Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.

Rated M for several reasons.

Chapter 16: The Balcony

BPOV

It isn't freezing tonight, the weather is on the turn, but my exhales are still being carried away into the branches as gossamer trails. The only sound is the branches gently jostling with each other. It's so peaceful.

If this were my house, I would have a steamer chair out here and I would fetch myself a hot chocolate to enjoy while my comforter keeps me warm and I breathe in the atmosphere.

Bliss.

I sigh loudly.

"Are you alright?" A quiet but familiar voice asks.

A few metres to my right Edward is standing on what I assume is his balcony, enjoying the same quiet moment.

My first instinct is to be annoyed, but I don't seem to have it in me right now.

"I'm fine, I'm just enjoying the moment."

"It is beautiful is it not?" He says with a sigh of his own. "Esme creates a splendid home, but the outside spaces are where she excels. I spend hours out here, like this."

I nod. I don't blame him.

"I will leave you in peace," he says after a few moments, "but can I get you anything first?"

"Can't you read my mind?" I ask. Something I have wanted to know ever since Jake mentioned it.

"No," he replies, "everybody's but yours."

I nod. I believe him.

"But I do know humans," he adds with a chuckle, "would you like a hot drink and something to sit on?"

"No, I'm fine, I don't want to be any trouble."

"Bella, I am vampire and I do not sleep, nothing is any trouble in the dead of night."

"Alright then, hot chocolate, if you have any?"

He laughs quietly. "I believe that Alice has Esme purchase some a few days ago, I'll be right back."

"Alice," I growl as he disappears inside.

Five minutes later he's back on his balcony with a steaming mug in one hand and a chaise lounge perfectly balanced on the other.

"Vampire," he explains to my open mouth.

With no effort at all, and no sound, he leaps between the balconies, setting the chaise lounge down and gesturing for me to settle in. Which I do. Then he hands me the hot chocolate, devastates me with a crooked smile, and jumps down to the forest floor below.

"Well," I whisper to the once again silent night, "wishes really do come true."

I savoured the chocolate and stayed out there for an hour or so before the seeping cold drove me back inside. I slept like a log.

…..

"Knock, knock,"

"Alice," I grumble, "you don't need to say knock, knock when I can clearly hear you knocking."

"Sorry," she trills as she pushes the door open, "I have brought you breakfast in bed. Eggs, bacon, pancakes and strong coffee."

My stomach rumbles as I wriggle upright so she can place the tray on my lap.

"You're spoiling me," I point out.

"No," she disagrees, "Edward fetching you the chaise and making you hot chocolate in the dead of night is spoiling you."

"You know, I thought we'd talked about you enabling Edward."

"I didn't," she huffs, "I asked Esme to buy hot chocolate. The rest of it was all Edward."

"Hmm."

"Oh, hmm, yourself," she says with a pout. "Carlisle said he'll be ready to leave in about an hour if you are."

"I will be," I promise, "and thank you, Alice, for the hot chocolate and the breakfast."

"You're welcome."

…..

It was a hard shift and my bare kitchen was suddenly unsatisfactory to the nth degree. I called Jake to see if he could recommend a contractor and he said Jared would be round after my shift the following day for a consultation. I am not sure how I feel about having my kitchen designed by a boy who once unironically wore a purple and turquoise shell suit to a cookout at La Push, but I promised to give him a fair hearing anyway.

…..

"An Island?" Leah asks, as we sip beer on Charlie's back porch and watch Harry sleeping in his car seat through the living room window.

"Not that kind of island," I sigh, handing her Jared's sketch, "a kitchen island."

"I know that, Princess Medical Degree," she laughs, taking the sketch, "I wouldn't have thought there was room in Charlie's tiny kitchen."

"We will," I assure her dryly, "be knocking through."

"Knocking through what, the back wall?"

I nod and she full on breaks out laughing. "Wait, you're actually serious?"

I nod again.

"Wow," she breathes, "I seriously underestimated Jared's upselling skills."

"Me too," I admit.

She chugs some more beer and studies the sketch. When Jared extends out the back, he's going to create a balcony for my bedroom, it won't quite be among the trees, but it will be enough for me. Can he read minds; I wonder?

"This will be awesome," she admits, "does that mean you're staying?"

"Staying?"

"Well, Jake and I kinda thought you'd bug out, go back to the city, with Charlie gone."

"It never even occurred to me."

"Don't get me wrong," she says, "I love having you back and you belong here. But thousands of dollars are a lot to spend if you're just gonna sell up in a few months time."

I sip my beer and stare off into the trees. It genuinely hadn't occurred to me to leave. Should it? Do I want to live out my life in Forks? Trudge out my career at a community hospital?

…..

The rest of the week at work kicked my ass and Jared then pestered the hell out of it demanding decisions on materials, colors and other shit I barely understood. When we reached an accord, I invited Esme to lunch at the diner so she could weigh in with her expert opinion. She mostly agreed with Jared and I but made a few suggestions that we both really loved.

Jared now has the daddy of all crushes on her, which is amusing to me and probably extremely annoying to Esme, but what can you do?

Wolves and vampires are slowly coming together.

…..

The first morning of my three days off I open my front door to find Jake standing there with two gently steaming foil wrapped plates.

"Morning, Leah said you'd have coffee if I brought breakfast."

"I do, come in. I haven't seen you for ages."

"Being Alpha is busy shit," he says, following me into the kitchen.

"Are you okay?" I ask as I pour two giant mugs of coffee.

"Yes," he assures me, "I have Leah, I have Harry and I have a loyal pack, I'm good."

I grab a couple of forks and we settle in to eat of our knees in the living room.

"How are you doing?" He asks when he's cleared his heaped plate and most of mine.

"I'm okay."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Work is keeping me busy. The remodel is keeping me excited and you and the vampires are keeping me safe."

"I'm sorry about that," he says, becoming serious. "I wish we had a handle on the Sam situation, but he's disappeared without a trace."

"Is it possible he won't come back?"

"It's possible," he allows, "but none of us are gonna take that chance."

"I hate being a burden."

"You're not. And we know." He assures me. "Keeping you safe from Sam is the right thing for all of us to do and we'll do it as long as we need to."

Hmm.

"How are things with the Cullens?"

"Good. Some of the pack are still a bit hesitant around them, but that's all it is. Carlisle made a lot a friends with everything he did for us after Charlie died."

"There were so many injuries, I should have . . . ."

"Bella, we heal quick, especially with a bit of help from Dr Cullen. No one blames you for any of this."

"Apart from Sam," I point out.

"Well he's bat shit crazy so don't be hanging out on his side."

"I guess, but . . . ."

"Bella," he sighs, fixing me with a newly acquired Alpha like stare, "you've done really well with all this, don't start being a pain in the ass now, no one needs the hassle."

"Rude," I mutter.

"But right," he says firmly. "Now, while I'm here I'm under instructions to get some measurements and your final approval on the flooring for the balcony so Jared can order it."

…..

Since I've discovered the joy of balcony, I have been feeding my addiction with a seat on Charlie's back porch. There isn't much of a yard so it's almost in the trees, even if I have to crane my neck a little to look at the branches. I found an old sun lounger in what passes for Charlie's garage and cleaned it up so I can sit here with Grandma Swan's blanket over my legs and an air-cooled glass of pinot.

The sun has gone down behind the trees so there is only the odd flicker of red light through the foliage as it continues on its way for the night. A fire pit would be awesome at this point, since the evenings are still a little chill, but I am not complaining. Charlie's house is at the end of the road so it's soothingly quiet here, the nearest neighbor is several hundred yards away and separated from me by a thick wall of trees. I always used to avoid the yard, dark and hemmed in as it is, but I have a new appreciation of it now and can sort of understand why Charlie used to sit out here, when the weather allowed it, sipping beer and staring into the trees.

I wonder what he used to think about?

I wonder what I should be thinking about as I sit here and breathe in this fresh clean air?

Leah's words brought me up short earlier in the week. I know I chickened out coming back to Forks to work, but it was easy to justify at the time because of Charlie, except now there is no Charlie.

Instead of thinking about that I think about some of the things I found in a cursory inspection of Charlie's garage. An old boat that I'd forgotten he had. All his fishing gear, and I do mean all, clearly he had never thrown a single item out. Stacks and stacks of magazines, covering a wide variety of interests that I didn't know he had. A pile of bulging and exceedingly moist cardboard boxes that I decided I didn't have time or the inclination to explore. Various tools I've never seen him use and couldn't identify if my life depended on it. And a pristine Yamaha R1 I absolutely did not know he had. He had a visceral hatred of motorcycles. Based, reasonably, on the number of corpses he often complained he'd had to scrape off the highway or the front of logging trucks.

Did he ride it? I didn't see a helmet or a set of leathers. Did he go out, late at night, and let the wind whip through his hair? Did he confiscate it and keep it for some reason? I have questions. And much curiosity.

Also, I wonder if there is any way Jared can add a fire feature to my balcony? It's getting pretty cold out here, but I don't want to go in yet. I could fetch a jacket but I'm too comfortable and too lazy to move.

I wonder if I would like camping now I'm suddenly au fait with the outdoors? Charlie used to take me when I was little, but I don't remember much about it. I wonder if the tent is still in the garage? Who would I go camping with? No one I know would need a tent, or a boringly slow human to hang out with. No, I probably still wouldn't like camping anyway, there's a world of difference between a balcony on a comfortable home and a flimsy bit of material on a mountainside. Bella Swan, know your limits.

Actually, I can feel my limits now. Its too cold to stay out here any longer, my cheeks are hardening even as I think about it, and I can't make hot chocolate when I go in because, no kitchen. Abruptly I tip the rest of my wine onto the deck and retreat to my bed, dragging Grandma Swan's blanket behind me.