~ Edward and Bella's Cabin, Alaska - August 9, 2005 ~
"Do that again!" Bella squealed. "I don't know how you are able to do that with your tongue, but I need more of it!"
I raised myself from my position between her legs and looked up at my gorgeous mate. She was beyond sexy in her current state of post coital bliss. I truly hated not being able to grant her wish, but we had a schedule to keep.
"Love," I breathed before placing a kiss on her inner thigh, where as a human, she once had a tiny mole. "I would love nothing more than to keep worshiping your body, but we need to get in a quick hunt before we go meet Charlie and Irina."
Bella raised up on her elbows and looked confused. "Edward, what are talking about? We have days until we are meeting my Dad and Irina."
I placed another soft kiss tight below her belly button. "I am sorry, love, but we only have a couple of hours, not days."
"What?" Bella said before she leaned over the bed to view the small alarm clock that sat precariously on top of the now destroyed nightstand. "What day is it?"
"Tuesday, August ninth," I said while trying hard to contain my smile.
"No!" Bella gasped as she sat up straight and looked out the window. "Are you telling me we have be having sex for three days?"
"Yes, love. And if I wasn't so sure Charlie would come looking for us, I would keep having my wicked way with you until you begged me to stop or we broke Carlisle and Esme's record. Now, if we are quick about it, we can get in a quick hunt and get cleaned up in the lake before we head over to meet Charlie."
Bella looked at my eyes for long moment. I was sure they were starting to get black with thirst. She frowned, then darted out of bed and stood in front of the mirror.
"Holy shit!" She exclaimed. "You're right! My eyes are black as coal." She glanced at me before looking back into the mirror. A sweet little giggle was her only final response.
I stood and came up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her waist before I gently kissed her shoulder.
"You were rather distracted these past few days," I told here before placing a kiss on top of her other shoulder. "I know you are excited to finally see Charlie, but I give you my promise, that once we are back here, I will do my best to distract you again."
"Why are we meeting here?" Bella asked as we arrived at Carlisle's and Esme's cabin.
"Neutral ground," I replied. "It would not take Charlie long to figure out what we were just just doing for days at our place." I tapped my nose for emphasis. "Likewise, you would surely know what Charlie and Irina have most likely been up to as well."
Bella made her mouth into a shape of an "O" before muttering, "good point."
The cabin door opened and my entire family came out to greet us. Two newborns can get quite volatile around each other, so reinforcements seemed prudent. After a few minutes of pleasantries, I picked up Irina's thoughts coming through the woods. A few moments later, I picked up Charlie's as well. Like Bella, he was excited too.
Bella smiled brightly when she saw Charlie and Irina come through the line of trees.
"Dad!" Bella yelled. She ran to meet him but stopped a few feet away. She raised her hand to her mouth and gasped. "Dad, you shaved off your mustache!"
"Hey, Bells," Charlie said before he rubbed his upped lip. "Um, yeah. 'Rina convinced me that perhaps going through eternity with facial hair was not a good idea."
I could see from both Charlie and Irina's thoughts that what really happened was that Irina shaved part of it off while Charlie fell asleep waiting to hear from Carlisle that Bell's change was underway. By the time he woke up, it was too late. Enough had been removed that he was required to shave the rest of it off. Charlie looked younger without it, so now with his flawless vampire complexion, he and Irina looked a lot closer in age.
"I never really liked that damn thing, anyway," Irina commented to me in her thoughts.
Charlie and Bella slowly approached each other. Charlie was amazed at how beautiful and grownup Bella now looked. He was also greatly relieved. Hearing Bella's change went through without any issues, was not enough for him. He wanted to see her with his own eyes and know that she was fine and immortal.
He opened his arms and an instant later Bella ran to him.
"I missed you, Bells."
"I missed you too, Dad."
Charlie wrapped his daughter up in his arms and the both hugged. After a moment Charlie's eyes flew open and his nostrils flared.
I could see in his thoughts that, despite Bella and I cleaning off before coming, he could smell me all over Bella. Charlie released Bella and charged at me.
"You bastard!" He bellowed as he picked me up and tossed me a good fifty feet away. "What have you been doing to my daughter!"
I barely had time to register the shocked thoughts from some of my family, as well as the mirthful joy from others, before Bella slammed into Charlie, knocking him back into a tree that shattered on impact.
"That is my mate! " Bella yelled at her father as she setup in front of me in a protective stance. "You will not touch him again!"
Charlie jumped up. Irina tried to hold him back, but he just shrugged away from her before racing to where Bella was standing.
"I can smell him all over you, for Christ's sake!" Charlie spat back as he balled his fists.
His anger was jointly fueled by his vampire-heightened paternal instincts and his newborn temper. I tried to step in front of Bella, as I needed to protect my mate, but Bella just pushed me back behind her. When her hand came in contact to me, I felt wrapped inside Bella's essence for split second. It was just long enough for me to hear her thoughts.
"I will not let him hurt you, Edward!" She thought. Then, as soon as she quit touching me, I lost the connection to her mind.
"That's because," she seethed while poking Charlie in the chest, "He and I just spent the past three days going at like rabbits trying to break Carlisle and Esme's record!"
Shock flooded Charlie's face as he comprehended her words. Words that I was positive would make him hate me for all eternity.
"What do you mean Carlisle and Esme hold the record?" Emmett yelled out us.
"Yeah, I thought Emmett and I held it," Rose added. Both of them couldn't believe they did not hold the family marathon sex record.
"You thought wrong," Esme snuggly quipped, before returning her attention to Bella's and Charlie's family drama.
Bella shook her head at the now pouting Emmett and Rose, then she turned back to Charlie and poked him the chest again. This time she put a lot more force into it, which caused him to wince.
"And you know what?" Bella added. I was afraid at what else she would tell him. "I can smell Irina all over you! So don't get all high and mighty with me. We are mates, what do your think we do? What do you think we have been doing for quite sometime?" Bella gave him another poke. "You don't ever get to touch Edward like that again or so help me, you and I will have a serious problem with one another!"
I groaned internally at Bella's words. Her newborn anger seemed to remove any verbal filter she may have had.
Jasper tried to calm both Charlie and Bella with his gift, but a moment after he started, Bella whipped her head around towards him.
"No!" she snarled, then in Jasper's mind I could see his gift rebound back at him, causing him to stumble back one step.
Jasper raised his hands in defeat. "Damn! That mate of yours is quite powerful!" He told me in his thoughts. His mood control still worked on Charlie, so he kept trying to defuse his anger towards me.
Bella looked back towards Charlie. Instead of poking him again, she stood right up in front of him with her face nearing touching his. "Eternity is an awful long time, Dad, so you better get over this! Don't make me pick between you or my mate, because you won't like the outcome!"
Charlie looked between me and Bella. Jasper's influence was working. His anger was waning. In its place, he wondered if he was overreacting as Bella seemed to think he was. I saw in Charlie's mind him get an almost overwhelming notion that he was indeed wrong in his actions. This went beyond what a normal person would experience in determining if something was right or wrong. This was absolute and immutable to Charlie. I then realized Charlie's gift was that he could discern the truth in a situation. As a human, it manifested itself as his gut feeling. However, now as a vampire, his mind told him directly what was right or wrong. His recognition of the error was nearly a tangible entity, one that Charlie could conjure up at will. Charlie Swan was perhaps the worlds most powerful lie detector.
"I am sorry, Bells," Charlie said. "I was wrong to attack Edward and I don't want you to have to choose." He then sighed. "I know you and Edward are mates. I'll just have to find a way to accept that you are no longer Daddy's little girl." As the words left him, I could see in his thoughts the manifested image of his wrong doing fade away as justice had been served.
"Oh Dad!" Bella cried before embracing him in a hug.
"I hate newborn mood swings," Jasper muttered what the others were thinking.
The remainder of Charlie's and Bella's reunion went by without any further violence or meltdowns. After each compared their change, which was a topic Carlisle was keenly interested in, they went on telling each other about their hunting activities. Luckily the current detente held, as Bella and Charlie refrained from getting into what happened after each hunt.
After a couple hours of catching up, Bella went over to speak privately to Irina. She wanted to tell Irina how thankful she was that her father's change happened without any issues.
While they spoke to one another, Charlie approached me, which caused everyone's attention to turn to us.
"I am sorry about before, Edward," said as he held out his hand in friendship. I shook his hand with mine and I flinched when Charlie squeezed too hard, however it was done, not out of animosity, but rather because he was using too much of his newborn strength.
"It's in the past, Charlie, no harm done," I replied. Then with a smirk, I added, "At one time you lamented that you could not properly threaten me as father should be able to." Charlie worked through some foggy memories until he came upon the time when we spoke just after Bella had moved to Forks. He returned my smirk in recognition. "I guess now you can."
Charlie nodded his head in understanding and approval of my lightening of the mood. "I want to thank you, Edward, for changing Bella. She told me you kept her grounded and focused while the venom worked its way through. I am glad you were able to ease at least some of her suffering." I nodded to him. "Bella and Irina mean everything to me, thank you for allowing me to keep both of them."
"You are welcome, Charlie. Bella means the world to me too. For a long time you have been more than just an authority figure or Bella's father. I not only consider you a friend, but I look forward to someday you being my father-in-law."
"I am looking forward to that day as well," he replied as he patted my shoulder before pulling me into a quick hug.
Charlie felt truly blessed to be added to our family, and to get to spend eternity with his daughter and mate. The thoughts of everyone else around told me they all felt the same about him and Bella. I did as well.
Charlie and Bella hugged each other one final time. It had been an emotional visit, but also a good one. We decided to meet up with Charlie and Irina again in a couple of weeks. Until then, each would start the process of going through the memory journals Alice had helped them prepare.
As Charlie and Bella said their final goodbyes, Rose came over to me and gave me a nudge. "Edward, we are going to head back to our cabin now too," she told me. "I just have one question before we go. How long is Carlisle's and Esme's record?"
Author's Note...
I hoped you liked the family reunion! Plus you got a glimpse of Charlie's gift.
I can't believe this story passed 500 reviews! Thank you all so much! I'll see you on Monday.
-Chris