A/N: This has been a tough year, tough past few months, tough day-to-day. I just couldn't share more while grieving for the last few months, if that is what it was ... or is. Then, I rushed to finish during hiatus. I was like Bella, first sentence.

I hope this finds you all well.

There are 7 more chaps after this one. The last sprint to the end. Thanks for sticking around and for your reactions! xoxo.

Chapter 63 - Their Wonderland

Bella is on a cloud. A fluffy one that would never let you sink in and fall through. Blue skies, birds chirping like they're setting the mood purposely, comically. On the trail before her, her child stumbling beyond, but not too far, and his spitting image beside her keeping stride.

Elliot did it again. This morning, just like yesterday, he ran up to Edward with wide arms aimed for him.

The first time, Edward wasn't ready. Well, he'll never really be. His large hand cupped the boy's head as he hugged his leg. This morning Edwards' thumb and finger rubbed together swiftly at his sides, ready to catch the boy. And he did. His strong arms easily found Elliot's torso, and he lifted him up.

Edward has carried him in his arms before, the first time they've met, but this time it was different. Elliot held on around his neck, cheek to shoulder. Edward's hesitant pat at his back, softly, after many tries of figuring what to do with his hands. He held on deliberately. His expression lost in speeding thoughts.

Bella barely held on to calm.

Oh, her heart. It burst inside.

Elliot stuck to him like glue, foregoing the routine of the morning to slowly wake up from his full night's sleep over a strong shoulder. Edward found a rhythm as he slowly paced the wood floors. Back and forth, he walked to the breeze coming in through the open doors.

Her back turned to sob over a bent elbow; her head stuck in the fridge like an ostrich in the ground. A lunatic looking for ingredients for breakfast, tears in her eyes.

After breakfast, full of Elliot's jabbering and silliness, she snuck to her room to cry enough to get some off her chest. She breathed, breathed, breathed.

Bella, breathe.

Time.

Just time.

She turns to look at Edward beside her. Everywhere the boy goes, he follows with his eyes. He quickens his steps when Elliot runs too far, his fists tensing. His focus all on him. Bella observes the wonder. He cares. He's starting to. She hopes it isn't just the forced circumstance that makes him react, do, get it done, like he's been faced with lately; an errand on a farm. She hopes his instinct of keeping the boy from danger is becoming … paternal. Part of him.

She hopes. That's all she's got.

"He'll be okay. He's very familiar with the trails. His Pop, Sue and even Sam keep him running up these trails day after day. He once came all the way back home after running away from Sue." Bella chuckles. "That was certainly a day."

Edward doesn't reply. But it's a comfortable silence here together, like old times, hiking with him. Well, more like tagging along. She always followed him everywhere. She looks down at his hand. The one she'd catch. She wasn't scared back then; she just wanted to hold on.

God, was she crazy. Too forward. She doesn't know that girl anymore … the Bella before was something else. She shakes her head.

"He knows your camp. He's visited. Well, we have, many times. It's not far." She admits. "He loves it. He's asked if it's a hidden world from the rest of us." She smiles. "I couldn't spoil the truth. Not when he was born there."

She peeks up at him. He slowly looks back at her.

"The tent?"

"Your tent," she confirms sheepishly. "It's … a long story. Maybe I'll tell you sometime."

He's speechless, really. A birth in his tent? A boy that is his. He'd never think such an event would happen there. It was a home to him. Not anymore. He's moved on.

"Have you been back?"

"No." Simply said, no add-ons. She nods. He didn't know where he was, not until he broke into her cabin. He figures he's close, seeing the familiar paths.

"Would you want to?" she asks.

He doesn't answer. Maybe it's a delicate subject.

"Maybe another day, then."

Today, they're walking to the Cullen house. Maybe that's why he's so quiet. Well, himself. But he did ask how far the house was. Bella decided to make it a day.

She sees the numbness in his eyes. Maybe he is going through the motions right now. He's paralyzed. Today he will be face to face with his mother, with everyone.

It's not like he never wanted to, or that he tried to stay away. But it is what it is … his life changing back without him anticipating any of it.

It's time, he thinks. His parents must be older.

The lilacs appear in the distance. The small town seems to sneak up to them.

"You were close. Just a few minutes away," Bella tells him about the short distance. "Did you know?"

He shakes his head slightly. "No."

Bella smiles in awe. Serendipitous.

He stands out by the gate, just his head tilting to peek in. But Elliot breaks the ice, of course. The boy goes in running, ready for the familiar welcome.

Jane hops out of the front door, her wide smile. "Aunty Jane!"

"Hello, buddy!" She gets down to his level like only she can, and hugs him. The moment she looks over his shoulder, she grows quiet. Her features seem to smooth over like the sickness is all gone, like she's a woman of her age, and reacting as such. Her blue eyes blur up like her paintings.

Not a word as she runs up to Edward in her Mary Janes, and crashes into him.

Bella wipes at tears. She goes right up the steps and into the house. Maybe she should warn Elizabeth.

She's in the kitchen, putting a lid on a tall bubbling pot, her hands wiping on her apron as she looks up at Bella. And it's like she knows. Her eyes turn to the window, then her apron is coming off, and she's walking past Bella and out the kitchen.

Bella holds Elliot by the window, rips a piece of bread from the counter to busy him, and watches their heartfelt reunion on the lawn surrounded by purple flowers.

Today is a very special day.

Edward feels it. He can't deny. He didn't know they'd miss him this much. He's just grateful. Grateful, this scenario wasn't the same one from his dream; of him worn down, with filthy ripped clothes and him hungry.

The reality is, he's full. He had breakfast this morning, Bella made. He bathed with lake water, and he smells of soap he bought himself.

He wouldn't want Mom to worry. He guesses it doesn't make a difference; she seemed to worry anyway.

She smells the same. His mother. Her grays barely changed her features. She's as warm as he remembered. He tucks his lips on her shoulder, and he feels what Elliot must feel.

"I was fine," he assures her by her ear.

Elizabeth stands back and looks at him, arm's length. "You were. I knew you were, or I hoped I was right." She reaches to straighten his collar like Bella did yesterday, but his mother let's go, shrinkingly… son like Mother, them both so timid around the other. Definitely not the emotional bleeders.

Emmett walks out from the garage. He just stands there at the large entrance, maybe squints his eyes, but nothing. Then Erik turns his head from under a hood, curiously. Two brothers present, the others are at their respective homes or jobs. It's a weekday.

Emmett walks back where he was hiding after cranking a tool in his hand. "That soup done yet?" He asks his momma. One good spit on the ground before he moves away. Erik—bigger than both brothers, hair lighter over the same blue eyes—turns back to the motor. Today's like any other. Their brother has come home.

"Best go. I'm sure they'll have things to say. Your father is upstairs." Looks like he'll have to deal with that one too.

Jane and her giddiness will just have to wait. She holds onto his hand the entire time, just like she used to when they were kids. She hangs on, not wanting to let go, not even when she's not allowed in the garage with all the heavy equipment. "That's what Emmett says," she tells him. "You'll let me go in, right? Right, Edward?" Edward doesn't answer, but let's her hang on as he heads there.

Bella watches all four siblings disappear into the garage for hours.

The mystery eats at her. All those introverts in a few square feet. She could only imagine what's happening in there. Maybe they just stand there and stare at one another, or maybe Jane is the curious one asking all the questions no other dares ask. Maybe, they're all mind readers; silence is wavelengths of high-pitched sounds humans can't hear.

She chuckles.

Bella could write an entire thesis on them alone.

Eventually, they do appear. Bella guesses even mutants get hungry. They all quietly fetch their own bowl and serve themselves without a word, moving around the kitchen like a choreographed dance. Then they go their respective ways. Even Edward helped himself, but he stayed in the kitchen with Bella and Elliot, pacing around as he ate and observed this, or that, and out the window.

Bella was emotionally spent after a series of heart-melting events: A tour of Jane's mural, a visit upstairs with his father—another gripping mystery Bella couldn't witness as she watched Edward go up the stairs—and another tour of Edward's room, guided by a very possessive Elliot. Everything was his as he pointed. Bella watched Edward sit on his bed, quietly looking at the piles of books still around his room as Elliot talked his head off. The books in this house are a story in themselves. They're in every corner—some piled on the staircase, others in hallways. Bella has spotted a few first editions over the years; her awe safely kept behind her palm to keep quiet.

She still finds it an adventure to come here.

The moment they take the last step on the main floor, seeing Elizabeth sitting in the living room waiting, Bella knows to give the woman and her prodigal son privacy. Words will be said. Lessons. Possibly reprimands. Who knows. All Bella knows is she will not be a witness to that. She gets herself and Elliot ready to head back home.

The yard is their wonderland, with Jane, the empress of it with her big imagination. Elliot is a giggling mess.

Edward steps out on the porch a long while later and slowly walks to the gate. He waits for Elliot's hand to catch his. He glances once at Bella, and she knows it's time.

The walk back home is quiet, yet palpable.

…