Short and Sweet :D Sorry again about everyone who isn't receiving email updates. I went back through most of my reviews to find the people who reviewed regularly and PMd you! Hopefully FF will get this all sorted out and you'll all receive regular notifications.
I woke up in a confusing daze of green light. After blinking a few times I realised that I was neither at the hospital, nor in my bed, but in Edward's room, at his house. I sat up slowly, searching for Edward. Every night since I'd given him permission to stalk me had resulted in his beautiful smile being the first thing I would see in a day. But upon a cursory glance around the slightly familiar room, I did not find him. I could see him from where I was situated though. He was standing – of all places – in the yard, staring out into the forest. I felt my stomach rumble in anticipation of a meal, and I began to wonder how long I had overslept if the first few thoughts of consciousness had brought hunger. At that exact moment, Edward turned around, to smile up at me. He was soaked in either dew or rain, and was still wearing the clothes I had last seen him in yesterday.
What's up? I signed at him through the window. He began to step towards the front door, and then halted, a familiar expression on his face that denoted that he was about to get in trouble. Then he instead, back tracked towards his room. We were on the second floor, so I was expecting him to continue past the house and towards the back door, but he halted in front of the windows. He suddenly leapt towards me, looking effortless, as if he had been suddenly pulled up by wires. He landed with an unearthly grace on the very precipice of his window sills. I extracted my way out of bed, and walked over quickly to him. I could see the latch on the window, and after fumbling with it for a few seconds was able to coax the large pane of glass to swing gently outwards. For such a large pane it did actually move remarkably smoothly. Edward stepped in, still perched on the window sill.
"Would you mind grabbing me a towel?" he asked, indicating towards a closet door. I bit my lip slightly and reached up to him, resting my hand on his face. He may as well have been an ice sculpture. Skin of icy wet marble was all that I felt, although it cracked into a smile under my hand.
"I mean, today would be nice." He teased. I stuck my tongue out at him and headed over to the closet, gently pulling out a massive and fluffy bath towel that I brought back to him. He began to dry off with a speed that reminded me much of a cartoon, and then disappeared inside his closet, closing the doors behind him. When he re-emerged, he had donned a new outfit, light khakis and a white t-shirt. His feet remained bare. I looked down at my own bedraggled appearance. I didn't want to look at my hair.
"I have two questions." I announced. Edward came over to me, circling his arms around my hips and pulling me in for a hug.
"Go on." He said in my ear.
"Where did Alice put my bag? I'd like to get changed."
He pulled away so I could see him gesture towards the closet he had just vacated. My bag was indeed, resting on the floor inside. Edward looked back at me.
"Why were you in the garden?" I asked. This time it was his turn to smile.
"Well it started with a conversation with Carlisle… but after that. I just started watching the fireflies."
"You're mocking me?" I asked, unsure. There was no way he'd spent all night in the rain watching fireflies.
"I'm not mocking you. I'd never bothered to watch them before. I managed to keep track of enough of them to determine things like predictable patterns and even personalities." He informed me. Edward had a seriousness about him that made me believe him.
"Told you they were interesting." I shrugged. I hugged him again, as I began to head towards the closet. Edward appeared in front of me.
What would you like for breakfast? He signed.
"Food." I responded. I hadn't really thought about it yet. Edward laughed and backed away.
"Your wish…" he began. I missed the end part as he turned away, but I knew the expression. I changed into some clean and surprisingly not crumpled clothing before I headed downstairs. I had socks on, as I was mentally refusing to leave footprints all over their house.
Rosalie and Alice were nowhere to be seen. Jasper and Emmett were on a couch, watching some kind of sporting event I'd never seen before. It sort of looked like tennis, but also like volleyball, and most of the players were dark skinned and dark haired, and there was an unfamiliar language displayed across the screen. I blinked, confused.
"What are you watching?" I asked. Emmett waved.
"Sepak takraw." Jasper fingerspelled slowly at me.
"I don't know if you're not familiar with ASL, but that made no sense." I murmured, chuckling.
"Sepak takraw." He spelled, and explained, in a loud voice. "It's Asian kick volleyball."
"We bet on a lot of stuff." Emmett said very clearly, even though his head was directed at the screen.
"Especially in the off seasons of North American sports," a quiet and familiar voice said from my left. I snapped my head around to see Carlisle walking in. He was dressed as casually as his sons today – an unfamiliar sight for me.
"Good morning." I responded.
"Good morning." He nodded his head in response. "I hear that there's an array of food being made for you this morning.
"An array?" I clarified, backing up in horror to the kitchen. Carlisle nodded, a large grin on his face. I turned around, jogging slightly into the other room. Alice, Esme and Edward were present. One was working on eggs and bacon, one was working on French toast, and one was working on a chopped fruit dish. As I opened my mouth to protest, Alice danced over, popping half a chopped strawberry in my mouth.
"Good morning to you too Bella." She laughed as I struggled on the strawberry.
"I can't eat all of this!" I choked out, after I finished the strawberry, pointing at the three concoctions they were creating.
"Well we couldn't decide what you'd like."
"Not even you Alice?" I asked, amazed.
"Well the problem is, you wouldn't pick anything in particular, and said yes to all three options when asked. So…."
"So I have a feeling I'll be putting on a lot of weight when I stay here."
"Entirely possible." Alice said.
I spent the next ten minutes sampling impeccably cooked cuisine in equal portions to be sure I didn't offend anyone, while also feeling insanely stuffed. Everything that was left over I insisted I be able to re-warm for lunch, much to Esme's dismay. I had the sinking suspicion that the Cullen microwave was going to be unavailable around lunch time.
Would you like to hike somewhere with me today? Edward signed. I looked up at him, skeptically.
"Hiking. Me? You realise how slow I am right?" I asked. I thought I'd feel shy, but I was intently curious instead. Where did he want to take me? What kinds of places had he discovered? A little spark of adventure was creeping up inside me. "Yeah alright. Where are we going?"
Edward smiled. "I'll tell you when we get there."