Author's Note: I have been getting many emails with reviews and follows. They mean so much to me! I'm glad you all are enjoying The Gift as much as I am. I was initially going to lead up to Breaking Dawn and let the rest of the books take over from there, but I'm really liking the direction this is going in and I'm going to continue to veer off course a little. I will keep cannon couplings and stay as true to characters as possible within my changes. I hope you love it!
Edward and I helped Esme in the kitchen for a few hours, and although he could peel and chop a pound just as quicky as I could two or three single vegetables, I knew it was more about us all spending time together. Occasionally, Esme would sing a random Christmas carol with a contended smile and Edward would bring me bites of whatever dessert she was working on for me to sample.
Esme made enough to easily feed 50 people and then went to take some to the hospital. She also put some in smaller dishes for me to take home and reheat so Charlie and I could eat together.
"Edward, I really don't want to go back to Charlie's without you. It's been amazing spending time alone with you. And I'm….scared." I finished in a whisper.
"Do you think Charlie will be upset with you for something?"
"No, it's not that. I'm not entirely ready to have you out of my sight. I believe you that you love me and that you won't leave but it still makes me anxious not having you right with me. I realize that's kind of messed up –"
"No, it isn't." he assured me. "I feel the same way. What if I follow you home and wait for you in your room? Then, if you get really anxious to see me you can pretend to need to use the bathroom and run upstairs for a minute. I can sneak out the window if I hear your dad coming."
"You'd do that for me?" I asked.
"I'd do anything for you, Bella. Go ahead and get dressed if you want and I'll get your things ready for you." He said, gathering the dishes of food into a box so they would be easier to carry. When I was dressed, Edward had the food and my gifts packed in my truck and he climbed in to ride beside me until we got close to the house.
When I arrived at Charlie's, he was just getting woke up from sleeping off his night shift. He came outside to help me carry things in.
"Geez, Bella, did he buy you a ton of bricks?" Charlie asked as he carried in the box of books.
"Almost dad. Several boxed sets of books."
I giggled at the sight of Charlie struggling a bit to carry what Edward had lifted with one hand. Once everything was set inside, I preheated the oven and told Charlie I wanted to go freshen up before dinner. I almost screamed when I opened the door to my room and Edward was standing right there, at the door, staring at me. My eyes bugged out and he had to go bury his face in the pillows on my bed to silence his laughter. "Do you want to get caught?" I asked.
"No, but Charlie is distracted by something on TV. He didn't hear anything. Your face made scaring you a little totally worth it."
"You really are an asshole sometimes, Edward Cullen." I said, reminding him of our snowball fight. This just made him laugh harder and I couldn't help but smile. He was so handsome. I sat on the bed with him and gave him a kiss.
"You might want to go get in the shower though before Charlie gets suspicious."
"Right. You, behave." I said with a pout as I went to freshen up.
I showered and then went downstairs to warm up dinner for me and Charlie. Charlie was always delighted by Esme's cooking and even more so when I told him that I had helped. He was happy to hear that the rest of the Cullen family would be home soon. Although the Cullens weren't Charlie's favorites, he knew that meant that they were really staying and what it meant to me, and that, along with Edward and Esme's apologies, made him happy to have things back to normal.
After dinner, we exchanged gifts and then Charlie settled in to watch TV. I sat with him and watched a movie before he went upstairs to get ready for work, his last night shift before going back to his normal schedule. I was sprawled out on the couch, enjoying one of the new books Edward had gotten for me, when there was a knock on the door. Apparently, at some point Edward had snuck back home to get his car. "Missed me already?" I asked.
"Just go along with me." He whispered as we both went to sit on the couch. He asked me about my new book and how my dinner with Charlie was. And then, winking at me, he asked "Are you sure you're going to be alright staying by yourself tonight? I'm positive Esme would be delighted to have extra help with that mountain of dishes we piled up cooking earlier."
Charlie was walking downstairs, buttoning his uniform shirt. "That sounds like a good idea, Bella. I'd be less worried knowing you weren't here alone."
"Good evening, Chief Swan." Edward said, standing up and going to shake his hand. I was shocked to see Charlie shake his hand right back and wish him a Merry Christmas. "You're still not my favorite person." Charlie said to Edward, "But, you make Bella very happy and I'm relieved to see her looking so much better. You remember what I told you though?"
"Yes sir. I will never forget or break my word." Edward replied.
"Then go have fun, Bella. I'm sure Esme probably could use the help if she cooked as much as you say she did." Charlie said with a laugh as he kissed me on my head and headed out to work.
As soon as Charlie was gone, I threw the pillow I had been sitting on at Edward. "That's for going home when you said you'd stay."
"Did you just throw your butt pillow at me?" he asked with a grin. "Because it smells a little bit like butt."
He threw it back and before I could throw something else at him, I was in his arms. "I'm sorry, love, Alice texted me and told me that if I timed it right, you'd get to come home with me tonight too. I left a note in your room just in case. Let's go upstairs for a minute before we go though, I have something to show you."
We walked upstairs and Edward directed me to sit on the bed. He bent down in the floor and I had a momentarily very nice view, speaking of butts. "I heard that." He laughed and made me blush as he lifted up a loose floorboard, gathered some things in his hands and sat them down beside me. I gasped.
"Those were here all along?"
"Yes. I know I broke my promise to make it like I never existed, but I couldn't bear to go without leaving some symbol of my love behind for you. Here are your birthday gifts and your photos of us."
I couldn't help but cry as I looked over everything now spread out on my bed, including the photo of me and Edward I had folded in half because I knew that my looks were nothing compared to his. I looked so plain standing next to him. He was sitting beside me, holding me, before I had time to notice him even standing up.
"Bella, love, you still don't see yourself clearly. You're the most gorgeous woman I've ever met, and I've lived over a hundred years. I wish that you could read my mind just this once to see how much you mean to me." Edward wiped away my tears and leaned his forehead against mine. I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself down. I didn't want to cry, but sometimes I felt so incomparable to Edward. I could never hold a candle to the rest of his family, like Rosalie. Edward wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a kiss and as I felt myself slowly relax. "Let's get you back home so your dad doesn't see my car still here and get suspicious, then we'll talk more." He said, quickly packing a bag of my essentials and picking me up to carry me to the car before I could protest.
About halfway to the Cullen house, Carlisle called Edward and asked to be put on speakerphone. "Bella," Carlisle said, "I've been talking to Eleazar, a close friend of mine in Denali. He used to be sort of a talent scout for the Volturi. I told him that Edward could sometimes read your thoughts, when you are fully relaxed, it seems like. Eleazer believes that you have a gift, one that will manifest more fully when you completely join the family, in a manner of speaking. He says that you might be a shield."
"A shield?" Edward and I asked together.
"Yes, it means that she is able to block the mental powers of others, like you and Aro, but not physical powers, such as Jasper's. Eleazer said that he's never heard of a human who was able to control their power as Bella does. He seems to think that she can choose to push the shield away at times. It appears for now, it comes naturally when she is fully relaxed, but when she's changed, he believes she will be able to push it away at will, maybe even to shield others. He's asked to meet her after the change to test it."
"I would love that." I said, amazed. A shield? How freaking cool is that? Edward laughed.
"Kids?" Carlisle asked, amused at Edward's sudden laughter.
"It seems that I can hear Bella the most when she's fascinated or….being perverted." He laughed, causing me to smack him, hurting only my own hand in the process on his hard arm.
"Ow, you're hard!" I yelled, before realizing what I said and looking out the window, blushing furiously. Edward was laughing so hard that if he were human and could cry, I'm positive he would have been.
"And at that, I'm going to say goodnight!" Carlisle said, laughing himself.
