Here's a little one shot I wrote years ago, in the middle of the night, for absolutely no reason.
Just in case you're as bored as me and looking for something to entertain you for a minute, here you go.
Rebel
What is love without a little heartache?
"I, well, I need time," he whispers.
We have so much time. Of course he can have some.
I am the one who found him, hunched behind some bushes, in the woods. Blood smears everywhere, wild unfocused red eyes. Once a rebel, always a rebel, I guess.
"Don't tell her, please," he says.
I shake my head, no of course I won't. Our daughter might be twenty, but I understand, he still wants to be the strong, good, impenetrable force that she thinks he is.
"Alice didn't see what it was, I didn't know what happened. I just felt like you needed me," I say, explaining my search for him. He was only gone from the house a few hours.
He refuses my touch, and explains that the blood he drank tasted sourly of werewolf, explaining Alice's lack of clear vision. Edward had seen in this man's head, the werewolf that turned my husband's eyes red, he was headed for our family. On a mission, he wanted to hurt us. My husband said he felt like he was that rebel again, defending the innocent, playing God. Something in him snapped, he says.
He says he needs a little time alone.
And there's the heartache, a drop in my stomach not like a sip of water, but like I'm weightless for the tiniest second.
I leave him, then.
As I run towards home, he gets up and runs in the opposite direction. I feel a sharp tug on that tie we have. My stomach, weightless briefly.
I decide I'll make up something to tell the family. He shouldn't be gone too long, I guess, just long enough for those eyes to become honey again.
When I walk in the back door, I realize I don't need to make anything up. They know something's up. The family is seated around the big wooden table. A meeting. Just the cold, dead ones tonight, while the two that are alive are snoring somewhere miles away from us.
They all stand when they see me walk in.
"Bella, are you alright?" Carlisle asks with a command in his voice. I stay in the doorway.
We are one mind, one soul. A failure of Edward's almost feels like a failure of mine. He asked me not to tell. If they know, she'll know.
"He just wanted some time alone," I say, shrugging my shoulders. I head for the back staircase, wishing to hide upstairs, under the covers, in the dark. Maybe I'll send him a text message asking when I can expect him back. I wonder if he has his phone.
Alice is rushing in front of me, at the foot of the stairs.
"Don't worry about it, he'll take care of it," I say, she must have seen something. Someone finding the body.
"I just can't believe he did this," Alice persists, well it seems she did see something.
She looks at me funny. Jasper comes to stand by me. He puts a hand on my shoulder. Relax, he tells my body with his gift.
"Bella, I'm so sorry," she says, her voice rough with emotion. Instead of turning to her husband, as she normally does after a disturbing vision, she clamps her arms around me.
Her body shakes while she holds me. Oh no, she saw it. Why is she sorry for me though? Is it because a failure of his is truly a failure of mine? Yes, or maybe not…
I pull her arms from around me.
"Don't worry about me," I say. I take to the stairs, but Jasper holds my arm.
"You're only worried for him? You're not upset with him?" he asks, confused a little.
"Of course I'm not upset with him. Please, everyone just let him be. He can explain it to you on his own, he didn't want me to say anything."
Everyone looks at me, a little confused.
"Because of our daughter," I say and suddenly there is some understanding in everyone's eyes, and I just march up to our room. I shut the door quietly.
I send a quick text message to him: When will you be back?
A quick reply from him: I miss you already, love. I need you, so I'll be back within the hour. I drank enough deer for a year; I hope my eyes don't startle everyone. We'll work out what to say to Nes.
I message him: Alice had a vision, they know. I'm sorry. I miss you, always.
I hear a soft knock on my door, definitely Rosalie.
"Come in," I call from my place between the little loveseat in our bedroom and this amazing heated blanket Edward found for us.
Rose comes in, eyes down. "Bella, I don't know what to say, except you are my sister, no matter what."
I see Emmett behind her, "Bells you'll always be my little sister."
I am confused now. "I know that," I tell them, slowly pronouncing each word.
"He's crazy," Rose says, "I can't believe that ass-"
I hear Esme in the hallway. "Rosalie, leave out the name calling."
I feel like maybe there is some misunderstanding. I stand up, and walk out in the hallway outside the bedroom. Where, of course, the entire family is gathered.
"Guys it's okay. I'm okay with this, Edward will get over this, and don't be upset with him."
Emmett looks furious, "You're okay with this, Bella? Are you kidding me?"
"What?" I say, now almost as furious as he, "I love him. I thought you all did too. I thought we were a family who loved each other unconditionally. Yes, it was a mistake, but in the end, maybe it was for the best, you never know what-"
I know that he took a life he shouldn't have, but it doesn't mean that wolf wouldn't have destroyed our lives, his family.
Carlisle interrupts me, "I think we should let Bella decide how she handles this. This is between Bella and her husband. Please everyone let them heal on their own."
Well, it's not just between us, but I think I understand what Carlisle means. My husband needs me and my forgiveness to heal.
I walk down the stairs, moving past my huddled family.
"I'm going to go meet him," I say as I open the back door again. I feel six pairs of eyes on my back as I sprint back towards the woods.
I know Edward must be heading back from his hunt. The family was being weird about this, but I know Edward will explain it to me as soon as I see him.
After a few short moments, I hear him quietly running towards me. He smiles softly at me, his eyes now dulling to orange, his arms are open and I run to them. I am anxious to comfort him.
A warm feeling runs down my spine, my tie to him heals.
He kisses the top of my head.
I look up at him, "the family is acting crazy."
He laughs a little, and I'm so happy to hear it.
"Of course they are," he says.
I move to kiss his lips, and get carried away for a minute, or perhaps ten. I break the kiss slowly, and open my eyes again, looking into those strangely alluring orange eyes.
"When we figure out whatever this threat was, can we go on a little trip, just you and me?" I ask, my eyelashes fluttering a little suggestively.
"Anything for you, love."
I smile at him and take his hand. We take off, in the direction of home.
Now, we are just within his mental-hearing range of the house.
He stops abruptly.
"Let's go face them," I say, pulling him forward.
"Bella, first, I should tell you something," he says, pulling me backwards.
"For some reason Alice's vision of me attacking that man... Well, it didn't look like an attack in her mind."
I raise one eyebrow, "what did it look like?"
He starts laughing, a beautifully ethereal sound, "like an affair."
And there goes my heart, weightless.
Hope it made you laugh or smile a little.
Let me know your thoughts & thank you for reading!