was a little offended that Bella actually kept me waiting. However, she probably hadn't known who was on the phone. Leah had said nothing. The overheard conversation made me wonder. What were they doing at home that David had to get dressed? However, both enjoyed my unrestricted trust. And for the very improbable case that I should be really naive in this respect, I still had two guard dogs in the house! Excuse me! Two guard wolves!
Hearing Leah's and then Bella's happy voice did me good and gave me strength for the rest of the trip.
Until the moment when I saw a crying angel in my thoughts. Worst feelings of guilt flamed up and took away all control over myself. My cold heart contracted, and I immediately ran off to comfort my cherub. But she calmed me down again. David would have already soothed her by unknowingly reminding her of that breathtaking night at the hotel. All melancholy thoughts had fallen away from her and from me as well, as I remembered my angel in the midst of the sea of candles. I even smirked as I thought about how she tried to be mad at me, but I had kissed that thought out of her awareness.
Finally, I reached our home and with excited fingers I fumbled the key into the lock. Quietly, I pushed the front door closed and remained there for a short moment.
I breathed deeply.
I was home! The smell of my family was overwhelming, along with the steady sound of six hearts. Some alcohol was also in the air.
I turned to the stairs and caught a glimpse of the living room. I walked through the doorway and shook my head. I smirked.
Less overwhelming. This looked like an amusing party. Glasses and bottles were everywhere on the tables. The pillows from the sofa were scattered around. Empty chips bags on the upholstery. Music CDs scattered untidily in front of the stereo. Chairs were overturned. An ice pack lay on the floor. Cookie crumbs as far as the eye could see.
I immediately rushed up the stairs.
On the first door on the left. Jake and Becky - even reasonably dressed. It must have gotten late if they hadn't even found more leisure for love.
Jake was lying on his back with Becky snuggled close to him, whereby one of his arms was hanging off the bed.
I quietly walked up to them both, squatted in front of them, and carefully put Jake's arm back over Becky's back. Before I quietly left the room again, I gave them both a gentle kiss on the forehead.
I had missed them. But not only those two.
Therefore, I went one room further. I knocked quietly because Leah was awake at the moment. Marcus had hit her in sleep when he had turned to her.
"Dad?" she asked sleepily as I stepped through the door.
She almost fell out of bed, drowsy, but I caught her and then stood in front of it with her. She hugged me tightly, as I hugged her.
My Princess.
"I missed you!" she whispered.
"Liar!" I retorted, pointing to the half-naked man in her bed.
She tilted her head with an embarrassed smile.
"Go back to sleep, little one. It's much too early for young wolves!" I said softly.
She nodded and yawned. She carefully climbed back into bed, snuggled up to her boyfriend and already didn't notice how I pulled the door shut behind me.
The last door. The most important door. With two heartbeats behind it. I had already recognized the second one as David's.
Even though the first sight of the two of them should have shocked me, I was still unable to feel any jealousy. Bella and David were lying in bed with less on than my children, who were wearing only the bare necessities. The clothes of the two were spread in and around the bed. Bella's light-colored jeans hung under one of her feet tightly, and David used his T-shirt, entangled around his arm, as a pillow.
They had apparently fallen asleep without thinking and then, presumably due to the oppressive warm air from the heating system, got rid of their clothes while half-sleep. Bella wore all her jewelry and David also had his watch on his wrist, which he usually took off before 'going to bed'.
I took all this in the span of a blink of an eye, because my eyes were glued to my goddess.
Bella lay on her stomach on the crumpled bedspread - with nothing on her body but a pair of dark red lacy panties.
All longing and all worries fell away from me. I knelt down on the floor next to Bella and gently pushed a few strands out of her face.
Feeling her dark soft curls around my fingers enraptured me. I bent closer to her and sucked in her flowery aroma.
How good she smelled!
With one hand I gently ran over her silky smooth skin. Over her shoulder and then down her naked back.
This warmth and how the blood pulsed under her skin. How had I been able to stand it for two days without her?
"Edward!" she muttered suddenly.
A little control look at the clock.
It was too late for her nightly monologue.
"Yes, dearest. I'm here," I whispered and immediately two big sleepy brown almond eyes looked at me.
How much I had longed for those eyes.
I put my hands to her cheeks, but that didn't seem to be enough for my impetuous angel. She pushed herself towards me so that I had to hold her lest she tumble out of bed, and pulled her against my body.
She hugged me so tightly, with her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, that I would probably never bring myself to leave her alone again. It was so good to feel her.
For a few minutes we sat there like that, without moving. But another desire grew in me, now that the emotional longing was satisfied.
"Bella, dear. You should go back to sleep. It's too early to get up," however, the reason in me voiced. It was just five o'clock on Sunday morning and all indications were that it had gotten late for the people in the house last night.
Bella lifted her head from my shoulder, looked at me insistently and began to kiss me greedily.
I returned the demand of her hungry lips, but I gently pulled on Bella's arms to break away from her.
Surely she couldn't be serious? But I smiled. That shouldn't be their seriousness. This incredible physical desire obviously still haunted both of us. Since we were in the hotel.
"Bella! It's the middle of the night. You need to sleep. I have to take a shower first. And David's laying in our bed!", I listed sadly and pointed proving to the lying surface of the bed. Would my friend forgive me if I immediately threw him out of the house as he was? At the current comfortable minus twenty-one degrees air temperature? Certainly not! After all - he would only have to go three houses away.
Bella contorted her frustrated face and chewed her lips, brooding.
Almost roughly, I pulled her chin back in my direction.
"Drop it, my heart. Only I may!" I determined and nibbled on those sweet lips that were driving me crazy, almost forgetting David. And what I had been doing for the last two days. Wrestled with wild animals. Swam in a lake. Scuffled with my brothers. "Bella. I really need to take a shower!" I made another attempt to break free from Bella.
But she didn't let me go and I did not really want to miss her for a second. So I got up with her and went to the bathroom.
David woke up when I threw the door into the lock behind us, but not awake enough to notice anything. Not even that he lay in the wrong bed.
I frantically pulled the shoes off my feet and the clothes off my body, but couldn't keep my lips and fingers off Bella's skin. We only just made it under the shower, with Bella not even taking note of the fact that the water was far too cold for her to begin with.
Satisfied – for now at least - and wrapped in a bathrobe and towels, we returned to the bedroom kissing.
Ah yes. David. He was still lying there asleep. Fortunately, we had fallback options.
I threw Bella over my shoulder, who at first gasped in fright and then chuckled amusedly and went with her to the guest room. On the way, she threw aside my towel wrapped around my hips and lost it in the hallway. My thus exposed bottom she covered it with her hands.
Once in the other room, I let Bella fall onto the bed and buried her under me. Actually, I had wanted to urge Bella to go back to sleep, but I just couldn't do it. Her lustful gaze captivated me, her hands compelled me, her lips convinced me, my reason allowed my own lustful urges to take over.
Experiencing my angel so intensely caused a real rush in me ...
Later, her head was on my chest and her mane spread over my belly. She smiled while I cuddled her back neck.
"Welcome home, my heart!" she greeted me lovely as a heart.
I laughed.
The first complete sentence in the entire hour and a half I've been back here.
"Nice greeting!" I replied. "If you receive me so love-crazed every time, I think I'll go hunting with my brothers more often!"
Of course, the blood rose to her cheeks again and I put a hand over it to cool her down.
This reaction of her body was still uncomfortable for her. I just found it adorable.
She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned against my hand before kissing her way across my torso and greedily hogged my lips. I sought her hands, intertwined my fingers with hers, and gently pushed my goddess back onto the bed before disengaging from her mouth. I fought hard against myself so that I kept my wits with me.
"Don't, Bella. You need a break!" I stammered, no less taken by the excitement than she was. But she was only a human! We had just made love for almost an hour at a time. That had to leave traces on her fragile body. In addition, she would still need rest from the too short night.
She breathed in frustration and looked at me. First offended, so that I smirked a little. But then her look became serious.
"Change me!" she demanded in a firm voice.
"EXCUSE ME?", I asked in panic, collapsing on top of her, terrified. All my passion was extinguished in one fell swoop, even before Bella really felt my weight on her.
I clenched my hands into fists and clenched my jaws. Fortunately, I still had the presence of mind to release my fingers from hers, so that I didn't break them in shock. My head went haywire.
These words caught me completely off guard. The pros and cons fought a relentless battle within me. How did she come up with them now? I had assumed I wouldn't have to deal with that desire until next summer. Until the kids were in college. And Bella hadn't made a wish. She had demanded it!
Twenty-two seconds passed before I got to the bottom of the solution.
Twenty-two seconds in which I had just looked at Bella as if stunned and her gaze became more and more evil. More and more determined.
"You promised!" she reminded me resentfully, flashing her eyes at me.
My facial features relaxed.
Well, that's what I got out of it.
"I have not forgotten!" I smiled and supported myself again a little, so that I did not crush my angel further.
"So you do it!"
Her gaze was alert.
She didn't trust me a bit in this respect. Rightly so, as I had to admit.
"Of course," I purred.
I kissed my fiancée and let my fingertips gently stroke over her throat before I slowly and pleasurably ran with my tongue along the carotid artery and placed small kisses on it. Our breathing became heavier together again. The excited pulsation of the vein vibrated inside me. Her legs wrapped around me voluptuously and the excited fingers in my hair pulled me towards her.
"But not today!" I ended my little expedition at the exact spot with a kiss where I would bite her. One day.
I raised my head, but Bella hadn't quite grasped my words yet.
"WHAT?" she then yelled at me.
"I will transform you, my heart, but not today!" I said again clearly.
The realization flashed fearsomely in her angry eyes and she raged beneath me. She hit me, kicked me, screamed at me, while I watched my angry angel almost smirking.
She was so delightful when she got angry.
"You promised! ... You asshole! ... You gave me your word! ... Why not today? What's different tomorrow than today? ... You said if I ask you seriously! I am serious, Edward! I cannot be more serious!" she roared and wanted to break free from under me, but I did not let her escape.
"Would you please be angry at me a little quieter!" I said calmly.
"Why should I?" she roared on. "You're hardly going to get an acute hearing loss as a vampire, which you won't let me become!"
"You're going to wake up our kids if you keep yelling like that!" I replied.
She bit her lower lip in shock and was silent.
And I covered her lips with mine, which she would forbid me.
"We haven't seen each other for two days, Bella. Do you really want to argue with me today?" I asked in the meantime, when she could no longer defend herself against my kiss.
That seemed to bring her back to her senses a bit and she looked at me crossly.
"An argument that you can only lose!" I added further.
"Why?" she then wanted to know considerably more quietly, but her eyes continued to flash at me.
"Various reasons!" I said with a smile, letting my goddess escape from under me after all and sitting down on the lying surface of the bed.
"Then name me three!" she demanded offended, raising her eyebrows, and unyieldingly folding her arms in front of her chest. She demonstratively sat down on the farthest part of the bed from me.
"You would gather together the whole neighborhood with your cries of pain," I began with the least important thing. It wasn't really an argument. I would be able to get her through the window into the woods and then into my house quickly enough before even a neighbor or even the children would notice. But I wanted to remind her of the unspeakable pain.
It worked. She swallowed noticeably, but otherwise did not let her discomfort show.
"I guess it won't be that bad!" she downplayed it.
My little martyr. I had emphatically explained to her how painful the transformation actually was. Let's say I had reminded her of that. She knew a hint of these pains from James. Like one being burned alive. She trusted in this point that most - like herself at that time - would not know what was happening to them and therefore perceived it as more cruel than it would actually be. That would be different with her now. I had to admit that I could not deny myself a certain logic behind this consideration. Nevertheless, it remained pain that she could not imagine. Everything in me resisted doing that to her.
"I haven't seen you two days and you're just going to separate us like this for another three?", I asked next, crawling a little way towards her. I wanted to savor our reunion first and not spend the next three days watching how she screamed her head off. "And not tell Jake and Leah about this?" I asked afterwards. That was the twins' condition. They were fine if Bella wished the transformation, but they wanted to know BEFOREhand.
Bella's expression softened a bit, but remained defiant.
So I brought up my crucial reason why today would not be the last day of her life.
I slid the last bit to her, sat behind her and put my arms around her. However, she only looked at me stubbornly over her shoulder.
"I will not be responsible for you spending Christmas without our children!" I said.
Bella immediately closed her eyes guiltily and her head fell against my shoulder.
That too, of course, I had explained to her. That it was uncertain when she could safely approach a human again without feeling the painful burning in her throat, which was based on only one thing: bloodthirst.
"I didn't even think about that anymore," she admitted in a whisper, and I kissed her gently on the hair.
"You forget everything that awaits you after this rebirth and what you will suffer during it, just to have unbridled sex with me without having to take your humanity into consideration. I am flattered!" I stated.
Honestly, I was really flattered. But my angel rather embarrassed. I noticed how she pressed her heated cheek against my skin, and I helped on the opposite side with my cool fingers.
"We're managing a little of that now, aren't we," Bella smiled boldly at me, stretching toward my mouth while her hands tingly pushed their way up my legs.
I surrendered to her enchanting fingers, which did things inside me that I would never have thought possible before. Everything in me burned with excitement and I kissed, massaged, and caressed obsessively every square inch of my goddess ... until we both lay exhausted in the pillows. Her lips were red and swollen and so I cooled them gently with my tongue. A mistake! That alone was enough to rekindle the fire in me and Bella didn't seem to feel any different. She wanted to pull me over her, but this time I stood my ground. More than I would have liked.
"Bella. Please. You need a break!" I almost pleaded.
"What's wrong with us?" she asked after a moment, lost in thought.
"I don't know, my heart," I replied, lying down next to her and pulling her to me.
We had been together again for eleven weeks, but we had never turned each other on as much as we had in the last few days. Like animals. For me, that was perhaps a suitable excuse for my behavior, but not for Bella.
"Am I sick, maybe?" asked Bella, unsettled.
I smiled sentimentally.
Lovesick. This reminded me of that time, in the restaurant. I can hear thoughts and she thought she was a freak because I couldn't hear her.
"I have two medical degrees. If you were sick, I would already know it!" I clarified my abilities here once, even if my medical knowledge was almost outdated. "Maybe your hormones are just going a little crazy. You ovulated two days later than usual," I reflected.
"How do you know that?" she asked, almost startled.
"Your body temperature rises a little. Something like this doesn't escape me!"
"It's kind of scary that you know my body better than I do!" she complained, offended, and I laughed.
The fact that the female cycle sometimes lost its rhythm was quite common. That was no reason for concern. For menopause, Bella would still be a bit early, so this possibility was ruled out. The fact that her hormones were out of balance could have many causes, and most of them meant nothing. But that would explain why her smell had changed by a small nuance. The flowery bouquet that her blood exuded had become somewhat tarter, and at the same time an underlying sweetness had been added. It was only a small subtlety, which could well come from a hormonal change. But this is exactly what could have an impact on my own sexual urge. That this subtle nuance influenced me intuitively. Because I really didn't notice any symptoms of illness. On the other hand, when I visualized Emmett and Rosalie, maybe it could just be my nature, which I restrained only because of Bella's fragile delicate body. I pondered this possibility for some time and took it upon myself to discuss this confidentially with Carlisle unless something changed in the next few days.
Bella fell asleep in my arms after all, which calmed me down a bit.
She would otherwise miss sleep.
My family was known to consist of more people than just Bella. And they expected to be fed in the morning.
So I got out of bed a little after eight and quietly went into the bedroom to get dressed.
David was still sleeping placidly in my bed.
I took my usual route to the kitchen.
Constantly accompanied by the soothing sound of Bella's heart ... and that of my children. Of course. I had forgotten.
When I came through the door into the living room, I stopped abruptly.
THAT I had also forgotten. The mess that one had made here yesterday.
I just shook my head and went on to the kitchen. I was still gathering ingredients when I heard Esmé approaching. I opened the patio door, and she hugged me warmly in greeting.
"What are you doing here so early? They're all still asleep," I said.
"That's exactly why I'm here so early," she winked at me and entered our house.
With hands placed in front of her mouth in shock, she surveyed the state of the living room and wondered in thought if a bomb had hit here.
So it hadn't looked like that when she and Carlisle had said goodbye yesterday. But I also saw the reason why she had really come. So early. She played Santa Claus. There was a nice old custom at Christmas time. An Advent calendar. From December 1 until Christmas Eve, they opened a little door every day. Esmé had spent the night with Rose and Alice making one for everyone and now wanted to hang them secretly in the living room. To stop her from carefully cleaning it up first was not in my power. After all, she was my mother!
"What did you hide in there?" I asked, as I viewed the wall.
Six long strings hung between the windows in the living room and attached to them were small packages with nicely decorated numbered clothespins. And each string was labeled with names. Jake, Becky, Leah, Marcus, Bella and even for me they had made one.
But Bella hated gifts. No matter how small they were. Still does.
"Don't worry. It's really just little things - Christmassy verses and a little something to snack on", my mother reassured me, and I thanked her for this nice idea.
However, I smirked.
Something to snack on? In my calendar? She would hardly have drawn blood from Bella.
"Do you have a key to David's house?" she then asked.
I rolled my eyes.
It was clear that the ladies did not hold back and had also been busy crafting for his family.
"Be quiet. It's Emma's time to come over," I forewarned her as I handed her our key to David's front door.
She nodded conspiratorially and left.
But then instead of having Emma standing in the kitchen, David woke up. He washed a little to wake up, wondered where Bella was, looked briefly reassured in the guest room and came down the stairs with a headache.
I held out a glass of water in which a tablet was dissolving bubbly, which he gratefully but silently accepted.
"Well? Late last night?" I asked clearly, without really raising my voice.
"Don't shout like that!" he muttered, contorting his face ever so sweetly as I chuckled.
He drank the glass in one go and I immediately held out coffee to him. He climbed laboriously onto the kitchen counter.
"It wasn't that late," he mumbled tiredly, mentally trying to recap the evening with clock times.
I realized that my kids had gone to bed around midnight and he and Bella hadn't stayed up much longer after that.
"What was that?" I inquired intently as the image of a kiss flitted through his fogged head. He tried to remember the entire scene, at which point I smiled again, relaxed. It was as I had thought. They had drunk some and then just fell asleep.
David slowly became really awake, told a little about yesterday and let me participate in his thoughts and through some pictures on his phone.
It had apparently been a nice day, even if it was quite long. In the meantime, I sat next to him on the countertop.
"Can I ask you why MY wife demanded YOU get DRESSED while I was not around?" I asked still played indignantly.
He laughed at my jealous tone and immediately told me that too.
How he had complained about the shrunken sweatshirt and had barely gotten it off. Then while he was trying to get his T-shirt out of it, Bella pulled a sweater of mine out of the closet and was suddenly so sad that she cried. He hadn't seen it coming, that's how quickly this change in mood came. Even though I knew that she had laughed afterwards, it still hurt me to see it now in David's faint memories. But he had comforted her and cheered her up again.
"Thank you for being there for my angel!" I said sincerely.
David nodded as he sipped his coffee.
"You'll return the favor when I have to go to Philadelphia for two days this week!"
"Of course. I will take care of your family!" I promised.
"I think it would be appropriate if we ended this the way we started. With a joint breakfast. With you!" David meant after a moment.
"Are you suggesting this, so you don't have to do anything?" I echoed smirking. He didn't look like he wanted to do anything in general today.
But his answer surprised me.
"I think about it mostly because of Bella ... Twice yesterday she was in a bad mood just because you were absent. And on Friday, I would guess that she was afraid to come here alone. With this final breakfast, it would be a kind of proof that even if you're ever not there, you'll always be with her in the end!" he explained his intention.
They were not particularly poetic words, which could well be attributed to the morning hour and his subsiding headache, but the meaning behind them was quite profound.
"I had you being here already planned!" I pointed to the cooling rolls. The same idea had occurred to me.
We laughed together.
Then he enthusiastically jumped on the floor, held his head for a moment, and then rubbed his hands.
"So, what can I do? I don't want to let you do everything on your own ... Again," he asked elatedly.
So, I introduced him to the basics of the perfect breakfast.
Thanks for reading!
